Does Psalm 69 Apply Today?

INTRODUCTION

            While all of Scripture is beneficial and applicable in some manner, there is no other book like the book of Psalms.  The Psalter contains a rich tapestry of history, full of descriptive poetry and every human emotion.  And while most sermons from the Psalter tend to focus on joy and thanksgiving, there is a wealth of psalms that use the language of lamentation to speak to the sorrow and suffering of our hearts.  And within these laments, we find the imprecatory psalms.  These oft overlooked and neglected psalms cry out for justice and divine vengeance, often using harsh and brutal imagery, and Psalm 69 is no different.  Jesus told his disciples that those that follow him would share in his sufferings, so it is only natural that we should take this psalm of suffering and ask if the prayers of imprecation still apply to believers today.

PSALM 69

            (1)  To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. Of David. Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck.  (2)  I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.  (3)  I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.  (4)  More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause; mighty are those who would destroy me, those who attack me with lies. What I did not steal must I now restore?  (5)  O God, you know my folly; the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.  (6)  Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me, O Lord GOD of hosts; let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, O God of Israel.  (7)  For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach, that dishonor has covered my face.  (8)  I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother's sons.  (9)  For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.  (10)  When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach.  (11)  When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them.  (12)  I am the talk of those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me.  (13)  But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.  (14)  Deliver me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters.  (15)  Let not the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the pit close its mouth over me.  (16)  Answer me, O LORD, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.  (17)  Hide not your face from your servant; for I am in distress; make haste to answer me.  (18)  Draw near to my soul, redeem me; ransom me because of my enemies!  (19)  You know my reproach, and my shame and my dishonor; my foes are all known to you.  (20)  Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none.  (21)  They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.  (22)  Let their own table before them become a snare; and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.  (23)  Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see, and make their loins tremble continually.  (24)  Pour out your indignation upon them, and let your burning anger overtake them.  (25)  May their camp be a desolation; let no one dwell in their tents.  (26)  For they persecute him whom you have struck down, and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.  (27)  Add to them punishment upon punishment; may they have no acquittal from you.  (28)  Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous.  (29)  But I am afflicted and in pain; let your salvation, O God, set me on high!  (30)  I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.  (31)  This will please the LORD more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs.  (32)  When the humble see it they will be glad; you who seek God, let your hearts revive.  (33)  For the LORD hears the needy and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.  (34)  Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves in them.  (35)  For God will save Zion and build up the cities of Judah, and people shall dwell there and possess it;  (36)  the offspring of his servants shall inherit it, and those who love his name shall dwell in it.[1]

            As previously mentioned, Psalm 69 is labeled an imprecatory psalm, under the broader genre of Psalms of Lament.  Understanding the genre of lament is necessary to understanding and applying Psalm 69 not only within its own context, but within a context for today, as well.[2]  In his book Interpreting the Psalms, Mark D. Futato writes, “The journey of life takes us over some difficult terrain.  Adversity replaces prosperity.  Turmoil swallows up tranquility.  Chaos obliterates order.  Doubt replaces faith.  God has given us the laments for times such as these.”[3]  The laments – just like the rest of the Psalter – are blunt, open, and honest about what the Psalmist is facing; as readers today, we see that God’s people are allowed to bring the entirety of their emotions and thoughts before the throne of an all-sovereign Lord.[4]  In a culture that emphasizes (and abuses) political-correctness, Scripture is blatantly non-politically-correct, and allows believers to not only express joy and gratitude, but also to dump pain, sorrow, and a desire for just vengeance out of the heart and into the eyes of God.  In fact, the imprecatory psalms not only cry out for God’s deliverance, but also find solace in nothing else but the sovereignty of God.  Erich Zenger writes, “the psalms of enmity are the most concentrated form of prayer: They reach out to God when everything seems to speak against God.  Where everything speaks against God, those who pray them attribute everything to God.”[5]

