Psalm 8 – ph

by Michiana Covenant | Jan 27, 2014 | Psalmody, Psalms, Psalter Hymnal

Psalm 8

I concur with the OPC/URC proposal to use “Amsterdam” with Psalm 8.

For a fantastic treatment of this Psalm from Doug Green, see his essay “Psalm 8: What Is Israel’s King that You Remember Him?”

I have some sympathy with the idea behind the paraphrase used with “Evening Praise” — namely, they recognize the “refrain” in verses 1 and 9, and so they try using a refrain after each stanza. The execution of the paraphrase, however, is unfortunate, and the expansions to the text do not convey well the point of the Psalm. Particularly, it omits the reference to how God made man “a little lower than the heavenly beings” (v5 ESV). I would only be in favor of using this text if someone reworked it.

I generally like the C.M. text (adapted from Sing Psalms) used with “Clinton” — a familiar tune from the 1959 Psalter Hymnal (although not used in the Trinity Hymnals). My chief quibble is that it follows the Septuagint in translating “elohim” as “angels” or “heavenly beings” in verse 5 (see below on “translation notes”).

Text: 7.6.7.6.7.7.7.6. (Book of Psalms for Singing, 1973; MCPC, 2011)

1 LORD, our Lord, in all the earth how excellent your name!
You above the heav’ns have set the glory of your fame.
2 From the mouths of infants young you the power of praise compose
in the face of enemies to stop avenging foes.

3 When I view the skies above which your own fingers made,
when I see the moon and stars with you in order laid,
4 what is man so frail and weak that you should remember him?
What can be the son of man that you should care for him?

5 You have made him next to God, with honor, glory crowned.
6 Him you placed above your works; beneath him all is found:
7 oxen, sheep, and all wild beasts, 8 birds, and fish the oceans claim
9 LORD, our Lord, in all the earth how excellent your name!

Tune: Amsterdam (James Nares, Foundery Collection, 1742)

Commentary

Psalm 8 is titled, “To the Choirmaster: According to the Gittith. A Psalm of David.”

You might think that Psalm 8 is talking about creation. That is true-but it is not talking about Genesis 1-2. But, you might say, verse 3 speaks of looking at the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars, which you have set in place.” True-and verse 6 speaks of God giving man dominion over the works of his hands, putting all things under his feet-all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea. But still, I cannot say that he is talking about the creation in Genesis. He is using the language of Genesis to talk about a different creation-the new creation. After all, verse 2 speaks of how God has ordained strength out of the mouth of infants, “because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.” If Psalm 8 is talking about the first creation, then verse 2 makes no sense.

But Psalm 8 does speak of man in the glorious language of Genesis 1-2: “You have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings [elohim, God/gods] and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over all the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet.” The reason that Psalm 8 can speak in this way is because Psalm 8 is speaking of the new creation.

In Psalm 8, David rejoices because he sees by faith that the kingdom of God is being restored. He sees the son of man sitting on the throne in the midst of the Promised Land, and sees the fulfillment of what God had promised to Adam. “O Yahweh, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”

All through Israel’s history, they were to look to the Son of David as the second Adam, the Son of God-the Anointed One. And yet, Israel could not help but see the failures of his kings. They could not but earnestly desire to see the day when what they sang in Psalm 8 was as true in reality as it was in faith.

And that day has now come. Hebrews 2 understood that Psalm 8 was not talking about Genesis 1-2. Hebrews 2 understood that Psalm 8 was talking about the Davidic king (Hebrews 2:5-8). But in Jesus Christ, what was spoken of in faith in Psalm 8 has begun to come about. Hebrews 2:8 admits that “at present, we do not yet see everything subject to him-but we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.” He who was higher than the angels-indeed, he who Hebrews 1:1-3 tells us was the one “through whom God created the world,” this Jesus was made lower than the angels for a time. “What is man, that you are mindful of him? What is the son of man, that you care for him?” What is man? I’ll tell you who man is. Man is no longer Adam. Man is no longer the rebel and the cursed one. Man is now Jesus Christ. Man is now the obedient and the glorious one. Jesus has been made perfect through suffering. Jesus has been crowned with glory and honor as the Second-indeed, as the Last Adam, the one who restores humanity to the fellowship of God and the dominion over creation.

