Introduction
The evil people do against others
is often mentioned in Scripture, yet one particular type of evil seems to sit
in the shadows: betrayal. Betrayal is,
however, a theme that emerges in transformative ways with historical significance, coming to a climax in Judas’ betrayal of Jesus. Old Testament narratives and psalms of
betrayal prepare the way for this climactic betrayal of our Saviour. Moreover, they also minister to us in the very real and
painful experiences of betrayal.
Betrayal by Persons in Authority
Betrayal can be deeply felt when a trusted person or a person in authority, not necessarily a friend or equal, uses his position to bring one harm. This might be a board member or director of an organisation, or the minister of a church. By such a person’s action or inaction, someone is betrayed. A minister simply takes sides instead of investigating some parishioner’s claims against another or passes judgement on someone without caring for his soul if he is in the wrong. Betrayal by persons in authority is too often also sexual.
A Biblical story of historical
significance that includes the betrayal by someone in authority is found in 1
Kings 12. After Solomon’s death, Rehoboam
was made king. The people approached him
and asked him to lighten their yoke.
Solomon’s expansion of the palace and army involved taxes and service
from the people. Rehoboam’s response was
to betray the people in his care by increasing their burden.
As a result, the kingdom divided between the north and the south, and
Jeroboam became the king of Judah in the south.
The problem of kings and others in authority betraying the people they were to serve was endemic in Israel. God tells Ezekiel to prophecy against the shepherds of Israel. He asks, 'Should not shepherds feed the sheep?' (34.3). God indicts them: 'The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them' (v. 4).
Betrayal by someone in authority occurs when the person betrays his responsibility and, instead of serving, uses his power for his own purposes at the expense of the people. Christian organisations, seminaries, denominations, and churches know all too well instances of this sort of betrayal.
Betrayal by Persons under
Authority
A Biblical example of those under
authority rising up against their leaders occurs in Numbers 16. Korah, a Levite, along with several others
orchestrated a coup against Moses and Aaron.
The uprising had democratic sentiments: the whole assembly was holy, so
why should anyone exalt himself above the others? The answer to this was that God had appointed
leaders over Israel. As a result, God
caused the earth to open up, and the rebels and their households were swallowed
up. The people then grumbled against
Moses and Aaron for these deaths, and so God brought a plague on them until Aaron
offered incense as an atonement for their sin.
This story cannot be used to affirm any person in authority, only one
truly chosen by God.
Betrayal by a Companion
We see betrayal between equals
most commonly in divorce, as the covenant two make between each other is broken
by one or both spouses. This is the case
in Malachi 2, where the prophet explains why God no longer regards the
offerings people make because they are faithless to the wives of their youth. That is, they divorce their wives even though
their marriage was a covenant before God—a holy matrimony. God Himself was a witness to the marital
covenant, yet they have been faithless to their companions. Malachi 2.16 (a verse with some translation
challenges) in the ESV is translated:
For the man who
does not love his wife but divorces her, says the LORD, the God of Israel,
covers his garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So guard yourselves
in your spirit, and do not be faithless.
The faithlessness in mind is when
a husband stops loving his wife and divorces her. The Hebrew actually reads that he hates her. Such a faithlessness in marriage is an
analogy to the faithlessness of Israel to God, as in Hosea, where the prophet’s
marriage to a faithless woman is parabolic of God’s marriage to a faithless
Israel that has taken other lovers—foreign religions. The narrative of Israel’s faithlessness to
God runs throughout Israel’s history.
Betrayal of Family Members
The first story of humanity after Eden is the betrayal of a brother out of jealousy, the story of Cain and Abel. Because of his jealousy, Cain slew his brother. Another of the great Biblical stories of betrayal is that of Joseph’s brothers, who sold him into slavery in Egypt.
A paradigmatic story of betrayal is that by Absalom,
the son of King David, for it has parallels with the betrayal of Jesus by Judas. The story is told
in elaborate detail in 2 Samuel 13-18.
The chapter begins with the story of another son, Amnon, betraying his half-sister,
Tamar, and raping her. We read that
Tamar lived ‘a desolate woman’ in her brother, Absalom’s house (v. 21). Absalom then avenges his sister and has Amnon
killed. He then flees for his own life,
but is eventually permitted to return to Jerusalem when his friend, Joab,
intervenes with the king. He was not
permitted to go before his father, the king, however. Later, when Joab also does not go to Absalom,
Absalom has Joab’s field set on fire—another betrayal. The story intensifies as Absalom is finally
reconciled to his father but then conspires to overthrow him. As Absalom gathers supporters around Israel,
David flees the city with those on his side, all weeping with heads covered up
the Mount of Olives. David learns
further of another betrayal, that of Mephibosheth, to whom David had shown
mercy and kindness. Ultimately, the coup
is put down and Absalom dies. This
betrayal story has parallels with Jesus’ betrayal by Judas, and it may be the
background for some of the betrayal psalms.
