This is a psalm about the judgment of God on the unbelieving that saves us, his people, from their oppression.
Let’s look at some of its prominent features.
1. The Structure of the Psalm
The psalm has three main parts. In the first part (vv. 1–8) David praises the Lord for upholding his right and cause over against his enemies. In the second part (vv. 9–12) David changes his focus from himself to others. He calls on the oppressed and humble to praise the Lord for hearing their cry and being their stronghold. In the third part (vv.13–18) David returns to his own concerns and petitions for grace in affliction.
The first part has 3 subsections. In verses 1–2 David praises God directly. In verses 3–5 he explains what has motivated his praise. In verses 6–8 he addresses his enemy and explains the working of the Lord’s judgment.
The second part does not have clear subdivisions, but the main ideas of it are:
1) David is talking about the oppressed and humble. These are not just any sort of people who may be suffering under political, economic or military oppression, but the people of God. David calls them oppressed because they have enemies who seek to suppress their voice, influence and even existence in the world. Men want to claim this world for themselves, and do not want to hear about a God who created, owns and governs it for his own purposes, and will judge those who do not comply with his will. He calls them humble because they do not have great power and influence in the world. They are a few saints found here and there throughout the world and opposed by all the nations.
2) These oppressed and humble know the name of the Lord. They know his revelation of himself, and the reputation he has obtained by his mighty works.
3) They therefore put their trust in him and seek him, crying to him for help against their enemies.
4) They do not trust or seek him in vain. He is their stronghold in times of trouble. He does not forsake them. He remembers them and answers their cries, though he may seem for a while to delay.
5) David therefore exhorts them to praise:
Sing praises to the LORD, who dwells in Zion! Declare His deeds among the people.
The third part of the psalms also has three subsections. In verses 13–14 David asks for grace to help him in his affliction. In verses 15–18 he encourages himself by reminding himself that the Lord judges the nations. In verses 19–20 he asks that that judgment be executed as quickly as possible.
The order of the first and third sections of the psalm (verses 1–8 and verses 13–20) is not what we would expect. We would expect petition first, then praise, but David puts praise first and then petition. John Calvin has the best explanation of this order. He says that it is because David had received deliverance already. He therefore gives thanks in the first part of the psalm. But the deliverance was not yet complete. Therefore, he makes petition for additional deliverances in the last part. This is what life is like. God does not give us complete deliverance until he takes us to glory, so we are frequently in the position of praising him for one deliverance, while seeking yet another deliverance because of another trouble.
But that does not explain the second part of the psalm. Why does David put that section about others right into the middle of his own praise and petition? The answer is two–fold. David expects that the justice he has received from God against his enemies will be an encouragement to them. They too are oppressed. His judge will be their judge. But he also derives encouragement for himself in the affliction he is still enduring. Their stronghold will be his stronghold. The bond of unity between them is and will be that they have the same God, who does great things for both.
2. An Emphasis on the Lord’s Judgment and Justice
There is throughout the psalm a very strong emphasis on the Lord’s judgment and justice. Four of the seven subsections, and 12 of the 20 verses are devoted to this subject. David is being troubled by enemies, but his cause is just. He therefore looks to the Lord for vindication. The Lord has already upheld his right and cause, and he expects him to continue to do so: Let the nations be judged in your sight.
But that emphasis on justice is not to the exclusion of every other consideration. In verses 13–14 David prays for grace rather than justice. Why should he do that, if his cause is just?
Besides the fact that we are never entirely free from sin, even when our cause is just it requires grace for the Lord to take our part. He is very highly exalted and we are very lowly. He is infinitely great, and we are insignificant. To help us he must stoop to our level, bow down to hear, and condescend. This is the theme of Psalm 113:
Who is like the LORD our God, Who dwells on high, Who humbles Himself to behold The things that are in the heavens and in the earth?
3. Repetition
In three sections of the psalm David says essentially the same thing. The psalm is repetitive about the subject of the Lord’s judgment. We find it first in verses 3–5. He goes over the same ground again in verses 6–8 and then again in verses 15–18.
But each of these sections also has a different purpose. In the first David is praising God for upholding his right and cause. In the second he is warning his enemy that the Lord is enthroned for judgment. In the last he speaks objectively of what the Lord does to the nations, but his purpose is to encourage himself to hope for the grace he has asked in verses 13–14.
In the last section he speaks only of the nations, but in the first two he speaks first of the Lord’s judgment in his personal affairs, and then of the Lord’s universal judgment of the nations. In verses 3 and 4 he says:
When my enemies turn back, They shall fall and perish at Your presence. For You have maintained my right and my cause; You sat on the throne judging in righteousness. But then in verse 5 he adds: You have rebuked the nations, You have destroyed the wicked; You have blotted out their name forever and ever. He does the same thing again in verses 6–8. In verse 6 he addresses his personal enemy: O enemy, destructions are finished forever! And you have destroyed cities; Even their memory has perished. But in verses 7 and 8 he balances that with further description of the Lord's judgment of the nations in general: But the LORD shall endure forever; He has prepared His throne for judgment. He shall judge the world in righteousness, And He shall administer judgment for the peoples in uprightness.
