Summary: We’re told to love our enemies, yet the "Imprecatory Psalms" seem to curse them. How are we to understand what appears to be some troubling, problematic prayers?

“Psalms of Hate?” Psalm 69:22-28 Pastor Bob Leroe, Cliftondale Congregational Church, Saugus, Massachusetts

“Let the bountiful table set before them become a snare and their prosperity become a trap. Let their eyes go blind so they cannot see, and make their bodies shake continually. Pour out Your fury on them; consume them with Your burning anger. Let their homes become desolate, and their tents be deserted. To the one you have punished, they add insult to injury; they add to the pain of those You have hurt. Pile their sins up high, and don’t let them go free. Erase their names from the Book of Life; don’t let them be counted among the righteous. I am suffering and in pain. Rescue me, O God, by Your saving power. Then I will praise God’s name with singing, and I will honor Him with thanksgiving.”

Jesus tells us to “love our enemies” and to “bless those who curse you.” When I served in Desert Storm I think we proved that an army could even go to war without hating the enemy. We saw the Iraqis as victims of an oppressive regime. There was none of the hate-rhetoric of previous conflicts. Nonetheless, it’s not always easy to show love to the unlovable.

When we open the book of Psalms we encounter a shocking perspective. It’s one thing to ask God to resolve conflict with those who oppose us…it’s entirely another to pray for their destruction. Yet this seems to be the case in what is called the “Imprecatory Psalms,” which pray curses upon one’s enemy. We find such prayers problematic and difficult to reconcile with Christian thinking.

None of us want to become militant, religious fanatics who call for the death of unbelievers. We wince, reading the rhetoric of Psalm 69 and similar prayers. Many people pray the Psalms, but most would find it difficult praying with the language of Psalm 69 and others like it. However, with the news this week of the torture and execution of PFCs Kristian Menchaca and Thomas Tucker at the hands of terrorists, calling on God for justice doesn’t seem like an inappropriate prayer.

Some scholars claim that these prayers don’t express desire for a sinner’s doom but merely predict it. They are stating what will happen to the wicked, but are not asking God to destroy the wicked. Some psalms seem to fit this explanation, but not all.

The Scriptures give a covenantal promise of blessing for God’s people and calamity upon their enemies. God told Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you.” Psalm 69 is rooted in God’s pledge to Israel.

Another explanation is that these prayers express accurately what the psalmists were feeling, but there is no divine approval for the sentiments. We’re encouraged to tell God exactly what’s bothering us. God wants us to tell Him exactly how we’re feeling, with gutsy honesty. He can handle it. These prayers may simply be honest expressions of how passionate David felt about his conflict.

Scripture is inspired, but sometimes Scripture records human opinions. A few examples: in Ecclesiastes Solomon speaks from an agnostic perspective to show the futility of such thinking. In Job, his friends give him a lot of unsolicited advice, much of which is wrong. And the ultimate example--the times we hear the devil talking, his wicked words are full of lies. The context can help us understand. If we have a problem with any passage, our problem lies with us, and our limited comprehension. We do not find fault with Scripture, but rather we struggle to grasp its meaning. The one limitation of Scripture is that God had to use human language to express heavenly truth, and language itself has limitations. This is why we revise translations of the Bible, because language changes. Communication is an art. Words can mean many things, and we’re apt to be misunderstood even when we’re trying hard to be clear.

Yet David wrote “in the Spirit” while composing psalms. And he had good reason to ask God for justice. His very life and the life of his people were being threatened, and God had promised to protect and preserve Israel. David rightly viewed attacks against Israel as attacks against God. According to former Gordon-Conwell Seminary President Walter Kaiser, David is not praying to God out of malice or vindictiveness against people he dislikes; he’s not seeking personal vengeance. These harsh statements reflect David’s awareness of God’s justice and intolerance of sin. David never asks God that he himself might be permitted to destroy his enemies, but always that God would be the Avenger. Psalm 69 is not a personal vendetta, but an expression of zeal for the Kingdom of God. David is calling for vindication; his passion is for justice. One scholar warns, “We need to beware lest in pity for the sinner we condone the sin, or relax the struggle against evil” (A.F. Kirkpatrick).

Even in the NT we hear Jesus issuing judgments against Pharisees and Paul praying against false teachers. The Lord’s Prayer states, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done”, which are calls for justice and the overthrow of evil. For God to be victorious, evil must be overcome. We often find ourselves in an unholy environment, hostile to God, yet God wants us to engage evil and pierce the darkness of our fallen world. We pray and work for the advancement of God’s righteous Kingdom. C.S. Lewis observed that, “The ferocious parts of the Psalms serve as a reminder that there is in the world such a thing as wickedness and that is hateful to God.”

Many evangelical leaders say that we are engaged in a culture war today, a conflict of worldviews. We pray that God’s perspective will prevail, and that all other viewpoints opposed to God will be defeated. No one has put this better than Gordon-Conwell professor (& CCCC minister) David Wells: “Petitionary prayer is in essence rebellion--rebellion against the world in its fallenness, the absolute and undying refusal to accept as normal what is pervasively abnormal. It is, in this its negative aspect, the refusal of every agenda, every scheme, every interpretation that is at odds with the norm as originally established by God.”

When we identify a social injustice, what do we do? Email our Congressman? Send a letter to the editor of the newspaper? Contact our lawyer? But do we pray? Eugene Peterson states that, “Prayer is political action. Prayer is social energy. Prayer is public good. Far more of our nation’s life is shaped by prayer than is formed by legislation…prayer is the source action.” Every Army & Air Force base has an IG or Inspector General; the Navy and Marines have Ombudsmen. These officers handle complaints, inspect units, and respond to inequities within the system. Some people go to them as “whistle-blowers.” As a Chaplain I used to jokingly call myself “the spiritual IG.” We have Someone we can go to when life is unfair. We all know people who refuse to hear our complaints. God can handle them…and He can do something about them. He may not always change our situation, or those who are upsetting us, but He will at least change us.

So how do we love our enemies? By the way we treat them. We do not assault them, or hate them; we do not seek revenge. We’re to show concern for their welfare. When people mistreat us, their behavior reveals that they have a spiritual problem. If my boss is acting unreasonable (I’ve worked for a few tyrants in the Army), I can pray that his attitude and policy will change, that we can become reconciled. I can pray that my boss will retire or be transferred, or that I might be transferred. Ultimately I should pray that my boss will find God through my Christian behavior. We’re not responsible for how others treat us; we’re responsible for how we respond. Psalm 83 calls on God to cover His enemies with shame so that people will call upon Him. This is a prayer for conversion. Here’s a caution: we should never expect non-believers to treat us as believers would--that is heretical thinking. We should not expect godly behavior from unbelievers who reject God and His word. Do we pray for the lost? Or do we simply grumble and complain about how they mistreat us?

If a person chooses to remain an "enemy of the cross" (Phil 3:18), justice will ultimately prevail. This is the over-riding message of apocalyptic literature, particularly the Book of Revelation. The "Day of the Lord" will be a day of divine wrath, when every wrong in the world will be righted. Evil will be punished. We are comforted in knowing that God is in control of history and that His purpose shall prevail.