Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 10:15
Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil [man]: seek out his wickedness [till] thou find none.
15. Break &c.] Paralyse his power to do mischief. Cp. Psa 37:17; Job 38:15.
of the wicked and the evil man] So the ancient versions, taking the most obvious division of the words. R.V. follows the accentuation of the Hebrew text in rendering, and as for the evil man, seek out &c.
seek out &c.] Lit. when thou requirest his wickedness, thou shall not find. The word is the same as that used in Psa 9:12 and in Psa 10:4 ; Psa 10:13. The Psalmist looks forward to a time when the wicked will be powerless to do harm. When God ‘makes inquisition’ and holds His assize, He will find no crime to punish, cp. Psa 17:3. There may be an allusion to the proverbial phrase ‘to seek and not find,’ used in reference to what has utterly disappeared (Psa 37:36), but a special word for ‘seek’ is chosen for the sake of the allusion indicated.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
15, 16. Stanza of Shin. Prayer for the extermination of evil, based on the facts of faith and history.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Break thou the arm of the wicked – The arm is the instrument by which we effect a purpose, and especially in wielding a sword or a spear, as in battle; and if the arm is broken, we are powerless. The psalmist, therefore, prays that God would render the wicked, in this respect, powerless.
And the evil man – Of all the evil, or the wicked. In regard to the prayer here, see the note at Psa 5:10.
Seek out his wickedness until thou find none – Until it is all punished; until there has been a full recompense. This is a wish that no wicked act of his should be forgotten; that exact justice should be rendered. If it is right to punish the wicked at all, it is right to deal with them just as they deserve; if any wickedness may properly be punished, all may be; and, whatever may occur, the sinner may be assured that he will not be punished merely for a part of his sins. If God punishes the wicked at all, there will be nothing left unpunished.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 15. Break thou the arm] Destroy his power, deprive him of his influence, that he may be no longer able to oppress.
Seek out his wickedness till thou find none.] All his public haunts and private ways shall be investigated; thou wilt bring all his villanies to light, and continue to inflict punishment, while there is a crime to punish. Or, “Continue to judge and punish transgressors, till not one is to be found.” This agrees with the following verse.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Break thou; or, Thou wilt break. For it may be either a prayer or a prophecy.
The arm, i.e. his strength, the instrument of violence and mischief.
Seek out his wickedness; search for it so strictly, and punish these wicked atheists so severely.
Till thou find none, i.e. no such wickedness, to wit, undiscovered and unpunished, or indeed left in the world, or at least in the church; which might happen, because those wicked men here spoken of should be generally either convinced or rooted out, and the rest should be warned and reformed by their example, and so this lewdness should cease out of the land, as the phrase is, Eze 23:48. That is said to be sought for, and not found, which is utterly lost, as Job 20:7,8; Psa 37:36; Rev 16:20; 18:21. And this phrase is used both of good men, whose sins are taken away by Gods grace and mercy, pardoning and purging them away, and of wicked men in the sense above mentioned.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15. armpower.
till thou find noneSofar from not requiting (Psa 10:11;Psa 10:13), God will utterlydestroy the wicked and his deeds (Psa 9:5;Psa 9:6; Psa 34:16;Psa 37:36).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil [man],…. His power and strength, so that he shall not be able to hold the sword, to strike a blow, or do any hurt to the people of God; see Eze 30:21. This prayer is in some measure already fulfilled in antichrist, the man of sin, or pope of Rome; though his kingdom is not broke to pieces; as it will be when Christ’s kingdom shall be more visibly set up, to which reference is had in Ps 10:16; see Da 2:44; yet his strength is weakened, his arm is broken, he has not the power he had, nor can he tyrannise and do the mischief he once did: “but as [for] the evil man” m, for so the words should be read, there being an “athnach” under the word “wicked”, which ends the proposition there:
seek out his wickedness [till] thou find none; which designs a thorough search after sin, full punishment of it, and the entire ruin and destruction of the wicked; and the sense is, that God would make a strict inquiry into the wickedness of the man of sin, which he promised himself he would not, Ps 10:13; and that he would punish him and his followers to the uttermost for it, until there should not be one of the antichristian party found upon earth; with which sense agrees
Ps 10:16; see Ps 104:35.
