Psalm 35:4-8 meaning

Psalm 35 is a prayer of David offered to the LORD, imploring Him to rescue David from enemies who unjustly seek his destruction. This section of Psalm 35 (verses 4-8) concludes David's first litany (series of petitions to God) in vv 1-8. 

Psalm 35 is outlined as follows:

• First Litany (Psalm 35:1-8)
• First Praise (Psalm 35:9-10)
• Second Litany (Psalm 35:11-17) 
• Second Praise (Psalm 35:18)   
• Third Litany (Psalm 35:19-27)  
• Third Praise (Psalm 35:28)

Psalm 35:4-8 as David's Prayer

David, the psalmist, continues his first litany of prayerful petitions asking the LORD to save him from his enemies. 

After calling upon the LORD to defend him with buckler, shield, spear, and battle-axe against those who fight against him (Psalm 35:1-3), David now asks the LORD to allow harm to befall his enemies. In this section, the psalmist petitions God six times to let harm come to his foes.

The first two harms David petitions the LORD to let happen are in Psalm 35:4,

Let those be ashamed and dishonored who seek my life;
Let those be turned back and humiliated who devise evil against me (v 4).

These two petitions are essentially the same request, perhaps repeated for emphasis. The second petition simply repeats or builds upon the first. 

David requests that the LORD let his enemies—those who seek my life and who devise evil against me—be thwarted or turned back in their goals to bring him to deadly ruin. The psalmist also petitions the LORD to let his enemies not just be defeated but ashamed, dishonored, and humiliated in their failure to harm him. David is asking God if he can have the last laugh at his enemies' expense. 

If those who are plotting evil schemes against David's life are publicly humiliated and dishonored, then David will not only be saved from their conspiracy to kill him—he will also be vindicated and avenged by the LORD.

The third harm David petitions the LORD to let happen is in Psalm 35:5,

Let them be like chaff before the wind,
With the angel of the LORD driving them on (v 5).

Chaff is a worthless or unusable part of a plant that has been disconnected from the whole—such as leaves or husks. Because it is of slight constitution and no longer connected to the plant, it is easily scattered and blows before the wind. 

The psalmist is asking the LORD to let his enemies who devise evil against him to be like this chaff before the wind. He is asking God to disorganize and scatter them every which way. 

David adds to his third petition—with the angel of the LORD driving them on. 

The angel of the LORD is an expression that can mean several things, but in this context it most likely refers to God's powerful help and/or wrath. An angel is a messenger or minister. The angel of the LORD is God's supernatural, heavenly messenger/agent sent to perform His will. 

The image David is petitioning the LORD to accomplish is to send His angel to supernaturally divide and chase his enemies away. The expression driving them on could imply that David is requesting that the angel of the LORD pursue his enemies for the remainder of their lives, so that they never stop running from God's vengeance.

If the LORD answers David's request, then his enemies will no longer be able to gather to seek his life. David will be safe, while his enemies will constantly be on the run—driven on and on.

The fourth harm David petitions the LORD to let happen is in Psalm 35:6,

Let their way be dark and slippery,
With the angel of the LORD pursuing them (v 6).

This petition is similar to the one before it and in some respects is an elaboration of it. 

As his adversaries are being blown like chaff before the wind, David asks the LORD to let their way be dark and slippery. If their way is dark, his enemies will not know which way they are running or see where they are going. Their escape will be more confused. It will also be more perilous if their way is dark because it will be difficult for them to see dangers in their way which may trip, injure, or ensnare them. His enemies will have to expend all their faculties on saving themselves, and will have no capacity remaining to do mischief to others (including David). 

David also asks God that dangers be present in their way. He requests this when he asks that their way be slippery. 

In other words, with his third and fourth petitions David is asking the LORD to let his enemies be scattered and put to desperate flight, and for them to flee in confusion and into dangers as they attempt to escape. 

David ends his fourth petition by rephrasing the same request he used to conclude his third petition, when the psalmist writes: with the angel of the LORD pursuing them. This is similar to how the third petition ended with the phrase: with the angel of the LORD driving them on.

If David's enemies' way is dark and slippery and they are chased by the angel of the LORD, then they will be caught and no longer able to contend with David. His life will be safe, and they will be no threat to him. 

In the next verse, the psalmist interjects an explanation for why he is asking the LORD to intervene on his behalf against his adversaries,

For without cause they hid their net for me;
Without cause they dug a pit for my soul (v 7).

David tells the LORD that his enemies are seeking his life without a rightful or legitimate cause. 

In saying this, he is claiming that he is innocent of any wrongdoing against these people. He has not wronged them or threatened them. Later in this psalm, David will express that they are repaying the good he has done them with evil (Psalm 35:12). Nevertheless, because of their own wickedness, jealousy, greed, etc., they are seeking David's destruction.  

