He makes a pit, digging it out,
    and falls into the hole that he has made. (Psalm 7:15)

The Pit

Psalm 7:15 describes a situation where a person falls into a trap they set for someone else. The pit is dug in mischief and lies. It is an evil scheme accompanied by deadly weapons (Ps. 7:12-14). But his mischievous scheme returns upon his own head (Ps. 7:16). Psalm 9:15-16 describes “the nations” as sinking into the pit of their creation. They are “snared in the work of their own hands” and receive the “judgment” of God. They create a trap so clever they fall right into it. God calls this justice. Psalm 35:8 emphasizes that getting caught in the net you hid is “destruction.” Some lay a snare with sinister intentions only to get their foot tangled in the net. God calls this self-destruction. Psalm 57:6 takes the perspective of the one the pit was dug to entrap. But the pit diggers forgot to mark their hole on the map and plunged themselves in. Proverbs 26:27 suggests this is more common than you think: “Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and a stone will come back on him who starts it rolling.” If you dig a hole for someone else, you'll likely end up in it, especially if you’re the sort who forgets where the stone lands. Worse than that, Ecclesiastes 10:8 says, when you fall into the pit of your own making, a snake is waiting.

A pit (Hb. shakhat) is a hole or a trap. Pit-digging was a common method of trapping animals or ambushing enemies. Covered with branches and baited, such traps were used in the ancient world. It might become a grave or it might become someone’s destruction. Metaphorically, it refers to a person’s ruin or death. So, Isaiah 38:17 refers to it as the “pit of destruction.” Psalm 30:9 says the pit is the place of death. The pit represents Sheol, the realm of the dead. Those who dig are “insolent.” They target the righteous (Ps. 119:85).

The Pits of Scripture

Scripture provides many examples of the Principle of the Pit. In Genesis 11, the people plot to build a tower to the heavens to establish independence from God. They aim to make a name for themselves. But God judges them by confusing their languages and scattering them.

In Exodus 14, Pharaoh stubbornly refuses to release the enslaved Israelites, even after ten plagues. Pharaoh’s armies think they have Israel pinned against the Red Sea. The sea opens for Israel and closes like a trapdoor on Pharaoh’s chariots.

In 2 Samuel 15 – 18, Absalom maneuvers a coup against his father, David. Absalom wins hearts with charm. He uses deceit, spies, and showmanship to seize the throne. But in the fateful battle, his hair gets caught in a tree, and Joab finishes him off.

In Daniel 6, envious government advisors concoct a legal trap to have Daniel thrown to the lions, forbidding prayer to anyone but the king. But when Daniel is thrown into the lion’s den, God protects Daniel from the beasts, and the conspirators visit the lions instead.

In the book of Esther, Haman digs a pit for Mordecai, so to speak. But then all is found out and “they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai” (Esther 7:10).

In Matthew 27:3-5, Judas Iscariot conspires to betray Christ for thirty pieces of silver. He tries to profit by selling the innocent. But, overwhelmed with guilt, he returns the silver and hangs himself.

Scripture repeatedly teases out the Psalm 7:15 theme. God’s universe is wired in such a way that evil undoes itself. It’s a judgment by irony, where natural consequences unfold according to God’s active providence. God allows (or causes) evildoers to be undone by their own devices.

The Abyss

The deepest pit is the abyss, which in Scripture is the farthest contrast from heaven (Gen. 49:25; Dt. 33:13). The abyss of the deep in Genesis 1:2 was without form and void. Pharaoh’s army is cast into the deep (Ex. 15:3-5, 10). From the abyss come the floodwaters of judgment (Gen. 7:11; 8:2; Ezek. 26:19-21). It is the place of excommunication away from God’s presence (Jon. 2:2-6). The abyss is the home of the Dragon (Job 41:31; Ps. 148:7; Rev. 11:7; 17:8) and the dungeon of the demons (Lk. 8:31; Rev. 20:1-3).

The Principle of the Pit

The principle of the pit is a reminder that sin is always self-destructive. “Be sure your sin will find you out” (Num. 32:23). Scheming to harm others, whether through gossip, lies, manipulation, or sabotage, sets recoiling forces in motion. “Whoever digs a pit will fall into it” (Prov. 26:27), which means seeking revenge, exposing another’s flaws, or exploiting someone’s weakness, ensnares the plotter above all else.

In Grimm’s story “The Three Snake-Leaves,” a poor young man marries a princess after proving his worth. The bride, however, makes him promise that if she dies first, he will be buried alive with her. When the princess dies, the poor chap finds himself entombed with her body and three magical snake-leaves. He uses the leaves to restore her to life. But instead of being grateful, the princess takes up with a sea captain and plots to kill her husband. Her plan is discovered, and the magic leaves are used against her. She and the captain are thrown overboard as the principle of the pit chalks up another victory.

In everyday life, it works like this. When Smith badmouths Jones, attentive listeners learn more about Smith’s character than Jones’. Similarly, spreading false rumors to get someone fired often leads supervisors to investigate the source, tracing the rumors back to their originator. False accusations can backfire when investigators uncover the accuser's illegal activities during their inquiry. Even negative reviews about a competitor's business can destroy the reviewer's credibility once customers recognize the pattern of deception.

The Key to the Pit

The Lord Jesus Christ has a key to the abyss and a chain to secure it (Rev. 20:1). Christ’s lawful possession is the “keys of death and Hades” (Rev. 1:18). He binds the Dragon for a thousand years (Rev. 20:2) and destroys the works of the devil (1 Jn. 3:8), preaching his victory to the spirits in prison (1 Pt. 3:18-20).

The story of the Bible is the antithesis between the kingdom of heaven and the pit of Satan. Yet the King of heaven, Christ himself, plunders Satan’s pit (Mt. 12:28f). Christ breaks Satan’s power. The Accuser thought he had worked a masterpiece when he gathered together the crew to take down Jesus. He stirred the priests to jealousy, Judas to betrayal, and Rome to execution. He must have thought it exquisite. What better way to humiliate the Son of God than to see Him paraded, spat upon, and nailed to a tree like a common thief?

But evil always overplays its hand. The spectacle of shame became the revelation of Christ’s glory. Christ’s grave turned out not to be a permanent abyss but a hole covered by a stone, a stone that could be rolled away (Lk. 24:2). Christ went into the deep to plunder it (Lk. 11:20-22). Then he arose from the grave to triumph over it.

Satan is the Grand Sultan of pit-diggers. He is clever, not good. He is deceptive, not wise. His plan is full of malice, not majesty. His pit ensnared the wrong “Victim,” the one Son of God who could climb out of the trap in triumph, leading captivity captive (Eph. 4:8).

Jason Cherry is an elder at Trinity Reformed Church in Huntsville, Alabama, as well as a teacher and lecturer of literature, history, and economics at Providence Classical School in Huntsville. He graduated from Reformed Theological Seminary with an MA in Religion and is the author of the books The Culture of Conversionism and the History of the Altar Call and The Making of Evangelical Spirituality.