John Calvin Commentary Psalms 7:17

"I will give thanks unto Jehovah according to his righteousness, And will sing praise to the name of Jehovah Most High." — Psalms 7:17 (ASV)

Here David says not only that their wicked devices were unsuccessful, but also that, by God's wonderful providence, the result was the very opposite of what they had intended. He presents this first metaphorically, by using the figure of a pit and a ditch; and then he expresses the same thing in simple, non-figurative terms, declaring that the mischief intended for others returned upon the head of the one who had devised it.

There is no doubt that it was a common proverb among the Jews: "He who has dug a pit falls into it." They quoted this when they meant to say that wicked and crafty men are caught in the snares and traps they have set for others, or that those who contrive the ruin of others perish by their own devices.

This doctrine has a twofold application:

1. First, however skilled in craft our enemies may be, and whatever means of doing harm they may possess, we must nevertheless expect the outcome God here promises: that they will fall by their own sword. This is not something that happens by chance; but God, by the secret direction of His own hand, causes the evil they intend to bring upon the innocent to return upon their own heads.

2. Second, if at any time we are instigated by passion to inflict any injury upon our neighbors, or to commit any wickedness, let us remember this principle of retributive justice, often enacted by divine governance: those who prepare a pit for others are cast into it themselves. The effect will be that everyone, to the extent they value their own happiness and welfare, will be careful to restrain themselves from doing any injury, even the smallest, to another.

I will praise Jehovah according to his righteousness; and I will sing to the name of Jehovah, Most High. Since God's purpose in the deliverances He grants to His servants is that they may offer Him in return the sacrifices of praise, David here promises that he will gratefully acknowledge the deliverance he had received, and at the same time affirms that his preservation from death was the undoubted and manifest work of God.

He could not, truthfully and from the heart, have ascribed to God the praise for his deliverance if he had not been fully persuaded that he had been preserved by something other than human power. Therefore, he not only promises to show the gratitude due to his deliverer, but he also confirms in essence what he has recounted throughout the psalm: that he owes his life to the grace of God, who had not allowed Saul to take it from him.

The righteousness of God is here to be understood as His faithfulness, which He demonstrates to His servants by defending and preserving their lives. God does not hide or conceal His righteousness from our view in the secret depths of His own mind, but manifests it for our benefit when He defends us against all wrongful violence, delivers us from oppression, and preserves us in safety, even though wicked men wage war against us and persecute us.