Oxygen from Psalm 35 (Imprecation)

1 Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me;
fight against those who fight against me!
2 Take hold of shield and buckler
and rise for my help!
3 Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers!
"I am your salvation!"
4 Let them be put to shame and dishonor
who seek after my life!
Let them be turned back and disappointed
who devise evil against me!
5 Let them be like chaff before the wind,
with the angel of the Lord driving them away!
6  Let their way be dark and slippery,
with the angel of the Lord pursuing them!
7  For without cause they hid their net for me;
without cause they dug a pit for my life.
8  Let destruction come upon him when he does not know it!
And let the net that he hid ensnare him;
let him fall into it—to his destruction!
9  Then my soul will rejoice in the Lord,
exulting in his salvation.
10  All my bones shall say,
"O Lord, who is like you,
delivering the poor from him who is too strong for him,
the poor and needy from him who robs him?"
11  Malicious witnesses rise up;
they ask me of things that I do not know.
12  They repay me evil for good;
my soul is bereft.
13  But I, when they were sick—I wore sackcloth;
I afflicted myself with fasting; I prayed with head bowed on my chest.
14  I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother;
as one who laments his mother, I bowed down in mourning.
15  But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered;
they gathered together against me;
wretches whom I did not know tore at me without ceasing;
16  like profane mockers at a feast,
they gnash at me with their teeth.
17  How long, O Lord, will you look on?
Rescue me from their destruction, my precious life from the lions!
18  I will thank you in the great congregation;
in the mighty throng I will praise you.
19  Let not those rejoice over me who are wrongfully my foes,
and let not those wink the eye who hate me without cause.
but against those who are quiet in the land
they devise words of deceit.
21  They open wide their mouths against me; they say, "Aha, Aha!
Our eyes have seen it!"
22  You have seen, O Lord; be not silent!
O Lord, be not far from me!
23  Awake and rouse yourself for my vindication,
for my cause, my God and my Lord!
24  Vindicate me, O Lord, my God,
according to your righteousness,
and let them not rejoice over me!
25  Let them not say in their hearts, "Aha, our heart's desire!"
Let them not say, "We have swallowed him up."
26  Let them be put to shame and disappointed altogether
who rejoice at my calamity!
Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor
who magnify themselves against me!
27  Let those who delight in my vindication
shout for joy and be glad and say evermore,
"Great is the Lord, who delights in the welfare of his servant!"
28  Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness
and of your praise all the day long.
(Psalm 35) 



Commentary:

Chances are you've never heard a sermon preached on Psalm 35. It's the second of the four imprecatory Psalms (7, 35, 69, 109). Imprecatory means to call down harm upon someone, especially to curse another. Jesus specifically outlawed his followers from making such prayers. He said, "Love your enemies. Pray for them who persecute you" (Mt. 5:44).  Even when he suffered on the cross Jesus did not voice this Psalm as well he might, but prayed for forgiveness for those who tortured him.  So what do we do with Psalm 35?

Let's look at it historically rather than devotionally. This song is made up of the kind of curses we often see in suzerainty treaties of the ancient world.  A treaty was made up of four parts: first, it identified the parties; second, it specified the agreement of what each party would and would not do; third, it listed blessings for those who kept the covenant; and finally, called down curses on those who would break the agreement.

 Remember, the primary purpose of religion in ancient society was to enforce compliance to the social order. There was no criminal justice system; no police forces. Armies were too unwieldy for keeping individuals in line. So religion functioned in ancient culture as a deterrence to law-breakers and a rewarder of promise keepers.

The fact that Psalm 35 is addressed to the Choir Master means this was a public Psalm.  It's part of a liturgy.  There are two major sections introduced in verse 1.  "Contend" is a legal term and in verses 11-28 the scene appears to be a court with angry and false witnesses. "Fight" is a military word and is appropriate for verses 2-10.

This is a Psalm of King David, but not as some commentators contend, from the time he was running from King Saul.  It's too public, too legal.  David never wanted to curse God’s anointed King, even if it was Saul.  I think Psalm 35 made its way into the Hebrew hymnbook because it was part of a ceremony associated with someone who has violated a treaty with the King who is proclaimed innocent of wrongdoing toward the other party. This Psalm may have been sung with Psalm 20 on the eve of a battle into which the King would ride to punish a foreign enemy who had broken a treaty. Psalm 35 gives the people a way to declare their support for the King and to hear the King recite his innocence. I think it's also possible that psalm 35 could have been used in the trials of domestic enemies, traitors among the nobility who sought to take advantage of the King's weakness and who are now to be judged in the high court of Israel with David as the Judge.  Verse 27 may have been a kind of voice vote by the people: "Shout all you who favor my vindication!"

So I think it is best to interpret Psalm 35 as a royal Psalm which may guide our prayers for our political leaders.  The New Testament says we are to submit to our leaders for they all serve at God’s pleasure (Romans 13:1-6). We pray that our nation's enemies will be confounded (v.1-8). It may have been that the King himself sang verses 9-10, affirming that we should pray that our leaders trust in God and seek God's will in dealing with these threats.  We should pray for justice in our courts, that lying witnesses would be found out, that God would intercede for the weak and needy, and that we as a people will trust God's providence for our prosperity (v. 27-28).

Great God,

I would not want to be one of your enemies,

one whom You would break under these curses,

one who would pervert your justice and oppress your people.

Guide our leaders to do the right,

yo seek Your truth,

and never pray that You be on our side,

but that our side be always aligned

with your Word and the will of Earth's true King,

even Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

Oxygen from Psalm 34:12-22 (How to Live Long and Prosper)

12 Does anyone want to live long and prosper?

13 Then keep your tongue from speaking evil      and your lips from telling lies! 

14 Turn away from evil and do good.     Search for peace, and work to maintain it

15 The eyes of the LORD watch over those who do right;     his ears are open to their cries for help.

16 But the LORD turns his face against those who do evil;     he will erase their memory from the earth.

17 The LORD hears his people when they call to him for help.
     He rescues them from all their troubles.

18 The LORD is close to the brokenhearted;

     he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.

19 The righteous person faces many troubles,

    but the LORD comes to the rescue each time.

20 For the LORD protects the bones of the Righteous One;

    not one of them is broken!
21 Calamity will surely overtake the wicked,

     and those who hate the Righteous One will be punished.
22 But the LORD will redeem those who serve him.

    No one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.

(Psalm 34:12-22)

I must admit that I've read this passage and others like it wrong for most of my life.  On the surface it appears to be a bouncy little proverb about the power of positive communication (Lord, forgive me for that sermon).  Control what you say and you will live a long and prosperous life; don't do bad things and God will protect you.  Just the stuff for another moralistic sermon like so many others: do more, try harder, be nice.

This is how the rabbinic Jews in Jesus' time interpreted passages like this.

" You see that wealthy, prosperous person over there?" asked the rabbi, dressed in his rich clothing. " Do you want to know how he got that way? Turn to Psalm 34. He kept his tongue in check and he surely must have done good else God would not reward him."

 This was not only the hermeneutic of rabbinic Judaism, but the confession of much of modern evangelical Christianity as it chases after success and ignores the small and powerless.  Jesus turned this health and wealth ethic upside down when He said the poor were blessed. The meek inherit the earth. Losers are close to God's heart (Mt. 5). Post-Biblical liberal Protestantism gets it all wrong, too.  Jesus isn't advocating "social justice," but the necessity of Gospel grace to fulfill the demands of a righteous God.

So, let's interpret this passage as Christians, from the Reformed perspective of law and gospel. First comes God's holy demand, a clear statement of a godly law: Control your tongue. Don't gossip. Don't tell lies. No false witness. Don't speak any untruth (v.13). Additionally, don't participate in anything evil but always do good. Don't think bad thoughts. Don't miss every opportunity to do good for someone else .  Don't cause trouble. Then, having found this perfect balance of self-control and social justice, what the Jews called shalom, maintain it for the rest of your life (v.14) .

