LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?
Psalm 94 belongs to a group of post-Davidic psalms associated with the Jewish captives in Babylon, expressing their sorrow, desolation, longing, and prayers for deliverance. The verse expresses the distress of people enduring a time when the wicked appear to triumph, and in severe trials the question becomes a source of hope and courage because Scripture assures that the wicked's triumph is short. It is the cry of the oppressed and prisoners asking God how long the wicked will prosper and prevail while sin, sorrow, violent crime, blasphemy, and oppression continue without rebuke.
It is the cry of devout men during long centuries when wickedness and corruption continued and extended, death still reigned, graves did not open, and the righteous suffered distress, calamity, trial and persecution, wondering whether evil would triumph forever and whether God had forgotten, and that long doubt was solved to every loyal heart when Christ by sacrifice and victory in human flesh broke the power of sin and death and became worthy to open the sealed book, proving God and man and Book triumphant even though Christ has not yet taken the inheritance still held by rebellious rulers. The verse pleads for God to end the wicked's triumph and the oppressor's rule, giving voice to longing for God's kingdom and will to prevail on earth.
It is a cry to the Lord God as just and holy and the righteous Judge of the earth against the triumph of the wicked in the oppression of laborers, asking how long God will let such unjust triumph continue. That triumph means the wealthy enjoying luxury, pleasure, art, music and national pride while the toilers whose labor nourishes and prospers the nation work in cold and heat in agonizing struggle, are pressed down to a mere nothing for their labor, are hollow with want, gnaw bark to get sap, hold up starving children who cannot reach the fruit, and groan and howl in a ravenous multitude. It is a cry forced out by looking on human wickedness and cruelty, asking God how long evil will be allowed to continue, and it points to the coming time when God will arise to do His work and give their just reward to evildoers who escape punishment by human law.
Psalm 94 belongs to a group of post-Davidic psalms associated with the Jewish captives in Babylon, expressing their sorrow, desolation, longing, and prayers for deliverance. The verse expresses the distress of people enduring a time when the wicked appear to triumph, and in severe trials the question becomes a source of hope and courage because Scripture assures that the wicked's triumph is short. It is the cry of the oppressed and prisoners asking God how long the wicked will prosper and prevail while sin, sorrow, violent crime, blasphemy, and oppression continue without rebuke.
It is the cry of devout men during long centuries when wickedness and corruption continued and extended, death still reigned, graves did not open, and the righteous suffered distress, calamity, trial and persecution, wondering whether evil would triumph forever and whether God had forgotten, and that long doubt was solved to every loyal heart when Christ by sacrifice and victory in human flesh broke the power of sin and death and became worthy to open the sealed book, proving God and man and Book triumphant even though Christ has not yet taken the inheritance still held by rebellious rulers. The verse pleads for God to end the wicked's triumph and the oppressor's rule, giving voice to longing for God's kingdom and will to prevail on earth.
It is a cry to the Lord God as just and holy and the righteous Judge of the earth against the triumph of the wicked in the oppression of laborers, asking how long God will let such unjust triumph continue. That triumph means the wealthy enjoying luxury, pleasure, art, music and national pride while the toilers whose labor nourishes and prospers the nation work in cold and heat in agonizing struggle, are pressed down to a mere nothing for their labor, are hollow with want, gnaw bark to get sap, hold up starving children who cannot reach the fruit, and groan and howl in a ravenous multitude. It is a cry forced out by looking on human wickedness and cruelty, asking God how long evil will be allowed to continue, and it points to the coming time when God will arise to do His work and give their just reward to evildoers who escape punishment by human law.