Big Idea: While God’s justice is ultimately the solution to the problem of evil, evil also carries in itself the gene of self-destruction.

Understanding the Text

Psalm 7 is an individual lament, as are Psalms 3–6. The two ingredients that constitute this type of psalm are the lament and the reasons for lament.1 The lament is against David’s enemies, expressed in 7:1, 6, 14, 15, and 16. Whereas the innocence of Psalm 6 was more implied than explicit, here the psalmist is so convinced of his innocence that he establishes it by a threefold oath (7:3–5).

While we have made a case for Psalms 3–5 as “Absalom” psalms, the Absalom background is less demonstrable in Psalm 6, and this seems true also of Psalm 7. Twice in this psalm we have reference to an enemy’s pursuit of the psalmist (7:1-2, 5…