◄ Psalm 10:1 ►














Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
Why? Or, Hard Facts And Puzzling Questions
Psalm 10:1-18
C. Clemance
Whether or no this psalm was originally a part of the ninth is a question which, as may be seen, is discussed by many expositors. The mere absence of a title to it is, however, a very slight indication in that direction; while the contrast, almost violent, between the two psalms seems to be sufficient to show that they could scarcely have been penned by the same writer at the same time. The ninth psalm is a song of praise over the great deliverance God had wrought in bringing about the destroyer's destruction. This is a mournful wail over the ill designs and too successful plans of the wicked on the one hand, and over the long silence of God on the other. The ungodly are at the very height of their riotous and iniquitous revelling; and the Divine interposition is passionately and agonizingly implored. We have no clue whatever to the precise period of disorder to which reference is here made. Perhaps it is well that we have not. There have been times in the history of the world and of the Church, again and again, when designing and godless men have been, as it were, let loose, and have been permitted to play havoc with God's people, while the righteous were mourning and the wicked were boasting that God did not interpose to check their cruelties and crimes. And it will be necessary for the student and expositor to throw himself mentally into the midst of such a state of things, ere he can appreciate all the words of a psalm like this. For it is one of those containing words of man to God, and not words of God to man. We have therein - terrific facts specified; hard questions asked; a permanent solace; a forced-out prayer.

I. TERRIFIC FACTS. (Vers. 2-11.) Let every phrase in this indictment be weighed; it presents as fearful a picture of human wickedness as any contained in the Word of God. It sets before us pride, persecution, device, boasting, ridicule, denial of Providence, hardness, scorn, evil-speaking, defying and denying of God, oppression and crushing of the poor, a glorying in deeds of shame, and expected impunity therein. And what is more trying still is, that God seems to let all this go on, and keeps silence, and stands afar off, and hides himself in times of trouble. Such trials were felt by the Protestants in their early struggles; by the Covenanters in times of persecution in Scotland; by faithful ones on the occasion of the St. Bartholomew Massacre; by the Waldenses and Albigenses; by Puritans and Independents under Charles I.; by Churchmen under Cromwell; and by the Malagasy in our own times; and it is only by the terror of such times that psalms like this can be understood.

II. HARD QUESTIONS. Of these there are two. One is in the first verse.

1. Why is God silent? As we look at matters, we might be apt to say that if God has indeed a people in the world, he will never let them fall into the hands of the destroyer; or that, if they are oppressed by evil men, God will quickly deliver them out of their hands, and will show his disapproval of their ways. But very often is it otherwise - to sight, and then faith is tried; and it is no wonder that Old Testament saints should ask" Why?" when even New Testament saints often do the same! But we know that to his own, God gives an inward peace and strength that are better marks of his love and better proofs of his timely aid than any outward distinction could possibly be. Take, e.g., the case of Blandina in the times of early persecution; and the cases of hundreds of others. And besides this, it is by the Christ-like bearing of believers under hardships such as these, that God reveals the reality and glory of his redeeming pace (see 1 Peter 4:12-14).

2. A second question is: Why doth the wicked contemn God? Ah! why does he? He does contemn God in many ways.

(1) His inward thought is, "There is no God" (ver. 4).

(2) He denies that God will call him to account (ver. 13).

(3) He denies that God watches his actions (ver. 11).

(4) He lulls himself in imagined perpetual security (ver. 6).

Thus the life of such a one is a perpetual denial or defiance of God. And all this is attributed

(a) to "pride" (ver. 4);

(b) to love of evil as evil (ver. 3).

And yet the psalmist, seeing through the vain boast of the ungodly, may well peal out again and again the question, "Why does he do this? "for the implied meaning of the writer is, "Why does he do this, when, in spite of all his proud glorying in ill, he knows that God will bring his wickedness to an end, and will call him to account for it? This is the thought which connects our present division with the next.

III. PERMANENT SOLACE. However hard it may be to interpret the ways of nod at any one crisis, yet the believer knows that he must not judge God by what he sees of his ways, but ought to estimate his ways by what he knows of God. And there are four great truths known about God by the revelation of himself to man.

1. Jehovah is the eternal King (ver. 14).

2. God is the Helper of the fatherless (ver. 14).

3. God is known as the Judge of the oppressed (ver. 18; cf. Psalm 103:6; Psalm 94:8-23).

4. God hears his people's cry (ver. 17).

When believers know all this, they have a perpetual source of relief even under the heaviest cares. God's plan for the world, in his government thereof by Jesus Christ, is to redress every wrong of man, and to bring about peace, by righteousness (Psalm 72:2, 4).

