The psalmist begins in a martial and anthropomorphical style such as we have not hitherto met with. On the ultima-accentuation of ריבה, vid., on Psalm 3:8. Both את are signs of the accusative. This is a more natural rendering here, where the psalmist implores God to subjugate his foes, than to regard את as equivalent to עם (cf. Isaiah 49:25 with ib. Psalm 27:8; Job 10:2); and, moreover, for the very same reason the expression in this instance is לחם, (in the Kal, which otherwise only lends the part. לחם, Psalm 56:2., to the Niph. נלחם) instead of the reciprocal form הלּחם. It is usually supposed that לחם means properly vorare, and war is consequently conceived of as a devouring of men; but the Arabic offers another primary meaning: to press close and compact (Niph. to one another), consequently מלחמה means a dense crowd, a dense bustle and tumult (cf. the Homeric κλόνος). The summons to Jahve to arm, and that in a twofold manner, viz., with the מגן for warding off the hostile blow and צנּה (vid., Psalm 5:13) which covers the body like a testudo - by which, inasmuch as it is impossible to hold both shields at the same time, the figure is idealised - is meant to express, that He is to make Himself felt by the foes, in every possible way, to their own confounding, as the unapproachable One. The ב of בּעזרתי (in the character of help turned towards me) is the so-called Beth essentiae,

(Note: The Hebrew Beth essentiae is used much more freely and extensively than the Arabic, which is joined exclusively to the predicate of a simple clause, where in our language the verb is "to be," and as a rule only to the predicate of negative clauses: laisa bi-hakı̂mim, he is not wise, or laisa bi-l-hakı̂mi, he is not the wise man. The predicate can accordingly be indeterminate or determinate. Moreover, in Hebrew, where this ב is found with the predicate, with the complement of the subject, or even, though only as a solecism (vid., Gesenius' Thesaurus p. 175), with the subject itself, the word to which it is prefixed may be determinate, whether as an attribute determined by itself (Exodus 6:3, בּאל שׁדּי), by a suffix (as above, Psalm 35:2, cf. Psalm 146:5; Exodus 18:4; Proverbs 3:26), or even by the article. At all events no syntactic objection can be brought against the interpretations of בעשׁן, "in the quality of smoke," Psalm 37:20; cf. בּהבל, Psalm 78:33, and of בּנּפשׁ, "in the character of the soul," Leviticus 17:11.)

as in Exodus 18:4; Proverbs 3:26; Isaiah 48:10 (tanquam argentum), and frequently. הריק has the same meaning as in Exodus 15:9, cf. Genesis 14:14, viz., to bring forth, draw forth, to draw or unsheath (a sword); for as a sword is sheathed when not in use, so a spear is kept in the δουροδόκη (Odyss. i. 128). Even Parchon understands סגר to mean a weapon; and the word σάγαρις, in Herodotus, Xenophon, and Strabo, a northern Asiatic, more especially a Scythian, battle-axe, has been compared here;

(Note: Probably one and the same word with the Armenian sakr, to which are assigned the (Italian) meanings mannaja, scure, brando ferro, in Ciakciak's Armenian Lexicon; cf. Lagarde's Gesammelte Abhandlungen, 1866, S. 203.)

but the battle-axe was not a Hebrew weapon, and סגר, which, thus defectively written, has the look of an imperative, also gives the best sense when so taken (lxx σύγκλεισον, Targ. וּטרוק), viz., close, i.e., cut off, interclude scil. viam. The word has Dech, because לקראת רדפי, "casting Thyself against my persecutors," belongs to both the preceding summonses. Dachselt rightly directs attention to the similar sequence of the accents in Psalm 55:19; Psalm 66:15. The Mosaic figure of Jahve as a man of war (אישׁ מלחמה, Exodus 15:3; Deuteronomy 32:41.) is worked out here with brilliant colours, under the impulse of a wrathful spirit. But we see from Psalm 35:3 what a spiritual meaning, nevertheless, the whole description is intended to convey. In God's intervention, thus manifested in facts, he would gladly hear His consolatory utterance to himself. The burden of his cry is that God's love may break through the present outward appearance of wrath and make itself felt by him.

Psalm 35:8 Parallel Commentaries

Let destruction. All the verbs in these verses (4-8) in the original, are in the future tense, as a prediction, and should probably be so rendered, though as that tense is frequently used in Hebrew for the imperative, most translators, both ancient and modern, have considered them as an imprecation

Psalm 64:7 But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded.

Psalm 73:18-20 Surely you did set them in slippery places: you cast them down into destruction...

Proverbs 29:1 He, that being often reproved hardens his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.

Luke 21:34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life...

1 Thessalonians 5:3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction comes on them, as travail on a woman with child...

at unawares [heb.] which he knoweth not of
net

Psalm 7:15,16 He made a pit, and dig it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made...

Psalm 57:6 They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down: they have dig a pit before me...

Psalm 141:9,10 Keep me from the snares which they have laid for me, and the gins of the workers of iniquity...

Proverbs 5:22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be held with the cords of his sins.

into

1 Samuel 18:17 And Saul said to David, Behold my elder daughter Merab, her will I give you to wife: only be you valiant for me...

1 Samuel 31:2-4 And the Philistines followed hard on Saul and on his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Melchishua...

2 Samuel 17:2-4,23 And I will come on him while he is weary and weak handed, and will make him afraid: and all the people that are with him shall flee...

2 Samuel 18:14,15 Then said Joab, I may not tarry thus with you. And he took three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the heart of Absalom...

Esther 7:10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king's wrath pacified.

Matthew 27:3-5 Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself...