Psalms 73:15

15 If I had said such things, I would not be acting as one of your people.

Psalms 73:15 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 73:15

If I say, I will speak thus
Either as the wicked do, ( Psalms 73:8 Psalms 73:9 Psalms 73:11 ) or rather as he had thought in his own mind, ( Psalms 73:13 Psalms 73:14 ) , wherefore he kept it all to himself, and did not make known to others the reasonings of his mind, and the temptations he laboured under:

behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children;
of whom care should be taken, above all things, that they be not offended, ( Matthew 18:6 ) , or "should condemn"; as the Targum; or as Jarchi,

``I should make them transgressors, and wicked persons;''

should represent them as if they were men hated and rejected of God, because of their afflictions: the words may be rendered, "behold the generation of thy children, I have transgressed" F17; by giving way to the above temptation, which might have been prevented by considering the church, children, and people of God, and the care he has taken of them, the regard he has shown to them, and the preservation of them in all ages. The words are an apostrophe to God, who has children by adopting grace, and which appear so by their regeneration; and there is a generation of them in all ages; when one goes, another comes; there is always a seed, a spiritual offspring, to serve him, which is counted for a generation.


FOOTNOTES:

F17 (ytdgb Kynb rwd hnh) "ecce generatio filiorum tuorum, praevaricatus sum", Pagninus, Montanus.

Psalms 73:15 In-Context

13 Is it for nothing, then, that I have kept myself pure and have not committed sin?
14 O God, you have made me suffer all day long; every morning you have punished me.
15 If I had said such things, I would not be acting as one of your people.
16 I tried to think this problem through, but it was too difficult for me
17 until I went into your Temple. Then I understood what will happen to the wicked.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.