Psalms 10:9

Psa 10:9 He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net.

Ver. 9. He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den] See Job 38:40, {See Trapp on "Job 38:40"}

When he draweth him into his net] That is, into his bonds, debts, mortgages, saith Chrysostom. When a poor man is once gotten into these nets, wicked oppressors do not only rob but ravish them; coining their money upon poor men’s skins, and wringing the sponges of poor people into their own purses. David compareth them to cannibals, Psa 14:4, to greedy lions here. Another saith they are like the fish polypus, that lying in wait for other fishes upon the rock, assimilateth to the rock and taketh them in his net, which he hath naturally behind his head, and can spread at his pleasure, before they find themselves in danger (Sir Richard Berkley’s Summum Bonum).

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In the next verse, he sets forth their cruelty in a light still more aggravated, by another comparison, saying, that they thirst for their prey like lions in their dens Now, it is a step higher in wickedness to equal in cruelty wild beasts than to make havoc after the manner of robbers. It is worthy of remark, that he always joins deceits and snares with violence, in order the better to show how miserable the children of God would be, unless they were succoured by help from heaven. There is also added another similitude, which expresses more clearly how craft in catching victims is mingled with cruelty. They catch them, says he but it is by drawing them into their net By these words he means, that they not only rush upon them with open force and violence, but that, at the same time also, they spread their nets in order to deceive.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(9) Lieth in wait.—A confusion of metaphor. The wicked is first, the lion watching for his prey, and then the hunter snaring animals. “Poor,” here—better, afflicted (see Psa_9:12). Translate, in his hiding-place he lurks, as a lion in his lair, lurks to seize a sufferer, seizes a sufferer, drawing him into his net.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9. Render:

He lieth in ambush in the secret place as a lion in his lair;

He lieth in ambush to catch the poor:

He catcheth the poor, dragging him off with his net.

The wicked man is now described as a lion, lurking in his lair in the forest till his prey comes near. In the third clause the figure is changed for that of a hunter: probably the victim is dragged off to be sold for a slave.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He lieth in wait secretly as a lion,.... The first beast in Rev 13:2; is said to have a mouth like a lion, and the second beast in Psa 10:11; spake like a dragon; and both design one and the same, antichrist, in his twofold capacity, civil and ecclesiastical; this metaphor of the lion lying in wait secretly for his prey denotes the insidious methods used by antichrist to destroy the faithful witnesses of Christ; who lies like a lion

in his den, in the temple of God, now become a den of thieves;

he lieth in wait to catch the poor: to snatch and carry them away captive as his prey; see Rev 13:10;

he doth catch the poor when he draweth him into his net; this metaphor is taken from fowlers, who spread nets, into which they allure and draw the birds and catch them. The allurements, snares, and nets, which antichrist lays to catch the poor saints and people of God in, are the riches and honours of this world, great pretensions to holiness, devotion; and religion, and many lying signs and wonders.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

He lieth in wait secretly - Margin, in the secret places. See the note at Psa 10:8. The object here is merely to illustrate the thought in the previous verse, by an allusion to a lion and a hunter.

As a lion in his den - As a lion crouches down in his den, ready to spring upon his prey. That is, the lion is concealed, but is on the look out, and when his prey passes near his den, he suddenly springs upon it and secures it. So it is with the wicked man. He carefully lays his plans. He conceals his purposes. He is himself hidden, or his plans are all hidden. Suddenly he springs upon his victim, who is taken by surprise and has no power of defense or escape. The purpose here is not so much to describe the wicked man as a literal robber, as to compare the conduct of the wicked with that of a robber - one who, like a lion or a hunter, lies concealed until his victim is seen. This will describe the conduct of a large class of people - men who secretly lay plans of seduction, villany, and fraud, and who spring suddenly upon their victims when there is no hope of escape.

He lieth in wait to catch the poor - The helpless and defenseless.

He doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net - As a hunter does the wild beast. Here the same thought is presented under a new image - that of a hunter. He lays his snare, gin, or pit-fall, and when the animal is allured into it, he springs the net suddenly on him, or the animal sinks into the pit, and is secured. See the note at Psa 7:15; the note at Psa 9:15.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

As a lion in his den, where he lurks and waits for prey.

