1 Do you indeed speak righteousness, silent ones? Do you judge blamelessly, you sons of men?
2 No, in your heart you plot injustice. You measure out the violence of your hands in the earth.
3 The wicked go astray from the womb. They are wayward as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
4 Their poison is like the poison of a snake, like a deaf cobra that stops its ear,
5 which doesn’t listen to the voice of charmers, no matter how skillful the charmer may be.
KJVKing James Version
1 Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?
2 Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.
3 The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.
4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear;
5 Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.
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JPSJPS Tanakh (1917)
1 (58-1) For the Leader; Al-tashheth. A Psalm of David; Michtam. (58-2) Do ye indeed speak as a righteous company? Do ye judge with equity the sons of men?
2 (58-3) Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh out in the earth the violence of your hands.
3 (58-4) The wicked are estranged from the womb; the speakers of lies go astray as soon as they are born.
4 (58-5) Their venom is like the venom of a serpent; they are like the deaf asp that stoppeth her ear;
5 (58-6) Which hearkeneth not to the voice of charmers, or of the most cunning binder of spells.
Psalms 51:5(v3)Behold, I was born in iniquity. My mother conceived me in sin.
Psalms 57:1(v1)Be merciful to me, God, be merciful to me, for my soul takes refuge in you. Yes, in the shadow of your wings, I will take refuge, until…
Isaiah 11:3-5(v1)His delight will be in the fear of Yahweh. He will not judge by the sight of his eyes, neither decide by the hearing of his ears; but he…
Isaiah 48:8(v3)Yes, you didn’t hear. Yes, you didn’t know. Yes, from of old your ear was not opened, for I knew that you dealt very treacherously, and…
Jeremiah 8:17(vv4–5)“For, behold, I will send serpents, adders among you, which will not be charmed; and they will bite you,” says Yahweh.
Show all 51 cross-references
Deuteronomy 16:18-19(v1)You shall make judges and officers in all your gates, which Yahweh your God gives you, according to your tribes; and they shall judge the…
Psalms 72:1-4(v1)God, give the king your justice; your righteousness to the royal son. He will judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with…
Psalms 94:20(v2)Shall the throne of wickedness have fellowship with you, which brings about mischief by statute?
Proverbs 22:15(v3)Folly is bound up in the heart of a child: the rod of discipline drives it far from him.
Isaiah 10:1(v2)Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers who write oppressive decrees;
Deuteronomy 1:15-16(v1)So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and respected men, and made them heads over you, captains of thousands, captains of hundreds,…
2 Samuel 23:3(v1)The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me, ‘One who rules over men righteously, who rules in the fear of God,
2 Chronicles 19:6-7(v1)and said to the judges, “Consider what you do, for you don’t judge for man, but for Yahweh; and he is with you in the judgment. Now…
Job 15:14(v3)What is man, that he should be clean? What is he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
Psalms 82:1-2(v1)God presides in the great assembly. He judges among the gods. “How long will you judge unjustly, and show partiality to the wicked?”
Psalms 140:3(v4)They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent. Viper’s poison is under their lips.
Jeremiah 23:5-6(v1)“Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and he will reign as king and deal wisely, and will…
Ephesians 2:3(v3)We also all once lived among them in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of…
James 3:8(v4)but nobody can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
Numbers 11:16(v1)Yahweh said to Moses, “Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over…
2 Samuel 5:3(v1)So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron, and king David made a covenant with them in Hebron before Yahweh; and they anointed…
Psalms 59:1(v1)Deliver me from my enemies, my God. Set me on high from those who rise up against me.
Psalms 82:6-7(v1)I said, “You are gods, all of you are sons of the Most High. Nevertheless you shall die like men, and fall like one of the rulers.”
Ecclesiastes 3:16(v2)Moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of justice, that wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, that wickedness was…
Ezekiel 22:27(v2)Her princes within it are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, that they may get dishonest gain.
Micah 3:1-3(v2)I said, “Please listen, you heads of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel: Isn’t it for you to know justice? You who hate the good, and…
Matthew 26:3(v1)Then the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people were gathered together in the court of the high priest, who was called…
Luke 23:50-51(v1)Behold, a man named Joseph, who was a member of the council, a good and righteous man (he had not consented to their counsel and deed),…
Psalms 21:11(v2)For they intended evil against you. They plotted evil against you which cannot succeed.
Psalms 22:10(v3)I was thrown on you from my mother’s womb. You are my God since my mother bore me.
Ecclesiastes 10:11(v4)If the snake bites before it is charmed, then is there no profit for the charmer’s tongue.
Isaiah 26:7(v2)The way of the just is uprightness. You who are upright make the path of the righteous level.
Isaiah 32:1(v1)Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in justice.
Isaiah 59:4-6(v2)No one sues in righteousness, and no one pleads in truth. They trust in vanity, and speak lies. They conceive mischief, and give birth to…
Jeremiah 22:16-17(v2)He judged the cause of the poor and needy; so it was well, then. Wasn’t this to know me?” says Yahweh. But your eyes and your heart are…
Ezekiel 22:12(v2)In you have they taken bribes to shed blood. You have taken interest and increase, and you have greedily gained of your neighbors by…
Micah 3:9-12(v2)Please listen to this, you heads of the house of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice, and pervert all equity. They…
Malachi 3:15(v2)Now we call the proud happy; yes, those who work wickedness are built up; yes, they tempt God, and escape.’
Matthew 27:1(v1)Now when morning had come, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death:
John 11:47-53(v2)The chief priests therefore and the Pharisees gathered a council, and said, “What are we doing? For this man does many signs. If we leave…
Acts 5:21(v1)When they heard this, they entered into the temple about daybreak and taught. But the high priest came, and those who were with him, and…
Romans 3:13(v4)“Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have used deceit.” “The poison of vipers is under their lips.”
Deuteronomy 18:11(v5)or a charmer, or someone who consults with a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
Deuteronomy 32:33(v4)Their wine is the poison of serpents, the cruel venom of asps.
Job 20:14(v4)yet his food in his bowels is turned. It is cobra venom within him.
Job 20:16(v4)He will suck cobra venom. The viper’s tongue will kill him.
Isaiah 11:8(v4)The nursing child will play near a cobra’s hole, and the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den.
Isaiah 19:3(v5)The spirit of Egypt will fail within it. I will destroy its counsel. They will seek the idols, the charmers, those who have familiar…
Isaiah 46:3(v3)“Listen to me, house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, that have been carried from their birth, that have been carried…
Matthew 3:7(v4)But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to…
Matthew 23:33(v4)You serpents, you offspring of vipers, how will you escape the judgment of Gehenna?
51 distinct cross-references across this passage (52 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (27 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
John Calvin1540 · Public DomainOn vv1–41. Do ye indeed speak righteousness? In putting this…
1. Do ye indeed speak righteousness? In putting this question to his enemies, by way of challenge, David displays the boldness of conscious rectitude. It argues that the justice of our cause is demonstratively evident when we venture to appeal to the opposite party himself; for were there any ground to question its justice, it would show an absurd degree of confidence to challenge the testimony of an adversary. David comes forward with the openness of one who was supported by a sense of his integrity, and repels, by a declaration forced from their own lips, the base charges with which they blackened his character in the estimation of such as were simple enough to believe them. “Ye yourselves,” as if he had said, “can attest my innocence, and yet persecute me with groundless calumnies. Are you not ashamed of such gross and gratuitous oppression?” It is necessary, however, to determine who they were whom David here accuses. He calls them a congregation, and again, sons of men The Hebrew word אלם, elem, which I have rendered congregation, some consider to be an epithet applied to righteousness, and translate dumb; but this does not express the meaning of the Psalmist. Interpreters differ as to what we should understand by the term congregation. Some think that he adverts, by way of accusation, to the meetings which his enemies held, as is usual with those who entertain wicked designs, for the purpose of concerting their plans. I rather incline to the opinion of those who conceive that he here gives (although only in courtesy) the usual title of honor to the counsellors of Saul, who met professedly to consult for the good of the nation, but in reality with no other intention than to accomplish his destruction. Others read, in the congregation — a translation which gives the same meaning to the passage we have already assigned to it, but is not supported by the natural construction of the words. The congregation which David addresses is that assembly which Saul convened, ostensibly for lawful objects, but really for the oppression of the innocent. The term, sons of men, which he immediately afterwards applies to them — taking back, as it were, the title of courtesy formerly given — would seem to be used in contempt of their character, being, as they were, rather a band of public robbers than a convention of judges. Some, however, may be of opinion, that in employing this expression, David had in his eye the universality of the opposition which confronted him — almost the whole people inclining to this wicked factions and that he here issues a magnanimous defiance to the multitude of his enemies. Meanwhile, the lesson taught us by the passage is apparent. Although the whole world be set against the people of God they need not fear, so long as they are supported by a sense of their integrity, to challenge kings and their counsellors, and the promiscuous mob of the people. Should the whole world refuse to hear us, we must learn, by the example of David, to rest satisfied with the testimony of a good conscience, and with appealing to the tribunal of God. Augustine, who had none but the Greek version in his hands, is led by this verse into a subtle disquisition upon the point, that the judgment of men is usually correct when called to decide upon general principles, but fails egregiously in the application of these principles to particular cases, through the blinding and warping influences of their evil passions. All this may be plausible, and, in its own place, useful, but proceeds upon a complete misapprehension of the meaning of the passage.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv1–4Ye counselors of Saul, who under pretence of consulting…
Ye counselors of Saul, who under pretence of consulting for the common wealth, conspire my death being an innocent.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv1–5Psa 58:1 « To the chief Musician, Altaschith, Michtam…
Psa 58:1 « To the chief Musician, Altaschith, Michtam of David. » Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?
Ver. 1. Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation?] Or, O council; you that are gathered together on a knot, under a pretence of doing justice, and promoting the public good by giving faithful advice to the king. Una ligati, ut Gen 37:7, vel ab אלם Mutus quia congregatio ante oratorem est quasi mutus (Aben Ezra). Colloquitur Abnero et reliquis, saith Kimchi, David here talketh to Abner and the rest, who, to please Saul, pronounced David a rebel, and condemned him absent for an enemy to the state. And forasmuch as there is no greater injury than that which passeth under the name of right, he sharply debateth the matter with them whom he knew of old to be very corrupt; painting them out in their colours, and denouncing God’s heavy judgments against them for their unjust dealings with him. The word rendered congregation is not found elsewhere in that sense. It signifieth dumbness; and is by the Spanish translators rendered, O audientia by antiphrasis, ut lucus, quia non lucet.
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Do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?] i.e. O ye carnal profane persons that savour not the things of the Spirit; q.d. ye are fit persons to make counsellors of state. Sedes prima et vita ima agree not. Dignitas in indigno est ornamentum in luto, saith Salvian. You do much misbecome your places.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv1–5Do ye indeed speak righteousness? the question implies a…
Do ye indeed speak righteousness? the question implies a denial. You censure me freely, without any regard to truth or justice.
Congregation: the word signifies a band or company of men, and seems to point at Saul’s judges and counsellors; who met together to consult what they should do against David, and probably passed a sentence upon him, as guilty of treason and rebellion.
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Sons of men; so he calls them, either,
1. In contempt and opposition to the sons of God, or good men. Or,
2. By way of admonition, to mind them that they also were men, and must give an account to God for all their hard speeches and unrighteous decrees against him.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry1710 · Public DomainOn v1We have reason to think that this psalm refers…
We have reason to think that this psalm refers to the malice of Saul and his janizaries against David, because it bears the same inscription (Al-taschith, and Michtam of David) with that which goes before and that which follows, both which appear, by the title, to have been penned with reference to that persecution through which God preserved him (Al-taschith - Destroy not), and therefore the psalms he then penned were precious to him, Michtams - David's jewels, as Dr. Hammond translates it.
In these verses David, not as a king, for he had not yet come to the throne, but as a prophet, in God's name arraigns and convicts his judges, with more authority and justice than they showed in prosecuting him. Two things he charges them with:
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I. The corruption of their government. They were a congregation, a bench of justices, nay, perhaps, a congress or convention of the states, from whom one might have expected fair dealing, for they were men learned in the laws, had been brought up in the study of these statutes and judgments, which were so righteous that those of other nations were not to be compared with them. One would not have thought a congregation of such could be bribed and biassed with pensions, and yet, it seems, they were, because the son of Kish could do that for them which the son of Jesse could not, Sa1 22:7. He had vineyards, and fields, and preferments, to give them, and therefore, to please him, they would do any thing, right or wrong. Of all the melancholy views which Solomon took of this earth and its grievances, nothing vexed him so much as to see that in the place of judgment wickedness was there, Ecc 3:16. So it was in Saul's time. 1. The judges would not do right, would not protect or vindicate oppressed innocency (Psa 58:1): "Do you indeed speak righteousness, or judge uprightly? No; you are far from it; your own consciences cannot but tell you that you do not discharge the trust reposed in you as magistrates, by which you are bound to be a terror to evil-doers and a praise to those that do well. Is this the justice you pretend to administer? Is this the patronage, this the countenance, which an honest man and an honest cause may expect from you? Remember you are sons of men; mortal and dying, and that you stand upon the same level before God with the meanest of those you trample upon, and must yourselves be called to an account and judged. You are sons of men, and therefore we may appeal to yourselves, and to that law of nature which is written in every man's heart: Do you indeed speak righteousness? And will not your second thoughts correct what you have done?" Note, It is good for us often to reflect upon what we say with this serious question, Do we indeed speak righteousness? that we may unsay what we have spoken amiss and may proceed no further in it. 2. They did a great deal of wrong; they used their power for the support of injury and oppression (Psa 58:2): In heart you work wickedness (all the wickedness of the life is wrought in the heart). It intimates that they wrought with a great deal of plot and management, not by surprise, but with premeditation and design, and with a strong inclination to it and resolution in it. The moire there is of the heart in any act of wickedness the worse it is, Ecc 8:11. And what was their wickedness? It follows, "You weigh the violence of your hands in the earth" (or in the land), "the peace of which you are appointed to be the conservators of." They did all the violence and injury they could, either to enrich or avenge themselves, and they weighed it; that is, 1. They did it with a great deal of craft and caution: "You frame it by rule and lines" (so the word signifies), "that it may effectually answer your mischievous intentions; such masters are you of the art of oppression." 2. They did it under colour of justice. They held the balances (the emblem of justice) in their hands, as if they designed to do right, and right is expected from them, but the result is violence and oppression, which are practised the more effectually for being practised under the pretext of law and right.
II. The corruption of their nature. This was the root of bitterness from which that gall and wormwood sprang (Psa 58:3): The wicked, who in heart work wickedness, are estranged from the womb, estranged from God and all good, alienated from the divine life, and its principles, powers, and pleasures, Eph 4:18. A sinful state is a state of estrangement from that acquaintance with God and service of him which we were made for. Let none wonder that these wicked men dare do such things, for wickedness is bred in the bone with them; they brought it into the world with them; they have in their natures a strong inclination to it; they learned it from their wicked parents, and have been trained up in it by a bad education. They are called, and not miscalled, transgressors from the womb; one can therefore expect no other than that they will deal very treacherously; see Isa 48:8. They go astray from God and their duty as soon as they are born, (that is, as soon as possibly they can); the foolishness that is bound up in their hearts appears with the first operations of reason; as the wheat springs up, the tares spring up with it. Three instances are here given of the corruption of nature: - 1. Falsehood. They soon learn to speak lies, and bend their tongues, like their bows, for that purpose, Jer 9:3. How soon will little children tell a lie to excuse a fault, or in their own commendation! No sooner can they speak than they speak to God's dishonour; tongue-sins are some of the first of our actual transgressions. 2. Malice. Their poison (that is, their ill-will, and the spite they bore to goodness and all good men, particularly to David) was like the poison of a serpent, innate, venomous, and very mischievous, and that which they can never be cured of. We pity a dog that is poisoned by accident, but hate a serpent that is poisonous by nature. Such as the cursed enmity in this serpent's brood against the Lord and his anointed. 3. Untractableness. They are malicious, and nothing will work upon them, no reason, no kindness, to mollify them, and bring them to a better temper. They are like the deaf adder that stops her ear, Psa 58:4, Psa 58:5. The psalmist, having compared these wicked men, whom he here complains of, to serpents, for their poisonous malice, takes occasion thence, upon another account, to compare them to the deaf adder or viper, concerning which there was then this vulgar tradition, that whereas, by music or some other art, they had a way of charming serpents, so as either to destroy them or at least disable them to do mischief, this deaf adder would lay one ear to the ground and stop the other with her tail, so that she could not hear the voice of the enchantment, and so defeated the intention of it and secured herself. The using of this comparison neither verifies the story, nor, if it were true, justifies the use of this enchantment; for it is only an allusion to the report of such a thing, to illustrate the obstinacy of sinners in a sinful way. God's design, in his word and providence, is to cure serpents of their malignity; to this end how wise, how powerful, how well-chosen are the charms! How forcible the right words! But all in vain with most men; and what is the reason? It is because they will not hearken. None so deaf as those that will not hear. We have piped unto men, and they have not danced; how should they, when they have stopped their ears?
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv1–5Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation?.... Of the…
Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation?.... Of the mighty, as in Psa 82:1; the judges of the land, who were many, and therefore called a congregation, as it is necessary they should; for, being many, they are not so easily bribed; and besides, one may see that in a cause which another does not. The word signifies a "sheaf" (t); and so it is by some rendered, to which a bench or assembly of judges may be compared; because consisting of many, and a select body, who should unite together in a sentence or decree, and act uprightly, like a sheaf of wheat standing upright; see Gen 37:7; some think the word has the signification of dumbness, or silence; so Jarchi and R. Moses (u); as "elem" in Psa 56:1, title, and render it, "do ye indeed speak dumb justice?" or "the dumbness of justice" (w); or are you dumb, or your mouth silent, when ye should speak righteousness? and so the psalmist accuses them for their criminal silence, in not contradicting Saul and his courtiers when they spake against him; and for not advising him to another kind of conduct towards him. All men ought to speak that which is right and truth; but especially judges on the bench, who are to judge the people with just judgment, Deu 16:18; but here this is doubted of, and called in question; at least their sincerity in giving judgment: yea, it is denied; for this interrogation carries in it a strong denial; and the meaning is, that they did not speak righteousness, or that which was just and right in the cause of David, when before them;
do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men? no, they did not; they were unjust judges. The psalmist calls them "the sons of men", as in Sa1 26:19, in distinction from God the Judge of all, and to put them in mind of their frailty and mortality; for though they were gods by office, they were but men, and should die like men, and be accountable to the supreme Judge for all their proceedings in judgment here, Psa 82:1.
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(t) "e manipulo", Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "e manipulo justifiae", Cocceius. (u) In Aben Ezra in loc. (w) So Varenius, Reinbech, Michaelis.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv1–5David describes his enemies, ver. 1-5. Foretells their ruin,…
David describes his enemies, ver. 1-5. Foretells their ruin, ver. 6-9. Which would be to the comfort of good men, and to the glory of God, ver. 10, 11. To the chief musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David.
O congregation - The word seems to point at Saul's Judges and counsellors; who met together to consult what they should do against David. Sons of men - So he calls them; to mind them that they were men, and must give an account to God for all their hard speeches.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv1–5David reproves wicked counsellors and judges, who pervert
PSALM LVIII
David reproves wicked counsellors and judges, who pervert
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justice, and stir up the strong against the weak and innocent,
1-5.
He foretells their destruction, and describes the nature of it,
6-9.
The righteous, seeing this, will magnify God's justice and
providence, 10, 11.
NOTES ON PSALM LVIII
The title seems to have no reference to the subject of the Psalm. See the introduction to the preceding. Ps 57:1 Saul having attempted the life of David, the latter was obliged to flee from the court, and take refuge in the deserts of Judea. Saul, missing him, is supposed by Bishop Patrick to have called a council, when they, to ingratiate themselves with the monarch, adjudged David to be guilty of treason in aspiring to the throne of Israel. This being made known to David was the cause of this Psalm. It is a good lesson to all kings, judges, and civil magistrates; and from it they obtain maxims to regulate their conduct and influence their decisions; and at the same time they may discern the awful account they must give to God, and the dreadful punishment they shall incur who prostitute justice to serve sinister ends.
Verse 1. Do ye indeed speak righteousness] Or, O cabinet seeing ye profess to act according to the principles of justice, why do ye not give righteous counsels and just decisions, ye sons of men? Or, it may be an irony: What excellent judges you are! well do ye judge according to law and justice, when ye give decisions not founded on any law, nor supported by any principle of justice! To please your master, ye pervert judgment; and take part against the innocent, in order to retain your places and their emoluments. Saul's counsellors appear to have done so, though in their consciences they must have been satisfied of David's innocence.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv1–4Psa 58:1. Do ye indeed speak righteousness? — No:…
Psa 58:1. Do ye indeed speak righteousness? — No: you are far from it. You censure me freely without any regard to truth or justice; O congregation — The word אלם, eelem, thus rendered, signifies a band, or company of men; and seems to point at Saul’s judges and counsellors, who met together to consult what they should do against David; and probably passed a sentence upon him as guilty of treason and rebellion. O ye sons of men — So he calls them, to remind them that they also were men, and must give an account to God for all their hard speeches and unrighteous decrees against him.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv1–5Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? - Luther…
Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? - Luther renders this, “Are you then dumb, that you will not speak what is right, and judge what is proper, ye children of men?” The meaning of the verse is exceedingly obscure; but probably the whole sense of the psalm turns on it. The word rendered “congregation,” אלם 'êlem - occurs only in this place and in the title to Psa 56:1-13, “Jonath-elem-rechokim.” See the notes at that title. The word properly means “dumbness, silence.” Gesenius (Lexicon) renders it here, “Do ye indeed decree dumb justice?” that is, “Do ye really at length decree justice, which so long has seemed dumb?” Professor Alexander renders it, “Are ye indeed dumb when ye should speak righteousness?” The allusion is clearly to some public act of judging; to a judicial sentence; to magistrates and rulers; to people who “should” give a righteous sentence; to those in authority who “ought” to pronounce a just opinion on the conduct of others.
The “fact” in the case on which the appeal is made seems to have been that they did “not” do this; that their conduct was wicked and perverse; that no reliance could be placed on their judicial decisions. Rosenmuller renders it, “There is, in fact, silence of justice;” that is, justice is not declared or spoken. Perhaps the meaning of the phrase may be thus expressed: “Is there truly a dumbness or silence of justice when ye speak? do you judge righteously, O ye sons of men?” That is, “You indeed speak; you do declare an opinion; you pronounce a sentence; but justice is, in fact, dumb or silent when you do it. There is no correct or just judgment in the matter. The opinion which is declared is based on error, and has its origin in a wicked heart.” There is no expression in the original to correspond to the words “O congregation” in our translation, unless it is the word אלם 'êlem, which never has this signification.
