The Psalms of Vengeance
There are seven psalms in which the psalmist hurls God’s curses on his enemies, in no uncertain terms (Psalms 6:1-10; Psalms 35:1-28; 59:1-17; 69:1-36; 83:1-18; 109:1-31; 137:1-9). For example,
May his days be few;. . . May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.
May his children be wandering beggars; may they be driven from their ruined homes.
May a creditor seize all he has; may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.
May no one extend kindness to him or take pity on his fatherless children. May his descendants be cut off, their names blotted out from the next generation.
May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord;
may the sin of his mother never be blotted out.
—Psalm 109:8–14
These psalms are also called the imprecatory psalms because the psalmist showers imprecations (curses) on his enemies. Fourteen other psalms include an imprecatory prayer (for example, Psalm 3:7; 5:10; 7:14–16). The expression of hatred and the desire for vindication are also found in the prayers of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 11:18-20; Jeremiah 15:15-18; Jeremiah 17:18; 18:19-23; 20:11-12) and Nehemiah (Nehemiah 6:14; 13:29).
What are we to do with these psalms that seem to squarely contradict Jesus’ command to love our enemies (Luke 6:27–28)? Some people simply write them off. They feel that the Old Testament preaches law and vengeance, whereas the New Testament teaches love for God and neighbor. Therefore these psalms have no place in the Christian life.
But they forget that Jesus took the two great commandments (“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and . . . soul and . . . mind . . . and . . . your neighbor as yourself,” Matthew 22:37–39) directly from the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18). And His command to love our enemies is also found in the Old Testament:
“Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice. . . . If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink” (Proverbs 24:17; 25:21).
And “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” (Exodus 21:24) is not, as is often assumed, a legalization of vengeance. Rather, it limits those who have been wronged to the recovery of actual damages rather than punitive damages. It is a humane law, designed to prevent an ever-escalating spiral of revenge.
The Old Testament already contains the key teachings of Jesus—and the New Testament clearly does not teach only “sweetness and light.” Jesus condemned Korazin and Capernaum (Matthew 11:21–24) and severely criticized the leaders and the unbelief of the Jews (Matthew 7:23 [compare with Psalm 6:8]; Mark 11:14; 12:9). The apostles also had very strong words for heretics and evildoers (1 Corinthians 5:5; Galatians 1:8–9; 5:12; 2 Timothy 4:14 [compare with Psalm 62:12]; 2 Peter 2; 2 John 7–11; Jude 3–16).
The fact is that in both the Old and the New Testament we find the requirement to love as well as the requirement to hate evil.
What bothers us about the imprecatory psalms is their concreteness. “God hates sin but loves the sinner” was as true in the Old Testament as it is now. But in the Old Testament, sin and evil are not viewed as abstractions; rather, they exist in their concrete manifestations—real actions by real people.
In the Old Testament, God’s people, the nation of Israel, is a concrete reality. The nation lives in a specific place, the Promised Land. The temple is an actual place where
God is present. And above all, the God of Israel is known through His concrete acts in history, foremost among them the Exodus from Egypt. And just as God’s presence is known through His concrete acts in history, so evil is known through its concrete manifestations.
In the Lord’s Prayer, we ask, “Deliver us from the evil one” (or, “from evil”). The psalmists make the same request, but in more concrete form: deliver us from evil by delivering us from the evil ones. In the New Testament, evil and sin oppose the coming of God’s kingdom. In the Old Testament, evil and sin oppose the kingdom of God’s people, Israel. But in both cases, sin and evil are an assault on God Himself by opposing that which is dearest to His heart.
The imprecatory psalms are a constant reminder that evil is not an abstraction but a stark, everyday reality. They remind us that God hates evil, not in the abstract, but in people’s actions or failure to act—whether these are actions of unbelievers or of God’s own people. (Note how often the psalmists cry out for forgiveness for their own sins!)
Henry H. Halley, Halley’s Bible Handbook, n.d.
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