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.
Fred