Hatred in the Psalms?

[akeylapratt]

Hello all,

I’m working on some research for a blog article addressing the issue of hatred in the scripture, and explaining how our faith preaches universal love and forgiveness with the presence of vindictiveness and anger, particularly in areas like psalms.

For example, psalms 109,106, 89,83, 73, etc.

So, as followers of Christ, how are we supposed to respond to passages like these? I can’t imagine that we are to condone the psalmists praying for their enemies’ damnation (as opposed to salvation), or that they are seeking God’s wrath to be unleashed.

I understand that this is before Christ’s sacrifice, and that the wrath of God is much more prevalent in the OT as opposed to NT. But I’m still struggling with how to reconcile the violence in these passages with the rest of our faith.

Thanks very much, and I look forward to your insight!

 

[Fr.Charles_Grondin]

The Psalms are a person’s prayers to God. They are honest prayers and not necessarily cleaned up liturgical prayers. The Psalmist prays for his enemies destruction but also ends with words of trust in God’s care, mercy and love. In essence the Psalmist is venting to God but also trusting that everything is in God’s hands.

In many ways we’d all be better off if we brought our true feelings and wants in prayer before God and allowed Him to guide our hearts and minds.