TRAVIS C. MALLETT

THE PSALMS PROJECT

PSALM 7

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND, TEXTUAL COMMENTARY, AND MUSICAL COMPOSITION ANALYSIS

Author:Travis C. MALLETT

February 7, 2015

PSALM 7–PROGRAM NOTES, ANALYSIS, AND PERFORMANCE NOTES 1

PSALM 7Travis C. Mallett, Composer and Pianist

Abstract—This paper presents an analysis of the Opus 17,Psalm 7 composition. First, an overview historical aspects of thetext is discussed. Then a detailed commentary on the text, inter-pretations, and religious meanings is presented. An analysis ofthe compositional techniques and materials is then given. Finally,comments on intentions for performance and interpretation aredetailed. It should be noted that this paper is not intended to be athorough, decisive, or authoritative description of the compositionor text. Rather, it is for informational purposes only, and to aidperformers and listeners in understanding the basic conceptsbehind the piece.1

Index Terms—Psalm 7, Serialism, Electronic Music

I. INTRODUCTION

PSalm 7 is a psalm of individual lament and a psalm ofinnocence written by David, who has apparently been ac-

cused of vicious crimes, possibly high treason. David presentsthe situation before God, describing how he believes that ifleft unchecked, his accuser will tear him to pieces. Davidcalls for God to descend upon the earth and rule with justice,vindicating the righteous and destroying the wicked. In theend, the evil deeds of the wicked recoil on himself and praise isdirected to God, in what is not an untypical turn from distressto praise in the psalter. The text is presented below:

1 O LORD my God, I take refuge in you; save anddeliver me from all who pursue me, 2 or they willtear me like a lion and rip me to pieces with no oneto rescue me. 3 O LORD my God, if I have donethis and there is guilt on my hands– 4 if I havedone evil to him who is at peace with me or withoutcause have robbed my foe– 5 then let my enemypursue and overtake me; let him trample my life tothe ground and make me sleep in the dust. ”Selah”6 Arise, O LORD, in your anger; rise up againstthe rage of my enemies. Awake, my God; decreejustice. 7 Let the assembled peoples gather aroundyou. Rule over them from on high; 8 let the LORDjudge the peoples. Judge me, O LORD, according tomy righteousness, according to my integrity, O MostHigh. 9 O righteous God, who searches minds andhearts, bring to an end the violence of the wicked

1Unfortunate problems are presented when the composer writes an analysisof his own composition. Such an analysis can fall prey to being regarded as theonly “authoritative” one. While, there is certainly much value in understandingclearly the composer’s intentions, it is my philosophy that the full depth andbreadth of music is only fully realized when all three parties of the ”three-legged musical stool” are participating with an active thoughtfulness. Viz.,the composer, the performer, and the listener. Each has something to offer,and each is a vital part of the process. It is not my intentions with this paperto derail or unduly force some direction on the performer’s and listener’sperspectives. Rather, this is intended merely as a guide. Just as the text ofPsalm 7 is far deeper than the brief analysis here represents it, so too thecomposition, performance, and a thoughtful ear are (or at least should be)much deeper than represented in this paper.

and make the righteous secure. 10 My shield is GodMost High, who saves the upright in heart. 11 Godis a righteous judge, a God who expresses his wrathevery day. 12 If he does not relent, he will sharpenhis sword; he will bend and string his bow. 13 Hehas prepared his deadly weapons; he makes readyhis flaming arrows. 14 He who is pregnant with eviland conceives trouble gives birth to disillusionment.15 He who digs a hole and scoops it out falls into thepit he has made. 16 The trouble he causes recoils onhimself; his violence comes down on his own head.17 I will give thanks to the LORD because of hisrighteousness and will sing praise to the name ofthe LORD Most High. (NIV 1984)

II. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND, COMMENTARY, ANDTEXTUAL INTERPRETATION

A. Categories, Function, and Location in the Psalter

1) Category and Function: The specific genre of Psalm 7has been difficult to determine, for it contains elements ofindividual lament (verses 1-2), an oath (verses 3-5), a psalmof Yahwheh’s kingship (verse 6-12), and a thanksgiving hymn(verse 17) [33, p. 128]. In fact, the literature is remarkablydivided in categorizing this particular psalm. Some say Psalms7 and 17 are in a category of “psalms of innocence” withthe combined motifs of God’s testing, the imprecation, therejection of the way of the wicked and submission to God [22,p. 44]. Others identify a larger grouping of psalms in whichPsalms 7, 17, 109, and 139 are identified as “prayers of theaccused” representing a motif of violence. In each case, wenote that the psalmists seek vindication from Yahweh becauseof the charges that have been made, asking either that theybe declared innocent or their accusers guilty [10, p. 320].Some modern commentators even include Psalm 7 in listsof imprecatory psalms2 [16, p. 36], [36, p. 7]. Perhaps themost thoughtful categorization is that Psalm 7 is “formallyan individual lament, of the psalm of innocence subcategory”[31, p. 178]. In the Individual Lament an individual worshipercries out to Yahweh in time of need. The structure of thesepsalms includes: an invocation of Yahweh, the complaint, therequest for help, an expression of certainty that Yahweh willhear and answer the prayer, and in many cases a vow to offera thanksgiving sacrifice.

2) Placement in the Psalter: The psalms are divided intofive books, and it is often claimed that the organization anddivision of these five books corresponds to the Pentateuch ofMoses. In keeping with this tradition, J. Vernon McGee offersthe following outline of the first book of psalms and titles that

2I personally feel that categorizing Psalm 7 as an imprecatory psalm, isperhaps a less thoughtful interpretation of the psalm than other categorizations.

PSALM 7–PROGRAM NOTES, ANALYSIS, AND PERFORMANCE NOTES 2

correspond to accounts in the Genesis record, the first book ofthe Pentateuch which records man in a state of blessedness,fall, and recovery:

1) Psalm 1: Perfect Man (last Adam)2) Psalm 2: Rebellious man3) Psalm 3: Perfect Man rejected4) Psalm 4: Conflict between Seed of woman and serpent5) Psalm 5: Perfect Man in midst of enemies6) Psalm 6: Perfect Man in midst of chastisement (bruising

heel)7) Psalm 7: Perfect Man in midst of false witnesses8) Psalm 8: Repair of man comes through Man (bruising

head)9) Psalms 9-15: Enemy and Antichrist conflict; final deliv-

erance10) Psalms 16-41: Christ in midst of His people, sanctifying

them to GodPsalms 1 and 2 are often cited as forming the introduction to

the book of Psalms. Psalm 7, then, concludes the first clusterof 5 psalms dealing with “Perfect Man” [20, p. 3].

B. Historical Context and Explanation of the Title

Psalm 7 contains the following superscription:A shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lordconcerning Cush, a Benjamite.

Psalms 3, 7, 18, 34, 51, 52, 54, 56, 57, 59, 60, 63, and142 have superscriptions which allude to an episode in thelife of David. The form within the Psalm title by which thehistorical reference to an incident in David’s life is madein stereotyped and constant to a high degree. In every casebut two these superscriptions evidence an identical syntacticalconstruction.3 The superscriptions of Psalm 7 and 18, however,do not follow this standard syntactical pattern4 [13, p. 123-124]. Additionally, the superscriptions of Psalms 7 and 18do not relate unambiguously to any specific event in the lifeof David as portrayed in the Deuteronomistic history. Thisfact stands in sharp contrast to every one of the other elevensyntactically identical titles [13, p. 124]. On the basis of bothsyntax and function, we conclude that the notations of Psalms7 and 18 do not appear to have arisen by the same hand asdid the other eleven superscriptions [13, p. 126].

While the other notations allow us to draw highly specificmeanings from the context of history recorded elsewhereoutside the psalms, what remains for Psalm 7 is attempts tounderstand what content or context the author of the super-script intended the superscript to add to a fuller understandingof the psalm.

1) Cush, a Benjamite: Much effort has been expendedand much has been said regarding the mysterious “Cush,a Benjamite” in the title of Psalm 7. However, despite the

3Examples: Ps. 3—A psalm of David. When he fled from his son Absalom.Ps. 51—A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after Davidhad committed adultery with Bathsheba. Ps. 63—A psalm of David. Whenhe was in the Desert of Judah.

