Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 73:27
For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.
27. they that are far from thee ] Better, they that go far from thee, Vulg., qui elongant se a te. Desertion of God the source of life (Psa 36:9) can lead only to ruin and death.
all them that go a whoring from thee ] All Israelites who are faithless to the covenant with God. The figure of marriage is used to express the closeness of Jehovah’s relation to His people (Hos 2:2 ff;; Isa 54:5-6; and often), and consequently apostasy is spoken of as infidelity to the marriage vow.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
27, 28. The final contrast of death and life.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish – All that are estranged from thee; all who are not thy friends. They will certainly be destroyed. For them there can be no hope. This is the fact which solved the difficulty of the psalmist in regard to the divine dealings with people, Psa 73:3-7. The fact that there will be a righteous judgment, in which God will deal with people according to their deserts, made all plain. Compare Psa 73:16-20.
Thou hast destroyed – That is, Thou wilt certainly destroy. The psalmist places himself in the future, and speaks of this as if it were already done. It will be so certainly done that he could speak of it as if it were already accomplished.
All them that go a whoring from thee – The relation of God to his people is often compared in the Scriptures with the marriage relation (compare Ps. 45); and a departure from Him is compared with a want of fidelity to the marriage contract. See Mat 12:39; Mat 16:4; Jer 3:8-9; Jer 5:7; Jer 13:27; Eze 23:37; Rev 2:22 :
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 27. They that are far from thee shall perish] The term perish is generally used to signify a coming to nothing, being annihilated; and by some it is thus applied to the finally impenitent, they shall all be annihilated. But where is this to be found in the Scriptures? In no part, properly understood. In the new heavens and the new earth none of the wicked shall be found; for therein dwells righteousness-nothing but God and righteous spirits; but at the same time the wicked shall be in their own place. And to suppose that they shall be annihilated, is as great a heresy, though scarcely so absurd, as to believe that the pains of damnation are emendatory, and that hell-fire shall burn out. There is presumptive evidence from Scripture to lead us to the conclusion, that if there be not eternal punishment, glory will not be eternal; as the same terms are used to express the duration of both. No human spirit that is not united to God can be saved. Those who are FAR FROM THEE shall perish-they shall be lost, undone, ruined, and that without remedy. Being separated from God by sin, they shall never be rejoined; the great gulf must be between them and their Maker eternally.
All them that go a whoring from thee.] That is, all that worship false gods; all idolaters. This is the only meaning of the word in such a connexion. I have explained this elsewhere.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
They that are far from thee; they that forsake thee and thy ways, preferring the prosperity of this present evil world before thy love, and favour, and service; they who estrange themselves from the love, and life, and acquaintance of God; that say to God, Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways, as they did, Job 21:14.
Thou hast destroyed; thou will certainly and dreadfully destroy them.
Them that go a whoring from thee; those who having professed subjection to thee, shall afterwards revolt from thee, and sell themselves to work wickedness; which is called whoredom in Scripture. For none are more hateful to God, than willful and wicked apostates from the principles and practice of the true religion, which once they owned.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
27, 28. The lot of apostates,described by a figure of frequent use (Jer 3:1;Jer 3:3; Eze 23:35),is contrasted with his, who finds happiness in nearness to God (Jas4:8), and his delightful work the declaration of His praise.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For, lo, they that are far from thee,…. Who are alienated from the life of God, far from the law of God, and subjection and obedience to it; and from righteousness either moral or evangelical, and from the love and fear of God, and worship of him:
shall perish; not merely at death, as even righteous men do, but be lost eternally:
thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee; that follow after other gods, and worship them; which is spiritual adultery and fornication, the Scriptures often speak of, and intend by it idolatry; see De 31:16 or who set their hearts and affections upon the creature, and have them alienated from God; and love the creature more and besides the Creator: the past tense seems to be put for the future, and so some render it, “thou shalt destroy”, or “cut off” i; destroy them soul and body, and punish them with an everlasting destruction in hell; the Targum is,
“that wander from thy fear;”
that is, from the worship of God.
