Crying Out for Vengeance
TRANSLATION
(1) Yahweh, God of vengeance, God of vengeance, shine forth! (2) Rise up, judge of the earth! Repay to the proud what they deserve. (3) How long, Yahweh, (will) the wicked, how long will the wicked exult? (4) They pour out arrogant words. All the evildoers boast. (5) They crush your people, Yahweh, and afflict your inheritance. (6) They afflict the widow and the sojourner and murder the fatherless, (7) and they say, “Yahweh does not see. The God of Jacob does not discern.”
OBSERVATIONS
Two verses in this opening segment of the psalm contain repetitions used for rhetorical emphasis. First, the psalmist addressed Yahweh twice as “God of vengeance” (vs. 1). Then, he repeated the phrase, “How long will the wicked,” to emphasize that God’s vengeance, though it may be delayed, will surely appear (vs. 3). Note the synonyms: “pour out arrogant words...boast” (vs. 4), “crush...afflict” along with “your people...your inheritance” (vs. 5), “kill...murder” (vs. 6), and “see...discern” (vs. 7).
OUTLINE
I. We pray for Yahweh to avenge us… (1-3)
II. …because evildoers cruelly oppress us. (4-7)
IDEA STATEMENT
Those whom the wicked oppress cry out to Yahweh for vengeance.
APPLICATION
The desire for fair treatment runs deep within the human heart. Before most of us could read or write, we demanded to be treated equitably. If a sister or brother was shown favor by a parent, we demanded the same treatment. If a neighbor hurts us, we want to see them hurt in return. If someone takes advantage of us, we want them to be paid back with interest. “Dish out to others what they have dished out to you” is the law of the playground, the urban ghetto, the worldly credo with which we have grown up and that lurks deep within our beings.
Paul’s command to believers, “Do not repay anyone evil for evil” (Rom. 12:17), directly challenges this very human desire for retaliation. When Paul continued with “Do not take revenge, my friends” (Rom. 12:19), we find ourselves asking, “Could he really have meant this?” The rest of the verse answers our skepticism: “But leave room for God's wrath, for it is written, ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord” (Rom. 12:19). In other words, we who belong to God must not seek vengeance for ourselves but rather trust God to right the wrongs done to us.
This is precisely what the opening segment of Psalm 94 communicates. With great emotion and eloquence, the psalmist pled with God to bring justice to bear (vss. 1-3) by avenging all the wrongs done to Israel by her enemies (vss. 4-7). Such a prayer is entirely appropriate for believers. In fact, this is how we can make sense of Paul’s commands in Romans 12. We escape being ensnared in the escalating tangle of seeking to avenge the wrongs done to us if we count on the promise that Yahweh will someday repay all those who have hurt us. We can leave everything in his powerful hands, trusting that Abraham’s comment regarding the Judge of all the earth who will certainly do what is right applies to us as well (Gen. 18:25).