The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.
The verse was written by Asaph, Ethan, and others during the latter portion of the Babylonian captivity in the reign of Belshazzar, when the persecution and distress of the Jews were greatest, and it speaks of the sorrows and afflictions of the Hebrew captives. The wicked, driven by pride, persecute the poor. The verse gives light on present conditions and proves the world is not growing better, describing oppression seen on every side in the suffering of the fatherless, cripples, widows, homeless, and persecuted servants of God.
Faced with this oppression, the righteous ask why God stands afar off and seems silent in times of trouble. The prayer that the wicked be taken in the devices they have imagined is a plea for God to execute justice for the sake of the poor and oppressed, not merely to satisfy a desire for vengeance. God sees all this oppression and has not forgotten it. The verse joins exhortation and encouragement with assurance of divine help and final deliverance from persecutors, for a day of retribution is coming when every person will receive a just reward and only a remnant will be saved when Christ comes.
The verse was written by Asaph, Ethan, and others during the latter portion of the Babylonian captivity in the reign of Belshazzar, when the persecution and distress of the Jews were greatest, and it speaks of the sorrows and afflictions of the Hebrew captives. The wicked, driven by pride, persecute the poor. The verse gives light on present conditions and proves the world is not growing better, describing oppression seen on every side in the suffering of the fatherless, cripples, widows, homeless, and persecuted servants of God.
Faced with this oppression, the righteous ask why God stands afar off and seems silent in times of trouble. The prayer that the wicked be taken in the devices they have imagined is a plea for God to execute justice for the sake of the poor and oppressed, not merely to satisfy a desire for vengeance. God sees all this oppression and has not forgotten it. The verse joins exhortation and encouragement with assurance of divine help and final deliverance from persecutors, for a day of retribution is coming when every person will receive a just reward and only a remnant will be saved when Christ comes.