Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me.
The starting-point of the psalm appears in 1 Samuel 24:15: David, after sparing Saul in Engedi, says, "The Lord be judge between me and thee ... and plead my cause" (cf. Psalms 35:1). The antitypical David, in John 13:25, appropriates Psalms 35:19. He alone could plead perfect righteousness, love, meekness, and prayerfulness in His distress through the monstrous ingratitude of His foes. For a striking coincidence between Psalms 34:1-22 and Psalms 35:1-28, cf. Ps. 34:37 with Psalms 35:5-6) Complaint, prayer, and promise of thanksgiving occurs in each of the three strophes of the psalm, Psalms 35:1-28. Throughout He appeals from the malice of His foes to the retributive justice of God to vindicate His cause. Plead ... strive with me - rather, as the Hebrew ( riybaah (H7378) ... yªriybay (H3401)) is the same, 'plead my cause ... with them that plead with me.' Thus, the retributive justice of God is marked, which pays men in their own coin, and punishes men in kind. They plead with me as if they had justice on their side; But do thou plead with them, and show them by the issue, that the right is on my side. So the enemies of Messiah, the Antitype, proceeded against Him by a judicial process (Isaiah 53:8).
Fight ... As "plead" implies a contest of right, so "fight," a contest of might. The Hebrew ( lªcham (H3898)) for "fight" is literally to eat or consume (cf. Numbers 24:8).