Psalms 10 commentary

God's withdrawings are very grievous to his people, especially in times of trouble. We stand afar off from God by our unbelief, and then complain that God stands afar off from us. Passionate words against bad men do more hurt than good; if we speak of their badness, let it be to the Lord in prayer; he can make them better. The sinner proudly glories in his power and success. Wicked people will not seek after God, that is, will not call upon him. They live without prayer, and that is living without God. They have many thoughts, many objects and devices, but think not of the Lord in any of them; they have no submission to his will, nor aim for his glory. The cause of this is pride. Men think it below them to be religious. They could not break all the laws of justice and goodness toward man, if they had not first shaken off all sense of religion.

The psalmist speaks with astonishment, at the wickedness of the wicked, and at the patience and forbearance of God. God prepares the heart for prayer, by kindling holy desires, and strengthening our most holy faith, fixing the thoughts, and raising the affections, and then he graciously accepts the prayer. The preparation of the heart is from the Lord, and we must seek unto him for it. Let the poor, afflicted, persecuted, or tempted believer recollect, that Satan is the prince of this world, and that he is the father of all the ungodly. The children of God cannot expect kindness, truth, or justice from such persons as crucified the Lord of glory. But this once suffering Jesus, now reigns as King over all the earth, and of his dominion there shall be no end. Let us commit ourselves unto him, humbly trusting in his mercy. He will rescue the believer from every temptation, and break the arm of every wicked oppressor, and bruise Satan under our feet shortly. But in heaven alone will all sin and temptation be shut out, though in this life the believer has a foretaste of deliverance.

PSALM 10.

David here complains, in his own name, and in the name of all the godly, that fraud, extortion, cruelty, violence, and all kind of injustice, prevailed every where in the world; and the cause which he assigns for this is, that ungodly and wicked men, being intoxicated with their prosperity, have shaken off all fear of God, and think they may do whatever they please with impunity. Accordingly, he earnestly beseeches God to help him, and to remedy his desperate calamities. In the close, he comforts himself and the rest of the faithful with the hope of obtaining deliverance in due time. This description represents, as in a mirror, a lively image of a widely corrupt and disorganised state of society. When, therefore, we see iniquity breaking out like a flood, that the strangeness of such a temptation may not shake the faith of the children of God and cause them to fall into despair, let them learn to look into this mirror. It tends greatly to lighten grief, to consider that nothing befalls us at this day which the Church of God has not experienced in the days of old; yea, rather that we are just called to engage in the same conflicts with which David and the other holy patriarchs were exercised. Farther, the faithful are admonished to have recourse to God in such a confused state of things; for unless they are convinced that it belongs to God to succor them, and to remedy such a state of matters, they will gain nothing by indulging in confused murmurings, and rending the air with their cries and complaints.

Psalm 10:1-2

1. Why standest thou afar off, O Jehovah? and winkest at seasonable times in trouble? “et tu caches au temps que sommes en tribulation?” — Fr. “And hidest thyself when we are in trouble?” — Hebrews “Aux opportunitez, ou, aux temps opportuns.” — Fr. marg. “In opportunities, or, at seasonable times.” 2. The ungodly in his pride doth persecute the poor; “Ou, le poure est persecute, ou, il brusle en l’orgueil des meschans.” — Fr. marg. “Or, the poor is persecuted; or, he burns in the pride of the wicked.” let them be caught in the devices Horsley reads “subtleties,” and observes in a note, “I choose this ambiguous word; being in doubt whether the petition against the wicked be that they may be ruined by their own stratagems against the righteous, or that they may be the dupes of their own atheistical speculations upon moral and religious subjects. It seems to me that the word מזמות, may signify either ‘crafty tricks,’ or ‘refined theories,’ and, in this latter sense, it is used in the fourth verse.” Horsley considers this psalm as a general description of the oppression of the righteous by apostate spirits, atheists, and idolaters, who have all conspired against them, and not as referring to any particular calamity of the Jewish nation, or of any individual. which they imagine.

1. Lord, why standest thou afar off? We here see how the prophet, seeking a remedy for his calamities, which were apparently past hope, directly addresses himself to God at the very commencement. And the rule which we should observe, when we are in trouble and sorrow, is this: We should seek comfort and solace in the providence of God; for amidst our agitations, vexations, and cares, we ought to be fully persuaded that it is his peculiar office to give relief to the wretched and afflicted. It is in an improper sense, and by anthropathy, “C’est quand nous attribuons a Dieu les passions, affections, et fatOhs de faire des hommes.” — Fr. marg. “That is, when we attribute to God the passions, affections, and manners of men.” that the Psalmist speaks of God as standing afar off. Nothing can be hid from his eyes; but as God permits us to speak to him as we do to one another, these forms of expression do not contain any thing absurd, provided we understand them as applied to God, not in a strict sense, but only figuratively, according to the judgment which mere sense forms from the present appearance of things. It is possible that a righteous man may not check an injury which is done to a poor man before his eyes, because he is destitute of the power; but this cannot be the case with respect to God, who is always armed with invincible power. If, therefore, he act as if he took no notice, it is the same as if he withdrew himself afar off. The word תעלים, taelim, which signifies to hide, is explained in two ways. According to some, David here complains of God for hiding himself, as if he accounted the care of human affairs beneath him. Others understand it as meaning to shut the eyes; and this appears to me to be the more simple view. It is to be observed, that although David here complains that God kept himself afar off, he was, notwithstanding, fully persuaded of his presence with him, otherwise it would have been in vain to have called upon him for aid. The interrogation which he employs is to this effect: Lord, since it is thy prerogative to govern the world, and also to regulate it by thy righteousness as thou sustainest it by thy power, why is it that thou dost not more quickly show thyself a defender of thine own people against the arrogance and incredible pride of the ungodly? David, however, speaks thus not so much in the way of complaining, as to encourage himself in the confidence of obtaining what he desired. Through the infirmity of sense, he says, that it is unbecoming of God to cease so long from executing his office; and yet, at the same time, he fails not to yield to him the honor which is his due, and by his prayers he deposits into his bosom the great burden of trouble with which he was laden. The expression which follows, at needful times, relates to the same subject. Although God may not stretch forth his hand to take vengeance “Pour faire vengence.” — Fr. at every moment, yet when he beholds the simple and innocent oppressed, it is not time for him to defer any longer. David briefly defines the fit time for putting the hand to the work to be when the faithful are in distress. Of this form of speech we have spoken in the preceding psalm, at the tenth verse.

PSALM 10

Psa 10:1-18. 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.

1. These are, of course, figurative terms (compare Psa 7:6; 13:1, &c.).

hidest--Supply "thine eyes" or "face."

2. Literally, "In pride of the wicked they (the poor or humble, Psa 10:17; 12:5) shall be taken in the devices they (the proud) have imagined."

3. heart's--or, "soul's."

desire--that is, his success in evil.

and blesseth, &c.--he (the wicked) blesseth the covetous, he despiseth the Lord.

4. The face expresses the self-conceit, whose fruit is practical atheism (Psa 14:1).

5-6. Such is his confidence in the permanence of his way or course of life, that he disregards God's providential government (out of sight, because he will not look, Is 26:11), sneers at his enemies, and boasts perpetual freedom from evil.

7-10. The malignity and deceit (Psa 140:3) of such are followed by acts combining cunning, fraud, and violence (compare Pr 1:11, 18), aptly illustrated by the habits of the lion, and of hunters taking their prey. "Poor," in Psa 10:8, 10, 14, represents a word peculiar to this Psalm, meaning the sad or sorrowful; in Psa 10:9, as usual, it means the pious or meek sufferer.

11. As before, such conduct implies disbelief or disregard of God's government.

12. (Compare Psa 9:19; 3:7).

the humble--(Compare Psa 10:17, and Margin.)

lift up thine hand--exert thy power.

13-14. It is in vain to suppose God will overlook sin, however forbearing; for He carefully examines or beholds all wickedness, and will mark it by His providential (Thine hand) punishment.

15. arm--power.

till thou find none--So far from not requiting (Psa 10:11, 13), God will utterly destroy the wicked and his deeds (Psa 9:5, 6; 34:16; 37:36).

16-18. 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).

Why standest thou afar off, O Lord? - This Psalm makes a part of the preceding in the Vulgate and Septuagint; and in four of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS. It seems to belong to the time of the captivity, or the return of the captives. It was probably made in reference to Sanballat, and the other enemies or the Jews. There is a great similarity between this and Psa 13:1-6, Psa 14:1-7, 35, and Psa 53:1-6 : In these, as Calmet remarks, we find the same complaints, the same sentiments, and almost the same expressions.

God is represented here as standing at some distance, beholding the oppression of his people, and yet apparently disregarding it.

The wicked in his pride - On no principle of nature or reason can we account for a wicked man persecuting a humble follower of God because of his religion. The devil hates godliness; and the wicked man hates it also because the devil is in his heart.

Boasteth of his heart's desire - Boasts among his fellows how often he has gratified such and such passions, in such and such circumstances. This shows the excess of a depraved and imbruted spirit. He who can boast of his iniquity, is in the broad road to perdition. Should such a one repent and turn to God, it would be equal to any miracle.

Blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth - Or, he blesseth the covetous, he abhorreth the Lord. Those who are like himself he commends, and with them he associates; and they abhor the Lord - they have a mortal hatred against every thing that is holy; and they are under the full influence of that carnal mind which is enmity to the Lord.

Will not seek after God - He is too proud to bend his knee before his Judge; he is too haughty to put on sackcloth, and lay himself in the dust, though without deep repentance and humiliation he must without doubt perish everlastingly.

His ways are always grievous - Or, He is travailing in pain to bring forth iniquity at all times. He is full of lust, or irregular and unholy desires; he conceives and brings forth sin; and sin being finished, time, place, and opportunity concurring, death is soon brought forth.

Thy judgments are far above out of his sight - He is so blinded with sin, that he cannot see the operations of God's hand.

He puffeth at them - He whistles at them; insults God, and despises men. He overthrows them with his breath; he has only to give orders, and they are destroyed. "Bring me the head of Giaffer," said an Asiatic despot. The head was immediately brought! No trial, no judge, no jury; but the despot's will and caprice.

I shall not be moved - I have whatever I covet. I hold whatsoever I have gotten. I have money and goods to procure me every gratification.

His mouth is full of cursing, and deceit, and fraud - What a finished character! A blasphemer, a deceitful man, and a knave!

He sitteth in the lurking places - In this and the following verse there appears to be an allusion to espionage, or setting of spies on a man's conduct; or to the conduct of an assassin or private murderer. He sitteth in lurking places - in secret places; his eyes - spies - are privily set; he lieth in wait secretly: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net. He is like a hunter that lays his traps and gins, digs his pits, sets his nets; and when the prey falls into them, he destroys its life.

He croucheth - Of the scoffing, mocking, insulting, and insidious conduct of Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem, the fourth and sixth chapters of Nehemiah give abundant proof; and possibly the allusion is to them. The lion squats down and gathers himself together, that he may make the greater spring.

God hath forgotten - He hath cast off this people, and he will never more re-establish them. So Sanballat thought.

Arise, O Lord - Hear their reproaches see their guile, consider thy oppressed people. "Lift up thine hand," threaten them, that they may desist and repent. If they repent not let them be punished.

Wherefore doth the tacked contemn God? - How is it that the Lord permits such persons to triumph in their iniquity? The longsuffering of God leadeth them to repentance.

Thou hast seen it - Nothing can escape thy notice. Thou hast not forgotten thy justice, though judgment is not speedily executed on an evil work. But thou wilt requite it with thy hand. By thy power thou wilt cast down and destroy the wicked.

The poor committeth himself unto thee - To thee he has given up his body, his soul, and his cause; with the full conviction that thou who art the helper of fatherless, will not forget him.

Break thou the arm - Destroy his power, deprive him of his influence, that he may be no longer able to oppress.

Seek out his wickedness till thou find none - All his public haunts and private ways shall be investigated; thou wilt bring all his villanies to light, and continue to inflict punishment, while there is a crime to punish. Or, "Continue to judge and punish transgressors, till not one is to be found." This agrees with the following verse.

The Lord is king for ever - He has, and ever will have, the supreme power.

The heathen are perished out of his land - They are all either cut off or converted. This may refer to the Canaanites. What a mercy that we can say this of our own country! Once it was entirely heathen; now not one heathen family in the whole land.

Lord, thou hast heard - Thou hast not permitted thy tempted and afflicted followers to pray in vain.

Thou wilt prepare their heart - See the economy of the grace of God:

1. God prepares the heart;

2. Suggests the prayer;

3. Hears what is prayed;

4. Answers the petition.

He who has got a cry in his heart after God, may rest assured that that cry proceeded from a Divine preparation, and that an answer will soon arrive. No man ever had a cry in his heart after salvation, but from God. He who continues to cry shall infallibly be heard.

That the man of the earth may no more oppress - I believe the Hebrew will be better translated thus: "That he may not add any more to drive away the wretched man from the land." Destroy the influence of the tyrant; and let him not have it again in his power to add even one additional act of oppression to those which he has already committed.

How many for the sake of their religion, and because they would serve God with a pure conscience, have, by wicked lords, proud and arrogant land owners, been driven off their farms, turned out of their houses, deprived of their employments, and exposed to wretchedness! While they served the devil, and were regardless of their souls, they had quiet and peaceable possession; but when they turned to the Lord, and became sober and industrious, attended the means of grace, read their Bible, and were frequent in prayer, then the vile man of the earth drove them from their dwellings! In the sight of such Philistines, piety towards God is the highest of crimes. What a dreadful account must these give to the Judge of the Fatherless and the oppressed!

Boasteth - He glorieth in his very sins which are his shame, and especially in the satisfaction of his desires.

Countenance - So called, because though pride be properly seated in the heart, yet it is manifest in the countenance.

Judgments - Thy threatenings denounced against, and punishments inflicted upon sinners. Are far - He doth not regard or fear them: yea he despises them, being confident that he can blow them away with a breath. This is a gesture of contempt or disdain, both in scripture, and other authors.

Tongue - Under his fair and plausible speeches, mischief is hid and covered. Vanity - Or, injury, the vexation or oppression of other men.

Sitteth - Not within the villages, but in the ways bordering upon them, or leading to them, as robbers use to do. Are set - Heb. Are hid. He watches and looks out of his lurking - place. He alludes still to the practices of robbers.

Croucheth - Like a lion (for he continues the same metaphor) which lies close upon the ground, partly that he may not be discovered, and partly that he may more suddenly and surely lay hold on his prey.

Contemn - Why dost thou by giving them impunity, suffer and occasion them to despise thee?

Requite - Heb. to give (to restore or pay the mischief which they have done to others) with thy hand, by thy own extraordinary providence, because the oppressed were destitute of all other succours. Fatherless - Of such as have no friend or helper, one kind of them being put for all.

Seek - Search for it, and punish these wicked atheists. 'Till - No such wickedness be left in the world, or at least in the church.

Is king - To whom it belongs to protect his subjects. Therefore his peoples case is never desperate, seeing he ever lives to help them. The heathen - The Canaanites; whom God, as king of the world, expelled, and gave their land to his people. By which great example he confirms his faith and hope for the future. His land - Out of Canaan, which God calls his land, because he gave it to them, and fixed his presence and dwelling in it.

Prepare - By thy grace and good spirit, that they may so pray as thou wilt hear.

To judge - To give sentence for them, and against their enemies. The man - Earthly and mortal men, who yet presume to contend with thee their maker.

1. WHY standest thou a[illegible: 1+ letters]ar off , O LORD? why hidest thou thy self in times of trouble ?

Like one that neither sees nor hears, nor regards me, nor intendest any help for me.

Or, thy face, out of v. 11. which did sometimes shine upon me: Or, thine, eyes, by comparing this with Prov. 28. 27. Isa. 1. 15.

When I most need thy Pity and Succour. Do not add Affliction to the Afflicted.

Marginal references: Heb. at [illegible: 1 word] ▪ sons in trouble. So Gr.

2. The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor : let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.

Through pride of Heart; which makes him forget God, v. 4. and despise the Poor, and oppress others, either because they oppose or dislike his wicked Courses, or that he may have more Fewel for his Pride or Ambition. Or, in his Exaltation. This is the use that he makes of that power and Authority to which thou hast advanced him, to persecute those whom he should protect and cherish. He seems to point at Saul or his Courtiers.

With great fervency and burning Fury, as the word signifies.

To wit, me who am through their Tyranny poor and destitute, and miserable, and therefore the more proper Object for thy Compassion, and others who favour my righteous Cause.

Marginal references: Heb. in the pride of the wicked he doth persecute.; Psal. 7. 16. & 9. 15, 16. Prov. 5. 22.

3. For the wicked boasteth of his hearts desire , and blesseth the covetous , whom the LORD abhorreth .

Or, glori[illegible: 1+ letters]th, or praiseth, or pleaset[illegible: 1+ letters] himself.

Or, in, or concerning, or because of the desire, or concupiscence, or l[illegible: 1+ letters]st of his heart, or soul; which word is added to note the vehemency and [illegible: 1+ letters]ervency of it. He glorieth in his very Lusts, which are his Shame, Phil. 3. 19. and especially in the satisfaction of his desires how wickedly soever he gets i[illegible: 1+ letters]. Desire is oft put for the thing desired, as Psal. 21. 2. and 78. 29, 30.

And as he applaudeth himself, so he commends others that are greedy after, and get abundance of Gain, though it be done by Fraud and Violence, accounting such the onely happy Men. Or, the covetous (the same with the wicked enlarging his desire, as was now said) blesseth, or applaudeth, or flattereth himself in what he hath already gotten, and in the confident expectation of the continuance and increase of his worldly Wealth and Glory.

So his judgment as well as practice is contrary to God's. Or, rather without any Supplement, as it is in the Margent, He abhorreth, or despiseth, or provoketh the Lord. He sets himself not only against Men but against God himself, as he declareth more fully in the next Vers[illegible: 1+ letters] ▪

Marginal references: Heb. S[illegible: 1+ letters]ls.; Prov. 28. 4. Rom. 1. 32.; Or, the covetous blesseth himself, he abhorreth the LORD.

4. The wicked, through the pride of his countenance , will not seek after God : God is not in all his thoughts .

By which he scorns to stoop to God, or to own any Superior, and makes himself and his own Lusts his only Rule, and his last end, and is full of self-confidence, and a conceit of his own self-sufficiency and unchangeable Felicity, as is noted v. 6.

So called, because though Pride be properly seated in the Heart; whence it is called Pride, or loftiness of Heart, or Spirit, as Psal. 131, 1. Prov. 16. 18. Eccles. 7. 8. &c. Yet it is manifested in the Countenance, and therefore is oft described by lofty Looks, as Psal. 101. 5. and 131. 1. Prov. 6. 17. and 21. 4. and 30. 13. &c. Which possibly was done purposely to meet with the Excuses of proud Persons, who when they are charged with pride for their looks or gestures, or apparel, or the like, use to make this Apology for themselves; that pride lies in the Heart and not in these outward things.

(i. e.) Not seek, or enquire into the Mind and Will of God, to order his Life by it so as to please God, nor seek to him by Prayer for his Favour and Blessing. But the words after God, are not in the Hebrew, and it is thought by some too great Boldness to add them here. And therefore others omit it and render the Hebrew words, will not search, or consider, to wit▪ his Actions, which seems to be a more natural and easiy Supplement: he will not trouble himself to enquire whether his Actions be just or unjust, pleasing or offensive to God, but without any care or consideration rusheth into Sin, and doth whatsoever seemeth right in his own Eyes. But these and the former words are and may be, and that very agreeably to the Hebrew, thus rendered without any Supplement, The wicked through his pride (for so this Hebrew word by it self signifies, [illegible: 1 word]. 5. 16. and 10. 33.) will not seek his (i. e. Gods, which is plain both from the foregoing and following words▪ face, which is an usual phrase in Scripture, as 2. Chron. 7. 14. Psal. 24▪ 6. and 27. 8. and 105. 4. &c.

He hath no serious thoughts of, not regard unto God or his word, which ought to command him, or his Threats and Judgments, which should keep him in awe. Or, all his thoughts are there is no God, to wit, no such God as minds the Affairs of the World, and the Actions of Men, and punisheth Sinners. He was a Deist and owned a God, at least in words, but denied his Providence.

Marginal references: Or, all his thoughts are▪ There is no God.; Psal. 14. 1. & 53. 1▪

5. His ways are alwayes grievous : thy judgments are far above out of his sight : as for all his enemies, he puffeth at them s.

His whole course and carriage is vexatious to all that are within his reach, but especially to the poor who cannot right themselves, and to just and good Men, whom he hateth and persecuteth. Or, His ways, (i. e.) his designs and enterprizes, at all times are prosperous, or successful, or do bring forth: for this Verb signifies as the pains and trouble, so also the success and comfort, of child-bearing, or the bringing forth Children, as Psal. 20. 9. Isa. 54. 1. Ier. 4. 31. And the accomplishment or disappointment of designs is frequently expressed by this Metaphor: of which see 2. Kings 19. 3. Psal▪ 7. 14. Isa. 59. 4. &c. And this sence seems best to suit with the Context.

Either 1. Thy Laws, which are oft called Iudgments. Or rather, thy Threatnings denounced against, and Punishments inflicted upon Sinners.

