PSALM 109
David prays regarding treatment of wicked verse 1- 5
Hold not YOUR peace – O God of my praise for the mouth of the wicked
and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me
They have spoken against me with a lying tongue
they compassed me about also with words of hatred
and fought against me without a cause
For my love they are my adversaries – BUT I give myself to PRAYER
and they have rewarded me evil for good – and hatred for my love
David wants judgment to fall on the wicked verse 6- 15
Set YOU a wicked man over him
and let Satan stand at his right hand
When he shall be judged – let him be condemned
and let his PRAYER become sin
Let his days be few
and let another take his office
Let his children be fatherless
and his wife be a widow
Let his children be continually vagabonds – and beg
let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places
Let the extortioner catch all that he has
and let the strangers spoil his labor
Let there be none to extend mercy to him
neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children
Let his posterity be cut off
and in the generation following let their name be blotted out
Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the LORD
and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out
Let them be before the LORD continually
that HE may cut off the memory of them from the earth
David wishes their evil desires fall on themselves verse 16- 19
BECAUSE that he remembered not to show mercy
BUT persecute the poor and needy man
that he might even slay the broken in heart
As he loved cursing – so let it come to him
as he delighted not in blessing – so let it be far from him
As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment
so let it come into his bowels like water
and like oil to his bones
Let it be to him as the garment which covers him
and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually
David wants to reverse judgment to his enemies verse 20- 21
Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the LORD
and of them that speak evil against my soul
But do YOU for me – O GOD the Lord – for YOUR name’s sake
BECAUSE YOUR mercy is good – deliver YOU me
David states his present conditions verse 22- 25
For I am poor and needy
and my heart is wounded within me
I am gone like the shadow when it declines
I am tossed up and down as the locust
My knees are weak through FASTING
and my flesh fails of fatness
I became also a reproach to them
when they looked on me they shake their heads
David requests help from the LORD verse 26- 31
HELP me – O LORD my God
O save me according to YOUR mercy
that they may know that this is YOUR hand
that YOU – LORD have done it
Let them curse – but bless YOU
when they arise – let them be ashamed
BUT let YOUR servant rejoice
Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame
and let them cover themselves with their own confusion
as with a mantle
I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth
YEA – I will praise HIM among the multitude
For HE shall stand at the right hand of the poor
to save him from those that condemn his soul
COMMENTARY:
DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers
: 7 When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin. (8605 “prayer” [taphillah] means the act of communicating with a deity, especially as a petition or in adoration or contrition or thanksgiving, intercession, entreaty, or supplication)
DEVOTION: There are people who pray but for the wrong reason and in a wrong way. They are praying against those who are trying to serve the LORD. They want the LORD to give the one they are praying about a hard time.
Here we find David asking the LORD to consider the prayers of those who are against him to be sin. He wants the LORD to judge them quickly because of their negative attitude toward him.
He is leaving the judging to God but giving HIM a suggestion regarding what he thinks God should do the individual who is giving him a hard time. We know of individuals who enjoy giving us a hard time.
However, not everyone who gives us a hard time is sinning. It is up to the LORD to deal with those who are giving us a hard time. Sometimes these individuals are sent our way to cause us to get closer to the LORD and make sure we are doing things right in HIS eyes.
Sometimes the LORD tests us to see what we will do to those who are not treating us right according to our own standard. We might have to revalue what we are thinking and make sure that the LORD is giving us the right thinking regarding what they are saying and doing.
Our prayer life ahs to be one where we are listening to the LORD and asking HIM for guidance each day. Our world is not easy to live in and some of the people we deal with are not easy to deal with but we still have to ask the LORD for wisdom regarding what is happening in our world to make sure we are growing in the right direction.
CHALLENGE: God allows some people in our life to cause us to reevaluate our life and closeness to HIM. This is a good thing at times. However, it is not something we want to be happening all the time.
DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers
: 8 “Let his days be few, And let another take his office.” New King James Version (Office – Strong’s Hebrew #6486 6486 פְּקֻדָּה [pâquddah /pek·ood·daw/] n f. Pass part of 6485; TWOT 1802a; GK 7213; 32 occurrences; AV translates as “visitation” 13 times, “office” five times, “charge” twice, “oversight” twice, “officers” twice, “orderings” once, “account” once, “custody” once, “numbers” once, and translated miscellaneously four times. 1 oversight, care, custody, mustering, visitation, store. 1A visitation, punishment. 1B oversight, charge, office, overseer, class of officers. 1C mustering. 1D store.
DEVOTION: We live in a world where there is a multitude of wickedness and injustice. At times, it appears that the wicked are indeed more popular and mighty than ever before. Whether it is secular humanism, political correctness of our country or extremists who desire to make the existence of true believers as difficult or short as they can wickedness is rampant today. The psalmist (David) felt much the same and uttered psalms of imprecation to the Lord. Imprecatory psalms are psalms in which a prayer for judgment (an imprecation) on the psalmist’s enemies is a leading feature of the psalm. These psalms have their theological basis in the Abrahamic covenant, which said that curses would come upon Israel’s enemies. [Tyndale Concise Bible Commentary, 205.] The psalmist levels a curse against those who unjustly attacked him. His life was to be shortened and replaced by another. The apostles used this passage to authorize Judas’ replacement among the Disciples (Acts 1:20). The prayer for justice by human institutions would result in condemnation of the wicked and vindication for the righteous!
CHALLENGE: As you pray for your enemies, pray for the love of Christ to be seen and the justice of God to be administered through God’s established institutions! (Dr. Brian Miller – board member)
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: 17 As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him. (7045 “cursing” [qalalah] means vilification, execration, imprecation, formula for cursing, or an appeal to some supernatural power to inflict injury or destruction on someone or some group.)
DEVOTION: There are people who love to say bad things about others. They love to put others down to make themselves look good. This has been happening since the beginning of time. Hagar cursed Sarah because she couldn’t have any children. Goliath cursed David before their battle.
Those who believed in foreign or false gods would use their name to curse God’s children. Here is David being cursed by someone who loved to call down curses on others including him.
David stated that this individual loved to curse more than he loved to bless others. It was a wrong way to treat people but that is how some people treat others. It is not something that Biblical Christians should use in relation to others.
Those who are Biblical Christians should be looking to help those who curse those who don’t agree with them. Our responsibility is to allow the LORD to deal with those who mistreat believers.
Do we sometimes curse instead of bless those who are around us? We are to be ones who encourage others to live better for the LORD and that is hard to do if we are using language that in negative instead of positive.
CHALLENGE: Our mouths need to be under control if we are to honor the LORD. We should not love or even allow ourselves to come under the influence of our bad mouth. Be an encourager of believers especially. The LORD will bless you for a proper attitude toward others.
DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers
: 27 That they may know that this is thy hand; that thou, LORD, hast done it. (3045 “know” [yada] means learn to know, perceive, find out and discern, distinguish, confess, or admit.)
DEVOTION: Have you ever had individuals lie about you or accuse you falsely of something? Did it seem like they were winning the battle? Other people believed them. Even your friends had doubts about your actions. David had this happen to him. It seemed like all the ones he was praying for were against him. They had nothing good to say about him.
What did David do? He turned to the LORD for his defense. He asked the LORD to deal with them. He gave the LORD some suggestions regarding what he thought the LORD should do. He knew that they were under the influence of Satan.
Not only did David pray but he fasted in this situation. This was something serious and he wanted to show the LORD that he was serious. We are instructed in the Word of God to come to the LORD in fasting and prayer when we are faced with a very difficult situation. Major decisions need fasting and prayer.
There are times in our lives when we seem to be in an impossible situation. All the people around us seem to be predicting that this was going to be our downfall. They think that there is no way that we can get out of that situation.
It might be a sickness. It might be a legal matter. It might be a call to a church. It might be a job. It might be…. THEN the impossible happens. The situation is settled in our favor.
People discern that it was the LORD who did it. There was no other way it could have happened. They have to give the LORD the glory. The impossible has happened. This is what David is praying for in his situation. We know that David had many difficult situations in his life and yet the LORD was by HIS side through it all. HE is by our side through all the trials HE allows in our life. HE wants us to pray to show our dependence on HIM and that we are not depending on our own effort or the help of others.
