Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 50:1
A Psalm of Asaph. The mighty God, [even] the LORD, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.
1. The mighty God, even the Lord ] El Elohim Jehovah. The three names, representing three aspects of the Divine character, are combined to emphasise the majesty of Him with Whom Israel has to do. El represents Him as the Mighty One; Elhm perhaps (the original meaning is doubtful) as the Awful One in Whom are united all manifold excellences of Deity; Jehovah as the Self-revealing One. Elhm is His name as the God of nature and creation: Jehovah as the God of the covenant and of grace. The same threefold combination is found, twice repeated, in Jos 22:22, in the solemn asseveration by the trans-Jordanic tribes of their innocence of any wrong motive in erecting the altar of Witness. It occurs nowhere else in exactly the same form, but similar combinations are found. See Gen 33:20; Gen 46:3, “El, the God of thy father”; Deu 4:31, “Jehovah thy God ( Elohim) is a merciful God” ( El); Deu 5:9, “I Jehovah thy God ( Elohim) am a jealous God” ( El); and similarly Deu 6:15; Deu 7:9, “Jehovah thy God, he is God ( Elohim); the faithful God” ( El).
It is noteworthy that two other names of God occur in this Ps. He is called ‘the Most High’ ( Elyn), as the Supreme Ruler of the Universe ( Psa 50:14), cp. Psa 7:17; Psa 18:13; and see Appendix, Note ii. In Psa 50:22, Elah, the singular of Elhim, is used. This form is found frequently in Job; in Deu 32:15; Deu 32:17; Isa 44:8; Hab 1:11; Hab 3:3; and in a few other passages; but elsewhere in the Psalter only in Psa 18:31; Psa 114:7; Psa 139:19.
The rendering The God of gods, the Lord (Jehovah), is not probable, though its adoption by the LXX has given it a wide currency.
hath spoken ] In the summons which the next line describes. He breaks the silence which has been misunderstood to mean indifference ( Psa 50:21) by proclaiming a great assize.
and called the earth ] The earth in all its length and breadth, with all its inhabitants, is summoned to be the witness of the trial.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
1 6. A solemn introduction, describing the Advent of Jehovah to judge His people. Of old He appeared at Sinai in the midst of lightnings and storm to give the Law: now He comes forth from Zion with the same tokens of power and majesty to enforce it.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The mighty God, even the Lord – Even Yahweh, for this is the original word. The Septuagint and Vulgate render this The God of gods, the Lord. DeWette renders it, God, God Jehovah, speaks. Prof. Alexander, The Almighty, God, Jehovah, speaks; and remarks that the word mighty is not an adjective agreeing with the next word (the mighty God), but a substantive in apposition with it. The idea is, that he who speaks is the true God; the Supreme Ruler of the universe. It is that God who has a right to call the world to judgment, and who has power to execute his will.
Hath spoken – Or rather, speaks. That is, the psalmist represents him as now speaking, and as calling the world to judgment.
And called the earth – Addressed all the inhabitants of the world; all dwellers on the earth.
From the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof – From the place where the sun seems to rise, to the place where it seems to set; that is, all the world. Compare the notes at Isa 59:19. See also Mal 1:11; Psa 113:3. The call is made to all the earth; to all the human race. The scene is imaginary as represented by the psalmist, but it is founded on a true representation of what will occur – of the universal judgment, when all nations shall be summoned to appear before the final Judge. See Mat 25:32; Rev 20:11-14.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 50:1-23
The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth, from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.
The first of the Asaph psalms
This, the first of the Asaph psalms, is separated from the other eleven (Psa 73:1-28; Psa 74:1-23; Psa 75:1-10; Psa 76:1-12; Psa 77:1-20; Psa 78:1-72; Psa 79:1-13; Psa 80:1-19; Psa 81:1-16; Psa 82:1-8; Psa 83:1-18.) for reasons that do not appear. Probably they are no more recondite than the verbal resemblance between the summons to all the earth at the beginning of Psa 49:1-20., and the similar proclamation in the first verses of Psalm
1. The arrangement of the Psalter is often obviously determined by such slight links. The group has certain features in common, of which some appear here: e.g. the fondness for descriptions of theophanies; the prominence given to Gods judicial action; the preference for the Divine names of El, Adonai (the Lord), Elyon (Most High). Other peculiarities of the class–e.g. the love for the designation Joseph for the nation, and delight in the image of the Divine Shepherd–are not found in this psalm. It contains no historical allusions which aid in dating it. The leading idea of it–viz, the depreciation of outward sacrifice–is unhesitatingly declared by many to have been impossible in the days of the Levite Asaph, who was one of Davids musical staff. But is it so certain that such thoughts were foreign to the period in which Samuel declared that obedience was better than sacrifice? Certainly the tone of the psalm is that of later prophets, and there is much probability in the view that Asaph is the name of the family or guild of singers from whom these psalms came rather than that of an individual. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The religion of man
I. A solemn judgment awaits the religion of man.
1. Its Author. The mighty God, etc.
(1) Omniscient.
(2) Absolutely righteous.
2. Its witnesses. He hath called the earth, etc.
3. Its grandeur. Our God shall come, etc. The Eternal seems now silent; souls deafened by sin hear not His voice, but He will speak in thunder to them in the coming day.
4. Its officers (Psa 50:5). Who are the officers? (Mat 24:31; Psa 104:4). Gather My saints; what a gathering! From whence? To whom? What for?
5. Its rectitude (Psa 50:6). We may deceive ourselves, as well as others now; but the undeceiving period draweth near, and a period of inexpressible solemnity it will be to us all.
II. The worthlessness of mere ceremony in the religion of man.
1. You can give God nothing in your offerings. All belongs to Him.
2. He requires nothing. He is absolutely independent (Psa 50:14-15).
III. The value of right-heartedness in the religion of man.
1. The nature of spiritual religion.
(1) Hearty gratitude. Offer unto God thanksgiving. Not because our thanksgiving is of any service to Him; but because it is right that His moral creatures should appreciate the favours He bestows upon them. Because it is necessary to their own virtue and happiness. Genuine thankfulness of heart to God is the paradise of spirits. Heaven is praise.
(2) Hearty vows. Pay thy vows unto the Most High. Resolve to love, worship, and obey the great God; and in genuine earnestness carry out the vows in daily life.
(3) Hearty prayer. Call upon Me in the day of trouble–with thine own voice, in thine own language, from thy own heart (Php 4:6).
2. The advantages of spiritual religion.
(1) Divine deliverance. I will deliver thee.
(2) Divine approbation. Thou shall glorify Me. That is, thou shall honour Me. What a reward! (Homilist.)
Preparation to meet God
The whole business which we have in the world is this, to prepare to meet God. This is the meaning of the whole Bible, to warn us that we must meet God, and to afford us every assistance and encouragement in this preparation. It is this in which mankind differs from all other creatures of God which we know of. Angels have not this call made to them. Brute creatures have not to appear before Him. Every mall that is born must at last come into His presence. Who may abide the day of His coming? Our Lords warning is, Be ye ready. What it will be to meet our God, no heart of man can conceive; for what thought of man can ever understand what God is? But we may come to know Him even in this world far more than we think we can, as He is revealed to us in Jesus Christ. The thought of meeting God is of itself so awful that we might have been disposed to sit down in despair at the contemplation of it, were it not for this access to the Father which we have in Jesus Christ. It is of infinite consequence that we should be prepared, lest that day should overtake us unawares. And we know in what way we are to be prepared, what the things are which will be required of us. We cannot undo the past, which must all come before the all-seeing eye of the Judge; but, during the little time that remains to us, we can earnestly ask forgiveness, with lastings, and prayers, and tears, for the sake of Christ; and thus we may, with Gods mercy, gain some hope and comfort before we die. (Plain Sermons by authors of Tracts for the Times.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
PSALM L
God, the Sovereign Judge, cites before his throne all his
people, and the priests and the judges, 14;
and reproaches them for their vain confidence in the sacrifices
they had offered, 7-13;
and shows them the worship he requires, 14, 15;
and then enters into a particular detail of their hypocrisy,
injustice, and union with scandalous transgressors; all of
whom he threatens with heavy judgments, 16-22.
The blessedness of him who worships God aright, and walks
unblamably, 23.
NOTES ON PSALM L
In the title this is said to be A Psalm of Asaph. There are twelve that go under his name; and most probably he was author of each, for he was of high repute in the days of David, and is mentioned second to him as a composer of psalms: Moreover Hezekiah the king, and the princes, commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the Lord, with the WORDS of DAVID, and of ASAPH the SEER. His band, sons or companions, were also eminent in the days of David, as we learn from 1Ch 25:1, c. Asaph himself was one of the musicians who sounded with cymbals of brass, 1Ch 15:19. And he is mentioned with great respect, Ne 12:46: And in the days of DAVID and ASAPH of old there were CHIEF of the SINGERS, and SONGS of PRAISE and THANKSGIVING unto God. He was certainly a prophetic man: he is called a seer-one on whom the Spirit of God rested and seems from this, his education, and natural talent, to be well qualified to compose hymns or psalms in the honour of God. Persons capable of judging, on a comparison of those Psalms attributed to Asaph with those known to be of David, have found a remarkable difference in the style. The style of David is more polished, flowing, correct, and majestic, than that of Asaph, which is more stiff and obscure. He has been compared to Persius and to Horace; he is keen, full of reprehensions, and his subjects are generally of the doleful kind; which was probably caused by his living in times in which there was great corruption of manners, and much of the displeasure of God either threatened or manifested. It is not known on what particular occasion this Psalm was written; but at most times it was suitable to the state of the Jewish Church.
Verse 1. The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken] Here the essential names of God are used: EL, ELOHIM, YEHOVAH, hath spoken. The six first verses of this Psalm seem to contain a description of the great judgment: to any minor consideration or fact it seems impossible, with any propriety, to restrain them. In this light I shall consider this part of the Psalm, and show, –
First, The preparatives to the coming of the great Judge. El Elohim Jehovah hath spoken, and called the earth-all the children of men from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, ( michlal yophi, the beauty where all perfection is comprised,) God hath shined, Ps 50:1-2.
1. He has sent his Spirit to convince men of sin, righteousness, and judgment.
2. He has sent his WORD; has made a revelation of himself; and has declared both his law and his Gospel to mankind: “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined,” Ps 50:2. For out of Zion the law was to go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Isa 2:3.
Secondly, The accompaniments.
1. His approach is proclaimed, Ps 50:3: “Our God shall come.”
2. The trumpet proclaims his approach: “He shall not keep silence.”
3. Universal nature shall be shaken, and the earth and its works be burnt up: “A fire shall devour before him and it shall be very tempestuous round about him,” Ps 50:3.
Thirdly, The witnesses are summoned and collected, and collected from all quarters; some from heaven, and some from earth.
1. Guardian angels.
2. Human associates: “He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people,” Ps 50:4.
Fourthly, The procedure. As far as it respects the righteous, orders are issued: “Gather my saints,” those who are saved from their sins and made holy, “together unto me.” And that the word saints might not be misunderstood, it is explained by “those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice;” those who have entered into union with God, through the sacrificial offering of the Lord Jesus Christ. All the rest are passed over in silence. We are told who they are that shall enter into the joy of their Lord, viz., only the saints, those who have made a covenant with God by sacrifice. All, therefore, who do not answer this description are excluded from glory.
Fifthly, The final issue: all the angelic host, and all the redeemed of the Lord, join in applauding acclamation at the decision of the Supreme Judge. The heavens (for the earth is no more, it is burnt up) shall declare his righteousness, the exact justice of the whole procedure, where justice alone has been done without partiality, and without severity, nor could it be otherwise, for God is Judge himself. Thus the assembly is dissolved; the righteous are received into everlasting glory, and the wicked turned into hell, with all those who forget God. Some think that the sentence against the wicked is that which is contained, Ps 50:16-22. See the analysis at the end, See Clarke on Ps 50:23, and particularly on the six first verses, in which a somewhat different view of the subject is taken.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
i.e. All the inhabitants of the earth, from one end to the other; whom he here summons to be witnesses of his proceedings in this solemn judgment between him and his people, which is here poetically represented; for here is a tribunal erected, the judge coming to it, the witnesses and delinquents summoned, and at last the sentence given, and cause determined.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1-4. The description of thismajestic appearance of God resembles that of His giving the law(compare Exo 19:16; Exo 20:18;Deu 32:1).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The mighty God,…. In the Hebrew text it is “El”, “Elohim”, which Jarchi renders the “God of gods”; that is, of angels, who are so called, Ps 8:5; so Christ, who is God over all, is over them; he is their Creator, and the object of their worship, Heb 1:6; or of kings, princes, judges, and all civil magistrates, called gods,
Ps 82:1; and so Kimchi interprets the phrase here “Judge of judges”. Christ is King of kings, and Lord of lords, by whom they reign and judge, and to whom they are accountable. The Targum renders it “the mighty God”; as we do; which is the title and name of Christ in Isa 9:6; and well agrees with him, as appears by his works of creation, providence, and redemption, and by his government of his church and people; by all the grace, strength, assistance, and preservation they have from him now, and by all that glory and happiness they will be brought unto by him hereafter, when raised from the dead, according to his mighty power. It is added,
[even] the Lord, hath spoken: or “Jehovah”, Some have observed, that these three names, El, Elohim, Jehovah, here mentioned, have three very distinctive accents set to them, and which being joined to a verb singular, , “hath spoken”, contains the mystery of the trinity of Persons in the unity of the divine Essence; see Jos 22:22; though rather all the names belong to Christ the Son of God, and who is Jehovah our righteousness, and to whom, he being the eternal Logos, speech is very properly ascribed. He hath spoken for the elect in the council and covenant of grace and peace, that they might be given to him; and on their behalf, that they might have grace and glory, and he might be their Surety, Saviour, and Redeemer. He hath spoken all things out of nothing in creation: he spoke with. Moses at the giving of the law on Mount Sinai: he, the Angel of God’s presence, spoke for the Old Testament saints, and spoke good and comfortable words unto them: he hath spoken in his own person here on earth, and such words and with such authority as never man did; and he has spoken in his judgments and providences against the Jews; and he now speaks in his Gospel by his ministers: wherefore it follows,
and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof; which may be considered as a preface, exciting attention to what is after spoken, as being of moment and importance; see De 32:1; or as calling the earth, and so the heavens, Ps 50:4, to be witnesses of the justness and equity of his dealings with the Jews, for their rejection of him and his Gospel; see De 4:26; or rather as a call to the inhabitants of the earth to hear the Gospel; which had its accomplishment in the times of the apostles; when Christ having a people, not in Judea only, but in the several parts of the world from east to west, sent them into all the world with his Gospel, and by it effectually called them through his grace; and churches were planted everywhere to the honour of his name; compare with this Mal 1:11.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The theophany. The names of God are heaped up in Psa 50:1 in order to gain a thoroughly full-toned exordium for the description of God as the Judge of the world. Hupfeld considers this heaping up cold and stiff; but it is exactly in accordance with the taste of the Elohimic style. The three names are co-ordinate with one another; for does not mean “God of gods,” which would rather be expressed by or . is the name for God as the Almighty; as the Revered One; as the Being, absolute in His existence, and who accordingly freely influences and moulds history after His own plan – this His peculiar proper-name is the third in the triad. Perfects alternate in Psa 50:1 with futures, at one time the idea of that which is actually taking place, and at another of that which is future, predominating. Jahve summons the earth to be a witness of the divine judgment upon the people of the covenant. The addition “from the rising of the sun to its going down,” shows that the poet means the earth in respect of its inhabitants. He speaks, and because what He speaks is of universal significance He makes the earth in all its compass His audience. This summons precedes His self-manifestation. It is to be construed, with Aquila, the Syriac, Jerome, Tremellius, and Montanus, “out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, Elohim shineth.” Zion, the perfect in beauty (cf. the dependent passage Lam 2:15, and 1 Macc. 2:12, where the temple is called ), because the place of the presence of God the glorious One, is the bright spot whence the brightness of the divine manifestation spreads forth like the rising sun. In itself certainly it is not inappropriate, with the lxx, Vulgate, and Luther, to take as a designation of the manifestation of Elohim in His glory, which is the non pius ultra of beauty, and consequently to be explained according to Eze 28:12, cf. Exo 33:19, and not according to Lam 2:15 (more particularly since Jeremiah so readily gives a new turn to the language of older writers). But, taking the fact into consideration that nowhere in Scripture is beauty ( ) thus directly predicated of God, to whom peculiarly belongs a glory that transcends all beauty, we must follow the guidance of the accentuation, which marks by Mercha as in apposition with (cf. Psychol. S. 49; tr. p. 60). The poet beholds the appearing of God, an appearing that resembles the rising of the sun ( , as in the Asaph Psa 80:2, after Deu 33:2, from , with a transition of the primary notion of rising, Arab. yf , wf , to that of beaming forth and lighting up far and wide, as in Arab. st ); for “our God will come and by no means keep silence.” It is not to be rendered: Let our God come (Hupfeld) and not keep silence (Olshausen). The former wish comes too late after the preceding ( is consequently veniet, and written as e.g., in Psa 37:13), and the latter is superfluous. , as in Psa 34:6; Psa 41:3, Isa 2:9, and frequently, implies in the negative a lively interest on the part of the writer: He cannot, He dare not keep silence, His glory will not allow it. He who gave the Law, will enter into judgment with those who have it and do not keep it; He cannot long look on and keep silence. He must punish, and first of all by word in order to warn them against the punishment by deeds. Fire and storm are the harbingers of the Lawgiver of Sinai who now appears as Judge. The fire threatens to consume the sinners, and the storm (viz., a tempest accompanied with lightning and thunder, as in Job 38:1) threatens to drive them away like chaff. The expression in Psa 50:3 is like Psa 18:9. The fem. Niph. does not refer to , but is used as neuter: it is stormed, i.e., a storm rages (Apollinaris , ). The fire is His wrath; and the storm the power or force of His wrath.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Majesty of Messiah. | |
A psalm of Asaph.
1 The mighty God, even the LORD, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof. 2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. 3 Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. 4 He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people. 5 Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. 6 And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah.
It is probable that Asaph was not only the chief musician, who was to put a tune to this psalm, but that he was himself the penman of it; for we read that in Hezekiah’s time they praised God in the words of David and of Asaph the seer, 2 Chron. xxix. 30. Here is,
I. The court called, in the name of the King of kings (v. 2): The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken–El, Elohim, Jehovah, the God of infinite power justice and mercy, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. God is the Judge, the Son of God came for judgement into the world, and the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of judgment. All the earth is called to attend, not only because the controversy God had with his people Israel for their hypocrisy and ingratitude might safely be referred to any man of reason (nay, let the house of Israel itself judge between God and his vineyard, Isa. v. 3), but because all the children of men are concerned to know the right way of worshipping God, in spirit and in truth, because when the kingdom of the Messiah should be set up all should be instructed in the evangelical worship, and invited to join in it (see Mal 1:11; Act 10:34), and because in the day of final judgment all nations shall be gathered together to receive their doom, and every man shall give an account of himself unto God.
II. The judgment set, and the Judge taking his seat. As, when God gave the law to Israel in the wilderness, it is said, He came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir, and shone forth from Mount Paran, and came with ten thousands of his saints, and then from his right hand went a fiery law (Deut. xxxiii. 2), so, with allusion to that, when God comes to reprove them for their hypocrisy, and to send forth his gospel to supersede the legal institutions, it is said here, 1. That he shall shine out of Zion, as then from the top of Sinai, v. 2. Because in Zion his oracle was now fixed, thence his judgments upon that provoking people denounced, and thence the orders issued for the execution of them (Joel ii. 1): Blow you the trumpet in Zion. Sometimes there are more than ordinary appearances of God’s presence and power working with and by his word and ordinances, for the convincing of men’s consciences and the reforming and refining of his church; and then God, who always dwells in Zion, may be said to shine out of Zion. Moreover, he may be said to shine out of Zion because the gospel, which set up spiritual worship, was to go forth from Mount Zion (Isa 2:3; Mic 4:2), and the preachers of it were to begin at Jerusalem (Luke xxiv. 47), and Christians are said to come unto Mount Zion, to receive their instructions, Heb 12:22; Heb 12:28. Zion is here called the perfection of beauty, because it was the holy hill; and holiness is indeed the perfection of beauty. 2. That he shall come, and not keep silence, shall no longer seem to wink at the sins of men, as he had done (v. 21), but shall show his displeasure at them, and shall also cause that mystery to be published to the world by his holy apostles which had long lain hid, that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs (Eph 3:5; Eph 3:6) and that the partition-wall of the ceremonial law should be taken down; this shall now no longer be concealed. In the great day our God shall come and shall not keep silence, but shall make those to hear his judgment that would not hearken to his law. 3. That his appearance should be very majestic and terrible: A fire shall devour before him. The fire of his judgments shall make way for the rebukes of his word, in order to the awakening of the hypocritical nation of the Jews, that the sinners in Zion, being afraid of that devouring fire (Isa. xxxiii. 14), might be startled out of their sins. When his gospel kingdom was to be set up Christ came to send fire on the earth, Luke xii. 49. The Spirit was given in cloven tongues as of fire, introduced by a rushing mighty wind, which was very tempestuous, Act 2:2; Act 2:3. And in the last judgment Christ shall come in flaming fire, 2 Thess. i. 8. See Dan 7:9; Heb 10:27. 4. That as on Mount Sinai he came with ten thousands of his saints, so he shall now call to the heavens from above, to take notice of this solemn process (v. 4), as Moses often called heaven and earth to witness against Israel (Deu 4:26; Deu 31:28; Deu 32:21), and God by his prophets, Isa 1:2; Mic 6:2. The equity of the judgment of the great day will be attested and applauded by heaven and earth, by saints and angels, even all the holy myriads.
III. The parties summoned (v. 5): Gather my saints together unto me. This may be understood either, 1. Of saints indeed: “Let them be gathered to God through Christ; let the few pious Israelites be set by themselves;” for to them the following denunciations of wrath do not belong; rebukes to hypocrites ought not to be terrors to the upright. When God will reject the services of those that only offered sacrifice, resting in the outside of the performance, he will graciously accept those who, in sacrificing, make a covenant with him, and so attend to and answer the end of the institution of sacrifices. The design of the preaching of the gospel, and the setting up of Christ’s kingdom, was to gather together in one the children of God, John xi. 52. And at the second coming of Jesus Christ all his saints shall be gathered together unto him (2 Thess. ii. 1) to be assessors with him in the judgment; for the saints shall judge the world, 1 Cor. vi. 2. Now it is here given as a character of the saints that they have made a covenant with God by sacrifice. Note, (1.) Those only shall be gathered to God as his saints who have, in sincerity, covenanted with him, who have taken him to be their God and given up themselves to him to be his people, and thus have joined themselves unto the Lord. (2.) It is only by sacrifice, by Christ the great sacrifice (from whom all the legal sacrifices derived what value they had), that we poor sinners can covenant with God so as to be accepted of him. There must be an atonement made for the breach of the first covenant before we can be admitted again into covenant. Or, 2. It may be understood of saints in profession, such as the people of Israel were, who are called a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, Exod. xix. 6. They were, as a body politic, taken into covenant with God, the covenant of peculiarity; and it was done with great solemnity, by sacrifice, Exod. xxiv. 8. “Let them come and hear what God has to say to them; let them receive the reproofs God sends them now by his prophets, and the gospel he will, in due time, send them by his Son, which shall supersede the ceremonial law. If these be slighted, let them expect to hear from God another way, and to be judged by that word which they will not be ruled by.”
