O God, break their teeth in their mouth; break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Jehovah.
Psalm 58 describes rulers who deal out violence instead of justice, and men whose lies work like snake venom. At verse 6 the psalm stops describing and starts praying: it asks God to disarm the wicked, and that raises a hard question — may a believer pray this today?
Both halves of the verse ask for the same thing. Commentators read the teeth as the weapon the wicked use to tear into the godly. One writer traces the picture back to enemies of the Lord Jesus.
Vicious enemies gnashed their teeth at the Lord Jesus (Ps. 35:16), but such teeth will be broken in their mouths (v. 6). Like young lions these enemies sought to devour the godly, but the Lord will step in and break their fangs.
So the prayer asks God to take away their power. Another writer sees a chain of pictures here, each making the same point.
The psalmist, using a series of figures, appeals to God to execute judgment. Let the wicked be like young lions with broken teeth, stripped of power. Let them be like water that drains away, or like an archer whose blunt arrows can do no harm.
The verses just before explain why this prayer is needed. The wicked will not listen, and one writer shows where that refusal leads.
Men are estranged from God not only by nature but by their settled habits — speaking lies, and spreading the poison of error. They are also deaf to every appeal of grace, no matter how well and wisely someone presents it. So men seal their own doom and prove themselves ripe for judgment.
This psalm is often quoted to describe punishment after death. One writer says that misreads it.
Now move on to Psalm 58, and listen to language that people quote about eternal punishment. Once again it is judgment on living enemies.
Writers agree that a believer does not pray this way now. One of them roots the difference in timing: the day for patience has not yet closed.
No fair-minded reader can miss it. This psalm does not at all express the feelings that suit people who now confess the divine Saviour and so share His patient grace toward the evil and the hurtful. It expresses the desire for God's long-delayed and righteous vengeance on the wickedness that will then rise to a prouder lawlessness than ever. By then the time for patience will be past.
The same writer points to what makes the difference.
The difference in how God deals with the world clears it all up, with no need to twist the text. When God judges enemies, as He did long ago and will do again, His people share in that to a degree. Now He is displaying sovereign grace, and a different spirit of action suits them.
What replaces it in the meantime is stated plainly: today believers may rightly prefer the words of Jesus, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," and Stephen's cry as he was killed (L M Grant).
The prayer is not an end in itself. One writer says God's judgment on the living wicked has a goal.
Here we have the solemn warning of the righteous, and the call of God to carry out that judgment on the living wicked. That judgment will deliver the godly Jew of the future and clear the earth for the reign of the One who is both Son of David and Son of Man.
Another writer says what this means for God's people now.
The believer cannot yet rejoice in judgment, because in this present age the Lord is making His name and praise known in grace. Later he will learn to rejoice in it. For the Lord will vindicate His divine glory by vengeance, and He will set up His government of "the world to come" by judging "this present world."
- Teeth — the fangs stand for power to devour; the prayer asks God to leave the devourers unable to devour.
- Deafness — the prayer follows a refusal; men deaf to every appeal of grace prove themselves ripe for judgment.
- Earth — the psalm's target is living enemies on earth, not punishment after death.
- Timing — the difference is not tone but era. God is displaying grace now, so a different spirit suits His people.
- Purpose — broken power makes room for God's government; His vengeance vindicates His glory.
Let them melt away as waters that flow off; when he aimeth his arrows, let them be as blunted
Psalm 58 is a prayer against violent men who twist justice. Two questions press on any reader: what do these pictures describe, and can a Christian pray them?
The verse takes two pictures from daily life: running water and an archer. It turns them on enemies the psalm has just called young lions. Older translations read "melt away as waters," and the writers below use that wording.
Vicious enemies gnashed with their teeth against the Lord Jesus (Ps. 35:16), but such teeth will be broken in their mouths (v. 6). As young lions these enemies tried to devour the godly, but the Lord will step in and break their fangs. They will flow away as in a swift river (v. 7). When they bend their bow, they will find it useless. The arrows will be as if cut in pieces, dropping to the ground before they can shoot them.
The prayer turns straight into prediction. The psalmist sees his request as already granted, and one more picture rules out any comeback.
The psalmist then calls down God's judgment on them. He asks God to break out the teeth of the lions and leave them powerless. And at once the psalmist foresees and predicts the judgment for which he has prayed. The hostile army melts away like water running off. They have fought their lost battle, but with headless arrows. True, a defeated army may recover and win back its ground. But this is like the melting of a slug: it dissolves for good.
Nothing here suggests the wicked will get better. Their melting away is not slow decay. It is what their strength comes to the moment God steps in.
Only a few words are needed on Psalm 58. The force of the psalm is this: the wicked, as such, will never be reformed, but God will judge them. Then men will see that there is a reward for the righteous, and a God who judges the earth. … God comes in and Jehovah judges. Let their power and strength be as lions — they melt away to nothing when His hand comes in.
