mh_parser/vol_split/19 - Psalms/Chapter 10.xml

<div2 id="Ps.xi" n="xi" next="Ps.xii" prev="Ps.x" progress="24.96%" title="Chapter X">
<h2 id="Ps.xi-p0.1">P S A L M S</h2>
<h3 id="Ps.xi-p0.2">PSALM X.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Ps.xi-p1">The Septuagint translation joins this psalm with
the ninth, and makes them but one; but the Hebrew makes it a
distinct psalm, and the scope and style are certainly different. In
this psalm, I. David complains of the wickedness of the wicked,
describes the dreadful pitch of impiety at which they had arrived
(to the great dishonour of God and the prejudice of his church and
people), and notices the delay of God's appearing against them,
<scripRef id="Ps.xi-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.10.1-Ps.10.11" parsed="|Ps|10|1|10|11" passage="Ps 10:1-11">ver. 1-11</scripRef>. II. He prays
to God to appear against them for the relief of his people and
comforts himself with hopes that he would do so in due time,
<scripRef id="Ps.xi-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.10.12-Ps.10.18" parsed="|Ps|10|12|10|18" passage="Ps 10:12-18">ver. 12-18</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Ps.xi-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.10" parsed="|Ps|10|0|0|0" passage="Ps 10" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Ps.xi-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.10.1-Ps.10.11" parsed="|Ps|10|1|10|11" passage="Ps 10:1-11" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.10.1-Ps.10.11">
<h4 id="Ps.xi-p1.5">The Character of the Wicked; The Character
of Persecutors.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.xi-p2">1 Why standest thou afar off, <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.xi-p2.1">O Lord</span>? <i>why</i> hidest thou <i>thyself</i> in
times of trouble?   2 The wicked in <i>his</i> 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, <i>whom</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.xi-p2.2">Lord</span> abhorreth.   4 The wicked, through the
pride of his countenance, will not seek <i>after God:</i> God
<i>is</i> not in all his thoughts.   5 His ways are always
grievous; thy judgments <i>are</i> far above out of his sight:
<i>as for</i> all his enemies, he puffeth at them.   6 He hath
said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for <i>I shall</i> never
<i>be</i> in adversity.   7 His mouth is full of cursing and
deceit and fraud: under his tongue <i>is</i> 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,
<i>and</i> 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 <i>it.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xi-p3">David, in these verses, discovers,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xi-p4">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
(<scripRef id="Ps.xi-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.10.1" parsed="|Ps|10|1|0|0" passage="Ps 10:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>): "<i>Why
standest thou afar off,</i> 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.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xi-p5">II. A very great indignation against sin,
the sins that made the times perilous, <scripRef id="Ps.xi-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:2Tim.3.1" parsed="|2Tim|3|1|0|0" passage="2Ti 3:1">2 Tim. iii. 1</scripRef>. 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 <i>these publicans</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.xi-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Luke.18.11" parsed="|Luke|18|11|0|0" passage="Lu 18:11">Luke xviii. 11</scripRef>), 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
(<scripRef id="Ps.xi-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.10.2" parsed="|Ps|10|2|0|0" passage="Ps 10:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), <i>The wicked
in his pride doth persecute the poor,</i> 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: <i>Let them be taken,</i>
as proud people often are, <i>in the devices that they have
imagined,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.xi-p5.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.10.2" parsed="|Ps|10|2|0|0" passage="Ps 10:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>.
Let their counsels be turned headlong, and let them fall headlong
by them. These two heads of the charge are here enlarged upon.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xi-p6">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 <i>boasts of his heart's desire,</i> 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>I have become rich, I have found me out
substance,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.xi-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.8" parsed="|Hos|12|8|0|0" passage="Hos 12:8">Hos. xii. 8</scripRef>.
"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 <i>blesses the covetous, whom the Lord abhors.</i>
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. <i>The friendship of the world is enmity to God.</i> But
proud persecutors bless them, and approve their sayings, <scripRef id="Ps.xi-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.49.13" parsed="|Ps|49|13|0|0" passage="Ps 49:13">Ps. xlix. 13</scripRef>. They applaud those as
wise whom God pronounces foolish (<scripRef id="Ps.xi-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Luke.12.20" parsed="|Luke|12|20|0|0" passage="Lu 12:20">Luke
xii. 20</scripRef>); 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. <i>Thou, in thy lifetime,
receivedst thy good things.</i> (3.) He proudly casts off the
thoughts of God, and all dependence upon him and devotion to him
(<scripRef id="Ps.xi-p6.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.10.4" parsed="|Ps|10|4|0|0" passage="Ps 10:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>): <i>The
wicked, through the pride of his countenance,</i> that pride of his
heart which appears in his very countenance (<scripRef id="Ps.xi-p6.5" osisRef="Bible:Prov.6.17" parsed="|Prov|6|17|0|0" passage="Pr 6:17">Prov. vi. 17</scripRef>), <i>will not seek after God,</i>
nor entertain the thoughts of him. <i>God is not in all his
thoughts,</i> not in any of them. <i>All his thoughts are that
there is not God.</i> See here, [1.] The nature of impiety and
irreligion; it is <i>not seeking after God</i> and <i>not having
him in our thoughts.</i> There is no enquiry made after him
(<scripRef id="Ps.xi-p6.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.35.10 Bible:Jer.2.6" parsed="|Job|35|10|0|0;|Jer|2|6|0|0" passage="Job 35:10,Jer 2:6">Job xxxv. 10, Jer. ii.
