The book of Psalms of
the Old Testament is considered by general recognition and confession, one of
the most wonderful books of the Bible. Not only for the wealth of religious
ideas it expresses, not only because in it the voice of man is heard along with
that of God, but because the deepest human emotions are expressed in it, from
excessive joy to heavy sorrow, but also because this book becomes a source of
inexhaustible comfort and hope for all people, in all times, since everyone
finds there, a part of their hidden self. It is basically a book of prayers,
collective and individual.
The content of the
book is usually divided into 5 sections: (1-41, 42-72, 73-89, 90-106, 107-150).
Among these categories, there is another, which has attracted the attention not
only of believers, but also of negative critics. This is a category of Psalms
where there are curses against the enemies of the psalmist (David and others),
and which seem to express hatred and a vindictiveness. Such Psalms are mainly
18 (vv. 38-44), 35, 52, 58, 59, 69, 83, 109 and 137. These Psalms, if read
within the whole of the Psalms and in relation to others, may not be impressive
at first glance. However, if they are isolated and studied, they raise the
reasonable question of why they were included in an inspired book of the Bible,
and how they can be interpreted and understood today.
Do they really express
hatred and revenge, and if so, how can they be harmonized with the provisions
of the Mosaic law on love for enemies (Exod. 23:4-5, Lev. 19:17-18, cf. and
Prov. 24:17, 29, 25:21-22), and, much more, with the wonderful Christian
teaching on love even of enemies, forgiveness, and the blessing of enemies by
Christians (Matt. 5:44, 1 Cor. 4:12, Rom. 12:14,20).
These Psalms were
called by the researchers the Cathar Psalms (Imprecatory Psalms, Cursing
Psalms, Fluch psalmen) and they studied them in order to reach some
conclusions.
By reading such
Psalms, critics and deniers of the Bible claim that they are proof that the
Psalms are not an inspired book. Because they reveal hatred and a non-Christian
spirit and reveal the Psalmists’ belief in a bloodthirsty, vindictive, tribal
God who is called to avenge his faithful, just as the other peoples of the Near
East invoked their deities for war, massacres and the bloodshed of their
enemies!
Apparently, the
critics and atheists have arguments here. But is that how things are? Or might
a better investigation show that these Psalms can be integrated into the spirit
of the Psalmists’ era and the overall spirit of the Bible, as they exist?
Before we look at some individual points, it must be said in advance that these
Psalms were written by David and other known (Asaph, Korah, etc.) or unknown
Psalmists (such as the 137th apparently by an unknown Jew in Babylon, in the
6th century BC), and they speak of enemies. These enemies are sometimes
personal, unjust enemies and slanderers of the Psalmist, sometimes enemies of
the nation of Israel (e.g. Edomites, Moabites, Babylonians), and sometimes of
God himself. These enemies are accordingly dealt with in the Psalms, based on
the concept of justice and the basic principle that existed in the Mosaic law
(an eye for an eye, Exod. 21:23, 24 cf. Gen. 9:6) and is known as the law of
self-interest, or retaliation. A law known throughout antiquity and in the code
of the Babylonian king Hammurabi
This provision, which
expresses a spirit of justice, sets limits and restrictions on the victim's
revenge, and defines the administration of justice by the competent judges, by
imposing a penalty no greater than the evil and damage suffered by the victim
(cf. Deut. 25:1-3). Personal vendetta is thus abolished, except in the case of
intentional homicide (Num. 35:19 ff.).
Under the regime of
the Mosaic law, the Israelites learned to have a developed sense and criterion
of justice, which not only did not exclude punishment, but in the last analysis
they resorted in difficult and unapplicable cases to the source of justice, to
God himself.
The cry of the
psalmist in the above Psalms is a cry for justice, not for causeless hatred!
Let us pay attention to this. The “how much longer”, and “how much longer”, and
“Save me, O Lord”, are a complaint of the psalmist to God, who asks for an
answer to his prayers and nothing more than what will ultimately happen to the
wicked (see the expressions in Ps. 34:2, 9, 10, 35, 36. 55:23, 63:9-11 etc.). A
careful reading and analysis of the above Psalms, not fragmentarily as quoted,
but in the entirety of each one and based on the context, the historical
occasion of composition and, in particular, the poetic language which is a
language of exaggeration and metaphor, can turn the research in another
direction and to other, more valid thoughts.
Something very basic
that we must take into account in light of the above is that, for the most
part, the Psalmists did not yet have a clear view of the afterlife through the
resurrection of the dead as it is more clearly set out in the later books of
the Old Testament, i.e. Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, etc. For them, the field of
righteousness and justification of the believer is exclusively and solely
earthly life. Therefore, the Psalmists turn to the source of justice, to God
himself, for vengeance (from ek-dikazo, i.e., for the administration of
justice), because they do not want to take revenge, to take justice themselves,
with their own hands. They abandon themselves to the love, judgment, justice of
God and the punishment of the wicked by God himself. The Psalmist (5:5-6, 45:7)
referring to God says that God loves justice and hates lawlessness and will
destroy the wicked and transgressors. Thus, he also imitates God in this way
(Ps. 97:10). The Psalmists try when they suffer unjust suffering, to defend
themselves, to justify themselves, even though they recognize that they
themselves are sinners. They are on the side of God and his laws, and not on
the side of lawlessness, lies, hypocrisy and injustice.
The psalmist is
indignant against God’s enemies, whom he considers his own, personal enemies.
Thus, in Psalm 139:21-22 we read: “Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord,
and abhor those who rise up against you? I hate them with a perfect hatred.
