Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 62:9
Surely men of low degree [are] vanity, [and] men of high degree [are] a lie: to be laid in the balance, they [are] altogether [lighter] than vanity.
9. Surely ] Lit., as before, only. Nought but vanity are men, (nought but) a lie are great men. Only a mere breath which vanishes, an imposture which deludes those who trust them, are all men, whatever may be their rank. For the phrases bn dm, bn sh, ‘low’ and ‘high,’ see Psa 49:2. In Psa 4:2 Absalom’s followers are termed bn sh: waverers would be influenced by seeing the number of leading men on his side. The same phrase nought but vanity is used in Psa 39:5; Psa 39:11, to describe the transitoriness and unsubstantiality of man, but the point is wholly different.
to be laid in the balance &c.] In the balances they will go up, they are altogether of vanity. They spring from and consist of mere breath (Isa 41:24): put them in the scale, it flies up, for they have no weight or substance. The rendering ‘lighter than vanity ’ is possible but less probable.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
9 12. Trust in God, I say, and not in man or in material force. God’s strength and love are the guarantee for the punishment of the wicked and the reward of the righteous.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Surely men of low degree are vanity – literally, vanity are the sons of Adam, but the word Adam here is used evidently to represent men, or the race. The same word is also employed particularly to represent common men, or men of the humbler rank, in contradistinction to the word ‘ysh – which is the other word used here, and rendered men of high degree. Compare, for this use of the word, Hos 6:7. The same antithesis between the two words is found in Isa 2:9; Isa 5:15. The idea here is, that in the great matters which pertain to us, we cannot depend on men, and that our hope – our trust – must be in God. Of men of the humbler or lower classes, it is said that they are vanity; that is, they are like a vain, empty, unsubstantial thing. They cannot help us. It is useless to rely on them when we most need aid.
Men of high degree are a lie – Men of exalted rank, kings, princes, nobles. This does not refer to their personal character, as if they were always false, deceitful, treacherous; but the idea is, that any prospect of protection or aid from men of rank and station – front any power which they wield – is unworthy to be relied on. It is not that which we need; it is not that on which we can depend.
To be laid in the balance – literally, In the scales to go up; that is, they are seen to go up, or to show how light they are. They have no real weight; no real value. On the scales or balance, see the notes at Dan 5:27.
They are altogether lighter than vanity – They are all vain; single or combined, they have no power to save us. The meaning is not that if these two ranks of persons were weighed against each other they would both be found to be vanity; but that it is true of each and every rank of men – high and low – whether single or combined – that, as weighed against our interests and needs, they are nothing. All the kings of the earth with all their hosts of war, all princes and nobles with all that they can summon from the lower ranks of their people, cannot save one soul from death – cannot deliver us from the consequences of our transgressions. God, and God alone, can do this.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 9. Men of low degree are vanity] beney Adam, which we here translate men of low degree, literally, sons of Adam, are put in opposition to beney ish, men of high degree, literally, the sons of substance, or children of substantial men. Adam was the name of the first man when formed out of the earth; Ish was his name when united to his wife, and they became one flesh. Before, he was the incomplete man; after, he was the complete man; for it seems, in the sight of God, it requires the male and female to make one complete human being. enosh is another name given to man, but this concerns him in his low, fallen, wretched estate: it properly signifies weak, poor, addicted, wretched man.
Common men can give no help. They are vanity, and it is folly to trust in them; for although they may be willing, yet they have no ability to help you: “Rich men are a lie.” They promise much, but perform nothing; they cause you to hope, but mock your expectation.
To be laid to the balance] bemozenayim laaloth, In the balances they ascend: exactly answerable to our phrase, they kick the beam.
They are altogether lighter than vanity.] Literally, Both of them united are vanity, hemmah mehebel yachad. Put both together in one scale, and truth in the opposite, and both will kick the beam. They weigh nothing, they avail nothing.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Vanity, i.e. most vain, impotent, and helpless creatures in themselves. This he delivers as a reason or argument to enforce his foregoing exhortation; trust in God, because there is no other person or thing to which you can safely trust.
