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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Psalms 7:11 - 7:11
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(Heb.: 7:12-14) If God will in the end let His wrath break forth, He will not do it without having previously given threatenings thereof every day, viz., to the ungodly, cf. Isa 66:14; Mal 1:4. He makes these feel His זַעַם beforehand in order to strike a wholesome terror into them. The subject of the conditional clause אִם־לֹא יָשׁוּב is any ungodly person whatever; and the subject of the principal clause, as its continuation in Psa 7:14 shows, is God. If a man (any one) does not repent, then Jahve will whet His sword (cf. Deu 32:41). This sense of the words accords with the connection; whereas with the rendering: “forsooth He (Elohim) will again whet His sword” (Böttch., Ew., Hupf.) יָשׁוּב, which would moreover stand close by יִלְטֹושׁ (cf. e.g., Gen 30:31), is meaningless; and the אִם־לֹא of asseveration is devoid of purpose. Judgment is being gradually prepared, as the fut. implies; but, as the perff. imply, it is also on the other hand like a bow that is already strung against the sinner with the arrow pointed towards him, so that it can be executed at any moment. כֹּונֵן of the making ready, and הֵכִין of the aiming, are used alternately. לֹו, referring to the sinner, stands first by way of emphasis as in Gen 49:10; 1Sa 2:3, and is equivalent to אֵלָיו, Eze 4:3. “Burning” arrows are fire-arrows (זִקִּים, זִיקֹות, malleoli); and God's fire-arrows are the lightnings sent forth by Him, Psa 18:15; Zec 9:14. The fut. יִפְעָל denotes the simultaneous charging of the arrows aimed at the sinner, with the fire of His wrath. The case illustrated by Cush is generalised: by the sword and arrows the manifold energy of the divine anger is symbolised, and it is only the divine forbearance that prevents it from immediately breaking forth. The conception is not coarsely material, but the vividness of the idea of itself suggests the form of its embodiment.