Psalm 94—1 O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongs— O God, to whom vengeance belongs, shine forth! 2 Rise up, O Judge of the earth; render punishment to the proud. 3 Lord, how long will the wicked, how long will the wicked triumph? 4 They utter speech, and speak insolent things; all the workers of iniquity boast in themselves. 5 They break in pieces Your people, O Lord, and afflict Your heritage. 6 They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless. 7 Yet they say, “Yah does not see, nor does the God of Jacob understand.”
“Israel is suffering oppression—not, however, from foreign enemies, but from domestic tyrants (Psalms 94:4-6). Innocent blood is shed; the widow and the orphan are trodden down. God, it is supposed, will not see or will not regard (Psalms 94:7). The psalmist, therefore, cries out to God to manifest himself by taking signal vengeance on the evil doers (Psalms 94:1, Psalms 94:2).” (Pulpit Commentaries) But these prayers are prophecies which began with Moses here and continued with the prophets, speaking of the day of reckoning. And as Amos later warned his generation of Israel: “against their oft-repeated cry for the coming of the Judgment Day.—‘Woe unto you that desire the day of Jehovah! Wherefore would ye have the day of Jehovah? It is darkness, and not light. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; and he went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. Shall not the day of Jehovah be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it’ (Amos 5:18-20)?” (Burton Coffman)
“‘O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongs’— applicable to Christ.” (John Gill) “‘Vengeance is mine,’ saith He, ‘I will repay,’ Deuteronomy 32:35. And it is best he should, for He returneth ‘a just recompense of reward,’ Hebrews 2:2; whereas men seek oft an unequal revenge, Hebrews 10:30, as a stab for the lie given.” (John Trapp)— “‘rise up.’ It is clear enough here that the psalmist is thinking of the day of Jehovah, as indicated by this expression.” (Burton Coffman) “Show thyself in thy character of a God who will by no means clear the guilty (Exodus 34:7).” (Pulpit Commentary)— “‘O Judge of the earth;’— A title very proper to Christ, and which is given him by Abraham, Genesis 18:25, who then appeared to him in an human form, and with whom he was conversing;...‘render a reward to the proud; an evil reward, as the Targum.” (John Gill), that is, punishment to any wicked.
“Judges, as they ascend the tribunal, so when to pass sentence they usually stand up. See Isaiah 33:10–, ‘Now I will arise,’ says the LORD, ‘Now I will be exalted, now I will be lifted up.’” (John Trapp) “This retributive justice is what we often term vengeance, but perhaps improperly; for vengeance with us signifies an excitement of angry passions, in order to gratify a vindictive spirit, which supposes itself to have received some real injury; whereas what is here referred to is that simple act of justice which gives to all their due.” (Adam Clarke) Render that prophesied punishment- “a just recompence to the people who are confident in their own strength, and who are manifesting their pride in depriving others of their rights.” (Albert Barnes) "You shall surely died." (Genesis 2:17)
“’Lord, how long will the wicked triumph?’— The wicked are often in prosperity; and this only shows us of how little worth riches are in the sight of God, when he bestows them on the most contemptible of mortals. But their time and prosperity have their bounds. ‘They utter and speak’—…. their hearts get full of pride and insolence; and then, from the abundance of such vile hearts, the mouth speaks; and the speech is of hard things, threatening which they are determined to execute, boastings of their power, authority, etc.” (Adam Clarke) “‘They slay the widow, and the stranger;’ etc. that is, the rich and the landed interest, having frittered away the jubilee to little more than a name…” (Joseph Sutcliffe) This looks past the wilderness stay to occupation of the land. “The mention of the stranger as one friendless and helpless (Exod 22:21), under the tyranny of the great, seems to imply that domestic, and not foreign oppression, is the grievance.” (C. J. Ellicott) ”To do this is everywhere represented as a special crime, and as especially offensive to God from the fact that these classes are naturally feeble and unprotected.” (Barnes) Thus, the Lord says, “For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord.” (Ps 12:5)
“As justice to the weak is a sign of the best government, their oppression is a sign of the worst (Deut 10:18; Is 10:2).” (Jamieson, Fausset, Brown) The wicked of the land of Israel, who are of Israel, in the day of occupation “‘break in pieces Your people’— They tread down; they grind; they crush [the remnant of Your people, Israel, who obey]. The Hebrew word is often used as meaning to crush under foot; to trample on; and hence, it means to oppress. Lamentations 3:34; Isaiah 3:15. — ‘and afflict Your heritage’— Those righteous persons whom thou hast chosen for thy portion or inheritance.” (Matthew Poole) “‘Yet they say, Yah shall not see’— To all other their enormities they added this, that they denied a Divine providence, and professed profaneness... ‘delivering the sense of all other atheists.’ saith Pliny, lib. 2, c. 7.” (John Trapp) “Their cruelty is only exceeded by their wicked and absurd presumption (Ps 10:11; 59:7).” (Jamieson, Fausset, Brown) “’Neither does the God of Jacob regard it’ — Though there are such evident demonstrations of the divine interpositions in favour of Jacob, and of His watchful care over them as His people, yet, for all that, they fancy He does not regard, nor will call them to any account for their doings.” (Joseph Benson)
8 Understand, you senseless among the people; and you fools, when will you be wise? 9 He who planted the ear, shall He not hear? He who formed the eye, shall He not see? 10 He who instructs the nations, shall He not correct, He who teaches man knowledge? 11 Yahweh knows the thoughts of man, that they are futile.
