Notes on Discussions of Imprecatory Psalms on April 2 and April 9, 2020

On April 2 and 9, we had two animated virtual discussions (using Zoom) of the proper way to view "Imprecatory Psalms," those where David calls on God to punish his enemies. I want to think everyone that contributed. Definitely gave me a lot to think about. Three key questions we discussed:

1. Is there anything on our hearts we should not share with God? Several spoke of how David models for the believer the appropriateness of pouring our hearts out to God, even our darkest feelings and emotions. It doesn’t make sense to hide anything we are feeling from God, because he already knows everything we are thinking (cf. Psalm 139), and it can be of great benefit to us. I think we had consensus on this point regardless of one’s views about whether all of David’s statements were appropriate.
   1. ​Well put by Martha Mettler: “We humans need to vent, and we need to be able to do that with those we trust. No one is more trustworthy than God. If we  think about venting as a release of emotions (anger, frustration, grief), we know that Jesus did that, even as he was hanging on the cross” (“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”).
2. How should we think and pray about the wicked today?
   1. One view: "...It is appropriate that we pray that Christ would vindicate his holy name and program by destroying the enemies of righteousness, just as he preserves those who love his name." (The Living Word Lesson 12)
      1. Christ and the apostles loved their enemies. Jesus “prayed for those who persecuted them…. Yet [they] did not count it reprehensible to pronounce divine judgment on the wicked [Mt. 18:4; Lk. 17:2; 2 Thess. 6:1–10]. [This] is all David prayed for in the 69th Psalm (“Those Bad Psalms,” by Gordon Wilson). (See more examples at the end.)
   2. A second view: We are told to imitate Christ who hung on the cross and asked his Father to forgive his enemies. We are taught to love our enemies, bless them that curse us and pray for those who despitefully use us (Luke 6:28). Prayer for vengeance can feed a base desire incompatible with godliness. It’s hard to comprehend loving our enemies while praying for God to make them suffer.

(From Phil Whitehead) God’s children today may appropriately pray for God to take action to end sin, but always with a view toward motivating the repentance of the one committing the atrocities. We do not know the hearts as God does.... “Mercy triumphs over judgment.” (Jas. 2:13)  A great concern is that it is a dangerously small step from merely praying for God to execute vengeance to taking it upon oneself to become the tool to bring about that vengeance or “justice” (e.g. Crusades, Spanish Inquisition, Eric Rudolph, 9-11 terrorists), under the philosophy of “God helps them that help themselves.”

     3. How should we think about David’s call for curses upon his enemies?
Example from Psalm 109
9 
May his children be fatherless
    and his wife a widow.
10 
May his children be wandering beggars;
    may they be driven from their ruined homes.
11 
May a creditor seize all he has;
    may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.
12 
May no one extend kindness to him
    or take pity on his fatherless children.
13 
May his descendants be cut off,
...
15 
… Blot out their name from the earth.

1. 1. View 1: All recorded statements in Scripture are not necessarily condoned by God. 
      1. Quotations of humans in the Bible (which Psalms essentially are) are not always recorded for us to use as models. The role of the Psalms is not the same as a book of law. It is a book that lays bear the hearts of godly, but flawed, men and women.
   2. View 2: In the context of the Old Testament, such imprecations, while extreme to our ears today, were merely calls for God to rescue the weak and downtrodden from the power of the wicked. To call for a man’s descendants to be wiped out was a call for the protection of God’s chosen people, and therefore, justified.
      1. ​2a: Jesus raised the concept of love to a whole other level.
      2. 2b: The concept of love was essentially the same in both covenants. Even then, God's people were called on to be kind to their enemies (Ex. 23:4-5, Prov. 25:21, Prov. 24:17, Prov. 29:10, Job 31:29, 40).
   3. View 3: These were not the sentiments of David himself, but words directed to be written by the Holy Spirit.

​Comments welcome!