The psalmist here works out the problem of the prosperity of the wicked. He was troubled in his own mind about it; he knew that he feared God, but he also knew that he was greatly tried, whereas he saw many, who had no fear of God before their eyes, who seemed to be always prospering. Their flourishing condition was a puzzle to him; but he examined the problem, and unraveled the mystery. I think I have before told you, as a little exercise for your memory, that the seventy-third Psalm and the thirty-seventh Psalm are both on the same subject. You can easily remember this, as the same figures are used in each instance, only they are turned the two ways, 73 and 37 .
Psalms 73:1. Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.
The psalmist knows that it must be so; he cannot doubt it, he lays it down as a proposition not to be disputed. Assuredly, «Truly, God is good to Israel.»
Psalms 73:2. But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.
«I was almost seduced to sin; I seemed as if I must fall into iniquity.»
Psalms 73:3. For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
It really looked as if the big rogues did prosper, as if the great infidels were happy, as if, after all, religion brought trouble, and irreligion brought pleasure.
Psalms 73:4. For there are no bands in their death: but their strength was firm.
Some of them so stifle conscience that they even die stupefied, with no sense of the dreadful wrath that is coming upon them: «There are no bands in their death.»
Psalms 73:6. They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.
They do not seem to have the afflictions of God's people, and certainly they are not plagued with soul-conflict such as Christians have, they seem to make themselves very merry at all times.
Psalms 73:6. Therefore pride accompanieth them about as a chain;
They wear it as my Lord Mayor wears his collar, for a badge of honour.
Psalms 73:6. Violence covereth them as a garment.
They are not a bit ashamed of it; they put it on as if it were their workday dress.
Psalms 73:7-8. Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish. They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily.
What big words they utter! How they boast! How they despise the poor! How they sneer at religion! It is dreadful to hear them; and for a child of God, who is conscious of doing right, and of suffering for it, it is a hard task to hear them talk thus.
Psalms 73:9. They set their mouth against the heavens,
As if this earth did not contain room enough for their malice, «They set their mouth against the heavens.»
Psalms 73:9. And their tongue walketh through the earth.
Letting nobody alone, having a hard word for everybody except their own chosen coterie.
Psalms 73:10-11. Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them. And they say «How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most high?»
They pretend that God is, as it were, only like King Log, taking no account of what is done by the sons of men. «He does not notice our feastings, or listen to our blasphemies;» so they say.
Psalms 73:12. Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.
And yet why do we wonder at this? The bullock that is intended to be killed is the first to be fatted, and he that is doomed to destruction will often be allowed to prosper. Would you not let them have as much pleasure as they can have in this life, for they will have none in the next? Oh, envy them not their short-lived joys! Yet the psalmist did so when he was down in the dumps, and in an evil humor. He said, «Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.»
Psalms 73:13. Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency.
«Surely,» said he «my holy life, my desire to be right with God and man, is a good-for-nothing thing. I do not prosper; I do not increase in riches, but it is the very reverse with me.»
Psalms 73:14. For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.
Cannot you imagine a son of very wise parents, and very loving parents, saying, «Why, look at that boy in the street! He has no father to flog him, no mother to scold him, he can do just as he likes; but, as for me, if I do a little wrong, I am whipped for it?» Ah, my lad! the day will come when you will not envy the street-boy and you will be thankful then that you were not in his position. The child of God, if he sins, will have to smart for it; and there is nothing more dreadful than to be allowed to sin without being made to suffer. God save us from being given up to such a state as that!
Psalms 73:15. If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children.
Do not always speak what you think. «But if you think it, you may as well say it,» says one. Oh, no! There may be an evil spirit in yonder bottle, but nobody will get drunk upon it if you keep the cork in; so there may be evil thoughts in your hearts, but they will not injure other people if you do not, as it were, draw the cork by uttering them. It is well always to think twice before you speak once. «So,» said the psalmist, «I cannot speak thus, because such talk would grieve God's people.»
Psalms 73:16. When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me;
It was too painful for the psalmist to think of it, too painful to speak of it; and yet too painful for him to hold his tongue.
Psalms 73:17. Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.
When he came near to his God, when he went into the holy place, and communed with the Lord, then he saw what would be the end of the wicked. Ah, what a difference it makes when we look at the ungodly from the right standpoint! «Then understood I their end.»
Psalms 73:18. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places:
Up there ever so high;
Psalms 73:18. Thou castedst them down into destruction.
When the time comes, down they are hurled from those slippery heights into the awful depths below.
Psalms 73:19. Now are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.
When the ungodly reach the next world, where are their riches, where are their feasts, where are their merry jokes, where are their lofty words? Listen: «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.
When a man wakes, his dream is over and gone. When God awakes to judgment, and comes to deal with ungodly men, then all those who prospered in wickedness shall melt away, like the baseless fabric of a dream.
Psalms 73:21-22. Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.
For the beast only measures by the day and the hour, as far as its eye can see. Give it a meadow deep with grass, and it is perfectly happy, but when good men get measuring by the day, and by the hour, and by the lifetime here below, they are foolish, and like brute beasts.
Psalms 73:23. Nevertheless I am continually with thee:
Oh, what a mercy this is for believers! If we are ever so poor, we are continually with God. What if we be chastened every morning? It is clear that we must be with God then, for a chastening God must be near.
Psalms 73:23. Thou hast holden me by my right hand.
«Even when thou didst whip me. Everywhere thou hast a grip of me. Thou holdest me with thy right hand.» The psalmist does not envy the wicked now; he has risen a stage higher than he was a little while ago.
Psalms 73:24-25. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.
Now he finds in God his riches, his joy, his prosperity, his portion.
Psalms 73:26-27. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.
To love the world, to love riches, to love sin, to love self, this is to be unfaithful to our marriage covenant with God; let such conduct never be ours.
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.
Thus, you see, the psalmist went down to the depths, but he came up again all right, and his heart was made glad in the Lord his God. So may it be with any of us who, like him, have been envious at the foolish, when we have seen the prosperity of the wicked.