Let’s call this Lesson an “overview” of the whole Passage, Psalm 7.

One writer of old called this the Psalm of “the sorely slandered saint.” Because David is here being falsely accused, via lies and innuendoes, by a man named Cush, apparently a close friend of wicked King Saul. Virtually a “spy” of the rebellious Saul.

Another expert labeled the Psalm, in just two words, “Not Guilty!”

No doubt the Psalm will be used in a future day, by the saved Jewish Remnant (during the Tribulation), when Antichrist will be persecuting them relentlessly.

But the Chapter’s most practical Lesson for each of us is … “How to respond to our enemies.”

Let God handle them, those who hate us and despitefully use us. Like Peter taught us in his first Epistle: “Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.” 1st Peter 4:19

When trouble comes … the first thing a Christian should do is … examine himself or herself. And David did so in the heart of this Psalm.

Next, pray and ask God to intervene.

The Psalm might be epitomized this way:

A. Appeal for Deliverance (verses 1-2, David praying).

B. Assertion of Innocence (verses 3-5, David protesting).

C. Assize (Judgment) of Jehovah God (verses 6-13, the Righteous Arbitrator).

D. Arrest of Wickedness (verses 14-16, Punishment on the Ungodly).

E. Ascription of Praise (verse 17, What a Great God we serve)!

I trust this little study has helped us (taught us how) to better live for our Lord … particularly during the hard times of trial and pressure and turmoil.

Read it one more time, Psalm 7. It’s not that long.

“O LORD my God, in thee do I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me: ² Lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver. ³ O LORD my God, if I have done this; if there be iniquity in my hands; ⁴ If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me; (yea, I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy:) ⁵ 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. ⁶ 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. ⁷ So shall the congregation of the people compass thee about: for their sakes therefore return thou on high. ⁸ The LORD shall judge the people: judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me. ⁹ Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins. ¹⁰ My defence is of God, which saveth the upright in heart. ¹¹ God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day. ¹² If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready. ¹³ He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors. ¹⁴ Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood. ¹⁵ He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made. ¹⁶ His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate. ¹⁷ I will praise the LORD according to his righteousness: and will sing praise to the name of the LORD most high.”

Amen.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

 

Our Psalm (sadly) comes to an end today, as far as our verse-by-verse study is concerned. Yes, I get “attached” to these little chapters of Scripture, don’t you? God’s Word, how thrilling!

David has in some ways come “full circle” now.

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

Earlier (back in verse 8) David spoke of his own righteousness. (Which I thought was unusual. But Isaiah had not yet written his thundering indictment: “We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” Isaiah 64:6)

Furthermore, David was indeed innocent of the charges that a man named Cush had falsely hurled at him. So David asserts: “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, verse 8.

But by Psalm’s end, no longer is David talking about his righteousness, but God’s! “I will praise the LORD according to HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS!”

That’s (very likely) spiritual growth, folks!

Progression, within a 9 verse span of the Bible!

The verb “will praise” is the standard “yadah,” picturing a man “flinging” words of thanksgiving and adoration toward Almighty God in Heaven! Lifting his hands too, in all probability.

And “Righteousness” is the Standard Which God is! His Character! His “Straightness!” Nothing “crooked” being associated with Him at all.

Then David (the “sweet psalmist of Israel” … 2nd Samuel 23:1) “sings” unto His Lord. “Sing praise” translates “zamar,” playing a stringed instrument, that much at least.

And look what David calls God, at the end.

“Most High!”

In Hebrew, “el elyon.”

The Name of God often used when sin and apostasy are rampant. When someone is lying about you. Or trying to harm you, even kill you. (Precisely as David was experiencing when he penned Psalm 7.)

The One Who is “ABOVE IT ALL!”

Wow!

The Psalm began with David’s name.

But it ends with one of the glorious Names of God!

Again, that’s a process of maturation!

Glory to God.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Tomorrow I may write one more lesson, summarizing Psalm 7. Otherwise we shall begin a new series of studies then. Either way, it will be God’s Word.

 

The 16th verse of Psalm 7 is much like the 15th, almost a restating of the same truth. Let me show you what I mean. By the way, this is one of the most prominent features of Hebrew Poetry. It’s called “parallelism.” The second line (or verse) explicating or sometimes expanding the first line (or verse). Here is verse 16 followed by verse 17 …

He (the wicked man) 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.

(Two fairly equal clauses, with each containing one or two examples of a wicked design … coming back to hurt its malicious instigator!)

Really, it’s God’s Law of “retribution” described yet again.

So I am to patiently live …

Trusting the Lord.

Waiting on Him.

This is FAITH … just expressed in yet another way!

(With David here in Psalm 7 … He, the Lord, can handle all my problems, including those presented by individuals who hate me! That enemy will not prosper forever.)

Now for today, just verse 16 alone, look at the repetition of thought. The “matching” of words.

“His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate.”

“Mischief” is renamed by “violent dealing.” And the ungodly man’s “head” is matched by his “pate,” another word for the “crown” of one’s head. Even the verb “shall return” is explained by the matching verb “shall come down.”

Pure poetry, Davidic style!

Yes, one “reaps” what one “sows!”

The noun “mischief” is interesting too. It is spelled “amal” in Hebrew. And is found a relatively few times in the Old Testament, just 55 total. It means “mischief” and is so translated 9 times in the King James Text. But it also means “misery” 3 times! Also “trouble” (3 times), “sorrow” (2 times), “toil” (1 time), and even “wearisome” (1 time). Plus, it is rendered as “pain” or “painful” (2 more times).

