Righteous indignation

It’s good to be back with you again. You may have heard the true story about John Calvin who, (when he returned to Geneva after several year’s absence) began his sermon by saying ‘As I was saying …’ It would of course be arrogant of me to identify myself with him but I could in all honestly say that exactly two years ago I ended a sermon by saying:

At the end of Proverbs 3 we return again to the contrast between the righteous and the unrighteous. The wise and the foolish. The believer and the unbeliever. And if you are prepared to think about it, there is only one way to go. For who but a fool would reject the love of God and the mercy of God that we find in the wisdom of God embodied in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ?

So ‘as I was saying’ we return today to the same themes of the righteous and the unrighteous. This time not in Proverbs 3 but in Psalm 58. The Psalter is my favourite book in the Bible. As we all know the Psalms speak to the human condition. All of human life is here.

Early in the Reformation both Luther and Calvin preached on the psalms. This is not surprising since then the daily services of the church included the saying of the psalms. Martin Luther referred to the Psalter as:

a Bible in miniature

and John Calvin said that:

I have been accustomed to call this book “an anatomy of all parts of the soul”.

That’s right, isn’t it? The psalms give us the essence of what scripture is all about. Of the identity and relationship between God and man. Of an awareness of the human condition. Of the blessedness of the believer who trusts in the living God. Of the hope of heaven. Grounded in the Old Testament, the New Testament gives us the language of faith rooted and grounded in Christ. Here the long expected Jesus has come and we bow before him in humble submission. In prayer we echo the prayers he prayed in the Psalms.

The psalms are realistic and down to earth. They paint an accurate picture in vivid colours. Of the believer living the life of faith in an unbelieving world. Of the experience of living life on the edge. Of suffering unjustly. And for us having faced the challenge of living through the isolation and deprivation of lockdown. The pandemic has reminded us all that we are not in control of our destinies. Life is short. Death is close at hand. But Psalm 23.4 (NIV) encourages us to pray:

Though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil for you are with me

That promise helps us to face the challenges of Psalm 58!

1. The setting of the psalm

Could I encourage you to read the book of Psalms not as a collection of isolated poems but to look at them as part of a whole picture? There are several authors and editors who tell the same story. A bit like an art gallery where there may be paintings from the same school of artists. We may read individual psalms but we should read them as they connect with other psalms. The psalmist speaks and we hear the echo of his voice in other psalms.

Psalm 1 is the introduction to the whole of the book of Psalms. It tells us of the story of the two contrasting human conditions. The righteous and the unrighteous. The just and the unjust. The wise and the foolish. The believer and the unbeliever. We would say the Christian and the non-Christian. All of humanity, said one of the Puritans, is attached to one or other of these two apron strings. So which best describes you? Are you a believer or an unbeliever?

Taking the big picture, the book of psalms consists of five books – and Psalm 58 is taken from Book Two. But don’t look at Psalm 58 in isolation. It is connected to the previous psalm and to the following psalm. Look at the superscription – the words printed after the title and before Psalm 58.1. Look at them for Psalms 57, 58 and 59. Notice that there are common elements here; the same author, the same dedication, the same tune, the same musical notation.

David is identified as the author of 73 psalms – most of which are included in books 1 and 2. And 55 of the psalms are dedicated to the director of the Temple worship (again, mostly in books 1 and 2). The tune (with the rather uninspiring title) of ‘do not destroy’ is the setting for four psalms 57, 58, 59 and 75. Still today we are used to having words of hymns sung to different tunes. And very often people complain when ‘the wrong tune’ is used! Six times the word ‘miktam’ is found in the psalter – the guess is that it was some sort of musical notation – but no one really knows. So we have the same superscription to these three psalms 57, 58 and 59:

For the director of music. To the tune of “do not destroy”. Of David. A miktam.

There is obviously some connection between these three psalms, and with the rest of scripture too.

2. The pictures used in the psalm

When we read the Bible we know that we have before us different sorts of literature. There is narrative. There is story telling. There is poetry. There are letters. There are gospels. There are books that contain teaching about the last things. We know too that the poetry of the psalter is not the same as the good news in the gospels and the teaching of Ephesians. The artist, the poet, the seer and the apostle tell the same story that points us to Jesus.

Recently on the banks of Bassenthwaite I saw the memorial to Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892). He, like other poets, was moved by the beauty and grandeur of the Lake District. And so too were the many artists and photographers who saw the same scenes but recorded them in different ways. The pens of the poets and the brushes of the artists give us impressions of what they saw and felt and experienced and presented them to us in word and picture.

Psalm 58 includes pictures and impressions created to convey the story. But they must not to be taken too literally. Though what is said is serious there are touches here of Jewish humour. So here in Psalm 58 we are told about the venom of a snake, of the cobra that refuses to listen, of the lion that loses its teeth, of the slug that leaves a trail of slime. But the humour is dark humour a little too graphic for our sensitivities. There are vivid pictures too of the archers who drew their bows, of the cooking pots on the fire, of the water that sinks into the dry ground, the righteous standing in the blood of the unrighteous, and the shocking and uncomfortable illustration of the still-born child who never saw the light of day. Is this illustration going just a bit too far? Is it too offensive? Too raw? Of course one way to deal with Psalm 58 is to exclude it from being used in public worship.

Psalm 58 isn’t particularly easy Psalm to appreciate or to be enthusiastic about. Much of it is dark and inaccessible. Little that is encouraging. Someone has suggested that a psalm like this is ‘to touch and kindle us rather than simply to address us’ (Kidner, Psalms, volume 1, p.28). What we need to do is to look below the surface and to try and tease out what it is being said to us. And remember too, that the scholars struggle with this psalm. The first verse may refer to the pagan gods or to human tyrants (perhaps the enemies of the nation or even the king’s counsellors) and the translators disagree over Psalm 58.9 which has been described as ‘a thoroughly tangled text’ (Kidner, Psalms, volume 1, p.210) which ‘has greatly perplexed commentators’ (Calvin, Psalms, volume 2, p.376). So come with me as we try and tease out what is being said.

3. The teaching of the psalm

I said just now that Psalm 1 introduces us to the great theme of the psalter – the contrast between the righteous and the unrighteous. Psalm 57 refers to the righteous who had been moved by the faithfulness of God and had experienced the love of God and glimpsed the glory of God. And what is the believer’s response to the Lord? Praise and worship through song.

If we can easily identify ourselves with the righteous person in Psalm 57, what do we make of the unrighteous person in Psalm 58? What is he like? How is he described? We are told that he has been a sinner from birth. That he is wayward. That he tells lies. That he is like a snake who is both venomous and deaf (the snake in the garden has had many sons and daughter). Here is portrayed the evildoer who refuses to change.

Of course by nature we are all sinners from birth. Original sin has touched every part of us. We ignore God and go our own way and create gods of our own making. John Calvin put it like this:

We come into the world stained with sin…incapable, in ourselves, of aiming at anything which is good…the stain of sin cleaves to the whole human family without exception. [Calvin, Psalms, Volume 2, p.371].

Yes, we are all like this, and here David describes his enemies as the most deprived, the most cruel, the most given over to excessive wickedness.

Psalm 58 highlights the human condition. That is what we are by nature. Sinners from birth. Proud and self-centred. Spiritually blind and deaf and disobedient. And unless and until we have been the recipients of the grace of God, and experienced the love of God, the mercy of God and the forgiveness of God we remain unrighteous. We too are like those portrayed in Psalm 58. And if this psalm describes you – then I urge you to turn to Christ, believe in him and commit your life to him.

Psalm 58 touches on the justice and mercy of God and by way of contrast the unjust human leaders. Of wickedness in high places. They are not impartial. The lack integrity. They create mayhem through their violent and cruel actions. Psalm 58 also has a dark side some of which we may find hard to accept. Some of which disturbs our sensitivities. But is it that much of our faith is too bland, too nice, too much tea and cucumber sandwiches and not enough chillies and hot curry? We need to be passionate, believing prayers. Those who are prepared to say it as it is. For one commentator, Psalm 58:

calls us to pray with strength and passionate sincerity, in faith that the just and almighty God will draw our prayer into his work to destroy evil. [Eaton, Psalms for Life, p.148].

But how comfortable do you feel when the psalm refers to the righteous being glad when they see the unrighteous brought down, and metaphorically dip their feet in their blood. And what of the righteous being rewarded by God?

4. The application of the psalm

Psalm 58 is not the easiest of psalms to understand or to access. But if it is seen within a wider context and related to the surrounding psalms and the rest of scripture then we can glimpse afresh something of the divine. Of the struggles of the believer (who had once been an unbeliever) who had no time for God. Who acted as though they were in control and could shape their own destinies. But in the end, God is the judge of us all. So the challenge is clear. Do we live in the light of his justice and mercy and love in sending his Son to be our saviour and redeemer? Or do we ignore him and deliberately go our own way?

And in our prayer life? We must distance ourselves from the bland prayers of Christopher Robin and to pray with a deep conviction and with a precise intention. To pray with boldness. To pray with confidence. To pray as one commentator described Psalm 58 as:

the powerful prayer of the oppressed [in which, he said includes] there is an immense work of passionate intercession against evil to be done. [Eaton, Psalms, p.222, p.37].

The Christian faith isn’t easy. Living the Christian life is costly and challenging and demanding. Psalm 58 (said one commentator):

is a prayer for desperate people, for powerless people threatened by powerful people who are as dangerous as deadly snakes that will not listen to anyone who tries to stop them from using their poisonous potential. They are as threatening as lions, whose potential victims need them simply to disappear. [Goldingay, Psalm 58, 1:181].

Of Psalm 58 - look below the surface. Open yourself up to God. Examine your heart. Put your trust in Christ. Live your life for him.