Either 1. He doth not feel them, thou removest them far from him: which indulgence of thine is the cause of his insolency. Or rather 2. He doth not discern nor regard, nor fear them, nor think of them, but goes on securely and resolvedly in his wicked courses. He hath not so much Faith nor Reason as to apprehend or consider them, but like a brute-Beast looks onely downward to the Earth, and minds not things above him. And thus it seems best to agree with the foregoing and following Clauses. His Devices succeed, and therefore he neither fears God's Judgments nor the power of his Enemies, but fancies his Happiness to be unchangeable, as it follows, v. 6. (i. e.) He despiseth them, being confident that he can blow them away with a Breath. This is a Gesture of contempt or disdain both in Scripture, as Psal. 12. 5. Mal. 1. 13. and in other Authors, as in Plautus; where one speaks thus to a proud and bragging Captain, Thou hast blown away whole Legions with thy Breath, as Leaves are blown away by a wind.

Marginal references: Prov. 24. 7.

6. He hath said in his heart , I shall not be moved : for I shall never be in adversity .

He thinketh or perswadeth himself.

Or, removed, to wit, from my place and happy state.

Or, because I am not in adversity, therefore I never shall be in it. His present prosperity makes him secure for the future. Comp. Revel. 18. 7. Or, yea (for this particle sometimes hath no other signification or use, but onely to amplify or aggravate, as it is also taken 1. Sam. 15, 20▪ & 24. 11.) I shall never be in evil. So the sence of the place is, I shall not onely be kept from total ruin or a removal from my place and estate, but I shall not meet with the least cross or trouble. For this evil is not the evil of Sin, as some here understand it, in which he knew that he was, and was resolved ever to continue, but the evil of Punishment, which was the only thing that he feared or regarded.

Marginal references: Heb. unto generation and generation.

7. His mouth is full of cursing , and deceit and fraud : under his tongue is mischief and vanity .

Either 1. Of Oaths and Blasphemies against God. Or 2. Of reviling and execration of other men, especially those that are good; or those that stand in his way and hinder his wicked designs. Or rather 3. Of Oaths and Imprecations against himself, of which this word is used Numb. 5. 21. Deut. 29. 12, 21. Neh. 10. 29. By which he indeavours to gain Credit, and to make his Neighbours secure, and so to make way for the deceit and fraud which here follows. For this wretched Man is represented both here, and in the succeeding Verses, as one that doth not act with open Violence and Hostility, but with subtil and secret Artifices, using all cunning Insinuations, and Flatteries, and Lies, and among others, Oaths, of which an atheistical Politician said, that Men were to be deceived with oaths, and Children with Rattles or Toyes.

Two words signifying the same thing, to note the greatness and frequency of his Deceits. Or one word may signify the deceit lurking in his heart, and the other the manifestation of it in external Frauds and Stratagems.

Either 1. In his Heart, which is under the Tongue. Or rather 2. Under his fair and plausible Speeches, the Mischief here following is hid and covered. Withal he seems to allude to Serpents whose poison lies hidden under their Tongue, or within their Teeth.

Or rather iniquity, as this word is oft rendered, or injury, the vexation or oppression of other men, which he covers with these fair pretences.

Marginal references: Rom. 3. 1[illegible: 1+ letters].; Heb. [illegible: 1 word].; Or, [illegible: 1 word].

8. He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages , in the secret places doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are privily set against the poor.

Not within the Villages, which is not a fit place for lurking, but about them, in the ways bordering upon them or leading to them, as Robbers use to do.

That he may avoid the shame and punishment of Men; which is the onely thing that he fears.

Heb. Are hid. The sence is either 1. He winketh as men do when they shoot their Arrows at a mark. Or rather 2. He watcheth and looketh out of his lurking-place, to spy what passengers come that way. He alludes still to the practices of Robbers.

Marginal references: Heb. 3. [illegible: 1 word].; Heb. [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word].

9. He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den : he lieth in wait to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor when he draweth him into his net.

Where he lurks and waits for prey.

Or snatch, or seize upon, to wit, with violence, and to devour or destroy him.

Or, by drawing him: or, after he hath drawn him. He layeth Snares for him, and when he takes him, tears him in pieces:

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word] secret places.

10. He croucheth, and humbleth himself , that the poor may fall by his strong ones .

Like a Lion (for he continues the same Metaphor) which gathereth himself together and lies close upon the ground, partly that he may not be discovered, and partly that he may more suddenly, and surely, and fiercely lay hold upon his prey. But for this Translation, because this and is not in the Hebrew, and there is another and there prefixed to the first Verb; some joyn that first Verb to the end of the tenth Verse, and render the place thus, He catcheth the poor by drawing him into his net, and breaks him to pieces, as that Verb properly signifies. So there is only a defect of the pronoun, which is most frequent. And this makes the Sence compleat, which otherwise would be imperfect in that verse, and sheweth us what he doth with his prey when he hath taken it. And this 10th. verse begins very well with the next Verb, He humbleth himself: Or, He stoops, or bends himself.

Or, that he may fall (for this Verb is sometimes taken actively, as Ios. 11. 7. Iob 1. 15.) upon the poor. That having first couched and lay'n down, and then of a sudden rising, he may leap and fall upon his prey, like a Lion.

(i. e.) By his strong members, his teeth or paws. So it is an Ellipsis of the noun Substantive; whereof we have examples, as 2. Sam. 21. 16. new for a new sword: and Psal. 73. 10. full for a full Cap: and Mat. 10. 42. cold for cold Water.

Marginal references: Heb. be breaketh [illegible: 1 word].; Or, into his strong parts.

11. He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten : he hideth his face , he will never see it .

To wit, the poor v. 10. or the humble, which we are taught to supply out of v. 12. where he saith, forget not the humble. He forgets and neglects all their Oppressions and Prayers, and doth not avenge their cause, as he hath said he would do, nor execute Judgments upon their Oppressors, as he hath sometimes done or been thought to do.

Left he should see. He takes no notice of their Sufferings lest he should be engaged to help them. He will not encumber himself with the care of things done upon Earth, but leaves it wholy to men to manage their Affairs as they think fit.

To wit, the oppression of the poor, or the design of oppressors against them, which is the chief subject of the whole Psalm, and is particularly expressed v. 10.

Marginal references: Joh. 2[illegible: 1+ letters]. 13. Psal. 94. 7. & 64. [illegible: 1+ letters] ▪

12. Arise, O LORD, O God, lift up thine hand : forget not the humble.

To rescue the poor, and to smite their Oppressors with an hand stretched out and lifted up, that the blow may be the greater. Comp. Exod. 7. 5. Isa. 5. 25. and 9. 12. &c.

Shew by thy appearance for their Vindication, that thou dost remember and regard them.

Marginal references: Or, afflicted.

13. Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God ? he hath said in his heart, thou wilt not require it.

The sence is either 1. What is the cause of his contempt of God? To which question the next words give an answer, Thy connivence makes him secure. Therefore shew thyself. Or 2. Why dost thou by giving them impunity suffer, and occasion them to despise thee? Do so no longer. Which tacit desire he inforceth by representing their atheistical denial of Gods providence.

14. Thou hast seen it , for , thou beholdest mischief and spite , to requite it with thy hand : the poor committeth himself unto thee, thou art the helper of the fatherless .

Or, but thou hast seen it, and therefore they are horribly mistaken, as they will find to their cost.

Or, surely, as this particle is oft used, as Iob 8. 6. Psal. 73. 18.

Not as an idle Spectator, but with an eye of observation and vindication, as it follows.

(i. e.) All the injurious and spiteful, or malicious carriages of wicked men towards those who are more righteous than they.

Heb. to give (i. e. to restore or repay, the simple verb for the compound; which is usual in the Hebrew tongue) it (to wit, the mischief which they have done to others) with thy hand, (i. e.) by thy own immediate and extraordinary providence, because the oppressed were destitute of all other succours. Or, to put (giving being oft used for putting, as hath been observed before) it in or into thy hand, that thou mayest have it always in thine Eye, and under thy care and consideration, as the like phrase is evidently used Isa. 49. 16. Therefore thou dost not, and canst not forget it, but wilst certainly require it.

Or, his matters or cause, (i. e.) The care of his person and righteous cause. Heb. he leaveth. Which word is used for committing to the trust of another, Gen. 39. 6. Iob 39. 14. Isa. 10. 3:

(i. e.) Of such poor oppressed ones as have no friend nor helper, one kind of them being put for all the rest.

Marginal references: Heb. leaveth.

15. Break thou the arm of the wicked, and the evil man: seek out his wickedness till thou find none e.

Or, Thou wilst break. For it may be either a prayer or a prophecy.

(i. e.) His strength, the instrument of violence and mischief.

Search for it so strictly and punish these wicked Atheists so severely. (i. e.) No such wickedness, to wit, undiscovered and unpunished, or indeed left in the world, or at least, in the Church. Which might happen because those wicked men here spoken of should be generally either convinced or rooted out, and the rest should be warned and reformed by their Example, and so this lewdness should cease out of the land, as the phrase is Ezek. 23. 48. That is said to be sought for and not found, which is utterly lost, as Iob 20. 7, 8. Psal. 37. 36. Revel. 16. 20. and 18. 21. And this phrase is used both of good men, whose sins are taken away by God's grace and mercy, pardoning and purging them away, and of wicked men in the sence above mentioned.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1+ letters]al. [illegible: 1+ letters]. 9. & 3[illegible: 1+ letters]. 17.

16. The LORD is king for ever and ever : the heathen are perished out of his land .

To whom it belongs to protect his Subjects. Therefore thou wilst save the humble and punish the oppressors.

Therefore his peoples case is never desperate, seeing he ever lives and reigns to help them, and therefore he will help them in his time sooner or later.

Either 1. Those implous Israelites who oppressed David and other good men, whom, although they were reputed Israelites by themselves and others, yet he might call them heathens for their heathenish opinions of God and his providence, and for their ungodly and unrighteous lives. Comp. Isa. 1. 9. Amos 9. 7. Or 2. The Canaanites, whom God as King of the world, did expel or destroy, and gave their land to his people. By which great example he confirms his faith and hope for the future.

(i. e.) Out of Canaan, which God calls his land, Levit. 25. 23. because he spied it out for them, Ezek. 20. 6. and gave it to them, and fixed his presence and dwelling in it.

Marginal references: Psal. 29. 10. & 145. 13. & 146. 10. Jer. 10. 10. [illegible: 1+ letters]am 5. 19. [illegible: 1 word]. 4. 34. & 6. 26. 1. Tim. 1. 17.

17. LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble : thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear :

And therefore wilst still do it, being unchangeable and the same for ever.

Or, direct or fit, by thy grace and good spirit, either that they may so pray as thou wilst hear: or that they may be made fit to receive the mercies which they desire: which when they are, they shall have their prayers heard. Or, thou wilst confirm, or stablish (as this verb is oft used) their heart, to bear their present pressures, and to wait upon and hope, and trust in thee for deliverance, until thou seest fit to hear and help them.

In due time, though for a season thou seemest to turn a deaf ear to them. But this and the foregoing verb may be taken as a prayer, future verbs being oft used imperatively. Prepare or stablish their hearts (by giving them support and assurance of help in the time of need, and then) cause thine ear to hear.

Marginal references: Or, [illegible: 1+ letters] eth.; Heb. make thine ears attentive.

18. To judg the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress .

(i. e.) To defend them, and give sentence for them, and against their Enemies, as this word is used, Deut. 32. 36. Psal. 7. 8. and 135. 14.

(i. e.) Earthly and mortal men, who are made of the dust and must return to it, such as the oppressors of thy people are; who yet presume most audaciously and madly to contend with thee their Maker and Judge. Therefore it is time for thee to repress such insolency, and to shew how unable they are to stand before thee.

To wit, the fatherless, last mentioned.

Marginal references: Or, terrify.

Plaintive and Supplicatory Prayer under the Pressure of Heathenish Foes at Home and Abroad

This Psalm and Ps 33 are the only ones that are anonymous in the First book of the Psalms. But Ps 10 has something peculiar about it. The lxx gives it with Ps 9 as one Psalm, and not without a certain amount of warrant for so doing. Both are laid out in tetrastichs; only in the middle portion of Ps 10 some three line strophes are mixed with the four line. And assuming that the ק-strophe, with which Ps 9 closes, stands in the place of a כ-strophe which one would look for after the י-strophe, then Ps 10, beginning with ל, continues the order of the letters. At any rate it begins in the middle of the alphabet, whereas Ps 9 begins at the beginning. It is true the ל-strophe is then followed by strophes without the letters that come next in order; but their number exactly corresponds to the letters between ל and ק, ר, שׁ, ת with which the last four strophes of the Psalm begin, viz., six, corresponding to the letters מ, נ, ס, ע, פ, צ, which are not introduced acrostically. In addition to this it is to be remarked that Ps 9 and Psa 10:1 are most intimately related to one another by the occurrence of rare expressions, as לעתּות בצּרה and דּך; by the use of words in the same sense, as אנושׁ and גּוים; by striking thoughts, as “Jahve doth not forget” and “Arise;” and by similarities of style, as the use of the oratio directa instead of obliqua, Ps 9:21; Psa 10:13. And yet it is impossible that the two Psalms should be only one. Notwithstanding all their community of character they are also radically different. Ps 9 is a thanksgiving Psalm, Ps 10 is a supplicatory Psalm. In the latter the personality of the psalmist, which is prominent in the former, keeps entirely in the background. The enemies whose defeat Ps 9 celebrates with thanksgiving and towards whose final removal it looks forward are גּוים, therefore foreign foes; whereas in Ps 10 apostates and persecutors of his own nation stand in the foreground, and the גוים are only mentioned in the last two strophes. In their form also the two Psalms differ insofar as Ps 10 has no musical mark defining its use, and the tetrastich strophe structure of Ps 9, as we have already observed, is not carried out with the same consistency in Ps 10. And is anything really wanting to the perfect unity of Ps 9? If it is connected with Ps 10 and they are read together uno tenore, then the latter becomes a tail-piece which disfigures the whole. There are only two things possible: Ps 10 is a pendant to Ps 9 composed either by David himself, or by some other poet, and closely allied to it by its continuance of the alphabetical order. But the possibility of the latter becomes very slight when we consider that Ps 10 is not inferior to Ps 9 in the antiquity of the language and the characteristic nature of the thoughts. Accordingly the mutual coincidences point to the same author, and the two Psalms must be regarded as “two co-ordinate halves of one whole, which make a higher unity” (Hitz.). That hard, dull, and tersely laconic language of deep-seated indignation at moral abominations for which the language has, as it were, no one word, we detect also elsewhere in some Psalms of David and of his time, those Psalms, which we are accustomed to designate as Psalms written in the indignant style (in grollendem Stil).

Psa 10:1-2

The Psalm opens with the plaintive inquiry, why Jahve tarries in the deliverance of His oppressed people. It is not a complaining murmuring at the delay that is expressed by the question, but an ardent desire that God may not delay to act as it becomes His nature and His promise. למּה, which belongs to both members of the sentence, has the accent on the ultima, as e.g., before עזבתּני in Psa 22:2, and before הרעתה in Exo 5:22, in order that neither of the two gutturals, pointed with a, should be lost to the ear in rapid speaking (vid., on Psa 3:8, and Luzzatto on Isa 11:2, נחה עליו).According to the Masora למּה without Dag. is always Milra with the single exception of Job 7:20, and ימּה with Dag. is Milel; but, when the following closely connected word begins with one of the letters אהע it becomes Milra, with five exceptions, viz., Psa 49:6; 1Sa 28:15; 2Sa 14:31 (three instances in which the guttural of the second word has the vowel i), and 2Sa 2:22, and Jer 15:18. In the Babylonian system of pointing, למה is always written without Dag. and with the accent on the penultimate, vid., Pinsker, Einleitung in das Babylonish-hebräishce Punktationssystem, S. 182-184.

For according to the primitive pronunciation (even before the Masoretic) it is to be read: lam h Adonaj; so that consequently ה and א are coincident. The poet asks why in the present hopeless condition of affairs (on בצּרה vid., on Psa 9:10) Jahve stands in the distance (בּרחוק, only here, instead of מרחוק), as an idle spectator, and why does He cover (תּעלּים with orthophonic Dagesh, in order that it may not be pronounced תּעלים), viz., His eyes, so as not to see the desperate condition of His people, or also His ears (Lam 3:56) so as not to hear their supplication. For by the insolent treatment of the ungodly the poor burns with fear (Ges., Stier, Hupf.), not vexation (Hengst.). The assault is a πύρωσις, 1Pe 4:12. The verb דּלק which calls to mind דּלּקת, πυρετός, is perhaps chosen with reference to the heat of feeling under oppression, which is the result of the persecution, of the (בּו) דּלק אחריו of the ungodly. There is no harshness in the transition from the singular to the plural, because עני and רשׁע are individualising designations of two different classes of men. The subject to יתּפשׁוּ is the עניּים, and the subject to חשׁבוּ is the רשׁעים. The futures describe what usually takes place. Those who, apart from this, are afflicted are held ensnared in the crafty and malicious devices which the ungodly have contrived and plotted against them, without being able to disentangle themselves. The punctuation, which places Tarcha by זוּ, mistakes the relative and interprets it: “in the plots there, which they have devised.”

Psa 10:3-4

The prominent features of the situation are supported by a detailed description. The praett. express those features of their character that have become a matter of actual experience. הלּל, to praise aloud, generally with the accus., is here used with על of the thing which calls forth praise. Far from hiding the shameful desire or passion (Psa 112:10) of his soul, he makes it an object and ground of high and sounding praise, imagining himself to be above all restraint human or divine. Hupfeld translates wrongly: “and he blesses the plunderer, he blasphemes Jahve.” But the רשׁע who persecutes the godly, is himself a בּצע a covetous or rapacious person; for such is the designation (elsewhere with בּצע Pro 1:19, or רע בּצע Hab 2:9) not merely of one who “cuts off” (Arab. bḍ‛), i.e., obtains unjust gain, by trading, but also by plunder, πλεονέκτης. The verb בּרך (here in connection with Mugrash, as in Num 23:20 with Tiphcha בּרך) never directly signifies maledicere in biblical Hebrew as it does in the alter Talmudic (whence בּרכּת השּׁם blasphemy, B. Sanhedrin 56a, and frequently), but to take leave of any one with a benediction, and then to bid farewell, to dismiss, to decline and abandon generally, Job 1:5, and frequently (cf. the word remercier, abdanken; and the phrase “das Zeitliche segnen” = to depart this life). The declaration without a conjunction is climactic, like Isa 1:4; Amo 4:5; Jer 15:7. נאץ, properly to prick, sting, is sued of utter rejection by word and deed.Pasek stands between נאץ and יהוה, because to blaspheme God is a terrible thought and not to be spoken of without hesitancy, cf. the Pasek in Psa 74:18; Psa 89:52; Isa 37:24 (2Ki 19:23).

In Psa 10:4, “the evil-doer according to his haughtiness” (cf. Pro 16:18) is nom. absol., and בּל־ידרשׁ אין אלהים (contrary to the accentuation) is virtually the predicate to כּל־מזמּותיו. This word, which denotes the intrigues of the ungodly, in Psa 10:2, has in this verse, the general meaning: thoughts (from זמם, Arab. zmm, to join, combine), but not without being easily associated with the secondary idea of that which is subtly devised. The whole texture of his thoughts is, i.e., proceeds from and tends towards the thought, that he (viz., Jahve, whom he does not like to name) will punish with nothing (בּל the strongest form of subjective negation), that in fact there is no God at all. This second follows from the first; for to deny the existence of a living, acting, all-punishing (in one word: a personal) God, is equivalent to denying the existence of any real and true God whatever (Ewald).

Psa 10:5

This strophe, consisting of only three lines, describes his happiness which he allows nothing to disturb. The signification: to be lasting (prop. stiff, strong) is secured to the verb חיל (whence חיל) by Job 20:21. He takes whatever ways he chooses, they always lead to the desired end; he stands fast, he neither stumbles nor goes astray, cf. Jer 12:1. The Chethîb דרכו (דּרכו) has no other meaning than that give to it by the Kerî (cf. Psa 24:6; Psa 58:8). Whatever might cast a cloud over his happiness does not trouble him: neither the judgments of God, which are removed high as the heavens out of his sight, and consequently do not disturb his conscience (cf. Psa 28:5, Isa 5:12; and the opposite, Psa 18:23), nor his adversaries whom he bloweth upon contemptuously. מרום is the predicate: altissime remota. And הפיח בּ, to breathe upon, does not in any case signify: actually to blow away or down (to express which נשׁב or נשׁף would be used), but either to “snub,” or, what is more appropriate to Psa 10:5, to blow upon them disdainfully, to puff at them, like הפּיח in Mal 1:13, and flare rosas (to despise the roses) in Prudentius. The meaning is not that he drives his enemies away without much difficulty, but that by his proud and haughty bearing he gives them to understand how little they interfere with him.

