He saith in his heart, I shall not be moved; from generation to generation I shall be in no adversity.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
His mouth is full of cursing, and deceit, and oppression; under his tongue is mischief and iniquity.
Psalm 10 paints a man who has pushed God out of his thoughts. Verse 7 is the moment his mouth gives him away. On its own the line describes one cruel man. Paul later quotes it as part of God's charge against the whole human race.
The verse sits directly after the boast of verse 6, where the wicked man tells himself he will never be shaken. One writer ties the boast to the words that follow, and asks what kind of man now fills the place God once held. (He uses an older translation, which reads "trouble" and "vanity" where the ESV has "mischief and iniquity.")
Because he feels so secure, everything in his heart comes out: "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks", and "his mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression." What is "under his tongue" is hidden, yet ready to show itself. It is "trouble" for others and "vanity" in itself. It is a short description, but an effective one. If God is pushed out, it is to make room for man. And what kind of man is he, for whom the room is made?
The word does not have to mean bad language. One commentator shows what this cursing aims at, and how smooth the same mouth can sound.
This does not have to mean he uses swear words. Of this same man we read, "His speech was smooth as butter, yet war was in his heart" (Ps. 55:21). His cursing is more a matter of running others down — and above all God. He is one who curses God, uses deceit among his friends, and oppresses the poor. "Under his tongue are mischief and iniquity." People may not see this at first, but it lies under everything he says. What a terrible charge!
Paul places this line in a chain of quotations in Romans 3, and one writer traces the chain as a downward slope. Cursing is not the bottom of it.
The fourth quotation is from Psalm 10:7: "His mouth is filled with cursing." Lying leads to slander, and slander leads to cursing, because the slandered man hits back with cursing and bitterness.
The next quotation in Paul's list moves from words to blood.
The fifth quotation is from Proverbs 1:16: "their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood." From "cursing and bitterness" it is only a short step to murder.
It would be comfortable to read verse 7 as a description of somebody else. One writer removes that escape by noting whom Paul is describing when he borrows the line.
In Romans 3 we have God's charge against man, set out as a string of quotations from the Prophets and the Psalms. Among them we find these terrible words from Psalm 10: "Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness." If the heart did not hold these evils, the mouth could never pour them out. Here then we have an insight into the human heart. Notice too where this dreadful quotation stands. It comes in Paul's description of religious Jews, not in his account of the nations outside Israel… So a man can sing the praises of God on Sunday and be guilty of cursing and bitterness towards others on Monday.
Throughout Psalm 10 "the wicked" stands in the singular. One writer reads it as the picture of a type, and also as a hint of one man still to come.
As a rule — and always in Psalm 10, and every time the word is used in Psalm 9 except verse 17 — "the wicked" is singular… In the singular it describes, I judge, a character. Yet I have no doubt there will also be one particular wicked man, the Lawless One of 2 Thessalonians 2:8, the Antichrist. Here, though, he is known by his character, not by a clear prophecy about his person.
The psalm does not leave this mouth talking. Another writer follows the man to the end of the chapter and shows what happens to his confidence.
He claims that God has not seen his sin, or that if He has, He does not care and will never call him to account… The God he despises searches out his wickedness, breaks his arm, and destroys him out of the land. He is not only moved, but removed in judgment. His boasted security turns out to be a lie.
- Displaced. God is pushed out of his thoughts first; the mouth only reports what has already happened inside.
- Disguised. His cursing can sound smooth, and what lies "under his tongue" stays hidden until it shows itself.
- Escalating. Lying breeds slander, slander breeds cursing, and cursing is a short step from bloodshed.
- Universal. Paul aims this line at religious people, not only at obvious criminals. It shows what the human heart holds.
- Ended. The man who said he would never be shaken is himself removed in judgment; his security was a lie.
He sitteth in the lurking-places of the villages; in the secret places doth he slay the innocent his eyes watch for the wretched.
Psalm 10 turns from wickedness in general to a close-up of one man. Verse 8 catches him at work: crouched out of sight, killing people who never saw him coming. Two questions follow. Who are the "innocent" he hunts, and does anyone see what happens in hidden places?
The wickedness here is not spread across many offenders. The psalm keeps one man in view, and commentators take that as deliberate.
The word "wicked" throughout this passage is in the singular. Using the singular shows that this description fits any wicked man, though no doubt it will have its full expression in one man — the Antichrist. So the passage describes the character of the Antichrist. It is not a distinct prophecy of him personally.