“‘Understand, you senseless: ye brutish’ Hebrew, בערים, bognarim; ye who are governed by your lusts and appetites, as the word signifies, who have only the shape, but not the understanding, reason, or judgment of good men in you.” (Joseph Benson)— “‘among the people— the Israelites. “The wrong-doers were not among the nations (Gentiles), but among ‘the people,’ that is, God's people.” (Burton Coffman) These have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof, thus: “This is a beautiful appeal to the oppressor.” (Robert Hawker)—>“‘He who planted the ear, shall He not hear? He who formed the eye, shall He not see?’ By the word ‘formed,’ (Hebrew, יצר, jotzer, Genesis 2:7,) he seems to intimate the accurate and most curious workmanship of the eye, which is observed by all who write on the subject.” (Joseph Benson) “The truth of the inference depends upon that evident and undeniable principle in reason, that nothing can give to another that which it hath not either formally or more eminently in itself, and that no effect can exceed the virtue of its cause.” (Matthew Poole)
“‘He that instructs or teaches the nations’— not only the Jews, but all other people, all mankind...— shall not he correct or reprove [His people]?’” (Matthew Poole) “‘He that reproveth,’ and therefore discerneth their evil words and works, shall he not discern and reprove yours, who sin against greater light, and more privileges and advantages…?“ (Joseph Benson) “‘Yahweh knows the thoughts of [unregenerate] man, that they are futile.’ That they are vanity—The literal rendering, ‘for they are breath,’ referring not to thoughts, but to man collectively.” (C. J. Ellicott) “The oppressed believer points out how impossible it is for the wicked to escape the all-seeing eye and almighty arm of God.” (Robert Hawker)
12 Blessed is the man whom You instruct, O Lord, and teach out of Your law (torah), 13 that You may give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit is dug for the wicked. 14 For Jehovah will not cast off His people, nor will He forsake His inheritance. 15 But judgment will return to righteousness, and all the upright in heart will follow it.
