Psalms 35:5

Psa 35:5 Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the LORD chase [them].

Ver. 5. Let them be as chaff] Facti sint a corde suo fugitivi, let them fly before their own consciences, restless and uncertain whither to turn themselves.

And let the angel of the Lord chase them] It may be understood both of the evil angels and of the good, ready at God’s command to do execution upon his enemies. Chaff driven before the wind may rest against a wall; but where shall they rest who are chased by an angel? "Where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" 1Pe 4:18. Surely nowhere.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psa 35:5. Let them be — Or, They shall be; as chaff before the wind — That is, dispersed and chased from place to place, finding rest and safety nowhere. And let the angel of the Lord — Whom God employs to defend his people, and to destroy his enemies; chase them — Drive them forward to their destruction, as chaff is driven by a fierce wind.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5, 6. Chaff—Emblem of worthlessness. See on Psa_83:13.

Angel of the Lord—The title occurs twice in this verse, and nowhere else in the psalms except Psa_34:7, where see note. Here it seems to mean any angel specially sent by Jehovah to execute the judgment; or, if Messiah is meant, he, too, executeth judgment. Psa_2:9-12; Joh_5:22-27.

Let their way be dark and slippery—Literally, darkness and slipperinesses, the abstract for the concrete, and the plural of the last word for intensity.

Persecute—Here, as in Psa_35:3, this word should be translated pursue. The figure is that of pursuing a retreating army in order to make victory complete, and answers to “chase”—drive forward—in Psa_35:5. A retreating army, covered with shame, confusion, and disappointment, pursued by the angel of Jehovah through dark and slippery passages, is an object too terrible for calm contemplation. Still it is only what they had meted out to David, and is according to the oldest laws of justice.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. (Psa 35:5) Let them be as chaff before a wind, and the angel of Jehovah smiting. Under the influence of inspiration, the Psalmist sees the natural and righteous consequences of their wickedness, and viewing the case merely in itself, apart from personal feeling, speaks of this effect as desirable. The wish expressed is, to all intents and purposes, equivalent to a prediction or the affirmation of a general truth. The Psalmist desires the destruction of these sinners precisely as God wills it; nor is it any harder to reconcile such wishes with the highest degree of human goodness than it is to reconcile the certain fact that God allows some men to perish with his infinite bene volence. The figure of chaff before the wind suggests the idea of intrinsic worthlessness with that of easy and complete destruction. Compare Psa 1:4. The participle at the close means striking (them) down, so that they cannot rise. Compare Psa 36:12. The angel of Jehovah, his appointed instrument of vengeance. See above, on Psa 34:8 (7).

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Smite them with the spirit of giddiness that their enterprises may be foolish, and they received just reward.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(Compare Psa 1:4) --a terrible fate; driven by wind on a slippery path in darkness, and hotly pursued by supernatural violence (Sa2 24:16; Act 12:23).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 5. Let the angel of the Lord chase them.] By angel we may either understand one of those spirits, whether good or bad, commonly thus denominated, or any thing used by God himself as the instrument of their confusion.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The same thing he expresses more clearly in the following verse, praying that the angel of the Lord would drive them through dark and slippery places, so that reason and understanding might fail them, and that they might not know whither to go, nor what to become, nor have even time given them to draw their breath. We need not be surprised that this work should be assigned to the angels, by whose instrumentality God executes his judgments. At the same time, this passage may be expounded of the devils as well as of the holy angels, who are ever ready to execute the divine behests. We know that the devil is permitted to exercise his dominion over the reprobate; and hence it is often said that “an evil spirit from God came upon Saul,” (1 Samuel 18:10.) But as the devils never execute the will of God, unless compelled to do it when God wishes to serve himself of them; the Sacred Scriptures declare that the holy and elect angels are in a much higher sense the servants of God. God, then, executes his judgments by the wicked and reprobate angels; but he gives the elect angels the pre-eminence over them. On this account, also, good angels only are called rightfully “principalities,” as in Ephesians 3:10; Colossians 1:16, and other similar passages. If it is objected that it is not meet that the angels, who are the ministers of grace and salvation, and the appointed guardians of the faithful, should be employed in executing judgment upon the reprobate, the explanation is simply this, that they cannot watch for the preservation of the godly without being prepared for fighting — that they cannot succor them by their aid without also opposing their enemies, and declaring themselves to be against them. The style of imprecation which the Psalmist here employs can be explained only by bearing in mind what I have elsewhere said, namely, that David pleads not simply his own cause, nor utters rashly the dictates of passion, nor with unadvised zeal desires the destruction of his enemies; but under the guidance of the Holy Spirit he entertains and expresses against the reprobate such desires as were characterised by great moderation, and which were far removed from the spirit of those who are impelled either by desire of revenge or hatred, or some other inordinate emotion of the flesh.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(5) As chaff.—Comp. Psa_1:4, and see Note. There can be little doubt that the “angel of Jehovah” in this and the following verse is (comp. Psa_104:4) a personification of the “hurricane” itself, which drives before it all obstacles, and overwhelms even whole armies in dangerous places.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5, 6. Let them be as chaff before the wind,

