Psalm 73:12

Asaph opens Psalm 73 by saying that God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart, and then he confesses that his feet had almost stumbled and his steps had nearly slipped, because he envied the arrogant when he saw the prosperity of the wicked (Psalm 73:1–3). Verses 4 to 12 are his description of what he saw. He describes the wicked as they look from the outside, at full strength, and the answer comes only later, when he goes into the sanctuary of God and understands their end.

Psalm 73 opens the third book of the Psalms (Psalms 73–89), and it is the first of the psalms of Asaph gathered in Psalms 73–83. Psalm 50 is also his. Asaph was a Levite, one of the chief musicians King David appointed to lead the worship of God with psalms and songs (1 Chronicles 16:4–7).

What he saw troubled him because of what God had promised. In the covenant, obedience brings blessing in health, plenty and long life, and disobedience brings hardship and early death (Deuteronomy 28). Those promises are God’s own, so a faithful Israelite who watched the wicked flourish had to ask how God’s justice was at work. Asaph is in good company. Job asks why the wicked live on, grow old and increase in power, with their homes safe and God’s rod far from them (Job 21:7–13), and Jeremiah asks the righteous LORD why the way of the wicked prospers (Jeremiah 12:1–3). Psalm 37 meets the same trouble by telling us to fret not because of evildoers (Psalm 37:1–2) and to rest in the LORD and wait patiently for him (Psalm 37:7).

“For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm.” The word for bands, chartsubbâh, is a rare one meaning fetters, bonds or chains. Here it pictures the pains and struggles of a hard death. Asaph expected people who had lived wickedly to die in anguish, with some visible sign of God’s judgment on them, and instead he watched them go quietly.

Their strength is firm while they live. The word ʼûwl can mean the body as well as strength, and bârîyʼ means fat, plump, healthy or sound. So the line pictures a well-fed, sound body that keeps its vigour, while Asaph and other faithful people suffer.

Verse 5 widens the picture. “They are not in trouble as other men” uses ‘âmâl, wearisome toil, misery and distress, the hard labour that belongs to human life since the ground was cursed in Genesis 3:17. “Neither are they plagued like other men” uses nâgaʻ, a verb meaning to touch, reach or strike, so to be “plagued” is to be struck, whether by sickness or by calamity. Two different Hebrew words stand behind the English “men” here. The first is ‘ĕnôwsh and the second ‘âdâm, and both mean men or mankind, while the word “other” is supplied by the KJV. Asaph’s complaint is that the wicked are spared the common lot of the human race.

Verse 6 begins with “Therefore”, tying it to the ease Asaph has just described. Life has gone so well for these people that their pride has grown with it. The word is gaʼăvâh, arrogance, haughtiness or insolence, an inflated sense of self that holds others in contempt and gives no thought to God.

“Pride compasseth them about as a chain” translates the verb ʻânaq, which means to serve as a necklace or to put something around the neck. The chain is a neck-chain, and pride is their necklace. Necklaces were worn to be seen and marked honour, status and wealth, so the wicked wear their pride openly, as an ornament they are glad to show. An ornament worn every day of a life also holds its wearer as firmly as any chain, and Scripture warns where it leads: “Pride goeth before destruction” (Proverbs 16:18), and God resists the proud (James 4:6).

“Violence covereth them as a garment” has the verb yaʿaṭap, to wrap oneself or be covered completely, and shîyth, a dress or attire, with the KJV supplying “as”. Violence, châmâç, covers physical harm, injustice and oppression. A garment is put on every day, so the picture is of violence as the habit of their lives and the first thing anyone sees of them. God hates violence (Psalm 11:5) and desires righteousness and justice from his people (Micah 6:8).

“Their eyes stand out with fatness” is a vivid and somewhat grotesque picture. ʻayin is the eye, and the word also covers the face’s look and a person’s outlook. yâtsâʼ means to go or come out, and here the eyes bulge out. cheleb is fat, and by extension the richest or choice part of anything. The line describes people so well fed that their abundance shows in their faces. In Israel, as in many places, a heavy body showed wealth and a life free from hard labour and hunger, and excess of it spoke of gluttony and self-indulgence.

The eyes also stand for how a person sees. These people look out at the world through their own plenty, and it blinds them to God, to the needs of others and to the judgment coming on them. “They have more than heart could wish” says the same of their desires. The heart (lêbâb) is the centre of mind, will and desire, and theirs has been filled past wishing, so they feel no need of anything beyond what they hold.

