They mock and speak wickedly of oppression, they speak loftily
Asaph is looking at people who do wrong and still do well, a picture that runs from verse 4 to verse 12. Verse 8 focuses on how they talk: mockery, malice, and threats spoken from a great height.
One writer traces this talk back to success that went beyond anything they had imagined:
They exceeded even their own imaginations of success. This put them beyond all bounds. They scoffed at the idea of anyone checking them, and poured out malicious thoughts in violent words, as if they were above all other men. "They set their mouth in heaven," so lofty are they. "Their tongue goes through the earth," as if they owned all of it. Yet this delusion only made their emptiness plain.
They aim their malice downward, at the poor. They treat the wrong done to them as a joke:
God is patient and does not bring swift judgment on their ways, so their pride only increases, like a necklace to adorn their stiff necks. They mistake God's patience for indifference. No doubt God allows this as a test. They do not realise it, so they fail the test completely. They scoff at the oppression of the poor instead of feeling that attitude to be wickedness (v. 8). They speak with contempt of those they consider lower than themselves. They even speak "against the heavens," as though they were superior to God (v. 9).
One writer follows this kind of talk to where it finally leads:
People often try to bend God's word to fit what they want, so that conscience will approve aims that are purely selfish. Human nature tries this at a certain stage of turning away from God. But this is not its final form. The goal of unbelief is atheism… A human will that accepts no restraint always goes together with a complete denial of God. This is how the Spirit of Christ views the character and conduct of the ungodly, who prosper in the world and increase in riches.
One writer adds a caution. Asaph speaks the truth here, but he speaks it while out of touch with God:
In verses 4 to 12 he draws a solemn picture of the wicked. But we must remember who is speaking. This is a description of the wicked as seen by a saint who is, for the moment, out of communion with God. So all he says is true, yet it is not the full truth. Still, "pride" and "violence," "corruption" and "oppression" do mark the wicked. Not only do they persecute the godly, but they are blasphemers who "set their mouth against the heavens."
Staring at loud, unpunished evil has a predictable effect on a believer, and it is not only sadness. It quietly pulls the watcher toward the very thing he disapproves of:
Watching evil go unpunished makes a believer fretful, unless his soul rests on God day by day. That feeling often produces a willingness to go along, more or less, with what his conscience still judges to be against God — and he does it for the sake of ease and personal advantage. So much evil makes love grow cold even in a saint, while his heart is filled with the evil rather than with Him who is above it.
Asaph did not settle this by argument. He settled it in the sanctuary:
Faith looks further on, and with Asaph says, "Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end."
- Full — Success went past anything they expected, and it left them "beyond all bounds."
- Loud — Then it comes out of the mouth. They pour contempt on the poor below them and set their mouth against heaven above them.
- Empty — Their tongue ranges over the earth as if they owned it, and the delusion only shows how empty they are.
- Catching — Watching evil go unpunished makes a believer fretful. Then he starts to go along with it, for the sake of an easier life.
- Answered — The picture is true, but it is not the full truth. Asaph saw the rest in the sanctuary, where he discerned their end.
They set their mouth in the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.
Asaph has been describing men who prosper while ignoring God. Here he reaches their speech. The verse raises two questions: what sort of pride talks like this, and why God lets such talk run on.
The two halves of the verse mark two directions: upward and outward. One writer sees their prosperity as a test they are failing, then takes each half in turn.
No doubt God allows their prosperity as a test, and they do not realize it, so they fail it completely. They speak with contempt of those they consider lower than themselves, and even "against the heavens," as though they were superior to God! (v. 9). "Their tongue walks through the earth," free to go where it pleases in mockery and self-will.
Their success outran even their own hopes, and that is what loosened their tongues.
They exceeded even their own imaginations of success. This put them past all restraint. They laughed at the thought of being held back in the malicious thoughts they poured out in violent words, as if they stood above all other men. "They set their mouth in heaven," so lofty are they; "and their tongue goes through the earth," as if they owned it all. Yet this delusion only showed how empty they were.
Speech aimed at heaven has a name. But another writer adds a caution about the picture as a whole.
In verses 4 to 12 he draws a solemn picture of the wicked. We must, however, remember this is a description of the wicked as seen by a saint when, for the moment, out of communion with God; so that, while all that he says is true, it is not the full truth. Still it is true that the wicked are characterized by "pride" and "violence," "corruption" and "oppression." Not only do they persecute the godly, but they are blasphemers who "set their mouth against the heavens." They say God takes no notice of what men do, and that there is no knowledge in the Most High — and yet they still prosper and increase in riches.
