Journal

Psalm 10 - A cry for justice

Posted on September 28th, 2006, in the evening

I have been reading and meditating on Psalm 10 recently, resuming my series on Worshipping with the Psalms after an accidental hiatus.

I wrote on justice in Psalm 9 without knowing what came next. My suggestion that David's pleas for the oppressed might be veiled selfishness is certainly undermined by Psalm 10.

The text is introduced with a stark demand "Why, O LORD, do you stand far off?" The cause of David's distress is spelled out as rich oppressors exploiting the poor. The psalm concludes with a plea for God to act.

The attitude of the oppressors is characterised in very recognisable self-satisfactied moral indifference:

For the wicked boast of the desires of their heart,
those greedy for gain curse and renounce the LORD.
In the pride of their countenance the wicked say, "God will not seek it out,"
all their thoughts are, "There is no God."

Psalm 10.3-4

And although appealing for vengeance, David concludes with the compassionate heart of his request:

O Lord, you will hear the desire of the meek;
you will strengthen their heart, you will incline your ear
to do justice for the orphan and the oppressed,
so that those from earth may strike terror no more.

Psalm 10.17-18

Psalm 10 is a straightforward complaint against injustice on behalf of the poor. Neither Israel's enemies or David's own are explicitly in view here, this is a concern for justice for its own sake as thoroughgoing as any today.

I can say with renewed confidence that, taken from the pattern of the Psalter, an important part of our worship of God is to speak for, even compain on behalf of, the poor and the oppressed.