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3:title This sad episode in David’s life (see 2 Sam 15–18) helps readers keep the promises of Ps 2 in perspective. The Lord granted victory to his anointed king (Ps 2), but the manner and timing of this victory remained in God’s hands.
3:1-2 The psalmist’s many enemies speak brashly (4:6; 12:4; 40:15) and question the Lord’s ability to rescue (10:11; 22:7-8; 71:10). Their words haunt him because it seems that the Lord will not answer his prayer. • These enemies wield great power (cp. 2:1-3); unlike Ps 2, this psalm does not resolve the crisis.
Pss 3–7 This group of psalms moves readers from the orderly world of Pss 1–2 to a disoriented one. The Lord’s anointed cries out while facing enemies, ferocious opposition, evil schemes, and the Lord’s apparent distance.
Ps 3 This psalm laments that the expectations raised by Pss 1–2 have not been met. But even when beset by enemies, godly people need not question the Lord’s just dealings. Rather, they can confidently trust his goodness and expect God to rescue them.
2 samuel 15:1-33
2 chronicles 24:22
nehemiah 4:5
psalms 1:1-12
psalms 1:1-12
psalms 1:6
psalms 2:1-12
psalms 2:1-12
Prayers for Vengeance
Prayers for Vengeance The psalmists sometimes asked the Lord to execute vengeance against their adversaries. It was not unusual for a psalmist to pray for the violent destruction of their enemies as a manifestation of God’s justice. How can this kind of prayer be okay? These prayers for the destruction of the wicked arose out of concern for justice and righteousness and out of confidence in God. Divine justice is defined in Psalm 1:6: The Lord loves the righteous and destroys the wicked. The wicked are subversive, corrupt, and thoroughly committed to evil; they live in opposition to God and to everything that God does. The wicked shake the foundations of ethics, of society, and of God’s kingdom. The psalmists argued that evil is inconsistent with God’s nature and that the removal of evil is the only way for his kingdom to thrive. However, the poets of Israel did not simply invoke God’s judgment on anyone with whom they could not get along. Instead, the psalmists were guided by God’s standards of justice and righteousness, to which God holds all humans accountable. The psalmists were intimately acquainted with grief. They had suffered and been oppressed and marginalized by...