Psalm 9
To the choirmaster: according to Muth-labben. A Psalm of David.
1 I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.
2 I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.
The psalmist declares his wholehearted thankfulness to the Lord. He recounts all of God’s wonderful deeds (for him and for others). He is glad and exulting and the Lord and he sings praises to the name of the Lord, the Most High. This psalm and the one following are one and the same, an acrostic that celebrates the justice of God. God has rescued the psalmist and dealt justly with his enemies, and this is a cause for celebration. These first two verses are a great call to worship, summoning us to recount all that God has done for us and give him appropriate thanks. This thanksgiving is to be genuine and joy-filled. While there are many ways to express thanks, doing so with music is particularly powerful because it engages our bodies and minds in several ways. This may be the first time that singing is mentioned in the psalms. Let me be mindful today of all that God has done for me and be grateful. Let me fill my home, my car, and my workspace with music that praises the name of the Lord.
3 When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish before [because of] your presence.
4 For you have maintained my just cause; you have sat on the throne, giving righteous judgment.
In the previous five psalms of lament (3-7), David prays for God’s judgment on his enemies, but here he is celebrating that judgment as he looks back and sees it unfold. His enemies turn back, they stumble and fall before the presence of God. God has maintained David’s just cause. The Lord sits on the throne of judgment giving righteous judgment. This is a key verse when it comes to understanding the imprecatory psalms. David appeals to the justice of the sovereign God when praying against his enemies. He is convinced of his own rightness and the morality of his cause that he does not hesitate to invoke the God of justice to fight on his side. There is a moral law. David asserts that he knows this law and claims to be in the right. He also asserts that there is one who upholds the moral law in court and convicts those who violate it. Every day we see injustice in this world and occasionally perhaps we are even the victims of it. Know that YHWH sits on the throne giving just judgment. No one escapes his eye or the consequences of the violations of the moral law. This cuts both ways. Punishment for others means for punishment on ourselves if we do the same things. David experienced victory over his enemies, but later in his life he would experience defeat and be driven from his throne, and one could argue that God was just in allowing this to happen. The New Testament will flesh out the grace of God and the means by which Jesus received the just punishment that was due us, but that does not change the moral law and its consequences. David experienced God’s forgiveness, but he could not escape the consequences of his moral choices. Neither can we.
5 You have rebuked the nations; you have made the wicked perish; you have blotted out their name forever and ever.
6 The enemy came to an end in everlasting ruins; their cities you rooted out; the very memory of them has perished.
7 But the Lord sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for justice,
8 and he judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with uprightness.
David can look around the land and see the ruins of ancient cities. Et-Tell is one of those forgotten cities, a major pile of rocks. To David this was evidence of God’s judgment on the nations. Presumably no one knew the story, but everyone could tell that a great city was once there, but was now abandoned with no memory of its inhabitants. It must have been God’s judgment. He rebuked them and caused them to perish, blotting out even the memory of their name. There is a change in the rhythm in verse 6, perhaps to emphasize this point (three lines instead of the typical two). In contrast to the everlasting loss of these peoples, the Lord sits enthroned forever. His throne will never be abandoned. You won’t look to an empty throne and ask what happened to to the one who sat on it. Some today may say that God is dead (and by this we mean irrelevant), that he is a relic of a superstitious past. People believe one of two things. God created man or man created God. God created man in his image or man created God in his imagination. God’s throne of judgment is occupied by an all-knowing, all powerful, all-just and all-loving God or the throne of judgment is occupied by the latest edict coming from the elites or collective moral voice of our culture. It cannot be both. The psalmist compels us to consider a world where God is on the throne of judgment, actively engaged in nation building and destroying, all of this in coordination with the free will of men. God is not a puppet pulling the strings for that would violate human free will, but he has set inviolable rules for the actors, creating certain guaranteed outcomes based on the realities of the moral law. One wonders how our nation will fare under God’s judgment, but actually we don’t have to wonder. Any serious student of history knows that you can’t break up the foundations of a society and still hope that it will stand any length of time. Our culture is in the process of destroying itself, disassembling the family, smashing to pieces the boundaries of healthy human sexuality, and even denying the reality of gender and then putting these foundation stones of society back together in novel ways. The outcome of this social engineering is predictable. I see a huge pile of rocks. I see Et-Tell.
