Imprecatory Passages

I have always thought of the imprecatory nature of scripture passages as God's righteous judgement over his enemies. In the Psalms, king David prophetically writes as Israel's representative, praying against all her enemies. As Christ followers, the enemies of our souls are indwelling sin, Satan, and the world; all three in which Christ defeated on the cross. I was reading from 1 Samuel 25 and Revelation 6 this morning and found an interesting parallel.

In 1 Samuel 25, David is spared from killing Nabal by Abigail's quick discernment. In v. 25 David prays, "Blessed be the Lord who has avenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from wrongdoing. The Lord has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head." David recognizes that the Lord avenged him.

In Revelation 6, John sees, "the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne." Verse 10 says records their prayer: "O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" This prayer is imprecatory in nature. I have never thought of "New Testament" saints praying in this way.

O Lord, teach me to pray!