Righteousness - Psalm 35
Psalm 35 is a rather violent Psalm. In it, David describes awful things he wants God to do to his enemies, and he asks Him for it in the name of righteousness. How could that be?
Last year, I spent some time praying about this exact subject. That is, why would the contemporary morality of David’s time seem to judge piousness in terms of how much they war for God, while the contemporary morality of our time seems to judge piousness in terms of ones pacifism amidst war? I thought I received a word from God last year that answered my question.  I did not receive the word verbally mind you, but seemed to come in an epiphany, and it just explained it for me: righteousness. It dawned on me that the one thing that past and present have in common when it comes to war is a recognition of the most righteous. This isn’t necessarily a recognition of who is the most righteous, but a recognition that if you are not righteous, but are religious, then you are a hypocrite… and too many religious people these days are in fact hypocrites.
So, I embarked on this word study of righteousness, and have been taking it one verse at a time… until this morning when I came to a Psalm that expresses the violent nature of the past with such certainty that the very criticisms of Christians, Christianity, and the Bible, which prompted me to even pray about this subject were all too clear. Psalm 35. Here is a sample (emphasis added):
 4 May those who seek my life
      be disgraced and put to shame;
      may those who plot my ruin
      be turned back in dismay. 5 May they be like chaff before the wind,
      with the angel of the LORD driving them away; 6 may their path be dark and slippery,
      with the angel of the LORD pursuing them. 7 Since they hid their net for me without cause
      and without cause dug a pit for me, 8 may ruin overtake them by surprise—
      may the net they hid entangle them,
      may they fall into the pit, to their ruin. 9 Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD
      and delight in his salvation.
This is the violent God of the Old Testament that prompts many atheists to remain atheists. And boy does it sound horrible. Because we know David to be a man after God’s heart. He is lifted up in the New Testament as an example of who we are to emulate, and this is an example of his prayers? Come on. How do we emulate that? What is better, killing everyone in the USSR, or helping prompt democracy to take root and giving the power to the people? What did David miss? or what is it that we miss?
  24 Vindicate me in your righteousness, O LORD my God;
      do not let them gloat over me.25 Do not let them think, “Aha, just what we wanted!”
      or say, “We have swallowed him up.” 26 May all who gloat over my distress
      be put to shame and confusion;
      may all who exalt themselves over me
      be clothed with shame and disgrace. 27 May those who delight in my vindication
      shout for joy and gladness;
      may they always say, “The LORD be exalted,
      who delights in the well-being of his servant.” 28 My tongue will speak of your righteousness
      and of your praises all day long.
At least in this case, I think verses 24 to 28 help answer the question. The operating principle these days is that diplomacy can win a war, that the people of one country are much like the people of any other. It is therefore up to the leadership of countries to strike the peace, and resolve to get along… because if they can do that, then the people will go along with it. If true, then I certainly find it more appealing than going to war and killing my enemies, because it would mean that there are no real enemies, just misunderstandings (at best) or people without adequate recognition of their humanity by us (at worst). Another common approach to reconciling this, for Christians anyway, is to look at the differences between past and present, and just say that our times are different than David’s. Simple. But unfortunately, it’s not an argument, even if the observation is true. There must be an underlying principle there, and I believe it’s righteousness.
Righteousness as we’ve been seeing is believing God and obeying Him. David was made king of Israel, and given the responsibility of defending Israel against all enemies who sought to harm it. An enemy of Israel was therefore an enemy of God, and therefore of David. See the order there? These people were God’s enemy first, and they were so by choice. Therefore, they were enemies of God’s followers, and therefore of David. David believed God, and David obeyed. Had he been given a charter of peace with his surrounding neighbors, then David would have done that.
Now, I’m a peaceful person. I make peace in my life wherever I can. I hate that we’re at war… but I hate evil more, and God has given us a charter to represent Him against evil. The people who flew into the twin towers performed acts of evil, and so our country sought to kill them, and destroy the way of life that produced them. We went to Afghanistan and Iraq, and have had some measure of success. It’s difficult doing this without appearing much like the very enemy we seek to destroy, but that is our charter, and it must be done in righteousness, belief and obedience in God, or else we do become just like those who hate us. I cannot say with any certitude that our country has conducted itself in righteousness to this point, and while I cannot say with certitude that we will do so under our new president, my support of him in this effort is certainly offered in righteousness. My reason for supporting any war at all is because of my attempt at righteousness myself, and the fact that we are friends of Israel today gives me pause, when we consider making friends with their enemies. Has God’s charter to the righteous changed? Do we still believe God when we read that Israel is the holy land and the Jews are His chosen people? Do we still obey God, by coming to their defense and fighting for them, regardless of their particular relationship with God today, just as others have in the Biblical past? Well, whatever the best way of doing that is, it is only in that vein that I support any war in the Middle East today… or any peace. And I will never get to choose the leader who I support in that, or what that leader does (or doesn’t do). But, show me the path toward belief and obedience in God, the path of righteousness that is, and that is the path I will follow… independent of the perfection or imperfection of those leaders who are given the charter of carrying God’s will out. I do not support their sin, but I support supporting Israel, and that means supporting the war, in righteousness.