NAME 10 of 16: YEHOVAH-ELYOWN

The post The Names of God lays the foundation for 01 through 16. Please read it first, thanks.

Have you ever been the victim of lies, deceit and slander? Did it hurt you so deeply that you cried out to God because you could go to no one else for justice? Well, this is what happened to David why he wrote Psalm 7. It is a song and a prayer because of some things that Cush the Benjamite had said about him.

The only fact we have about this Cush fellow is in the title of the Psalm. It says that he came from the tribe of Benjamin. It appears from the content of the Psalm that this Cush person was saying some injurious things against David.

Matthew Henry, in his Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710), gave his theory about this Cush.

“David not only penned it, but sang it himself in a devout religious manner unto the Lord, concerning the words or affairs of Cush the Benjamite, that is, of Saul himself, whose barbarous usage of David bespoke him rather a Cushite, or Ethiopian, than a true-born Israelite. Or, more likely, it was some kinsman of Saul named Cush, who was an inveterate enemy to David, misrepresented him to Saul as a traitor, and … exasperated Saul against him…” Commentary on Psalm 7:1

I know Henry’s first theory sounds almost racist and derogatory but let’s objectively look beyond that implication and think about this: IF in fact David was referring to Saul as Cushite, he was calling him an Israelite without God since at that time the Cushites (Ethiopians) did not call upon the one true God. David was saying that this accuser was not a true Israelite even though he was born of Israel.

We must also look at what Wilhelm Gesenius and the translator of his work, S.P. Tregelles (in square brackets), said about this Cush:

“A Benjamite in the court of Saul [if not a name applied to Saul himself, or to Shimei], Ps. 7:1.” Cush, Gesenius's Lexicon translated and edited by S. P. Tregelles in 1847, 1857

Gesenius asserts that Cush was a Benjamite in Saul’s court. S.P. Tregelles asserts specifically that David may have used the name Cush in reference to either Saul or Shimei. Shimei was a Benjamite who originated from Saul’s house and cursed David openly (2 Samuel 16:5).

If there was no man named Cush in Saul’s court then David was using the name Cush in a derogatory way. Either he was applying it to Saul because of how barbarously Saul used David or to Shimei because of how he abjectly cursed David. Was he applying the label to a Benjamite to show that the man was not a true Benjamite but an enemy of Israel and of God?

I accept that the scripture gives us no clue about who Cush was except that he was a Benjamite who was falsely accusing David. It hurt David so much that he wrote a song/prayer Psalm about it, asking God to give him justice.

In verses 1-2 of Psalm 7 David seeks grace from Yehovah Elohiym. In verses 3-5 David highlights the fact of his innocence. In verses 6-9 David asks Yehovah Elohiym to rise up for him to judgment, for the people’s sake and for his sake. He also asks Yehovah Elohiym to judge him based on his innocence (righteousness and integrity). In verses 10-16 David acknowledges that Elohiym is his defence, that He judges the righteous and that He is angry with the wicked every day. David also said that the wicked man’s dealings would return to him and fall upon his own head.

David appealed to Yehovah Elohiym to do eight (8) specific things:

1. Save me from my persecutors (v.1);
2. Deliver me from them (v.1);
3. Arise, LORD, in your anger (v.6);
4. Lift up yourself LORD because of the rage of my enemies (v.6);
5. Awake, LORD, and judge them for me (v.6);
6, Judge me, LORD, in my righteousness and integrity (v.8);
7. Let the wickedness of man end (v.9); and
8. Establish the just (v.9).

David appeals to Yehovah Elohiym (LORD God) and Elohiym (God) repeatedly throughout the Psalm. After all the appeals, prayers and lamenting, look at what David said in verse 17:

“I will praise the LORD according to his righteousness: and will sing praise to the name of the LORD most high.”

David concludes his song/prayer with praise to Yehovah and to the name of Yehovah Elyown. What is so significant about Yehovah Elyown why, after calling on Yehovah Elohiym and Elohiym, David closes the Psalm in Praise to the name Yehovah Elyown?

ELYOWN refers to something high. In one context it is used of something set in a high and elevated position that is made an example of punishment to men (1 Kings 9:8). However, the name first appears in Genesis 14:18 together with the word EL or God, signifying God Most High. (See The Names of God.) In Psalm 7:17 it is used together with LORD or Yehovah and describes the LORD Most High or Yehovah Elyown.

The fact is, David had no higher authority to which he could appeal. After all the appeals, prayers and lamenting David exalted Yehovah Elyown, the LORD Most High, because HE was the highest authority he knew.