The Righteous Judgments Of The Lord.

THE RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENTS OF THE LORD.

Psalm 9:9-20.

This Psalm opens as a song of praise and rejoicing in the LORD (Psalm 9:1-2). The Psalmist is particularly thankful for the LORD’s support in the face of wicked enemies (Psalm 9:3-5). The LORD ‘sits in the throne judging right’ (Psalm 9:4); ‘prepares His throne for judgment’ (Psalm 9:7); ‘judges the world in righteousness,’ and ‘ministers judgment to the people in uprightness’ (Psalm 9:8). “The LORD is known by the judgment which He executes” (PSALM 9:16).

The name of the LORD is to be praised (Psalm 9:2), and those that trust in His name shall not be forsaken (PSALM 9:10). The ‘name’ of the heathen, however, is ‘put out for ever and ever’ (Psalm 9:5). The enemy may have destroyed cities, ‘and their memorial is perished with them. But the LORD shall endure for ever’ (Psalm 9:6-7).

PSALM 9:9-12 forms a doxology. The Psalmist counts himself as one of “the oppressed” (PSALM 9:9); “the humble” (PSALM 9:12); the “troubled” (PSALM 9:13); “the “needy” and “the poor” (PSALM 9:18). But against this litany of woes he is able to see the LORD as “a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble” (PSALM 9:9); he is able to “sing praises to the LORD” who dwells in Zion, and to testify to the people of His doings (PSALM 9:11); and he recognises that, when the LORD makes an inquest for the blood of His saints, He will “remember them, and not forget the cry of the humble” (PSALM 9:12).

A personal petition seems to appear in the text with a startling suddenness: “Have mercy upon me, O LORD: consider my trouble” (PSALM 9:13a). Yet even in the midst of this anguish, the Psalmist remembers past deliverances, and addresses his petition to the One “who lifts me up from the gates of death” (PSALM 9:13b). We should acknowledge with the prophet of old, that ‘hitherto hath the LORD helped us’ (cf. 1 Samuel 7:12), and base our petitions on that historical fact. ‘Great is thy faithfulness’ (cf. Lamentations 3:22-23)!

Furthermore, the Psalmist does not only ground his present petition in the remembrance of past blessings, but also in the prospect of future witness: “That I may show forth thy praise… I will rejoice in thy salvation” (PSALM 9:14).

One way in which the praise of the LORD is “shown forth” is by His providential dealings with the wicked. Inexplicably to human eyes, the LORD causes the heathen to sink down into the pit of their own making, and to trap their own foot in the net which they have hid (PSALM 9:15). Thus He ensnares the wicked “in the work of their own hands” (PSALM 9:16). It is like the wicked Haman being hanged on the gallows which he had built for the execution of the righteous Mordecai (cf. Esther 7:10).

Beyond these past judgments against “the heathen” and the “wicked” is the future judgment: “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God” (PSALM 9:17). There is no excuse for individual outward wickedness: but there are also whole nations that “forget” God.

The Psalmist reassures himself – and his readers – that however it may be for those who “forget” God’ yet “the needy shall not always be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever” (PSALM 9:18). Jesus’ people may go through trials and tribulations, but their hope in the Lord is not in vain, and will not disappoint them.

Another petition arises out of this reassurance: “Arise, O LORD; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in thy sight” (PSALM 9:19). Powerful enemies, giants in the land, all these are nothing to the LORD. Men, after all, are just that: not gods but “men!” (PSALM 9:20). ‘If God be for us, who can be against us?’ (cf. Romans 8:31).