Psalms 58-59
Dear RTB’ers,
Two psalms today – unlike yesterday’s two psalms, these two are seemingly unconnected. In Psalm 58 David is attaching unrighteous judges, asking the Lord to restrain them and praying for deliverance for this unjustly tried. Then in Psalm 59 David is again praying for his own protection against his enemies.
David believes that these unrighteous judges are inherently evil – from birth: The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies. (v. 58:3) But he also has confidence in God’s deliverance of the righteous from unjust decisions. I especially like verse 11: … surely there is a God Who judges on earth. They’ll get theirs!
Psalm 59 is (again!) a bit confusing. The header has this Psalm as a time “…when Saul sent men to watch his house in order to kill him.” But then the wording of the Psalm seems to speak more of Israel’s enemies, not just one man (Saul) pursuing another (David). The first four verses seem personal enough. But then David seems to get more global: You, LORD God of hosts, are God of Israel. (v. 59:5a) We even have mention of “nations” in verses 5 and 8. He has them prowling around the city (Ps. 59:6b), not just watching “his house”. So there seems to be a major disconnect between the header and the text of the Psalm. But however we read the text, we again see David’s confidence, his expectation of the Lord’s deliverance. Strangely enough, David does not want his enemies killed; he wants his “people” to know that it is God who is his avenger and that his enemies are slowly “consumed” so that even they will know of the God in Heaven: … consume them till they are no more, that they may know that God rules over Jacob to the ends of the earth. (v. 59:13b) I need to learn from David’s example: O my Strength, I will sing praises to You, for You, O God, are my fortress, the God Who shows me steadfast love. (v. 59:17) I think praise is David’s secret weapon!
Blessings.
See also: