“I will give
To Yahweh,
The thanks due to his righteousness.
I will sing praise
To the name of Yahweh,
the Most High.”
David will give thanks to Yahweh, perhaps in some sort of ritual thanksgiving sacrifice. He will continually sing or play an instrument before Yahweh, the most high God. Once again, this is a formal ending indicating that this psalm was meant to be sung. This was to be repeated over and over again as a praise thanksgiving remembrance to the most high Yahweh, God of all.
“If one does not repent,
God will sharpen his sword.
He has bent and strung his bow.
He has prepared his deadly weapons,
He makes his arrows fiery shafts.
See how they conceive evil!
They are pregnant with mischief.
They bring forth lies.
They make a pit.
They dig it out.
They fall into the hole that they have made.
Their mischief returns upon their own heads.
On their own heads violence descends.”
If the wicked ones do not repent, God will sharpen his sword against them. The bows and arrows will be ready like deadly fiery arrows. Notice that the wicked ones are always conceiving evil. In a colorful phrase, they are pregnant with mischief. The result of their pregnancy is lies. They dig out pits to snare people, but they fall into their own traps. Thus their conceived mischief and violence returns and descends on their own heads. The tables are turned on the violent wicked ones.
“O let the evil of the wicked come to an end!
Establish the righteous!
You who test the minds and hearts!
O righteous God!
My shield is with God.
God saves the upright in heart.
God is a righteous judge.
God has indignation every day.”
David wanted the reign of the evil wicked ones to come to an end. David wanted God to establish the righteous one. He knows how to test the minds and hearts of people. David had his shield with his righteous God. God would save the upright in heart because he was righteous despite his daily indignation.
“Rise up!
Yahweh!
In your anger.
Lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies.
Awake!
O my God!
You have appointed a judgment.
Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered around you.
Take your seat on high over it!
Yahweh judges the peoples!
Judge me!
Yahweh!
Judge me according to my righteousness.
Judge me according to the integrity that is in me.”
David wanted Yahweh, the judge to judge him. Of course, he wanted Yahweh to judge against his enemies. He wanted Yahweh to wake up and take his seat as the judge of all the people. Then everyone could see that David was innocent and righteous, as well as living with integrity if the judgment came from above, from Yahweh. This was David’s cry of self righteousness to be proclaimed by Yahweh.
“Yahweh my God!,
If I have done this,
If there is wrong in my hands,
If I have requited my ally with harm,
If I plundered my enemy without cause,
Let the enemy pursue me.
Let him overtake me.
Let him trample my life to the ground.
Lay my soul in the dust.
Selah”
David set up a series of hypothetical things that he might have done. If he has done any of these things he should be pursued, overtaken, and trampled to the ground. His soul or liver should be crushed to dust. What were the potential evil things he might have done. Had his hands done any wrong thing? Had he turned on his allies and friends? Had he plundered his enemy unjustly? It was all right to plunder the enemy if there was a good cause. This seems unrelated to his defeated dead son. However, he felt he was being punished by Yahweh for something he did. Once again, there is a pause for a musical interlude, a Selah.
“A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to Yahweh concerning Cush, a Benjaminite.
Yahweh my God!
In you,
I take refuge.
Save me!
From all my pursuers,
Deliver me!
Like a lion,
They will tear me apart.
They will drag me away.
No one will rescue me.”
Once again this Psalm 7 is a lament or shiggaion of David. A shiggaion is an emotional mourning psalm. This psalm has a specific indicent found in 2 Samuel, chapter 18, when the Cushite brought him the bad news that David’s rebellious son Absalom had been killed in battle. However, the addition of a Benjaminite might refer to Saul at an earlier time, since Saul was from the territory of Benjamin. There is very little mention of the death of David’s son. This is more about the enemies of David who were attacking him, like Saul. David wanted to take refuge in Yahweh. He wanted to be saved from all his pursuers. He felt that they were like lions, who would tear him apart and drag him away. He asked to be rescued by Yahweh because no one else would.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 