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Psalm Seven
New King James Version (NKJV)
INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 7
Shiggaion of David, which he sang unto the Lord, concerning the
words of Cush the Benjamite. The name of this psalm,
"Shiggaion", either respects the music or the matter of the psalm.
Some take it to be the name of the musical instrument to which the psalm was
setF14Menachem in Jarchi in loc. So David de Pomis, Lexic. fol. 204.
1. : so Habakkuk's prayer is said to be "upon shigionoth"; which is
the same word with this, only of the plural number, Habakkuk 3:1. Others say it was the first
word of a song, to the tune of which this was sungF15Aben Ezra in
loc. And others understand it of a certain kind of a songF16Kimchi
in loc. : and the Targum renders it, "the interpretation of the ode of
David"; which Ainsworth renders, "David's interpretation of the
law"; leading אוריתא instead of אודיתא, as does also the king of Spain's Bible. And certain
it is that it is the name of a song; since it follows, "which he sang unto
the Lord"; in his presence, before him, and to the glory of his name. But
the question is, of what sort it is? and why it should be so called? since its
root שגה signifies "to err" or
"wander": it is more generally rendered, "an erratic" or
"wandering ode"; a song or psalm, which consisted of various kind of
metre: it was sung with various notes, and all kind of music, which made it
very pleasant. Hence some render it, "David's delight", as R. Obadiah
Gaon; and the verb from whence it is derived is translated "ravished"
in Proverbs 5:19; and Ben Melech says, the
word signifies שמחה וצרהות,
"joy and pleasure"; and Aben Ezra observes that some interpret it תצנוג, "delight". But others are of opinion that
this word regards the subject matter of the psalm, and may be rendered,
"David's ignorance" or "error"; his sin of ignorance; and
respects his mistaken conduct with regard to his enemies, particularly Saul, in
making imprecations upon them, Psalm 6:10; in cursing them, and especially
King Saul; when a king is not to be cursed, Ecclesiastes 10:20; and in cutting off the
skirt of his garment, for which his heart smote him, 1 Samuel 24:4. Some render it, "the
care of David", as Cocceius; which he wrote in deep meditation, when he
had forgot himself, and was as it were in an ecstasy; setting forth "the
sum of his cares", as Ainsworth expresses it, when he was harassed and
greatly afflicted by his enemies. The occasion of it is, "the words of
Cush the Benjamite"; which some understand of Shimei the Benjamite, who
came out and cursed David as he went along, when he fled from Absalom, 1 Samuel 16:5. Theodoret thinks Hushai is
meant, who persuaded Absalom not to follow the counsel of Ahithophel; on which
account David penned this psalm. Others interpret it of one of Saul's
courtiers, who was of the tribe of Benjamin, and whose name was CushF17Aben
Ezra & Obadiah Gaon in loc. ; and which is very likely, since it is evident
that some of Saul's courtiers accused David to him, and charged him with
seeking his harm, not only to take away his crown and kingdom, but his life, 1 Samuel 24:9. Though the generality of the
Jewish writersF18Targum, Jarchi, Kimchi, Arama, & Ben Melech in
loc. interpret it of Saul himself, who is called Cush, in allusion to his
father's name Kish, who was a man of Benjamin, 1 Samuel 9:1; or else because Cush
signifies "an Ethiopian", to which he may be compared, as the
children of Israel in Amos 9:7. For as the Ethiopian is various
in his skin, so was Saul in his actions, as Jarchi observes; or rather because,
as Kimchi and Ben Melech express it, as the Ethiopian does not change his skin,
Jeremiah 13:23; so Saul did not change his
hatred to David. Though the same writers observe, that he may be called so by
the rule of contraries, because he was a very goodly and beautiful man; the
words referred to are supposed to be those in 1 Samuel 22:7.
Psalm 7:1 O
Lord my God, in You
I put my trust; Save me from all those who persecute me; And deliver me,
YLT
1`The Erring One,' by David,
that he sung to Jehovah concerning the words of Cush a Benjamite. O Jehovah, my
God, in Thee I have trusted, Save me from all my pursuers, and deliver me.
