Latest / Reformed Thinking / When the Righteous Are Betrayed and Slandered (Psalm 109) | Charles Spurgeon

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When the Righteous Are Betrayed and Slandered (Psalm 109) | Charles Spurgeon · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reform Thinking. I am so glad you could join us
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today for this custom tailored deep dive.
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We have a subject today that requires our absolute utmost
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attention. It's a text that has caused a
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lot of believers to stumble, to question, and honestly, to
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tremble. We are looking at Psalm 109,
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which is frequently referred to in historical theology as the
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Iscariot Psalm. Yeah, thanks for having me.
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And to guide us through this really challenging Scripture
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today, we are drawing heavily upon the monumental work of
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Charles Spurgeon, specifically his classic commentary The
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Treasury of David. We are also bringing in the
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insights of historical heavyweights like John Calvin,
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Augustine and Matthew Henry. Right.
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And our mission for you today is very clear.
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We want to unpack one of the most difficult texts in all of
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Scripture. This is a Psalm filled from top
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to bottom with severe curses, devastating imprecations, and
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frightening judgments. We are going to look at this
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text through a Protestant Reformed theological lens,
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strictly adhering to the Westminster Confession.
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We want to see how these harsh words perfectly align with the
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justice, the holiness, and the grace of.
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God, because when you first read these words, the initial shock
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is almost physical. You see David praying for his
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enemies children to be fatherless, for his wife to be a
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widow, for his very prayers to become sin.
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And you have to ask, how do believers reconcile these
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terrifying imprecations with the gospel of grace?
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How do we read this alongside the command to love our enemies?
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It's a massive dilemma. I mean, that initial shock you
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described is entirely natural. It is something almost every
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reader of Scripture experiences when they encounter the
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imprecatory Psalms. But we have to set the stage by
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affirming a core, undeniable doctrine.
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All Scripture is breathed out by God, and all Scripture is
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perfect. There are no mistakes in the
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Bible, and there are no erratic, sinful outbursts recorded as
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positive examples of worship. Absolutely.
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Therefore, this Psalm has a specific holy intent.
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We're going to uncover the absolute justice, the precise
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prophecy, and the staggering theological weight behind this
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text. We really have to move past our
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modern, often sentimentalized views of benevolence and step
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into the courtroom of the divine judge.
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Yeah, and as we look into these verses, we will find that they
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do not represent the unhinged ravings of a vindictive man, but
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rather the solemn judicial pronouncements of God's justice
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against unrepentant, malignant evil.
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If we frame this entire discussion as a true crime
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analysis of the ultimate cosmic courtroom, the sheer gravity of
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what is happening here starts to make a lot of sense.
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OK, let's unpack this by looking at the musical context of the
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Psalm, because this is where the tension really begins.
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The very first thing we see in the text is the title to the
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chief musician. Now I want you to just sit and
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think about the gravity of that for a second.
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This text was intended to be sung and sung publicly in the
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temple service. Right.
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Imagine the entire nation of Israel standing in the courts of
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the Lord, chanting these dreadful imprecations in unison.
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It feels incredibly jarring to our modern sensibilities.
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Spurgeon notes in his commentary that it is by no means easy to
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imagine the whole nation singing such devastating words, and he
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points out that we ourselves find it very difficult to infuse
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a gospel sense into this language.
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I mean, if you were standing in a congregation today singing
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about grace and mercy, and then suddenly the choir director
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hands out sheet music asking God to make someone's children
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wandering beggars, you would probably walk out the door.
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How could the ancient Jews chant such strong language without
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stocking personal sinful revenge in their own hearts?
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What's fascinating here is the psychological and spiritual
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distinction we have to make between corporate worship and
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private vendettas. The arousal of a revengeful
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spirit could never have been the object of divine worship in any
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period of time, whether under the Law or under the gospel.
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God is holy and His worship must be holy.
