How could the psalmist say, "I have never seen the righteous forsaken" in Psalm 37:25?

There is honourable mention made of one man for his piety. Jabez is named, not because he had possessions, but in that he prayed. "And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, O that Thou wouldst bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that Thine hand might be with me and that Thou wouldst keep me from evil that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested" (4:9, etc.) His prayer was in keeping with God.* promises and Israel's relationships. This is the character of acceptable prayer, and the action of true faith which rests and builds upon the revealed word of God. Earthly prosperity was the unerring mark of God's favour to an Israelite. So witnessed the Psalmist. "I have been young and now am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread" (Ps. 37:25). It is not so now. The Lord Jesus Himself was here as a poor and dependent man. He had no possessions in this world. Certain women ministered to Him of their substance (Luke 8:2-3). And the word for us who now believe is, "having food and raiment, let us be content therewith" (1 Tim. 6:8). The Christian's thought, even when having possessions here, if true to his heavenly calling, is, that he is only a pilgrim, a sojourner here below, and looks not at earthly possessions great or small. There are earthly wants to be supplied, and our heavenly Father knoweth that we have need of these things (Matt. 6:22). The foundation of faith is the same now as then — the word of God. If the word promised every earthly good, contingent upon their obedience, the same word gives us the assurance of heavenly blessing through Him Who has secured them by His death. The pathway to glory may be through poverty, reproach, and much tribulation; but the heavenly inheritance, reserved in heaven for us, is beyond the reach of thieves, or the touch of moth and rust.

In Psalm 37:25 and 35 the psalmist presents a striking contrast.

First he tells us, as the result of his matured and ripe experience, that he had “not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread”; whilst second, that he “had seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree,” adding, at the same time, that “he passed away, and lo, he was not.” His obliteration was complete. The psalmist had not seen the righteous forsaken. That is a most happy statement. He had doubtless seen them tried and tested, persecuted and afflicted, but he had not seen them forsaken of their God, nor their seed begging bread.

We have now, contrasted as before, the ways of each, — a longer detail. First, the bounty and grace of the righteous is contrasted with the greed and injustice of the wicked. But those blessed of Jehovah are those in due time to possess the land, while the wicked, grasp as he may, shall be cut off under His curse. This seems to me the evident meaning of the verse, although I may be, perhaps, alone in thinking so. To make the cause of the wicked man's not repaying to be his poverty, and that under the curse of God, while the righteous gives as already possessing the earth, seems an entire inversion of the facts as the psalm presents them, as well as a justification of the "wicked," such as in no wise commends itself.

Next we have the steps of a man (like Psalm 34:8, gebher, implying strength), his firm and prosperous steps are "established of Jehovah." It is from Him they get their strength. "And He delighteth in his way" — a way so blessed and strengthened. Thus, if such a man falls, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the hand that he lifts to Jehovah is upheld by Him. He "affords it," as Delitzsch puts it, "a firm point of support or fulcrum, so that he can rise up again."

The psalmist adds to this the realization of it in his own experience. From the days of his youth to his present old age he had not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. The character of the righteous is again given as that of one showing grace and ministering — little righteousness has he who can forget the claims of the needy when his own needs are so many — and this the Lord delights to maintain: his seed is," not merely blessed, but "for blessing," — the blessing of others his ministry is perpetuated in those who spring from him, and learn his ways.

And he gives us his experience as a kind of seal of the truth of this; for in his observation of persons and circumstances he could say that he had never seen either the righteous finally forsaken, or the wicked, though for a while spreading himself like an evergreen, finally prosperous (vv. 25, 35). Wherefore he would have the righteous encourage their hearts, though present griefs may be many and various. Their end shall be peace, when the wicked are cut off; their inheritance shall come and last for ever, when the day (i.e.,the judgment) of the ungodly shall come (vv. 13, 18).

(vv. 4-5) The unparalleled case of a righteous man being forsaken is made more manifest by contrasting the ways of God with all others who have put their trust in God. All history proved that the fathers who trusted in God were delivered. Righteous men may have indeed suffered martyrdom, but never before had a righteous man been forsaken by God.

We do well to ponder with adoring hearts the stupendous fact that Christ has been into the distance and darkness, and uttered that solemn cry, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” Think what this means: He the righteous One — the only righteous One — forsaken of God. Never before or since has man died such a death. When has God ever forsaken the righteous? The fathers trusted in Jehovah and were delivered (Psalm 22:4). Others suffered with cruel mockings and scourgings, with bonds and imprisonments; others were destitute, afflicted, tormented: but not one was forsaken. In the midst of their sufferings they were sustained by grace, strengthened by the Spirit of God, and cheered with the conscious presence of the Lord. The light of heaven and the love of the Father so filled their souls that, in the midst of their martyr sufferings, they went out of the world with joy in their hearts and songs on their lips — not one was forsaken. Here, however, is One who is forsaken, One who can say to God, “Why art Thou so far from helping Me?”, One who cries to God, but has to say, “Thou hearest not.” Forsaken by God, no help in God, no answer from God.

Yes, there was, but that was when, in tenderest grace, He was under sin for us, when in three hours of darkness He “identified Himself with God’s judgment against sin,” and bore its awful curse. Then, and then only, and necessarily, was He forsaken. Blessed Redeemer!

