Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 73:1

"Surely God is good to Israel, [Even] to such as are pure in heart." — Psalms 73:1 (ASV)

Truly God is good to Israel - That is, to His people, to the righteous, to those who serve Him. This means God is the real friend of the righteous. He has not forgotten them. He does not abandon them. He is not indifferent to them.

He is not the friend of wicked people; and the administration of His government is not in favor of wickedness. After all that seems to indicate this, after all that troubles the mind regarding His dealings, it is a truth that God is the friend of righteousness, not of wickedness, and that there is an advantage in His service.

To understand the force of what the psalmist says here, we must realize that this train of thought had passed through his mind, and his perplexities had been relieved in the manner specified in the psalm.

The margin here is “yet;” yet God is good to Israel. This word “yet” would, in this place, be a fitting translation. The psalmist then would be represented as having meditated on the subject and looked at all its perplexities. He then concludes, “Yet God is good; notwithstanding all the difficulties in the case, it is nevertheless true that He is the friend of His people—the friend of righteousness.”

Even to such as are of a clean heart - Margin, as in Hebrew, “clean of heart.” . The reference is to those who are truly righteous, for all true righteousness resides in the heart. .