6</scripRef>), 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 (<scripRef id="Ps.xi-p6.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.10.5" parsed="|Ps|10|5|0|0" passage="Ps 10:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>): <i>His wings are always
grievous;</i> 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 <i>far above out of his sight;</i> 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 <i>in the height of heaven,</i>
and <i>quæ supra nos nihil ad nos—we have nothing to do with
things above us.</i> 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
<i>far above out of his sight,</i> 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
(<scripRef id="Ps.xi-p6.8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.10.6" parsed="|Ps|10|6|0|0" passage="Ps 10:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>): <i>He hath
said in his heart,</i> and pleased himself with the thought, <i>I
shall not be moved,</i> my goods are laid up for many years, and
<i>I shall never be in adversity;</i> like Babylon, that said, <i>I
shall be a lady for ever,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.xi-p6.9" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.7 Bible:Rev.18.7" parsed="|Isa|47|7|0|0;|Rev|18|7|0|0" passage="Isa 47:7,Re 18:7">Isa. xlvii. 7; Rev. xviii. 7</scripRef>. Those
are nearest ruin who thus set it furthest from them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xi-p7">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 (<scripRef id="Ps.xi-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.10.7" parsed="|Ps|10|7|0|0" passage="Ps 10:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>): <i>His mouth is full of
cursing.</i> 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 <i>his mouth
is full of deceit</i> and vanity. He has learned of the devil to
deceive, and so to destroy; with this his hatred is covered,
<scripRef id="Ps.xi-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.26.26" parsed="|Prov|26|26|0|0" passage="Pr 26:26">Prov. xxvi. 26</scripRef>. 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, <i>he
sits in the lurking places, in the secret places,</i> and <i>his
eyes are privily set</i> to do mischief (<scripRef id="Ps.xi-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.10.8" parsed="|Ps|10|8|0|0" passage="Ps 10:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>), 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 (<scripRef id="Ps.xi-p7.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.10.11" parsed="|Ps|10|11|0|0" passage="Ps 10:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>), 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 <i>the innocent,</i> who never provoked them—against
<i>the poor,</i> 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 <i>catch the poor,</i> and <i>draw them
into their net,</i> that is, get them into their power, not to
strip them only, but to <i>murder them.</i> 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: <i>He lies in wait as a lion</i> 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 (<scripRef id="Ps.xi-p7.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.10.10" parsed="|Ps|10|10|0|0" passage="Ps 10:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>): <i>He crouches and
humbles himself,</i> 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, <scripRef id="Ps.xi-p7.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.10.11" parsed="|Ps|10|11|0|0" passage="Ps 10:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. 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: <i>He hath said in his heart, God has forgotten.</i>
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, <i>God has forsaken the
earth,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.xi-p7.7" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.8.12 Bible:Ezek.9.9" parsed="|Ezek|8|12|0|0;|Ezek|9|9|0|0" passage="Eze 8:12,9:9">Ezek. viii. 12; ix.
9</scripRef>. 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.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xi-p8">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.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Ps.xi-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.10.12-Ps.10.18" parsed="|Ps|10|12|10|18" passage="Ps 10:12-18" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.10.12-Ps.10.18">
<h4 id="Ps.xi-p8.2">Prayer against Persecutors.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.xi-p9">12 Arise, <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.xi-p9.1">O Lord</span>;
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 <i>it.</i>   14 Thou hast seen
<i>it;</i> for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite
<i>it</i> 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 <i>man:</i> seek out his wickedness
<i>till</i> thou find none.   16 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.xi-p9.2">Lord</span> <i>is</i> King for ever and ever: the
heathen are perished out of his land.   17 <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.xi-p9.3">Lord</span>, 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.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xi-p10">David here, upon the foregoing
representation of the inhumanity and impiety of the oppressors,
grounds an address to God, wherein observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xi-p11">I. What he prays for. 1. That God would
himself appear (<scripRef id="Ps.xi-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.10.12" parsed="|Ps|10|12|0|0" passage="Ps 10:12"><i>v.</i>
12</scripRef>): "<i>Arise, O Lord! O God! lift up thy hand,</i>
manifest thy presence and providence in the affairs of this lower
world. <i>Arise, O Lord!</i> 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: "<i>Forget not the humble, the
afflicted,</i> 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, <scripRef id="Ps.xi-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.10.15" parsed="|Ps|10|15|0|0" passage="Ps 10:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. (1.) That he would disable them
from doing any mischief: <i>Break thou the arm of the wicked,</i>
take away his power, <i>that the hypocrite reign not, lest the
people be ensnared,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.xi-p11.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.34.30" parsed="|Job|34|30|0|0" passage="Job 34:30">Job xxxiv.
30</scripRef>. We read of oppressors whose dominion was taken away,
but their lives were prolonged (<scripRef id="Ps.xi-p11.4" osisRef="Bible:Dan.7.12" parsed="|Dan|7|12|0|0" passage="Da 7:12">Dan.
vii. 12</scripRef>), that they might have time to repent. (2.) That
he would deal with them for the mischief they had done: "<i>Seek
out his wickedness;</i> 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 <i>till thou find none,</i> that is, till none of his evil
deeds remain unreckoned for, none of his evil designs undefeated,
and none of his partisans undestroyed."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xi-p12">II. What he pleads for the encouraging of
his own faith in these petitions.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xi-p13">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"
(<scripRef id="Ps.xi-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.10.13" parsed="|Ps|10|13|0|0" passage="Ps 10:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>):
<i>Wherefore do the wicked contemn God?</i> He does so; for he
says, "<i>Thou wilt not require it;</i> 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.
<i>Wherefore do the wicked thus contemn God?</i> 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.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xi-p14">2. He pleads the notice God took of the
impiety and iniquity of these oppressors (<scripRef id="Ps.xi-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.10.14" parsed="|Ps|10|14|0|0" passage="Ps 10:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>): "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."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xi-p15">3. He pleads the dependence which the
oppressed had upon him: "<i>The poor commits himself unto thee,</i>
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. <i>They leave themselves with thee</i>" (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."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xi-p16">4. He pleads the relation in which God is
pleased to stand to us, (1.) As a great God. He <i>is King for ever
and ever,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.xi-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.10.16" parsed="|Ps|10|16|0|0" passage="Ps 10:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>.
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? <i>Help, my Lord, O King! Avenge me of my
adversary.</i> "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 (<scripRef id="Ps.xi-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.10.14" parsed="|Ps|10|14|0|0" passage="Ps 10:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>), of those who have no one else
to help them and have many to injure them. He has appointed kings
to <i>defend the poor and fatherless</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.xi-p16.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.82.3" parsed="|Ps|82|3|0|0" passage="Ps 82:3">Ps. lxxxii. 3</scripRef>), 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 (<scripRef id="Ps.xi-p16.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.68.5" parsed="|Ps|68|5|0|0" passage="Ps 68:5">Ps. lxviii. 5</scripRef>), a helper of the helpless.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xi-p17">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 (<scripRef id="Ps.xi-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.10.16" parsed="|Ps|10|16|0|0" passage="Ps 10:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>): "<i>The heathen have
perished out of his land;</i> 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 (<scripRef id="Ps.xi-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.10.17" parsed="|Ps|10|17|0|0" passage="Ps 10:17"><i>v.</i>
17</scripRef>): "<i>Lord, thou hast</i> many a time <i>heard the
desire of the humble,</i> and never saidst to a distressed
suppliant, <i>Seek in vain.</i> Why may not we hope for the
continuance and repetition of the wonders, the favours, which our
father told us of?"</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xi-p18">6. He pleads their expectations from God
pursuant to their experience of him: "<i>Thou hast heard,</i>
therefore <i>thou will cause thy ear to hear,</i> as, <scripRef id="Ps.xi-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.6.9" parsed="|Ps|6|9|0|0" passage="Ps 6:9">Ps. vi. 9</scripRef>. 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 (<scripRef id="Ps.xi-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.16.1" parsed="|Prov|16|1|0|0" passage="Pr 16:1">Prov. xvi. 1</scripRef>) and take that as a leading
favour. (2.) What he will do in answer to prayer, <scripRef id="Ps.xi-p18.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.10.18" parsed="|Ps|10|18|0|0" passage="Ps 10:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. [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
<i>that the man of the earth may no more oppress.</i> 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.
<i>First,</i> He is but <i>a man of the earth,</i> a man <i>out
of</i> 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 <i>man that shall die, a son of man that shall be as grass?</i>
<scripRef id="Ps.xi-p18.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.51.12" parsed="|Isa|51|12|0|0" passage="Isa 51:12">Isa. li. 12</scripRef>. He that
protects us is the Lord of heaven; he that persecutes us is but a
man of the earth. <i>Secondly,</i> 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 (<scripRef id="Ps.xi-p18.5" osisRef="Bible:Rev.20.3" parsed="|Rev|20|3|0|0" passage="Re 20:3">Rev. xx.
3</scripRef>), no more oppress.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xi-p19">In singing <scripRef id="Ps.xi-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.10.12-Ps.10.18" parsed="|Ps|10|12|10|18" passage="Ps 10:12-18">these verses</scripRef> 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.</p>
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