Hence, in the fullest sense, the saint, the righteous, is not forsaken. And then Paul could speak of his own experience, and say that if he were “persecuted,” as he most certainly was, yet he was “not forsaken”! That happy condition remained; he had the abiding sense of God’s favour and presence. Nay, persecution but added to its sweetness, and made him “more than conqueror through Him that loved us.” The righteous is not forsaken. That is certain at the very least.

What could such wickedness deserve? And since full deliverance for Israel cannot be effected without the destruction of their enemies, prayer for that is perfectly right. They will reap that which they have sown. Now hiding their net for the saint in a pit, and that without cause (7), they manifest really their hatred of all which is of God. So the next Psalm (36) appropriately contrasts what the wicked man is and does (1-4) with that which Jehovah is and does (5-9). What a contrast it is! The former constantly plotting evil, the restlessness of the unregenerate heart (Isa. 57:20) thus manifesting itself and transgression, iniquity, and deceit characterising the man who makes self his centre, and who works for the carrying out of his own desires. But if man is active, so also is Jehovah. Loving-kindness, or mercy, faithfulness, and righteousness characterise His ways who preserves man and beast, and will abundantly satisfy the children of men with the fatness of His house, and will make them drink of the river of His pleasures. So the Psalm closes with a prayer to Jehovah: "O continue Thy loving-kindness to them that know Thee, and Thy righteousness to the upright in heart. Let not the foot of pride come against me, and let not the hand of the wicked remove me." After this prayer comes the following expression of confidence as to the issue: "There are the workers of iniquity fallen: they are cast down, and shall not be able to rise" (10-12). God's interposition will, then, certainly take place. But He bears long with the wicked. So must the saint.

Accordingly we have in Ps. 37 an exhortation to the godly to be patient and to be waiting for Jehovah. A beautiful Psalm this is. God knows where the saint is in danger of breaking down, ere the dawn of the day of deliverance appears, so He encourages him to be quiet and to wait. "Fret not thyself because of evil doers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb." Meanwhile the godly one is to trust in Jehovah and to do good, to delight himself also in Jehovah, to commit his way to Him, to rest in Him, to wait patiently for Him. And, as if to emphasize the injunction to be patient under evil, three times in the first eight verses do we meet with the words, "Fret not thyself" — viz. "Fret not thyself because of evil doers" (verse 1). "Fret not thyself because of him who prospers in his way" (7). "Fret not thyself in any wise to do evil" (8). In judging of men and things how apt are we to make mistakes! To "rest in Jehovah and wait patiently for Him" (7), what wisdom is there in that? "For the Lord loves judgment, and forsakes not His saints. They are preserved for ever, but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off" (28).

Now whilst waiting for this, the history of the past, we are taught, may encourage real saints, and instruct, too, all as to the future. The Psalmist can speak of the way of the wicked, and that of the righteous (9-24), recalling to mind what he has learnt from observation of the Divine procedure in government with the righteous (25, 26) and with the wicked (35, 36). He had never, he here declares, seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread (25). On the other hand, he had seen the wicked in great power and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and he was not; he sought him, but he could not be found (35, 36). These statements of what he had not seen, and of what he had seen, were to encourage the faint-hearted. The vanity of worldliness and of earthly wealth and power the Psalmist was impressed with. "He passed away, and he was not." "I sought him," he adds, "and he could not be found" his place knew him no more. So the Psalm closes with a statement as to the end of the righteous and the end of the wicked. "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace. But the transgressors shall be destroyed together; the end of the wicked shall be cut off. But the salvation of the righteous is of Jehovah; He is their strength in the time of trouble. And Jehovah shall help them, and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in Him" (37-40). Such will be the sure end for the earthly saint. With the heavenly saint it is different. He may have to succumb outwardly to the power of the enemy, even to the surrendering of life here for the truth of God; yet he really overcomes, and by-and-by, when God judges the great whore, He will avenge the blood of His servants at her hand (Rev. 19:2). Meanwhile the need of assurance in the last verse of our Psalm is exemplified in that one which follows.

Tribulation is the certain and common lot of the saints of God in the present age, though the great tribulation they shall never see. We may therefore read Psalm 37 with much profit, and discover that it has very close application to ourselves. The strict interpretation belongs to the godly remnant of Israel and the coming age, when they shall be delivered and "inherit the earth," when they shall "inherit the land and dwell therein for ever." An application, however, may happily be made to such as ourselves, only with alterations and adaptations necessitated by the change of dispensation. We do not look to inherit the earth or the land, but to be translated to our heavenly portion by the coming of the Lord. They will be delivered and so shall we; only in differing manners and with a different portion in view.

Just notice the peculiar position of those who came in from the time God gave the first word about the "Seed of the woman," till the time when God shall be all in all. When He set up a kingdom in man's hand, He was obliged to make good certain things against the powers of darkness. When it was an earthly testimony, the Jew found that obedience did not bring him into poverty, but into wealth. But it was not so with the Lord Jesus, and we are heirs with Him. He was poor, yet He did not want — never wanted. God would take care to feed His Son. And there is a monstrosity comes into our minds when we think with anxious care about our wants, or think that, because we follow One who had not where to lay His head, we are to want. Did not God take care for that Son of His? You would not think of temporal need, and fear it, if you were in the light of the Lord Jesus. It is quite a different thing for Him to hide from you the channels through which He will care for you, and His forgetting you.