Psalms 35:11 - Meaning and Application

David charges his enemies with two very wicked sins here, and both make his appeal to God stronger: lying under oath and ingratitude.

He begins with perjury, false swearing (Psalm 35:11). When Saul wanted David condemned as a traitor, he may have gone through the forms of a legal case. Witnesses may have been brought in, and they swore out lies about treasonous words or actions. David was not there to defend himself, or if he was, it made no difference, and Saul judged him guilty anyway. David says this was the worst kind of injustice, because false witnesses rose up and would swear to anything. They accused him of things he had never known, never done, and never even thought of.

This shows how much the honor, property, freedom, and even lives of good people can depend on the mercy of the worst people. Innocence itself is no shield against a false oath. We should also thank God that he restrains evil men through their consciences, because without that, much more harm would be done this way than we see now. David’s suffering here also pointed forward to the Son of David, Jesus Christ, against whom false witnesses also rose up (Matthew 26:60). So if we are ever accused of something we did not do, we should not think it strange, as if something unusual were happening to us. That is how they treated the prophets, and even the greatest Prophet.

David then speaks of ingratitude. To call someone ungrateful is to say a great deal of evil about him, and this was the character of David’s enemies (Psalm 35:12). They repaid him evil for good. He had done much good service for his king, as shown by his harp, by Goliath’s sword, and by the foreskins of the Philistines, but Saul still wanted him dead, and the land was no longer safe for him. This cut David deeply and robbed him of peace more than anything else.

He had also done good to certain people who now turned against him most bitterly. It may have been Saul himself, whom David had served when he was troubled and depressed, driving away the evil spirit by prayer, not by his harp. It may also have been some of the court people, whom David had helped while living among them and who later became his harshest enemies. In this, David was a picture of Christ, to whom the world was deeply ungrateful (John 10:32). Jesus said, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of them are you stoning me?”

David then shows how kindly he had treated them when they were suffering (Psalm 35:13-14). They were sick, and he mourned for them and sympathized with them in their pain. Even the houses of kings are not free from sickness and death. These people were not his close relatives, and he owed them nothing. He would not have suffered loss if they had died, and might even have gained from it. Yet he acted as if they were his own family, simply out of compassion and human kindness. David was a man of war, strong and brave, yet he could also feel deep sympathy. He carried both courage and tenderness in the same heart.

He says he mourned as if for a brother or mother, which shows that it is right and fitting to grieve over the sickness, sorrow, and death of close relatives. People who do not do that are rightly blamed as lacking natural affection. He also prayed for them, showing not only human kindness but the heart of a godly man. He cared about their souls, and he sought mercy and grace for them from God. The prayers of one with such favor in heaven were valuable, even if they did not know it or appreciate it.

Along with prayer, he humbled himself. He fasted, at least from pleasant food, and he wore sackcloth, a sign of grief and repentance. This showed sorrow not only for their trouble but also for their sin, since that was the proper dress and practice of a penitent person. We ought to grieve for the sins of others, even when they do not grieve for them themselves. His fasting also made his prayer more intense, because he was so taken up with prayer that he lost his appetite and did not make time to eat. Still, he could say, “My prayer returned to my own bosom.” In other words, he had the comfort of knowing he had done his duty and shown love as a neighbor, even if he could not win their friendship or change their hearts. We do not lose by doing good to ungrateful people, because our conscience will still testify that we did right.

But they behaved toward him in a cruel, shameless, and more than animal way (Psalm 35:15-16). In his trouble they were glad. When Saul looked on him with displeasure, when David was driven away from court, and when he was hunted like a criminal, they enjoyed it. They were happy at his suffering and gathered in their drinking circles to mock his shame. This was low and vile behavior. A righteous man’s fall should never become someone else’s joke.

They did more than laugh. They tore at his good name and spared no effort to spread every slander their malice could invent. They also gnashed at him with their teeth, showing the strongest anger and hatred, as if they would have devoured him if they could. David was the fool in their play, and his troubles became the talk of the table among these hypocritical mockers. The drunkards sang about it, and the performers likely made him the subject of their ridicule at feasts and gatherings. Such cruelty has often been the lot of the best people. The apostles were made a spectacle to the world. David was disliked for no other reason than that the people favored him. Even a right cause can bring grief, because a person may be envied simply for doing well, and no one can stand before envy (Ecclesiastes 4:4; Proverbs 27:4).