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简体中文
英文原文
It is the probable conjecture of some (Amyraldus particularly) that before Saul began to persecute David by force of arms, and raised the militia to seize him, he formed a process against him by course of law, upon which he was condemned unheard, and attainted as a traitor, by the great council, or supreme court of judicature, and then proclaimed "qui caput gerit lupinum—an outlawed wolf," whom any man might kill and no man might protect. The elders, in order to curry favour with Saul, having passed this bill of attainder, it is supposed that David penned this psalm on the occasion. I. He describes their sin, and aggravates that, Ps 58:1-5. II. He imprecates and foretels their ruin, and the judgments which the righteous God would bring upon them for their injustice (Ps 58:6-9) which would redound, 1. To the comfort of the saints, Ps 58:10. 2. To the glory of God, Ps 58:11. Sin appears here both exceedingly sinful and exceedingly dangerous, and God a just avenger of wrong, with which we should be affected in singing this psalm.
1-5
A Reproof to Wicked Judges
简体中文
责备恶人的审判官
交与伶长。调用「休要毁坏」。大卫的金诗。
¹ 世人哪，你们果然讲公义吗？世人哪，你们果按正直审判吗？
² 不然，你们心中作恶；你们在地上衡量手中的强暴。
³ 恶人一出母胎，就与神疏远；一离母腹，便走错路，说谎话。
⁴ 他们的毒气好像蛇的毒气；他们好像塞耳的聋虺，
⁵ 不听行法术的声音；虽用极巧妙的咒语，也是不听。
我们有理由认为本诗篇论及扫罗和他的爪牙对大卫的恶意，因为它与前后两篇都同有标题（「休要毁坏」及「大卫的金诗」），而前后两篇据其标题都是大卫就那次逼迫而写的——在那种逼迫中神保守了他（「休要毁坏」），因此他当时所写的诗篇对他是宝贵的——「金诗」——「大卫的宝石」（如哈蒙德博士所译）。
在这些经文中，大卫不是以君王身份——因他尚未登基——而是以先知身份，奉神的名控告并定罪他的审判官，其权威和公正远超过他们控告他所表现的。他控告他们两件事：
一、他们治理的腐败。他们是一个议会，一个审判官的法庭——也许甚至是一个国会或议会——人本可期望他们公正行事，因为他们是精通律法的人，自幼研习那些公义的律例典章——他国的律法无可比拟。人本不会想到这样的议会能被贿赂和收买；然而似乎他们确被如此，因为基士的儿子能为他们所作的，耶西的儿子不能作（撒上22:7）。他有葡萄园、田地、官职可赐给他们，因此为讨好他，他们无所不可——无论对错。在所罗门对这地和其弊端的一切沉痛观察中，最叫他痛心的，莫过于看见「审判之处有奸恶」（传3:16）。扫罗的时代也是如此。1. 审判官不肯行公义，不肯保护或为受屈的无辜者伸冤（诗58:1）：「你们果然讲公义吗？果按正直审判吗？不；你们相去甚远；你们自己的良心不能不告诉你们，你们并未尽你们作官长所受的托付——你们本当「作恶人的畏惧，行善之人的称赞」。这就是你们所自称施行审判的公义吗？这就是诚实人和诚实的案子可从你们期待的庇护和眷顾吗？当记念你们是「世人」——必死的人——你们在神面前与你们所践踏的最卑微者同站一个水平，你们自己也必受审问被审问。你们是「世人」，所以我们可以向你们自己申诉，也向那刻在每人心中的自然律申诉：「你们果然讲公义吗？」你们第二次的思想岂不纠正你们所行的吗？」请注意，我们当常常反省自己所说过的话，并以此严肃的问题自问——「我们果然讲公义吗？」——好叫我们收回所说错的话，并不再继续。2. 他们行了大量的冤屈；他们使用自己的权柄支持伤害和欺压（诗58:2）：「你们心中作恶」（生活中的一切恶都是在心中作的）。这暗示他们行事极其筹算操纵——不是出于偶然，而是出于预谋设计，且怀着强烈的倾向和坚决。恶行中心意越多就越糟（传8:11）。他们的恶是什么？接着说：「你们在地上（或在国中）衡量手中的强暴」，而那地本是他们受命作保守者之地。他们尽其所能行强暴和伤害——或为致富或为报仇——并且他们「衡量」；即：1. 他们行事极其诡诈谨慎：「『你们照法则和准绳去策划』」（原文如此），「使它有效地达到你们害人的意图；你们是欺压之术的大师。」2. 他们以公义为掩饰而行事。他们手中拿着天平（公义的象征），仿佛有意行公义——他们也确被期待行公义——但结果却是强暴欺压，并且因在法律和公义的幌子下施行而更加有效。
