Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 10:14

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 10:14. Thou hast seen it] Nothing can escape thy notice. Thou hast not forgotten thy justice, though judgment is not speedily executed on an evil work. But thou wilt requite it with thy hand. By thy power thou wilt cast down and destroy the wicked.

The poor committeth himself unto thee — To thee he has given up his body, his soul, and his cause; with the full conviction that thou who art the helper of fatherless, will not forget him.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms 9-10 God fights for the oppressed

In Psalms 9:0 and 10 we meet another kind of Hebrew verse, the acrostic. (Other acrostics are Psalms 25, 34, 37, 111, 112, 119 and 145.) In an acrostic the first word of each verse (or stanza) begins with a different letter of the 22-letter Hebrew alphabet, moving in order, so to speak, ‘from A to Z’. The acrostic in this case moves unbroken through Psalms 9:0 and 10, indicating that originally they probably formed one psalm. The absence of a heading to Psalms 10:0 supports this view. The two psalms appear to belong to the days of David’s kingship.

David begins with an expression of praise to God (9:1-2) because of a notable victory that God has given Israel over its enemies (3-6). This victory illustrates God’s perfect justice in upholding what is right (7-8) and his unfailing love in caring for those who trust in him (9-10). David therefore calls on the whole congregation to join him in this hymn of praise (11-12).
As he recalls the enemy attacks, the grateful psalmist recalls also how he prayed desperately in the crisis and promised to offer public praise to God on his successful return to Jerusalem (13-14). Knowing that God is righteous in all his judgments, the psalmist is assured that God will punish the wicked and care for the faithful (15-18). He asks God to act decisively against those who defy him, and to show them that they are merely mortal beings (19-20).
At times it seems to the psalmist that God stands idly by while the ungodly do as they please. Self-seeking people use their power, influence and wealth to oppress the poor and trample on the rights of others (10:1-2). Because God does not act in judgment against him immediately, the unjust think that God is not concerned. They think there will be no judgment (3-6). Greed, lying, cruelty and deceit are the characteristics of such people (7-9). The more easily they crush people, the more confident they become that they have escaped God’s punishment (10-11).
But God is not indifferent to the arrogance of the oppressors; nor is he indifferent to the sufferings of the oppressed. Silently, he has been taking notice of everything. God has a particular concern for those who are defenceless and easily exploited (12-14). The arrogant can never triumph over God. Those who advance themselves by oppressing others will meet with certain punishment, but those who trust in God will be delivered (15-18).

Longing for judgment

Ideas commonly associated with God’s judgment are those of condemnation and punishment. Judgment is not usually something to look forward to. Yet the psalmists often long for God’s judgment and rejoice in anticipation of the day when it will come (Psalms 67:4; Psalms 96:12-13).

The reason for this longing for judgment is that, for the psalmists, God’s judgment means the administration of justice in the everyday affairs of life. The godly were oppressed and downtrodden. Corruption, bribery and injustice meant they had no way of obtaining justice, no way of gaining a hearing, no way of getting a judgment of their case (Psalms 10:1-6; Psalms 82:1-4). They knew they were in the right. That was why they longed for the day when God would act in judgment, righting the wrongs, declaring them to be right, and sentencing their oppressors to punishment (Psalms 7:6-8; Psalms 9:8,Psalms 9:12; Psalms 10:12,Psalms 10:17-18; Psalms 35:23-24).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"Arise, O Jehovah; O God, lift up thy hand: Forget not the poor. Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God, and say in his heart, Thou wilt not require it? Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand. The helpless committeth himself unto thee; Thou hast been the helper of the fatherless."

"Arise, O Jehovah." The Psalm here changes the tone completely. No longer is there a description of evil men and their activities. Abruptly, there is a cry for Jehovah to intervene, to lift up his hand and to execute judgment against the unrighteousness of evil doers.

There is a glimpse here of the necessity for the Final Judgment. Without that factor in God's cosmic arrangements, the wicked would indeed have the best of things. However, the holy Bible teaches that no sin shall ever be able to crawl by the throne of the eternal God without receiving its due retribution and punishment, the only exceptions being the mistakes and sins of the redeemed "in Jesus Christ." "Vengeance belongeth to me, I will repay"! is the Word of God Himself.

"The wicked contemn God." The word contemn is related to the word contempt and means "to despise" or "to scorn." This describes the usual attitude of evil men; and, "One might suppose that they had some reason for saying that God would let such things pass by unavenged";H. C. Leupold, op. cit., p. 122. but on the contrary it is only a result of the blind and stupid folly of the wicked.

Psalms 10:14 stands in stark and dramatic contrast to the insane assertions of the wicked. God indeed has seen it and his purpose is indeed to avenge it and requite it.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Thou hast seen it - Thou seest all. Though people act as if their conduct was not observed, yet thou art intimately acquainted with all that they do. The workers of iniquity cannot hide themselves. The idea here is, that although God seemed not to notice the conduct of the wicked, and though the wicked acted as if he did not, yet that all this was seen by God, and that he would deal with men according to justice and to truth.

For thou beholdest mischief - All that is done on the earth, though perhaps in this case referring particularly to that which gave the psalmist trouble.

And spite - The word spite with us, though it originally denoted rancour, malice, ill-will, now denotes usually a less deliberate and fixed malice than is indicated by those words, but is used to denote a sudden fit of ill-will excited by temporary vexation. It relates to small subjects, and is accompanied with a desire of petty revenge, and implies that one would be gratified with the disappointment or misfortune of another. The word here, however, in the original, means anger, wrath, malice; and the idea is, that God had seen all the anger of the enemies of the psalmist.