Only God can save. That is why it was only the eternal Son of God who could redeem us from our sins. But only man could correct man’s fault. The king must be one of your brethren (as we hear from Deuteronomy). “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things.” Why? Because, there was no way for God to bring salvation, unless one who was true man “might through death, destroy the one who has the power of death.” As the Nicene Creed puts it, “who, for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit by the Virgin Mary, and was made man.”

Structure:

The Book of Psalms for Singing text does an excellent job of fitting Psalm 8 into three stanzas.

1) Verses 1-2 open the Psalm with the exaltation of the name of the LORD and the contrast between the heavenly glory of God and how that glory is proclaimed through the weak and the lowly (the infants) of verse 2.

2) Verses 3-4 then further the contrast by pointing out that when I consider the marvelous heavenly bodies — the moon and stars — I cannot but wonder “what is man?”

3) Verses 5-9 then conclude by speaking of the dominion of man over the creatures. The challenge, of course, is that the third stanza has to pack 5 verses in — where the first two stanzas each have two.

Translation Notes:

There is some discussion over the translation of the last sentence in verse 1. The ESV says, “You have set your glory above the heavens,” but others translate it, “I will sing of your glory to the heavens.” The reason for this is that the Hebrew is unclear as to who is doing the “setting.” If it is the Psalmist, then it should be translated, “I will set your glory above the heavens.” If it is the LORD, then it should be translated, “you have set your glory above the heavens.” One could try to split the difference and translate it, “O LORD our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth – which sets your glory above the heavens.”

The big debate, of course, is over verse 5. “You have made him a little lower than the elohim.” A very wooden translation would render this, “You have caused him to lack little from God/the gods” [the piel of “chaser” has the causative force]. In other words, however you translate “elohim” the point here is that man is differs only a little bit from the divine beings.

We’ll often come back to this term “elohim” in the Psalms, because at various times the NT will see this as “angels” (Hebrews 2 on Psalm 8), rulers (John 10 on Psalm 82), and God himself. But for our purposes here, the main question is whether Hebrews 2 is definitive for the translation of Psalm 8. Hebrews 2 simply follows the Septuagint in translating elohim as aggelos. This fits well with the point of Hebrews 2 in showing the supremacy of the Son to angels. But given the differences in angelology from the time of David to the time of the New Testament, I am inclined to suspect that David was not thinking about “angels” in the common sense of the term. The “elohim” of Psalms 58 or 82, for instance, seem to be something like what Paul talks about as the “so-called gods” of the nations (1 Cor 8:5), namely, the beings that go by the names “Baal” or “Marduk” or “Zeus” among the nations.

But in Psalm 8, it is not obvious that David is thinking of these beings. In fact, the creation/new creation language in this Psalm leads me to think that the Psalmist’s point is to see the Son of David — the New Man — as God’s vice-gerent, one who rules over God’s creation on behalf of God himself. In this context, the point is not that the Man of Psalm 8 is made a little lower than angels — the point is that he is made a little lower than God himself. After all, the next thing he says is, “You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet.” (v6)

Of course, this raises a question for Hebrews 2. If the Septuagint mistranslated Psalm 8, then how does this affect Hebrews 2? I do not believe that the Septuagint was an inspired translation. But I do believe that the God who providentially superintends and governs all things also providentially governed the translation of the Septuagint (and all other translations that have ever been made! After all, the Septuagint technically only refers to the translation of the Pentateuch. There were lots of other translators who were involved in translating various passages from Hebrew to Greek). The point in Hebrews 2 is that Psalm 8 shows how the eternal Son was humbled — how the one who was above the angels was made “for a little while lower than the angels.”