The Lament of Betrayal in the
Psalms
The psalms several times lament
the betrayal of a friend. Biblical faith
has at its heart faithfulness. God is
faithful to Israel, and Israel is to be faithful to God. Marriage is the making of a man and a woman
into a ‘one flesh’ union; divorce is a betrayal of that intimate
relationship. God likens Israel’s
faithlessness to Him as a divorce.
Malachi
Psalm 15 asks,
‘O Lord,
who may abide in your tent?
Who may dwell on your holy hill?’
The psalm answers that the
blameless person will and then describes such persons. They do what is right, speak the truth from
their hearts, do not slander, and do no evil to friends or reproach their
neighbours, despise the wicked, honour those who fear the Lord, ‘stand by their
oath even to their hurt’, ‘do not lend money at interest’, and take no bribe
against the innocent. The psalm lays out
a picture of the blameless and the treacherous.
When describing those excluded from God’s holy hill, from Zion, the
primary answer is that they are those who betray others with lies, slander,
reproach, breaking of oaths, injuring others financially, and swaying justice
by taking bribes against innocent people.
They are people who betray a friend and reproach a neighbour.
Job 6 provides some parallels to
this psalm. Verse 14 reads, “He who
withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty.’ Job bemoans treacherous companions. They would ‘even cast lots over the orphan,
and bargain over your friend’ (v. 27).
Psalm 7 asks God to ‘save me from
all my pursuers’ (v. 1). The psalmist
first searches his own soul, saying that if he had done wrong, if he had dealt
out evil to someone with whom he was at peace (v. 4), a friend, he would accept
his punishment well enough. He then
appeals for God’s just judgement as he believes that he is righteous and stands
with integrity (v. 8). The wicked
person, however, ‘conceives evil and is pregnant with mischief and gives birth
to lies’ (v. 14). Yet the psalmist is
certain that such a person will fall into the pit he has dug for another and
his mischief will fall on his own head (vv. 15-16). The psalm is an affirmation of trust in the
justice of God in the midst of relentless evildoers who wish him harm.
Psalm 41 is an appeal for God’s
grace when enemies wish the psalmist’s demise and ‘even my close friend in whom
I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me’ (v. 9). This verse is, of course, applicable to
Judas’ eating bread with Jesus at the Last Supper and then betraying Him.
Psalm 55 is another appeal to God
when the wicked ‘drop trouble upon me’ (v. 3).
The psalmist agonises over this.
He is in anguish, he has night terrors, and he has fears and trembles. Horrors overwhelm him (vv. 4-5). The reason for this is:
It is not an enemy who taunts me—
then
I could bear it;
it is not an adversary who deals
insolently with me—
then
I could hide from him.
13 But it is you, a man, my
equal,
my
companion, my familiar friend.
14 We used to take sweet
counsel together;
within
God’s house we walked in the throng.
He says that his companion ‘laid
hands on a friend’ in violation of their covenant (NRSV, v. 20). Betrayal of a friend is a terrible thing to
bear, a violation at the deepest level.
The psalmist says this companion conversed with words as smooth as
butter and softer than oil, yet ‘war was in his heart’ (v. 21). Again, the psalmist pledges his trust in God
and calls on others to cast their burdens on God as He will bring justice to
the evildoers (vv. 21-23).
The betrayal of friendship is
noted in Psalm 12 as well. The psalmist laments that this is an affliction of
the human race itself, and the psalm begins and ends with this sad truth:
Save, O LORD,
for the godly one is gone;
for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man (v. 1);
On every side
the wicked prowl, as vileness is exalted among the children of man (v. 8).
The psalmist’s charge of
unfaithfulness and vileness lies in the fact that ‘Everyone utters lies to his
neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak’ (v. 2). False or duplicitous neighbours say one thing
face to face, but behind the backs of the righteous they plot evil.
Lament psalms take the reader
through a complaint, a statement of trust, and a promise to praise God when He
brings deliverance. However, Psalm 88
stands out for being a psalm that only states the complaint. The psalmist feels as though he has been
resigned to the pit of death itself. He
feels as though God had abandoned him, or even that God is the cause of his
afflictions. The situation causing this
utter distress is the abandonment of his companions. He cries to God, ‘you have made me a horror
to them. I am shut in so that I cannot
escape; my eyes grow dim from sorrow’ (vv. 8-9). The psalm ends in despair, even an accusation
against God: ‘You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me; my
companions have become darkness’ (v. 18).
This despair needs to be weighed against the other psalms that trust in
God to bring justice, but standing on its own, it captures the emotion of one
betrayed by a friend.
