Biblion Bible Commentary
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Don't Fret Because of Evildoers
Psalms 37:1-20
1 By David. Don’t fret because of evildoers, neither be envious against those who work unrighteousness. · WEB
An old man's answer to the oldest complaint, and its argument is entirely about time.
Don't fret because of evildoers, neither be envious against those who work unrighteousness Psalms 37:1.
An acrostic, and a wisdom poem rather than a prayer — God is spoken about rather than to. It addresses the problem the seventy-third psalm will state at its sharpest: the wicked are doing well, and it is unbearable to watch.
The opening names the real danger, and it is not the evildoers. It is fretting and envy — what watching them does to the watcher. The psalm's concern throughout is the state of the person looking on.
For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither like the green herb Psalms 37:2.
The entire answer is a matter of timescale, and the psalm returns to it a dozen times. Nothing is disputed about the present situation; what is disputed is that the present situation is the whole picture.
Trust in Yahweh, and do good. Dwell in the land, and enjoy safe pasture. Also delight yourself in Yahweh, and he will give you the desires of your heart Psalms 37:3–4.
Four imperatives, and the fourth is often quoted as a promise that God supplies what a person wants. Read in place, it says something better and stranger: delight in God, and the desires of the heart change into things he gives. A man who delights in God has different desires by the end of the sentence than he had at the beginning.
Commit your way to Yahweh... he will make your righteousness shine out like light, and your justice as the noon day sun Psalms 37:5–6.
The verb for committing is the word for rolling a load onto someone else. And what is promised is vindication rather than success — that the truth about him will eventually be visible, which is exactly what a slandered man cannot produce for himself.
Rest in Yahweh, and wait patiently for him. Don't fret because of him who prospers in his way Psalms 37:7.
The hardest instruction in the psalm. The prospering is admitted in the same sentence that forbids fretting about it.
Cease from anger, and forsake wrath. Don't fret; it leads only to evildoing Psalms 37:8.
The reason given for not fretting is that it is productive of exactly the thing being fretted about. Indignation at wrong turns, in time, into wrong.
But the humble shall inherit the land, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace Psalms 37:11.
Jesus takes this verse into the Beatitudes almost unchanged Matthew 5:5, and the promise it makes is one of the strangest in Scripture: the inheritance goes to the people least equipped to seize it.
Better is a little that the righteous has, than the abundance of many wicked Psalms 37:16. The comparison is not between poverty and wealth but between two portions, and the psalm has already said what makes the difference.
settled What this mark means