There is nothing in the Hebrew that suggests a temporal reference. But that’s because David is thinking of the status of the Davidic king, whereas Hebrews is thinking of the incarnation of Christ. And the Septuagint brilliantly sets up this Messianic interpretation of Psalm 8.

So the question is: should we follow the Hebrew or the Septuagint in our singing of Psalm 8? The RPCNA has said, “follow the Hebrew.” The Free Church has said, “follow the Septuagint.” I am sympathetic to the Hebrew rendering, but I don’t at all object to including both. I would only object to a course of action that would seek to hide the difficulty from our congregations. We do no service to the Word of God by pretending that everything has a simple answer — because God himself chose to give us all these complexities. If we hide them from our congregations, then we are lying about the scriptures and bearing false witness about God. And that never ends well!

Tune Notes:

One comment that reached the OPC composition subcommittee went something like this: “If they do not have Psalm 8 to Amsterdam, then forget the whole project.” It is safe to say that Amsterdam is incredibly popular in churches that have used the Book of Psalms for Singing (or the BPW, or the Trinity Psalter).

Of course, it also helps that Amsterdam is extremely well suited for this text! One musicologist said that it had “excellent affective congruity” — and I would only add that it is absolutely essential to the text that Amsterdam uses almost identical musical lines in its opening and closing, since the “refrain” must appear in the opening of the first stanza and the closing of the last stanza.

I do not know “Clinton” — the tune used by the Psalter Hymnal (1959) — so I will not try to comment on it. I will only say that since the text proposed by the URC is satisfactory, I will not object if they wish to include a popular tune.

Conclusion

Psalm 8 is important enough that I could live with two or three versions. I think that having two different translations that go opposite directions with “elohim” in verse 5 could be useful in helping congregations think through the challenges of Bible translation!

You can listen to a choir singing Psalm 8 to Amsterdam.

A manuscript of my sermon on Psalm 8 can be found here.

— Peter J. Wallace

Is the Psalter an Obsolete Songbook? – 4 – Death and Depression

by Michiana Covenant | Jan 24, 2014 | Psalmody, Psalms, Psalter Hymnal

Is the Psalter an Obsolete Songbook? Why Sing All 150 Psalms AND the Best of the Best of All Ages?

Part 4

In the final section of this essay on the importance of including the whole Psalter in our congregational singing, we look at Psalm 88 and its doctrine of death and the grave — and why Christians need to sing Psalms like this more often.

Death and Depression: Why We Need to Sing Psalm 88 More Often

Some argue that there are obsolete doctrines in the Psalms. For instance, some claim that Psalms 6:5, Psalm 30:9, and Psalm 88:10-12 reflect an obsolete doctrine of the grave. Psalm 88 is perhaps the most egregious example, so I will focus my attention there.

A pastor from a denomination that sings all 150 Psalms once asked me, “when would you ever sing Psalm 88 in worship?” I simply answered, “Do you really have no one in your congregation who suffers from depression?” Psalm 88 reminds us that there are days in the Christian life that may end in utter blackness.

“Do you work wonders for the dead?
Do the departed rise up to praise you?
Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,
or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
Are your wonders known in the darkness,
or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?”

Some think that some or all of the Old Testament authors had no clear idea of the resurrection, and so expressed unclear or incomplete ideas regarding the afterlife. They grant that the text is inspired by God and true so far as it goes – but they argue that it was written at a time when the people of God were uncertain about the afterlife, and so Psalm 88 is not appropriate for Christian worship. After all, we know that the departed will rise up to praise God!

