Psalms 35:4-6

He Calls on God By His Angel to Drive His Enemies Back and Put Them to Flight (Psalms 35:4).

Not content with the fact that YHWH will stand with him to protect him, he calls on Him to pursue his enemies and do to them what they are trying to do to him.

Psalms 35:4

‘ Let those be put to shame and brought to dishonour,

Who seek after my soul.

Let them be turned back and confounded,

Who devise my hurt.

Let them be as chaff before the wind,

And the angel of YHWH driving them on.

Let their way be dark and slippery,

And the angel of YHWH pursuing them.'

‘ Let those be put to shame and brought to dishonour, who seek after my soul.' The thoughts of his enemies were concentrating on bringing him to shame and dishonour, so he calls on YHWH to do the same to them. Let them receive what they are trying to pile on him.

‘Let them be turned back and confounded, who devise my hurt.' Notice the two parallel statements so typical of Hebrew poetry. First shame and dishonour, now turned back and confounded. The metaphor is still military. They want to hurt him, thus let they themselves therefore be hurt as they are beaten back and put to rout.

‘Let them be as chaff before the wind, and the angel of YHWH driving them on.' Indeed he wants them to be like the chaff, the outer husk, from the grain which is taken up by the wind and carried away as the grain is tossed up into the wind by the winnowing fork. No, he wants more than that, not just a wind from the Lord but the mighty Angel of YHWH Himself. Let Him drive them on as chaff before the wind.

The idea of the Angel of YHWH occurs throughout the Old Testament as descriptive of God's ‘other self'. He acts in God's Name, yes even is God, and yet He also communicates with God. See Genesis 16:7; Genesis 16:9; Genesis 16:11; Genesis 16:13; Genesis 21:17; Genesis 22:11; Genesis 22:15; Exodus 23:20; Exodus 23:23; Judges 2:1; Judges 2:4; Judges 6:12; Judges 6:20; Judges 6:22; Judges 13:9; Isaiah 63:9; Zechariah 1:11; Zechariah 3:1). Along with ‘the Spirit of God' He is an expression of the triunity of God. It was He Who had driven the Canaanites out of Canaan (Exodus 23:20). Who more suitable then to be the One Who will ‘drive on' his enemies now?

‘Let their way be dark and slippery, and the angel of YHWH pursuing them.' Having driven them on he wants the Angel to pursue them like an avenging angel, as they slither and slide over the wet mountain passes, or on the steep limestone slopes, as the night draws in. If it was David speaking he had probably often seen the enemy in such a case. Being blown away like chaff, and slithering on the wet passes as they scurry to make their escape, indicates the uselessness and helplessness that he wants them to feel. This may have in mind the literal trouncing of his enemies in battle, or it may be metaphorical for their trouncing in court. It can apply to any situation where God's people are facing an enemy, and God renders the enemy helpless.