Psalmen 10:16 Kommentar

The Septuagint translation joins this psalm with the ninth, and makes them but one; but the Hebrew makes it a distinct psalm, and the scope and style are certainly different. In this psalm, I. David complains of the wickedness of the wicked, describes the dreadful pitch of impiety at which they had arrived (to the great dishonour of God and the prejudice of his church and people), and notices the delay of God's appearing against them (Psa 10:1-11). II. He prays to God to appear against them for the relief of his people and comforts himself with hopes that he would do so in due time (Psa 10:12-18).

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 10 This psalm in the Septuagint version, and those that follow it, is a part and continuation of the preceding psalm, and makes but one with it; hence in these versions the number of the following psalms differ from others, and what is the eleventh with others is the tenth with them, and so on to the hundred fourteenth and one hundred fifteenth, which also are put into one; but in order to make up the whole number of one hundred and fifty, the hundred sixteenth and the hundred forty seventh are both divided into two; and indeed the subject of this psalm is much the same with the former. Antichrist and antichristian times are very manifestly described; the impiety, blasphemy, and atheism of the man of sin; his pride, haughtiness, boasting of himself, and presumption of security; his persecution of the poor, and murder of innocents, are plainly pointed at; nor does the character of the man of the earth agree to well to any as to him: his times are times of trouble; but at the end of them the kingdom of Christ will appear in great glory, when the Gentiles, the antichristian nations, will perish out of his land, Psa 10:1.

The Lord is King for ever and ever,.... Christ was King from everlasting, and during the Old Testament dispensation he was promised and prophesied of as King; and he had a kingdom when he was here on earth, though not of this world; nor was it with observation. At his ascension to heaven, and session at the right hand of God, he sat down upon the same throne with his Father, and was made or declared Lord and Christ, and appeared more visibly in his kingly office; and in the latter day it will be yet more manifest that he is King of saints, and when indeed he will be King over all the earth, and his kingdom will be an everlasting one: he will have no successor in it, nor will any usurper obtain any more; the devil, beast, and false prophet, will be cast into the lake of fire; all antichristian states will be destroyed, and all authority, rule, and power, put down; nor can his kingdom ever be subverted, he must reign till all enemies are put under his feet; he will reign to the end of the present world, and with the saints a thousand years in the new heaven and earth, and in the ultimate glory to all eternity; nor will his government cease when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to the Father, only the mode of the administration of it. Here begins the song of praise; the reign of Christ is matter of joy; see Psa 97:1; the Heathen are perished out of his land: not the seven nations which were driven out of the land of Canaan, to make way for the people of Israel, that was long ago; nor the wicked and degenerate Jews, called the Heathen, Psa 2:1; compared with Act 4:27; on whom, and on whose temple, city, and nation, Christ's native land, wrath is come to the uttermost; and they are perished out of it: nor hypocrites out of churches, which are Christ's property; but the antichristian party out of the world, which is Christ's land by creation, as God, and by the gift of his father to him, as Mediator. The followers of antichrist are called Gentiles, and the nations of the earth, Rev 11:2; and these will be no more; they will be utterly destroyed, when the man of sin shall be consumed with the breath of Christ's mouth and the brightness of his coming. The seventh vial will clear the world of all the remains of Christ's enemies: this also is cause of rejoicing, Psa 132:16.

Therefore we define him to be earlier than any beginning and exceeding any end.

After this, what wonder if there follow, "The Lord shall reign for ever and world without end; ye heathen shall perish out of His earth"? He uses heathen for sinners and ungodly.

The land of God is the good heart; from this land the nations perish when they are driven by whatever destruction of mind and every evil thought.… No sinner is allowed to walk in this land, for the righteous alone possess it. It is said by a good man: “I believe I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”

After the universal calamity has been abolished, the psalmist turns to the new order of things. For after the Antichrist has been killed, the eternal, holy and benevolent kingdom of the Lord will come. Wicked evil is permitted to advance quite far in order that the longed-for kingdom of the Lord may be received with greater thanks. For in God’s kingdom, the blessed are without worry and find rest, nor is there any more fear of the traps that the holy are compelled to endure in this world.

"Break." Here he announces his being heard. And first, as to sinners. Second, as to the poor, at "the desire of the poor," etc. Regarding the first, he does two things. First, he announces the cessation of the power of the wicked by which they inflicted evils. Second, the cessation of their evils themselves. As to the first, he says, "break the arm of the sinner," who sins against God. Is. 14: "The Lord has broken the arm, or the staff, of the wicked, the rod of those who struck the peoples," etc. "And of the malicious one," who sins against his neighbor. Ps. 36: "The arms of sinners shall be broken," etc. Job 38: "The light shall be taken from the wicked, and their arm shall be broken." But sometimes it happens that a tyrant does wickedness, and although he himself is consumed, the wickedness endures. But not so: because "his sin shall be sought and shall not be found," that is, the act of that sin passes, but not the guilt; and the punishment of the sinner remains. Or, "his sin shall be sought and shall not be found" in the world. 1 Macc. 2: "Today he is exalted, and tomorrow he shall not be found." Sometimes God permits some to sin on account of the good he draws from it, such as the passion or patience of martyrs from the wrath of a tyrant; and therefore there is a place here for the wicked. But then it will not be found that sin has any utility. But how shall this be? Because the kingdom of God cannot be taken away; therefore by him the wicked shall be crushed. "The Lord shall reign forever," which comprehends all ages, "and unto ages of ages," that is, eternally. Or, "unto the age" which succeeds the present age. Dan. 7: "His power is an everlasting power which shall not be taken away, and his kingdom which shall not be corrupted"; "and you wicked ones shall perish from this land of the living." Ps. 1: "Like dust which the wind drives from the face of the earth." Ps. 36: "I saw the wicked exalted and lifted up like the cedars of Lebanon; and I passed by, and behold he was not; and I sought him and his place was not found."

The Psalmist mourns God's apparent indifference to his troubles, which are aggravated by the successful malice, blasphemy, pride, deceit, and profanity of the wicked. On the just and discriminating providence of God he relies for the destruction of their false security, and the defense of the needy. (Psa. 10:1-18) These are, of course, figurative terms (compare Psa 7:6; Psa 13:1, &c.). hidest--Supply "thine eyes" or "face."

God reigns. The wicked, if for a time successful, shall be cut off. He hears and confirms the hearts of His suffering people (Psa 112:7), executes justice for the feeble, and represses the pride and violence of conceited, though frail, men (compare Psa 9:16). Next: Psalms Chapter 11