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, 2 Corinthians 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.
Psalm 7:2 2 Lest they tear me like a
lion, Rending me in pieces, while there is none to deliver.
YLT
2Lest he tear as a lion my
soul, Rending, and there is no deliverer.
Lest he tear my soul like a lion,.... That is, one of his
persecutors, the chief of them; it may be Saul, whom the psalmist compares to a
lion for his majesty and greatness, the lion being the king among beasts; and
for his authority, power, and might, and for his wrath and cruelty, which he
feared; and which, should it be exerted on him, would tear his soul, or
himself, in pieces; would rend his soul from his body, and dispatch his life;
see Proverbs 19:12. So the Apostle Paul calls
the Roman governor, before whom he was, and from whose hands he was delivered,
a lion, for his power and fierceness, 2 Timothy 4:17. And so our adversary the
devil, the chief of all persecutors, and who instigates others against the
saints, is by Peter said to go about like a roaring lion, 1 Peter 5:8;
rending it in pieces, as the lion does his
prey when hungry. So HomerF19Odyss. 9. v. 292, 293. compares
Polyphemus to a mountain lion, which devours and leaves nothing, neither the
intestines, nor flesh, nor bones; and representsF20Iliad. 11. v.
175, 176. & Iliad. 17. v. 63. it first taking hold of the creature with its
strong teeth, and breaking its neck, and drawing out its blood and all its
inwards; see Isaiah 38:13;
while there is none to deliver; no saviour,
no deliverer: for if God does not save and deliver his people out of the hands
of their persecutors, none can; especially out of the hands of such an one as
is here described tearing and rending in pieces. As there is no God besides the
Lord, there is no saviour besides him: there is no temporal nor spiritual
saviour but he: salvation is not to be expected from any other; and were it not
for him, saints must fall a prey to their enemies.
Psalm 7:3 3 O Lord my God, if I
have done this: If there is iniquity in my hands,
YLT
3O Jehovah, my God, if I
have done this, If there is iniquity in my hands,
O Lord my God, if I have done this. The crime which Saul and
his courtiers charged him with, and which was made so public that every body
knew it; and therefore it was needless particularly to mention it; namely, that
he lay in wait for Saul, and sought his life to take it away, 1 Samuel 24:9. The Targum interprets it of
this psalm, paraphrasing it, "if I have made this song with an evil
intention"; to give an ill character of any, and lead them with false
charges;
if there be iniquity in my hands; not that he was without
sin, he had it in his heart; nor that he lived without the actual commission of
sin: but his sense is, that there was no iniquity, as not in his heart,
purpose, and design, so not in his hand, nor attempted by him, of the kind he
was accused of, 1 Samuel 24:11. Otherwise, we often hear
him complaining of the depravity of his nature, and acknowledging his sins and
transgressions, Psalm 32:5.
Psalm 7:4 4 If I have repaid evil to
him who was at peace with me, Or have plundered my enemy without cause,
YLT
4If I have done my
well-wisher evil, And draw mine adversary without cause,
If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me,.... That is,
when Saul was at peace with him; when he lived at his court, and ate at his
table his meaning is, that he did not conspire against him, nor form schemes to
deprive him of his crown nor of his life: or, as it may be rendered, "if I
have rewarded to him that rewarded me evil"F21"Si malum
malo rependi", Castalio. ; that is, as Jarchi explains it, if I rewarded
him as he rewarded me, evil for evil. This David did not; and it is eminently
true of Christ his antitype, 1 Peter 2:23; and in it he ought to be
imitated by every believer, Romans 12:17;
yea, I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy; meaning Saul,
who persecuted David without any just reason, and whom David delivered without
any obligation to do it; not for any benefit and kindness he had received from
him; for the phrase "without cause" may be read in connection either
with the word "delivered"F23ריקם
"absque emolumento ullo ad me inde redeunte", Gussetius. ; for the
deliverance was wrought without any cause or merit on Saul's part, or profit to
David; or with the word "enemy", for Saul was David's enemy without
any just cause on David's part: and the deliverance referred to was when he cut
off Saul's skirt, in the cave at Engedi, and spared his life; and when he took
away his spear from him, as he was sleeping in the trench, and did not destroy
him, nor suffer those that would to do it, 1 Samuel 24:4. The words may be rendered,
"only I stripped him"F24Verbum חלץ
"proprie extrahere, &c. significat, et de vestibus quae alieui
exuuntur et eripiuntur proprie dicitur", De Dieu. . The sense is, that he
cut off the skirt of his coat, and took away his spear, and so in part stripped
him both of his clothes and armour, at two different times; not to do him any
hurt, but to let him know, as Jarchi observes, that he was delivered into his
hands, and he could have slain him, but did not. The same Jewish writer
interprets the word used "of stripping of garments"; and Aben Ezra
observes, from R. Moses, that the "vau", rendered "yea",
signifies "only", as in Genesis 42:10.
