PSALMS LESSON 56

     We will begin this lesson by giving the 58th chapter of Psalms in
metre.

                   THE PSALMS OF DAVID IN METRE

                             Chapter 58

Verse 1  "O Congregation, is it so that ye speak righteousness? O ye
          that are the sons of men, Judge ye with uprightness?"
Verse 2  "Yea, even in your very hearts Ye wickedness have done; And
          of your hands the violence Ye weigh the earth upon."
Verse 3  "The wicked even from their birth Estranged are from the way;
          And speaking lies as soon as born, They wander far astray.
Verse 4  "And as a serpent's poison too Their poison doth appear; Yea,
          they are like the adder deaf, Which closely stops her ear;"
Verse 5  "That so she may not hear the voice of one that charm her
          would, No, not though he most cunning were, And charm most
          wisely could."
Verse 6  "Their teeth, O God, within their mouth, Break thou in pieces
          small; The great teeth break thou out, O Lord, Of these
          young lions all."
Verse 7  "Let them like waters melt away, Which downward ever flow;
          His arrows all in pieces cut When he shall bend his bow."
Verse 8  "And like a snail that melts away, Let each of them be gone;
          that as a birth untimely they May never see the sun."
Verse 9  "He shall them take away before Your pots the thorns can
          heat, Both living, and in dreadful wrath, As with a
          whirlwind great."
Verse 10 "The righteous, when he vengeance sees, Shall be most joyful
          then; the righteous one shall wash his feet in blood of
          wicked men."
Verse 11 "So men shall say, the righteous man Reward shall never miss:
          And verily upon the earth A God to judge there is.

     We will now begin the verse by verse study of chapter 58 of
Psalms.  Psalms 58:1 "{To the chief Musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of
David.} Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge
uprightly, O ye sons of men?"

     The key word in this is congregation. Who were the congregation
that David was speaking of here? The Israelites who received the law
of God on the way to the promised land were spoken of as the
congregation. This is not the world around then, but the descendents
of these Israelites. These are people who profess God. They would be
called sons of God, if they were living up to their high calling.
Notice, though, that David speaks of them as sons of men. The only way
to speak righteousness is to have Jesus Christ dwelling inside of you.
David is saying to them that, they are pretending to be followers of
God when, in fact, they are of the world. A person who is not
righteous can not judge uprightly.

     Psalms 58:2 "Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the
violence of your hands in the earth."

     We see not only people who are pretending to be believers and are
not, but they have a very evil heart. In fact, they are so evil that
they are using their hands for evil purposes and not good. Even worse
than that, they are proud of their evil deeds. To weigh violence in
the earth is a way of saying, they are bragging about their evil.

     Psalms 58:3 "The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go
astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies."

     We know from the gospel teachings that, John the Baptist was
baptized in the Holy Ghost while he was yet in his mothers womb. His
entire life was dedicated to God. He even died a martyr at an early
age. The person, in verse 3 above, is the opposite of John the
baptist. The wicked, above, is estranged from God, even from his
mothers womb. His entire life is spent doing evil. He is a liar as
well. You would have to say the wicked, in verse 3 above, is a servant
of the devil. This person has chosen the devil over God.

     Psalms 58:4 "Their poison [is] like the poison of a serpent:
[they are] like the deaf adder [that] stoppeth her ear;"

     The poison under the tongue of the evil man can kill just as
easily as the poison of a serpent. There is no chance of them being
saved, because they have to hear and believe to be saved. Romans 10:14
"How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?  and
how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how
shall they hear without a preacher?"  We see, in the verse above, that
they are as deaf as the serpent itself.

     Psalms 58:5 "Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers,
charming never so wisely."

     You can talk to the evil people, this is talking about, all day
long and it will not convince them. They are sold out to the devil. It
seems nothing will reach them.

     Psalms 58:6 "Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out
the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD."

     David is asking God to render them harmless. If they will not
open their ears and receive the Lord, then don't let them loose where
they can harm the cause. The sad thing about all of this is, we have
to go back to the word, congregation. In some churches, even today,
there are those who are in the church to destroy it, and not to build
it up.  Even in the 12 apostles Jesus chose to help him, there was one
whose father was the devil. Paul warned that the churches would have
evil ones who would come in and try to destroy the church. Acts 20:28
"Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the
which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of
God, which he hath purchased with his own blood."  Acts 20:29 "For I
know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in
among you, not sparing the flock."  Acts 20:30 "Also of your own
selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away
disciples after them."  It is no different now, than it was in Paul's
day.  Pray that God will give you discernment to know who are the
destroyers.  Pray God will lock their jaw, where they will not be able
to destroy with their tongue.

     Psalms 58:7 "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."

     If they are bound up where they can not perform their evil deeds,
then they will soon leave this church and go to another that is a
little more vulnerable. Again, he is just saying, render them
harmless.

     Psalms 58:8 "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."

     David has gone so far as to say, let them die early. Usually a
baby that is born really early will not live, this is the comparison
David has made here.

     Psalms 58:9 "Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take
them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in [his] wrath."

     This, perhaps, is speaking of their untimely death. The whirlwind
will blow them away. It is, also, speaking prophetically of the end
when the wrath of God will be poured out on the wicked. They have no
security in this life, and surely have nothing to look forward to in
the next.

     Psalms 58:10 "The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the
vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked."

     Vengeance is the Lord's. Perhaps, this is speaking of the
righteous rejoicing to know that God is a just God, and He does not
allow the wicked to go on forever in their wickedness. The fact of the
blood of the evil ones being on the feet of the righteous could,
possibly, mean that at last they have been trodden under foot and
defeated. Jesus is the one who defeated the evil one. Surely His
enemies shall be trodden under His feet.

     Psalms 58:11 "So that a man shall say, Verily [there is] a reward
for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth."

     There is a day coming when it will be very apparent that the
righteous will be rewarded. Their greatest reward will be eternal life
in heaven with Jesus. Matthew 16:27 "For the Son of man shall come in
the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward
every man according to his works."  Colossians 3:24 "Knowing that of
the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve
the Lord Christ."  Not only in heaven is the reward for the righteous,
but there is the reward of peace in your soul right here on this
earth, when you receive the righteousness of Christ. As we have said
over and over in these lessons, God blesses those who are His
followers; those who have made Jesus Christ Lord of their lives. Those
who have rejected the Lord have curses abundant waiting for them.


                             Notes















































                             Questions 56

1.  Who is congregation speaking of in verse 1?
2.  Why are these people, in verse 1, not called sons of God?
3.  What are they called?
4.  They are pretending to be whom?
5.  The wickedness of the evil ones, in verse 2, is rooted where?
6.  What is the saying, {to weigh violence of your hands in the earth}
    speaking of?
7.  When was John the Baptist baptized in the Holy Ghost?
8.  Who is the wicked person, in verse 3, a servant of?
9.  The poison _____ __ _______ of the evil man is just as deadly as
    the serpent bite.
10. Quote Romans chapter 10 verse 14.
11. What does charming mean, in verse 5?
12. In verse 6, what is David asking God to do when he says, break
    their teeth?
13. How can we apply the congregation, then, to our church now?
14. What did Paul warn of in Acts chapter 20, that would happen to the
    church?
15. What should we pray to keep this from happening to our church?
16. What will the evil ones do, if they are bound up where they can do
    no harm?
17. What comparison is David making in verse 8 of this lesson?
18. What is verse 9 speaking of prophetically?
19. Who does vengeance belong to?
20. Who defeated the evil one?
21. There is a reward for the ___________.
22. What reward do the righteous receive in this life?
23. What do the evil have waiting for them?