To requite it with thy hand - By thine own interposition or agency - the hand being the instrument by which we accomplish anything. The idea is, that the psalmist felt assured that God would not pass this over. Though the wicked acted as if he did not see or regard their conduct, yet the psalmist felt assured that God would not be unmindful of it, but would, in due time, visit them with deserved punishment.

The poor committeth himself unto thee - Margin, “leaveth.” The word rendered poor is the same as that which occurs in Psalms 10:10. It means here those who are helpless and defenseless; the oppressed and the downtrodden. The word committeth or leaveth means that he leaves his cause with God; he trusts in his protection and interposition; he gives himself no anxiety as to the result. He knows that God can deliver him if he sees that it is best; and he is assured that God will do that which it is best should be done.

Thou art the helper of the fatherless - That is, this is the general character of God - the character in which he has revealed himself to man. Compare Exodus 22:22; Deuteronomy 10:18; Isaiah 1:17; Psalms 68:5; Psalms 82:3; Jeremiah 49:11; Hosea 14:3; Malachi 3:5; James 1:27. The psalmist here refers to the “general character” of God as that in which all the oppressed, the crushed, the helpless may trust; and he mentions this particular case as one that best illustrated that character.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

14.Thou hast seen it; for thou, etc Here David, suddenly kindled with a holy zeal, enters into conflict, and, armed with the shield of faith, courageously repels these execrable opinions; but as he could derive no advantage by making his appeal to men, he has recourse to God, and addresses him. As the ungodly, in the hope of enjoying unrestrained license in the commission of all kinds of wickedness, withdraw to the greatest possible distance from God, ⁽²³¹⁾ and through the dictates of a perverse mind, imagine themselves to be far beyond his reach; so, on the contrary, the faithful ought carefully to keep themselves aloof from those wild opinions, which are afloat in the world, and with minds lifted upward, to speak to God as if present with them. Accordingly, David, in order to prevent himself from being overcome by the blasphemies of men, very properly turns away his attention from them. There is added a reason in confirmation of the first sentence of the verse, namely, because God considers mischief and vexation Since it is the peculiar province of God to take cognisance of all wrongs, David concludes that it is impossible for God to shut his eyes when the ungodly are recklessly and without restraint committing their outrages. Moreover, he descends from the general to the particular, which ought to be attentively marked: for nothing is easier than to acknowledge in general terms that God exercises a care about the world, and the affairs of men; but it is very difficult to apply this doctrine to its various uses in every-day life. And yet, all that the Scripture says concerning the power and righteousness of God will be of no advantage to us, and, as it were, only matter of meagre speculation, ⁽²³²⁾ unless every one apply these statements to himself, as his necessity may require. Let us therefore learn, from the example of David, to reason thus: that, since it belongs to God to take notice of all the mischief and injuries which are inflicted on the good and simple, He considers our trouble and sorrows even when he seems for a time to take no notice of them. The Psalmist also adds, that God does not look down from heaven upon the conduct of men here below as an idle and unconcerned spectator, but that it is his work to pass judgment upon it; for to take the matter into his own hand, is nothing else than duly and effectually to examine and determine it as a judge.

It is, however, our duty to wait patiently so long as vengeance is reserved in the hand of God, until he stretch forth his arm to help us. We see, therefore, the reason why it is immediately added, Upon thee shall the poor leave. By these words David means, that we ought to give the providence of God time to manifest itself. The godly, when they are afflicted, may with confidence cast their cares into his bosom, and commit themselves to his protection. They ought not, however, to be in haste for the accomplishment of their wishes; but, being now disburdened, they should take their breath till God manifestly declare that the fit time of interfering in their behalf is come. The man, therefore, leaves upon God who betakes himself to his protection, and who, fully persuaded of his faithfulness in keeping what is entrusted to him, quietly waits till the fit time of his deliverance come. Some read the verb passively, The poor shall be left upon thee. The first reading, however, is more correct, and it agrees with the rules of grammar; only it is a defective form of expression, inasmuch as the thing which the poor leaves is not expressed. But this defect is common in Hebrew; and there is no obscurity in the thing itself, namely, that, when the godly commit themselves and their concerns to God by prayer, their prayers will not be in vain; for these two clauses are closely connected, Upon thee shall the poor leave, and, Thou shalt be a helper to the fatherless By a metaphor he terms the person fatherless whom he had in the preceding clause called poor. And the verb being in the future tense denotes a continued act.

(231) “Se reeulent le plus loin de Dieu qu’ils peuvent.” — Fr.

(232) “Sera de nulle utilite et comme un speculation maigre.” — Fr.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 10:1-18

Why do you stand a far off, O LORD? Why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble? ( Psalms 10:1 )

Have you ever prayed that? "Lord, why aren't You doing something about it? Why do You seem to hide Yourself when I am in trouble?"

The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined. For the wicked boasts his heart's desire, and blesses the covetous, whom the LORD abhors. The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts. His ways are always grievous; thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his enemies, he puffs at them. He has said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity. His mouth is full of cursing, deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and emptiness. He sits in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are privately set against the poor. He lies in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lies in wait to catch the poor: he does catch the poor, when he has drawn him into his net. He crouches, and humbles himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones. He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hides his face; he will never see it ( Psalms 10:2-11 ).

