Psalms 58 - Introduction

This psalm is also inscribed as a psalm of David. Both the title and the contents agree in fixing the time of its composition, and the occasion, as being the same as in the two previous psalms. Knapp indeed refers it to the time of Absalom, and DeWette supposes that it was composed in the time of the Babylonian captivity. But there is no reason for departing from the supposition that the title is correct. There is nothing in the psalm inconsistent with the supposition that it was composed by David, and in the time of the persecutions under Saul. On the meaning of the expression in the title, “To the chief Musician,” see the notes at the Introduction to Psalms 4:1. On the phrase “Al-taschith,” see Introduction to Psalms 57:1. On the word “Michtam,” see Introduction to Psalms 16:1.

The psalm consists of three parts:

I. A description of the enemies of the psalmist, suggesting a “general” description of the character of the wicked, Psalms 58:1. The psalmist, by an emphatic “question” impliedly affirms that those whom he referred to were wicked and false Psalms 58:1; and this leads him to a general reflection on the character of wicked people;

(a) as estranged from the womb;

(b) as going astray as soon as they are born;

(c) as resembling the serpent injecting deadly poison; and

(d) as deaf to all appeals of conscience, virtue, and religion - like an adder that will not listen to the voice of the charmer, Psalms 58:3.

II. A prayer that God would interpose and deal with them as they deserved, Psalms 58:6. This prayer is expressed in different illustrations: -

(a) by comparing them with lions, and praying that their teeth might be broken out, Psalms 58:6;

(b) by comparing them with water, and praying that they might disappear as waters flow off, Psalms 58:7;

(c) by comparing them with a snail, and praying that they might be dissolved, and pass away as a snail appears to do, Psalms 58:8;

(d) by comparing them with the untimely birth of a woman, that is cast away, Psalms 58:8;

(e) by comparing them with a pot which is made to feel the heat of thorns on fire, and made to boil quickly - praying that God would take them away before even that could be done, Psalms 58:9.

III. The exultation of the righteous at such a result, Psalms 58:10.

(a) They would rejoice at the deliverance, Psalms 58:10;

(b) they would see that God is a righteous God; that he is not a friend of wickedness, but that he regards the cause of truth; that there is in fact a just moral government in the world; that there is a God who is a judge in the earth, Psalms 58:11.