Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 73:16
When I thought to know this, it [was] too painful for me;
16, 17. And I kept thinking how to understand this:
It was misery In mine eyes:
Until I went into the sanctuary of God,
And considered their latter end.
As he kept pondering how to reconcile the facts of experience with the revealed truth of God’s character and promises, the sight of the world’s disorder seemed intolerable, until in the Temple, the place of God’s Presence, where He reveals His power and glory (Psa 63:2), he was enabled to realise the transitoriness of the prosperity of the wicked, and their nothingness in the sight of God. The sanctuary (lit. as in Psa 68:35, sanctuaries) is to be understood literally: the explanation of it as “the sacred mysteries of God’s Providence” (cp. Wis 2:22 ) is attractive but too fanciful.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
When I thought to know this – When I endeavored to comprehend this, or to explain it to myself. The idea is that he thought on the subject, or meditated on it with a view to be able to understand it. He did not express his opinions and feelings to others, but he dwelt on them in his own mind; not to find additional difficulties, not to confirm himself in opposition to God, and not to find new occasions for distrusting the divine government, but to understand exactly how this was. It was his object to seek and understand the truth.
It was too painful for me – Margin, It was labor in mine eyes. The Hebrew word rendered painful, means properly labor, toil, a burden; and the idea is, that the question was a burden – was too weighty for his weak powers.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 73:16-17
When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.
The rectifying influence of the sanctuary
It is not perfectly clear what is here meant by the sanctuary of God; literally it means the holies of God. A few would understand it in the first sense as designating the righteous plans of Gods government, or the secret grounds of his dealings with men; while others would take it, in the second sense, as denoting the eternity where God dwells as in a holy place. But to me it seems self-evident that by going into the sanctuary of God, in this seventeenth verse, the primary reference of the term must be to the temple, which was the earthly residence of God and the place where He communed with His people. Asaph had been greatly disturbed by the anomalies which were continually occurring in the world around him. But by the revelation made in the sanctuary, through sacrifice and symbol, he was enabled so to grasp anew the truth that God is righteous, and so to appropriate the God of the mercy-seat as his own God as to find there the compensation for all his privations and the solvent for all his perplexities. But under the New Testament, the Lord Jesus Christ is the true antitype of the temple, and therefore, when by faith we enter into Him, we have the true corrective influence, by which we are able to rectify the false judgments of the world, and to preserve our faith amid all the doubts and difficulties that the course of things suggests. See this in–
I. Christs estimate of wealth. Men think it the supreme good. But Christ bids us care only to be rich toward God.
II. Of greatness. He makes it to consist in service.
III. Success. In a Christians daily business he is thrown continually among those who consider that the laws of his Lord are fanatical, or impracticable, and who tell him that if he is determined to act upon them, he may as well make up his mind to be defeated in the race of competition. More than that, his observation convinces him that as things now are their assertion is largely true; and so, as the days go on, he is in danger of being lowered to their level. But the Sabbath comes, and he enters into the sanctuary, where he is confronted with God, and then and thereby all the webs of sophistry that his fellow-men have spun are swept away as easily as one brushes from his path the gossamer of the morning. During the week the consciences even of the best among us have been more or less affected by things immediately around us, so that we are in danger of making serious mistakes in our life voyage. But here Christ comes to us and gives us our true bearings, as they are in the standard of His Word, undisturbed by any earthly or metallic influences, and so the needful rectifications may be made by us and we may start out afresh. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
The faculty of judgment
Let us think of the presence of God as the school of a right judgment, of communion with God as the means of growth in that high grace whereby frail, erring men may come to view with some justice of insight the movements and controversies, the hopes and fears, the promises and opportunities and dangers of tim age in which they have to play their part.
I. How rare a thing is any high degree of the faculty of judgment. It may be, perhaps, more common than the very finest forms of literary or artistic excellence; but it is surely rarer than such a measure of genius as suffices to secure a recognized place among the poets or painters of a generation. There are more men whose works one can praise than there are whose judgment one can trust. There are many, indeed, whose decision on any point within the sphere of their especial business or study we, from outside that sphere, may gratefully accept as not likely to be bettered for some while. And even in regard to the conduct of life, in the sphere of judgment, there are many whose counsel it would be impossible to set aside without uneasiness or distress, many whom we must feel to be incomparably wiser judges than ourselves, many who will always enable us to see, more justly than by ourselves we could see, some aspect of a case. But there are very, very few from whom we get that higher, deeper, broader help which it is the prerogative of true excellence in judgment to bestow; help to discern, through the haste and insistence of the present, what is its real meaning and its just demand; help to give due weight to what is reasonable, however unreasonably it may be stated or defended; help to reverence alike the sacredness of a great cause and the sacredness of each individual life, to adjust the claims of general rules and special equity; help to carry with one conscientiously, on the journey towards decision, all the various thoughts that ought to tell upon the issue; help to keep consistency from hardening to obstinacy, and common sense from sinking into time-serving; help to think out ones duty as in a still, pure air, sensitive to all true signs and voices of this world, and yet unshaken by its storms. Yes, it is rare indeed, such help, and ones whole heart goes up to God in thanks and praise for those with whom one finds it; and it is as they are taken from one that something like the chill of autumn falls on life, and the real severity, the trial and strain of it, is felt, in deepening loneliness and silent fears.
II. It hardly can seem strange that excellence in judgment is thus rare if we go on to think of the manifold discipline that it needs.
1. Even physical conditions tend at least to tell on it, and most of us may have to own that there are days on which we know that we had better distrust the view we take of things. It is good counsel that a man should, if he has the chance, reconsider after his holiday any important decision that he was inclined to make just before it; that he should appeal from his tired to his refreshed self; and men need to deal strictly with the body and to bring it into subjection, not only lest its appetites grow riotous, but also lest it trouble with moods and miseries of its own the exercise of judgment.
