Imprecatory Psalms?

 

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.).