Today’s reading is Psalm 58.
For most of my readings and writings I can read the chapter(s) and usually form my thoughts and what I will write about fairly quickly. Sometimes it does change as I reflect on it and wait a few days to put it on paper, but I gain clarity and am confident in my theme(s). However, I have to admit that I had writer’s block for Psalm 58 so I read a few commentaries. I will share a few of my learnings and takeaways.
Psalm 58 is titled “To The Choirmaster: According To Do Not Destroy. A Mitkam of David.” The Hebrew word “mitkam” can sometimes be translated as “golden” with some referring to this as one of David’s 6 “golden” Psalms, or it can also be translated as “engraving.” Many believe this Psalm 58 where David writes about unjust and bad earthly leaders (Psalm 58:1-2) to be about Saul and his supporters with the possibility of this being called a “mitkam” because David engraved this on a cave wall while hiding from Saul and his supporters. While this is speculation, it can be imagined as a possibility considering the alternate translation for “mitkam” and the fact that David hid in caves from Saul.
David goes on to say in Psalm 58:3-5 that evil people are inherently evil from birth. No one teaches them to lie some commentaries say. He goes on in Psalm 58:6-9 to ask God to intervene and stop their evil ways. He doesn’t just ask God to change their heart, he asks for them to be destroyed. Yet, we see that David had two chances to kill Saul in a cave in 1 Samuel 24 and entering his camp while he was sleeping in 1 Samuel 26, but he did not take destroying him or the vengeance he speaks of in Psalm 58:10 into his own hands..he leaves it to God. We can learn from this because it some point in our life we will have an adversary and probably have the opportunity to take justice into our own hands and make them pay for their sins. What will we do?
The last 2 verses, Psalm 58:10-11, discuss “the righteous” rejoicing when they finally see God’s vengeance against evil people and also as proof there is truly a God who exists and judges. When I read this, it didn’t seem right for me to take joy in God’s vengeance on the unrighteous. However, I read something credited to author Maclaren which in summary said that if it is right for God to destroy, it cannot be wrong for his servants to rejoice that He does so. They just must take notice and watch that their joy is not for selfish reasons though. This is interesting perspective.
My final thoughts and reflections as I close is reading Psalm 58:10 about how the righteous will rejoice when vengeance of the evil occurs made me ask the questions..Who is righteous?…Am I righteous? David committed adultery and had Uriah killed. Is he righteous? We are only righteous through the saving grace and blood of Jesus on the cross when we come to God with a broken heart from our unrighteousness and sin as David modeled in Psalm 51. Let us reflect, confess, repent, and give thanks for that today and every day.