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Spot on. The title itself, directing it
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to the chief musician, demonstrates that this Psalm has
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a meaning fitting for men of God to bring before the throne of
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the Most High. It forces us to realize that the
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singers were not visualizing their annoying neighbor or a
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business rival who cheated them. They were engaging in a
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corporate declaration of God's righteous judgement against the
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enemies of God himself. They were aligning their hearts
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with the moral universe God created, where evil cannot go
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unpunished. That distinction is crucial, and
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that brings us directly to the character of the man who penned
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these words. The text clearly states it is a
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Psalm of David. Now, context is everything here.
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And as we look at the historical records, we know David's
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history. He was a man of music, a
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shepherd with a tender art. More than that, he famously and
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repeatedly spared the life of his greatest earthly enemy, King
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Saul. Yes, we have that famous story
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where David is hiding in a cave and King Saul, who is actively
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hunting David down to murder him, walks right into that very
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cave. David's men tell him this is it.
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God has delivered your enemy into your hands.
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David had every opportunity and every fleshly justification to
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take Saul's life right then and there, but he refused.
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He cut off a corner of Saul's robe just to prove he was there,
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and he let the man walk away. He frequently forgave those who
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treated him shamefully. If we connect this to the bigger
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picture, David's personal history absolutely dismantles
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the idea that he wrote this Psalm in a fit of personal rage.
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As Spurgeon rightly argues, these words absolutely cannot be
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read in a bitter, revengeful sense.
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They are not the execrations of a hot, malicious spirit, because
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that would be entirely foreign to the character of the son of
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Jesse. Exactly.
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The man who wept over the death of his rebellious son Absalom,
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the man who speared Saul twice, is not the kind of man to sit
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down in a dark room and plot out a malicious, spiteful poem
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against a personal rival. Unless we are willing to adopt
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the flawed view that the religion of the Old Testament
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was altogether morose and draconian, we cannot concede
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that this Psalm contains pitiless hate or insatiable
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malignity. David was not a vicious
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misanthrope. He was a prophet of God,
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speaking under the direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
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I really appreciate that perspective because it
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completely changes the lens through which we read the text
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that leads us to the consensus of great thinkers we are pulling
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from today. Like Spurgeon and Augustine,
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they argue that these verses are not David's personal wishes
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formulated in cold blood. They are prophetic denunciations
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directed at the adversaries of the Lord.
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They're speaking to the grand narrative of redemption and
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judgement. And there is a very specific,
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undeniable historical link to Judas Iscariot that we must
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recognize to make sense of this. In the New Testament, in the
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book of Acts chapter one, verse 20, the apostle Peter is
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standing up among the early believers.
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They're trying to figure out what to do after Judas has
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betrayed Jesus and subsequently killed himself.
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Peter directly quotes verse 8 of this very Psalm.
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Let another take his office to justify replacing Judas among
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the 12 apostles. Peter, under the inspiration of
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the Holy Spirit, saw the betrayal of Judas as the direct
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fulfillment of this prophetic text.
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Furthermore, the ancient Syriac inscription of this Psalm
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explicitly links it to the sufferings of Christ.
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We are not just reading about a local conflict in ancient
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Israel. We are reading a prophetic
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blueprint of the greatest betrayal in human history.
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This is the betrayal of the Son of God by the Son of perdition.
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Once you realize that the primary target of these curses
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is the archetype of treason, Judas Iscariot, the man who sold
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the Savior of the world for 30 pieces of silver, the severity
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of the language begins to match the severity of the crime.
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The Psalm becomes a window into the absolute horror of betraying
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infinite goodness. That transition from the
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historical setting to the actual betrayal is where we see the
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intense agony of slander described in the opening verses
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of the text. I want to read verses one
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through 3 to really set the stage for you.
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David cries out. Hold not thy peace, O God, of my
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praise. For the mouth of the wicked and
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the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me.
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They have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
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They compassed me about also with words of hatred and fought
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against me without a cause. The imagery there is just
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striking. Slander is described as an
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invisible, impalpable foe. A good reputation, carefully
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guarded over a lifetime, can be suddenly ruined by false
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tongues, and this creates a unique, agonizing kind of
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misery. It is the massive psychological
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misery. Right, and the Jesuit
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commentator Lorinus points out the Greek concept used here in
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the Septuagint translation, which translates to being
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enclosed as in a circle. Imagine that feeling.
