December 30
Reading: Psalm 58
To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Miktam of David.
1 Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods?
Do you judge the children of man uprightly?
2 No, in your hearts you devise wrongs;
your hands deal out violence on earth.
3 The wicked are estranged from the womb;
they go astray from birth, speaking lies.
4 They have venom like the venom of a serpent,
like the deaf adder that stops its ear,
5 so that it does not hear the voice of charmers
or of the cunning enchanter.
6 O God, break the teeth in their mouths;
tear out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD!
7 Let them vanish like water that runs away;
when he aims his arrows, let them be blunted.
8 Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime,
like the stillborn child who never sees the sun.
9 Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns,
whether green or ablaze, may he sweep them away!
10 The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance;
he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 Mankind will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous;
surely there is a God who judges on earth.”
This Miktam, a teaching psalm, is set to the same tune as the last one, and the next one. We do not know the tune “Al-tashheth” (“Do Not Destroy”), but it must have been memorable, even fun to sing.
Psalm 58 begins with a speech to “you gods.” (vs. 1) It is unclear who these are. Are they gods, demonic deities who pretend to be like God? Are they powerful people who mistreat others? I think David is speaking sarcastically of wicked people who think that they are gods. We have people like that today.
Consider what David tells us about these people. Their wrongs go from their hearts to their hands. (vs. 2) Their wickedness began early, from birth. (vs. 3) We may not like this characterization, but it is human nature. We all begin as sinners and if our impulses are unchecked by loving parents, good training, law enforcement, etc. people can become very bad indeed. Finally, we learn that these people do not listen to others. I think of Proverbs 17:10, “A rebuke goes deeper into one who has understanding than a hundred blows into a fool.”
Whoever they are, they are the subjects of David’s prayer of imprecation in verses 6-9. An imprecatory prayer is one that asks God to judge and destroy wicked people. This little prayer is quite vivid. After reading these verses a few times over you realize just how much David does not like these people. You might find verse 8 a little over the top, but David did not.
He wants these wicked people to be destroyed because of the damage they do. But he also wants them to be destroyed so that the rewards of righteousness will shine all the brighter. (vss. 10-11) David wants every person to see the joyful rewards of living right with God.