Psalm 7 - O LORD, Someone is Lying About Me

“O LORD my God, in You I put my trust; Save me from all those who persecute me; And deliver me, Lest they tear me like a lion, Rending me in pieces, while there is none to deliver.” (vv. 1-2) “Behold, the wicked brings forth iniquity; Yes, he conceives trouble and brings forth falsehood.” (v. 14) Today we will be looking at Psalm 7 and the history behind it. From the title of this Psalm, we know that David is the writer. We need to remember that David wrote over 75 of the 150 Psalms. Many of them were written during the time period when David is fleeing from King Saul who is attempting to kill him. To fully appreciate this Psalm and many others, it will be helpful to look back to the history behind them that we read about in 1 Samuel 12 through 31.  Samuel the prophet had successfully led the nation of Israel for a number of years but was getting older. At that time the people wanted a king to rule over them like the other nations around them. So Samuel, with the Lord’s permission, found and anointed Saul from the tribe of Benjamin to be their first king (1 Samuel 8-11). Saul would reign over Israel for 40 years. Saul started out good, but it was long before pride began to take over his life and he started making major mistakes. His first one was when he failed to wait for Samuel, and he went ahead and offered a sacrifice that only the priest were allowed to offer (I Samuel 13). Then in 1 Samuel 15, Saul was only partially obedient in obeying the Lord when it came to destroying the Amalekites.  Samuel confronts him and he makes excuses and blames the people. This is where Samuel informs Saul that his sin of disobedience is as the sin of witchcraft and tells him that his kingdom will be taken from him and given to someone else. In 1 Samuel 16, we find that the “someone else” is a shepherd boy named David. David, probably still a teenager, is secretly anointed the next king of Israel by Samuel. In 1 Samuel 16 we also learn that the “Spirit of the LORD” departs from Saul and he is plagued by evil spirits. David who is already known for his musical abilities on a harp, is called upon to come to Saul’s court to play for him. In 1 Samuel 17, David is catapulted to national fame when he fights the Philistine giant Goliath, and kills him before the armies of Israel. David is then made a commander in Saul’s army and lead the troops out in battle against the enemies of Israel. This is where it begins to go downhill in David’s relationship with King Saul. When David returns from his victorious battles, the women come out to meet him and his troops, and they sing, “Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands” (1 Samuel 18:7). Saul becomes very jealous, and this is where believe that Cush, his kinsman from the tribe of Benjamin, who is mentioned in the title of Psalm 7, begins to tell lies about David. Cush must continuously tell lies and attempt to influence Saul to kill David over the next number of years. We don't know what lies Cush told Saul, but David was concerned enough to cry out to God for deliverance and vindication. "Shiggaion" is used only here in the Psalms (but see Hab. 3:1) and could mean "a passionate psalm with strong emotion." Some believe it comes from a word meaning "to wander, to cry aloud." The theme of this Psalm is God's vindication of His servant and judgment on his enemies (vv. 6, 8, 11). It is out of this conflict and rejection and time period, that David writes and sings this song of meditation to the Lord. Spurgeon wrote this in his comments about Psalm 7: “This may be called the Song Of The Slandered Saint. Even this sorest of evils may furnish occasion for a Psalm. What a blessing it would be if we could turn even the most disastrous event into a theme for song, and so turn the tables upon our great enemy.” God bless!