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The psalmist is surrounded, hedged in on every single side
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by hatred, misrepresentation, and.
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Everywhere he turns, there is a sneer, a whisper, a false
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accusation. You cannot fight a rumor with a
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sword. You cannot build a wall to keep
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out a lie. It permeates the air around you.
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This is the specific kind of suffering Christ endured during
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his mock trials, where false witnesses were brought in one
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after another to hurl the seat at Him.
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That invisible, impalpable nature of slander is captured so
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well in the notes you provided containing Robert Pollock's
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poem. Listen to how Pollock describes
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this insidious sin. He writes, Vice deformed itself,
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and ugly to rob fair virtue of so sweet and incense.
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It was slander filled her mouth with lying words, Slander the
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phallus whelp of sin. The man in whom the spirit
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entered was undone. His tongue was set on fire of
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hell. His heart was black as death and
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early rose, And made most hellish meals of good men's
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names. That last line just gives me
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chills. Made most hellish meals of good
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men's names. The heart sinks when his sail
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was slander. Because you never know what will
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be said next, what friend will be alienated, or what invisible
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arrows are flying your way. If you've ever been the victim
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of workplace gossip, or if you've ever had a rumor spread
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about you and your community, you know a tiny fraction of this
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pain. It is a devastating isolation,
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and the most heartbreaking part of this dynamic is found in the
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very next verses, verses four and five, where we see evil
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returned for good. The text highlights this
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devastating phrase. For my love.
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They are my adversaries. This isn't a situation where two
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people had a mutual falling out and are now slinging mud at each
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other. This is unprovoked hostility in
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response to genuine care. Abraham Wright makes a
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staggering observation about this in his commentary.
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He notes that the sharpest vinegar is made from the purest
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wine. Let that sink in.
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The sharpest vinegar comes from the purest wine.
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In the exact same way, the highest love, when corrupted or
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rejected by a wicked heart, turns into the bitterest hatred.
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They hated him in proportion to the gratitude he deserved.
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Here's where it gets really interesting.
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Look at the ultimate defense the believer raises in the face of
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this absolute corruption. David's response in verse 4 is
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breathtaking. After saying, For my love, they
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are my adversaries, he says, But I give myself unto prayer.
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Now, looking at the notes on the original language here, the
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translators added Give myself unto to make it read smoothly in
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English. But the literal Hebrew
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translation is much more abrupt, isn't it?
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It is the literal Hebrews simply reads, but I prayer not I pray
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or I go to prayer, but I prayer. David became prayer just as his
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enemies became malice. He was entirely consumed by it.
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He did not retaliate with carnal weapons.
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He didn't hire his own false witnesses to counter their false
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witnesses. He appealed from the injustice
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of men to the judge of all the earth.
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True bravery leaves its traducers unanswered and carries
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the case directly to the Lord. This is a massive theological
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point for anyone who adheres to Reformed doctrine which stresses
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the absolute sovereignty of God. If God is on the throne, you do
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not need to vindicate yourself through forensic retaliation.
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You can simply become prayer. So what does this all mean?
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When we look ahead to the New Testament, when we connect this
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I am prayer concept to Christ, the ultimate fulfillment of this
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Psalm, the meaning just explodes it all.
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Saffir points out in his writings that Jesus didn't just
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pray, He is prayer. During his earthly pilgrimage.
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His whole life was communion with God, and now in His glory,
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seated at the right hand of the Father, He is the fountain and
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source of all intercession. As the enemies of Christ
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conspired to murder him, returning hatred for his divine
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love, he literally embodied intercession, crying out from
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the cross. Father, forgive them, for they
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know not what they do. That brings us to a crucial
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pivot in the text. We have seen the innocence of
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the victim and the unprovoked malice of the attackers.
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Now the courtroom doors swing open.