“‘Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord’ - ‘Happy the man;’ or ‘Oh the blessedness of the man.’ See Psalm 1:1.” (Barnes)— whom You chasten—-“תיסרנו teyasserennu, whom thou instructest; and teachest” (Adam Clarke)— “‘out of your law;’ torah or Penteteuch, the principles of true religion from the ancient oracles of origins and destination. These are God’s dealings with man. They occurred over time but were given to Moses on the Mount as a sure foundation of truth and prophecy. “The meaning here is, that the man is blessed or happy whom God so ‘instructs, warns, or teaches,’ that he understands the principles…” (Albert Barnes) and corrects him with those teachings. Not he that prospers in his wickedness is happy, but he whom the Lord chasteneth when he acts amiss, and thereby teaches to study and obey His law with the greater care and diligence.” (Joseph Benson)— “that You may give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit is dug for the wicked.’’ — Here usually, but hereafter certainly. ‘Those that die in the Lord shall rest from their labours.’ was Cbaucer’s motto; Meanwhile they are chastened of the Lord that they may not be condemned [punished] with the world, 1 Corinthians 11:32.” (John Trapp)
The wage of sin is death. “‘For Jehovah will not cast off His people nor forsake His inheritance;’ “for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you." (Deuteronomy 31:6) “‘But judgment will return to righteousness, and all the upright in heart will follow it.’ “By judgment here is meant, as in many other places, the government or public state of matters. The confusion which prevails in the world, seems to argue some defect or unrighteousness of administration; and he holds out to us that it shall be well in the issue.” (John Calvin) “Oppression from the wicked is discipline that God permits for His people (cf. Habakkuk 1:5-11). Because of this the writer saw it had value. However, he also believed that God would relieve the godly and not forsake His faithful ones. Eventually God will execute justice, and this will encourage people to follow the path of righteousness.” (Dr. Thomas B. Constable)
16 Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? Who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity? 17 Unless Jehovah had been my help, my soul would soon have settled in silence. 18 If I say, “My foot slips,” Your mercy, O Lord, will hold me up. 19 In the multitude of my anxieties within me, your comforts delight my soul. 20 Shall the throne of iniquity, which devises evil by law, have fellowship with You? 21 They gather together against the life of the righteous, and condemn innocent blood. 22 But Jehovah has been my defense, and my God the rock of my refuge. 23 He has brought on them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; Jehovah our God shall cut them off.
“‘Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? Who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?’ Surely it will be Jesus— the true Jehovah. (John Gill) “‘Unless Jehovah had been my help, my soul would soon have settled in silence.’ - I can no longer stand. My strength is gone; and I must sink into the grave.” (Albert Barnes) Contrariwise: “If I say, ‘My foot slips,’ Your mercy, O Lord, will hold me up. In the multitude of my anxieties within me, your comforts delight my soul.”— “This is a precious verse. Happy the soul that can adopt the same language! When carnal men are in trouble, they will be turning from one earthly comfort to another, to find relief. But when a child of God is in sorrow, he knows that nothing but the same hand that wounds can heal. Oh! what blessedness will he then find in that promise, brought home and applied to the soul by the Holy Ghost: I, even I, am he that comforteth you. Isaiah 51:12. How truly blessed is it in trouble to look to Christ and the rich consolations in Him!” (Robert Hawker)
“Shall the throne of iniquity, which devises evil by law, have fellowship with You? It is true, they partake of thy name, being called gods, Psalms 82:1, but I know thou wilt not afford them thy protection and patronage, but wilt manifest thy justice and displeasure against them. This seems to have been one of those comfortable thoughts wherewith the psalmist delighted his soul, as he now said. ‘Which frameth mischief’; who devise wicked devices, and lay heavy burdens upon men that are more righteous than themselves. ‘By a law’; by virtue of those unrighteous decrees which they have made in form of laws; or by false pretences of law. Or, against law; against all right, and the laws both of God and men.” (Poole)
“’They gather themselves against the soul of the righteous’ — Against the life, as the word here rendered soul commonly signifies, and as the next clause explains it. They are not satisfied with the spoils of the estates of the righteous, but do also thirst after their lives.” (Joseph Benson)— “‘and condemn innocent blood.’- In every thing that is evil, they are in unity. The devil, his angels, and his children, all join and draw together when they have for their object the destruction of the works of the Lord. ‘But’ [— Moses insisted—] ‘Jehovah has been my defense, and my God the rock of my refuge,' even that Rock of Ages cleft for him. And He “shall cut them [the oppressors] off in their own wickedness; Jehovah our God shall cut them off. This is repeated, to show that the destruction of… [mystery] Babylonian was fixed and indubitable: and in reference to the Jews, the persecutors and murderers of our Lord and his apostles, it was not less so.” (Adam Clarke) “He teaches out of His Law; let us be diligent students of the Scriptures, Psalms 94:12. He will neither cast us off nor forsake us, Psalms 94:14. The Lord is our help, and the soul that trusts Him shall not be silenced, Psalms 94:17. He holds us up when our foot slips, Psalms 94:18. Whatever thoughts may startle or affright us, God has a comfort suited to counteract each of them. His comforts delight the soul. They bring joy and hope with them, Psalms 94:19. He defends us against the charges laid at our door, and is a rock on which we may stand steadily, amid the seething waters, Psalms 94:22. If God be for us, who can be against us, or who can separate us from His love? Romans 8:31.” (F. B. Meyer)