We began this blog with a post on Psalms 8 and 144. Psalm 8 is such a high note in the hymnbook, offering an exalted view of man—as being only a little lower than God or angels, as being above all other earthly creatures, as being especially noticed and cared for by God in all the vast universe of His creation—that the next two psalms in the psalter jar our senses with an abruptly negative view of mankind.
The awe-inspired question in Psalm 8, “What is man?” is followed by Psalm 9’s desperate pleas: “do not let man prevail” and “let the nations know that they are but men.” Then Psalm 10 ends with an expression of longing for a time when “man who is of the earth will no longer cause terror.” These phrases represent quite a shift in thought.
What’s going on? How do 9 and 10 fit with 8?
First of all, it’s helpful to see that 9 and 10 were originally one psalm. They’re both in acrostic form, and they are thematically connected. Psalm 9 uses the first half of the Hebrew alphabet and Psalm 10 the last; both meditate on the dangers posed by wicked men against other men.
The Septuagint (an early Greek translation of Hebrew scripture) presented these two psalms as one. In our Bibles, Psalm 9 is attributed to David, and so it’s safe to assume the unattributed Psalm 10 is also his. As we know from his biography, David held a high view of mankind, but was also realistic about himself and others.
Biblical scholars are paying more attention to the ordering of the psalms. It’s apparent from the headings on many psalms that they were not arranged chronologically. For instance, Psalm 90 was written by Moses, but it’s placed after many psalms written by David, who came long after.
The 150 psalms are arranged in five books, and many scholars speculate that the scribes who compiled them intended to correlate them with the five books of Moses. The psalms we’re looking at in Book One certainly do reflect many of the themes of Genesis, Moses’ first book: the creation of man as image-bearer, his fall into sin and its resulting consequences, a record of man’s inhumanity to man, and the violent extent to which we’ll go. We also see God’s continued love for man and His passion for restored fellowship.
So these two psalms do fittingly follow the creation hymn of Psalm 8, even though they don’t continue its praise for mankind’s grandeur. Together, these three psalms express the reality that although we still bear the image of God, we do not always reflect His character well. Not everyone is grand and wonderful. Some of us are downtrodden, needy, afflicted. Others, in an effort to cast ourselves in a grander and more wonderful image, make life harder for others.
Both oppressed and oppressor bear God’s image, despite what has happened to them or what they have done. The Bible teaches that mankind is still made in God’s image after the fall, after the flood (Genesis 5:2-3, 9:6). Sin and depravity, sickness and disability have not changed that fact.
What causes one person to become an oppressor and another to be oppressed?
In their portrayals of oppressed and oppressor, Psalms 9-10 vividly contrast their relationships to God.
Oppressors have an adversarial relationship with God, 9:3-6. They hate God’s people (9:13). They ignore God and His commands to remember the needy (9:17-18). They think they can prevail in their efforts to be their own god (9:19). They think they have something extra that makes them more important than other people, that entitles them to mistreat them (9:20). Consequently, God has already judged them as being wicked, probably in many ways beyond oppressing other people.
Psalm 10 contains a deeper diagnosis. Oppressors are proud and greedy (10:2). They go after what they want and usually get it (10:3,5). Because they succeed, they arrogantly imagine that God doesn’t care about what they do to other people (10:4) and assume they'll get away without final judgment (10:6,11,13). In their minds, God is either forgetful or neglectful, blind or ignorant, and they will suffer no consequences for treating other people badly.
The oppressed, on the other hand, are the victims of these enemies of God. They’re preyed upon because they’re faithful to God. If God seems distant to oppressors, it’s the godly who bear the brunt of their animosity toward God. They are targeted precisely because they bear God’s image more completely.
Despite their afflictions, the godly oppressed continue to be thankful to God, to be faithful witnesses to others about His power, and to worship Him (9:1-2,11,14). They know God’s name, have trusted in Him, and are confident He’ll never forsake them (9:10). In 9:13, they continue to seek God’s help during periods of affliction. These are pro-life virtues that correspond with the pro-life ethic. (See also my post on Psalm 112.)
What do oppressors do?
Let’s look at this more closely. Predator is certainly a good word to describe oppressors. Psalm 10:8-10 describes them as being like hunters stalking prey—waiting in ambush, stealthily intending to catch people who are already down-trodden. They pounce on their victims in order to crush them.
