Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 10:10
He croucheth, [and] humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones.
10. We may render with R.V.
He croucheth, he boweth down,
And the helpless fall by his strong ones.
An obscure verse. According to the rendering of the R.V., which follows the traditional reading ( Qr), the figure of the lion is resumed. The word rendered boweth down is used of a lion couching in Job 38:40, the whole of which verse should be compared with Psa 10:9-10. His strong ones is explained to mean his claws.
But it seems preferable to regard the poor as the subject, and, neglecting the Massoretic accents, to render: He is crushed, he boweth down and falleth; (yea) the helpless (fall) by his strong ones: i.e. the ruffians of the wicked man’s retinue. The R.V. marg., And being crushed, follows the reading of the text ( Kthbh), and gives the same sense.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He croucheth – Margin, breaketh himself. Coverdale, Then smiteth he, then oppresseth he. Prof. Alexander, And bruised he will sink. Horsley, And the overpowered man submits. Luther, He slays, and thrusts down, and presses to the earth the poor with power. This variety of interpretation arises from some ambiguity in regard to the meaning of the original. The word rendered croucheth – , in the Kethib (the text) – is in the Qeri (margin), , and crushed, he sinks down. There is some uncertainty about the form in which the word is used, but it is certain that it does not mean, as in our translation, he croucheth. The word dakah, properly means to be broken in pieces, to be crushed; and this idea runs through all the forms in which the word occurs. The true idea, it seems to me, is that this does not refer to the wicked man, but to his victim or victims, represented here by a word in the collective singular; and the meaning is that such a victim, crushed and broken down, sinks under the power of the persecutor and oppressor. And the crushed one sinks down.
And humbleth himself – The word used here – yasoch – from such – means to sink down; to settle down. Here it means to sink down as one does who is overcome or oppressed, or who is smitten to the earth. The idea is, that he is crushed or smitten by the wicked, and sinks to the ground.
That the poor may fall – Rather, as in the original, and the poor fall; that is, they do fall. The idea is, that they do in fact fall by the arm of the persecutor and oppressor who treads them down.
By his strong ones – Margin, Or, into his strong parts. The text here best expresses the sense. The reference is to the strong ones – the followers and abettors of the wicked here referred to – his train of followers. The allusion seems to be to this wicked man represented as the head or leader of a band of robbers or outlaws – strong, athletic men engaged under him in committing robbery on the unprotected. See Psa 10:8-9. Under these strong men the poor and the unprotected fall, and are crushed to the earth. The meaning of the whole verse, therefore, may be thus expressed: And the crushed one sinks down, and the poor fall under his mighty ones. The word rendered poor is in the plural, while the verb fall is in the singular; but this construction is not uncommon when the verb precedes. Nordheimer, Hebrew Grammar, Section 759, i., a. The word rendered poor means the wretched or the afflicted, and refers here to those who were unprotected – the victims of oppression and robbery.
