John Calvin Commentary Psalms 35

Plead my cause, O Jehovah! As David's enemies not only openly sought to take his life but also troubled him with slander and misrepresentation, he pleads for the remedy of both these grievances. In doing so:

1. By appealing to God for His aid in defense of his cause, he implies that he is dealing with wicked and maligning men.

2. By urging God to take up arms, he shows that he was severely oppressed.

It was a very dishonorable thing that this holy man, equally distinguished for his kindness and harmlessness towards all people, and who by his courtesy and meekness had earned the esteem and favor of all, both in public and private, was not permitted to escape the reproach and slander of wicked men. However, it is important for us to know this, as it sets before us a very valuable example.

If even David did not escape the malice of wicked men, it should not seem surprising or strange to us if they blame and malign us.

The injuries they inflict upon us may be severe and painful, but incomparable comfort is offered to us in the thought that God Himself intervenes for our protection and defense against false accusations.

Therefore, even if slanderers should arise and, as it were, tear us to pieces by falsely charging us with crimes, we do not need to be disturbed as 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. Essentially, being falsely accused and cruelly persecuted, and finding no help from human sources, the Prophet commits the preservation of his life and his reputation to God.

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 crude, yet the Holy Spirit employs them to accommodate the weakness of our understanding, for the purpose of impressing more effectively 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 us, 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 unrefined and earthly, tend downward to the earth.

Therefore, so that our faith may ascend by degrees to the heavenly power of God, he is here introduced armed, like humans, with sword and shield. In the same way, also, when he is in another place termed a man of war, it is undoubtedly to accommodate the imperfection of our present state, because our minds, due to their limited capacity, could not otherwise comprehend the extent of that infinite power, which contains in itself every form of help and has no need of aid from any other source.

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, used here, means a dart, or some other kind of weapon; but as we have already seen in Psalm 5 that it properly signifies a buckler, I see no reason why it should be differently interpreted in this place.

Nor is it at all inconsistent to connect here, as is often done in other places, the buckler and the shield. If the expression used here had been designed to signify a dart or a similar weapon, it would have been more natural to connect it with the spear, which is mentioned in the following verse. David, then, first mentions 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 since 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 anyone 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 is not at all probable.

Say to my soul. Some interpret these words in this way: "Declare to me by secret inspiration"; and others, "Make me to feel indeed that my salvation is in Your hand." In my opinion, David desires to have it thoroughly fixed in his mind, and to be fully persuaded, that God is the author of his salvation.

From the present state of affairs, he was unable to ascertain and determine this. For such is the insensibility and dullness of our natures that God often delivers us while we are asleep and unaware of it.

Accordingly, he uses a very forceful manner of expression, praying that God would grant him a lively sense of His favor. Armed with this assurance as with a shield, he might then sustain every conflict and surmount every opposing obstacle.

It is as if he had said: "Lord, whatever may arise to discourage me, confirm me in this persuasion: that my salvation is assuredly in You. And although temptations drive me here and there, recall my thoughts to You in such a way that my hope of salvation may rise superior to all the dangers to which I shall be exposed. Even more, may I become as infallibly certain, as if You had declared it, that through Your favor I shall be saved."

Let those who seek my soul be confounded. David now calls upon God to take vengeance upon his enemies; and he asks not only that God would disappoint and destroy their designs, but also that he would recompense them according to their deserts. In the first place, he desires that they may be confounded and put to shame in seeing their expectation and desire fail; and then he proceeds further, desiring that while they imagine themselves to be firmly established and deeply rooted, they may be like chaff or stubble.

As the chaff is driven by the wind, so also he desires that, being disquieted by the secret impulse of the angel of the Lord, they may never have rest. The imprecation that follows is even more dreadful, and it is this: that wherever they go they may meet with darkness and slippery places; and that in their doubt and perplexity the angel of the Lord would pursue them.

Ultimately, whatever they devise, and to whatever side they turn, he prays that all their plans and enterprises may come to a disastrous end. When he desires that they may be driven by the angel of the Lord, we learn from this that the reason the ungodly are troubled, though no one pursues them, is that God strikes them with a spirit of amazement and distracts them with such fears that they tremble and are troubled.

He expresses the same thing more clearly in the following verse, praying that the angel of the Lord would drive them through dark and slippery places, so that reason and understanding might fail them, and that they might not know where to go, nor what to do, nor even have time given them to draw their breath.

We need not be surprised that this work should be assigned to the angels, by whose instrumentality God executes his judgments. At the same time, this passage may be interpreted as referring to devils as well as to holy angels, who are always ready to execute the divine commands. We know that the devil is permitted to exercise his dominion over the reprobate; and hence it is often said that an evil spirit from God came upon Saul, (1 Samuel 18:10). But as the devils never execute the will of God unless compelled to do so when God wishes to make use of them, the Sacred Scriptures declare that the holy and elect angels are in a much higher sense the servants of God.

God, then, executes his judgments by the wicked and reprobate angels; but he gives the elect angels pre-eminence over them. For this reason, also, good angels only are rightfully called “principalities,” as in Ephesians 3:10; Colossians 1:16, and other similar passages. If it is objected that it is not fitting that the angels, who are the ministers of grace and salvation and the appointed guardians of the faithful, should be employed in executing judgment on the reprobate, the explanation is simply this: they cannot watch for the preservation of the godly without being prepared for fighting — that they cannot aid them without also opposing their enemies and declaring themselves to be against them.

The style of imprecation that the Psalmist here employs can be explained only by bearing in mind what I have elsewhere said. Namely, David does not plead simply his own cause, nor does he rashly utter the dictates of passion, nor with unadvised zeal desire the destruction of his enemies. Rather, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, he entertains and expresses against the reprobate desires characterized by great moderation. These desires were far removed from the spirit of those who are impelled by a desire for revenge, hatred, or some other inordinate emotion of the flesh.

For they have hid for me without a cause. He declares here 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.

We should carefully mark this, so that no one may rush rashly 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, a tacit commendation of his own integrity is implied in this.