Psalm 10:16 (ESV) … “ The Lord is king forever and ever; the nations perish from his land.”
The psalmist in Psalm 10, charges that God is keeping his distance from the afflicted in their times of trouble. The wicked deny God’s attention to their mistreatment of the oppressed and also God’s very existence. But the poet affirms God’s knowledge of their “mischief” and calls on God to raise his hand against the evildoers. God has helped the socially disenfranchised before, and the psalmist expresses confidence that God will vindicate them yet again.[1]
The malice of our foes, and especially of Satan, is powerfully described, vs. 1–11. Now it is the venom beneath the serpent’s tongue, v. 7; now the bandit in ambush, v. 8; now the lion in his den, and again the hunter snaring his unsuspecting prey, v. 9. And all the while God is so quiet that it seems as if he has abdicated his throne.
Then the oppressed begin to pray, committing themselves to him, vs. 12–15. May we not rise above the spirit of the Old Covenant and ask that the venomous evil which is in the heart of our foes may be exterminated, so that it leave no vestiges? And such prayer must be answered. Compare Ps. 9:19 with Ps. 10:16, 17. True prayer begins with God and returns to him. When he prepares the heart, v. 17, he prepares the answer, which exceeds all, 1 Cor. 2:9.[2]
[1] Fee, G. D., & Hubbard, R. L., Jr. (Eds.). (2011). The Eerdmans Companion to the Bible (p. 323). Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. [2] Meyer, F. B. (1914–1918). Through the Bible Day by Day: A Devotional Commentary (Vol. 3, p. 51). Philadelphia: American Sunday-School Union.
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