Psalm 58 is a heavy Psalm to study. It is a Psalm that is full of angry emotion, uncensored accusations, and violent, wartime imagery. One author says that this Psalm “is a prayer for spiritual warriors” who are engaged in spiritual warfare against evil in this present darkness (Eph. 6) because, although this Psalm “is directed against the corrupt and wicked rulers of Israel” we all need “to realize that we are looking not merely at a portrait of others but also into a mirror where we can see ourselves”.2
We must always hold in tension, the truth that every one of us is capable of the same evil and sin that we see in others; the spiritual war we are called to fight is not merely everything on the outside of us but we are also called to fight everything that exists equally deep inside each of us. Satan, Sin, and Death are equal opportunity enemies; they do not discriminate in their attacks from without and within. Just as soon as I am enraged about some evil atrocity done by someone else, I am simultaneously reminded by the Spirit of God that sin is still alive and well within me.
These truths – the truths regarding the depth and depravity of sin in the world around me as well as within my very own heart – are very easy to forget when you and I experience the sting of the pain of injustice; the moment we feel that sting, we can become indignant and lash out in equally sin-filled ways. Consider the amount of gossip that takes place in a church family when someone says or does something you do not like.
Or consider the amount of slander that takes place when someone does or says something hurtful to another person. We could even consider the silence we are tempted towards because we are too afraid to confront sin in a brother or sister or stand up for a victim of injustice. Can you see the conundrum we find ourselves in when we start to think about the evil around us and inside of us?
How are we to find the balance between the fight against the evil that not only surrounds us but also lives within us? How do we not get so caught up in the evil that surrounds us that we completely miss the evil desires within us? Or visa versa, how do we not become so deeply introspective in our pursuit of making war against our own sin that we commit the sin of being silent when evil is alive and well around us? Look at the text with me…
To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Miktam of David.
1Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods? Do you judge the children of man uprightly? 2No, in your hearts you devise wrongs; your hands deal out violence on earth. 3The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies. 4They have venom like the venom of a serpent, like the deaf adder that stops its ear, 5so that it does not hear the voice of charmers or of the cunning enchanter.
6O God, break the teeth in their mouths; tear out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD! 7Let them vanish like water that runs away; when he aims his arrows, let them be blunted. 8Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime, like the stillborn child who never sees the sun. 9Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns, whether green or ablaze, may he sweep them away!
10The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked. 11Mankind will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth.”
#1: ENGRAVE THE UNVARNISHED TRUTH UPON OUR HEARTS
The superscription of Psalm 58 – right before verse one – says “To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Miktam of David” kind of reminds me of heavy metal music and tattoos. You may wonder why these opening words remind me of heavy metal music and tattoos. Here is my reasoning…
The phrase “To the choirmaster” reminds us that this Psalm is a song that is meant to be sung when God’s people are gathered together for worship. The next phrase “according to Do Not Destroy” sounds to me like a heavy metal beat with the heavy thumping of drums that drive the angry, accusing, and violent words of this Psalm deep into the recesses of our souls.
The final phrase of these opening words says that this Psalm is “A Miktam of David”. Some scholars suggest that the word “Miktam” means “engraving”; similar to the words and symbols that are found to be engraved on the stony walls of dark caves or like the deep engraving that takes place when someone receives a tattoo.3
So, I would suggest that what we need, in regard to the wickedness that is alive and well all around us and deep within us, is to engrave the unvarnished truth of this Psalm deep into the layers of the fleshly parts of our hearts.
In a day and age where every sinful atrocity known to man is being justified, excused, and celebrated – even in some portions of the so-called church today – we need to tattoo the heavy words of God’s Word on our hearts like a good old drum thumping heavy metal song.
#2: DESCRIBE WICKEDNESS HONESTLY (VV. 1 – 5)
In verses 1 – 5, David pulls no punches in his honest description of the wickedness of the leaders of Israel. He begins in verse 1 by asking two rhetorical questions when he asks “Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods? Do you judge the children of man uprightly?”Scholars have noted that when David questions these leaders, he refers to them as “gods”and the Hebrew word used here for “gods” can be rightly interpreted to mean “silent leaders” which deepens our understanding of just how bad these wicked leaders were, because David is asking them if they think they are standing for what is right by remaining silent in the face of injustice.
