Psalms 58

Psalms 58:1-11

Psalms 58:1-11. God manifested in judgment. To the chief musician, Al-tashcheth: Michtam of David.
We have now the manifestation of God in judgment, judgment in man’s hand having altogether failed. One would say that this had regard in the first place to the mass in Israel, where especially righteousness should have been found; but there does not seem any reason for confining it to these, except what may be derived from the fact of the next psalm plainly contemplating the judgment of the nations. The present one, like the last, is of very simple character, and therefore cannot receive any extended examination.

1. The first two verses show us the cause of this manifestation. Righteousness is silent upon earth; and that where men profess it most, in judgments given to maintain it. God must thus Himself arise for judgment. Deceit has taken the place of uprightness in the heart; and violence is carefully weighed out, as if it were justice.
2. Then the inveterate hostility of the wicked to what is good is shown. Evil is innate in them. They are aliens from God from birth, the falsehood in which they live being wholly in opposition to His truth. The old serpent was “a liar from the beginning, and a murderer”; and with these also there is poison, serpent-like; and they harden themselves in malignity, as the adder which is reputed to stop the ear and render itself inaccessible to the charmer’s voice, whatever might be his skill.
3. The judgment of God is then denounced on them. He is prayed to break out the teeth of the lions and make them powerless. And at once the psalmist foresees and predicts the judgment for which he has prayed. The hostile army melts away like waters running off; they have fought their lost battle but with headless arrows. True, a defeated army may recover itself and regain its ground; but this is like the melting of a slug, which is its irremediable dissolution; or like the untimely birth of a woman, which disappoints all the hopes that have been raised by it, and has no future.

Nay, they are like thorns which have scarcely warmed the pots under which they are placed, before the sudden violence of a tempest scatters them abroad. The result is that for the righteous recompense is found at last; and men learn that there is fruit for such, and a God who in judgment can put down the rampant evil.