#St alexander prayer against enemies full

Although, sometimes his prayers may look very personal, they are personal in the sense that he represents GodвЂ™s people, thus an attack on him was an attack on GodвЂ™s people. They were written by a king, the leader of a nation, a general of an army. On the other hand if we look carefully at the imprecatory Psalms we find a much different situation.

#St alexander prayer against enemies full

Jesus is not talking about mass genocide or a full military invasion of another country, he is talking about personal offenses and thatвЂ™s exactly why he uses the example of turning the other cheek (Mat 5:39) thereвЂ™s nothing inherently dangerous about receiving a slap on the cheek but it is humiliating personally. ItвЂ™s clear from the context, Jesus is speaking about personal relationships what he asks us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us or to go the extra mile. ItвЂ™s important to understand the difference in context between the imprecatory prayers of the Psalms and Jesus Sermon on the Mount. вЂњThey cried out with a loud voice, вЂњO Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?вЂќ In fact there are some New Testament texts that also seem to be imprecatory in nature.ДЇor instance, in the book of Revelation, those martyred cry out to God and say, Neither Jesus nor any of the other New Testament writers specifically correct the imprecatory prayers of the Old Testament. I donвЂ™t believe that either of these solutions work well.

Others claim that Jesus revoked this type of prayer when he told us to love our enemies in Matthew chapter 5. Some claim that imprecatory prayers represent DavidвЂ™s sinful desire for revenge and thus we should not copy him. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. You have heard that it was said, вЂYou shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.В But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,В so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. One of the biggest problems Christians have with imprecatory prayers is that JesusвЂ™ words seem to contradict the idea of praying for the destruction of your enemy. There are many texts in the Bible that talk about GodвЂ™s judgment but an imprecatory prayer does more than just talk about GodвЂ™s judgment it calls for God to bring judgment on someone. (28) Let them be blotted out of the book of the living let them not be enrolled among the righteous. (27) Add to them punishment upon punishment may they have no acquittal from you.

(26) For they persecute him whom you have struck down, and they recount the pain of those you have wounded. (25) May their camp be a desolation let no one dwell in their tents. (24) Pour out your indignation upon them, and let your burning anger overtake them. (23) Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see, and make their loins tremble continually. (22) Let their own table before them become a snare and when they are at peace, let it become a trap. An ExampleДЇor a good example of what an imprecatory prayer looks like letвЂ™s look at Psalm 69. The ApostleВ Paul and Peter also quoted from Psalm 69 (Acts 1:20 and Rom 11:9). Jesus quoted from at least two imprecatory psalms Psa 35 and 69 (Joh 2:17 and 15:25). We canвЂ™t just write these Psalms out of our Bible, Jesus himself considered them inspired andВ he never apologized for them, corrected them, or indicated that they do not teach truth. War or not, if you read your Bible seriously you canвЂ™t ignore the passionate plea for the violent destruction of enemies.