In verses 2 – 5, David (even though he has already spoken openly and honestly in his questions about the wickedness of Israel’s leaders) moves on with a stunning indictment regarding the depths of the evil that has taken these people hostage. David uses no soft words when he accuses these people of dreaming up ways to do violent wrong against others (v. 2), of being filled with sin and deceit since the day they were born (v. 3), and of speaking poisonous things against others while being deaf to the truth that would set them free (vv. 4 – 5).
So, to summarize, David describes wickedness honestly when he describes it as remaining silent in the face of injustice, dreaming about doing harm to others, being filled with deceit, speaking illusive poison about others, and turning a deaf ear to the truth because you do not want to hear it. This is an honest description of wickedness.
Can you see these things in the world around us? Can you see these things deep within your own soul? How often have you stood there silently ignoring the sin around you or inside of you? How often have you dreamed of ways to harm someone with your words or your actions or remained unrepentant when your words and behaviors are destructive to others? Or maybe you have joined someone else in their gossip, slander, and attacks on someone else based upon a misunderstanding or a disagreement over some petty issue. Or maybe you like to play around in the darkness with sins that you ought not to engage in while pretending to be someone you are not, all because you fear being found out, so you live a complete lie in front of everyone.
Maybe you have a habit of not listening very well therefore you get offended when the cold hard unvarnished truth regarding sin and salvation is preached, therefore you pick and choose who you will listen to so that your pretty little ears can be tickled with the soft words of love and grace and mercy because you do not have the stomach for dealing with sin and you think the Kingdom of Heaven is all about unicorns and rainbows.
Wickedness is pervasive and infectious. That is the point of taking a cold hard look at an honest description of wickedness. We need to be shell shocked over the depth of the depravity of wickedness all around us and deep within us. We should be offended not by the words of David who is preaching the unvarnished truth regarding the wickedness of sin; we ought to be offended by the fact that every one of us is guilty of many if not all these kinds of wickedness against a holy God.
The question is, what are we to do when we are confronted with such an honest description of the wickedness that not only surrounds us but also lives deep within us? What are we to do in the face of such pervasive and infectious wickedness?
#3: PRAY FOR JUSTICE TO BE SERVED (VV. 6 – 9)
In verses 6 – 9, David utters the words of what is commonly known as an “Imprecatory Prayer” or a prayer for justice to be served against all wicked people, and as he prays for justice to be served, he prays for God “to destroy the ability of the wicked to harm their victims” and he also prays “that God would remove the evil effects of the wicked and eradicate their corrupt legacy”.4
In David’s mind, justice will be served when the wicked can no longer do damage and when they are ultimately wiped out of their earthly existence. This is heavy language to consider. It may be difficult to understand why God would use such heavy language and even condone it. The church in the West is especially fond of the theology of God’s loving kindness devoid of the necessity of God’s vengeful wrath upon the wicked; we like a loving God, but we struggle with a wrath-filled God because it makes us uncomfortable.
I would simply say that there is no reason for a loving God if he is not also full of wrath because his love is meaningless without his hatred of wickedness and there is no need for justice to be served if love and wrath are not the two sides of the coin of God’s righteous character. We all desire for a loving God to nurture and protect us from evil – even the evil that lies within us – and that protection from wickedness is meted out by the hand of a vengeful God who loves his perfect creation because he is a holy God.
With that in mind, David prays for justice to be served in verses 6 – 9 as he begs God to remove the ability of the wicked to do harm and to ultimately wipe them off the face of the earth when he prays: “O God, break the teeth in their mouths; tear out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD! Let them vanish like water that runs away; when he aims his arrows, let them be blunted. Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime, like the stillborn child who never sees the sun. Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns, whether green or ablaze, may he sweep them away!”
Can you hear David’s cry for justice to be served? Can you hear him begging God to remove the power of the wicked? Can you hear him asking God to wipe the wicked off the face of the earth? It is this kind of prayer that is on the lips of parents who have lost a child to some evil individual. It is this kind of prayer that is on the lips when a spouse finds out that their significant other has been unfaithful. It is this kind of prayer that is on the lips of people who have endured intense abuse at the hands of someone who should have been their caretaker or trusted friend.
It is this kind of prayer that was on the lips of some soldiers who were responsible for taking out Hitler and rescuing countless victims from concentration camps.5 It is this kind of prayer that reminds me to be diligent about the work of my own repentance and eradication of the wickedness that is alive within me as I look forward to the fulfilled promises of the righteous Judge and King over all the earth.