4Psalm 18—Of David the servant of the Lord. He sang to the Lord thewords of this song when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all hisenemies and from the hand of Saul. He said:...

attempts of learned men, this person remains yet a mysteryand virtually nothing is known. The problem stems fromthe fact that this ”Cush” makes absolutely no appearancein the historical narratives [13, p. 126], [5, p. 74], [27, p.24], [8, p. 33], and elsewhere. Despite this, there are severalpopular theories on Cush’s identity, which I present here inno particular order.

The most popular solutions have centered on taking thename “Cush” as a euphemism for some more well knownperson in history. The two persons who most frequently arementioned in this regard are Shimei and Saul [13, p. 128].

First, and perhaps the oldest interpretation of this enigmaticpassage is that the figure “Cush the Benjaminite” in Psalm 7stands for King Saul [13, p. 128]. We do not find, however,in the history of Saul that he vomited forth any such wordsas these against David [19, p. 335].

Second, the name ”Cush” is possibly a play on the name ofKish, the father of Saul,5 and refers to Shimei, the Benjamitewho cursed David when he was fleeing from Absalom (2Sa. 16:5-14). These were the ‘words’ which are said to haveprovoked the psalm.

“Get out, get out, you man of blood, you scoundrel!The Lord has repaid you for all the blood you shedin the household of Saul, in whose place you havereigned. The Lord has handed the kingdom over toyour son Absalom. You have come to ruin becauseyou are a man of blood!” 2 Sam. 16:7-8 (NIV 1984)

However, reading David’s response to Shimei in 2 Sam.16:10-14, David appears to exhibit little of the emotionaldistress found in Psalm 7, for, he went on his way and“refreshed himself” when he got to his destination.6

Third, as early as the Septuagint there was an attempt torelate the superscription of Psalm 7 neither to Shimei nor toSaul nor to an undesignated Cushite, but rather to a personnamed “Cushi, the son of Yemeni.” In 2 Sam 18:21-32 it isrelated how a “Cushite” runner brought to David the news of

5Shimei is described in 2 Samuel as the son of Gera (a remote ancestor), buthis relationship to Kish is inferred from the genealogy of Mordecai, anotherBenjamite, in Esther 2:5, where Mordecai is described as the son of Jair, theson of Shimei, the son of Kish. Shimei, then, is here called by the name ofhis father Kish, and Kish is identified with the similar Cush for derogatoryreasons, Cush being a son of Ham and the father of Nimrod, king of Babeland builder of Nineveh (Gn. 10:6-12) [3, p. 19].

6It should be noted that these are simply my own observations: the eventssurrounding Psalm 3 directly precede the passage where Shimei curses David.In Psalm 3, David penned a passionate prayer to God for deliverance thatresulted from an immediate physical threat. Psalm 7, on the other hand, iswritten in response to some specific accusations, allegedly by Cush and isprimarily concerned with future physical damages, or current psychologicaldistress; it seems unlikely that in the wake of imminent threat to David’s life,Shimei shouting from the road is of much concern. This seems evidenced inthe text, when David responds to Shimei by saying, “My son, who is of myown flesh, is trying to take my life. How much more, then, this Benjamite!Leave him alone; let him curse, for the Lord has told him to. It may bethat the Lord will see my distress and repay me with good for the cursingI am receiving today.” (2 Sam. 16:11-12, NIV 1984) Thus, David’s responseis almost quite optimistic, considering the situation: he turns Shimei’s cursesinto a hope of blessing from God. Psalm 7, on the other hand, seems obsessedwith, and emotionally distraught about the wrongful accusations and is likelywritten in response to a very different event.

PSALM 7–PROGRAM NOTES, ANALYSIS, AND PERFORMANCE NOTES 3

Absalom’s death.7 [13, p. 129].Despite the good intentions, much research, effort, and

popular support by commentators of the above theories, thiscommentary will proceed by merely keeping the followingfacts and observations, gleaned from the literature, in mind:

1) Commentators generally date this psalm to the time ofAbsalom’s rebellion, when the latent hostility of theBenjamites resurged [33, p. 128].

2) We do not find in the history of Saul that he spoke suchaccusations against David [19, p. 335].

3) The Benjamites were, of course, King Saul’s relativeswho were hostile to David before and after Davidbecame king. [8, p. 33].

4) The superscription simply says ”a Benjaminite.” Had hebeen well known he would most probably would havebeen called ”the Benjaminite.” [5, p. 74].

5) Cush probably had, according to verses 4 and 5, onlysought the friendship of David in order, when theopportunity came, the more keenly to injure him–anoccurrence quite in keeping with the character of thosetimes [14, p. 74]

6) Regardless of the identity of Cush, the accuser, Saul ismost probably the one against whom David is alleged tohave committed a treachery, given the history betweenthe two.8 Almost all commentaries concede this withoutfeeling the need for further proof or discussion.9

We can come to a good understanding of the text of Psalm7 in light of these general facts; it is not necessary to knowthe specifics of the situation which prompted David to penthese words; neither is it necessary for us to understandprecisely why the superscription exists.10 Additionally, thegeneral nature of the situation is so evident from the textitself, especially in verses 3-5, that when combined with thehuman imagination, can enhance personal application if wetake the time to reflect. So often, it can be hard for themodern reader to relate to some of the events in the life of

7If indeed Psalm 7 was being read as a midrash on the narrative of 2 Samuel18-19, it was being read as a declaration of innocence as David distancedhimself from the treachery of Joab. Here we have David’s clear confession ofinnocence in the death of his son, Absalom, and, at the same time, a statementof judgment upon Joab for committing such treachery. We have displayed thepathos and the anger of a man who has just lost his own son to the arrogantinsubordination of one of his most loyal friends, Joab, who has now becomehis blood enemy. [13, p. 135]

8In this commentary, we will assume this is the case. Thus, statements likethe following in the literature make complete and absolute sense: “In Psalm 7,David disavows any evil intention against Saul, a disavowal which he provesby refusing to take Saul’s life when he had an easy opportunity to do so(1 Samuel 24, the story of David cutting off the corner of Saul’s garment)[27, p. 25]. Additionally the connection drawn between the psalm and theDavid story is prompted by similarities between the poem and a wide rangeof interconnected narratives in Samuel, all of which relate to Davids restraintin his dealings with Saul and other Benjaminites [4, p. 279].

9I also think that it is likely that if Saul is the object of the alleged treachery,then he is also not the same person as Cush, the accuser.

10Perhaps the Holy Spirit, in His infinite knowledge, prompted the editorof the Psalms to pen the mysterious superscription knowing that men whothirst for knowledge would search for the answer, and in doing so, perhapseven one of them was, or will be, brought closer to Him and into a fullerunderstanding of His revelation and truths.

David, who underwent more tribulation11 than any modernstudent of the Word in a first-world setting may ever haveto endure. The ambiguity of the superscript in this psalmmay give us just enough information to produce an accurateinterpretation, while leaving room for our personal experiencesto be considered.

2) Shiggaion: The term shiggaion in the superscription ishere also unknown. The ambiguity of the term is partiallyresponsible for the difficulty in classifying Psalm 7 in acommon category of psalms. Due to being described as ashiggaion, Psalm 7 has been explained variously as ”stringedmusic,” as a ”wandering” style, or as a ”psalm of lamentation”[34, p. 211]. This is because some take it for an instrument ofmusic; others say it is probably a tune; still others think it tobe the beginning of some common chant that David wishedit to [6, p. 54]. The term is found in only one other place inscripture (though in a plural form [1, p. 41]): Habakkuk 3:1which is attributed to a prophet of the late monarchy. Hereboth the title and the final note (Hab. 3:19) are similar topsalm-titles, though not quite the same, and Habakkuks use ofthe musical interlude called ‘Selah’ (Hab. 3:3, 9, 13) imitatesDavidic usage [3, p. 16].

We can derive the most common explanation of this termgiven in commentaries by recognizing two facts and theircorresponding corollaries:

First, we note that the term ‘Shiggaion’ is a noun derivedfrom a verb which means ‘to err’ or ‘to wander’ [15, p. 52].Some commentators presume an affinity with the Assyrianterm segu (= lament) [35, p. 134]. The noun occurs only here,and in the plural form, Hab. 3:1, but the verb from which it isderived is not uncommon, and is applied by Saul to his ownerrors with respect to David (1 Sam 26:1). [1, p. 41].

