Today’s Passage: Psalm 9
This is a psalm that begins with thanks and never lets go of it. David sits down to praise the LORD with his whole heart, and the reason he gives is that God reigns as a righteous Judge. He has taken His seat on the throne, He has rebuked the nations, and He judges the whole world with justice. And that same Judge, David says, is a refuge for the oppressed, a safe high place for anyone with nowhere else to go. Even the little line at the top belongs to the psalm: David wrote it, he handed it to the choirmaster, and he set it to a tune called “The Death of the Son.” The heading is part of the text, not a note added on later.
As you read, hold this: He judges the world with justice.
Context A pair, two days
Psalms 9 and 10 are closely bound together. Read side by side they form a single poem running down the alphabet, one letter at a time, and the old Greek translation of the Old Testament even printed them as one. Today, though, we let this psalm stand on its own, where it lifts its eyes to the God who judges the nations. The harder question that Psalm 10 will raise can wait for its own morning. It is not the work this day is asking of us.
Psalm 9:1-6 (BSB)
For the choirmaster. To the tune of “The Death of the Son.” A Psalm of David.
¹ I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart; I will recount all Your wonders. ² I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High. ³ When my enemies retreat, they stumble and perish before You. ⁴ For You have upheld my just cause; You sit on Your throne judging righteously. ⁵ You have rebuked the nations; You have destroyed the wicked; You have erased their name forever and ever. ⁶ The enemy has come to eternal ruin, and You have uprooted their cities; the very memory of them has vanished.
It begins with thanks and with wonders remembered, and then it turns to the throne. God has rebuked the nations, blotted their names out, uprooted whole cities until even the memory of them is gone. These are hard lines, and we should teach them as they stand. We are not to dress up our own revenge in holy language, and we are not to sand the judgment down into a gentle mood. The judging belongs to Him. He is the Judge, and He does it rightly.
Psalm 9:7-10 (BSB)
⁷ But the LORD abides forever; He has established His throne for judgment. ⁸ He judges the world with justice; He governs the people with equity. ⁹ The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. ¹⁰ Those who know Your name trust in You, for You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.
The LORD abides forever, and His throne is set up for judgment. He judges the world with justice and governs the peoples with an even hand. And in the same breath the psalm calls Him a misgab, pronounced mis-GAV. Strong's H4869, secure height, high stronghold, refuge. It means a secure height, a high place set so far above the valley that no enemy can climb to it. And notice who it is paired with here: the oppressed. This is not a shelter reserved for those already strong enough to climb to it on their own. It is a high, safe place given to the very ones who have nowhere else to go. for the oppressed, a stronghold when trouble comes. Those who know His name lean their whole weight on Him, because He has never once forsaken those who seek Him.
Psalm 9:11-14 (BSB)
¹¹ Sing praises to the LORD, who dwells in Zion; proclaim His deeds among the nations. ¹² For the Avenger of bloodshed remembers; He does not ignore the cry of the afflicted. ¹³ Be merciful to me, O LORD; see how my enemies afflict me! Lift me up from the gates of death, ¹⁴ that I may declare all Your praises—that within the gates of Daughter Zion I may rejoice in Your salvation.
God dwells in Zion, and His deeds are worth proclaiming among the nations. He remembers the blood that has been spilled, and He does not turn a deaf ear to the cry of the afflicted. So the psalm prays plainly: lift me up from the very gates of death, that I may stand instead within the gates of Zion and there declare all Your praises.
Study notes The same claim, to the philosophers
What this psalm states as a settled fact, Paul later stood up in Athens and announced as something still to come, and he went one step further than the psalm by naming the Man who would do the judging.
"For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead." Acts 17:31 (BSB)
He judges the world with justice, and now we are told how: by the Man He has appointed, the one He raised from the dead as proof to us all. It is the same gospel the psalm was already singing. There are not two courtrooms here, only one, and one Judge over it.
Psalm 9:15-20 (BSB)
¹⁵ The nations have fallen into a pit of their making; their feet are caught in the net they have hidden. ¹⁶ The LORD is known by the justice He brings; the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands. Higgaion Selah ¹⁷ The wicked will return to Sheol—all the nations who forget God. ¹⁸ For the needy will not always be forgotten; nor the hope of the oppressed forever dashed. ¹⁹ Rise up, O LORD, do not let man prevail; let the nations be judged in Your presence. ²⁰ Lay terror upon them, O LORD; let the nations know they are but men. Selah
The nations tumble into the very pit they dug, their own feet tangled in the net they hid for others. But the needy will not be forgotten forever, and the hope of the oppressed will not be crushed for good. So the psalm ends with a cry: rise up, O LORD, do not let mere men have the last word, and let the nations remember that they are only men after all.
He judges the world with justice.