Yahweh, my God, I take refuge in you. Save me from all those who pursue me, and deliver me,
lest they tear apart my soul like a lion, ripping it in pieces, while there is no one to deliver.
Yahweh, my God, if I have done this, if there is iniquity in my hands,
if I have rewarded evil to him who was at peace with me (yes, I have delivered him who without cause was my adversary),
let the enemy pursue my soul, and overtake it; yes, let him tread my life down to the earth, and lay my glory in the dust.
Arise, Yahweh, in your anger. Lift up yourself against the rage of my adversaries. Awake for me. You have commanded judgment.
Let the congregation of the peoples surround you. Rule over them on high.
Yahweh administers judgment to the peoples. Judge me, Yahweh, according to my righteousness, and to my integrity that is in me.
Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous; their minds and hearts are searched by the righteous God.
My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart.
God is a righteous judge, yes, a God who has indignation every day.
If a man doesn’t repent, he will sharpen his sword; he has bent and strung his bow.
He has also prepared for himself the instruments of death. He makes ready his flaming arrows.
Behold, he travails with iniquity. Yes, he has conceived mischief, and brought out falsehood.
He has dug a hole, and has fallen into the pit which he made.
The trouble he causes shall return to his own head. His violence shall come down on the crown of his own head.
I will give thanks to Yahweh according to his righteousness, and will sing praise to the name of Yahweh Most High.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 17 At the commencement of the psalm, David speaks of…
At the commencement of the psalm, David speaks of having many enemies, and in the second verse he specifies some one in the singular number. And certainly, since the minds of all men were inflamed against him, he had very good reason for praying to be delivered from all his persecutors. But as the wicked cruelty of the king, like a firebrand, had kindled against him, though an innocent person, the hatred of the whole people, he had good reason also for turning his pen particularly against him. Thus, in the first verse, he describes the true character of his own circumstances—he was a persecuted man; and, in the second verse, the fountain or cause of the calamity he was enduring. There is great emphasis in these words which he uses in the beginning of the Psalms O Jehovah my Godly in thee do I trust. The verb, it is true, is in the past tense in the Hebrew; and, therefore, if literally translated, the reading would be, In thee have I trusted; but as the Hebrews often take one tense for another, “Mais pource que les Hebrieux prenent souvent un temps pour l’autre.”—Fr.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 17 Or, accusation.
Or, accusation.
Or, kind of tune.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–17 Psa 7:1 « Shiggaion of David, which he sang…
Psa 7:1 « Shiggaion of David, which he sang unto the LORD, concerning the words of Cush the Benjamite. » O LORD my God, in thee do I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me:
Shiggaion of David] i.e. David’s delight or solace, say some; his mixed song, or synodee, say others.
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Which he sang unto the Lord] He could sing away care, and punish his reproachers with a merry contempt, as knowing his own innocence; the property whereof is to throw off slanders, as Paul did the viper; yea, in a holy scorning, it laughs at them, as the wild ass doth at the horse and his rider.
Concerning the words of Cush the Benjamite] Which some take to be some cousin and courtier of Saul’s, who had falsely accused good David (far from any such thought, Psa 131:1) of affecting the kingdom, and seeking Saul’s life. See 1Sa 24:10. But I rather understand, with the Chaldee paraphrast, Saul’s self, who was of Kish, and of Jemini, 1Sa 9:1, and that, by a disguise of name, he is called Cush the Benjamite, that is, an Ethiopian, because of his obstinate impenitence, according to Jer 13:23. So Amo 9:7, rebellious Israel is to God as Ethiopia. Professors shall be as deep in hell, and deeper than Turks and infidels, because of their dissembled sanctity, which is double iniquity. Wrath shall be upon the Jew first, Rom 2:9; and when the foul sinner goes to hell what shall become of the fair professor? may such be asked, as are both in one. In the Ethiopian is nothing white but his teeth; so in a hypocrite, &c.
Ver. 1. O Lord my God, in thee do I put my trust] Or, I betake me to thee for safety. David found it always best to run to the old rock, Isa 26:4, and to cry, "O Lord my God," pleading the covenant. This no wicked man can do; but, being beaten out of earthly comforts, he is as a naked man in a storm, and an unarmed man in the field, or as a ship tossed in the sea without an anchor, which presently dasheth on the rocks, or falleth upon the quicksands. Saul, for instance, who, being in distress, and forsaken by God, ran first to the witch, and then to the sword’s point.
Save me from all them that persecute me] Where the prince is a persecutor (as in the primitive times, and here in the Marian days) many will be very active against God’s people. O sancta simplicitas, said John Huss, martyr, when at the stake he observed a plain country fellow busier than the rest in fetching faggots.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1–17 In thee do I put my trust; all my…
In thee do I put my trust; all my hope and confidence is in thy favour and faithfulness to make good thy promise made to me.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv1, 10 Shiggaion is a song or psalm (the word is…
Shiggaion is a song or psalm (the word is used so only here and Hab 3:1) - a wandering song (so some), the matter and composition of the several parts being different, but artificially put together - a charming song (so others), very delightful. David not only penned it, but sang it himself in a devout religious manner unto the Lord, concerning the words or affairs of Cush the Benjamite, that is, of Saul himself, whose barbarous usage of David bespoke him rather a Cushite, or Ethiopian, than a true-born Israelite. Or, more likely, it was some kinsman of Saul named Cush, who was an inveterate enemy to David, misrepresented him to Saul as a traitor, and (which was very needless) exasperated Saul against him, one of those children of men, children of Belial indeed, whom David complains of (Sa1 26:19), that made mischief between him and Saul. David, thus basely abused, has recourse to the Lord. The injuries men do us should drive us to God, for to him we may commit our cause. Nay, he sings to the Lord; his spirit was not ruffled by it, nor cast down, but so composed and cheerful that he was still in tune for sacred songs and it did not occasion one jarring string in his harp. Thus let the injuries we receive from men, instead of provoking our passions, kindle and excite our devotions. In these verses,
I. He puts himself under God's protection and flies to him for succour and shelter (Psa 7:1): "Lord, save me, and deliver me from the power and malice of all those that persecute me, that they may not have their will against me." He pleads, 1. His relation to God. "Thou art my God, and therefore whither else should I go but to thee? Thou art my God, and therefore my shield (Gen 15:1), my God, and therefore I am one of thy servants, who may expect to be protected." 2. His confidence in God: "Lord, save me, for I depend upon thee: In thee do I put my trust, and not in any arm of flesh." Men of honour will not fail those that repose a trust in them, especially if they themselves have encouraged them to do so, which is our case. 3. The rage and malice of his enemies, and the imminent danger he was in of being swallowed up by them: "Lord, save me, or I am gone; he will tear my soul like a lion tearing his prey," with so much pride, and pleasure, and power, so easily, so cruelly. St. Paul compares Nero to a lion (Ti2 4:17), as David here compares Saul. 4. The failure of all other helpers: "Lord, be thou pleased to deliver me, for otherwise there is none to deliver," Psa 7:2. It is the glory of God to help the helpless.
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II. He makes a solemn protestation of his innocency as to those things whereof he was accused, and by a dreadful imprecation appeals to God, the searcher of hearts, concerning it, Psa 7:3-5. Observe, in general, 1. When we are falsely accused by men it is a great comfort if our own consciences acquit us -
- Hic murus aheneus esto,
Nil conscire sibi. -
Be this thy brazen bulwark of defence,
Still to preserve thy conscious innocence. -
and not only they cannot prove their calumnies (Act 24:13), but our hearts can disprove them, to our own satisfaction. 2. God is the patron of wronged innocency. David had no court on earth to appeal to. His prince, who should have righted him, was his sworn enemy. But he had the court of heaven to fly to, and a righteous Judge there, whom he could call his God. And here see, (1.) What the indictment is which he pleads not guilty to. He was charged with a traitorous design against Saul's crown and life, that he compassed and imagined to depose and murder him, and, in order to that, levied war against him. This he utterly denies. He never did this; there was no iniquity of this kind in his hand (Psa 7:3); he abhorred the thought of it. He never rewarded evil to Saul when he was at peace with him, nor to any other, Psa 7:4. Nay, as some think it should be rendered, he never rendered evil for evil, never did those mischief that had injured him. (2.) What evidence he produces of his innocency. It is hard to prove a negative, and yet this was a negative which David could produce very good proof of: I have delivered him that without cause is my enemy, Psa 7:4. By this it appeared, beyond contradiction, that David had no design against Saul's life - that, once and again, Providence so ordered it that Saul lay at his mercy, and there were those about him that would soon have dispatched him, but David generously and conscientiously prevented it, when he cut off his skirt (Sa1 24:4) and afterwards when he took away his spear (Sa1 26:12), to attest for him what he could have done. Saul himself owned both these to be undeniable proofs of David's integrity and good affection to him. If we render good for evil, and deny ourselves the gratifications of our passion, our so doing may turn to us for a testimony, more than we think of, another day. (3.) What doom he would submit to if he were guilty (Psa 7:5): Let the enemy persecute my soul to the death, and my good name when I am gone: let him lay my honour in the dust. This intimates, [1.] That, if he had been indeed injurious to others, he had reason to expect that they would repay him in the same coin. He that has his hand against every man must reckon upon it that every man's hand will be against him. [2.] That, in that case, he could not with any confidence go to God and beg of him to deliver him or plead his cause. It is a presumptuous dangerous thing for any that are guilty, and suffer justly, to appeal to God, as if they were innocent and suffered wrongfully; such must humble themselves and accept the punishment of their iniquity, and not expect that the righteous God will patronise their unrighteousness. [3.] That he was abundantly satisfied in himself concerning his innocency. It is natural to us to wish well to ourselves; and therefore a curse to ourselves, if we swear falsely, has been thought as awful a form of swearing as any. With such an oath, or imprecation, David here ratifies the protestation of his innocency, which yet will not justify us in doing the like for every light and trivial cause; for the occasion here was important.
III. Having this testimony of his conscience concerning his innocency, he humbly prays to God to appear for him against his persecutors, and backs every petition with a proper plea, as one that knew how to order his cause before God.
1. He prays that God would manifest his wrath against his enemies, and pleads their wrath against him: "Lord, they are unjustly angry at me, be thou justly angry with them and let them know that thou art so, Psa 7:6. In thy anger lift up thyself to the seat of judgment, and make thy power and justice conspicuous, because of the rage, the furies, the outrages (the word is plural) of my enemies." Those need not fear men's wrath against them who have God's wrath for them. Who knows the power of his anger?
2. He prays that God would plead his cause.
(1.) He prays, Awake for me to judgment (that is, let my cause have a hearing), to the judgment which thou hast commanded; this speaks, [1.] The divine power; as he blesses effectually, and is therefore said to command the blessing, so he judges effectually, and is therefore said to command the judgment, which is such as none can countermand; for it certainly carries execution along with it. [2.] The divine purpose and promise: "It is the judgment which thou hast determined to pass upon all the enemies of thy people. Thou hast commanded the princes and judges of the earth to give redress to the injured and vindicate the oppressed; Lord, awaken thyself to that judgment." He that loves righteousness, and requires it in others, will no doubt execute it himself. Though he seem to connive at wrong, as one asleep, he will awake in due time (Psa 78:65) and will make it to appear that the delays were no neglects.
(2.) He prays (Psa 7:7), "Return thou on high, maintain thy own authority, resume thy royal throne of which they have despised the sovereignty, and the judgment-seat of which they have despised the sentence. Return on high, that is, visibly and in the sight of all, that it may be universally acknowledged that heaven itself owns and pleads David's cause." Some make this to point at the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, who, when he returned to heaven (returned on high in his exalted state), had all judgment committed to him. Or it may refer to his second coming, when he shall return on high to this world, to execute judgment upon all. This return his injured people wait for, and pray for, and to it they appeal from the unjust censures of men.
(3.) He prays again (Psa 7:8), "Judge me, judge for me, give sentence on my side." To enforce this suit, [1.] He pleads that his cause was now brought into the proper court: The Lord shall judge the people, Psa 7:8. He is the Judge of all the earth, and therefore no doubt he will do right and all will be obliged to acquiesce in his judgment. [2.] He insists upon his integrity as to all the matters in variance between him and Saul, and desires only to be judged, in this matter, according to his righteousness, and the sincerity of his heart in all the steps he had taken towards his preferment. [3.] He foretels that it would be much for the glory of God and the edification and comfort of his people if God would appear for him: "So shall the congregation of the people compass thee about; therefore do it for their sakes, that they may attend thee with their raises and services in the courts of thy house." First, They will do it of their own accord. God's appearing on David's behalf, and fulfilling his promise to him, would be such an instance of his righteousness, goodness, and faithfulness, as would greatly enlarge the hearts of all his faithful worshippers and fill their mouths with praise. David was the darling of his country, especially of all the good people in it; and therefore, when they saw him in a fair way to the throne, they would greatly rejoice and give thanks to God; crowds of them would attend his footstool with their praises for such a blessing to their land. Secondly, If David come into power, as God has promised him, he will take care to bring people to church by his influence upon them, and the ark shall not be neglected, as it was in the days of Saul, Ch1 13:3.
3. He prays, in general, for the conversion of sinners and the establishment of saints (Psa 7:9): "O let the wickedness, not only of my wicked enemies, but of all the wicked, come to an end! but establish the just." Here are two things which everyone of us must desire and may hope for: - (1.) The destruction of sin, that it may be brought to an end in ourselves and others. When corruption is mortified, when every wicked way and thought are forsaken, and the stream which ran violently towards the world and the flesh is driven back and runs towards God and heaven, then the wickedness of the wicked comes to an end. When there is a general reformation of manners, when atheists and profane are convinced and converted, when a stop is put to the spreading of the infection of sin, so that evil men proceed no further, their folly being made manifest, when the wicked designs of the church's enemies are baffled, and their power is broken, and the man of sin is destroyed, then the wickedness of the wicked comes to an end. And this is that which all that love God, and for his sake hate evil, desire and pray for. (2.) The perpetuity of righteousness: But establish the just. As we pray that the bad maybe made good, so we pray that the good may be made better, that they may not be seduced by the wiles of the wicked nor shocked by their malice, that they may be confirmed in their choice of the ways of God and in their resolution to persevere therein, may be firm to the interests of God and religion and zealous in their endeavours to bring the wickedness of the wicked to an end. His plea to enforce this petition is, For the righteous God trieth the hearts and the reins; and therefore he knows the secret wickedness of the wicked and knows how to bring it to an end, and the secret sincerity of the just he is witness to and has secret ways of establishing.
