The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance; he shall wash his footsteps in the blood of the wicked
This verse closes a psalm about corrupt judges, and it ends with a hard image: the righteous washing their feet in blood. Two questions follow — what does God do here, and whose voice is this?
One writer reads the whole psalm as one argument ending in this verse, and finds the reason for the joy in what vengeance proves:
The force of the psalm is this: the wicked, as such, are beyond improvement. But God will judge them. Then men will see that there is a reward for the righteous, and a God who judges the earth. Is there upright, just judgment among men? is the question. There is wickedness in their hearts: they plan and plot in it. It is in their nature and will, and shows itself by falsehood... God comes in and Jehovah judges: let their power and strength be as lions, they melt away to nothing when His hand comes in. Vengeance does come in, and this explains the joy in it. It vindicates the just man and shows he was right, however helpless he seemed and however his enemies oppressed him. It shows God righteous, and shows that there is a judge despite the oppression.
An older translation reads "wash his footsteps" where the ESV has "bathe his feet." One writer takes that word and says what the righteous gain by it:
The psalm closes by expressing the joy of the righteous as they behold the judgment of the wicked. The righteous will wash their "footsteps" in the blood of the wicked. They reach their blessing through the judgment of their enemies. It will then become manifest that the righteous have their reward, and that "there is a God that judges in the earth."
The joy is not an appetite for slaughter. Judgment falls only after every chance to repent has run out, and the righteous rejoice at their rescue:
This godlessness can receive only the punishment it deserves, and all the righteous will rejoice at it... many of the psalms give us the final cleansing of the kingdom "of all causes of sin and all law-breakers" (Matt. 13:41). That cleansing comes after God has given full space for repentance, and after evil has shown itself to be incurable rebellion against God, and the absolute barrier to all full blessing on the earth. So the righteous rejoice at the deliverance more than at the judgment itself, though all of it fits the full character of God perfectly.
One writer treats this verse as the principle behind all righteous joy in God's judgment, and dates that joy to the future:
Here we have the ground or principle of all that righteous joy in the judgment of God... The saint cannot yet triumph in judgment, because in this present age the Lord is publishing His name and praise in grace. Later he will learn to triumph in it. For the Lord will vindicate His divine glory by vengeance, and set up His government of "the world to come" by the judgment of "this present world."
Readers who try to pray this verse as their own find it does not fit. One writer explains why:
Take the Psalms, for instance. Some of them speak about judgments on the wicked, such as "the righteous washing their feet in the blood of the wicked." We are not the ones who say this. It is the language of Jews, and of godly Jews too, whom God will deliver by striking down their enemies with His rod of power... But do I want my enemies to be destroyed to get to Christ? Certainly not. I shall leave them to be with Him. We recognise that God's judgment is just. Still, it is a sad thought that this judgment will fall on those who despise Him and His grace. But as for me, I am going straight up to Christ in heaven.
Some interpreters soften such verses by reading them as predictions rather than prayers. One writer answers one of them:
He says the offence people take at this stops at once if we change the command into a prediction, and read, not "let them be confounded," but "they shall be confounded"... But this boldness is not warranted. It is the difference in God's dealings that clears everything up without violence. When God judges enemies, as He did long ago and will again, His people share in it in measure. Now He is displaying sovereign grace, and another spirit of action becomes them.
- Corruption — the psalm asks whether there is upright judgment among men. This verse is the answer.
- Vengeance — the vengeance is God's act, not man's, and it comes only after He has given full space for repentance.
- Blessing — the righteous reach their blessing by walking through the judgment of their enemies.
- Vindication — the verdict is public: the righteous were right, and there is a God who judges in the earth.
- Voice — this is not the Christian's prayer today. While God is publishing His name in grace, believers leave their enemies and go to Christ.
And men shall say, Verily there is fruit for the righteous; verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth.
Psalm 58 is a bitter complaint about judges who twist justice, and it ends with a verdict: a day is coming when everyone can see that God is just. The repeated word "surely" carries the weight, because it answers the psalm's opening doubt about whether justice exists at all.
The last verse answers the failure at the psalm's opening. One writer traces the movement from silent courts to God rising up.
The first two verses show us the cause of this display. Righteousness is silent on earth — and silent where men claim it most, in the verdicts handed down to uphold it. So God Himself must rise up to judge. Deceit has taken the place of honesty in the heart, and violence is weighed out with care, as if it were justice.
The verse says that people in general will say this, not only God's people. Until that day, faith holds the conviction on its own.
Today wickedness is allowed to remain, while the faith of God's people is quietly sustained. Then the opposite will happen. The power of evil will first come to full growth, and then God will break it completely and set it aside. And He will do it in a way that makes His judgment plain — not only to the faith of God's people, but to the senses and the minds of all people. So mankind will say, "Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth."
Some translations read "fruit" here instead of "reward". One writer ties this reward to the moment when onlookers change their minds.
The result of this will be that those who observe these things will say, "Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth." They may not have thought so before, but when they observe God's work they will be fully persuaded of this.
The last phrase names a place, not just an act. One writer draws a line between what God displays on earth and what He displays in heaven.
Earth is the place where God displays righteousness, and He displays it by judging, though the heavens will declare it. Heaven is the place for grace, as it is written, "so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace." But God judges in the earth.
Another writer sets this judging against the human courts the psalm has exposed.
Under man's rule righteousness is too often separated from judgment. Under God, the Judge of all, righteousness will come back into judgment, for "with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth" (Isaiah 11:3-5).
The righteous rejoice when this judgment falls. One writer explains what that joy is fixed on.
These psalms give us the final cleansing of the kingdom of "all causes of sin and all law-breakers" (Matt. 13:41). It comes after God has given full room for repentance, and after evil has shown itself to be incurable rebellion against God, the absolute barrier to all full blessing on the earth. So the righteous rejoice at the deliverance rather than at the judgment by itself, though all of it fits the full character of God.
One writer explains why believers today cannot yet share this triumph.
In this present age the believer cannot yet triumph in judgment, because the Lord is publishing His name and praise in grace. But in time he will learn to triumph in it. The Lord will vindicate His divine glory by vengeance, and He will set up His government of "the world to come" by the judgment of "this present world."
- Cause. Righteousness has gone silent in the very courts meant to uphold it, so God Himself must rise and judge.
- Verdict. What faith held quietly becomes plain to the senses and minds of all people. The whole world says it out loud.
- Reward. The righteous receive their fruit at last, and those who never believed it become sure when they watch God act.
- Place. Earth is where God displays righteousness in judgment; heaven is where He displays the riches of His grace.
- Result. The joy is over deliverance, not over judgment by itself — and it belongs to a coming day, since God is now publishing His name in grace.