EXPOSITION
This psalm is to some extent connected with the preceding one, but not very closely. It has turns of expression which are identical, and not common elsewhere; e.g. "in times of trouble" (Psalms 10:1; comp. Psalms 9:9), and much similarity in the thoughts (comp. Psalms 10:2, "Let them be taken," etc; with Psalms 9:15, "In the net which they hid is their foot taken;" Psalms 9:12, "Forget not the humble," with Psalms 9:12, "He forgetteth not the cry of the humble;" Psalms 9:16, "The heathen are perished out of the land," with Psalms 9:5, Psalms 9:6; and Psalms 9:4, "God is not in all his thoughts," with Psalms 9:17, "The nations that forget God"). The metrical structure is thought to be similar ('Speaker's Commentary'), and there is the same imperfect and irregular employment of alphabetic arrangement. Moreover, in the Septuagint Version the two psalms are run into one; and the unusual absence of a title in the Hebrew raises the suspicion that they were once united there also. Yet in their subject they are markedly different. Psalms 9:1-20. is concerned almost wholly with the heathen, Psalms 10:1-18. with the wicked, by which we must understand wicked Israelites The former is a psalm of praise and thanksgiving, the latter one of complaint and entreaty; the former is triumphant and exulting, the latter menacing and mournful. Possibly they were composed about the same time, and with some reference of the one to the other, Psalms 9:1-20. being a review of Israel in its external relations, and Psalms 10:1-18. a review of Israel in its internal relations and prospects.