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BOOK III

(Psalms 73–89)

Psalm 73

Plea for Relief from Oppressors

A Psalm of Asaph.

1

Truly God is good to the upright,

to those who are pure in heart.

2

But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled;

my steps had nearly slipped.

3

For I was envious of the arrogant;

I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

 

4

For they have no pain;

their bodies are sound and sleek.

5

They are not in trouble as others are;

they are not plagued like other people.

6

Therefore pride is their necklace;

violence covers them like a garment.

7

Their eyes swell out with fatness;

their hearts overflow with follies.

8

They scoff and speak with malice;

loftily they threaten oppression.

9

They set their mouths against heaven,

and their tongues range over the earth.

 

10

Therefore the people turn and praise them,

and find no fault in them.

11

And they say, “How can God know?

Is there knowledge in the Most High?”

12

Such are the wicked;

always at ease, they increase in riches.

13

All in vain I have kept my heart clean

and washed my hands in innocence.

14

For all day long I have been plagued,

and am punished every morning.

 

15

If I had said, “I will talk on in this way,”

I would have been untrue to the circle of your children.

16

But when I thought how to understand this,

it seemed to me a wearisome task,

17

until I went into the sanctuary of God;

then I perceived their end.

18

Truly you set them in slippery places;

you make them fall to ruin.

19

How they are destroyed in a moment,

swept away utterly by terrors!

20

They are like a dream when one awakes;

on awaking you despise their phantoms.

 

21

When my soul was embittered,

when I was pricked in heart,

22

I was stupid and ignorant;

I was like a brute beast toward you.

23

Nevertheless I am continually with you;

you hold my right hand.

24

You guide me with your counsel,

and afterward you will receive me with honor.

25

Whom have I in heaven but you?

And there is nothing on earth that I desire other than you.

26

My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

 

27

Indeed, those who are far from you will perish;

you put an end to those who are false to you.

28

But for me it is good to be near God;

I have made the Lord G od my refuge,

to tell of all your works.


10. On this account his people will return hither. Commentators wrest this sentence into a variety of meanings. In the first place, as the relative his is used, without an antecedent indicating whose people are spoken of, some understand it simply of the ungodly, as if it had been said, That the ungodly always fall back upon this reflection: and they view the word people as denoting a great troop or band; for as soon as a wicked man raises his standard, he always succeeds in drawing a multitude of associates after him. They, therefore, think the meaning to be, that every prosperous ungodly man has people flocking about him, as it were, in troops; and that, when within his palace or magnificent mansion, they are content with getting water to drink; so much does this perverse imagination bewitch them. But there is another sense much more correct, and which is also approved by the majority of commentators; namely, that the people of God 175175     The Septuagint, Vulgate, Syriac, Arabic, and Æthiopic versions read, “my people.” return hither. Some take the word הלם, halom, which we have rendered hither, as denoting afflicted; 176176     “Abu Walid,” says Hammond, “hath a peculiar way of rendering הלם, as if it were הלם, the infinitive, with breaking of spirit.” A similar interpretation is adopted by Horsley. “For הלם,” says he, “many MSS. read הלום, which I take as the participle Pual of the verb הלם, ‘Contusus miseria,’ scilicet.” He reads,
   “Therefore his [God’s] people sit woebegone.”

   To make out this translation, he adopts another of the various readings of MSS. “For ישיב,” says he, “many MSS. have ישוב: I would transpose the vau, and read יושב. The third person future, Hophal, signifies is made to sit, is settled, attended with grief and consternation at the unpunished audacity of the profane.”
but this is a forced interpretation.

The meaning is not, however, as yet, sufficiently evident, and therefore we must inquire into it more closely. 177177     “Et pourtant il nous y faut aviser de plus pres.” — Fr. Some read the whole verse connectedly, thus: The people of God return hither, that they may drain full cups of the water of sorrow. But, in my opinion, this verse depends upon the preceding statements, and the sense is, That many who had been regarded as belonging to the people of God were carried away by this temptation, and were even shipwrecked and swallowed up by it. The prophet does not seem to speak here of the chosen people of God, but only to point to hypocrites and counterfeit Israelites who occupy a place in the Church. He declares that such persons are overwhelmed in destruction, because, being foolishly led away to envy the wicked, and to desire to follow them, 178178     “Stulta aemulatione decepti.” — Lat. “Se abusans par leur folie a porter envie aux meschans, et les vouloir ensuyvre.” — Fr they bid adieu to God and to all religion. Still, however, this might, without any impropriety, be referred to the chosen seed, many of whom are so violently harassed by this temptation, that they turn aside into crooked by-paths: not that they devote themselves to wickedness, but because they do not firmly persevere in the right path. The sense then will be, that not only the herd of the profane, but even true believers, who have determined to serve God, are tempted with this unlawful and perverse envy and emulation. 179179     While Calvin admits that the words, his people, may refer to true believers, he conceives that carnal and hypocritical Israelites are rather intended. One great objection to the opinion, that true believers are at all intended is, that stumbled though they often are at the unequal distributions of the present state, and chargeable though they may be with entertaining murmuring thoughts in reference to this matter, we can scarcely suppose that they would so far depart from every principle of truth and propriety, as to break forth into such language as is ascribed in verse 11th to the persons here spoken of, “How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the Most High?” Neither David nor Jeremiah, though much perplexed in reconciling the prosperity of the wicked and the afflicted state of God’s people, with the righteousness and goodness of Divine Providence, ever gave utterance to any such language. See Psalm 38 and Jeremiah 12. Walford thinks that “it is far more agreeable to the design of the entire passage, to interpret the words, his people, of the friends and connections of the wicked, who imitate their actions.” In support of this it may be observed, that the description of the condition, conduct, and words, of these prosperous ungodly men, commences at the 4th verse, and seems to be continued to the 13th verse, where the Psalmist’s reflections upon the subject begin, and are continued to the close of the psalm. What follows, Waters of a full cup are wrung out to them, 180180     This has also been understood as denoting the prosperity, the abundance of all outward good things bestowed upon the persons referred to. seems to be the reason of the statement in the preceding clause, implying that they are tormented with vexation and sorrow, when no advantage appears to be derived from cultivating true religion. To be saturated with waters is put metaphorically for to drink the bitterest distresses, and to be filled with immeasurable sorrows.


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