The following account of the condition of Palestine at the present time will illustrate the passage here, and show how true the statements of the psalmist are to nature. It occurs in The land and the Book, by W. M. Thomson, D. D., Missionary in Syria. He is speaking of the sandy beach, or the sand hills, in the neighborhood of Mount Carmel, and says, respecting these sandy downs, with feathery reeds, running far inland, the chosen retreat of wild boars and wild Arabs, The Arab robber larks like a wolf among these sand heaps, and often springs out suddenly upon the solitary traveler, robs him in a trice, and then plunges again into the wilderness of sand hills and reedy downs, where pursuit is fruitless. Our friends are careful not to allow us to straggle about or lag behind, and yet it seems absurd to fear a surprise here – Khaifa before, and Acre in the rear, and travelers in sight on both sides. Robberies, however, do often occur, just where we now are. Strange country! and it has always been so. And then quoting the passage before us Psa 10:8-10, he adds, A thousand rascals, the living originals of this picture, are this day crouching and lying in wait all over the country to catch poor helpless travelers. You observe that all these people we meet or pass are armed; nor would they venture to go from Acre to Khaifa without their musket, although the cannon of the castles seem to command every foot of the way. Vol. i., pp. 487, 488.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 10. He croucheth] Of the scoffing, mocking, insulting, and insidious conduct of Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem, the fourth and sixth chapters of Nehemiah give abundant proof; and possibly the allusion is to them. The lion squats down and gathers himself together, that he may make the greater spring.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Like a lion, (for he continues the same metaphor,) which gathereth himself together, and lies close upon the ground, partly that he may not be discovered, and partly that he may more suddenly, and surely, and fiercely lay hold upon his prey. But for this translation, because this and is not in the Hebrew, and there is another and there prefixed to the first verb, some join that first verb to the end of the 10th verse, and render the place thus, he catcheth the poor by drawing him into his net, and breaks him to pieces, as that verb properly signifies. So there is only a detect of the pronoun, which is most frequent. And this makes the sense complete, which otherwise would be imperfect in that verse, and showeth us what he doth with his prey when he hath taken it. And this 10th verse begins very well with the next verb,
he humbleth himself; or, he stoops, or bends himself.
That the poor may fall; or, that he may fall (for this verb is sometimes taken actively, as Jos 11:7; Job 1:15) upon the poor; that having first crouched and lain down, and then of a sudden rising, he may leap and fall upon his prey, like a lion.
By his strong ones, i.e. by his strong members, his teeth or paws. So it is an ellipsis of the noun substantive; whereof we have examples, as 2Sa 21:16, new for a new sword; and Psa 73:10, full for a full cup; and Mat 10:42, cold for cold water.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10. crouchethas a liongathers himself into as small compass as possible to make the greaterspring.
fall by his strong onesThefigure of the lion is dropped, and this phrase means the accomplicesof the chief or leading wicked man.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
He croucheth [and] humbleth himself,…. As the lion before he leaps and seizes on his prey, and as the fowler creepeth upon the ground to draw the bird into his net and catch it; so the antichristian beast has two horns like a lamb; though he has the mouth of a lion, and speaks like a dragon, he would be thought to be like the Lamb of God, meek, and lowly, and humble, and therefore calls himself “servus servorum”, “the servant of servants”; but his end is,
that the poor may fall by his strong ones; the word for “poor” is here used, as before observed on Ps 10:8, in the plural number, and is read by the Masorites as two words, though it is written as one, and is by them and other Jewish writers h interpreted a multitude, company, or army of poor ones, whose strength is worn out; these weak and feeble ones antichrist causes to fall by his strong ones; either by his strong decrees, cruel edicts, and severe punishments, as by sword, by flame, by captivity and by spoils, Da 11:33; or by the kings of the earth and their armies, their mighty men of war, their soldiers, whom he instigates and influences to persecute their subjects, who will not receive his mark in their right hands or foreheads, Re 13:15. It is very observable, that those persecuted by antichrist are so often in this prophetic psalm called “poor”; and it is also remarkable, that there were a set of men in the darkest times of Popery, and who were persecuted by the Papists, called the “poor” men of Lyons: the whole verse may be rendered and paraphrased thus, “he tears in pieces”, that is, the poor, whom he catches in his net; “he boweth himself”, as the lion does, as before observed; “that he may fall”, or rush upon; with his strong ones, his mighty armies, “upon the multitude of the poor”.