Remember that we have genuine enemies in this world. We have people who would love to see us fall but when we turn to the LORD, HE provides the help we need to have courage through the situation. HE wants us to be honest with HIM – David was.
CHALLENGE: Turn your enemies over to the LORD!!!!)
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: 29 Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle. (3639 “shame” [kalimmah] means insult, ignominy, a state of disgrace, insult, shameful behavior, to be hurt, confusion, dishonor, or reproach.)
DEVOTION: David is here asking the LORD to deal with those who have been against him. They have no Biblical reason to be against him but they are.
Sometimes it is just people who don’t like someone in power to succeed. They want to look for every little detail of their life and cause them pain. They want to use the weaknesses of those they don’t like to cause them pain.
David was a man after God’s own heart but there were people who didn’t care about his closeness to God but just wanted to see him fail. In fact, they wanted to find ways to cause him to fail.
It was hard for David and it can be hard for anyone who is trying to serve the LORD to the best of their ability to find that there are people who will not like them no matter what they do.
David prayed for the LORD to deal with them in HIS own way, so that, they would stop giving him a hard time.
We find that there are people in our world who enjoy giving us a hard time and seem to get under our skin while they are doing it.
David turned them over to the LORD and we need to do the same with anyone who is doing what these individuals were doing to David.
However, we also need to make sure that we are praying for their salvation or change in their understanding of what they are supposes to do to others. God is a great teacher and HE can teach anyone who will listen to HIM how to treat those around them. They only have to listen to HIM and study HIS word.
CHALLENGE: There are always those who don’t like us for one reason or another. We have to pray for them and turn them over to the LORD for HIM to deal with them as HE sees fit.
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DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:
BODY
Chastity (Purity in living)
Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)
David fasting with his prayer verse 24
Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)
Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)
Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)
SOUL
Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)
Frugality (wise use of resources)
Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)
Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)
Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)
SPIRIT
Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)
Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)
Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)
Prayer of David for deliverance verse 1- 31
Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)
Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)
Praise verse 1, 30
Rejoice verse 28
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DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:
Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)
God the Father (First person of the Godhead)
God – Elohim (Creator, Sovereign) verse 1, 26
LORD – Jehovah (Covenant keeping, Personal) verse 14, 15, 20, 26, 27, 30
GOD – Jehovah verse 21
Lord – Adonai (Master, Owner) verse 21
GOD the Lord verse 21
Mercy is good verse 21, 26
Deliverer verse 21
LORD my God verse 26
Blesses believers verse 28
HE shall stand at the right hand of the poor
to save from those that condemn verse 31
God the Son (Second person of the Godhead –God/man, Messiah)
God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)
Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)
Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)
Satan (fallen created cherub) verse 6
Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)
Wicked verse 2
Deceitful verse 2
Adversaries verse 4, 20, 29
Wicked man verse 6
Extortioner verse 11
Strangers verse 11
Poor verse 16
Needy verse 16
Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)
Wicked verse 2, 6
Deceitful verse 2
Lying tongue verse 2, 20
Words of hatred verse 3, 5
Fought against believer verse 3
Evil verse 5, 20
Condemned verse 7, 31
Sin (prayer become) verse 7, 14
Extortion verse 11
Spoil verse 11
Not showing mercy verse 12, 16
Iniquity verse 14
Sin verse 14
Not showing mercy verse 16
Persecuting the poor and needy verse 16
Kill verse 16
Love cursing verse 17, 18, 28
Delight not in blessing verse 17
Shame verse 29
Confusion verse 29
Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)
Peace verse 1
Praise verse 1, 30
Love verse 4, 5
Prayer verse 4, 7
Good verse 5
Mercy verse 12, 16, 21, 26
Deliverance verse 21, 26
Poor and needy verse 22, 31
Wounded heart verse 22
Fasting verse 24
Help verse 26
Blessing verse 28
Servant verse 28
Rejoice verse 28
Save verse 31
Israel (Old Testament people of God)
David – author of Psalm verse 1- 31
Prayer to the LORD
Adversaries:
Rewarded evil for good
Hatred for love
Prayers become sin
Days become few
Another take his office
Children become fatherless
vagabonds and beg
Wife become a widow
Extortioner take all he has
Strangers spoil his labor
No mercy
No favor to his children
Posterity cut off
Name blotted out
Sin of mother not blotted out
Loved cursing
Clothed himself with cursing
Speak evil against my soul
Ashamed
Clothed with shame
Cover themselves with their own
confusion
I am poor and needy
Heart wounded within me
Tossed up and down as the locust
Fasting
That they may know that YOU have done it
Praise the LORD in the multitude verse 30
Church (New Testament people of God)
Last Things (Future Events)
Slay the broken in heart verse 16
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QUOTES regarding passage
The basic meaning of this root sets forth the quality of “slightness” as to provision, speed (where it means swift), or circumstance. In the latter instance the condition described is less than that deserved by or divinely intended for the object. So, this root is used (especially in the intensive stems) of intending a lowered position, technically, to curse. Our root occurs 130 times.
