Psalm 35:20

For they speak not peace: but they devise deceitful matters against them that are quiet in the land.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(20) Quiet in the land.—For the construction, comp. Isaiah 23:8 : “The honourable of the earth.” They are evidently the pious Jews who wished to preserve their national life and religion against foreign influence and intervention, and certainly among them were Levites.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

35:17-28 Though the people of God are, and study to be, quiet, yet it has been common for their enemies to devise deceitful matters against them. David prays, My soul is in danger, Lord, rescue it; it belongs to thee the Father of spirits, therefore claim thine own; it is thine, save it! Lord, be not far from me, as if I were a stranger. He who exalted the once suffering Redeemer, will appear for all his people: the roaring lion shall not destroy their souls, any more than he could that of Christ, their Surety. They trust their souls in his hands, they are one with him by faith, are precious in his sight, and shall be rescued from destruction, that they may give thanks in heaven.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For they speak not peace - They seek a quarrel. They are unwilling to be on good terms with others, or to live in peace with them. The idea is that they were "disposed" or "inclined" to quarrel. Thus we speak now of persons who are "quarrelsome.

They devise deceitful matters - literally, "they think of words of deceit." That is, they set their hearts on misrepresentation, and they study such misrepresentations as occasions for strife with others. They falsely represent my character; they attribute conduct to me of which I am not guilty; they pervert my words; they state that to be true which never occurred, and thus they attempt to justify their own conduct. Almost all the quarrels in the world, whether pertaining to nations, to neighborhoods, to families, or to individuals, are based on some "misrepresentation" of facts, designed or undesigned, and could have been avoided if men had been willing to look at facts as they are, or perfectly understood each other.

Against them that are quiet in the land - That are disposed to be quiet, or that are inclined to live in peace with those around them. The word rendered "quiet" means literally those who are "timid;" then, those who shrink back, and gather together from fear; then, those in general who are disposed to be peaceful and quiet, or who are indisposed to contention and strife. David implicitly asserts himself to be one of that class; a man who preferred peace to war, and who had no disposition to keep up a strife with his neighbors.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

20. deceitful matters—or, "words of deceit."

quiet in the land—the pious lovers of peace.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Verse 20. They are enemies to all peaceable counsels; they breathe out nothing but threatenings and war. They use not only open violence, but deceit, and subtle artifices, against me and my followers, who desire nothing more than to live quietly and peaceably under Saul’s government.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For they speak not peace,.... Meaning to himself, or any good man; as Joseph's brethren could not to him, Genesis 37:4; such were the men David had to do with, Psalm 120:6; and such were the enemies of Christ, who could not give him a good word, nor speak one to him, John 10:20; and such are the enemies of his people, who breathe out nothing but threatenings and slaughter, and not anything that tends to peace, to promote and maintain it. Some versions, as the Septuagint, and they that follow that, render it, "they do speak peace to me"; but then it was in an hypocritical way, as in Psalm 28:3; and as the Jews did to Christ, Matthew 22:16; for it follows:

but they devise deceitful matters against them that are quiet in the land; meaning not the wicked, as Kimchi thinks; the rich, who live at ease and in quietness, having as much as heart can wish, "with" whom, as he renders it, David's enemies devised mischief in a deceitful way; but the righteous of the earth, as the Targum; such as David and his men were, who desired to live peaceable and quiet lives under Saul's government; and had no intention to disturb his government, or wrest the crown from him; and as the Messiah, David's son, was, "the humble one in the earth"; as the Arabic version renders it in the singular number; a character that well agrees with Christ, who showed great humility in coming into this world, and during his stay in it; it was a state of humiliation with him, and in which he behaved in the most lowly and humble manner; he was the quiet one in the land; he strove not, nor cried, nor was his voice heard in the street; he was not noisy and clamorous, quarrelsome and litigious; but all the reverse; he bore all insults, reproaches, and sufferings, patiently and quietly: and such are his people, so far as they are influenced by his grace and Spirit; they are quiet and peaceable in kingdoms, cities, and neighbourhoods, and in the churches of God; and yet the wicked are continually plotting against them, and devising things, to their hurt.

Geneva Study Bible

For they speak not peace: but they devise deceitful matters against them that are quiet in the land.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

20. Their conduct is just the opposite of ‘the fear of the Lord’ (Psalm 34:13-14). For it is not peace that they speak, but against them that are quiet in the land they imagine words of guile, accusing them of being ‘troublers of Israel’ and disturbers of the peace.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 20. - For they speak not peace. Once more the language of complaint. David's enemies, though they have driven him from the court, and made him a fugitive and a wanderer, were not yet satisfied. They did not speak him peace. They continued to scheme against him. But they devise deceitful matters against them that are quiet in the land. David, if let alone, was willing enough to have remained "quiet in the land." He was a fugitive and an outlaw; but, could he have obtained a safe refuge - the cave of Adullam, or any other - would gladly have remained peacefully within it. But his enemies would not allow him to remain quiet. They stirred up the jealousy and hatred of Saul by false tales, and caused him to be "hunted upon the mountains" (1 Samuel 26:20). Psalm 35:20

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

I the third part, Psalm 35:19 the description of the godlessness of his enemies is renewed; but the soul of the praying psalmist has become more tranquil, and accordingly the language also is more clear and moves on with its accustomed calmness. שׁקר and חנּם are genitives, having an attributive sense (vid., on 2 Samuel 22:23). The verb קרץ signifies both to pinch equals nip, Job 33:6 (cf. the Arabic karada, to cut off), and to pinch together, compress equals to wink, generally used of the eyes, but also of the lips, Proverbs 16:30, and always as an insidiously malicious gesture. אל rules over both members of the verse as in Psalm 75:6, and frequently. שׁלום in Psalm 35:20 is the word for whatever proceeds from good intentions and aims at the promotion or restoration of a harmonious relationship. רגעי־ארץ (from רגע, cf. ענוי־ארץ, Psalm 76:10, Zephaniah 2:3, צפוּניך, Psalm 83:4) are those who quietly and unostentatiously walk in the ways of God. Against such they devise mischievous, lying slanders and accusations. And with wide-opened mouth, i.e., haughty scorn, they cry, as they carouse in sight of the misfortune of those they have persecuted: now we have that which we have longed to see. האח (composed of ההּ and אח) is a cry of joy, and more especially of malignant joy at another's hurt (cf. Ezekiel 25:3).