And so he describes the wicked in his deeds. The idea, the consciousness is that God has forgotten. He hides his face. He doesn't see. There is a mistake that people oftentimes make, and that is, they mistake the patience of God for blindness. Because God hasn't already smitten them, hasn't already destroyed them, they begin to get a comfortable feeling like, "Well, God doesn't know," or, "God doesn't see." It is always a dangerous position to be in.

David says,

Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up your hand: forget not the humble. Wherefore does the wicked contemn God? He hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it. Thou hast seen it; for you behold mischief and spite, to requite it in thy hand: the poor commits himself to thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless. Break the arm of the wicked and the evil man: seek out the wickedness till you find none. The LORD is King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land. LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, that will cause your ear to hear: to judge the fatherless and the oppressed, and the man of the earth may no more oppress ( Psalms 10:12-18 ). "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 10

This psalm is a prayer for immediate help in affliction. It contains a powerful description of the wicked who oppose God and attack His people. The focus of the previous psalm was on the judgment to come, but in this one it is on the present.

"The problem in Psalms 9 is the enemy invading from without, while the problem in Psalms 10 is the enemy corrupting and destroying from within." [Note: Wiersbe, The . . . Wisdom . . ., p. 106.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

David appealed to God to act for the righteous against the wicked (Psalms 10:12; Psalms 10:15; an inclusio). He could not understand why God allowed the wicked to continue to spurn Him. It was not because their actions had escaped the Lord’s notice. Beside this, the righteous were trusting in Him, and He had helped the helpless in the past. David wanted God to break the power (symbolized by the arm) of the wicked and to search out and destroy all their wickedness until it disappeared. Compare Psalms 9:12 where the same Hebrew word occurs. The translators have rendered it "requires blood" or "avenges" there, and "seek out" or "call to account" here.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

2. Cry for vengeance 10:12-18

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Thou hast seen [it],.... Though the wicked say God will never see, Psalms 10:11; he sees all things in general, all men and all their actions; all are manifest and open to him, and everything in particular, especially the wickedness of men; even that which is said or thought in the heart;

for thou beholdest mischief and spite; that mischief which arises from spite or malice in the heart; God beholds the inward principle from whence it proceeds, as well as that itself; the mischief devised in the heart, on the bed, and which lies under the tongue, designed against the people of God, either to the injury of their characters and estates, or to their bodies, and even to their souls, as much as in them lies, proceeding from implacable malice and enmity to them;

to requite [it] with thy hand: of power, to retaliate it upon their own heads, to render tribulation to them that trouble the saints, which is but a righteous thing with God: or "to put [it] in thy hand" k; and the sense is, that God looks upon all the injuries the wicked out of spite devise to do to his people, and puts them in his hand, that they may be ever before him, and always in his sight, and he will take a proper opportunity of avenging them. The Targum interprets it of God's rewarding good men, as well as punishing the wicked, paraphrasing the whole thus,

"it is manifest before thee that thou wilt send sorrow and wrath upon the wicked; thou lookest to render a good reward to the righteous with thy hand;''

the poor committeth himself unto thee: his body, and the outward concerns of life, as to a faithful Creator; his soul, and the spiritual and eternal welfare of it, as to the only Saviour and Redeemer; he commits all his ways to him, as the God of providence and grace; and at last he commits his spirit to him at death, as to his covenant God and Father: the words may be rendered, "the poor leaveth upon thee" l; that is, he leaves himself and his upon the Lord; he leaves his burden on him, he casts all his care upon him, as he is advised and encouraged to do; he leaves his cause with him to plead it for him, who will plead it thoroughly and maintain it: the phrase is expressive of the poor's faith and hope in God; hence the Chaldee paraphrase renders it, "on thee will thy poor ones hope"; for the supply of their wants, and for help and assistance against their enemies;

thou art the helper of the fatherless; God is the Father of them, provides for them, supplies, supports, and defends them; nor will he in a spiritual sense leave his people orphans or comfortless, but will visit and help them; see Psalms 68:5;

k לתת בידך "ut ponas in manibus tuis", Vatablus, Cocceius. l עליך יזוב חלכה "super te relinquit pauper", Montanus, Gejerus, Michaelis; so Cocceius.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      12 Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not the humble.   13 Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? he hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it.   14 Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand: the poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless.   15 Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man: seek out his wickedness till thou find none.   16 The LORD is King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land.   17 LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:   18 To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress.

      David here, upon the foregoing representation of the inhumanity and impiety of the oppressors, grounds an address to God, wherein observe,

      I. What he prays for. 1. That God would himself appear (Psalms 10:12; Psalms 10:12): "Arise, O Lord! O God! lift up thy hand, manifest thy presence and providence in the affairs of this lower world. Arise, O Lord! to the confusion of those who say that thou hidest thy face. Manifest thy power, exert it for the maintaining of thy own cause, lift up thy hand to give a fatal blow to these oppressors; let thy everlasting arm be made bare." 2. That he would appear for his people: "Forget not the humble, the afflicted, that are poor, that are made poorer, and are poor in spirit. Their oppressors, in their presumption, say that thou hast forgotten them; and they, in their despair, are ready to say the same. Lord, make it to appear that they are both mistaken." 3. That he would appear against their persecutors, Psalms 10:15; Psalms 10:15. (1.) That he would disable them from doing any mischief: Break thou the arm of the wicked, take away his power, that the hypocrite reign not, lest the people be ensnared,Job 34:30. We read of oppressors whose dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged (Daniel 7:12), that they might have time to repent. (2.) That he would deal with them for the mischief they had done: "Seek out his wickedness; let that be all brought to light which he thought should for ever lie undiscovered; let that be all brought to account which he thought should for ever go unpunished; bring it out till thou find none, that is, till none of his evil deeds remain unreckoned for, none of his evil designs undefeated, and none of his partisans undestroyed."

