Biblion Bible Commentary
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A High Tower in Times of Trouble
Psalms 9:1-20
1 For the Chief Musician. Set to “The Death of the Son.” A Psalm by David. I will give thanks to Yahweh with my whole heart. I will tell of all your marvelous works. · WEB
Thanksgiving for judgment already executed, and a reminder that the nations are only men.
I will give thanks to Yahweh with my whole heart. I will tell of all your marvelous works Psalms 9:1.
The ninth and tenth psalms share a single alphabetical scheme running across both, which is why some traditions count them as one. Together they make a pair: this one thanks God for judgment carried out, and the next asks why he is doing nothing.
You have rebuked the nations. You have destroyed the wicked. You have blotted out their name forever and ever. The enemy is overtaken by endless ruin Psalms 9:5–6.
The verbs are past. Something has happened, and the psalm does not say what. The blotting out of a name was the most complete erasure the ancient world could imagine, and the following line presses it: the very memory of the cities which you have overthrown has perished.
But Yahweh reigns forever. He has prepared his throne for judgment Psalms 9:7.
The contrast is between two kinds of permanence. Empires are remembered until they are not; the throne set against them was prepared and stays. And the psalm immediately says what the throne is for: he will judge the world in righteousness, which in this book is consistently good news rather than a threat, because the people saying it are the ones currently losing.
Yahweh will also be a high tower for the oppressed; a high tower in times of trouble Psalms 9:9.
A high tower is not a hiding place but a strong point with a view — somewhere a person can be seen and still not be reached. Then the line that names the condition: those who know your name will put their trust in you, for you, Yahweh, have not forsaken those who seek you Psalms 9:10. Trust follows knowing, and the knowing is of a name, which in this collection always means a character disclosed rather than a word learned.
The nations have sunk down in the pit that they made. In the net which they hid, their own foot is taken Psalms 9:15.
The image from the previous psalm returns, and it is now applied to empires rather than individuals. The mechanism of judgment is the same at any scale.
Put them in fear, Yahweh. Let the nations know that they are only men Psalms 9:20.
The closing request is not for their destruction. It is that they should find out what they are, which the psalm evidently regards as the cure for most of what they do.
settled What this mark means