Psalm 109. Adversaries, Vengeance & The Lord

Introduction

Good morning to each and everyone. You’ll be turning in your Bibles to the Book of Psalms, and we’re going to be addressing the 109th Psalm this morning. The 109th Psalm, we’ll be focusing on that passage in just a moment or two. I don’t know if I’ll be doing a whole lot of walking around this morning. If you do, you’ll see that I’m limping a little bit. The reason for that is I was participating in a run yesterday morning. For many of you, you know, our brother Chuck Hale passed away last year with a brain tumor, brain cancer, and there was a run yesterday at UCF benefiting brain cancer research, brain cancer awareness, and I was able to run with the team that Renee Hill, our sister Renee Hill put together, called Hearts for Hail, and I was privileged to be a part of that.

And I was having a good run. My heart felt good, and I was going fast and the weather was great. But with about two tenths of a mile left in the race, and you can see the finish line ahead of you. I spy in front of me a young boy, probably 15, 16 years old. And he’s, you know, boys running that age. They’re not really paying attention to what they’re doing, and he’s just kind of running, and his pace is kind of slackening, and I’m kind of reeling them in. And I’m thinking I can catch him. And I can pass him. And so with about two-tenths of a mile left, I go at an all-out sprint, or at least a sprint for me. Turtles may run faster than I was running, but it was pretty fast for me.

And I catch him. And of course, he looks at me and is wondering, well, what’s this old guy doing here? And so he speeds up. And so I’m just trying as hard as I can. I’m trying, I’m going to beat this guy. And he finishes a second ahead of me. And to add insult to injury, as I hit the finish line with my last gasp of youth, I pull away a muscle on my leg. So I’m doing okay today. Uh I thought, actually, if you read all the Psalms from this past week’s reading, I thought maybe I should just change over and do Psalm 90 and verse 10. As for the days of our life, they contain 70 years, or if due to strength 80 years, yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, for soon it is gone, and we fly away.

Well, that kind of came to mind, but I had already prepared for Psalm 109. And if you read the Psalms this week, then you may have thought this is the least likely of the three Psalms for me to address this morning. Because this is not a pleasant psalm to read. In fact, if I were to title the Psalm, I just would give it this title, Adversary’s Vengeance and the Lord. Because that is what is under consideration here. This is one of the Psalms that is known as an imprecatory psalm. You wonder what’s imprecatory. Well, to imprecate is simply to curse. And so the psalmist here, David, is actually invoking curses on his adversary. And we’ll talk about that in just a moment. We don’t know exactly what the setting is when David pens this psalm.

Now, this psalm may be uh known to you best by verse 8, where you read, Let his days be few, let another take his office. And if you were to go over to Acts chapter 1 and verse 20, uh Peter and the apostles use that correctly, I believe, uh, in describing Judas. As this is a prophecy of the one who would betray our Lord. And so he would fall out of his office. His days would be few, and another must take his place. And so Matthias ultimately chosen to replace Judas. But it still has a context within the day as well. And there’s some people that perhaps David has in mind, and some commentators think that maybe Doeg the Edomite, an official of Saul who slay uh killed the priest at Nob when David had first fled from Saul, that perhaps this was an early Psalm of David, and so he has Doeg the Edomite in mind.

I think this is probably in a time of rebellion, perhaps Absalom’s rebellion. But this doesn’t sound like something that David would say of his own son Absalom, for perhaps it was for Ahithophel, David’s counselor, who defected over to Absalom and was advising Absalom. Perhaps that is whom David has in mind here, or Shemay, the Benjamite who cursed David as David was departing out of Jerusalem. Perhaps that’s the man who’s in mind. But we just don’t know. But the Psalm has a relatively easy outline, and we’ll go through this here in just a moment. First of all, you have the complaint. Then you have the curse or the imprecation. Then that’s followed by a prayer that concludes with praise. Read with me then, beginning in verse 1.

