But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth; I chastened my soul with fasting, and my prayer returned into mine own bosom
This psalm asks God to fight against relentless enemies. Right in the middle of it, the writer recalls how he had treated those same people when they fell ill — which raises a hard question: how can anyone pray for the good of people who are hunting him?
The psalm as a whole pleads for God to act against the attackers. Verse 13 sits inside that plea and shows how the godly man had treated them.
Psalm 35 is an urgent appeal for the judgment of Jehovah against relentless and cunning persecutors who are after the soul of the righteous. They used insult, trickery and violence against him... In verses 13 and 14 we see the grace with which the godly man (Christ Himself) dealt with these enemies. This is true of the godly in general, but Christ especially comes in here in spirit.
Two things are missing from the sufferer's response. He does not hit back, and he does not complain about his situation.
False witnesses charged him with things he had never done. They paid him back evil for good. In these hard circumstances the sufferer showed no anger. There were no insults and no rebellion against his situation. Instead there was submission before God — "I afflicted myself with fasting" — and grace toward the persecutors — "I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother."
Fasting here is not a religious performance. It points to something happening inside the man.
The meaning of fasting is seen most clearly in Psalm 35:13... So we see that the fasting which pleased God in the Old Testament was the expression of an inward humbling.
Real sorrow stands out most next to grief that is only staged. At the house of Jairus, whose daughter had died, Jesus rebuked the paid mourners. This verse is the measure that showed their display was empty. Older versions end verse 13 with "my prayer returned into my own bosom."
The Lord was severe with them because of their hypocrisy and sham. Their sympathy was not sincere, unlike the sympathy the psalmist wrote about: "I wore sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting; I prayed with head bowed on my chest."
Left to itself, hostility breeds hostility. Something other than natural temperament is at work here.
He knew he had done nothing but good to his enemies, yet they were paying him back with evil (v. 12). Even when they were sick, he humbled himself in prayer for them. Only someone whose trust is in the Lord can act like this. Hostility from one person usually stirs bitter hostility in those it touches. But here David wanted his enemies blessed, as though they had been his friends or brothers, or even his mother (v. 14).
The psalm holds two things together: kindness poured out on enemies, and a plea for God to judge them. Commentators mark the difference between the ground the psalmist stood on and the ground a Christian stands on today.
Christians need to understand this. The Spirit of Christ in His own walk in the world was quite different from the desire for judgment expressed in the psalms, and the Christian's spirit should be different too. Yet that desire is righteous and right in its place. It is not personal revenge. It is an appeal to a righteous God who delivers, made after the heart has waited with perfect patience under unjust oppression, bowing to the will of God and learning the lesson He had to teach... Still the Christian is on quite different ground.
- Humbling — The fasting and sackcloth here are not ritual. They are the outward form of an inward humbling that God accepted.
- Grace — That humbling was spent on enemies. Verses 13 and 14 are the grace shown to the very people the psalm asks God to deal with.
- Silence — Under false accusation he showed no anger, no insults, no rebellion. There was only submission before God and kindness toward his persecutors.
- Sincerity — The mourning was genuine. It became the standard that exposed the hollow, paid grief Jesus rebuked at Jairus' house.
- Ground — Only trust in the Lord produces this, because hostility usually breeds hostility. The appeal for judgment was right in its place, but commentators stress that the Christian now stands on different ground.
I behaved myself as though [he had been] a friend, a brother to me; I bowed down in sadness, as one that mourneth [for] a mother.
Psalm 35 is a cry for God to step in against enemies who hunt an innocent man. At verse 14 the psalmist stops accusing them. He describes instead how he had treated them: with the grief you give a family member. Why would a man under attack speak of his attackers this way? And whose voice are we hearing?
The verse sits inside a list of wrongs. One writer walks through the false charges, then reaches what the sufferer really felt toward these people.
Unrighteous witnesses laid against him things his conscience was entirely free of. Literally they were witnesses of violence, twisting things to make out their charges. Instead, he was conscious only of good that he had done them, and they repaid it with evil. So his soul stood alone, stripped of the support it might have counted on. Then he shows what his state toward them had really been, and that before God Himself. When they were sick, he had fasted and prayed, even in sackcloth. He had mourned them as for friends — yes, as brother or mother.
Hostility breeds hostility. So where did this man's kindness come from? One commentator points to its source.
Even when they were sick, he humbled himself in prayer on their behalf. Only a man whose trust is in the Lord can act like this. Hatred from one person usually stirs bitter hatred in those it touches. But here David desired the blessing of enemies as though they had been friends or brothers, or even as his mother (v. 14).
One writer ties these verses to a moment in David's life. David was close to taking revenge with his own hand.
David is in danger of giving free rein to his indignation and of "avenging himself with his own hand" (vv. 26, 34). This is where, it seems to me, the experience of Psalm 35 is found: "They reward me evil for good" (v. 12; compare 1 Sam. 25:21)… "I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother" (v. 14)… But David had learned the lesson God wanted to teach him. Instead of defending his rights himself he commits his cause to the Lord.
Much of Psalm 35 asks God to judge. Verses 13 and 14 do not. One writer marks these two verses as the place where a greater voice than David's comes through.
Psalm 35 is an urgent appeal for Jehovah to judge relentless and cunning persecutors. They seek after the soul of the righteous… In verses 13, 14, we see the grace in which the godly (Christ Himself) dealt with these enemies. Though this is generally true of the godly, Christ specially comes in here in spirit.
Commentators differ on how far the psalm portrays Christ personally. One writer is not sure Christ's voice runs all through the psalm. But He has been through these very circumstances, and "in certain points, there has been in Him a literal fulfilment" — verses 10-14 among them (Whybrow).
Verse 14 is not a detour from the psalm's demand for justice. It sets the order in which a believer may ask.
Still this psalm shows us the spirit in which they ask for judgment. First came patience and unwearied grace. When that grace did no good, there was still no self-avenging. They cast themselves on the Lord, and only at the end do they look to Him for deliverance. This is important to notice about the judgment they look for. (See verses 12-14.) … It is right that the saints should be patient — bear all till the Lord Himself steps in.
The verse describes bowing down in mourning — the outward signs of sorrow. Those signs can be faked. One writer sets this psalm beside a scene at the house of Jairus, whose daughter had died. There Jesus rejected grief that was only for show.
The Lord was Himself always tender and gracious to the distressed and afflicted. Yet He rebuked the display of hollow, routine grief over the daughter of Jairus… This severity of the Lord was aimed at their hypocrisy and sham. Their sympathy was not sincere, unlike the sympathy the psalmist wrote about.
- Cause. They repaid good with evil and brought charges he was innocent of, leaving him standing alone.
- Grace. His answer was fasting, sackcloth and prayer for them — treating enemies as friend, brother, even mother.
- Source. Such a response is not natural; it belongs to a man whose trust is in the Lord, and who leaves his rights with God.
- Christ. Writers hear in verses 13-14 the grace of Christ Himself toward His persecutors. They differ on how far the psalm is personally His.
- Result. Tireless grace came first, and he refused to avenge himself. Only then does the psalm ask God to step in.