The Christian Family: Children, Fatherhood, and Generational Faithfulness: The Family

Imprecatory Prayer-4

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Family Government

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2010-04-01

Synopsis: In this final installment on imprecatory prayer, John Weaver examines Psalm 109:9–19, showing that David’s curses against his enemy’s family are consistent with the biblical principles of family sins, the lex talionis, and sowing and reaping. He argues that entire households often share in guilt and judgment, and that David’s prayer is not personal vengeance but a call for God’s just retribution. The lecture concludes with applications for believers to pray for the defeat of the wicked and the vindication of God’s name.

[John Weaver] Well, good evening, and I want to welcome you all back to the spring Bible conference here at Reedy River Presbyterian Church with Reverend John Weaver. We very much appreciate the messages you brought us. We know that we were asked to help to give a facility for for you to do this, but I think everybody in our church feels like we've been blessed at least equally as much. And we thank you very much. This is the last in a four-part series that you're finishing, and we do appreciate everybody being here. We will have refreshments afterwards and fellowships so that we can, you know, chit-chat a little bit, get to know each other a little bit better.

[John Weaver] And do check your cell phones, make sure they're on silent. And I want to remind you of the free will offering boxes baskets, one in the back here and one in the fellowship hall. If you feel so moved to contribute to the expenses and the ministry of Reverend Weaver. I think. Do I see new faces, do we need a bio on you anymore? All right, well, I think I'm just going to turn it over to you and let you bring us God's word. Well, let me say I'm so thankful for the opportunity to be here, and I'm also thankful to the elders and the people of Reedy River Presbyterian Church for kind of letting us not only meet here, but being here and giving us all kind of support. And I trust the word of God is blessed each one of you.

[John Weaver] There's so much in the scripture I have preached for 45 years. And one thing I learn every time I read the scripture is I don't know it all. There's no way in the world anyone I don't guess could ever know it all. But there's just so much in that Bible that it just absolutely amazes me. And I read a passage and read a passage and I preach on the passage. And the next thing I know, I turn and I see something I've just never seen before. The Word of God is just so full of truth.

[John Weaver] I want you tonight, please open your Bibles to Psalm 109. We are going to be taking up on our fourth installment on imprecatory praying. And a few of you, of course, are here for the first time, and I would encourage you to get the three previous CDs and listen to them. And there's no way in the world I can review everything. I will take just a few moments to review and then get started. But notice, if you would, Psalm 109. And let's begin reading with verse nine, Psalm 109, verse nine. I will take a few moments and go back over the first eight verses. But look in verse nine.

[John Weaver] God says, let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. Let his children be continually vagabonds and beg, let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places. Let the extortioner catch all that he hath and let the stranger spoil his labor. Let there be none to extend mercy unto him, neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children. Let his posterity be cut off and in the generation following Let their name be blotted out. Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. Let them be before the Lord continually that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth, because that he remembered not to show mercy, but persecuted the poor needy man that he might even slay the broken in heart as he loved cursing.

[John Weaver] So let it come unto him as he delighted, not in blessing. So let it be far from him as he clothed himself with cursing. like as with a garment, so that it come into his bowels like water, like oil into his bones, that it be unto him as the garment which covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually. If you remember, I began the first night by telling you that an imprecation was a malediction.

[John Weaver] It was a curse and that there are many imprecatory Psalms. That is where David curses the enemies of God and asks God to send a curse upon them. You'll find something like Psalm 7, Psalm 9, Psalm 35, Psalm 57, Psalm 58, Psalm 59, Psalm 69, Psalm 140, all these psalms. And plus, there are many other Old Testament as well as New Testament passages where curses are indeed placed upon individuals because of their rebellion to God. And then I pointed out the first night how that these imprecatory psalms and imprecatory prayers are not contrary to the gospel. They're not unbiblical. They're not un-Christian. They're not uncharitable. No, they are divinely inspired, like the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17. By the way, let me point out, when the Apostle wrote in 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

[John Weaver] He was speaking primarily of the Old Testament because the New Testament had not been completed at that particular time. Of course, it would indeed apply to the New Testament books that had already been written, but he had in view primarily the Old Testament. So very obviously, there are indeed these imprecatory prayers that are just as applicable today as they were back then as well. On the second night, I tried to give you some very general principles concerning these imprecatory prayers, how that first of all, there is no contradiction between the Old Testament and the New Testament. There is no contradiction between law and grace.

[John Weaver] No, we have one Bible and we have one God. And the God of the New Testament is the same God as the God of the Old Testament. And there is no change in God. In fact, he said in Malachi three, six, I, the Lord, change not. referring there to his immutability.

[John Weaver] Secondly, we pointed out by way of general principle that when David or any other biblical character prayed an imprecation, the result was left in the hands of God. We don't tell God how to exercise his vengeance. That's totally, completely up to him. Thirdly, as a whole, we found out that even though David's imprecatory prayers were very severe against his enemies, David always treated his enemies very kindly and very graciously.

[John Weaver] Many times he had the opportunity to King kill Saul, but he refused to do so. And you will find that is personally true in most of the biblical characters.

[John Weaver] Fourthly, I pointed out how church discipline is not very much different from the imprecatory prayers of the Old Testament, because the New Testament contains many curses and enunciations as well. And fifthly, I pointed out how the imprecatory prayers teach us that God has appointed us to victory and not to defeat. And then I went down and gave you all the at least seven different purposes of these imprecatory prayers as we look at each individual prayer that I brought a purpose from and showed you exactly why David said he was praying that particular prayer. And then we came last night and we just tried to show you that overall, how that the imprecatory prayers evidence a purpose to see God's justice vindicated His word honored, his kingdom established, his righteousness prevailed, his people delivered, and of course, his name honored and glorified. And we began looking at Psalm 109 last night, and I pointed out how that there are two very general principles in the Bible that we need to be aware of as we look at Psalm 109.

[John Weaver] The first one is known as the Lex Hallionis. That is Latin, just simply for the law of retribution. And you find that in Exodus 21, Leviticus 24, Deuteronomy chapter 19, where God talks about an eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, stripe for stripe, burning for burning, life for life. And all God is saying there is that the punishment must fit the crime, and that's exactly what God does when he exercises divine retribution. He always makes the punishment fit the crime. Now, the New Testament part of the lex talionis, you and I know as the law of sowing and reaping.

[John Weaver] For in Galatians 6, 7 and 8, he said, Be not deceived. God is not mocked. Whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. And he that soweth to the spirit shall the spirit reap life everlasting. And our Lord, in Matthew chapter 5, verses 38 through 42, was correcting the pharisaical misinterpretation and misapplication of his law because they took that to teach personal vengeance. And he says, no, it is not personal vengeance.

[John Weaver] Now, last night, we looked at Psalm 109, verses 1 through 8. Very quickly, verse one is a cry for God to vindicate David. He said, hold up by peace, O God of my praise. That is, Lord, step up and do something. Lord, say something. Lord, do exactly what needs to be done. So Psalm 109, verse one in this imprecatory prayer is indeed a cry for God to intercede for him. And then in verses two through five in Psalm 109, David describes his enemies, how wicked they really are, how that they speak deceitfully against him. They lie against him.

[John Weaver] They compass him about with words of hatred. They fight against him without a cause. Although he loved them, they were still his adversaries and they rewarded him evil for good. And they gave him hatred for his love. And so when you get then to verse six, You begin there with this imprecatory prayer that David prays, set thou wicked men over him and let Satan stand in his right hand.

[John Weaver] When he shall be judged, let him be condemned. Let his prayer become sin. Then verse eight, that his days be few and another take his office.

[John Weaver] Now, we ended there last night. Now, I want you to note, if you would please, verse nine. And I want to take just the time to read a few of these verses again. to show you the impact of this psalm. So look, if you would please, verse eight, Psalm 109. David prays, let his days be few and let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. Let his children be continually vagabonds and beg.

[John Weaver] Let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places. Let the extortioner catch all that he hath and let the stranger spoil his labor. Let there be none to extend mercy unto him, neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children. Let his posterity be cut off in the generation following. Let their name be blotted out. Note, let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. Let them be before the Lord continually that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.

[John Weaver] Here's a question that must be answered in light of this imprecatory prayer that David is praying. I hope you notice as I read those verses that David's prayer against his enemy. Was extended to his wife and to his children as well. So the question that you have to ask is, is there a conflict between David's imprecatory prayer that he prays in Psalm 109 and what the Scripture teaches in Deuteronomy 24 and verse 16.

[John Weaver] Don't turn there, let me just quote it. For in Deuteronomy 24 and verse 16, God said, the fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers. Every man shall be put to death for his own sin. You must remember that when King Joash put to death the men who murdered his father in 2 Kings chapter 14 in verse 6, we read this. But the children of the murderers he slew not, according to that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, where the Lord commanded, saying, The father shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the father, but every man shall be put to death for his own sin. So when King Joash got a hold of the murders of his father, he merely put them to death.

[John Weaver] He did not bother the family. But notice, if you would please, when David prays in Psalm 109. This imprecatory prayer does not stop just simply with his enemy, but it extends to the enemy's family. Now, I told you last night that Psalm 109 is known as the Iscariotic Psalm because ever who David is praying against in Psalm 109, it finds the fulfillment in Judas Iscariot. And in Acts chapter one, this passage is applied to Judas Iscariot. So here is a very malignant individual that David is praying against. So if David's enemies are cursed, Think about this.

[John Weaver] Does the curse extend to the families? If it does extend to the families, why does it extend to them? And then you also have to ask this question. Are there biblical principles that are involved? And the answer very definitely is yes. Because what I'm trying to show you tonight is this. That everything that David prays in Psalm 109 is in agreement with the analogy of faith. There is nothing in Psalm 109 that is contrary to the rest of scriptures. There is nothing in Psalm 109 that would be contrary to New Testament or Old Testament.

[John Weaver] We have one Bible, not two. Let me begin, because David is praying against even the family of his enemies. And so let me try to set the stage by showing you some of the principles. I want you to hold Psalm 109, but look in your Bibles, if you would, please. to Proverbs chapter 3 and look at verse 33. Proverbs chapter 3 and verse 33. And I want you to note the word house in these verses that I'm going to be showing you. Notice Proverbs 3 and verse 33. The Bible says the curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked.

[John Weaver] But he blessed the habitation of the just. So here you have the curse of God that is in the house of the wicked. That is, the whole family is under the curse of God. But God blesses the habitation of the just.

[John Weaver] Now, let me make a statement, and I'm going to explain this just momentarily. But listen carefully. There are sins that extend to entire households. There are family sins. Look in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 15 and verse 27. Proverbs 15 and verse 27. Notice what the Bible says. Proverbs 15 verse 27. God says, he that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house, but he that hateth gifts shall live. Notice he that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house.

[John Weaver] Now, in times past and the not too distant past, I preached two messages which I entitled Family Sins. And I took great pains to go through the Bible in the book of Genesis, and I demonstrated from the Bible how Jacob's sin affected his daughter, Dinah. How Dinah's sin affected her two brothers, Simeon and Levi. How Simeon and Levi's sins affected the entire family. You see, the Bible says that no man liveth to himself and no man doth to himself in Romans chapter 14.

[John Weaver] Whatever we do always affects someone else, and it always affects someone else first in our own families. No man liveth to himself and no man doth to himself.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to consider a principle. Here's a principle, and that is God usually places his elect in households. He also usually places his enemies in households. Let me read the scripture. In Psalm 68, in verse 6, the Bible says this. God sent the solitary in families. He bringeth out those that are bound with chains, but the rebellious drive or live in a dry land. Notice if you would, God said it, the solitary in families. Now, here's a general rule. Here's a general principle. Usually you find the godly in families. Usually, you find the ungodly in families. Now, I understand that there are some exceptions to that rule. Occasionally, you're going to find a fool in a godly household, and occasionally, you're going to find a godly individual in a wicked household. I know there are exceptions, but I'm talking about generally speaking. You remember the passage in the book of Proverbs 22, verse 6, where God says, train up a child in the way that he should go, And when he is old, he will not depart from it.

[John Weaver] Train up a child in the way that he should go. Do you understand that it is godly people who train their children in godly ways? Therefore, you usually have the godly in families. It is ungodly people who could care less about God's law, God's word, God's truth. Therefore, they fail to train their children. And therefore, as usually happens, their children are wicked and ungodly. So usually, God places His elected households, God places His enemies in household.

[John Weaver] It is possible to curse one's own Family, for instance, we're in the book of Proverbs. Go back, if you would, please, to Proverbs 11 and look at verse 17. Stick with me in Proverbs just momentarily. Proverbs 11. And notice, if you would, verse 17, God says, The merciful man doeth good to his own soul, but he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh. Notice, he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh. Not just his physical body, but of course, that which would be his family as well. Look in Proverbs 12 and verse 7.

[John Weaver] The wicked are overthrown and are not, but the house of the righteous shall stand. So here you have a contrast between the house of the wicked and the house of the righteous. It's the house of the wicked that is overthrown and they are not, but the house of the righteous it shall stand. Look in Proverbs 13 and verse 13. He says it like this, who so despised that the word shall be destroyed.

[John Weaver] That would be the ungodly, but he that feared the commandment shall be rewarded. So if you despise the word, inevitably you're going to be destroyed. So if you have a family, if you have a husband and wife who despise the word, inevitably their children will end up despising as well. Usually speaking, look in Proverbs 14 and verse 11, Proverbs 14, verse 11, God says, The house of the wicked shall be overthrown.

[John Weaver] But the tabernacle of the upright shall flourish. Now the entire house of the wicked is to be overthrown.

[John Weaver] Now look in Proverbs 15 and verse 25. Proverbs 15 and verse 25, we read this. The Lord will destroy the house of the proud, but he will establish the border of the widow.

[John Weaver] Now I want you to notice in all of these passages, God is talking about houses and he's talking about houses being destroyed. So he's talking about entire families.

[John Weaver] Now, I've already made the statement that it is possible to curse your own family. You have to remember this, that usually entire families are involved in the same sins and therefore they receive the same punishment. It is not that the children necessarily are being cursed because of the sins of the father. No, those sins are being passed down. The children are being cursed for their own sins, but they are indeed family sins. And since they are equally guilty, they also share equally in the judgment and in the punishment of those sins.

[John Weaver] Now, let me try to give you some illustrations. I'm going to give you just one to begin with. And I'm going to quote the scripture, and then I'm going to ask you to turn to some. If I were to ask you, do you remember Wicked Haman? And surely you remember Haman. You remember he is the man in the book of Esther that tried to have all the Jews killed. And of course, you remember how Esther, the queen, then got a Hasherus, her husband, to overthrow that and all of this. But what you don't might have missed in your reading was it was not just Haman that was wiped out, but his sons as well. Even Haman's wife was one who gave him counsel. In the book of Esther, chapter 8 and verse 7, we read this, Then the king of Hasherah said unto Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman. Note, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him upon the gallows.

[John Weaver] Because he laid his hand upon the Jews. Now you say that verse just says they hanged Haman. Yes, it does. But Esther 9 and verse 14 says this, And the king commanded it so to be done, and the decree was given at Shushan, and they hanged Haman's ten sons. So it's not just Haman that was hanged. It was his ten sons that were hanged as well. Why were his ten sons hanged?

[John Weaver] And the answer is because they were complicit in their father's sin and their father's wickedness. They didn't die because of their father's sin. They died for their own sin in the participation of his wickedness.

[John Weaver] Now, the same thing is true when you look at the Old Testament concerning Dathan and Abiram and Korah. I want you to turn in your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 11 and verse 6. Deuteronomy chapter 11 and look at verse 6. Then we'll go to Numbers chapter 16. But in Deuteronomy chapter 11 and verse 6 we read this. Watch carefully. Deuteronomy 11 and verse 6.

[John Weaver] I'm just trying to prove a point from Scripture. And that point is you can curse your own family. And therefore, your entire family is under the judgment and the punishment of God. So in Deuteronomy, chapter 11, in verse six, we read this. And what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliam and the son of Reuben, how the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up and their households.

[John Weaver] And their tents and all the substance that was in their possession in the midst of all Israel. Wow.

[John Weaver] Now, the Bible says that it swallowed up their households. When you think about a household, you do indeed think of wife and children. Well, if you look in your Bibles to the book of Numbers, chapter 16, you'll find exactly what happened. And I don't have time to go over the rebellion of Dathan of Armancourt, but they rebelled against God. They rebelled against Moses and Aaron. And in Numbers, chapter 16, beginning there with verse 27, I want you to look what the Bible says. Number 16, verse 27. So they, that is the people, get up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan and Abiram on every side. And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood in the door of their tents and their wives and their sons and their little children. All of them were standing with these rebellious men and Moses said, Hereby you shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of mine own mind. If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited at the visitation of all men, then the Lord hath not sent me.

[John Weaver] But if the Lord make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, that's wives and children, and they go down quick into the pit, then you shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord. And it came to pass, as he made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave that was under them, and the earth opened them out, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods, they, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed up upon them, and they perished from among the congregation." Now I want you to note, here was Dathan, and Abiram, and Korah's entire household. They were all consumed. They were all destroyed. Why?

[John Weaver] Because they were all complicit in the rebellion. They were equal. Moses already told the people, get away from these wicked men. Well, the wives and the children stayed with them, and so therefore they perish in their sins.

[John Weaver] Now, if you will turn in your Bibles to the book of Joshua, chapter seven, I will show you another illustration of how you can curse your entire family and how Families are usually complicit in family sins. Everyone knows the story in Joshua chapter 7. Joshua has instructed the people because God instructed him about the destruction of Jericho. They were not to touch anything in Jericho. Everything was dedicated to the Lord. It was dedicated to destruction. And notice, if you would, Joshua 7, verse 19, let's begin there, because Achan, you remember, is the man who did some stealing. So in Joshua chapter 7, beginning there of verse 19, and Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel and make confession unto him and tell me now what thou hast done.

[John Weaver] Hide it not from me. And Achan answered Joshua and said, Indeed, I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done. When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonian garment and 200 shekels of silver and a wedge of gold of 50 shekels weight, then I coveted them and took them. And behold, they were hidden in the earth. Look carefully in the midst of my tent and the silver under it. So Joshua sent messengers and they ran into the tent and behold, He was hid in the tent and the silver under it. And they took them out of the midst of the tent and brought them unto Joshua and all the children of Israel and laid them out before the Lord. And Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan the son of Zerah and the silver and the garment and the wedge of gold and his sons and his daughters and his oxen and his asses and his sheep and his tent and all that he had. And they brought them into the valley of Achor and Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us?