Geerhardus Vos takes a different – and more helpful – approach:

“And most touching of all I think is the form which this sentiment assumes in the mind of the Old Testament saints in view of the mysteries, so much greater to them than to us, of the state after death. Did you ever observe what is the thought that seems to have most acutely distressed and perplexed the writers of some of the Psalms when they tried in vain to pierce this veil of mystery enveloping to them the future world? It was the fear that in these strange regions there might be no remembrance of God, no knowledge of his goodness, no praise of his glory. We may be assured that when a religious want is in this way projected into the world to come so that the fear of its not being satisfied proves stronger than the fear of death in itself, we may be sure that there it has been recognized as the supreme, the essential thing in religion.”[1]

But the question of the afterlife is not really the issue in Psalm 88. The question in Psalm 88 has to do with God’s promises to Israel, and particularly, with God’s promises to David. If the Davidic king is overthrown, and Israel is destroyed, then what will become of God’s promises? To use New Testament language, if the Gates of Hell prevail and the church is destroyed then what will become of God’s promises to Jesus? “Do you work wonders for the dead?”

Of course, this is precisely where Psalm 88 is so helpful for the church to sing! If God never works in history, then what can God do for the dead? This is what makes Psalm 88 such a beautiful song of the cross. After all, Psalm 88 opens “O LORD, God of my salvation…” How can salvation come to God’s people? It is only if God does “wondrous works” in history. It is only if God is the God of the living that there is any hope for the dead!

In the end, the answers to the questions in verses 10-12, which so obviously appear to be “No!” – in fact, are “Yes!” God’s steadfast love will be declared in the grave – when he raises Jesus from the dead. Israel’s only hope – and our only hope – is if God triumphs over the grave by raising up his Son to eternal life!

But what about us? Psalm 88 is helpful for the Christian to sing – not just about Jesus, but also for ourselves. Because in the Christian life there are days that end in darkness and despair like this:

“Your wrath has swept over me;
your dreadful assaults destroy me.
They surround me like a flood all day long;
they close in on me together.
You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me;
my companions have become darkness.” (88:16-18)

It was true for Jesus on the cross – and it can be true in the Christian life as well. There were days when Paul himself “despaired of life” (2 Cor 1:8-10 – which almost quotes Psalm 88 with its emphasis on how God is the one who delivers us from deadly peril). Paul talks openly about his own discouragement in 2 Cor 4:7-12 — though the fact that God is his salvation prevents him from reaching ultimate despair (just like Psalm 88 never reaches ultimate despair). After all, Psalm 88 is a Psalm of the cross. This is what Jesus endured for us. The reason why we must sing Psalm 88 is because when we sing Psalm 88 in union with Christ, we can sing Psalm 88 with the same hope as the Psalmist — because God is the God of our salvation! The Psalmist’s hope was exactly the same as our hope. He hoped in the same Redeemer.

As Geerhardus Vos put it, there are different redemptive-historical epochs, but there is a “homogeneity of redemption.”[2] Certainly there can be a difference in “tone” between the Davidic era and New Covenant – which is due to our diverse redemptive-historical eras. Certainly the resurrection of Jesus gives us a greater joy and glory than anything in the “obsolete covenant” – but this simply demonstrates that we need to sing more than the Psalms.

Conclusion

Congregational singing is where the church participates in the songs of the heavenly assembly. As such, we should use the songs of the old covenant in the same way that we use readings from the old covenant. And as the word of Christ dwells in us richly, perhaps once again in our daily lives, we will begin “teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in [our] hearts to God” (Col. 3:16).

While we often prefer to avoid themes of darkness, depression, cursing, and death, we cannot do so without ignoring New Testament teaching on the subject. One of the best ways of renewing our understanding and piety in such matters would be to resume singing the “hard” Psalms, singing them in the light of the glory of Christ.

Of course, congregational singing should not be limited to the 150 Psalms – but it will always be nourished and enriched by the Psalter. But the relation between psalmody and good hymnody will have to wait for another essay!

