Psalm 7 begins with this fact: “A Psalm David sang unto the LORD, concerning the words of Cush the Benjamite.” This man Cush (meaning “darkness, blackness”) was a close “friend” of David’s nemesis, the wicked King Saul of Israel.

We do  not know precisely what has been said “against” David. Uttered by this liar named Cush. But we do know David denies all of the charges!

And David also brings his “innocence” to the Lord! As in verse 3 of our Psalm: “O LORD my God, if I have done this; if there be iniquity in my hands.” (I realize the verse is not an independent clause, a full sentence. It needs the next 2 verses to complete David’s line of reasoning.) But still I want you to hear his honest protest of having “done no wrong.”

Yes, David here addresses his God, our God!

Both as “Jehovah” (LORD) and as “God” (Elohiym). I just checked. God is known by these two Names over 9,000 times in the Bible!

Then there’s the “if,” twice in a single line!

But it is an “if” of negation. David had NOT done wicked things. David had NOT been disloyal to Saul. David had NOT sought any harm to the King! (In fact, David had spared Saul’s life at least twice in the past few months.)

“O LORD my God, if I have done this; if there be iniquity in my hands.”

The noun “iniquity” is spelled (ironically) “evel.” It can mean “to deviate” from the norm. To live “outside” God’s rules. Just plain “wickedness.”

David wants the Lord to know that he has acted in a noble, honorable fashion. He has not wronged King Saul in any way.

Maybe this kind of prayer is important (this claim of innocence) because this same David (or some Psalmist) later wrote “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord WILL NOT HEAR me.” Psalm 66:18

This thought will “fall into place” even more so tomorrow. When we read the whole paragraph … “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. Psalm 7:3-5

David essentially is praying something like this: “If I have done these wrongs, O Lord, let their (the enemies’ … all of them) desires be enacted upon me!

Wow!

Obviously then, there is POWER in living a godly, pure life.

Confidence (not in self) … but in the Lord!

And David is here exercising that power (in prayer).

It’s Psalm 24:3-4 come to life: “Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who shall stand in his Holy Place? He that hath CLEAN HANDS, and a PURE HEART; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.”

Yes!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

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

 

It is as beautiful a “statement of faith” as a person will ever read.

David’s first words in Psalm 7 … “O LORD my God, in thee do I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me.”

Look how personal the plea seems to be: “O Lord, MY Lord!”

This short clause uses both major Old Testament Names for our Father in Heaven. “LORD” means “Jehovah,” while “God” translates “Elohiym.”

To “put trust” in Someone means “to flee for safety” to That Person … “to seek refuge” in Him, in the Lord our God. “To have hope” in the Saviour.

That David here is being “persecuted” is evident, “radalph” being the verb. It means “to pursue, to run after,” also “to chase” …  in order to harm!

So … “save me,” Lord! And here “yasha” (“save”) means “to deliver, to liberate, to defend, to rescue.”

The “save” verb is also paired with “deliver” me, Lord.

And “deliver,” in Hebrew “natzsal,” means “to rescue, to snatch away, to bring to a place of escape.”

So, in verse 1 three movements are noticed, three statements of fact.

1. Lord, I trust in Thee.
2. Lord, intervene and save me from those who chase me.
3. Lord, rescue me as well.

And did God hear the prayer?

Yes.

Even David’s prayer.

And … even yours!

Or mine!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

“The words of Cush the Benjamite” seem to have occasioned Psalm 7. Here are the Passage’s first words, in full: “Shiggaion of David, which he sang unto the LORD, concerning the words of Cush the Benjamite.”

This “introduction” to the Psalm precedes even its first verse! Thus, it must be important.

Question is … Who is Cush?

One Bible teacher feels “Cush” it is a “code-name” for Saul, King of Israel and David’s chief adversary at this time. That is … Saul hated David. In favor of this possibility is the fact that Saul’s Father’s name was “Kish.” The similarity is evident.

But David never seemed to exhibit any animosity against Saul or his family. And Psalm 7 (with its prayers against David’s enemies) might not really “fit” a member of Saul’s kin. By the way, Saul and his forefathers were of the Tribe of Benjamin.

But then again … maybe “Cush” (meaning “black”) is simply a name of a “spy,” a “traitor,” a real “David hater,” who constantly reported things concerning godly David to wicked Saul.

Notice the “words” of Cush are specifically mentioned as being an impetus to Psalm 7. He clearly is a detractor, an enemy of David.

Once, in 1st Samuel 26:1, a group does “report” David’s whereabouts to Saul and his search party, murder squad! “And the Ziphites came unto Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself in the hill of Hachilah, which is before Jeshimon?”

Wow!

Then again, Cush may have been a so-called friend of King Saul … who constantly stirred the volatile Monarch against (innocent) David. Cush, a devil-empowered accuser, a slanderer! A man who constantly sought “to sow discord among the brethren!”  That is, Saul against David. (Discord, which according to Proverbs 6:19, is one of the actions, sins, Almighty God is said to specifically hate.)

A Bible dictionary I have on my laptop says of Cush: “He was probably a follower of Saul, the head of his tribe, and had sought the friendship of David for the purpose of ‘rewarding evil to him that was at peace with him.'” The last clause here being a direct quote from Psalm 7:4.

Anyway … whoever Cush may have been specifically … Psalm 7 is going to teach us how to respond to such an enemy. We each (Christians, I mean) have such an adversary, an accuser, the Devil! And Psalm 7 is going to provide yet another weapon I can use in my arsenal … warring against that old Satan.

Tomorrow, Lord willing, verse 1.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

Today we shall barely begin our discussion of Psalm 7. Technically, not even reaching verse 1. The Passage is labeled “Shiggaion of David.” Usually these descriptive words set the “mood” for the whole Psalm to which they are attached. (It is the trend of liberal, “progressive” theology today to discount all the superscripts of the Psalter. To consider them inaccurate, if not downright misleading. I disagree!)

But what does “Shaggaion of David” mean?

The word is only found twice in Scripture, Habakkuk 3:1 being the other reference. There too it introduces a Psalm, that lovely hymn Habakkuk sang about God. “A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth.” (Spelled slightly differently, but the same word.) A poetic prayer, indeed, psalmody at its best.

The exact definition and word history of the Shaggaion/Shigionoth” is not sure. The scholars do not all agree. But I’m going to share with you the “consensus” among conservative, fundamental writers.

“Shaggaion” means “to go astray.” Or “to wander.”

Now do remember that when David penned these words (Psalm 7) he was “fleeing” for his life … from the murderous hands of King Saul of Israel.

This fact alone could account for the Psalm’s title.

A wandering fugitive!

Then another great man of God (F. B. Meyer) thought that “shaggaion” might refer to the “musical shifts” in the Psalm, vacillations in tempo and mindset. David, that unsure of himself. David, that much in turmoil. David fretful! David, “up” and “down.”

Here’s how our Poem begins, for example: “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 trust in God is evident, “Save me, O Lord.”

But the sense of someone trying to kill him is evident as well, the possibility of his being “torn to pieces.” Like a lion would do!

A hint of desperation is here also … “There is none to deliver.”

Yet … under this pressure, under this threat … DAVID STILL COMES TO GOD!

DAVID PRAYS!

DAVID BELIEVES … WITH ALL THE FAITH HE POSSESSES!

That’s today’s Lesson!

When in turmoil, when torn a dozen different ways, when one’s thoughts and words are scrambled … reach out to your God!

David’s words in Psalm 56:3 are typical. “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.”

Wow!

Even if prayer is not as lovely, not as serene … PRAY ANYWAY!

“Without ceasing,” Paul taught.

Amen.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell