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Expositor's Bible Commentary Psalm 7:1 Shiggaion of David, which he sang unto the LORD, concerning the words of Cush the Benjamite. O LORD my God, in thee do I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me: Psalm 7:1-17 THIS is the only psalm with the title "Shiggaion." The word occurs only here and in Habakkuk 3:1 , where it stands in the plural, and with the preposition "upon," as if it designated instruments. The meaning is unknown, and commentators, who do not like to say so, have much ado to find one. The root is a verb, "to wander," and the explanation is common that the word describes the disconnected character of the psalm, which is full of swiftly succeeding emotions rather than of sequent thoughts. But there is no such exceptional discontinuity as to explain the title. It may refer to the character of the musical accompaniment rather than to that of the words. The authorities are all at sea, the LXX shirking the difficulty by rendering "psalm," others giving "error" or "ignorance," with allusion to David’s repentance after cutting off Saul’s skirt or to Saul’s repentance of his persecuting David. The later Jewish writers quoted by Neubauer (" Studia Biblic .," 2:36, sq.) guess at most various meanings, such as "love and pleasure," "occupation with music," "affliction," "humility," while others, again, explain it as the name of a musical instrument. Clearly the antiquity of the title is proved by this unintelligibility. If we turn to the other part of it, we find further evidence of age and of independence. Who was "Cush, a Benjamite"? He is not mentioned elsewhere. The author of the title, then, had access to some sources for David’s life other than the Biblical records; and, as Hupfeld acknowledges, we have here evidence of ancient ascription of authorship which "has more weight than most of the others." Cush has been supposed to be Shimei or Saul himself, and to have been so called because of his swarthy complexion (Cush meaning an African) or as a jest, because of his personal beauty. Cheyne, following Krochmal, would correct into "because of [Mordecai] the son of Kish, a Benjamite," and finds in this entirely conjectural and violent emendation an "attestation that the psalm was very early regarded as a work of the Persian age" (" Orig. of Psalt. ," p. 229). But there is really no reason of weight for denying the Davidic authorship, as Ewald, Hitzig, Hupfeld, and Riehm allow; and there is much in 1 Samuel 24:1-22 ; 1 Samuel 25:1-44 ; 1 Samuel 26:1-25 , correspondent with the situation and emotions of the psalmist here, such as, e.g. , the protestations of innocence, the calumnies launched at him, and the call on God to judge. The tone of the psalm is high and courageous, in remarkable contrast to the depression of spirit in the former psalm, up out of which the singer had to pray himself. Here, on the contrary, he fronts the enemy, lion like though he be, without a quiver. It is the courage of innocence and of trust. Psalm 6:1-10 wailed like some soft flute; Psalm 7:1-17 peals like the trumpet of judgment, and there is triumph in the note. The whole may be divided into three parts, of which the close of the first is marked by the Selah at the end of Psalm 7:5 ; and the second includes Psalm 7:6-10 . Thus we have the appeal of innocence for help ( Psalm 7:1-5 ), the cry for more than help-namely, definite judgment ( Psalm 7:6-10 )-and the vision of judgment ( Psalm 7:11-17 ). The first section has two main thoughts: the cry for help and the protestation of innocence. It is in accordance with the bold triumphant tone of the psalm that its first words are a profession of faith in Jehovah. It is well to look to God before looking at dangers and foes. He who begins with trust can go on to think of the fiercest antagonism without dismay. Many of the psalms ascribed to David begin thus, but it is no mere stereotyped formula. Each represents a new act of faith, in the presence of a new danger. The word for "put trust" here is very illuminative and graphic, meaning properly the act of fleeing to a refuge. It is sometimes blended with the image of a sheltering rock, sometimes with the still tenderer one of a mother bird, as when Ruth "came to trust under the wings of Jehovah," and in many other places. The very essence of the act of faith is better expressed by that metaphor than by much subtle exposition. Its blessedness as bringing security and warm shelter and tenderness more than maternal is wrapped up in the sweet and instructive figure. The many enemies are, as it were, embodied in one, on whom the psalmist concentrates his thoughts as the most formidable and fierce. The metaphor of the lion is common in the psalms attributed to David, and is, at all events, natural in the mouth of a shepherd king, who had taken a lion by the beard. He is quite aware of his peril, if God does not help him, but he is so sure of his safety, since he trusts, that he can contemplate the enemy’s power unmoved, like a man standing within arm’s length of the lion’s open jaws, but with a strong grating between. This is the blessing of true faith, not the oblivion of dangers, but the calm fronting of them because our refuge is in God. Indignant repelling of slander follows the first burst of triumphant trust ( Psalm 7:3-5 ). Apparently "the words of Cush" were calumnies poisoning Saul’s suspicious nature, such as David refers to in 1 Samuel 24:9 : "Wherefore hearkenest thou to men’s words, saying, Behold, David seekest thy hurt?" The emphatic and enigmatic This in Psalm 7:3 is unintelligible, unless it refers to some slander freshly coined, the base malice of which stirs its object into flashing anger and vehement self-vindication. The special point of the falsehood is plain from the repudiation. He had been charged with attempting to injure one who was at peace with him. That is exactly what "men’s words" charged on David, "saying, Behold, David seeketh thy hurt" (1 Samuel, as above), "If there be iniquity in my hands" is very like. "See that there is neither evil nor transgression in mine hand, and I have not sinned against thee"! "Thou huntest after my soul to take it" (1 Samuel) is also like our Psalm 7:1 : "them that pursue me," and Psalm 7:5 : "let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it." The