1. The Complaint

Let’s just look at these sections of the psalm. Again, you have the complaint, and how it starts in verse 1. O God of my praise, do not be silent. For they have opened the wicked and deceitful mouth against me. They have spoken against me with a lying tongue. They have also surrounded me with words of hatred and fought against me without cause. In return for my love, they act as my accusers, but I am in prayer. Thus they have repaid me evil for good and hatred for my love. Here David is crying out to his God. This is the God of his praise. This is the God in whom he trusts, and yet it seems that God is being silent here. Why aren’t you coming to my defense?

2. He Invokes a Curse

Why aren’t you coming to my aid? Look at what my accusers are doing to me. I have loved them, but they accuse me. I pray for them, but they hate me. And so David is wondering, where is God in this? And then he invokes a curse. Now, I bring to your mind here, and we’ll talk about this just a little bit more later. David is cursing from the standpoint of this is what he wants God to do. This is not what David will take in his own hands to do. But he is beseeching God. Now read what he says, verse 6. Appoint a wicked man over him. And I think it’s significant that the tenses here go from plural in verses 1 through 5, they, they, his accusers is plural, to now an individual is singled out.

And so again, perhaps David has one person in mind, and I think he does, but also in forecasting to the future, here is the one of Jesus’ accusers that is singled out, and that would be, of course, Judas. So now we’re talking about one. A point a wicked man over him, and let an accuser stand at his right hand. You may even have a note in your Bible that says Satan. Of course, that is the word for Satan, the accuser. And so perhaps some have even hypothesized that he’s actually asking that Satan was standing at his right hand, but I think it’s just asking that the tables be turned. Here is one who has accused David, and David is now saying, Let one accuse him. And when he is judged, verse 7, let him come forth guilty, and let his prayer become sin.

Let his days be few, let another take his office. What’s he praying for? What’s he asking God to do? That justice be done. That as he has been accused, as he has been hated, now let an accuser stand at his right hand and accuse him. And let him not come forth from this judgment innocent, but let his days be few, and even another to take his office. And perhaps the hardest part of the Psalm to read is what follows next, because it’s not only something that would affect the accuser, but it would affect future generations of this accuser. And perhaps what David has in mind here is the principle of God, even going all the way back to Exodus chapter 20 and verse 5, where God is describing himself, and how God’s vengeance would be executed not only on those who sinned, but on future generations.

And again, we understand from the whole context of Scripture how that works, that it’s not that future generations are guilty of those sins, but the punishments of God oftentimes have long lasting effects. That if one generation is punished, then the descendants of that generation may in fact suffer the consequences of those punishments as well. And it seems that David is mindful of that aspect of God, and that’s what David is asking God to do here. Verse 9. 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. Let the creditor seize all that he has, let strangers plunder the product of his labor. Let there be none to extend loving kindness to him, nor any to be gracious to his fatherless children.

Let his posterity be cut off, and a following generation, let their name be blotted out. Let this man be so accursed that even his descendants would suffer because of it. And furthermore, let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord. 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. Because he did not remember to show loving kindness, but persecuted the afflicty and 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 blessings, so it was far from him. You’ll note here that David is not asking a curse on one who could stand innocent, he’s asking a curse on one who should be condemned because of his own behavior.

3. He Comes to the Prayer

But he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment, and it entered into his body like water and like oil into his bones. Let it be to him as a garment with which he covers himself, and for a belt with which he constantly girds himself. Let this be the reward of my accuser before the Lord and of those who speak evil against my soul. Hard language. But then he comes to the prayer. But you, as oftentimes the case in the Psalms, the but you. You go from present circumstances, present conditions, to now, here is the reliance on the Lord. But you, O God, the Lord, deal kindly with me for your name’s sake. Because your loving kindness is good, deliver me. For I am afflicted and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.

I am passing like a shadow when it lengthens, I am shaken off like the locusts. My knees are weak from fasting, and my flesh has grown lean without fatness. I also become a reproach to them when they see me, they wag their head. Help me, O Lord my God. Save me according to your loving kindness, and let them know that this is your hand. You, Lord, have done it. Let them curse, but you bless. When they arise, they shall be ashamed, but your servant shall be glad. Let my accusers be clothed with dishonor, and let them cover themselves with their own shame as with a robe. Here is the reliance on God. You, God, save. You, O Lord, help me. They have cursed me, but you, Father, bless.

