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.
16 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 hast holden 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.
26 My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
27 For, lo, they that are 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.
1 [[A Psalm H4210 of Asaph.]] H623 Truly God H430 is good H2896 to Israel, H3478 even to such as are of a clean H1249 heart. H3824
2 But as for me, my feet H7272 were almost H4592 gone; H5186 H5186 my steps H838 had well nigh H369 slipped. H8210
3 For I was envious H7065 at the foolish, H1984 when I saw H7200 the prosperity H7965 of the wicked. H7563
4 For there are no bands H2784 in their death: H4194 but their strength H193 is firm. H1277
5 They are not in trouble H5999 as other men; H582 neither are they plagued H5060 like H5973 other men. H120
6 Therefore pride H1346 compasseth them about as a chain; H6059 violence H2555 covereth H5848 them as a garment. H7897
7 Their eyes H5869 stand out H3318 with fatness: H2459 they have more H5674 than heart H3824 could wish. H4906
8 They are corrupt, H4167 and speak H1696 wickedly H7451 concerning oppression: H6233 they speak H1696 loftily. H4791
9 They set H8371 their mouth H6310 against the heavens, H8064 and their tongue H3956 walketh H1980 through the earth. H776
10 Therefore his people H5971 return H7725 H7725 hither: H1988 and waters H4325 of a full H4392 cup are wrung out H4680 to them.
11 And they say, H559 How doth God H410 know? H3045 and is there H3426 knowledge H1844 in the most High? H5945
12 Behold, these are the ungodly, H7563 who prosper H7961 in the world; H5769 they increase H7685 in riches. H2428
13 Verily I have cleansed H2135 my heart H3824 in vain, H7385 and washed H7364 my hands H3709 in innocency. H5356
14 For all the day H3117 long have I been plagued, H5060 and chastened H8433 every morning. H1242
15 If I say, H559 I will speak H5608 thus; H3644 behold, I should offend H898 against the generation H1755 of thy children. H1121
16 When I thought H2803 to know H3045 this, it was too painful H5999 for me; H5869
17 Until I went H935 into the sanctuary H4720 of God; H410 then understood H995 I their end. H319
18 Surely thou didst set H7896 them in slippery places: H2513 thou castedst them down H5307 into destruction. H4876
19 How are they brought into desolation, H8047 as in a moment! H7281 they are utterly H5486 consumed H8552 with terrors. H1091
20 As a dream H2472 when one awaketh; H6974 so, O Lord, H136 when thou awakest, H5782 thou shalt despise H959 their image. H6754
21 Thus my heart H3824 was grieved, H2556 and I was pricked H8150 in my reins. H3629
22 So foolish H1198 was I, and ignorant: H3045 I was as a beast H929 before thee.
23 Nevertheless I am continually H8548 with thee: thou hast holden H270 me by my right H3225 hand. H3027
24 Thou shalt guide H5148 me with thy counsel, H6098 and afterward H310 receive H3947 me to glory. H3519
25 Whom have I in heaven H8064 but thee? and there is none upon earth H776 that I desire H2654 beside thee.
26 My flesh H7607 and my heart H3824 faileth: H3615 but God H430 is the strength H6697 of my heart, H3824 and my portion H2506 for ever. H5769
27 For, lo, they that are far H7369 from thee shall perish: H6 thou hast destroyed H6789 all them that go a whoring H2181 from thee.
28 But H589 it is good H2896 for me to draw near H7132 to God: H430 I have put H7896 my trust H4268 in the Lord H136 GOD, H3069 that I may declare H5608 all thy works. H4399
1 Surely God is good to Israel, `Even' to such as are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet were almost gone; My steps had well nigh slipped.
3 For I was envious at the arrogant, When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 For there are no pangs 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 is as a chain about their neck; Violence covereth them as a garment.
7 Their eyes stand out with fatness: They have more than heart could wish.
8 They scoff, and in wickedness utter oppression: They speak loftily.
9 They have set their mouth in the heavens, And their tongue walketh through the earth.
10 Therefore his people return hither: And waters of a full `cup' are drained by them.
11 And they say, How doth God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High?
12 Behold, these are the wicked; And, being alway at ease, they increase in riches.
13 Surely in vain have I cleansed my heart, And washed my hands in innocency;
14 For all the day long have I been plagued, And chastened every morning.
15 If I had said, I will speak thus; Behold, I had dealt treacherously with the generation of thy children.
16 When I thought how I might know this, It was too painful for me;
17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God, And considered their latter end.
18 Surely thou settest them in slippery places: Thou castest them down to destruction.
19 How are they become a desolation in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors.
20 As a dream when one awaketh, So, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou wilt despise their image.
21 For my soul was grieved, And I was pricked in my heart:
22 So brutish was I, and ignorant; I was `as' a beast before thee.
23 Nevertheless I am continually with thee: Thou hast holden my right hand.
24 Thou wilt 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 besides thee.
26 My flesh and my heart faileth; `But' God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever.
27 For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: Thou hast destroyed all them that play the harlot, `departing' from thee.
28 But it is good for me to draw near unto God: I have made the Lord Jehovah my refuge, That I may tell of all thy works. Psalm 74 Maschil of Asaph.
