Judgment of False Accusers

Psalms 109:1-20

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

1 Do not keep silent,
O God of my praise!

2 For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful
Have opened against me;
They have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
3 They have also surrounded me with words of hatred,
And fought against me without a cause.

4 In return for my love they are my accusers,
But I give myself to prayer.
5 Thus they have rewarded me evil for good,
And hatred for my love.

6 Set a wicked man over him,
And let an accuser stand at his right hand.
7 When he is judged, let him be found guilty,
And let his prayer become sin.

8 Let his days be few,
And let another take his office.
9 Let his children be fatherless,
And his wife a widow.

10 Let his children continually be vagabonds, and beg;
Let them seek their bread also from their desolate places.
11 Let the creditor seize all that he has,
And let strangers plunder his labor.

12 Let there be none to extend mercy to him,
Nor let there be any to favor his fatherless children.
13 Let his posterity be cut off,
And in the generation following let their name be blotted out.

14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD,
And let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
15 Let them be continually before the LORD,
That He may cut off the memory of them from the earth;

16 Because he did not remember to show mercy,
But persecuted the poor and needy man,
That he might even slay the broken in heart.

17 As he loved cursing, so let it come to him;
As he did not delight in blessing, so let it be far from him.
18 As he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment,
So let it enter his body like water,
And like oil into his bones.

19 Let it be to him like the garment which covers him,
And for a belt with which he girds himself continually.
20 Let this be the LORD's reward to my accusers,
And to those who speak evil against my person.

This psalm begins as an imprecatory plea for God’s vengeance on the ungodly opposed to Him and His servant, the psalmist.  He asks for judgment on the false accusers, several verses which are quoted in the New Testament concerning Christ’s accusers and the false apostle, Judas Iscariot.  The deceitful and wicked enemies speak lies and hate-filled words without any apparent reason or cause to do so, except that they are opposed to God and righteousness, even the upright who follow Him.  Both the psalmist and the Messiah to come find unfounded accusations in return for their love; evil for good and hatred for love freely given.  They are utterly corrupt and opposed to the Lord.  Therefore, the psalmist prayed that the evil one would be rightly accused and a guilty sentence passed on him as rightly deserved.  This is as those opposing Him and His anointed now, Jesus Christ the righteous.  They will also be judged justly for their false accusations and giving evil for good as they did to Jesus.  The psalm here even is mentioned in John 17:12 and quoted later in Acts 1:20 concerning the traitor.  He prayed that others would take all the evil ones have and be left  homeless vagabonds, as bums without anything left because they took from the good name of others with their possessions.  He further asked God to cut off their descendants from any inheritance without mercy, paralleling the unrepentant enemies of the Lord Jesus who lose any hope of eternal inheritance in Him for their rejection.  They should not receive mercy themselves because they showed none to others, especially the poor and needy (even the heartbroken) who need help.  Since the wicked love cursing others instead of blessing them, that cursing is his clothing which further should penetrate deep into his soul as deserved retribution.  This is the reward of the LORD to the false accusers of Himself and His servants (Revelation 6:10) who speak unjustified evil with slanderous intent, and are forever unrepentant (Acts 17:30-31, Revelation 9:20, 16:11).  We preach the gospel that men may escape what we all are due, but the vessels of destruction (Romans 9:22) will find recompense for rejecting the Lord.  This is be a difficult prayer to pray, for judgment of false accusers of the Lord and ourselves.