二、他们本性的败坏。这是那苦根，从中长出苦胆和茵陈（诗58:3）：「恶人」——心中作恶的恶人——「一出母胎，就与神疏远」，与神和一切良善疏远，「与神所赐的生命隔绝」，与其原则、能力和喜乐隔绝（弗4:18）。罪的状态就是与我们受造所要认识神、事奉神的状态隔绝的状态。不要希奇这些恶人敢行如此的事，因为恶在他们骨子里与生俱来；他们把它带入世界；他们本性中对它有强烈的倾向；他们从邪恶的父母学了它，又因不良的教养被养成其中。他们被称为——且名实相符——「一出母胎就犯罪的人」；因此除了他们「行事极其诡诈」之外，不能有所期待（赛48:8）。他们一出母胎就走迷——离开神、离开本分——（即尽可能早地走迷）；系在心中的愚妄随着理性的初次运作就显出来；如麦子长出来，稗子也一同长出来。这里举出本性败坏的三个例证：1. 虚谎。他们很快就学会说谎，并「弯舌头如弓」专门为此（耶9:3）。小孩子何等快就会说一个谎言以推诿过失，或为自己的称赞！他们一能说话，就说得罪神的话；舌头的罪是我们实际罪行中最早的几种之一。2. 恶毒。「他们的毒气」（即他们的恶意，他们对良善和一切善人——尤其对大卫——所怀的忌恨）「好像蛇的毒气」——天生的、有毒的、极其有害的，是他们永不能根治的。我们怜悯被意外中毒的狗，却恨恶天生有毒的蛇。这一类蛇种对主和他的受膏者所存的咒诅的敌意，正是如此。3. 不受教。他们恶毒，没有什么能感化他们——无论理由还是善意——都不能使他们软化，使他们转好。「他们好像塞耳的聋虺」（诗58:4、5）。诗人既将这些他所控告的恶人比作蛇——因他们有毒的恶意——便借此在另一方面将他们比作聋虺；关于这虺，当时有这通俗的传说：人们借音乐或别的技艺能行法术迷惑蛇，或毁灭它或至少使之不能害人；但聋虺会将一只耳贴地，用尾巴塞住另一只耳，便听不见念咒的声音，如此便挫败了其意图，保护了自己。使用这比喻既不证实这故事，也不（若它属实）为使用此法术辩护；它只是借所传闻之事作比方，以说明罪人在罪中之路上何等固执。神在他的话语和护理中的旨意，是要医治蛇的恶毒；为此那些「法术」何等智慧、何等有大能、何等精心挑选！合宜的话何等有力！但在大多数人身上都是徒然；原因何在？因为他们不肯听。再没有比那不愿听的人更聋的了。「我们向人吹笛，他们不跳舞」；他们既塞了耳，怎能跳呢？
英文原文
A Reproof to Wicked Judges
To the chief musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David.
¹ Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?
² Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.
³ The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.
⁴ Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear;
⁵ Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.
We have reason to think that this psalm refers to the malice of Saul and his janizaries against David, because it bears the same inscription (Al-taschith, and Michtam of David) with that which goes before and that which follows, both which appear, by the title, to have been penned with reference to that persecution through which God preserved him (Al-taschith—Destroy not), and therefore the psalms he then penned were precious to him, Michtams—David's jewels, as Dr. Hammond translates it.