[John Weaver] The Lord shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger, Wherefore, the name of that place was called the Valley of Acre unto this day.

[John Weaver] Now, someone's going to say, but wait a minute, Brother Weaver, wait a minute. It was Achan who did the coveting. It was Achan who did the stealing. Yes, that is true. But may I ask you, where in the world did Achan hide all of those stolen goods? In his tent. That means his family had to know about it. They had to have seen it. They had to be complicit with it.

[John Weaver] They knew about it and said absolutely nothing, and they therefore were equally guilty. And God judged the entire family. It is possible to curse your entire family. It is possible for such a thing as family sins to exist. For instance, you remember how God sent the children of Israel into Egypt and he told Abraham in Genesis 15, He said, you're going to go down there 400 years. But in the fourth generation, I'm going to bring you out. Why?

[John Weaver] Because the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. And so after 400 years, God broke them out, put a sword in their hand. And what did God say? Kill everyone. Man, woman, child, ox. Kill them all. Why? Because all of them were equally sinful and equally guilty. So the point I'm trying to make is this. Don't think of Psalm 109 as saying, well, here is one guilty man and the other people are innocent.

[John Weaver] No, no, it's not like that because of such a thing as family sins. And whenever you find a family sin, especially the father or mother, it's usually passed on down to the children and they engage in the same sins themselves. So let's go back with this understanding in mind and look at Psalm 109. Psalm 109. And you can see now exactly what is happening. Notice, if you would, please, and this is very important. Notice, if you would, how verse eight begins with the word let. And then you go all the way through verse 15 and you see the word let used at the beginning of every verse.

[John Weaver] That just simply means this, that each of these is a specific prayer request in light of the wickedness of these people that have been revealed in verses two through five. So let's begin with verse nine, where David says, let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. Now, if you look back at verse eight, David said this, let his days be few and let another take his office. In reality, verse 9 is just a repetition of verse 8. For instance, if the man's days is few, that means he dies. If another takes his office, he's not there to do it. Now it's emphasized in verse 9 when he said, let his children be fatherless and a wife a widow. You can't have a widow without having a dead husband. You cannot have fatherless children without having a dead father. So basically what David is praying for is the death of this wicked man, very clearly, very obviously.

[John Weaver] And so it is permissible, it is lawful, it is legitimate to pray for the deaths of wicked men. Now, I've covered the arguments against that the other night. I'm not going to go into that tonight, but I'm just simply saying this is a very specific prayer request.

[John Weaver] Now, he said, let his children be fatherless and a wife a widow. Now skip down to verse 10, if you would. He says, let his children be continually vagabonds and beg and let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.

[John Weaver] Now, folks, I've got news for you. That is a very hard request. So now David says, not only let the man die, not only let him lose his office, not only let his wife be a widow, not only let his children be fatherless, But go even further, he says, let his children be vagabonds. Let them beg. Let them seek their bread in desolate places. You say now that is harsh.

[John Weaver] Well, may I tell you that was the same curse that God placed upon Cain in Genesis 4 and verse 12. And if you will hold Psalm 109, go back in your Bibles to Psalm 59, which is another imprecatory prayer. Psalm 59, and I will show you again here how David basically says the same thing. Psalm 59, beginning there with verse 11. Psalm 59, verse 11. David says concerning the wicked here, slay them not, lest my people forget, but rather scatter them by thy power and bring them down, O Lord our shield.

[John Weaver] For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips Let them even be taken in their pride, and for cursing and lying which they speak. Now watch what he prays. Consume them in thy wrath. Consume them that they may not be. And let them know that God, Ruth, and Jacob are the ends of the earth. Watch verse 14. And at evening let them return, and let them make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.

[John Weaver] Let them wander up and down for meat and grudge if they be not satisfied. Now here, David says, let them be like a stray dog. Nobody's going to feed them. Nobody wants them. No one cares for them. And so they just go up and down and grudge like a stray dog trying to find whatever they can find. You say, wow, that David, boy, he was really he was really serious.

[John Weaver] And that can't be very compassionate. That can't be very kind. Oh, well, since you're going to say that about David, would you say the same thing about God? If you look in your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 2 and verse 36, you'll find that God himself said the same thing concerning Eli's household. Notice 1 Samuel chapter 2 and verse 36. 1 Samuel chapter 2 and notice, if you would please, verse 36. God says this after He places the curse upon Eli and his household. He says this in verse 36, And it shall come to pass that everyone that is left in thine house shall come and crouch down for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread and say, Put me, I pray thee, in one of the priest's offices that I may eat a piece of bread.

[John Weaver] In other words, they're begging. They have absolute nothing. And that's the curse that God placed upon Eli and his family.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to look back to Psalm 109, and let's try to figure this thing out, because these things actually work together. It is cause and effect. It is step one, step two, step three. Watch this. Very clearly, if the father lost his life, he lost his office. If he lost his office, the wife is a widow. The children are fatherless. And since there is no way for them to make a living, they become destitute. They become vagabonds. They become beggars.

[John Weaver] Let me tell you something that is exceedingly hard upon the wicked. And that is for a wicked individual to be born in what you and I would call the lap of luxury. Used to be living lavishly, getting what they want, when they want it. And all of a sudden, everything is cut off. They have lost everything. They have nothing. And now they turn to begging. If you will study history, you will find that God has often done that to a race of tyrants.

[John Weaver] He's turned them into a generation of beggars. They've misused and abused authority and power, and their name has become a universal detestation and secured to the family nothing but absolute contempt. I could name powerful family names that are powerful in this country and in the world. And anyone who knows anything about biblical truth and biblical principles would hold those families in absolute contempt. I don't care how multi-millions they possess.

[John Weaver] You know they were wicked. They were thieves. They were ungodly. They defrauded. They beat other people. They still continue to do that. And this is exactly what David is saying. David said, look, let them lose it all. Let them turn into beggars. I want to give you several quotes tonight, and the reason I'm going to give you these quotes. It's not just to try to. Fortify what I'm telling you. But I want you to see historically. Bible scholars have interpreted these verses exactly the same.

[John Weaver] John Gill said it like this. Wander from place to place, begging for their bread. This is denied of the children of good men in David's time. And then he quotes Psalm 37, verse 25, one of my favorite verses. David said, I've been young, now I'm old, yet I've not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. OK, so he says, wander from place to place, begging for their bread. This is denied of the children of good men in David's time, yet was threatened to the children of Eli, 1 Samuel 2, 36. and was very likely true of the children of Judas, and was certainly the case of multitudes of the children of Jews, the posterity of them that crucified Christ, at the time of their destruction by the Romans, when great numbers were dispersed and wandered about in various countries, as vagabonds, begging their bread from door to door, which is reckoned by them a great affliction and very distressing. No language could be more awful than that of Psalm 109, verses 6 through 19.

[John Weaver] It embraces almost every misery that we can think of. But could any man be in a more wretched condition than Judas was? Could any words be too severe to express the depth of his misery? Of him who for three whole years had been the constant attendant of the Savior of mankind, who had witnessed his miracles, had shared his miraculous powers, who had enjoyed all the warnings, all the reproofs of his love, and then had betrayed him for 30 pieces of silver. Can we conceive a condition more miserable than that of Judas?

[John Weaver] And this psalm is a prophecy of the punishment that should overtake him for his sin. Peter, in the Acts of the Apostles, quotes part of this psalm and applies it to Judas. He applies it as a prophecy of the punishment that he should suffer on the betrayal of the Son of God. You please remember, whoever David is praying against in Psalm 109, it finds its fulfillment in Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus Christ. So David prays in verse 8, let his days be few, let another take his office.

[John Weaver] Let his children be fatherless, his wife a widow. Let his children be continually vagabonds. Let them beg, let them have nothing. Look, if you would please, in verse 11. Let the extortioner catch all that he hath, and let strangers spoil his goods. Let the extortioner catch all that he hath, and let strangers spoil his labor or his goods. Now, the extortioner here is the usurer. He's the creditor. What happens when a woman loses her husband, has no money coming in to support herself or her children.

[John Weaver] For a little while, she has some property and she mortgages it. With the hopes of somehow holding on and eating just for a little while. But the next thing you know, that mortgage money is gone. And the man who's holding the mortgage is knocking on the door saying, I want this property. You need to get out and you need to get out right now. Actually, verse 11 is a consequence of verses 9 and 10. And so the prayer is that the extortioner or the user is going to catch all that this man ever had. And strangers are going to spoil his labor.

[John Weaver] Now, Adam Clark, in his commentary on Psalm 109, quotes the Roman poet Juvenal, who died in 140 A.D. as saying this. Now, listen carefully. This is this is so Astounding, but juvenile rights, many of these execrations were literally fulfilled in the case of the miserable Jews after the death of our Lord. They were not only expelled from their own country after the destruction of Jerusalem, but they were prohibited from returning and so taxed by the Roman government that they were reduced to the lowest degree of poverty. Demetian expelled them from Rome.

[John Weaver] And they were obliged to take up their habitation without the gate, Cappina, in a wood contiguous to the city for which they were obliged to pay a rent and where the whole of their property was only a basket and a little hay. Wow. So a juvenile who died in 140 says this literally took place concerning those Jews who said, let him be crucified, let him be crucified, His blood be upon us and upon our children." What did they do?

[John Weaver] They cursed their own families. Look in verse 12, if you would please. He continues this in Precatory Prayer, and he says,"...let there be none to extend mercy unto him, neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children." Wow! Let no one feel sorry for him. Well, he's dead and gone. But more than that, let no one even show mercy or favor or kindness to his fatherless children. In other words, let absolutely no one be sympathetic toward him or toward them. No mercy to be shown to them. No kindness to be shown to them.

[John Weaver] You say, now that's hard. Well, I want to give you a quote. I want you to listen to what Calvin said on this verse, and he is dead on. Listen to what he said. David, however, includes also the wicked man himself, along with his children, as if he should say. Though he visibly pine away under such calamities and these to send to his children, yet let no one show pity towards them.

[John Weaver] We are aware it not infrequently happens, that the long continued misfortune of an enemy either excites the sympathy of men of savage dispositions or else make them forget all their hatred and malice. But in this part of the psalm, David expresses a desire that his enemy and all his posterity may be so hated and so detested that the people may never be wearied with beholding the calamities which they endure, but may become so familiarized with the spectacle as if their hearts were of iron. At the same time, let it be remarked that David is not rashly excited by any personal anguish to speak in this matter, but that it is as God's messenger, he declares the punishment which was impending over the ungodly.

[John Weaver] And verily, the law counts it as one of the judgments of God, his hardening men's hearts, so that they who have been passionately and unmercifully cruel should find no sympathy Deuteronomy 2.30, it is just that the same measure which they have used toward others should also be meted out to themselves. Now, don't you listen to what Calvin said. Calvin said it just like this. It is the natural tendency when a wicked man dies. Everybody forgets how wicked he was and his sins. And his ungodliness.

[John Weaver] And then they begin to speak well of him. And the next thing you know, they're sympathetic toward his children. And although his children now are reaping the rewards of their father's wickedness. And what David is praying. Is that men will never forget the wickedness of this wicked man which descended upon the children. And therefore, he's praying that no one will be sympathetic or kind even to their children. Spurgeon said it like this, we are staggered to find the children included in the father's sentence. And yet as a matter of fact, children do suffer for their father's sins.

[John Weaver] And as long as the affairs of this life are ordered as they are, it must be so. So involved are the interests of the race that it is quite impossible in all respects to view the father and the child apart. No man among us could desire to see the fatherless suffer for their deceased father's fault. Yet so it happens, and there is no injustice in that fact.

[John Weaver] They share the parent's ill-gotten gain or rank. And their aggrandizement is a part of the object at which he aimed in the perpetuation of his crimes. To allow them to prosper, that is the children, would be an encouragement and a reward of his iniquity. And therefore, for these and other reasons, a man perishes not alone in his iniquity. The ban is on his race or his family. If the man were innocent, this would be a crime.

[John Weaver] If he were but commonly guilty, it would be excessive retribution. But when the offense reeks before high heaven, it is an unutterable abomination. It is a little marvel that men devote the man's whole house to perpetual infamy. And so it happens. Isn't that amazing? Hear all of these commentators saying, We understand exactly what David is praying. Here's a wicked, ungodly, reprobate man. And he's done that which is wrong. He's amassed a great fortune, whatever. And now he's lost it all.

[John Weaver] He got it through sin. He got it through wickedness. He got it through crime. And now you want someone to bless his children who participated and were involved in that sin and involved in that crime? No. He said it should not be. In fact, let me show you exactly David's position. And once again, I will show you it as the biblical position. Notice in Psalm 109 and verse 13, look what David says. After he prays that no one will extend mercy into these children or to this man. He says in verse 13, let his posterity be cut off.

[John Weaver] And in the generation following, let their name be blotted out. Wow. Let his posterity be cut off. And in the generation following, let his name be blotted out. So if this man's name happened to be Iscariot, and I'm just using it as an illustration, what he is saying is this, let there be no more Iscariots, period. Let his posterity be cut off. And in the next generation, Let the name be blotted out so that no one would even remember the name.

[John Weaver] Now, let me show you what a curse this is. This may not sound like so great a curse to you, but you have to remember a numerous posterity. To have the family name perpetuated was regarded among the Hebrews as one of the greatest and most desirable blessings. Now, to have the family name cut off And the memory destroyed was a severe malediction. It was a severe curse that could fall upon anyone. And David is asking exactly this, that in the generation following, the very next generation, let not his family be perpetuated at all. Let the name be blotted out completely. You've got to remember that in deeds of wickedness, there are always individuals who are prime movers.

[John Weaver] They're the ringleader, so to speak. And then there are others who follow. There are others who participate. And what he is doing in this verse is saying, Lord, I don't want the ringleaders taken care of. I don't want the prime movers taken care of. I want all of those who follow him to be taken care of as well. Charles Hedges Spurgeon said it like this, both from existence and from memory, let them pass away.

[John Weaver] Till none shall know that such a vile brood ever existed. Who wishes to see the family of Domitian or Julian continued upon earth? Who would mourn if the race of Tom Paine or Voltaire should come to an utter end? It would be undesirable that the sons of the utterly villainous and bloodthirsty should rise to honor, and if they did, would only revive the memory of their father's name. So he said it's only just. It's only the lex talionis. It's only the law of retribution. It's only the law of sowing and reaping.

[John Weaver] Now, look at verses 14 and 15. After he prays, let their posterity be cut off in the generation following. Let their name be blotted out. Verse 14, let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. Let them be before the Lord continually. Watch carefully that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth. May I remind you. Of Exodus 20 and verse five, where the Bible teaches us that God visits the iniquities of the fathers upon the children into the third and fourth generation of them that hate him. God visits the iniquities of the father unto the children, unto the third and fourth generation of those that hate him. The children are not necessarily just suffering for the sin of the father. The children also hate God. The father taught them to hate God as well. And so David is praying here, let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord. In other words, everything that his father and his grandfather and his great grandfather did, whoever they were, however wicked they were, let God not forget one sin, but hold every sin accountable.

[John Weaver] And then he says. And let not the sin of the mother be blotted out.

[John Weaver] Now, some would argue that this is just Hebrew parallelism. He mentioned the fathers, now he has to mention the mother. But it could be more than that. David said in Psalm 51 and verse 5, Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. So he's not only pointing out the fact that his mother was a sinner, as all of us are, but he could also be pointing out the fact in verse 14 here that this mother of this wicked man might be an especially wicked sinner.

[John Weaver] And therefore, she has sins of her own as well. And so he wants those sins remembered before the Lord.

[John Weaver] Now, look at verse 15. Look at this prayer request. Let them be before the Lord continually. That is all these sins that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth. I want you to turn to Psalm 34 and look at verse 16. Psalm 34 and verse 16. Psalm 34. And verse 16. Look what the Bible says, the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. And the Bible says in the book of Proverbs that the memory of the just is blessed, but the name of the wicked shall rot. I could call out some names of wicked men. You may have heard of some of those names or read about them, but you know nothing about those men or you know nothing about their families anymore. And for all practical purposes, their memory has been wiped out. Their name literally has rotted.

[John Weaver] Spurgeon said it like this. This verse, talking about verse 15, is perhaps the most terrible of all. But yet, as a matter of fact, children do procure punishment upon their parents sin and are often themselves the means of such punishment.

[John Weaver] Now, listen, you can hear this today. Spurgeon writes, a bad son brings to mind his father's bad points of character. And people say, ah, he's just like his old man. He takes after his father. A mother's sins also will be sure to be called to mind if her daughter becomes grossly wicked. Oh, they will say, there's little wonder when you consider what her mother was. These are matters of everyday occurrence.

[John Weaver] We cannot, however, pretend to explain the righteousness of this malediction, though we fully believe in it. We leave it to our heavenly father until he is pleased to give us further instruction. Yet as a man's faults are often learned from his parents, it is not unjust that his consequent crimes should recoil upon them. When you look at Psalm 109, at each one of these prayer requests, and you see David praying, not just for his enemy's death, but that his children be fatherless, His children be vagabonds and beggars? That the children go around like dogs, grudging for food?

[John Weaver] That the extortioner, the usurer, gets all that they have? That no one extends them mercy? That their posterity is cut off? That their name is blotted out? And he then prays that God will constantly remember the sins of their fathers, even the sins of the mother, and hold them against them? You have to ask this question! Was David just simply vindictive, vengeful and vicious? And the answer is no. A thousand times no. What David is praying is the lex talionis, the law of retribution, the law of sowing and reaping. He is asking God to do that which God has already said that he would do. Well, where did God say something like that?

[John Weaver] Look in your Bibles to Psalm 7 and verse 16, and then we're going to come back and I will show you. Look in Psalm 7 and verse 16. Here's what God says concerning the wicked. Psalm 7 and verse 16. Look what he says. Psalm 7, verse 16. In fact, let's read verse 14 just to show you how the wicked man is. God says, Behold, he travaileth with iniquity.

[John Weaver] and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood. He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made."

