Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 82:8
Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.
8. The Psalmist has watched the trial and condemnation of Israel’s judges; and the sight stirs him to appeal to God Himself to assume the office of Judge not only for Israel but for all the world. If Israel’s judges have failed so lamentably in their duty towards their own countrymen, how can Israel rule the world, though all the nations have been promised to its kings for their inheritance (Psa 2:8)? Nay, God Himself Thou is emphatic must take possession of all the nations as their Sovereign and their Judge.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Arise, O God, judge the earth – That is, Since there is such a failure in the administration of justice by those to whom it pertains, and who are appointed to do it in thy stead, do thou, O God, come forth thyself, and see that justice is executed among people. Do thou take the matter into thine own hands, and see that impartial justice is done everywhere among people. It pertains to thee as the great Proprietor of the earth to exercise justice; and we have nowhere else to look when men fail to do their duty.
For thou shalt inherit all nations – Or rather, All nations belong to thee as thine inheritance; that is, as thine own. The word inherit is used here, as it often is, merely to denote possession or proprietorship, without reference to the question how the possession is obtained. The word strictly refers to what has been received from parents, or what people are heirs to; and, in this sense, it is commonly applied to the land of Palestine, either as what was derived by the Jewish people from their ancestors the patriarchs, or as what they had received from God as a Father. Exo 32:13; Deu 1:38; Deu 12:10. It is here used simply in the sense of possessing it. That is, the whole earth belonged to God, and the administration of its affairs pertained to him. As those had failed who had been appointed under him to the office of judges – as they had not been faithful to their trust – as no confidence could be reposed in them, – the psalmist calls upon God to interfere, either by appointing other magistrates; or by leading those who were in office to just views of their duty; or by his own direct judgments, punishing the wicked, and rewarding the righteous, by the interpositions of his providence. We may hence learn
(1) That there are times on earth when wickedness is so prevalent, and when there is such a want of faithfulness in civil rulers, that we have no other resource but to call upon God to interpose.
(2) That it is right to call upon Him to see that justice should be done in the earth even in the punishment of the guilty, since all the interests of society depend on the proper administration of justice.
(3) For the same reason it is right to pray that God would judge the world, and that justice may be done on the human race.
It is desirable and proper that justice should be done; hence, there is no malignity in desiring that there may be a universal judgment, and that the affairs of the universe should be placed on an equal and righteous foundation. It is possible that there may be a just and holy joy at the idea that justice is done, and that God shows himself the friend of truth, of order, and of law. Compare Psa 58:10, note; Rev 19:1-3, notes.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 82:8
Arise, O God, judge the earth: for Thou shalt inherit all nations.
The true hope of the world
This cry is–
I. One of the deepest cries of universal man. This cry, in some form or other, goes up to Heaven in every language udder the sky. Arise, O God. There is no hope but in Thee, Thine arm is mighty, etc.
II. Implies the want of confidence in all creature help. Men have tried to put the world right. Moralists, statesmen, philanthropists, saints, have all tried. Every age has been rife with remedial schemes, but all have proved ineffective. Arise, O God, etc.
III. Involves a confidence in the possibility of securing Divine interposition. What rational spirit would cry to Him if it believed that His assistance was unattainable. Men have an instinctive faith in the power of prayer. Thank God, we have abundant evidence of its efficiency, in the Bible, in the memoirs of the good, and in our own experience. Call upon Me in the day of trouble, etc. (Homilist.)
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Psa 83:1-18
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 8. Arise, O God, judge the earth] Justice is perverted in the land: take the sceptre, and rule thyself.
For thou shalt inherit all nations.] Does not this last verse contain a prophecy of our Lord, the calling of the Gentiles, and the prevalence of Christianity over the earth? Thus several of the fathers have understood the passage. It is only by the universal spread of Christianity over the world, that the reign of righteousness and justice is to be established: and of whom can it be said that he shall inherit all nations, but of Jesus Christ?
ANALYSIS OF THE EIGHTY-SECOND PSALM
There are three parts in this Psalm: –
I. The prophet’s proclamation, Ps 82:1.
II. God’s controversy with the judges of the land, Ps 82:2-7.
III. The prophet’s prayer that God would rise and judge, Ps 82:8.
I. God’s presence proclaimed in court. At an assize the judge sits in the midst of the justices: “God standeth in the congregation,” c., Ps 82:1.