            The laments and imprecations of Psalm 69 are listed in the title as לְדָוִֽד , commonly understood as “of David,” and uses imprecation against an enemy specific to David, as opposed to an enemy of the entire nation.[6]  The title actually begins with לַמְנַצֵּ֬חַ עַֽל־שׁוֹשַׁנִּ֬ים, which is generally translated in some variation of “To the Choirmaster: According to the Lilies;” however, the LXX vocalized שׁוֹשַׁנִּ֬ים differently.  This vocalization changes the meaning of the word from “lilies” to “those who change.”[7]  From here, David begins by crying out of his distress: he is sinking in deep mire[8] and water (בִּיוֵ֣ן  and  בְמַעֲמַקֵּי־מַ֗֜יִם , respectively).  In verse 4, David begins to describe what is causing him to become overwhelmed and sinking; he is under attack from people who hate him without cause, who would destroy him, and attack him with lies.[9]  The ESV has David asking if he must restore what he did not steal, but Kidner points out that  אָשִֽׁיב  “has no interrogatory prefix and makes good sense as it stands, showing the pressure that David’s enemies can put upon him.”[10]

            David asks that believers of God would be put to shame because of him, and voices his zeal for God and his house.  David repeats the sinking theme in verses 14 and 15, reminding the reader (and the original hearers) that his situation is still that of distress, but begins to appeal to God’s character.  In the midst of his distress, David remembers God’s steadfast love (חַסְדֶּ֑ךָ ) and abundant mercy (רַ֜חֲמֶ֗יךָ ).  Even while he is suffering, he knows that God is good to his people, in the time that it pleases God to do so (v 13,עֵ֤ת רָצ֗וֹן ).  After this is where David pleads for God to intervene against his enemies.

            Kidner writes,

The judgment that David calls down on these persecutors (for such as they are, 26; cf. Zech. 1:15) enumerates, by contrast, the things that normally make life worth living: at one level, food and fellowship; one’s faculties and strength (eyes…loins); a place to belong to; and more fundamentally, the goodwill of God (cf. 24), his clearance from guilt (27), and to be known and accepted by him (28; cf. Exod. 32:32f).[11]

            David prays that his enemies would receive the punishment they deserve: in their time of peace, they would become ensnared (22); that they would be blinded and their very core would tremble (23); God’s anger would burn out over them (24); their camp would be desolate (25)[12]; and their punishments would increase without divine acquittal (27).  Perhaps the most shocking is David’s plea that they would be written out of the book of the living, and not enrolled among the righteous (28).  It would appear that David is asking that not only would his enemies be punished, but that his enemies would have no hope for righteousness, thus eternally separated from God.  After David lays these imprecatory petitions before God, he closes the psalm with a strong emphasis on praise and thanksgiving, not just from himself, but proclaiming that all of creation would worship the Lord.

THE CONTEXT OF CURSING

            While the severity of David’s imprecations sound extremely harsh and abrasive (especially in our politically-correct culture), we forget that our culture differs greatly from the culture this psalm was originally composed in.  While there is a continuous thread throughout all of Scripture of the blessing/curse aspect of God’s people, there was also a surrounding understanding of cursing within the ANE.  In the culture of the ANE, blessing and cursing was a part of everyday life, with curses related to domestic and international issues, as well as personal and covenantal issues.[13]  Day writes, “The mere presence of the kinds of curses and calls for divine vengeance found in the Psalms would not have aroused the moral indignation of an ancient Israelite.”[14]  Curses were part of the cultural understanding, with distinctions between what was to be considered legitimate curses and illegitimate curses.[15]  It is the legitimate use of cursing that the imprecatory psalms (and thus, Psalm 69) appeal to.

Old Testament Cursing

            In Genesis 12:3, emphasis is commonly placed on the blessing that God gives to Abram, but God places a flip side to the blessing.  Not only will those who bless Abram be blessed themselves, but those who curse him will be cursed by God (אָאֹ֑ר ).  God establishes a protection for his people, and declares that he will personally bless or curse those who bless or curse his people.  This was an understanding that did not just last for Abraham, but was promised to all who are children of Abraham.  All those who belong to God share in this aspect of blessing and cursing.

