When doing some research on this week’s psalm, Psalm 109, I read in a Biblical commentary and it is an “imprecatory” psalm. I honestly didn’t know what imprecatory meant, so I looked it up. Dictionary.com defines it as, “to invoke or call down (evil or curses), as upon a person.” That sure doesn’t sound like a typical praise psalm! Reading further in my commentary, it says that this psalm a balance of "faithful covenantal speech" and "free, unrestrained speech of rage seeking vengeance.” So, it’s like praising God but also being mad about evil in the world, all at the same time. Let’s take a look.
Verse 1 starts out with a bit of praise to God: “My God, whom I praise, do not remain silent.” Even if we’re mad at God for whatever reason, He is still the God of the universe and still deserves our praise.
Then starting in verses 2-5, the psalmist David launches right into what the ungodly people around him are doing. They’re wicked, they’re deceitful, they’ve lied about him, they attack him without cause, they accuse him, and they repay his goodness with evil.
After that rant, David begins to look at what should be done to these evil people around him in verses 6-8. While the initial verses indicate multiple evil people, as he continues the psalm he personifies all of the evil people into one. He wants evil to be punished by evil. He hopes that the justice system will work how it’s supposed to work, and those who are guilty of crimes will be found guilty. He also hopes that evil people will have short lives, so they don’t have as much time to work their evil on this planet.
Not only that, but David goes on in verses 9-10 to wish harm on the evildoer’s family as well. Since he wants the evildoer to live a short live, he wants his children to lose their father and his wife to lose her husband. Because of that, their home would be ruined.
David’s cursing of this evil person continues to his possessions in verse 11: “May a creditor seize all he has; may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.” While earthly possessions aren’t everything, they are very helpful to get along in society and make a living for oneself, so David is wishing all that be taken away from the evildoers.
The cursing returns to the evildoer’s family in verses 12-13. If the evildoer is no longer living, then the household has no head and no one to make money to provide for the family. As if that isn’t bad enough, David wishes that no one would help them in their destitute state! Because of the father’s sin, the children may not live very long and not produce offspring, thus cutting off the family’s bloodline.
After all those harsh words, the final straw comes in verses 14-15 where David asks God to see this evildoer and his family as guilty in God’s sight. Verse 15 sums it up: “May their sins always remain before the Lord, that he may blot out their name from the earth.”
In case God needs a reminder of what this evil person did, David provides Him with the list of sins in verses 16-20. He wasn’t kind, he cursed others, and he did not bless others in any way. David again asks for the Lord to judge this person harshly.
After all that ranting about these evil people, David turns his attention to himself. Verse 21 says, “But you, Sovereign Lord, help me for your name’s sake; out of the goodness of your love, deliver me.” It’s like he complains and complains about all these other evil people, wishing all these curses on them, then has the nerve to ask God to deliver himself! But really, David is now focusing on God and how different His nature is from that of the wicked people on earth.
David then reminds God of his own needs in verses 22-24. He is poor and needy, he’s dealing with grief, and he has physical ailments from the torment by his enemies. In verses 25-29, David reminds God again of how his enemies have tormented him. He asks God to save him and judge his enemies, according to God’s unfailing love.
After all that, David still concludes with praise to God in verses 30-31. He knows that God will deliver His children from their adversaries. God is his protector and provider, whether He pronounces the harsh judgment on David’s enemies or not.
It’s so easy for us as humans to complain about all the bad we see in others. We don’t like the way some people treat us, so we wish curses on them like David did to the evildoers around him. Are those people around us really that evil, or are we simply being selfish in how we perceive their actions? Don’t we deserve God’s curses just as much as they do?
We all disobey God’s commandments and harm our fellow people, whether physically or with our words. We all deserve the judgment and cursing that David requested for those doing evil to him. But while David still praised God in spite of that, knowing that God may or may not actually judge them how he requested, we need to praise God in all circumstances too. God is a just and right God, and He will judge people (including us!) how He wants to. We can whine and complain all we want, but God is still God and we are not. We still need to thank and praise Him for the gift of Jesus and His sacrificial death on the cross and resurrection, which through faith makes our guilt turn into innocence.
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