The Unsatisfied Howl of the Wicked Text: Psalm 59:14-15
Introduction: The Futility of Rebellion
We live in an age that has made a high art of rebellion, but has forgotten the telos of rebellion. Our culture is filled with the snarling and posturing of those who rage against God's created order, but they have no idea what they are raging for. They are like a dog chasing a car; they would not know what to do with it if they caught it. This is because all rebellion against the living God is ultimately sterile. It is a chasing after the wind, a frantic and noisy activity that ends in utter emptiness.
David, in this psalm, is surrounded by just such men. The superscription tells us the historical setting: "when Saul sent men, and they watched the house in order to kill him." These are not philosophical opponents engaging in polite debate. These are bloody men, agents of a paranoid and crumbling state, lurking in the shadows, waiting to murder an innocent man. David's response is not to despair, or to compromise, or to wonder if he had done something to deserve it. His response is to pray, and to pray with teeth in it. This is an imprecatory psalm, a prayer for God to act decisively against His enemies.
And in the verses before us today, David paints a vivid picture of the end game for all such godless endeavors. He uses a striking and, to our modern, sentimental ears, perhaps a shocking image. He compares his enemies to a pack of feral dogs, roaming the city at night, howling in their frustration, perpetually hungry and never satisfied. This is not just poetic insult. It is a profound theological diagnosis of the state of the wicked. Their end is not glorious rebellion, but pathetic, growling, unsatisfied hunger.
We must understand this portrait because these same dogs are still prowling today. They howl on our televisions, they snarl in our halls of government, and they roam the streets of our cities, seeking what they may devour. And if we do not understand their nature, and their ultimate destiny, we will either fear them wrongly or, what is worse, we will begin to sympathize with their pathetic rebellion.
The Text
They return at evening, they howl like a dog,
And go around the city.
They wander about for food
And growl if they are not satisfied.
(Psalm 59:14-15 LSB)
The Evening Return (v. 14a)
We begin with the timing of their activity.
"They return at evening..." (Psalm 59:14a)
This is a repetition from verse 6, which says, "They return at evening, they howl like a dog, and go around the city." When Scripture repeats itself, it is like a teacher tapping the blackboard for emphasis. Pay attention. This is important. The evening is their native element. They are creatures of the dark. This is not simply about the time of day; it is about their moral and spiritual character. Jesus said, "men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil" (John 3:19). The wicked thrive in obscurity, in the shadows, where they believe their deeds are not seen.
Saul's henchmen are watching David's house, waiting for the cover of darkness to do their dirty work. They operate by stealth and conspiracy. This is the nature of all such rebellion against God. It cannot operate in the full light of day, under the searching gaze of God's truth. It must use deception, manipulation, and secrecy. Think of the political machinations, the backroom deals, the slander whispered in the shadows that characterize our own day. The enemies of God are evening people. They hate the dawn.
But David, in contrast, is a man of the morning. He concludes the psalm by saying, "But as for me, I shall sing of Your strength; Yes, I shall joyfully sing of Your lovingkindness in the morning" (Psalm 59:16). The righteous man is not afraid of the light. He lives in it, and he waits for the morning of his vindication. The wicked return at evening, but their night will not last forever. The morning is coming, and with it, the singing of the saints and the full exposure of all deeds done in the dark.
The Canine Chorus (v. 14b)
Next, David gives us the sound of their rebellion.
"...they howl like a dog, And go around the city." (Psalm 59:14b LSB)
In the ancient Near East, dogs were not the pampered pets they are in our suburban homes. They were largely feral scavengers, traveling in packs, unclean, and dangerous. To be called a dog was the gravest of insults. Think of Goliath's outrage: "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" (1 Sam. 17:43). The Scriptures use this image to describe those outside the covenant, the unclean, the enemies of God's people (Phil. 3:2, Rev. 22:15).
And what do these dogs do? They howl. This is not the joyful bark of a beloved pet. It is the eerie, menacing, hungry sound of a predator. It is the sound of malice and threat. It is the sound of empty boasting and impotent rage. In verse 7, David says, "Behold, they belch forth with their mouth; Swords are in their lips." Their words are weapons, their threats are a kind of verbal howling, intended to intimidate and terrorize.
They "go around the city." They are restless. They patrol the perimeter, looking for a way in, looking for a weakness. This is the activity of our spiritual enemy, the Devil, who "prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8). And his human agents imitate him. They surround the righteous, they encircle the faithful, hoping to isolate and destroy them. This is the strategy of the mob, the cancel culture, the political party that seeks to hem in the church and restrict her freedoms. They prowl, they howl, and they surround.
The Perpetual Hunger (v. 15)
Verse 15 gets to the root of their howling. It reveals the engine of their restless evil.
"They wander about for food And growl if they are not satisfied." (Psalm 59:15 LSB)
Here is the diagnosis. Their fundamental problem is that they are hungry, and they cannot find food that will satisfy. They are driven by their appetites, by their lusts, by a deep and gnawing emptiness that they think can be filled by devouring the righteous. They wander, they are aimless, driven from one fleeting desire to the next. They are looking for "food," for something to consume that will quell the ache inside.
This "food" can be many things. It can be power, wealth, sexual gratification, or vengeance. For Saul's men, the food they sought was David's life. They thought that if they could just eliminate him, their position would be secure, the kingdom would be safe, and their hunger for security would be satisfied. But this is the great lie of sin. Sin promises satisfaction but always leaves you hungrier than before. It is like drinking saltwater to quench your thirst.
And notice their reaction when they are thwarted: they "growl if they are not satisfied." The Hebrew can also be rendered "they stay up all night if they are not satisfied." They are consumed by their discontent. When they do not get what they want, they do not repent or reflect. They growl. They snarl. They become more bitter, more enraged. This is the picture of the perpetually aggrieved, the revolutionary who is never happy, the abuser who is never content. Their growling is the sound of a soul that has made an idol of its own appetites and is in a constant state of rage because the world will not cater to them.
Conclusion: The Bread of Life vs. The Growling Stomach
This psalm presents us with a stark contrast. On the one hand, you have the wicked, pictured as a pack of howling, starving dogs, roaming the dark streets, growling in their perpetual dissatisfaction. Their lives are a noisy, restless, hungry quest that ends in nothing. This is the judgment of God upon them: He gives them over to their appetites, and their appetites consume them.
On the other hand, you have David. And where does he find his satisfaction? He says in the next verse, "But as for me, I shall sing of Your strength... For You have been a defense for me" (Psalm 59:16). David is not looking for food in the dark alleys of the city. His food is the strength and lovingkindness of God. He is satisfied not by what he can consume, but by who his God is.
This points us directly to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who stood against the howling dogs who surrounded His cross. They belched forth their insults, they prowled around His execution, they thought that by consuming Him they would satisfy their hunger for power and control. But in doing so, they only revealed their own ravenous emptiness.
And Jesus is the one who offers the only food that truly satisfies. He said, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst" (John 6:35). The world is full of people with growling souls. They are wandering about for food, trying to satisfy the deep ache of their hearts with the garbage of this world. They try to feast on politics, on sex, on money, on ideology, and they are never, ever satisfied. They just keep howling for more.
The gospel is the invitation to come away from the scavenging pack and to sit at the table of the King. It is the call to stop trying to fill your belly with the wind and to feast on the Bread of Heaven. When you come to Christ, the howling stops. The wandering ends. The growling is replaced by a song of praise in the morning. For in Him, and in Him alone, the hungry soul is finally and forever satisfied.