John Calvin Commentary Psalms 35:12

"They reward me evil for good, [To] the bereaving of my soul." — Psalms 35:12 (ASV)

They render me evil for good. David again shows that his enemies' malice was especially heinous, because they not only oppressed him wrongfully, since he was innocent and had given them no reason for offense, but also because even those who had received much enjoyment and many favors from him repaid him in a profoundly ungrateful manner.

Such disgraceful conduct deeply wounds good people and seems completely intolerable. But it is an incredibly great comfort when we can testify before God that we have tried every way we could to calm our enemies and persuade them to be gentle, even though they are driven by an insatiable cruelty to desire our harm. For God will not allow this barbaric and brutal ingratitude to go unpunished.

Their cruelty is further expressed when it is said that they tried to bereave (for that is the proper meaning in Hebrew) the soul of a meek and peaceable man; that is, to deprive it of comfort and make it so desolate as to overwhelm it with despair and destroy it.

David then recounts certain acts of kindness he had done for them, which, if they had possessed any sense of fairness and humanity, should have been like sacred bonds of mutual love. He does not say that he aided them with money or goods, or that he had by some other means shown generosity to them, for it can sometimes happen that while the hand is open, the heart may be closed. Instead, he mentions certain signs of true and genuine love: that he mourned their misfortunes before God and was troubled for them, as if he had mourned his own mother’s death; and finally, that he empathized with and cared for them as if they were his own brothers.

Since he had, therefore, placed them under such great obligation to him, what baser ingratitude could they be guilty of than to spew the poison of their hatred against him in his adversity? Regarding the meaning of the words, I understand the term sickness here to signify metaphorically any kind of trouble or sorrow.

David’s meaning is that whenever any calamity befell them, he shared in their grief. Good evidence of this was the prayer which he says he poured out into his own bosom. The proper meaning of the expression is that he did not parade his prayers aloud before people, like many who feign much more affection than they actually feel. Instead, by praying in secret, and without letting the world know about it, he showed that he was sincerely and heartfeltly distressed because of their affliction.

Just as we say a person rejoices in their own bosom who is satisfied with the secret and inward feeling of their heart, without declaring it to others, so also one may be said to weep or pray in one's own bosom, who does not pour out tears and prayers before people to secure their favor, but, content with having God alone as their witness, conceals their emotions in their own heart.

I do not, however, deny that this way of speaking also expresses the posture of one who prays, as if the Psalmist meant that he bowed his body and prayed with his head hanging down and his arms folded, as people in sorrow are accustomed to do.

But we should especially regard his meaning to be that there was no deceit in his prayer. Some think there is a curse in his words, and they explain them in this sense: 'Lord, if it is true that I have not desired all prosperity for them, let all harm fall upon me.' But this is a strained explanation.

There is still another interpretation, which has just as little plausibility, and it is this: 'Because I gained nothing by praying for them, the fruit of my prayer returned to myself.' The meaning, which is more in harmony with the prophet's purpose and words, is: 'I prayed for them just as I pray for myself.'

But what I have already put forward concerning the Psalmist's secret affection will, I hope, satisfy the discerning reader. Regarding sackcloth and fasting, he used them as aids to prayer. The faithful pray even after their meals and do not observe fasting every day as necessary for prayer, nor do they consider it necessary to put on sackcloth whenever they come into God's presence.

But we know that those who lived in ancient times resorted to these practices when any urgent need pressed upon them. In times of public calamity or danger, they all put on sackcloth and devoted themselves to fasting, so that by humbling themselves before God and acknowledging their guilt, they might appease His wrath.

Similarly, when any particular person was afflicted, to stir himself to greater earnestness in prayer, he put on sackcloth and engaged in fasting, as signs of grief. So when David, as he tells us here, put on sackcloth, it was as if he had taken his enemies' sins upon himself, to implore God's mercy for them, while they were using all their power to achieve his destruction.

Although we may count wearing sackcloth and sitting in ashes among the legal ceremonies, yet the practice of fasting remains in force among us today, just as it did in David's time. Therefore, when God calls us to repentance by showing us signs of His displeasure, let us remember that we should not only pray to Him in the usual way, but also use means that are suited to promote our humility.

In conclusion, the Psalmist says that he behaved and acted towards them as if each of them were his brother.