Psalm 35 · a question people ask
"Let destruction come on him unawares" (35:8). How can a prayer ask for that?
First, what the verses say. The psalmist asks the LORD to turn back "those who seek after my soul" (35:4), and asks that "the LORD’s angel" drive them on and pursue them (35:5-6) (tap angel). He gives his reason: "For without cause they have hidden their net in a pit for me" (35:7) (tap without cause). Then he asks that their own plan come back on them: "Let his net that he has hidden catch himself. Let him fall into that destruction" (35:8). Other psalms say the same of those who dig pits and hide nets: "He has dug a hole, and has fallen into the pit which he made" (Psalm 7:15), and "In the net which they hid, their own foot is taken" (Psalm 9:15); Psalm 7's chapter sets these side by side. The prayer is spoken to the LORD, and the psalmist doesn't say he will act against them himself. The same psalm tells how he had treated those who now "reward me evil for good" (35:12) when they were sick (35:13-14). Psalm 35 is not the only psalm that prays against enemies, and Christians read these prayers in more than one way. The chapter on Psalm 109 sets out the main readings, each resting on its verses, and chooses none. These notes don't choose either.
The verses
“Let those who seek after my soul be disappointed and brought to dishonor. Let those who plot my ruin be turned back and confounded. Let them be as chaff before the wind, the LORD’s angel driving them on. Let their way be dark and slippery, the LORD’s angel pursuing them. For without cause they have hidden their net in a pit for me. Without cause they have dug a pit for my soul. Let destruction come on him unawares. Let his net that he has hidden catch himself. Let him fall into that destruction.”
“They reward me evil for good, to the bereaving of my soul. But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth. I afflicted my soul with fasting. My prayer returned into my own bosom. I behaved myself as though it had been my friend or my brother. I bowed down mourning, as one who mourns his mother.”
“He has dug a hole, and has fallen into the pit which he made.”
“The nations have sunk down in the pit that they made. In the net which they hid, their own foot is taken.”