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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 73:1-14

This psalm begins somewhat abruptly: Yet God is good to Israel (so the margin reads it); he had been thinking of the prosperity of the wicked; while he was thus musing the fire burned, and at last he spoke by way of check to himself for what he had been thinking of. ?However it be, yet God is good.? Though wicked people receive many of the gifts of his providential bounty, yet we must own that he is, in a peculiar manner, good to Israel; they have favours from him which others have not. The... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 73:6

Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain, Which was the sin of the devils, and of our first parents, and of Sodom, and is the sin of antichrist; and which, of all sins, is most hateful to God; this arises from, at least is increased by, outward prosperity. Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked; pride and fulness of bread went together in Sodom; and, where it is predominant, it binds as a chain; such who are under the power of it are slaves unto it, they are chained and fettered by it, and it... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 73:7

Or their face, the eyes being put for the whole face; so the Targum, "their face is changed, because of fatness;' see Job 15:27 , otherwise through fatness the eyes are almost enclosed: or "it goes forth out of the fatness of their eyes" F9 יצא מחלב עינמו "prodit vel exit e pinguedine oculorum eorum", Michaelis. ; that is, either "pride", which shows itself in haughty looks and scornful airs, through the abundance possessed; or "violence", seen in the fierceness of the eyes,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 73:8

They are corrupt ,.... In themselves, in their principles, and in their practices, being shapen and conceived in sin, and born of the flesh; and are corrupters, or "corrupt" themselves, and their ways, and also others by their corrupt speech, evil communications, and bad examples: or "they consume away"; like smoke, or into it, as Psalm 37:20 or as wax melteth at the fire, Psalm 68:2 , where the same word is used as here: or "they cause to consume away" F15 ימיקו "dissolutos... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 73:9

They set their mouth against the heavens ,.... Against God in heaven, see Daniel 4:26 , against his being, saying, there is no God; against his perfections, thinking him to be such an one as themselves; against his purposes and decrees, replying against him, and charging him with insincerity, cruelty, and unrighteousness; and against his providence, either denying it, or affirming it to be unequal; and against his doctrines, ordinances, and ministers. Aben Ezra interprets it also of the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 73:10

Therefore his people return hither ,.... Either the true people of God, and so the Targum, the people of the Lord, and whom the psalmist owned for his people; for the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, read "my people"; who seeing the prosperity of the wicked, and feeling their own afflictions, return to the same way of thinking, and fall by the same snare and temptation as the psalmist did; or such who were only the people of God by profession, but hypocrites,... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 73:6

Pride compasseth them about as a chain - Perhaps there is an allusion here to the office which some of them bore. Chains of gold, and golden rings, were ensigns of magistracy and civil power. As these chains encompassed their necks, or the rings their wrists and fingers, as the signs of the offices in virtue of which they acted; so חמס chamas , violence, oppressive conduct, encompassed them. They made no other use of their great power, than to oppress the poor and the needy; and to drive... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 73:7

Their eyes stand out with fatness - " Their countenance is changed because of fatness." - Chaldee. By fatness, or corpulency, the natural lines of the face are changed, or rather obliterated. The characteristic distinctions are gone; and we see little remaining besides the human hog. They have more than heart could wish - I doubt this translation. Whose heart ever said, I have enough, which had not its portion with God? It would be more literal to say, "They surpass the thoughts of their... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 73:8

They are corrupt - ימיקו yamiku , they mock, act dissolutely. And speak wickedly concerning oppression - They vindicate excessive acts of government: they push justice to its rigour. They neither show equity, lenity, nor mercy; they are cruel, and they vindicate their proceedings. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 73:9

Set their mouth against the heavens - They blaspheme God, ridicule religion, mock at Providence, and laugh at a future state. Their tongue walketh through the earth - They find fault with every thing; they traduce the memory of the just in heaven, and ridicule the saints that are upon earth. They criticize every dispensation of God. read more

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