As in all covenant ceremonies, there are blessings: long life, prosperity (v.12), summed up as God watching  over you (v.15).  Next are the curses for those who break these holy laws: God will ignore you and erase your memory from all your posterity (v.16).

God's law is perfect and demands perfection. If we're being honest, the problem soon becomes apparent: I'm nowhere near perfect.  And every time I try to be perfect, I make matters worse.  I lie to myself, I become hypocritical with others, trying to maintain a show of something I'm not.  I stop reading certain parts of the Bible.  I look for churches that assuage my guilt with easy-to-do rituals by which some holy man in funny clothes declares me holy and forgiven. Yikes --  I'm  deeply flawed. I can't even read God's righteous demand without knowing I'm... dead ... meat.  So I look for a preacher or a best-seller that tells me God doesn't mean I have to live this law perfectly, just the best I can. But then I read the Bible and discover the truth: break one part of the law, and I'm guilty of breaking it all. (James 2:10, Mt. 5:18).  Jesus did say, "You must be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect."

How's that good moral life working out for you? Those who try to live moralistically are doomed to frustration and despair (Gal. 3:10). But God never lays down law that He doesn't also provide grace. Do you see it in Psalm 34? "His ears are open to those who confess they need help" (v.15).  The law isn't there for us to ignore or for us to dumb down into moralistic claptrap.  The law exists  to drive us to our knees and call to God for help, for a Rescuer (v.17). Nothing crushes the spirit like the law. God's holy demands short-circuit the human control center of the heart ("the heart" in Jewish culture is not about emotions, but about will). I can decide to invite Jesus into my heart, I can make firm resolution, I can commit, I can dedicate and re-dedicate myself, I can promise and vow, but inevitably and always I … fail. And If tell myself that I haven't failed, the truth is not in me (I John 1:8-9).

It is at that moment when we experience the crushing power of God's law that grace shines through. God will hear and rescue (v.19). God will help and heal. God will forgive. God will do it himself. He doesn't ignore his righteous demands. He doesn't set aside his Word to help us feel better, for that would make God a liar. But he points us to Christ, the one who hung on the cross but none of whose bones were broken (v.20).  

There are two religious systems: one of self-reliant, moralistic striving, self-delusion, and ignoring the  Righteous Rescuer (v.21); the other for honest huddlers under the only refuge God provides, under the blood of the Lamb, under the cross of Jesus, our only confession: Justified by grace!

Righteous God:

Save me from my pitiable attempts

To justify myself 

     by myself 

     for myself.

Rescue me in Jesus blood

And for His sake.

Restore me to my rightful mind and destiny.

Amen.

Oxygen from Psalm 34:9-11 (Fear)

Fear the LORD, you his godly people, for those who fear him will have all they need. Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry, but those who trust in the LORD will lack no good thing. Come, my children, and listen to me, and I will teach you to fear the LORD.
(Psalm 34:9-11)

Merciful God:

How can I learn to fear
The One I hold so dear,
The One who banished fright,
gave me songs in the night,
and bid me come in simple trust?

How can I learn to fear
The One whose presence cheers,
The One who suffered terror
for my unrighteous errors,
for all my brazenness?

Our culture sings sex ditties
while epics sung in ancient cities
chronicled the fights of heroes,
into fear and tempest thrown,
against the terrors of the gods.

Safety in our stronghold
gives rise to softer songs,
softer people, softer minds,
unaware of the true time,
seldom overcome with awe.

May Thy transcendent threat
make every evil-doer fret;
restrain my self-centered spike
when I would compromise the right,
that I not Thee disappoint.

David, teach me, inspired bard,
how to rightly fear the Lord,
how to rightly hear His call,
how to live in abject awe
of my Redeemer's love.

Amen.

Oxygen from Psalm 34:2-9 (Force-praise)

American Christianity is about a happy, clappy religion in praise of a diety more like Santa Claus than the God of the Bible. The Bible, written for us but not to us, takes place in a world that was violent and ruthless. David has been anointed King under God's authority, but he's hunted like a criminal. Here's what happened when he had lost everything.

