Asaph's Dilemma (1)

The next chat topic is a verse by verse study of Psalm 73 whose 28 verses compactly deal with the prosperity of the wicked, our response to it, and the One thing of eternal worth and value.

Here is the opening:

Surely God is good to Israel,
To those who are pure in heart!

But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling,
My steps had almost slipped. (Psalm 73:1, 2)

The poem’s author is Asaph. We meet him in this section of Chronicles, which I quote in full because we see the appointment of a team to lead worship before the Tabernacle of the LORD.

Then David spoke to the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their relatives the singers, with instruments of music, harps, lyres, loud-sounding cymbals, to raise sounds of joy. So the Levites appointed Heman the son of Joel, and from his relatives, Asaph the son of Berechiah; and from the sons of Merari their relatives, Ethan the son of Kushaiah, and with them their relatives of the second rank, Zechariah, Ben, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom and Jeiel, the gatekeepers. So the singers, Heman, Asaph and Ethan were appointed to sound aloud cymbals of bronze; and Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah and Benaiah, with harps tuned to alamoth; and Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel and Azaziah, to lead with lyres tuned to the sheminith. Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, was in charge of the singing; he gave instruction in singing because he was skillful. Berechiah and Elkanah were gatekeepers for the ark. Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah and Eliezer, the priests, blew the trumpets before the ark of God. Obed-edom and Jehiah also were gatekeepers for the ark. (1 Chronicles 15:16-24)

So Asaph was a singer and percussionist leading worship before the LORD in His tabernacle. He was the author of Psalms: 50 and 73-83—twelve in all. Later, Hezekiah referred to Asaph as a seer—a kind of prophet (2 Chronicles 29:30) and many of Asaph’s Psalms are quite prophetic concerning Israel’s future.

Surely God is good to Israel…but as for, my feet came close to stumbling. The Psalm begins with a thesis that God is good to His people: assuredly good. You can count on His goodness. So what impediment led to Asaph’s near stumble?

For I was envious of the arrogant
As I saw the prosperity of the wicked. (Psalm 73:3)

For Asaph, God may be good to Israel, but He had not been good to Asaph. Insult to injury, God had apparently been quite good to those undeserving it.

Psalm 73, like the book of Job, deals with the oldest pf questions. Why do the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer?

Asaph’s feet came close to stumbling, but he did not fall. What is his story and what is the takeaway for us?