4. Why Curse?

And so it ends with praise. With my mouth, I’ll give thanks abundantly to the Lord. In the midst of many, I will praise him. For he stands at the right hand of the needy. Contrast that, by the way, with verse 6. What will happen to those who have accused David? David says, Let their accuser stand at his right hand. Now David is confident that the Lord will stand at his right hand. For he stands at the right hand of the needy to save him from those who judge his soul. Now, before we move to some application from this psalm, let’s just spend a little bit of time on asking well, why would such a curse even be recorded in the scriptures? Why curse? There are some who think that this is strictly messianic.

And of course, we know that verse 8 is messianic. There’s no doubt about that. But some would say that the whole psalm is messianic, that David is strictly speaking as a prophet here. And so this is true of the Lord Jesus. And so the curse that’s uttered in verses 6 through 20 is actually God saying, here’s what will happen to his son. And if you choose to adopt that, I have no problem with that. I don’t think that’s fair to the context, though. Certainly all this could be said of the Lord, and could be said of those who accuse them, but I don’t think this is strictly messianic. There are others who would say, well, this is simply a case of Old Testament theology versus New Testament theology.

We know that in the New Testament we’re not supposed to curse our enemies. We’re supposed to love our enemies, but they did not have that same understanding in the Old Testament. Well, I won’t deny that the Jews, particularly the Jews of Jesus’ day, didn’t have that idea about the Old Testament. That it was okay in their minds to curse those who were their adversaries. The reason why I have a hard time adopting this approach, though, that this is strictly a matter of Old Testament versus New Testament is our Lord’s words themselves. Go over in your Bible to Matthew chapter 5. You may wish to place a marker there, because we’ll come back to Matthew chapter 5 in a little bit. Matthew chapter 5 and in verse 43.

Matthew chapter 5 and verse 43 in the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord said, You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. The portion of you shall love your neighbor, taken from Leviticus 19 and verse 18, certainly an aspect of God’s law. You are to love your neighbor, but the hate your enemy. Well, that wasn’t scripture. Now it may be that the Jews had taken that from the fact that God was using the Jewish nation as an instrument of his divine justice and wrath against ungodly heathen nations that deserve their judgment. But the people of Jesus’ day, the teachers of Jesus’ day, were taking this to mean that I am to love my neighbor, and we also know that the Jews had a hard time even defining who the neighbor was.

For the Pharisees, it may just simply be their Pharisees. For the Jewish people, it may simply be their fellow Jews. They would certainly say that the Gentiles, they did not fall under this category of the neighbor. And so it’s okay to love those who are like me, hate everybody else. If that’s what God had intended in the Old Testament, then Jesus can’t say anything here. But that’s not what God intended. It’s the same God. Let’s never forget that. The God of the Old Testament is a God in the New Testament, too. The God who demands love and sacrifice on our parts today, demanded the same thing of his people back then. And so our Lord corrects that understanding, that misapplication of Scripture when he says in verse 44, I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

So, what were we to make of Psalm 109 then? If it’s not strictly Messianic, if it’s not a situation of Old Testament theology versus New Testament theology, what is it? It’s simply the outpouring of the soul. All scripture is given by inspiration. Let’s never forget that. All scripture is given by inspiration. But it does not mean that everything recorded in Scripture is God approved. There are some lies that are recorded in Scripture, not by God, but there are lies that are recorded by men that are found in the Scripture. It doesn’t mean that God approved the lie. There are some bad things that are said in the scriptures. It didn’t come from God, but it’s an inspired record of what was said. What do we have here in Psalm 109?

You have here David pouring his heart out to God. And I would say, saying some things that you and I sometimes would like to say ourselves. It’s not one of the lessons that we’ll get to, but perhaps this helps us in our prayers. Our prayers need to be before God in a way that please him. We recognize that. We understand that. That only the prayers that are according to God’s will are going to be answered. We understand that. But if we have in our minds that I need to have this prayer polished, and I need to make sure that I’ve got all the words figured out before I ever go to my God in prayer, I think we’ve missed out on what God’s asking of us.

