a mere housewife
Not your cup of tea
I have wanted to understand better about the imprecatory Psalms in their fundamental relation to Christ, but am unsure quite how to express the main question. I was thinking over again what C. S. Lewis wrote about the imprecatory Psalms which seemed when I read it a few years ago very tragic, and very insightful. For without seeing them as fundamentally related to Christ (so many Christians do not) what he said about self righteousness and petty self vindication seems accurate -- it was an accurate description of many in Christ's day, and I'm afraid I find enough evidence in my own heart to believe it's a common enough symptom still. Rev. Winzer mentioned in another thread that Christ is the plaintiff in these Psalms, which is what Lewis failed to see. Lewis points out that he is the judge -- but on a totally 'Hebrew' model: a hero judge who effects the justice he adjudicates.
What I am struck by is that the Jews who were praying these Psalms against the nations around them but failed to see themselves in any relation to Christ were the ones, when Christ came, who were judged. And the judgment on the nations was that Christ suffered so that they also might be received with God.
I am sure I am expressing all of this very poorly because it is all very confusing to me still. Is Israel not typical of Christ in the Psalms in a way the NT church is not? It is not that we do not share in His experience (and the Psalms are the heartbeat of that); but would these imprecations have to be viewed through something of a typical lens, as prayed by Israel? For when Christ takes up praying for your enemies, he hands it back to us in a totally different fashion than we find it there -- of praying for mercy on them -- and this would seem to be actually the fulfillment of so much of the judgment that is prayed for in those Psalms?
I'm hesitant to say so much where I'm unsure of my own thoughts, but would appreciate understanding some of these things in a clearer light.
What I am struck by is that the Jews who were praying these Psalms against the nations around them but failed to see themselves in any relation to Christ were the ones, when Christ came, who were judged. And the judgment on the nations was that Christ suffered so that they also might be received with God.
I am sure I am expressing all of this very poorly because it is all very confusing to me still. Is Israel not typical of Christ in the Psalms in a way the NT church is not? It is not that we do not share in His experience (and the Psalms are the heartbeat of that); but would these imprecations have to be viewed through something of a typical lens, as prayed by Israel? For when Christ takes up praying for your enemies, he hands it back to us in a totally different fashion than we find it there -- of praying for mercy on them -- and this would seem to be actually the fulfillment of so much of the judgment that is prayed for in those Psalms?
I'm hesitant to say so much where I'm unsure of my own thoughts, but would appreciate understanding some of these things in a clearer light.