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It is not so rendered in any of the versions. It is not easy to determine “who” is referred to by this question. It cannot be, as is implied in our common version, that it is to any “congregation,” any people gathered together for the purpose of pronouncing judgment. Yet it is evidently a reference to some persons, or classes of persons, who were expected to “judge,” or to whom it pertained to pass judgment; and the most natural supposition is that the reference is to the rulers of the nation - to Saul, and the heads of the government. If the supposition is correct that the psalm was composed, like Psa 56:1-13; Psa 57:1-11; 59, in the time of the Sauline persecutions, and that it belongs to the same “group” of psalms, then it would have reference to Saul and to those who were associated with him in persecuting David. The subject of the psalm would then be the unjust judgments which they passed on him in treating him as an enemy of the commonwealth; in regarding him as an outlaw, and in driving him from his places of refuge as if hunting him down like a wild beast. The contents of the psalm well accord with this explanation.
Do ye judge uprightly? - Do you judge right things? are your judgments in accordance with truth and justice?
O ye sons of men - Perhaps referring to the fact that in their judgments they showed that they were people - influenced by the common passions of people; in other words, they showed that they could not, in forming their judgments, rise above the corrupt passions and prejudices which usually influence and sway mankind.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures1864 · Public DomainOn v1Psalms 58
Psalms 58
To the chief Musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David
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Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation?
Do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?
2 Yea, in heart ye work wickedness;
Ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.
3 The wicked are estranged from the womb:
They go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.
4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent:
They are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear;
5 Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers,
Charming never so wisely.
6 Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth:
Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Lord.
7 Let them melt away as waters which run continually:
When he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.
8 As a snail which melteth, let every one of hem pass away:
Like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.
9 Before your pots can feel the thorns,
He shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.
10 The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance:
He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous:
Verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Its Contents And Composition.—The position of this Psalm is due not only to expressions in the title, but to the figure of the lion and the mention of teeth. There is no reason to put its composition in a late period, and seek the unjust judges among the heathen (Ewald, Hitzig). The prophets afford sufficient analogies to this complaint respecting domestic administrations of justice (Hupfeld), as it here gushes forth from the indignant soul of the Psalmist in a threatening language which is almost obscure owing to bold and mingled figures of speech. It is like a torrent which plunges over every hindrance, foaming and raging. A comparison with other Psalms of David, e. g.,Pss. 64. and 140. shows that such language, especially in the expectation of Divine judgment, is not strange in the mouth of David. We may certainly credit this original poet with a richness of figures and changes in their use, as well as in the turns of language and of thought, in accordance with particular circumstances and feeling. Yet we lack sufficient evidence to show whether the composition occurred in the time of Saul, who was at the same time David’s judge and persecutor, who endeavored to hide the persecution under the appearance of a righteous judgment (Hengst.); or in the time of Absalom, who made the administration of justice a means of stealing from David the hearts of the people, whilst he pretended to be impartial (Knapp, Delitzsch). The reproachful question, which is ironical in form (Psa_58:1), and its cutting answer (Psa_58:2), are followed by the description of the entire corruption of the accused (Psa_58:3-5), and then follows the proclamation of their ruin by Divine judgment which has been implored (Psa_58:6-9); and finally the statements of its effects (Psa_58:10-11).
Str. I. Psa_58:1. Do ye truly in silence speak righteousness?—The word אֵלֶם occurs only here and in the title of Psalms 56, and is obscure and doubtful in both places. At any rate it is artificial and without sufficient warrant, to gain the sense of pactum, that is to say, publico jure sancitum by derivation from a word=bind (Maurer), or a vocative with the meaning congregatio to designate the companions of Saul (Kimchi, Calvin [A. V.], et al). The radical meaning is, “to grow dumb or speechless,” and the juxtaposition of two nouns is not without examples, Psa_45:4. But which is the most appropriate meaning? The question “Do ye in truth or truly” leads to the doubt whether the addressed are earnest in doing that which is alleged of them and presupposed or is to be required of them, or whether they do it only apparently or not at all; and the parallel clause shows that the question is with reference to the righteous administration of justice and equitable judgment. The form of this parallel clause, however, prevents the question from being regarded as one of astonishment. do you really decree dumb justice? but seems to lead to the question of doubt: do you really speak righteousness (previously) dumb, that is to say: recognize and express in the judicial sentence (the older interpreters, with Geier, J H. Mich., De Wette, Stier). But this is against the position of the word, and already an explanation of the too difficult oxymoron; “do you really speak;” that is to say, give utterance to, or express in words, dumbness of justice? The parallel clause Psa_58:4 b, likewise leads to the thought that those addressed are dumb, when they should speak, as they are deaf when they should hear. We might therefore be tempted to translate: are you really dumbness, that is to say, entirely dumb? The language would permit this; but what then could be made of the subsequent words? The translations; that you would not speak what is just (Luther, Hengst.), or: Do you speak righteousness? (Geier) are not only harsh but at the same time against grammar and the parallel clause. The same is true of the interpretation: Is righteousness really silent? Then speak it! (Rosenm.) Therefore we are to take it as a question of irony rather than one of direct reproach: Do you truly in silence speak righteousness? (Chald., Hupf.) This oxymoron is at least endurable, and the interpretation agrees with the expected thoughts and the irony of weighing out (Psa_58:2 b), better than the direct question which the language admits: Is the righteousness which you should speak, truly, dumb? (Isaki). If the vowel points are to be altered it is better to make itאֲלֹם = ye people (Hitzig) parallel with the vocative “sons of men,” than אֻלָּם, for which rare word אמנם was originally placed upon the margin as a gloss, then came into the text, and is now again to be removed from it in order to get the sense: do you truly speak justice? (Gesenius); or אֵלִם in the sense of a defective orthography of אֵלִים, as Exo_15:11, or אֵילִם, Num_7:77; Num_23:29, which then is a designation of the judges addressed, but cannot mean: strong (Tholuck with reference to Joab and his brother) but only: gods (since Houbigant many interpreters besides J. D. Mich., likewise Ewald, Olsh., Delitzsch). It is then admissible to take the sons of men of the following clause as an accusative, and as intentionally used here as Elohim is then used in the final clause as plural. The irony would then be still further strengthened by scornful allusion to the folly and vanity of self-exaltation. But there are very serious objections to regard this word as designating the unjust false judges as gods, for it is without any preparation in the Psalm, and still more would be in a very unusual form of the word.
[Psa_58:2. Ye weigh out.—Perowne: This is said sarcastically Ye pretend indeed to hold the balance of justice, and nicely to weigh out to each his just award, but violence is the weight with which ye adjust the scales.”.—C. A. B.]
Str. II. [Psa_58:3. From birth.—Delitzsch: The Scriptures in such passages testify to the fact of experience, that there are men in whom evil has from childhood a truly devilish and selfish character, incapable of loving, for although original sin and guilt are common to all men, yet the former class has them in the most manifold J mixture and forms, as indeed the transmission of sin and the influence of the power of evil and the power of grace, ever working at the same time upon the propagation of the human race, demand; this dualism of human nature is taught especially by the gospel of John.”—C. A. B.]
Psa_58:4. Poison have they like the poison of a serpent.—This is literally the poison which they have; for the stat. const. demands that אֲשֶׁר should be supplied. Among the serpents the adder is mentioned as the best known of the dangerous ones (Deu_32:33) of which it is said in the Orient (vid. the passages in De Wette, Com.) it is dumb, when it will not obey the charmer. The intentional character of this dumbness is mentioned as a stopping up of the ear.11
Str. III. [Psa_58:6. Perowne: “There is an abrupt change in the image employed. As these men are incorrigible in their wickedness, as they cannot be tamed, the Psalmist prays God to destroy their power for mischief; but instead of continuing the figure of the serpent-charmer, who robs the serpent of his poison, he suddenly represents them as young lions, whose teeth he would see broken that they may no longer devour,” comp. Psa_3:7.—C. A. B.]
Psa_58:7. Let him (namely the enemy) fix his arrows,—(let them be) as though cut off.—It is best not to regard God as the subject, because He has been immediately before directly addressed, and the explanations “until the enemies have become weak,” (Sept.), or donec conterantur (Jerome), ut succidantur et pereant (Isaki), and the like, afford grammatical objections, which disappear when it is referred to the enemies regarded in their unity, whose arrows are designated as without effect, as though they had their points cut off (most interpreters since Kimchi). The treading or bending the bow is transferred to the arrows, as Psa_64:3.12
Psa_58:8. As a snail which in melting passeth away.—The meaning “ snail,” which has its Hebrew name from its apparent melting away in slime, is rendered certain (Chald., Isaki, Kimchi) as against the interpretation wax (most of the older interpreters, Ewald), or torrent (Aben Ezra, Köster).13—Miscarriage of a woman—אֵשֶׁת is here confirmed as a stat. absol.=woman by Deu_21:11; 1Sa_28:7 [although this is usually the stat. const.], as against the interpretation: mole (Chald.), or: fire (Sept.), namely: falls down, so that it is not necessary, by a change of reading, to get the sense of “the hopeless one.”
Psa_58:10. Before your pots feel the thorn whether fresh or burning.—He whirls it away.—The idea here is of the sudden and unexpected destruction of all their plans and all their arrangements for their fulfilment. It is represented in a figure, derived from a frequent occurrence in connection with caravans in the desert. The only striking thing is the sudden address to the wicked, who are spoken of from Psa_58:3 on, only in the third person. Since, however, they have been already directly addressed (Psa_58:1-2), there is no objection to it here. Still less is there any weight to be laid upon the fact that חָרוֹן is used elsewhere of the fire of God’s wrath (Cleric). For since it properly means “burning,” and the words with וֹן were originally accusatives with nun, or adverbs which denote circumstance or condition (Hupfeld), we may have some objection to understand it of cooking meat, or meat already cooked (Hengstenb. after Berl. Bibel and Delitzsch) or of dry wood (Symm., Ewald), but not to understand it of the אטד = black, or buck thorn (rhamnus), already on fire, which flames up quickly and high in the fire, and gives indeed suitable coals for cooking, yet is easily put out by the wind (Œdmann, Vermischte Samml. 4:99 sq.). On this account, therefore, we understand by the previously mentioned חַיּ that is to say, living, not raw flesh (Calvin, et al.), but fresh thorns, still green (Geier and most interpreters). If the interpretation of the double כְּמוֹ in the sense of sive-sive should be doubted we might translate: when he is still lively, that is to say, fresh (Chald,, Isaki, Kimchi), it will whirl him away as burning wrath. It is however not advisable to give to the word סִירוֹת the meaning “thorns,” instead of “pots” (the ancient versions, Aben Ezra, Isaki, Luther, and many interpreters). For the inaccuracy of the ancient versions: “before your thorns have grown or ripened into the thorn bush” may be avoided it is true, and the words thus interpreted: “before your thorns were observed, a thorn bush was there (Aben Ezra, J. H. Mich,, Knapp, Köster), or: before your thorns observe it, whether fresh or dry He will whirl away the thorn bush (Ewald). But although the singular סיר has a double meaning, yet only the masculine plural form has the meaning of thorns (Ecc_7:6), the feminine however: pots, with the exception of Amo_4:2, where, however, the idea of thorn prickle has passed over into that of fish hooks. It is entirely inadmissible to refer the word “alive,” in the second clause, directly to men, who would then be characterized as thorns, and of whom, with an allusion to the ruin of the band of Korah, it would be said: as living, as in the midst of life, He will devour them in wrath (Schegg, after the Sept. and Vulgate). However, it might mean, on the other hand: as often as he revives, so often the burning (Hitzig).14
Stir. IV. [Psa_58:10. He shall bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.—Alexander: “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.” 15—C. A. B.]
Psa_58:11. Yes, there is a Divinity judging upon earth.—Elohim is construed with the plural as Gen_20:13; Jos_24:19; 2Sa_7:23 (unchanged in 1Ch_17:21). Yet this is not in accordance with heathen usage (Ewald) or in the mouth of the heathen, who then would be named with אדם (Olsh., Baur) or with a still more direct reference to Psa_58:1 a, if elim is taken as the proper reading there, in order to characterize the just Hebrew judge who makes the name gods which has been dishonored by unjust judges, a true designation (J. D. Mich.), or as rendering prominent the true judging God (Hupf.) or the real God elevated above all earthly magnates, Ecc_5:7 (Delitzsch), in contrast to the false and unjust gods of the earth. There is not the slightest trace of these references and contrasts in the entire Psalm. But the pure grammatical construction (Hitzig) and the sense and context afford the general meaning of Divinity.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. It is very bad when those persons and magistrates who are appointed to administer justice, instead of pronouncing judgment, are silent and are dumb to the prayer of their subordinates, and the earnest entreaties of their friends not less than to the demands of the law and the voice of duty, honor, and conscience. They then not only misuse the scales of justice entrusted to them, in an irresponsible manner to the injury of their fellow-men; but they are likewise hypocrites and liars, since they violate justice at the very time that they pretend to exercise it, and in this manifest their serpent-like nature.
2. In such conduct there is manifest partly the inherited sinful nature (Gen_8:21; Psa_51:6; Job_14:4; Isa_48:8), partly there is presented in them their own hardening of themselves, with which they stop the way of the grace as well as the word of God, increase their readiness to sin as well as their scorn of the means of grace, and hasten the approach of a terrible, unavoidable, and sudden ruin. “What makes human ruin so fearful is the fact, that it rests upon original sin, and is rooted in the innermost depths of the heart.… The contrast is not between those men who are corrupt from the womb, and those who are not, but of those in whom the ruin which is common to all has developed itself without hindrance, and those in whom the development has been checked and interrupted” (Hengst.). Respecting the Doctrine of Original sin in the Old Testament, comp. Kleinert in the Stud, and Krit., 1860, Heft. 1.
3. The righteous need not despair. They will no more lose the fruit of God-fearing conduct than of their patient endurance of suffering, Isa_3:10 sq. But no less sure is the reward of the wicked by just recompense, which even when it is no longer looked upon and enjoyed as vengeance in the meaning of the Old Testament, yet remains just as joyful and comforting to the righteous, because they recognize therein the government of God, who reveals Himself from heaven as a Judge on earth.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
When we follow our inborn nature we ruin ourselves and others.—If some sinners harden themselves in sin even to obduracy, and fear neither God nor men, they yet will not escape their Judge, and will be ruined, together with their plans, before they have made their preparations.—The ungodly are ruined by God’s judgment, it is true, but of their own guilt, and on account of their impenitence.—He who will not hear when God speaks to him, will be obliged to feel when God judges him.—The righteous may lose their rights, but not their fruit.—We can sin not only by speaking, but likewise by silence, and since we injure our fellow-men, bring upon ourselves a severe reckoning.—If the wicked will not hearken to you, you may testify against them, that others may be warned.—Justice, may be violated, perverted, denied, but righteousness cannot perish, for God Himself leads it through to victory.—Men may despise God’s word and deny God’s existence, yet they cannot do away with God’s word or prevent God’s rule upon earth.—God Himself testifies to His existence by delivering and judging.
Starke: God has given us a ready tongue, that we may use it for His glory and the good of our neighbors.—The leaving off from good is soon followed by the commission of evil.—The wickedness and obduracy of many men are so great, that no prayers, warnings, or threatenings will help them.—The blood-thirsty persecutors will be rewarded with blood; for a man will be punished with that with which he transgresses.—If we knew how many thousand devices of the ungodly the Lord brings to naught, before they were fully conceived, and how many arrows He breaks, before they are shot off, we would be astonished at His wisdom, faithfulness, and Omnipotence.
Renschel: Sins of carelessness and neglect are likewise great sins.—Frisch: Many, who have thirsted for blood have perished in their own blood.—Tholuck: God does such signs that we may see that, although He has given much power to mortals, yet no one can deprive Him of His sceptre.—Taube: Being dumb to the grace of God, they are dumb to the judgment of God.—The first blessing that a man receives when He has committed his cause to God in prayer, is that he gains another view of the cause in the light of God.
[Matt. Henry Let none wonder that these wicked men dare do such things, for wickedness is bred in the bone with them; they brought it into the world with them, they have in their natures a strong inclination to it, they learned it from their wicked parents, and have been trained up in it by a bad education.—Barnes: Men everywhere approve of the just administration of law, even though it consigns the transgressor to prison or to death; and it is a matter of gratification to ail who love law and order when a righteous government is maintained; when wickedness is checked; when justice is administered in a community.—Spurgeon: It is not in your music, but in the sinner’s ear that the cause of failure lies, and it is only the power of God that can remove it.—Every unregenerate man is an abortion. He misses the true form of God-made manhood; he corrupts in the darkness of sin; he never sees or shall see the light of God in purity, in heaven.—Two things will come out clearly after all—there is a God, and there is a reward for the righteous.—C. A. B.]
Footnotes:
[11][Lane. Mod. Egyptians, chap. 20. “The charmer professes to discover, without ocular perception, (but perhaps he does so by a peculiar smell), whether there be any serpents in a house; and if there be, to attract them to him; as the fowler, by the fascination of his voice, allures the bird into his neat.… He assumes an air of mystery, strikes the walls with a short palm stick, whistles, makes a clucking noise with his tongue, and spits upon the ground, and generally says, ‘I adjure you by God, if ye be above, or if ye be below, that ye come forth: I adjure you by the Great Name if ye be obedient, come forth; and if ye be disobedient die! die! die!’—The serpent is generally dislodged by his stick, from a fissure in the wall, or drops from the ceiling of the room.” Thomson, in the Land and the Book, p. 155, says, that “there are some serpents which the charmer cannot subdue; and instances are related in which they have fallen victims to their daring attempts to conquer these deaf and obstinate cockatrices.” Tristram, Nat. History of the Bible, p. 272, refers this clause of the Psalm to the fact that “there are some species of serpent not amenable to the charmer’s art, or that there are individuals of the ordinary cobra which defy all his attempts to soothe them.—C. A. B.]
[12][It is better to translate here fix or fit as the Hebrew דּרךְ means to tread or trample, in the wine press, the threshing-floor, or the bow in spanning it with the foot, and the treading thus passed over naturally into fixing the arrows by treading the bow, which the A. V. paraphrases by “bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows,” whilst Perowne translates directly shoot and Alexander bend his arrows.—C. A. B.]
[13][This metaphor is thus explained by Tristram, Nat. History of the Bible, p. 295 sq. “The snails of all species in the Holy Land are in the habit, not of hybernating in winter, as they do in our colder climate, but of shutting themselves into their shells and remaining dormant during the dry season. Few snails can remain long in an active state without moisture. In order to prevent the evaporation of the moisture of the body, all those molluscs which have a thin or semi-transparent shell, secrete themselves in dry weather under stones like the shellless snails or slugs, or else among moss, and under leaves, and many species also in the earth. … But notwithstanding the care they take to secrete themselves, the heat often dries them up, either by a long continued drought, or by the sun’s ray’s penetrating to their holes. Thus we find in the Holy Land myriads of snailshells in fissures, still adhering by the calcareous exudation round their orifice to the surface of the rock, but the animal of which is utterly shrivelled and wasted, ‘melted away,’ according to the expression of the Psalmist.”—C. A. B.]
[14][Perowne: The general sense of this difficult verse seems to be this: As a sudden whirlwind in the desert sweeps away the thorns which have been gathered for cooking, almost as soon as they have been set on fire, and before the caldron has grown hot (comp. Ecc_7:6), so shall the wicked, and all their yet incomplete designs, be swept away by the wrath of God.”—C. A. B.]
[15][Hupfeld regards it as a figure of speech indicating the quantity of the blood that has been shed. He compares the corresponding expressions in Psa_68:23, where the feet are washed in blood; Job_29:6, where the feet, are washed in mills and brooks of oil; Job_20:17, where brooks of honey and milk are mentioned. “It here indicates the greatness of the vengeance; usually of that taken by the party himself, but here since it is not his own act but that of God, and is merely beheld, it can only be a symbolical expression of the internal participation therein, or the satisfied feeling of revenge.” He compares Deu_32:42 sq.; Is. 46:23 sq., etc.—C. A. B.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv2–4This they did not design; but
This they did not design; but
weigh . . . violence--or give decisions of violence. Weigh is a figure to express the acts of judges.
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in the earth--publicly.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv1–51. Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation—Much perplexity…
1. Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation—Much perplexity and doubt attend the rendering of this clause. The difficulty lies in the
אלם, translated in the vocative, “O congregation.” Its verbal root signifies, to bind, to grow dumb, as if tongue-tied; and the noun signifies dumbness, silence, and so it is used in Psalm lvi, title, the only other place of its occurrence. Our English Version derives the idea of “congregation” from the signification to bind, which is not satisfactory. The address is not to the “congregation,” but to the judges. No light of criticism has hitherto given a smooth sense to the passage. If we retain the word in question, and not, as many, throw it out as an interpolation, we may retain the radical sense to bind, and consider the judges or leaders of the nation addressed as binders of the people by their oppressive decrees, or as confederates arrayed against justice; or, rejecting the wordas an interpolation, read, “Do ye indeed decree justice?” (Delitzsch;) or, “Are ye indeed dumb [when] ye [should] speak righteousness [and] judge equitably?”—Alexander. It would seem safer to just criticism to retain the word in the text.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv1–41. O congregation] This rendering of the obscure word…
1. O congregation] This rendering of the obscure word çlìm, adopted by the scholars of the early part of the 16th century from the learned Rabbi David Kimchi (c. 1160–1235), cannot be defended, and does not suit the context. The word çlìm occurs elsewhere only in the title of Psalms 56, and from its derivation appears to mean silence.
i. Taking this meaning, we may render,
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(1) as R.V., Do ye indeed in silence speak righteousness? The Psalmist expostulates with the judges who neglect their office. “They are dumb when they ought to speak, as afterwards they are said to be deaf when they ought to hear.” (Bp Perowne). ‘To speak righteousness’ means ‘to pronounce just sentences.’ Justice and uprightness are characteristics of God’s judgement (Psa_9:8), which ought to be reflected by all earthly judges.
(2) as R.V. marg. with substantially the same sense: Is the righteousness ye should speak dumb?
(3) as Kay: Will ye indeed utter long-silent Justice? a reference, he supposes, to Absalom’s profession of a desire to remedy the want of proper provision for the administration of justice, while he was himself plotting the unnatural crime of rebellion against his father. See 2Sa_15:2-6.
With this reading it is best to retain the rendering, O ye sons of men, in the next line, though it is also possible to render, Do ye judge uprightly the sons of men? The judges are addressed as sons of men to remind them that they are but human, and themselves subject to a higher tribunal.
ii. Most critics, however, think that here (as perhaps in the title of Psalms 56 also) the word çlìm should be read with different vowels, çlîm, ‘gods,’ or, ‘mighty ones.’ We must then render,
Do ye indeed, O ye gods, speak righteousness?
Do ye judge uprightly the sons of men?