2. There must also be the insight and resourcefulness of learning; that power to recognize and weigh and measure and forecast, which comes of long watching how things move; the power that grows by constant thoughtfulness, in study or in life; the distinctive ability of those who, in Hookers phrase, are diligent observers of circumstances, the loose regard whereof is the nurse of vulgar folly. It is a high prerogative of the real student of history, that power to summon from the past the very scenes and issues, achievements and disasters, unverified alarms and swift reversals, which may point to the real import of the present and correct its misplaced emphasis.
3. And then, beyond all physical and intellectual conditions, are the moral qualities and habits, without which even able men blunder so strangely. For round the seat of judgment there are specious counsellors, who read our perverse desires before we own them to ourselves, who know exactly the rate of swerving from justice which will suit and gratify without shocking us, whose Suggestions really seem reasonable enough, till, as it were, the search-light of an honest contrite heart is turned full upon them. No knowledge of the world will guard right judgment in a man who lets ill-temper have its way with him; no warnings from history or experience will pierce the smoky fog of wilful sullenness; no fineness of discernment will be proof against the steady pressure or the sudden onsets of ambition, And what shall we say of vanity as an assessor in the work of judgment? Surely, brethren, many of us might describe, with the help of humiliating recollections about our own folly, some stages of defective sight which are like milder forms of that blindness, that loss of all sense of humour and fitness and proportion, which belongs to a well-settled satisfaction with oneself.
4. But there is another disclosure that he needs, if in the multitude of sorrows, in the cloudy and dark day, in the terror by night, he is still to hold the course to which God calls him. Only by a light that is not of this world can we surely see our way about this world; only in the strength of thoughts that are not as our thoughts can we think and do always such things as be rightful. In Gods light do we see light; and for all our discipline and care we shall lose our way if we try to find or keep it in forgetfulness of Him and of His self-revealing. Sooner or later it will come home to us, by His mercy, that we must strive to bring our souls into His presence and to hold them there, if we would hope to see life steadily and see it whole. We too may set our minds, as the psalmist set his, to think out and understand the hard things that the experience of life presents to us; we may perhaps fancy that we do understand them, and we may even deal with them successfully for a while; but presently we too shall find that they are proving too hard for us, until we go into the sanctuary of God. For it is there, in the most adequate consciousness of His presence that, in the power of the Holy Ghost, our weak and sinful souls can reach; it is there that the faculty of judgment gradually gains its freedom, its illumination, and its strength. It is not only that those who seek with contrite hearts that awful, holy Light must needs have striven to put away the sins that darken and bewilder counsel. It is far more than this. It is that in the stillness and simplicity of drawing near to God through Jesus Christ our Lord, and in the passiveness and intense listening of the soul, conscience may speak to us with penetrating clearness of the height, the majesty, the tranquillity of justice; of its home, in the very nature of God; of its work, sure as His will; of its exactness, absolute as His perfection; of the silent and immediate certainty with which the false estimates and verdicts of mankind are set right before the Judge of all the earth; of the solemnity of that appeal which, spoken or unspoken, reaches Him from every age, and is written down and cannot be erased: O our God, wilt Thou not judge them? The Lord look upon it, and require it; Thou art the helper of the friendless; Thou art set in the throne that judgest right; and of our heavy responsibility for every exercise of the power given us from above, to judge and act in whatsoever sphere, as His vicegerents among men. And then, as conscience thus speaks out her witness to the supreme and everlasting royalty of justice, the soul is also strengthened in the presence of God by a deeper sense of the power that is on the side of justice–the power that can wait, but not fail; that may use this means or that, but all for one unalterable end; the power which is behind the patience of Almighty God, and which we forget when we grow restless and fretful at His tarrying, and misread the little fragment that we see of His vast purpose in the world. But, above all, more moving to our hearts, more responsive to our need, than any thought which we can grasp of His power and His justice–there comes to us, as we watch and pray in the sanctuary of His presence, the distinctive disclosure of the faith of Jesus Christ. Much may still be dark and strange to us, and the questions that are always rising round us will need our utmost care, and we may often make mistakes in thought, and word, and deed; but the real, inner bewilderment, the fatal blundering of the soul can hardly be when we think of men and deal with them as, one by one, the distinct and unforgotten objects of that love which we ourselves have known in its astounding forbearance and condescension and inventiveness and glory. There is some sure light in the perplexity of this world, some hope even in its worst disasters, something steadfast through its storms, something still undefeated by its sins; since it is the scene where God, whose love can only be measured by the Cross, is seeking, one by one, in countless, hidden ways, the souls of men, if here He may but begin to draw them ever so little towards Himself, that hereafter He may prepare them to be with Him where He is. (Bishop Paget.)
