A Matter of Trust: Part 2

Scripture Verses

Now that we have a little background information, let’s move on to our text. Our study passage is Psalm 62:9-12 and is below (from the King James Version):

⁹ Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether[1] lighter than vanity. ¹⁰ Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery: if riches increase, set not your heart upon them. ¹¹ God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power[2] belongeth unto God. ¹² Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy: for thou renderest to every man according to his work.^[3]

Genre

This wouldn’t be an academic exercise for me unless I mention which type of Scripture Psalm 62 is. Like many of the psalms, Psalm 62 is beautiful Biblical poetry with vivid expressions by David concerning trust in the Lord. We notice in verse 11 the use of a device called parallelism of numbers for the sake of variation. This is common in Semitic poetry. One should not literally add the numbers together. You don’t need to go there but might want to write down the following verses as other examples of this: Amos 1:3; Proverbs 6:16-19; 30:15, 18, & 21. A better understanding of the kind of Scripture, or category if you will, helps with understanding the message the author was inspired to communicate to his readers. I do want to point out that while we are only focused on several verses, one should always view individual verses in the context of the larger passage, or in this case, the entire psalm. Failing to do so can cause one to misinterpret the meaning of the verse.