Hiding and watching take skill. But skill is only the surface here.
His acts are marked by craft, behind which there lurks the violence of a beast. His victims are the godly — the innocent and the poor.
The word "innocent" here points to what these victims do not share in.
They are "the innocent" (ver. 8). They take no part in the cursing, deceit, fraud and scheming that fill the lives of the wicked.
The ambush can be read at more than one level. It also raises a question: whose hand strikes the blow?
Verses 8 and 9 are literally true of some men. They may also be a picture of the antichrist. He will be able to do such things by proxy — using servants to carry out his evil plans. But God will hold him responsible for the evil his servants do by his direction. Many men are clever enough to hide that they are the source of the wickedness. They do it by manipulating servants they have deceived.
The killer's boldness has a root. He is sure no one will ever ask him for an account. One writer sees the same mix in the men who handed Jesus over.
Judas betrayed innocent blood and they condemned it. He at least had some feeling of remorse for what he had done — enough to drive him to take his own life. They had no feeling whatever. What was innocent blood to them? They had no reluctance about shedding it, nor had they any fear of the God who repays evil. They were prepared to "murder the innocent," saying in their hearts, "You will not call to account" (Ps. 10:8, 13).
Someone did see the hidden places. The long wait for justice is not neglect.
God has long 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.
It is easy to read a portrait like this at arm's length. One writer warns against that.
When we look at these great examples of human wickedness in Scripture, our minds are often in danger of forgetting one thing. The Holy Spirit marks out the moral features of Christ's chief adversary among men. What He shows us there is simply the ripe development of what is in the human heart of every one of us.
- Hidden — verse 8 shows one man's method. The singular fits any wicked man, and points to one in whom it comes to full expression.
- Hunting — his acts are marked by craft, with the violence of a beast behind them.
- Helpless — his victims are the innocent and the poor. They take no part in the deceit around them, and they have no one on earth to defend them.
- Heartless — he kills because he has told himself God will never call it to account. The men who condemned Jesus made the same calculation.
- Held to account — God's long silence is patience, not indifference. He is the helper of those who have no other.
He lieth in wait secretly, like a lion in his thicket; he lieth in wait to catch the afflicted he doth catch the afflicted, drawing him into his net.
The psalm has been describing a man who has pushed God out of his thoughts. Here that inward atheism turns into a hunt. Two images stack up: an animal crouching in cover, and a trapper with a net. Who is the predator? Who are the prey? And why does God let it happen?
The verse fuses two pictures: a lion in its thicket and a man with a net. One writer takes that fusion as the point.
So now we have his ways — a monotony of wickedness. The psalmist tries to describe it, and can only repeat himself in different ways. The picture is a wild beast, a beast of prey. It is human only in this: it carries the cunning and forethought of the hunter. Man without God is only such a beast. The spiritual part has sunk into the animal, and that gives the animal an unnatural power for evil.
The lion does not charge in the open; it waits. One writer reads verses 8 to 11 as a study in concealment. A man can hunt without anyone seeing him at the kill.
Verses 8 to 11 then emphasise the deceit that marks his every activity. Verses 8 and 9 are literally true of some men. They may also be a picture of the antichrist. He will be able to do such things by proxy — that is, with servants to carry out his evil plans. But God will hold him responsible for the evil his servants do at his direction. Many men are clever enough to hide that they are the source of the wickedness. They manipulate their deluded servants.
Twice the verse names the target: "the poor." That is not about money. The word points to the heart, and it stands opposite the pride running through the rest of the psalm.
They are "the poor" (v. 2). That is, of course, poor in spirit, and not merely poor in worldly possessions. Their poverty of spirit is the exact opposite of pride, and pride is the mark of frail mortal man.
Psalm 10 follows patterns — one of them alphabetical. At these verses the patterns break down. One commentator treats that breakdown as designed, not accidental.
Even the numerical structure seems to fall through here in the smaller sections. The alphabetic structure has already done so, and yet by design. So we may recognise design here too. These three verses show what is still a nameless horror, like the fourth of the imperial beasts in Daniel's vision (Dan. 7).
It is easy to read this as a portrait of somebody else — a tyrant, or a future enemy of God. One writer warns against that reflex.
