Ensnared By His Own Devices

“For without cause they hid their net for me; without cause they dug a pit for my life. Let destruction come upon him when he does not know it! And let the net that he hid ensnare him; let him fall into it—to his destruction! Then my soul will rejoice in the Lord, exulting in his salvation.” -Psalm 35:7–9

David’s prayer may seem retaliatory and vindictive at first glance. Only after the Lord springs his trap on David’s enemies will he be satisfied and rejoice in the Lord, celebrating in the triumph over them. But the key to understanding the imprecations (righteous curses) is in the kind of wickedness described in verses 7 and 8.

The wicked are behaving treacherously toward him. They are acting secretly and “without cause.” To hide a net or dig a pit is hunting language describing the process for catching unsuspecting prey, like birds and rabbits. The enemies of David—and thus of God and the state—are working in secret to destroy David when he least expects it.

It is the Lord alone who knows the secrets of wicked men’s hearts. And it is the Lord alone who can execute perfectly righteous judgment. Though David may have been unaware of their plot at first, the Lord never was. He knew about it all along. Now that David has discovered the plot, his prayer for them is poetic justice executed by the righteous Lord. Let them be caught off guard in their own devices he prays—like Haman hung on his own gallows.

Let us rest assured the Lord knows the evil plotted against us even when we are unaware (1 Peter 5:5c-8), and will deliver us by turning the wicked devise against those who devise them.