Psalms 21:9
Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger: the LORD shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them. Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger: the LORD shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them.
To be made as a fiery oven means to be made like fuel or dry stubble in a heated oven, swallowed up in wrath and eaten up and destroyed with rapidity, violence and force unto utter destruction.
It foretells the destruction of the wicked in the time of God's anger, when His wrath consumes them like fire and finds out all His enemies who hate Him.
The fire devours and consumes them and does not burn forever, leaving nothing but ashes, so they cease to live and their final punishment is destruction and death rather than being kept alive forever in torment.
This comes in the coming burning day at the end, after the advent, resurrection and judgment, in the lake of fire prepared for the devil and his angels when the wicked surround the city of God after the thousand years and the burning earth melts with fervent heat.
It is just, for those who ignore His counsel and reproofs and choose worldly honor and friendship at the cost of duty place themselves among His enemies, showing His offer of mercy is not safe to treat lightly.
Language and Setting
Psalm 21:9 belongs to a song of triumph expressing confidence in God's power and goodness and assurance that wickedness will ultimately be overthrown. It declares that in the time of His anger God will make His enemies as a fiery oven. That is, they will become like fuel in a heated oven, like dry stubble cast into fire. Swallowed up in wrath, they will be consumed by fire in the day of judgment when God destroys the wicked in His anger.
The consuming is described as devouring. To devour means to eat up, to destroy, to consume with rapidity and violence. It denotes destruction accomplished with force, showing utter destruction of the wicked by fire.
Final Destruction Foretold
The verse teaches the destruction of the wicked, whose end comes when God's wrath consumes them like fire and the fire devours them. That devouring fire consumes them completely and does not burn forever, leaving nothing but ashes. They are swallowed up in wrath and cease to live, so their final punishment is destruction and death rather than being kept alive in hell forever in eternal torment.
They meet this fate in the coming burning day at the end, in the time of anger and wrath when the fire devours them. That burning does not take place while the wicked dead sleep awaiting resurrection, but after the advent and after they are raised and judged. The fiery oven is the same final punishment elsewhere called a furnace or a lake of fire, and these images do not contradict one another. It is like the fire that destroyed Sodom, and it supports the final conflagration in which the earth burns up the ungodly.
That burning is the lake of fire prepared for the devil and his angels, identified with the burning earth melting with fervent heat. It comes when the wicked surround the city of God after the thousand years, and there they are burned up like stubble. Their fruit and their seed are cut off from among men, because the earth was not made for wickedness and there will be room only for the righteous to dwell in it when they take possession of the kingdom. Since there is no other place in the universe for the wicked to remain, they are destroyed out of the earth as though they had never existed.
Justice and Warning
The verse declares that God will find out all His enemies who hate Him and bring His judgments upon them in the time of His anger. His wrath swallows them up and fire devours them, burning them up so that the wicked are destroyed out of the earth. In that judgment He may destroy what they prize and cut off their hopes and prospects. This is just when they have ignored His counsel and reproofs, showing that His offer of mercy is not safe to treat lightly.
Their fruit and their seed are cut off from among men, because the earth was not made for wickedness and there will be room only for the righteous to dwell in it. This takes place when the righteous are called to take possession of the kingdom, by the lake of fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Since there is no other place in the universe for the wicked to remain, they are left as though they had never existed. God's enemies face His anger and destruction, and those who choose worldly honor and friendship at the cost of following a clear line of duty place themselves among His enemies.