Psalms 58:1-11 - Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

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“There Is a God That Judgeth”

Psalms 58:1-11

This psalm is launched against wicked rulers. It may have been occasioned by the attitude of Abner and others of Saul's party, who accounted David as a rebel and outlaw and urged vindictive measures against him.

Their sin, Psalms 58:1-6

Poison is literally “burning heat.” Such is the effect of venomous words, into which the malice of the great serpent is infused. Evil men, capable of such speech, resemble the snake tribe, which will respond only to the shrillest notes. Hot speech to man and deaf ears to God go together.

Their doom, Psalms 58:6-9

For let them read they shall, Psalms 58:7. The imperative and predictive future are in Hebrew expressed by similar words. Note the remarkable comparisons-the lion's broken jaw-tooth, the ebbing tide, the snail scorched by intense heat, the untimely birth, the quickly-expiring fire, the cyclone! Sin inevitably brings penalty, and herein is God's moral government vindicated.

The contrast, Psalms 58:10-11

As the weary traveler is refreshed when his feet are washed, so the saints are glad to see God's vindication of the righteous. There is a wide difference between the gratification of personal vengeance, and a consuming zeal to uphold God's character.

Related Commentaries of Psalms 58:1

Psalms 58:1-11

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 poisona of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear;

5 Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charmingb 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 them 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 rewardc for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.