The judges are addressed as çlîm, ‘gods,’ as in Psa_82:1; Psa_82:6 they are called elôhîm, ‘gods,’ because in their judicial capacity they acted as the representatives of God, the supreme Judge. They are thus addressed here, half-sarcastically and half-reproachfully, in contrast to the ‘sons of men,’ over whom they exercise jurisdiction; as well as to emphasise the comparison between their failure to administer justice, and the righteous judgement of God (Psa_58:11).
Elîm however is not so used elsewhere, and may simply mean ‘mighty ones.’ Cp. Exo_15:15; 2Ki_24:15; Job_41:25 (Heb. 17); Eze_17:13; Eze_32:21.
Cheyne and some other commentators find here a reference to the angels, “to whom the actual administration of the world’s government has been entrusted.” But there is nothing in the context to justify the importation of an idea which belongs to the later development of Jewish theology. It is true that it is found in the LXX of Deu_32:8, “He set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God”; but this paraphrase has no claim to be regarded as representing the original text.
iii. None of the Ancient Versions however give any support to this emendation. The LXX and Jerome render çlìm as an adverb (‘then’ or ‘certainly’); the Syr. omits it; Aquila and the Targ. attest the reading of the text. Plausible as the emendation is, it must not be made a basis of argument, and the obscurity of the passage must be admitted.
1, 2. An indignant remonstrance with those in authority, who, instead of condemning crime, are themselves the most guilty criminals.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv1–5(1) Congregation.—This rendering comes of a mistaken derivation of…
(1) Congregation.—This rendering comes of a mistaken derivation of the Hebrew word êlem, which offers some difficulty. As pointed, it must mean silence (comp. Psalms 56 title, the only other place it occurs); and some, regardless of sense, would render, “do ye truly in silence speak righteousness.” Of the many conjectures on the passage, we may choose between reading elim (short for elîm = gods), and here, as in Exo_21:6; Exo_22:8; Psa_82:6, applied to the judges) and ulam (with the LXX., Syriac, and Arabic, in the sense of but. To speak righteousness is, of course, to pronounce a just judgment. If we prefer the former of these (with most modern scholars), it is best to take sons of men in the accusative rather than the vocative, do ye judge with equity the sons of men.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv1–5A PSALM of condemnation on unrighteous judges. Some suppose…
A PSALM of condemnation on unrighteous judges. Some suppose the judges to be superhuman beings, entrusted with the government of the earth (Cheyne). Others suggest heathen rulers of Israel, in Babylonia, during the time of the Captivity. But the language is not stronger than that addressed often to native judges. (see Isa_1:16-25 Isa_10:1-4 Jer_5:26-29 Mic_3:9-12, etc.) And there is no reason for rejecting the statement of the "title," that the psalm was written by David. It may either belong to the early years of David"s reign, or to the time immediately preceding Absalom"s rebellion.
The psalm consists of two strophes and a conclusion. The first strophe is one of five verses, and lays down the grounds of complaint (vers. 1-5). The second, which is one of four verses (vers. 6-9), passes sentence, describing the coming punishment. The conclusion (vers. 10, 11) expresses the righteous man"s satisfaction at the result.
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Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation! The rendering of elem ( by "congregation" is contrary to all analogy, and quite untenable. It must either mean "dumb ones," or be a corruption of elim ( ones". (comp. Psa_29:1) In either case it is an epithet applied to the judges of the people, and not to the congregation. Do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men? Both questions are asked in bitter irony, as is clear from the context.
HOMILIES BY W. FORSYTH Vers. 1-11. Unjust judges.
There is a contrast in this psalm between the unjust judges of the earth, and God the righteous Judge of all men (vers. 1, 2, and ver. 11). "Do ye really, O ye gods, speak righteousness? Do ye in uprightness judge the children of men? Nay, in heart ye work iniquities, in the land ye weigh out the violence of your hands" (Delitzsch). This indignant protest is just. Judges have often been false to their trust. They have prostituted their power to selfish ends. They have increased instead of diminished the evils of society, and made confusion worse confounded by their wicked deeds. There are signal examples of this in the Bible, and though the lines have fallen unto us, in these last days, in pleasant places, our fathers, in the days of Bonner and Jeffries and Claverhouse, and in days of persecution, suffered grievously. But how different is it with God the Judge of all the earth! His judgments are all righteous. Even the wicked cannot complain. In their punishment they only receive, as their own consciences testify, "the just reward of their deeds." Our attention is specially concentrated on the wicked.
I THEIR CHARACTER IS PORTRAYED. (Vers. 1-5) Character is a growth. No man becomes of a sudden either very bad or very good. There is gradation the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear." We are shown wickedness in its germ. It has its source in a bad heart a heart not right with God. From within it works toward without. Evil may for a time be concealed or held in check, but it is sure to show itself. People may be worse than they seem. God only knows the evil that lies hidden and rooted in the heart. Then we see wickedness in its development. It has been said that "tongue sins are our first transgressions." But how quickly do we proceed from "lies" to other and more flagrant forms of wickedness! The more the will of the flesh is indulged, the stronger it becomes. The poison spreads through all the veins. "The soul grows clothed by contagion, Imbodies and imbrutes, till she quite lose The Divine property of her first being. (Milton)
Then cometh the consummation. All checks and warnings and remonstrances are in vain. Men become "more deaf than adders to the voice of true decision." Like Saul, they choose the evil instead of the good. Like Rehoboam, they persist in their sins. Like Ahab, they sell themselves to work iniquity. Like Israel, they harden their hearts against all teaching and rebuke, till in the end there is no remedy. (2Ch_36:16)
II THEIR JUDGMENT IS PREDICTED. (Vers. 6-11) God is long suffering and merciful. How excellent his counsels! how tender his rebukes I how gracious his calls to repentance! But when evil men knowingly and obstinately persist in their evil ways, judgment must be done. The psalmist adds image to image to strengthen the argument, and to set forth the more vividly the awful doom of the wicked.
1. Judgment, is required in the interests of humanity. In all good governments there are laws for the protection of society. If evil doers will not repent, they must be restrained. Their power to do injury must be stopped.
2. Besides, judgment is demanded in accordance with righteousness. There is nothing arbitrary in the procedure. Even evil must be dealt with fairly.
3. Judgment also is necessary for the vindication of Goers truth. There is a moral necessity why it should be "ill with the wicked." "God is not a man, that he should lie." "But evil on itself shall back recoil, And mix no more with goodness, when at last. Gather"d like scum, and settled to itself, It shall be in eternal restless change, Self-fed and self-consumed; if this fail, The pillar"d firmament is rottenness, And earth"s base built on stubble. (Milton) W.F.
HOMILIES BY C. SHORT Vers. 1-11. A bold protest against unrighteous judges.
I THE INVETERATELY WICKED. (Vers. 1-5)
1. Wicked within and, without. (Vers. 1, 2) In heart and deed.
2. Wicked by nature and by habit. (Ver. 3) Go astray all their lives.
3. Incorrigible. (Ver. 4) Like the adder that will not be turned by the voice of the charmer.
II THEIR PUNISHMENT. (Vers. 6-11)
1. They shall be rendered powerless in their designs. (Vers. 6-9) All the figures in vers. 6-9 mean this.
2. They shall become the objects of God"s righteous vengeance. (Vers. 9, 10)
3. The victims of their wickedness shall see their overthrow, and rejoice init. (Vers. 10, 11) They shall rejoice that there is a God that judgeth among men. S.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon1885 · Public DomainOn vv1–5This volume completes one half of my labour upon…
This volume completes one half of my labour upon this priceless book, and my humble prayer is that I may be spared to conclude the other portion. So uncertain is human life, and so often have men's best designs remained unfinished, that I will press on with all diligence, lest, perhaps, the lamp of life should go out ere the writer has seen by its light the word FINIS at the conclusion of the last verse.
This volume has cost more labour than any other, because upon the larger proportion of the Psalms contained in it no great writers have expatiated at length. Some six or seven of them are specially notable, and have, therefore, been expounded and preached upon on all hands, but the rest remain almost untrodden ground in sacred literature, hence the gathering of extracts has required a wider range of reading and far more laborious research. Where one author writes upon a portion of Scripture, all write, while other passages remain almost untouched. This has driven me very much more to the Latin authors, and in them to a vein of exposition very little worked in these days. The neglect of these voluminous expositors is, however, not very censurable, for as a rule the authors are rather heavy than weighty. "Art is long and life is short", hence I found myself unequal to the unaided accomplishment of my task, and I have had to call in the aid of my excellent friend Mr. Gracey, the accomplished classical tutor of "the Pastors' College", to assist me in the work of winnowing the enormous heaps of Latin comments. Huge folios, full of dreary word spinning, yield here and there a few goodly grains, and these, I trust, will be valuable enough to my readers to repay my coadjutor and myself for our pains. For the selection of extracts I alone am responsible, for the accuracy of the translations we are jointly accountable. The reader will note that not without much expense of money, as well as toil, he has here furnished to his hand the pith of Venema, Le Blanc, Lorinus, Gerhohus, Musculus, Martin Geier, Mollerus, and Simon de Muis; with occasional notes from Vitringa, Jansenius, Savonarola, Vatablus, Turrecremata, Marloratus, Palanterius, Theodoret, and others, as they were judged worthy of insertion. I can truly say that I have never flinched from a difficulty, or spared exertion in order to make the work as complete as it lay in my power to render it, either by my own endeavours or the help of others. My faithful amanuensis, Mr. Keys, has been spared to me, and has been a continual visitor at the British Museum, Lambeth Palace, Dr. Williams' Museum, and Sion College; and many have been the courtesies which, despite differences of creed, I have received in his person from those who are in authority in those treasures of literature; for all which I would now record my hearty thanks.
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No object has been before me but that of serving the church and glorifying God by doing this work right thoroughly. I cannot hope to be remunerated pecuniarily; if only the bare outlay be met I shall be well content, the rest is an offering to the best of Masters, whose word is meat and drink to those who study it. The enjoyment of the work is more than sufficient reward, and the hope of helping my brethren in their biblical studies is very sweet to me.
The late increase of wages to printers, and the rise both in paper and binding, may compel an advance in the very low price charged for these volumes hitherto, but this shall not be made unless it becomes absolutely necessary to screen me from loss. As a larger sale will secure a return of my outlay, the matter is mainly in the hands of the public. Volume 1 being now in the third edition, and the second edition of Volume 2 being upon the press, I am led to hope that the present volume will also meet with a large and rapid sale; and if so, the old price may suffice to cover the outlay.
My venerable friend, Mr. George Rogers, has furnished me with many hints for the notes to village preachers, and it is hoped that this portion of the work has been so improved that it will not be the least useful part of it. Testimonies received lead to the belief that in the two former volumes numerous students have found help in that department.
There is no need to multiply words in this preface, but it is incumbent upon me to bless the Lord for help given, help daily and hourly sought while I have been occupied in this service; and it is also on my heart to ask a favourable mention of my volumes among their friends from those who kindly appreciate them.
C.H. Spurgeon.
Clapham, March, 1872. ere
To the Chief Musician. Although David had his own case in his mind's eye, yet he wrote not as a private person, but as an inspired prophet, and therefore his song is presented, for public and perpetual use, to the appointed guardian of the Temple psalmody. Altaschith. The wicked are here judged and condemned, but over the godly the sacred "Destroy not" is solemnly pronounced. Michtam of David. This is the fourth of the Psalms of the Golden Secret, and the second of the "Destroy nots." These names if they serve for nothing else may be useful to aid the memory. Men give names to their horses, jewels, and other valuables, and these names are meant not so much to describe as to distinguish them, and in some cases to set forth the owner's high esteem of his treasure; after the same fashion the Oriental poet gave a title to the song he loved, and so aided his memory, and expressed his estimation of the strain. We are not always to look for a meaning in these superscriptions, but to treat them as we would the titles of poems, or the names of tunes.
The ungodly enemy is accused, Ps 58:1-5; judgment is sought from the judge, Ps 58:6-8; and seen in prophetic vision as already executed, Ps 58:9-11.
Ver. 1. Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? The enemies of David were a numerous and united band, and because they so unanimously condemned the persecuted one, they were apt to take it for granted that their verdict was a right one. "What everybody says must be true, "is a lying proverb based upon the presumption which comes of large combinations. Have we not all agreed to hound the man to the death, and who dare hint that so many great ones can be mistaken? Yet the persecuted one lays the axe at the root by requiring his judges to answer the question whether or not they were acting according to justice. It were well if men would sometimes pause, and candidly consider this. Some of those who surrounded Saul were rather passive than active persecutors; they held their tongues when the object of royal hate was slandered; in the original, this first sentence appears to be addressed to them, and they are asked to justify their silence. Silence gives consent. He who refrains from defending the right is himself an accomplice in the wrong.
Do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men? Ye too are only men though dressed in a little brief authority. Your office for men, and your relation to men both bind you to rectitude; but have ye remembered this? Have ye not put aside all truth when ye have condemned the godly, and united in seeking the overthrow of the innocent? Yet in doing this be not too sure of success, or ye are only the "sons of men, "and there is a God who can and will reverse your verdicts.
Title. The proper meaning of the root of Michtam is to engrave, or to stamp a metal. It therefore, in strictness, means, an engraving or sculpture. Hence in the Septuagint, it is translated sthlografia, an inscription on a column. I would venture to offer a conjecture in perfect harmony with this view. It appears by the titles of four out of these six Psalms, that they were composed by David while flying and hiding from the persecutions of Saul. What, then, should hinder us from imagining that they were inscribed on the rocks and on the sides of the caves which so often formed his place of refuge? This view would accord with the strict etymological meaning of the word, and explain the rendering of the Septuagint. John Jebb, in "A Literal Translation of the Book of Psalms, "1846.
(See also Explanatory Notes on Psalms 6 and 56. "Treasury of David", Vol. 1., pp. 222-23; Vol. 3, p. 40.)
Whole Psalm. Kimchi says this Psalm was written on account of Abner, and the rest of Saul's princes, who judged David as a rebel against the government, and said it was for Saul to pursue after him to slay him; for if they had restrained him, Saul would not have pursued after him; and indeed they seem to be wicked judges who are addressed in this Psalm; do not destroy. Arama says, it declares the wickedness of Saul's judges. John Gill.
Ver. 1. Are ye dumb (when) ye (should) speak righteousness (and) judge equitably, sons of men? The first words are exceedingly obscure. One of them mla, not expressed in the English, and the ancient versions, means dumbness, as in Ps 61:1, 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? Joseph Addison Alexander.
Ver. 1. O congregation, O band, or company. The Hebrew alem, which hath the signification of binding as a sheaf or bundle, seemeth here to be a company that are combined or confederate. Henry Ainsworth.
None.
Psalms 58:2*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn vv1, 2, 4Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation?
Psa_58:1-11
Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation?
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Man in many aspects
I. The character of depraved men portrayed.
1. Unrighteous in judgment.
2. Wrong in heart.
3. Violent in the treatment of men.
4. Early in apostasy.
5. False in life.
6. Malignant in spirit.
7. Deceitful in heart.
II. The destruction of wicked men invoked.
1. Their entire destruction.
2. Their quick destruction.
III. The spirit of righteous men misrepresented. The psalmist utters a calumny in representing them as delighting in blood. If righteous Noah had delighted in the sufferings of his enemies, would he have built an ark? No; righteous men are not men of vengeance, they are not men of blood.
IV. The verdict of all men anticipated. So that a man shall say, Verily, there is a reward for the righteous.
1. This is a testimony that often seems to be at variance with the providential government of the human race.
2. This is a testimony that every man sooner or later will be bound by his own conscience to render. Retribution is inevitable--
(1) From the law of causation. We are to-day the result of our conduct yesterday, and the cause of our conduct to-morrow; and thus ever must we reap the works of our own hands.
(2) From the law of conscience. The past works of our hands are not lost. Memory gathers up the fragments of our life; and conscience stings or smiles, according to their character.
(3) From the law of righteousness. There is justice in the universe; and justice will ever punish the wicked and reward the good (Gal_6:7). (Homilist.)
Faith in righteousness
This is a difficult psalm. It is difficult even to read; the most advanced scholarship can make hardly anything of some of the verses. Besides, the situation which it describes is very foreign to us; and here and there when it expresses delight in the destruction of enemies, the sentiment jars on the Christian sense. Yet it is a psalm of high originality, the poetic imagery being both abundant and uncommon; and it gives such clear expression to the voice of eternal righteousness that it is worth while to make an effort to extend our sympathies widely enough to comprehend it.
I. The throne of iniquity (Psa_58:1-5). Perhaps the opening words ought to be as they are given in the margin of the Revised Version, Is the righteousness ye should speak dumb? The psalmist is accusing the administrators of justice of bribery. In the second verse, he describes them as weighing out violence in the scales in which justice ought to be weighed. That is, they observed all the solemn forms of justice, but had no regard for the interests of those who could not pay for their verdicts. In the East this has always been, and is at the present day, one of the leading features of an evil time. Justice cannot be procured; the well-doing man is harassed by his wicked neighbours, and has no redress. The effect of this condition of things on the general community is given in Psa_58:3-5. Society is poisoned in every department. Lying especially is everywhere rife, as it will always be where there is a corrupt administration of justice. Insensibility to the voices of reason and of the spirit is universal. Men are, he says, like the deaf adder, which stoppeth her ear and will not listen to the voice of the charmer, charm he ever so wisely. There have been epochs in history like this--when at the top of society there has been a corrupt court with a profligate aristocracy, and down through all ranks of the people the poison of falsehood and worldliness has been so diffused that there has been apparently no audience for any one speaking for God, and no career for any one wishing to be simple and true. On the small scale, such a situation often exists. The individual finds himself in a position where those above him are false, reckless and profligate; success seems to be obtainable only by lying and selfishness; and a tender conscience has no chance.
II. The throne of God (Psa_58:6-9). What is to be done in such a situation? The natural thing is to conform, and this is what the majority in all ages do: being at Rome they act as Rome does. Indeed, without religious conviction it is difficult to see how any one can act otherwise, where sin is strong and tyrannical, occupying all the high places, speaking through the organs of public opinion, and exhibiting to the young hundreds of examples. But it is here the Bible helps us. The writer of this psalm, though surrounded by prosperous wickedness, saw, over against the throne of iniquity, another throne lofty and eternal. It was the throne of the living and righteous God. He fixed his eyes on it till his soul was filled with faith and strength; and then, when he turned his eyes to look again on the images of the evil worlds power, their glory and stability had disappeared, and they looked fleeting and paltry. In a series of striking figures of speech he expresses his disdain of them. They are like toothless lions and fangless serpents (Psa_58:6); like a torrent which for a moment may seem to be a river, but immediately disappears in the sand (Psa_58:7); like an abortion; for their plans will come to nothing (Psa_58:8); they are cooking the flesh of their pleasure in a pot, but, before it is ready for eating, a whirlwind from the desert will carry the fire away (Psa_58:9).
III. The spectacle of justice (Psa_58:10-11). Not only does the psalmist, inspired by the vision of the eternal throne, foresee that this must be the issue, but he earnestly pleads for it; and he does so on two grounds--that the righteous may obtain the reward of their righteousness, and that all men may see that there is a God that judgeth in the earth. The triumph of injustice can only be temporary. There is a day coming when all the unjust judgments both of corrupt tribunals and of unrighteous society will be reversed. Even now God asserts Himself and vindicates His own; and, when He does so, the instincts of every honest heart must rise up to welcome Him. (J. Stalker, D. D.)
The perversion of justice
Agesilaus, indeed, in other respects was strictly and inflexibly just; but where a mans friends are concerned, he thought a rigid regard to justice a mere pretence. There is still extant a short letter of his to Hydreius the Carian, which is a proof of what we have said: If Nicias is innocent, acquit him; if he is not innocent, acquit him on my account; however, be sure to acquit him. (Plutarch.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible1887 · Public DomainOn v1Psalms 58
Psalms 58
THIS psalmists fiery indignation against unjust judges and evil-doers generally is not kindled by personal wrongs. The psalm comes hot from a heart lacerated by the sight of widespread corruption, and constrained to seek for patience in the thought of the swift sweeping away of evil men before their plans are effected. Stern triumph in the punitive manifestations of Gods rule, and keen sense of the need of such, are its keynotes. Vehement emotion stirs the poets imagination to heap together strong and, in part, obscure metaphors. Here emphatically "Indignatio facit versus." The psalm is Dantesque in its wealth of sombre imagination, which produces the most solemn effects with the homeliest metaphors, and in its awed and yet satisfied contemplation of the fate of evil-doers. It parts itself into three portions, -a dark picture of abounding evil (Psa_58:1-5); its punishment prayed for (Psa_58:6-9); and the consequent joy of the righteous and widespread recognition of the rule of a just God (Psa_58:10-11).
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The abrupt question of Psa_58:1 speaks of long pent-up indignation, excited by protracted experience of injustice, and anticipates the necessary negative answer which follows. The word rendered by the A.V. and R.V. "in silence" or "dumb" can scarcely be twisted into intelligibility, and the small alteration of reading required for the rendering "gods" is recommended by the similar expressions in the kindred Psalms 82. Taken thus, the question is hurled at the appointed depositaries of judicial power and supreme authority. There is no need to suppose, with Hupfeld and others, whom Cheyne follows, that these "gods" are supernatural beings intrusted with the government of the world. The explanation of the name lies in the conception of such power as bestowed by God, and in some sense a delegation of His attribute; or, as our Lord explained the similar name in Psalms 82, as given because "to them the word of God came." It sets in sinister light the flagrant contradiction between the spirit in which these men exercised their office and the source from which they derived it, and thus sharpens the reproach of the question. The answer is introduced by a particle conveying a strong opposition to the previous supposition couched in the question. "Heart" and "hands" are so obviously antithetical, that the alteration of "in heart" to "ye all" is not acceptable, though it removes the incongruity of plans being wrought in the heart, the seat of devices, not of actions. "Work" may be here used anomalously, as we say "work out," implying the careful preparation of a plan, and there may even be a hint that the true acts are the undone acts of the heart. The unaccomplished purpose is a deed, though never clothed in outward fact. Evil determined is, in a profound sense, done before it is done; and, in another equally solemn, not done when "tis done," as Macbeth has taught us. The "act," as men call it, follows: "In the earth"-not only in the heart-"ye weigh out the violence of your hands." The scales of justice are untrue. Instead of dispensing equity, as they were bound to do, they clash into the balance the weight of their own violence.
It is to be noted that the psalm says no more about the sins of unjust authorities, but passes on to describe the "wicked" generally. The transition may suggest that under unjust rulers all wrong doers find impunity, and so multiply and worsen; or it may simply be that these former are now merged in the class to which they belong. The type of "wickedness" gibbeted is the familiar one of malicious calumniators and persecutors. From birth onwards they have continuously been doers of evil. The psalmist is not laying down theological propositions about heredity, but describing the inveterate habit of sin which has become a second nature, and makes amendment hopeless. The reference to "lies" naturally suggests the image of the serpents poison. An envenomed tongue is worse than any snakes bite. And the mention of the serpent stimulates the poets imagination to yet another figure, which puts most graphically that disregard ox warnings, entreaties, and every voice, human or Divine, that marks long-practised, customary sinfulness. There can be no more striking symbol of determined disregard to the calls of patient Love and the threats of outraged Justice than that of the snake lying coiled, with its head in the centre of its motionless folds, as if its ears were stopped by its own bulk, while the enchanter plays his softest notes and speaks his strongest spells in vain. There are such men, thinks this psalmist. There are none whom the mightiest spell, that of Gods love in Christ, could not conquer and free from their poison; but there are such as will close their ears to its plaintive sweetness. This is the condemnation that light is come and men love darkness, and had rather lie coiled in their holes than have their fangs extracted.
