Ruthless witnesses come forward; they question me on things I know nothing about. They repay me evil for good and leave me like one bereaved. Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth and humbled myself with fasting. When my prayers returned to me unanswered, I went about mourning as though for my friend or brother. I bowed my head in grief as though weeping for my mother. (Psalm 35:11-14)
What do you do when your enemy is cut down? Do you celebrate? Do you finish him/her off?
Here the psalmist, presumably David, since Psalm 35 is labeled, "Of David," recalls when ruthless witnesses--those doing evil to him in return for his doing good to them--were ill. It's likely they had been stricken with a life-threatening sickness, because after he interceded for them, after his prayers went unanswered, he mourned for them, as though they had died. The psalmist did not celebrate. He did not finish off his enemies. When they became ill he prayed fervently with sackcloth and fasting. In compassion he mourned their decline.
What do you do when your enemy is cut down?
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