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.