Scripture knows this danger well. Moses sings of Jeshurun, who grew fat and kicked (Deuteronomy 32:15). Agur prays for moderation, asking for neither poverty nor riches (Proverbs 30:8–9), and Proverbs says that the proud in heart stir up strife (Proverbs 28:25). Jesus tells of the rich fool who stored up his goods and was called away that same night (Luke 12:16–21).

Verses 8 and 9 turn from the body to the mouth. “They are corrupt” is the KJV’s rendering of mûwq, a verb meaning to mock or scoff. The verse opens with their scoffing, and everything they say after that carries the same contempt.

“And speak wickedly concerning oppression” uses ʻôsheq, which means oppression in the sense of injury, fraud, extortion and unjust gain. The KJV supplies “concerning”, and the Hebrew is close to “they speak wickedly of oppression” or even “they speak oppression”. Their words may be oppressive in themselves, as threats, false accusations and slander against the weak. They may justify what they do to the poor. They may boast of what they have gained by it. On each reading their speech serves their injustice. In Israel words were known to carry weight, able to bless or curse, and the prophets cry out against the strong who exploit the poor and the needy (Amos 2:6–7).

“They speak loftily” uses mârôwm, height or elevation, and figuratively haughtiness. They talk down to everyone from the height of their own importance, as if no one could call them to account. Jesus teaches that the mouth speaks out of the abundance of the heart (Matthew 12:34), and Proverbs names things the LORD hates (Proverbs 6:16–19). God’s people are called to be a truthful witness (Proverbs 12:17) and to speak what builds others up and gives grace to those who hear (Ephesians 4:29).

Verse 10 describes the pull of the wicked’s success: a people turns toward them and drinks from a full cup. The verse is one of the hardest in the psalm, and believers differ over both of its lines.

The word for people, ʻam, means a people as a gathered body. “Return” is shûwb, to turn back or return, and “hither” is hălôm, a plain word for “here”, pointing to where the wicked are. “Therefore” ties the verse to the boasting and prosperity of verses 6 to 9.

On one reading, “his people” are the wicked man’s own followers. Drawn by his success and influence, they gather round him to share in it and copy his ways. On the other reading, “his people” are God’s people. Watching the wicked flourish, they turn back toward the wicked’s way of thinking, doubting God’s justice and his promises and envying the ungodly, which is exactly the slip Asaph nearly made. That second reading sits close to Asaph’s own struggle in the psalm.

“And waters of a full cup are wrung out to them” has the same two sides. The word “cup” is supplied by the KJV, suggested by the waters. mâtsâh means to suck out, drain, squeeze out or wring. On one reading the wicked have such abundance that it is drained out to those who follow them, and they drink deep of the wicked’s wealth and ways. On the other, the full cup holds bitterness, and those who join or envy the wicked will drink it to the end as the emptiness of that success comes to light. Scripture often uses the cup for what God gives to drink, as with the cup of the wicked in Psalm 11:6 and the cup of trembling in Isaiah 51:17. Either way the verse shows how far the wicked’s influence reaches, and the sanctuary scene of Psalm 73:17–20 shows what their cup finally holds.

“And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High?” The verb ʼâmar is the plain word for saying, and the defiance lies entirely in what follows it. Both questions are rhetorical. The wicked ask them as a statement of what they believe, that God is too far off, too busy or too unable to see what they do. Nothing has happened to them, so they conclude that no one above is watching.

The word for know, yâdaʻ, includes understanding, and it also covers knowing by experience, perceiving and being acquainted with someone. They deny that God takes any real notice of their deeds and motives. The second question names him ʻelyôwn, a word meaning high or upper that serves as a title of God, “the most High”. It is the title of the God whom Melchizedek served (Genesis 14:18), and the one who dwells in the secret place of the most High abides under the shadow of the Almighty (Psalm 91:1). To ask whether there is knowledge in the most High is to deny the very God who rules over all, and with him any justice or judgment.

Scripture answers them plainly. The LORD who planted the ear and formed the eye sees and hears all (Psalm 94:7–9). He searches and knows us, our sitting down and our rising up (Psalm 139:1–6), and “The eyes of the LORD are in every place” (Proverbs 15:3). The same thought of a God who cannot see through the clouds comes up in Eliphaz’s speech in Job 22:13–14, and Isaiah pronounces woe on those who seek to hide their plans from the LORD (Isaiah 29:15–16). There is irony here too. Their claim that God knows nothing is written down in a psalm sung to him, and he heard every word.

