Psalms 73:27

"For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish; trust him.

Thou hast destroyed all them that play the harlot, departing from thee.

But it is good for me to draw near unto God:

I have made the Lord Jehovah my refuge,

That I may tell of all thy works."

These final two verses of the Psalm contrast the status of the wicked and of the righteous. The wicked shall perish; but God Himself shall be the refuge of them that trust him.

"Thou hast destroyed all them that play the harlot" (Psalms 73:27). This very strong language does not appear often in the Psalms, but is not unusual elsewhere in the Old Testament. This expression was ordinarily used to describe the sins of the Israelites who forsook the true worship of God and indulged in the licentious worship of the pagan deities in the groves and shrines dedicated to that purpose. The words are not inappropriate, because the chief attractiveness of that pagan worship to the Israelites was the sensual appeal of the [~qadesh] and the [~qªdeshah] (the religious prostitutes) associated with the old Canaanite cults. Israel had been commanded to destroy these; but they did not do so, and instead patronized and supported them.

"It is good for me to draw near unto God" (Psalms 73:18). It is an invariable law of God that bodies in space are mutually attracted; and the same truth holds in the spiritual realm also. One who draws near to God will find that God also draws near to him. Nearness to God is the "Great Good." Nothing else can approach the desirability of the soul's being near to the Creator. "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to thee" (James 4:8).