Discover Psalm 10 Commentary in detail, with their Bible study and explained, as well as their meaning in the Catholic Bible among others.
Psalm 10-1
Why are you far away, O Jehovah,
hiding yourself in times of trouble?
Psalm 10-2
With arrogance the wicked persecute the poor;
get caught up in the devices they have devised.
Psalm 10-3
For the wicked boast of the desire of his soul,
and blesses the greedy and despises the Lord.
Psalm 10-4
The wicked, because of the haughtiness of his face, does not seek God;
God is not in any of your thoughts.
Psalm 10-5
His ways are crooked at all times;
your judgments are far from his sight;
all his adversaries he despises.
Psalm 10-6
He says in his heart: I will never be shaken,
nor will adversity overtake me.
Psalm 10-7
His mouth is full of curse, and deceit, and fraud;
under their tongue is wickedness and iniquity.
Psalm 10-8
He sits lurking in the villages;
in hiding places he kills the innocent.
His eyes stalk the underdog.
Psalm 10-9
He lurks in the dark, like a lion from his den;
lurks to catch the poor;
he catches the poor man by bringing him into his net.
Psalm 10-10
It shrinks, it crouches,
and many unfortunates fall into its strong clutches.
Psalm 10-11
He says in his heart: God has forgotten;
he has covered his face; you will never see it.
Psalm 10-12
Arise, O Lord;
oh god raise your hand!
Do not forget the poor.
Psalm 10-13
Why does the wicked despise God?
In his heart he has said: You will not ask for an account.
Psalm 10-14
You have seen it, because you look at the wickedness and the humiliation,
to give the reward with your hand;
the helpless takes refuge in you;
You are the helper of the fatherless.
Psalm 10-15
Break the arm of the wicked and wicked;
pursue their evil until you find none.
Psalm 10-16
Jehovah is King from eternity to eternity;
the nations have disappeared from their land.
Psalm 10-17-18
The desire of the humble You have heard, O Lord;
you will dispose his heart and incline your ear,
to judge the orphan and the oppressed,
so that the man of the earth will no longer sow terror.
Psalm 10 Meaning
The meaning of Psalm 10 is very interesting, this Psalm tells us how David is in a state of total loss about his future, he does not find a light to all his problems. At that moment, David invokes God to try to offer some light on all his sufferings.
Psalm 10 Commentary
This is one of the psalms that has no scripture or title. Therefore, it is not possible to specify with certainty who the author is. From the content, however, it appears that its author is David. What we find in this Psalm is in essence the psalmist’s lament for the wickedness and injustice of the wicked who oppress the poor. Two parts are easily distinguished in the psalm.
The first part, from verses 1 to 11 where we see a puzzled psalmist and the second part, from verses 12 to 18 where we see a confident psalmist. Let’s see in some detail what we have.
The puzzled psalmist turns his gaze to God and asks a question with a hint of reproach resulting from the bewilderment.
So says verse 1: “Why are you far off, O Jehovah, and hide yourself in the time of trouble?”
What happens is that the psalmist was aware of the overwhelming advance of evil in the world. Perhaps he was suffering in his own flesh the scourge of the wicked, he was suffering greatly because of his enemies. It seemed as if the wicked had a free field to do what they wanted. It was as if no one had the power to slow the advance of evil. So the psalmist is puzzled. He doesn’t know how long the bad guy is going to dominate.
In his bewilderment, he asks God a question: Why are you far away, O Jehovah, and hide yourself in the time of trouble?
The psalmist thought that even God had neglected the advance of wickedness and viewed God as hiding somewhere where he could not see how much the righteous were suffering at the hands of the wicked. Of course God, being God, can never be far from anywhere and cannot hide himself so as not to see the tribulation of the righteous, but sometimes in our despair we feel as if God has abandoned us.
I do not justify what the psalmist is saying, but to some extent I understand him, because you and I have felt that way too, on occasion. Something beautiful about the Bible is that it presents man as he is, without ever hiding his weaknesses, as here when we find a puzzled psalmist, asking God. Why are you far away, O Jehovah, and hiding yourself in the time of tribulation? Perhaps you, listening friend, find yourself going through difficult circumstances, and it also seems to you that God has abandoned you.
You have also asked God the same question: Why are you far away, O Jehovah, and hide yourself in the time of trouble? But as we will see later, God never abandons us. God is never far away. God never hides from our tribulation. So, cheer up, listener friend, that after every night the day always comes.
The puzzled psalmist then makes a minute account of the wickedness of the wicked man.
Verse 2 says: “With arrogance the wicked persecute the poor; he will be caught in the devices he has devised.”
The bad guy is arrogant. He designs devices to trap the poor and thinks that the poor will fall for them.
Verse 3, “For the wicked boasts of his soul’s desire, blesses the greedy, and despises Jehovah.”
