Psalm - 7

Psalm - 7

Introduction

In Genesis 18, the Lord appears to Abraham with two angels with him. Abraham has Sarah prepare a meal for them and he, in good ancient custom, shows great hospitality to his guests. It takes a bit for him to figure out that it is actually the Lord and two angels. God promises that Abraham and Sarah will have a son, and Sarah laughs at it all…which is why their son is named Isaac…it means ‘laughter.’ Once the meal is finished, the Lord tells Abraham of his plans. They are on their way to Sodom.

Genesis 18:16-21 - 16 Then the men set out from there, and they looked down toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them to set them on their way. 17 The LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18 seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.” 20 Then the LORD said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, 21 I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.”

What occurs next is one of the most well-known encounters someone has with God. Abraham intercedes for Sodom. His nephew Lot and his family live there. Abraham seeks justice for the city.

Genesis 18:22-26 - 22 So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the LORD. 23 Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” 26 And the LORD said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

What ensues is quite a conversation. Abraham will whittle him down from 50 to 45 to 40 to 30 to 20, and finally to 10. God promises that if he finds 10 righteous people in the city he will not destroy it. Most are familiar with the famous account of God’s destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (its sister city). God rains down fire from Heaven and destroys them all.

Let’s go back to Genesis 18:25 and the question that Abraham asks God…Will not the Judge of all the Earth do right? He absolutely will. And it was right that those cities be destroyed for their sin. The judge of all the Earth did right. We can always trust that. He may not do what we like or what we want, but what we can know for sure is that the judge of all the Earth will do what is right.

That phrase, the Judge of all the Earth will do right, could be emblazoned over the top of Psalm 7. It is the theme of this great psalm.

Psalm 7:1-17 - A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the LORD concerning the words of Cush, a Benjaminite.

1 O LORD my God, in you do I take refuge;

save me from all my pursuers and deliver me,

2  lest like a lion they tear my soul apart,

rending it in pieces, with none to deliver.

3  O LORD my God, if I have done this,

if there is wrong in my hands,

4  if I have repaid my friend with evil

or plundered my enemy without cause,

5  let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it,

and let him trample my life to the ground

and lay my glory in the dust. Selah

6  Arise, O LORD, in your anger;

lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies;

awake for me; you have appointed a judgment.

7  Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you;

over it return on high.

8  The LORD judges the peoples;

judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness

and according to the integrity that is in me.

9  Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end,

and may you establish the righteous—

you who test the minds and hearts,

O righteous God!

10  My shield is with God,

who saves the upright in heart.

11  God is a righteous judge,

and a God who feels indignation every day.

12  If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword;

he has bent and readied his bow;

13  he has prepared for him his deadly weapons,

making his arrows fiery shafts.

14  Behold, the wicked man conceives evil

and is pregnant with mischief

and gives birth to lies.

15  He makes a pit, digging it out,

and falls into the hole that he has made.

16  His mischief returns upon his own head,

and on his own skull his violence descends.

17  I will give to the LORD the thanks due to his righteousness,

and I will sing praise to the name of the LORD, the Most High.

Let’s start with the subscript so we can see the context of what is happening here. It is noted first that this is a shiggaion of David. That is likely a musical term that means ‘poem written with intense emotion.’ David is under duress and with great intensity writes these words. What is going on that is causing the intense emotion? It is ‘concerning the words of Cush, a Benjamite.’ I wish we had a distinct account in the OT history books regarding Cush, but we don’t. This is the only time he is mentioned anywhere in the Bible. But we do know one critical detail about him…he is a Benjamite, meaning he is from the tribe of Benjamin. That is King Saul’s tribe. This psalm likely takes place during the season of David’s life when he is on the run from Saul, before he becomes king.

When David is anointed as King by the prophet Samuel, if you remember that David is not even invited to the party. Samuel goes to the house of Jesse, as God had told him that the new king is one of Jesse’s sons. The oldest son, Eliab, presents himself before Samuel. He thinks this is obviously the king…he is tall and good looking. That is actually what got them in trouble with Saul, as that was why he was chosen to be king. He looked kingly.

1 Samuel 16:6-7 - 6 When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’s anointed is before him.” 7 But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”

Jesse then presents all his other sons and the Lord doesn’t choose any of them. Samuel is confused and asks Jesse if all his sons are there. Nope. They didn’t even bother to invite David, the youngest. He is still out in the fields tending the sheep while all the other brothers are here. They send for David and God says he is the one.

