The Pulpit Commentary — Psalms — Volume 1 — Section 68

EXPOSITION. iv. p. l!H). Why hidest thou thyself in PSALM X. times of troublel "Verily thou art a Go,l Tms psalm is to some extent connected that lddest thyself," says Isaiah (xiv. 15). And so Joh complains, "Ho huleth with the preceding one, but not very closely. himself on the right hnud, that I cannot It ho.s turns of expression which a.re identi- see him" (xxiii. 9). lfo seems neither to cal, o.nd not common elsewhere; e.g. "in see nor hear. The psalmist inquires-Why? times of trouble" (ver. l; comp. Pa. ix. It can only be answered, "In his wisdom; for his own purposes; because he knows it 9), e.nd much similarity in the thoughts to be best." (comp. ver. 2, "Let them be taken," etc., Ver. 2.-The wicked in his pride doth with Ps. ix. 15, "In tho net which they hid persecute the poor. Dr. Kay trauslatcs, is their foot ta.ken; " ver. 12, "Forget not "Through the pride of the wicked man the humble," with Pa. ix. 12, "He forgetteth the poor is set on fire; " and our Revisers, "In the pride of the wicked, the poor is not the cry of the humble;'.' ver. 16, "The hotly pursued;" and so (nearly) the LXX.., heathen are perished out of the land," with the Vulgate, Aquila, Symmachus, Kohler, Ps. ix. 5, 6; e.nd ver.·4, '' God is not in all his Hengstenberg, e.nd others. The Authorized thoughts," with Ps. ix. 17, "The nations tho.t Version pare.phrases rather than translates; forget God"). The metrical structure is but it does not misrepresent the genera.I thought to be similar (' Speaker's Commen- sense, which is a complaint that tl.ie poor are persecuted by the wicked. Let them tary'), and there is the same imperfect be ta.ken in the devices that they have and irregular employment of alpho.betio ime.gi.ned (comp. P8. x::uv. 8, "Let his arrangement. Moreover, in the Septuagint net tho.t he bath hid catch himself;" and Version the . two pse.lms a.re run into Pa. oxli. 10, "Lat the wicked foll into one ; e.nd the uuusuo.l o.bsence of a title their own nets; " eee also Pes. vii. 15, 16; ix. 15; Prov. v. 22; xxvi. 27: Eccles. x. 8). in the Hebrew raises the suspicion the.t Some, however, tre.nslo.te, "They (i.e. the they were once united there also. Yet in poor) are ensne.red in the devices which their subject they are mru:kedly different. they (i.e. the wicked) ho.vo imaginetl;" Ps. ix. is concerned almost wholly with the e.ud tl.iis is certainly a possible rendering. hea.U1en, Pa. x. with tho wicked, by which Hengetenberg regards it o.s prefemblo to the other "on account of the paro.llelism we must understand wicked Isrnolites. o.nd connection.'' The former is a pee.Im of pro.ise e.nd tho.uks- Ver. 3.-For the wioked boe.steth of his gi ving, the lo.tter one of complaint e.nd heart's desire; rother, for the uricked sino• entreaty ; the former is triumphant and p1'aise over his own soul's greed. Insteo.,l of exulting, the latter meno.cing o.nd mournful pre.ising God, he praises his own greed uud its success (comp. Hor., 'Sat.,' i. Possibly they wero composed o.bout tho I. 66, "At mihi plaudo ipse domi, si- so.me time, and with some reference of the mul ao nummos contemplor in o.rco.." A.ad one to the other, Ps. ix. being n. review of blesseth the oovetous, whom the Lord abhor- I.rnel in its external relations, and Pa. x. reth j re.tiler, and tchen he gets a gain blesses a review of Israel in its internal relations (but) despises tlte Lord (so Ko.y, Alexnn,ler, Cheyne, and Hongstonberg), Ench time and prospects. the.t he gets e. go.in, he so.ys, "Tho.nk God! " Ver. !.-Why eta.ndeet thou afe.r oft', 0 -but, in thanking God for o.n unjust go.in, Lord 1 Here is the key-note struck o.t once, he shows thn.t he despises him. Why does God stancl aloof? Why, after Ver. 4,-The wicked, through the prids delivering his people from their foreign foes, of his oountene.noe, will not seek after God : does he not interfere to protect his true God is not in all his thoughts. The con- people from their domestic oppressors? struction is concise to abruptness, o.nd "Throughout the reign of David," as it has it is ho.rd to determine the ellipses. The been truly observed, "Pules line was infested passage in the original runs thus: "The by brige.nds, and disturbed by e. fe.ctious wicked, in the height of his scorn-will nobility" (' Speaker's Commentary,' vol. not require-no God-a.11 his thoughts." PSALMS, r 66 TIIE BOOK OF PSALMS. [rs. x. 1-18.