He doth catch, or snatch, or seize upon, to wit, with violence, and to devour or destroy him.

When he draweth him; or, by drawing him; or, after he hath drawn him. He layeth snares for him, and when he takes him, tears him in pieces.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 9. The picture becomes blacker, for here is the cunning of the lion, and of the huntsman, as well as the stealthiness of the robber. Surely there are some men who come up to the very letter of this description. With watching, perversion, slander, whispering, and false swearing, they ruin the character of the righteous, and murder the innocent; or, with legal quibbles, mortgages, bonds, writs, and the like, they catch the poor, and draw them into a net. Chrysostom was peculiarly severe upon this last phase of cruelty, but assuredly not more so than was richly merited. Take care, brethren, for there are other traps besides these. Hungry lions are crouching in every den, and fowlers spread their nets in every field. Quarles well pictures our danger in those memorable lines,

"The close pursuers busy hands do plant Snares in thy substance; snares attend thy wants;

Snares in thy credit; snares in thy disgrace; Snares in thy high estate; snares in thy base; Snares tuck thy bed; and snares surround thy board; Snares watch thy thoughts; and snares attack thy word; "

"Snares in thy quiet; snares in thy commotion; Snares in thy diet; snares in thy devotion; Snares lurk in thy resolves; snares in thy doubt; Snares lie within thy heart; and snares without; Snares are above thy head, and snares beneath; Snares in thy sickness; snares are in thy death."

"O Lord! keep thy servants, and defend us from all our enemies!"

Ver. 9. He doth catch the poor. The poor man is the beast they hunt, who must rise early, rest late, eat the bread of sorrow, sit with many a hungry meal, perhaps his children crying for food, while all the fruit of his pains is served into Nimrod's table. Complain of this while you will, yet, as the orator said of Verres, pecuniosus nescit damnari. Indeed, a money man may not be damnified, but he may be damned. For this is a crying sin, and the wakened ears of the Lord will hear it, neither shall his provoked hands forbear it. Si tacuerint pauperes loquentur lapides. If the poor should hold their peace, the very stones would speak. The fines, rackings, enclosures, oppressions, vexations, will cry to God for vengeance. "The stone will cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it." Hab 2:11. You see the beasts they hunt. Not foxes, not wolves, nor boars, bulls, nor tigers. It is a certain observation, no beast hunts its own kind to devour it. Now, if these should prosecute wolves, foxes, &c., they should then hunt their own kind; for they are these themselves, or rather worse than these, because here homo homini lupus. But though they are men they hunt, and by nature of the same kind, they are not so by quality, for they are lambs they persecute. In them there is blood, and flesh, and fleece to be had; and therefore on these do they gorge themselves. In them there is weak armour of defence against their cruelties; therefore over these they may domineer. I will speak it boldly: there is not a mighty Nimrod in this land that dares hunt his equal; but over his inferior lamb he insults like a young Nero. Let him be graced by high ones, and he must not be saluted under twelve score off. In the country he proves a termagant; his very scowl is a prodigy, and breeds an earthquake. He would be a Caesar, and tax all. It is well if he prove not a cannibal! Only Macro salutes Sejanus so long as he is in Tiberius's favour; cast him from that pinnacle, and the dog is ready to devour him. Thomas Adams.

Ver. 9. He draweth him into his net. "They hunt with a net." Mic 7:2. They have their politic gins to catch men; gaudy wares and dark shops (and would you have them love the light that live by darkness, as many shopkeepers?) draw and tole customers in, where the crafty leeches can soon feel their pulses: if they must buy they shall pay for their necessity. And though they plead, We compel none to buy our ware, caveat emptor; yet with fine voluble phrases, damnable protestations, they will cast a mist of error before an eye of simple truth, and with cunning devices hunt them in. So some among us have feathered their nests, not by open violence, but politic circumvention. They have sought the golden fleece, not by Jason's merit, but by Medea's subtlety, by Medea's sorcery. If I should intend to discover these hunter's plots, and to deal punctually with them, I should afford you more matter than you would afford me time. But I limit myself and answer all their plans with Augustine. Their tricks may hold in jure fori, but not in jure poli in the common pleas of earth, not before the king's bench in heaven. Thomas Adams.

Ver. 9. Oppression turns princes into roaring lions, and judges into ravening wolves. It is an unnatural sin, against the light of nature. No creatures do oppress them of their own kind. Look upon the birds of prey, as upon eagles, vultures, hawks, and you shall never find them preying upon their own kind. Look upon the beasts of the forest, as upon the lion, the tiger, the wolf, the bear, and you shall ever find them favourable to their own kind; and yet men unnaturally prey upon one another, like the fish in the sea, the great swallowing up the small. Thomas Brooks.

Ver. 9. The ferocity, craftiness, strength, and activity of Satan.

Ver. 9. (last clause). The Satanic fisherman, his art, diligence, success, etc.

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

9. Secretly as a lion—The figure is now borrowed from the habits of beasts of prey, the most perfect for secrecy, wariness, deceit, and cruelty.

In his den—Rather, in his covert, or covered place, where he watches for prey.

Draweth him into his net—The figure changes to the method of the hunter in catching wild animals.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den; or, he lurks in the covert as a lion in his lair (Kay) a very striking image! He lieth in wait (or, lurks) to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net; rather, by drawing him into his net. The mode of capture is intended.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The picture of the רשׁע, who is become as it were a beast of prey, is now worked out further. The lustrum of the lion is called סך Jer 25:38, or סכּה Job 38:40 : a thicket, from סכך, which means both to interweave and to plait over = to cover (without any connection with שׂך a thorn, Arab. shôk, a thistle). The figure of the lion is reversed in the second line, the עני himself being compared to the beast of prey and the רשׁע to a hunter who drives him into the pit-fall and when he has fallen in hastens to drag him away (משׁך, as in Psa 28:3; Job 24:22) in, or by means of (Hos 11:4, Job 41:1), his net, in which he has become entangled.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

9. He will lurk in, the hiding-place as a lion in his den; he will lurk (or lie in wait) to catch the sufferer; he will catch the sufferer by drawing him into his net, or in drawing him (towards him) with his net. That the preceding verse contains a simile, and not a description of the enemy as an actual robber, is here rendered evident by the. addition of two new comparisons, applied to the same object. In the first clause he is compared to a lion, in the second to a hunter. See above, on Psa 7:16 (15), Psa 10:16 (15), and below, on Psa 35:7, Psa 57:7 (6). The force of the futures is the same as in the foregoing verse.—His den, his shelter, covert, hiding-place. The Hebrew word is commonly applied to any temporary shed or booth, composed of leaves and branches. He lies in wait to seize the prey, and he succeeds, he accomplishes his purpose. A third possible construction of the last clause is, in his drawing (i.e. when he draws) his net. The whole verse, with the one before it, represents the wicked as employing craft no less than force for the destruction of the righteous.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He lieth in ambush in the secret place as a lion in his den: He lieth in ambush to catch the poor: He catcheth the poor, when he draweth him in his net. – He likens him to a lion as he crouches in his den and lieth in wait to catch the passer-by or one near at hand, so that they will not (be able to) guard themselves against him and flee from him when they see him; and when he sees the prey he catcheth (it). And (the word) “catching” here means “seizing quickly,” for the wicked sits in ambush in the secret place. Afterwards he compares him with a fowler who spreads his net and stands at a distance from it so that the bird may not be aware of him, and the cords of the net are in his hand, and when the bird falls into the net he closes the net with the cords in his hand and the bird is taken. So is the way of the wicked. Sometimes he will not be in ambush, but will stand at a distance from the roads, so that men may not beware of him; and then when he sees the poor and the helpless he rushes upon them. Or he stations some members of his band on the roads without any weapons, while he himself is with the armed men some distance off. Then as defenceless people pass these give them a signal and they come; and they (the decoys) are to them as the net to the fowler. He tells of yet another way the wicked adopts, and this is what he says:

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.