9 Unto my supplication The LORD did hearing give; 10 Let all be sham'd, and troubled sore Let them turn back, and suddenly PSALM VII. DAVID is said to have sung this palm to the LORD concerning the words or business of Cush the Benjamite. Whether Saul, Shemei, or some one else of David's enemies be here intended, it is manifest that he was maliciously calumniated by such a person; from whose aspersions he here vindi Verses 8, 9. Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity, &c. cease to reproach me, to triumph over me, or to attempt, by fair but false speeches, to deceive and betray me. The reason of this charge is; for the LowD hath heard the voice of my weeping; the LORD hath heard my supplication, which he explains by adding the LORD will receive or, hath heard my prayer, i. e. continue to do so, as he hath done on this occasion, and to give an answer of peace. Will not this apply to Messiah in the fullest sense? Verse 10. Let all mine enemies be ashamed; or, all mine enemies shall be ashamed, and sore vexed at their conduct, and by its punishment; let them, or, they shall return, that is, to dutiful allegiance and their possessions, none of them having been put to death for their rebellion, after it was quelled, or even sought out and tried, and be ashamed suddenly. The same thing is foretold I's. cxxxii. 18; where a greater than David promises to clothe the enemies of his Anointed with shame, whence the crown flourished on the King of ISRAEL'S head, as a type of Messiah. The sense in which this prophecy was fulfilled in regard of the literal DAVID, is a key to the more full and gloricus accomplishment of it in respect of MESSIAH; the shame and repentance of whose eremies will add to his real glory. So plain are these things, that he who runs may read and understand them. In reading this penitential and mournful psalm, let us copy the example set us in it, by mourning for our own sins, and those of others, brought to our recollection by their bitter fruits; believing that though weeping may endure for a night, the morning will come, and bring joy with it. And let the anticipation of the repentance of all MESSIAH'S rebellious subjects, included in their predicted shame, and their return to their rightful Lord, in the path of dutiful obedience, now crown all our sorrows with the patience and joy of hope. cates himself. Our Lord and his people often find reason to appeal to GoD against their false accusers. ་་་་་ 10 LORD my GOD, in thee do I My confidence repose: Save and deliver me from all My persecuting foes; 2 Lest that the enemy, my soul In pieces rending it, while there 3 O LORD my God, if it be so If it be so, that in my hands 4 If I rewarded ill to him That was at peace with me; (Yea, cv'n the man that without cause The wounds But trusting Verse 1. O LORD my God, in thee do I put my trust; &c. of a lying tongue are often worse than those of the sword. in God in the path of duty, we may rest assured that he will in due season save and deliver us from all those who thus persecute us, and bring forth our integrity as noon-day; as he did that of David, and of his Son and Lord. Verse 2. Lest he tear my soul, &c. The rage of tyrants is often compared to that of an aroused lion; and David found Saul, instigated by false accusers, to be such; as did our Lord the men in power in his day, and al so his people in the day of their affliction! Satan that roaring lion, would act the same part, tear and rend the soul in pieces; but God will deliver his people from his power. Verses 3, 4, 5. LORD my God, if I have done this; &c. In these verses he appeals to Gon as knowing his innocence of the particular crime laid to his charge; and so did our Lord, so will his people also often have occasion to do. We know from the sacred history that David delivered Saul, who without cause was his enemy, and might also many others. Every saved sinner is delivered by Him to whom he has been an enemy without cause. Conscious of his fidelity to Saul, and of his innocence of the crimes falsely imputed to him, he in proof of this invokes the Allseeing Judge to inflict upon him, if found guilty, all the evils his enemies. wished and intended;-Let the enemy persecute, closely pursue, my soul, and take it; yea, let him tread down my life.upon the earth, and lay mine, ( 5 Then let the foe pursue, and take Down to the earth, and let him lay 9 Rise in thy wrath, LORD, raise thyself, And to the judgment which thou hast 7 So shall th' Assembly of thy folk Thou therefore, for their sakes, return 8 The LORD he shall the people judge, After my righteousness and mine honour in the dust. His honour might intend the crown promised him, and afterwards bestowed upon him. When Saul, Absalom, and others came to an untimely end, and the former had this crown so degraded; David was exalted to, and preserved on his throne all his days. When the like things were and shall be done to Messiah's enemies, who envy Him his due honours, He ascended to his throne, and there reigns as Supreme over all, till his enemies are made his footstool. They that suffer like him, and for his sake, shall also reign with him. Verse 6. Arise O LORD, in thine anger, or thou shalt arise &c. As this was fulfilled in David in type; so was it also in Messiah at his resurrection, and after his ascension to his imperial throne; whence He exccuted judgment upon his Jewish enemies, and will also upon all his Christian enemies. Verse 7. So shall the &c. As the congregation of Gon's people compassed David about, when he got quiet possession of the throne, and was restored to his capital and Zion, after the rebellion of Absalom: so was verified in our Lord. As David was thus restored for the good of his subjects: so these words apply in their full force to his King and Lord;— for