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 prayer that leads to it
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.)
"Return on high"
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.
What the crowd becomes
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.
The wider reach
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.
Whether the prayer is ours
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.
Summary
- 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.