Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 75:10
All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; [but] the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.
10. will I cut off ] If the poet is the speaker, he speaks in the name of Israel, confident that in God’s strength they will be able to complete the humiliation of their proud foes. Cp. Mic 4:13. But the speaker may be God, answering the vow of praise with a fresh promise. Cp. Psa 46:10. For the figure cp. Zec 1:18 ff.
shall be exalted ] Shall be lifted up (R.V.). Cp. 1Sa 2:10. ‘The righteous one’ is Israel, righteous by contrast with the wicked Assyrians. Cp. Hab 1:13.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
All the horns of the wicked … – See the notes at Psa 75:4. The meaning is, I will destroy all their power. This, too, may refer to the author of the psalm, supposed to be a prince or ruler about to ascend the throne, and to assert his rightful authority. This indicates his purpose in regard to his administration (compare Psa 75:2); the principles on which he would administer his government. It would be an administration under which the wicked would be punished, and where the righteous would be protected. In this manner it would be an emblem of the administration of God. All just human governments are founded on the same principles as the government of God. People have only to apply to the affairs of civil society the principles on which God governs the universe, to constitute the most perfect human administration. Those which come nearest to that, most nearly approximate perfection; and civil governments will reach their end, and accomplish their design, only when those principles shall be universally applied among people.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 10. All the horns of the wicked] All their power and influence, will I cut off; and will exalt and extend the power of the righteous. The psalmist is said to do these things, because he is as the mouth of God to denounce them. All was punctually fulfilled: the wicked – the Babylonians, were all cut off; the righteous – the Jews, called so from the holy covenant, which required righteousness, were delivered and exalted.
ANALYSIS OF THE SEVENTY-FIFTH PSALM
Bishop Nicholson supposes that David was the author of this Psalm; and that he composed it on his inauguration or entrance upon the kingdom; and by it he gives us an example of a good king.
There are three chief parts in this Psalm: –
I. A doxology, Ps 75:1; repeated, Ps 75:9.
II. His profession how to perform the regal office, Ps 75:2-3; Ps 75:10.
III. His rebuke of foolish men for mistakes occasioned, –
1. Partly by their pride when they rise to great places, Ps 75:4-5.
2. That they do not consider whence their preferment comes, Ps 75:6-7.
3. That they judge not rightly of afflictions, Ps 75:8.
I. The doxology or thanksgiving.
1. He doubles it to show that it should be frequently done: “Unto thee do we give thanks; unto thee,” c.
2. His reason for it: “For that thy name is near,” – thy help is always at hand. “The Lord is nigh to all that call upon him.”
3. Of which he had experience in his exaltation to the kingdom, which he calls God’s “wondrous works.”
II. How the office of a good king is to be discharged.
1. I will judge uprightly.
2. To rectify disorders. They had need of a just and upright king. 1. The land and its inhabitants were disorganized. 2. He was the only stay and support of the state: “I bear up the pillars.”
III. His rebuke of bad men.
1. They were fools, and dealt unjustly.
2. Wicked, and vaunted their wealth and power.
3. They used their power to oppress.
4. They were obstinate in their oppression of the poor. He refers to their false judgments.
1. They supposed that their authority and influence came by their own merit and for them they were accountable to none.
2. They did not consider that God was the author of power, c.
3. Their third mistake was, they imputed afflictions to a wrong cause, and did not consider that they came from God.
To show this, the Psalmist uses an elegant comparison, comparing God to the master of a feast, who invites and entertains all kinds of men at his table who has a cup of mixed wine in his hand, by which he represents the miseries of this life. To all God reaches this cup; and every one drinks of it, some more, some less.
1. “In the hand of the Lord there is a cup.” He apportions the afflictions of men.
2. “The wine is red.” The high-coloured feculent wine, i.e., afflictions.
3. “It is full of mixture,” not all sour, nor sweet, nor bitter. The strength of it is tempered by God to the circumstances of his creatures.
4. “He poureth out of the same.” He gives to all, some even to his own children. ALL must drink of this cup.
5. But the lees or dregs of it “all the wicked of the earth shall wring out.” Those who are incorrigible have afflictions without benefit; they wring the dregs out. On them God’s judgments fall without mitigation.
He concludes the Psalm with –
1. A repetition of his thanks: “I will declare for ever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.”
2. A protestation of his duty: 1. “I will cut off the horns of the wicked.” 2. “I will exalt the horns of the righteous.” Those who exalt themselves shall be abased: those who humble themselves shall be exalted.
Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento,
(Hae tibi erunt artes) pacisque imponere morem;
Parcere subjectis, et debellare superbos.
VIRG. AEn. lib. vi., ver. 851.
“But, Rome, ’tis thine alone, with awful sway
To rule mankind, and make the world obey,
Disposing peace and war thy own majestic way:
To tame the proud, the fettered slave to free:
These are imperial arts, and worthy thee.”
DRYDEN.
These lines of the Roman poet contain precisely the same sentiment that is expressed in the tenth verse of the Psalm. And thus God acts in the government of the world, dealing with nations as they have dealt with others: so the conquerors are conquered; the oppressed, raised to honour and dominion.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The horns of the wicked; their honour and power, which they made an instrument of mischief to oppress good men. A metaphor from horned and mischievous beasts.
I will cut off, when I shall be advanced to the throne, and have power and authority to do what now I can only desire and pray for.
The horns of the righteous shall be exalted; good men shall be encouraged and promoted, and intrusted with the management of all public affairs, which will be a great blessing to all my people.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off,…. Therefore let them not lift up the horn on high: “horns” denote the power and authority of wicked men, their kingdoms and states; both Rome Pagan and Rome Papal are said to have ten horns, which are interpreted of ten kings or kingdoms; and which will be cut off when the vials of God’s wrath are poured out on the antichristian states; which vials will be filled from the cup which is in the hand of the Lord,
Re 12:1, the Jews b interpret this of the ten horns of the nations of the world, that shall be cut off in future time; and Jarchi particularly of the horns of Esau, by whom he means Rome, or the Roman empire:
but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted; either of the righteous one Christ, for the word is in the singular number; he who is the Lord our righteousness, whose power and authority, kingdom and government, shall be enlarged and increased, signified by the budding of the horn of David, and the exaltation of the horn of his Messiah, 1Sa 2:10 or of everyone of the righteous, which will be when the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, and they shall reign with Christ on earth a thousand years, Da 7:27. Kimchi says this will be in the war of Gog and Magog, which is expected by the Jews.
b Vid. Yalkut in loc.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(10) Will I cut.The Divine speaker again abruptly takes up the word in this verse. (For the abruptness, comp. Isa. 48:15.) The cutting off of the horns recalls Zec. 1:18 seq.; Lam. 2:3.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
10. All the horns of the wicked will I cut off Conforming my administration to thine, I also will break off “the horns” destroy the official power of such wicked persons as rise contemptuously against thee, thus setting at defiance all the laws of the commonwealth, as well as the religion established by thy authority, and will cherish and promote such as faithfully keep thy laws. This breaking the horns of the wicked and setting up the righteous, is a Davidic vow and maxim of government, (see Psalms 101,) and purely theocratic. The reader must not take this as a declared purpose to persecute men for want of religious faith, but a statement of the psalmist’s settled policy not to honour with office in the government, men whose loose principles and vicious habits will make them hurtful to the liberty and virtue of others, and unfit them to administer impartial law.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
REFLECTIONS
PRECIOUS Jesus! thou art the name of Jehovah to poor sinners, for all that is fair, and lovely, and engaging, is found in thy name. Lord! (may the church of thy redeemed well say) to thee do we give thanks; yea, unto thee do we give thanks.
But how shall we sufficiently adore thee, O thou Lamb of God; that for us thou didst take the cup of trembling, and drink it up to the very dregs, that thy people might take the cup of salvation, and obtain redemption in thy blood! Was it for creatures such as we are? Was it for me, even for me, O thou gracious benefactor, that thou didst condescend to be made sin, and a curse, that I might he made the righteousness of God in thee? And didst thou die, the just for the unjust, to bring us unto God? Oh! for grace to live to thee, who hast died for me; and henceforth to know nothing among men, but Jesus Christ, and him crucified. Oh! Lord! help me, as often as I look at thy cross, to connect with it this gracious view, Jesus drank the cup of trembling, that I might drink the cup of salvation: Jesus groaned on the cross, that his redeemed might triumph in death. The Head took all the sorrows and stings of death, that the members might have none to feel: Christ’s soul was full of horror and darkness, that their souls might be full of joy and light. Help me , Lord, often to commemorate this love unequalled at thy table. Yes, I would take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord: I would pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people; yea, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord. Amen.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 75:10 All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; [but] the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.
Ver. 10. All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off ] By promising the due administration of vindictive and remunerative justice, he seeks to insinuate into the people’s affections, who, after Isbosheth’s death, came in to make him king.
But the horns of the righteous shall be exalted
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the righteous = a righteous one.
To the chief Musician. See App-64.
Neginoth = smitings; refers to the smitings of the wicked in judgment. See App-65.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 75:10
Psa 75:10
“All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off;
But the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.”
The problem of this verse is simply, “Who says this?” Most of the scholars seem to think that these are the words of the psalmist, but the problem with that is that no ordinary person, even a righteous person, has the power and ability to do what is here indicated. What mortal man can say, “I will lift up the righteous and cast down the wicked?”
“Psa 75:10 is best understood as a statement of the psalmist’s own purpose. God’s servants are his instruments in carrying out his judgments; and there is a very real sense in which all of them should seek to fight against dominant evil and to cripple the power of tyrannous godlessness.
Maclaren’s words appeal to some, but we cannot agree that these words are appropriate in the mouth of any ordinary man, no matter how devoted to God he may be.
McCaw proposes a way out of the difficulty by supposing that it is The King of Israel who makes the statements in Psa 75:10, in which case they would indeed be appropriate. However the problem with this is that Asaph, not the King of Israel, is supposed to be the psalmist. Making the psalm some kind of a liturgical procedure, with the king standing in for these lines would be an adequate explanation; but no such information is available to us.
For these reasons, we believe that it is God Himself who speaks here. He is the only Being in heaven or upon earth who actually has the ability to do what is pledged in Psa 75:10. An apostle enlightens us upon the question of who really does the exalting anyway. “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time” (1Pe 5:6).
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 75:10. With the help of God David proposed to act against the wicked. Horns means power and David would destroy that of the unrighteous.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
All the horns: Psa 101:8, Jer 48:25, Zec 1:20, Zec 1:21
but the horns: Psa 89:17, Psa 92:10, Psa 148:14, Luk 1:69
Reciprocal: 2Sa 3:39 – I am Job 16:15 – defiled my horn Psa 112:9 – horn Isa 51:17 – which hast Jer 38:10 – the king Lam 2:3 – the horn 1Pe 5:6 – that
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
75:10 All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; [but] the horns of the {g} righteous shall be exalted.
(g) The godly will better prosper by their innocent simplicity, than the wicked will by all their craft and subtilty.