As far as we have the testimony of an unbiased conscience for us that in any instance we are wronged and injuriously reflected on, we may, in singing these verses, lodge our appeal with the righteous God, and be assured that he will own our righteous cause, and will one day, in the last day at furthest, bring forth our integrity as the light.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–17 O Lord my God, in thee do I put…
O Lord my God, in thee do I put my trust,.... The psalmist expresses his interest in God as his covenant God, and his trust and confidence in him; and with these he sets out as the stay of his soul, and his bulwark against the fears of his enemies; and he does not say that he had trusted in God, or would for the future trust in him; but that he did trust in him, and continued to do so. And God is to be trusted in at all times; in times of affliction, temptation, and desertion; and these the psalmist premises to his petition, which follows, as an encouragement to him to hope for success, since God was his God, and none that ever trusted in him were confounded;
save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me; persecution is no new thing to the people of God; David had his persecutors, and many of them; the Church, in Jeremiah's time, had hers; the saints, in the times of the apostles, and in all ages since, have had theirs. Every one that will live godly in Christ Jesus must expect persecution in one shape or another; and there is none can save and deliver from it but God, and he can and will in his own time, Co2 1:10. David was sensible of this, and therefore applies to him, and him only; and not to an arm of flesh, to his friends, or to neighbouring princes and powers.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14 David prays for deliverance from his enemies, ver. 1,…
David prays for deliverance from his enemies, ver. 1, 2. Appeals to God for his innocence, ver. 3-5. Prays to him to judge his cause, ver. 6-9. Expresses his confidence in God, ver. 10-17. Shiggaion of David, which he sang unto the Lord, concerning the words of Cush the Benjamite Title of the psalm. Shiggaion - This seems to be the name of a kind of song, or instrument, which then was well known, but now is only matter of conjecture. Words - The false report raised by him. Cush - Probably some eminent commander or courtier under Saul.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1–17 The psalmist prays against the malice of his enemies,…
PSALM VII
The psalmist prays against the malice of his enemies, 1, 2;
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protests his own innocence, 3-5;
prays to God that he would vindicate him, for the edification
of his people, 6-8;
prays against the wickedness of his enemies, 9;
expresses strong confidence in God, 10;
threatens transgressors with God's judgments, 11-13;
shows the conduct and end of the ungodly, 14-16;
and exults in the mercy and lovingkindness of his Maker, 17.
This Psalm is entitled, Shiggaion of David, which he sang unto the Lord, concerning the words of Cush the Benjamite. The word שגיון shiggayon comes from שגה shagah, to wander, a wandering song; i.e., a Psalm composed by David in his wanderings, when he was obliged to hide himself from the fury of Saul.
Bishop Horsley thinks it may have its name, a wandering ode, from its being in different parts, taking up different subjects, in different styles of composition. But he has sometimes thought that shiggaion might be an unpremeditated song; an improviso.
As to Cush the Benjamite, he is a person unknown in the Jewish history; the name is probably a name of disguise; and by it he may covertly mean Saul himself, the son of Kish, who was of the tribe of Benjamin. The subject of the Psalm will better answer to Saul's unjust persecution and David's innocence, than to any other subject in the history of David.
NOTES ON PSALM VII
Verse 1. O Lord my God] יהוה אלהי Yehovah Elohai, words expressive of the strongest confidence the soul can have in the Supreme Being. Thou self-existent, incomprehensible, almighty, and eternal Being, who neither needest nor hatest any thing that thou hast made; thou art my God: God in covenant with thy creature man; and my God and portion particularly. Therefore, in thee do I put my trust-I repose all my confidence in thee, and expect all my good from thee.
Save me] Shield me from my persecutors; abate their pride, assuage their malice, and confound their devices!
Deliver me] From the counsels which they have devised, and from the snares and gins they have laid in my path.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 17 Psa 7:1. In thee do I put my trust…
Psa 7:1. In thee do I put my trust — All my hope and confidence are in thy favour, and faithfulness to fulfil thy promise made to me. Save me from all them that persecute me — “To a tender and ingenuous spirit,” says Dr. Horne, “the persecution of the tongue is worse than that of the sword, and with more difficulty submitted to; as, indeed, a good name is more precious than bodily life. Believers in every age have been persecuted in this way; and the King of saints often mentions it as one of the most bitter ingredients in his cup of sorrows. Faith and prayer are the arms with which this formidable temptation must be encountered, and may be overcome. The former assures us, that God can ‘save and deliver’ us from it; the latter induces him so to do.”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1–17 O Lord my God, in thee do I put…
O Lord my God, in thee do I put my trust - The psalm opens with an expression of strong confidence in God. The psalmist addresses Yahweh as his God, and says that in him he trusts or confides. The word rendered trust - חסה châsâh - means “to flee;” to flee to a place; to take shelter; and is applied to taking shelter under the shadow or protection of one Jdg 9:15; Isa 30:2; Psa 57:1; Psa 61:4. The idea here is, that in his troubles he fled to God as a refuge, and felt safe under his protection.
Save me from all them that persecute me - That is, protect my life; rescue me from their power. The word “persecute” here refers to those who sought his life, who endeavored to deprive him of his rights. The language would apply to many occasions in the life of David - to the persecutions which he endured by Saul, by Absalom, etc. In this case the language was suggested by the opposition of Cush the Benjamite; and it was this that David had particularly in view. It is probable, however, that, whoever Cush was, he was not alone, but that others were associated with him in his opposition to David; and it was natural also that, in circumstances like these, David should remember his other persecutors, and pray that he might be delivered from them all. The prayer, therefore, has a general form, and the desire expressed is that which we all naturally have, that we may be delivered from all that troubles us.
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And deliver me - Rescue me. It would seem from this expression, and from the following verse, that there was more to be apprehended in the case than mere reproachful words, and that his life was actually in danger.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 Psalms 7
Psalms 7
Shiggaion of David, which he sang unto the LORD, concerning the words of Cush the Benjamite
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1 O Lord my God, in thee do I put my trust:
Save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me:
2 Lest he tear my soul like a lion,
Rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.
3 O Lord my God, if I have done this;
If there be iniquity in my hands;
4 If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me;
(Yea, I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy:)
5 Let the enemy persecute my soul, and take it;
Yea, let him tread down my life upon the earth,
And lay mine honor in the dust. Selah.
6 Arise, O Lord, in thine anger,
Lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies:
And awake for me to the judgment that thou hast commanded.
7 So shall the congregation of the people compass thee about:
For their sakes therefore return thou on high.
8 The Lord shall judge the people:
Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me.
9 Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just:
For the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins.
10 My defence is of God,
Which saveth the upright in heart.
11 God judgeth the righteous,
And God is angry with the wicked every day.
12 If he turn not he will whet his sword;
He hath bent his bow, and made it ready.
13 He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death;
He ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors.
14 Behold, he travaileth with iniquity,
And hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood.
15 He made a pit, and digged it,
And is fallen into the ditch which he made.
16 His mischief shall return upon his own head,
And his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate.
17 I will praise the Lord according to his righteousness:
And will sing praise to the name of the Lord most high.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Title.—For an explanation of Shiggaion, vid. Introduct. Ewald, Maurer, G. Baur, Hitzig, find the tradition of the composition of this Psalm confirmed by its contents and language. Yet Hitzig refers to 1 Samuel 26, whilst Hengstenberg more properly regards 1 Samuel 24. as indicating the circumstances; but he aptly reminds us that the greater portion of Benjamin for a long time adhered to the house of Saul (1Ch_12:29), and is disposed to refer the title to the author himself. Most interpreters properly take Cush to be a proper name, but suppose, on account of the time, not the message of Cushi mentioned (2Sa_18:32), but one of the tale-bearers mentioned only in general (1Sa_24:9). There is no occasion to find in Cush the figurative designation of a man of black wickedness (the Jewish interpreters, except Aben Ezra), and then think particularly of Saul. Kimchi and Hengst. find even a reference to his father Kish. The reference to the slanderer Shimei (Luther et al.) with a similar figurative interpretation does not agree with the time of composition. [Riehm: “Since Psa_7:4 b agrees entirely with the fact that David, according to 1 Sam 24. and 26., protected Saul’s life from his companions in arms, David, also at that time, as in this Psalm, asserting his innocence and appealing to the judgment of God, (1Sa_24:12 sq., 1Sa_24:16; 1Sa_26:18; 1Sa_26:23 sq.), the supposition that David composed the Psalm towards the end of the persecution of Saul is very reasonable. We might then conjecture that the slander of this Cush caused his departure to the king of Achish of Gath.”—C. A. B.] It is not to be recommended to translate: “with regard to,” as Jer_7:22; Jer_14:1; Deu_4:21, instead of “on account of the words.”
The structure of the strophes is very uneven, and not very complete, hence they have been very differently divided. In my opinion, after the introductory cry for help which the threatened Psalmist makes, Psa_7:1-2, there follows a strong protestation of his innocence with respect to the accusations raised against him, Psa_7:3-5. On this he bases his invocation of Jehovah to begin and carry on his judgment, Psa_7:6-7. The Psalmist then, with a good conscience, claims this judicial activity of God especially for himself, Psa_7:8-9, expresses his trust in Divine protection, as well as his confidence in the punishment of the unconverted by God, Psa_7:10-13, sees the ruin of his enemies already before his eyes, Psa_7:14-16, and closes with the assurance of his joyful gratitude, Psa_7:17.
[Perowne. “ ‘Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right,’ might stand as the motto of this Psalm. In full reliance on God’s righteousness, David appeals to Him to judge his cause. The righteous God cannot but save the righteous and punish the wicked.”—C. A. B.]
Str. I. Psa_7:1. [Delitzsch: “With this word of faith, hope, and love, this holy captatio benevolentiæ, David begins likewise, Psa_10:1; Psa_16:1; Psa_31:1; compare 71:1. The perfect is inchoative: in thee have I taken my refuge = in thee do I trust.
Psa_7:2. The persecutors are regarded as wild beasts, as lions who rend their prey and crush their bones. Thus do they thirst for his ‘soul,’ that is for his life.”—C. A. B.]
Str. II. Psa_7:3. [Barnes: O Lord, my God.—“A solemn appeal to God for the sincerity and truth of what he is about to say.”—C. A. B.]—If I have done this.—Most ancient interpreters refer this to the accusation of his opponents presupposed as known, most recent interpreters since Rosenm. following Isaki, to that which follows; vid. however the reasons for the former reference in Hitzig, which are worthy of consideration. Most ancient translations then unite שלמי רע, Psa_7:4, whose accentuation also most MSS. have and give as the sense: If I have recompensed him, who has recompensed me with evil. So also among recent interpreters: Sachs, Böttcher, Olsh., Hitzig. Hitzig rejects the assertion of Hengst. and Hupf. that שלם has the meaning of recompense only in the Piel, yet he translates: “If I do evil to him who recompenses it to me.” He prefers the connection of the words which is indicated in only one MSS., an Erfurt Codd. (vid. variations in J. H. Mich.), yet which lies at the basis of the translations of the Chald., Kimchi, Luther, Calv., Rudinger, Hengst., Hupf., De Wette, Delitzsch. All of these however find the idea of friend expressed (literally, he who is at peace with me), according to the fundamental meaning of the word in question, in the Kal: to be whole, that is, negatively, unhurt; positively, perfect, thence partly, ready, complete; partly, well, sound, in good condition; then by transfer, favorable, moral entireness and freedom from harm (Hupf.), comp. Pss. 20:10; 41:9; Jer_38:22. גמל moreover means not only recompense, but properly to render something to some one (comp. 1Sa_24:18) with the idea of meritoriousness or obligation of such action.—And plundered,etc.—This clause, regarded as defective by Olsh., is taken as a parenthesis with the Rabbins by Calv., Rud., J. H. Mich., Ewald, Köster, Thol., Hupf. [A. V.], and explained in the sense rendered possible by the signification of the word: “Rather I delivered.” But the propriety of the use of the word for booty taken in war, is derived from the fundamental meaning of the word in the Kal: to draw off (shoes, clothes) which also occurs in the Aramaic for the Piel, and in Hebrew is at least undeniable in the noun, whilst otherwise at least the signif.: “draw forth, deliver,” (Psa_6:4), is proved in the Piel. The majority, even Hengst. and Delitzsch, refer it with this interpretation to the occurrence in the cave where David cut off the skirt of Saul’s garment (1Sa_24:4-5). Hitzig, with Chald., supposes a metathesis for the sake of the explanation: and oppressed, etc. The interpretation of the Sept., and Vulg., as conclusion and imprecation, = then will I retire from my enemies empty, that is, conquered, misses the sense.
Psa_7:5. Honor means either dignity, and indeed as well particularly the royal dignity of David (Calv., Geier, J. H. Mich.) as personal honor in general (Hitzig), otherwise also designated as crown (89:39; Isa_28:1) and power (Isa_63:6); then the dust indicates the smut of the deepest humiliation; or as Psa_16:10; Psa_30:12; Psa_57:8; Psa_108:2; Genesis 49., soul here = life, then dust = grave, Isa_26:19 (Rabb. most interpreters). Disgrace and humiliation are included in the expression at all events (Hengst., Hupf.). Respecting the soul as the reflection of the Divine כבוֹד, vid., Delitzsch, Bibl. Psychol., II. ed., 1861.
Str. III. Psa_7:6. Arise.—So Psa_9:19; Psa_10:12, after the example of Moses (Num_10:35; comp. Psa_3:7). It is parallel with the following lift up thyself, as Psa_94:2; Isa_33:10, and awake, as Psa_35:23; Psa_44:23; Psa_59:5. The character of the expression as merely figurative follows from Psa_121:4.—For me is a pregnant construction. We must supply: turn. For the Psalmist requests first of all judicial interference. Yet we cannot translate: Up for me in judgment! Thou makest booty (Hitzig), or: stir up judgment for me, (Chald. and some interpreters mentioned by Rosenm.), or: awake for me in judgment that Thou hast commanded (Sept., Syr., Jerome [A. V.]). Moreover the last clause is not imperative: order judgment (Rosenm., De Wette). Yet it is allowable to unite the last clause with the relative (Köster, Hengst.) for which Ewald puts the participle, or with a particle of cause (Geier, et al.), since the Psalmist bases his prayer on the general Divine arrangement of justice, and His administration in judgment (Calv., Hupf.) [Hupfeld translates thus: “Awake for me; judgment hast thou commanded.” This seems to be the best construction.—C. A. B.] Instead of against the overflowings, Sept., following a false derivation, translates: “In the limits.” [“Because of the rage of mine enemies,” A. V., is incorrect, it should be, “against the rage of mine enemies.”—C. A. B.]
Psa_7:7. [Let the congregation of nations surround Thee.—It is better to take this as an optative in harmony with the preceding; so most interpreters. The Lord is exhorted to “arise,” “lift up Thyself,” awake, and so also to assemble the people about Him to witness His judgment, His vindication of the Psalmist.—Over it (for their sakes, A. V., is incorrect).—Perowne: “God is represented as coming down to visit the earth, and to gather the nations before Him, and then as retiring and sitting down above them on the judgment seat.” Delitzsch: “The Psalmist now arranges, so to speak, a judgment scene: the assembly of the nation is to form a circle about Jehovah; in their midst He holdeth judgment, and after judgment has been pronounced, He is to return, ascending back to heaven as a conqueror after battle.”—C. A. B.]—On High is not the judicial seat (Tarnow, Geier, Maur., et al.), or the high seat on Zion (De Wette), in which God will sit down again after that He had apparently left it in the intermission of His judicial activity (Kimchi, Calv., Hupf., yet with a reference to heaven); but heaven, whither God returns after having accomplished judgment in the midst of the assembly of the nations (Ewald, Delitzsch).3 The Psalmist asks the Judge of the world for historical justice, and in mentioning the Divine triumph, not only expresses the assurance that the historical transaction of justice for which he has called upon God, will be successfully carried out, but he asks God that He will carry it out without delay. Thus all the pretended difficulties vanish. As the tribes of Israel are called “people,” Gen_49:10; Deu_33:3, Jerome, Kimchi, Hitz., et al., think of them here, especially because congregation is mentioned, as Gen_26:3; Gen_35:11. But the reference is not to a political, but a judicial assembly (Hupf.), and it is a Divine attribute, as the following general clause directly declares, to be judge of the nations.