Second, comparing the text of Psalm 7 and of Habakkuk 3,we note that neither of these psalms is penitential. Therefore ithas been applied to the poetic form, as being wild and ecstatic[15, p. 52].

In fact, in both cases where the term is used, the idea ofan erratic and excited text which wanders through multipleemotional landscapes is actually quite a suitable and accuraterepresentation of both Psalm 7 and Habakkuk 3 [28, p. 71].Ewald suggest that it might be rendered, “a confused ode,”a Dithyramb. Finally, a more generic interpretation is that“shiggaion” simply means a poem with intense feeling [8, p.33].

C. Structure and Outline

Each commentator has his own division of the psalm. Mine,upon which the musical composition is based, is a modifiedversion of Spurgeon’s division.

1) Verse 1: Prayer Offered2) Verse 2: Danger Stated3) Verses 3-5: Oath of Innocence4) Verses 6-7: Plead for God to Arise to Judgment5) Verses 8-9: The Lord Hears

11Though many of David’s trials, admittedly, can be traced to directconsequences to his own faults.

PSALM 7–PROGRAM NOTES, ANALYSIS, AND PERFORMANCE NOTES 4

6) Verses 10-13: Lord Clears His Servant and ThreatensWicked

7) Verses 14-16: Slanderer Brings Curse to Himself8) Verse 17: Hymn of Praise

According to my division, Verses 1-16 constitute 7 sectionswhile verse 17 is the final conclusion of the psalm. Under-standing this division is important as will be evident accordingthe following observations in the following section.

1) Numerological Observations: It is no secret that thenumber 7 is an astonishingly important number in the scrip-tures. From the seven days of creation to the seven years ofgreat plenty throughout all the land of Egypt and subsequentseven years of famine to the seven churches and seven spiritsof God mentioned in Revelation, seven seems as if it wasan almost tantalizing number to the authors of scripture, andin turn, there is probably some deep connection with GodHimself. Although I won’t speculate here as to the meaningof seven in scripture, a point worth noting regarding Psalm 7.

Psalm 7 is the first psalm in which a pattern of seven usesof God’s name is found. YHWH begins it and YHWH ends it,providing an inclusio to the whole. The name YHWH appearsa total of seven times in the poem, as does El(ohım). If itbe granted that Alay in verse 8 means ”Most High” and thatAl-Elohim in verse 10 means ”The Most High God,” then thedivine appellation ”Most High” appears three times (in threedifferent forms) in the psalm, resulting in a total of seventeen(fourteen plus three, or ten plus seven) occurrences of variousdivine names in all. The next psalm to employ one or moredivine names seven times is Psalm 14 [37, pp. 177-178].

It seems probable that the location of this text in the psalterwas no accident, and too, that the division of the verses into17 parts was also not a chance occurrence.

D. Commentary on the Text

1) Verse 1: Prayer Offered: It is here that the psalmistoffers a prayer for safety from his enemies. This is the firstinstance in the Psalms where David addresses the Almighty bythe united names Jehovah and my God [28, p. 71]. We shouldtake example from the psalmist: in the opening phrase, Daviddoes three things at once. First, he affirms that Jehovah is hisGod. That is, that Jehovah is Lord over David. Second, in thephrase “I take refuge in you,” David, before even describinghis problems, not only believes that God is the solution, butalmost affirms that God has already won his battles. That is,before the troubles have even hit him, David is abiding in God.Third, David begins venting his troubles to none other thanGod, whom he affirms he is subservient to. we can be mindfulto apply this approach in our own lives. By seeking God’shelp, but always affirming His sovereignty, we can rest in theknowledge that God will protect us. This does not mean thateverything that troubles us will be automatically disintegratedby our awesome God, but that God, in His sovereignty, whichthe psalmist affirms from the outset, “works for the good ofthose who love him, who have been called according to hispurpose.”

2) Verse 2: Danger Stated: Although both Psalms 7 and 17make use of the simile of the lion12 in describing the actionsof the enemy (Psalms 7:3; 17:12), and thus seemingly speak ofphysical violence, the simile itself is applied to the accusationthat has been made. This suggests, of course, that physicalviolence is a very real possibility, but at this stage it remainspotential rather than actual. It is this potential for physicalviolence that causes the current distress, which is thereforepsychological [10, pp. 320-321]. It is important to note thatGod will hear our prayers not only when we are sufferingphysical tragedies or in the way of some physical danger butalso when we are distressed about psychological matters. Ofcourse, David, being close to the king, was very vulnerable toslander, as such words could cause great harm. And perhapshe might even become, in a real and literal sense, ‘ripped topieces,” with no one to rescue him. In fact, if David had beencaptured, Saul could easily have him killed, or torn to pieceswith no one (on earth) to rescue him. We recall the imagery ofDaniel and the lion’s den, which admittedly is chronologicallymuch later than this text. It was expected that Daniel wouldbe torn to pieces by the lions, and no one in the land couldrescue him, not even King Darius himself for the law hadbeen written. Daniel was saved not by friends on earth, but byGod: “And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no woundwas found on him, because he had trusted in his God.” Aswill be played out in the remainder of Psalm 7, the viscousviolence of David’s enemies comes to naught, because likeDaniel, he trusted in his God.

3) Verses 3-5: Oath of Innocence: It is here that we find outwhat the speaker’s alleged crime was, however, we can inferonly from the oath in which he denies it. David disavows anyevil intention against Saul, a disavowal which he proves byrefusing to take Saul’s life when he had an easy opportunityto do so (1 Samuel 24, the story of David cutting off the cornerof Saul’s garment) [27, p. 25]. In these verses David protestshis innocence with a deprecatory oath [5, p. 75]. This type ofoath is common in the Psalms and usually takes the form: ”IfI have done any such thing”–if I ever behaved like so-and-so,

12 It is useful to look at the use of lions in the Old Testament. The followinglist is taken from: [32, p. 64].

1) Judah, Gen. 49:9; Micah 5:82) YHWH on Israels behalf, Num. 24:9; Isa. 31:4; 35:9; Hos. 11:103) Israel as a defeated lion, Ezek. 194) tribe of Dan, Deut. 33:225) Davids power over lions, I Sam. 17:34-376) Saul and Jonathan, II Sam. 1:237) symbolic protectors of the throne of Solomon, I Kgs. 10:19-208) God uses lions as punishment, I Kgs. 13,20; II Kgs. 17:25-26; Isa.

15:9; metaphor in Job 4:10 and Jer. 2:30; 49:19,44; Lam. 3:10; Amos3:4,8,12; 5:19; Hos. 5:14; 13:7-8; Nah. 2:11-12

9) describe Davids enemies from whom God will deliver, Ps. 7:2; 10:9;17:12; 22:13,21

10) a metaphor for unknown evil, Pro. 22:13; 26:13; 28:1511) used to describe Babylons military, Jer. 4:7; 49:19-22; 51:3812) the military of the nations against Gods people, Jer. 5:6; 25:32-38;

50:17; Joel 1:613) how Gods people treat Him, Jer. 12:814) how Gods leaders treat the people, Ezek. 22:25; Zeph. 3:315) metaphor for kings anger, Pro. 19:12; 20:216) metaphor for the godly, Pro. 28:1;17) metaphor for the Messiah, Gen. 49:9; Rev. 5:5

PSALM 7–PROGRAM NOTES, ANALYSIS, AND PERFORMANCE NOTES 5

then let so-and-so ”tread my life down upon the earth”. Butof course I haven’t!

C. S. Lewis claims that ”all this of course has its spiritualdanger. It leads into that typically Jewish prison of self-righteousness which Our Lord so often terribly rebuked” [17,p. 17]. And in fact, he is right. There is some danger inconstantly asserting that you are right in a situation. Oftenwe can avoid the embarrassment of strongly claiming that weare in the right, only to be proved wrong at some point, if weexhibit some amount of humility. We must be careful to avoidthe fate of the fool spoken of in Proverbs 26:12: ”Do you see aperson wise in their own eyes? There is more hope for a foolthan for them.” We can compliment this notion of avoidingthe folly of leaning our own understanding by invoking thefamous text of Micha 6:8, ”And what does the LORD requireof you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humblywith your God.”

