A Glorious Unfairness: Psalm 35 (Part 2)

by on September 12, 2026 | Comment

So far in Psalm 35, the poetry has displayed how the psalmist had shown kindness, lamenting his sick enemies as he would have his own mother. He cared for and visited those who were opposing him when they were down. But the day comes when he stumbles (v. 15). Disease and trouble find the psalmist, and when he is in the hospital, his kiddos do what? They party! They cheer and celebrate the pains and demise of the psalmist. They get together—not to mourn but to be glad and to torment him like a cat with a mouse. Instead of behaving like his bosom friends, they wear the masks of wretches and abusers, as if he had never known them. They tear at him endlessly. They gnash their teeth, spitting curses and vomiting maledictions. The psalmist climbed into bed with them when they were ill, but they dance intoxicated on the psalmist.

In fact, their partying at the psalmist’s trouble is their plot to murder him. Thus, he mentions how they hate him for no reason; they speak to him no peace and have no concern for his well-being, but they open wide their mouths to swallow him up. They cheer that they will be witnesses to his death, popping champagne corks and filling the air with confetti while celebrating the opportunity to be spectators to his dying and eventually cannibalizing his corpse. Indeed, the imagery of verse 25, swallowing him up (literally, their throat’s desire) belongs to Sheol personified as a monster. These folks’ hatred is personified death to David. They are tickled to be grim reapers.

These devouring demons were once the psalmist’s sons and daughters. He loved them like his own, and they repaid his wonderful good with the most profound evil. It is a horrible thing if a child turns murderous toward his mom. The babe you bore, birthed, and nursed stands at your bed with a dagger to your throat. The one you gave life to, provided for, nourished, and loved into adulthood is now torturing you to death with a demonic schadenfreude. Your pain, blood, and murder is their stand-up comedy show. The injustice of this unfairness tears at the fabric of the universe. Such evil shatters the laws of nature. Creation itself witnesses this putrid wickedness and convulses in horror.

This full and concrete reality of the psalmist’s suffering makes sense of his petitions to the Lord. No wonder the psalmist pleads for the divine warrior to march for him. He also files requests for his enemies to be shamed and dishonored. Do not let these evil doers rejoice but mourn. Those who exalted themselves over the psalmist with violence should be brought low. These people should be judged for the evil they committed against him.

Yet, what stands out in these petitions for judgment is that the psalmist remains within the realm of fairness. Indeed, there is a poetic balance between crime and punishment. An eye for an eye is the proportionality of upright judgment. The foes offered no such balance as they rewarded his good with grievous evil, but the psalmist will not stoop to their level. He practices the fairness of justice that the punishment would fit the crime.

Moreover, the psalmist does not take the law into his hands; he will not resort to vengeful vigilantism. Rather, he calls on the Lord to perform his justice. He submits himself to God’s righteousness, saying in verse 24, “Vindicate me . . . according to your righteousness.” His petitions are vigorous, but he submits his entire case and predicament to the Lord. And because of the propriety of his prayers, the psalmist can be confident of being answered. The Lord will not forsake the psalmist. He will not allow such evil to go unpunished.

And so peppered throughout this poem are vows of praise. The psalmist promises to exult in the Lord. In the great congregation, he will raise a thanksgiving hymn to Yahweh. His tongue will tell of God’s righteousness; his praises will continue unceasingly. And even those who delight in the psalmist as God’s servant will join his harmony. Those who stand for the psalmist will lift high the banner “Great is the Lord” (v. 27). The Lord will vindicate the uprightness of his servant, the psalmist. He will pour out his balanced justice on the foes, and the whole congregation of the Lord will celebrate in God with the psalmist.

Additionally, in this last verse, the psalmist is called God’s servant, which reveals that his suffering is not merely about him as an individual but about his covenantal office. He is a public figure who oversees the people. This is David as king, as suffering servant, who is foreshadowing an insight into Christ. And how well through this psalm do we get a window into our Savior.

