Based on your life or someone else’s (including any historical figure), can you think of an example when survival was in itself a crowning achievement?
“Earlier I mentioned Sokun, she and another friend (her name escapes me right now) escaped Cambodia with their families as small girls ([in the] mid-70s), lived for several years in refugee camps in Thailand, before finally being able to immigrate to America. (Sure, fourth grade level math confused her, she’d been a little busy.)”
The remainder of our lesson will center on the second half of the psalm as we shift the focus of the lens from the oppressed to the oppressor. Glance back at either text in our previous lesson and write a one-sentence synopsis of Psalm 129:5-8.
“May Israel’s enemies wither up and disappear”
Psalm 5:8-12 houses the first imprecatory segment in the psalms. Read the segment and list each specific imprecation.
“Declare them guilty, let their intrigues be their downfall, banish them for their many sins.”
Look up each of the following and write in your own words what God commanded.
Exodus 23:45 “If you find your enemy’s livestock, return it to him. If he’s having trouble with it, help him.”
Leviticus 19:16-18 “Don’t slander anyone, don’t put anyone’s life in danger, don’t hate anyone, don’t cuss anyone out – just state the problem, don’t seek revenge or hold a grudge, ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Proverbs 24:17-18 “(Don’t quote Nelson: ‘Ha, ha!’) Don’t gloat when your enemy falls, or rejoice in your heart when he stumbles. (God will disapprove and not punish him.)”
Considering Sarna’s comments, why do you think God allowed imprecatory psalms on the pages of Holy Writ?
“I think he allowed them as an example for us so we can feel free to bring everything to Him without any fear that He will censure us for it.”
When have you needed to be ‘heard’ by God more than you needed him to give you what you momentarily might’ve wanted?
“I rarely get angry, but some people just wear me down sometimes, and I’ll admit sometimes I’ve prayed the hope that maybe He might call her home soon.”
Think carefully. Why do you think this was true [about David and his imprecatory psalms]?
“Letting it out is cathartic (like squeezing the pus from a wound), bottling it in lets it fester.”
Dearest Rachel –
There’s a reason I go through your old Bible study notebooks apart from the fact that it’s less of a burden on me to write every day when one day a week, I get to respond to what you’ve said in the past; these are glimpses into your psyche that I may or may not have ever seen. Much like the imprecatory psalms themselves, there is the occasional shock embedded in them (although in fairness, you were asked to come up with something along the same lines, and still prefaced it by insisting that you “rarely get angry,” which I can certainly vouch for).
Even then, you still restrained yourself from naming names of those that brought you to such a level of frustration, but I can recall certain people that entered your orbit (and therefore, on a peripheral basis, into mine as well sometimes) who tended towards self-destructive habits, whether socially, emotionally, psychologically or even physically. I can understand thinking about them that, if their lives were so miserable as to lead them to such behavior, they might as well succeed in their goal sooner rather than later. If they would refuse to learn even from experience – the best, perhaps, but certainly the harshest of teachers – there didn’t seem to be much other hope for them.
Of course, such an attitude smacks of pre-redemption Scrooge; “if they would rather die, then they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population,” and we all know where that opinion led to. So we repress it to the deepest corners of our mind, fully aware that these are undesirable beliefs to have or show.
And yet, these psalms exist, calling for the destruction of enemies. To be sure, they are enemies of Israel, and by extension, enemies of God; in a way, what’s being asked for is not something uncalled for, but rather the opportunity to see His promise of vengeance and justice fulfilled in the psalmist’s eyes. The things being asked for seem harsh to us, perhaps, but considering what battle and conquest was like then (and the realization that, even in the past year, little has changed in terms of man’s inhumanity to man, and especially to God’s chosen people), it should be viewed through that perspective.
And as Nathan Sarna points out, the existence of these psalms (like some of the answers you give to certain questions) shows that when we pour out our heart and its desires to God, He wants to hear it all, and will do so without condemnation. Some of our requests will be turned down or delayed, due to not being in line with His plan, but He wants to hear it all from us (which, as I’ve mentioned before, I have a fair amount of trouble with from time to time.)
In which case, honey, I’d appreciate it if you could continue to keep an eye on me, and wish me luck. I’m likely to still need it.
Letters to Rachel 