The sanction of science to the Christian interpretation of the world
I. The theories and findings of modern science agree with the scriptural account of the constitution of things. Everywhere the Bible affirms or assumes that the ideal, the primitive, the essential arrangement of things was very good, but that the catastrophe called sin broke up the original order, and henceforth Nature became full of contradiction and misery. Never does revelation fall into the error of teaching that the substance of the world is vicious, or that any of its great laws are malevolent, but with wonderful clearness and consistency it main-rains that Nature is a right noble system unhappily spoiled. Are not our great philosophers conscious that this interpretation of the world expresses the substantial truth? Professor Huxley finds two distinct orders prevailing in Nature–a cosmical order and a moral order; the cosmical order being vicious, the moral order, which is discovered in the growth of civilization, being the expression of reason and righteousness. But is it possible to believe that two distinct antagonistic programmes prevail in Nature side by side? Surely if science has established one position more firmly than another it is that which affirms the unity of things, and it is impossible to believe that in the bosom of Nature a dual order should exist like that which Huxley suggests. Is it not far more reasonable, far more in keeping with science, to infer that there is but one celestial, persistent order, which someway has been obscured and disturbed? And what is this normal order? If the world presents such contradictory phenomena and yet we are compelled to believe in one fundamental law and order, what is that fundamental law and order? Is the good element the deepest thing in Nature, or the bad element? Are truth, goodness, and beauty the primitive, essential, and abiding laws of the world, or illusion, selfishness, ugliness, misery? Huxley suggests, as I have just said, that there are two orders, the cosmical order, which he calls the natural order; and the moral order, which he calls the artificial order; but this view has not commended itself to the majority of thinking men. The moral order of the world which is more and more coming into light presents no features of artificiality. Surely the moral order is the universal, the fundamental, the persistent order; amid the flow of phenomena it is the moral kingdom and law which cannot be moved. The earth is full of perplexing sights and experiences, but at the bottom it is good. The ethical process is really the cosmical process. The eternal elements are truth, goodness, mercy, beauty, joy. We should not have noticed the maladies of the world had there not been first an organic health; we should not have felt the discords of the world had we not first been conscious of an eternal music. The rational, the moral, the good, constitute the profound and absolute order. Nature as we see it is not the ideal Nature; the order of Nature, taken simply as science knows it, is not its true order; we behold the primitive design in a darkened glass. Nature with all her terrible phenomena rises up,. as human nature with all its terrible crimes rises up, the magnificent protest on its lips: I, yet not I, but sin which dwelleth in me. And as the ages proceed the true and eternal order of right and beauty is ever being revealed more conspicuously.
II. Revelation teaches that all things have been thrown into confusion through the abuse of mans free will, and modern science has made it the more easy to believe in this doctrine. Let us state exactly the dilemma that the condition of the world involves. Very often we find it impossible to look out upon the great universe without feeling that it is a magnificent expression of infinite intelligence and beauty. Our intellect exults in it; our heart does; our whole unsophisticated nature. We feel as sure as we can feel sure of anything that this glorious orb could not spring out of the blind workings of rude matter. Little comes out of a pot of paint left to itself. You must put the fire of genius under it before those magical prismatic exhalations arise which are known as the Crucifixion of Rubens, the Transfiguration of Raphael, the Paradise of Tintoretto, the Judgment Day of Michael Angelo. Genius alone glorifies paint into pictures, builds stones and dust into a St. Marks, converts ink into Iliads. So we cannot believe that this round world and all that it inherits sprang out of the blind working of slime and fire-mist. A fire of genius must have glowed under chaos before there arose out of it rounded skies, suns, moons, stars, the million types of birds, beasts, blossoms, human faces, human hearts, human consciences, all the living pictures and vital shapes of this wondrous universe. The order of the world suggests to our intelligence a rational Creator; the beauty of the world a loving and perfect God. Darwin acknowledges all this in his simple, touching manner. He says, Another source of conviction in the existence of God, connected with the reason and not with the feelings, impresses me as having much more weight. This follows from the extreme difficulty, or rather impossibility, of conceiving the immense and wonderful universe, including man with his capacity of looking far backwards and far into futurity, as the result of blind chance or necessity. When thus reflecting, I feel compelled to look to a First Cause having an intelligent mind in some degree analogous to that of man; and I deserve to be called a Theist. (Autobiography and Letters.) Again he writes: I cannot anyhow be contented to view this wonderful universe, and especially the nature of man, and to conclude that everything is the result of brute force. And in one of his latest letters he says, You have expressed my inward conviction, though far more vividly and clearly than I could have done, that the universe is not the result of chance. But very different thoughts and feelings took possession of Darwin when he surveyed other aspects of Nature. Greatly distressed by its enigmas, he was constrained to write himself an Agnostic. He says, With respect to the theological view of the question, this is always painful to me. I am bewildered, I had no intention to write atheistically. But I own that I cannot see as plainly as others do, and as I should wish to do, evidence of design and beneficence on all sides of us. There seems to me too much misery in the world. I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created the Ichneumonidae with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of caterpillars, or that a cat should play with mice. (Autobiography and Letters.) Again he writes: I cannot overlook the difficulty (of believing in the existence of God) from the immense amount of suffering through the world. And again, This very old argument from the existence of suffering against the existence of an intelligent First Cause seems to me a strong one. Revelation solves this problem by declaring that the world as we see it, and its line of development as we know it, are not according to Gods ideal and purpose. And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good! So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him. But, by the abuse of free-will, man has spoiled himself and marred the whole creation. There is something that man can call his own, his own lust, inordinate, irregular desire, and this intemperance and disobedience of thought and action have spoiled the good and perfect gifts of God. There is a great deal in this world that was not created by God, that does not come from the normal action of His laws, and in which God disclaims all proprietorship. We call earthquakes, cyclones, pestilences, famines acts of God, but the more we understand the power of man over telluric nature the more are we persuaded of his responsibility in these catastrophes. Man to a great extent holds the climates in his hand; the vast dominion of Nature falls into confusion through his sins of omission and commission; and if you consult Darwin, Marsh, and other scientists you learn that man, not God, is the agent of huge