Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 35:7
For without cause have they hid for me their net [in] a pit, [which] without cause they have digged for my soul.
7. The word for pit must be transposed from the first line, where it is superfluous and awkward, to the second line, where it is required. Render
For without cause have they hid a net for me:
Without cause have they dug a pit for my soul ( life).
The metaphors from the hunter’s nets and pitfalls express the insidious character of their secret plots. Cp. again Jer 18:20; Jer 18:22.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
7, 8. The causelessness of their insidious enmity is the ground for such a prayer. May their schemes recoil on their own heads.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit – See Psa 7:15, note; Psa 9:15, note. This figure is derived from hunting. The idea is that of digging a pit or hole for a wild beast to fall into, with a net so concealed that the animal could not see it, and that might be suddenly drawn over him so as to secure him. The reference here is to plans that are laid to entrap and ruin others: plots that are concocted so as to secure destruction before one is aware. The psalmist says that, in his case, they had done this without cause, or without any sufficient reason. He had done them no wrong; he had given them no show of excuse for their conduct.
Which without cause they have digged for my soul – For my life. That is, they have digged a pit into which I might fall, and into which they designed that I should fall, though I have never done anything to give them occasion thus to seek my destruction.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 7. For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit] The word shachath, a pit, belongs to the second member of this verse, and the whole should be read thus: For without a cause they have hidden for me their net, without a cause they have digged a pit for my life. They have used every degree and species of cunning and deceit to ruin me.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Out of mere malice, without any injury or provocation on my part, and without any necessity on their parts. They are no common, but the worst of enemies; and therefore I may justly pray against them, as I do. These expressions aggravate their sins, and signify that their persecution of him was not the effect of a midden passion, but of a deep and habitual hatred and malice, and of an evil design, carried on in a constant and continued course with deliberation, and cunning, and deceit, and that against his soul or life; for nothing less would satisfy them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7, 8. net in a pitor, “pitof their net”or, “net-pit,” as “holy hill”for “hill of holiness” (Ps2:6); a figure from hunting (Ps7:15). Their imprecations on impenitent rebels against God needno vindication; His justice and wrath are for such; His mercy forpenitents. Compare Psa 7:16;Psa 11:5, on the peculiar fate ofthe wicked here noticed.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For without cause have they hid for me their net [in] a pit,…. This is said in allusion to the custom of digging pits, and putting nets into them, for the catching of wild beasts; and covering them with straw or dust, or such like things, as Jarchi observes, that they might not be discerned; and which intends the secret and crafty methods taken by David’s enemies to ensnare him and destroy him; though he had given them no cause to use him in such a manner; which is an aggravation of their sins, and a reason of the above imprecations, as well as of what follows: and in the same manner, and without any just cause, Christ and his members have been treated by wicked men, and therefore their damnation is just, and will be inevitable:
[which] without cause they have digged for my soul; which is added for further explanation’s sake, and to aggravate their sin, and to show the justness of their punishment.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Psa 35:7 also needs re-organising, just as in Psa 35:5. the original positions of and are exchanged. would be a pit deceptively covered over with a net concealed below; but, as even some of the older critics have felt, is without doubt to be brought down from Psa 35:7 into Psa 35:7: without cause, i.e., without any provocation on my part, have they secretly laid their net for me (as in Psa 9:16; Psa 31:5), without cause have they digged a pit for my soul. In Psa 35:8 the foes are treated of collectively. is a negative circumstantial clause (Ew. 341, b): improviso, as in Pro 5:6; Isa 47:11 extrem. Instead of the expression is , as in Hos 8:3; the sharper form is better adapted to depict the suddenness and certainty of the capture. According to Hupfeld, the verb signifies a wild, dreary, confused noise or crash, then devastation and destruction, a transition of meaning which – as follows from (cf. ) as a name of the desolate steppe, from , a waste, emptiness, and from other indications – is solely brought about by transferring the idea of a desolate confusion of tones to a desolate confusion of things, without any intermediate notion of the crashing in of ruins. But it may be asked whether the reverse is not rather the case, viz., that the signification of a waste, desert, emptiness or void is the primary one, and the meaning that has reference to sound (cf. Arab. hwa , to gape, be empty; to drive along, fall down headlong, then also: to make a dull sound as of something falling, just like rumor from ruere, fragor (from frangi) the derived one. Both etymology (cf. , whence ) and the preponderance of other meanings, favour this latter view. Here the two significations are found side by side, inasmuch as in the first instance means a waste = devastation, desolation, and in the second a waste = a heavy, dull sound, a rumbling ( ). In the Syriac version it is rendered: “into the pit which he has digged let him fall,” as though it were in the second instance instead of ; and from his Hupfeld, with J. H. Michaelis, Stier, and others, is of opinion, that it must be rendered: “into the destruction which he himself has prepared let him fall.” But this quam ipse paravit is not found in the text, and to mould the text accordingly would be a very arbitrary proceeding.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
7. For they have hid for me without a cause. He here declares that he did not take the name of God in vain, nor call upon him for protection without just cause, for he openly asserts his innocence, and complains that he was thus severely afflicted without having committed any crime, or given any occasion to his enemies. It becomes us carefully to mark this, so that no one may rush unadvisedly into God’s presence, nor call upon him for vengeance, without the assurance and testimony of a good conscience. When he says that he was assailed by stratagem, fraud, and wicked practices, there is implied in this a tacit commendation of his own integrity.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(7) Have they hid . . .Literally, they have hid for me the pit of their net, which, as it stands, can mean nothing but a pit with a net in it, such as was used to entrap lions and other wild beasts. But it is better to remove the word pit to the second clause, thus doing away with the necessity of supplying a relative, and improving the rhythm.
