{"id":8194,"date":"2023-07-27T07:35:52","date_gmt":"2023-07-27T13:35:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/?p=8194"},"modified":"2023-07-27T07:36:10","modified_gmt":"2023-07-27T13:36:10","slug":"psalm-109","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/?p=8194","title":{"rendered":"Psalm 109"},"content":{"rendered":"

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

1 <\/span>Do not keep silent,<\/span><\/span><\/em>
\nO God of my praise!<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

2 <\/sup>For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful<\/span><\/em>
\nHave opened against me;<\/span><\/em>
\nThey have spoken against me with a lying tongue.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

3 <\/sup>They have also surrounded me with words of hatred,<\/span><\/em>
\nAnd fought against me without a cause.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

4 <\/sup>In return for my love they are my accusers,<\/span><\/em>
\nBut I give myself to prayer.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

5 <\/sup>Thus they have rewarded me evil for good,<\/span><\/em>
\nAnd hatred for my love.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

6\u00a0<\/sup>Set a wicked man over him,<\/span><\/em>
\nAnd let an accuser stand at his right hand.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

7 <\/sup>When he is judged, let him be found guilty,<\/span><\/em>
\nAnd let his prayer become sin.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

8 <\/sup>Let his days be few,<\/span><\/em>
\nAnd let another take his office.<\/span><\/em>
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>Let his children be fatherless,<\/span><\/em>
\nAnd his wife a widow.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

10 <\/sup>Let his children continually be vagabonds, and beg;<\/span><\/em>
\nLet them seek their bread also from their desolate places.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

11 <\/sup>Let the creditor seize all that he has,<\/span><\/em>
\nAnd let strangers plunder his labor.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

12 <\/sup>Let there be none to extend mercy to him,<\/span><\/em>
\nNor let there be any to favor his fatherless children.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

13 <\/sup>Let his posterity be cut off,<\/span><\/em>
\nAnd in the generation following let their name be blotted out.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

14\u00a0<\/sup>Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord<\/span>,<\/span><\/em>
\nAnd let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

15 <\/sup>Let them be continually before the Lord<\/span>,<\/span><\/em>
\nThat He may cut off the memory of them from the earth;<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

16 <\/sup>Because he did not remember to show mercy,<\/span><\/em>
\nBut persecuted the poor and needy man,<\/span><\/em>
\nThat he might even slay the broken in heart.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

17 <\/sup>As he loved cursing, so let it come to him;<\/span><\/em>
\nAs he did not delight in blessing, so let it be far from him.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

18 <\/sup>As he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment,<\/span><\/em>
\nSo let it enter his body like water,<\/span><\/em>
\nAnd like oil into his bones.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

19 <\/sup>Let it be to him like the garment which covers him,<\/span><\/em>
\nAnd for a belt with which he girds himself continually.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

20 <\/sup>Let this be the Lord<\/span>\u2019s reward to my accusers,<\/span><\/em>
\nAnd to those who speak evil against my person.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

21\u00a0<\/sup>But You, O God<\/span> the Lord,<\/span><\/em>
\nDeal with me for Your name\u2019s sake;<\/span><\/em>
\nBecause Your mercy is good, deliver me.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

22 <\/sup>For I am poor and needy,<\/span><\/em>
\nAnd my heart is wounded within me.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

23 <\/sup>I am gone like a shadow when it lengthens;<\/span><\/em>
\nI am shaken off like a locust.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

24 <\/sup>My knees are weak through fasting,<\/span><\/em>
\nAnd my flesh is feeble from lack of fatness.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

25 <\/sup>I also have become a reproach to them;<\/span><\/em>
\nWhen they look at me, they shake their heads.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

26\u00a0<\/sup>Help me, O Lord<\/span> my God!<\/span><\/em>
\nOh, save me according to Your mercy,<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

27 <\/sup>That they may know that this is Your hand\u2014<\/span><\/em>
\nThat You, Lord<\/span>, have done it!<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

28 <\/sup>Let them curse, but You bless;<\/span><\/em>
\nWhen they arise, let them be ashamed,<\/span><\/em>
\nBut let Your servant rejoice.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

29 <\/sup>Let my accusers be clothed with shame,<\/span><\/em>
\nAnd let them cover themselves with their own disgrace as with a mantle.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n
\n

30\u00a0<\/sup>I will greatly praise the Lord<\/span> with my mouth;<\/span><\/em>
\nYes, I will praise Him among the multitude.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

31 <\/sup>For He shall stand at the right hand of the poor,<\/span><\/em>
\nTo save him from those who condemn him.<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

This Psalm and the 110th are both Messianic and very closely related. The 109th Psalm reveals Christ in His humiliation, but the 110th presents Him exalted at the right hand of God the Father, as well as His coming glory. In the 109th Psalm, we not only see His coming glory, we also see the fate of those who oppose Him, hate Him, betray Him, and reject Him. \u2014 Phillips, page 268.<\/span><\/h3>\n

__________<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

These verses (vs.1-5) present a prophetic vision of Messiah’s agony. … He may have used the very words of these verses when He retired alone in the mountains to pray. … In spite of all their hatred He loved them, and expressed His love by healing their sick and feeding their hungry multitudes. … In these verses His answer to their hatred was, “I give myself to prayer” (v.4). When they nailed Him to the cross He prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” \u2014 Phillips, pages 268-269.<\/span><\/h3>\n

__________<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It will be noticed that from verse 6 through verse 19 the personal pronoun is used of “a wicked man” who stands by Satan to persecute the “meek and lowly ONE,” who helped all mankind. From the 20th verse, “the” is used to include all who hate the “Lowly ONE.” Man believe that the “wicked man” of verses 6 was Judas Iscariot because of the reference in Acts 1:20<\/span><\/a>, which appears to have reference to verse 8 of our Psalm. …<\/span><\/h3>\n

