Psalms 73:0 ¶ A Psalm of Asaph.
Asaph is identified as the author of this psalm, as well as Psalms 50 and 74-83. He was one of the men David appointed as leaders of the priestly choir. The Chronicler tells us that he was also a seer or prophet. Though David is recognized as the psalmist of Israel, Asaph was certainly recognized as a musician of similar talent.
2 Chronicles 29:30 “Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the Lord with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer.”
Nehemiah 12:46 “For in the days of David and Asaph of old there were chief of the singers, and songs of praise and thanksgiving unto God.”
Psalms 73:1 ¶ Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.
The psalmist opens with words of praise, acknowledging that God is good to Israel and to those who are of a clean or pure heart. These are words of testimony to what he knows of Israel’s history and from his own experience.
I think he starts with these words of praise to show that this psalm will end positively even though it has a pretty negative tone in the beginning.
Smith regarding this foundational truth: “There are certain foundational truths upon which I fall back when I am faced with circumstances that I cannot understand in my life. And what I do understand is that God is good, that God loves me, and that all things are working together for good to those who love God. And thus, by faith I accept my adverse circumstances. Though I don"t understand them, I accept them, knowing that it is God that has brought these circumstances. It is God who is in the control of my life. For I have committed my life to Him. And I know that God is working in these circumstances.”
Psalms 73:2 But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.
Psalms 73:3 For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
Psalms 73:4 For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm.
Asaph is very transparent in identifying facts that almost caused him to stumble in his faith—facts that pose the same stumbling block to believers today. He didn’t understand why God allowed wicked men to prosper both in health and wealth.
Psalms 73:5 They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.
Psalms 73:6 Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment.
Psalms 73:7 Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.
Psalms 73:8 They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily.
Psalms 73:9 They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.
These wicked men seemed to live charmed lives. They didn’t suffer from the troubles that men in general experienced. Because their lives were so charmed, they became prideful and more oppressive toward others in their arrogance. I think the NLT translation is to the point for verses 6-8: “They wear pride like a jeweled necklace, and their clothing is woven of cruelty. These fat cats have everything their hearts could ever wish for! They scoff and speak only evil; in their pride they seek to crush others.”
I think the point of verse 9 is that they are brazen in their public rejection of God and His law. They walk around speaking blasphemously (from Hebrew for “corrupt”) with no fear of facing consequences for their wicked ways.
Satan’s deceit is so effective when directed at such men. They truly believe their prosperity entitles them. They either have no clue about the eternal consequences of their actions or just don’t believe there are such consequences.
Psalms 73:10 Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them.
Psalms 73:11 And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High?
Psalms 73:12 Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.
Asaph notes that the people that are witness to the words and actions of these wicked men can’t help but question whether God is aware of what they are doing. Does He even notice that the wicked are prospering (while righteous men are suffering seems to be implied).
In other words, Asaph wasn’t the only one being stumbled in his faith.
Psalms 73:13 Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency.
Psalms 73:14 For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.
Asaph admits that he had begun to question whether it was worth it to strive to live righteously before God. Every day presented new trials and troubles. He couldn’t help but wonder why God was chastening him and not judging the wicked.
Asaph had lost sight of the truth that God’s chastening is a good thing. God only chastens those He loves.
Proverbs 3:11–12 “My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction: For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.”
Revelation 3:19 “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.”
I think it is important that we remember that not everything “bad” that happens to us is God’s chastening. I think sometimes God allows things in our lives to allow our faith in Him to shine to a greater degree. The brighter our light of faith shines, the more glory it brings to the LORD and the greater our heavenly reward.
Wiersbe: “There is a difference between doubt and unbelief. Doubt comes from a struggling mind, while unbelief comes from a stubborn will that refuses to surrender to God (v. 8). The unbelieving person will not believe, while the doubting person struggles to believe.”
Psalms 73:15 ¶ If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children.
Psalms 73:16 When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me;
Psalms 73:17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.
I liked the NLT for these verses: “If I had really spoken this way, I would have been a traitor to your people. So I tried to understand why the wicked prosper. But what a difficult task it is! Then one day I went into your sanctuary, O God, and I thought about the destiny of the wicked.”
Asaph identified an important truth. Our focus should always be on God and His word rather than on the circumstances surrounding us. When Asaph went to spend time in the place representing the presence of God, he was reminded of the eternal future of the wicked—an existence devoid of the presence of God. The thought was very sobering. He certainly didn’t envy them that. Implied is the idea that he knew his future was very different—a future that made any suffering in this lifetime worth enduring.
