Day 70

Psalm 35: Read here – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2035&version=NASB

This is another of what is commonly known as the Imprecatory Psalms, which in strong terms ask God to defeat and destroy the enemies of His people. Imprecatory Psalms, contained within the Book of psalms are those that invoke judgment, calamity, or curses, upon one’s enemies or those perceived as the enemies of God. It has been observed that through the Psalter the imprecatory Psalms become more intense. Psalm 7 is perhaps the mildest, while some count at least 30 anathemas in Psalm 109, the last of them.

It is difficult to assign this Psalm to any particular period of David’s life. However, the phrasing of Psalm 35:1 is similar to what David said to Saul in 1 Samuel 24:15, so it may be linked to that period of David’s life.

Note that in this psalm David turns to God in his distress, and in the midst of His trouble he gives thanks v:9. Whenever I read about David’s enemies and his prayers for victory, I am reminded of the passage in Ephesians 6:10-20, where Paul graphically talks about the Christian’s warfare and how our conflict is not with flesh and blood but against the principalities and powers of this present darkness. Paul’s passage was based on Isa 11:5,49:2,& 59:17. As we read these psalms and perhaps feel a little uncomfortable about David’s aggressive prayer for the defeat of Israel’s enemies, we need to appreciate that, while David did not have a NT concept of the devil’s “schemes” (Eph6:11,) he none-the-less saw this very much as a God battle, which involved the preservation of God’s chosen people and therefore of the truth as embodied in the covenant relationship of Yahweh with His people. We have a battle too, and just like Paul said to “Pray at all times” (Eph 2:18), we need to take David’s example and commit our battles to the Lord. Is it not true that the buccaneer of the universe seeks our ‘life’, ‘humiliation’, that he has a ‘pit for our soul’ and a ‘net’ of temptation where he can ransack our spiritual life (35:4-8)? How significant that David never lost a battle.