Psalms 73:24

with thy counsel Tacitly he contrasts the course of his life with that of the wicked, for counsel is an attribute of the Divine Wisdom (Proverbs 8:14), which the wicked despise (Proverbs 1:25; Proverbs 1:30).

to glory Or, with glory(R.V. marg.); or, as the word is often translated, with honour.

The meaning of this verse is much disputed. Can we suppose that the words bore for the Psalmist the sense which they naturally bear for the Christian in the fuller light of the Gospel? Do they express his faith that God's guidance of him through this life will be followed by reception into the glory of His Presence after death? Or do they simply express his confidence that God will guide him safely through his present troubles, so that in the end honour, not shame, will be his lot, and his acceptableness to God will be demonstrated to the world? Dclitzsch finds in them the larger hope, and thinks that here, as in Psalms 49:15, there is a reference to the assumption of Enoch (Genesis 5:24); but he admits that there was as yet no divine promise holding out the prospect of a heavenly triumph to the struggling church on earth upon which such a hope could rest. If the Psalmist possessed this definite hope, we might have expected that he would lay more stress upon it as affording a solution of his perplexities. Such a hope moreover would rise far above the general level of the O.T. view of a future life, at any rate till the latest period. And no parallel can be quoted for the absolute use of -glory" in the sense of -heavenly" or -eternal glory." Elsewhere in the Psalter kâbôdis used in the sense of -honour" (Psalms 42:7; Psalms 84:11; Psalms 112:9; Psalms 149:5); and in Job and Proverbs, to which it is natural to turn for the elucidation of the language of a Psalm so closely connected with the reflections of the -Wise," it bears the same sense. It is often coupled with riches and life, and contrasted with shame. See Job 19:9; Job 29:20; Proverbs 3:16; Proverbs 3:35; Proverbs 8:18; Proverbs 15:33; Proverbs 21:21; Proverbs 22:4.

It seems therefore that as the Psalmist anticipates that judgement will overtake the wicked in this world, so he looks for such a deliverance and advancement in this world as will visibly demonstrate that he is the object of God's loving favour, and prove that "there is a reward for the righteous." Cp. Psalms 71:20-21. This life is for him the scene of God's dealings with men, and a full vindication of God's moral government is looked for within the limits of individual experience. See further in Introd. pp. xciii ff.: and consult Oehler's O.T. Theology, § 246, and Schultz's O.T. Theology, ch. xlii.

It may be noted that the LXX, followed of course by the Vulg., sees no reference here to a future life, but renders, "In thy counsel didst thou guide me, and with glory didst thou receive me."

If this view is correct, the Psalmist's faith is even grander than if he looked forward to glorification in a future life. He rises victorious over the world of sense and appearance in the inward certainty of the reality of his communion with God, and the absolute conviction that this is the highest good and the truest happiness of which man is capable. Such a knowledge is eternal life; and the possibility of it is in itself a pledge that the communion thus begun cannot suddenly be interrupted by death, but must be carried on to an ever fuller perfection.