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We cross the threshold into the terrible curses beginning in
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verse 6. Yes, this is where we are
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examining the courtroom of God. We are leaving the realm of the
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psalmist personal suffering and entering the judicial realm of
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divine sentencing. The language here shifts from a
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plea for help to a pronouncement of doom.
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Let me read the curse in verse 6 so you can hear the severity of
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this shift. He says set thou a wicked man
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over him and let Satan stand at his right hand.
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This is a massive, jarring shift from the humble I am prayer
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attitude we just discussed. He is calling down the Father of
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lies, the accuser of the brethren, to stand right next to
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his adversary. On the surface, asking God to
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sick Satan on someone sounds like an absolute nightmare and
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frankly, completely contrary to everything we learn in Sunday
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school. This raises a massive question.
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How can a holy God use a wicked man or Satan to enact justice?
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To understand this, we have to look at the specific legal
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context of the ancient world. It was a custom in Jewish
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tribunals for the pleader or the adversary to stand at the right
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hand of the accused when a person was on trial.
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The one prosecuting them or advocating against them took
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that specific physical position in the room.
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So having Satan stand at his right hand means the accuser,
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the father of lies himself, is acting as his advocate and
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master in the court of divine justice.
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We must view this through a Reformed theological concept,
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God's absolute justice and giving the wicked over to their
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own depraved desires. Right, let's unpack this concept
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of giving someone over. We see that in Romans chapter 1
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where God hands people over to their own reprobate minds.
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You were saying this curse is essentially God giving the
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center exactly what they asked for.
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Precisely that concept. If a man spends his life serving
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Satan, acting as a vessel for malice, deceit, and betrayal,
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like Judas did when Satan entered into him before the
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betrayal, what is his just punishment?
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His just punishment is to be ruled by Satan, like comes to
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like. Those who willingly serve the
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Adversary can expect to have his company, his rule, and
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eventually his doom. Is the terrifying reality of God
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simply handing A Sinner over to the master they have chosen.
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If you want a Kingdom built on lies, God will let the Father of
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lies be your ultimate ruler. It is a terrifying form of
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passive judgement where God simply removes his restraining
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grace and lets the Sinner suffer the natural consequences of
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their allegiance. That brings a completely
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different light to the justice involved.
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But the very next verse, verse 7, contains a concept that I
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think shocks many Christians even more.
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The text says when he shall be judged, let him be condemned and
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let his prayer become sin. Now wait a minute.
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How can prayer, the very act of calling out to God, be
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considered a sin? We are so used to thinking of
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prayer as a universally positive action.
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Even if a bad person prays, we tend to think, well, at least
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they're praying. But this text says the prayer
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itself becomes an act of sin. Albert Barnes and Matthew Henry
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provide incredible insight here that resolves this tension.
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They explain the legal and moral dynamic at play.
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Imagine a guilty, unrepentant criminal standing before a
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perfectly righteous judge. This criminal has absolutely no
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intention of changing his ways. He loves his crime, but he prays
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for acquittal. He prays to escape the justice
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he rightfully deserves simply because he doesn't want to go to
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jail. That prayer itself is an affront
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to the law. It is sheer hypocrisy.
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The man has devoured the widow's house, put the innocent to
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death, his hands were red with blood and then he presents
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prayers to the Almighty, asking for a free pass without genuine
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repentance. Such a prayer is an abomination
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to a holy God. As Matthew Henry notes in his
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commentary, the prayers of the wicked become sin because they
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are soured with the leaven of hypocrisy and malice.
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It makes me think of someone who commits massive corporate fraud,
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ruins the pensions of thousands of elderly workers, shows 0
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remorse, and then gets into the courtroom and prays that the
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judge will let him off on a technicality.
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That prayer isn't a holy act, it's a manipulation tactic.
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It's using the concept of mercy to enable continued wickedness.
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God sees right through that. He absolutely sees through it.
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And that brings us to the replacement mentioned in verse
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8, which says let his days be few and let another take his
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office. Again, we tie this directly back
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to Judas Iscariot and the formation of the New Testament
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church. When a man in a position of
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authority uses that office for massive corruption and betrayal,
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removing him from that office is not an act of malice, it is an
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act of sheer benevolence to the community.