h Jarchi, Kimchi, & Ben Melech in loc.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The comparison to the lion is still in force here and the description recurs to its commencement in the second strophe, by tracing back the persecution of the ungodly to its final cause. Instead of the Chethb ( perf. consec.), the Ker reads more in accordance with the Hebrew use of the tenses. Job 38:40 is the rule for the interpretation. The two futures depict the settled and familiar lying in wait of the plunderer. True, the Kal in the signification “to crouch down” finds no support elsewhere; but the Arab. dakka to make even (cf. Arab. rsd , firmiter inhaesit loco , of the crouching down of beasts of prey, of hunters, and of foes) and the Arab. dagga , compared by Hitzig, to move stealthily along, to creep, and dugjeh a hunter’s hiding-place exhibit synonymous significations. The of the lxx is not far out of the way. And one can still discern in it the assumption that the text is to be read : and crushed he sinks (Aquila: ); but even is not found elsewhere, and if the poet meant that, why could he not have written ? (cf. moreover Jdg 5:27). If is taken in the sense of a position in which one is the least likely to be seen, then the first two verbs refer to the sculker, but the third according to the usual schema (as e.g., Psa 124:5) is the predicate to ( ) going before it. Crouching down as low as possible he lies on the watch, and the feeble and defenceless fall into his strong ones, , i.e., claws. Thus the ungodly slays the righteous, thinking within himself: God has forgotten, He has hidden His face, i.e., He does not concern Himself about these poor creatures and does not wish to know anything about them (the denial of the truth expressed in Psa 9:13, Psa 9:19); He has in fact never been one who sees, and never will be. These two thoughts are blended; with the perf. as in Job 21:3, and the addition of (cf. Psa 94:7) denies the possibility of God seeing now any more than formerly, as being an absolute absurdity. The thought of a personal God would disturb the ungodly in his doings, he therefore prefers to deny His existence, and thinks: there is only fate and fate is blind, only an absolute and it has no eyes, only a notion and that cannot interfere in the affairs of men.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
He again repeats all this in the tenth verse, giving a beautiful and graphic description of the very mien or gesture of such wicked men, just as if he set before our eyes a picture of them. They crouch low, says he, and cast themselves down, (220) that they may not, by their cruelty, frighten away their victims to a distance; for they would fain catch in their entanglements those whom they cannot hurt without coming close to them. We see how he joins these two things together, first snares or gins, and then sudden violence, as soon as the prey has fallen into their hands. For, by the second clause, he means, that whenever they see the simple to be fully in their power, they rush upon them by surprise with a savage violence, just as if a lion should furiously rise from his couch to tear in pieces his prey. (221) The obvious meaning of the Psalmist is, that the ungodly are to be dreaded on all sides, because they dissemble their cruelty, till they find those caught in their toils whom they wish to devour. There is some obscurity in the words, to which we shall briefly advert. In the clause which we have rendered an army of the afflicted, the Hebrew word חלכאים, chelcaim, an army, in the opinion of some, is a word of four letters. (222) Those, however, think more accurately who hold it to be compound, and equivalent to two words. (223) Although, therefore, the verb נפל, naphal, is in the singular number, yet the prophet, doubtless, uses חל כאים, chel caim, collectively, to denote a great company of people who are afflicted by every one of these lions. I have rendered עצומימ, atsumim, his strengths, as if it were a substantive; because the prophet, doubtless, by this term, intends the talons and teeth of the lion, in which the strength of that beast chiefly consists. As, however, the word is properly an adjective in the plural number, signifying strong, without having any substantive with which it agrees, we may reasonably suppose that, by the talons and teeth of the lion, he means to express metaphorically a powerful body of soldiers. In short, the meaning is this: These wicked men hide their strength, by feigned humility and crafty courteous demeanour, and yet they will always have in readiness an armed band of satellites, or claws and teeth, as soon as an opportunity of doing mischief is presented to them.
(220) The allusion is to the practice of the lion, who, when he intends to seize upon his prey, crouches, or lies down, and gathers himself together, both to conceal himself, and that he may make the greater spring upon his prey when it comes within his reach, (Job 38:39.)
(221) “ Comme si un lion sortant de son giste se levoit furieusement pour mettre sa proye par pieces.” — Fr. “As if a lion issuing from his den, furiously raised himself to spring upon his prey, and to tear it to pieces.” “When the lion” says Buffon “leaps up on his prey, he gives a spring of ten or fifteen feet, falls on, seizes it with his fore-paws, tears it with his claws, and afterwards devours it with his teeth.”
