Psalms 35:15

_BUT IN MINE ADVERSITY THEY REJOICED, AND GATHERED THEMSELVES TOGETHER: YEA, THE ABJECTS GATHERED THEMSELVES TOGETHER AGAINST ME, AND I KNEW IT NOT; THEY DID TEAR ME, AND CEASED NOT:_ In mine adversity they rejoiced - literally, 'in my halting' (Psalms 38:17); i:e., in my bodily weakness. In their sickness He made their pain His pain; but now in His sickness they make His pain their joy. THE ABJECTS GATHERED ... AND I KNEW IT NOT - they flock together in crowds to insult the lonely and afflicted one. So at the crucifixion of Christ. Hengstenberg translates, 'the abjects whom I knew not'-literally, 'the smitten men,' those who, from their low condition were not among my recognized acquaintances (Job 30:1). But the sufferer had treated these, his persecutors, not only as persons whom H

15._But they rejoiced at my halting. _I see no reason why interpreters should trouble themselves as they do about the word _halting. _Some conjecture that David had his leg put out of joint, and others suppose that he halted from some disease. But when we consider carefully the whole passage, nothing is more evident than that he refers by this expression to the calamities which befell him; as if he had said, As soon as they saw me begin to stagger and ready to fall, they did as it were gather together against me, and endeavored entirely to overthrow me. There is, therefore, in this expression almost the same metaphor as we have already seen in the word _sickness. _Now, as men often relent at seeing the misfortunes of their enemies, so that they cease to hate or persecute those who are already miserably wretched, it was an evidence of the very cruel and fierce spirit by which David’s form...

11-16 Call a man ungrateful, and you can call him no worse: this was the character of David's enemies. Herein he was a type of Christ. David shows how tenderly he had behaved towards them in afflictions. We ought to mourn for the sins of those who do not mourn for themselves. We shall not lose by the good offices we do to any, how ungrateful soever they may be. Let us learn to possess our souls in patience and meekness like David, or rather after Christ's example....

Verse Psalms 35:15. _BUT IN MINE ADVERSITY THEY REJOICED_] How David was mocked and insulted in the case of Absalom's rebellion by Shimei and others, is well known. _THE ABJECTS_] נכים _nechim_, the _smiters_, probably hired assassins. They were everywhere lying in wait, to take away my life....

BUT IN MINE ADVERSITY THEY REJOICED - Margin, as in Hebrew, “halting.” That is, when reverses and troubles came upon me; when, in my journey of life, I seemed to stumble. AND GATHERED THEMSELVES TOGETHER - Not to help me, but to oppose me, and to deride me. YEA, THE ABJECTS GATHERED THEMSELVES TOGETHER AGAINST ME - The word rendered “abjects” - נכים _nēkiym_ - has been very variously rendered. The Septuagint renders it: μάστιγις _mastiges_, “scourges;” so the Vulgate, _“flagella.”_ Our translators evidently regarded it as meaning the low, the vile, the outcasts of society; but this idea is not necessarily implied in the Hebrew word. The word used here is derived from a verb - נכה _nâkâh_ - which means to smite, to strike, to

EXPOSITION A PSALM ascribed to David by the title, and with many characteristics of his early style—abrupt, impassioned, full of lively and graphic images, and full of transitions The picture which the writer draws of his own circumstances and position (Psalms 35:11, Psalms 35:19) accords well with what we know of David's life when he was a fugitive from Saul, and there is a special agreement between the first verse of the psalm and words historically ascribed to David at this period of his career (1 Samuel 24:15). The psalm naturally divides itself into three portions, nearly of equal length (Psalms

BUT IN MINE ADVERSITY THEY REJOICED,.... Or "at my halting" u, either by means of falling into sin; good men are subject to slips and falls, and that to the dislocating or breaking of their bones, which cause them to go halting all their days; wicked men watch for their halting, as Jeremiah's familiars did for his, Jeremiah 20:10; and rejoice at it; see Psalms 38:16; or by falling into some misfortune or calamity; hence we render it "adversity", and may design some affliction or other, as in Micah 4:6, at which wicked men rejoice; see Ezekiel 35:15; so David's enemies rejoiced at his afflictions; and the enemies of his son and antitype, the

Psalms 35 The Cry for Justice and Divine Help _ 1. The cry of distress (Psalms 35:1)_ 2. The contrast? (Psalms 35:11) 3. Prayer for vindication and victory (Psalms 35:19) This Psalm introduces us again to the suffering of the righteous, giving another prophetic picture of the distress of the remnant. When David composed this Psalm we do not know. But He casts himself completely on the Lord and calls to Him for help and vindication. Thus the godly have always done when surrounded by the enemies who persecuted them. The condition of the godly when violence is in the earth during the time of Jacob's trouble

XXXV. PRAYER AGAINST TREACHEROUS FOES BY ONE WHO IS QUIET IN THE LAND. Psalms 35:6_ b_ should replace Psalms 35:5_ b_. Chaff driven before the wind may well suggest the image of the angel pursuing the foe but not that of pushing or thrusting. Psalms 35:7. Read, Without a cause have they hid for me their net: without a cause have they dug a pit for my life. Psalms 35:9 f. Soul and bones stand for the whole person. Psalms 35:12_ b_. The text cannot be right. Laying snares for my soul is a possible conj

ADVERSITY. halting or falling. Compare Psalms 38:17; Jeremiah 20:10. ABJECTS. outcasts. IT. Supply _Ellipsis_ (App-6), by reading "[them]". TEAR ME. Hebrew. _kar'u_ (with Ayin. '). Spelled with Aleph (_kar'u)_. it means "cry out". See note on Isaiah 11:4....