If Psalm 58 is an indictment of corrupt judges sitting in a courtroom, Psalm 59 takes us directly to the streets. It is an intense, fast-paced prayer of survival written when King Saul sent assassins to watch David’s house in order to kill him in the morning (1 Samuel 19).
v.4: Awake - It's interesting that we can pray like that, without being mistaken as if we think God is sleeping, for Psalm 121 explicitly tells us that He who keeps Israel "will neither slumber nor sleep." Here, David is entering a legal plea: "Lord, examine my innocence!"
v.6, 7, 14, 16: The contrasts of nighttime plotting and Morning praise to God.
The Redemptive-Historical Connection:
[ The Night of Terror ] [ The Morning of Deliverance ]
Assassins surround David's house. ───► The sun rises, the trap fails, David sings.
Soldiers guard Jesus' tomb. ───► The stone rolls away, death is defeated, Christ rises.
v.6 vs. v.14 refrain - David repeats the dog metaphor, but with a massive shift in tone. The first time, the dogs were terrifying stalkers. This time, it is a statement of their pathetic destiny: “Each evening they return, howling like dogs... They wander about for food and growl if they do not get their fill.” They are reduced from lethal hunters to miserable, starving scavengers.
v.7-8: They think God knows not, the assassins snarling in the shadows, but God is watching them and laughing from His throne.