Psalms 7:10 - Meaning and Application

David had already brought his case before God in prayer and had solemnly declared his innocence earlier in the psalm. Here he acts, as it were, on that appeal by faith in God’s word. He trusts the promise that righteous people will be safe and happy, while stubborn wickedness will end in certain ruin.

David is sure that God will be his strong protector and Savior, the defender of his oppressed innocence (Psalm 7:10). He is not saying only that God is his defender and will prove it. He means that he looks for safety from no one else. If he is to be protected, it must come from God alone. Some translate the thought, “My shield is with God,” meaning that in God there is everything needed to guard those who belong to him. God’s name is a strong tower (Proverbs 18:10).

David builds this confidence on two truths. First, God shows special favor to those who are sincere. He saves the upright in heart, and that includes saving them with an everlasting salvation. He will also preserve them through their present troubles, as far as this is good for them. Their honesty and uprightness are a safeguard under God’s care. The upright in heart are safe, and they should see themselves that way under divine protection.

Second, David trusts God because God loves justice and fairness. God judges the righteous. He approves every righteous cause and will uphold it in every righteous person. Some read it this way, “God is a righteous Judge.” That means he not only acts righteously himself, but also sees that righteousness is done among people and punishes wrongdoing.

David is just as certain about the ruin of his persecutors, at least of those who refuse to repent and give God glory. He reads their future here, if possible for their good, so they may stop fighting against him. At the very least, he reads it for his own peace, so he will not fear them or resent their present success. When he enters God’s sanctuary, he learns two things about them.

First, they are children of wrath. They are not to be envied, because God is angry with them. God is angry with the wicked every day. They keep doing what offends him, and he stores that up for the day of judgment. As his mercies are new every morning toward his people, so his anger is renewed every morning against the wicked, because they keep giving him new reasons for it. God is angry with the wicked even on their happiest and most successful days, and even in their days of religion. If they are allowed to prosper, it is under judgment. If they pray, even their prayers are hateful to him. The wrath of God remains on them (John 3:36), and more guilt keeps being added to it.

Second, they are children of death, as all children of wrath are, sons of ruin marked out for destruction. Their end is certain. God will destroy them, and the destruction they are kept for is destruction from the Almighty. That should make all of us fear sin, because it comes from God’s wrath (Psalm 7:13, Psalm 7:14).

This warning also shows mercy. The sinner’s destruction can be prevented by turning back from evil, because the threat comes with that condition: if he does not turn from his evil way, if he does not stop attacking God’s people, then ruin will come. But if he does turn, the source implies that his sin will be forgiven and all will be well. Even threats of judgment carry a gracious hint of mercy. That is enough to justify God forever when people are destroyed. They could have turned and lived, but they chose to keep going until they died, so their blood is on their own heads.

If the sinner is not stopped by conversion, then God’s justice prepares destruction for him. In general, God has prepared for him the instruments of death, every means needed to carry out the death that sin deserves. If God chooses to strike, he will never lack the means, even the weakest creature can become such a tool in his hand.

There is also variety in these instruments. There is a sword that wounds and kills at close range, and a bow with arrows that strike from far away, even those who think they have escaped God’s judgment. If the sinner runs from the iron weapon, the steel bow will still pierce him through (Job 20:24). These instruments are also ready. God does not need to look for them. They are always at hand. Judgments are prepared for scoffers, and Tophet, a place of burning judgment, was prepared long ago.

While God is preparing these instruments of death, he gives sinners warning and time to repent and avoid them. He is slow to punish and patient with us, not wanting anyone to perish. But the longer punishment is delayed so that repentance may come, the heavier it will be if that time is wasted. While God waits, the sword is being sharpened and the bow is being drawn. The destruction of stubborn sinners, though delayed, is certain, because it has been appointed long ago. And among all sinners, persecutors are especially marked out for divine wrath. Against them, more than others, God has set his arrows. They may defy God, but they cannot place themselves beyond his judgments.

Second, they destroy themselves (Psalm 7:14-16). The sinner is described as working very hard to ruin himself, often making more effort to destroy his soul than he would to save it if he used the same effort rightly. His life is like a laboring woman who gives birth to a false pregnancy, a child that is not real. The sinner’s mind, with all its planning, conceives trouble and works it out with skill, laying the scheme deeply and keeping it hidden. His heart, driven by passions, is in labor with evil and strains to give birth to malicious plans against God’s people. But what comes of it in the end? It is falsehood. It is a cheat on himself. It is a lie in his own hand. He cannot carry out what he intended, and even if he does, he will not get the satisfaction he expected. He brings forth wind (Isaiah 26:18), stubble (Isaiah 33:11), and death (James 1:15), that is, falsehood.

He is also like a laborer who digs a pit and then falls into it and dies there. This is true of all sinners in one sense. By loading themselves with guilt and yielding to their sinful desires, they prepare destruction for themselves. It is often very clear in those who plot evil against God’s people or against their neighbors. By God’s righteous hand, what they intended for others comes back on their own heads. What they planned for shame and ruin in others becomes their own confusion.

There is no law more just than this: the maker of a murderous scheme will perish by his own device. Some take this to point to Saul, who fell on his own sword.

When we sing this psalm, we should do as David does here (Psalm 7:17). We should praise the Lord according to his righteousness, that is, give him glory for his gracious care over his afflicted people and for his fair judgment against those who hurt them. In this way, we sing to the praise of the Lord Most High. When his enemies act proudly, he shows that he stands above them.