II. 1. He reproves them, Ps 82:2. 1. For their unjust judgment: “Ye judge unjustly.” 2. For their obstinate continuance in it: “How long will ye,” c. Ye have not done it once, but often. 3. For their partiality: “they accepted persons,” Ps 82:2.
2. He exhorts them to do their duty. 1. “Defend the poor and fatherless.” Do right to every man. 2. “Deliver the poor and needy,” Ps 82:3.
3. He acquaints them with the events that shall follow where justice is not done: all is out of order and the judges are the cause of it.
1. Through ignorance: “They know not the law,” Ps 82:5.
2. Through obstinacy: “They will not learn it,” Ps 82:5.
3. Through their determination to walk in their own way, Ps 82:5: “They walk on in darkness.”
4. They shall in consequence be brought, 1. To an untimely death: “Ye shall die like men.” 2. To a shameful death: “Ye shall fall like one of the princes,” ye shall have a mighty fall, Ps 82:7.
III. The prophet’s prayer. Since judgment and justice have failed in the land, he says, 1. “Arise, O Lord! ” He does not say, Arise, O people, and put down those unjust judges. No their function is from God, and God alone is to reform, or strip, or punish them. 2. “Judge the earth.” Take the state of all people into thy consideration: there is much injustice in the earth. 3. For this petition he gives a reason: “For thou shalt inherit all nations,” Ps 82:8. Publish thy own laws, appoint thy own officers and let them in thy name dispense righteousness and true holiness throughout the world.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Seeing the state of the world is so universally corrupt and desperate, and thy vicegerents betray their trust, and oppress and ruin the nations of the earth, whom they were appointed to preserve, do thou therefore, O God, take the sword of justice into thine own hand, and maintain the cause and rights of the oppressed against their potent oppressors, and let truth and justice be established in all the parts of the earth. For as thou wast the Creator, so thou still art the supreme and unquestionable Lord, and Possessor, and Ruler of all nations, and therefore do thou protect and rescue them from all those who invade thine and their rights. And although at present thou seemest in some sort to confine thy care to Israel, and to neglect other nations; yet there is a time coming when thou wilt bring all nations to the knowledge of thyself, and the obedience of thy laws, and govern them by thy Son and Spirit, which thou wilt send into the world for that purpose. Do thou therefore preserve them in the mean time till that blessed day cometh, and hasten the coming of it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. As rightful sovereign ofearth, God is invoked personally to correct the evils of Hisrepresentatives.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Arise, O God,…. These are the words of the prophet, or of the church, whom he represents, addressing Christ, who is God over all; that seeing there was such a corruption and degeneracy in the world, and such wretched perversion of justice, that he would arise and exert himself, and show himself strong on the behalf of his people:
judge the earth: who is the Judge of the whole earth, to whom all judgment is committed, and who will judge the world in righteousness:
for thou shalt inherit all nations; which he will do in the latter day, when he shall be King over all the earth, and the Heathen shall be given him for his inheritance, he being heir of all things; and universal justice will not take place in the world till that time comes; and therefore it is to be wished and prayed for, as by the prophet and church here.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The poet closes with the prayer for the realization of that which he has beheld in spirit. He implored God Himself to sit in judgment ( as in Lam 3:59), since judgment is so badly exercised upon the earth. All peoples are indeed His , He has an hereditary and proprietary right among (lxx and Vulgate according to Num 18:20, and frequently), or rather in ( as in , instead of the accusative of the object, Zec 2:11), all nations ( ) – may He then be pleased to maintain it judicially. The inference drawn from this point backwards, that the Psalm is directed against the possessors of power among the Gentiles, is erroneous. Israel itself, in so far as it acts inconsistently with its theocratic character, belies its sanctified nationality, is a like the , and is put into the same category with these. The judgment over the world is also a judgment over the Israel that is become conformed to the world, and its God-estranged chiefs.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
