| Scripture |
Expanded Comments |
| 1 [BOOK THE THIRD] [[A Melody of Asaph.]] Nothing but good, is God, Unto Israel, Unto the pure in heart. |
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| 2 But, as for me,–My feet had, almost stumbled, My steps had, well-nigh slipped; |
Well nigh slipped – In former ignorance and foolishness, until he held us up by the right hand (verse 23), and did not suffer us to fall. R1562:5
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| 3 For I was envious of the boasters, At the prosperity of the lawless, used I to look. |
I was envious – If justice be delayed it is only for the development of some greater good than could be accomplished by a speedy adjustment. R2025:5
Prosperity – The effect of Satan's reign on sinners. R492:3
Of the wicked – Who, in the present life, flourish more often than do the righteous. R1383:5
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| 4 For they have no pangs in their death, And vigorous is their body; |
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| 5 Of the toil of weak mortals, have they none, Nor, with the sons of earth, are they hard smitten. |
They – The wicked class, the worldly. R1652:3
Not in trouble – All suffering is not the direct penal result of some personal sin. R1773:3
It is very seldom, indeed, that God visits punishment upon the world in the present time. R569:5
As other men – The saints. R1652:3
But we see the justified ones suffer and die just like other men. R1561:1
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| 6 For this cause, doth arrogance deck them as a neck-chain, And a garment of wrong is their attire; |
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| 7 Their iniquity, hath proceeded from fatness, They have surpassed the imaginations of the heart; |
With fatness – Under the reign of the prince of darkness, evildoers often have great success. R5778:2; CR493:4
They seem to go unheeded in their wrong course. R4856:4
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| 8 They mock, and wickedly command oppression, From on high, they command; |
Wickedly concerning – In the wickedness of oppression. R1562:2
Loftily – From the chief places of power and control. R1562:2
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| 9 They have set, in the heavens, their mouth, And, their tongue, marcheth through the earth. |
Their tongue walketh – Their influence has free course. R1562:2
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| 10 Therefore must his people return thither, And, the waters of abundance, are drained by them; |
Therefore his people – God's people. R1562:3
Return hither --Turn into the wilderness condition of separation from the world. R1562:3
And a full cup – Of affliction and persecution. R1562:3
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| 11 And they say–How doth GOD know? And is there knowledge in the Most High? |
And they say – The ungodly say. R1562:3
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| 12 Lo! these, are the lawless, Who are secure for an age, They have attained unto wealth. |
Prosper in the world – Occupying the chief places of control--political, financial and religious. R1562:4
Because, during this age, Satan is permitted to be the prince of this world--to rule as he will. R569:2, R5778:2
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| 13 Altogether in vain, Have I cleansed my heart, And bathed in pureness, my hands; |
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| 14 And yet been smitten all the day, And been rebuked morning by morning! |
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| 15 If I had thought, I will relate it thus, Lo! the circle of thy sons, had I betrayed. |
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| 16 When I reasoned, that I might understand this, A vexation, it was in mine eyes: |
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| 17 Until I could enter the holy places of God,–Could give heed to their hereafter:– |
Into the sanctuary – The holy place of entire consecration to God, typified in the Holy of the Tabernacle. R1562:4
Their end – In the day of judgment they will get their lessons and have much more difficulty than those who learn the lessons now. R4856:4
"The Lord knoweth how to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished." (2 Pet. 2:9) R569:5
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| 18 Surely, in slippery places, dost thou set them,–Thou hast suffered them to fall into places of danger. |
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| 19 How have they become desolate, as in a moment! They have ceased–come to an end, by reason of calamities. |
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| 20 As the dream of him that waketh, O my Lord! when rousing thyself up, their shadowy being, wilt thou despise. |
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| 21 But my heart had grown embittered, And, in my reins, had I received wounds; |
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| 22 But, I, was brutish, and could not perceive, Like the beasts, had I become before thee. |
So foolish was I – In being envious of the prosperous wicked. R1562:5
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| 23 Nevertheless, I, am continually before thee, Thou hast taken hold of my right hand; |
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| 24 By thy counsel, wilt thou guide me, And, afterwards, unto glory, wilt thou take me. |
Thou shalt guide me – Nothing indicates that God is pleased to guide his people by impressing his thoughts upon them in any other way than through his Word. R2240:6
If the heart desires guidance, divine light will be shed through the Word, under the illuminating power of the holy Spirit. R590:5*
One of life's most important lessons is our own insufficiency, our own lack of wisdom. R2240:2
He will not drive his sheep, but goeth before them to lead, that they may follow. R2672:3
We should not expect to be able always to comprehend the divine wisdom which is so much beyond our own, yet we can often see it afterward. R1562:2
With thy counsel – As contained in the Scriptures. R2240:5
Those who can be guided only by continual scourgings are not of the overcoming class. E234
Not only respecting the life to come, but also respecting the things of this present life. R2240:2
We believe in divine providences, but these do not supplant God's written Word. R2240:5
Even the best of earthly counsel is of value only as it has been directed by the divine counsel. R2240:3
As a natural man, Jesus had no need of the Father's special counsel, being perfect and able to guide his own way, but as a spirit-begotten individual he, like the members of his Body, needed the Father's counsel. R4246:6*
Afterward – If we give heed to the counsel. R2240:3
The present life, being preparatory, is a time for the schooling and discipline of the sons of God. R1561:2
"Afterwards it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness." (Heb. 12:11) R1562:2
Receive me to glory – The overcomers of the Gospel age to celestial glory and the overcomers of the Millennial age to terrestrial glory. R2242:5
Only those who seek diligently to know the most minute features of the Lord's counsel will afterward be received into glory. R4247:2*
Those of the Jewish age into the glory of the earthly phase of the Kingdom; those of the Gospel age into the glory of the heavenly phase. R1562:2
It was not the man Christ Jesus that was received into glory. R4247:1*
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| 25 Whom have I in the heavens? And, compared with thee, there is nothing I desire on earth. |
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| 26 Failed have my flesh and my heart, The rock of my heart–and my portion, is God unto times age-abiding. |
My heart faileth – The flesh is too weak and the heart is too faint to pursue the course marked out for the righteous in this evil time, except as strengthened and upheld by power from on high. R1562:5
Jesus realized that, as a human being, though perfect, his heart and flesh would fail unless reinforced by divine grace. R1807:2
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| 27 For lo! they who are far from thee, shall perish, Thou hast put an end to every one who wandered unchastely from thee. |
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| 28 But, as for me, the drawing near of God, is my blessedness,–I have made, of My Lord Yahweh, my refuge,–That I may recount all thy works. |
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