Psalm 73

Psalms 73:1-3

This psalm opens Book III and carries the name of Asaph, one of twelve psalms bearing his title in the book. The conclusion is stated before the argument, truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart, and then the confession of how nearly it was lost, my feet were almost gone, envious at the prosperity of the wicked, the same problem Job argues and Psalm 37 answers differently.

Psalms 73:4-6

The wicked's ease is described from the outside as the psalmist saw it, no bands in their death, no sudden agony to fear, strength firm to the end, spared the common troubles other men carry. Pride compasseth them about as a chain, violence covereth them as a garment pictures arrogance worn openly, ornament and clothing rather than something hidden or ashamed of itself.

Psalms 73:7-9

Their eyes stand out with fatness is the picture of a life so well fed it shows in the face, more than heart could wish, and the corruption that follows is verbal as much as material, they speak wickedly concerning oppression, they speak loftily. Verse 9 completes the presumption in two directions at once, their mouth set against the heavens and their tongue walking through the earth, contempt for God matched by contempt for every man beneath them.

Psalms 73:10-12

Verse 10 is one of the hardest Hebrew lines in the psalm, and the commentators read it either as God's own people being drawn back to hear the wicked's boasting again, drinking it in like waters wrung from a full cup, or as the wicked's own followers returning for more, the difficulty named rather than resolved. What is plain is the conclusion it produces, how doth God know, and is there knowledge in the most High, unbelief drawn not from argument but from watching these ungodly prosper and increase in riches.

Psalms 73:13-14

The complaint reaches its low point in a conclusion drawn against himself, verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency, righteousness that seems to have purchased nothing. Against the wicked's ease he sets his own daily experience, plagued all day long, and chastened every morning, obedience answered with trouble rather than reward.

Psalms 73:15-16

Before voicing the complaint he catches himself, aware that speaking it openly would unsettle the whole community of believers, the generation of thy children, rather than only himself. Tried through reason alone the problem would not resolve, when I thought to know this, it was too painful for me, a weight private thought could not carry.

Psalms 73:17

This is the psalm's turning point and the founder's own reading of it, Psalm 1's problem answered from inside experience rather than argued in the abstract. In the sanctuary, in the place and act of worship, the psalmist's vantage shifts from the present moment to the end of the matter, then understood I their end, the resolution coming through worship rather than through reasoning it out alone.

Psalms 73:18-20

What the sanctuary revealed is stated plainly, the wicked's firm ground was in fact slippery, set there by God himself and cast down into destruction. Their end is sudden and total, brought into desolation as in a moment, utterly consumed with terrors, and as a dream when one awaketh, so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image, permanence exposed as illusion.

Psalms 73:21-22

Asaph now turns the same honesty on himself that he had aimed at the wicked, my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins, the bitterness registering in the body as much as the mind. So foolish was I, and ignorant, I was as a beast before thee, admits that his complaint, however understandable, had been an animal reaction rather than a reasoned faith.

Psalms 73:23-24

Against his own confessed foolishness stands the fact that God never let go even through it, nevertheless I am continually with thee, thou hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory states a hope reaching beyond this life without arguing for it, guidance now and glory to follow.

Psalms 73:25-26

This is the psalm's summit, the complaint answered not by an explanation of why the wicked prosper but by a settled preference, whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. Even the failure of the body does not touch what remains his, my flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.

Psalms 73:27-28

The verdict the sanctuary gave him is restated once more, those far from God shall perish, those who go a whoring from him are destroyed, while his own resolve runs the opposite way. 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 closes the theodicy with nearness rather than with a full account of why the wicked prosper.