The angel of Jehovah thrusting them down.

Let their way be all dark and slippery,

The angel of Jehovah pursuing them.

A terrible picture of a pell-mell rout. Does it not read like a recollection of some incident in a warrior’s life, perhaps some defeat of the Philistines? Helpless as chaff before the wind (Psa_1:4, Psa_83:13) they are driven headlong down a dark and slippery track, where they can neither see nor keep their footing, with the dread Angel smiting them down as they vainly strive to escape. “The tracks down the limestone hills of Palestine are often worn as smooth as marble” (Kay).

Most probably the participles should be transposed. Pursuing suits the image of the storm-driven chaff (Isa_17:13); thrusting down (Psa_36:12; Psa_118:13; Psa_140:4) agrees better with the picture of the stumbling fugitives. For the angel of Jehovah see note on Psa_34:7. Cp. the reminiscence of this passage in Jer_23:12.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Let them be as chaff before the wind,.... As they are; see Psa 1:4;

and let the angel of the Lord chase them; either a good angel, who is the Lord's, his creature that ministers unto him, and is ready to obey his orders; and who, as he encamps about the saints and protects them, so he is able to destroy their enemies; as one angel in a night destroyed all the firstborn in Egypt, and another the whole army of the Assyrians, Exo 12:29; an angel of the Lord, who is swift to fly, and so to chase and overtake, and able to execute whatever is the will of the Lord; or else an evil angel, who is the Lord's, being made by him, though not made evil by him; and who is under his restraints, and can do nothing but by his permission; and who sometimes is employed by the Lord, as the executioner of his wrath upon wicked men; is suffered to distress and torture their consciences in this life, and hereafter drag them into everlasting burnings, prepared for the devil and his angels.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Let them be as chaff before the wind - As chaff is driven away in winnowing grain. See the notes at Psa 1:4.

And let the angel of the Lord chase them - Drive them away, or scatter them. Angels are often represented in the Scriptures as agents employed by God in bringing punishment on wicked people. See 2Ki 19:35; Isa 37:36; 1Ch 21:12, 1Ch 21:30; 2Sa 24:16.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

As chaff before the wind, i.e. dispersed and chased from place to place, finding rest and safety no where.

The angel of the Lord; whom God useth to defend his people, and to destroy their enemies.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 5. Let them be as chaff before the wind. They were swift enough to attack, let them be as swift to flee. Let their own fears and the alarms of their consciences unman them so that the least breeze of trouble shall carry them hither and thither. Ungodly men are worthless in character, and light in their behaviour, being destitute of solidity and fixedness; it is but just that those that make themselves chaff should be treated as such. When this imprecation is fulfilled in graceless men, they will find it an awful thing to be for ever without rest, without peace of mind, or stay of soul, hurried from fear to fear, and from misery to misery. And let the angel of the Lord chase them. Fallen angels shall haunt them, good angels shall afflict them. To be pursued by avenging spirits will be the lot of those who delight in persecution. Observe the whole scene as the psalmist sketches it: the furious foe is first held at bay, then turned back, then driven to headlong flight, and chased by fiery messengers from whom there is no escape, while his pathway becomes dark and dangerous, and his destruction overwhelming.

Ver. 5. As chaff. Literally, "As the thistledown." John Morison.

None.

Psalms 35:6*

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Let them be as chaff before the wind. (comp. Psa_1:4 Isa_17:13 Isa_29:5 Hos_13:3) Chaff is the type of whatever is light, vain, futile, and worthless; chaff driven before the wind represents the confused rout of a beaten army flying without any resistance before an enemy. And let the angel of the Lord chase them; rather, smite them. The angel of the Lord, who protects the righteous, (Psa_34:7) is called on to complete the discomfiture of the wicked ones, who are David"s enemies.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

angel

(See Scofield "Heb 1:4").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.