We study the great examples of human wickedness in Scripture from a distance, and our minds are often in danger there. The Holy Spirit sketches the moral features of Christ's chief adversary among men. We forget that this is only the ripe development of what is in the human heart of every one of us. Fallen and corrupted nature produces "the man of sin" — nature grown to full wickedness under the nurture the devil is allowed to give.
The other half of the mirror is the prey. If the wicked hunts the poor, a searching question follows for anyone who is never hunted.
We come so little into collision with the men of this age. One reason, we may be sure, is that we are so little marked by the features that stand in such sharp contrast to them. The wicked in his pride persecutes "the poor." He does, whatever the age. The moment "the poor" shows up, he itches to persecute him. We have the wicked with us right enough. But where is the poor? Well, if the wicked of this age compliment us and pat us on the back, that raises some serious questions.
The victim drawn into the net has no rescuer left. That is the ground faith stands on later in the psalm.
Faith still holds firmly to an All-seeing One. He is as interested as He is observant, and certain to step in. The wretched one is sunk in affliction. Still he throws himself on Him who has proved to be the helper of those with no natural help. The height of the evil is just the supreme need that God must answer, and He takes it on Himself. Every other help is cut off. Is not the soul in this condition the very "orphan" He has pledged Himself to?
- Beast — Shut God out, and a man sinks to a beast of prey. He keeps the hunter's cunning, and that gives his evil an unnatural power.
- Ambush — He works out of sight, by deceit and often through servants. God still holds him responsible for the evil they do.
- Prey — The hunted are "the poor," poor in spirit, the exact opposite of the pride that fills the rest of the psalm.
- Breakdown — The psalm's own pattern breaks down here. It marks a horror still without a name.
- Rescue — The net cuts off every other help. That is the very condition God pledges Himself to. He is the orphan's Helper, who sees and will step in.
He croucheth, he boweth down, that the wretched may fall by his strong ones.
By now the psalm has drawn a full portrait of a man who hunts people. This line is the moment the trap shuts, and commentators read it both as plain human cruelty and as a picture of one oppressor still to come.
Verses 1–11 expose wickedness that is winning. One writer traces its root to a settled denial of God, and sees one particular enemy behind the general description.
These verses set out, with vivid seriousness, the plans and deeds of human wickedness that is prospering. They open up the hidden springs of godless action, and show that all of them rise from one source: the atheism of the heart. That heart-atheism soothes and encourages the madness of a rebellious will as it runs its desperate, self-destroying course. But these are general statements with the widest practical use. Under them the Spirit of God is clearly tracing in this psalm the moral features and actual conduct of the Wicked One, as they show themselves in his treatment of the faithful remnant of Israel, whose urgent cry is heard in the opening verse.
The psalm names both his method and his victims.
Craft marks his acts, and behind that craft lurks the violence of a beast. His victims are the godly — the innocent and the poor.
One writer takes the beast image as a measure of what a man becomes once God is pushed out.
The picture is of a wild beast, a beast of prey. It is human only in this: it has the cunning and forethought of a hunter. Man without God is only such a beast. His spiritual part has sunk into the animal, and that only gives the animal an unnatural power for evil.
Translators split over who is doing the crouching. Some make the oppressor the subject, lowering himself for the spring:
He crouches, he humbles himself, and the poor have fallen by his strong ones.
Others make the victim the subject. The ESV reads the line that way, and so does this rendering:
And he is crushed, he is brought low, the wretched has fallen by his might.
Psalms 9 and 10 follow the order of the Hebrew alphabet, but that pattern has already broken down by this point. One writer sees the collapse as part of the message.
Even the numerical structure seems to fall through here in the smaller sections. The alphabetic pattern has already fallen through, and yet by design. That may make us see design here too: the three verses show a horror that still has no name, like the fourth of the imperial beasts in Daniel's vision.
A man can strike with his own hands, or he can send others to strike for him. Commentators differ on how far the picture reaches, and one who reads it as prophecy adds a warning about accountability.
Verses 8 and 9 are literally true of some men. They may also be a picture of the antichrist, for he will be able to do such things by proxy — that is, with servants to carry out his evil plans. But God will hold him responsible for the evil his servants do at his direction.
Studying a monster at a distance is comfortable. Pridham refuses the comfort.
When we look at these great examples of human wickedness in Scripture, our minds are often in danger of forgetting one thing. The Holy Spirit marks out the moral features of Christ's chief adversary among men. What He sets before us there is only the full-grown form of what is in the human heart of every one of us.