[John Weaver] Now look what God does. His mischief shall return upon His own head, and His violent dealing shall come down upon His own pate. And then He says, I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness, and will sing praise to the name of the Lord. The Bible tells us that God is known by the judgment which he executed. And what does God do? God lets the wicked fall into the ditch that they dig. God brings down their violent dealings on top of their own head. Whatever they plan for someone else, that's exactly what God will do for them as well.

[John Weaver] Now, let me show you. Go back to Psalm 109, if you would, please. And let's begin reading there with verse 16. I want you to think now of the Lex Talionis and the law of sowing and reaping. as I read the next four verses. Look at verse 16. Because. Now watch. Because. Why did David just pray all these imprecatory prayer requests? Why? Because. Here's why. Not because David is vindictive.

[John Weaver] Not because he's vicious and vengeful. Not because he's uncompassionate and unkind. Here's why he prays it. Because that he, the wicked, remembered not to show mercy. but persecuted the poor needy man that he might even slay the broken in heart. As he, the wicked man, loved cursing, so let it come unto him. As he, the wicked man, did lie, if not in blessing, so let it be far from him. As he, the wicked man, clothed himself with cursing, like as with a garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones. Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him. Oh, wow!

[John Weaver] And for girdleworth, he is girded continually. Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the Lord and of them that speak evil against my soul." Note, if you would, Davidson, here's why I'm praying this. Because I want God to give to him that which he's dished out. I want God to make the punishment fit the crime. I want the law of retribution. I want the law of sowing and reaping.

[John Weaver] That's exactly What Psalm 109 is about. That's what the imprecatory prayers are about. That the wicked reap exactly that which they sow. Do you remember we read this from the book of Deuteronomy chapter 19? God talked about the man who was a false witness against his brother. And what did God say? As he thought to have done to his brother, so shall it be done to him. That's the law of retribution. That's making the punishment fit the crime. That's the law of sowing and reaping. So there is nothing in these imprecatory prayers that are unbiblical, ungodly, un-Christian, or contrary to the gospel. They fit right in with the analogy of faith.

[John Weaver] Now, let me try to make some applications, and I want you to think with me. I want you to note in the rest of this psalm that David desired three main things in these imprecatory prayers. Each one of these prayers and each one of these desires were upright and godly. We're told in the book of Psalms 37 in verse four, delight thyself in the Lord and he shall give thee desires of thy heart. Delight thyself in the Lord and he shall give thee desires of thy heart. Well, what were David's three desires in Psalm 109?

[John Weaver] First of all, here they are. Let's look. Number one. He desired to be delivered from His enemies. Look in Psalm 109, verse 21. But do thou for me, O God the Lord, for thy name's sake, because thy mercy is good, deliver thou me. Deliver thou me, for I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me. I am gone like a shadow when it declines.

[John Weaver] I am tossed up and down as the locusts. My knees are weak through fasting, and my flesh faileth, he says, for fatness. I became also reproachful to them when they looked upon me. They shake their heads. Help me, O Lord, my God. O save me according to thy mercy.

[John Weaver] Now, let me ask you a question. Is there anything unbiblical, ungodly, unchristian about wanting to be delivered from your enemies? No. Is there anything unbiblical, ungodly, unchristian in wanting to be delivered from the enemies of God? And the answer is no. And that's what David's praying. He said, Lord, look at these wicked men. Here's what they have been doing to me. Lord, I want to be delivered. Ah, here's the second one. David not only wanted to be delivered from his enemies. David wanted to be delivered in such a way that everyone would know that it was God who delivered him. Look in verse 27. Let's read verse 26. He says, Help me, O Lord my God, O save me according to Thy mercy, that they may know that this is Thy hand, and that Thy Lord has done it. Lord, You deliver me, but You deliver me in such a way that everyone is going to know that You did it. Is there anything wrong with that? Over and over in the Bible, the Bible says, Rise, O Lord.

[John Weaver] Show thyself, O Lord. Make bare thy arm, O Lord. Lord, deliver thy people. Prayer requests over and over. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be delivered from your enemies. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be delivered in such a way that everyone would know that God did it. And the third desire is this. David wanted to make sure that when he was delivered, And everyone knew that God did it. That God would receive all the honor and glory. Look in verse 28.

[John Weaver] He says, let them curse, but bless thou. When they arise, let them be ashamed, but let my servant rejoice. Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame and let them cover themselves with their own confusions with a mantle. I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth. Yeah, I will praise him among the multitude, for he shall stand at the right hand of the poor to save him from those that condemn his soul.

[John Weaver] David wanted God to receive all the honor and all the glory. Now, let me point out the fact, folks. We need to come to the realization. Did we have enemies? We do. The Bible is replete with that. We ought not to have enemies of our own making, that is, because of our own cussedness and unkindness and ungraciousness. But we're going to have enemies just virtue of the fact that we're Christians, just virtue of the fact that we belong to our Lord. Our Lord has enemies. God has enemies. The Bible said in Psalm 110 that he shall strike through his enemies. We do have enemies.

[John Weaver] And unhappily, in this day and time, they have the upper hand. They have the power. There should be in every one of us a desire to say, Oh God, rectify this situation, Lord. Rectify this situation. Destroy thou them. Bring them down. Elevate thy law. Elevate thy righteousness. Elevate thy son. Elevate thy people. We need to learn to pray, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Yes, now. That's what our Lord taught us to pray.

[John Weaver] I want you to turn to Psalm 140. Psalm 140. There are so many imprecatory Psalms. And so many implications in the Old Testament, as well as some of the new. I want to show you how applicable and apropos they are for today. I want you to look what David prays in Psalm 140. And just think, as I read these verses. If this would not be an appropriate prayer for you and I to learn to pray on a daily basis, Psalm 140, notice verse eight.

[John Weaver] Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked. Further not his wicked device, lest they exalt themselves. As for the head of those that compass me about, let the mischief of their own lips cover them. Let burning coals fall upon them. Let them be cast in the fire into deep pits that they rise not up again. Let not an evil speaker be established in the earth. Evil shall help the violent man to overthrow him. I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted and the right of the poor.

[John Weaver] Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name. The upright shall dwell in thy presence. All you have to do is look at the political scene today. Look in any branch of government that you want to look at today, and I think you could come to the realization that we need to pray, grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked, further not his wicked device, lest they exalt themselves. And we can pray these prayers and ask God to give us victory in time and history and deliver us in such a way that everyone will know that he did it and that he will receive all the honor and all the glory. I want to close in prayer, but here's what I want to do. I want you to look at Psalm 140. If you would, you pray silently as I pray. And if God has moved upon your heart to learn to pray these prayers, I ask that you would join me silently as we pray.

[John Weaver] Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we do bow to Thee this day. We acknowledge that Thou art the sovereign God of heaven and earth. Besides Thee, there is none other. We pray, Heavenly Father, today for the defeat and the overthrow of the wicked and the ungodly. Lord, they abound on every hand. There's the atheists. There's the humanists. There's the one worlders. There are those luminous. There are those who hate thee, Lord, left and right. And Lord, we pray with David, grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked. Further not his wicked advices, lest they exalt themselves. We pray, Heavenly Father, that thou wouldst indeed cast them down, that they rise not up again. We pray, Heavenly Father, as Thou didst say in the book of Psalms, break their teeth, O Lord. Break their teeth in their mouth. And we pray, Father, that Thou wouldst indeed break their power and, Lord, that Thou wouldst bring them to their knees. We pray, Father, that You would either do that in salvation or in condemnation, whatever way You please.

[John Weaver] But, Lord, Thou art God. Thou art the Sovereign of the universe. And, Father, on the other hand, at the same time, we pray as Thou hast taught us to pray, Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us, Lord, this day our daily bread. But, O God, we pray that You would indeed establish Lord Jesus Christ, establish His kingdom, establish His righteousness, establish His word, establish His gospel, establish His people, and let everyone know that Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords and God of gods. And, Father, we do indeed pray for the overthrow of all that opposes Thee in Thy kingdom, and for the establishment of all those that submit to thee and bow to thee, as thou didst tell the kings in Psalm 2, kiss the Son, lest he be angry with thee, and thou perish in the

[John Weaver] way when his wrath is kindled, but a little. Give us victory, O Lord, today, in time and in history. We ask and pray in thy most holy and blessed name. Amen and amen.

Imprecatory Prayer-4

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	3121144602776
Subject	Family Government
Course	The Christian Family: Children, Fatherhood, and Generational Faithfulness: The Family
Genre	Sermon
Date	2010-04-01
Dictation Name
Book	Book 046: The Imprecatory Prayer — Chapter 4
Source Timed Segments	116

Formatted Transcript

Introduction and Review

Weaver welcomes the audience, reviews the series on imprecatory prayer, and recaps key points: imprecations are curses, they are biblical, and they align with God’s justice.

Well, good evening, and I want to welcome you all back to the spring Bible conference here at Reedy River Presbyterian Church with Reverend John Weaver. We very much appreciate the messages you brought us. We know that we were asked to help to give a facility for you to do this, but I think everybody in our church feels like we've been blessed at least equally as much. And we thank you very much. This is the last in a four-part series that you're finishing, and we do appreciate everybody being here. We will have refreshments afterwards and fellowship so that we can, you know, chit-chat a little bit, get to know each other a little bit better. And do check your cell phones, make sure they're on silent. And I want to remind you of the free will offering boxes, baskets, one in the back here and one in the fellowship hall, if you feel so moved to contribute to the expenses and the ministry of Reverend Weaver. I think—do I see new faces? Do we need a bio on you anymore? All right, well, I think I'm just going to turn it over to you and let you bring us God's Word. Well, let me say I'm so thankful for the opportunity to be here, and I'm also thankful to the elders and the people of Reedy River Presbyterian Church for kind of letting us not only meet here, but being here and giving us all kind of support. And I trust the Word of God is blessed each one of you.

There's so much in the Scripture. I have preached for 45 years, and one thing I learn every time I read the Scripture is I don't know it all. There's no way in the world anyone, I don't guess, could ever know it all. But there's just so much in that Bible that it just absolutely amazes me. And I read a passage and read a passage and I preach on the passage, and the next thing I know, I turn and I see something I've just never seen before. The Word of God is just so full of truth. I want you tonight, please open your Bibles to Psalm 109. We are going to be taking up our fourth installment on imprecatory praying. And a few of you, of course, are here for the first time, and I would encourage you to get the three previous CDs and listen to them. And there's no way in the world I can review everything. I will take just a few moments to review and then get started. But notice, if you would, Psalm 109. And let's begin reading with verse 9, Psalm 109, verse 9. I will take a few moments and go back over the first eight verses. But look in verse 9.

God says, "Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. Let his children be continually vagabonds and beg, let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places. Let the extortioner catch all that he hath and let the stranger spoil his labor. Let there be none to extend mercy unto him, neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children. Let his posterity be cut off and in the generation following let their name be blotted out. Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. Let them be before the Lord continually that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth, because that he remembered not to show mercy, but persecuted the poor needy man that he might even slay the broken in heart. As he loved cursing,

so let it come unto him. As he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him. As he clothed himself with cursing like as with a garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, like oil into his bones. Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually." If you remember, I began the first night by telling you that an imprecation was a malediction. It was a curse, and that there are many imprecatory Psalms. That is where David curses the enemies of God and asks God to send a curse upon them. You'll find something like Psalm 7, Psalm 9, Psalm 35, Psalm 57, Psalm 58, Psalm 59, Psalm 69, Psalm 140—all these psalms. And plus, there are many other Old Testament as well as New Testament passages where curses are indeed placed upon individuals because of their rebellion to God. And then I pointed out the first night how that these imprecatory psalms and imprecatory prayers are not contrary to the gospel. They're not unbiblical. They're not un-Christian. They're not uncharitable. No, they are divinely inspired, like the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3:16 and 17. By the way, let me point out, when the Apostle wrote in 2 Timothy 3:16 and 17, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."

He was speaking primarily of the Old Testament because the New Testament had not been completed at that particular time. Of course, it would indeed apply to the New Testament books that had already been written, but he had in view primarily the Old Testament. So very obviously, there are indeed these imprecatory prayers that are just as applicable today as they were back then as well. On the second night, I tried to give you some very general principles concerning these imprecatory prayers, how that first of all, there is no contradiction between the Old Testament and the New Testament. There is no contradiction between law and grace. No, we have one Bible and we have one God. And the God of the New Testament is the same God as the God of the Old Testament. And there is no change in God. In fact, He said in Malachi 3:6, "I, the Lord, change not," referring there to His immutability.

Secondly, we pointed out by way of general principle that when David or any other biblical character prayed an imprecation, the result was left in the hands of God. We don't tell God how to exercise His vengeance. That's totally, completely up to Him. Thirdly, as a whole, we found out that even though David's imprecatory prayers were very severe against his enemies, David always treated his enemies very kindly and very graciously. Many times he had the opportunity to kill Saul, but he refused to do so. And you will find that is personally true in most of the biblical characters. Fourthly, I pointed out how church discipline is not very much different from the imprecatory prayers of the Old Testament, because the New Testament contains many curses and enunciations as well. And fifthly, I pointed out how the imprecatory prayers teach us that God has appointed us to victory and not to defeat. And then I went down and gave you all the—at least seven different purposes of these imprecatory prayers as we look at each individual prayer that I brought a purpose from and showed you exactly why David said he was praying that particular prayer. And then we came last night and we just tried to show you that overall, how that the imprecatory prayers evidence a purpose to see God's justice vindicated, His Word honored, His kingdom established, His righteousness prevailed, His people delivered, and of course, His name honored and glorified. And we began looking at Psalm 109 last night, and I pointed out how that there are two very general principles in the Bible that we need to be aware of as we look at Psalm 109.

The Lex Talionis and Family Sins

Weaver explains the law of retribution and introduces the concept of family sins, showing from Proverbs that God curses the house of the wicked.

Fourthly, I pointed out how church discipline is not very much different from the imprecatory prayers of the Old Testament, because the New Testament contains many curses and enunciations as well. And fifthly, I pointed out how the imprecatory prayers teach us that God has appointed us to victory and not to defeat. And then I went down and gave you all the—at least seven different purposes of these imprecatory prayers as we look at each individual prayer that I brought a purpose from and showed you exactly why David said he was praying that particular prayer. And then we came last night and we just tried to show you that overall, how that the imprecatory prayers evidence a purpose to see God's justice vindicated, His Word honored, His kingdom established, His righteousness prevailed, His people delivered, and of course, His name honored and glorified. And we began looking at Psalm 109 last night, and I pointed out how that there are two very general principles in the Bible that we need to be aware of as we look at Psalm 109.

The first one is known as the Lex Talionis. That is Latin, just simply for the law of retribution. And you find that in Exodus 21, Leviticus 24, Deuteronomy chapter 19, where God talks about an eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, stripe for stripe, burning for burning, life for life. And all God is saying there is that the punishment must fit the crime, and that's exactly what God does when He exercises divine retribution. He always makes the punishment fit the crime. Now, the New Testament part of the lex talionis, you and I know as the law of sowing and reaping. For in Galatians 6:7 and 8, he said, "Be not deceived. God is not mocked. Whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. And he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." And our Lord, in Matthew chapter 5, verses 38 through 42, was correcting the pharisaical misinterpretation and misapplication of His law because they took that to teach personal vengeance. And He says, no, it is not personal vengeance.

Now, last night, we looked at Psalm 109, verses 1 through 8. Very quickly, verse 1 is a cry for God to vindicate David. He said, "Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise." That is, Lord, step up and do something. Lord, say something. Lord, do exactly what needs to be done. So Psalm 109, verse 1 in this imprecatory prayer is indeed a cry for God to intercede for him. And then in verses 2 through 5 in Psalm 109, David describes his enemies, how wicked they really are, how that they speak deceitfully against him. They lie against him.

They compass him about with words of hatred. They fight against him without a cause. Although he loved them, they were still his adversaries and they rewarded him evil for good. And they gave him hatred for his love. And so when you get then to verse 6, you begin there with this imprecatory prayer that David prays, "Set thou a wicked man over him, and let Satan stand at his right hand.

When he shall be judged, let him be condemned. Let his prayer become sin." Then verse 8, "Let his days be few, and let another take his office." Now, we ended there last night. Now, I want you to note, if you would please, verse 9. And I want to take just the time to read a few of these verses again to show you the impact of this psalm. So look, if you would please, verse 8, Psalm 109. David prays, "Let his days be few and let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. Let his children be continually vagabonds and beg.

Let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places. Let the extortioner catch all that he hath and let the stranger spoil his labor. Let there be none to extend mercy unto him, neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children. Let his posterity be cut off in the generation following. Let their name be blotted out. Note, let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. Let them be before the Lord continually that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth."

Here's a question that must be answered in light of this imprecatory prayer that David is praying. I hope you notice as I read those verses that David's prayer against his enemy was extended to his wife and to his children as well. So the question that you have to ask is, is there a conflict between David's imprecatory prayer that he prays in Psalm 109 and what the Scripture teaches in Deuteronomy 24 and verse 16? Don't turn there, let me just quote it. For in Deuteronomy 24 and verse 16, God said,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 24:16

"The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers. Every man shall be put to death for his own sin."

You must remember that when King Joash put to death the men who murdered his father in 2 Kings chapter 14 in verse 6, we read this:

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 24:16

"But the children of the murderers he slew not, according to that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, where the Lord commanded, saying, The father shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the father, but every man shall be put to death for his own sin."

So when King Joash got a hold of the murderers of his father, he merely put them to death.

He did not bother the family. But notice, if you would please, when David prays in Psalm 109, this imprecatory prayer does not stop just simply with his enemy, but it extends to the enemy's family. Now, I told you last night that Psalm 109 is known as the Iscariotic Psalm because whoever David is praying against in Psalm 109, it finds the fulfillment in Judas Iscariot. And in Acts chapter 1, this passage is applied to Judas Iscariot. So here is a very malignant individual that David is praying against. So if David's enemies are cursed, think about this. Does the curse extend to the families? If it does extend to the families, why does it extend to them? And then you also have to ask this question: Are there biblical principles that are involved? And the answer very definitely is yes. Because what I'm trying to show you tonight is this: that everything that David prays in Psalm 109 is in agreement with the analogy of faith. There is nothing in Psalm 109 that is contrary to the rest of Scripture. There is nothing in Psalm 109 that would be contrary to New Testament or Old Testament.

We have one Bible, not two. Let me begin, because David is praying against even the family of his enemies. And so let me try to set the stage by showing you some of the principles. I want you to hold Psalm 109, but look in your Bibles, if you would, please, to Proverbs chapter 3 and look at verse 33. Proverbs chapter 3 and verse 33. And I want you to note the word "house" in these verses that I'm going to be showing you. Notice Proverbs 3 and verse 33. The Bible says, "The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked.

But he blesseth the habitation of the just." So here you have the curse of God that is in the house of the wicked. That is, the whole family is under the curse of God. But God blesses the habitation of the just. Now, let me make a statement, and I'm going to explain this just momentarily. But listen carefully. There are sins that extend to entire households. There are family sins. Look in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 15 and verse 27. Proverbs 15 and verse 27. Notice what the Bible says. Proverbs 15 verse 27. God says, "He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house, but he that hateth gifts shall live." Notice, he that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house.

Now, in times past and the not too distant past, I preached two messages which I entitled "Family Sins." And I took great pains to go through the Bible in the book of Genesis, and I demonstrated from the Bible how Jacob's sin affected his daughter, Dinah. How Dinah's sin affected her two brothers, Simeon and Levi. How Simeon and Levi's sins affected the entire family. You see, the Bible says that no man liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself in Romans chapter 14. Whatever we do always affects someone else, and it always affects someone else first in our own families. No man liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself.

Biblical Examples of Household Judgment

Using Haman, Dathan and Abiram, and Achan, Weaver demonstrates that entire families were judged because they were complicit in sin.

Now, I want you to consider a principle. Here's a principle, and that is God usually places His elect in households. He also usually places His enemies in households. Let me read the Scripture. In Psalm 68, in verse 6, the Bible says this:

Scripture Reading — Psalm 68:6

"God setteth the solitary in families. He bringeth out those that are bound with chains, but the rebellious dwell in a dry land."

Notice if you would, God setteth the solitary in families. Now, here's a general rule. Here's a general principle. Usually you find the godly in families. Usually you find the ungodly in families. Now, I understand that there are some exceptions to that rule. Occasionally, you're going to find a fool in a godly household, and occasionally, you're going to find a godly individual in a wicked household. I know there are exceptions, but I'm talking about generally speaking. You remember the passage in the book of Proverbs 22, verse 6, where God says, "Train up a child in the way that he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

Train up a child in the way that he should go. Do you understand that it is godly people who train their children in godly ways? Therefore, you usually have the godly in families. It is ungodly people who could care less about God's law, God's Word, God's truth. Therefore, they fail to train their children. And therefore, as usually happens, their children are wicked and ungodly. So usually, God places His elect in households, God places His enemies in households.

It is possible to curse one's own family. For instance, we're in the book of Proverbs. Go back, if you would, please, to Proverbs 11 and look at verse 17. Stick with me in Proverbs just momentarily. Proverbs 11. And notice, if you would, verse 17, God says, "The merciful man doeth good to his own soul, but he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh." Notice, he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh. Not just his physical body, but of course, that which would be his family as well. Look in Proverbs 12 and verse 7.

"The wicked are overthrown and are not, but the house of the righteous shall stand." So here you have a contrast between the house of the wicked and the house of the righteous. It's the house of the wicked that is overthrown and they are not, but the house of the righteous it shall stand. Look in Proverbs 13 and verse 13. He says it like this, "Whoso despiseth the word shall be destroyed. That would be the ungodly, but he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded." So if you despise the Word, inevitably you're going to be destroyed. So if you have a family, if you have a husband and wife who despise the Word, inevitably their children will end up despising as well. Usually speaking, look in Proverbs 14 and verse 11, Proverbs 14, verse 11, God says, "The house of the wicked shall be overthrown.

But the tabernacle of the upright shall flourish." Now the entire house of the wicked is to be overthrown. Now look in Proverbs 15 and verse 25. Proverbs 15 and verse 25, we read this: "The Lord will destroy the house of the proud, but he will establish the border of the widow." Now I want you to notice in all of these passages, God is talking about houses and He's talking about houses being destroyed. So He's talking about entire families.

Now, I've already made the statement that it is possible to curse your own family. You have to remember this, that usually entire families are involved in the same sins and therefore they receive the same punishment. It is not that the children necessarily are being cursed because of the sins of the father. No, those sins are being passed down. The children are being cursed for their own sins, but they are indeed family sins. And since they are equally guilty, they also share equally in the judgment and in the punishment of those sins.

Now, let me try to give you some illustrations. I'm going to give you just one to begin with. And I'm going to quote the Scripture, and then I'm going to ask you to turn to some. If I were to ask you, do you remember wicked Haman? And surely you remember Haman. You remember he is the man in the book of Esther that tried to have all the Jews killed. And of course, you remember how Esther, the queen, then got Ahasuerus, her husband, to overthrow that and all of this. But what you might have missed in your reading was it was not just Haman that was wiped out, but his sons as well. Even Haman's wife was one who gave him counsel. In the book of Esther, chapter 8 and verse 7, we read this: "Then the king Ahasuerus said unto Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman." Note, "I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him upon the gallows.

Scripture Reading — Esther 8:7; 9:14

Because he laid his hand upon the Jews."

Now you say that verse just says they hanged Haman. Yes, it does. But Esther 9 and verse 14 says this: "And the king commanded it so to be done, and the decree was given at Shushan, and they hanged Haman's ten sons." So it's not just Haman that was hanged. It was his ten sons that were hanged as well. Why were his ten sons hanged? And the answer is because they were complicit in their father's sin and their father's wickedness. They didn't die because of their father's sin. They died for their own sin in the participation of his wickedness.

Now, the same thing is true when you look at the Old Testament concerning Dathan and Abiram and Korah. I want you to turn in your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 11 and verse 6. Deuteronomy chapter 11 and look at verse 6. Then we'll go to Numbers chapter 16. But in Deuteronomy chapter 11 and verse 6 we read this. Watch carefully. Deuteronomy 11 and verse 6.

I'm just trying to prove a point from Scripture. And that point is you can curse your own family. And therefore, your entire family is under the judgment and the punishment of God. So in Deuteronomy, chapter 11, in verse 6, we read this:

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 11:6

"And what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben, how the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession, in the midst of all Israel."

Wow.

Now, the Bible says that it swallowed up their households. When you think about a household, you do indeed think of wife and children. Well, if you look in your Bibles to the book of Numbers, chapter 16, you'll find exactly what happened. And I don't have time to go over the rebellion of Dathan and Abiram and Korah, but they rebelled against God. They rebelled against Moses and Aaron. And in Numbers, chapter 16, beginning there with verse 27, I want you to look what the Bible says. Numbers 16, verse 27. "So they gat up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan and Abiram, on every side. And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood in the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little children. All of them were standing with these rebellious men. And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of mine own mind. If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men, then the Lord hath not sent me.

But if the Lord make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, that's wives and children, and they go down quick into the pit, then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord. And it came to pass, as he made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods. They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed up upon them, and they perished from among the congregation." Now I want you to note, here was Dathan, and Abiram, and Korah's entire household. They were all consumed. They were all destroyed. Why?

Because they were all complicit in the rebellion. They were equal. Moses already told the people, get away from these wicked men. Well, the wives and the children stayed with them, and so therefore they perished in their sins.

Now, if you will turn in your Bibles to the book of Joshua, chapter 7, I will show you another illustration of how you can curse your entire family and how families are usually complicit in family sins. Everyone knows the story in Joshua chapter 7. Joshua has instructed the people because God instructed him about the destruction of Jericho. They were not to touch anything in Jericho. Everything was dedicated to the Lord. It was dedicated to destruction. And notice, if you would, Joshua 7, verse 19, let's begin there, because Achan, you remember, is the man who did some stealing. So in Joshua chapter 7, beginning there at verse 19, "And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel and make confession unto him and tell me now what thou hast done.

Hide it not from me. And Achan answered Joshua and said, Indeed, I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done. When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonian garment and two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them and took them. And behold, they were hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it. So Joshua sent messengers and they ran into the tent, and behold, it was hid in the tent and the silver under it. And they took them out of the midst of the tent and brought them unto Joshua and all the children of Israel and laid them out before the Lord. And Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan the son of Zerah and the silver and the garment and the wedge of gold and his sons and his daughters and his oxen and his asses and his sheep and his tent and all that he had. And they brought them into the valley of Achor. And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us?

The Lord shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore, the name of that place was called the Valley of Achor unto this day."

Now, someone's going to say, but wait a minute, Brother Weaver, wait a minute. It was Achan who did the coveting. It was Achan who did the stealing. Yes, that is true. But may I ask you, where in the world did Achan hide all of those stolen goods? In his tent. That means his family had to know about it. They had to have seen it. They had to be complicit with it.

They knew about it and said absolutely nothing, and they therefore were equally guilty. And God judged the entire family. It is possible to curse your entire family. It is possible for such a thing as family sins to exist. For instance, you remember how God sent the children of Israel into Egypt and He told Abraham in Genesis 15, He said, you're going to go down there 400 years. But in the fourth generation, I'm going to bring you out. Why?

Because the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. And so after 400 years, God brought them out, put a sword in their hand. And what did God say? Kill everyone. Man, woman, child, ox. Kill them all. Why? Because all of them were equally sinful and equally guilty. So the point I'm trying to make is this: Don't think of Psalm 109 as saying, well, here is one guilty man and the other people are innocent.

No, no, it's not like that because of such a thing as family sins. And whenever you find a family sin, especially the father or mother, it's usually passed on down to the children and they engage in the same sins themselves. So let's go back with this understanding in mind and look at Psalm 109. Psalm 109. And you can see now exactly what is happening. Notice, if you would, please, and this is very important. Notice, if you would, how verse 8 begins with the word "let." And then you go all the way through verse 15 and you see the word "let" used at the beginning of every verse.

Exposition of Psalm 109:9–15

Weaver walks through each verse, explaining that David prays for the enemy’s death, his children to be vagabonds, his property seized, and his name blotted out, all as just retribution.

That just simply means this, that each of these is a specific prayer request in light of the wickedness of these people that have been revealed in verses 2 through 5. So let's begin with verse 9, where David says, "Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow." Now, if you look back at verse 8, David said this, "Let his days be few and let another take his office." In reality, verse 9 is just a repetition of verse 8. For instance, if the man's days are few, that means he dies. If another takes his office, he's not there to do it. Now it's emphasized in verse 9 when he said, "Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow." You can't have a widow without having a dead husband. You cannot have fatherless children without having a dead father. So basically what David is praying for is the death of this wicked man, very clearly, very obviously.

And so it is permissible, it is lawful, it is legitimate to pray for the deaths of wicked men. Now, I've covered the arguments against that the other night. I'm not going to go into that tonight, but I'm just simply saying this is a very specific prayer request. Now, he said, "Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow." Now skip down to verse 10, if you would. He says, "Let his children be continually vagabonds and beg and let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places."

Now, folks, I've got news for you. That is a very hard request. So now David says, not only let the man die, not only let him lose his office, not only let his wife be a widow, not only let his children be fatherless, but go even further, he says, let his children be vagabonds. Let them beg. Let them seek their bread in desolate places. You say now that is harsh. Well, may I tell you that was the same curse that God placed upon Cain in Genesis 4 and verse 12. And if you will hold Psalm 109, go back in your Bibles to Psalm 59, which is another imprecatory prayer. Psalm 59, and I will show you again here how David basically says the same thing. Psalm 59, beginning there with verse 11. Psalm 59, verse 11. David says concerning the wicked here, "Slay them not, lest my people forget, but rather scatter them by thy power and bring them down, O Lord our shield.

For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips, let them even be taken in their pride, and for cursing and lying which they speak. Now watch what he prays. Consume them in thy wrath. Consume them that they may not be. And let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. Watch verse 14. And at evening let them return, and let them make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.

Let them wander up and down for meat and grudge if they be not satisfied." Now here, David says, let them be like a stray dog. Nobody's going to feed them. Nobody wants them. No one cares for them. And so they just go up and down and grudge like a stray dog trying to find whatever they can find. You say, wow, that David, boy, he was really—he was really serious. And that can't be very compassionate. That can't be very kind. Oh, well, since you're going to say that about David, would you say the same thing about God? If you look in your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 2 and verse 36, you'll find that God Himself said the same thing concerning Eli's household. Notice 1 Samuel chapter 2 and verse 36. 1 Samuel chapter 2 and notice, if you would please, verse 36. God says this after He places the curse upon Eli and his household. He says this in verse 36, "And it shall come to pass that everyone that is left in thine house shall come and crouch down for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread and say, Put me, I pray thee, in one of the priest's offices that I may eat a piece of bread."

In other words, they're begging. They have absolutely nothing. And that's the curse that God placed upon Eli and his family. Now, I want you to look back to Psalm 109, and let's try to figure this thing out, because these things actually work together. It is cause and effect. It is step one, step two, step three. Watch this. Very clearly, if the father lost his life, he lost his office. If he lost his office, the wife is a widow. The children are fatherless. And since there is no way for them to make a living, they become destitute. They become vagabonds. They become beggars.

Let me tell you something that is exceedingly hard upon the wicked. And that is for a wicked individual to be born in what you and I would call the lap of luxury. Used to be living lavishly, getting what they want, when they want it. And all of a sudden, everything is cut off. They have lost everything. They have nothing. And now they turn to begging. If you will study history, you will find that God has often done that to a race of tyrants.

He's turned them into a generation of beggars. They've misused and abused authority and power, and their name has become a universal detestation and secured to the family nothing but absolute contempt. I could name powerful family names that are powerful in this country and in the world. And anyone who knows anything about biblical truth and biblical principles would hold those families in absolute contempt. I don't care how many multi-millions they possess. You know they were wicked. They were thieves. They were ungodly. They defrauded. They beat other people. They still continue to do that. And this is exactly what David is saying. David said, look, let them lose it all. Let them turn into beggars. I want to give you several quotes tonight, and the reason I'm going to give you these quotes—it's not just to try to fortify what I'm telling you. But I want you to see historically, Bible scholars have interpreted these verses exactly the same.

John Gill said it like this: "Wander from place to place, begging for their bread. This is denied of the children of good men in David's time." And then he quotes Psalm 37, verse 25, one of my favorite verses. David said, "I've been young, now I'm old, yet I've not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." OK, so he says, "Wander from place to place, begging for their bread. This is denied of the children of good men in David's time, yet was threatened to the children of Eli, 1 Samuel 2:36, and was very likely true of the children of Judas, and was certainly the case of multitudes of the children of Jews, the posterity of them that crucified Christ, at the time of their destruction by the Romans, when great numbers were dispersed and wandered about in various countries, as vagabonds, begging their bread from door to door, which is reckoned by them a great affliction and very distressing." No language could be more awful than that of Psalm 109, verses 6 through 19.

It embraces almost every misery that we can think of. But could any man be in a more wretched condition than Judas was? Could any words be too severe to express the depth of his misery? Of him who for three whole years had been the constant attendant of the Savior of mankind, who had witnessed His miracles, had shared His miraculous powers, who had enjoyed all the warnings, all the reproofs of His love, and then had betrayed Him for thirty pieces of silver. Can we conceive a condition more miserable than that of Judas? And this psalm is a prophecy of the punishment that should overtake him for his sin. Peter, in the Acts of the Apostles, quotes part of this psalm and applies it to Judas. He applies it as a prophecy of the punishment that he should suffer on the betrayal of the Son of God. You please remember, whoever David is praying against in Psalm 109, it finds its fulfillment in Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus Christ. So David prays in verse 8, "Let his days be few, let another take his office.

Let his children be fatherless, his wife a widow. Let his children be continually vagabonds. Let them beg, let them have nothing." Look, if you would please, in verse 11. "Let the extortioner catch all that he hath, and let strangers spoil his goods. Let the extortioner catch all that he hath, and let strangers spoil his labor or his goods." Now, the extortioner here is the usurer. He's the creditor. What happens when a woman loses her husband, has no money coming in to support herself or her children?

For a little while, she has some property and she mortgages it with the hopes of somehow holding on and eating just for a little while. But the next thing you know, that mortgage money is gone. And the man who's holding the mortgage is knocking on the door saying, I want this property. You need to get out and you need to get out right now. Actually, verse 11 is a consequence of verses 9 and 10. And so the prayer is that the extortioner or the usurer is going to catch all that this man ever had. And strangers are going to spoil his labor.

Now, Adam Clarke, in his commentary on Psalm 109, quotes the Roman poet Juvenal, who died in 140 A.D., as saying this. Now, listen carefully. This is so astounding, but Juvenal writes, "Many of these execrations were literally fulfilled in the case of the miserable Jews after the death of our Lord. They were not only expelled from their own country after the destruction of Jerusalem, but they were prohibited from returning and so taxed by the Roman government that they were reduced to the lowest degree of poverty. Domitian expelled them from Rome. And they were obliged to take up their habitation without the gate Capena, in a wood contiguous to the city, for which they were obliged to pay a rent, and where the whole of their property was only a basket and a little hay." Wow. So Juvenal, who died in 140, says this literally took place concerning those Jews who said, "Let him be crucified, let him be crucified. His blood be upon us and upon our children." What did they do?

They cursed their own families. Look in verse 12, if you would please. He continues this imprecatory prayer, and he says, "Let there be none to extend mercy unto him, neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children." Wow! Let no one feel sorry for him. Well, he's dead and gone. But more than that, let no one even show mercy or favor or kindness to his fatherless children. In other words, let absolutely no one be sympathetic toward him or toward them. No mercy to be shown to them. No kindness to be shown to them.

You say, now that's hard. Well, I want to give you a quote. I want you to listen to what Calvin said on this verse, and he is dead on. Listen to what he said: "David, however, includes also the wicked man himself, along with his children, as if he should say, Though he visibly pine away under such calamities and these descend to his children, yet let no one show pity towards them. We are aware it not infrequently happens, that the long continued misfortune of an enemy either excites the sympathy of men of savage dispositions or else make them forget all their hatred and malice. But in this part of the psalm, David expresses a desire that his enemy and all his posterity may be so hated and so detested that the people may never be wearied with beholding the calamities which they endure, but may become so familiarized with the spectacle as if their hearts were of iron. At the same time, let it be remarked that David is not rashly excited by any personal anguish to speak in this matter, but that it is as God's messenger he declares the punishment which was impending over the ungodly.