specific form of this protestation of innocence finds no explanation in the now favourite view of the sufferer in the psalm as being the righteous nation. The clause which is usually treated as a parenthesis in Psalm 7:4 , and translated, as in the R.V, "I have delivered him that without cause was mine adversary," is needlessly taken by Delitzsch and others as a continuation of the hypothetical clauses, and rendered, with a change in the meaning of the verb, "And if I have despoiled him," etc .; but it is better taken as above and referred to the incident in the cave when David spared Saul’s life. What meaning would that clause have with the national reference? The metaphor of a wild beast in chase of its prey colours the vehement declaration in Psalm 7:5 of readiness to suffer if guilty. We see the swift pursuit, the victim overtaken and trampled to death. There may also be an echo of the Song of Miriam: { Exodus 15:9 } "The enemy said, I will pursue; I will overtake." To "lay my glory in the dust" is equivalent to "bring down my soul to the dust of death." Man’s glory is his "soul." Thus, nobly throbbing with conscious innocence and fronting unmerited hate, the rush of words stops, to let the musical accompaniment blare on, for a while, as if defiant and confident. The second section of the psalm ( Psalm 7:6-10 ) is a cry for the coming of the Divine Judge. The previous prayer was content with deliverance, but this takes a bolder flight, and asks for the manifestation of the punitive activity of God on the enemies, who, as usually, are identified with "evil-doers." The grand metaphors in "Arise," "Lift up Thyself." "Awake." mean substantially the same thing. The long periods during which evil works and flaunts with impunity are the times when God sits as if passive and, in a figure still more daring, as if asleep. When His destructive power flashed into act, and some long-tolerated iniquity was smitten at a blow, the Hebrew singers saw therein God springing to His feet or awaking to judgment. Such long stretches of patient permission of evil and of swift punishment are repeated through, the ages, and individual lives have them in miniature. The great judgments of nations and the small ones of single men embody the same principles, just as the tiniest crystal has the same angles and lines of cleavage as the greatest of its kind. So this psalmist has penetrated to a true discernment of the relations of the small and the great, when he links his own vindication by the judicial act of God with the pomp and splendour of a world wide judgment, and bases his prayer for the former on the Divine purpose to effect the latter. The sequence, "The Lord ministereth judgment to the peoples"-therefore-"judge me, O Lord," does not imply that the "me" is the nation, but simply indicates as the ground of the individual hope of a vindicating judgment the Divine fact, of which history had given him ample proof and faith gave, him still fuller evidence, that God, though He sometimes seemed to sleep, did indeed judge the nations. The prerogative of the poet, and still more, the instinct of the inspired spirit, is to see the law of the greatest exemplified in the small and to bring every triviality of personal life into contact with God and His government. The somewhat harsh construction of the last clause of Psalm 7:6 begins the transition from the prayer for the smaller to the assurance of the greater judgment which is its basis, and similarly the first clause of Psalm 7:8 closes the picture of that wider act, and the next clause returns to the prayer. This picture, thus embedded in the heart of the supplication, is majestic in its few broad strokes. First comes the appointment of judgment, then the assembling of the "peoples," which here may, perhaps, have the narrower meaning of the "tribes," since "congregation" is the word used for them in their national assembly, and would scarcely be employed for the collection of Gentile nations. But whether the concourse be all Israel or all nations, they are gathered in silent expectance as in a great judgment hall. Then enters the Judge. If we retain the usual reading and rendering of Psalm 7:7 b, the act of judgment is passed over in silence, and the poet beholds God, the judgment finished, soaring above the awe-struck multitudes, in triumphant return to the repose of His heavenly throne. But the slight emendation of the text, needed to yield the meaning "Sit Thou above it," is worthy of consideration. In either case, the picture closes with the repeated assurance of the Divine judgment of the peoples, and ( Psalm 7:8 ) the prayer begins again. The emphatic assertion of innocence must be taken in connection with the slanders already repudiated. The matter in hand is the evils charged on the psalmist, for which he was being chased as if by lions, the judgment craved is the chastisement of his persecutors, and the innocence professed is simply the innocence which they calumniated. The words have no bearing at all on the psalmist’s general relation to the Divine law, nor is there any need to have recourse to the hypothesis that the speaker is the "righteous nation." It is much more difficult to vindicate a member of that remnant from the charge of overestimating the extent and quality of even the righteous nation’s obedience, if he meant to allege, as that interpretation would make him do, that the nation was pure in life and heart, than it is to vindicate the single psalmist vehemently protesting his innocence of the charges for which he was hunted. Cheyne confesses (Commentary in loc. ) that the "psalmist’s view may seem too rose coloured," which is another way of acknowledging that the interpretation of the protestation as the voice of the nation is at variance with the facts of its condition. The accents require Psalm 7:9 a to be rendered "Let wickedness make an end of the wicked," but that introduces an irrelevant thought of the suicidal nature of evil. It may be significant that the psalmist’s prayer is not for the destruction of the wicked, but of their wickedness. Such annihilation of evil is the great end of God’s judgment, and its consequence will be the establishment of the righteous. Again the prayer strengthens itself by the thought of God as righteous and as trying the hearts and reins (the seat of