Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 73:26
My flesh and my heart faileth: [but] God [is] the strength of my heart, and my portion forever.
26. God is the strength of my heart ] Lit., the rock of my heart. Though bodily and mental powers fail, God is his sure refuge in every danger (Psa 62:2; Psa 62:6-7), the possession which cannot be taken from him (Psa 16:5; Psa 142:5). Never, now that he has come to his right mind, will he look for any other refuge (Isa 44:8), or envy those “whose portion in life is of the world” (Psa 17:14).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
My flesh and my heart faileth – Flesh and heart here seem to refer to the whole man, body and soul; and the idea is, that his powers of body and mind failed; were spent; were exhausted. This seems to have been said in an ideal sense, or by anticipation. He does not mean to say that his strength then had actually failed, but he seems to have placed himself by imagination in the situation where his strength would be all gone – in sickness, in weakness, in sorrow, on the bed of death. He asks himself now what would be his strength then – what would be the object of chief interest and love – on what he would rely; and he answers without hesitation, and with entire confidence, that he could rely on God, and that He would be his portion forever. Even then, when heart and flesh should fail, when all the powers of mind and body should be exhausted, the love of God would survive, and he would find strength and joy in Him.
But God is the strength of my heart – Margin, as in Hebrew, rock; the rock on which my heart relies; that is, my refuge, my defense. See the notes at Psa 18:2. Compare Psa 61:2.
And my portion for ever – The source of my happiness. Not wealth, then; not honor; not earthly friends; not fame – will be my reliance and the ground of my hope; but that which I shall regard as most valuable – my supreme joy and rejoicing – will be the fact that God is my friend and portion. With all the doubts which I have had in regard to the rectitude of his government, I am sure that when I come to die, I shall cling to him as my hope, my joy, my all. My last refuge – my sufficient refuge – is God. When people come to die, they have no other refuge but God. Nothing that they can accumulate of this worlds goods will meet their needs then, for God only can give strength and comfort on the bed of death. Of each and all, however vigorous they may now be, it will be true that flesh and heart will fail; of each and all it is true that when this shall occur, none but God can be the portion and the strength of the soul.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 73:26
My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
Immortality
The especial point of this whole psalm lies in the contrast between the present and the future, between the transitory and the eternal. His bodily frame, or flesh, the psalmist feels, is breaking up. For the moment it might seem that his heart was partaking in the depressing sense of coming dissolution. The heart with the Hebrews means, speaking generally, the centre or inner seat of life, whether physical or spiritual. It is indeed used in one well-known passage of the Psalter in the physical sense of animal life-power which is quickened by food and made glad by wine. More commonly it is the centre from which the life-stream of thought and feeling pours through the soul. Thus the heart is said to speak, to think, to conceive within self, to meditate, to desire, to cry out in song and jubilee, to be heated with intense thought, to be grieved, to be desolate, to be smitten and withered like grass, to be wounded, to be broken. Especially is the heart the seat of the moral life, of its movement and repose, of its conquests and failures, of its final victory or death. Thus the heart is said to be ready, or clean, or fixed, or whole and perfect, or converted, or hardened, as the case may be. As the seat of the moral life the heart is described as deep. God knows its mysterious secrets. Thus, then, in the passage before us, the flesh is in contrast to the heart, as the animal frame of man might be contrasted with the life of consciousness, feeling, and moral effort. The former is yielding to the slow, certain action of time, and has already upon it the presentiment of death. The latter seems for one instant to lose the sense of its real indestructibility in its profound sympathy with the weakly body which yet encases it. But the darkness lasts for a moment only; for God is the strength of my heart, etc. The contrast is too perfect to be evaded. On the one side the perishing body; on the other, the undying soul. And it is this vision which removes the difficulty he had felt in regard to the ways of God. It melts away altogether beneath the rays of light which stream from one cardinal truth, it is solved by the doctrine of the immortality of the soul of man. (Canon Liddon.)