IV. The issue of this solemn trial foretold (v. 6): The heavens shall declare his righteousness, those heavens that were called to be witnesses to the trial (v. 4); the people in heaven shall say, Hallelujah. True and righteous are his judgments,Rev 19:1; Rev 19:2. The righteousness of God in all the rebukes of his word and providence, in the establishment of his gospel (which brings in an everlasting righteousness, and in which the righteousness of God is revealed), and especially in the judgment of the great day, is what the heavens will declare; that is, 1. It will be universally known, and proclaimed to all the world. As the heavens declare the glory, the wisdom and power, of God the Creator (Ps. xix. 1), so they shall no less openly declare the glory, the justice and righteousness, of God the Judge; and so loudly do they proclaim both that there is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard, as it follows there, v. 3. 2. It will be incontestably owned and proved; who can deny what the heavens declare? Even sinners’ own consciences will subscribe to it, and hell as well as heaven will be forced to acknowledge the righteousness of God. The reason given is, for God is Judge himself, and therefore, (1.) He will be just; for it is impossible he should do any wrong to any of his creatures, he never did, nor ever will. When men are employed to judge for him they may do unjustly; but, when he is Judge himself, there can be no injustice done. Is God unrighteous, who takes vengeance? The apostle, for this reason, startles at the thought of it; God forbid! for then how shall God judge the world?Rom 3:5; Rom 3:6. These decisions will be perfectly just, for against them there will lie no exception, and from them there will lie no appeal. (2.) He will be justified; God is Judge, and therefore he will not only execute justice, but he will oblige all to own it; for he will be clear when he judges, Ps. li. 4.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Psalms 50
God Is the Final (Supreme) Judge
Scripture v. 1-23:
Verses 1, 2 declare that the mighty God (God of dynamic power) has spoken and called or directed the earth, controlled it, from the rising to the going down of the sun. He has shined forth His beauty, in perfection, out of, and projected from Zion, His dwelling place, as described Gen 17:1; Jos 22:28; Neh 9:6; Psa 145:6; Isa 9:6; Jer 10:6; Jer 32:18-19; See also Psa 68:24; Isa 12:6; Isa 26:21; Hos 5:15; Hab 2:20; Heb 12:22.
Verses 3-5 describe the second coming of Christ in power and great glory to judge the earth, with a devouring fiery flame, round about him, Lev 10:1; Num 16:25; Dan 7:20. It is declared that He will call upon the heavens and the earth to obey Him, from above and below, that He may judge His people in harmony with His word, and not keep silent, Heb 9:28; Mic 6:1-2; Deu 4:36; Deu 30:19; Deu 31:28; To the host (angels) of heaven He calls “gather my saints together to me and adds “those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice,” Deu 33:3; Psa 97:10; Isa 13:3; 1Th 3:13; 2Th 1:6-10. See also Exo 24:7; Isa 59:20-21; Mat 21:28; Heb 8:6; Heb 9:10; Heb 9:23; Heb 13:20.
Verse 6 asserts that the heavens will declare His righteousness in His judgment and reign; For God is Himself judge, and there is none other, “Selah, or consider it wisely. The saints shall declare His glory, plus all them who have believed, 2Th 1:10; Rev 5:9-10; Rev 19:7-9; Rev 11:15-17; Psa 97:6.
Verse 7 calls on Israel to give heed as He, the Lord, witnesses against them their wrong, and that He is yet their living God, Exo 20:2. He will keep silence no longer, Deu 31:26; Deu 31:28; Neh 9:29; Tho they have wandered far from Him.
Verses 8, 9 pledge that he will not reprove Israel for her sacrifices, or her burnt offerings, which she had offered, but in a wrong spirit of “duty” and “formalism,” rather than in faith and love; He `hen adds he will take no bull out of their house, nor an he-goat from their folds, Isa 43:23-24; Mic 6:6; Act 17:23.
Verses 10-12 relate, God’s claim of ownership of 1) every beast of the forest; 2) the cattle on a thousand hills, and knowledge of 3) all the fowls of the mountains, and 4) the wild beasts of the fields; all are His; He knows them in His omniscience and keeps them by His omnipotent power, keeping them at His disposal; Verse 12 adds “If I were hungry, I would not tell or bother you about it:” For the world is mine, and the fullness thereof as also declared Psa 24:1; Exo 19:5; Deu 10:14; Job 41:11; 1Co 10:26.
Verses 13-15 Inquires’ “will I eat (feast on) the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?” I will not, will I? Is the idea, Joh 4:24; Luk 24:39-43. Verses 14, 15 appeal to Israel to obey her own law, in the spirit of it, not only “offer unto God thanksgiving (with gratitude), Hos 14:2; Heb 13:15, and pay thy vows unto the most High,” to the living, reigning God, and “call upon me in the day (time) of trouble (try me) and I will deliver you or set you free, and thou shalt (thus) glorify me,” Job 22:27; Zec 13:9; Psa 22:23; Mat 5:16; Joh 15:8; Psa 91:5; Psa 107:6-13.
Verses 16, 17 relates that He scolds those who in wickedness declare His statutes, taking His covenant in their mouths, yet despairing, taking lightly its instructions, hypocritically casting His words behind them, turning their back on walking in His ways, a grave offense, Neh 9:26. They, as hypocrites, use His word only for their covetous profit, Exo 23:13; Isa 1:15; Rom 2:18-24. So shall it be toward our Lord in the last days, 2Ti 3:1-5.
Verses 18-20 Indict the hypocrites for seeing a thief and entering collusion with him, or of taking a bribe to keep quiet; and they had part in deeds of adulteries in silence, without protest, Rom 1:32; Hos 7:3. They gave their mouth to slander their own brother, in regard to compromise with evil; Their tongue framed deceit and lying, in breach of the Law, Exo 20:7-9.
Verse 21, 22 Indict them of these things, while the Lord kept silent, delaying His judgment, Ecc 8:11-12. They had presumed that as they had done, looked the other way, so would God, Rom 2:4-8. But God warned, “I will reprove you and set these things in judgment before your eyes,” He added, “Now consider (give heed) to this, you who forget or turn away from God,” Psa 55:19; Ecc 12:13-14.
Verse 23 concludes that the one who offers praise glorifies God, adding that it is, “him that ordaineth his conversation or course of conduct aright.” To such God pledges to show forth or demonstrate His salvation on their behalf, 1Co 10:31; Heb 13:15; Hos 14:2; 1Co 15:58; Gal 6:9; 2Ti 4:7-8.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
1. The God of gods, even Jehovah, (241) hath spoken The inscription of this psalm bears the name of Asaph; but whether he was the author of it, or merely received it as chief singer from the hand of David, cannot be known. This, however, is a matter of little consequence. The opinion has been very generally entertained, that the psalm points to the period of the Church’s renovation, and that the design of the prophet is to apprise the Jews of the coming abrogation of their figurative worship under the Law. That the Jews were subjected to the rudiments of the world, which continued till the Church’s majority, and the arrival of what the apostle calls “the fullness of times,” (Gal 4:4,) admits of no doubt; the only question is, whether the prophet must here be considered as addressing the men of his own age, and simply condemning the abuse and corruption of the legal worship, or as predicting the future kingdom of Christ? From the scope of the psalm, it is sufficiently apparent that the prophet does in fact interpret the Law to his contemporaries, with a view of showing them that the ceremonies, while they existed, were of no importance whatever by themselves, or otherwise than connected with a higher meaning. Is it objected, that God never called the whole world except upon the promulgation of the Gospel, and that the doctrine of the Law was addressed only to one peculiar people? the answer is obvious, that the prophet in this place describes the whole world as convened not for the purpose of receiving one common system of faith, but of hearing God plead his cause with the Jews in its presence. The appeal is of a parallel nature with others which we find in Scripture:
“
Give ear, O ye heavens! and I will speak; and hear, O earth! the words of my mouths” (Deu 32:1😉
or as in another place,
“
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death,” (Deu 30:19😉
and again Isaiah,
“
Hear, O heaven! and give ear, O earth! for the Lord hath spoken,” (Isa 1:2.) (242)
This vehement mode of address was required in speaking to hypocrites, that they might be roused from their complacent security, and their serious attention engaged to the message of God. The Jews had special need to be awakened upon the point to which reference is here made. Men are naturally disposed to outward show in religion, and, measuring God by themselves, imagine that an attention to ceremonies constitutes the sum of their duty. There was a strong disposition among the Jews to rest in an observance of the figures of the Law, and it is well known with what severity the prophets all along reprehended this superstition, by which the worst and most abandoned characters were led to arrogate a claim to piety, and hide their abominations under the specious garb of godliness. The prophet, therefore, required to do more than simply expose the defective nature of that worship which withdraws the attention of men from faith and holiness of heart to outward ceremonies; it was necessary that, in order to check false confidence and banish insensibility, he should adopt the style of severe reproof. God is here represented as citing all the nations of the earth to his tribunal, not with the view of prescribing the rule of piety to an assembled world, or collecting a church for his service, but with the design of alarming the hypocrite, and terrifying him out of his self-complacency. It would serve as a spur to conviction, thus to be made aware that the whole world was summoned as a witness to their dissimulation, and that they would be stripped of that pretended piety of which they were disposed to boast. It is with a similar object that he addresses Jehovah as the God of gods, to possess their minds with a salutary terror, and dissuade them from their vain attempts to elude his knowledge. That this is his design will be made still more apparent from the remaining context, where we are presented with a formidable description of the majesty of God, intended to convince the hypocrite of the vanity of those childish trifles with which he would evade the scrutiny of so great and so strict a judge.
To obviate an objection which might be raised against his doctrine in this psalm, that it was subversive of the worship prescribed by Moses, the prophet intimates that this judgment which he announced would be in harmony with the Law. When God speaks out of Zion he necessarily sanctions the authority of the Law; and the Prophets, when at any time they make use of this form of speech, declare themselves to be interpreters of the Law. That holy mountain was not chosen of man’s caprice, and therefore stands identified with the Law. The prophet thus cuts off any pretext which the Jews might allege to evade his doctrine, by announcing that such as concealed their wickedness, under the specious covert of ceremonies, would not be condemned of God by any new code of religion, but by that which was ministered originally by Moses. He gives Zion the honorable name of the perfection of beauty, because God had chosen it for his sanctuary, the place where his name should be invoked, and where his glory should be manifested in the doctrine of the Law.
(241) The original words here rendered “The God of gods, even Jehovah,” are אל אלהים יהוה, E1 Elohim Yehovah Each of these words is a name of the Divine Being. The first has reference to the power of the Deity; so that it might be translated, “The Mighty One.” If we read אל אלהים, El Elohim, together, and translate “The God of gods,” this is a Hebrewism for “Most mighty God;” the word אלהים, Elohim, being placed after the name of any thing to express its excellency, greatness, or might. See p. 7, note 1, of this volume. Comp. Deu 10:17; Jos 22:22; and Dan 11:36. Horsley reads, “The omnipotent God Jehovah hath spoken.” The reading of the Chaldee is, “The mighty One, the God Jehovah.” The prophet has here joined together these three names of God, to give to the Israelites a more impressive idea of the greatness of Him who, now seated on his throne, and surrounded with awful majesty, was about to plead his controversy with them.
(242) “The Targum, Kimchi, and R. Obediah Gaon, interpret this psalm of the day of judgment, and Jarchi takes it to be a prophecy of the redemption by their future Messiah.” — Dr Gill. Dr Adam Clarke explains it in the first of these senses; observing, that “to any minor consideration or fact it seems impossible with any propriety to restrain it.” It appears, however, as Calvin holds, to be rather the aim and intention of the poem to teach the utter uselessness of all outward ceremonies in the absence of inward piety; and it is constructed on the plan of a dramatic performance, the sole actor being Jehovah seated on his throne in Zion, and the audience being the whole world, who are summoned to be witnesses of the judgment which he is to execute upon his people. This is the view taken by Bishop Lowth in his Lectures on Sacred Poetry, volume 2, p. 235. Walford gives the same interpretation. “To interpret this passage,” says he, “of the promulgation of the Gospel, as is done by Bishop Horne and other expositors of this book, is for the sake of a favorite theory to confound things that are distinct, and to throw obscurity over the whole, by which its specific design is darkened, and the poem deprived of its consistency and unity. The great purpose of the psalm is to deliver the judgment of God respecting the Jewish people; and heaven and earth are summoned, as in Isa 1:2, to behold the righteousness of Jehovah, and bear their testimony to it.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
RUIN AND REDEMPTION
Psalms 42-50
WE have already called attention to the fact that the Books of the Psalms constitute a Pentateuch, and there are excellent students of the Word who consider that the five Books of the Psalms correspond, in spiritual character, to the five volumes that constitute the Pentateuch.
Beginning, then, with the forty-second chapter and concluding with the seventy-second, we have the second Book, which is supposed to parallel Exodus.
Exodus is the Book of Redemption, the story of Israels recovery from Egyptian bondage. This fact is voiced in the following sentence, Thou in Thy mercy hast led forth the people which Thou hast redeemed; Thou hast guided them in Thy strength unto Thy holy habitation (Exo 15:13).
It will be conceded also that the types in Exodus turn the attention to redemption. Even the Divine title Jah, the abbreviated form of Jehovah, is employed first in the Book of Exodus (Exo 15:3) and it is a significant fact that this same title is employed in this second Book of the Psalms (Psa 68:4).
There are those also who see another point of parallelism: The Book of Exodus opens with a picture of oppression in Egypt, while the second Book of the Psalms opens with a cry for God. The second Book of the Psalms also refers, in passing, to localities and individuals, as for instance, Sinai and Miriam, found in the second Book of the Pentateuch.
It is not unnatural, therefore, to discuss the first ten chapters of this Book under heads that would naturally remind one of the old Exodus experience, namely, The Ruin Realized, The Deliverance Needed, and the Deliverer Discovered.
THE RUIN REALIZED
First, in The conscious loss of God!
As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God.
My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me; for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the House of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God; for I shill yet praise Him for the kelp of His countenance (Psa 42:1).
One wonders at such language. It involves figurative difficulties and also excites a certain astonishment. Does the hart always pant after the water-brooks? No! There is but one time when the hart pants after the water-brooks and that is when he is chased by his enemy, when the dog is on his trail, or the wolf pack has sighted or scented him and is crowding him hard. Then the exhaustion of the race is such, and the terrible fear that takes possession of him is so great, that moisture leaves his body and he is compelled shortly to reach the brook and be refilled and refreshed that his strength may suffice in further efforts of escape. In truth it is commonly the habit of a deer or hart, when thus in danger, not only to seek the brook for drink, but to plunge its entire body into the water with the dual purpose of cooling the fevered veins and at the same time throwing the enemy off the scent and thereby securing time in which to escape the vicinity of danger.
Its a satisfactory figure then. The Psalmist had his enemies, and as they pressed him hard, thirsting for his life-blood, he felt his need of Gods refreshing and protecting presence. In all likelihood David wrote these words at the very time when he was being hunted like the partridge on the mountain; when Absaloms henchmen sought his life. He was compelled to accomplish a hiding in a well over which a woman threw a cover and spread corn thereon until the danger was over-past, and David and his followers made their escape over Jordan as recorded in 2 Samuel 17.
In evidence of this probable fact, it will be remembered that that chapter closed with the statement that certain people
brought beds, and basons, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched corn, and beans, and lentiles, and parched pulse,
And honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat; for they said, The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness (2Sa 17:28-29).
It is great to believe that God is the answer to heart-hunger. It is great to know that God is rest for the weary. It is good to know that in Him is an unfailing fountain for the thirsty. It is good to believe that God is for the hour of danger and need!
Second, the consequent sense of loneliness!
O my God, my soul is cast down within me; therefore will I remember Thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar.
Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of Thy waterspouts; all Thy waves and Thy billows are gone over me.
Yet the Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.
I will say unto God my rock, Why hast Thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God (Psa 42:6-11).
It is doubtful if there is any more disquieting experience than the feeling that one has lost God. One of the most pathetic questions to be found in all the Book of the Psalms is (Psa 77:7-9), Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will He be favourable no more? Is His mercy clean gone for ever? Doth His promise fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Hath He, in anger, shut up His tender mercies?
Such is an hour in which the soul is cast down. Such is the day in which the waves and billows go over one. Frightful is the feeling that one is God-forsaken. The oppression of the enemy is then heavy indeed. The very bones are thrust through with the sword and the daily reproaches of the enemy, Where is thy God? produce a disquieted spirit, and praises perish from the lips and the countenance shows no health!
But even here Jesus has gone before! On the Cross even He cried, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? (Mat 27:46). That was the darkest hour of His days on earth.
Three times in very recent years, young women have come to me, whose God has been taken from them by the false philosophies of the present-day college-life and teaching, and with cheeks scalded with hot tears, have told how they lost Him, how their teachers had taken away their Lord, and they could no longer find Him; how even their very eyes had been blinded, not alone to His beauty, but also to His existence; and how heart-loneliness and soul-anguish had followed. One might imagine that with David there was sufficient mental and even physical resources to keep from despair, but it is doubtful if any or all the natural resources of life bring the least satisfaction to the soul that feels that God is gone. The consciousness of His presence and the certainty of His loving-kindness these and these alone can satisfy the soul. That is the true meaning of Davids cry for both.
The third suggestion is inevitablewhen one has consciously lost his God and has come into the consequent sense of loneliness, he seeks to no other than did David.
He cried for the Light!
Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation; O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.
For Thou art the God of my strength; why dost Thou cast me off? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
O send out Thy light and Thy truth; let them lead me; let them bring me unto Thy holy hill, and to Thy tabernacles;
Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy; yea, upon the harp will I praise Thee, O God my God.
Why art Thou east down, O my soul? and why art Thou disquieted within me? hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God (Psa 43:1-5).
The significant sentence in this Psalm is this: O send out Thy light and Thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto Thy holy hill, and to Thy tabernacles (Psa 42:3).
How strange; and yet, how natural! Men are always asking God to do what He has long since done. They are asking Him to show mercy. He has proffered it a thousand times, and it is always awaiting the man who will appropriate it. They are asking that He send out light as if He could withhold it, even! God is light! The difficulty with men is that they turn their backs on God and look into the darkness cast by their own shadows, and feel as if the light did not exist. It is a strange conclusion, but it is a natural product of human sin and human skepticism. No man ever got light by asking for it. The light is secured by turning to it.
I saw some years ago a statement that illustrates just what I mean. Dwight S. Bayley, writing in the Sunday School Times, said, It was just after sunset, and I was enjoying a short wheel ride before supper. The sun had sunk behind the mesa, whose outline drew its dark, rugged silhouette boldly against the red sky beyond. Presently I came to the railroad crossing, and there I dismounted to stand and watch the western glory. The rails stretched their parallel course east and west, and, as I looked toward the east, to see if any train were approaching, I saw the track soon disappear into the gloom of the approaching night. But turning again to the west, I saw the rails become two paths of shining light, penetrating, and, for the moment, making me forget the gathering dusk.
And as I stood there in the sweet silence of the closing day, I thought of One who is the Light of the world. How many, said I, find their path dark, and leading only into deeper gloom, because they are facing away from the light. And how many, thank God, forget the surrounding dusk, and tread a path that is clear and joyful, because they are walking toward the Light.
Gods light is shining constantly and as certainly for one as for another. Those who face toward it will be led by it. By it they will be brought unto Gods Holy hill and unto Gods tabernacle. By it they will go unto the altar of God with exceeding joy, and in consequence of it they will praise God with the harp and hope in Him who is the help of their countenance and their God.
But we pass to the future study,
THE DELIVERANCE NEEDED
Gods help is a matter of history!
We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us, what work Thou didst in their days, in the times of old.
How Thou didst drive out the heathen with Thy hand, and plantedst them; how Thou didst afflict Thy people, and cast them out.
For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but Thy right hand, and Thine arm, and the light of Thy countenance, because Thou hadst a favour unto them.
Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob.
Through Thee will we push down our enemies: through Thy Name mil we tread them under that rise up against us.
For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.
But Thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us.
In God we boast all the day long, and praise Thy Name for ever. Selah (Psa 44:1-8).
The providential dealings of God are matters of history. He made records long before Edison devised his scheme of catching the voice and giving permanence to words. So important were His acts that men made note of them and not only rehearsed them, but wrote them down that the future might be refreshed by the reading; and perhaps the most dependable records that exist in the archives of man relate to Gods dealings with His people and with the world.
We live in a day when men are attempting to trace God in nature, or, if they deny His existence, to tell us what nature itself has accomplished. They talk of what took place trillions of years ago and what happened a few billions since, and what man was doing 500,000 summers gone. And then they have the effrontery to call that science, or even to speak of it as the history of the ages. They seem to forget that science is knowledge gained and verified, and they seem to ignore the fact that history is a systematic record of past events, especially the record of events in which man has taken part. What nonsense then to talk of the history of a trillion or a million or even of 20,000 years ago!
Scientists, at this present moment, are mad with speculations, and in order to add authority to their speech they name it science or history, when it is neither.
But we have history, and it honors God. It tells how He bared His arm in behalf of His people; how it was His Word rather than their sword that gave His people the promised land, and His arm, not their own strength that saved them, and His favor that prospered them. It was in a power Divine that they pushed down their enemies and trod under foot those who rose against them. In Him alone, had they any right to boast.
Stopford Brooke truthfully said, God dwells in the great movements of the world, in the great ideas which act in the human race. Find Him there in the great interests of man. Find Him by sharing in those interests, by helping all who are striving for truth, for education, for progress, for liberty all over the world.
The man who said, Gods in His Heavenalls well with the world, spoke a half truth, which is always a whole falsehood. God is in His Heaven ; but all is not well with the world! That is not Gods fault! He is constantly intervening in the affairs of men to make things right. He is constantly overthrowing heathenism in that interest. He is constantly favoring His people to that very end. God doesnt favor His people because He is partial; but He favors them because He is righteous. God doesnt favor His own because they are His own, and He has no interest in others. He saves His own because His own are worth saving and were willing, and He overwhelms their enemies because their enemies are evil.
The history of Divine providence is at once the most interesting and the most inspiring history ever written. We do well to study the relationship that God sustained to our fathers. We do well to make ourselves acquainted with how He wrought with them and how He fought for them. The man who would make God his King, and be content under that Divine administration, must needs know God, who He is and what He has done. In other words, history must be His teacher and the record of Divine providences the inspiration of His faith.
The charge of Gods withdrawal is unjust.
But Thou hast cast off and put us to shame; and goest not forth with our armies.
Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy: and they which hate us spoil for themselves.
Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen.
Thou sellest Thy people for nought, and dost not increase Thy wealth by their price.
Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us.
Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people.
My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face covered me,
For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth; by reason of the enemy and avenger.
All this is come upon us, yet have we, not forgotten Thee, neither have we dealt falsely in Thy covenant.
Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from Thy way;
Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death.