#4: TRUST THE PROMISES OF THE RIGHTEOUS JUDGE (VV. 10 – 11)
There is an image of Jesus in the book of Revelation as he returns on a white horse, with his clothes drenched in the blood of helpless victims, with lightning bolts coming out of his eyes and a sword coming out of his mouth and a tattoo on his thigh that says “King of kings and Lord of lords” that has always affected me deeply as it pertains to the justice of God as the righteous judge (Rev. 19:11 – 16).
Yes, Jesus loves his enemies as he goes to the cross on their behalf, but he is also the vengeful, wrath-filled, King and Lord who will return to rescue those who have found salvation in him while vanquishing those who have rejected him and made war against him. This image of Jesus is an awesome promise to rest in when you are facing the wickedness we live in as well as the wickedness that lives within because in this promise we look forward to a King and Lord who has not only done what was needed to save us from the power and effects of our own wickedness but he will also do what is needed to serve justice upon the wicked who remain at war with him.
While David may not have had this image in his mind, he certainly understood the theology of a Righteous King who would eventually judge the wicked while rescuing those who have trusted in him. This is why David concludes this Psalm with a reminder of an eternal promise that we can all find rest in, when he says, “The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked. Mankind will say, ‘Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth.’”
The image of those who are saved by God’s grace, bathing their feet “in the blood of the wicked” is certainly a shocking image to behold. Yet, it is the image of full victory as a group of soldiers walk through a battlefield littered with the bloody bodies of their enemies.6 You do remember that we began our time together thinking about the spiritual war we are entangled in, right?
This fight against wickedness around us and within us, will have a violent ending where wickedness is vanquished once and for all. There will be no more wickedness within us if we have trusted in Christ’s violent work at the bloody cross of Calvary and there will be no more wickedness around us because those who have rejected Christ will meet their final judgement. This truth – when engraved upon our hearts – is meant to bring us a sense of joy, knowing and trusting that the promises of the righteous judge can be trusted.
CONCLUSION…
In conclusion, we started by asking how to maintain the balance of rightly addressing the wickedness around us and within us. David, in this Psalm, has taught us to engrave the unvarnished truth upon our hearts, to describe wickedness honestly, to pray for justice to be served, and to trust the promises of the righteous judge.
In all of this, we have been confronted not only with the reality of the wickedness that exists in this world but also the reality of the wickedness that is alive and well deep within every one of us. But even as we were confronted with the presence of wickedness, we also caught a glimpse of the beauty and the majesty of the bloody cross of Christ, the empty tomb of Christ, and the promised return of Christ. It is through the bloody cross, the empty tomb, and promised return of Christ that we can put the principles of this Psalm into practice in our own lives.
Engraving the unvarnished truth upon our hearts begins and continues at the foot of a bloody cross where Christ paid the price for our wickedness. We need to constantly engrave the truth of the empty tomb upon our hearts so that we can live in the expectation and the hope of the power of our own resurrection and future perfection in eternity.
Describing wickedness honestly is a useless venture if it is not done in light of the work of our crucified, risen, and returning Savior. The cross is where our wickedness dies, the empty tomb is where we find strength to resist wickedness, and the promise of heaven is where we find hope in final freedom from the bonds of wickedness.
Praying for justice to be served finds its ultimate fulfillment in Christ crucified, risen, and returning because justice was served upon Christ at the cross for those who have trusted in him, the empty tomb gives us resolution in knowing that Christ’s work at the cross was complete because death could not hold onto our Savior and King who is returning one day to serve justice upon those who have rejected salvation and made war against Christ and his people.
These are the promises we hang onto with every ounce of our energy when injustice seems to be winning the war around us and within us. We know that Christ, the righteous Judge and King over all the earth will return in a blaze of glory with a flash of judgement, and in those moments, we will taste victory in all its completeness and finality as we bathe our feet in the blood of redemption and victory. – Amen!
1 Unless otherwise specified, all Bible references in this paper are to the English Standard Version Bible, The New Classic Reference Edition (ESV) (Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, 2001).
2 Richard, D. Phillips, Psalms 42 – 72, Reformed Expository Commentary, (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2019), 168.
3 Ibid., 172 – 173.
4 Ibid., 164, 168.
5 Ibid., 169.
6 Ibid., 171.