The Lord also will be a refuge - Margin, an high place. The margin expresses the more exact sense of the, Hebrew word - משׂגב miśgâb. It means properly height, altitude; then a height, rock, crag; and then, as such localities, being inaccessible to an enemy, were sought in times of danger as places of secure retreat, it comes to denote a place of security and refuge, Psalm 18:2; Psalm 46:7, Psalm 46:11; Psalm 48:3; Psalm 59:9, Psalm 59:17; Psalm 94:22. The declaration here is equivalent to what is so often said, that God is a refuge, a rock, a high tower, a defense; meaning, that those referred to might find safety in him. See the notes at Psalm 18:2.

For the oppressed - literally, for those who are crushed, broken; hence, the dejected, afflicted, unhappy - דך dak - from דכך mor dākak - to beat small; to break in pieces; to crush. The allusion here is to those who are wronged or down-trodden; to the victims of tyranny and injustice. Such may look to God to vindicate them and their cause, and they will not look in vain. Sooner or later he will manifest himself as their protector and their helper. See Psalm 9:12.

A refuge in times of trouble - Not only for the oppressed, but for all those who are in trouble. Compare Psalm 46:1. That is, all such may come to him with the assurance that he will be ready to pity them in their sorrows, and to deliver them. The psalmist had found it so in his own case; and he infers that it would be so in all cases, and that this might be regarded as the general character of God.

A refuge - משגב misgab, a high place, where their enemies can neither reach nor see them. He who has God for his portion has all safety in him.

The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed,.... The poor and weak, such as have no might nor power, and are thrown down and trampled upon, as the word (i) signifies; and such are the people of God. They are oppressed with the burden of sin; they are bowed down with Satan and his temptations; and are sometimes pressed out of measure, and above their strength, with the persecutions of men; they are trodden under foot by antichrist, or otherwise are borne down with a variety of sorrows and afflictions; but the Lord is a refuge for them. The Chaldee paraphrase renders it as before, "the Word of the Lord", the eternal Logos, the Son of God: he is a refuge for poor sensible sinners, fleeing from wrath to come; being typified by the cities of refuge, whither the manslayer fled from the avenger of blood: he is the strong hold for the prisoners of hope to turn into; his name is a strong tower and place of defence for oppressed saints; he is a refuge when all others fail, and at all times, in the day of affliction, and in the hour of death, and at judgment;

a refuge in times of trouble; of which the saints have many, as when God hides his face, when corruptions prevail, when grace is low in exercise, and temptations are strong, yet even then Christ is the refuge from the storm; the salvation of his people is of him, and he is their strength in every time of trouble; see Isaiah 25:4.

(i) "attrito", Cocceius, Gejerus: "contrito", Michaelis.

(Heb.: 9:10-11) Thus judging the nations Jahve shows Himself to be, as a second ו-strophe says, the refuge and help of His own. The voluntative with Waw of sequence expresses that which the poet desires for his own sake and for the sake of the result mentioned in Psalm 9:11. משׂגּב, a high, steep place, where one is removed from danger, is a figure familiar to David from the experiences of his time of persecution. דּך (in pause דּך) is properly one who is crushed (from דּכך equals דּכא, דּכה to crush, break in pieces, דקק to pulverize), therefore one who is overwhelmed to the extreme, even to being completely crushed. The parallel is לעתּות בצּרה with the datival ל (as probably also in Psalm 10:1). עתּות from עת (time, and then both continuance, Psalm 81:16, and condition) signifies the public relations of the time, or even the vicissitudes of private life, Psalm 31:16; and בצּרה is not הצּרה with בּ (Bttch.), which gives an expression that is meaninglessly minute ("for times in the need"), but one word, formed from בּצּר (to cut off, Arab. to see, prop. to discern keenly), just like בּקּשׁה ekil from בּקּשׁ, prop. a cutting off, or being cut off, i.e., either restraint, especially motionlessness ( equals בּצּרת, Jeremiah 17:8, plur. בּצּרות Jeremiah 14:1), or distress, in which the prospect of deliverance is cut off. Since God is a final refuge for such circumstances of hopelessness in life, i.e., for those who are in such circumstances, the confidence of His people is strengthened, refreshed, and quickened. They who know His name, to them He has now revealed its character fully, and that by His acts; and they who inquire after Him, or trouble and concern themselves about Him (this is what דּרשׁ signifies in distinction from בּקּשׁ), have now experienced that He also does not forget them, but makes Himself known to them in the fulness of His power and mercy.

The LORD also will be a refuge for the {d} oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.

(d) Our miseries are meant to cause us to feel God's present care over us.

a refuge: Heb. an high place

9, 10. The oppressed, and all who know Him (Ps 5:3; 7:1), find Him a sure refuge.

9:1-10 If we would praise God acceptably, we must praise him in sincerity, with our whole heart. When we give thanks for some one particular mercy, we should remember former mercies. Our joy must not be in the gift, so much as in the Giver. The triumphs of the Redeemer ought to be the triumphs of the redeemed. The almighty power of God is that which the strongest and stoutest of his enemies are no way able to stand before. We are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth, and that with him there is no unrighteousness. His people may, by faith, flee to him as their Refuge, and may depend on his power and promise for their safety, so that no real hurt shall be done to them. Those who know him to be a God of truth and faithfulness, will rejoice in his word of promise, and rest upon that. Those who know him to be an everlasting Father, will trust him with their souls as their main care, and trust in him at all times, even to the end; and by constant care seek to approve themselves to him in the whole course of their lives. Who is there that would not seek him, who never hath forsaken those that seek Him?