m “improbum quod attinet, requiras”, c. Gejerus so Michaelis.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The desire for Jahve’s interposition now rises again with fresh earnestness. It is a mistake to regard and as correlative notions. In the phrase to seek and not find, when used of that which has totally disappeared, we never have , but always , Psa 37:36; Isa 41:12; Jer 50:20, and frequently. The verb signifies here exactly the same as in Psa 10:4, Psa 10:13, and Psa 9:13: “and the wicked ( nom. absol. as in Psa 10:4) – mayst Thou punish his wickedness, mayst Thou find nothing more of it.” It is not without a meaning that, instead of the form of expression usual elsewhere (Psa 37:36; Job 20:8), the address to Jahve is retained: that which is no longer visible to the eye of God, not merely of man, has absolutely vanished out of existence. This absolute conquest of evil is to be as surely looked for, as that Jahve’s universal kingship, which has been an element of the creed of God’s people ever since the call and redemption of Israel (Exo 15:18), cannot remain without being perfectly and visibly realised. His absolute and eternal kingship must at length be realised, even in all the universality and endless duration foretold in Zec 14:9; Dan 7:14, Rev 11:15. Losing himself in the contemplation of this kingship, and beholding the kingdom of God, the kingdom of good, as realised, the psalmist’s vision stretches beyond the foes of the church at home to its foes in general; and, inasmuch as the heathen in Israel and the heathen world outside of Israel are blended together into one to his mind, he comprehends them all in the collective name of , and sees the land of Jahve (Lev 25:23), the holy land, purified of all oppressors hostile to the church and its God. It is the same that is foretold by Isaiah (Isa 52:1), Nahum (Nah 2:1), and in other passages, which, by the anticipation of faith, here stands before the mind of the suppliant as an accomplished fact – viz. the consummation of the judgment, which has been celebrated in the hymnic half (Ps 9) of this double Psalm as a judgment already executed in part.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
15. Break thou the arm. This form of expression just means breaking the power of the wicked. And it is not simply a prayer; it may also be regarded as a prophecy. As the ungovernable fury of our enemies very often makes us lose courage, as if there were no means by which it could be restrained, David, in order to support his faith, and preserve it from failing through the fears which presented themselves, sets before himself the consideration, that whenever it shall please God to break the power of the ungodly, he will bring to nothing both themselves and all their schemes. To make the meaning the more evident, the sentence may be explained in this way, — Lord, as soon as it shall seem good to thee to break the arm of the wicked, thou wilt destroy him in a moment, and bring to nought his powerful and violent efforts in the work of doing mischief. David, indeed, beseeches God to hasten his assistance and his vengeance; but, in the meantime, while these are withheld, he sustains himself by the consolatory reflection, that the ungodly cannot break forth into violence and mischief except in so far as God permits them; since it is in his power, whenever he ascends into the judgment-seat, to destroy them even with his look alone. And certainly, as the rising sun dissipates the clouds and vapours by his heat, and clears up the dark air, so God, when he stretches forth his hand to execute the office of a Judge, restores to tranquillity and order all the troubles and confusions of the world. The Psalmist calls the person of whom he speaks not only wicked, but the wicked and the evil man, and he does so, in my judgment, for the purpose of setting forth in a stronger light the greatness of the wickedness of the character which he describes. His words are as if he had said, Wicked men may even be frantic in their malice and impiety; but God can promptly and effectually remedy this evil whenever he pleases.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(15) Seek out.The meaning of the verse is clear, from Psa. 37:36, and Isa. 41:12, where we see that to seek and not find was a proverb expressing riddance of evil; but the construction is difficult. The first clause should end at wicked, the words and the evil being absolute; and the verbs, which are in form either second or third person, should be taken in the second. Translate, and as for the evil man, thou shalt look for his wickedness, and not find it (thou=anybody, which preserves the proverbial tone. So the LXX., his sin shall be sought, and not be found ).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
15. Seek out Thou wilt seek out. This stands opposed to the doctrine of the wicked in Psa 10:13, where, using the same word, they say: “God will not require, or seek out,” the sin, to punish it.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Break the arm of the unrighteous, and as for the evil man,
Seek out his wickedness. You find none.’
