Psalm 58

1. Many psalms discuss very similar themes. Psalm 58 discusses a theme that is constant in David’s writings: the fact that evil people lead others and a prayer that those evil leaders be overthrown or even destroyed.

2. David calls these leaders “gods” in verse 1, probably as a stinging rebuke of their arrogance.

3. Verse 2 gives a brief outline of how sin works, especially in those who habitually sin. Their hearts devise evil and then they do it. It simply does not work the other way around.

4. Verse 3, despite what many commentators say, is not teaching that we are sinners from birth. What David is saying is that men begin a downward slide at birth because of the environment in which we are placed. Those who are evil, more often than not, start out in a sinful environment.

5. Verse 4 gives a wonderful description of the stubbornness of these evil leaders, comparing them to “a deaf cobra.” The picture is of a snake that will not hear its charmer (verse 5), and so does its own thing.

6. Verse 6 begins the prayer to God for His work. David asks God to “shatter the teeth” of these evildoers and then asks Him to “break out the fangs” of them. The reason he uses such language is because their mouth is their main “weapon” of evil. These are able to smoothly convince others to follow them into sin. If they cannot use that cunning speech, they cannot prevail.

7. Verses 7 and 8 continue the prayer that the evil workers will be totally unable to perform their works. Each of the word pictures given is strong and every significant, but all mean basically the same thing, so we will not discuss each one.

8. Verse 9 uses a metaphor that is archaic to us, but basically is asking God to act swiftly. In other words, David isn’t just asking for God’s help; but, because the situation is bad, he is asking for God’s immediate help.

9. Verses 10 and 11 show us that those who are righteous will rejoice when the evil workers are done away with. The picture of washing their feet in the blood of the wicked is not literal, rather, it shows that the righteous one will join with God in the victory.