True and false worship

Many of us are familiar with Psalm 139 where David prays intimately, “Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I stand up; you understand my thoughts from far away. You observe my travels and my rest; you are aware of all my ways.”

Verses 19-22 seem incongruent with the rest of the Psalm. These verses say, “God, if only you would kill the wicked—you bloodthirsty men, stay away from me—who invoke you deceitfully. Your enemies swear by you falsely. Lord, don’t I hate those who hate you, and detest those who rebel against you? I hate them with extreme hatred; I consider them my enemies.” David makes a departure from the tender verses preceding and and begins to call down curses on his enemies. What do these verses have to do with the rest of the Psalm?

I was reading the Psalm again in morning worship the other day and noticed that the “enemies” David refers to are actually those who falsely claim to worship God (“…you bloodthirsty men, stay away from me—who invoke you deceitfully…Your enemies swear by you falsely.”) In Matthew 15:7-9, Jesus, quoting Isaiah, said about the Pharisees, “Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you when he said: This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. They worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines human commands.”

David ends his Psalm by contrasting the reality of a true worshipper: “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the everlasting way.”