God wants us to speak to him, God wants us to talk to him. And I think some of these Psalms that are recorded for us are simply examples of people who were talking to God and are laying bare their soul before God. Is David’s attitude toward his enemy condoned here? I don’t necessarily think so. But what he’s doing is he’s going to God with it.

And so, perhaps, if nothing else, we ought to think when we pray to God, that he wants to hear from me. He already knows what’s in my heart and what’s in my soul. And so it’s not wrong for me to lay that bare before him, even in my words and my prayers. Now, when we talk about David laying bare his soul, I want you also to note a couple of things here in the passage. Go back and again back in Psalm 109 and look at verses four and five. First of all, note, David did not jump to this kind of language. What had David been doing? Verses four and five. In return for my love, they act as my accusers. But I am in prayer. And many take that, and I’m with them that David is speaking of the fact that he had been praying for them up until this point.

He had loved them, but now they’re acting as his accusers. He had been in prayer even on their behalf, but they have repaid me evil for good and hatred for my love. David did not just leap to these accusations and invoking these curses on his enemies. David has spent a lot of time in love and in prayer before that. Furthermore, notice a couple more things. We’ve already noted that what David is actually asking for would actually be a just punishment for those who are wicked. Because again, what does he say of them in verse 17? He also loved cursing, so it came to him. He did not delight in blessing, so it was far from him. He clothed himself with cursing as with his garment. And so again, this is not David speaking of one who, okay, wronged David on one occasion, and David just had a hard time getting over it.

No, he is speaking of one who has set himself against David wholeheartedly. Has given himself completely and totally over to the ways of the evil one. That’s the kind of man that David is speaking of here. Furthermore, you also should note that David left vengeance in the Lord’s hand throughout this passage. He is invoking the Lord to do this. David is not one who’s to take this into his own hands, but he’s asking the Lord to come to his defense. And finally, and I think perhaps most importantly, David viewed the glory of the Lord’s name as at stake. David as God’s anointed. David as the one whom God had made the promises to that his kingdom would be established. And now there were those who were seeking to kill David, and they would have also sought to kill all of David’s inheritance, his descendants.

He is saying, Your glory is at stake here, O Lord. It’s not just a matter of they have done this to me. But as he says in verse 21, deal kindly with me for what? For your name’s sake. David recognizes that those who have afflicted him have therefore also sought to war against God. And it’s not just David’s name that’s on the line here, it is the Lord’s name that is on the line. He says, furthermore, in verse 27, when he’s asking the Lord to save him, he said, Let them know that this is your hand. However you act, God, let it be known. Let it be known among all people that you have done this. That it was not man, but it is you.

5. Vengeance Is the Lord’s

This is one who has spent much time in prayer and even in love for those who have hated him. But he’s also speaking of those who have no desire for truth and righteousness and love and justice. But ultimately, he is leaving it to the Lord’s hand. Now, if we were to take such a psalm and make some applications to us today, what would they be? Well, the first application I would make is simply this, that truly the statement is true. Vengeance is the Lord’s.

David, even as king, recognizes that it’s not my place for vengeance here. He is going to the Lord with this matter. But he recognizes in this, and he is asking the Lord to act, vengeance is the Lord’s.

Never take your own revenge, beloved. But leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. I think David is living that principle here in Psalm 109. I don’t want to give anyone an excuse here to go home and start invoking curses on your enemies. I don’t think we ought to be doing that. Again, I do think we ought to be able to go to our God and bear out our soul to him. But ultimately, when we look at those who have arrayed themselves against God and against his ways, against truth and holiness and righteousness. We take it personally. They hate me. They’re doing this against me. Well, remember, who is this ultimately against? It’s not against me.

If they hate me because of righteousness, if they hate me because I am trying to act in a just and a loving way. If they hate me because I am trying to enact the principles of God, who is it that they really hate? The Lord. And so it’s not my place to slander. It is not my place to gossip and lie about them. It is not my place to enact my own vengeance and my own revenge. God will do that. And God will. God will be just. God will enact his vengeance against those who, like this man here, have clothed themselves in curses. God will do that. I think perhaps we ought to focus more on what David did in verses 4 and 5. Spend a whole lot more time loving them and praying for them.

