Embrace the Word for Wednesday, March 11, 2026
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Psalm 35 is a plea for justice. As the superscription simply states, this Psalm “Of David,” calls upon the LORD to rise up and fight on his behalf. “Without cause,” David has been betrayed and is in severe danger. Psalm 35 shares several links to Psalm 34. Both Psalms use the phrase “the angel of the LORD” (34:7; 35:5). Each Psalm refers to “the poor and afflicted” (34:2,6; 35:10). Each Psalm pertains to the experience of “shame” (34:5; 35:4,26). And both Psalms speak of “lions” (34:10; 35:17). Psalm 35 consists of three movements. The first movement is David’s plea for the LORD to fight for him describing what he would like to see done to those who have assaulted him (35:1-10). The second movement is David’s portrayal of the treacherous betrayal he experienced (35:11-18). The third movement is David’s prayer for vindication (35:19-28). At the end of each movement David resolves to praise the LORD (35:9-10, 35:18, 35:28 respectively).
David opens by calling upon the LORD to fight for him: “Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me!” (35:1). David was a warrior who would fight for and defend his people, and he knew that the LORD was warrior as well. As David is attacked, he responds. What is crucial to grasp is David’s understanding of where he should turn. David turns to the LORD. David calls upon the LORD to take up arms against his enemies: “Take hold of shield and buckler and rise for my help! Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers!” (35:2-3a). David desires to see the LORD work salvation for him: “Say to my soul, “I am your salvation!” (35:3b). It is important to see how David is interpreting the experience of betrayal. David sees that the troubles of his life are something to which he needs the LORD’s salvation.
David states in his plea what he would like to see the LORD do to those who have betrayed and attacked him. David was up against those "who seek after my life!,” and “who devise evil against me!” (35:4). David wants to see them “put to shame and dishonor,” and “turned back and disappointed” (35:4). Reminiscent of the judgment on the wicked as like chaff in the wind (See Psalm 1:4), David prays: “Let them be like chaff before the wind” (35:5) with the angel of the LORD in pursuit of them. While they would be on the run, David prays: “let their way be dark and slippery” (35:6). Finally, David prays that the LORD would destroy them through the very net they hid and pit they dug for him: “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!” (35:8).
David resolves to praise the LORD: “Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD, exulting in his salvation. 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?” (35:9-10). Most likely before his deliverance had actually occurred, David, with his “soul” and his “bones,” that is, with all his being, rejoices in what the LORD would do. When David states, “O LORD, who is like you,” he uses the words of Moses’ prayer after the LORD defeated Pharaoh (See Exodus 15:11). David is confident that the LORD will do the unlikely—he will disarm a strong thief before the one who is poor and needy. Such a rescue warrants a gladdened bone and soul praise!
David addresses the treacherous betrayal that he experienced: “Malicious witnesses rise up; they ask me of things that I do not know” (35:11). Mean and violent, David has been the object of false testimony. We are not sure what the particulars were, but David is clear that he does not have any idea what they are talking about. David is innocent of their false charges. The notion of betrayal is made clear as David states: “They repay me evil for good; my soul is bereft” (35:12). David has been painfully abandoned by people whom he has deeply cared for: “But I, when they were sick—I wore sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting; I prayed with head bowed on my chest. I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother; as one who laments his mother, I bowed down in mourning” (35:13-14). David had expressed authentic affection and genuine concern to the very ones who had turned against him.
But at some point, none of the care that David showed, began to carry any weight during a difficult moment in David’s life: “But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered; they gathered together against me; wretches whom I did not know tore at me without ceasing; like profane mockers at a feast, they gnash at me with their teeth” (35:15-16). When David found himself in trouble, he soon realized that the people he cared greatly for were not his friends; they were in fact his enemies leading the assault against him. David was facing a treacherous betrayal. David’s disloyal associates were extremely happy to see David in the troubled situation that he was in. David was being ravished by his violent opponents.
But David kept turning to the LORD: “How long, O Lord, will you look on? Rescue me from their destruction, my precious life from the lions!” (35:17). David clearly realizes at this moment of treacherous betrayal that his life was solely dependent upon the LORD. David is acutely aware that help will not come from anywhere else, so David pleadingly asks how long till the LORD would rescue him from his imminent destruction. David once again resolves to praise the LORD in light of the rescue he knows that the LORD will supply: “I will thank you in the great congregation; in the mighty throng I will praise you” (35:18). Because he is confident in the LORD’s faithfulness, David is sure that while the “the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous” (See Psalm 1:5); he will stand in the great congregation, “for the LORD knows the way of the righteous” (See Psalm 1:6). And as he stands, he will praise the LORD.
In the final movement, David pleads that those who had betrayed and assaulted him, not be victorious: “Let not those rejoice over me who are wrongfully my foes, and let not those wink the eye who hate me without cause” (35:19). Once again, David states that what has happen to him is “without cause.” David knows that if his betrayers win, they will happily gloat. David warns that these troubled people create much trouble: “For they do not speak peace, but against those who are quiet in the land they devise words of deceit. They open wide their mouths against me; they say, “Aha, Aha! Our eyes have seen it!” (35:20-21). David is deeply concerned as to the outcome of their campaign to smear David and disrupt the entire nation.
Thus, David calls upon the LORD: “You have seen, O LORD; be not silent! O Lord, be not far from me! Awake and rouse yourself for my vindication, for my cause, my God and my Lord! Vindicate me, O LORD, my God, according to your righteousness, and let them not rejoice over me!” (35:22-24). David switches from the military language that he started with to legal language. David wants the LORD to enact justice toward him. David pleads for the LORD to vindicate him, that is, clear him of all charges, declare his innocence. David fears what his attackers would say if they were successful: “Let them not say in their hearts, “Aha, our heart’s desire!” Let them not say, “We have swallowed him up” (35:25). David prays for an altogether different outcome: “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!” (35:26).
Instead of hearing the rejoicing of his enemies, David prays to hear the rejoicing of the righteous: “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!” (35:27). David longs to see the nation gladdened. Such joy would come through David’s deliverance. David longs to hear the righteous declare the greatness of the LORD. In fact, David once again resolves to offer praise to the LORD: “Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness and of your praise all the day long” (35:28). David vows that when the LORD delivers him, he will “tell” of the LORD’s righteousness. The term tell is the same as “meditate” in Psalm 1. Just as Psalm 1 spoke of mediating on the Word “day and night” (See Psalm 1:2), so too David would continually recall the LORD’s just work in his life “all the day long.”
As we reflect on Psalm 35, we should consider how Jesus quoted from this Psalm as He spoke to His disciples on the eve of His arrest and crucifixion. Jesus warned His followers that they would be hated because he was hated: “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you” (See John 15:18). Then Jesus adds, “But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: They hated me without a cause” (See John 15:25, quoting Psalm 35:19; or possibly Psalm 69:4, or both). Just as David cared deeply for and showed great concern for those who would later come to betray him, so too must followers of Christ mimic the Lord in our loving care, all the while realizing that it would not prove to be unusual when the very ones whom we served, soon hated and vilified us. Such is the pattern for the followers of David’s greater Son, the Lord Jesus Christ: “But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed…having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame…Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good” (1 Peter 3:14-16; 4:19). When we are called to suffer, may it always be “without cause” for we are simply following our hated Lord.
That’s all for Embrace the Word for Wednesday, March 11, 2026. I look forward to being back with you for the Friday, March 13, 2026 episode of Embrace the Word as we take a look at Psalm 36.