Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 35:21

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 35:21. They opened their mouth wide — Gaped upon me to express their contempt.

And said, Aha, aha, our eye hath seen it.] They said, האח האח heach, heach, the last syllable in each word being a protracted strongly guttural sound, marking insult and triumph at the same time. It is the word which we translate Ah, Psalms 35:25.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms 35:0 Against false accusers

It seems that this psalm also was written during the time of David’s flight from Saul. Much of his suffering during that time was because of the false accusations made against him by influential people in Saul’s court. (See introductory notes to Psalms 7:0.)

Since David’s enemies have the ferocity of men in battle, David asks God to deal with them accordingly and fight against them as a warrior (1-3). He prays that they might be turned back, scattered and brought to ruin (4-6), for they have persecuted him without cause (7-8). God alone can defend him against his attackers (9-10).
David’s sorrow is the more painful when he remembers that those who now fight against him are those whom he helped, sympathized with and prayed for when they were sick or in trouble (11-14). They are hoping that David will soon be caught, so that they can pounce on him and destroy him. He knows that only God can keep him going and preserve him from their attacks (15-18). They plot evil and make false accusations against him (19-21), but he trusts that God will not allow them to gain the victory (22-25). His desire is that evil will be conquered and that righteousness will triumph (26-28).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me; Neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause. For they speak not peace; But they devise deceitful words against them that are quiet in the land. Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me; They said, Aha, aha, our eye hath seen it. Thou hast seen it, O Jehovah; keep not silence: O Lord, be not far from me. Stir up thyself, and awake to the justice due unto me, Even unto my cause, My God and my Lord. Judge me, O Jehovah my God, according to thy righteousness; And let them not rejoice over me. Let them not say in their heart, Aha, so would we have it: Let them not say, We have swallowed him up. Let them be put to shame and confounded together that rejoice at my hurt: Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor that magnify themselves against me. Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favor my righteous cause: Yea, let them say continually, Jehovah be magnified, Who hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant. And my tongue shall talk of thy righteousness And of thy praise all the day long."

David's relentless enemies in the court of King Saul were not content with having driven him out of Jerusalem and having caused him to flee like a hunted animal into the cave of Adullum; they were determined to kill him. "They stirred up the jealousy and hatred of King Saul by false, lying charges, causing him to be `hunted upon the mountains' (1 Samuel 26:20)."Ibid., p. 268.

"Our eye hath seen it" "... Thou hast seen it, O Jehovah" (Psalms 35:22). What a remarkable contrast is this! The lying tongues of the enemies are claiming that they had seen David's terrible deeds; and David's answer is, "God, you did indeed really see, and know the falsity of the charges.'…. Thou hast seen,' is a perfect foil to the claim of enemies that, `our eye hath seen it.'"Derek Kidner, Vol. 1, p. 144.

"The justice due unto me" Here David appeals to God for justice to be done. What could possibly be wrong with such a plea? Oh yes, he pleaded for his enemies to be put to shame, but not for their death. But what else could he have done? In the situation in which David found himself someone was most certainly doomed to be put to shame. The only thing David pleaded for here is that it would not be himself, but his lying enemies who would be the ones thus dishonored.

This writer can find nothing wrong with this prayer. It would really be interesting to hear the prayers of some of the critics of this psalm if they were confronted with the same kind of life or death situation that faced David.

"Judge me, O Jehovah my God, according to thy righteousness" Rawlinson gave the meaning of this appeal thus: "Let thy law of righteousness be the rule by which I am judged, and mine enemies also."The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 8, p. 268. This clearly indicates that David was not requesting anything against his enemies that was, in any sense, contrary to God's justice.

"Let them not say, Aha, so would we have it" "Another more colloquial rendering of these words would be, `Aha, this is what we wanted.'"H. C. Leupold, p. 291.

"Let them shout for joy… that favor my righteous cause" It is important to remember that David's prayer here is not for himself alone. "If Saul had captured David when he `hunted him upon the mountains,' David and all of his followers would have been put to death or exiled."The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 8, p. 268.

In that situation, a plea on David's part that God would not allow his enemies to rejoice over his defeat and downfall, was automatically a plea that all of his friends and followers should rejoice and praise Jehovah. There was absolutely no `middle ground' in this unhappy circumstance.

Psalms 35:28, like Psalms 35:9-10; Psalms 35:18, marks the close of this third section with the same promise of thanksgiving to God that marked the close of the first two sections.

One other word shall close our discussion of this psalm. Back in verse 8, the prayer has these words, "Let destruction come upon him unawares." Rawlinson's comment on this was, "Them is always something in David's imprecations from which Christians shrink; and this is particularly the case here where he asks for the `destruction' of his enemies."Ibid.

We do not believe that it was David's meaning here that God would `kill' his enemies; but that he would accomplish the destruction of their purposes. The clothing of his enemies in "dishonor" in Psalms 35:26 is a request that does not imply the death of enemies but their defeat; and we believe that this is the meaning of Psalms 35:8 also.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me - See the notes at Psalms 22:13.

And said, Aha, aha! - See Psalms 40:15; Psalms 70:3. The language is that which we use when we “detect” another in doing wrong - in doing what he meant to conceal.

Our eye hath seen it - We are not dependent on the reports of others. We have seen it with our own eyes. We have found you out. We cannot be mistaken in regard to it. The reference is to some supposed “detection” of misconduct on the part of David, and the joy and triumph of such a supposed detection.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 35:1-28

Psalms 35:1-28 :

Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me. Take hold of shield and buckler, stand up for my help. Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt ( Psalms 35:1-4 ).

So this is one of those psalms where David is praying God's judgment and all against his enemies.

Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the LORD chase them. Let their way be dark and slippery: let the angel of the LORD persecute them ( Psalms 35:5-6 ).

I really wouldn't want to be one of David's enemies. He really has the Lord on their tails.

For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which they without cause have digged for my soul. Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he hath hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall. And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD: it shall rejoice in his salvation. All my bones shall say, LORD, who is like unto thee, which deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him, yea, the poor and the needy from him that spoileth him? ( Psalms 35:7-10 )

And now another prophecy relating to Christ.

False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not. They rewarded me evil for good to the spoiling of my soul. 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. I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother: I bowed down heavily, as one that mourns for his mother. But in mine adversity they rejoiced ( Psalms 35:11-15 ),

Now David is saying, "I was so good to them when they were in trouble. I wept and I was there to help and all. But as for me, when I was in adversity they rejoiced."

they gathered themselves together: yea, the abjects gathered themselves together against me together, and I knew it not; they tore me and ceased not: With hypocritical mockers in the feasts, they gnashed upon me with their teeth. LORD, how long are you just going to stand there looking? rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the lions. I will give thee thanks in the great congregation: and I will praise thee among much people. Let not them that are my enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause. For they speak not peace: but they devise deceitful matters against them that are quiet in the land. Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me, and said, Aha, aha, our eyes have seen it ( Psalms 35:15-21 ).

The "aha, aha" was evidently a nasty kind of a derisive thing. We don't think of it today saying, "aha, aha" as being such an evil, contemptuous kind of thing, but in those days, man, it was really evil and contemptuous. Now I don't know what the content was of the "aha, aha," but it was something they hated to hear. It was an awful thing when you say, "aha, aha." They really would get upset.

Now when Elisha was going up the hill, little kids came up from Bethel saying, "aha, aha, ye old bald man!" And he turned around and cursed them. And the she bears came out and ripped them up. 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.

This thou hast seen, O LORD: keep not silence: O LORD, be not far from me. Stir up thyself, and awake to my judgment, even to my cause, my God and my Lord. Judge me, O LORD my God, according to thy righteousness; and let them not rejoice over me. Let them not say in their hearts, Ah, so would we have it: let them not say, We have swallowed him up. Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoice at my hurt: let them be clothed with shame and dishonor that magnify themselves against me. Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favor my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant. And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and thy praise all the day long ( Psalms 35:22-28 ). "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 35

David lamented the unjustified opposition of his enemies in this psalm and called on God to deliver him. It is really a combination of three laments. The language alternates between legal and military terminology.