If we have forgotten the Name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god;
Shall not God search this out? for He knoweth the secrets of the heart.
Yea, for Thy sake are we kilted all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
Awake, why steepest Thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever.
Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression.
For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the earth,
Arise for our help, and redeem us for Thy mercies sake (Psa 44:9-26).
The Psalmist certainly has spiritual chills and fevers. One moment he is filled with praises to God and the next he is mouthing complaints.
Thou hast cast off, and put us to shame; and goest not forth with our armies,
Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy: and they which hate us spoil for themselves,
Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen,
Thou sellest Thy people for nought, and dost not increase Thy wealth by their price,
Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us,
Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people,
My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me,
For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth; by reason of the enemy and avenger,
All this is come upon us, yet have we not forgotten Thee, neither have we dealt falsely in Thy covenant,
Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from Thy way;
Though Thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death.
If we have forgotten the Name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god;
Shall not God search this out? for He knoweth the secrets of the heart,
Yea, for Thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter,
Awake, why steepest Thou, O Lord? Arise, cast us not off for ever,
Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression?
For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the earth,
Arise for our help, and redeem us for Thy mercies sake (Psa 44:9-26),
What biliousness! Strange what foolish speech can escape the lips of true believers and how unjustifiable complaints can characterize a Christian! It is always true perhaps that a man looking into the past, thinks God treated his fathers better than He is treating him. That is because he sees in history the very path by which his fathers were led, and marks the fact that it is a path which, however crooked, leads ever upward and ever onward toward the shining gates of the Celestial City. He doesnt see the bleeding feet that pressed that path. He cannot mark the edges of the sharp stones that cut deeply into the flesh. The distance is too great for him to make observation in minutiae! He cam not even tell how precipitous the difficulty hills were. He cannot even see any of the lions that stalked that path or the dangers that beset the journey! And so he concludes that God was good to his fathers, but that He is forgetting him.
It is a foolish reasoning! We sing quite often, at least in orthodox circles,
Faith of our fathers, living still,
In spite of dungeon, fire and sword,
O how our hearts beat high with joy
Wheneer we hear that glorious word!
Faith of our fathers, holy faith,
We will be true to thee, till death.
But the sad part of it is that we sing it without experience of dungeon, without smell of fire, and without ever having felt the edge of the sword.
We render a second verse:
Our fathers chained in prisons dark,
Were still in heart and conscience free;
And blest would be their childrens fate,
If they, like them, should die for Thee:
Faith of our fathers, holy faith,
We will be true to thee till death.
But the probabilities are that if we had a little touch of dungeon, fire and sword, or any prospect whatever of martyrdom, we would make a louder complaint than the Psalmist here records. We would think that we were utterly forgotten, that God had turned His back upon us and flung us willingly into the hands of our enemies, to let us be eaten as sheeps meat, or sold for nothing according to the opponents pleasure. We would imagine that He had made us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to men of the world, a byword among the heathen and that all this had come upon us in spite of our utter loyalty to Him, and our perfect keeping of every covenant made and our upright walk.
How ridiculous! What poor occasions we have for parading our faithfulness or even referring to the importunity of our prayers, or, for that matter, to the sacrifices we have made. We slip ourselves and imagine that God is slipping. We turn our backs upon Him and imagine that He has hid His face. We call upon Him to arise for our help when the truth is that He is up already and we are down!
It is difficult to be patient with people that not only complain of their fellows, but even reach the point where they complain of God; and seldom is there any instance of the sort divorced from personal unworthiness and self-blame.
Gods Son is the souls adequate solace!
My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the King: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.
Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into Thy lips: therefore God hath blessed Thee for ever.
Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O most mighty, with Thy glory and Thy majesty.
And in Thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and Thy right hand shall teach Thee terrible things.
Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the Kings enemies; whereby the people fall under Thee.
Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of Thy Kingdom is a right sceptre.
Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness: therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.
All Thy garments smelt of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made Thee glad.
Kings daughters were among Thy honourable women: upon Thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.
Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy fathers house;
So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for He is thy Lord; and worship thou Him.
And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the rich among the people shall intreat thy favour.
The kings daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold.
She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto Thee.
With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the Kings palace.
Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom Thou mayest make princes in all the earth.
I will make Thy Name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise Thee for ever and ever (Psa 45:1-17).
Beyond all question, this is a picture of Jesus, the King, the One fairer than the children of men, into whose lips grace is poured; who wears the sword at His thigh and whose glory and majesty and might know no measure; whose truth, meekness and righteousness render majestic; the power of whose right hand is to be truly feared; the sharpness of whose arrows can lay the enemy low and whose throne is established; whose sceptre is a right sceptre; who loves righteousness, hates iniquity, and who is, therefore, the One that God hath anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows. As if to put beyond question who this person is, the Psalmist says, All Thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia; out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made Thee glad (Psa 45:8).
When was there ever any life in this world that had the aroma of beauty and sweetness about it that Christs life had? Kings daughters were among Thy honourable women: upon Thy right hand did stand the queen of Ophir, plainly refers to the women redeemed by His Word and to the Church, His coming Bride, the Bride whose beauty the King Himself desired and in whose worship He delighted.
What a picture this also of the Churchs pleasure in her Lord!
The kings daughter is all glorious within, her clothing is of wrought gold.
She shall be brought unto the King in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto Thee.
With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the Kings palace.
Instead of Thy fathers shall be Thy children, whom Thou mayest make princes in all the earth.
I will make Thy Name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise Thee for ever and ever (Psa 45:13-17).
Join all the glorious names Of wisdom, love, and power,That ever mortals knew,Or angels ever bore:All are too mean to speak His worth,Too mean to set the Saviour forth.
Great Prophet of our God,Our tongues shall bless Thy Name;By Thee the joyful newsOf our salvation came,The joyful news of sins forgiven,Of hell subdued, and peace with Heaven.
Jesus, our great High Priest,Has shed His Blood and died;Our guilty conscience needsNo sacrifice besides:His precious Blood did once atone And now it pleads before the throne.
THE DELIVERER DISCOVERED
The forty-fifth chapter, then, discovers the Deliverer in Christ, the coming One, the all glorious One! That naturally leads to the exclamations of the forty-sixth chapter.
Faith finds herself a voice.
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble;
Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.
There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the City of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God shall help her, and that right early.
The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted.
The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations He hath made in the earth.
He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth;
He breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; He burneth the chariot in the fire.
Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah (Psa 46:1-11).
It is a great utterance. It is a rebound from the black unbelief of chapter forty-four. A man is never quite so happy, never quite so joyful, as when he comes out of the storm into calm, out of the black night into a bright morning, out of poverty and weakness into riches and strength, out of feelings of insufficiency into a consciousness of Gods sufficiency.
It is a triumphant utterance:
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble;
Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof (Psa 46:1-3).
Is it possible that this is the same man who wrote but yesterday
Thou hast cast off, and put us to shame; and goest not forth with our armies;
Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy; and they which hate us spoil for themselves;
Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen;
Thou sellest Thy people for nought, and dost not increase Thy wealth by their price;
Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a, derision to them that are round about us;
Thou makest us a byword among the heathen (Psa 44:9-14)?
Yes, the very same man! What is the difference? This: yesterday the Psalmist had his eyes upon himself; he reflected upon his weakness, his failure, his confusion, his shame! Today, he has his eyes upon God. The night is gone, the sun has risen. The flood is over, and in its stead there is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the City of God. * * God is in the midst of her: she shall not be moved; God shall help her, and that right early; the heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted; the Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge (Psa 46:4-7). Oh, what a change! The God of refuge is with us.
God is the refuge of His saints,
When storms of sharp distress invade;
Ere we can offer our complaints,
Behold Him present with His aid.
Loud may the troubled ocean roar;
In sacred peace our souls abide,
While every nation, every shore,
Trembles and dreads the swelling tide.
There is a stream, whose gentle flow
Supplies the City of our God,
Life, love, and joy still gliding through,
And watering our Divine abode.
That sacred stream, thy holy word,
Our grief allays, our fear controls;
Sweet peace thy promises afford,
And give new strength to fainting souls.
Praise discovers fit expression.
O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph;
For the Lord Most High is terrible; He is a great King over all the earth;
He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet.
He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom He loved. Selah.
God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet
Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises unto, our King, sing praises.
For God is the King of all the earth; sing ye praises with understanding.
God reigneth over the heathen; God sitteth upon the throne of His holiness.
The princes of the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of Abraham; for the shields of the earth belong unto God; He is greatly exalted.
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the City of our God, in the mountain of His holiness;
Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.
God is known in her palaces for a refuge.
For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together.
They saw it, and so they marvelled; they were troubled, and hasted away.
Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail.
Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.
As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God; God will establish it for ever. Selah.
We have thought of Thy loving-kindness, O God, in the midst of Thy Temple.
According to Thy Name, O God, so is Thy praise unto the ends of the earth; Thy right hand is full of righteousness.
Let mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of Thy judgments.
Walk about Zion, and go round about her; tell the towers thereof.
Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following.
For this God is our God for ever and ever; He will be our Guide even unto death (Psa 47:1 to Psa 48:14).
Was there ever a more blissful burst of true belief? This is an instance in which the Psalmist starts a solo, but his singing becomes a contagion; it swells not to a duet or quartette, but into a mighty chorus. He directs; O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph (Psa 47:1); and he gives the reason, He is a great King over all the earth; He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet; He shall choose our inheritance for us? (Psa 47:2-4); and as if to bring the last tongue to praises, he calls to all that have breath, Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises unto our King; sing praises (Psa 47:6).
O worship the King, all glorious above,
And gratefully sing His wonderful love,
Our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of days,
Pavilioned in splendor, and girded with praise.
Thy bountiful care what tongue can recite?
It breathes in the air, it shines in the light,
It streams from the hills, it descends to the plain
And sweetly distills in the dew and the rain.
Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,
In Thee do we trust, nor find Thee to fail;
Thy mercies how tender, how firm to the end,
Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend!
God and God alone is adequate.
Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world;
Both low and high, rich and poor, together.
My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding.
I will incline mine ear to a parable; I will open my dark saying upon the harp.
Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my keels shall compass me about?
They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;
None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him;
(For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever;)
That He should still live forever, and not see corruption.
For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others.
Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names; nevertheless man being in honour abideth not; he is like the beasts that Perish.
This their way is their folly; yet their posterity approve their sayings. Selah.
Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.
But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave; for He shall receive me. Selah.
Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased;
For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away; his glory shall not descend after him.
Though while he lived he blessed his soul; and men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself.
He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light.
Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.
The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth from; the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.
Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.
He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.
Gather My saints together unto Me; those that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice; and the heavens shall declare His righteousness; for God is judge Himself. Selah.
Hear, O My people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against Thee; I am God, even thy God.
I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt-offerings, to have been continually before Me.
I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds;
For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.
I know all the fowls of the mountains; and the wild beasts of the field are mine.
If I were hungry, I would not tell Thee; for the World is mine, and the fulness thereof.
Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?
Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High;
And call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me.
But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare My statutes, or that thou shouldest take My covenant in thy mouth?
Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest My words behind thee.
When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers.
Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit.
Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mothers son.
These things hast Thou done, and I kept silence; Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as Thyself; but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.
Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.
Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me; and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.
Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy loving-kindness; according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
For I acknowledge my transgressions; and my sin is ever before me.
Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight; that Thou oughtest be justified when Thou speakest, and be clear when Thou judgest.
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Behold, Thou desirest truth in the inward parts; and in the hidden part Thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and 1 shall be whiter than snow.
Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the hones which Thou hast broken may rejoice.
Hide Thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy holy spirit from me.
Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation; and uphold me with Thy free spirit.
Then will I teach transgressors Thy ways; and sinners Shall be converted unto Thee.
Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, Thou God of my salvation; and my tongue shall sing aloud of Thy righteousness.
O Lord, open Thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth Thy praise.
For Thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it; thou delightest not in burnt-offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.
Do good in Thy good pleasure unto Zion; build Thou the walls of Jerusalem.
Then shalt Thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt-offering and whole burnt-offering; then shall they offer bullocks upon Thine altar (Psa 49:1 to Psa 51:19).
Here we come to the conclusion of the matter, so far, at least, as certain experiences are concerned; and that conclusion is that God, and God alone, is adequate. He would have all the people hear it, men of both high and low degree, rich and poor. The perverse, the boastful, the corrupt, the brutish, he would have them see that their way is folly, that death awaits them and Sheol will consume; but God will redeem his soul and receive him into glory. He would have men realize that even death shall strip them of both wealth and honour, they will perish as the beasts do, but the mighty one will remain. The Jehovah who called the earth from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof, whose perfection of beauty doth shine, and whose speech is above the storm, and to him the heavens themselves will respond and the very earth tremble will gather His saints to Himself and show His covenant by His sacrifice, while the heavens declare His righteousness; and then, as if God Himself was at hand to speak, the Psalmist steps aside and gives audience to the voice Divine,
O Israel, * * I am Thy God, even Thy God.
I do not reprove them of these sacrifices nor the multiplication of burnt offerings;
I will not take a bullock out of thy house, nor a he goat from thy folds, since I have no need;
Every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills;
I know all the birds of the hills and that which moveth in the fields.
If I were hungry, I would not tell thee, for the world is Mine and the fullness.
I am no eater of bulls flesh, nor drinker of goats blood.
I am God; sacrifice to Me thanksgiving and pay to Me thy vows and call upon Me in the day of trouble and I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify Me (Psa 50:7-15).
Then, after having shown his attitude toward the wicked, and the wickeds attitude toward Him, and after having warned these God-forgetters, of the day of judgment when none shall deliver, he concludes, He that offereth praise, glorifieth Me; and he that altereth his way, will I show the salvation of God (Psa 50:23)
I have sought to bring you this morning the three major thoughts to be found in these ten chapters. Beyond all question they are the Recognition of Ruin by Sin, the Conscious Need of a Deliverer, and the Joyful Discovery of God. I confess frankly, very frankly, that I have had other objectives than merely to interpret these Psalms. I believe that knowledge of Scripture always fruits in increased faith and further, in effective service. I am anxious that you should know God, that you should know Him as one who can redeem us from the ruin of sin, that you should know Him as one who can meet all the demands of the heart life, that you should know Him as one who proved His power and love to your predecessors, that you should know Him as one who is the source of strength against adversaries and for all conceivable service.
There are tasks ahead, great undertakings, as important and prophetic as enormous; and I want you to enter upon them, upon those that are immediately ahead of us for this week and for those that are planned for the two weeks following, believing God and trusting Him for all needed strength.
We are told that when Napoleon was leading his soldiers over the Alps, the cold and fatigue of the journey caused many of them to falter. Some were about to turn back. Napoleon ordered the band to play, and the spirits of some of the men revived, but not all. Then he told them to play music that would remind them of the home-land and more of them revived. Then at his word, the buglers sounded the bugle call. The men sprang to arms, and new life surged into the brains of every breathing body, for they knew not where the enemy might be.
Activity is the best and surest cure for faltering souls. My candid conviction is this, that the effort of this church will be glorious in proportion as we actively undertake big things and bring them to pass; and why not? when Jehovah is our God.
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
INTRODUCTION
Superscription. A Psalm of Asaph. Asaph was a Levite, son of Berachiah, one of the leaders of Davids choir (1Ch. 6:39). Psalms 50, 73-83 are attributed to him, but probably all these, except 50, 73, and 77, are of later origin. He was in after times celebrated as a Seer as well as a musical composer, and was put on a par with David (2Ch. 29:30; Neh. 12:46). The office appears to have remained hereditary in his family, unless he was the founder of a school of poets and musical composers, who were called after him the sons of Asaph (1Ch. 25:1; 2Ch. 20:14; Ezr. 2:41).Smiths Dict. of the Bible.
The occasion on which the psalm was composed is unknown. The object of the psalm, says Barnes, seems to be to set forth the value and importance of spiritual religion as compared with a mere religion of forms.
A SCENE OF JUDGMENT
(Psa. 50:1-6.)
In these verses we have a poetical representation of the appearance of the Most High to judge His people as to their conduct in respect to His worship. Though the judgment spoken of in this psalm is a particular one, yet most of the features of this scene are elsewhere represented as characterising the general and final judgment. We have here set before us
I. The Judge. The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken. God is Judge Himself. Professor Alexander translates: The Almighty, God, Jehovah, speaks; and he points out that El is not an adjective agreeing with Elohim, but a substantive in apposition with it. Hengstenberg takes the same view, and says: The heaping up of names must fill the hypocrites with terror, as these bring before their eyes the majesty of Him whose judgment they underlie. In the relation of these designations there is a gradation. Elohim is more than El, to which its singular Eloah is equivalent. The plural marks the fulness and the richness of the Divine nature. Jehovah is the highest name according to its derivationit marks God as the only real Beingand, according to the usage also, which ascribes to Jehovah the most glorious manifestations of God to and in behalf of His people. He who summons the world to judgment has the right to do so, and the power to enforce His right. As Judge God is perfect. Two things are essential to a just judgment.
1. Competent knowledge of the case to be tried. In this respect God is perfect as the Judge of man. He is fully acquainted with
(1) all spoken words and overt actions;
(2) all unuttered thoughts and unwrought purposes;
(3) all motives by which we have been actuated; and
(4) all the circumstances and influences, both good and evil, by which we have been affected (Psa. 139:1-16).
2. Perfect justice in trying the case. Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? God forbid: for how then shall God judge the world? A God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He. His judgment-throne is a great white throne, i.e., a throne whose judgments are characterised by perfect purity and righteousness. God is the Judge; and He is perfect in all things.
II. The principles upon which judgment will be administered. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. On Zion, the perfection of beauty, see remarks on Psa. 48:2. The meaning here is, that the great principles which are to determine the destiny of mankind in the final judgment are those which proceed from Zion; or those which are taught in the religion of Zion; they are those which are inculcated through the Church of God. God has there made known His law; He has stated the principles on which He governs, and on which He will judge the world.Barnes. To the Church God has clearly revealed His will, and made known the principles upon which He will administer the final judgment. (See Ecc. 12:14; Mat. 25:14-46. Act. 17:31; Rom. 14:10; Rom. 14:12.; et al.)
III. The certainty of the judgment. God shall come, &c. Here is no peradventure, but an unmistakable affirmation. Evidence is not wanting of the certainty of future judgment.
1. Conscience foreshadows it. The consciousness of obligation, says R. W. Hamilton, would lead us to believe that God would bring us into judgment with Him.
2. Moral government requires it. Even-handed justice is not administered here and now. As Dr. R. W. Dale points out, the physical penalties of certain forms of sin torture and destroy an inhabitant of Fiji; while they are alleviated and almost wholly averted by the resources which science and wealth place at the disposal of a European; one merchant who is guilty of gross fraud escapes detection, while another who is guilty of precisely the same crime is accidentally discovered, and expiates his offence by long years of disgrace and misery; a lad who has no friends is ruined for life by a single act of folly and sin, while another, who may have been his confederate in wrong-doing, is rescued by the energy and constancy of human affection, recovers his reputation, and after long years of prosperity and honour leaves behind him a name which his children are proud to bear. Many other inequalities of retribution as administered in this life might be pointed out. These demand a judgment to come.
3. The word of God affirms it. (See passages cited above, et al.) That last great Assize is certain as the throne of God.
IV. The terrible majesty of the judge at His appearing. A fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him. There is doubtless a reference here to the sublime and terror-inspiring phenomena which accompanied the giving of the law on Sinai (Exo. 19:16; Exo. 19:18). In the last judgment Christ the Judge will come in the clouds of heaven and with flaming fire, and attended by mighty angels (Mar. 13:26; 2Th. 1:7-10; Rev. 1:7). Such descriptions are not designed simply to represent God as clothed with appropriate majesty when appearing to judge the world. The flaming fire, the stormy tempest, the cloudy gloom, the flashings of His glory, are emblematical of the purity and the power and the consuming wrath of the Judge. And they are in keeping with the vast and important transactions and results of the solemn occasion, and the Divine dignity of the Judge. Such an appearance should fill the hearts of saints with holy fear, and sinners with unutterable terror.
V. The persons to be judged. Judge His people. My saints, those that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice. The people of God are here represented as having entered into a solemn covenant-relation to Him. They have taken God to be their God, and given themselves up to Him and to His service, and the Jews in doing this presented solemn sacrifices to Him. The Christian covenants with God through Christ the great sacrifice, through whom alone we come to God. The Jews were the professed people of God,His covenanted people (Exo. 19:3-9). But how often and how sadly did they break the covenant! It is at first sight strange, that those, whom the Lord will judge as transgressors of His covenant, should be described as His saints. But the allusion to the height of their standing and destiny is particularly fitted to cause shame, on account of their present actual condition. Let not the professed people of God deceive themselves by imagining that if they sin God will not judge them for it; for He certainly will do so. The greater the privileges and profession of any people, the more deserving of punishment will they be found if they dishonour God and walk not in His statutes. But at the last judgment all men, without any exception whatever, must appear and be judged (Rom. 14:10; Rom. 14:12; 2Co. 5:10; et al.)
VI. The witnesses of the judgment. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people. The universe is called upon to be present as witness to the solemn transactions of the judgment. Such appeals to the heaven and earth to witness, in Scripture, always indicate the importance and solemnity of the scenes and transactions to which they are called. Thus Moses warned the children of Israel of the danger of provoking God to anger,I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish, &c. (Deu. 4:26; see also Mic. 6:2.) All His holy angels will attend the Judge, and witness the proceedings, and testify to their righteousness.
VII. The righteousness of the judgment. And the heavens shall declare His righteousness; for God is Judge Himself. The perfections of God, especially His holiness and knowledge, guarantee the righteousness of His judgment. (See previous remarks on the perfection of God as a Judge.) The angelic witnesses of the judgment will declare its justice, saying, True and righteous are His judgments. The redeemed will praise the generosity of His dealings with them. The consciences even of the condemned will acknowledge the righteousness of their doom. The whole universe will subscribe to the justice of His judgments.
CONCLUSION.
1. Here is solemn warning to the people of God. If you depart from Him, He will summon you to meet Him for judgment.
2. Here is a solemn inquiry for all. How shall we meet Him in judgment? Only through Christ Jesus can we do so (see Rom. 8:1; Rom. 8:33).
THE FORMAL AND THE SPIRITUAL IN DIVINE SERVICE
(Psa. 50:7-15.)
The poet represents the judgment of the chosen people as commencing with Gods address to them: Hear, O My people, and I will speak, &c. He testifies against them because of the formality of their services; and calls upon them to offer to Him spiritual sacrifices.
I. The worthlessness of merely formal and material sacrifices in the Divine service. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt-offerings continually before Me. I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he-goats out of thy folds. Such sacrifices are shown to be worthless.
1. Because of the infinite resources of God. For every beast of the forest is mine, &c. (Psa. 50:10-12). He is the absolute proprietor of all things. We are but stewards of our possessions. We hold them under Him and for Him. What hast thou that thou didst not receive from Him? The devout and godly soul recognises this fact, and blesses God, as David did, because He has given to us wherewith we may offer to Him. Blessed be Thou, Lord God of Israel our father, for ever and ever. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, &c. (1Ch. 29:10-16). Only of His own can we give unto Him. This is true of the man of temporal wealth, the man of genius, the man of piety and spiritual power, &c. Utterly worthless, therefore, are all our offerings in His sight, unless they are spiritually and heartily given (Act. 17:25).
