Chapter Seventy-Three

According to this psalm the Hebrew people appears to be rejected by God (Ps 73:1), the sanctuary, that is, the temple, is destroyed (Ps 73:3), on earth enemies rule everywhere (Ps 73:4), the temple itself is burned (Ps 73:7), among the people there are no prophets as messengers of God’s will (Ps 73:9), violence reigns everywhere (Ps 73:20). Such features of the state of the Hebrew people found complete fulfillment after the attack and destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, when all the land was devastated, the temple was burned, Chaldeans ruled everywhere and there was no prophet among the Hebrews. According to the inscription in the Hebrew Bible the writer of the psalm was Asaph, certainly not a contemporary of David, but one of his pious descendants, upon whom the national misfortune and destruction of the sanctuary weighed heavily.

Remember, Lord, the people whom You have chosen from of old, which You have now rejected (1–3). Enemies have destroyed everything, have taken possession of all, have destroyed and burned the sanctuary and meeting places. We have no prophet (4–9). How long, Lord, will You hold back Your helping hand (10–12)? You delivered them from slavery and wonderfully protected them from destruction afterwards. In Your power are all moments of time and all the earth (13–17). Remember the oppressed people and defend them from fierce enemies, deliver from mockery (18–23).

Psalm 73:1. Why, O God, have You rejected us forever? Does Your anger burn against the sheep of Your pasture? “You have rejected us forever”—not in the sense of a complete and eternal alienation of God from his people, but in the sense of the duration of the trial sent upon them. A common exaggeration employed by writers and poets. One can understand “forever” literally as well, confining the meaning here to the indication of the eternal deprivation of the Hebrew people of its sanctuary—the Ark of the Covenant, which with the destruction of the temple disappeared forever.

Psalm 73:2. Remember Your congregation, which You acquired long ago, which You redeemed as the rod of Your inheritance,—this Mount Zion, where You have dwelt. “Congregation”—an assembly of people, a people. The Hebrew people were acquired by God long ago, from the time of the choice of Abraham, whom He patronized and from whom He produced an entire nation. “You redeemed as the rod of Your inheritance,” more precisely “You redeemed as the tribe of Your inheritance,” that is, the Lord made the Hebrew people His special possession, a generation of people whom He loved and upon whom He poured numerous mercies.

Psalm 73:3. Direct Your steps to the perpetual ruins: the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary. “Direct Your steps to the perpetual ruins,” understood to be the ruins of Jerusalem and the temple. The name of these ruins “perpetual” testifies that the psalm was written not immediately after the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, but considerable time later, when it became clear to the writer of the psalm that the misfortune could not be repaired by the efforts of the few Hebrews who still remained here. Evidently, over the unhappy and devastated Palestine time itself had a destructive effect. The Temple of Solomon was an extensive structure and possessed enormous treasures, so it is understandable that “the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary,” not only took its treasures but destroyed all the structures around the temple.

Psalm 73:4. Your enemies roar in the midst of Your assembly; they set up their emblems as signs. By “assemblies” one should understand those religious-educational institutions like prophetic schools, which had long existed among the Hebrews and from which perhaps toward the beginning of the Babylonian captivity were beginning to develop the beginnings of future synagogues. Amid these assemblies the “enemies roar” like beasts of prey. They are hostile to these prayer and educational circles, perhaps suspecting them of a political character, concealing their aspirations for the restoration of the nation. As conquerors, the Babylonians set up “their emblems as signs,” that is, not only introduced their institutions and their rule, but also destroyed everything that reminded people of the former sacred images. Instead of them they introduced their own signs.

Psalm 73:7. They have set fire to Your sanctuary; they have profaned the dwelling place of Your name to the ground. The burning of the temple indicates that the destruction of the temple described in the psalm cannot be attributed to Antiochus Epiphanes, when only its gates were destroyed. “They have profaned the dwelling place”—they mocked the holiness of the place and the holy things of Israel by the most diverse and crude means, which was customary in those times.

