Psalm 58:1 Sermons: [For the Chief Musician. To the tune of "Do Not Destroy." A poem by David.] Do you indeed speak righteousness, silent ones? Do you judge blamelessly, you sons of men?

◄ Psalm 58:1 ►

Do you indeed speak justly, O rulers? Do you judge uprightly, O sons of men?

Sermons

A Bold Protest Against Unrighteous Judges	C. Short	Psalm 58:1-11
Faith in Righteousness	J. Stalker, D. D.	Psalm 58:1-11
Man in Many Aspects	Homilist	Psalm 58:1-11
The Perversion of Justice	Plutarch.	Psalm 58:1-11
Unjust Judges	W. Forsyth	Psalm 58:1-11

Pulpit Commentary Homiletics

Unjust Judges

Psalm 58:1-11

W. Forsyth

There is a contrast in this psalm between the unjust judges of the earth, and God the righteous Judge of all men (vers. 1, 2, and ver. 11). "Do ye really, O ye gods, speak righteousness? Do ye in uprightness judge the children of men? Nay, in heart ye work iniquities, in the land ye weigh out the violence of your hands" (Delitzsch). This indignant protest is just. Judges have often been false to their trust. They have prostituted their power to selfish ends. They have increased instead of diminished the evils of society, and made confusion worse confounded by their wicked deeds. There are signal examples of this in the Bible, and though the lines have fallen unto us, in these last days, in pleasant places, our fathers, in the days of Bonner and Jeffries and Claverhouse, and in days of persecution, suffered grievously. But how different is it with God the Judge of all the earth! His judgments are all righteous. Even the wicked cannot complain. In their punishment they only receive, as their own consciences testify, "the just reward of their deeds." Our attention is specially concentrated on the wicked.

I. THEIR CHARACTER IS PORTRAYED. (Vers. 1-5.) Character is a growth. No man becomes of a sudden either very bad or very good. There is gradation - "first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear." We are shown wickedness in its germ. It has its source in a bad heart - a heart not right with God. From within it works toward without. Evil may for a time be concealed or held in check, but it is sure to show itself. People may be worse than they seem. God only knows the evil that lies hidden and rooted in the heart. Then we see wickedness in its development. It has been said that "tongue sins are our first transgressions." But how quickly do we proceed from "lies" to other and more flagrant forms of wickedness! The more the will of the flesh is indulged, the stronger it becomes. The poison spreads through all the veins.

"The soul grows clothed by contagion,
Imbodies and imbrutes, till she quite lose
The Divine property of her first being."

(Milton) Then cometh the consummation. All checks and warnings and remonstrances are in vain. Men become "more deaf than adders to the voice of true decision." Like Saul, they choose the evil instead of the good. Like Rehoboam, they persist in their sins. Like Ahab, they sell themselves to work iniquity. Like Israel, they harden their hearts against all teaching and rebuke, till in the end there is no remedy (2 Chronicles 36:16).

II. THEIR JUDGMENT IS PREDICTED. (Vers. 6-11.) God is long suffering and merciful. How excellent his counsels! how tender his rebukes I how gracious his calls to repentance! But when evil men knowingly and obstinately persist in their evil ways, judgment must be done. The psalmist adds image to image to strengthen the argument, and to set forth the more vividly the awful doom of the wicked.

1. Judgment, is required in the interests of humanity. In all good governments there are laws for the protection of society. If evil doers will not repent, they must be restrained. Their power to do injury must be stopped.

2. Besides, judgment is demanded in accordance with righteousness. There is nothing arbitrary in the procedure. Even evil must be dealt with fairly.

3. Judgment also is necessary for the vindication of Goers truth. There is a moral necessity why it should be "ill with the wicked." "God is not a man, that he should lie." But evil on itself shall back recoil, And mix no more with goodness, when at last. Gather'd like scum, and settled to itself, It shall be in eternal restless change, Self-fed and self-consumed; if this fail, The pillar'd firmament is rottenness, And earth's base built on stubble. (Milton.) W.F.

Biblical Illustrator

I will praise Thee, O Lord, among the people.

Psalm 57:9-11

Exemplary praise

Anon.