What Christ said of Judas can be said of all His adversaries, “It would have been better if that man had not been born.” This is also true of all who turn away from Christ. This Psalm is a solemn warning to all who despise and reject God’s salvation, which is in Christ Jesus Himself, the Lamb of God. They do what we see in the 4th verse of our Psalm, “for my love they are my adversaries.” \u2014 Phillips, page 270.<\/span><\/h3>\n

__________<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The language of this Psalm is judicial and prophetic. Enemies of the Messiah, the Word of God, will be judged (vs.6-7); and the righteousness of their punishment and the grounds for it, are set out in verses 8-20. \u2014 Williams, page 383.<\/span><\/h3>\n

__________<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Messiah recognizes that the hatred shown to His people is shown to them because they belong to Him. It is really directed against Him. In return for the love which He and they show to men, men recompense hatred (vs.1-5). Therefore is their punishment just (vs.6-20).\u00a0 … He was the poor and needy Man; His was the wounded heart (v.22); at Him they shook their heads as He hung upon the tree (v.25); but God stood at His right hand, and in resurrection delivered Him from the power of those who sought to eternally destroy Him (v.31). As to Judas, Satan stood at his right hand (v.6), and then entered into him (Luke 22:3).\u2014 Williams, pages 383-384.<\/span><\/h3>\n

__________<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Acts 1:20 makes it very clear that the oppressor in this psalm is Judas. And, since the person Judas oppressed was Jesus Christ, this has to be a Messianic psalm. Wechsler (below), makes no mention of that theme but instead considers how one can worship in the midst of persecution. I think both levels of interpretation work, the first on a prophetic level, the second on a practical level. But I also think the fact that the Messiah is calling for God’s judgment on those who oppressed and killed the Son of God is all the answer needed to explain why the psalmist doesn’t love his enemies\u2014He did, and they killed Him. All that’s left to them is judgment. In other words, love for your enemies before they finally and ultimately reject Christ, judgment afterwards.<\/h3>\n

David here provides us with a model for transforming, as it were, the black coals of unjust persecution into the brilliant diamonds of worship. One way (vs.1-20) in which we can do this … is by petitioning God to manifest His justice in bringing retribution upon the wicked and deceitful (v.2) who oppress us. Though this may initially seem to contradict Christ’s emphasis on loving one’s enemies (cf. Matthew 5:44<\/span><\/a>), several considerations, both from the immediate and larger Scriptural context of the psalm, bear out its absolute consistency with New Testament teaching\u2014to wit: (1) throughout this psalm (as typically in the other “imprecation” psalms), the psalmist appeals to God<\/em> to bring just retribution on his oppressors, rather than expressing the intention to take the matter of vengeance into his own imperfect, human hands\u2014a point which is in fact an integral part of the Second Greatest Commandment itself (see Leviticus 19:18; Deuteronomy 32:35; Romans 12:19<\/span><\/a>); (2) building on the previous point, nowhere in this psalm (or any other “imprecation” psalm) does the psalmist demand<\/em> God’s retribution upon his oppressors, but rather he leaves the “when” and “how” up to God\u2014for worship, which is exclusively in our “court” as God’s creations, entails only the affirmation of<\/em> and appeal to<\/em> God’s attributes, whereas the expression of those attributes is entirely in God’s “court”; and (3) encompassing the previous two points, David affirms that the same standard of divine justice applies equally<\/em> to both believers like himself as well as to the wicked who oppress them, and that under this perfect standard all<\/em> men stand justly condemned to God’s severest retribution. In the present section this point is vividly made in verse 6, the imagery and even phraseology of which is parallel to that in Zechariah 3:1 where Joshua the High Priest (representing Israel) stands before the LORD (in the role of judge), with Satan (“the accuser” in v.6b) standing at his right hand to accuse him (justly<\/em> so because of his sin, represented by his filthy garments). The only reason that Joshua (i.e., sinful Israel) escapes God’s retribution is because of God’s<\/em> choice to show mercy and grace\u2014divine gifts that, because they are based solely on God’s sovereign will and not the merits of man, He might choose to extend to the wicked who are presently at enmity with us, just as He extended them previously to us when we, in our wickedness, were at enmity with Him (Romans 5:8-10<\/span><\/a>). \u2014 Wechsler, pages 260-261.<\/span><\/h3>\n

__________<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Another way (vs.21-29) in which we can turn our oppression at the hands of the wicked into worship is by appealing to God to express His lovingkindness (vs.21 and 26) by relieving us of the oppression. David\u2014though fervently desiring (as is natural) God’s immediate relief\u2014ultimately leaves the “how” and “when” up to God, for whatever might happen throughout the course of his present life, God has already bestowed upon him the greatest and most precious of all expressions of divine lovingkindness: the confidence of knowing that he will one day awake to everlasting life (Daniel 12:2) and dwell in the unveiled light and full joy of God’s presence (see Psalm 16:9-11<\/span><\/a>). \u2014 Wechsler, pages 261-262.<\/span><\/h3>\n

__________<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

A third way (vs.30-31)\u00a0 in which we can turn our oppression into worship is by taking it as an occasion … to give thanks to God and to praise Him for what He has already done<\/em>\u2014for however bad our situation might be, it can never<\/em> be as bad as it might have been (and once was) had He not taken His stand at our right hand … to save us from those who judge our soul. \u2014 Wechsler, page 262.<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-psalms"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8194"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8197,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8194\/revisions\/8197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versebyverse.carpelibra.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}