Paraphrase Upon the Books of the Psalms, Book 1 · Psalm 10
The Tenth Psalme.
Paraphrase. THe tenth is a Psalm of Davids, joyned by the LXXII. to Psalm ix. but in the Hebrew divided from it: and it is a complaint made to God of the riotous oppressions of wicked men, and an humble relyance on him for his repressing them.
1. Why standest thou afarr off, O Lord? why hidest thou thy self in times of trouble?
O thou all-seeing Lord, thou art sometimes pleased to withdraw thy self a while from the aid of suppliants, and in times of the greatest streights (which are the fittest‖foreign, Lxxii. See Psal. ix. 9. opportunities) to suspend thy interpositions, and permit oppressors to prosper, and we silly creatures are often posed thereby, discern not the causes which move thy wisdome to it.
2. ‖or, In the pride of the wicked the poor is set on fire.The wicked in his pride dotha. persecute the poor: Let them be taken in the devices which they have imagined.
That wicked men should make use of their worldly power to injure and bear down those that are not able to resist, is nothing strange, their pride incites them to it: But it is thy property to resist the proud, and defend the needy, and to bring ruine on godlesse men, by the same means by which they designed it to others. Be thou now pleased thus to reveal thy selfe.
3. For the wicked boasteth of his hearts desire,*and the covetous blasphemes and provoketh God. andb. blesseth the covetous, whom God abhorreth.
For 'tis to the great dishonour of thy name, that the wicked is thus permitted to prosper in his designes: he boasteth and placeth a pride in it, that without any check he can do what he please. And so the covetous designer, that for the inriching himselfe oppresses and injures others, either perswades himselfe that God sees not at all, or that he meddles not with the government of the world, or else makes God an accessarie, and favourable to it; every of which is indeed an horrible blasphemy, and must needs provoke him exceedingly.
4. ‖The wicked in the haughtiness of his look.The wicked through the pride of his countenance†saith, God will not require or consider or search out all his devices, or will not seek; all his thoughts are, there is no God. will notc. seek after God; God is not in all his thoughts.
For thus the impious Atheistical worldling resolves within himself, that all his designes are so subtilly and closely managed, so politickly laid, and secretly wrought, that no God in heaven shall ever be able to discover them, much lesse to frustrate or punish them.
5. *His waies shall travail, or bring forth at every season.His wayes are alwayesd. grievous: thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his enemies he puffeth at them.
He pursues his own wicked courses very constantly and industriously: As for Gods laws, or the judgments due from him to sinners, he never considers or layes them to heart: and so being confident of his own wit and strength, and setting all his thoughts on the mischieving his opposers, and never dreaming of any check from any, he despiseth, and contemns them all.
6. He hath said in his heart,‖I shall not be moved for ever & ever (that not on mischief, or) from doing mischief. I shall not be moved; e.for I shall never be in adversity.
And resolves in his own thoughts that he will never give over his oppressive and wicked wayes, upon any apprehension or fear, whether of God or man.
7. His mouth is full off. cursing and deceit and frauds, under his tongue is mischief and†iniquity, or, falsenesse. g.vanity.
On this account he makes no scruple to take and break oathes, to imprecate all curses on himself, for the confirming of that which is most false; and so he may cheat and injure others, cares not what maledictions he calls down upon himself; and thus is he alwayes employed. His tongue serves him for no other use, but to oppresse and defraud others.
8. h.He sitteth in the lurking places of the*or, fields. villages; in the secret places doth he murther the innocent: his eyes‖insidiously watch. arei. privily set against the poor.
And all advantages he makes use of to catch and kill; he is alwayes upon some secret design of rapine and blood; and innocent poor men that never provoked him, or were his enemies, are the special persons at whom his treachery is directed.
9. He lyeth in waitπin a close or secret place, foreign secretly, as a Lion in his den; he lyeth in wait to catch the poor: he doth catch the poorωby drawing foreign when he draweth him into his net.αand teareth him in pieces. k..
For these he lyes in Ambush, as a Lion in expectation of his prey, on purpose to tear & devour them; layes his toiles to insnare them, with all the subtlety imaginable; drawes them into his power; and then useth the utmost‖foreign Lxxii. rapit Lat. Arab. violence upon them, rends them and preys on them.
