Various Notes on the Psalms
"That which the French proverb hath of sickness is true of all evils, that they come on horseback and go away on foot; we have often seen that a sudden fall, or one meal’s surfeit, has stuck by many to their graves; whereas pleasures come like oxen, slow and heavily, and go away like post horses, upon the spur. Sorrows, because they are lingering guests, I will entertain but moderately, knowing that the more they are made of the longer they will continue; and for pleasures, because they stay not, and do but call to drink at my door, I will use them as passengers with slight respect. He is his own best friend that makes the least of both of them." (Joseph Hall.)
Tough going with 109 and 110---I need to take time to hash through them, but they are not particularly winsome psalms, but psalms of punishment and justice. I would much rather dwell on the merciful character of the Lord!
Psalm 109
One thing I find interesting is that the psalmist welcomes conflict---especially between the Lord and his enemy. Our attitudes today are different---"pray for your enemies." But here, David openly prays against his enemies. As this is a prayer of David, it makes the whole ball of wax worse---because I don't understand why David gave Saul such a long rope (and Absalom, among others), yet he seems militantly angry and judgmental here. I clearly don't understand the culture I think. Or David for that matter. Digging in....
Well, it looks like I am not alone in my initial reaction:
"Of all the Psalms of imprecation, this one is unrivaled for first place. No other calls down the judgment of God with such distilled vitriol or with such comprehensive detail. The reader cannot fail to be intrigued and fascinated by the sheer ingenuity of the psalmist in the variety of punishments he invokes on his foes!" -BBC
What is a psalm of "imprecation" need to dig more when I have inclination and time.
Interesting bit here---David WAS praying for his enemies, yet cursing them to God too. Hmmmm, new thought here---you can pray for someone and still detest their behavior and bring it to God.
Psa 109:4 For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer.
Another comment to ponder---the real enemy is the larger evil, not just that person:
"It will help us to understand the severity of this Psalm if we remember that it refers not only to David and his foe, but also to Messiah and His betrayer, and also perhaps to Israel and the Anti-Christ in a day still future."
Here the BBC commentator takes his best stab at it:
"The explanation that appeals to me most is that the imprecatory Psalms express a spirit that was proper for a Jew living under the law, but not proper for a Christian living under grace. The reason these Psalms seem harsh to us is because we are viewing them in the light of the New Testament revelation. David and the other psalmists did not have the New Testament. As Scroggie points out:
. . . it will be well to recognize at once the fact that the previous dispensation was inferior to the present one, that while the Law is not contrary to the Gospel it is not equal to it, that while Christ came to fulfill the Law He came also to transcend it. We must be careful not to judge of expressions in the Psalter which savor of vindictiveness and vengeance by the standards of the Pauline Epistles."
A good solution...except that now I have dissonance about the doctrine of dispensationalism as I think it brings its own problems to the table.
Ahhh, he also seems to believe in the concept of generational sin....one that I tend to lean towards too...not a spooky kind of "curse," but more that our actions have consequences that project to future generations. In a very practical way, this is generational sin.
"While the inclusion of a man's family in his judgment seems rather extreme to us, it was justified to the psalmist by the fact that God had threatened to visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation (Exo_20:5; Exo_34:7; Num_14:18; Deu_5:9). Whether we like it or not, there are laws in the spiritual realm under which sins have a way of working themselves out in a man's family. No man is an island; the consequences of his acts reach out to others as well as affecting himself." BBC
Tough going with 109 and 110---I need to take time to hash through them, but they are not particularly winsome psalms, but psalms of punishment and justice. I would much rather dwell on the merciful character of the Lord!
Psalm 109
One thing I find interesting is that the psalmist welcomes conflict---especially between the Lord and his enemy. Our attitudes today are different---"pray for your enemies." But here, David openly prays against his enemies. As this is a prayer of David, it makes the whole ball of wax worse---because I don't understand why David gave Saul such a long rope (and Absalom, among others), yet he seems militantly angry and judgmental here. I clearly don't understand the culture I think. Or David for that matter. Digging in....
Well, it looks like I am not alone in my initial reaction:
"Of all the Psalms of imprecation, this one is unrivaled for first place. No other calls down the judgment of God with such distilled vitriol or with such comprehensive detail. The reader cannot fail to be intrigued and fascinated by the sheer ingenuity of the psalmist in the variety of punishments he invokes on his foes!" -BBC
What is a psalm of "imprecation" need to dig more when I have inclination and time.
Interesting bit here---David WAS praying for his enemies, yet cursing them to God too. Hmmmm, new thought here---you can pray for someone and still detest their behavior and bring it to God.
Psa 109:4 For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer.
Another comment to ponder---the real enemy is the larger evil, not just that person:
"It will help us to understand the severity of this Psalm if we remember that it refers not only to David and his foe, but also to Messiah and His betrayer, and also perhaps to Israel and the Anti-Christ in a day still future."
Here the BBC commentator takes his best stab at it:
"The explanation that appeals to me most is that the imprecatory Psalms express a spirit that was proper for a Jew living under the law, but not proper for a Christian living under grace. The reason these Psalms seem harsh to us is because we are viewing them in the light of the New Testament revelation. David and the other psalmists did not have the New Testament. As Scroggie points out:
. . . it will be well to recognize at once the fact that the previous dispensation was inferior to the present one, that while the Law is not contrary to the Gospel it is not equal to it, that while Christ came to fulfill the Law He came also to transcend it. We must be careful not to judge of expressions in the Psalter which savor of vindictiveness and vengeance by the standards of the Pauline Epistles."
A good solution...except that now I have dissonance about the doctrine of dispensationalism as I think it brings its own problems to the table.
Ahhh, he also seems to believe in the concept of generational sin....one that I tend to lean towards too...not a spooky kind of "curse," but more that our actions have consequences that project to future generations. In a very practical way, this is generational sin.
"While the inclusion of a man's family in his judgment seems rather extreme to us, it was justified to the psalmist by the fact that God had threatened to visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation (Exo_20:5; Exo_34:7; Num_14:18; Deu_5:9). Whether we like it or not, there are laws in the spiritual realm under which sins have a way of working themselves out in a man's family. No man is an island; the consequences of his acts reach out to others as well as affecting himself." BBC
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