This proud talk is not just bad manners. It goes with a will that refuses every limit.
A human will that allows itself no restraint always goes together with a complete denial of God. This is how the Spirit of Christ judges the character and conduct of the ungodly, who prosper in the world and increase in riches.
One writer names men who talked this way: Sennacherib, king of Assyria, and his officer, who taunted Jerusalem in Hezekiah's day.
Proud and cruel Sennacherib, and his arrogant, blaspheming captain were of that generation spoken of in Ps. 76. "They set their mouth against the heavens and their tongue walks through the earth." Surrounded by such strong and ruthless enemies, God's people might well fear the outcome of so unequal a fight. But, in answer to Hezekiah's prayer, as also in reply to the enemy's taunts, God Himself intervened in power.
The psalm does not leave the boasters unanswered. Everything depends on where a man stands when he looks at them.
The godly man was perplexed at the prosperity of the wicked, and his feet almost slipped. In the sanctuary of God, where His mind was revealed, all became plain. As a dream when one awakes, so all their pretensions would disappear when once God awoke.
Commentators differ in emphasis. Pridham reads the passage as the Spirit of Christ's own verdict on such men. Smith holds that the picture is true, yet not the whole truth, since it came from a saint who was, for the moment, out of communion with God.
- Direction — Pride runs two ways here: mouths lifted against heaven, tongues loose over the whole earth.
- Cause — Success beyond their own hopes put them "past all restraint." Wealth did not soften them. It loosened their tongues.
- Content — This is not bragging but blasphemy. It comes with the claim that God takes no notice of what men do.
- Emptiness — Talk that claims heaven and earth only shows how small the speakers really are.
- End — Their pretensions vanish like a dream when the sleeper wakes. That becomes plain in the sanctuary. God's answer to Sennacherib outside Jerusalem was an early sample of it.
Therefore his people turn hither, and waters in fulness are wrung out to them.
The psalmist has just described the wicked at full stretch — proud, violent, mouths set against heaven. Now he turns to the harm that sight does to God's own people.
The ESV ends the verse with God's people finding "no fault" in the wicked. Older translations read instead, "waters of a full cup are wrung out to them." The writers quoted here work from that older wording. Their word "hither" means "toward them" — toward the prosperous wicked just described. One writer treats this drift as a live danger today, not an old one:
This is a great danger even for the Christian in these days of ruin. Asaph put it like this: "Therefore His people return hither [towards the wicked] and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them." He wrote this when times of affliction came upon him, in contrast to the growing prosperity of the world.
The full cup is not neutral. It catches people, and it asks a price:
All of that had a dreadful effect on others. It drew those who should have resisted the temptation into a path that looked easier. The psalm describes both the bait that trapped them and the thoughts of their heart. The bait was waters out of a full cup. They preferred present ease to faithfulness to God. It is the state of mind which will land many in a coming day in apostasy.
One writer traces the move from what people see to what they think about God:
When people see the prosperity of the wicked, it makes them bold to follow them in their evil ways. It happened even among God's people Israel. "Waters of a full cup are drained by them." They seize the chance to drain a full cup of water. They care only for their own welfare, and they think that God does not know (v. 11).
The drift does not stop at behaviour. It hardens into an argument:
The wicked were not the only ones their prosperity intoxicated. Its effect was that people from among those who professed to belong to God went over to them. Encouraged by it, they threw off all restraint. For, they argued, how can God know? How can the Most High have any knowledge? Are not these admittedly the "wicked," whom He denounces? And yet, see how they live at ease, and their wealth increases?
The drift begins inside. Watching evil go unpunished works on the heart first, and conduct follows:
For a believer, the effect of constantly watching evil go unpunished is fretfulness. That holds true unless the soul is kept habitually resting on God. This feeling quite often produces a willingness to conform, at least in part, for the sake of ease and personal advantage. The conscience still judges that thing as contrary to God.
One more thing is worth adding. The man who describes the wicked in verses 4-12 has slipped himself. One writer cautions that everything said here is true, but it is not the whole truth. It is the world as seen by a believer who is, for the moment, out of touch with God (Hamilton Smith).
