Psalms 75:10

Verse 10. All the horns of the wicked] All their power and influence, will I cut off; and will exalt and extend the power of the righteous. The psalmist is said to do these things, because he is as the mouth of God to denounce them. All was punctually fulfilled: the wicked - the Babylonians, were all cut off; the righteous - the Jews, called so from the holy covenant, which required righteousness, were delivered and exalted.

ANALYSIS OF THE SEVENTY-FIFTH PSALM

Bishop Nicholson supposes that David was the author of this Psalm; and that he composed it on his inauguration or entrance upon the kingdom; and by it he gives us an example of a good king.

There are three chief parts in this Psalm: -

I. A doxology, Ps 75:1; repeated, Ps 75:9.

II. His profession how to perform the regal office, Ps 75:2-3; Ps 75:10.

III. His rebuke of foolish men for mistakes occasioned, -

1. Partly by their pride when they rise to great places, Ps 75:4-5.

2. That they do not consider whence their preferment comes, Ps 75:6-7.

3. That they judge not rightly of afflictions, Ps 75:8.

I. The doxology or thanksgiving.

1. He doubles it to show that it should be frequently done: "Unto thee do we give thanks; unto thee," c.

2. His reason for it: "For that thy name is near," - thy help is always at hand. "The Lord is nigh to all that call upon him."

3. Of which he had experience in his exaltation to the kingdom, which he calls God's "wondrous works."

II. How the office of a good king is to be discharged.

1. I will judge uprightly.

2. To rectify disorders. They had need of a just and upright king. 1. The land and its inhabitants were disorganized. 2. He was the only stay and support of the state: "I bear up the pillars."

III. His rebuke of bad men.

1. They were fools, and dealt unjustly.

2. Wicked, and vaunted their wealth and power.

3. They used their power to oppress.

4. They were obstinate in their oppression of the poor. He refers to their false judgments.

1. They supposed that their authority and influence came by their own merit and for them they were accountable to none.

2. They did not consider that God was the author of power, c.

3. Their third mistake was, they imputed afflictions to a wrong cause, and did not consider that they came from God.

To show this, the Psalmist uses an elegant comparison, comparing God to the master of a feast, who invites and entertains all kinds of men at his table who has a cup of mixed wine in his hand, by which he represents the miseries of this life. To all God reaches this cup; and every one drinks of it, some more, some less.

1. "In the hand of the Lord there is a cup." He apportions the afflictions of men.

2. "The wine is red." The high-coloured feculent wine, i.e., afflictions.

3. "It is full of mixture," not all sour, nor sweet, nor bitter. The strength of it is tempered by God to the circumstances of his creatures.

4. "He poureth out of the same." He gives to all, some even to his own children. ALL must drink of this cup.

5. But the lees or dregs of it "all the wicked of the earth shall wring out." Those who are incorrigible have afflictions without benefit; they wring the dregs out. On them God's judgments fall without mitigation.

He concludes the Psalm with -

1. A repetition of his thanks: "I will declare for ever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob."

2. A protestation of his duty: 1. "I will cut off the horns of the wicked." 2. "I will exalt the horns of the righteous." Those who exalt themselves shall be abased: those who humble themselves shall be exalted.

Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento,

(Hae tibi erunt artes) pacisque imponere morem;

Parcere subjectis, et debellare superbos.

VIRG. AEn. lib. vi., ver. 851.

"But, Rome, 'tis thine alone, with awful sway

To rule mankind, and make the world obey,

Disposing peace and war thy own majestic way:

To tame the proud, the fettered slave to free:

These are imperial arts, and worthy thee."

DRYDEN.

These lines of the Roman poet contain precisely the same sentiment that is expressed in the tenth verse of the Psalm. And thus God acts in the government of the world, dealing with nations as they have dealt with others: so the conquerors are conquered; the oppressed, raised to honour and dominion.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Psa 75:10 All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; [but] the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.

Ver. 10. All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off] By promising the due administration of vindictive and remunerative justice, he seeks to insinuate into the people’s affections, who, after Isbosheth’s death, came in to make him king.

