Psalm 109
Dear RTB’ers,
Today’s Psalm took me by surprise. The header calls it “A Psalm of David”. So my first expectation is a psalm of praise. Then verses 2-5 sound like the beginnings of a lament. But instead, as we read on, what we get is David’s appeal for retribution upon an enemy, fifteen verses worth (vv. 6-20). Quite unusual! Both STS and my Study Bible put this Psalm into a class of “imprecatory” psalms – wishing harm or divine vengeance on an enemy. Of interest is that David, himself, is not seeking personal revenge; instead, he is asking God to exact justice for wrongdoings done to him. Thankfully, David closes with his customary prayer for deliverance: Help me, O LORD my God! Save me according to Your steadfast love! (v. 26) Still, the main body of the Psalm is unusual to me.
Two other notes… First, the apostles used verse 8 as a reason for replacing Judas: For it is written in the Book of Psalms, “…Let another take his office.” (Acts 1:20) Second, verses 24-25 sound a lot like Job – “an object of scorn”!
Blessings.
See also:
Thanks for your comments Fred. When I read this psalm I first missed the title “A Psalm of David”. Since I didn’t realize it was attributed to David I was a bit uncomfortable with the text.
“May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.” Wow!
Yes pretty harsh.
So, when considering the “imprecatory” psalms, we need to think clearly about the seriousness of evil and sin — and what God should do about it. Yes, God clearly offers forgiveness to even the most vile of sinners, sending His own Son to die for us all, even while we were still His enemies. (See Romans 5:6-11) But what do we really want God to do with the unrepentant, those who reject His love and kindness and forgiveness, who persist in evil? Do we really think it would be appropriate for Him to simply say, “Gee, Auschwitz was nasty, but it’s all OK. It’s not really a problem. Just keep on doing what you all are doing. I really don’t mind.” Is that the God we worship? I don’t think so! (And I’m pretty sure you don’t either…)
Psalms like Psalm 109 express a desire for justice, God’s justice. Yes, far be it from us to seek our own vengeance (since we humans will almost certainly not execute that vengeance properly or justly), but let’s not think that God is any less opposed to evil now than He was when Psalm 109 was written.
That then begs the question of how we see sin in our own lives. Do we look at it and think it’s all no big deal? Do we hate sin like God does, or do we cozy right up to it? Do we presume upon God’s mercy? Do we look for God to get rid of sin in our lives? Or do we think He wants only to remove sin’s penalty? Take a good long hard look within yourself when considering these questions. Then take a good long hard look at the Cross.