John Calvin Commentary Psalms 7

At the beginning of the psalm, David speaks of having many enemies, and in the second verse he identifies a single individual. And certainly, since the minds of all people were inflamed against him, he had very good reason for praying to be delivered from all his persecutors.

But as the wicked cruelty of the king, like a firebrand, had kindled the hatred of the whole people against him, though he was an innocent person, he also had good reason for directing his writing particularly against him. Thus, in the first verse, he describes the true character of his own circumstances—he was a persecuted man; and, in the second verse, the source or cause of the calamity he was enduring.

There is great emphasis in these words which he uses in the beginning of the Psalm: O Jehovah my God, in You do I trust. The verb, it is true, is in the past tense in the Hebrew; and, therefore, if literally translated, the reading would be, In You have I trusted. But as the Hebrews often use one tense for another, I prefer to translate it in the present, In You I do trust, especially since it is abundantly evident that a continuous act, as it is called, is indicated.

David does not boast of a confidence in God from which he had now fallen, but of a confidence which he constantly maintained in his afflictions. And this is a genuine and an undoubted proof of our faith: when, faced with adversity, we nevertheless persevere in cherishing and exercising hope in God.

From this passage, we also learn that the gate of mercy is shut against our prayers if the key of faith does not open it for us. Nor does he use superfluous language when he calls Jehovah his own God; for by setting this up as a bulwark before him, he beats back the waves of temptations, so that they may not overwhelm his faith.

In the second verse, by the figure of a lion, he more vividly illustrates the cruelty of Saul, as an argument to induce God to grant him assistance, just as he ascribes to God the special role of rescuing His poor sheep from the jaws of wolves.

O Jehovah my God Here David, to induce God to show him favour, protests that he is harassed unjustly and without being guilty of any crime. To give his protestation greater weight, he uses an imprecation. If he has done any wrong, he declares his readiness to bear the blame; indeed, he offers to endure the severest punishment if he is not altogether innocent of the crime of which all men thought him almost convicted.

And by entreating God to help him on no other condition than this, that his integrity should upon trial be found untarnished, he teaches us by his example that whenever we have recourse to God, we must make it our first concern to be well assured in our own consciences regarding the righteousness of our cause; for we do him great wrong if we wish to engage him as the advocate and defender of a bad cause.

The pronoun this shows that he speaks of a matter that was generally known, from which we may conclude that the slander raised by Cush had spread far and wide. And as David was condemned by the false reports and unrighteous judgments that men advanced against him, and saw no remedy on earth, he turns to the judgment-seat of God and contents himself with maintaining his innocence before the heavenly Judge—an example that all the godly should imitate, so that, in opposition to the slanderous reports spread against them, they may rest satisfied with the judgment of God alone.

He next declares more distinctly that he had committed no crime. And in the fourth verse, he mentions two particulars in self-vindication: first, that he had done no wrong to anyone; and secondly, that he had rather endeavoured to do good to his enemies, by whom he had nevertheless been injured without any just cause.

I, therefore, explain the fourth verse as follows: If I have wronged any man that was at peace with me, and have not rather helped the unworthy, who persecuted me without a cause, etc. Since David was hated by almost all men, as if ambition to reign had impelled him treacherously to rise up in rebellion against Saul and to lay snares for the monarch to whom he was bound by the oath of allegiance in the first part of the verse, he clears himself of such a foul slander.

The reason, perhaps, why he calls Saul him that was at peace with him is that, on account of his royal dignity, his person ought to be sacred and secure from danger, so that it should be unlawful to make any hostile attempt against him. This phrase, however, may be understood generally, as if he had said, “No one who has meekly restrained himself from injuring me and has conducted himself kindly towards me can with truth complain that I have ever injured him in a single instance.”

And yet it was the general conviction that David, in the midst of peace, had stirred up great confusion and caused war. From this it is all the more clear that David, provided he enjoyed the approval of God, was content with the consolation arising from this, even if he had comfort from no other source.

In the second clause of the fourth verse, he proceeds further and states that he had been a friend not only to the good but also to the bad, and had not only restrained himself from all revenge but had even helped his enemies, by whom he had been deeply and cruelly injured.

It would certainly not be very illustrious virtue to love the good and peaceable unless self-government and gentleness in patiently bearing with the bad were joined to this. But when a man not only keeps himself from revenging the injuries he has received but endeavours to overcome evil by doing good, he manifests one of the graces of a renewed and sanctified nature, and in this way proves himself to be one of the children of God; for such meekness proceeds only from the Spirit of adoption. With respect to the words: as the Hebrew word חלץ chalats, which I have translated to deliver, signifies to divide and to separate, some, to prevent the necessity of supplying any word to complete the sense, thus explain the passage: If I have withdrawn myself from my persecutors, in order not to help them. The other interpretation, however, according to which the verb is rendered to deliver or rescue from danger, is more generally received, because the phrase to separate or set aside, is applied to those things we wish to place in safety. And thus the negative word not must be supplied, an omission that we will find not infrequently occurring in the Psalms.

