Article Title: Should We Pray the Imprecatory Psalms? March 17, 2015
By William Ross
In light of the recent execution of 21 Christians and capture of
hundreds more in Syria, perhaps it’s time to ask, “Should we be
praying the imprecatory psalms against ISIS?” Written in the
theocratic context of Israel, when God himself had a throne on earth,
these psalms (e.g., Ps. 58; 69; 109) invoke God’s judgment upon
Israel’s enemies in terrifying terms (see Ps. 58:8). While we profess
that all Scripture is profitable (2 Tim. 3:16), we must carefully
consider the ways in which that is true of these psalms.
After all, we were once enemies of God (Col. 1:21-22), but are now
redeemed and called to love our neighbors (Luke 10:27) and pray for
our persecutors (Matt. 5:44; Rom. 12:14). May we identify an enemy for
divine destruction as the imprecatory psalms do? Can we do so in
specific terms or only general ones? Are we not to expect persecution
in this age and turn the other cheek (Mark 13:13; Luke 21:17; Matt.
5:39) as we wait for Christ’s return (2 Cor. 1:5; Col. 1:24)? These
are complex questions.
I want to explore how Scripture supports praying the imprecatory
psalms in a personalized way, provided we exhibit a specific attitude.
To pray for God to execute his righteous judgment upon evildoers is
permissible and in certain ways even useful for believers. My aim here
is also, in part, to provide Christians with a biblical account of the
impulse we may feel to wish God’s destruction upon persecutors of our
brothers and sisters in Christ. The Psalter and Hermeneutics
Three brief points on the use of the imprecatory psalms in prayer are
in order. First, we should guard against overemphasizing the place of
these psalms in the Christian life. The church is not undertaking the
conquest of Canaan. Our mission rather is to care for souls as we take
the gospel to all nations (Matt. 28:19-20). We aim to expand and feed
the flock, not to eradicate anything that isn’t a sheep. That is the
difference between the gospel and Sharia. Praying the imprecatory
psalms can be useful when done with this caution in mind.
Secondly, we must recognize that the majority of the Psalter is
non-violent. The instances where a psalmist speaks positively of
violence are rare indeed. Wherever we do find imprecation in
Scripture, it is not triumphalistic or gloating. Instead, it issues
from a position of weakness and victimization (Ps. 35:7; 69:1-3;
109:22-25). Imprecation recognizes God as the sole source of
deliverance and righteous judgment (Ps. 59:5; 40:13; 109:27). The only
one laughing at the wicked is God himself (Ps. 2:4; 37:13; 59:8).
Praying the imprecatory psalms, then, can be useful when it
acknowledges our impotence and participation in the persecuted body of
Christ.
Thirdly, when we pray the imprecatory psalms, we do not expect that
God will send “the hornet” to exterminate ISIS as he did the
Canaanites (Josh. 24:12; Exod. 23:28). On the other hand, we are not
necessarily asking God to execute the final judgment that will only
come at Christ’s return, either. While that judgment is foreshadowed
in these psalms—and in the conquest more generally—God can and does
intervene in creation as he upholds it. In that sense, he may arrange
for the downfall of specific evildoers according to his will even
before Christ’s return. God hears and answers the prayers of his
people in a variety of ways. On those grounds, the imprecatory psalms
may be directed at specific evildoers as an expression of our desire
for God’s Kingdom on earth today (Luke 18:6-8). God’s Sovereignty and
Our Finitude
Now, two points on applying the imprecatory psalms.
First, we must recognize God’s sovereignty in acting out his own
justice on evil. To be sure, until that judgment, Jesus commands us to
love our enemies, to pray for them, even to bless them (Luke 6:27-28;
Rom. 12:20; 1 Pet. 3:9). Jesus spoke more about love than bearing the
sword (Matt. 10:34-35; Luke 12:51-53). In similar fashion, Paul
instructed Christians to “bless and do not curse” our persecutors
(Rom. 12:14).
But this instruction does not prohibit calling evil what it is, and
desiring that God deal with it promptly and specifically. We see this
most clearly in Revelation 6:9-10 where the heavenly martyrs call out
for justice and vengeance. Theirs is an intensely personal concern:
they ask God to avenge “our blood upon those who dwell on earth.” It
is important to note that while the heavenly martyrs are issuing a
personalized imprecation, it is nevertheless divinely mediated. Their
imprecation is qualified by the sovereignty and agency of God himself
to answer their prayer.
Second, we must distinguish between cursing our personal enemies
ourselves (Col. 3:8) and calling upon God to curse his enemies. This
distinction is evident in Romans 12:14. While Paul instructs us not to
curse others, he does not prohibit asking God to pour out his justice.
The distinction is subtle but important. In the former we condemn men
on our own terms and make ourselves gods; in the latter we beseech the
King and recognize his holiness and our finitude.
In that sense, when making specific imprecation, we must always
balance “Father, save the lost!” with “Father, pour out your wrath
upon evil!” The contingency that holds together these two ideas
properly submits to God’s sovereignty—his justice and mercy—without
assuming that only one of the two options will bring him glory. Paul
does not shy away from personal imprecation as he puts this principle
to use in 1 Corinthians 16:22: “If anyone has no love for the Lord,
then let him be accursed!” (cf. Gal. 1:8-9). As Christians redeemed by
Christ, we can simultaneously recognize the forgiveness of our own sin
and the fact that sin itself grounds our appeal for God’s judgment. No
Light Matter
None of this counsel implies that praying imprecatory psalms is a
light matter. Far from it. As others have pointed out, some consider
it a spiritual “nuclear option.”
Nevertheless, “there is a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for
war, and a time for peace” (Eccl. 3:8). Lord willing, his justice will
be meted out, and ISIS and similar perversions of the truth will be
snuffed out swiftly and completely. But we may have only seen the
beginning of this evil. While it is a terrible thing to desire God’s
judgment to fall upon unrepentant creatures, it is worse still for
evil to go unpunished. For that reason, I pray that Christians will
exercise wisdom in their intercession for the persecuted church. As we
do so, let us always recognize our own pardon from sin as creatures
loved by God, and magnify the sovereignty and justice of the King of
heaven and earth.
William Ross is a doctoral candidate in Old Testament at the
University of Cambridge, where his research focuses on the book of
Judges. He recently co-authored the Interpretive Lexicon of New
Testament Greek (Zondervan, 2014), and blogs regularly at
williamaross.wordpress.com. You can follow him on Twitter.
