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Commentary on Psalms 9 verses 11–20
In these verses,
I. David, having praised God himself, calls upon and invites others to praise him likewise, Psa 9:11. Those who believe God is greatly to be praised not only desire to do that work better themselves, but desire that others also may join with them in it and would gladly be instrumental to bring them to it: Sing praises to the Lord who dwelleth in Zion. As the special residence of his glory is in heaven, so the special residence of his grace is in his church, of which Zion was a type. There he meets his people with his promises and graces, and there he expects they should meet him with their praises and services. In all our praises we should have an eye to God as dwelling in Zion, in a special manner present in the assemblies of his people, as their protector and patron. He resolved himself to show forth God's marvellous works (Psa 9:1), and here he calls upon others to declare among the people his doings. He commands his own subjects to do it, for the honour of God, of their country, and of their holy religion; he courts his neighbours to do it, to sing praises, not, as hitherto, to their false gods, but to Jehovah who dwelleth in Zion, to the God of Israel, and to own among the heathen that the Lord has done great things for his people Israel, Psa 126:3, Psa 126:4. Let them particularly take notice of the justice of God in avenging the blood of his people Israel on the Philistines and their other wicked neighbours, who had, in making war upon them, used them barbarously and given them no quarter, Psa 9:12. When God comes to make inquisition for blood by his judgments on earth, before he comes to do it by the judgment of the great day, he remembers them, remembers every drop of the innocent blood which they have shed, and will return it sevenfold upon the head of the blood-thirsty; he will give them blood to drink, for they are worthy. This assurance he might well build upon that word (Deu 32:43), He will avenge the blood of his servants. Note, There is a day coming when God will make inquisition for blood, when he will discover what has been shed secretly, and avenge what has been shed unjustly; see Isa 26:21; Jer 51:35. In that day it will appear how precious the blood of God's people is to him (Psa 72:14), when it must all be accounted for. It will then appear that he has not forgotten the cry of the humble, neither the cry of their blood nor the cry of their prayers, but that both are sealed up among his treasures.
II. David, having praised God for former mercies and deliverances, earnestly prays that God would still appear for him; for he sees not all things put under him.
1.He prays, (1.) That God would be compassionate to him (Psa 9:13): "Have mercy upon me, who, having misery only, and no merit, to speak for me, must depend upon mercy for relief." (2.) That he would be concerned for him. He is not particular in his request, lest he should seem to prescribe to God; but submits himself to the wisdom and will of God in this modest request, "Lord, consider my trouble, and do for me as thou thinkest fit."
2.He pleads, (1.) The malice of his enemies, the trouble which he suffered from those that hated him, and hatred is a cruel passion. (2.) The experience he had had of divine succours and the expectation he now had of the continuance of them, as the necessity of his case required: "O thou that liftest me up, that canst do it, that hast done it, that wilt do it, whose prerogative it is to lift up thy people from the gates of death!" We are never brought so low, so near to death, but God can raise us up. If he has saved us from spiritual and eternal death, we may thence take encouragement to hope that in all our distresses he will be a very present help to us. (3.) His sincere purpose to praise God when his victories should be completed (Psa 9:14): "Lord, save me, not that I may have the comfort and credit of the deliverance, but that thou mayest have the glory, that I may show forth all thy praise, and that publicly, in the gates of the daughter of Zion;" there God was said to dwell (Psa 9:11) and there David would attend him, with joy in God's salvation, typical of the great salvation which was to be wrought out by the Son of David.
