Seventh-day Adventist Bible CommentaryPsalms 73

Truly. Heb. ’ak (see on Ps. 62:1). ’Ak appears also in v. 13 (translated “verily”), and in v. 18 (translated “surely”). God is good. Despite appearances to the contrary. “Yet, in the maddening maze of things, And tossed by storm and flood, To one fixed trust my spirit clings; I know that God is good!” WHITTIER, The Eternal Goodness.

This is the conclusion to which the psalmist has come, after a period of great perplexity. The psalm explains how he reached this conclusion. Of a clean heart. Or, “of a pure heart” (see Ps. 24:4; 51:10; 73:13; Matt. 5:8).

But as for me. The phrase concentrates our attention upon the psalmist and the experiences through which he passed in arriving at the solution of the problem of the psalm: Why do bad men prosper, and good men suffer? Were almost gone. A striking metaphor, meaning that the psalmist had almost lost his faith (see Ps. 44:18). Well nigh slipped. See Ps. 17:5. The psalmist had been on the verge of slipping from the rock of faith into the pit of skepticism.

Ellen G. White

Envious. See on Ps. 37:1. Such envy reveals a spirit that attaches more importance to the things of this world than to the favor of God. Prosperity. Literally, “peace.”

Bands. Or “pangs.” To the psalmist it seemed that the wicked do not suffer the pangs of death, but that they come to a peaceful end (see Job 21:13, 23). Firm. Better, “fat.”

Trouble. They seem to escape what is recognized as the common lot of men (see Job 5:7). As other men. From the Heb. ’enosh, “man in his frailty” (see on Ps. 8:4). Like other men. From the Heb. ’adam, “mankind” (see on Ps. 8:4).

Chain. Better, “necklace,” as adornment (see Prov. 1:9; 3:22). As a garment. Violence (see Gen. 6:11) is as habitual with them as their clothing (see Ps. 109:18, 19).

Fatness. Not weakened by toil, as other men are are, they grow fat from high living. They have. They have whatever they wish. They have only to wish for something, and that wish is gratified; gratification surpasses expectation.

Oppression. This verse may be translated, “They are corrupt, and speak wickedly; concerning oppression they speak loftily.” What a picture of the lofty air assumed by the wicked!

Against the heavens. Or, “in the heavens,” by which may be meant, “They talk as if they were in the heavens.” The phrase is balanced with “through the earth” (literally, “in the earth”) in the second clause of the synonymous parallelism. They talk with an assumed authority. They keep busy going everywhere speaking “wickedly” (v. 8).

His people. The exact meaning of this verse is not clear. The LXX gives a different reading: “Therefore my people shall return hither, and full days shall be found for them.” The RSV obtains its reading by a change of the Hebrew text. The Hebrew as it stands has been variously interpreted, some taking the pronoun “his” to refer to God, others to the wicked man. If the righteous are the subject of the verse, “return hither” may refer to a return to the problem highlighted in the psalm; if the wicked are the subject, the phrase describes the wicked returning to consort with their wicked leader.

How doth God know? See Ps. 10:4, 11, 13; 14:1.

Who prosper. Compare Job 21:7–15.

Verily. Heb. ’ak (see on v. 1).

In vain. In view of the psalmist’s observations (vs. 3–12), he feels that there is no advantage in his being pure before God (see Job 9:27–31). Washed my hands. Symbolic of innocence or purity (see Job 9:30).

Plagued. The psalmist had previously claimed that the wicked are not “plagued” (v. 5). Every morning. The psalmist’s reproof came with the return of every new day (see Job 7:18).

If I say. Rather, “if I had said,” perhaps, to himself. Here begins the triumph of faith. I will speak thus. If I should express all that I think. I should offend. I should have hurt them, should have been untrue to them, should have put a stumbling block in their way. Therefore, the psalmist preferred to remain silent. Sublime reticence (see James 3:2)!

Too painful. The psalmist pondered the problem, seeking to explain the apparent injustice in God’s government, but the end result was only perplexity; the problem was too deep for him to solve.

Until. The problem is about to find solution. The sanctuary. The psalmist ceased his endeavors to reason his way through to a solution of the problem, and went into the sanctuary (see 2 Kings 19:14). The real problems of life are solved only in communion with God. Understood I. In the quietness of the sanctuary the psalmist’s doubts melted away. God gave him the real solution to the problem. Among other things, he learned that he had lost in his perspective and had exaggerated the prosperity of the wicked. Their end. However prosperous the wicked may appear may appear to be, their position is precarious. They have no sure foothold, and may go down at any moment. The argument is even more forceful when applied to the ultimate annihilation of the wicked (Rev. 20:9, 14, 15).

