Psalms

This Psalm is an imprecatory Psalm.  These Psalms call for a curse or they contain prayers for punishment against the Psalmists enemies.  This could be Doeg the Edomite but is more likely Saul who was pursuing David to kill him.  We know of at least 2 instances where David spared Saul.  David trusted God to establish His kingdom and refused to kill Saul because God had put him on the throne. 

Are we always safe in assuming that David's enemies are God's enemies?  Are we safe in assuming that our enemies are God's enemies?  Aren't we called to love our enemies?  Is it possible to love them and also curse them?  These are difficult questions in which we need to search the scriptures for an answer. 

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

¹ Do not keep silent,
O God of my praise!
² For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful
Have opened against me;
They have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
³ They have also surrounded me with words of hatred,
And fought against me without a cause.
⁴ In return for my love they are my accusers,
But I give myself to prayer.
⁵ Thus they have rewarded me evil for good,
And hatred for my love.
David had written many Psalms of praise in response to many circumstances of life.  In sin, David praised God for his longsuffering and forgiveness.  In battle, he praised him for protection.  During times of suffering he praise Him for comfort; in sadness God brought joy; in discouragement he brought encouragement; in the threat of death he brought hope.  David came to the Lord in all circumstances and at all times.  So when he is feeling betrayed and slandered, why not bring that to the Lord. 

From the beginning David acknowledges that God as the God of his praise.  But in this circumstance he can't find anything to praise and he asks God not to remain silent but to deal with this situation.  A group of people were joined together to come against David.  They were being deceitful and wicked.  The lies and the hatred with which they are spread seems shocking to David.  He clearly doesn't understand why this is even happening.  He believes they are fighting against him without a cause.  He loved them and they repaid that by becoming his accuser.  Instead of joining in the fray, David brought his case to the Lord in prayer.

We are to love our enemies.  Did David love this enemy?  We know that David loved Saul as his fellow man.  We know he spared his life by showing him mercy.  David's efforts to be loving and merciful were paid back with hatred.

⁶ Set a wicked man over him,
And let an accuser stand at his right hand.
The Mosaic law called for a false accuser to be punished for the crime he falsely accused.  David is asking God to bring an accuser against this man who is presumably leading this group against David.  Let this man feel the betrayal and pain of being wrongly accused by a wicked man. 

⁷ When he is judged, let him be found guilty,
And let his prayer become sin.
David is innocent of the accusations made against him.  He is frustrated in his inability to do anything about them.  How can you stop wicked people from telling lies?  How can you silent people with a wicked agenda from slandering, lying, deceitful words levied against anyone in their way?  David's answer is for them to know the feeling.  Let them face false accusations and then be found guilty.  Then, when they stand there wrongly condemned they will understand.  Then, David says, if they turn to prayer, he wants their prayer to miss the mark.  He wants God to ignore it.  And then the sentencing will commence..........

⁸ Let his days be few,
And let another take his office.
⁹ Let his children be fatherless,
And his wife a widow.
¹⁰ Let his children continually be vagabonds, and beg;
Let them seek their bread also from their desolate places.
¹¹ Let the creditor seize all that he has,
And let strangers plunder his labor.
¹² Let there be none to extend mercy to him,
Nor let there be any to favor his fatherless children.
¹³ Let his posterity be cut off,
And in the generation following let their name be blotted out.
By God's law this man deserved what he inflicted on the ones he falsely accused.  So David is saying he deserves death because his false accusations brought death to others.  He no long deserves to be a father or a husband.  David extends the call for punishment to the children.  He says they should be homeless, hungry and broke.  They should not be offered help because this false accuser didn't deserve to be remembered by his children.  We can conclude that by the false accusations this man made children homeless, hungry and broke.  Part of the fallout of these accusations was that others took possession of all that the accused had and no one would have mercy on him.  Therefore the same should be done for him.  This false accusers name needed to be blotted out. 

Verse 8 is quoted in Acts 1:20 by Peter in reference to Judas.  Peter was making the case for the replacement of Judas among the 12 disciples.

¹⁴ Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD,
And let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
¹⁵ Let them be continually before the LORD,
That He may cut off the memory of them from the earth;
Children often suffer from the sins of their parents.  God doesn't hold the child accountable for the sins of the parents, though.  In this case though, David calls for this iniquity to be in full remembrance before God.  These parents brought a wicked false accuser into the world.  Then David calls for God to forget this man ever existed.   

¹⁶ Because he did not remember to show mercy,
But persecuted the poor and needy man,
That he might even slay the broken in heart.
¹⁷ As he loved cursing, so let it come to him;
As he did not delight in blessing, so let it be far from him.
¹⁸ As he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment,
So let it enter his body like water,
And like oil into his bones.
¹⁹ Let it be to him like the garment which covers him,
And for a belt with which he girds himself continually.
²⁰ Let this be the LORD's reward to my accusers,
And to those who speak evil against my person.
David isn't judging his accuser, he is calling for God to judge him.  He is asking for God to bring judgment against this man that is equal to all the bad he brought others.  This man showed no mercy to anyone and specifically the poor and needy.  His life brought curses to others, so David asked God to bring similar curses on him.  He embraced the curses; his life was wrapped up in them, so David asked that the Lord give him what he desires.  Let the curses go all the way through his life so that all he says and does is affected by a curse.  In David's eyes, this would be a good reward for his accuser.

²¹ But You, O GOD the Lord,
Deal with me for Your name's sake;
Because Your mercy is good, deliver me.
²² For I am poor and needy,
And my heart is wounded within me.
²³ I am gone like a shadow when it lengthens;
I am shaken off like a locust.
²⁴ My knees are weak through fasting,
And my flesh is feeble from lack of fatness.
²⁵ I also have become a reproach to them;
When they look at me, they shake their heads.
Regardless of any charge the accuser brings, God is able to save.  He is Lord, He is God.  He is merciful and kind.  We are all poor and needy with our hearts wounded within.  We will all grow tired, weak and destitute at some time.  Our bodies will be feeble and broken down.

²⁶ Help me, O LORD my God!
Oh, save me according to Your mercy,
²⁷ That they may know that this is Your hand-
That You, LORD, have done it!

God's judgments and justice is perfect.  David calls for God to glorify Himself in these awful circumstances.  God's mercy is great and he will save in a way that makes it clear that it was done by His hand. 

²⁸ Let them curse, but You bless;
When they arise, let them be ashamed,
But let Your servant rejoice.

²⁹ Let my accusers be clothed with shame,
And let them cover themselves with their own disgrace as with a mantle.
Satan is the accuser and father of lies.  We have an advocate in Jesus Christ.  He is our defense attorney.  He stands at the right hand and addresses the accusations brought against us.  Satan curses, the world curses, but God blesses. 

³⁰ I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth;
Yes, I will praise Him among the multitude.
³¹ For He shall stand at the right hand of the poor,
To save him from those who condemn him.

We can find hope and rejoice.  All who have ever been falsely accused can praise God and greatly rejoiced.  We don't have to feel defenseless and weak when someone brings false accusations.  God is in charge.

More importantly, we don't have to suffer from any accusations.  Jesus Christ has paid the penalty for our sins.  So when Satan brings a charge or accusation that is valid because we did sin, Jesus is there to say, "I paid for that sin."  The charges are dropped, the accusation is no longer valid, case closed, it is finished.

Is David merely calling for justice according to the law of Moses?  Or is David venting to the Lord, knowing that only God can fix this situation? Do David's words bring glory to the Lord?