Psalms 58

Psalms 581. To the Chief Musician. Al-tashheth. By David. Michtam. See above, on Psalms 57:1. The Psalmist complains of unjust, spiteful, hardened enemies, Psalms 58:1-5, and prays that their power may be broken, Psalms 58:6-11). The contents of the psalm agree with its title in shewing that it belongs to the period of Saul’s persecutions, when David had to contend with unjust rulers, who were at the same time his personal enemies. But although suggested by his own experience, the psalm was designed for permanent and public use, and is therefore inscribed to the Chief Musician.

2. (Psalms 58:1). Are ye indeed dumb (when) ye (should) speak righteousness (and) judge equitably, sons of man? The first words are exceedingly obscure. One of them, not expressed in English and the ancient versions, means dumbness, as in Psalms 56:1, and seems to be here used as a strong expression for entirely speechless. In what respect they were thus dumb, is indicated by the verb which follows, but the connection can be made clear in English only by a circumlocution. The interrogation, are ye indeed, expresses wonder, as at something scarcely credible, Can it be so?

Is it possible? Are you really silent, you whose very office is to speak for God and against the sins of men? See Deuteronomy 1:16-17. That the speaking here meant is judicial speaking, appears from the more specific parallel expression. The word translated equitably is a plural noun meaning equities or rectitudes. See above, on Psalms 17:2.

Strictly understood, it is not a qualifying term, but the object of the verb judge, as in the other clause righteousness is governed directly by the verb speak. The address to them as sons of man reminds them of their own dependence and responsibility.

3. (Psalms 58:2). Nay, in heart, iniquities ye practise; in the land, the violence of your hands ye weigh. The particle at the beginning is, as usual, emphatic, meaning not only this but something more. See above, Psalms 18:48; Psalms 44:9. Not contented with neglecting their official functions, they were guilty of positive injustice. The Hebrew for iniquities is the plural of a word. used in Psalms 37:1; Psalms 43:1, and denotes various acts of injustice. The future forms (ye will do, ye will weigh) implies an obstinate persistency in evil. To do or practise wickedness in heart may mean to plan or contrive it, as in Micah 2:1, leaving the execution to be inferred as a matter of course.

Or the phrase may be translated with the heart, i.e. cordially, ex anima, con amore, or to use an idiomatic English expression with a will. The first words of the last clause, in the land, may seem, from their position, to be in contrast with the phrase in heart; but the antithesis, if any, is between the heart and hands, and in the land suggests the aggravating circum-stance, that all this was practised by persons in authority under the theocracy, among the chosen people. Violence, violent injustice. See above, on Psalms 55:9. The last verb in this sentence means to level or make even, and in that sense is repeatedly applied to paths. See Isaiah 26:7, Proverbs 4:26, v. 6, 21.

But as the derivative noun means a lance (Proverbs 16:11, Isaiah 40:12), the verb may here denote the act of weighing, levelling the balance, rendering it even, which some, without necessity, ascribe to it in several of the places above cited, where its constant combination with a way or path seems to exclude the idea of weighing as incongruous, and to require that of smoothing or levelling as peculiarly appropriate. This last might be retained even here, and the metaphor be understood to mean that they facilitated or promoted violence (or prepared its way); but the sense of weighing is equally appropriate, and agrees well with the favourite idea of the scales of justice, which is found not only in the classics but in Scripture.

See Job 31:6. The meaning then is, that. these wicked rulers, instead of weighing out justice to their subjects, weighed out, administered, dispensed, the most violent injustice, and that, too, devised and practised by themselves.

4. (Psalms 58:3). Estranged are the wicked from the womb; they go astray from, (their) birth, speaking lies. The first verb in Hebrew is not a passive but a neuter form, denoting the condition of estrangement, alienation, from God and from all goodness. The wicked thus described are the whole class, of which his persecutors formed a part. The preterite tense is used in the original (were estranged, went astray) on account of the retrospective reference to the beginning of life. The verb translated go astray is one frequently applied to moral aberrations.

From their birth, literally from the belly. See above, Psalms 22:10. Speaking lies, or with closer adherence to the form of the original, speakers of falsehood, i.e. habitual liars. The other version seems to mean that they begin to lie as soon as they are born, a hyperbolical expression, of which some interpreters relieve the sentence by making this the subject of the proposition and parallel to wicked in the other clause. Speakers of falsehood go astray from (their) birth. In this description of the wicked there is nothing inconsistent with the doctrine of universal depravity, as recognised in Psalms 14:1; Psalms 51:5 above, and in Genesis 8:21, Job 14:4, because the holiness of some men is a mere exception to the general rule, produced by the distinguishing grace of God, which frees them from the paramount influence of that corruption to which others still continue subject. 5., 6. (Psalms 58:4-5). There is poison to them like the poison of a serpent, as a deaf adder stops its ear, which will not hearken to the voice of enchanters, of (one) charming charms, (of one) most wise. The first words are equivalent to the English construction, they have poison, The Hebrew noun originally signifies heat, and especially the heat of anger, in which sense it repeatedly occurs above, Psalms 6:1; Psalms 37:8; Psalms 38:1. The same sense is retained here by the ancient versions (furor), and agrees well with the popular idea of vindictive spite, as a natural instinct of this class of animals. But most interpreters explain the word, here and in Deuteronomy 32:24, as meaning venom, animal poison, so called from its inflammatory effects upon the person bitten. The Hebrew phrase translated like means strictly after (or according to) the likeness of.

Compare its use in Genesis 1:26. It may be here employed, instead of the simple particle of comparison, for the sake of emphasis, as we say like, but more emphatically just like.

As to the species of serpent mentioned in the second clause of Psa 58:4, all that is necessary to a correct interpretation of the verse is to understand it as denoting a variety regarded as peculiarly malignant, and therefore resisting the incantations by which other species were subdued, especially in Egypt. See the allusions to this practice in Ecclesiastes 10:11, Jeremiah 8:17. This clause admits of a different construction, like the deaf adder he stops his ear, which some interpreters prefer because an adder cannot stop its ears, and need not stop them if naturally deaf, whereas it is by stopping his that the wicked man becomes like a deaf adder. The word translated enchanters properly means whisperers or mutterers, in allusion to familiar practices of the ancient wizards. Charming charms, laying spells, or as the Hebrew words are commonly supposed to signify originally, tying knots with a magical design. The last word in Psalms 58:5, is a passive participle, analogous to our word learned, and here meaning skilful.

The English versions and the Vulgate make it an adverb (sapienter, never so wisely); but the Septuagint and Jerome give it its proper meaning as an adjective, in which case it is probably in apposition with the nouns preceding, and connected in like manner with the voice of the first clause. The general idea of the verse, however construed, is that the malice of his enemies is stubborn and inexorable.

7. (Psalms 58:6). O God, crush their teeth in their mouth; the grinders of the young lions shatter, O Jehovah! The complaint is now followed by a prayer, that these ferocious enemies may be disarmed and disabled. This idea is expressed by the use of the same figure as in Psalms 3:7, that of wild beasts rendered harmless by the breaking of their teeth. Compare Job 29:17, Hence in the last clause they are expressly called lions. See above, Psalms 57:4.

Young lions, not mere whelps, from which they are distinguished in Ezekiel 19:2-3, but full-grown lions, in the first maturity of their strength, and therefore more to be dreaded than when older or younger. See above, Psalms 17:12; Psalms 34:10; Psalms 35:17. The Hebrew verbs in this verse are peculiarly expressive, and, though wholly unconnected with each other, are both used elsewhere to express the ideas of violently breaking, breaking down, breaking out, breaking off, and breaking through. See Exodus 15:7; Exodus 19:21, Leviticus 14:45, Judges 6:30, 1 Kings 18:30.

8. (Psalms 58:7). Let them melt away as waters, let them go their way; let him bend his arrows, as if they were cut off. The optative meaning of these features seems to be determined by the imperatives in Psalms 58:6. There is nothing ungrammatical, however, in retaining the strict future sense, and regarding the verse as an expression of strong confidence as to the event. The first verb elsewhere has the sense of being rejected with contempt, and is so used in Ps. 15:9; but as two of its radical letters coincide with those of a verb meaning to be melted, most interpreters prefer this sense. The other might, however, be retained, and the phrase explained to mean that they should be east aside as water, and especially as filthy water, is rejected.

Go their way, literally go to their or to themselves. Some understand it to mean for themselves, i. e. for their own benefit, their destruction being represented, by a sort of irony, as all that they have gained by their hostility.

Compare the use of the same phrase in Psalms 64:5; Psalms 66:6. In the next clause, most interpreters assume a sudden change of number, such as frequently occurs in speaking of an ideal person representing a plurality of real individuals. See above, on Psalms 58:3; Psalms 58:6. He (i.e. the enemy) shall bend his arrows, literally tread them, i. e. bend by treading on them. This expression is applicable strictly to the bow, and it is so applied repeatedly above. See Psalms 7:12; Psalms 11:2; Psalms 37:14.

Having thus acquired the secondary sense of fitting, making ready, it is transferred from the bow to the arrows, not only here but in Psalms 64:3, below. If the last verb be construed with the arrows as its subject, they would seem to be described as blunted or deprived of their points, and the meaning of the clause is, that the weapons of the enemy take no effect.

The whole clause, however, will admit of a different construction, which refers the singular verb and pronoun to God himself, and the plural verb to these rebellious sinners. Let him bend his arrows,as if they were cut off, i.e. so that they may be cut off. Notwithstanding the obscurity of this clause, the connection is preserved unbroken by the obvious meaning of the other. 9. (Psalms 58:8). As a snail melts, let him go; (like) the untimely birth of a woman, they have not beheld the sun. The idea of speedy and entire disappearance is still more strongly expressed here. The meaning of the word translated snail rests upon rabbinical tradition and a doubtful etymology. The point of comparison may relate to some popular belief or to some apparent idiosyncrasy in this class of animals, perhaps to the idea of its losing a portion of its body by locomotion. The. next noun primarily signifies what falls from the tree, unripe fruit, and is then transferred to animal abortions. The past tense in the last clause seems to mark it as a kind of reflection introduced into the midst of the prayer. “So far from living too long, as I feared, they seem scarcely to have lived at all.”

10. (Psalms 58:9). Before your pots can feel the thorn, whether raw or done, he will blow him away. This is one of the obscurest and most difficult verses in the book, and yet the general idea is sufficiently clear. The he in the lastclause relates to God, the him to his wicked enemy. The verb translated blow away means properly to storm away, or carry away with (or like) a tempest. The rapidity of this movement is expressed by a familiar comparison.

Your pots, your vessels used in cooking. The address seems to be to the sinners, afterwards referred to as a single person. Feel, perceive the heat. Compare Job 6:30. The thorn, used as fuel, kindles quickly and immediately burns out, so that this comparison suggests the idea of a very sudden change. The singular expression which follows literally means as (well) living as heat; but as the adjective is elsewhere used to signify raw, not cooked (1 Samuel 2:15), the noun joined with it may be taken in the opposite sense of cooked or done.

This may be a proverbial expression, borrowed from the dialect of common life, to convey the idea of a sudden change, which waits for nothing, but carries men away in the midst of their employments. This, though still an unusual form of speech, will seem less unnatural if we suppose the process of cooking to be here used as a figure for the plots and devices of the enemy, a metaphor by no means far-fetched or unknown to other writers. The idea, then, is that while these devices, so to speak, are cooking, the cooks are snatched away by a superior power, without caring whether the operation is complete or not. “Before the seething pot of your contrivances begins to feel the quickly kindled heat which you apply to it, the tempest of divine wrath carries you away, whether your mess be cooked or raw.” 11. (Psalms 58:10). Rejoice shall the righteous, because he has seen vengeance; his steps he shall bathe in the blood of the wicked. The vengeance in which he shall rejoice is not his own, but God’s, in the vindication of whose righteousness and honour all holy beings must rejoice for ever, although not in the suffering of those who perish. The same idea is expressed more strongly in the last clause by a martial figure. To bathe his feet (or rather his steps) in the blood of others is to walk where their blood is flowing, to tread the battle-field where they have fallen, to gain a sanguinary triumph over them, or rather it is to partake in the triumph of another. Thus one of the old commentators says that David washed his feet in Saul’s blood, Elijah in Ahab’s, Hezekiah in Sennacherib’s, without any agency or share in their destruction, and without any selfish or malignant exultation in their ruin. Let it also be observed that in this, as in many like cases, the act is ascribed to an ideal person, and is therefore no example for our imitation.

12. (Psalms 58:11). And man shall say, Yes, there is fruit to the righteous; yes, here is a God judging in the earth. This shall be said, not by a man, nor by any particular man, but by men in general, by man as opposed to God. The particle translated yes really means only, and denotes that this and nothing else is true. See above, on Psalms 39:11. There is fruit to the righteous, or, in our idiom, he has fruit, i. e. he reaps what he has sown.

Compare Isaiah 3:10-11. The very power that destroys his enemies is his protector. The idea of existence is expressed in the last clause, contrary to usage, and is therefore emphatic. THERE is, notwithstanding all denials, doubts, and false appearances, THERE is a God judging in the earth. Another unusual circumstance in this clause is, that not only the divine name, but the participle agreeing with it, is in the plural number. The same thing occurs in Joshua 24:19, 1 Samuel 17:26.

In this case it may possibly be intended to suggest the idea, that although these earthly representatives of God are so unfaithful, there are, nevertheless, gods judging in the earth, i.e. one God, who possesses in himself the source of all the justice exercised by other beings. See above, on Psalms 11:7.