Psalms 7:4

_IF I HAVE REWARDED EVIL UNTO HIM THAT WAS AT PEACE WITH ME; (YEA, I HAVE DELIVERED HIM THAT WITHOUT CAUSE IS MINE ENEMY:)_ If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me. If, as my calumniators assert, I have ungratefully returned evil Saul, who was my friend (so "at peace with me" means in Hebrew idiom, Job 22:21; Psalms 41:9, margin, 'the man of my peace'). (YEA, I HAVE DELIVERED [ _ WAA'ªCHALTSAAH_ (H2502] him that without cause was mine enemy)] - rather, as Hebrew, 'spoil,' stripped from a slain enemy (Judges 14:19; 2 Samuel 2:21, margin), 'spoiled.' Chald

In the second clause of the fourth verse, he proceeds farther, 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 succoured 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 there were joined to this self-government and gentleness in patiently bearing with the bad. But when a man not only keeps himself from revenging the injuries which 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 delivers _signifie...

1-9 David flees to God for succour. But Christ alone could call on Heaven to attest his uprightness in all things. All His works were wrought in righteousness; and the prince of this world found nothing whereof justly to accuse him. Yet for our sakes, submitting to be charged as guilty, he suffered all evils, but, being innocent, he triumphed over them all. The plea is, "For the righteous God trieth the hearts and the reins." He knows the secret wickedness of the wicked, and how to bring it to an end; he is witness to the secret sincerity of the just, and has ways of establishing it. When a man has made peace with God about all his sins, upon the terms of grace and mercy, through the sacrifice of the Mediator, he may, in comparison with his enemies, appeal to God's justice to decide....

Verse Psalms 7:4. _YEA, I HAVE DELIVERED HIM_] When, in the course of thy providence, thou didst put his life in my hand in the _cave_, I contented myself with cutting off his skirt, merely to show him the danger he had been in, and the spirit of the man whom he accused of designs against his life; and yet even for this my heart smote me, because it appeared to be an indignity offered to him who was the _Lord's anointed_. This fact, and my venturing my life frequently for his good and the safety of the state, sufficiently show the falsity of such accusations, and the innocence of my life....

IF I HAVE REWARDED EVIL UNTO HIM THAT WAS AT PEACE WITH ME - If I have done evil; or if I have requited him that was friendly by some unjust and evil conduct. If I have come upon him wantonly and unprovoked, and have done him wrong. This seems to have been the substance of the accusation; and, as remarked above, it is most probable that the accuser (Cush) referred to himself. YEA, I HAVE DELIVERED HIM THAT WITHOUT CAUSE IS MINE ENEMY - So far is this from being true, that the very reverse is true. So far from taking advantage of another that was at peace with me, and depriving him of his just rights by fraud or force, it is a fact that I have rescued from impending danger the man that was at war with me, and that was an avowed enemy. It would seem probable that in this he refers to this very Cush, and means to say that there had been some occasion in which he, who was long hostile to him...

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 I HAVE REWARDED EVIL UNTO HIM THAT WAS AT PEACE WITH ME,.... 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" u; 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

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

EVIL. Hebrew. _raa'._ App-44. DELIVERED. rescued. Aramaean and Syriac read "oppressed". ENEMY. adversary. Hebrew. _zarar_....