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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Psalms LVIII].</TITLE>
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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1710)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>P S A L M S</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>PSALM LVIII.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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It is the probable conjecture of some (Amyraldus particularly) that
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before Saul began to persecute David by force of arms, and raised the
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militia to seize him, he formed a process against him by course of law,
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upon which he was condemned unheard, and attainted as a traitor, by the
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great council, or supreme court of judicature, and then proclaimed "qui
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caput gerit lupinum--an outlawed wolf," whom any man might kill and no
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man might protect. The elders, in order to curry favour with Saul,
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having passed this bill of attainder, it is supposed that David penned
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this psalm on the occasion.
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I. He describes their sin, and aggravates that,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+58:1-5">ver. 1-5</A>.
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II. He imprecates and foretels their ruin, and the judgments which the
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righteous God would bring upon them for their injustice
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+58:6-9">ver. 6-9</A>)
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which would redound,
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1. To the comfort of the saints,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+58:10">ver. 10</A>.
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2. To the glory of God,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+58:11">ver. 11</A>.
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Sin appears here both exceedingly sinful and exceedingly dangerous, and
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God a just avenger of wrong, with which we should be affected in
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singing this psalm.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Ps58_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps58_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps58_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps58_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps58_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>A Reproof to Wicked Judges.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<CENTER>
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<P>To the chief musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David.</P>
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</CENTER>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation?
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do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?
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2 Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of
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your hands in the earth.
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3 The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as
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soon as they be born, speaking lies.
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4 Their poison <I>is</I> like the poison of a serpent: <I>they are</I>
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like the deaf adder <I>that</I> stoppeth her ear;
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5 Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming
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never so wisely.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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We have reason to think that this psalm refers to the malice of Saul
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and his janizaries against David, because it bears the same inscription
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(<I>Al-taschith,</I> and <I>Michtam of David</I>) with that which goes
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before and that which follows, both which appear, by the title, to have
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been penned with reference to that persecution through which God
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preserved him (<I>Al-taschith--Destroy not</I>), and therefore the
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psalms he then penned were precious to him, <I>Michtams--David's
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jewels,</I> as Dr. Hammond translates it.</P>
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<P>
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In these verses David, not as a king, for he had not yet come to the
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throne, but as a prophet, in God's name arraigns and convicts his
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judges, with more authority and justice than they showed in prosecuting
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him. Two things he charges them with:</P>
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<P>
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I. The corruption of their government. They were a congregation, a
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bench of justices, nay, perhaps, a congress or convention of the
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states, from whom one might have expected fair dealing, for they were
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men learned in the laws, had been brought up in the study of these
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statutes and judgments, which were so righteous that those of other
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nations were not to be compared with them. One would not have thought a
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congregation of such could be bribed and biassed with pensions, and
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yet, it seems, they were, because the son of Kish could do that for
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them which the son of Jesse could not,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+22:7">1 Sam. xxii. 7</A>.
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He had vineyards, and fields, and preferments, to give them, and
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therefore, to please him, they would do any thing, right or wrong. Of
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all the melancholy views which Solomon took of this earth and its
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grievances, nothing vexed him so much as to see that in the <I>place of
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judgment wickedness was there,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+3:16">Eccl. iii. 16</A>.
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So it was in Saul's time.
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1. The judges would not do right, would not protect or vindicate
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oppressed innocency
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+58:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>):
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"<I>Do you indeed speak righteousness, or judge uprightly?</I> No; you
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are far from it; your own consciences cannot but tell you that you do
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not discharge the trust reposed in you as magistrates, by which you are
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bound to be <I>a terror to evil-doers and a praise to those that do
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well.</I> Is this the justice you pretend to administer? Is this the
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patronage, this the countenance, which an honest man and an honest
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cause may expect from you? Remember you are sons of men; mortal and
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dying, and that you stand upon the same level before God with the
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meanest of those you trample upon, and must yourselves be called to an
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account and judged. You are <I>sons of men,</I> and therefore we may
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appeal to yourselves, and to that law of nature which is written in
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every man's heart: <I>Do you indeed speak righteousness?</I> And will
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not your second thoughts correct what you have done?" Note, It is good
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for us often to reflect upon what we say with this serious question,
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<I>Do we indeed speak righteousness?</I> that we may unsay what we have
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spoken amiss and may proceed no further in it.
