Welcome back, everyone, to Torah Today Ministries and our series, Tehillim Talks, a series of studies in the Psalms. And in this episode, we find ourselves in Psalm number 7. Now, it’s been a while since I recorded one of these episodes because I have been in a wrestling match with this psalm.
It, so far, has been the most difficult one for me to translate and to make sense of. And in fact, I have done this teaching three times already. This is my fourth go at it.
And I’ve just decided that no matter how this comes out, this is the one we’re gonna go with. I just was not happy with the first three. And I plan to not be happy with this one either.
But hopefully, by the time we get to the end of the teaching, you’ll understand the difficulties I’m wrestling with. So the question might be, why does God make a psalm this difficult? And confusing.
And I think it’s because David, who wrote the psalm, was going through a very difficult and confusing time. And so do we. But even in the midst of this confusion, I think we can find some clarity from God.
And I think that the overarching message of this psalm is that even in the confusion, even when God seems to be really hiding himself, he’s still there and he still makes himself known and he still accomplishes his will. So let’s just jump right in to the psalm.
And in most English Bibles, the attribution of the psalm is kind of skipped over. It is not even assigned a verse number. In Hebrew Bibles, the attribution is always verse number one. And then what we call verse one is actually verse number two.
And here’s the attribution of Psalm 7:
“A shegyon (שִׁגָּיוֹן) of David, which he sang to Adonai concerning the words of Cush (כּוּשׁ), a Benjamite.”(Psalm 7:1 – Hebrew numbering)
So this is worth delving into. This is part of the psalm. And right off the bat, we’re being told that this is a psalm of some confusion. Because the word shegyon (שִׁגָּיוֹן), we’re a little confused as to even what it means.
This is the only psalm that’s called a shegyon. In fact, this word only appears one other place in the Bible, and that’s in Habakkuk chapter three, verse one, which likewise is kind of a confusing psalm, a poem. So you can read Habakkuk chapter three, and you’ll see what I mean.
You think you latched on to a thought, and suddenly it jerks away to something that is almost the opposite, and then it brings you back. And it’s a good bit of mental whiplash reading that chapter. Kind of like what you do here as well.
But it’s a shegyon. So what does shegyon mean? It comes from a root, we believe, that’s shagah (שָׁגָה).
A shegyon might be a musical instrument, but shagah can mean a mistake. And it’s also very closely related to the Hebrew word for confusion. So hopefully we won’t find other Psalms in the future that are quite as difficult and confusing, but we’ll see as we go through.
And the confusion starts right off here with the attribution. Because it says he sang this song to Adonai concerning the words of Cush (כּוּשׁ), a Benjamite. Now let me tell you something right now.
No self-respecting Jewish parent would ever name their son Cush. It just isn’t going to happen. So who is this person named Cush who’s of the tribe of Benjamin?
Now here’s why there’s a problem. Benjamin’s tribe is considered to be of the 12, one of the very most elite. Now there is Judah, which is the tribe that all the kings came from, except for Saul, the first king, who was from the tribe of Benjamin.
But Judah was considered to be one of the most important tribes. But Benjamin, which was the 12th born son of Jacob, Joseph’s little brother, was special. He was unique.
If you go back to the story of Benjamin, he was the only one of Jacob’s 12 sons who was born in the land of Canaan, the land of Israel, the only one of the 12. The temple resided in the territory of Benjamin. Benjamin was the only one of the brothers who was not complicit in the sale of Joseph.
You recall, Benjamin was home with his father Jacob during that entire scene where the brothers sold Joseph. And there are other unique things about Benjamin that we could consider, but that’s for another time. So, Benjamin is considered one of the elite.
In fact, when Paul gives a little bit of his bio over in Philippians chapter 3, he says:
“If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more. Circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin.” (Philippians 3:4-5)
So Saul, Paul was from this tribe. And he was boasting about it. He was proud of his heritage in a very healthy and good way.
So, we have Benjamin who’s like one of the most elite, if not the most elite and special of the twelve tribes. But who is this Cush character?
Well, you know the story. Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And after the flood was over, Noah planted a vineyard. He drank the wine. He got drunk and uncovered himself in his tent.
And his middle son, Ham, went in. And something horrible happened. The Bible does not give us details. But something shameful happened that Ham did to his father, Noah. Shem and Japheth, they discover that their father is naked. So they put a blanket over their shoulders and walked backwards and draped the blanket over their naked father.
But when Noah awakens and comes out of his stupor, he realizes what Ham has done. Ham had four sons. The firstborn was Cush and the fourthborn was Canaan. And Noah cursed Ham’s youngest son, Canaan.
But Cush was the firstborn. Cush came from Ham, which is considered to be the least of the three sons. The name Cush means to be in darkness.
And Cush is never considered to be a hero. And you read the whole story of Cush and Ham’s line, and you see Nimrod coming forth from this, the first world dictator, and it’s just not a pretty scene. Cush is not considered a hero in any way, shape, or form in the Scriptures.
So why would you have Cush, a Benjamite? So right at the get go, we see this conflict between something of darkness, something very negative, and something of light, something that’s very positive and good. Keep that in mind. We will revisit this at the end of the Psalm, and hopefully make some sense of this.
So, let’s get right in to the Psalm itself. Verses 1 and 2.
“O Adonai (יהוה), my God (Elohei/אֱלֹהַי)…” (Psalm 7:1a)
And this is the first place where we find God’s four letter name, Yud He Vav He (יהוה), and we just say Adonai, which means Lord or Master. And it’s Elohei (אֱלֹהַי), my El, my Elohim. And this is the first time in the Psalms we find God’s name, Yud He Vav He, and Elohim put together.
And it happens again in just a couple more verses. And remember, Yud He Vav He is God’s name of mercy, of chesed (חֶסֶד) in grace, whereas Elohim (אֱלֹהִים) is His name of strict justice, and here they’re put together. Two things that seem to be opposites, but now are being put together.
So keep that in mind as well.
“In you do I take refuge. Save me from all my pursuers, and deliver me lest like a lion they tear my soul apart. Rending it in pieces with none to deliver.” (Psalm 7:1-2)
So obviously David is in trouble. What kind of trouble is he in? He was always in trouble and was complaining about something, and it was always something legitimate. He didn’t just make things up.
But now we see some confusion come in. Look at verse 3.
“Oh Adonai my God (יהוה אֱלֹהַי), if I have done this, if there is wrong in my hands, if I have repaid my friend with evil or plundered my enemy without cause, let the enemy justly pursue my soul and overtake it. Let him trample my life to the ground and lay my glory in the dust.” (Psalm 7:3-5)
So David doesn’t seem to even be quite sure if he’s actually guilty of a wrong or not. He seems a little confused.
Have I made a mistake? Some of the classical rabbis think this is called a shegyon because it seems to mean mistake because David thinks he may have made a mistake. And if he has made this profound, serious mistake, then let punishment come his way.
But remember, shegyon, shega (שָׁגָה) can also mean confusion. And he’s a little confused. We’ve all been there.
Something seems to be coming against us. We’re feeling guilty about something, then we wonder, should I be feeling guilty? Did I do something wrong?
If I did, what was it? What should I have done differently? And sometimes guilt is legitimate.
Sometimes it’s a tool that the enemy uses. He loves to pile on guilt where there is none. And he likes to make us not feel guilty when we should.
So David is in this place. Have I done this wrong thing or not? So let’s go on.
Now we get to verses 6 and 7. You’ll notice the dotted line I put vertically along these two verses. And this is a convention I’m going to begin using in these Psalm studies when we come to a passage where the Hebrew is particularly difficult and the translation is uncertain.
And this is one of those occasions.
“Arise Adonai in your anger…” (Psalm 7:6a)
That word arise, I’ve put it in red, though we’re not going to take time to look at the Hebrew word itself. It’s the word kuma (קוּמָה), arise. And when a Jewish person who’s raised in synagogue and if you’ve been to a Torah service, you’ve heard this word a couple of times, I’m sure.
Whenever the ark is opened and the Torah scroll is about to be removed, they read this passage from the book of Numbers. And it says:
“And whenever the ark set out, Moses said, kuma Adonai (קוּמָה יהוה), arise Adonai, let your enemies be scattered and let those who hate you flee from before you.” (Numbers 10:35)
So when we see this word kuma, to rise up, it means God, rise up, take action and defend me, exonerate me. And that’s the word being used here. We will encounter it again in the Psalms as we go through.
“Arise in your anger, lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies.” (Psalm 7:6)
Now right there, we don’t know if it’s the fury of his enemies or God’s fury against his enemies. Some translations put it one way, some the other. So lift yourself up in your fury against my enemies or lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies. You pick, or maybe it’s both.
“And awaken on my behalf the judgment you have decreed.” (Psalm 7:6b)
Now, this judgment you have decreed is David’s reference to what is called in Hebrew the mishpat katuv (מִשְׁפָּט כָּתוּב), the mishpat katuv, the judgment that has been written. There is a theme in scripture, and you find it all through the Bible, through the Torah, all the way through the book of Revelation, that there is this awareness that there is a judgment to come, a judgment that has been decreed.
In fact, Messiah tells us that it was imperative that he leave, and when he left, he would send the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit would do three things. It would convict the world of sin, that there is sin in their lives and in the world; of righteousness, that there is a standard of righteousness, and a judgment to come, hardwired into every human being’s very spirit and soul.
This awareness, there is sin, and there is a standard of righteousness, and I’ve got to give an account of my life someday. And people may try to deny this, they may choose atheism because they’re trying to resist this reality, but this is the work of the Spirit in every human being’s life, that it’s convicting people of these three things.
But also, we find in Deuteronomy near the end of the Torah, and God speaks:
“For I lift up my hand to heaven and swear as I live forever, if I sharpen my flashing sword and my hand takes hold on judgment, I will take vengeance on my adversaries and will repay those who hate me.”(Deuteronomy 32:40-41)
So there it’s written, God is going to take action someday. In fact, back in Psalm 2, in verse 9, you may recall, where God is speaking through David and says:
“You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” (Psalm 2:9)
And near the end of Psalms, in Psalm 149, verse 9, one of the things that David wants God to do is to execute on them the judgment that is written, the mishpat katuv.
And so David is saying, Lord, it may not be judgment day yet, but would you draw on the account? Would you bring some judgment now against these enemies of mine?
“And let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you. Over it, return on high.” (Psalm 7:7)
Now the word for peoples here is not the normal, usual word for peoples, amim (עַמִּים). We’ll see that in the next verse, I believe. But here is the word le’om (לְאֹם). And it’s in the plural form, which would be le’umim (לְאֻמִּים). And it’s kind of a poetic way of referring to the peoples.
So the question here is, usually when the scripture is referred to the peoples, it’s referring to the nations, the Gentiles. But this can also refer not only to the Gentiles, but to the gathering of the Jewish people. We don’t know which.
So let the assembly of the le’umim, the peoples, be gathered about you. Over it, return on high. What does that mean? That’s kind of cryptic.
Well, I do know that if you want to see God step out of hiding and take some action in the world, there is one of two occasions where he will do that. One is when you have a large group of wicked people join together. You can kind of expect God to show up and do something, especially if they’re gathered together to oppose him and to do something really horrible.
I think of the showdown with the priests of Baal that Elijah had on top of Mount Carmel. There was a large gathering of very wicked people, and God certainly did show up. On the other hand, when you have a large gathering of very righteous people, God’s people, godly people, God will often show up.
And of course, the greatest example of that is at Mount Sinai when the twelve tribes, the mixed multitude, are all gathered at the foot of the mountain. And did God ever show up on that day, on that Shavuot, that first Pentecost?
So whether it’s wicked people gathering together or righteous people gathering together, somehow over it, God returns on high. Over it, God is elevated. God shows that He is on the throne. It’s kind of a vague allusion to this, but that’s the best I could come up with.
And it’s also kind of what many of the rabbis have come up with as well. And I’m not as wise and smart as they are. But again, very cryptic, thus the vertical red dashed line. We’re not sure if we’re translating this exactly or not. I can assure you that I’m not.
Verses 8 through 11.
“Adonai judges the peoples.” (Psalm 7:8a)
Now, there’s the normal day word for peoples. And the word judges here and here. I put them in bold red because we want to look at those words.
And here they are. There are two different words for judge.
The first word is from the root din (דִּין). Din is the word that’s the root of Daniel’s name. Dani-el (דָּנִיֵּאל), judge of God or God’s judge.
And the tribe of Dan (דָּן) derives its name from this word din to judge. And what it means is to pass sentence. It’s to determine the truth or falsehood of a situation or the quality of a situation.