1 A Psalm of Asaph. Only -- good to Israel `is' God, to the clean of heart. And I -- as a little thing, My feet have been turned aside,
2 As nothing, have my steps slipped, For I have been envious of the boastful,
3 The peace of the wicked I see, That there are no bands at their death,
4 And their might `is' firm.
5 In the misery of mortals they are not, And with common men they are not plagued.
6 Therefore hath pride encircled them, Violence covereth them as a dress.
7 Their eye hath come out from fat. The imaginations of the heart transgressed;
8 They do corruptly, And they speak in the wickedness of oppression, From on high they speak.
9 They have set in the heavens their mouth, And their tongue walketh in the earth.
10 Therefore do His people return hither, And waters of fulness are wrung out to them.
11 And they have said, `How hath God known? And is there knowledge in the Most High?'
12 Lo, these `are' the wicked and easy ones of the age, They have increased strength.
13 Only -- a vain thing! I have purified my heart, And I wash in innocency my hands,
14 And I am plagued all the day, And my reproof `is' every morning.
15 If I have said, `I recount thus,' Lo, a generation of Thy sons I have deceived.
16 And I think to know this, Perverseness it `is' in mine eyes,
17 Till I come in to the sanctuaries of God, I attend to their latter end.
18 Only, in slippery places Thou dost set them, Thou hast caused them to fall to desolations.
19 How have they become a desolation as in a moment, They have been ended -- consumed from terrors.
20 As a dream from awakening, O Lord, In awaking, their image Thou despisest.
21 For my heart doth show itself violent, And my reins prick themselves,
22 And I am brutish, and do not know. A beast I have been with Thee.
23 And I `am' continually with Thee, Thou hast laid hold on my right hand.
24 With Thy counsel Thou dost lead me, And after honour dost receive me.
25 Whom have I in the heavens? And with Thee none I have desired in earth.
26 Consumed hath been my flesh and my heart, The rock of my heart and my portion `is' God to the age.
27 For, lo, those far from Thee do perish, Thou hast cut off every one, Who is going a whoring from Thee.
28 And I -- nearness of God to me `is' good, I have placed in the Lord Jehovah my refuge, To recount all Thy works!
1 {A Psalm of Asaph.} Truly God is good to Israel, to such as are of a pure heart.
2 But as for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped;
3 For I was envious at the arrogant, seeing the prosperity of the wicked.
4 For they have no pangs in their death, and their body is well nourished;
5 They have not the hardships of mankind, neither are they plagued like [other] men:
6 Therefore pride encompasseth them as a neck-chain, violence covereth them [as] a garment;
7 Their eyes stand out from fatness, they exceed the imaginations of their heart:
8 They mock and speak wickedly of oppression, they speak loftily:
9 They set their mouth in the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.
10 Therefore his people turn hither, and waters in fulness are wrung out to them.
11 And they say, How can ùGod know, and is there knowledge in the Most High?
12 Behold, these are the wicked, and they prosper in the world: they heap up riches.
13 Truly have I purified my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency:
14 For all the day have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.
15 If I said, I will speak thus, behold, I should be faithless to the generation of thy children.
16 When I thought to be able to know this, it was a grievous task in mine eyes;
17 Until I went into the sanctuaries of ùGod; [then] understood I their end.
18 Truly thou settest them in slippery places, thou castest them down in ruins.
19 How are they suddenly made desolate! they pass away, consumed with terrors.
20 As a dream, when one awaketh, wilt thou, Lord, on arising despise their image.
21 When my heart was in a ferment, and I was pricked in my reins,
22 Then I was brutish and knew nothing; I was [as] a beast with thee.
23 Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden my right hand;
24 Thou wilt guide me by thy counsel, and after the glory, thou wilt receive me.
25 Whom have I in the heavens? and there is none upon earth I desire beside thee.
26 My flesh and my heart faileth: God is the rock of my heart and my portion for ever.
27 For behold, they that are far from thee shall perish; thou destroyest every one that goeth a whoring from thee.
28 But as for me, it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord Jehovah, that I may declare all thy works.
1 > Surely God is good to Israel, To those who are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet were almost gone. My steps had nearly slipped.
3 For I was envious of the arrogant, When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 For there are no struggles in their death, But their strength is firm.
5 They are free from burdens of men, Neither are they plagued like other men.
6 Therefore pride is like a chain around their neck. Violence covers them like a garment.
7 Their eyes bulge with fat. Their minds pass the limits of conceit.
8 They scoff and speak with malice. In arrogance, they threaten oppression.
9 They have set their mouth in the heavens. Their tongue walks through the earth.
10 Therefore their people return to them, And they drink up waters of abundance.
11 They say, "How does God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?"
12 Behold, these are the wicked. Being always at ease, they increase in riches.
13 Surely in vain I have cleansed my heart, And washed my hands in innocence,
14 For all day long have I been plagued, And punished every morning.
15 If I had said, "I will speak thus;" Behold, I would have betrayed the generation of your children.
16 When I tried to understand this, It was too painful for me;
17 Until I entered God's sanctuary, And considered their latter end.
18 Surely you set them in slippery places. You throw them down to destruction.
19 How they are suddenly destroyed! They are completely swept away with terrors.
20 As a dream when one wakes up, So, Lord, when you awake, you will despise their fantasies.
21 For my soul was grieved. I was embittered in my heart.
22 I was so senseless and ignorant. I was a brute beast before you.
23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you. You have held my right hand.