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2. They did a great deal of wrong; they used their power for the
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support of injury and oppression
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+58:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>):
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<I>In heart you work wickedness</I> (all the wickedness of the life is
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wrought in the heart). It intimates that they wrought with a great deal
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of plot and management, not by surprise, but with premeditation and
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design, and with a strong inclination to it and resolution in it. The
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moire there is of the heart in any act of wickedness the worse it is,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+8:11">Eccl. viii. 11</A>.
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And what was their wickedness? It follows, "<I>You weigh the violence
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of your hands in the earth</I>" (or <I>in the land</I>), "the peace of
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which you are appointed to be the conservators of." They did all the
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violence and injury they could, either to enrich or avenge themselves,
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and they weighed it; that is,
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1. They did it with a great deal of craft and caution: "<I>You frame
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it by rule and lines</I>" (so the word signifies), "that it may
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effectually answer your mischievous intentions; such masters are you of
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the art of oppression."
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2. They did it under colour of justice. They held the balances (the
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emblem of justice) in their hands, as if they designed to do right, and
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right is expected from them, but the result is violence and oppression,
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which are practised the more effectually for being practised under the
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pretext of law and right.</P>
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<P>
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II. The corruption of their nature. This was the root of bitterness
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from which that gall and wormwood sprang
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+58:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>):
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<I>The wicked,</I> who in heart work wickedness, <I>are estranged from
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the womb,</I> estranged from God and all good, <I>alienated from the
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divine life,</I> and its principles, powers, and pleasures,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eph+4:18">Eph. iv. 18</A>.
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A sinful state is a state of estrangement from that acquaintance with
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God and service of him which we were made for. Let none wonder that
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these wicked men dare do such things, for wickedness is bred in the
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bone with them; they brought it into the world with them; they have in
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their natures a strong inclination to it; they learned it from their
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wicked parents, and have been trained up in it by a bad education. They
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are called, and not miscalled, <I>transgressors from the womb;</I> one
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can therefore expect no other than that they will <I>deal very
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treacherously;</I> see
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+48:8">Isa. xlviii. 8</A>.
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They go astray from God and their duty as soon as they are born, (that
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is, as soon as possibly they can); the foolishness that is bound up in
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their hearts appears with the first operations of reason; as the wheat
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springs up, the tares spring up with it. Three instances are here given
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of the corruption of nature:--
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1. Falsehood. They soon learn to speak lies, and <I>bend their tongues,
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like their</I> bows, for that purpose,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+9:3">Jer. ix. 3</A>.
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How soon will little children tell a lie to excuse a fault, or in their
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own commendation! No sooner can they speak than they speak to God's
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dishonour; tongue-sins are some of the first of our actual
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transgressions.
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2. Malice. <I>Their poison</I> (that is, their ill-will, and the spite
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they bore to goodness and all good men, particularly to David) was
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<I>like the poison of a serpent,</I> innate, venomous, and very
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mischievous, and that which they can never be cured of. We pity a dog
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that is poisoned by accident, but hate a serpent that is poisonous by
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nature. Such as the cursed enmity in this serpent's brood against the
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Lord and his anointed.
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3. Untractableness. They are malicious, and nothing will work upon
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them, no reason, no kindness, to mollify them, and bring them to a
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better temper. <I>They are like the deaf adder that stops her ear,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+58:4,5"><I>v.</I> 4, 5</A>.
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The psalmist, having compared these wicked men, whom he here complains
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of, to serpents, for their poisonous malice, takes occasion thence,
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upon another account, to compare them to the deaf adder or viper,
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concerning which there was then this vulgar tradition, that whereas, by
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music or some other art, they had a way of charming serpents, so as
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either to destroy them or at least disable them to do mischief, this
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deaf adder would lay one ear to the ground and stop the other with her
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tail, so that she could not hear the voice of the enchantment, and so
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defeated the intention of it and secured herself. The using of this
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comparison neither verifies the story, nor, if it were true, justifies
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the use of this enchantment; for it is only an allusion to the report
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of such a thing, to illustrate the obstinacy of sinners in a sinful
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way. God's design, in his word and providence, is to cure serpents of
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their malignity; to this end how wise, how powerful, how well-chosen
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are the charms! How forcible the right words! But all in vain with
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most men; and what is the reason? It is because they will not hearken.