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A bad man does not make an office inherently bad, and
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placing A righteous man in that vacated seat restores justice
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and order. Peter recognized that Judas's
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days as an apostle were rightfully cut short by his
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horrific crime and subsequent suicide.
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The divine administration required another, a faithful man
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named Matthias, to step into that role.
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It is a necessary act of public safety.
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OK, we're going to move into the section that deals with the
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collateral consequences of these judgments.
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This covers verses 9 through 15, and I will be honest with you,
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these are the most emotionally difficult verses for anyone to
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read in the entire book of Psalms.
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We are talking about the fate of the family.
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The psalmist wishes for the children to be vagabonds and
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beggars, and for the wife to be a widow.
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He says let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.
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Let his children be continually vagabonds and beg.
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Let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.
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He goes on in verse 12 to say, Let there be none to extend
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mercy unto Him, neither let there be any to favor His
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fatherless children. I have to push back here on
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behalf of the listener. How do we contextualize this
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level of justice? It feels so incredibly severe to
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bring the innocent family into the punishment.
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It sounds like something a mafia boss would do, not a holy God.
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I understand that reaction completely.
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It does feel intensely severe to our modern sensibilities, but we
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have to look at this through the reality of God's providential
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ordering of the world rather than through our individualized
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Western view of justice in the grand scheme of human history.
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In Providence, children do in fact suffer for their parents
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sins. We see this all the time.
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If a pair gambles away the family savings, the children go
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hungry. The text forces us to
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acknowledge this harsh reality of cause and effect.
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But there is a deeper legal logic here regarding I'll gotten
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gains. Think about a Townen or an
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extortioner who bills his massive estate on blood fraud
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and the relentless oppression of the poor.
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Someone who builds A literal empire by crushing vulnerable
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people. Yes.
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If that man dies and the state allows his heirs to comfortably
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inherit that blood money, the justice system essentially
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rewards the iniquity. It validates the crime by
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letting the spoils of that crime secure the family's future.
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By removing the ill gotten wealth and status from the
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family, the judgement ensures that the sinful legacy is
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completely dismantled. The commentators mentioned
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historical examples to illustrate this.
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Nobody wept when the tyrannical Pharaoh's children lost their
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father in the Red Sea. Nobody mourned when the cruel,
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murderous tyrant Egg was slain by the prophet Samuel, an act
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which made Egg's own mother childless.
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The punishment of the oppressor inevitably impacts his house,
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and divine justice demands that the wages of extortion do not
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become a comfortable, permanent inheritance for the next
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generation to enjoy. That perfectly sets up verse 11,
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where the psalmist prays let the extortioner catch all that he
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have, let the strangers spoil his labor.
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Spurgeon uses a vivid metaphor here in his notes, describing
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the reality of falling into the hands of a user or an
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extortioner. He says it is like being a
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family caught in a spider's web. Think about how a spider hunts
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the extortioner, baits his trap with a loan, watch as carefully
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as the victim struggles dexterously drives his victim
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further into debt, and piece by piece takes away the entire
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estate until not a single fraction remains.
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Spurgeon notes that wealth amassed by oppression has seldom
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lasted. It is gathered by wrong, and by
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wrong it is scattered. The judgement fits the crime
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perfectly. The oppressor who trapped others
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is now trapped in the very same web.
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He becomes the fly. To highlight how universally
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despised these users and extortioners were in the ancient
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world, the commentator Le Blanc shares a fascinating historical
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note. He points out that the ancient
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Romans actually placed a statue of Marsaius right in the middle
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of the forum, which was their central law court in public
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square. Now, Marsaius was a mythological
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figure who, according to legend, was flayed or skinned alive.
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The Romans placed this gruesome statue there to act as a stark
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warning to citizens about the danger of users.
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It signified that anyone who fell into the hands of an
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extortioner would be metaphorically skinned alive.
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It shows the universal cross cultural dread of financial ruin
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at the hands of a predatory lender.
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The psalmist is calling down this exact ruin upon the man who
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ruthlessly ruined others. Here's where it gets really
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interesting because it leads us right into the anatomy of divine
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justice in verses 16 through 20. I'm going to read verse 17.
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As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him.
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As he delighted not in blessings, so let it be far from
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him. This introduces the core
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principle of lex talionis. For those listening who might
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not be familiar with that Latin term, Lex talionis is
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essentially the ancient legal principle of strict mirrored
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retaliation. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a
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tooth. You reap exactly what you sow.
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And we must be very clear here. This is a measure of public
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divine justice, not private petty revenge.
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The punishment symmetrically fits the crime.
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He loved cursing others, so cursing becomes his own
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permanent reward. He refused to bless anyone, so
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blessing is kept entirely away from him.
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The imagery used to describe this absorption of the curse is
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terrifying. Verse 18 says as he clothed
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himself with cursing, like as with his garment, so let it come
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into his bowels like water and like oil into his bones.
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The cursing permeates his entire being.
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It doesn't just sit on the surface, it soaks into him.
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I noticed in the study notes a connection to the Book of
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Numbers. What is the significance of the
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water entering the bells? It's a chilling connection to
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the trial of the unfaithful wife in Numbers chapter 5.
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In that Old Testament law, if a woman was suspected of adultery,
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she was brought before the priest and made to drink bitter
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water. That brings a curse.
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If she was guilty, the text says, the water would enter her
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bowels and cause her belly to swell and her thigh to rot.
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By using this exact same imagery in Psalm 109, the Holy Spirit is
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further linking the text to Judas hysteria.
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Judas committed the ultimate spiritual adultery and treason
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against Christ, who is the Bridegroom of the Church.
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The betrayal sinks into his very marrow, poisoning him from the
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inside out. The relentless nature of this
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judgement is captured in verse 15.
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Let them be before the Lord continually, that He may cut off
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the memory of them from the earth.
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The Sinner is never, ever out of God's sight.
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When I was reading the historical notes you sent over,
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there was a story that perfectly illustrates the psychological
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horror of this. And during the chaos of the
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French Revolution, the Marquis de Lafayette was confined in a
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dark, damp dungeon. In the solid, heavy door of his
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cell there was a small hole cut just big enough for a man's eye.
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A Sentinel was placed on the other side of that door, and his
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only duty was to watch Lafayette constantly.
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Whenever Lafayette looked at the door, the eye was there.
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When he ate his meager rations, the eye was there.
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When he tried to sleep, he knew that I was staring at him,
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searching him in the gloom. He couldn't hide.
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He couldn't have a moment of privacy, and that constant
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unblinking surveillance drove him to the very brink of madness
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and despair. That historical account is a
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staggering picture of the Sinner living perpetually under the
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unblinking gaze of an angry holy God.
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There is no shadow deep enough, no distance far enough to escape
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the eye of divine justice. To be before the Lord
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continually in the context of judgement is the ultimate terror
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for the unrepentant heart. Usually we think of being in
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God's presence as a comfort, but for the wicked it means every
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secret motive, every hidden malice, every act of extortion
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or betrayal is fully exposed and held in the scorching light of
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absolute holiness. You cannot hide your crimes from
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the judge. Knowing all of this, knowing the
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historical and theological weight of these verses, how do
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we practically frame these imprecations for the believer
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today? The source material gives us 3
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incredibly helpful frameworks for understanding this text
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without feeling like we have to compromise our Christian
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witness. The first is an anecdote shared
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by the theologian FG Hibbard. He tells a story about reading
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this exact Psalm during family worship.
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His 10 year old son stopped him mid sentence and asked a very
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sincere, innocent question. He said.
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Father, do you think it is right for a good man to pray for the
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destruction of his enemies like that?
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The father paused, wanted to shape the answer carefully for a
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child, and then asked his son a hypothetical question.
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He said If an assassin entered our house by night, murdered
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your mother and escaped into the woods, and the sheriff and
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citizens were all out in pursuit, wouldn't you pray to
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God that they might succeed, arrest him and bring him to
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absolute justice? The boy immediately said Oh yes,
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I didn't know that it was the meaning of these psalms.
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I love this story because it brilliantly clarifies the
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massive difference between personal petty malice and a
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righteous desire for public safety, order, and justice.
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It shifts the perspective from a personal vendetta to the
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vindication of righteousness. When we read these Psalms, we
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are praying for the sheriff to catch the assassin.
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And this aligns seamlessly with John Calvin's commentary on the
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passage. Calvin gives a stern warning
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about how we approach these verses.
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He stresses that David spoke under the direct influence of
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the Holy Spirit, entirely free from carnal passion or
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inordinate self-interest. Davy was acting as a prophet,
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laying down the law of God, not acting as a bitter individual
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nursing a grudge. Calvin actually provides A
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fascinating historical contrast to highlight the abuse of this
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text. Doesn't he?
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He does. Calvin noted the highly corrupt
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practices of certain Franciscan Friars in France during his own
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time. These Friars would literally
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hire themselves out to recite this specific Psalm to curse
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people's personal enemies for money.
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If you had a business rival or a neighbor you hated, you could
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pay these Friars and they would chant Psalm 109 over them.
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Calvin calls this a detestable piece of sacrilege, pointing out
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that using God's holy Word to gratify private spite effaces
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every trace of justice. It turns the Bible into a book
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of witchcraft. We must possess purity of intent
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guided by the Spirit, not by foolish zeal or carnality.
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We cannot weaponize the courtroom of God for our petty
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disputes. That is a stark warning.
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The third framework for understanding these imprecations
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is brought forward by commentators like Arnold and
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Alexander. And I think this is the most
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practical application for us today.
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They suggest spiritualizing the enemies.
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Well, we know the primary historical application is Judas
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and the literal adversaries of Christ.
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Believers today can take these devastating curses and apply
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them directly to their own internal spiritual enemies.
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When we read these verses, we can and should pray for the
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absolute destruction of the sins waging war within our own
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members. Think about the sin you struggle
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with the most. When you read the Psalm.
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You can pray that pride, impurity, deceit and
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covetousness would be cut off, that their days would be few,
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and that they would be completely eradicated from your
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heart. We should show absolutely no
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mercy to the sin that seeks to destroy our souls.
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That is a vital application. The wrath of God is revealed
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from heaven against all ungodliness.
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Sin is utterly hateful to God, and it must be utterly hateful
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to us. When we read these implications,
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we must align our hearts with God's hatred of evil.
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We pronounce judgment upon the sin within us, recognizing that
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drunkenness, hatred in every fleshly lust, are the true dark
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hosts sweeping through the psalmist vision.
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We must depart from sin, or we eventually pronounce these very
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judgments upon ourselves. If we coddle our sin, we are
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inviting the extortioner into our own house.
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As we move into the final section of the text, verses 21
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through 31, we see a magnificent turn to mercy and praise.
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The tone shifts so dramatically it almost gives you whiplash.
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In verse 21, David cries out. But do thou for me, O God the
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Lord, for thy name's sake, because thy mercy is good,
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deliver thou me. He turns completely away from
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the darkness of his enemies, away from the curses, and fixes
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his gaze squarely on God. Notice how specific he is here
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in his plea. He does not say deliver me
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because I am so righteous, or deliver me because my cause is
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so noble and I have suffered so much.
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He pleads entirely on the basis of God's sovereignty and God's
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character. For thy name's sake.
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The believer doesn't plead their own merit.
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They plead the name of the Lord and the inherent goodness of His
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mercy. This is the heart of Reformed
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theology. As Wolfgang Musculus points out
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in his commentary, the psalmist rests his entire hope and
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confidence on the fact that God's mercy is inherently good,
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timely, and prepared for every single affliction.
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He appeals to God to act in accordance with his own
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reputation. So what does this all mean for
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you, the listener? Let's bring this right down to
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the ground. It means that your daily
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reliance must never be on your own strength, your own track
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record, or your ability to outsmart your enemies.
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Your reliance must be entirely on the doctrine of grace.
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When man has no mercy, we find it in God.
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When man seeks to devour, we look to God to deliver.
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But we also see the physical toll that this suffering has
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taken on the psalmist. He doesn't hide his royalty.
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In verses 22 through 25 he says, I am poor and needy, and my
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heart is wounded within me. I am gone like the shadow when
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it declineth. I am tossed up and down as the
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locust. My knees are weak through
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fasting, and my flesh faileth the fatness.
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I became also a reproach unto them when they looked upon me.
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They shake their heads. He's emaciated, his knees are
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knocking together, he is wasting away, and his enemies are just
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standing there shaking their heads in derision.
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The metaphor is used here to describe his physical and
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emotional state are breathtaking.
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Gone. Like the shadow when it
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declineth, speaks of a shadow stretching to its absolute
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utmost length just before the sunsets, right at the vanishing
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point, before it is swallowed entirely by the evening gloom.
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He feels like there's next to nothing left of him.
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He's fading out of existence. And the nature metaphor tossed
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up and down as the locust perfectly illustrates utter
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helplessness. The naturalist WM Thompson
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observed that flying locusts, despite their massive numbers in
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a swarm, have very little command over their own
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direction. If a sudden mountain wind
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arises, they are whirled round and round, completely at the
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mercy of the violent currents. The psalmist feels exactly like
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that tiny insect, powerless, driven by the furious storms of
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persecution and slander, with no ability to extricate himself.
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He has no footing. He is casting himself entirely
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upon the God who commands the winds.
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And that brings us to the ultimate contrast, the beautiful
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structural bookend of the entire Psalm, verse 31 says, where he
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shall stand at the right hand of the poor to save him from those
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that condemn his soul. Think back to the beginning of
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the courtroom scene in verse 6, where the curse was that Satan
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the accuser would stand at the right hand of the wicked to
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condemn him. But here for the believer, for
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the poor and needy who have been battered by the storm, God
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himself stands at the right hand to save.
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If we connect this to the bigger picture, the contrast is
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staggering. The malicious enemies have have
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held their mock trial, they have judged the believer guilty based
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on their own hatred and slander, and they have pronounced a
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sentence of damnation upon his soul.
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But it matters not a straw, because the great King walks
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into the courtroom. Christ steps in as our surety,
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our advocate. He takes that legal position.
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He stands at the right hand of the poor.
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He produces the acquittance, the absolute pardon, signed and
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sealed with his own blood, and he demands the full
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justification of the prisoner. The accuser is permanently
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silenced, the false sentence is overturned, and the believer is
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saved from those who condemn his soul.
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The courtroom drama ends with the complete vindication of the
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righteous through the intercession of the Divine
31:46
advocate. What a magnificent conclusion to
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such a difficult text. We have walked through the
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reality of divine justice, the absolute horror of betrayal, and
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the severe judgments pronounced upon the incorrigible enemies of
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God. We've seen how slander acts as a
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deadly invisible poison, and how the extortioner is inevitably
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caught in his own snare. But through it all, we see the
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absolute security of the believer who, completely
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stripped of their own strength, relies entirely on the mercy of
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God. Psalm 109 is a majestic,
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terrifying, and glorious assurance that God will not let
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evil go unpunished, and you will never abandoned the soul that
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takes refuge in Him. I want to leave you with a final
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lingering thought drawn from the closing notes of our source
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material. Alfred at Edersheim mentions an
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ancient rabbinical gloss on this final verse, verse 31.
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The ancient commentary says that whenever a poor man stands at
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your door, the Holy One, blessed to be his name, stands at his
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right hand. Therefore, the way you treat the
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helpless, the poor, and the needy standing before you is
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quite literally your interaction with the divine Advocate who is
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standing right beside them. If God stands at the right hand
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of the poor to save them, we must tread very carefully in how
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we treat those whom God defends. That is a phenomenal truth to
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carry with us. Thank you so much for joining us
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for this deep dive into the Scriptures.
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We hope this has been a rigorous and faithful look at God's Word
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on Reformed thinking.