In these verses David, not as a king, for he had not yet come to the throne, but as a prophet, in God's name arraigns and convicts his judges, with more authority and justice than they showed in prosecuting him. Two things he charges them with:
I. The corruption of their government. They were a congregation, a bench of justices, nay, perhaps, a congress or convention of the states, from whom one might have expected fair dealing, for they were men learned in the laws, had been brought up in the study of these statutes and judgments, which were so righteous that those of other nations were not to be compared with them. One would not have thought a congregation of such could be bribed and biassed with pensions, and yet, it seems, they were, because the son of Kish could do that for them which the son of Jesse could not, 1Sa 22:7. He had vineyards, and fields, and preferments, to give them, and therefore, to please him, they would do any thing, right or wrong. Of all the melancholy views which Solomon took of this earth and its grievances, nothing vexed him so much as to see that in the place of judgment wickedness was there, Ec 3:16. So it was in Saul's time. 1. The judges would not do right, would not protect or vindicate oppressed innocency (Ps 58:1): "Do you indeed speak righteousness, or judge uprightly? No; you are far from it; your own consciences cannot but tell you that you do not discharge the trust reposed in you as magistrates, by which you are bound to be a terror to evil-doers and a praise to those that do well. Is this the justice you pretend to administer? Is this the patronage, this the countenance, which an honest man and an honest cause may expect from you? Remember you are sons of men; mortal and dying, and that you stand upon the same level before God with the meanest of those you trample upon, and must yourselves be called to an account and judged. You are sons of men, and therefore we may appeal to yourselves, and to that law of nature which is written in every man's heart: Do you indeed speak righteousness? And will not your second thoughts correct what you have done?" Note, It is good for us often to reflect upon what we say with this serious question, Do we indeed speak righteousness? that we may unsay what we have spoken amiss and may proceed no further in it. 2. They did a great deal of wrong; they used their power for the support of injury and oppression (Ps 58:2): In heart you work wickedness (all the wickedness of the life is wrought in the heart). It intimates that they wrought with a great deal of plot and management, not by surprise, but with premeditation and design, and with a strong inclination to it and resolution in it. The more there is of the heart in any act of wickedness the worse it is, Ec 8:11. And what was their wickedness? It follows, "You weigh the violence of your hands in the earth" (or in the land), "the peace of which you are appointed to be the conservators of." They did all the violence and injury they could, either to enrich or avenge themselves, and they weighed it; that is, 1. They did it with a great deal of craft and caution: "You frame it by rule and lines" (so the word signifies), "that it may effectually answer your mischievous intentions; such masters are you of the art of oppression." 2. They did it under colour of justice. They held the balances (the emblem of justice) in their hands, as if they designed to do right, and right is expected from them, but the result is violence and oppression, which are practised the more effectually for being practised under the pretext of law and right.
II. The corruption of their nature. This was the root of bitterness from which that gall and wormwood sprang (Ps 58:3): The wicked, who in heart work wickedness, are estranged from the womb, estranged from God and all good, alienated from the divine life, and its principles, powers, and pleasures, Eph 4:18. A sinful state is a state of estrangement from that acquaintance with God and service of him which we were made for. Let none wonder that these wicked men dare do such things, for wickedness is bred in the bone with them; they brought it into the world with them; they have in their natures a strong inclination to it; they learned it from their wicked parents, and have been trained up in it by a bad education. They are called, and not miscalled, transgressors from the womb; one can therefore expect no other than that they will deal very treacherously; see Isa 48:8. They go astray from God and their duty as soon as they are born, (that is, as soon as possibly they can); the foolishness that is bound up in their hearts appears with the first operations of reason; as the wheat springs up, the tares spring up with it. Three instances are here given of the corruption of nature:—1. Falsehood. They soon learn to speak lies, and bend their tongues, like their bows, for that purpose, Jer 9:3. How soon will little children tell a lie to excuse a fault, or in their own commendation! No sooner can they speak than they speak to God's dishonour; tongue-sins are some of the first of our actual transgressions. 2. Malice. Their poison (that is, their ill-will, and the spite they bore to goodness and all good men, particularly to David) was like the poison of a serpent, innate, venomous, and very mischievous, and that which they can never be cured of. We pity a dog that is poisoned by accident, but hate a serpent that is poisonous by nature. Such as the cursed enmity in this serpent's brood against the Lord and his anointed. 3. Untractableness. They are malicious, and nothing will work upon them, no reason, no kindness, to mollify them, and bring them to a better temper. They are like the deaf adder that stops her ear, Ps 58:4,5. The psalmist, having compared these wicked men, whom he here complains of, to serpents, for their poisonous malice, takes occasion thence, upon another account, to compare them to the deaf adder or viper, concerning which there was then this vulgar tradition, that whereas, by music or some other art, they had a way of charming serpents, so as either to destroy them or at least disable them to do mischief, this deaf adder would lay one ear to the ground and stop the other with her tail, so that she could not hear the voice of the enchantment, and so defeated the intention of it and secured herself. The using of this comparison neither verifies the story, nor, if it were true, justifies the use of this enchantment; for it is only an allusion to the report of such a thing, to illustrate the obstinacy of sinners in a sinful way. God's design, in his word and providence, is to cure serpents of their malignity; to this end how wise, how powerful, how well-chosen are the charms! How forcible the right words! But all in vain with most men; and what is the reason? It is because they will not hearken. None so deaf as those that will not hear. We have piped unto men, and they have not danced; how should they, when they have stopped their ears?
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Prophetic Imprecations
简体中文
预言性的咒诅
⁶ 神啊，求你敲碎他们口中的牙；耶和华啊，求你拔掉少壮狮子的大牙。 ⁷ 愿他们如水流归逝；神啊，他张弓射箭，愿他们如草被砍。 ⁸ 愿他们如蜗牛消化而逝，如妇人早产未见天日的婴孩。 ⁹ 你们的鼎还未觉到荆棘的火热，他必像旋风将他们全然刮去，无论是活的，是在怒中的。 ¹⁰ 义人见仇敌遭报就欢喜；他要在恶人的血中洗脚。 ¹¹ 因此，人必说：义人诚然有善报；在地上诚然有施行判断的神。
在这些经文中，我们有：
一、大卫为他的仇敌——并为神教会和百姓的一切仇敌——所发的祷告；因为他正是如此看待他们，所以他乃是出于公众之心为他们祷告，并非出于任何私怨。1. 他求使他们无力再行恶害（诗58:6）：「神啊，求你敲碎他们口中的牙！」不是要他们不能自养，而是要他们不能以别人为掠物，诗3:7。他不是说「敲断他们的颈项」（不；让他们活着悔改，「不要杀他们，恐怕我的民忘记」），而是「敲碎他们口中的牙」，因为它们是狮子，是少壮狮子，以掠夺为生。2. 求使他们在已经设下的计谋中失望，不能得逞：「他张弓」，瞄准「射箭」攻击心里正直的人，愿他们「如草被砍」（诗58:7）。愿他们跌倒在他脚前，永不能中的。3. 求使他们的势力衰微、归于无有，使他们「如水流归逝」；意即如陆上洪水，虽一时看似可怖，不久便渗入地里或归回河道，或泛言之，如「水泼在地上，不能再收」，渐渐干涸消失。那些有时「使我们害怕」（诗18:4）的「匪徒的急流」也必如此；那些威胁要漫过我们灵魂的「狂傲的水」（诗124:4-5）也必如此退去。让我们借着信心看见它们将成何物，便不怕它们如今是什么。他祷告（诗58:8）使他们「如蜗牛消化」，蜗牛因自己的爬行而消耗，每伸展一次便留下一些湿气，渐渐必将耗尽它——虽然它爬过之后留下一条发光的痕迹。那像在自己壳中的蜗牛、自满自恃的人，所行不过是消耗自己，不久便把自己带到无有。他又求使他们「如妇人早产未见天日的婴孩」，一活即死，永未「见天日」。约伯在激动之时，巴不得自己便是这样的人（伯3:16），他却不自知所言。我们可以凭信心为教会仇敌的计谋如此祷告，正如先知所行（何9:14：「耶和华啊，求你将什么赐给他们呢？求你给他们坠胎的子宫和干瘪的乳房」），这话正是解释了诗人这祷告。
二、他对他们灭亡的预言（诗58:9）：「在你们的锅还未觉到」荆棘之火的热气以先——这事很快就要发生，因为它是速速燃起、燃时猛烈之火——神必如此迅速地，借着这样急而猛烈的火焰，把他们刮走，如同借着旋风那样可怖、那样无可抵抗，如同活的，如同在烈怒之中。
1. 这些箴言式的表达稍有难明，但意思却清楚：（1）神的审判常在恶人欢乐之中突袭他们，霎时把他们刮走。当他们开始行在自己所燃之火的光中、并自己所点之火花的亮中之时，他们便被「躺卧在痛苦之中」（赛50:11），他们的笑声如同荆棘在锅下爆裂之声，其中所得的安慰不久便消失，来不及说：「哀哉！我暖和了」，传7:6。（2）从全能者而来的毁灭无可抵挡；因为「谁能晓得神怒气的权势？」当神要取去罪人，无论死活，他们都不能与他相争。「恶人被自己的罪孽推走。」如今：
2. 诗人预期罪人灭亡有两样善果：（1）圣徒因此得鼓励、得安慰（诗58:10）：「义人见仇敌遭报就欢喜」。恶人的威势、权能、昌盛和成功，使义人灰心；它们使他们心忧，使他们的手发软，有时又是强烈的试探，使他们质疑自己的根基，诗73:2、13。但当他们看见神的审判把他们刮走、为他们向神百姓所行的一切恶事施行公义的报应之时，他们便因他们的疑惑由此得着满足、他们对神护理、他对世界的公义和正直之治理的信心由此得着坚固而喜乐；他们要因如此胜过那试探——借着看见「他们的结局」（诗73:17）——而喜乐。「他要在恶人的血中洗脚」；意即必有大量的流血（诗68:23），而圣徒看见神在罪人灭亡中得荣耀，便如疲倦的旅人得以洗脚那样得着大的舒爽。这也必有助于他们的成圣；看见报应便使他们「在神面前战兢」（诗119:120），又使他们确信罪的恶，并他们向那为他们辩屈、不容人害他们而不受罚的神所有的本分。圣徒因恶人灭亡而有的喜乐，当这喜乐有助于使他们成圣、使他们从罪中得洁净之时，便是圣洁的喜乐，是合理的。（2）罪人因此被折服、被挽回（诗58:11）。神有时在这世上向恶人所施的报应，必使人说：「义人诚然有善报。」任何人都可以从这样的护理中得出这推论，许多人也必如此行——他们从前否认这些浅显的真理，或怀疑它们。有人要被逼如此认罪，有人则心思如此改变，以致甘愿承认，并感谢神使他们看见这事，并因见这事而满足：神存在，并且：〔1〕他是他圣徒和仆人丰富的赏赐者：「诚然」（无论如何，可如此读）「义人有善报」；无论他为他的信仰遭遇何等亏损、受何等艰苦，他至终不仅不致亏损，更要无可言喻地获益。即使在这世上，义人也有赏赐；他们要在地上得着报偿。那些似乎被轻视、被藐视、被丢弃的，必蒙顾念、蒙尊荣、蒙保护。〔2〕他是世界的公义治理者，必向他的国的仇敌算账：「诚然」，无论如何，虽然恶人昌盛、并向神的公义挑战，这事却必显明出来，叫他们羞愧——世界并非由偶然治理，而是由一位有无限智慧和公义的所治理；「在地上诚然有施行判断的神」，虽然他已在天上预备了他的宝座。他掌管着凡人儿女的一切事务，并按自己旨意所定的，为自己的荣耀而指引、安排它们；他必刑罚恶人——不仅在来世，更「在地上」——就是他们积攒财宝、应许自己得福乐之处——「在地上」，使耶和华借他所施的审判被人认识，并使这些审判被看作将来审判的凭据。「他是神」（我们如此读），不是软弱的人，不是天使，不是单单一个名字，不是（如无神论者所说）人的恐惧和幻想所造之物，不是被神化的英雄，不是日头和月亮（如拜偶像者所想象的），而是神——一位自有永有、完全的存有；审判地的就是他；所以当求他的恩宠，因为每个人的审判都从他而出，也当使一切的审判都归给他。
英文原文
Prophetic Imprecations
⁶ Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD.
⁷ Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.
⁸ As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.
⁹ Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.
¹⁰ The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
¹¹ So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.
In these verses we have,
I. David's prayers against his enemies, and all the enemies of God's church and people; for it is as such that he looks upon them, so that he was actuated by a public spirit in praying against them, and not by any private revenge. 1. He prays that they might be disabled to do any further mischief (Ps 58:6): Break their teeth, O God! Not so much that they might not feed themselves as that they might not be able to make prey of others, Ps 3:7. He does not say, "Break their necks" (no; let them live to repent, slay them not, lest my people forget), but, "Break their teeth, for they are lions, they are young lions, that live by rapine." 2. That they might be disappointed in the plots they had already laid, and might not gain their point: "When he bends his bow, and takes aim to shoot his arrows at the upright in heart, let them be as cut in pieces, Ps 58:7. Let them fall at his feet, and never come near the mark." 3. That they and their interest might waste and come to nothing, that they might melt away as waters that run continually; that is, as the waters of a land-flood, which, though they seem formidable for a while, soon soak into the ground or return to their channels, or, in general, as water spilt upon the ground, which cannot be gathered up again, but gradually dries away and disappears. Such shall the floods of ungodly men be, which sometimes make us afraid (Ps 18:4); so shall the proud waters be reduced, which threaten to go over our soul, Ps 124:4,5. Let us by faith then see what they shall be and then we shall not fear what they are. He prays (Ps 58:8) that they might melt as a snail, which wastes by its own motion, in every stretch it makes leaving some of its moisture behind, which, by degrees, must needs consume it, though it makes a path to shine after it. He that like a snail in her house is plenus sui—full of himself, that pleases himself and trusts to himself, does but consume himself, and will quickly bring himself to nothing. And he prays that they might be like the untimely birth of a woman, which dies as soon as it begins to live and never sees the sun. Job, in his passion, wished he himself had been such a one (Job 3:16), but he knew not what he said. We may, in faith, pray against the designs of the church's enemies, as the prophet does (Ho 9:14, Give them, O Lord! what wilt thou give them? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts), which explains this prayer of the psalmist.
II. His prediction of their ruin (Ps 58:9): "Before your pots can feel the heat of a fire of thorns made under them (which they will presently do, for it is a quick fire and violent while it lasts), so speedily, with such a hasty and violent flame, God shall hurry them away, as terribly and as irresistibly as with a whirlwind, as it were alive, as it were in fury."
1. The proverbial expressions are somewhat difficult, but the sense is plain, (1.) That the judgments of God often surprise wicked people in the midst of their jollity, and hurry them away of a sudden. When they are beginning to walk in the light of their own fire, and the sparks of their own kindling, they are made to lie down in sorrow (Isa 50:11), and their laughter proves like the crackling of thorns under a pot, the comfort of which is soon gone, ere they can say, Alas! I am warm, Ec 7:6. (2.) That there is no standing before the destruction that comes from the Almighty; for who knows the power of God's anger? When God will take sinners away, dead or alive, they cannot contest with him. The wicked are driven away in their wickedness. Now,
2. There are two things which the psalmist promises himself as the good effects of sinners' destruction:— (1.) That saints would be encouraged and comforted by it (Ps 58:10): The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance. The pomp and power, the prosperity and success, of the wicked, are a discouragement to the righteous; they sadden their hearts, and weaken their hands, and are sometimes a strong temptation to them to question their foundations, Ps 73:2,13. But when they see the judgments of God hurrying them away, and just vengeance taken on them for all the mischief they have done to the people of God, they rejoice in the satisfaction thereby given to their doubts and the confirmation thereby given to their faith in the providence of God and his justice and righteousness in governing the world; they shall rejoice in the victory thus gained over that temptation by seeing their end, Ps 73:17. He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked; that is, there shall be abundance of bloodshed (Ps 68:23), and it shall be as great a refreshment to the saints to see God glorified in the ruin of sinners as it is to a weary traveller to have his feet washed. It shall likewise contribute to their sanctification; the sight of the vengeance shall make them tremble before God (Ps 119:120) and shall convince them of the evil of sin, and the obligations they lie under to that God who pleads their cause and will suffer no man to do them wrong and go unpunished for it. The joy of the saints in the destruction of the wicked is then a holy joy, and justifiable, when it helps to make them holy and to purify them from sin. (2.) That sinners would be convinced and converted by it, Ps 58:11. The vengeance God sometimes takes on the wicked in this world will bring men to say, Verily, there is a reward for the righteous. Any man may draw this inference from such providences, and many a man shall, who before denied even these plain truths or doubted of them. Some shall have this confession extorted from them, others shall have their minds so changed that they shall willingly own it, and thank God who has given them to see it and see it with satisfaction, That God is, and, [1.] That he is the bountiful rewarder of his saints and servants: Verily (however it be, so it may be read) there is a fruit to the righteous; whatever damage he may run, and whatever hardship he may undergo for his religion, he shall not only be no loser by it, but an unspeakable gainer in the issue. Even in this world there is a reward for the righteous; they shall be recompensed in the earth. Those shall be taken notice of, honoured, and protected, that seemed slighted, despised, and abandoned. [2.] That he is the righteous governor of the world, and will surely reckon with the enemies of his kingdom: Verily, however it be, though wicked people prosper, and bid defiance to divine justice, yet it shall be made to appear, to their confusion, that the world is not governed by chance, but by a Being of infinite wisdom and justice; there is a God that judges in the earth, though he has prepared his throne in the heavens. He presides in all the affairs of the children of men, and directs and disposes them according to the counsel of his will, to his own glory; and he will punish the wicked, not only in the world to come, but in the earth, where they have laid up their treasure and promised themselves a happiness—in the earth, that the Lord may be known by the judgments which he executes, and that they may be taken as earnests of a judgment to come. He is a God (so we read it), not a weak man, not an angel, not a mere name, not (as the atheists suggest) a creature of men's fear and fancy, not a deified hero, not the sun and moon, as idolaters imagined, but a God, a self-existent perfect Being; he it is that judges the earth; his favour therefore let us seek, from whom every man's judgment proceeds, and to him let all judgment be referred.
有人(Amyraldus 尤其)如此合理推测:在扫罗以兵力逼迫大卫、调集民兵捉拿他之前,他曾按法律程序对他立案,使他在不获申辩之下被定罪,被大议会或最高审判庭判为叛逆,然后宣告为「被放逐的狼」——人人可杀、无人可保。众长老为谄媚扫罗既通过此剥夺公权的判决,据推测大卫便是因此而作本诗。本篇结构如下:一、他描述他们的罪,并加重其罪(诗58:1-5);二、他咒诅并预言他们的灭亡,以及公义的神必因其不公而加诸他们的审判(诗58:6-9),其结果:1. 归于圣徒的安慰(诗58:10);2. 归于神的荣耀(诗58:11)。罪在此显为极其有罪、极其危险,神也在此显为冤屈的公义报应者;我们唱这首诗时当受感于此。