I. ITS THEME. Mercy and truth.

1. The blessings which flow from them reach to all men.

2. They are worthy of the unreserved confidence of all men.

II. THE SPIRIT OF ITS OFFERER.

1. Strong confidence in God.

2. Fervent gratitude and reverent admiration towards God.

III. ITS ENTHUSIASM. Seen in his resolution to praise God —

1. With the noblest powers of his being.

2. With choice instrumental accompaniment.

3. With affectionate zeal.

IV. ITS SPHERE. Universal.

V. ITS IMPERFECTION (ver. 5). Our most reverent and most enthusiastic praise is inadequate to so sublime and glorious a theme.

(Anon.).

Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? &&&

Psalm 58

Man in many aspects

Homilist.

I. THE CHARACTER OF DEPRAVED MEN PORTRAYED.

1. Unrighteous in judgment.

2. Wrong in heart.

3. Violent in the treatment of men.

4. Early in apostasy.

5. False in life.

6. Malignant in spirit.

7. Deceitful in heart.

II. THE DESTRUCTION OF WICKED MEN INVOKED.

1. Their entire destruction.

2. Their quick destruction.

III. THE SPIRIT OF RIGHTEOUS MEN MISREPRESENTED. The psalmist utters a calumny in representing them as delighting in blood. If righteous Noah had delighted in the sufferings of his enemies, would he have built an ark? No; righteous men are not men of vengeance, they are not men of blood.

IV. THE VERDICT OF ALL MEN ANTICIPATED. "So that a man shall say, Verily, there is a reward for the righteous."

1. This is a testimony that often seems to be at variance with the providential government of the human race.

2. This is a testimony that every man sooner or later will be bound by his own conscience to render. Retribution is inevitable —(1) From the law of causation. We are to-day the result of our conduct yesterday, and the cause of our conduct to-morrow; and thus ever must we reap the works of our own hands.(2) From the law of conscience. The past works of our hands are not lost. Memory gathers up the fragments of our life; and conscience stings or smiles, according to their character.(3) From the law of righteousness. There is justice in the universe; and justice will ever punish the wicked and reward the good (Galatians 6:7).

(Homilist.)

Faith in righteousness

J. Stalker, D. D.

This is a difficult psalm. It is difficult even to read; the most advanced scholarship can make hardly anything of some of the verses. Besides, the situation which it describes is very foreign to us; and here and there when it expresses delight in the destruction of enemies, the sentiment jars on the Christian sense. Yet it is a psalm of high originality, the poetic imagery being both abundant and uncommon; and it gives such clear expression to the voice of eternal righteousness that it is worth while to make an effort to extend our sympathies widely enough to comprehend it.

I. THE THRONE OF INIQUITY (vers. 1-5). Perhaps the opening words ought to be as they are given in the margin of the Revised Version, "Is the righteousness ye should speak dumb?" The psalmist is accusing the administrators of justice of bribery. In the second verse, he describes them as weighing out violence in the scales in which justice ought to be weighed. That is, they observed all the solemn forms of justice, but had no regard for the interests of those who could not pay for their verdicts. In the East this has always been, and is at the present day, one of the leading features of an evil time. Justice cannot be procured; the well-doing man is harassed by his wicked neighbours, and has no redress. The effect of this condition of things on the general community is given in vers. 3-5. Society is poisoned in every department. Lying especially is everywhere rife, as it will always be where there is a corrupt administration of justice. Insensibility to the voices of reason and of the spirit is universal. Men are, he says, like the deaf adder, which stoppeth her ear and will not listen to the voice of the charmer, charm he ever so wisely. There have been epochs in history like this — when at the top of society there has been a corrupt court with a profligate aristocracy, and down through all ranks of the people the poison of falsehood and worldliness has been so diffused that there has been apparently no audience for any one speaking for God, and no career for any one wishing to be simple and true. On the small scale, such a situation often exists. The individual finds himself in a position where those above him are false, reckless and profligate; success seems to be obtainable only by lying and selfishness; and a tender conscience has no chance.

II. THE THRONE OF GOD (vers. 6-9). What is to be done in such a situation? The natural thing is to conform, and this is what the majority in all ages do: being at Rome they act as Rome does. Indeed, without religious conviction it is difficult to see how any one can act otherwise, where sin is strong and tyrannical, occupying all the high places, speaking through the organs of public opinion, and exhibiting to the young hundreds of examples. But it is here the Bible helps us. The writer of this psalm, though surrounded by prosperous wickedness, saw, over against the throne of iniquity, another throne lofty and eternal. It was the throne of the living and righteous God. He fixed his eyes on it till his soul was filled with faith and strength; and then, when he turned his eyes to look again on the images of the evil world's power, their glory and stability had disappeared, and they looked fleeting and paltry. In a series of striking figures of speech he expresses his disdain of them. They are like toothless lions and fangless serpents (ver. 6); like a torrent which for a moment may seem to be a river, but immediately disappears in the sand (ver. 7); like an abortion; for their plans will come to nothing (ver. 8); they are cooking the flesh of their pleasure in a pot, but, before it is ready for eating, a whirlwind from the desert will carry the fire away (ver. 9).

III. THE SPECTACLE OF JUSTICE (vers. 10, 11). Not only does the psalmist, inspired by the vision of the eternal throne, foresee that this must be the issue, but he earnestly pleads for it; and he does so on two grounds — that the righteous may obtain the reward of their righteousness, and that all men may see that there is a God that judgeth in the earth. The triumph of injustice can only be temporary. There is a day coming when all the unjust judgments both of corrupt tribunals and of unrighteous society will be reversed. Even now God asserts Himself and vindicates His own; and, when He does so, the instincts of every honest heart must rise up to welcome Him.

(J. Stalker, D. D.)

The perversion of justice

Plutarch.

Agesilaus, indeed, in other respects was strictly and inflexibly just; but where a man's friends are concerned, he thought a rigid regard to justice a mere pretence. There is still extant a short letter of his to Hydreius the Carian, which is a proof of what we have said: "If Nicias is innocent, acquit him; if he is not innocent, acquit him on my account; however, be sure to acquit him."

(Plutarch.)

People

David, Psalmist, Saul

Places

Jerusalem

Topics

Al-taschith, Al-tashheth, Blamelessly, Chief, Choirmaster, Congregation, David, Decree, Destroy, Dumb, Equity, Gods, Gt, Indeed, Judge, Judges, Justly, Leader, Lt, Michtam, Miktam, Mouths, Music, Musician, Music-maker, O, Ones, Overseer, Poem, Psalm, Righteously, Righteousness, Rulers, Secret, Silence, Silent, Sons, Speak, Treasure, Tune, Upright, Uprightly

Outline

1. David reproves wicked judges
3. describes the nature of the wicked
6. devotes them to God's judgments
10. whereat the righteous shall rejoice

Dictionary of Bible Themes

Psalm 58:1

5509 rulers

Psalm 58:

5420 music

Psalm 58:1-2

     5346   injury
     5349   injustice, examples
     5568   suffering, causes

Library

Of Internal Acts
Of Internal Acts Acts are distinguished into External and Internal. External acts are those which bear relation to some sensible object, and are either morally good or evil, merely according to the nature of the principle from which they proceed. I intend here to speak only of Internal acts, those energies of the soul, by which it turns internally to some objects, and averts from others. If during my application to God I should form a will to change the nature of my act, I thereby withdraw myself …
Madame Guyon—A Short and Easy Method of Prayer

Epistle vi. To Januarius, Bishop of Caralis (Cagliari).
To Januarius, Bishop of Caralis (Cagliari). Gregory to Januarius, &c. The Jews who have come hither from your city have complained to us that Peter, who has been brought by the will of God from their superstition to the worship of Christian faith, having taken with him certain disorderly persons, on the day after his baptism, that is on the Lord's day of the very Paschal festival, with grave scandal and without your consent, had taken possession of their synagogue in Caralis, and placed there the …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

