Psalm LXXIII
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.
2 But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped;
3 For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked
4 For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm.
5 They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other
men.
6 Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them
as a garment.
7 Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.
8 They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak
loftily.
9 They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh
through the earth.
10 Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out
to them:
11 And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the Most
High?
12 Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world! they increase in
riches.
13 Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency.
14 For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.
15 If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation
of thy children. 10 When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me;
17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.
18 Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down
into destruction.
19 How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors.
20 As a dream when one awaketh;
So, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.
21 Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins.
22 So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.
23 Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hastholden me by my right
hand.
24 Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I
desire beside thee.
2(5 My flesh and my heart faileth:
But God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
27 For, lo, they that arc far from thee shall perish:
Thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.
28 But it is good for me to draw near to God:
I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all thy works.
A SORT of historical series begins here, relating to Israel’s position in the world (lxxiii.), to their temple (lxxiv.), “their land (lxxv.), God’s deeds therein (lxxvi., lxxvii.), God’s dealings in days past (lxxviii.), Israel’s desolation (lxxix.), and prayer regarding the same (lxxx.).
“A Psalm of Asaph;” perhaps one of those specially sang by Hezekiah’s appointment at the altar (2 Chron. xxix. 30); and what more fit to be sung there when the ascending smoke and poured-out blood declared in type Jehovah’s unspeakable gift, and so seemed to say, “Yes, God is good to Israel!” (2 Chron. v. 13.)
How well it follows the last Psalm! As if Asaph had been singing it, and thereupon had felt all his surmises and faithless fears dissipated by the triumphant prospects held out there to the people of Messiah. It is a Psalm, not about Messiah himself, but about “his people” (ver. 10), about “Israel” (ver. 1); about the members, not the Head. It is uttered in the presence of the Head; but it tells how its members have often been nearly “offended in Him” (Luke vii. 23). Had Asaph lived in Herod’s day, such suspicious surmises as are expressed in verses 3-9 might have been raised in his soul, by seeing the Baptist first in the dungeon, and then in the tomb, while Herod ruled and rioted in luxury. Horsley remarks on the first word “fhi, “It expresses the state of mind of a person meditating a difficult question, in which he is much interested and can hardly come to a conclusion.”
Verse 4 should be rendered — “There are no death-hands to them” (Horsley); “they are never fettered with death” (Hengst.), i. e., there are no death-bringing circumstances in their lot. They escape the annoyances and reproaches which God’s people meet with (see 1 Cor. x. 13); their “pride’ is their “ornamental chain” (ver. 6), and (ver. 7) “the imagination of their hearts overflows” — that is, speaks out, or vents itself;
“TJiet upeak nf oppression from on high” (ver. 9) (Hengst.);
A new series.
Connection
and subject.
as if they were out of reach of danger, aloft on their rock; or as old Sandys renders the line, “They speak like thunder from the troubled sky.” Hence,
“Eis peoxtle return hither’’’’ (ver. 10);
i. e., God’s people return to the state of mind described in verse 2, or to this sight which causes the unbelieving surmises. To quote Sandys again, as giving the right sense —
“The good not seldom, through their scandal, stray
How like a desponding man’s words is verse 1 2, ‘’ Yet they prosper /or ever,” or more literally, “They are everlasting prosperers f” But now, the likelihood of giving occasion to others to stumble crosses his mind; and forthwith the same Spirit who suggested that consideration, leads Asaph in his thoughts (as some understand the words of verse 17) to the sanctuary. Standing there, the very thought of the Holy One on his Throne is enough to remind him of what must be the end of these ungodly ones; but more especially is the remembrance that there is a resurrection day — a day when God will arise and scatter these dreams of earthly felicity (ver. 20).
“O Lord, when thou awakest, (see Psa, xvii. 15) thou wilt despise their splendid show, As one does a dream, when he awakes out of it!”
Telling his grief and shame because of such unbelief, confessing himself a beast* or brute, he yet returns to sing that, notwithstanding all this, God has not forsaken him, and never will —
“And I continually am with thee! And thou holdest me fast by my right hand.”’ (Ver. 23.)
I am in the wilderness, and thou art my guide, and wilt “receive me,” as thou didst Enoch (Gen. v. 22, same word). The Hebrew words are rather obscure, but this may be because of
* Barclay, in his zeal to prove that every Psalm is Christ’s words directly, falls into the strange error here of rendering J^i^H^ “« lamb,” as if parallel to Isaiah liii. 7. Hengstenberg has remarked, that niDHS implies, (like other such phiral forms) the essence of the brute character.
t Might it not be rendered (neglecting the .-iccents), “And with (he hand thou doat hold niy rifjht hand?”
rSALM LXXIII. — MESSIAH ‘S PEOPLE ALMOST OFFENDED. 221
the ideas rushing through the mind of the Psahnist, so various and so fast. They are literally rendered thus — “Thou wilt lead me by thy counsel. And afterwards gory! Thou wilt receive me I” Not unlike Psa. xlix. 1 6 — “God shall redeem my soul from the grave” (equivalent to “afterwards glory!”) “for he shall receive me.”
Thus God is “the rock of my heart;” my heart rests on The siory. him as on a solid basis. All foes, and all prosperous wicked men, are from this point seen as ruined. No wonder. For has glory come? has the glory of the Jdngdom dawned on us? has the Lord himself welcomed us in? has he given us a place beside himself? Then, from this height we look down and see the impotency and ruin of Antichrist and all such opposers of God, “who go a-whoring from thee.” (Comp. Kev. xvii. 5, ‘’ mother of harlots.”) Meanwhile we draw near to God, re-enter paradise, enjoy our lost fellowship; and our great employment is to praise Him, all clouds of providence being now cleared away, and no more unbelief to hinder our “telling of all his works.”
The tone of this Psalm, especially of the latter part, is that of James v. 7, 8 — “Be patient, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord.” The prevailing topic may be said to be, le almost offended in Him.”