Str. IV. Psa_7:8. In order to escape these convincing reasons, Hitzig supposes that דין = to direct, govern the opinion, manage, and does not allow that there is a reference to Gen_18:25, for an explanation, but to Mic_4:13. It certainly does not mean that from the highest court the highest justice is to be expected, and that God, because He judges the peoples, is therefore the regular Judge of the individual, in which case “children of men” should be placed instead of “nations.” No more is the thought expressed, that God by His Spirit leads the assembly of the elders, which represents the tribes of Israel, being invisibly present in their midst (Deu_33:5; Lev_26:12), in order that, in the judgment of the nations, not human righteousness, but the Divine decision, might have authority. The Psalmist expresses rather the thought, that his cause is not a private affair, but is of historical importance to the world.—To me [“in me,” A. V.].—It is most in accordance with the context to find the thought of recompense expressed in Psa_7:8 (Chald., Olsh.), and then it is more correct from the language to supply: come (Hupf.), than the explanation “happen to me” (Rosenm., De Wette). The language likewise permits the supposition that it is an emphatic repetition of the suffix with a relative supplied (Vatab., Geier, et al., [A. V.]). Thereby the attribute of righteousness would be made prominent, yet not as a finishing stroke of the pencil (Hitzig), nor as a shield about the person (Hengst. I.), but as the quality found in the person yet to be distinguished by Him (Delitzsch).
[Psa_7:9. Hupfeld: “The personal petition is generalized into the petition that God would make an end of the doings of the unrighteous, but would protect the righteous, as it is to be expected from the omniscience of the Judge who searches the secrets of the heart.”—For the trier of hearts and reins is a righteous God—Riehm: “The reins as the seat of strong feelings, inclinations, impulses.” Barnes: “The particular idea here is, that as God searches the hearts of all men, and understands the secret purposes of the soul, He is able to judge aright, and to determine correctly in regard to their character, or to administer His government on the principles of exact justice. Such is the ground of the prayer in this case, that God, who knew the character of all men, would confirm those who are truly righteous, and would bring the wickedness of the ungodly to an end.”—C. A. B.]
Str. V. Psa_7:10. Upon God [“of God,” A. V.].—This can mean that the protection is the duty of God (Venema, Ewald, Hengstenb.), but better: God has undertaken it (Hitzig, Delitzsch). The usual translation “with God” is too feeble. Böttcher conjectures ingeniously that originally instead of על, the text was עלי, over me = who covers me.
[Psa_7:11. Delitzsch: “Although God finally lets His wrath break forth, yet He does not do this without previously having threatened the ungodly every day. Comp. Isa_66:14; Mal_1:4. He lets them experience this His wrath in advance that they may be alarmed for their good.”—Angry.—Hupf.: “That is, toward the wicked = taking vengeance, punishing, inasmuch as the wrath, that is, the abhorrence which holiness has of evil, is the principle of all Divine punishment.”—Every day.—Barnes: “Continually; constantly; always. This is designed to qualify the previous expression. It is not excitement. It is not temporary passion such as we see in men. It is not sudden emotion, soon to be succeeded by a different feeling when the passion passes off. It is the steady and uniform attribute of His unchanging nature, to be always opposed to the wicked,—to all forms of sin; and in Him, in this respect, there will be no change. The wicked will find Him no more favorable to their character and course of life to-morrow than He is to-day; no more beyond the grave than this side of the tomb. What He is to-day, He will be to-morrow, and every day.”—C. A. B.]
Psa_7:12. If one turn not [“If he turn not,” A. V.].—In the first clause the subject is the wicked man, in the following clause God (the ancient translators and most interpreters), yet so that it does not mean the special enemy of the Psalmist, but the ungodly as a class (Hengst., Hupf.). Others regard the first word as a particle of assertion, and take the verb in the sense of the adverb “again,” but differ from one another, in that some (Olsh.) regard Jehovah as the subject, others (Ewald, Baur) the wicked man, who will truly whet his sword again, etc. Still others understand likewise the entire description, Psa_7:12-13, as the verses which follow, in the latter sense of the wicked man and regard the words, if he does not turn, (but) whets his sword, etc., either as the conclusion of the previous verse (Rosenm. following Kimchi), or as the antecedent of Psa_7:14-15 (Syr., Geier, et al.). These then suppose לוֹ, Psa_7:13, which is placed before with emphasis, to be reflexive and indeed either = to his purpose (Kimchi, Ew.), or, to his destruction (Aben Ezra). With our explanation of the wicked man not previously mentioned, the subject appears plainly as the object aimed at.—[He hath bent his bow.—In Hebrew, he hath trodden his bow, alluding to the ancient mode of bending the large and stout bows used instead of modern light artillery, with the feet rather than with the arm and hand.—C. A. B.]
Psa_7:13. The arrows are made into arrows of fire usual in sieges (Cocceius and recent interpreters), not into sharp or poisonous arrows; or hotly pursuing (vid. Rosenm.); or for the burning (Sept., Vulg., Syr.), which according to Ferrand means consumed with wrath, according to Chald., Isaki, Kimchi, Calv.: the persecutors themselves (so A. V.). It is difficult to follow the change of tense in these verses. The first two imperfects, it is better to take as futures on account of the judgment which is surely impending; the perfects then describe the actions which follow and the circumstances described as future; the last imperfect is incidental, thus a real imperfect, that is relative time instead of the participle; or we are to regard “his arrows” as in apposition and the following as a relative clause (Hupf.).
Str. VI. Psa_7:14. The imperfect stands first, then two perfects follow. Therefore the ancient and usual interpretation is incorrect, which regards the travailing and conception as indicating design, and contrasts it with bringing forth as expressive of the consequences, and thus is compelled to accept a hysteronproteron in the position of the travailing. For the same reasons it is not advisable to refer the first verb חבל to conception according to the Arabic (Seb. Schmidt, Hitzig) in order to derive the gradation which Luther supposes there is in the thought. The first clause rather (as the accents indicate) is in contrast with the two following; yet not as Calv., J. H. Mich., and Hengst., express by the insertion of “but,” as if the first clause expressed the evil design, the contrast consisting of two parts, its consequences; but rather that the first member of the verse states the proposition in general, the second explains it more definitely according to both its factors (Ewald, Köster, Olsh., Hupf., Baur., Delitzsch) which specify the transition from the thought of the heart to its expression (Kimchi). Besides, Hupfeld shows that the nouns have a double sense, and designate the wicked at once as nothingness, and as a curse. [Barnes: “The allusion here is to the pains and throes of child-birth, and the idea is that the wicked man labors or struggles, even with great pain to accomplish his purpose of iniquity.” “It is mischief when conceived, it is falsehood when brought forth. The idea is that after all his efforts and pains, after having formed his scheme, and labored hard to bring it forth, it was abortive.”—C. A. B.] Whilst in אָוֶן the moral idea of evil passes over into the physical of mischief, destruction, it is entirely the reverse with עמל, which literally means fatigue.
Psa_7:15-16. Some put that which is here said in the historical past, on account of the tenses, and suppose particularly Saul’s destruction (Kaiser, Hitzig). But they are prophetical perfects followed by the imperf. conversive, which often expresses merely the consequences of that which has gone before. Hupfeld contends against taking the relative clause as present, but Hengst., Delitzsch, Hitzig, maintain it; comp. Gesenius, § 123, 3 a. The enemy is still working at the pit of waylaying, when the Divine judgment strikes him, and indeed in the form of retaliation. The reference back to Psa_7:2 is to be noticed; so likewise the reference of Psa_7:1; Psa_7:7, to Psa_7:8 b.
Str. VII. Psa_7:17. Hence David in the conclusion does not praise some future thanksgiving after an actual deliverance, but from a thankful heart he begins to praise God, whose revelation of Himself is the source of his correct knowledge of Him, and whose name therefore is the pledge of His righteous dealings, which are eternally the same, as well as the means of true prayer to Him, and the object of thankful praise. ‘Elyôn is not to be connected with shêm as an adjective (Hitz.) but is to be taken as in apposition to Jehovah on the basis of Gen_14:22—Sæpe orâtio, quem pæne desperantem recipit, exultantem relinquit (Bernard).
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. If a man commits himself personally to God, he may also with good courage refer all his affairs to God, and even when he is in the worst relations with mighty and embittered enemies he may resign himself to the protection of God, and appeal in the confidence of a good conscience to the Divine judgment.
2. From the omnipresence of God, by which He fills heaven and earth, is to be distinguished His manifestation in history by means of acts of revelation, whereby He makes Himself known, and proves Himself to be Saviour, as well as Judge of the individual, as well as of nations. But since omnipresence is essential to God, it is not done away with by the actual operation of His presence and government in the world. But the personal execution of the special acts of the government of the world by the God of Revelation is illustrated by the figure of His coming down upon earth; likewise the conclusion of such special acts is described as the reascension of God to the heights of heaven; both, in connection with the form of expression, that God as infinitely exalted above all beings in this world, Almighty and Holy, has His throne in the Heavens.
3. In like manner in connection with the hearing of prayer the special acts of God in judgment and salvation are represented as His awaking, standing up, raising Himself, although the Divine government of the world suffers no interruption, and has no pauses.
4. The righteous rule of God demands that He should not deceive the trust of the believing, who seek in Him preservation, protection, and help, and that He should take those who devise evil, and endeavor to prepare destruction for others, in their own snares, and cause them to fall into the pits which they themselves have dug. But we may at the same time ask God “that He also may become warm, when the ungodly are red-hot, and cast out the flames of their rage,” (Calvin).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
God’s assistance is the strongest, quickest, and surest help; yet He would be asked in faith.—He who takes refuge with God should not forget that God is a righteous Judge.—Without God, lost; saved by God; therefore escaped to God, remaining with God; and with God, the world, and all enemies overcome.—He who can oppose the accusations of his enemies with a good conscience, may likewise flee to God with the confidence of faith, against their strong assaults.—It is easy to do no injury to a friend; but it is difficult to do no harm to an enemy, who is given into our hands, especially when he persecutes us without cause.—The Lord in heaven is likewise Judge on earth; in this the pious have consolation, the wicked terror, all a warning—God does not overlook individuals, although He rules and judges the entire world.—God beats the enemies of His servants with their own weapons, but He has likewise His own peculiar weapons.—The righteousness of God defends the innocent.
Starke: It is proper for us to assert our innocence; for by continual silence we would make even our good cause suspected.—Trust in God must be maintained and increased by prayer.—If God decrees it, tyrants treat the pious as badly as wild beasts of prey the weak lambs.—It is a great consolation in persecution that we can oppose our enemies with the power and strength of God. If God has commanded the authorities to exercise righteousness, He cannot refuse them a suitable protection.—God and His honor are interested in protecting the pious.—The righteousness of faith before God must be distinguished from righteousness and innocence of life before man; yet a true Christian must be able to console himself with both.—God does not allow the righteous to fall, but the more honesty He finds in their hearts, the more He strengthens them in His grace.—God tries the ungodly as a righteous judge, but the believing as a righteous but reconciled Father.—A Christian throws away the shield and sword of his own revenge, and yet does not remain naked and defenceless before his enemies; for the hand of the Lord strives for him, and covers him with a strong shield.—If the ungodly have reason to think of the righteousness of God with trembling, the believing remember it with joy, and praise, and thankfulness.—The punishment of retaliation is the surest mark of the Lord’s care for the actions of the children of men.
Calvin: The door is closed to prayer unless it is opened with the key of trust.—Osiander: No one will deceive the Lord God with his hypocrisy.—It is the most pleasant of offerings to God when we celebrate His benefits, in order that others also may know His goodness and turn to Him.—Bugenhagen: No one can injure another without injuring himself much more severely in his conscience.—Franke: Three chief principles of prayer: 1) A childlike trust in God; 2) a good and cheerful conscience; 3) God’s righteousness and strong government—Renschel: God is not a Judge who punishes daily, but who threatens daily; for if God should punish us always, and as often as we deserve it, the world would no longer endure; therefore thou shouldest know, that God’s long-suffering invites thee to repentance.—Herberger: To suffer with an innocent conscience is nothing but favor with God. It is faith’s crown of glory that we can say: “Lord my God!”—God is a searcher of hearts: mark that, thou who sinnest secretly.—Hast thou prayed with tears, then return thanks with joy.—Thanksgiving is the best tune and song.—In prayer and thanksgiving no one should waver.—Tholuck: David was not one of those visionary pious men who, while mindful of that which God will do in heaven and in the future, forget that which He does daily in the present and upon earth.—Stiller: The ungodly have their time when they rule; but God has likewise His time when He pushes them from their seats.—Taube: How precious to a believing Christian the testimony and blessing of a good conscience in the calamities allotted to him: 1) he can step quietly before his God and pray for help; 2) he can prove his good cause with entire cheerfulness and call upon God to Judges 3) he knows and praises the righteousness of God which is in favor of the pious and against his enemies.—Kurtz: The kingdom of God comes not only with grace to the penitent, but also with judgment to the impenitent.
[Matth. Henry: The sinner’s head with its politics conceives mischief, contrives it with a great deal of art, lays his plot deep, and keeps it close; the sinner’s heart with its passions travails with iniquity, and is in pain to be delivered of the malicious projects it is hatching against the people of God. But what doth it come to when it comes to the birth? It is a falsehood, it is a cheat upon himself, it is a lie in his right hand; he cannot compass what he intended, nor if he gain his point, will he gain the satisfaction he promised himself.—Spurgeon: As the shadow follows the substance, so envy pursues goodness. It is only at the tree laden with fruit that men throw stones. If we would live without being slandered we must wait till we get to heaven. Let us be very heedful not to believe the flying rumors which are always harassing gracious men. If there are no believers in lies there will be but a dull market in falsehood, and good men’s characters will be safe. Ill-will never spoke well. Sinners have an ill-will to saints, and therefore be sure they will not speak well of them.—We can not pray too often, and when our heart is true, we shall turn to God in prayer as naturally as the needle to its pole.—God defends the right. Filth will not long stick on the pure white garments of the saints, but shall be brushed off by Divine providence to the vexation of the men by whose base hands it was thrown upon the godly.—Truth like oil is ever above, no power of our enemies can drown it—The best day that ever dawns on a sinner brings a curse with it. Sinners may have many feast days, but no safe days. From the beginning of the year even to its ending, there is not an hour in which God’s oven is not hot and burning in readiness for the wicked, who shall be as stubble.—God’s sword has been sharpening upon the revolving stone of our daily wickedness, and if we will not repent, it will speedily out us in pieces. Turn or burn is the sinner’s only alternative.—Curses are like young chickens, they always come home to roost. Ashes always fly back in the face of him that throws them.—C. A. B.]