A lie, because they promise much, and raise mens expectations upon consideration of their great power and dignity, but are not able to perform, and generally deceive those who trust in them; in which respect lying is ascribed to a fountain, Jer 15:18, to wine, Hos 9:2, to the olive, Hab 3:17, when they do not give what they promise.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9. No kind of men are reliable,compared with God (Isa 2:22;Jer 17:5).
altogetheralike, oneas the other (Ps 34:3).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Surely men of low degree [are] vanity,…. Or “sons of Adam” i; of the earthly man; of fallen Adam; one of his immediate sons was called Hebel, “vanity”; and it is true of all his sons; but here it designs only one sort of them; such as are poor and low in the world; mean men, as the phrase is rendered in Isa 2:9;
[See comments on Ps 49:2]; these are subject to sinful vanity; their thoughts are vain, their affections vain, their minds vain, their conversation vain, sinful, foolish, fallacious, and inconstant. The wicked poor are, generally speaking, of all persons, the most wicked; and therefore, though they are the multitude, they are not to be trusted in. The Arabic version is, they are as a “shadow”, fleeting and unstable, no solidity in them; the Syriac version, “as a vapour”, that soon passeth away, like the breath of the mouth, and so not to be accounted of;
[and] men of high degree [are] a lie; or “sons of men”; of , “the great man” k, as it is rendered in Isa 2:9, noblemen, men of high birth, fortune, rank, and quality; these are a “lie”, fallacious and deceitful: they talk of their blood, as if it was different from the rest of mankind; but, trace them up to their original, Adam, and it is a lie. All men are made of one blood, Ac 17:26; their riches promise them peace and pleasure, and long life, but do not give those things, Lu 12:16; their honour is fickle and inconstant; they are act in high places, and those are slippery ones; they are brought to desolation in a moment; and if they continue in them till death, their glory does not descend after them, Ps 49:17; they make promises of great things to those who apply to them, but rarely perform, and are by no means to be confided in. This distinction of high and low degree is observed in Jas 1:9;
to be laid in the balance, they [are] altogether [lighter] than vanity; take a pair of balances, and put men both of high and low degree together in one scale, and vanity in the other, vanity will weigh heaviest; the scale in which men are will go up, as the word l here used signifies: they are “in the balances to ascend”; or being put in the balances, they will ascend, and the scale in which vanity is will go down; for, take them altogether, they are “lighter” than that: the word “lighter” is not in the text, but is rightly supplied, as it is by Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Ben Melech. This last clause, according to the accents, may be best rendered thus; being put “in the balance, they must ascend; they are [lighter] than vanity together”. The Targum is,
“if they should take the sons of men in a balance, and weigh their fates, they themselves would be “lighter” than nothing, as one;”
or than vanity together.
i “filii Adam”, Musculus, Michaelis; “nati plebeio homine”, Junius Tremellius “plebeii”, Gejerus; “sons of base men”, Ainsworth. k “nati praestante viro”, Junius Tremellius “sons of noble men”, Ainsworth. Vid. Schindler. col. 214. l “ascendant”, Pagninus, Cocceius; so Musculus, Junius & Tremellius, &c.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Just as all men with everything earthly upon which they rely are perishable, so also the purely earthly form which the new kingship has assumed carries within itself the germ of ruin; and God will decide as Judge, between the dethroned and the usurpers, in accordance with the relationship in which they stand to Him. This is the internal connection of the third group with the two preceding ones. By means of the strophe vv. 10-13, our Psalm is brought into the closest reciprocal relationship with Psa 39:1-13. Concerning and vid., on Psa 49:3; Psa 4:3. The accentuation divides Psa 62:10 quite correctly. The Athnach does not mark as an independent clause: they are upon the balance , for a going up; they must rise, so light are they (Hengstenberg). Certainly this expression of the periphrastic future is possible (vid., on Psa 25:14; Psa 1:1-6:17), still we feel the want here of the subject, which cannot be dispensed within the clause as an independent one. Since, however, the combining of the words with what follows is forbidden by the fact that the infinitive with in the sense of the ablat. gerund. always comes after the principal clause, not before it (Ew. 280, d), we interpret: upon the balances ad ascendendum = certo ascensuri , and in fact so that this is an attributive that is co-ordinate with . Is the clause following now meant to affirm that men, one and all, belong to nothingness or vanity ( partitivum ), or that they are less than nothing ( comparat .)? Umbreit, Stier, and others explain Isa 40:17 also in the latter way; but parallels like Isa 41:24 do not favour this rendering, and such as Isa 44:11 are opposed to it. So also here the meaning is not that men stand under the category of that which is worthless or vain, but that they belong to the domain of the worthless or vain.
