Ps. 35.4 (victory and shame)

“They shall be humiliated / and put to shame – the ones / who seek my life – they shall be / turned back and ashamed – the ones who devise / my downfall.” Depending on how one pauses between verses 3 and 4 will contribute to how one understands the impact of this verse. In verses 1-3 the tone is one of prayer, of pleading for Yhwh’s ‘victory’. David has taken the stance of ‘son’ to his ‘father’ and acknowledged that any victory that he obtains against his enemies is one that will be achieved solely by his father, the Enthroned One, Yhwh. If one pauses for a significant enough amount of time after verse 3, these lines feel very different. From petition now comes an angry confidence. Granted, David was angry in the first three verses. But here, the mixture of “shall be” into the fold creates a ‘face of iron’ and determination. David knows his father will not only fight for him but will humiliate and shame his attackers. From their “pursuit” (vs. 3) they will be “turned back”. In essence, everything will be reversed, and reversed completely. This is the ‘dual face’ we have noted before that the anointed has—when speaking to his ‘father’ his prayer is imploring; when he turns toward his attackers, however, he turns to them full of a confidence that seems almost at odds with his previous petition. Why this confidence so suddenly emerges is something we will address as we proceed; however, we must note for now that this is an assurance based upon the fact that Yhwh is the guarantor of the treaty obligations that David entered into with these men (this will become more clear as we proceed). He acts as a ‘witness’ to the treaty and its enforcer. By grounding the treaty in Yhwh himself, any rift created within the treaty (any breach of its terms) is guaranteed to be rectified by Yhwh (otherwise, he would be a liar or unable to fulfill them). David’s confidence, then, is not something ‘interior’ or ‘spiritual’. Rather, it can be pointed to in the treaty itself (and, therefore, appealed to).  Notice that, here, the ‘attack’ by Yhwh is accomplished by way of “shame and humiliation”. This is important as any victory obtained by the king/anointed is one that is fully public. It occurs in the public realm and is fully accomplished in the public realm. There is no private victory. Just as the king is a public figure, so too are his victories. (One cannot help but seeing the resurrection (the ‘victory’) as the initiating of this process of ‘humiliation and shaming’ of those powers and principalities that sought/devised his death.)