their sakes therefore return thou, or thou shalt return on high. God is in Him reconciling the wicked world to himself. Verse 8. The LORD shall judge the people, &c. While this imports that he will try and punish the ungodly, it also includes the more noble sense of judging them, as exemplified in Samuel and other judges of old; who were eminent figures of Messiah. All his works are perfect; and to exclude this sense is to do his official character, and that of the faithful, great justice. When David thus appeals, Judge me, O LORD, &c. he only in 9 O let the wicked's malice end, The righteous: for the righteous GoD 10 In God, who saves th' upright in heart, 11 GOD just men judgeth; God is wroth 12 If he do not return again, Then he his sword will whet; His bow he hath already bent, tends in regard to accusations of his enemies; for he well knew, as else. where expressed, if He would mark iniquities, who shall stand? or be acquitted on the ground of his own integrity, Ps. cxxx. 3. Verse 9. O let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; &c. This is a prediction as well as a prayer, offered by David as type, in regard of his enemies, and by Messiah, in respect of his in every age, who prayed on the cross; Father forgive them, for they know not what they do. It imports that wickedness will, in the end, be as assuredly abolished; as the just or upright shall be established, and both by Him who is to make all things new. Poole renders the first clause, and comments upon it," The wickedness of the wicked shall have an end, not an end of perfection, but an end of termination, it shall cease; and an end of destruction, it shall be rooted out;" i. e. wherever God's eyes can find it. This is the reason given; for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins, just as fire tries and purifies silver and gold; for his eyes are said to be like a flame of fire, and to behold the evil and the good. Verse 10. My defence is of GOD, &c. Heb. My shield is upon God, he carries it as it were before me, to protect me against all mine enemies. See 1 Sam. xvii. 7. Verse 11. God judgeth the righteous, &c; i. e. judgeth for them, defendeth their cause, and avengeth their wrongs. The supplement, the wicked, is the contrast, and is understood from what follows. While they continue such, God is angry with them, and as a righteous moral Governor cannot but visit them with his judgments; of which all history furnishes aburdant proofs. Verses 12, 13. If he turn not, he will whet his sword; &c. that is, if he take not warning by the fate of others, and the admonitions of divine truth, so as timely to repent, and forsake his evil ways; then the threatenings here recorded shall be executed. The mode of expression is borrowed from the military art, and, considering that JEHOVAH the man of war is the speaker, ought to reach conviction to every sinner. Every new sin sets a fresh edge on the sword of justice, whetted by the displays of 1 How excellent in all the earth, 2 From infants' and from sucklings' mouth For thy foes' cause, that so thou might'st. JEHOVAH, the other ADON, with the possessive pronoun ENU, our; that is, JEHOVAH our Ruler; yet both evidently applied to the same person, and. here to MESSIAH. The first is the absolute name of the Divine nature or essence; and the last is a relative title, referring to created things, and chiefly to mankind; whence some versions render it, our Governor. His name denotes his glory, fame, royal majesty, and sacred authority. To prove that MESSIAH is intended, let the reader consult Philip. ii. 9. Rev. xi. 18. and xviii. 1. In the ministry of the Gospel, and by the accession of the Nations to his Church, the name of this Lord of Jews and Christians is, or shall be excellent in all the earth. THAT the man CHRIST JESUS is the glory of JEHOVAH, even the brightness, or shining forth of his glory, and as such was raised above all heavens, in point of dignity and authority; his word sufficiently attests. The natural and mystical heavens are intended; the latter comprehending the churches militant and triumphant. The exaltation of his humanity, that visible temple of Deity, may be ascribed to Himself, as well as the resurrection or re-animation of his dead body; for in this he acted by the inherent power of his Deity, whence by so doing he declared himself to be the SON of GOD with power. The sufferings of CHRIST, and the glory that should follow, so fully foretold in this psalm, are things into which angels desire to look. This is He who descended in his incarnation, and again ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things with his grace and glory, Eph. iv. 10. Compared to HIM, what was the first ADAM in all the passing glory of his creation state! Verse 2. Out of the mouth of babes &c. The verb rendered ordained,. is also translated, founded, confirmed, established, firmly settled, fitted, and perfected. Our Lord's citation from the LXX, Mat. xxi. 16. where he applies this Psalm to himself as the son of David, the original is rendered-Thou hast perfected praise, which is allowed to be rather a paraphrase than a literal version of the Hebrew, which our Translators give, Thou hast ordained, or constituted strength. The prayer addressed by the children in the temple to CHRIST, is found in Ps. cxviii. 25. and there made to JEHOVAH; Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD: 0 LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity. Since He defended the address of this prayer to himself, could he more explicitely claim as his the name JEHOVAH, and also the character of the hearer of prayer? And what the Church there prays for,-Save now, is his official work. Such a testimony, so given, defended, and established, because of his enemies, may vex and confound |