Psalms 9

We thus find the fact and the reasonableness of the fact that God is “mindful of us.” We have a place in God’s thoughts. The weakest and most unworthy of us all engages the Divine mind, and is an object of interest and solicitude to the Divine heart. We see that the real greatness of man as a sinner lies in his penitence, contrition, confession; for that reopens the way for the incoming and indwelling of the Divine Spirit. “Know ye not that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost?” If a man is worth so much to God, he surely ought to be of great value to himself. If God is thus mindful of him, what madness for him to be unmindful of God! If man is so important a creature as a sinner and as a sufferer, how much more so as a Christian! When he becomes a redeemed soul, a sufferer healed, a slave emancipated, a restored and sanctified man, raised by the love of Christ and the indwelling of the Spirit to think God’s thoughts, to walk in God’s fellowship and to be one in God’s family—then he is indeed “crowned with glory and honor.” J. Brand.

1. I will give thanks unto the LORD with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works. 2 I will be glad and exult in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou Most High. 3 When mine enemies turn back, They stumble and perish at thy presence. 4 For thou hast maintained my right and my cause; Thou satest in the throne judging righteously. 5 Thou hast rebuked the nations, thou hast destroyed the wicked, Thou hast blotted out their name for ever and ever. 6 The enemy are come to an end, they are desolate for ever; And the cities which thou hast overthrown, Their very memorial is perished. 7 But the LORD sitteth as king for ever: He hath prepared his throne for judgment. 8 And he shall judge the world in righteousness, He shall minister judgment to the peoples in uprightness. 9 The LORD also will be a high tower for the oppressed, A high tower in times of trouble; 10 And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee; For thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee. 11 Sing praises to the LORD, which dwelleth in Zion: Declare among the people his doings. 12 For he that maketh inquisition for blood remembereth them: He forgetteth not the cry of the poor. 13 Have mercy upon me, O LORD; Behold my affliction which I suffer of them that hate me, Thou that liftest me up from the gates of death;

14. That I may shew forth all thy praise: In the gates of the daughter of Zion, I will rejoice in thy salvation.

15. The nations are sunk down in the pit that they made: In the net which they hid is their own foot taken.

16. The LORD hath made himself known, he hath executed judgment: The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. [Higgaion. Selah

THIS Psalm expresses, in a series of natural and striking alternations, gratitude for past de- liverances, trust in God’s power and disposition to repeat them, and direct and earnest prayer for such repetition. A.—A thanksgiving to God, the righteous Judge, who punishes the wicked and defends the cause of the oppressed. Throughout, with the exception of v. 13, the Psalm is one continued strain of triumph. P. —It is a thoroughly national and triumphant hymn of thanksgiving, composed by David at the time when Jehovah was already enthroned upon Zion, and is, therefore, to be dated from the time after the ark was brought to Jerusa- lem. D.

1, 2. “I will confess unto Thee, O Lord, with my whole heart.” Behold, with what a flood of the most sweet affections he says that he “will confess,” “show forth,” “rejoice,” “be glad,” and “sing,” being filled with ecstasy! He does not simply say, “I will confess,” but, “with my heart,” and “with my whole heart.” Nor does he propose to speak simply of “works,” but of the “marvellous works” of God, and of “all” those “works.” Thus his spirit exults and rejoices in God his Saviour, who has done great things for him, and those marvellous things which follow. In which words are opened the subject of this Psalm—that is, that he therein sings the marvellous works of God. Luther.—Holy joy is the life of thankful praise, as thankful praise is the language of holy joy; I will be glad and rejoice in Thee. Whatever occurs to make us glad, our joy must pass through it, and terminate in God only: I will be glad and rejoice in Thee, not in the gift so much as in the Giver. H.

All Thy marvellous works. Here is eternal work for us, for there can be no end to the showing forth of all His deeds of love. If we consider our own sinfulness and nothingness, we must feel that every work of preservation, forgiveness, conversion, deliverance, sanctifica- tion, which the Lord has wrought for us or in

17. The wicked shall return to Sheol, [the unseen world,] Even all the nations that forget God.

18. For the needy shall not alway be forgotten, Nor the expectation of the poor perish for ever.

19. Arise, O LORD; let not man prevail: Let the nations be judged in thy sight.

20. Put them in fear, O LORD: Let the nations know themselves to be but men. [Selah us is a marvellous work. Even in heaven, Di- vine lovingkindness will doubtless be as much a theme of surprise as of rapture. S.

3,4. That his enemies fall and perish in God’s presence shows that their being turned back in defeat and flight is attributed to God’s arm. He was there. They fell before His face. And this fall of theirs came of the fact that the Lord appeared in power to vindicate the cause of His anointed king, His servant David. C.

