Daily Devotions
Psalms
Psalm 58:3a "The wicked are estranged from the womb..."
Day 191 – Psalm 58
“The wicked are estranged from the womb…” Psalm 58:3a
A SOBERING INSIGHT ABOUT THE WICKED
King David made a sobering analysis of the wicked in the following text. (More than the wicked judges are in mind here).
“The wicked are estranged from the womb;
They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies”.
Psalm 58:3
1. “The wicked”
a) This would include the judges.
b) But the term “the wicked” would cover more than the judges.
c) It would refer to all who practise wickedness.
2. “Estranged from the womb”
a) This is an imagery.
b) David made use of a hyperbole (an intended exaggeration).
c) Of course babies are not wicked when they are born.
d) He was saying that wickedness is so deep in some, it could almost be construed that they were estranged from the womb.
3. “They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies”
a) Once again we have a hyperbole here.
b) Of course babies do not go astray “as soon as they are born”.
c) Babies do not speak at all when they are born let alone speak lies.
d) The intended use of the hyperbole must be carefully understood.
i) The wicked were people who had gone astray in their sinfulness.
ii) They thought nothing about speaking lies at all.
iii) It seemed as if they were born and bred in wickedness!
David, being the righteous man that he was, felt duty-bound to speak against the wicked, even if some of them were high-powered judges! But in so doing, David also made many enemies!