Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 73:3
For I was envious at the foolish, [when] I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
3. I was envious ] Cp. Psa 37:1; and the repeated warnings of the Book of Pro 3:31; Pro 23:17; Pro 24:1; Pro 24:19.
the foolish ] Rather as R.V., the arrogant, a word denoting boastful blustering presumption. Cp. Psa 5:5; Psa 75:4.
the prosperity ] Lit. the peace. Cp. Job 21:9, “their houses are in peace without fear.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
3 9. The cause: the unbroken prosperity of the godless. Cp. Job’s indignant complaint, Psa 21:7 ff.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For I was envious at the foolish – The word foolish here refers to sinners. It may either refer to them as foolish, or as proud, insolent, vain – for so the word is elsewhere used. See Psa 14:1.
When I saw the prosperity of the wicked – More literally, the peace of the wicked. The reference is not so much to their prosperity in general as to their peace; their conscious safety; their freedom from trouble; and especially their calmness, and their freedom from suffering, in death. From all this he was led for the moment to doubt whether there was any advantage in religion; whether God was just; and whether he befriended the righteous anymore than he did the wicked.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 73:3
I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
A popular fallacy exposed
The position I wish to lay down is this:–that the condition of the godly poor even in this world, is far superior to that of the ungodly rich. Public sentiment, I am aware, is against this doctrine; hence the universal struggle to be rich. Hence, too, the popular disregard of goodness as goodness, and the almost contempt for it if found in connection with poverty. Hence the current cant in some districts of the religious world that Gods dear people have the worst portion in this life; that as a rule their situation here is not comparable to that of those who forget God.
I. The wealth of the one is in his hand; that of the other in his heart.
1. The one is of contingent value; the other is of absolute worth.
2. The one is essentially virtuous; the other is not.
3. The one is essentially a blessing; the other often a bane.
4. The one is alienable; the other is not.
II. The greatness of the one is in his circumstances; that of the other in his soul.
1. The one is respected for what he has; the other for what he is.
2. The respect rendered to the one is in proportion to the low state of moral education among the people; not so with the other.
III. The happiness of the one is from without; that of the other is from within.
1. The happiness that springs from without is sensational; the other spiritual.
2. The happiness that springs from without is selfish; the other generous.
3. The happiness that springs from without decreases; the other is ever heightening. (Homilist.)
Our wealth is proportionate to our content
Our incomes should be like our shoes; if too small they will gall and pinch us, but if too large they will cause us to stumble and trip. Wealth, after all, is a relative thing, since he that has little and wants less is richer than he that has much and wants more. True contentment depends not upon what we have, but upon what we would have. A tub was large enough for Diogenes, but a world was too little for Alexander. (The Quiver.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 3. I was envious at the foolish] I saw persons who worshipped not the true God, and others who were abandoned to all vices, in possession of every temporal comfort, while the godly were in straits, difficulties, and affliction. I began then to doubt whether there was a wise providence; and my mind became irritated. It seems to have been a maxim among the ancient heathens, , “The prosperity of the wicked is a reproach to the gods.” But they had no just conception of a state of future rewards and punishments. Besides, man could not bear prosperity. If men had uninterrupted comforts here, perhaps not one soul would ever seek a preparation for heaven. Human trials and afflictions, the general warfare of human life, are the highest proof of a providence as benevolent as it is wise. Were the state of human affairs different from what it is, hell would be more thickly peopled; and there would be fewer inhabitants in glory. There is reason to doubt whether there would be any religion upon earth had we nothing but temporal prosperity. Indeed, all the following verses are proofs of it.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I grudged and murmured at it, and had a secret desire to partake of their delicates.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3-9. The prosperous wicked areinsolently proud (compare Ps 5:5).They die, as well as live, free from perplexities: pride adorns them,and violence is their clothing; indeed they are inflated withunexpected success. With all this
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For I was envious at the foolish,…. The atheists, as in
Ps 14:1, who deny the creation, as Arama; the wicked, as after explained, as all wicked men are, how wise soever they may be in things natural and civil, yet in religious things, in things of a spiritual nature, they have no understanding; they are proud boasters, glory in themselves, and in their outward attainments, as the word d here used signifies; the external happiness of these, their riches, health, and ease, were envied by the psalmist; see Ps 37:1,
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked, or “the peace of the wicked” e; with an evil eye. This was the occasion of his slip and fall, this was the temptation he was left unto for a while.
