Psalm 7:15

He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(15) He hath made.—Better, he digged a pit, and hollowed it out. Milton: “He digged a pit, and delved it deep.”

(15) Pate.—A word retained from Coverdale’s translation, and common in the Elizabethan age. In Shakespeare it is frequent—

“My invention

Comes from my pate,

As bird-lime does from frieze.”

For the moral, comp. 1Samuel 25:29.

Psalm 7:15-16 are quoted by Eusebius of the overthrow of Maxentius by Constantine, with special reference to the fact that in preparing a bridge of boats he had prepared the means for his own destruction.

Benson Commentary

Psalm 7:15-16. He made a pit, &c. — This is a proverbial manner of speech often used in Scripture. It is taken from pits which are digged, and then covered with the leaves of trees, or some such unstable materials, either to make men fall into them, or else wild beasts, which are hunted into them. And is fallen into the ditch which he made — He hath brought that evil upon himself which he intended against others. His mischief shall return upon his own head — “All the world agrees to acknowledge the equity of that sentence which inflicts upon the guilty the punishment intended by them for the innocent. No one pities the fate of a man buried in that pit which he had dug to receive his neighbour; or of him who owes his death wound to the return of an arrow shot against heaven. Saul was overthrown by those Philistines whom he would have made the instruments of cutting off David. Haman was hanged on his own gallows. The Jews, who excited the Romans to crucify Christ, were themselves, by the Romans, crucified in crowds. Striking instances these of the vengeance to be one day executed on all tempters and persecutors of others; when men and angels shall lift up their voices and cry out together, ‘Righteous art thou, O Lord, and just are thy judgments.’“

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

7:10-17 David is confident that he shall find God his powerful Saviour. The destruction of sinners may be prevented by their conversion; for it is threatened, If he turn not from his evil way, let him expect it will be his ruin. But amidst the threatenings of wrath, we have a gracious offer of mercy. God gives sinners warning of their danger, and space to repent, and prevent it. He is slow to punish, and long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish. The sinner is described, ver. 14-16, as taking more pains to ruin his soul than, if directed aright, would save it. This is true, in a sense, of all sinners. Let us look to the Saviour under all our trials. Blessed Lord, give us grace to look to thee in the path of tribulation, going before thy church and people, and marking the way by thine own spotless example. Under all the persecutions which in our lesser trials mark our way, let the looking to Jesus animate our minds and comfort our hearts.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He made a pit - The allusion here is undoubtedly to a method of hunting wild beasts which was common in ancient times. It consists in digging a pit-fall, and covering it over with brush and grass so as to deceive the animals, and then enclosing them and driving them into it. See the notes at Isaiah 24:17.

And digged it - And hollowed it out so as to be large enough to contain his prey, and so deep that he could not escape if he fell into it. The idea is, that the enemy here referred to had laid a secret and artful plan to destroy others. He meant that they should not be aware of his plan until the mischief came suddenly upon them. He was preparing to ruin them, and supposed that he was certain of his prey.

And is fallen into the ditch which he made - Into the pit-fall which he had constructed for others; as if a man who had made a pit-fall for wild beasts had himself fallen into it, and could not extricate himself. That is, he had been snared in his own devices; his cunning had recoiled on himself, and instead of bringing ruin on others he had only managed to bring it on himself. See this sentiment illustrated in the notes at Job 5:13. A remarkable instance of the kind may be found in Esther (Esther 5-7), in the case of Haman. Indeed, such things are not uncommon in the world, where the cunning and the crafty are involved in the consequences of their own plans, and are taken in meshes from which they cannot free themselves. A straightforward course is easy, and men are safe in it; but it requires more skill than most men are endowed with to manage a crooked and crafty policy safely, or so as to be safe themselves in pursuing such a course. A spider will weave a web for flies with no danger to himself, for he is made for that, and acts as if he understood all the intricacies of his own web, and may move safely over it in every direction; but man was made to accomplish his purposes in an open and upright way, not by fraud and deceit; hence, when he undertakes a tortuous and crooked course - a plan of secret and scheming policy - in order to ruin others, it often becomes unmanageable by his own skill, or is suddenly sprung upon himself. No one can overvalue a straightforward course in its influence on our ultimate happiness; no one can overestimate the guilt and danger of a crooked and secret policy in devising plans of evil.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

15, 16. 1Sa 18:17; 31:2 illustrate the statement whether alluded to or not. These verses are expository of Ps 7:14, showing how the devices of the wicked end in disappointment, falsifying their expectations.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Hath brought that evil upon himself which he intended against me; which may be understood either of Saul, who whilst he plotted against David’s life ran into apparent hazard of losing his own, 1Sa 24 1 Samuel 26; or of some courtier or courtiers of Saul, in whom this was evidently verified, although the history and memory of it be now lost.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

He made a pit and digged it,.... That is, he digged a pit, and made it very large and capacious, to answer his purposes;

and is fallen into the ditch which he made; so it is said of the Heathen, Psalm 9:15; and is exemplified in the case of Haman, who was hanged upon the gallows he had built for Mordecai. Kimchi explains this of Saul's falling upon his own sword, and dying by it, which he drew against David; phrase is proverbial, Proverbs 26:27; the sense of this and the above figurative expressions is literally and properly given in Psalm 7:16.