But the horns of the righteous shall be exalted] Dignity shall wait upon desert, which shall cause it again to be waited upon by respect. Thus it should be in the courts of all princes. In Cyrus’s court, though a man should seek or choose blindfold, he could not miss of a good man, saith Xenophon (Cyropaed. l. 8).

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.

11. (Psa 75:10). And all horns of wicked ones will I cut of; lifted up shall be the horns of the righteous. The same noun and verb, that were used in Psa 75:4-5, to denote the self-exaltation of the wicked, are here used in a good sense to denote God's gracious exaltation of the righteous. Compare Mat 23:12, Luk 14:11; Luk 23:14. In the first clause, to the simple correlative idea of humiliation is superadded that of violent destruction. While the horns of the righteous are to be exalted, those of the wicked are not only to be lowered but cut off. The change from the plural (wicked men) to the singular (a righteous man), if meant to be significant at all, may have reference to the speaker as an ideal individual. The construction of these words as those of God himself is a gratuitous and harsh one. They are rather uttered by the Church, as representing him, or acting in his strength and under his authority.

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

The godly shall better prosper by their innocent simplicity, than the wicked shall by all their craft and subtlety.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(10) Will I cut.—The Divine speaker again abruptly takes up the word in this verse. (For the abruptness, comp. Isa_48:15.) The “cutting off of the horns” recalls Zec_1:18 seq.; Lam_2:3.

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

10. will I cut off] If the poet is the speaker, he speaks in the name of Israel, confident that in God’s strength they will be able to complete the humiliation of their proud foes. Cp. Mic_4:13. But the speaker may be God, answering the vow of praise with a fresh promise. Cp. Psa_46:10. For the figure cp. Zec_1:18 ff.

shall be exalted] Shall be lifted up (R.V.). Cp. 1Sa_2:10. ‘The righteous one’ is Israel, righteous by contrast with the wicked Assyrians. Cp. Hab_1:13.

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.

All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off,.... Therefore let them not lift up the horn on high: "horns" denote the power and authority of wicked men, their kingdoms and states; both Rome Pagan and Rome Papal are said to have ten horns, which are interpreted of ten kings or kingdoms; and which will be cut off when the vials of God's wrath are poured out on the antichristian states; which vials will be filled from the cup which is in the hand of the Lord, Rev 12:1, the Jews (b) interpret this of the ten horns of the nations of the world, that shall be cut off in future time; and Jarchi particularly of the horns of Esau, by whom he means Rome, or the Roman empire:

but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted; either of the righteous one Christ, for the word is in the singular number; he who is the Lord our righteousness, whose power and authority, kingdom and government, shall be enlarged and increased, signified by the budding of the horn of David, and the exaltation of the horn of his Messiah, Sa1 2:10 or of everyone of the righteous, which will be when the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, and they shall reign with Christ on earth a thousand years, Dan 7:27. Kimchi says this will be in the war of Gog and Magog, which is expected by the Jews.

(b) Vid. Yalkut in loc.

Next: Psalms Chapter 76

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

All the horns of the wicked ... - See the notes at Psa 75:4. The meaning is, I will destroy all their power. This, too, may refer to the author of the psalm, supposed to be a prince or ruler about to ascend the throne, and to assert his rightful authority. This indicates his purpose in regard to his administration (compare Psa 75:2); the principles on which he would administer his government. It would be an administration under which the wicked would be punished, and where the righteous would be protected. In this manner it would be an emblem of the administration of God. All just human governments are founded on the same principles as the government of God. People have only to apply to the affairs of civil society the principles on which God governs the universe, to constitute the most perfect human administration. Those which come nearest to that, most nearly approximate perfection; and civil governments will reach their end, and accomplish their design, only when those principles shall be universally applied among people.

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

The horns of the wicked; their honour and power, which they made an instrument of mischief to oppress good men. A metaphor from horned and mischievous beasts.

I will cut off, when I shall be advanced to the throne, and have power and authority to do what now I can only desire and pray for.

The horns of the righteous shall be exalted; good men shall be encouraged and promoted, and intrusted with the management of all public affairs, which will be a great blessing to all my people.