feeling). In the presence of rampant and all but triumphant evil, a man needs to feed hopes of its overthrow that would else seem vainest dreams, by gazing on the righteousness and searching power of God. Very beautifully does the order of the words in Psalm 7:9 suggest the kindred of the good man with God by closing each division of the verse with "righteous." A righteous man has a claim on a righteous God. Most naturally then the prayer ends with the calm confidence of Psalm 7:10 : "My shield is upon God." He Himself bears the defence of the psalmist. This confidence he has won by his prayer, and in it he ceases to be a suppliant and becomes a seer. The last section ( Psalm 7:11-17 ) is a vision of the judgment prayed for, and may be supposed to be addressed to the enemy. If so, the hunted man towers above them, and becomes a rebuker. The character of God underlies the fact of judgment, as it had encouraged the prayer for it. What he had said to himself when his hope drooped, he now, as a prophet, peals out to men as making retribution sure: "God is a righteous Judge, yea a God that hath indignation every day." The absence of an object specified for the indignation makes its inevitable flow wherever there is evil the more vividly certain. If He is such, then of course follows the destruction of everyone who "turns not." Retribution is set forth with solemn vigour under four figures. First, God is as an armed enemy sharpening His sword in preparation for action, a work of time which in the Hebrew is represented as in process, and bending His bow, which is the work of a moment, and in the Hebrew is represented as a completed act. Another second, and the arrow will whizz. Not only is the bow bent, but ( Psalm 7:11 ) the deadly arrows are aimed, and not only aimed, but continuously fed with flame. The Hebrew puts "At him" (the wicked) emphatically at the beginning of the verse, and uses the form of the verb which implies completed action for the "aiming" and that which implies incomplete for "making" the arrows burn. So the stern picture is drawn of God as in the moment before the outburst of His punitive energy-the sword sharpened, the bow bent, the arrows fitted, the burning stuff being smeared on their tips. What will happen when all this preparation blazes into action? The next figure in Psalm 7:14 insists on the automatic action of evil in bringing punishment. It is the Old Testament version of "Sin when it is finished bringeth forth death." The evil-doer is boldly represented as "travailing with iniquity," and that metaphor is broken up into the two parts "He hath conceived mischief" and "He hath brought forth falsehood." The "falsehood," which is the thing actually produced, is so called, not because it deceives others, but because it mocks its producer with false hopes and never fulfils his purposes. This is but the highly metaphorical way of saying that a sinner never does what he means to do, but that the end of all his plans is disappointment. The law of the universe condemns him to feed on ashes and to make and trust in lies. A third figure brings out more fully the idea implied in "falsehood," namely, the failure of evil to accomplish its doer’s purpose. Crafty attempts to trap others have an ugly habit of snaring their contriver. The irony of fortune tumbles the hunter into the pitfall dug by him for his prey. The fourth figure ( Psalm 7:16 ) represents the incidence of his evil on the evil-doer as being certain as the fall of a stone thrown straight up, which will infallibly come back in the line of its ascent. Retribution is as sure as gravitation, especially if there is an Unseen Hand above, which adds impetus and direction to the falling weight. All these metaphors, dealing with the "natural" consequences of evil, are adduced as guarantees of God’s judgment, whence it is clear both that the psalmist is thinking not of some final future judgment, but of the continuous one of daily providence, and that he made no sharp line of demarcation between the supernatural and the natural. The qualities of things and the play of natural events are God’s working. So the end of all is thanksgiving. A stern but not selfish nor unworthy thankfulness follows judgment, with praise which is not inconsistent with tears of pity, even as the act of judgment: which calls it forth is not inconsistent with Divine love. The vindication of God’s righteousness is worthily hymned by the choral thanksgivings of all who love righteousness. By judgment Jehovah makes Himself known as "most high," supreme over all creatures; and hence the music of thanksgiving celebrates Him under that name. The title "Elyon" here employed is regarded by Cheyne and others as a sign of late date, but the use of it seems rather a matter of poetic style than of chronology. Melchizedek, Balaam, and the king of Babylon { Isaiah 14:14 } use it; it occurs in Daniel, but, with these exceptions, is confined to poetical passages, and cannot be made out to be a mark of late date, except by assuming the point in question-namely, the late date of the poetry, principally nineteen psalms, in which it occurs. 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O Lord my God, in Thee do I put my trust. Psalm 7 An appeal from the slandered William Nicholson, D. D. I. THE APPEAL (vers. 1, 2, 6). A petition for freedom and deliverance from his persecutors, in which he desires God to be attentive to him, because of the relation between them, and because he trusted Him: and he also desires God to be benevolent, because he was in danger of death, having many enemies. II. HIS REASONS. He makes protestation of his innocency, and appeals to God's justice. He wants God to do justice both to him and to the wicked. The close of the Psalm is a doxology, — thanks that a true, just, and merciful God would judge for the righteous, save those who are true of heart, establish the just, and take revenge upon the wicked; for this, says David, "I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness." ( William Nicholson, D. D. ) David and his enemies Thomas Wilcocks. This Psalm consisteth principally of three parts. In the first part he prayeth for deliverance from his enemies, setting out his innocence and upright dealing toward them (vers. 1-5). In the second he prayeth against his enemies, declaring what good shall