2. Because of the spirituality of God. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Did they suppose that the Infinite Spirit needed meat and drink for His support as our bodies do? Being a spirit, the mere outward sacrifices could afford no satisfaction to Him. Among the heathen the opinion prevailed that the gods ate and drank what was offered to them in sacrifice; whereas the truth was, that these things were consumed by the priests who attended on heathen altars, and conducted the devotions of heathen temples, and who found that it contributed much to their own support, and did much to secure the liberality of the people, to keep up the impression that what was thus offered was consumed by the gods. The Divine appeal implies that they to whom it was addressed knew better. God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Therefore, in His sight the mere material offering was worthless. But let us not suppose that God rejects all outward offerings and sacrifices. He rather requires them. It is quite clear from the eighth verse, that if the outward sacrifices had not been offered, this also would have been a ground of complaint. But when they are offered as substitutes for the loving reverence of the heart, and the loyal obedience of the life, He rejects them as abominations. When they are the expressions of the souls prayerful penitence or thankful praise, He accepts them with delight. (See the remarks on Psa. 40:6.)
II. The worth of spiritual sacrifices in the Divine service. Offer, or sacrifice, unto God thanksgiving, &c. (Psa. 50:14-15). The worth of spiritual offerings is shown here in several respects:
1. They are enjoined by God. He commands us to present them unto Him. Notice
(1) The ground of this requirement. Hear, O My people, and I will speak: I am God, thy God. On the one side, my people and Israel, the people of God and of the covenant; on the other side God, the God of heaven and of earth, thy God, who has bound Israel to Himself by so many benefits, has purchased his obedience so dearly.Hengstenberg. He demands the spiritual worship of His people on the twofold ground of His own Divine perfections and sovereignty, and His covenant relation to them.
(2) The inclusiveness of this requirement. These spiritual offerings include praise, payment of vows, and prayer. The giving of thanks, says John Arnd, comprehends many virtues in itself,acknowledgment of God as the fountain of all good; fear of God, namely, the childlike fear which receives all benefits from God as the child from the father: humility, confessing that we have nothing of ourselves, but obtain all from God, &c. Hengstenberg translates: Offer to God praise, and THUS pay to the Highest thy vows. He explains: He only who has rendered the substance of this thank-offering, thanks, has truly paid his vow. Lives of penitence, prayer, gratitude, praise, affection, obedience, and trust, constitute the acceptable sacrifices.
2. They secure His blessing. The whole fifteenth verse is of a promissory nature. It announces the reward which is appointed for the spiritual worship of God. Whoever thanks God in the right manner for deliverance obtained, may console himself in the time of distress with the assured hope of a new deliverance.Hengstenberg.
3. They are a means by which we glorify God. Thou shalt glorify Me. God is glorified not by our outward professions or material offerings, but by grateful and trustful hearts expressed in holy and earnest lives.
CONCLUSION.Are we thus honouring Him? Our material offerings and formal services He will not accept unless we give Him our heart and life. Be it ours, through the atonement of Christ Jesus, and in imitation of His example, to devote ourselves unreservedly and for ever to God.
RESOURCE AND COMFORT IN TROUBLE
(Psa. 50:15.)
Notice
I. The period described. The day of trouble. We are often called to pass through trouble in the present world. We sometimes are troubled with opposition from the world (2Ti. 3:12), sometimes with painful family discord (Pro. 17:1), sometimes with great bodily infirmities (Isa. 38:14-15), sometimes with inward conflicts (Rom. 7:22-24), sometimes with perplexities in business, sometimes with worldly disappointments, sometimes with the unfaithfulness of friends (2Ti. 4:10; 2Ti. 4:16), sometimes with the weight of declining years, sometimes with slanderous reports (Psa. 41:5-8), sometimes with pecuniary losses, sometimes with afflictive bereavements (Psa. 88:18), and sometimes with tormenting fears (2Co. 7:5).
II. The direction given. Call upon Me. We should do thisin the language of deprecation (Psa. 143:2); in the language of petition (Psa. 69:14); in the language of confession (Psa. 51:2, 1Jn. 1:9); in the language of humility (Gen. 18:27; Gen. 32:10); and in the language of submission (Mat. 26:42).
III. The consolation introduced. I will deliver thee. This He will do at the fittest time, by the fittest instruments, through the fittest mediums, and in the fittest manner.
IV. The consequence anticipated. Thou shalt glorify Me. In the memory, by lively recollections of My kindness; in the conscience, by fearing to prove ungrateful; in the affections, by loving Me supremely; in the life, by devotedness to My service.W. Sleigh.
GODS CHALLENGE TO RELIGIOUS HYPOCRITES
(Psa. 50:16-23.)
We have here
I. Religious hypocrites proclaiming Gods law. What hast thou to do to declare My statutes, or that thou shouldest take My covenant in thy mouth? It is a great evil when private professors of religion are untrue to their profession. In them hypocrisy is an evil and pernicious thing. But for hypocrites to declare and teach Gods law to others, and set it at nought themselves, is an outrageous evil. He who preaches the law to others should endeavour to keep the law himself. A man who is not himself sincerely religious has no Divine authority to preach the Word of God to others. Neither has he the ability to do so aright. To represent the power and beauty of truth and grace faithfully, we must know their beauty and power for ourselves. Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord. (See Rom. 2:17-24.)
II. Religious hypocrites despising Gods Word. Thou hatest instruction, and castest My words behind thee. A teacher of others, yet unwilling to learn himself. A preacher of the Word of God to others, yet contemptuously disregarding that Word himself. It is to be feared that there are still teachers of religion who themselves refuse to be taught of God; and who, by neglecting its study or disobeying its precepts, despise the Word of God. Such persons occupy and profane the sacred position of religious teachers for the gratification of their ambition, or for the emoluments of the office, &c. But whatever may be their motive, their sin is most heinous and mischievous.
III. Religious hypocrites breaking Gods laws. When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, &c. (Psa. 50:18-20). These teachers of the law are here charged by God with breaking its seventh, eighth, and ninth commandments. He accuses them of adultery, theft, and false witness. They approved the practices of thieves and shared in their plunder. Adultery was very common among the Jews, for even the Talmud accuses some of the most celebrated Rabbis of this vice.M. Stuart. The charge of evil speaking is very strong. It was not an occasional thing with them; they were addicted to it. Mouth and tongue were devoted to wickedness and deceit. The expression in Psa. 50:20, thou sittest, is a delineation to the life of babbling companies. In the enjoyment of social intercourse they employed themselves in backbiting and slandering. Even the nearest relations were not exempt from their venomous tongues. Their brother, their own mothers son, they would assail. It is to be remembered that where polygamy prevailed there would be many children in the same family who had the same father, but not the same mother. The nearest relationship, therefore, was where there was the same mother as well as the same father. To speak of a brother, in the strictest sense, and as implying the nearest relationship, it would be natural to speak of one as having the same mother.Barnes. Now these sineslander, even of the nearest relations, adultery, and complicity with thievesare charged against not merely professors of religion, but teachers of the law. The effect of such sins in persons holding such a position and making such a profession is most baneful. These effects are
1. Ruin to the hypocrites themselves. (See 2 Peter 2.)
2. Paralysis and corruption to the Church.
3. Stumbling to the world. (Rom. 2:24; 2Pe. 2:2.)
IV. Religious hypocrites deceiving themselves as to the Divine character and conduct. These things thou hast done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself. God had borne long with them in their evil ways. His forbearance and long suffering were exercised with a view to their repentance. But they misinterpreted His non-interference as an indication that He regarded sin even as they did. Sinners take Gods silence for consent, and His patience with them as palliation of their sins, and are thus encouraged in evil. But great is their mistake in this. Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Yet it surely will be executed.
V. Religious hypocrites interrogated by God. What hast thou to do to declare My statutes? &c. (Psa. 50:16). Thus God challenges their right and title to proclaim His statutes. What right had they to speak of His covenant when they were constantly and flagrantly violating it? This challenge implies
1. The inconsistency of their conduct.
2. The enormity of their conduct. They were profaning the most sacred realities; endangering the most precious interests of human souls; dishonouring God.
3. The rejection by God of their professional duties. He rejects with utter abhorrence the professional services in His cause of those whose hearts and lives are profane and impure.
VI. Religions hypocrites convicted of their sins. I will reprove thee, and set them in order before Mine eyes. The word translated reprove means to demonstrate against, reprove, rebuke, chastise. We take it to mean here that God would thoroughly convince them of the charges which He brings against them, by setting their sins in order before their eyes. He would summon their sins from the graves of the past to rise and confront them, and so convince them. He declares, says Calvin, that they will soon be drawn into open light, that they shall be compelled to see with their eyes the shameful deeds which they had imagined they could conceal from the eyes of God. For so I understand the setting in order, that God will lay before them in exact order a full catalogue of their misdeeds, which they must read and own, whether they will or not. Unless our sins are blotted out by the blood of Christ, we must confront them all again to our utter confusion.
VII. Religious hypocrites warned by God. Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, &c. It is the doom of hypocrites to be cat asunder (Mat. 24:51). Note,
1. Forgetfulness of God is at the bottom of all the wickedness of the wicked. Those that know God, and yet do not obey Him, do certainly forget Him.
2. Those that forget God forget themselves, and it will never be right with them till they consider, and so recover themselves. Consideration is the first step towards conversion.
3. Those that will not consider the warnings of Gods Word will certainly be torn in pieces by the execution of His wrath.
4. When God comes to tear sinners in pieces, there is no delivering them out of His hand. They cannot deliver themselves, nor can any friend they have in the world deliver them.M. Henry.
VIII. All men instructed by God. Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me, &c. (Psa. 50:23): The first clause of this verse is a compend of Psa. 50:14-15. On the second, Matthew Henry remarks:
1. It is not enough for us to offer praise, but we must withal order our conversation aright. Thanksgiving is good, but thanksliving is better.
2. Those that would have their conversation right must take care and pains to order it, to dispose it according to rule, to understand their way and to direct it.
3. Those that take care of their conversation make sure their salvation. The right ordering of the conversation is the only way, and it is a sure way, to obtain the great salvation.
CONCLUSION.Let professors of religion, and especially ministers thereof, examine themselves. To each of us who are ministers or teachers our Lord by His apostle says,Be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Brethren, are we such an example? If there be any hypocrisy, any insincerity in us, let us take warning, and repent, and be saved while yet we may.
And let the sincere Christian, who sacrifices unto God thanksgiving, and orders his conversation aright, be encouraged, for his salvation is of the Lord, and faileth not.
AN AWFUL FALLACY
Psa. 50:21. Thou thoughtest that I was altogether as thyself.
There are certain features in which we are like God. God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. There are certain features of that likeness which sin has not destroyed. Our reason remains. Our moral sense, though injured, is not destroyed, &c. If we were not in some respects like God, we could receive no revelation of Him. But it is a sinful fallacy to suppose that God is altogether like us. Let us exhibit the fallaciousness and evil of such a supposition.
I. Men are able to hide their sins from each other, and the wicked act as though they could hide them from God. Wicked men do impose upon their fellow-men by means of religious professions and practices. The Jews addressed in this psalm imagined that their ritualistic observances would hide from God the enormity of their moral conduct. They thought that they could impose upon God by their religious forms. This is what men are doing now. If men realised the impossibility of hiding anything from God, sin would become an exceptional thing. And yet, how preposterous it is to think to hide anything from the All-Seeing! He has set our secret sins in the light of His countenance.
II. Men are apt to lose all concern for the insignificant when occupied with the important, and the wicked act as though this were the case with God. The statesman dealing with national problems and influencing the destinies of mighty empires may overlook the beggar-child that stands at his gate. The wicked argue, God is great and occupied with concerns of unlimited extent and unspeakable importance; He upholds the entire universe; do you think He leaves these vast concerns to notice the sins of one man? I can understand His punishing the sins of a host of angels, or of a multitude of men, or of a nation; but the failings of one imperfect man He does not concern Himself about. How foolish! Great and small are only the relative terms of imperfect beings. To God nothing is unimportant, &c.
III. Men become unmindful of an offence in course of time, and the wicked think that in this God is altogether as they are. We are indifferent now to an offence which we bitterly resented some years ago when it was offered to us. Time has wonderfully toned down our feeling. But God never forgets or becomes indifferent to any sin. He knows the dark history of every sin, sees all its awful relations and bearings, and so He never becomes indifferent as we do. Moreover, He knows that sin must either be pardoned or punished, and, therefore, His solicitude for the sinners good keeps the sin ever before Him. We may grow indifferent to a wrong, but God never can.
IV. Men regard sin with great leniency, and the wicked imagine that God does so. Fools make a mock at sin. Society says of the profligate that he is somewhat gay, or a trifle fast. Philosophers speak of sin as misdirection, or as a result of deficient education, or unfavourable circumstances and surroundings. These tolerant and false views of sin men are prone to transfer to God. But with Him sin is the abominable thing which He hates. He has proclaimed His hatred of it in the punishment of the angels who sinned, in the destruction of the ungodly world by the flood, in the overthrow of the cities of the plain, &c. The sufferings and death of Jesus His Son to put away sin are Gods great protest against evil. He is completely, unchangeably, eternally opposed to it.
V. Men treat sin and sinners in a very changeable manner, and the wicked think that God will do so. Man burns with anger against an offender, and threatens stern punishment; but the anger cools and the punishment is never inflicted. Or man threatens a punishment which he cannot inflict. Men are prone to think that God is as they are in this respect. Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, &c. His threatenings, they think, are designed to deter men from evil; but if it is committed, He will not arise to punish for it. But this is a fatal mistake. He will fulfil His threatenings against the impenitent. Judgment is delayed, because in His mercy God waits for the wicked to turn penitently to Him. But if His forbearance do not result in their penitence, His judgment will be the more terrible. He will set their sins before them in all their multiplicity and enormity, and the sight will extinguish their hope, and call upon Despair henceforth to be their attendant angel.
Sin must be either cast behind Gods back, or it will cast the sinner into hell. There is forgiveness with God. He delighteth in mercy. He abundantly pardons. The Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins. Seek Him while He may be found.
Let us not imagine that God is altogether like unto us in His estimate of evil and evil-doers; but let us seek to view sin as He does, with implacable hatred, and to resist it with relentless vigour.
Others, imagining God to be like themselves, conclude that He regards sin with feelings of stormy passion and sinful revenge. They do greatly err. And others that He is partial in His redemptive purposes and sectarian in His sympathies. They also err. His love is far greater than the best of our conceptions of it.
Let us not think that God is altogether like unto us, but endeavour, through Jesus Christ, to become altogether like unto Him.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Psalms 50
DESCRIPTIVE TITLE
Judgment on Israel Pronounced amid the Solemnities of an Audible and Visible Divine Manifestation.
ANALYSIS
Stanza I., Psa. 50:1-7, Preparations for Judgment: consisting of a Divine Announcement and Appearing, and a Summons to Heaven and Earth to Declare the Righteousness of the Judge, who now Opens his Address to His People. Stanza II., Psa. 50:8-15, Formalists Admonished to Supplement their Offerings by Gratitude, Faithfulness, and Prayer in the Day of Distress. Stanza III., Psa. 50:16-23, Secret Deserters Denounced for Hypocrisy and Lawlessness. First Refrain, a Summons; Second Refrain, an Admonition; Third Refrain, a Proclamation.
(Lm.) PsalmBy Asaph.
1
Jehovah[539] hath spoken and called the earth,
[539] M.T.: El, Elohim, Jehovah, as in Jos. 22:22; but prob. (w. Br.) due to accidental repetition; and the subsequent restoration of the displaced name Jehovah.
from the rising of the sun unto the going in thereof
2
Out of Zion the perfection of beauty
God hath come shining forth.[540]
[540] M.T.: Let our God come and not keep silencewh. has the appearance of an added pious wish. Yet see Dr., Tenses, 58.
3
A fire before him devoureth,
and around him it stormeth exceedingly:
4
He calleth to the heavens above and unto the earth,
in order to minister judgment to his people.
5
Gather unto me my men of kindness,
the solemnisers of my covenant over a peace-offering,
6
And let the heavens declare his righteousness,
for God himself is about to judge.
7
Hear O my people and let me speak,
O Israel and let me admonish thee:
God thy God[541] am I
[541] Prob. an elohistic substitute for Jehovah thy God. Cp. Psa. 45:7.
(who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.)[542]
[542] Prob. a copyists abbreviation, words in brackets understood by pious JewBr. Cp. Psa. 81:10, Exo. 20:2.
8
Not concerning thy peace-offerings will I reprove thee nor concerning thine ascending-offerings before me continually;[543]
[543] Or: And thine ascending-offerings are continually before me(w. Del., Dr., Per., R.V., text, Leeser, Kp.).
9
I will not take out of thy house a bull,
out of thy fields he-goats;
10
For mine are all the beasts of the forest
the cattle on the mountains in their thousands,[544]
[544] Some read [omitting one letter]: mountains of God, as in Psa. 36:6O.G. 49.
11
I know all the birds of the heavens[545]
[545] So Sep.
and that which moveth in the plains is with me:[546]
[546] In my mindDr. (comparing Job. 10:13; Job. 13:11.)
12
If I were hungry I would not tell thee
for mine is the world and the fulness thereof:
13
Shall I eat the flesh of mighty oxen
or the blood of he-goats shall I drink?
14
Sacrifice unto God a thank-offering,[547]
[547] So Br. ThanksgivingDel., Per., Dr.
and pay to the Highest thy vows;
15
And call unto me in the day of distress,
I will rescue thee and thou shalt glorify me.
16
But to the lawless one[548] saith God:
[548] Cp. Psa. 1:1 note, Psa. 25:5.
What hast thou to do with telling my statutes
and taking up my covenant on thy mouth?
17
Since thou hast hated correction
and cast my words behind thee?
18
If thou sawest a thief thou didst run[549] with him
[549] So it shd. be (w. Aram., Sep., Syr., Vul.)Gn. M.T.: wast pleased.
and with adulterers hath been thy chosen life:
19
Thy mouth hast thou thrust into wickedness
and thy tongue weaveth deceit:
20
Thou wouldst sit downagainst thine own brother wouldst thou speak
in thine own mothers son[550] wouldst thou expose a fault:
[550] Felt to be still more mean in polygamous society.
21
These things hast thou done and I have kept silence,
thou deemest I should really be like thyself.
22
I will convict thee and set it forth to thine eyes,
pray consider this ye forgetters of God.[551]
[551] M.T. adds: Lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.
23
He that sacrificeth a thank-offering[552] glorifieth me.
[552] So. Br. ThanksggivingDel., Dr.
and him who is consistent[553] in behaviour[554] will I cause to view with delight the salvation of God.
[553] Or: whole-hearted. Gt.: tarn, instead of sham or samGn.
[554] Ml.: way.
(Lm.) To the Chief Musician.
PARAPHRASE
Psalms 50
The mighty God, the Lord, has summoned all mankind from east to west!
2 Gods glory-light shines from the beautiful Temple[555] on Mount Zion.
[555] Literally, Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty.
3 He comes with the noise of thunder,[556] surrounded by devastating fire; a great storm rages round about Him.
[556] Literally, comes, and does not keep silence.
4 He has come to judge His people. To heaven and earth He shouts.
5 Gather together My own people who by their sacrifice upon My altar have promised to obey[557] Me.
[557] Literally, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.
6 God will judge them with complete fairness, for all heaven declares that He is just.
7 O My people, listen! For I am your God. Listen! Here are My charges against you:
8 I have no complaint about the sacrifices you bring to My altar, for you bring them regularly.
9 But it isnt sacrificial bullocks and goats that I really want from you!
10, 11 For all the animals of field and forest are Mine! The cattle on a thousand hills! And all the birds upon the mountains!
12 If I were hungry, I would not mention it to youfor all the world is Mine, and everything in it.
13 No, I dont need your sacrifices of flesh and blood!
14, 15 What I want from you is your true thanks; I want your promises fulfilled. I want you to trust Me in your times of trouble, so I can rescue you, and you can give Me glory!
16 But God says to evil men: Recite My laws no longer, and stop claiming My promises,
17 For you have refused My discipline, disregarded My laws.
18 You see a thief and help him, and spend your time with evil and immoral men.
19 You curse and lie, and vile language streams from your mouths.
20 You slander your own brother.
21 I remained silentyou thought I didnt carebut now your time of punishment has come, and I list all the above charges against you.
22 This is the last chance, for all of you who have forgotten God before I tear you apartand no one can help you then.
23 But true praise is a worthy sacrifice; this really honors Me. Those who walk My paths will receive salvation from the Lord.
EXPOSITION
This impressive psalm includes many things which require and will repay careful consideration. It is clear that the Judgment it describes is held on Israel as a nation. This being the case, it is the more remarkable that earth and heaven are summoned to interest themselves in the proceedings: thus teaching the momentous character of the issues involved, the Divine Equity and Grace in desiring that whatever can be said in Israels favour shall be advanced, and the Divine Determination that right shall be done. That the Divine Glory comes shining forth out of Zion, intimates that the issues to be tried are connected with Jehovahs settlement as King in Israel, and grow out of the worship established in Jerusalem. That the Divine Majesty comes forth with fiery tempest and raging storm betokens that Gods holy anger with his people is roused, and therefore that the time is one of national degeneracy. The summons to gather Israel does not perhaps imply that the greater Dispersions have yet taken place, so much as simply that the gathering is to be national, one of the whole people, on the largest scale possible, so that all classes may be reached, and a general verdict on the nation be pronounced. The description of the nation in the summons as the men of Jehovahs kindness is probably designed to remind the people of what by their national calling they ought to be (Cy. Intro., Chap. III., Kindness); and though, in a suitable context, the further description of the people as those having solemnised Jehovahs covenant over a peace-offering, might very well have directly pointed to Moses and the Elders who so accepted the covenant at Mount Sinai, according to the sublime account in Exodus 24,yet it would seem less imaginative, and more pointedly practical, rather to think of some recent confirming of the Sinai Covenant, such as we read of in the history of Hezekiah and Josiah (2Ch. 29:10; 2Ch. 34:31). To go no further than Hezekiah, we can easily see from the very opening of Isaiahs prophecies, how easy it was for Israel to sink from national reform into national formalism. And, truth to tell, heavy as are the charges against Israel which follow in this psalm, they do not go beyond the corrupt state of things which at that time characterised the people as a whole. The voluntative moods of the verbs which open the climax to this stanza (let me speak, let me admonish) may usefully remind us of the patience of Jehovah in listening so long in silence to the calumnious speeches of men; while the assertion by Jehovah of his relation to Israel as her Redeemer may remind us of the reasonableness of all Divine demands, seeing that they are based on privilege already bestowed (cp. Isa. v.: my vineyardwhat more could I have done to it?).
