Matthew Poole and continuators on Psalms 82:5

5 They know not , neither will they understand ; they walk on in darkness : all the foundations of the earth are out of course .

The Magistrates of whom this Psalm treats.

To wit, the truth and right of the cause, nor the duty of their place. Men are oft said in Scripture not to know what they do not love and practise.

This their ignorance is willful and affected: they will not search out the truth, and they shut their eyes lest they should see what they would not.

They persist and proceed: it is not one rash and transient action, but their constant course.

Either 1. In ignorance, or 2. In their sinful and unrighteous courses, as darkness is taken Eph. 4. 17, 18 and 5. 8. 1 Ioh. 1. 6. Being blinded by their corrupt affections and interests, Exod. 23. [illegible: 1+ letters].

This corruption of the supreme Rulers doth flow from them to their inferior Officers and Members, and manifestly tends to the dissolution of all civil Societies, partly by subverting that order and honesty by which they are supported; and partly by provoking God the Governor of the world to destroy them for their wickedness.

Marginal references: Heb. moved.