Psa 10:6-7

Then in his boundless carnal security he gives free course to his wicked tongue. That which the believer can say by reason of his fellowship with God, בּל־אמּוט (Psa 30:7; Psa 16:8), is said by him in godless self-confidence. He looks upon himself in age after age, i.e., in the endless future, as אשׁר לא ברע, i.e., as one who (אשׁר as in Isa 8:20) will never be in evil case (ברע as in Exo 5:19; 2Sa 16:8). It might perhaps also be interpreted according to Zec 8:20, Zec 8:23 (vid., Köhler, in loc.): in all time to come (it will come to pass) that I am not in misfortune. But then the personal pronoun (אני or הוּא) ought not be omitted; whereas with our interpretation it is supplied from אמּוט, and there is no need to supply anything if the clause is taken as an apposition: in all time to come he who.... In connection with such unbounded self-confidence his mouth is full of אלה, cursing, execratio (not perjury, perjurium, a meaning the word never has), מרמות, deceit and craft of every kind, and תּך, oppression, violence. And that which he has under his tongue, and consequently always in readiness for being put forth (Psa 140:4, cf. Psa 66:17), is trouble for others, and in itself matured wickedness. Paul has made use of this Psa 10:7 in his contemplative description of the corruptness of mankind, Rom 3:14.

Psa 10:8

The ungodly is described as a lier in wait; and one is reminded by it of such a state of anarchy, as that described in Hos 6:9 for instance. The picture fixes upon one simple feature in which the meanness of the ungodly culminates; and it is possible that it is intended to be taken as emblematical rather than literally. חצר (from חצר to surround, cf. Arab. hdr , hṣr, and especially hdr) is a farm premises walled in (Arab. hadar , hadâr , hadâra), then losing the special characteristic of being walled round it comes to mean generally a settled abode (with a house of clay or stone) in opposition to a roaming life in tents (cf. Lev 25:31; Gen 25:16). In such a place where men are more sure of falling into his hands than in the open plain, he lies in wait (ישׁב, like Arab. q‛d lh , subsedit = insidiatus est ei), murders unobserved him who had never provoked his vengeance, and his eyes להלכה יצפּנוּ. צפה to spie, Psa 37:32, might have been used instead of צפן; but צפן also obtains the meaning, to lie in ambush (Psa 56:7; Pro 1:11, Pro 1:18) from the primary notion of restraining one’s self (Arab. ḍfn , fut. i. in Beduin Arabic: to keep still, to be immoveably lost in thought, vid., on Job 24:1), which takes a transitive turn in צפן “to conceal.” חלכה, the dative of the object, is pointed just as though it came from חיל: Thy host, i.e., Thy church, O Jahve. The pausal form accordingly is חלכה with Segol, in Psa 10:14, not with Ṣere as in incorrect editions. And the appeal against this interpretation, which is found in the plur. חלכאים Psa 10:10, is set aside by the fact that this plural is taken as a double word: host (חל = חיל = חיל as in Oba 1:20) of the troubled ones (כּאים, not as Ben-Labrat supposes, for נכאים, but from כּאה weary, and mellow and decayed), as the Kerî (which is followed by the Syriac version) and the Masora direct, and accordingly it is pointed חלכּאים with Ṣere. The punctuation therefore sets aside a word which was unintelligible to it, and cannot be binding on us. There is a verb הלך, which, it is true, does not occur in the Old Testament, but in the Arabic, from the root Arab. ḥk , firmus fuit, firmum fecit (whence also Arab. ḥkl, intrans. to be firm, fermé, i.e., closed), it gains the signification in reference to colour: to be dark (cognate with חכל, whence חכלילי) and is also transferred to the gloom and blackness of misfortune.Cf. Samachschari’s Golden Necklaces, Proverb 67, which Fleischer translates: “Which is blacker: the plumage of the raven, which is black as coal, or thy life, O stranger among strangers?” The word “blacker” is here expressed by Arab. ahlaku, just as the verb Arab. halika, with its infinitives halak or hulkat and its derivatives is applied to sorrow and misery.

From this an abstract is formed חלך or חלך (like חפשׁ): blackness, misfortune, or also of a defective development of the senses: imbecility; and from this an adjective חלכּה = חלכּי, or also (cf. חפשׁי, עלפּה Eze 31:15 = one in a condition of languishing, עלף) חלכּה = חלכּי, plur. חלכּאים, after the form דּוּדאים, from דּוּדי, Ew. §189, g.

Psa 10:9

The picture of the רשׁע, who is become as it were a beast of prey, is now worked out further. The lustrum of the lion is called סך Jer 25:38, or סכּה Job 38:40 : a thicket, from סכך, which means both to interweave and to plait over = to cover (without any connection with שׂך a thorn, Arab. shôk, a thistle). The figure of the lion is reversed in the second line, the עני himself being compared to the beast of prey and the רשׁע to a hunter who drives him into the pit-fall and when he has fallen in hastens to drag him away (משׁך, as in Psa 28:3; Job 24:22) in, or by means of (Hos 11:4, Job 41:1), his net, in which he has become entangled.

Psa 10:10-11

The comparison to the lion is still in force here and the description recurs to its commencement in the second strophe, by tracing back the persecution of the ungodly to its final cause. Instead of the Chethîb ודכה (ודכה perf. consec.), the Kerî reads ידכּה more in accordance with the Hebrew use of the tenses. Job 38:40 is the rule for the interpretation. The two futures depict the settled and familiar lying in wait of the plunderer. True, the Kal דּכה in the signification “to crouch down” finds no support elsewhere; but the Arab. dakka to make even (cf. Arab. rṣd , firmiter inhaesit loco, of the crouching down of beasts of prey, of hunters, and of foes) and the Arab. dagga, compared by Hitzig, to move stealthily along, to creep, and dugjeh a hunter’s hiding-place exhibit synonymous significations. The ταπεινώσει αὐτὸν of the lxx is not far out of the way. And one can still discern in it the assumption that the text is to be read ישׁח ודכה: and crushed he sinks (Aquila: ὁ δὲ λασθεὶς καμφθήσεται); but even דּכה is not found elsewhere, and if the poet meant that, why could he not have written דּכה? (cf. moreover Jdg 5:27). If דּכה is taken in the sense of a position in which one is the least likely to be seen, then the first two verbs refer to the sculker, but the third according to the usual schema (as e.g., Psa 124:5) is the predicate to חלכּאים (חלכּאים) going before it. Crouching down as low as possible he lies on the watch, and the feeble and defenceless fall into his strong ones, עצוּמיו, i.e., claws. Thus the ungodly slays the righteous, thinking within himself: God has forgotten, He has hidden His face, i.e., He does not concern Himself about these poor creatures and does not wish to know anything about them (the denial of the truth expressed in Psa 9:13, Psa 9:19); He has in fact never been one who sees, and never will be. These two thoughts are blended; עב with the perf. as in Job 21:3, and the addition of לנצח (cf. Psa 94:7) denies the possibility of God seeing now any more than formerly, as being an absolute absurdity. The thought of a personal God would disturb the ungodly in his doings, he therefore prefers to deny His existence, and thinks: there is only fate and fate is blind, only an absolute and it has no eyes, only a notion and that cannot interfere in the affairs of men.

Psa 10:12-13

The six strophes, in which the consecutive letters from מ to צ are wanting, are completed, and now the acrostic strophes begin again with ק. In contrast to those who have no God, or only a lifeless idol, the psalmist calls upon his God, the living God, to destroy the appearance that He is not an omniscient Being, by arising to action. We have more than one name of God used here; אל is a vocative just as in Psa 16:1; Psa 83:2; Psa 139:17, Psa 139:23. He is to lift up His hand in order to help and to punish (נשׂא יד, whence comes the imperat. נשׂא = שׂא, cf. נסה Psa 4:7, like שׁלח יד Psa 138:7 and נטה יד Exo 7:5 elsewhere). Forget not is equivalent to: fulfil the לא שׁכח of Psa 9:13, put to shame the שׁכח אל of the ungodly, Psa 10:11! Our translation follows the Kerî ענוים. That which is complained of in Psa 10:3, Psa 10:4 is put in the form of a question to God in Psa 10:13 : wherefore (על־מה, instead of which we find על־מה in Num 22:32; Jer 9:11, because the following words begin with letters of a different class) does it come to pass, i.e., is it permitted to come to pass? On the perf. in this interrogative clause vid., Psa 11:3. מדּוּע inquires the cause, למּה the aim, and על־מה the motive, or in general the reason: on what ground, since God’s holiness can suffer no injury to His honour? On לא תדרשׁ with כּי, the oratio directa instead of obliqua, vid., on Ps 9:21.

Psa 10:14

Now comes the confirmation of his cry to God: It is with Him entirely different from what the ungodly imagine. They think that He will not punish; but He does see (cf. 2Ch 24:22), and the psalmist knows and confesses it: ראתה (defective = ראיתה Psa 35:22), Thou hast seen and dost see what is done to Thine own, what is done to the innocent. This he supports by a conclusion a genere ad speciem thus: the trouble which is prepared for others, and the sorrow (כּעס, as in Ecc 7:3) which they cause them, does not escape the all-seeing eye of God, He notes it all, to give it into (lay it in) His hand. “To give anything into any one’s hand” is equivalent to, into his power (1Ki 20:28, and frequently); but here God gives (lays) the things which are not to be administered, but requited, into His own hand. The expression is meant to be understood according to Psa 56:9, cf. Isa 49:16 : He is observant of the afflictions of His saints, laying them up in His hand and preserving them there in order, in His own time, to restore them to His saints in joy, and to their enemies in punishment. Thus, therefore, the feeble and helpless (read חלכּה or חלכּה; according to the Masoretic text חלכה Thy host, not חלכה, which is contrary to the character of the form, as pausal form for חלכה) can leave to Him, viz., all his burden (יהבו, Psa 55:23), everything that vexes and disquiets him. Jahve has been and will be the Helper of the fatherless. יתום stands prominent by way of emphasis, like אותם Psa 9:13, and Bakius rightly remarks in voce pupilli synecdoche est, complectens omnes illos, qui humanis praesidiis destituuntur.

Psa 10:15-16

The desire for Jahve’s interposition now rises again with fresh earnestness. It is a mistake to regard דּרשׁ and מצא as correlative notions. In the phrase to seek and not find, when used of that which has totally disappeared, we never have דּרשׁ, but always בּקּשׁ, Psa 37:36; Isa 41:12; Jer 50:20, and frequently. The verb דּרשׁ signifies here exactly the same as in Psa 10:4, Psa 10:13, and Psa 9:13 : “and the wicked(nom. absol. as in Psa 10:4) - mayst Thou punish his wickedness, mayst Thou find nothing more of it.” It is not without a meaning that, instead of the form of expression usual elsewhere (Psa 37:36; Job 20:8), the address to Jahve is retained: that which is no longer visible to the eye of God, not merely of man, has absolutely vanished out of existence. This absolute conquest of evil is to be as surely looked for, as that Jahve’s universal kingship, which has been an element of the creed of God’s people ever since the call and redemption of Israel (Exo 15:18), cannot remain without being perfectly and visibly realised. His absolute and eternal kingship must at length be realised, even in all the universality and endless duration foretold in Zec 14:9; Dan 7:14, Rev 11:15. Losing himself in the contemplation of this kingship, and beholding the kingdom of God, the kingdom of good, as realised, the psalmist’s vision stretches beyond the foes of the church at home to its foes in general; and, inasmuch as the heathen in Israel and the heathen world outside of Israel are blended together into one to his mind, he comprehends them all in the collective name of גּוים, and sees the land of Jahve (Lev 25:23), the holy land, purified of all oppressors hostile to the church and its God. It is the same that is foretold by Isaiah (Isa 52:1), Nahum (Nah 2:1), and in other passages, which, by the anticipation of faith, here stands before the mind of the suppliant as an accomplished fact - viz. the consummation of the judgment, which has been celebrated in the hymnic half (Ps 9) of this double Psalm as a judgment already executed in part.

Psa 10:17-18

Still standing on this eminence from which he seems to behold the end, the poet basks in the realisation of that which has been obtained in answer to prayer. The ardent longing of the meek and lowly sufferers for the arising, the parusia of Jahve (Isa 26:8), has now been heard by Him, and that under circumstances which find expression in the following futt., which have a past signification: God has given and preserved to their hearts the right disposition towards Himself (הכין, as in Psa 78:8; Job 11:13, Sir. 2:17 ἑτοιμάζειν καρδίας, post-biblical כּוּןB. Berachoth 31 a: the man who prays must direct his heart steadfastly towards God (יכוּן לבּו לשּׁמים). and to be understood according to 1Sa 7:3; 2Ch 20:33, cf. לב נכון Psa 51:12; Psa 78:37; it is equivalent to “the single eye” in the language of the New Testament), just as, on the other hand, He has set His ear in the attitude of close attention to their prayer, and even to their most secret sighings (הקשׁיב with אזן, as in Pro 2:2; to stiffen the ear, from קשׁב, Arab. qasuba, root קש to be hard, rigid, firm from which we also have קשׁה, Arab. qsâ, קשׁה, Arab. qsh , qsn , cf. on Isa 21:7). It was a mutual relation, the design of which was finally and speedily to obtain justice for the fatherless and oppressed, yea crushed, few, in order that mortal man of the earth may no longer (בּל, as in Isa 14:21, and in post-biblical Hebrew בּל and לבל instead of פּן) terrify. From the parallel conclusion, Ps 9:20-21, it is to be inferred that אנושׁ does not refer to the oppressed but to the oppressor, and is therefore intended as the subject; and then the phrase מן־הארץ also belongs to it, as in Psa 17:14, people of the world, Psa 80:14 boar of the woods, whereas in Pro 30:14 מארץ belongs to the verb (to devour from off the earth). It is only in this combination that מן־הארץ אנושׁ forms with לערץ a significant paronomasia, by contrasting the conduct of the tyrant with his true nature: a mortal of the earth, i.e., a being who, far removed from any possibility of vying with the God who is in heaven, has the earth as his birth-place. It is not מן־האדמה, for the earth is not referred to as the material out of which man is formed, but as his ancestral house, his home, his bound, just as in the expression of John ὁ ὢν ἐκ τῆς γῆς, Joh 3:31 (Lat. ut non amplius terreat homo terrenus). A similar play of words was attempted before in Psa 9:20 אנושׁ אל־יעז. The Hebrew verb ערץ signifies both to give way to fear, Deu 7:21, and to put in fear, Isa 2:19, Isa 2:21; Isa 47:12. It does mean “to defy, rebel against,” although it might have this meaning according to the Arabic ‛rḍ (to come in the way, withstand, according to which Wetzstein explains ערוּץ Job 30:6, like Arab. ‛irḍ, “a valley that runs slantwise across a district, a gorge that blocks up the traveller’s way”Zeitschrift für Allgem. Erdkunde xviii. (1865) 1, S. 30.).

It is related to Arab. ‛rṣ, to vibrate, tremble (e.g., of lightning).

The Character of the Wicked; The Character of Persecutors.

1 Why standest thou afar off, O Lord ? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble? 2 The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined. 3 For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth. 4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts. 5 His ways are always grievous; thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his enemies, he puffeth at them. 6 He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity. 7 His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity. 8 He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are privily set against the poor. 9 He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net. 10 He croucheth, and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones. 11 He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it.

David, in these verses, discovers,

I. A very great affection to God and his favour; for, in the time of trouble, that which he complains of most feelingly is God's withdrawing his gracious presence (v. 1): "Why standest thou afar off, as one unconcerned in the indignities done to thy name and the injuries done to the people?" Note, God's withdrawings are very grievous to his people at any time, but especially in times of trouble. Outward deliverance is afar off and is hidden from us, and then we think God is afar off and we therefore want inward comfort; but that is our own fault; it is because we judge by outward appearance; we stand afar off from God by our unbelief, and then we complain that God stands afar off from us.

II. A very great indignation against sin, the sins that made the times perilous, 2 Tim. iii. 1. he beholds the transgressors and is grieved, is amazed, and brings to his heavenly Father their evil report, not in a way of vain-glory, boasting before God that he was not as these publicans (Luke xviii. 11), much less venting any personal resentments, piques, or passions, of his own; but as one that laid to he art that which is offensive to God and all good men, and earnestly desired a reformation of manners. Passionate and satirical invectives against bad men do more hurt than good; if we will speak of their badness, let it be to God in prayer, for he alone can make them better. This long representation of the wickedness of the wicked is here summed up in the first words of it (v. 2), The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor, where two things are laid to their charge, pride and persecution, the former the cause of the latter. Proud men will have all about them to be of their mind, of their religion, to say as they say, to submit to their dominion, and acquiesce in their dictates; and those that either eclipse them or will not yield to them they malign and hate with an inveterate hatred. Tyranny, both in state and church, owes its origin to pride. The psalmist, having begun this description, presently inserts a short prayer, a prayer in a parenthesis, which is an advantage and no prejudice to the sense: Let them be taken, as proud people often are, in the devices that they have imagined, v. 2. Let their counsels be turned headlong, and let them fall headlong by them. These two heads of the charge are here enlarged upon.

1. They are proud, very proud, and extremely conceited of themselves; justly therefore did he wonder that God did not speedily appear against them, for he hates pride, and resists the proud. (1.) The sinner proudly glories in his power and success. He boasts of his heart's desire, boasts that he can do what he pleases (as if God himself could not control him) and that he has all he wished for and has carried his point. Ephraim said, I have become rich, I have found me out substance, Hos. xii. 8. "Now, Lord, is it for thy glory to suffer a sinful man thus to pretend to the sovereignty and felicity of a God?" (2.) He proudly contradicts the judgment of God, which, we are sure, is according to truth; for he blesses the covetous, whom the Lord abhors. See how God and men differ in their sentiments of persons: God abhors covetous worldlings, who make money their God and idolize it; he looks upon them as his enemies, and will have no communion with them. The friendship of the world is enmity to God. But proud persecutors bless them, and approve their sayings, Ps. xlix. 13. They applaud those as wise whom God pronounces foolish (Luke xii. 20); they justify those as innocent whom God condemns as deeply guilty before him; and they admire those as happy, in having their portion in this life, whom God declares, upon that account, truly miserable. Thou, in thy lifetime, receivedst thy good things. (3.) He proudly casts off the thoughts of God, and all dependence upon him and devotion to him (v. 4): The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, that pride of his heart which appears in his very countenance (Prov. vi. 17), will not seek after God, nor entertain the thoughts of him. God is not in all his thoughts, not in any of them. All his thoughts are that there is not God. See here, [1.] The nature of impiety and irreligion; it is not seeking after God and not having him in our thoughts. There is no enquiry made after him (Job xxxv. 10, Jer. ii. 6), no desire towards him, no communion with him, but a secret wish to have no dependence upon him and not to be beholden to him. Wicked people will not seek after God (that is, will not call upon him); they live without prayer, and that is living without God. They have many thoughts, many projects and devices, but no eye to God in any of them, no submission to his will nor aim at his glory. [2.] The cause of this impiety and irreligion; and that is pride. Men will not seek after God because they think they have no need of him, their own hands are sufficient for them; they think it a thing below them to be religious, because religious people are few, and mean, and despised, and the restraints of religion will be a disparagement to them. (4.) He proudly makes light of God's commandments and judgments (v. 5): His wings are always grievous; he is very daring and resolute in his sinful courses; he will have his way, though ever so tiresome to himself and vexatious to others; he travails with pain in his wicked courses, and yet his pride makes him wilful and obstinate in them. God's judgments (what he commands and what he threatens for the breach of his commands) are far above out of his sight; he is not sensible of his duty by the law of God nor of his danger by the wrath and curse of God. Tell him of God's authority over him, he turns it off with this, that he never saw God and therefore does not know that there is a God, he is in the height of heaven, and quæ supra nos nihil ad nos—we have nothing to do with things above us. Tell him of God's judgments which will be executed upon those that go on still in their trespasses, and he will not be convinced that there is any reality in them; they are far above out of his sight, and therefore he thinks they are mere bugbears. (5.) He proudly despises all his enemies, and looks upon them with the utmost disdain; he puffs at those whom God is preparing to be a scourge and ruin to him, as if he could baffle them all, and was able to make his part good with them. But, as it is impolitic to despise an enemy, so it is impious to despise any instrument of God's wrath. (6.) He proudly sets trouble at defiance and is confident of the continuance of his own prosperity (v. 6): He hath said in his heart, and pleased himself with the thought, I shall not be moved, my goods are laid up for many years, and I shall never be in adversity; like Babylon, that said, I shall be a lady for ever, Isa. xlvii. 7; Rev. xviii. 7. Those are nearest ruin who thus set it furthest from them.