i “perdes”, Tigurine version, Musculus, so some in Vatablus; “exscindes”, Michaelis.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The poet here once more gives expression to the great opposites into which good fortune and misfortune are seemingly, but only seemingly, divided in a manner so contradictory to the divine justice. The central point of the confirmation that is introduced with lies in Psa 73:28. “Thy far removing ones” was to be expressed with , which is distinct from . has instead of or after it. Those who remove themselves far from the primary fountain of life fall a prey to ruin; those who faithlessly abandon God, and choose the world with its idols rather than His love, fall a prey to destruction. Not so the poet; the nearness of God, i.e., a state of union with God, is good to him, i.e., (cf. Psa 119:71.) he regards as his good fortune. is nom. act. after the form , Arab. waqhat , obedience, and , a watch, Psa 141:3, and of essentially the same signification with kurba ( ), the Arabic designation of the unio mystica ; cf. Jam 4:8, . Just as stands in antithesis to , so stands in antithesis to and . To the former their alienation from God brings destruction; he finds in fellowship with God that which is good to him for the present time and for the future. Putting his confidence ( , not ) in Him, he will declare, and will one day be able to declare, all His , i.e., the manifestations or achievements of His righteous, gracious, and wise government. The language of assertion is quickly changed into that of address. The Psalm closes with an upward look of grateful adoration to God beforehand, who leads His own people, ofttimes wondrously indeed, but always happily, viz., through suffering to glory.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
27. For, lo! they who depart from thee shall perish. Here he proves, by an argument taken from things contrary, that nothing was better for him than simply to repose himself upon God alone; for no sooner does any one depart from God than he inevitably falls into the most dreadful destruction. All depart from him who divide and scatter their hope among a variety of objects. The phrase to go a whoring (210) is of similar import; for it is the worst kind of adultery to divide our heart that it may not continue fixed exclusively upon God. This will be more easily understood by defining the spiritual chastity of our minds, which consists in faith, in calling upon God, in integrity of heart, and in obedience to the Word. Whoever then submits not himself to the Word of God, that feeling him to be the sole author of all good things, he may depend upon him, surrender himself to be governed by him, betake himself to him at all times, and devote to him all his affections, such a person is like an adulterous woman who leaves her own husband, and prostitutes herself to strangers. David’s language then is equivalent to his pronouncing all apostates who revolt from God to be adulterers.
(210) “ Go a whoring, etc. ; i. e. , forsake God for false gods, which is spiritual adultery.” — Sutcliffe. When God is said to have destroyed such as do this, some think there is an allusion to that part of the Mosaic law which doomed idolaters to be punished with death, as guilty of high treason against Jehovah the King of Israel.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
27. They that are far from thee The far-off ones. Exactly the New Testament description of the heathen world without the knowledge of God. Act 2:39; Eph 2:13; Eph 2:17.
All them that go a whoring from thee Israel is the spouse of God, and falling away to idolatry is breaking the marriage vow. The figure is common, (Jer 3:14; compare Exo 34:15; Jas 4:4; Rev 17:5,) and is the intensified parallel of “far from thee” in the first hemistich.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 73:27 For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.
Ver. 27. For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish ] How can they do otherwise, when as salvation is far from them? Psa 119:155 . And upon this ground it is that I do so earnestly desire to be with thee; since
Thou hast destroyed (or shut up from punishment) all them that go a whoring from thee] Having their hearts full of harlotry, as appeareth by their courting the creature.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
whoring from. Supply Ellipsis (App-6) thus: whoring [in departing] from. Refers (spiritually) to idolatry, or anything that takes us from God.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 73:27-28
Psa 73:27-28
“For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish; trust him.
Thou hast destroyed all them that play the harlot, departing from thee.
But it is good for me to draw near unto God:
I have made the Lord Jehovah my refuge,
That I may tell of all thy works.”
These final two verses of the Psalm contrast the status of the wicked and of the righteous. The wicked shall perish; but God Himself shall be the refuge of them that trust him.
“Thou hast destroyed all them that play the harlot” (Psa 73:27). This very strong language does not appear often in the Psalms, but is not unusual elsewhere in the Old Testament. This expression was ordinarily used to describe the sins of the Israelites who forsook the true worship of God and indulged in the licentious worship of the pagan deities in the groves and shrines dedicated to that purpose. The words are not inappropriate, because the chief attractiveness of that pagan worship to the Israelites was the sensual appeal of the [~qadesh] and the [~qdeshah] (the religious prostitutes) associated with the old Canaanite cults. Israel had been commanded to destroy these; but they did not do so, and instead patronized and supported them.
“It is good for me to draw near unto God” (Psa 73:18). It is an invariable law of God that bodies in space are mutually attracted; and the same truth holds in the spiritual realm also. One who draws near to God will find that God also draws near to him. Nearness to God is the “Great Good.” Nothing else can approach the desirability of the soul’s being near to the Creator. “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to thee” (Jas 4:8).
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 73:27. They means the wicked persons and thee means God. Being far from the Lord was indicated by the kind of life they were following. Go a whoring means to go lusting after other gods and other unlawful things.
Psa 73:28. Draw near and trust in God are put in the same connection. It explains why some people will not seek to be near the Lord; it is because they do not trust in him. One motive David had in trusting in God was that he might declare his works. This implies that an unbeliever is not authorized to be a proclaimer of the Word.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
lo: Psa 119:155, Job 21:14, Job 21:15, Isa 29:13, Jer 12:2, Mat 15:7, Mat 15:8, Eph 2:13, Eph 2:17
that go: Exo 34:15, Num 15:39, Jam 4:4, Rev 17:1-5
Reciprocal: Lev 20:6 – go Deu 31:16 – and go a Jdg 2:17 – whoring Jdg 8:27 – a whoring Psa 92:9 – For Psa 104:35 – sinners Pro 15:29 – far Isa 1:28 – the destruction Jer 17:13 – they that Hos 1:2 – for Hos 4:12 – gone Luk 15:13 – and took
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 73:27. For lo, they that are far from thee shall perish That is, they that forsake thee and thy ways, preferring the prosperity of this present evil world to thy love, and favour, and service; they who estrange themselves from an acquaintance with thee, and a conformity to thee; who are alienated from thy life, through the ignorance of thee, which is in them, and rest short of, or decline from, union and communion with thee; that say, if not in words, yet in effect, Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. Thou hast destroyed And thou wilt still certainly and dreadfully destroy; all them that go a whoring from thee Who, having professed subjection to thee, shall afterward revolt from thee, which is called whoredom, or adultery (figuratively speaking) in Scripture. For none are more hateful to God than wilful and wicked apostates from the principles and practice of the true religion which they once owned.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
73:27 For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that {p} go a whoring from thee.
(p) That is, forsake you to seek others.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
These verses contrast with 1-3. Those who do not follow God faithfully will suffer eventually. However, those who walk in close fellowship with Him will experience His blessing in the end. Therefore Asaph closed this "intricately crafted speech" [Note: Brueggemann, p. 121.] by reaffirming his commitment to stay close to God. This would benefit himself and others with whom he would share his testimony.
"The problem of the suffering of the righteous has no clear resolution, but the ’pain’ is relieved by the experience of God’s living presence." [Note: VanGemeren, p. 476.]
What Asaph wrote about the wicked applies to unbelievers and to believers who do not follow God faithfully. Many believers in Asaph’s day, and in ours, choose to live for the present rather than for the future (contrast Jacob and Esau). We, who have committed to following God faithfully and putting His priorities before our own preferences, face the same temptation Asaph described here. This psalmist’s transparency will help us adjust our attitude when we, too, are tempted to become bitter because we do not have many of the things unbelievers and compromising Christians enjoy materially.