      II. What he pleads for the encouraging of his own faith in these petitions.

      1. He pleads the great affronts which these proud oppressors put upon God himself: "Lord, it is thy own cause that we beg thou wouldst appear in; the enemies have made it so, and therefore it is not for thy glory to let them go unpunished" (Psalms 10:13; Psalms 10:13): Wherefore do the wicked contemn God? He does so; for he says, "Thou wilt not require it; thou wilt never call us to an account for what we do," than which they could not put a greater indignity upon the righteous God. The psalmist here speaks with astonishment, (1.) At the wickedness of the wicked: "Why do they speak so impiously, why so absurdly?" It is a great trouble to good men to think what contempt is cast upon the holy God by the sin of sinners, upon his precepts, his promises, his threatenings, his favours, his judgments; all are despised and made light of. Wherefore do the wicked thus contemn God? It is because they do not know him. (2.) At the patience and forbearance of God towards them: "Why are they suffered thus to contemn God? Why does he not immediately vindicate himself and take vengeance on them?" It is because the day of reckoning is yet to come, when the measure of their iniquity is full.

      2. He pleads the notice God took of the impiety and iniquity of these oppressors (Psalms 10:14; Psalms 10:14): "Do the persecutors encourage themselves with a groundless fancy that thou wilt never see it? Let the persecuted encourage themselves with a well-grounded faith, not only that thou hast seen it, but that thou doest behold it, even all the mischief that is done by the hands, and all the spite and malice that lurk in the hearts, of these oppressors; it is all known to thee, and observed by thee; nay, not only thou hast seen it and dost behold it, but thou wilt requite it, wilt recompense it into their bosoms, by thy just and avenging hand."

      3. He pleads the dependence which the oppressed had upon him: "The poor commits himself unto thee, each of them does so, I among the rest. They rely on thee as their patron and protector, they refer themselves to thee as their Judge, in whose determination they acquiesce and at whose disposal they are willing to be. They leave themselves with thee" (so some read it), "not prescribing, but subscribing, to thy wisdom and will. They thus give thee honour as much as their oppressors dishonour thee. They are thy willing subjects, and put themselves under thy protection; therefore protect them."

      4. He pleads the relation in which God is pleased to stand to us, (1.) As a great God. He is King for ever and ever,Psalms 10:16; Psalms 10:16. And it is the office of a king to administer justice for the restraint and terror of evil-doers and the protection and praise of those that do well. To whom should the injured subjects appeal but to the sovereign? Help, my Lord, O King! Avenge me of my adversary. "Lord, let all that pay homage and tribute to thee as their King have the benefit of thy government and find thee their refuge. Thou art an everlasting King, which no earthly prince is, and therefore canst and wilt, by an eternal judgment, dispense rewards and punishments in an everlasting state, when time shall be no more; and to that judgment the poor refer themselves." (2.) As a good God. He is the helper of the fatherless (Psalms 10:14; Psalms 10:14), of those who have no one else to help them and have many to injure them. He has appointed kings to defend the poor and fatherless (Psalms 82:3), and therefore much more will he do so himself; for he has taken it among the titles of his honour to be a Father to the fatherless (Psalms 68:5), a helper of the helpless.

      5. He pleads the experience which God's church and people had had of God's readiness to appear for them. (1.) He had dispersed and extirpated their enemies (Psalms 10:16; Psalms 10:16): "The heathen have perished out of his land; the remainders of the Canaanites, the seven devoted nations, which have long been as thorns in the eyes and goads in the sides of Israel, are now, at length, utterly rooted out; and this is an encouragement to us to hope that God will, in like manner, break the arm of the oppressive Israelites, who were, in some respects, worse than heathens." (2.) He had heard and answered their prayers (Psalms 10:17; Psalms 10:17): "Lord, thou hast many a time heard the desire of the humble, and never saidst to a distressed suppliant, Seek in vain. Why may not we hope for the continuance and repetition of the wonders, the favours, which our father told us of?"

      6. He pleads their expectations from God pursuant to their experience of him: "Thou hast heard, therefore thou will cause thy ear to hear, as, Psalms 6:9. Thou art the same, and thy power, and promise, and relation to thy people are the same, and the work and workings of grace are the same in them; why therefore may we not hope that he who has been will still be, will ever be, a God hearing prayers?" But observe, (1.) In what method God hears prayer. He first prepares the heart of his people and then gives them an answer of peace; nor may we expect his gracious answer, but in this way; so that God's working upon us is the best earnest of his working for us. He prepares the heart for prayer by kindling holy desires, and strengthening our most holy faith, fixing the thoughts and raising the affections, and then he graciously accepts the prayer; he prepares the heart for the mercy itself that is wanting and prayed for, makes us fit to receive it and use it well, and then gives it in to us. The preparation of the heart is from the Lord, and we must seek unto him for it (Proverbs 16:1) and take that as a leading favour. (2.) What he will do in answer to prayer, Psalms 10:18; Psalms 10:18. [1.] He will plead the cause of the persecuted, will judge the fatherless and oppressed, will judge for them, clear up their innocency, restore their comforts, and recompense them for all the loss and damage they have sustained. [2.] He will put an end to the fury of the persecutors. Hitherto they shall come, but no further; here shall the proud waves of their malice be stayed; an effectual course shall be taken that the man of the earth may no more oppress. See how light the psalmist now makes of the power of that proud persecutor whom he had been describing in this psalm, and how slightly he speaks of him now that he had been considering God's sovereignty. First, He is but a man of the earth, a man out of the earth (so the word is), sprung out of the earth, and therefore mean, and weak, and hastening to the earth again. Why then should we be afraid of the fury of the oppressor when he is but man that shall die, a son of man that shall be as grass?Isaiah 51:12. He that protects us is the Lord of heaven; he that persecutes us is but a man of the earth. Secondly, God has him in a chain, and can easily restrain the remainder of his wrath, so that he cannot do what he would. When God speaks the word Satan shall by his instruments no more deceive (Revelation 20:3), no more oppress.