The general drift of the second part (Psa_58:6-9) is to call down Divine retribution on these obstinate, irreclaimable evil-doers. Figure is heaped on figure in a fashion suggestive of intense emotion. The transiency of insolent evil, the completeness of its destruction, are the thoughts common to them all. There are difficulties in translation, and, in Psa_58:9, probable textual corruption: but these should not hide the tremendous power of gloomy imagination, which can lay hold of vulgar and in part loathsome things, and, by sheer force of its own solemn insight, can free them from all low or grotesque associations, and turn them into awful symbols. The intense desire for the sweeping away of evil-doers has met us in many previous psalms, and it is needless to repeat former observations on it. But it is nowhere expressed with such a wealth of metaphor as here. The first of these, that of crushing the jaws and breaking the teeth of a beast of prey, occurs also in Psa_3:7. It is less terrible than the subsequent imprecations, since it only contemplates the wickeds deprivation of power to do harm. In Psa_58:7 a their destruction is sought, while, in the second clause of the same verse, the defeat of their attempts is desired. Psa_58:8 then expands the former wish, and Psa_58:9 the latter. This plain symmetrical arrangement makes the proposals to resort to transposition unnecessary. Mountain torrents quickly run themselves dry; and the more furious their rush, the swifter their exhaustion. They leave a chaos of whitened stones, that lie bleaching in the fierce sun when the wild spate is past. So stormy and so short will be the career of evil-doers. So could a good man of old wish it to be; and so may we be sure of and desire the cessation of oppression and mans inhumanity to man. Psa_58:7 b is obscure. All these figures are struck out with such parsimony of words that they are difficult. They remind one of some of the stern, unfinished work of Michael Angelo, where a blow or two of his chisel, or a dash or two of his brush, has indicated rather than expressed his purpose, and left a riddle, fascinating in its incompleteness, for smaller men to spell out. In Psa_58:7 b it may be asked, Who is the archer? If God, then the whole is a presentation as if of an occurrence taking place before our eyes. God shoots His arrow, and at once it lodges in the heart of the enemies, and they are as though cut off. But it is better to take the wicked as the subject of both verbs, the change from singular to plural being by no means unusual in successive clauses with the same subject. If so, this clause recurs to the thought of Psa_58:6, and prays for the neutralising of the wicked mans attempts. He fits his arrows, aims, and draws the bow. May they fall harmless, as if barbless! An emendation has been proposed by which the clause is made parallel with Psa_37:2, "As grass let them be quickly cut off," thus securing a complete parallel with a, -and avoiding the difficulty in the word rendered by us "pointless." But the existing text gives a vigorous metaphor, the peculiarity of which makes it preferable to the feebler image of withering grass.
The prayer for destruction is caught up again in Psa_58:8, in two daring figures which tremble on the verge of lowering the key of the whole; but by escaping that peril, produce the contrary effect, and heighten it. A slug leaves a shining track of slime as it creeps, which exudes from its soft body, and thus it seems to disintegrate itself by its own motion. It is the same thought of the suicidal character of bad mens efforts which was expressed by the stream foaming itself away in the nullah. It is the eternal truth that opposition to Gods will destroys itself by its own activity. The unfulfilled life of a premature birth, with eyes which never opened to the light for which they were made and possibilities which never unfolded, and which is huddled away into a nameless grave, still more impressively symbolises futility and transiency.
In Psa_58:9 the figure has given much trouble to commentators. Its broad meaning is, however, undoubted. It is, as Psa_58:6 and Psa_58:7 b, symbolic of the Divine intervention which wrecks wicked mens plans before they are wrought out. The picture before the psalmist seems to be that of a company of travellers round their camp fire, preparing their meal. They heap brush wood under the pot, and expect to satisfy their hunger; but before the pot is warmed through, not to say before the water boils or the meat is cooked, down comes a whirlwind, which sweeps away fire, pot, and all. Every word of the clause is doubtful, and with the existing text, the best that can be done is not wholly satisfactory. If emendation is resorted to, the suggestion of Bickell, adopted by Cheyne, gives a good sense: "[And] while your [flesh] is yet raw, the hot wrath [of Jehovah] shall sweep it away." Baethgen makes a slighter alteration, and renders, "While it is still raw, He sweeps it away in wrath." Retaining the existing text (which is witnessed by the LXX and other old versions), probably the best rendering is, "Whether [it be] green or burning, He shall whirl it away." This general understanding of the words is shared by commentators who differ as to what is represented as swept away-some making it the thorn fire, the twigs of which may be either full of sap or well alight; while others take the reference to be to the meat in the pot, which may be either "living," i.e. raw, or well on the way to being cooked. Neither application is quite free from difficulty, especially in view of the fact that some pressure has to be put on the word rendered "burning," which is not an adjective, but a noun, and is usually employed to designate the fiery wrath of God, as it is rendered in the amended text just mentioned. After all attempts at clearing up the verse, one must be content to put a mark of interrogation at any rendering. But the scope of the figure seems discoverable through the obscurity: It is a homely and therefore vigorous picture of half-accomplished plans suddenly reduced to utter failure, and leaving their concocters hungry for the satisfaction which seemed so near. The cookery may go on merrily and the thorns crackle cheerily, but the simoom comes, topples over the tripod on which the pot swung, and blows the fire away in a hundred directions. Peters gibbet was ready, and the morning of his execution was near; but when day dawned, "there was no small stir what was become of him." The wind had blown him away from the expectation of the people of the Jews into safe quarters; and the fire was dispersed.
The closing part (Psa_58:10-11) breathes a stern spirit of joy over the destruction of the wicked. That is a terrible picture of the righteous bathing his feet in the blood of the wicked. {Psa_68:23} It expresses not only the dreadful abundance of blood, but also the satisfaction of the "righteous" at its being shed. There is an ignoble and there is a noble and Christian satisfaction in even the destructive providences of God. It is not only permissible but imperative on those who would live in sympathy with His righteous dealings and with Himself, that they should see in these the manifestation of eternal justice, and should consider that they roll away burdens from earth and bring hope and rest to the victims of oppression. It is no unworthy shout of personal vengeance, nor of unfeeling triumph, that is lifted up from a relieved world when Babylon falls. If it is right in God to destroy, it cannot be wrong in His servants to rejoice that He does. Only they have to take heed that their emotion is untarnished by selfish gratulation, and is not untinged with solemn pity for those who were indeed doers of evil, but were themselves the greatest sufferers from their evil. It is hard, but not impossible, to take all that is expressed in the psalm, and to soften it by some effluence from the spirit of Him who wept over Jerusalem, and yet pronounced its doom.
The last issue of Gods judgments contemplated by the psalm warrants the joy of the righteous; for in these there is a demonstration to the world that there is "fruit" to the righteous, and that notwithstanding all bewilderments from the sight of prosperous wickedness and oppressed righteousness "there is a God who judges in the earth." The word "judging" is here in the plural, corresponding with "God" (Elohim), which is also plural in form. Possibly the construction is to be explained on the ground that the words describe the thoughts of surrounding, polytheistic nations, who behold the exhibition of Gods righteousness. But more probably the plural is, here used for the sake of the contrast with the gods of Psa_58:1. Over these unworthy representatives of Divine justice sits the true judge, in the manifoldness of His attributes, exercising His righteous though slow-footed judgments.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary1892 · Public DomainOn v1Superscription.—“To the Chief Musician, Al-taschith.” see introduction to Psalms…
INTRODUCTION
Superscription.—“To the Chief Musician, Al-taschith.” see introduction to Psalms 57. “Michtam of David.” See Introduction to Psalms 56. Moll: “This complaint respecting domestic administrations of justice gushes forth from the Psalmist in a threatening language, which is almost obscure owing to bold and mingled figures of speech. It is like a torrent which plunges over every hindrance, foaming and raging. We may certainly credit this original poet with a richness of figures and changes in their use, as well as in the turns of language and of thought, in accordance with particular circumstances and feeling. Yet we lack sufficient evidence to show whether the composition occurred in the time of Saul, who was at the same time David’s judge and persecutor, who endeavoured to hide the persecution under the appearance of a righteous judgment; or in the time of Absalom, who made the administration of justice a means of stealing from David the hearts of the people, whilst he pretended to be impartial.”
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It seems to us probable that this Psalm, like Psalms 56, 57, , 59, relates to the Sauline persecutions. The similarity in the superscriptions and the character of the contents support this view.
THE HISTORY OF HUMAN WICKEDNESS
In dealing with these wicked judges, whom he addresses in the early portion of the Psalm, David gives us a general description of the origin, progress, and destiny of human wickedness.
I. Wickedness in its root. “The wicked are estranged from the womb,” &c. An innate estrangement of the heart from God is the root from which the wickedness of men springs. The doctrine of original sin rests on an awful fact. Moral qualities are transmissible. We enter upon life with tendencies to evil. In some natures these tendencies are terrible in their activity and strength. In this light David regards his enemies. “The most lovely infant that is ushered into being,” says Dr. Cumming, “has within it by nature the germs of those elements which feed the flames of bell, and leaven its forlorn inmates with their direst misery. It has in its own heart the embryo of that Upas tree, which distils upon humanity on earth, and on humanity in hell, its death-drops; and so living are the seeds, and so congenial is the soil, that, unless overborne by the grace of the Holy Spirit and the appliances of the Gospel, they will inevitably spring up and flourish.”
II. Wickedness in its manifestation.
1. In the mal-administration of justice (Psa_58:1-2). The exact meaning of these verses is somewhat obscure. The rendering of the first clause of the first verse in the A. V. is certainly incorrect. Alexander translates: “Are ye, indeed, dumb, when ye should speak righteousness!” Conant: “ ‘Do ye, of a truth, in silence, speak righteousness?’ A bitter sarcasm. Is it with silence that ye perform the office of speech, dumb when ye ought to speak, and declare the right?” Perowne, on the latter clause of Psa_58:2, remarks, “This is said sarcastically. Ye pretend, indeed, to hold the balance of justice, and nicely to weigh out to each his just award, but violence is the weight with which ye adjust the scales.” Moll: “It is very bad when those persons and magistrates, who are appointed to administer justice, instead of pronouncing judgment, are silent, and are dumb to the prayers of their subordinates and the earnest entreaties of their frends, not less than to the demands of the law, honour, and conscience. They then not only misuse the scales of justice intrusted to them in an irresponsible manner, to the injury of their fellow-men, but they are likewise hypocrites and liars, since they violate justice at the very time that they pretend to exercise it, and in this manifest their serpent-like nature.” Here, then, are three counts in the indictment against these judges.
(1) They were silent when they ought to have declared for righteousness.
(2) Their hearts were bent on wickedness.
(3) Under the pretence of justice they did evil. Thus in the place of judgment there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness there was iniquity.
2. In falsehood. “Speaking lies.” This is a manifestation of wickedness from which David suffered much, and which, in various forms, has been widely prevalent in the whole history of human wickedness.
3. In malice. “Their poison is like the poison of a serpent.” Their spirit was malignant, and their utterances were spiteful, cruel, and deadly.
III. Wickedness in its full development. “Like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.” It is not the adder which stoppeth the ear, but the wicked. What is already deaf by nature has no need to stop its ear. We may read the clause, “As a deaf adder, he stoppeth his ear.” By means of stopping their ears the wicked make themselves like the deaf adder. (On serpent charming, see “The Land and the Book,” by Dr. Thomson, p. 154, and Barnes and Lange, in loco.) As there are serpents which cannot be charmed, so there are men who will yield to no good influence. They harden themselves against the grace of God, and close their ears against His Word, and strengthen themselves in wickedness, and so prepare themselves for a terrible and inevitable ruin. It is not simply that the tendency to evil with which they were born has developed itself, but it has developed itself unchecked, and without any obstruction, and the influences which have been brought to bear upon them to lead them to resist that development they have resisted, and the aids which have been offered to them to enable them to do so, they have rejected. “Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost.” In this way that which at first was merely a tendency to evil becomes an irresistible despot. “His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.” “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil.” We see this stopping of the ears and hardening of the heart in the disregard of those who eagerly pursue wickedness—
1. To the remonstrances and entreaties of men, even of their best friends.
2. To the invitations of Divine mercy, and the warnings of Divine judgment.
3. To the Divine influence working in and through their own conscience. All these they disregard. Saul is a conspicuous and terrible example of this. Men wilfully close their eyes against the light, and blindness supervenes; they wilfully stop their ears against Divine voices, and deafness results. “Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”
IV. Wickedness in its consummation. “Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth,” &c. (Psa_58:6-9). “There is,” says Perowne, “an abrupt change in the image employed. As these men are incorrigible in their wickedness, as they cannot be tamed, the Psalmist prays to God to destroy their power for mischief; but instead of continuing the figure of the serpent charmer, who robs the serpent of his poison, he suddenly represents them as young lions, whose teeth he would see broken that they may no longer devour.” In this portion of the Psalm we see the destination of wickedness.
1. The power of the wicked shall be destroyed. “Break their teeth,” &c. “The young lions” are not the whelps, but those who are youthful in vigour and strength. God will break the power of wickedness. “The arms of the wicked shall be broken.”
2. The plans of the wicked shall be defeated. “When he bendeth,” &c. The Hebrew here is difficult. Hengstenberg translates: “He takes aim with his arrows, as if they were cut in pieces.” Conant: “He will fit his arrows, they shall be as if severed.” The idea, doubtless, is, that the arrows of the wicked would be without effect as though they had their points cut off. “The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought,” &c.
3. The end of the wicked shall be failure and ruin.
(1) Here are the ideas of wasting and failure as the end of the wicked. “Let them melt away as waters which run continually. As a snail which melteth,” &c. (On the metaphor of the snail, see Tristram’s “Natural History of the Bible,” p. 295, quoted in Lange.) Wickedness tends to failure. Sin is truly a missing of the mark. The life of the wicked shall pass away like an abortion (Psa_37:35-36).
(2) Here is the idea of dread ruin as the end of the wicked. “Before your pots,” &c. Another difficult verse. A more correct translation would be, “Before your pots feel the thorn, whether fresh or burning; He will sweep it away as with a tempest.” “Whether fresh or burning” we take as applying to the thorns. Perowne: “The general sense of this difficult verse seems to be this: As a sudden whirlwind in the desert sweeps away the thorns which have been gathered for cooking almost as soon as they have been set on fire, and before the cauldron has grown hot, so shall the wicked, and all their yet incomplete designs, be swept away by the wrath of God.” The ruin of the wicked is here represented as (α) sudden (1Th_5:3). (β) Irresistible, “as with a whirlwind” (Pro_14:32). Such is the dread consummation to which wickedness tends.
V. Wickedness as viewed in its ultimate aspects. The consummation of wickedness affords—
1. Satisfaction to the righteous. “The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance,” &c. Alexander: “To bathe his steps in the blood of others is to walk where their blood is flowing, to tread the battlefield where they have fallen, to gain a sanguinary triumph over them, or rather, to partake in the triumph of another.” The righteous rejoice that wickedness does not triumph, but is defeated, destroyed. “The Lord reigneth.”
2. Conviction to men in general. “And men will say, Verily, there is fruit for the righteous,” &c. When the ultimate aspects of wickedness are seen men will be convinced that the moral government of the world is in the hands of a righteous God. Even in the present state of affairs events are frequently conducted to such issues that men cannot resist the conclusion that “there is a God that judgeth in the earth.”
CONCLUSION.—
1. Learn the danger of following the bias of our nature apart from the grace of God. “When we follow our inborn nature we ruin ourselves and others.”
2. Rejoice that the bias of our nature to evil may be changed. By the grace of God we may “be renewed in the spirit of our mind,” &c. (Eph_4:23-24).
3. Let those who are pursuing evil turn from it to Jesus Christ and to life ere it reaches its dread consummation (Isa_55:6-7; Eze_33:11).
4. Learn to take a comprehensive view of the divine dealings with men. By so doing we shall be likely correctly to understand the ways of God.
5. Cultivate a strong and constant faith in the exercise and rectitude of the Divine administration in human affairs.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible1900 · Public DomainOn v1In the Prayer-book version this text stands, "Are your…
Psa 58:1
In the Prayer-book version this text stands, "Are your minds set upon righteousness, O ye congregation?" This includes the other, and goes deeper. We shall not speak of that upon which our minds are not first set.
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I. Take these words in their large and general signification, and what do they mean? Are you in earnest? Are you in earnest about your own spiritual concerns? Are your affections "set on things above, not on things on the earth"? Have you concentrated your minds upon religion as upon a focus?
II. But the words have evidently a further distinctiveness. The word "righteous" in the Bible—at least, in the New Testament application of it—generally refers to that perfect righteousness which Jesus has both made and purchased for His people. The inquiry therefore in its true force runs thus: Are your minds set on finding pardon and justification through that Saviour who shed His very blood for us, that we, poor, banished, but not expelled, ones, might come back and find a home in our heavenly Father’s love?
III. He who is, or wishes to be, righteous in his Saviour’s righteousness is always the man who is also the most righteous in the discharge of all the duties of this present life. The question therefore takes another easy and necessary transit: In this very place, at this very moment, are you honest—honest to God and to your own souls in the work in which you are engaged? You have received the stewardship of many talents; where is the capital, and where is the interest ready to be given back to the Proprietor when He comes? "Are your minds set upon righteousness, O ye congregation?"
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 1874, p. 123.
Psa 58:4
Deaf adders may seem very stupid creatures to be teaching lessons to human beings, but they are certainly able to do it. There is quite a variety of deaf adders in the world.
I. Lazy schoolboys and girls are like deaf adders.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant1903 · Public DomainOn v1Psa 58:1-11. God manifested in judgment.
Psa 58:1-11. God manifested in judgment.
To the chief musician, Al-tashcheth: Michtam of David.
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{Verse 1: Or else, "Do ye indeed speak the silence of righteousness?" or "in silence speak righteousness?" Some, to escape the difficulty, alter the pointing of one word, and say: "Do ye indeed speak righteousness, ye gods!" i.e., "judges." I follow the London Translation of the Old Testament, on the basis of the French and German of J. N. Darby.
Verse 7 ’blunted’, literally, "cut off."}
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.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow1909 · Public DomainOn v1This Ps. denounces the wickedness of unjust and oppressive…
This Ps. denounces the wickedness of unjust and oppressive judges, and prays, in a series of powerful metaphors, for their destruction, in order that righteousness may be vindicated, and God exalted as the supreme Judge. It is uncertain whether the injustice complained of is exercised by Israelites or by foreigners, and so the Ps. has been variously placed before and after the exile. In any case it cannot be regarded as David's. For its subject it should be compared with Psalms 82.
Title.—See on Psalms 57.
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1. O congregation] RV 'in silence.' Both are doubtful renderings of a word which occurs only here. The reading now generally accepted gives the meaning, 'O ye gods,' or 'mighty ones,' in the sense of 'judges': cp. Psa_82:1. Sons of men] Judges are reminded that they are human, in spite of their high office: see Psa_82:7;
2. Weigh] RV 'weigh out.' The 'scales of justice' are abused.
3. Estranged] from God and righteousness.
4, 5. The comparison with serpents is twofold, first as to venom, and second as to obstinate refusal to be influenced.
4. Adder] RM 'asp.'
5. Will not hearken, etc.] cp. Jer_8:17. The ancient art of snake-charming is still practised in the East.
6. Read with LXX 'God shall break,' etc., and in the following vv. 'They shall melt.. shall be.' This gives solemn prediction in the place of mere imprecation.
7. Cut in pieces] RV 'cut off,' blunted.
8. Read, 'They shall be as a snail which melteth and passeth away.' The idea is perhaps derived from the snail's slimy track, or from the commonness of empty snail shells.
9. He shall take, etc.] Read, 'While the flesh is still raw wrath shall sweep them away like a whirlwind.' Flesh is about to be cooked in a pot, but almost before the fire has kindled a whirlwind scatters the whole arrangement. The figure suggests a judgment of startling suddenness.
10. This verse breathes a spirit of ferocity not unnatural in the warlike days of the OT., but impossible to be reconciled with the spirit of Christ.
11. He is a God] RV 'there is a God.'
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein1922 · Public DomainOn v1Psalm 58
Psalm 58
A Judgment Psalm
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1. Why God must judge (Psa 58:1-5)
2. The judgment executed (Psa 58:6-11)
“Do ye of a truth in silence speak righteousness?” (literal rendering of the first verse). Righteousness is not heard on earth. Wickedness and violence are on the earth, therefore God must arise and deal with these conditions in judgment. It will overtake the wicked and the imprecatory prayers will be answered. Then the righteous will be glad when he seeth the vengeance and it will be said, “Verily there is a reward for the righteous; verily He is a God who judgeth the earth.”
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann1924 · Public DomainOn v1A Cry for Vengeance upon the Subverters of Right.
A Cry for Vengeance upon the Subverters of Right.
To the chief musician, Al-taschith, to be sung to the same melody as the preceding psalm, Michtam, a poem in epigrammatic form, of David.
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v. 1. Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? He seems to be addressing a council, representatives of the government, princes, asking them whether they are dumb, whether they are unable to speak the truth, whether it is impossible for them to give a right decision. Do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men? Standing under God and pledged to uphold justice, were they forgetting its obligations?
v. 2. Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth, giving decisions which are, in effect. measures of violence, without a show of right. The passage is highly sarcastic, implying that they indeed hold the balances of justice, their duty being to weigh out just awards, but that they abuse their right and substitute violence.
v. 3. The wicked are estranged from the womb, full of wickedness against God from the very moment of their birth; they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies, their character from the first being truly devilish and selfish, apparently incapable of any higher motives.
v. 4. Their poison, that of their words and actions, is like the poison of a serpent, malignant, deadly; they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear, one of the most dangerous reptiles of the Orient, intentionally dumb,
v. 5. which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely, no matter if the formulas are worded and the charm applied in the most careful manner. The wicked, in other words, are naturally, easily, malignantly, and stubbornly opposed to all that is good.
v. 6. Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth, those which they use as instruments of violence. Psa 57:4; break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Lord, of the enemies who desired to take his life, so that they would be rendered harmless. The figure is now again changed.
v. 7. Let them melt away as waters which run continually, of which not even a trace remains; when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, the enemy being thought of as stepping on the bow to bend it and to fix his arrows for shooting, let them, all the enemies as represented by this one, be as cut in pieces, their arrows having no effect, as though they had their points cut off.
v. 8. As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away, the figure used from the apparent melting away of a snail in slime; like the untimely birth of a woman, a miscarriage, that they may not see the sun.
v. 9. Before your pots can feel the thorns, namely, the heat of the burning thorns used as fuel by caravans, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, with a sudden and unexpected destruction, both living and in his wrath, literally, whether fresh or burning, that is, whether the meat in the pot at that time be raw or already in a state of roasting, whether their evil plans had but recently been made, or whether they were being carried out, there being a possible reference here to the rebellion of Absalom.
v. 10. The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance, over the fact that God uses the destruction of the wicked for his own deliverance; he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked, the Lord’s slaughter of them being so great that their blood runs in streams,
v. 11. so that a man shall say, with this bit of evidence before his eyes, v. ily, there is a reward for the righteous, the Lord granting them this reward in mercy; verily, He is a God that judgeth in the earth, there is still a divinity judging on the earth, one higher than all the so-called gods of the heathen. The full revelation of this fact will be brought home to the believers on the Last Day, when the Lord’s judgment will be pronounced on all men.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv1, 3General Information:
General Information:
Parallelism is common in Hebrew poetry. (See: Poetry and Parallelism)
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General Information:
This psalm is a song about wicked people.
