Lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.
Psalm 7:2 stands in the first book of the Psalms, Psalms 1 to 41, and belongs with Psalms 1 to 11 as a precious interlude set among historic and legal readings. The word soul here means a life that can be torn apart and destroyed, like prey rent by a lion. That tearing in pieces shows the soul can die and go into the grave and is not immortal.
The verse begins with a sense of great need for deliverance from one who would tear the soul, and moves toward triumph and confidence in God. In that setting it meets every phase of human experience, helping the soul in discouragement, strengthening in time of trial, and giving solid comfort in time of grief. It also points out the danger of sin and warns against transgression.
It points to a God who is able and willing and anxious to save. It proclaims liberty to captives and opening of the prison to the bound as an actual experience after sin is confessed to God, against whom all sin is committed, and to those who have been wronged. Then the soul escapes as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers because the snare is broken, left as free as if it had not sinned. That deliverance means there is no condemnation and sin has no dominion, because Christ is Master and His rule is liberty, life, and peace.
Psalm 7:2 stands in the first book of the Psalms, Psalms 1 to 41, and belongs with Psalms 1 to 11 as a precious interlude set among historic and legal readings. The word soul here means a life that can be torn apart and destroyed, like prey rent by a lion. That tearing in pieces shows the soul can die and go into the grave and is not immortal.
The verse begins with a sense of great need for deliverance from one who would tear the soul, and moves toward triumph and confidence in God. In that setting it meets every phase of human experience, helping the soul in discouragement, strengthening in time of trial, and giving solid comfort in time of grief. It also points out the danger of sin and warns against transgression.
It points to a God who is able and willing and anxious to save. It proclaims liberty to captives and opening of the prison to the bound as an actual experience after sin is confessed to God, against whom all sin is committed, and to those who have been wronged. Then the soul escapes as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers because the snare is broken, left as free as if it had not sinned. That deliverance means there is no condemnation and sin has no dominion, because Christ is Master and His rule is liberty, life, and peace.