Psalms 35:8 - Exposition

Let destruction come upon him at unawares ; i.e. let the evil happen to him that he designed against others. As he sought to catch others in traps of which they knew nothing ( Psalms 35:7 ), so let an unexpected destruction come upon him. And let his net that he hath hid catch himself (comp. Psalms 9:15 , Psalms 9:16 ; Psalms 57:6 ; Psalms 141:10 ). It is the perfection of poetic justice when "the engineer" is "hoist by his own petard." Into that very destruction lot him fall ; rather, for destruction let him fall therein ; i.e. let him not only fall into his own trap, but let his fall prove his destruction. David's imprecations have always something about them from which the Christian shrinks; and this is particularly the case when he asks for his enemies' destruction.