A Lamb Before a Lion (vv. 1–2)

“[Shiggaion of David, which he sang unto the LORD, concerning the words of Cush the Benjamite.] O LORD my God, in thee do I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me: Lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.” (Psalm 7:1–2)

The precise meaning of Shiggaion is unknown. It is generally understood as “a song sung with sorrow, anger, and intense emotion,” or “a lament sung while wandering.” Nor do we know exactly who Cush the Benjamite was. From the title, however, we can see that David was facing trouble related to the words of Cush and that several people were pursuing him.

In this situation, David takes refuge in God and asks Him to save and deliver him from all who pursue him. He fears that if God does not rescue him, his enemies will tear him apart like a lion. David’s description of his pursuers as being “like a lion” shows how violent and threatening they were.

A lion was a very dangerous creature to David. When David was tending sheep, a lion or a bear once came and took a lamb from the flock. David went after it, struck it, and rescued the lamb from its mouth (1 Samuel 17:34–35). David knew well that if he did not rescue the little lamb, it would inevitably become the lion’s prey and be torn apart.

But now David himself was like a lamb standing before a lion. He feared that unless God delivered him, he too would be torn apart like a lamb by those who pursued him.

David’s Declaration of Innocence Before God and Jesus Christ (vv. 3–5)

David declared his innocence before God.

“O LORD my God, if I have done this; if there be iniquity in my hands; If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me; (yea, I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy:) Let the enemy persecute my soul, and take it; yea, let him tread down my life upon the earth, and lay mine honour in the dust. Selah.” (Psalm 7:3–5)

Even at the risk of his own life, David appealed to God concerning his innocence in this matter related to the words of Cush. He brought before God the injustice he was suffering as one who had been falsely accused and pursued.

Here we are reminded of Jesus, who suffered an injustice beyond comparison with David’s. There was no unrighteousness in Jesus; He was perfectly holy. Yet people falsely accused Him and treated Him as a criminal deserving death. On the night before His crucifixion, as Jesus spent His final hours with His disciples, He said:

“He that hateth me hateth my Father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.” (John 15:23–25)

In this way, those who belong to evil hate and oppose the righteous without cause.

God, the Righteous Judge (vv. 6–10)

David asked God to rise as Judge and judge his case.

“Arise, O LORD, in thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies: and awake for me to the judgment that thou hast commanded.” (Psalm 7:6)

David trusted God as the righteous Judge who judges all peoples, and therefore asked Him to judge his case.

“So shall the congregation of the people compass thee about: for their sakes therefore return thou on high. The LORD shall judge the people: judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me.” (Psalm 7:7–8)

David asked God to judge him according to his righteousness and the integrity that was in him. The word translated “integrity” is the Hebrew tom, meaning “wholeness, sincerity, and the absence of duplicity.” David was not claiming that he was entirely without sin; rather, he was asking God to judge his innocence in the particular matter he had brought before Him.

David then prayed that God, who knows the hearts of all people, would bring the wickedness of the wicked to an end and establish the righteous.

“Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins.” (Psalm 7:9)

We can see the ultimate fulfillment of this in what God did concerning Jesus. Through the cross, Jesus crushed the serpent’s head, and God raised Jesus, whom men had put to death, thereby revealing Him to be righteous.

Therefore David confesses that God is his shield.

“My defence is of God, which saveth the upright in heart.” (Psalm 7:10)

David does not merely say that God is his shield. He says that God is the One “who saves the upright in heart.” God’s righteous character and His act of saving the upright are themselves David’s shield. Therefore, even when his circumstances were uncertain, David could remain steadfast by relying on the unchanging character of God.

Yet the God who is a shield and saves the upright in heart is also the righteous Judge who judges evil.

Judgment That Calls for Repentance (vv. 11–13)

“God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day. If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready. He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors.” (Psalm 7:11–13)

God does not look upon evil with indifference. Because God is righteous, He hates evil and is angry with it. Yet the words we should notice here are, “If he turn not.” God’s judgment is certainly prepared, but the wicked still have a way to turn back. God does not delight in the death of the wicked. In Ezekiel, God says:

“Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” (Ezekiel 33:11)

Therefore, the warning of God’s judgment also contains a call for the wicked to repent. If the wicked refuse to turn from their evil ways, they cannot escape God’s judgment, but God calls them to turn and live.

The same God is a shield to the upright in heart, but He is also the Judge of those who refuse to repent and continue in evil. Yet God does not delight in people’s destruction; He desires them to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4).

David now describes what ultimately happens to the person who practices evil.

The Self-Destruction of the Wicked and the Victory of the Cross (vv. 14–17)

“Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood. He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made. His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate.” (Psalm 7:14–16)

David describes the development and growth of evil through the imagery of conception and childbirth. The wicked person conceives iniquity, becomes pregnant with mischief, and finally gives birth to falsehood. Evil does not simply appear without a process; it is conceived and grows within the human heart until it finally manifests itself in action. This corresponds with the words of James:

“Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” (James 1:15)

Yet the pit that the wicked dig to bring down another eventually becomes the trap into which they themselves fall. The harm they devise returns upon their own heads, and the violence they intended for others falls upon themselves.

This is like Haman, who prepared the gallows for Mordecai but was eventually hanged on it himself (Esther 7:9–10). What he prepared for another person’s death ultimately brought about his own death.

This principle appears most dramatically at the cross. Satan moved people to deliver the sinless Jesus to death and may have thought that by killing Jesus he had won. Yet through that very cross, the power of sin and death was broken and the works of the devil were destroyed. At the very place where evil appeared to have triumphed, the power of evil was instead defeated.

Therefore, even in the midst of injustice, David could refrain from taking vengeance into his own hands and entrust his judgment to God. He believed that the righteous Judge was his shield and that the wickedness of the wicked would ultimately return upon their own heads.

Thus David ends this psalm, which began with his cry over injustice, by praising the righteousness of God.

“I will praise the LORD according to his righteousness: and will sing praise to the name of the LORD most high.” (Psalm 7:17)