As Christians in today’s modern world we may have some trouble with Psalms like this one. Here the Psalmist is not only asking God to protect Israel against her enemies, he is also asking God to completely destroy them; in verse 17 he prays:
“May they be defeated and terrified forever;
may they die in complete disgrace“
From a modern-day Christian perspective, we might object to the language of violence the Psalmist is using against these enemies. This type of language doesn’t sit comfortably with our Lord’s injunction to “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those that curse you, pray for those who mistreat you“. (Luke 6:27-28). How can we possibly reconcile the two?
I think the answer lies in recognizing the true battle that is going on here, and who the real protagonists are. On the face of it, the battle seems to be between Israel and an alliance of the surrounding nations. Verses 6 to 8 provide a detailed list of the nations joining in this alliance:
“the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites [to the South]
of Moab and the Hagrites, Byblos, Ammon and Amalek, [to the East]
Philistia [to the Southwest], with the people of Tyre [to the Northwest]
Even Assyria [to the North] has joined them
to reinforce Lot’s descendants [to the East]”
Israel is completely surrounded, it is a desperate situation… But instead of going to arms and preparing for battle, the Psalmist simply sinks to his knees and asks for God’s intervention! Probably because in the mind of the Psalmist, this is not a normal earthly battle, the enemy is engaging in battle against God Himself; In verse 5 he says “With one mind they plot together; they form an alliance against you…“, and again in verse two; “see how your enemies growl, how your foes rear their heads.“
When we reflect on this, we are reminded of the verse in Ephesians 6:12; “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” The enemies here on earth are in alliance with, and even controlled by, God’s enemies in the heavenly realms.
Once the true combatants in this struggle are recognized, a prayer for the total destruction of evil seems permissible even from a modern Christian point of view. Michael Wilcock, in his excellent commentary on the book of Judges, reaches the same conclusion: “In New Testament terms, the ruler of this world, our adversary the devil, the pursuing dragon, schemes unremittingly against the church of Christ; and we need to be aware both that we shall never plumb the depths of his cunning or succeed by our own in outwitting him, and also that he will use as his weapons the things and the people of our own familiar world. Here perhaps is a lesson in the use of the ‘imprecatory psalms’, those songs of cursing which seem so out of place on Christian lips. May we pray for the destruction of our enemies? Yes, we may certainly pray so against the great Enemy whom we cannot see; and wherever he is plainly using the ‘iron chariots’ [cf. Judges 4:3] which we can see, we are right to pray with equal vehemence against that use.” (The Message of Judges, p 57)
There are several important lessons we can learn from the Psalmist. First and foremost he is exhibiting an amazing faith in the power of God. He is not relying on human strength, but is praying to a God who has the destiny of nations in the palm of his hand. He recognizes that only God can deliver them from the enemy’s onslaught. How paltry our faith must seem today by comparison, we should take our inspiration from the Psalmist and pray for God to deliver His people from the nations that threaten us today. We should believe in His power to move and direct entire nations.
The Psalmist asks the Lord to do to His enemies as He did to Sisera and Jabin (verse 9), Oreb and Zeeb and Zebah and Zalmunna (verse 11). It is interesting that all these examples are taken from the time of the Judges, a time after the great leadership of Moses and Joshua, but before Israel had a king. It was a time when everyone “did as they saw fit” (Judges 17:6). Much like the time we are in today, after the great apostolic period, but before the return of Christ. Yet, despite the subjective and self-centered nature of worship at that time, God still delivered His beloved nation from her oppressors, just as he delivers His church today!
Sisera and Jabin were conquered when Deborah was the judge of Israel (Judges 4-5), she commanded Barak to go out against them; “Go! This is the day the Lord has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?” (Judges 4:14). In the second example (i.e. Oreb and Zeeb, Zebah and Zalmunna), the Lord called Gideon to defeat the Midianites (Judges 6-8). However, the Lord wanted to make it clear that the battle will not be won by human strength. In Judges 7:2 He commands Gideon “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’”
The message from the Psalmist is clear and speaks to us today through the ages; we too, live in a society where everyone does as he or she sees fit. The church is under fire today from many different directions. We cannot count on our own strength or wisdom to deliver us, but we have an awesome God that we can count on. We need to look to Him and trust in Him for deliverance from the evil that surrounds us.
The second important lesson we can learn from the Psalmist is how closely he identifies the nation of Israel with God himself. Israel’s enemies are God’s enemies. In verse 3 he says “they plot against the one you cherish“. The world-wide Christian church is also God’s chosen people, and we have enemies conspiring against us today just like Israel had at the time this Psalm was written. How wonderful to think that God cherishes us! In the New American Standard translation the line reads “they conspire against your treasured ones“. God’s chosen ones are his hidden treasure, what a wonderful thought!
Thirdly, the Psalmist is engaged in prayer, not in actual warfare. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:3-4; “for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.” As God’s people, we should follow Jesus’ example of non-violence, because our reliance must be on the power of God and His Word alone. This is why I think the Psalmist chose the example of Gideon. Even though they went to war, it was God who conquered the Midianites; He demoralized them by sending them a terrifying dream, thereby causing the “the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords.” (Judges 8:22)
Lesson four; the Psalmist shows emotional honesty in his prayer to God. How often do we engage in politically correct prayer and try to filter our words to make them more acceptable to God? But God knows what is really in our hearts, we shouldn’t try to hide our true thoughts from Him. Jesus didn’t hide his thoughts when he prayed for the cup to be taken from Him (Matthew 26:39), and the Psalmist didn’t hide his thoughts on what God should do with His enemies. In verses 13 to 17, he pours out his heart to God and asks Him to annihilate the threat completely.
“Make them like tumbleweed, my God,
like chaff before the wind.
As fire consumes the forest
or a flame sets the mountains ablaze,
so pursue them with your tempest
and terrify them with your storm.
Cover their faces with shame, Lord,
so that they will seek your name.
May they ever be ashamed and dismayed;
may they perish in disgrace.”
Yet even here we see a glimmer of redemption shining through. “May they know that you alone are God, supreme ruler over all the earth“, the Psalmist prays in verse 18. Despite his fear, and despite praying for the total destruction of his enemies, he is still mindful that their defeat may indeed carry the germ of their salvation. In Psalm 111:10 it says that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”, and surely the defeat illustrated here is enough to instill the fear of God in even the most hardened of hearts!
The final great lesson we may learn from this Psalm is therefore to be always mindful of God’s salvation, even unto our enemies. We live in a very different world today than the Psalmist did, so the language used in this Psalm would naturally seem more brutal and violent to our modern ears, but something we do have in common with the Psalmist is that we worship the same God, the “supreme ruler over all the earth” who is willing to listen to our prayers and has the power to act and even to bring nations to heel. But he also has the power of redemption, to save the lost, even those enemies who are even now conspiring against Him and His treasured possession, the Church of Jesus Christ.
Delight in the Lord 