Psalm 68: Should we be singing the yucky stuff?

People often talk about “praying the Psalms” or “singing the Psalter.” But I have a hard time with that personally. That’s not to say that I don’t do it. Just this morning psalms were running through my head as I was praying and I wished I had more of them memorized to guide my own prayers. And I have composed several songs based on Psalms.

But, there’s a lot of yucky stuff in them psalms!

O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction,
happy is he who repays you
for what you have done to us–
he who seizes your infants
and dashes them against the rocks.
(Psalm 137:8-9)

I could list a lot more examples just from Psalm 68. But let me get right to the point: How should we incorporate the psalms into our contemporary spirituality? Generally, I think we have three different strategies:

1. Skip the yucky parts

If I were to write a song based on Psalm 68, I would skip verses 1 and 2 and go right to verses 3 and 4:

But may the righteous be glad
and rejoice before God;
may they be happy and joyful.

Sing to God, sing praise to his name,
extol him who rides on the clouds–
his name is the Lord–
and rejoice before him.

Hmmm, I’m feeling inspired! Maybe I’ll grab my guitar and see what I can work up… I must resist! I have other things I should be doing. Those are wonderful words. I do want to sing to God and praise his name and extol him who rides on the clouds.

But I feel guilty when I pick out verses like that. Aren’t all Scriptures inspired and profitable? If so, I should be singing verses 1 and 2 as well:

May God arise, may his enemies be scattered;
may his foes flee before him.
As smoke is blown away by the wind,
may you blow them away;
as wax melts before the fire,
may the wicked perish before God.

Oh dear! I don’t want God to scatter his enemies. In fact, I don’t think God wants to scatter them either. I can’t really imagine myself gleefully singing, “May the wicked perish before God.”

Obviously this is a case of reading passages in context. We understand the historical situation of this psalm (mostly) so we can understand why the psalmist or even a thronging procession of worshipers might legitimately desire for political enemies to “rot in hell.” (Psalm 68:6, The Message)

Even so, it seems like cheating to lift the nice parts out of a psalm and leave the bitter parts. It’s like scooting the Brussels sprouts off to the side of your plate and only eating the Jello salad. The result is a diminished diet. And that is in fact the case with a lot of “Praise and Worship” these days. It’s all sweet and no savory.

2. Reinterpret the yucky parts

There are many examples of songwriters using the “yucky parts” but reinterpreting them for their own purposes. In fact this is normally the way the New Testament writers use the Old Testament. Paul uses Psalm 68:18 in Ephesians 4:8:

When you ascended on high,
you led captives in your train;
you received gifts from men
(Psalm 68:18)

Paul quotes it like this:

“When he ascended on high,
he led captives in his train
and gave gifts to men.”
(What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.)
(Ephesians 4:8-10)

Note: Please feel free to skip this next paragraph:

I won’t dive deeply into this subject at this point but let me say that in general when we interpret the Bible we assume that it can’t mean for us what it couldn’t have meant for the original readers. There are a number of reasons why New Testament writers get away with this even if we can’t. And also there are a number of situations where we can use the Scriptures this way but I’ll leave that subject for a later time!

Start reading again here:

Paul is able to see in these verses in Psalm 68 the image of Jesus as a conquering king ascending to his throne in Zion being followed by prisoners of war. It’s a powerful image.

“Let God arise and his enemies be scattered!
Let God arise and his enemies be scattered!
Let God arise and his enemies be scattered!
Let God, let God arise!”

I have sung that for years. And I have to admit I really like that song. It’s upbeat (especially with a good rhythm section) and you can really find yourself carried away.

But just one minute here… it sounds like I’m asking someone permission so that God can stand up. Does he need anyone’s permission? And who are these enemies I’m singing about? What do I mean by “be scattered”? I’m singing absolute nonsense! Either that or I am in effect cursing others.

I’m really sorry to have to call attention to this song in this way. Because now, the next time you sing it, you’ll think of me and say, “Oh yeah, this is really dumb.”

This is just one example of many in contemporary worship where an imprecatory psalm is sung as “worship.” The hymnal is also full of examples. Even Handel’s Messiah uses two passages from Psalm 68: “Thou art gone up on high” and “The Lord gave the word.”

In the late 80’s when I was an undergrad at University of Oregon I attended a little community church that seemed to have a special fondness for militaristic songs. They were always tearing down strongholds and crushing the head of Satan. That sort of thing. I had to gulp sometimes when the words came up on the overhead projector. U of O was a hotbed of patchouli-sniffing peaceniks and I felt attracted and repulsed to both what I was hearing at church and what I was hearing on the campus.

I couldn’t find any other songs or hymns that have been based on Psalm 68. Thanks to Bob MacDonald for the tip on Handel’s Messiah.

Can you think of any other songs based on Psalm 68? And what are your thoughts on singing or praying the “yucky parts” of the Psalms?