Psalm 58, Venomous Rulers

For the director of music. [To the tune of] "Do Not Destroy." Of David. A miktam.

Another of a string of psalms by David.  The word miktam is unclear.

This psalm has a similar heading as the previous psalm, Psalm 57, which is also linked to David's flight from Saul described in 2 Samuel 24. If this song linked to that event then, suggests Alter, the Hebrew word translated "do not destroy" may echo David's command that his soldiers not kill Saul.

Psalm 58: 1, You rulers

 Do you rulers indeed speak justly?

Do you judge uprightly among men?

David issues a challenge to rulers.

Psalm 58: 2-5, Like a cobra

 No, in your heart you devise injustice, 

and your hands mete out violence on the earth.

 Even from birth the wicked go astray;

from the womb they are wayward and speak lies.

 Their venom is like the venom of a snake,

like that of a cobra that has stopped its ears,

 that will not heed the tune of the charmer,

however skillful the enchanter may be.

 

And answers his question. The rulers acting against him have been unjust and wicked from birth! They are like a venomous snake which has no ears, dangerous and unpredictable.

Psalm 58: 6-9, Swept away

Break the teeth in their mouths, O God;

tear out, O LORD, the fangs of the lions!

 Let them vanish like water that flows away;

when they draw the bow,

let their arrows be blunted.

 Like a slug melting away as it moves along,

like a stillborn child, may they not see the sun.

 Before your pots can feel [the heat of] the thorns--

whether they be green or dry--

the wicked will be swept away.

In this imprecatory passage, David calls for the utter destruction of his enemies -- that their teeth be torn out, that their weapons be blunted, that they be swept away. Like a slimy slug, or a stillborn child, they are to disappear and not see the sun.

Some are bothered by David's angry, "Break their teeth..." diatribe, but I understand. David is merely honest in his anger, bringing it all to God. And in military conflicts of this nature, breaking teeth is probably a legitimate desire.

Psalm 58: 10-11, Eventually avenged

 The righteous will be glad when they are avenged,

when they bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.

 Then men will say, "Surely the righteous still are rewarded;

surely there is a God who judges the earth."

Ultimately the righteous will be rewarded. Note the statement about bathing one's feet in the blood of the wicked.  There is nothing mild about David's anger against the wicked.