come to his children by the overthrow of the wicked (vers. 6-10). In the third he pronounceth God's judgment against the ungodly, which, being once manifested, he promises to yield hearty thanks unto the Lord (vers. 11-17). Learn that trust and confidence in God is always necessary to them that pray to Him; for otherwise all our supplications are but lip labour, and lost. Also, we learn to pray for deliverance from our persecutors, or else we might justly be accounted betrayers of ourselves. Many of God's children may stand upon their innocency to men-ward, and say in their measure — which of you can convict me of sin, but not before God. We may sometimes pray against some enemies of the Church, but we should make God's promises (general or particular) the ground of our prayers. When men will not judge rightly we may by prayer refer our causes to Him who hath no respect of persons. Vers. 12, 13 declare what mischievous minds the wicked carry toward the godly, and what means they will work to accomplish their naughtiness; and that should teach us wisdom and circumspection, that we fall not into their nets. ( Thomas Wilcocks. ) The ferocity of persecutors Jeremiah Burroughs. It is reported of tigers that they enter into a rage on the scent of fragrant spices: so do ungodly men at the blessed savour of godliness. I have read of some barbarous nations, who when the sun shines hot upon them, they shoot up their arrows against it: so do wicked men at the light and heat of godliness. There is a natural antipathy between the spirits of godly men and the wicked ( Genesis 3:15 ). ( Jeremiah Burroughs. ) Exemplary conduct under social trial Homilist. David's conduct indicates three things. I. EARNEST APPLICATION. In the midst of his trial he looks to heaven. In his supplication, see — 1. A strong confidence in God as ever accessible; equal to all emergencies; large enough to receive all sufferers; immutable amidst the revolution of ages. 2. A terrible sense of danger. "Lest he tear my soul like a lion." 3. A deep consciousness of innocence. "If there be iniquity in my hands." 4. An earnest invocation for help. "Arise, O Lord, lift up Thyself." His ideas of God throughout this Psalm are very anthropomorphic. In this invocation he has respect for three things — (1) The spiritual good of his country; (2) the administrative justice of God; (3) the universal extension of wickedness. II. DEVOUT MEDITATIONS (vers. 10-16). 1. On the character of God; as a friend of the just; an enemy of the wicked, whose opposition is constant, terrible, and avoidable. 2. On the condition of sinners. He regards his position as (1) painfully laborious; (2) abortively laborious; (3) self-ruinously laborious. III. REVERENT ADORATION. Note — 1. The character in which he worships the Almighty. As righteous and as supreme. 2. The spirit with which he worships the Almighty. "I will sing praise." Song is the language of happiness. True worship is happiness. All happy spirits worship, and worship is song. ( Homilist. ) Turning to God in time of need F. B. Meyer, B. A. I. PRAYER (1, 2). If David desired deliverance from his foes, how much more do we need deliverance from our arch enemy ( 1 Peter 5:8, 9 ). II. PROTESTATION (3-5). ( 1 Samuel 24 ; 1 Samuel 26 ). So far had he been from the offence they charged him with. III. AN APPEAL (6-9). By a bold metaphor he attributes the success of his foes to some temporary abdication on God's part of His throne, and he entreats Him to reassume His throne and give His decisions, as Eastern judges are wont to do, in the midst of the people standing around. IV. PREDICTION (10-16). Evil recoils like a boomerang on those who set it in motion. Ralph the Rover perished at the Incheape Rock. The huntsman at eventide falls into the pit prepared in the morning for his prey. ( F. B. Meyer, B. A. ) Trust in God J. P. Wright. I. THE CONDITIONS OF TRUST IN GOD. 1. We must lay to heart the glorious truth of the everlasting love of God towards us, and realise that He is our reconciled Father in Christ. 2. We must ever seek to do His will. We cannot "rest in the calm sun glow of His face" if we are not earnestly seeking to do the things that please Him. 3. We must not trust in ourselves. The pride of the human heart is great, hence we are unwilling to confess our inability to keep God's commandments. 4. We must not trust in others. Asa's end a warning against trusting in an arm of flesh ( 2 Chronicles 16:12, 13 ). II. WE OUGHT TO TRUST IN GOD. 1. In times of loneliness and depression ( John 16:32 ; Psalm 56:3 ). 2. Times of danger, difficulty, and temptation. God is our refuge ( Psalm 57:1 ); our guide ( Psalm 48:14 ); God is faithful ( 1 Corinthians 10:13 ). III. THE RESULT OF TRUST IN GOD. 1. Blessedness (Psalms 84:12). 2. Perfect peace ( Isaiah 26:8 ). ( J. P. Wright. ) While there is none to deliver. Psalm 7:2 Times when there must be a God Joseph Parker, D. D. Why pray so loudly, clearly, and distinctly? Because the enemy is mighty, and he may "tear my soul like a lion...while there is none to deliver." If it be a question between man and man, woe betide the weak! If the great battles of human existence are to be measured by the strength of the contending parties, virtue will be thrown down, discrowned, destroyed. But there are times when there must be a God: controversy would be intolerable, doubt would be out of place — not blasphemy against heaven, but blasphemy against the agonised heart. In these dark times we may be said to create a God. Judge these questions in your high moods; there is no intellectual ladder that you can set up against this mystery, and by which you can climb your way into the presence of the throne: the heart can fly all the distance, counting the separate constellations nothing in the exercise of its infinite strength, created by infinite trust. What we have lost in all these matters may be described as the Divine fire. We have thought to beat cold iron into shape. Iron will only obey the hammer and the hand when fire has undertaken to do the intermediate work; it is when the soul is on fire that we have no doubt about God. When we are prosperous, too highly indulged, even sated with luxury and plenty, we play the agnostic, the atheist, the speculative thinker; but when circumstances change, when the floor gives way, when the earth rocks, when