Vengeance Invoked upon Adversaries.
For the choir director. A Psalm of David.
109 O God of my praise,
Do not be silent!
2 For they have opened the [a]wicked and deceitful mouth against me;
They have spoken [b]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 [c]repaid me evil for good
And hatred for my love.6 Appoint a wicked man over him,
And let an [d]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 [e]far from their ruined homes.
11 Let the creditor [f]seize all that he has,
And let strangers plunder the product of his labor.
12 Let there be none to [g]extend lovingkindness to him,
Nor any to be gracious to his fatherless children.
13 Let his posterity be [h]cut off;
In a following generation let their name be blotted out.14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered [i]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 [j]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 [k]Let this be the reward of my accusers from the Lord,
And of those who speak evil against my soul.
This is quite the prayer, asking God to rain down all this calamity on David’s enemy. Nonetheless, from the description, it seems well deserved. After all, this is a person (maybe more than one) who persecutes the needy, despondent, and afflicted. Not only that, but they have returned David’s kindness with evil, and also this enemy has “clothed himself with cursing”.
So all in all, not a very nice person, and again, we could easily see that they deserve all that David prays for and more. But there’s something unique about David’s approach here. He prayed about it. Rather than seeking vengeance on his own, David took it to God. Maybe he was powerless to seek vengeance, but David was the king of Israel, so that seems unlikely.
Thus, with more power than the average person, David still does not take revenge, and this is not a new thing for him. Back in the days when King Saul was hunting for him and seeking to kill David, he showed great respect for the king even still. So much so, that when Saul was alone, and asleep at David’s feet (in a dark cave), David refused to harm him. Even with his own men all around, encouraging him to end Saul’s life, he left Saul’s fate in God’s hands.
When someone wrongs us, we all feel it, that instinct to “return the favor”. Yet God has told us that vengeance belongs to him, He will repay (Deuteronomy 32). It is not our job to right all the wrongs in this world. God is (more than) big enough to take care of all the wrongs in this world. While we may desire all the things in this psalm upon our enemies, we absolutely must leave that in God’s hands. By all means, take it to God, ask him to drop the hammer, but leave it with Him. Let it go, and let God’s peace lead you on. Follow Him wherever he leads, and leave the past and future to the one who holds it all so easily.