Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 7

In thee do I put my trust. —Or, in you I have taken refuge.

Lest he tear. — The poet turns from the thought of his enemies generally to the one who has just made himself conspicuous. Such a change from plural to singular often occurs in the Psalms. (Compare to Psalms 41:5-6.)

Rending it in pieces. — The Septuagint, followed by the Vulgate (so too the Syriac), take the verb in its primitive sense of “snatch away,” and translate, “there being none to redeem or deliver.” So Milton: “Tearing, and no rescue near.” Notice the comparison of human enemies to beasts of prey—a reminiscence of the lion and the bear of his youth, so constantly present to David. (1 Samuel 17:37.)

This — i.e., this with which I am charged —the Benjamite’s slander.

If there be iniquity. —A comparison with 1 Samuel 24:12–13, and still more 1 Samuel 26:18, shows how closely this psalm is connected with the two notorious instances of David’s magnanimous and generous conduct towards Saul.

Indeed, I have — i.e., on the contrary, so far from returning evil for good, I have returned good for evil. With allusion, there can be little doubt, to the incidents referred to in the last Note. From metrical reasons, and also to avoid the abruptness of the change of construction, Ewald conjectures that two clauses have dropped out of the text, and restores as follows—

“If I have rewarded evil to him who treated me kindly,
(And cunning to him who was at peace with me,
Indeed, if I have not rewarded his soul with good)
And delivered him who without cause is my enemy.”

Milton’s translation lends another shade of meaning to the passage—

“If I have done
Ill to him who meant me peace,
Or to him have rendered less,
And not freed my foe for nought.”

The conjecture of a corruption of the text is supported by the rendering of the Septuagint and Vulgate, and a very slight change gives the probable rendering: “If I have returned evil to him who treated me kindly, and injured my enemy without cause.”

Let the enemy. — Better, let an enemy.

Persecute. — Literally, burn. (See Note on Psalms 10:2.)

Tread. — This term is used: of a potter treading the clay (Isaiah 41:25); of the trampling of horses (Ezekiel 26:11); of a herd trampling down their pasture (Ezekiel 34:28).

Dust. — This can be understood as in Psalms 22:15, the dust of death, and if so, then khabôd’.

Honour must be the soul or life, as is plain in Psalms 16:9 and Psalms 57:8, where the Authorised Version has glory. The parallelism favors this interpretation.

On the other hand, “to lay one’s honour in the dust” is a common figurative phrase. Shakespeare, for example, in K. Hen. VI.,Acts 1, Scene 5, writes, “Now, France, your glory droops to the dust”; and in Coriol.,Acts 3, Scene 1, “And throw their power in the dust.”

Selah. — See Note on Psalms 3:2. This is one of the places that suggest its interpretation as a musical direction to strike up with passion and force.