11<\/strong>. False witnesses<\/em> ] Rather, unrighteous, or, malicious, witnesses rise up; lit., witnesses of violence<\/em>, as in Exo 23:1<\/span>; Deu 19:16<\/span>. Cp. Psa 27:12<\/span> (A.V. cruelty<\/em>).<\/p>\n they laid to my charge<\/em> &c.] R.V. they ask of me things that I know not: calling me to account for crimes, of which I have not even any knowledge. Cp. Psa 69:4<\/span>. The phraseology is that of a court; not that the Psalmist is to be thought of as actually put upon his trial. David was falsely and maliciously accused of treason and conspiracy against the king’s life (1Sa 24:9<\/span>). Cp. Mat 26:59<\/span> ff.<\/p>\n 11 18<\/strong>. The causelessness of the Psalmist’s persecution and the ingratitude of his persecutors are urged as reasons for God’s interference on his behalf.<\/p>\n False witnesses did rise up – <\/B>Margin, witnesses of wrong. The Hebrew is, witnesses of violence, <\/span> chamas<\/I>. That is, they were persons who, in what they said of me, were guilty of injustice and wrong. Their conduct was injurious to me as an act of violence would be.<\/P> They laid to my charge – <\/B>Margin, as in Hebrew: they asked me. The word asked here seems to be used in the sense of demand; that is, they demanded an answer to what was said. The usage appears to have been derived from courts, where the forms of trial may have been in the way of question and answer – the mode of accusation having been in the form of asking how a thing was, or whether it was so; and the defense being regarded as an answer to such an inquiry. Hence, it is synonymous with our expression of laying to the charge of anyone; or of accusing anyone.<\/P> Things that I knew not – <\/B>Of which I had no knowledge; which never came into my mind. What those charges were the psalmist does not specify; but it is not uncommon for a good man to be falsely accused, and we are certain that such things occurred in the life of David.<\/P><\/p>\n Verse 11<\/span>. False witnesses did rise up<\/B><\/I>] There is no doubt that several of this kind were found to depose against the life of David; and we know that the wicked Jews employed such against the life of Christ. See Mt 26:59-60<\/span>.<\/P> <\/P> They laid to my charge<\/B><\/I> things <\/B>that I knew not.<\/B><\/I>] They produced the most unfounded charges; things of which I had never before heard.<\/P> <\/p>\n They accused me to Saul of treachery and designs against his crown and life, and other crimes whereof I was wholly innocent and ignorant. <\/P> <\/p>\n 11. False witnesses<\/B>literally,”Witnesses of injustice and cruelty” (compare Psa 11:5<\/span>;Psa 25:19<\/span>).<\/P><\/p>\n False witnesses did rise up<\/strong>,…. Against David, saying he sought the hurt of Saul, 1Sa 24:9<\/span>, as did against David’s antitype, the Lord Jesus Christ, Mt 26:59<\/span>; and against his apostles,<\/p>\n Ac 24:5<\/span>; and very frequently do they rise up and bear false witness against his people, which is a very heinous crime;<\/p>\n they laid to my charge [things] that I knew not<\/strong>: such as David was not conscious of, never thought of doing, much less attempted to do; as the taking away of Saul’s life, the contrary of which appeared by his cutting off his skirt only when he was in his hands, and taking away his spear from his bolster when he could have taken off his head; and such were the things laid to the charge of the Messiah, David’s son, who knew no sin, nor did any; and the like are exhibited against his members, who go through good report and bad report, and whose good conversation is falsely accused by malicious men.<\/p>\n The second part begins with two strophes of sorrowful description of the wickedness of the enemy. The futures in Psa 35:11<\/span>, Psa 35:12<\/span> describe that which at present takes place. are (lxx). They demand from him a confession of acts and things which lie entirely outside his consciousness and his way of acting (cf. Psa 69:5<\/span>): they would gladly brand him as a perjurer, as an usurper, and as a plunderer. What David complains of in Psa 35:12<\/span><\/em>, we hear Saul confess in 1Sa 24:18<\/span>; the charge of ingratitude is therefore well-grounded. is not dependent on , in which case one would have looked for rather than , but a substantival clause: “bereavement is to my soul,” its condition is that of being forsaken by all those who formerly showed me marks of affection; all these have, as it were, died off so far as I am concerned. Not only had David been obliged to save his parents by causing them to flee to Moab, but Michal was also torn from him, Jonathan removed, and all those at the court of Saul, who had hitherto sought the favour and friendship of the highly-gifted and highly-honoured son-in-law of the king, were alienated from him. And how sincerely and sympathisingly had he reciprocated their leanings towards himself! By in Psa 35:13<\/span>, he contrasts himself with the ungrateful and unfeeling ones. Instead of , the expression is ; the tendency of poetry for the use of the substantival clause is closely allied to its fondness for well-conceived brevity and pictorial definition. He manifested towards them a love which knew no distinction between the ego<\/em> and tu<\/em>, which regarded their sorrow and their guilt as his own, and joined with them in their expiation for it; his head was lowered upon his breast, or he cowered, like Elijah (1Ki 18:42<\/span>), upon the ground with his head hanging down upon his breast even to his knees, so that that which came forth from the inmost depths of his nature returned again as it were in broken accents into his bosom. Riehm’s rendering, “at their ungodliness and hostility my prayer for things not executed came back,” is contrary to the connection, and makes one look for instead of . Perret-Gentil correctly renders it, Je priai la tte penche sur la poitrine<\/em>.<\/p>\n The Psalmist goes on to say in Psa 35:14<\/span>, I went about as for a friend, for a brother to me, i.e., as if the sufferer had been such to me. With , used of the solemn slowness of gait, which corresponds to the sacredness of pain, alternates used of the being bowed down very low, in which the heavy weight of pain finds expression. , 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. Gen 24:67<\/span>) strikes the deepest wound: like one who mourns ( ,<\/p>\n (Note: According to the old Babylonian reading (belonging to a period when Pathach <\/em> and Segol <\/em> were as yet not distinguished from one another), (with the sign of Pathach <\/em> and the stroke for Raphe <\/em> below = <\/em>); vid., Pinsker, Zur Geschichte des Karaismus<\/em>, S. 141, and Einleitung<\/em>, S. 118.)<\/p>\n like , Gen 49:12<\/span>, from , construct state, like ) for a mother (the objective genitive, as in Gen 27:41<\/span>; Deu 34:8<\/span>; Amo 8:10<\/span>; Jer 6:26<\/span>). signifies the colours, outward appearance, and attire of mourning: with dark clothes, with tearful unwashed face, and with neglected beard. But as for them – how do they act at the present time, when he finds himself in (Psa 38:17<\/span>; Job 18:12<\/span>), a sideway direction, i.e., likely to fall (from , Arab. dl <\/em>, to incline towards the side)? They rejoice and gather themselves together, and this assemblage of ungrateful friends rejoicing over another’s misfortune, is augmented by the lowest rabble that attach themselves to them. The verb means to smite; Niph<\/em>. , Job 30:6<\/span>, to be driven forth with a whip, after which the lxx renders it , Symm. , and the Targum conterentes me verbis suis <\/em>; cf. , Jer 18:18<\/span>. But cannot by itself mean smiters with the tongue. The adjective signifies elsewhere with , one who is smitten in the feet, i.e., one who limps or halts, and with , but also without any addition, in Isa 16:7<\/span>, one smitten in spirit, i.e., one deeply troubled or sorrowful. Thus, therefore, from , like from , may mean smitten, men, i.e., men who are brought low or reduced (Hengstenberg). It might also, after the Arabic nawika <\/em>, to be injured in mind, anwak <\/em>, stupid, silly (from the same root , to prick, smite, wound, cf. ichtalla <\/em>, to be pierced through = mad), be understood as those mentally deranged, enraged at nothing or without cause. But the former definition of the notion of the word is favoured by the continuation of the idea of the verbal adjective by , persons of whom I have hitherto taken no notice because they were far removed from me, i.e., men belonging to the dregs of the people (cf. Job 19:18<\/span>; Job 30:1<\/span>). 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. , to tear, rend in pieces, viz., with abusive and slanderous words (like Arab. qr <\/em> II) also does not occur anywhere else.<\/p>\n And what remarkable language we now meet with in Psa 35:16<\/span><\/em>! does not mean scorn or buffoonery, as Bttcher and Hitzig imagine,<\/p>\n (Note: The Talmudic ( ) , B. Sanhedrin<\/em> 101 b<\/em>, which is said to mean “a jesting way of speaking,” has all the less place here, as the reading wavers between ( ) and . )<\/p>\n but according to 1Ki 17:12<\/span>, a cake of a round formation (like the Talmudic , a circle); , jeering, jesting. Therefore means: mockers for a cake, i.e., those who for a delicate morsel, for the sake of dainty fare, make scornful jokes, viz., about me, the persecuted one, vile parasites; German Tellerlecker, Bratenriecher<\/em>, Greek , , Mediaeval Latin buccellarii <\/em>. This , which even Rashi interprets in substantially the same manner, stands either in a logical co-ordinate relation (vid., on Isa 19:11<\/span>) or in a logical as well as grammatical subordinate relation to its regens<\/em> . 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 (= the profanest, vid., Psa 45:13<\/span>; Isa 29:19<\/span>; Eze 7:24<\/span>) among cake-jesters. The is not the Beth<\/em> of companionship or fellowship, to express which or (Hos 7:5<\/span>) would have been used, but Beth essentiae<\/em> or the Beth<\/em> of characterisation: in the character of the most abject examples of this class of men do they gnash upon him with their teeth. The gerund (of the noise of the teeth being pressed together, like Arab. hrq <\/em>, of the crackling of a fire and the grating of a file), which is used according to Ges. 131, 4, b<\/em>, carries its subject in itself. 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.<\/p>\n Prayer for Deliverance; Sorrowful Complaints.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/I><\/span><\/P> <\/TD> 11 False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things<\/I> that I knew not. 12 They rewarded me evil for good to<\/I> the spoiling of my soul. 13 But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was<\/I> sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom. 14 I behaved myself as though he had been<\/I> my friend or<\/I> brother: I bowed down heavily, as one that mourneth for his<\/I> mother. 15 But in mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together: yea,<\/I> the abjects gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it<\/I> not; they did tear me,<\/I> and ceased not: 16 With hypocritical mockers in feasts, they gnashed upon me with their teeth.<\/P> Two very wicked things David here lays to the charge of his enemies, to make good his appeal to God against them–perjury and ingratitude.<\/P> I. Perjury, v.<\/I><\/span> 11<\/span>. When Saul would have David attainted of treason, in order to his being outlawed, perhaps he did it with the formalities of a legal prosecution, produced witnesses who swore some treasonable words or overt acts against him, and he being not present to clear himself (or, if he was, it was all the same), Saul adjudged him a traitor. This he complains of here as the highest piece of injustice imaginable: False witnesses did rise up,<\/I> who would swear anything; they laid to my charge things that I knew not,<\/I> nor ever thought of. 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. This instance of the wrong done to David was typical, and had its accomplishment in the Son of David, against whom false witnesses did arise, Matt. xxvi. 60<\/span>. If we be at any time charged with what we are innocent of let us not think it strange, as though some new thing happened to us; so persecuted they the prophets, even the great prophet.<\/P> II. Ingratitude. Call a man ungrateful and you can call him no worse. This was the character of David’s enemies (v.<\/I><\/span> 12<\/span>): They rewarded me evil for good.<\/I> 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. This is to the spoiling of his soul;<\/I> this base unkind usage robs him of his comfort, and cuts him to the heart, more than anything else. Nay, he had deserved well not only of the public in general, but of those particular persons that were now most bitter against him. Probably it was then well known whom he meant; it may be Saul himself for one, whom he was sent for to attend upon when he was melancholy and ill, and to whom he was serviceable to drive away the evil spirit, not with his harp, but with his prayers; to others of the courtiers, it is likely, he had shown this respect, while he lived at court, who now were, of all others, most abusive to him. Herein he was a type of Christ, to whom this wicked world was very ungrateful. John x. 32<\/span>. Many good works have I shown you from my Father; for which of those do you stone me?<\/I> David here shows,<\/P> 1. How tenderly, and with what a cordial affection, he had behaved towards them in their afflictions (Psa 35:13<\/span>; Psa 35:14<\/span>): They were sick.<\/I> Note, Even the palaces and courts of princes are not exempt from the jurisdiction of death and the visitation of sickness. Now when these people were sick, (1.) David mourned for them and sympathized with them in their grief. They were not related to him; he was under no obligations to them; he would lose nothing by their death, but perhaps be a gainer by it; and yet he behaved himself as though they had been his nearest relations, purely from a principle of compassion and humanity. 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. Observe, He mourned as for a brother or mother, which intimates that it is our duty, and well becomes us, to lay to heart the sickness, and sorrow, and death of our near relations. Those that do not are justly stigmatized as without natural affection. (2.) He prayed for them. He discovered not only the tender affection of a man, but the pious affection of a saint. He was concerned for their precious souls, and, since he helped them with his prayers to God for mercy and grace; and the prayers of one who had so great an interest in heaven were of more value than perhaps they knew or considered. With his prayers he joined humiliation and self-affliction, both in his diet (he fasted, at least from pleasant bread) and in his dress; he clothed himself with sackcloth, thus expressing his grief, not only for their affliction, but for their sin; for this was the guise and practice of a penitent. We ought to mourn for the sins of those that do not mourn for them themselves. His fasting also put an edge upon his praying, and was an expression of the fervour of it; he was so intent in his devotions that he had no appetite to meat, nor would allow himself time for eating: “My prayer returned into my own bosom;<\/I> I had the comfort of having done my duty, and of having approved myself a loving neighbour, though I could not thereby win upon them nor make them my friends.” We shall not lose by the good offices we have done to any, how ungrateful soever they are; for our rejoicing will be this, the testimony of our conscience.<\/I><\/P> 2. How basely and insolently and with what a brutish enmity, and worse than brutish, they had behaved towards him (Psa 35:15<\/span>; Psa 35:16<\/span>); In my adversity they rejoiced.<\/I> When he fell under the frowns of Saul, was banished the court, and persecuted as a criminal, they were pleased, were glad at his calamities, and got together in their drunken clubs to make themselves and one another merry with the disgrace of this great favourite. Well, might he call them abjects,<\/I> for nothing could be more vile and sordid than to triumph in the fall of a man of such unstained honour and consummate virtue. But this was not all. (1.) They tore him, rent his good name without mercy, said all the ill they could of him and fastened upon him all the reproach their cursed wit and malice could reach to. (2.) They gnashed upon him with their teeth;<\/I> they never spoke of him but with the greatest indignation imaginable, as those that would have eaten him up if they could. David was the fool in the play, and his disappointment all the table-talk of the hypocritical mockers at feasts; it was the song of the drunkards. The comedians, who may fitly be called hypocritical mockers<\/I> (for which does a hypocrite signify but a stage-player?) 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.<\/I> Such has often been the hard fate of the best of men. The apostles were made a spectacle to the world. David was looked upon with ill-will for no other reason than because he was caressed by the people. It is a vexation of spirit which attends even a right work that for this a man is envied of his neighbour,<\/I> Eccl. iv. 4<\/I><\/span>. And who can stand before envy?<\/I> Prov. xxvii. 4<\/I><\/span>.<\/P> <\/p>\n 11. Violent witnesses (709) rise up. The Hebrew is, they shall rise up; but in using the future tense, the Psalmist intimates that he is speaking of what he had suffered for a long time. And he complains that he was so oppressed with calumny that he had no opportunity of defending himself; than which nothing more grievous and painful can ever happen to those of an ingenuous mind, and who are conscious of no blame. Besides, he not only says that he had been falsely accused, but he also condemns the audacity and insolence of those who violently rose up to bear witness against him. To this belongs what he adds, They charge me with things which I know not. David then was not only spoiled of his worldly goods, and basely driven into exile, but was also accused and loaded with infamy under color of justice. Being involved in such distress, he resorted directly to God, hoping that he would maintain his innocence. So ought the children of God to walk through good report and bad report, and patiently suffer reproach, until he assert and declare their innocence from on high. In old times, it was a common proverb among the heathen, “There is no theater more beautiful than a good conscience;” and in this they uttered a noble sentiment; but no man can be sustained and supported by the purity of his conscience unless he has recourse to God. <\/p>\n (709) “ עדי חמס witnesses of wrong or violence; i.e., witnesses deponing to acts of violence, as committed by the person accused. See Psa 27:12<\/span>.” — Horsley. <\/p>\n 11<\/strong>. <\/strong> The second division of the psalm opens with unalleviated complaint, in a comparison of his own conduct with that of his enemies. <\/p>\n False witnesses <\/strong> Violent witnesses. <\/em> They vehemently accuse him. The scene is changed from a battle to a court. Laid to my charge<\/strong>, etc. <\/strong> They made legal inquiry of things <\/strong> of which he was ignorant. Though the tenses are future, the present and the past are evidently intended, and it would seem as a reminiscence of experience while in the court of Saul. Compare with this the trial of Jesus. Such must ever be the method of procedure where the court and the witnesses are pre-determined to reward evil for good<\/strong>, and condemn the accused.<\/p>\n Brought Before the Judges He Is Questioned About Crimes Of Which He Knows Nothing, And That By Those To Whom He Had Shown Nothing But Kindness Who Are Now Determined To Bring Him Down ( Psa 35:11-16<\/strong><\/span><\/strong> ).<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n The scene now changes to the court room. He is asked questions about crimes of which he knows nothing, and that in the face of hostile and false witnesses. And the very men who are doing it are those for whom in the past he has shown great concern. They are rewarding him evil for good.<\/p>\n Psa 35:11-12<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n ‘Unrighteous witnesses rise up,<\/p>\n They ask me of things that I know not.<\/p>\n They reward me evil for good,<\/p>\n To the bereaving of my soul.’<\/p>\n Brought before the court he finds that many false witnesses are called who testify of him having done things of which he was totally unaware. They were falsifying evidence and seeking to blacken his name. This was by men to whom he had shown nothing but kindness, and yet they were now seeking to make him bereft of soul. It is not an uncommon experience of the righteous. It would later happen to the Lord, Jesus Christ Himself. For it is the way of sinful man to hate goodness even while praising it.<\/p>\n Psa 35:13-14<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n ‘But as for me, when they were sick,<\/p>\n My clothing was sackcloth,<\/p>\n I afflicted my soul with fasting,<\/p>\n And my prayer returned into my own bosom.<\/p>\n I behaved myself<\/p>\n As though it had been my friend or my brother,<\/p>\n I bowed down mourning,<\/p>\n As one who bewails his mother.’<\/p>\n He describes the kindness that he had shown to these men when they had been in trouble. When they were sick he had dressed himself in sackcloth, a sign of mourning and self-affliction in order to show his humility. He had afflicted his soul by going without food. Compare Jer 18:20<\/span>, ‘Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away the anger from them’.<\/p>\n Indeed his prayers for them had been as passionate as if they had been members of his own family or his close companions. He had mourned over their needs with the same intensity as he would have mourned the loss of his mother.<\/p>\n ‘My prayer returned into my own bosom.’ This could be read as meaning that by praying for others he himself was blessed as well, and that is certainly always true when we pray, but in context it more likely means that his prayer was as intense as if he was praying for his own loved ones, those of his bosom.<\/p>\n Psa 35:15-16<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n ‘But in my adversity (‘my limping’) they rejoiced,<\/p>\n And gathered themselves together,<\/p>\n The abjects (or ‘smiters’) gathered themselves together against me,<\/p>\n And I knew it not, (or ‘those whom I did not know’),<\/p>\n They did tear me,<\/p>\n And ceased not,<\/p>\n Like the profane mockers in feasts,<\/p>\n They gnashed upon me with their teeth.’