2. They are persecutors, cruel persecutors. For the gratifying of their pride and covetousness, and in opposition to God and religion, they are very oppressive to all within their reach. Observe, concerning these persecutors, (1.) That they are very bitter and malicious (v. 7): His mouth is full of cursing. Those he cannot do a real mischief to, yet he will spit his venom at, and breathe out the slaughter which he cannot execute. Thus have God's faithful worshippers been anathematized and cursed, with bell, book, and candle. Where there is a heart full of malice there is commonly a mouth full of curses. (2.) They are very false and treacherous. There is mischief designed, but it is hidden under the tongue, not to be discerned, for his mouth is full of deceit and vanity. He has learned of the devil to deceive, and so to destroy; with this his hatred is covered, Prov. xxvi. 26. He cares not what lies he tells, not what oaths he breaks, nor what arts of dissimulation he uses, to compass his ends. (3.) That they are very cunning and crafty in carrying on their designs. They have ways and means to concert what they intend, that they may the more effectually accomplish it. Like Esau, that cunning hunter, he sits in the lurking places, in the secret places, and his eyes are privily set to do mischief (v. 8), not because he is ashamed of what he does (if he blushed, there were some hopes he would repent), not because he is afraid of the wrath of God, for he imagines God will never call him to an account (v. 11), but because he is afraid lest the discovery of his designs should be the breaking of them. Perhaps it refers particularly to robbers and highwaymen, who lie in wait for honest travellers, to make a prey of them and what they have. (4.) That they are very cruel and barbarous. Their malice is against the innocent, who never provoked them—against the poor, who cannot resist them and over whom it will be no glory to triumph. Those are perfectly lost to all honesty and honour against whose mischievous designs neither innocence nor poverty will be any man's security. Those that have power ought to protect the innocent and provide for the poor; yet these will be the destroyers of those whose guardians they ought to be. And what do they aim at? It is to catch the poor, and draw them into their net, that is, get them into their power, not to strip them only, but to murder them. They hunt for the precious life. It is God's poor people that they are persecuting, against whom they bear a mortal hatred for his sake whose they are and whose image they bear, and therefore they lie in wait to murder them: He lies in wait as a lion that thirsts after blood, and feeds with pleasure upon the prey. The devil, whose agent he is, is compared to a roaring lion that seeks not what, but whom, he may devour. (5.) That they are base and hypocritical (v. 10): He crouches and humbles himself, as beasts of prey do, that they may get their prey within their reach. This intimates that the sordid spirits of persecutors and oppressors will stoop to any thing, though ever so mean, for the compassing of their wicked designs; witness the scandalous practices of Saul when he hunted David. It intimates, likewise, that they cover their malicious designs with the pretence of meekness and humility, and kindness to those they design the greatest mischief to; they seem to humble themselves to take cognizance of the poor, and concern themselves in their concernments, when it is in order to make them fall, to make a prey of them. (6.) That they are very impious and atheistical, v. 11. They could not thus break through all the laws of justice and goodness towards man if they had not first shaken off all sense of religion, and risen up in rebellion against the light of its most sacred and self-evident principles: He hath said in his heart, God has forgotten. When his own conscience rebuked him with the consequences of it, and asked how he would answer it to the righteous Judge of heaven and earth, he turned it off with this, God has forsaken the earth, Ezek. viii. 12; ix. 9. This is a blasphemous reproach, [1.] Upon God's omniscience and providence, as if he could not, or did not, see what men do in this lower world. [2.] Upon his holiness and the rectitude of his nature, as if, though he did see, yet he did not dislike, but was willing to connive at, the most unnatural and inhuman villanies. [3.] Upon his justice and the equity of his government, as if, though he did see and dislike the wickedness of the wicked, yet he would never reckon with them, nor punish them for it, either because he could not or durst not, or because he was not inclined to do so. Let those that suffer by proud oppressors hope that God will, in due time, appear for them; for those that are abusive to them are abusive to God Almighty too.

In singing this psalm and praying it over, we should have our hearts much affected with a holy indignation at the wickedness of the oppressors, a tender compassion of the miseries of the oppressed, and a pious zeal for the glory and honour of God, with a firm belief that he will, in due time, give redress to the injured and reckon with the injurious.

Prayer against Persecutors.

12 Arise, O Lord ; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not the humble. 13 Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? he hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it. 14 Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand: the poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless. 15 Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man: seek out his wickedness till thou find none. 16 The Lord is King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land. 17 Lord , thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear: 18 To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress.

David here, upon the foregoing representation of the inhumanity and impiety of the oppressors, grounds an address to God, wherein observe,

I. What he prays for. 1. That God would himself appear (v. 12): "Arise, O Lord! O God! lift up thy hand, manifest thy presence and providence in the affairs of this lower world. Arise, O Lord! to the confusion of those who say that thou hidest thy face. Manifest thy power, exert it for the maintaining of thy own cause, lift up thy hand to give a fatal blow to these oppressors; let thy everlasting arm be made bare." 2. That he would appear for his people: "Forget not the humble, the afflicted, that are poor, that are made poorer, and are poor in spirit. Their oppressors, in their presumption, say that thou hast forgotten them; and they, in their despair, are ready to say the same. Lord, make it to appear that they are both mistaken." 3. That he would appear against their persecutors, v. 15. (1.) That he would disable them from doing any mischief: Break thou the arm of the wicked, take away his power, that the hypocrite reign not, lest the people be ensnared, Job xxxiv. 30. We read of oppressors whose dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged (Dan. vii. 12), that they might have time to repent. (2.) That he would deal with them for the mischief they had done: "Seek out his wickedness; let that be all brought to light which he thought should for ever lie undiscovered; let that be all brought to account which he thought should for ever go unpunished; bring it out till thou find none, that is, till none of his evil deeds remain unreckoned for, none of his evil designs undefeated, and none of his partisans undestroyed."

II. What he pleads for the encouraging of his own faith in these petitions.

1. He pleads the great affronts which these proud oppressors put upon God himself: "Lord, it is thy own cause that we beg thou wouldst appear in; the enemies have made it so, and therefore it is not for thy glory to let them go unpunished" (v. 13): Wherefore do the wicked contemn God? He does so; for he says, "Thou wilt not require it; thou wilt never call us to an account for what we do," than which they could not put a greater indignity upon the righteous God. The psalmist here speaks with astonishment, (1.) At the wickedness of the wicked: "Why do they speak so impiously, why so absurdly?" It is a great trouble to good men to think what contempt is cast upon the holy God by the sin of sinners, upon his precepts, his promises, his threatenings, his favours, his judgments; all are despised and made light of. Wherefore do the wicked thus contemn God? It is because they do not know him. (2.) At the patience and forbearance of God towards them: "Why are they suffered thus to contemn God? Why does he not immediately vindicate himself and take vengeance on them?" It is because the day of reckoning is yet to come, when the measure of their iniquity is full.

2. He pleads the notice God took of the impiety and iniquity of these oppressors (v. 14): "Do the persecutors encourage themselves with a groundless fancy that thou wilt never see it? Let the persecuted encourage themselves with a well-grounded faith, not only that thou hast seen it, but that thou doest behold it, even all the mischief that is done by the hands, and all the spite and malice that lurk in the hearts, of these oppressors; it is all known to thee, and observed by thee; nay, not only thou hast seen it and dost behold it, but thou wilt requite it, wilt recompense it into their bosoms, by thy just and avenging hand."

3. He pleads the dependence which the oppressed had upon him: "The poor commits himself unto thee, each of them does so, I among the rest. They rely on thee as their patron and protector, they refer themselves to thee as their Judge, in whose determination they acquiesce and at whose disposal they are willing to be. They leave themselves with thee" (so some read it), "not prescribing, but subscribing, to thy wisdom and will. They thus give thee honour as much as their oppressors dishonour thee. They are thy willing subjects, and put themselves under thy protection; therefore protect them."

4. He pleads the relation in which God is pleased to stand to us, (1.) As a great God. He is King for ever and ever, v. 16. And it is the office of a king to administer justice for the restraint and terror of evil-doers and the protection and praise of those that do well. To whom should the injured subjects appeal but to the sovereign? Help, my Lord, O King! Avenge me of my adversary. "Lord, let all that pay homage and tribute to thee as their King have the benefit of thy government and find thee their refuge. Thou art an everlasting King, which no earthly prince is, and therefore canst and wilt, by an eternal judgment, dispense rewards and punishments in an everlasting state, when time shall be no more; and to that judgment the poor refer themselves." (2.) As a good God. He is the helper of the fatherless (v. 14), of those who have no one else to help them and have many to injure them. He has appointed kings to defend the poor and fatherless (Ps. lxxxii. 3), and therefore much more will he do so himself; for he has taken it among the titles of his honour to be a Father to the fatherless (Ps. lxviii. 5), a helper of the helpless.

5. He pleads the experience which God's church and people had had of God's readiness to appear for them. (1.) He had dispersed and extirpated their enemies (v. 16): "The heathen have perished out of his land; the remainders of the Canaanites, the seven devoted nations, which have long been as thorns in the eyes and goads in the sides of Israel, are now, at length, utterly rooted out; and this is an encouragement to us to hope that God will, in like manner, break the arm of the oppressive Israelites, who were, in some respects, worse than heathens." (2.) He had heard and answered their prayers (v. 17): "Lord, thou hast many a time heard the desire of the humble, and never saidst to a distressed suppliant, Seek in vain. Why may not we hope for the continuance and repetition of the wonders, the favours, which our father told us of?"

6. He pleads their expectations from God pursuant to their experience of him: "Thou hast heard, therefore thou will cause thy ear to hear, as, Ps. vi. 9. Thou art the same, and thy power, and promise, and relation to thy people are the same, and the work and workings of grace are the same in them; why therefore may we not hope that he who has been will still be, will ever be, a God hearing prayers?" But observe, (1.) In what method God hears prayer. He first prepares the heart of his people and then gives them an answer of peace; nor may we expect his gracious answer, but in this way; so that God's working upon us is the best earnest of his working for us. He prepares the heart for prayer by kindling holy desires, and strengthening our most holy faith, fixing the thoughts and raising the affections, and then he graciously accepts the prayer; he prepares the heart for the mercy itself that is wanting and prayed for, makes us fit to receive it and use it well, and then gives it in to us. The preparation of the heart is from the Lord, and we must seek unto him for it (Prov. xvi. 1) and take that as a leading favour. (2.) What he will do in answer to prayer, v. 18. [1.] He will plead the cause of the persecuted, will judge the fatherless and oppressed, will judge for them, clear up their innocency, restore their comforts, and recompense them for all the loss and damage they have sustained. [2.] He will put an end to the fury of the persecutors. Hitherto they shall come, but no further; here shall the proud waves of their malice be stayed; an effectual course shall be taken that the man of the earth may no more oppress. See how light the psalmist now makes of the power of that proud persecutor whom he had been describing in this psalm, and how slightly he speaks of him now that he had been considering God's sovereignty. First, He is but a man of the earth, a man out of the earth (so the word is), sprung out of the earth, and therefore mean, and weak, and hastening to the earth again. Why then should we be afraid of the fury of the oppressor when he is but man that shall die, a son of man that shall be as grass? Isa. li. 12. He that protects us is the Lord of heaven; he that persecutes us is but a man of the earth. Secondly, God has him in a chain, and can easily restrain the remainder of his wrath, so that he cannot do what he would. When God speaks the word Satan shall by his instruments no more deceive (Rev. xx. 3), no more oppress.

In singing these verses we must commit religion's just but injured cause to God, as those that are heartily concerned for its honour and interests, believing that he will, in due time, plead it with jealousy.

PSAL. X.

WHerefore Iehovah dost thou stand in a place farre off, dost thou hide at times in distresse? In the haughtinesse of the wicked, he hotly pursueth the poore afflicted, let them be taken in the crafty purposes that they have thought. For praise doth the wicked for the desire of his soule, and the covetous he blesseth, he despiteth Iehovah. The wicked, such is the loftinesse of his nose, that he seeketh not: there is no God, in all his crafty purposes. His waies doe wel succeed in al time, thy judgements are on high above his sight, all his distresses he puffeth at them. Hee saith in his heart, I shall not be removed, for that I shall not be in evill to generation and generation. His mouth is full of cursing, and of deceits and fraud; under his tongue is molestation and painfull iniquitie. Hee sitteth in the waiting place of the villages, in the secret places doth he murder the innocent, his eyes lurke for the poore.

Hee lieth in wait in the secret place, as a Lion in his den he lieth in wait to snatch away the poore afflicted, hee snatcheth away the poore afflicted, in drawing him into his net.

He croucheth, he boweth downe, that fall may into his strong pawes a troope of poore.

He saith in his heart, God hath forgotten, he hideth his face, he will not see to perpetuitie. Rise up Iehovah, ô God lift up thy hand, forget not the meeke afflicted. Wherefore doth the wicked despite God? he saith in his heart, thou wilt not enquire. Thou seest, for thou beholdest molestation and indignation, to give it into thy hand, unto thee the poore doth leave it: thou art the helper of the fatherlesse. Breake thou the arme of the wicked one, and of the evill man; seek out his wickednesse, till thou findest none. Iehovah is King for ever and aye; perished are the heathens out of his land. Iehovah thou hast heard the desire of the meeke, thou preparest firme their heart, thou makest attentive thine eare. To judge the fatherlesse and the oppressed, that he adde not any more to daunt with terrour sory man out of the earth.

Annotations. THis Psalme is in the Greeke version a continuance and part of the former ninth. Whereupon the count of the Psalmes following, doth in the Greeke books, and such as follow them, differ from the Hebrew; the 11. Psalme being reckoned for the 10. the 12. for the 11. and so forward. Yet to make up the number of 150. Psalmes, they divide the 147. into two. Likewise the 114 and 115. Psalmes they make one, and the 116. they part in two. Vers. 1. wherefore dost thou stand] or, wilt thou stand? This forme of expostulation implieth an earnest prayer, Lord stand not farre off. For questions may be resolved into plaine affirmations, or denials: as where one Evangelist saith, why diseasest thou the Master, Mark. 5. 35. another saith, Disease not the Master, Luke 8. 49. See the notes on Exod. 32. 11. dost thou hide] to wit, thine eyes, as Esay 1. 15. or, thine eare, as Lam. 3. 56. or thy selfe. times in distresse] that is, when we are in distresse. So Psal. 9. 10. Times, may specially note troublous times. See Psal. 31. 16. Vers. 2. hee hotly pursueth] or, burne doth the poore, doth broile in afflictions, is hotly persecuted. See Psal. 7. 14. The Apostle useth like speech for exceeding griefe, 2 Cor. 11. 19. Who is offended and I burne not? craftie purposes] or, devices, policies; The word noting sometime good purposes, and sometime evill. See also Psalm. 26. 10. The Greeke translateth, they are taken in the counsels. Vers. 3. praise doth the wicked] to wit, himselfe, or his fortune, for that he hath what his soule desireth. And the soule of the wicked desireth evill, Prov. 21. 10. the covetous] or gain-thirsty, he blesseth, to wit, himselfe, and his fortune. The covetous hath his name of a word which sometime signifieth to pierce or wound, Ioel 2. 8. And fitly is the gain-thirsty so called, both for the hurt he doth to others, whose life oft he would take away, Prov. 1. 19. and for that hee woundeth himselfe with his greedy carke; the holy Ghost testifying that such as lust after gaine, doe pierce themselves thorow with many sorrowes, 1 Tim. 6. 10. he despighteth] or contemptuously provoketh with evill words or carriage, and so incenseth or stirreth him to wrath. So vers. 13. The Chaldee expoundeth it thus, he that blesseth the unrighteous man, abhorreth the word of the Lord. Vers. 4. such is the loftinesse of his nose] or, according to the height of his countenance, or, of his anger. The nose and casting up of it, signifieth a proud, scornefull, and sometime an angry countenance; For as the highnesse of the heart, Psal. 131. 1. and of the spirit, Prov. 16. 18. noteth inward pride: so the loftinesse of the eyes, Psal. 101. 5. and here of the nose, noteth outward pride and disdainful behaviour. The Hebrew hath one word, for the nose, and for anger, (as is observed, Psal. 2. 5.) the Greeke here saith, according to the multitude of his anger, meaning that whereby hee persecuteth the poore. The Chaldee translateth it, in the pride of his spirit. he seeketh not] nothing regardeth or careth, to wit, for God, or his will. Or it may be translated, The wicked inquireth not into the height of his anger, that is, into Gods anger, he careth not, nor feareth his wrath. in all his craftie purposes] or, be all his presumptuous cogitations; meaning that hee doth not once thinke of God, whiles so he purposeth against the poore; or he presumeth in heart, and faine would so perswade himselfe that there is no God. He studieth Atheisme, as Psalm. 14. 1. The Chaldee expounds it, He saith in his heart, that all his cogitations are not manifest before the Lord. Vers. 5. His waies, &c.] or, bring forth doe his waies; a similitude from bringing forth children with paine, which being effected, causeth joy, Ioh. 16. 21. Therefore here, (as in Iob 20. 21.) it is used for good successe and (as the Chaldee explaineth it,) prosperitie. Or referring it to the poore whom he persecuteth, we may reade, his wayes make sorowfull, or are grievous; the Greeke saith, are polluted. in all time] or, in every time, that is, alwaies continually. So Psal. 34. 2. and 62. 9. and 106. 3. so the Apostle in Greeke saith, praying in all time, that is, alwaies, Ephes. 6. 18. like phrase is, in all day, that is, daily, Psal. 145. 2. above his sight] or out of his presence, from before him. he puffeth] that is, defieth & setteth them at nought, dominiers over them (as the Greeke translateth it) as if he could overthrow them with his breath. Or he puffeth, bloweth, and consequently setteth them on fire, and consumeth them: as, scornefull men puffe, (that is, inflame, or as the Greeke saith, burne) the citie, Prov. 29. 8. So Ezek. 21. 31. The Chaldee expoundeth it, he is angry at them. Vers. 6. I shall not be in evill:] or, that am not in evill; that is, I who am not now in evill, shall never be; meaning by evill, trouble or affliction; as the Israelites saw themselves in evill, Exod. 5. 19. Or, perhaps, by evill, he meaneth sinne and maliciousnesse, (as when Aaron said, the people were in evill, Exod. 32. 22.) and then he boasteth here of his innocencie, for which he promiseth to himselfe a setled estate. The Chaldee giveth this sense; I will not be moved from generation to generation, from doing evill. Vers. 7. of cursing] or, of execration or adjuration. The Hebrew Alah signifieth an oath with execration or cursing, Numb. 5. 21. for cursing was added to an oath, for to confirme it the more, Nehem. 10. 29. Deut. 29. 12, 21. therefore one and the same thing is called both an oath, and a curse, Gen. 24. 8. 41. This here the Apostle calleth in Greeke Ara, Cursing, Rom. 3. 14. deceits and fraud] or impostures and inward guile, that is, outward deceitfull shewes and promises, and privie guile lurking in the heart. Vers. 8. in the waiting place of the villages] or, the ambush of the court-yards, both which have their name in Hebrew of the grasse that groweth in them, as it were grasse-yards. And because such places commonly are rich mens possessions, therefore (it seemeth) the Greek translateth, in the waiting place with the rich. Vers. 10. He croucheth] or, And he crusheth, to wit, himselfe, lest he should be espied. See this spoken of the Lion, Iob 39. 2. that fall may into his strong pawes a troope] or, and he falleth with his strong pawes on the troope of poore. Strong pawes] or, Strong members; Here wanteth a word to be supplied, as often in this and other tongues; as, a full, for a full cup, Psal. 73. 10. a new, for a new sword, 2 Sam. 21. 16. cold, for cold water, Matth. 10. 42. This want sometime the Scripture it selfe supplieth in repe[illegible: 1 letter]ting histories; as, he set in Aram, 1 Chro. 18. 6. for he set garrisons in Aram, 2 Sam. 8. 6. the first of the feast, Matth. 26. 17. for the first day of the feast, Mark. 14. 12. So after, Psal. 22. 13. and 27. 4. troope of poore] or, the weake, the poore; called here by a name that noteth their power, wealth, and facultie, to be dimmed or decayed, or, a company of obscure persons. This word is no where found, but thrise in this Psalme, in the eight verse before, in this, and againe in the fourteenth. Vers. 11. he will not see] or, not at all respect. The like prophane speeches of the wicked are set downe, Psalm. 94. 7. Ezek. 8. 12. and 9. 9. Isay 29. 15. Vers. 12. lift up thy hand] that is, shew openly thy power for helpe of thy people, and confusion of thy foes. Lifting up the hand is applied to the publishing and manifesting of the Gospell, Isay 49. 22. sometime for signe of helpe, Ezek. 20. 5. sometime for hurt, 2 Sam. 18. 28. and sometime for signe of an oath, as Ps. 106. 26. Deut. 32. 40. In this latter sense the Chaldee Paraphrast taketh it here, Confirme the oath of thy hand. Vers. 14. to give it into thine hand] that is to take the matter into thy hand, to menage it, or, to give with thy hand, that is, liberally to recompence the evill that is done. The Chaldee paraphraseth thus, It is manifest before thee, that thou wilt send upon the wicked sorrow and wrath, thou lookest to pay a good reward to the just with thy hand. unto thee] or, upon thee the poore leaveth, to wit, his cause, or him-selfe. To leave, is to commit unto ones fidelitie, Gen. 39. 6. Esa. 10. 3. Iob 39. 14. And so the Chaldee saith, thy poore trust in thee. See also 2 Tim. 1. 12. Vers. 15. Breake the arme] the arme noteth strength, meanes, power, and helpe, Ezek. 30. 21, 25. Isa. 33. 2. Dan. 11. 6. 22. also violence, Iob 35. 9. I respect of all these, the armes of the wicked men shall be broken, Psal. 37. 17. till thou findest none.] In Ier. 50. 20. the sinnes of Gods people being sought for, are not found, because of his mercy in pardoning them: but here of the wicked they are not found, because of his judgement in consuming them, as he saith in Ezek. 23. 48. thus will I cause wickednesse to cease out of the land. Vers. 16. heathens out of his land] the land of Canaan, whose peoples the Lord drove out, Psal. 44. 3. and of which he said, the land is mine, Levit. 25. 23. It may also be understood of the wicked Israelites, which in conditions were like the heathens, and borne of them, Ezek. 16. 3. such were also called heathens, Psal. 2. 1. as appeareth by Act. 4. 27. Vers. 17. thou preparest firme] to wit, by thy Spirit, which helpeth the infirmities of men that know not what to pray as they ought, Rom. 8. 26. Or we may reade it prayer-wise, prepare thou their heart, apply &c. for prayers are often made in faith, as if they were already done; as, where one saith, it hath pleased thee to blesse, 1 Chron. 17. 27. another saith, let it please thee to blesse, 2 Sam. 7. 29. thine eare the Chaldee addeth, to their prayers. The Greeke thus, to the preparation of their heart thine care attendeth. Vers. 18. that he adde not] he, that is, the wicked man spoken of before, vers. 15. unlesse we refer it to that which followeth, the man of the earth. to daunt with terrour] or, to breake with feare, to dismay or terrifie. The word is indifferent, applied sometime to God, Psalm. 89. 8. sometime to wicked men, Psal. 37. 35. The Apostle following the Greeke version, saith, be not troubled, 1 Pet. 3. 14. for, be not daunted with feare, Esay 8. 12. but morefully the word is opened by Paul, saying, in nothing be terrified (or daunted) of your adversaries, Philip. 1. 28. pturómenoi. sory man, out of the earth] or sory men, (Aenosh,) as P. 9 21. This may be referred to the fatherlesse and oppressed, whom the wicked would daunt and sk[illegible: 1 letter]re out of the earth, or land. Or, changing the order of the words, thus, that man of the earth (that is, earthly man,) doe no more terrifie the meeke. The Chaldee explaineth it thus, Let the sons of men not any more be broken (or daunted) from before the wicked of the earth.

