Psalm 58 is one of those Psalms that
make me uncomfortable. It is full of
violent images invoked by the psalmist as punishment from God on the enemy of
the psalmist or the community for which the psalmist writes. When we read these psalms it is important to
remember the teachings of Jesus about our enemies. Jesus tells us to love our enemies. Matthew 5:43-44 says 43 “You have heard that it was said, You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 44 But
I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who harass you.”
This is a very different picture than the picture laid out by the psalmist who
cries out to God to break the teeth out of the enemies mouth and let the enemy “dissolve
like water flowing away.” It is a very
different picture then the picture the psalmist paints of the righteous “soaking
their feet in the enemies blood.”
The psalmist here uses wartime
imagery to get the main point across. I
believe it is human nature to desire to see those who cause us pain
suffer. I have said many times that one
of the things I love about the Psalms is that they validate my humanity. I don’t have to feel shame and guilt when in
my hurt and brokenness I feel like seeing those who are hurting me suffer. However, the bigger truth of this psalm and
the other psalms like it is that God is the judge. It is God who is in control of righting
wrongs.
The overall picture painted here is
that yes there is pain and suffering in the world. We can not escape it. Yes, it is natural and right to seek Justice. James Mays writes in a commentary on this
psalm that the “notion of vengeance (vs. 10) is a feature of the vision of God
as ruler. The term does not mean
vindictive revenge; it refers to an action to do justice and restore order
where the regular and responsible institutions of justice have failed.[1]
In The Wesley Study Bible there are sections throughout the bible
entitled “Holiness of Heart and Life.”
These are notes written in sidebars of the Bible by key pastors in the
Methodist tradition that help us live out our Wesleyan faith. Here is what the side bar on the page of this
passage states regarding persecution:
By “assurance” John Wesley meant a state of mind and
heart, not so much dreamy as durable. A
sense of absolute trust in God does not lift us above the fray but guides us
through the fray with confidence that someone holds us by counting our
sleepless nights and gathering our tears.
Thus the psalmist is able to weave our palpable fear of persecution with
the irrepressible hope of deliverance.
The faithful are not immune to dread; we cannot always know we will be
safe. What we can know is that, come
what may, we will be saved.[2]
Know from this
Psalm that it is natural to want to see justice brought to that which has
wronged you. Know also from this Psalm
that God is the one who is in control.
We are called to love our enemies.
We are called to forgive. We can
not do that on our own. We can do it when
we let God be the ruler over our lives and over our world. Thanks be to God.