24 You will guide me with your counsel, And afterward receive me to glory.
25 Who do I have in heaven? There is no one on earth who I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart fails, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
27 For, behold, those who are far from you shall perish. You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to you.
28 But it is good for me to come close to God. I have made the Lord Yahweh my refuge, That I may tell of all your works.
1 Truly, God is good to Israel, even to such as are clean in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost gone from under me; I was near to slipping;
3 Because of my envy of the men of pride, when I saw the well-being of the wrongdoers.
4 For they have no pain; their bodies are fat and strong.
5 They are not in trouble as others are; they have no part in the unhappy fate of men.
6 For this reason pride is round them like a chain; they are clothed with violent behaviour as with a robe.
7 Their eyes are bursting with fat; they have more than their heart's desire.
8 Their thoughts are deep with evil designs; their talk from their seats of power is of cruel acts.
9 Their mouth goes up to heaven; their tongues go walking through the earth.
10 For this reason they are full of bread; and water is ever flowing for them.
11 And they say, How will the Lord see this? is there knowledge in the Most High?
12 Truly, such are the sinners; they do well at all times, and their wealth is increased.
13 As for me, I have made my heart clean to no purpose, washing my hands in righteousness;
14 For I have been troubled all the day; every morning have I undergone punishment.
15 If I would make clear what it is like, I would say, You are false to the generation of your children.
16 When my thoughts were turned to see the reason of this, it was a weariness in my eyes;
17 Till I went into God's holy place, and saw the end of the evil-doers.
18 You put their feet where there was danger of slipping, so that they go down into destruction.
19 How suddenly are they wasted! fears are the cause of their destruction.
20 As a dream when one is awake, they are ended; they are like an image gone out of mind when sleep is over.
21 My heart was made bitter, and I was pained by the bite of grief:
22 As for me, I was foolish, and without knowledge; I was like a beast before you.
23 But still I am ever with you; you have taken me by my right hand.
24 Your wisdom will be my guide, and later you will put me in a place of honour.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you? and having you I have no desire for anything on earth.
26 My flesh and my heart are wasting away: but God is the Rock of my heart and my eternal heritage.
27 For those who are far away from you will come to destruction: you will put an end to all those who have not kept faith with you.
28 But it is good for me to come near to God: I have put my faith in the Lord God, so that I may make clear all his works.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 73
Commentary on Psalms 73 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Temptation to Apostasy Overcome
After the one Asaph Psalm of the Second Book, Ps 50, follow eleven more of them from Psalms 73-83. They are all Elohimic, whereas the Korah Psalms divide into an Elohimic and a Jehovic group. Psalms 84:1-12 forms the transition from the one to the other. The Elohim-Psalms extend from Psalms 42-84, and are fenced in on both sides by Jahve-Psalms.
In contents Psalms 73 is the counterpart of pendant of Ps 50. As in that Psalm the semblance of a sanctity based upon works is traced back to its nothingness, so here the seeming good fortune of the ungodly, by which the poet felt himself tempted to fall away, not into heathenism (Hitzig), but into that free-thinking which in the heathen world does not less cast off the deisidaimoni'a than it does the belief in Jahve within the pale of Israel. Nowhere does there come to light in the national history any back ground that should contradict the לאסף , and the doubts respecting the moral order of the world are set at rest in exactly the same way as in Ps 37; Ps 49, and in the Book of Job. Theodicy, or the vindication of God's ways, does not as yet rise from the indication of the retribution in this present time which the ungodly do not escape, to a future solution of all the contradictions of this present world; and the transcendent glory which infinitely outweighs the suffering of this present time, still remains outside the range of vision. The stedfast faith which, gladly renouncing everything, holds fast to God, and the pure love to which this possession is more than heaven and earth, is all the more worthy of admiration in connection with such defective knowledge.
The strophe schema of the Psalm is predominantly octastichic: 4. 8. 8. 8; 8. 8. 5. Its two halves are Psalms 73:1, Psalms 73:15.
אך , belonging to the favourite words of the faith that bids defiance to assault, signifies originally “thus = not otherwise,” and therefore combines an affirmative and restrictive, or, according to circumstances, even an adversative signification (vid., on Psalms 39:6). It may therefore be rendered: yea good, assuredly good, or: only good, nothing but good; both renderings are an assertion of a sure, infallible relation of things. God appears to be angry with the godly, but in reality He is kindly disposed towards them, though He send affliction after affliction upon them (Lamentations 3:25). The words ישראל אלהים are not to be taken together, after Galatians 6:16 ( τὸν Ἰσραήλ τοῦ Θεοῦ ); not, “only good is it with the Israel of Elohim,” but “only good to Israel is Elohim,” is the right apprehension of the truth or reality that is opposed to what seems to be the case. The Israel which in every relationship has a good and loving God is limited in Psalms 73:1 to the pure in heart (Psalms 24:4; Matthew 5:8). Israel in truth are not all those who are descended from Jacob, but those who have put away all impurity of disposition and all uncleanness of sin out of their heart, i.e., out of their innermost life, and by a constant striving after sanctification (Psalms 73:13) maintain themselves in such purity. In relation to this, which is the real church of God, God is pure love, nothing but love. This it is that has been confirmed to the poet as he passed through the conflict of temptation, but it was through conflict, for he almost fell by reason of the semblance of the opposite. The Chethîb נטוּי רגלי (cf. Numbers 24:4) or נטוּי (cf. 2 Samuel 15:32) is erroneous. The narration of that which is past cannot begin with a participial clause like this, and כּמעט , in such a sense ( non multum abfuit quin , like כּאין , nihil abfuit quin ), always has the perfect after it, e.g., Psalms 94:17; Psalms 119:87. It is therefore to be read נטיוּ (according to the fuller form for נטוּ , which is used not merely with great distinctives, as in Psalms 36:8; Psalms 122:6; Numbers 24:6, but also with conjunctives out of pause, e.g., Psalms 57:2, cf. Psalms 36:9, Deuteronomy 32:37; Job 12:6): my feet had almost inclined towards, had almost slipped backwards and towards the side. On the other hand the Chethîb שׁפּכה is unassailable; the feminine singular is frequently found as predicate both of a plural subject that has preceded (Psalms 18:35, cf. Deuteronomy 21:7; Job 16:16) and also more especially of one that is placed after it, e.g., Psalms 37:31; Job 14:19. The footsteps are said to be poured out when one “flies out or slips” and falls to the ground.
Now follows the occasion of the conflict of temptation: the good fortune of those who are estranged from God. In accordance with the gloominess of the theme, the style is also gloomy, and piles up the full-toned suffixes amo and emo (vid., Psalms 78:66; Psalms 80:7; Psalms 83:12, Psalms 83:14); both are after the example set by David. קנּא with Beth of the object ion which the zeal or warmth of feeling is kindled (Psalms 37:1; Proverbs 3:31) here refers to the warmth of envious ill-feeling. Concerning הולל vid., Psalms 5:6. Psalms 73:3 tells under what circumsntaces the envy was excited; cf. so far as the syntax is concerned, Psalms 49:6; Psalms 76:11. In Psalms 73:4 חרצצבּות (from חרצב = חצּב from חצב , cognate עצב , whence עצב , pain, Arabic ‛aṣâbe , a snare, cf. חבל , ὠδίς , and חבל σχοινίον ), in the same sense as the Latin tormenta (from torquere ), is intended of pains that produce convulsive contractions. But in order to give the meaning “they have no pangs (to suffer) till their death,” להם ( למו ) could not be omitted (that is, assuming also that ל , which is sometimes used for עד , vid., Psalms 59:14, could in such an exclusive sense signify the terminus ad quem ). Also “there are no pangs for their death, i.e., that bring death to them,” ought to be expressed by להם למּות . The clause as it stands affirms that their dying has no pangs, i.e., it is a painless death; but not merely does this assertion not harmonize with Psalms 73:18., but it is also introduced too early here, since the poet cannot surely begin the description of the good fortune of the ungodly with the painlessness of their death, and then for the first time come to speak of their healthy condition. We may therefore read, with Ewald, Hitzig, Böttcher, and Olshausen:
כי אין חרצבות למו
תּם ובריא אולם
i.e., they have (suffer) no pangs, vigorous ( תּם like תּם , Job 21:23, תמים , Proverbs 1:12) and well-nourished is their belly ; by which means the difficult למותם is got rid of, and the gloomy picture is enriched by another form ending with mo . אוּל , here in a derisive sense, signifies the body, like the Arabic allun , âlun (from âl , coaluit , cohaesit , to condense inwardly, to gain consistency).
(Note: Hitzig calls to mind οὖλος , “corporeal;” but this word is Ionic and equivalent to ὅλος , solidus , the ground-word of which is the Sanscrit sarvas , whole, complete.)
The observation of Psalms 73:4 is pursued further in Psalms 73:5 : whilst one would have thought that the godly formed an exception to the common wretchedness of mankind, it is just the wicked who are exempt from all trouble and calamity. It is also here to be written אינמו , as in Psalms 59:14, not אינימו . Therefore is haughtiness their neck-chain, and brutishness their mantle. ענק is a denominative from ענק = αὐχήν : to hang round the neck; the neck is the seat of pride ( αὐχεῖν ): haughtiness hangs around their neck (like ענק , a neck-ornament). Accordingly in Psalms 73:6 המס is the subject, although the interpunction construes it differently, viz., “they wrap round as a garment the injustice belonging to them,” in order, that is, to avoid the construction of יעטף (vid., Ps 65:14) with למו ; but active verbs can take a dative of the object (e.g., אהב ל , , רפא ל ) in the sense: to be or to grant to any one that which the primary notion of the verb asserts. It may therefore be rendered: they put on the garment of violence ( שׁית חמס like בּגדי נקם , Isaiah 59:17), or even by avoiding every enallage numeri : violence covers them as a garment; so that שׁית is an apposition which is put forth in advance.
The reading עונמו , ἡ ἀδικία αὐτῶν (lxx (cf. in Zechariah 5:6 the עינם , which is rendered by the lxx in exactly the same way), in favour of which Hitzig, Böttcher, and Olshausen decide, “their iniquity presses forth out of a fat heart, out of a fat inward part,” is favoured by Psalms 17:10, where חלב obtains just this signification by combination with סגר , which it would obtain here as being the place whence sin issues; cf. ἐξέρχεσθαι ἐκ τῆς καρδίας , Matthew 15:18.; and the parallelism decides its superiority. Nevertheless the traditional reading also gives a suitable sense; not (since the fat tends to make the eyes appear to be deeper in) “their eyes come forward prae adipe ,” but, “they stare forth ex adipe , out of the fat of their bloated visage,” מחלב being equivalent to מחלב פּניהם , Job 15:27. This is a feature of the character faithfully drawn after nature. Further, just as in general τὸ περίσσευμα τῆς καρδίας wells over in the gestures and language (Matthew 12:34), so is it also with their “views or images of the heart” (from שׂכה , like שׂכוי , the cock with its gift of divination as speculator ): the illusions of their unbounded self-confidence come forth outwardly, they overflow after the manner of a river,
(Note: On the other hand, Redslob (Deutsch. Morgenländ. Zeitschr . 1860, S. 675) interprets it thus: they run over the fencings of the heart, from שׂכה in the signification to put or stick through, to stick into ( infigere ), by comparing קירות לבּי , Jeremiah 4:19, and ἕρκος ὀδόντων . He regards משׂכית sdrag and mosaic as one word, just as the Italian ricamare (to stitch) and רקם is one word. Certainly the root זך , Arab. zk , ḏk , has the primary notion of piercing (cf. זכר ), and also the notion of purity, which it obtains, proceeds from the idea of the brilliance which pierces into the eye; but the primary notion of שׂכה is that of cutting through (whence שׂכּין , like מחלף , a knife, from חלף , Judges 5:26).)
