Breaking Arms

Psalms 10:15 (KJV) Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man: seek out his wickedness till thou find none.

(Proverbs 21 also read)

The title given this section of scripture by the editors is “Prayer for the overthrow of the wicked.”  I understand that is not in the actual text, but just a summary offered by some mysterious editor.  But it does summarize the Psalm pretty well.  When you get down to verse 15 you get this interesting request.

While it’s true that we are not supposed to wish tragedy on our enemies, that advice, which is given other places in Psalms and Proverbs, seems to be overlooked.  I would guess that this means that it’s OK for us to pray for heaps of coal to be dumped on the heads of the wicked.

So?  Don’t let this get you to walk away from living a righteous life, or examining your own self, but as you pray and you see people that are obviously wicked and living in defiance of God, it would seem to be OK to call upon God to deal with them in physical ways.