Because the ultimate reality is one day God will judge all. Even those who it seems on the surface have nothing but hatred and enmity for us. God will judge them. And that vengeance belongs solely to the Lord. We have that picture in Revelation chapter 6, as the seals are being broken. And what is it we have beneath the altar? It’s the martyrdom. And why are they crying out? How long, O Lord, until you avenge us? Here they have been killed, persecuted by even the governing power of the world. It’s not a Christian’s place. It wasn’t their place to rise up and to overthrow the Roman Empire. They couldn’t have done it if they’d wanted to. But they trusted that God would ultimately revenge them, bring out his vengeance against all who are wicked and unholy.

Vengeance does belong in the Lord.

This is an outpouring of David’s heart as well. The psalm begins in verse 1 with a wondering of where is God in all this? Oh God of my praise do not be silent. It looks sometimes, doesn’t it? It looks sometimes that we’re going through this world. It looks as if God’s just not with us anymore. We look at how bad things are getting out there. We look at how more and more people are arrayed against God and arrayed against his people. We often could wonder along with David. Don’t be silent anymore. Where are you in this? But the psalm ends with confidence.

I’ll give thanks abundantly to the Lord, verse 30. In the midst of many, I’ll praise him. For he stands at the right hand of the needy to save him from those who judge his soul.

David begins, where is God? He works through his anger, he works through his emotions, and he ends with his confidence and even praise as he’s experiencing this persecution. My God is with me.

And brethren, we need a healthy dose of that in our lives. We need a reminder of that every day. As we wonder, where is God in all this? Why has man become so wicked? Where is all this going? You remain confident. You keep your trust in him.

6. Don’t Be His Adversary

Well, the application that always needs to be made is simply don’t be his adversary. The imprecation in verses 6 through 20 is an imprecation of David, a curse of David, but recognizing that this curse would come from the Lord ultimately on those who were the Lord’s enemies. That’s why verse 8 is a fitting prophecy of Judas. What had Judas done? He had set himself against the Lord. He had betrayed the Messiah. And so Peter and the apostles, by inspiration, can use Psalm 109 and verse 8 in recognition that, yes, Judas’ days were short, and now it is time for another to take his office. Here is what happens to those who have set themselves over against the Lord. That are the Lord’s adversary. Well, let’s not just stop with application of Judas, though.

What does it say about me? What does it say about me when I’m not clothing myself in holiness and purity and justice and the things that the Lord loves, but I’m clothing myself rather with the very things that the Lord hates. When filthiness and cursings and all the things of this world are what people see in me, what does it say about me? It says I am set against the Lord. And so the Lord’s name is at stake here. So what will he ultimately do? Vengeance. And so what can I hope for? To have the Lord on my right hand? No, but my accuser on my right hand. Always pointing out here is where Joshua Creel has violated your will, O God. Here is the accusation, and he stands guilty.

What can I hope for? But justice. And then the punishment of that justice. What effect will it have on future generations if I turn from the Lord? And again, we’ll talk about this even at the 11 o’clock hour. They’ll be responsible for themselves, but will I set a pattern for them in which they too may even be afflicted by the punishment of God because of what I have done? And then how will my iniquity stand before God in the end? The point here of this Psalm is not just of whom David was cursing or even of Judas, but it’s a reminder to us today. The Lord is just. The Lord will enact vengeance on those who have been his enemies. And I don’t want to be an enemy of the Lord.

Conclusion

And so we offer a short invitation.

Because we all find ourselves at times as enemies of the Most High God. Don’t be his enemy.

A way in which you can come to Him and experience His love. It’s from the descendant of David. Jesus the Christ, who is even before David. But it’s through him now that we can have our sins and our trespasses forgiven, and we can be restored to him. If you see that you stand in need of responding to the Lord of His gracious love and care for you, then won’t you come as we stand and as we sing?