The Book of Psalms

Word Study

"preserve," Hebrew tintzor (תִּנְצֹר), guard, keep. David's response to the assault is instructive: he does not sharpen his own tongue in return but asks God to mount a guard over him, "preserve my life from fear of the enemy." When the weapons are secret words, the truest defence is not a counter-attack but the God who sees in secret.

"secret counsel," sod (סוֹד). The word is of a close, confidential circle and the whispering that goes on inside it. The plot is laid in the dark, out of sight, where the victim cannot answer or defend himself.

"whet," shannenu (שָׁנְנוּ), sharpen. The enemies fight not with steel but with speech, and they prepare their speech as a soldier prepares a blade. A sharpened tongue can wound and ruin as surely as a blade cuts flesh.

"their tongue," leshonam (לְשׁוֹנָם). "Who whet their tongue like a sword." This is the weapon of the whole psalm: slander, false accusation, poisonous rumour. We are tempted to dismiss words as harmless; Scripture never does.

"arrows, even bitter words," davar mar (דָּבָר מָר). The ammunition, fitted to the bow. The words are not merely untrue but bitter, chosen for the pain they will cause when they land.

"shoot in secret," bammistarim (בַּמִּסְתָּרִים). Their tactic is ambush, and this is what makes the attack so cowardly. They comfort themselves that no one is watching, "Who shall see them?" (v5), and so they shoot without fear.

"the perfect," tam (תָּם), the blameless. And notice the target: "That they may shoot in secret at the perfect." The arrows are aimed at one who has given no cause, the innocent struck from the dark by men who "fear not."

Explanation

The whole terror of these verses is that the weapon is words. David does not describe swords of iron or literal arrows; he describes a tongue "whet... like a sword" and "bitter words" fitted to the bow like arrows. This is warfare by speech, slander, false accusation, poisonous rumour, and the psalm treats it with deadly seriousness, as a real assault on a real life, "preserve my life from fear of the enemy." We are tempted to dismiss words as harmless ("sticks and stones"), but Scripture never does; a sharpened tongue can wound, ruin, and kill a reputation as surely as a blade cuts flesh. And notice the three things that make this attack so cowardly. First, it is secret: "the secret counsel of the wicked... they shoot in secret," plotted in the dark, out of sight, where the victim cannot answer or defend. Second, it is aimed at the innocent: they "shoot in secret at the perfect", the blameless, one who has given no cause. Third, it is shameless: "suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not", they feel no dread of God or man, and they comfort themselves that no one is watching, "Who shall see them?" (v5). It is the very portrait of the anonymous slander, the whispered campaign, the ambush of the tongue. And David's response is instructive: he does not sharpen his own tongue in return; he takes the whole matter to God, "Hide me." When the weapons are secret words, the truest defence is not a counter-attack but the God who sees in secret.

Gospel Focus

"Who whet their tongue like a sword... that they may shoot in secret at the perfect", these words found their deepest fulfilment against the only truly "perfect" One, the Lord Jesus Christ, at whom the sharpened tongues of men were aimed. False witnesses whetted their tongues against Him, who "sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death" (Matthew 26:59); He was wounded with "bitter words," mocked, slandered, and condemned by lying lips, though He was the blameless One who had given no cause. Yet, like David, "when he was reviled, reviled not again" (1 Peter 2:23); He answered the sword of the tongue not with counter-slander but by committing Himself to the God who judges righteously. And this is a comfort to every believer wounded by the tongue: your Saviour has felt those same arrows, and deeper. He knows the ambush of secret words, and He is "touched with the feeling of our infirmities" (Hebrews 4:15). So when bitter words are shot at you from the dark, do not fear, and do not sharpen your own tongue in return; take it, as David did and as Christ did, to the God who sees in secret and repays. The tongue may be whetted like a sword, but the One who bore its worst is with you, and He will vindicate His own.

Word Study

"but God," Hebrew vayyorem Elohim (וַיֹּרֵם אֱלֹהִים), and God shoots at them. The whole psalm pivots on two words: "But God." Up to this point the wicked have held the bows; now the archer changes, and everything changes with Him.

"an arrow," chetz (חֵץ). The wicked shot their arrows of bitter words; now "God shall shoot at them with an arrow", and the mirror is exact. God answers them in their own coin, with the very weapon they chose.

"suddenly," pit'om (פִּתְאוֹם). They struck "suddenly" (v4), counting on surprise to catch the innocent off guard. The very "suddenly" they relied on becomes the "suddenly" of their own undoing.

"wounded," makkotam (מַכּוֹתָם). "Suddenly shall they be wounded." The secret shooters are shot; the ones who struck are struck, and the roles reverse point for point.

"their own tongue," leshonam (לְשׁוֹנָם). The sharpest stroke of all uses the same word as verse 3. The weapon they whetted recoils on the ones who wielded it; the tongue whetted like a sword cuts, in the end, the hand that holds it.

"to fall upon themselves," alemo (עָלֵימוֹ), against themselves. "They shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves." This is a settled principle of God's moral order: the pit men dig, they fall into; God does not always need a separate thunderbolt to judge the wicked, He often simply lets their own weapon swing back.