Psalm 7 – ph

by Michiana Covenant | Jan 24, 2014 | Psalmody, Psalms, Psalter Hymnal

Psalm 7

I concur with the OPC/URC proposal on Psalm 7. While “Song 24” is not common in our circles, it is a wonderful fit for this impassioned plea for deliverance.

Text: 10. 10. 10. 10. (compiled from Sing Psalms, 2003, and Book of Psalms for Singing, 1973; MCPC, 2012)

1 O LORD my God, my refuge is in you; deliver me from all those who pursue,
2 lest lionlike they tear ferociously, while there is no one to deliver me.

3 O LORD my God, if wrong is in my hands, 4 if I did evil to my foes or friends,
5 let my pursuer overtake me now, and trample in the dust my life, my soul.

6 Arise, O LORD, in wrath against my foes, against the rage of all who me oppose.
Awake, my God, let justice now abound, 7 for all assembled nations gathered round.

8 Your justice to the people, LORD, decree. According to my righteousness judge me;
9 but let the evil of the wicked end, and be the righteous one’s secure defense.

You test all minds and hearts, O righteous God! 10 My shield is He who saves the upright heart.
11 God is a judge who does what’s right and fair, and ev’ry day God will his wrath declare.

12 If one does not repent, God whets his sword; he stands prepared, and he has drawn his bow.
13 He has made ready instruments of death; he makes his arrows deadly, fiery shafts.

14 See how the wicked evil thoughts conceive, is pregnant with ill will and bears deceit.
15 He makes a pit, he digs it with his spade, then falls into the very pit he made.

16 His scheming will recoil on him instead; his evil will descend upon his head.
17 I’ll thank the LORD for judging righteously, and I’ll sing praises to the LORD Most High.

Tune: Song 24 (Orlando Gibbons, 1623)

Commentary

Psalm 7 is titled, “A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning the words of Cush, a Benjaminite.”

Who is this Cush? Some think that David is using a circumlocution for Saul — since it was considered improper to curse the ruler of Israel (Ex. 22:28). But this doesn’t work: cursing is cursing, whether you name them or not. Others suggest that there was some Benjaminite named Cush who was slandering David (a rather likely scenario). Others — such as Theodore of Mopsuestia and Augustine — suggest that this refers to Hushai the Archite, David’s friend. After all, the superscription does not say whether “Cush” is a friend or a foe. In this scenario, David hears the message from Hushai that Absalom will not pursue him immediately (2 Samuel 17:21), and then writes Psalm 7 in response.

Certainly there are strong Absalom links in the Psalm itself. In verse 4, “if I have repaid my friend with evil” — the word translated “my friend” is sholmi (from shalem — meaning “one who is at peace with me”) — and closely related to the name Abshalom (“father of peace”). We didn’t try to capture this in our translation because it requires a preacher to explain the text.

Structure:

Our eight stanza structure works hard to capture the movement in the Psalm. Stanza 1 and 2 both open with the line, “O LORD, my God” (verses 1 and 3), while stanzas 3-6 each open with references to God (verses 6, 8, 9, 12). Since verses 12-16 then turn to the wicked, it is impossible to open stanzas 7-8 with a divine reference, but the last half of stanza 8 (verse 17) does so.

In contrast, the Book of Psalms for Worship extends the Psalm to nine stanzas, and Sing Psalms has ten stanzas (using the same meter).

Translation Notes:

Some may wonder how we blended two versions that were both longer, and wound up with a shorter text! We did this by following each when they chose to condense, since our goal was to be as succinct as possible. For example:

Psalm 7:5 (ESV) — “let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it, and let him trample my life to the ground and lay my glory in the dust.”

Sing Psalms devotes an entire stanza to this verse: “Then let my foe pursue relentlessly that he may vent his hateful spite on me, and let him trample me into the ground; so will my honour in the dust be found.” [The underlined text supposedly translates “overtake it”]

Our translation — “Let my pursuer overtake me now, and trample in the dust my life, my soul.” [Following the Book of Psalms for Singing in omitting the phrase “my glory.” The Book of Psalms for Worship alters the phrase, but does not reintroduce “glory.”]