      In singing Psalms 10:12-18 we must commit religion's just but injured cause to God, as those that are heartily concerned for its honour and interests, believing that he will, in due time, plead it with jealousy.

Spurgeon's Verse Expositions of the Bible

The Poor Man's Friend

June 8th, 1873 by C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892)

"The poor committeth himself unto thee." Psalms 10:14 .

God is the poor man's friend; the poor man, in His helplessness and despair, leaves his case in the hands of God, and God undertakes to care for him. In the days of David, and I suppose, in this respect, the world has but little improved, the poor man was the victim of almost everybody's cruelty, and sometimes he was very shamefully oppressed. If he sought redress for his wrongs, he generally only increased them, for he was regarded as a rebel against the existing order of things; and when he asked for even a part of what was his by right, the very magistrates and rulers of the land became the instruments of his oppressors, and made the yoke of his bondage to be yet heavier than it was before. Tens of thousands of eyes, full of tears, have been turned to Jehovah, and he has been invoked to interpose between the oppressor and the oppressed; for God is the ultimate resort of the helpless. The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed; he undertakes the cause of all those that are downtrodden. If the history of the world be, rightly read, it will be found that no case of oppression has been suffered to go long unpunished. The Assyrian empire wean a very cruel one, but what is now left of Nineveh and Babylon? Go to the heaps of ruins by the banks of the Tigris and the Euphrates, and see what will become of an empire which is made to be only an instrument of oppression in the hands of an emperor and the great men under him. It has ceased to he more than a name; its power has vanished, and its palaces have been destroyed. In later times, there sprang up the mighty empire of Rome; and even now, wherever we wander, we see traces of its greatness and splendour. How came it to fall? Many reasons have been assigned, but you may rest assured that at the bottom of them all was the. cruelty practised towards the slaves, and other poor people, who here absolutely in the power of the aristocracy and oligarchy who formed the dominant party in the empire. There is a fatal flaw in the foundations of any throne that executes not justice; and it matters not though the empire seems to stand high as heaven, and to raise its pinnacles to the skies, down it must come if it be not founded upon right. When ten thousand slaves have cried to God apparently in vain, it has not really been in vain, for he has registered their cries, and in due season has avenged their wrongs; and when the poor toilers, who have reaped the rich man's fields, have been deprived of their hardly-earned wages, and have cast their plaints into the court of heaven, they have been registered there, and God has, at the right time, taken up their cause, and punished their oppressors. For many years the Negro slaves cried to God to deliver them, and at last deliverance came, to the joy of the emancipated multitudes, yet not without suffering to all the nations that had been concerned in that great wrong. And here, too, if the employers of labour refuse to give to the agricultural labourer his just wage, God will surely visit them, in his wrath. At this very day, we have; serfs in England who, with sternest toil, cannot earn enough to keep body and soul together, and to maintain their families as they ought to be maintained; and where masters are thus refusing to their labourers a fair remuneration for their work, let them know that, whoever may excuse them, and whatever may be said of the laws of political economy, God does not judge the world by political economy. He judges the world by this rule, that men are bound to do that which is just and right to their fellow-men; and it can never he right that a man should work like a slave, be housed worse than a horse, and have food scarcely fit for a dog. But if the poor commit their case to God, he will undertake it; and I, as one of God's ministers, will never cease to speak on behalf of the rights of the poor. The whole question has two sides, the rights of the masters, and the rights of the men. Let not the men do as some workmen do, ask more than they ought; yet, on the other hand, let not the masters domineer over their men, but remember that God is the Master of us all, and he will see that right is done to all. Let us all act rightly towards one another, or we shall feel the weight of his hand, and the force of his anger. Now, having thus given the literal meaning of my text, I am going to spiritualize it, which I should have no right to do if I had not first explained the primary reference of David's words, "The poor committeth himself unto thee." I. THERE ARE SPIRITUALLY POOR MEN; and these do what other poor men have done in temporal things, they commit their case, into the hands of God. Let me try to find out the spiritually poor. They are, first, those who have no merits of their own. There are some people, in the world, who are, according to their own estimate, very rich in good works. They think that they began well, and that they have gone on well, and they hope to continue to do well right to the end of their lives. They do confess, sometimes, that they are miserable sinners, but total. is merely because that expression is in the Prayer Book. They are half sorry it is there, but they suppose that it must have been meant for other people, not for themselves. So far as they know, they have kept all the commandments from their youth up, they have been just in their dealings with their fellow-men, and they do not feel that they are under any very serious obligations even to God himself. I have nothing to say to such people except to remind them that the, Lord Jesus Christ said, "They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Christ came to bring healing to those who are spiritually sick; you say that you are perfectly well, so you must go your own way, and Christ will go in another direction, towards sinners. Further, the poor peoples of whom I am speaking, are not only totally without, anything like merit, absolutely bankrupt of any goodness, and devoid of anything of which they could boast, but they are also without strength to perform any such good works in the future. They are so poor, spiritually, that they cannot even pray as they would, and they do not even feel their poverty as they would like to feel it. After having read this Bible, they wish they could re-read it with greater profit; and when they weep oven sin, they feel their own sin in their very tears, and want to weep in penitence over their tears. They are such poor people that they can do absolutely nothing without Christ, and so poor that, in them, that is, in their flesh, there dwelleth no good thing. They did think once that there might be something good in them; but they have searched their nature through most painfully, and they have discovered that, unless grace shall do everything for them, where God is they can never come. Perhaps some of you say, "These must be very bad people." Well, they are no better that they should be, yet I may tell you another thing concerning them, they are no worse than many of those who think themselves a great deal better. They have this lowly opinion of themselves because the grace of God has taught them to think rightly and truthfully about themselves in relation to God. They are, in outward appearance, and as far as we, can judge, quite. as good as others, and better than some. In certain respects, they might be held up as examples to others. This is what we say of them, but they have not a good word to say of themselves; rather, do they put their finger upon their lips, and blush at the remembrance of what they feel themselves