How to treat curse poems in poetry

The psalms in the Bible are very popular among our believers, and the church often uses them as enlightening scriptures in worship. But every time I read something like "Blessed is the man who throws your child on the stone". (Ps。 137: 9) or "May death suddenly come to them! May they go down to the underworld alive! " (Psalm 55: 15) When waiting for such a scripture, everyone will be confused. Why are there so many prayers in the poem cursing the enemy? Since the poet is godly and loves God, how can he pray with the heart of cursing others? How does this coordinate with the teaching of "don't curse people" in the Bible and the principle of "love your enemy"? And for today's readers, what does it mean to put these prayers in poetry?

According to preliminary statistics, there are about 18 cursing poems, and * * involves 386 poems, of which 65 poems are rhyming (such as poems 5, 27, 3 1, 35, 40, 69, 109,1). These poems are really confusing. The main purpose is to curse the enemy and hope that the enemy will suffer heavy retribution. Sometimes its harsh tone and extreme attitude really open the eyes of the readers of the New Testament, which is quite different from the lesson of Jesus' love in the New Testament.

In this regard, some people in the church adopt the "ostrich policy" and simply turn a blind eye to these scriptures, but turning a blind eye does not mean that the problem really does not exist. Some people regard all this as the author's pure personal vent from the beginning, but how can we clearly distinguish which ones in the Bible are personal vent and which ones are God's implied records? Some people even try to solve the problem by completely splitting or opposing the old and new conventions, but as a result, the problem brings more problems.

In church life, we can see that believers love poetry very much, especially the prayer and gratitude in it, which often become the hearts of believers. A passage in the psalm aroused their powerful inner voice and naturally became their own prayer. However, when they read the following "curse" poem again, it became a knot in their hearts. Can Christians identify with this voice?

When we are surprised that these "curse poems" lack "Christianization", let us pay attention to the following points:

1. Among 18 poems with spells, at least 13 poems are basically marked as David's works (such as poems 55, 59, 69, 109), while Asa (such as poem 79) and nobody in exile (such as poem/). For example, he was chased by Saul, denounced by Doe, and his son Absalom defected. Every time he was accused, he was cursed and didn't want revenge. Therefore, we have reason to believe that these "cursed" scriptures do not involve personal grievances and revenge, they must exist for a deeper purpose.

2. Blessing and cursing are common things for ancient residents in the Near East. Especially in the contract between some countries or individuals, in order to make the contract more serious, it has a certain deterrent effect. In addition, some religious ceremonies often embody blessings and spells (refer to Shen Shen 27: 1 1-26). In this regard, Israel is no stranger. Curse is part of the contract between God and Israel. It reveals the divine and just nature of God, and shows God's hatred and judgment of evil. Before Moses led the people out of Egypt into the land of Canaan, he blessed the people of Cilicia on Mount Ebal and cursed them (Deuteronomy 27: 1 1-26). He told the people again and again that if he kept God's commandments, he would be blessed, but if he disobeyed the Lord, he would be seriously hurt (Deuteronomy 28: 1-68). The spirit of the curse poem is not contrary to this.

If you are familiar with the historical background of Israel at that time, you will know that such poems often describe the poet's inner feelings during the war or exile. The destruction of the temple and the killing of state leaders and people all show that the God of Israel is despised and offended by foreign countries. Faced with the oppression, persecution, rape, swallowing, bloodshed, evil, sin and other unjust things of the enemy, the wicked and the deceitful people, the poet groaned before God like an "angry plaintiff" on behalf of a group of victims, asking God to uphold justice for them, uphold justice for the wicked, make them bear the consequences, and ask God to rescue his people from their hands. Therefore, these are the poets' inner responses to the enemies who hurt them. The poet appealed to God and prayed for God to intervene in the situation at that time, punish the enemy and the wicked, and save the poet or God's people. Submit your case to an impartial judge. We can understand the author's mood and feelings at that time and understand the reasons for their excitement. This kind of curse poem comes from the mouth of a desperate person, even if the words are extreme, they can be understood.

Since the poet's heart and prayers are recorded in the form of "poetic style", it is necessary to express the poet's thoughts and feelings through rhetorical exaggeration and metaphor, and we don't have to understand them literally. As C.S. Yi Shi said in his poems: "Poetry must be read as a poem, which has all the characteristics of lyric poetry, such as speaking freely, fighting neatly, exaggerating words, spreading feelings instead of logic, etc. ; If you want to pay due attention, you must read it as a poem. "

5. Although in the Old Testament, there is the concept that loving your neighbor is like loving yourself. Think of your enemies. 23:4-5), generally speaking, people in the Old Testament were educated by the law of "life for life, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth". (for example. 2 1: 23 ~ 25) When they are deeply oppressed by the enemy and in great pain, it is not surprising that they send out prayers similar to cursing the enemy.

Therefore, for the "curse poem" in the poem, we might as well make this understanding:

When we emphasize God's love, we tend to be too emotional or turn a blind eye to the evil phenomena that exist. But the god the poet knows is a god who "keeps his eyes clean and doesn't see evil". He will never tolerate traitors and hates all evil. This is the internal driving force that inspires poets to strongly demand revenge on the wicked, so as to defend and shout God's justice. He is convinced that if evil is not overthrown, justice cannot win. Although the poet strongly expressed his hatred of the wicked and appealed to God, he believed in the God who avenged me (Deuteronomy 32:35) and never took any revenge. They don't avenge themselves, but ask God to judge them, which is similar to the cry of those souls who were killed under the altar in the disaster (Rev. 6: 9- 1 1). It can be seen that the hatred expressed in poetry is only the true expression of the poet's feelings and does not represent the action that the poet wants to take. Emotional relief, expressed in words or words, even though it sounds terrible, is still different from the facts. On the contrary, what is more worrying is the hidden but accumulated resentment, and sometimes there are some cruel and extreme revenge.

The God we believe in is holy and just, with clear rewards and punishments. Christ's redemption has brought the world the grace of forgiving sins and turned many curses from sins into blessings. The cross of Christ will influence and change our attitude towards injustice and enemies. Blessed Christians should, of course, "only bless and not curse" (Luo. 12: 14), not to mention personal revenge (Rom. 12: 19).