Psalm 35 - Perfidy

Note on Presentation

In the course of this commentary, I dwell generally on the phenomenon of repetition and specifically on the term nefesh (“soul” or “person”). To do that, repeated Hebrew terms are carefully translated to identical English terms, and even Hebrew puns are reflected, all such terms highlighted in bold print in this very literal translation. I also translate nefesh (soul), which is usually not translated directly (e.g., “my soul” will often appear as “I” or “me”).

TEXT (Hebrew text appears at the end)

1. Of David

O LORD, contend with my contenders, fight those who fight me,

2. Take hold of shield and buckler, and rise to my help;

3. draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers; say to my soul, “I am your deliverance.”

4. Let them be frustrated and put to shame, those who seek my soul; let them fall back in disgrace, those who plan to harm me.

5. Let them be as chaff before the wind, the LORD’s angel driving them on.

6. Let their way be dark and slippery, with the LORD’s angel in pursuit.

7. For without reason they hid a netted pit to trap me; without reason they shamelessly dug [it] for my soul.

8. Let calamity come upon him unawares; let the net he hid catch him; let him fall into it, as a calamity.

9. Then my soul shall exult in the LORD, delighting in His deliverance.

10. All my bones shall say, “LORD who is like You? You save the poor person from one too strong for him, the poor person, the needy from his despoiler.

11. Malicious witnesses rise up who demand reply about things of which I am unaware.

12. They repay me harm for good—my soul’s bereavement.

13. But I, when they were sick, my dress was sackcloth, my soul kept a fast, my prayer resting on my bosom;

14. as though it were my friend or brother I walked about; I was bent over with gloom, like one mourning for his mother.

15. But when I limp about, they joyously gather; wretches gather against me, I am not aware why; they tear at me, and are not still.

16. As they lurk and smirk,1 they gnash their teeth at me.

17. O LORD, how long can You see this? Rescue my soul from their calamity, my precious life, from the lions.

18. I shall acclaim You in a great assembly, praise You in a mighty throng.

19. Let not my treacherous enemies rejoice over me, or those who hate me without reason wink the eye,

20. for they do not speak well-being, but devise fraudulent speech against those who live quietly in the land.

21. They open wide their mouth against me, saying, “Aha, aha, our eye has seen!”

22. You have seen LORD, be not silent! O Lord be not far from me!

23. Wake, bestir Yourself for my cause, O my God and my Lord, for my contention!

24. Take up my cause O LORD my God, as You are righteous; let them not rejoice over me.

25. Let them not say in their heart, “Aha, our soul!”2 Let them not say, “We have swallowed him!”

26. May they be frustrated and utterly disgraced, those who rejoice at my harm; may they be dressed in frustration and shame, those who exalt themselves above me.

27. May they sing forth joyously, those who desire my righteous vindication; may they always say, “Exalted be the LORD who desires the well-being of His servant,”

28 and my tongue shall recite Your righteousness, Your praise all day long.

Notes

1. Hebrew uncertain, possibly “with contemptuous mocking chatter" (so Alter). The translation here replicates an echoing effect in the Hebrew.

2. i.e., "How happy we are!"

COMMENTARY

Psalm 35 is both clear and unnerving. The speaker’s former friends have turned on him, and his recourse is to God alone. By degrees, he intensifies his call on God to improve his situation. His concentration on the others is extreme. Even the description of his sorrows seems to serve only as background for recalling his oppressors’ glee, which he demands God hear and terminate. His anger moves from indignation to rage, and his appeal to God seems enveloped in impatience.

I first discuss the content of Psalm 35 in the order of its component parts and thereafter consider questions of faith and ego. I then briefly comment on two phenomena previously encountered in these essays, which appear here prominently: word repetition and the use of “soul” (nefesh).

The Content

Acts of praising the LORD serve to divide Psalm 35, coming at the end of three sections: verses 1–10, 11–18, and 19–28.

The first section (verses 1–10) identifies the parties in contention, the speaker and his foes, the deeds of the latter taking up much of the text. God must note the situation and remedy it. In antiquity, the acts requested of God in verse 2 (as Hacham points out) were performed by a warrior’s arms carrier, an aide in battle. The speaker is proposing that God be his assistant! (God is asked to take a more active role in verse 3.) The danger seems military. Two foci dominate. First, there is a desperate situation, which seems similar to that noted in other psalms—enemies attacking the innocent speaker (though the tenor here seems particularly bitter). The second focus is an assurance of future praise of God, although there is a tone of conditionality—the praise will come after God saves. The next sections expand on both points.

The second section (verses 11–18) focuses on the enemies, who now turn out to be his former “friends.” This middle section concentrates on the pain of the psalm, the pain of perfidy, of the treachery of those he once supported, who have now turned on him. Anger moves to indignation. At the same time, the conditional tone of his promised praise now spills over into impatience (verse 17) with God. The specific complaint against the foes is defined here (and will continue to be so) as false accusation, making a metaphor of the earlier military terminology.

In the third section (verses 19–28), the dam bursts, as the continued complaint against the foes quickly gives way to an immediate prayer reflecting frustration with progress from God. Though the speaker has supporters, he remains a dependent on God.  Again the future praise alternates between assured and conditional―the imperfect verbs of the last four verses spanning “it will be” and “may it be” (both translations possible). Again there is a hint that the praise to be offered both by himself and his supporters is contingent on God’s resolving the situation (as is the case in some other psalms as well). To the end, the psalm retains its sharp edge and implied reproach.

The Reader

Two major issues linger for the reader's consideration. One concerns the world of faith. Many psalms deal with implied challenges to a trust in God, but here the basic unrequited faith is in man. Of course, in this case the speaker does have recourse, to the Divine. Still, the speaker is preoccupied with a group of former friends and their delight in his misfortune. The speaker thus is a fascinating portrait of the priority of pain, as well as an interesting study in motivation and the timing of turning to God for support. As with much great poetry, the poet leads the reader ultimately to think of oneself.

The speaker also demands attention. In this soliloquy, he is amazingly central (also reflected by his repeated use “my soul,” as I discuss below). It is his affect that takes center stage. One could challenge the truth of his claims (one commentator actually focuses on this), but it does not seem to be the main concern. It is the power of his feelings that impresses itself on the reader and, by application, the question of similar feelings that the reader might occasionally experience as well.

The Phenomenon of Repetition

In these essays I have frequently made reference to the repetition of terms. As Psalm 35 makes significant use of this technique, it can be used to illustrate some of the ways in which a psalm uses repetition to communicate its messages. (Recall that the translation highlights the repetitions.)

Repetitions that appear close to each other (no more than one sentence apart) are, in order of first appearance: contend, fight, Lord’s angel, without reason, hid, net, calamity, the poor, reply-repay (two different terms, close echo—yish’aluni, yishalmuni), gather, lurk-smirk (two different terms, close echo—la’agei ma’og), speak, aha, seen, my cause, exalt, frustration, desire, righteousness. There is an esthetic aspect to this usage, not unlike rhyme in other types of poetry, and this consistent use binds the poem together. Moreover, some of these provide emphasis (e.g., “gather,” “hid... net”), some slight augmentation (e.g., the “Lord’s angels,” who first chase off and then pursue) and some contrast (e.g., “contend ” with my “contenders, verse 1”; they claim to have  “seen,” but so have You “seen, ” verses  21-22).

Terms that appear further apart across the psalm (some of which also appear in the preceding list), in order of first appearance (verses are in parentheses) are: contend (1, 1, 23), rise (2, 11), pursue (3 ,6), say (3, 10, 21, 25, 25, 27), deliverance (3, 9), frustrated (4, 26, 26 – and in verse 26, they are punned with "dress," all three terms including the two consecutive letters b-sh), shame (4, 26, plus a homonym, “dug,” which I therefore translated “shamelessly dug,” 7), disgrace (4, 26), harm (4, 12, 26), without reason (7, 7, 19), unaware (8, 11, 15), dress (13, 26), joy (15, 19, 24, 27), see (17, 21, 22), praise (18, 28), well-being (20, 27), aha (21, 21, 25), righteous (24, 27, 28).