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None so deaf as those that will not hear. We <I>have piped unto men,
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and they have not danced;</I> how should they, when they have stopped
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their ears?</P>
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<A NAME="Ps58_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps58_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps58_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps58_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps58_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps58_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Prophetic Imprecations.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>6 Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great
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teeth of the young lions, O L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
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7 Let them melt away as waters <I>which</I> run continually: <I>when</I>
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he bendeth <I>his bow to shoot</I> his arrows, let them be as cut in
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pieces.
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8 As a snail <I>which</I> melteth, let <I>every one of them</I> pass
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away: <I>like</I> the untimely birth of a woman, <I>that</I> they may not
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see the sun.
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9 Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away
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as with a whirlwind, both living, and in <I>his</I> wrath.
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10 The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he
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shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
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11 So that a man shall say, Verily <I>there is</I> a reward for the
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righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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In these verses we have,</P>
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<P>
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I. David's prayers against his enemies, and all the enemies of God's
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church and people; for it is as such that he looks upon them, so that
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he was actuated by a public spirit in praying against them, and not by
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any private revenge.
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1. He prays that they might be disabled to do any further mischief
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+58:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>):
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<I>Break their teeth, O God!</I> Not so much that they might not feed
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themselves as that they might not be able to make prey of others,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+3:7">Ps. iii. 7</A>.
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He does not say, "Break their necks" (no; let them live to repent,
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<I>slay them not, lest my people forget</I>), but, "Break their teeth,
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for they are lions, they are young lions, that live by rapine."
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2. That they might be disappointed in the plots they had already laid,
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and might not gain their point: "<I>When he bends his bow,</I> and
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takes aim <I>to shoot his arrows</I> at the upright in heart, <I>let
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them be as cut in pieces,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+58:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>.
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Let them fall at his feet, and never come near the mark."
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3. That they and their interest might waste and come to nothing, that
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they might <I>melt away as waters that run continually;</I> that is, as
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the waters of a land-flood, which, though they seem formidable for a
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while, soon soak into the ground or return to their channels, or, in
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general, as <I>water spilt upon the ground, which cannot be gathered up
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again,</I> but gradually dries away and disappears. Such shall the
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<I>floods of ungodly men</I> be, which sometimes <I>make us afraid</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+18:4">Ps. xviii. 4</A>);
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so shall the proud waters be reduced, which threaten to go over our
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soul,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+124:4,5">Ps. cxxiv. 4, 5</A>.
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Let us by faith then see what they shall be and then we shall not fear
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what they are. He prays
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+58:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>)
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that they might <I>melt as a snail,</I> which wastes by its own motion,
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in every stretch it makes leaving some of its moisture behind, which,
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by degrees, must needs consume it, though it makes a path to shine
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after it. He that like a snail in her house is <I>plenus sui--full of
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himself,</I> that pleases himself and trusts to himself, does but
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consume himself, and will quickly bring himself to nothing. And he
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prays that they might be <I>like the untimely birth of a woman,</I>
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which dies as soon as it begins to live and never <I>sees the sun.</I>
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Job, in his passion, wished he himself had been such a one
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+3:16">Job iii. 16</A>),
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but he knew not what he said. We may, in faith, pray against the
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designs of the church's enemies, as the prophet does
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+9:14">Hos. ix. 14</A>,
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<I>Give them, O Lord! what wilt thou give them? Give them a miscarrying
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womb and dry breasts</I>), which explains this prayer of the
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psalmist.</P>
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<P>
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II. His prediction of their ruin
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+58:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>):
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"<I>Before your pots can feel the</I> heat of a fire of <I>thorns</I>
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made under them (which they will presently do, for it is a quick fire
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and violent while it lasts), so speedily, with such a hasty and violent
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flame, God shall hurry them away, as terribly and as irresistibly as
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with a whirlwind, as it were alive, as it were in fury."</P>
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<P>
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1. The proverbial expressions are somewhat difficult, but the sense is
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plain,
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(1.) That the judgments of God often surprise wicked people in the
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midst of their jollity, and hurry them away of a sudden. When they are
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beginning to walk in the light of their own fire, and the sparks of
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their own kindling, they are made to <I>lie down in sorrow</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+50:11">Isa. l. 11</A>),
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and their laughter proves like the crackling of thorns under a pot, the
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comfort of which is soon gone, ere they can say, <I>Alas! I am
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warm,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+7:6">Eccl. vii. 6</A>.
