Psalm 35

Plead my cause, O Lord (vs. 1-10)—Some unknown enemy is again plaguing David and, in military terms, he asks for the Lord’s assistance: “Fight against those who fight against me” (v. 1). Take shield, buckler, and spear to stop those who pursued David (v. 2-3). Be my salvation (v. 3). I mentioned, a few psalms ago, a poetic devise common in Hebrew literature called “palilogical parallelism,” where a certain word or phrase is repeated in order to aid memorization. We see this again in verses 4-8: “Let those be put to shame…let those be turned back…let them be like chaff…let the angel of the Lord…let their way be dark…let the angel of the Lord…let destruction come…let his net…” All of these are curses upon David’s enemies, and again, this structure of the poem facilitate easy remembrance. And the end result is joy and rejoicing and praise to Jehovah (vs. 9-10).

He complains of their ungodly behavior (vs. 11-16)—They were false witnesses who rose against him, and David’s biggest complaint is found in verse 12: “They reward me evil for good.” When they were ill, David mourned for them, humbled himself, fasted, prayed for them (v. 13), and was is great distress (v. 14). “But in my adversity, they rejoiced” (v. 15), and “they gnashed at me with their teeth” (v. 16). These verses tend to make us believe that David is being stabbed in the back by friends or family; some have suggested that Absalom might be meant. We don’t know, but it does appear that someone close to him has betrayed him. That’s not an uncommon thing within a king’s court.

How long, Lord? (vs. 17-28)—And, like all of us, David desires a speedy resolution to his problem. “Lord, how long will You look on?” (v. 17). If Jehovah would rescue him, “I will give You thanks in the great assembly; I will praise You among many people” (v. 18). But such liberation has obviously not taken place yet (v. 19). He describes more of their wickedness in verses 20-21, mainly sins of the tongue. Certainly the Lord has seen it (v. 22), and David requests equal justice of God: “Do not keep silence.” Poetically, in verses 22 through 24, he moves from a synonymous parallelism (“do not keep silence…stir up yourself…vindicate me…”) to palilogical parallelism in verses 25-27: “Let them not say…let them not say…let them be ashamed…let them be clothes…let them shout…let them say continually….let the Lord…” Those last three “lets” are for praise of God, so perhaps David has found some relief for his circumstance. The psalm ends with a final word of praise: “And my tongue shall speak of Your righteousness and of Your praise all the day long” (v. 28). It’s not impossible that there were no specific historical circumstances behind this psalm; it could be just a song written by David to describe certain conditions he has faced in his life and ends with an exaltation of God.