The warning in Psa 62:11 does not refer to the Absalomites, but, pointing to these as furnishing a salutary example, to those who, at the sight of the prosperous condition and joyous life on that side, might perhaps be seized with envy and covetousness. Beside the meaning of is nevertheless not: to set in vain hope upon anything (for the idea of hoping does not exist in this verb in itself, Job 27:12; Jer 2:5, nor in this construction of the verb), but: to be befooled, blinded by something vain (Hitzig). Just as they are not to suffer their heart to be befooled by their own unjust acquisition, so also are they not, when the property of others increases ( , root , to raise one’s self, to mount up; cf. Arabic nabata , to sprout up, grow; nabara , to raise; intransitive, to increase, and many other verbal stems), to turn their heart towards it, as though it were something great and fortunate, that merited special attention and commanded respect. Two great truths are divinely attested to the poet. It is not to be rendered: once hath God spoken, now twice (Job 40:5; 2Ki 6:10) have I heard this; but after Psa 89:36: One thing hath God spoken, two things (it is) that I have heard; or in accordance with the interpunction, which here, as in Psa 12:8 (cf. on Psa 9:16), is not to be called in question: these two things have I heard. Two divine utterances actually do follow. The two great truths are: (1) that God has the power over everything earthly, that consequently nothing takes place without Him, and that whatever is opposed to Him must sooner or later succumb; (2) that of this very God, the sovereign Lord ( ), is mercy also, the energy of which is measured by His omnipotence, and which does not suffer him to succumb upon whom it is bestowed. With the poet establishes these two revealed maxims which God has impressed upon his mind, from His righteous government as displayed in the history of men. He recompenses each one in accordance with his doing, , as Paul confesses (Rom 2:6) no less than David, and even (vid., lxx) in the words of David. It shall be recompensed unto every man according to his conduct, which is the issue of his relationship to God. He who rises in opposition to the will and order of God, shall feel God’s power ( ) as a power for punishment that dashes in pieces; and he who, anxious for salvation, resigns his own will to the will of God, receives from God’s mercy or loving-kindness ( ), as from an overflowing fulness, the promised reward of faithfulness: his resignation becomes experience, and his hoping attainment.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
9. Nevertheless, the sons of Adam are vanity. If we take the particle אך, ach, affirmatively, as meaning surely or certainly, then this verse contains a confirmation of the truth expressed in the preceding verse; and David argues by contrast, (420) that as men are lighter than vanity, we are shut up to the necessity of placing all our expectation upon God. It would agree well, however, with the contrast to suppose, that, under an impression of the little effect which the truth he had announced was calculated to have upon the people, (ever disposed to build upon fallacious hopes,) he exclaims, with a degree of holy fervor, Nevertheless, etc. According to this view, he is here administering a reproof to the blind infidelity so prevalent amongst men, and which leads them to deceive themselves with lying vanities rather than trust in the infallible promises of Jehovah. Having had occasion to discover such a large amount of vanity in the chosen seed of Abraham, he does not scruple to speak of the whole human family in general as being abandoned to lying delusions. The adverb יחד , yachad, together, intimates that all, without exception, are ready to find an occasion of turning aside. Such is the sweeping condemnation passed, not upon a few individuals, but upon human nature, declaring men to be lighter than vanity; and may we not ask what in this case becomes of boasted reason, wisdom, and free-will? It is of no avail to object, that believers are delivered from the deceit which is here condemned. If they owe their exemption from lying and vanity to the regeneration of the Spirit, this is to grant that they were subject to these in their natural state. The first man was created by God upright, but drew us by his fall into such a depth of corruption, that any light which was originally bestowed has been totally obscured. Is it alleged that there still remain in man such gifts of God as are not to be despised, and as distinguish him from all the other creatures, this is easily answered, by remembering, that however great these may be, he is tainted by sin, and therefore nothing to be accounted of. It is only when allied with the knowledge of God that any of the endowments conferred upon us from above can be said to have a real excellency; — apart from this, they are vitiated by that contagion of sin which has not left a vestige in man of his original integrity. With too much justice, then, might David say that all men are vanity and nothingness.