catastrophes which are charged to the account of the Almighty. As John Garth Wilkinson keenly observes, Man is the insect of the universal gall. And when we regard the ugly, venomous, and destructive forms which abound in the earth, they are no more to be imputed to God than are deserts and pestilences. The author of Evil and Evolution says aptly, Evolutionists are agreed that it is just the fierce struggle of created things that has produced birds and beasts of prey, and there can be little doubt that it is the malignity of the struggle that has produced the venom of so many reptiles. And I may add here that this work, which I read after writing this address, contains a very interesting chapter on the subject of evolution without maladjustment. We do not hold the Almighty responsible for the stiletto of the assassin, the sword of the tyrant, the cup of the poisoner, and we do not hold the Almighty responsible for the locust, the spider, the vulture, the shark, the phylloxera, the microbe, for the fang of the serpent, the beak of the hawk, or the blade of the sword-fish. What is done under our eyes by the malign cleverness of the breeder of dogs has been going on in Nature to an infinite extent and by secret processes we may not follow. Every good and every perfect gift is from above; but our lusts are our own, and they have put their stamp of original horrible disfigurement upon the fair face of the world. The lord of the house determines the house in an extraordinary degree, and the good creatures of God by our misrule and violation have become agents and forces of evil. But it will be said that it is only possible to develop the world on the lines of conflict and suffering, it is only thus that things can be evolved and perfected. Now, it is quite true that the world hitherto has been developed by bitter and bloody processes, and, without doubt, seeing that we are what we are, no other method is possible; but it was palpably Gods design that we should reach the goal by another path–by a path of sunshine and flowers. Great things have come to pass through hunger, battle, bleeding, and death, but this is not the normal programme of God. He would have attained the glorious ideal through peace and plenty, through noble passions and fellowships. Sir W.J. Dawson has an instructive page in which he affirms that whilst the struggle for existence has played a great part in the development of the world, the most productive and progressive ages were those in which the struggle for existence played the least part. Again, we are now prepared to say that the struggle for existence, however plausible as a theory, when put before us in connection with the productiveness of animals and the few survivors of their multitudinous progeny, has not been the determining cause of the introduction of new species. The periods of rapid introduction of new forms of marine life were not periods of struggle, but of expansion–those periods in which the submergence of continents afforded new and large space for their extension and comfortable subsistence. In like manner, it was continental emergence that afforded the opportunity for the introduction of land animals and plants. Further, in connection with this, it is now an established conclusion that the great aggressive faunas and floras of the continents have originated in the north, some of them within the arctic circle, and this in, periods of exceptional warmth, when the perpetual summer sunshine of the arctic regions coexisted with a warm temperature. The testimony of the rocks thus is that not struggle but expansion furnished the requisite conditions for new forms of life, and that the periods of struggle were characterized by depauperation and extinction. (Salient Points, p. 27). The world would be far more beautiful, scientists declare, without this exhaustive struggle for life. Colour being dangerous is kept down to conceal creatures from their natural enemies. Humming-birds are so splendid because they have no enemies, and all birds and beasts would acquire new beauty were it not for the hawk and the tiger. And in many directions it is seen that, whilst struggle secures fitness and strength, it also implies impoverishment and extinction. These facts give an insight into the benign possibilities of Nature, and show how peace, abundance, and sunshine might have filled the earth with mild beasts, glorious vegetation, and noble men. God could have worked with other pressures, attractions and stimulations. We struggle now by a Via Dolorosa and with bleeding feet to the golden goal, but God meant us to reach it by a way of pleasantness and a path of peace. That God should endow a creature with freewill, knowing that that endowment would involve its possessor in manifold sorrows, is a mystery we may agree to give God time to explain, but granted the moral agent, that is, the free agent, and granted that this agent proved faithless, the anarchy of the world is explicable without impeaching the character of its Creator and King. God is right and man is wrong, and the wrongfulness of man has perverted his whole environment. (W. L. Watkinson.)
Light arising in darkness
I. Unassisted human reason cannot vindicate Divine providence.
1. Because we are prone to err.
(1) Our intellect is depraved.
(2) Our will is perverse.
(3) The devil deceives us.
2. Because we see only parts of the ways of God.
(1) The machinery is so vast.
(2) The period of its revolution is so long.
3. Because Jehovah does not fully reveal Himself.
II. The way of duty is the way of safety.
1. We receive instruction. Wherever we commune with God, meditating on the Word of God, and praying, Open Thou mine eyes, that, etc., we are in the sanctuary of God, and are taught of the Lord. Receiving light from Holy Scripture, and from the Holy Spirit, our incorrect judgment respecting the prosperity of the wicked is rectified, and we see sufficient to convince us that the Judge of all the earth does right.
(1) We see that rich sinners are insecure.
(2) We see that rich sinners are suddenly cast down.
(3) We see that rich sinners are the objects of Gods displeasure.
2. We grow in faith. Two things especially nurture our faith.
(1) A conviction of our own ignorance and insufficiency. So foolish was I, and ignorant, etc.
(2) A consciousness that God is near to us and sustains us. Nevertheless I am continually with Thee, etc. Hence, we endure as seeing Him who is invisible, and become strong in faith, giving glory to God.
3. We rejoice in hope. The end is not yet. Eternity is before us. (P. J. Wright.)
On the difficulties of speculative inquiry
Knowledge is pleasant to the mind as light is sweet to the eye. But such pleasantness has its limit. Its pursuit may become painful–too painful for me. See this in the mercy of the providence of God. Up to a certain point it is delightful to contemplate; but it has also its fearful aspects which forbid too close a scrutiny. So of mans intellectual nature: how pleasant to investigate mans position, prospects, destiny under the government of God. Yet inquiries of this sort lead to dark and fearful issues. What are we to say of the problem of evil under the rule of a benevolent God? And the effect of such inquiries is twofold. Some are made sceptics: others are embarrassed and distressed. Some become angry and do nothing but complain. Others are much troubled and hindered in their religious life. Now, I would offer some considerations by which this feeling of painfulness may be mitigated or removed. And I begin with a confession–that I cannot solve the difficulties of speculative philosophy, nor the problem of the universe. I admit their reality, but they are all of them reducible to a common clement, and to a simple expression. They all prove only this–the imperfection, the restriction of our knowledge, nothing more; and concerning this we note–
I. That such restrictions of our knowledge are only part of a general system. Mystery is everywhere.
II. They are an essential element of our being. There are of necessity mysteries to all created beings. It may be that to God all things are clear, but to us they cannot be, for we are finite and He is infinite.