            In Deuteronomy 27:11-26, the Levites declare a series of curses upon anyone who should break the laws being given, however, this time, the nation of Israel replies to each curse with  אָמֵֽן , literally translated to truly/surely, but often understood as amen.  The people were agreeing that if any of these laws should be broken, the proper punishment would be the application of a curse.  And in Deuteronomy 32:35, the Lord declares  לִ֤י נָקָם֙ וְשִׁלֵּ֔ם , literally translated as “to me is vengeance and recompense.”  The Lord is declaring that to him alone is the ability to justly dole out vengeance.  This promise is part of the covenant that God established with his people, beginning in the Old Testament, and carrying into the New.

New Testament Cursing

            In Galatians 3:29, Paul writes that those belonging to Christ are Abraham’s offspring, and heirs according to the promise, part of which includes the blessing/cursing promise of Genesis 12:3.  Reed Lessing writes, “As heirs of Abraham through Christ we are heirs of Yahweh’s promises of blessing and cursing.  It should not surprise us, therefore, that the theology of imprecation appears in many places in the New Testament.”[16]  A quick glance of the New Testament shows that the NT authors believed they, too, could utter imprecations: Acts 8:20; 1 Corinthians 16:22; Galatians 5:12; 2 Timothy 4:14; Revelation 6:9-11; 14:19-20; 18:4-8, 20; 19:1-3, 15.  But perhaps one of the more famous imprecations comes from Paul in Galatians 1:8-9: “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.  As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.”  The Greek ἀνάθεμα is translated as “accursed,” which Lessing points out that ἀνάθεμα “is lexically and theologically equivalent to the Hebrew word חרם which appears in Israel’s holy war texts and means utter annihilation.”[17]  While there are the commands to love thy neighbor and love thy enemy, it is interesting that nowhere in the Old or New Testament is there any sense of disapproval from God over the use of these imprecations.[18]

CAN WE CURSE TODAY?

The real question that applies to today’s believer is: are we allowed to pray the types of prayers found in Psalm 69?  Well, it appears that answer will vary, depending on who you ask.  C.S. Lewis wrote that psalms such as Psalm 69 were “in the spirit of hatred,” “terrible,”  “contemptible,” and “devilish,” and that the reader would be well advised to “leave them alone;” however, if a person were to attempt an understanding of such psalms, they should be considered as allegory.[19]  Dispensationalists would argue that such imprecations as contained in Psalm 69 were under the dispensation of the law, and not under the dispensation of grace, which is what applies to believers today;[20] however, this view not only operates under a false understanding of God’s covenants, but it makes Scripture contradict Scripture[21], and it makes the “chief end of man…the welfare of man.”[22]  While avoiding the problems of dispensationalism, Kidner says that Christ’s atoning work makes these prayers unfit for today’s believer, arguing, “Between our day and theirs, our calling and theirs, stands the cross.  We are ministers of reconciliation, and this is a day of good tidings.”[23]

However, in our current age, there are still enemies and troubles.  There is abuse, human trafficking, persecution, and terrorism.  The imprecatory psalms as a whole give voice to our sorrow and cry out for God to deliver justice.  These psalms can be therapeutic, guiding the believer to trust that God’s covenant love for his people will bring healing and justice.[24]  Lessing writes, “Pastors who minister to those facing sustained injustice, hardened enmity and gross oppression must teach the baptized to pray imprecatory psalms.”[25]  He states that this will help the oppressed believer not only retain their humanity, but approach their strife in a nonviolent manner.

James Adams ties the importance of praying the imprecatory psalms directly to Christ, writing, “Seeing the Psalms as prayers of the Lord Jesus Christ will deepen your understanding of His heart, His sufferings, and His victory on your behalf.”[26]  These psalms are important to God’s people because they are important to Christ.  As Christ taught his disciples to pray, he taught them to know that God’s will shall be done on earth, as it is in heaven.  Part of God’s will being done on earth means that he shall overthrow the kingdom of Satan and all those who are against the Lord.[27]  Since Christ taught his disciples to pray for the coming of God’s kingdom and will, a natural extension of that prayer is that those who defy God, those whom oppress the people of God, shall have prayers of divine justice prayed against their oppression.  It is very important to note that these prayers are not uttered in the spirit of revenge; quite the contrary, these prayers are submitting the pain and sorrow of the afflicted into the sovereign hands of God.

