Living Stream Ministry

XI. IN ASKING GOD TO DEAL WITH HIS ENEMIES

In Psalm 35 David asked God to deal with his enemies.

A. Begging God to Fight
His Enemies with Weapons

First, he begged God to fight his enemies with weapons (vv. 1-8). Verse 1 says, "Strive, O Jehovah, with those who strive with me;/Battle against those who battle against me." Do you believe that God desires such a prayer? This is not according to the Lord’s teaching in the New Testament, which tells us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matt. 5:44).

Verses 2-3 say, "Take hold of shield and buckler,/And rise up as my help./Draw out also the spear, and close up the way/Against those who pursue me;/Say to my soul,/I am your salvation." Instead of asking God for something, David here is teaching God how to deliver him by fighting against his enemies with weapons.

Verses 4-8 say, "Let those who seek my life/Be put to shame and humiliated;/Let those who devise evil for me/Be turned back and confounded./Let them be like chaff before the wind,/With the angel of Jehovah driving them on./Let their way be darkness and slipperiness itself,/With the angel of Jehovah pursuing them./For without cause they hid their net for me in a pit;/Without cause they dug a hole for me./Let destruction come upon them unawares,/And let his net, which he hid, catch him;/Let him fall into it, into destruction." Is this a spiritual prayer? Surely this prayer comes out of a man who is fully in himself. In the New Testament economy, a spiritual person could never ask God to come with a shield, with a buckler, and with a spear to fight against his enemies.

B. Boasting in His Trusting in God
and in His Well-dealing with
Those Who Mistreated Him

In verses 9-16 David boasted in his trusting in God and in his well-dealing with those who mistreated him. These verses say, "Then my soul will exult in Jehovah;/It will rejoice in His salvation./All my bones will say,/Jehovah, who is like You,/Who delivers an afflicted one from him who is too strong for him,/And an afflicted and needy one from him who robs him?/Malicious witnesses rise up;/They ask me about things I know nothing of./They repay me evil for good;/I am bereaved in soul./But I, when they were sick,/Had sackcloth as my clothing;/I afflicted my soul with fasting,/And my prayer returned to my own bosom./I conducted myself as if it had been my friend or my brother; /Like one mourning for his mother, I bowed down gloomily./But at my stumbling they rejoice and gather together;/The dregs whom I had not known/Gather together against me; /They tear at me and do not cease./As profane mocking parasites,/They gnash their teeth at me."

The above verses show that in David’s consideration his enemies were very bad, whereas he was very good. His expressions in these verses display too much self-righteousness.

(Life-Study of Psalms, Chapter 16, by Witness Lee)