My soul force-praises Yahweh;
those with nothing left, rejoice.
Make Yahweh bigger than your need
Do so and we shall praise him together.
I pleaded with Yahweh, "What are you doing?"
He answered and delivered me.
How? He made all my fears slink away.


How many times have I seen it -
those who force-praise light up;
their faces free of shame or care.
So myself, when I lost everything,
force-praised Yahweh,
and He heard and acted,
overcoming my distress.


Yahweh's messenger surrounds 
those who force-praise him,
He delivers them.
Taste! See that Yahweh is good.
Oh the joy of those who trust him
when they lose everything.
Force-praise Yahweh, you his chosen,
When everything is gone, 
You have everything you need.


(Psalm 34:2-9, DKB Interplation)


Ever-present God:

How blessed I am to live free
in a prosperous and safe country,
with enough to eat and shelter fine,
where I have control over my time.
But how rare historically
is this blest stability.
Most of the human story tells
of war and famine and awful smells,
of raiders coming to my village
to rape and kidnap and to pillage.
In spite of our unsolved problems
These are the best of times.

So David while a refugee
under Saul's death penalty,
flees to enemy territory;
with nothing but his cloak and story.
There he's captured, loses hope,
destitute, in slavery's yoke,
has nothing left, not one ally,
prays "Why me? Why am I
hunted like the jackal, hated?
Is this how you treat your Anointed?"
Then comes into his prison cave
The One who will one day save
all the saints from Barabbas' cross.

Did he break David's chains?
Did he take away the pains?
There was no magic, no miracle,
No evidence of any oracle,
circumstance did not re-arrange
but something inside David changed.
Faith welled up like a spring
and caused his aching heart to sing,
not yet free, not yet King,
but praise in spite of everything.
And what looked to Acish like insanity
was a soul in faithful rapture.

Force-praise is the covenant faith,
that trusts in God though all forsake,
Force-praise exalts God's ability
when we have lost all stability.
Perhaps we can only know
the power of faith when we must go
and force-praise God against
all odds, against all sense,
against the doctor's diagnosis
force-praise Him who truly knows us.
Still I can taste and know His goodness
who is my full Deliverance..

O may I know my deep need of Thee,
admit my true need and poverty;
may I with patience wait to see
how force-praising will set me free.

Amen.

Oxygen from Psalm 34:1 (The Great Pretender)

Don't dismiss the setting given in the Hebrew Bible for Psalm 34.  I think it may shed light on what David is trying to communicate.

When David pretended to be something he's not before before Abimelek, who drove him away, and David left.  


I will extol Yahweh at all times; 
I will constantly speak his praises.
(Psalm 34:1)


Changeless God:

The hummingbird at my feeder
cannot betray its nature;
cannot become more or less
than you, Creator, planned.
My sweet Corgi cannot feign
a quiet, passive disposition,
nor wish she was a Great Dane,
embarrased at her shortness.

Only humans give pretense,
become something we are not,
lie to ourselves without sense,
sin and call it virtuous.
Only people practice dissipation,
hold others up to ridicule;
our species unique in all creation:
pretenders, prevaricators, cruel.

This flaw infects us all,
no one is immune from falsity.
Since Adam and the fall,
all Utopias crumble on this fault.
And never are we more at risk
than to deny our duplicity,
betray the Truth with a kiss,
release our inner Iscariot.

David pretends to madness
to save himself from Abimelech;
acts the fool, cursed by badness,
just to get out of a mess.
Yet even as he pretends,
he extols your holy name,
by which he knows the Covenant extends
to cover every hypocrisy.

So may we whose unholy habit
is to be something we are not,
know your nearness while we're sinning,
extol your grace in which we're caught.
Abandon us -- you shall never do,
but make our pilgrimage of faith
the struggle to subdue
lesser passions to the upward call of Christ.

Amen