Ps. 7: David's Righteousness

Psalm 7:8 "...let the LORD judge the peoples. Judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, according to my integrity, O Most High."

This seventh Psalm is something called a Shiggaion about Cush, a Benjamite. I can't remember if David had trouble with Benjamites during his reign. I thought they were on his side (Judah's). But Saul was a Benjamite, and that may be where the tangle was. I looked up Shiggaion, and discovered it's derived from the verb shagah, and means to "reel about through drink." So this Psalm is written with extreme emotion and maybe somewhat rambling and sloppy, which is what happens when you are in a glass cage of emotion. Is it though? I don't know, it looks all right to me. There are powerful pleas and requests of God throughout this Psalm.

Verses 3-5 are a somewhat incredible declaration, offering that one's foes could overtake him and trample his life away if he somehow wronged them without them declaring war on him. You'd have to make absolutely certain your house was in order. I like to think I haven't wronged people, but you never know if you say something that was taken offensively, or if you cut someone off in traffic without knowing, they can carbomb you. I don't know if I could make that kind of a declaration. But the point of it seems to be an attempt by David to come clean and prove his innocence.

I'm not sure where David is coming from in verse 8. David wants God to judge him according to his righteousness. If we are to believe that there is no man sinless since the fall of Adam, how can David expect God to spare him? Or was he? To what degree would God say, "OK, David is righteous enough." Bathsheba, and other wives, household gods, etc. David was not exactly working with a completely clean slate. I imagine he realized that, and was hoping God was working on a sliding scale. A comparative righteousness. But this is a shiggaion, and maybe David didn't have complete clarity.

The evil get what they deserve, and David hopes they deserve a lot, while claiming God as his shield and protection. Perhaps David is searching for some sort of justification for wiping out his enemies. You know, "they shouldn't have been pregnant with evil or digging holes for themselves to fall into." David wants to be innocent really bad here.