PSAL. X.

VErſ. 1. Why ſtandeſt then afar off, O Lord?] As if thou-hadſt forgotten what thou hadſt promiſed thy people in the former Pſalm; which the Greek and Latine Verſions make to be one and the ſame with this, as having no title, and tending almoſt to the ſame purpoſe: Hence the difference in Numbers, which holdeth almoſt to the end of the Pſalter, viz. to Pſal. 148.

Why hideſt thou thy ſelf in time of trouble?) So God ſeemeth to do, when he helpeth not preſently; neither doth any thing more trouble the Saints in affliction, than the want of Gods gracious preſence. This maketh them thus to expoſtulate and lament after the Lord; not quarrel as thoſe Hypocrites did, Iſa. 58.3. or revile, as Caligula did his Jupiter, taking up that Verſe in Homer, [non-Latin text not transcribed], or with him (little better) in the holy Hiſtory, who ſaid, Behold this evil is of the Lord, and what ſhould I wait for the Lord any longer? 2 King. 6.33. The good Soul knows that God waiteth to be gracious; and as he ſeldom cometh at our time, ſo at his own (which is ever the beſt) time, he never faileth.

Verſ. 2. [non-Latin text not transcribed] Chryſoſt. The wicked in his pride doth perſecute, &c.] Heb. hotly purſueth, and that out of his pride, the true cauſe of Perſecution; whatever elſe is pretended. And this is fitly here alledged, and urged as an Argument to move God to make haſt. See Deut. 32.27. The Saints fare the better for the inſolencies and outrages of their enemies, whoſe ruine is thereby accelerated, and somewhat God will do the ſooner for his people, leſt the enemy exalt himſelf, Pſal. 140.8. and ſay, Our hand is high, the Lord hath not done this.

Let them be taken in the devie[illegible: 1 letter]s, &c.] As all Perſecutors are ſure to be. In which regard Tertullian well adviſeth Scapula, Si nobis non parcis, tibi parce; ſi non tibi, Carthagini. If thou wilt not ſpare us Chriſtians, yet ſpare thy ſelf; or if not thy ſelf, yet thy City Carthage, which elſe will ſmart and ſmoke for thy cruelty.

Verſ. 3. For the wicked boaſteth of his hearts deſire] Though the Soul of the wicked deſire evil, Prov. 21.10. yet he glorieth in it, as did that Thraſonical Lamech, Gen. 4. and that Pyrgopolynices Nebuchadnezzar, Iſa. 10.9, 10, 11, 12.See Pſal. 5 Phil. 3.19. This the juſt and jealous God cannot bear, as neither that which followeth.

He bleſſeth the Covetous] Ʋt ſapientem & providum, as a wiſe man and good Huſband. So they in Malachy, who ſaid, And now we count the proud happy, &c. Felix ſcelus virtus vocatur.

Whom the Lord abhorreth] ſmiting his hands with indignation at his diſhoneſt gain, Ezek. 22.13. like as Balac did at Balaam, Seneca[illegible: 1 letter] with whom he was deeply diſpleaſed, Numb. 24.10.

Verſ. 4. The wicked through the pride of his countendnce] That is, of his heart, appearing in his countenance; as a maſter-pock in his fore-head. For Pride buddeth, Ezek. 7.10. the pride of Iſrael teſtifieth to his face, Hoſ. 5.5. the thoughts are oft ſeen in the countenance; and the heart is printed upon the face, Iſa. 3.9. 'Tis a hard thing, ſaith one, to have a brazen face, and a broken heart.

Will not ſeek] He thinks it not neceſſary, or worth the while; and his practice is agreeable, that is, nought all over. Pride in the Soul is like a great ſwelling in the body, which (beſides that it is a dangerous Symptom) unfits it for any good ſervice; and is apt to putrifie and to break, and to run with loath ſome and ſoul matter: So doth Pride diſable the Soul from doing duty, and at laſt breaketh forth into odious deeds, abominable to God and men. It is obſerved, that the ground whereon the Peacock uſeth to ſit, is by that occaſion made exceeding barren: ſo where pride rooſteth and reigneth, no good groweth.

God is not in all his thoughts] God is neither in his head, as here, nor in his heart, Pſal. 14.1. nor in his words, Pſal. 12.4. nor in his ways, Tit. 1.16. he is wholly without God in the world, Epheſ. 2. he ſtudies Atheiſm, and all his thoughts are, There is no God (ſo this Text may be read) he would fain ſo perſwade himſelf.

Verſ. 5. His ways are always grievous] As he Pleaſeth not God, ſo he is contrary and vexatious to men, Via ejus ſemper terrent, ſo Aben-Ezra. The Pſalmiſt here noteth him, for ſuch an one as the Cyclops are ſet forth to have been by the Poets.

Thy Judgements are far above out of his ſight] He looketh not ſo high, but reckoneth that quae ſupra nos nihil ad nos. If he read them at any time, he regardeth them as little as he doth the ſtory of forein Wars, wherein he is not concerned.

As for all his enemies, he puffeth at them] He holdeth himſelf man good enough to make his party good with them, and that he can overthrow them all with a puffe. He defieth them, and domintereth over them, [non-Latin text not transcribed] Chryſoſt. as the Greek renders it.

Verſ. 6. He hath ſaid in his heart, I ſhall not be moved] So ſaid a better man once, Pſal. 30.6. but he was quickly confuted. If a beleever conclude by the force of his faith, that he ſhall never be moved from that good eſtate in which Chriſt hath ſet him, this is the triumph of truſt, and not the vain vaunt of preſumption.

For I ſhall never be in adverſity] The Chaldee hath it, Quoniam non ſum in malo; and underſtandeth it of the evil of ſin, as Exod. 32.22. and then the ſenſe is, becauſe the wicked man ſuffereth not the puniſhment of ſin, therefore he conceiteth that he is innocent, and without ſin. See Hoſ. 12.8. with the Note.

Verſ. 7. His mouth is full of curſing and deceit] Such curſing men are curſed men; and for ſuch ſlippery and deceitful perſons, the Lord is the avenger of all ſuch; 1 Theſſ. 4.8.

Ʋnder his tongue is miſchief] that is, in his heart, which is by Nature placed beneath the Tongue, making its uſe of it, for much miſchief, Matth. 12.34. Jam. 3.8. The word Toch here rendred fraud, ſignifieth properly the middle of any thing, Quoniam fraus in modio cordis eſt, ſaith R. David, becauſe fraud is in the middle of the heart, and there-hence ſent into the mouth.

Verſ. 8. He ſitteth in the lurking-places, &c.] A deſcription of an High-way-robber, ſaith Diodate, under which name are meant all violent and fraudulent men, and their actions.

Verſ. 9. He lieth in wait ſecretly as a Lion in his den] See Job 38.40. with the Note.

When hee draweth him into his Net] that is, into his bonds, debts, morgages, ſaith Chryſoſtome. When a poor man is once gotten into theſe Nets, wicked Oppreſſors do not only rob but raviſh them; coyning their mony upon poor mens skins, and wringing the ſponges of poor people into their own purſes. David compareth them to Canibals, Sir Richard Berkley his Sum. Bon. 1[illegible: 1 letter]3 Pſal. 14.4. to greedy Lions here; another ſaith they are like the fiſh Polypus that lying in wait for other fiſhes upon the Rock, aſſimulateth to the Rock and taketh them in his Net, which hee hath naturally behind his head, and can, ſpread at his pleaſure, before they find themſelves in danger.

Verſ. 10. He croucheth (or cruſheth) and humbleth himſelf] Lyon-like, Job. 38. 40.Scipſum aegrum, & attritum fingit R. David. He can few the Foxes skin to the Lions hide for a need, and to compaſs his deſign. As proud as he is yet in ſubtlety he can abaſe himſelf; and with glavering ſpeeches, and fawning behaviour, indirectly indeavor the overthrow of the innocent and diſtreſſed. To which purpoſe he can put himſelf to pain, feign himſelf ſick, and in a dying condition (as thoſe do that ſtand for the Popedome) counterfeit and pretend humility, but all is Hypocriſie.

That the poor may fall by his ſtrong ones] whether teeth or pawes, per impia decreta, ſaith R. Obadiah, by his wicked decrees, by the hands of his Privado's, deſperate Aſſaſſinates, ſaith another Expoſitor.

Verſ. 11. Hee hath ſaid in his heart God hath forgotten] that is, he knoweth it not, regardeth it not. To learn is nothing elſe but to remember, ſaid Socrates; and what a man hath utterly forgotten, it is all one, as if he had never known it, 2 Pet. 1.9. hee hath forgotten that hee was purged from his old ſins, that is, hee was never purged. See verſ. 4.

Verſ. 12. Ariſe O Lord, ſurge, age, ſumme Pater, ſaid Mantuan to the Pope, ſtirring him up againſt the Turks; may wee better ſay to the Almighty God, againſt his peoples enemies. O God lift up thine hand] lift it up on high, that it may fall down the more heavily. In the firſt verſe of this Pſalm, the Prophet complained that God ſtood a farre off, and hid himſelf in time of trouble. Here hee is intreated to ariſe, to come neer, to put forth his hand for his peoples help, &c.

Verſ. 13. Wherefore doth the Wicked contemn God? q.d. It is time for thee, Lord, to ariſe and beſtir thy ſelf; for otherwiſe what will become of thy great name? The Saints cannot endure that God ſhould be ſlighted.

Hee hath ſaid in his heart] Verſ. 3.4. This ſticks in Davids ſtomack, and draws this prayer from him, who was now bleſſedly blown up with an holy zeal for God; as was alſo good Zuinglius, when hee ſaid, In aliis manſuetus ero, in Blaſphemiis in Chriſtum, non ita. In other matters I can be mild and patient, but not ſo in caſe of Blaſphemy againſt Chriſt.

Verſ. 14. Thou hast ſeen it] For thou art All-eye, whatever the wicked conceiteth to the contrary, making thee a God of clouts, as they ſay, or an Heathen-Idoll, which is nothing in the World.

To requite it with thine hand] reponendo in manu tua, by taking it in thy hand (ſo ſome render it) ſc. ut propius intnearis, certius conſideres, dijudices & vindices, Aben-Ezra-Relinquit in te [illegible: 1 letter]onus ſaum. R. Solomon. that thou mayeſt take a more neer and narrow view of it, and duely puniſh it.

The poor committeth himſelf unto thee] Heb. leaveth, relinquit ſcipſum, & currit ad te, he relinquiſheth himſelf, and runneth unto thee. Now whoſoever committeth himſelf, and his affaires to God, ſhall bee ſure to find him a faithfull Depoſitarie.

Thou art the helper of the father leſſe] The Worlds Refuge, as the Grand Signiour is called; The poor mans King, as James 5. of. Scotland. In God the Fatherleſs findeth mercy, Hoſ. 14.3. And theſe Arguments David uſeth in his prayer, not to move God to hear and help, but to work upon his own heart thereby, and to perſwade himſelf to more Faith, Love, Obedience, Humility, Thankfullneſs, whereby wee are the better fitted for mercy. When a man in a Ship plucks a Rock, it ſeemeth as if he pluckt the Rock nearer the ſhip, when as indeed the ſhip is pluck'd nearer the Rock. So is it in this caſe; wee ſeem to perſwade God by our Arguments, when as indeed the change is not wrought in him, but only in our ſelves; our Arguments are curarum noſtrarum levamenta, & fiducia impetrandi augmenta, the cure of our cares, and props to our faith of obtaining.

Verſ. 15. Break thou the arme of the Wicked] that arm that hath been lifted up againſt the godly, ſee Pſal. 3.8. & 58.7.

Seek out his wickedneſſe, that thou finde none] ad alios vel inficiendos, vel infeſtandos, Ezech. 23.48. Or, leave no ſin of his unpuniſhed. The Franciſcans, to prove that Francis the founder of their order was without ſin, fooliſhly alledge this Text, Queretur peccatum ill[illegible: 1 letter]us & non inven etur; wherein (according to the ſenſe of the Pſalmiſt) what do they elſe but wiſh that God would trace him quite thorow the courſe and trade of his iniquities, even to the uttermoſt end of them, and puniſh him accordingly; which is done, no doubt, long ſince.

Verſ. 16. The Lord is King for ever and ever] Therefore he will doubtleſſe do whatſoever hath been before deſired, and much more than wee can ask or think. Many Kings have been long-lived, as was Antaxerxes Mnemon, who reigned 62. years; Auguſtus Caeſar 56. Q Elizabeth 44, &c. but died at length, to the great grief of their ſubjects and ſervants, who are ready to with (as once the Romans did concerning Auguſtus) that eithet they had never been, or never dyed. But God is the King immortall, inviſible, &c.

The Heathen are periſhed out of his Land] the enemies, whether Jews or Gentiles are rid out of his Church; for that is Gods Land by a ſpecialty, his peculiar Portion.

Verſ. 17. Lord thou haſt heard the deſire of the humble] The whole life of a good Chriſtian is an holy deſire, ſaith Auſtin. And the deſires of the Righteous ſhall be ſatisfied, Prov. 10.24. becauſe they are framed by the Holy Spirit, according to the will of God, Rom. 8.27. and they have the mind of Chriſt, 1. Cor. 2.16. who knoweth the mind of the Spirit, Rom. 8.27. though their deſires be not uttered, v. 26.

Thou wilt prepare their heart] In removendis ab illo mundi negotiis, ſaith R. David, and by putting them into a praying frame, and ſo fitting them for mercy. Where God giveth a praying heart, 'tis ſure that hee will ſhew a pittying heart. If hee prepare the heart, hee will alſo bend his ear; like as when wee bid our Children ask us for this or that, wee mean to give it them; and as when wee open a purſe as wide as wee can pull it, 'tis a ſign wee intend to fill it top-full.

Thou wilt cauſe thine ear to hear] even whilſt they are preparing, and before they can ſpeak many times, Iſa. 65.24. or whileſt they are praying, as Dan. 9.20. Act. 4.31. or not long after; they ſhall be ſure to have out their prayers, either in mony, or in monies-worth, as they ſay.

Verſ. 18. To judge the fatherleſſe, &c.] the Vulgar hath it, to judge for the fatherleſs, and for the oppreſſed. It is one thing (ſaith Auſtin) to judge the fatherleſs, and another thing to judge for him; this later is, to paſs ſentence on his ſide; which God the righteous Judge will be ſure to do without writhing or warping; for hee hath all that is required of a Judge originally, and eminently, viz. Wiſdome, Juſtice, Courage, Conſtancy, and Power.

That the man of the earth may no more oppreſſe] or terrifie, daunt with terrour, as Phil. 1.28. See the Note there. Why ſhould one man be terrible to another, ſith wee are all mortales è terra, worms of the earth, clods of clay, and ſhall ſhortly return to the duſt whence wee were taken? unde ſuperbit homo? I even I am hee that comforteth you; who art thou that thou ſhouldeſt be afraid of a man that ſhall die, and of the Son of man that ſhall bee made as graſſe? And forgetteſt the Lord thy Maker—and haſt feared continually every day, becauſe of the fury of the Oppreſſor, as if hee were ready to deſtroy? and where is the fury of the Oppreſſor? Iſa. 51.12, 13. Some obſerve that the cloſe of this Pſalm is much like that of the former. How they have been taken (by the Greek Fathers eſpecially) for one entire Pſalm, See the Note on Verſ. 1.

To the tearful eye of the sufferer the Lord seemed to stand still, as if he calmly looked on, and did not sympathize with his afflicted one. Nay, more, the Lord appeared to be afar off, no longer "a very present help in trouble," but an inaccessible mountain, into which no man would be able to climb. The presence of God is the joy of his people, but any suspicion of his absence is distracting beyond measure. Let us, then, ever remember that the Lord is nigh us. The refiner is never far from the mouth of the furnace when his gold is in the fire, and the Son of God is always walking in the midst of the flames when his holy children are cast into them. Yet he that knows the frailty of man will little wonder that when we are sharply exercised, we find it hard to bear the apparent neglect of the Lord when he forbears to work our deliverance. "Why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?" It is not the trouble, but the hiding of our Father's face, which cuts us to the quick. When trial and desertion come together, we are in as perilous a plight as Paul, when his ship fell into a place where two seas met (Acts 27:41). It is but little wonder if we are like the vessel which ran aground, and the fore-part stuck fast, and remained unmoveable, while the hinder part was broken by the violence of the waves. When our sun is eclipsed, it is dark indeed. If we need an answer to the question, "Why hidest thou thyself?" it is to be found in the fact that there is a "needs-be," not only for trial, but for heaviness of heart under trial (1 Peter 1:6); but how could this be the case, if the Lord should shine upon us while he is afflicting us? Should the parent comfort his child while he is correcting him, where would be the use of the chastening? A smiling face and a rod are not fit companions. God bares the back that the blow may be felt; for it is only felt affliction which can become blest affliction. If we were carried in the arms of God over every stream, where would be the trial, and where the experience, which trouble is meant to teach us?

The second verse contains the formal indictment against the wicked: "The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor." The accusation divides itself into two distinct charges, —pride and tyranny; the one the root and cause of the other. The second sentence is the humble petition of the oppressed: "Let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined." The prayer is reasonable, just, and natural. Even our enemies themselves being judges, it is but right that men should be done by as they wished to do to others. We only weigh you in your own scales, and measure your corn with your own bushel. Terrible shall be thy day, O persecuting Babylon! when thou shalt be made to drink of the winecup which thou thyself hast filled to the brim with the blood of saints. There are none who will dispute the justice of God, when he shall hang every Haman on his own gallows, and cast all the enemies of his Daniels into their own den of lions.

The indictment being read, and the petition presented, the evidence is now heard upon the first count. The evidence is very full and conclusive upon the matter of pride, and no jury could hesitate to give a verdict against the prisoner at the bar. Let us, however, hear the witnesses one by one. The first testifies that he is a boaster. "For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire." He is a very silly boaster, for he glories in a mere desire: a very brazen-faced boaster, for that desire is villainy; and a most abandoned sinner, to boast of that which is his shame. Bragging sinners are the worst and most contemptible of men, especially when their filthy desires, —too filthy to be carried into act, —become the theme of their boastings. When Mr. Hate-Good and Mr. Heady are joined in partnership, they drive a brisk trade in the devil's wares. This one proof is enough to condemn the prisoner at the bar. Take him away, jailor! But stay, another witness desires to be sworn and heard. This time, the impudence of the proud rebel is even more apparent; for he "blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth." This is insolence, which is pride unmasked. He is haughty enough to differ from the Judge of all the earth, and bless the men whom God hath cursed. So did the sinful generation in the days of Malachi, who called the proud happy, and set up those that worked wickedness (Malachi 3:15). These base pretenders would dispute with their Maker; they would —

"Snatch from his hand the balance and the rod,

Rejudge his justice, be the god of God."

How often have we heard the wicked man speaking in terms of honour of the covetous, the grinder of the poor, and the sharp dealer! Our old proverb hath it, —

"I wot well how the world wags;

He is most loved that hath most bags."

Pride meets covetousness, and compliments it as wise, thrifty, and prudent. We say it with sorrow, there are many professors of religion who esteem a rich man, and flatter him, even though they know that he has fattened himself upon the flesh and blood of the poor. The only sinners who are received as respectable are covetous men. If a man is a fornicator, or a drunkard, we put him out of the church; but who ever read of church discipline against that idolatrous wretch, —the covetous man? Let us tremble, lest we be found to be partakers of this atrocious sin of pride, "blessing the covetous, whom Jehovah abhorreth."

The proud boastings and lewd blessings of the wicked have been received in evidence against him, and now his own face confirms the accusation, and his empty closet cries aloud against him. "The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God." Proud hearts breed proud looks and stiff knees. It is an admirable arrangement that the heart is often written on the countenance, just as the motion of the wheels of a clock find their record on its face. A brazen face and a broken heart never go together. We are not quite sure that the Athenians were wise when they ordained that men should be tried in the dark lest their countenances should weigh with the judges; for there is much more to be learned from the motions of the muscles of the face than from the words of the lips. Honesty shines in the face, but villainy peeps out at the eyes.

