A manual of the book of Psalms · Martin Luther
PSALM XCIV.
But judgment shall return unto righteousness; and all the upright in heart shall follow it. Who will rise up for me against the evil-doers? _or_ who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity? Unless the LORD _had been_ my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence. When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up. In the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my soul. Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law? They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood. But the LORD is my defence; and my God _is_ the rock of my refuge. And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; _yea_, the LORD our God shall cut them off. This is a general but a most fervent prayer, filled with the feelings of an afflicted and sorrowful heart, grieving that the blood of the Abels should be shed and drank up, with such iniquity and cruelty, by Cainish hypocrites. The Psalmist complains, (as I consider it,) not of hostile nations, but of those domestic hypocrites and enemies, who will have it to appear that they, yea, that they alone, are the people of God; that is, the Psalmist complains of the wicked kings, and princes, and priests, and prophets, among the people of Israel. It is to these the Psalmist turns, in this apostrophe, “Understand, ye brutish among the people; and, ye fools, when will ye be wise?” He calls these characters “fools;” that is, ignorant and impious despisers of God; because they taught and ruled the people without knowledge, and wickedly.
In a word, the Psalmist here directs his word against all who persecuted the true prophets, and their disciples and followers, and slew them with Cainish hatred, and nevertheless boasted all the while in God, and the name of God; who (they said) had given them power, and made, and defended, and protected them, as magistrates and priests; but who did not regard heretics, who seditiously resisted _them_ that were the princes and magistrates of the people of God. And many such things they continued to say. Now, against all such the prophet burns with zeal; and (with a certain zealous mimicry, as it were,) imitates their own words and expressions; saying, (that is, meaning that they say,) “The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.” And it is thus that the papists say, in their security, ‘Do you think God regards these heretics! No! he regards us: he has respect unto us, the catholic church, whom we certainly represent in the world.’ Against such as these, the prophet burns with the rage of zeal; and against such he prays, and begs of God, that there may be enough to stand forward for the truth.
But, in the 16th verse, the Psalmist, on the other hand, strikes at the perfidious deceitfulness of the world: “Who (saith he) is on my side? Who will rise up for me against the evil doers?” As if he had said, ‘I know the world careth nothing about this: the blood of God’s Abels is shed, and no one regardeth it. But (continues the holy Psalmist) this is my sure and eternal consolation, that the cause which I love and espouse is the right cause; nay, the cause of God, and not my cause: and I know in whom I have believed.’ I am assured, saith the Psalmist, (verse 20,) that the “seat of the scornful,” and the “counsel of the ungodly,” cleave not, and belong not, unto thee: that is, I am sure that thou, O God, approvest not any impious or blasphemous doctrine. I am sure that thou requirest and demandest the blood, (and every drop of that blood,) and the tears, of the Abels, at the hands of their persecutors; and that thou wilt keep, and fulfil, and glorify thy word, even in the midst of the death of thy saints; and that thou wilt revenge all blasphemy and wickedness against thee and them.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.