Psalm 35: Commentary Insights

Psalm 35: Commentary Insights

The Treasury of David (Charles H. Spurgeon)

General

The martial language in which God is asked to take hold of shield, 
buckler, and spear depicts the Lord not as an indifferent onlooker, but 
as a fully armed, active combatant stepping directly into the fray on 
behalf of His beleaguered servant (Spurgeon 156).

The inward assurance requested in the phrase, "Say unto my soul, I am 
thy salvation," indicates that external deliverance is insufficient 
without the immediate, subjective witness of the Holy Spirit to the 
believer’s conscience (Spurgeon 157).

Imprecatory petitions in the psalm are not outbursts of personal malice 
or private revenge, but judicial appeals for divine justice against 
unprovoked, irreconcilable wickedness that refuses repentance (Spurgeon 
158).

Mourning and fasting in sackcloth during the illness of those who later 
became hostile demonstrates that true godliness maintains active 
benevolence and intercession even toward potential betrayers (Spurgeon 161).

The hypocritical mockers at feasts illustrate the base character of 
ungodly courtiers and parasites who sell their souls to ridicule the 
righteous simply to flatter their patrons and earn a meal (Spurgeon 162).

Christ

David’s undeserved mistreatment and gratuitous rejection directly 
prefigure the earthly life and passion of Jesus Christ, whose enemies 
hated Him without a cause, fulfilling the exact reality described in 
verse 19 (Spurgeon 155, 163).

The false witnesses rising up to charge the psalmist with crimes he 
never knew or conceived point forward to the corrupt trial of Christ 
before the Sanhedrin, where perjurers sought false testimony against Him 
(Spurgeon 160).

The malicious rejoicing over adversity and the gaping mouths crying 
"Aha, aha, our eye hath seen it!" mirror the mocking spectators and 
chief priests who gloated around the foot of the cross (Spurgeon 164).

Church

Believers are comforted to know that false accusations, ungrateful 
treatment, and slanderous tongues are no novelty for the household of 
faith, but the well-trodden path of all God’s saints (Spurgeon 159).

God's people are identified as "the quiet in the land," characterized 
not by political intrigue or factional agitation, but by peaceful 
submission and quiet devotion, even when surrounded by aggressive 
deceivers (Spurgeon 163).

Corporate worship and public testimony in the "great congregation" serve 
as the ultimate goal of deliverance, where individual mercies are 
magnified for the mutual encouragement of the whole assembly (Spurgeon 162).

An Old Testament Commentary for English Readers (Charles J. Ellicott)

General

The vivid imagery of Jehovah wielding defensive shields and an offensive 
javelin reflects an anthropomorphic accommodation to human crisis, 
invoking God as a warrior fighting with the specific military equipment 
of the ancient world (Ellicott 134).

The metaphor of the angel of the Lord driving enemies like chaff on a 
dark and slippery slope emphasizes the sudden, terrifying, and 
completely unpreventable collapse that overtakes ungodly conspirators 
(Ellicott 135).

Grief exhibited through personal fasting and downward-bowed posture 
demonstrates that the author treated an adversary’s sickness with the 
tender sympathy normally reserved for one’s own mother or brother 
(Ellicott 136).

The description of adversaries opening their mouths wide is an ancient 
Near Eastern gesture of arrogant contempt, meant to physically convey 
that the victim had been wholly swallowed up by their schemes (Ellicott 
137).

Christ

The motif of the innocent sufferer experiencing hatred without cause 
represents an archetype that finds its ultimate historical and 
theological realization in Jesus Christ, who applied this text directly 
to Himself in the Upper Room discourse (Ellicott 137).

Church

The designation "the quiet in the land" defines the normative posture of 
the righteous within civil society: peace-seeking, non-seditious 
citizens whose tranquil life invites the unjust hostility of worldly 
factions (Ellicott 137).

The individual’s rescue from unjust assault is designed to expand into a 
communal celebration, confirming to the whole fellowship that God 
delights in the welfare and vindication of His servants (Ellicott 138).

