Psalm 59 Howling Like Dogs or Sharing the Love?

Over the years, in devotionally commenting on this psalm, I have consistently landed on the final strophe (v.16-17) as my emphasis. I have posted these verses with my comments at least five times! So, in approaching this psalm today, I will intentionally discuss several other verses before hitting the well-trod landing zone in v. 17.

Who Let the Dogs Out?

By michael ely, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.
wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13897885

This psalm starts as an individual lament with a prayer request that pulls up short of being fully imprecatory (v. 1-5). David claims his innocence, and at this point in his life, he was innocent of any wrongdoing. He had served God, the king, and the people of Israel bravely and faithfully only to be cancelled and nearly killed by the king’s jealousy. These specific enemies were persistent in their howling, prowling, and growling when they “don’t eat their fill” (v.15). The answer to the question of who let these dogs out is Saul. Still, they were seeking their own profit through treachery which is never a good investment strategy. David asked the Lord to “punish all the nations” not in general but sparing “none of those who treacherously plot evil” (v. 5).

What is the chorus of this psalm? What is the repeated phrase that acts as a bridge between sections? “Each evening they come back, howling like dogs and prowling about the city.” (v. 6, 14) The psalmist adds to the point by repeating that each evening “those who treacherously plot evil” (v.5) come back looking for trouble at his expense.

Sometimes our troubles...or those troubling people just do not ever seem to go away...coming back "each evening". Yet, like the psalmist we can choose to sing of God's strength even when we feel we do not have any; of his steadfast love amid our trial!

Don’t you just love how in the middle of being stalked by Saul's agents each night David could still sing of God's strength? He knew that God would preserve him until the morning! Such faith in a loving God makes for a good night's sleep no matter what is going on outside.

Photo by Gurth Bramall on Unsplash

I love dogs, but when the neighbors’ dogs' incessant barking wakes me from sleep in the
middle of the night or early in the morning, I find it highly irritating. Imagine that the metaphorical dogs are people saying bad things about you and trying to provoke you into an emotional response. Also, it helps us to understand the imagery used here when we realize that the dogs of ancient Israel were not house pets but dirty, skulking, sneaking, thieving creatures. In my mind, I compare them to pack hunters like hyenas and coyotes… loud at night and we should not underestimate the damage they can do.

Famous Last Words

These human “dogs” came howling and bellowing rumors, slander, and lies about David. Why didn’t they fear that they might be held accountable for their words? Because they were practical atheists and in the employ of the king so, they feared neither God nor man. As verse 7 describes.

There they are, bellowing with their mouths
    with swords in their lips—
    for “Who,” they think, “will hear us?” (v.7)

Such words and boasts do not discomfit God for indeed he laughs at the impotent self-deception. David set himself to watch for what the Lord would do negatively towards the bloodthirsty men and positively towards the faithful summed up in verse 10,

My God in his steadfast love will meet me;
    God will let me look in triumph on my enemies.

David initially wanted them to be judged and brought down but not killed, lest his people forget (v.11) in a sense that may allude to Judges 2:21-23 where the other nations were not utterly destroyed but were used to discipline God’s people when they sinned. In this sense, David’s prayer extends beyond his immediate context to the plight of God’s people living in exile in a fallen world.

However, while David starts by not wishing for their death, the more he considers their lies and sinful words to more worked up he gets. Let's read this section together…

Kill them not, lest my people forget;
    make them totter by your power and bring them down,
    O Lord, our shield!
For the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips,
    let them be trapped in their pride.
For the cursing and lies that they utter,
    consume them in wrath;
    consume them till they are no more,
that they may know that God rules over Jacob
    to the ends of the earth. Selah (v. 11-14)

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We are currently living in a time where conversations with those who disagree with us are difficult if not impossible. We have largely lost the ability to engage ideas, concepts, and policies reasonably and too often settle for railing against the character of the other. The ad hominem attack has always been a logical fallacy and though it has won some battles it usually ends up losing the war.

While the wicked focus on loudly expressing their displeasure when they don’t get what they want, David models a posture of faithful worship even during perilous times. Despite his frustration at the mercenaries that surrounded his house looking to capture him for King Saul, David ended his psalm with this praise for God's hesed love, and continues to place his trust in the Lord...always the best decision!

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So here is where I hit my customary landing zone in this psalm.

But I will sing of your strength;
    I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.
For you have been to me a fortress
    and a refuge in the day of my distress.
O my Strength, I will sing praises to you,
    for you, O God, are my fortress,
    the God who shows me steadfast love. (v.16-17)

Singing out loud of YHWH’s steadfast love today! No matter what lurks at the door or prowls
around the walls of our life God's love is a fortress! Despite being falsely accused, persecuted, and even being hunted down, David chose to focus on God's strength and steadfast love. I wish I could do the same thing more consistently!

I pray that we will never be pride-trapped by our words to the point of denying the truth of our faith. May we be people who are honest to God, kind to others, and transformed by the steadfast love of God! 

Psalm 58 Ding-dong! The Witch is Dead!

Psalm 58 is a type of lament referred to as an imprecatory psalm. What is that? It is a psalm that calls for the just wrath of God upon the wicked. It captures the raw cry of the poor and powerless against unjust oppression.

The iconic image of the witch's feet
protruding from under the house.