10. He couchethβhe humbleth himself and falleth, that he may prevail over the poor. and humbleth himselfe, that the poor may fall by his strong ones.
And as a Lion is then most couchant, when his aimes are most bloody, and designes that infidious posture to that very end; so doth he put on the guise of the greatest meeknesse and humility, on purpose, that, as a Lion again, he may make use of it to the greatest advantage of seising on his prey (oppressing any that are weaker than he) whensoever it comes within reach of him.
11. He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten; he hideth his face, he will not see it.
All this while he perswades himselfe that God takes no notice of these oppressions of his, is confident never to be called to any account for them.
12. Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up thy hand, forget not the‖the afflicted foreign humble.
But thou O Lord of all power & justice, and withall of grace and mercy to them that wait on thee, be pleased at length to stretch forth thy hand of defence and relief to all that are thus oppressed and injured.
13. Wherefore doth the wicked*provoke, See v. 3. note b. contemn God? he hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it.
This thy longanimity in forbearing of wicked men and permitting them to prosper, makes them blaspheme thee, as one that either doth not see, or will never punish their violences. v. 3.
14. Thou hast seen it, for thou beholdest mischief and spight, to requite it with thy hand: the poor committeth himself unto thee, thou art the helper of the fatherlesse.
But they will one day finde themselves in a sad error, and discern to their cost, that God hath seen all the oppressions of their lives, and will repay indignation and anger and wrath upon every Soul that hath gone on in this enormous Atheistical course; and on the other side take a special care of all helplesse men, that rely and trust on him, and commit themselves by patience and piety to his custody.
15. Break thou the arme of the wicked and the evill man;l. *thou shalt seek his wickednes, not find it.seek out his wickednesse, till thou finde none.
For thou, Lord, wilt shew forth thy vengeance, and bring to nothing the oppressors power: visit him and his deeds, till they be utterly destroyed.
16. The Lord is King for ever and ever; them. heathen are perished out of his land.
Thus will God vindicate himselfe to have the governing of the world in his hands: and though wicked men and oppressers prosper for a time, and this tempt men to some doubts, and Atheistical disputes; yet the conclusion will clear the doubt (and confirm all, that consider it, in the adoration of Gods power and justice) viz. the utter extirpation of wicked men out of Canaan, the embleme of heaven.
17. Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble, thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine eare to heare.
Thou hast, O Lord, by promise obliged thy selfe never to reject any humble suppliant that wants, and waits for thy help: the ardency of humble addresses to thee is thine own gift; and then thou canst never reject or despise those requests, which are thus, by thine own spirit and appointment, directed and brought to thee.
18. To judge the fatherlesse and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more*tyrannize foreign oppresse.
And this gives security and confidence to the most helplesse and desolate, that thou wilt in thy good time interpose thy aids and thy vengeance, to relieve the opprest, when he is duly qualified for that mercy, and to subdue and confound the Atheistical tyrannizing oppressors, and shew them how small reason they had, to rejoyce and boast of Gods not seeing or considering their actions.
Annotations on Psalm X.
V. 2. Persecute] foreign signifies two things (as was said note on Psal. vii. e.) to persecute, foreignand to be set on fire: and though we render it in the former sense, and so apply it to foreign the wicked, in the active sense [the wicked persecutes the poor] yet the antient interpreters generally render it in the passive, and apply it to foreign the poor, that in the pride of the wicked he is set on fire, i. e. brought into great tribulation; foreign say the Lxxii. in the sense that S. Peter uses foreign 1 Pet. iv. 12. for a great persecution and affliction, that fell on godly men. And thus the sense will very well bear it in this place, and the matter be little varied, which way soever the rendring be; it being all one, whether the wicked in his pride persecute the poor, or the poor be persecuted, and afflicted, and opprest in, or through the pride of the wicked. The Chaldee exactly follows the Hebrew, and is as ambiguous as that, but is translated in the passive sense.