Psalm 7:5 5 Let the enemy pursue me
and overtake me; Yes, let him trample my life to the earth, And lay my
honor in the dust. Selah
YLT
5An enemy pursueth my soul,
and overtaketh, And treadeth down to the earth my life, And my honour placeth
in the dust. Selah.
Let the enemy persecute my soul, and take it,.... That is,
if the above things he was charged with could be proved against him; then he
was content that Saul his enemy should pursue after him, and apprehend him, and
bring him to justice, by taking away his life from him;
yea, let him tread down my life upon the earth; with the
utmost indignation and contempt, without showing any mercy; as the lion treads
down his prey, and tears it to pieces, Micah 5:8; or as the potter treads his clay
under foot, Isaiah 41:25;
and lay mine honour in the dust; meaning either his life
and soul, as before; denominating himself from his better part, and which he
elsewhere calls his glory, Psalm 16:9; see Genesis 49:6; or else his body, as R. Judah
Ben Balaam, who is blamed for it by Jarchi; or rather his fame, credit, and
reputation, that he had gained, both by his courage and valour in the field,
and by his wise and prudent behaviour at court, 1 Samuel 18:7. Should he appear to be
guilty of the crimes he was accused of, he is willing to have his glorious name
buried in the dust of oblivion, and his memory perish for ever. The words are
to be considered as a strong assertion of his innocence, in an appeal to God,
the searcher of hearts, and the trier of the reins of men; and as imprecating
on himself the worst of evils, should it not appear; see Job 31:21.
Selah; Aben Ezra renders "selah", "in truth",
"let it be so"; and the Targum renders it, as usual, "for
ever"; See Gill on Psalm 3:2.
Psalm 7:6 6 Arise, O Lord, in Your
anger; Lift Yourself up because of the rage of my enemies; Rise up for me[b] to
the judgment You have commanded!
YLT
6Rise, O Jehovah, in Thine
anger, Be lifted up at the wrath of mine adversaries, And awake Thou for me:
Judgment Thou hast commanded:
Arise, O Lord, in thine anger,.... This and the
following phrase do not suppose local motion in God, to whom it cannot belong,
being infinite and immense, but are spoken of him after the manner of men, who
seems sometimes as though he had laid himself down, and was unconcerned about
and took no notice of human affairs, of the insults of the wicked and the
oppressions of the righteous; wherefore the psalmist beseeches him to
"arise", which he may be said to do when he comes forth in his power
in the defence of his people, and against their enemies; see Psalm 12:5; and he also prays him to arise
in anger, to show himself displeased, and give some tokens of his resentment,
by letting his enemies feel the lighting down of his arm with the indignation
of his anger;
lift up thyself, because of the rage of mine enemies; ascend the
throne of judgment, and there sit judging right; show thyself to be the Judge
of the earth, high and lifted up; let it appear that thou art above all mine
enemies, higher and more powerful than they; stop their rage, break the force
of their fury, lift up a standard against them, who, likes mighty flood,
threaten to bear all before them: or "lift up thyself in rage", or
"fierce wrath, because of", or "against mine enemies"F25בעברות צודרי "in furore
contra hostes meos", Mariana; "gravissimo furore percitus in eos qui
me opprimunt", Junius & Tremellius. : and so the sense is the same as
before; and this way go many of the Jewish interpretersF26Targum,
Jarchi, & Kimchi, in loc. ;
and awake for me to the judgment that thou hast
commanded; not that sleep falls upon God, for the keeper of Israel neither
slumbers nor sleeps; nor does it fall on any but corporeal beings, not upon
angels, nor the souls of men, much less on God; but he sometimes in his
providence seems to lie dormant and inactive, as if he disregarded what is done
in this world; and therefore his people address him as if he was asleep, and
call upon him to arise to their help and assistance; see Psalm 44:23; and so David here, "awake
for me", that is, hasten to come to me and help me; suggesting that he was
in great distress and danger, by reason of his enemies, should he delay coming
to him. By "judgment" is either meant the vengeance which God had
ordered him to execute upon his enemies, as Jarchi interprets it, and therefore
he entreats him to arise and put him in a capacity of doing it; or else his
innocence, and the vindication of it, which God had promised him, and then the
petition is much the same with Psalm 7:8. But the generality of JewishF1R.
