Psalms 94:5

They break in pieces thy people, O LORD, and afflict thine heritage. THEY BREAK IN PIECES THY PEOPLE, O LORD - a sample of the deeds of "the workers of iniquity," as is a sample of their words. AND AFFLICT THINE HERITAGE - as Pharaoh did to Israel in Egypt (; )....

5_They break in pieces thy people, O Jehovah! _Having spoken of their discourse or language as vain-glorious and shameless, he proceeds to speak of their deeds, in cruelly persecuting the Church. It is hard that even the subjects of heathen princes should be subjected to unjust persecution, but a more intolerable thing still, that those who are God’s own people, his peculiar inheritance, should be trampled under the foot of tyranny. The prayer before us is one which, as I have already remarked, is given with the intention that we should prefer it ourselves, when we or others may be persecuted by wicked men, and especially intestine enemies. Our safety is dear to the Lord, not only as we are men, the workmanship of his hand, but as we are his peculiar heritage; and this should lead us, when wronged at any time, to betake ourselves to God with the more confidence. It is farther added — tha...

1-11 We may with boldness appeal to God; for he is the almighty Judge by whom every man is judged. Let this encourage those who suffer wrong, to bear it with silence, committing themselves to Him who judges righteously. These prayers are prophecies, which speak terror to the sons of violence. There will come a day of reckoning for all the hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against God, his truths, and ways, and people. It would hardly be believed, if we did not witness it, that millions of rational creatures should live, move, speak, hear, understand, and do what they purpose, yet act as if they believed that God would not punish the abuse of his gifts. As all knowledge is from God, no doubt he knows all the thoughts of the children of men, and knows that the imaginations of the thoughts of men's hearts are only evil, and that continually. Even in good thoughts there is a w...

Verse Psalms 94:5. _THEY BREAK IN PIECES THY PEOPLE_] This was true of the Babylonians. Nehuchadnezzar slew many; carried the rest into captivity; ruined Jerusalem; overturned the temple; sacked, pillaged, and destroyed all the country....

THEY BREAK IN PIECES THY PEOPLE - They tread down; they grind; they crush. The Hebrew word is often used as meaning to crush under foot; to trample on; and hence, it means to oppress. Lamentations 3:34; Isaiah 3:15. AND AFFLICT - To wit, by oppression and wrong. If this refers to foreigners, it means that they did this by invasion and by the ravages of war. THINE HERITAGE - Thy people, regarded as an inheritance or possession. See Psalms 28:9, note; Psalms 33:12, note;...

EXPOSITION THIS psalm is primarily (Psalms 94:1) a "cry for vengeance on Israel's oppressors, passing into an appeal for more faith to God's own people" (Cheyne). In the latter half (Psalms 94:12) the psalmist comforts himself with the thought that God will assuredly protect his own, and bring destruction upon the evil doers (Psalms 94:12). Metrically, the psalm is made up of four strophes—the first of seven verses (Psalms 94:1); the next of four (Psalms 94:8); the third of eight ...

THEY BREAK IN PIECES THY PEOPLE, O LORD,.... Not the Israelites, as Kimchi; but the church of Christ, by their anathemas, cruel edicts, and persecutions; by confiscating their goods, imprisoning their persons, putting them to cruel deaths; and by such means think to "wear out" the saints of the most High, the Lord's covenant and peculiar people; which is mentioned as an aggravation of their sin, and as an argument with the Lord to arise on their behalf: AND AFFLICT THINE HERITAGE; the church, styled God's heritage, 1 Peter 5:3, whom the Lord has chosen for his inheritance; and are dear to him, as his portion, his jewels, and even as the apple of his eye; and yet these are afflicted all manner of ways by their persecuting enemies, as Israel was of old in Egypt....

Let us read this evening the ninety-fourth Psalm, and may the Spirit of God instruct us while we read it! Psalms 94:1. _O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself._ God is the God of justice, and when iniquity and oppression prevail, it is natural that his people should call upon him to come forth out of his hiding-places. Sometimes, when oppression and iniquity and error prevail, it seems as if God had hidden himself away. Hence the prayer of the psalmist, «O Jehovah, the God of recompenses (or revenges, as the margin has it), show thyself.» Psalms 94:2. _Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud._ As one who is about to strike a heavy blow lifts himself up, to increase the force of

PSALM 94-100 Psalms 94 Prayer for the Execution of the Vengeance of God _ 1. The Prayer on account of the enemy (Psalms 94:1)_ 2. Expostulation with the wicked (Psalms 94:8) 3. The comfort of the righteous (Psalms 94:14) The seven Psalms which follow lead on to the full establishment of the kingdom on earth and most of these Psalms celebrate His judgment reign, and the blessings of the age to come. We start once more with a Psalm which pictures vividly the trials of the days which precede the coming of the Lord and the coming of His kingdom. The Spirit of God has arranged these Psalms, as we have by th

XCIV. A PRAYER FOR VENGEANCE ON OPPRESSIVE RULERS AND FOR DELIVERANCE FROM THEM. Psalms 94:1. The wickedness of the arrogant. The bad rulers here are evidently Jews. They are oppressors, not invaders, and their offences against the moral law are just those which the prophets had denounced in the Israel of their day. PSALMS 94:7. The practical (see on Psalms 14), not theoretical atheism of the arrogant. They thought God did not care for men's conduct. As if He who planted ear and eye would fail to hear and see! Only a Jew could adopt this semi-sceptical position to Israel's God. PSALMS 94:10_ b_. Emend, He that teacheth men shall he be without knowledge?...