III. David by faith foresees and foretels the certain ruin of all wicked people, both in this world and in that to come.
1.In this world, Psa 9:15, Psa 9:16. God executes judgment upon them when the measure of their iniquities is full, and does it, (1.) So as to put shame upon them and make their fall inglorious; for they sink into the pit which they themselves digged (Psa 7:15), they are taken in the net which they themselves laid for the ensnaring of God's people, and they are snared in the work of their own hands. In all the struggles David had with the Philistines they were the aggressors, Sa2 5:17, Sa2 5:22. And other nations were subdued by those ward in which they embroiled themselves. The overruling providence of God frequently so orders it that persecutors and oppressors are brought to ruin by those very projects which they intended to be destructive to the people of God. Drunkards kill themselves; prodigals beggar themselves; the contentious bring mischief upon themselves. Thus men's sins may be read in their punishment, and it becomes visible to all that the destruction of sinners is not only meritoriously, but efficiently, of themselves, which will fill them with the utmost confusion. (2.) So as to get honour to himself: The Lord is known, that is, he makes himself known, by these judgments which he executes. It is known that there is a God who judges in the earth, that he is a righteous God, and one that hates sin and will punish it. In these judgments the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. The psalmist therefore adds here a note extraordinary, commanding special regard, Higgaion; it is a thing to be carefully observed and meditated upon. What we see of present judgments, and what we believe of the judgment to come, ought to be the subject of our frequent and serious meditations.
2.In the other world (Psa 9:17): The wicked shall be turned into hell, as captives into the prison-house, even all the nations that forget God. Note, (1.) Forgetfulness of God is the cause of all the wickedness of the wicked. (2.) There are nations of those that forget God, multitudes that live without God in the world, many great and many mighty nations, that never regard him nor desire the knowledge of his ways. (3.) Hell will, at last, be the portion of such, a state of everlasting misery and torment - Sheol, a pit of destruction, in which they and all their comforts will be for ever lost and buried. Though there be nations of them, yet they shall be turned into hell, like sheep into the slaughter-house (Psa 49:14), and their being so numerous will not be any security or ease to them, nor any loss to God or the least impeachment of his goodness.
IV. David encourages the people of God to wait for his salvation, though it should be long deferred, Psa 9:18. The needy may think themselves, and others may think them, forgotten for a while, and their expectation of help from God may seem to have perished and to have been for ever frustrated. But he that believes does not make haste; the vision is for an appointed time, and at the end it shall speak. We may build upon it as undoubtedly true that God's people, God's elect, shall not always be forgotten, nor shall they be disappointed of their hopes from the promise. God will not only remember them, at last, but will make it to appear that he never did forget them; it is impossible he should, though a woman may forget her sucking child.
V. He concludes with prayer that God would humble the pride, break the power, and blast the projects, of all the wicked enemies of his church: "Arise, O Lord! (Psa 9:19), stir up thy self, exert thy power, take thy seat, and deal with all these proud and daring enemies of thy name, and cause, and people." 1. "Lord, restrain them, and set bounds to their malice: Let not man prevail; consult thy own honour, and let not weak and mortal men prevail against the kingdom and interest of the almighty and immortal God. Shall mortal man be too hard for God, too strong for his Maker?" 2. "Lord, reckon with them: Let the heathen be judges in thy sight, that is, let them be plainly called to an account for all the dishonour done to thee and the mischief done to thy people." Impenitent sinners will be punished in God's sight; and, when their day of grace is over, the bowels even of infinite mercy will not relent towards them, Rev 14:10. 3. "Lord, frighten them: Put them in fear, O Lord! (Psa 9:20), strike a terror upon them, make them afraid with thy judgments." God knows how to make the strongest and stoutest of men to tremble and to flee when none pursues, and thereby he makes them know and own that they are but men; they are but weak men, unable to stand before the holy God - sinful men, the guilt of whose consciences make them subject to alarms. Note, It is a very desirable thing, much for the glory of God and the peace and welfare of the universe, that men should know and consider themselves to be but men, depending creatures, mutable, mortal, and accountable.
In singing this psalm we must give to God the glory of his justice in pleading his people's cause against his and their enemies, and encourage ourselves to wait for the year of the redeemed and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion, even the final destruction of all anti-christian powers and factions, to which many of the ancients apply this psalm.
Whenever they desire to wipe out and abolish the race of the faithful, they themselves are lured into their own calamity; and in the very snares they have concealed for the people of God they are caught, and “their foot will fall.”
One is not held by the sin and unrighteousness of another; rather, each one will die in his own sin. The wicked, first harming themselves, strive deceitfully to drive others into the same curse. Secretly they build traps of deceit with their own plans and words, so they may seize someone unsuspecting. But by that very trap that they have hidden they are punished, for vindicators will keep those very ones they have caught. This punishment is done by the providence of God. For what other is the judgment of God than that the sinner is caught by his own deeds, because he holds the reason for his own condemnation for those who live unrighteously. This agrees with that which is said before: “He who has opened a pit for his neighbor will fall into it.”