IV. FERVID PRAYER. (Vers. 12, 15.) Times of severest pressure are those which force out the mightiest prayer (Acts 4:23-30). Luther, etc.; Daniel (Daniel 2:16-18; Daniel 9:1-19). The true method of prayer is thus indicated, viz. to ascertain from God's revelation of himself, what he is and what are his promises, and then to approach him in humble supplication, pleading with him to reveal the glory of his Name, by fulfilling the promises he has made; and when our prayers move in the direct line of God's promises, we are absolutely sure of an answer (but see Psalm 65:5; Revelation 8:4, 5; Deuteronomy 33:26-29). To-day is a day of God's concealing himself; but his day of self-revealing is drawing nigh. - C.

Biblical Illustrator
The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous.
Psalm 1:6
The way of the righteous
D. C. Hughes, A. M.
I. CONTRASTED PICTURES OF LIFE. —

1. That of the happy man illustrated by the law of attraction and repulsion. See the sentiments, habits, and disposition

(i)of the evil he is led to repel (ver. 1);

(ii)of the good to which he is attracted (ver. 2). Delighting and meditating upon God's Word.

2. By the law of vegetable life (ver. 3). The happy life of the good, like a fruit tree, is

(i)one of ceaseless appropriation and transformation,

(ii)of seasonable fruit bearing,

(iii)of prosperity under all circumstances.

3. With all this the life of the ungodly is contrasted (vers. 4-6):(i) As shown in the reason of the contrast. The character of the ungodly is self-evolved from their own nature. That of the good, from God.(ii) In the result of the contrast. The ungodly having no solidity, nothing substantial in themselves, are compared to "chaff," which is light and empty and easily carried away. And having no foundation, they cannot "stand in the judgment." And having nothing to support them, must perish while the good shall prosper evermore.

II. LESSONS FROM THESE CONTRASTED PICTURES. —

1. That true happiness is not the result of chance, but of law — fundamental, immutable, Divine. This law may be thus stated: Every effect must have an adequate cause. An uprooted tree cannot bear fruit; so a soul whose faith and love are torn away from God cannot be happy or prosperous. The specific law of spiritual good is this: Character determines destiny.

2. That God has so graciously arranged the conditions of happiness or misery that it is dependent upon each one's personal choice.

(D. C. Hughes, A. M.)

The Divine observation
Joseph Parker, D. D.
The question is not whether the righteous is apparently stronger than the ungodly, but what is the relation of the Lord to them both. The final award is not with man but with God. The destiny of the righteous and the ungodly is as distinct as their character. There is no blending of one into the other — the one lives, the other perishes. Consistently throughout the Bible life is always associated with obedience or righteousness, and death with disobedience or unrighteousness. Great value attaches to a consistency of this kind. It has a bearing upon the character of God Himself. It is because He never changes in His own moral quality that He never changes, in relation to the actions of men. That "the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous" is the good man's supreme comfort. Not that the good man challenges the Divine scrutiny in the matter of his actions, but that he is able to invite the Lord to look into the secret purpose of his heart and understand what is the supreme wish of his life. To know that the motive is right is to know that the end must be good. What we have to be supremely anxious about is the main purpose or desire of life; that being right, actions will adjust themselves accordingly, and, notwithstanding innumerable mistakes, the substance of the character shall be good, and a crown of glory shall be granted to the faithful servant.

(Joseph Parker, D. D.)

The way of the righteous
Sir Richard Parker.
Or is it that the prophet saith not, God knoweth the righteous, but the way of the righteous; perhaps lest men, for doing one or two good deeds in all their life, should claim to be righteous, and for such righteousness claim acquaintance with God; and so indeed God might have acquaintance enough, seeing no man is so wicked but he may sometimes have good thoughts and do good deeds; but this will not serve: it must be a way of righteousness before God will know it.

(Sir Richard Parker.)

Resolute righteousness safe
Sir Richard Parker.
And here the godly may take his comfort by the way, that it is not their slippings or treading awry, which may he by ignorance, or infirmity, that can make, with God, this shipwreck of perishing; it must be a way of ungodliness, which is not usually made without much walking and exercising, without resolute intentions and endeavours, without set purposes and persistings, that if a man be sure he is free from these, he may then be confident he is safe from perishing.