One writer sees the same conditions returning on a larger scale, and gives the same answer:
In that day those who apostatise will be outwardly prosperous, having more than heart could wish, and the waters of a full cup wrung out to them. (Psalm 73:3-12.) How truly then will it be a word in season, "O Israel, trust in Jehovah. He is their help and their shield."
Verse 10 is the low point of the drift. The psalm shows the way out, and it is a change of place:
When the Psalmist sought to know all this, he says, it was too painful for him. "Until I went into the sanctuary of God, then I understood their end." God's presence restores the right perspective.
- Sight. Watching evil prosper unpunished breeds fretfulness in a believer. Only a soul resting on God escapes it.
- Turn. God's own people turn "hither," drifting toward the wicked. The danger is not ancient history; it is live today.
- Bait. The full cup offers present ease in exchange for faithfulness to God — the first step toward apostasy.
- Denial. The drift ends in an argument: if the wicked live at ease, "how can God know?" Conduct hardens into unbelief.
- Sanctuary. More watching never clears the tangle. God's presence does, and there the end of the wicked becomes plain.
And they say, How can God know, and is there knowledge in the Most High?
Asaph watches proud and wicked people thrive, and he repeats their sneer: God does not see and does not know. He quotes their words without agreeing with them, and the psalm shows who else picks them up and what finally silences them.
The reasoning behind the question is simple. No judgment falls, so they decide God knows nothing about their evil.
They take the chance to drain a full cup of water. They care only for their own comfort, and they think that God does not know (v. 11). They ask with contempt, "Is there knowledge in the Most High?" God does not step in to show His displeasure, so they shamelessly think they are getting away with evil. They imagine God is no wiser than they are!
The sneer does not stay with the wicked. God's own people take it up.
This verse uncovers a hard situation. The enemies of God boast without shame. The foolish and the wicked are full of prosperity, and nothing has touched them yet. So God's people (Israel is viewed here as a whole) join the wicked, their heart not being for God, and they say, "How can God know?"
Comfort draws them across, not argument. The same drift still lies ahead for many.
The bait was water out of a full cup. They chose present ease over faithfulness to God. This state of mind will lead many, in a coming day, to fall away from God. God is shut out of their thoughts. "How can God know?" they say, "and is there knowledge in the Most High?" For a time the wicked prosper and grow richer.
The picture of the wicked in verses 4 to 12 is accurate. But the man who draws it has, for the moment, lost touch with God.
But we must remember this. It is a picture of the wicked, seen by a believer who for the moment is out of communion with God. So everything he says is true, yet it is not the whole truth. It is still true that the wicked are marked by "pride" and "violence," "corruption" and "oppression." They persecute godly people, and they also blaspheme: they "set their mouth against the heavens." They say God takes no notice of what people do, and that there is no knowledge in the Most High — and all the while they prosper and grow richer.
Reading God's verdict off a person's circumstances is a mistake the Bible exposes repeatedly.
Neither prosperity nor hardship in this world proves whether a man or a cause is from God. The wicked often prosper. Job's friends made this mistake badly. It left Habakkuk deeply puzzled, and Asaph, who wrote Psalm 73, had to follow the wicked in his thoughts beyond the grave to understand.
There is a reason why judgment waits.
God has always allowed a large part of the world to seem to prosper in their evil. The reason is that the time of judgment has not yet come.
The question of verse 11 gets its reply in verse 17, when Asaph steps into God's presence and the hidden machinery becomes visible.
This is not all, for in the sanctuary we learn many truths. So he sees a second great truth. God seems to take little notice of the prosperity of the wicked, or even of the sufferings of the godly. Yet God and His government are really at work behind it all (verses 18-20)… It looked as if the Psalmist was in the slippery places, for had not his steps almost slipped? And the wicked looked firmly settled on a rock, for did they not prosper in the world and grow richer? In truth the godly soul was on the rock, though it shook; and the wicked were in slippery places, though they prospered.
One restraint kept Asaph from saying out loud what his heart was thinking: other believers would have been damaged by it.
Sadly, men might speak like this who never knew what it really means to be with Him! But if I joined them in this speech, says the psalmist, what a wrong I would do to the generation of Your children!
- Sneer — no judgment falls, so the wicked decide that God does not see and does not know.
- Spread — the taunt does not stay with the wicked. Comfort draws God's own people to repeat it and to fall away.
- Half-truth — evil really does thrive, but the man who reports it has lost touch with God, so his account is true without being the whole truth.