But the first part of what God requires of us, ”to act justly”is what the psalmist is really referring to here. There are timeswhen we are ”right” about the situation. In the case of Davidbeing accused of treachery against Saul, David was, in fact, inthe right. David never manifested any animosity against Saul.On the contrary, he exhibited his relations to the king of Israel,in a remarkable degree [23, p. 89-90]. Perhaps we know wehave acted justly, or perhaps we have been robbed of creditrightfully due to us, or accused of something we haven’t done.We all can recall instances of, or imagine, the indignation thatrises up in us when we are wrongfully treated. We can learna couple things from David’s oath of innocence: First, he hasbeen wrongfully treated, and rather than spending time andenergy defending himself before men, he takes his oaths ofinnocence directly to God. Second, we can see from this psalmhow distressed David is. We can see the inner turmoil and theemotional anguish. This is an excellent example that shouldencourage us to never treat another person unfairly. That is, wewish to never inflict such emotional anguish upon our fellowbeings and hence we should be careful to guard our waysand interactions with others to ensure that no loose commenteven slightly hints at accusation that may not be true. Forat even the slightest hint of wrongful doing directed towardsus, very strong emotions can surge, perhaps unprecedentedlymuch more sever than the initial accusation. Thus, we havehere an example of how we can react to accusations againstus, viz. by bringing our fears to God, and also a strong warningagainst falsely accusing or acting unjustly ourselves.

4) Verses 6-7: Plead for God to Arise to Judgment: Herethe psalmist, in the wake of the injustice he previously laidout, requests that the Lord both rise up against his enemiesand rule over the assemblies of peoples. This sort of ruling,in the psalmist’s eyes is not a suppressant tyrannical rulewe might imagine today. Rather, it is the image of the Lordjudging rightly in civil cases as this psalm suggests. Somecommentators suggest that this passage has more earthlyconsequences in David’s life than the hope of future ruling byGod, as though David should promise, that as soon as he wereadvanced to the throne of the kingdom, he would endeavourthat the people that heretofore had been dispersed, should beknit together again in the true service of God. For under Saul,

either religion had been disregarded, or such a recklessness ininiquity prevailed, that few or none had an eye unto God. [6,p. 59]. However, in Verse 8, where David asks to be judgedaccording to his integrity, it is made clear that this is truly ahope for a literal vindication from the Lord.

5) Verses 8-9: The Lord Hears: Verse 8, taken out ofcontext can cause some confusion for the Christian interpreter.Contrasting David’s statement, ”Judge me, O Lord, accordingto my righteousness, according to my integrity, O Most High,”with several passages that state that ”there is no one on earthwho is righteous, no one who does what is right and neversins,” seems to present a contradiction. How could Davidrequest that he be judged according to his righteousness, whenwe are told elsewhere that there is no one who is righteous?I present two interpretations:

First, it is absolutely critical that Verse 8 be be interpretedin light of vv. 3-5. The psalmist is not claiming sinlessnessbut that he had not done what he was accused of doing! [32,p. 67], [15, p. 81] All such expressions of innocence mustbe qualified and explained by the confession of unworthinessin Psalm 6 and elsewhere, which sufficiently demonstrate thatthe Psalmist here makes no claim to absolute perfection andinnocence, nor to any whatever that is independent of God’ssovereign mercy [1, p. 43].

A second interpretation, is offered when we realize thetransition in the psalm so far: In verses 3 to 5 the poet ismerely in the right; by verse 8 he is saying ”judge me, O Lord,according to my righteousness and according to my integrity”[17, p. 18]. Clearly the transition of going from being simply”right” to requesting God literally judge him according tohis righteousness and (in Verse 9) search his mind and heartrequires some thoughtful reflection. From the Christian per-spective, this is easily rectified by a simple logical argument:David is spoken of in the ”Faith Chapter” (Hebrews 11:32)where we learn that the patriarchs accomplished great thingsand achieved salvation by faith, not by their own righteousness.We also learn in 1 Cor. 1:30 that “Christ Jesus, has becomefor us wisdom from God–that is, our righteousness, holinessand redemption.” That is, that we, who are in Christ Jesus,do posses a true and pure righteousness. Thus we know, bythe implicit indication in Hebrews, that David ”became heirof the righteousness that comes by faith.” If this piece to thepuzzle is missing, it seem absolutely dreadful folly to assumeand assert our innocence before God, who is pure and holy.But with the cloak of righteousness which is Christ Jesus, wecan stand confidently before the Lord on the day of judgment.As one of the commentators put it,

We may plead ”not guilty” before men when wecannot thus plead before God. Job vindicated himselfbefore his friends, but in the presence of God abasedhimself, and repented in sackcloth and ashes. Wemay often most properly assert our integrity beforemen, but “concerning the law of our God,” it isanother thing. We may plead “not guilty” before Godwhen we have rested in the merits of Christ. [26, p.24]

A final possibility that I offer, but have not seen spoken ofin any commentaries, is that perhaps these words that David

PSALM 7–PROGRAM NOTES, ANALYSIS, AND PERFORMANCE NOTES 6

is uttering are prophetically speaking of Christ. We know thatDavid was a type of Christ (see Psalm 2 for example) andthere are many obvious parallels between the two. Perhapsthis psalm could be read as Jesus’ own words regarding theSanhedrin trial where he was accused of blasphemy. ”If I havedone this...if there is guilt on my hands...” and ”judge me, OLord, according to my righteousness” can almost make moresense than David’s specific case. Another possibility alongthese lines is that this is how Jesus defends us before theFather on the Day of Judgment. When the accuser brings upour sins before the Almighty and demands that we be punishedaccordingly, Jesus, his righteousness cloaking us from the startof the trial, steps in and states that, if the accused, who hasplaced faith in Him, is indeed guilty, then ”trample my life tothe ground and make me sleep in the dust.” And in fact, that’sexactly what Jesus did for us. David offers the oath in Verses3-5 based on his faith that the promised Messiah, who had nosin would become ”sin for us, so that in him we might becomethe righteousness of God.” (2 Cor. 5:21) That is, that Christwould suffer the tragedy of being ”ripped to pieces” by thewrath of the Father ”with no one to rescue him” to appeasethe judicial requirements for the sin that was committed.

The final request of Verse 9 is that God will ”bring to anend the violence of the wicked and make the righteous secure.”One major purpose of the judgements against evildoers inthe imprecatory psalms is to establish the righteous. As Godjudges the wicked, He is also invoked to establish the righteous[16, p. 41]. The Lord ruling over the peoples, making rightthe wrongs committed against us is the sort of judgment tolook forward to, not dread. And as Christians, we can lookforward to the Day of Judgment with eagerness when all thewrong in the world is righted and our own sinfulness, beingcovered by the blood of Christ, is vanquished in the final actof sanctification.

6) Verses 10-13: Lord Clears His Servant and ThreatensWicked: The psalmist now returns to his opening statementwhich claims that God is his refuge. God is here described inVerse 10 as being a ”shield who saves the upright in heart.”The word shield is taken from the ancient battlefield. It isa common metaphor in the psalms for Gods defense of Hisown people (Psalm 7:10; 18:30; 28:7; 33:20; 59:11; 84:9, 11;115:9, 10, 11; 119:114; and 144:2). The word was first spokenby God to Abram in Genesis 15:1 where the Lord came toAbram in a vision [21, p. 60]:

“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, yourvery great reward.”

In Genesis 15:6, it is said that “Abram believed the Lord,and he credited it to him as righteousness.” Here we have somefurther support that David’s reference to “my righteousness”in Verse 8 is not founded in the sort of self-righteousnessthat brings about death, but founded in the righteousness thatcomes by faith.

In Verse 11, God is described as “a righteous judge, a Godwho expresses his wrath everyday.” We learn in verses 11-12 that the Divine punishment for evil never relaxes, unlessman repents [27, p. 26], for in Verse 12, ”If a man does notrepent” reveals what God was waiting for when he seemedmerely dilatory [15, p. 81]. When it seems to us that God is

delaying the judgment of evil people, God is in fact, accordingto this passage, waiting for them to repent. However, God does”sharpen his sword,.bend and string his bow...and prepare hisdeadly weapons” so that if they do not repent, God will surelydeal justice.

We can also gather from Verse 11, “expresses his wrathevery day,” that, on account of the “every day,” must not berestricted to the enemies of David [11, p. 120]. Rather, weunderstand that God is angry about all those who walk in pathsof unrighteousness. It can be easy to miss this point in thispsalm and think that David is just calling God’s wrath downupon those whom have hurt David personally. And while thisis true to some extend, the imagery of God ruling over ”theassembled peoples” from Verse 7 indicates that God’s interestsare both broad and detailed. That is, that God is concernedwith moving nations as well as individuals.

7) 14-16: Slanderer Brings Curse to Himself: It is notablethat the violence that the psalmists desire to see enacted againstthe enemies is physical in nature. In verses 13-17, this isexpressed in terms of a wisdom world view which assumesthat the actions of enemies who make a false accusationinevitably recoils back on then. The violence that has beenexperienced is primarily psychological, but the violence thatis desired is physical. To understand why this is not an unfairrequest, we must take a look at the law of false accusationfound in Deuteronomy 19:16-21 [10, pp. 321]. The justicesystem recorded by Moses was very different than the systemwe use today in our democratic republic. Under the Mosaicjudicial system, a person was accused of a crime. And the“evidence” presented against him was in the form of a witness.The majority of the trial was spent determining the credibilityand character of the witness. If he was deemed credible,then the accused would be found guilty of the crime thatthe witness claimed. This sort of evidence might seem weakto modern ears. We are used to the accused being assumedinnocent until they are absolutely, beyond a shadow of a doubt,proved guilty. Often eye-witness accounts are rejected becausethey are deemed unreliable in modern courts. To balance thepossibility that someone might be falsely accused by a witness,the law of false accusation was given which made punishmentfor perjury so severe as to discourage anyone from standingin court and accusing someone of a crime they didn’t commit:

The judges must make a thorough investigation,and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving falsetestimony against his brother, then do to him as heintended to do to his brother. The rest of the peoplewill hear of this and be afraid, and never again willsuch an evil thing be done among you. Show nopity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, handfor hand, foot for foot. (Deuteronomy 19:18-21)

That is, if someone accuses his neighbor of a crime, forwhich the penalty would have been that his eye be stabbedout, and the witness is found guilty of lying, then the witnessshould have eye stabbed out. This judicial system had thebenefit of being able to swiftly deal justice while at the sametime preventing the innocent in court. Today, we are usedto justice taking years or even decades to be dealt, at greatexpense, and many times, justice isn’t dealt at all.

PSALM 7–PROGRAM NOTES, ANALYSIS, AND PERFORMANCE NOTES 7

Thus, when David in Psalm 7 wishes that the slanderer’s”violence comes down on his own head,” when the actualharm to David at this point is only a future possibility, we canunderstand this desire for real, physical violence against theaccuser in light of the judicial system of the time.

Another thing to note in verses 15-16: we saw previouslythat God had prepared his deadly weapons, bent his bowand sharpened his sword, but here, in the spiritual sense itis understood that man acts thus to himself [30, p. 23]. Asone commentator put it, “All sin is the digging of a pit” [26,p. 27]. And we can expect the consequences for our actionsto recoil on us. The God of moral law is also the same Godwho created the laws of nature. And just as the laws of naturecan be modeled precisely as a series of actions and reactions,that is, that the universe God created is a causal universe, wecan expect our actions to also have consequences from whichwe cannot hide. Thus, we should think carefully about theconsequences of what we are about to do lest they recoil onourselves.

8) Verse 17: Hymn of Praise:I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righ-teousness and will sing praise to the name of theLord Most High.

The final stanza of this psalm is a hymn of praise. Thisverse was probably sung as a chorus by the people [5, p. 78].The words ”I will sing praise to the name of the Lord MostHigh,” is the exact phrase repeated in psalm 9:2 and 92:1 [32,p. 71]. “The Most High” is a title seldom found outside thePsalms, but first encountered in the story of Melchizedek13

and Abram. It is especially appropriate as the last word inthis psalm, announcing in faith, as an ever-present fact, theexaltation which verses 6 long to see proclaimed in power[15, p. 82].

Just as the opening to Psalm 7 affirmed God’s protectionbefore the problem was even stated, the ending of the psalmalso presents a faith-filled statement of God’s faithfulness todeliver us. It is also important to note that after asking to bejudged by ”my righteousness,” the psalmist ends his prayerwith praise for God’s righteousness. As already claimed, forDavid, they were one and the same, by faith.

Spurgeoun quoted William Dyer in regards to this verse,which I think is very fitting and sums up the essence of thisfinal hymn of praise:

To bless God for mercies is the way to increasethem; to bless him for miseries is the way toremove them: no good lives so long as that whichis thankfully improved; no evil dies so soon as thatwhich is patiently endured.–William Dyer [28, p. 77]

E. Personal Reflections and Meditations for the ContemporaryChristian

Can the contemporary Christian sing the words of Psalm 7with enthusiasm and with a true heart of worship? I believe

13An interesting tidbit from the modern research: The Dead Sea Scrollsdocument 11Q13 holds that Melchizedek was an angel or “a godlike being”who was part of the Divine Council referred to in Psalm 82:1 and Psalm 7:78[25]. I leave it to the enthusiastic reader to pursue research on this topic.

so. In fact, Luther, in “A Simple Way to Pray” places ”Maketheir wicked schemes, tricks, and devices to come to nothingso that these may be turned against them, as we sing in Psalm7” under the petition, ”Thy will be done on earth as it is inheaven” [18, p. 2]. That is, that the prayer of Psalm 7 is reallyan exposition of part of the meaning of ”Thy will be done onearth as it is in heaven.” As Christians who are in the world,but not of the world, we must need look upon the state ofwickedness in the world and cry to God for the wrong tobecome right, the wicked to repent or be punished, and therighteous to be vindicated. One of God’s functions as Judgeis to vindicate the righteous and condemn the guilty. Davidcalled on Him to do so in his case. To vindicate means toshow a righteous person to be righteous when others haveaccused him or her of being wicked. It is fitting for God toestablish the righteous and to destroy the wicked because Heis righteous Himself [8, p. 34]. The curses against the wickedin Psalm 7 double as a blessing to the righteous. For as thewicked are diminished, the righteous are established.

We can also note that David spends some time reflectingon God’s character. Reflection on God’s character and waysof working can encourage God’s people to trust in Him andpraise Him when we experience injustice and hostility fromthe wicked [8, p. 35]. This song is a splendid example of themanner in which, even in extreme danger and unrest, highercontemplations yield true hope and rest, pacifying the stormof the passions [14, p. 76].

Finally, in each of the ”psalms of innocence” the psalmistsdoes not seek permission from Yahweh to carry out suchviolence personally. Instead, it was consistently the case thatthe prayer left the final decision to Yahweh. Psalm 7 assumedthat Yahweh would bring about justice, so there was no needto ask for permission to go further. The other three did askfor more, but always in submission to Yahweh [10, pp. 321-322], [16, p. 42]. We understand that we are not called to takevengeance into our own hands and, no matter how much wewish we could, God is ultimately in control. And even if wecannot understand his reasons for delaying judgment to thewicked who cause pain in this world, we know that God iswaiting for them to repent. And if we reflect on our own lives,we know that God waited for us to repent as well, and we givehim glory for his patience with us.

III. COMPOSITIONAL ANALYSIS

The following analysis does not describe in depth everymusical element intended to either represent the text or rein-force a solid musical structure. It is hoped that the followingwill be a guide for future analysis for either compositional orperformance reasons.

A. Structure and Musical Materials

The bulk of the musical structure was defined by numero-logical devices in accordance with the structure of the text, theemotional aspects of the text are portrayed primarily by wordpainting, the instrumentation, and the electronic soundscape.The instrumentation is divided into three parts:

1) Voice, representing the psalmist and his prayer

PSALM 7–PROGRAM NOTES, ANALYSIS, AND PERFORMANCE NOTES 8

2) Flute, representing the accuser (or Cush, a Benjamite)3) Electronics, representing GodWhile I will not claim that everything composed for each of

the instruments encapsulates completely or exclusively its re-spectively designated character in the psalm, a majority of thecontent was written with those general character assignmentsin mind.

1) Pitch Content: Following the numerological observa-tions mentioned previously, serialism presented itself as alogical and appealing device for generating musical materials.The material consists of a row, eight notes long, which driveboth the macro- and micro-structures of the music. SincePsalm 7 was labeled a shiggaion, a term that gives the notionof a wandering, erratic poetical form, the row itself wasconstructed to illustrate this:

[1 4 2 9 5 3 6 7].

