For they do not speak peace, but they devise deceitful schemes against those who live quietly in the land. Sermons
I. HE PRAYS THAT THE CAUSE OF UNRIGHTEOUSNESS MAY NOT TRIUMPH. 1. The enmity of his enemies was without just cause. (Ver. 19.) To be unjustly accused wounds a good man very deeply. 2. He was the champion of public order and peace: and therefore they opposed him. (Ver. 20.) Employed deceitful words and schemes to disturb and overthrow the public peace. Bad men therefore. 3. God himself was the witness of their injustice and wickedness. (Ver. 21.) And cannot but interpose of his own righteous will. 4. He appeals to God on the ground of his personal righteousness. (Vers. 23, 24.) Not on the ground of his perfection; but he appeals to his upright aim and just purpose and general rectitude. The righteous God must therefore overthrow his enemies. God's righteousness, and his own could not both be defeated. Their just retribution was to be clothed with confusion and dishonour. The psalmist is so sure that his prayer will be answered and his enemies punished, that we have next. - II. A GRATEFUL ANTICIPATION OF THE VICTORY. 1. He calls upon all who love righteousness to magnify the work of God. (Ver. 27, "who have pleasure in my justification, or righteousness.") The victory of the psalmist over his wicked enemies. 2. He himself will sing of the righteousness of God for ever. (Ver. 28, "all the day long.") We should praise God for ever as the Author of all our moral and spiritual victories. "Not unto us, but unto thy Name, O Lord," etc. - S.
They devise deceitful matters against them that are quiet in the land. "There is no temptation," said John of Wesel, one of the greatest of the pre-Lutheran reformers, "so great as not to be tempted at all." We have a vivid illustration of this in a picture given us by a late writer on natural history. When the wild horses of Mexico, he tells us, are grazing unconsciously in a prairie, there may sometimes be seen gathering in the distance a troop of wolves, whom hunger has driven out after food. At first the horses snuff up the scent and become alarmed, and as long as they continue so all is safe; for their fleetness puts a barrier between themselves and their assailants, which the latter are wholly unable to surmount. But so grave and innocent do the wolves look — so solely graminivorous and gentle — that their intended victims soon become relieved from all fear, and begin again quietly to graze upon the same spot. Presently, two of the older and more wary of the wolves stroll forth, as it were listlessly, and apparently for the mere purpose of pastime, sometimes advancing, sometimes retreating, and every now and then stopping to gambol with each other, as if to show their disengaged simplicity and buoyancy of heart. Again the horses become alarmed; but again, observing how very innocent and friendly their visitors appear, they fall once more to grazing secure on the fields. But the fatal moment has now come; and with an unerring spring, the nearest of the victims finds the fangs of one of his gaunt and wily pursuers fastened in his haunches, and those of another in his neck, and in a moment he is covered by the whole of the greedy pack that has been thus waiting till this moment to dash upon his prostrate frame. So it is that sin presents itself to the incautious soul. First it lounges listlessly in the distance, as if to show its harmlessness and disengagedness of purpose. Then, when suspicion is disarmed, it comes nearer still, gambolling about as if it was mere pastime. It is not till the soul feels its fangs that it discovers that it is now the victim and slave of a master whose bitter and cruel yoke must be borne, not only through time, but through eternity.(The Preacher's Lantern.) People David, PsalmistPlaces JerusalemTopics FALSE, Conceive, Deceit, Deceitful, Designing, Devise, Evil, Matters, Ones, Peace, Peaceably, Quiet, Quietly, SpeakOutline 1. David prays for his own safety, and his enemies' confusion11. He complains of their wrongful dealing 22. Thereby he incites God against them Dictionary of Bible Themes Psalm 35:20 6146 deceit, and God 5202 accusation, false Library Specific References to Prophecy in the Gospels20. But, if it does not weary you, let the point out as briefly as possible, specific references to prophecy in the Gospels, that those who are being instructed in the first elements of the faith may have these testimonies written on their hearts, lest any doubt concerning the things which they believe should at any time take them by surprise. We are told in the Gospel that Judas, one of Christ's friends and associates at table, betrayed Him. Let the show you how this is foretold in the Psalms: "He … Various—Life and Works of Rufinus with Jerome's Apology Against Rufinus. Historical Summary and Chronological Tables. The Sixth Commandment The Ninth Commandment Question of the Comparison Between the Active and the Contemplative Life After the Scripture. Opposition to Messiah Unreasonable Notes on the Third Century Concerning Persecution Psalms Links Psalm 35:20 NIVPsalm 35:20 NLT Psalm 35:20 ESV Psalm 35:20 NASB Psalm 35:20 KJV Psalm 35:20 Bible Apps Psalm 35:20 Parallel Psalm 35:20 Biblia Paralela Psalm 35:20 Chinese Bible Psalm 35:20 French Bible Psalm 35:20 German Bible Psalm 35:20 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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