Thursday, January 30, 2014

Reflections on Psalms 58

 Psalms 58(Contemporary English Version)
  1. (A special psalm by David for the music leader. To the tune "Don't Destroy.") Do you mighty people talk only to oppose justice? Don't you ever judge fairly?
  2. You are always planning evil, and you are brutal.
  3. You have done wrong and lied from the day you were born.
  4. Your words spread poison like the bite of a cobra
  5. that refuses to listen to the snake charmer.
  6. My enemies are fierce as lions, LORD God! Shatter their teeth. Snatch out their fangs.
  7. Make them disappear like leaking water, and make their arrows miss.
  8. Let them dry up like snails or be like a child that dies before seeing the sun.
  9. Wipe them out quicker than a pot can be heated by setting thorns on fire.
  10. Good people will be glad when they see the wicked getting what they deserve, and they will wash their feet in their enemies' blood.
  11. Everyone will say, "It's true! Good people are rewarded. God does rule the earth with justice."

Psalm 58 is an outcry against unjust judges who "practice injustice" and "weigh out violence." (58:2) They are wicked people who went "astray from the womb." (58:3) This assertion seems to support the idea that we are born with an inclination toward sin. Though this does not suggest a child comes out of the womb already under the guilt of sin, sin will inevitably follow. Thus, wickedness is not a condition that is developed but one that is inborn. It is righteousness that must be developed, or more accurately inborn through a new birth of the spirit through Jesus Christ. But for these wicked judges against whom David speaks, righteousness never developed and "They have venom like the venom of a snake." (58:4)

After establishing their wicked condition, David prays for their ruin: "God, knock the teeth out of their mouths." (58:6) Then he predicts that they will "vanish like water that flows by," and that they will be "like a woman's miscarried child, they will not see the sun." (58:7, 8) The wicked are like a miscarried child whose eyes have never been opened. The promise of the life God intended for them has never been fulfilled.

With the destruction of the wicked judges the righteous will feel vindicated saying, "Yes, there is a reward for the righteous! There is a God who judges on earth!" (58:11)

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