Commentators read the psalm as words given by the Spirit to godly sufferers in a coming day, not as a model for present-day prayer. Notice that even then, the appeal is to God to act — not a licence for the sufferers to strike back themselves.
Any open mind can see it. This psalm follows on from the ones before it. It does not express the feelings that belong to people who now confess the divine Saviour and who therefore share His patient grace toward evil and hurtful men. It expresses instead the longing for God's long-delayed and righteous vengeance on wickedness that will then rise to a prouder lawlessness than ever. The time for patience will then be past. Those who fear God in that day, and who know His ways, will do a most holy thing when they pray for His judgment on His enemies and theirs — for they are the same. The time is near. The Spirit lets them look ahead to it, while keeping them from taking violent measures of their own.
Commentators trace the difference to hope. Christians leave the world for heaven; Israel's rest has to come here, on earth.
So it is that we find in the Psalms these appeals for judgment, and demands for it. They have often stumbled Christians when the enemies of Christianity press them. They are not the expression of Christian feelings. We leave the world and go to heaven. In no way do we have to demand our enemies' destruction to pass into glory. But Israel cannot have rest on earth until God destroys the wicked. So they do demand this righteous judgment, and this is how God will deliver them.
The prayer is not spite. It has a settled goal, stated in the psalm's closing verse.
Faith judges the wicked who sit in the seats of power, and says so ever more plainly (vv. 1, 2). It looks for God's destroying judgment on them, so that He may set up His government: "there is fruit for the righteous," "there is a God that judges in the earth." (v. 11.)
- Melt — Strength drains off like a fast river. Arrows fall apart as the bow is drawn, and the attacker is left with nothing.
- Melt for good — A beaten army can regroup. A melting slug cannot. This ruin has no comeback.
- Melt before God — Let their strength be as lions'. They still come to nothing the moment God's hand comes in.
- Melt at whose request — Commentators read this as the Spirit's words for godly sufferers in a coming day. They ask God to judge; the Spirit keeps them from striking back.
- Melt to what end — God sets up His government on earth. Then men see there is fruit for the righteous, and a God who judges the earth.
Let them be as a snail that melteth as it passeth away; [like] the untimely birth of a woman, let them not see the sun.
Psalm 58 prays that God would break the power of unjust rulers. Verse 8 turns that prayer into two pictures — a snail and a stillborn child — and raises a hard question: can a Christian pray this?
Older translations read "as a snail which melts", and the Hebrew word behind it carries its own history of explanation. One reference work traces both the word and the mistaken idea that grew up around it:
In Leviticus 11:30 the word chomet is thought to mean a lizard of some kind; the Revised Version has "sand-lizard." In Psalm 58:8 the word is shablul, and of it the psalm says it "melts." The Jews wrongly thought that a snail slowly wasted away through the slime it leaves on its trail. The passage simply means that a dead snail seems to melt away completely. It stands as a symbol of the wicked passing away.
A beaten army can come back. These two pictures allow no such return:
The hostile army melts away like water running off. They have fought their lost battle with arrows that had no heads. True, a defeated army may recover itself and win back its ground. But this is like the melting of a slug, which is its dissolution beyond remedy. Or it is like the stillborn child of a woman, which disappoints all the hopes it raised, and has no future.
The wicked here are not weak opponents:
God comes in and Jehovah judges. Let their power and strength be as lions: they melt away to nothing when His hand comes in.
Another writer names the moment when that melting happens:
Lions they may be, and with the poison of serpents; yet they melt as snails when He appears in His glory, and the sword that goes out of His mouth prepares the scene for the throne of His glory over the earth.
People sometimes take language like "never sees the sun" as a picture of hell. Commentators here read it another way:
Now turn to the fifty-eighth psalm, and listen to language which people quote about eternal punishment. It is again judgment upon living enemies.
Another writer sets the scene for that judgment:
The first part of the psalm describes the state of the world just before the judgment of the living nations. It will be clear that government of the earth in man's hands has completely failed. The sons of men no longer speak nor act righteously.
One commentator explains whose prayer this is, and when it belongs:
No unprejudiced mind could fail to see what this psalm is. It follows fittingly on the psalms before it. It does not in the least express the sentiments proper to those who now confess the Divine Saviour and who therefore share His patient grace toward the evil and injurious. It expresses the desire for the long-delayed and righteous vengeance of God on the wickedness that will then rise to a prouder lawlessness than ever. The time for patience will then be past. And it will be most holy for those who then fear God and are in the secret of His ways to pray for His judgment on His and their enemies.
Another writer puts the question straight to the reader:
Every Christian must feel that the Spirit of God does not lead him to such prayers and hopes as these. Christian reader, are these the hopes which the Spirit of God leads you to cherish? We dare answer for you — No! You may not have seen the solution to this difficulty elsewhere in Scripture. But you have felt the difficulty.