Moses in Aben Ezra in loc. R. Obadiah Gaon, Kimchi, & Ben Melech in loc.
writers understand it of the kingdom which God had appointed for him, and for
which he was anointed by Samuel; and who had told Saul that God had found a man
after his own heart, whom he had "commanded" to be captain over his
people, 1 Samuel 13:14; wherefore the psalmist
prays that God would hasten the fulfilment of his purpose and promise, and set
him on the throne, that so he might administer justice and judgment to the
people.
Psalm 7:7 7 So the congregation of the
peoples shall surround You; For their sakes, therefore, return on high.
YLT
7And a company of peoples
compass Thee, And over it on high turn Thou back,
So shall the congregation of the people compass thee about,.... By
"the congregation of the people" are meant the nation of the Jews,
the twelve tribes of Israel, called an assembly of people, and a company of
nations, Genesis 28:3; and this is to be understood
not of their gathering together in an hostile manner about David to take him,
which might be interpreted compassing God himself about, David being as dear to
him as the apple of his eye, which is the sense of several Jewish commentatorsF2Kimchi
& Aben Ezra in loc. ; but rather of their encompassing and surrounding the
altar of God with songs of deliverance, upon David's being rid of his enemies
and advanced to the throne of the kingdom; see Psalm 26:6; unless it should have regard to
the pure worship of God by David, which was greatly neglected in Saul's time;
and then the sense is, that the psalmist prays that he might be established in
his kingdom, as God had appointed and commanded, when he would fetch up the ark
of God, and encourage the worship of God, and rectify all disorders in it; that
so the several tribes might come up to Jerusalem and encompass the ark, the
symbol of the divine Presence, and worship in his holy mountain;
for their sakes therefore return thou on high; take, the
throne of justice, high and lifted up, vindicate the cause of the oppressed,
deliver me from all my troubles, put me into the peaceable possession of my
kingdom; if not for my, sake, yet for the sake of thy church and people, and
for the sake of thy worship and thy glory; the Targum paraphrases it, "return
thou to the house of thy Shechinah".
Psalm 7:8 8 The Lord shall judge
the peoples; Judge me, O Lord,
according to my righteousness, And according to my integrity within me.
YLT
8Jehovah doth judge the
peoples; Judge me, O Jehovah, According to my righteousness, And according to
mine integrity on me,
The Lord shall judge the people,.... The inhabitants of
the world in general; for God is the Judge of all the earth, and he judges the
world in righteousness daily, and ministers judgment in uprightness, though it
is not always manifest; or his own people in particular, whose cause he pleads,
whose injuries and wrongs he avenges, whose persons he protects and defends;
this the psalmist expresses with confidence, and therefore, suitable to his
character as a Judge, he entreats him as follows:
judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness; he speaks not
of his justification before God, in whose sight he well knew no flesh living
could be justified by their own righteousness, Psalm 143:2; nor of the righteousness of
his person, either imputed or inherent; but of the righteousness of his cause, Psalm 35:27; not of his righteousness
God-ward, for he knew that he was a sinner with respect to him; but of his
righteousness towards Saul, against whom he had not sinned, but had acted
towards him in the most righteous and faithful manner, 1 Samuel 24:11; and therefore desired to be
judged, and was content to stand or fall according to his conduct and behaviour
towards him;
and according to mine integrity that is in me; who had
always acted the sincere and upright part towards Saul, though he had pursued
him with so much fury and violence; the psalmist's prayer was heard and
answered, Psalm 18:20.
