Compassion to the sick. and whose comedies, it is likely, were acted at feasts and balls, chose David for their subject, bantered and abused him, while the auditory, in token of their agreement with the plot, hummed, and gnashed upon him with their teeth. Let them shout for joy and be glad, The language alternates between legal and military terminology. Commentary on Psalms 13 by Matthew Henry - Blue Letter Bible 8 Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he hath hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall. of They gnash upon him with their teeth after the manner of the profanest among those, by whom their neighbour's honour is sold for a delicate morsel. 2 Take hold of shield and buckler and rise for my help! Psalm 35:13 Commentaries: 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. and humbled myself with fasting. Those that hated David thought scorn, like Haman, to lay hands on him alone, but contrived to involve all the religious people of the land in the same ruin with him. Christian sympathy even for the froward. Psalms 35:13 - EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries He will praise God with the whole man, with all that is within him, and with all the strength and vigour of his soul, intimated by his bones, which are within the body and are the strength of it. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website. They persecuted him with an unwearied enmity, sought after his soul (v. 4), that is, his life, no less would satisfy their bloody minds; they aimed to disquiet his spirit and put that into disorder. He discovered not only the tender affection of a man, but the pious affection of a saint. But this was not all. 24 Judge me, O Lord my God, according to thy righteousness; and let them not rejoice over me. See Daniel 9:3; Matthew 17:21; Luke 2:37. A great deal of good service he had done to his king, witness his harp, witness Goliath's sword, witness the foreskins of the Philistines; and yet his king vowed his death, and his country was made too hot for him. You can also change some of your preferences. 3 Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Psalms 13 - Dr. Constable's Expository Notes - Bible Commentaries He prophesies the destruction of his persecutors, ver 4-6, 8. 2. David had been a man of sympathy; he had mourned when Saul was in ill health, putting on the weeds of sorrow for him as though he were a near and dear friend. 2. He knows that only God can keep him going and preserve him from their attacks (15-18). My prayer returned into mine own bosom. Psalm 13 - Textweek This is a prayer for the defeat and destruction of malignant enemies, whom the Psalmist has formerly befriended, and who now treat him with ungrateful cruelty. When my prayers returned to me unanswered, 14 I went about mourning as though for my friend or brother. David was a man of war, and of a bold stout spirit, and yet was thus susceptible of the impressions of sympathy, forgot the bravery of the hero, and seemed wholly made up of love and pity; it was a rare composition of hardiness and tenderness, courage and compassion, in the same breast. When they were sick This might refer to the case of Absalom, who was much beloved of his father, and for whose life and prosperity he no doubt often prayed, wept, and fasted. All rights reserved. 1. my prayer came back again and again to my bosom, i.e., for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth, And my prayer returned into mine own bosom, Conjunctive waw | Pronoun - first person common singular, Preposition-b | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct | third person masculine plural, Noun - masculine singular construct | first person common singular, A mesh, coarse loose cloth, sacking, a bag, Verb - Piel - Perfect - first person common singular, Noun - feminine singular construct | first person common singular, A soul, living being, life, self, person, desire, passion, appetite, emotion, Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine singular, Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine singular construct | first person common singular, David prays for his own safety, and his enemies' confusion, Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers, OT Poetry: Psalm 35:13 But as for me when they were (Psalm Ps Psa. Article Images Copyright 2023 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. 11 False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not. There remains (1) the literal, and my prayer turned upon my bosom, referring to the posture described in Psalm 35:14. So, "aha, aha" was a bad thing to say, and as I say, I don't know what the whole connotation of the "aha, aha" might be, but the hypocritical mockers speaking against David. v. 1. ( Psalms 35:7-10 ). my prayer came back again and again to my bosom, i.e., but, my prayer returned into mine own bosom , And my prayer returned into mine own bosom, and my prayer returned into mine own bosom, for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth, Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers, Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament. If God is our Friend, no matter who is our enemy. Even chaff before the wind may perhaps be stopped, and find a place of rest, and, though the way be dark and slippery, it is possible that a man may keep his footing; but it is here foretold that the angel of the Lord shall chase them (v. 5) so that they shall find no rest, shall persecute them (v. 6) so that they cannot possibly escape the pit of destruction. He has pleasure in the prosperity both of their temporal and of their spiritual affairs, and delights not in their griefs; for he does not afflict willingly; and we ought therefore to have pleasure in their prosperity, and not to envy it. The bosom is not only the place where the Asiatics carry their purses, but also where they carry any thing that is given to them. Vindicate me, O LORD my God, according to Your righteousness; Psalm 35 Bible Commentary - Matthew Henry (concise) - Christianity But to suppose that this was the motive in the case is to suppose that the psalmist was wholly selfish, and would take away the very point of his observation