John Gill Commentary Psalms 7

O Lord my God, in thee do I put my trust
The psalmist expresses his interest in God as his covenant God, and his trust and confidence in him; and with these he sets out as the stay of his soul, and his bulwark against the fears of his enemies; and he does not say that he had trusted in God, or would for the future trust in him; but that he did trust in him, and continued to do so. And God is to be trusted in at all times; in times of affliction, temptation, and desertion; and these the psalmist premises to his petition, which follows, as an encouragement to him to hope for success, since God was his God, and none that ever trusted in him were confounded;

save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me ;
persecution is no new thing to the people of God; David had his persecutors, and many of them; the Church, in Jeremiah's time, had hers; the saints, in the times of the apostles, and in all ages since, have had theirs. Every one that will live godly in Christ Jesus must expect persecution in one shape or another; and there is none can save and deliver from it but God, and he can and will in his own time, (2 Corinthians 1:10) . David was sensible of this, and therefore applies to him, and him only; and not to an arm of flesh, to his friends, or to neighbouring princes and powers.

Lest he tear my soul like a lion
That is, one of his persecutors, the chief of them; it may be Saul, whom the psalmist compares to a lion for his majesty and greatness, the lion being the king among beasts; and for his authority, power, and might, and for his wrath and cruelty, which he feared; and which, should it be exerted on him, would tear his soul, or himself, in pieces; would rend his soul from his body, and dispatch his life; see (Proverbs 19:12) . So the Apostle Paul calls the Roman governor, before whom he was, and from whose hands he was delivered, a lion, for his power and fierceness, (2 Timothy 4:17) . And so our adversary the devil, the chief of all persecutors, and who instigates others against the saints, is by Peter said to go about like a roaring lion, (1 Peter 5:8) ; rending [it] in pieces ,
as the lion does his prey when hungry. So Homer

while [there is] none to deliver ;
no saviour, no deliverer: for if God does not save and deliver his people out of the hands of their persecutors, none can; especially out of the hands of such an one as is here described tearing and rending in pieces. As there is no God besides the Lord, there is no saviour besides him: there is no temporal nor spiritual saviour but he: salvation is not to be expected from any other; and were it not for him, saints must fall a prey to their enemies.

FOOTNOTES:

• F19: compares Polyphemus to a mountain lion, which devours and leaves nothing, neither the intestines, nor flesh, nor bones; and represents
• F20: it first taking hold of the creature with its strong teeth, and breaking its neck, and drawing out its blood and all its inwards; see (Isaiah 38:13) ;

O Lord my God, if I have done this .
] The crime which Saul and his courtiers charged him with, and which was made so public that every body knew it; and therefore it was needless particularly to mention it; namely, that he lay in wait for Saul, and sought his life to take it away, (1 Samuel 24:9) . The Targum interprets it of this psalm, paraphrasing it, "if I have made this song with an evil intention"; to give an ill character of any, and lead them with false charges;

if there be iniquity in my hands ;
not that he was without sin, he had it in his heart; nor that he lived without the actual commission of sin: but his sense is, that there was no iniquity, as not in his heart, purpose, and design, so not in his hand, nor attempted by him, of the kind he was accused of, (1 Samuel 24:11) . Otherwise, we often hear him complaining of the depravity of his nature, and acknowledging his sins and transgressions, (Psalms 32:5) (Psalms 38:3Psalms 38:4) (51:1-5) .

If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me ,
&c.] That is, when Saul was at peace with him; when he lived at his court, and ate at his table his meaning is, that he did not conspire against him, nor form schemes to deprive him of his crown nor of his life: or, as it may be rendered, "if I have rewarded to him that rewarded me evil" ^F21 ; that is, as Jarchi explains it, if I rewarded him as he rewarded me, evil for evil. This David did not; and it is eminently true of Christ his antitype, (1 Peter 2:23) ; and in it he ought to be imitated by every believer, (Romans 12:17) ;

yea, I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy ;
meaning Saul, who persecuted David without any just reason, and whom David delivered without any obligation to do it; not for any benefit and kindness he had received from him; for the phrase "without cause" may be read in connection either with the word "delivered" ^F23 ; for the deliverance was wrought without any cause or merit on Saul's part, or profit to David; or with the word "enemy", for Saul was David's enemy without any just cause on David's part: and the deliverance referred to was when he cut off Saul's skirt, in the cave at Engedi, and spared his life; and when he took away his spear from him, as he was sleeping in the trench, and did not destroy him, nor suffer those that would to do it, (1 Samuel 24:4 1 Samuel 24:5 1 Samuel 24:7 1 Samuel 24:10 1 Samuel 24:17) (1 Samuel 26:8 1 Samuel 26:11) .

The words may be rendered, "only I stripped him" ^F24 . The sense is, that he cut off the skirt of his coat, and took away his spear, and so in part stripped him both of his clothes and armour, at two different times; not to do him any hurt, but to let him know, as Jarchi observes, that he was delivered into his hands, and he could have slain him, but did not. The same Jewish writer interprets the word used "of stripping of garments"; and Aben Ezra observes, from R. Moses, that the "vau", rendered "yea", signifies "only", as in (Genesis 42:10) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F21: "Si malum malo rependi", Castalio.
• F23: (Mqyr) "absque emolumento ullo ad me inde redeunte", Gussetius.
• F24: Verbum (Ulx) "proprie extrahere significat, et de vestibus quae alieui exuuntur et eripiuntur proprie dicitur", De Dieu.

Let the enemy persecute my soul, and take [it]
That is, if the above things he was charged with could be proved against him; then he was content that Saul his enemy should pursue after him, and apprehend him, and bring him to justice, by taking away his life from him;

yea, let him tread down my life upon the earth ;
with the utmost indignation and contempt, without showing any mercy; as the lion treads down his prey, and tears it to pieces, (Micah 5:8) ; or as the potter treads his clay under foot, (Isaiah 41:25) ;

and lay mine honour in the dust ;
meaning either his life and soul, as before; denominating himself from his better part, and which he elsewhere calls his glory, (Psalms 16:9) (30:12) (57:8) ; see (Genesis 49:6) ; or else his body, as R. Judah Ben Balaam, who is blamed for it by Jarchi; or rather his fame, credit, and reputation, that he had gained, both by his courage and valour in the field, and by his wise and prudent behaviour at court, (1 Samuel 18:7 1 Samuel 18:16) . Should he appear to be guilty of the crimes he was accused of, he is willing to have his glorious name buried in the dust of oblivion, and his memory perish for ever. The words are to be considered as a strong assertion of his innocence, in an appeal to God, the searcher of hearts, and the trier of the reins of men; and as imprecating on himself the worst of evils, should it not appear; see (Job 31:21Job 31:22) .

Selah ;
Aben Ezra renders "selah", "in truth", "let it be so"; and the Targum renders it, as usual, "for ever"; (See Gill on Psalms 3:2).