Admittedly, there is something joyous about breaking the oppression of the wicked (v.10-11). One example is in the 1939 classic, The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy’s house falls on and kills the wicked witch, the Munchkins sing, “Ding, dong, the Witch is dead…” since their fearful tormenter has been killed. A death that was very imprecatory-esque (to coin a phrase). Here are the lyrics they sang (in case you were wondering).

Ding-dong! The Witch is dead
Which old Witch? The Wicked Witch!
Ding-dong! The Wicked Witch is dead
Wake up, you sleepy head
Rub your eyes, get out of bed
Wake up, the Wicked Witch is dead
She's gone where the goblins go
Below, below, below
Yo-ho, let's open up and sing and ring the bells out
Ding-dong, the merry-oh, sing it high, sing it low
Let them know the Wicked Witch is dead!

While this type of psalm (imprecatory lament) is often quite graphic in its creatively worded and often hyperbolic poetic descriptions, the focus is not so much a longing for bloodthirsty revenge as it is for removing the oppressor and their opportunity to continue hurting others.

Now, let’s look at the biblical text of this reflection from Psalm 58.

"Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods?

 Do you             judge the children of man uprightly?

No, in your hearts you devise wrongs;

          your hands deal out violence on earth." (v.1-2)

While the author used a Hebrew term translated here as “gods” or “Mighty Ones” it is clear that he was making a sarcastic statement. Those who should have been responsible for weighing out justice to all had not done so. There may also be a bit of a peek behind the curtain to the spiritual “powers and principalities” that pull the strings of such unjust leaders. Of course, the false gods of the world never judge rightly...they are merely tools of selfishness (as are their followers). So much violence in the world comes from those ultimately seeking their own self-interests. Jesus made it clear that Christians are to be different. We are called to follow our Savior’s example by denying ourselves, taking up our crosses daily, laying down our lives, our rights, and our successes. He did not come to be served but to serve. Elsewhere he said that it was the meek who shall inherit the earth (Matt. 5:5). When we come to Christ with empty hands and an open heart He will bring his people peace, a peace that cannot be taken away by the world.

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Meanwhile, the wicked shuffle their cards, dealing out wickedness, and planting lies and injustice everywhere they go. Why do they do this? Why do their hearts devise wrongs? Because they have made an idol out of themselves. The Apostle Paul laid this out in his letter to Timothy in describing the coming days of difficulty, days that sound very much like our own.

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 

For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. (2 Tim. 3:1-5)

When you are a lover of self and not a lover of the good, how can you live peacefully in a relationship with other people, much less God? You can’t. Thus,

The wicked are estranged from the womb;
    they go astray from birth, speaking lies. (v.3)

The irony of this imprecatory psalm is that it is set to a tune titled, "Do not Destroy"! The psalmist and the lamenting community do not take it upon themselves to destroy their oppressors. Rather, such a psalm is used to process the frustration of the author/reader with wicked rulers and faux judges who are like deadly snakes that will not be charmed (v.4-5) and it asks God to deal with them as only He can. In the end, the justice of God is revealed! Everything is not as it seems!

He began to say to his disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops. (Luke 12:1-3)

It is hard for many Americans to relate to such brutal leaders and persecution as the psalmist describes...but Christians from other places know exactly what the psalmist is talking about. However, even in the USA, we are coming to see hypocrisy on a massive level unveiled.

The imprecatory request of Psalm 58 begins to make more sense when we, or those we love, have been the recipients and victims of deadly lies and unprovoked attacks.

"O God, break the teeth in their mouths;

tear out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD!

Let them vanish like water that runs away;

when he aims his arrows, let them be blunted." (v.6-7)

If I were to paraphrase these verses, I might say, “Let the source of their deadly venom be broken and torn out. Let their efforts melt away to nothing, let their assassination attempts be ineffective.”

Ultimately, we are either children of the light, who want the truth to be revealed, the corruption exposed, and the unjust scales to be recalibrated. Yet, God’s people are not to take vengeance into their own hands… only God can make those judgments without error. And one day he will complete the work. On that day,

Mankind will say, "Surely there is a reward for the righteous;                                                       surely there is a God who judges on earth." (v.11)

As noted above, Psalm 58 is an imprecatory lament that expresses the psalmist's desire and request for justice to be done! He concludes with this verse that tells what the world's reaction will be after God’s delivering judgment of the wicked appears. His judgment does not tarry until that final day but is an ongoing work that occurs every day, in every season, and yet will suddenly come to an unmistakable and unchangeable conclusion. Even now, it is his kindness and mercy that allows us to confess and repent before we are caught and face the consequences of our sins (àRom. 2:4-5). We do well to heed the words of John to the dispersed church…

If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But…

if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:6-9)

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An imprecatory lament should serve to remind us of our own shortcomings and utter dependence upon the grace of God in Christ Jesus! We all have trash that needs to be removed.

When we know how much we have been forgiven we will not quickly enter into judgment on others, but will fervently pray even for our enemies, patiently correcting with gentleness, that they might be set free for they are unwitting slaves (à 2 Tim. 2:23-26).

My prayer for us in these days is that we might have the courage to witness to the truth, the faith to see God’s powerful work on behalf of his children, the love to serve alongside him in his mission, and the hope to remain steadfast to the end.