Psalms 58:7

_BREAK THEIR TEETH, O GOD, IN THEIR MOUTH: BREAK OUT THE GREAT TEETH OF THE YOUNG LIONS, O LORD._ -Petition rounded on the foregoing description of the malignity of the foe; confident anticipation of the answer (Psalms 58:9). Verse 6. BREAK THEIR TEETH, O GOD. The Hebrew order brings God into prominence as the Psalmist's only resource against the "sons of men" (Psalms 58:1). 'GOD break their teeth!' Image from ravenous lions, which tear their prey with their teeth (cf. Psalms 3:7). BREAK OUT THE GREAT TEETH - `the eye-teeth,' which in lions are most formidable; the tusks. Verse 7. LET THEM MELT AWAY AS WATERS WHICH RUN CONTINUALLY - Hebrew, '(which) flow away for themselves.'

6-11 David prayed that the enemies of God's church and people might be disabled to do further mischief. We may, in faith, pray against the designs of the enemies of the church. He foretells their ruin. And who knows the power of God's anger? The victories of the Just One, in his own person and that of his servants, over the enemies of man's salvation, produce a joy which springs not from revenge, but from a view of the Divine mercy, justice, and truth, shown in the redemption of the elect, the punishment of the ungodly, and the fulfilment of the promises. Whoever duly considers these things, will diligently seek the reward of righteousness, and adore the Providence which orders all thing aright in heaven and in earth...

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 only fall short of the mark, but he broken to pieces in the flight. Some apply this to GOD. When he bends his bow against them, they shall all be exterminated....

LET THEM MELT AWAY AS WATERS WHICH RUN CONTINUALLY - Let them vanish or disappear as waters that flow off, or floods that run by, and are no more seen. “Perhaps” the allusion here may be to the waters of a torrent that is swollen, which flow off and are lost in the sand, so that they wholly disappear. See the notes at Job 6:15. The prayer is, that his enemies might perish or be cut off, and that he might thus be saved from them. WHEN HE BENDETH HIS BOW TO SHOOT HIS ARROWS - literally, “he treads on his arrows.” See the notes at Psalms 11:2. The meaning here is, When he prepares for an attack - or, prepares to make war, as one does who bends his bow, and places his arrow on the string. The allusion here is to the enemies of David, as seeking hi

EXPOSITION A PSALM of condemnation on unrighteous judges. Some suppose the judges to be superhuman beings, entrusted with the government of the earth (Cheyne). Others suggest heathen rulers of Israel, in Babylonia, during the time of the Captivity. But the language is not stronger than that addressed often to native judges (see Isaiah 1:16; Isaiah 10:1; Jeremiah 5:26-24; Micah 3:9, etc.). And there is no reason for rejecting the statement of the "title," that the psalm was written by David. It may either belong to the early years of David's reign, or to the time immediately preceding Absalom's rebellion.

LET THEM MELT AWAY AS WATERS [WHICH] RUN CONTINUALLY,.... Let them be disheartened, and their courage fail them, and let there be no spirit left in them, Joshua 7:5; or let them be unstable as water that is continually running, ever upon the flux and motion; let them never be settled, but always changing in their state and circumstances, Genesis 49:4; or let them "come to nought", as the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions; which is the case of water that runs over or runs away: or "let them be despised", as Jarchi, and the Arabic, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions; being useless and unprofitable, as water is when passed and gone: or let their ruin and destruction be as swift as the gliding water; let them be brought to desolation in a moment;...

Psalms 58 A Judgment Psalm __ 1. Why God must judge (Psalms 58:1) 2. The judgment executed (Psalms 58:6) “Do ye of a truth in silence speak righteousness?” (literal rendering of the first verse). Righteousness is not heard on earth. Wickedness and violence are on the earth, therefore God must arise and deal with these conditions in judgment. It will overtake the wicked and the imprecatory prayers will be answered. Then the righteous will be glad when he seeth the vengeance and it will be said, “Verily there is a reward for the righteous; verily He is a God who judgeth the earth.”...

LVIII. A PRAYER FOR VENGEANCE ON UNRIGHTEOUS JUDGES. This Ps. is closely allied to Psalms 82. The reproaches in Psalms 58:3, where the enemies of the Psalmist are said to have gone astray from the womb, and Psalms 58:4, where they are compared with deaf adders, point to Jewish tyranny, such, _e.g.,_ as that of the Sadducean priests, rather than to a foreign power. Nobody would have expected heathen to hear the voice of Jewish religion. PSALMS 58:1. We ought certainly to read, Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O ye gods? (_mg.)._ The title was given in flattery (_cf._ 2 Samuel 17:14, where see _mg.),_ or wit

CUT IN PIECES. cut down [like grass]....

Since they are thus obstinately and incurably evil, nothing remains but that they should be deprived of their power to hurt or altogether destroyed....