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A Different Tone
Cursings in the Psalms: “The curse of the LORD is on the house of the wicked, but He blesses the dwelling of the righteous” (Proverbs 3:33). [1] O. B. Elbert When the Lord’s people seek God’s word as a healing balm to soothe their hearts from the cares and troubles of the day, it is likely that the first place they turn is to the Psalms. It is well that they should! There we find written expression of every shade of emotion and nuance of thought our Christian hearts feel. The sentiments of Psalm 119 express it well, “This is my comfort in my affliction, that Your word has revived me. ... Your statutes are my songs in the house of my pilgrimage. O LORD, I remember Your name in the night, and keep Your law” (verses 50, 54-55). The beloved 23rd Psalm has consoled us countless times, “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever” (verses 1-6). These thoughts are sweet and satisfying — a true comfort to the soul. However, sometimes we hit an apparent bump in the road. We open the Psalms and randomly begin to read something like (Psalm 109:6-15), “Appoint a wicked man over him, and let an accuser stand at his right hand. When he is judged, let him come forth guilty.” “That is very intense,” we think, but there is more! “Let his prayer become sin. Let his days be few; let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow! Let his children wander about and beg; and let them seek sustenance far from their ruined homes.” How severe! — but there is yet more! “Let the creditor seize all that he has, and let strangers plunder the product of his labor. Let there be none to extend lovingkindness to him, nor any to be gracious to his fatherless children. Let his posterity be cut off; in a following generation let their name be blotted out. Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD, and do not let the sin of his mother be blotted out. Let them be before the LORD continually, that He may cut off their memory from the earth.” That seems very unsettling. The preceding may well be the most severe example of cursings in the Psalms, so it serves as a good example for our subject. How can we reconcile the severity of sentiment expressed in this Psalm, and others, with our Christian understanding that “God is love”? How can we defend the love of God in light of these curses, not only against critics of religion, but mainly for our own faith as well?
David a Type David, the author of Psalm 109, was a type (or figurative picture) of Christ Jesus and his church during their fleshly sojourn on earth. We often say that David pictures the Church Militant, during their good fight of faith while on earth. David rejoiced in Jehovah, saying, “He trains my hands for battle, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze” (Psalm 18:34). Because he was a great man of war he was not permitted to build Jehovah’s house of glory. David said, “Listen to me, my brethren and my people; I had intended to build a permanent home for the ark of the covenant of the LORD and for the footstool of our God. So I had made preparations to build it. But God said to me, You shall not build a house for My name because you are a man of war and have shed blood” (1 Chronicles 28:2,3). The glorious kingship of Christ was pictured in Solomon. He had the privilege of building the house for God. As David fought many enemies in various battles, so Christ and his Church, the members of his body, fight many battles during their earthly walk. Paul’s encouragement was, “Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:3). Our enemies are often identified as the world, the flesh, and the devil. These enemies are a consequence both of sin and Satan’s usurpation of God’s authority. In calling for the absolute, implacable and permanent destruction of his enemies, the Psalmist David speaks of Christ’s and his followers’ earnest desire for the total conquest over sin! That great victory will bring about the restoration of mankind to sinless perfection in God’s Kingdom on earth! If we look at David’s curses as self-serving desires or the mere vengeance of a wrathful man, they may seem petty; maybe even grievous. But if we place them in the grander context of eternity and God’s plan to conquer sin and death, they become beautiful. Those curses are a call for Divine Justice, “on the day when, according to [the] gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus” (Romans 2:16).
Loving Righteousness Not Enough
It is not
difficult for most of us to love righteousness, especially if we are on the
receiving end of its benefits. We all love righteousness because it fosters and
ensures justice, peace and blessing. Yet, a love of righteousness alone is not
enough! We must also hate iniquity. That is essential. Of Jesus we read, “You
have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; Therefore God, your God, has
anointed you with the oil of joy above your fellows” (Psalm 45:7). Many love the blessings expressed in the Psalms. It is, however, uncommon to find love for the cursings — those stern calls for destruction of all unrighteousness. Viewing the (apparent) cursings in the Psalms as expressions of perfect hatred for unrighteousness helps us to see the love of God in them (Psalm 139:21- 24). They are a call for the ultimate victory of God’s eternal kingdom. They are a call for the destruction of every enemy of God, whether it be presumptuous sin dwelling in our own flesh or unrighteousness in the world or the Devil, the evil one himself. They are a call for the establishment of things that are just, loving and proper.
A Telling Prophecy Jeremiah gave a profound insight as to how thoroughly sin will be conquered. He speaks of the destruction of Babylon and, on a larger prophetic scale, of mystic Babylon (Revelation 16:19). Jeremiah shows that not only will Babylon be completely destroyed, but that not one bit of her tradition, precedents of commerce, social structure or political hierarchy will be used in any way in the building of God’s kingdom on earth. Sin will be totally eradicated. “And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith the LORD. Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the LORD, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain. And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the LORD” (Jeremiah 51:24-26). Thank God! Malachi echoes Jeremiah’s vision of the complete destruction of sin in the fourth chapter of his prophecy. “For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. You will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing, says the LORD of hosts” (Malachi 4:1-4). Cursings Call for Sin to Be Destroyed Every iota of sin will be destroyed. But that does not mean that every sinner will be destroyed! We understand that a sinner may be destroyed by becoming a righteous loving person under the restoration process in God’s kingdom. This is our hope, not only for those who were the target of David’s curses, but also for the vast majority of the human family. The scriptures say of our race, “There is none righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10). We are all tainted with sin. Some of us are blessed with the grace that is in Christ Jesus in the present but most wait to receive that grace in the kingdom on earth. As Christians, we hate the sin within ourselves and thank God for the grace of justification that is ours in Jesus. Still, we feel a bond with Paul as he expressed his inability to get rid of sin in his flesh. He was able to serve God with his mind and we are thankful that we may also. Note carefully the language of Romans 1:18, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” Paul’s words seem to indicate that God’s wrath is specifically directed against ungodliness and unrighteousness — he hates the sin but not the sinner. God does not desire the destruction of sinners, but sin. “Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked,” declares the Lord GOD, “rather than that he should turn from his ways and live?” (Ezekiel 18:23). Nevertheless, the Scriptures teach that some sinners will embrace sin so strongly that they become inseparable from it. Such will die the Second Death (Revelation 21:8). We opened with Psalm 109 and it is well to return to it. There we find the cause for which such harsh language was used. We find out what it was that David hated and that raised his wrath to such extreme fury. We find, also, the principle behind all of the cursings in the Psalms. The harsh punishments — the calls for obliteration — are for the eventual eradication of every vestige of sin. The curse of Psalm 109 was given “Because he did not remember to show lovingkindness, but persecuted the afflicted and needy man, and the despondent in heart, to put them to death. He also loved cursing, so it came to him; and he did not delight in blessing, so it was far from him” (Psalm 109:16,17). Far from being sentiments that should disturb us, the curses of the Psalms are a comforting assurance that Divine judgment is coming — with deliverance for our groaning race of sin sick people in mind. They assure us that, as much as we hate iniquity, so does God — more so. They assure us that some day, soon, all unrighteousness will be done away with and mankind will be made right in God’s sight. __________ (1) All quotes from the NASB.
"Bless Jehovah, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless Jehovah, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits." (Psalms 103:1, 2)
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