Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 58:7-8

"Let them melt away as water that runneth apace: When he aimeth his arrows, let them be as though they were cut off. [Let them be] as a snail which melteth and passeth away, [Like] the untimely birth of a woman, that hath not seen the sun." — Psalms 58:7-8 (ASV)

After the examples of obstinate and fierce malignity, there come four striking images illustrating the foolishness of the wicked man’s projects and his own imminent ruin. The first of these compares him to water that, when spilled on sandy soil, sinks into it and disappears. (Compare to 2 Samuel 14:14). Perhaps a phenomenon often described by travelers was in the poet's mind: the disappearance of a stream that, after following the path 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, with “to” or “for themselves” added, and seems to be exactly equivalent to our expression, they walk themselves off. This phrase certainly should be joined to the following clause. Here, too, we must suppose that the sign of comparison, khemô, was dropped by the copyist because lâmô had just been written; subsequently, when inserted in the margin, it was misplaced. We must restore it and read:

They are utterly gone, as when
one shoots his arrows.

This figure thus also becomes clear and striking. The arrow, once shot, is irrevocably gone—probably lost—a fitting emblem of the wicked person's fate. Regarding the ellipsis in bend (literally, tread), compare this to Psalm 64:3, where the action properly belonging to the bow is also transferred to the arrow.

The words, Let them be as cut in pieces, must be carried over to the following verse, which contains two new images: So they are cut off (Septuagint, “are weak”) as shablûl melts; (as) the abortion of a woman passes away without seeing the sun. The word shablûl, from its derivation (bâlal = to pour out), may mean any liquid or moist substance.

Hence, some understand this to mean a watercourse, while others (Septuagint and Vulgate) interpret it as wax. The first interpretation would weaken the passage by introducing an obvious repetition of a previous image. The second is quite understandable.

However, the Talmud states that shablûl is a slug or shelless snail. There may be a reference in the passage to the popular notion, derived from the creature's slimy track, that the slug dissolves as it moves and eventually melts away.

Dr. Tristram, however (Nat. Hist. Bib., p. 295), finds scientific support for this image. He points to the myriads of snail shells found in the Holy Land, still adhering by the calcareous exudation around the orifice to the rock's surface, while the animal itself is utterly shriveled and wasted.

This final image presents no difficulty in either language or form, except that the form of the noun woman is unusual.

That they may not. —It is certain that this refers to the abortion which passed away without seeing the sun. The grammatical difficulty of a lack of agreement can be overcome by taking abortion as a collective noun.