Psalms 7:10
Ver. 10. My defence [is] of God,.... Or "my shield [is] in" or "of God" {e}; God was his shield, his protector and defender; see Ps 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.{e} Myhla le "in Deo", Musculus, Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius, Muis, Ainsworth; "apud Deum", Lutherus, Piscator, Gejerus, Cocceius, Michaelis. Psalms 7:11Ver. 11. 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" {f}; 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.{f} Vid. Aben Ezra & Abendana not. in Miclol. Yophi in loc.qydu jpwv Myhla "Deus judex justus", V. L. Munster, Musculus, Montanus, Piscator, Gejerus, Michaelis; so Ainsworth. Psalms 7:12Ver. 12. If he turn not,.... Not God, but the enemy, or the wicked man, spoken of Ps 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 Isa 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, Isa 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 La 2:4; or "trod his bow", as is the usual phrase elsewhere; see Ps 11:2; which was done by the feet, and was necessary when the bow was a strong one, as Jarchi on Ps 11:2; observes; and so the Arabs, as Suidas {g} relates, using arrows the length of a man, put their feet on the string of the bow instead of their hands.{g} In voce arabev. Psalms 7:13Ver. 13. He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death,.... The weapons of his indignation, Isa 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" {h}, 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, Ge 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, Ps 64:7. Some {i} 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, Ps 11:2, but the former sense seems best.{h} Myqlwdl "ardentibus", V. L. "in ardentes", Montanus; "hot persecutors", Ainsworth. {i} So Brentius & Glassius in Gejerus. Psalms 7:14Ver. 14. 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" {k}, or a vain thing, as the same word is rendered in Job 15:35; no fruit at all, but wind, or stubble, Isa 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.{k} rqv "rem inanem", so some in Vatablus; "vanitatem", Gejerum. Psalms 7:15Ver. 15. 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, Ps 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, Pr 26:27; the sense of this and the above figurative expressions is literally and properly given in Ps 7:16. Psalms 7:16Ver. 16. 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, 1Sa 26:10. Psalms 7:17Ver. 17. 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, Ps 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 Entire Bible.