V. 3. Blesseth] Some incertainty there is in rendring this latter part of the third verse. The Lxxii. besides that they take foreign the wicked from the beginning of the next verse, and joyn it with this [foreign, the wicked hath provoked the Lord] they also render foreign foreignpassively, foreign is blest, and foreign, the injurious; and so the Syriack and Latine. But the Chaldee varies from them, and keeps neerer the Hebrew. The chief difficulty is in the rendring of foreign; which though in Kal it signifies to blesse, yet in Piel, as here 'tis used, it is observed sometimes to signifie in a contrary sense, to curse, or blaspheme. So evidently Job 1.5. peradventure they have sinned foreign and curst God in their heart; the Targum read foreign and provoked God: so again v. 11. and c. 11.5. and 9. curse God and dye: so 1 King. xxi. 10. of Naboth, foreign thou hast blasphemed, or cursed God, foreign saith the Targum, blasphemed before God: and so again v. 13. And thus the Arabick word to blesse, as Mr. Pocock cites it out of Nehayah, signifies also to reproach or rail at; and many other words of contrary significations are noted by him, Not. miscell. ch. 2. And so most reasonably it must signifie here; and then the meaning will be clear foreign in the nominative case, as in the beginning of the verse foreign had been, and no ellipsis to be supplyed, save only of the copulative [and] (which is much more frequent and easie than what is necessary to the common way of interpreting it) thus, foreign and the covetous (or in the Lxxii. their rendring, foreign the injurious, or oppressor) blasphemes foreign and provoketh the Lord.
V. 4. Seek] What foreign foreignhere signifies is matter of some question. The Syriack renders it foreign from foreign to search or examine; the Latine renders it perpendere, to perpend or weigh, the Chaldee foreign which signifies to require (and thus it is used in the notion of avenging or punishing, Gen. ix. 5. and here v. 13.) the LXXII. foreign, and so the Latine to seek, the Arabick to search. It signifies also to interrogate, in order to learning, so to aske, as when we consult, or take any thing into serious care or consideration; and then if the foreign be applyed to the wicked (as generally the translators apply it) the rendring must be, the wicked in the haughtiness of his looks will not consult, or search after, or consider God. And then the chief difficulty will be in the latter part of the verse, foreign i. e. literally, No God all his thoughts: which being elliptical, must be supplyed either by addition of [is in] God is not in all his thoughts; so the Syriack understands it, foreign no God in all his thoughts, and to the same purpose the LXXII. and Latine, and Arabick, foreign, God is not before him: or else by the addition of [sees or knows] God sees not all his thoughts or devices, (And thus the Chaldee expounds it, but yet with a farther addition (necessary to connect it to the former words) foreign and will say in his heart, all my devices are not manifest before the Lord:) or yet more promptly, and with lesse change, There is no God, are all his thoughts; so the Jewish Arabick seems willing to supply it, rendring it, In all his thoughts he saith there is no God; and this is agreeable to Kimchi and others. In this variety of conjectures, how the ellipsis may be best supplied, it may not be amisse to propose another rendring of the whole verse, by addition but of one word in the beginning, viz. [saith] (than which no word almost is more frequently understood) thus, The wicked in the elation of his countenance (as that is an indication of his heart, and therefore the Chaldee reads reads foreign in the pride of his spirit) saith, foreign God shall in no wise (so the double negative foreign signifies) require (in the notion of punishing) or (in the other vulgar notion) consider all his devices. Thus the words flow very naturally, and the ellipsis is much more intelligible, and easily supplied, than any other way: and to this sense the context inclines; Thy judgments are far out of his sight, v. 5. and he hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten, he hideth his face, he will never see it, v. 11. and this the interpretation of his blaspheming God, foregoing v. 3.
V. 5. Grievous] foreign foreignis here by the Chaldee rendred foreign are prospered, as if it were from foreign to be strong, or prosper; by the LXXII. foreign are polluted, or profaned, as from foreign to violate or pollute, or profane, and so the sense will well enough bear; His wayes are alwayes polluted, or defiled, as the Atheists alwayes must be, who considers not, nor dreads Gods judgments. But the radix foreign, from whence it regularly comes, signifies properly to be tormented, after the manner especially of women in labour, and accordingly 'tis frequently used for bringing forth: so Isa. Liv. 1. foreign and foreign are words of the same importance, as travailing and bearing; so Jer. iv. 31. foreign, as of one that travaileth; so Psal. xxix. 9. the voice of the Lord, or thunder foreign, makes to bring forth (speaking of the hinds, which are said to bring forth with difficulty, and to do it with more ease, when being frighted with thunder, their wombs open;) and so very frequently in other places, where the LXXII. render it foreign to be in travail. And thus it seems to learned men to signifie in this place. See Schindler pentaglott. p. 539. D. who renders it parient, enixè urgebunt vias suas, they shall painfully, industriously urge, or presse their own wayes (so we had foreign, travailing with iniquity Psal. vii. 14.) or rather in the singular of the person, his wayes shall travail or bring forth at every season; [his wayes] in opposition to [Gods wayes or judgements] following, which are said to be farr above, not considered by him. In this verse the punctation may possibly lie thus, Thy judgements are far above; over against, or before him (foreign) are all his enemyes, (his eyes and thoughts pursue them only) he puffeth (breatheth out threatnings and reproaches) at them. This way the Hebrew suffixes do more clearly answer one the other.
V. 6. For I shall never] The particle foreign foreignwhich] doth also sometimes signifie quod, in the notion of quia, because; and so our ordinary rendring supposes here, and takes foreign evill, not for sin, but punishment; and then foreign is not amisse translated [for not in evill, i. e. for I shall not be in evill, or adversity.] But all the antient interpreters understand both foreign and foreign otherwise. The Chaldee joyn it with the former part of the verse, thus, I shall never be moved foreign from doing evill. The LXXII. and Latine and Arabick all seem to designe the same sense, foreign, I shall not be shaken or moved — without evill; and the Syriack by way of Paraphrase, foreign he meditates mischief. All which inclines us to understand foreign in the notion of ut, that, in which 'tis frequently used, Gen. xi. 7. foreign (as here) ut non, that they hear not, and in many other places: and then the meaning will be perspicuous, he saith in his heart, I shall or will by no means be moved for ever and ever, that not (i. e. so as not to be) in mischief, or so as not to be doing some ill, (as foreign Exod. xxxii. 22. signifies being set on wickednesse, the same that foreign 1 Joh. v. 19.) which there the Chaldee have fully paraphrased, I shall never be removed from doing ill, and the LXXII. more briefly, and imperfectly, [without ill] which yet is aequivalent to [that not with ill] and so to be interpreted, which the Syriack meant to expresse more fully, [they imagine evill] meditate evill, i. e. evil, and nothing else, have no kinde of check in so doing.
V. 7. Cursing] The verbe foreign signifies to swear, foreign(and sometimes to forswear) but so to swear, as was usual among the Jews, with imprecation joyned with it, (as when Matth. xxvi. 74. 'tis said of Peter that he cursed and sware, i. e. sware with an imprecation) praying for evil against themselves in case they sware false. And in this sense the noun is here taken, for that oath with imprecation; and being rendred [cursing] it is not malediction, or execration of others, but of himselfe, in case he performed not his oath: and foreign deceit joyned with it (wch the Lxxii. render foreign bitterness, as if it were foreign which signifies that, and the rather because foreign following was sufficient to express deceit) denotes the perjury, and so really imprecating all curses on themselves, which in order to gaining to themselves, and oppressing of others, they are without any regret frequently guilty of.
V. 7. Vanity] The Hebrew foreign foreignsignifies not only sorrow, and hard travail, or labour, from whence the LXXII. render it foreign here, but also violence, rapine, injury, iniquity, Job xi. 14. Prov. xxx. 20. and Psal. v. 5. and so 'tis to be rendred in this place, and the Greek foreign to be understood in that notion,foreign wherein foreign wicked doth come from it, meaning primarily him that doth foreign inferre, injures, oppresses any other. See Mat. v. 39. Note g.
V. 8. Villages] foreign a court, open without walls, foreignsignifies also a village, as that differs from a walled town, and city, and so also any place, without dwelling or building in it, a field &c. and in Arabick green grasse; and so Ps. CIII. 15. the life of a man is foreign as the herbe or grasse. And this is more proper for the turn in this place, speaking of ambushes, or laying of wait, for which the villages (in our ordinary use of the word for little towns) are not so commodious as the green grasse, wherein one may lie and be hid, or the fields, which are farr from any houses. The LXXII. read here foreign, with the rich, reading (as 'tis most probable) foreign, with the change of two letters צ. ח. into others of a neer sound with them, ש. ע.
V. 8. Privily set] foreign signifies to hide, or lay up in secret; foreignbut withal to watch, or insidiously to lay wait. So Prov. I. 11. foreign we render it, let us lay wait for blood. So Psal. Lvi. 7. foreign we render, they hide themselves, but the sense directs to this end of hiding, to lay wait. And so here undoubtedly it signifies, as both the antecedents and consequents demonstrate. The Lxxii. render it foreign, and so the Latine and Syriack, noting the intentness of his looking, or watching, as for a spoil or prey; the Arabick, shall look upon, or observe; and so belong to the same sense, which the Chaldee more fully express by foreign insidiabitur, lie in ambush, or secretly observe.
V. 10. He croucheth] This passage may a while deserve to be examined, as it lies in the antient interpreters. And 1. foreign foreignis from foreign comminuit, contrivit: the Chaldee read foreign conteret, and the interlinear atteret; but both seem to use it in the reciprocal sense. But tis possible it should be rendered transitively, and he teareth him in pieces, and so connect, and be joyned with the end of the former verse, as the expression of Lion-like cunning, and cruelty there described, thus, [he catcheth the poor by drawing him into his net, and rends him into the smallest pieces.] Thus the Lxxii. seem to have understood it, rendring it foreign, he shall humble (as from foreign humiliavit) him, i. e. the poor, and joyning it with foreign, in his net, in the former verse; and the Syriack leave it out, as being before sufficiently exprest by catching him in his net: whereas they that with the Chaldee set it at the beginning of this tenth verse, do 1. omit the copulative ו unrendred, or turne it into a jod; 2. understand it in the neutral sense, he croucheth, as from foreign, which indeed may be so taken, but is not received by the Chaldee, or Interlinear, (the chief fautors of that interpretation) both which take it in the notion of foreign conterit; 3. are fain to insert a ו copulative before the next word, and render foreign and humbled himself.] All which are removed, and the matter laid clear and current in this uniting, and rendring of it, [he doth catch the poor by drawing him into his net, and teareth him in pieces.] And then the tenth verse will be perspicuous also, foreign he shall stoop, (so foreign foreignfrom foreign curvatus est, most properly signifies,) foreign and fall: thus the Lxxii. render it, foreign, he shall stoop and fall; and the Syriack foreign be humbled, and fall; and the Latine, inclinabit se & cadet, he shall bend himself and fall; and so the Arabick and Aethiopick; and so the similitude with the Lion enclines it, who lyes down, is couchant, or, as in the Apologue in Horace, Ep. l. 1. 1. feins himself sick, —Vulpes aegroto cauta Leoni Respondit—tua me vestigia terrent, Omnia te advorsum spectantia, nulla retrorsum. by that means to secure himself of his prey, or to fit him to seize on it. So saith the Jewish Arabick translator: This is a description of the fashion of a Lion; for when he means to leap, he first coucheth, that he may gather himself together, then he rouzeth himself, and puts out his strength, till he tear his prey: therefore when he speaketh thee fair, beware of him, for this is but his deceit. Then follows foreign to prevail, or, that he may prevail over the poor. The LXXII. render it foreign in his prevailing over the poor, and so the Latine and Arabick and Aethiopick; and so foreign foreignmay signifie to be strong, and that comparatively, stronger than another; so Gen. xxvi. 16. foreign thou art stronger than I: the Chaldee expound it by foreign from foreign which signifies to overcome, to prevail over another. And thus is foreign generally expounded by the LXXII. foreign, and foreign, and foreign, all words of prevailing and overcoming. And then the preposition ב seems best to be rendred by pro, or propter, or ad (so tis acknowledged to signifie, and foreign in the LXXII. is frequently taken for foreign) as the end for which he coucheth and falls: that as the couchant Lion lyes still, and then rouseth himself, when his prey comes into his reach, and so seises upon it; so he, by the like art of humility and secrecy, may break forth upon the poor man, and devoure him. The Syriack here have a way by themselves; after [he shall be humbled and fall] wherein they follow the LXXII. they read instead of foreign diseases, and sorrows are in his bones; questionlesse respecting that of the Lion, exprest by the Apologue in Horace, in feigning himself sick, that he may by that means obtain his prey. And so this serves to confirm this interpretation, which yet without that help is cohaerent, and facile in every part; whereas our ordinary