Psalm 10 Overview
A refuge for the oppressed
Psalm 10
Welcome to the Overview of Psalm 10
This page will introduce and provide orientation to Psalm 10 as a whole. It includes the following sections:
Introduction to Psalm 10
Author:
Purpose:
- To petition the divine king to the aid of the oppressed.
Content:
- “Rise up, YHWH! You've avenged the oppressed in the past but You are now standing at a distance.”
Message:
- YHWH has established his throne for justice (9:8b).
Psalm 10 At-a-Glance
These sections divide the content of the psalm into digestible pieces , and are determined based on information from many of our layers, including Semantics, Poetics, and Discourse. The columns, left to right, contain: the verse numbers; the main title of the section; a brief summary of the content of that section (quote marks indicate the text is taken directly from the English text of the psalm (as per our Close-but-Clear translation); and an icon to visually represent and remember the content.
Background Orientation for Psalm 10
Following are the common-ground assumptionsCommon-ground assumptions include information shared by the speaker and hearers. In our analysis, we mainly use this category for Biblical/Ancient Near Eastern background. which are the most helpful for making sense of the psalm.
- “The fatherless [cf. v.14] and the oppressed” is a reference to the class of people who were most easily wronged (cf. 82:3) but were protected by God’s law (Ex 22:22-24; Dt 10:18; 16:11, 14; cf. Isa 1:17; Jer 7:6; Jas 1:27; VanGemeren, W. (2017) Psalms. Available at Perlego (Accessed: 24 September 2022).
- Oppressing the poor and vulnerable for unjust gain was a persistent problem in Israel (Zeph 3; Job 24:14; Hab 3:14; see Hengstenberg 1863, 163).
- YHWH is a king, and one of the King's responsibilities was to care for the poor (Psa 72; Miller 2004, 192). As king, YHWH is sovereign over, and orders, all worldly affairs (Miller 2000, 407–408).
- God is patient (Exod. 34:6–7; Neh 9:29; Jonah 4:2) and may allow sin to continue to 'completion' (Gen 15:16) before purging His land (Lev 18:24ff; 20:22ff; Num 35:33ff).
Background Situation for Psalm 10
The background situation is the series of events leading up to the time in which the psalm is spoken. These are taken from the story triangle – whatever lies to the left of the star icon.
Participants in Psalm 10