The great lesson of the second stanza appears to be, that stated and especially national worship is apt to degenerate into formalism; and, what is still worse, may lead worshippers to feel as though by its regular maintenance they were conferring a favour upon the Object of their worship. Hence the indignant protests of Jehovah of his independence of any material service which men can render him (cp. Act. 17:24-25). What he desires is mens gratitude; and as thank-offerings are personal and spontaneous, and so more certain expressions of gratitude than stated public offerings, they are here preferredespecially where they have been promised by voivs; in which case faithfulness as well as thankfulness is involved. It seems to be further taught that thankful returns for the more common of special blessings, laid a basis for the outcry of the soul to God in the severer trials of life. Thus may days of sunshine prepare us for days of storm; and pervading thankfulness may slowly generate the confidence in God needful to draw us near to him in times of distress. Deliverance then will prompt the soul to a public glorifying of the Deliverer.
In a soil of formalism the germs of apostacy may take root. Men may become so accustomed to repeating the commandments, that they may keep up the appearance of piety even when the practice of profanity is seducing them into rebellion and unutterable meanness. This appears to be the underlying thought of Stanza III. The Apostle Paul might have had this stanza in mind when he wrote, Thou that proclaimestDo not steal! Art thou stealing? (Rom. 2:21). Presuming on Gods silence as though it were indifference, is a sure way to become forgetters of God; and to forget Him is to be startled and convicted when he pleases to speak. The climax of the third stanza seems to fold back on the whole foregoing psalm: the thank-offering counselled at the end of the second stanza, is now invested with the dignity of a standing proclamation of habitual truth; and whereas thankfulness appeared in Psa. 50:14-15 as only the beginning of a course which would end in glorifying God, it is now (Psa. 50:23) said to be in itself a rendering of glory to the Divine Majesty. There is frequently a difficulty in suitably rendering in English the small Hebrew word tarn, which Ginsberg here prefers to sham (there) or sum (put or place). It means wholeness, completeness; and so in some contexts may be translated wholehearted, devoted, perfect. Perhaps, here, consistent, all-of-a-piece sufficiently represents it. Taking the word derek, way, as here equivalent to way-of-life, behaviour, and connecting the two, we get the simple and practical conceptionwhich admirably folds back over this third stanzahim who is consistent in behaviour: who does not profess one thing and practise another, who does not uphold the national covenant in words and then deliberately break its great and vital commands one after another,him will I cause to view with delight the salvation of God: a very remarkable ending. It is not: he is already savedfrom the point of view of Hebrew twilight and imperfection, that could hardly be said. Besides, there may be a forward glance towards a great national deliverance. We know of some who were spared to view with delight the salvation of God when the Assyrians were overthrown; and who doubtless rang out the words, Lo our God is this! We waited for him that he might save us,This is Jehovah! We waited for him. Let us rejoice and exult in his salvation (Isa. 25:9). And even the Christian may remind himself that as yet he is only saved in hopethat he yet waits for the redemption of the body, and for the revealing of the sons of God (Rom. 8:19). But to return for a moment to him who is consistent in behaviour, it is clear that he need not be a work-monger, or a self-righteous person; but that there are such things as works meet for repentancethat, though sincerity cannot save, yet there can be no saving without sincerity; that, in short, though the kingdom of heaven can only spring from the word of the kingdom, which is the seed, yet the very heart to receive that seed is the noble and good heart that feels its emptiness and poverty.
Into what historical situation does this psalm, by its terms and tenor, fit itself? It is the first of the psalms attributed To Asaph; but who was he? Was there a seer of that name in Hezekiahs days as well as one in Davids? Dr. Thirtle (O.T.P., 91) thinks there was; but the evidence he submits does not appear conclusive. Yet he may be right; and the more we reflect on the inner elements of the situation revealed by this psalm, the more it identifies itself with the state of things known to have existed in Hezekiahs days. In Davids time there may have been some formalism; but we have no ground to think there was any apostacy, even incipient; norto be quite candidis formalism just the sin we should have charged on Israel in the days of David. But, in Hezekiahs time, there was not only rampant formalism, as Isaiah so pungently witnesses, but there was that sort of lawlessness which wavered in its adherence to the worship of Jehovah? That villain Rabshakeh doubtless appealed to faltering hearts in Israel. His bold plausibilities and blasphemies and insinuations were bearing fruit in some restive and resilient hearts. Gross corruption and practical atheism had eaten out the moral life of some places in Israel, as the fourteenth psalm disclosed to us. The day of distress was near; and some would soon need all the comfort derivable from the promise of deliverance. The day of secret apostacy had come. These elements constitute a situation which strikingly suits this psalm.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1.
What is the theme or title of this psalm? Who is to be judgedby relating ourselves to Israel we shall learn much from this psalm.
2.
Who is the judge? What are the two charges? (see Psa. 50:7-21).
3.
Read Psa. 50:1-3 as introducing the judge. Psa. 50:4-6 as the opening of the judgment.
4.
Who are the spectators at this trial?
5.
Do you conclude that the first charge in this trial is Formalism? Just what is involved in this?Is this a serious flaw?
6.
God wants expressions of worship, but He does not need them for Himselfwhy are they given?
7.
Read Psa. 50:14-15 as a description of the true worship of God. Cf. Joh. 4:24.
8.
To see just how far hypocrisy can go, read carefully Psa. 50:16-21. It is possible to speak against stealing and at the same time be a thief! Discuss the psychological development of this tragic condition.
9.
What commandments of the ten commandments were taught against and then performed by the very ones who taught against them.
10.
God did nothing while such open rebellion was practicedhow did these people interpret the silence of God? Cf. Rom. 2:1-4.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(1) The mighty God, even the Lord.Heb., El Elohm, Jehovah, a combination of the Divine names that has been very variously understood. The Authorised Version follows the rendering of Aquila and Symmachus. But the Masoretic accents are in favour of taking each term as an appellative. Hitzig objects that this is stiff, but it is so on purpose. The poet introduces his vision of judgment in the style of a formal royal proclamation, as the preterite tenses also indicate. But as in this case it is not the earthly monarch, but the Divine, who is Lord also of the whole earth, the range of the proclamation is not territorial, from Dan even unto Beersheba, as in 2Ch. 30:5, but is couched in larger terms, from sunrise to sunset, an expression constantly used of the operation of Divine power and mercy. (Comp. Psa. 103:12; Psa. 113:3; Isa. 41:25; Isa. 45:6.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1. The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken Hebrew, God, God Jehovah, hath spoken. The psalms of Asaph are Elohistic. The name “God” appears ten times in this psalm, the name “Jehovah” once. This accumulating of titles is not to give a turgid exordium, but to make a solemn impression of the judicial summons, Psa 50:4-7, for the trial of his people. The titles mark a gradation in the sense, , ( Eloheem, God,) plural, the pluralis excellentia, being more emphatic than , ( el,) the Mighty One. As if he would say: “The Almighty, the most awful God, Jehovah,” etc. The fundamental idea of the first two titles is that of almightiness, the second being intensive of the first; that of the last is self-existence.
Called the earth All nations, all mankind.
From the rising of the sun , ( mizrahh,) east, where it stands opposed to west, as here, denotes the extreme east, the sun rising, that is, the extreme part of heaven, as , ( mahboh,) going down of the sun, does the extreme west, which, according to Hebrew ideas, represented the utmost boundaries of the world east and west.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
God Calls On The Whole Earth To Witness His Coming To Judge His People ( Psa 50:1-6 ).
This section can be divided up as follows:
Who it is Who is coming (Psa 50:1).
Where He is coming from and how He is coming (Psa 50:2).
The glory in which He is coming (Psa 50:3).
The purpose of His coming (Psa 50:4-6).
Who It Is Who Is Coming ( Psa 50:1 ).
Psa 50:1
‘The Mighty One, God, YHWH,
He has spoken and called the earth,
From the rising of the sun,
To its going down.’
The One Who is coming is El Elohim YHWH, the mighty God of Gods, YHWH. This unusual combination of divine names is found nowhere else in this particular formation. But the three names do appear together in Jos 22:22, which speaks of YHWH El Elohim in a most solemn oath; Deu 4:31, where His people are told ‘YHWH your Elohim is a merciful El’; Deu 5:9, where God declares, ‘I YHWH your Elohim am a jealous El’, (compare Deu 6:15); and Deu 7:9 where His people are told, ‘YHWH your Elohim, He is Elohim, El the faithful.’
The three names bring out three aspects of God. As El He reveals Himself as the Mighty One. As Elohim He reveals Himself as the Creator of Heaven and earth, the One Who is manifest through creation (Psa 19:1-6; Gen 1:1). As YHWH He reveals Himself as Israel’s covenant God, the Self-revealing One (Exo 3:14-15; Exo 6:3; Exo 20:2). And finally His universality is revealed in that He speaks to the whole known earth, and those who dwell in it, from where the sun rises in the east to where it sets in the west. All are under His sway and are to be interested in His verdict.
Where He Is Coming From And How He Is Coming ( Psa 50:2 a).
Psa 50:2
‘Out of Zion,
The perfection of beauty,
God has shone forth.
In the ancient days God shone forth from the Tabernacle (Exo 40:34; Exo 40:38). He also shone forth from Sinai and Mount Paran on behalf of His people (Deu 33:2). Now He is revealing Himself from Mount Zion. It is an open question whether ‘the perfection of beauty’ refers to Zion, or to God. (Do we read as ‘Zion which is the perfection of beauty’ (compare Psa 48:2; Lam 2:15) or as ‘As the perfection of beauty God has shone forth’ – compare Psa 29:2). Israel may well have seen Zion, where God dwelt, as the perfection of beauty because of the fact that He dwelt there, something confirmed in Lam 2:15, but the fulsome description might be seen as favouring the idea that it refers to God Himself. Lam 2:15 may then have arisen from a later application of this description to Zion on the basis of this Psalm. It is not really important. Under either interpretation the perfection of beauty is finally God’s.
Israel did not believe that God was limited to Mount Zion, any more than they saw Him as limited to the Tabernacle or to Sinai. The point was rather that these were places where God had been pleased to manifest Himself on behalf of His people. They knew, however, that, in the words of Solomon, ‘even the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built’ (1Ki 8:27).
The Glory In Which He Is Coming ( Psa 50:3 b).
Psa 50:3
Our God comes,
And does not keep silence,
Fire devours before him,
And it is very tempestuous round about him.
God is not coming in silence. He is coming to speak openly to His people, whether out of the splendour of Zion as indwelt by Him, or out of His own glorious splendour. And His glory is revealed as being like a mighty storm, with lightning devouring before Him, and a raging tempest swirling around Him. Compare Psa 19:1-6. There also He was to be worshipped in ‘the beauty of holiness’.
The vision of God as coming in a raging and violent storm is a regular one in Scripture. E.g. Psa 18:7-14; Psa 19:1-6; Psa 97:2-5; Exo 19:16-18; Isa 29:6. For God as a consuming fire see Deu 4:24; Deu 9:3; Heb 12:29.
The Purpose Of His Coming Is To Judge His People ( Psa 50:4-6 ).
Psa 50:4-6
He calls to the heavens above,
And to the earth, that he may judge his people,
Gather my saints together to me,
Those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.
And the heavens will declare his righteousness,
For God is judge himself. [Selah
It is stressed that He has come to pass judgment on His people. The call to Heaven and earth concerning His judgment of His people is paralleled in Deu 4:26; Deu 4:32; Deu 31:28; Deu 32:1; Isa 1:2-3. Compare Mic 1:2; Mic 6:1-2. They, including their inhabitants, are solemn witnesses who have seen all that has happened since creation.
He desires that His people be gathered together, ‘Those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice’. It is they who made a covenant with Him at Sinai through the blood of the sacrifices (Exodus 24), and are sealed by the blood of the covenant, something which they have ratified since then by continuing sacrifices, and it is they who are being called on to fulfil their responsibilities towards Him. Then the Heavens will declare His righteous judgments, because it is God Himself Who is judging.
The call goes out to gather His ‘saints’ together. Note the use of ‘saints’ (chasid, who are those on whom He has set His covenant love (chesed)), to signify the true people of God. The call may be addressed to the leaders of the people who normally summoned the assembly, or to the angels in Heaven (compare Mat 24:31), or to Heaven and earth as a whole, or may simply be a general request indicating His desire that they might be gathered together. Whichever is true what matters is that His true people are to be brought together. They were to some extent brought together during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, and in the inter-testamental period, when Israel were once again established as a believing people, and it has been most gloriously fulfilled in establishing the believing remnant of Israel who formed the people of the Messiah, who have gradually become known as ‘the church (ekklesia)’, having incorporated within them believers in the Messiah from among the Gentiles. They are now the true Israel.
‘And the heavens will declare his righteousness.’ This may be stressing that because God is the judge, it is the Heavens and not earth who will declare His righteous judgment, or it may be indicating that the Heavens will confirm the righteousness of the Judge, because the Judge is God Himself. Either way the judgment can be seen as just and righteous.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Psalms 50
Psa 50:1 (A Psalm of Asaph.) The mighty God, even the LORD, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.
Psa 50:1
1Ch 15:17-19, “So the Levites appointed Heman the son of Joel; and of his brethren, Asaph the son of Berechiah ; and of the sons of Merari their brethren, Ethan the son of Kushaiah; And with them their brethren of the second degree, Zechariah, Ben, and Jaaziel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Unni, Eliab, and Benaiah, and Maaseiah, and Mattithiah, and Elipheleh, and Mikneiah, and Obededom, and Jeiel, the porters. So the singers, Heman, Asaph , and Ethan, were appointed to sound with cymbals of brass;”
2Ch 29:30, “Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the LORD with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer . And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshipped.”
Psa 50:2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.
Psa 50:3 Psa 50:3
Psa 50:4 He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.
Psa 50:4
Deu 4:26, “I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.”
Deu 30:19, “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:”
Deu 31:28, “Gather unto me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to record against them.”
Deu 32:1-2, “Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:”
Note also:
Jdg 11:10-11, “And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, The LORD be witness between us, if we do not so according to thy words. Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and captain over them: and Jephthah uttered all his words before the LORD in Mizpeh.”
The Scriptures teach that in the mouth of two or three witnesses a matter is confirmed (Deu 17:6). Isa 1:2 describes for us a scene where God is passing judgment, while heaven and earth serve as two witnesses. Thus, God is judging Israel in a judicial manner similar to the way elders decreeing judgments at the gates of the ancient cities.
Deu 17:6, “At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.”
Psa 50:10 For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.
Psa 50:10
Psa 50:11 I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.
Psa 50:10-11
Mat 6:26, “Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?”
Mat 10:29, “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.”
The Scriptures record how God occasionally used animals to bring about His divine purpose and plan. For example, he used a dove in Noah’s time to bring back an olive branch as a sign that they could disembark from the ark (Gen 8:10-11). He used a plague of frogs (Exo 8:1-15), a plague of lice (Exo 8:16-19), a plague of flies (Exo 8:20-32), and a plague of locusts (Exo 10:1-20) to deliver the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage. He used a donkey to speak to the mad prophet Balaam (Num 22:28). He used ravens to feed Elijah by the brook (1Ki 17:6). He spoke to a whale and commanded him to swallow and split up Jonah (Jon 1:17; Jon 2:10).
Gen 8:10, “And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.”
Num 22:28, “And the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times?”
1Ki 17:6, “And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.”
Jon 1:17, “Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”
Jon 2:10, “And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.”
Psa 50:15 And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
Psa 50:15
Psa 50:15 Illustration – The People of the Exodus see Pharaoh coming, they cry out to God, and He delivers them through the Red Sea (Exodus 14-15). The result is Moses’ song of Praise for God’s deliverance
Psa 50:23 Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.
Psa 50:23
Word Study on “praise” Strong says the Hebrew word “praise” “todah” ( ) (H8426) literally means, “an extension of the hand, an avowal, adoration.” It is a sacrifice of thanksgiving, since this same word is used in Psa 50:14 as the word “thanksgiving.”
Psa 50:14, “Offer unto God thanksgiving ; and pay thy vows unto the most High:”
Scripture References – Note similar verses:
Psa 54:6, “ I will freely sacrifice unto thee: I will praise thy name , O LORD; for it is good.”
Jer 33:11, “The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the LORD of hosts: for the LORD is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD . For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the first, saith the LORD.”
Heb 13:15, “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.”
Psa 50:23 “and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God” Comments – To him that sets his conduct aright, God will “cause him to see” His salvation.
Illustration – One day while driving to church I was praying in tongues. I had been speaking those things which were not as though they were. I had been speaking and believing for certain events in any life. I began to pray and asked the Lord why things were going so well in my life. I had health, a good job and peace in every area of my life. The Lord then quickened Psa 50:23 to me, seeming to show me that I was “ordering,” or setting forth these things my life.
Psa 50:23 Comments – Many times God’s deliverance is conditional to our trust in Him and to our thanks to Him. This is gathered from the NIV reading of Psa 50:23, “He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God.” Praise prepares a way for God to deliver us.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Of the True Service of God.
v. 1. The mighty God, even the Lord v. 2. v. 3. Our God shall come, v. 4. He shall call to the heavens from above, v. 5. Gather My saints together unto Me, v. 6. And the heavens shall declare His righteousness, v. 7. Hear, O My people, v. 8. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices, v. 9. I will take no bullock out of thy house nor he-goats out of thy folds, v. 10. For every beast of the forest is Mine, v. 11. I know all the fowls of the mountains, v. 12. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee, v. 13. Will I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? v. 14. Offer unto God thanksgiving, v. 15. and call upon Me in the day of trouble, v. 16. But unto the wicked God saith, v. 17. seeing thou hatest instruction, v. 18. When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, v. 19. Thou givest thy mouth to evil, v. 20. Thou sit test and speakest against thy brother, v. 21. These things hast thou done, and I kept silence, v. 22. Now consider this, ye that forget God, v. 23. Whoso offereth, praise,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
THE psalmist announces an appearance of God to his people “out of Zion,” and a pronouncement of judgment upon them, which all heaven (Psa 50:4) and earth (Psa 50:1) are called upon to witness. The judgment takes the shape of a twofold address; first, to the righteous, who are exhorted to the spiritual worship of God (Psa 50:14, Psa 50:15), and warned against putting too much trust in sacrifice (Psa 50:8-13); secondly, to the wicked, who are sternly reproved for their hypocrisy, their hatred of instruction, their sins in act and speech, their want of natural affection, and their low and unworthy idea of the nature of God (Psa 50:16-21). In conclusion, a word of final warning is given to the wicked (Psa 50:22), and a word of final encouragement to the righteous (Psa 50:23).
The psalm consists of four portions:
1. An introduction (divided off by the pause-mark, “Selah,” from the rest of the psalm), announcing the “appearance,” and calling on heaven and earth to witness it (Psa 50:1-6).
2. An address to the godly Israelites (Psa 50:7-15).
3. An address to the ungodly Israelites (Psa 50:16-21).
4. A conclusion, divided equally between threat and promise (Psa 50:22, Psa 50:23).
The psalm is ascribed to Asaph, the “chief,” or superintendent, of the Levites to whom David assigned the ministry of praise before the ark (1Ch 16:4, 1Ch 16:5). So are also Psalm 73-83. Some of these may have been composed by later Asaphite Levites; but the present ode may well be Asaph’s own, since it “bears all the marks of the golden age of Hebrew poetry.” Asaph’s composition of a portion of the Psalter is implied in Hezekiah’s command to the Levites, reported in 2Ch 29:30.
Psa 50:1
The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken. A combination of three names of Godviz. El, Elohim, and Jehovahonly found here and in Jos 22:22. There it is translated “the Lord God of gods,” which is a possible rendering. Separately, the three names seem to mean, “The Mighty One,” “The Many in One” (Cheyne) or “The Three in One,” and ‘”The Self-Existent One.” He who is all these, the psalmist announces, “has spoken,” and called (or, summoned) the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof; i.e. God has summoned all mankind to hear his judgment of his covenant people.
Psa 50:2
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty (comp. Psa 48:2; Lam 2:15; 1 Macc. 2:12). God hath shined; i.e. has shown himself in his dazzling radiance. The psalmist, however, does not mean to announce a material, but a spiritual, fact.
Psa 50:3
Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence; rather, and let him not keep silence. Let him call attention to his “coming,” that his judgment may be widely known. A fire (rather, fire) shall devour before him (comp. Psa 21:9). And it shall be very tempestuous round about him. So in all theophanies (see Exo 19:16; 1Ki 19:11; Job 38:1; Psa 18:13; Psa 97:2-5; Act 2:2; Rev 4:5, etc.).
Psa 50:4
He shall call to the heavens from above; rather, to the heavens above; i.e. to the inhabitants of heaventhe holy angels. And to the earth (comp. Psa 50:1). That he may judge his people. Heaven and earth are called upon to come together, and furnish a fit audience before which the judgment may proceed.
Psa 50:5
Gather my saints together unto me. By “my saints” the psalmist means here, not godly Israel, as in Psa 16:3, but all Israelthe whole nation, whether true servants of Jehovah, or only professed servants. This is rendered clear by the ensuing clause, Those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. Not even was the first covenant dedicated without blood (Heb 9:18; comp. Exo 24:3-8); nor could any Israelite remain within the covenant without frequent sacrifice (Exo 12:2-47, etc.).
Psa 50:6
And the heavens shall declare his righteousness. The angelic host, which comes to witness the judgment of Israel (Psa 50:4), shall proclaim it a righteous judgment. For God is Judge himself. And he will certainly “do right” (Gen 18:25).
Psa 50:7-15
“The continuance of this dramatic scene,” as Professor Cheyne remarks, “scarcely answers to the commencement. The judgment seems to be adjourned, or to be left to the conscience of the defendants.” The faithful are summoned, and appear, but not to receive unqualified commendation (see Mat 25:31-40). Rather they receive a warning. The strong and prolonged depreciation of sacrifice (Psa 50:8-13) necessarily implies that in the religion of the time too much stress was laid upon it. We know that, in the heathen world, men sought to buy God’s favour by their sacrifices, some] believing that, physically, the gods were nourished by the steam of the victims, others regarding them as laid under obligations which they could not disregard. We know, too, that, in the later monarchy, sacrifice to so great an extent superseded true spiritual worship among the Israelites themselves, that it became an offence to God, and was spoken of in terms of reprobation (Isa 1:11-13; Isa 66:3). Already, it would seem, this tendency was manifesting itself, and a warning from Heaven was needed against it.
Psa 50:7
Hear, O my people, and I will speak. God will not speak to deaf ears. Unless men are ready to attend to him, he keeps silence. O Israel, and I will testify against thee; or, protest unto thee (Kay, Cheyne). I am God, even thy God. And therefore am entitled to be heard.
Psa 50:8
I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings. It is for no neglect of the outward ritual of religionof sacrifice and offeringthat I have to reprove thee. To have been continually before me; rather, they have been continually before me. I have had enough of them, and to spare. Not only have the daily morning and evening sacrifices been regularly offered, and the national worship thus kept up without a break; but the private offerings of individuals (see Psa 50:9, Psa 50:13) have been continuous and ample in number. But they have not been acceptable.
Psa 50:9
I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds. The offerings of those who offer amiss will not be accepted. God declines to receive them.
Psa 50:10
For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. So the Revised Version, Dr. Kay, Canon Cook, the Four Friends, and others; but many critics regard such a rendering as impossible. Of these, some translate, “And the cattle upon the hills, where there are thousands” (Hupfeld, Hengstenberg, etc.); while others read for , and render, “And the cattle upon the mountains of God” (Olshausen, Cheyne).