III. We have knowledge sufficient for all practical purposes. But these are the great purposes for which life is given, and to accomplish them God did not teach any one a theory. Men fed themselves on the fruits of the field long time before they knew botany; sailed on the rivers and seas before they knew the science of navigation. And so our Bible will tell us our duty and what else we really need to know, though on many questions it leaves us where it found us. But how foolish to refuse practical obedience until we can solve the problem of the universe.
IV. Restricted knowledge is an important element in our moral condition. It tests what is in a mans heart, and gives scope for faith.
V. But restricted as our knowledge is, its field is marvellously ample. See the varied departments of science, natural, intellectual, moral. The expanse is crowded with objects. No one can master them all. And then–
VI. We are in a position, is regard to knowledge, of brilliant expectation. Soon we shall remove to a world where our present limitations will be no more, and where we shall know even as we are known. Therefore have patience. Are you prepared for the discoveries of the other world? Think how momentous they are. Do not, because some things are too painful for you to know now, waste your life in inaction and complaint. (J. H. Hinton, M. A.)
Surely Thou didst set them in slippery places: Thou castedst them down into destruction.
The sinners end
Want of understanding has destroyed many. The best place go get understanding is the sanctuary of God. Until he went there David was in a mist, but in the sanctuary he was as on a mountain summit with the clouds far beneath his feet. For there he had communion with God, and heard the law of God, and so understood the end of the wicked. Let us then try to–
I. Understand the sinners end.
1. Like all else, there is death, but what a death is his.
2. It is the death of all in which he took delight.
3. It brings him to the bar of God.
4. He is sent be everlasting hell. Now, all this is certain; and often sudden; and how terrible; and it is endless.
II. Seek to profit by it.
1. How grateful should we be if we are saved.
2. Let us make our calling and election sure.
3. Be earnest about the salvation of others.
III. Warn the unrepentant. You are slipping down to perdition. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Slippery places
Winter is the season of frost. Then there is ice on every hand. There are perils on the land and on the water.
I. There are slippery places in life.
1. Scenes of animal excitement. The market–the theatre–the social feast–the excitements of wine and music, such things as work upon the senses, and enkindle the passions.
2. Opportunities of selfish gratification.
3. Company of the ungodly.
4. When tempted to doubt Gods righteousness and love.
II. Those who walk in slippery places are in danger of falls.
1. Insecurity.
2. Risk of injury.
(1) To peace.
(2) To character.
(3) To usefulness.
III. Slippery places prove fatal to the wicked.
1. Unmask the evil of their character (Pro 11:3). Judas.
2. Reveal the worthlessness of their hopes. Seem to thrive, promise themselves ease and length of days. Vanity. When tested they fail utterly (Psa 73:17; Pro 29:1; Psa 146:4; Job 8:13-20).
3. Manifest that they are the objects of Gods displeasure. Nothing keeps them out of hell but Gods mercy. Destruction is impending. Sure–sudden–overwhelming.
IV. Some counsels as to slippery places.
1. Avoid them, when possible (Psa 119:101; Pro 1:10; 1Th 5:10; Psa 17:4).
2. When you do come to them walk warily. Watch and pray. Be not high-minded, but fear.
3. Take such friendly help as may be available (Eph 6:15; Psa 23:4; Ecc 4:9-10; Psa 26:1; Psa 119:63).
4. Should you fall, endeavour to get good from the evil. Time for thought–prayer–renewal of faith and strength.
5. Should you escape, be thankful, and give God the glory (Psa 94:18; Psa 116:1-8).
6. Let Jerusalem come into your mind. There will be no slippery places, etc. (W. Forsyth, M. A.)
The prosperity of the wicked insecure
This may be argued–
1. From the fact that it is not founded on the favour of God.
2. From the uncertain and temporary nature of the very elements of which it is composed.
(1) The good opinion of others.
(2) The honesty and trustworthiness of our fellow-men.
(3) Deceitful, uncertain riches.
3. From the fact that the very habits to which that prosperity gives rise, may acquire such strength as to destroy it. Napoleon Bonaparte is an illustrious instance of the power of that habit of overgrown, lawless ambition, which in one luckless hour can ruin the splendid fortunes of an empire.
4. From the fact that their own consciences are not thoroughly reconciled to their prosperity, and the pangs and forebodings of conscience can soon embitter and destroy the very essence of worldly fortune.
5. The known uncertainty of life haunts the wicked with a dread that destroys the baseless joys of their prosperity. (D. L. Carroll, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 16. When I thought to know this] When I reviewed the history of our fathers, I saw that, though thou hadst from time to time hidden thy face because of their sins, yet thou hadst never utterly abandoned them to their adversaries; and it was not reasonable to conclude that thou wouldst do now what thou hadst never done before; and yet the continuance of our captivity, the oppressive hardships which we suffer, and the small prospect there is of release, puzzle me again. These things have been very painful to me.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
To know this; to find out the reason of this mysterious course of thy providence.