"Whether or not this psalm was written as a companion to Psalms 34, it is well placed next to it, not only because of some verbal affinities and contrasts (notably ’the angel of the Lord’, Psalms 34:7; Psalms 35:5-6, found nowhere else in the Psalter), but because it speaks out of the kind of darkness which has just been dispelled in the former psalm. The deliverance celebrated in that psalm is now seen to be not invariably swift or painless, but subject, if God wills, to agonizing delays." [Note: Ibid., p. 142.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Winking at one another, David’s enemies communicated their sneaky intention to trap the psalmist in their plot. They were lying to turn others against him. They were also giving false testimony concerning his actions.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

3. A petition for justice 35:19-28

In this section the emphasis lies on the need for God to act for David.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me,.... In laughter, scorn, and derision; see Psalms 22:7;

[and] said, Aha, aha: a word expressive of joy; and the doubling it shows the greatness of it;

our eye hath seen [it]; what their heart wished for; namely, the distress of him, whose enemies they were.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      17 Lord, how long wilt thou look on? rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the lions.   18 I will give thee thanks in the great congregation: I will praise thee among much people.   19 Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause.   20 For they speak not peace: but they devise deceitful matters against them that are quiet in the land.   21 Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me, and said, Aha, aha, our eye hath seen it.   22 This thou hast seen, O LORD: keep not silence: O Lord, be not far from me.   23 Stir up thyself, and awake to my judgment, even unto my cause, my God and my Lord.   24 Judge me, O LORD my God, according to thy righteousness; and let them not rejoice over me.   25 Let them not say in their hearts, Ah, so would we have it: let them not say, We have swallowed him up.   26 Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoice at mine hurt: let them be clothed with shame and dishonour that magnify themselves against me.   27 Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.   28 And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long.

      In these verses, as before,

      I. David describes the great injustice, malice, and insolence, of his persecutors, pleading this with God as a reason why he should protect him from them and appear against them. 1. They were very unrighteous; they were his enemies wrongfully, for he never gave them any provocation: They hated him without a cause; nay, for that for which they ought rather to have loved and honoured him. This is quoted, with application to Christ, and is said to be fulfilled in him. John 15:25, They hated me without cause. 2. They were very rude; they could not find in their hearts to show him common civility: They speak not peace; if they met him, they had not the good manners to give him the time of day; like Joseph's brethren, that could not speak peaceably to him,Genesis 37:4. 3. They were very proud and scornful (Psalms 35:21; Psalms 35:21): 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! aha! this is the day we longed to see." 4. They were very barbarous and base, for they trampled upon him when he was down, rejoiced at his hurt, and magnified themselves against him,Psalms 35:26; Psalms 35:26. Turba Remi sequitur fortunam, ut semper, et odit damnatos--The Roman crowd, varying their opinions with every turn of fortune, are sure to execrate the fallen. Thus, when the Son of David was run upon by the rulers, the people cried, Crucify him, crucify him. 5. They set themselves against all the sober good people that adhered to David (Psalms 35:20; Psalms 35:20): They devised deceitful matters, to trepan and ruin those that were quiet in the land. Note, (1.) It is the character of the godly in the land that they are the quiet in the land, that they live in all dutiful subjection to government and governors, in the Lord, and endeavour, as much as in them lies, to live peaceably with all men, however they may have been misrepresented as enemies to Cæsar and hurtful to kings and provinces. I am for peace,Psalms 120:7. (2.) 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. All the hellish arts of malice and falsehood are made use of to render them odious or despicable; their words and actions are misconstrued, even that which they abhor is fathered upon them, laws are made to ensnare them (Daniel 6:4, c.), and all to ruin them and root them out. 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.