And verily, the law counts it as one of the judgments of God, His hardening men's hearts, so that they who have been passionately and unmercifully cruel should find no sympathy. Deuteronomy 2:30, it is just that the same measure which they have used toward others should also be meted out to themselves." Now, don't you listen to what Calvin said. Calvin said it just like this: It is the natural tendency when a wicked man dies, everybody forgets how wicked he was and his sins and his ungodliness. And then they begin to speak well of him. And the next thing you know, they're sympathetic toward his children. And although his children now are reaping the rewards of their father's wickedness, and what David is praying is that men will never forget the wickedness of this wicked man which descended upon the children. And therefore, he's praying that no one will be sympathetic or kind even to their children. Spurgeon said it like this: "We are staggered to find the children included in the father's sentence. And yet as a matter of fact, children do suffer for their father's sins.

And as long as the affairs of this life are ordered as they are, it must be so. So involved are the interests of the race that it is quite impossible in all respects to view the father and the child apart. No man among us could desire to see the fatherless suffer for their deceased father's fault. Yet so it happens, and there is no injustice in that fact. They share the parent's ill-gotten gain or rank. And their aggrandizement is a part of the object at which he aimed in the perpetuation of his crimes. To allow them to prosper, that is the children, would be an encouragement and a reward of his iniquity. And therefore, for these and other reasons, a man perishes not alone in his iniquity. The ban is on his race or his family. If the man were innocent, this would be a crime.

If he were but commonly guilty, it would be excessive retribution. But when the offense reeks before high heaven, it is an unutterable abomination. It is a little marvel that men devote the man's whole house to perpetual infamy. And so it happens." Isn't that amazing? Hear all of these commentators saying, we understand exactly what David is praying. Here's a wicked, ungodly, reprobate man. And he's done that which is wrong. He's amassed a great fortune, whatever. And now he's lost it all.

He got it through sin. He got it through wickedness. He got it through crime. And now you want someone to bless his children who participated and were involved in that sin and involved in that crime? No. He said it should not be. In fact, let me show you exactly David's position. And once again, I will show you it as the biblical position. Notice in Psalm 109 and verse 13, look what David says. After he prays that no one will extend mercy unto these children or to this man, he says in verse 13, "Let his posterity be cut off.

And in the generation following, let their name be blotted out." Wow. Let his posterity be cut off. And in the generation following, let his name be blotted out. So if this man's name happened to be Iscariot, and I'm just using it as an illustration, what he is saying is this: let there be no more Iscariots, period. Let his posterity be cut off. And in the next generation, let the name be blotted out so that no one would even remember the name.

Now, let me show you what a curse this is. This may not sound like so great a curse to you, but you have to remember a numerous posterity. To have the family name perpetuated was regarded among the Hebrews as one of the greatest and most desirable blessings. Now, to have the family name cut off and the memory destroyed was a severe malediction. It was a severe curse that could fall upon anyone. And David is asking exactly this, that in the generation following, the very next generation, let not his family be perpetuated at all. Let the name be blotted out completely. You've got to remember that in deeds of wickedness, there are always individuals who are prime movers.

They're the ringleader, so to speak. And then there are others who follow. There are others who participate. And what he is doing in this verse is saying, Lord, I don't want just the ringleaders taken care of. I don't want just the prime movers taken care of. I want all of those who follow him to be taken care of as well. Charles Haddon Spurgeon said it like this: "Both from existence and from memory, let them pass away.

Till none shall know that such a vile brood ever existed. Who wishes to see the family of Domitian or Julian continued upon earth? Who would mourn if the race of Tom Paine or Voltaire should come to an utter end? It would be undesirable that the sons of the utterly villainous and bloodthirsty should rise to honor, and if they did, would only revive the memory of their father's name." So he said it's only just. It's only the lex talionis. It's only the law of retribution. It's only the law of sowing and reaping.

Now, look at verses 14 and 15. After he prays, "Let their posterity be cut off in the generation following. Let their name be blotted out." Verse 14, "Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. Let them be before the Lord continually." Watch carefully, "that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth." May I remind you of Exodus 20 and verse 5, where the Bible teaches us that God visits the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Him. God visits the iniquities of the father unto the children, unto the third and fourth generation of those that hate Him. The children are not necessarily just suffering for the sin of the father. The children also hate God. The father taught them to hate God as well. And so David is praying here, let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord. In other words, everything that his father and his grandfather and his great-grandfather did, whoever they were, however wicked they were, let God not forget one sin, but hold every sin accountable.

And then he says, "And let not the sin of the mother be blotted out." Now, some would argue that this is just Hebrew parallelism. He mentioned the fathers, now he has to mention the mother. But it could be more than that. David said in Psalm 51 and verse 5, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me." So he's not only pointing out the fact that his mother was a sinner, as all of us are, but he could also be pointing out the fact in verse 14 here that this mother of this wicked man might be an especially wicked sinner. And therefore, she has sins of her own as well. And so he wants those sins remembered before the Lord.

Now, look at verse 15. Look at this prayer request. "Let them be before the Lord continually," that is all these sins,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 34:16

"that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth."

I want you to turn to Psalm 34 and look at verse 16. Psalm 34 and verse 16. Psalm 34 and verse 16. Look what the Bible says,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 34:16

"The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth."

The face of the Lord is against them that do evil to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. And the Bible says in the book of Proverbs that the memory of the just is blessed, but the name of the wicked shall rot. I could call out some names of wicked men. You may have heard of some of those names or read about them, but you know nothing about those men or you know nothing about their families anymore. And for all practical purposes, their memory has been wiped out. Their name literally has rotted.

The Reason for the Imprecation (Psalm 109:16–20)

David’s prayer is grounded in the enemy’s own mercilessness and love of cursing; God will repay him according to his deeds.

Spurgeon said it like this: "This verse," talking about verse 15, "is perhaps the most terrible of all. But yet, as a matter of fact, children do procure punishment upon their parents' sin and are often themselves the means of such punishment." Now, listen, you can hear this today. Spurgeon writes, "A bad son brings to mind his father's bad points of character. And people say, 'Ah, he's just like his old man. He takes after his father.' A mother's sins also will be sure to be called to mind if her daughter becomes grossly wicked. Oh, they will say, 'There's little wonder when you consider what her mother was.' These are matters of everyday occurrence."

"We cannot, however, pretend to explain the righteousness of this malediction, though we fully believe in it. We leave it to our heavenly Father until He is pleased to give us further instruction. Yet as a man's faults are often learned from his parents, it is not unjust that his consequent crimes should recoil upon them." When you look at Psalm 109, at each one of these prayer requests, and you see David praying, not just for his enemy's death, but that his children be fatherless, his children be vagabonds and beggars, that the children go around like dogs, grudging for food, that the extortioner, the usurer, gets all that they have, that no one extends them mercy, that their posterity is cut off, that their name is blotted out, and he then prays that God will constantly remember the sins of their fathers, even the sins of the mother, and hold them against them—you have to ask this question: Was David just simply vindictive, vengeful, and vicious? And the answer is no. A thousand times no. What David is praying is the lex talionis, the law of retribution, the law of sowing and reaping. He is asking God to do that which God has already said that He would do. Well, where did God say something like that?

Look in your Bibles to Psalm 7 and verse 16, and then we're going to come back and I will show you. Look in Psalm 7 and verse 16. Here's what God says concerning the wicked. Psalm 7 and verse 16. Look what He says. Psalm 7, verse 16. In fact, let's read verse 14 just to show you how the wicked man is. God says,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 7:14-16

"Behold, he travaileth with iniquity,

and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood. He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made." Now look what God does. "His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate." And then He says, "I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness, and will sing praise to the name of the Lord." The Bible tells us that God is known by the judgment which He executeth. And what does God do? God lets the wicked fall into the ditch that they dig. God brings down their violent dealings on top of their own head. Whatever they plan for someone else, that's exactly what God will do for them as well.

Now, let me show you. Go back to Psalm 109, if you would, please. And let's begin reading there with verse 16. I want you to think now of the lex talionis and the law of sowing and reaping as I read the next four verses. Look at verse 16. "Because." Now watch. "Because." Why did David just pray all these imprecatory prayer requests? Why? Because. Here's why. Not because David is vindictive.

Not because he's vicious and vengeful. Not because he's uncompassionate and unkind. Here's why he prays it: "Because that he," the wicked, "remembered not to show mercy, but persecuted the poor needy man that he might even slay the broken in heart. As he," the wicked man, "loved cursing, so let it come unto him. As he," the wicked man, "delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him. As he," the wicked man, "clothed himself with cursing like as with a garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones. Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him." Oh, wow!

"And for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually. Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the Lord and of them that speak evil against my soul." Note, if you would, David says, here's why I'm praying this. Because I want God to give to him that which he's dished out. I want God to make the punishment fit the crime. I want the law of retribution. I want the law of sowing and reaping. That's exactly what Psalm 109 is about. That's what the imprecatory prayers are about. That the wicked reap exactly that which they sow. Do you remember we read this from the book of Deuteronomy chapter 19? God talked about the man who was a false witness against his brother. And what did God say? "As he thought to have done to his brother, so shall it be done to him." That's the law of retribution. That's making the punishment fit the crime. That's the law of sowing and reaping. So there is nothing in these imprecatory prayers that are unbiblical, ungodly, un-Christian, or contrary to the gospel. They fit right in with the analogy of faith.

David’s Three Godly Desires

Weaver identifies David’s desires: deliverance from enemies, public recognition of God’s hand, and God’s glory. These are righteous and biblical.

Now, let me try to make some applications, and I want you to think with me. I want you to note in the rest of this psalm that David desired three main things in these imprecatory prayers. Each one of these prayers and each one of these desires were upright and godly. We're told in the book of Psalms 37 in verse 4, "Delight thyself in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thy heart." Delight thyself in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thy heart. Well, what were David's three desires in Psalm 109? First of all, here they are. Let's look. Number one. He desired to be delivered from his enemies. Look in Psalm 109, verse 21.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 109:21-31

"But do thou for me, O God the Lord, for thy name's sake, because thy mercy is good, deliver thou me. Deliver thou me, for I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me. I am gone like a shadow when it declines.

I am tossed up and down as the locusts. My knees are weak through fasting, and my flesh faileth," he says, "for fatness. I became also a reproach unto them. When they looked upon me, they shake their heads. Help me, O Lord my God. O save me according to thy mercy."

Now, let me ask you a question. Is there anything unbiblical, ungodly, unchristian about wanting to be delivered from your enemies? No. Is there anything unbiblical, ungodly, unchristian in wanting to be delivered from the enemies of God? And the answer is no. And that's what David's praying. He said, Lord, look at these wicked men. Here's what they have been doing to me. Lord, I want to be delivered. Ah, here's the second one. David not only wanted to be delivered from his enemies. David wanted to be delivered in such a way that everyone would know that it was God who delivered him. Look in verse 27. Let's read verse 26. He says, "Help me, O Lord my God, O save me according to thy mercy, that they may know that this is thy hand, and that thou, Lord, hast done it." Lord, You deliver me, but You deliver me in such a way that everyone is going to know that You did it. Is there anything wrong with that? Over and over in the Bible, the Bible says, "Rise, O Lord.

Show thyself, O Lord. Make bare thy arm, O Lord. Lord, deliver thy people." Prayer requests over and over. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be delivered from your enemies. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be delivered in such a way that everyone would know that God did it. And the third desire is this: David wanted to make sure that when he was delivered, and everyone knew that God did it, that God would receive all the honor and glory. Look in verse 28.

He says, "Let them curse, but bless thou. When they arise, let them be ashamed, but let thy servant rejoice. Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame and let them cover themselves with their own confusion as with a mantle. I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth. Yea, I will praise him among the multitude, for he shall stand at the right hand of the poor to save him from those that condemn his soul." David wanted God to receive all the honor and all the glory. Now, let me point out the fact, folks. We need to come to the realization, do we have enemies? We do. The Bible is replete with that. We ought not to have enemies of our own making, that is, because of our own cussedness and unkindness and ungraciousness. But we're going to have enemies just by virtue of the fact that we're Christians, just by virtue of the fact that we belong to our Lord. Our Lord has enemies. God has enemies. The Bible said in Psalm 110 that He shall strike through His enemies. We do have enemies.

Application for Today

Believers should pray for the defeat of the wicked and the establishment of God’s kingdom, using Psalm 140 as a model.

And unhappily, in this day and time, they have the upper hand. They have the power. There should be in every one of us a desire to say, "Oh God, rectify this situation, Lord. Rectify this situation. Destroy Thou them. Bring them down. Elevate Thy law. Elevate Thy righteousness. Elevate Thy Son. Elevate Thy people." We need to learn to pray, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Yes, now. That's what our Lord taught us to pray.

I want you to turn to Psalm 140. Psalm 140. There are so many imprecatory Psalms and so many implications in the Old Testament, as well as some of the New. I want to show you how applicable and apropos they are for today. I want you to look what David prays in Psalm 140. And just think, as I read these verses, if this would not be an appropriate prayer for you and I to learn to pray on a daily basis. Psalm 140, notice verse 8.

"Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked. Further not his wicked device, lest they exalt themselves. As for the head of those that compass me about, let the mischief of their own lips cover them. Let burning coals fall upon them. Let them be cast in the fire into deep pits that they rise not up again. Let not an evil speaker be established in the earth. Evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him. I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted and the right of the poor.

Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name. The upright shall dwell in thy presence." All you have to do is look at the political scene today. Look in any branch of government that you want to look at today, and I think you could come to the realization that we need to pray,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 140:8-13

"Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked, further not his wicked device, lest they exalt themselves."

And we can pray these prayers and ask God to give us victory in time and history and deliver us in such a way that everyone will know that He did it and that He will receive all the honor and all the glory. I want to close in prayer, but here's what I want to do. I want you to look at Psalm 140. If you would, you pray silently as I pray. And if God has moved upon your heart to learn to pray these prayers, I ask that you would join me silently as we pray.

Closing Prayer

Weaver leads a prayer asking God to overthrow the wicked, break their power, and establish Christ’s kingdom, echoing the imprecatory psalms.

Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we do bow to Thee this day. We acknowledge that Thou art the sovereign God of heaven and earth. Besides Thee, there is none other. We pray, Heavenly Father, today for the defeat and the overthrow of the wicked and the ungodly. Lord, they abound on every hand. There's the atheists. There's the humanists. There's the one-worlders. There are those luminaries. There are those who hate Thee, Lord, left and right. And Lord, we pray with David, grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked. Further not his wicked devices, lest they exalt themselves. We pray, Heavenly Father, that Thou wouldst indeed cast them down, that they rise not up again. We pray, Heavenly Father, as Thou didst say in the book of Psalms, break their teeth, O Lord. Break their teeth in their mouth. And we pray, Father, that Thou wouldst indeed break their power and, Lord, that Thou wouldst bring them to their knees. We pray, Father, that You would either do that in salvation or in condemnation, whatever way You please.

But, Lord, Thou art God. Thou art the Sovereign of the universe. And, Father, on the other hand, at the same time, we pray as Thou hast taught us to pray, Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us, Lord, this day our daily bread. But, O God, we pray that You would indeed establish Lord Jesus Christ, establish His kingdom, establish His righteousness, establish His Word, establish His gospel, establish His people, and let everyone know that Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords and God of gods. And, Father, we do indeed pray for the overthrow of all that opposes Thee and Thy kingdom, and for the establishment of all those that submit to Thee and bow to Thee, as Thou didst tell the kings in Psalm 2, "Kiss the Son, lest He be angry with thee, and thou perish in the

way when His wrath is kindled but a little." Give us victory, O Lord, today, in time and in history. We ask and pray in Thy most holy and blessed name. Amen and amen.

Study Guide

Major Themes

Lex Talionis (Law of Retribution)

Summary: God’s punishment always fits the crime; the wicked reap what they sow.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'the punishment must fit the crime, and that's exactly what God does when He exercises divine retribution.'

Family Sins and Corporate Judgment

Summary: Sins often extend to entire households, and families share in guilt and punishment.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'There are sins that extend to entire households. There are family sins.'

The Righteousness of Imprecatory Prayer

Summary: David’s curses are not personal vengeance but a call for God’s justice in line with Scripture.

Evidence: Weaver argues, 'What David is praying is the lex talionis, the law of retribution, the law of sowing and reaping.'

God’s Sovereignty in Judgment

Summary: God alone executes vengeance; believers leave the results to Him.

Evidence: Weaver notes, 'the result was left in the hands of God. We don't tell God how to exercise His vengeance.'

Praying for the Defeat of the Wicked

Summary: Believers should pray for the overthrow of God’s enemies and the vindication of His name.

Evidence: Weaver exhorts, 'we need to pray, Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked, further not his wicked device.'

Key Arguments

Imprecatory prayers are consistent with the whole Bible.

Summary: There is no contradiction between Old Testament curses and New Testament grace; God is immutable.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'there is no contradiction between the Old Testament and the New Testament... the God of the New Testament is the same God as the God of the Old Testament.'

Family judgment is just because families share in sin.

Summary: Children are not punished for the father’s sin alone but for their own participation in family sins.

Evidence: Weaver explains, 'The children are being cursed for their own sins, but they are indeed family sins.'

David’s imprecation is based on the enemy’s own actions.

Summary: The curses in Psalm 109 are a direct application of sowing and reaping; the enemy loved cursing, so cursing comes upon him.

Evidence: Weaver reads, 'As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him.'

It is lawful to pray for the death of the wicked.

Summary: David’s prayer for the enemy’s death is a legitimate request for God’s justice.

Evidence: Weaver asserts, 'it is permissible, it is lawful, it is legitimate to pray for the deaths of wicked men.'

Imprecatory prayers aim at God’s glory and kingdom.

Summary: David’s ultimate desire is that God would be honored and His people delivered.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'David wanted to make sure that when he was delivered... God would receive all the honor and glory.'

Scripture References

Psalm 109:9-19

Context: The primary text of the sermon, containing David’s imprecatory prayer against his enemy and his family.

Deuteronomy 24:16

Context: Quoted to raise the question of whether David’s prayer conflicts with the principle that children are not put to death for fathers’ sins.

Proverbs 3:33

Context: Used to show that the curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked.

Proverbs 15:27

Context: Cited to demonstrate that greed troubles one’s own house.

Psalm 68:6

Context: God sets the solitary in families; used to argue that God places both the godly and ungodly in households.

Esther 8:7; 9:14

Context: Haman and his ten sons were hanged, illustrating family complicity in sin.

