Psalms 73
DOYLY— as a chain:] Alluding to the prevailing custom of wearing collars or chains on their necks. See Cant. iv. 9. Bp. Horne. See notes on Job xxix. 14.
Psalms 73:4
- For there are no bands in their death:] They are in no peril of death. Old Translation.
Psalms 73:6
- Therefore pride &c.] Among men who have not the love of God in their hearts, or his fear before their
Psalms 73:7
- Their eyes stand &c.] Their very countenance expresses the proud swelling of their hearts, which are puffed up by such a constant state of prosperity, even beyond their own sanguine expectations. Travell.
Psalms 73:8
- They are corrupt, &c.] They are so corrupt, that they mock at the rules of justice, and defy those who would oppose them: they haughtily claim to themselves an exemption from the laws of God and man. Travell.
Psalms 73:9
- They set &c.] They blaspheme the God of heaven, and calumniate his servants on earth. Green.
Psalms 73:10
- Therefore his people &c.] Therefore God’s people falleth off to them, and from thence they reap no small advantage. Green. This passage is extremely difficult: according to our old translation, the sense of the ninth and tenth verses may possibly be. They presume to scan the mysterious ways of Heaven with as much clearness and precision as they affect to display in judging of human affairs. This raises their credit in the opinion of ignorant people, which they are sure to turn to their own advantage. Travell.
Psalms 73:11
11—14. — How doth God &c.] The whole of this seems to be the reflection of God’s people on the apparent prosperity of the wicked, and the despairing inference they drew from it: it was so contrary to the usual face of things under the Mosaick dispensation, and to all they had been taught to expect, that it tempted them to doubt even the first principles of all religion. Dr. Kennicott.
Psalms 73:20
- The prayers of David &c.] Meaning perhaps, that this is the end of the first collection of Psalms that was made, probably under Solomon, for the service of the temple. Michaelis.
As most of the things mentioned in this Psalm agree more perfectly to the kingdom of our Lord than to that of Solomon, since Jesus Christ was to be that glorious King, who was to bring the most distant people into subjection, whose kingdom was to last to the end of the world, and under whose government men were to enjoy complete happiness, and be filled with the choicest blessings of heaven; we have therefore here the description of our own happiness, which should put into our own mouths the praises with which David concludes this hymn, “Blessed be the Lord God, &c.” Osterwald.
The end of the second Book of Psalms.
Psalm LXXIII. This Psalm, and several which follow, were composed by Asaph; they are chiefly filled with sad and melancholy complaints. Travell. Who this Asaph was is uncertain. Some have thought it was Asaph the singer, who was famous in David’s days. But it seems more probable that it was Asaph the seer, who lived in the days of Hezekiah, 2 Chron. xxix. 30. Dr. Wells.
Ver. 2. But as for me, &c.] Yet, notwithstanding my conviction of this truth, my faith in the Divine goodness began to stagger, and I was in danger of falling into a state of distrust and infidelity. Travell, Bp. Patrick.