While David does not mention King Saul in this passage—perhaps out of respect for the LORD's anointed ruler of Israel—the psalmist is describing the way King Saul treated him when he tried to take his life. David had faithfully served Saul in court (1 Samuel 16:21) and in battle (1 Samuel 17, 18:5, 18:13-14, 19:8). David even played music to soothe the king (1 Samuel 16:23). 

But Saul was jealous of David's popularity and in his rage tried to take David's life (1 Samuel 18:6-9, 18:10-11, 19:15, 21:10). On two occasions, Saul personally campaigned against David and pursued him into the wilderness in an effort to destroy him (1 Samuel 24:1-2, 26:1-3). On both of these occasions, David spared Saul's life (1 Samuel 24:4-7, 26:8-12).   

The psalmist says that his enemies set traps for him without cause. The two types of traps which he mentions are: they hid their net for me; and they dug a pit for my soul.

Nets were hidden to capture wild beasts. Trappers would hide their net so that their prey would not notice it until they were in the middle of the net or directly under it. Once the prey was directly over or under the net it would suddenly spring and catch the beast in the net until the trappers appeared. 

The psalmist says that his enemies have hidden nets specifically for him. The psalmist is probably saying this as a metaphor about some kind of diabolical trap against him rather than implying a literal net. His enemies' net was most likely political in nature—either a legal trap or an assassination plot designed to remove David from power or prevent him from attaining it in the first place. 

The second trap David mentions is a pit that they dug out for my soul. The Hebrew word for soul can equally refer to his spiritual or physical life. This pit was specifically planned and dug out for David to fall into. Like the net, the pit he describes is most likely metaphorical, and the primary focus is on taking his physical life (1 Samuel 27:1).

Throughout this section of Psalm 35, David has been petitioning the LORD to save him and bring harm to his enemies because his enemies are unjustly trying to destroy him. 

The last two harms (fifth and sixth) David petitions the LORD to let happen are in Psalm 35:8,

Let destruction come upon him unawares,
And let the net which he hid catch himself;
Into that very destruction let him fall (v 8).

Here David prays for the LORD to let those who are seeking to destroy his life to be destroyed themselves.

He asks God for destruction to come upon his enemies unawares. He is asking God to let them be destroyed before they even know that they are in danger. David asks the LORD to let the net which they hid for me to catch the very one who hid himself. He reiterates this thought when he asks the LORD to let his enemies fall into the very pit of destruction which they dug for David to fall into. 

If David's enemies are ensnared by their own net and suffer the wounds and destruction which they intended for David, this would not only be ironic, but it would also mean David's life would be spared and vindicated because his enemies would be no more. 

Verse 8 concludes Psalm 35's first litany where David petitions asking the LORD to vindicate him.  

If these prayers do apply to Saul's campaign against David, then they were answered when God caused him to fall before his enemies (1 Samuel 31:1-5). It is interesting to note that David mourned Saul's death because it brought reproach to Israel, and his friend Jonathan was also slain at the same time (2 Samuel 1:17). In this, we might see something of God's heart, in that David was a man after God's own heart (1 Samuel 13:14). Righteousness was done, as it ought to have been. But David did not make or take it personally (Ezekiel 33:11). 

How David's litany in Psalm 35:4-8 corresponds to Jesus, the Messiah

This section begins with the second Messianic prophecy in Psalm 35, from verse 4 (the first was in verse 1). 

There are two categories in which the Messianic prophecies of Psalm 35:4-8 can be organized. These categories are how the Messiah will be treated by His adversaries; and what the LORD will do the Messiah's adversaries.

The first category of Psalm 35:4-8's Messianic prophecies concern how the Messiah will be treated by His adversaries.

2.   The Messiah's adversaries will seek His life.

Let those be ashamed and dishonored who seek my life (v 4a).

The chief priests (who were the leading Sadducees) and the elders of the people (who were the leading Pharisees) hated Jesus, the Messiah, and they decided to seek Jesus's life:

"When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them. When they sought to seize Him, they feared the people, because they considered Him to be a prophet."
(Matthew 22:45)

3.   The Messiah's adversaries will devise evil against Him.

Let those be turned back and humiliated who devise evil against me (v 4b).

The Pharisees devised evil against Jesus the Messiah. 

"But the Pharisees went out and conspired against Him, as to how they might destroy Him."
(Matthew 12:14)

4.   The Messiah's adversaries will hide their intentions (net) from Him.

They hid their net for me (v 7a).

The Pharisees and Sadducees set traps for Jesus that would catch Him in saying or doing something that violated their law so they could arrest and punish Him (Luke 20:20).