See the effect of pride; it kept the man from seeking God. It is hard to pray with a stiff neck and an unbending knee. "God is not in all his thoughts:" he thought much, but he had no thoughts for God. Amid heaps of chaff there was not a grain of wheat. The only place where God is not is in the thoughts of the wicked. This is a damning accusation; for where the God of heaven is not, the Lord of hell is reigning and raging; and if God be not in our thoughts, our thoughts will bring us to perdition.

"His ways are always grievous." To himself they are hard. Men go a rough road when they go to hell. God has hedged-up the way of sin: O what folly to leap these hedges and fall among the thorns! To others, also, his ways cause much sorrow and vexation; but what cares he? He sits like the idol god upon his monstrous car, utterly regardless of the crowds who are crushed as he rolls along. "Thy judgments are far above out of his sight:" he looks high, but not high enough. As God is forgotten, so are his judgments. He is not able to comprehend the things of God; a swine may sooner look through a telescope at the stars than this man study the Word of God to understand the righteousness of the Lord. "As for all his enemies, he puffeth at them." He defies and domineers; and when men resist his injurious behaviour, he sneers at them, and threatens to annihilate them with a puff. In most languages there is a word of contempt borrowed from the action of puffing with the lips, and in English we should express the idea by saying, "He cries, 'Pooh! Pooh!' at his enemies." Ah! there is one enemy who will not thus be puffed at. Death will puff at the candle of his life and blow it out, and the wicked boaster will find it grim work to brag in the tomb.

The testimony of the sixth verse concludes the evidence against the prisoner upon the first charge of pride, and certainly it is conclusive in the highest degree. The present witness has been prying into the secret chambers of the heart, and has come to tell us what he has heard. "He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity." O impertinence runs to seed! The man thinks himself immutable, and omnipotent too, for he, he is never to be in adversity. He counts himself a privileged man. He sits alone, and shall see no sorrow. His nest is in the stars, and he dreams not of a hand that shall pluck him thence. But let us remember that this man's house is built upon the sand, upon a foundation no more substantial than the rolling waves of the sea. He that is too secure is never safe. Boastings are not buttresses, and self-confidence is a sorry bulwark. This is the ruin of fools, that when they succeed they become too big, and swell with self-conceit, as if their summer would last for ever, and their flowers bloom on eternally. Be humble, O man! for thou art mortal, and thy lot is mutable.

The second crime is now to be proved. The fact that the man is proud and arrogant may go a long way to prove that he is vindicative and cruel. Haman's pride was the father of a cruel design to murder all the Jews. Nebuchadnezzar builds an idol; in pride he commands all men to bow before it; and then cruelly stands ready to heat the furnace seven times hotter for those who will not yield to his imperious will. Every proud thought is twin brother to a cruel thought. He who exalts himself will despise others, and one step further will make him a tyrant.

Let us now hear the witnesses in court. Let the wretch speak for himself, for out of his own mouth he will be condemned. "His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud." There is not only a little evil there, but his mouth is full of it. A three-headed serpent hath stowed away its coils and venom within the den of its black mouth. There is cursing which he spits against both God and men, deceit with which he entraps the unwary, and fraud by which, even in his common dealings, he robs his neighbours. Beware of such a man: have no sort of dealing with him: none but the silliest of geese would go to the fox's sermon, and none but the most foolish will put themselves into the society of knaves. But we must proceed. Let us look under this man's tongue as well as in his mouth; "under his tongue is mischief and vanity." Deep in his throat are the unborn words which shall come forth as mischief and iniquity.

Despite the bragging of this base wretch, it seems that he is as cowardly as he is cruel. "He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are privily set against the poor." He acts the part of the highwayman, who springs upon the unsuspecting traveller in some desolate part of the road. There are always bad men lying in wait for the saints. This is a land of robbers and thieves; let us travel well armed, for every bush conceals an enemy. Everywhere there are traps laid for us, and foes thirsting for our blood. There are enemies at our table as well as across the sea. We are never safe, save when the Lord is with us.

The picture becomes blacker, for here is the cunning of the lion, and of the huntsman, as well as the stealthiness of the robber. Surely there are some men who come up to the very letter of this description. With watching, perversion, slander, whispering, and false swearing, they ruin the character of the righteous, and murder the innocent; or, with legal quibbles, mortgages, bonds, writs, and the like, they catch the poor, and draw them into a net. Chrysostom was peculiarly severe upon this last phase of cruelty, but assuredly not more so than was richly merited. Take care, brethren, for there are other traps besides these. Hungry lions are crouching in every den, and fowlers spread their nets in every field.

Quarles well pictures our danger in those memorable lines, —

"The close pursuers' busy hands do plant

Snares in thy substance; snares attend thy wants;

Snares in thy credit; snares in thy disgrace;

Snares in thy high estate; snares in thy base;

Snares tuck thy bed; and snares surround thy board;

Snares watch thy thoughts; and snares attack thy word;

Snares in thy quiet; snares in thy commotion;

Snares in thy diet; snares in thy devotion;

Snares lurk in thy resolves; snares in thy doubt;

Snares lie within thy heart; and snares without;

Snares are above thy head, and snares beneath;

Snares in thy sickness; snares are in thy death.

O Lord! keep thy servants, and defend us from all our enemies!

"He croucheth and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones." Seeming humility is often armour-bearer to malice. The lion crouches that he may leap with the greater force, and bring down his strong limbs upon his prey. When a wolf was old, and had tasted human blood, the old Saxon cried, "Ware, wolf!" and we may cry, "Ware fox!" They who crouch to our feet are longing to make us fall. Be very careful of fawners; for friendship and flattery are deadly enemies.

As upon the former count, so upon this one; a witness is forthcoming, who has been listening at the keyhole of the heart. Speak up, friend, and let us hear your story. "He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it." This cruel man comforts himself with the idea that God is blind, or, at least, forgetful: a fond and foolish fancy, indeed. Men doubt Omniscience when they persecute the saints. If we had a sense of God's presence with us, it would be impossible for us to ill-treat his children. In fact, there can scarcely be a greater preservation from sin than the constant thought of "Thou, God, seest me."

Thus has the trial proceeded. The case has been fully stated; and now it is but little wonder that the oppressed petitioner lifts up the cry for judgment, which we find in the following verse: —

With what bold language will faith address its God! and yet what unbelief is mingled with our strongest confidence. Fearlessly the Lord is stirred up to arise and lift up his hand, yet timidly he is begged not to forget the humble; as if Jehovah could ever be forgetful of his saints. This verse is the incessant cry of the Church, and she will never refrain therefrom until her Lord shall come in his glory to avenge her of all her adversaries.

In these verses the description of the wicked is condensed, and the evil of his character traced to its source, viz., atheistical ideas with regard to the government of the world. We may at once perceive that this is intended to be another urgent plea with the Lord to show his power, and reveal his justice. When the wicked call God's righteousness in question, we may well beg him to teach them terrible things in righteousness. In verse 13, the hope of the infidel and his heart-wishes are laid bare. He despises the Lord, because he will not believe that sin will meet with punishment: "he hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it." If there were no hell for other men, there ought to be one for those who question the justice of it.

This vile suggestion receives its answer in verse 14. "Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand." God is all-eye to see, and all-hand to punish his enemies. From Divine oversight there is no hiding, and from Divine justice there is no fleeing. Wanton mischief shall meet with woeful misery, and those who harbour spite shall inherit sorrow. Verily there is a God which judgeth in the earth. Nor is this the only instance of the presence of God in the world; for while he chastises the oppressor, he befriends the oppressed. "The poor committeth himself unto thee." They give themselves up entirely into the Lord's hands. Resigning their judgment to his enlightenment, and their wills to his supremacy, they rest assured that he will order all things for the best. Nor does he deceive their hope. He preserves them in times of need, and causes them to rejoice in his goodness. "Thou art the helper of the fatherless." God is the parent of all orphans. When the earthly father sleeps beneath the sod, a heavenly Father smiles from above. By some means or other, orphan children are fed, and well they may when they have such a Father.

In this verse we hear again the burden of the psalmist's prayer: "Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man." Let the sinner lose his power to sin; stop the tyrant, arrest the oppressor, weaken the loins of the mighty, and dash in pieces the terrible. They deny thy justice: let them feel it to the full. Indeed, they shall feel it; for God shall hunt the sinner for ever: so long as there is a grain of sin in him it shall be sought out and punished. It is not a little worthy of note, that very few great persecutors have ever died in their beds: the curse has manifestly pursued them, and their fearful sufferings have made them own that divine justice at which they could at one time launch defiance. God permits tyrants to arise as thorn-hedges to protect his church from the intrusion of hypocrites, and that he may teach his backsliding children by them, as Gideon did the men of Succoth with the briers of the wilderness; but he soon cuts up these Herods, like the thorns, and casts them into the fire. Thales, the Milesian, one of the wise men of Greece, being asked what he thought to be the greatest rarity in the world, replied, "To see a tyrant live to be an old man." See how the Lord breaks, not only the arm, but the neck of proud oppressors! To the men who had neither justice nor mercy for the saints, there shall be rendered justice to the full, but not a grain of mercy.

Verses 16, 17, 18. The Psalm ends with a song of thanksgiving to the great and everlasting King, because he has granted the desire of his humble and oppressed people, has defended the fatherless, and punished the heathen who trampled upon his poor and afflicted children. Let us learn that we are sure to speed well, if we carry our complaint to the King of kings. Rights will be vindicated, and wrongs redressed, at his throne. His government neglects not the interests of the needy, nor does it tolerate oppression in the mighty. Great God, we leave ourselves in thine hand; to thee we commit thy church afresh. Arise, O God, and let the man of the earth —the creature of a day —be broken before the majesty of thy power. Come, Lord Jesus, and glorify thy people. Amen and Amen.

Whole Psalm. There is not, in my judgment, a Psalm which describes the mind, the manners, the works, the words, the feelings, and the fate of the ungodly with so much propriety, fulness, and light, as this Psalm. So that, if in any respect there has not been enough said heretofore, or if there shall be anything wanting in the Psalms that shall follow, we may here find a perfect image and representation of iniquity. This Psalm, therefore, is a type, form, and description of that man, who, though he may be in the sight of himself and of men more excellent than Peter himself, is detestable in the eyes of God; and this it was that moved Augustine, and those who followed him, to understand the Psalm of ANTICHRIST. But as the Psalm is without a title, let us embrace the most general and common understanding of it (as I said), and let us look at the picture of ungodliness which it sets before us. Not that we would deny the propriety of the acceptation in which others receive it, nay, we will, in our general acceptation of the Psalm, include also its reference to ANTICHRIST. And, indeed, it will not be at all absurd if we join this Psalm with the preceding, in its order thus. That David, in the preceding, spoke of the ungodly converted, and prayed for those who were to be converted. But that here he is speaking of the ungodly that are still left so, and in power prevailing over the weak ALMUTH, concerning whom he has no hope, or is in a great uncertainty of mind, whether they ever will be converted or not. Martin Luther.

"Why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?" The answer to this is not far to seek, for if the Lord did not hide himself it would not be a time of trouble at all. As well ask why the sun does not shine at night, when for certain there could be no night if he did. It is essential to our thorough chastisement that the Father should withdraw his smile: there is a needs be not only for manifold temptations, but that we be in heaviness through them. The design of the rod is only answered by making us smart. If there be no pain, there will be no profit. If there be no hiding of God, there will be no bitterness, and consequently no purging efficacy in his chastisements. C. H. S.

(last clause). "Times of trouble" should be times of confidence; fixedness of heart on God would prevent fears of heart. Psalm 112:7. "He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed." How? "Trusting in the Lord. His heart is established, he shall not be afraid." Otherwise without it we shall be as light as a weather-cock, moved with every blast of evil tidings, our hopes will swim or sink according to the news we hear. Providence would seem to sleep unless faith and prayer awaken it. The disciples had but little faith in their Master's accounts, yet that little faith awakened him in a storm, and he relieved them. Unbelief doth only discourage God from showing his power in taking our parts. Stephen Charnock.

"The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor." THE OPPRESSOR'S PLEA. I seek but what is my own by law; it was his own free act and deed —the execution lies for goods and body; and goods or body I will have, or else my money. What if his beggardly children pine, or his proud wife perish? they perish at their own charge, not mine; and what is that to me? I must be paid, or he lie by it until I have my utmost farthing, or his bones. The law is just and good; and, being ruled by that, how can my fair proceedings be unjust? What is thirty in the hundred to a man of trade? Are we born to thrum caps or pick straws? and sell our livelihood for a few tears, and a whining face? I thank God they move me not so much as a howling dog at midnight. I'll give no day if heaven itself would be security. I must have present money, or his bones. . . . . Fifteen shillings in the pound composition! I'll hang first. Come, tell me not of a good conscience: a good conscience is no parcel in my trade; it hath made more bankrupts than all the loose wives in the universal city. My conscience is no fool: it tells me my own is my own, and that a well crammed bag is no deceitful friend, but will stick close to me when all my friends forsake me. If to gain a good estate out of nothing, and to regain a desperate debt which is as good as nothing, be the fruits and signs of a bad conscience, God help the good. Come, tell me not of griping and oppression. The world is hard, and he that hopes to thrive must gripe as hard. What I give I give, and what I lend I lend. If the way to heaven be to turn beggar upon earth, let them take it that like it. I know not what you call oppression, the law is my direction; but of the two, it is more profitable to oppress than to be oppressed. If debtors would be honest and discharge, our hands were bound: but when their failing offends my bags, they touch the apple of my eye, and I must right them. Francis Quarles.

That famous persecutor, Domitian, like others of the Roman emperors, assumed divine honours, and heated the furnace seven times hotter against Christians because they refused to worship his image. In like manner, when the popes of Rome became decorated with the blasphemous titles of Masters of the World, and, Universal Fathers, they let loose their blood-hounds upon the faithful. Pride is the egg of persecution. C. H. S.

"Pride," is a vice which cleaveth so fast unto the hearts of men, that if we were to strip ourselves of all faults one by one, we should undoubtedly find it the very last and hardest to put off. Richard Hooker, 1554-1600.

"The wicked boasteth," etc. He braggeth of his evil life, whereof he maketh open profession; or he boasteth that he will accomplish his wicked designs; or glorieth that he hath already accomplished them. Or it may be understood that he commendeth others who are according to the desires of his own soul; that is, he respecteth or honoureth none but such as are like him, and them only he esteemeth. Psalm 36:4, and 49:18; Romans 1:32. John Diodati, 1648.

"The wicked . . . . . . blesseth the covetous." Like will to like, as the common proverb is. Such as altogether neglect the Lord's commandments not only commit divers gross sins, but commend those who in sinning are like themselves. For in their affections they allow them, in their speeches they flatter and extol them, and in their deeds they join with them and maintain them. Peter Muffet, 1594.

"The covetous." Covetousness is the desire of possessing that which we have not, and attaining unto great riches and worldly possessions. And whether this be not the character of trade and merchandise and traffic of every kind, the great source of those evils of over-trading which are everywhere complained of, I refer to the judgment of the men around me, who are engaged in the commerce and business of life. Compared with the regular and quiet diligence of our fathers, and their contentment with small but sure returns, the wild and wide-spread speculation for great gains, the rash and hasty adventures which are daily made, and the desperate gamester-like risks which are run, do reveal full surely that a spirit of covetousness hath been poured out upon men within the last thirty or forty years. And the providence of God corresponding thereto, by wonderful and unexpected revolutions, by numerous inventions for manufacturing the productions of the earth, in order to lead men into temptation, hath impressed upon the whole face of human affairs, a stamp of earnest worldliness not known to our fathers: insomuch that our youth do enter life no longer with the ambition of providing things honest in the sight of men, keeping their credit, bringing up their family, and realising a competency, if the Lord prosper them, but with the ambition of making a fortune, retiring to their ease, and enjoying the luxuries of the present life. Against which crying sin of covetousness, dearly beloved brethren, I do most earnestly call upon you to wage a good warfare. This place is its seat, its stronghold, even this metropolitan city of Christian Britain; and ye who are called by the grace of God out of the great thoroughfare of Mammon, are so elected for the express purpose of testifying against this and all other backslidings of the church planted here; and especially against this, as being in my opinion, one of the most evident and the most common of them all. For who hath not been snared in the snare of covetousness? Edward Irving, 1828.

"The covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth." Christ knew what he spake when he said, "No man can serve two masters." Matthew 6:24. Meaning God and the world, because each would have all. As the angel and the devil strove for the body of Moses (Jude 1:9), not who should have a part, but who should have the whole, so they strive still for our souls, who shall have all. Therefore, the apostle saith, "The love of this world is enmity to God (James 4:4), signifying such emulation between these two, that God cannot abide the world should have a part, and the world cannot abide that God should have a part. Therefore, the love of the world must needs be enmity to God, and therefore the lovers of the world must needs be enemies to God, and so no covetous man is God's servant, but God's enemy. For this cause covetousness is called idolatry (Ephesians 5:5), which is the most contrary sin to God, because as treason sets up another king in the king's place, so idolatry sets up another god in God's place. Henry Smith.

"The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God." He is judged a proud man (without a jury sitting on him), who when condemned will not submit, will not stoop so low as to accept of a pardon. I must indeed correct myself, men are willing to be justified, but they would have their duties to purchase their peace and the favour of God. Thousands will die and be damned rather than they will have a pardon upon the sole account of Christ's merits and obedience. Oh, the cursed pride of the heart! When will men cease to be wiser than God? To limit God? When will men be contented with God's way of saving them by the blood of the everlasting covenant? How dare men thus to prescribe to the infinitely wise God? Is it not enough for thee that thy destruction is of thyself? But must thy salvation be of thyself too? Is it not enough that thou hast wounded thyself, but wilt thou die for ever, rather than be beholden to a plaister of free grace? Wilt be damned unless thou mayest be thine own Saviour? God is willing ("God so loved the world that he gave his only Son"), art thou so proud as that thou wilt not be beholden to God? Thou wilt deserve, or have nothing. What shall I say? Poor thou art, and yet proud; thou hast nothing but wretchedness and misery, and yet thou art talking of a purchase. This is a provocation. "God resisteth the proud," especially the spiritually proud. He that is proud of his clothes and parentage, is not so contemptible in God's eyes as he that is proud of his abilities, and so scorns to submit to God's methods for his salvation by Christ, and by his righteousness alone. Lewis Stuckley.

"The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God." The pride of the wicked is the principal reason why they will not seek after the knowledge of God. This knowledge it prevents them from seeking in various ways. In the first place, it renders God a disagreeable object of contemplation to the wicked, and a knowledge of him as undesirable. Pride consists in an unduly exalted opinion of one's self. It is, therefore, impatient of a rival, hates a superior, and cannot endure a master. In proportion as it prevails in the heart, it makes us wish to see nothing above us, to acknowledge no law but our own wills, to follow no rule but our own inclinations. Thus it led Satan to rebel against his Creator, and our first parents to desire to be as gods. Since such are the effects of pride, it is evident that nothing can be more painful to a proud heart than the thoughts of such a being as God; one who is infinitely powerful, just, and holy; who can neither be resisted, deceived, nor deluded; who disposes, according to his own sovereign pleasure, of all creatures and events; and who, in an especial manner, hates pride, and is determined to abase and punish it. Such a being pride can contemplate only with feelings of dread, aversion, and abhorrence. It must look upon him as its natural enemy, the great enemy, whom it has to fear. But the knowledge of God directly tends to bring this infinite, irresistible, irreconcilable enemy full to the view of the proud man. It teaches him that he has a superior, a master, from whose authority he cannot escape, whose power he cannot resist, and whose will he must obey, or be crushed before him, and be rendered miserable for ever. It shows him what he hates to see, that, in despite of his opposition, God's counsel shall stand, that he will do all his pleasure, and that in all things wherein men deal proudly, God is above them. These truths torture the proud unhumbled hearts of the wicked, and hence they hate that knowledge of God which teaches these truths, and will not seek it. On the contrary, they wish to remain ignorant of such a being, and to banish all thoughts of him from their minds. With this view, they neglect, pervert, or explain away those passages of revelation which describe God's true character, and endeavour to believe that he is altogether such a one as themselves.

How foolish, how absurd, how ruinous, how blindly destructive of its own object, does pride appear! By attempting to soar, it only plunges itself in the mire, and while endeavouring to erect for itself a throne, it undermines the ground on which it stands and digs its own grave. It plunged Satan from heaven into hell; it banished our first parents from paradise; and it will, in a similar manner, ruin all who indulge in it. It keeps us in ignorance of God, shuts us out from his favour, prevents us from resembling him, deprives us in this world of all the honour and happiness which communion with him would confer; and in the next, unless previously hated, repented of, and renounced, will bar for ever against us the door of heaven, and close upon us the gates of hell. O then, my friends, beware, above all things, beware of pride! Beware, lest you indulge it imperceptibly, for it is perhaps, of all sins, the most secret, subtle, and insinuating. Edward Payson, D.D., 1783-1827.