<\/p>\n And what recompense did he now receive for the love that he had shown to them? Instead of having compassion for him they rejoiced in the difficult situation in which he found himself. They delighted that he was as one lame, limping along. Indeed they gathered together to oppose him, and not only did so, but also gathered together the ‘abjects’, the lowest level of society, against him. It was partly from among these that the false witnesses would come. And this had taken him completely by surprise. They were people whom he neither knew nor recognised. Some would translate as ‘the smiters’ (the word is a rare one), signifying those who smote him and his reputation with their words. Either way the idea is similar. His reputation was being torn to shreds. Compare Jer 18:18<\/span>.<\/p>\n ‘They tore me and did not stop.’ He had had to endure a constant barrage of lies and accusations, a barrage that went on and on. They had rent him as though they were beasts of prey (compare Hos 13:8<\/span>), and they had done it unceasingly.<\/p>\n Once again we are reminded of our Lord, Jesus Christ who suffered such contradiction of sinners against Himself. He too faced false accusations, and the antagonism of those who should have been His friends, and face it unflinchingly.<\/p>\n ‘Like the profane mockers in feasts, they gnashed upon me with their teeth.’ This appears to have in mind the buffoons who would be rewarded for their antics at feasts by being offered food which they would immediately hungrily devour. In the same way these who opposed him were like buffoons sought hungrily to eat him up.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/strong> The Hypocrisy and Malice of the Wicked<\/p>\n v. 11. False witnesses,<\/strong> literally, “witnesses of violence,” did rise up,<\/strong> with unjust accusations; they laid to my charge things that I knew not,<\/strong> of which he knew himself to be innocent. <\/p>\n v. 12. They rewarded me evil for good,<\/strong> which he, on his part, was trying to show them, to the spoiling of my soul,<\/strong> to make his soul bereaved, to make him friendless, to isolate him. <\/p>\n v. 13. But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth,<\/strong> in sympathetic mourning for their trouble; I humbled my soul with fasting,<\/strong> in making their sorrow his own; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom,<\/strong> for he was bowed forward so far, with his head lowered, that his voice sounded against his own bosom. Thus he had entreated for his enemies in the greatest earnestness and humility. <\/p>\n v. 14. I behaved myself as though he,<\/strong> the enemy in distress, had been my friend or brother; I bowed down heavily,<\/strong> in dust and ashes, so that he appeared squalid and dirty, as one that mourneth for his mother,<\/strong> in the very deepest grief. <\/p>\n v. 15. But in mine adversity,<\/strong> his halting, lameness, said of any deep distress, they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together,<\/strong> to witness the spectacle of his great trouble; yea, the abjects,<\/strong> contemptible, degraded persons, gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not,<\/strong> people of whom he had till then not even taken notice; they did tear me and ceased not,<\/strong> attacked him with scorn and laughter, and were not silent; <\/p>\n v. 16. with hypocritical mockers in feasts,<\/strong> those who love to make sport of a poor sufferer by cracking biting jokes at his expense, they gnashed upon me with their teeth,<\/strong> in a gesture of sneering contempt, probably also with stammering of distorted things. <\/p>\n v. 17. Lord, how long wilt Thou look on?<\/strong> namely, without doing something to effect deliverance for him. Rescue my soul from their destruction, my darling, literally, “my only one,” from the lions,<\/strong> from the wild and ravenous people who were treating him so contemptuously. <\/p>\n v. 18. I will give Thee thanks in the great congregation,<\/strong> paying his vows of thanksgiving with all the other believers; I will praise Thee among much people<\/strong>, people. of numbers and might. The congregation of believers may seem small and weak in the eyes of the world, but before the Lord and in His might they are invincible. <\/p>\n Psa 35:11<\/span><\/em><\/strong>. <\/strong>False witnesses did rise up, <\/em><\/strong>&c.