      II. He appeals to God against them, the God to whom vengeance belongs, appeals to his knowledge (Psalms 35:22; Psalms 35:22): This thou hast seen. 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. They had carried on their plots against him with a great degree of secresy (Psalms 35:15; Psalms 35:15): "I knew it not, till long after, when they themselves gloried in it; but thy eye was upon them in their close cabals and thou art a witness of all they have said and done against me and thy people." He appeals to God's justice: Awake to my judgment, even to my cause, and let it have a hearing at thy bar, Psalms 35:23; Psalms 35:23. "Judge me, O Lord my God! pass sentence upon this appeal, according to the righteousness of thy nature and government," Psalms 35:24; Psalms 35:24. See this explained by Solomon, 1 Kings 7:31; 1 Kings 7:32. When thou art appealed to, hear in heaven, and judge, by condemning the wicked and justifying the righteous.

      III. He prays earnestly to God to appear graciously for him and his friends, against his and their enemies, that by his providence the struggle might issue to the honour and comfort of David and to the conviction and confusion of his persecutors. 1. He prays that God would act for him, and not stand by as a spectator (Psalms 35:17; Psalms 35:17): "Lord, how long wilt thou look on? How long wilt thou connive at the wickedness of the wicked? Rescue my soul from the destructions they are plotting against it; rescue my darling, my only one, from the lions. My soul is my only one, and therefore the greater is the shame if I neglect it and the greater the loss if I lose it: it is my only one, and therefore ought to be my darling, ought to be carefully protected and provided for. It is my soul that is in danger; Lord, rescue it. It does, in a peculiar manner, belong to the Father of spirits, therefore claim thy own; it is thine, save it. Lord, keep not silence, as if thou didst consent to what is done against me! Lord, be not far from me (Psalms 35:22; Psalms 35:22), as if I were a stranger that thou wert not concerned for; let not me beheld afar off, as the proud are." 2. He prays that his enemies might not have cause to rejoice (Psalms 35:19; Psalms 35:19): Let them not rejoice over me (and again, Psalms 35:24; Psalms 35:24); not so much because it would be a mortification to him to be trampled upon the abjects, as because it would turn to the dishonour of God and the reproach of his confidence in God. 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. He prays that he might never be in such imminent danger as that they should say in their hearts, Ah! so would we have it (Psalms 35:25; Psalms 35:25), much more that he might not be reduced to such extremity that they should say, We have swallowed him up; for then they will reflect upon God himself. But, on the contrary, that they might be ashamed and brought to confusion together (Psalms 35:26; Psalms 35:26, as before, Psalms 35:4; Psalms 35:4); he desires that his innocency might be so cleared that they might be ashamed of the calumnies with which they had loaded him, that his interest might be so confirmed that they might be ashamed of their designs against him and their expectations of his ruin, that they might either be brought to that shame which would be a step towards their reformation or that that might be their portion which would be their everlasting misery. 3. He prays that his friends might have cause to rejoice and give glory to God, Psalms 35:27; Psalms 35:27. Notwithstanding the arts that were used to blacken David, and make him odious, and to frighten people from owning him, there were some that favoured his righteous cause, that knew he was wronged and bore a good affection to him; and he prays for them, (1.) That they might rejoice with him in his joys. It is a great pleasure to all that are good to see an honest man, and an honest cause, prevail and prosper; and those that heartily espouse the interests of God's people, and are willing to take their lot with them even when they are run down and trampled upon, shall in due time shout for joy and be glad, for the righteous cause will at length be a victorious cause. (2.) That they might join with him in his praises: Let them say continually, The Lord be magnified, by us and others, who hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant. Note, [1.] The great God has pleasure in this prosperity of good people, not only of his family, the church in general, but of every particular servant in his family. 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. [2.] When God in his providence shows his good-will to the prosperity of his servants, and the pleasure he takes in it, we ought to acknowledge it with thankfulness, to his praise, and to say, The Lord be magnified.

      IV. The mercy he hoped to win by prayer he promises to wear with praise: "I will give thee thanks, as the author of my deliverance (Psalms 35:18; Psalms 35:18), and my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness, the justice of thy judgments and the equity of all thy dispensations;" and this, 1. Publicly, as one that took a pleasure in owning his obligations to his God, so far was he from being ashamed of them. He will do it in the great congregation, and among much people, that God might be honoured and many edified. 2. Constantly. He will speak God's praise every day (so it may be read) and all the day long; for it is a subject that will never be exhausted, no, not by the endless praises of saints and angels.