Psalms 7:7

King James Version (KJV)

So shall the congregation of the people compass thee about: for their sakes therefore return thou on high.

Adam Clarke
Bible Commentary

For their sakes therefore return thou on high - Thy own people who compass thy altar, the faithful of the land, are full of gloomy apprehensions. They hear the charges against me; and see how I am persecuted. Their minds are divided; they know not what to think. For their sakes, return thou on high - ascend the judgment-seat; and let them see, by the dispensations of thy providence, who is innocent and who is guilty. David feared not to make this appeal to God; for the consciousness of his innocence showed him at once how the discrimination would be made.

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Albert Barnes
Notes on the Whole Bible

So shall the congregation of the people compass thee about - That is, as the result of thy gracious interposition in defending the righteous, and in bringing just judgment on the wicked. The meaning is, that such an act would inspire confidence in him as a just and holy God, and that, as the result, his people would gather round him to express their gratitude, and to render him praise. In other words, every act of justice on the part of God - all hls interpositions to defend his people, and to maintain the principles of righteousness and truth - tend to inspire confidence in him, and to increase the number of his friends. The phrase “the congregation of the people,” here, does not necessarily refer to any “congregation,” or assembly as such, then existing; but it means that a great congregation - a great multitude - would thus encompass him, or that great numbers would worship him the result of his interposition. This the psalmist urges as a motive, or as a reason why God should interpose, that in this way the number of his worshippers would be greatly increased.

For their sakes - On their account; or to secure this result in regard to them.

Return thou on high - The most probable meaning of this is “ascend thy throne of justice, or thy judgment-seat;” spoken here either as a king ascending his elevated throne (compare Isaiah 6:1), or as ascending to heaven, the place where he dispensed justice. The “language” is as if he had come down from his throne - as if he had not been engaged in dispensing justice; and David now calls on him to reascend the throne, and to execute righteous judgment among men. The effect of this, he says, would be to secure the confidence of his people, and to increase the number of those who would worship him. Of course, this is not to be understood literally, but in a manner appropriate to the divine majesty. It is language, in this respect, similar to that which is elsewhere used, when the psalmist calls on God “to awake, to arise, to lift up himself.” See Psalm 7:6. Such language is easily understood; and language drawn from the common modes of speaking among men must be used when we speak of God. The whole idea in this passage is that God seemed to delay in the execution of his judgment, and the psalmist entreats him to hasten it.

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Matthew Henry
Concise Bible Commentary

David flees to God for succour. But Christ alone could call on Heaven to attest his uprightness in all things. All His works were wrought in righteousness; and the prince of this world found nothing whereof justly to accuse him. Yet for our sakes, submitting to be charged as guilty, he suffered all evils, but, being innocent, he triumphed over them all. The plea is, "For the righteous God trieth the hearts and the reins." He knows the secret wickedness of the wicked, and how to bring it to an end; he is witness to the secret sincerity of the just, and has ways of establishing it. When a man has made peace with God about all his sins, upon the terms of grace and mercy, through the sacrifice of the Mediator, he may, in comparison with his enemies, appeal to God's justice to decide.

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