“For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul: the mighty are gathered against me; not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O Lord.”
The depiction of enemies who lie in wait and gather against the supplicant without transgression establishes the injustice of the persecution: the psalmist has not provoked this attack through misconduct. The image of them lying in wait suggests covert and planned assassination attempts rather than spontaneous conflict. The innocence of the psalmist juxtaposed with the enemies' aggressive plotting establishes a kind of cosmic injustice: the righteous are hunted for no legitimate reason. This verse appeals to God's justice by establishing the undeserved nature of the persecution.
Church Fathers on Psalms 59:3
The First Part. 1. As the Scripture is wont to set mysteries of the Psalms on the titles, and to deck the brow of a Psalm with the high announcement of a Mystery, in order that we that are about to go in may know (when as it were upon the door-post we have read what within is doing) either of whom the house is, or who is the owner of that estate: so also in this Psalm there has been written a title, of a title. For it has, “At the end, corrupt not for David himself unto the…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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