Since our goal is to sing the whole Psalm at one time, we strove for economy of language.

In verse 9, the ESV says, “you who test the minds and hearts,” where the Hebrew literally says “the hearts and kidneys.” Sometimes you hear people say that Hebrew has no word for ‘mind’ — and so they claim that the Hebrews were less rationalistic than the Greeks. Or they will say that since Hebrew uses the word “heart” to talk about thinking, therefore Hebrew is more affective — ironically using the Greek concept of heart to define what is “affective”! Given that English has adopted our mind/heart distinction from Greek, it can be a little challenging to render the heart/kidney usage in Hebrew. Here, in Psalm 7, it’s fairly easy — since it is clear that the Psalmist wants God to test his inward self, both his thinking and his feeling.

But this brings us to the central challenge of Psalm 7. Verse 8 has just said, “judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me.” If God is a righteous judge (v11), then how can the Psalmist expect to pass the test? After all, he is not asking for a test of outward deeds — he is saying that God tests the heart and the mind. The Psalmist says that God tests the inward disposition of men — and yet he expects to pass the test without difficulty! Certainly this was true of Jesus — and certainly Jesus is the best singer of this Psalm! — but David is making a point about the present, and further, he is writing a song for Israel to sing for centuries to come, as they look forward to the greater Son of David.

This is where Hushai and Absalom come in handy. Whether it was the original context of Psalm 7 or not, it provides one clear example of how someone could sing Psalm 7 with a clear conscience. In verses 3-5 David has declared his innocence. He did nothing to deserve the way that Absalom has treated him. David is the rightful king of Israel. While Saul was king, David had always been careful not to mistreat the LORD’s anointed — but now Absalom and his conspirators have betrayed him. With respect to the case at hand, David is innocent. And so David prays, “Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end, and may you establish the righteous — you who test the minds and hearts, O righteous God!” (v9)

And then he warns the conspirators in verses 12-16 that if they do not repent — if they do not turn back from their path — then they will fall into their own pit. Or, to use one of the most memorable lines in the Psalm: “Behold, the wicked man conceives evil and is pregnant with mischief and gives birth to lies.”

This is a good reminder that there are times when we are innocent! And especially since we have been justified in Christ, we stand before God as his innocent people (remember the point in verse 12 — “if one does not repent…”!). Again, the Absalom story is helpful: what if Absalom had repented? Is it not obvious from the story that if Absalom had repented, David would have forgiven him? But God does indeed “whet his sword” and “make ready his instruments of death” against those who refuse to repent (v12-13).

Tune Notes:

Song 24 is a wonderfully dark and foreboding tune mostly in the Dorian mode, quite fitting for a lament. Gibbons himself only composed the soprano and bass lines — so the inner parts were added by The English Hymnal (1906).

It is used in the 1987 Psalter Hymnal with an alternate version of Psalm 51 (#167), and with hymn 308, “Come, Risen Lord, as Guest Among Your Own.” While Gibbons’ original tune began with a half note at the beginning of each line, the inflection works better with a quarter rest and a quarter note at the beginning of each line. Since most people are not familiar with this tune, this alteration will not be noticeable to most.

Conclusion

Psalm 7 can be a hard song to sing for those who have been trained that Christians should never pray for vengeance. But Psalm 7 is a good place to learn how — since it includes the reminder that repentance is always an option, and it focuses on how God is the one who brings vengeance (not us), and on how sin invariably trips itself and destroys itself.

You can hear a choir singing a different text to Song 24 at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4GAJQCn-Sg

(starting at the 4:30 mark)

I have not yet preached on Psalm 7.

— Peter J. Wallace

Is the Psalter an Obsolete Songbook? – 3 – But Do We Have to Sing *That*?

by Michiana Covenant | Jan 20, 2014 | Psalmody, Psalms, Psalter Hymnal

Is the Psalter an Obsolete Songbook? Why Sing All 150 Psalms AND the Best of the Best of All Ages?