It was too painful for me; I was gravelled with the difficulty.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16, 17. Still he
thoughtliterally,”studied,” or, “pondered this riddle”; but invain; it remained a toil (compare Margin), till he
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
When I thought to know this,…. How to reconcile the prosperity of the wicked, and the afflictions of the righteous, to the perfections of God, and his wise providence in the government of the world, by the mere dint of reason, without consulting the sacred oracles, or his own and others’ experience:
it was too painful for me: too laborious and toilsome, a work he was not equal to; “hic labor, hoc opus”; see Ec 8:17.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
16. Although I applied my mind to know this. The first verb חשב, chashab, which he employs, properly signifies to reckon or count, and sometimes to consider or weigh. But the words which follow in the sentence require the sense which I have given, That he applied his mind to know the part of Divine Providence referred to. He has already condemned himself for having transgressed; but still he acknowledges, that until he entered into the sanctuaries of God, he was not altogether disentangled from the doubts with which his mind had been perplexed. In short, he intimates that he had reflected on this subject on all sides, and yet, by all his reasoning upon it, could not comprehend how God, amidst so great disorders and confusions, continued to govern the world. Moreover, in speaking thus of himself, he teaches us, that when men are merely under the guidance of their own understandings, the inevitable consequence is, that they sink under their trouble, not being able by their own deliberations and reasonings to arrive at any certain or fixed conclusions; for there is no doubt that he puts the sanctuaries of God in opposition to carnal reason. Hence it follows, that all the knowledge and wisdom which men have of their own is vain and unsubstantial; since all true wisdom among men — all that deserves to be so called — consists in this one point, (188) That they are docile, and implicitly submit to the teaching of the Word of God. The Psalmist does not speak of unbelievers who are wilfully blind, who involve themselves in errors, and are also very glad to find some color or pretext for taking offense, that they may withdraw to a distance from God. It is of himself that he speaks; and although he applied his mind to the investigation of divine subjects, not only earnestly, but with all humility; and although, at the same time, he contemplated, according to his small measure, the high judgments of God, not only with attention, but also with reverence, yet he confesses that he failed of success; for the word trouble (189) here implies unprofitable or lost labor. Whoever, therefore, in applying himself to the examination of God’s judgments, expects to become acquainted with them by his natural understanding, will be disappointed, and will find that he is engaged in a task at once painful and profitless; and, therefore, it is indispensably necessary to rise higher, and to seek illumination from heaven.
(188) “ D’autant que toute la vraye sagesse qui doit estre ainsi nommee es hommes, consiste en un seul poinct.” — Fr.
(189) Green translates the Hebrew word for this, “hard;” Horsley, “perplexing;” and Boothroyd, “difficult.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(16) When I thought . . .i.e., when I reflected in order to know thiswhen I tried to think the matter out, get at the bottom of it. (For the sense of the verb, comp. Psa. 78:5; Pro. 16:9.)
It was too painful.See margin.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
16. When I thought to know this The psalmist gives himself to meditation, and to weigh this matter which so perplexed him.
It was too painful for me Literally, It was grievousness, or labour, in my eyes: his unassisted reason could not trace it out, and it remained to him a mystery. See Ecc 8:17; Job 11:7
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
DISCOURSE: 624
PROSPERITY OF SINNERS NOT TO BE ENVIED
Psa 73:16-17. When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; until I went into the sanctuary of God: then understood I their end.
TO unenlightened man, there are numberless things in the dispensations of Providence altogether dark and inexplicable: it is the light of Revelation only that enables us to form any just notions respecting them. Moreover, after that men are enlightened, they still are liable to be disconcerted and perplexed by the events which daily occur, in proportion as they lean to their own understandings, and neglect to avail themselves of the means which are afforded them for the regulation of their judgment. Nor has Satan any more powerful instruments wherewith to assault the minds of Believers, than those which he derives from this source. The temptation with which he assaulted our first parents in Paradise, was furnished by the prohibition which God had given them to eat of a certain tree; Hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? insinuating, that such a prohibition could never have proceeded from a God of love. In like manner, if God have seen fit to deny his people any particular comfort which he has vouchsafed to others, or suffered them to be afflicted in any respect more than others, Satan suggests to their minds, How can these dispensations consist with his professed regard for you as his own peculiar people? Thus their subtle adversary would instil into their minds hard thoughts of God, and a distrust of his providential care. It was in this way that he assaulted the author of the psalm before us, and caused him almost to renounce his confidence in God. The Psalmist himself (whether it were Asaph, or David, we cannot certainly declare) tells us, how nearly he was overcome by this temptation: As for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped: for I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. He proceeds more fully to state the difficulty with which his mind was harassed, and the way in which the snare was broken: and as the subject is of universal interest, we will draw your attention to it, by stating,
I.
The difficulty
It is frequently seen that the wicked prosper, whilst the godly are grievously oppressed
[The godly are for the most part a poor and afflicted people [Note: Zep 3:12.]. They are objects of hatred and contempt to an ungodly world [Note: Joh 15:19.], and they suffer much from the unkind treatment which they meet with [Note: 2Ti 3:12.]. Not unfrequently, their greatest foes are those of their own household. From the hand of God also they receive many strokes of fatherly correction, from which the avowed enemies of God are in great measure exempt [Note: Heb 12:6-8.]. It is necessary also, with a view to the accomplishment of Gods purpose of love towards them, that they should, for the most part, be in heaviness through manifold temptations [Note: 1Pe 1:6.].