A common fact and a special privilege
I. A fact in the history of all men. The fact is the decay of man as a citizen of this earth. The seed of death is planted in us all, and as the seed grows, man decays. All flesh is grass. This inevitable decay of our nature shows two things:–
1. The absurdity of worldliness.
2. The necessity of spirituality. Without this, man has no interest in a life beyond this mortal state. With this, brighter worlds loom before him. This spirituality, however, can only be obtained through Christ. This is life eternal, to know Thee the only true God.
II. A privilege in the history of some men. God is the strength (rock) of my heart.
1. God is the souls power. Without Him it has no moral strength to resist the wrong, to pursue the right, to endure trials, to welcome death, to serve humanity, and to honour God. God is the strength. As sap in all the branches of the tree, He is strength to all the faculties of the soul. Our sufficiency is of God.
2. God is the souls portion. My portion for ever. A loving heart can be satisfied with nothing less than the object of its affection. The object may give to the lover all he has, but unless he gives himself the hunger of love is not allayed. Even so mans soul cries out for the living God, and nothing less will do. He is the portion
(1) most satisfying;
(2) most exhaustless;
(3) most enduring. (Homilist.)
The believers consolation in death
I. What the psalmist means by the flesh and heart failing.
1. By the flesh failing, we are to understand death.
(1) We die daily; are gradually decaying and wearing away (Job 14:10).
(2) Universally (Ecc 6:6).
(3) With great variety; in some early; in others in their bloom; with others, not till the shadows of the evening come upon them (1Sa 20:3).
(4) Most certainly, without a possibility of prevention; neither food nor physic will always avail (Ecc 8:8).
(5) Swiftly (Jam 4:14; Job 14:1-2).
(6) In death, the flesh fails irrecoverably, as to its being restored to its former state upon earth (Heb 9:27; Psa 39:13).
2. When the flesh is thus failing in a dying hour, the heart may be ready to sink into a state of despondency; and this may be owing–
(1) To severity of affliction (Job 16:12).
(2) To the recollection of past sins, although forgiven, without eyeing the sacrifice of Christ (Job 21:6).
(3) To the temptations of Satan (1Pe 1:6).
(4) To the loss of our evidence, as to our acceptance with God (Psa 42:5-7).
(5) To a suspension of the sensible presence of Christ.
II. The source of our dependence in such awful circumstances, God. God is the strength of my heart. This may be inferred–
1. From His love to them (Psa 11:7).
2. From His ability (Isa 59:1).
3. From His infinite presence with them (2Ch 16:9).
4. From His faithfulness to His kind promises made to them, and on which He has caused them to hope (Isa 43:1-3).
5. From their interest in Him, their portion for ever, The Lord is my portion, etc. (Lam 3:24).
6. What kind of a portion God is, no creature can fully describe (Job 11:7).
(1) God is a suitable portion, suited to mans spiritual nature (Psa 73:25).
(2) All-sufficient portion (Gen 17:1; Eph 3:20).
(3) Infinite portion: and this is the ground of His being all-sufficient. Infinite mercy to pardon, infinite wisdom to counsel, infinite power to support, infinite grace to enrich, infinite glory to bestow (Psa 84:11).
(4) He is an eternal portion (Gen 15:1). And on this ground it is, the children of God make their boast (Psa 48:14). Improvement:
1. Let the consideration of our flesh failing daily excite us to a daily preparation for eternity.
2. As God is the strength of our hearts, let us trust in Him, in life and death, that He may be our portion for over. (T. Hannam.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 26. My flesh – faileth] I shall soon die: and my heart – even my natural courage, will fail; and no support but what is supernatural will then be available. Therefore, he adds, –
God is the strength of my heart] Literally, the rock of my heart.
And my portion] Allusion is here made to the division of the promised land. I ask no inheritance below; I look for one above. I do not look for this in the possession of any place; it is GOD alone that can content the desires and wishes of an immortal spirit. And even this would not satisfy, had I not the prospect of its being for ever, leolum, “to eternity!’