In orthodox communities even today, that community will have what’s called a beit din (בֵּית דִּין), a place of din, of judgment. And when there’s an issue in the community, the two parties can come before the beit din, present their cases, and the beit din takes a neutral view. They don’t favor one or the other, but they’ll listen to the cases and the evidence, and they will decide which one’s true, which one’s false, which one deserves one thing, which one deserves another.
And they will then make a decree. That’s what din means, to take in the evidence and then to speak forth the decree and the judgment.
The second judge is though, is from the word shafat (שָׁפַט). Shafat is to enforce a judgment. In the book of Judges, this is the word that gives the book its name. Shoftim (שׁוֹפְטִים).
These are judges who not only can do din, but they can enforce the decision. So, what David is saying is Adonai judges the people. He looks, he decides what’s what.
Who’s the sheep? Who’s the goats? And then he says:
“Judge me Adonai according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me.” (Psalm 7:8b)
In other words, carry out your sentence, whether it’s a sentence of bringing correction to my life or whether it’s recognizing I’m righteous and acknowledging that and exonerating me in the eyes of the people. But one way or the other, Father, make it clear which one I am.
So, judge me Adonai according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me.
“Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end.” (Psalm 7:9a)
And I say amen to that.
“And may you establish the righteous.” (Psalm 7:9b)
So, apparently by verse 8, David has decided that, you know what? I’ve often been wrong, but this time I’m not. The confusion has dissipated and I realize that what I did was the right thing.
So, Father, please come and make that clear to everyone. So, may you establish the righteous.
“You who test the hearts and kidneys.” (Psalm 7:9c)
Now, what your translation probably says here is test the minds and hearts. They translate the word hearts as minds, but that second word is the word kidneys. And they translate that as hearts. What’s going on here?
The Hebrew word for mind is the word lev (לֵב), which is heart. I don’t think anywhere in the Bible, I could be wrong, but I don’t think there’s any place where it refers to a person’s mind, at least in the Hebrew scriptures. When it does, when you look at the Hebrew, it’s always the word heart, lev.
It talks about how a man thinks in his lev, in his heart. And the heart, though the Bible recognizes it as the pump that makes the blood go around, it also recognizes the heart represents the internal man. Because who you really are is who you are in here.
And of course, the rabbis, the writers of the Bible, the Hebrew scriptures recognize we have a brain and we have thoughts, but it talks about the thoughts of the heart. Because we as human beings really don’t run on pure logic. We just don’t.
What we will do, we’ll apply our logic according to the direction of our heart. So you can have two brilliant men with IQs through the roof, but if one’s wicked, he’ll use his IQ to justify what he wants to do in his heart. And the righteous man will use his IQ to justify and perform the righteousness in his heart.
But as much as we may boast that we live according to science, we live according to logic, we really don’t. And I think in the recent events in the world, we’ve seen that science may not lie, but scientists do. And so we need to be very careful.
We need to be very careful and exercise discretion and discernment. So he says, you who test the hearts, okay, and the kidneys, what does it mean to test the kidneys?
Well, there are a couple theories, a couple beliefs in Hebraic thought.
One is that the heart represents the higher emotions, the more elevated emotions, whereas the kidneys represent the more physical urges. Just as the heart is above the kidneys, you have higher emotions, you have lower drives. That may be an application. I won’t say it isn’t.
But other rabbis who understand human physiology say that the purpose of the kidneys is to purify the blood. The kidneys basically are blood filters.
And the blood pumps through the body bringing oxygen and nutrients to the cells, but also carries away waste. And as the blood flows to the kidneys, the waste is then separated from the blood and then is eliminated from the body. And then the healthy part of the blood goes on through to continue its mission in the body.
And so we can have our hearts, our emotions, and our thinking to a degree. We also have the kidneys. We have that part of our inner being that is to filter out the truth from the lies.
We have signals coming in to our minds, into our hearts, if you will, all the time. We have signals from the spiritual realm. Some of those signals come from the realm of light and holiness and righteousness.
These are Messiah’s voice. These are the thin whisperings of God’s Spirit. On the other hand, we have the enemy speaking lies to us all the time.
Not only through our own imaginations, but through the culture, the music, the billboards, the news. And we have all these thoughts bombarding us. And we need to have healthy spiritual kidneys so we can separate the true from the false.
What is of light and what is of darkness. And Paul discusses this in 2 Corinthians chapter 10. He says:
“We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Messiah.” (2 Corinthians 10:5)
This is a healthy spiritual kidney function that Paul is describing. We take every thought captive. We take every single thing captive that comes into our minds and we filter it.