- Delay — prosperity proves nothing either way. The wicked thrive only because the time of judgment has not yet come.
- Sanctuary — in God's house the picture flips. The shaken believer stands on rock; the prosperous stand on slippery ground.
Behold, these are the wicked, and they prosper in the world they heap up riches.
Asaph has been watching people who ignore God. They sail through life untouched. Verse 12 is his verdict on the whole scene. Underneath lies a hard question: does God still run the world, and is a clean heart worth anything?
The verse is a summary line. It gathers up everything Asaph has described since verse 4.
(vv. 4-12) The psalmist goes on to describe the prosperity of the wicked. Apparently they are better off than the people of God. Death causes them "no pangs," and life has no plagues for them. They count pride as an ornament, and their violence, like a garment, is on show to all. Their eyes show their self-satisfaction and the gratification of every wish. In heart they are corrupt. In words they speak with lofty contempt of others. In their arrogance they pass judgment on things "in the heavens" as well as things on earth. The mass of the people follow them and give themselves over to license. They scorn God, and say He has no knowledge of the ways of men. Such are the ungodly, "who prosper in the world" and "increase in riches."
(Where this older translation says "prosper in the world," the ESV reads "always at ease.")
The danger is not only in the wicked themselves. Their success makes an argument, and others believe it — even people counted among God's own.
It was not only them whom their prosperity intoxicated. Its effect was that people from among the professing people of God fell away to them. Encouraged by it, they gave themselves up to license. For, they argued, how can God know? Are not these admittedly the "wicked," whom He denounces? and yet, see how they live at ease, and their wealth increases? So what use is it to have cleansed my heart and washed my hands in innocence? It only brings a life under God's constant stroke, chastised every morning.
Everything Asaph reports is real. But notice where he stands as he reports it.
In verses 4 to 12 he draws a solemn picture of the wicked. But remember who is describing them. It is a saint who is, for the moment, out of communion with God. So all he says is true, yet it is not the full truth. Still, "pride" and "violence," "corruption" and "oppression" really do mark the wicked. They persecute the godly, and they blaspheme: they "set their mouth against the heavens."
Asaph's difficulty is not an ancient one. It presses on anyone who wants God's honour and sees evil rewarded.
We see the ungodly having their way. God seems to have forgotten, and the heart is envious. But too often this shows that our own heart would still like its portion here — at least a portion here as well as one to come… What a riddle! Where is God's government? What is the use of good?
Asaph also lived before the fuller light we have now. That changes what a believer should expect.
It is no surprise that in an ungodly world the ungodly prosper. The surprise is that the godly are so often upset as they watch it. Asaph had some excuse. He lived in a day when heavenly things were not yet made clear… We live in a day when God has made heavenly things clear, and has told us plainly as Christians that "through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God."
The "increase" in this verse is real by one measure and empty by another.
Every step forward a man makes in worldly progress and prosperity always hardens his heart against God. No one can be rich in his own eyes and rich toward God at the same time. In the eyes of Christ, what nature counts as wealth and increase is poverty, nakedness, blindness and wretchedness… Wealth makes a man all-powerful — but only inside the circle that death draws around this present life.
The psalm turns at verse 17. It is a change of place before it is a change of mind.
Outside the sanctuary he looks at evil without God; inside he views everything, and everyone, with God. What a difference this makes! Outside, he had judged everything by time. Inside, he judges everything by eternity… The momentary prosperity and passing triumphs of the wicked fade from his view, and he sees instead the fearful end they are hurrying towards.
That place is now open to anyone.
There is no earthly sanctuary today. There is no place of special holiness we must travel to… The Son has revealed the Father to us. We have received the indwelling Spirit and the full Word of God. So each of us may withdraw from the world. We can shut our door, know that God is present, and receive the blessing and lift His presence brings.
- Look. Verse 12 closes an eight-verse portrait: ease, arrogance, contempt for God, and money that keeps growing.
- Angle. Nothing in the picture is false. But a believer out of communion drew it, so it is true as far as it goes and no further.
- Drift. Prosperity preaches. Others fall in behind the wicked, concluding that God does not know and that a clean heart pays nothing.
- Weigh. No one can be rich in his own eyes and rich toward God at once; wealth is only power inside a circle that death draws.
- Enter. Outside the sanctuary, time measures everything; inside, eternity does. You need no journey today — only a shut door and the presence of God.