Psalm 7:9 9 Oh, let the wickedness of
the wicked come to an end, But establish the just; For the righteous God tests
the hearts and minds.
YLT
9Let, I pray Thee be ended
the evil of the wicked, And establish Thou the righteous, And a trier of hearts
and reins is the righteous God.
Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end,.... Which
will not be till the measure of it is fully up, and that will not be till the
wicked are no more; for, as long as they are in the world they will be
committing wickedness, and like the troubled sea continually cast up the mire
and dirt of sin; and they will remain to the end of the world, till the new
Jerusalem church state shall take place, when all the Lord's people will be
righteous, and there will not be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts,
nor a pricking brier or grieving thorn in all the land; for, in the new earth
will no sinner be, but righteous persons only; and for this state the psalmist
may be thought to pray; however by this petition and the following he expresses
his hatred of sin and love of righteousness: some choose to render the wordsF3יגמור נא רע
רשעים "consumat nunc vel quaeso malum
impios", Muscuius, Vatablus, so Jarchi, Kimchi, & Ben Melech. ,
"let wickedness now consume the wicked"; as in the issue it will,
unless the grace of God takes place; some sins consume the bodies, others the
estates of wicked men, and some both; and all are the means of destroying both
body and soul in hell, if grace prevent not; this may be considered as a
declaration of what will be, being a prophetic petitionF4"Consumat
nunc malum impios", Pagninus, Montanus, Hammond; so Obadiah Gaon. ;
but establish the just; or righteous one;
meaning himself, and every other who is made righteous, not by his own
righteousness, but by the righteousness of Christ imputed to him; and who needs
not to have his righteousness established, which is in itself stable, firm, and
sure, and cannot be more so; it is an everlasting one, and cannot be abolished,
but abides for ever, and will answer for him in a time to come; but his faith
to be established more and more in its exercise on this righteousness: nor do
the persons of the just need establishing, or can they be more stable than they
are, as considered in Christ, as they are the objects of God's everlasting
love, secured in the covenant of grace, and built on Christ the foundation; but
the graces of faith, hope, and love, need daily establishing on their proper
object, they being weak, fickle, and inconstant in their acts; and the saints
need more and more establishing in the doctrines of the Gospel, and in their
adherence to the cause of God and Christ and true religion; and it is God's
work to establish them, to whom the psalmist applies; see 1 Peter 5:10;
for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins; he is
righteous himself in his nature, and in all his works, and he knows who are
righteous and who are wicked; he knows the hearts, thoughts, affections, and
inward principles of all men, and the springs of all their actions; he looks
not at outward appearances, but at the heart; and as he can distinguish between
the one and the other, he is capable of punishing the wicked and of confirming
the righteous, consistent with the truth of his perfections.
Psalm 7:10 10 My defense is of
God, Who saves the upright in heart.
YLT
10My shield [is] on God,
Saviour of the upright in heart!
My defence is of God,.... Or "my shield is
in" or "of God"F5על אלהים "in Deo", Musculus, Tigurine version,
Junius & Tremellius, Muis, Ainsworth; "apud Deum", Lutherus,
Piscator, Gejerus, Cocceius, Michaelis. ; God was his shield, his protector and
defender; see Psalm 3:3; or "my shield is
with God"; that is, Christ, who was the shield his faith made use of
against every spiritual enemy, was with God; he was with him as the Word and
Son of God from all eternity, and as the living Redeemer of his people before
his incarnation; and he is now with him as their intercessor and advocate, who
pleads in defence of them, and opposes himself, his blood and righteousness, to
all the charges and accusations of Satan;
which saveth the upright in heart: who have the truth of
grace in them, wisdom in the hidden part; who are sincere in their affections,
purposes, and designs, in their faith, hope, and love; and act from real
principles of truth and love, in the integrity of their souls; for these light
and gladness are sown, to them grace and glory are given, and no good thing is
withheld from them; they are saved by God from sin, Satan, the world, death,
and hell, and every enemy, with a spiritual and everlasting salvation.
