Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 58:10

"The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked;" — Psalms 58:10 (ASV)

The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance - When he sees the just punishment inflicted on the wicked. He will approve of it; he will see that it is right; he will be glad that law is maintained, and that wickedness does not triumph. He will rejoice in the safety of those who do right, and in their deliverance from the assaults and the designs of the wicked.

People everywhere approve of the just administration of law, even though it consigns the transgressors to prison or to death. It is a matter of gratification to all who love law and order when a righteous government is maintained, when wickedness is checked, and when justice is administered in a community.

This is the end of government and of law; this is what all magistrates are appointed to secure, and this is what all good citizens are aiming to accomplish. There is no evidence that the psalmist had any vindictive or revengeful feeling when he uttered the sentiment in this verse. See the notes at Psalm 52:6.

Compare Psalm 37:34; Psalms 40:3.

He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked - Compare Psalm 68:23. The image here is taken from a battlefield, where the victor treads in the blood of the slain. It is strong language denoting the entire overthrow of the wicked. There can be no doubt, however, that the allusion is to the feelings of satisfaction and triumph with which a victor walks over such a field; the exultation which he has that his foes are subdued, and that he has triumphed.

The idea is that the righteous will have emotions, when the wicked are subdued and punished, which in some respects resemble the feelings of the victor who walks over a field covered with the blood of the slain. Still, it is not necessary to suppose that these are, in either case, vindictive feelings; or that either the victor or the righteous have pleasure in the shedding of blood, or in the sufferings of others; or that they would not have preferred that the discomfited and slain should not have been wicked, and should not have been made to suffer in this manner.

All that is essentially implied in this is that there is a feeling of satisfaction and approval when law is vindicated, and when the triumph of wickedness is prevented.

It would be difficult to show that the feelings expressed by the psalmist are less proper than those which an officer of justice may have, and ought to have, and does have, when he has faithfully discharged his duty and has secured the arrest and punishment of the violators of law; or that the psalmist has expressed anything more than what everyone must feel who sees just punishment inflicted on the guilty.

Assuredly, it is a matter of rejoicing that wickedness does not triumph; it is a thing to exult in when it is arrested.