to be; or if they must speak of themselves at all, they say, "All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way." II. That brings me to notice, secondly, WHAT THESE POOR PEOPLE DO. They commit themselves unto God. This is a very blessed description of what true faith does. The poor in spirit feel that their case is so desperate that they cannot kept it in their own charge, and therefore they commit it to God. I will try to show you how they do that. First, they commit their case to God as a debtor commits his case to a surety. The man is so deeply in debt that he cannot pay his creditors even a farthing in the pound; but here is someone who can pay everything that the debtor owes, and he says to him, "I will stand as security for you; I will be bondsman for you; I will give full satisfaction to all your creditors, and discharge all your debts." There is no person who is thus deeply in debt, who would not be glad to know of such a surety, both able and willing to stand in his stead, and to discharge all his responsibilities. If the surety said to this poor debtor, "Will you make over all your liabilities to me? Will you sign this document, empowering me to take all your debts upon myself, and to be responsible for you? Will you let me be your bondsman and surety?" "Ah!" the poor man would reply, "that I will, most gladly." That is just what spiritually poor men have done to the Lord Jesus Christ, committed their case, with all their debts and liabilities, into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he has undertaken all the. responsibility for them. I think I hear someone say, "But will Christ really stand in the sinner's place in such a way as that?" Oh, yes! for he did stand, in anticipation, in the sinner's place before the foundation of the world, and he actually stood there when he died upon the accursed tree, by his death obtaining a full discharge of the debts of all those whose Surety he had become. Dear soul, wilt, thou not commit all thy affairs into his hands? Art thou not, willing to let him stand as thy Surety, to clear thee of all thy liabilities? "Willing?" say you; "ah! that I am; and not only willing, but, right glad shall I be for him to take my place, and relieve mo of the burden that is crushing me to the dust." Then it is done for you, and so done that it can never be undone. Suppose that one of you had taken all my debts upon you, and that you were quite able and willing to pay them, I should not go home, and fret myself about my debts. I should rejoice to think that, you had taken them upon yourself, and that therefore they would no longer be mine. If Christ has taken your sins upon himself, and he has done so if you have truly trusted him, your sins have ceased to be; they are blotted out for ever. Christ nailed to his cross the record of everything that was against, us; and, now, every poor sinner, who is indebted to God's law, and who trusteth in Christ, may know that his debt is cancelled, and that he is clear of all liability for it for ever. Next, we commit our case to Christ as a client does to a solicitor and advocate. You know that, when a man has a suit at law, (I hope that none of you may ever have such a suit,) if he has an advocate to plead his cause, he does not plead for himself. He will probably get into trouble if he does. It is said that, when Erskine was pleading for a Man who was being tried for murder, his client, being dissatisfied with the way in which his defense was being conducted, wrote on a slip of paper, "I'll be hanged if I don't plead for myself." Erskine wrote in reply, "You'll be hanged if you do!" It is very much like that with us; if we attempt to plead for ourselves, we shall be sure to go wrong. We must have the Divine Advocate who alone can defend us against the suits of Satan, and speak with authority on our behalf even before the bar of God. We must commit our case to him, that he may plead for us, and then it will go rightly enough. Remember also that any man, who has committed his case to an advocate, must not interfere with it himself. If anybody from the other side should wait upon him, and say, "I wish to speak to you about that suit," he must reply, I cannot go into the matter with you; I must refer you to my solicitor." "But I want to reason about it; I want to ask you a, few questions about the case." "No," says he, "I cannot listen to what you have to say, you must go to my solicitor." How much trouble Christians would save themselves if, when they have committed their case into the hands of Jesus, they would leave it there, and not attempt to deal with it on their own account! I say to the devil, when he comes to tempt me to doubt and fear, "I have committed my soul to Jesus Christ, and he will keep it in safety. You must bring your accusations to him, not to me. I am his client, and he is my Counsellor. Why should I have such an Advocate as he is, and then plead for myself" John does not say, "If any man sin, let him be his own adovcate;" but he says, "If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." Dear brother, leave your case with Christ; he can handle it wisely, you cannot. Remember that, if the devil and you get into an argument, he is much older than you are, and far more clever than you are, and he knows a great many points of law that you do not know. You should always refer him to the Saviour, who is older than he is, and knows much more about law and everything else than he does, and who will answer him so effectually as to silence him forever. So, poor tried and tempted soul, commit your case to the great Advocate, and he will plead for you before the Court of King's Bench in heaven, and your suit will be sure to succeed through his advocacy. Further, sinners commit their case to Christ as a patient commits his case to the physician. We, poor sin-sick sinners, put our case into the hands of Jesus, that he may heal us of all our depravities, and evil tendencies, and infirmities. If anyone asks, "Will he undertake my case, if I come to him?" I answer; Yes, he came to be the Physician of souls, to heal all who trust him. There never was a case in which he could not heal, for he has a wonderful remedy, a catholicon, a cure for all diseases. If you put your case, into his hands, the Holy Spirit will shed abroad his love in your heart, and there is no spiritual disease that can withstand that wondrous remedy. Are you predisposed to quickness of temper? He can cure that. Are you inclined to be indolent? Is there a sluggish spirit within you? He can cure that. Are you proud, or are your tendencies towards covetousness, worldliness, lust, or ambitions? Christ, can cure all these evils. When he was on this earth, he had all manner of patients brought to him, yet he never was baffled by one case, and your case, whatever it may be, will be quite an easy one to him if you only go and commit it into his hands. This building seems to me like a great hospital full of sin-sick souls, and I pray the great Physician to come here, and heal them. Nay, I must correct myself, for he is here; and, as he walks through these aisles, and round these galleries, I beseech you to say to him, "Good Master, I commit myself to thee. I take thee to be my Saviour. O save me from my constitutional temperament, and my besetting sins, and everything else that is contrary to thy holy will!" He will hear you, for he never yet refused to heed the cry of a poor sin-sick soul. Do not let him go by you without praying to, him, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" Come, Lord, and lay thy hands upon each one of us and we shall be made perfectly whole! As to the future, the spiritually poor commit themselves to Christ in the same way in which the pilgrims described in The Pilgrim's Progress committeth themselves to the charge of Mr. Greatheart, that he might fight all their battles for them, and conduct them safely to the Celestial City. In the old war time, when the captains of