Bible Commentary - Psalms 10

This psalm immediately breaks from its predecessors by not having a title.  Nearly all of the previous psalms, and several following psalms, are attributed as “psalms of David”, generally also with musical directions and specific historical events that the psalm relates to.  In this case, it omits the title entirely while remaining largely consistent with the other psalms in general tone and content.  From these points, I suspect that this may also be a psalm of David, but where the title was inadvertently removed somehow.

Looking at the structure of this psalm as a whole, then, we can see roughly four parts.  It opens with a problem statement: why do the wicked prosper?  The second part expands on that problem statement, describing the wickedness of evil men at length, as well as the harm they cause to “innocent” men (v. 8).  The third part is the call to action.  Having described the harm that innocent men are suffering, the author calls for God to intervene, to protect the afflicted and break the power of the wicked.  The fourth and final part is thanksgiving, thanking and praising God for his presumed answer to these prayers.

It is a simple, timeless formula for prayer.  For this commentary, I will go into each of the four parts and describe them at greater length.

Beginning with verse 1, the first line of the psalm is the most important.  As with the previous psalms we have read, the first line sets the overall theme and direction of the psalm.  What v. 1 says in this case is a plea for God to intercede in “times of trouble”.  From the rest of the psalm we can see that the author is thinking specifically about the wicked and why God does not punish them.  From this perspective “times of trouble” should not be interpreted generically as natural disasters or general stress, but rather as persecution or warfare; basically, human-engineered misery.

The overall tone of this psalm reads very similarly to Job 24, when Job also found himself asking why the wicked prosper and why God did not punish them as their crimes deserve.  In fact, Job 24:1 opens with a very similar line of questioning as v. 1 of this psalm.  In Job 24:1, Job asks “Why are times not stored up by the Almighty, and why do those who know him not see his days?”  Job is asking, when will God bring retribution upon the wicked, the times of judgment that he owes us?  Meanwhile, in v. 1 the author of this psalm similarly finds himself questioning God’s apparent passivity in the face of wickedness and the “times of trouble” that wicked people bring.

After raising the question of unpunished wickedness in verse 1, verses 2-11 are an extended description of the behavior and attitude of wicked men, which demand the justice that the author is looking for in v. 1.  This is basically the motivation for the author’s prayer.  He is saying, “see, Lord, look upon all this evil stuff people are doing.”

I want to point out a few things in this middle section (verses 2-11).  First, notice how verse 2 uses the same formula as Psalm 9:15-16 and Psalm 7:15-16, of the wicked man being caught in his own trap (or in this case, “caught in the plots which they have devised”).  This is another way that we can see if not shared authorship, then at least shared structure or theology with the other, titled psalms.

Second, notice how this section (and the psalm in general) contains many of the same social justice themes that we see in the other psalms as well as Job.  Wickedness is defined in part by pride (see verses 4, 6) but also substantially by social justice crimes like preying on the vulnerable members of society.  We see that in v. 2 where the wicked “hotly pursue the afflicted”, v. 9 where they “catch the afflicted”, and verses 8 and 10 where the wicked seek to rob “the unfortunate”; my bible notes that the word “unfortunate” may also be translated “poor”.

Third, one part of this psalm that I find quite unique is the multiple references to what the wicked man “says to himself”.  We see the wicked man talking to himself in verses 4, 6 and 11.  The relatively consistent theme through all three of these thoughts is the pride of the wicked man, who alternately denies the reality and activity of God, or else exalts himself, claiming his own immortality.  Denying God is an important part of wickedness because the essential theology of this psalm (and many other places in the bible like Job) is that God is the judge who punishes the wicked.  If you really believed in God, fear of his punishment would keep you from wickedness.  Therefore the essential theology is that in order to live an intentionally wicked life, you must either deny that God is real (v. 4), or else deny that God judges wickedness (v. 11).  The wicked man in this psalm apparently does both, which is slightly contradictory.  Verse 6 does not reference God, but in that case the wicked man is implicitly denying that he would ever be punished for his crimes; otherwise, he would not believe in his own perpetuity.

Having reviewed the evil thoughts and deeds of the wicked, verses 12-15 are pleading for God to act, to remember the suffering ones and to “break the arm of the wicked”, i.e. to break their strength so that they could no longer cause harm.  Verse 12 in particular is another chiasmus.  It follows an A-B-B-A pattern with “Arise” and “lift up your hand” as pairing elements A in this pattern, and “LORD” and “God” as pairing elements B in this pattern.  Verse 12 is one of the most important verses in the psalm because this is really what the prayer is about.  It is a call to action, for God to “arise” and act, to overthrow the wicked and protect the righteous.

As a brief aside, I think it is evident that this psalm follows the typical theological framing of God as the righteous judge who blesses the righteous and punishes the wicked.  Everything about this psalm is either an expression of the great crimes of the wicked, or a plea for God to remember and “vindicate the orphan and the oppressed” (v. 17).  It doesn’t quite frame things as wicked vs. righteous though, it frames things as wicked vs. vulnerable.  This is also a typical theological structure and we see strong elements of it in both Deuteronomy (where the vulnerable are the widows, orphans and foreigners), Job (widows and orphans) and here (“the orphan and the oppressed”, v. 17).

The concept of God as a righteous judge and the social justice themes are closely connected because generally speaking, God is perceived as “the judge” who upholds the principles of social justice.  In this case, righteousness is effectively defined as protecting the vulnerable and punishing the wicked.  This is principally a characteristic of God, but it is a characteristic that people are encouraged to emulate, inasmuch as we also desire to be righteous like God.

I remember in my commentary on Job 24 discussing the similarities between the “protect the vulnerable” moral imperative that is woven through the Pentateuch and a similar moral imperative, largely assigned to God, in Job.  Interestingly, Job 24 is also where Job decries the unchecked abuses of the wicked and asks why God does nothing to punish evildoers, which is very similar to this psalm.  In the same chapter, Job describes the actions of the evildoers as largely oriented around exploiting the vulnerable classes.  We see the same structure here, as the author of this psalm is also asking why God does not act against the wicked, and then describes the wicked in terms of how they oppress the poor and vulnerable classes of society.

In the final section, verses 16-18, the author praises God for destroying “nations… from his land” (v. 16).  I think it’s fair to say that this is implying they are the “wicked nations” like who David was railing against in Psalm 9.  Verse 17 thanks God for hearing this prayer, and v. 18 concludes that God will help the “orphan and the oppressed”, so that wicked men “will no longer cause terror”.  Given the structure of this psalm, I believe that verse 18 is meant to address the question raised in v. 1.  In verse 1, the author asked why the LORD does not intervene in “times of trouble”.  Here, at the end of the psalm, the author concludes that God would indeed hear “the desire of the humble”, and that he would silence the oppressors who are causing so much “trouble” to begin with.  This closes the loop on this psalm and neatly wraps it up by bringing us back to the beginning.