Should this be eliminated or should this be allowed to operate in our hearts and minds and our bodies? So God tests all of these. And there’s so much more we can say about this.
And we’ll come across this phrase many times yet. So we’ll talk about it more each time we come across it. So you who test the hearts and kidneys, oh righteous God:
“My shield is with God who saves the upright in heart.” (Psalm 7:10)
And there’s the word heart again.
“God is a righteous judge and a God who feels indignation every day.” (Psalm 7:11)
Some translations say that he feels anger every day. And being the God that he is, a God of utter righteousness, utter holiness, of a God who is love, he has to feel anger every day. When he looks at what we have done to his world, and more importantly than that, to one another, how could he not be angry? The most loving and patient parent in the world must be capable of anger or else it’s not really love.
So God is angry every day. But here’s the good news. We know that his anger lasts but a moment. And in Psalm 30 verse 5 says:
“For his anger is but for a moment, (Psalm 30:5)
just for a second, just for a second. And it’s over. In other words, God can see everything’s going on in the world is just this little blip, this little tick of anger. But he, it’s like not time yet. It’s not time to unleash my judgment of the world. But it’s always just kind of there because he hates it when he sees the innocent damaged, when he sees children harmed and neglected, when he sees unrighteous people, liars getting away, at least they appear to get away with their wicked deeds.
And when he sees people who are righteous and true being downtrodden, when he sees people who are starving, he has to have some anger at that. But he keeps it under control. Nowhere in Scripture is God called an angry God, though he certainly is capable of anger, and his anger is on display in various places in the Scriptures.
But Paul refers to God as the blessed God, and that word for blessed is the word that can be translated happy. Like when Yeshua says:
“Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8)
The word blessed is not blessed, it’s the word ashrei (אַשְׁרֵי), happy.
And it’s believed that this is what Paul is saying, that God is the happy God. After all, isn’t joy a fruit of God’s Spirit? If it’s a fruit of his Spirit, it means it’s something that he has all the time.
He’s a joyful, happy God, but he gets ticked. And I like that word tick, because the tick is just a very brief second, but he’s ticked at what he sees going on in the world. And the day will come when enough is enough, and he will show up, and he will be elevated on high, and he will bring his kingdom, and he’ll bring correction to this world.
Won’t that be a day to see?
There’s the word for kidneys, by the way. It’s the word kelayot (כְּלָיוֹת), kelayot. And I find it interesting that when you read through Leviticus, especially the first chapter, and on through about the sacrifices, that the kidneys are always put on the altar.
They’re always part of the sacrifice. So something to keep in mind.
And then we come to verses 12 through 16.
Now, verses 12 and 13, there is our vertical dotted line. This is difficult Hebrew, and it’s even difficult logic. Let me show you why.
Now, in the English Standard Version, the ESV, it says:
“If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword. He has bent and readied his bow.” (Psalm 7:12-13 ESV)
So the “his” here is considered to be referring to God. But the word God is not there in the Hebrew. It’s not there. So if a man does not repent, he will whet his sword. He has bent and readied his bow.
Most translations attribute the one who is sharpening his sword and bending his bow as referring to God. But God is not the one who is first mentioned. It’s the man who does not repent. So which is it?
Some translations, again, make it God, but there are some who say no, it’s referring to the wicked and unrepentant man.
Remember back at the beginning, Cush, the Benjamite, darkness, then there’s this one, this most elevated tribe. Let me ask you something. When we see the enemy at work, is God absent?
Or does God even use the wicked deeds of the enemy? For his own purposes? After all, God is God. Satan is not. And as I often say, Satan is just God’s sheepdog. Messiah is the shepherd.
We’re to follow him. But if we don’t stay close to the shepherd, we’ve got a sheepdog here in the back, nipping at our rears, causing us fear and terror and pain. And God uses even that to drive us closer to the shepherd.
So maybe we can look at this one sharpening his sword as the wicked man, intending to use it against us. But he doesn’t realize that when he sharpens his sword to use against us, God will use it against him. And that when the wicked man bends his bow to fire at us, he doesn’t realize that God is the one who’s bending that bow to fire at him.