A simple examination shows that this row does not makea good melody in the traditional sense employed by themasters of counterpoint. In fact, it seems to have little form,direction, or melodic arch. This is precisely what was intendedin choosing the row. Note the direction of the intervals:

[↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↓ ↑ ↑].

The alternating up/down gives the sense of wanderingaround, per the previous discussion of a shiggaion as wellas the nature of text in Psalm 7 as well as in Habakkuk 3.

Now, a word regarding the division of the verses. Psalm7 has the unique property of being both the 7th text in thepsalter as well as using names for God 7 times. It would seemlogical to divide the text into 7 sections, also. However, thechoice was made to divide the text into 8 sections, with thefirst 7 constituting the main body, and the 8th section beingthe hymn of praise at the end. This is to both encapsulate themain body of text in 7 sections, as well as set apart the finalpraising statement for emphasis. It was important that the finalnumber in the tone row be 7.

Finally, note some other uses of 7s embedded in theconstruction of the tone row:

1 + 4 + 2 = 7

9− 2 = 7

5 + 3 + 6 = 14

Traditional techniques were used to generate an “8-tonematrix” as shown in Table I. The macro structure was definedby assigning each of the 8 divisions to one of the numbersin the tone row, in order. Then, the rows that start with theassigned number were collected and used as the material foreach section. Tone rows are begun on each verse. This hasthe effect that at the start of each verse, all instruments beginon the same note, and then diverge according to their specificrows. Additionally, choosing the rows that all begin on thesame note has the side-effect of all rows in the section endingon the same notes as well (though this was not forced to lineup at the end of each verse). Example:

Verses 3-5 are assigned the number ‘2.’ The rows R8 andI2 are then chosen from Table I to be used as the material forVerse 3-5.

R8 : [2 1 T 0 4 9 E 8]

I2 : [2 E 1 6 T 0 9 8]

Given that Psalm 7 both begins with God and ends withGod (formally known as an inclusio), the symmetry of havingall instruments both start and end in unison is the musicalrepresentation of the literary structure.

2) Rhythmic Content: The rhythmic content of the piece isderived from the tone rows. The number ’1’ was assigned asixteenth note, a ’2’ is mapped to an eighth note and so forth.For ’0,’ no time value is assigned. These are implemented inthe score as grace notes. The rhythm matrix is shown in TableII. The same rows that were assigned as pitch content to thedivisions of the text were also assigned as the rhythmic contentfor each section.

A departure from traditional serialism is in how the rhythmrows is implemented. Rather than each instrument beingrequired to play the rhythmic rows verbatim, the ensemblecreates a composite rhythm that follows the rhythm rowsprecisely. As shown here in Figure 1, the three instruments,combined, have attacks on the rhythms indicated by thespecific row (bottom staff).

Fig. 1. Measure 8. The glissandi in both the flute and electronics becomea common gesture throughout the piece. Here it is referring to the psalmistsfears that his enemies will tear him to pieces.

B. Selected Word Painting Examples

The Psalm 7 composition contains a plethora of examplesof word painting. I present a few here as examples. It is myhope that the performers will spend some time studying thecomposition and identifying examples of word painting forthemselves and ascertaining meaning from the commentary inthis paper.

A first example is in Measure 8. Here the text “or theywill tear me...” is represented by glissandi, accents, loud

PSALM 7–PROGRAM NOTES, ANALYSIS, AND PERFORMANCE NOTES 9

1︷ ︸︸ ︷Vs. 1︸ ︷︷ ︸P1

|4︷ ︸︸ ︷

Vs. 2︸ ︷︷ ︸R10I4

|2︷ ︸︸ ︷

Vs. 3-5︸ ︷︷ ︸R8I2

|9︷ ︸︸ ︷

Vs. 6-7︸ ︷︷ ︸P9I9RI3

|5︷ ︸︸ ︷

Vs. 8-9︸ ︷︷ ︸P5I5R11

|3︷ ︸︸ ︷

Vs. 10-13︸ ︷︷ ︸I3R9RI9

|6︷ ︸︸ ︷

Vs. 14-16︸ ︷︷ ︸I6

|7︷ ︸︸ ︷

Vs. 17︸ ︷︷ ︸P7RI1R1I7

(1)

TABLE IMATRIX OF PITCH ROWS

I1 I4 I2 I9 I5 I3 I6 I7

P1 1 4 2 9 5 3 6 7 R1

P10 T 1 E 6 2 0 3 4 R10

P0 0 3 1 8 4 2 5 6 R0

P5 5 8 6 1 9 7 T E R5

P9 9 0 T 5 1 E 2 3 R9

P11 E 2 0 7 3 1 4 5 R11

P8 8 E 9 4 0 T 1 2 R8

P7 7 T 8 3 E 9 0 1 R7

RI1 RI4 RI2 RI9 RI5 RI3 RI6 RI7

TABLE IIMATRIX OF RHYTHM ROWS.

I1 I4 I2 I9 I5 I3 I6 I7

P1 ˇ “) ˇ “ ˇ “( ˇ “) ˘ “<ˇ “) ˇ “<

ˇ “( ‰ ˇ “‰ ˇ “) ˇ “‰<R1

P10 ˇ “( ˘ “<ˇ “) ˇ “( ‰ ˘ “<

ˇ “‰ ˇ “( ˇ “( ‰ ˇ “ R10

P0 ˇ “( ‰ ˇ “) ˘ “ ˇ “ ˇ “( ˇ “) ˇ “<ˇ “‰ R0

P5 ˇ “) ˇ “(<˘ “ ˇ “‰ ˇ “) ˇ “) ˘ “<

ˇ “) ˇ “‰<ˇ “( ˘ “<

ˇ “( ‰ ˘ “<R5

P9 ˇ “) ˘ “<ˇ “( ˘ “<

ˇ “) ˇ “<ˇ “) ˇ “( ‰ ˘ “<

ˇ “( ˇ “( ‰ R9

P11 ˇ “( ‰ ˘ “<ˇ “( ˇ “) ˇ “‰<

ˇ “( ‰ ˇ “) ˇ “ ˇ “) ˇ “< R11

P8 ˘ “ ˇ “( ‰ ˘ “<ˇ “) ˘ “<

ˇ “ ˇ “( ˘ “<ˇ “) ˇ “( R8

P7 ˇ “) ˇ “‰<ˇ “( ˘ “<

˘ “ ˇ “( ‰ ˇ “( ‰ ˘ “<ˇ “) ˘ “<

ˇ “) R7

RI1 RI4 RI2 RI9 RI5 RI3 RI6 RI7

dynamic markings, and abrasive gestures in both the flute andelectronics as shown in Figure 2. This is an example wherethe character of God (the electronics) is not immediately beingrepresented according to the text. Here the text is referring tothe accuser or enemy tearing the psalmist to pieces. It is onlylater that we learn that God has prepared his deadly weaponsagainst the enemies of David, and while the violence describedhere in Measure 8 is only initially being performed by theaccuser (the Flute), it is understood later that his violencecomes down on his own head, according to the laws of falseaccusation set forth by God in the Mosaic laws. Hence, herein Measure 8, we see that the flute only has one glissandiwhile the electronics has many. That is, the flute’s rippingis a future possibility, but it is God who rips the wicked, oralternately, the wicked do thus to themselves by violating themoral command.

Another word painting example is found in measures 11-12

(Figure 3) where the psalmist laments that he will be destroyedwith ”no one to rescue me.” Here the flute is silent duringMeasure 11; the accuser is certainly not going to performan act of rescue. But God, whom the psalmist has alreadyexpressed safety in, is present in the slow-moving electronics.The flute rejoices in Measure 12 at the prospect of succeedingin his plots.

Measure 24 (Figure 4) is an example of how the rules ofserialism are broken in the piece. Here, the flute departs fromit’s required rhythmic boundaries as it stamps out the life of thepsalmist. This method of breaking the compositional “rules”defined previously is used in several places, exclusively in theflute part to represent his wickedness. The tremolo on “life” inthe vocal part is a blatant word-painting example. By forcingthe vocalist to break up the word “life” in a stuttering effecton one note, the “breath of life” is effectually ripped to pieces.

REFERENCES 10

%

%

>

0528

0528

0528

0526

0526

0526

Fl.

Vc.