Explanation

Watch how precisely God answers the wicked in their own coin, for the poetic justice is deliberate and exact. In verses 3-4 the enemies were the archers: they "bend their bows to shoot their arrows," and they "shoot in secret," striking "suddenly." Now, in verse 7, the roles reverse point for point: "But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded." The secret shooters are shot; the ones who struck suddenly are suddenly struck. The very "suddenly" they relied on to catch the innocent off guard becomes the "suddenly" of their own undoing. And the sharpest stroke of all is in verse 8: "they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves." The weapon they whetted, the tongue, recoils and destroys the ones who wielded it. This is a settled principle of God's moral order, written all through Scripture: the pit men dig, they fall into; the stone they roll, returns upon them; "he made a pit... and is fallen into the ditch which he made" (Psalm 7:15). The slanderer is finally undone by his own slanders; the lie collapses and buries the liar. And notice that God does not always need a separate thunderbolt to judge the wicked, He often simply lets their own weapon swing back. The tongue whetted like a sword cuts, in the end, the hand that holds it. So the slandered believer need not fashion revenge; the God who sees will let the arrow return to the bow, and "all that see them shall flee away," awed at the reversal.

Gospel Focus

"But God shall shoot at them with an arrow", the great "But God" of this psalm is the same turning-point that runs through the whole gospel, supremely at the cross of Jesus Christ. The wicked laid their deepest plot against the Son of God, whetting their tongues, bearing false witness, nailing Him up; it looked like their triumph. But God: "him... ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: whom God hath raised up" (Acts 2:23-24). The plot recoiled upon its makers, for by the very cross they meant for His destruction, Christ "spoiled principalities and powers... triumphing over them in it" (Colossians 2:15); the weapon of the enemy became the instrument of his defeat. This is God's way, to let evil overreach and destroy itself, and to bring life out of the plot meant for death. So the believer wronged by secret words rests in a God who specializes in the "But God," who turns the enemy's own tongue against himself, and who has already won the decisive reversal in Christ. "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord" (Romans 12:19); leave the arrow with Him. The God who raised Jesus from the plot of the wicked will vindicate all who are His, and every whetted tongue will, at the last, fall upon its own head.

Word Study

"all men shall fear," Hebrew vayyire'u kol-adam (וַיִּירְאוּ כָּל־אָדָם). The reversal does not stay private; it preaches. The very people who watched the ambush now watch the collapse, and they walk away with a sober dread of a God who cannot be mocked.

"declare," vayyaggidu (וַיַּגִּידוּ). The onlookers do not merely feel something, they tell it. God's vindication of the innocent is never merely private; it is a public sermon, a demonstration in real history that He sees and repays.

"the work of God," po'al Elohim (פֹּעַל אֱלֹהִים). What had looked like the triumph of cunning evil turns out to be a lesson in the government of God. The story they now have to tell is not about David's escape but about God's doing.

"wisely consider," hiskilu (הִשְׂכִּילוּ), understand, ponder. "For they shall wisely consider of his doing." The event is not merely startling but instructive; it is meant to be turned over and thought through until the world learns to reverence Him.

"glad," yismach (יִשְׂמַח). See the two very different harvests the same event produces. The crowd is moved to fear; but "the righteous shall be glad in the LORD, and shall trust in him." What terrifies the ungodly comforts God's people and deepens their trust.

"glory," yithhallelu (יִתְהַלְלוּ). The upright glory, but not in themselves. The psalm that began with a frightened man praying "preserve my life from fear of the enemy" ends with the righteous glorying in the LORD.

Explanation

Notice what God accomplishes through the whole affair, for it is more than the rescue of one man. When the secret plot collapses and the wicked are caught in their own tongue, the result ripples outward: "all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God." The very people who watched the ambush now watch the reversal, and it teaches them something, they "wisely consider of his doing." What had looked like the triumph of cunning evil turns out to be a lesson in the government of God, and the onlookers walk away with a healthy fear of Him and a story to tell about His work. God's vindication of the innocent is never merely private; it is a public sermon, a demonstration in real history that He sees and repays, meant to teach the whole world to reverence Him. And see the two very different harvests the same event produces. The wicked and the crowd are moved to fear, a sober dread of a God who cannot be mocked. But the righteous are moved to gladness: "The righteous shall be glad in the LORD, and shall trust in him." The same act of God that terrifies the ungodly comforts and gladdens His people, deepening their trust and giving them cause to "glory", not in themselves, but "in the LORD." So the psalm that began with a frightened man praying "preserve my life from fear" ends with the righteous glad and the whole world learning to fear God rightly. The secret arrow of the wicked becomes, in God's hands, a public testimony to His faithfulness.

Gospel Focus

"All men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God... The righteous shall be glad in the LORD", the vindication that preaches to the world and gladdens the faithful is fulfilled in the resurrection and triumph of Jesus Christ. When God raised His slandered, crucified Son, the greatest "work of God" was declared to the world, and it still is, wherever the gospel is preached, men are called to "wisely consider" His doing and to fear God. The cross and empty tomb are the ultimate public demonstration that God vindicates the righteous and overturns the plots of the wicked, and they produce the same two harvests: a sober reckoning for those who reject Him, "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:31), and unshakable gladness for those who trust Him, "we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement" (Romans 5:11). The believer's response to every one of God's righteous acts is David's, to be "glad in the LORD," to "trust in him," and to "glory", boasting not in ourselves but in the Lord, "he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord" (1 Corinthians 1:31). So let the work of God, above all His work in Christ, move you to reverent joy: be glad in the LORD, trust Him, and glory in the One who turns every dark plot into a testimony of His faithfulness.