And this is expressed in the rest of these verses here we have on the screen. Look what it says:
“He’s prepared for him his deadly weapons and making his arrows fiery shafts. Behold, the wicked man conceives evil and is pregnant with mischief and gives birth to lies. He makes a pit, digging it out, and falls into the hole that he has made. His mischief returns upon his own head and on his own skull his violence descends.” (Psalm 7:13-16)
So, let the wicked sharpen their swords. It makes it just all the easier for God to use them against them. Let them bend their bows. Let them dig their pits.
And even as it says in Proverbs, the wicked man will roll a rock downhill to the righteous man, but God will make it roll back uphill and crush the wicked man. And we see this all through Scripture.
One of my favorite examples, and maybe the one you’re thinking of, is in the Book of Esther, where the wicked Haman has his gallows built on which to hang the righteous Mordecai. Who gets hanged on the gallows? Not Mordecai, but Haman and his ten wicked sons.
And justice is always poetic, eventually. Eventually, in the end, it rhymes. And right is done, and wicked is removed from the earth.
So, we just need to be patient.
Now, you’ll see some words in red here. I just love the figures of speech being used here.
The wicked man, what does he do? He conceives evil, then he becomes pregnant with mischief, and then he gives birth to lies.
So whenever someone is producing a lot of lies, this is what they’re giving birth to in their lives. That means they are filled with mischief. They are bloated with mischief. And where did that mischief come from? Because they were conceiving evil.
It’s a fascinating progression, and one that I just had to draw our attention to.
So, we come down now to the conclusion of the psalm. And what is David’s conclusion?
“I will give to Adonai the thanks due to his righteousness. And I will sing praise to the name of Adonai El Elyon (עֶלְיוֹן), the Most High.” (Psalm 7:17)
So, I want to close with this, kind of where we started, with Cush, the Benjamite. This one whose name means deep darkness, and then the Benjamite. Binyamin (בִּנְיָמִין) means son of the right hand. And even in the naming of Benjamin, we see this principle of something that seems horrible and dark and painful, and seems like God’s million miles away. He’s really right there.
Because when Benjamin was born, Rachel died giving birth to him. And as Benjamin’s born, and she’s told you have a son, she realizes she’s dying. And so she names him Ben-oni (בֶּן־אוֹנִי), son of my sorrow.
But Jacob’s steps in and says no. Not Ben-oni, but Binyamin, son of the right hand. Now what is the right hand? Right hand is always the spiritual. Always the spiritual.
And so we even hear what seemed to be something so horrible, negative, and in one way it was. It’s redeemed and made something good.
And in this past week’s Torah portion and numbers, we read an interesting thing about Moses. We find it in Numbers chapter 12, verse one.
It says:
“Miriam and Aaron, now they’re Moses’ older sister and brother, spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman.” (Numbers 12:1)
Now, we know that he had a wife, Zipporah, who was a Midianite, but where did this Cushite woman come from? Josephus talks about it.
We’re not going to get to it here, but he had a second wife, a Cushite, a descendant of Cush, a descendant of Ham. He was married to her. So here’s the greatest prophet in the Hebrew scriptures, Moses, the one who spoke face to face with God, mouth to mouth, God spoke to him, the one through whom God gave the Torah.
So here’s Moses, and he marries a Cushite, and the two become one.
And then when Aaron and Miriam complain about this, God shuts them down, and he strikes Miriam with leprosy. And the movement of Israel in the wilderness is delayed for a whole week while she’s outside the camp, going through her purification process. God took it very seriously when they spoke against Moses’ wife, even though she was a Cushite.
I think the psalm comes down to this, that even in the darkness, though there’s no darkness in God whatsoever, we’re told that he can dwell in the darkness, in the thick darkness (cf. Psalm 18:11).
Isaiah says:
“You are a God who hides himself, O God of Israel, Savior.” (Isaiah 45:15)
And so many times, we give praise to Satan by rehearsing Satan’s attributes, as if Satan is this opposite and equal God to our God.
That is wrong-headed thinking, folks. God’s the Creator. God is the only God.
And Satan is just a created being. Even Satan belongs to God. Even Satan has to go to God to get permission for the things he does.
Even Satan and his darkness and his lies serve some kind of purpose. Did you ever wonder how the serpent made its way into the Garden of Eden? Why did God allow that?
Because he did, you know.
Somehow he had a purpose. Somehow he always has a purpose.