d “in arrogantes”, Gejerus; “stolide gloriosos”, Michaelis; “at vain glorious fools”, Ainsworth. e “pacem”, Pagninus, Musculus, Piscator.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
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., Psa 78:66; Psa 80:7; Psa 83:12, Psa 83:14); both are after the example set by David. with Beth of the object ion which the zeal or warmth of feeling is kindled (Psa 37:1; Pro 3:31) here refers to the warmth of envious ill-feeling. Concerning vid., Psa 5:6. Psa 73:3 tells under what circumsntaces the envy was excited; cf. so far as the syntax is concerned, Psa 49:6; Psa 76:11. In Psa 73:4 (from = from , cognate , whence , pain, Arabic asabe , a snare, cf. , , and ), 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,” ( ) could not be omitted (that is, assuming also that , which is sometimes used for , vid., Psa 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 . 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 Psa 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, Bttcher, and Olshausen:
i.e., they have (suffer) no pangs, vigorous ( like , Job 21:23, , Pro 1:12) and well-nourished is their belly; by which means the difficult is got rid of, and the gloomy picture is enriched by another form ending with mo . , here in a derisive sense, signifies the body, like the Arabic allun , alun (from al , coaluit , cohaesit , to condense inwardly, to gain consistency).
(Note: Hitzig calls to mind , “corporeal;” but this word is Ionic and equivalent to , solidus, the ground-word of which is the Sanscrit sarvas , whole, complete.)
The observation of Psa 73:4 is pursued further in Psa 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 , as in Psa 59:14, not . Therefore is haughtiness their neck-chain, and brutishness their mantle. is a denominative from = : to hang round the neck; the neck is the seat of pride ( ): haughtiness hangs around their neck (like , a neck-ornament). Accordingly in Psa 73:6 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 (vid., Ps 65:14) with ; but active verbs can take a dative of the object (e.g., , , ) 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 ( like , Isa 59:17), or even by avoiding every enallage numeri : violence covers them as a garment; so that is an apposition which is put forth in advance.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
3. For I envied the foolish (154) Here he declares the nature of the temptation with which he was assailed. It consisted in this, that when he saw the present prosperous state of the wicked, and from it judged them to be happy, he had envied their condition. We are certainly under a grievous and a dangerous temptation, when we not only, in our own minds, quarrel with God for not setting matters in due order, but also when we give ourselves loose reins, boldly to commit iniquity, because it seems to us that we may commit it, and yet escape with impunity. The sneering jest of Dionysius the younger, a tyrant of Sicily, when, after having robbed the temple of Syracuse, he had a prosperous voyage with the plunder, is well known. (155) “See you not,” says he to those who were with him, “how the gods favor the sacrilegious?” In the same way, the prosperity of the wicked is taken as an encouragement to commit sin; for we are ready to imagine, that, since God grants them so much of the good things of this life, they are the objects of his approbation and favor. We see how their prosperous condition wounded David to the heart, leading him almost to think that there was nothing better for him than to join himself to their company, and to follow their course of life. (156) By applying to the ungodly the appellation of foolish, he does not simply mean that the sins which they commit are committed through ignorance or inadvertence, but he sets their folly in opposition to the fear of God, which is the principal constituent of true wisdom. (157) The ungodly are, no doubt, crafty; but, being destitute of the fundamental principle of all right judgment, which consists in this, that we must regulate and frame our lives according to the will of God, they are foolish; and this is the effect of their own blindness.
(154) The original word for the foolish signifies “men of no principle, wild, giddy, vain boasters.” Boothroyd renders it “the madly profane,” and Fry, “the vain-glorious.”
