Part 1: Making Sense of the Imprecatory Psalms and Love in the Heart

The connection between the imprecatory psalms and the love of God is a complex topic, to be sure, and when the topic was broached in class, I thought I had my notes with me, but I discovered as I was teaching that I didn’t have them after all! As a result, I was not as clear as I should have been. Since this issue is an important one (which is actually a sub-category of trying to synchronize God’s love and justice), let’s work through some Scriptures on this topic, and see how we can harmonize what the Psalmist cries out for with what we’ve been learning about love.

Part 1: Introduction

Few books in the Old Testament seem to be as regularly read by Christians as the Psalms. In fact, it may be assumed that few other places in all of Scripture are turned to as frequently as the Psalms. They provide comfort for those who hurt, refuge for those who are afraid, and praise to those who rejoice. The Psalms give voice to a believer’s deepest longings, fears, and joys, and for these things the church has had a long and lasting affection.

Yet there is another side to the Psalms that is often overlooked. There is a dark side to many of these songs that many do not, and perhaps, will not entertain. Laced throughout the Psalter is a not-so-subtle thread of imprecatory prayers and divine declarations that seem to ruffle the otherwise beautiful tapestry of this book. As a result, many believers are not sure what to do with passages that call down divine wrath on the psalmist’s enemies, especially when they are found immediately before or after a favored section within the same psalm. They seem to stand in direct violation of later revelation that calls the believer to love their enemies and pray for their persecutors, not cry out for vengeance and pray for their ruin. In short, the Old Testament picture of violence emerging from these imprecations seems to be at radical variance with the New Testament portrait of love and forgiveness issuing from Jesus Christ Himself in His teaching.

What then is to be done with these imprecations? How are believers to understand these passages of Scripture? Put another way, are these imprecations prescriptive or descriptive? Is there a place for them at all in evangelical churches today? These questions, and their appropriate answers, will come clearer as the biblical data from the Psalms is analyzed through exegesis, compared to the rest of Scripture (analogia Scriptura), then drawn together to formulate a biblically and theologically consistent understanding of these fascinating and difficult portions of the Psalms. The next post (Part 2) will look at the occurrences of imprecations in the Psalms. Part 3 will consider the implications of the imprecations, while Part 4 will seek to draw out application from these imprecations in light of the totality of the Scripture.

This is probably the thorniest issue confronting us biblically when talking about love. How do we reconcile what the rest of the Bible says about a desire for justice alongside the call to love?

More later…

~ by christusnostrumvita on February 23, 2011.