So I draw this conclusion. In God’s Truthful Eyes …”sin” (with its “pleasures for a season”) ultimately leads to heartache, and tragedy, “pain” and “sorrow.”

Wow!

The verb “shall return” is “shub,” to do a 180 degree “change” of direction! A surprising (to the wicked man) “boomerang” effect!

“Head” is “rosh,” the very seat of that man’s malicious thoughts.

Furthermore … “his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate.”

“Violent” is spelled (watch this carefully) “hamas.” Yes, “HAMAS!” They are still around, folks, still persecuting and murdering David’s people, too. At least the “kin” are still active.

And the word (“hamas”) means “cruelty, injustice, wrong, doing damage.” Hence, “violence.”

“Shall come down” (in Hebrew “yarad”) means “shall descend, shall fall” and even “shall sink!” Hatred too heavy to stay aloft. Hatred that will some day crush its inventor.

Then, lastly, the noun “pate.” Used in the sentence to “match” the previous noun “head.” It is “qodqod,” meaning the “top of one’s head.” It comes from a root verb meaning “to bow down” or “to stoop.”

Two days now of this … “God will righteously deal with the wicked, at the right time.” To which we can all say a sincere “Amen.”

Only one more verse remains in Psalm 7.

My initial goal in this particular study was … to watch how David handled his enemies. That is … how he responded to their hatred and threats and ill will.

And, as I see it, Psalm 7 has certainly performed well in this area.

The Bible, what an amazing book!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

Today’s verse is a crystal clear statement about God’s Law of “Reaping What You Sow.”

What Paul later wrote in Galatians 6:7-8, for example. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”

Amen.

So now, Psalm 7:15, about the wicked man. “He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made.” Yes, he got what he deserved!

By the way, he made the pit as a “trap,” so someone else (his enemy) would fall into it! We used to say … “That ‘backfired,’ didn’t it?”

David has in mind, as he writes Psalm 7, a lying, murderous man named Cush. Who is seeking David’s harm, even death! David our Poet is pretty sure the man Cush is engineering his own downfall!

The word “pit” means a “hole” in the ground. It can at times just mean “well” or “cistern,” but here it’s more nefarious. Actually it’s later called a “ditch” in our verse, “shathath” being rendered as “grave” twice in Scripture. (As in: “Digging his own grave!”)

The verb “digged” means just what it says, what it implies, but once in the King James Version it is translated “pawed.” In Job 39:21 where a beautiful old war-horse is “pawing” in the valley, eager to go to battle!

And “fallen” is spelled (in Hebrew) “naphal,” five times meaning “overthrown,” in the Old Testament of course.

“He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made.”

Have you ever heard this old saying? “Give him enough rope and he will hang himself!” That’s what the wicked man is doing in Psalm 7:15, exactly.

Other parts of the Bible teach the same truth as our verse today.

Psalm 9:15-16 sure does. “The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken. The LORD is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands.” Wow!

And this Bible prayer says the same thing. “The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.” Psalm 10:2

One more example: “Let the wicked fall into their own nets, whilst that I withal escape.” Psalm 141:10

What a “healthy” view of retribution!

Do NOT harm your enemy.

Let God take care of everything, in His time.

In Deuteronomy 32:35 God thunders:  “To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.”

Enough has been said.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

Of the many things David could do well, thinking in “word pictures” was near the top of the list!

And today’s Lesson, along with the next 2 Lessons, certainly illustrate the (future) King’s talent in that area.

Notice with me Psalm 7:14, a divinely inspired one-line “portrait” of a wicked man. “Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood.”

The individual being scrutinized, clearly masculine in gender, is here said to be “in travail.” (As if he were a woman? Only they “travail” to give birth, physically anyway. And does this verbiage indicate a “mixing” of the sexes, that many years ago? Our Sentence’s next 2 verbs almost proves the point!)

The actual verb “travaileth” is “chabal,” only used 29 times in the whole Bible. It most often means “to bind,” as if tied to something! He is “chained” to his sins! Then get this. “Chabal” also means “to pledge” allegiance to something or someone. To be loyal to iniquity! Almost “to invent” new and deeper ways of sinning!

And the noun “iniquity,” spelled “aven” in Hebrew, means “to breathe hard, to pant,” that vigorously participating in ungodliness!

“Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood.”

Now the next of these 3 verbs, “hath conceived,” is “harah,” clearly feminine in “intent!” It is even translated “with child” 5 times in the King James Version of Scripture! And it means “to become pregnant.”

“Mischief” is “amal,” meaning “trouble, toil, labor, misery, wearisomeness.” Sounds here like the “pleasures of sin” were indeed only for a “season!”

Then the last of these sequential verbs, “brought forth.” Here “yalad” is employed. It means “to beget, to deliver.” And is even translated “to midwife” 10 times!

All leading to the “point” of the verse, its “apex” … “falsehood.” Someone has lied about David, spoken false words, things untrue and harmful. And the word “sheqer” means “deception, trickery,” with the idea of “cheating” added as well.

Spawning iniquity, mischief and falsehood!

No wonder David turns this person over to God!

For judgment!

In God’s time, in God’s way!

David will just “wait” and “trust.”

What an example.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell