Bible Commentaries

« A Psalm of Asaph. » Truly God [is] good to Israel, [even] to such as are of a clean heart.

A Psalm of Asaph — Who was not only an excellent musician, but a prophet also, an orator, and a poet; not unlike (for his style) to Horace, or Persius. This, and the ten next psalms, that bear this name in the front, consist of complaints for the most part, and sad matters.

Truly God is good to Israel — Or, yet God is, … Thus the psalmist beginneth abruptly after a sore conflict; throwing off the devil and his fiery darts, wherewith his heart for a while had been wounded. It is best to break off temptations of corrupt and carnal reasonings, and to silence doubts and disputes, lest we be foiled. He shoots (saith Greenham) with Satan in his own bow who thinks by disputing and reasoning to put him off.

To such as are of a clean heart — Such as are Israelites indeed, and not hypocrites and dissemblers. For "as for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways, the Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity" (as malefactors are led forth to execution); "but peace shall be upon Israel," Psalms 125:5 , "upon the Israel of God," Galatians 6:16 .

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But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.

But as for me, my feet were almost gone — i.e. I was well nigh brought to believe that there was no Divine providence; as the Athenians did when their good General Nicias was worsted and slain in Sicily (Thucyd.); as Pompey did, when having the better cause, he was overcome by Caesar; as Brutus did (that last of the Romans as he was called for his courage), when beaten out of the field by Antony, he cried out W τλημων αρετη , now I see that virtue is nothing, but all things are moderated by fortune, whom he charged his children therefore to worship, as a goddess of greatest power.

My steps had well nigh slipped — Quasi nihil effusi sunt gressus mei, that is, as Kimchi interpreteth it, Status meus erat tantillus quasi nullus esset pro figendo pede locus, I had scarce any fastening for my feet, my heels were gone almost. What wonder, then, that heathens have been stounded and staggered?

Sollicitor nullos esse putare Deos,

saith Ovid. And to the same purpose another poet,

Marmoreo Licinus tumulo iacet, et Cato parvo,

Pompeius nullo; quis putet esse Deos?

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For I was envious at the foolish, [when] I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

For I was envious at the foolish — Heb. at the braggadocios, the vain glorious, the mad boasters; factabundis, I emulated, and stomached their prosperity, compared with mine own far worse condition. Godly men, though cured of their spiritual frensy, yet play oft many mad tricks; one while fretting at the prosperity of their adversaries, and another while murmuring at their own afflictions, or plotting courses how to conform themselves to the world, …

When I saw the prosperity of the wicked — This hath ever been a pearl in the eyes, not of the heathens only, but of better men. See Jeremiah 12:1-2 Habakkuk 1:3 Psalms 37:1-2 . Yet Seneca writes a treatise of it, and shows the reasons, if at least he believed himself therein. Erasmus passes this censure of him; read him as a Pagan, and he writes Christian like; read him as a Christian, and he writeth Pagan like.

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For [there are] no bands in their death: but their strength [is] firm.

For there are no bands in their death — Or, no knots and knarls; they die without long sickness, or much pain, or trouble of mind. If a man die like a lamb, and pass out of the world like a bird in a shell, he is certainly saved, think some. The wicked are here said to die quietly, as if there were no loosening of the band that is between soul and body. Julian the apostate died with these words in his mouth; Vitam reposcenti naturae tanquam debitor bonae fidei redditurus exulto, that is, I owe a death to nature, and now that she calleth for it, as a faithful debtor, I gladly pay it (Ammian.). The princes of the Sogdians, when they were drawn forth to death by Alexander the Great, carmen more laetantium cecinerunt, tripudiisque gaudium animi ostentare caeperunt, they sang and danced to the place of execution (Curt. lib. 7, ex Diodor.).

But their strength is firm — They are lively and lusty, they are pingues et praevalidi, fat and fair liking; fat is their fortitude, so some render it; others, strong is their porch or palace.

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They [are] not in trouble [as other] men; neither are they plagued like [other] men.

They are not in trouble as other men — But live in a serene clime, under a perpetual calm; as he did of whom the story is told, that he never had any cross, but at last was nailed to a cross, Polycrates I mean, king of Egypt. Marullus telleth us, that Ambrose coming once to a great man’s house, who boasted that he had never suffered any adversity, he hasted away thence, and said he did so, ne una cum homine perpetuis prosperitatibus uso periret, lest he should perish with the man that had been so extraordinarily prosperous (Marul. lib. 5, c. 3). And no sooner was he and his company departed, but the earth opened and swallowed up that man’s house, with all that were in it.

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Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them [as] a garment.

Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain — The pride of their hearts breaketh forth in their costly habits, while they are torquati, et auro ac gemmis amicti, setting up their plumes, as peacocks, which have their names in Hebrew from the joy they take in their fair feathers; so do these glory in their pride, and are puffed up with a foolish persuasion of their own prudence. Vermis divitiarum est superbia, Charge the rich that they be not high minded, 1 Timothy 6:17 . He is a great rich man, says Austin, and greater than his riches, who doth not therefore think himself great because he is rich. Magna cognatio, saith another, ut rei sic nominis, divitiis et vitiis, He is a rare rich man that is not the worse for his wealth. The palm tree, they say, will not grow in a rich ground, but salt and ashes must, in that case, be cast at the root, to qualify the strength of the soil; so grace will not grow in a fat heart, without the salt of mortification aud ashes of humiliation. "Their heart is fat as grease, but I delight in thy law," Psalms 119:70 .

Violence covereth them as a garment — Violence or wrong-dealing, is the perpetual companion of pride, and covereth them as a garment finely fitted to their bodies, as was the harlot’s habit Proverbs 7:10 . Aben-Ezra rendereth it, obruit cos, overwhelmeth them; that is, domineereth over them. Some Rabbis render, Nates eorum violentia tegit.

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Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.

Their eyes stand out with fatness — The Chaldee hath it, the similitude of their face is changed through fatness. See Job 15:27 . The Greek, for the wealth which they have, their eyes are lifted up. The Latin, their iniquity proceedeth as it were from fatness.

They have more than heart can wish — Heb. They pass the thoughts of the heart; which the Greek rendereth, no man think how wicked they are; those stall fed Sodomites, for instance. See Jeremiah 5:28 . So Aben Ezra, Transgressiones perpetrant quas cogitare nefas est, they are more wicked than can be imagined; others, they covet beyond measure, and are insatiable, thinking to enclose the whole world in their net, as Timothy the Athenian did cities and towns in his toils (Plut. in Sulla). Our translation is not to be disliked; neither yet are all to be accounted wicked that have move than heart could wish. Bonus Dens Constantinum magnum tantis terrenis implevit muneribus, quanta optare nullus auderet, saith Augustine (De Civ. Dei, lib. 5, c. 25).

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They are corrupt, and speak wickedly [concerning] oppression: they speak loftily.

They are corrupt, and speak wickedly — Their pride, before taxed, Psalms 73:6 , buddeth, and budgeth, Ezekiel 7:10 ; like a foul swelling in the body, it breaketh out into sores of all sorts, odious words and deeds, abominable to God and man. Diffiuuut et loquuntur in malitia rapinata, they melt and are spilt in sensual delights and dissolute practices. Or, they let loose themselves, and keep not within compass. Or, they secretly corrupt and make to stink the good names of others, sc. while they speak evil of them, and reproach them. Tabifici sunt, so Tremellius rendereth it.

They speak loftily — De celsitudine, from aloft; lapides loquuntur, they threaten thunderbolts, throw daggers, fastuosa voce omnes territant.

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