False Witnesses Did Rise Up (Psalm 35:11)

2023-07-03

False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not. (Psalm 35:11)

Much of David’s life was a pattern for the life of the Lord Jesus Christ when He was here. The context of the psalm is how David lamented for and helped others, and he was paid back with people lying about him and fighting against him. Jesus of Nazareth was the same way. The Lord ministered to multitudes, and they cheered for Him on Palm Sunday, but many of those same people wanted Him dead when He did not become the warrior to destroy their enemies. On trial, the religious council tried to get false witnesses to accuse Him of things:

Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death; But found none: yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. At the last came two false witnesses, And said, This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days. (Matthew 26:59-61)

And there arose certain, and bare false witness against him, saying, We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands. (Mark 14:57-58)

They needed two or three witnesses to convict Him, so this is why it was significant for two witnesses to come forward (Deuteronomy 17:6; 19:15). “But neither so did their witness agree together” (Mark 14:59).

But didn’t Jesus say the following?

Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body. (John 2:19-21)

However, the Lord had said that if they were to destroy the Temple, He could raise it in three days. Notice this is an imperative (in English), not a first-person subject. Now He was speaking of His body. They did destroy His body, and He did raise it in three days. But even if He were speaking of the Temple building, He never said He would destroy it. The false witnesses said that He would destroy it.

You can even see that Matthew and Mark record different renditions of the disagreeing witnesses. Matthew’s account had Him destroy the building and rebuild it. Mark’s account had a Temple being rebuilt without hands. Either way, we can see how the witnesses did not agree, and how desperate they were to destroy Him.