(420) “ A repugnantibus ostendet David.” — Lat. Explained in the French version thus — “ Montrera par un argument prins des choses repugnantes.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(9) Are vanity.Or, mere breath.
To be laid in the balance.Literally, in the balances to go up, which may mean in the scales they must go up, i.e., kick the beam. But a slight change in one letter gives the more probable, when weighed in the scales.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9. Men of low degree high degree Men of all degrees, as Psa 49:2. The first designation denotes in the Hebrew the masses of our race as descendants of Adam; the second, those classes which have attained distinction on account of rank, wealth, or other circumstances. These all, apart from God, and of themselves considered as sources of help or objects of trust, are, the first class, vanity, the second, a lie.
To be laid in the balance Literally, going up, or ascending in the balance, as being the lighter scale.
Altogether lighter than vanity The meaning is: Put every one of them together in one scale of the balance, and vanity, or a breath, in the other, and they would mount up, as less than a breath. This estimate is not of man as God made him, but of man as sin and selfishness have corrupted him. It is man apart from God, and fighting against God, and fitly applies to Absalom with his accomplices, and the thoughtless multitude that follow them.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
3). He Warns Against Trusting In Man Of Any Level, Or In Brute Force, Or In Riches, And Calls On His Hearers To Recognise The Fact That Power And True Love Belong To God Who Deals With Men On The Basis Of What They Reveal Themselves To Be (9-12).
The Psalm is brought to its conclusion by a comparison between failing man and the unfailing God. Men are unreliable. They are full of emptiness and deceit. They are lightweight. Their ways are not to be trusted. Thus we are not to be like them. We must not set our hearts on oppression, dishonesty and greed. Rather we should look to the One Who is reliable, the One Who is always true, the One Who is full weight. For power belongs, not to men, but to God, and He is not only all-powerful, but also all-loving to those who respond to His covenant.
Psa 62:9
Men of low degree are only vanity,
And men of high degree are a lie,
In the balances they will go up,
They are altogether vanity.’
David recognises men for what they on the whole are, vain and empty, deceitful and lightweight. There are few who can be wholly relied on. Whether in low positions, or in high positions, they are out for themselves. Men in low positions are empty, like puffs of wind, here today and gone tomorrow, totally unreliable. They are only out for themselves. Men in high positions are deceitful and unreliable. They are a lie. They are for you one moment, and the next they have turned against you, depending on which way the wind blows. They too are only out for themselves.
Indeed if you put such men on one side of a set of balances, they are so lightweight that their side will shoot upwards. They have no ‘weight’. They are lighter than a puff of wind. They are insubstantial. There is nothing weighty about them. They have no substance. They oppress, they steal, they set their hearts on riches. They are not to be trusted.