<\/strong> False witnesses will arise; <\/em>so the Hebrew speaks in the future; and the verbs in the two next periods are also future; to intimate that the prophet was speaking of what was then future, in the person of him <\/em>against whom false witnesses did arise; <\/em>and who, because our souls were sick, <\/em>clothed himself with the sackcloth <\/em>of our flesh; mourning <\/em>at the very thought that his prayers, <\/em>in any measure, should return into his own bosom. <\/em>See Fenwick, and 1Sa 24:9<\/span>., and Mat 26:59-60<\/span>. <\/p>\n I do not think it enough to prove that these words were spoken in a spirit of prophecy, wholly referring to Christ; but I would desire the Reader to remark, with me, the gracious love of the Holy Ghost to the church, in thus keeping up the faith of Old Testament saints, and confirming the faith of New Testament believers, by such continued references to the person and sufferings of their Redeemer. Mat 26:59-63<\/span> ; Joh 10:32<\/span> .<\/p>\n Psa 35:11 False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge [things] that I knew not.<\/p>\n Ver. 11. False witnesses did rise up<\/strong> ] So they did afterward against the Lord Christ and sundry of his faithful servants, as St Paul, Athanasius, Eustathius, bishop of Antioch (falsely accused of adultery, and deposed, about the end of Constantine the Great’s reign), Cranmer, charged with adultery, heresy, and treason; Philpot, with parricide; Latimer, with sedition; whereof he was so innocent, that he feared not to say in a sermon before the king, As for sedition, for aught that I know, methinks I should not need Christ, if I may so say. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n They laid to my charge things that I knew not<\/strong> ] Such as whereof I was not only innocent, but ignorant also. The Hebrew is, They asked me, and so would have, by cunningly contrived questions, made me mine own accuser.<\/p>\n False witnesses. “Many of them”. Compare Mat 26:60, Mat 26:61; Mat 27:40. Mar 14:55-59. <\/p>\n Psa 35:11-18<\/p>\n Psa 35:11-18<\/p>\n “Unrighteous witnesses rise up;<\/p>\n They ask me of things that I know not.<\/p>\n They reward me evil for good,<\/p>\n To the bereaving of my soul.<\/p>\n But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth:<\/p>\n I afflicted my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into my own bosom.<\/p>\n I behaved myself as though it had been my friend or brother:<\/p>\n I bowed down mourning, as one that bewaileth his mother.<\/p>\n But in mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together:<\/p>\n The abjects gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not;<\/p>\n They did tear me, and ceased not:<\/p>\n Like the profane mockers in feasts,<\/p>\n They gnashed upon me with their teeth.<\/p>\n Lord, how long wilt thou look on?<\/p>\n Rescue my soul from their destructions,<\/p>\n My darling from the lions.<\/p>\n I will give thee thanks in the great assembly:<\/p>\n I will praise thee among much people.”<\/p>\n “In this Part 2 of the psalm, persons whom the psalmist had befriended in their sickness, turn against him bearing false witness against him.<\/p>\n “They ask me of things that I know not” (Psa 35:11). These former friends, now false witnesses against David, “Were claiming to be witnesses of violent deeds that David was supposed to have done; and they kept raising questions as if he had done those deeds, but of which David had no knowledge whatever.<\/p>\n “They reward me evil for good” (Psa 35:12). “What David complains of in 12a, we hear Saul confess in 1Sa 24:18; thus David’s charges of ingratitude are here well founded.<\/p>\n “My prayer returned into my own bosom” (Psa 35:13). Translators have had difficulty knowing exactly what this means. Beginning with Martin Luther, some have rendered it, “prayed most earnestly”; and others have taken it to mean that, “The prayer would return unanswered to him or as a blessing upon himself as in Mat 10:13. The latter understanding seems better to us.<\/p>\n “The abjects gathered themselves together against me” (Psa 35:15). The dictionary defines `abjects’ as `sunk to a low degree,’ `mean,’ or `despicable.’ Dummelow, on the basis of Job 30:1; Job 30:6, described these people as, “the most worthless outcasts. As Rawlinson said, “It is a matter of common knowledge that when men of high position fall into misfortunes, the base and vulgar crowd always turns against them with scoffing, jeers and every sort of contumely.<\/p>\n “I will give thee thanks in the great assembly” (Psa 35:18). As in all three sections of this psalm, the conclusion again promises praise and thanksgiving to God for the deliverance which the psalmist is sure he shall receive.