viz., as Psalms 73:8 says, in words that are proud beyond measure (Jeremiah 5:28). Luther: “they destroy everything” (synon. they make it as or into rottenness, from מקק ). But חמיק is here equivalent to the Aramaic מיּק ( μωκᾶσθαι ): they mock and openly speak ברע (with ā in connection with Munach transformed from Dechî ), with evil disposition (cf. Exodus 32:12), oppression; i.e., they openly express their resolve which aims at oppression. Their fellow-man is the sport of their caprice; they speak or dictate ממּרום , down from an eminence, upon which they imagine themselves to be raised high above others. Even in the heavens above do they set ( שׁתּוּ as in Psalms 49:15 instead of שׁתוּ , - there, in accordance with tradition, Milel ; here at the commencement of the verse Milra ) their mouth; even these do not remain untouched by their scandalous language (cf. Judges 1:16); the Most High and Holy One, too, is blasphemed by them, and their tongue runs officiously and imperiously through the earth below, everywhere disparaging that which exists and giving new laws. תּהלך , as in Exodus 9:23, a Kal sounding much like Hithpa ., in the signification grassari . In Psalms 73:10 the Chethîb ישׁיב (therefore he, this class of man, turns a people subject to him hither, i.e., to himself) is to be rejected, because הלם is not appropriate to it. עמּו is the subject, and the suffix refers not to God (Stier), whose name has not been previously mentioned, but to the kind of men hitherto described: what is meant is the people which, in order that it may turn itself hither ( שׁוּב , not: to turn back, but to turn one's self towards, as e.g., in Jeremiah 15:19)
(Note: In general שׁוּב does not necessarily signify to turn back, but, like the Arabic ‛âda , Persic gashten , to enter into a new (active or passive) state.))
becomes his, i.e., this class's people (cf. for this sense of the suffix as describing the issue or event, Psalms 18:24; Psalms 49:6; Psalms 65:12). They gain adherents (Psalms 49:14) from those who leave the fear of God and turn to them; and מי מלא , water of fulness, i.e., of full measure (cf. Psalms 74:15, streams of duration = that do not dry up), which is here an emblem of their corrupt principles (cf. Job 15:16), is quaffed or sucked in ( מצה , root מץ , whence first of all מצץ , Arab. mṣṣ , to suck) by these befooled ones ( למו , αὐτοῖς = ὑπ ̓ αὐτῶν ). This is what is meant to be further said, and not that this band of servile followers is in fulness absorbed by them (Sachs). Around the proud free-thinkers there gathers a rabble submissive to them, which eagerly drinks in everything that proceeds from them as though it were the true water of life. Even in David's time (Psalms 10:4; Psalms 14:1; Psalms 36:2) there were already such stout spirits (Isaiah 46:12) with a servûm imitatorum pecus . A still far more favourable soil for these לצים was the worldly age of Solomon.
The persons speaking are now those apostates who, deluded by the good fortune and free-thinking of the ungodly, give themselves up to them as slaves. concerning the modal sense of ידע , quomodo sciverit , vid., Psalms 11:3, cf. Job 22:13. With וישׁ the doubting question is continued. Böttcher renders thus: nevertheless knowledge is in the Most High (a circumstantial clause like Proverbs 3:28; Malachi 1:14; Judges 6:13); but first of all they deny God's actual knowledge, and then His attributive omniscience. It is not to be interpreted: behold, such are (according to their moral nature) the ungodly ( אלּה , tales , like זה , Ps 48:15, Deuteronomy 5:26, cf. המּה , Isaiah 56:11); nor, as is more in accordance with the parallel member Psalms 73:12 and the drift of the Psalm: behold, thus it befalleth the ungodly (such as they according to their lot, as in Job 18:21, cf. Isaiah 20:6); but, what forms a better connection as a statement of the ground of the scepticism in Psalms 73:11, either, in harmony with the accentuation: behold, the ungodly, etc., or, since it is not הרשׁעים : behold, these are ungodly, and, ever reckless (Jeremiah 12:1), they have acquired great power. With the bitter הנּה , as Stier correctly observes, they bring forward the obvious proof to the contrary. How can God be said to be the omniscient Ruler of the world? - the ungodly in their carnal security become very powerful and mighty, but piety, very far from being rewarded, is joined with nothing but misfortune. My striving after sanctity (cf. Proverbs 20:9), my abstinence from all moral pollution (cf. Proverbs 26:6), says he who has been led astray, has been absolutely ( אך as in 1 Samuel 25:21) in vain; I was notwithstanding (Ew. §345, a ) incessantly tormented (cf. Psalms 73:5), and with every morning's dawn ( לבּקרים , as in Psalms 101:8, cf. לבקרים in Job 7:18) my chastitive suffering was renewed. We may now supply the conclusion in thought in accordance with Psalms 73:10 : Therefore have I joined myself to those who never concern themselves about God and at the same time get on better.
To such, doubt is become the transition to apostasy. The poet has resolved the riddle of such an unequal distribution of the fortunes of men in a totally different way. Instead of כּמו in Psalms 73:15, to read כּמוהם (Böttcher), or better, by taking up the following הנה , which even Saadia allows himself to do, contrary to the accents (Arab. mṯl hḏâ ), כּמו הנּה (Ewald), is unnecessary, since prepositions are sometimes used elliptically ( כּעל , Isaiah 59:18), or even without anything further (Hosea 7:16; Hosea 11:7) as adverbs, which must therefore be regarded as possible also in the case of כּמו (Aramaic, Arabic כּמא , Aethiopic kem ). The poet means to say, If I had made up my mind to the same course of reasoning, I should have faithlessly forsaken the fellowship of the children of God, and should consequently also have forfeited their blessings. The subjunctive signification of the perfects in the hypothetical protasis and apodosis, Psalms 73:15 (cf. Jeremiah 23:22), follows solely from the context; futures instead of perfects would signify si dicerem ... perfide agerem . דּור בּניך is the totality of those, in whom the filial relationship in which God has placed Isreal in relation to Himself is become an inward or spiritual reality, the true Israel, Psalms 73:1, the “righteous generation,” Psalms 14:5. It is an appellative, as in Deuteronomy 14:1; Hosea 2:1. For on the point of the uhiothesi'a the New Testament differs from the Old Testament in this way, viz., that in the Old Testament it is always only as a people that Israel is called בן , or as a whole בנים , but that the individual, and that in his direct relationship to God, dared not as yet call himself “child of God.” The individual character is not as yet freed from its absorption in the species, it is not as yet independent; it is the time of the minor's νηπιότης , and the adoption is as yet only effected nationally, salvation is as yet within the limits of the nationality, its common human form has not as yet appeared. The verb בּגד with בּ signifies to deal faithlessly with any one, and more especially (whether God, a friend, or a spouse) faithlessly to forsake him; here, in this sense of malicious desertion, it contents itself with the simple accusative.
On the one side, by joining in the speech of the free-thinkers he would have placed himself outside the circle of the children of God, of the truly pious; on the other side, however, when by meditation he sought to penetrate it ( לדעת ), the doubt-provoking phenomenon ( זאת ) still continued to be to him עמל , trouble, i.e., something that troubled him without any result, an unsolvable riddle (cf. Ecclesiastes 8:17). Whether we read הוּא or היא , the sense remains the same; the Kerî הוּא prefers, as in Job 31:11, the attractional gender. Neither here nor in Job 30:26 and elsewhere is it to be supposed that ואחשׁבה is equivalent to ואחשׁבה (Ewald, Hupfeld). The cohortative from of the future here, as frequently (Ges. §128, 1), with or without a conditional particle (Psalms 139:8; 2 Samuel 22:38; Job 16:6; Job 11:17; Job 19:18; Job 30:26), forms a hypothetical protasis: and (yet) when I meditated; Symmachus (according to Montfaucon), ει ̓ ἐλογιζόμην . As Vaihinger aptly observes, “thinking alone will give neither the right light nor true happiness.” Both are found only in faith. The poet at last struck upon the way of faith, and there he found light and peace. The future after עד frequently has the signification of the imperfect subjunctive, Job 32:11; Ecclesiastes 2:3, cf. Proverbs 12:19 ( donec nutem = only a moment); also in an historical connection like Joshua 10:13; 2 Chronicles 29:34, it is conceived of as subjunctive ( donec ulciseretur , se sanctificarent ), sometimes, however, as indicative, as in Exodus 15:16 ( donec transibat ) and in our passage, where אד introduces the objective goal at which the riddle found its solution: until I went into the sanctuary of God, (purposely) attended to ( ל as in the primary passage Deuteronomy 32:29, cf. Job 14:21) their life's end. The cohortative is used here exactly as in ואבינה , but with the collateral notion of that which is intentional, which here fully accords with the connection. He went into God's dread sanctuary (plural as in Ps 68:36, cf. מקדּשׁ in the Psalms of Asaph, Psalms 67:7; Psalms 78:69); here he prayed for light in the darkness of his conflict, here were his eyes opened to the holy plans and ways of God (Psalms 77:14), here the sight of the sad end of the evil-doers was presented to him. By “God's sanctuaries” Ewald and Hitzig understand His secrets; but this meaning is without support in the usage of the language. And is it not a thought perfectly in harmony with the context and with experience, that a light arose upon him when he withdrew from the bustle of the world into the quiet of God's dwelling - place, and there devoutly gave his mind to the matter?
The strophe closes with a summary confession of the explanation received there. שׁית is construed with Lamed inasmuch as collocare is equivalent to locum assignare (vid., Psalms 73:6 ). God makes the evil-doers to stand on smooth, slippery places, where one may easily lose one's footing (cf. Psalms 35:6; Jeremiah 23:12). There, then, they also inevitably fall; God casts them down למשּׁוּאות , into ruins, fragores = ruinae , from שׁוא = שׁאה , to be confused, desolate, to rumble. The word only has the appearance of being from נשׁא : ensnarings, sudden attacks (Hitzig), which is still more ill suited to Psalms 74:3 than to this passage; desolation and ruin can be said even of persons, as הרס , Psalms 28:5, ונשׁבּרוּ , Isaiah 8:15, נפּץ , Jeremiah 51:21-23. The poet knows no other theodicy but this, nor was any other known generally in the pre-exilic literature of Israel (vid., Ps 37; Psalms 39:1-13, Jer. 12, and the Job 1:1). The later prophecy and the Chokma were much in advance of this, inasmuch as they point to a last universal judgment (vid., more particularly Malachi 3:13.), but not one that breaks off this present state; the present state and the future state, time and eternity, are even there not as yet thoroughly separated.
