But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered; they gathered together against me; wretches whom I did not know tore at me without ceasing;
David's enemies are not mere dupes swept along by Saul's court; he distinguishes carefully between those thoughtlessly caught up in hatred through ignorance and those deliberate malefactors who wickedly conspired to destroy an innocent man for favor. Against the latter, he calls on God for justice, knowing his own innocence and relying on God's promise spoken through Samuel.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 35:1-28
"But in mine adversity they rejoiced." In my halting they were delighted. My lameness was sport to them. Danger was near, and they sang songs over my expected defeat. How glad are the wicked to see a good man limp! "Now, " say they, "he will meet with his downfall." "And gathered themselves together, " like kites and vultures around a dying sheep.
False witnesses rose up and swore to treasons David never committed, and ingratitude compounded the injury: they repaid good service with evil. This happened to the Son of David too. Such persecution shows how the innocent lie at the mercy of the wicked, yet it teaches us that God holds even bad men's consciences in check, or the harm would be far greater.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 35:11-16