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1993-03-16
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EXPOSITION.
"_Against thee_:" not against _me_. If they were _my_
enemies I would forgive them, but I cannot forgive thine. We are
to forgive our enemies, but God's enemies it is not in our power
to forgive. These expressions have often been noticed by men of
over refinement as being harsh, and grating on the ear. "Oh!" say
they, "they are vindictive and revengeful." Let us remember that
they might be translated as prophecies, not as wishes; but we do
not care to avail ourselves of this method of escape. We have
never heard of a reader of the Bible who, after perusing these
passages, was made revengeful by reading them, and it is but fair
to test the nature of a writing by its effects. When we hear a
judge condemning a murderer, however severe his sentence, we do
not feel that we should be justified in condemning others for any
private injury done to us. The Psalmist here speaks as a judge,
_ex officio_; he speaks as God's mouth, and in condemning the
wicked he gives us no excuse whatever for uttering anything in
the way of malediction upon those who have caused us personal
offence. The most shameful way of cursing another is by
pretending to bless him. We were all somewhat amused by noticing
the toothless malice of that wretched old priest of Rome when he
foolishly cursed the Emperor of France with his blessing. He was
blessing him in form and cursing him in reality. Now, in direct
contrast we put this healthy commination of David, which is
intended to be a blessing by warning the sinner of the impending
curse. O impenitent man, be it known unto thee that all thy godly
friends will give their solemn assent to the awful sentence of
the Lord, which he shall pronounce upon thee in the day of doom!
Our verdict shall applaud the condemning curse which the Judge of
all the earth shall thunder against the godless.
In the following verse we once more find the contrast
which has marked the preceding Psalms.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.
Verse 10.--All those portions where we find apparently
prayers that breathe revenge, are never to be thought of as
anything else than the _breathed assent of righteous souls_ to
the justice of their God, who taketh vengeance on sin. When taken
as the words of Christ himself, they are no other than an echo of
the Intercessor's acquiescence at last in the sentence on the
barren fig-tree. It is as if he cried aloud, "Hew it down now, I
will intercede no longer, the doom is righteous, _destroy them, O
God; cast them out in_ (or, for) _the multitude of their
transgressions, for they have rebelled against thee." And in the
same moment he may be supposed to invite his saints to sympathise
in his decision; just as in #Re 18:20|, "Rejoice over her, thou
heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets." In like manner, when
one of Christ's members, in entire sympathy with his Head, views
the barren fig-tree from the same point of observation, and sees
the glory of God concerned in inflicting the blow, he too can
cry, "Let the axe smite!" Had Abraham stood beside the angel who
destroyed Sodom, and seen how Jehovah's name required the ruin of
these impenitent rebels, he would have cried out, "Let the shower
descend; let the fire and brimstone come down!" not in any spirit
of revenge; not from want of tender love to souls, but from
intense earnestness of concern for the glory of his God. We
consider this explanation to be the real key that opens all the
difficult passages in this book, where curses seem to be called
for on the head of the ungodly. They are no more than a carrying
out of #De 27:15-26|, "Let all the people say, Amen," and an
entering into the Lord's holy abhorrence of sin, and delight in
acts of justice expressed in the "Amen hallelujah," of #Re
19:3|.--^Andrew A. Bonar, 1859.
Verse 10.--(Or imprecatory passages generally). Lord,
when in my daily service I read David's Psalms, give me to altar
the accent of my soul according to their several subjects. In
such Psalms wherein he confesseth his sins, or requesteth thy
pardon, or praiseth for former, or prayeth for future favours, in
all these give me to raise my soul to as high a pitch as may be.
But when I come to such Psalms wherein he curseth his enemies, O
there let me bring my soul down to a lower note. For those words
were made only to fit David's mouth. I have the like breath, but
not the same spirit to pronounce them. Nor let me flatter myself,
that it is lawful for me, with David, to curse thine enemies,
lest my deceitful heart entitle mine enemies to be thine, and so
what was religion in David, prove malice in me, whilst I act
revenge under the pretence of piety.--^Thomas Fuller, D.D.,
1608-1661.
HINTS TO PREACHERS.
Verse 10.--Viewed as a threatening. The sentence, "Cast
them out in the multitude of their transgressions," is specially
fitted to be the groundwork of a very solemn discourse.