The poet calms himself with the solution of the riddle that has come to him; and it would be beneath his dignity as a man to allow himself any further to be tempted by doubting thoughts. Placing himself upon the standpoint of the end, he sees how the ungodly come to terrible destruction in a moment: they come to an end ( ספוּ from סוּף , not ספה ), it is all over with them ( תּמּוּ ) in consequence of ( מן as in Psalms 76:7, and unconnected as in Psalms 18:4; Psalms 30:4; Psalms 22:14) frightful occurrences ( בּלּהות , a favourite word, especially in the Book of Job), which clear them out of the way. It is with them as with a dream, after ( מן as in 1 Chronicles 8:8) one is awoke. One forgets the vision on account of its nothingness (Job 20:8). So the evil-doers who boast themselves μετὰ πολλῆς φαντασίας (Acts 25:23) are before God a צלם , a phantom or unsubstantial shadow. When He, the sovereign Lord, shall awake, i.e., arouse Himself to judgment after He has looked on with forbearance, then He will despise their shadowy image, will cast it contemptuously from Him. Luther renders, So machstu Herr jr Bilde in der Stad verschmecht (So dost Thou, Lord, make their image despised in the city). But neither has the Kal בּזה this double transitive signification, “to give over to contempt,” nor is the mention of the city in place here. In Hosea 11:9 also בּעיר in the signification in urbem gives no right sense; it signifies heat of anger or fury, as in Jeremiah 15:8, heat of anguish, and Schröder maintains the former signification (vid., on Psalms 139:20), in fervore ( irae ), here also; but the pointing בּעיר is against it. Therefore בּעיר is to be regarded, with the Targum, as syncopated from בּהעיר (cf. לביא , Jeremiah 39:7; 2 Chronicles 31:10; בּכּשׁלו , Proverbs 24:17, and the like); not, however, to be explained, “when they awake,” viz., from the sleep of death (Targum),
(Note: The Targum version is, “As the dream of a drunken man, who awakes out of his sleep, wilt Thou, O Lord, on the day of the great judgment, when they awake out of their graves, in wrath abandon their image to contempt.” The text of our editions is to be thus corrected according to Bechai (on Deuteronomy 33:29) and Nachmani (in his treatise שׁער הגמול ).)
or after Psalms 78:38, “when Thou awakest them,” viz., out of their sleep of security (De Wette, Kurtz), but after Psalms 35:23, “when Thou awakest,” viz., to sit in judgment.
Thus far we have the divine answer, which is reproduced by the poet after the manner of prayer. Hengstenberg now goes on by rendering it, “for my heart was incensed;” but we cannot take יתחמּץ according to the sequence of tenses as an imperfect, nor understand כּי as a particle expression the reason. On the contrary, the poet, from the standpoint of the explanation he has received, speaks of a possible return ( כּי seq. fut . = ἐάν ) of his temptation, and condemns it beforehand: si exacerbaretur animus meus atque in renibus meis pungerer . התחמּץ , to become sour, bitter, passionate; השׁתּונן , with the more exactly defining accusative כּליותי , to be pricked, piqued, irritated. With ואני begins the apodosis: then should I be... I should have become (perfect as in Psalms 73:15, according to Ges. §126, 5). Concerning לא ידע , non sapere , vid., Psalms 14:4. בּהמות can be taken as compar. decurtata for כּבהמות ; nevertheless, as apparently follows from Job 40:15, the poet surely has the p - ehe - mou , the water ox, i.e., the hippopotamus, in his mind, which being Hebraized is בּהמות ,
(Note: The Egyptian p frequently passes over into the Hebrew b , and vice versâ , as in the name Aperiu = עברים ; p , however, is retained in פרעה = phar - aa , grand-house ( οἶκος μέγας in Horapollo), the name of the Egyptian rulers, which begins with the sign of the plan of a house = p .)
and, as a plump colossus of flesh, is at once an emblem of colossal stupidity (Maurer, Hitzig). The meaning of the poet is, that he would not be a man in relation to God, over against God ( עם , as in Psalms 78:37; Job 9:2, cf. Arab. ma‛a , in comparison with), if he should again give way to the same doubts, but would be like the most stupid animal, which stands before God incapable of such knowledge as He willingly imparts to earnestly inquiring man.