the sun sinks, as if in mortal fear, and shuts out the day; when the child dies, and when all nature seems to be set in array against the processes of life — then the real man within us will talk. When agony is stinging the soul, and darkness is accumulating itself upon the life like a burden, then let man say whether he is imbecile, whether he is unworthy of the related condition of things, and of the sovereignty which overrules and guides and crowns them all. ( Joseph Parker, D. D. ) O Lord my God, if I have done this; if there be iniquity in my hands. Psalm 7:3-5 The appeal of conscious integrity Lamartine's Turkey. When near his end Mahomet made an effort to obtain himself the peace and pardon of the living before presenting himself before his Judge. Sustained beneath the arms by his two cherished disciples, Abubeker and All, he trailed himself along to the pulpit of the mosque, and said, with a feeble voice, "Mussulmans! if I have ever maltreated any among you, let him now come and strike me in turn. If I have offended any of you by word, let him return insult for insult. If I have taken from any his property, let him take all I possess upon the earth. And these are not vain words; let no one, in doing himself justice, apprehend my resentment. Resentment and anger are not in my character." A man dared to step from the crowd and claim of him a concealed debt. "Help thyself," said the prophet; "it is better to blush in this life before men, for one's injustice, than to blush in the other world before God." ( Lamartine's Turkey. ) Arise, O Lord, in Thine anger: lift up Thyself because of the rage of mine enemies. Psalm 7:6 The first of the imprecatory Psalms Joseph Hammond. Comminations are present in vers. 11-17, and imprecations upon the writer himself (under certain contingencies) in ver. 5. I. THE PSALM IS NOT VINDICTIVE. 1. It is certainly David's composition, and by his twice sparing Saul we know this was not his character. Cush the Benjamite was some follower of Saul who had plotted against David. It is probable that in 1 Samuel 24 . we have the historic setting of the Psalm. The points of contact between the two are many. 2. And Cush was flagrantly an evil-doer (vers. 2, 3, 4, 14, 15). Hence these denunciations are uttered. II. SEE WHAT HE PRAYS FOR. It is simply that God will awake. III. WHAT HE PREDICTS. That the Lord will whet His sword, etc. Neither in prayer nor prediction is there any disproportion between the sin and its punishment. It is less than what God had Himself said He would do ( Deuteronomy 32:23, 42 ). IV. WHY HE THUS DENOUNCES. Not because although he had spared his enemy, yet in his heart he was thirsting for revenge. If he had wanted revenge he could have taken it. But — 1. From the instinct of self-preservation. 2. Desire for the repression of crime. 3. For the glory of God. We deny, therefore, that the Psalm is vindictive. ( Joseph Hammond. ) For their sakes, therefore, return Thou on high. Psalm 7:7 David's strong language Joseph Parker, D. D. David had no difficulty in invoking a tremendous punishment upon his enemies. But the language must be judged by the times in which it was employed. Not only so, but every man has his own language. In a sense there is a private and individual tongue. You must know the speaker before you can understand the speech. The man explains the mystery that is round about him. David's language was very strong; but David was a poet, and a Hebrew poet, a poet of poets. All the poetry that had gone before him was but as a pedestal, on which he stood to lift himself and his art into a nobler elevation. We must not, therefore, judge David's language, especially when it is imprecatory, with our critical notions of propriety and measure. No other terms would have expressed his then feeling. Were he with us now, none would be so sweet in song, none so tender in prayer. ( Joseph Parker, D. D. ) Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me. Psalm 7:8 Integrity and peace Horace Bushnell, D. D. A truly noble confidence! and yet many of our time would call the language very dangerous, if it were spoken by any but one of the Scripture saints. Some, on the other hand, charge it as a fault in our doctrine of salvation by grace, that it lets down even the standards of our morality itself; because it is a part of our merit, under grace, to have no merit. Let us see if we can find the true place for integrity under the Christian salvation by noting — I. HOW THE SCRIPTURES SPEAK OF INTEGRITY. The text cited does not stand alone. David says again, "Judge me, O Lord; for I have walked in mine integrity." Good men are called "upright," "just," "righteous," and "right." It is even declared that they "shall deliver their own souls by their righteousness." The Christian disciples of the New Testament dare to say that they have a conscience void of offence. They exhort others to walk so as they have them for examples. Making the strongest confessions of ill-desert, and resting their salvation on the justifying grace of God, they are still able to be free in professing their own conscious integrity in their discipleship. The explanation is not difficult if we consider — II. WHAT INTEGRITY MEANS. As an integer is a whole, in distinction from a fraction, which is only a part, so a man of integrity is a man whose aim in the right is a whole aim, in distinction from one whose aim is divided, partial, or unstable. It does not mean that he has never been a sinner, or that he is not now, but simply that the intent of his soul is to do and be wholly right with God and man. Distinguish between commercial integrity and the higher integrity of religion. What does it signify that a man gives men their due, and will not give God His? God is a person as truly as men are, more closely related to us, a better friend, one who has claims of right more sacred. Does it entitle one to the name of a just man that he is honest with men of one colour and not with those of another? What, then, shall we think of mere commercial integrity taken, by itself? Real integrity, ready to do right to God as to men, to men as to God, must be the condition of Christian character itself. Let us inquire — III. IN WHAT MANNER? If Christ saves men, not by their merit, or on terms of justice or reward, but by purely gratuitous favour, what