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Selected Verse: Psalms 10:4 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Ps 10:4 |
King James |
The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
| The face expresses the self-conceit, whose fruit is practical atheism (Psa 14:1). |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
The wicked, through the pride of his countenance - In consequence of his pride; or, his pride is the reason of what is here stated. The "pride of his countenance" is a phrase that is used because pride shows itself mainly in the countenance, or in a lofty air and manner. The design is to state the influence of pride in producing the effect here specified.
Will not seek after God - The phrase "after God," is supplied by our translators. Something clearly is to be supplied, and it is plainly something relating to God - either that the wicked man will not seek after God in prayer, or that he will not inquire after the proofs of his existence and attributes; or that he will not seek after his favor, or that he will not endeavor to know the divine will. All this would be implied in seeking after God, and this is undoubtedly the state of mind that is referred to here. The sinner is unwilling, in any appropriate way, to acknowledge God.
God is not in all his thoughts - Margin, "Or, all his thoughts are, There is no God," Psa 14:1. The literal translation is: "No God (are) all his thoughts." The margin has undoubtedly expressed the meaning better than the translation in the text, since the spirit of the passage is not that the sinner had no thought of God, but that he thought wrong. The fact that he would not seek God, and that he had said that God had forgotten Psa 10:11, shows that he had some thoughts of God. The language here is properly expressive of belief or desire; either that all his thoughts were that there is no God, i. e, that such was the result of all his meditations and reasonings on the subject; or that he wished that it might be found to be so. The language will admit of either construction, and in either sense it would express the thoughts of the wicked. Its both a matter of practical belief, and as a matter of desire, the language of the wicked is, "No God." The wicked wish that there were none; he practically believes that there is none. The entire verse, then, expresses the prevailing feelings of a sinner about God:
(a) That he wishes there were none, and practically believes that there is none; and
(b) that the reason or ground of these feelings is pride. Pride will prevent him from seeking God in the following ways:
(1) It makes him unwilling to recognize his dependence upon any being;
(2) it makes him unwilling to confess that he is a sinner;
(3) it makes him unwilling to pray;
(4) it makes him unwilling to seek aid of anyone, even God, in the business of life, in the prosecution of his plans, or in sickness and affliction;
(5) it makes him unwilling to accede to the terms of reconciliation and salvation proposed by God, unwilling to repent, to believe, to submit to His sovereignty, to acknowledge his indebtedness to mere grace for the hope of eternal life.
Pride is at the root of all the atheism, theoretical or practical, on the earth; at the root of all the reluctance which there is to seek the favor of God; at the root, therefore, of the misery and wretchedness of the world. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| Countenance - So called, because though pride be properly seated in the heart, yet it is manifest in the countenance. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
| Will not seek after God - He is too proud to bend his knee before his Judge; he is too haughty to put on sackcloth, and lay himself in the dust, though without deep repentance and humiliation he must without doubt perish everlastingly. |
1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
11 He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it.
1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.