Arise, Jehovah, in thine anger; lift thyself up against the raging of mine oppressors, and awake for me thou hast commanded judgment.
David has just declared that he is innocent toward his enemies. Now he turns to God. He asks Him to rise up and act, and to carry out a judgment God Himself has already ordered.
The appeal rests on what comes just before it. One writer ties the plea to God's government, and to how David had treated Saul:
Then comes his declaration of innocence toward these enemies. That matters enormously, given the way God governs the world. "With the measure you use it will be measured to you" is still true under the reign of grace itself, and it was the lips of perfect grace that said it. … Happy, then, are those who can plead what the psalmist pleads here: nothing provoked the enemy's malice. As far as he is concerned, there are no debts to settle. In fact, he can say more than this. We can see David's conduct toward Saul behind the words here — he can say, "I have delivered him who without cause oppressed me."
He does not ask God to invent a verdict, but to carry out one already ordered:
(vv. 6-7) Basing his appeal on the knowledge that God has commanded judgment for the wicked, the soul pleads that the time is ripe for God to act against the raging of His enemies, and for the sake of God's persecuted people. As a result Jehovah would dwell among a praising people.
The words ask God to take His throne and judge in the open. The same writer describes the scene, and the form the answer takes:
Now he breaks out in an eager prayer for Jehovah to come in. He asks Him to set up His throne in judgment, gather the nations round Him, and in that great assembly judge his cause openly and do him right. In fact, this is what will happen at the close of the period the psalm looks forward to. But the judgment will not be a courtroom session. It will be an outbreak of divine wrath, like the flash of the storm that the Lord Himself uses as a picture of His coming. (Matt. 24:27.)
The psalm reaches past David's own crisis. One hunted man's cry becomes the voice of the faithful few left among God's people, and the answer reaches the nations:
Psalm 7 appeals to Jehovah on the ground that the godly have dealt righteously, and more than righteously, with their enemies. It asks that Jehovah may arise and awake to the judgment He has commanded. In this way, by delivering the remnant through judgment, the assembly of the various nations of the earth would gather around Him. He would then judge the peoples, which brings out the future judgment.
The claim in this verse is just. Yet Christ, who had every right to make it, did not:
So in Psalm 7 Christ pleads among the people in His righteousness. He calls on Jehovah to awake to the judgment He has commanded, and to lift Himself up in anger against the rage of His enemies. Christ, as He was, did not do this and could not. He did the opposite, for higher and more glorious reasons, and the Church cannot do it now either. … Yet the Spirit of Christ knew full well His right to this righteous vengeance. But He had a higher work to do. He could have asked His Father and received twelve legions of angels. But the scriptures had to be fulfilled. … He had come to save men's lives, not to destroy them; and He prayed for His ignorant enemies.
Some have tried to soften prayers like this. They turn the commands into predictions: "they shall be confounded" instead of "let them be confounded." One writer answers the man who proposed that change:
He has to admit that the New Testament keeps the command form, instead of changing it into the future. … But the criticism is as bad as the doctrine. The wording stands the same in Hebrew as in English, and in every other language. It is the difference in divine dealing which clears it all up without violence. When God is judging enemies as He did of old and will again, His people share in it in measure. Now He is displaying sovereign grace, and another spirit of action suits them.
- Cause. The prayer follows a protest of innocence. Nothing provoked the hatred against him, and his own restraint toward Saul makes the plea honest.
- Commanded. He does not ask God to decide, but to act. The judgment is already ordered, and he pleads that the time has come.
- Arising. God's answer is not a quiet courtroom session. It is a sudden outbreak, like the flash of a storm, as He sets up His throne in the open.
- Reach. The deliverance of the few draws in the many; the nations end up gathered around the God who judged for His people.
- Restraint. Christ knew His right to this vengeance and refused it, praying for His enemies instead. The psalm stands unchanged, but a different spirit suits those living under grace.
And the assembly of the peoples shall encompass thee; and for their sakes return thou on high.
The verse sits inside a prayer for God to rise and act on the judgment He has commanded. Why does it end with God going back up on high, instead of staying with the people He rescues?
The gathering described here is not a separate scene. It is what the requested judgment produces.
Psalm 7 appeals to Jehovah. Its ground is the righteous, more than righteous, way the godly have dealt with their enemies. It asks that Jehovah may arise and awake to the judgment He has commanded. In this way, by delivering the remnant through judgment, the assembly of the various nations of the earth would gather around Him. He would then judge the peoples, and so bring out the future judgment plainly.
The remnant means the faithful few in Israel who hold to God when most have turned away.
One writer hears the prayer as a call for a public trial, then corrects the picture of how it will happen.
Now he breaks out in an eager prayer. He asks Jehovah to come in, to set up His throne in judgment, and to gather the nations around Him. There, in that great assembly, he asks Him to judge his cause in the open and give him justice. In fact, this is what will take place at the close of the period the psalm looks ahead to. But the judgment will not be a formal court session. It will be a burst of divine wrath, like the flash of a storm — the picture the Lord Himself uses for His coming. (Matt. 24:27.)
The second half of the verse asks God to go back up. Commentators read this as God resuming His throne.
He is clear of every charge the enemy could bring against him. So he cries, "Arise, O Jehovah, in Your anger; lift Yourself up against the fury of my enemies; awake for me to the judgment You have commanded. Then the assembly of the peoples will gather around You. For their sakes, return on high" — that is, take Your place again on Your heavenly throne.
The phrase "for their sakes" makes the ascent a benefit to the very people gathered below. One writer links this to something Jesus told His disciples before He left them.
But when the Lord does arise and come to His people, the assembly of the people will surround Him in worship and adoration. He will not remain on the earth. That is why the psalm says, "For their sakes, therefore, return on high" (v. 7). The Lord Jesus went up to heaven after His resurrection, just as He had told His disciples beforehand: "I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away" (John 16:7). In the same way, it will be to Israel's advantage that He returns on high and governs from that place of perfect truth.
The assembly is not just a crowd watching a trial. The judgment changes what God has around Him.
(vv. 6-7) He appeals on the ground that God has commanded judgment for the wicked. So the soul pleads that the time is ripe for God to act against the raging of His enemies, and to act for the sake of His persecuted people. As a result Jehovah would dwell in the midst of a praising people.
Some read the psalm as the voice of the Messiah, called Immanuel below, and hear a shift at this point from His own case to the case of His people.
In verses 6, 7, and 9, the personal voice of the Messiah is less clearly marked than in the verses before. These verses seem instead to express the desires of His Spirit for the suffering people of Immanuel. Their final blessing can only come when Jehovah rises up and shakes the earth with terrible power. Messiah is now at the right hand of God, waiting until His enemies are made a footstool for His feet (Heb. 10:13). No truth is more important than this for understanding the Psalms correctly… Verse 7 declares the result of that judgment: the whole world's submission to Jehovah and His Christ.
The psalm asks God to act against enemies. One writer is careful about how a Christian uses it.
At the present time this is not our prayer. As long as the day of grace lasts, we should pray for our enemies.
- Cry. The verse begins in a plea for God to rise and carry out the judgment He has already commanded.
- Gathering. That judgment gathers the nations around Him, and the whole world submits to Jehovah and His Christ.
- Ascent. "Return on high" asks God to take His heavenly throne again, and the psalm says it is for their sakes.
- Praise. The end is not just silenced enemies. It is Jehovah living among a people who praise Him.
- Restraint. While the day of grace lasts, the call for judgment is not the Christian's prayer; we pray for our enemies instead.