Armenia in comments -- Book: Psalms (tPs) Սաղմոս
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tPs 35:3 Draw out also the spear - The word here rendered "draw out" means properly to pour out; to empty; and it is applied to the act of emptying sacks, Gen 42:35; to emptying bottles, Jer 48:12; to drawing a sword from a sheath, Exo 15:9; Lev 26:33; Eze 5:12. It is applied to a "spear" either as drawing it out of the place where it was kept, or as stretching it out for the purposes of attack. The former probably is the meaning, and the idea is, that David prayed God to "arm himself" - as a warrior does - in order to defend him. The spear was a common weapon in ancient warfare. It was sometimes so short that it could be brandished as a sword in the hand, or hurled at an enemy, Sa1 18:11; Sa1 19:10; Sa1 20:33; but it was usually made as long as it could be to be handled conveniently. The spear was a weapon of "attack." The parts of armor referred to in Psa 35:2 were designed for defense. The idea of the psalmist is that of a warrior prepared alike for attack or defense.
And stop the way against them that persecute me - The words "the way" are not in the original. The word rendered "stop" - סגר sâgar - means properly to shut, to close, as a door or gate, Job 3:10; Sa1 1:5; Gen 19:6, Gen 19:10. The idea here, according to the usage of the word, is, Shut or close up the way against those that persecute me. So Gesenius renders it. Grotius, Michaelis, DeWette, and others, however, regard the word as a noun, signifying the same as the Greek - σάγαρις sagaris - a two-edged sword, such as was used by the Scythians, Persians, and Amazons. Herod. vii. 64. See Rosenmuller in loc. It is not so rendered, however, in any of the ancient versions. The Septuagint render it: "And shut up against those that persecute me;" the Vulgate, "Pre-occupy against those that persecute me;" the Aramaic has: "Shut up against those that persecute me." The correct idea probably is that which is given in the common version. The psalmist prays that God would go forth to meet his enemies; that he would arrest and check them in their march; that he would hedge up their way, and that he would thus prevent them from attacking him.
Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation - Say to "me," I will save you. That is, Give me some assurance that thou wilt interpose, and that thou wilt guard me from my enemies. Man only wants this assurance to be calm in respect to any danger. When God says to us that he will be our salvation; that he will protect us; that he will deliver us from sin, from danger, from hell, the mind may and will be perfectly calm. To a believer he gives this assurance; to all he is willing to give it. The whole plan of salvation is arranged with a view to furnish such an assurance, and to give a pledge to the soul that God "will" save. Death loses its terrors then; the redeemed man moves on calmly - for in all the future - in all worlds - he has nothing now to fear. Psalms 35:4
tPs 35:17 Just as the first part of the Psalm closed with wishes, and thanksgiving for their fulfilment, so the second part also closes with a prayer and thanksgiving. כּמּה (compounded of כּ, instar, and the interrogative מה which is drawn into the genitive by it; Aramaic כּמא, Arabic kam, Hebrew, like בּמּה, with Dag. forte conjunct., properly: the total of what?), which elsewhere means quot, here has the signification of quousque, as in Job 7:19. משּׁאיהם from שׁאה, the plural of which may be both שׁאים and שׁאות (this latter, however, does not occur), like the plural of אימה, terror, אימים and אימות. The suffix, which refers to the enemies as the authors of the destructions (Pro 3:25), shows that it is not to be rendered "from their destroyers" (Hitzig). If God continues thus to look on instead of acting, then the destructions, which are passing over David's soul, will utterly destroy it. Hence the prayer: lead it back, bring that back, which is already well night borne away to destruction. On יהידה vid., Psa 22:21. The כּפירים, which is intended literally in Psa 34:11, is here emblematical. אודך is the cohortative. עצוּם as a parallel word to רב always refers, according to the context, to strength of numbers or to strength of power. Psalms 35:19
tPs 35:14
I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother,.... Meaning either Saul or Doeg the Edomite, or some such evil man; somewhat like this he says of Ahithophel, Psa 41:9; and Arama thinks he is meant here; as Christ of Judas, whom he called friend, when he came to betray him; and who not only ate with him at table of his bread, but was steward of his family, and carried the bag, Mat 26:50; I bowed down heavily, as one that mourneth for his mother; or as a mother that mourneth for her son, as Jarchi interprets it, whose affections are very strong; and thus Christ wept over Jerusalem, and had a tender concern for and sympathy with the Jews, his implacable enemies, and wept over them, and prayed for them, Luk 19:41. Psalms 35:15