Commentary - Psalm 109:6-20

Bird's-eye view

Psalm 109 is one of the great imprecatory psalms, which is to say, it is one of the psalms that calls down curses upon the enemies of God. This is a bracing passage, and it has been a challenge to many Christians for centuries. Some, like C.S. Lewis, have stumbled over it, suggesting it is in Scripture as an example of how not to behave. But the New Testament will have none of that. The apostles quote this very psalm when selecting a replacement for the arch-traitor, Judas Iscariot (Acts 1:20). This is not some embarrassing corner of the Old Testament that we are to blush over. This is the inspired word of God, and it teaches us how to pray when confronted with covenantal treachery of the highest order.

The psalm begins with David's complaint against his accusers, who have returned his love with hatred and his good with evil (vv. 1-5). The section before us (vv. 6-20) is the imprecation proper, where David uncorks some of the fiercest words in all Scripture. He is not engaging in petty personal vengeance; he is handing his enemies over to the righteous judgment of God. He is asking God to be God. The prayer is a detailed request for total, generational, and memorable judgment to fall upon the chief adversary. This is not a prayer to be undertaken lightly, but it is a prayer we are called to understand, and in certain grave circumstances, to pray. It is a surrender of the case to the Judge of all the earth, who will most certainly do right.

Outline

Context In Psalms

Psalm 109 stands with other psalms of imprecation (like Psalms 35, 58, 69, and 137) as a stark reminder that God is a God of justice, not just fluffy feelings. These psalms trouble our modern therapeutic sensibilities, but they are essential for a robust faith. They are prayers for God to vindicate His own name against those who defy Him and persecute His people. The context is one of covenantal warfare. David is not cursing some fellow who cut him off in traffic. He is responding to deep, malicious betrayal by those who should have been his friends, and who, in attacking God's anointed, were attacking God Himself. This psalm is a Messianic psalm; David speaks, but he speaks prophetically of the Christ who would be betrayed by his friend, Judas. The New Testament application of this psalm confirms its Messianic weight and its ongoing relevance for the Church in her warfare.

Key Issues

Commentary

v. 6 Appoint a wicked man over him, And let an accuser stand at his right hand.

The prayer begins by asking God to turn the tables. The enemy has been a false accuser, so David prays that he would be subjected to a truly wicked authority and a true accuser. Let him get a taste of his own medicine. Let Herod have a Herod rule over him, and Stalin a Stalin. The word for "accuser" here is satan. While it can mean a human adversary, the context of a heavenly court is hard to miss, especially with Zechariah 3:1 in the background. David is asking God to let Satan himself prosecute the case against this man. This is not a petty wish; it is a request for the supreme prosecutor to take up the case against one who has shown himself to be of the devil's party.

v. 7 When he is judged, let him come forth a wicked man, And let his prayer become sin.

The outcome of the trial should be a guilty verdict. Let his wickedness be exposed for all to see. The second clause here is staggering. When this man is in such dire straits that he is forced to his knees, let his very prayer be counted as another sin on his ledger. This is the state of the reprobate. For the man whose heart is set against God, even his religious gestures are an abomination (Prov. 28:9). His repentance is false, his plea is manipulative, and God sees it for what it is: another offense.

v. 8 Let his days be few; Let another take his office.

This is the verse that Peter quotes in Acts 1:20, applying it directly to Judas Iscariot. This apostolic application is our hermeneutical key. It anchors the psalm in the life of Christ and validates its use for the New Testament church. The prayer is for the traitor's life to be cut short and for his position of responsibility and honor to be given to a faithful man. This is a prayer for the purification of God's people. Traitors must be removed, and their offices filled by those who are worthy.

v. 9 Let his sons be orphans And his wife a widow.

This follows directly from the previous request. If his days are few, the natural consequence is that his wife and children are left behind. This sounds harsh to our ears, but it is simply the outworking of justice. Sin has consequences that ripple out and affect families. The Bible is unflinchingly realistic about this. When Achan sinned, his whole family was judged with him (Joshua 7). This prayer recognizes that the judgment on a wicked man's life will necessarily and justly bring sorrow to his household.

v. 10 Let his sons wander aimlessly and beg; And let them search for food from their ruined homes.

The curse extends to the next generation. The children of the wicked man are to be vagabonds, beggars, driven from the ruins of their former prosperity. This is the reversal of the covenant blessing, where the righteous man's children are established and provided for. Here, the foundation of the house is destroyed, and the children are scattered. This is a prayer for the complete uprooting of a malignant influence.

v. 11 Let the creditor seize all that he has, And let strangers plunder the fruit of his labor.

His financial ruin is to be total. Everything he worked for, everything he accumulated, is to be taken by debt collectors and looted by foreigners. The fruit of his labor, which he likely gained through deceit and oppression, is to be stripped away. This is divine restitution. What was gained unjustly is to be lost justly.

v. 12 Let there be none to extend lovingkindness to him, And let there be none to be gracious to his orphans.

This is perhaps one of the hardest lines in the prayer. The request is that no one would show him or his fatherless children mercy. Why? Because, as we will see in verse 16, he himself showed no mercy. This is the principle of lex talionis, an eye for an eye. The man who closes his heart to the needy will find that all hearts are closed to him in his time of need. God's economy of justice is symmetrical.

v. 13 Let those who follow him be cut off; In a following generation let their name be blotted out.

The judgment is to be final. His posterity, his entire line, is to be cut off. His family name is to be erased from the public record, forgotten. In a culture where legacy and name were paramount, this was the ultimate curse. It is a prayer for his influence to be so utterly annihilated that it is as though he never existed.

v. 14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before Yahweh, And let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.

The curse now reaches backward in time. David prays that the generational sins of his enemy's family line would be brought before God as compounding evidence. This is not to punish the man for sins he did not commit, but to recognize that his own wickedness is the culmination of a long family tradition of rebellion. He has filled up the measure of his fathers' guilt (Matt. 23:32). The family sins are remembered because he has personally ratified them.

v. 15 Let them be before Yahweh continually, That He may cut off their memory from the earth;

These remembered sins are to be a constant exhibit before the Lord, a perpetual testimony that justifies the severe judgment being called for. The result is the same as in verse 13: the complete erasure of their memory from the earth. God is to remember their sin so that men will be made to forget their existence.

v. 16 Because he did not remember to show lovingkindness, But persecuted the afflicted, the needy man, And the disheartened to put them to death.

Here is the reason for the severity of the curse. This is the grounds for the lawsuit. The man was merciless. He actively hunted the poor, the needy, and the brokenhearted. His goal was not just to oppress them, but to kill them. He was a predator who targeted the most vulnerable. For such a man, a prayer for mercy would be a mockery of justice. He had no regard for the image of God in the lowly, and so he must face a God who is the defender of the lowly.

v. 17 He also loved cursing, so it came to him; And he did not delight in blessing, so it was far from him.

The principle of symmetrical justice continues. He loved to curse others, so let cursing come home to roost. He had no desire to bless anyone, so let blessing be a foreign country to him. A man reaps what he sows. He made his bed, and David is praying that God would make him lie in it. His own words and desires have boomeranged back upon him.

v. 18 But he clothed himself with cursing as his garment, And it came into his inward parts like water And like oil into his bones.

Cursing was not an occasional activity for this man; it was his very wardrobe. He wore it like a coat. David prays that this external garment would become an internal reality. Let the curse he loves so much saturate his very being. Let it soak into him like water, penetrating to his core, and seep into his bones like oil, a deep and abiding affliction from which there is no escape.

v. 19 Let it be to him as a garment with which he wraps himself, And for a belt with which he constantly girds himself.

The clothing metaphor is brought to its conclusion. Let this curse be his permanent attire, the robe he can never take off, the belt that is always cinched tight around him. It is to be a constant, clinging, and constricting judgment. He is to be forever identified by the very thing he loved to dish out to others.

v. 20 This is the reward of my accusers from Yahweh, And of those who speak evil against my soul.

David concludes the imprecation by identifying its source and its targets. This detailed curse is not something he has cooked up on his own. It is the just "reward" or "wage" that comes from Yahweh Himself. And it is appointed for all who have set themselves up as his satanic accusers, for all who have spoken evil against his life. He is placing his cause entirely in God's hands and asking for a divine verdict with divine consequences.

Application

So what do we do with a psalm like this? First, we must recognize that we are to pray this way only when we have surrendered all personal vindictiveness. Imprecatory prayer is not a green light for our fleshly anger. It is a turning over of the entire case to God, who judges righteously. We are to love our personal enemies, but we are to hate the enemies of God as God hates them. This prayer is for God's enemies, those who have proven themselves to be implacable foes of Christ and His kingdom through high-handed treachery.

Second, we must remember the Messianic focus. The ultimate fulfillment of this psalm is found in the betrayal of Jesus by Judas. The curses fell on Judas, who came to a bad end. But in a greater sense, Christ took the curse for us. He clothed Himself with the curse on the cross so that we might be clothed with blessing. He became an orphan on the cross, crying "My God, why have you forsaken me?" so that we might be adopted as sons.

Finally, these prayers teach us to take sin and justice with biblical seriousness. We live in a sentimental age that cannot stomach such prayers. But God is not mocked. What a man sows, he will also reap. These prayers teach us to long for the day when God will make all things right, when He will vindicate His people and judge His enemies. They are a cry for the final judgment, a prayer that says, "Come, Lord Jesus."