Imprecatory Psalms

imprecate [im-pri-keyt] v. to invoke or call down (evil or curses), as upon a person. Dictionary.com Ps 35:4-8 (HCSB)
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Let those who seek to kill me be disgraced and humiliated; let those who plan to harm me be turned back and ashamed. Let them be like husks in the wind, with the angel of the LORD driving them away. Let their way be dark and slippery, with the angel of the LORD pursuing them. They hid their net for me without cause; they dug a pit for me without cause. Let ruin come on him unexpectedly, and let the net that he hid ensnare him; let him fall into itto his ruin.

Psalm 109:6-15 (HCSB)

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Set a wicked person over him; let an accuser stand at his right hand. When he is judged, let him be found guilty, and let his prayer be counted as sin. Let his days be few; let another take over his position. Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. Let his children wander as beggars, searching [for food] far from their demolished homes. Let a creditor seize all he has; let strangers plunder what he has worked for. Let no one show him kindness, and let no one be gracious to his fatherless children. Let the line of his descendants be cut off; let their name be blotted out in the next generation. Let his forefathers' guilt be remembered before the LORD, and do not let his mother's sin be blotted out. Let their sins always remain before the LORD, and let Him cut off [all] memory of them from the earth.

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How do we interpret imprecatory Psalms? A failed attempt to explain them Some try to explain the imprecatory Psalms by saying the New Testament gave us a better ethic, so that we now pray for those who persecute us and do good to those who hurt us. Why this attempt fails: First, Jesus said the Old Testament was about him (Lk 24:44). So, the Old Testament points toward Christ. It does not contrast with Christ. Second, Jesus claimed his teachings were a continuation of the Old Testament's ethics. His commands to love were based on the commands of the OT (Mt 22:34-40). Third, the NT has curses similar to the worst curses of the OT . Paul says anyone who rejects Christ should be cursed (1 Cor 16:22; Gal 1:8-9). And the martyrs in heaven ask God to avenge their blood (Rev 6:9-10). Fourth, the NT quotes and incorporates the imprecatory Psalms. In Romans 11:9-10, Paul applies Ps 69 to those Jews who rejected Christ. And David says: Let their feasting become a snare and a trap, a pitfall and a retribution to them. Let their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent continually. Acts 1:20 quotes Psalm 109:8 and applies it to Judas. Let his days be few; let another take over his position. So, how should we make sense of these curses? Remember the first rule of interpreting a Psalm is that they are meant to be read as a whole poem or song. They are not meant to be taken apart and separated from their context. So, let's look at Psalm 109. 1. Look at verse 1. What is the first thing David does in this Psalm? 2. What does verse 3 tell us about the people attacking David? 3. What do verses 4 and 5 tell us about David? 4. How do the first 5 verses set the stage for the imprecation in verses 6-15? 5. What more do verses 17-19 tell us about the attackers? 6. In verse 21, what reason does David give for God to destroy the attackers? 7. What do verses 26 and 27 say will result from God's justice? 8. What do verses 30 and 31 say will result from God's justice? 9. So, when we look at the entire Psalm, how can we summarize David's imprecation of his enemies?

Is this true of other imprecatory Psalms? Let's read Psalm 35. 10. How do we see the same principles in Psalm 35? But we may still have some difficulty reconciling calls for justice with Jesus' ethic of forgiveness. Here, a principle borrowed from interpreting prophecy can be helpful. In Jonah 1:1-3, God commands Jonah to go east to the city of Nineveh and declare judgment and destruction are coming to them. But, Jonah flees in the opposite direction, west to Tarshish. The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because their wickedness has confronted Me. However, Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish from the LORD's presence. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish, from the LORD's presence. Of course, Jonah did, eventually, go to Ninevah and declare their coming destruction. Jonah set out on the first day of his walk in the city and proclaimed, In 40 days Nineveh will be overthrown! (Jonah 3:4, CSB) The people of Nineveh repented. The men of Nineveh believed in God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least. When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat in ashes. Then he issued a decree in Nineveh: By order of the king and his nobles: No man or beast, herd or flock, is to taste anything at all. They must not eat or drink water. Furthermore, both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth, and everyone must call out earnestly to God. Each must turn from his evil ways and from the violence he is doing. (Jonah 3:6-8, CSB) And the result was that God did not fulfill his own promise. Then God saw their actionsthat they had turned from their evil waysso God relented from the disaster He had threatened to do to them. And He did not do it. (Jonah 3:10, CSB) And how did Jonah respond? But Jonah was greatly displeased and became furious. He prayed to the LORD: "Please, LORD, isn't this what I said while I was still in my own country? That's why I fled toward Tarshish in the first place. I knew that You are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to become angry, rich in faithful love, and One who relents from [sending] disaster. (Jonah 4:1-2) 11. Jonah was told by God to go and declare: In 40 days Nineveh will be overthrown! But, what does Jonah's statement in 4:1-2 tell us he knew about God's judgment? 12. What does Jeremiah 18:7-10 tell us about any promised judgment of God? 13. What does Jer 18:7-10 mean for how we interpret prayers for judgment in imprecatory Psalms?

Application 14. What could you say to a Christian who used a curse in one of the Psalms to claim the New Testament is about love and the Old Testament is about judgment? 15. What would you say to a non-Christian who used an imprecatory Psalm to claim that the Bible promotes evil? 16. Can a Christian pray an imprecatory prayer against the leaders of Al Qaeda? 17. Can a Christian pray an imprecatory prayer against Barack Obama?