Psa 50:11
I know all the fowls of the mountains, and the wild beasts of the field are mine; literally, are ‘with me. All creation is God’s, known to him, and owned by him, to be dealt with at his pleasure. How, then, should he need gifts from men?
Psa 50:12
If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; i.e. suppose it possible that I could be hungry, I should not have recourse to man; for the world is mine, and the fulness thereofand I should have recourse to it.
Psa 50:13
Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? But is it to be supposed, can any suppose it possible, that I, the Lord of heaven and earth, the invisible Author of all things, both visible and invisible, can need material sustenance, and can condescend to find any sustenance in bulls’ flesh and goats’ blood? Scarcely did even the grossest of the heathen take this view. A vapour, an odour (), was thought to ascend from the victims sacrificed, and this penetrated to the Olympian abodes, and gratified, or, as some would say, “fed” the gods. But such coarse feeding as that suggested in the text was hardly imagined by any, unless it were by utter savages and barbarians.
Psa 50:14
Offer unto God thanksgiving. The one offering acceptable to God is praise and thanksgiving out of a pure heart. This was designed to be the accompaniment of all sacrifice, and was the ground of acceptability in every case where sacrifice was acceptable. And pay thy vows unto the Most High; i.e. “and so pay thy vows.” So offer thy worship, and it will be accepted.
Psa 50:15
And call upon me in the day of trouble (comp. Psa 20:1). I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. The meaning is, “Then, when thou shalt offer unto me a true worship (Psa 50:14), if thou wilt call upon me in the day of trouble, I will assuredly deliver thee, and so give thee occasion for glorifying me.”
Psa 50:16-21
While even the more godly among the Israelites have been thus, to a certain extent, reproved (Psa 50:8-14), the psalmist now addresses to the ungodly, the open and wilful transgressors, a far sterner rebuke. They claim the privileges of God’s covenanted servants (Psa 50:16), but perform none of the duties (Psa 50:17-20), thus bringing down upon themselves a terrible menace.
Psa 50:16
But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? The wicked assumed that they were true Israelites. They were familiar with the words of God’s statutes, and with the terms of the covenant. They claimed the right of enforcing them against others (Rom 2:18-20), while in their own persons they set them at nought (Psa 50:18-20). God declares that they have no right to assume to be teachers of others until they have taught themselvesthey are unfit even to “take his covenant in their mouth.”
Psa 50:17
Seeing thou hatest instruction (comp. Pro 1:25, Pro 1:29). God, by his Law, teaches men their duties; but many men “hate” to be instructed. And castest my words behind thee. They proceed from “inward alienation” to “open rejection” of the moral law.
Psa 50:18
When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst unto him. God tests his professed, but really disobedient, servants by the second table of the Decalogue, and finds them wanting. If they do not themselves actually rob, they give their consent, they become accessories before the fact, to robbery. They probably participate in the gains. And hast been partaker with adulterers; rather, and with adulterers is thy portion; i.e. thou hast thrown in thy lot with them, hast adopted their principles, hast set at nought the seventh no less than the eighth commandment.
Psa 50:19
Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit; rather, thou hast loosed thy mouth to evil; i.e. given it liberty to utter all manner of wicked speech; and especially thou hast used mouth and tongue to cozen and deceive.
Psa 50:20
Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother. Professor Cheyne understands by “brother” any fellow-Israelite; hut the parallel in the second hemistichThou slanderest thine own mother’s sonimplies that an actual brother is intended. It is one of the special characteristics of the reprobate to be “without natural affection” (Rom 1:31).
Psa 50:21
These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself. Because God did not interpose openly to punish the sins committed, the transgressor dared to imagine him to be indifferent to sin, “such an one as himself”no holier, no purer, no more averse to evil. But I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. But now the time is come when I shall no longer keep silence; I shall openly “reprove” thee, and marshal in set order before thee all the wicked deeds which thou hast done. God, as Calvin says, “will lay before them in exact order a full catalogue of their misdeeds, which they must read and own, whether they will or not.”
Psa 50:22
Now consider this, ye that forget God. Having been “reproved,” the wicked are now, in conclusion, exhorted and warned. “Consider this;” i.e. take it to heart, reflect upon it, let it sink deeply into your minds and consciences, and act upon it. Lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. A most awful threat. To “tear in pieces” is the act of a wild beast (Psa 7:2). Job declares that God “teareth him;” but otherwise the expression is scarcely used of Divine chastisements. Certainly, if God, in his anger, lays hold upon a man to punish him, there is no possible deliverance at the hand of any other man (Psa 49:7, Psa 49:8). Deliverance, if it comes at all, must come from the Redeemer within the Godhead.
Psa 50:23
Whose offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I show the salvation of God. As the wicked have their parting warning, so the godly have their parting encouragement. God is “glorified” (see Psa 50:15) by those who offer him praise from a sincere heart; and if a man will lay down for himself a straight path and pursue it, God will “show him his salvation;’ i.e. will bring him to peace and blessedness.
HOMILETICS
Psa 50:21
Thoughts of God.
“Thou thoughtest as thyself.” What a man thinks in his heart of God is the turning-point of life and character. If we think “all things are naked and opened,” etc. (Heb 4:13), that we really “have to do” with God, this must needs tell on our whole view of life, from its greatest affairs to its least. If we think God takes no note of sin, we shall be careless of sin. If we think of God as severe, implacable, unjust, we may fear him, but cannot love him. If we think of him as loving and merciful, “faithful and just to forgive,” etc. (1Jn 1:9), we shall learn to “love him, because he first loved us” (1Jn 4:19); and loving, shall obey. And if we think of him as holy, we shall hate sin, and strive after holiness (Heb 12:14). Let us note
(1) the wrong thought of God here rebuked;
(2) the equally dangerous opposite error;
(3) the truth, which in a distorted, imperfect form, is to be found in both.
I. THE ERROR OF BRINGING DOWN OUR THOUGHTS OF GOD TO THE LEVEL OF HUMAN NATUREmeasuring God by man. “Thou thoughtest,” etc. This is the germ of idolatry. Man’s nature makes him a worshipper. His reason demands God. His heart cries out for God. His weakness needs God. But his sinfulness shrinks from a righteous and holy God (see St. Paul’s account of the matter, Rom 1:19-25). But those to whom this warning is spoken are not idolaters, any more than they are atheists. They “declare God’s statutes” and “take his covenant in their mouth.” Professed members of his Church, even teachers in it. But “in works they deny him” (Tit 1:16). Looking at this psalm as predictive, its first fulfilment was when our Saviour denounced the hypocrites of this day; as in Mat 24:1-51. Its final fulfilment will be that of which he speaks in Mat 7:21-23. (The whole second chapter of Romans is a commentary on this psalm.) How is such self-deceiving hypocrisy possible? Through false thoughts of God. Men persuade themselves that he does not mean what he says; will not be hard on them; is too indulgent really to punish sin. Not only a fatal error, but one that adds to other sins that of insulting the Most High! Terrible to think that men may set up an idol in their own thoughtsa false view of God’s character and dealings, as unlike God as Baal or Juggernaut!
II. THE OPPOSITE ERROR IS THAT OF SUPPOSING THAT GOD IN NO RESPECT RESEMBLES MAN; OR MAN, GOD. That there is nothing in our natureconscience, reason, affectionsfrom which we may infer some correspondence in “the Father of spirits.” God is thus removed out of all reach of our knowledge, sympathy, love; and even trust and obedience. This is the error to which men are most prone in our own day, especially men of cultured intellect and science. They see themselves surrounded by an order so stupendous, laws so unchangeable, worlds and systems so remote, so ancient, so infinite to our feeble thought, that the Creator seems infinitely removedlost in the greatness of his own works. The world by wisdom knows not God. If such men worship, it is not the God revealed in the Bible and in Christ, but an idolnot of sense or imagination, but intellect”the Infinite,” “the Absolute,” “the Stream of tendency making for righteousness,” “the Unknowable.”
III. IN BOTH THESE ERRORS THERE IS A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF TRUTH. But only half the truth. Half-truths are often the most deadly errors, when mistaken for whole truths. But truth is not found by flying from one error to the opposite extreme. The truth contained, but concealed and distorted, in idolatry, is that man’s nature has something akin to God, so that man can converse with God. The truth contained, but perverted, in the philosophy which declares God to be “unknowable,” is that our knowledge of him, though real and true, must needs be very limited. Finite minds cannot comprehend the Infinite.
The narrow limits of our knowledge of God, and its necessary imperfection, are amply taught in the Bible (see Exo 3:13, Exo 3:14; Isa 40:25; Isa 55:8, Isa 55:9). But the main efforts and purpose of the Bible, from first to last, is not to weigh us down with God’s incomprehensible greatness, but to lift us up and bring us near to him. Its opening page shows us, not God in the likeness of man, but man created in the image of God. Then the Scripture goes on to reveal God
(1) by providence, dealing with individuals as well as nations and the race;
(2) by law, binding us to him in duty and obedience;
(3) by promise, binding himself to us in a personal moral relation, which we personally enter into by faith; by
(4) miracle, making nature, where only dead law seems to reign, reveal his living presence, power, and love;
(5) by inspiration, communicating in human thought and speech all that we most need to know of him. Lastly, all these meet and are perfected in Christ (Heb 1:1-3; Joh 1:18; Joh 14:9).
Psa 50:22
Forgetfulness of God.
“Now consider,” etc. The prevailing character of the Book of Psalms is that Divine truth is clothed in the language of human experience. But in this psalm God alone speaks. The personality of the psalmist vanishes. Man’s voice is hushed. We are called into the very presence of God, like Israel at the foot of Sinai. It is God’s voice that summons us to judgment, and sets our sins in order before our eyes. Yet it is the voice of merciful warning. “Consider!” (Isa 1:18). The sin here rebuked is forgetfulness of God.
I. IT Is NOT DIFFICULT TO FORGET GOD. God might have made it impossible. He might have surrounded us with symbols of his presence which the dullest could not mistake. Voices from the sky might thunder his Name in our ears. An inward irresistible consciousness of his being and presence might have been an inseparable part of our nature. But no! A mysterious veil hangs between our soul and our Creator. We have no direct knowledge of God. He has left us at liberty, if we please, to forget him. We can bury ourselves in things around us, and forget him in whom we “live and nacre and have our being.”
II. It seems wonderful that it is possible, and not difficult; but more wonderful still that FORGETFULNESS OF GOD IS COMMON. Who are they who are here charged with forgetting God? Not idolaters. Not atheists. Not the openly profane and irreligious. Those (verse 16) who “declare God’s statutes, and take his covenant in their mouth.” Of such St. Paul speaks (Rom 2:17-23), and our Saviour (Mat 7:21-23). They forget God. It is the description (alas!) of the daily life of thousands of habitual attendants on public worship. Hearers, but not doers; forgetful hearers (Jas 1:22-25).
III. FORGETFULNESS OF GOD IS A HUGE INGRATITUDE; A DEADLY SIN. How can you account for it? Men may dislike the Scripture doctrine of the sinfulness of human nature. They may deny it. But this fact stares us in the faceprevailing forgetfulness of God. How explain it, except as the Scriptures explain it?men do not like to retain God in their knowledge (Rom 1:28; Rom 8:7).
IV. FORGETFULNESS OF GOD MUST NEEDS BE VERY DANGEROUS; IF PERSISTED IN, FATAL. Your forgetfulness does not affect the reality of things. It banishes God from your thought and affection; not from his universe. He cannot forget. He must deal with you, and deal justly. He must take account of your forgetting him. “Consider!” Consider the folly, ingratitude, sin, danger, of forgetting God. His mercies are new every morning. “He will ever be mindful of his covenant;” “He is faithful and just to forgive sins;” and promises (Isa 43:25) to “remember them no more.” Can there be forgetfulness in the infinite mind? Can God cease to be omniscient? Not literally; but by this intensely strong figure the Bible sets forth the generous and loving completeness of Divine forgiveness. It is an act of oblivion. “Consider!” We have forgotten God, but he has not forgotten us. He “remembered us in our low estate; for his mercy endureth for ever” (Psa 136:23). He beseeches you to be reconciled!
HOMILIES BY C. CLEMANCE
Psa 50:1-23
The Judge, the judged, and the eternal judgment.
A psalm-writer whom we have not met before, appears to have penned this psalmAsaph. But whether it was by him or for his choir is somewhat uncertain. “Asaph was the leader and superintendent of the Levitic choirs appointed by David (1Ch 16:4, 1Ch 16:5; cf. 2Ch 29:30). He and his sons presided over four out of the twenty-four groups, consisting each of twelve Levites, who conducted, in turn, the musical services of the temple.” “It is remarkable,” says Hengstenberg, “that the voice against the false estimate of the external worship of God proceeded from the quarter which was expressly charged with its administration. Asaph, according to 1Ch 6:24, was of the tribe of Levi.” a But let the human penman have been whosoever he may, there is in this psalm so much of the sublime grandeur of a stern and inflexible righteousness, that we have therein, manifestly, the writing of one who was borne along by the Holy Ghost to utter words for God that should be suited for all Churches and all the ages throughout all time; so that it behoves us to listen to them as to the words of the living God, declaring the principles of eternal judgment. “In a magnificent vision the prophet to whom this psalm is due beholds the Almighty denouncing a solemn judgment against the degradation of his Name, and setting forth the requirements of a spiritual religion.” In opening up this psalm, therefore, the expositor may well yearn to unfold it, “not as the word of man, but, as it is in truth, the Word of God.” In that spirit, and with that aim, we hope to deal with it now. There are some ten questions to be asked and answered concerning this disclosure of judgment which the psalm so sublimely sets before us.
I. TO WHOM DOES THE OFFICE OF JUDGE BELONG? In the sixth verse we read, “God is Judge himself.” He allows none but himself to sit in judgment on others; for none else has the authority or the ability to do it. But he, whose great Trinity of names is given here, keeps all in infinite hands. “God,” the Supreme Ruler; El-Elohim, the God of gods; Jehovah, the covenant God of Israel;he it is who is thus enthroned and speaks with his voice, on the eternal principles which are the basis of his throne.
II. WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THAT OFFICE? As here indicated, it includes the expression of his mind and will, as to the worship he requires, the conduct he approves or disapproves, the decisions he forms, the sentences he pronounces, the destinies he assigns. For long God may have seemed to keep silence hereon (1Ch 6:21), but he will not be silent always (1Ch 6:3).
III. WHEN DOES THE JUDGMENT TAKE PLACE? It can scarcely be questioned that the remarkable words in 1Ch 6:3 point to a specific time when God shall come to judgment, and when attendant on the judgment there will be great signs and wonders in the heaven above and the earth beneath (see 1Ch 6:1, 1Ch 6:3, 1Ch 6:4). But three or four distinctive forms of God’s judgment are indicated in Scripture.
1. The judgment at the last day. This is brought before us in Mat 25:31-46.
2. The judgment expressed in providential dispensations on the Jewish Church (Jer 7:1-20; Eze 9:4-6; 1Pe 4:17).
3. The judgments that are brought upon Christian Churches that are unfaithful. These are plainly enough shown us in the epistles to the seven Churches
4. The judgment that is ever going on in every visible Churcha judgment by One whose eyes are as a flame of fire, and who walks in the midst of the golden lamps. This is God’s “eternal judgment” (Heb 6:1), the principles of which never, never vary. What they will be seen to be at the last day they are now, seen or unseen.
IV. WHO ARE THE JUDGED? (Mat 25:5.) The heavens and the earth are called to be witnesses of God’s judgment “of the covenant people” (Cheyne). “This psalm,” says Dickson, “is a citing of the visible Church before God to compear before the tribunal of God, now in time while mercy may be had, timously to consider the Lord’s controversy against the sinners in his Church, that they may repent and be saved.” “The psalm,” says Perowne, “deals with ‘the sinners and the hypocrites in Zion,’ but it reaches to all men, in all places, to the end of time.” It contains the message of Divine indignation to those in Israel who were not of Israel; it specifies:
1. The superstitiousthose who brought offerings of slain beasts in sacrifice, thinking that God accepted them as such, or who even, perhaps, stooped to the pagan notion that such sacrifices were “food for the gods.” Hence, though there is no rebuke over any offerings withheld (Mat 25:8), yet there is severe indignation against the low conceptions of God and his worship with which these offerings were brought (Mat 25:9-13).
2. There were the scribes (see Matthew Poole), who expounded the Law, but kept it not (Mat 25:16).
3. There were those whose service was but a formwho vowed to God, but did not pay (Mat 25:14).
4. There were the openly wicked, who sought by profession of religion to cloak their wickedness (Mat 25:17-20). Think of such a heterogeneous mass being collected together in one visible Church! Is it any wonder that “judgment must begin at the house of God”?
V. WHAT IS THE BASIS OF JUDGMENT? (Mat 25:2.) “Out of Zion God hath shined.” As from Mount Sinai he declared his will in the legislation of Moses, so from Zion he hath declared his will in the proclamations of prophet, apostle, saint, and seer; and according to those principles of truth and righteousness thus proclaimed is God’s judgment ever being exercised; according to them will it finally proceed. And according to the measure of light granted to men, will be the standard by which they will be tried. Fuller light on this theme comes to view in the New Testament. Peter’s words (Act 10:35; 1Pe 3:18-4:6), Paul’s words (Rom 2:16; Rom 14:10; 2Co 5:10), throw a flood of light hereon, showing us that ere the final judgment comes every soul will come to know its relation to the Lord Jesus, and that according to its response will be its destiny.
VI. WHAT ARE THE PRINCIPLES ON WHICH JUDGMENT WILL PROCEED? Five of these are indicated in the psalm.
1. That merely formal offerings are offensive to God (Mat 25:8-13).
2. That no measure of religiousness will be accepted if iniquity has prevailed in the heart and life (Mat 25:16).
3. That the truly acceptable worship is a life of consecration, fidelity, prayer, and praise (Mat 25:14, Mat 25:15).
4. That whosoever has ordered his life after the revealed will of God, will see God’s salvation (Mat 25:23).
5. That wherever the life has been one of forgetfulness and neglect of God, the guilty one will be confounded (Mat 25:22).
VII. WHAT ARE THE COMPLAINTS MADE BY THE GREAT JUDGE? One is negative, viz. the absence of the worship of the heart; another is positivehypocrisy and guilt screened under a profession of religion, and the thought being cherished all the while that they would never be detected (Mat 25:21).
VIII. WHAT ARE THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE SOVEREIGN JUDGE? A life of
(1) praise (Mat 25:23);
(2) thanksgiving (Mat 25:14);
(3) loyalty (Mat 25:14);
(4) prayer (Mat 25:15);
(5) glorifying God (Mat 25:15);
(6) a good and upright conversation (Mat 25:23).
Who does not see how infinitely such a life rises above that of merely formal lip-service?
IX. WHAT WILL BE THE ISSUE OF THE JUDGMENT? Under varied forms of expression, the results are declared to be twofold, according to the main drifts of character and life.
1. For those in the wrong, rejection, sin set in order, brought home, exposed, condemned (Mat 25:21, Mat 25:22).
2. For those who are in the rightthe salvation of God (Act 10:35; Act 15:8, Act 15:9, Act 15:11). Thus under every head, though in archaic form, and with light less full, the very same truths are declared by the psalmist that were afterwards brought out more fully by Jesus Christ and his apostles.
X. TO WHOM IS THE CALL ADDRESSED TO HEAR ALL THIS, AND WHY? (Mat 25:1, Mat 25:4.) The whole earth is called on to witness and to watch the severely discriminating judgments of God on his visible Church; and every one is called upon to hearken, because it is God who speaketh. The Apostle Peter raises a momentous question in 1Pe 4:17, 1Pe 4:18. Whether we are ready to face the last judgment depends on how we stand in relation to that judgment which is going on every hour. Mote: After studying such a psalm as this, how vain does the question put by Roman Catholics appear, “Where can I find God’s true Church?” For this whole psalm is addressed to God’s true Church. Yet whoever, even “in Zion,” is at ease, or formal, or corrupt, will find that not even membership in any visible Church will save him. Only those will be saved whose hearts are purified by faith in Jesus Christ our Lord.C.
HOMILIES BY W. FORSYTH
Psa 50:1-23
God the righteous Judge.
I. THAT GOD WILL JUDGE ALL MEN. Even now there is judgment. Every act of our lives has its moral character, and carries its consequences of good or evil. But this judgment is but partial and incomplete. Reason, conscience, and Holy Scripture proclaim a judgment to come which will be perfect and final. The supreme Judge of all men is God. He and he alone has the right and the power. Be has perfect knowledge, and cannot err; he has absolute righteousness, and cannot do injustice; he has almighty power, and cannot be prevented from carrying his judgments into effect. In the psalm the vision seems gradually to unfold itself till the great God stands before us in awful majesty and glory, “the Judge of the quick and the dead.”
II. THAT GOD‘S JUDGMENT WILL SETTLE FOR EVER THE DESTINIES OF MEN. God comes to us now, but it is in mercy. He has no pleasure in the death of the sinner, but would rather that all should turn from their evil ways and live. But there is a great crisis near, when he will come as a Judge, and when all men shall be brought consciously before him for judgment. The judgment will be universal: not only Israel, but all the earth; but it will begin at the house of God. Unavoidable: there will be no possibility of eluding the officers of justice, or of evading the testimony of the witnesses. Conclusive: it is the last judgment, from which there can be no appeal, whose sentences are irreversible and eternal.
III. THAT GOD WILL SETTLE THE DESTINIES OF MEN ON THE GROUNDS OF ETERNAL JUSTICE. There is a hint as to the principles on which the judgment will be based in Psa 50:7. Everything may be said to turn on the kind of religion which we have. This is shown negatively (Psa 50:8-13), then positively (Psa 50:14-23). True religion is not outward, but inward; not formal, but spiritual; not conventional, but personal; not in privileges, not in professions, not in ceremonial observances, hut in the sincere obedience of the heart and life. It implies that God’s love is supreme in the heart, and God’s law is supreme in the life. Such a religion can only be obtained for sinners through Jesus Christ the Saviour. Where it really exists there is not only the form, but the power of godlinessin grateful thanksgiving and joyous obedience and adoring prayer (Psa 50:23).W.F.
Psa 50:7-21
True religion and its counterfeits.
The great evil to which Israel was exposed was the separation of religion from morality. This comes out lamentably in their history, and forms the burden of much of the teaching of their prophets. So in this psalm, which contains a powerful demonstration of the worthlessness of religion without godliness. The psalm may help us to consider true religion and its counterfeits.
I. SUPERSTITION. (Psa 50:7.) Nothing in religion can be real and true but what is based on faith in the living God. What springs from fear without knowledge degenerates into the basest idolatries.
II. FORMALISM. (Psa 50:8-14.) The heading of this psalm in our Bibles is very true and suggestive. “The pleasure of God is not in ceremonies, but in sincerity of obedience.” To this all the prophets bear witness. Even ceremonies appointed by God himself become not only worthless, but odious, when they are observed without faith and love (Isa 1:11-17).
III. HYPOCRITICAL PROFESSION. (Psa 50:16-21.) There is much of this always in the worldfalse profession, insincere obedience, unloving service. The evil effect on individuals, families, and society is terrible. With what righteous indignation are such hypocrites arraigned! and with what stern, resistless argument is the inconsistency and enormity of their conduct denounced!W.F.
Psa 50:15
The day of trouble.
I. HERE IS A DAY THAT WILL COME TO ALL. You may not have hitherto known “trouble;” if so, be thankful, but prepared. The immunity of the past is no protection. Sooner or later it will be said to you, as Eliphaz said to Job, “Now it is come upon thee” (Job 4:5). And this is well. To be without trouble would be to lack one of the chief disciplines of life, and to lay us under the suspicion of being “bastards, not sons.”
II. HERE IS A DUTY URGED UPON ALL. “Call upon me.”
1. This duty is agreeable to our nature. In trouble we crave sympathy and help. As the child instinctively cries to its mother, so should we call upon God.
2. This duty is prompted by our circumstances. “Trouble” not only causes pain, but fear. Under the pressure of need we come to the throne of grace for mercy and grace.
3. This duty is enforced by the example of the good. They speak of what they have known. With grateful hearts they tell of what the Lord has done for them (Psa 77:1; 2Co 1:3, 2Co 1:4).
4. This duty is urged by God our heavenly Father. He anticipates our needs; he lovingly invites our confidence; he assures us of his readiness to give us help and comfort (Isa 43:1, Isa 43:2).
III. HERE IS A PROMISE ENCOURAGING TO ALL. The promise and the duty are connected, and both are to be taken together with what goes before (verse 14). It is when we have been living near to God, and have been daily performing our vows to him with praise and thanksgiving, that we are best prepared for the duty of prayer and the fulfilment of the promises. This promise implies what God will do for us, and what return we should then make to God. Calling upon God in trouble has an elevating effect; it brings us into nearer fellowship with God in heart and will and life. We will “glorify” God for being with us in trouble, as delivering us from trouble, as making trouble work for our good.W.F.
HOMILIES BY C. SHORT
Psa 50:1-15
False to covenant.
God comes to Zion, as he once came to Sinai, amidst fire and tempest, calling upon the heavens and the earth to be his witnesses, while he summons his people to judgment, in which he proclaims how they had been false to the covenant that was between them.
I. THE ACCUSATION. (Psa 50:7-13.)
1. They had forgotten the spiritual relations between them. (Psa 50:5-7.) They were “his saints,” “his people; he was God, even their God.” And he had to testify against them. They had not acted up to the spirit of that relation.
2. They brought him unspiritual sacrifices. Their heart did not go with their offerings. He did not complain of the offering in itself, but of the spirit in which it was brought.
3. What they brought was no gift of their own. (Psa 50:10-12.) Their offerings were his possessions, which he had in abundance.
4. They had forgotten his spiritual nature arid requirement. (Psa 50:13.) The flesh and blood of animals could not please or satisfy a spiritual nature.
II. THE REQUIREMENT. (Psa 50:14, Psa 50:15.)
1. Thanksgiving. The gratitude and praise of the hearta spiritual offering.
2. The paying of vows. The vows that are upon us in consequence of our covenant with Godor fidelity, faithfulness.
3. Prayer. “Call upon me in the day of trouble;” not only then, but specially then.
III. THE REWARD OF SPIRITUAL SERVICE. (Psa 50:15.) “I will deliver thee in the day of trouble, and thou shalt praise me.”S.
Psa 50:16-23
Hypocrisy.
God speaks to the whole nation in the previous part of the psalm; here to hypocrites.
I. THEY MADE PROFESSION OF RELIGION, WHICH THEIR LIVES CONTRADICTED. (Psa 50:16-20.)
1. They treated the Divine Law with open contempt. (Psa 50:17.) Because they “hated” the control that it imposes.
2. They were guilty of the grossest violations of that Law. (Psa 50:18-20.) Theft, adultery, and false witness, not only against their neighbour, but against their own brothers, showing that they had lost even natural affection. Observe the gradual, progressive power which sin has to corrupt the whole man.
II. EVIL MEN MISINTERPRET THE FORBEARANCE OF GOD. (Psa 50:21.) “Because sentence against an evil man is not speedily executed,” etc. (Rom 2:1-4).
III. GOD WILL ASSUREDLY ENTER INTO JUDGMENT WITH MEN. (Psa 50:21, Psa 50:22.) Men are solemnly called upon to consider and remember this truth, that they may repent, and so escape destruction.
IV. THE ONLY TRUE WAY OF SALVATION IS DECLARED. (Psa 50:23.)
1. The love of a grateful heart. This glorifies God.
2. And the love of an obedient life. This only is salvationobedience out of love. “He that hath my Word and keepeth it, he it is that loveth me,” etc.S.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Psalms 50.
The majesty of God in the church: his order to gather saints. The pleasure of God is not in ceremonies, but in sincerity of obedience.
A Psalm of Asaph.
Title. mizmor leasaph. A psalm of Asaph For Asaph. Or, according to the Chaldee paraphrast, “A psalm by the hand of Asaph;” who is supposed to have conveyed it to the tabernacle by the order of David, who probably wrote it, and appointed this Asaph, a Levite, to minister before the ark of the Lord, and to record, and thank and praise the Lord God of Israel. This psalm is an illustrious prophesy, concerning the abrogation of the Jewish religion, the calling of the Gentiles, and the establishment of the true evangelical worship throughout the world. It is delivered with great pomp and sublimity: The first six verses are a previous solemnity to the great trial; in which the Almighty is represented, as calling his people to account before heaven and earth, that they may be witnesses to his justice. He tells them, they must not think to atone for a wicked life by sacrifice: it was not the slain beast, but the homage of the heart which he would accept. For a fine critique upon this exquisite ode, we refer the reader to the beginning of Bishop Lowth’s 27th Prelection.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psalms 50
A Psalm of Asaph
The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken,
And called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof
2Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God hath shined.
3Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence:
A fire shall devour before him,
And it shall be very tempestuous round about him.
4He shall call to the heavens from above,
And to the earth, that he may judge his people.
5Gather my saints together unto me;
Those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.
6And the heavens shall declare his righteousness:
For God is judge himself. Selah.
7Hear, O my people, and I will speak;
O Israel, and I will testily against thee:
I am God, even thy God.
8I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices
Or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.
9I will take no bullock out of thy house,
Nor he goats out of thy folds:
10For every beast of the forest is mine,
And the cattle upon a thousand hills.
11I know all the fowls of the mountains:
And the wild beasts of the field are mine.
12If I were hungry, I would not tell thee:
For the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.
13Will I eat the flesh of bulls,
Or drink the blood of goats?
14Offer unto God thanksgiving;
And pay thy vows unto the Most High:
15And call upon me in the day of trouble:
I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
16But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes,
Or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?
17Seeing thou hatest instruction,
And castest my words behind thee.
18When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him,
And hast been partaker with adulterers.
19Thou givest thy mouth to evil,
And thy tongue frameth deceit.
20Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother;
Thou slanderest thine own mothers son.
21These things hast thou done, and I kept silence;
Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself:
But I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.
22Now consider this, ye that forget God,
Lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.
23Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me:
And to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Contents and Composition.Out of Zion a sublime and terrible manifestation of God is made, like that on Mount Sinai, Psa 50:1-3. Heaven and earth are summoned as witnesses, while He sits in judgment, and pronounces sentence on His covenant people, Psa 50:4-6. He explains to them the first table of the Law, Psa 50:7-15; rebukes them for their misconception and abuse of the ordinances of sacrifice, and at the same time, encourages them to the true service of Himself, with the promise of His help. He next describes and threatens to punish the hypocrites who have His covenant on their lips, but break it in their lives, Psa 50:16-20, warning them to take good heed to this Divine reproof, Psa 50:21-22, and concludes with a general and prophetic announcement of the fundamental idea of the whole address, Psa 50:23. This idea, expressed after the manner of the prophets, corresponds with Psalms 15; Psa 24:3-6; and still more closely with Psa 11:7-7; Psa 51:8-9; Psa 69:31. All these passages have for their basis the truth uttered by Samuel to Saul (1Sa 15:22). Of course the later prophets teach the same thing, but there is nothing in the character of this Psalm to oblige us to refer it, not to the times of David, but to those of Josiah (Ewald), or to those of the so-called Deutero-Isaiah (Hitzig). Nor is there any ground for objection to this, in the fact that Asaph (concerning whom see Introduction, 2), as a Levite, belonged to the tribe whose duty it was to see that the sacrifices were offered in accordance with the rules of Divine service. For this is equally applicable to the prophet Jeremiah, (comp. Jer 6:22, and Lam 2:15), and the opinion is certainly ill-founded, that there is here a general repudiation of the Mosaic sacrifices. In this view of it, many of the ancient expositors referred the whole Psalm to the abolition of the Mosaic law through Christ, while later ones think that there is some indication of hostility to it on the part of the author.
Psa 50:1-6. The mighty God, even the Lord (El Elohim Jehovah).These three names of God are, by the accents, in apposition. Hupf. thinks, without reason, that this accumulation of titles is chilling. On the contrary, it awakens and intensifies attention, as in Jos 22:22, where God is described as the Mighty One, the God demanding reverence, who had revealed Himself in His Divine fulness in history. We do not approve the suggestion that the first two words should be combined=ingens Deus (Bttcher), or the strong God (Aquil., Symm.), or the God of gods (Sept., Isaki, Calvin, Ewald, Hupfeld); nor do we like the translation God is Elohim Jehovah (Chald.), nor God, a God is Jehovah (Hitzig). This last construction is connected with the rendering of the following line: He speaks, the earth resounds. This is ingenious, but doubtful, on account of the change in the subjects of the two verbs standing in juxtaposition; nor is it at all necessary. For in Psa 50:4 the same word is not used as a call to the heavens and the earth (Ols., Hitz.), i.e. for the assembling of the Israelites given literally in Psa 50:5, as if heaven and earth were the judicial messengers (Hupfeld), or the instruments and servants of Divine justice (Stier). This does not agree with the well-known idiom of Scripture, and would convey a monstrous idea. On the contrary, it is quite common to call heaven and earth as witnesses, Deu 4:26; Deu 32:1; Isa 1:2; 1Ma 2:37. This also agrees well with the universal historic significance of the judgment seat before which God orders His people to assemble, and on which He shines forth in terrible majesty, as when He appeared as lawgiver on Mount Sinai. We would most naturally take the messengerswho are not expressly namedto be the angels who so often appeared in visions, and in Mat 24:31 are described as Gods heavenly servants. Accordingly Psa 50:6 declares, not the execution of the order, or that the heavens proclaimed the approaching judgment of God, i.e., announced to the parties that God would sit in judgment on them (Hupfeld); but that among the witnesses those celestial inhabitants publicly proclaimed the justice of the Divine sentence. We must therefore regard Psa 50:1 as the call of God to the whole earth, its contents being akin to, though not synonymous with, the introductory formula of Gods commands to the prophet: and the word of the Lord came, etc. (Aquil., Symm., Theodot., Hupfeld). God does not yet call upon the earth to act as a witness, (most commentators), for this would be to anticipate the subsequent description, but He demands its attention. For this first address precedes the Theophanya fact generally overlooked. It is not a superscription, or summary statement of what will afterwards be more fully detailed, but it rehearses the first act of the entire drama.The accents show that by the perfection of beauty, we are to understand not God (Aquil., Older Comments., Luther, Bttcher), but Zion, not, however, the city of Jerusalem, but Mount Zion, as the residence of Jehovah.The comparison of Gods appearance to the sunrise occurs also Deu 33:2; Psa 80:1; Psa 94:1.The negative in Psa 50:3 would seem to show that the Imperfect tenses which here take the place of Perfects, are to be understood in an optative sense, the rather as they are again followed by Perfects, (Ols., Hengst., Hupfeld). But as in this connection the wish simply means the consent of the speaker, it would be perhaps better to take the Imperfects as Futures, and the negative Al, as in Psa 34:6; Psa 41:3, as indicating a personal interest in the mind of the speaker. If, however, the sentence is part of a narrative, and this narrative is an account, not of a historic event, but of a prophetic vision, the discourse has no reference to the future, and the certainty that God cannot keep silence may as well be expressed by the Present tense. Maurers rendering, neque est quod sileat, is good. The phrase not keep silence, can hardly be understood to mean not tarry; nor can it be taken in the sense of thunder, as if in keeping with the fire and tempest, (Hupfeld and others); but it refers to reproof, or more exactly, to the sinners next judicial sentence.The object of the covenant, mentioned in Psa 50:5, is not the sacrifices. It was not entered into for the sake of them (Aben Ezra); they were simply the ground of it, giving it legal validity and religious sanctity, Exo 14:5; Num 10:10; Psa 92:4.
[Perowne: The God of gods, Jehovah.This is, there can be no doubt, the proper rendering of the words El Elohim.These three names of God occur in the same way in Jos 22:22, where they are twice repeated, and are in like manner separated by the accents. This is the only use of the name Jehovah in the Psalm, Which is in accordance with the general Elohistic character of the Second book, but the adjunct God of gods, is certainly remarkable.Alexander: The Almighty, God, Jehovah. Almighty is not an adjective agreeing with the next word (the Mighty God), but a substantive in apposition with it. The three names are put together in a kind of climax, El, Elohim, Jehovah. The first represents God as almighty, the second, as the only proper object of worship, and (by its plural form) as perfect, the third, as self-existent and eternal, and at the same time, as the peculiar God of Israel.Perowne: Will not keep silence. The optative seems to be required by the form of the negative (=), with the second verb. Still, it must be confessed, that the abrupt introduction of a wish here disturbs the flow of the language, and this is not obviated even if, with Hupfeld, we suppose this to be a common formula, in which God is called upon to manifest Himself.J. F.]
Psa 50:7-15. I am God, even Thy God,These words are designed, not simply to excite attention (De Wette), for this has been already aroused, as is indicated by the intensive : but they declare the rightful title to act as judge (Hupf. Del.) Exo 6:2; Exo 20:2 and lawgiver, Psa 71:11.The Divine reprimand is given, not because the sacrifices enjoined by the law had been omitted. Israel had not neglected to offer them, and God was unmindful neither of them nor of Israels conduct in presenting them day by day. But in these material sacrifices God felt no interest, because, on the one hand, men could offer to Him nothing which He did not already possess, since all creatures are His; and on the other hand, He had no need of them, as food or as a means of enjoyment. It is not said that Israel had fallen into this error, nor is there any reproof in express terms. But the lawgiver sitting as a judge, first presents and explains to His people standing before His tribunal, the law of sacrificial service, and then leaves the application of it with themselves. This can be the more readily done, because by the change of the negative into the positive form, the exhibition of the law becomes a direct exhortation and promise. Now, out of the many sacrifices prescribed by the law, some specially important ones are named, though not confined to those associated with thanksgiving and certain kinds of vows. No ritualistic sacrifice in itself, even if offered in a proper spirit, with confession of sin (Kimchi), is what God requires. But, in terms derived, no doubt, from the sacrificial liturgy, as in Psa 51:19; Hos 14:3, (Arnoldi in Justins Flowers of Ancient Hebrew Poetry, 183), He insists upon an offering of praise and thanksgiving, instead of the symbol, the sincere payment of vows, and a trustful call upon Himself, as a condition of such a hearing of prayer, as should supply new causes of praise to God, (compare Psa 69:31). Pay thy vows, Psa 50:14, means fulfill all the commandments of God, according to thy promise on entering into the covenant, Exo 19:8. This is not to be limited to the moral law, or the Ten Commandments, Exodus 20. (Baur, De Wette), for this supposes a distinction never made in the Old Testament. Nor are the vows thank-offerings (Lev 7:16;Pro 7:14), in a spiritual sense, i.e. songs of thanksgiving (Hupfeld), for this would needlessly limit what is demanded. For Todah means not simply praise (Geier, J. H. Mich.), but praise and thanksgiving. Nor can this be taken only in an individualizing sense, as a form of inward heart devotion, in contrast with merely outward worship (Hengst.), without the rendering offer praises to God, and thus pay, i.e. thou shalt pay thy vows, and then calling upon me, etc. (Hengst.);a rendering which requires the unwarranted insertion of the words thus and then, and the violent change of the Imperfect into a Future.The prophetic character of this Psalm, and the Divine utterance in it, indicate a progress in revelation. This is seen also in such passages as Isa 1:11; Hos 6:6; Mic 6:6; Pro 21:3, anticipating, as they do to some extent, New Testament views, but the same thing is discoverable even in the Pentateuch, in Deuteronomy, partly in promise, partly fulfilled. The legal definitions are treated as normal expressions of the Divine will in regard to the whole moral and religious conduct of mankind; and thus they are divested not only of their merely ceremonial character, but even of their externality.
[Barnes: To have been continually before me, E. V. (Psa 50:8). The words to have been are inserted by the translators, and weaken the sense. The simple idea is that their offerings were continually before Him, i.e. they were constantly made. He had no charge in this respect to bring against them. The insertion of the words to have been, would seem to imply that though they had neglected the external rite, it was a matter of no consequence; whereas the simple meaning is that they were not chargeable with this neglect. It was on other grounds altogether that a charge was brought against them.J. F.]
Psa 50:16. But to the wicked, etc. The address turns from the first to the second table of the law, here, as in Exo 24:7; Exo 34:28, designated as the covenant; and the sins against the sixth, seventh, and eighth commandments, i.e. sins against ones neighbor are specially mentioned. It does not follow from this nor other like descriptions, e.g.Isa 1:15; Isa 66:3, that the erring members of Gods people, those who were content with a merely external Worship of Him, are always in Scripture identical with the wicked, and that they are here addressed as those alluded to in Psa 50:7 and the following verse (Hengst.). This is correct only in so far as Psa 50:7 addresses the whole people and not a part of them, and as to this people those belong who are specially censured as forgetting God, Psa 50:22. There is no previous threat of punishment, but only an exposition of the law of sacrifice, ending with an exhortation and a promise. To this the contrast refers, and not to different classes or grades of sinners (most commentators), On this account Psa 50:22 must be connected, not with the concluding sentence, but with Psa 50:21.
Psa 50:16-20. What hast thou to do to declare, etc.This is not an inquiry indicating surprise or disapproval, for the reason of an aimless action, what can it profit thee? (De Wette). It is an express reprimand of an insolent one, How darest thou? The construction with the infinitive is changed into that of the infinitive verb.The translation of Psa 50:18 : thou goest with him, (Chald., Sept., Vulgate, Luther), grows out of the derivation from the word . But in this case the vowels must be placed thus: . The word in our present text must come from as in Job 34:9, with , i.e. to have pleasure in the society of some one.Thine own mothers son describes the nearest blood relationship, and contains an allusion to the polygamous relations then common. Ordinarily designates a brother in a wider sense. The blow given to him is not a physical one (Hitzig), nor something given to him, or laid in his way by which he may receive a blow, like (Sept.), or offendiculum (Vulgate, Gesen., Maurer), but one with the tongue, but not necessarily in the sense of calumny (Rab., Ewald, Hengst.), though is often equivalent to give away.The keeping silence, Psa 50:21, is a proof of Divine forbearance designed to lead men to repentance (Rom 2:4), though often misinterpreted by them. There is no question asked hereshould I keep silence? (Hitzig), nor in the following line, where the oratio obliqua is indicated by the infinitive construct.To translate the concluding verse, And this (more accurately these) is the way (Sept., Syr., Luther), gives the general meaning, but it is based on the erroneous reading , instead of the one handed down by the Talmud , which, according to Isa 43:19, compares with Psa 49:11; Eze 21:25 would lead to the sense of: to make, prepare, or to pave a way (Bttcher). Taking the sentence as an independent one, it would read: who prepares a way (Hengst.), or: who directs the way (Hupfeld); qui ordinat viam (Vulgate, Geier); qui disposuit viam (Calvin, Maurer.) But to get this ethical sense, it must be paraphrased: who regulates his life according to fixed principles, or who prepares himself to walk in the right way. A simpler meaning perhaps would be: who prepares the way, i.e. who equips himself for the journey (Hitzig). This, how ever, would seem to refer the Psalm to the times of the Exile. The versions: who has a care of his walk (De Wette), who walks carefully (Ewald), are either elliptical or involve grammatical difficulties. It is perhaps better, therefore, to regard the sentence not as an independent one, but as a continuation of the preceding (Del.).
Psa 50:21. Imagined.The Hebrew verb originally means to liken or compare, and another of the same form, to be silent, so that it is peculiarly appropriate in this place, where the mention of Gods silence immediately precedes, and the imagining referred to was a false assimilation of the Most High to> the sinner himself.
[Alexander: O consider this, etc., Psa 50:22. The Hebrew particle of entreaty () is not so well expressed by the now of the English Bible, as by the oh of the Prayer Book version.Perowne: Sacrificeth thanksgiving, Psa 50:23. The verb is designedly employed in order to mark the nature of the sacrifice which God will have; slay not victims, bring not animals, but bring thanksgiving as sacrifices. The E. V. with its rendering offereth praise, loses slightly the distinct reference to the Mosaic sacrifices, which are not indeed absolutely suspendedthe time had not yet come for thisbut are put in their true place. The very great prominence again given to thanksgiving, is worthy of our careful notice. There is no duty so commonly forgotten.J. F.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. We must carefully distinguish those actual judgments of a world-historic significance, to execute which God is often said to come down from heaven, from that sitting in judgment on His covenant people, which is in this Psalm set forth as a prophetical vision, though connected with certain great historic events. For this latter purpose, God appears in supreme majesty; He shines forth from Zion, that He may reveal in His word, neither a new law nor a new exposition of it, but a Divine sanction of the deeper conception of the law. And so by exhibiting the real purport of the law, while reprimanding and exhorting His people, He would have it take a firmer hold on their consciences, and aid them in a new development of life.
2. Before God chastises His people, He makes known to them by His word, how intensely He hates sin, and how carefully He watches over the covenant established by Him under the sanction of sacrificial ordinances. The importance of this word is enhanced by the certainty of Gods personal participation in them, and by the assurance that while graciously dwelling in the midst of His people, He is still sublime and terrible in His majesty. At the same time His love is manifest in this: that He makes known to them the judicial earnestness of His royal administration, by symbols, whose design and meaning could not be misunderstood, (Exo 20:17; Deu 4:24; Deu 9:3; Deu 32:22; 1Ki 19:11; Heb 12:29); and that before punishing them, He instructs, warns, exhorts them, mingling both threats and promises with the exposition of His law. As in His first proclamation, so now, He claims the authority of the only true God, the Lord of heaven and earth; the God whom the people of Israel had acknowledged and accepted as their God.
3. The real character of God and His holy will was utterly misconceived, when the sacrifices of the law of Moses were viewed as gifts of man that satisfied a want of the Divine nature, or as performances by which a sinner fulfilled his moral obligations, or could redeem himself from the guilt and punishment of his transgressions. If God had such a want, since He is Lord of all things, He had no need of looking to man for its supply. As the Omnipotent and Omniscient One, He could refresh Himself when and where He pleased. But His nature is spiritual, and therefore subject to no such necessities. What He desired was not the correct observance of legal rites, but a far higher thing, Psa 50:12, the discharge of those moral and religious duties of which these rites were simply the symbolic expression.