Footnotes:
[3][Hupfeld: “But the reference to that which God does after the judgment is not only a very simple and feeble addition, but is also contrary to that which follows in the context where the Divine judgment is carried still further out; yes, it is in a certain measure contrary to the entire course and spirit of the Psalm, and the Psalms generally, which would represent God as stepping forth from His retirement, as from a cloud which hitherto concealed Him, and as actively at work, and would not lead Him back again.” “The distance between the heavenly seat of the Judge and the earthly assembly is not to be measured mathematically, but must be regarded according to its nature from a poetical point of view, in which the cleft between heaven and earth vanishes, just as we see it overleaped in the constant interchange of the heavenly and earthly seats of God, heaven and Zion. The idea is this, God in contrast with His previous inactivity is again to judge, that is, to interfere and reinstate justice, which has been ignored and disturbed.” “It is true, this is a limited human conception of the Divine government and righteousness which is ever the same and uninterrupted; yet it is a feeling natural to religious feeling and an almost unavoidable anthropomorphism, the same as there is in the formula, Arise, awake, Psa_7:6, and the like.”—C. A. B.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17 if I have done this--that is, the crime charged…
if I have done this--that is, the crime charged in the "words of Cush" (compare Sa1 24:9).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 14 1. In thee do I put my trust—David begins,…
1. In thee do I put my trust—David begins, as in Psa_31:1, by boldly defining his trust. His refuge is in God alone. If he uses methods and forethought, it is God who giveth them efficiency; if his case lies beyond the reach of means, God can interpose in a way all his own.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–17 1. in thee do I put my trust] In…
1. in thee do I put my trust] In thee have I taken refuge. See note on Psa_2:12, and comp. the opening words of Psalms 11, 16, 31, 57, 71; and Psa_141:8. David has put himself under Jehovah’s protection, and appeals to Him on the ground of this covenant relationship between them. In thee is emphatic.
all them that persecute me] R.V., all them that pursue me. Saul and his followers. Cp. 1Sa_23:28; 1Sa_24:14; 1Sa_25:29; 1Sa_26:18.
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1, 2. The Psalmist’s cry for help, based on Jehovah’s relation to him.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–15 (1) In thee do I put my trust.—Or, in…
(1) In thee do I put my trust.—Or, in thee have I taken refuge.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–17 THE composition of this psalm by David, asserted in…
THE composition of this psalm by David, asserted in the title, is generally allowed. Internal evidence seems to indicate for its date the earlier portion of David"s public life that during which he suffered persecution at the hands of Saul. There are two considerable difficulties connected with the title:
(1) the meaning of "Shiggaion of David;" and
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(2) the determination of the identity of "Cush the Benjamite.
"Shiggaion" is connected by some with the "Shigioneth" of Hab_3:1, which is commonly explained to be a particular kind of tune or tunes. But the identity of the two words is uncertain, and the identity of their meaning, at an interval of nearly six centuries, is still more open to question. The meaning of "Shiggaion" has really to be guessed from the context; and the most probable of the conjectures made would seem to be, either simply, "a poem of David," or "a lyrical composition of David a meaning which obtains a certain amount of support from the Arabic. With respect to "Cush the Benjamite," it has been argued
(1) that he was a person, otherwise unknown, who held a high position among the courtiers of Saul ("Speaker"s Commentary," vol. 4. p. 183);
(2) that he was Saul himself (Hengstenberg);
(3) that he was Shimei, (2Sa_16:5-13) represented under a feigned name (Kay). This last conjecture brings the psalm down to too late a date; the two others are equally possible, and almost equally plausible. If a preference is to be given to either of them over the other, we should incline to the view of Hengstenberg, that Saul is meant, and that he is called "Cush," with allusion to his father"s name being Kish. Such plays upon words have always found much favour in the East.
The psalm has but one marked division, that between vers. 1-5 and vers. 6-17, where the term selah occurs. The remainder runs on continuously, without any marked break.
O Lord my God, in thee do I put my trust. (compare the openings of Ps 11 Ps 31 Ps 71) When David is most sorely pressed by persecution and danger, then is his faith and trust in God mast plainly apparent. Save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me. The Revised Version has, "from all them that pursue me;" but "persecute" is better. Hengstenberg and Kay have, "from all my persecutors." So also French and Skinner. The persecutors are such men as the Ziphites and others, who encouraged Saul in his attempts to take David"s life. (1Sa_26:1, 1Sa_26:19)
HOMILIES BY C. CLEMANCE Vers. 1-17. The slandered saint appealing to his God.
There is nothing like the trials of life to constrain to prayer; and no prayers are so full of deep meaning as those forced out by such trials. There is no reason for doubting the Davidic authorship of this psalm. It well accords with some known episodes in his experience, and is just such an appeal to the great Judge of all the earth as he might be expected to make when unjustly accused; specially when accused of evil in the very direction in which he had most strikingly restrained himself therefrom. But what a mercy that the true believer has such a God to whom he can flee, and that he can feel assured that, however unjust man may be, there is ever one tribunal high above all the people, at which absolute justice will be done I life believer can possibly find out all that God is to him till he has thus to flee to his throne for refuge from the storm. Let wronged and slandered Christians study the method and words of an Old Testament psalmist under circumstances to which their own are somewhat analogous.
I THE CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER WHICH THIS PSALM WAS WRITTEN ARE CLEARLY INDICATED. Four features mark them.
1. A fierce enemy is raging against the writer. One fierce as the wild beasts against which, as a shepherd, he had had to defend his flock (ver. 2).
2. Charges of evil-doing are made against him. The tone of the third verse indicates this, although we have no means of knowing who the "Cush" might be that brought forward these charges. It is no uncommon thing for good men to find themselves the victims of false accusations. Such accusations, however false, will do injury, since
(1) some one or other will be sure to believe them, even in the absence of proof; and
(2) no man can prove a negative, i.e. he cannot show what he has not done. This rule, that no one is expected to prove a negative, holds good in logic, and it ought to be regarded in other departments also; but, unfortunately, people are not as careful as they should be about screening another"s reputation. Unspeakable distress may thereby be occasioned to innocent men.
3. The psalmist knows these charges are false; and therefore, though appeal to man is vain, he can and does appeal to God (vers. 3, 4).
4. Notwithstanding this, his enemys rage is actually threatening his life. (See ver. 2) It is bad to plot against life; it is equally bad to poison a man"s reputation; yea, worse. Let those who are slandered read such psalms as this over and over again, that they may see how the saints of old were tried in like manner, and what was the course they pursued.
II UNDER SUCH CIRCUMSTANCES, THE RELIEVER MAKES GOD HIS REFUGE. (See ver. 1, Revised Version margin, "In thee do I take refuge.") While the storm is raging without, the believer is hiding in his God. "Thou wilt hide me in thy presence from the pride of man; thou wilt keep me secretly in thy pavilion from the strife of tonsures." The attributes of God, which are a terror to the wicked, are the shelter of the righteous.
1. God"s righteousness. (Ver. 11)
2. His searching the reins and hearts. (Ver. 9)
3. His commanding judgment, either in the way of precept, by laws which may not be slighted, or in the way of administration, by chastisements which cannot be evaded. Even so these features of the Divine character and administration are the joy of injured innocence (ver. 10, "My shield is with God," Revised Version). And in a case like this, the saint can say, in faith, hope, and love, "O Lord my God?" To know this that God is ours and that sooner or later he will set us right, is of incalculable value in such sore distresses.
III IT IS WELL IF IN SUCH CASES THE PLEADING ONE CAN ASSERT BEFORE GOD HIS OWN INTEGRITY. The third, fourth, and fifth verses ought not to be regarded either as assertion of perfect righteousness, nor yet as the utterances of conceit; nor should we be warranted in regarding even the eighth verse as an indication of self-righteousness. Not by any means. Let us take the psalm for what it manifestly is, and all is clear. It is the appeal of a slandered man to God; it is the appeal of one who knows that, so far as the charges of his enemy are concerned, he is innocent, (cf. 1Sa 24 1Sa 26) and that therefore he may with confidence refer his case to the tribunal which is infinitely above those of earth. (Psa_18:18-24) Note: There is a very wide difference between the self-righteousness which regards itself as blameless before God, and the conscious integrity which can look any man in the face without flinching. Of the former the psalmist had none. (cf. Psa_25:7, 11 143:2) It would be wicked to pretend innocence before God; but, in a case like the psalmist"s, it would be unmanly not to assert it before men. Cromwell said, "I know that God is above all ill reports, and that he will in his own time vindicate me.
IV UNDER SUCH PRESSURE FROM WITHOUT THE PRAYER IS DIRECT, POINTED, AND CLEAR. The psalmist does not deem it needful to cover the whole ground of possible prayer on each occasion. He lays the burden of the moment before God, and leaves it there. His petitions are fivefold.
1. Arise, O Lord! (Ver. 6)
2. Save me! (Ver. 1)
3. Vindicate me! (Ver. 8)
4. Bring wickedness to an end! (Ver. 9)
5. Establish the just! (Ver. 9)
Note: When the heart is overweighted with sorrow and anxiety, let us always tell our God exactly the state of the case. We need not go over all points of religion or theology in every prayer; let us just tell God the matter of immediate pressure. (cf. Psa_142:2 Psa_34:4, 6 Php_4:6, 7) Such petitions as are forced out by sorrow may be sent up in all loving confidence to our Father in heaven. He will excuse all their mistakes, and answer them in the fulness of love.
V THERE IS INDICATED A FULL ASSURANCE OF GOD"S APPEARING FOR JUDGMENT. We do not now refer to "the last judgment," but to those judgments which are often manifest in the providence of God. (cf. Isa_26:9, latter part) And he who studies history, and observes the times with a view to watching the movements of God in the world, will find abundant illustration of the two features of a perpetual judgment which has long been, still is, and yet will be, going forward in the world; and that in two directions.
1. As regards the wicked.
(1) God is angry every day; his holy indignation ever goes forth against sin. There is no feature of human life more striking than the sorrow and misery which follow on sin.
(2) God sends forth his arrows, yea, fiery arrows (ver. 13).
(3) The evil which bad men devise against others often comes back on their own head (vers. 15, 16). Many a Haman hangs on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai.
2. As regards the righteous. "Who sayeth them that are upright of heart" (ver. 10). Even so. The whole of the thirty-seventh psalm is an exposition of this fact, and the seventy-third psalm is an illustration of it. Observation and experience will perpetually furnish new proofs of the same. "Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even he shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord. C.
God the true Refuge of the soul.
This psalm, like many others, refers to a time of trial. The key-note may, perhaps, be found in ver. 1, "In thee." When trouble comes we naturally look out from ourselves for help. Some lean upon friends; others cry for a favourable change of circumstances; while others again preach patience to themselves, in the hope that somehow deliverance will come. But only by trusting in God can we find real help; he is the Adullam, the true Refuge of the soul. "In thee." Here is
I RESCUE FROM SIN. When the paralytic was let down in the midst of the people before our Lord, his first word to him was, "Thy sins are lop, yen thee." He needed healing, but he more sorely needed deliverance from sin. And so it is with us. Troubles may press heavily on the soul, but the first and chief thing is to be made right with God. Let this be done, and then we can bear the ills of life with patience, and face the future without fear. (Psa_143:9)
II REFUGE FROM SOCIAL OPPRESSIONS. Foes may be many and fierce; their tongues may be as sharp swords, and their malice unrelenting. Much that they speak against us may be false and calumnious; much more may be cruel perversions of the truth; but so long as we are able to rest in God, we are safe. He is just; he is the true Vindicator; he will not only defend us, but deliver us. Like Job, we can say, "I know that my Redeemer liveth". (Job_19:25)
III REST AMIDST THE CONFUSIONS AND MISERIES OF THE WORLD. Evil abounds.
We often feel constrained to cry, with the gentle Cowper"My ear is pain"d, My soul is sick with every day"s report Of wrong and outrage with which earth is fill"d.
What then? How little can we do in the way of remedy! We can feel grief; we can express sympathy; we can try, as we have opportunity, to lessen human woe; we can bear our part in the great business of confession, humbling ourselves before the Lord for the sins of others as well as our own. There may be no result. Things may even seem to grow worse; but in the darkest hour we can cry, "Our Father... deliver us from evil;" and take comfort from the thought that not only is God "our Father," but that his are "the kingdom and the power and the glory." "In thee:" here is hope for the sinner, and comfort for the saint. "In thee:" here is defence for the weak, and inspiration for the worker, and a bright future for all who long and labour for the advancement of truth and righteousness. W.F. (Isa_26:20, 21 Rev_19:6)
HOMILIES BY C. SHORT Vers. 1-17. Trust in God.
An earnest appeal to God to save him from the wickedness of men who would requite him with evil for the good he had done in sparing Saul"s life.
The charge against him probably was that he still sought the life of Saul; and they plotted against his life. In the midst of this wrong and danger, what was his resource?
I TRUST IN GOD. Not in counter-plotting against his enemies, nor neglecting the use of means for his own safety; but faith in the all-controlling providence of God.
II A LOFTY CONSCIOUSNESS OF INNOCENCE. (Vers. 3-5) Nothing can give such confidence in a righteous God as the consciousness of righteousness in ourselves. We cannot pray for Divine help if we regard iniquity in our heart.
III IN "IS BLAMELESSNESS HE APPEALS TO GOD FOR JUDGMENT BETWEEN HIM AND HIS ENEMIES. (Vers. 6-9) He calls upon God to "arise," "to lift himself up," "to awake," to exert his mightiest power in doing justice to both sides.
IV GOD"S RIGHTEOUSNESS GIVES HIM HOPE THAT THE OVERTHROW OF HIS ENEMIES IS NEAR. (Vers. 10-13) God"s justice is a manifest present fact, not deferred. "He judgeth the righteous, and is angry with the wicked every day." The overthrow may come at any moment.
V THE OVERTHROW HAS ALREADY BEGUN, AND THIS GIVES HIM CONFIDENCE AND GRATITUDE. "Is fallen into the ditch which he made" Deliverance is come, therefore "I will sing praise to the Name of the Lord most high." But he did not see this so clearly before. Experience opens our eyes. S.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 "Shiggaion of David, which he sang unto the Lord,…
"Shiggaion of David, which he sang unto the Lord, concerning the word of Cush the Benjamite.""Shiggaion of David." As far as we can gather from the observations of learned men, and from a comparison of this Psalm with the only other Shiggaion in the Word of God, (Hab 3:1), this title seems to mean "variable songs," with which also the idea of solace and pleasure is associated. Truly our life-psalm is composed of variable verses; one stanza rolls along with the sublime metre of triumph, but another limps with the broken rhythm of complaint. There is much bass in the saint's music here below. Our experience is as variable as the weather in England.
From the title we learn the occasion of the composition of this song. It appears probable that Cush the Benjamite had accused David to Saul of treasonable conspiracy against his royal authority. This the king would be ready enough to credit, both from his jealousy of David, and from the relation which most probably existed between himself, the son of Kish, and this Cush, or Kish, the Benjamite. He who is near the throne can do more injury to a subject than an ordinary slanderer.
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This may be called the SONG OF THE SLANDERED SAINT. Even this sorest of evils may furnish occasion for a Psalm. What a blessing it would be if we could turn even the most disastrous event into a theme for song, and so turn the tables upon our great enemy. Let us learn a lesson from Luther, who once said, "David made Psalms; we also will make Psalms, and sing them as well as we can to the honour of our Lord, and to spite and mock the devil."