Psalm 73:9. We do not see our signs; there is no longer a prophet, and there is none among us who knows how long this will be. “We do not see our signs,” everything that reminded of the worship of Jehovah—the altar, sacred services and Divine revelations. “There is no longer a prophet.” Prophets were heralds of God’s will to the people, mediators between them and God, who clarified to the people and pointed out the tasks of its immediate activity. Now this is no more. The prophet Jeremiah has already died in Egypt (the psalm was written considerable time after the destruction of Jerusalem; see verse 3; the prophet Jeremiah soon after this event was taken to Egypt, where, according to tradition, he died four years later); the prophet Daniel entered into service not in Palestine but much later, and besides, his prophecies did not concern the Hebrew people specifically and did not provide the Palestinian Hebrews with guidance at that time; the prophet Ezekiel also lived in captivity and also did not give instructive teachings to the Palestinian Hebrews. The calamities of devastation are so terrible and the deprivations so great that the oppressed writer laments: there is no one who would say how long such a state of ruin would last, which he now observes around him. Will there be no slight improvement? To understand this “how long” as ignorance of the duration of Babylonian captivity is impossible, since the writer could not have been unaware of the prophecy of the prophet Jeremiah about seventy years of servitude to Babylon.

Psalm 73:11. Why do You hold back Your hand, even Your right hand? Take it from Your bosom and destroy them. “From Your bosom destroy” the enemies. The bosom is the lap, a place close to the heart. Destroy from the heart, according to Your will and full deservingness of punishment, since the enemies, who have profaned the sanctuary, are also enemies of the Lord, offending Him.

Psalm 73:13. You split the sea by Your power; You crushed the heads of the monsters in the water; Psalm 73:14. You crushed the head of the sea monster, and gave it as food to the creatures of the wilderness, [the Ethiopians]; Psalm 73:15. You broke open the spring and the stream; You dried up the mighty rivers. “You split the sea”—the Red Sea, at the passage of the Hebrews through it. “You crushed the heads of the monsters in the water”—You drowned the Egyptians, who destroyed the Hebrews with hard labor, as the bites of serpents kill people; “You crushed the head of the sea monster,” that is, a crocodile. The Pharaoh who pursued the Hebrews is meant. “And gave it as food to the creatures of the wilderness”—the corpses of drowned Egyptians, when the waves cast them on shores, became food for wild beasts of the wilderness, particularly jackals. The name of “people” of a pack of wild beasts in the Bible is used, for example, in the Book of Proverbs where a swarm of ants, hares, is called a people (Prov 30:25-26). “You broke open the spring and the stream”—the miraculous bringing forth of water in the wilderness; “You dried up the mighty rivers”—the River Jordan under Joshua.

Psalm 73:16. The day is Yours, and the night is also Yours; You have set up the heavenly lights and the sun; Psalm 73:17. You have set all the boundaries of the earth; You have made the summer and the winter. Indication of other deeds of Divine omnipotence, consisting of the establishment of the laws of the change of day and night and the seasons of the year.

Psalm 73:18. Remember this: the enemy insults the Lord, and a foolish people revile Your name. “Foolish,” probably the Chaldeans, who mocked and insulted the name of Jehovah.

Psalm 73:19. Do not give the soul of Your turtledove to the beasts; do not forget forever the assembly of Your afflicted ones. Beasts also mean Chaldeans for their cruel treatment of the Hebrews. “Turtledove”—the Hebrew people. An image of solitude and defenselessness.

Psalm 73:20. Look upon Your covenant; for the dark places of the earth are full of dwellings of violence. Palestine has many mountains and caves where all kinds of robbers can easily hide. After the destruction of Jerusalem such bands could freely form, and from hidden places they could hunt for their prey.

Psalm 73:21. Let not the oppressed turn away in shame; let the poor and needy praise Your name. “Let not the oppressed turn away in shame,” may Your prayer of the oppressed people for liberation from captivity and restoration of the former greatness of Palestine be heard by You, O Lord.