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PSALM VII.

[TITLE-SHIGGAION of david, (or the beloved,) which HE SANG UNTO JEHOVAH CONCERNING THE Words, (or THE BUSINESS,) OF CUSH THE BENJAMINITE.]

SHIGGAION, is a wandering Ode, in different parts taking up different subjects, in different stiles of composition. The first part of this Ode is Complaint; the 2d, Supplication and Prediction mixed; the 3d, Commination ;-the 4th, Crimination, Commination, and Thanksgiving mixed. I have sometimes thought Shiggaion might be an unpremeditated Song, an Improviso.

AN INNOCENT PERSON (PROBABLY NO OTHER THAN CHRIST HIMSELF,) UNDER INJURIOUS REPORTS, APPEALS TO THE

TRIBUNAL OF GOD.

Ir is difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain any particular occasion of this psalm, in the life of David, or of any other character in the Jewish history. It should seem, indeed, from what David says to Saul,

after sparing his life in the cave at En-gedi, that Saul's courtiers had filled him with suspicions of David, as forming designs against his life, (1 Sam. XXIV, 9.) But this psalm seems to refer to something more precise, and more injurious to a character, than the vague reports raised by a party against the leader of the opposite interest. As for Cush, the Benjaminite, mentioned in the title of the psalm, he is a personage unknown to the Jewish history. But whatever might be the occasion of the psalm, the real subject seems to be, the Messiah's appeal to God against the false accusations of his enemies; and the predictions which it contains, of the final conversion of the whole world, and of the future judgement, are clear and explicit.

PART I.

1 Jehovah, my God, with thee have-I-taken-shel

ter,

Save me from all them that persecute me, and

deliver me.

2 Lest he tear my soul like a lion ;

Rescue; for there is no deliverer. [A]

3 Jehovah, my God, if I have done this,

If there be wrong-dealing in my hand;

4 If I have made an ill return to him that was at peace with me ;

Or, without provocation, have plunder'd [B]

my-greatest-enemy:

5 Let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it, Let him trample my life upon the earth, and lay mine honour [C] in the dust.

PART II.

6 Arise, O Jehovah, in thy wrath;

Lift up thyself against the fury of my bitter

enemy,

And raise up for me the judgement, which thou hast* appointed.

*That just judgement, in which the innocent shall be absolved of all injurious imputation, and vice stript of all its disguises.

7 Let the congregation of the nations surround

thee,

And over it return thou to supremacy.* *

8 Jehovah will judge the peoples:

Give-sentence-concerning-me, O Jehovah, according to my righteousness, †

* The psalmist continues his prayer.

The prayer in this verse

is, that God would bring on the last age; that he would bring the Gentiles to the knowledge of himself, and re-assume the immediate and declared government of all nations, which he had so visibly exercised in the first ages, before the Heathen were cast off for their idolatry.

over it return thou to supremacy." Literally, "return thou to exaltation." Be again the acknowledged Lord and God of all mankind, as thou wast in ancient times, before the general defection to idolatry, and the selection of the Jewish people.

It is not of the genius of prophecy to distinguish times. Our Lord's first and second advent are often mentioned together in the prophets, without any distinction as events separate in time. The prophetic stile may, consistently with itself, date the commencement of the day of judgement from the conversion of the Gentiles; and consistently, indeed, with the truth of things; since the conversion of the Gentiles, by the arrangements of Providence, must terminate in the final judgement. In this and the preceding verse taken together, these two events are alluded to as one; because they are, indeed, indissolubly connected.

+ This confident assertion of his own righteousness and integri

And according to my integrity [D] render unto

me.

9 Surely, the wickedness of the impious shall be brought to mind,

And the righteousness of the Just One shall be established,

And God shall explore the hearts and reins. [E]

PART III.

10 The defence of me is upon God,* who saveth the upright in heart;

11 God is a righteous Judge, although he is not angry every day. [F]

12 If the man will not turn, [G] he will whet his sword,

ty, can belong to no character but Jesus Christ himself.-David had no such innocence to boast; he was, like other men, a pardoned sinner; polluted with adultery, and stained with murder.

* It is a business that rests upon God, and is to be left to him. He only, as the searcher of the thoughts of men, is competent to be my judge.

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