Just like good is all around & showing love to wickedness & evil in this world today we need to pray like David but still have compassion for those who never want to listen or change their ways,...I TRUELY feel sorry for those out there still causing others nothing but terror & chaos, lies & deception in their path. David’s Indictment of His Enemies: His Innocence and Their Iniquity (109: 1-5) 1 For the choir director. A Psalm of David. O God of my praise, Do not be silent! 2 For they have opened the wicked and deceitful mouth against me; They have spoken against me with a lying tongue. 3 They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, And fought against me without cause. 4 In return for my love they act as my accusers; But I am in prayer. 5 Thus they have repaid me evil for good, And hatred for my love. (NASB) Verses 1-5 are crucial, not only to this psalm, but to our understanding of imprecation. In this introductory section David makes two claims: (1) his innocence and (2) the iniquity of his enemies. The God who is the object of his praise (v. 1; cf. also Deut. 10:21; Jer. 17:14) is also the One who receives his petitions. David’s plea that God not remain silent in verse 1b is a cry for help, as elsewhere (cf. Ps. 28:1; 35:22; 83:1). The basis for David’s petition is then given in verses 2-5. David is accused by his enemies but is innocent of their charges. He has done good to his enemies, which they have repaid with evil. I believe that verses 1-5 are crucial to a correct understanding of imprecatory prayers because they inform us about the prerequisites for imprecation. The requirements are rigorous for those who would thus pray. Likewise, those who are worthy of divine wrath are carefully defined. Only the innocent dare pray as David does, and only the wicked need fear the fate which David petitions God to execute. Let us first consider the innocence of David, which qualifies him to pray as he does. David is, first and foremost, a worshipper of God. He dares not petition his God apart from being a man given to the praise of God (v. 1). While the accusations against David by his enemies are many, they are without basis (cf. Ps. 69:4). He not only has refrained from evil toward the wicked, he has done them nothing but good (v. 5; cf. Ps. 35:12). They hate, but he loves (v. 5). They accuse him, but he prays (for them, it would seem, v. 4).186 The underlying assumption is that David is suffering, not for his sin, but “for righteousness sake”: Because for Thy sake I have borne reproach; dishonor has covered my face. I have become estranged from my brothers, and an alien to my mother’s sons. For zeal for Thy house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach Thee have fallen on me (Ps. 69:7-9). David does not claim to be sinless here, but he is a worshipper whose heart is right before God.187 Often in the psalms David confesses his own sins: “For I confess my iniquity; I am full of anxiety because of my sin” (Ps. 38:18). “O God, it is Thou who dost know my folly, and my wrongs are not hidden from Thee” (Ps. 69:5; cf. 32:5; 51:5). If he has sinned, David asks God to deal with him accordingly: O Lord my God, if I have done this, if there is injustice in my hands, if I have rewarded evil to my friend, or have plundered him who without cause was my adversary, let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it; and let him trample my life down to the ground, and lay my glory in the dust (Ps. 7:3-5). In Psalm 139 while David prayed that God would “slay the wicked” (v. 19), he immediately opens his own heart to God, so that he may have his sins exposed and cleansed: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way” (Ps. 139:23-24). David makes his petition to God as one who is dependent on Him for righteousness (cf. Ps. 130:3-8; 143:2). While he is not entirely free from sin, he is right with God by His grace, and he is righteous with regard to the charges of his opponents. No one dare implore God to act as David does in Psalm 109 unless he himself is innocent in the sense that David was: innocent of the charges of the wicked, and in right standing before God. Let those who would pray for the destruction of their enemies be as quick as David to have God search their own hearts and to deal with them in justice, just as they would have Him judge their enemies. Imprecatory prayers must only be made by the righteous. Second, let us give due consideration to the wickedness of David’s enemies, which made them worthy of God’s wrath. In Psalm 109 the sin of David’s enemies is expressed almost entirely in terms of the wrongs they have committed against him.188 Elsewhere, however, it is shown that how the wicked treat the righteous is symptomatic of their rebellion against God (cf. Ps. 37:12; 139:19-20). The nature of the sin of the wicked against David is especially informative. The primary instrument of evil is the tongue of the wicked. They have “opened the wicked and deceitful mouth” and spoken with “a lying tongue” (v. 2). They have surrounded the psalmist with “words” (v. 3) and have “accused” him of wrongdoing (v. 4). I believe that Derek Kidner has best captured the essence of this evil by the title, “The Character-Assassin.”189 In most churches there is some kind of written or understood list of sins which its members are forbidden to commit. For some it may be