Psa 62:10
Do not trust in oppression,
And do not become vain in robbery,
If riches increase,
Do not set your heart on them.’
Those who trust in God (the ones to whom the Psalm is addressed) are not to be like them. They are not to trust in oppression, heavy handedness and bullying. They are not to reveal their shallowness by engaging in theft and robbery. They are not to let wealth take possession of them. (They are rather to trust in God, walk honestly before Him, and hold on to wealth lightly. Their hearts are to be set on God).
Psa 62:11-12
‘God has spoken once, twice have I heard this,
That power belongs to God.
Also unto you, O Lord, belongs covenant love,
For you render to every man according to his work.’
In contrast to such men is God. Whilst men may appear powerful it is with God that power really lies. Indeed God has twice repeated the fact that power belongs to Him. He is over all. In the end all will be decided according to His plan and will. For He is Lord.
But with God there is no danger of His power being misused. For God acts in covenant love towards those who look to Him. He enters into a covenant of love with all who will respond to him, and behaves accordingly. Towards those who respond to His covenant He is totally reliable. He deals with men openly and honestly. He renders to every man according to his work. As Paul puts it. ‘To those who by patient endurance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and incorruption, he gives eternal life, but to those who are factious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and indignation’ (Rom 2:7-8).
Man is not saved by his works, but his works reveal what kind of a man he is. He either stands up to examination because His trust is in God, or he is weighed in the balances and found wanting because his trust is elsewhere.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Psa 62:9. A lie That is, deceitful; because unable to perform what they seem by their outward appearance to promise: or a lie may signify a mere nothing; for a lie has no reality.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Here are additional reasons urged for our firm reliance on the Lord, because all other trusts must deceive, and prove vain. And the Psalmist takes an instance, in proof, from the deceitfulness of riches. If men of the world would but keep in remembrance the solemn words of Christ, how contemptible would then appear that folly which is directed to the gaining of the world, with the loss of the soul? Oh! what a dreadful sentence must that be, when heard by the dying sinner; Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee; then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided? Luk 12:20 ; Mar 8:36-37 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 62:9 Surely men of low degree [are] vanity, [and] men of high degree [are] a lie: to be laid in the balance, they [are] altogether [lighter] than vanity.
Ver. 9. Surely men of low degree are vanity ] Man is a depending creature, and, like the vine, must have somewhat to lean upon; apt he is to leave God, and cleave to the creature, to make either men or means his refuge; David therefore dehorteth from both, in this and the next verse showing that men of what degree soever are in nowise to be confided in. The word rendered vanity denoteth a vain light thing, such as is the breath of one’s mouth or a bubble on the water
Men of high degree are a lie
They are altogether, lighter,. &c. NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 62:9-10
9Men of low degree are only vanity and men of rank are a lie;
In the balances they go up;
They are together lighter than breath.
10Do not trust in oppression
And do not vainly hope in robbery;
If riches increase, do not set your heart upon them.
Psa 62:9-10 This strophe addresses all humans from different levels of society (i.e., low degree. . .rank). Without faith/trust in God they are vanity (BDB 210 I) and lies (BDB 469). The MT has sons of men twice. The translations get low degree and rank from a similar phrase in Psa 49:2. The JPSOA has Men are mere breath; mortals (BDB 35), illusion, which rejects the link to Psa 49:2 as a parallel and interpret the sons of Adam (BDB 9) and sons of Ish as parallel and referring to all humans. To me it does seem that Psa 62:10 refers to the exploitation of the poor and powerless by the socially elite of Israel, and Psalms 49 would be a good parallel.
The second statement uses the imagery of commercial scales. In Hebrew that which is heavy is honorable/valuable; that which is light (i.e., breath, BDB 210 I used twice) is dishonorable.
Psa 62:10 has three jussives admonishing the faithless followers.