Deuteronomy 11:6

Context: Dathan and Abiram’s households were swallowed up, showing corporate judgment.

Numbers 16:27-33

Context: The rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram resulted in the destruction of their entire families.

Joshua 7:19-26

Context: Achan’s family was stoned with him because they were complicit in his theft.

1 Samuel 2:36

Context: God’s curse on Eli’s house included begging for bread, paralleling Psalm 109:10.

Exodus 20:5

Context: God visits iniquity to the third and fourth generation; cited to support the idea of family sins.

Psalm 34:16

Context: The face of the Lord is against evildoers to cut off their memory; parallels Psalm 109:15.

Psalm 7:14-16

Context: The wicked fall into their own pit; God’s retribution is just.

Psalm 109:21-31

Context: David’s prayer for deliverance and God’s glory, showing his righteous desires.

Psalm 140:8-13

Context: A model imprecatory prayer for believers today, asking God to thwart the wicked.

Historical References

John Gill’s commentary on Psalm 109

Context: Gill notes that the children of Judas and the Jews after Christ’s crucifixion became vagabonds and beggars.

Adam Clarke’s commentary quoting Juvenal (died 140 A.D.)

Context: Juvenal describes the Jews after the destruction of Jerusalem being reduced to poverty and expelled from Rome.

John Calvin’s commentary on Psalm 109:12

Context: Calvin explains that David prays as God’s messenger, declaring impending punishment, and that it is just for the merciless to receive no mercy.

Charles Spurgeon’s commentary on Psalm 109

Context: Spurgeon comments on the justice of children suffering for fathers’ sins and the terribleness of the curse.

Domitian, Julian, Tom Paine, Voltaire

Context: Spurgeon mentions these figures as examples of wicked men whose families one would not wish to see continued.

Important Quotes

Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. Let his children be continually vagabonds and beg, let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.

Significance: This is the core imprecation extending judgment to the enemy’s family, which Weaver defends as just retribution.

Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked. Further not his wicked device, lest they exalt themselves.

Significance: Weaver presents this as a model prayer for believers today against the wicked.

Let them be before the Lord continually that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.

Significance: Highlights the severity of the curse: total obliteration of the wicked from memory.

Discussion Questions

How does the concept of family sins challenge modern individualism in our understanding of guilt and judgment?

Context: Weaver argues that entire households can be complicit in sin and share in punishment.

In what ways can we pray imprecatory prayers today without falling into personal vengeance?

Context: Weaver emphasizes leaving vengeance to God and praying for His justice and glory.

How should we reconcile David’s harsh prayers with Jesus’ command to love our enemies?

Context: Weaver argues there is no contradiction; imprecatory prayers are for God’s enemies, not personal ones.

What are some modern examples of family sins or corporate guilt that might warrant imprecatory prayer?

Context: Weaver mentions political and cultural enemies of God as targets for such prayers.

How does the lex talionis (eye for eye) relate to the New Testament teaching on grace and forgiveness?

Context: Weaver explains that the lex talionis is about God’s justice, not personal revenge, and is fulfilled in sowing and reaping.

Applications

Pray for the defeat of the wicked

Summary: Believers should pray that God would thwart the plans of the ungodly and bring them down.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'we need to pray, Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked, further not his wicked device.'

Desire God’s glory in deliverance

Summary: When praying for deliverance, ask that God would act in such a way that He receives all honor.

Evidence: Weaver notes David’s desire: 'that they may know that this is thy hand, and that thou, Lord, hast done it.'

Leave vengeance to God

Summary: Do not take personal revenge; trust God to execute justice in His time and way.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'the result was left in the hands of God. We don't tell God how to exercise His vengeance.'

Recognize family influence in sin and righteousness

Summary: Understand that sins and blessings often extend to households; train children in godliness.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'Train up a child in the way that he should go... it is godly people who train their children in godly ways.'