about his prayer - that it was dictated by the sincerest love for them and true sympathy for their sufferings. I humbled my soul with fasting - Margin, "afflicted;" so the Hebrew properly means. They were like alms given to the miserable for God's sake, who takes care to return to the merciful man tenfold into his bosom. He thought of the people of God enlarging the LORD in their hearts and minds, and of his continual praise to God (my tongue shall speak of Your righteousness and of Your praise all the day long). The idea of the psalmist is that of a warrior prepared alike for attack or defense. In the former case, it would be equivalent to: the profane, viz., the cake-jesters; in the latter, which is the more natural, and quite suitable: the profane ( equals the profanest, vid., Psalm 45:13; Isaiah 29:19; Ezekiel 7:24) among cake-jesters. Psalm 35 NLT - Psalm 35 - A psalm of David. O LORD, - Bible Gateway V. He promises himself that he shall yet see better days (ver 9, 10), and promises God that he will then attend him with his praises, ver 18, 28. He was God's servant, expressly appointed by him to be what he was, followed his guidance, and aimed at his glory in the way of duty, had lived (as St. Paul speaks) in all good conscience before God unto this day; and yet there were those that strove with him, that did their utmost to oppose his advancement, and made all the interest they could against him; they fought against him (v. 1), not only undermined him closely and secretly, but openly avowed their opposition to him and set themselves to do him all the mischief they could. Or, as Dr. Hammond reads it, They shall be confounded, they shall be turned back. How tenderly, and with what a cordial affection, he had behaved towards them in their afflictions (v. 13, 14): They were sick. rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the lions. Who favor my righteous cause; Mohammedica, quoted by Walford in loc. Psalms 35:13 - Commentary, explanation and study verse by verse Let them not say in their hearts, Ah, so we would have it! (2.) (Comp. Fight those who fight against me. , not: like the mourning (from , like from ) of a mother (Hitzig), but, since a personal is more natural, and next to the mourning for an only child the loss of a mother (cf. We ought to apply it to the public enemies of Christ and his kingdom, typified by David and his kingdom, to resent the indignities done to Christ's honour, to pray to God to plead the just and injured cause of Christianity and serious godliness, and to believe that God will, in due time, glorify his own name in the ruin of all the irreconcilable enemies of his church, that will not repent to give him glory. Heman the Ezrahite wrote one (Psalms 88), and Ethan the Ezrahite composed one (Psalms 89). A (video) Tribute to Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, Sara Kay, 2014. They had falsely accused him, but God, who knows all things, knew that he did not falsely accuse them, nor make them worse than really they were. If God, by his Spirit, witness to our spirits that he is our salvation, we need desire no more to make us happy. II. The addition of certainly makes Olshausen's conjecture that we should read somewhat natural; but the expression then becomes tautological, and there are other instances also in which psalm-poesy goes beyond the ordinary range of words, in order to find language to describe that which is loathsome, in the most glaring way. (1-3) David pleads to God for defense. The gerund (of the noise of the teeth being pressed together, like Arab. 13 But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom. Proud member Prayer is never lost: if it bless not those for whom intercession is made, it shall bless the intercessors. See how much the honours, estates, liberties, and lives, even of the best men, lie at the mercy of the worst, against whose false oaths innocency itself is no fence; and what reason we have to acknowledge with thankfulness the hold God has of the consciences even of bad men, to which it is owing that there is not more mischief done in that way than is. David prayed to God to manifest himself in his trial. To report dead links, typos, or html errors or suggestions about making these resources more useful use the convenient, Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament, The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. We cannot express how great and good God is, and therefore must praise him by acknowledging him to be a non-such. My God and my Lord: Here David used another word in the Hebrew vocabulary for God, the word Elohim commonly translated as God. Such has often been the hard fate of the best of men. If God is our Friend, no matter who is our enemy. II. But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing. Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me. Verse 13. He complains of their wrongful dealing 22. Psalm 35: God Help Me[or download in RTFformat] Psalm 36: Reach for the Sky[or download in RTFformat] Psalm 37: Waiting for God[or download in RTFformat] Psalm 38: Lord, Remember Me[or download in RTFformat] Psalm 39: No Fixed Address[or download in RTFformat] Psalm 40: Build on a Rock[or download in Humbled my soul with fasting. Nederlandstalige Bijbelstudies door Stan Marinussen, Copyright - Enduring Word       |      . They were very proud and scornful (v. 21): They opened their mouth wide against me; they shouted and huzzaed when they saw his fall; they bawled after him when he was forced to quit the court, "Aha! It was also with reference to prayer in their behalf; and to fasting, that he put on these marks of grief. He prays that he might never be in such imminent danger as that they should say in their hearts, Ah! Though the people of God are, and study to be, a quiet people, yet it has been the common practice of their enemies to devise deceitful matters against them. 7 For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged for my soul. Lament over prolonged suffering 13:1-2. It would harden the hearts of his enemies in their wickedness and confirm them in their enmity to him, and would be a great discouragement to all the pious Jews that were friends to his righteous cause.