Commentary - Psalm 35:11-18

Bird's-eye view

In this portion of Psalm 35, David moves from a general plea for God to fight on his behalf to a specific and painful description of the treachery he is facing. The conflict is not with foreign enemies on a battlefield, but with malicious backstabbers from within his own circle. This is a psalm that drips with the anguish of betrayal. David lays out the gross injustice of his situation: his genuine love and compassion for these men was repaid with slander, gloating, and violence. He was a true friend to them in their affliction, and they became ravenous enemies in his. This raw description of human depravity serves as a dark backdrop for the central plea of the passage: "Lord, how long will You look on?" This is the cry of a man who knows his only hope for vindication lies with God. The section concludes, as so many psalms of lament do, with a vow of public praise. David knows that when God does act, the only proper response is to declare His goodness in the midst of the great assembly. This is not just personal therapy; it is a matter of public theology.

We must also read this psalm with Christ as the ultimate key. The false witnesses, the repayment of evil for good, the gathering of enemies, all of it finds its ultimate fulfillment in the passion of our Lord Jesus. David was a type, but Christ was the substance. The unjust sufferings of David were a faint echo of the ultimate injustice borne by the Son of God on our behalf. Therefore, as we read this, we see not only David's plight, but a prophetic portrait of the suffering servant, and a pattern for how the righteous will often be treated by the world.

Outline

Clause-by-Clause Commentary

v. 11a Malicious witnesses rise up,

The trouble here is not an honest misunderstanding. The Hebrew speaks of "witnesses of violence." These are not simply mistaken individuals; they are men committed to ruin. They get up, they stand in a formal or public setting, and their purpose is destruction through lies. This is a feature of spiritual warfare. When the enemy cannot defeat a righteous man through temptation, he will often turn to slander. We see this prefigured here with David, and see it brought to its sharpest focus with the Lord Jesus, against whom false witnesses rose up to secure his crucifixion (Matt 26:60). The Christian should not be surprised when the world, which hates our Master, employs the same tactics against His servants.

v. 11b Who ask me of things that I do not know.

This is the essence of a kangaroo court. The questions are not designed to discover truth, but to entrap. They are asking him about conspiracies and treacheries of which he is entirely ignorant, because they never happened. The accusations are manufactured out of thin air. It is a form of gaslighting, designed to disorient and overwhelm. The righteous man's simple, honest "I don't know what you're talking about" is twisted into an admission of guilt or evidence of a cover-up. The whole proceeding is a sham, a legalistic pantomime to provide a veneer of justice for a predetermined lynching.

v. 12 They repay me evil for good, It is bereavement to my soul.

Here is the heart of the betrayal. It is not just that they are attacking him, but that they are attacking him in return for his goodness to them. This is a profound violation of the created order. To return good for good is basic decency. To return evil for evil is fallen justice. To return good for evil is grace. But to return evil for good is demonic. It is the action of a soul that has given itself over to wickedness. David feels this as a "bereavement to my soul." The Hebrew word suggests being bereaved of children, a deep and desolate loneliness. His kindness has been orphaned, left for dead. This is the kind of pain that cuts deeper than any physical wound.

v. 13 But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth; I humbled my soul with fasting, And my prayer kept returning to my bosom.

David now draws the sharp contrast. Their behavior is demonic, but his was godly. When they were in trouble, he entered into their suffering. Sackcloth was the garment of mourning and repentance. He identified with them so closely that he treated their sickness as though it were a result of his own sin. He humbled himself, literally "afflicted" his soul, with fasting. This was not a show. This was deep, gut-level intercession. His prayer, he says, "kept returning to my bosom." This can mean that he prayed with his head bowed low in intense supplication, or that his prayer, being unanswered for them, returned to him as a blessing of his own piety. Either way, it demonstrates the sincerity and intensity of his care for these very men who now seek his life.

v. 14 I walked about as though it were my friend or brother; I bowed down mourning, as one who sorrows for a mother.

The imagery deepens. His care for them was not distant or formal; it was familial. He treated them with the affection and loyalty due a friend or a brother. When their situation was dire, his grief was as profound as one mourning the death of his own mother. This is an astonishing level of empathy and love. David is making his case before God, not on the basis of his own sinless perfection, but on the basis of the gross injustice of this specific situation. He loved them. He genuinely cared for them. And their response was a viper's strike.

v. 15 But at my stumbling they were glad and gathered themselves together; The smiters whom I did not know gathered together against me, They tore at me and never were silent.

The contrast is now complete. At his "stumbling", his moment of weakness, his time of trial, their true nature was revealed. They were glad. His pain was their party. They gathered together, forming a mob. The word for "smiters" can also be translated as "cripples" or "outcasts," suggesting that even the lowest members of society, people he didn't even know, were stirred up to join the lynch mob. They "tore at me," a phrase suggesting slander and verbal abuse that rips a man's reputation to shreds. And it was incessant: they "never were silent." This is the cacophony of hell, a ceaseless barrage of accusation and mockery.

v. 16 Amongst the godless jesters at a feast, They gnashed at me with their teeth.

The scene is one of profane mockery. The image is of jesters or buffoons at a feast, likely making David the butt of their crude jokes for a piece of cake. This is contempt mixed with derision. But it is not just sport; it is filled with hatred. They "gnashed at me with their teeth," an expression of animalistic rage and fury. They are like predators wanting to tear him apart. This is not a disagreement among gentlemen. This is a bloodthirsty hatred of the righteous by the wicked.

v. 17 Lord, how long will You look on? Bring back my soul from their ravages, My only life from the lions.

After laying out the case, David turns to the judge. "Lord, how long will You look on?" This is not a challenge to God's omniscience, but a plea for His action. It is the cry of faith, not of unbelief. He knows God sees; he wants God to act on what He sees. He asks God to rescue his soul, his very life, from the destruction they intend. He calls his life his "only life" or "darling," emphasizing its preciousness. And he rightly identifies his enemies for what they are: "lions." They are savage, powerful, and bent on his utter destruction.

v. 18 I will give You thanks in the great assembly; I will praise You among a mighty people.

And here is the pivot, the turn that is central to the grammar of faith. The lament, however deep, must resolve into praise. David's deliverance is not a private affair. He promises that when God acts, his response will be public. He will give thanks "in the great assembly," in the formal, corporate worship of God's people. He will praise God "among a mighty people." The deliverance of one saint is a cause for celebration for all the saints. This is because God's reputation is at stake. When God vindicates His servant, He is vindicating His own name. And that public vindication demands public praise. Our private troubles, when brought to God, must always aim at this end: the glory of God declared among His people.