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Imprecatory Prayer-4

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Well, good evening, and I want to welcome you all back to the spring Bible conference here at Reedy River Presbyterian Church with Reverend John Weaver. We very much appreciate the messages you brought us. We know that we were asked to help to give a facility for you to do this, but I think everybody in our church feels like we've been blessed at least equally as much. And we thank you very much. This is the last in a four-part series that you're finishing, and we do appreciate everybody being here. We will have refreshments afterwards and fellowship so that we can, you know, chit-chat a little bit, get to know each other a little bit better.
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And do check your cell phones, make sure they're on silent. And I want to remind you of the free will offering boxes, baskets, one in the back here and one in the fellowship hall, if you feel so moved to contribute to the expenses and the ministry of Reverend Weaver. I think—do I see new faces? Do we need a bio on you anymore? All right, well, I think I'm just going to turn it over to you and let you bring us God's Word. Well, let me say I'm so thankful for the opportunity to be here, and I'm also thankful to the elders and the people of Reedy River Presbyterian Church for kind of letting us not only meet here, but being here and giving us all kind of support. And I trust the Word of God is blessed each one of you.
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There's so much in the Scripture. I have preached for 45 years, and one thing I learn every time I read the Scripture is I don't know it all. There's no way in the world anyone, I don't guess, could ever know it all. But there's just so much in that Bible that it just absolutely amazes me. And I read a passage and read a passage and I preach on the passage, and the next thing I know, I turn and I see something I've just never seen before. The Word of God is just so full of truth.
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I want you tonight, please open your Bibles to Psalm 109. We are going to be taking up our fourth installment on imprecatory praying. And a few of you, of course, are here for the first time, and I would encourage you to get the three previous CDs and listen to them. And there's no way in the world I can review everything. I will take just a few moments to review and then get started. But notice, if you would, Psalm 109. And let's begin reading with verse 9, Psalm 109, verse 9. I will take a few moments and go back over the first eight verses. But look in verse 9.
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God says, "Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. Let his children be continually vagabonds and beg, let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places. Let the extortioner catch all that he hath and let the stranger spoil his labor. Let there be none to extend mercy unto him, neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children. Let his posterity be cut off and in the generation following let their name be blotted out. Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. Let them be before the Lord continually that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth, because that he remembered not to show mercy, but persecuted the poor needy man that he might even slay the broken in heart. As he loved cursing,
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so let it come unto him. As he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him. As he clothed himself with cursing like as with a garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, like oil into his bones. Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually." If you remember, I began the first night by telling you that an imprecation was a malediction.
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It was a curse, and that there are many imprecatory Psalms. That is where David curses the enemies of God and asks God to send a curse upon them. You'll find something like Psalm 7, Psalm 9, Psalm 35, Psalm 57, Psalm 58, Psalm 59, Psalm 69, Psalm 140—all these psalms. And plus, there are many other Old Testament as well as New Testament passages where curses are indeed placed upon individuals because of their rebellion to God. And then I pointed out the first night how that these imprecatory psalms and imprecatory prayers are not contrary to the gospel. They're not unbiblical. They're not un-Christian. They're not uncharitable. No, they are divinely inspired, like the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3:16 and 17. By the way, let me point out, when the Apostle wrote in 2 Timothy 3:16 and 17, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."
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He was speaking primarily of the Old Testament because the New Testament had not been completed at that particular time. Of course, it would indeed apply to the New Testament books that had already been written, but he had in view primarily the Old Testament. So very obviously, there are indeed these imprecatory prayers that are just as applicable today as they were back then as well. On the second night, I tried to give you some very general principles concerning these imprecatory prayers, how that first of all, there is no contradiction between the Old Testament and the New Testament. There is no contradiction between law and grace.
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No, we have one Bible and we have one God. And the God of the New Testament is the same God as the God of the Old Testament. And there is no change in God. In fact, He said in Malachi 3:6, "I, the Lord, change not," referring there to His immutability.
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Secondly, we pointed out by way of general principle that when David or any other biblical character prayed an imprecation, the result was left in the hands of God. We don't tell God how to exercise His vengeance. That's totally, completely up to Him. Thirdly, as a whole, we found out that even though David's imprecatory prayers were very severe against his enemies, David always treated his enemies very kindly and very graciously.
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Many times he had the opportunity to kill Saul, but he refused to do so. And you will find that is personally true in most of the biblical characters.
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Fourthly, I pointed out how church discipline is not very much different from the imprecatory prayers of the Old Testament, because the New Testament contains many curses and enunciations as well. And fifthly, I pointed out how the imprecatory prayers teach us that God has appointed us to victory and not to defeat. And then I went down and gave you all the—at least seven different purposes of these imprecatory prayers as we look at each individual prayer that I brought a purpose from and showed you exactly why David said he was praying that particular prayer. And then we came last night and we just tried to show you that overall, how that the imprecatory prayers evidence a purpose to see God's justice vindicated, His Word honored, His kingdom established, His righteousness prevailed, His people delivered, and of course, His name honored and glorified. And we began looking at Psalm 109 last night, and I pointed out how that there are two very general principles in the Bible that we need to be aware of as we look at Psalm 109.
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The first one is known as the Lex Talionis. That is Latin, just simply for the law of retribution. And you find that in Exodus 21, Leviticus 24, Deuteronomy chapter 19, where God talks about an eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, stripe for stripe, burning for burning, life for life. And all God is saying there is that the punishment must fit the crime, and that's exactly what God does when He exercises divine retribution. He always makes the punishment fit the crime. Now, the New Testament part of the lex talionis, you and I know as the law of sowing and reaping.
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For in Galatians 6:7 and 8, he said, "Be not deceived. God is not mocked. Whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. And he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." And our Lord, in Matthew chapter 5, verses 38 through 42, was correcting the pharisaical misinterpretation and misapplication of His law because they took that to teach personal vengeance. And He says, no, it is not personal vengeance.
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Now, last night, we looked at Psalm 109, verses 1 through 8. Very quickly, verse 1 is a cry for God to vindicate David. He said, "Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise." That is, Lord, step up and do something. Lord, say something. Lord, do exactly what needs to be done. So Psalm 109, verse 1 in this imprecatory prayer is indeed a cry for God to intercede for him. And then in verses 2 through 5 in Psalm 109, David describes his enemies, how wicked they really are, how that they speak deceitfully against him. They lie against him.
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They compass him about with words of hatred. They fight against him without a cause. Although he loved them, they were still his adversaries and they rewarded him evil for good. And they gave him hatred for his love. And so when you get then to verse 6, you begin there with this imprecatory prayer that David prays, "Set thou a wicked man over him, and let Satan stand at his right hand.
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When he shall be judged, let him be condemned. Let his prayer become sin." Then verse 8, "Let his days be few, and let another take his office."
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Now, we ended there last night. Now, I want you to note, if you would please, verse 9. And I want to take just the time to read a few of these verses again to show you the impact of this psalm. So look, if you would please, verse 8, Psalm 109. David prays, "Let his days be few and let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. Let his children be continually vagabonds and beg.
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Let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places. Let the extortioner catch all that he hath and let the stranger spoil his labor. Let there be none to extend mercy unto him, neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children. Let his posterity be cut off in the generation following. Let their name be blotted out. Note, let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. Let them be before the Lord continually that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth."
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Here's a question that must be answered in light of this imprecatory prayer that David is praying. I hope you notice as I read those verses that David's prayer against his enemy was extended to his wife and to his children as well. So the question that you have to ask is, is there a conflict between David's imprecatory prayer that he prays in Psalm 109 and what the Scripture teaches in Deuteronomy 24 and verse 16?
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Don't turn there, let me just quote it. For in Deuteronomy 24 and verse 16, God said, "The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers. Every man shall be put to death for his own sin." You must remember that when King Joash put to death the men who murdered his father in 2 Kings chapter 14 in verse 6, we read this: "But the children of the murderers he slew not, according to that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, where the Lord commanded, saying, The father shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the father, but every man shall be put to death for his own sin." So when King Joash got a hold of the murderers of his father, he merely put them to death.
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He did not bother the family. But notice, if you would please, when David prays in Psalm 109, this imprecatory prayer does not stop just simply with his enemy, but it extends to the enemy's family. Now, I told you last night that Psalm 109 is known as the Iscariotic Psalm because whoever David is praying against in Psalm 109, it finds the fulfillment in Judas Iscariot. And in Acts chapter 1, this passage is applied to Judas Iscariot. So here is a very malignant individual that David is praying against. So if David's enemies are cursed, think about this.
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Does the curse extend to the families? If it does extend to the families, why does it extend to them? And then you also have to ask this question: Are there biblical principles that are involved? And the answer very definitely is yes. Because what I'm trying to show you tonight is this: that everything that David prays in Psalm 109 is in agreement with the analogy of faith. There is nothing in Psalm 109 that is contrary to the rest of Scripture. There is nothing in Psalm 109 that would be contrary to New Testament or Old Testament.
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We have one Bible, not two. Let me begin, because David is praying against even the family of his enemies. And so let me try to set the stage by showing you some of the principles. I want you to hold Psalm 109, but look in your Bibles, if you would, please, to Proverbs chapter 3 and look at verse 33. Proverbs chapter 3 and verse 33. And I want you to note the word "house" in these verses that I'm going to be showing you. Notice Proverbs 3 and verse 33. The Bible says, "The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked.
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But he blesseth the habitation of the just." So here you have the curse of God that is in the house of the wicked. That is, the whole family is under the curse of God. But God blesses the habitation of the just.
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Now, let me make a statement, and I'm going to explain this just momentarily. But listen carefully. There are sins that extend to entire households. There are family sins. Look in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 15 and verse 27. Proverbs 15 and verse 27. Notice what the Bible says. Proverbs 15 verse 27. God says, "He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house, but he that hateth gifts shall live." Notice, he that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house.
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Now, in times past and the not too distant past, I preached two messages which I entitled "Family Sins." And I took great pains to go through the Bible in the book of Genesis, and I demonstrated from the Bible how Jacob's sin affected his daughter, Dinah. How Dinah's sin affected her two brothers, Simeon and Levi. How Simeon and Levi's sins affected the entire family. You see, the Bible says that no man liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself in Romans chapter 14.
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Whatever we do always affects someone else, and it always affects someone else first in our own families. No man liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself.
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Now, I want you to consider a principle. Here's a principle, and that is God usually places His elect in households. He also usually places His enemies in households. Let me read the Scripture. In Psalm 68, in verse 6, the Bible says this: "God setteth the solitary in families. He bringeth out those that are bound with chains, but the rebellious dwell in a dry land." Notice if you would, God setteth the solitary in families. Now, here's a general rule. Here's a general principle. Usually you find the godly in families. Usually you find the ungodly in families. Now, I understand that there are some exceptions to that rule. Occasionally, you're going to find a fool in a godly household, and occasionally, you're going to find a godly individual in a wicked household. I know there are exceptions, but I'm talking about generally speaking. You remember the passage in the book of Proverbs 22, verse 6, where God says, "Train up a child in the way that he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it."
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Train up a child in the way that he should go. Do you understand that it is godly people who train their children in godly ways? Therefore, you usually have the godly in families. It is ungodly people who could care less about God's law, God's Word, God's truth. Therefore, they fail to train their children. And therefore, as usually happens, their children are wicked and ungodly. So usually, God places His elect in households, God places His enemies in households.
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It is possible to curse one's own family. For instance, we're in the book of Proverbs. Go back, if you would, please, to Proverbs 11 and look at verse 17. Stick with me in Proverbs just momentarily. Proverbs 11. And notice, if you would, verse 17, God says, "The merciful man doeth good to his own soul, but he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh." Notice, he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh. Not just his physical body, but of course, that which would be his family as well. Look in Proverbs 12 and verse 7.
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"The wicked are overthrown and are not, but the house of the righteous shall stand." So here you have a contrast between the house of the wicked and the house of the righteous. It's the house of the wicked that is overthrown and they are not, but the house of the righteous it shall stand. Look in Proverbs 13 and verse 13. He says it like this, "Whoso despiseth the word shall be destroyed.
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That would be the ungodly, but he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded." So if you despise the Word, inevitably you're going to be destroyed. So if you have a family, if you have a husband and wife who despise the Word, inevitably their children will end up despising as well. Usually speaking, look in Proverbs 14 and verse 11, Proverbs 14, verse 11, God says, "The house of the wicked shall be overthrown.
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But the tabernacle of the upright shall flourish." Now the entire house of the wicked is to be overthrown.
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Now look in Proverbs 15 and verse 25. Proverbs 15 and verse 25, we read this: "The Lord will destroy the house of the proud, but he will establish the border of the widow."
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Now I want you to notice in all of these passages, God is talking about houses and He's talking about houses being destroyed. So He's talking about entire families.
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Now, I've already made the statement that it is possible to curse your own family. You have to remember this, that usually entire families are involved in the same sins and therefore they receive the same punishment. It is not that the children necessarily are being cursed because of the sins of the father. No, those sins are being passed down. The children are being cursed for their own sins, but they are indeed family sins. And since they are equally guilty, they also share equally in the judgment and in the punishment of those sins.
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Now, let me try to give you some illustrations. I'm going to give you just one to begin with. And I'm going to quote the Scripture, and then I'm going to ask you to turn to some. If I were to ask you, do you remember wicked Haman? And surely you remember Haman. You remember he is the man in the book of Esther that tried to have all the Jews killed. And of course, you remember how Esther, the queen, then got Ahasuerus, her husband, to overthrow that and all of this. But what you might have missed in your reading was it was not just Haman that was wiped out, but his sons as well. Even Haman's wife was one who gave him counsel. In the book of Esther, chapter 8 and verse 7, we read this: "Then the king Ahasuerus said unto Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman." Note, "I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him upon the gallows.
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Because he laid his hand upon the Jews." Now you say that verse just says they hanged Haman. Yes, it does. But Esther 9 and verse 14 says this: "And the king commanded it so to be done, and the decree was given at Shushan, and they hanged Haman's ten sons." So it's not just Haman that was hanged. It was his ten sons that were hanged as well. Why were his ten sons hanged?
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And the answer is because they were complicit in their father's sin and their father's wickedness. They didn't die because of their father's sin. They died for their own sin in the participation of his wickedness.
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Now, the same thing is true when you look at the Old Testament concerning Dathan and Abiram and Korah. I want you to turn in your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 11 and verse 6. Deuteronomy chapter 11 and look at verse 6. Then we'll go to Numbers chapter 16. But in Deuteronomy chapter 11 and verse 6 we read this. Watch carefully. Deuteronomy 11 and verse 6.
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I'm just trying to prove a point from Scripture. And that point is you can curse your own family. And therefore, your entire family is under the judgment and the punishment of God. So in Deuteronomy, chapter 11, in verse 6, we read this: "And what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben, how the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up, and their households,
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and their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession, in the midst of all Israel." Wow.
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Now, the Bible says that it swallowed up their households. When you think about a household, you do indeed think of wife and children. Well, if you look in your Bibles to the book of Numbers, chapter 16, you'll find exactly what happened. And I don't have time to go over the rebellion of Dathan and Abiram and Korah, but they rebelled against God. They rebelled against Moses and Aaron. And in Numbers, chapter 16, beginning there with verse 27, I want you to look what the Bible says. Numbers 16, verse 27. "So they gat up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan and Abiram, on every side. And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood in the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little children. All of them were standing with these rebellious men. And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of mine own mind. If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men, then the Lord hath not sent me.
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But if the Lord make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, that's wives and children, and they go down quick into the pit, then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord. And it came to pass, as he made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods. They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed up upon them, and they perished from among the congregation." Now I want you to note, here was Dathan, and Abiram, and Korah's entire household. They were all consumed. They were all destroyed. Why?
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Because they were all complicit in the rebellion. They were equal. Moses already told the people, get away from these wicked men. Well, the wives and the children stayed with them, and so therefore they perished in their sins.
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Now, if you will turn in your Bibles to the book of Joshua, chapter 7, I will show you another illustration of how you can curse your entire family and how families are usually complicit in family sins. Everyone knows the story in Joshua chapter 7. Joshua has instructed the people because God instructed him about the destruction of Jericho. They were not to touch anything in Jericho. Everything was dedicated to the Lord. It was dedicated to destruction. And notice, if you would, Joshua 7, verse 19, let's begin there, because Achan, you remember, is the man who did some stealing. So in Joshua chapter 7, beginning there at verse 19, "And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel and make confession unto him and tell me now what thou hast done.
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Hide it not from me. And Achan answered Joshua and said, Indeed, I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done. When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonian garment and two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them and took them. And behold, they were hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it. So Joshua sent messengers and they ran into the tent, and behold, it was hid in the tent and the silver under it. And they took them out of the midst of the tent and brought them unto Joshua and all the children of Israel and laid them out before the Lord. And Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan the son of Zerah and the silver and the garment and the wedge of gold and his sons and his daughters and his oxen and his asses and his sheep and his tent and all that he had. And they brought them into the valley of Achor. And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us?
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The Lord shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore, the name of that place was called the Valley of Achor unto this day."
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Now, someone's going to say, but wait a minute, Brother Weaver, wait a minute. It was Achan who did the coveting. It was Achan who did the stealing. Yes, that is true. But may I ask you, where in the world did Achan hide all of those stolen goods? In his tent. That means his family had to know about it. They had to have seen it. They had to be complicit with it.
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They knew about it and said absolutely nothing, and they therefore were equally guilty. And God judged the entire family. It is possible to curse your entire family. It is possible for such a thing as family sins to exist. For instance, you remember how God sent the children of Israel into Egypt and He told Abraham in Genesis 15, He said, you're going to go down there 400 years. But in the fourth generation, I'm going to bring you out. Why?
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Because the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. And so after 400 years, God brought them out, put a sword in their hand. And what did God say? Kill everyone. Man, woman, child, ox. Kill them all. Why? Because all of them were equally sinful and equally guilty. So the point I'm trying to make is this: Don't think of Psalm 109 as saying, well, here is one guilty man and the other people are innocent.
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No, no, it's not like that because of such a thing as family sins. And whenever you find a family sin, especially the father or mother, it's usually passed on down to the children and they engage in the same sins themselves. So let's go back with this understanding in mind and look at Psalm 109. Psalm 109. And you can see now exactly what is happening. Notice, if you would, please, and this is very important. Notice, if you would, how verse 8 begins with the word "let." And then you go all the way through verse 15 and you see the word "let" used at the beginning of every verse.
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That just simply means this, that each of these is a specific prayer request in light of the wickedness of these people that have been revealed in verses 2 through 5. So let's begin with verse 9, where David says, "Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow." Now, if you look back at verse 8, David said this, "Let his days be few and let another take his office." In reality, verse 9 is just a repetition of verse 8. For instance, if the man's days are few, that means he dies. If another takes his office, he's not there to do it. Now it's emphasized in verse 9 when he said, "Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow." You can't have a widow without having a dead husband. You cannot have fatherless children without having a dead father. So basically what David is praying for is the death of this wicked man, very clearly, very obviously.
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And so it is permissible, it is lawful, it is legitimate to pray for the deaths of wicked men. Now, I've covered the arguments against that the other night. I'm not going to go into that tonight, but I'm just simply saying this is a very specific prayer request.
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Now, he said, "Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow." Now skip down to verse 10, if you would. He says, "Let his children be continually vagabonds and beg and let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places."
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Now, folks, I've got news for you. That is a very hard request. So now David says, not only let the man die, not only let him lose his office, not only let his wife be a widow, not only let his children be fatherless, but go even further, he says, let his children be vagabonds. Let them beg. Let them seek their bread in desolate places. You say now that is harsh.
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Well, may I tell you that was the same curse that God placed upon Cain in Genesis 4 and verse 12. And if you will hold Psalm 109, go back in your Bibles to Psalm 59, which is another imprecatory prayer. Psalm 59, and I will show you again here how David basically says the same thing. Psalm 59, beginning there with verse 11. Psalm 59, verse 11. David says concerning the wicked here, "Slay them not, lest my people forget, but rather scatter them by thy power and bring them down, O Lord our shield.
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For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips, let them even be taken in their pride, and for cursing and lying which they speak. Now watch what he prays. Consume them in thy wrath. Consume them that they may not be. And let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. Watch verse 14. And at evening let them return, and let them make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.
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Let them wander up and down for meat and grudge if they be not satisfied." Now here, David says, let them be like a stray dog. Nobody's going to feed them. Nobody wants them. No one cares for them. And so they just go up and down and grudge like a stray dog trying to find whatever they can find. You say, wow, that David, boy, he was really—he was really serious.
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And that can't be very compassionate. That can't be very kind. Oh, well, since you're going to say that about David, would you say the same thing about God? If you look in your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 2 and verse 36, you'll find that God Himself said the same thing concerning Eli's household. Notice 1 Samuel chapter 2 and verse 36. 1 Samuel chapter 2 and notice, if you would please, verse 36. God says this after He places the curse upon Eli and his household. He says this in verse 36, "And it shall come to pass that everyone that is left in thine house shall come and crouch down for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread and say, Put me, I pray thee, in one of the priest's offices that I may eat a piece of bread."
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In other words, they're begging. They have absolutely nothing. And that's the curse that God placed upon Eli and his family.
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Now, I want you to look back to Psalm 109, and let's try to figure this thing out, because these things actually work together. It is cause and effect. It is step one, step two, step three. Watch this. Very clearly, if the father lost his life, he lost his office. If he lost his office, the wife is a widow. The children are fatherless. And since there is no way for them to make a living, they become destitute. They become vagabonds. They become beggars.
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Let me tell you something that is exceedingly hard upon the wicked. And that is for a wicked individual to be born in what you and I would call the lap of luxury. Used to be living lavishly, getting what they want, when they want it. And all of a sudden, everything is cut off. They have lost everything. They have nothing. And now they turn to begging. If you will study history, you will find that God has often done that to a race of tyrants.
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He's turned them into a generation of beggars. They've misused and abused authority and power, and their name has become a universal detestation and secured to the family nothing but absolute contempt. I could name powerful family names that are powerful in this country and in the world. And anyone who knows anything about biblical truth and biblical principles would hold those families in absolute contempt. I don't care how many multi-millions they possess.
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You know they were wicked. They were thieves. They were ungodly. They defrauded. They beat other people. They still continue to do that. And this is exactly what David is saying. David said, look, let them lose it all. Let them turn into beggars. I want to give you several quotes tonight, and the reason I'm going to give you these quotes—it's not just to try to fortify what I'm telling you. But I want you to see historically, Bible scholars have interpreted these verses exactly the same.
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John Gill said it like this: "Wander from place to place, begging for their bread. This is denied of the children of good men in David's time." And then he quotes Psalm 37, verse 25, one of my favorite verses. David said, "I've been young, now I'm old, yet I've not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." OK, so he says, "Wander from place to place, begging for their bread. This is denied of the children of good men in David's time, yet was threatened to the children of Eli, 1 Samuel 2:36, and was very likely true of the children of Judas, and was certainly the case of multitudes of the children of Jews, the posterity of them that crucified Christ, at the time of their destruction by the Romans, when great numbers were dispersed and wandered about in various countries, as vagabonds, begging their bread from door to door, which is reckoned by them a great affliction and very distressing." No language could be more awful than that of Psalm 109, verses 6 through 19.
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It embraces almost every misery that we can think of. But could any man be in a more wretched condition than Judas was? Could any words be too severe to express the depth of his misery? Of him who for three whole years had been the constant attendant of the Savior of mankind, who had witnessed His miracles, had shared His miraculous powers, who had enjoyed all the warnings, all the reproofs of His love, and then had betrayed Him for thirty pieces of silver. Can we conceive a condition more miserable than that of Judas?
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And this psalm is a prophecy of the punishment that should overtake him for his sin. Peter, in the Acts of the Apostles, quotes part of this psalm and applies it to Judas. He applies it as a prophecy of the punishment that he should suffer on the betrayal of the Son of God. You please remember, whoever David is praying against in Psalm 109, it finds its fulfillment in Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus Christ. So David prays in verse 8, "Let his days be few, let another take his office.
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Let his children be fatherless, his wife a widow. Let his children be continually vagabonds. Let them beg, let them have nothing." Look, if you would please, in verse 11. "Let the extortioner catch all that he hath, and let strangers spoil his goods. Let the extortioner catch all that he hath, and let strangers spoil his labor or his goods." Now, the extortioner here is the usurer. He's the creditor. What happens when a woman loses her husband, has no money coming in to support herself or her children?
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For a little while, she has some property and she mortgages it with the hopes of somehow holding on and eating just for a little while. But the next thing you know, that mortgage money is gone. And the man who's holding the mortgage is knocking on the door saying, I want this property. You need to get out and you need to get out right now. Actually, verse 11 is a consequence of verses 9 and 10. And so the prayer is that the extortioner or the usurer is going to catch all that this man ever had. And strangers are going to spoil his labor.
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Now, Adam Clarke, in his commentary on Psalm 109, quotes the Roman poet Juvenal, who died in 140 A.D., as saying this. Now, listen carefully. This is so astounding, but Juvenal writes, "Many of these execrations were literally fulfilled in the case of the miserable Jews after the death of our Lord. They were not only expelled from their own country after the destruction of Jerusalem, but they were prohibited from returning and so taxed by the Roman government that they were reduced to the lowest degree of poverty. Domitian expelled them from Rome.
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And they were obliged to take up their habitation without the gate Capena, in a wood contiguous to the city, for which they were obliged to pay a rent, and where the whole of their property was only a basket and a little hay." Wow. So Juvenal, who died in 140, says this literally took place concerning those Jews who said, "Let him be crucified, let him be crucified. His blood be upon us and upon our children." What did they do?
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They cursed their own families. Look in verse 12, if you would please. He continues this imprecatory prayer, and he says, "Let there be none to extend mercy unto him, neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children." Wow! Let no one feel sorry for him. Well, he's dead and gone. But more than that, let no one even show mercy or favor or kindness to his fatherless children. In other words, let absolutely no one be sympathetic toward him or toward them. No mercy to be shown to them. No kindness to be shown to them.
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You say, now that's hard. Well, I want to give you a quote. I want you to listen to what Calvin said on this verse, and he is dead on. Listen to what he said: "David, however, includes also the wicked man himself, along with his children, as if he should say, Though he visibly pine away under such calamities and these descend to his children, yet let no one show pity towards them.
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We are aware it not infrequently happens, that the long continued misfortune of an enemy either excites the sympathy of men of savage dispositions or else make them forget all their hatred and malice. But in this part of the psalm, David expresses a desire that his enemy and all his posterity may be so hated and so detested that the people may never be wearied with beholding the calamities which they endure, but may become so familiarized with the spectacle as if their hearts were of iron. At the same time, let it be remarked that David is not rashly excited by any personal anguish to speak in this matter, but that it is as God's messenger he declares the punishment which was impending over the ungodly.
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And verily, the law counts it as one of the judgments of God, His hardening men's hearts, so that they who have been passionately and unmercifully cruel should find no sympathy. Deuteronomy 2:30, it is just that the same measure which they have used toward others should also be meted out to themselves." Now, don't you listen to what Calvin said. Calvin said it just like this: It is the natural tendency when a wicked man dies, everybody forgets how wicked he was and his sins and his ungodliness.
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And then they begin to speak well of him. And the next thing you know, they're sympathetic toward his children. And although his children now are reaping the rewards of their father's wickedness, and what David is praying is that men will never forget the wickedness of this wicked man which descended upon the children. And therefore, he's praying that no one will be sympathetic or kind even to their children. Spurgeon said it like this: "We are staggered to find the children included in the father's sentence. And yet as a matter of fact, children do suffer for their father's sins.
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And as long as the affairs of this life are ordered as they are, it must be so. So involved are the interests of the race that it is quite impossible in all respects to view the father and the child apart. No man among us could desire to see the fatherless suffer for their deceased father's fault. Yet so it happens, and there is no injustice in that fact.
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They share the parent's ill-gotten gain or rank. And their aggrandizement is a part of the object at which he aimed in the perpetuation of his crimes. To allow them to prosper, that is the children, would be an encouragement and a reward of his iniquity. And therefore, for these and other reasons, a man perishes not alone in his iniquity. The ban is on his race or his family. If the man were innocent, this would be a crime.
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If he were but commonly guilty, it would be excessive retribution. But when the offense reeks before high heaven, it is an unutterable abomination. It is a little marvel that men devote the man's whole house to perpetual infamy. And so it happens." Isn't that amazing? Hear all of these commentators saying, we understand exactly what David is praying. Here's a wicked, ungodly, reprobate man. And he's done that which is wrong. He's amassed a great fortune, whatever. And now he's lost it all.
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He got it through sin. He got it through wickedness. He got it through crime. And now you want someone to bless his children who participated and were involved in that sin and involved in that crime? No. He said it should not be. In fact, let me show you exactly David's position. And once again, I will show you it as the biblical position. Notice in Psalm 109 and verse 13, look what David says. After he prays that no one will extend mercy unto these children or to this man, he says in verse 13, "Let his posterity be cut off.
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And in the generation following, let their name be blotted out." Wow. Let his posterity be cut off. And in the generation following, let his name be blotted out. So if this man's name happened to be Iscariot, and I'm just using it as an illustration, what he is saying is this: let there be no more Iscariots, period. Let his posterity be cut off. And in the next generation, let the name be blotted out so that no one would even remember the name.
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Now, let me show you what a curse this is. This may not sound like so great a curse to you, but you have to remember a numerous posterity. To have the family name perpetuated was regarded among the Hebrews as one of the greatest and most desirable blessings. Now, to have the family name cut off and the memory destroyed was a severe malediction. It was a severe curse that could fall upon anyone. And David is asking exactly this, that in the generation following, the very next generation, let not his family be perpetuated at all. Let the name be blotted out completely. You've got to remember that in deeds of wickedness, there are always individuals who are prime movers.
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They're the ringleader, so to speak. And then there are others who follow. There are others who participate. And what he is doing in this verse is saying, Lord, I don't want just the ringleaders taken care of. I don't want just the prime movers taken care of. I want all of those who follow him to be taken care of as well. Charles Haddon Spurgeon said it like this: "Both from existence and from memory, let them pass away.
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Till none shall know that such a vile brood ever existed. Who wishes to see the family of Domitian or Julian continued upon earth? Who would mourn if the race of Tom Paine or Voltaire should come to an utter end? It would be undesirable that the sons of the utterly villainous and bloodthirsty should rise to honor, and if they did, would only revive the memory of their father's name." So he said it's only just. It's only the lex talionis. It's only the law of retribution. It's only the law of sowing and reaping.
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Now, look at verses 14 and 15. After he prays, "Let their posterity be cut off in the generation following. Let their name be blotted out." Verse 14, "Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. Let them be before the Lord continually." Watch carefully, "that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth." May I remind you of Exodus 20 and verse 5, where the Bible teaches us that God visits the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Him. God visits the iniquities of the father unto the children, unto the third and fourth generation of those that hate Him. The children are not necessarily just suffering for the sin of the father. The children also hate God. The father taught them to hate God as well. And so David is praying here, let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord. In other words, everything that his father and his grandfather and his great-grandfather did, whoever they were, however wicked they were, let God not forget one sin, but hold every sin accountable.
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And then he says, "And let not the sin of the mother be blotted out."
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Now, some would argue that this is just Hebrew parallelism. He mentioned the fathers, now he has to mention the mother. But it could be more than that. David said in Psalm 51 and verse 5, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me." So he's not only pointing out the fact that his mother was a sinner, as all of us are, but he could also be pointing out the fact in verse 14 here that this mother of this wicked man might be an especially wicked sinner.
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And therefore, she has sins of her own as well. And so he wants those sins remembered before the Lord.
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Now, look at verse 15. Look at this prayer request. "Let them be before the Lord continually," that is all these sins, "that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth." I want you to turn to Psalm 34 and look at verse 16. Psalm 34 and verse 16. Psalm 34 and verse 16. Look what the Bible says, "The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth." The face of the Lord is against them that do evil to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. And the Bible says in the book of Proverbs that the memory of the just is blessed, but the name of the wicked shall rot. I could call out some names of wicked men. You may have heard of some of those names or read about them, but you know nothing about those men or you know nothing about their families anymore. And for all practical purposes, their memory has been wiped out. Their name literally has rotted.
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Spurgeon said it like this: "This verse," talking about verse 15, "is perhaps the most terrible of all. But yet, as a matter of fact, children do procure punishment upon their parents' sin and are often themselves the means of such punishment."
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Now, listen, you can hear this today. Spurgeon writes, "A bad son brings to mind his father's bad points of character. And people say, 'Ah, he's just like his old man. He takes after his father.' A mother's sins also will be sure to be called to mind if her daughter becomes grossly wicked. Oh, they will say, 'There's little wonder when you consider what her mother was.' These are matters of everyday occurrence."
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"We cannot, however, pretend to explain the righteousness of this malediction, though we fully believe in it. We leave it to our heavenly Father until He is pleased to give us further instruction. Yet as a man's faults are often learned from his parents, it is not unjust that his consequent crimes should recoil upon them." When you look at Psalm 109, at each one of these prayer requests, and you see David praying, not just for his enemy's death, but that his children be fatherless, his children be vagabonds and beggars, that the children go around like dogs, grudging for food,
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that the extortioner, the usurer, gets all that they have, that no one extends them mercy, that their posterity is cut off, that their name is blotted out, and he then prays that God will constantly remember the sins of their fathers, even the sins of the mother, and hold them against them—you have to ask this question: Was David just simply vindictive, vengeful, and vicious? And the answer is no. A thousand times no. What David is praying is the lex talionis, the law of retribution, the law of sowing and reaping. He is asking God to do that which God has already said that He would do. Well, where did God say something like that?
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Look in your Bibles to Psalm 7 and verse 16, and then we're going to come back and I will show you. Look in Psalm 7 and verse 16. Here's what God says concerning the wicked. Psalm 7 and verse 16. Look what He says. Psalm 7, verse 16. In fact, let's read verse 14 just to show you how the wicked man is. God says, "Behold, he travaileth with iniquity,
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and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood. He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made."
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Now look what God does. "His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate." And then He says, "I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness, and will sing praise to the name of the Lord." The Bible tells us that God is known by the judgment which He executeth. And what does God do? God lets the wicked fall into the ditch that they dig. God brings down their violent dealings on top of their own head. Whatever they plan for someone else, that's exactly what God will do for them as well.
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Now, let me show you. Go back to Psalm 109, if you would, please. And let's begin reading there with verse 16. I want you to think now of the lex talionis and the law of sowing and reaping as I read the next four verses. Look at verse 16. "Because." Now watch. "Because." Why did David just pray all these imprecatory prayer requests? Why? Because. Here's why. Not because David is vindictive.
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Not because he's vicious and vengeful. Not because he's uncompassionate and unkind. Here's why he prays it: "Because that he," the wicked, "remembered not to show mercy, but persecuted the poor needy man that he might even slay the broken in heart. As he," the wicked man, "loved cursing, so let it come unto him. As he," the wicked man, "delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him. As he," the wicked man, "clothed himself with cursing like as with a garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones. Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him." Oh, wow!
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"And for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually. Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the Lord and of them that speak evil against my soul." Note, if you would, David says, here's why I'm praying this. Because I want God to give to him that which he's dished out. I want God to make the punishment fit the crime. I want the law of retribution. I want the law of sowing and reaping.
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That's exactly what Psalm 109 is about. That's what the imprecatory prayers are about. That the wicked reap exactly that which they sow. Do you remember we read this from the book of Deuteronomy chapter 19? God talked about the man who was a false witness against his brother. And what did God say? "As he thought to have done to his brother, so shall it be done to him." That's the law of retribution. That's making the punishment fit the crime. That's the law of sowing and reaping. So there is nothing in these imprecatory prayers that are unbiblical, ungodly, un-Christian, or contrary to the gospel. They fit right in with the analogy of faith.
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Now, let me try to make some applications, and I want you to think with me. I want you to note in the rest of this psalm that David desired three main things in these imprecatory prayers. Each one of these prayers and each one of these desires were upright and godly. We're told in the book of Psalms 37 in verse 4, "Delight thyself in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thy heart." Delight thyself in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thy heart. Well, what were David's three desires in Psalm 109?
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First of all, here they are. Let's look. Number one. He desired to be delivered from his enemies. Look in Psalm 109, verse 21. "But do thou for me, O God the Lord, for thy name's sake, because thy mercy is good, deliver thou me. Deliver thou me, for I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me. I am gone like a shadow when it declines.
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I am tossed up and down as the locusts. My knees are weak through fasting, and my flesh faileth," he says, "for fatness. I became also a reproach unto them. When they looked upon me, they shake their heads. Help me, O Lord my God. O save me according to thy mercy."
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Now, let me ask you a question. Is there anything unbiblical, ungodly, unchristian about wanting to be delivered from your enemies? No. Is there anything unbiblical, ungodly, unchristian in wanting to be delivered from the enemies of God? And the answer is no. And that's what David's praying. He said, Lord, look at these wicked men. Here's what they have been doing to me. Lord, I want to be delivered. Ah, here's the second one. David not only wanted to be delivered from his enemies. David wanted to be delivered in such a way that everyone would know that it was God who delivered him. Look in verse 27. Let's read verse 26. He says, "Help me, O Lord my God, O save me according to thy mercy, that they may know that this is thy hand, and that thou, Lord, hast done it." Lord, You deliver me, but You deliver me in such a way that everyone is going to know that You did it. Is there anything wrong with that? Over and over in the Bible, the Bible says, "Rise, O Lord.
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Show thyself, O Lord. Make bare thy arm, O Lord. Lord, deliver thy people." Prayer requests over and over. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be delivered from your enemies. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be delivered in such a way that everyone would know that God did it. And the third desire is this: David wanted to make sure that when he was delivered, and everyone knew that God did it, that God would receive all the honor and glory. Look in verse 28.
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He says, "Let them curse, but bless thou. When they arise, let them be ashamed, but let thy servant rejoice. Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame and let them cover themselves with their own confusion as with a mantle. I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth. Yea, I will praise him among the multitude, for he shall stand at the right hand of the poor to save him from those that condemn his soul."
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David wanted God to receive all the honor and all the glory. Now, let me point out the fact, folks. We need to come to the realization, do we have enemies? We do. The Bible is replete with that. We ought not to have enemies of our own making, that is, because of our own cussedness and unkindness and ungraciousness. But we're going to have enemies just by virtue of the fact that we're Christians, just by virtue of the fact that we belong to our Lord. Our Lord has enemies. God has enemies. The Bible said in Psalm 110 that He shall strike through His enemies. We do have enemies.
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And unhappily, in this day and time, they have the upper hand. They have the power. There should be in every one of us a desire to say, "Oh God, rectify this situation, Lord. Rectify this situation. Destroy Thou them. Bring them down. Elevate Thy law. Elevate Thy righteousness. Elevate Thy Son. Elevate Thy people." We need to learn to pray, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Yes, now. That's what our Lord taught us to pray.
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I want you to turn to Psalm 140. Psalm 140. There are so many imprecatory Psalms and so many implications in the Old Testament, as well as some of the New. I want to show you how applicable and apropos they are for today. I want you to look what David prays in Psalm 140. And just think, as I read these verses, if this would not be an appropriate prayer for you and I to learn to pray on a daily basis. Psalm 140, notice verse 8.
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"Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked. Further not his wicked device, lest they exalt themselves. As for the head of those that compass me about, let the mischief of their own lips cover them. Let burning coals fall upon them. Let them be cast in the fire into deep pits that they rise not up again. Let not an evil speaker be established in the earth. Evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him. I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted and the right of the poor.
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Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name. The upright shall dwell in thy presence." All you have to do is look at the political scene today. Look in any branch of government that you want to look at today, and I think you could come to the realization that we need to pray, "Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked, further not his wicked device, lest they exalt themselves." And we can pray these prayers and ask God to give us victory in time and history and deliver us in such a way that everyone will know that He did it and that He will receive all the honor and all the glory. I want to close in prayer, but here's what I want to do. I want you to look at Psalm 140. If you would, you pray silently as I pray. And if God has moved upon your heart to learn to pray these prayers, I ask that you would join me silently as we pray.
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Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we do bow to Thee this day. We acknowledge that Thou art the sovereign God of heaven and earth. Besides Thee, there is none other. We pray, Heavenly Father, today for the defeat and the overthrow of the wicked and the ungodly. Lord, they abound on every hand. There's the atheists. There's the humanists. There's the one-worlders. There are those luminaries. There are those who hate Thee, Lord, left and right. And Lord, we pray with David, grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked. Further not his wicked devices, lest they exalt themselves. We pray, Heavenly Father, that Thou wouldst indeed cast them down, that they rise not up again. We pray, Heavenly Father, as Thou didst say in the book of Psalms, break their teeth, O Lord. Break their teeth in their mouth. And we pray, Father, that Thou wouldst indeed break their power and, Lord, that Thou wouldst bring them to their knees. We pray, Father, that You would either do that in salvation or in condemnation, whatever way You please.
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But, Lord, Thou art God. Thou art the Sovereign of the universe. And, Father, on the other hand, at the same time, we pray as Thou hast taught us to pray, Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us, Lord, this day our daily bread. But, O God, we pray that You would indeed establish Lord Jesus Christ, establish His kingdom, establish His righteousness, establish His Word, establish His gospel, establish His people, and let everyone know that Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords and God of gods. And, Father, we do indeed pray for the overthrow of all that opposes Thee and Thy kingdom, and for the establishment of all those that submit to Thee and bow to Thee, as Thou didst tell the kings in Psalm 2, "Kiss the Son, lest He be angry with thee, and thou perish in the
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way when His wrath is kindled but a little." Give us victory, O Lord, today, in time and in history. We ask and pray in Thy most holy and blessed name. Amen and amen.
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T04:50:46Z