In unarmed combat the breaking of the arm rendered the opponent powerless. Thus YHWH is exhorted to render the unrighteous powerless, and search out the evil man’s wickedness so that He can call it to account. And He will in fact be so successful in removing it that when He looks for wickedness He will find none. Compare Psa 37:17; Job 38:15.
‘Seek out his wickedness. You find none.’ Literally ‘when You seek to call to account his wickedness you shall not find’, because it has been removed. All wickedness will have been done away (compare Psa 17:3). Yahweh had seen everything after all.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Psa 10:15. Break thou the arm of the wicked i.e. “Deprive them of all power to do mischief.” Mudge renders the next clause, Seek out his wickedness, &c.Pursue his wickedness, so that thou find none left: properly, “Sit in judgment upon it, so that there be none left to be found: till there remains nothing to punish.” Others say that the clause is, “Destroy him utterly, or so subdue him as to put it out of his power to do hurt;” which very well agrees with the former clause. Houbigant renders it, Seek out for his iniquity, that it may not prevail.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 10:15 Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil [man]: seek out his wickedness [till] thou find none.
Ver. 15. Break thou the arm of the wicked ] That arm that hath been lifted up against the godly. See Psa 3:8 ; Psa 58:7 .
Seek out his wickedness till thou find none
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the evil = an evil one. Hebrew. raa’. App-44.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 10:15-16
Psa 10:15-16
“Break thou the arm of the wicked;
And as for the evil man, seek out his wickedness till thou find none.
Jehovah is King forever and ever:
The nations are perished out of his land.”
In the days when the sword was the principal weapon of violence, breaking the arm of the wicked would be equivalent to putting him completely out of business.
“The nations are perished out of his land.” The event here mentioned is the displacement and extermination that God ordered for the ancient Canaanites in order to replace them with the Chosen People, following their Egyptian slavery and the Wilderness wanderings. Human history effectively demonstrates that any nation which allows its wickedness to come to full flower will ultimately experience the judgment of God against them. Just look at the list of examples: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Roman, the Muslims, France, Germany, etc., etc.
“Till thou find none.” This is not an indication that God shall get all the wickedness out of evil men, but that evil men themselves shall perish utterly. “The thought is not that the wicked devices of ungodly men are not discernible to the Almighty, but that he will so completely have disposed of them that no trace of them will be left.” There appears in these verses a promise of God’s absolute and final conquest of evil.
“This ultimate triumph of truth and righteousness over all evil is to be surely looked for. Jehovah’s universal kingship has been an element of the creed of God’s people ever since the call and redemption of Israel (Exo 15:18). Yes, God’s absolute and eternal kingship will in time be realized, even in all the universality and endless duration of it, as foretold in Zec 14:9; Dan 7:14; and Rev 11:15.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 10:15. Break thou the arm was figurative and meant for God to crush the devices of the wicked. Till thou find none means till there was no more wickedness left after God had searched it out and had overthrown the evildoers.
Psa 10:16. Lord means one who rules or controls. David ascribed the authority of a king to the Lord of Heaven, and declared that he should so rule forever. He predicted the final overthrow of the heathen or foreign nations
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Break: Psa 3:7, Psa 37:17, Job 38:15, Eze 30:21, Eze 30:22, Zec 11:17
seek: Psa 7:9, 2Ki 21:12-15, Jer 2:34, Eze 23:48, Zep 1:12
Reciprocal: Job 10:6 – General Job 22:9 – arms Job 35:9 – the arm Job 36:6 – giveth Psa 5:10 – let Psa 58:6 – Break their Psa 146:7 – executeth Isa 37:17 – hear Jer 11:20 – revealed Jer 48:25 – and his Hab 1:13 – wherefore Luk 18:7 – avenge
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 10:15. Break thou the arm of the wicked That is, their strength, the instrument of their violence and cruelty. Deprive them of all power to do mischief. Seek out his wickedness Search for it, and punish these wicked atheists; till thou find none Till no such wickedness be left in the world, or at least, in the church. This, says Dr. Horne, may be either a prayer or a prediction, implying that the time will come when the power of Jehovah will dash in pieces that of the enemy, by the demolition either of sin or the sinner, until wickedness be come utterly to an end, and righteousness be established for ever in the kingdom of Messiah.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
10:15 Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil [man]: seek out his wickedness [till] thou find {i} none.
(i) For you have utterly destroyed him.