A psalm like Psalm 37, on the
other hand, encourages the person beset by injustice with assurance that the
Lord will reward the blameless and repay evildoers. The psalm calls on the righteous person to
‘fear not yourself because of evildoers’ (v. 1), ‘trust in the LORD’ (v. 3),
‘delight yourself in the LORD’ (v. 4), ‘commit your way to the LORD’ (v. 5),
and ‘be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him’ (v. 7). The wait for God to act when in the midst of
trials is not easy, but it is what makes us trust, hope, and have faith in God,
who saves us.
Psalm 35 also describes betrayal
and asks God to ‘contend…with those who contend with me’ (v. 1). Throughout the psalm, the psalmist asks God
to repay the people who have turned against him falsely. He recalls how, when they were sick, he
prayed in sackcloth and fasted, going about in mourning as one grieving for a
friend or brother, or even a mother (vv. 13-14). They, on the other hand, maliciously witness
against him and put questions to him (accuse him) of things that he does not
know (that never happened) (v. 11). On
occasions when he stumbled, they rejoiced and gathered together, tearing at him
unceasingly (v. 15) and devising words of deceit (v. 20). One imagines their
meetings to weave a narrative with false witnesses and imaginative
accusations. They simply hated him
without a cause (v. 19). The psalmist
appeals to God for vindication and that these false accusers who try to magnify
themselves through attacking him would ‘be clothed with shame and dishonour’
(v. 26).
The psalmist often insists on his
innocence: he is the persecuted righteous person. Sometimes, though, he knows his own faults,
and in such a case the fault of others is that they abandon him. The sin may drive people away, but when the
psalmist repents, they still ostracise him.
In Psalm 38, the psalmist complains that, instead of helping him when he
sins, they stand aside and leave him alone.
(This is also the situation in Psalm 40.)
The psalmist confesses his sin to God, who, he trusts, will save him, but
no forgiveness is forthcoming from others.
He is, in modern parlance, ‘cancelled’ by his friends or ‘defriended’. He says, ‘there is no health in my bones
because of my sin’ (v. 3). While the
psalm may entail the psalmist becoming sick because of his sins, it is also
possible that he only likens his sins to a sickness. He says his wounds stink and fester, he is
bowed down and prostrate, his sides burn, he is ‘feeble and crushed’, and he
groans because of his heart’s tumult (vv. 5-8).
In this state, which is like a plague, his ‘friends and companions stand
aloof’ (v. 11) while those who wish him harm ‘meditate treachery all day long’
(v. 12). The psalmist turns to God,
saying,
I am ready to
fall,
and my pain is ever before me.
18 I confess my iniquity;
I am sorry for my sin (vv. 17-18).
His foes, however, are strong and
hate him wrongfully. They ‘render me
evil for good and accuse me because I follow after good’ (vv. 19-20). A sinner who repents should not be shunned by
friends or done injury by evil people.
Betrayal of the Suffering
Servant in Isaiah
The despised, righteous person is
a trope in Scripture. It is used to
describe God’s Servant in Isaiah 52.13-53.12:
As many were
astonished at you—
his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of the children of mankind….
For he grew up
before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows6 and
acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not (52.14;
53.2-3).
Others oppressed and afflicted
him (53.7). They cut him off ‘out of the
land of the living’ (v. 8) and ‘made his grave with the wicked…although he had
done no violence’ (v. 9).
What Isaiah adds to the trope of
the righteous sufferer is that his suffering was sacrificial for others:
Surely he
has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
The sinners caused the righteous
person’s suffering, but it was by God’s will.
The righteous sufferer was received as an offering for guilt. He bore their iniquities and made the many
righteous (53.10-12). This passage is
exalted in Christian theology as it so fittingly describes Jesus’ death on the
cross for sinners. The sinless Jesus
dies for the sins of many (cf. Romans 5.15-21).
Conclusion
Scripture addresses the deepest
pain of human sinfulness: the betrayal of a friend. The history of Israel in the Old Testament
reaches its climax as both the northern and southern kingdoms break God’s
covenant and betray Him. Judas’ betrayal
of our Saviour with a kiss is paradigmatic of Israel’s betrayal of God. The Old Testament speaks of various
betrayals, but the betrayal of King David by his son, Absalom, anticipates
Judas’ betrayal of Jesus. Certain laments
in the psalms speak of the betrayal of others, even a companion and
friend. These, too, anticipate the
betrayal of Jesus. As God brought good
out of Joseph’s betrayal by his brothers, so good—our salvation—came through
the betrayal of Jesus as He fulfilled the role of the suffering servant who
atoned for the sins of those who rejected him.
Yet the narratives and psalms of betrayal in Scripture are also there
for us. We experience the sin and pain
of betrayal, and in that, we find ourselves in the narratives and laments of betrayal
in Scripture and in Jesus’ own betrayal.
Scripture not only provides us with the prayers of the betrayed to pray
ourselves but a hope beyond the injustice of betrayal in God our Saviour and
Just Judge.
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