8 Arise, O God! judge the earth. The reason why this psalm concludes with a prayer has been already stated at the commencement. The prophet, finding that his admonitions and remonstrances were ineffectual, and that princes, inflated with pride, treated with contempt all instruction on the principles of equity, addresses himself to God, and calls upon Him to repress their insolence. By this means, the Holy Spirit furnishes us with ground of comfort whenever we are cruelly treated by tyrants. We may perceive no power on earth to restrain their excesses; but it becomes us to lift up our eyes to heaven, and to seek redress from Him whose office it is to judge the world, and who does not claim this office to himself in vain. It is therefore our bounden duty to beseech him to restore to order what is embroiled in confusion. The reason of this which immediately follows — for thou shalt inherit all nations — is understood by some as a prophecy concerning the kingdom of Christ, by whom God has brought all nations in subjection to himself. But it is to be viewed in a more extensive sense, as implying that God has a rightful claim to the obedience of all nations, and that tyrants are chargeable with wickedly and unjustly wresting from him his prerogative of bearing rule, when they set at nought his authority, and confound good and evil, right and wrong. We ought therefore to beseech him to restore to order the confusions of the world, and thus to recover the rightful dominion which he has over it.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(8) Arise.The psalm would have been incomplete had not the poet here resumed in his own person, with an appeal to the Supreme Judge to carry His decrees into effect against the oppressors of Israel. Here, at least, if not all through it, the affliction of the community, and the perversion of justice by foreign rulers, are the motives of the song. It is as if, despairing of the amendment of the corrupt magistrates, the poet, pleading for Israel, takes his case out of their hands, as Cranmer in the play takes his case out of the hands of the council, and entrusts it to the Great Judge of the world, to whom, as a special inheritance, Israel belonged, but who was also to show His claim to the submission and obedience of all nations.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. Arise, O God, judge the earth The king now speaks. As the earth is full of misrule and violence, God is invoked, as the blessed and supreme “judge,” to take into his own hands the disordered affairs of the world.
For thou shalt inherit all nations A prophetic anticipation of Rev 11:17. “We give thanks unto thee, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 82:8. Arise, O God, &c. Arise, O God, judge the land thyself: for thou art the rightful possessor of all nations: “Since the judges, thy vicegerents, are so corrupt, take the government of the land into thine own hands.” Green. This verse in a higher sense may refer to the reign of the Messiah; who was to have the heathen, &c. Psa 2:8 and to whom God would commit all judgment, Joh 5:22.
REFLECTIONS.1st, All power is from God: the powers that are, are ordained of God: a strong argument to enforce our obedience, and to engage them to rule with uprightness, knowing from whom they have received authority, and to whom they are accountable for the use of it.
1. God’s presence and presidence in the congregations of the mighty, and among the gods, are asserted. The magistrates of the earth, who receive their honour from him, as his vicegerents upon earth, are appointed to administer judgment with impartiality, according to God’s holy word; and his eye is ever upon them, observing their conduct, for which they must answer before him in the great day of his appearing and glory.
2. God gives a solemn charge to his delegates. They are to be the defenders of the poor and fatherless; to do justice to the afflicted and needy, whose poverty, and want of friends to vindicate their rights, expose them to injuries; and, however great or rich their oppressors, they must deliver them out of their wicked hands. Note; (1.) They who are poor, are too often trampled upon. (2.) It is a grievous thing when the law is made so expensive, that the poor cannot right themselves; or the injury sustained is more tolerable, than the method of redress.
3. God lodges an accusation against wicked magistrates. How long will ye judge unjustly, and make oppression more intolerable under the sanction of the law? and accept the persons of the wicked? awed by their greatness, or swayed by personal regard, or influenced by bribes? They know not, neither will they understand: plain as the case is, they know not to fear God, and to do justice, and wilfully pervert judgment. They walk on in darkness, partiality having blinded their eyes, and studiously avoiding the light of truth; in consequence of which, all the foundations of the earth are out of course, or moved; for when magistrates are thus unjust and oppressive, confusion and every evil work must ensue. This description is very applicable to the Jewish rulers in the days of Christ, to whom it may also prophetically refer.
2nd, God can humble the highest when they abuse their power.
1. He pronounces their doom. I have said, Ye are gods; have given you authority as my delegates; and all of you are children of the Most High, exalted to a state of singular eminence. But think not your greatness will protect you in the abuse of your power; for ye shall die like men; though as gods in the eyes of men, yet ye are dying worms in the sight of God, and ready to fall like one of the poor whom ye despise, and to be brought before God’s dread tribunal, to answer the charges lodged against you. Note; The mightiest men are mortal; let them therefore stand in awe, and sin not, lest they provoke God to cut them down.