But he does not thus deeply degrade himself: after God has once taken him by the right hand and rescued him from the danger of falling (Psalms 73:2), he clings all the more firmly to Him, and will not suffer his perpetual fellowship with Him to be again broken through by such seizures which estrange him from God. confidently does he yield up himself to the divine guidance, though he may not see through the mystery of the plan ( עצה ) of this guidance. He knows that afterwards ( אחר with Mugrash : adverb as in Psalms 68:26), i.e., after this dark way of faith, God will כבוד receive him, i.e., take him to Himself, and take him from all suffering ( לקח as in Psalms 49:16, and of Enoch, Genesis 5:24). The comparison of Zechariah 2:12 [8] is misleading; there אחר is rightly accented as a preposition: after glory hath He sent me forth (vid., Köhler), and here as an adverb; for although the adverbial sense of אחר would more readily lead one to look for the arrangement of the words ואחר תקחני כבוד , still “to receive after glory” (cf. the reverse Isaiah 58:8) is an awkward thought. כבוד , which as an adjective “glorious” (Hofmann) is alien to the language, is either accusative of the goal (Hupfeld), or, which yields a form of expression that is more like the style of the Old Testament, accusative of the manner (Luther, “with honour”). In אחר the poet comprehends in one summary view what he looks for at the goal of the present divine guidance. The future is dark to him, but lighted up by the one hope that the end of his earthly existence will be a glorious solution of the riddle. Here, as elsewhere, it is faith which breaks through not only the darkness of this present life, but also the night of Hades. At that time there was as yet no divine utterance concerning any heavenly triumph of the church, militant in the present world, but to faith the Jahve-Name had already a transparent depth which penetrated beyond Hades into an eternal life. The heaven of blessedness and glory also is nothing without God; but he who can in love call God his, possesses heaven upon earth, and he who cannot in love call God his, would possess not heaven, but hell, in the midst of heaven. In this sense the poet says in Psalms 73:25 : whom have I in heaven? i.e., who there without Thee would be the object of my desire, the stilling of my longing? without Thee heaven with all its glory is a vast waste and void, which makes me indifferent to everything, and with Thee, i.e., possessing Thee, I have no delight in the earth, because to call Thee mine infinitely surpasses every possession and every desire of earth. If we take בּארץ still more exactly as parallel to בּשּׁמים , without making it dependent upon חפצתּי : and possessing Thee I have no desire upon the earth, then the sense remains essentially the same; but if we allow בארץ to be governed by חפצתי in accordance with the general usage of the language, we arrive at this meaning by the most natural way. Heaven and earth, together with angels and men, afford him no satisfaction - his only friend, his sole desire and love, is God. The love for God which David expresses in Psalms 16:2 in the brief utterance, “Thou art my Lord, Thou art my highest good,” is here expanded with incomparable mystical profoundness and beauty. Luther's version shows his master-hand. The church follows it in its “Herzlich lieb hab' ich dich” when it sings -
“The whole wide world delights me not,
For heaven and earth, Lord, care I not,
If I may but have Thee;”
and following it, goes on in perfect harmony with the text of our Psalm -
“Yea, though my heart be like to break,
Thou art my trust that nought can shake;”
(Note: Miss Winkworth's translation.)
or with Paul Gerhard, [in his Passion-hymn “ Ein Lämmlein geht und trägt die Schuld der Welt und ihrer Kinder ,”
“Light of my heart, that shalt Thou be;
And when my heart in pieces breaks,
Thou shalt my heart remain.”
For the hypothetical perfect כּלה expresses something in spite of which he upon whom it may come calls God his God: licet defecerit . Though his outward and inward man perish, nevertheless God remains ever the rock of his heart as the firm ground upon which he, with his ego , remains standing when everything else totters; He remains his portion, i.e., the possession that cannot be taken from him, if he loses all, even his spirit-life pertaining to the body, - and God remains to him this portion לעולם , he survives with the life which he has in God the death of the old life. The poet supposes an extreme case, - one, that is, it is true, impossible, but yet conceivable, - that his outward and inward being should sink away; even then with the merus actus of his ego he will continue to cling to God. In the midst of the natural life of perishableness and of sin, a new, individual life which is resigned to God has begun within him, and in this he has the pledge that he cannot perish, so truly as God, with whom it is closely united, cannot perish. It is just this that is also the nerve of the proof of the resurrection of the dead which Jesus advances in opposition to the Sadducees (Matthew 22:32).
The poet here once more gives expression to the great opposites into which good fortune and misfortune are seemingly, but only seemingly, divided in a manner so contradictory to the divine justice. The central point of the confirmation that is introduced with כּי lies in Psalms 73:28. “Thy far removing ones” was to be expressed with רחק , which is distinct from רחוק . זנה has מן instead of מתּחת or מאחרי after it. Those who remove themselves far from the primary fountain of life fall a prey to ruin; those who faithlessly abandon God, and choose the world with its idols rather than His love, fall a prey to destruction. Not so the poet; the nearness of God, i.e., a state of union with God, is good to him, i.e., (cf. Psalms 119:71.) he regards as his good fortune. קרבה is nom. act . after the form יקהה , Arab. waqhat , obedience, and נצּרה , a watch, Psalms 141:3, and of essentially the same signification with ḳurba ( קרבה ), the Arabic designation of the unio mystica ; cf. James 4:8, ἐγγίσατε τῷ Θεῷ καὶ ἐγγιεῖ ὑμῖν . Just as קרבת אלהים stands in antithesis to רחקיך , so לי טּוב stands in antithesis to יאבדו and הצמתה . To the former their alienation from God brings destruction; he finds in fellowship with God that which is good to him for the present time and for the future. Putting his confidence ( מחסּי , not מחסי ) in Him, he will declare, and will one day be able to declare, all His מלאכות , i.e., the manifestations or achievements of His righteous, gracious, and wise government. The language of assertion is quickly changed into that of address. The Psalm closes with an upward look of grateful adoration to God beforehand, who leads His own people, ofttimes wondrously indeed, but always happily, viz., through suffering to glory.