Exposition of the Old and New Testaments (Matthew Henry)

General

Pleading one's cause with God represents a solemn transfer of grievance 
from human courts and private vengeance directly into the hands of the 
sovereign, righteous Judge (Henry 382).

Imprecations against enemies operate as prophetic predictions of the 
inevitable ruin awaiting stubborn persecutors, demonstrating that those 
who dig pits for others fall into their own destruction under divine 
retributive justice (Henry 383).

True piety displays profound charity by mourning and praying for 
adversaries during their afflictions, proving that hatred resides 
entirely in the persecutor rather than the believer (Henry 384).

Deliverance of the poor and needy from those too strong for them 
establishes God as the sovereign protector of the vulnerable against 
institutional or physical tyranny (Henry 384).

Christ

David’s persecution under Saul typifies the rejection, suffering, and 
trials of the Lord Jesus Christ, who endured false accusers speaking 
lies against Him and rewarded only good to those who repaid Him evil 
(Henry 381, 384).

The ruin prophesied against the psalmist's adversaries anticipates the 
judicial destruction of the Jewish leaders and the Roman persecutors who 
united against Christ (Henry 383).

Church

Faithful Christians must cultivate the identity of "the quiet in the 
land," pursuing quietness, avoiding contention, and committing their 
reputation to God when misrepresented by the world (Henry 386).

The prosperity and peace of the righteous bring joy to the whole 
community of faith, reinforcing mutual solidarity and prompting 
collective praise in the congregation (Henry 387).

Commentary on the Old Testament (Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch)

General

The presentation of the angel of Jahve acting as the executor of 
judgment portrays divine wrath as an active, pursuing force that turns 
the slippery path of the wicked into total ruin (Keil and Delitzsch 414).

Retributive justice (jus talionis) demands that the invisible net and 
clandestine pit laid for the innocent become the exact snare that 
entangles and destroys the schemer (Keil and Delitzsch 415).

The phrase "my soul shall be joyful in Jahve" shows that deliverance 
produces joy not primarily in the destruction of the enemy, but in the 
experiential manifestation of God’s saving character (Keil and Delitzsch 
415).

The term riguei-eretz ("the quiet in the land") designates the pious who 
live in gentle retirement and inward devotion, eschewing political 
turmoil while enduring the slander of deceitful schemers (Keil and 
Delitzsch 418).

Christ

The innocent suffering of the anointed king, targeted by unprovoked 
hatred and repaid with evil for good, stands as a prophetic type of the 
Passion of Jesus Christ (Keil and Delitzsch 417).

The quotation of verse 19 in John 15:25 confirms that the unmerited 
hatred endured by David reached its canonical culmination in the world’s 
hatred toward the Son of God (Keil and Delitzsch 417).

Church

The transition from solitary lament to thanksgiving in the "great 
congregation" (qahal rav) establishes that personal rescue is intended 
to enrich the communal liturgy and faith of the gathered church (Keil 
and Delitzsch 416, 419).

Works Cited

Ellicott, Charles John, editor. An Old Testament Commentary for English 
Readers. Vol. 4, Cassell and Company, 1884.

Henry, Matthew. An Exposition of the Old and New Testament. Vol. 3, 
Robert Carter and Brothers, 1853.

Keil, Carl Friedrich, and Franz Delitzsch. Biblical Commentary on the 
Old Testament: The Psalms. Translated by Francis Bolton, vol. 1, T. & T. 
Clark, 1871.

Spurgeon, Charles Haddon. The Treasury of David. Vol. 2, Marshall 
Brothers, 1885.

-- 
Good News †

Through the cross, Christ erased the spiritual debt we owed to God for 
our rebellion (Colossians 2:14), a reality established when God raised 
Him from the dead (Romans 1:4). God can now righteously pardon our sins 
(Romans 3:26) and exempt us from the coming divine judgment (1 
Thessalonians 1:10). Salvation cannot be earned; it is a free gift for 
believers (Romans 6:23). Trust in Jesus and invoke His name to be saved 
(Romans 10:9-13):

How to be saved: christrose.news/salvation