Psalms 73:24

Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel,.... Which is wise and prudent, wholesome, suitable, and seasonable, hearty, sincere, and faithful, and which is freely given, and when taken, infallibly

Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. -He condemns his past beastlike folly and expresses his assurance of God's presence and guidance, notwithstanding his folly. Verse 21.

Thou shalt guide me: as thou hast kept me hitherto in all my trials, so I am assured thou wilt lead me still into right paths, and keep me from wandering or straying from thee, or falling into mischief. With thy counsel; partly, by thy gracious providence, executing thy purpose of mercy to me, and watching over me; partly, by thy word, which thou wilt open mine eyes to understand, as ; and principally, by thy Holy Spirit, sanctifying and directing me in the whole course of my life. Receive me to glory; either, 1. Advance me to honour here. Or rather, 2. Translate me to everlasting glory in heaven. For, 1. Thus God doth for his people most constantly and certainly, whilst all the occurrences of the present life do happen indifferently to good and bad; which was the common observation of Job, and David, and Solomon, and other holy men of God in Scripture. 2. This is far more considerable than the former, and the more satisfactory relief against the present prosperity of the wicked, and the afflictions of good men. 3. This future glory is that mystery which was to be learned only in God’ s sanctuary, . 4. As the destruction of the wicked, mentioned , looks beyond this life, so doth the glory of God’ s people.

Psalms 73:24 Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me [to] glory.Ver. 24. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel] We had his repentance, Psalms 73:21-22, his faith, Psalms 73:23, and here we have his hope of safety here and salvation hereafter. And afterwards receive me] As thou didst holy Enoch.

(24) To glory.—Better, With honour, as LXX. and Vulg.; or achar may be taken as a preposition: Lead me after honour, i.e., in the way to get it. The thought is not of a reward after death, but of that true honour which would have been lost by adopting the views of the worldly, and is only to be gained by loyalty to God.

Verse 24. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel] After we have suffered awhile, receiving directions and consolations from thy good Spirit, by means of thy prophets, who are in the same captivity with ourselves; thou wilt grant us deliverance, restore us to our own land, and crown us with honour and happiness. Any sincere follower of God may use these words in reference to this and the coming world. Thy counsel - thy WORD and SPIRIT, shall guide me through life; and when I have done and suffered thy righteous will, thou wilt receive me into thy eternal glory.

24. with thy counsel] Tacitly he contrasts the course of his life with that of the wicked, for counsel is an attribute of the Divine Wisdom (Proverbs 8:14), which the wicked despise (Proverbs 1:25; Proverbs 1:30). to glory] Or, with glory (R.V. marg.); or, as the word is often translated, with honour. The meaning of this verse is much disputed. Can we suppose that the words bore for the Psalmist the sense which they naturally bear for the Christian in the fuller light of the Gospel? Do they express his faith that God’s guidance of him through this life will be followed by reception into the glory of His Presence after death? Or do they simply express his confidence that God will guide him safely through his present troubles, so that in the end honour, not shame, will be his lot, and his acceptableness to God will be demonstrated to the world? Dclitzsch finds in them the larger hope, and thinks that here, as in Psalms 49:15, there is a reference to the assumption of Enoch (Genesis 5:24); but he admits that there was as yet no divine promise holding out the prospect of a heavenly triumph to the struggling church on earth upon which such a hope could rest. If the Psalmist possessed this definite hope, we might have expected that he would lay more stress upon it as affording a solution of his perplexities. Such a hope moreover would rise far above the general level of the O.T. view of a future life, at any rate till the latest period. And no parallel can be quoted for the absolute use of ‘glory’ in the sense of ‘heavenly’ or ‘eternal glory.’ Elsewhere in the Psalter kâbôd is used in the sense of ‘honour’ (Psalms 42:7; Psalms 84:11; Psalms 112:9; Psalms 149:5); and in Job and Proverbs, to which it is natural to turn for the elucidation of the language of a Psalm so closely connected with the reflections of the ‘Wise,’ it bears the same sense. It is often coupled with riches and life, and contrasted with shame. See Job 19:9; Job 29:20; Proverbs 3:16; Proverbs 3:35; Proverbs 8:18; Proverbs 15:33; Proverbs 21:21; Proverbs 22:4. It seems therefore that as the Psalmist anticipates that judgement will overtake the wicked in this world, so he looks for such a deliverance and advancement in this world as will visibly demonstrate that he is the object of God’s loving favour, and prove that “there is a reward for the righteous.” Cp. Psalms 71:20-21. This life is for him the scene of God’s dealings with men, and a full vindication of God’s moral government is looked for within the limits of individual experience. See further in Introd. pp. xciii ff.: and consult Oehler’s O.T. Theology, § 246, and Schultz’s O.T. Theology, ch. xlii.

Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel - With thy advice; with thy teaching. This implies two things: (a) his belief that God “would” do this, notwithstanding his folly; and (b) his purpose that God “should” be his guide now.

24. Thou shall guide me—This is at once the language of restored confidence and consecration. Henceforth the wisdom of God, not his own sinister reasonings, should be the governing and directing power of his life.