Psalm 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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(7, 8) After the types of obstinate and fierce malignity, come four striking images of the fatuity of the wicked man’s projects, and his own imminent ruin. The first of these compares him to water, which, spilt on a sandy soil, sinks into it and melts away. (Comp. 2Samuel 14:14.) Perhaps a phenomenon, often described by travellers, was in the poet’s mind, the disappearance of a stream which, after accompanying the track for some time, suddenly sinks into the sand. The words which run continually, even if the Hebrew can bear this meaning, only weaken the figure. The verb is in the reflexive conjugation, and has “to” or “for themselves” added, and seems to be exactly equivalent to our, they walk themselves off. This certainly should be joined to the clause following. Here, too, we must suppose that the sign of comparison, khemô, was dropped out by the copyist in consequence of the lāmô just written, and afterwards being inserted in the margin, got misplaced. We must bring it back, and read:

They are utterly gone, as when

One shoots his arrows.

This figure thus becomes also clear and striking. The arrow once shot is irrevocably gone, probably lost, fit emblem of the fate of the wicked. For the ellipse in bend (literally, tread, see Psalm 7:12), comp. Psalm 64:3, where also the action properly belonging to the bow is transferred to the arrow.

The words, “Let them be as cut in pieces,” must be carried on to the following verse, which contains two fresh images: So they are cut off (LXX., “are weak “) as shablûl melts; (as) the abortion of a woman passes away without seeing the sun. The word shablûl, by its derivation (bālal = to pour out) may mean any liquid or moist substance. Hence some understand a watercourse, others (LXX. and Vulg.) wax. The first would weaken the passage by introducing a bald repetition of a previous image. The second is quite intelligible. But the Talmud says shablûl is a slug or shelless snail, and there may be a reference in the passage to the popular notion derived from the slimy track of the creature, that the slug dissolves as it moves, and eventually melts away. Dr. Tristram, however (Nat. Hist. Bib., p. 295), finds scientific support for the image in the myriads of snail shells found in the Holy Land, still adhering, by the calcareous exudation round the orifice, to the surface of the rock, while the animal itself is utterly shrivelled and wasted. The last image presents no difficulty either in language or form, except that the form of the noun woman is unusual.

That they may not.—That this refers to the abortion which passed away without seeing the sun, is certain. The grammatical difficulty of want of concord may be got over by taking abortion as a collective noun.

Benson Commentary

Psalm 58:7. Let them melt away as waters, &c. — As waters arising from melted snow, or great showers, or some other extraordinary cause, which at first run with great force and noise, and throw down all that stands in their way, but are suddenly gone, and run away, and vanish, and return no more. When he — Saul, or any, or every one of mine enemies, as appears from the foregoing or following words; bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows — Taking his aim at the upright in heart; let them — That is, his arrows, be cut in pieces — Let them be like arrows broken, while a man is shooting them. Let them fall at his feet, and never come near the mark.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

58:6-11 David prayed that the enemies of God's church and people might be disabled to do further mischief. We may, in faith, pray against the designs of the enemies of the church. He foretells their ruin. And who knows the power of God's anger? The victories of the Just One, in his own person and that of his servants, over the enemies of man's salvation, produce a joy which springs not from revenge, but from a view of the Divine mercy, justice, and truth, shown in the redemption of the elect, the punishment of the ungodly, and the fulfilment of the promises. Whoever duly considers these things, will diligently seek the reward of righteousness, and adore the Providence which orders all thing aright in heaven and in earth.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Let them melt away as waters which run continually - Let them vanish or disappear as waters that flow off, or floods that run by, and are no more seen. "Perhaps" the allusion here may be to the waters of a torrent that is swollen, which flow off and are lost in the sand, so that they wholly disappear. See the notes at Job 6:15-19. The prayer is, that his enemies might perish or be cut off, and that he might thus be saved from them.

When he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows - literally, "he treads on his arrows." See the notes at Psalm 11:2. The meaning here is, When he prepares for an attack - or, prepares to make war, as one does who bends his bow, and places his arrow on the string. The allusion here is to the enemies of David, as seeking his life.

Let them be as cut in pieces - That is, Let his arrows be as if they were cut off or "blunted," so that they will produce no effect. Let them be such, that they will not penetrate and wound.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

7. which run continually—literally, "they shall go to themselves," utterly depart, as rapid mountain torrents.

he bendeth … his arrows—prepares it. The term for preparing a bow applied to arrows (Ps 64:3).

let them … pieces—literally, "as if they cut themselves off"—that is, become blunted and of no avail.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

As waters which run continually; as waters arising from melted snow, or great showers, or some other extraordinary cause, which at first run with great force and noise, and throw down all that stands in their way, but are suddenly gone, and run away and vanish, and return no more.

When he bendeth his bow, to wit, any or every one of mine enemies, as appears from the foregoing and following words.

Is cut in pieces, i.e. like arrows broken asunder whilst a man shoots, which can do no hurt.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Let them melt away as waters which run continually,.... Let them be disheartened, and their courage fail them, and let there be no spirit left in them, Joshua 7:5; or let them be unstable as water that is continually running, ever upon the flux and motion; let them never be settled, but always changing in their state and circumstances, Genesis 49:4; or let them "come to nought", as the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions; which is the case of water that runs over or runs away: or "let them be despised", as Jarchi, and the Arabic, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions; being useless and unprofitable, as water is when passed and gone: or let their ruin and destruction be as swift as the gliding water; let them be brought to desolation in a moment; Job 24:18; and let it be irrecoverable, as water running over the cup, and scattering itself, is spilled upon the ground, and cannot be gathered up, 2 Samuel 14:14. The Targum is,

"let them melt in their sins as water;''

when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces; either when the wicked man bends his bow to shoot his arrows against the righteous; when he devises, his chief against him, shoots out bitter words, and attempts to do hurt unto him; let it be as if the string of his bow and his arrows were all cut to pieces; let all his designs, words, and actions, be without effect, and let not his hand perform his enterprise: or when God bends his bow against the wicked, so Jarchi; and prepares the instruments of death for them, and ordains his arrows against the persecutors, Psalm 7:12; let then his and his people's enemies be cut off, as the tops of the ears of corn; as the word used signifies, Job 24:24. The words may be rendered, "let him (God) direct his arrows; as the tops of the ears of corn are cut off" (f); so let them be.

(f) "concidantur, succidantur instar spicarum", Michaelis.

Geneva Study Bible

Let them {f} melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.

(f) Considering God's divine power, he shows that God in a moment can destroy their force of which they brag.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

7. as waters which run continually) R.V., restoring P.B.V., as water that runneth apace: like some torrent that rages wildly for a while when swollen by a sudden storm, and then vanishes entirely (Job 6:15 ff.).

when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows] A cumbrous rendering of a peculiar phrase, the verb strictly applicable to the bow being used of the arrows (cp. Psalm 64:3). Better as R.V., when he aimeth his arrows. But who is the subject? (1) It may be the wicked man, (as in Psalm 64:3); When he aimeth his arrows, let them be as though they were cut off (R.V.), their points broken, and their power to hurt destroyed. (2) It may be God (as in Psalm 7:12 f.); when He aimeth His arrows, let them (the wicked) be as it were mowed down. Cp. Psalm 90:6. Neither alternative is free from serious difficulties, but the first seems preferable.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 7. - Let them melt away as waters which run continually; i.e. "let them waste away, and go to naught, like water, that runs off and accomplishes nothing." When he bendoth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces; i.e. "let the arrows be as though snapped in two, or headless." Psalm 58:7

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The verb הרס is used much in the same way in Psalm 58:7 as ἀράσσειν (e.g., Iliad, xiii. 577, ἀπὸ δὲ τρυφάλειαν ἄραξεν), which presents a similar onomatope. The form ימּאסוּ is, as in Job 7:5, equals ימּסּוּ. The Jewish expositors, less appropriately, compare צנאכם, Numbers 32:24, and בּזאוּ equals בּזזוּ, Isaiah 18:2, Isaiah 18:7; שׁאסיך, Chethb, Jeremiah 30:16, and ראמה, Zechariah 14:10, more nearly resemble it. The treading (bending) of the bow is here, as in Psalm 64:4, transferred to the arrows ( equals כּונן, Psalm 11:2): he bends and shoots off his arrows, they shall be as though cut off in the front, i.e., as inoperative as if they had no heads or points (כּמו as in Isaiah 26:18). In Psalm 58:9 follow two figures to which the apprecatory "let them become" is to be supplied. Or is it perhaps to be rendered: As a snail, which Thou causest to melt away, i.e., squashest with the foot (תּמס, as in Psalm 39:12, fut. Hiph. of מסה equals מסס), let him perish? The change of the number does not favour this; and according to the usage of the language, which is fond of construing הלך with gerunds and participles, and also with abstract nouns, e.g., הלך תּם, הלך קרי, the words תּמס יהלך belong together, and they are also accented accordingly: as a snail or slug which goes along in dissolution, goes on and dissolves as it goes (תּמס after the form תּבל form בּלל

(Note: In the Phoenician, the Cyprian copper mine Ταμασσός appears to have taken its name from תמס, liquefactio (Levy, Phnizische Studien, iii.7).)).

The snail has received its name from this apparent dissolving into slime. For שׁבּלוּל (with Dag. dirimens for שׁבלוּל) is the naked slimy snail or slug (Targum, according to ancient conception, זחיל תּבללא "the slimeworm"), from שׁבלל, to make wet, moist.

(Note: "God has created nothing without its use," says the Talmud, B. Shabbath 77b; "He has created the snail (שׁבלול לכתית) to heal bruises by laying it upon them:" cf. Genesis Rabba, ch. 51 init., where שׁבלול is explained by לימצא, סיליי, כיליי, κογχύλη, σέσιλος, limax. Abraham b. David of Fez, the contemporary of Saadia, has explained it in his Arabico-Hebrew Lexicon by אלחלזון, the slug. Nevertheless this is properly the name of the snail with a house (נרתיק), Talmudic חלּזון, and even at the present day in Syria and Palestine Arab. ḥlzûn (which is pronounced ḥalezôn); whereas שׁבלול, in conformity with the etymon and with the figure, is the naked snail or slug. The ancient versions perhaps failed to recognise this, because the slug is not very often to be seen in hot eastern countries; but שׁבלול in this signification can be looked upon as traditional. The rendering "a rain-brook or mountain-torrent (Arabic seil sâbil) which running runs away," would, to say nothing more, give us, as Rosenmller has already observed, a figure that has been made use of already in Psalm 58:8.)

In the second figure, the only sense in which נפל אשׁת belong together is "the untimely birth of a woman;" and rather than explain with the Talmud (B. Med katan 6b) and Targum (contrary to the accents): as an abortion, a mole,

(Note: The mole, which was thought to have no eyes, is actually called in post-biblical Hebrew אשׁת, plur. אישׁות (vid., Keelim xxi. 3).)

one would alter אשׁת into אשׁה. But this is not necessary, since the construct form אשׁת is found also in other instances (Deuteronomy 21:11; 1 Samuel 28:7) out of the genitival relation, in connection with a close coordinate construction. So here, where בּל־הזוּ שׁמשׁ, according to Job 3:16; Ecclesiastes 6:3-5, is an attributive clause to נפל אשׁת (the falling away of a woman equals abortions), which is used collectively (Ew. 176, b). The accentuation also harmonizes here with the syntactic relation of the words. In Psalm 58:10, אטד (plural in African, i.e., Punic, in Dioscorides atadi'n) is the rhamnus or buckthorn, which, like רתם, the broom, not only makes a cheerful crackling fire, but also produces an ash that retains the heat a long time, and is therefore very useful in cooking. The alternative כּמו - כּמו signifies sive, sive, whether the one or the other. חי is that which is living, fresh, viz., the fresh, raw meat still having the blood in it, the opposite of מבשּׁל (1 Samuel 2:15); חרון, a fierce heat or fire, here a boiling heat. There is no need to understand חרון metonymically, or perhaps as an adjective equals charrôn, of boiled meat: it is a statement of the condition. The suffix of ישׁערנּוּ, however, refers, as being neuter, to the whole cooking apparatus, and more especially to the contents of the pots. The rendering therefore is: whether raw or in a state of heat, i.e., of being cooked through, He (Jahve) carries it away as with a whirlwind. Hengstenberg rightly remarks, "To the raw meat correspond the immature plots, and to the cooked the mature ones." To us, who regard the Psalm as belonging to the time of Absalom, and not, like Hengstenberg, to the time of Saul, the meat in the pots is the new kingship of Absalom. The greater the self-renunciation with which David at that time looked on at the ripening revolt, disclaiming all action of his own, the stronger the confidence with which he expected the righteous interposition of God that did actually follow, but (as he here supposes possible) not until the meat in the pot was almost done through; yet, on the other side, so quickly, that the pots had scarcely felt the crackling heat which should fully cook the meat.