Geneva Study Bible

He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

15. More exactly:

He hath dug a pit and delved it deep,

And is fallen into the ditch he was making.

Another picture of the destruction of the wicked. He ‘is snared in the work of his own hands’ (Psalm 9:16). The figure is taken from the pitfalls used by hunters. See Ezekiel 19:4; and cp. Psalm 57:6; Ecclesiastes 10:8. Observe the graphic force of the tense in the last line. His schemes for the destruction of others prove his own ruin even before he has completed them.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 15. - He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made (comp. Psalm 9:15, 16; Psalm 35:8; Psalm 57:6; Proverbs 26:27; Proverbs 28:10, etc.). There are several illustrations of this law of God's providence in Scripture, the most striking being that of Haman. Its existence as a law was noticed by some of the classical writers, as Ovid, who says -

"Nec lex justior ulla est,
Quam necis artifices arte petite sua." Psalm 7:15

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

(Heb.: 7:15-18) This closing strophe foretells to the enemy of God, as if dictated by the judge, what awaits him; and concludes with a prospect of thanksgiving and praise. Man brings forth what he has conceived, he reaps what he has sown. Starting from this primary passage, we find the punishment which sin brings with it frequently represented under these figures of הדה and ילד (הוליד, חבּל, חיל), זרע and קצר, and first of all in Job 15:35. The act, guilt, and punishment of sin appear in general as notions that run into one another. David sees in the sin of his enemies their self-destruction. It is singular, that travail is first spoken of, and then only afterwards pregnancy. For חבּל signifies, as in Sol 8:5, ὠδίνειν, not: to conceive (Hitz.). The Arab. ḥabila (synonym of ḥamala) is not to conceive in distinction from being pregnant, but it is both: to be and to become pregnant. The accentuation indicates the correct relationship of the three members of the sentence. First of all comes the general statement: Behold he shall travail with, i.e., bring forth with writhing as in the pains of labour, און, evil, as the result which proceeds from his wickedness. Then, by this thought being divided into its two factors (Hupf.) it goes on to say: that is, he shall conceive (concipere) עמל, and bear שׁקר. The former signifies trouble, molestia, just as πονηρία signifies that which makes πόνον; the latter falsehood, viz., self-deception, delusion, vanity, inasmuch as the burden prepared for others, returns as a heavy and oppressive burden upon the sinner himself, as is said in Psalm 7:17; cf. Isaiah 59:4, where און instead of שׁקר denotes the accursed wages of sin which consist in the unmasking of its nothingness, and in the undeceiving of its self-delusion. He diggeth a pit for himself, is another turn of the same thought, Psalm 57:7; Ecclesiastes 10:8. Psalm 7:16 mentions the digging, and Psalm 7:16 the subsequent falling into the pit; the aorist ויּפּל is, for instance, like Psalm 7:13, Psalm 16:9; Psalm 29:10. The attributive יפעל is virtually a genitive to שׁחת, and is rightly taken by Ges. 124, 3, a as present: in the midst of the execution of the work of destruction prepared for others it becomes his own. The trouble, עמל, prepared for others returns upon his own head (בּראשׁו, clinging to it, just as על־ראשׁו signifies descending and resting upon it), and the violence, חמס, done to others, being turned back by the Judge who dwells above (Micah 1:12), descends upon his own pate (קדקדו with o by q, as e.g., in Genesis 2:23). Thus is the righteousness of God revealed in wrath upon the oppressor and in mercy upon him who is innocently oppressed. Then will the rescued one, then will David, give thanks unto Jahve, as is due to Him after the revelation of His righteousness, and will sing of the name of Jahve the Most High (עליון as an appended name of God is always used without the art., e.g., Psalm 57:3). In the revelation of Himself He has made Himself a name. He has, however, revealed Himself as the almighty Judge and Deliverer, as the God of salvation, who rules over everything that takes place here below. It is this name, which He has made by His acts, that David will then echo back to Him in his song of thanksgiving.