9 œ∀ œ∀ Ó Ιœ −Ιœα ˙ Ιœ ˙li on and rip me

9 œ Θœ∀ −ιœα ˙ ιœ∀˙ Ó Œ ‰

9

˙˙α

ιœµΘœ −˙

ιœµ ˙çε

Œ ≈ −Ιœα ˙∀ Ιœ −Ιœ ˙ Ιœ∀ ˙to pie ces with

Θœ ≈ Œ − ˙ Θœ∀˘ ≈ θœ−Ιœ ≈ Θœ∀= −Ιœ Ó ιœ

œ∀ θœ ϖ ιœç ε

ε

ß ε

-

%

%>

0526

0526

0526

0528

0528

0528

0534

0534Fl.

Vc.

11

Ιœ∀ ˙ Θœ −Ιœ ˙ −œ∀ ιœ∀ −ιœ œno one to res cue

11 ∑11 ιœ ˙ θœ∀ −ιœ∀ ˙ −œ ιœ ιœ∀ −Ιœ œπ

œ∀ ∑ ∑ ≈ ιœme. O

œ œ∀ ˙ ιœ Ιœ∀ −Ιœ œ Œ ˙∀ ‰

œ θœ −Ιœ ˙ ιœ −Ιœα ˙ œ∀ œ œ œ˙∀ ιœµ

Ο

Ο

εΟ

ε Ο ε

ο

Ο

- - -

%>

0534

05340536

05360534

0534Vc.

−ιœ ˙ ιœ œ ˙∀ Ó − ˙Lord my God, if

13

ιœ θœ= ˙ ‰ ιœ −˙ θœ ˙∀ −ιœ ˙∀

Verse 3

Ο

Ιœα −Ιœ ˙ Θœ −œα ιœµ = ˙ œ=Œ Ó ≈

I have done this

ιœ −ιœ∀ , ˙ θœ−œ∀ ιœ ˙ ιœ

Θœµ ˙ ˙∀

ßSharply, with distain

ß ƒ

%>

0534

05340536

0536Vc.

15

−ιœ ˙ ιœ œ œ −ϖand there is guilt

15

Ιœ Θœ ˙∀ ιœ ιœ œ∀ ˙ Θœ ˙µ −ιœ ˙

Ο ε

Ο ε

ιœ −ιœ ˙ −ϖ Ιœ œα Œon my hands

Ιœ −Ιœ ˙ θœ −œ ιœ∀ ˙ιœ∀

Θœ ˙ ˙∀

Ε Οε

Ε ε

2

Fig. 3. Measures 11-12. “No one to rescue me” is represented by rests in the flute part combined with the slow-moving electronics. The psalmist has no one(on earth) to rescue him, though the presence of electronics indicates that God is indeed present and hearing his prayer. The flute in Measure 12 expressesits supposed triumph.

%>

0526

05260528

05280526

0526Flute

Cello

≈ −ιœ∀ œ ˙ ˙ −œ œ ‰ ≈

œ∀ œ œ œ œ −˙ œ −œ −œ Œ − ≈Ε

Allegro {q = 143}

ο

œ −œα œ‰ − −Ιœα Ó −œ∀ −œ ‰ − ‰

≈ œ œα œ −œ∀ −œ ˙ ˙ Œ − ‰ −ε

Ε

%

%

>

0526

0526

0526

0528

0528

0528

Fl.

Vc.

œ∀ œ −œ ˙ θœ œ −ιœ −œ Œ ≈ ‰O Lord my God,

3

Θœ∀ œ Ιœ Θœ ˙ ˙ −œ Θœ −œ

3 ≈ ϖ∀ œ −ιœ −œ θœ −œ

Verse 1

π

ο

ο

≈ œ œ œ −œ ˙ −œ œα œ∀ ‰ −I take ref uge in you;−œ œα Œ −œ∀ ˙ −œ

˙ −œ −œα ˙ ˙∀ œœ œœ −−œœ

Ε-

%

%>

0526

0526

0526Fl.

Vc.

5 ‰ −œ −œ −œ∀ ˙ −œ œ Θœ −œsave and de li ver

5 œ∀ œ œ ≈ −œ −œ ˙ ˙ ˙ ≈5 ˙ −œ∀ ˙ −œ∀ œ

− −œΕ

ß Ε

− −œ θœ ˙ œ ≈ −ιœ −œ − −œme from all who pur sue

Θœα −œ Θœ∀ ˙ Θœ œ −Ιœ−œ∀ −œ ≈

œ Θœ−Ιœ ˙ Θœ œœ −−

ιœœα ˙ Œ ≈ε

ε- - -

%

%>

0528

0528

0528

Fl.

Vc.

7

˙α ∑ Ó Œ ≈me,

7 ≈−œ

Θœ ˙ Θœ œ −Ιœ −œα Θœ= Œ ‰7 θœα œ∀ Ιœ − −˙ −Ιœ

−œ∀ Θœ −œ

ε

ß

Ο ιy=

Ó θy œα = Œ ‰ − −œ Ιœ∀ −Ιœ œ∀

or they will tear me like a

Ó ‰ œ ˙ Ιœ∀˘ Œ ιœœ∀ ‰ ≈

Ιœ −œ ‰ Θœ= −ιœα = ˙ιœ

=

−œΙœ −ιœ œ Ιœ

Verse 2

Ο Ρ

Ο Ï Ε

ε

ß Ε

PSALM 7Travis Mallett

© 2014

Opus 17A shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord

concerning Cush, a Benjamite.

Fig. 2. Measure 8. The glissandi in both the flute and electronics becomea common gesture throughout the piece. Here it is referring to the psalmistsfears that his enemies will tear him to pieces.

%

>

0534

0534

0534

0536

0536

0536Vc.

}}}}ιœ −ιœ ˙ θœ −œ ιœ ˙ Θœ ˙ ˙

If I have done e vil

17 ιœ −ιœ∀ ˙ θœµ −œ Ιœµ ˙ιœ

Θœ ˙ ˙

Verse 4

Ο

‰ − ˙ Ιœ œ∀ ˙ Θœ ˙ −Ιœ ˙to him who is

‰ ≈ Ó ‰ Œιœ ˙∀ Θœ

ŸÈ œ −œ ≈ ˙∀

Ιœθœ∀ ˙∀ ιœ œµ ˙ θœ ˙ −ιœ ˙µ

ß ο

ß

ε π

Ο-

}}}}}}

%

%>

0536

0536

0536

0534

0534

0536

0536

0536Fl.

Vc.

19

Ιœ∀ −ιœ∀ ˙ θœ −œ ιœ∀ ˙ ≈ Ó ˙µat peace with me or

19

œŸÈ

˙ ≈ Θœ −œ ιœ ˙ιœ

Θœµ ˙ Ó19 ιœ ˙∀ ‰ ≈ θœ −œ ιœ ˙ θœ ϖ

π

ε Ε Ο

Ε

Ο

Ιœ Θœ ˙ −œ ϖ œ ˙with out cause robbed my

ιœ θœ ˙ ιœ ιœ œ ˙ θœ ˙∀ −Ιœ ˙ε

-

}}}}}

%

%>

0536

0536

0536Fl.

Vc.

21

−œ∀ ˙ −œ ‰ Ó ≈ Ó ˙foe then

21ιœ Ιœ∀ −Ιœ ˙ Θœ −œ∀ ŸÈ ιœ∀ ˙

ιœ∀Θœ∀ ˙ ˙

21

Ιœ −Ιœ ˙ Θœ −œ Ιœ ˙ Θœ ˙ ˙ß Ε

ο

Ιœ∀ ≥ ‰ ≈ Ó Θœ −œ ιœ∀ ˙ Ιœµ ≥ Œ − ≈ ˙let my en e my purιœ −˙ Ιœ −œ∀ Ιœ ˙ ιœ∀

Θœ∀ ˙ Ιœµ ]Œ −

Ιœ∀−ιœµ ˙ Θœ −œ∀ ιœ∀ ϖ θœ ˙

Verse 5ß

ß ƒ Ε

çε

- - -

}}} }}}}}}}

%

%

>

0534

0534

0534

Fl.

Vc.