The psalm does not end with vanishing enemies:
The psalm closes by expressing the joy of the righteous as they behold the judgment of the wicked... They reach their blessing through the judgment of their enemies. It will then become clear that the righteous have their reward, and that "there is a God that judges in the earth."
- Word — The snail here is shablul. The picture is a dead snail that melts away to nothing. The old idea that a snail wastes away through its own slime was a mistake.
- Finality — A beaten army can regroup. A melting slug and a stillborn child cannot; both pictures close the door for good.
- Power — However lion-like the strength of the wicked, it melts to nothing when His hand comes in and He appears in His glory.
- Place — Commentators read this as judgment on living enemies on earth, not a picture of eternal punishment. The psalm ends with a God who judges in the earth.
- Season — This prayer is not the language of those who now share Christ's patient grace. It belongs to a coming time when patience is past, and the righteous reach their blessing through the judgment of their enemies.
Before your pots feel the thorns, green or burning, -- they shall be whirled away.
Psalm 58 is a prayer against corrupt judges. Verse 9 is its sharpest picture: a fire of dry thorns under a cooking pot, blown away before the pot even warms. Two questions follow. What does the image mean, and can a believer today pray it?
The picture comes from ordinary cooking. Thorn branches burn fast and hot. A cook piles them under the pot and waits for the meal. One commentator follows the images of the psalm and ends here, with the wicked as fuel that gives nothing:
A defeated army may recover and win back its ground. But this is like a slug melting away, which dissolves it completely. Or it is like a baby born too soon, which disappoints every hope raised by it and has no future. They are like thorns that have barely warmed the pots set over them before a sudden storm scatters them everywhere. So recompense comes at last for the righteous. Men learn that there is fruit for the righteous, and a God who in judgment can put down rampant evil.
The word behind "thorns" turns up elsewhere as "bramble":
The Hebrew word atad, translated 'thorns' in Ps. 58:9, and 'bramble' in Judges 9:14-15, has been identified with the Lycium Europaeum.
For those hunted by the wicked, the verse is an encouragement. The fire meant for them never touches them:
This is an encouragement to the godly. Before they can feel the burning pain of the attacks of the wicked, God will take the wicked away with a sudden catastrophe. His burning wrath will exceed theirs. So the fire does not burn believers. Instead, they will have cause to rejoice as they see God's vengeance against their enemies (v. 10).
Why ask for such a thing? One writer answers that these people will never change. Only judgment is left — and judgment is what clears the name of the man they wronged:
The force of the psalm is this. The wicked as such are hopeless as to any 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. The question is whether there is upright, just judgment among men. There is wickedness in their hearts: they plan and plot in it. It is in their nature and will, and it shows itself in lying. It comes from the serpent and is devilish in nature. They refuse every attracting power and influence, whatever it may be. God comes in and judges. Vengeance does come in — and this is what explains the joy in it. It vindicates the just man and shows him right, however helpless and oppressed he may have seemed.
Commentators are frank: a Christian cannot make these words his own prayer. One writer quotes verses 6-10 and then asks his readers whether such longings live in their hearts:
Every Christian must feel that the Spirit of God does not lead him to such prayers and hopes as these... Christian reader, are these the hopes that the Spirit of God leads you to cherish? We dare answer for you — No!
That does not make the psalm less inspired. It belongs to a coming day, when the time for patience is over:
Here we have the call of God to carry out that judgment on the living wicked. That judgment will deliver the godly Jew of the future and clear the earth for the reign of Him who is both Son of David and Son of Man... The psalm does not express at all the feelings proper to those who now confess the Divine Saviour and so share His long-suffering grace toward the evil and injurious. It expresses the desire for God's long-delayed and righteous vengeance on iniquity, which will then rise to a prouder lawlessness than ever. The time for patience will then be past. It will then be most holy for those who fear God, and who know the secret of His ways, to pray for His judgment on His enemies and theirs, who are in truth the same. The Spirit gives them to look forward to that day, while keeping them from taking matters into their own hands.
The psalm ends with the righteous rejoicing. One writer shows when that joy comes, and what it is fixed on:
These give us the final cleansing of the kingdom from everything that causes sin and everyone who breaks God's law (Matt. 13:41). It comes after God has given full space for repentance. By then evil will have shown itself to be incurable rebellion against God, and an absolute barrier to all full blessing on the earth. So the righteous rejoice at the deliverance rather than at the mere judgment.
- Thorns. The picture is a thorn fire under a cooking pot — fast fuel blown away before the meal ever warms.
- Sudden. God scatters the wicked before their plan delivers anything — like a slug melting away, or a birth with no future.
- Shielded. God's burning wrath outruns their enemies'. The fire meant for the godly never touches them.
- Settled. These people will never change. Only judgment can clear the name of the oppressed and show that God judges the earth.
- Delayed. The joy comes only after full space for repentance, and it is joy in deliverance. That is why this is not yet the prayer of people living under long-suffering grace.
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.