Terms appearing across a psalm are more likely to emphasize similar acts by different parties (e.g., they “pursue” me, let God’s angels “pursue” them; four parties who “say”: GOD, the speaker, the foes, the supporters; the foes do not seek “well-being,” but God does), but some reinforce and some recall prior statements. Each has to be appreciated on its own.

My Soul

“My nefesh (soul)” appears seven times, with an eighth variation, “our soul” (25), the latter referring to the soul of the speaker’s enemies.

Nefesh appears in many psalms, meaning “life force,” “inner life,” or a poetically strong way of saying “person” (I, me, you,). At one time, translations commonly rendered this term as “soul.” This led to misunderstandings, owing to the common acceptance in Western society of a duality of the human being: “body” (earthly, passing, of no ultimate import) and “soul” (Godly, eternal, essential). That division is alien to the Bible, and any attempt to read it in falsifies the text. Thus many are reluctant to use the term in translations.

This reluctance, however, creates a different problem, because nefesh is a stronger term than “person” and the repetition of the term is used with some frequency in psalms as a literary technique, undetectable if it is not translated. (So writes L. Crow in his Songs of Ascents, justifying his use of “my soul” as opposed to “me”: “This translation is admittedly infelicitous because of the Platonic and Christian overtones of the word ‘soul,’ but it seems to me a greater violation to homogenize these two ways of referring to the individual.” p. 34)

There is no easy solution to this dilemma, apart from lengthy notes and comments. Psalm 35 uses “my nefesh” exactly seven times (seven being a complete biblical number). By translating “my soul” I hope the reader can get a better sense of the Hebrew and of this guide word, which moves the poem along through its first two sections and is responded to by “our soul” in the third. Through the seven repetitions, the soul is endangered, seeks rescue, and hopes to rejoice.

I sense that in Psalm 35 this usage amplifies the soliloquy, the concentration of the speaker on himself. The use of the term nefesh allows the poet to have his speaker talk about himself more easily. Their “soul,” in the third section, provides a stark contrast. The “essence” of these foes, their soul, seems bent only on destruction.

*          *          *          *          *          *          *

Additional Note

Verse 25 includes two possibly interesting turns of phrase. The use of the singular ("heart", "soul") is either an ironic reflection on the enemies' self proclaimed unity or a direct reflection of the "purity" of their evil. There is also a play on words, for "nefesh" also can mean throat, parallel to the celebratory "We have swallowed him" at the end of the verse.

The author of these essays is Rabbi Benjamin Segal, former president of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem　and author of The Song of Songs: A Woman in Love (Jerusalem: Gefen, 2009). This material is copyright by the author, and may not be reproduced. If you are interested in using the texts for study groups, please be in direct contact with the author, at psalmblog@gmail.com.

