Psalm 10 seems to make Psalm 9 more understandable. Scholars think that the two psalms were actually one long psalm, separated by a slight change in focus. The change in focus from saving a nation from its enemies to saving innocent people from wicked people made it hard for early rabbis to apply to life, so the lovely psalm got separated. (I'm assuming the separation happened before Jesus came, but I could be wrong and the early Christian Church separated the one into two. I'm no expert and my study Bible only says so much, so I'm sorry if I get some history wrong.) I felt that Psalm 9 seemed incomplete and now I know why.
Psalm 9 starts with King David saying he'll tell of God's glories, then continues to say how He has destroyed the nation's enemies and protected those that called on Him. David than asks God to save him, stating his confidence God will do so. What seemed like an abrupt end of the psalm to me was merely setting up the next verse, asking God why He hadn't rescued David yet. Psalm 9 starts with praise, has a short plea for rescue, followed by David reminding himself that God always listens. Psalm 10 starts out asking why God hadn't saved him yet, goes on to talk about how wicked men hurt and kill innocent people since they think God doesn't see their deeds. Verse 12 again asks God why He hasn't acted yet, but the rest of the verses in Psalm 10 remind the writer that even if God takes His time to rescue someone, God always hears the plea and sees the wicked deeds. He acts at the perfect time, maybe not the fastest time, but always the perfect time.
The psalm, originally written as a song of some sort, was long and a bit meandering, but it was also quite a creation. Each stanza had something to do with the letters of the original Hebrew alphabet that it was written in. That language mastery didn't come through into the English translations, but it must have been impressive to read as a poem or heard as the song it was intended to be. I assume that the poetic writing in Hebrew explains why these Psalms seem so hard for me to make sense of. I know some phrases in English that aren't nearly as funny in Spanish and some gorgeous phrases in Spanish that are boring in English. I assume that the beauty of the poetry in Hebrew just can't be reproduced accurately in English.
The combined Psalms 9 and 10 are glorious reminders to wait on God's timing. It may seem that the wicked people of this world get rich or are never punished, but both psalms ended the same. Although people can be terrifying, they are nothing compared to the all-knowing God's judgement.
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