For the chief musician
"This is for the director of music to use in worship"
set to Al Tashheth
This probably tells what musical style or tune to use when singing the psalm. See how you translated this in Psalms 57:1.
A psalm of David
Possible meanings are 1) David wrote the psalm or 2) the psalm is about David or 3) the psalm is in the style of David's psalms.
A michtam
The meaning of the word "michtam" is uncertain. You may use the word "psalm" instead. This can be written as: "This is a psalm that David wrote." See how you translated this in Psalms 16:1.
Do you rulers speak righteousness?
The author uses this question to rebuke the rulers because they do not speak righteously. AT: "You rulers do not say what is right!" (See: Rhetorical Question)
you ... your
The words "you" and "your" refer to the mighty men who are judges. The "you" here is plural. (See: Forms of You)
Do you judge uprightly, you people?
The author uses this question to rebuke the judges who do not judge uprightly. AT: "You people never judge people uprightly!" (See: Rhetorical Question)
No
The author answers the two questions he had just asked.
you commit wickedness in your heart
The heart refers to the people's thoughts or plans. AT: "you commit wickedness in your thoughts" or "you think about doing wicked things" (See: Metonymy)
you distribute violence throughout the land with your hands
Doing violence in various places throughout the land is spoken of as distributing or spreading the violence throughout the land, as if violence were some kind of stuff or things. AT: "you yourselves do violent deeds everywhere in the land" (See: Metaphor)
Tyndale Open Study Notes2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv1, 3, 4Ps 58 The administration of justice is a mark…
Ps 58 The administration of justice is a mark of good government. God expects nothing less from his people. The psalmist condemns Israel’s leaders for abusing their power, and he calls on the Lord to rain down his curses upon the wicked. The demonstration of divine justice will reassure the godly that God is just.
58:1-5 The administrators of justice were furthering their own interests rather than those of the needy. The absence of justice gradually resulted in a violent society.
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58:1 rulers (or gods): This designation was used for high officials and administrators of justice (82:1, 6). Elsewhere, it might refer to angelic creatures (89:7) or to the gods of the nations (82:1; Dan 11:36).
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv1–4 1. Do ye indeed speak righteousness? In putting this…
1. Do ye indeed speak righteousness? In putting this question to his enemies, by way of challenge, David displays the boldness of conscious rectitude. It argues that the justice of our cause is demonstratively evident when we venture to appeal to the opposite party himself; for were there any ground to question its justice, it would show an absurd degree of confidence to challenge the testimony of an adversary. David comes forward with the openness of one who was supported by a sense of his integrity, and repels, by a declaration forced from their own lips, the base charges with which they blackened his character in the estimation of such as were simple enough to believe them. “Ye yourselves,” as if he had said, “can attest my innocence, and yet persecute me with groundless calumnies. Are you not ashamed of such gross and gratuitous oppression?” It is necessary, however, to determine who they were whom David here accuses. He calls them a congregation, and again, sons of men The Hebrew word אלם, elem, which I have rendered congregation, some consider to be an epithet applied to righteousness, and translate dumb; but this does not express the meaning of the Psalmist. Interpreters differ as to what we should understand by the term congregation. Some think that he adverts, by way of accusation, to the meetings which his enemies held, as is usual with those who entertain wicked designs, for the purpose of concerting their plans. I rather incline to the opinion of those who conceive that he here gives (although only in courtesy) the usual title of honor to the counsellors of Saul, who met professedly to consult for the good of the nation, but in reality with no other intention than to accomplish his destruction. Others read, in the congregation — a translation which gives the same meaning to the passage we have already assigned to it, but is not supported by the natural construction of the words. The congregation which David addresses is that assembly which Saul convened, ostensibly for lawful objects, but really for the oppression of the innocent. The term, sons of men, which he immediately afterwards applies to them — taking back, as it were, the title of courtesy formerly given — would seem to be used in contempt of their character, being, as they were, rather a band of public robbers than a convention of judges. Some, however, may be of opinion, that in employing this expression, David had in his eye the universality of the opposition which confronted him — almost the whole people inclining to this wicked factions and that he here issues a magnanimous defiance to the multitude of his enemies. Meanwhile, the lesson taught us by the passage is apparent. Although the whole world be set against the people of God they need not fear, so long as they are supported by a sense of their integrity, to challenge kings and their counsellors, and the promiscuous mob of the people. Should the whole world refuse to hear us, we must learn, by the example of David, to rest satisfied with the testimony of a good conscience, and with appealing to the tribunal of God. Augustine, who had none but the Greek version in his hands, is led by this verse into a subtle disquisition upon the point, that the judgment of men is usually correct when called to decide upon general principles, but fails egregiously in the application of these principles to particular cases, through the blinding and warping influences of their evil passions. All this may be plausible, and, in its own place, useful, but proceeds upon a complete misapprehension of the meaning of the passage.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1–4 Ye counselors of Saul, who under pretence of consulting…
Ye counselors of Saul, who under pretence of consulting for the common wealth, conspire my death being an innocent.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–5 Psa 58:1 « To the chief Musician, Altaschith, Michtam…
Psa 58:1 « To the chief Musician, Altaschith, Michtam of David. » Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?
Ver. 1. Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation?] Or, O council; you that are gathered together on a knot, under a pretence of doing justice, and promoting the public good by giving faithful advice to the king. Una ligati, ut Gen 37:7, vel ab אלם Mutus quia congregatio ante oratorem est quasi mutus (Aben Ezra). Colloquitur Abnero et reliquis, saith Kimchi, David here talketh to Abner and the rest, who, to please Saul, pronounced David a rebel, and condemned him absent for an enemy to the state. And forasmuch as there is no greater injury than that which passeth under the name of right, he sharply debateth the matter with them whom he knew of old to be very corrupt; painting them out in their colours, and denouncing God’s heavy judgments against them for their unjust dealings with him. The word rendered congregation is not found elsewhere in that sense. It signifieth dumbness; and is by the Spanish translators rendered, O audientia by antiphrasis, ut lucus, quia non lucet.
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Do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?] i.e. O ye carnal profane persons that savour not the things of the Spirit; q.d. ye are fit persons to make counsellors of state. Sedes prima et vita ima agree not. Dignitas in indigno est ornamentum in luto, saith Salvian. You do much misbecome your places.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1–5 Do ye indeed speak righteousness? the question implies a…
Do ye indeed speak righteousness? the question implies a denial. You censure me freely, without any regard to truth or justice.
Congregation: the word signifies a band or company of men, and seems to point at Saul’s judges and counsellors; who met together to consult what they should do against David, and probably passed a sentence upon him, as guilty of treason and rebellion.
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Sons of men; so he calls them, either,
1. In contempt and opposition to the sons of God, or good men. Or,
2. By way of admonition, to mind them that they also were men, and must give an account to God for all their hard speeches and unrighteous decrees against him.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v1 We have reason to think that this psalm refers…
We have reason to think that this psalm refers to the malice of Saul and his janizaries against David, because it bears the same inscription (Al-taschith, and Michtam of David) with that which goes before and that which follows, both which appear, by the title, to have been penned with reference to that persecution through which God preserved him (Al-taschith - Destroy not), and therefore the psalms he then penned were precious to him, Michtams - David's jewels, as Dr. Hammond translates it.
In these verses David, not as a king, for he had not yet come to the throne, but as a prophet, in God's name arraigns and convicts his judges, with more authority and justice than they showed in prosecuting him. Two things he charges them with:
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I. The corruption of their government. They were a congregation, a bench of justices, nay, perhaps, a congress or convention of the states, from whom one might have expected fair dealing, for they were men learned in the laws, had been brought up in the study of these statutes and judgments, which were so righteous that those of other nations were not to be compared with them. One would not have thought a congregation of such could be bribed and biassed with pensions, and yet, it seems, they were, because the son of Kish could do that for them which the son of Jesse could not, Sa1 22:7. He had vineyards, and fields, and preferments, to give them, and therefore, to please him, they would do any thing, right or wrong. Of all the melancholy views which Solomon took of this earth and its grievances, nothing vexed him so much as to see that in the place of judgment wickedness was there, Ecc 3:16. So it was in Saul's time. 1. The judges would not do right, would not protect or vindicate oppressed innocency (Psa 58:1): "Do you indeed speak righteousness, or judge uprightly? No; you are far from it; your own consciences cannot but tell you that you do not discharge the trust reposed in you as magistrates, by which you are bound to be a terror to evil-doers and a praise to those that do well. Is this the justice you pretend to administer? Is this the patronage, this the countenance, which an honest man and an honest cause may expect from you? Remember you are sons of men; mortal and dying, and that you stand upon the same level before God with the meanest of those you trample upon, and must yourselves be called to an account and judged. You are sons of men, and therefore we may appeal to yourselves, and to that law of nature which is written in every man's heart: Do you indeed speak righteousness? And will not your second thoughts correct what you have done?" Note, It is good for us often to reflect upon what we say with this serious question, Do we indeed speak righteousness? that we may unsay what we have spoken amiss and may proceed no further in it. 2. They did a great deal of wrong; they used their power for the support of injury and oppression (Psa 58:2): In heart you work wickedness (all the wickedness of the life is wrought in the heart). It intimates that they wrought with a great deal of plot and management, not by surprise, but with premeditation and design, and with a strong inclination to it and resolution in it. The moire there is of the heart in any act of wickedness the worse it is, Ecc 8:11. And what was their wickedness? It follows, "You weigh the violence of your hands in the earth" (or in the land), "the peace of which you are appointed to be the conservators of." They did all the violence and injury they could, either to enrich or avenge themselves, and they weighed it; that is, 1. They did it with a great deal of craft and caution: "You frame it by rule and lines" (so the word signifies), "that it may effectually answer your mischievous intentions; such masters are you of the art of oppression." 2. They did it under colour of justice. They held the balances (the emblem of justice) in their hands, as if they designed to do right, and right is expected from them, but the result is violence and oppression, which are practised the more effectually for being practised under the pretext of law and right.
II. The corruption of their nature. This was the root of bitterness from which that gall and wormwood sprang (Psa 58:3): The wicked, who in heart work wickedness, are estranged from the womb, estranged from God and all good, alienated from the divine life, and its principles, powers, and pleasures, Eph 4:18. A sinful state is a state of estrangement from that acquaintance with God and service of him which we were made for. Let none wonder that these wicked men dare do such things, for wickedness is bred in the bone with them; they brought it into the world with them; they have in their natures a strong inclination to it; they learned it from their wicked parents, and have been trained up in it by a bad education. They are called, and not miscalled, transgressors from the womb; one can therefore expect no other than that they will deal very treacherously; see Isa 48:8. They go astray from God and their duty as soon as they are born, (that is, as soon as possibly they can); the foolishness that is bound up in their hearts appears with the first operations of reason; as the wheat springs up, the tares spring up with it. Three instances are here given of the corruption of nature: - 1. Falsehood. They soon learn to speak lies, and bend their tongues, like their bows, for that purpose, Jer 9:3. How soon will little children tell a lie to excuse a fault, or in their own commendation! No sooner can they speak than they speak to God's dishonour; tongue-sins are some of the first of our actual transgressions. 2. Malice. Their poison (that is, their ill-will, and the spite they bore to goodness and all good men, particularly to David) was like the poison of a serpent, innate, venomous, and very mischievous, and that which they can never be cured of. We pity a dog that is poisoned by accident, but hate a serpent that is poisonous by nature. Such as the cursed enmity in this serpent's brood against the Lord and his anointed. 3. Untractableness. They are malicious, and nothing will work upon them, no reason, no kindness, to mollify them, and bring them to a better temper. They are like the deaf adder that stops her ear, Psa 58:4, Psa 58:5. The psalmist, having compared these wicked men, whom he here complains of, to serpents, for their poisonous malice, takes occasion thence, upon another account, to compare them to the deaf adder or viper, concerning which there was then this vulgar tradition, that whereas, by music or some other art, they had a way of charming serpents, so as either to destroy them or at least disable them to do mischief, this deaf adder would lay one ear to the ground and stop the other with her tail, so that she could not hear the voice of the enchantment, and so defeated the intention of it and secured herself. The using of this comparison neither verifies the story, nor, if it were true, justifies the use of this enchantment; for it is only an allusion to the report of such a thing, to illustrate the obstinacy of sinners in a sinful way. God's design, in his word and providence, is to cure serpents of their malignity; to this end how wise, how powerful, how well-chosen are the charms! How forcible the right words! But all in vain with most men; and what is the reason? It is because they will not hearken. None so deaf as those that will not hear. We have piped unto men, and they have not danced; how should they, when they have stopped their ears?
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–5 Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation?.... Of the…
Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation?.... Of the mighty, as in Psa 82:1; the judges of the land, who were many, and therefore called a congregation, as it is necessary they should; for, being many, they are not so easily bribed; and besides, one may see that in a cause which another does not. The word signifies a "sheaf" (t); and so it is by some rendered, to which a bench or assembly of judges may be compared; because consisting of many, and a select body, who should unite together in a sentence or decree, and act uprightly, like a sheaf of wheat standing upright; see Gen 37:7; some think the word has the signification of dumbness, or silence; so Jarchi and R. Moses (u); as "elem" in Psa 56:1, title, and render it, "do ye indeed speak dumb justice?" or "the dumbness of justice" (w); or are you dumb, or your mouth silent, when ye should speak righteousness? and so the psalmist accuses them for their criminal silence, in not contradicting Saul and his courtiers when they spake against him; and for not advising him to another kind of conduct towards him. All men ought to speak that which is right and truth; but especially judges on the bench, who are to judge the people with just judgment, Deu 16:18; but here this is doubted of, and called in question; at least their sincerity in giving judgment: yea, it is denied; for this interrogation carries in it a strong denial; and the meaning is, that they did not speak righteousness, or that which was just and right in the cause of David, when before them;
do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men? no, they did not; they were unjust judges. The psalmist calls them "the sons of men", as in Sa1 26:19, in distinction from God the Judge of all, and to put them in mind of their frailty and mortality; for though they were gods by office, they were but men, and should die like men, and be accountable to the supreme Judge for all their proceedings in judgment here, Psa 82:1.
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(t) "e manipulo", Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "e manipulo justifiae", Cocceius. (u) In Aben Ezra in loc. (w) So Varenius, Reinbech, Michaelis.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1–5 David describes his enemies, ver. 1-5. Foretells their ruin,…
David describes his enemies, ver. 1-5. Foretells their ruin, ver. 6-9. Which would be to the comfort of good men, and to the glory of God, ver. 10, 11. To the chief musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David.
O congregation - The word seems to point at Saul's Judges and counsellors; who met together to consult what they should do against David. Sons of men - So he calls them; to mind them that they were men, and must give an account to God for all their hard speeches.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1–5 David reproves wicked counsellors and judges, who pervert
PSALM LVIII
David reproves wicked counsellors and judges, who pervert
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justice, and stir up the strong against the weak and innocent,
1-5.
He foretells their destruction, and describes the nature of it,
6-9.
The righteous, seeing this, will magnify God's justice and
providence, 10, 11.
NOTES ON PSALM LVIII
The title seems to have no reference to the subject of the Psalm. See the introduction to the preceding. Ps 57:1 Saul having attempted the life of David, the latter was obliged to flee from the court, and take refuge in the deserts of Judea. Saul, missing him, is supposed by Bishop Patrick to have called a council, when they, to ingratiate themselves with the monarch, adjudged David to be guilty of treason in aspiring to the throne of Israel. This being made known to David was the cause of this Psalm. It is a good lesson to all kings, judges, and civil magistrates; and from it they obtain maxims to regulate their conduct and influence their decisions; and at the same time they may discern the awful account they must give to God, and the dreadful punishment they shall incur who prostitute justice to serve sinister ends.
Verse 1. Do ye indeed speak righteousness] Or, O cabinet seeing ye profess to act according to the principles of justice, why do ye not give righteous counsels and just decisions, ye sons of men? Or, it may be an irony: What excellent judges you are! well do ye judge according to law and justice, when ye give decisions not founded on any law, nor supported by any principle of justice! To please your master, ye pervert judgment; and take part against the innocent, in order to retain your places and their emoluments. Saul's counsellors appear to have done so, though in their consciences they must have been satisfied of David's innocence.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1–4 Psa 58:1. Do ye indeed speak righteousness? — No:…
Psa 58:1. Do ye indeed speak righteousness? — No: you are far from it. You censure me freely without any regard to truth or justice; O congregation — The word אלם, eelem, thus rendered, signifies a band, or company of men; and seems to point at Saul’s judges and counsellors, who met together to consult what they should do against David; and probably passed a sentence upon him as guilty of treason and rebellion. O ye sons of men — So he calls them, to remind them that they also were men, and must give an account to God for all their hard speeches and unrighteous decrees against him.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1–5 Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? - Luther…
Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? - Luther renders this, “Are you then dumb, that you will not speak what is right, and judge what is proper, ye children of men?” The meaning of the verse is exceedingly obscure; but probably the whole sense of the psalm turns on it. The word rendered “congregation,” אלם 'êlem - occurs only in this place and in the title to Psa 56:1-13, “Jonath-elem-rechokim.” See the notes at that title. The word properly means “dumbness, silence.” Gesenius (Lexicon) renders it here, “Do ye indeed decree dumb justice?” that is, “Do ye really at length decree justice, which so long has seemed dumb?” Professor Alexander renders it, “Are ye indeed dumb when ye should speak righteousness?” The allusion is clearly to some public act of judging; to a judicial sentence; to magistrates and rulers; to people who “should” give a righteous sentence; to those in authority who “ought” to pronounce a just opinion on the conduct of others.
The “fact” in the case on which the appeal is made seems to have been that they did “not” do this; that their conduct was wicked and perverse; that no reliance could be placed on their judicial decisions. Rosenmuller renders it, “There is, in fact, silence of justice;” that is, justice is not declared or spoken. Perhaps the meaning of the phrase may be thus expressed: “Is there truly a dumbness or silence of justice when ye speak? do you judge righteously, O ye sons of men?” That is, “You indeed speak; you do declare an opinion; you pronounce a sentence; but justice is, in fact, dumb or silent when you do it. There is no correct or just judgment in the matter. The opinion which is declared is based on error, and has its origin in a wicked heart.” There is no expression in the original to correspond to the words “O congregation” in our translation, unless it is the word אלם 'êlem, which never has this signification.
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It is not so rendered in any of the versions. It is not easy to determine “who” is referred to by this question. It cannot be, as is implied in our common version, that it is to any “congregation,” any people gathered together for the purpose of pronouncing judgment. Yet it is evidently a reference to some persons, or classes of persons, who were expected to “judge,” or to whom it pertained to pass judgment; and the most natural supposition is that the reference is to the rulers of the nation - to Saul, and the heads of the government. If the supposition is correct that the psalm was composed, like Psa 56:1-13; Psa 57:1-11; 59, in the time of the Sauline persecutions, and that it belongs to the same “group” of psalms, then it would have reference to Saul and to those who were associated with him in persecuting David. The subject of the psalm would then be the unjust judgments which they passed on him in treating him as an enemy of the commonwealth; in regarding him as an outlaw, and in driving him from his places of refuge as if hunting him down like a wild beast. The contents of the psalm well accord with this explanation.
Do ye judge uprightly? - Do you judge right things? are your judgments in accordance with truth and justice?
O ye sons of men - Perhaps referring to the fact that in their judgments they showed that they were people - influenced by the common passions of people; in other words, they showed that they could not, in forming their judgments, rise above the corrupt passions and prejudices which usually influence and sway mankind.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 Psalms 58
Psalms 58
To the chief Musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David
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Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation?
Do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?
2 Yea, in heart ye work wickedness;
Ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.
3 The wicked are estranged from the womb:
They go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.
4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent:
They are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear;
5 Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers,
Charming never so wisely.
6 Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth:
Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Lord.
7 Let them melt away as waters which run continually:
When he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.
8 As a snail which melteth, let every one of hem pass away:
Like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.
9 Before your pots can feel the thorns,
He shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.
10 The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance:
He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous:
Verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Its Contents And Composition.—The position of this Psalm is due not only to expressions in the title, but to the figure of the lion and the mention of teeth. There is no reason to put its composition in a late period, and seek the unjust judges among the heathen (Ewald, Hitzig). The prophets afford sufficient analogies to this complaint respecting domestic administrations of justice (Hupfeld), as it here gushes forth from the indignant soul of the Psalmist in a threatening language which is almost obscure owing to bold and mingled figures of speech. It is like a torrent which plunges over every hindrance, foaming and raging. A comparison with other Psalms of David, e. g.,Pss. 64. and 140. shows that such language, especially in the expectation of Divine judgment, is not strange in the mouth of David. We may certainly credit this original poet with a richness of figures and changes in their use, as well as in the turns of language and of thought, in accordance with particular circumstances and feeling. Yet we lack sufficient evidence to show whether the composition occurred in the time of Saul, who was at the same time David’s judge and persecutor, who endeavored to hide the persecution under the appearance of a righteous judgment (Hengst.); or in the time of Absalom, who made the administration of justice a means of stealing from David the hearts of the people, whilst he pretended to be impartial (Knapp, Delitzsch). The reproachful question, which is ironical in form (Psa_58:1), and its cutting answer (Psa_58:2), are followed by the description of the entire corruption of the accused (Psa_58:3-5), and then follows the proclamation of their ruin by Divine judgment which has been implored (Psa_58:6-9); and finally the statements of its effects (Psa_58:10-11).