Imprecatory Prayer-4

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

In this final installment on imprecatory prayer, John Weaver examines Psalm 109:9–19, showing that David’s curses against his enemy’s family are consistent with the biblical principles of family sins, the lex talionis, and sowing and reaping. He argues that entire households often share in guilt and judgment, and that David’s prayer is not personal vengeance but a call for God’s just retribution. The lecture concludes with applications for believers to pray for the defeat of the wicked and the vindication of God’s name.

Introduction and Review

Weaver welcomes the audience, reviews the series on imprecatory prayer, and recaps key points: imprecations are curses, they are biblical, and they align with God’s justice.

The Lex Talionis and Family Sins

Weaver explains the law of retribution and introduces the concept of family sins, showing from Proverbs that God curses the house of the wicked.

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 24:16

"The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers. Every man shall be put to death for his own sin."

You must remember that when King Joash put to death the men who murdered his father in 2 Kings chapter 14 in verse 6, we read this:

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 24:16

"But the children of the murderers he slew not, according to that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, where the Lord commanded, saying, The father shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the father, but every man shall be put to death for his own sin."

So when King Joash got a hold of the murderers of his father, he merely put them to death.

Biblical Examples of Household Judgment

Using Haman, Dathan and Abiram, and Achan, Weaver demonstrates that entire families were judged because they were complicit in sin.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 68:6

"God setteth the solitary in families. He bringeth out those that are bound with chains, but the rebellious dwell in a dry land."

Scripture Reading — Esther 8:7; 9:14

Because he laid his hand upon the Jews."

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 11:6

"And what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben, how the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession, in the midst of all Israel."

Wow.

Exposition of Psalm 109:9–15

Weaver walks through each verse, explaining that David prays for the enemy’s death, his children to be vagabonds, his property seized, and his name blotted out, all as just retribution.

Now, look at verse 15. Look at this prayer request. "Let them be before the Lord continually," that is all these sins,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 34:16

"that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth."

I want you to turn to Psalm 34 and look at verse 16. Psalm 34 and verse 16. Psalm 34 and verse 16. Look what the Bible says,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 34:16

"The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth."

The Reason for the Imprecation (Psalm 109:16–20)

David’s prayer is grounded in the enemy’s own mercilessness and love of cursing; God will repay him according to his deeds.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 7:14-16

"Behold, he travaileth with iniquity,

David’s Three Godly Desires

Weaver identifies David’s desires: deliverance from enemies, public recognition of God’s hand, and God’s glory. These are righteous and biblical.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 109:21-31

"But do thou for me, O God the Lord, for thy name's sake, because thy mercy is good, deliver thou me. Deliver thou me, for I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me. I am gone like a shadow when it declines.

Application for Today

Believers should pray for the defeat of the wicked and the establishment of God’s kingdom, using Psalm 140 as a model.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 140:8-13

"Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked, further not his wicked device, lest they exalt themselves."

Closing Prayer

Weaver leads a prayer asking God to overthrow the wicked, break their power, and establish Christ’s kingdom, echoing the imprecatory psalms.

way when His wrath is kindled but a little." Give us victory, O Lord, today, in time and in history. We ask and pray in Thy most holy and blessed name. Amen and amen.

Imprecatory Prayer-4

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	3121144602776
Subject	Family Government
Course	The Christian Family: Children, Fatherhood, and Generational Faithfulness: The Family
Genre	Sermon
Date	2010-04-01
Dictation Name
Book	Book 046: The Imprecatory Prayer — Chapter 4
Source Timed Segments	116

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction and Review: Weaver welcomes the audience, reviews the series on imprecatory prayer, and recaps key points: imprecations are curses, they are biblical, and they align with God’s justice.
The Lex Talionis and Family Sins: Weaver explains the law of retribution and introduces the concept of family sins, showing from Proverbs that God curses the house of the wicked.
Biblical Examples of Household Judgment: Using Haman, Dathan and Abiram, and Achan, Weaver demonstrates that entire families were judged because they were complicit in sin.
Exposition of Psalm 109:9–15: Weaver walks through each verse, explaining that David prays for the enemy’s death, his children to be vagabonds, his property seized, and his name blotted out, all as just retribution.
The Reason for the Imprecation (Psalm 109:16–20): David’s prayer is grounded in the enemy’s own mercilessness and love of cursing; God will repay him according to his deeds.
David’s Three Godly Desires: Weaver identifies David’s desires: deliverance from enemies, public recognition of God’s hand, and God’s glory. These are righteous and biblical.
Application for Today: Believers should pray for the defeat of the wicked and the establishment of God’s kingdom, using Psalm 140 as a model.
Closing Prayer: Weaver leads a prayer asking God to overthrow the wicked, break their power, and establish Christ’s kingdom, echoing the imprecatory psalms.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

Imprecatory prayers are consistent with the whole Bible.

There is no contradiction between Old Testament curses and New Testament grace; God is immutable.

Weaver states, 'there is no contradiction between the Old Testament and the New Testament... the God of the New Testament is the same God as the God of the Old Testament.'

Family judgment is just because families share in sin.

Children are not punished for the father’s sin alone but for their own participation in family sins.

Weaver explains, 'The children are being cursed for their own sins, but they are indeed family sins.'

David’s imprecation is based on the enemy’s own actions.

The curses in Psalm 109 are a direct application of sowing and reaping; the enemy loved cursing, so cursing comes upon him.

Weaver reads, 'As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him.'

It is lawful to pray for the death of the wicked.

David’s prayer for the enemy’s death is a legitimate request for God’s justice.

Weaver asserts, 'it is permissible, it is lawful, it is legitimate to pray for the deaths of wicked men.'

Imprecatory prayers aim at God’s glory and kingdom.

David’s ultimate desire is that God would be honored and His people delivered.

Weaver says, 'David wanted to make sure that when he was delivered... God would receive all the honor and glory.'

Scripture References

Psalm 109:9-19: The primary text of the sermon, containing David’s imprecatory prayer against his enemy and his family.
Deuteronomy 24:16: Quoted to raise the question of whether David’s prayer conflicts with the principle that children are not put to death for fathers’ sins.
Proverbs 3:33: Used to show that the curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked.
Proverbs 15:27: Cited to demonstrate that greed troubles one’s own house.
Psalm 68:6: God sets the solitary in families; used to argue that God places both the godly and ungodly in households.
Esther 8:7; 9:14: Haman and his ten sons were hanged, illustrating family complicity in sin.
Deuteronomy 11:6: Dathan and Abiram’s households were swallowed up, showing corporate judgment.
Numbers 16:27-33: The rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram resulted in the destruction of their entire families.
Joshua 7:19-26: Achan’s family was stoned with him because they were complicit in his theft.
1 Samuel 2:36: God’s curse on Eli’s house included begging for bread, paralleling Psalm 109:10.
Exodus 20:5: God visits iniquity to the third and fourth generation; cited to support the idea of family sins.
Psalm 34:16: The face of the Lord is against evildoers to cut off their memory; parallels Psalm 109:15.
Psalm 7:14-16: The wicked fall into their own pit; God’s retribution is just.
Psalm 109:21-31: David’s prayer for deliverance and God’s glory, showing his righteous desires.
Psalm 140:8-13: A model imprecatory prayer for believers today, asking God to thwart the wicked.

Historical References

John Gill’s commentary on Psalm 109: Gill notes that the children of Judas and the Jews after Christ’s crucifixion became vagabonds and beggars.
Adam Clarke’s commentary quoting Juvenal (died 140 A.D.): Juvenal describes the Jews after the destruction of Jerusalem being reduced to poverty and expelled from Rome.
John Calvin’s commentary on Psalm 109:12: Calvin explains that David prays as God’s messenger, declaring impending punishment, and that it is just for the merciless to receive no mercy.
Charles Spurgeon’s commentary on Psalm 109: Spurgeon comments on the justice of children suffering for fathers’ sins and the terribleness of the curse.
Domitian, Julian, Tom Paine, Voltaire: Spurgeon mentions these figures as examples of wicked men whose families one would not wish to see continued.

Important Quotes

Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. Let his children be continually vagabonds and beg, let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.

This is the core imprecation extending judgment to the enemy’s family, which Weaver defends as just retribution.

Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked. Further not his wicked device, lest they exalt themselves.

Weaver presents this as a model prayer for believers today against the wicked.

Let them be before the Lord continually that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.

Highlights the severity of the curse: total obliteration of the wicked from memory.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

How does the concept of family sins challenge modern individualism in our understanding of guilt and judgment?

[Context]

Weaver argues that entire households can be complicit in sin and share in punishment.

[Question]

In what ways can we pray imprecatory prayers today without falling into personal vengeance?

[Context]

Weaver emphasizes leaving vengeance to God and praying for His justice and glory.

[Question]

How should we reconcile David’s harsh prayers with Jesus’ command to love our enemies?

[Context]

Weaver argues there is no contradiction; imprecatory prayers are for God’s enemies, not personal ones.

[Question]

What are some modern examples of family sins or corporate guilt that might warrant imprecatory prayer?

[Context]

Weaver mentions political and cultural enemies of God as targets for such prayers.

[Question]

How does the lex talionis (eye for eye) relate to the New Testament teaching on grace and forgiveness?

[Context]

Weaver explains that the lex talionis is about God’s justice, not personal revenge, and is fulfilled in sowing and reaping.

Applications

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