place have we for insisting on the need of integrity at all? It seems to be the comfort of what some call their piety, that God is going to dispense with all merit in them, which they take to mean all sound reality of character, — all exactness of principle and conduct. Integrity is wholeness of aim or intent; but mere intent does not make a character. Yet it is just that by which all evil will be vanquished, under Christ and by grace, because it puts a man at the very gate of faith, where all God's helps are waiting for Him. His new and better aim is his way of coming into the righteousness of God. The Scripture conditions all help on the integrity of the soul. "Ye shall seek and find Me, if ye search for Me with all your heart." Let us note, in conclusion — 1. What it is that gives such peace and loftiness of bearing to the life of a truly righteous man. Storms of detraction and malignant conspiracies against his character may drive their clouds about Him, but he sits above with his God, and they all sail under. "The work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effects of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever." Here, too — 2. Is the ground of all failures, and all highest successes in the Christian life. Only to be an honest man, in this genuinely Christian sense, signifies a great deal more than most of us ever conceive. Little do we realise how honest a man must be to pray, how heartily, simply, totally he must mean what he prays for. Perhaps he prays much, and has it for a continual wonder that God does not answer his prayers. Perhaps he has conceived a higher standing in religion, and has tried long to reach it, and finds it not. Strange as it may seem, here is the root of the difficulty — that his projected attainments are dear ahead of his integrity. Some traitor is hid in his soul's chambers, that is kept there, and carefully fed. Success is the fixed destiny of any soul that has once reached the point of whole intent. I note — 3. A very important deduction, namely, — that every man who comes into a state of right intent will forthwith also be a Christian. Whoever is willing to be carried just where it will carry him, cost him. what it may, in that man the spirit of all sin is broken, and his mind is in a state to lay hold of Christ and be laid hold of by Him. "For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards Him." God is on the look-out always for an honest man — him to help and with him, and for him, to be strong. And if there be one, God will not miss him; for His desiring, all-searching eyes are running the world through always to find him. ( Horace Bushnell, D. D. ) Self-respect and self- righteousness Charles Kingsley. Is this speech self-righteous? If so it is a bad speech: for self-righteousness is a bad temper of mind; few are worse. But there is another temper of mind which looks like it at first, but is not so, and which is right in its way. I mean the temper of Job when his friends tried to make him out a bad man. He declared he would tell no lies about himself. "Till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me. I have, on the whole, tried to be a good man, and I will not make myself out a bad one." St. John said, "If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." I. BUT WE MAY MISUSE THAT DOCTRINE. Many do. 1. Some people try to confess as many sins as possible. They do not go and commit them, but they fancy themselves guilty of them. This is all too common. It is ruinous oftentimes to the body; I have seen people kill their own bodies and die early by this folly. And they kill their souls too, and enter into strong delusions and believe lies. And yet one pities them more than we can be angry with them, and all the more because they are generally the most innocent, and who have least to confess. We should pray for them. 2. But there is a worse misuse of St. John's doctrine than this. A man may be proud of calling himself a miserable sinner, and of confessing his sins. But if he really knew the misery of sin he would not talk so much about it. His talk is only another way of saying, "I am a better man than you. I confess my sins, and you do not." II. BUT WHAT IS THE RIGHT USE OF THE DOCTRINE? If you refuse, like Job, to own yourself guilty of what you know you are not guilty of, such a man will tell you that you are ignorant of the first principles of the gospel. You are building integrity and morality. Now, he is partly right, and so are you. St. Paul will help us, for he said, I judge not mine own self; for I know nothing against myself, yet am I not hereby justified; but He that judgeth me is the Lord." Now, no man was ever less self-righteous than Paul, and yet he says, "I know nothing against myself." Then, here is the rule. If you have done wrong, confess that; if you have done right, be not afraid to say you have. And to keep up self-respect, go on trying to do right. Wrong no man, least of all, a woman, But, mind, your right-doing will not justify you, for we all have sinned. III. REMEMBER THE LORD WILL JUDGE YOU. Be glad of this, as David was, for he knew that the Lord would bring him out of his sin. You must not think of God as hard, or you will fret and not fight. But if you believe Him good you will fight and not fret. And you will be able to leave yourself in His hands. ( Charles Kingsley. ) Let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end. Psalm 7:9-16 The self-destroying power of wickedness A. Maclaren, D. D. The accents require ver. 9 to be rendered, "Let wickedness make an end of the wicked," but that introduces an irrelevant thought of the suicidal nature of evil. It may be significant that the Psalmist's prayer is not for the destruction of the wicked, but of their wickedness. Such annihilation of evil is the great end of God's judgment, and its consequence will be the establishment of the righteous. Again, the prayer strengthens itself by the thought of God as righteous, and as trying the hearts and reins (the seat of feeling). In the presence of rampant, and all but triumphant evil, a man needs to feed hopes of its overthrow, that would else seem vainest dreams, by gazing on the righteousness and searching power of God The last section is a vision of the judgment prayed for, and may be supposed to be addressed to the enemy. If so, the hunted man towers above them, and becomes a rebuker. The character of God underlies the fact of judgment, as it had encouraged the prayer for it. What he had said to himself when his head drooped he now, as a prophet, peals out to men as making retribution sure: "God is a righteous judge, yea, a God that hath indignation every day." The absence of an object specified for the indignation makes its inevitable flow wherever there is evil the more vividly certain. If He is such, then of course follows the destruction of everyone who turns not. Retribution is set forth with solemn vigour under four figures. 1. God is as an armed enemy sharpening His sword in preparation for action, a work of time which in the Hebrew is represented as in process, and bending His bow, which is represented as a completed act. Another second and the arrow will whiz. So the stern picture is drawn of God as in the moment before the outburst of His punitive energy — the sword sharpened, the bow bent, the arrows fitted, the burning stuff being smeared on their tips. What will happen when all this preparation blazes into action? 2. Ver. 14: A figure of the automatic action of evil in bringing punishment. It is the Old Testament version of "Sin when it is finished bringeth forth death." The evil-doer is boldly represented as "travailing with iniquity," and that metaphor is broken up into two parts, "He hath conceived mischief," and "He hath brought forth falsehood." The "falsehood," which is the thing actually produced, is so called, not because it deceives others, but because it mocks its producer with false hopes, and never fulfils his purposes. This is but the highly metaphorical way of saying that a sinner never does what he means to do, but that the end of all his plans is disappointment. The law of the universe condemns him to feed on ashes, and to make and trust in lies. 3. The idea in "falsehood," namely, the failure of evil to accomplish its doer's purpose. Crafty attempts to trap others have an ugly habit of snaring the contriver. The irony of fortune tumbles the hunter into the pitfall dug by him for his prey. 4. Ver. 16: The incidence of his evil on the evil-doer as being certain as the fall of a stone thrown straight up, which will infallibly come back in the line of its ascent. Retribution is as sure as gravitation, especially if there is an Unseen Hand above, which adds impetus and direction to the falling weight. All these metaphors, dealing with the "natural" consequences of evil, are adduced as guarantees of God's judgment, whence it is clear both that the Psalmist is thinking not of some final future judgment, but of the continuous one of daily providence, and that he made no sharp line of demarcation between the supernatural and the natural. The qualities of things and the play of natural events are God's working. ( A. Maclaren, D. D. ) A prayer for the ending of wickedness Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons. I. THE WICKEDNESS OF THE WICKED. 1. It is the genuine fruit of a depraved nature. 2. It displays itself in various forms. 3. It presses into its service the whole man. 4. It has abounded in all ages of the world. II. WHEN MAY THIS WICKEDNESS COME TO AN END? The end of a thing is its termination. 1. It comes to an end partially in the individual conversion of sinners to God. 2. It will come to an end generally by the conversion of the world to God. III. THIS IS A MOST DESIRABLE OBJECT. 1. On God's account. 2. On our own account. 3. On account of those who are the immediate subjects of this wickedness. IV. WHAT MEANS CAN BE ADOPTED TO PUT AN END TO IT? 1. Give no countenance to wickedness. 2. Warn the wicked of their danger. 3. Pray that their wickedness may come to an end. Wrestle with God in their behalf. ( Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons. ) Prayer for the termination of sin Matthew Henry. Our text is a prayer, and teaches us — 1. To pray against all sin; to pray it, if possible, out of the world. 2. To pray for all saints, for all good people. If we would be on the Lord's side in the day of inquiry, we must by our prayers act in concert with the just. I. WHAT WE ARE TO DESIRE AND PRAY FOR. 1. That wickedness may come to an end. That wicked principles may be exploded and abandoned. That wicked practices may be prevented and restrained; that though Balsam be still the same, yet he may not be suffered to curse Israel; though Sennacherib has still an inveterate rage against God, yet he may be made to feel that God has a hook in his nose and a bridle in his jaws. Thus let wickedness be ashamed and hide itself, and that it may not be propagated and spread so as to infect others. 2. That God would establish the just in their integrity and retain them in it, is their comfort and hope. In their undertaking against wickedness: that they may not be shaken by any discouragements they meet with. II. WHY THIS IS AND OUGHT TO BE THE DESIRE OF ALL GOOD PEOPLE. Because — 1. Such have concern for the honour of God; and 2. They have tender love to the souls of men. 3. They have great value for the grace of God, for what it has done and is promised to do; and 4. They are hearty well-wishers to their native land. III. FOR APPLICATION OF WHAT HAS BEEN SAID. 1. Let us address ourselves to God in prayer that He would further the reformation of manners in our land. Let ministers thus pray, and those who are engaged in the societies for reformation support their undertakings by their prayers. 