2. The Psalmist looks up to God as the judge of the earth, to redress these grievances; and this in the high sense with a particular respect to the coming of Christ, for which he prays, who “will judge the folk righteously:” and being appointed heir of all things, and having all judgment committed to him in heaven and in earth, will come quickly according to his promise, and restore all things; redressing the evils his people have suffered in this disordered world, and recompensing tribulation to those who troubled them: so come, Lord Jesus!
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
REFLECTIONS
READER! let us pass over all lesser considerations, which the perusal of this Psalm might open to our view in the judgment of earthly powers, to behold him who is the righteous Judge, and to whom the Father hath committed all judgment. Oh! how sweet, how very sweet it is, to consider that He who is one day to be my Judge, is every day my Brother! Jesus will indeed at the last day sit upon the judgment-seat, and before him will be gathered all nations: angels, principalities, and powers, will be brought under his unerring judgment. And while such views are enough to check all unrighteous decrees among men, which will there be fully reversed; they are, or ought to be, enough also to carry conviction to the heart, that nothing can escape his all-seeing eye, nor escape his righteous judgment. But, Reader! hath Jesus already brought us under his righteous judgment? Hath he, by his blessed Spirit, made us to flee from a covenant of works, to take refuge under his own covenant of grace? Then is there no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. And if Jesus be my Judge, who hath already been my Surety; if he, who died the just for the unjust, hath wrought out a righteousness to justify the souls of his people, and shed his blood to wash them from all sin; surely, if he hath born their sins, he will not condemn their souls. He once died for them, and rose again to justify them; and when he comes to judge both quick and dead, then will he claim them as his own, and declare their righteousness in him, before a congregated world. The very words which he will then utter are already recorded; and what shall reverse his sentence? Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Well might the church cry out of old, and well may every believer now join in the declaration:, The Lord is our judge; the Lord is our lawgiver; the Lord is our king; he will save us!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 82:8 Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.
Ver. 8. Arise, O God, judge the earth ] Take the matter into thine own hand, for it is but time, all things here being, so ill-ordered by thy substitutes; nam alioqui prae iudiciorum constupratione terra tota videtur collapsura, all will be nought else.
For thou shalt inherit all nations
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
judge = judge Thou.
nations = the nations.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 82:8
Psa 82:8
THE CONCLUSION
“Arise, O God, judge the earth;
For thou shalt inherit all the nations.”
In these words, we have a petition by the psalmist, God’s message to the false judges having been just concluded by the sentence of death pronounced upon them by God, with the strong intimation that their death would be by providential action upon God’s part to remove them.
The psalmist here seems to have been one of those Israelites mentioned by the prophet Amo 5:18-20. Such persons were always calling for God to “Arise and bring on the Judgment Day.” As Amos so thoroughly explained, the Judgment Day would be a day of sorrow rather than a day of joy for the vast majority of mankind.
Many of the ancient Jews, however, believed that the Day of Judgment would be a time when God would suddenly appear, kill all the Gentiles, or reduce them to slavery under the Jews, and commit the management of the whole world to “the chosen people.” Amos did his best to destroy that conception, but, nevertheless, the attitude persisted; and it appears to us that there remains some residue of it in this concluding verse. (See the comments on this in commentary on Amo 5:18.)
It might have been this possible meaning of Psa 82:8 that led Briggs to label the verse as a gloss. However, there is no necessity whatever to deny the verse as a true statement by the psalmist, regardless of its implications.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 82:8. God has rightful control over all things and nations. Therefore David pleaded with him to judge the earth; that is, bring some judgment or punishment upon all unrighteous persons of the earth.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Arise: Psa 7:6, Psa 44:26, Psa 96:13, Psa 102:13, Isa 51:9, Mic 7:2, Mic 7:7, Zep 3:8
thou: Psa 2:8, Psa 22:28, Rev 11:15
Reciprocal: Jdg 11:27 – the Judge Isa 2:4 – And he Isa 66:18 – that I Mic 4:3 – he shall judge Zec 2:12 – inherit
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
GOD AS JUDGE
Arise, O God, and judge Thou the earth: for Thou shalt take all heathen to Thine inheritance.
