Psalm 7 — 8
Sin Itself Judges Sinners Ultimately (vv. 14–17) The image of sin as pregnancy is frequently found in Scripture (Job 15:35; Isa. 33:11; 59:4, 13; James 1:13–15). Sinners "conceive" sin that, like a monstrous child, eventually grows up and destroys them. They dig pits and fall into them themselves (see 9:16; 37:14–15; 57:6; 1 Sam. 25:39; Prov. 26:27; Eccl. 10:8; Ezek. 19:4). The trouble they cause comes back on their own heads (Gal. 6:7). There is a work of divine retribution in this world, and nobody can escape it. "Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small" (Friedrich von Logau).
asked the Supreme Judge to vindicate him because his hands were clean. David wasn't claiming to be sinless; he was stating that he was blameless in his motives and actions (v. 8; see 18:16–26; Phil. 2:12–15). If indeed David was guilty of sin, he was willing to accept God's discipline; but he knew that his hands were pure. David had two opportunities to kill King Saul and refused to do so (1 Sam. 24, 26). This was proof enough that his heart was not filled with personal malice and a desire for revenge. How important it is that we are open and honest with both our Lord and ourselves. If he was proved guilty, then David was willing for his own honor to be laid in the dust; but David knew that his hands were clean (Isa. 1:15; 59:3; Ezek. 23:37, 45; Acts 20:26).
God abandoned King Saul to his own ways (1 Sam. 15), and ultimately both the arrow and the sword caught up with him (vv. 12–13; 1 Sam. 31:3–4). He wanted to kill David, but his own sword killed him. Pharaoh ordered the male Jewish babies to be drowned in the Nile, and his own army was drowned in the Red Sea. Haman built a gallows on which to hang Mordecai, and Haman himself was hanged on it (Est. 7).
God Judges Sinners Righteously (vv. 6–13) David didn't take the situation into his own hands; rather, he turned Saul and his scheming men over to the Lord. Only God's holy anger could truly vindicate David (Rom. 12:17–21). "Arise, O Lord" reminds us of the words of Moses when the camp of Israel began their march with the ark leading the way (Num. 10:35; see also 2 Chron. 6:40–42). David knew that danger was near, and he wanted the Lord to move into action. (See 3:7; 9:19; 10:12; 17:13; 44:26; 68:1.) It's during those times when God seems inactive that we get impatient and want to see things happen immediately. But God is more longsuffering than we are, and we must wait for Him to work in His time. "Let God convene the court! Ascend Your throne on high! Let all the people gather together to witness the trial! Let the Lord try me and prove to all that I am innocent!" David knew that Almighty God could test the minds and the hearts (v. 9; see Rev. 2:23), and he wanted to see the wickedness of his enemies exposed and stopped. David's defense was with the Lord.
The psalm closes with David extolling the Lord, not for the fact that sinners have been judged, but because the righteousness of God has been magnified. The fact that people are ensnared by their own sins and ultimately judged brings no joy to the hearts of believers, but the fact that God is glorified and His righteousness exalted does cause us to praise Him. God judges sin because He is holy, and His decrees are just (v. 6). "Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in your sight" (Luke 10:21). Finally, keep in mind that God gave His own Son to die for the sins of the world, so that He might uphold His own holy law and at the same time offer His mercy and grace to all who will believe. People may not like the way God runs His universe, but, as Dorothy Sayers expressed it, "for whatever reason God chose to make man as he is—limited and suffering and subject to sorrows and death—He had the honesty and the courage to take His own medicine" (Christian Letters to a PostChristian World [Eerdmans, 1969], 14).
How can God both love the world (John 3:16) and hate the wicked? (On God's hatred of evil, see 5:5.) The King James Version puts "with the wicked" in italics, which means the phrase was added by the translators, but both the New International Version and the New American Standard Bible translate the text without it. Their emphasis is that God expresses His anger at sin every day, so He doesn't have to summon a special court to judge sinners. He allows sinners to reap the sad consequences of their sins day by day (v. 16; see Rom. 1:24, 26–27, 32), but sometimes their persistent rebellion causes Him to send special judgment when His longsuffering has run its course (Gen. 6:5ff.). God's love is a holy love, and if God loves righteousness, He must also hate wickedness.