For Jesus was the true Servant of the Lord; he was David’s greater Son and the everlasting king. Yet, Jesus is God; the Son of God is our creator. And no one is more of a mother to us than God. Christ formed us. He effected our conception, birth, and growth. Every breath we take is given to us from the providential grace of Christ. All the delights of life come to us from the caring hands of the Son of God and from God our Father. Your very identity and existence were conceived in the mind of God and brought into fruition by the gracious nourishment of the Lord.

Furthermore, Christ took on flesh; he came down to earth and submitted himself to the way of the cross for your good. In our Lord—Father, Son, and Spirit—we have one closer than a friend, more intimate than a mother. Yet, how have we responded to the lavish good paid out through Christ? We reacted not with indifference, with a silent disregard, but we lashed out with overt evil. God made us, and we curse him in return. The Father grants us a wealth of bounties, and we horde them greedily as if we authored them. We are the offspring of God who became hateful rebels for no good reason. Thus, as Jesus hung on the cross, his agony was like that of a bereaved mother; his torment was that his own children were murdering him.

Sure, the immediate agents of his crucifixion were the priests and Romans, but the ultimate cause for Jesus hanging on the accursed tree was our sins. Our wickedness repaid Christ for his good with the most despicable evil. What these folk did to David, we did to Jesus at the ultimate level. This is the scary turn of this psalm, as we are horrified at the wretched depravity of the opponents, who become a mirror. The portrait of the evildoers is a self-portrait. You are the man! We are the kid who gutted Mom, Christ, and partied that she was dead. This is the gross unfairness we abuse Jesus with. The unfairness of our insurrection against God is quite literally the world’s biggest problem.

So, like in this psalm, it is only fitting that we reap what we sowed. The justice of God rightly calls for proportional retribution. To murder the infinite One, the author of life, merits an everlasting death. Jesus would have been fully just to take the petitions of Psalm 35 on his lips. Let the evildoers be swept away like chaff in the wind. This is what we deserve.

And yet our Lord did not. Yes, Jesus fulfilled the sufferings of Psalm 35, but he did not borrow the psalmist’s petitions for justice. Instead, nailed to that tree, Jesus did the most unfair thing. He prayed, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Christ submitted to the torment, wrath, and the grave to make full atonement for our sins, to earn for us justification and adoption. We repaid the goodness of Christ with evil. But Jesus did not seek proportionality but repaid our evil with good. This is one of the wonders of our salvation.

In one sense, our redemption is the most unfair thing ever, and it is glorious! If a president pardoned a murderous terrorist and then made him part of his cabinet, the offense of unfairness would undo the world. But this is what the Father did for us in Christ. We paid hate; he repaid love. We dished out evil; he returned an everlasting good. We offered cruelty; he gave mercy. We blasphemed and dishonored Christ, but he honored us with sonship.

Yes, by fulfilling all righteousness, Jesus satisfied justice, appeased wrath, and paid the debt of our sin. But all the holy work of Christ resulted in an unfair heavenly blessing of us. We do not deserve the wonders of Christ’s salvation. Yet this is the miracle of God’s love for us to pour out his grace and mercy on us, giving us everlasting life.

Thus, behold your salvation! We murdered our divine parent, and he lavished his love on you. The unfairness of God’s grace is gorgeous. In Christ’s cross, perfect justice and ideal unfairness kiss for our redemption. Therefore, since Jesus did not use David’s petitions to judge us, we can then fulfill its vows of praise. We can join the great congregation to sing, “God is great!” As those who delight in Christ, the Suffering Servant, we can offer up joyful praise without end. So then, may we do just this. Let us glorify and praise Father, Son, and Spirit that grace repaid our evil with the everlasting good of Christ. Amen.

©Zach Keele. All Rights Reserved.

You can find the whole series here.

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  • Zach Keele
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    Rev. Zachary Keele grew up on a ranch in a small town named Crawford, Colorado. He attended Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania and received his Master of Divinity from Westminster Seminary California. He has served as the pastor of Escondido OPC since 2006.

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