Psalm 35:27

Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

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

Let them shout for joy - That is, Let me be delivered; let my friends see that God is on my side, and that they have occasion to rejoice in his merciful interposition in my behalf.

That favor my righteous cause - Margin, as in Hebrew, "my righteousness." The reference is to those who considered his cause a just one, and who were his friends.

Yea, let them say continually - Let this be a constant subject of grateful reflection - a perpetual source of joy to them - that God has interposed in my behalf, and has shown that my cause was a just one.

Let the Lord be magnified - Be regarded as great, exalted, glorious. Let the effect be to elevate their conceptions of the character of God by the fact that he has thus interposed in a righteous cause, and has shown that he is the friend of the wronged and the oppressed.

Which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant - Who delights to make his friends prosperous and happy, Let them see that this is the character of God, and let them thus be led to rejoice in him evermore.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

27. favour … cause—delight in it, as vindicated by Thee.

Let the Lord, &c.—Let Him be greatly praised for His care of the just.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

That favour my righteous cause; that wish well to it, although they want either strength or courage to plead it.

Magnified, i.e. exalted and praised for his righteousness, and truth, and goodness manifested in my deliverance. Mine enemies’ great design is to magnify themselves, Psalm 35:26, but my chief desire is that God may be magnified.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause,.... The cause of David was a righteous cause, he having done no iniquity, or anything criminal against Saul his enemy, who persecuted him; and there were some that favoured his cause, as Jonathan, Saul's son, and a few others of rank and figure; but the greatest part were mean and despicable, 1 Samuel 22:2; and so the cause of Christ and of his people, which is one, is a righteous cause, which no one need to be ashamed of, and is worth suffering for; though those that favour it are for the most part the poor and base and weak things of the world: but when this cause prospers they rejoice and are glad, as they do at the happiness of every particular saint; for if one member is honoured, all the rest rejoice with it;

yea, let them say continually, the Lord be magnified; let them continually ascribe greatness, give honour and glory, to him,

which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant; meaning either himself, who was a servant of the Lord, not only by creation, but by grace; and who had his times both of temporal and spiritual prosperity; which were owing to the good will and pleasure of God, and to the delight and complacency he had in him, being a man after his own heart, raised up to fulfil his will; and since this prosperity did not arise from any desert of his, he would have all the glory of it given to God: or else he intends the Messiah, his antitype, who, as Mediator, is the servant of the Lord; of his choosing, calling, and sending; whose commands he diligently and faithfully obeyed; from whom he had his work, and also his reward: his prosperity lies in the work of redemption succeeding in his hands; in his exaltation at the right hand of God; and in the spread of his Gospel in the world, and the efficacy of it to the conviction of sinners; and in the establishment and increase of his kingdom and interest; on which account the Lord's name is to be magnified and glorified, who delights in him as his servant, and in his prosperity; and the rather this is to be done, since the saints have an interest in him as a Prince and a Saviour: or anyone of the servants of the Lord may be understood; or however it is applicable to anyone of them, who, through the power of divine grace upon them, are made willing to serve the Lord with reverence and godly fear; who are his Hephzibah, in whom is all his delight and pleasure, Isaiah 62:4; who rejoices over them to do them good: and hence flows all the spiritual prosperity they enjoy, on account of which glory is to be given to God by them and all the saints that know it, Psalm 34:1.

Geneva Study Bible

Let them shout for joy, and be glad, {x} that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, which hath pleasure in the {y} prosperity of his servant.

(x) That at least favour my right, though they are not able to help me.

(y) He exhorts the Church to praise God for the deliverance of his servants, and for the destruction of his adversaries.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

27. Cp. Psalm 40:16.

that favour my righteous cause] Lit. that delight in my righteousness; that welcome the vindication of my innocence.

which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant] More exactly, which delighteth (2 Samuel 15:26; Psalm 18:19; Psalm 22:8) in the welfare (lit. peace) of his servant.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 27. - Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause. When David's enemies are "ashamed and put to confusion" (ver. 26), his friends will naturally "shout for joy, and be glad." This they will do, partly, out of sympathy; partly because their own interests are bound up with those of their leader. Had Saul captured David when he "hunted him upon the mountains," the fate of David's followers would have been death or exile. Yea, let them say continually, Let the Lord be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant; literally, in the peace of his servant. God desires that David's present troubles should cease, and that he should enjoy a time of rest and tranquillity. This was granted him, to some extent, at Ziklag (1 Samuel 27:4-7), but more fully when he came into his kingdom (2 Samuel 5:1-16). Psalm 35:27

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Those who wish that David's righteousness may be made manifest and be avenged are said to take delight in it. When this takes place, Jahve's righteousness is proved. יגדּל, let Him be acknowledged and praised as great, i.e., let Him be magnified! David desires that all who remain true to him may thus speak; and he, on his part, is determined to stir up the revelation of God's righteousness in his heart, and to speak of that of which his heart is full (Psalm 71:24).