Why did King David curse?

Question:

Good evening! I am concerned about a question that I have not been able to find a clear answer at all. Looking over Psalm 109, I met one of the Psalms, the theologically called “impetuous.” What I can not understand is how we can reconcile these kinds of curse texts with the love and forgiveness which the Lord Jesus teaches us in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, the Jews were allowed to utter such curses, being in another dispensation, and we are no longer allowed. Even in Psalm 139: 19-22, David says he hates the enemies and wants them to be killed. Can God receive a prayer like this from a man “with the heart of God”? I notice that not only in Psalms we see such prayers, but even the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 18: 21-22 utters a curse upon them. Also, how do we find in Revelation 6:10 (in the New Testament) people who ask God’s judgment against the wicked? Thank you, in advance, and may God bless you!

It is true that David was called by God a man according to His own heart, but these things were not for the sins and mistakes he made in life but for the way he ran in all respects to God, and he was totally dependent on The Most High. David has made other serious sins we know well, but he came and wept for them, and he truly repented for them. Saul and others didn’t do the same.They sought for themselves to solve their problems and did not come to God in their fall.

Not only David, but even the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ were tempted to demand immediate punishment over those who harmed them. Here is a testimony from the New Testament:

When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem; and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for Him, but they did not receive Him because He was traveling toward Jerusalem. When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” And they went on to another village. (Luke 9:51–56) (NASB).

David was not baptized with the Holy Spirit. The disciples were not yet baptized with the Holy Spirit at the time when they asked for fire to come down from heaven. When He ascended to heaven, the Lord Jesus sent the Holy Spirit, and all His disciples were baptized with this Spirit and had the power to live and to remain forever in love to overcome the difficult moments of life when we are tempted to avenge ourselves or to curse. The power of God through which the Lord Jesus Christ who has been raised is now in us and works in us, who have the Holy Spirit; therefore we can fulfill the Scripture’s commandment to curse no one, but to bless others.

So God help us to do it!

Translated by Nicoleta Vicliuc