They have become my personal enemies. Examine me, O God… Test my thoughts. See
if there is any wicked way in me…”
We observe, here in
this wonderful Psalm (for it is wonderful in its entirety), two things. First,
that David hates (= detests, without wanting to harm anyone, since in the
Hebrew language the verb hate also has this meaning) the enemies of God, and
considers them as his own, personal enemies, because God is a God of love and
justice. Second, he humbly asks God to cleanse him if he thinks anything wrong
in anything (cf. also Ps. 25:4; 26:2, 3).
Thus, in Psalm 59, the
psalmist concludes: “But I will sing of your power and praise your mercy in the
morning, for you have been my fortress… for you, O God, are my fortress, the
God who loves me!”
The national enemies
of Israel, the surrounding pagan neighboring nations (Edomites, Moabites,
Ammonites, Midianites, etc.), often tried to wipe out God’s covenant people,
Israel, from the “map of the earth” (Ps. 83:5). It was therefore reasonable for
the Psalmists to call upon God for their salvation and for the just punishment
of their enemies. For if they were destroyed as a nation, the pure monotheistic
faith in Yahweh, the true God, would be in danger of being destroyed along with
them, and the coming and recognition of the Messiah, the liberator of the whole
world, would also be in danger. The invocation for God’s justice is
particularly emphasized in Psalm 7:4 ff. where David, when he wants to be
justified by his adversary, says:
“Lord, my God, I have
not done what they accuse me of… I have not repaid evil to him who treated me
peacefully… Otherwise, let my enemies persecute me… Come, Lord… Defend me in
the judgment you have appointed… You, Lord, who judge the peoples, judge me and
understand my right, my innocence. Let the wickedness of the wicked cease now
and establish justice for man, you who know all their thoughts and desires in
their depths, righteous God… God is a righteous judge, he condemns the guilty
forever… I will praise the Lord for his righteousness.”
We should not forget
that the psalmist David, while in some Psalms he seems to seek the punishment
of the enemy and self-justification, did not himself cease to be merciful and
generous, as in the case of King Saul who was furiously pursuing him (1 Sam.
24:4-12, 26:10-11, 21-25) in the case of Shimei, Absalom, but also in other
cases (see 1 Sam. 30:23-25).
What may not have been
understood by critics of these Psalms and the Bible in general, but sometimes
even by believers themselves, is that, for the writers of the Bible, good and
justice will never triumph unless “iniquity is first crushed and injustice is
justly punished.” What we pray for, according to the words of our Lord, “thy
kingdom come, thy will be done,” means that the divine kingdom cannot come
without necessarily passing away the will of the wicked!… The wicked must be
crushed, so that justice may triumph and there may be lasting peace (Ps.
92:6-12, 110:5-6, Isa. 11:4, 63:1, Matt. 24:30, Rev. 2:26, 27, 19:11).
There is no doubt that
in some of the Psalms, there is a kind of seeking of revenge as we have
analyzed above. The morality of the Psalms under the power of the Mosaic Law
covenant and the law, and the regulations of war (Deut. 20), is not of the same
height as the morality in the Sermon on the Mount of Jesus, and of the Apostle
Paul. However, let us not forget that even within the framework of the theology
of the New Testament, and in the spirit of its morality, there is also hatred
against injustice, and curses, even, on the part of Jesus against the
unrepentant wicked! The Apostle Paul, referring to Christ, applies Ps. 45:7, 8
to himself, when he says: “You loved righteousness and hated lawlessness” (Heb.
1:8). Christ, therefore, hates lawlessness just as God Himself hates six things
(Prov. 6:16-19) and curses the lawless! (Gen. 12:3). Jesus Himself, in the
parable of the sheep and the goats, curses the unrepentant goat-like ones, with
these terrible words: “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire,
prepared for the devil and his angels…” (Matt. 25:41). In the mouth of Jesus
there is the curse and condemnation of the unrepentant wicked. In the spirit of
the New Testament, vengeance, i.e. the dispensing of divine justice, is not
absent, just as it happens in the Psalms with the curses (see Luke 18:7, 8,
21:22).
Finally, something
else noteworthy is that the writers of the New Testament did not hesitate to
quote verses and passages from these “annoying” Psalms for the critics and,
specifically, from Psalm 109:8 “and his bishopric was taken by another” (O’),
which the apostle Peter applied to Judas who fell from his position as a
traitor (Acts 1:20). Also in the Gospel of John 15:25, we have a quote again
from Psalm 109:3. The apostle Paul, in Romans 11:9-10, quotes from Psalm
69:22-23, to demonstrate that prophetically and theologically, “a deliverance
has come from Israel, the beginning of the fullness of the nations” (v. 25).
Also, in Romans 15:3, he quotes from Psalm 69:9. We see, then, that the
apostles not only know the so-called Psalms of retribution or rebuke, but they
do not hesitate to quote from them, considering them as part of the word of
God. The latter, in relation to all the previous ones, I think, gives a
convincing answer as to why these Psalms are in the Bible, and what purpose
they serve. They express the psalmist’s holy indignation against injustice and
the invocation of God for help and justice. This is what Christians today
should do. By forgiving their personal enemies, and praying for them, they can
pray for the coming of God’s Kingdom, which will crush and destroy all human,
unjust governments and will permanently eliminate wickedness, corruption, and
opposing satanic forces (Dan. 2:44, Matt. 6:33, 1 Cor. 15:25-28, 2 Pet.
3:10-13, Rev. 20, 21:3-4 et seq.).