Str. I. Psa_58:1. Do ye truly in silence speak righteousness?—The word אֵלֶם occurs only here and in the title of Psalms 56, and is obscure and doubtful in both places. At any rate it is artificial and without sufficient warrant, to gain the sense of pactum, that is to say, publico jure sancitum by derivation from a word=bind (Maurer), or a vocative with the meaning congregatio to designate the companions of Saul (Kimchi, Calvin [A. V.], et al). The radical meaning is, “to grow dumb or speechless,” and the juxtaposition of two nouns is not without examples, Psa_45:4. But which is the most appropriate meaning? The question “Do ye in truth or truly” leads to the doubt whether the addressed are earnest in doing that which is alleged of them and presupposed or is to be required of them, or whether they do it only apparently or not at all; and the parallel clause shows that the question is with reference to the righteous administration of justice and equitable judgment. The form of this parallel clause, however, prevents the question from being regarded as one of astonishment. do you really decree dumb justice? but seems to lead to the question of doubt: do you really speak righteousness (previously) dumb, that is to say: recognize and express in the judicial sentence (the older interpreters, with Geier, J H. Mich., De Wette, Stier). But this is against the position of the word, and already an explanation of the too difficult oxymoron; “do you really speak;” that is to say, give utterance to, or express in words, dumbness of justice? The parallel clause Psa_58:4 b, likewise leads to the thought that those addressed are dumb, when they should speak, as they are deaf when they should hear. We might therefore be tempted to translate: are you really dumbness, that is to say, entirely dumb? The language would permit this; but what then could be made of the subsequent words? The translations; that you would not speak what is just (Luther, Hengst.), or: Do you speak righteousness? (Geier) are not only harsh but at the same time against grammar and the parallel clause. The same is true of the interpretation: Is righteousness really silent? Then speak it! (Rosenm.) Therefore we are to take it as a question of irony rather than one of direct reproach: Do you truly in silence speak righteousness? (Chald., Hupf.) This oxymoron is at least endurable, and the interpretation agrees with the expected thoughts and the irony of weighing out (Psa_58:2 b), better than the direct question which the language admits: Is the righteousness which you should speak, truly, dumb? (Isaki). If the vowel points are to be altered it is better to make itאֲלֹם = ye people (Hitzig) parallel with the vocative “sons of men,” than אֻלָּם, for which rare word אמנם was originally placed upon the margin as a gloss, then came into the text, and is now again to be removed from it in order to get the sense: do you truly speak justice? (Gesenius); or אֵלִם in the sense of a defective orthography of אֵלִים, as Exo_15:11, or אֵילִם, Num_7:77; Num_23:29, which then is a designation of the judges addressed, but cannot mean: strong (Tholuck with reference to Joab and his brother) but only: gods (since Houbigant many interpreters besides J. D. Mich., likewise Ewald, Olsh., Delitzsch). It is then admissible to take the sons of men of the following clause as an accusative, and as intentionally used here as Elohim is then used in the final clause as plural. The irony would then be still further strengthened by scornful allusion to the folly and vanity of self-exaltation. But there are very serious objections to regard this word as designating the unjust false judges as gods, for it is without any preparation in the Psalm, and still more would be in a very unusual form of the word.
[Psa_58:2. Ye weigh out.—Perowne: This is said sarcastically Ye pretend indeed to hold the balance of justice, and nicely to weigh out to each his just award, but violence is the weight with which ye adjust the scales.”.—C. A. B.]
Str. II. [Psa_58:3. From birth.—Delitzsch: The Scriptures in such passages testify to the fact of experience, that there are men in whom evil has from childhood a truly devilish and selfish character, incapable of loving, for although original sin and guilt are common to all men, yet the former class has them in the most manifold J mixture and forms, as indeed the transmission of sin and the influence of the power of evil and the power of grace, ever working at the same time upon the propagation of the human race, demand; this dualism of human nature is taught especially by the gospel of John.”—C. A. B.]
Psa_58:4. Poison have they like the poison of a serpent.—This is literally the poison which they have; for the stat. const. demands that אֲשֶׁר should be supplied. Among the serpents the adder is mentioned as the best known of the dangerous ones (Deu_32:33) of which it is said in the Orient (vid. the passages in De Wette, Com.) it is dumb, when it will not obey the charmer. The intentional character of this dumbness is mentioned as a stopping up of the ear.11
Str. III. [Psa_58:6. Perowne: “There is an abrupt change in the image employed. As these men are incorrigible in their wickedness, as they cannot be tamed, the Psalmist prays God to destroy their power for mischief; but instead of continuing the figure of the serpent-charmer, who robs the serpent of his poison, he suddenly represents them as young lions, whose teeth he would see broken that they may no longer devour,” comp. Psa_3:7.—C. A. B.]
Psa_58:7. Let him (namely the enemy) fix his arrows,—(let them be) as though cut off.—It is best not to regard God as the subject, because He has been immediately before directly addressed, and the explanations “until the enemies have become weak,” (Sept.), or donec conterantur (Jerome), ut succidantur et pereant (Isaki), and the like, afford grammatical objections, which disappear when it is referred to the enemies regarded in their unity, whose arrows are designated as without effect, as though they had their points cut off (most interpreters since Kimchi). The treading or bending the bow is transferred to the arrows, as Psa_64:3.12
Psa_58:8. As a snail which in melting passeth away.—The meaning “ snail,” which has its Hebrew name from its apparent melting away in slime, is rendered certain (Chald., Isaki, Kimchi) as against the interpretation wax (most of the older interpreters, Ewald), or torrent (Aben Ezra, Köster).13—Miscarriage of a woman—אֵשֶׁת is here confirmed as a stat. absol.=woman by Deu_21:11; 1Sa_28:7 [although this is usually the stat. const.], as against the interpretation: mole (Chald.), or: fire (Sept.), namely: falls down, so that it is not necessary, by a change of reading, to get the sense of “the hopeless one.”
Psa_58:10. Before your pots feel the thorn whether fresh or burning.—He whirls it away.—The idea here is of the sudden and unexpected destruction of all their plans and all their arrangements for their fulfilment. It is represented in a figure, derived from a frequent occurrence in connection with caravans in the desert. The only striking thing is the sudden address to the wicked, who are spoken of from Psa_58:3 on, only in the third person. Since, however, they have been already directly addressed (Psa_58:1-2), there is no objection to it here. Still less is there any weight to be laid upon the fact that חָרוֹן is used elsewhere of the fire of God’s wrath (Cleric). For since it properly means “burning,” and the words with וֹן were originally accusatives with nun, or adverbs which denote circumstance or condition (Hupfeld), we may have some objection to understand it of cooking meat, or meat already cooked (Hengstenb. after Berl. Bibel and Delitzsch) or of dry wood (Symm., Ewald), but not to understand it of the אטד = black, or buck thorn (rhamnus), already on fire, which flames up quickly and high in the fire, and gives indeed suitable coals for cooking, yet is easily put out by the wind (Œdmann, Vermischte Samml. 4:99 sq.). On this account, therefore, we understand by the previously mentioned חַיּ that is to say, living, not raw flesh (Calvin, et al.), but fresh thorns, still green (Geier and most interpreters). If the interpretation of the double כְּמוֹ in the sense of sive-sive should be doubted we might translate: when he is still lively, that is to say, fresh (Chald,, Isaki, Kimchi), it will whirl him away as burning wrath. It is however not advisable to give to the word סִירוֹת the meaning “thorns,” instead of “pots” (the ancient versions, Aben Ezra, Isaki, Luther, and many interpreters). For the inaccuracy of the ancient versions: “before your thorns have grown or ripened into the thorn bush” may be avoided it is true, and the words thus interpreted: “before your thorns were observed, a thorn bush was there (Aben Ezra, J. H. Mich,, Knapp, Köster), or: before your thorns observe it, whether fresh or dry He will whirl away the thorn bush (Ewald). But although the singular סיר has a double meaning, yet only the masculine plural form has the meaning of thorns (Ecc_7:6), the feminine however: pots, with the exception of Amo_4:2, where, however, the idea of thorn prickle has passed over into that of fish hooks. It is entirely inadmissible to refer the word “alive,” in the second clause, directly to men, who would then be characterized as thorns, and of whom, with an allusion to the ruin of the band of Korah, it would be said: as living, as in the midst of life, He will devour them in wrath (Schegg, after the Sept. and Vulgate). However, it might mean, on the other hand: as often as he revives, so often the burning (Hitzig).14
Stir. IV. [Psa_58:10. He shall bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.—Alexander: “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.” 15—C. A. B.]
Psa_58:11. Yes, there is a Divinity judging upon earth.—Elohim is construed with the plural as Gen_20:13; Jos_24:19; 2Sa_7:23 (unchanged in 1Ch_17:21). Yet this is not in accordance with heathen usage (Ewald) or in the mouth of the heathen, who then would be named with אדם (Olsh., Baur) or with a still more direct reference to Psa_58:1 a, if elim is taken as the proper reading there, in order to characterize the just Hebrew judge who makes the name gods which has been dishonored by unjust judges, a true designation (J. D. Mich.), or as rendering prominent the true judging God (Hupf.) or the real God elevated above all earthly magnates, Ecc_5:7 (Delitzsch), in contrast to the false and unjust gods of the earth. There is not the slightest trace of these references and contrasts in the entire Psalm. But the pure grammatical construction (Hitzig) and the sense and context afford the general meaning of Divinity.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. It is very bad when those persons and magistrates who are appointed to administer justice, instead of pronouncing judgment, are silent and are dumb to the prayer of their subordinates, and the earnest entreaties of their friends not less than to the demands of the law and the voice of duty, honor, and conscience. They then not only misuse the scales of justice entrusted to them, in an irresponsible manner to the injury of their fellow-men; but they are likewise hypocrites and liars, since they violate justice at the very time that they pretend to exercise it, and in this manifest their serpent-like nature.
2. In such conduct there is manifest partly the inherited sinful nature (Gen_8:21; Psa_51:6; Job_14:4; Isa_48:8), partly there is presented in them their own hardening of themselves, with which they stop the way of the grace as well as the word of God, increase their readiness to sin as well as their scorn of the means of grace, and hasten the approach of a terrible, unavoidable, and sudden ruin. “What makes human ruin so fearful is the fact, that it rests upon original sin, and is rooted in the innermost depths of the heart.… The contrast is not between those men who are corrupt from the womb, and those who are not, but of those in whom the ruin which is common to all has developed itself without hindrance, and those in whom the development has been checked and interrupted” (Hengst.). Respecting the Doctrine of Original sin in the Old Testament, comp. Kleinert in the Stud, and Krit., 1860, Heft. 1.
3. The righteous need not despair. They will no more lose the fruit of God-fearing conduct than of their patient endurance of suffering, Isa_3:10 sq. But no less sure is the reward of the wicked by just recompense, which even when it is no longer looked upon and enjoyed as vengeance in the meaning of the Old Testament, yet remains just as joyful and comforting to the righteous, because they recognize therein the government of God, who reveals Himself from heaven as a Judge on earth.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
When we follow our inborn nature we ruin ourselves and others.—If some sinners harden themselves in sin even to obduracy, and fear neither God nor men, they yet will not escape their Judge, and will be ruined, together with their plans, before they have made their preparations.—The ungodly are ruined by God’s judgment, it is true, but of their own guilt, and on account of their impenitence.—He who will not hear when God speaks to him, will be obliged to feel when God judges him.—The righteous may lose their rights, but not their fruit.—We can sin not only by speaking, but likewise by silence, and since we injure our fellow-men, bring upon ourselves a severe reckoning.—If the wicked will not hearken to you, you may testify against them, that others may be warned.—Justice, may be violated, perverted, denied, but righteousness cannot perish, for God Himself leads it through to victory.—Men may despise God’s word and deny God’s existence, yet they cannot do away with God’s word or prevent God’s rule upon earth.—God Himself testifies to His existence by delivering and judging.
Starke: God has given us a ready tongue, that we may use it for His glory and the good of our neighbors.—The leaving off from good is soon followed by the commission of evil.—The wickedness and obduracy of many men are so great, that no prayers, warnings, or threatenings will help them.—The blood-thirsty persecutors will be rewarded with blood; for a man will be punished with that with which he transgresses.—If we knew how many thousand devices of the ungodly the Lord brings to naught, before they were fully conceived, and how many arrows He breaks, before they are shot off, we would be astonished at His wisdom, faithfulness, and Omnipotence.
Renschel: Sins of carelessness and neglect are likewise great sins.—Frisch: Many, who have thirsted for blood have perished in their own blood.—Tholuck: God does such signs that we may see that, although He has given much power to mortals, yet no one can deprive Him of His sceptre.—Taube: Being dumb to the grace of God, they are dumb to the judgment of God.—The first blessing that a man receives when He has committed his cause to God in prayer, is that he gains another view of the cause in the light of God.
[Matt. Henry Let none wonder that these wicked men dare do such things, for wickedness is bred in the bone with them; they brought it into the world with them, they have in their natures a strong inclination to it, they learned it from their wicked parents, and have been trained up in it by a bad education.—Barnes: Men everywhere approve of the just administration of law, even though it consigns the transgressor to prison or to death; and it is a matter of gratification to ail who love law and order when a righteous government is maintained; when wickedness is checked; when justice is administered in a community.—Spurgeon: It is not in your music, but in the sinner’s ear that the cause of failure lies, and it is only the power of God that can remove it.—Every unregenerate man is an abortion. He misses the true form of God-made manhood; he corrupts in the darkness of sin; he never sees or shall see the light of God in purity, in heaven.—Two things will come out clearly after all—there is a God, and there is a reward for the righteous.—C. A. B.]
Footnotes:
[11][Lane. Mod. Egyptians, chap. 20. “The charmer professes to discover, without ocular perception, (but perhaps he does so by a peculiar smell), whether there be any serpents in a house; and if there be, to attract them to him; as the fowler, by the fascination of his voice, allures the bird into his neat.… He assumes an air of mystery, strikes the walls with a short palm stick, whistles, makes a clucking noise with his tongue, and spits upon the ground, and generally says, ‘I adjure you by God, if ye be above, or if ye be below, that ye come forth: I adjure you by the Great Name if ye be obedient, come forth; and if ye be disobedient die! die! die!’—The serpent is generally dislodged by his stick, from a fissure in the wall, or drops from the ceiling of the room.” Thomson, in the Land and the Book, p. 155, says, that “there are some serpents which the charmer cannot subdue; and instances are related in which they have fallen victims to their daring attempts to conquer these deaf and obstinate cockatrices.” Tristram, Nat. History of the Bible, p. 272, refers this clause of the Psalm to the fact that “there are some species of serpent not amenable to the charmer’s art, or that there are individuals of the ordinary cobra which defy all his attempts to soothe them.—C. A. B.]
[12][It is better to translate here fix or fit as the Hebrew דּרךְ means to tread or trample, in the wine press, the threshing-floor, or the bow in spanning it with the foot, and the treading thus passed over naturally into fixing the arrows by treading the bow, which the A. V. paraphrases by “bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows,” whilst Perowne translates directly shoot and Alexander bend his arrows.—C. A. B.]
[13][This metaphor is thus explained by Tristram, Nat. History of the Bible, p. 295 sq. “The snails of all species in the Holy Land are in the habit, not of hybernating in winter, as they do in our colder climate, but of shutting themselves into their shells and remaining dormant during the dry season. Few snails can remain long in an active state without moisture. In order to prevent the evaporation of the moisture of the body, all those molluscs which have a thin or semi-transparent shell, secrete themselves in dry weather under stones like the shellless snails or slugs, or else among moss, and under leaves, and many species also in the earth. … But notwithstanding the care they take to secrete themselves, the heat often dries them up, either by a long continued drought, or by the sun’s ray’s penetrating to their holes. Thus we find in the Holy Land myriads of snailshells in fissures, still adhering by the calcareous exudation round their orifice to the surface of the rock, but the animal of which is utterly shrivelled and wasted, ‘melted away,’ according to the expression of the Psalmist.”—C. A. B.]
[14][Perowne: The general sense of this difficult verse seems to be this: As a sudden whirlwind in the desert sweeps away the thorns which have been gathered for cooking, almost as soon as they have been set on fire, and before the caldron has grown hot (comp. Ecc_7:6), so shall the wicked, and all their yet incomplete designs, be swept away by the wrath of God.”—C. A. B.]
[15][Hupfeld regards it as a figure of speech indicating the quantity of the blood that has been shed. He compares the corresponding expressions in Psa_68:23, where the feet are washed in blood; Job_29:6, where the feet, are washed in mills and brooks of oil; Job_20:17, where brooks of honey and milk are mentioned. “It here indicates the greatness of the vengeance; usually of that taken by the party himself, but here since it is not his own act but that of God, and is merely beheld, it can only be a symbolical expression of the internal participation therein, or the satisfied feeling of revenge.” He compares Deu_32:42 sq.; Is. 46:23 sq., etc.—C. A. B.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2–4 This they did not design; but
This they did not design; but
weigh . . . violence--or give decisions of violence. Weigh is a figure to express the acts of judges.
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in the earth--publicly.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1–5 1. Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation—Much perplexity…
1. Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation—Much perplexity and doubt attend the rendering of this clause. The difficulty lies in the
אלם, translated in the vocative, “O congregation.” Its verbal root signifies, to bind, to grow dumb, as if tongue-tied; and the noun signifies dumbness, silence, and so it is used in Psalm lvi, title, the only other place of its occurrence. Our English Version derives the idea of “congregation” from the signification to bind, which is not satisfactory. The address is not to the “congregation,” but to the judges. No light of criticism has hitherto given a smooth sense to the passage. If we retain the word in question, and not, as many, throw it out as an interpolation, we may retain the radical sense to bind, and consider the judges or leaders of the nation addressed as binders of the people by their oppressive decrees, or as confederates arrayed against justice; or, rejecting the wordas an interpolation, read, “Do ye indeed decree justice?” (Delitzsch;) or, “Are ye indeed dumb [when] ye [should] speak righteousness [and] judge equitably?”—Alexander. It would seem safer to just criticism to retain the word in the text.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–4 1. O congregation] This rendering of the obscure word…
1. O congregation] This rendering of the obscure word çlìm, adopted by the scholars of the early part of the 16th century from the learned Rabbi David Kimchi (c. 1160–1235), cannot be defended, and does not suit the context. The word çlìm occurs elsewhere only in the title of Psalms 56, and from its derivation appears to mean silence.
i. Taking this meaning, we may render,
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(1) as R.V., Do ye indeed in silence speak righteousness? The Psalmist expostulates with the judges who neglect their office. “They are dumb when they ought to speak, as afterwards they are said to be deaf when they ought to hear.” (Bp Perowne). ‘To speak righteousness’ means ‘to pronounce just sentences.’ Justice and uprightness are characteristics of God’s judgement (Psa_9:8), which ought to be reflected by all earthly judges.
(2) as R.V. marg. with substantially the same sense: Is the righteousness ye should speak dumb?
(3) as Kay: Will ye indeed utter long-silent Justice? a reference, he supposes, to Absalom’s profession of a desire to remedy the want of proper provision for the administration of justice, while he was himself plotting the unnatural crime of rebellion against his father. See 2Sa_15:2-6.
With this reading it is best to retain the rendering, O ye sons of men, in the next line, though it is also possible to render, Do ye judge uprightly the sons of men? The judges are addressed as sons of men to remind them that they are but human, and themselves subject to a higher tribunal.
ii. Most critics, however, think that here (as perhaps in the title of Psalms 56 also) the word çlìm should be read with different vowels, çlîm, ‘gods,’ or, ‘mighty ones.’ We must then render,
Do ye indeed, O ye gods, speak righteousness?
Do ye judge uprightly the sons of men?
The judges are addressed as çlîm, ‘gods,’ as in Psa_82:1; Psa_82:6 they are called elôhîm, ‘gods,’ because in their judicial capacity they acted as the representatives of God, the supreme Judge. They are thus addressed here, half-sarcastically and half-reproachfully, in contrast to the ‘sons of men,’ over whom they exercise jurisdiction; as well as to emphasise the comparison between their failure to administer justice, and the righteous judgement of God (Psa_58:11).
Elîm however is not so used elsewhere, and may simply mean ‘mighty ones.’ Cp. Exo_15:15; 2Ki_24:15; Job_41:25 (Heb. 17); Eze_17:13; Eze_32:21.
Cheyne and some other commentators find here a reference to the angels, “to whom the actual administration of the world’s government has been entrusted.” But there is nothing in the context to justify the importation of an idea which belongs to the later development of Jewish theology. It is true that it is found in the LXX of Deu_32:8, “He set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God”; but this paraphrase has no claim to be regarded as representing the original text.
iii. None of the Ancient Versions however give any support to this emendation. The LXX and Jerome render çlìm as an adverb (‘then’ or ‘certainly’); the Syr. omits it; Aquila and the Targ. attest the reading of the text. Plausible as the emendation is, it must not be made a basis of argument, and the obscurity of the passage must be admitted.
1, 2. An indignant remonstrance with those in authority, who, instead of condemning crime, are themselves the most guilty criminals.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–5 (1) Congregation.—This rendering comes of a mistaken derivation of…
(1) Congregation.—This rendering comes of a mistaken derivation of the Hebrew word êlem, which offers some difficulty. As pointed, it must mean silence (comp. Psalms 56 title, the only other place it occurs); and some, regardless of sense, would render, “do ye truly in silence speak righteousness.” Of the many conjectures on the passage, we may choose between reading elim (short for elîm = gods), and here, as in Exo_21:6; Exo_22:8; Psa_82:6, applied to the judges) and ulam (with the LXX., Syriac, and Arabic, in the sense of but. To speak righteousness is, of course, to pronounce a just judgment. If we prefer the former of these (with most modern scholars), it is best to take sons of men in the accusative rather than the vocative, do ye judge with equity the sons of men.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–5 A PSALM of condemnation on unrighteous judges. Some suppose…
A PSALM of condemnation on unrighteous judges. Some suppose the judges to be superhuman beings, entrusted with the government of the earth (Cheyne). Others suggest heathen rulers of Israel, in Babylonia, during the time of the Captivity. But the language is not stronger than that addressed often to native judges. (see Isa_1:16-25 Isa_10:1-4 Jer_5:26-29 Mic_3:9-12, etc.) And there is no reason for rejecting the statement of the "title," that the psalm was written by David. It may either belong to the early years of David"s reign, or to the time immediately preceding Absalom"s rebellion.
The psalm consists of two strophes and a conclusion. The first strophe is one of five verses, and lays down the grounds of complaint (vers. 1-5). The second, which is one of four verses (vers. 6-9), passes sentence, describing the coming punishment. The conclusion (vers. 10, 11) expresses the righteous man"s satisfaction at the result.
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Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation! The rendering of elem ( by "congregation" is contrary to all analogy, and quite untenable. It must either mean "dumb ones," or be a corruption of elim ( ones". (comp. Psa_29:1) In either case it is an epithet applied to the judges of the people, and not to the congregation. Do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men? Both questions are asked in bitter irony, as is clear from the context.
HOMILIES BY W. FORSYTH Vers. 1-11. Unjust judges.
