Psalms 73:26

Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. -His joy in God as his portion, in contrast to the final destruction of all who go from God. Verse 25. WHOM HAVE I IN HEAVEN (BUT THEE)? AND (THERE IS) NONE UPON EARTH THAT I DESIRE BESIDES THEE - in juxtaposition with thee. "But thee," or "besides thee," has to be supplied in the first from the second clause. Thou art my supreme good (). The context implies, 'Whom have I that I desire in juxtaposition with thee' as a Saviour? Verse 26. MY FLESH AND MY HEART FALLETH: BUT GOD IS THE STRENGTH OF MY HEART - Hebrew, 'the rock of my heart;' i:e. hypothetically, 'whensoever my heart (regarded as the seat of life) and my flesh fail, God is the rock of my heart' ...

26._My flesh and my heart have failed. _Some understand the first part of the verse as meaning that David’s heart and flesh failed him through the ardent desire with which he was actuated; and they think that by it he intends to testify the earnestness with which he applied his mind to God. We meet with a similar form of expression elsewhere; but the clause immediately succeeding, _God is the strength of my heart, _seems to require that it should be explained differently. I am rather disposed to think that there is here a contrast between the _failing _which David felt in himself and the _strength _with which he was divinely supplied; as if he had said, Separated from God I am nothing, and all that I attempt to do ends in nothing; but when I come to him, I find an abundant supply of strength. It is highly necessary for us to consider what we are without God; for no man will cast himself...

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 73:26. _MY FLESH - FAILETH_] I shall soon die: _and my heart _- even my natural courage, will fail; and no support but what is _supernatural_ will then be available. Therefore, he adds, - _GOD_ IS _THE STRENGTH OF MY HEART_] Literally, _the rock of my_ _heart_. _AND MY PORTION_] Allusion is here made to the division of the promised land. I ask no inheritance below; I look for one above. I do not look for this in the possession of any _place_; it is GOD alone that can content the desires and wishes of an immortal spirit. And even this would not satisfy, had I not the prospect of its being _for ever_, לעולם leolum, "to eternity!'...

MY FLESH AND MY HEART FAILETH - Flesh and heart here seem to refer to the whole man, body and soul; and the idea is, that his powers of body and mind failed; were spent; were exhausted. This seems to have been said in an “ideal” sense, or by anticipation. He does not mean to say that his strength then had actually failed, but he seems to have placed himself by imagination in the situation where his strength “would” be all gone - in sickness, in weakness, in sorrow, on the bed of death. He asks himself now what would be his strength then - what would be the object of chief interest and love - on what he would rely; and he answers without hesitation, and with entire confidence, that he could rely on God, and that He would be his portion forever. Even then, when heart and flesh should fail, when all the powers of mind and body should be exhausted, the love of God would survive, and he would...

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

MY FLESH AND MY HEART FAILETH,.... Either through vehement desires of communion with God deferred, see Psalms 84:2 or through afflictive dispensations of Providence, being smitten and chastened continually, Psalms 73:14, or through inward trials and exercises, by reason of indwelling sin, temptations, and desertions: or rather the words are expressive of the body being emaciated by sickness and diseases; and the heart fainting through fear of death, or rather failing at it, being at the point of death; the heart being, as philosophers say, the first that lives, and the last that dies: BUT GOD IS THE STRENGTH OF MY HEART, or "the rock of my heart" h; when overwhelmed with distress through outward trouble, or in the lowest condition with respect to spiritual things; when grace is weak, corrup

Here you have the psalmist in a fainting fit. He has allowed the flesh to conquer the spirit. The observant eye of reason has for awhile rendered dim the clear vision of faith. Psalms 73:1. _Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart._ That must be true. Whatever we have seen or felt, it cannot be doubted but what God must become a good God to his own people, «Such as are of a clean heart.» Psalms 73:2. _But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped. For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked._ I began to envy those whom God hates, and to think that it would be better for me to have been one of them....

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...