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
In myself, I confess I am a poor weak creature, and my body and spirit may fail and be ready to faint under such temptations and tribulations as these, and I know I shall shortly return to the dust, out of which I was taken. But though I have no strength in myself; I have it in God, my never-failing refuge, to whom I will trust whilst I live, and who will be my portion to eternity.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
26. strengthliterally, “rock”(Ps 18:2).
portion (Psa 16:5;Lam 3:24).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
My flesh and my heart faileth,…. Either through vehement desires of communion with God deferred, see Ps 84:2 or through afflictive dispensations of Providence, being smitten and chastened continually, Ps 73:14, or through inward trials and exercises, by reason of indwelling sin, temptations, and desertions: or rather the words are expressive of the body being emaciated by sickness and diseases; and the heart fainting through fear of death, or rather failing at it, being at the point of death; the heart being, as philosophers say, the first that lives, and the last that dies:
but God is the strength of my heart, or “the rock of my heart” h; when overwhelmed with distress through outward trouble, or in the lowest condition with respect to spiritual things; when grace is weak, corruptions strong, temptations prevail, and afflictions are many; then does the Lord support and sustain his people, and strengthens them with strength in their souls; and in the moment of death, by showing them that its sting is taken away, and its curse removed; that their souls are going to their Lord, and about to enter into his joy; and that their bodies will rise again glorious and incorruptible:
and my portion for ever; both in life and at death, and to all eternity; this is a very large portion indeed; such who have it inherit all things; yea, it is immense and inconceivable; it is a soul satisfying one, and is safe and secure; it can never be taken away, nor can it be spent; it will last always; see Ps 142:5.
h “rupes cordis mei”, Montanus, Musculus, Piscator, Cocceius, “petra cordis mei”, Tigurine version, Gejerus, Michaelis; so Ainsworth.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
26. My flesh and my heart have failed. Some understand the first part of the verse as meaning that David’s heart and flesh failed him through the ardent desire with which he was actuated; and they think that by it he intends to testify the earnestness with which he applied his mind to God. We meet with a similar form of expression elsewhere; but the clause immediately succeeding, God is the strength of my heart, seems to require that it should be explained differently. I am rather disposed to think that there is here a contrast between the failing which David felt in himself and the strength with which he was divinely supplied; as if he had said, Separated from God I am nothing, and all that I attempt to do ends in nothing; but when I come to him, I find an abundant supply of strength. It is highly necessary for us to consider what we are without God; for no man will cast himself wholly upon God, but he who feels himself in a fainting condition, and who despairs of the sufficiency of his own powers. We will seek nothing from God but what we are conscious of wanting in ourselves. Indeed, all men confess this, and the greater part think that all which is necessary is that God should aid our infirmities, or afford us succor when we have not the means of adequately relieving ourselves. But the confession of David is far more ample than this when he lays, so to speak, his own nothingness before God. He, therefore, very properly adds, that God is his portion. The portion of an individual is a figurative expression, employed in Scripture to denote the condition or lot with which every man is contented. Accordingly, the reason why God is represented as a portion is, because he alone is abundantly sufficient for us, and because in him the perfection of our happiness consists. Whence it follows, that we are chargeable with ingratitude, if we turn away our minds from him and fix them on any other object, as has been stated in Psa 16:4, where David explains more clearly the import of the metaphor. Some foolishly assert that God is called our portion, because our soul is taken from him. I know not how such a silly conceit has found its way into their brains; for it is as far from David’s meaning as heaven is from the earth, and it involves in it the wild notion of the Manicheans, with which Servetus was bewitched. But it generally happens that men who are not exercised in the Scriptures, nor imbued with sound theology, although well acquainted with the Hebrew language, yet err and fall into mistakes even in first principles. Under the word heart the Psalmist comprehends the whole soul. He does not, however, mean, when he speaks of the heart failing, that the essence or substance of the soul fails, but that all the powers which God in his goodness has bestowed upon it, and the use of which it retains only so long as he pleases, fall into decay.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
26. My flesh and my heart faileth “Flesh” and “heart” contrasted, as here, embrace the total makeup of man. In biblical psychology “heart” is used for the innermost, or central, life of man, and must comprehend here the united psychical and spirit life, as “flesh” does the physical and organic.