(Sir Richard Parker.).

Why do the heathen rage?
Psalm 2
The prophetical element in the Psalm
J. J. S. Perowne.
But though the poem was occasioned by some national event, we must not confine its application to that event, nor need we even suppose that the singer himself did not feel that his words went beyond their first occasion. He begins to speak of an earthly king, and his wars with the nations of the earth; but his words are too great to have all their meaning exhausted in David, or Solomon, or Ahaz, or any Jewish monarch. Or ever he is aware, the local and the temporal are swallowed up in the universal and the eternal. The king who sits on David's throne has become glorified and transfigured in the light of the promise. The picture is half-ideal and half-actual. It concerns itself with the present, but with that only so far as it is typical of greater things to come. The true King who, to the prophet's mind, is to fulfil all his largest hopes, has taken the place of the visible and earthly king. The nations are not merely those who are now mustering for the battle, but whatsoever opposeth and exalteth itself against Jehovah and His anointed. Hence the Psalm is in the nature of a prophecy, and still waits for its final accomplishment. It had a real fulfilment, no doubt, in the banding together of Herod and Pontius Pilate against Christ (Acts 4:25-27). But this was not a literal one. It may be said to have an ever-repeated fulfilment in the history of the Church, which is a history of God's kingdom upon earth, a kingdom which in all ages has the powers of the world arrayed against it, and in all ages the same disastrous result to those who have risen "against the Lord and against His anointed." And so it shall be to the end, when, perhaps, that hostility will be manifested in some yet deadlier form, only to be overthrown forever, that the kingdoms of this world may become the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ.

(J. J. S. Perowne.)

A magnificent lyric
A. Maclaren, D. D.
The true basis of this Psalm is not some petty revolt of subject tribes, but Nathan's prophecy in 2 Samuel 7, which sets forth the dignity and dominion of the King of Israel as God's son and representative. This grand poem may be called an idealising of the monarch of Israel, but it is an idealising with expected realisation. The Psalm is prophecy as well as poetry; and whether it had contemporaneous persons and events as a starting point or not, its theme is a real person, fully possessing the prerogatives and wielding the dominion which Nathan had declared to be God's gift to the King of Israel. The Psalm falls into four strophes of three verses each, in the first three of which the reader is made spectator and auditor of vividly painted scenes, while, in the last, the Psalmist exhorts the rebels to return to allegiance. In the first strophe (vers. 1-3) the conspiracy of banded rebels is set before us with extraordinary force. All classes and orders are united in revolt, and hurry and eagerness mark their action, and throb in their words. Vers. 4-6 change the scene to heaven. The lower half of the picture is all eager motion and strained effort; the upper is full of Divine calm. God needs not to rise from His throned tranquillity, but regards, undisturbed, the disturbances of earth. What shall we say of that daring and awful image of the laughter of God? The attribution of such action to Him is so bold that no danger of misunderstanding it is possible. It sends us at once to look for its translation, which probably lies in the thought of the essential ludicrousness of opposition, which is discerned in heaven to be so utterly groundless and hopeless as to be absurd. Another speaker is now heard, the anointed king, who in the third strophe (vers. 7-9) bears witness to himself, and claims universal dominion as his by a Divine decree. In vers. 10-12 the poet speaks in solemn exhortation. The kings addressed are the rebel monarchs whose power seemed so puny when measured against that of "my King." But all possessors of power and influences are addressed.

(A. Maclaren, D. D.)

The holy war
W. L. Watkinson.
A vivid picture of the revolt against Messiah.

I. THE EXTENT OF THE REVOLT. Nations, People, Kings, Rulers. Christ has encountered this opposition —

1. In all nations.

2. In all ranks.

3. In all generations. Christ was rejected by His own age (Acts 4:27).

II. THE DETERMINATION BY WHICH THIS REVOLT WAS CHARACTERISED. It is —

1. Deliberate.

2. Combined.

3. Resolute.

III. THE SECRET CAUSE OF THIS REVOLT. They rebel against the laws of God in Christ.

IV. THE VANITY OF THIS OPPOSITION TO CHRIST.

1. The unreasonableness of it. "WHY do the heathen rage?" No satisfactory answer can be given.

2. The uselessness of it. It is "vain," because useless.

V. THE CONCLUSION. The Psalmist gives —

1. An admonition: "Be wise now."

2. A direction: "Serve the Lord." Do Him homage.

(W. L. Watkinson.)

The Messiah King
J. O. Keen, D. D
I. THE KING (vers. 6-7).

1. Divinely appointed. "I have set." The Father speaking.

2. Divinely anointed. The name Christ or Messiah signifies anointed.

3. Assured of universal rule (ver. 8). The world belongs to Him. He has created it. He has redeemed it. He shall ultimately possess it.

II. MESSIAH'S FOES (vers. 1, 2, 3). The citadel assailed because of its Sovereign; the Church the target of malice and mischief because of the kingly Christ. Crowned heads in general have been sworn enemies of the Lord's anointed. The hostility of these foes is —

1. Deliberate. They "imagine," rather "meditate."

2. Combined. "They take counsel together."

3. Determined. They "set themselves," as fully resolved to accomplish their object.

4. Violent. They "rage." Nothing has ever excited so much hostility as Christ and His Church.

III. MESSIAH'S VICTORY (vers. 4, 5). Fourth verse is strikingly metaphorical. The Victor is in the heavens — watching the plots, reading the thoughts, hearing the decisions of His enemies, and He "sitteth" there, serene as the march of stars and suns, calm as the glassy lake locked in the embrace of summer morning. Shall "have them in derision." Their efforts shall result in self-defeat and self-destruction, and help to the realisation of God's own purposes. The devil and his agents often outwit themselves; they mean extinction, but God overrules it for permanent extension. No decree of the Divine government can be frustrated. Truth must prevail. He shall "speak in wrath." His wrath is not vindictiveness, but the recoil of His love; not revenge, but retribution.

IV. MESSIAH'S MESSAGE (vers. 10-12). This is a call to —

1. Teachableness. "Be instructed." Learn your folly in opposing the Lord.

2. Service. "Serve the Lord." Do His bidding. Be governed by His laws.

3. Homage. "Kiss the Son." The Eastern mode of showing homage to a king.

4. A call backed by the most weighty reasons: "lest He be angry."

(J. O. Keen, D. D,)

The King in Zion
Monday Club Sermons.
Two contrasted topics, the King and the rebellion of His subjects.

I. THE KING.

1. The dignity of His person. Not a King, or the King, but my King. One able and worthy to represent me.

2. The extent of His dominion. The nations of men measure not the realm of Christ. All grades of intelligences throughout the universe owe Him allegiance.

3. The greatness of His power. Wide as is His kingdom, His power is adequate to hold and govern it. Spiritual supremacy involves supremacy of every name. To secure it, upheavals and overturnings are inevitable. Under the pressure of spiritual forces, all other forces must give way.

4. The blessedness of His sway. The prophetic representations of the Messiah's reign are glorious and happy. All blessings come down upon the people.

II. THE REBELLION OF HIS SUBJECTS.

1. Its universality.

2. Its wickedness. Men's treatment of Christ is more gratuitously wicked than anything else. He came, self-moved, to do them infinite good.

3. Its impotence.

4. Its folly. This rebellion is misery in its progress, and ruin in its result. It fills the soul with wretchedness and fear in time, and leaves it under the wrath of God in eternity.

(Monday Club Sermons.)

Messiah's rule
F. B. Meyer, B. A.
I. THE DETERMINED HATE OF THE PEOPLE (vers. 1-3). The word "rage" suggests the idea of Oriental frenzy and excitement of a tumultuous concourse of crowds of people, all wildly angry. "Imagine" is the same word as is rendered "meditate" in Psalm 1:2. While the godly meditate on God's law, the ungodly meditate a project which is vain. Let us not be in league with the world, for its drift is against the Lord.

II. THE DIVINE TRANQUILLITY (vers. 4-6). The scene shifts to heaven; God is ever undismayed.

III. MESSIAH'S MANIFESTO (vers. 7-9). Standing forth, He produces and recites one of the eternal decrees. Before time was, He was the only-begotten of the Father. The world is His heritage, but the gift is conditional on prayer. For this He pleads, and let us plead with Him. The pastoral staff for the sheep; the "iron rod" for those who oppose.

IV. OVERTURES AND COUNSELS OF PEACE (vers. 10-12). "Kiss," the expression of homage (1 Samuel 10:1).

(F. B. Meyer, B. A.)

The reign of Christ
W. Cooke, D. D.
The Psalm is full of Christ. It is referred to six times by New Testament writers, and applied to Christ. It is a beautiful dramatic prophecy, in which several personages alternately speak momentous truths, to animate the Church of God in her conflict with sin and the powers of hell. The two leading thoughts are — the powerful opposition, but total discomfiture of Christ's enemies; the certainty, universality, and blessedness of His reign.

1. The opposition would be universal, and characterise all classes of men.

2. It is intense. The heathen "rage."

3. It is organised. They consult to find pretexts to justify their hostility. It is violent and aggressive. The restraints of the gospel are irksome and hateful. When argument and oratory failed, force was employed. It was foretold that all the crafty counsel and all the violent opposition should fail. Vain to imagine that human craft can contravene omniscience, or human power overcome omnipotence. It is the potsherd striving with his Maker. If God's expostulation be disregarded, then He speaketh in judgment. While adverse nations perish, the kingdom of Christ shall continue and become universal. When the Son says, "I will declare the decree," He has respect to future revelations as well as to the one then announced. He intimates that henceforth there shall be brighter and more ample discoveries of the Divine purpose. And the promise was verified by fact. The decree is not only declared, it is confirmed by the resurrection, the intercession and the enthronement of Messiah. The universality of the Redeemer's kingdom is certain, but do existing facts look towards its consummation? Wonderful preparations are indicative of this. The great programmes of discovery and of instrumentality nearly complete. The great programme of prophecy is nearly accomplished.

(W. Cooke, D. D.)

A great national hope
Phillips Brooks, D. D.
This Psalm belongs to the class called Messianic. It is full of that great national hope of the Jews concerning Him who was to come. A nation without hope is like a man without hope. Cut off hope from any man, or any group of men, and at once you paralyse the worth of everything. The Jewish nation was full of vitality. The noblest kind of national hope, the highest idea of "manifest destiny," is not simply a great event, but a great character. It is the ideal of a great character that is to come to them, and then to create great character throughout all the people. The hope of the coming of such a being was the ruling idea of the Jewish people. A character is always nobler than any event that is going to happen. A great nature remains as a perpetual inspiration. Every Jewish child that was born might be the Messiah; every king might hold in his hand the Messianic sceptre. Through all their life there ran this great anticipation, this inextinguishable hope. We do not know of whom this second Psalm was written; we do not even know by whom it was written. What is the philosophy of the Messianic Psalms? Shall we say that back in those distant days men anticipated just what was going to come when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and did His work in Galilee? There was nothing so monstrous as that. The whole of the Bible is much more natural than we are apt to make it. This Messianic Psalm was taken and applied in its completeness to the Messiah, who had really revealed Himself at last. The words then found a kingship worthy of them, and were sung of Christ. There are three speakers, or series of utterances. The first is the writer of the Psalm, who stands, as it were, to call the attention of the people to the two great speakers. These are the Lord Jehovah, and the Coming One, the Anointed, the King, the Messiah Himself. The writer stands as the chorus in the great tragedy. It is a great cry of astonishment from one who sees a great mercy coming to the world of guilt, bringing in redemption to the world, and the world setting itself against it. It is the everlasting wonder of the soul that knows Jesus Christ, that this world, with Jesus Christ waiting at its doors to save it, can set itself against Him, and not let Him in. But God's great purpose of making Jesus King of the world is unchanged and unchangeable. Whether the world will have Him or not, Christ is to be King of the world. The world has heard that, and it has brought a certain deep peace into the soul of mankind. The third speaker is Christ Himself. He says, "I will declare the decree." Christ is in the world, and He is sure of the world. Sitting upon the throne, recognising clearly who set Him there, He will never leave it until all the nations shall be His nations. Among the wonders of these last nineteen centuries has been the quiet certain confidence of Christianity. It cannot be crowded out and lost among the multitudes of mankind who are careless or hostile. It possesses Divine grace, which some day will be sufficient for the healing of the nations. At the close we come back to the writer or the chorus that tells us what the meaning of it all is. The Messianic Psalm presses itself into the lives we are living, and declares that if we are wicked we shall be powerless. If the most humble man puts himself upon the side of righteousness in company with Christ, if in his own little lot he does things pure and good and kind, he shall have a part with Christ in His great conquest of the world. He whom we worship as Christ is the centre of the world. Everything is verging to Him. All the past, however unconsciously, is ruled by Him; and all the future, however little it may now know its Master, will ultimately recognise Him. He who is everything, sanctification, redemption, in the fortunes of the individual soul, is the world's redemption.

(Phillips Brooks, D. D.)

Imagine a vain thing.
The opposition to God and His Christ
F. W. Macdonald, M. A.
The Psalm opens abruptly. Here is no prelude; it is an utterance of amazement, begotten in the soul, and breaking from the lips of one who locks out upon the nations and generations of man. He discerns, in all the widespread view, one perpetual restlessness, one ceaseless movement of discontent, the throbbing of a rebellion that cannot be appeased, of a vain, bitter, and ceaseless revolt. It is a revolt against God and His Christ running through the centuries, underlying human history, breaking out in fresh manifestations age after age, finding new utterance from the kings and rulers and wise men of this world. Why does the world fret against the government of God? Why does the world resent and resist the rule of the righteous God, and of the redeeming Lord Jesus Christ? Whether it be the sins and sorrows of one city that come within your range; whether it be the notes and tones of the very last phase and stage of philosophic speculation; whether it be the problems that vex and chafe and worry the civilised world; whether the spectacle of our exaggerated, over-developed militarism, under which the whole continent of Europe groans and bleeds; or whether the vexed problems that lie in our own streets and houses, alike the question arises — Why does the world, in things great and small, chafe against the rule of God — God the Source of wisdom, the Giver of all good? against Christ, the. Redeemer of human nature! against Christ, man's true King, Leader and Guide and Friend and Shepherd and Bishop of souls? "Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing?"

(F. W. Macdonald, M. A.)

Authorship and meaning of the Psalm
Professor A. B. Davidson.
The thoughts of the Psalm are so fresh and bold, and the poetical elevation so great, that the thoughts here seem to have for the first time taken hold of the writer, who is one, whom they directly concern.

1. Some young king, entering upon the rule of God's Kingdom, has borne in upon his mind, from his very position, those strange and unprecedented words of Nathan — words of inexhaustible meaning, and yet quite fresh from their novelty — and entering into their spirit as, to a pure and thoughtful mind, they opened up regions of contemplation interminable in extent and full of wonders, and combining them perhaps with some show of opposition to his rule at home, or some threatened defection from his authority by tribes abroad, — the young king east his thoughts and aspirations into this hymn.

2. And what young monarch was in such a condition except Solomon? Every one of the conditions of the problem suits him. He was the seed of David, and therefore the Son of God. He was appointed king on Zion Hill. His rule tended to universality, and his aspirations, being those of a profound intellect and, at the same time, of an uncorrupted youth, must have aimed at conferring on all peoples the blessings of God's Kingdom.

3. If we could realise to ourselves the thoughts and emotions of those early Davidic kings — standing, as all of them did, to Jehovah as His anointed, bearing all of them the title of His Son, and pointing forward to such a heritage, even all peoples; and yet so surrounded with darkness, and having but such imperfect instruments in their hands wherewith to realise their ideal, and so circumscribed on every side — what aspirations must have filled their hearts as they stood thus before so high a destiny! And yet, as all things seemed to make it impossible for them to reach it, what perplexities must have tormented them till, wearied out by the riddles of their position, some of them turned wilfully aside from the true path!

4. But if we can ill fathom the thoughts of these great creative minds, how much less those of the true theocratic King, the true Messiah and Son of God, when entering upon His kingdom, and standing at its threshold with all the possibilities of it clear before Him, and the way needful to be trod to reach it also clear! We know that He was sometimes troubled in spirit, and sometimes rejoiced greatly, alternating between a gloom more dark than falls on any son of man and a rightness more luminous than created light. But with full view of His work He entered on it, and with full view of the glory He prosecuted it to the end.

5. The Psalm, if a typical Psalm in the mind of its human author, referred to the installation of the theocratic king on Zion, who took God's place over His kingdom, and stood to Him in all the endearing relations expressed by the name of Son. The writer to the Hebrews finds in it the statement of the manifestation of the true theocratic King and Son in power from His resurrection and ascension; and His principle is just. The one was a rehearsal of the other. All this Old Testament machinery, and this calling one who was king by the name Son, and the like, would never have been but for the other; it was only in order to suggest the other and prepare for it. It was a prophecy of the other. It contained the same ideas. And its having been imperfect, as it was, implied that the other — that which was perfect — should also be. Only, that which the Old Testament writer had not yet foreseen had now taken place; the material embodiment of the ideas of the kingdom had passed away, and all things had become spiritual in Christ.

(Professor A. B. Davidson.)

People
David, Psalmist
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Adversity, Afar, Distance, Distress, Hide, Hidest, O, Stand, Standest, Thyself, Trouble
Outline
1. David complains of the wicked
12. He prays for remedy
16. He professes his confidence

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Psalm 10:1

     1145   God, transcendent
     5821   criticism, among believers
     5835   disappointment
     5932   response
     5945   self-pity
     5970   unhappiness

Library
One Saying from Three Men
'The wicked hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved.' --PSALM x. 6. 'Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.' --PSALM xvi. 8. 'And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.' --PSALM xxx. 6. How differently the same things sound when said by different men! Here are three people giving utterance to almost the same sentiment of confidence. A wicked man says it, and it is insane presumption and defiance. A good man says it, having been lulled into false security by easy times, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Poor Man's Friend
"The poor committeth himself unto thee."--Psalm 10:14. GOD IS THE POOR MAN'S FRIEND; the poor man, in His helplessness and despair, leaves his case in the hands of God, and God undertakes to care for him. In the days of David,--and I suppose, in this respect, the world has but little improved,--the poor man was the victim of almost everybody's cruelty, and sometimes he was very shamefully oppressed. If he sought redress for his wrongs, he generally only increased them, for he was regarded as a rebel …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 53: 1907

Jerome
I, Jerome, [2568] son of Eusebius, of the city of Strido, which is on the border of Dalmatia and Pannonia and was overthrown by the Goths, up to the present year, that is, the fourteenth of the Emperor Theodosius, have written the following: Life of Paul the monk, one book of Letters to different persons, an Exhortation to Heliodorus, Controversy of Luciferianus and Orthodoxus, Chronicle of universal history, 28 homilies of Origen on Jeremiah and Ezekiel, which I translated from Greek into Latin, …
Various—Jerome and Gennadius Lives of Illustrious Men.

Look we Then, Beloved, what Hardships in Labors and Sorrows Men Endure...
3. Look we then, beloved, what hardships in labors and sorrows men endure, for things which they viciously love, and by how much they think to be made by them more happy, by so much more unhappily covet. How much for false riches, how much for vain honors, how much for affections of games and shows, is of exceeding peril and trouble most patiently borne! We see men hankering after money, glory, lasciviousness, how, that they may arrive at their desires, and having gotten not lose them, they endure …
St. Augustine—On Patience

The Tests of Love to God
LET us test ourselves impartially whether we are in the number of those that love God. For the deciding of this, as our love will be best seen by the fruits of it, I shall lay down fourteen signs, or fruits, of love to God, and it concerns us to search carefully whether any of these fruits grow in our garden. 1. The first fruit of love is the musing of the mind upon God. He who is in love, his thoughts are ever upon the object. He who loves God is ravished and transported with the contemplation of …
Thomas Watson—A Divine Cordial

These Things, My Brother Aurelius, Most Dear unto Me...
38. These things, my brother Aurelius, most dear unto me, and in the bowels of Christ to be venerated, so far as He hath bestowed on me the ability Who through thee commanded me to do it, touching work of Monks, I have not delayed to write; making this my chief care, lest good brethren obeying apostolic precepts, should by lazy and disobedient be called even prevaricators from the Gospel: that they which work not, may at the least account them which do work to be better than themselves without doubt. …
St. Augustine—Of the Work of Monks.

The Situation of the Jews During this Period.
As we have seen in earlier chapters, the declarations of Holy Writ make it very clear that Israel will yet be restored to God's favor and be rehabilitated in Palestine. But before that glad time arrives, the Jews have to pass through a season of sore trouble and affliction, during which God severely chastises them for their sins and punishes them for the rejection and crucifixion of their Messiah. Fearful indeed have been the past experiences of "the nation of the weary feet" but a darker path than …
Arthur W. Pink—The Redeemer's Return

Question Lxxxiii of Prayer
I. Is Prayer an Act of the Appetitive Powers? Cardinal Cajetan, On Prayer based on Friendship II. Is it Fitting to Pray? Cardinal Cajetan, On Prayer as a True Cause S. Augustine, On the Sermon on the Mount, II. iii. 14 " On the Gift of Perseverance, vii. 15 III. Is Prayer an Act of the Virtue of Religion? Cardinal Cajetan, On the Humility of Prayer S. Augustine, On Psalm cii. 10 " Of the Gift of Perseverance, xvi. 39 IV. Ought We to Pray to God Alone? S. Augustine, Sermon, cxxvii. 2 V. …
St. Thomas Aquinas—On Prayer and The Contemplative Life

Out of the Deep of Suffering and Sorrow.
Save me, O God, for the waters are come in even unto my soul: I am come into deep waters; so that the floods run over me.--Ps. lxix. 1, 2. I am brought into so great trouble and misery: that I go mourning all the day long.--Ps. xxxviii. 6. The sorrows of my heart are enlarged: Oh! bring Thou me out of my distress.--Ps. xxv. 17. The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping: the Lord will receive my prayer.--Ps. vi. 8. In the multitude of the sorrows which I had in my heart, Thy comforts have refreshed …
Charles Kingsley—Out of the Deep

"And the Life. " How Christ is the Life.
This, as the former, being spoken indefinitely, may be universally taken, as relating both to such as are yet in the state of nature, and to such as are in the state of grace, and so may be considered in reference to both, and ground three points of truth, both in reference to the one, and in reference to the other; to wit, 1. That our case is such as we stand in need of his help, as being the Life. 2. That no other way but by him, can we get that supply of life, which we stand in need of, for he …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

Life of Jerome.
The figures in parentheses, when not otherwise indicated, refer to the pages in this volume. For a full account of the Life, the translator must refer to an article (Hieronymus) written by him in Smith and Wace's Dictionary of Christian Biography. A shorter statement may suffice here, since the chief sources of information are contained in this volume, and to these reference will be continually made. Childhood and Youth. A.D. 345. Jerome was born at Stridon, near Aquileia, but in Pannonia, a place …
St. Jerome—The Principal Works of St. Jerome

The Revelation and Career of the Anti-Christ.
Who is the Anti-christ? Varied and wild have been the answers to this question. In pre-christian times there were many who regarded Antiochus Epiphanes as the one whom Daniel and the other prophets described. At the beginning of this dispensation Nero was looked upon as the predicted Man of Sin. After the Reformation the Papacy was selected as the fulfiller of the prophecies given through the Patmos seer. And in our day there have been those who consider the Kaiser to be the Son of Perdition. It …
Arthur W. Pink—The Redeemer's Return

Being Made Archbishop of Armagh, He Suffers Many Troubles. Peace Being Made, from Being Archbishop of Armagh He Becomes Bishop of Down.
[Sidenote: 1129] 19. (12). Meanwhile[365] it happened that Archbishop Cellach[366] fell sick: he it was who ordained Malachy deacon, presbyter and bishop: and knowing that he was dying he made a sort of testament[367] to the effect that Malachy ought to succeed him,[368] because none seemed worthier to be bishop of the first see. This he gave in charge to those who were present, this he commanded to the absent, this to the two kings of Munster[369] and to the magnates of the land he specially enjoined …
H. J. Lawlor—St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Life of St. Malachy of Armagh

He Does Battle for the Faith; He Restores Peace among those who were at Variance; He Takes in Hand to Build a Stone Church.
57. (32). There was a certain clerk in Lismore whose life, as it is said, was good, but his faith not so. He was a man of some knowledge in his own eyes, and dared to say that in the Eucharist there is only a sacrament and not the fact[718] of the sacrament, that is, mere sanctification and not the truth of the Body. On this subject he was often addressed by Malachy in secret, but in vain; and finally he was called before a public assembly, the laity however being excluded, in order that if it were …
H. J. Lawlor—St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Life of St. Malachy of Armagh

Letter Xlv (Circa A. D. 1120) to a Youth Named Fulk, who Afterwards was Archdeacon of Langres
To a Youth Named Fulk, Who Afterwards Was Archdeacon of Langres He gravely warns Fulk, a Canon Regular, whom an uncle had by persuasions and promises drawn back to the world, to obey God and be faithful to Him rather than to his uncle. To the honourable young man Fulk, Brother Bernard, a sinner, wishes such joy in youth as in old age he will not regret. 1. I do not wonder at your surprise; I should wonder if you were not suprised [sic] that I should write to you, a countryman to a citizen, a monk …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

The Desire of the Righteous Granted;
OR, A DISCOURSE OF THE RIGHTEOUS MAN'S DESIRES. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR As the tree is known by its fruit, so is the state of a man's heart known by his desires. The desires of the righteous are the touchstone or standard of Christian sincerity--the evidence of the new birth--the spiritual barometer of faith and grace--and the springs of obedience. Christ and him crucified is the ground of all our hopes--the foundation upon which all our desires after God and holiness are built--and the root …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Psalms
The piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the Old Testament. It constitutes the response of the Church to the divine demands of prophecy, and, in a less degree, of law; or, rather, it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal heart which lie deeper than any formal demand. It is the speech of the soul face to face with God. Its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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