Teks -- Psalms 35:1-2 (NET)

Psalm 35

35:1 By David. O Lord, fight those who fight with me! Attack those who attack me! 35:2 Grab your small shield and large shield, and rise up to help me!

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per frasa)

JFB: Psa 35:1-3

The Psalmist invokes God's aid, contrasting the hypocrisy, cunning, and malice of his enemies with his integrity and generosity. The imprecations of the first part including a brief notice of their conduct, the fuller exposition of their hypocrisy and malice in the second, and the earnest prayer for deliverance from their scornful triumph in the last, are each closed (Psa 35:9-10, Psa 35:18, Psa 35:27-28) with promises of praise for the desired relief, in which his friends will unite. The historical occasion is probably 1Sa. 24:1-22. (Psa. 35:1-28)

God is invoked in the character of a warrior (Exo 15:3; Deu 32:41).

Clarke: Psa 35:1 - Plead my cause, O Lord

Plead my cause, O Lord - Literally, Contend, Lord, with then that contend with me. The word is often used in a forensic or law sense.

Clarke: Psa 35:2 - Take hold of shield and buckler

Take hold of shield and buckler - Let them be discomfited in battle who are striving to destroy my life. It is by the shield and buckler of others, not any of his own that God overthrows the enemies of his people. This is spoken merely after the manner of men.

Calvin: Psa 35:1 - Plead my cause, O Jehovah!

1.Plead my cause, O Jehovah! As the enemies of David not only avowedly sought to take away his life, but also troubled him by calumny and misrepresentation, he pleads for the redress of both these grievances. In the first place, by appealing to God for his aid in defense of his cause, he intimates, that he has to do with wicked and maligning men. In the second place, by urging him to take up arms, he shows that he was grievously oppressed. It was a very dishonorable thing, that this holy man, alike eminent for his beneficence and inoffensiveness towards all men, and who by his courtesy and meekness had merited, both in public and private, the esteem and favor of all, was not permitted to escape the reproach and calumny of wicked men; but it is important for us to know this, and it sets before us a very profitable example. If even David did not escape the malice of wicked men, it ought not to seem wonderful or strange to us, if they blame and bite at us. The injuries they inflict upon us may be grievous and painful, but there is incomparable consolation presented to us in this consideration, that God himself interposes for our protection and defense against false accusations. Though calumniators, then, should arise, and tear us, as it were, to pieces, by falsely charging us with crimes, we need not be disturbed, so long as God undertakes to plead our cause against them. There can be no doubt, that in the second clause of the verse David implores God to resist the armed violence of his enemies. The amount of the whole is, that being falsely accused and cruelly persecuted, and finding no help at the hands of men, the Prophet commits the preservation of his life and his reputation to God.

Calvin: Psa 35:2 - Take the shield

2.Take the shield These words certainly cannot be applied, in the strict and proper sense, to God, who has no need of the spear or buckler: for by the breath of his mouth alone, or merely with his nod, he is able to overthrow all his enemies. But although such figures at first sight appear rude, yet the Holy Ghost employs them in accommodation to the weakness of our understanding, for the purpose of impressing more effectually upon our minds the conviction that God is present to aid us. When troubles and dangers arise, when terrors assail us on every side, when even death presents itself to our view, it is difficult to realize the secret and invisible power of God, which is able to deliver us from all anxiety and fear; for our understandings, which are gross and earthly, tend downward to the earth. That our faith, therefore, may ascend by degrees to the heavenly power of God, he is here introduced armed, after the manner of men, with sword and shield. In the same way, also, when he is in another place termed “a man of war,” it is doubtless in adaptation to the imperfection of our present state, because our minds, from their limited capacity, could in no other way comprehend the extent of that infinite power, which contains in itself every form of help, and has no need of aid from any other quarter. This, therefore, is a prayer that God, by the exercise of his secret and intrinsic power, would show that he alone is able to encounter the whole strength and forces of the ungodly. Some suppose that the Hebrew word צנה , tsinnah, here used, means a dart, or some other kind of weapon; but as we have already seen, in the fifth psalm, that it properly signifies a buckler, I see no reason why it should be differently interpreted in this place. Nor is there any thing at all inconsistent in connecting here, as is often done in other places, the buckler and the shield. ⁷⁰² If the expression here employed had been designed to signify a dart, or a similar weapon, it would have been more natural to connect it with the spear, of which mention is made in the following verse. David, then, first makes mention of defensive armor, praying that God would sustain and repel the assaults of the enemy. The Hebrew word ריק , rik, which signifies to unsheath, or make bare, I take simply to mean, to draw out, or bring forth. The Hebrew word סגור , segor, which I have translated to oppose, literally signifies to shut or to close. But as David’s meaning is, that God, by setting himself as a wall or rampart, would prevent his enemies from approaching him, it appears to me that I have faithfully translated it. At the same time, if any should prefer the translation to shut, or close the way, or to impede it by some obstacle, the meaning; is substantially the same. The opinion of those who contend that it is a noun, ⁷⁰³ is not at all probable.