So, Cush the Benjamite. Always think of that. Cush the Benjamite. And think of how God uses even the most negative things in the world to accomplish his purpose.
And the greatest example of this, of course, is the execution of our precious Messiah, the sinless one. There is no greater sin ever committed in the universe than that one. And yet there is no more powerful act of grace and goodness that was performed in the world more than what came out of that horrible sin.
So even the rejection and execution of our Messiah is what provided for a resurrection. You can’t have a resurrection without a death. Without a resurrection, we would still be dead in our sins.
We’d be forgiven, but we’d still be dead. But through the resurrection, salvation goes out to the world.
So if you can wrap your head around that, I guess you can wrap your head around Psalm 7, because I think that’s what Psalm 7 is getting to. Difficult Psalm, but it’s a difficult concept, isn’t it?
So I hope you’ll go through this Psalm again and take some time to meditate on it, and then apply it to your own life.
What are you going through right now that seems like hell? And remember that even fire is God’s vessel for bringing purification. And our God is a consuming fire.
So if you feel like you’re surrounded by fire, you’re actually being surrounded by God. So let God judge, let him do what he needs to do. And I promise you, when you come out the other end, you’ll never want to go back and do it again, but you’ll be glad that he operated in your life just the way he did.
So until next time in Psalm 8, I bid you goodbye and I wish you shalom. Shalom.
A Shigayon of David, which he sang to Adonai concerning the words of Cush, a Benjaminite.
שגיון (shigayon) = A musical instrument? A mistake? “Confusion”?
1-2 O Adonai my God, in You do I take refuge. Save me from all my pursuers and deliver me, lest like a lion they tear my soul apart, rending it in pieces, with none to deliver.
3-5 O Adonai my God, if I have done this, if there is wrong in my hands, 4 if I have repaid my friend with evil or plundered my enemy without cause, 5 let the enemy justly pursue my soul and overtake it and let him trample my life to the ground and lay my glory in the dust. [Selah]
6-7 Arise, Adonai, in Your anger. Lift Yourself up against the fury of my enemies and awaken on my behalf the judgment You have decreed. 7 Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about You. Over it return on high.
8-11 Adonai judges the peoples. Judge me, Adonai, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me. 9 Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, and may You establish the righteous – You who test the hearts and kidneys, O righteous God! 10 My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart. 11 God is a righteous Judge, and a God who feels indignation every day.
דין (din) = “judge” (passing of a sentence)
שפט (shaphat) = “judge”(enforcement of a judgment)
כליות (ce’laiyot) = “kidneys”
12-16 If a man does not repent, [God?] will whet his sword; he has bent and readied his bow. 13 He has prepared for him his deadly weapons, making His arrows fiery shafts. 14 Behold, the wicked man (a) conceives evil and is (b) pregnant with mischief and (c) gives birth to lies. 15 He makes a pit, digging it out, and falls into the hole that he has made. 16 His mischief returns upon his own head, and on his own skull his violence descends.
17 I will give to Adonai the thanks due to His righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of Adonai, the Most High.
REFERENCES:
Attribution
Habakkuk 3:1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth.
Philippians 3:4-5 … If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Torah, a Pharisee.
Numbers 12:1 Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman.
Verses 6-7
Numbers 10:35 And whenever the ark set out, Moses said, “Arise, Adonai, and let Your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate You flee before You.”
Deuteronomy 32:40-41 “For I lift up My hand to heaven and swear, as I live forever, if I sharpen My flashing sword and My hand takes hold on judgment, I will take vengeance on My adversaries and will repay those who hate Me.”
Psalm 2:9 You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.
Psalm 149:9 …to execute on them the judgment written! This is honor for all His godly ones. Praise Adonai!
Verses 8-11
Genesis 42:15 “By this you shall be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here.”
Leviticus 3:4 And the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins, and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys.
2 Corinthians 10:5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Messiah.
Jeremiah 17:9 (KJV) The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Jeremiah 17:9 (ESV) The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
Jeremiah 17:9 (CLT) The heart is crooked above all things, and it is mortally ill. Who can know it?
Proverbs 16:4 Adonai has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.
Proverbs 22:14 The mouth of forbidden women is a deep pit; he with whom Adonai is indignant will fall into it.
Psalm 30:5 For His anger is but for a moment…
Exodus 23:22 “But if you carefully obey His voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.”