There is a contrast in this psalm between the unjust judges of the earth, and God the righteous Judge of all men (vers. 1, 2, and ver. 11). "Do ye really, O ye gods, speak righteousness? Do ye in uprightness judge the children of men? Nay, in heart ye work iniquities, in the land ye weigh out the violence of your hands" (Delitzsch). This indignant protest is just. Judges have often been false to their trust. They have prostituted their power to selfish ends. They have increased instead of diminished the evils of society, and made confusion worse confounded by their wicked deeds. There are signal examples of this in the Bible, and though the lines have fallen unto us, in these last days, in pleasant places, our fathers, in the days of Bonner and Jeffries and Claverhouse, and in days of persecution, suffered grievously. But how different is it with God the Judge of all the earth! His judgments are all righteous. Even the wicked cannot complain. In their punishment they only receive, as their own consciences testify, "the just reward of their deeds." Our attention is specially concentrated on the wicked.
I THEIR CHARACTER IS PORTRAYED. (Vers. 1-5) Character is a growth. No man becomes of a sudden either very bad or very good. There is gradation the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear." We are shown wickedness in its germ. It has its source in a bad heart a heart not right with God. From within it works toward without. Evil may for a time be concealed or held in check, but it is sure to show itself. People may be worse than they seem. God only knows the evil that lies hidden and rooted in the heart. Then we see wickedness in its development. It has been said that "tongue sins are our first transgressions." But how quickly do we proceed from "lies" to other and more flagrant forms of wickedness! The more the will of the flesh is indulged, the stronger it becomes. The poison spreads through all the veins. "The soul grows clothed by contagion, Imbodies and imbrutes, till she quite lose The Divine property of her first being. (Milton)
Then cometh the consummation. All checks and warnings and remonstrances are in vain. Men become "more deaf than adders to the voice of true decision." Like Saul, they choose the evil instead of the good. Like Rehoboam, they persist in their sins. Like Ahab, they sell themselves to work iniquity. Like Israel, they harden their hearts against all teaching and rebuke, till in the end there is no remedy. (2Ch_36:16)
II THEIR JUDGMENT IS PREDICTED. (Vers. 6-11) God is long suffering and merciful. How excellent his counsels! how tender his rebukes I how gracious his calls to repentance! But when evil men knowingly and obstinately persist in their evil ways, judgment must be done. The psalmist adds image to image to strengthen the argument, and to set forth the more vividly the awful doom of the wicked.
1. Judgment, is required in the interests of humanity. In all good governments there are laws for the protection of society. If evil doers will not repent, they must be restrained. Their power to do injury must be stopped.
2. Besides, judgment is demanded in accordance with righteousness. There is nothing arbitrary in the procedure. Even evil must be dealt with fairly.
3. Judgment also is necessary for the vindication of Goers truth. There is a moral necessity why it should be "ill with the wicked." "God is not a man, that he should lie." "But evil on itself shall back recoil, And mix no more with goodness, when at last. Gather"d like scum, and settled to itself, It shall be in eternal restless change, Self-fed and self-consumed; if this fail, The pillar"d firmament is rottenness, And earth"s base built on stubble. (Milton) W.F.
HOMILIES BY C. SHORT Vers. 1-11. A bold protest against unrighteous judges.
I THE INVETERATELY WICKED. (Vers. 1-5)
1. Wicked within and, without. (Vers. 1, 2) In heart and deed.
2. Wicked by nature and by habit. (Ver. 3) Go astray all their lives.
3. Incorrigible. (Ver. 4) Like the adder that will not be turned by the voice of the charmer.
II THEIR PUNISHMENT. (Vers. 6-11)
1. They shall be rendered powerless in their designs. (Vers. 6-9) All the figures in vers. 6-9 mean this.
2. They shall become the objects of God"s righteous vengeance. (Vers. 9, 10)
3. The victims of their wickedness shall see their overthrow, and rejoice init. (Vers. 10, 11) They shall rejoice that there is a God that judgeth among men. S.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain On vv1–5 This volume completes one half of my labour upon…
This volume completes one half of my labour upon this priceless book, and my humble prayer is that I may be spared to conclude the other portion. So uncertain is human life, and so often have men's best designs remained unfinished, that I will press on with all diligence, lest, perhaps, the lamp of life should go out ere the writer has seen by its light the word FINIS at the conclusion of the last verse.
This volume has cost more labour than any other, because upon the larger proportion of the Psalms contained in it no great writers have expatiated at length. Some six or seven of them are specially notable, and have, therefore, been expounded and preached upon on all hands, but the rest remain almost untrodden ground in sacred literature, hence the gathering of extracts has required a wider range of reading and far more laborious research. Where one author writes upon a portion of Scripture, all write, while other passages remain almost untouched. This has driven me very much more to the Latin authors, and in them to a vein of exposition very little worked in these days. The neglect of these voluminous expositors is, however, not very censurable, for as a rule the authors are rather heavy than weighty. "Art is long and life is short", hence I found myself unequal to the unaided accomplishment of my task, and I have had to call in the aid of my excellent friend Mr. Gracey, the accomplished classical tutor of "the Pastors' College", to assist me in the work of winnowing the enormous heaps of Latin comments. Huge folios, full of dreary word spinning, yield here and there a few goodly grains, and these, I trust, will be valuable enough to my readers to repay my coadjutor and myself for our pains. For the selection of extracts I alone am responsible, for the accuracy of the translations we are jointly accountable. The reader will note that not without much expense of money, as well as toil, he has here furnished to his hand the pith of Venema, Le Blanc, Lorinus, Gerhohus, Musculus, Martin Geier, Mollerus, and Simon de Muis; with occasional notes from Vitringa, Jansenius, Savonarola, Vatablus, Turrecremata, Marloratus, Palanterius, Theodoret, and others, as they were judged worthy of insertion. I can truly say that I have never flinched from a difficulty, or spared exertion in order to make the work as complete as it lay in my power to render it, either by my own endeavours or the help of others. My faithful amanuensis, Mr. Keys, has been spared to me, and has been a continual visitor at the British Museum, Lambeth Palace, Dr. Williams' Museum, and Sion College; and many have been the courtesies which, despite differences of creed, I have received in his person from those who are in authority in those treasures of literature; for all which I would now record my hearty thanks.
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No object has been before me but that of serving the church and glorifying God by doing this work right thoroughly. I cannot hope to be remunerated pecuniarily; if only the bare outlay be met I shall be well content, the rest is an offering to the best of Masters, whose word is meat and drink to those who study it. The enjoyment of the work is more than sufficient reward, and the hope of helping my brethren in their biblical studies is very sweet to me.
The late increase of wages to printers, and the rise both in paper and binding, may compel an advance in the very low price charged for these volumes hitherto, but this shall not be made unless it becomes absolutely necessary to screen me from loss. As a larger sale will secure a return of my outlay, the matter is mainly in the hands of the public. Volume 1 being now in the third edition, and the second edition of Volume 2 being upon the press, I am led to hope that the present volume will also meet with a large and rapid sale; and if so, the old price may suffice to cover the outlay.
My venerable friend, Mr. George Rogers, has furnished me with many hints for the notes to village preachers, and it is hoped that this portion of the work has been so improved that it will not be the least useful part of it. Testimonies received lead to the belief that in the two former volumes numerous students have found help in that department.
There is no need to multiply words in this preface, but it is incumbent upon me to bless the Lord for help given, help daily and hourly sought while I have been occupied in this service; and it is also on my heart to ask a favourable mention of my volumes among their friends from those who kindly appreciate them.
C.H. Spurgeon.
Clapham, March, 1872. ere
To the Chief Musician. Although David had his own case in his mind's eye, yet he wrote not as a private person, but as an inspired prophet, and therefore his song is presented, for public and perpetual use, to the appointed guardian of the Temple psalmody. Altaschith. The wicked are here judged and condemned, but over the godly the sacred "Destroy not" is solemnly pronounced. Michtam of David. This is the fourth of the Psalms of the Golden Secret, and the second of the "Destroy nots." These names if they serve for nothing else may be useful to aid the memory. Men give names to their horses, jewels, and other valuables, and these names are meant not so much to describe as to distinguish them, and in some cases to set forth the owner's high esteem of his treasure; after the same fashion the Oriental poet gave a title to the song he loved, and so aided his memory, and expressed his estimation of the strain. We are not always to look for a meaning in these superscriptions, but to treat them as we would the titles of poems, or the names of tunes.
The ungodly enemy is accused, Ps 58:1-5; judgment is sought from the judge, Ps 58:6-8; and seen in prophetic vision as already executed, Ps 58:9-11.
Ver. 1. Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? The enemies of David were a numerous and united band, and because they so unanimously condemned the persecuted one, they were apt to take it for granted that their verdict was a right one. "What everybody says must be true, "is a lying proverb based upon the presumption which comes of large combinations. Have we not all agreed to hound the man to the death, and who dare hint that so many great ones can be mistaken? Yet the persecuted one lays the axe at the root by requiring his judges to answer the question whether or not they were acting according to justice. It were well if men would sometimes pause, and candidly consider this. Some of those who surrounded Saul were rather passive than active persecutors; they held their tongues when the object of royal hate was slandered; in the original, this first sentence appears to be addressed to them, and they are asked to justify their silence. Silence gives consent. He who refrains from defending the right is himself an accomplice in the wrong.
Do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men? Ye too are only men though dressed in a little brief authority. Your office for men, and your relation to men both bind you to rectitude; but have ye remembered this? Have ye not put aside all truth when ye have condemned the godly, and united in seeking the overthrow of the innocent? Yet in doing this be not too sure of success, or ye are only the "sons of men, "and there is a God who can and will reverse your verdicts.
Title. The proper meaning of the root of Michtam is to engrave, or to stamp a metal. It therefore, in strictness, means, an engraving or sculpture. Hence in the Septuagint, it is translated sthlografia, an inscription on a column. I would venture to offer a conjecture in perfect harmony with this view. It appears by the titles of four out of these six Psalms, that they were composed by David while flying and hiding from the persecutions of Saul. What, then, should hinder us from imagining that they were inscribed on the rocks and on the sides of the caves which so often formed his place of refuge? This view would accord with the strict etymological meaning of the word, and explain the rendering of the Septuagint. John Jebb, in "A Literal Translation of the Book of Psalms, "1846.
(See also Explanatory Notes on Psalms 6 and 56. "Treasury of David", Vol. 1., pp. 222-23; Vol. 3, p. 40.)
Whole Psalm. Kimchi says this Psalm was written on account of Abner, and the rest of Saul's princes, who judged David as a rebel against the government, and said it was for Saul to pursue after him to slay him; for if they had restrained him, Saul would not have pursued after him; and indeed they seem to be wicked judges who are addressed in this Psalm; do not destroy. Arama says, it declares the wickedness of Saul's judges. John Gill.
Ver. 1. Are ye dumb (when) ye (should) speak righteousness (and) judge equitably, sons of men? The first words are exceedingly obscure. One of them mla, not expressed in the English, and the ancient versions, means dumbness, as in Ps 61:1, 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? Joseph Addison Alexander.
Ver. 1. O congregation, O band, or company. The Hebrew alem, which hath the signification of binding as a sheaf or bundle, seemeth here to be a company that are combined or confederate. Henry Ainsworth.
None.
Psalms 58:2*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4 Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation?
Psa_58:1-11
Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation?
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Man in many aspects
I. The character of depraved men portrayed.
1. Unrighteous in judgment.
2. Wrong in heart.
3. Violent in the treatment of men.
4. Early in apostasy.
5. False in life.
6. Malignant in spirit.
7. Deceitful in heart.
II. The destruction of wicked men invoked.
1. Their entire destruction.
2. Their quick destruction.
III. The spirit of righteous men misrepresented. The psalmist utters a calumny in representing them as delighting in blood. If righteous Noah had delighted in the sufferings of his enemies, would he have built an ark? No; righteous men are not men of vengeance, they are not men of blood.
IV. The verdict of all men anticipated. So that a man shall say, Verily, there is a reward for the righteous.
1. This is a testimony that often seems to be at variance with the providential government of the human race.
2. This is a testimony that every man sooner or later will be bound by his own conscience to render. Retribution is inevitable--
(1) From the law of causation. We are to-day the result of our conduct yesterday, and the cause of our conduct to-morrow; and thus ever must we reap the works of our own hands.
(2) From the law of conscience. The past works of our hands are not lost. Memory gathers up the fragments of our life; and conscience stings or smiles, according to their character.
(3) From the law of righteousness. There is justice in the universe; and justice will ever punish the wicked and reward the good (Gal_6:7). (Homilist.)
Faith in righteousness
This is a difficult psalm. It is difficult even to read; the most advanced scholarship can make hardly anything of some of the verses. Besides, the situation which it describes is very foreign to us; and here and there when it expresses delight in the destruction of enemies, the sentiment jars on the Christian sense. Yet it is a psalm of high originality, the poetic imagery being both abundant and uncommon; and it gives such clear expression to the voice of eternal righteousness that it is worth while to make an effort to extend our sympathies widely enough to comprehend it.
I. The throne of iniquity (Psa_58:1-5). Perhaps the opening words ought to be as they are given in the margin of the Revised Version, Is the righteousness ye should speak dumb? The psalmist is accusing the administrators of justice of bribery. In the second verse, he describes them as weighing out violence in the scales in which justice ought to be weighed. That is, they observed all the solemn forms of justice, but had no regard for the interests of those who could not pay for their verdicts. In the East this has always been, and is at the present day, one of the leading features of an evil time. Justice cannot be procured; the well-doing man is harassed by his wicked neighbours, and has no redress. The effect of this condition of things on the general community is given in Psa_58:3-5. Society is poisoned in every department. Lying especially is everywhere rife, as it will always be where there is a corrupt administration of justice. Insensibility to the voices of reason and of the spirit is universal. Men are, he says, like the deaf adder, which stoppeth her ear and will not listen to the voice of the charmer, charm he ever so wisely. There have been epochs in history like this--when at the top of society there has been a corrupt court with a profligate aristocracy, and down through all ranks of the people the poison of falsehood and worldliness has been so diffused that there has been apparently no audience for any one speaking for God, and no career for any one wishing to be simple and true. On the small scale, such a situation often exists. The individual finds himself in a position where those above him are false, reckless and profligate; success seems to be obtainable only by lying and selfishness; and a tender conscience has no chance.
II. The throne of God (Psa_58:6-9). What is to be done in such a situation? The natural thing is to conform, and this is what the majority in all ages do: being at Rome they act as Rome does. Indeed, without religious conviction it is difficult to see how any one can act otherwise, where sin is strong and tyrannical, occupying all the high places, speaking through the organs of public opinion, and exhibiting to the young hundreds of examples. But it is here the Bible helps us. The writer of this psalm, though surrounded by prosperous wickedness, saw, over against the throne of iniquity, another throne lofty and eternal. It was the throne of the living and righteous God. He fixed his eyes on it till his soul was filled with faith and strength; and then, when he turned his eyes to look again on the images of the evil worlds power, their glory and stability had disappeared, and they looked fleeting and paltry. In a series of striking figures of speech he expresses his disdain of them. They are like toothless lions and fangless serpents (Psa_58:6); like a torrent which for a moment may seem to be a river, but immediately disappears in the sand (Psa_58:7); like an abortion; for their plans will come to nothing (Psa_58:8); they are cooking the flesh of their pleasure in a pot, but, before it is ready for eating, a whirlwind from the desert will carry the fire away (Psa_58:9).
III. The spectacle of justice (Psa_58:10-11). Not only does the psalmist, inspired by the vision of the eternal throne, foresee that this must be the issue, but he earnestly pleads for it; and he does so on two grounds--that the righteous may obtain the reward of their righteousness, and that all men may see that there is a God that judgeth in the earth. The triumph of injustice can only be temporary. There is a day coming when all the unjust judgments both of corrupt tribunals and of unrighteous society will be reversed. Even now God asserts Himself and vindicates His own; and, when He does so, the instincts of every honest heart must rise up to welcome Him. (J. Stalker, D. D.)
The perversion of justice
Agesilaus, indeed, in other respects was strictly and inflexibly just; but where a mans friends are concerned, he thought a rigid regard to justice a mere pretence. There is still extant a short letter of his to Hydreius the Carian, which is a proof of what we have said: If Nicias is innocent, acquit him; if he is not innocent, acquit him on my account; however, be sure to acquit him. (Plutarch.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Psalms 58
Psalms 58
THIS psalmists fiery indignation against unjust judges and evil-doers generally is not kindled by personal wrongs. The psalm comes hot from a heart lacerated by the sight of widespread corruption, and constrained to seek for patience in the thought of the swift sweeping away of evil men before their plans are effected. Stern triumph in the punitive manifestations of Gods rule, and keen sense of the need of such, are its keynotes. Vehement emotion stirs the poets imagination to heap together strong and, in part, obscure metaphors. Here emphatically "Indignatio facit versus." The psalm is Dantesque in its wealth of sombre imagination, which produces the most solemn effects with the homeliest metaphors, and in its awed and yet satisfied contemplation of the fate of evil-doers. It parts itself into three portions, -a dark picture of abounding evil (Psa_58:1-5); its punishment prayed for (Psa_58:6-9); and the consequent joy of the righteous and widespread recognition of the rule of a just God (Psa_58:10-11).
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The abrupt question of Psa_58:1 speaks of long pent-up indignation, excited by protracted experience of injustice, and anticipates the necessary negative answer which follows. The word rendered by the A.V. and R.V. "in silence" or "dumb" can scarcely be twisted into intelligibility, and the small alteration of reading required for the rendering "gods" is recommended by the similar expressions in the kindred Psalms 82. Taken thus, the question is hurled at the appointed depositaries of judicial power and supreme authority. There is no need to suppose, with Hupfeld and others, whom Cheyne follows, that these "gods" are supernatural beings intrusted with the government of the world. The explanation of the name lies in the conception of such power as bestowed by God, and in some sense a delegation of His attribute; or, as our Lord explained the similar name in Psalms 82, as given because "to them the word of God came." It sets in sinister light the flagrant contradiction between the spirit in which these men exercised their office and the source from which they derived it, and thus sharpens the reproach of the question. The answer is introduced by a particle conveying a strong opposition to the previous supposition couched in the question. "Heart" and "hands" are so obviously antithetical, that the alteration of "in heart" to "ye all" is not acceptable, though it removes the incongruity of plans being wrought in the heart, the seat of devices, not of actions. "Work" may be here used anomalously, as we say "work out," implying the careful preparation of a plan, and there may even be a hint that the true acts are the undone acts of the heart. The unaccomplished purpose is a deed, though never clothed in outward fact. Evil determined is, in a profound sense, done before it is done; and, in another equally solemn, not done when "tis done," as Macbeth has taught us. The "act," as men call it, follows: "In the earth"-not only in the heart-"ye weigh out the violence of your hands." The scales of justice are untrue. Instead of dispensing equity, as they were bound to do, they clash into the balance the weight of their own violence.
It is to be noted that the psalm says no more about the sins of unjust authorities, but passes on to describe the "wicked" generally. The transition may suggest that under unjust rulers all wrong doers find impunity, and so multiply and worsen; or it may simply be that these former are now merged in the class to which they belong. The type of "wickedness" gibbeted is the familiar one of malicious calumniators and persecutors. From birth onwards they have continuously been doers of evil. The psalmist is not laying down theological propositions about heredity, but describing the inveterate habit of sin which has become a second nature, and makes amendment hopeless. The reference to "lies" naturally suggests the image of the serpents poison. An envenomed tongue is worse than any snakes bite. And the mention of the serpent stimulates the poets imagination to yet another figure, which puts most graphically that disregard ox warnings, entreaties, and every voice, human or Divine, that marks long-practised, customary sinfulness. There can be no more striking symbol of determined disregard to the calls of patient Love and the threats of outraged Justice than that of the snake lying coiled, with its head in the centre of its motionless folds, as if its ears were stopped by its own bulk, while the enchanter plays his softest notes and speaks his strongest spells in vain. There are such men, thinks this psalmist. There are none whom the mightiest spell, that of Gods love in Christ, could not conquer and free from their poison; but there are such as will close their ears to its plaintive sweetness. This is the condemnation that light is come and men love darkness, and had rather lie coiled in their holes than have their fangs extracted.
The general drift of the second part (Psa_58:6-9) is to call down Divine retribution on these obstinate, irreclaimable evil-doers. Figure is heaped on figure in a fashion suggestive of intense emotion. The transiency of insolent evil, the completeness of its destruction, are the thoughts common to them all. There are difficulties in translation, and, in Psa_58:9, probable textual corruption: but these should not hide the tremendous power of gloomy imagination, which can lay hold of vulgar and in part loathsome things, and, by sheer force of its own solemn insight, can free them from all low or grotesque associations, and turn them into awful symbols. The intense desire for the sweeping away of evil-doers has met us in many previous psalms, and it is needless to repeat former observations on it. But it is nowhere expressed with such a wealth of metaphor as here. The first of these, that of crushing the jaws and breaking the teeth of a beast of prey, occurs also in Psa_3:7. It is less terrible than the subsequent imprecations, since it only contemplates the wickeds deprivation of power to do harm. In Psa_58:7 a their destruction is sought, while, in the second clause of the same verse, the defeat of their attempts is desired. Psa_58:8 then expands the former wish, and Psa_58:9 the latter. This plain symmetrical arrangement makes the proposals to resort to transposition unnecessary. Mountain torrents quickly run themselves dry; and the more furious their rush, the swifter their exhaustion. They leave a chaos of whitened stones, that lie bleaching in the fierce sun when the wild spate is past. So stormy and so short will be the career of evil-doers. So could a good man of old wish it to be; and so may we be sure of and desire the cessation of oppression and mans inhumanity to man. Psa_58:7 b is obscure. All these figures are struck out with such parsimony of words that they are difficult. They remind one of some of the stern, unfinished work of Michael Angelo, where a blow or two of his chisel, or a dash or two of his brush, has indicated rather than expressed his purpose, and left a riddle, fascinating in its incompleteness, for smaller men to spell out. In Psa_58:7 b it may be asked, Who is the archer? If God, then the whole is a presentation as if of an occurrence taking place before our eyes. God shoots His arrow, and at once it lodges in the heart of the enemies, and they are as though cut off. But it is better to take the wicked as the subject of both verbs, the change from singular to plural being by no means unusual in successive clauses with the same subject. If so, this clause recurs to the thought of Psa_58:6, and prays for the neutralising of the wicked mans attempts. He fits his arrows, aims, and draws the bow. May they fall harmless, as if barbless! An emendation has been proposed by which the clause is made parallel with Psa_37:2, "As grass let them be quickly cut off," thus securing a complete parallel with a, -and avoiding the difficulty in the word rendered by us "pointless." But the existing text gives a vigorous metaphor, the peculiarity of which makes it preferable to the feebler image of withering grass.