He sees his own judgment against the background of the grand sweep of God’s judgment of all nations from the beginning of time to its end. It is part and parcel of the universal and cannot be understood apart from it. Their judgment is on his behalf and for his deliverance.
4. Singulars and Plurals
The fourth feature of the psalm is that David switches back and forth between the singular and plural throughput.
He does this first with regard to the nations and the wicked. A more exact translation of verse 5 would be:
You have rebuked the nations (plural), You have destroyed the wicked man (singular).
In verse 6 he addresses his enemy (singular), but in verse 8 talks about the judgment of the peoples. In verses 15–17 he begins with the plural nations — The nations have sunk down in the pit which they made — but he switches to the singular in verse 16 — The wicked man is snared in the work of his own hands — and back to the plural again in verse 17 — Wicked men shall be turned into hell. David shows us both the universality and individuality of God’s judgment. He judges all nations. He judges each nation according to its own sins. But he also judges the individual citizens of each nation. Each person must answer not only according to what he has done as a citizen of the United States or of China, but also according to what he has done of himself.
David does the same thing with regard to the oppressed and humble. In verse 9 he uses the singular: The Lord will be a refuge for the oppressed one. In verse 10 he uses the plural: those who know your name will put their trust in you. Also in verse 12: He does not forget the cry of the humble ones. But in verse 18 he returns to the singular:
For the needy one will not always be forgotten; The expectation of the poor one will not perish forever.
His help to his poor and oppressed people is given to each individually and according to his particular needs. But he is the same God for them all and draws all of them into the great company of the oppressed and humble of the earth to bless them together.
5. Different Kinds of Parallelisms
There are a number of synonymous parallelisms.
Verses 1–2 form a quadruple parallelism in which David expresses his praise for the Lord’s justice. Four times he says essentially the same thing: I will praise, I will tell, I will rejoice and exult, I will sing praise. Such repetition is not the vain repetition that our Lord condemns in the Sermon on the Mount but arises spontaneously from a heart overflowing with gratitude.
Yet in each line there is a unique element. In the first line he says that he will praise with all his heart. His heart will not be divided between praise and other matters but will be wholly devoted to praise. In the second line he speaks of the Lord’s marvelous works or wonders. That word is used to describe works of God that do not ordinarily appear in the creation, such works as the plagues on Egypt and Israel’s crossing of the Jordan. Because they show the power of God in a very striking way, they arouse men’s wonder and admiration. David calls to mind not just what the Lord has done for him, but all the wonders he has worked in the past. In the third line he says that he will rejoice in God. His rejoicing is not just in what God has done for him, but in God himself. He is glad that there is a God who does such things as he has heard and seen. And in the fourth line he calls God the Most High. He presides over the world, over David and his enemies, over judgment and deliverance. All things are in his hands, and he is worthy of praise.
Verse 11 is another example.
Sing praises to the LORD, who dwells in Zion. Declare his deeds among the people.
Here we have described for us the basic order of the world. The Lord dwells in Zion. Around him he gathers his people, both so that he may defend them and so that he may be enthroned upon their praises. They declare his deeds among peoples, so that all nations know who he is and what he has done.
Verse 12 talks in both lines about his remembering of his people. He never forgets their oppression and the cries they raise to him in it, even though he may delay their help for a time. But the time for him to seek blood, to take vengeance, is coming, and when it does, he will remember them and avenge them too.
In verses 15 and 16 is another quadruple parallelism. But only three of the lines are synonymous: lines 1, 2 and 4. In each of those David talks about how God returns on the head of the wicked the trouble they plan for others. But in line 3, he says that it is for this kind of justice that God is known. He gains a reputation that is very specific: that he is a God who administers justice precisely according to the crimes committed.
Verse 18 is our final example. David uses two more words to describe the people of God: they are the needy and the poor. They do not have in themselves the resources to combat and resist the enemies who oppress them; they are dependent on the goodness of God. But he will not disappoint them. He will remember them and fulfill their expectations of him in the end. He will bring judgment on their enemies.
But this psalm also has several examples of what we may call progressive parallelism, that is parallelisms in which each line adds a developing idea to the line that comes before it.
In verse 3 David talks about his enemies turning back, stumbling and perishing. They come against him, but they find themselves in the presence of an angry God. In dismay and fear they turn back. When they turn back, they stumble. In their stumbling, they perish.
Verse 5 outlines a similar progression with regard to the nations. The Lord rebukes them. His rebuke causes their destruction. Their destruction is so complete that even their names are blotted out.
