Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 9:17

"The wicked shall be turned back unto Sheol, Even all the nations that forget God." — Psalms 9:17 (ASV)

The wicked — This refers to all the wicked; all who properly come under the designation of wicked persons. Doubtless, the writer had particularly in mind the enemies with whom he was contending, and in reference to whom the psalm was composed; and he meant to say that they would certainly be punished. But what was true in regard to them was true of all others of similar character, and the statement is therefore made in a universal form: all the wicked.

Shall be turned — They will turn back, or be turned from their present course. The idea is that they were now pursuing a certain course, but that they would be turned back from that, or would fail and retreat. Instead of going on to victory, they would be defeated and would sink into hell. The idea is essentially the same as that which is expressed in Psalm 9:3 above: When mine enemies are turned back.

Into hell — לשאולה (lish^e'ôlâh) — to Sheol, Hades, the grave, the world of departed spirits. This is the usual meaning of this word (see Luke 16:23, note; Isaiah 14:9, note; Job 10:21–22, note).

Though the word originally denoted the grave, the region of the dead, or the world of departed spirits, it was also supposed that there was a distinction in the condition of the dead. The word gradually came to denote the abode of the wicked portion of the dead, and hence, the place of future punishment. So it is undoubtedly used in Luke 16:23.

It is clear:

1. That this cannot be understood here as referring to the grave in its ordinary sense, for the righteous will be as certainly consigned to the grave, or will as certainly die, as the wicked.
2. That it cannot refer to the invisible world, the abodes of the dead, in the ordinary sense of the term, for it is as true that the righteous will enter that world as that sinners will.

There must be some sense in which the word is used here different from that of the grave, or different merely from death as such. This sense can be only one of two:

1. That the author means that they will be cut off by a sudden and violent death, considered as a calamity or as a punishment; or
2. That he regarded the Sheol mentioned here as a place of punishment.

Calvin thinks it is not improbable that the former of these is intended; but it may be observed in regard to this:

1. That this is not the language usually employed to denote that idea. A writer intending to express that idea would most naturally use the phrase “to be cut off” or “cut down,” since the phrase “to be sent to Sheol” (considered as the grave or the region of the dead) would express nothing special in regard to the wicked.
2. The spirit of the passage seems to demand the idea that the wicked referred to here would be consigned to a place of punishment, that they would be cut off as wicked persons and treated accordingly.

This interpretation is strengthened by the other member of the parallelism, where it is said, and all the nations that forget God; since it is no more true that the nations “that forget God” will be “turned into the grave, or the world of departed spirits,” than it is that the nations that serve and obey him will.

It seems to me, therefore, that this is one of the passages in which it is clear that the word Sheol had connected with it the idea of punishment beyond the grave—of a region where the wicked would be treated according to their deserts, and in a manner different from the treatment of the righteous. Although the general idea of that underworld was that it was a dark and gloomy place, there was also the idea that the abode of the wicked there was far more gloomy than that of the righteous, and that it was regarded as a punishment to be consigned to that region.

It is not necessary to suppose that they had the full idea attached to the word hell which we have, any more than that they had the same full and clear idea of heaven that we have.

Light has come into our world on all these subjects gradually, and there is nothing which requires us to suppose that the earlier sacred writers had the same clear views which the later writers had, or that either of them knew all that is to be known (Compare 1 Peter 1:10–11).

And all the nations that forget God — This refers to all who are strangers to him, or who are ignorant of the true God (see the notes at Romans 2:12). From the character and prospective doom of those to whom the psalmist particularly referred in this psalm, he is led to make this general remark about all who possess the same character they did.

Under the administration of the same God, those of the same character will share alike, for there is no respect of persons with him; and it is the perfection of an impartial government to treat all of the same character in the same manner.

If we can, therefore, ascertain how under his administration one sinner will be treated in the future world, we can infer how all of the same character will be treated; if we can learn how God will deal with one people, we can infer how he will deal with all. The statement here is that all the wicked, of whatever nation, will be consigned to punishment in the future world.

The phrase used here, that forget God, denotes those who are not disposed or inclined to remember and honor him. The idea seems to be that though they might have known him, they did not choose to retain him in their knowledge but gave themselves up to a life of idolatry and sin (Compare Romans 1:19-21, notes; Romans 1:28, note).