Psalms 73:21

Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. -He condemns his past beastlike folly and expresses his assurance of God's presence and guidance, notwithstanding his folly. Verse 21. THUS MY HEART WAS GRIEVED - literally, 'was soured' or embittered. AND I WAS PRICKED IN MY REINS - with self-inflicted pain, the result of too subtle reasonings of intellect; instead of only waiting for the end, and meanwhile simply believing that all must be just and good which comes from God. Verse 22. SO FOOLISH WAS I - Hebrew, 'brutish;' i:e., stupid (; ; ). AND IGNORANT - Hebrew-`and I knew not.' I was as a beast...

21._For my heart was in a ferment. _The Psalmist again returns to the confession which he had previously made, acknowledging that whilst he felt his heart pierced with perverse envy and emulation, he had complained against God, in a peevish or fretful manner. He compares his anger to _leaven. _Some translate, _My heart was steeped in vinegar. _But it is more suitable to explain the verb thus, _My heart was soured _or _swollen, _as dough is swollen by leaven. Thus Plautus, when speaking of a woman inflamed with anger, says that she is all in a ferment. (202) Some read the last clause of the verse, _My reins were pierced; _and they think that א, _aleph, _in the beginning of the word, אשתונן, _eshtonan, _the verb for _pierced, _is put instead of ה, _he; _

21-28 God would not suffer his people to be tempted, if his grace were not sufficient, not only to save them from harm, but to make them gainers by it. This temptation, the working of envy and discontent, is very painful. In reflecting upon it, the psalmist owns it was his folly and ignorance thus to vex himself. If good men, at any time, through the surprise and strength of temptation, think, or speak, or act amiss, they will reflect upon it with sorrow and shame. We must ascribe our safety in temptation, and our victory, not to our own wisdom, but to the gracious presence of God with us, and Christ's intercession for us. All who commit themselves to God, shall be guided with the counsel both of his word and of his Spirit, the best counsellors here, and shall be received to his glory in another world; the believing hopes and prospects of which will reconcile us to all dark providences....

Verse Psalms 73:21. _THUS MAY HEART WAS GRIEVED_] The different views which I got of this subject quite confounded me; I was equally astonished at their sudden overthrow and my own ignorance. I felt as if I were a _beast_ in stupidity. I permitted my mind to be wholly occupied with _sensible things_, like the beasts that perish, and did not look into a future state; nor did I consider, nor submit to, the wise designs of an unerring Providence....

THUS MY HEART WAS GRIEVED - literally, and more expressively, “was soured.” The meaning is, that his heart was grieved, pained, dissatisfied. His mind was embittered, and he was rendered unhappy, by the views which he cherished about God, as doubting the wisdom and justice of his dealings with people - and about people, as being envious at their prosperity. AND I WAS PRICKED IN MY REINS - The reins are often in the Scriptures represented as the seat of the thoughts or affections. See the notes at Psalms 7:9. The word rendered “pricked” means to sharpen, as a sword; and then, to pierce and penetrate as a sword does. The idea is, that these thoughts, so distressing and painful, seemed to be like a sharp sword penetrating to the seat of life....

EXPOSITION THIS is the first of the "Psalms of Asaph," whereof the present book contains eleven. They are characterized by a preponderating use of the name "Elohim" over that of" Jehovah," by a great calmness and solemnity of tone, and by a pervading melancholy. The present psalm has for its subject the well worn problem of the prosperity of the wicked (Job 21:7; Psalms 37:1; Jeremiah 12:1, etc.). The writer has been troubled with respect to it, and has well nigh fallen away from God in consequence (verse 2); but, after a severe struggle (verses 13-16), his eyes have been enlightened on the subject, and he has found an explanation which is satisfactory to him (verses 17-20). He contrasts his

THUS MY HEART WAS GRIEVED,.... Not with his own sins, nor with the sins of the wicked, but at their prosperity; for this is an account of himself, while under the temptation, and before he went into the sanctuary of the Lord; or when he was "leavened" r, with the old leaven of wickedness, and envy, and indignation; he was in a ferment, so Plautus s uses the phrase for being in anger and wrath; he swelled, as what is leavened does, against God and his providence: or was "soured" t; he was out of humour and angry with God, or was exasperated and provoked at the favours bestowed upon the wicked. Some render it "inflamed" u, made hot; not with the love of God, and meditation upon it, but with wrath and indignation: AND I WAS PRICKED IN MY REINS; disturbed and distracted in his thoughts, felt a great deal of pain in his mind, while he was considering the prosperity of the wicked; which was a...

You may have noticed that the 73 rd Psalm and the 37 th Psalm are on the same subject; it will help you to recall this fact if you remember that the figures are the same, only reversed. Psalms 73:1. _Truly God is good to Israel,_ Settle that matter in your hearts, whatever doubts may distress or disturb your mind, fix this point as certain: «Truly God is good to Israel,» Psalms 73:1. _Even to such as are of a clean heart. But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped._ He was a good man, one of the leaders in Israel, yet he had to make this confession, «My feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.» Psalms 73:3. For I w

III. THE LEVITICUS SECTION: BOOK THREE: PSALM 73-89 The third division of the book of Psalms corresponds in character to the third book of the Pentateuch, the book of Leviticus. That is the book of the Sanctuary, of Holiness. And this section, which is the shortest, also has the same character. Each Psalm brings the sanctuary of Israel in view, with the same prophetic-dispensational character as in the first two books. The Companion Bible gives the following division of the 17 Psalms: Psalm 73-89, The Sanctuary in Relation to Jehovah. PSALMS OF ASAPH CONCERNING THE SANCTUARY (73-77) Psalms 73 The Problem of the Suffering of the Righteous _ 1. The perplexity (Psalms 73:1)_ 2. Departure from God ...

BOOK III. PSS. LXXIII.- LXXXIX. LXXIII. The Hope of Immortality. Here the Psalter reaches its highest elevation. Job, in Job 19:25 f.*, believes that God will vindicate his innocence even after death, and is confident that he himself, in spite of death, will see God. Job, however, expresses no belief that he will live for ever. He is to see God for a moment; he does not expect that he will abide with God continually. This is just what the Psalmist does expect. This belief flows from the depths of his spiritual experience, and he utters it with intensity of conviction and in calm and measured language. He has seen the prosperity of the godless and has all but lost his faith in God. He will not, however, condemn the generation of God's children, or admit that their piety has been in vain. God teaches him how precarious the prosperity of the wicked is, and leads him to the conviction that...