THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Psalms: God's Nurture Of The Inner Man In The Life Of Faith

IX. Asking God For Relief From Oppressors Based On His Past Help

(Psalm 9:1-20)

I. Introduction

A. The Biblical life of faith is never a blind launch into the future, but a rational walk based on God's precedents.

B. Psalm 9:1-20 teaches this important lesson for us in the life of faith (as follows):

II. Asking God For Relief From Oppressors Based On His Past Help, Psalm 9:1-20.

A. Verse one in the Hebrew text comprises the introductory remarks in the English Bible (Kittel, Biblia Hebraica, p. 981), but we stay with the numbering system in the English translations for clarification in this lesson.

B. Thus, Psalm 9:2-20 shows David asking God to rescue him from his current foes based on God's past help:

1. "I will praise You, O Jahweh, with all my heart; I will recount (saphar, B. D. B., A Heb.-Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 707-708) all of Your extraordinary (pala', Ibid., Kittel; Ibid., B. D. B., p. 810) [acts]," Psalm 9:1.

2. "I will be glad and exult in You; I will make music to Your Name, O Most High," Psalm 9:2.

3. "When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish from Your presence," Psalm 9:3.

4. "Because You have upheld my just, rightful due (mishpat, Ibid., p. 1048-1049) and my plea, cause (din, Ibid., p. 192); You have sat on Your throne judging righteously," Psalm 9:4.

5. "You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked; You have blotted out [from memory] (mahah, Ibid., p. 562) their name forever and ever (le'olam wa'ed, Ibid., Kittel, p. 982)," Psalm 9:5.

6. "[As for] the enemy, desolations in perpetuity (lanesah, Ibid., B. D. B., p. 664) have overtaken [him]; You uprooted (natash, Ibid., p. 684) cities, the memory (zeker, Ibid., p. 271) of them is perished," Psalm 9:6.

7. "But Jahweh will sit enthroned forever; He has established His throne for judgment," Psalm 9:7.

8. "And He (emphatic pronoun, Ibid., Kittel) will judge the world with righteousness; He shall exercise judgment on the peoples with equity, uprightness (meshar, Ibid., B. D. B., p. 449)," Psalm 9:8.

9. "Jahweh exists (hayah, Ibid., Kittel; Ibid., B. D. B., p. 224-228) [as] a securely high stronghold (mishgav, Ibid., p. 960) for the oppressed, a securely high stronghold (mishgav again, Ibid.) for times of [narrow] straits, distress [from threatening foes] (sarah, Ibid., p. 865)," Psalm 9:9.

10. "And they who know Your Name will fully confide in, lean upon (batah, Ibid., Kittel; Ibid., B. D. B., p. 105; Robert B. Girdlestone, Syns. of the O. T., 1973, p. 104) You, for You, Jahweh, have not forsaken them who seek (darash, "seek a deity in prayer," Ibid., B. D. B., p. 205) You," Psalm 9:10.

11. "Sing praises to Jahweh Who sits enthroned in Zion, proclaim among the peoples His deeds," Psalm 9:11.

12. "For He who avenges blood remembers (zakar, Ibid., p. 269-271); He does not forget (shakah, Ibid., p. 1013) the 'outcries of distress' (se'aqah, Ibid., p. 858) of the afflicted ('anaw, Ibid., p. 776)," Psalm 9:12.

13. "Show me favor (hanan, Ibid., p. 335-336), O Jahweh, see how my enemies persecute me, and lift me up from the gates [fig. for ruling entities, cf. Z. P. E. B., v. Two, p. 656) of death!" (Psalm 9:13)

14. "In order that (lema'an, Ibid., Kittel; Ibid., B. D. B., p. 775) I may declare all Your praises in the gates of the daughter of Zion and rejoice in Your salvation," Psalm 9:14.

15. "The nations have fallen in the pit they made, their feet are caught in the net for catching birds (reshet, Ibid., p. 440) that they have [secretly] concealed (taman, Ibid., p. 380) [for others]," Psalm 9:15.

16. "Jahweh is known by the judgment He does; the wicked is ensnared in the work of their hands," Psa. 9:16. ["Higgaion" and "selah" = likely musical terms, H. C. Leupold, Exposition of the Psalms, 1974, p. 114.]

17. "The wicked shall be turned to Sheol [the place of the departed dead, Ibid., Z. P. E. B., v. Five, p. 395], and all the nations that forget (shakah, v. 12) Elohim," Psalm 9:17.

18. "Because the needy ('ebyon, Ibid., B. D. B., p. 2) shall not be forgotten (shakah, v. 12, 17) in perpetuity (lanesah, v. 6), nor the hope of the afflicted ('anaw, cf. v. 12) forever perish," Psalm 9:18.

19. "Arise, Jahweh, let not man ('enosh, "mankind as insignificant, inferior," Ibid., Kittel; Ibid., Girdlestone, p. 50) triumph; let the nations be judged in Your presence," Psalm 9:19.

20. "Appoint terror (moreh, "some awe-inspiring exhibition of power," Ibid., B. D. B., p. 432) for them O Jahweh; let the nations know that they are [but] men ('enosh again, v. 19)," Psalm 9:20.

Lesson: David asked the Lord to rescue him from wicked oppressors based upon His past similar deliverances.

Application: May we recall God's past help over wicked foes as the basis for calling on Him about today's foes.