TSK: Psa 35:1 - Plead // fight

am 2942, bc 1062

Plead : Psa 43:1, Psa 119:154; 1Sa 24:15; Pro 22:23, Pro 23:11; Jer 51:36; Lam 3:58; Mic 7:9

fight : Exo 14:25; Jos 10:42; Neh 4:20; Act 5:39, Act 23:9

TSK: Psa 35:2

Psa 7:12, Psa 7:13; Exo 15:3; Deu 32:41, Deu 32:42; Isa 13:5, Isa 42:13

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per Ayat)

Poole: Psa 35:2 - Take hold of shield and buckler

Take hold of shield and buckler therewith to cover and defend me. Compare Psa 91:4 Pro 2:7 .

Haydock: Psa 35:1

The malice of sinners, and the goodness of God.

Haydock: Psa 35:1 - Himself

Himself. Psalm is understood. It is expressed in St. Ambrose and St. Jerome, (Calmet) and is the Alexandrian Septuagint. (Haydock) ---

Eusebius improperly assigns the cause of the omission to the piece being of a moral nature. Many suppose it refers to Saul, who had promised that he would give ear no more to the detractors of David, when the latter restored to him his spear and cup, 1 Kings xxvi. (Theodoret, &c.) ---

But it seems rather to express the sentiments of the captives at Babylon, like the Psalms x., xi., xiii., and lii. (Calmet) ---

David gloried in the title of servant of the Lord, though he bore the sceptre, Psalm xvii., (Berthier) and Psalm cxv. 16. (Menochius) ---

He applies this instruction to himself, and to all in the lowest stations. (Worthington)

Haydock: Psa 35:2 - Himself // Eyes

Himself. Hebrew libbi, "in my heart." But this is visibly incorrect, and we should substitute lobu, as St. Jerome, Chaldean, Syriac, &c., have done. (Calmet) ---

Yet Symmachus translates, "concerning the disorder of the impious within, my heart has said, there," &c. Hebrew may also signify, "the transgression of the wicked saith within my heart." (Protestants) (Haydock) ---

I am inwardly convinced how great the malice of the wicked may be. It touches me to the very heart. Both senses are good. The wicked are bent on evil, and this fills the virtuous with grief. (Berthier) ---

Eyes. They sin publicly, (Psalm xiii. 1.; Calmet) and on purpose, preferring vice before virtue, (Worthington) and constantly bent on doing evil, so that they become odious to all. (Menochius)

Gill: Psa 35:1 - Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me // fight against them that fight against me

Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me,.... Meaning Saul and his courtiers; concerning whom he elsewhere desires that the Lord would judge between them, plead his cause, and deliver him; as he accordingly did, and maintained it, and the righteousness of it, 1Sa 24:12. So Christ pleaded not his own cause as man, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously; and his people leave their cause with him, who is their advocate, and is able to plead it thoroughly; and does plead it against wicked and ungodly men, who unrighteously charge them; against. Satan the accuser of the brethren, who stands at their right hand to resist them; and against their own hearts, and the sins of them, which lust and war against them, and condemn them;

fight against them that fight against me: so the Lord is sometimes represented as a man of war, and Christ as a warrior fighting for the saints; and safe are they on whose side he is; but miserable all such who are found fighters against him and his; for none ever opposed him and prospered.

Gill: Psa 35:2 - Take hold of shield and buckler // and stand up for mine help

Take hold of shield and buckler,.... Defensive weapons; not that the Lord stands in need of any of these to defend himself with: but the sense is, that he would be as these to David; as he was to him, and is to all his people; namely, their shield and buckler: he gives unto them the shield of salvation; he encompasses them about with his favour as with a shield, and keeps them by his power safe from all their enemies;

and stand up for mine help; for which the Lord arises, and stands by his people, and against their enemies, delivering them out of their hands.