The primary meaning “to be light or slight,” applied to individuals, is used of Hagar’s esteem for Sarah (Gen 16:4–5). Sarah was not lowered in position. As a barren women, however, she was “lowered” in function and prestige. Hence, Hagar’s attitude “struck home.” A similar use occurs where David (II Sam 6:22, Niphal) tells Michal that he will lower himself even more (paralleled by šāpal). This idea is the exclusive emphasis of the intensive stems. So Nehemiah (13:25) asserted a curse formula and saw it effected on its objects (those who married foreign women) by publicly disgracing them. The Psalmist (Ps 109:28) contrasts his enemies’ vilification of him with God’s blessing and prays that the fate they desire for him be applied to them, i.e. that they be put to shame (cf. Ps 62:4 [H 5]).
The noun qĕ lālâ represents a formula expressing lowering from election. Thus, when informed of Rebekah’s scheme, Jacob fears he will bring a qĕ lālâ “a curse”—removed from the blessing of election—upon himself (see Gen 27:11–12; also especially Jer 24:9). It is used similarly in Deut 27:13 as the opposite of covenantal blessing. When actually enunciated as covenantal sanction, the word for “curse” is ʾārar (the state accomplished). So, our word represents the state described and possible (as in Deut 11:26; 30:19) where God sets before his people the result of breaking the covenant. God does not destroy humanity in his dealings with man (man is a decision-making creation). Neither does God give man the just recompense due his repeated and essential rejection of the covenant. So with Josiah, for example, God’s grace is clearly operative (I Kgs 22:19; cf. Jer 26:6). The promise of divine provision of eternal deliverance is, therefore, exhibited in this use. Finally, this noun infrequently depicts the end itself. According to Deut 21:23 the corpse of a crucified person, impure and defiling, is to be burned before dark in order to avoid polluting the land.
The heathen felt that men could manipulate the gods (God). Hence, Goliath cursed David (I Sam 17:43), and Balaam was called to curse Israel (Num 22:6). The baseless curse, however, has no effect (Prov 26:2). Only God’s formulas are effective (Ps 37:22). As God said to Abraham: “he who curses (qālal) you” (pronounces a formula), “I will curse (ʾārar) him” (put him in the state). To curse God’s prophet was to attack God and to bring on one’s head divine judgment, as was the case with the boys who vilified (cf. qālas) Elisha and were cursed (qālal) by him (II Kgs 2:24). See also Neh 13:1–3 where the descendants of Moab and Ammon are barred from worship (a form of spiritual death).
To enunciate a baseless formula is to intend or accomplish a violation (or reversal) of the created structure and to intend real harm, as by sympathetic magic. This is what children (or servants) are forbidden to do with parents (or lords, life-givers, Ex 21:17ff). Such an action is an attack on God himself and is punishable by death (Lev 20:9). It is deep rebellion against God to curse one’s parents and then assert one’s ethical purity (Prov 30:11; cf. Ezk 22:7). The ultimate offense is to rob God of his honor by using his name to express anger or frustration (Lev 24:11–23). (Coppes, L. J. (1999). 2028 קָלַל. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., pp. 800–801). Chicago: Moody Press.)
