What to Do With Vengeance

Psalm 137 ESV

By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. On the willows there we hung up our lyres. For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill! Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy! Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem, how they said, “Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to its foundations!” O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed, blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us! Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!

Introduction: Have you ever felt Like getting even, taking revenge?

Tombstone Movie Quote: Sherman McMasters: [referring to the shootings of Morgan and Virgil Earp] If they were my brothers, I'd want revenge, too. Doc: Oh, make no mistake; it's not revenge he's looking for. It's a reckoning.

Psalm

Introduction:

14 - When We Want Vengeance.

1. This psalm is one of the chapters classified as an imprecatory psalm. This type is a lament that calls for justice on one’s enemies—usually in a violent way (v. 9). While most the Psalms are peaceable, these imprecatory songs reveal the desire for justice against our enemies as well as all evil.

A lot of Questions about perhaps the most controversial Psalm. Does God want us to take Vengeance? What is this even doing in the Bible? Would Jesus want us to wish for other people’s children to be dashed against the rocks? Should we even entertain such thoughts? How could a Psalm like this teach us how to pray correctly and grow closer to God? Today, wouldn’t this Psalm be considered hate speech?

The Situation - Israel Just taken into Exile by Babylonians. They have been cruel.

http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/11407-nebuchadnezzar

Nebuchadnezzar was most merciless toward the conquered people. By his command the exiles on their way to Babylon were not allowed to stop even for a moment, as the king feared that they would pray during the respite granted them and that God would be willing to help them as soon as they repented (Lam. R. to v. 6; Pesiḳ. R. 28 [ed. Friedmann, p. 135a]). Nebuchadnezzar did not feel safe until the exiles reached the Euphrates, the boundary-line of Babylon. Then he made a great feast on board his ship, while the princes of Judah lay chained and naked by the river. In order to increase their misery he had rolls of the Torah torn and made into sacks, which, filled with sand, he gave to the captive princes to carry (Pesiḳ. R. l.c. [ed. Friedmann, p. 135a]; Midr. Teh. cxxxvii.; comp. Buber's remark ad loc.and Lam. R. v. 13).

On this occasion Nebuchadnezzar ordered the singers of the Temple to add their music to his feast; but they preferred to bite off their fingers, or even to be killed, rather than to play their sacred music in honor of the Babylonian idols (Pesiḳ. R. 31 [ed. Friedmann, p. 144a], 28 [136a]; comp. Moses, Children of). He heartlessly drove the captives before him, entirely without clothing, until the inhabitants of Bari induced him to clothe them (Pesiḳ. R. l.c. [ed. Friedmann, p. 135b]). But even after the heavily burdened Jews finally reached Babylonia they had no rest from the tyrant, who massacred thousands of youths whose beauty had inflamed the passion of the Babylonian women—a passion which did not subside until the corpses were stamped upon and mutilated (Sanh. 92b; comp. Ezekiel in Rabbinical Literature).

A Psalm of Disorientation - (Orientation), Other (Re-Orientation). This Psalm is clearly a Psalm of Dis-orientation and can teach us how we can pray when things with God do not make sense.

A Psalm of Disorientation - (Orientation), Other (Re-Orientation). This Psalm is clearly a Psalm of Dis-orientation and can teach us how we can pray when things with God do not make sense.

When this Psalm may be of some help.

You have been bullied, abused, severely persecuted.

Praying for and with those who have been violently persecuted. - The Persecuted Church,

As we think of Veterans Day - That our military be a source of protection, and not injustice

for POW’s who have been tortured.

for Veteran’s who are being tortured by demons of the past.

There is a lot of PTSD being experienced in this Psalm.

The Applications can seem endless.

Think of 911

ISIS brutal killing of Christians in Egypt, moderate muslims in Mosel.

The flight of legitimate refugees from Syria

Regimes killing their own people including children by all means including chemical warfare.

School Shootings in our own country, Las Vegas Shooting, Church Shootings, etc.