Faileth The word is used variously for to come to an end, to faint, to pine, to languish. The failing of the “flesh” would be the going out of animal life, and the failing of the “heart” the sinking of the innermost being into doubt and despair. Both would result without God.
Strength of my heart Hebrew, Rock of my heart. Psa 18:2. Against this failing of nature faith finds in God its rock.
My portion for ever Hebrew, My portion to eternity. This is spoken of both flesh and heart, soul and body a triumphant hope of eternal life. “It is clear as day that this passage contains the germ of the doctrine of the resurrection.” Delitzsch. Compare Job 19:25-27
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 73:26 My flesh and my heart faileth: [but] God [is] the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
Ver. 26. My flesh faileth, and my heart faileth ] Some think that the psalmist, through egression of affection unto God, having spent and exhaled his spirits, fell into a swoon; out of which he recovered again by the joy of the Lord, which was his strength, even the rock of his heart. The Greek saith, The God of my heart.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
strength. Hebrew zur = rock, or refuge.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
flesh: Psa 63:1, Psa 84:2, Psa 119:81, Psa 119:82, Job 13:15, 2Co 4:8-10, 2Co 4:16-18, Phi 1:21, 2Ti 4:6-8, 2Pe 1:14
but: Psa 18:2, Psa 27:14, Psa 138:3, Isa 40:29-31, 2Co 12:9, 2Co 12:10
strength: Heb. rock
portion: Psa 16:5, Psa 16:6, Psa 119:57, Psa 142:5, Lam 3:24, Rev 21:3, Rev 21:4, Rev 21:7
Reciprocal: Num 18:20 – I am thy part 2Sa 21:15 – and David waxed faint 2Sa 23:5 – desire Psa 16:8 – he is Psa 31:9 – my soul Psa 40:12 – heart Psa 41:3 – strengthen Psa 48:14 – this God Psa 52:9 – for it is Psa 62:2 – He only Psa 71:9 – when Pro 3:15 – all Jer 10:16 – portion Jer 51:19 – portion Mat 22:29 – not Luk 14:26 – any Luk 16:9 – when Gal 4:7 – heir Col 3:1 – seek
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 73:26. My flesh and my heart faileth I find, by sad experience, my own weakness and inability to encounter such temptations, and bear, with becoming patience and resignation, such troubles, as I frequently meet with; yea, I find myself a frail, dying creature, that shall shortly return to the dust. Both my flesh and heart, my body and soul may, and, unless supported by God, will soon fail. But God is the strength of my heart I have found him so; I do find him so, and hope I ever shall. As if he had said, Though I have no strength in myself, I have it in God, my never- failing refuge, to whom I will trust as long as I live. Hebrew, , tsur lebabi, the rock of my heart, a firm foundation, which will bear my weight, and not sink under it. In the distress supposed, he had put the case of a double failure, a failure of both the flesh and heart; but in the relief, he fixes on a single support; he leaves out the flesh, and the consideration of it; it is enough that God is the strength of his heart. He speaks as one careless of the body; let that fail, it must, there is no remedy; but he is concerned about his soul, to be strengthened in the inner man. And my portion for ever He will not only support me while I am here, but will make me happy when I go hence, happy to all eternity. The saints choose God for their portion; he is their portion; and it is their happiness that he will be their portion for ever; a portion that will last as long as the immortal soul. Reader, consider this, and make choice of this portion without delay.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
73:26 My flesh and my heart faileth: [but] God [is] the strength of my heart, and my {o} portion for ever.
(o) He teaches us to deny ourselves, to have God our whole sufficiency, and only contentment.