Once King Saul hears that Samuel has anointed another king, and certainly after seeing him defeat Goliath on the battlefield, Saul invites David to serve in his court. David eventually becomes a successful military general. Saul becomes jealous and David has to flee for his life. Saul hunts him down and tries to kill him. For years. Saul is the anointed king…he rightly holds that position. David is a threat. Except for the fact that God had rejected Saul and anointed David instead.

On two separate occasions while Saul is pursuing David, David has the opportunity to kill Saul and assume the throne immediately. 1 Samuel 24 and 26. Both times he let’s Saul live and cries out regarding his innocence.

1 Samuel 24:8-12 - 8 Afterward David also arose and went out of the cave, and called after Saul, “My lord the king!” And when Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the earth and paid homage. 9 And David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of men who say, ‘Behold, David seeks your harm’? 10 Behold, this day your eyes have seen how the LORD gave you today into my hand in the cave. And some told me to kill you, but I spared you. I said, ‘I will not put out my hand against my lord, for he is the LORD’s anointed.’ 11 See, my father, see the corner of your robe in my hand. For by the fact that I cut off the corner of your robe and did not kill you, you may know and see that there is no wrong or treason in my hands. I have not sinned against you, though you hunt my life to take it. 12 May the LORD judge between me and you, may the LORD avenge me against you, but my hand shall not be against you.

1 Samuel 26:18-20 - 17 Saul recognized David’s voice and said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” And David said, “It is my voice, my lord, O king.” 18 And he said, “Why does my lord pursue after his servant? For what have I done? What evil is on my hands? 19 Now therefore let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If it is the LORD who has stirred you up against me, may he accept an offering, but if it is men, may they be cursed before the LORD, for they have driven me out this day that I should have no share in the heritage of the LORD, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods.’ 20 Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of the LORD, for the king of Israel has come out to seek a single flea like one who hunts a partridge in the mountains.”

These two accounts are critically important to Psalm 7. Notice two things about them. First, David’s insistence on his innocence. We see that all throughout Psalm 7 as well. But also in both account we see David acknowledging that people in Saul’s camp have stirred him up and said untrue things about David. Who is it in Saul’s group that is laying out these lies about David? Most scholars would say it is Cush, one of Saul’s tribesman who is inciting Saul to attack and kill David. Others have said that Cush is a poetic way of referring to Saul himself. Cush means ‘black’ as in black-hearted. Possible, but not likely. Cush was a common name.

It is always Saul’s tribe, the Benjamites, who cause problems for David. Do you remember when David is on the run from Absalom and there is a guy who verbally assaults him, kicking him while he is down? He is the one who yells that David deserves what is happening, that God has abandoned him and is brining justice down on his head. His name is Shimei, a Benjamite. And then after David is restored to his throne after Absalom’s death, just a few chapters later another man leads another revolt against David…Sheba the Benjamite.

This is the context and the issue of Psalm 7, as evidenced by verse 3…’if I have done this…’ David has been accused of wrongdoing by Cush and David is pleading his innocence before God. David has been slandered and it could cost him his life.

John Phillips - Slander is one of the most difficult things to fight. A man’s good name and reputation can be destroyed by a lying, jealous tongue and his whole life laid in ruins. Slander is one of Satan’s favorite weapons. It is done in secret and usually behind the back of the victim. This more a slanderous charge is denied the more it seems to be true in the minds of those who have been poisoned by it.

So very true. If you’ve ever been lied about, gossiped about, or slandered, then this psalm is for you. Put yourself in his shoes for a bit. This is a serious matter for David. Lies are not inconsequential. The king is the chief administrator of justice for the kingdom. He is responsible for seeing righteousness upheld. This would undermine the moral basis of his upcoming kingdom. This kind of nonsense is the first step to moral anarchy and possibly armed rebellion…all before he even becomes king.

How do you respond to slander? You can’t respond in kind. You wouldn’t be any better than the sinful slanderers coming after you. You can’t defend yourself too much. We have phrases like “where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” and “methinks he doth protest too much” from Shakespeare. We are hardwired to believe the false message of gossip and slander. And the more we defend ourselves the more it convinces others of the slander. It is an awful circumstance to be in. So what does David do? He takes it to God. He could have taken matters into his own hands. Kill Saul and all his men. Kill Cush and shut his mouth forever. Instead, he takes it to God and asks God to defend him. Slander may deceive other people, but God is not fooled by it.

