Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 118:9

"It is better to take refuge in Jehovah Than to put confidence in princes." — Psalms 118:9 (ASV)

It is better ... than to put confidence in princes—even in the most powerful of the human race; in those who are generally supposed to have the greatest ability to help us; in those whose favor is often sought more than the favor of God. Princes are only human, often as faithless and deceitful as other people, and often less reliable in their character than those in more humble life. And in the great matters where we most need aid—in sickness, in danger, in death, in the eternal world—they are as absolutely powerless as people in the lowest condition of poverty or in the most humble rank.