1.
This psalm has no superscription and is a sequel to Psalm 9 as far as content is concerned. The theme of Psalm 9 is the intervention of God in the history of mankind in such a fashion that the ordinary human eye does not see an act of God in the course of the events. In Psalm 9 there is stated the firm conviction that all tyranny will perish in the end and that eventually all despotism, whatever its nature, shall vanish from the earth. All that Israel dares to ask of the Lord in Psalm 9 is that He bring about, right now, one single great event, obviously miraculous in nature, that would make the nations and their rulers sit up and take notice. Psalm 10, however, deals with present-day human relationships rather than with international affairs. It describes the attitudes and ways of thinking of an individual who has thrown off the yoke of the moral law, and who finds the gratification of his lust for material possessions and pleasures in the ruin of his fellow men.
The psalmist realizes that, in these times of moral degeneration, even those who must suffer at the hands of such individuals are themselves in need of chastisement. Yet, at the same time, he still fervently hopes that God will break the power of the lawless at least to such a degree that their blatant impudence will not increase.