Their poison is like the poison of a serpent [they are] like the deaf adder which stoppeth her ear;
Psalm 58 is a prayer against rulers who traded justice for violence. Verse 4 says why appeals to them fail: poison inside, and an ear shut on purpose. Can such people be reached? And what does God do if they cannot?
This picture of poison is not unique to Psalm 58.
Scripture uses the poison of serpents and asps as a symbol of two things: the judgment of God, and the evil that lives in the wicked. Deut. 32:24, 33; Job 6:4; Job 20:16; Ps. 58:4; Ps. 140:3; Rom. 3:13. The tongue is "a restless evil, full of deadly poison." James 3:8.
Where does the poison come from? One writer traces it back to the serpent, and sees the hardening as something the wicked do to themselves.
Here we see the deep-seated hostility of the wicked to what is good. Evil is born in them. They are strangers to God from birth, and the falsehood they live in stands wholly against His truth. The old serpent was a liar from the beginning, and a murderer. These people carry poison too, serpent-like. They harden themselves in malice, like the adder that is said to stop its ear and make itself unreachable to the charmer's voice, however great his skill.
The Hebrew word behind "adder" names one dangerous snake in particular. The old story about how it blocks its hearing is folklore, not fact.
Pethen. It appears in Psalm 58:4 and Psalm 91:13, and the margin of both reads "asp." Scripture compares the wicked to the deaf adder that stops her ears. An old tradition said the adder laid one ear in the dust and covered the other with its tail. But adders have no outer ears, and the men called serpent charmers prove well that every known adder can hear... This name is thought to point to the deadly cobra.
So the picture is sharper, not weaker. The snake here is not one that cannot hear. It is one that will not.
One writer applies the same picture to people who heard God speak and shut their ears against Him.
Besides those who were so unable to hear that they are even called "dead," there were those who would not hear. They were deaf too, but by choice. Like the deaf adder, they deliberately stopped their ears (Ps. 58:4; Isa. 33:15; Zech. 7:11), so that they would not hear the words of wisdom and truth and life that the Great Prophet of God spoke to them.
That refusal has an end point. The same writer shows where it leads.
Serious results follow this stage of deafness by choice. Scripture speaks of a third group: people who refused to hear the word of God and then come under the terrible penalty of a judicial deafness. They shut their ears on the day God came to them, and so went beyond the limits of His patience. They are no longer allowed to hear.
Verse 5 finishes the picture with a snake charmer whose skill does nothing. One writer applies that to how people meet God's offer of love.
His offer is clear. If our hearts could value goodness on their own, no nation on earth would hold a second opinion or raise one dissenting voice when the Spirit declares redeeming love. But nature is dead to God, and so the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God. The charmer charms in vain until a miracle changes this brood of serpents into the new-born children of light (Ps. 58:3-5; 1 Peter 2:9).
The psalm does not end in despair. God answers the closed ear with His own action.
The force of the psalm is this. The wicked, as such, are beyond all hope of change, but God will judge them. Then men will see that there is a reward for the righteous, and a God who judges the earth... Their nature is of the serpent, devilish in itself. They refuse every attracting power and influence, whatever it may be. God comes in and Jehovah judges. Let their power and strength be as lions — they melt away to nothing when His hand comes in.
One writer sets this verse beside the day Jesus opened a deaf man's ears.
The Lord's power showed itself that very moment. The ears opened and the tongue was set free... The Lord's work opens the ears, and gives humble hearts cause to praise God and to recognise His love. But how many remain deaf to the voice of God's love! They are "like the deaf adder that stops its ear, so that it does not hear the voice of charmers or of the cunning enchanter."
- Poison — venom pictures two things: the evil inside the wicked, and the judgment God brings on them.
- Snake — the adder here is the deadly cobra. Snakes do hear, so this deafness is a refusal, not a defect.
- Deafness — the refusal is willful, and it can harden into a judicial deafness in which God no longer allows them to hear.
- Charmer — no appeal reaches a nature dead to God. Only a miracle turns serpents into "children of light."