7. And Jehovah to eternity, forever, will sit, as He sits now, upon the throne and judgment- seat. He has set up for judgment, for the pur- pose of acting as a judge, His throne. It is not as an absolute or arbitrary ruler, but as a just judge, that Jehovah reigns. This recognition of God’s judicial character and office as perpet- ual is intended to prepare the way for an ap- peal to His righteous intervention in the present case. A.

King forever. He always was, always is, and always will be what He is. He remains always the same in being; so far from any change, that no shadow of it can touch Him. He will continue in being as long as He hath already enjoyed it; and if we could add never so many millions of years together, we are still as far from an end as from a beginning, for “the Lord shall endure forever.” As it is im- possible He should not be, being from all eter- nity, so it is impossible that He should not be to all eternity. Charnock.—There is no change of His being; His felicity, power, and perfection are out of the reach of all the com- bined forces of hell and earth; they may put an end to our liberties, our privileges, our lives, but our God is still the same, and sits even upon the floods, unshaken, undisturbed, 29: 10; 93: 2. H.—The enduring existence and unchang- ing dominion of our Jehovah are the firm foundations of our joy. The enemy and his destructions shall come to a perpetual end, but God and His throne shall endure forever. The eternity of Divine sovereignty yields unfailing consolation. S.

8-10. It is because God rules the nations and the people of the earth in righteousness that He will surely prove Himself a refuge for the oppressed. For it is mainly to vindicate the cause of the oppressed that God rules the nations at all, His purpose being to restrain sin and crime and to break in pieces the oppressor. They who know God’s name in the sense of knowing these grand elements of His glorious character as a righteous ruler of wicked men and wicked devils will surely put their trust in Him, for all the history of time shows that God has never forsaken those who have sought His aid against wrong-doers. C.

8. He shall judge the world in righteousness.** In this judgment tears will not prevail, prayers will not be heard, promises will not be admitted, repentance will be too late; and as for riches, honorable titles, sceptres, and diadems, these will profit much less; and the inquisition shall be so curious and diligent, that not one light thought nor one idle word (not repented of in the life past) shall be forgotten. For truth itself hath said, “Of every idle word which men have spoken, they shall give an account in the day of judgment.” Oh, how many which now sin with great delight will be then astonished, ashamed, and silent! Tymme.—In the administration of His government He does all every day, He will do all at the last day, according to the eternal, unalterable rules of equity (v. 8); He shall judge the world, all persons and all controversies, shall minister judgment to the people, shall determine their lot both in this and in the future state, in righteousness and in uprightness, so that there shall not be the least color of exception against it.

9. Peculiar favor God bears to His own people, and special protection He takes them under. The Lord, who endures forever, is their everlasting Strength and Protection; He that judges the world will be sure to judge for them, when at any time they are injured or distressed; He will be a refuge for the oppressed; a high place, a strong place, for the oppressed, in time of trouble. H.

10. They that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee.** Faith is an intelligent grace; though there can be knowledge without faith, yet there can be no faith without knowledge. Knowledge must carry the torch before faith (2 Tim. 1: 12). “For I know whom I have believed.” As in Paul’s conversion a light from heaven “shined round about him,” so before faith be wrought, God shines in with a light upon the understanding. Watson.—The better God is known, the more He is trusted. Those who know Him to be a God of infinite wisdom will trust Him farther than they can see Him (Job 35: 14); those who know Him to be a God of almighty power will trust Him when creature confidences fail, and they have nothing else to trust to (2 Chr. 20: 12); and those who know Him to be a God of infinite grace and goodness will trust Him, though He slay them (Job 13: 15). Those who know Him to be a God of inviolable truth and faithfulness will rejoice in His word of promise, and rest upon that, though the performance be deferred, and intermediate providences seem to contradict it. Those who know Him to be the Father of spirits, and an everlasting Father, will trust Him with their souls as their main care, and trust in Him at all times, even to the end. H.

The sufferer cannot be consoled until he finds that God is his friend; he cannot find this without faith; and in this manner, most directly, chastisement awakens the exercise of this grace, with great and unspeakable satisfaction. And thus the tribulations which have succeeded one another through life give us stronger and stronger reliance on God, for the approaching hour of death. At some future day it will be sweet to remember how the Lord sealed us with His Spirit of adoption in these times of trial J. W. A.

12. The general import of the verse is that God’s judgments, though deferred, are not abandoned, that He does not forget even what He seems to disregard, and that sooner or later He will certainly appear as an avenger. Murder is here put, as the highest crime against the person, for all others, and indeed for wickedness in general. A.