rendring joyneth the singular foreign fall, with the plural foreign poor; and though the margin reads foreign in two words, and the interlinear render it congregatio attritorum, the army, or congregation of afflicted ones; yet neither any of the antient interpreters acknowledge that reading, nor can there be place for it here, this word foreign being used twice more in this Psalm (though no where else) to signifie the poor, v. 8. and 14. It is more reasonably suggested in favour of that interpretation, that it is an elegance both in Hebrew and Arabick, to use the verb singular with the nominative plural, especially when the verb is placed first, as here it is; and therefore I acknowledge that to be no objection against the ordinary rendring in case the former of the notion of foreign, & foreign be of no force; Of which, as of a conjecture only, the Reader may pass his judgment; And if he shall prefer the ordinary rendring, then the main difficulty will be in the phrase foreign And 1. the וו will not be barely either conversivum, or copulative, but as Aben-Ezra oft conpares it to the Arabick ף denoting the consequence of one thing to another, so as to imply [that] or [untill] and so 'twill be rendred, he humbleth himself and the poor fall, or that, or untill the poor fall— Then for foreign that may be rendred assaults: So Abu-Walid saith it is here a noun signifying contention, or assault, and applyes this notion to it in other places of Scripture, and in the Mishnaioth, and so doth Kimchi in his Radices; and in his commentary on this Psalme he puts both together, strength and contention, rendring it, foreign by the strength of his contention and warlike assaults. But then thus also it will be as well applyable to the other interpretation, which understood foreign of the assailant, he falleth with his fierce assaults foreign (understanding the praeposition ב) on the poor; and in this sence Abu-Walid compares foreign with the Arabick foreign to fall, and to fall on, in sence of assault.
V. 15. Seek till thou finde none] To be sought and not be found] signifies proverbially that which is lost or destroyed utterly.foreign So Psal. xxxvii. 36. I sought him but he could not be found] is but another phrase to signifie what went before [he passed away, and loe he was not] So Job xx. 8. he shall flee away as a dream, and shall not be found] all one with, He shall perish for ever, they shall say, where is he? v. 7. So Ezek. xxvii. 21. though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again. So Rev. xvi. 20. the mountains were not found, i. e. they were destroyed. So Ch. xviii. 21. Babylon shall be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. So Psal. Lxix. 20. I looked for comforters but I found none] to express a heavie, disconsolate condition. So Jer. i. 20. the sins of Judah shall be sought for, and shall not be found] is a prophetical expression to note the taking away of sin, viz. by pardon and remission, which is the blotting them out, for so it followes, for I will pardon them, &c. And here it is taken in the same manner, not for the pardoning, but destroying, and so best connects with breaking the arme of the wicked (destroying him and his oppressions together) precedent, and the heathens perishing out of the land, v. 16. The Chaldee more fully express it, Let their impiety be sought for, and not found; and so the LXXII. and the Latine, and the Arabick, his sin shall be sought, and he shall not be found because of it. Other like phrases there are, As Psal. xxviii. 5. thou shalt destroy, or pull them down, and not build them up. They shall fall and not be able to stand; Shall lye down, and not rise, and the like.
V. 16. Heathens] What foreign foreignnations or heathen] signifies in this place, is manifest by the former verses, especially the fifteenth immediately foregoing, where the subject of the discourse is the wicked and evill man; who as there they are to be broken, and sought and not found, so here of the foreign 'tis said, that they shall perish. 'Tis therefore to be resolved, that the nations or heathen are here, as in many other places of the Psalmist, the wicked men among the Jews, and not only the Idolatrous Gentiles so called. So Psal. Lix. 5. Awake to visit the nations, or heathen, i. e. the wicked transgressors, in the end of the verse, those of the Jewish nation sent by Saul to slay David. So v. 8. thou shalt have all the heathen in derision, speaking of the same men. That the Greek foreign, parallel to this, signifies not the Gentile nations onelyonly, but sometimes, when the context enforceth, peculiarly the Jews, see Annot. on Matt. xxiv. e. and proportionably foreign, an heathen] is used for a desperate obstinate sinner, Matt. xviii. 17.