In the first and second verses the danger is stated, and prayer offered. Then the Psalmist most solemnly avows his innocence. (Ps 7:3-5). The Lord is pleaded with to arise to judgment (Ps 7:6-7). The Lord, sitting upon his throne, hears the renewed appeal of the Slandered Supplicant (Ps 7:8-9). The Lord clears his servant, and threatens the wicked (Ps 7:10-13). The slanderer is seen in vision bringing a curse upon his own head, (Ps 14-16), while David retires from trial singing a hymn of praise to his righteous God. We have here a noble sermon upon that text: "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that riseth against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn."
Ver. 1. David appears before God to plead with him against the Accuser, who had charged him with treason and treachery. The case is here opened with an avowal of confidence in God. Whatever may be the emergency of our condition we shall never find it amiss to retain our reliance upon our God.
O Lord my God, mine by a special covenant, sealed by Jesus' blood, and ratified in my own soul by a sense of union to thee; in thee, and in thee only, do I put my trust, even now in my sore distress. I shake, but my rock moves not. It is never right to distrust God, and never vain to trust him. And now, with both divine relationship and holy trust to strengthen him, David utters the burden of his desiresave me from all them that persecute me. His pursuers were very many, and any one of them cruel enough to devour him; he cries, therefore, for salvation from them all. We should never think our prayers complete until we ask for preservation from all sin, and all enemies.
And deliver me, extricate me from their snares, acquit me of their accusations, give a true and just deliverance in this trial of my injured character. See how clearly his case is stated; let us see to it, that we know what we would have when we are come to the throne of mercy. Pause a little while before you pray, that you may not offer the sacrifice of fools. Get a distinct idea of your need, and then you can pray with the more fluency of fervency.
TITLE. "Shiggaion," though some have attempted to fix on it a reference to the moral aspect of the world as depicted in this Psalm, is in all probability to be taken as expressing the nature of the composition. It conveys the idea of something erratic (hgv, to wander) in the style; something not so calm as other Psalms; and hence Ewald suggests, that it might be rendered, "a confused ode," a Dithyramb. This characteristic of excitement in the style, and a kind of disorder in the sense, suits Hab 3:1, the only other place where the word occurs. Andrew A. Bonar.
Whole Psalm. Whatever might be the occasion of the Psalm, the real subject seems to be the Messiah's appeal to God against the false accusations of his enemies; and the predictions which it contains of the final conversion of the whole world, and of the future judgment, are clear and explicit. Samuel Horsley, LL.D., 1733-1806.
Ver. 1. O Lord, my God, in thee do I put my trust. This is the first instance in the Psalms where David addresses the Almighty by the united names Jehovah and my God. No more suitable words can be placed at the beginning of any act of prayer or praise. These names show the ground of the confidence afterward expressed. They "denote at once supreme reverence and the most endearing confidence. They convey a recognition of God's infinite perfections, and of his covenanted and gracious relations." William S. Plumer.
Ver. 1. The necessity of faith when we address ourselves to God. Show the worthlessness of prayer without trust in the Lord.
Ver. 1-2. Viewed as a prayer for deliverance from all enemies, especially Satan the lion.
Ver. 2. Lest he tear my soul. Here is the plea of fear co-working with the plea of faith. There was one among David's foes mightier that the rest, who had both dignity, strength, and ferocity, and was, therefore, like a lion. From this foe he urgently seeks deliverance. Perhaps this was Saul, his royal enemy; but in our own case there is one who goes about like a lion, seeking whom he may devour, concerning whom we should ever cry, "Deliver us from the Evil One." Notice the vigour of the descriptionrending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver. It is a picture from the shepherd-life of David. When the fierce lion had pounced upon the defenceless lamb, and had made it his prey, he would rend the victim in pieces, break all the bones, and devour all, because no shepherd was near to protect the lamb or rescue it from the ravenous beast. This is a soul-moving portrait of a saint delivered over to the will of Satan. This will make the bowels of Jehovah yearn. A father cannot be silent when a child is in such peril. No, he will not endure the thought of his darling in the jaws of a lion, he will arise and deliver his persecuted one. Our God is very pitiful, and he will surely rescue his people from so desperate a destruction. It will be well for us here to remember that this is a description of the danger to which the Psalmist was exposed from slanderous tongues. Verily this is not an overdrawn picture, for the wounds of a sword will heal, but the wounds of the tongue cut deeper than the flesh, and are not soon cured. Slander leaves a slur, even if it be wholly disproved. Common fame, although notoriously a common liar, has very many believers. Once let an ill word get into men's mouths, and it is not easy to get it fully out again. The Italians say that good repute is like the cypress, once cut it never puts forth leaf again; this is not true if our character be cut by a stranger's hand, but even then it will not soon regain its former verdure. Oh, 'tis a meanness most detestable to stab a good man in his reputation, but diabolical hatred observes no nobility in its mode of warfare. We must be ready for this trial, for it will surely come upon us. If God was slandered in Eden, we shall surely be maligned in this land of sinners. Gird up your loins, ye children of the resurrection, for this fiery trial awaits you all.
Ver. 2. Lest he tear my soul like a lion, etc. It is reported of tigers, that they enter into a rage upon the scent of fragrant spices; so do ungodly men at the blessed savour of godliness. I have read of some barbarous nations, who, when the sun shines hot upon them, they shoot up their arrows against it; so do wicked men at the light and heat of godliness. There is a natural antipathy between the spirits of godly men and the wicked. Ge 3:15. "I will put enmity between thy seed and her seed." Jeremiah Burroughs, 1660.
Ver 1-2. Viewed as a prayer for deliverance from all enemies, especially Satan the lion.
Ver. 3-5. The second part of this wandering hymn contains a protestation of innocence, and an invocation of wrath upon his own head, if he were not clear from the evil imputed to him. So far from hiding treasonable intentions in his hands, or ungratefully requiting the peaceful deeds of a friend, he had even suffered his enemy to escape when he had him completely in his power. Twice had he spared Saul's life; once in the cave of Adullam, and again when he found him sleeping in the midst of his slumbering camp: he could, therefore, with a clear conscience, make his appeal to heaven. He needs not fear the curse whose soul is clear of guilt. Yet is the imprecation a most solemn one, and only justifiable through the extremity of the occasion, and the nature of the dispensation under which the Psalmist lived. We are commanded by our Lord Jesus to let our yea be yea, and our nay, nay: "for whatsoever is more than this cometh of evil." If we cannot be believed on our word, we are surely not to be trusted on our oath; for to a true Christian his simple word is as binding as another man's oath. Especially beware, O unconverted men! of trifling with solemn imprecations. Remember the woman at Devizes, who wished she might die if she had not paid her share in a joint purchase, and who fell dead there and then with the money in her hand.
Selah. David enhances the solemnity of this appeal to the dread tribunal of God by the use of the usual pause.
From these verses we may learn that no innocence can shield a man from the calumnies of the wicked. David had been scrupulously careful to avoid any appearance of rebellion against Saul, whom he constantly styled "the Lord's anointed;" but all this could not protect him from lying tongues. As the shadow follows the substance, so envy pursues goodness. It is only at the tree laden with fruit that men throw stones. If we would live without being slandered we must wait till we get to heaven. Let us be very heedful not to believe the flying rumors which are always harassing gracious men. If there are no believers in lies there will be but a dull market in falsehood, and good men's characters will be safe. Ill-will never spoke well. Sinners have an ill-will to saints, and therefore, be sure they will not speak well of them.
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 O Lord my God, in Thee do I put…
Psa_7:1-17
O Lord my God, in Thee do I put my trust.
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An appeal from the slandered
I. The appeal (Psa_7:1-2; Psa_7:6). A petition for freedom and deliverance from his persecutors, in which he desires God to be attentive to him, because of the relation between them, and because he trusted Him: and he also desires God to be benevolent, because he was in danger of death, having many enemies.
II. His reasons. He makes protestation of his innocency, and appeals to Gods justice. He wants God to do justice both to him and to the wicked. The close of the Psalm is a doxology,--thanks that a true, just, and merciful God would judge for the righteous, save those who are true of heart, establish the just, and take revenge upon the wicked; for this, says David, I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness. (William Nicholson, D. D.)
David and his enemies
This Psalm consisteth principally of three parts. In the first part he prayeth for deliverance from his enemies, setting out his innocence and upright dealing toward them (Psa_7:1-5). In the second he prayeth against his enemies, declaring what good shall come to his children by the overthrow of the wicked (Psa_7:6-10). In the third he pronounceth Gods judgment against the ungodly, which, being once manifested, he promises to yield hearty thanks unto the Lord (Psa_7:11-17). Learn that trust and confidence in God is always necessary to them that pray to Him; for otherwise all our supplications are but lip labour, and lost. Also, we learn to pray for deliverance from our persecutors, or else we might justly be accounted betrayers of ourselves. Many of Gods children may stand upon their innocency to men-ward, and say in their measure--which of you can convict me of sin, but not before God. We may sometimes pray against some enemies of the Church, but we should make Gods promises (general or particular) the ground of our prayers. When men will not judge rightly we may by prayer refer our causes to Him who hath no respect of persons. Verses 12, 13 declare what mischievous minds the wicked carry toward the godly, and what means they will work to accomplish their naughtiness; and that should teach us wisdom and circumspection, that we fall not into their nets. (Thomas Wilcocks.)
The ferocity of persecutors
It is reported of tigers that they enter into a rage on the scent of fragrant spices: so do ungodly men at the blessed savour of godliness. I have read of some barbarous nations, who when the sun shines hot upon them, they shoot up their arrows against it: so do wicked men at the light and heat of godliness. There is a natural antipathy between the spirits of godly men and the wicked (Gen_3:15). (Jeremiah Burroughs.)
Exemplary conduct under social trial
Davids conduct indicates three things.
I. Earnest application. In the midst of his trial he looks to heaven. In his supplication, see--
1. A strong confidence in God as ever accessible; equal to all emergencies; large enough to receive all sufferers; immutable amidst the revolution of ages.
2. A terrible sense of danger. Lest he tear my soul like a lion.
3. A deep consciousness of innocence. If there be iniquity in my hands.
4. An earnest invocation for help. Arise, O Lord, lift up Thyself. His ideas of God throughout this Psalm are very anthropomorphic. In this invocation he has respect for three things--
(1) The spiritual good of his country;
(2) the administrative justice of God;
(3) the universal extension of wickedness.
II. Devout meditations (Psa_7:10-16).
1. On the character of God; as a friend of the just; an enemy of the wicked, whose opposition is constant, terrible, and avoidable.
2. On the condition of sinners. He regards his position as
(1) painfully laborious;
(2) abortively laborious;
(3) self-ruinously laborious.
III. Reverent adoration. Note--
1. The character in which he worships the Almighty. As righteous and as supreme.
2. The spirit with which he worships the Almighty. I will sing praise. Song is the language of happiness. True worship is happiness. All happy spirits worship, and worship is song. (Homilist.)
Turning to God in time of need
I. Prayer (Psa_7:1-2). If David desired deliverance from his foes, how much more do we need deliverance from our arch enemy (1Pe_5:8-9).
II. Protestation (Psa_7:3-5). (1Sa_24:1-22; 1Sa_26:1-25). So far had he been from the offence they charged him with.
III. An appeal (Psa_7:6-9). By a bold metaphor he attributes the success of his foes to some temporary abdication on Gods part of His throne, and he entreats Him to reassume His throne and give His decisions, as Eastern judges are wont to do, in the midst of the people standing around.
IV. Prediction (Psa_7:10-16). Evil recoils like a boomerang on those who set it in motion. Ralph the Rover perished at the Incheape Rock. The huntsman at eventide falls into the pit prepared in the morning for his prey. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
Trust in God
I. The conditions of trust in God.
1. We must lay to heart the glorious truth of the everlasting love of God towards us, and realise that He is our reconciled Father in Christ.
2. We must ever seek to do His will. We cannot rest in the calm sun glow of His face if we are not earnestly seeking to do the things that please Him.
3. We must not trust in ourselves. The pride of the human heart is great, hence we are unwilling to confess our inability to keep Gods commandments.
4. We must not trust in others. Asas end a warning against trusting in an arm of flesh (2Ch_16:12-13).
II. We ought to trust in God.
1. In times of loneliness and depression (Joh_16:32; Psa_56:3).
2. Times of danger, difficulty, and temptation. God is our refuge (Psa_57:1); our guide (Psa_48:14); God is faithful (1Co_10:13).
III. The result of trust in God.
1. Blessedness (Psa_84:12).
2. Perfect peace (Isa_26:8). (J. P. Wright.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Psalms 7
Psalms 7
THIS is the only psalm with the title "Shiggaion." The word occurs only here and in Hab_3:1, where it stands in the plural, and with the preposition "upon," as if it designated instruments. The meaning is unknown, and commentators, who do not like to say so, have much ado to find one. The root is a verb, "to wander," and the explanation is common that the word describes the disconnected character of the psalm, which is full of swiftly succeeding emotions rather than of sequent thoughts. But there is no such exceptional discontinuity as to explain the title. It may refer to the character of the musical accompaniment rather than to that of the words. The authorities are all at sea, the LXX shirking the difficulty by rendering "psalm," others giving "error" or "ignorance," with allusion to Davids repentance after cutting off Sauls skirt or to Sauls repentance of his persecuting David. The later Jewish writers quoted by Neubauer ("Studia Biblic.," 2:36, sq.) guess at most various meanings, such as "love and pleasure," "occupation with music," "affliction," "humility," while others, again, explain it as the name of a musical instrument. Clearly the antiquity of the title is proved by this unintelligibility. If we turn to the other part of it, we find further evidence of age and of independence. Who was "Cush, a Benjamite"? He is not mentioned elsewhere. The author of the title, then, had access to some sources for Davids life other than the Biblical records; and, as Hupfeld acknowledges, we have here evidence of ancient ascription of authorship which "has more weight than most of the others." Cush has been supposed to be Shimei or Saul himself, and to have been so called because of his swarthy complexion (Cush meaning an African) or as a jest, because of his personal beauty. Cheyne, following Krochmal, would correct into "because of [Mordecai] the son of Kish, a Benjamite," and finds in this entirely conjectural and violent emendation an "attestation that the psalm was very early regarded as a work of the Persian age" ("Orig. of Psalt.," p. 229). But there is really no reason of weight for denying the Davidic authorship, as Ewald, Hitzig, Hupfeld, and Riehm allow; and there is much in 1 Samuel 24-26, correspondent with the situation and emotions of the psalmist here, such as, e.g., the protestations of innocence, the calumnies launched at him, and the call on God to judge. The tone of the psalm is high and courageous, in remarkable contrast to the depression of spirit in the former psalm, up out of which the singer had to pray himself. Here, on the contrary, he fronts the enemy, lion like though he be, without a quiver. It is the courage of innocence and of trust. Psalms 6 wailed like some soft flute; Psalms 7 peals like the trumpet of judgment, and there is triumph in the note. The whole may be divided into three parts, of which the close of the first is marked by the Selah at the end of Psa_7:5; and the second includes Psa_7:6-10. Thus we have the appeal of innocence for help (Psa_7:1-5), the cry for more than help-namely, definite judgment (Psa_7:6-10)-and the vision of judgment (Psa_7:11-17).
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The first section has two main thoughts: the cry for help and the protestation of innocence. It is in accordance with the bold triumphant tone of the psalm that its first words are a profession of faith in Jehovah. It is well to look to God before looking at dangers and foes. He who begins with trust can go on to think of the fiercest antagonism without dismay. Many of the psalms ascribed to David begin thus, but it is no mere stereotyped formula. Each represents a new act of faith, in the presence of a new danger. The word for "put trust" here is very illuminative and graphic, meaning properly the act of fleeing to a refuge. It is sometimes blended with the image of a sheltering rock, sometimes with the still tenderer one of a mother bird, as when Ruth "came to trust under the wings of Jehovah," and in many other places. The very essence of the act of faith is better expressed by that metaphor than by much subtle exposition. Its blessedness as bringing security and warm shelter and tenderness more than maternal is wrapped up in the sweet and instructive figure. The many enemies are, as it were, embodied in one, on whom the psalmist concentrates his thoughts as the most formidable and fierce. The metaphor of the lion is common in the psalms attributed to David, and is, at all events, natural in the mouth of a shepherd king, who had taken a lion by the beard. He is quite aware of his peril, if God does not help him, but he is so sure of his safety, since he trusts, that he can contemplate the enemys power unmoved, like a man standing within arms length of the lions open jaws, but with a strong grating between. This is the blessing of true faith, not the oblivion of dangers, but the calm fronting of them because our refuge is in God.
Indignant repelling of slander follows the first burst of triumphant trust (Psa_7:3-5). Apparently "the words of Cush" were calumnies poisoning Sauls suspicious nature, such as David refers to in 1Sa_24:9 : "Wherefore hearkenest thou to mens words, saying, Behold, David seekest thy hurt?" The emphatic and enigmatic This in Psa_7:3 is unintelligible, unless it refers to some slander freshly coined, the base malice of which stirs its object into flashing anger and vehement self-vindication. The special point of the falsehood is plain from the repudiation. He had been charged with attempting to injure one who was at peace with him. That is exactly what "mens words" charged on David, "saying, Behold, David seeketh thy hurt" (1 Samuel, as above), "If there be iniquity in my hands" is very like. "See that there is neither evil nor transgression in mine hand, and I have not sinned against thee"! "Thou huntest after my soul to take it" (1 Samuel) is also like our Psa_7:1 : "them that pursue me," and Psa_7:5 : "let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it." The specific form of this protestation of innocence finds no explanation in the now favourite view of the sufferer in the psalm as being the righteous nation. The clause which is usually treated as a parenthesis in Psa_7:4, and translated, as in the R.V, "I have delivered him that without cause was mine adversary," is needlessly taken by Delitzsch and others as a continuation of the hypothetical clauses, and rendered, with a change in the meaning of the verb, "And if I have despoiled him," etc.; but it is better taken as above and referred to the incident in the cave when David spared Sauls life. What meaning would that clause have with the national reference? The metaphor of a wild beast in chase of its prey colours the vehement declaration in Psa_7:5 of readiness to suffer if guilty. We see the swift pursuit, the victim overtaken and trampled to death. There may also be an echo of the Song of Miriam: {Exo_15:9} "The enemy said, I will pursue; I will overtake." To "lay my glory in the dust" is equivalent to "bring down my soul to the dust of death." Mans glory is his "soul." Thus, nobly throbbing with conscious innocence and fronting unmerited hate, the rush of words stops, to let the musical accompaniment blare on, for a while, as if defiant and confident.
The second section of the psalm (Psa_7:6-10) is a cry for the coming of the Divine Judge. The previous prayer was content with deliverance, but this takes a bolder flight, and asks for the manifestation of the punitive activity of God on the enemies, who, as usually, are identified with "evil-doers." The grand metaphors in "Arise," "Lift up Thyself." "Awake." mean substantially the same thing. The long periods during which evil works and flaunts with impunity are the times when God sits as if passive and, in a figure still more daring, as if asleep. When His destructive power flashed into act, and some long-tolerated iniquity was smitten at a blow, the Hebrew singers saw therein God springing to His feet or awaking to judgment. Such long stretches of patient permission of evil and of swift punishment are repeated through, the ages, and individual lives have them in miniature. The great judgments of nations and the small ones of single men embody the same principles, just as the tiniest crystal has the same angles and lines of cleavage as the greatest of its kind. So this psalmist has penetrated to a true discernment of the relations of the small and the great, when he links his own vindication by the judicial act of God with the pomp and splendour of a world wide judgment, and bases his prayer for the former on the Divine purpose to effect the latter. The sequence, "The Lord ministereth judgment to the peoples"-therefore-"judge me, O Lord," does not imply that the "me" is the nation, but simply indicates as the ground of the individual hope of a vindicating judgment the Divine fact, of which history had given him ample proof and faith gave, him still fuller evidence, that God, though He sometimes seemed to sleep, did indeed judge the nations. The prerogative of the poet, and still more, the instinct of the inspired spirit, is to see the law of the greatest exemplified in the small and to bring every triviality of personal life into contact with God and His government. The somewhat harsh construction of the last clause of Psalms 7:6 begins the transition from the prayer for the smaller to the assurance of the greater judgment which is its basis, and similarly the first clause of Psalms 7:8 closes the picture of that wider act, and the next clause returns to the prayer. This picture, thus embedded in the heart of the supplication, is majestic in its few broad strokes. First comes the appointment of judgment, then the assembling of the "peoples," which here may, perhaps, have the narrower meaning of the "tribes," since "congregation" is the word used for them in their national assembly, and would scarcely be employed for the collection of Gentile nations. But whether the concourse be all Israel or all nations, they are gathered in silent expectance as in a great judgment hall. Then enters the Judge. If we retain the usual reading and rendering of Psa_7:7 b, the act of judgment is passed over in silence, and the poet beholds God, the judgment finished, soaring above the awe-struck multitudes, in triumphant return to the repose of His heavenly throne. But the slight emendation of the text, needed to yield the meaning "Sit Thou above it," is worthy of consideration. In either case, the picture closes with the repeated assurance of the Divine judgment of the peoples, and (Psa_7:8) the prayer begins again. The emphatic assertion of innocence must be taken in connection with the slanders already repudiated. The matter in hand is the evils charged on the psalmist, for which he was being chased as if by lions, the judgment craved is the chastisement of his persecutors, and the innocence professed is simply the innocence which they calumniated. The words have no bearing at all on the psalmists general relation to the Divine law, nor is there any need to have recourse to the hypothesis that the speaker is the "righteous nation." It is much more difficult to vindicate a member of that remnant from the charge of overestimating the extent and quality of even the righteous nations obedience, if he meant to allege, as that interpretation would make him do, that the nation was pure in life and heart, than it is to vindicate the single psalmist vehemently protesting his innocence of the charges for which he was hunted. Cheyne confesses (Commentary in loc.) that the "psalmists view may seem too rose coloured," which is another way of acknowledging that the interpretation of the protestation as the voice of the nation is at variance with the facts of its condition.
The accents require Psa_7:9 a to be rendered "Let wickedness make an end of the wicked," but that introduces an irrelevant thought of the suicidal nature of evil. It may be significant that the psalmists prayer is not for the destruction of the wicked, but of their wickedness. Such annihilation of evil is the great end of Gods judgment, and its consequence will be the establishment of the righteous. Again the prayer strengthens itself by the thought of God as righteous and as trying the hearts and reins (the seat of feeling). In the presence of rampant and all but triumphant evil, a man needs to feed hopes of its overthrow that would else seem vainest dreams, by gazing on the righteousness and searching power of God. Very beautifully does the order of the words in Psa_7:9 suggest the kindred of the good man with God by closing each division of the verse with "righteous." A righteous man has a claim on a righteous God. Most naturally then the prayer ends with the calm confidence of Psa_7:10 : "My shield is upon God." He Himself bears the defence of the psalmist. This confidence he has won by his prayer, and in it he ceases to be a suppliant and becomes a seer.
The last section (Psa_7:11-17) is a vision of the judgment prayed for, and may be supposed to be addressed to the enemy. If so, the hunted man towers above them, and becomes a rebuker. The character of God underlies the fact of judgment, as it had encouraged the prayer for it. What he had said to himself when his hope drooped, he now, as a prophet, peals out to men as making retribution sure: "God is a righteous Judge, yea a God that hath indignation every day." The absence of an object specified for the indignation makes its inevitable flow wherever there is evil the more vividly certain. If He is such, then of course follows the destruction of everyone who "turns not." Retribution is set forth with solemn vigour under four figures. First, God is as an armed enemy sharpening His sword in preparation for action, a work of time which in the Hebrew is represented as in process, and bending His bow, which is the work of a moment, and in the Hebrew is represented as a completed act. Another second, and the arrow will whizz. Not only is the bow bent, but (Psa_7:11) the deadly arrows are aimed, and not only aimed, but continuously fed with flame. The Hebrew puts "At him" (the wicked) emphatically at the beginning of the verse, and uses the form of the verb which implies completed action for the "aiming" and that which implies incomplete for "making" the arrows burn. So the stern picture is drawn of God as in the moment before the outburst of His punitive energy-the sword sharpened, the bow bent, the arrows fitted, the burning stuff being smeared on their tips. What will happen when all this preparation blazes into action?
The next figure in Psa_7:14 insists on the automatic action of evil in bringing punishment. It is the Old Testament version of "Sin when it is finished bringeth forth death." The evil-doer is boldly represented as "travailing with iniquity," and that metaphor is broken up into the two parts "He hath conceived mischief" and "He hath brought forth falsehood." The "falsehood," which is the thing actually produced, is so called, not because it deceives others, but because it mocks its producer with false hopes and never fulfils his purposes. This is but the highly metaphorical way of saying that a sinner never does what he means to do, but that the end of all his plans is disappointment. The law of the universe condemns him to feed on ashes and to make and trust in lies.
A third figure brings out more fully the idea implied in "falsehood," namely, the failure of evil to accomplish its doers purpose. Crafty attempts to trap others have an ugly habit of snaring their contriver. The irony of fortune tumbles the hunter into the pitfall dug by him for his prey. The fourth figure (Psa_7:16) represents the incidence of his evil on the evil-doer as being certain as the fall of a stone thrown straight up, which will infallibly come back in the line of its ascent. Retribution is as sure as gravitation, especially if there is an Unseen Hand above, which adds impetus and direction to the falling weight. All these metaphors, dealing with the "natural" consequences of evil, are adduced as guarantees of Gods judgment, whence it is clear both that the psalmist is thinking not of some final future judgment, but of the continuous one of daily providence, and that he made no sharp line of demarcation between the supernatural and the natural. The qualities of things and the play of natural events are Gods working.
So the end of all is thanksgiving. A stern but not selfish nor unworthy thankfulness follows judgment, with praise which is not inconsistent with tears of pity, even as the act of judgment: which calls it forth is not inconsistent with Divine love. The vindication of Gods righteousness is worthily hymned by the choral thanksgivings of all who love righteousness. By judgment Jehovah makes Himself known as "most high," supreme over all creatures; and hence the music of thanksgiving celebrates Him under that name. The title "Elyon" here employed is regarded by Cheyne and others as a sign of late date, but the use of it seems rather a matter of poetic style than of chronology. Melchizedek, Balaam, and the king of Babylon {Isa_14:14} use it; it occurs in Daniel, but, with these exceptions, is confined to poetical passages, and cannot be made out to be a mark of late date, except by assuming the point in question-namely, the late date of the poetry, principally nineteen psalms, in which it occurs.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 “From the matter of this psalm it appears that…
INTRODUCTION
“From the matter of this psalm it appears that it was composed with reference to some calumny on the character of David; but commentators are not agreed as to when and by whom this injury was inflicted. Perhaps the conduct of Doeg might give occasion to this poem, inasmuch as this man had grossly misrepresented David to Saul, and insinuated that he was conspiring against the life of his king; whereas the very reverse of this statement was the truth.”—Phillips.
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THE EXTREMITY AND ASYLUM OF THE SAINTS
(Psa_7:1-2.)
There can be but little doubt that this psalm was uttered by David when he was slandered by the courtiers of Saul, and when he was pursued by that deluded monarch. The situation of David is a picture of the situation in which all saints often find themselves.
Consider:
I. Their extremity.
The Psalmist was like a partridge on the mountains, “like a roe or gazelle chased by the lions.”—Perowne. So are God’s people frequently tempted, tried, borne down by various agents, and shapes of evil.
(1.) The enemies of the righteous are multiplied. “All them that persecute me” (Psa_7:1). Some one has said, “If we have an enemy we meet him everywhere.” This is very true of our great enemy the devil; we meet him everywhere. “His name is legion.” “There is a devil in every berry of the grape,” said Mahomet. Yes; and a devil in everything else with which we have to do. The diabolical creeps into everything, and the righteous man is ever menaced and endangered. In the flesh, in the world, in things necessary, things beautiful, things sacred, are ambushed enemies, bending the bow, and shooting privily at the righteous.
(2.) These enemies are malign. “Lest he tear my soul like a lion rending it in pieces” (Psa_7:2). As a wild beast would tear to pieces a lamb, so would the devil afflict the soul. How bitterly the devil hates the children of God! How bitterly the world often persecutes the saints!
(3.) Those enemies are resistless. “While there is none to deliver” (Psa_7:2). He could not deliver himself, and he had no helper among men. His enemies felt that they reigned supreme and would crush him when they pleased. So with our spiritual foes. Policy, reason, pledges, &c., what are these but hirelings which flee in the hour of trial, and the wolf catcheth the sheep. A man measures himself in vain with the powers of darkness; these powers soon vanquish flesh and blood. No matter how strong the iron-clads of human building, the devil’s artillery soon sinks them.
II. Their refuge.
“O Lord, my God, in Thee do I put my trust” (Psa_7:1). “With Thee have I taken shelter.”—Horsley.
(1.) The security of this shelter. The Almighty God. Better than walls of granite, than gates of brass, than lines of steel:
“Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defence is sure.”
“God’s assistance is the strongest, quickest, and surest help.”—Moll.
(2.) The condition of its enjoyment, (a) A personal relationship to God. “My God.” (b) A constant faith in God. “In Thee do I trust.” “The door is closed to prayer unless it is opened with the key of trust.”—Calvin.
NOT GUILTY
(Psa_7:3-10.)
The Psalmist, who so constantly acknowledges and bitterly deplores his sin, here puts in another plea. “He protests passionately his innocence, his soul surging with emotion as he thinks how unjustly he has been assailed.”—Perowne.
Concerning this plea, let us observe:
I. We may plead “not guilty” of some particular sin when we cannot plead freedom from sin.
“If I have done this” (Psa_7:3). We cannot plead freedom from sin (1Jn_1:8), but we may plead freedom from particular faults with which we may be charged (Job_31:16). Let us glorify the grace which has preserved us from so many sins to which we are prone.
II. We may plead “not guilty” before men when we cannot thus plead before God.
Job vindicated himself before his friends, but in the presence of God abased himself, and repented in sackcloth and ashes. We may often most properly assert our integrity before men, but “concerning the law of our God,” it is another thing.
III. We may plead “not guilty” before God when we have rested in the merits of Christ.
“The righteousness of faith before God must be distinguished from righteousness and innocence of life before man; yet a true Christian must be able to console himself with both.”—Starke. “There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.” One of our legal writers says: “So completely does a pardon of treason or felony extinguish the crime, that when granted to a man, even after conviction or attainder, it will enable him to have an action of slander against another for calling him traitor or felon; because the pardon makes him as it were a new man, and gives him a new capacity and credit. In the eye of the law, the offender is as innocent as if he had never committed the offence.” So completely does the blood and righteousness of Christ absolve us from sin.
“Bold shall I stand in that great day,
For who aught to my charge shall lay!
Fully absolved through these I am,
From sin and fear, from guilt and shame.”
IV. When we can justly plead “not guilty” before God or man, we may rely on a triumphal acquittal.
Psa_7:6-10. “Hitherto the Psalmist has protested his innocence; now, in the full consciousness of that innocence, he comes before the very judgment-seat of God, and demands the fullest and most public vindication. Then he sees as it were in a vision the judgment set: ‘Thou hast commanded judgment.’ Next, that sentence may be pronounced with due solemnity, he calls upon God to gather the nations round Him, and to seat Himself upon His judgment-throne. Lastly, he prays God, as the Judge of all nations, to judge himself.”—Perowne.
We see here that God is the Judge of all. The whole “congregation;” all nations. God can judge righteously. Psa_7:9. “The reins are the seat of the emotions, just as the heart is the seat of the thoughts and feelings. Reins and heart lie naked before God.”—Delitzsch. God will judge righteously. He will condemn the guilty; He will establish the just.
Has our reputation been slandered? David feels bitterly the perfidious sayings of his foes, the injustice of their accusations. The French proverb says, “The tongue cuts deeper than the lance;” and David felt it to be so. Some men are said to labour under a strange necessity, that whenever they see a beautiful dress, they must throw vitriol on it; and so wicked men feel, and yield to, the devilish impulse of aspersing noble characters and noble names. Have we suffered from the tongues of such? Or have our rights been invaded? Have men unjustly touched our position, our freedom, our property? Nay, is our life taken away by violent or unjust men? Let us look confidently to the great assize. God will vindicate the just, and tread the proud oppressor in the dust. There is a famous picture entitled “Waiting for the Verdict.” You may write that over all graveyards—“Waiting for the verdict.” We play our part, and go our way, but for all God shall bring us into judgment; the silent nations underground wait the peal which shall call them to receive the final verdict, and the Judge of all the earth shall do right.
Observe:
1. The sense of innocence makes us hopeful towards God. “Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence towards God” (1Jn_3:21).
2. The sense of innocence makes us gentle towards men (Psa_7:9). “His prayer is not directed against the individual as such, but against the wickedness that is in them. This psalm is the key to all psalms which contain prayers against one’s enemies.”—Delitzsch.
GOD AS A MAN OF WAR
(Psa_7:11-13.)
In these verses, God’s dealing with the unrighteous is vividly portrayed. We see God troubled by sin, and rising up to take vengeance upon it; and these verses are an epitome of the entire action of God with sinners. He is angry with them, and proceeds to bring them to reason.
Mark:
I. The Divine admonition.
“God is angry with the wicked every day” (Psa_7:11). Barnes says on this passage: “Continually, constantly, always. This is designed to qualify the previous expression, ‘angry.’ It is not excitement. It is not temporary passion, such as we see in men. It is not sudden emotion, soon to be succeeded by a different feeling when the passion passes off. It is the steady and uniform attribute of His unchanging nature to be always opposed to the wicked—to all forms of sin; and in Him, in this respect, there will be no change. The wicked will find Him no more favourable to their character and course of life tomorrow than He is to-day—no more beyond the grave than this side of the tomb. What He is to-day, He will be tomorrow and every day.” This is no doubt true, but it is scarcely the truth taught in the text. Many of the great commentators agree that the sense of these words is—God is patient with sinners, and gives them daily warning of His displeasure, and of the gathering storm of His wrath. “If God will in the end let His wrath break forth, He will not do it without having previously given threatenings thereof every day, viz., to the ungodly (cf. Isa_66:14; Mal_1:4). He makes these feel His anger beforehand in order to strike a wholesome terror into them.”—Delitzsch. “God is not a Judge who punishes daily, but who threatens daily; for if God should punish us always, and as often as we deserve it, the world would no longer endure; therefore thou shouldst know that God’s long-suffering invites thee to repentance.”—Moll. “Although He is not angry every day—i.e., His anger is not breaking forth upon every occasion—yet the season of judgment will surely come.”—Horsley. Thus God is constantly warning the sinner. One of our philosophers speaks of “the premonitory symptoms of Nature’s displeasure.” So in the moral world are there premonitory symptoms of the Divine displeasure. Every day, in the sinner’s conscience or body, intellect or estate, does God make signs of His gathering anger, so that the wicked may forsake their wickedness and escape the wrath to come.
Notice:
II. The Divine amnesty.
“If he turn” (Psa_7:12). “If he turn,” there is forgiveness and life. Oh, most important “if”! If he turn, all is well; if he turn not, all is lost. Blessed opportunity! the sinner may turn. And all sinners have the ability to turn, for God commands them all to turn, and God does not command impossibilities. God’s commands are promises; and when He invites all to return to Him, He strengthens all that they may do it. “Do not think God has done anything concerning thee before thou camest into being whereby thou art determined either to sin or misery. This is a falsehood, and they that entertain such thoughts live in a lie.”—Whichcote. O sinner! improve this truce of God.
III. The Divine arsenal.
Psa_7:12-13. “He will whet His sword,” &c. God is a man of war, and here we get a glimpse into His armoury, and behold the artillery with which He wars on obstinate sinners.
1. Mark the variety of His weapons. God’s armoury is full of weapons. “Sword,” “bow,” “arrows.” Storms, diseases, plagues, famines, wars, earth-quakes, terrors of conscience, secrets of the prison-house we know not. God’s armoury is full of awful weapons—weapons which can destroy both body and soul.
2. The readiness of His weapons. “He hath bent His bow and made it ready” (Psa_7:12). “He ordaineth His arrows” (Psa_7:13). Or, “He will put His arrows in action.”—Horsley. “The wrath of God may be slow, but it is always sure. In thoughtless security man wantons and whiles away the precious hours; he knows not that every transgression sets a fresh edge on the sword, which is there continually whetting for his destruction; nor considers that he is the mark of an archer who never errs, and who, at this very instant, perhaps, has fitted to the string that arrow which is to pierce his soul with everlasting anguish.”—Horne. “The sword of Heaven is not in haste to smite, nor doth it linger.”
Observe, finally:
3. The deadly efficacy of His weapons. “Instruments of death.” “He ordaineth His arrows,” or, as some translate it, “His arrows He maketh fiery.” “Arrows wrapped round with some inflammable material, which become ignited in their passage through the air, and set on fire whatever they light upon.”—Perowne. “The whetting of the sword is but to give a keener edge, that it may cut the deeper. God is silent as long as the sinner will let Him, but when the sword is whet it is to cut, and when the bow is bent it is to kill; and woe be to that man who is the butt.”—Lecker, quoted by Spurgeon. “ ‘If I whet My glittering sword, and Mine hand take hold of judgment, I will render vengeance to Mine enemies’ (Deu_32:41). And where will God whet His glittering sword? Where are blades usually whetted? Let us look. Surely on a whirling, circular stone. And on what stone will God whet His sword? I reply, On that stony heart of the sinner which is ever revolving, never at rest. Watch the grindstone a little while. See how it plunges down into a trough of turbid, foul, and muddy water. O stone, stone! why rush down into this filth? Rise up! rise up from this uncleanness. I put my hand to it, I set the stone in motion. How easily is it made to revolve! It moves—it leaves that sink of filth—it mounts upwards. In vain! It whirls round, and with a rush seeks again its bed of pollution. Heart of sinner, hard and stony! why dost thou not emerge from the corruption in which thou wallowest? ‘I will emerge,’ thou repliest. Why dost thou not leave thy enmities, thy passions, thy shameful uncleanness? ‘I will leave them,’ is the answer. And yet nothing comes of these fine promises. Always on the move like the grindstone, you never remove from the trough of slime; always leaving sin, that with fresh relish you may plunge into it again. Know, you sinners who are so full of good resolutions which come to nought; so full of promises of amendment which end in relapse, that it is on whirling grindstones such as you that the glittering sword of Divine vengeance is whetted. ‘If I whet My glittering sword, I will render vengeance to Mine enemies.’ ”—Joseph de Barzia, 1600.
THE SELF-PUNISHING NATURE OF SIN
(Psa_7:14-17.)
A somewhat different view of retribution is here given to that given in Psa_7:12-13. There God is represented as using against the sinner His own peculiar weapons; here He is represented as beating and punishing His enemies with their own weapons. “Evil shall slay the wicked.”
I. All sin is the digging of a pit.
Sin does not seek to rise by the stepping stones of lawful and noble endeavour; it knows of no eminence but by lowering others. Ambition, with its throne-building, is yet a pit-digging. It seeks to raise itself on the trampled rights, and pleasures, and lives of others. Lying is a pit-sinking for others. Lust serves itself by ensnaring and debasing others. Envying sickens at another’s joy, and seeks to secure itself by giving others a fall. Covetousness is always grave-digging, that it may inherit others’ wealth. Sin would sink the throne of God. Sin knows not how to shine but by darkening others, knows not how to exalt itself but by depressing others, knows not how to feast itself but by starving others, knows not how to enrich itself but by spoiling others, knows not how to save itself but by damning others. Pit-digging is hard work. The image of a travailing woman, in the 14th verse, reminds us that the development of evil is attended with severest labour and keenest sorrows. It is infinitely harder work to rise by violence, fraud, spoliation, than by virtuous paths. It may be hard to climb the steep where Fame’s proud temple shines afar; but the bitterest toil is theirs who seek to rise by sinking. Pit-digging is humiliating work; it is a perpetual stoop. It kills all the nobility of a man; it is full of shame.
II. All sin sinks into the pit which it digs.
The workman rises with his work, and the workman sinks with his work. He who digs a pit for another digs a grave for himself. How often has the truth of these verses, 15 and 16, been seen by us!
1. Nature guarantees that it shall be so. The sinning member suffers; the sinner suffers on the same lines as he transgresses.
2. History teems with illustrations of this truth. In sacred and profane history we find a thousand examples of men falling into the pits they digged for others.
3. The Scriptures assure us that this will be so to the bitter end. “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he reap.”
ALPHA AND OMEGA
(FIRST verse and the LAST.)
The contrast between the opening and the closing verse of this psalm is instructive. It reminds us—
I. That God’s equity may be obscured in the beginning, but it shall be vindicated in the end.
In the first verse, God’s righteousness is hidden; the wicked triumph. But in the last verse of the psalm all is clear, and the Lord is praised “according to His righteousness.” Wait!
II. That the sinner’s beginning may be grand, but his end shall be disaster.
In the opening of the psalm the sinner is a lion, strong, proud, dominant; but in the end of the psalm the lion is howling in a pit. Wait!
III. That the saints may have beginnings of sorrow, but the end shall be triumphant.
With the commencement of the psalm David weeps and laments, but he ends with a song. Wait!
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 I. Notice: (1) How the Scriptures speak of integrity,…
Psa 7:8
I. Notice: (1) How the Scriptures speak of integrity, how manifold and bold the forms in which they commend it, and how freely the good men of the Scripture times testify their consciousness of it in their appeals to God. And lest we should imagine that the integrity is only a crude and partial conception, belonging to the piety of the Old Testament, the Christian disciples of the New Testament are testifying also in a hundred ways to the integrity, before God and man, in which they consciously live. (2) What integrity means, or what is the state intended by it. As an integer is a whole, in distinction from a fraction, which is only a part, so a man of integrity is a man whose aim in the right is a whole aim, in distinction from one whose aim is divided, partial, or unstable. It is such a state of right intention as allows the man to be consciously right-minded, and to firmly rest in the singleness of his purpose. There is a kind of integrity which goes far beyond the mere integrity of trade, and which is the only real integrity. This higher and only real integrity is the root of all true character, and must be the condition somehow of Christian character itself. (3) Let us inquire in what manner this is so. There is no redeeming efficacy in right intent; taken by itself, it would never vanquish the inward state of evil at all. And yet it is just that by which all evil will be vanquished under Christ and by grace, because it puts the soul in such a state as makes the great power of Christ, co-working with it, effectual. Integrity is presupposed in all true faith, and enters in that manner into all true Gospel character.
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II. Notice some of the practical relations of the subject. (1) Consider what it is that gives such peace and loftiness of bearing to the life of a truly righteous man. What an atmosphere of serenity does it create for him that he is living in a conscience void of offence! Who can understand like him the meaning of that word, "The work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever "? (2) Here, too, is the ground of all failures and all highest successes in religion, or the Christian life. Only to be an honest man, in the highest and genuinely Christian sense, signifies a great deal more than most of us ever conceive. Here is the spot where you are to make your revision, find what your intent is, whether it is honest, and whole, and clean, warped by no ambiguities, divided and stolen away by no idols. Here the Achan will be hid if anywhere. Make sure of his dislodgment, and the way is clear. (4) Every man who comes into a state of right intent, or is set to be a real integer in the right, will forthwith also be a Christian.
H. Bushnell, Christ and His Salvation, p. 157.
Reference: Psa 7:8.—C. Kingsley, The Good News of God, p. 100.
Psa 7:11
Consider how patience comes, and especially how it arises from a study of the Scriptures, and what the nature of it is.
I. First, patience is a distinctly human quality, for it is a state of waiting, expecting, looking out, and thus implies periods and distinctions of time. Patience has no place in eternity. As man’s love, and pity, and justice, and truth, and holiness, and wisdom are mere reflections of the corresponding attributes in God, so patience also can only find its perfect archetype in Him. How can we reconcile the facts that God is almighty and yet declines to act; that He is perfectly just, yet leaves His justice still unsatisfied? By what other attribute can we describe Him who seems to contradict Himself but by the attribute of patience? This thought reconciles the difficulty.
II. Notice illustrations of God’s patience given in Holy Scripture. (1) Conceive the love of the Almighty manifesting itself in creation. Weigh well the sense of the words, "God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good," and then the disappointment and overthrow of this plan of infinite benevolence, the ordainment of new plans for the punishment of sin, with mercy for the mitigation of pain, for the ultimate recovery of man’s first estate. What a state of waiting, expecting, looking out, is here! (2) Again, imagine the patience which waited from the hour of the first promise of the Saviour, made before the gates of Paradise were shut, until those "last days" when the Eternal Father "spoke unto us by His Son." (3) Revelation gives us one more signal instance of the patience of the Eternal God: His "suffering the manners" of the Christian world for these eighteen hundred years, during which Christ has waited for the gathering in of His elect.
III. It is by looking into the face of this patience of God that we can become like-minded with Him. Not only will it make us hate our sins and love Him more, but we shall have grace to be patient also. But indifference is not patience. The patient soul is that which feels acutely, but waits on, expecting the perfect end. The suspense before enjoyment is patience. The bride waits patiently for the bridegroom’s voice, because she has faith and love; she is sure that he is coming. So does the soul look out in patience for that which faith and love anticipate in Christ.
C. W. Furse, Richmond Sermons, p. 1.
References: Psa 7:12.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. ii., No. 106; F. E. Paget, Sermons for Special Occasions, p. 247.
Psa 7:13
I. Consider from this instance how often there lurk meanings of mercy and of love in the Psalms when upon the surface of them all seems to breathe (like Saul on the road to Damascus) of threatening and slaughter. For so it is in this verse that David only thought of the arrows of judgment and of wrath, but all the Christian commentators and preachers love rather to think of those arrows of conviction and love which God hath often discharged against the persecutors of His Church, and notably against Saul. When Jesus appeared to Saul, He did not say anything about arrows, but He did make mention of something similar. "It is hard for thee," He said (quoting a common proverb), "to kick out against the goads," as the stubborn oxen do when men would drive them to a quicker pace, and they, lashing out against the goads, only hurt themselves the worse. It is easy to see what these goads must have been. Many a time must Saul have felt in his inmost soul the bitter assurance that he was only doing the devil’s work; yet he hardened himself, and stiffened his neck, and kicked out against the goads of conscience, and went on madly persecuting Jesus.
II. The great and obvious lesson of the text is that no persecutor will be allowed to proceed too far. In one way or other it will be said to him unmistakably, "Thus far shalt thou go, but no further." But there is a special triumph about the overthrow of Saul, because the arrow of conviction which struck him down was the arrow of the Lord’s deliverance for him as well as for the Church; it delivered the brethren from grievous fear, but him from yet more grievous error. It was like the golden arrows of the rising sun, which pierce the stubborn darkness through and through, and change it into smiling day.
R. Winterbotham, Sermons and Expositions, p. 75.
References: Psalm 7—J. Hammond, Expositor, 1st series, vol. iv., p. 59; A. Maclaren, Life of David, p. 111; I. Williams, The Psalms Interpreted of Christ, p. 160. Psa 8:1.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. x., p. 207; A. Fletcher, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. xi., p. 65. Psa 8:2.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxvi., No. 1545; S. Cox, An Expositor’s Notebook, p. 131.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain On v1 A pleading for righteous judgment upon the persecutors of…
A pleading for righteous judgment upon the persecutors of the innocent.
Shiggaion of David, which he sang unto Jehovah concerning the words of Cush a Benjamite.
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The fifth psalm of this series closes it with another appeal for judgment upon the persecutor. This is now at hand, and the last verse celebrates Jehovah in millennial character as the Most High. The next psalm, as we have seen, carries us beyond the judgment to see the Son of man making God’s name excellent on all the delivered earth. Thus all these psalms are linked together.
The word Shiggaion is said to mean a "wandering ode," -perhaps a loud enthusiastic hymn, in which the writer is carried away with his enthusiasm; and this would not be unsuitable to the character of the composition. Of Cush we know historically nothing; with which the descriptive "a Benjamite" agrees, not "the Benjamite," -any noted person. On the other hand, Cush, the "black," or sun-burnt, may be a symbolic name, an enigma to be read through; and so in any wise we must take it. The Benjamite was, as we know, in power in those days of David to which the psalm belongs; and thus far, at least, Cush was connected with the unhappy Saul. In the days to come a darker power will have arisen in Israel, whose words" will be against both God and His people alike. This "wicked one" is to be consumed with the breath of the Lord’s mouth and destroyed with the "manifestation of His presence." (2Th 2:1-17, Gk.) The fear and the triumph that this psalm expresses, though not confined to him, are such as might well be called forth by the tyranny and overthrow of this antichristian oppressor.
1. In the first division of the psalm, faith takes refuge in God from man, sheltering itself as in a rock in the immutability of its covenant-God. All through the last psalm, when that very immutability might seem to be against it, Jehovah was the name clung to and pleaded; and now it abides in its shelter in the Abiding. Will He cast off this soul that trusts Him? No; "the name of Jehovah is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe."
Outside, the "lion" lies in wait, and there there is "none to rescue." Only Jehovah can avail to deliver from those cruel and remorseless jaws; and surely the experience will be repeated, "Thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the jawbone: Thou has broken the teeth of the ungodly."
2. There follows the protestation of innocence as far as these enemies are concerned, and that is a matter of immense importance in view of the government of God. "With what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you" is still true under the reign of grace itself, and the lips of perfect grace they were that said it. The apostle also says, "If ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here with fear; knowing that ye are redeemed . . . with the precious blood of Christ." (1Pe 1:17-19.) So then it is the redeemed who are in this way under the Father’s government, as who should be if not the children? Happy are they, then, who can plead what the psalmist here does, that it is absolutely unprovoked, this malice of the enemy. There are no dues to be made up, as far as he is concerned. Nay, he can say more than this, and we recognize clearly David’s conduct toward Saul as that which furnishes the text here, -he can say, "I have delivered him that without cause oppressed me." He then puts his seal upon this in the solemn appeal to Him who knows the truth to let the enemy have his way with him if this be not so, -tread down his life upon the earth, and lay his glory in the dust.
3. Now he breaks out in an ardent prayer for Jehovah to come in, set up His throne in judgment, gather the nations round Him, and in this great assembly judge openly his cause, and do him right. In fact, this is what is to take place at the close of the period to which prophetically the psalm looks on. But the judgment will not be a sessional one, but an outbreaking of divine wrath like the flashing of the storm to which the Lord Himself compares His coming. (Mat 24:27.)
4. The psalmist turns from the thought of his own vindication and deliverance to cry out for the cessation of evil upon the earth, the righteous being established in it, God with perfect knowledge of men making proof of all in the innermost truth of heart and reins. The great tribulation, of which our Lord speaks in the same prophecy, will accomplish this, not only in Israel, which will be in the centre of it, but largely also in the nations round, which will he affected by it. The day of the Lord of hosts will be upon all the pride of man to abase it, and upon all the objects with which he fain would satisfy the void in a heart that has turned from God. "The idols he shall utterly abolish." "And it shall come to pass that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem, when Jehovah shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning." (Isa 2:18; Isa 4:3-4.)
Well may the soul rejoice if it can say, as to that day, "My shield is upon God, who saveth the upright in heart"! Who, indeed, but He could use the shield for any at such a time?
5. The psalm goes on to contemplate the government of God, which is for righteousness, though patient in a way that may be misunderstood on both sides, -by righteous and wicked alike. Though patient, His anger burns against the impenitent, day by day stored up, until at last it flames forth. The sword is being sharpened, the bent bow makes no sound until the arrow is discharged: then it is a weapon of death, all aflame with divine vengeance.
6. The result as to the enemy of the righteous shows the hand that is over him. He toils to produce what is vain labor, has his toil for his pains, an end which deceives the laborer. It is not merely vain, it is his own undoing: the ditch dug for another is the trap to catch the digger. And thus the fruit of his toil he harvests in unwelcome fashion and most perfect retribution: for God is Master of all, and will be glorified in all.
So the psalm ends in praise to Him who is righteous and Supreme as well. And the millennial name -the "Most High," King of kings and Lord of lords, -shows, as already said, whereto we have arrived. The series is manifestly complete, and its moral purpose is as manifest. The way of the Lord is seen in the abasing of the proud, in the lifting up of the lowly. Therefore the lesson which we find the remnant of Israel here learning. The "sacrifices of righteousness" which we have heard them press on others, include and imply the sacrifices of God," which "are a contrite spirit," the "broken and contrite heart" which He will "not despise." This is produced in them by the discipline of the awful day which seems now so near at hand for Israel and the earth. They "endure," bow under the rod, and are saved at the end when the rod smites.
All this is the utterance of the remnant that shall be, in which the Spirit of Christ has anticipated for them their need, and ministered to it beforehand, showing His intimacy with all their condition, and providing for its expression in words which they will have no difficulty in appropriating, and which lead on to the answer of peace of which the same psalms assure them. How gracious is this special ministry to special need; while the need of any at any time is provided for also. These psalms give us, as others have pointed out, a morning (Psa 3:1-8) passing into evening (4) and night (5), -a night at its deepest in Psa 6:1-10, but in the seventh showing the commencement of the dawn. The full day is come in the psalm following.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 This Ps. is an appeal to God as the…
This Ps. is an appeal to God as the righteous Judge against an ungrateful and vindictive enemy. Nothing is known of Cush the Benjamite, but the case of Shimei affords a parallel to the circumstances here referred to (2Sa_18:21). The absenee of any Scripture mention of Cush makes it all the more probable that the title of this Ps. is genuine, and not invented. The Psalmist asserts his own innocence (Psa_7:1-6), calls on God, the righteous Judge of all the earth, to exercise His power against evil-doers (Psa_7:7-13), and describes how the malice of the wicked works its own defeat (Psa_7:14-17).
Title.—Shiggaion] perhaps, 'a wandering (i.e. changeful) melody.'
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3. If I have done this] with which Cush charged him. See further in Psa_7:4.
4. The second clause may be read without the parenthesis, 'or despoiled him that without cause was mine adversary.'
5. Take] RV 'overtake.' Mine honour] RV 'my glory,' an equivalent for 'soul' and 'life' in the previous parallel clauses. Selah] see on Psa_3:4.
6. Awake for me] a daring figure, as if God's delay had been due to sleep. To the judgment that, etc.] RV 'thou hast commanded judgment,' i.e. exercised the justice of which Thou art the source.
7. So shall, etc.] RV 'and let,' etc. People] RV 'peoples.' So in Psa_7:8. An assize of all the nations is pictured. For their sakes, etc.] RV 'over them return thou on high,' or 'sit thou above them,' i.e. in judgment.
8. Shall judge] RV 'ministereth judgment to.'
9. Just] RV 'righteous,' the same epithet which is applied to God. The hearts and reins] the whole inner life. The reins are the kidneys, and are spoken of like the heart, the bowels, and the internal organs generally, as the seat of thought and feeling.
11. Read, 'God is a righteous judge, yea, a God that hath indignation everyday.'
12. Read, 'If a man turn not He (God) will whet,' etc.
13. He ordaineth, etc.] RV 'He maketh his arrows fiery shafts'The sense is parallel with the last clause of Psa_7:12.
14. There is a transition at this point from God to the wicked man.
15. He made] RV 'he hath made.' The evil he planned for others comes on himself.
16. another figure for the same thing. Mischief is like a stone thrown up, which falls back upon the thrower's head. Pate] Old English for 'head.'
17. All that has been said illustrates the righteousness of the Lord, which is accordingly the ground of this concluding ascription of praise.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 Psalms 7
Psalms 7
1. Confidence and prayer (Psa 7:1-2)
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2. Unjust persecution (Psa 7:3-5)
3. Arise Jehovah! (Psa 7:6-10)
4. God’s dealings in government (Psa 7:11-16)
5. Thanksgiving (Psa 7:17)
Psa 7:1-2. It has been suggested that over this Psalm should be written the sentence, “Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?” David appealed to God to judge His cause, that a righteous God cannot but save the righteous and judge the wicked. David sang this unto the Lord concerning the words of Cush, the Benjamite. Who Cush was we do not know. He must be a type of the man of sin. David appeals to God who is his refuge, to save and rescue him. The lion stands ready to tear him to pieces.
Psa 7:3-5. He knows it is unjust persecution he is suffering. If he had done evil to others he might well be treated in this way.
Psa 7:6-10. Then follows the appeal to Jehovah to arise in His anger, and to awake for him the judgment He has commanded, when the peoples are assembled for judgment. This appeal from the lips of the remnant will be answered by the manifestation of the Lord.
Psa 7:11-16. God’s judgments in righteousness will overtake the wicked. It is a prophetic description of that day when the wickedness of the wicked comes to an end and the righteous are established. Psa 7:14-16 are another description of the man of sin, the wicked one.
Psa 7:17. A word of praise closes this series of Psalms in which the millennial name of Jehovah is given: “The Most High.” We see that the overthrow of the wicked brings the praise of Jehovah, as it will be heard on earth when He has come back. In reviewing these Psalms, beginning with the Third, we have a morning hymn (3), followed by an evening hymn (4); then a night experience (5), followed by the deepest night (6) and the breaking of the morning, when the Judge ariseth and the wickedness of the wicked comes to an end (7).
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 8 Supplication of a Believer against Slander.
Supplication of a Believer against Slander.
The Petition.
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Shiggaion of David, a plaintive song, or elegy, full of emotion, which is apparent it both in the structure and in the accompanying music, which he sang unto the Lord concerning the words of Cush, the Benjamite, one of his detractors at the court of Saul. David prays for the establishment of his innocence, because he knows himself to be guiltless and because Jehovah will be glorified in his vindication.
v. 1. O Lord, my God, his Creator and the Guide of his pathway, in Thee do I put my trust, this word of faith, love, and hope stating the motive for his confident approach to the Throne of Grace; save me from all them that persecute me, during the time when he was never sure of his life, 1 Samuel 24-26, and deliver me,
v. 2. lest he tear my soul like a lion, a ravenous beast, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver. So eager are his enemies to take his life, and so hopeless seems his case. But David makes his appeal for help in the consciousness of his innocence of any deliberate wrong-doing.
v. 3. O Lord, my God, here the mighty Ruler and Judge of the universe, if I have done this; if there be iniquity in my hands, namely, the crime charged to him by Cush;
v. 4. if I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me, becoming guilty of treachery toward those who trusted him; (yea, I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy, rather, plundered without reason, in pure wantonness, my adversary;)
v. 5. let the enemy persecute my soul, in just retribution, and take it; yea, let him tread down my life upon the earth, trampling it into extinction, and lay mine honor, his personal and official dignity, in the dust, bringing it to the deepest humiliation. Selah. It is only the sense of his innocence which can give David the assurance expressed in this offer, which is now followed by a call to revenge his wrongs.
v. 6. Arise, O Lord, in Thine anger, the appeal being all the more importunate since it seemed that God had hitherto been careless of him, lift up Thyself, towering up on high, because of the rage of mine enemies, His great power alone being able to crush them in spite of their threatening attitude, and awake for me to the judgment that Thou hast commanded, the decision which, as David confidently believed, the Lord had ordained in this case.
v. 7. So shall the congregation of the people compass Thee about, the scene being that of the last great Judgment, when God will gather the nations before Him; for their sakes, therefore, return Thou on high, assuming the judgment-seat as the great Ruler and Judge of all men. David’s single case is merged with the judgment of all men; he is willing to put his matter to the supreme test. Every believer, in spite of all his sinful weakness, must be ready always to have the record of his daily life examined, for he must ever abstain from all crimes and wicked deeds.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 General Information:
General Information:
Parallelism is common in Hebrew poetry. (See: Poetry and Parallelism)
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A musical composition of David
"This is a song that David wrote"
concerning the words of Cush the Benjamite
"concerning what Cush the Benjamite said" or "about what Cush, a man from the tribe of Benjamin, said"
take refuge in you!
Going to Yahweh for protection is spoken of as taking refuge in him. AT: "go to you for protection!" (See: Metaphor)
they will rip me apart like a lion, tearing me in pieces
David speaks of his enemies attacking him as if they would rip his body apart and tear it in pieces as a lion would. AT: "they will violently kill me like a lion ripping apart its victim's body and tearing it in pieces" or "they will violently kill me" (See: Simile)
with no one else able to bring me to safety
"and no one else will be able to save me"
translationWords
David
Yahweh
word
Cush
Benjamin
God
save
lions
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 17 Ps 7 This psalm consists of a lament (7:1-2),…
Ps 7 This psalm consists of a lament (7:1-2), an oath of innocence (7:3-5), an appeal to God’s justice (7:6-9), an affirmation of God’s just kingship (7:10-16), and a concluding hymn of praise (7:17).
7:title Cush, an unknown person of the tribe of Benjamin, remained hostile to David.
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7:1 Persecutors (a common term for “enemies”) intentionally seek out people in order to destroy them (31:15; 56:1-2; 71:11; 143:3).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.