Ps. 35.19-20 (the concern of a king)

“Let not / my enemies / rejoice over me / wrongfully – or those who hate me / without cause / maliciously wink the eye.” If one were to remove the words “wrongfully” and “without cause” this verse would read very similarly to the opening verse. (“Let not my enemies rejoice over me or those who hate me, maliciously wink the eye.” – “Strive against those who strive against me; fight those who fight me.” vs. 1). However, the inclusion of these words points to something particularly ‘Davidic’ about this psalm and something we have seen in other psalms where David in particular pleads his innocence. In short—it is that David’s concern for honor is so great that he would willingly be subjected to the fate of his enemies if he were in the wrong (they could ‘rejoice over him’ if he were in fact guilty of what they accuse him of). For David, his honor and integrity are greater than his own well-being and he would, willingly, suffer punishment if he were found to be guilty. This is not to say that David thinks he actually is guilty; the term “without cause” is to remind us of verse 7 (“For without cause they hid their net for me, a pit they dug to entrap me.”). Rather, the inclusion of these words shows how intimately concerned David is for justice. David will not maintain a façade of justice; he would enter the fire of judgment rather than pull the standard down within him. Of course, the more one knows the story of his rise and eventual fall, one can trace this pattern throughout—his anger at the Israelites for withstanding the taunts of Goliath; his incredible concern that Saul’s honor as king never be violated; his intense devotion to Jonathan; his shattered heart when he comes to see the sin he has committed with Bathsheba (and the incredibly jarring note this strikes within the narrative); his sorrow at the rebellion instigated by his own son Absalom.
“For / they do not / speak of peace – but / against the quiet ones / of the land – they devise / deceitful declarations.” The term “peace” could likely be a covenantal term (i.e., something that a covenant or treaty would be designed to bring about). Because these men have violated that treaty, in the face of David’s unswerving allegiance to it, they have brought about a condition of strife. They “do not speak of peace”. They are, in effect, operating as ‘treaty-breakers’, and working to destroy the treaty’s designed security. And, more disturbingly, we find out that the ‘repayment of evil’ from these men extends beyond the anointed/David to the ‘quiet ones of the land’; that the ‘violence of their witness’ (vs. 11) is engaged toward these men. Furthermore, in verse 4 we read how these men “devised” his downfall; here they “devise deceitful declarations” against these ‘quiet ones’. And what are we to make of this description: “quiet ones of the land”? Are we to see here the fact that these men engage in verbal and violent onslaughts, whereas these ‘poor’ are ‘quiet’? Are they, in this regard, standing in the same position of innocence as David? It would certainly seem that they are like sheep to these ‘young lions’ (vs. 17) who ‘gnash their teeth’ (vs. 16) and ‘tear apart’ (vs. 15). But why, in a psalm that has been geared solely to David’s plight in the face of these men do we now have this verse regarding the ‘quiet ones’? I think the answer is in something we have stressed over and over again: that David is the shepherd (the king) of these ‘quiet ones’ and that he recognizes that what these men do to him they do to his flock. And, more troubling, if he is brought down by these men the ‘quiet ones’ will be “sheep without a shepherd” to defend them against these lions. Here we see that David’s intercession on his behalf has always carried within it his concern for his flock—his prayer is not merely private. He prays to his father for his people’s protection (much like Christ will, in John, just before his death, pray to the father that he will protect his flock…).