The wicked, on the contrary, frequently pass through life without any particular trials [Note: ver. 4, 5.]: having nothing to humble them, they are lifted up with pride, (which they glory in as their brightest ornament [Note: Dan 5:29. with ver. 6.];) and are encompassed with violence, as their daily habit: they gratify their sensual appetites, till their eyes stand out with fatness [Note: ver. 7.]: they despise all restraint, whether human or divine [Note: ver. 8, 9. Mark the language of ver. 9.]; and even atheistically question, Whether God notices and regards the conduct of his creatures [Note: ver. 11.]. These are the persons who generally get forward in life, and engross to themselves the wealth and honours of a corrupt world. Doubtless, in countries where the rights of individuals are secured by just laws and a righteous administration, this inequality will be less apparent, than in places, where there is more scope afforded for the unrestrained exercise of fraud and violence: but in every place there is ample evidence, that worldly prosperity is the attainment, not of spiritual, but of carnal minds ]
This, to the carnal mind, presents a difficulty not easy to be explained
[There is in the mind of man a general idea that the Governor of the universe will testify by his present dispensations his love for virtue, and his hatred of iniquity. The friends of Job carried this notion so far, that, without any other evidence than what arose from his peculiar trials, they concluded, that he must of necessity have been a hypocrite and deceiver, whom justice at last had visibly overtaken. Nor could Job himself understand, how it should be, that the prosperity of the wicked should be so great, whilst he, who had walked in his integrity, was so overwhelmed with troubles [Note: Job 21:7-13.]. Even the Prophet Jeremiah, who might be supposed to have a deeper insight into divine truth than Job, was stumbled at the same thing [Note: Jer 12:1.]: and therefore we must not wonder that it operates as a temptation in the minds of the generality.
Under the Mosaic dispensation, the difficulty of accounting for these things was certainly very great: for all the sanctions of the Law were almost, if not altogether, of a temporal nature: temporal prosperity was promised, and that too in very general and unqualified terms, as the reward of obedience; and temporal judgments were threatened as the punishment of disobedience: and consequently, when the wicked prospered and the righteous were oppressed, it seemed as if the providence of God were in direct opposition to his word. Nor did Moses alone give ground for such expectations: even David himself had said, that they who sought the Lord should want no manner of thing that was good [Note: Psa 34:10; Psa 84:11.]. Nay more, the same language is used in the New Testament: If we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all earthly comforts shall be added unto us. And again, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth [Note: Mat 5:5; Mat 6:33.]. Now it may be asked, How can this consist with the exaltation of the wicked, and the almost universal depression of the righteous, of whom it may be said, that they are plagued all the day long, and chastened every morning [Note: ver. 14.]?]
But the Psalmist, having stated his difficulty, gives us,
II.
The solution
To the carnal mind the difficulty is insurmountable: but if we enter into the sanctuary of God, it will vanish instantly. There we shall see the lamentable state of the wicked in the midst of their prosperity;
1.
The danger of their way
[Their feet are set in slippery places, where it is, humanly speaking, impossible for them to stand. This may appear a strong assertion; but it is not at all too strong: it is the assertion of our Lord himself [Note: Mar 10:23-27.] Indeed, it is with great justice said by Solomon, that the prosperity of fools destroyeth them [Note: Pro 1:32.]; for it almost universally generates those very dispositions which are so strongly depicted in the psalm before us [Note: ver. 611.]. If riches increase, we are immediately ready to set our heart upon them [Note: Psa 62:10.], and to trust in them rather than in God [Note: 1Ti 6:17. Luk 12:19.]. They foster pride in the heart of the possessor [Note: Pro 18:23.]; and lead not unfrequently to an oppressive conduct towards the poor [Note: Jam 2:6.], and to the most daring impiety towards God [Note: Jam 2:7.]. Are they then to be envied, who are placed in such perilous circumstances? or are they to be envied, who, when running for their lives, have their feet laden with thick clay? Be it so, that the rich have many comforts which the poor taste not of: but what enjoyment can that man have of a feast, who sees a sword suspended over his head by a single hair, and knows not but that it may fall and pierce him the very next minute? So the man who knows his own weakness, and the force of the temptations to which he may be exposed, will be well satisfied to have such a portion only of this world as God sees fit to give him; and will abundantly prefer the eternal welfare of his soul before all the gratifications that wealth or honour can afford him.]
2.
The awfulness of their end
[As God raised up Pharaoh to the throne of Egypt, with an intent to shew forth in him his wrathful indignation against sin [Note: Rom 9:17.]; so he loads with temporal benefits many, who shall finally be made objects of his heavy displeasure for their abuse of them. He bears with them for a season: but their feet shall slide in due time [Note: Deu 32:35.]; and then they will be cast down into everlasting destruction [Note: ver. 18.]. O how terrible is their transition in a single instant, from a fulness of all earthly comforts to an utter destitution [Note: ver. 19.] even of a drop of water to cool their tongue! Think of the Rich Man who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: what a change did he experience the moment that his soul departed from the body! The next thing we hear of him is, that he was in hell, lifting up his eyes in torment, such as no words can describe, no imagination can conceive [Note: Luk 16:23-24.]. Lazarus, on the contrary, who in this world had not the most common necessaries of life, was enjoying unspeakable and endless felicity in Abrahams bosom. Who that beholds the termination of their career, would not infinitely prefer the temporal estate of Lazarus, even though it should last a thousand years, before all the vanishing gratifications of the man of wealth? If it should be thought that this rich man was more addicted to sin than others, the account we have of him suggests no ground for it whatever: on the contrary, it tells us, that his five surviving brethren, who inherited his wealth, were, like him, yielding to the sad influence of the temptations which it offered, and therefore were hastening to that same place of torment, to which he had been consigned [Note: Luk 16:27-28.]. Doubtless it is painful to reflect on the thoughtless security of millions, who, if not guilty of any flagrant enormity, have no conception of the predicament in which they stand. But the Scripture speaks too plainly on this subject to admit of any doubt [Note: Psa 92:7. Job 20:4-7; Job 21:30. Pro 23:17-18.] Say then, Are these to be envied? Alas! if viewed aright, they must be regarded only as persons accumulating wrath upon their own heads [Note: Rom 2:5.], or as victims fattening for the slaughter [Note: Jam 5:1-3; Jam 5:5.]: and consequently, their superior prosperity in earthly things affords no ground for complaint to the godly, however destitute they may be, or however afflicted.]
