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Psalms 73:1 King James Version with Strong's Concordance (STRONG)

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

Cross Reference

Matthew 5:8 STRONG

Blessed G3107 are the pure G2513 in heart: G2588 for G3754 they G846 shall see G3700 God. G2316

Luke 12:32 STRONG

Fear G5399 not, G3361 little G3398 flock; G4168 for G3754 it is G2106 your G5216 Father's G3962 good pleasure G2106 to give G1325 you G5213 the kingdom. G932

Psalms 84:11 STRONG

For the LORD H3068 God H430 is a sun H8121 and shield: H4043 the LORD H3068 will give H5414 grace H2580 and glory: H3519 no good H2896 thing will he withhold H4513 from them that walk H1980 uprightly. H8549

John 1:47 STRONG

Jesus G2424 saw G1492 Nathanael G3482 coming G2064 to G4314 him, G846 and G2532 saith G3004 of G4012 him, G846 Behold G2396 an Israelite G2475 indeed, G230 in G1722 whom G3739 is G2076 no G3756 guile! G1388

Psalms 51:10 STRONG

Create H1254 in me a clean H2889 heart, H3820 O God; H430 and renew H2318 a right H3559 spirit H7307 within H7130 me.

Psalms 50:1 STRONG

[[A Psalm H4210 of Asaph.]] H623 The mighty H410 God, H430 even the LORD, H3068 hath spoken, H1696 and called H7121 the earth H776 from the rising H4217 of the sun H8121 unto the going down H3996 thereof.

Jeremiah 4:14 STRONG

O Jerusalem, H3389 wash H3526 thine heart H3820 from wickedness, H7451 that thou mayest be saved. H3467 How long shall thy vain H205 thoughts H4284 lodge H3885 within H7130 thee?

James 4:8 STRONG

Draw nigh G1448 to God, G2316 and G2532 he will draw nigh G1448 to you. G5213 Cleanse G2511 your hands, G5495 ye sinners; G268 and G2532 purify G48 your hearts, G2588 ye double minded. G1374

Titus 3:5 STRONG

Not G3756 by G1537 works G2041 of G1722 righteousness G1343 which G3739 we G2249 have done, G4160 but G235 according to G2596 his G846 mercy G1656 he saved G4982 us, G2248 by G1223 the washing G3067 of regeneration, G3824 and G2532 renewing G342 of the Holy G40 Ghost; G4151

Romans 9:6-7 STRONG

Not G3756 as G3634 though G1161 G3754 the word G3056 of God G2316 hath taken none effect. G1601 For G1063 they are not G3756 all G3956 G1537 Israel, G2474 which G3588 G3778 are of Israel: G2474 Neither, G3761 because G3754 they are G1526 the seed G4690 of Abraham, G11 are they all G3956 children: G5043 but, G235 In G1722 Isaac G2464 shall G2564 thy G4671 seed G4690 be called. G2564

Romans 4:16 STRONG

Therefore G1223 G5124 it is of G1537 faith, G4102 that G2443 it might be by G2596 grace; G5485 to the end G1519 the promise G1860 might be G1511 sure G949 to all G3956 the seed; G4690 not G3756 to that only G3440 which is of G1537 the law, G3551 but G235 to that also G2532 which is of G1537 the faith G4102 of Abraham; G11 who G3739 is G2076 the father G3962 of us G2257 all, G3956

Romans 2:28-29 STRONG

For G1063 he is G2076 not G3756 a Jew, G2453 which is one outwardly; G1722 G5318 neither G3761 is that circumcision, G4061 which is outward G1722 G5318 in G1722 the flesh: G4561 But G235 he is a Jew, G2453 which is one inwardly; G1722 G2927 and G2532 circumcision G4061 is that of the heart, G2588 in G1722 the spirit, G4151 and not G3756 in the letter; G1121 whose G3739 praise G1868 is not G3756 of G1537 men, G444 but G235 of G1537 God. G2316

1 Chronicles 6:39 STRONG

And his brother H251 Asaph, H623 who stood H5975 on his right hand, H3225 even Asaph H623 the son H1121 of Berachiah, H1296 the son H1121 of Shimea, H8092

Isaiah 63:7-9 STRONG

I will mention H2142 the lovingkindnesses H2617 of the LORD, H3068 and the praises H8416 of the LORD, H3068 according to all that the LORD H3068 hath bestowed H1580 on us, and the great H7227 goodness H2898 toward the house H1004 of Israel, H3478 which he hath bestowed H1580 on them according to his mercies, H7356 and according to the multitude H7230 of his lovingkindnesses. H2617 For he said, H559 Surely they are my people, H5971 children H1121 that will not lie: H8266 so he was their Saviour. H3467 In all their affliction H6869 he was afflicted, H6862 and the angel H4397 of his presence H6440 saved H3467 them: in his love H160 and in his pity H2551 he redeemed H1350 them; and he bare H5190 them, and carried H5375 them all the days H3117 of old. H5769

