Psalms 64:7

"But God will shoot at them;

With an arrow suddenly shall they be wounded.

So they shall be made to stumble, their own tongue being against them;

All that see them shall wag the head.

And all men shall fear;

And they shall declare the work of God,

And shall wisely consider of his doing.

The righteous shall be glad in Jehovah, and shall take refuge in him;

And all the upright in heart shall glory."

"But God shall shoot at them" (Psalms 64:7). In a verse and one half here (Psalms 64:7-8a), the tables are completely reversed. It is God who does the wounding. All of the cunningly-laid plots and baited traps and snares of the enemies utterly fail to harm the perfect man in God's protection.

It is of particular interest that Leupold translated Psalms 64:7-8 thus:

"But God shot an arrow at them;

Suddenly blows came upon them.

Each one was ruined; their tongues overcame them;

All that saw them shuddered."[9]

Whether or not this is accurate, such an idea is most certainly in the passage. It was not David who was destroyed by the partisans of Absalom but themselves.

"But God" (Psalms 64:7). How often in the history of God's work among men have we encountered a thought like this. Acts 12 has a terrible record of the murder of the apostle James, the imprisonment of Peter, and the scattering of God's people from Jerusalem, "But the word of God grew and multiplied" (Acts 12:24).

Yates entitled these last four verses, "The Certainty of Judgment,"[10] leaving the way open for much wider interpretation than a restricted application of it to the enemies of a perfect man in a given situation. There is a sense in which "the certainty of judgment," like the sword of Damocles hangs over the head of all mankind. The judgment is an appointment that no man may cancel, ignore, or escape.

"All that see them shall wag the head" (Psalms 64:8). "These words refer either to `derision,' or to `shocked concern.'"[11]

It seems to us that the latter would be most appropriate here.

"All the upright in heart shall glory" (Psalms 64:10). However this might be applied to the enemies of the psalmist, these words have an eternal significance. It is true of all men that the wicked shall be punished with "everlasting destruction," but that the righteous shall be welcomed into the home of the soul, "into the eternal habitations," where they shall share the glory of the redeemed throughout eternity.