Psalm 7
Have you ever had anyone make a false accusation against you? Maybe your sister told your mother you pulled her hair or a classmate claimed to the teacher you stole their pen or a work colleague blames you for a double booking they made that loses business. These deceptions distort reality and turn people against you unfairly.
It is into this emotional whirlwind that David composed this Psalm. Cush, part of the Benjaminite tribe which Saul came from, seems to have orchestrated a smear campaign against David. He uses his words to marginalise God’s King, pushing him to the outside.
This then is a Psalm for the persecuted Church (1 Peter 3.16). The people of God, maligned by the enemies of the cross of Christ, will find words for their struggle and hope for their future in this prayer.
A shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning Cush, a Benjaminite.
1 LORD my God, I take refuge in you;
save and deliver me from all who pursue me,
2 or they will tear me apart like a lion
and rip me to pieces with no one to rescue me.
3 LORD my God, if I have done this
and there is guilt on my hands –
4 if I have repaid my ally with evil
or without cause have robbed my foe –
5 then let my enemy pursue and overtake me;
let him trample my life to the ground
and make me sleep in the dust.
6 Arise, LORD, in your anger;
rise up against the rage of my enemies.
Awake, my God; decree justice.
7 Let the assembled peoples gather round you,
while you sit enthroned over them on high.
8 Let the LORD judge the peoples.
Vindicate me, LORD, according to my righteousness,
according to my integrity, O Most High.
9 Bring to an end the violence of the wicked
and make the righteous secure –
you, the righteous God
who probes minds and hearts.
David does not just look to God to provide him refuge. Instead his confidence is that God Himself will be the refuge for David (Psalm 2.12). David’s hope of deliverance and rescue is solely in God, for without him, he is at the sharp end of Cush’s tongue and the Lion’s teeth (v2; see also 1 Peter 5.8).
The key plea of David in this first half of the Psalm is in v8, “Vindicate me.” David wants God to prove his innocence, and judge those who corrupt the truth and harm the vulnerable.
David is not saying here in v3-5 that he is sinless. But rather that he is innocent of the slanderous claims of his enemies. His confidence is sure, that God who probes hearts and minds will find his King to be free of guilt with regards to these accusations. And so his prayer is that the all-knowing and all-seeing God would clear his name and unveil the true character and corruption of his foes.
In the New Testament, this same slander happens to the church, because it happens to Jesus, its King (John 15.18). They brought false witnesses to dirty his name and claims (Matthew 26.60), but he was vindicated by God in his resurrection as the truly Righteous One (Acts 2.36). And he will judge the rebels who refuse to repent (Acts 17.31).
10 My shield is God Most High,
who saves the upright in heart.
11 God is a righteous judge,
a God who displays his wrath every day.
12 If he does not relent,
he will sharpen his sword;
he will bend and string his bow.
13 He has prepared his deadly weapons;
he makes ready his flaming arrows.
14 Whoever is pregnant with evil
conceives trouble and gives birth to disillusionment.
15 Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out
falls into the pit they have made.
16 The trouble they cause recoils on them;
their violence comes down on their own heads.
17 I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness;
I will sing the praises of the name of the LORD Most High.
The King rests in three truths: God protects the repentant (10); God is a just judge (11); and God is a mighty warrior (12).
God will relent if the people repent (see Jonah 3.10). But if they remain stubborn and hard-hearted, they will receive their comeuppance. For look at how God in all his power brings justice. He will turn their evil, mischief, trouble and violence back down on their own heads. v15 is key here. The grave they make for God’s King becomes their own. Just like Haman who was hanged on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai (Esther 7). As Jim Hamilton puts it, “as much as their sin may inflict evil and pain on others, the one who does sin is the one most damaged by that sin. The reward sinners gain will be the fruit of their own evil.”
So this was Christ’s confidence as God’s King when he went to the cross. The evil of his enemies will be used by God to bring shame and condemnation on their own heads (Colossians 2.15). And he invites us to share this confidence, that those who bring evil against God’s church will ultimately see the truth (1 Peter 2.12).
And this is how David closes his Psalm, remembering with thanksgiving and praise, that God is righteous. He will vindicate those who have repented and find their refuge in God. And he will punish those who malign and slander. And we can rest secure in him as our righteous refuge.
Glory be to the Father, the just Judge and righteous Refuge of his people.
Glory be to the Son, the the innocent and vindicated King, who overcame the grave.
Glory be to the Spirit, who comforts us in trial with the truth of God’s grace and justice.