Written by Sue Sanders
“As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him. As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones” (King James Version, Psalm 109:17, 18).
Robert Morris names cursing as number six of the ten deadly ways that we sin with our words. According to Morris, “When you curse, you’re actually speaking a curse over someone or something, even yourself and what belongs to you. A person who curses is not blessed” (Morris).
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers declares that the optatives in the English are wrong in Psalm 109:17,18. The mood is indicative and “these verses express facts.” Ellicott renders the verses–
He loved cursing; and it comes;
He delighted not in blessing; and it departs;
Yea, he clothed himself in cursing as with his cloak,
And it came like water into his bowels,
And like oil into his bones;
May it be, &c.
Ellicott suggests the “fabled shirt of Nessus, which ate into the mighty form of Hercules” as an illustration of the Scripture above. The shirt was tainted with the lethal blood of the Hydra.
Notice this person loved cursing. The curses that he pronounced on others boomeranged and came back on him. The image of his clothing himself with cursing as with a yoke suggests that “his very business was to slander others everywhere, taking a pride in the mischievous effects of the wretched lies” (Benson). However, the curse came back on him. “It shall come, into his bowels, like water — He shall feel the miserable fruit of his wickedness spreading itself, like the water he drinks, to every artery and vein; and sticking as close to him as oil unto the bones” (Benson).
Instead of clothing ourselves with a garment of cursing, let’s clothe ourselves with a garment of blessing, “desiring and promoting the welfare of others.” We will not only bring blessings on others but also on ourselves.
Benson, Joseph. Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (8 vols.) British Methodists: 1811-1817. Bible Hub. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.
Ellicott, C. J., ed. A Bible Commentary for English Readers, Job—Isaiah. Cassell and Company: 1905. Bible Hub. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.
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