<\/p>\n E.M. Zerr:<\/p>\n Psa 35:11. If a man lives righteously the only kind of testimony that can be against him is falsehood. Naturally, then, such charges would concern some form of misconduct of which he knew not. <\/p>\n Psa 35:12. Spoiling is from SHEKOWL which Strong defines by “bereavement,” and that makes the thought clearer. It shows the nature of those who are so wicked as to return to a man some evil for his good. <\/p>\n Psa 35:13. Sackcloth was worn in times of grief or anxiety. Instead of returning evil for good, when David’s enemies were in trouble he grieved for them and showed his concern by clothing himself with sackcloth. Paul told Christians to “weep with them that weep” (Rom 12:15). This sentiment was further expressed by David in the form of prayer and fasting. Prayer returned means his prayer was not appreciated by those for whom it was offered. In other words, the selfish spirit of ingratitude was all that David received for his unselfish interest in the welfare of his enemies. <\/p>\n Psa 35:14. David had treated his enemies in distress as he would a friend or nearest relative, but his kindness was not appreciated. <\/p>\n Psa 35:15. In return for the kindness of David in their adversity, when a like misfortune came to him they rejoiced. The abjects were the low characters who secretly plotted against David. To tear him meant they reviled him at his back. <\/p>\n Psa 35:16. They were hypocritical mockers in that they pretended to be David’s friends, but secretly wished to devour him as a vicious beast would have done. <\/p>\n Psa 35:17. For explanation of my darling see the comments at Psa 22:20 <\/p>\n Psa 35:18. Wherever a large gathering of the people might be, David would utter forth his gratitude for the goodness of God. <\/p>\n False witnesses: Heb. Witnesses of wrong, Psa 27:12, 1Sa 24:9, 1Sa 25:10, Mat 26:59, Mat 26:60, Act 6:13, Act 24:5, Act 24:6, Act 24:12, Act 24:13 <\/p>\n laid: etc. Heb. asked me <\/p>\n Reciprocal: Gen 39:14 – he came Exo 23:1 – an unrighteous witness Deu 19:16 – a false witness 1Sa 17:28 – I know 1Ki 21:13 – the men of Belial Psa 55:3 – for they Psa 64:6 – search Psa 119:69 – proud Psa 120:2 – from lying lips Pro 6:19 – A false Pro 24:28 – not Jer 37:14 – said Mat 5:11 – when Mar 14:55 – sought Luk 23:2 – forbidding Act 25:7 – and laid Rom 8:33 – Who<\/p>\n Psa 35:11-12. They laid to my charge things I knew not They accused me to Saul of treacherous designs against his crown and life, and of other crimes of which I was wholly innocent and ignorant. They rewarded me evil for good For the good offices which I performed to divers of them when I had favour and power in Sauls court and camp. To the spoiling of my soul That is, to the stripping of my person of all my comforts and hopes, and of my life itself. This interpretation of the passage, the reader will observe, is given according to the present translation. But the Hebrew verbs, , , , jeshallemu, jishalu, jekumu, are all in the future tense, and the clauses are more properly rendered, False witnesses will rise up, &c.; They will lay to my charge, &c.; They will reward me, &c., which seems to intimate that the prophet was speaking of what was then future, and in the person of him against whom false witnesses did arise, to whose charge they laid things he knew not, and whom they rewarded evil for good; who, because our souls were sick, clothed himself with the sackcloth of our flesh; mourning at the very thought that his prayers, in any measure, should return into his own bosom. See Fenwick.<\/p>\n 35:11 {i} False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge [things] that I knew not.<\/p>\n (i) That would not permit me to purge myself.<\/p>\n 2. A lament over unjust opposition 35:11-18<\/span><\/p>\n In the first section of the psalm, the emphasis is on petition, but in this one it is on lament.<\/p>\n The psalmist’s malicious enemies were repaying him evil for the good he had done them. They were evidently also charging him falsely.<\/p>\n False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge [things] that I knew not. 11. False witnesses ] Rather, unrighteous, or, malicious, witnesses rise up; lit., witnesses of violence, as in Exo 23:1; Deu 19:16. Cp. Psa 27:12 (A.V. cruelty). they laid to my charge &c.] R.V. they ask of me things that I … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 35:11”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14433\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
<\/P> <\/TD> <\/TR> <\/TABLE> Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"