Those fleeing their country because Cartel brutality, or Governmental Corruption.

What this Psalm teaches us.

First it is OK, to not be OK with these brutal injustices - It is OK to not just put on a Happy Face

It is Very OK to Lament and cry out and give expression to your feelings to God.

It is OK to refuse to be mocked by oppressors.

The Big question of this Psalm is, Is it OK to get Revenge from our Enemies. After all as a Christian, doesn’t Jesus teach us to turn the other cheek, to love our enemies. Doesn’t Jesus Model how to deal with persecutors by saying, “Father Forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” While on the cross.

How do we reconcile the vengeance in this Psalm with Jesus’ teaching?

15 - Don’t Take Vengeance, Voice God’s Vindication.

I want to remind you of the Context of this Psalm in the book of Psalms.

16 - Bible Project Video on the last book. - So the placement of this Psalm is strange

A Lament in the midst of Praise in the last book.

Right after the Psalmist’s culmination of the Hope in the Messiah and restoration.

17 - Section 137-145 - Progression

Moves from this most fierce Psalm of Vengeance to a mixture of Praise and Vengeance, to all Praise.

It gives that flow of the whole book as the Collectors wanted to remind us the summary of moving from vengeance/Lament to Praise. - Grief/Loss is a process that can move from Anger to sorrow to Gratitude.

We do not want to get stuck in this Psalm - it is OK to pray this Psalm as a part of the process of moving toward peace and Hope.

Tom Parker - What the Psalmist does is give Voice to his vengeful feelings, but Trusts God to bring vindication and Justice.

William Ross - This is really what distinguishes the Christian Faith from the Muslim Faith.

The church is not undertaking the conquest of Canaan. Our mission rather is to care for souls as we take the gospel to all nations (). We aim to expand and feed the flock, not to eradicate anything that isn’t a sheep. That is the difference between the gospel and Sharia.

For the Believer, to Pray that God would vindicate takes a few things in mind.

Trust that he is better at it than we are.

That God’s judgment and vindication can take two basic forms.

The Salvation of the Persecutor - Where evil is eradicated, the Holy Spirit indwells and our enemies are redeemed.

A refusal to receive Jesus, and therefore, the receiving of God’s wrath, the fate of unrepentant wickedness.

“While it is a terrible thing to desire God’s judgment to fall upon unrepentant creatures, it is worse still for evil to go unpunished. For that reason, I pray that Christians will exercise wisdom in their intercession for the persecuted church. As we do so, let us always recognize our own pardon from sin as creatures loved by God, and magnify the sovereignty and justice of the King of heaven and earth” (William Ross, “Should We Pray the Imprecatory Psalms?” 17 March 2015, The Gospel Coalition Website, <https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/should-we-pray-the-imprecatory-Psalms>). The rest of this article is a great explanation of how to approach these psalms.

We must keep in mind Paul’s distinction in : “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” We should pray the imprecatory psalms with the mindset that the real enemy is a spiritual one. It is always right to agree with God in praying that justice will prevail and that God obliterates his enemy, the devil, who is at work behind all the manifestations of evil in the world. - Dashing Children, is not the outcome we are praying for then.

Conclusion:

Are we called to take revenge? No, we are called to Voice our Vengeaful feelings to God, and Trust him to vindicate.

His this Hate Speech? It may be expressing our hate so that we might be cleansed from it, so that we might go from hate to love. From Hurt to Healing, from Anger to Peace.

How does praying this way help us grow closer to Jesus? It allows us to know that Jesus hears the injustice we experience, to Trust he will make it right, and that he alone can do this.

Reference the Reformed Confessions: The Reformed Confessions are statements of faith written to clarify the Gospel at times when the Church was in crisis. Heidelberg Catechism: Q&A 10-12, 51-52, 105, 123, 127 Belgic Confession: Articles 15, 36-37 Canons of Dort: Head II, Articles 1-2 Belhar Confession: Article 4