Read Psalm 35
The ESV editors provide a very simple title/description of this psalm, “Great is the Lord.” Unfortunately, the title might work for a dozen other psalms. So I read it again and I began to take notes to better understand the central themes of the psalm. (There are no better interpretive tools then a pen and paper, coupled with a close examination.) I looked for . . .
What is repeated?
- The poor, the weak, the afflicted, the oppressed, the pursued. (vs. 3, 10, 11, 13-14, 25, and 26)
- “Without cause” (vs. 7, 19)
- “Let them not . . .” or “Let not . . .” (vs. 19[2x], 24, 25[2x], 26)
- “the angel of the LORD” (vs. 5, 6, cf. also Ps. 34:7)
- Repeated curses against enemies. (vs. 4, 6, 8, 19, 24, 25, 26)
Things he prays will happen to his enemies:
-
- put them to shame and dishonor (vs. 4, 26)
- let them be turned back and disappointed (vs. 4, 26)
- let them be like chaff before the wind (vs. 5) (discarded and removed)
- let their way be dark and slippery (vs. 6)
- let destruction come upon them (vs. 8) (by surprise)
- let their plans backfire and capture them instead (vs. 26)
- don’t let them rejoice over me (vs. 19, 24)
- don’t let them think they have defeated me (vs. 25)
- let them be put to shame and dishonor (vs. 26)
- let them be clothed with shame and dishonor (vs. 26)
- the first line seems to desire a public shame / the second line seems to express the hope that the shame and dishonor of his enemies would last forever.
- seems that the reason for such vehemence in what he wants to happen to his enemies is that their attacks on him are:
- “without cause” (vs. 7, 19)
- without gratitude (vs. 13-14)
- and without mercy (vs. 15-16)
What is unique or raises new questions and thoughts?
- Verse 11, “Malicious” in ESV (“Violent” in NASB95) in Hebrew is “Hamas” sometimes translated “cruel”; cognate to Arabic meaning “zeal.”
- Verses 13-16; contrasts how the poor deal with illness among the rich in the community with how the rich and powerful treat those who are poor.
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* I wonder if part of the reason for this is that the poor mean very little to those with much, (they write them off and replace them) but when the rich are in a health danger, the poor may suffer even more. The rich control the jobs, salaries, work environment of the poor. Another way of thinking of this is that the poor are invested in the welfare of the rich more than the rich are invested in the welfare of the poor. - The triumph of the final verses (vs 27-28). A final plea for the righteous to be able to rejoice in His (YHWH’s) deliverance so that the greatness of God would be made known and his tongue would be released to praise the LORD all day long.
- The “Aha, Aha!” of verse 21 is echoed in the “Aha” of verse 25. It is a picture of a haughty attitude of superiority of one person over another. In other words, his antagonists have the perspective that they are beyond touch. They are dismissive of the one they lord it over.
We who follow the King should never be dismissive of fellow human beings made in the image and likeness of God.
Read Psalm 35
An offering for the Poetry Project
Explosions of Malice
The words of my contenders
like explosions of malice
arrive at my heart pounding for entrance.
Without cause, they slap my love away
betraying friendship and bereaving my soul.Why do they lie about me?
All I have done is love them!
I wept for them when they were sick.
My prayers poured upward for their restoration.
Yet they repay my good with evil,
and relentlessly mock and despise me.“How long, O Lord, will you witness this?
Your eyes saw it all. Won’t You
rescue me from their malice?
Put an end to their rejoicing over me.
Say to my soul that You are my salvation.
Don’t let me forget that You are trustworthy.Those who persecute, slander, and hate,
surround me and look to inflict sorrow
into my veins, infecting my spirit.
Defeat them, O God.
Judge me not by their words but by Your righteousness.
Vindicate me that Your faithfulness would be known
and You would be magnified by all Your servants.
Go to Psalm 36
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