Ps. 73.14 (the Temple is the proverb)

Until I entered / the sanctuary of God
then I comprehended / their destiny. 

This verse is the hinge of the psalm. The ‘torment’ of the previous verses, and the irresolvable problem, is answered and stilled in this verse. Further, as the ‘hinge’ this verse stands in relation to the opening proverb as a type of mirror. It is what ‘mirrors’ the truth of the proverb and, thereby, begins the process of reversal of the wicked. That which was everything will become nothing (the wicked) while that which is nothing will now “enter glory” (the psalmist). There are many things that need to be said about this verse. The first is it is the entering into the sanctuary that changes everything. The ‘answer’ does not come by way of insight or through a type of philosophical/wisdom. It comes by entering a building. The sanctuary was, however, not merely a building but a dwelling of God, and the place where heaven and earth met. In this way it was a sacred place that was, in some way, outside the boundaries of every other place. In the sanctuary one entered into, not simply the presence of God, but one entered into the realm of earth as dwelled in by God. It was an Eden—where heaven and earth harmoniously dwelt together. Further, there is the sense that upon entering the sanctuary, one moves into the ‘forever’ of God; it is a geographical realm, or sphere, of immortality and eternity. In this way it was the physical manifestation of the covenant—what the covenant did in time the sanctuary did in space. It was, then, as the ‘dwelling presence of God’, the sacrament of the covenant. Further, the sanctuary was ‘built on rock’ and, in a very real sense, the foundation of creation (like Eden). Hence, it was impregnable (because God’s presence infused it). Some posit that the psalmist, upon entering the sanctuary, must have observed a theophany or some special revelation that led to this reversal. That, however, is not necessary to posit. As long as one understand the nature of the sanctuary one can begin to understand how it is that the sanctuary accomplished what otherwise would remain a torment. Which leads into the second point. Assuming the psalmist is a Levitical priest, his entrance would have been his ‘homecoming’ because, unlike every other Israelite, the levitical priests were not apportioned land; their ‘portion’ was God himself. Their home is, therefore, God’s home. In this we can catch a glimpse of something that will become more and more important. In the sanctuary the priest’s desire for ‘bounty’ is radically altered. God is the Levitical priest’s bounty. It is from this unique position that the psalmist comes his ‘comprehension’: the destiny of the wicked. Just as his first observation of the wicked was in regard to their ‘end’ (“for they have no pains at their death”; vs. 4), so too now does the sanctuary come to reveal “their destiny”. Whatever it is that the psalmist has comprehended (which we will see in the coming verses) it is something that is historical. It is something that ‘happens’. He is not given so much a comprehension of the nature of evil, as much as its overthrow.  The sanctuary of God, as that primal place of creation and its foundation where God dwells, is, in a way, itself a promise. It is because of this ability to assure the future (promise) that it operates as the counter-point to the opening proverb and is what grounds it, and makes it real in history: “Truly, God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.” We might here recall that only those who are ‘pure in heart’ have access to the Temple. The Temple is the proverb.