TS - So David lays out this elaborate prayer to God. Not merely a prayer for deliverance, but for vindication against these false accusations. There are five parts to it:

SECURE ME (V. 1-2)

1 O LORD my God, in you do I take refuge;

save me from all my pursuers and deliver me,

2  lest like a lion they tear my soul apart,

rending it in pieces, with none to deliver.

Notice again how David always begins…Yahweh! A direct access cry out to God. This is the first mention of two of God’s names side by side. Yahweh Elohim. Yahweh is his covenant name, his name of love and relationship. Elohim is his name of power and perfection. It is from Genesis 1:1 barah Elohim…in the beginning, God (creator). So to put these names together creates a potency to David’s prayer. Not only is he calling on Yahweh, his God, but for him to bring to bear his infinite power on this situation. “Just to speak his name is to set in motion Heaven’s response.” He will do it again in verse 3.

in you do I take refuge - this is in the present perfect tense, meaning at some point in the past David chose to take refuge in God, and now it has present results. All he is calling for is God to protect him like he has promised to do so. For refuge, it means to search for a secure or protected place. Hence the prayer, secure me.

The word for ‘refuge’ is used of a tree in Judges 9:15 providing shelter from the sun. Used of God in Psalm 2:11; 5:11; 7:1; 11:1; 16:1 and more. Sometimes adds the zoomorphism of adding ‘wings’ in Psalm 36:7; 91:4. This is a confidence in God’s protection. He is secure, not with these men, not politically, not physically…but he is secure with God. He uses these two word ‘save’ and ‘deliver’ - not in a salvation sense, though they are used that way elsewhere. But in a safety, rescue sense. ‘Deliver’ means to be plucked from danger. And he uses this word 2x…deliver me…with none to deliver. If God doesn’t deliver, there will be no deliverance from this. Only God can save him. Pursuers - lit. Persecutors. Same word used in v. 5. These are those who are coming after him intentionally. Not necessarily chasing him in a literal sense, but those coming after his reputation. They can’t get to him physically, so they settle for killing his reputation. This is what Jesus said would happen to Christians in Matthew 5…people will say all sorts of evil about you because of Jesus. They can’t kill you, so they will settle for killing the thought of you. The image of an enemy being like a lion is pretty common in the Psalms: 10:9; 17:12; 22:13,21; 35:17; 57:4; 58:6.

Quite a graphic image, especially when you consider that ‘soul’ literally translates as ‘throat.’ It can sometimes be translated as ‘breath’ or the inner core of a person. What comes from the inside. This lion of an enemy is going for the jugular and will take me out unless God intervenes. Again, if God does not deliver, there is not deliverance. If God doesn’t intervene, we are dead.

SEARCH ME (V. 3-5)

3  O LORD my God, if I have done this,

if there is wrong in my hands,

4  if I have repaid my friend with evil

or plundered my enemy without cause,

5  let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it,

and let him trample my life to the ground

and lay my glory in the dust. Selah

After repeating Yahweh Elohim, he lays out the accusation. If I have done this…’this’ meaning what Cush has accused him of. Well, what is that? He gives a series of three ‘if’ statements:

if there is wrong in my hands…’wrong’ is a word used for fraud (rare term…only used in Dt. 25:16 and Proverbs 29:27) If repaid friend with evil…mistreated someone. ‘Friend’ means ally, literally someone with whom I have peace. So he has been accused of abusing the innocent. If plundered enemy without cause…injustice

So these are three pretty substantial claims against the chief moral leader of the kingdom. He is accused of fraud, abuse, and injustice. All claims that can end a political career even still today.

If these things are true, and he invites God to search him and determine so…he now lays out three corresponding punishments in v. 5

enemy pursue soul (self) and overtake it…they haven’t won yet, but if it is true, David says to let them win Trample my life to the ground…they want to kill me…let them Lay my glory in the dust…’glory’ means weight or reputation. They are trying to kill the thought of me, God let them win if I am guilty.