HEBREW TEXT

א  לְדָוִד רִיבָה יְהוָה אֶת-יְרִיבַי לְחַם אֶת-לֹחֲמָי
ב  הַחֲזֵק מָגֵן וְצִנָּה וְקוּמָה בְּעֶזְרָתִי
ג  וְהָרֵק חֲנִית וּסְגֹר לִקְרַאת רֹדְפָי אֱמֹר לְנַפְשִׁי יְשֻׁעָתֵךְ אָנִי
ד  יֵבֹשׁוּ וְיִכָּלְמוּ מְבַקְשֵׁי נַפְשִׁי יִסֹּגוּ אָחוֹר וְיַחְפְּרוּ--חֹשְׁבֵי רָעָתִי
ה  יִהְיוּ כְּמֹץ לִפְנֵי-רוּחַ וּמַלְאַךְ יְהוָה דּוֹחֶה
ו  יְהִי-דַרְכָּם חֹשֶׁךְ וַחֲלַקְלַקֹּת וּמַלְאַךְ יְהוָה רֹדְפָם
ז  כִּי-חִנָּם טָמְנוּ-לִי שַׁחַת רִשְׁתָּם חִנָּם חָפְרוּ לְנַפְשִׁי
ח  תְּבוֹאֵהוּ שׁוֹאָה לֹא-יֵדָע וְרִשְׁתּוֹ אֲשֶׁר-טָמַן תִּלְכְּדוֹ בְּשׁוֹאָה יִפָּל-בָּהּ
ט  וְנַפְשִׁי תָּגִיל בַּיהוָה תָּשִׂישׂ בִּישׁוּעָתוֹ
י  כָּל עַצְמוֹתַי תֹּאמַרְנָה יְהוָה מִי כָמוֹךָ מַצִּיל עָנִי מֵחָזָק מִמֶּנּוּ וְעָנִי וְאֶבְיוֹן מִגֹּזְלוֹ
יא  יְקוּמוּן עֵדֵי חָמָס אֲשֶׁר לֹא-יָדַעְתִּי יִשְׁאָלוּנִי
יב  יְשַׁלְּמוּנִי רָעָה תַּחַת טוֹבָה שְׁכוֹל לְנַפְשִׁי
יג  וַאֲנִי בַּחֲלוֹתָם לְבוּשִׁי שָׂק עִנֵּיתִי בַצּוֹם נַפְשִׁי וּתְפִלָּתִי עַל-חֵיקִי תָשׁוּב
יד  כְּרֵעַ-כְּאָח לִי הִתְהַלָּכְתִּי כַּאֲבֶל-אֵם קֹדֵר שַׁחוֹתִי
טו  וּבְצַלְעִי שָׂמְחוּ וְנֶאֱסָפוּ נֶאֶסְפוּ עָלַי נֵכִים וְלֹא יָדַעְתִּי קָרְעוּ וְלֹא-דָמּוּ
טז  בְּחַנְפֵי לַעֲגֵי מָעוֹג חָרֹק עָלַי שִׁנֵּימוֹ
יז  אֲדֹנָי כַּמָּה תִּרְאֶה הָשִׁיבָה נַפְשִׁי מִשֹּׁאֵיהֶם מִכְּפִירִים יְחִידָתִי
יח  אוֹדְךָ בְּקָהָל רָב בְּעַם עָצוּם אֲהַלְלֶךָּ
יט  אַל-יִשְׂמְחוּ-לִי אֹיְבַי שֶׁקֶר שֹׂנְאַי חִנָּם יִקְרְצוּ-עָיִן
כ  כִּי לֹא שָׁלוֹם יְדַבֵּרוּ וְעַל רִגְעֵי-אֶרֶץ--דִּבְרֵי מִרְמוֹת יַחֲשֹׁבוּן
כא  וַיַּרְחִיבוּ עָלַי פִּיהֶם אָמְרוּ הֶאָח הֶאָח רָאֲתָה עֵינֵנוּ
כב  רָאִיתָה יְהוָה אַל-תֶּחֱרַשׁ אֲדֹנָי אַל-תִּרְחַק מִמֶּנִּי
כג  הָעִירָה וְהָקִיצָה לְמִשְׁפָּטִי אֱלֹהַי וַאדֹנָי לְרִיבִי
כד  שָׁפְטֵנִי כְצִדְקְךָ יְהוָה אֱלֹהָי וְאַל-יִשְׂמְחוּ-לִי
כה  אַל-יֹאמְרוּ בְלִבָּם הֶאָח נַפְשֵׁנוּ אַל-יֹאמְרוּ בִּלַּעֲנוּהוּ
כו  יֵבֹשׁוּ וְיַחְפְּרוּ יַחְדָּו שְׂמֵחֵי רָעָתִי יִלְבְּשׁוּ-בֹשֶׁת וּכְלִמָּה הַמַּגְדִּילִים עָלָי
כז  יָרֹנּוּ וְיִשְׂמְחוּ חֲפֵצֵי צִדְקִי וְיֹאמְרוּ תָמִיד יִגְדַּל יְהוָה הֶחָפֵץ שְׁלוֹם עַבְדּוֹ
כח  וּלְשׁוֹנִי תֶּהְגֶּה צִדְקֶךָ כָּל-הַיּוֹם תְּהִלָּתֶךָ