smoking, drinking, dancing, going to movies, cursing, or perhaps (though less frequently) immorality. I am not trying to challenge here any of the items which may be on your particular list (though they made need challenging!). What I want to stress is how seldom the sin of backbiting is included in those lists. In fact, we have developed very subtle and spiritual-sounding means of committing the sin of character assassination. We “share” the problems of others as prayer requests. This sounds so pious, but frequently it is simply gossip by another label. Let us learn from this psalm that the most severe judgment is called down (and rightly so) upon the sin of character-assassination. Two lessons should be learned from verses 1-5 concerning those against whom imprecations are made: (1) The imprecations which God hears are those which are made by those who have clean hands and a clean heart. Imprecations are effective only when we see sin as God does and when we ask Him to deal with sin as He has promised to deal with it in His Word. (2) Those against whom imprecations are effective are those who are truly wicked, those who are not just our enemies, but God’s enemies. Psalm 109 is vastly different from a “voodoo” curse. Imprecations are prayers for the punishment of the wicked. While the psalmist is innocent, his enemies are not. This is the basis for his petition for the punishment of the wicked. We are taught in Proverbs that a curse without basis has no effect: “Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying, so a curse without cause does not alight” (Prov. 26:2). Let us not leave these introductory verses without learning that those who would pray a prayer similar to David’s must be like David—they must be those who praise God (not just petition Him), and those who are right before God and men. Those who seek God’s wrath on the guilty should be innocent. Imprecations are only effective against the guilty. In this context and many others, their guilt is the offense of the tongue. God takes our words seriously, and so should we. A brief word should be said about the identity of the wicked. They apparently were closely associated with David. According to verse 5, they had been the recipients of David’s love, which they had spurned and showed him hatred instead. Examples of David’s enemies include Doeg the Edomite (Ps. 52:1; 1 Sam. 21:7), Shimei (2 Sam. 16:5-8), and Saul (1 Sam. 18–31).190 While it is tempting to try to identify the name of the culprit, it seems obvious that the psalmist did not intend for us to know the individual’s identity. There are good reasons for this. First, the psalmist is committing the wicked to God’s judgment, not man’s. Why should he name the individual when God knew who it was? David, unlike his enemies, was not willing to engage in character-assassination. Secondly, David may have wanted his readers to give more thought to the one behind all accusation, Satan.191 Since the Hebrew word rendered “accuser” is translated satan, Satan’s role may well be indicated. We will return to this subject below. Third, since the psalms were intended for general use, David did not identify his enemies so that the righteous could supply the names of their adversaries, so to speak.192 David’s Imprecation Against His Enemies (109:6-20) 6 Appoint a wicked man over him; And let an accuser stand at his right hand. 7 When he is judged, let him come forth guilty; And let his prayer become sin. 8 Let his days be few; Let another take his office. 9 Let his children be fatherless, And his wife a widow. 10 Let his children wander about and beg; And let them seek sustenance far from their ruined homes. 11 Let the creditor seize all that he has; And let strangers plunder the product of his labor. 12 Let there be none to extend lovingkindness to him, Nor any to be gracious to his fatherless children. 13 Let his posterity be cut off; In a following generation let their name be blotted out. 14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD, And do not let the sin of his mother be blotted out. 15 Let them be before the LORD continually, That He may cut off their memory from the earth; 16 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. 17 He also loved cursing, so it came to him; And he did not delight in blessing, so it was far from him. 18 But he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment, And it entered into his body like water, And like oil into his bones. 19 Let it be to him as a garment with which he covers himself, And for a belt with which he constantly girds himself. 20 Let this be the reward of my accusers from the LORD, And of those who speak evil against my soul. (NASB) Verses 1-5 are the basis of David’s imprecation. David is innocent, yet his enemies have accused him of wrong-doing. They have engaged in character-assassination. David appeals to God, the object of his praise and adoration, to come to his rescue and to punish his wicked opponents. Verses 6-20 spell out the form which David believes this punishment should take. David’s imprecation is certainly fierce and forthright, but I believe that it is not excessive. The details of David’s imprecation and its doctrinal basis will be the primary aim of our study of these verses.
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 20:00:46 +0000
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