Part 3

In the first two sections we have sought to show the proper place of the Psalter in Christian worship. The chief objections to the Psalms are often focused on some of the language in the Psalter. In the final two installments, we will focus first on the imprecatory Psalms, and then on the theme of death.

But Do We Have to Sing That?

There are some Psalms that are really hard to sing. Psalm 137:8-9 says:

O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed,
blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us!
Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!

How can the church of Jesus Christ sing this?

Some people have argued that the New Testament has a fundamentally different attitude about our enemies. After all, Jesus taught us to love our enemies, and pray for those who persecute us. It would be easy to come up with a list of NT passages that appear to teach contrary to many Psalms, and thus argue that many Psalms are unworthy of Christian worship. But I would argue that there is not a single sentiment in the Psalms that is not echoed in the NT as well.

Let me give a few examples of the worst statements in the Psalms. For instance, the statement in Psalm 137:8-9, quoted above, declares a blessing on the one who destroys “daughter Babylon” (cities are often called “daughters” in the Old Testament). Given that Revelation 17-18 speaks of the fall of Babylon and her destruction, it is worth noting the cry of the heavenly host in Revelation 19:1-2 –

“Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
for his judgments are true and just;
for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality,
and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”

We need to remember that vengeance is a good thing. Scripture warns us not to take revenge, but does so through God’s promise, “Vengeance is mine, says the Lord, I will repay” (Romans 12:19). Therefore, according to Paul in Romans 12, we should pray that God will bring vengeance against those who seek to destroy us.

Paul explains this further in the previous chapter, in Romans 11:9-10, where he quotes Psalm 69:22-23 and applies it to rebellious Israel:

“Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them; let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs forever.”

Here Paul says that David’s imprecation against his enemies should be applied to rebellious Jews in his own day. Paul will not seek to make God’s curse come to pass (he will not wage war against rebellious Israel), but he will pray that God will make it happen.

In the same way, the souls under the altar in Revelation 6:10 pray,

“O sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

This is the prayer of the faithful: that God will make all things right in the end by bringing vengeance against those who have persecuted them.

Of course, this raises a serious question: when is it appropriate to pray for God’s destruction of our enemies? After all, Jesus did pray, “Father, forgive them” (Luke 23:34), and Stephen asked Jesus, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (Acts 7:60). It is worth noting that you find this same attitude in the Psalms. David says in Psalms 35 and 109 that he prayed for his enemies and afflicted himself in fasting for their healing when they were sick. But there comes a time when David asks God to destroy them. Likewise, we need to understand that Jesus’ prayer, “Father, forgive them,” does not mean that we never pray for vengeance.

Let’s start with Psalm 58, which offers a particularly sharp example of David’s curse against the wicked. He speaks against the “gods” – those who judge the children of mankind (probably referring to foreign kings – but possibly referring to Israelite judges). He compares them to serpents and adders, and calls on God to “break the teeth in their mouth” and “let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime, like the stillborn child who never sees the sun.” Then he concludes in verses 10-11:

“The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance;
he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.
Mankind will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous;
surely there is a God who judges on earth.”

The image is rather shocking. But what happens when you crush the head of your enemies? Your feet are spattered with blood! In the Old Testament, spiritual warfare had a strong physical component. And so Paul will apply these principles spiritually: “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Romans 16:20).

But what does this look like? When Paul writes to the Thessalonians to encourage them in their afflictions, he says in 2 Thessalonians 1:5-8 –

“This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering—since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”

Those who attack and trample God’s people underfoot will receive God’s righteous judgment in the end! The New Testament says, “God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you….inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God…”

We should never hold a grudge – and we should always pray that God would have mercy and convert the wicked – but at the same time, we should also pray that God’s vengeance would come against those who “stir up strife,” and who seek to destroy God’s people. So long as rulers devise wrongs in their hearts – and so long as the gods of the age deal out violence on the earth, we will need to sing Psalm 58.

