Tehillim 73:20

20 As a chalom when one awaketh; so, Adonoi, when Thou art aroused [in judgment], Thou shalt despise their tzelem (shadowy form).

Tehillim 73:20 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 73:20

As a dream when one awaketh
So will be all the temporal felicity of wicked men, all an illusion, all a dream; when they lift up their eyes in hell, and awake in the resurrection, they will find themselves destitute of all their riches and honours, and it will be as if they had only dreamed of them, and never enjoyed them; see ( Job 20:6-8 ) ( Isaiah 29:8 ) so, "O Lord, when thou awakest"; to judgment, to take vengeance on wicked men, and vindicate his own people; and who seems sometimes to be as it were asleep, and to take no notice of things, when the judgment of the ungodly, and their damnation, seem to slumber, though it does not; see ( Psalms 7:6 ) ( 2 Peter 2:3 ) or when he awakes the dead at the time of the resurrection. Death is often compared to sleep in Scripture, and the resurrection to an awaking out of it, which is the Lord's work, ( Isaiah 26:19 ) ( Daniel 12:2 ) , and so the Targum,

``O Lord, when thou shalt raise them from their graves:''

thou shalt despise their image;
the image of the earthly man, of sin and of Satan, which is upon both their souls and bodies; which will both be destroyed in hell: or their riches and honour, the vain show in which they have walked, their outward pomp and splendour; which was only a show, an outward appearance, and no solidity and substance; and which will not be esteemed in the great day of account, but despised; see ( Job 36:18 Job 36:19 ) , the wicked will awake, and arise to everlasting shame and contempt, ( Daniel 12:2 ) .

Tehillim 73:20 In-Context

18 Surely Thou didst set them in slippery places; Thou castedst them down into mashu’ot (ruins, destruction).
19 How are they brought into desolation, as in a rega (moment)! They are utterly consumed with balahot (terrors).
20 As a chalom when one awaketh; so, Adonoi, when Thou art aroused [in judgment], Thou shalt despise their tzelem (shadowy form).
21 Thus my levav was grieved, and I was pricked in my mind.
22 So senseless was I, and ignorant; I was like behemot before Thee.
The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.