Somebody Else’s Mail (15)

Sometimes God gets angry. When his servants sin egregiously, even they may become the objects of his righteous and thoroughly justifiable anger:

“The Lord was angry with me because of you.”

“The Lord was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him.”

“The Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord.”

“He has cut down in fierce anger all the might of Israel; he has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob, consuming all around.”

But the consequences of God’s anger (not to mention its duration) are not always precisely the same.

Indignation and its Consequences

Moses lost the opportunity to enter Canaan, but God was with him subsequently and their fellowship restored. His prayers also preserved his brother Aaron, who continued in his priestly role despite making more than one terrible choice in the course of his service. In the case of Solomon’s sin, Israel suffered the loss of God’s protection for the first time in his glorious reign, but the king himself was personally untouched. And, while many Israelites experienced the indignation of God by going into captivity, he held back his anger against generations who themselves had richly deserved every punishment that was later inflicted on their children and grandchildren.

God displays his anger differently, in ways that are situationally appropriate and consistent with his sovereign government. Sometimes his anger is not evident to humanity at all. But make no mistake, it is there, even if it’s bubbling under the surface.

Psalm 7:6-7 — In the Hands of an Angry God

“Arise, O Lord, in your anger; lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies; awake for me; you have appointed a judgment. Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you; over it return on high.”

Arise

To this point, David’s appeal to the Lord has been entirely defensive: “save me”, “deliver me”. From verse 6 on he is looking for more than help from God in a crisis; he is looking for divine justice. He begins to invoke the righteousness of God, a feature of our Lord’s character that makes it impossible for him to overlook oppression and injustice indefinitely.

Others have pointed out the possible association in Psalm 7 between David’s prayer to the Lord to “Arise” and Moses’ request in Numbers 10:35: “Arise, O Lord, and let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee before you.” Same Hebrew word, it’s true, but I very much doubt there was a strong association in David’s mind with what Moses prayed every time Israel’s camp packed themselves up and set out into the wilderness. Yes, Moses could trust the Lord to scatter his enemies, and David was looking for something similar. But the word for “arise” that he uses is so common and generic (it occurs 628 times in the OT and is translated more than sixteen different ways) that I really doubt David made any such connection.

Could be. Maybe.

God Takes His Seat

The phrase “lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies” is ambiguous with respect to agency. That is to say, as Torah Today Ministries points out, that it may be an expression of David’s concern about the evil rage of his own enemies, or it may be an appeal to the Lord to display his righteous fury against David’s enemies. I tend to think the latter makes more sense in context.

Some commentators think David has more in view than justice merely for himself in this life; that he was previewing the end of all things and saw something foretelling the final judgment of the righteous and the wicked. Spurgeon, for one, thought David saw in his mind’s eye the Lord ascending to his judgment seat after a period of quiet to resume his final judgment of the world. Psalms.org says, “There is an eschatological component to his request.” I think this is probably true. The gathering of the “assembly of the peoples” certainly supports the idea of a larger judgment that concerns others. David goes on to say, “over it [the assembly of the peoples] return on high”, almost as if the great Judge of the universe has been taking a well-earned break and now resumes his seat on high.

Psalm 7:8-11 — A Righteous Judge

“The Lord judges the peoples; judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me. Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end, and may you establish the righteous — you who test the minds and hearts, O righteous God! My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart. God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day.”

Righteous and Righteousness

Righteous does as righteous is. Four of the five references to righteousness in Psalm 7 occur in these four verses: two to God’s righteousness and two to David’s. The Lord is a “righteous God”, which makes him a “righteous judge”, one whose verdicts and standards can be wholly relied upon because they proceed out of his own character, established to Israel and to David over centuries of covenant relationship. Having examined himself in the earlier verses of this psalm, David has the confidence to request of the Almighty that he too be evaluated “according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is within me”.

Why? Not because David imagines himself to have attained some overall standard of godly perfection, but because he knows he is entirely innocent of the specific accusations Cush has made against him. He is willing to have his innocence on all charges tested in the court of God. God, who tests minds and hearts, is in a unique position to “establish the righteous”. David believes he is among them.

Indignation Every Day

David tells us God’s righteous anger against the wicked is ongoing, even when the world remains completely unaware. “God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day.” Unadulterated righteousness will do that. I don’t feel indignation every day, but then I’m sadly far off God’s standard in that department. I also don’t see every transgression that occurs. God does. Imagine that. I also have no personal or emotional investment in most of the people on this planet, though perhaps I should. God absolutely does. Further, when I do see people sinning, I often cannot distinguish between ignorance and rebellion. God can and does. “He who teaches man knowledge knows the thoughts of man.”

That’s a lot to be angry about.