- Judge — the wicked are beyond change, but not beyond God. When His hand comes in, lion-like strength melts to nothing.
Which doth not hearken to the voice of enchanters, of one charming ever so wisely.
Verse 5 finishes a picture drawn from the snake pit: a creature that shuts its own ear against the charmer's voice. Why does a person hear words of wisdom and stay unmoved?
The Hebrew words behind the charming in this verse point to soft speech.
The word CHARMER comes from chabar, "to join together, to fascinate." It is linked with another word, lachash, "to speak in a soft, gentle manner." Together they are then used for the charming of serpents (Psalm 58:5).
So the verse pictures a refusal of gentle, persuasive words, not of force.
The adder in the psalm is not born deaf. Writers name the creature and point out that it hears well.
pethen (Psalm 58:4; Psalm 91:13). The wicked are compared to the deaf adder that stops her ears. There is an old tradition that the adder sometimes laid one ear in the dust and covered the other with its tail. But snakes have no external ears, and snake charmers confirm that all known adders can hear, though some species are more easily attracted than others. This name is held to point to the deadly cobra.
That is the point of the comparison. The refusal is an act, not a disability. Writers apply it to those who heard Jesus speak:
In addition to those who were so incapable of hearing that they are even described as "dead," there were those who would not hear. They were deaf also, but deliberately so. Like the deaf adder, they stopped their ears on purpose (Psalm 58:4; Isaiah 33:15; Zechariah 7:11). They did not want to hear the words of wisdom and truth and life spoken to them by the Great Prophet of God. Their stubborn refusal to hear their Messiah made their guilt as great as it could be, as the Lord said: "If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin" (John 15:22).
The charmer's skill makes no difference here. Writers trace the closed ear back to a poison in human nature.
This is true of all mankind. If God does not step in with grace and stop it, the evil will not only continue but increase. Only the goodness of God leads men to repentance (Romans 2:4). Those who resist His goodness will go on developing greater evil. The poison of their very nature will spread in hatred toward God and toward others too. Nothing will appeal to their sense of decency or honour. Their ears are as deaf as a cobra's, unmoved by charmers, however skilled they may be.
One writer puts God Himself in the place of the charmer, and traces the deaf ear back to its source.
Verses 3 to 5 describe the deadly features of human corruption, and trace the evil to its source... In every age, nature has kept up its evil consistency with itself. Men have been deaf to the voice of divine wisdom, and have listened only to the persuasion of their own desires... The world has no ear for God when He speaks in the gospel of His Son, because it is filled and satisfied by the lie of the devil, which deceives the whole world... Divine wisdom does indeed try to charm with new and marvellous words. God has become a suitor to His creature. He speaks of excellent things to win them, drawing self-ruined sinners to the untried happiness of free forgiveness (2 Corinthians 5:20).
If the problem lies in the nature, then better technique in the charmer will not solve it. Writers draw the conclusion plainly.
But nature is dead to God, and so the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God. The charmer charms in vain until the serpent-brood is changed by a miracle into the newborn children of light (Psalm 58:3-5; 1 Peter 2:9).
When people refuse the appeal, the psalm turns to God's own answer:
Psalm 58 admits that nothing but divine judgment can meet the case. So it looks for the unsparing but just vengeance of God in the earth.
One further warning follows the closed ear. It can become permanent:
Scripture speaks of a third group. These are people who refused to hear the word of God, and then fall under the terrible punishment of a judicial deafness. They closed their ears in the day of their visitation and so went past the limits of God's patience. They are no longer permitted to hear.
- The voice. The charmer works by soft, gentle speech. So verse 5 shows someone refusing a kind appeal, not someone resisting force.
- The refusal. Snakes can hear. The deafness here is chosen — the same stopping of ears found in those who would not listen to Christ.
- The root. The closed ear comes from a poison in human nature. Resist God's goodness and that poison grows worse, not better.
- The remedy. Only God's own step of grace stops the evil; no skill in the charmer reaches a deaf ear.
- The outcome. When people refuse to the end, the psalm looks to God's judgment. Scripture warns that ears shut long enough may be shut for good.