Psalm 7:11 11 God is a just
judge, And God is angry with the wicked every day.
YLT
11God [is] a righteous judge,
And He is not angry at all times.
God judgeth the righteous,.... Not all that are
thought to be righteous, or think themselves to be so, are such; nor is any man
naturally righteous, or of himself, nor by virtue of his obedience to the law
of works; but such only are righteous who are made so by the obedience of
Christ; these God governs and protects, avenges their injuries and defends
their persons; some render the words, "God is a righteous Judge"F6Vid.
Aben Ezra & Abendana not. in Miclol. Yophi in loc. אלהים
שופט צדיק "Deus judex
justus", V. L. Munster, Musculus, Montanus, Piscator, Gejerus, Michaelis;
so Ainsworth. ; he is so now in the administrations of his government of the
universe, and he will be so hereafter in the general judgment of the world;
and God is angry with the wicked every day; wicked men
are daily sinning, and God is always the same in his nature, and has the same
aversion to sin continually; and though he is not always making men examples of
his wrath, yet his wrath is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness of
men; and there are frequent stances of it; and when he is silent he is still
angry, and in his own time will stir up all his wrath, and rebuke in his hot
displeasure.
Psalm 7:12 12 If he does not turn back, He
will sharpen His sword; He bends His bow and makes it ready.
YLT
12If [one] turn not, His
sword he sharpeneth, His bow he hath trodden -- He prepareth it,
If he turn not,.... Not God, but the enemy, or the wicked
man, spoken of Psalm 7:5; if he turn not from his wicked
course of life, to the Lord to live to him, and according to his will; unless
he is converted and repents of his sin, and there is a change wrought in him,
in his heart and life; the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic
versions read, "if ye turn not", or "are not converted", an
apostrophe to the wicked;
he will whet his sword: God is a man of war, and
he is sometimes represented as accoutred with military weapons; see Isaiah 59:17; and among the rest with the
sword of judgment, which he may be said to whet, when he prepares sharp and
sore judgments for his enemies, Isaiah 27:1;
he hath bent his bow, and made it ready; drawn his bow
of vengeance, and put it on the full stretch, and made it ready with the arrows
of his wrath, levelled against the wicked, with whom he is angry; which is
expressive of their speedy and inevitable ruin, in case of impenitence; see Lamentations 2:4; or "trod his
bow", as is the usual phrase elsewhere; see Psalm 11:2; which was done by the feet, and
was necessary when the bow was a strong one, as Jarchi on Psalm 11:2; observes; and so the Arabs, as
SuidasF7In voce αραβες.
relates, using arrows the length of a man, put their feet on the string of the
bow instead of their hands.
Psalm 7:13 13 He also prepares for
Himself instruments of death; He makes His arrows into fiery shafts.
YLT
13Yea, for him He hath prepared
Instruments of death, His arrows for burning pursuers He maketh.
He hath also prepared for
him the instruments of death,.... The weapons of his indignation, Isaiah 13:5; which, will issue both in the
first and second death, corporeal and eternal; the instruments of the former
are diseases of various kinds, and judgments, as famine, pestilence, &c.