Adams writes,

To pray the imprecations of the Psalms is to surrender all rights for vengeance to God.  It means being prepared to suffer and to endure without personal revenge or hatred as Christ did.  It involves being gentle and loving even when I am reviled and persecuted.  It encompasses acknowledging in all my ways that God’s cause is more important than I am.[28]

To pray the prayers of the imprecatory psalms is not to pray for revenge, but for God to reign over all, in his own time, in his own way.  It is the hope that not only will the Lord deliver justice to the oppressed, but that his divine judgment would lead his enemies to repentance.  While David prays in Psalm 69 that his enemies would be blotted out from the book of the living, it is always the hope of the believer that those who are against God would see impending judgment as a call to repent and submit.  Adams adds as a reminder that the main purpose of the imprecatory psalms is not for deliverance, healing, or even justice.  While those are all aspects that may apply, the main purpose of the imprecatory psalm prayer is that God would be glorified.[29]  As David, even while in the midst of his suffering, closed Psalm 69 by writing, “Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves in them.  For God will save Zion and build up the cities of Judah, and people shall dwell there and possess it; the offspring of his servants shall inherit it, and those who love his name shall dwell in it” (Psalm 69:34-36).

PSALM 69 IN A MODERN SERVICE

There is a remaining, practical question, if one is to accept that Psalm 69 (et al.) is applicable to believers and congregations today: What would it look like for the average local church to embrace the use of this psalm?  It would be a considerable change of pace for just about any church.  While churches are quick to embrace the mercy and grace of God, the need for repentance, and the promises to his people, sermons based on the divine justice of God are uncommon, at best, especially considering the brutal honesty of the imprecatory psalms.  There are obviously going to be cultural barriers to overcome if a pastor is to present his congregation with an imprecatory psalm, and depending on the congregation, those barriers could range from regional culture, political-correctness, maturity of the congregation, to theological understanding.  Obviously, each congregation is different, but if all Scripture is God-breathed and fit for teaching to equip the saints, then pastors need to include a wide breadth of Scripture; difficult passages as well as the more comfortable passages.[30]

Order of Worship[31]

Welcome and Announcements

Call to Worship                                               Genesis 12:1-3

Songs of Worship                                                   Psalm 130
                                                O God, Our Help in Ages Past

Prayer

Offering

Song of Worship                      Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken

Dismiss Children

Sermon                                                Submission in Suffering
                                                                                 Psalm 69

Song of Response                                       You Never Let Go

Benediction

Homiletical Outline

Proposition: Because God has established himself as a just king, we must submit to his sovereign rule.

What does Psalm 69 teach us about our own suffering?
What does it mean to submit to his sovereign rule?

1)      We submit to his sovereign rule by being honest (69:1-18)

              a)      Honest with our sorrow (69:1-5)

              b)      Honest with our concern (69:6-13)

              c)      Honest with our need (69:14-18)

2)      We submit to his sovereign rule by trusting (69:19-29)

              a)      Trust that God understands (69:19-21)

              b)      Trust that God is just (69:22-28)

              c)      Trust that God brings salvation (69:29)

3)      We submit to his sovereign rule by worshipping (69:30-36)

How does being honest and trusting affect our worship?

             a)      Worship with all we have (69:30-33)

             b)      Worship with all creation (69:34-36)

CONCLUSION

            The Psalms teach us not only about God, but about our own hearts.  When faced with the brutal honesty and desperate cry for justice in Psalm 69, we see a glimpse of David’s struggles and sorrow.  David admitted his weakness and his need for deliverance; he poured out his heart before a sovereign Lord.  While feeling overwhelmed from the unwarranted hatred of his enemies, David trusted his heart, his life, and his need for vengeance to God.  David knew of the covenant promises made to Abraham and his descendants; promises to bless those who blessed them, and promises to curse those who cursed them.  It was because of God’s covenant faithfulness that David could surrender his need for revenge, and trust in divine justice.  And so today, for those who are in Christ, we pray for God’s kingdom to come and his will to be done, and in doing so, we trust in the same covenant faithfulness.  Just as God watched over Abraham, David, and the nation of Israel, he will watch over his people today, and we can trust that his justice will come.