Peaceable Principles and True: Or, a Brief Answer to Mr. D'Anver's and Mr. Paul's Books against My Confession of Faith, and Differences in Judgment About Baptism no Bar to Communion.
WHEREIN THEIR SCRIPTURELESS NOTIONS ARE OVERTHROWN, AND MY PEACEABLE PRINCIPLES STILL MAINTAINED. 'Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?'--Psalm 58:1 SIR, I have received and considered your short reply to my differences in judgment about water baptism no bar to communion; and observe, that you touch not the argument at all: but rather labour what you can, and beyond what you ought, to throw odiums upon your brother for reproving you for your error, …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Faith the Sole Saving Act.
JOHN vi. 28, 29.--"Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." In asking their question, the Jews intended to inquire of Christ what particular things they must do, before all others, in order to please God. The "works of God," as they denominate them, were not any and every duty, but those more special and important acts, by which the creature might secure …
William G.T. Shedd—Sermons to the Natural Man

Augustin's Part in the Controversy.
Both by nature and by grace, Augustin was formed to be the champion of truth in this controversy. Of a naturally philosophical temperament, he saw into the springs of life with a vividness of mental perception to which most men are strangers; and his own experiences in his long life of resistance to, and then of yielding to, the drawings of God's grace, gave him a clear apprehension of the great evangelic principle that God seeks men, not men God, such as no sophistry could cloud. However much his …
St. Augustine—Anti-Pelagian Writings

Moral Depravity.
VIII. Let us consider the proper method of accounting for the universal and total moral depravity of the unregenerate moral agents of our race. In the discussion of this subject, I will-- 1. Endeavor to show how it is not to be accounted for. In examining this part of the subject, it is necessary to have distinctly in view that which constitutes moral depravity. All the error that has existed upon this subject, has been founded in false assumptions in regard to the nature or essence of moral depravity. …
Charles Grandison Finney—Systematic Theology

An Address to the Regenerate, Founded on the Preceding Discourses.
James I. 18. James I. 18. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. I INTEND the words which I have now been reading, only as an introduction to that address to the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty, with which I am now to conclude these lectures; and therefore shall not enter into any critical discussion, either of them, or of the context. I hope God has made the series of these discourses, in some measure, useful to those …
Philip Doddridge—Practical Discourses on Regeneration

The Necessity of Actual Grace
In treating of the necessity of actual grace we must avoid two extremes. The first is that mere nature is absolutely incapable of doing any thing good. This error was held by the early Protestants and the followers of Baius and Jansenius. The second is that nature is able to perform supernatural acts by its own power. This was taught by the Pelagians and Semipelagians. Between these two extremes Catholic theology keeps the golden mean. It defends the capacity of human nature against Protestants and …
Joseph Pohle—Grace, Actual and Habitual

The Mystery
Of the Woman dwelling in the Wilderness. The woman delivered of a child, when the dragon was overcome, from thenceforth dwelt in the wilderness, by which is figured the state of the Church, liberated from Pagan tyranny, to the time of the seventh trumpet, and the second Advent of Christ, by the type, not of a latent, invisible, but, as it were, an intermediate condition, like that of the lsraelitish Church journeying in the wilderness, from its departure from Egypt, to its entrance into the land …
Joseph Mede—A Key to the Apocalypse

The Justice of God
The next attribute is God's justice. All God's attributes are identical, and are the same with his essence. Though he has several attributes whereby he is made known to us, yet he has but one essence. A cedar tree may have several branches, yet it is but one cedar. So there are several attributes of God whereby we conceive of him, but only one entire essence. Well, then, concerning God's justice. Deut 32:4. Just and right is he.' Job 37:23. Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out: he is excellent …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

The Wrath of God
What does every sin deserve? God's wrath and curse, both in this life, and in that which is to come. Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire.' Matt 25: 41. Man having sinned, is like a favourite turned out of the king's favour, and deserves the wrath and curse of God. He deserves God's curse. Gal 3: 10. As when Christ cursed the fig-tree, it withered; so, when God curses any, he withers in his soul. Matt 21: 19. God's curse blasts wherever it comes. He deserves also God's wrath, which is …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

Psalms
The piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the Old Testament. It constitutes the response of the Church to the divine demands of prophecy, and, in a less degree, of law; or, rather, it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal heart which lie deeper than any formal demand. It is the speech of the soul face to face with God. Its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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