PSALM LVIII _David reproves wicked counsellors and judges, who pervert_ _justice, and stir up the strong against the weak and innocent_, 1-5. _He foretells their destruction, and describes the nature of it_, 6-9. _The righteous, seeing this, will magnify God's justice and_ _providence_, 10, 1... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 58:2. _YEA, IN HEART YE WORK WICKEDNESS_] With their _tongues_ they had spoken maliciously, and given evil counsel. In their _hearts_ they meditated nothing but wickedness. And though in their _hands_ they held the _scales of justice_, yet in their use of them they were _balances of inj... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 58:3. _THE WICKED ARE ESTRANGED FROM THE WOMB_] "This," says Dr. _Kennicott_, "and the next _two_ verses, I take to be the answer of Jehovah to the question in the _two_ first verses, as the Psalms 58:6, Psalms 58:7, and Psalms 58:8, are the answer of the psalmist, and the remainder con... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 58:4. _THEIR POISON_ IS _LIKE THE POISON OF A SERPENT_] When they bite, they convey poison into the wound, as the serpent does. They not only injure you by outward acts, but by their malevolence they poison your reputation. They do you as much evil as they can, and propagate the worst... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 58:5. _WHICH WILL NOT HEARKEN TO THE VOICE OF CHARMERS_] The old Psalter translates and paraphrases these two verses curiously: - _Vulg_. Furor illis secundum similitudinem serpentis; sicut aspidis surdae et obturantis aures suas: Quae non exaudiet vocem incantantium et venefici in can... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 58:6. _BREAK THEIR TEETH_] He still compares Saul, his captains, and his courtiers, to _lions_; and as a lion's power of doing mischief is greatly lessened if all his teeth be broken, so he prays that God may take away their power and means of pursuing their bloody purpose. But he may p... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 58:7. _LET THEM MELT AWAY AS WATERS_] Let them be minished away like the waters which sometimes run in the desert, but are soon evaporated by the _sun_, or absorbed by the _sand_. WHEN _HE BENDETH_ HIS BOW] When my adversaries aim their envenomed shafts against me, let their arrows not... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 58:8. _AS A SNAIL_ WHICH _MELTETH_] The _Chaldee_ reads the verse thus: "They shall melt away in their sins as water flows off; as the creeping snail that smears its track; as the untimely birth and the blind mole, which do not see the sun." The original word שבלול _shablul_, a _snail... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 58:9. _BEFORE YOUR POTS CAN FEEL THE THORNS_] Ye shall be destroyed with a sudden destruction. From the time that the fire of God's wrath is kindled about you, it will be but as a moment before ye be entirely consumed by it: so very short will be the time, that it may be likened to the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 58:10. _THE RIGHTEOUS SHALL REJOICE WHEN HE SEETH THE_ _VENGEANCE_] He shall have a strong proof of the Divine providence, of God's hatred against sinners, and his continual care of his followers. _HE SHALL WASH HIS FEET IN THE BLOOD OF THE WICKED._] This can only mean that the slaugh... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 58:11. _SO THAT A MAN SHALL SAY_] That is, people, seeing these just judgments of God, shall say, There is a reward (פרי _peri,_ _fruit_) to the righteous man. He has not sown his seed in vain; he has not planted and watered in vain: he has the fruit of his labours, he eats the fruit of... [ Continue Reading ]