I’ve been praying some of the Liturgy of the Hours (online version) for a few weeks now, so I’m getting plenty more acquainted with the Psalms: if I do just Morning Prayer (Lauds) and Evening Prayer (Vespers), for instance, I read four every day. Plus Psalm 95, don’tcha know.
When I was in high school and just getting acquainted with the Bible, the constant talk of "enemies" in the Psalms bothered me and confused me. I understood that they were written for Israel with Israel’s problems in mind; but how are words like this reconciled with "Love your enemies?"
I pursued my enemies and overtook them; I did not turn back till I destroyed them. I struck them down; they could not rise; they fell dead at my feet.
You girded me with strength for war, subdued adversaries at my feet. My foes you put to flight before me; those who hated me I destroyed.
They cried for help, but no one saved them; cried to the LORD but got no answer. I ground them fine as dust in the wind; like mud in the streets I trampled them down. (Ps 18:38-43)
Or this:
The wicked have been corrupt since birth; liars from the womb, they have gone astray. Their poison is like the poison of a snake, like that of a serpent stopping its ears, So as not to hear the voice of the charmer who casts such cunning spells.
O God, smash the teeth in their mouths; break the jaw-teeth of these lions, LORD! Make them vanish like water flowing away; trodden down, let them wither like grass.
Let them dissolve like a snail that oozes away, like an untimely birth that never sees the sun. Suddenly, like brambles or thistles, have the whirlwind snatch them away.
Then the just shall rejoice to see the vengeance and bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked. Then it will be said: "Truly there is a reward for the just; there is a God who is judge on earth!" (Ps 58:4-12)
I have enemies; who doesn’t? But it’s hard to imagine God wanting me to pray to God about them in this way.
"But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you" (Mt 5:44)
At first I thought that the main purpose of the Psalms’ tone is as a contrast to the tone offered by Jesus, so that we would be able to respond to "You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall… hate your enemy.’"
But just a couple of weeks ago I realized that Christians can take the "enemies" in these liturgical songs and prayers to be non-human enemies—quite literally, The Enemy: Satan and his ilk. Don’t know why I never thought of that before. After all, we are taught, they have already made their choice; destruction is their future.
With this in mind I perceive the tone of the Psalms as entirely transformed. Try it for yourself.
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