Romans 8:18 “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”
How blessed are we as Christians today to be able to have the indwelling presence of God in the person of the Holy Spirit! We can talk to Him at any time. Frankly, I carry on quite a running dialogue with the LORD every day. During that precious time, I experience conviction, assurance, peace and love as I share all that is on my heart—even though He knows every thought I have before I do.
Spurgeon made a great application from verse 15: “Would to God that, like Asaph, men would bridle their tongues. Where we have any suspicion of being wrong, it is better to be silent; it can do no harm to be quiet, and it may do serious damage to spread abroad our hastily formed opinions.”
Psalms 73:18 Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.
Psalms 73:19 How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.
Psalms 73:20 As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.
Asaph suddenly understands God’s “hands off” approach to the wicked as an act of judgment. He is allowing them to seal their own fate. Once they die, they will realize with great regret the consequences of their evil. This life will be but a dream in light of their new reality. There will be no recourse before the LORD; their eternity is sealed.
Smith: “This is a portion of the text that Jonathan Edwards used in his sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." Perhaps one of the most powerful sermons that has ever been preached on the American continent….He took this, ‘Surely though has set them in slippery places,’ and he likened to sinners as walking on an icy plank over the pit of hell with nothing to hold on to. At any moment your foot is going to slip and you will be plunged on into destruction. God is under no obligation to keep you alive. God is under no obligation to hold you up.”
Psalms 73:21 ¶ Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins.
Psalms 73:22 So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.
The sobering truth of the fate of the wicked made Asaph realize his own foolishness in questioning God. It grieved him to realize how foolish he had been to envy the wicked and question God. He concluded that he must have appeared like a dumb animal before God before he realized his wrong thinking.
Psalms 73:23 Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand.
Psalms 73:24 Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
The psalm takes a more positive turn at this point. Asaph is confident of God’s presence in his life and His position of security in Him. Note that he pictures God holding his hand, like a father with a firm grip on his child. The child’s security is in the grip of his father; it is not dependent on his grip of his father’s hand. He is confident that God will continue to guide him; and when his life is over, God will receive him to glory.
These are powerful words of faith from a man that lived under the law when the emphasis was on works. It also strikes me when I read the words of Job, David, Asaph etc. as they express their confidence in a future with God after death. Though we may not know the origin of their knowledge of this future, it is obvious that God had revealed it to them in some way.
Psalms 73:25 Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.
Psalms 73:26 My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
What powerful words of love and faith. Asaph’s whole being was rooted in his love for God and his desire to be with Him. Nothing or no one on earth could compete. Though his flesh and heart would eventually give out in this life, Asaph knew that God was the source of his being and his future inheritance (from Hebrew for “portion”). He was confident of eternal life in the presence of God.
Scripture affirms this precious truth for every child of God.
John 14:1–3 “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”
Romans 8:16–17 “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”
2 Corinthians 5:6–8 “Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”
1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
Psalms 73:27 For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.
In contrast, however, those that reject God will perish; every person that chooses to yield their allegiance to false gods will be destroyed. False gods include anything or entity that is the focus of our worship besides the one true God, the God of the Bible.
Psalms 73:28 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.
Asaph is confident that it is good for him to continue to draw near to God and affirms that he has placed his trust in the LORD God. He is determined to declare the works of God to everyone he can.
I think it is of note that Asaph knew that it was up to him to draw near to God. God is ever present and waiting for that choice from every single person. For those who are unbelievers, He is ever waiting with open arms to receive them in faith and repentance of their sins. For His children that have placed their faith in Him, He is ever waiting with yearning for them to seek a closer relationship with Him by striving to live in accordance with His will as revealed in His word.
2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
James 4:8 “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.”
John 14:23 “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”
Another great quote from Spurgeon: “He who is ready to believe the goodness of God shall always see fresh goodness to believe in, and he who is willing to declare the works of God shall never be silent for lack of wonders to declare.”
Psalms 74:0 ¶ Maschil of Asaph.
“Maschil” is defined as an instructive or didactic poem in the Hebrew. The fact that it is ascribed to Asaph is confusing since the content of the psalm makes reference to the destruction of the temple. I am guessing, then, that the reference is probably to a descendant of Asaph. The sons of Asaph were still identified as noted musicians as recorded in the genealogical record of those returning from Babylon by Nehemiah.
Nehemiah 7:44 “The singers: the children of Asaph, an hundred forty and eight.”
Guzik posits the possibility that since Asaph is identified as a prophet, this could be a prophetic poem. If so, this is quite an amazing prophecy. I don’t think the possibility can be discounted considering the detailed prophecies of Daniel in particular.
Psalms 74:1 ¶ O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?
The psalmist questions why God is still so angry with His people and wonders if He has rejected them forever.
