Justice and Vengeance


Psalm 59
To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Miktam of David, when Saul sent men to watch his house in order to kill him.
1Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; protect me from those who rise up against me;
2deliver me from those who work evil, and save me from bloodthirsty men.
3For behold, they lie in wait for my life; fierce men stir up strife against me. For no transgression or sin of mine, O Lord,
4for no fault of mine, they run and make ready. Awake, come to meet me, and see!
5You, Lord God of hosts, are God of Israel. Rouse yourself to punish all the nations; spare none of those who treacherously plot evil. Selah
6Each evening they come back, howling like dogs and prowling about the city.
7There they are, bellowing with their mouths with swords in their lips— for “Who”, they think, “will hear us?”
8But you, O Lord, laugh at them; you hold all the nations in derision.
9O my Strength, I will watch for you, for you, O God, are my fortress.
10My God in his steadfast love will meet me; God will let me look in triumph on my enemies.
11Kill them not, lest my people forget; make them totter by your power and bring them down, O Lord, our shield!
12For the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips, let them be trapped in their pride. For the cursing and lies that they utter,
13consume them in wrath; consume them till they are no more, that they may know that God rules over Jacob to the ends of the earth. Selah
14Each evening they come back, howling like dogs and prowling about the city.
15They wander about for food and growl if they do not get their fill.
16But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress.
17O my Strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love.

We again have a Psalm that is attached to a specific incident from David’s life which is recorded for us in 1 Samuel 19. I’ve included only a portion of the chapter, but really all of chapter 19 is pertinent to the psalm.

1 Samuel 19:11–18
11Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him, that he might kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, told him, “If you do not escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.” 12So Michal let David down through the window, and he fled away and escaped. 13Michal took an image and laid it on the bed and put a pillow of goats’ hair at its head and covered it with the clothes. 14And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.” 15Then Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.” 16And when the messengers came in, behold, the image was in the bed, with the pillow of goats’ hair at its head. 17Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me thus and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?” And Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go. Why should I kill you?’” 18Now David fled and escaped, and he came to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and lived at Naioth.

These events take place early in David’s life before he has fled Saul’s court for good. David is married to Saul’s daughter, Michal. She was his “prize” for defeating the Philistines and in fact the price for her hand in marriage was 100 Philistine foreskins; a price David paid times two. But Saul’s madness forces him to act rashly and without cause. Even his own daughter would not help him kill David.

As David prays through this event in his life, we find that he once again begs God for deliverance and justice. As I read through yet another psalm where David’s very existence is in danger, I marvel at the life he had to live. I can honestly say, I’ve never had someone threaten my life. It happened to him numerous times! So I’ve never prayed a prayer like the one in Psalm 59. I’ve never begged God to defeat my enemies. But I have been in situations where I just had to surrender it all into God’s hands and knew that He would deal with it as He saw fit. I do agree with David’s words in verses 9 & 10.

9O my Strength, I will watch for you, for you, O God, are my fortress. 10My God in his steadfast love will meet me.

And sometimes I have prayed with that exact sentiment because I know full well that my puny efforts will net me nothing.

The true challenge comes in the middle of the storm for me. It is there that one really needs to be intentional about surrendering yourself into God’s hands. And I’ll admit – that’s not always easy. The mind immediately jumps into panic mode and we start trying to solve our own problems. God’s power and might (and justice) don’t occur to us until we are in too deep. But God is still there, working for us and with us. We join David and say:

16But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress.
17O my Strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

יהוה שָׁמַר--Yahweh Shamar (God Watches)

Image
Psalm 121 1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. There are numerous passages I cling to when stress takes over my life. I would be hard pressed to declare a favorite, but this psalm would come close. So this morning I listened to Psalm 121 about 20 times as I meditated through the verses. First, I want to point out that the word or idea of shamar appears in every verse expect 6. The NIV uses the word "watch" while the ESV uses "keep". The...
Read more

Excusez-moi

Image
2 Kings 23:31-37 31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. 33 And Pharaoh Neco put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 34 And Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away, and he came to Egypt and died there. 35 And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to the command of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco. 36 Jehoiakim was twenty-fiv...
Read more

Narrow Door

Image
Luke 13:22-30 22 He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them , 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. 29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at tabl...
Read more