Imprecatory
“Lord, do not let evil people have their way. Do not let their evil schemes succeed...”
Imprecawhaaat?
As I was in the process of writing, recording, and releasing ‘Those Other Psalms’, I wanted to tell people about it, and I needed a quick explanation of the project; something that takes a minute or less to say; an elevator pitch, if you will. My elevator pitch of ‘Those Other Psalms’ always included the word “imprecatory”, because three of these four songs are based on imprecatory psalms. However, I must say, I was surprised to find that >95% of the people on the receiving end of my elevator pitch were unfamiliar with this term. Lots of blank stares, smiles and nods.
And so I have tasked myself with educating my followers, layperson to layperson. In order to do that, I needed to educate myself, as I only had a cursory understanding of the term. If you read my last blog post, you’ll remember the seven pastor friends I emailed and asked to fact check me about the history of singing the imprecatory psalms in corporate worship settings. Well, they also weighed in on the term “imprecatory”. (Oh, and — ahem — I also asked them whether or not they think I am insane for wanting to write songs based on imprecatory psalms. They said I am not insane. …But… Come to think of it…maybe they’re just afraid of me… If she’s crazy enough to do that, what would she do to me if I called her insane…?).
“A good layman’s definition might be battle psalms” said one pastor friend. “A softer (and more palatable term) can be ‘lament’” said another. My own pastor sent me a very helpful scholarly article written by Daniel Simango and P Paul Krüger from North-West University in Potchefstroom, South Africa, which defined imprecatory psalms as psalms that are characterized by a “cry for divine vengeance, an appeal to God to pour out his wrath on the psalmist’s enemies”. This article also used other forms of the word, “imprecatory”, that I don’t remember seeing before: the verb, “imprecate”, and the exciting noun, “imprecations”. If you imprecate, you are invoking a curse on someone (according to the much less scholarly source, Google Dictionary). Logic would follow that imprecations are the curses you’ve invoked; ergo, imprecatory psalms could be described as psalms of the curse-invoking variety.
Saguaro National Forest in Tucson, AZ
If those definitions, especially the ones about invoking curses, make you think that I am in fact insane, consider these quotes from my pastor friends, when I asked them that question: “[These psalms are] prayers that keep God’s justice, sovereignty, and protection in mind,” “…the church needs to be able to give voice to her pain and the imprecatory psalms invite us to entrust ourselves to God’s vengeance rather than manufacture our own.”
Not insane, indeed.
Word of Caution?
Let us assume that this jury of unnamed pastors is correct in their judgment, and that I am not insane to devote time and attention to the imprecatory psalms. Can we call it a day? Imprecatory psalms = good; let’s move on with life? My soul says: not so fast.
Before releasing this EP, I had daydream-mares (nightmares that happen during the daytime when you are spacing out) of homicidal people emailing me and telling me that “Imprecatory” is their favorite song. (Let the reader understand: it is on the rarest of occasion that I receive an email from anyone in praise of my songs, let alone saying that one of mine is their favorite. It has happened more than zero times, but less than a dozen.) The thought of violent and aggressively angry people feeling justified in their violence and aggressive anger because of the imprecatory psalms makes me very nervous about potentially adding any fuel to that fire through my songwriting. I found sincere comfort in these psalms because they speak so strongly against violence. “Deliver me from evil men, preserve me from their violence,” are the opening lyrics of this song for that reason.
“There's some historical caution against too neatly identifying earthly sides in the Psalms. We are not the God-bearing people of Israel. That shouldn't necessarily mean we hesitate to pray them. God put them in the psalter for us. We should pray them boldly, trusting that the one who we address can sort that out. We should also recognize that we certainly stand as some other person's earthly enemy. A grand part of our battle should involve ongoing repentance and asking God for forgiveness.” This quote comes from the only one of my gang-of-seven-email-pastors who I will name — my cousin, Joe Hootman — because he spoke this so eloquently and tied it up so well. Thanks, Cuz.
Saguaro National Forest in Tucson, AZ
About the Music:
This song was the first of the imprecatory psalms that I put to music, and as such, I felt like it earned the title “Imprecatory”. I wanted to emphasize the supplication found in Psalm 140 that I feel is most pertinent to life in the 21st century, by repeating it four times at the end: “Uphold the cause, O Lord, of the afflicted and the poor”.
On a strictly musical note: I am really excited about the stacked harmonies that I used in this song, and in the other imprecatory psalms songs on this EP. To give credit where credit is due, this stylistic choice in harmonies was directly influenced by the band Darlingside. Listen to these two songs by them (my favorites) to get a taste: “Green + Evergreen” and “A Light on in the Dark”.
In Summary
If you are freaked out by the idea of the imprecatory psalms — hey, I hear ya! I had daydream-mares along those same lines, and I emailed a gaggle of seminary-educated folks to explicitly ask them if they think I’m crazy and/or dangerous. There surely is more to be said about the imprecatory psalms, more debate to be had, more context to provide to make sense of each text, etc. But I am a lowly singer/songwriter, and as such, I kept coming back to the fact that the imprecatory psalms are included in my Bible; I wasn’t the one who put them there, neither was I the one who kept them there over the millenia. These debates are above my pay grade. As far as I’m concerned: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
Time to Listen!
Enough yacking. Bring on the jams! Stream “Imprecatory” on Spotify, Apple Music, and the like. Listen via SoundCloud or watch the lyric video on YouTube (below):