merchant vessels wanted to go to foreign countries, and they were afraid of being captured by the privateers of other nations, they generally went in company under the convoy of a man-of-war to protect them, and that is the way you and I must go to heaven. Satan's privateers will try to capture us, but we commit ourselves to the protection of Jesus, the Lord High Admiral of all the seas, and we poor little vessels sail safely under his convoy. When any enemy seeks to attack us, we need not be afraid. He can blow them all out of the water if he pleased, but he will never suffer one of them to injure a solitary vessel that is entrusted to his charge. Sinner, give thyself up to the charge of Jesus, to be convoyed to heaven; and thou over-anxious child of God, lay down all thine anxieties at the feet of Jesus, and rest in his infinite power and love, which will never let thee be lost. I might thus multiply figures and illustrations of how we commit ourselves to Christ. We do it very much in the way in which our blind friends, sitting under the pulpit, got here this evening, they came by committing themselves to the care of guides. Some of them can walk a good long way without a guide, but others could not have found their way here to-night without some friend upon whose arm they could lean. That is the way to get to heaven, by leaning upon Jesus. Do not expect to see him, but trust yourself to him, and lean hard upon him. He loves to be trusted, and faith has a wonderful charm for him. I was once near the Mansion House, and as I stood there, a poor blind man, who wished to cross over to the Bank, said to me, "Please, sir, lead me across; I know you will, for I am blind." I was not sure that I could do so, for it is not an easy task to lead a blind man across that part where so many cabs and omnibuses are constantly passing, but I managed it as best I could. I do not think I could have, done it if the poor man had not said to me, "I know you will;" for then I thought that I must; and if you come to Christ, and say, "Lord Jesus, wilt thou lead me to heaven?" and tell him that you are sure that he will never let a poor blind soul miss its way, that you are sure you can trust him, that he is such a kind-hearted Saviour that he will never thrust away a guilty sinner who thus commits himself into his hands, and I am sure that he will be glad to save you, and that he will rejoice over you as he leads you safely home to heaven. If any of you can see with your natural eyes, and yet are blind spiritually, be glad that there is a blessed Guide, to whom you can commit yourself, and do commit yourself to him. Christ leads the blind by a way that they know not, and he will continue to lead them until he brings them to the land where they will open their eyes, and see with rapture and surprise the splendours of paradise, and rejoice that they are all their own for ever. Is not this work of the poor committing themselves to Christ, a very easy task? It is a very easy thing for a debtor to commit his debts to his surety, for anyone to commit his case to his advocate, for a patient to trust himself to his physician, for a pilgrim to feel safe under a powerful convoy, and for a blind man to trust in his guide; all this is very simple and easy. It does not need much explanation, and faith in Jesus is just as simple and just as easy as that. Why is it, that we sometimes find that faith is difficult? It is because we are to proud to believe in Jesus. If we did but see ourselves as we really are, we should be willing enough to trust the Saviour; but we do not like going to heaven like blind people who need a guide, or like debtors who cannot pay a farthing in the pound. We want to have a finger in the pie, we want to do something towards our own salvation, we want to have some of the praise and glory of it. God save us from this evil spirit! While it is a very simple thing for the Spiritually poor to commit themselves to Christ, let me also say that it is an act which greatly glorifies God. Christ is honoured when any soul trusts in him; it is a joy to his heart to be trusted. When the feeble cling to him, he feels such joy as mothers feel when their little ones cling to them. Christ is glad when poor sin-sick souls come and trust him. It was for this very purpose that he came into the world, to meet the needs of guilty sinners. So this plan, while it is easy for us, is glorifying to him And I will add that it is a plan that never fails any who trust to it. There never was a single soul that committed its case to Christ, and theft found him fail, and there never shall be such a soul so long as the earth endureth. He that believeth in Christ shall not be ashamed or confounded, world without end. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life," and everlasting life can never be taken away from one who has received it. I close by asking a question, If the spiritually poor commit themselves unto God, what comes of it? Why, it makes them very happy. But, are they not sinful? Oh, yes; but they commit themselves to God's grace, and His grace blots out all their sins for ever. Are they not feeble? Oh, yes; but, their feebleness leads them to commit themselves to his omnipotence; and his strength is made perfect in their weakness. Are they not needy? Oh, yes; but then they bring their needs to him, and they receive out of his fulness "grace for grace." But, are they not often in danger? Oh, yes, in a thousand dangers; but they come, and hide beneath the shadow of God's wings, and he covers them with his feathers, and there they rest in perfect security. His truth becomes their shield and buckler, so that they need not fear any foe. But are they not apt to slip? Oh, yes, but they commit themselves to him who gives his angels charge over them, to keep them in all their ways, and to bear them up in their hands, lest they should dash their feet against a stone. But are they not, very fickle and changeable? Oh, yes; but they commit, themselves to him who says, "I am Jehovah; I change not." But are they not unworthy? 0h, yes, in themselves they are utterly unworthy; but they commit themselves to him who is called The Lord their righteousness; and when they are clothed in his righteousness, they are looked upon by God as being "without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing." But have they no sickness? Yes, but they commit themselves to Jehovah-Rophi, the lord, the Healer, and he either heals their sickness, or gives them the grace to endure it. Are they not poor? Yes, many of them are extremely so; but they commit themselves to the faithful Promiser, and so bread is given them, and their water sure. But don't they expect to die? 0h, yes, unless the Lord should first come; but they are not afraid to die. This is the point, above all others, in which the spiritually poor commit themselves unto God. They have learnt that sweet prayer of David so well that it is often on their tongues, "Into thine hand I commit my spirit thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth." They did commit their spirit into God's hands years ago, and he has kept them until now, and they know that, he will not fail them in their dying hour. In conclusion, I pray every spiritually poor heart to commit itself to God. I like to do this every morning. Satan often comes and says, "You are no Christian; all your supposed Christian experience is false." Very Well, suppose it has been false; then I will start afresh; saint or no saint, I will begin over again by trusting Christ to be my Saviour. When you, dear friend, wake tomorrow morning, let this be the first thing that you do, commit yourself to Jesus Christ for the whole of the day. Say, "My Lord, here is my heart, which I commit to thee. While I am away from home, may my heart be full of fragrance of thy blessed presence; and when I return at night, may I still find my heart, in thy kind keeping! "And every night, ere we go to sleep, let us pray,