Psa 82:8 (Prayer Book Version)
The psalmists and prophets of old earnestly desired that God would arise to judge the earth. They desired it not for their own sakes, but for the earths sake. We are wont to divide the advent of mercy from the advent of judgment by an immense tract of ages. When we read the Prophets, we are perplexed by finding these advents brought together as if they were parts of the same transaction, as if one could scarcely be separated from the other. This apparent union of opposite subjects, of times far separated, is not less characteristic of Evangelists and Apostles than of the elder men. Very seldom indeed do they speak of Christ as having come without bidding His followers look for Him and wait for Him as about to come. How is this habit of speech to be accounted for?
I. The Church does not distinguish the advent of our Lord from His incarnation.She regards His coming upon this earth as His coming into our nature. Another thought was combined in the minds of the Apostles with this, without which it is imperfect. They believed that man was made in the image of God; they believed that He Who is the perfect image of God must set forth, can alone set forth, true and perfect manhood. What follows? The advent of Christ was the advent of the true King, and Head, and Judge of men; it could be nothing else if it was the advent of the Son of God, of Him after Whose likeness men were created.
II. Christ appearing in great humility neither completed the salvation nor the judgment.His resurrection and ascension were to carry on what the Incarnation had begun. The message of full redemption, of an advent for judgment, must rest upon them. St. Paul was the witness of a justification for every man, of a justification for mankind. And therefore St. Paul was the great preacher of judgment. The revelation of Gods righteousness for the justification of men was, he said, itself the revelation of Gods wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness.
III. Substitute for this idea of an advent the mere notion of a birth taking place at a certain period in Bethlehem, of that being the birth of the Founder of our religion, of that being the birth from which we date our time; and see how inevitably all the conclusions which seemed so natural to the Apostles become utterly unnatural and incredible to us.We may give what glorious titles to our Lord we please; but in that case He is but a man exalted above men, not the Root and Head of humanity. No warnings of divines can prevent us from falling back upon the old question, Where is the promise of His coming?
IV. The question has been answered; all things have not continued as they were since the fathers fell asleep.God has been testifying to the conscience of each human being that the hour is at hand when he must be tried and judged, when he will be asked by the Son of Man whether he has owned or despised Him in the least of His brethren.
Rev. F. D. Maurice.
Illustration
The judges have had the name of authority, and its position, but through their failure they are to be degraded. The psalm ends with an appeal to God to arise and judge the earth. This is ever the cry of the man of faith when he stands in the presence of the wrongs and oppressions obtaining among the poor and afflicted. There is nothing the world needs to-day more than the administration of strict and impartial justice, and there is no greater comfort to the heart than the conviction that the prayer of the Psalmist, multiplied ten thousandfold in the passing centuries by all who have been and still are conscious of prevailing injustice, will yet be answered. Gods day of judgment will be a day of mercy in the largest sense.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Psa 82:8. Arise, O God, judge the earth Seeing the state of the world is so universally corrupt and desperate, and the vicegerents betray their trust, and oppress the nations of the earth, which they were appointed to preserve, do thou, therefore, O God, take the sword of justice into thine own hand, and maintain the cause and right of the oppressed against their potent oppressors, and let truth and justice be established in all parts of the earth. For thou shalt inherit all nations For, as thou wast the Creator, so thou still art the supreme and unquestionable Lord, Possessor, and Ruler, of all nations, and therefore do thou protect and rescue thy people from all those who invade thine and their rights. This prayer will in due time be fully answered; or, rather, it is a prophecy which shall be perfectly accomplished at the proper season. A time is coming when God will bring all nations to the knowledge of himself, and to obedience to his laws; and then he will govern them by his Son, to whom he has committed all judgment, and by his Spirit, the one source of truth, justice, and mercy, and of all righteousness and peace.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
82:8 Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit {f} all nations.
(f) Therefore no tyrant will pluck your right and authority from you.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
3. The call for divine judgment 82:8
Asaph concluded this psalm by calling for God to judge the whole earth, not just Israel. The world, then as now, needed righteous judgment that only God, the righteous Judge, can provide. God’s provision of Jesus Christ, to whom He has committed all judgment (Joh 5:22-30), was His answer to this petition.
The need for righteous judgment and the cry for it will continue until Jesus Christ reigns and judges. He will judge at various times in the future. For the Christian, this will take place at the judgment seat of Christ (2Co 5:10). For Tribulation saints and Old Testament saints it will be just after He returns at His second coming (Rev 20:4; Rev 20:6; Isa 26:19; Dan 12:2). For all unbelievers it will be at the great white throne judgment (Rev 20:11-15).