Let my enemy pursue: it is a striking proof of the great confidence David had in his own integrity, that he is willing to endure any kind of punishment, however dreadful, if he should be found guilty of any crime. If we could bring a good conscience like this before God, his hand would be more quickly stretched out to give us immediate assistance.

But as it often happens that those who trouble us have been provoked by us, or that we burn with the desire for revenge when offended, we are unworthy of receiving help from God; indeed, our own impatience shuts the gate against our prayers. In the first place, David is prepared to be given over to the will of his enemies, that they may seize his life, and throw it down to the ground; and then to be publicly exhibited as an object of their mockery, so that, even after he is dead, he may lie under eternal disgrace.

Some think that the כבוד kebod, which we have translated glory, is here to be understood as life, and so there would be three words, soul, life, glory, signifying the same thing. But it appears to me that the meaning of the passage will be fuller if we refer the word glory to his memory, or his good name, as if he had said, Let my enemy not only destroy me, but, after having put me to death, let him speak of me in the most reproachful terms, so that my name may be buried in mire or filth.

Arise, O Jehovah David here sets the anger of God in opposition to the rage of his enemies; and when we are in similar circumstances, we should act in the same manner. When the ungodly are inflamed against us and unleash their rage and fury to destroy us, we should humbly beseech God to be inflamed also on his side; in other words, to show in truth that he has no less zeal and power to preserve us than they have inclination to destroy us.

The word, Arise, is taken in a figurative sense, meaning to ascend into a judgment-seat, or rather to prepare oneself to make resistance; and it is here applied to God because, while he delays to help us, we are very apt to think him asleep. Accordingly, David also, a little later, beseeches him to awake; for it seemed on God’s part something like the forgetfulness of sleep to give no assistance to an individual who was so much afflicted and oppressed on all sides.

In the end of the verse, he shows that he asks nothing but what is according to the appointment of God. And this is the rule which should be observed by us in our prayers; we should in everything conform our requests to the divine will, as John also instructs us (1 John 5:14). Indeed, we can never pray in faith unless we first attend to what God commands, so that our minds do not rashly and randomly stray into desiring more than we are permitted to desire and pray for.

David, therefore, in order to pray rightly, rests on the word and promise of God. The import of his spiritual exercise is this: “Lord, I am not led by ambition, or foolish headstrong passion, or depraved desire, to ask from you whatever is pleasing to my flesh; but it is the clear light of your word which directs me, and upon it I securely depend.”

Since God, of his own good pleasure, had called him to be king one day, it was his responsibility to defend and maintain the rights of the man whom he had chosen for his servant. David’s language, therefore, is the same as if he had said, “When I was well contented with my humble condition in private life, it was your pleasure to set me apart for the honourable station of being a king; now, therefore, it belongs to you to maintain this cause against Saul and his associates who are using their efforts to defeat your decree by making war upon me.” The Hebrew word עורה, urah, which we have rendered awake thou, might also be taken transitively to mean to build up, or to establish, the right of David.

The sum of the whole, however, comes to this: David, trusting in the call of God, beseeches him to stretch out his hand for his relief. The faithful must, therefore, take care not to exceed these bounds if they desire to have God present with them to maintain and preserve them.

And a congregation of peoples: Some limit this sentence exclusively to the people of Israel, as if David promised that, as soon as he would ascend the throne, he would endeavor to reunite, in the pure worship of God, the people who before had been, as it was, in a state of dispersion.

Under the reign of Saul, religion had been neglected, or such an unrestrained license in wickedness had prevailed that few paid any regard to God. The meaning, therefore, according to these expositors, is this: Lord, when you will have established me as king, the whole people, who have so basely gone astray from you, will return from their wanderings and disorderly ways to you and to your service, so that all will know that you rule in their midst and will worship you as their only King.

But I am more inclined to view this as language that applies commonly to many nations. David here speaks in lofty terms of the effects resulting from his deliverance, the report of which would be spread far and wide, and his words are, as if he had said, “Lord, when you will have put me in peaceable possession of the kingdom, this will not only be a benefit conferred on me personally, but it will also be a common lesson to many nations, teaching them to acknowledge your just judgment, so that they will turn their eyes to your judgment seat.” David here alludes to the practice of a people surrounding their king, as in a circle, when he holds a solemn assembly.

In the same sense, he adds immediately after, that God, who for a time lay still and kept silent, would raise himself on high so that not only one or two, but whole nations, might behold his glory: And on account of this return thou on high. In these words, there is a tacit comparison: that although it might not be necessary to consider one man alone, it is required that God should keep the world in the fear and reverence of his judgment.