Ps. 58.3-5 (role of condemnation)

Such wicked ones / are loathsome / from birth
wayward liars / from the womb.
Their venom / is like snake venom;
they are like a cobra / that has stopped / its ears
that will not hear / the voice / of the snake-charmers
who are skilled weavers / of spells. 

There are several points that need to be made about these verses that will help put (what appear to be) the later curses in context. First, we must always keep in mind that these ‘wicked ones’ are not merely individuals but judges who have been appointed to establish divine justice on earth and who have misappropriated that power for their own ends. In this way they have threatened the very stability of the community and subjected the innocent to injustice, purely for their own gain and profit. Their evil is the pervasive and foundational distortion of that which is the life of a community, under the guise of divine sanction. Second, it is because they distort what stands at the origin of every community that they themselves are regarded as perverse from their origin (“…loathsome from birth, wayward liars from the womb.”). We might say it this way: their role (their ‘mission’) provides the contours of their judgment. The greater the extent of their authority the greater is their condemnation. It is important to grasp this in light of the curses that come later, for they will meet, point-for-point, the condemnations here. Third, as to the image of the snake, it is interesting that its focus is on its venom, that which proceeds from its mouth, as these men have been issuing false rulings. Here we see how their ‘bight’ (their rulings) are regarded: as death-dealing to the people. This is not a complaint about the psalmist, per se, but about their effect on the community. Fourth, and somewhat related to the ‘venom’, is the focus on hearing (or, the lack thereof). Just as judges are to rule based upon testimony, so have these judges been immune to any testimony that might ‘chant’ or divert them from their “way of violence”. It is a striking image, as the psalmist places those who testify in the position of snake charmers. The point, however, is that the evil judges are so disciplined and focused on their goals that they effectively deafen themselves to all. Even the most ‘skilled’ attorney cannot penetrate their hearts/thinking (vs. 1). In context it is a very disturbing image—there could be nothing more dangerous to the community stability than a judge that refuses to listen. Again, this auditory and vocal aspect to the ‘snakes’ in this condemnation will come to play a central role in the later appeal to curses