Nothing … is so destructive as vice. In fact, nothing is weaker than the wicked; they are undone by their own weapons, as iron is by rust and wool by a moth—so too is the wicked person by vice.
Then follows, "I will exult for Your salvation:" that is, with blessedness shall I be holden by Your salvation, which is our Lord Jesus Christ, the Power and Wisdom of God. Therefore says the Church, which is here in affliction and is saved by hope, as long as the hidden judgment of the Son is, in hope she says, "I will exult for Your salvation:" for now she is worn down either by the roar of violence around her, or by the errors of the heathen. "The heathen are fixed in the corruption, which they made" [Psalm 9:15]. Consider ye how punishment is reserved for the sinner, out of his own works; and how they that have wished to persecute the Church, have been fixed in that corruption, which they thought to inflict. For they were desiring to kill the body, while they themselves were dying in soul. "In that snare which they hid, has their foot been taken." The hidden snare is crafty devising. The foot of the soul is well understood to be its love: which, when depraved, is called coveting or lust; but when upright, love or charity....And the Apostle says, "That being rooted and grounded in love, you may be able to take in." [Ephesians 3:17-18] The foot then of sinners, that is, their love, is taken in the snare, which they hide: for when delight shall have followed on to deceitful dealing, when God shall have delivered them over to the lust of their heart; that delight at once binds them, that they dare not tear away their love thence and apply it to profitable objects; for when they shall make the attempt, they will be pained in heart, as if desiring to free their foot from a fetter: and giving way under this pain they refuse to withdraw from pernicious delights. "In the snare" then "which they have hid," that is, in deceitful counsel, "their foot has been taken," that is, their love, which through deceit attains to that vain joy whereby pain is purchased.
When he says that “the Gentiles got stuck,” he means not those who are held by the fear of the Lord, but those who are so pinned down by the nails of their sins that they are not able to cast them off; unyielding bands appear to restrain them.… For we describe as captured those who are entangled by an intricate deceit. “Foot” here refers to the mental steps and the depraved desire which cause men to pursue vice. This is what Solomon says in Proverbs: “Their feet rush into evil and are quick to pour out blood.”
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SUMMARY
Psalms 9:15 serves as a powerful declaration of divine justice, vividly illustrating how the malicious and deceptive schemes devised by those hostile to God ultimately become the instruments of their own downfall. Through striking metaphors of a concealed pit and a hidden net, the verse asserts the principle of divine poetic justice, where the very traps intended for the righteous instead ensnare their wicked creators, affirming God's active intervention and sovereign oversight in the affairs of humanity.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Psalms 9:15 employs several potent literary devices to convey its message of divine justice with striking clarity and impact. Metaphor is central, with "pit" and "net" serving as vivid representations of the malicious schemes, traps, and destructive plots devised by the wicked. These concrete images effectively communicate the abstract concept of evil intentions and their dire consequences. The verse also powerfully uses Poetic Justice and Irony, as the very instruments of oppression and harm (the pit and the net) become the means of the oppressors' own undoing. This creates a striking reversal of fortune, where the wicked are "hoist by their own petard." Furthermore, a subtle form of Personification is present in "their own foot taken," giving a sense of active, almost sentient entrapment by their own devices, as if their own actions have turned against them. Finally, the verse utilizes Synonymous Parallelism, where the second clause ("in the net which they hid is their own foot taken") reiterates and intensifies the idea presented in the first clause ("The heathen are sunk down in the pit [that] they made"), reinforcing the central truth of self-inflicted consequences through varied but complementary imagery.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
This verse encapsulates a profound theological truth woven throughout Scripture: the principle of divine retribution and the inherent justice of God's moral order. It asserts that God, as the righteous Judge, ensures that the evil intentions and actions of the wicked ultimately rebound upon them. This is not merely a natural consequence but an active orchestration by a sovereign God who sees all and permits no ultimate triumph of evil. The verse reassures believers that even when injustice seems to prevail, God's justice is at work, ensuring that the schemes of the wicked are self-defeating and that their own devices become their downfall. It speaks to God's faithfulness to His covenant and His commitment to defending the oppressed, demonstrating that His character demands that wickedness cannot ultimately prosper.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Psalms 9:15 offers profound truths that resonate deeply with believers today, providing both comfort and challenge. For those who experience injustice, oppression, or the malicious schemes of others, this verse serves as a powerful source of reassurance. It reminds us that God is a righteous and active Judge who sees every hidden plot and every act of malice. We can find solace in the knowledge that His divine justice will ultimately prevail, ensuring that the wicked's plans will not only fail but will often ensnare them. This should encourage us to trust in God's timing and His perfect wisdom, rather than seeking personal vengeance or despairing in the face of apparent evil. Conversely, the verse stands as a stern warning against the temptation to engage in deceit, manipulation, or harm towards others. It unequivocally teaches that engaging in such "pit-making" or "net-hiding" ultimately leads to self-inflicted consequences. Our actions, whether good or ill, tend to return to us, underscoring the universal principle of sowing and reaping. This calls us to a life of integrity, righteousness, and love, knowing that the path of wickedness is ultimately self-destructive and futile.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What does "the heathen" refer to in this verse?
