Our world is broken. Unspeakable evils like murder, rape, theft, lying and hate are committed by one against another. Imprecations are then uttered. “Got nothing but hate for those who murdered that child, may the Lord strike them down!” Such is the impassioned plea from one yearning to see wrongs set right.
David too experienced the afflictions of life in a sinful and fallen world, imprecations are uttered with the yearning for justice. He says,
Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!
O men of blood, depart from me!
They speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies take your name in vain.
Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.(Psalm 139:19-22).[1]
The psalmist burns with righteous indignation. He calls upon the Lord to “slay the wicked” and for “men of blood” to “depart.” Their murderous and evil ways set them against God but David sides with the Lord in denouncing and declaring hatred for the things they do. The enemies of Yahweh are David’s enemies.
Israelites still well informed that if they forsook their covenant with the Lord that curses would fall upon them too (Deut. 11:26-32; 27:9-26; 29:16-28). God is holy and He opposes evil. If people commit to doing evil, God will oppose the evil. This applied to both Israel and the pagan nations.
Even David is far from just pointing out the faults of others and praying for divine wrath to fall upon them. He is concerned for his own well-being and petitions the Lord to investigate his own heart. He does not want to stumble into the very evil done by those who hate the Lord. He prays,
Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting! (Psa. 139:23-24)
David wants his heart to be aligned with God’s heart. He wants to be examined. He wants to be made aware of his own faults. He wants to be led in the right direction, the eternal way, the way everlasting.
Imprecations uttered by David can also be found in Psalm 5, 11, 12, 58, 59, 69 and 109. The Levite musician Asaph also pronounces imprecations in Psalm 79 and 83. The unattributed compositions of Psalms 94 and 137, likewise, have imprecations. These imprecatory psalms “call upon God to destroy the enemies of God’s people, also referred to as psalms of cursing or vengeance. Imprecatory psalms are disturbing or even repulsive to some modern readers.”[2]
Some modern readers get unsettled with Asaph’s imprecation: “Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones | and dashes them against the rock!” (Psa. 137:9). Yet, the psalmist employs disturbing imagery to covey his utter distress at the ruthless treatment of the Babylonian subjugators who destroyed Jerusalem and Solomon’s Temple and then taunted them as their prisoners of war (Psa. 137:1-6; cf. 2 Kings 25:8-12). The Edomites also kept Jews from fleeing the destruction of their city, and taunted them in their captivity (Psa. 137:7; Obadiah 1-21). The psalmist is morally outraged at the whole situation, he wants things set right, which makes such “irate reactions to terrible injustices are understandable.”[3]
The imagery of dashing children upon the rocks is the poet’s honest expression of the unspeakable mistreatments being experienced in the Babylonian captivity. On the other hand, it would be a mistake to take Asaph’s imprecation literally as an expectation for some coldhearted vengeance, but hyperbole is being employed wherein “horror may be piled on horror more to express the speaker’s sense of outrage than to spell out the penalties he literally intends.”[4]
Imprecatory psalms have purpose: They “help us to pray through our anger, frustrations, and spite to a submission to God’s will. Only then will the godly man or woman be able to pray for the execration of evil and the full establishment of God’s kingdom.”[5]
Something beyond the catharsis of uttering imprecations is needed and expected for God’s people to arrive at the place where “anger takes a back seat to mercy.”[6] The Lord calls us to love our enemies (Lev. 19:18; Matt. 5:43), mercifully extend opportunities for forgiveness (Prov. 25:21-22; Rom. 12:19-21; Eph. 4:32; Col. 3:12-13), and reconcile our differences (Lev. 19:17; Prov. 10:12; Matt. 6:12, 14-15; 18:15-35). “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil” (Eph. 4:26-27).
Even David seized opportunities to extend mercy against his enemies. He spared the life of Saul on more than one occasion (1 Sam. 24 and 26). He even lamented and eulogized the slain king — “How the mighty have fallen” (2 Sam. 1:17-27). When Absalom led an insurrection against his father, David sent troops to quash the rebellion but to “deal gently” with his son; i.e., spare his life (2 Sam. 18:5; cf. vv. 9-15).
There is something admirable about those who can maintain a stoic resolve while experiencing a horrendous injustice. But keeping a stiff upper lip has a downside too. Here is the problem: “Repression of righteous outrage obstructs justice and healing.”[7] Openly sharing about horrendous evils like war, murder, rape, abuse, theft, deception, and hate moves wounded survivors towards healing and brings awareness to others who can work together to do all that is possible to keep similar sorts of evils from happening. Imprecations may be all that can be spoken by sufferers working through the pain until God brings them to the place where reconciliation can happen, but maintaining silence exacerbates the problem. [8]
— WGN
Notes:
[1] All Scripture cited from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), unless noted.
[2] Arthur G. Patzia and Anthony J. Petrotta, Pocket Dictionary of Biblical Studies (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002), 62.
[3] Paul Copan, “Hateful and Vindictive Psalms,” Christian Research Journal, 31, 5 [2008]: https://www.equip.org/article/hateful-vindictive-psalms/
[4] Derek Kinder, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries: Psalms 1-72, vol. 14a, ed. D.J. Wiseman (Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1973), 27
[5] Willem A. VanGemeren, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, vol. 5, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1991), 833.
[6] Copan.
[7] Ibid.
[8] For further reading on imprecatory psalms, cf. discussions Paul Copan, When God Goes to Starbucks: A Guide to Everyday Apologetics (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books 2008), 121-135; Willem A. VanGemeren, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, vol. 5, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1991), 830-832; Derek Kinder, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries: Psalms 1-72, vol. 14a, ed. D.J. Wiseman (Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1973), 25-32; Walter C. Kaiser Jr. et al., Hard Sayings of the Bible (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1996), 280-282.
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