Verse 12 sums up everything since verse 4. “Behold” (hinneh) points at the sight, almost in disbelief. The ungodly are râshâʻ, the wicked and guilty, those who live against God’s law and character. They “prosper”, shâlêv, which means to be at ease, quiet and secure. Asaph’s trouble is that they enjoy their wealth undisturbed. “In the world” is ʻôwlâm, which here means this present life and age. “They increase in riches” uses chayil, a word for strength, ability, wealth or an army, and here it is wealth that keeps growing.

The next verses show how much this cost Asaph. He asks whether he has kept his heart clean in vain, when he is plagued all day long (Psalm 73:13–14).

Asaph tries to understand all this and finds it too painful, until he goes into the sanctuary of God. There he understands the end of the wicked, set on slippery ground and brought to sudden ruin (Psalm 73:17–20). He also sees his own good. God holds him by the hand, guides him and will afterward receive him to glory, God is the strength of his heart and his portion for ever, and it is good for him to draw near to God (Psalm 73:23–28). The wicked of verses 4 to 12 have everything Asaph lacked, and in the end he has the one thing they never had.

The deepest answer to these verses is Jesus Christ, the righteous one who knew all the trouble the wicked escaped. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, wounded for our transgressions (Isaiah 53:3–5). The Son of man had nowhere to lay his head (Matthew 8:20). He prayed that the cup might pass from him and then drank the cup his Father gave him (Mark 14:36, John 18:11), and the wicked mocked him as he hung on the cross (Matthew 27:39–44). God so loved the world that he gave him (John 3:16), and through his death and resurrection he triumphed over sin and death and the powers (Colossians 2:13–15) and overcame the world (John 16:33). Those who belong to him share in his sufferings and will share his glory (Romans 8:17, Philippians 3:10).

He is everything the wicked of this passage are not. They wear pride as a necklace, and he humbled himself and became obedient unto death (Philippians 2:5–8). They wear violence as a garment, and he told Peter to put up his sword (Matthew 26:52), while he clothes his people in the garments of salvation and the robe of righteousness (Isaiah 61:10). They set their mouths against the heavens, and he is the Word who was with God and was God (John 1:1), the one who came down from heaven (John 3:13). They speak loftily of oppression, and he taught with authority (Matthew 7:29) and came to set at liberty them that are bruised (Luke 4:18).

He also shows where true riches lie. He became poor so that we might be rich (2 Corinthians 8:9). He gives living water that satisfies for ever (John 4:13–14, John 7:38), and he is the bread of life (John 6:35). He came that we might have life more abundantly (John 10:10), and he gives his sheep eternal life (John 10:28) and an inheritance incorruptible (1 Peter 1:4). He warns of the deceitfulness of riches (Mark 4:19), calls the poor in spirit blessed (Matthew 5:3), and tells us to lay up treasure in heaven (Matthew 6:19–21) and to seek first the kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33), a kingdom not of this world (John 18:36). In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3), and he came to give sight to the blind and to show up the blindness of those who say they see (John 9:39–41), the very blindness of eyes that stand out with fatness.

And Christ answers the question “How doth God know?” He knew what was in man (John 2:24–25). He saw Nathanael under the fig tree before they met (John 1:48) and told the woman of Samaria her own story (John 4:17–19). The Father has committed all judgment to the Son (John 5:22), and God has ordained him judge of the living and the dead (Acts 10:42). Nothing covered will stay hidden (Luke 12:2–3), every idle word will be accounted for (Matthew 12:36), and we must all appear before his judgment seat (2 Corinthians 5:10). The unrepentant wicked go away into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41). Every knee will bow to Jesus and every tongue confess that he is Lord (Philippians 2:9–11), and the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD (Habakkuk 2:14).

These verses give God’s people words for what we see. Asaph tells us plainly how strong, healthy, comfortable and confident the wicked look, and he calls their pride, violence and scoffing by name. Scripture lets a believer say all of that to God, and the psalm takes that complaint into the sanctuary, where God shows the end of the matter.

The passage also shows us who God is. The most High knows everything the wicked say against him, including “How doth God know?” His patience with them is real, and so is his judgment. And the man who nearly slipped while he looked at their riches is the same man who ends the psalm saying that God is the strength of his heart and his portion for ever. When the wicked prosper for a while, that is still where the psalm leads.