}}}}

23 ˙ œ θœ θœ −œ Ιœ ˙ θœ∀ ˙ ˙∀sue and o ver take me;

23 Ιœ]

Ιœ]≈ Ó − −œ=ŸΗ

Ιœ ˙ ιœ ˙∀ ˙ ≈23 −˙ Ιœ

−œ∀ ] ιœ∀ ˙ θœ ˙ ˙µ

ƒ ε

ƒ

ƒ

‰ Θœ ιœÿ Ó œ∀ Ιœ ‰Œ≈ Ιœ˙∀æ ≈ Ó

let him tram ple my life

Ιœ Θœ∀ ˙∀ Ιœ∀ œµ θœµ ˙ œ œ œ∀ Θœ∀ œ œµœ Θœµ −ιœ∀

œ œ œ œ∀ œ∀ œµ3

3

3

3

−æθœ œ ˙ Θœ ˙ −Ιœ∀

= ˙µ˘ß ß ß ε

trem.

ο ß

ƒ

- -

}}}}}} }

-

}}}}}}}

}}}}

3

Fig. 4. Measure 24. The trampling and stamping out of the psalmist’s lifeis represented in the tremolo on “life.” The Flute severely breaks the rhythmlaws, implemented throughout the piece, as a representation of the accuserbreaking the law of false accusation.

IV. COMMENTS FOR PERFORMERS AND LISTENERS

For the performer: the dynamics should be paid fine atten-tion. They are an integral part of much of the word-painting.It should be noted that this piece was not written with liveperformance in mind. The complicated rhythms exclude thispiece from most performer’s live repertoire. While I haveno doubt that there exist exceptionally technically talentedperformers who are able to perform this piece live, I haveno expectation that this will usually be the case. A carefullyconstructed studio recording, giving attention to the detailsof the piece is sufficient for my expectations of this piece.And in fact, given the level of detail used in constructing thispiece, I feel that a recording studio is perhaps the only wayto efficiently capture such detail from the performers. Whilerealizing this can limit the exposure of the piece, it also ensuresthat performers who can accurately represent the rhythmicand other technical aspects in either live performance or ina recording studio, will have put sufficient time and thoughtinto the their contribution to the piece and interpretations.

For the listener: I encourage listeners to study the text,in addition to the composition. Rich meanings which canbe drawn from the text can also be drawn from the musicthrough study, repeated hearings, by a thoughtful approach tothe music, and with a spirit that wishes to seek the face ofGod and understand His truths.

It is my sincere hope that this work be presented for theGlory of God, of which we are co-heirs with Christ, and thatthose who listen to and study this work will be spirituallyblessed.

REFERENCES

[1] Joseph Addison Alexander. Commentary on Psalms.Kregel Publications, 1991.

[2] Michael L. Barre and John S. Kselman. “New Exodus,Covenant, and Restoration in Psalm 23”. In: The Wordof the Lord Shall Go Forth: Essays in Honor of DavidNoel Freedman (1983), pp. 97–127.

[3] Roger T. Beckwith. “The Early History of the Psalter”.In: Tyndale Bulletin 46.1 (1995), pp. 1–27.

PSALM 7–PROGRAM NOTES, ANALYSIS, AND PERFORMANCE NOTES 11

[4] Yitzhak Berger. “The David–Benjaminite Conflict andthe Intertextual Field of Psalm 7”. In: Journal for theStudy of the Old Testament 38.3 (2014), pp. 279–296.

[5] E.S. Berry. Commentary on the Psalms: Psalms 1-50.New York, 1915. URL: https://books.google.com/books?id=Pv0-DnJlid4C.

[6] J. Calvin and Calvin translation society. Commentaryon the Psalms. 1845-49. Calvin translation society ...for the publication of translations of the works of JohnCalvin. Calvin translation society, 1847. URL: https ://books.google.com/books?id=n-rMp\ NSqxcC.

[7] Davida Charney. “Maintaining Innocence Before a Di-vine Hearer: Deliberative Rhetoric in Psalm 22, Psalm17, and Psalm 7”. In: Biblical Interpretation 21.1(2013), pp. 33–63.

[8] Dr. Thomas L. Constable. Notes on Psalms, 2015 Edi-tion. Sonic Light, 2015.

[9] F. Delitzsch. Biblical Commentary on the Psalms. Bib-lical Commentary on the Psalms v. 1. T.&T. Clark,1892. URL: https : / / books . google . com / books ? id =EO0tAAAAYAAJ.

[10] D. G. Firth. “Responses to Violence in Some LamentPsalms of the Individual”. In: Skrif en Kerk 17.2 (1996),pp. 317–328.

[11] E. W. Hengstenberg. Commentary on Psalms. London:John Robertson and Co., 1863.

[12] Robert L Hubbard. “Dynamistic and legal processesin Psalm 7”. In: Zeitschrift fur die AlttestamentlicheWissenschaft 94.2 (1982), pp. 267–279.

[13] Rodney R. Hutton. “Cush the Benjaminite and PsalmMidrash”. In: Hebrew Annual Review 10 (1986),pp. 123–137.

[14] E. Johnson and H. Ewald. Commentary on the Psalms- Primary Source Edition. BiblioBazaar, 2013. ISBN:9781289722869. URL: https://books.google.com/books?id=H-vsngEACAAJ.

[15] Derek Kidner. Psalms 1-72: an Introduction and Com-mentary. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1973.

[16] J. Carl Laney. “A Fresh Look at the ImprecatoryPsalms”. In: Bibliotheca Sacra 138 (1981), pp. 35–45.

[17] C. S. Lewis. Reflections on the Psalms. New York, NY:Harcourt, Inc., 1956.

[18] Martin Luther. A Simple Way to Pray. Westminster JohnKnox Press, 2000.

[19] Martin Luther. Commentary on the First Twenty-TwoPsalms. London: Simpkin and R. Marshall, 1826.

[20] J. Vernon McGee. Notes and Outlines on the Psalms.Thru The Bible, 2005.

[21] J. Vernon McGee. Psalm 119: A Commentary Outline–The Golden ABC’s of the Word of God. Kansas City,MO: Word of Truth, 2009.

[22] Eric Peels. “I Hate Them With Perfect Hatred(Psalm139:21-22)”. In: Tyndale Bulletin 59.1 (2008), pp. 35–51.

[23] G. Phillips. A Commentary on the Psalms. A Com-mentary on the Psalms v. 2. Williams and Norgate,1872. URL: http : / / books . google . com / books ? id =IHkRAAAAYAAJ.

[24] Luis Alonso Schokel. “True Language of the HumanSpirit: The Language of the Psalms”. In: The Spiritual-ity Of the Psalms (1996), pp. 45–57.

[25] David Sielaff. “Who Was Melchizedek?” In: Associatesfor Scriptural Knowledge (2011).

[26] John Skinner. The International Critical Commentaryon Genesis, Chronicles, and the Psalms. Scribner, 1910.

[27] D.D. Solomon B. Freehof. The Jewish Commentary forBible Readers. Portland, Oregon: Union of AmericanHebrew Congregations, 1938.

[28] Charles H. Spurgeon. The Treasury of David, Vol. 1.Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 2011.

[29] EG Stanley. “The Brain No Hilltop in Place-Names:King Alfreds use of brægn at Prose Psalm 7: 16”. In:Notes and queries 58.1 (2011), pp. 14–19.

[30] Emanuel Swedenborg. Commentary on the Psalms.Boston: The Massachusetts New-Church Union, 1910.

[31] Jeffrey H Tigay. “Psalm 7:5 and Ancient Near EasternTreaties”. In: Journal of Biblical Literature (1970),pp. 178–186.

[32] Bob Utley. Study Guide Commentary Series Old Testa-ment, Vol. 9B, Psalms: The Hymnal of Israel Book I.Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International, 2012.

[33] Willem A. VanGemeren. The Expositor’s Bible Com-mentary: Vol. 5-Psalms. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zon-dervan, 2008.

[34] James W. Watts. “Psalmody in Prophecy: Habakkuk 3in Context”. In: Forming Prophetic Literature: EssaysOn Isaiah and the Twelve in Honor of John D.W. Watts.Ed. James W. Watts and Paul R. House. (1996), pp. 209–223.

[35] Artur Weiser. The Psalms: a commentary. WestminsterJohn Knox Press, 2000.

[36] Peter White. Causes for the Upsurge of ImprecatoryPrayer in Contemporary African Christian Churches.

[37] Ronald Youngblood. “Divine Names in the Book ofPsalms: Literary Structures and Number Patterns”. In:JANESCU 19 (1989), pp. 171–181.