Read Psalm 58
Psalm 58 is an imprecatory Psalm. That is, in it David calls down curses, or imprecations, on his enemies. When we come across such Psalms, we must keep several ideas in mind. For one, David is primarily concerned for God’s reputation, not his own. Also, these are warnings and therefore implicit appeals for repentance. David wrote them for his enemies’ sake. And finally, we must remember that these prayers are ultimately the prayers of Christ made through David and as such are upright cries for justice. Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind” (Jn 9:39). Furthermore, he said that his Holy Spirit would remain behind as his representative, convicting the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (Jn 16:10,11). The nature of his judgment was to face men with God’s salvation such that they had to accept or reject him. If they rejected him, they in effect condemned themselves. That is the message of Christmas. God put his Son in the world’s face and said, “No more games. You can’t ignore me. I am here. If you accept me, you will live forever. If you reject me, you condemn yourself.”
The imprecatory Psalms call for at least two responses from us: 1) To examine ourselves to see if we are guilty of the sins described, and 2) To oppose these sins in the world to vindicate God's righteousness. The specific sins described in this Psalm are of unjust, ungodly rulers. They keep quiet when they should speak out against sin and evil.
The real problem is identified in v.2. The reason these officials do not oppose wrongdoing is that their own hearts are corrupt. If their hearts were devoted to the Lord, they would not be able to tolerate the wrong they see. If you really desire to walk in close fellowship with Christ and put away sin for the sake of his pleasure, you must come to a realistic perspective of your own heart.
The humble Christ-child lying in a manger grew up to be a man who confronted our sin and called us to follow him into eternal life. As his followers, we will not always be received popularly. He promised that refusing sin ourselves and opposing it in our spheres of influence could be treacherous; it could even divide families (Mt. 10:34-39):
Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law–a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household. Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
While we have this promise of difficulty when we oppose sin, we also have the promise that we are on the winning side. The final image of this Psalm is somewhat disturbing to our modern ears. However, David is simply anticipating the day when our stand for righteousness will be vindicated and we will participate in God’s victory over evil. God promises throughout the Scriptures that we will share in his victory, and he does so using this language (Ps. 68:21-23; Is. 63:3; Re. 14:19,20; 19:14,15).
Christ’s coming was the fulfillment of the prophecy that Israel clung to:
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty
God,
Everlasting Father, Prince
of Peace.
Of the increase of his government
and peace
there will be no end. (Isaiah 9:6-7)
And we have only to look forward to the day when we shall all say:
The kingdom of this world has
become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ.
And he will reign forever and ever (Rev. 11:15).