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

Ver. 10. All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off. Power and liberty being restored to Israel, she begins again to execute justice, by abasing the godless who had gloried in the reign of oppression. Their power and pomp are to be smitten down. Men wore horns in those days as a part of their state, and these, both literally and figuratively, were to be lopped off; fir since God abhors the proud, his church will not tolerate them any longer.

But the horns of the righteous shall be exalted. In a rightly ordered society, good men are counted great men, virtue confers true rank, and grace is more esteemed than gold. Being saved from unrighteous domination, the chief among the chosen people here promises to rectify the errors which had crept into the commonwealth, and after the example of the Lord himself, to abase the haughty and elevate the humble. This memorable ode may be sung in times of great depression, when prayer has performed her errand at the mercyseat, and when faith is watching for speedy deliverance. It is a song of the second advent, CONCERNING THE NEARNESS OF THE JUDGE WITH THE CUP OF WRATH.

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

10. All the horns of the wicked… will I cut off—Conforming my administration to thine, I also will break off “the horns”—destroy the official power of such wicked persons as rise contemptuously against thee, thus setting at defiance all the laws of the commonwealth, as well as the religion established by thy authority, and will cherish and promote such as faithfully keep thy laws. This breaking the horns of the wicked and setting up the righteous, is a Davidic vow and maxim of government, (see Psalms 101,) and purely theocratic. The reader must not take this as a declared purpose to persecute men for want of religious faith, but a statement of the psalmist’s settled policy not to honour with office in the government, men whose loose principles and vicious habits will make them hurtful to the liberty and virtue of others, and unfit them to administer impartial law.

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

All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off. Besides declaring God"s judgments and singing his praises, the psalmist adds that he will, as far as lies in his power, seek to advance God"s cause, and establish his kingdom, by checking, controlling, and putting down the wicked. This he expresses by the metaphor, "I will cut off their horns;" i.e. bring down their haughtiness, and deprive them of the power of doing mischief. But the horns of the righteous shall be exalted. Then, as a necessary consequence, "the horns of the righteous their power and might and glory will be exalted.

Horns cut off.

"All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off." A lifted horn well represents the insolent boasting of Rabshakeh, the Assyrian officer (see Isaiah 36). The Divine answer was the cutting off of Rabshakeh"s uplifted horn. God dealt in this way with proud Rabshakeh: "Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land". (Isa_37:7) Or, if Sennacherib be chiefly in mind, we may see that his vain confidences of capturing Jerusalem were destroyed, his "purposes were broken off," his horn was brought low. "So Sennacherib returned," a humiliated and disgraced man; "and it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword". (Isa_37:37, Isa_37:38) Some think that Antiochus Epiphanes is in the mind of the psalmist; and, certainly, further illustration may be taken from his case. (Dan_8:9) The confidence Hezekiah has in God"s deliverance enables him to declare that he shall humble the pride of his foes. And God"s intervention would confirm the king in his regular work of humbling the wicked and exalting the righteous, in the exercise of his authority.

I GOD"S HUMBLING OF THE WICKED. The wicked here are more especially those who scorn his claims and insult his majesty, as did the Assyrian general, saying, "Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the King of Assyria." God is jealous of the honour of his Name. "The lofty looks of man must be bowed down, and the Lord alone exalted." Show what state of mind and heart is indicated by the offering of such insult to Jehovah. That state of mind and heart is ruin to any man.

II GOD"S HUMBLING, ENCOURAGING GOD"S PEOPLE TO HUMBLE THE WICKED. Hezekiah will do it, in his official position, because God does it. Apply to all positions of authority. But there is no more difficult duty committed to us than this humbling the proud. It has to be done. It is both right and kind to do it. But we may harden, not humble. We may act in passion rather than in the calmness of holy love. We should humble because God does. But we must only humble as God does; wounding in the hope of healing. R.T.

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

Horns - Their honour and power, which they made an instrument of mischief. Will - When I shall be advanced to the throne. But - Good men shall be encouraged and promoted.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

And I shall recite forever From then on, [I will recite] His vengeance and His might.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.