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I will rejoice in thy salvation. The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: If you picture David with the carcase of the giant before him, the Philistines put to ignominious flight, and the Israelites in full pursuit after them, you can understand his saying, “The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made.”

Psalms 9:14

Ver. 14. We must not overlook David's object in desiring mercy, it is God's glory: that I may show forth all thy praise. Saints are not so selfish as to look only to self; they desire mercy's diamond that they may let others see it flash and sparkle, and may admire Him who gives such priceless gems to his beloved. The contrast between the gates of...

Psalms 9:15

The Heathen are sunk into the pit [that] they made,.... The psalmist having determined to praise the Lord, and called upon others to join with him in it, here enters upon it: for, as Jarchi and Aben Ezra observe, this is תהלה "the praise" he was desirous to show forth, which is occasioned by the destruction of God's enemies, and the deliverance of...

Psalms 9:15-16

In the net which they hid is their own foot taken. The LORD known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah. The probable meaning of these words is, “Consider and pause.” They are musical rests, perhaps; but they also suggest to us how well it is, in our reading of the Scriptures,...

Psalms 9:15

Ver. 15. In considering this terrible picture of the Lord's overwhelming judgments of his enemies, we are called upon to ponder and meditate upon it with deep seriousness by the two untranslated words, Higgaion, Selah. Meditate, pause. Consider, and tune your instrument. Bethink yourselves and solemnly adjust your hearts to the solemnity which is...

Psalms 9:16

The Lord is known [by] the judgment [which] he executeth,.... The judgment which God will execute upon antichrist, and the antichristian powers, will be a means of making known his name, his glory, his perfections, in all the earth; as his wisdom, power, justice, and goodness; see Exodus 9:16. The destruction of antichrist will be the Lord's...

Psalms 9:16

Ver. 16. Jehovah is known by the judgment which he executeth; his holiness and abhorrence of sin is thus displayed. A ruler who winked at evil would soon be known by all his subjects to be evil himself, and he, on the other hand, who is severely just in judgment reveals his own nature thereby. So long as our God is God, he will not, he cannot...

Psalms 9:17

The wicked shall be turned into hell,.... Some render it, "shall return to the grave" (p), to the earth, the original dust from whence they came; but this is common to all men, to the righteous as well as the wicked; rather שאול here signifies the place of torment, commonly called hell, where devils and damned spirits are; hither the souls of the...

Psalms 9:17

The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. Even if they are not outwardly as wicked as other men are, yet their forgetfulness of God is the highest form of injustice to him; it is treason against the majesty of heaven; it is robbing God of what is his right; it is a combination of everything that is evil.

Psalms 9:17

Ver. 17. The justice which has punished the wicked, and preserved the righteous, remains the same, and therefore in days to come, retribution will surely be meted out. How solemn is Psa_9:17, especially in its warning to forgetters of God. The moral who are not devout, the honest who are not prayerful, the benevolent who are not believing, the...

Psalms 9:18

For the needy shall not always be forgotten,.... The people of God are poor and needy for the most part; they are so in things temporal, and they are poor in spirit, or in things spiritual, of which they are sensible; their needs are many, and frequently return; but God has provided a throne of grace for them to come to for help in time of need,...

Psalms 9:18-20

For the needy shall not alway be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever. Arise, O LORD, let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in thy sight. Put them in fear, O LORD: that the nations may know themselves to be but men. They boast that they are men, and that they quit themselves like men. Yet let them know that,...

Psalms 9:18

Ver. 18. Mercy is as ready to her work as ever justice can be. Needy souls fear that they are forgotten; well, if it be so, let them rejoice that they shall not alway be so. Satan tells poor tremblers that their hope shall perish, but they have here the divine assurance that their expectation shall not perish for ever. "The Lord's people are a...

Psalms 9:19

Arise, O Lord,.... To the destruction of thine enemies, and the salvation of thy people; [See comments on Psalms 7:6]; let not man prevail; the man of sin, antichrist, that is, let him not always prevail; he is the little horn that was to prevail against the saints, and has prevailed, Daniel 7:21; but he shall not always prevail; this petition...

Psalms 9:19

Ver. 19. Prayers are the believer's weapons of war. When the battle is too hard for us, we call in our great ally, who, as it were, lies in ambush until faith gives the signal by crying out, Arise, O Lord. Although our cause be all but lost, it shall be soon won again, if the Almighty doth but bestir himself. He will not suffer man to prevail over...

Psalms 9:20

Put them in fear, O Lord,.... Who are, a bold, impudent, fearless generation of men; who, like the unjust judge, neither fear God nor regard men, therefore the psalmist prays that God would inject fear into them, who only can do it; and this will be done at Babylon's destruction, when the antichristian kings, merchants, and seafaring men, will...

Psalms 9:20

Selah. Pause again, think over what we have been reading, and lift up your heart in prayer to God, seeking the aid of the Holy Spirit to apply the truth to your soul.

Psalms 9:20