David grew up in the “wild.”
Watching sheep.
Of course, that meant not only feeding the flock, but protecting them as well. “Thy servant (a young David) kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: and I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear.” 1st Samuel 17:34-36
The lad KNEW what a lion could do, what damage, to a carcass of flesh!
Now a little later in David’s life … when he was fleeing from King Saul, who was trying to kill him … the Holy Spirit has David share his heart. “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, where we need to sense the danger being portrayed.
Why is David so concerned here?
Because his enemy (apparently a man named “Cush the Benjamite”), an ally of King Saul … had betrayed David’s location. And now Saul’s “war machine” was coming after David with vengeance. And … with much more accurate intelligence this time.
So David describes his possible fate. “Lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.”
I think David here means his whole being, body included, by the term “soul.” He had not yet been taught the words of Jesus: “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28
The verb “tear” (spelled “taraph”) used in Psalm 7:2 means “to rend in pieces, to pluck, to catch!”
Like a “lion” does!
Eye-witness experience talking, no doubt!
“Rending in pieces” is one Hebrew verb, “paraq,” meaning “to break apart.”
And “none to deliver” means no rescuer is anywhere near!
The verb “deliver” is “natzsal,” meaning “to snatch away, to save.”
“Lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.” Yes, there clearly is “fear” in the line David just spoke.
But it is short-lived.
David’s FAITH will conquer his fear, or at least emaciate it. Starve it … so it cannot be dominant in his life! In fact, the previous verse of our Psalm proves this. “O LORD my God, in thee do I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me.” Amen!
Really, David (later) wrote these words. Praying as he spoke. (Talk about growing in the Lord!) “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.” Psalm 56:3
Amen!
— Dr. Mike Bagwell