“Thou therefore, O Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all the heathen: be not merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah.”
The vision of enemies returning each evening to howl like dogs and prowl about the city articulates the relentlessness of the persecution and the bestial nature of the persecutors. The reference to howling and circling suggests predatory behavior and the loss of human dignity in the service of wickedness. The nightly repetition indicates that the threat is constant and unceasing; there is no respite from the attack. This verse deepens the psychological toll of persecution: the victim must endure not a single assault but perpetual threat.
Church Fathers on Psalms 59:5
The First Part. 1. As the Scripture is wont to set mysteries of the Psalms on the titles, and to deck the brow of a Psalm with the high announcement of a Mystery, in order that we that are about to go in may know (when as it were upon the door-post we have read what within is doing) either of whom the house is, or who is the owner of that estate: so also in this Psalm there has been written a title, of a title. For it has, “At the end, corrupt not for David himself unto the…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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