The Reign of the Lord: Victory, Justice, and Refuge

What it will mean when the Lord reigns is told out in these verses. His enemies will be defeated; He rebukes the nations and destroys the wicked; He judgeth the world in righteousness, and He is a refuge for His people. The Lord will dwell in Zion, Israel will sing praises and become the witness amongst the nations.

Gaebelein, A. C. (2009). The Annotated Bible: Ezra to Psalms (Vol. 3, p. 228). Logos Bible Software. (Public Domain)

“When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish before your presence. For you have maintained my just cause; you have sat on the throne, giving righteous judgment. You have rebuked the nations; you have made the wicked perish; you have blotted out their name forever and ever. The enemy came to an end in everlasting ruins; their cities you rooted out; the very memory of them has perished. But the Lord sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for justice, and he judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with uprightness. The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you. Sing praises to the Lord, who sits enthroned in Zion! Tell among the peoples his deeds! For he who avenges blood is mindful of them; he does not forget the cry of the afflicted.” (Psalm 9:3–12, ESV)

The connection of thought with the previous verse demands rather “consequently” than “also”—an inference, and not merely an additional fact. It is because God rules the nations and the people of the earth in righteousness that he will surely prove himself a refuge for the oppressed. For it is mainly to vindicate the cause of the oppressed that God rules the nations at all, his purpose being to restrain sin and crime and to break in pieces the oppressor. They who know God’s name in the sense of knowing these grand elements of his glorious character as a righteous ruler of wicked men and wicked devils will surely put their trust in him, for all the history of time shows that God has never forsaken those who have sought his aid against wrong-doers.

Cowles, H. (1879). The Psalms, With Notes, Critical, Explanatory, and Practical (pp. 40–41). D. Appleton & Company. (Public Domain)

The poor and weak, such as have no might nor power, and are thrown down and trampled upon, as the wordⁱ signifies; and such are the people of God. They are oppressed with the burden of sin; they are bowed down with Satan and his temptations; and are sometimes pressed out of measure, and above their strength, with the persecutions of men; they are trodden underfoot by antichrist, or otherwise are bore down with a variety of sorrows and afflictions; but the Lord is a refuge for them. The Chaldee paraphrase renders it as before, the Word of the Lord, the eternal Logos, the Son of God: he is a refuge for poor sensible sinners, fleeing from wrath to come; being typified by the cities of refuge, whither the manslayer fled from the avenger of blood: he is the strong hold for the prisoners of hope to turn into; his name is a strong tower and place of defence for oppressed saints; he is a refuge when all others fail, and at all times, in the day of affliction, and in the hour of death, and at judgment. A refuge in times of trouble; of which the saints have many, as when God hides his face, when corruptions prevail, when grace is low in exercise, and temptations are strong, yet even then Christ is the refuge from the storm; the salvation of his people is of him, and he is their strength in every time of trouble; see Isa. 25:4; Psal. 37:39.

i לדך attrito, Cocceius, Gejerus; contrito, Michaelis.

Gill, J. (1810). An Exposition of the Old Testament (Vol. 3, p. 560). Mathews and Leigh. (Public Domain)

“For you have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat; for the breath of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall,” (Isaiah 25:4, ESV)

“The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; he is their stronghold in the time of trouble.” (Psalm 37:39, ESV)