God Wants Us to Obey Him (vv. 10-12). Compared to the wrath of God, the wrath of man is nothing. The more men rage against Him, the more God is glorified! The longer Pharaoh refused to submit to God, the more Egypt was destroyed and the more God was glorified (Ex. 9:16; Rom. 9:14-18). Scholars have wrestled with the translation of the second line of verse 10, and some translations append a note stating that “the meaning is uncertain” or “the Hebrew is obscure.” The idea expressed seems to be that the Lord isn’t agitated about man’s wrath but wears it like a sword (or a garment) and will use it against His enemies at the right time.

Instead of resisting the Lord–a losing battle–we should be grateful to Him for rescuing us (v. 9) and saving us from our sins. Asaph spoke to the Jewish believers and told them to keep the promises they made to the Lord when Jerusalem was in danger. How easy it is to make vows and not keep them (Eccl. 5:1-6)! The Lord’s great victory should also have witnessed to the neighboring nations and motivated them to go to Jerusalem with gifts to worship Him. (See 2 Chron. 32:23.) The psalm begins at Jerusalem and its environs (vv. 1-6), then moves to the entire land of Israel (vv. 7-9), and now it reaches the whole earth (v. 12). There will be a day when the rulers of the earth will bow to Jesus Christ and worship Him as King of Kings (Isa. 2:1-4; 11:1ff.; Rev. 19:11-16).