The ancient headline for this psalm reads: A Psalm of Asaph / this is the 2 nd psalm ascribed to Asaph -- his first being Psalm 50; and this is the first of 11 consecutive psalms bearing this seer s name. In 2 Chronicles 29:30, Hezekiah ordered the Levites to sing the words of David and of Asaph the seer evidence the Spirit of God continues inspiring others to consider the ways of the Lord. 1 Truly God is good / Charles Spurgeon quotes: There is a beauty in the name appropriated by the Saxon nations to the Deity, unequalled except by his most reverential Hebrew appellation. They called him GOD which is literally, The GOOD. The same word signifying the Deity and his most endearing quality Turner. Truly God is good to Israel / this little adverb in Hebrew is: ak. In this psalm it is translated: truly, verily, and surely. Most frequently in the Old Testament, it is translated: only. God is only good to Israel / remember this Hebrew name has 2 parts: isra + el. This name literally means: the one governed by God. Here in his opening statement, Asaph declares God is only good to the one He governs, even to such as are of a clean heart / this phrase is one adjective in Hebrew: bar. The word means: clean. More clearly God is only good to the one He governs, the clean hearts. 2 But as for me / in other words, Asaph is having a difficult time identifying with what he confidently knows is true about almighty God, But as for me my feet were almost gone; my steps had well-nigh slipped. / this one is unsteady, and tottering; which is probably why Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, Be not shaken by what s going on around them. Dr. James Moffat translated this verse I almost slipped, I nearly lost my footing / and why this wavering faith and unsure footing? What caused this perplexing mental conflict? 3 For I was envious at the foolish /and we should pay attention. In Hebrew, the word for foolish is: halal which means to boast, to brag. At its root is our word: hallelujah which is a proper word of praise. 1 ilibros.net internacional 2014
But obviously the Hebrew language recognizes the close relationship of praise to fools. I mean, who hasn t seen the Hollywood appearances with cameras filming and politicians waving while someone stands off camera prompting cheers from the crowds they loathe? Notice Asaph said, I was envious at the foolish / before Asaph spent a little time considering and meditating; and rethinking the apparent conflict, he was already envious. Envy was the problem Pontius Pilate observed in the resentful religious leaders at the time they feverishly yelled to crucify Jesus. The Scottish evangelical John Willison /1980-1750 wrote: Who would envy someone going up a high ladder, and being mounted above the rest of the people, when it is only for a little while, and in order to his being turned over and hanged? He also wrote: It would be a brutish thing to envy an ox and his high and sweet pasture, when he is only thereby fitted for the day of slaughter. These external ornaments of health, wealth, pleasures, and preferments, wherewith wicked men are endowed, cannot change their natures for the better. Whatever appearance these things make in the eyes of the world, they are but like a noisome dunghill covered with scarlet. Socrates, when being asked what would be vexatious to good men, replied, The prosperity of the bad. And what would vex the bad? The prosperity of the good. I was envious when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. /The prosperity of wicked and unjust men, both in public and in private life, who, though not leading a happy life in reality are yet thought to do so in common opinion, being praised improperly in the works of poets, and all kinds of books, may lead you and I am not surprised at your mistake to a belief that the gods care nothing for the affairs of men. These matters disturb you. Being led astray by foolish thoughts, and yet not being able to think ill of the gods, you have arrived at your present state of mind, so as to think that the gods do indeed exist, but that they despise and neglect human affairs -- Plato, 428-328BC. I was envious when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 4 For there are no bands in their death: / this word appears only twice in scripture; it seems to suggest no knotted restraints, ties or fetters, carefree in life and death; being chained to nothing. Even Julius Caesar, on the day before he was slain declared that it seemed to him to be a happy death to die suddenly and unexpectantly. but their strength is firm / this Hebrew word is: bariy which is sort of funny. It means: fatted, or plump! So, Asaph is envious about these: fat and happy folk flittering unfettered from one Red Carpet affair to their next fabricated fancy event; from one mega-sport mania to yet another boring reality. 5 They are not in trouble as other men / a better, more literal translation, 2 ilibros.net internacional 2014