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[1] Unless otherwise noted, English translations in this paper come from The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton: Crossway, 2008).

[2] Mark D. Futato, Interpreting the Psalms: And Exegetical Handbook (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2007) 142-145.  Futato gives examples of categories (i.e., genres) and how they guide our expectations, using “Once upon a time” to illustrate his point.  He then lists five examples of how understanding categories can provide context for interpreting a passage: literary context; historical context; ANE context; theological context; and category context.

[3] Ibid., 158.

[4] Ibid., 153.

[5] Erich Zenger, A God of Vengeance? Understanding the Psalms of Divine Wrath (tr. Linda M. Maloney; Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1994) 88.  Emphasis his.

[6] John N. Day, Crying For Justice: What the Psalms Teach Us About Mercy and Vengeance in an Age of Terrorism (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2005) 17.  Day separates the imprecatory psalms into three distinct groups: Imprecation Against Societal Enemy; Imprecation Against Nation or Community; and Imprecation Against Personal Enemy.

[7] Derek Kidner, “Psalms 1-72” in Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries: Vol 15 (ed. Donald J. Wiseman; Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity Press, 2008) 57.  Kidner also says that L. Delekat suggests the interpretation to be understood as “those whose situation changes for the worse,” and that by doing so, Delekat relates the title to the subject matter.

[8] F. Delitzsch, “Psalms” in Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes: Vol V (tr. James Martin; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975) 275.  Delitzsch states that David’s description of sinking into deep mire (יָוֵן) makes Psalm 69 a “twin-Psalm” to Psalm 40, along with other comparisons between the two psalms.

[9] Psalm 69, considered as one of the passion Psalms, is used in reference to Christ and the details of his suffering.  Delitzsch points out that other than Psalm 22, “there is no Psalm referred to in so many ways as Ps. lxix.” (Ibid., 277)  He lists how various verses in Psalm 69 find their fulfillment in the New Testament, although his verse numbering appears to use the LXX numbering, as opposed to the numbering of today’s English translations.

[10] Kidner, “Psalms,” 264.

[11] Ibid., 267.

[12] This verse is applied to Judas Iscariot in Acts 1:20.

[13] Day, Crying, 36.

[14] Ibid.

[15] Ibid., 37.  Illegitimate curses were against an innocent party, or as a personal act of revenge, often using magic, to paraphrase Day.

[16] Reed Lessing, “Broken Teeth, Bloody Baths, and Baby Bashing:  Is There Any Place in the Church for Imprecatory Psalms?” CJ 32 (2006): 369.  Emphasis his.

[17] Ibid.

[18] Day, Crying, 13.

[19] C.S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms (San Diego: Harvest, 1986) 20-25.

[20] Johannes G. Vos, “The Ethical Problem of the Imprecatory Psalms” WTJ 04:2 (1942) 124.

[21] Ibid., 125.

[22] Ibid., 131.  Vos points out that this problem is at the root “of most, if not all, of the objections to the Imprecatory Psalms,” and says that this presupposition is a humanist ideal that places an ideal over God himself.

[23] Kidner, “Psalms,” 46.

[24] Dominick D. Hankle, “The Therapeutic Implications of the Imprecatory Psalms in the Christian Counseling Setting” JPT 38:4 (2010) 275-280.

[25] Lessing, “Broken Teeth,” 369.

[26] James E. Adams, War Psalms of the Prince of Peace: Lessons from the Imprecatory Psalms (Phillipsburg: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1991) 51.

[27] Ibid., 52.

[28] Ibid., 56.

[29] Ibid., 62.

[30] Perhaps an effective way to introduce an imprecatory psalm in a worship service would be to have a sermon series based in the Psalms, where the concept of Psalm genre and context could be established before-hand.

[31] This can and will vary greatly from church to church.  For the sake of this paper, I am using the Order of Worship from my own church in Irmo, SC.