Quite a bold prayer. Important to remember David is not claiming sinlessness here. That is obviously not the case. But he is claiming blamelessness. He is innocent of what he has been accused of. And he is rightly angered by the false accusations. He is so confident in his innocence here he invites God to kill him if he is guilty. He is innocent and willing to stake his life on it. A clear conscience is a great gift.

SUPPORT ME (V. 6-7)

6  Arise, O LORD, in your anger;

lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies;

awake for me; you have appointed a judgment.

7  Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you;

over it return on high.

He now offers bold imperatives to God in prayer…Arise, lift up (rise up), Awake! We have already seen ‘arise’ in Psalm 3:7…it was used in Numbers 10:35 as a cry before battle. That is what he is asking of God…go to battle for me. Arise! Used multiple times in psalms: 3:7; 9:19; 10:12; 17:13; 44:26; 68:1

Why does he ask God to wake up? God isn’t asleep. But with all this happening to him, and God continuing to allow it, seems like God is inattentive. Seems like God is unconcerned about this. David wants him to pay attention, to be concerned. This is natural human impatience. When you personally experience slander, the first response is concern over God’s apparent lack of concern. How could you let this happen? Why haven’t you settled this yet? We want immediate justice, which is sometimes not a thing.

But David is still confident…you have appointed a judgment. Will not the judge of all the Earth do right?! Alright Judge…bring judgement. And let’s do this publicly…at the assembly of the peoples gathered about you. ‘Return on high’ means ‘take your seat.’ God, you sit as Judge over all your people…so take the bench and let’s get this thing settled. My enemies are whispering behind my back, they are viciously stabbing me in the darkness of their hiddenness…let’s get this all out in the open.

SHIELD ME (V. 8-11)

8  The LORD judges the peoples;

judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness

and according to the integrity that is in me.

9  Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end,

and may you establish the righteous—

you who test the minds and hearts,

O righteous God!

10  My shield is with God,

who saves the upright in heart.

11  God is a righteous judge,

and a God who feels indignation every day.

Judge me…what confidence! According to my righteousness and integrity. Again, he is not claiming sinlessness, but blamelessness. He is innocent and he knows it. Not being self-righteous.

Psalm 130:3 - 3  If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities,

O Lord, who could stand?

Psalm 143:2 - 2  Enter not into judgment with your servant,

for no one living is righteous before you.

Integrity - literally means ‘whole, complete, finished.’ I’ve said it before, to have integrity means that your life is integrated. There is a lining up of your words and actions. David has integrity…things are lined up, his life is integrated. One author calls integrity ‘unimpaired ethically.’ Nothing getting in the way. He is blameless.

Allen Ross - Someone who has integrity, who is called blameless, enjoys an untroubled relationship with the Lord and is welcome in the sanctuary. Also, God makes the way perfect (Ps. 18:32), his law is perfect (Ps. 19:7), and people like Noah (Gen. 6:9) and Job (1:8; 2:3) are perfect. Abraham was told to be perfect (Gen. 17:1). When a psalmist claims to be blameless or perfect, it means that he is in the proper spiritual condition to commune with God in his sanctuary. He is sound, complete, and morally unimpaired. He may have sinned, but he knew how to deal with sin according to the law. On the whole, because he is a faithful believer, he acts with integrity - he is whole. The claim may be made in general for his way of life; or it may be in reference to a specific charge brought against him to which he responds with a claim of innocence.

So his claiming to be judged by his own righteousness and integrity are not egotism…he’s not guilty, though he is accused of being. So let’s have God’s perfect knowledge and justice decide. Those who are righteous have nothing to fear.

How does God know who is guilty and innocent? v. 9 he tests minds and hearts. He knows it all. He doesn’t just know actions, which is all we can know. He known motives and impulses. He sees it all. Therefore, only he can judge rightly on the Earth. Will not the Judge of all the Earth do right? Of course he will…only he can.

David’s shield is with God. God protects him. He totally relies upon him and his justice. Why? Because God is a righteous Judge…and he feels indignation against sin every day. ‘Indignation’ means to foam at the mouth. God is ferociously angry at sin. Every day. Because people sin everyday, but also because God is eternal…the weight of sin causes this righteous reaction.

Nahum 1:1-9 - 1 An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.

2  The LORD is a jealous and avenging God;

the LORD is avenging and wrathful;

the LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries

and keeps wrath for his enemies.