(155) “ On scait assez par les histoires le brocard duquel usa anciennement un tyran de Sicile nomme Denis le jeune, quand apres avoir pille le temple de Syracuses, il se mit sur la mer, et veit qu’il avoit fort bon vent pour naviger.” — Fr.
(156) “ Et suyvre a leur train.” — Fr.
(157) “ Laquelle est le fondement et le comble de sagesse.” — Fr. “Which is the foundation and the cope-stone of wisdom.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(3) Foolish.Better, arrogant.
When I saw.Perhaps the conjunction is wrongly supplied, and the word saw here is synonymous with envied in the first clause. (Comp. Latin invideo.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. Envious at the foolish I saw their prosperity, and thought they were more favoured than I, and I was dissatisfied. See Psa 37:1; Pro 23:17; Mal 3:14-15
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 73:3 For I was envious at the foolish, [when] I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
Ver. 3. For I was envious at the foolish ] Heb. at the braggadocios, the vain glorious, the mad boasters; factabundis, I emulated, and stomached their prosperity, compared with mine own far worse condition. Godly men, though cured of their spiritual frensy, yet play oft many mad tricks; one while fretting at the prosperity of their adversaries, and another while murmuring at their own afflictions, or plotting courses how to conform themselves to the world, &c.
When I saw the prosperity of the wicked
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
foolish = arrogant, or boasters.
wicked = lawless. Hebrew. rasha’.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 73:3-6
Psa 73:3-6
“For I was envious at the arrogant,
When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
For there are no pangs in their death;
But their strength is firm.
They are not in trouble as other men;
Neither are they plagued like other men.
Therefore pride is as a chain about their neck;
Violence covereth them as a garment.”
This impression that the wicked made upon the Psalmist was surely due in part to the faulty nature of his observation. It is human nature to view the “grass on the other side of the fence” as greener; and that propensity entered into the inaccurate impression here.
“There are no pangs in their death” (Psa 73:4). This cannot be considered as accurate. Herod II was eaten with worms at the very moment when he was having himself proclaimed as a god; the dogs ate Jezebel, etc. – the list is a mile long. Look at Pharaoh, Zedekiah, Judas, Saul, Ahithophel, Absalom, Nero, Herodias, Salome and a host of others.
“Pride is as a chain about their neck … violence covereth them as a garment” (Psa 73:6). The mention of “garment” in the second line here suggests that the true meaning of the first line is that the arrogant pride of the wicked is worn by them like an ornament. All of these verses describe the wicked “as they appeared to be” in the eyes of the envious Psalmist, not as they actually were.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 73:3. David had seen the success of the wicked and it staggered him.
Psa 73:4. Bands is from an original that means “pain,” and death is from MAVETH and one word in Strong’s definition is “pestilence.” So the meaning of the verse is that the wicked are “lucky” even in their difficulties. They have enough strength to feel firm and do not seem to care for that which others would consider terrible.
Psa 73:5. This verse is different in its wording but takes the same comments as did the preceding one.
Psa 73:6. The success of the wicked makes them proud, and in their pride they feel as secure as if they were protected by a chain. The violence that would stop a righteous man seems to have been only a protection for these wicked people.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
I was: Psa 37:1, Psa 37:7, Job 21:7, Pro 3:31, Pro 24:1, Jer 12:1, Jam 4:5
Reciprocal: 1Sa 25:2 – man Job 5:3 – taking Job 8:16 – green Job 9:24 – earth Job 24:23 – it be given Psa 14:1 – fool Psa 37:35 – I have Psa 66:7 – let Psa 73:12 – prosper Psa 73:21 – my heart Pro 23:17 – not Pro 24:19 – neither Ecc 7:15 – there is a wicked Ecc 9:1 – no man Ecc 9:2 – alike Hab 1:3 – General Hab 1:13 – wherefore Mal 2:17 – Every Luk 6:24 – woe Luk 12:16 – The ground Luk 16:19 – clothed Jam 5:1 – ye 1Pe 2:1 – envies