Certain psalms are often called “imprecatory psalms” because they pray for or invoke the judgments of God against His enemies. The psalms most generally placed in this category are 7, 35, 58, 59, 69, 83, 109, 137, mentioned above, and 139. A number of other psalms, as well as other parts of Scripture, contain brief imprecations; but these nine have imprecation as their chief element.
The basic question with these psalms, as many interpreters see it, is an ethical question: How can it be right to wish or pray for the destruction of others when the Bible teaches elsewhere and often that one should love his enemies, and pray for those who persecute him (Matt. 5:44)?
To this question, generally stated, there have been several suggested answers:
- The imprecations expressed David’s own sentiments only: This suggestion is that David is, in such psalms, speaking the sentiments of his own heart and not those of the Holy Spirit. According to this view, the inspiration of David’s curses does not mean that God approved of the anger in David’s heart when he wrote those curses (Alan Hayward, God’s Truth, 195). This view, however, overlooks or perhaps does not give sufficient weight to the Scriptural record of David as a man who did not indulge in a spirit of personal revenge (1 Sam. 24:1-7; 26:5). And furthermore, this view could lead down a tricky path, by which we are repeatedly faced with the dilemma: ‘Is this verse, or that, inspired and meaningful as an example to me? Or is it merely David (or Isaiah, or Moses, or Paul) expressing his own personal sentiment rather than God’s?’
- The imprecations demonstrate the inferior principle of spiritual life in the Old Testament: This view seemingly suggests that faithful ones in Old Testament times could not have been expected to show any of the kinder and gentler and more “Christian” virtues of character, since they had not the slightest inkling in their day that such qualities were even desirable! But Christadelphians rightly take Old and New Testaments to be equally inspired and infallible. Also, such passages as Leviticus 19:17,18; Proverbs 20:22; 24:17,18; 25:21,22; and Job 31:29,30 show that, in the matter of personal vengeance, the Old Testament is every bit up to the standard of the New.
- The imprecations are prophetic: David was not only a poet, but also a prophet declaring what would happen to the ungodly. His statements, then, were not private and personal at all, but instead the judgments of God. It is pointed out, in defense of this view, that some of the imprecatory psalms are quoted in the New Testament as being fulfilled then (Psa. 69:25 and 109:8 in Acts 1:20; Psa. 69:22,23 in Rom. 11:9,10). However, in both English and Hebrew, the “imprecations” are not simple declarations of what will happen, but rather wishes or prayers for what may happen. Thus, what appears at first sight to be a very satisfactory solution may be seen as going only half the way to answering the question: “How could David pray as he did?”
- Finally, the imprecations are calls to God to remember His covenant: Thus the basic reason for imprecatory psalms is the Abrahamic covenant, specifically Genesis 12:2,3: “Now the Lord had said unto Abram… ‘I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.’ ”
On the basis of this covenant, David, the seed of Abraham, the divinely-selected representative of the nation, had every right to pray that God would do what He had promised — that is, curse those who cursed Abraham’s seed!
What is crucial to appreciating the imprecatory psalms is this: David never prayed that he might be permitted to avenge himself, but always that God would rise up to avenge His Anointed (Psa. 7:6; 35:1; 58:6; 59:5). Like Jesus later, David was capable of generosity and “turning the other cheek” when under personal attack (2 Sam. 16:11; 19:16-23). Yet, like Jesus again, he loved righteousness and hated the iniquity that flaunted itself against the honor of God, and he could be utterly ruthless in suppressing such iniquity when he knew the time was right!
Finally, God’s judgments are essential if His righteous ones are ever to be established and glorified on the earth. To pray “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth” is therefore no different than to pray “Let Your enemies be confounded… troubled… put to shame… perish…” — once it is understood that there is no personal vindictiveness involved.
The imprecations of the Bible are righteous, heartfelt calls upon God to remember His covenant, and to perform it, come what may. David and the other “imprecators” recognized that, only when God’s enemies are finally destroyed, will God Himself be able truly to glorify His Name in the earth.
Thus our prayer can — righteously — be expressed in the same words as Deborah and Barak:
“So may all Your enemies perish, O LORD! But may they who love You be like the sun when it rises in its strength” (Judg. 5:31).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One