They do not toil as enos / the Hebrew name for Enoch who was faithful and walked with God; neither are they plagued like other men / this word is naga meaning: afflicted, touched; or to strike or lay the hand on others from Adam s race. 6 Therefore pride compasses them about as a chain / Plato said of Protagoras that he boasted whereas he had lived 60 years, he had spent 40 years in corrupting youth. Contrast that remark with Elizabeth I of England who lived and ruled a similar number of years: In her Golden Speech 1601, Elizabeth voiced: To be a King and wear a crown is a thing more pleasant to them that see it, than it is pleasant to them that bear it. There is no jewel, be it of never so rich a price, which I set before this jewel; I mean your love. Though God hath raised me high, yet this I account the glory of my reign, that I have reigned with your loves. I have ever used to set the last Judgment Day before mine eyes, and so to rule as I shall be judged to answer before a higher Judge. You may have many a wiser prince sitting in this seat, but you never have had, or shall have, any who loves you better. It is not my desire to live or to reign longer than my life and reign shall be for your good; violence / hamas, what filled the earth in the days of Noah s flood covers them as a garment. More clearly Therefore their necklace was pride; their fashion was violence. 7 Their eyes stand out / they bulge with fatness: they have more than heart could wish / or imagine. 8 They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression / literally, they are rotten and without effort to conceal their intentions; they plot against those whom they can fraudulently injure: deceitfully acquire; and/ or cruelly extort: they speak loftily / they speak from their sense of superiority. 9 They set their mouth against the heavens / so they are fools! More clearly, they speak as if they were in heaven, and their tongue parades through the earth. 10 Therefore people return here / to this envious state of trying to figure out why the fools and wicked seem to prosper: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them. / From Barnes Notes we read: the Chaldean text renders this, Many tears flow from them. The word rendered: are wrung out is ma tsaĥ; and means, to suck out; to drink greedily. The meaning here is, that the facts in the case, and the questions which arose in regard to those facts, and which so perplexed them, were like a bitter cup; a cup of poison, or an 3 ilibros.net internacional 2014
intoxicating cup which overpowered their faculties - and that they, in their perplexities, exhausted the cup. They drank it all, even to the dregs. They did not merely taste it; but they drank it. It is a subject full of perplexity; a subject that wholly overpowered all their faculties 11 And they say, How does God know? / and they wonder, though God knows everything, is it true He sees these things happening? And that He calmly looks on? and is there knowledge in the most High? / Can there be in God a knowledge of these facts? It is interesting: in Isaiah 18, the prophet writes: For so the Lord said unto me, I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place before the harvest. Hebrews 1 says: God spoke through the prophets in bits and pieces, but in these last days has spoken to us through the Son. It sounds like He has said all that needs to be said, doesn t it? So perhaps, He is sitting back, watching to see who was listening; because the Lord also said: I change not! 12 Behold / look and see; pay attention, these wicked, quiet and at ease in the world; increase in wealth and strength. 13 Only in vain, I have cleansed my heart, and washed my hands in innocency / there is no advantage; nothing is to be gained in the area of righteousness, by my efforts to live clean and without guilt. 14 For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened / and rebuked, and reproved, and corrected every morning. 15 If I say, I will speak thus / if I should resolve to give expression to my feelings; if I utter all that is passing in my mind and heart; Behold / look and see; pay attention, I should offend the generation of Thy children / I shall cause injury to some of God s own children; in other words, some things are best left unsaid; or as the old hymn said: take it to the Lord in prayer. 16 When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; 17 Until / Dr. Dallas Willard said, each of the psalms have this point of turning; and understanding. Look for it in the psalms. Until I went into the sanctuary of God; 4 ilibros.net internacional 2014
