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Selected Verse: Psalms 73:1 - King James
Verse |
Translation |
Text |
Ps 73:1 |
King James |
A Psalm of Asaph. Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
Of Asaph--(see Introduction). God is good to His people. For although the prosperity of the wicked, and the afflictions of the righteous, tempted the Psalmist to misgivings of God's government, yet the sudden and fearful ruin of the ungodly, seen in the light of God's revelation, reassures his heart; and, chiding himself for his folly, he is led to confide renewedly in God, and celebrate His goodness and love. (Psa. 73:1-28)
The abrupt announcement of the theme indicates that it is the conclusion of a perplexing mental conflict, which is then detailed (compare Jer 12:1-4).
Truly--or, "Surely it is so."
clean heart-- (Psa 18:26) describes the true Israel. |
Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
Truly God is good to Israel - That is, to his people; to the righteous; to those who serve him. That is, God is the "real" friend of the righteous. He has not forgotten them. He does not abandon them. He is not indifferent to them. He is not the friend of wicked people; and the administration of his government is not in favor of wickedness. After all that seems to indicate this, after all that troubles the mind in regard to his dealings, it is a truth that God is the friend of righteousness, and not of wickedness, and that there is advantage in his service. To see the force of what is said here by the psalmist we must realize that the train of thought in the psalm had passed through his mind, and that his perplexities had been relieved in the manner specified in the psalm. The margin here is "yet;" "yet God is good to Israel." This word "yet" would, in this place, be a happy translation. The psalmist then would be represented as having been engaged in meditating on the subject and in looking at all its perplexities, and then he says, "Yet God is good; notwithstanding all the difficulties in the case, it is nevertheless true that he is the friend of his people - the friend of righteousness."
Even to such as are of a clean heart - Margin, as in Hebrew, "clean of heart." See Psa 73:13. The reference is to those who are truly righteous, for all true righteousness has its seat in the heart. See Psa 51:10. |
Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
אך, belonging to the favourite words of the faith that bids defiance to assault, signifies originally "thus = not otherwise," and therefore combines an affirmative and restrictive, or, according to circumstances, even an adversative signification (vid., on Psa 39:6). It may therefore be rendered: yea good, assuredly good, or: only good, nothing but good; both renderings are an assertion of a sure, infallible relation of things. God appears to be angry with the godly, but in reality He is kindly disposed towards them, though He send affliction after affliction upon them (Lam 3:25). The words ישראל אלהים are not to be taken together, after Gal 6:16 (τὸν Ἰσραήλ τοῦ Θεοῦ); not, "only good is it with the Israel of Elohim," but "only good to Israel is Elohim," is the right apprehension of the truth or reality that is opposed to what seems to be the case. The Israel which in every relationship has a good and loving God is limited in Psa 73:1 to the pure in heart (Psa 24:4; Mat 5:8). Israel in truth are not all those who are descended from Jacob, but those who have put away all impurity of disposition and all uncleanness of sin out of their heart, i.e., out of their innermost life, and by a constant striving after sanctification (Psa 73:13) maintain themselves in such purity. In relation to this, which is the real church of God, God is pure love, nothing but love. This it is that has been confirmed to the poet as he passed through the conflict of temptation, but it was through conflict, for he almost fell by reason of the semblance of the opposite. The Chethξb נטוּי רגלי (cf. Num 24:4) or נטוּי (cf. Sa2 15:32) is erroneous. The narration of that which is past cannot begin with a participial clause like this, and כּמעט, in such a sense (non multum abfuit quin, like כּאין, nihil abfuit quin), always has the perfect after it, e.g., Psa 94:17; Psa 119:87. It is therefore to be read נטיוּ (according to the fuller form for נטוּ, which is used not merely with great distinctives, as in Psa 36:8; Psa 122:6; Num 24:6, but also with conjunctives out of pause, e.g., Psa 57:2, cf. Psa 36:9, Deu 32:37; Job 12:6): my feet had almost inclined towards, had almost slipped backwards and towards the side. On the other hand the Chethb שׁפּכה is unassailable; the feminine singular is frequently found as predicate both of a plural subject that has preceded (Psa 18:35, cf. Deu 21:7; Job 16:16) and also more especially of one that is placed after it, e.g., Psa 37:31; Job 14:19. The footsteps are said to be poured out when one "flies out or slips" and falls to the ground. |
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
A clean heart - To all true Israelites, who love God, and serve him in spirit and truth. |
Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
Truly God is good to Israel - Captives as they were, they still had many blessings from God; and they had promises of deliverance, which must be fulfilled in due time.
Such as are of a clean heart - Those who have a clean heart must have inward happiness: and, because they resemble God, they can never be forsaken by him. |
26 With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward.
1 Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?
2 Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root: they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins.
3 But thou, O LORD, knowest me: thou hast seen me, and tried mine heart toward thee: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.
4 How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of every field wither, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein? the beasts are consumed, and the birds; because they said, He shall not see our last end.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
13 Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency.
19 The waters wear the stones: thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest the hope of man.
31 The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.
16 My face is foul with weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death;
7 And they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.
35 Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great.
6 The tabernacles of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure; into whose hand God bringeth abundantly.
37 And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted,
9 For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.
2 I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me.
6 As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river's side, as the trees of lign aloes which the LORD hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.
8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.
87 They had almost consumed me upon earth; but I forsook not thy precepts.
17 Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.
32 And it came to pass, that when David was come to the top of the mount, where he worshipped God, behold, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his coat rent, and earth upon his head:
4 He hath said, which heard the words of God, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open:
13 Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
1 A Psalm of Asaph. Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.
16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.
25 The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
6 Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.