Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 9:4

"For thou hast maintained my right and my cause; Thou sittest in the throne judging righteously." — Psalms 9:4 (ASV)

For you have maintained my right and my cause – My righteous cause; that is, when he was unequally attacked. When his enemies came upon him in an unprovoked and cruel manner, God had intervened and defended his cause.

This shows that the psalmist refers to something that had occurred in the past. It also shows that he regarded his cause as right, for God’s intervention on his behalf had confirmed him in this belief.

You sat on the throne judging right – as if he had been seated on a bench of justice and had decided on the merits of his cause before he intervened on his behalf. It was not the result of impulse, folly, partiality, or favoritism. Rather, it was because he, as a judge, had considered the matter and had decided that the right was with the author of the psalm, and not with his enemies. As a result of that determination, he intervened to vindicate him and to overthrow his adversaries. .