Psalms 35:7-10

He Asks That Those Who Are Hunting For Him Might Fall Into The Trap That They Themselves Have Set So That Once More He Can Rejoice in YHWH's Salvation (Psalms 35:7).

This movement from the battle ground to the hunting field might serve to confirm that the pictures are metaphorical, unless this actually was a battle strategy of his enemies.

Psalms 35:7

‘For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit,

Without cause have they dug a pit for my soul.

Let destruction come upon him unawares,

And let his net that he has hid catch him himself,

With destruction let him fall in it.'

He sees his enemies as having dug a pit in which they have concealed a net with the aim that he will fall into it unawares, and be caught in their net. And the doubly-stressed point is that they have had no real cause for doing so because he is innocent. And so he prays that his enemies too may be caught unawares, and taken in the net that they themselves have laid, so that they might be destroyed. We note that the principle is being constantly repeated that what a man sows, that he should also reap. The picture of the men being taken unawares by the trap, and being filled with surprise as they fall into their own net is quite vivid. And the result will be their own destruction. Compare Jeremiah 18:20; Jeremiah 18:22, ‘shall evil be recompensed for good? They have dug a pit for my soul'.

Psalms 35:9

‘And my soul will be joyful in YHWH,

It will rejoice in his salvation.

All my bones shall say, YHWH,

Who is like unto you,

Who delivers the poor from him who is too strong for him,

Yes, the poor and the needy from him who robs him?'

And the result for him will be that he will be saved from his enemies by the One Who had declared, ‘I am your salvation' (Psalms 35:3). Thus will his soul be joyful and rejoice. From the centre of his being (his bones) he will ask ‘who can compare with YHWH, who delivers the poor and weak from the strong and mighty, and from those who would seek to rob him?' This idea of the deliverance of the poor and needy is a common one in Scripture. For they are the ones who most tend to look to YHWH, while the better off do not feel that they need Him. But in the end all who seek Him must be of a humble and contrite heart. That is why when God has truly blessed someone, one sign of it will be that they are poor in spirit (Matthew 5:3). It is the humble and contrite of heart who alone can dwell with the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity (Isaiah 57:15).

‘Who is like unto You?' Compare Exodus 15:11, ‘Who is like to you, O YHWH, among the heavenly beings, who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders'. And Micah 7:18, ‘Who is a God like to you, Who pardons iniquity, and passes by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage?' None compares with Him either in power or in goodness. He is the Incomparable.

For the poor and needy as descriptive of the righteous see Psalms 37:14; Psalms 40:17; Psalms 86:1 and often. They are the poor and needy in soul as well as in body.