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(2.) That there is no standing before the destruction that comes from
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the Almighty; for <I>who knows the power of God's anger?</I> When God
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will take sinners away, dead or alive, they cannot contest with him.
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<I>The wicked are driven away in their wickedness.</I> Now,</P>
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<P>
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2. There are two things which the psalmist promises himself as the good
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effects of sinners' destruction:--
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(1.) That saints would be encouraged and comforted by it
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+58:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>):
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<I>The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance.</I> The pomp
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and power, the prosperity and success, of the wicked, are a
|
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discouragement to the righteous; they sadden their hearts, and weaken
|
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their hands, and are sometimes a strong temptation to them to question
|
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their foundations,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:2,13">Ps. lxxiii. 2, 13</A>.
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But when they see the judgments of God hurrying them away, and just
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vengeance taken on them for all the mischief they have done to the
|
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people of God, they rejoice in the satisfaction thereby given to their
|
|
doubts and the confirmation thereby given to their faith in the
|
|
providence of God and his justice and righteousness in governing the
|
|
world; they shall rejoice in the victory thus gained over that
|
|
temptation by seeing <I>their end,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:17">Ps. lxxiii. 17</A>.
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<I>He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked;</I> that is,
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there shall be abundance of bloodshed
|
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+68:23">Ps. lxviii. 23</A>),
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and it shall be as great a refreshment to the saints to see God
|
|
glorified in the ruin of sinners as it is to a weary traveller to have
|
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his feet washed. It shall likewise contribute to their sanctification;
|
|
the sight of the vengeance shall make them tremble before God
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+119:120">Ps. cxix. 120</A>)
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and shall convince them of the evil of sin, and the obligations they
|
|
lie under to that God who pleads their cause and will suffer no man to
|
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do them wrong and go unpunished for it. The joy of the saints in the
|
|
destruction of the wicked is then a holy joy, and justifiable, when it
|
|
helps to make them holy and to purify them from sin.
|
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(2.) That sinners would be convinced and converted by it,
|
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+58:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
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The vengeance God sometimes takes on the wicked in this world will
|
|
bring men to say, <I>Verily, there is a reward for the righteous.</I>
|
|
Any man may draw this inference from such providences, and many a man
|
|
shall, who before denied even these plain truths or doubted of them.
|
|
Some shall have this confession extorted from them, others shall have
|
|
their minds so changed that they shall willingly own it, and thank God
|
|
who has given them to see it and see it with satisfaction, That God is,
|
|
and,
|
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[1.] That he is the bountiful rewarder of his saints and servants:
|
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<I>Verily (however it be,</I> so it may be read) <I>there is a fruit to
|
|
the righteous;</I> whatever damage he may run, and whatever hardship he
|
|
may undergo for his religion, he shall not only be no loser by it, but
|
|
an unspeakable gainer in the issue. Even in this world there is a
|
|
reward for the righteous; they shall be recompensed in the earth. Those
|
|
shall be taken notice of, honoured, and protected, that seemed
|
|
slighted, despised, and abandoned.
|
|
|
|
[2.] That he is the righteous governor of the world, and will surely
|
|
reckon with the enemies of his kingdom: <I>Verily,</I> however it be,
|
|
though wicked people prosper, and bid defiance to divine justice, yet
|
|
it shall be made to appear, to their confusion, that the world is not
|
|
governed by chance, but by a Being of infinite wisdom and justice;
|
|
<I>there is a God that judges in the earth,</I> though he has prepared
|
|
his throne in the heavens. He presides in all the affairs of the
|
|
children of men, and directs and disposes them according to the counsel
|
|
of his will, to his own glory; and he will punish the wicked, not only
|
|
in the world to come, but <I>in the earth,</I> where they have laid up
|
|
their treasure and promised themselves a happiness--<I>in the
|
|
earth,</I> that the Lord may be known by the judgments which he
|
|
executes, and that they may be taken as earnests of a judgment to come.
|
|
<I>He is a God</I> (so we read it), not a weak man, not an angel, not a
|
|
mere name, not (as the atheists suggest) a creature of men's fear and
|
|
fancy, not a deified hero, not the sun and moon, as idolaters imagined,
|
|
but a God, a self-existent perfect Being; he it is that judges the
|
|
earth; his favour therefore let us seek, from whom every man's judgment
|
|
proceeds, and to him let all judgment be referred.</P>
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