9 The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.
10 And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.
11 Sing praises to the Lord, who sits enthroned in Zion! Tell among the peoples his deeds!
12 For he who avenges blood is mindful of them; he does not forget the cry of the afflicted.
These verses represent the other side of God’s justice. On the one hand, God’s justice is punitive.The previous verses describe how God “makes things right” by blunting and destroying the wicked and the unjust. The losers are assigned to the ash heap of history, ultimately forgotten. This is seen as their just punishment. The other side of God’s justice is restorative. He is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know God’s name put their trust in him for he does not forsake those who seek him. He works justice and righteousness for all the oppressed (Psalm 103:6). The stronghold is a place of security in the midst of battle, an impregnable fortress, a Helms Deep type of place. It is the place that you flee when you have nowhere else to go. The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous run to it and are saved (Proverbs 18:10; Psalm 61:3). Knowing God’s name is more than being an acquaintance. It suggests relationship and intimacy resulting in an ongoing and deep abiding trust. The Lord has not and will not forsake those who seek him (Hebrews 13:5). When impacted by injustice, it won’t be easy, but this is the moment to run to the stronghold that is the name of the Lord. Speak truth forcefully to yourself and be confident in God’s sovereignty and goodness. God doesn’t always deliver us from suffering, sometimes he delivers us through suffering. Once again we are told to sing praises (the second time in this psalm) and to declare YHWH’s deeds to the peoples. Verse 12 summaries both sides of God’s justice: he avenges blood (punitive) and does not forget the cry of the afflicted (restorative). Which side of God’s justice do you want to be on?
13 Be gracious to me, O Lord! See my affliction from those who hate me, O you who lift me up from the gates of death,
14 that I may recount all your praises, that in the gates of the daughter of Zion I may rejoice in your salvation.
The rhythmic pattern changes here to a pair of three line verses, just as in verse 6. The text is a prayer for YHWH to be gracious, to see the affliction of the psalmist and lift him up from the gates of death so that he may declare God’s praises and rejoice in God’s salvation. There is a contrast between two gates in the text -- the gates of death and the gates of the daughter of Zion, (c.f. Psalm 24:7-10 and the gates that are lifted up so the Almighty might enter. The immediate context is the gates of Zion, but looking through the experience of Jesus, they may very well refer to the gates of death as well, for Jesus entered those on our behalf). The psalmist is suffering specifically from enemies, from people who hate him. While I don’t know that I have any such enemies, if I were in a position of leadership like David, I’m sure I would. Political figures are always in the crosshairs, and it seems that this prayer comes at one of those crisis moments. David urges God to act so that he may recount the praises of God who saves. If God saves, then David will have another story to tell in God’s honor. He will tell that story in the form of corporate worship (in the gates of the daughter of Zion -- Jerusalem). David promises public worship in exchange for God’s deliverance. This is an example of the element of motivation in a psalm of lament as David attempts to motivate God to act on his behalf. Finally, notice the confidence that David expresses in verse 13 as he identifies God as the one who lifts him up from the gates of death. The image is of David at death’s door and then God swoops in and breathes life back into him. He is transported from the doors of death to the doors of the church and corporate worship.
15 The nations have sunk in the pit that they made; in the net that they hid, their own foot has been caught.
16 The Lord has made himself known; he has executed judgment; the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands. Higgaion. Selah
The rhythm is different in these two verses as well, each one having three components. The nations have sunk in the pit that they made. Their foot has been caught in the net that they hid. This is referring to two different types of traps. The first is a pitfall where one digs a hole and then covers it with branches and leaves allowing the prey to fall through. This was useful for catching larger, heavier animals. The second is a net trap for birds who would get their talons wrapped in the thread of a net. The point is that the nations were trying to catch (and ultimately cook and consume) someone else, but they fell into their own trap. YHWH makes himself known in this situation in that justice is done. Whenever justice is done, God is on display because he is the originator and keeper of justice. The psalmist alludes to this unyielding principle that there is a foundation of justice that runs through the moral universe. Step off that foundation and you fall into the chasm and suffer harm. Justice isn’t God raining down fire willy nilly. It is allowing men and women to make their own moral choices and then face the consequences as they play out. This is easiest to see in the realm of sexual morality. Endowed with free will, human beings have sexual license, the ability to do whatever they want with their bodies with one another, but there are real physical, emotional, and social consequences of that behavior. Tragically the punishment falls not only on the ones who choose such behavior, but on the innocents in their lives who must also bear the consequence. In this text David identifies two perpetrators of trap-laying: the nations and the wicked. The “nations” refers to the gentiles, those that wouldn’t necessarily be expected to trust in YHWH and follow his ways. The “wicked” may refer to fellow Jews who have rejected YHWH and his ways. Ethnicity makes no distinction in consequences, the moral law is universal. You don’t get a pass because of your race because it is ultimately rooted in behavior.
17 The wicked shall return to Sheol, all the nations that forget God.
18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever.
The use of the word “return” in verse 17 is striking because it suggests that the wicked were in Sheol first then left and now will return. Sheol is the realm of the dead, hence a secret place, unknown (like the womb?). All the nations that forget God will return there as well. Then there follows another play on the word “forget”, as in contrast to the nations being forgotten (vv. 5,6). The needy shall not always be forgotten. Even though it feels like they are, there will be a turn of events, an upside down moment when there will be a trading of places. Likewise the hope of the poor will not perish forever, unlike the cities of the nations who forget God. These two verses are clearly in opposition and something of a chiasm -- 17a corresponding to 18b and 17b corresponding to 18a with the accent on Sheol/perishing and forgetting God/being forgotten. It is a restatement of the theme of the psalm: God’s punitive and restorative justice. Verse 17 is punitive, verse 18 restorative. Wicked/nations corresponds to needy/poor. How unique God is among the gods of this world. People worship the powerful gods of sex, money, and power, but YHWH values people, particularly the poor and needy. Those are the ones he will elevate, so it would seem to be best to be listed among them.
19 Arise, O Lord! Let not man prevail; let the nations be judged before you!
20 Put them in fear, O Lord! Let the nations know that they are but men! Selah
The middle of the psalm (9 and 10) is a prayer based on the theology that has gone before. There are four prayers actually. The first is a request for God to act, to do something. Arise, get up, don’t just sit there. Stop mankind from doing wrong, from committing injustice. The second is a request that the nations would be judged, “nations” referring to groups of peoples who are opposed to God. The third is that God would put them in fear, bring them to that point where they can’t help but acknowledge a being greater than themselves. The fourth is that the nations would be humbled, realizing that they are not gods afterall. They are not sovereign. This sounds much like the prayer in Psalm 2 but fleshed out a bit more. In fact, it’s safe to say that Psalm 9/10 is an exposition of Psalm 2 in some ways. God reigns, he laughs at the nations, they are terrified at his wrath, so kiss the son and rejoice with trembling. The psalmist must have felt frustrated by God’s inaction, and it’s safe to say that believers today do as well, particularly those in parts of the world where persecution is the reality. In the west we have the soft persecution of increasing marginalization in culture, but this is nothing like the very real oppression that minority Christian communities live under in many parts of the world. Make this your prayer for the persecuted church. The martyrs cry before the throne, “How long?” How long before the reality of God’s sovereignty is actualized in the hearts of all men? This eschatology is something that is strongly affirmed in the New Testament. God will make some things right in this life, but all things right in the new heaven and earth.