THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Psalms: God's Nurture Of The Inner Man In The Life Of Faith

CIX: Handling Foes Who Attack By Troublesome Words

(Psalm 109:1-31)

I. Introduction

A. Being the recipient or the object of hateful and slanderous words can be very difficult to handle, for such words can not only produce great emotional damage, but they often damage relationships and reputations.

B. Psalm 109:1-31 addresses this problem with instructive guidance for us (as follows):

II. Handling Foes Who Attack By Troublesome Words, Psalm 109:1-31.

A. Verse one in the Hebrew text comprises this psalm's introductory notes along with verse one in the English Bible (Kittel, Bib. Heb., p. 1072), so we stay with the English Bible's numbering system for this lesson.

B. We thus translate Psalm 109:1-31 (as follows): (1) "O Elohim, Whom I praise, do not remain silent," (2) "because the mouths of the wicked and deceitful have opened up against me; they have spoken against me with lying tongues." (3) "With words of hatred they surround me; they attack me without cause." (4) "In return for my friendship they accuse me, but I myself (emph. pron.) am [a man of] prayer." (5) "They repay me calamity for good and hatred for my friendship." (6) "Appoint a wicked man to oppose him; let an accuser stand at his right hand." (7) "When he is tried, let him be found guilty, and may his prayers condemn him." (8) "May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership." (9) "May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow." (10) "May his children be wandering beggars; may they be driven from their ruined homes." (11) "May a creditor seize all he has; may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor." (12) "May no one extend loyal love to him or take pity on his fatherless children." (13) "May his descendants be cut off, their names blotted out from the next generation." (14) "May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before Jahweh; may the sin of his mother never be blotted out." (15) "May their sins always remain before Jahweh, that He may cut off the memory of them from the earth," (16) "for he never thought of practicing loyal love, but hounded to death the oppressed and needy and the disheartened." (17) "He loved to pronounce a curse -- may it come on him; he found no pleasure in blessing -- may it be far from him." (18) "He wore cursing as his garment; it entered into his body like water, into his bones like oil." (19) "May it be like a cloak wrapped about him, like a belt tied forever around him." (20) "May this be Jahweh's payment to my accusers, to those who speak evil of me." (21) "But You (emph. pron.), O Jahweh Adonai, deal with me on account of Your name's sake; out of the wholesomeness of Your loyal love, deliver me." (22) "For I am needy and oppressed, and my heart is pierced within me." (23) "I fade away like an evening shadow; I am shaken off like a locust." (24) "My knees give way from fasting; my body is thin and gaunt." (25) "I am an object of scorn to my accusers; when they see me, they shake their heads." (26) "Help me, O Jahweh, my Elohim; save me in accordance with Your loyal love." (27) "Let them know that this [intervention that I request] is Your hand, [that] You (emph. pron.) O Jahweh, have performed it." (28) "They may curse, but You will bless; when they attack they will be put to shame, but Your servant will rejoice." (29) "My accusers will be clothed with disgrace and wrapped in shame as in a cloak." (30) "With my mouth will I greatly extol Jahweh; in the great throng will I praise Him," (31) "because He stands at the right hand of the needy one, to save his life principle from those who condemn him."

C. We consider significant observations regarding this psalm (as follows):

1. The introductory notes claim this was a psalm of David, so in this psalm he told of the pain he experienced in being openly slandered and wrongly accused by hateful foes (v. 1-4a). His request for extensive affliction to be administered against his foes (v. 6-20) also reveals the great extent of the pain he felt.

2. The solution was David's commitment to pray for deliverance (v. 4b, 21-25, 27-29), for God was loyal to His Davidic covenant to him so he believed God would intervene to uphold that covenant, v. 26, 30-31.

Lesson: When greatly slandered and wrongfully accused by his foes, David resorted to prayer for vengeance, trusting God's loyal love toward him as the Lord's anointed to cause God justly to intervene in his behalf.

Application: (1) If slandered and wrongly accused, may we pray for God's intervention, trusting His loyal love to us and His plans for us not to permit those who wrong us to counter His will for us. (2) An even bigger lesson in this psalm is the need for the believer always to align himself with the Lord's will for him, for God will deliver one from his foes only to the degree that such deliverance meets GOD'S plan for the afflicted one's life!