Chapter Thirty-Five

In the first half of Psalm XXXV (Ps 35:1-5), an unrighteous person is described who constantly plots against the righteous and lays snares for him; he cannot find rest even at night, which he spends planning evil schemes. Such a characterization is very fitting for Saul, the relentless persecutor of David, which is why this psalm, in the absence of other concrete references, can be considered written during the era of persecution by this king.

True piety is possible in one who has the fear of God, so the unrighteous, as lacking this fear, always strives only toward evil (2–5). But however great the strength of the unrighteous, the mercy and truth of the Lord toward a person are his true and unshakable support, for only from Him comes the light of life (6–10). Extend this mercy of Yours, O Lord, to the upright in heart and the unrighteous will perish (11–13).

Psalm 35:2. Iniquity speaks to my heart about the ungodly: there is no fear of God before his eyes, Psalm 35:3. For he flatters himself in his own eyes, in seeking out his iniquity and hating it; David clarifies for himself the basic, psychological source and cause of the unrighteous person’s wickedness. The cause is the absence in him of “the fear of God before his eyes.” The fear of God is a reverent feeling before God, obligating a person to strive not to offend Him by any evil thought or deed. At the foundation of such fear lies a person’s acknowledgment of the purity of His commandments and their high and beneficial significance for man. If such consciousness and such fear of God exist in a person, then all his efforts will be directed toward harmonizing his actions and inner strivings with the Lord’s commandments. If such a disposition is absent in a person, there cannot be concern for the purity of his deeds: the guiding principle and foundation of his activity becomes his own good and the satisfaction of his earthly desires. That is why the small self-restraint which the unrighteous person imposes on himself, or more accurately, some moral self-assessment of his actions to which he sometimes resorts, cannot be understood as a concern for moral regeneration; this is self-deception, a lie of the unrighteous person before himself, as if he “seeks out his iniquity in order to hate it.”

Psalm 35:4. The words of his mouth are falsehood and deceit; he will not understand so as to do good; Psalm 35:5. On his bed he plans iniquity; he stands on the path of evil and does not abhor wickedness. From the absence of fear of God in the unrighteous person follows the fact that all his words, deeds, and thoughts are directed toward untruth, deceit, and evil. Since the activity of the unrighteous person aims at personal interest, petty interest, his methods of action are based on lies, plotting, which he engages in even at night—the time of rest for other people.

Psalm 35:6. Your mercy, O Lord, reaches to heaven; Your truth reaches to the clouds! Psalm 35:7. Your righteousness is like the mountains of God, and Your judgments are a great deep! O Lord, You preserve man and beast! God governs the world according to the laws of mercy and righteousness. “His mercy and truth reach to the clouds and heaven; His righteousness is like the mountains; and His judgments are a great deep!” The comparisons used by the author aim to show that in God is all truth and all righteousness and that only by them does He govern the entire world, man and beast.

Psalm 35:8. How precious is Your mercy, O God! The children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings: “Children of men”—all people. “In the shadow of Your wings”—under the shelter, protection of God—the same as under the wings of a hen, which jealously guards her chicks. So God cares for all who live and especially for man.

Psalm 35:9. They are filled with the fatness of Your house, and You give them to drink from the river of Your delights, “The fatness of Your house,” “the river of Your delights”—images pointing to the rich gifts of nature that are given for man’s use.

Psalm 35:10. For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light. “In Your light we see light.” Since earlier it was spoken about external rich sources of happy existence on earth, which are received from God, this expression should be understood, according to the context of the speech, as follows: our well-being (“we see light”) is owed to Your mercy (“in Your light”).

Psalm 35:12. Do not let the foot of pride overtake me, and let the hand of the wicked not drive me away: “Do not let the foot of pride overtake me.” The source of a person’s righteousness lies in the fear of God. Pride is a quality opposite to it. It sustains in a person the desire to live by his own will and inclinations, rather than in agreement with the Lord’s commandments. The meaning of the expression then would be: preserve me, O Lord, from willfulness as a cause of man’s alienation from You, for then You will not preserve me. One can understand by pride an unrighteous person in general, and the whole verse would be a prayer to God for salvation from unrighteous enemies.

Psalm 35:13. There the workers of iniquity have fallen; they have been cast down and cannot rise. If the Lord rises up in defense of the righteous, then there, where He strikes the unrighteous, the latter “will not rise up,” that is, will be completely destroyed.