1. do not trust in oppression BDB 105, KB 120, Qal imperfect negated used in a jussive sense
2. do not vainly hope in robbery BDB 211, KB 236, Qal imperfect negated used in a jussive sense
3. do not set your heart on increasing wealth BDB 1011, KB 1483, Qal imperfect negated used in a jussive sense
Based on this strophe and Psa 62:4, the people being addressed are members of Israel’s elite class (i.e., civil, military, commerce).
Psa 62:9 vanity. . .breath These are both translations of the Hebrew term (BDB 210 I). This is one of two key terms in Ecclesiastes. See my notes on the word at Ecc 1:2 online at www.freebiblecommentary.org.
Surely. Same word as “truly”, Psa 62:1.
men of low degree = sons of ‘adam. App-14.
vanity = a breath.
men of high degree = sons of ‘Ish. App-14.
altogether = together.
Psa 62:9-12
Psa 62:9-12
FUTILITY OF ALL HELP EXCEPT GOD’S
“Surely men of low degree are vanity; and men of high degree are a lie:
In the balances they will go up;
They are together lighter than vanity.
Trust not in oppression,
And become not vain in robbery:
If riches increase, set not your heart thereon.
God hath spoken once,
Twice have I heard this,
That power belongeth unto God.
Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth lovingkindness;
For thou renderest to every man according to his work.”
“Men of low degree … high degree” (Psa 62:9). “The two Hebrew words from which these two renditions come mean: “Adam,” and “man. Adam is construed as indicating men of “low degree” as contrasted with the others. The point is that, “All men” are mortal, sinful, weak, vulnerable and absolutely temporary – “Here today and gone tomorrow.” These words are not intended to derogate all mankind, but merely to emphasize humanity as contrasted with the Creator. “It is not that we have nothing to fear from humanity, but that we have nothing to hope for from men.
“Are vanity” (Psa 62:9). The marginal reading here, “a breath,” is an expression which strongly resembles the words of James, “What is you life? For ye are a vapor that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away” (Jas 4:14). In all of the great needs, such as salvation, spiritual strength, protection from temptation, safety from enemies, etc., men are incapable of providing that help which can be found only “in Him who loved us and gave himself up to die upon our behalf.”
“In the balances they will go up” (Psa 62:9). The Jerusalem Bible renders these words: “Put them in the scales, and up they go, lighter than a puff of wind.” The imagery here, of course, is based upon the ancient balances, the form of scales used for thousands of years.
These last verses are didactic, that is, having precepts to be taught, as indicated by Yates, above.
“Trust not in oppression … robbery . .. riches, nor power” (Psa 62:10-11). Delitzsch considered these admonitions to have been addressed to the people who might have been tempted to join Absalom in the rebellion against David. He stated the thought here as, “The new kingship (of Absalom) carries within itself the germ of ruin; and God, as Judge, will decide between the usurpers and the dethroned, in accordance with the relationship in which they stand to God. This is stated in Psa 62:12.
“Power and lovingkindness belong to God” (Psa 62:11-12). These attributes will enable God to judge all men in righteousness and truth, giving to every man “according to his works.” Dummelow pointed out that, “Power and Mercy are the two sides of the full-orbed character of God; and both qualities are displayed in his unerring judgments of men.
“Lovingkindness” (Psa 62:12). How frequently have we encountered this word in the Davidic psalms! It surely must have been one of David’s favorite words regarding God.
“To every man according to his work” (Psa 62:12). In the last analysis, it is the “works” of men upon which Almighty God will base the final decision regarding their destiny. No, we do not mean that any man either can or ever did “earn” salvation.
What needs to be emphasized is that the “cheap grace” that has become the badge of decadent Protestantism is a foolish and deceitful error. Whoever indulges continually in sin is a servant of the devil, not of the Lord; and the Christian who does nothing good is good for nothing, much less heaven.
Men seem to have forgotten that Christ, the Head of our holy religion, gave us a preview of the Judgment in Matthew 25; in which account, the saved and the lost were distinguished from each other by the simple record of “who did” and “who did not.”
