Thou hast seen [it], for thou thyself beholdest trouble and vexation, to requite by thy hand. The wretched committeth himself unto thee; thou hast been the helper of the fatherless.
The wicked man of this psalm has just told himself that God will never call him to account. Verse 14 is faith's answer to that boast. God has seen everything. He keeps a record so that He can repay. And He has already made Himself the protector of those who have no other.
One writer sets God's seeing against the lie the oppressor believes, and names what that pride makes of a man.
The work of the liar and the murderer has reached its height. So now the solemn call goes up to Jehovah to avenge His own cause by delivering His afflicted people. He had seen it all, though the proud heart of the wicked man had told him the flattering lie that God had forgotten. This is the crowning misery of man. Unless God's choosing mercy rescues him, all his boasted wisdom leaves him nothing but Satan's fool.
God's watching covers plots the victim knows nothing about. Israel's enemies hired Balaam to curse the nation. Israel knew nothing of the danger until it had already passed.
When the LORD told Moses about the evil plot against Israel, Moses might well have used the words of the Psalmist: "But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation, that you may take it into your hands" (older wording: "to repay it with Your hand"). Later Moses told the people about the danger that had threatened them. Enemies had hired Balaam the son of Beor to curse them. But the LORD their God would not listen to Balaam. Instead He turned the curse into a blessing, because the LORD their God loved them.
God does not just observe. He notes the wrong so His hand can settle the account. The long delay before that is easy to misread.
For a long time God has been a patient Observer (v. 14). But patience is not indifference, as the world will learn by terrible experience. God will repay in perfect righteousness. The helpless, who have committed themselves to Him, will find Him a real helper — a Helper of the fatherless, those who have no one on earth to depend upon.
The same principle reaches beyond Israel's story. Naboth was murdered so a king could take his vineyard. One writer applies the verse to every killing of God's people since, done under cover of law.
Rulers and governors who served the mood of the moment have been all too willing to put God's choicest saints to a cruel death at the command of the so-called "Church." But in the coming day of repayment God will remember everything done in Israel and in Christendom. He will yet avenge innocent blood (Rev. 18:24).
The middle of the verse describes an act of the sufferer: he leaves himself with God. Notice how the argument runs — the worse the case, the stronger the claim.
Faith still holds with confidence to an All-seeing One, as interested as He is observant, and sure to step in. The wretched one, sunk in affliction, still hands himself over to the One who has proved Himself the helper of those with no natural help. The evil at its worst is simply the supreme need that God must answer, and He takes that need on Himself. With every other help cut off, is not such a soul exactly this "orphan" to whom He is pledged?
The verse calls them "the fatherless." The name points to what they do not have.
They are "the fatherless" (ver. 14). They have no natural protector; no one on earth to stand up in their defence, and protect their rights.
The same writer turns that description into a test for the reader.
The wicked in his pride does persecute "the poor." He does indeed, no matter what the age may be. As soon as "the poor" is in evidence he simply itches to persecute him. The wicked we have with us right enough. But where is the poor? Well, if the wicked of this age compliment us and pat us on the back, it raises some serious questions!
The closing verses give God's answer. Even the prayer He answers is His own work.
Jehovah has heard the desire of the humble. He prepared their heart, and then He listened. That listening will show itself in judging — in being Judge for the fatherless and the oppressed. Then the man of the earth, the man whose strength and hope were in the earth, will oppress no more.
- Seen. The oppressor rests his whole confidence on a lie he tells himself: that God has forgotten. God has seen all along.
- Noted. Seeing is not passive. God observes mischief with repayment in view, and long patience is not indifference.
- Committed. The sufferer's part is to hand himself over to God. The deeper the trouble, the stronger his claim on the One who has pledged Himself to the helpless.
- Helped. "The fatherless" have no one on earth to defend them. Having no other protector is what gives them their claim on God.
- Ended. God prepares the heart to pray. He hears the prayer. Then He judges for the fatherless and the oppressed, and oppression stops for good.
Break thou the arm of the wicked, and as for the evil man, seek out his wickedness [till] thou find none.
For fourteen verses this psalm describes a violent man. Verse 15 turns from describing him to praying against him — so who is he, and may a Christian pray like this today?
The prayer targets a man the psalm has already described. One writer traces the thread that runs through him: pride.
He persecutes the poor, but it is his pride that moves him to do it. He is covetous and "blesses the covetous" (v. 3), and his pride leads him to boast of this evil feature. Again, he has no desire for God: "God is not in all his thoughts" (v. 4), and this is because of the pride of his countenance. He totally excludes God from his thoughts, because he is filled with self-sufficiency and imagines that he will never be moved... No wonder then that in verse 15 we have the prayer, "Break the arm of the wicked and the evil man" — a prayer which will be answered in due time.
One writer looks ahead. The description of the wicked man, he says, will finally fit one person at the end of the age.
When the wicked one rises up from character to a person, it will come true in the antichrist of the last days and in the midst of the Jews as here. As the Lord is from heaven, so he is emphatically from the earth — frail man but energised by Satan. The Psalm answers much to the cry of the elect, according to the parable of the widow who keeps asking, whom God at length avenges.
The second half of the verse asks for more than a defeat. Another translation reads, "seek out his wickedness till you find none" — God hunts the evil down until the search comes up empty. Faith already sees the result.
Then with the cry comes the flash of recognition: "Break the arm of the wicked and the evil one! You will seek out his wickedness till there is no more to find." And then the glorious accomplishment seems before the sight: "Jehovah is King for ever and ever: the nations are perished out of His land." The cleansing is done, the evil is thrown out... Only faith grasps this now, but it does grasp it. Faith can be as sure as if the thing were done.
Another writer shows what this breaking will look like, in almost physical detail.
"Break the arm of the wicked and evil man" (v. 15). We read the answer to this in Zechariah 11:17: "Woe to my worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May the sword strike his arm and his right eye! Let his arm be wholly withered, his right eye utterly blinded!" Sudden and dreadful will this judgment be!
One writer warns against taking the verse as a model for how Christians should pray about enemies now.
"Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer; call his wickedness to account till you find none" (Ps. 10:15). This is not language for a Christian under persecution. It suits those who stand with Christ when the days of His patience are over, and He is acting in judgment towards the world.
What the verse still teaches is where vengeance belongs. Another writer turns it into a warning about our own tempers.
At the same time, the godly man knows that "vengeance" belongs to God. This is surely a truth the Christian needs to remember... In the presence of provocation, anger, and deliberate insults, let us beware of seeking to take vengeance. The insults and injustice may stir righteous anger. Still, we cannot be trusted to take vengeance. That the Lord keeps in His own hands.
Clearing out the evil is not the end. It makes room for a kingdom that lasts.
But God, having broken the arm of the wicked, the nations also have perished out of His land by His judgment; He is King for ever and ever. "The man of the earth" will no more oppress.
- Pride — The earlier verses draw the man in this prayer. He shuts God out of his thoughts and imagines he will never be moved.
- Person — The wicked one is not just a type. He becomes one man, "the man of the earth," frail but energised by Satan.
- Purged — The prayer asks for more than a broken arm. It asks God to search out the wickedness until none is left.
- Postponed, not denied — God will answer this prayer in due time. Faith already holds it as sure as if it were done.
- Placed in God's hands — These words do not suit a Christian under persecution today. Vengeance is one thing the Lord keeps to Himself.