Psalms 10:3

_FOR THE WICKED BOASTETH OF HIS HEART'S DESIRE, AND BLESSETH THE COVETOUS, WHOM THE LORD ABHORRETH._ For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire. The Hebrew for "heart's" is rather 'soul's х_ NAPSHOW _ (H5315)]. Hengstenberg objects to the English version, that the Hebrew verb х_ HILEEL_ (H1984)] is generally used actively, and therefore translates, 'The wicked extols the desire of his soul.' The "of," or 'upon,' in the Hebrew х_ `AL_ (H5921)], favours the English version. The wicked congratulates himself upon his success in gratifying his desire by oppressing the godly. So the Hebrew is used, Psalms 44:8; compare Philippians 3:19, "whose

3._For the ungodly praiseth himself. _This verse is variously explained. Literally the reading is, _For praiseth the wicked or ungodly; _and it is therefore necessary to supply some word, but what word is disputed. (196) Some translate the words, _ungodly _and _violent man, _in the accusative case, thus: _He praiseth the ungodly, and blesseth the violent man; _because they think it strange that after “praiseth” the sentence should end abruptly, without any thing being said of who or what was praised. But since it is quite common in Hebrew, when the agent and the subject are one and the same person, to express the word only once, while we repeat it in order to complete the sense, the interpretation which I have followed appears to me the most proper, namely, that the ungodly man praises himself, and boasts of the desire of his soul, and blesses himself. Now, it may be asked, What is this

1-11 God's withdrawings are very grievous to his people, especially in times of trouble. We stand afar off from God by our unbelief, and then complain that God stands afar off from us. Passionate words against bad men do more hurt than good; if we speak of their badness, let it be to the Lord in prayer; he can make them better. The sinner proudly glories in his power and success. Wicked people will not seek after God, that is, will not call upon him. They live without prayer, and that is living without God. They have many thoughts, many objects and devices, but think not of the Lord in any of them; they have no submission to his will, nor aim for his glory. The cause of this is pride. Men think it below them to be religious. They could not break all the laws of justice and goodness toward man, if they had not first shaken off all sense of religion....

Verse Psalms 10:3. _BOASTETH OF HIS HEART'S DESIRE_] Boasts among his fellows how often he has gratified such and such passions, in such and such circumstances. This shows the excess of a depraved and imbruted spirit. He who can boast of his iniquity, is in the broad road to perdition. Should such a one repent and turn to God, it would be equal to any miracle. _BLESSETH THE COVETOUS_, WHOM _THE LORD ABHORRETH._] Or, _he blesseth_ _the covetous, he abhorreth the Lord_. Those who are like himself he commends, and with them he associates; and _they abhor the_ _Lord_-they have a mortal hatred against every thing that is holy; and they are under the full influence of that _carnal mind_ which is _enmity_ to the Lord....

FOR THE WICKED BOASTETH OF HIS HEART’S DESIRE - Margin, as in Hebrew, soul’s. The main idea in this verse seems to be that he is a boaster - a man who makes some proclamation about himself as being superior to others, and who, in that proportion, looks with disdain or contempt on others. He vaunts himself, or makes an ostentatious display of something on which he prides himself, as wealth, strength, beauty, talent, prowess, etc. The particular thing here, it would seem, of which he boasted was his natural inclinations; the propensities and passions of his soul; that is, he took pride in himself, in his own passions, desires, lusts, tastes, and made a boastful display of them, as if he regarded them as something honorable, or as something fitted to excite admiration in others. This is not a very uncommon characteristic of wicked men; at least it is found in a certain class of wicked men....

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 h

FOR THE WICKED BOASTETH OF HIS HEART'S DESIRE,.... As antichrist does of his universal power over all bishops and princes, which his heart was long desiring after; of his being Christ's vicar, Peter's successor, and head of the church; and of having power in heaven, earth, and hell: he boasts of his wealth and riches, of the righteousness and merits of saints, of works of supererogation, a stock of which he pretends to have in his hands to dispense to others: he boasts of his own holiness and infallibility, and of miracles, signs, and lying wonders done by his creatures, and of his great success in destroying those that oppose him; see Revelation 18:7. The words may be rendered, "the wicked praiseth himself for the desire of his heart" u, so the Chaldee paraphrase; to which agrees Jarchi's gloss, "wicked Esau praiseth himself, because he hath obtained the desire of his soul

Psalms 10 _ 1. The cry of Jehovah and what causeth it (Psalms 10:1)_ 2. That wicked one (Psalms 10:3) 3. Prayer for divine Intervention: Faith's Vision (Psalms 10:12) Psalms 10:1. Here is a renewed cry to Jehovah and why? Because the wicked in his pride persecutes the poor. The wicked is that coming man of sin. Psalms 10:3. That persecutor of the saints of God is now prophetically revealed in his arrogant pride, defiance of God and oppression of th

9 AND 10. YAHWEH THE REFUGE OF HIS PEOPLE. These two Pss., divided in MT, were originally one, This is proved by the fact that they are one in LXX. and Vulg., by the absence of title over Psalms 10, and, conclusively, by the evidence that 9 and 10 form one acrostic poem. It was arranged in strophes of four lines each, the first letter of each strophe being one of the letters of the Heb. alphabet in regular succession. This system is carried out in the whole of Psalms 9-2 in Psalms 10. So far we have the first twelve letters of the alphabet, the only omission being that of the fourth letter, which, however, can be supplied by an easy and convincing emendation. Then from Psalms 10:3 to Psalms 10:11 the acrostic character disappears and can be recovered only by precarious emendation. It reappears in...

HEART'S. soul _'_ s. Hebrew. _nephesh._. BLESSETH, &C. One of the emendations of the _Sopherim_ (see App-33). The primitive text of this line read, "the covetous man (or robber) blasphemeth, yea, abhorreth Jehovah". Compare 1 Kings 21:10; 1 Kings 21:13.Job 1:5; Job 1:11; Job 2:5; Job 2:9....