Answer: In this context, "the heathen" (from the Hebrew goyim, H1471) primarily refers to the gentile nations and peoples who were hostile to Israel and, by extension, to God Himself. These were often idolatrous nations that oppressed or sought to harm God's chosen people. The term emphasizes their opposition to divine righteousness and their engagement in wicked practices that stood against God's covenant people.
Is the "pit" and "net" literal, or are they symbolic?
Answer: While pits and nets were literal hunting tools in ancient times, in Psalms 9:15, they are used as powerful metaphors. They symbolize the malicious schemes, traps, plots, and deceptive strategies that the wicked devise to harm or ensnare others. The verse uses this vivid imagery to convey the idea that the very evil plans concocted by the wicked become the instruments of their own downfall, illustrating a profound principle of divine poetic justice.
How does this verse reconcile with God's mercy and forgiveness?
Answer: Psalms 9:15 highlights God's justice, which is a fundamental aspect of His perfect character. God's justice ensures that sin and wickedness do not go unpunished, upholding His moral order and the integrity of His creation. This does not contradict His mercy and forgiveness, but rather provides the necessary backdrop for it. God's mercy is extended to those who repent and seek His grace, often through the provision of a substitute or a path to righteousness, as beautifully demonstrated through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Forgiveness is offered to those who turn from their "pit-making" ways and embrace His truth. However, for those who persistently reject God and continue in their malicious schemes, justice will ultimately prevail, ensuring that the consequences of their actions are met. God's justice and mercy are not opposing forces but complementary attributes of His holy and loving nature, both perfectly expressed in His dealings with humanity.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Psalms 9:15, with its declaration that the wicked are caught in their own traps, finds its ultimate and most profound fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ. While the psalm speaks of earthly enemies, the New Testament reveals a cosmic battle against spiritual principalities and powers, and the ultimate "heathen" of sin and death. It was through the very "pit" of death and the "net" of the grave, intended by Satan and the forces of evil to ensnare humanity and defeat God's redemptive plan, that Christ achieved His greatest triumph. The cross, seemingly a defeat, became the very means by which Christ "disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross" Colossians 2:15 - Triumph Over Principalities and Powers. The "prince of this world" was indeed cast out and judged through Christ's sacrifice, as Jesus Himself foretold in John 12:31. Furthermore, Christ, by His death and resurrection, rendered powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, thereby freeing those who were held in slavery by their fear of death all their lives, as articulated in Hebrews 2:14-15. The wages of sin, which is death (Romans 6:23), became the very means of its defeat through Christ's perfect obedience and resurrection. Thus, the ultimate "pit" and "net" of sin and death, designed by the enemy, became the very instruments of his own undoing through the redemptive work of the Lamb of God. Christ is the righteous Judge who will, at His return, bring final and complete justice, ensuring that all who oppose God will be caught in the inescapable consequences of their rebellion, fulfilling this psalm's promise on a cosmic and eternal scale, culminating in the final judgment described in Revelation 20:10.