In fact, if you study the imprecatory Psalms, you quickly realize that there are only two times when the Psalmists will pray for God to curse people:

1) when wicked Israelites are oppressing helpless Israelites (e.g., Psalms 5, 7, 9-10, etc.; this is especially prominent in books 1-2 of the Psalter – which has the Davidic kingdom as its presupposition);
2) when wicked foreigners are oppressing Israel (this occurs occasionally in books 1-2, but becomes especially prominent in book 3, with the Psalms of exile: 74-83 all have at least echoes of wicked foreigners in view).

In other words, we need to pray the imprecatory Psalms against:

1) wicked Christians (apostates) who are oppressing helpless Christians in the church;
2) wicked rulers who are knowingly and intentionally persecuting the church.

Notice that the Psalms are not hostile towards “the nations.” Think of the positive treatment of Babylon in Psalm 87 (especially intriguing in light of the curses on the nations in Psalms 74-83!):

“Among those who know me I mention Rahab and Babylon;
behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Cush –
‘This one was born there,’ they say.
And of Zion it shall be said,
‘This was and that one were born in her’;
for the Most High himself will establish her.
The Lord records as he registers the peoples,
‘This one was born there’ (Psalm 87:4-6).

All the enemies of Israel – even Babylon the cursed – will be reborn in Zion! The only time that the Psalms call for God to judge the nations are when the nations are pillaging and plundering Zion.

Finally, what about curses? Paul says in Romans 12:14, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.” Some would say that this is conclusive evidence that Christians should never curse those who persecute them! And it is true that Christians should not revile and swear like the nations do. But remember that five verses later, Paul says, “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord’” (Romans 12:19). In other words, Christians should never seek to do anything to curse their enemies, but we should pray that God will bring vengeance – like in Psalm 94.

Consider the example of Jesus and the apostles.

1) In Matthew 23, Jesus hurls imprecations upon the scribes and Pharisees. The seven woes upon the scribes and Pharisees conclude with “You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell” (v33) – clearly reminiscent of Psalm 58’s description of the wicked rulers.

2) In Acts 8:20, Peter curses Simon Magus, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money.” Certainly Peter calls him to repentance – but that doesn’t stop him from cursing him!

3) Likewise, in Acts 13:10, Paul, “filled with the Holy Spirit,” said to Elymas the magician, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.”

4) In Matthew 10:14, Jesus says to his disciples that if a town will not receive them, “shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. Truly I say to you it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.” Paul, and Barnabas, in Acts 13:51, apply this to the Jews in Pisidian Antioch: “they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium.” Likewise in Acts 18:6, when Paul faced opposition in the synagogue in Corinth, “he shook out his garments and said to them, ‘Your blood be on your own heads!” and went to the Gentiles.

This last episode is particularly fascinating, because one of the people who heard that curse was a man named Sosthenes (the ruler of the synagogue who was beaten by the Gentiles in v16). Several years later, Paul writes to the same church at Corinth: “Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes” (1 Cor 1:1). Paul had cursed Sosthenes and the rest of the synagogue – not out of malice, or out of any personal sense of ill will – but simply because Jesus had commanded that those who will not heed the call of the gospel need to know that God’s curse rests upon them until they repent!

What pattern do you see here? The ignorant are dealt with gently. Those who willfully rebel are forborne as long as possible – but then the curse of the gospel is proclaimed against them. When was the last time that you said, “Your blood be on your own head,” or “you son of the devil” to someone who persistently refused to hear the gospel? (This would be especially appropriate in the case of a religious leader who is leading people into destruction). I would suggest that one primary reason why we have failed to heed this New Testament teaching is because we have labeled it “obsolete” in the Psalter and removed it from our singing.