Psalms 83:1 STRONG

[[A Song H7892 or Psalm H4210 of Asaph.]] H623 Keep not thou silence, H1824 O God: H430 hold not thy peace, H2790 and be not still, H8252 O God. H410

Psalms 42:11 STRONG

Why art thou cast down, H7817 O my soul? H5315 and why art thou disquieted H1993 within me? hope H3176 thou in God: H430 for I shall yet praise H3034 him, who is the health H3444 of my countenance, H6440 and my God. H430

Psalms 24:4 STRONG

He that hath clean H5355 hands, H3709 and a pure H1249 heart; H3824 who hath not lifted up H5375 his soul H5315 unto vanity, H7723 nor sworn H7650 deceitfully. H4820

Psalms 2:6 STRONG

Yet have I set H5258 my king H4428 upon my holy H6944 hill H2022 of Zion. H6726

2 Chronicles 29:30 STRONG

Moreover Hezekiah H3169 the king H4428 and the princes H8269 commanded H559 the Levites H3881 to sing praise H1984 unto the LORD H3068 with the words H1697 of David, H1732 and of Asaph H623 the seer. H2374 And they sang praises H1984 with gladness, H8057 and they bowed their heads H6915 and worshipped. H7812

1 Chronicles 25:1-6 STRONG

Moreover David H1732 and the captains H8269 of the host H6635 separated H914 to the service H5656 of the sons H1121 of Asaph, H623 and of Heman, H1968 and of Jeduthun, H3038 who should prophesy H5012 H5030 with harps, H3658 with psalteries, H5035 and with cymbals: H4700 and the number H4557 of the workmen H582 H4399 according to their service H5656 was: Of the sons H1121 of Asaph; H623 Zaccur, H2139 and Joseph, H3130 and Nethaniah, H5418 and Asarelah, H841 the sons H1121 of Asaph H623 under the hands H3027 of Asaph, H623 which prophesied H5012 according to the order H3027 of the king. H4428 Of Jeduthun: H3038 the sons H1121 of Jeduthun; H3038 Gedaliah, H1436 and Zeri, H6874 and Jeshaiah, H3470 Hashabiah, H2811 and Mattithiah, H4993 six, H8337 under the hands H3027 of their father H1 Jeduthun, H3038 who prophesied H5012 with a harp, H3658 to give thanks H3034 and to praise H1984 the LORD. H3068 Of Heman: H1968 the sons H1121 of Heman; H1968 Bukkiah, H1232 Mattaniah, H4983 Uzziel, H5816 Shebuel, H7619 and Jerimoth, H3406 Hananiah, H2608 Hanani, H2607 Eliathah, H448 Giddalti, H1437 and Romamtiezer, H7320 Joshbekashah, H3436 Mallothi, H4413 Hothir, H1956 and Mahazioth: H4238 All these were the sons H1121 of Heman H1968 the king's H4428 seer H2374 in the words H1697 of God, H430 to lift up H7311 the horn. H7161 And God H430 gave H5414 to Heman H1968 fourteen H702 H6240 sons H1121 and three H7969 daughters. H1323 All these were under the hands H3027 of their father H1 for song H7892 in the house H1004 of the LORD, H3068 with cymbals, H4700 psalteries, H5035 and harps, H3658 for the service H5656 of the house H1004 of God, H430 according to the king's H4428 order H3027 to Asaph, H623 Jeduthun, H3038 and Heman. H1968

1 Chronicles 16:37 STRONG

So he left H5800 there before H6440 the ark H727 of the covenant H1285 of the LORD H3068 Asaph H623 and his brethren, H251 to minister H8334 before H6440 the ark H727 continually, H8548 as every day's H3117 work H1697 required: H3117

1 Chronicles 16:7 STRONG

Then on that day H3117 David H1732 delivered H5414 first H7218 this psalm to thank H3034 the LORD H3068 into the hand H3027 of Asaph H623 and his brethren. H251

1 Chronicles 15:17 STRONG

So the Levites H3881 appointed H5975 Heman H1968 the son H1121 of Joel; H3100 and of his brethren, H251 Asaph H623 the son H1121 of Berechiah; H1296 and of the sons H1121 of Merari H4847 their brethren, H251 Ethan H387 the son H1121 of Kushaiah; H6984

Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 73

Commentary on Psalms 73 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary


Introduction

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.


Verse 1-2

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.


Verses 3-6

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.


Verses 7-10

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 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.


Verses 11-14

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.


Verses 15-18

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.


Verses 19-22

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.


Verses 23-26

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).


Verse 27-28

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.