Psalms 7:12

_IF HE TURN NOT, HE WILL WHET HIS SWORD; HE HATH BENT HIS BOW, AND MADE IT READY._ If he turn not. There is this merciful proviso always made, that judgment will descend only if the sinner will "not turn" from his evil way. David, in denouncing judgment on the ungodly, is always to be regarded as wishing that they would rather turn, and so avert the judgments. HE WILL WHET HIS SWORD - God will whet it. A plain allusion to Deuteronomy 32:41. So entirely are the Psalms based on the Pentateuch-law. BOW ... READY - with the arrows upon it, the aim having been already taken. It is striking that the very instruments of Saul's death, the bow and the sword, are here mentioned. Hit and sore wounded by the Philistine archers, "Saul took a sword and fell upon it" (1 Samuel

12_If he turn not _These verses are usually explained in two ways. The meaning is, that if David’s enemies should persevere in their malicious designs against him, there is denounced against them the vengeance which their obstinate wickedness deserves. Accordingly, in the second clause, they supply the name of _God, _—_If he turn not, GOD will whet his sword; _(115) as if it had been said, If my enemy do not repent, (116) he shall, at length, feel that God is completely armed for the purpose of maintaining and defending the righteous. If it is understood in this sense, the third verse is to be considered as a statement of the cause why God will thus equip himself with armour, namely, because the ungodly, in conceiving all kinds of mischief, in travailing to bring forth wickedness, and in at length bringing forth deceit and falsehood, directly assail God, and openly

10-17 David is confident that he shall find God his powerful Saviour. The destruction of sinners may be prevented by their conversion; for it is threatened, If he turn not from his evil way, let him expect it will be his ruin. But amidst the threatenings of wrath, we have a gracious offer of mercy. God gives sinners warning of their danger, and space to repent, and prevent it. He is slow to punish, and long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish. The sinner is described, ver. Psalms 7:14, as taking more pains to ruin his soul than, if directed aright, would save it. This is true, in a sense, of all sinners. Let us look to the Saviour under all our trials. Blessed Lord, give us grace to look to thee in the path of tribulation, going before thy church and people, and marking the way by thine own spotless example. Under all the persecutions which in our lesser trials mark...

Verse Psalms 7:12. _IF HE TURN NOT_] This clause the _Syriac_ adds to the preceding verse. Most of the versions read, "If ye return not." Some contend, and not without a great show of probability, that the two verses should be read in connection, thus: "God is a just Judge; a God who is provoked every day. If (the sinner) turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready." This, no doubt, gives the sense of both....

IF HE TURN NOT - If the wicked person does not repent. in the previous verse the psalmist had said that God is angry with the wicked every day; he here states what must be the consequence to the wicked if they persevere in the course which they are pursuing; that is, if they do not repent. God, he says, cannot be indifferent to the course which they pursue, but he is preparing for them the instruments of punishment, and he will certainly bring destruction upon them. It is implied here that if they would repent and turn they would avoid this, and would be saved: a doctrine which is everywhere stated in the Scriptures. HE WILL WHET HIS SWORD - He will sharpen his sword preparatory to inflicting punishment. That is, God will do this. Some, however, have supposed that this refers to the wicked person - the enemy of David - meaning that if he did not turn; if he was not arrested; if he was su...

EXPOSITION THE composition of this psalm by David, asserted in the title, is generally allowed. Internal evidence seems to indicate for its date the earlier portion of David's public life—that during which he suffered persecution at the hands of Saul. There are two considerable difficulties connected with the title: (1) the meaning of "Shiggaion of David;" and (2) the determination of the identity of "Cush the Benjamite." "Shiggaion" is connected by some with the "Shigioneth" of Habakkuk 3:1, which is commonly explained to be a particular kind of tune or tunes. But the identity of the two words is uncertain, and the identity of their meaning, at an interval of nearly six centuries, is still more open to question. The meaning of "Shiggaion" has really to be _guessed _from the context; and the most proba

IF HE TURN NOT,.... Not God, but the enemy, or the wicked man, spoken of Psalms 7:5; if he turn not from his wicked course of life, to the Lord to live to him, and according to his will; unless he is converted and repents of his sin, and there is a change wrought in him, in his heart and life; the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions read, "if ye turn not", or "are not converted", an apostrophe to the wicked; HE WILL WHET HIS SWORD: God is a man of war, and he is sometimes represented as accoutred with military weapons; see Isaiah 59:17; and among the rest with the sword of judgment, which he may be said to whet, when he prepares sharp and sore judgments for his enemies, Isaiah 27:1

Psalms 7 _ 1. Confidence and prayer (Psalms 7:1)_ 2. Unjust persecution (Psalms 7:3) 3. Arise Jehovah! (Psalms 7:6) 4. God's dealings in government (Psalms 7:11) 5. Thanksgiving (Psalms 7:17) Psalms 7:1. It has been suggested that over this Psalm should be written the sentence, “Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?” David appealed to God to judge His cause, that a rig

VII. A AND VII. B. Here two Pss. have been welded together. In Psalms 7:1; Psalms 7:12 a man hard bestead in spite of his innocence pleads his cause before God. In Psalms 7:6 Israel personified asks for justice at God's hands and begs Him to summon all nations to the great assize, that they may attest the Divine sentence which declares Israel innocent. A. PSALMS 7:1; PSALMS 7:12. The parenthesis in Psalms 7:4 is difficult. Read with slight change of MT and with support of

HE: i.e. God. HIS SWORD... BOW. Figure of speech _Anthropopatheia._...