Let us learn then from this subject,
1.
To mark the motions of our own hearts
[We greatly deceive ourselves if we imagine that our actions afford a sufficient criterion for judging of our state. There are many who indulge in all manner of evil thoughts, whilst yet they are restrained by merely political considerations from carrying them into effect. Whilst therefore man sees nothing amiss in us, God may see our hearts to be full of evil. It was not any overt act that the Psalmist spoke of in our text, but of his thoughts only: and yet he acknowledges, that they had well nigh destroyed and ruined his soul [Note: ver. 2, 3.]. O let us observe from time to time the various thoughts that arise in our corrupt hearts, (the proud, the vain, the envious, the wrathful, the vindictive, the impure, the covetous, the worldly thoughts,) and let us humble ourselves for them in dust and ashes, and pray, that the thoughts of our hearts may be forgiven us [Note: Act 8:22.]! If we view ourselves as we really are in the sight of God, we shall see that we may, on many occasions, justly, and without hyperbole, say, So foolish am I and ignorant, I am even as a beast before thee [Note: ver. 22.].]
2.
To be satisfied with our condition
[To Judas was consigned the custody of the stock provided for the daily support of our Lord and his disciples. What if the other disciples had envied him that honour? would they have been wise? Judas was a thief: and the pre-eminence he enjoyed, afforded him an opportunity of gratifying his covetous desires, whilst the rest were free from any such temptation. God knows that many of those things which we would fain enjoy, would only prove snares and temptations to our souls. He sees, not only the evil that does exist, but the evil also that might arise, within us: and he withholds in mercy many things, which he knows would be injurious to our spiritual welfare. How happy would it have been for the Rich Youth in the Gospel, if, instead of being possessed of wealth, he had been as poor as Lazarus! It was his wealth alone that induced him to forego all hope of an interest in Christ [Note: Mar 10:22.]: and, if he had been a poor man, he might, for ought we know, have been at this moment a blest inhabitant of heaven. Let us then remember, that if God sends us trials which we would gladly escape, or withholds comforts which we would desire to possess, he does it in wisdom, and in love: and in all probability we shall one day see reason to adore him for the things which we now deplore, as much as for any of those benefits in which we are most disposed to rejoice.]
3.
To seek above all things the prosperity of our souls
[Here is full scope for our ambition. We may covet, as earnestly as we will, the best gifts. We must not indeed grudge to any their higher attainments: but we may take occasion from the superior piety of others to aspire after the highest possible communications of grace and peace. Were we to possess the whole world, we must leave it all, and go as naked out of the world as we came into it. But, if we possess spiritual riches, we shall carry them with us into the eternal world, and have our weight of glory proportioned to them. The operation of these upon our souls needs not to be feared: they bring no snare with them; or, if they be accompanied with a temptation to pride, they will lead us to Him, who will assuredly supply an antidote, to screen us from its injurious effects [Note: 2Co 12:7-9.]. If we are rich towards God, we are truly rich; yea, though we possess nothing in the world besides, we may exult, as having nothing, and yet possessing all things [Note: 2Co 6:10.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 73:16 When I thought to know this, it [was] too painful for me;
Ver. 16. When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me ] Heb. it was labour in mine eyes, labour in vain, I could do no good on it, sed labyrinthis et Maeandris inextricabilibus implicabar, I did but tread a maze, for God’s judgments are unsearchable, and his ways (of providence) are past finding out; they are far above the reach of human reason.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
thought = pondered [it]. Compare the same word in Psa 77:5.
know = reconcile, or understand.
too painful for me = vexation in mine eyes.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
The true place in which to form a right estimate of life is where Asaph found it-in the sanctuary of God; because from its elevation and the purity of its atmosphere, one can take into view the unseen as well as the seen, the eternal as well as the transient. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we may dwell upon our losses with disappointment and regret, 1Co 15:19. But if the future is taken into consideration, what Lazarus would exchange his lot with Dives? Luk 16:19-31. When once the soul crosses the frontier between this life and the next, it finds that the current-coin on this side is valueless on that.
One day as Asaph, more bowed down than usual, entered the sanctuary, deliverance came. Whether it was when the sacrifice was being offered, or when the holy psalm was being sung, the clouds suddenly broke and the burden rolled away. He saw that God did not reward goodness with things, but with Himself, and he turned to Him with adoring love. Even in the present life the righteous may count on the constant presence of God. His hand holds them; His counsel guides. He is our strength and our portion; and when we change worlds, we shall only enter more fully and absolutely on our inheritance.
Why should the soul a drop bemoan.
That has an ocean near?
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
When: Psa 36:6, Psa 77:19, Psa 97:2, Pro 30:2, Pro 30:3, Ecc 8:17, Rom 11:33
too painful for me: Heb. labour in mine eyes, Psa 39:6, Luk 18:32-34, Joh 16:18, Joh 16:19
Reciprocal: Gen 43:18 – the men Job 24:1 – not see Job 37:19 – we Hab 2:1 – stand Act 8:31 – How
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 73:16. When I thought to know this To find out the reason and meaning of this mysterious course of Divine Providence, it was too painful for me I found it too hard a task to attain satisfaction, as to these points, by my own meditations and reasonings. Indeed, it is a problem not to be solved by the mere light of nature; for if there were not another life after this, we could not fully reconcile the prosperity of the wicked with the justice of God. Here, then, we have a second reason why a man should not be too forward to arraign Gods dispensations of injustice, namely, the extreme difficulty of comprehending the whole of them, which, indeed, is not to be done by the human mind, unless God himself shall vouchsafe it the necessary information. Horne.