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We therefore take these words to be David’s own, and while giving due weight to the element of righteous anger and of rhetorical hyperbole, we see them as comparable to the outbursts of Jeremiah and Job: recorded for our learning, not for our imitation; yet voicing the cry of innocent blood which God is pledged to hear (Matt. 23:35; Luke 18:8), and thereby becoming God’s mouthpiece in pronouncing judgment on the unrepentant. This is not our function under the gospel, for we are to ‘bless, and curse not’. The psalm may even shock us into more fervent compliance with our instructions, as ministers of reconciliation.
28. The first line, which may sound like returning blessing for cursing, is of course a plea that when the enemy calls down the worst on David, God will, instead, rain down the best, as the subsequent lines make clear. It is a good prayer with which to turn the edge of an attack: cf. Romans 8:31ff.
(Kidner, D. (1975). Psalms 73–150: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 16, p. 424). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.)
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This is one of the imprecatory psalms (see appendix to Ps 137: Imprecations in the Psalms). The genre of the psalm reflects the individual lament type. Brueggemann observes that this psalm reveals a delicate balance by keeping two polar expressions in tension: “faithful covenantal speech” and “free, unrestrained speech of rage seeking vengeance,” but always such that the latter is subordinated to the former (Message of the Psalms, p. 85).
The word “praise” forms an inclusion with vv. 30–31, and as such we agree with Dahood that, “though the burden of the psalm is lament, the poet is so confident that his complaint will be heard (cf. vv. 30–31) that he proleptically calls it a ‘song of praise’ ” (Psalms 3:100).
6–8 The psalmist calls on evil to be punished by evil (v. 6). He hopes that an evil man may be found guilty by “an evil man,” whom he also calls “an accuser” (śāṭān from which comes the proper name “Satan,” cf. v. 4). It is not clear whether the “evil man” is a judge or a person who acts in some authoritative capacity. Anyway, he hopes that the system of justice on earth will not be so corrupt as to twist any and all forms of justice (vv. 6–7). Through the instrumentality of human institutions and by means of wicked men, other wicked men are condemned, and in this process God’s righteousness is vindicated. The “evil man” and the “accuser” are identical, standing “at his right hand” (cf. Zech 3:1, but cf. v. 31) for the purpose of bringing accusations against one of their kind.
(VanGemeren, W. A. (1991). Psalms. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs (Vol. 5, p. 689). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.)
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FROM MY READING:
(Remember the only author that I totally agree with is the HOLY SPIRIT in the inerrant WORD OF GOD called THE BIBLE! All other I try to gleam what I can to help me grow in the LORD!!)
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Martyn Lloyd Jones – The eleven years at Sandfields were remarkable for the impact made by the ministry. There were two reasons for this. One was the witness of the Doctor’s life and concern for the people.
He has spent, they say, a small fortune in giving practical help to people in need of money, has helped them to clear off arrears of rent and even to buy their homes. (p. 101)
I just can’t subscribe to the idea that either congresses or campaigns really deal with the situation. The facts, I feel, substantiate my point of view: in spite of all that has been done in the last 20 or 25 years, the spiritual situation has deteriorated rather than improved. I am convinced that nothing can avail but churches and ministers on their knees in total dependence on God. As long as you go on organizing people will not fall on their knees and implore God to come and heal them. It seems to me that the campaign approach trusts ultimately in techniques rather than in the power of the Spirit. (p. 107, Preachers Who Made A Difference by Peter Jeffery)
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Nahum warns Nineveh to turn from idolatry and to be true to her vows.
INSIGHT
Nahum is sent from God to urge repentance again. This message must seem absurd. In the ensuing years, Nineveh has grown into the most powerful city in the known world. Her walls seem impregnable. Water totally surrounds the city, and inside there is a self-sufficient agricultural system. Feeling independent, she does not repent. The Babylonian army marches through the breach in the wall—and Nineveh falls. The Word of God is sure! (Quiet Walk)
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