Psalm 58: 1- 11
Bad to the bone
To the Chief Musician. Set to “Do Not Destroy.” A Michtam of David.
1 Do you indeed speak righteousness, you silent ones? Do you judge uprightly, you sons of men? 2 No, in heart you work wickedness; You weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth. 3 The wicked are estranged from the womb; They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies. 4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent; They are like the deaf cobra that stops its ear, 5 Which will not heed the voice of charmers, charming ever so skillfully. 6 Break their teeth in their mouth, O God! Break out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD! 7 Let them flow away as waters which run continually; When he bends his bow, let his arrows be as if cut in pieces. 8 Let them be like a snail which melts away as it goes, like a stillborn child of a woman, that they may not see the sun. 9 Before your pots can feel the burning thorns, He shall take them away as with a whirlwind, as in His living and burning wrath. 10 The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance; He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked, 11 So that men will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous; Surely He Is God who judges in the earth.”
Today’s topic deal with wicked people. Growing up and living in Philly I have come to personally be aware of wickedness. I gained more education with doing ministry in the inner city than anyone could learn in a college majoring in social studies. We have such a bad crime area within the city that it has its own name which is called the ‘bad lands’. Sad to say is that many a poor child is born in this area.
Say and think what you want but there are a couple of men who poured out their hearts relative to poverty and crime. The first one I want to mention is Malcom X. Look at his impacting words, ‘When you live in a poor neighborhood, you are living in an area where you have poor schools. When you have poor schools, you have poor teachers. When you have poor teachers, you get a poor education. When you get a poor education, you can only work in a poor-paying job. And that poor-paying job enables you to live again in a poor neighborhood. So, it's a very vicious cycle.’
Next I want to mention a singer and song writer by the name of George Thorogood who had a famous song called Bad to the Bone. Let me just list his first stanza;
On the day I was born
The nurses all gathered 'round
And they gazed in wide wonder
At the joy they had found
The head nurse spoke up
And she said "leave this one alone"
She could tell right away
That I was bad to the bone
Bad to the bone
Bad to the bone
B-B-B-B-Bad to the bone
B-B-B-B-Bad
B-B-B-B-Bad
Bad to the bone
Here’s a harsh reality: in the United States, the problem is poor on poor crime.
These poverty and crime statistics prove that when the standard of living is depressed, the individuals living in poverty see the benefits of committing a crime to meet their basic needs is worth the risk of getting caught. And, when severe poverty is considered, there is a direct correlation to a rise in violent crime.
This is because people in the poorest of conditions are desperate. With desperation comes a willingness to survive.
People living in households in the US that have an income level below the Federal poverty threshold have more than double the rates of violent victimization compared to individuals in high-income households.
Individuals who live in poverty are more likely to report a crime than those who do not live in poverty, but more than half of all crime is believed to go unreported to local law enforcement.
When people live in households that are struggling with poverty, they also have a higher rate of violence that involves a firearm at 3.5 per 1,000 people compared to 0.8-2.5 per 1,000 people in middle-to-high income families.
When looking at the overall correlation between poverty and crime, there are some facts that jump out. For example: when someone receives more education, they are less likely to commit a crime and are more likely to earn a living wage.
What does all this mean? There is a direct correlation between socioeconomic status in the United States and experiencing a risk of violent crime.
The 16-24 age demographic has experienced the highest unemployment rates and the highest increases in unemployment since 2008. In some areas, unemployment in this age demographic exceeded 20%. Nearly one-third of this demographic lives in poverty and are the most likely to commit crime and become the victim of crime.
Some groups in the US are impacted by poverty at much higher rates. Although, on average, 14% of households are below the poverty thresholds.
On average, America’s youth were involved in 25% of all serious violent victimizations that do not include murder for all crime committed annually.
About 2.5 million youth are arrested on an annual basis, with the most common crime being larceny-theft.
For this reason, if a “poor on poor” perspective is taken, one fact becomes increasingly clear: households that are living in poverty are facing the largest percentage of having a life of crime.
The poverty rate for married couples in the US is just 6%, but for single mothers in the US, the poverty rate is 31%.
The poverty and crime statistics prove that when people can meet their basic needs and have access to health services, then their standard of living improves. When jobs with livable wages are offered, people are more likely to meet their needs through legitimate means.
I have one more person who was influenced by poverty yet grew up to be a multi-millionaire. His name was Elvis and his greatly impacting song is, In the Ghetto.
As the snow flies on a cold and gray Chicago mornin'
A poor little baby child is born in the ghetto
And his mama cries 'cause if there's one thing that she don't need
It's another hungry mouth to feed in the ghetto
People, don't you understand the child needs a helping hand
Or he'll grow to be an angry young man some day?
Take a look at you and me; are we too blind to see?
Do we simply turn our heads and look the other way?
Well, the world turns and a hungry little boy with a runny nose
Plays in the street as the cold wind blows in the ghetto
And his hunger burns, so he starts to roam the streets at night
And he learns how to steal and he learns how to fight in the ghetto
Then one night in desperation a young man breaks away
He buys a gun, steals a car, tries to run, but he don't get far
And his mama cries
As a crowd gathers 'round an angry young man
Face down on the street with a gun in his hand in the ghetto
As her young man dies on a cold and gray Chicago mornin'
Another little baby child is born in the ghetto
And his mama cries
To the Chief Musician. Set to “Do Not Destroy.” A Michtam of David.
The heading is a reproduction of the heading to Psalm 57 without the final clause. Psalm 58 is another of the many Psalms dedicated to the Choirmaster or Chief Musician.
Having himself been a victim of injustice, both at the hands of Saul, and at the hands of his duly appointed authorities, David battles against injustice in all its forms. It has brought home to him the sinfulness of man in general, and he calls on God to deal with it wherever it is found. He then ends the Psalm in the triumphant assurance that righteousness will prevail because it is God Who judges the earth.
Having constantly experienced injustice at the hands of those who ruled over Israel, David gives his assessment of them. Instead of being men who quietly assess things and come to the right verdict, they make hasty judgments and act violently. It is certainly a fair assessment of the behavior of Saul.
1 Do you indeed speak righteousness, you silent ones? Do you judge uprightly, you sons of men?
David reminds us of what they are, they are ‘sons of men (adam)’, not gods or heavenly beings. And he challenges them to consider as to whether they are wise in their judgments. Are they of those who listen quietly before coming to a verdict? Do they judge uprightly? David’s experience is otherwise. He was constantly aware of how much he had suffered because of those who would not listen to the truth.
To ‘speak righteousness’ is in context to pronounce a righteous verdict. To do it ‘in silence’ is to act thoughtfully without being swayed by outside voices, or inward prejudices. The wise judge listens and does not talk too much. ‘He who refrains his lips does wisely’ (Proverbs 10.19). The Book of Proverbs constantly emphasizes the need for the righteous to be silent, and not to judge things precipitately and speak too quickly (Proverbs 10.19).
2 No, in heart you work wickedness; You weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.
His reply to his own question is ‘No’. The tendency of men is not to judge uprightly (verse 1), nor to listen (verses 4-5), but to ‘work unrighteousness’ (the word for wickedness constantly contrasts with righteousness), to come to hasty judgments, to be unrighteous of heart, to dispense (weigh out) their own kind of justice through violence. It was an assessment that came from his own experience.
David’s verdict on the unrighteous is that they are like this from birth. That there is within man that which causes them to go astray, a tendency to sin. They are like snakes who poison men, and never listen.
3 The wicked are estranged from the womb; They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
The unrighteous are like it even from birth. They are estranged from righteousness and justice, and therefore from God, from the womb. They are ‘alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their hearts’ (Ephesians 4.18). As soon as they are born they begin to use deceit to get their own way. Babes in arms soon discover how they can get attention for themselves by pretending that there is something wrong. And as they grow older such deceit becomes natural to them. It arises from what men are.
4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent; They are like the deaf cobra that stops its ear, 5 Which will not heed the voice of charmers, charming ever so skillfully.
When they grow up they are like snakes who are filled with poison with which they harm others. And what is worse they are like the deadly poisonous deaf adders who will not listen to any attempt to make them hear. They go blindly on in their own way, without a thought of what they are doing. No matter how wisely God and good men speak to them, they are deaf to all attempts to reach them.
In the same ways David had made every effort to show Saul how wrong he was about him. But Saul even refused to listen to the pleas of his own son Jonathan. Whatever was said his ears were closed. All he could do was strike out with deadly poison.
In five more vivid illustrations David calls on God to deal with the unrighteous, followed by a sixth by which he assures the unrighteous that all their plans will come to nothing. In the first three he calls for them to be rendered harmless; to have their teeth broken, to be caused to disappear like dangerous, life threatening, fast flowing water, and to be robbed of their means of hurting people. In the next three he calls for them to have the life span of a snail, or the lifelessness of a still born child, and then assures them that they will lose their means of hurting people, because God will sweep them away. Please take note that along with the illustration about the snake there are seven illustrations in all, an indication of divine completeness.
6 Break their teeth in their mouth, O God! Break out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD!
As well as being like snakes, his adversaries are like lions on the hunt. The breaking of the teeth was an ancient way of rendering a fierce animal harmless. So David calls on God to ‘break the teeth’ of those who are arrayed against him, in other words to render them comparatively harmless. He describes them as young lions with large teeth. David wants them neutralized.
7 Let them flow away as waters which run continually; When he bends his bow, let his arrows be as if cut in pieces.
His next illustration is of flood waters which suddenly arise, flow swiftly along the bed of the wadi sweeping all before it, and then as quickly disappear, leaving once more a dry river bed. Their life-threatening violence is replaced by calm. He calls on God to ensure this end for the unrighteous, no doubt with his own assailants in mind.
His third illustration is of an archer whose arrows have their points removed. When he lets loose his arrows, may they be rendered useless. In the same way, he prays, when unrighteous let loose their arrows, but let them be rendered harmless.
8 Let them be like a snail which melts away as it goes, like a stillborn child of a woman, that they may not see the sun.
His illustrations now change from asking for the unrighteous to be rendered harmless, to praying for their untimely end. His next illustration is that of a snail which is short-lived, and melts and passes away. The snail clings to the rock, but the burning heat of the son causes it to shrivel and melt so that all that is left is the empty shell clinging to the rock.
He prays that the unrighteous, who are equally disgusting, might be equally short-lived.
His next illustration is that of the stillborn child which never lives to see the sun. In the same way he prays for a swift end for the unrighteous.
9 Before your pots can feel the burning thorns, He shall take them away as with a whirlwind, as in His living and burning wrath.
He closes his list of illustrations by referring to habit of the traveler to gather desert scrub to light his fire by which to heat his cooking pot. Having made a fire with some of it and having piled up beside the fire a heap from which he can feed the flames, he sits there contentedly anticipating the heating up of his prey. But suddenly a desert storm arises, and a whirlwind sweep away both the burning scrub beneath his pot, and the green scrub which is his reserve. To his chagrin he no longer has any means of heating his pot and burning his victim.
In the same way the unrighteous, who have claimed their prey and are eagerly preparing to devour them, will suddenly discover that all their hopes are dashed by a storm from YHWH which sweeps away their means of doing harm.
The Psalm ends with the assurance that there is a God Who judges in the earth (or ‘land’), which will be made known to the righteous by His acts of vengeance on their behalf, in accordance with what has previously been described.
10 The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance; He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked,
When the righteous (those who are responsive to God’s covenant of grace) see the unrighteous rendered harmless or swept away they will rejoice, not vindictively but because it means that righteousness has triumphed. The righteous are warned against seeking vengeance with the assurance that they can leave it in God’s hands. “Vengeance belongs to Me,” says YHWH, “I will repay” (Hebrews 10: 30). But they can only rejoice when God finally does deal with unrighteousness. The picture of washing the feet in blood comes from the battlefield. The idea is not that the righteous choose to use the blood to wash in, but that they will be unable to avoid it, because God’s judgment has made it inevitable. The thought is that judgment has come on the unrighteous and they have been totally defeated.
11 So that men will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous; Surely He Is God who judges in the earth.”
The reason for the rejoicing of the righteous is now made clear. It is because it brings home to them that righteousness is finally rewarded, and that there truly is a God Who judges the earth.