David speaks in Psalm 10 of great and potent oppressors and politicians, who see none on earth greater than themselves, none higher than they, and think therefore that they may impuns prey upon the smaller, as beasts use to do; and in the fourth verse this is made the root and ground of all, that God is not in all his thoughts. "The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts." The words are diversely read, and all make for this sense. Some read it, "No God in all his crafty presumptuous purposes;" others, "All his thoughts are, there is no God." The meaning whereof is not only that among the swarm and crowd of thoughts that fill his mind, the thought of God is seldom to be found, and comes not in among the rest, which yet is enough for the purpose in hand; but further, that in all his projects and plots, and consultations of his heart (the first reading of the words intends), whereby he contrives and lays the plot, form, and draught of all his actions, he never takes God or his will into consideration or consultation, to square and frame all accordingly, but proceeds and goes on in all, and carries on all as if there were no God to be consulted with. He takes not him along with him, no more than if he were no God; the thoughts of him and his will sway him not. As you use to say, when a combination of men leave out someone they should advise with, that such a one is not of their counsel, is not in the plot; so nor is God in their purposes and advisings, they do all without him. But this is not all the meaning, but farther, all their thought is, that there is no God. This is there made the bottom, the foundation, the groundwork and reason of all their wicked plots and injurious projects, and deceitful carriages and proceedings, that seeing there is no God or power above them to take notice of it, to regard or requite them, therefore they may be bold to go on. Thomas Goodwin.

"Of his countenance." Which pride he carrieth engraven in his very countenance and forehead, and makes it known in all his carriages and gestures. "Will not seek," namely, he contemneth all divine and human laws, he feareth not, respecteth not God's judgments; he careth for nothing, so he may fulfil his desires; enquires after, nor examines nothing; all things are indifferent to him. John Diodati.

"All his thoughts are, there is no God;" thus some read the passage. Seneca says, there are no atheists, though there would be some; if any say there is no God, they lie; though they say it in the day time, yet in the night when they are alone they deny it; howsoever some desperately harden themselves, yet if God doth but show himself terrible to them, they confess him. Many of the heathens and others have denied that there is a God, yet when they were in distress, they did fall down and confess him, as Diagoras, that grand atheist, when he was troubled with the strangullion, acknowledged a deity which he had denied. These kind of atheists I leave to the tender mercies of God, of which I doubt it whether there be any for them. Richard Stock.

"God is not in all his thoughts." It is the black work of an ungodly man or an atheist, that God is not in all his thoughts. What comfort can be had in the being of God without thinking of him with reverence and delight? A God forgotten is as good as no God to us. Stephen Charnock.

Trifles possess us, but "God is not in all our thoughts," seldom the sole object of them. We have durable thoughts of transitory things, and flitting thoughts of a durable and eternal good. The covenant of grace engageth the whole heart to God, and bars anything else from engrossing it; but what strangers are God and the souls of most men! Though we have the knowledge of him by creation, yet he is for the most part an unknown God in the relations wherein he stands to us, because a God undelighted in. Hence it is, as one observes, that because we observe not the ways of God's wisdom, conceive not of him in his vast perfections, nor are stricken with an admiration of his goodness, that we have fewer good sacred poems than of any other kind. The wits of men hang the wing when they come to exercise their reasons and fancies about God. Parts and strength are given us, as well as corn and wine to the Israelites, for the service of God, but those are consecrated to some cursed Baal, Hosea 2:8. like Venus in the poet, we forsake heaven to follow after some Adonis. Stephen Charnock.

The world hath a spiritual fascination and witchcraft, by which, where it hath once prevailed, men are enchanted to an utter forgetfulness of themselves and God, and being drunk with pleasures, they are easily engaged to a madness and height of folly. Some, like foolish children, are made to keep a great stir in the world for very trifles, for a vain show; they think themselves great, honourable, excellent, and for this make a great bustle, when the world hath not added one cubic to their stature of real worth. Others are by this Circe transformed into savage creatures, and act the part of lions and tigers. Others, like swine, wallow in the lusts of uncleanness. Others are unmanned, putting off all natural affections, care not who they ride over, so they may rule over or be made great. Others are taken with ridiculous frenzies, so that a man that stands in the cool shade of a sedate composure would judge them out of their wits. It would make a man admire to read of the frisks of Caius Caligula, Xerxes, Alexander, and many others, who because they were above many men, thought themselves above human nature. They forgot they were born and must die, and did such things as would have made them, but that their greatness overawed it, a laughing-stock and common scorn to children. Neither must we think that these were but some few or rare instances of worldly intoxication, when the Scripture notes it as a general distemper of all that bow down to worship this idol. They live "without God in the world," saith the apostle, that is, they so carry it as if there were no God to take notice of them to check them for their madness. "God is not in all his thoughts." Verse 4. "The judgments of God are far above out of his sight;" he puffs at his enemies (verse 5), and saith in his heart, he "shall never be moved," Verse 6. The whole Psalm describes the worldling as a man that hath lost all his understanding, and is acting the part of a frantic bedlam. What then can be a more fit engine for the devil to work with than the pleasures of the world? Richard Gilpin.

The world hath a spiritual fascination and witchcraft, by which, where it hath once prevailed, men are enchanted to an utter forgetfulness of themselves and God, and being drunk with pleasures, they are easily engaged to a madness and height of folly. Some, like foolish children, are made to keep a great stir in the world for very trifles, for a vain show; they think themselves great, honourable, excellent, and for this make a great bustle, when the world hath not added one cubic to their stature of real worth. Others are by this Circe transformed into savage creatures, and act the part of lions and tigers. Others, like swine, wallow in the lusts of uncleanness. Others are unmanned, putting off all natural affections, care not who they ride over, so they may rule over or be made great. Others are taken with ridiculous frenzies, so that a man that stands in the cool shade of a sedate composure would judge them out of their wits. It would make a man admire to read of the frisks of Caius Caligula, Xerxes, Alexander, and many others, who because they were above many men, thought themselves above human nature. They forgot they were born and must die, and did such things as would have made them, but that their greatness overawed it, a laughing-stock and common scorn to children. Neither must we think that these were but some few or rare instances of worldly intoxication, when the Scripture notes it as a general distemper of all that bow down to worship this idol. They live "without God in the world," saith the apostle, that is, they so carry it as if there were no God to take notice of them to check them for their madness. "God is not in all his thoughts." Verse 4. "The judgments of God are far above out of his sight;" he puffs at his enemies (verse 5), and saith in his heart, he "shall never be moved," Verse 6. The whole Psalm describes the worldling as a man that hath lost all his understanding, and is acting the part of a frantic bedlam. What then can be a more fit engine for the devil to work with than the pleasures of the world? Richard Gilpin.

"Grievous," or troublesome; that is, all his endeavours and actions aim at nothing but at hurting others. "Are far above," for he is altogether carnal, he hath not any disposition nor correspondence with the justice of thy law, which is altogether spiritual; and therefore cannot lively represent unto himself thy judgments, and the issue of the wicked according to the said law. Romans 7:14; 1 Corinthians 2:14. "He puffeth;" he doth most arrogantly despise them, and is confident he can overthrow them with a puff. John Diodati.

"Thy judgments are far above out of his sight." Because God does not immediately visit every sin with punishment, ungodly men do not see that in due time he judges all the earth. Human tribunals must of necessity, by promptness and publicity, commend themselves to the common judgment, but the Lord's modes of dealing with sin are sublimer and apparently more tardy, hence the bat's eyes of godless men cannot see them, and the grovelling wits of men cannot comprehend them. If God sat in the gate of every village and held his court there, even fools might discern his righteousness, but they are not capable of perceiving that for a matter to be settled in the highest court, even in heaven itself, is a far more solemn matter. Let believers take heed lest they fall in a degree into the same error, and begin to criticise the actions of The Great Supreme, when they are too elevated for human reason to comprehend them. C. H. S.

"The judgments of God are far above out of his sight." Out of his sight, as an eagle at her highest towering so lessens herself to view, that he sees not the talons, nor fears the grip. Thus man presumes till he hath sinned, and then despairs as fast afterwards. At first, "Tush, doth God see it?" At last, "Alas! will God forgive it?" But if a man will not know his sins, his sins will know him; the eyes which presumption shuts, commonly despair opens. Thomas Adams.

"As for all his enemies, he puffeth at them." David describeth a proud man, puffing at his enemies: he is puffed up and swelled with high conceits of himself, as if he had some great matter in him, and he puffs at others as if he could do some great matter against them, forgetting that himself is but, as to his being in this world, a puff of wind which passeth away. Joseph Caryl.

"As for all his enemies, he puffeth at them;" literally, "He whistles at them." He is given over to the dominion of gloomy indifference, and he cares as little for others as for himself. Whosoever may be imagined by him to be an enemy he cares not. Contempt and ridicule are his only weapons; and he has forgotten how to use others of a more sacred character. His mental habits are marked by scorn; and he treats with contempt the judgments, opinions, and practices of the wisest of men. John Morison.

"He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity." Carnal security opens the door for all impiety to enter into the soul. Pompey, when he had in vain assaulted a city, and could not take it by force, devised this stratagem in way of agreement; he told them he would leave the siege and make peace with them, upon condition that they would let in a few weak, sick, and wounded soldiers among them to be cured. They let in the soldiers, and when the city was secure, the soldiers let in Pompey's army. A carnal settled security will let in a whole army of lusts into the soul. Thomas Brooks.

"He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity." To consider religion always on the comfortable side; to congratulate one's self for having obtained the end before we have made use of the means; to stretch the hands to receive the crown of righteousness before they have been employed to fight the battle; to be content with a false peace, and to use no effort to obtain the graces to which true consolation is annexed: this is a dreadful calm, like that which some voyagers describe, and which is a very singular forerunner of a very terrible event. All on a sudden, in the wide ocean, the sea becomes calm, the surface of the water clear as a crystal, smooth as glass —the air serene; the unskilled passenger becomes tranquil and happy, but the old mariner trembles. In an instant the waves froth, the winds murmur, the heavens kindle, a thousand gulfs open, a frightful light inflames the air, and every wave threatens sudden death. This is an image of many men's assurance of salvation. James Saurin, 1677-1730.

"Under his tongue is mischief and vanity." The striking allusion of this expression is to certain venomous reptiles, which are said to carry bags of poison under their teeth, and, with great subtlety to inflict the most deadly injuries upon those who come within their reach. How affectingly does this represent the sad havoc which minds tainted with infidelity inflict on the community! By their perversions of truth, and by their immoral sentiments and practices, they are as injurious to the mind as the deadliest poison can be to the body. John Morison.

Cursing men are cursed men. John Trapp.

In Anne Askew's account of her examination by Bishop Bonner, we have an instance of the cruel craft of persecutors: "On the morrow after, my lord of London sent for me at one of the clock, his hour being appointed at three. And as I came before him, he said he was very sorry of my trouble, and desired to know my opinion in such matters as were laid against me. He required me also boldly in any wise to utter the secrets of my heart; bidding me not to fear in any point, for whatsoever I did say within his house, no man should hurt me for it. I answered, 'For so much as your lordship hath appointed three of the clock, and my friends shall not come till that hour, I desire you to pardon me of giving answer till they come.'" Upon this Bale remarks: "'In this preventing of the hour may the diligent perceive the greediness of this Babylon bishop, or bloodthirsty wolf, concerning his prey. 'Swift are their feet,' saith David, 'in the effusion of innocent blood, which have fraud in their tongues, venom in their lips, and most cruel vengeance in their mouths.' David much marvelleth in the spirit that, taking upon them the spiritual governance of the people, they can fall into such frenzy or forgetfulness of themselves, as to believe it lawful thus to oppress the faithful, and to devour them with as little compassion as he that greedily devoureth a piece of bread. If such have read anything of God, they have little minded their true duty therein. 'More swift,' saith Jeremy, 'are our cruel persecutors than the eagles of the air. They follow upon us over the mountains, and lay privy wait for us in the wilderness.' He that will know the crafty hawking of bishops to bring in their prey, let them learn it here. Judas, I think, had never the tenth part of their cunning workmanship.'" John Bale, D.D., Bishop of Ossory, 1495-1563, in "Examination of Anne Askew." Parker Society's Publications.

In Anne Askew's account of her examination by Bishop Bonner, we have an instance of the cruel craft of persecutors: "On the morrow after, my lord of London sent for me at one of the clock, his hour being appointed at three. And as I came before him, he said he was very sorry of my trouble, and desired to know my opinion in such matters as were laid against me. He required me also boldly in any wise to utter the secrets of my heart; bidding me not to fear in any point, for whatsoever I did say within his house, no man should hurt me for it. I answered, 'For so much as your lordship hath appointed three of the clock, and my friends shall not come till that hour, I desire you to pardon me of giving answer till they come.'" Upon this Bale remarks: "'In this preventing of the hour may the diligent perceive the greediness of this Babylon bishop, or bloodthirsty wolf, concerning his prey. 'Swift are their feet,' saith David, 'in the effusion of innocent blood, which have fraud in their tongues, venom in their lips, and most cruel vengeance in their mouths.' David much marvelleth in the spirit that, taking upon them the spiritual governance of the people, they can fall into such frenzy or forgetfulness of themselves, as to believe it lawful thus to oppress the faithful, and to devour them with as little compassion as he that greedily devoureth a piece of bread. If such have read anything of God, they have little minded their true duty therein. 'More swift,' saith Jeremy, 'are our cruel persecutors than the eagles of the air. They follow upon us over the mountains, and lay privy wait for us in the wilderness.' He that will know the crafty hawking of bishops to bring in their prey, let them learn it here. Judas, I think, had never the tenth part of their cunning workmanship.'" John Bale, D.D., Bishop of Ossory, 1495-1563, in "Examination of Anne Askew." Parker Society's Publications.

"He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages," etc. The Arab robber lurks like a wolf among these sand heaps, and often springs out suddenly upon the solitary traveller, robs him in a trice, and then plunges again into the wilderness of sand-hills and reedy downs, where pursuit is fruitless. Our friends are careful not to allow us to straggle about, or lag behind, and yet it seems absurd to fear a surprise here —Kaifa before, Acre in the rear, and travellers in sight on both sides. Robberies, however, do often occur, just where we now are. Strange country! and it has always been so. There are a hundred allusions to just such things in the history, the Psalms, and the prophets of Israel. A whole class of imagery is based upon them. Thus, in Psalm 10:8-10, "He sits in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent: he lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net; he croucheth and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones." And a thousand rascals, the living originals of this picture, are this day crouching and lying in wait all over the country to catch poor helpless travellers. You observe that all these people we meet or pass are armed; nor would they venture to go from Acre to Kaifa without their musket, although the cannon of the castles seem to command every foot of the way. Strange, most strange land! but it tallies wonderfully with its ancient story. W. M. Thompson, D.D., in "The Land and the Book," 1859.

My companions asked me if I knew the danger I had escaped. "No," I replied; "What danger?" They then told me that, just after they started, they saw a wild Arab skulking after me, crouching to the ground, with a musket in his hand; and that, as soon as he had reached within what appeared to them musket-shot of me, he raised his gun; but, looking wildly around him, as a man will do who is about to perpetrate some desperate act, he caught sight of them and disappeared. Jeremiah knew something of the ways of these Arabs when he wrote (chapter 3:2) "In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness;" and the simile is used in Psalm 10:9, 10, for the Arabs wait and watch for their prey with the greatest eagerness and perseverance. John Gadsby, in "My Wanderings," 1860.

"He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are privily set against the poor." All this strength of metaphor and imagery is intended to mark the assiduity, the cunning, the low artifice, to which the enemies of truth and righteousness will often resort in order to accomplish their corrupt and vicious designs. The extirpation of true religion is their great object; and there is nothing to which they will not stoop in order to effect that object. The great powers which have oppressed the church of Christ, in different ages, have answered to this description. Both heathen and papistical authorities have thus condescended in infamy. They have sat, as it were, in ambush for the poor of Christ's flock; they have adopted every stratagem that infernal skill could invent; they have associated themselves with princes in their palaces, and with beggars on their dunghill; they have resorted to the village, and they have mingled in the gay and populous city; and all for the vain purpose of attempting to blot out a "name which shall endure for ever, and which shall be continued as long as the sun." John Morison.

Verse 9 "He doth catch the poor." The poor man is the beast they hunt, who must rise early, rest late, eat the bread of sorrow, sit with many a hungry meal, perhaps his children crying for food, while all the fruit of his pains is served into Nimrod's table. Complain of this while you will, yet, as the orator said of Verres, pecuniosus nescit damnari. Indeed, a money-man may not be damnified, but he may be damned. For this is a crying sin, and the wakened ears of the Lord will hear it, neither shall his provoked hands forbear it. Si tacuerint pauperes loquentur lapides. If the poor should hold their peace, the very stones would speak. The fines, rackings, enclosures, oppressions, vexations, will cry to God for vengeance. "The stone will cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it." Habakkuk 2:11. You see the beasts they hunt. Not foxes, not wolves, nor boars, bulls, nor tigers. It is a certain observation, no beast hunts its own kind to devour it. Now, if these should prosecute wolves, foxes, &c., they should then hunt their own kind; for they are these themselves, or rather worse than these, because here homo homini lupus. But though they are men they hunt, and by nature of the same kind, they are not so by quality, for they are lambs they persecute. In them there is blood, and flesh, and fleece to be had; and therefore on these do they gorge themselves. In them there is weak armour of defence against their cruelties; therefore over these they may domineer. I will speak it boldly: there is not a mighty Nimrod in this land that dares hunt his equal; but over his inferior lamb he insults like a young Nero. Let him be graced by high ones, and he must not be saluted under twelve score off. In the country he proves a termagant; his very scowl is a prodigy, and breeds an earthquake. He would be a Caesar, and tax all. It is well if he prove not a cannibal! Only Macro salutes Sejanus so long as he is in Tiberius's favour; cast him from that pinnacle, and the dog is ready to devour him. Thomas Adams.

"He draweth him into his net." "They hunt with a net." Micah 7:2. They have their politic gins to catch men; gaudy wares and dark shops (and would you have them love the light that live by darkness, as many shopkeepers?) draw and tole customers in, where the crafty leeches can soon feel their pulses: if they must buy they shall pay for their necessity. And though they plead, We compel none to buy our ware, caveat emptor; yet with fine voluble phrases, damnable protestations, they will cast a mist of error before an eye of simple truth, and with cunning devices hunt them in. So some among us have feathered their nests, not by open violence, but politic circumvention. They have sought the golden fleece, not by Jason's merit, but by Medea's subtlety, by Medea's sorcery. If I should intend to discover these hunter's plots, and to deal punctually with them, I should afford you more matter than you would afford me time. But I limit myself and answer all their plans with Augustine. Their tricks may hold in jure fori, but not in jure poli —in the common-pleas of earth, not before the king's bench in heaven. Thomas Adams.

Oppression turns princes into roaring lions, and judges into ravening wolves. It is an unnatural sin, against the light of nature. No creatures do oppress them of their own kind. Look upon the birds of prey, as upon eagles, vultures, hawks, and you shall never find them preying upon their own kind. Look upon the beasts of the forest, as upon the lion, the tiger, the wolf, the bear, and you shall ever find them favourable to their own kind; and yet men unnaturally prey upon one another, like the fish in the sea, the great swallowing up the small. Thomas Brooks.

"He croucheth, and humbleth himself," etc. There is nothing too mean or servile for them, in the attempt to achieve their sinister ends. You shall see his holiness the Pope washing the pilgrims' feet, if such a stratagem be necessary to act in the minds of the deluded multitude; or you shall see him sitting on a throne of purple, if he wishes to awe and control the kings of the earth. John Morison.

Verse 10 If you take a wolf in a lambskin, hang him up; for he is the worst of the generation. Thomas Adams.

"He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten." Is it not a senseless thing to be careless of sins committed long ago? The old sins forgotten by men, stick fast in an infinite understanding. Time cannot raze out that which hath been known from eternity. Why should they be forgotten many years after they were acted, since they were foreknown in an eternity before they were committed, or the criminal capable to practice them? Amalek must pay their arrears of their ancient unkindness to Israel in the time of Saul, though the generation that committed them were rotten in their graves. 1 Samuel 15:2. Old sins are written in a book, which lies always before God; and not only our own sins, but the sins of our fathers, to be requited upon their posterity. "Behold it is written." Isaiah 65:6. What a vanity is it then to be regardless of the sins of an age that went before us; because they are in some measure out of our knowledge, are they therefore blotted out of God's remembrance? Sins are bound up with him, as men do bonds, till they resolve to sue for the debt. "The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up." Hosea 13:12. As his foreknowledge extends to all acts that shall be done, so his remembrance extends to all acts that have been done. We may as well say, God foreknows nothing that shall be done to the end of the world, as that he forgets anything that hath been done from the beginning of the world. Stephen Charnock.

"He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it." Many say in their hearts, "God seeth them not," while with their tongues they confess he is an all-seeing God. The heart hath a tongue in it as well as the head, and these two tongues seldom speak the same language. While the head tongue saith, "We cannot hide ourselves from the sight of God," the heart-tongue of wicked men will say, "God will hide himself from us, he will not see." But if their heart speak not thus, then as the prophet saith (Isaiah 29:15), "They dig deep to hide their counsel from the Lord;" surely they have a hope to hide their counsels, else they would not dig deep to hide them. Their digging is not proper, but tropical; as men dig deep to hide what they would not have in the earth, so they by their wits, plots, and devices, do their best to hide their counsels from God, and they say, "Who seeth, who knoweth? We, surely, are not seen either by God or man." Joseph Caryl.

The Scripture everywhere places sin upon this root. "God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it." He hath turned his back upon the world. This was the ground of the oppression of the poor by the wicked, which he mentions, verses 9, 10. There is no sin but receives both its birth and nourishment from this bitter root. Let the notion of providence be once thrown out, or the belief of it faint, how will ambition, covetousness, neglect of God, distrust, impatience, and all other bitter gourds, grow up in a night! It is from this topic all iniquity will draw arguments to encourage itself; for nothing so much discountenances those rising corruptions, and puts them out of heart, as an actuated belief that God takes care of human affairs. Stephen Charnock.

"He hath said in his heart," etc. "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." Ecclesiastes 8:11. God forbears punishing, therefore men forbear repenting. He doth not smite upon their back by correction, therefore they do not smite upon their thigh by humiliation. Jeremiah 31:19. The sinner thinks thus,: "God hath spared me all this while, he hath eked out patience into longsuffering; surely he will not punish." "He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten." God sometimes in infinite patience adjourns his judgments and puts off the sessions a while longer, he is not willing to punish. 2 Peter 3:9. The bee naturally gives honey, but stings only when it is angered. The Lord would have men make their peace with him. Isaiah 27:5. God is not like a hasty creditor that requires the debt, and will give no time for the payment; he is not only gracious, but "waits to be gracious" (Isaiah 30:18); but God by his patience would bribe sinners to repentance; but alas! how is this patience abused. God's longsuffering hardens: because God stops the vials of his wrath, sinners stop the conduit of tears. Thomas Watson.

"He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it." Because the Lord continues to spare them, therefore they go on to provoke him. As he adds to their lives, so they add to their lusts. What is this, but as if a man should break all his bones because there is a surgeon who is able to set them again?. . . . . . Because justice seems to wink, men suppose her blind; because she delays punishment, they imagine she denies to punish them; because she does not always reprove them for their sins, they suppose she always approves of their sins, But let such know, that the silent arrow can destroy as well as the roaring cannon. Though the patience of God be lasting, yet it is not everlasting. William Secker.

Verses 11, 12, 13. The atheist denies God's ordering of sublunary matters. "Tush, doth the Lord see, or is there knowledge in the Most High?" making him a maimed Deity, without an eye of providence, or an arm of power, and at most restraining him only to matters above the clouds. But he that dares to confine the King of heaven, will soon after endeavour to depose him, and fall at last flatly to deny him. Thomas Fuller.

"He hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it." As when the desperate pirate, ransacking and rifling a bottom was told by the master, that though no law could touch him for the present, he should answer it at the day of judgment, replied, "If I may stay so long ere I come to it, I will take thee and thy vessel too." A conceit wherewith too many land-thieves and oppressors flatter themselves in their hearts, though they dare not utter it with their lips. Thomas Adams.

What, do you think that God doth not remember our sins which we do not regard? for while we sin the score runs on, and the Judge setteth down all in the table of remembrance, and his scroll reacheth up to heaven. Item, for lending to usury; item, for racking of rents; item, for starching thy ruffs; item, for curling thy hair; item, for painting thy face; item, for selling of benefices; item, for starving of souls; item, for playing at cards; item, for sleeping in the church; item, for profaning the Sabbath-day, with a number more hath God to call to account, for everyone must answer for himself. The fornicator, for taking of filthy pleasure; the careless prelate, for murthering so many thousand souls; the landlord, for getting money from his poor tenants by racking of his rents; see the rest, all they shall come like very sheep when the trumpet shall sound and the heaven and the earth shall come to judgment against them; when the heavens shall vanish like a scroll, and the earth shall consume like fire, and all the creatures standing against them; the rocks shall cleave asunder, and the mountains shake, and the foundation of the earth shall tremble, and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us, fall upon us, and hide us from the presence of his anger and wrath whom we have not cared to offend. But they shall not be covered and hid; but then shall they go the back way, to the snakes and serpents, to be tormented of devils for ever. Henry Smith.

What, do you think that God doth not remember our sins which we do not regard? for while we sin the score runs on, and the Judge setteth down all in the table of remembrance, and his scroll reacheth up to heaven. Item, for lending to usury; item, for racking of rents; item, for starching thy ruffs; item, for curling thy hair; item, for painting thy face; item, for selling of benefices; item, for starving of souls; item, for playing at cards; item, for sleeping in the church; item, for profaning the Sabbath-day, with a number more hath God to call to account, for everyone must answer for himself. The fornicator, for taking of filthy pleasure; the careless prelate, for murthering so many thousand souls; the landlord, for getting money from his poor tenants by racking of his rents; see the rest, all they shall come like very sheep when the trumpet shall sound and the heaven and the earth shall come to judgment against them; when the heavens shall vanish like a scroll, and the earth shall consume like fire, and all the creatures standing against them; the rocks shall cleave asunder, and the mountains shake, and the foundation of the earth shall tremble, and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us, fall upon us, and hide us from the presence of his anger and wrath whom we have not cared to offend. But they shall not be covered and hid; but then shall they go the back way, to the snakes and serpents, to be tormented of devils for ever. Henry Smith.

"Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hands," etc. This should be a terror to the wicked, to think that whatsoever they do, they do it in the sight of him that shall judge them, and call them to a strict account for every thought conceived against his majesty; and therefore, it should make them afraid to sin; because that when they burn with lust, and toil with hatred, when they scorn the just and wrong the innocent, they do all this, not only in conspectu Dei, within the compass of God's sight, but also in sinu divinitatis, in the bosom of that Deity, who, though he suffered them for a time to run on, like "a wild ass used to in the wilderness," yet he will find them out at the last, and then cut them off and destroy them. And as this is terror unto the wicked, so it may be a comfort unto the godly to think that he who should hear their prayers and send them help, is so near unto them; and it should move them to rely still upon him, because we are sure of his presence wherever we are. G. Williams, 1636.

"The poor committeth himself unto thee." The awkwardness of our hearts to suffer comes much from distrust. An unbelieving soul treads upon the promise as a man upon ice; at first going upon it he is full of fears and tumultuous thoughts lest it should crack. Now, daily resignation of thy heart, as it will give thee an occasion of conversing more with the thoughts of God's power, faithfulness, and other of his attributes (for want of familiarity with which, jealousies arise in our hearts when put to any great plunge), so also it will furnish thee with many experiences of the reality both of his attributes and promises; which, though they need not any testimony from sense, to gain them credit with us, yet so much are we made of sense, so childish and weak is our faith, that we find our hearts much helped by those experiences we have had, to rely on him for the future. Look, therefore, carefully to this; every morning leave thyself and ways in God's hand, as the phrase is. Psalm 10:14. And at night look again how well God hath looked to his trust, and sleep not till thou hast affected thy heart with his faithfulness, and laid a stronger charge on thy heart to trust itself again in God's keeping in the night. And when any breach is made, and seeming loss befalls thee in any enjoyment, which thou hast by faith insured of thy God, observe how God fills up that breach, and makes up that loss to thee; and rest not till thou hast fully vindicated the good name of God to thy own heart. Be sure thou lettest no discontent or dissatisfaction lie upon thy spirit at God's dealings; but chide thy heart for it, as David did his. Psalm 42. And thus doing, with God's blessing, thou shalt keep thy faith in breath for a longer race, when called to run it. William Gurnall.

"Thou art the helper of the fatherless." God doth exercise a more special province over men, as clothed with miserable circumstances; and therefore among his other titles this is one, to be a "helper of the fatherless." It is the argument the church used to express her return to God; Hosea 14:3, "For in thee the fatherless find mercy." Now what greater comfort is there than this, that there is one presides in the world who is so wise he cannot be mistaken, so faithful he cannot deceive, so pitiful he cannot neglect his people, and so powerful that he can make stones even to be turned into bread if he please! . . . . . . God doth not govern the world only by his will as an absolute monarch, but by his wisdom and goodness as a tender father. It is not his greatest pleasure to show his sovereign power, or his inconceivable wisdom, but his immense goodness, to which he makes the other attributes subservient. Stephen Charnock.

"Thou hast seen it," etc. If God did not see our ways, we might sin and go unpunished; but foreasmuch as he seeth them with purer eyes than to behold iniquity and approve it, he is engaged both in justice and honour to punish all that iniquity of our ways which he seeth or beholdeth. David makes this the very design of God's superintendency over the ways of men: "Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand: the poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless." Thus the psalmist represents the Lord as having taken a view or survey of the ways of men. "Thou hast seen." What hath God seen? Even all that wickedness and oppression of the poor spoken of in the former part of the Psalm, as also the blasphemy of the wicked against himself (verse 13), "Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? he hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it." What saith the psalmist concerning God, to this vain, confident man? "Thou," saith he, "beholdest mischief and spite;" but to what purpose? the next words tell us that — "to requite it with thy hand." As thou hast seen what mischief they have done spitefully, so in due time thou wilt requite it righteously. The Lord is not a bare spectator, he is both a rewarder and an avenger. Therefore, from the ground of this truth, that the Lord seeth all our ways, and counteth all our steps, we, as the prophet exhorts (Isaiah 3:10, 11), may "say to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings." We may also say, "Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him." Only idols which have eyes and see not, have hands and strike not. Joseph Caryl.

"Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand: the poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless." Let the poor know that their God doth take care of them, to visit their sins with rods who spoil them, seeing they have forgotten that we are members one of another, and have invaded the goods of their brethren; God will arm them against themselves, and beat them with their own staves; either their own compassing and over-reaching wits shall consume their store, or their unthrifty posterity shall put wings upon their riches to make them fly; or God shall not give them the blessing to take use of their wealth, but they shall leave to such as shall be merciful to the poor. Therefore let them follow the wise man's counsel (Ecclesiastes 10:20), "Curse not the rich, no, not in thy bedchamber;" let no railing and unchristian bitterness wrong a good cause; let it be comfort enough to them that God is both their supporter and avenger. Is it not sufficient to lay all the storms of discontent against their oppressors, that God sees their affliction, and cometh down to deliver and avenge them? Edward Marbury.

"Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand," etc. God considers all your works and ways, and will not you consider the works, the ways of God? Of this be sure, whether you consider the ways of God, his word-ways, or work-ways, of this be sure, God will consider your ways, certainly he will; those ways of yours which in themselves are not worth the considering or looking upon, your sinful ways, though they are so vile, so abominable, that if yourselves did but look upon them and consider them, you would be utterly ashamed of them; yea, though they are an abomination to God while he beholds them, yet he will behold and consider them. The Lord who is of purer eyes than to behold any the least iniquity, to approve it, will yet behold the greatest of your iniquities, and your impurest ways to consider them. "Thou," saith David, "beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it:" God beholdeth the foulest, dirtiest ways of men, their ways of oppression and unrighteousness, their ways of intemperance and lasciviousness, their ways of wrath and maliciousness, at once to detest, detect, and requite them. If God thus considereth the ways of men, even those filthy and crooked ways of men, should not men consider the holy, just, and righteous ways of God? Joseph Caryl.

"God delights to help the poor." He loves to take part with the best, though the weakest side. Contrary to the course of most, who when a controversy arises use to stand in a kind of indifferency or neutrality, till they see which part is strongest, not which is justest. Now if there be any consideration (besides the cause) that draws or engages God, it is the weakness of the side. He joins with many, because they are weak, not with any, because they are strong; therefore he is called the helper of the friendless, and with him the fatherless, (the orphans) find mercy. By fatherless we are not to understand such only whose parents are dead, but any one that is in distress; as Christ promised his disciples; "I will not leave you orphans," that is, helpless, and (as we translate) comfortless; though ye are as children without a father, yet I will be a father to you. Men are often like those clouds which dissolve into the sea; they send presents to the rich, and assist the strong; but God sends his rain upon the dry land, and lends his strength to those who are weak. . . . The prophet makes this report to God of himself (Isaiah 30:4): "Thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm," etc. Joseph Caryl.

"The Lord is King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land." Such confidence and faith must appear to the world strange and unaccountable. It is like what his fellow citizens may be supposed to have felt (if the story be true) toward that man of whom it is recorded, that his powers of vision were so extraordinary, that he could distinctly see the fleet of the Carthaginians entering the harbour of Carthage, while he stood himself at Lilyboeum, in Sicily. A man seeing across an ocean, and able to tell of objects so far off! he could feast his vision on what others saw not. Even thus does faith now stand at its Lilyboeum, and see the long tossed fleet entering safely the desired haven, enjoying the bliss of that still distant day, as if it were already come. Andrew A. Bonar.

There is a humbling act of faith put forth in prayer. Others style it praying in humility; give me leave to style it praying in faith. In faith which sets the soul in the presence of that mighty God, and by the sight of him, which faith gives us, it is that we see our own vileness, sinfulness, and abhor ourselves, and profess ourselves unworthy of any, much less of those mercies we are to seek for. Thus the sight of God had wrought in the prophet (Isaiah 6:5), "Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." And holy Job speaks thus (Job 42:5, 6), "Now mine eye seeth thee: wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." This is as great a requisite to prayer as any other act; I may say of it alone, as the apostle (James 1:7), that without it we shall receive nothing at the hands of God! God loves to fill empty vessels, he looks to broken hearts. In the Psalms how often do we read that God hears the prayers of the humble; which always involves and includes faith in it. Psalm 9:12, "He forgetteth not the cry of the humble," and Psalm 10:17, "Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear." To be deeply humbled is to have the heart prepared and fitted for God to hear the prayer; and therefore you find the psalmist pleading sub forma pauperis, often repeating, "I am poor and needy." And this prevents our thinking much if God do not grant the particular thing we do desire. Thus also Christ himself in his great distress (Psalm 22), doth treat God (verse 2), "O my God, I cry in the day-time, but thou hearest not; and in the night season am not silent. Our fathers trusted in thee. They cried unto thee, and were delivered. But I am a worm, and no man; reproached of men, and despised of the people; (verse 6)" and he was "heard" in the end "in what he feared." And these deep humblings of ourselves, being joined with vehement implorations upon the mercy of God to obtain, is reckoned into the account of praying by faith, both by God and Christ. Matthew 8. Thomas Goodwin.

"Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble." A spiritual prayer is a humble prayer. Prayer is the asking of an alms, which requires humility. "The publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner." Luke 18:13. God's incomprehensible glory may even amaze us and strike a holy consternation into us when we approach nigh unto him: "O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee." Ezra 9:6. It is comely to see a poor nothing lie prostrate at the feet of its Maker. "Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes." Genesis 18:27. The lower the heart descends, the higher the prayer ascends. Thomas Watson.

"Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble," etc. How pleasant is it, that these benefits, which are of so great a value both on their own account, and that of the divine benignity from whence they come, should be delivered into our hands, marked, as it were, with this grateful inscription, that they have been obtained by prayer! Robert Leighton.

"The desire of the humble." Prayer is the offering up of our desires to God in the name of Christ, for such things as are agreeable to his will. It is an offering of our desires. Desires are the soul and life of prayer; words are but the body; now as the body without the soul is dead, so are prayers unless they are animated with our desires: "Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble." God heareth not words, but desires. Thomas Watson.

God's choice acquaintances are humble men. Robert Leighton.

He that sits nearest the dust, sits nearest heaven. Andrew Gray, of Glasgow, 1616.

There is a kind of omnipotency in prayer, as having an interest and prevalency with God's omnipotency. It hath loosed iron chains (Acts 16:25, 26); it hath opened iron gates (Acts 12:5-10); it hath unlocked the windows of heaven (1 Kings 18:41); it hath broken the bars of death (John 11:40, 43). Satan hath three titles given in the Scriptures, setting forth his malignity against the church of God: a dragon, to note his malice; a serpent, to note his subtlety; and a lion, to note his strength. But none of all these can stand before prayer. The greatest malice of Haman sinks under the prayer of Esther; the deepest policy, the counsel of Ahithophel, withers before the prayer of David; the largest army, a host of a thousand Ethiopians, run away like cowards before the prayer of Asa. Edward Reynolds, 1599-1676.

"To judge the fatherless and the oppressed," etc. The tears of the poor fall down upon their cheeks, et ascendunt ad coelum, and go up to heaven and cry for vengeance before God, the judge of widows, the father of widows and orphans. Poor people be oppressed even by laws. Woe worth to them that make evil laws against the poor, what shall be to them that hinder and mar good laws? What will ye do in the day of great vengeance when God shall visit you? he saith he will hear the tears of the poor women, when he goeth on visitation. For their sake he will hurt the judge, be he never so high, he will for widows' sakes change realms, bring them into temptation, pluck the judges' skins over their heads. Cambyses was a great emperor, such another as our master is, he had many lord deputies, lord presidents, and lieutenants under him. It is a great while ago since I read the history. It chanced he had under him in one of his dominions a briber, a gift-taker, a gratifier of rich men; he followed gifts as fast as he that followed the pudding; a handmaker in his office, to make his son a great man, as the old saying is, "Happy is the child whose father goeth to the devil." The cry of the poor widow came to the emperor's ear, and caused him to slay the judge quick, and laid his skin in his chair of judgment, that all judges that should give judgment afterward, should sit in the same skin. Surely it was a goodly sign, a goodly monument, the sign of the judges skin. I pray God we may once see the sign of the skin in England. Ye will say, peradventure, that this is cruelly and uncharitably spoken. No, no; I do it charitably, for a love I bear to my country. God saith, "I will visit." God hath two visitations; the first is when he revealeth his word by preachers; and where the first is accepted, the second cometh not. The second visitation is vengeance. He went to visitation when he brought the judges skin over his ears. If this word be despised, he cometh with the second visitation with vengeance. Hugh Latimer, 1480 - 1555.

"Man of the earth," etc. In the eighth Psalm (which is a circular Psalm, ending as it did begin, "O Lord our God, how excellent is thy name in all the world!" That whithersoever we turn our eyes, upwards or downwards, we may see ourselves beset with his glory round about), how doth the prophet base and discountenance the nature and whole race of man; as may appear by his disdainful and derogatory interrogation, "What is man that thou art mindful of him; and the Son of Man, that thou regardest him?" In the ninth Psalm, "Rise, Lord; let not man have the upper hand; let the nations be judged in thy sight. Put them in fear, O Lord, that the heathen may know themselves to be but men." Further, in the tenth Psalm, "Thou judgest the fatherless and the poor, that the man of the earth do no more violence."

The Psalms, as they go in order, so, methinks they grow in strength, and each hath a weightier force to throw down our presumption. 1. We are "men," and the "sons of men," to show our descent and propagation. 2. "Men in our own knowledge," to show that conscience and experience of infirmity doth convict us. 3. "Men of the earth," to show our original matter whereof we are framed. In the twenty-second Psalm, he addeth more disgrace; for either in his own name, regarding the misery and contempt wherein he was held, or in the person of Christ, whose figure he was, as if it were robbery for him to take upon him the nature of man, he falleth to a lower style, at ego sum vermis et non vir; but I am a worm, and no man. For as corruption is the father of all flesh, so are the worms his brethren and sisters according to the old verse —

"First man, next worms, then stench and loathsomeness,

Thus man to no man alters by changes."

Abraham, the father of the faithful (Genesis 18), sifteth himself into the coarsest man that can be, and resolveth his nature into the elements whereof it first rose: "Behold I have begun to speak to my Lord, being dust and ashes." And if any of the children of Abraham, who succeed him in the faith, or any of the children of Adam, who succeed him in the flesh, thinketh otherwise, let him know that there is a threefold cord twisted by the finger of God, that shall tie him to his first original, though he contend till his heart break. "O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord" (Jeremiah 22); that is, earth by creation, earth by continuance, earth by resolution. Thou camest earth, thou remainest earth, and to earth thou must return. John King.

"The man of the earth." Man dwelling in the earth, and made of earth. Thomas Wilcocks.

The answer to these questions furnishes a noble topic for an experimental sermon. Let me suggest that the question is not to be answered in the same manner in all cases. Past sin, trials of graces, strengthening of faith, discovery of depravity, instruction, etc., etc., are varied reasons for the hiding of our Father's face.

Religious persecution in all its phases based on pride.

God's hatred of covetousness: show its justice.

Pride the barrier in the way of conversion.

Verse 4 (last clause). Thoughts in which God is not, weighed and condemned.

"Thy judgments are far above out of his sight." Moral inability of men to appreciate the character and acts of God.

The vain confidence of sinners.

Dangers of godly men, or the snares in the way of believers.

The ferocity, craftiness, strength, and activity of Satan.

Verse 9 (last clause). The Satanic fisherman, his art, diligence, success, etc.

Designing humility unmasked.

Divine omniscience and the astounding presumption of sinners.

"Arise, O Lord." A prayer needful, allowable, seasonable, etc.

Verse 13 (first clause). An astounding fact, and a reasonable enquiry.

Future retribution: doubts concerning it.

I. By whom indulged: "the wicked."

II. Where fostered: "in his heart."

III. For what purpose: quieting of conscience, etc.

IV. With what practical tendency: "contemn God." He who disbelieves hell, distrusts heaven.

Divine government in the world.

I. Who doubt it? and why?

II. Who believe it? and what does this faith cause them to do?

Verse 14 (last clause). A plea for orphans.

Divine government in the world.

I. Who doubt it? and why?

II. Who believe it? and what does this faith cause them to do?

Verse 14 (last clause). A plea for orphans.

The Eternal Kingship of Jehovah.

Verse 17 (first clause).

I. The Christian's character — "humble."

II. An attribute of the Christian's whole life —"desire:" he desires more holiness, communion, knowledge, grace, and usefulness; and then he desires glory.

III. The Christian's great blessedness —"Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble."

Verse 17 (whole verse).

I. Consider the nature of gracious desires.

II. Their origin.

III. Their result.

The three sentences readily suggest these divisions, and the subject may be very profitable.