This is what the psalmist perceived. The bad guy boasts that he does what he wants, therefore the bad guy encourages those who are bad like him and mocks or despises God. What an accurate picture of what the bad guy does.
Verse 4, “The wicked, because of the haughtiness of his face, does not seek God; there is no God in any of his thoughts.
The bad man thinks he is superior to God and therefore ignores God. His mind is so focused on himself that God has no place in his thoughts. That makes me think of atheism. The atheist comes very close to this description.
Verse 5, “His ways are crooked at all times; your judgments are far from his sight; he despises all his adversaries.
This is a consequence of the above. Because he feels superior to God, he despises God and manages his life as he wants. That is why the text says that their ways are crooked. He does not take God’s advice into account at all. If you feel superior to God, you certainly feel superior to all your adversaries.
Verse 6, “He says in his heart: I will never be moved; misfortune will never overtake me.”
This is the climax of his evil. Inside him he thinks that he is eternal, like God, and that he will never go wrong in his life.
Verse 7, “His mouth is full of cursing, and deceit and fraud; under his tongue is vexation and wickedness.”
The bad guy has a sewer mouth. For two words that come out of his mouth, three are bad. He is an expert in cheating and defrauding. His tongue is a sharp dagger to assassinate the character of others.
Verses 8-10, “He sits lurking near the villages; in hiding places he kills the innocent. His eyes are stalking the helpless; he lurks in secret, like a lion from his cave; he lurks to snatch the poor; snatches the poor by bringing him to his net. It shrinks, crouches, and many unfortunates fall into its strong claws.
The bad guy is cunning and abusive. In its cunning it lurks in the right place, it hides in the ideal place. It is like the lion stalking its prey. The least expected moment falls on her. The prey is the innocent, the poor, the helpless. The bad guy chooses his victim before attacking.
Verse 11, “He says in his heart: God has forgotten; he has covered his face, he will never see it.”
In his rebellion and ignorance, the bad guy thinks that nobody will ever do anything about his badness. Think that God does not look at what the bad guy does. This is how the psalmist looks at the bad guy. The description is accurate. No wonder the psalmist is puzzled. But do you know something listener friend? The bad guy may believe himself superior to God, but that doesn’t change the reality that the most powerful bad guy on earth is like a microbe next to God. That is why the psalmist ceases to be puzzled and from verse 12 we find a confident psalmist.
Now the psalmist takes his gaze from the evil one and sets it on God. This is what makes the big difference. If you always put your gaze on the bad, you will end up confused, but if you put your gaze on God you will begin to have hope, confidence, security, even when you are in the midst of the worst of evil.
What we first notice is that the psalmist asks God to intervene.
Verse 12 says, “Arise, O Jehovah God, lift up your hand; do not forget the poor.”
If there is anyone who can stand up to evil, it is God whose name is Jehovah, the God who makes a covenant with his people. It is He who raises his hand in defense of the poor and against the bad.
Verses 13 and 14, “Why does the wicked despise God? In his heart he has said: You will not inquire. You have seen it; because you look at work and vexation, to give the reward with your hand; welcome the helpless; you are the orphan’s refuge “
Now the psalmist is so confident in God that he does not understand how it is possible for a worm, such as evil man, to despise God, thinking that God does not pay attention to the evil deeds of the wicked. God has witnessed not only the works of the wicked but even the thoughts of the wicked. God knows everything the bad guy does and is ready to give back, not in our time but in his time. For this reason, the poor, the helpless, the orphan can perfectly shelter themselves under the safe protection of God. What encouragement is it for the orphan, for example, to know that God is the orphan’s shelter.
- Then we find the psalmist on the high peaks of sweet trust in God.
In that position, he tells God what we find in verses 15-16: “Break the arm of the wicked one, and pursue the wickedness of the wicked one until you find none. Jehovah is King forever and ever; of his land they have perished. the nations”
This is an imprecatory request. The psalmist is requesting punishment for the wicked. Ask God to assert his power over the bad guy until every bad guy disappears from the face of the earth. The day will come when Jehovah will be King forever and ever. The rogue nations will have disappeared.
The psalmist ends with phrases of praise to God.
Verses 17 and 18 “You have heard the desire of the humble, O Jehovah; you set their hearts and listen to your ear, to judge the orphan and the oppressed, so that the man of the earth may not do violence again.”
Jehovah hears the cry of the humble and responds to the desire of the heart of the humble, because Jehovah himself puts that desire in the heart of the humble. God stands as Judge on earth to defend the orphan and the oppressed. That will prevent man from doing violence on earth forever.
Perhaps you, listening friend, are suffering from the wickedness of ungodly people. They have raged against you. Perhaps you have been puzzled for a while seeing how powerful the wicked are. But it is time to stop being bewildered and become confident, because Jehovah is your refuge. Jehovah is his refuge, Jehovah is the strength of his soul.
