NOTES for Psa 149

A question arises very often: should we read psalms that curse enemies now that we have the New Testament, which has set entirely different tasks before us? Even in a psalm most filled with praise and glorification of God, one can find curses and a longing for every kind of punishment to befall enemies. Nothing seems more contrary to the spirit of the Gospel. This apparent contradiction is resolved quite simply: these enemies are not our enemies, but the enemies of God and of Christ, who forgave His executioners and Peter, yet sternly denounced the Pharisees and the “world.” These enemies of God are not only outside us, somewhere far away, but also within us: they are our sins. Reading the psalms can then guard us against lukewarmness by stirring up our hatred not against sinners, but against evil and sin.