A Meditation of David, which he sang to Yahweh concerning the words of Cush, a Benjamite.
1. O Yahweh my God, in you I take refuge.
Save me from all those who pursue me,
And deliver me,
2. Lest he tear like a lion my soul,
Rending in pieces while there is none to deliver.
3. O Yahweh my God, if I have done this,
If there is iniquity in my palms,
4. If I have rewarded evil to one who was at peace with me,
(indeed I have rescued him who was my adversary without cause),
5. Let an enemy pursue my soul and overtake,
Let him trample my life to the earth,
And let him cause my glory to abide in the dust. Selah.
6. Arise, O Yahweh, in your anger,
Be lifted up because of the fury of my adversaries,
And awake for me. Judgment you have commanded.
7. And let the congregation of the peoples surround you,
And for their sakes to the heights return.
8. Yahweh will judge the peoples.
Judge me, O Yahweh, according to my righteousness,
And according to my integrity in me.
9. Let come to an end, I pray, the evil of the wicked ones,
And establish the righteous one.
(indeed the righteous God is examining hearts and kidneys).
10. My shield is with God,
Who saves the ones upright of heart.
11. God is judging the righteous one,
And God expresses indignation every day.
12. If he will not return, his sword he will sharpen.
His bow he bends, and he makes it ready.
13. And for him he makes ready the instruments of death,
His arrows he will make as fiery shafts.
14. Behold, one travails with iniquity,
And he conceives trouble,
And he brings forth falsehood.
15. A pit he digs and he scoops it out,
And he falls into the hole he made.
16. His trouble will return on his own head,
And on his own crown his violence will descend.
17. I will give thanks to Yahweh according to his righteousness,
And I will hymn to the name of Yahweh most high.
Notes
Here David complains about a false accusation that Cush a Benjamite made against him. Cush was probably a supporter of Saul and perhaps even a relative, but there is no other reference to him in the Scriptures. The accusation was that he had without cause rewarded evil to someone at peace with him. David denies the accusation and not only asks God to deliver him from this man, but also to bring disaster on him if he has done it.
In the rest of the psalm he appeals to the God of judgment to come in judgment not only on Cush, but on all the wicked, and in the last part he reminds himself of basic principles about God’s judgment. He is a just judge. He is angry every day. He is preparing his instruments of death against the wicked. He akes the wicked fall into the traps they lay for the righteous.
Christology
Again we may see Christ in this psalm in two ways. The leaders of the Jews suborned false witness against him and accused him falsely to Pontius Pilate, event hough he went about their whole land preaching truth and doing good. But God vindicated him in his resurrection from the dead.
Jesus is for us therefore a sympathetic high priest who was tempted as we are, but he is also the great judge on whom we call for vindication against all our enemies.