and of the latter not only the law is an instrument of it, that being the
letter which kills, and is the ministration of condemnation and death, but even
the Gospel itself to wicked men is the savour of death unto death; and devils
will be the executioners of it;
he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors: the word for
persecutors signifies "hot" or "burning"F8לדולקים "ardentibus", V. L. "in
ardentes", Montanus; "hot persecutors", Ainsworth. , and designs
such persons who burn in malice and wrath, In rage and fury, against the
saints, and hotly pursue after them, as Laban did after Jacob, Genesis 31:36; for these more especially
God has determined in his eternal purposes and decrees, and for these he has
provided in his quiver, arrows of wrath and vengeance, fiery ones; and against
these will he bring them forth, direct them, and shoot them at them, Psalm 64:7. SomeF9So Brentius
& Glassius in Gejerus. understand all this not of God, but of the wicked
man, and read "if he turn not", but, on the contrary, instead of
that, "will whet his sword, bend his bow", &c. against the
righteous; yet he shall be disappointed, he shall not accomplish his designs,
as appears by the following verses; these phrases are used of wicked men, Psalm 11:2, but the former sense seems
best.
Psalm 7:14 14 Behold, the wicked
brings forth iniquity; Yes, he conceives trouble and brings forth falsehood.
YLT
14Lo, he travaileth [with]
iniquity, And he hath conceived perverseness, And hath brought forth falsehood.
Behold, he travaileth with
iniquity,.... Is full of it, and big with it, as a woman with child, and
eagerly desires to bring it forth, and is in pain till he commits it;
and hath conceived mischief; that which is injurious
to God and the perfections of his nature, a transgression of his law, and an
affront to his justice and holiness, is doing wrong to fellow creatures, and
harm to themselves, either to their name and credit, or to their substance and
estates, or to their bodies and souls, and it may be to them all; and yet this
they conceive, they devise it in their hearts, and form schemes how to bring it
to pass, and which they do with great freedom, deliberation, and pleasure;
and brought forth falsehood; or "vanity"F11שקר "rem inanem", so some in Vatablus;
"vanitatem", Gejerum. , or a vain thing, as the same word is rendered
in Job 15:35; no fruit at all, but wind, or
stubble, Isaiah 26:17; that which deceives does not
answer the expectation, but the contrary to it; the sense is, that wicked men
having devised mischievous things against the saints, they are big with
expectations of success, and strive to bring their purposes to bear, but are
miserably disappointed, for it all ends in vanity and vexation of spirit to
themselves.
Psalm 7:15 15 He made a pit and dug it
out, And has fallen into the ditch which he made.
YLT
15A pit he hath prepared, and
he diggeth it, And he falleth into a ditch he maketh.
He made a pit and digged
it,.... That is, he digged a pit, and made it very large and
capacious, to answer his purposes;
and is fallen into the ditch which he made; so it is said
of the Heathen, Psalm 9:15; and is exemplified in the case
of Haman, who was hanged upon the gallows he had built for Mordecai. Kimchi
explains this of Saul's falling upon his own sword, and dying by it, which he
drew against David; phrase is proverbial, Proverbs 26:27; the sense of this and the
above figurative expressions is literally and properly given in Psalm 7:16.
Psalm 7:16 16 His trouble shall return
upon his own head, And his violent dealing shall come down on his own crown.
YLT
16Return doth his
perverseness on his head, And on his crown his violence cometh down.
His mischief shall return
upon his own head,.... That which he conceived and devised in his mind, and attempted
to bring upon others, shall fall upon himself, as a just judgment from heaven
upon him;
and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate; referring to
the violence with which Saul pursued David, which would be requited to him, and
of which he prophesied, 1 Samuel 26:10.
Psalm 7:17 17 I will praise the Lord according to
His righteousness, And will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.
YLT
17I thank Jehovah, According
to His righteousness, And praise the name of Jehovah Most High!
I will praise the Lord according to his righteousness,.... Or on
account of it, as it was displayed in vindicating the innocent, and punishing
the wicked; so Pharaoh having ordered male infants of the Hebrews to be
drowned, and he himself and his host in righteous judgment being drowned in the
Red sea; Moses and the children of Israel sung a song, as the psalmist here;
and will sing praise to the name of the Lord most high; whose name is
Jehovah, and is the most High over all the earth; and who had now, according to
the psalmist's request, Psalm 7:6; arose and lifted up himself, and
returned on high, and had shown himself to be above all David's enemies, and
had sat on the throne judging right.
──《John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible》
New King James
Version (NKJV)