Sometimes, as in Psalm 57:4, the Bible speaks of the predatory person as being animalistic, but here the imagery evokes their victims as animals lower down on the food chain… unwary birds or rabbits that can be drawn into a net or lured into a trap with bait. It’s an entirely disrespectful and demeaning way to look at another person who is made in God's image.
After a successful hunt, oppressors seem to sense it's something shameful to have done to a fellow human being. They say, “God has forgotten; He has hidden His face; He will never see it.” (10:11), as they shrug off any residual guilt. They try to sound secure in their “faith” that God isn’t paying attention, not keeping track, doesn’t care, and won’t do anything to the oppressor to make him regret his choice.
Convinced they’re immune from divine judgment, they spew curses, lies, and invectives (10:7). In fact, their oppression starts with words but doesn’t end there. The term “require it” in 10:13 is a direct reference to the result of unjust killing from Genesis 9:5. When people are premeditatively murdered, God requires the killer’s life. So what is being described here is actual bloodshed, not metaphorical.
This behavior is certainly not what God intended when He created human beings. Yes, He made us His agents to rule animals, and to fill and subdue the earth. Because of the fall, we’re also intended to be our brothers’ keepers. He did not make us to subdue and rule over each other, as is described in Psalms 9-10.
The oppressed, on the other hand, are NOT oppressing others—otherwise they too would be numbered among the oppressors. Similarly, those designated as “afflicted” are NOT afflicting others, and the godly needy are NOT taking advantage of others for their own gain. If they did prey upon people more downtrodden than themselves, they would have nothing to expect from God in the way of help or justice. Rather, because they fear God and obey His commands, they refuse to participate in the same actions that are being inflicted on them. They are the righteous.
Does God not see what they’re doing? Does He forget?
In response to their afflictions, the righteous oppressed continue to believe YHWH is God. He does exist (9:7). He is the Judge of all (9:8). He does not forget the needy, but causes the wicked to be forgotten (9:6,10; 10:12). He sees what’s happening (10:13-14). He is attentive to the cry of the humble, and He encourages them (10:17). He will vindicate the orphan and oppressed, “so that man who is of the earth will no longer cause terror” (10:18).
On this basis, the faithful ask God for relief (10:12). These psalms assure us God does see and does not forget. The prayer of Psalm 10 is that God will indeed see what the wicked are doing and will cause their demise (v12,15).
These “statements of faith” are found not just here but from Genesis to Revelation. Blood does cry out to God from the ground; God will eventually repay wicked killers (Gen. 4:10; Revelation 6:9-11). Therefore, these promises are a matter of faith for us as well. With continued faith in these and other promises, we please God (Hebrews 11:6). We won’t necessarily see justice for oppression and murder in our lifetimes, but ultimately it will come.
That’s the final hope and expectation, that man will be limited—kept to his place, no longer able to terrify—and that God will reign supreme.
Perspective
Good interpretation of the Bible lets different passages comment on or illuminate each other, allows them to interpret each other. In that way, we can see that Psalms 8, 9, 10 “talk” to one another.
Psalm 8:4 is a two-sided answer to the dilemma of Psalms 9-10. Yes, God does “take thought” of the person who is faithfully stewarding his or her responsibilities, but also those who are abusing them; He “cares for” ones who seem to more successfully reflect His image and also the ones who are afflicted and oppressed.
Similarly, Psalms 9-10 put a spin on Psalm 8—What IS man? Why DOES God take notice of us? Why DOES He care? These psalms force us to acknowledge how awful we can be to each other, that we make a big mess of our image-bearing.
Together, these three psalms cause us to remember that we are but creatures, yet ones who draw special attention from God and over which He maintains dominion (Matthew 10:31; Luke 12:6-7, 12:24). There is no contradiction.
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Helpful resources:
- The Structure of the Book of Psalms, by Phillip G. Kayser, https://biblicalblueprints.com/Sermons/BibleSurvey/16%20psalms#the-structure-of-the-book-of-psalms
- How the Bible Interprets Itself: A Lesson from Jesus, by Gary Edward Schnittjer, https://www.biblegateway.com/learn/bible-101/about-the-bible/how-the-bible-interprets-itself/
Image credit: Pieter Brueghel the Younger: Peasant Couple Attacked by Robbers, 1630, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bruegel_-_Sellink,_X08.jpg
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