(222) Being the plural of, חלכה, chelcah, which occurs three times in this psalm, namely, here and in the eighth and fourteenth verses, where it is rendered poor.
(223) Namely, חל כאים chel caim. Those who adopt this reading observe, that according to the other view, the verb נפל, naphal, translated may fall, which is singular, is joined with a plural noun, חלכאים chelcaim, but that, by dividing this last word into two, we get a singular nominative to the verb. Hammond, however, who adopts the first opinion, observes, “That it is an elegance, both in the Hebrew and Arabic, to use the verb singular with the nominative plural, especially when the verb is placed first, as here it is;” and, therefore, he denies the validity of that objection against the ordinary rendering.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(10) By his strong ones.Possibly, by his strong claws, recurring to the metaphor of the lion. Some (Jerome, Perowne, and apparently Syriac), instead of croucheth, render is crushed, making the sufferer its subject. There is a various reading to the text, but in either case the image of the beast gathering himself together for a spring is admissible. Or, keeping the primary sense of darkness, render, he crouches and skulks, and lies darkly down in his strong places. This avoids the anomaly of taking the plural noun with a singular verb. For the adverbial use of the plural noun, see Isa. 1:10; Psa. 139:14.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
10. Croucheth The figure now changes back to the habits of the beast of prey. The lion never runs upon his prey, but always first crouches flat, and then springs upon his victim.
Strong ones His terrible jaws, teeth, and prehensile armament; or the plural may be used for the abstract, strength.
Psa 10:10. He croucheth As a lion lies down, and is couchant; by that means to secure himself of his prey, or to fit himself to seize it. This, says the Jewish Arabic translator, is a description of the fashion of a lion; for, when he means to leap, he first coucheth, that he may gather himself together; then he rouseth himself, and puts out his strength, that he may tear his prey: therefore when he speaketh thee fair beware of him, for this is but his deceit.
Psa 10:10 He croucheth, [and] humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones.
Ver. 10. He croucheth (or crusheth), and humbleth himself] Lion like, Job 38:40 . He can sow the fox’s skin to the lion’s hide for a need, and to compass his design. As proud as he is, yet in subtlety he can abase himself; and, with glavering speeches and fawning behaviour, indirectly endeavour the overthrow of the innocent and distressed. To which purpose he can put himself to pain, feign himself sick and in a dying condition (as those do that stand for the popedom), counterfeit and pretend humility, but all is hypocrisy, Seipsum aegrum, et attritum fingit (of David).
That the poor may fall by his strong ones croucheth: Heb. breaketh himself, 1Sa 2:36
humbleth: 1Sa 18:21-26, 1Sa 23:21, 1Sa 23:22, 2Sa 15:5
by his strong ones: Heb. or, into his strong parts
Reciprocal: Psa 59:3 – they Psa 73:8 – speak wickedly Ecc 4:1 – and considered Jer 5:26 – lay wait Mat 2:7 – General Jam 2:6 – Do
Psa 10:10. He croucheth and humbleth himself Like a lion (for he continues the same metaphor) which lies close upon the ground, partly that he may not be discovered, and partly that he may more suddenly and surely lay hold on his prey. When the lion means to leap, says the Jewish Arabic translator, he first coucheth that he may gather himself together; then he rouseth himself, and puts out his strength, that he may tear his prey: therefore when he speaketh thee fair, beware of him: for this is but his deceit. That the poor may fall Or, taking the verb , naphal, actively, (as Jos 11:7; Job 1:15,) that he may fall upon the poor; that, having first couched and lain down, and then of a sudden rising, he may leap and fall upon his prey, like a lion. By his strong ones His strong members, his teeth or paws.
10:10 He croucheth, [and] humbleth himself, that the {e} poor may fall by his strong ones.
(e) By the hypocrisy of them who have authority the poor are devoured.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes