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Psalm 7:7 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)
7 Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you;
and over it return on high.
In this verse, the Psalmist is praying for God to bring an end to the wickedness of those who do evil and to establish the righteous. The Psalmist acknowledges that God is a righteous God who tests the hearts and minds of people to see whether they are truly righteous or not. The Psalmist is confident that God will act justly and bring an end to the wickedness of the wicked while establishing and protecting the righteous.
Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you. 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 around him to express their gratitude and to render him praise. In other words, every act of justice on the part of God—all his 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 as 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 worshipers would be greatly increased.
And over it return 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 Isa. 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 verse 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.
By Albert Barnes and Edward D. Andrews
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