I am reminded that the predominant belief was that God would never allow His people to be taken into captivity by the Babylonians despite the ever-present ministry of Jeremiah (in Judah) and Ezekiel (in Babylon) among them. The truth was finally driven home when Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed. Once the captives returned home, they faced a lot of adversity from people in the surrounding area in the process of rebuilding both the temple and the city walls.
Psalms 74:2 Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.
The psalmist calls for God to remember the people that He had created and possessed (both from the Hebrew for “purchased”) of old. They were designated as the branch or tribe (both from the Hebrew for “rod”) of God’s inheritance among the people on earth—His chosen possession.
Deuteronomy 7:6 “For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.”
I think the redemption being referenced is God’s deliverance of His people out of the land of Egypt.
The psalmist reminds God that mount Zion was noted as His dwelling place on earth.
2 Chronicles 7:16 “For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever: and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.”
Psalms 74:3 Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.
Psalms 74:4 Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs.
Psalms 74:5 A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees.
Psalms 74:6 But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.
Psalms 74:7 They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground.
Psalms 74:8 They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.
The psalmist goes on to describe how the enemy destroyed Jerusalem and the temple. The NLT reads a bit easier: “Walk through the awful ruins of the city; see how the enemy has destroyed your sanctuary. There your enemies shouted their victorious battle cries; there they set up their battle standards. They chopped down the entrance like woodcutters in a forest. With axes and picks, they smashed the carved paneling. They set the sanctuary on fire, burning it to the ground. They utterly defiled the place that bears your holy name. Then they thought, “Let’s destroy everything!” So they burned down all the places where God was worshiped.”
We know from scripture that the temple was a very beautiful structure with many beautiful carvings and furnishings. How sad that the people lost the privilege of preserving its beauty because they chose to rebel against God.
Psalms 74:9 We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.
The psalmist notes that there is no longer any evidence that God is among them. There are no longer any prophets ministering among them, no one to tell them how long things are going to continue as they are.
Psalms 74:10 O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
Psalms 74:11 Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom.
The psalmist asks God how long He is going to allow their enemies to mock them and blaspheme Him. He pleads for God to take His right hand (recognized as the strongest arm) out of His pocket and judge them for their actions against Him and His people.
Courson: “This is a bold prayer but not a blasphemous prayer because it’s a caring prayer. What does the psalmist care about? His own comfort? No. Victory for the people? No. He cares for God’s honor. ‘Do something for Your name’s sake,’ he prays.”
Psalms 74:12 ¶ For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.
Psalms 74:13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
Psalms 74:14 Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
Psalms 74:15 Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.
As the psalmist begins to close, he begins to remember how God had intervened for them as their King of old. He had worked miracles on their behalf. He had parted the waters of the sea to allow them to escape the armies of Pharoah and destroyed those armies in the waters. They had walked to safety on dry land.
When I read the phrase “the heads of leviathan,” it makes me think of how there is one main enemy in charge of all rebellion against God in creation—Satan. His many heads represent those that have fallen for his deceit and are determined to take as many down with them as they can.
Psalms 74:16 The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
Psalms 74:17 Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.
The psalmist recognizes that God is ruler over His creation. He controls day and night; in fact, He created and established the workings of light and the sun. It was God that established all the boundaries and coastlands on earth. It was God that instituted the flow of the seasons.
Genesis 1:3–5 “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.”
Genesis 1:16–18 “And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.”
Deuteronomy 32:8 “When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.”
Job 38:10–11 “And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors, And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?”
Genesis 1:14 “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years….”
Psalms 74:18 ¶ Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O Lord, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.
Psalms 74:19 O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.
Psalms 74:20 Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
The psalmist asks God to remember how the enemy have defied Him and blasphemed His name. He pleads for God not to let them destroy “thy turtledove” (a term of endearment that the psalmist is using to identify the people of Israel in relationship to the LORD). He calls for God to remember His covenant.
I believe this is a reference to His unconditional covenant with the patriarchs and not the conditional covenant that He made with Moses.
I like the simple translation of the NLT for verse 20: “Remember your covenant promises, for the land is full of darkness and violence!”
Wiersbe: “Asaph knew the terms of the covenant: If Israel obeyed the Lord, He would bless them; if they disobeyed, He would chasten them; if they confessed their sins, He would forgive them.”
Psalms 74:21 O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.
Psalms 74:22 Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.
Psalms 74:23 Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.
The psalmist is praying for God to relieve the oppression of His people. He pleads for God to take action on behalf of His people in light of how the wicked are mocking and blaspheming Him and growing bolder in their actions by the day.
Spurgeon: “When error grows too bold its day is near, and its fall certain. Arrogance foreshadows ripeness of evil, and the next step is rottenness. Instead of being alarmed when bad men grow worse and more audacious, we may reasonably take heart, for the hour of their judgment is evidently near.”