then understood I their end / this word is: acharyith when the prophets use this word, it always referrers to: the last days, the final days the end of time as we understand it. 18 Surely You set them in slippery places: to fall flat into destruction / to slip and slide into ruin. 19 How are they a waste / a horror, in a moment / in the blink of an eye! fully consumed with terror / with an alarming calamity; a dreadful event. 20 As a dream when one awakes / Barnes says: Their prosperity is like the visions of a dream; the reality is seen when one awakes; reality is seen when the dream - the gorgeous dream - of life is over; so, O Lord, You despise their image / this word is: tselem. It is first used in Genesis 1:26 when God says, Let Us make man in Our image. God our Father is creating adopted children who look like Him; who love Him and love one another like Him -- freely and generously. Well, we all know Adam messed up; but God sent a Second Adam who didn t! Romans 8 declares, Whom He did foreknow, He did predetermine to be made in the image of His Son. 21 Thus my heart was bitter, and I was pricked in my reins / better: I was painfully stabbed in my gut; I was sorely wounded in my mind. 22 So brutish was I, and ignorant: I was a beast before You / in very presence of my Maker, I was no better than a stupid animal -- any beast, a dumb cow, an ornery goat, a chicken with my head cut off. 23 Nevertheless I myself am continually / always, or like the French say: toujours. Nevertheless I myself am continually with You / Charles Spurgeon says: thankfully he does not give up his faith, though he confesses his folly: You seized me by my right hand. / You didn t let me slip away! Like a good Shepherd 24 You guide me with counsel, and afterward / in Hebrew: achar. It means something comes after. Spurgeon wrote: when all your work is done; when all your doubts and fears are over; and when all your battles are fought, then, you shall receive your reward. Isaiah said, No eye has seen, no ear has heard; neither has it entered into the heart of man all that God has prepared for those who love Him! 5 ilibros.net internacional 2014
and after receive me / the verb is laqach it means: to take; to carry And where are we going? to glory. 25 Whom have I in heaven but You? / those two words are added by the translator, but I think being helpful, they missed the point. The question is perfectly clear! The Lord God wants each of us to answer it. Whom have I in heaven? / Sadly, some will say: there is nobody there. Others will dispute their claims. I will say what the Lord Jesus said, Our Father in heaven He s there still working; He s never stopped working! He never took a snooze; He s so concerned about each one of us; He wants us to make it all the way home someday. He s still making some in His image. Whom have I in heaven? / my Father! He s there! Many years ago, an English non-conformist wrote: So if God should say to the saints, Take heaven, and withdrawn himself; they would even say, Nay, let the world take heaven if they will. If we may not have You in heaven, heaven will be but an earth, or rather but a hell to us -- Joseph Caryl, 1602-1973. and none on earth do I desire beside You. 26 My flesh and my heart fails, but God is the strength of my heart / this word is tsure, meaning: solid rock. Take notice of the word order inverted. When he mentions his malady, he begins with the failing of the flesh, and then of the heart; but when he reports the relief, he begins with the heart. God is the Rock of a saint s heart. God is not only strength, and the strength of their hearts, but the Rock of their strength. It is God that makes a saint strong and mighty, both to do and suffer, to bear and forbear, to believe and to hope to the end. God does overshadow the strength of saints, that no breach can be made upon it -- Samuel Blackerby, 1673, Dr. James Moffat translated this phrase: Body and soul may fail: but God is the solid Rock of my heart, and my portion / my inheritance forever. 27 For, lo, all who wandered far from You perish: all them who go a whoring from You / those who faithlessly leave You, You have destroyed / the psalmist states this fact as a done deal; already accomplished. 6 ilibros.net internacional 2014
28 But it is good for me to draw near to God / more clearly, this phrase is 4 Hebrew words. And after seeing so many wander off from God, Asaph says: I, myself approach the good God / which is what Asaph said at the beginning of this psalm: God is good: I, myself approach the good God / and we might ask, why? the Lord GOD is my refuge / He is where I run to for safety; for shelter; often regularly, I record / I recount all Your works. Asaph says, the Lord can be trusted. I ve gone to Him many times. He has a steady track record to help His people, in spite of whatever is going on around us. Why? Because WE are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus! 7 ilibros.net internacional 2014