The prayer for destruction is caught up again in Psa_58:8, in two daring figures which tremble on the verge of lowering the key of the whole; but by escaping that peril, produce the contrary effect, and heighten it. A slug leaves a shining track of slime as it creeps, which exudes from its soft body, and thus it seems to disintegrate itself by its own motion. It is the same thought of the suicidal character of bad mens efforts which was expressed by the stream foaming itself away in the nullah. It is the eternal truth that opposition to Gods will destroys itself by its own activity. The unfulfilled life of a premature birth, with eyes which never opened to the light for which they were made and possibilities which never unfolded, and which is huddled away into a nameless grave, still more impressively symbolises futility and transiency.
In Psa_58:9 the figure has given much trouble to commentators. Its broad meaning is, however, undoubted. It is, as Psa_58:6 and Psa_58:7 b, symbolic of the Divine intervention which wrecks wicked mens plans before they are wrought out. The picture before the psalmist seems to be that of a company of travellers round their camp fire, preparing their meal. They heap brush wood under the pot, and expect to satisfy their hunger; but before the pot is warmed through, not to say before the water boils or the meat is cooked, down comes a whirlwind, which sweeps away fire, pot, and all. Every word of the clause is doubtful, and with the existing text, the best that can be done is not wholly satisfactory. If emendation is resorted to, the suggestion of Bickell, adopted by Cheyne, gives a good sense: "[And] while your [flesh] is yet raw, the hot wrath [of Jehovah] shall sweep it away." Baethgen makes a slighter alteration, and renders, "While it is still raw, He sweeps it away in wrath." Retaining the existing text (which is witnessed by the LXX and other old versions), probably the best rendering is, "Whether [it be] green or burning, He shall whirl it away." This general understanding of the words is shared by commentators who differ as to what is represented as swept away-some making it the thorn fire, the twigs of which may be either full of sap or well alight; while others take the reference to be to the meat in the pot, which may be either "living," i.e. raw, or well on the way to being cooked. Neither application is quite free from difficulty, especially in view of the fact that some pressure has to be put on the word rendered "burning," which is not an adjective, but a noun, and is usually employed to designate the fiery wrath of God, as it is rendered in the amended text just mentioned. After all attempts at clearing up the verse, one must be content to put a mark of interrogation at any rendering. But the scope of the figure seems discoverable through the obscurity: It is a homely and therefore vigorous picture of half-accomplished plans suddenly reduced to utter failure, and leaving their concocters hungry for the satisfaction which seemed so near. The cookery may go on merrily and the thorns crackle cheerily, but the simoom comes, topples over the tripod on which the pot swung, and blows the fire away in a hundred directions. Peters gibbet was ready, and the morning of his execution was near; but when day dawned, "there was no small stir what was become of him." The wind had blown him away from the expectation of the people of the Jews into safe quarters; and the fire was dispersed.
The closing part (Psa_58:10-11) breathes a stern spirit of joy over the destruction of the wicked. That is a terrible picture of the righteous bathing his feet in the blood of the wicked. {Psa_68:23} It expresses not only the dreadful abundance of blood, but also the satisfaction of the "righteous" at its being shed. There is an ignoble and there is a noble and Christian satisfaction in even the destructive providences of God. It is not only permissible but imperative on those who would live in sympathy with His righteous dealings and with Himself, that they should see in these the manifestation of eternal justice, and should consider that they roll away burdens from earth and bring hope and rest to the victims of oppression. It is no unworthy shout of personal vengeance, nor of unfeeling triumph, that is lifted up from a relieved world when Babylon falls. If it is right in God to destroy, it cannot be wrong in His servants to rejoice that He does. Only they have to take heed that their emotion is untarnished by selfish gratulation, and is not untinged with solemn pity for those who were indeed doers of evil, but were themselves the greatest sufferers from their evil. It is hard, but not impossible, to take all that is expressed in the psalm, and to soften it by some effluence from the spirit of Him who wept over Jerusalem, and yet pronounced its doom.
The last issue of Gods judgments contemplated by the psalm warrants the joy of the righteous; for in these there is a demonstration to the world that there is "fruit" to the righteous, and that notwithstanding all bewilderments from the sight of prosperous wickedness and oppressed righteousness "there is a God who judges in the earth." The word "judging" is here in the plural, corresponding with "God" (Elohim), which is also plural in form. Possibly the construction is to be explained on the ground that the words describe the thoughts of surrounding, polytheistic nations, who behold the exhibition of Gods righteousness. But more probably the plural is, here used for the sake of the contrast with the gods of Psa_58:1. Over these unworthy representatives of Divine justice sits the true judge, in the manifoldness of His attributes, exercising His righteous though slow-footed judgments.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 Superscription.—“To the Chief Musician, Al-taschith.” see introduction to Psalms…
INTRODUCTION
Superscription.—“To the Chief Musician, Al-taschith.” see introduction to Psalms 57. “Michtam of David.” See Introduction to Psalms 56. Moll: “This complaint respecting domestic administrations of justice gushes forth from the Psalmist in a threatening language, which is almost obscure owing to bold and mingled figures of speech. It is like a torrent which plunges over every hindrance, foaming and raging. We may certainly credit this original poet with a richness of figures and changes in their use, as well as in the turns of language and of thought, in accordance with particular circumstances and feeling. Yet we lack sufficient evidence to show whether the composition occurred in the time of Saul, who was at the same time David’s judge and persecutor, who endeavoured to hide the persecution under the appearance of a righteous judgment; or in the time of Absalom, who made the administration of justice a means of stealing from David the hearts of the people, whilst he pretended to be impartial.”
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It seems to us probable that this Psalm, like Psalms 56, 57, , 59, relates to the Sauline persecutions. The similarity in the superscriptions and the character of the contents support this view.
THE HISTORY OF HUMAN WICKEDNESS
In dealing with these wicked judges, whom he addresses in the early portion of the Psalm, David gives us a general description of the origin, progress, and destiny of human wickedness.
I. Wickedness in its root. “The wicked are estranged from the womb,” &c. An innate estrangement of the heart from God is the root from which the wickedness of men springs. The doctrine of original sin rests on an awful fact. Moral qualities are transmissible. We enter upon life with tendencies to evil. In some natures these tendencies are terrible in their activity and strength. In this light David regards his enemies. “The most lovely infant that is ushered into being,” says Dr. Cumming, “has within it by nature the germs of those elements which feed the flames of bell, and leaven its forlorn inmates with their direst misery. It has in its own heart the embryo of that Upas tree, which distils upon humanity on earth, and on humanity in hell, its death-drops; and so living are the seeds, and so congenial is the soil, that, unless overborne by the grace of the Holy Spirit and the appliances of the Gospel, they will inevitably spring up and flourish.”
II. Wickedness in its manifestation.
1. In the mal-administration of justice (Psa_58:1-2). The exact meaning of these verses is somewhat obscure. The rendering of the first clause of the first verse in the A. V. is certainly incorrect. Alexander translates: “Are ye, indeed, dumb, when ye should speak righteousness!” Conant: “ ‘Do ye, of a truth, in silence, speak righteousness?’ A bitter sarcasm. Is it with silence that ye perform the office of speech, dumb when ye ought to speak, and declare the right?” Perowne, on the latter clause of Psa_58:2, remarks, “This is said sarcastically. Ye pretend, indeed, to hold the balance of justice, and nicely to weigh out to each his just award, but violence is the weight with which ye adjust the scales.” Moll: “It is very bad when those persons and magistrates, who are appointed to administer justice, instead of pronouncing judgment, are silent, and are dumb to the prayers of their subordinates and the earnest entreaties of their frends, not less than to the demands of the law, honour, and conscience. They then not only misuse the scales of justice intrusted to them in an irresponsible manner, to the injury of their fellow-men, but they are likewise hypocrites and liars, since they violate justice at the very time that they pretend to exercise it, and in this manifest their serpent-like nature.” Here, then, are three counts in the indictment against these judges.
(1) They were silent when they ought to have declared for righteousness.
(2) Their hearts were bent on wickedness.
(3) Under the pretence of justice they did evil. Thus in the place of judgment there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness there was iniquity.
2. In falsehood. “Speaking lies.” This is a manifestation of wickedness from which David suffered much, and which, in various forms, has been widely prevalent in the whole history of human wickedness.
3. In malice. “Their poison is like the poison of a serpent.” Their spirit was malignant, and their utterances were spiteful, cruel, and deadly.
III. Wickedness in its full development. “Like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.” It is not the adder which stoppeth the ear, but the wicked. What is already deaf by nature has no need to stop its ear. We may read the clause, “As a deaf adder, he stoppeth his ear.” By means of stopping their ears the wicked make themselves like the deaf adder. (On serpent charming, see “The Land and the Book,” by Dr. Thomson, p. 154, and Barnes and Lange, in loco.) As there are serpents which cannot be charmed, so there are men who will yield to no good influence. They harden themselves against the grace of God, and close their ears against His Word, and strengthen themselves in wickedness, and so prepare themselves for a terrible and inevitable ruin. It is not simply that the tendency to evil with which they were born has developed itself, but it has developed itself unchecked, and without any obstruction, and the influences which have been brought to bear upon them to lead them to resist that development they have resisted, and the aids which have been offered to them to enable them to do so, they have rejected. “Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost.” In this way that which at first was merely a tendency to evil becomes an irresistible despot. “His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.” “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil.” We see this stopping of the ears and hardening of the heart in the disregard of those who eagerly pursue wickedness—
1. To the remonstrances and entreaties of men, even of their best friends.
2. To the invitations of Divine mercy, and the warnings of Divine judgment.
3. To the Divine influence working in and through their own conscience. All these they disregard. Saul is a conspicuous and terrible example of this. Men wilfully close their eyes against the light, and blindness supervenes; they wilfully stop their ears against Divine voices, and deafness results. “Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”
IV. Wickedness in its consummation. “Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth,” &c. (Psa_58:6-9). “There is,” says Perowne, “an abrupt change in the image employed. As these men are incorrigible in their wickedness, as they cannot be tamed, the Psalmist prays to God to destroy their power for mischief; but instead of continuing the figure of the serpent charmer, who robs the serpent of his poison, he suddenly represents them as young lions, whose teeth he would see broken that they may no longer devour.” In this portion of the Psalm we see the destination of wickedness.
1. The power of the wicked shall be destroyed. “Break their teeth,” &c. “The young lions” are not the whelps, but those who are youthful in vigour and strength. God will break the power of wickedness. “The arms of the wicked shall be broken.”
2. The plans of the wicked shall be defeated. “When he bendeth,” &c. The Hebrew here is difficult. Hengstenberg translates: “He takes aim with his arrows, as if they were cut in pieces.” Conant: “He will fit his arrows, they shall be as if severed.” The idea, doubtless, is, that the arrows of the wicked would be without effect as though they had their points cut off. “The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought,” &c.
3. The end of the wicked shall be failure and ruin.
(1) Here are the ideas of wasting and failure as the end of the wicked. “Let them melt away as waters which run continually. As a snail which melteth,” &c. (On the metaphor of the snail, see Tristram’s “Natural History of the Bible,” p. 295, quoted in Lange.) Wickedness tends to failure. Sin is truly a missing of the mark. The life of the wicked shall pass away like an abortion (Psa_37:35-36).
(2) Here is the idea of dread ruin as the end of the wicked. “Before your pots,” &c. Another difficult verse. A more correct translation would be, “Before your pots feel the thorn, whether fresh or burning; He will sweep it away as with a tempest.” “Whether fresh or burning” we take as applying to the thorns. Perowne: “The general sense of this difficult verse seems to be this: As a sudden whirlwind in the desert sweeps away the thorns which have been gathered for cooking almost as soon as they have been set on fire, and before the cauldron has grown hot, so shall the wicked, and all their yet incomplete designs, be swept away by the wrath of God.” The ruin of the wicked is here represented as (α) sudden (1Th_5:3). (β) Irresistible, “as with a whirlwind” (Pro_14:32). Such is the dread consummation to which wickedness tends.
V. Wickedness as viewed in its ultimate aspects. The consummation of wickedness affords—
1. Satisfaction to the righteous. “The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance,” &c. Alexander: “To bathe his steps in the blood of others is to walk where their blood is flowing, to tread the battlefield where they have fallen, to gain a sanguinary triumph over them, or rather, to partake in the triumph of another.” The righteous rejoice that wickedness does not triumph, but is defeated, destroyed. “The Lord reigneth.”
2. Conviction to men in general. “And men will say, Verily, there is fruit for the righteous,” &c. When the ultimate aspects of wickedness are seen men will be convinced that the moral government of the world is in the hands of a righteous God. Even in the present state of affairs events are frequently conducted to such issues that men cannot resist the conclusion that “there is a God that judgeth in the earth.”
CONCLUSION.—
1. Learn the danger of following the bias of our nature apart from the grace of God. “When we follow our inborn nature we ruin ourselves and others.”
2. Rejoice that the bias of our nature to evil may be changed. By the grace of God we may “be renewed in the spirit of our mind,” &c. (Eph_4:23-24).
3. Let those who are pursuing evil turn from it to Jesus Christ and to life ere it reaches its dread consummation (Isa_55:6-7; Eze_33:11).
4. Learn to take a comprehensive view of the divine dealings with men. By so doing we shall be likely correctly to understand the ways of God.
5. Cultivate a strong and constant faith in the exercise and rectitude of the Divine administration in human affairs.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 In the Prayer-book version this text stands, "Are your…
Psa 58:1
In the Prayer-book version this text stands, "Are your minds set upon righteousness, O ye congregation?" This includes the other, and goes deeper. We shall not speak of that upon which our minds are not first set.
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I. Take these words in their large and general signification, and what do they mean? Are you in earnest? Are you in earnest about your own spiritual concerns? Are your affections "set on things above, not on things on the earth"? Have you concentrated your minds upon religion as upon a focus?
II. But the words have evidently a further distinctiveness. The word "righteous" in the Bible—at least, in the New Testament application of it—generally refers to that perfect righteousness which Jesus has both made and purchased for His people. The inquiry therefore in its true force runs thus: Are your minds set on finding pardon and justification through that Saviour who shed His very blood for us, that we, poor, banished, but not expelled, ones, might come back and find a home in our heavenly Father’s love?
III. He who is, or wishes to be, righteous in his Saviour’s righteousness is always the man who is also the most righteous in the discharge of all the duties of this present life. The question therefore takes another easy and necessary transit: In this very place, at this very moment, are you honest—honest to God and to your own souls in the work in which you are engaged? You have received the stewardship of many talents; where is the capital, and where is the interest ready to be given back to the Proprietor when He comes? "Are your minds set upon righteousness, O ye congregation?"
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 1874, p. 123.
Psa 58:4
Deaf adders may seem very stupid creatures to be teaching lessons to human beings, but they are certainly able to do it. There is quite a variety of deaf adders in the world.
I. Lazy schoolboys and girls are like deaf adders.
II. Hard-headed people are like deaf adders.
III. Hard-hearted people are like deaf adders.
IV. Ungodly people are like deaf adders.
J. N. Norton, The King’s Ferry Boat, p. 126.
Reference: Psalm 58—J. Hammond, Expositor, 1st series, vol. iv., p. 212.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain On v1 Psa 58:1-11. God manifested in judgment.
Psa 58:1-11. God manifested in judgment.
To the chief musician, Al-tashcheth: Michtam of David.
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{Verse 1: Or else, "Do ye indeed speak the silence of righteousness?" or "in silence speak righteousness?" Some, to escape the difficulty, alter the pointing of one word, and say: "Do ye indeed speak righteousness, ye gods!" i.e., "judges." I follow the London Translation of the Old Testament, on the basis of the French and German of J. N. Darby.
Verse 7 ’blunted’, literally, "cut off."}
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.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 This Ps. denounces the wickedness of unjust and oppressive…
This Ps. denounces the wickedness of unjust and oppressive judges, and prays, in a series of powerful metaphors, for their destruction, in order that righteousness may be vindicated, and God exalted as the supreme Judge. It is uncertain whether the injustice complained of is exercised by Israelites or by foreigners, and so the Ps. has been variously placed before and after the exile. In any case it cannot be regarded as David's. For its subject it should be compared with Psalms 82.
Title.—See on Psalms 57.
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1. O congregation] RV 'in silence.' Both are doubtful renderings of a word which occurs only here. The reading now generally accepted gives the meaning, 'O ye gods,' or 'mighty ones,' in the sense of 'judges': cp. Psa_82:1. Sons of men] Judges are reminded that they are human, in spite of their high office: see Psa_82:7;
2. Weigh] RV 'weigh out.' The 'scales of justice' are abused.
3. Estranged] from God and righteousness.
4, 5. The comparison with serpents is twofold, first as to venom, and second as to obstinate refusal to be influenced.
4. Adder] RM 'asp.'
5. Will not hearken, etc.] cp. Jer_8:17. The ancient art of snake-charming is still practised in the East.
6. Read with LXX 'God shall break,' etc., and in the following vv. 'They shall melt.. shall be.' This gives solemn prediction in the place of mere imprecation.
7. Cut in pieces] RV 'cut off,' blunted.
8. Read, 'They shall be as a snail which melteth and passeth away.' The idea is perhaps derived from the snail's slimy track, or from the commonness of empty snail shells.
9. He shall take, etc.] Read, 'While the flesh is still raw wrath shall sweep them away like a whirlwind.' Flesh is about to be cooked in a pot, but almost before the fire has kindled a whirlwind scatters the whole arrangement. The figure suggests a judgment of startling suddenness.
10. This verse breathes a spirit of ferocity not unnatural in the warlike days of the OT., but impossible to be reconciled with the spirit of Christ.
11. He is a God] RV 'there is a God.'
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 Psalm 58
Psalm 58
A Judgment Psalm
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1. Why God must judge (Psa 58:1-5)
2. The judgment executed (Psa 58:6-11)
“Do ye of a truth in silence speak righteousness?” (literal rendering of the first verse). Righteousness is not heard on earth. Wickedness and violence are on the earth, therefore God must arise and deal with these conditions in judgment. It will overtake the wicked and the imprecatory prayers will be answered. Then the righteous will be glad when he seeth the vengeance and it will be said, “Verily there is a reward for the righteous; verily He is a God who judgeth the earth.”
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 A Cry for Vengeance upon the Subverters of Right.
A Cry for Vengeance upon the Subverters of Right.
To the chief musician, Al-taschith, to be sung to the same melody as the preceding psalm, Michtam, a poem in epigrammatic form, of David.
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v. 1. Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? He seems to be addressing a council, representatives of the government, princes, asking them whether they are dumb, whether they are unable to speak the truth, whether it is impossible for them to give a right decision. Do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men? Standing under God and pledged to uphold justice, were they forgetting its obligations?
v. 2. Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth, giving decisions which are, in effect. measures of violence, without a show of right. The passage is highly sarcastic, implying that they indeed hold the balances of justice, their duty being to weigh out just awards, but that they abuse their right and substitute violence.
v. 3. The wicked are estranged from the womb, full of wickedness against God from the very moment of their birth; they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies, their character from the first being truly devilish and selfish, apparently incapable of any higher motives.
v. 4. Their poison, that of their words and actions, is like the poison of a serpent, malignant, deadly; they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear, one of the most dangerous reptiles of the Orient, intentionally dumb,
v. 5. which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely, no matter if the formulas are worded and the charm applied in the most careful manner. The wicked, in other words, are naturally, easily, malignantly, and stubbornly opposed to all that is good.
v. 6. Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth, those which they use as instruments of violence. Psa 57:4; break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Lord, of the enemies who desired to take his life, so that they would be rendered harmless. The figure is now again changed.
v. 7. Let them melt away as waters which run continually, of which not even a trace remains; when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, the enemy being thought of as stepping on the bow to bend it and to fix his arrows for shooting, let them, all the enemies as represented by this one, be as cut in pieces, their arrows having no effect, as though they had their points cut off.
v. 8. As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away, the figure used from the apparent melting away of a snail in slime; like the untimely birth of a woman, a miscarriage, that they may not see the sun.
v. 9. Before your pots can feel the thorns, namely, the heat of the burning thorns used as fuel by caravans, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, with a sudden and unexpected destruction, both living and in his wrath, literally, whether fresh or burning, that is, whether the meat in the pot at that time be raw or already in a state of roasting, whether their evil plans had but recently been made, or whether they were being carried out, there being a possible reference here to the rebellion of Absalom.
v. 10. The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance, over the fact that God uses the destruction of the wicked for his own deliverance; he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked, the Lord’s slaughter of them being so great that their blood runs in streams,
v. 11. so that a man shall say, with this bit of evidence before his eyes, v. ily, there is a reward for the righteous, the Lord granting them this reward in mercy; verily, He is a God that judgeth in the earth, there is still a divinity judging on the earth, one higher than all the so-called gods of the heathen. The full revelation of this fact will be brought home to the believers on the Last Day, when the Lord’s judgment will be pronounced on all men.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3 General Information:
General Information:
Parallelism is common in Hebrew poetry. (See: Poetry and Parallelism)
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General Information:
This psalm is a song about wicked people.
For the chief musician
"This is for the director of music to use in worship"
set to Al Tashheth
This probably tells what musical style or tune to use when singing the psalm. See how you translated this in Psalms 57:1.
A psalm of David
Possible meanings are 1) David wrote the psalm or 2) the psalm is about David or 3) the psalm is in the style of David's psalms.
A michtam
The meaning of the word "michtam" is uncertain. You may use the word "psalm" instead. This can be written as: "This is a psalm that David wrote." See how you translated this in Psalms 16:1.
Do you rulers speak righteousness?
The author uses this question to rebuke the rulers because they do not speak righteously. AT: "You rulers do not say what is right!" (See: Rhetorical Question)
you ... your
The words "you" and "your" refer to the mighty men who are judges. The "you" here is plural. (See: Forms of You)
Do you judge uprightly, you people?
The author uses this question to rebuke the judges who do not judge uprightly. AT: "You people never judge people uprightly!" (See: Rhetorical Question)
No
The author answers the two questions he had just asked.
you commit wickedness in your heart
The heart refers to the people's thoughts or plans. AT: "you commit wickedness in your thoughts" or "you think about doing wicked things" (See: Metonymy)
you distribute violence throughout the land with your hands
Doing violence in various places throughout the land is spoken of as distributing or spreading the violence throughout the land, as if violence were some kind of stuff or things. AT: "you yourselves do violent deeds everywhere in the land" (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
psalm
David
righteous
judge
righteous
commit
evil
heart
hand
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 4 Ps 58 The administration of justice is a mark…
Ps 58 The administration of justice is a mark of good government. God expects nothing less from his people. The psalmist condemns Israel’s leaders for abusing their power, and he calls on the Lord to rain down his curses upon the wicked. The demonstration of divine justice will reassure the godly that God is just.
58:1-5 The administrators of justice were furthering their own interests rather than those of the needy. The absence of justice gradually resulted in a violent society.
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58:1 rulers (or gods): This designation was used for high officials and administrators of justice (82:1, 6). Elsewhere, it might refer to angelic creatures (89:7) or to the gods of the nations (82:1; Dan 11:36).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.