Psalm 35--Great Is the LORD

Psalm 35
English Standard Version

Great Is the LORD
Of David.
35 Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me;
    fight against those who fight against me!
2 Take hold of shield and buckler
    and rise for my help!
3 Draw the spear and javelin
    against my pursuers!
Say to my soul,
    “I am your salvation!”

4 Let them be put to shame and dishonor
    who seek after my life!
Let them be turned back and disappointed
    who devise evil against me!
5 Let them be like chaff before the wind,
    with the angel of the LORD driving them away!
6 Let their way be dark and slippery,
    with the angel of the LORD pursuing them!

7 For without cause they hid their net for me;
    without cause they dug a pit for my life.
8 Let destruction come upon him when he does not know it!
And let the net that he hid ensnare him;
    let him fall into it—to his destruction!

9 Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD,
    exulting in his salvation.
10 All my bones shall say,
    “O LORD, who is like you,
delivering the poor
    from him who is too strong for him,
    the poor and needy from him who robs him?”

11 Malicious witnesses rise up;
    they ask me of things that I do not know.
12 They repay me evil for good;
    my soul is bereft.
13 But I, when they were sick--
    I wore sackcloth;
    I afflicted myself with fasting;
I prayed with head bowed on my chest.
14     I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother;
as one who laments his mother,
    I bowed down in mourning.

15 But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered;
    they gathered together against me;
wretches whom I did not know
    tore at me without ceasing;
16 like profane mockers at a feast,
    they gnash at me with their teeth.

17 How long, O LORD, will you look on?
    Rescue me from their destruction,
    my precious life from the lions!
18 I will thank you in the great congregation;
    in the mighty throng I will praise you.

19 Let not those rejoice over me
    who are wrongfully my foes,
and let not those wink the eye
    who hate me without cause.
20 For they do not speak peace,
    but against those who are quiet in the land
    they devise words of deceit.
21 They open wide their mouths against me;
    they say, “Aha, Aha!
    Our eyes have seen it!”

22 You have seen, O LORD; be not silent!
    O LORD, be not far from me!
23 Awake and rouse yourself for my vindication,
    for my cause, my God and my LORD!
24 Vindicate me, O LORD, my God,
    according to your righteousness,
    and let them not rejoice over me!
25 Let them not say in their hearts,
    “Aha, our heart's desire!”
Let them not say, “We have swallowed him up.”

26 Let them be put to shame and disappointed altogether
    who rejoice at my calamity!
Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor
    who magnify themselves against me!
​
27 Let those who delight in my righteousness
    shout for joy and be glad
    and say evermore,
“Great is the LORD,
    who delights in the welfare of his servant!”
28 Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness
    and of your praise all the day long.

---

David once again asks the LORD to deal with the people that were his enemies and for the LORD to be his shield, defense and salvation.  He knows it the LORD fights the battle for him, that the victory is secure.  The javelin and spear are ranged weapons and David asks for the LORD to use His weapons that can reach the enemies from far away, even though they think they are pursing David and that they are winning.  Most of all though, David requests for God to make him know, "I am your salvation."

David asks for the enemies that are pursuing him to be as worthless as the chaff that the angel of the LORD will drive away.  Remember Psalm 1 that talks about this and how John the Baptist picks up on it in Matthew 3:11-12 and Luke 3:16-17 (speaking of Jesus),

11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

So it is that Jesus will sort out the good and righteous "wheat" that belongs in the storehouses of heaven from wicked "chaff" that will be burned in the unquenchable fires of hell that were prepared for the devil and his angels.  David prays for their way to be dark and slippery as the angel of the LORD pursues them--David knows that the angel of the LORD (that is Christ) will ultimately be the one to execute judgment and will fulfill what the Word says, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay."  These are the words of the LORD spoken in the book of Deuteronomy and quoted in the book of Romans and the book of Hebrews.

We see this request again that we've seen several times for those that try to ensnare others to be likewise ensnared by traps they don't see and even to be caught up in the traps that they are laying for others.  David says he will rejoice and shout to the LORD when he sees this reversal and sees the LORD take vengeance on his enemies (though we aren't sure that this will happen in this life, we ultimately know that is will happen in the end times, and I think we will all rejoice that the Father, Son, Holy Spirit and Church have all had their enemies defeated).

David then gives testimony of the things they have done to him and how the LORD has made him a different kind of person.  The wicked would bring false accusations against David and they would repay David's good to them with evil towards him, yet David would mourn and grieve when these people became ill and he would pray for them--probably not just for their physical healing, but for the salvation of their souls.  We may see that David is at a point now where he wants the fiery judgment of God to come upon these men, but it seems David has already interceded for them many times over and they do not want to be saved.  They have made up their minds that they want to be counted among the wicked, so then David prays for their end to come quickly to them--which can in itself be a prayer of mercy, because David does not want to see them suffer long periods of time.  David also knows the longer they live and thumb their noses at God, the more injury it does to the name of the LORD and the people that are known by His name--the righteous who worship Him and identify themselves as His children.

How did they repay David's kindness to them?  They have rejoiced at David's suffering and all gathered together to watch him suffer and they have been tearing him to pieces constantly.  David calls them wretches and profane mockers at a feast--they are the ones that get perverse pleasure out of trying to make everyone else as unhappy as they are and it makes them angry to see anyone else happy, because they are not happy.  David says that it's like they are grinding him with their teeth.

​David asks the LORD, "How much longer?" until He will intervene.  David sees the situation as if he is being surrounded by a pride of lions and that they are each taking swipes and bites at him--playing with him until he dies.  He needs someone that the lions are afraid of to step in and show them who's really in charge.  But David wonders how long it will be until the LORD rescues him.  Will it be rescue in this life, or will David's rescue come in the form of being taken out of this life so that he can offer praise before the very throne of God without need of fearing his enemies any more?

David asks for the LORD to make sure that his wicked enemies have nothing to brag or boast about.  David does not want the people following after these leaders who believe themselves to be strong and lead the people away from God.  David is concerned not just for himself, but for the entire congregation of the nation of Israel, that these evil men not be allowed to be victorious, for if they can slay the one that is king, then the people might make one of them the king assuming that David was in the wrong and that God allowed these men to kill him to show that they were right and David was wrong.  That's the way things worked in those days.

So then David prays for the public embarrassment of these men so that everyone knows they are the ones that the LORD is displeased with and that no one should follow them unless they also want to come to a similar end and face the vengeance of the angel of the LORD.  David desires for all to see what the LORD will do for him and for the praise of the LORD to be on the tongues and lips of all the people.  "Great is the LORD,
    who delights in the welfare of his servant!"