Destruction. That which restores the psalmist’s faith is his recognition of the end of the wicked in this world, of their downfall in the midst of their prosperity. Loss of perspective had kept the psalmist from seeing the retribution that often came upon the wicked, until he went into the sanctuary and cast himself wholly upon God. He had forgotten that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire from heaven; that Pharaoh’s land was ruined by the plagues and his armies were drowned in the sea.

As in a moment. The prosperity of wicked men, or of wicked governments, often collapses in a moment. The problem set forth in the psalm is solved only in a view of the end of the wicked, which may come at any moment. With terrors. Calamities that bring them terror (see Job 18:11; 24:17; 27:20).

As a dream. Prosperity is like a dream (see Isa. 29:7, 8); reality returns when the sleeper awakes. Their image. In the calm of eternity God will pay no attention to the dreams of human existence on earth; eternity will deal with those elements that constitute the real character of man.

Thus. Or, “for.” The reason for his failure to find the solution to the problem lay in the fact that he was unable to consider the matter calmly. He “was grieved,” literally, “was soured,” the Hebrew word being used of leavening (see Ex. 12:34, 39). His heart had lost its sweetness, as if under the action of a ferment. Depressed spirits impair man’s

judgment. The psalmist frankly acknowledges his error in endeavoring to solve the problem in an embittered state of mind, according to appearances, and not according to eternal values. Reins. See on Ps. 7:9.

Foolish. Compare Ps. 92:6; Prov. 30:2. The psalmist did not understand the case. I. The Hebrew pronoun has the emphatic initial position in the verse. Before thee. The psalmist’s folly would have been bad enough had he been alone, but it was utterly reprehensible under the eye of God (see Ps. 51:4).

I. The emphatic initial position as in v. 22. Although I complain and doubt God’s justice, yet God is with me; He will not drive me from His presence. In vs. 23–28 the psalmist express the final solution to the problem of the psalm. That solution is in God, and in the consciousness of His presence and His guidance in this life and in the life everlasting. It is scarcely possible to express to express the sublime beauty of this exquisite passage, both in thought and in diction. My right hand. Compare Ps. 18:35; 63:8.

With thy counsel. The psalmist recognizes God’s guidance, according to the divine plan for his life in this present world. Because he had failed to look to God for guidance and counsel, he had almost succumbed to doubt (see Ps. 48:14). Afterward. When this life is finished. To glory. The poet here suggests his confidence in a future life. In the glory of heaven there will be no room for doubt. The glory, the true splendor, of the eternal life is contrasted with the “image,” the “dream,” the “vain show,” of the wicked man’s existence.

In heaven. There is no one in heaven who can be compared with God. No one “can be to me what God is” (Barnes). None upon earth.. God is all-sufficient. All my happiness centers in Him. This intimacy of devotion is one of the cardinal teachings of the book of Psalms (see Ps. 42:1, 2; 63:1).

Strength. Literally, “rock.” Portion. Not friends, or honor, or wealth, or any earthly thing, but God was the source of the psalmist’s happiness. God was his all in all. Prompted by this verse, Charles Wesley (1707–88), on his deathbed, dictated to his wife one of his 6,500 hymns, in which appear the words: “Jesus, … strength of my failing flesh and heart.”

Far from thee. To be with God is life; to be far from Him is death. The psalmist’s realization of this fact solved the problem of God’s dealings with men (see vs. 3–12). Go a whoring. God’s relation to His people is frequently compared to that of marriage (see Ps. 45; Jer. 3:8, 9, 14; 5:7; 13:27; 2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:25; James 4:4). When God’s children are estranged from Him, they are unfaithful to their marriage vows. The phrase “a whoring” consists of the preposition “a” and the verbal noun “whoring.”

Draw near to God See Heb. 10:22. When we draw nigh to God He draws nigh to us (see James 4:8). There is a beautiful reciprocal relationship between man and God: the closer we draw to Him, the more fully He is able to reveal Himself. Lord God. The Hebrew reads ’Adonai Yahweh, an unusual combination (see Vol. I, pp. 171–173). Beneath the psalmist’s doubts, there had always been a measure of trust in God. Henceforth there should be no more doubt, only serene trust.

That I may declare. The psalmist recognizes his responsibility to tell others how he has passed from doubt to confidence, how he has solved in the Lord Jehovah the problem that is the theme of the psalm. The psalm closes with this solemn vow.