Furthermore, Paul did not contradict Jesus and give us a whole new system of salvation “by faith alone,” or by “grace alone.” Did he not write, “We must all be made manifest before the judgment-seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, whether it be good or bad” (2Co 5:10)?
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 62:9. Low degree and high degree refer to the professed ranks of the men. But whatever their stations in life, if they are laid in the balance, which means to be put to the test of real merit, their pretensions will be exposed.
Psa 62:10. The first clause is addressed to men using the wrong means for gain. Even if they should apparently succeed, the success would not Justify their vain boasts. If riches should come to a man from righteous sources, yet it would be foolish to become attached to them. The mere obtaining of wealth is not wrong. The means of getting it and the attitude towards it or use made of it is what counts. Paul taught this lesson in 1Ti 6:10; 1Ti 6:17.
Psa 62:11. Once and twice are used in a general sense. It means that God had spoken so clearly on the subject that no room for doubt was left. It was evident that the Lord is the source of all true strength.
Psa 62:12. The strength of God is not used without mercy. Due consideration is always shown to those who recognize the power of the Lord and who strive to be worthy objects of its benefits.
Surely: Psa 39:5, Psa 39:11, 1Sa 18:5, 1Sa 18:7, 1Sa 23:12, 1Sa 23:19, 1Sa 23:20, 2Sa 15:6, Mat 21:9, Joh 19:15
of high: Psa 55:13, Psa 55:14, Psa 118:9, 1Sa 18:21-26, 1Sa 26:21-25, 2Sa 15:31, Rom 3:4
laid: Dan 5:27
altogether: or, alike
lighter: Isa 40:15, Isa 40:17
Reciprocal: Jdg 16:18 – Come up 1Sa 16:21 – loved him 1Sa 30:6 – the people 2Sa 3:12 – Make 2Sa 3:36 – as 2Sa 11:14 – wrote a letter 2Sa 15:13 – The hearts 2Sa 20:2 – every man Job 6:21 – ye are nothing Job 7:16 – my days Job 11:12 – For vain Psa 5:9 – For Psa 49:2 – General Psa 52:7 – trusted Psa 118:8 – General Psa 144:4 – Man Psa 146:3 – Put Pro 19:22 – and Pro 30:8 – Remove Ecc 1:2 – General Ecc 12:8 – General Isa 2:22 – Cease Isa 5:15 – the mean Isa 47:10 – thou hast trusted Jer 17:5 – Cursed Dan 6:9 – signed Dan 11:27 – speak lies Mic 1:14 – houses Mar 14:1 – by 1Co 3:6 – God Jam 1:9 – the brother
Psa 62:9. Surely men of low degree are vanity Are most vain, impotent, and helpless creatures in themselves. This he delivers as a reason, or argument, to enforce his foregoing exhortation to trust in God, because there was no other person or thing to which they could safely trust. Men of high degree are a lie That is, deceitful; because unable to perform what by their power and dignity they seem to promise. They raise mens expectations, and afterward disappoint them, and so deceive those that trust in them. In which sense lying is ascribed to a fountain, Jer 15:18; to wine, Hos 9:2; and to the olive, Heb 3:17, (see the Hebrew,) when they do not give what they promise. Or, a lie may signify, a mere nothing; for a lie has no reality in it.
3. David’s entreaty to trust only in God 62:9-12
It is unwise to put one’s ultimate confidence in other people, whether they are of low or high position. The reason for this is that all human beings are comparatively insignificant. They are as transitory and ephemeral as a breath of wind (lit. vapor; cf. Psa 39:5; Psa 39:11; Psa 144:4; Ecc 12:1; Ecc 12:7). Consequently the actions and products of human endeavor are poor objects in which to trust.
"The point, then, is not so much that we have nothing to fear from man (as in Psa 27:1 ff.), as that we have nothing to hope from him." [Note: Kidner, p. 223.]
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)