Western Christians may assume that the practice of imprecatory prayers occurred only in ancient Israel as shown in the Psalms. In fact, this practice has endured down through the centuries in traditional Africa until even today. I come from the Lugbara people of Uganda, in Eastern Africa, and my people have uttered imprecations and curses even in my lifetime. Among the Lugbara, imprecations and curses are common and completely acceptable.
Until the arrival of the European missionaries, the Lugbara lived according to religious beliefs and cultural practices much like those of the Ancient Near East. My people were one of the very last groups to be Christianized, and elders in my village have followed traditional practices even in my lifetime. Our tribal worldview resembles that of many groups in East Africa and contrasts markedly with the secular Western perspective that is prevalent among scholars today.
In the Lugbara culture, invoking imprecations and curses is common in situations where innocent people have suffered unjust treatment. A sufferer who does not have the power to abate their unjust treatment turns to God for help, invoking imprecations against a powerful oppressor that God should grant. The sufferer certainly knows that God is a just God, King over all, and will judge justly. God will examine the deeds of the perpetrator without partiality and bring justice for the sufferer by granting the imprecations invoked against the unjust.
Should Christians today pray imprecatory prayers from the Psalms? Imprecatory prayer is praying out our rage to God. In these prayers Africans call for God’s righteous judgment to befall oppressors. Westerners who have not experienced vicious injustice cringe upon reading the imprecatory psalms, fearing the raw strength of these prayers. Could the violent imagery and ill wishes prompt violence in the name of God? Sadly, this has been true in Christian history. However, the imprecatory psalms in Africa are not a call to arms but a call to faith in God. In them Africans lift their voices, not swords, as they pray for God to bring calamity on the enemies of God’s people. So, the concern about violent words leading to violent actions can be addressed.
How do curses and imprecations fit into God’s justice? These are prayers of violated people. They are an intense outcry for justice. The victims of vicious injustice realize that some forms of tyranny can only be confronted and dismantled by God Himself; some forms of evil can only be dealt with and destroyed by God alone. So, in imprecatory prayers, victims of injustice pour out their violent feelings and entrust them into the hands of God who reveals Himself as the defender of the oppressed. This means that oppressed Africans can pray their rage to the God of justice by praying the imprecatory psalms, while not pouring out their rage upon their persecutors.