Requireth, or “maketh inquisition for blood,” i.e., “demandeth satisfaction for bloodshed.” This is God’s character, as opposed to the scoff of the wicked, “He requireth not,” 10: 4, 13 (where the same verb is used). Like the Goël, the next of kin, who was bound to avenge the murder of his kinsman, so God calls the murderer to account, requires satisfaction at his hand. P.—In Gen. 9: 5, 6, are the same leading words. Making “inquisition for blood” is there “requiring” the murderer’s blood for the blood he has shed. By “the humble” is meant the defenceless, upon whom the strong come down with cruel, bloody hands. Their cry God accounts it at once His duty and His glory to hear and avenge. C.

13,14. Gates.** The most public place of concourse, this being in the East what the market-place was to the Greeks, and the forum to the Romans. P.—The gates here mentioned are contrasted with those of the preceding verse. The God who saves him from the gates of death shall be praised for this deliverance in the gates of the daughter of Zion. A.—The gates of the daughter of Zion, which are above the earth, are set over against the under-world gates of death. “In the gates of the daughter of Zion” is equivalent to “before all the people of God;” for the gates are the places where people gather together and engage in discussion. The sacred Scriptures of the Old Testament as yet know nothing of hymns of praise sung by the blessed in heaven. On the other side of the grave is silent death. If the Church is to praise, she must live and not die. D.

15. As usual, God makes man’s wrath react to His own praise. Foiling the wicked in their plans, He turns back their wicked endeavors upon their own head. The figure is taken from the pits dug to catch wild animals. The wicked dig such pits to ensnare and destroy the righteous; God brings their own feet into these snares. C.—Drunkards kill themselves; prodigals beggar themselves; the contentious bring mischief upon themselves; and thus men’s sins may be read in their punishment, and it becomes visible to all that the destruction of sinners is not only meritoriously, but efficiently, of themselves, which will fill them with the utmost confusion. H.—As they cannot lay by their life and being, though then they would account annihilation a singular mercy, so neither can they lay aside any part of their being. Understanding, conscience, affections, memory, must all live to torment them, which should have helped to their happiness. Baxter.

16. The Lord is known, He makes Himself known, by these judgments which He executes. It is known that there is a God who judges in the earth; that He is a righteous God, and one that hates sin, and will punish it. In these judgments, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. H.—The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Not only do we read it in the Word of God, but all history records the same righteous justice of God in snaring the wicked in the work of their own hands. Perhaps the most striking instance on record, next to Haman on his own gallows, is one connected with the horrors of the French Revolution, in which we are told that, “within nine months of the death of the queen, Marie Antoinette, by the guillotine, every one implicated in her untimely end, her accusers, the judges, the jury, the prosecutors, the witnesses—all, every one at least whose fate is known, perished by the same instrument as their innocent victim.” “In the net which they had laid for her was their own foot taken—into the pit which they digged for her did they themselves fall.” Bouchier.

17. Must return.** Not “be turned.” The biblical idea is that of a returning to the dust, taken from the original passage in Gen. 3: 19. Cf. Job 30: 23, of a return to Sheol (i.e., Hades, the unseen world), as here and Psalm 90: 3: “Thou makest man return to destruction,” expressions only to be explained by the dimness which then hung over the grave and the life beyond it. The meaning is, that even now, before the eyes of men, God’s righteousness shall be seen in cutting off the wicked by a sudden and premature end, and helping and exalting the righteous. P.

All the nations that forget God. Forget God and therefore live as if there were no God—forget God, and therefore have no faith in a just retribution for sin and no fear of it; forget God, and therefore spurn His law and trample down the rights of our common humanity: all such must have their doom, first as nations in the retributions of time; then as individuals in the more just—the perfectly just and complete retributions of eternity! C.

Apart from clear acts of great and grievous sin, how is God forgotten, clean forgotten, by the great part of mankind! They live as if there were no God. It is not as if they openly rebelled against Him. They pass Him over and ignore Him. He is an inconvenience in His own world, an impertinence in His own creation. So He has been quietly set on one side, as if He were an idol out of fashion and in the way. Men of science and politicians have agreed on this, and men of business and wealth think it altogether the most decent thing to be silent about God; for it is difficult to speak of Him, or have a view of Him, without allowing too much to Him. F. W. R.—Forgetfulness of God implies that a man doth neither esteem nor value the all-sufficiency and holiness of God as his happiness and portion, as his strength and support; nor doth he fear Him, nor live in subjection to His laws and commands as His rule; nor doth he aim at the glory of God as his end. To exclude God out of our thoughts and not to let Him have a place there, not to mind nor think upon God, is the greatest wickedness of

the thoughts that can be. And though you cannot say of such a one he will swear, cozen or oppress; yet if you can say he will forget God, or that he lives all his days never minding nor thinking upon God, you say enough to speak him under wrath and without remedy. Howe.