2. And let us follow prayer with endeavour. You who are rich and of station in the world be favoured to appear in person to uphold this work. Your influence is a talent you must account for. Assure yourselves that the cause of religion and piety is the cause of God and must prevail. ( Matthew Henry. ) For the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins The searching Divine test W. J. Stracey, M. A. The one thought of God's judgment seems to run through the Psalm. To understand the Psalm aright we must refer it altogether to the assurance that God will ultimately clear those who are falsely accused of anything in this world, which they feel and know that they have never committed. Often evil does seem to prevail over good. In the end God will justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked. This assurance may uphold faithful men in all times of difficulty, trial, and persecution. Oftentimes God brings it to pass upon wicked men that they perish by the very way and means they designed for the destruction of the righteous. It is not merely that God knows every way of all men; it is not merely that His eye readeth, as it does, the very thoughts and intents of every heart amongst us: it is that He trieth each separate thought and intent of that heart, He weighs every word; He marks every little variation and complexion of man's thoughts, and words, and works, and intents. He registers it all, because He will one day "judge the world in righteousness." To say to ourselves, "The righteous God trieth the very heart and reins," will make us think more of what we call "little" sins, and it will make us value more and more every greater or less opportunity of receiving grace or of doing good. It will make us also watch more carefully the springs and intents of our hearts. ( W. J. Stracey, M. A. ) My defence is of God, which sayeth the upright in heart. Psalm 7:10 God, the shield bearer of the upright Joseph Parker, D. D. Lit.: God is my shield bearer. Fig.: I hang my shield upon God. The idea is that of going to war, and having God as the carrier, the bearer, of our shield, so that before we can be struck down, God Himself must be wounded and overpowered. "My defence is of God." There are times when we need great defences. There arise m life crises, points of agony, when we can only be silent, having first said to God, "Undertake for me." There are times when it seems to us but a small thing, or a course quite natural, to claim all heaven as our defence. These are supreme moments. The bulk of life is commonplace, lived on an ordinary level, requiring the discharge of common duties. There are times when the whole heaven is no longer a defence, but an accusation. These are the terrible moments of life. Where, then, is man's defence? Let man in such moments look within; let him trace the course of his own spirit and action; and if he can find in that action reasons for self-condemnation, then let him be penitent and broken-hearted; let him find God through his tears. The tears must not be selfish: no man must make an investment of his broken-heartedness. Repentance must be perfect, vital, sincere, all-inclusive. He does not repent who cries simply because the consequences are painful. Contrition has nothing to do with consequences. God may be both accuser and defender. He prefers the accusation with the reluctance of wounded love; through the accusation He causes to shine the light of the prepared defence: His mercy endureth forever. He is the defender of the sinner, when the offender falls down in contrition and self-examination. The Psalmist falls back upon the vital element of character. "Saveth the upright in heart." Is God, then, only the defender of the righteous, who have never sinned? No such meaning is here. "The upright in heart" may not always be the upright in conduct. Men cannot go beyond conduct; God goes into motive, purpose, secret thought. May there, then, be broken conduct and yet a heart truly upright before God? There may be, and that is our hope. God does not look upon us as we are, but upon what we would be if we could. Where there is this integrity or uprightness of heart, all the rest will be well. When you have the upright heart all needful consistency will be guaranteed. A growing life is never a literally consistent one. Many a man is mechanically consistent who is spiritually self-contradictory. Do we want to be upright in heart? There is but one gospel way. The grace of God alone can make the heart true and new and beautiful. We cannot give ourselves uprightness of heart. It is not in man to make himself clean. ( Joseph Parker, D. D. ) The upright in heart W. D. Howard. I. A CHARACTER DESCRIBED. The upright in heart. Now it includes inward principle as the wheel which puts the whole machine in action; and outward conduct is the result of it. Take as example — 1. Nathaniel. He was a man whose outward character corresponded with the promptings of his heart. 2. Remember there may be uprightness of heart with many failings. God looks at the intents of the heart. Only they must be sincere. II. THE PRIVILEGE OF THIS CHARACTER. 1. God's defence. We see how God defends the tender plants from winter's cold and summer's heat. But yet more does He protect His children. For His love is deeper, stronger, and more lasting than that of a mother. 2. God's salvation. "God raiseth the upright in heart." But our salvation is in Christ, there is none out of Him. ( W. D. Howard. ) God is angry with the wicked every day. Psalm 7:11 God's anger against the wicked I. WHO ARE THE "WICKED" IN THE SCRIPTURE SENSE OF THE TERM? The Bible divides all the human race into two classes only — the righteous and the wicked. Those are righteous who have true faith in Christ, whose spirit is consecrated to God, who live a heavenly life on earth, and who have been renewed by the Holy Ghost. Their original selfishness is subdued and slain, and they live a new life through the ever-present grace of Christ Jesus. Right over against them in character are the wicked, who have not been renewed in heart; who live in selfishness, under the dominion of appetite in some of its forms, — and it matters not in which, out of all possible forms, it may be, but self is the great and only ultimate end of their life. II. GOD IS ANGRY WITH THE WICKED. This is the testimony of God Himself This truth is also taught by reason. If God were not opposed to the wicked, He would be wicked Himself for not opposing them. Sinners know that God is angry with them, and ought to be. Else, why are they afraid to die? III. THE NATURE OF THIS ANGER. 1. It is not a malicious anger. God never has a disposition to do any wrong in any way to any being. 2. His anger is not passion in the sense in which men are wont to exhibit passion in anger. Reason for the time is displaced, and passion reigns. 3. God's anger cannot, be in any sense a selfish anger; for God is not selfish

7:1-9 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. 7:10-17 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. 14-16, 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 our way, let the looking to Jesus animate our minds and comfort our hearts.