They hid their net for Jesus with legal questions rigged to trap Him into saying something that would cause His destruction. Jesus was a master at recognizing their deception, rejecting their framing, and reframing the argument according to the truth. Once the issue was truthfully reframed, it often turned back their own evil device against them. This exposed the hypocrisy of those who sought the Messiah's life which ashamed, dishonored, and humiliated them. 

One example of this (from many) is found in Matthew 21:23-27, when the chief priests questioned His authority. Their question was a trap. The net which they hid for Jesus was this: If Jesus confessed that His authority was from God, they would charge and condemn Him with blasphemy; but if Jesus denied that His authority was from God He would lose the support of the people (which would make Him a more vulnerable target for His enemies to eliminate). 

Instead of stepping into their net, Jesus cleverly put them into their own net,

"Jesus said to them, 'I will also ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John was from what source, from heaven or from men?'"
(Matthew 21:24-25a)

The Sadducees hesitated because they realized: "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say to us, 'Then why did you not believe him?' But if we say, 'From men,' we fear the people; for they all regard John as a prophet'" (Matthew 21:25b-26). They answered: "We do not know," to which Jesus also replied: "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things" (Matthew 21:27).

By their refusing to answer Jesus, the Sadducees were exposed as being disingenuous and malicious toward the Messiah. The net which His enemy hid had caught himself. The Pharisees and Sadducees fell into the pit which they dug for Jesus many times. 

Eventually the chief priests and elders colluded together to form an illegal conspiracy to end Jesus's life:

"The chief priests and the elders of the people were gathered together in the court of the high priest, named Caiaphas; and they plotted together to seize Jesus by stealth and kill Him."
(Matthew 26:3-4)

5.   The Messiah's adversaries will seek His destruction without cause.

For without cause they hid their net for me;
Without cause they dug a pit for my soul (v 7).

And as David's enemies devised evil against him without cause, so too did Jesus's adversaries seek His life without good cause. The Gospel writer Mark reports that during Jesus's illegal Nighttime Trial in the home of Caiaphas:

"The whole Council kept trying to obtain testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, and they were not finding any."
(Mark 14:55) 

In other words, the Jewish religious leaders could find no cause to execute Jesus the Messiah, but they decided to execute Him without a legitimate cause anyway.

Later, during Jesus's civil trial before the Roman Governor, Pilate repeatedly declared Jesus to be innocent (Luke 23:22), "but [the religious leaders] were insistent, with loud voices asking that He be crucified" (without cause) (Luke 23:23).

And while the Messiah's adversaries successfully crucified Jesus and took His life, they did not destroy Him. Jesus was raised back to life with all authority on heaven and earth given to Him (Matthew 28:18). Jesus will return to earth in glory to judge all the nations (Matthew 25:31-32).

Among the Messiah's adversaries was Jesus's disciple Judas, who betrayed Him without cause. The New Testament is eerily silent as to why Judas decided to betray his Rabbi. It appears that he literally did so without cause. This is confirmed by Judas recognizing that he had betrayed an innocent man (Matthew 27:3-4). 

The second category of Psalm 35:4-8's Messianic prophecies concern what the LORD will do to the Messiah's adversaries. This list begins with the sixth Messianic prophecy contained in Psalm 35.

6.   The LORD will defeat, scatter, confuse, and utterly crush the Messiah's adversaries.

Let them be like chaff before the wind,
With the angel of the LORD driving them on.
Let their way be dark and slippery,
With the angel of the LORD pursuing them (v 5-6).

And 

Let destruction come upon him unawares,
And let the net which he hid catch himself;
Into that very destruction let him fall (v 8).

Forty years after the Sadducees' and Pharisees' murder of Jesus and His resurrection, those who sought the Messiah's life were blown away like chaff before the wind when Rome came and destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Their destruction was so complete that not one stone of the temple was left upon another, as Jesus predicted (Matthew 24:2). 

In his gospel to the Jews, Matthew warned that their destruction would be the result of the chief priest's illicit bargain with Judas (Matthew 27:6-10). 

To follow Matthew's prediction about how Judas's bargain would lead to Jerusalem's downfall, see The Bible Says commentary for Matthew 27:6-10.

Rome's siege of Jerusalem was one of the worst in recorded history. The victory was so lopsided that one ancient historian reported:

"After Titus [the commanding Roman General] had taken Jerusalem…he disclaimed any such honor to himself, saying that it was not himself that had accomplished this exploit, but that he had merely lent his arms to God, who had so manifested his wrath."
(Flavius Philostratus. "The Life of Apolonius," 6.29) 

If we rephrase Titus's astonishment into the psalmist's prophetic language eleven hundred years before these events, it was as if the angel of the LORD was driving them on and pursuing them. 

When Jerusalem fell, and their nation was taken from them, the LORD let the Pharisees, Scribes, and Sadducees fall into that very destruction which they had devised for Jesus the Messiah.