Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 10:8

"He sitteth in the lurking-places of the villages; In the secret places doth he murder the innocent; His eyes are privily set against the helpless." — Psalms 10:8 (ASV)

In lurking places... — that is, in ambush.

Villages. — Properly, enclosed spaces, but then, like our “town” (ton, an enclosure), for any collection of dwellings; and in Leviticus 25:31, an unwalled place; applied also to a nomadic encampment (Genesis 25:16).

Privily set. — Literally, hid: that is, watched secretly.

The poor. — The Hebrew word, occurring three times in this psalm (Psalms 10:10; Psalms 10:14), is peculiar to it. The root idea is darkness; hence here, by an easy transition, obscure, humble. Symmachus has “feeble.” But Mr. Burgess suggests that we may in all three places keep the root idea, darkness. Translate, his eyes hide (that is, wait) for the darkness; and compare Job 24:15: The eye of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight.

“The Arab robber lurks like a wolf among these sand-heaps, and often springs out suddenly upon the solitary traveller, robs him in an instant, and then plunges again into the wilderness of sandhills and reedy downs, where pursuit is fruitless.

“Our friends are careful not to allow us to straggle about or linger behind, and yet it seems absurd to fear a surprise here—Haifa before our eyes, Acre in our rear, and travellers in sight on both sides.

“Robberies, however, do often occur just where we now are. Strange country; and it has always been so.”—Thomson, The Land and Book.