"Should swift death this night o'ertake us, And our couch become our tomb; May the morn in heaven awake us. Clad in light and deathless bloom."

Are you going to a foreign land? Then, renew the committal of your life to God. Are you going to change your state, and enter upon the joys and responsibilities of married life? Then commit yourself to God. Are you going to a new situation, or opening a new business? Is any change coming over you? Then, make a new committal, or a re-committal of your soul to the Lord Jesus, only take care that you do it heartily and thoroughly, and make no reserve. I rejoice to feel that I have committed myself to Christ as the slave of old committed himself to his master. When the time came for him to be set free under the Jewish law, he said to his master, "No, I do not want to go. I love you, I love your children, I love your household, I love your service; I do not want to be free." Then you know that the master was to take an awl, and fasten him by the ear to the door-post. I supposes this was done to see whether the man really wanted to remain with his master, or not. Ah, beloved! some, of us have had our ears bored long ago; we have given ourselves up to Christ, and we have a mark upon us which we can never loses. Were we not buried with him by baptism unto death, a symbol that we are dead to the world, and buried to the world, for his dear sake? Well, in that same way, give yourself wholly up to Jesus; commit yourself to him. As that young bride, commits all her life's joys and hopes to that dear bridegroom into whose face she looks so lovingly, so, O souls, commit yourselves to that dearest Bridegroom in earth or heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ. Commit yourselves to him, to love and to be loved, his to obey, his to serve, and his to be kept, his in life, and you need not add "till death us do part," but you may say "till death shall wed us more completely, and we shall sit together at the marriage banquet above; and be for ever and for ever one before the throne of God." Thus the poor soul commits itself unto Christ, is married unto Christ, gets the portion which Christ possesses, becomes Christ's own, and then lives with Christ for ever. Oh, that this might be the time in which many a man and many a woman would commit themselves unto Christ! I do not merely mean you who are poor in pocket, but you who are poor in spirit, I am asking you to commit yourselves unto Christ. Do not put it off, but may this be the very hour in which you shall be committed to Christ, and he shall take possession of you to be his for ever and for ever! Amen and Amen.