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by
Doug Ward |
The Psalter is the hymnbook and prayer book of the people of God. When we sing
and pray along with the psalms, we praise the God of Israel for his perfect
character and mighty works. We find comfort and encouragement in times of
trial. We thank God for past deliverance as we pray for the advance of his
Kingdom.
We
may hesitate, though, to pray with the psalms that feature imprecations,
sternly-worded prayers for divine judgment of enemies. We understand that these
imprecatory psalms express the honest feelings of the psalmists, but are they
really appropriate for Christians? Are they compatible with Jesus' directive to
love our enemies? (Lk 6:27-36)
In
considering these questions, we should remember that love of enemies is taught
throughout the Bible, not just in the New Testament (Ex 23:4-5; Pr 24:17; 25:21), so we cannot assume that these psalms are
morally deficient. Moreover, there are imprecations in the New Testament (Gal
1:8-9; 5:12; 1 Co 16:22) as well as in the psalms. The martyrs pictured in
Revelation 6:10 pray for vindication, just as the psalmists do. So does the persistent widow in the Luke 18:1-8, with Jesus'
endorsement. All of this suggests that we should take a closer look at the
imprecatory psalms before excluding them from our worship.
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The
Enemy: Seed of the Serpent |
The imprecatory psalms ask God to deal with an unnamed enemy. This enemy is
bent upon doing violence (Pss 7:16; 17:9; 27:12;
58:2), which may be physical or verbal. The enemy's attacks include slander
(140:11), false accusation (35:11, 21; 109:4,20,25,29), mockery (35:15-16, 26;
109:25), and deceitful speech (35:20; 58:3; 109:2). His whole being is
dedicated to doing evil, including hands (58:2; 71:4), feet (35:3; 109:16),
eyes (10:8; 56:6; 71:10), mouth (109:2-4), heart (58:2; 10:6; 55:15), and
imagination (31:13; 35:4; 59:5).
The
enemies oppose Israel, and in doing so they stand in the way of God's plan to
bless all nations through Israel. The opposition may be a plot to destroy the
entire nation, as in Psalm 83:4: "Come, let us wipe them out as a nation;
let the name of Israel be remembered no more!" It may be an attack on
God's sanctuary (74:3-7; 79:1), or on the Davidic King through whom the Messiah
is prophesied to come. By promoting wickedness, the enemy undermines the peace
of Israel, whose wellbeing in the land depends on righteousness and justice
being done (Dt 16:18-20). In summary, the enemy in the imprecatory psalms is an
enemy of God, not just some person with whom the psalmist has difficulty
getting along.
To
highlight this point, the psalms compare the enemies to serpents with sharp
tongues and deadly venom (Pss 58:4-5; 140:3). They
are "crafty" (83:3) like the serpent in the Garden of Eden (Ge 3:1).
These comparisons allude to Genesis 3:15, a verse traditionally seen as the
Bible's first hint of the messianic promise.1
After the sin of Adam and Eve, God reveals that mankind would face ongoing
conflict against forces of evil (pictured as the "offspring" of the
serpent), with some male offspring of Eve delivering a crushing blow to the
head of the serpent.
The
psalms make frequent allusion to Genesis 3:15, expressing faith that God will
defeat the serpent. "But God will strike the heads of his enemies,"
Psalm 68:21 confidently declares. Steps on the way to the final victory include
Jael's striking the head of Sisera (Ps 83:9; Jdg 4:21-22) and the beheading of Midianite princes Oreb and Zeeb by Gideon's forces
(Ps 83:11; Jdg 7:25).
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The
Obedient Petitioner |
The petitioner in the imprecatory psalms is one who has suffered unjustly at
the hands of the enemy. The enemy has attacked him without a cause (Ps 69:2),
responding to his love with hatred (35:12-16; 109:3-5). He is not sinless
(69:5; 79:8; 143:2), but he is innocent in the matter at hand. Rather than
responding to the enemy in kind, he prays for vindication, leaving the matter
with God.
His
prayers are consistent with the divine will. He knows that God is faithful to
his covenant, and that he has promised to defeat the serpent's offspring and
those who curse Israel (Ge 3:15; 12:3). He prays that God, the shield of
Abraham (Ge 15:1), will be his shield (Ps 35:1-2).
He
also knows that God, who upholds the cause of the innocent and needy (Dt 10:18;
27:19), prescribes measure-for-measure justice for those who exploit them (Dt
19:16-21). He then prays that God will deliver this kind of justice (Pss 28:4; 94:2; 137:8), which limits punishment to what the
enemy deserves.
The
petitioner prays out of love for God and concern for God's name-i.e., his
reputation (Pss 79:9;109:21;143:11). He wants God's
greatness and justice to be recognized (58:11; 59:13; 83:18; 109:27) and his
mighty works to be praised (5:11; 35:27-28; 40:16). He loves God's kingdom and
wants peace to prevail in it.
Moreover,
he prays out of concern for the enemy, asking that the enemy repent (83:16) and
that divine judgment will lead many to submit to God (40:3; 68:28-31). Judgment
interrupts a cycle of violence and can lead the enemy to change before he
becomes hardened in sin.
The
petitioner is part of a nation of kings and priests and often a king of that
nation. He lives in an era when God's kingdom has a physical presence on the
earth, with borders and a government and flesh-and-blood enemies. The king
guards and protects the kingdom (Ps 72:4, 8-17). His prayers for judgment are a
way in which he prays, "Thy kingdom come!" He would be shirking his
duty if he did not make such prayers.
We
see, then, that the imprecatory psalms are entirely appropriate for their
original setting in salvation history and should not be removed from our
Bibles. Their use in the New Testament and continuing relevance for Christians
will be considered in a sequel to this article.
1See
Trevor Laurence, Cursing with God: The Imprecatory Psalms and the Ethics of
Christian Prayer, Baylor University Press, 2022, chapter 2.
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