Psalms 69:27,28

Add iniquity unto their iniquity: and let them not come into Thy righteousness.

Imprecations in the Psalms

There are tones in the Psalter which seem to jar upon our feelings, which do not naturally or readily adapt themselves to our Christian sentiment. There is an outburst of vindictive joy and exultation in the punishment of the wicked; there is an almost savage delight in the destruction of oppressors, as in Psalms 137:9. There are withering imprecations, so fierce and so elaborately wrought, that it makes one’s blood run cold to see them. How are we to account for these, and to take them on our lips and read them in our services? There are some who would persuade us that they are capable of an application to our spiritual struggles, that the enemies which we have to face are not persecutors and tyrants such as the oppressors of Israel of old, that “we wrestle net with flesh and blood,” etc. Accordingly, the language of the Psalms may be turned, they say, from its original sense into a spiritual channel. But how is it possible to carry out such a principle of interpretation consistently? How in our spiritual warfare may we adopt with definite meaning such words as these: “Set Thou an ungodly man to be ruler over him, and let Satan stand at his right hand”: “Let him be blotted out of the book of the living”? The unnatural strain which must be put upon the words to make them fit into such a system of interpretation ought to have compelled expositors long ago to abandon it. But let us try to look more carefully at the exact position of the psalmists of old, and then, I think, we may arrive at a more natural and truer explanation. The truth is, these words are a striking proof of that intense reality of which I have been speaking. The Jewish psalmists, remember, are the mouthpiece of injured innocence. These are the natural accents of the martyr Church; the afflicted people of God are, almost in every psalm, crushed, borne down because of the oppression of the enemy. Whether the enemies be foreign oppressors or ungodly men who have risen to high office, in any case they have power, and exercise it unscrupulously against those who love God, and it is this which rouses the indignation of the psalmist, and it is an intolerable thing to see high-handed wickedness triumph. It does seem like an arraignment of the very justice of the Most High when the ungodly ravish the poor, and say, as in defiance of the Eternal Majesty, “There is no God,” or “He hideth His face.” The true heart rises up against this: the true heart on the side of God longs to see His righteousness vindicated, and so, even in the calmest moments of their lives, when their hearts are full of God’s goodness, or” when they are lost in the contemplation of nature, they still recur to the same theme, and the 104th psalm, which has won the admiration of so many high intellects for its matchless description of the beauty and splendour of creation, ends with the devout and ardent conviction that sinners will be “consumed out of the earth, and the ungodly shall come to an end.” Still, we must ask ourselves, Are we justified in taking these burning anathemas on our lips? Is such language in harmony with our Christian consciousness? Is there no difference in this respect between the Old Testament and the New? I believe there is. Our Lord Himself tells us there is, and warns us against the excess of a fiery zeal. The spirit of Elijah is not the spirit of Christ. Even the spirits of David and of St. Paul are not the same. And this must be so, because the revelations of God in the Old Testament and in the New are not the same. The law given on Sinai was stern and inexorable in its punishment, and the soldiers of God were sent to execute His judgments with a two-edged sword in their hands, and the prayers and praises of God in their mouths. It was their mission to exterminate all ungodliness and idolatry; but Jesus Christ, the incarnate revelation of God, came in lowliness and meekness, teaching and practising forbearance and forgiveness, enduring contradiction of sinners against Himself, giving His back to the smiter, and His cheek to them that plucked off the hair, not hiding His face from shame and spitting, and as He dies on the cross, interceding for His murderers--“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Unquestionably there is a progress in Divine revelation, and we ought to bear it in mind. What is it that we really learn in the New Testament from passages like those of which I have been speaking? Is it indifference? Is it calm acquiescence in injustice? Is it tolerance of iniquity? Is it coldness towards God and His truth? Most certainly not. It is stern repression, not of our natural sense of justice, but of hatred of individuals; it is to forego personal revenge; it is to bear with personal injuries and wrongs. That is the temper which the Gospel cultivates. I am sure we cannot love God with all our heart unless we hate sin with all our heart; but it is sin we are to hate, not the sinner. Hero we are to draw the distinction which the psalmists of old did not draw and could not draw. But it is wickedness that is to arouse our indignation, not differences of religious opinion. It is the grossest perversion of the psalms when these burning words are turned into a justification of theological hatred and strife. Oh, how sad it is to think that Christian men, knowing that there is all this awful wickedness seething in their midst and around them, can turn aside from the real battle, can so far misunderstand and mistake who their real foes are, that they can give their time and thoughts to angry quarrellings about matters of the most trivial and insignificant importance, about petty questions of ritual and ceremonial and forms of worship, instead of girding up all their energies to go forth into that great battle which is going on in this world between God Himself and all the powers of evil that are arrayed against Him, God give us more of the charity of Jesus Christ our Lord, more of His love in our hearts, a more yearning desire to go forth into the world in order that we may win the world to its true Lord and Master. That is the true charity; that is the true love; that is the true hatred of evil. (Bp. Perowne.)

David’s imprecations

A renowned professor who, as Germany thinks, has done more for New England theology than any man since Jonathan Edwards, was once walking with a clergyman of a radical faith, who objected to the doctrine that the Bible is inspired, and did so on the ground of the imprecatory psalms. The replies of the usual kind were made, and it was presumed that David expressed the Divine purpose in praying that his enemies might be destroyed, and that he gave utterance only to the natural righteous indignation of conscience against unspeakable iniquity. But the doubter would not be satisfied. The two came at last to a newspaper bulletin, on which the words were written: “Baltimore to be shelled at twelve o’clock.” “I am glad of it,” said the Radical preacher. “I am glad of it.” “And so am I,” said his companion; “but I hardly dare say so, for fear you should say that I am uttering an imprecatory psalm.” (Joseph Cook.)