For unprovoked they hid a net for me,
Unprovoked they digged a pit for my soul.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7. Without cause Hence the magnitude of their crime.
Net in a pit The figure changes from warlike description to the well known method of catching lions.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
He Asks That Those Who Are Hunting For Him Might Fall Into The Trap That They Themselves Have Set So That Once More He Can Rejoice in YHWH’s Salvation ( Psa 35:7-10 ).
This movement from the battle ground to the hunting field might serve to confirm that the pictures are metaphorical, unless this actually was a battle strategy of his enemies.
Psa 35:7-8
‘For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit,
Without cause have they dug a pit for my soul.
Let destruction come upon him unawares,
And let his net that he has hid catch him himself,
With destruction let him fall in it.’
He sees his enemies as having dug a pit in which they have concealed a net with the aim that he will fall into it unawares, and be caught in their net. And the doubly-stressed point is that they have had no real cause for doing so because he is innocent. And so he prays that his enemies too may be caught unawares, and taken in the net that they themselves have laid, so that they might be destroyed. We note that the principle is being constantly repeated that what a man sows, that he should also reap. The picture of the men being taken unawares by the trap, and being filled with surprise as they fall into their own net is quite vivid. And the result will be their own destruction. Compare Jer 18:20; Jer 18:22, ‘shall evil be recompensed for good? They have dug a pit for my soul’.
Psa 35:9-10
‘And my soul will be joyful in YHWH,
It will rejoice in his salvation.
All my bones shall say, YHWH,
Who is like unto you,
Who delivers the poor from him who is too strong for him,
Yes, the poor and the needy from him who robs him?’
And the result for him will be that he will be saved from his enemies by the One Who had declared, ‘I am your salvation’ (Psa 35:3). Thus will his soul be joyful and rejoice. From the centre of his being (his bones) he will ask ‘who can compare with YHWH, who delivers the poor and weak from the strong and mighty, and from those who would seek to rob him?’ This idea of the deliverance of the poor and needy is a common one in Scripture. For they are the ones who most tend to look to YHWH, while the better off do not feel that they need Him. But in the end all who seek Him must be of a humble and contrite heart. That is why when God has truly blessed someone, one sign of it will be that they are poor in spirit (Mat 5:3). It is the humble and contrite of heart who alone can dwell with the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity ( Isa 57:15).
‘Who is like unto You?’ Compare Exo 15:11, ‘Who is like to you, O YHWH, among the heavenly beings, who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders’. And Mic 7:18, ‘Who is a God like to you, Who pardons iniquity, and passes by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage?’ None compares with Him either in power or in goodness. He is the Incomparable.
For the poor and needy as descriptive of the righteous see Psa 37:14; Psa 40:17; Psa 86:1-2 and often. They are the poor and needy in soul as well as in body.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Psa 35:7. Which without cause, &c. Without provocation he hath digged a pit for my life. Saul seems to be pointed at in this clause, by the change of the plural number into the singular. Compare 1Sa 18:10-11; 1Sa 18:21 and 1Sa 19:10.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Who can be at a loss to discover the blessed Jesus here pointed out, of him it might be strictly said, it was indeed causeless when the enemies of God’s Christ sought his destruction: Joh 15:25 . And what an awful visitation soon after followed upon Jerusalem. Lord! how slow soever may seem to some men the just judgment of God, yet it doth not slumber. 2Pe 2:3 ; Ecc 8:11 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 35:7 For without cause have they hid for me their net [in] a pit, [which] without cause they have digged for my soul.
Ver. 7. For without cause have they hid for me, &c. ] The wicked are so acted and agitated by the devil, their task master, that, though they have no cause to work mischief to the saints, yet they must do it; the old enmity, Gen 3:15 , still worketh; but this rendereth their destruction certiorem et celeriorem, more sure and more swift.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
without cause. See note on Psa 35:19.
net in a pit: i.e. a pit covered with a net.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
without: Psa 7:3-5, Psa 25:3, Psa 64:4, Joh 15:25
hid: Psa 9:15, Psa 119:85, Psa 140:5, Job 18:8
Reciprocal: Gen 37:24 – and cast Num 35:20 – by laying 1Sa 24:11 – neither evil 1Sa 26:18 – Wherefore Job 5:13 – taketh Psa 7:15 – made Psa 17:9 – deadly enemies Psa 31:4 – Pull Psa 57:6 – a net Psa 109:3 – fought Psa 109:4 – For my Psa 109:5 – they Psa 119:78 – without Psa 119:86 – they Psa 142:3 – In the way Pro 1:11 – let us lurk Pro 24:28 – not Jer 18:20 – digged Lam 3:52 – without Luk 17:10 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
35:7 For {e} without cause have they hid for me their net [in] a pit, [which] without cause they have digged for my soul.
(e) Showing that we may not call God to be a revenger but only for his glory, and when our cause is just.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The reason for David’s request was his enemies’ unwarranted attempts to kill him. He prayed that they might experience the fate they hoped would be his.