The helpless fall in verse 10, but the psalm does not stop there.
God will not forget the humble. He sees what the wicked does. He has prepared the heart of the humble so as to bless them. God has broken the arm of the wicked, and the nations too have perished out of His land by His judgment. He is King for ever and ever. "The man of the earth" will oppress no longer.
- Crouch. The oppressor hunts with a hunter's cunning. The craft is only a cover for the beast underneath.
- Crush. The helpless go down under sheer strength. Whether he strikes himself or sends servants, God holds him accountable.
- Chaos. The psalm's own pattern breaks down here. The disorder in the man shows up as disorder in the poem.
- Confess. What Scripture exposes in the worst man is the ripe form of what is in every heart.
- Crown. The arm of the wicked is broken, the humble are not forgotten, and the oppressor oppresses no more.
He saith in his heart, God hath forgotten, he hideth his face, he will never see [it].
Psalm 10 traces the thinking of a man who has grown powerful by crushing weaker people. Verse 11 is the verdict he reaches inside his own heart: not that God does not exist, but that God is not watching.
The verse does not stand alone. It follows a run of victories, and those victories become the man's proof.
He triumphs over all these enemies, and over the seemingly defenceless people of God. That triumph deceives him into thinking that "God has forgotten: He hides His face: He will never see it" (v. 11).
One writer renders the name here as "the Mighty," where the ESV has "God." The man is not shaking off a stranger. He is dismissing the power that still rules over him.
One closing comment takes us back to his attitude toward the divine government. That government still has its hold upon him: "he has said in his heart, The Mighty has forgotten: He hides His face; He has never seen it."
The verse is not a claim that there is no God. It is a claim that God is out of the picture. One writer points to the moment that illusion collapses.
"He has said in his heart, God has forgotten; He hides His face; He will never see" (v. 11). So it is clear he knows there is a God, but thinks God is unable to take account of what the deceiver is doing. What an awakening it will be when he is caught red-handed in his fight against God, and sent with the Beast into the horror of the lake of fire (Revelation 19:20)! What a dreadful end for this proud challenger of the God of creation!
God's people feel the same silence the wicked man counts on. The psalm opens with the cry of that suffering remnant. One writer, commenting on that opening verse, uses almost the words of verse 11.
Two things distress the remnant. One is the wickedness of Antichrist rising to its height. The other is that, when it does, he seems to prosper hugely while God lets the godly suffer. God also seems to hide His face, as if He cared nothing either for the prosperity of the wicked or for the suffering of the godly.
The difference is not in the evidence but in where confidence rests.
Why such a gap between the faith and the experience? But in truth faith here does not rest on experience at all. It confesses that, as to His government, clouds and darkness may be around Him. In the end experience will come round to faith, and meanwhile the testing will prove needed and helpful. But faith is in the invisible. It does see Him who is invisible. It has its ground and its arguments. It is not credulity; it has sure evidence, all its own.
Commentators read this man as a portrait of a coming figure of concentrated evil. That makes him easy to study from a safe distance.
When we look at the great examples of human wickedness revealed in Scripture as things outside ourselves, our minds are often in danger of forgetting one thing. The Holy Spirit marks out the moral features of Christ's chief adversary among men. What He sets before us there is only the ripe development of what is in the human heart of every one of us.
The denial does not have to be spoken.
Men leave God out, and explain everything as if there were no God. Whenever I act as if God were not — that is, without reference to His will — I so far say in my heart, "There is no God."
Verse 11 is the low point of the psalm. After a boast like this, waiting would serve no purpose.
So now it is time for God to arise and act. This final act of denial and defiance is the hand that points to the last possible limit of God's patience. The living God must show Himself. The Mighty One must put forth might. The suffering of the righteous calls for it; and so does the cool contempt of the wicked. To wait longer would not be patience; it would only make the evil worse.
- Seen — the verse is a verdict passed in the heart: God has stopped looking. Everything else in the psalm answers that one sentence.
- Seen wrongly — the man is not an atheist. He knows God is there. He has decided God cannot keep track of him. One day he is caught in the act.
- Seen alike — God's people feel the same silence he does. What separates them is that faith rests on the invisible God, not on how things look now.
- Seen in us — the ripe wickedness of Scripture's worst figure is the same seed found in every human heart. To act without reference to God's will is to say the same thing in the heart.
- Seen by God — the boast points to the last limit of God's patience. When contempt reaches that height, the Mighty One must act.