Verses 7–8 outline the steps by which judgment comes. The first line is a kind of summary: the Lord endures forever. This stands in contrast with what we read of the wicked in the last line of verse 5 — their names are blotted out forever — and of the destructions worked by David’s enemy — they are brought to an end forever. Only the Lord is eternal. In the second line the Lord prepares his throne. In the third line he takes his seat and judges the world in righteousness. In the fourth line he administers justice according to the judgment pronounced.
In verses 19–20 David closes the psalm with prayer. The prayer has five petitions, and each builds on the one before it. First the Lord must rise: it seems to David that he has not been active enough. His purpose in rising will be to prevent man from prevailing over his people. He will accomplish this purpose by his judgment. His judgment will make them afraid; they will be in dread of him as were Pharaoh and the Egyptians, or the people of Jericho when they heard that Israel was getting ready to cross the Jordan. By the fear that the judgment of the Lord engenders, they will be put again in their place. They exalted themselves against God. They presumed and arrogated to themselves divine rights and power, but they must come again to the knowledge that they are only mortal men.
The progressive parallelisms seem to apply to the nations and the wicked. Something is always happening to them. God is working out his judgment and the consequences of that judgment in their lives. But the synonymous parallelisms apply mostly to God’s people. His work for them in this context is primarily a work of preservation, and their response to him is always the response of praise and gratitude.
However, in verses 13–14 we see movement. David asks that God lift him from the gates of death and bring him to the gates of Zion. His enemies threaten his life, but he expects that God will deliver him from death, bring him into his own city, and set him in the place of public concourse where he may make known to others what great things God has done for him.
6. Remembering and Forgetting
There is quite a bit in the psalm about remembering and forgetting. In verse 5 we read about God blotting out the name of the wicked, i.e., causing it to be forgotten. In verse 6 we read about the memory of the cities the wicked destroyed perishing. Verse 12 talks about remembering and not forgetting his oppressed and humble people. Verse 17 describes the nations as forgetting God. Verse 18 says that the needy will not be forgotten forever.
The nations forget God. Therefore he will blot them out and cause them and their cities to be forgotten, but he will never forget his poor and afflicted people.
7. Christology
We can never go wrong by reminding ourselves that our Lord sang and prayed these psalms during his earthly ministry. He made them his own. He experienced what David and the other psalmists experienced. Their praise and thanksgiving, both for who God is and what he has done, are his. Their cries for help are his. In every psalm and in every part of each psalm we hear his voice. They are his songs first, and ours only because we are in him. This psalm is, then, his praise for justice received and his cry for grace in affliction, as well as his voice calling on all the rest of God’s oppressed and humble people to join him in trust in and praise of their God.
Second, we should ask what David means in verse 7 when he says, He has prepared his throne for judgment. When we ask that question, then it becomes immediately obvious that we cannot fully understand this psalm without seeing that God has prepared his throne by the incarnation and exaltation of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has set him at his own right hand in heavenly places and made him the judge of all.
Third, we spoke in connection with verse 13 of God’s condescension to us, his stooping to our help. He has done this in Christ, who was made in the form of a servant and touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
Finally, the justice of God in turning back on the wicked the trouble they plan for others is nowhere more clearly evident than in the cross. There the leaders of the Jews, Pontius Pilate and Herod presumed to set themselves up as judges of the Son of God and condemned him. But through their condemnation he perfected his obedience to the Father and became their judge.
Conclusions
1. Why do we not have the same awareness as David and the other psalmists of enemies who threaten us? At least in this country we Christians have relative peace, and have forgotten that the world is fundamentally hostile to us. God has called us to be soldiers clad with his armor and wielding the sword of the Spirit. Even in such times as these we are supposed to fighting, not relaxing, and psalms like Psalm 7 are our war songs.
2. We find in this psalm and many others a concern with death, and I think that sits somewhat uneasily with us. We might even be inclined to call it a morbid preoccupation. But the psalms speak often of death because the psalmists recognized that the issue between them and their enemies was really a matter of life and death. But their enemies cared, and our enemies care, little about our physical death. What they want is our spiritual death, our separation from the favor and lovingkindness of God. That’s always their goal. David would have said with the apostle Paul, To die is gain. What brought him to the gates of death was not threats against his physical life, but threats to his fellowship with God.
3. In affliction remember deliverances already accomplished. Praise God and find encouragement to hope for deliverances still to come. The expectation of the poor shall not perish forever.
4. Especially remember the deliverance the Lord has accomplished for you in Christ Jesus, your savior and judge. Because God saved him, he will also save you.
5. There is a public aspect to your praise. Tell of all his marvelous works. Declare his deeds among the people. Recount his praises in the gates of the daughter of Zion. By these he is known as the God of grace and justice.