3  The LORD is slow to anger and great in power,

and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty.

His way is in whirlwind and storm,

and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

4  He rebukes the sea and makes it dry;

he dries up all the rivers;

Bashan and Carmel wither;

the bloom of Lebanon withers.

5  The mountains quake before him;

the hills melt;

the earth heaves before him,

the world and all who dwell in it.

6  Who can stand before his indignation?

Who can endure the heat of his anger?

His wrath is poured out like fire,

and the rocks are broken into pieces by him.

7  The LORD is good,

a stronghold in the day of trouble;

he knows those who take refuge in him.

8  But with an overflowing flood

he will make a complete end of the adversaries,

and will pursue his enemies into darkness.

9  What do you plot against the LORD?

He will make a complete end;

trouble will not rise up a second time.

So even though David knows this of God, he still confidently welcomes God’s judgment on him.

SAVE ME (V. 12-17)

12  If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword;

he has bent and readied his bow;

13  he has prepared for him his deadly weapons,

making his arrows fiery shafts.

14  Behold, the wicked man conceives evil

and is pregnant with mischief

and gives birth to lies.

15  He makes a pit, digging it out,

and falls into the hole that he has made.

16  His mischief returns upon his own head,

and on his own skull his violence descends.

17  I will give to the LORD the thanks due to his righteousness,

and I will sing praise to the name of the LORD, the Most High.

Here are the consequences of that sin that God is indignant about.

v. 12-13 - God gets his weapons at the ready. This is military language. Sharpening his sword, preparing his bow, knocking his arrows. If the sinner does not repent, God is coming after them with all the force of Heaven’s armies. What an awful thought! v. 14-16 - show the origin of such evils like gossip and slander. These sinners are pregnant with evil, a common image in the Bible (Job 15:35; Is. 33:11; 59:4,13; James 1:13-15). Here is why the Bible uses this image…sin eventually is born, grows up, and kills you. So this very thing you are plotting will be your downfall. Which is the point of v. 15-16.

Mischief - translated elsewhere as ‘perverseness.’ Like a boomerang, their evil plotting and planning comes back on them and destroys them. Only God’s plan is sovereign. Their plans of evil never work out as planned. This is what is called ‘retribution theology.’ We trust that God will bring these things back onto their heads. Psalms and Proverbs show that sometimes this works out in this life and we see it. Job and Ecclesiastes show that sometimes it doesn’t work like that and we don’t see the justice this side of eternity. Romans 12 teaches to be kind to enemies because it heaps burning coals upon his head, and instead of seeking vengeance we trust in God to bring the vengeance. Either now or in eternity. Luke 6:38 - with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Read through the Bible and you’ll see that God does this. Think of Haman’s gallows he built in Esther for Mordecai, but ends up being hanged on them himself. Or of Saul trying to hunt down and kill David, but a pursuing army’s swords and arrows kill him. Or of Pharaoh drowning the Hebrew babies only to have his entire army drown in the Red Sea. God brings divine retribution.

So it is right for the Christian to pray this psalm, not for the sake of violence on enemies, but acknowledging the truth of eternal judgment.

17  I will give to the LORD the thanks due to his righteousness,

and I will sing praise to the name of the LORD, the Most High.

Such a great ending. Due to HIS righteousness. David pleads his innocence based on his own righteousness, but he praises God’s righteousness. David’s isn’t worth praising because it is only the work of God anyway. David is righteous because God made him so. We don’t pray because of who we are, but because of whose we are.

Lord, Most High - used 36x in the Bible, first time used here in Psalms. Comes originally from Genesis 14:18-19 and Melchizedek the priest of God Most High and asks God Most High to bless Abraham.

Yahweh Elyon - God of universal rule and control.

Application

Live with integrity and you can pray this psalm.

ILL - Darrell and dis-integration Acts 17:31 - God has fixed a day of judgment Double-wish of Psalms (deliverance and punishment) can be troublesome to us. But we cannot divorce sin from its victims. We rightly ask God for justice.

Could anyone pray this psalm with me as the enemy? How best to respond to gossip/slander:

Refuge in God (Gospel) Search heart…is any of this true?

Spurgeon - If any man thinks ill of you, do not be angry with him, for you are worse than he thinks you to be. Repent of any validity (I assume I have done something wrong) Trust results to God