4. Gods commands must be expounded in order that they may be learned and understood, but this is only as a means to an end, viz: their actual fulfillment. When the law speaks of sins, it does so, not to influence our evil passions, but to make us see the hatefulness of sin, to warn against the dangers that surround us, and to awaken that holy fear which leads to repentance, and guards against abusing Gods patience, and goodness, and grace. For the wrath of God is as terrible as His grace is lovely.
5. The first and most natural duty of those who are received into the covenant of grace, is gratitude. The expression of it in word and work, is acceptable to God only when it embraces obedience both to the first and second tables of the law. True gratitude is not bounded by a legal command, or the letter of an appointment, but it passes over into the domain of love. Thus it paves a way for an ever-enlarging experience, and an ever deepening conception of the salvation of Goda way leading out of the Old Testament into the New.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
One and the same God delivers the law to His people, explains it to His church, and accomplishes it in those whom He graciously pardons.Grace not only deserves our gratitude, but it works it in us and blesses it.Gods commands must not only be learned and spoken about, but must also be obeyed.The wrath of God is as terrible as His grace is lovely; and yet in each of them the majesty of the Heavenly King is alike revealed.Think what God is, consider what God does, observe what God wills.Gratitude is not only the best offering for grace received, but also the foundation most acceptable to God, of new prayers for needed help.
Luther: To call upon God in times of trouble, and to thank Him for His aid, is the truest worship, the most acceptable sacrifice, and the proper way to salvation.
Starke: God speaks! who would not diligently attend? He who despises His words, despises God Himself, and such an one shall be despised himself.The fairest ornament of a land or a locality, is the confession of the doctrine of Christ and a godly walk.As the sweetest wine may become the most acid vinegar, and the most pleasant summer day may end in the severest thunder-storm, so the wanton abuse and contempt of Gods grace is followed by the most fearful punishment.Remember, O man ! how many witnesses there are of thy conduct.Heaven and earth must testify before God that His judgment of the despisers of His grace is perfectly just.Divine service without faith displeases God more than it honors Him.Think not that God needs thy service, or that He gets any advantage thereby.But to thyself, the true service of God is the greatest blessing and benefit.The Christians first vow is that made to God in Baptismto serve and believe in Him; his first and chiefest care should be to see that this vow is not broken.All those hate discipline who, while they know and perhaps teach others the word of God, are not themselves brought by it to true repentance, faith, and holiness.Esteem no sin trifling because punishment does not quickly follow it.What is loaned for a long time must not be regarded as a gift.God looks upon the wickedness of men, not because He has pleasure in it, but to afford them time for repentance, and to cut off all excuses for it.When the period of grace is passed, no hope of salvation is left; and he who has not found the true Saviour, will never find another.To see Jesus here by faith, and hereafter face to face, is a sufficient reward for those who are now diligent in offering sacrifice to God.Reichel: People are reprehensible, not for going to the Holy Supper, but because while going to it they continue to live in all sorts of sins and abominations.Arndt: Gratitude includes many virtues, e.g. the knowledge of God, for it recognises Him as the source of all good; the fear of God, or the filial fear, which, as a child, receives all benefits from God as a father; humility, or the consciousness that we have nothing in ourselves, but get everything from God.Richter: From Sinai Jehovah spake as a Lawgiver; from Zion, as a Saviour; from His throne He speaks in both characters, to the whole human race.The more heartily you give thanks, the richer and greater cause for thanksgiving shall you receive.Stier: God, before whose judgment-seat stand only those holy ones who have entered into covenant with Him by sacrifice, explains to His erring and offending people that true way of sacrifice that leads to salvation.Those offenders who mean to sin and offer sacrifice at the same time shall certainly be punished.Umbreit: Heaven and earth shall be witnesses, while God judges His people.The new commandment of the pure and true worship of God.Unbridled iniquity leads men, step by step, from one abomination to another.Guenther: Are we really sincere and honest in rendering our service to God? Is there no concealed hypocrisy of any kind within us? Listen attentively: none at all? Taube: The majestic appearance of the Lord when He comes as a judge, and to testify to His people concerning His true worship, and the hypocritical service of the ungodly. Judgment begins at the house of God, but it also makes manifest His faithful ones.Deichert: Our God shall come, and not keep silence. 1. How He comes. 2. What He finds amongst us. 3. What He has to say to us about it.Ahlfeld: How does the Christian enter the new year? 1. With thanks. 2. With confession. 3. With prayer (according to Psa 50:14-16).:Heubner: The proper way of calling upon God. 1. Wherein it consists. 2. What should induce us to do it. 3. How we are prepared to do it.
[Barnes: The general ideas in this Psalm are: (1) That there is to be a solemn judgment of mankind; (2) that the issues of that judgment will not be determined by the observance of the external forms of religion; (3) that God will judge men impartially for their sins, though they observe these forms of religion; and (4) that no worship of God can be acceptable which does not spring from the heart.Henry: (1) It is not enough for us to offer praise, but we must withal order our conversation arightthanksgiving is good, but thanksliving is better. (2) Those that would have their conversation aright, must take care and pains to order it; to dispose it according to rule; to understand their way and to direct it. (3) Those that take care of their conversation make sure their salvation; them God will make to see His salvation; for it is a salvation ready to be revealed; He will make them to see it and enjoy it, to see it, and to see themselves happy in it forever. Note: The right ordering of the conversation is the only way, and it is a sure way to obtain the great salvation.F.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
This Psalm, like the former, is in the nature of exhortation. It speaks, in the opening of it, as in the person of Jehovah. It reproves the Jews in their mistaken notions of sacrifices; points to the more spiritual services of the gospel; and in the conclusion, shows how the Lord will accept the services of the heart, with an eye to the sacrifice by Christ.
A Psalm of Asaph.
Psa 50:1
The Speaker here is the Elohim-Jehovah; Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. What a sublime and magnificent account! The whole earth is summoned. And, no doubt, this is in reference to the gospel days, concerning which the Lord said, by Malachi that then incense should be offered to the Lord’s name in every place with a pure offering. Mal 1:11 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The Sacrifice of Thanksgiving
Psa 50:23
I. ‘What is it to glorify God?’ ‘When and how do we glorify God?’ This question is constantly rising before us, for we know this is our business as disciples of Jesus Christ. ‘Whoso offereth praise, whoso offereth thanksgiving, glorifies God.’ That is the Divine answer. Then we ask, What is the sacrifice of praise? Praise has a thousand voices. The songful lip expresses itself in myriad ways; but the essence of every sacrifice is the adoring, grateful, and joyous offering of ourselves on the altar of God, our exceeding joy in glad acceptance of all His holy will; it is a joyful welcome to that will, not a hesitating submission to it, as right in itself and as carrying all who receive it towards righteousness and thus towards blessedness.
II. The Religion of the whole Psalter. Look at these songs. They are sacrifices of thanksgiving. The tremendous burden of living is never ignored, the attacks of bitter enemies are admitted, but there is over all and through all a glad recognition of God’s sovereignty of life, and a deep delight in His redeeming sway. The religion of the Psalms is the religion of thanksgiving of triumphant joy in God; and the book itself is, excepting one, the best commentary upon the words, ‘Whoso offereth praise glorifieth God’. That other and better exposition is the New Testament. It takes the songs of the prophet poets and sets them in a new key. It is the fruit, no doubt, of the principles which Christianity takes up out of the Old Testament; but it is expressed with greater clearness and force in the concrete example of Jesus Christ Himself, and demonstrated in a great series of historic facts of which He is the centre and the source. Gauge the severity of the persecutions which they had to endure, and which Paul himself admitted were such as almost to ‘unnerve them,’ yet to them he said, ‘Be always joyful’. ‘In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.’
III. The Gospel brings Life to Light. There are four principles in Christianity, which, being recognized, make it possible, I will not say easy, for us to take this attitude, for nothing that is worth having is obtained with ease.
( a ) ‘The Gospel brings Light to Life,’ shows it as it really is, and what it is meant for; even our spiritual emancipation, education, perfection, and that all the things that go to make it are intended for the refining of our character and fashioning it after the pattern which is given to us in Christ Jesus.
( b ) The second thing that Christianity tells us is that God is in this life right through it; that His redemptive purpose on Calvary underlies it, runs through it, mounts to the top of it; that the whole significance of life is redemptive, that God is getting rid of the sin and the evil of the world.
( c ) Thirdly, Christianity inspires a man to make the fullest use of his life. Life according to Christ is opportunity for service, a chance of being and doing something that shall issue in the advancement of mankind.
( d ) Still further does it go. It sustains in bearing life’s burdens, in carrying life’s crosses, and in fighting life’s battles. It gives us the true perspective, places us where we can best learn the supreme truths that count, and construct the true interpretation of facts.
J. Clifford, Baptist Times and Freeman, 1905, p. 351.
References. L. 23. H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 1495, p. 97. S. Cox, Expositions (3rd Series), p. 152. L. International Critical Commentary, vol. i. p. 414.Lev 1 . G. Forbes, The Voice of God in the Psalms, p. 173.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
Religion Nothing Without Morality
Psa 50
This is a psalm of Asaph. This is the first psalm of Asaph found in this section of the Psalter. Every man must speak in his own natural style, and the style of this leader of choir, who was also a poet, is a style of supreme loftiness and majesty, which would not become the narrower capacity, the lower intellect, of meaner men. We must join him where we can in this song of thunder. He will affright us, as majesty affrights some visions; yet he will take care that before the thunderstorm ceases there shall be something we can gaze upon with delight, and listen to with spiritual gratification and profit. We should not always be talking about God as little children talk. It is sweet now and again to listen to a speech that has nothing in it but words of one syllable; that speech is called simple, intelligible, and useful: without doubting that criticism, we must always in our religious conceptions make room for vastness, majesty, and ineffable glory. The God that made the little glowworm also built the heavens with stars and constellations. Both views of God are right. Neither is complete without the other. Without simplicity we should have no real intelligence, and without grandeur we should not touch the highest moods and points of reverence. Asaph was nothing if not magnificent He now pictures God under three names as coming forth to judge the earth. The divine presence shines “out of Zion,” which is called “the perfection of beauty.” It is not the divine person, but the divine presence, that shines. Many have seen the presence of God who have never seen his person. We are to make a great distinction between personality and presence. Personality means figure, visible attitude, form that can be in some measure described; but presence may be influence, inspiration, and enlargement and purification of religious consciousness; so that a man shall say, Lo, God is here, and I knew it not The knowledge of God without a vision of his personality is all that is permitted to us in these initial schools of time.
“Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him” ( Psa 50:3 ). When he came to give the law, he brought all the lightning with him; and when he comes to see what has become of the law, he brings that same lightning back again. Wherever you have to deal with law you have to deal with lightning. Lightning has no mercy; lightning has no sentiment; lightning is no poet, though it writes nothing but poetry. When the Lord came to Sinai to give the law, he burned and thundered; when he comes now to judge the earth, he comes in fire and tempest, and manifold yet musical uproar. This is the consistency of the divine movement, this is the wondrous harmony of the action which we call law. We shall be able by these phenomena to identify God, and to say with sureness of conviction, Yea, this is he who came to Sinai, we remember that very lightning; we heard that very thunder; these are the smokings that rose up before us like an infinite cloud; this is the feeling of weirdness which made us say to Moses, Oh, do not let God speak to us himself any more, but speak thou to us in his name. We shall know the heavenly signs when they reappear.
Who will God have for witnesses? Suppose he shall make an accusation, and shall not be able to establish it by proof, what then? Asaph provides against that contingency: “He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people” ( Psa 50:4 ). That is to say, he will empanel all heaven and all earth as a jury, and they shall decide what his course of providence has been. The blue sky shall speak for God, the green earth shall not hold its tongue when God’s judgments are being criticised by men; the heaven and the earth will speak up for him, and will say, He nourished us, he never neglected us, to us his goodness was daily and continual, and we have no reason to complain of the divine administration. The stars will say so, and all the systems and constellations, and the whole stellar pomp of the invisible and immeasurable universe, shall come down to say, God is good. And the earth, with meaner voice, but testimony equally clear, shall say, He never neglected me, he sent his sunshine and his rain, his dew and his living air, and all the ministries of heaven seemed to nourish and comfort me, and I rolled on through my springs and summers, and autumns and winters, conscious that God himself was swinging me like a censer round the sun. Nature will not be dumb when God judges the earth.
“Gather my saints together unto me” my pious ones, my separated ones; not only the good, but those that are not so good; the good minus, the sincere but mistaken souls: let all come together that started with me in covenant. “Saints” is a sweet word; it ought to mean holy ones; it ought to signify hearts that are sanctified, purified, refined; souls in which there is no speck of evil. It will mean that some day. Words have yet to come to the fruition of their significance. We must use the words now, but they are oftentimes empty vessels, or vessels not half filled; but the time will come when they will contain all their meaning, and will vindicate their right to have been in human language. At present we do not use half our own dictionary words. The lexicon of every nation is at least twice too large for merely daily use. Learned men want some of the words, experts require other terms, but the common people use probably one-tenth of all the language of their nation. But the time will come when every word will be wanted as a vessel into which God will pour meaning, and this word “saints” must stand until that time. There is little in it now, but its whole capacity will be filled up when God comes to realise his own purpose in human creation and progress.
Now the Lord calls before him two sets of people, first, the sincere but mistaken souls that keep on grinding eternally and doing nothing. They live in all ages, the ceremonialists, the ritualists; the people who begin at a certain hour and go on until a certain hour, and never cease, and never seem to tire: and yet they move without removing; they are in continual action, but they never make any progress. “Hear, O my people, and I will speak…. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt-offerings, to have been continually before me” ( Psa 50:7-8 ). The meaning is: I have nothing to say against what you have done in the matter of sacrifices and burnt-offerings; you have been most punctual. The word used here in English is “continually,” literally, daily: not a single day had been omitted or neglected by these poor mistaken souls. They were mere grinders, simple slaves, repeaters of customs; not entering into the meaning, spirit, thought, poetry of the action; always doing something and not knowing why they were doing it. That sentence would seem to be the history of a good deal of modern piety. Understand what the Lord says to these simple, dreary, mistaken ceremony-finders; in effect, he says, Now hear me: I am not going to tell you that your sacrifices have been too few, or that your burnt-offerings have been neglected; you have been punctual, regular, daily in your service of the altar: but the spirit of your work you have never seen for a moment; you serve God with the hand, and you think that is enough.
Now comes a statement which may be easily mistaken:
“I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?” ( Psa 50:9-13 ).
Therefore he says ( Psa 50:14 ), “Offer unto God thanksgiving.” How much is this expression mistaken! as who shall say, God wants none of your ritualism, be it even simple church-going or simple psalm-singing; God wants to have nothing whatever to do with that: he wants moral sacrifice, moral obedience; and as for all your so-called functions and duties, they are worthless. That is not the reading of the Psalms, that is not the reading of the law of God, that is not a proper construction of the spirit and gospel of Christ. A man may keep the Sabbath, and yet not keep it; then the Lord says, Your Sabbaths are a burden to me, and an offence. Men therefore quote such passages, and say, See how the Lord regards Sabbaths and feasts and new moons and appointed fastings or banquetings; he says, Away with them! Yes, he does, and yet in your sense he does not, would be my reply: he likes any man who keeps the new moon or the new feast or the appointed fast, and he says, Good soul, I accept what you are doing, though it be all superstitious, because you not only do this, but you live accordingly; you say, Even this superstitious rite has a high meaning, and my soul must express in its sweetness and charity, in its love of pureness, what these things symbolically imply. If a child should pluck a handful of flowers, and bring them to God’s altar and say, These are thine; may I lay them here? God will say, Yes, if thou wilt live the flower-life, if thou wilt root thyself in God, if thou wilt take upon thee all the beauty of his sunshine, if thou wilt emit all the fragrance of his presence and action in the soul; if not, take away these flowers. Does God then contemn the flowers? No; he contemns their misuse: the bullock is right, the psalm-singing is right, yet they are both wrong if the soul is wrong. Such construction of the divine language enables us to retain all holy ritual, especially retain the ineffably blessed Cross of Christ in all the significance of its agony and blood, because we rise by the action of the Holy Ghost to a proper conception of the meaning of that priestly emblem.
Then the Lord, even in the lips and visions of Asaph, doubly poet, becomes condescending, gentle, and kind, saying, “And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me,” Literally, My glory is in thy salvation; when I glorify myself, it is by saving thy people. The Lord is not glorified by having infinite tribute paid to him because he is majestic; he is glorified when we say to him, Lord, I was little, and thou didst make me great; I was lost, and thou didst find me; I was a poor blind wanderer in the wilderness, and thou didst come after me and save me; and this I will tell to all the world, saying, Come, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul. Thus is God glorified; not in being offered the bouquets of his universe, but by living so as to show men that all we are and have that is holy and good is from the Lord.
How sweet is the blue after the great thunderstorm! Oh, how it trembles! how it vibrates! how it is almost a kind of worldless music! all the welcomer because of the uproar through which we have just passed: “Call upon me in the day of trouble.” Thy cloud is only a mile high, but God’s heaven is infinite in altitude. “I will deliver thee” thee, the single, the little, the one, the only, insignificant according to the world’s reckoning. “And thou shalt” by thy deliverance “glorify me,” for there will be another soul to say, I was lost and am found.
Then the tone changes. In Psa 50:16 the Lord is full of anger: he repels the wicked. Up to this point he has been speaking to the mistaken; now he turns upon the wicked, and all heaven is dark as manifold midnight: “Unto the wicked God saith ” and then comes such a storm of interrogation and rebuke and repudiation as to constitute a noble commentary on the character of God. This charge is principally notable as showing how character deteriorates. He is speaking to priests who are cloaked hypocrites. He says, “When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him,” saying, If you will steal and divide the profit with me not a word shall be said about the process; there is room enough under my cloak to cover you. “Thou givest thy mouth to evil,” literally, Thou allowest the devil to borrow thy mouth, so that the devil shall come behind thy lips and talk out all his lies and blasphemy, as under a priestly personality and guise. “Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother’s son.” Thus a man cannot be wrong with God and right with his own brother. A man cannot forget to pray, and yet be just to his own son. A man cannot live a bad life, and leave an equitable will. He may think it is equitable, he may satisfy his own depraved conscience about it; but you cannot be wrong religiously and right humanly. Your own wills will testify against you; and as for speech, you would as soon speak against your own flesh and blood as speak about the veriest stranger on the face of the earth. All sacred relations go down when the piety of the soul towards God becomes corrupt. “Thou slanderest,” in Arabic, Thou givest a thrust. Its corresponding or equivalent word is in the Greek “scandal,” both words meaning that which causes a man to stumble or to fall. A scandal is a falling. Here you have the very priests of God causing their own flesh and blood to fall; here you have men that saw them pray, setting something before an unsuspecting fellow-man that he may in the darkness tumble over it, and then they will run to help him, or probably run away to tell what a scandal has been created in the Church. These men first make the scandals, and then report them; first thrust at their brother, and then tell others that he has fallen, apostatised, and divested himself of every claim to confidence or consideration. The charge goes further. God forbore; he did not strike the fools with lightning at once; and they misconstrued his very patience. They said, God is approving our policy; not one gleam of lightning have I seen, not one growl of thunder have I heard, as if God were in anger or in trouble: God is looking on with approbation, “Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself.” Now when he comes to judgment, he says, “Consider, lest I tear you in pieces.” Do not misconstrue God’s providence; do not say, The bad man prospers, therefore God is bad; do not say that, because an evil policy has succeeded, therefore providence has stamped it with the seal of approbation; the voice thundering along the heavens and through all the corridors of history is this: I have forborne, I have had patience; but now consider, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces. He shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel, he shall rend them limb from limb, and there shall be none to deliver. Yet the Lord could not finish his psalm in this tone, so he says he that ordereth his conversation aright he will bless, and he will accept his good behaviour as a tribute to the divine glory. “Conversation” means conduct. The apostle says, “We have our conversation in heaven,” literally, We have our citizenship in heaven. The reference is not to speech, for there are men who have a gift of cunning phrase, and could talk piety all the day. This word “conversation” means conduct, discipline, attention to the spirit and expression of life, and he that ordereth his life aright shall see the salvation of God and bring glory to heaven. That is our duty. Now is our opportunity. We are helpless, but God is almighty. On thy power, O Holy Spirit, would we evermore confidently and gratefully rely.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
XV
PSALM AFTER DAVID PRIOR TO THE BABYLONIAN EXILE
The superscriptions ascribed to Asaph twelve palms (Psa 50 ; 73-83) Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun presided over the Levitical singers in the time of David. Their sons also directed the various bands of musicians (1Ch 25 ). It seems that the family of Asaph for many generations continued to preside over the service of song (Cf. Ezr 3:10 ).
The theme of Psa 50 is “Obedience is better than sacrifice,” or the language of Samuel to Saul when he had committed the awful sin in respect to the Amalekites. This teaching is paralleled in many Old Testament scriptures, for instance, Psa 51:16-17 . For thou delightest not in sacrifice; else would I give it: Thou hast no pleasure in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
The problem of Psa 73 is the problem of why the wicked prosper (Psa 73:1-14 ), and its solution is found in the attitude of God toward the wicked (Psa 73:15-28 ). [For a fine exposition of the other psalms of this section see Kirkpatrick or Maclaren on the Psalms.]
The psalms attributed to the sons of Korah are Psa 42 ; Psa 44 ; Psa 45 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 ; Psa 49 ; Psa 84 ; Psa 85 ; Psa 87 . The evidence that Psalms 42-43 were one poem is internal. There are three stanzas, each closing with a refrain. The similarity of structure and thought indicates that they were formerly one psalm. A parallel to these two psalms we find in the escape of Christian from the Castle of Giant Despair in Pilgrim’s Progress .
Only two psalms were ascribed to Solomon, viz: Psa 72 and 127. However, the author believes that there is good reason to attribute Psa 72 to David. If he wrote it, then only one was written by Solomon.
The theme of Psa 72 is the reign of the righteous king, and the outline according to DeWitt, which shows the kingdom as desired and foretold, is as follows: (1) righteous (Psa 72:1-4 ) ; (2) perpetual (Psa 72:5-7 ); (3) universal (Psa 72:8-11 ); (4) benign (Psa 72:12-14 ); (5) prosperous (Psa 72:15-17 ).
Psa 127 was written when Solomon built the Temple. It is the central psalm of the psalms of the Ascents, which refer to the Temple. It seems fitting that this psalm should occupy the central position in the group, because of the occasion which inspired it and its relation to the other psalms of the group. A brief interpretation of it is as follows: The house here means household. It is a brief lyric, setting forth the lessons of faith and trust. This together with Psa 128 is justly called “A Song of Home.” Once in speaking to Baylor Female College I used this psalm, illustrating the function of a school as a parent sending forth her children into the world as mighty arrows. Again I used this psalm in one of my addresses in our own Seminary in which I made the household to refer to the Seminary sending forth the preachers as her children.
The psalms assigned to the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah are Psa 46 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 . The historical setting is found in the history of the reign of Hezekiel. Their application to Judah at this time is found in the historical connection, in which we have God’s great deliverances from the foreign powers, especially the deliverance from Sennacherib. We find in poetry a description of the destruction and desolation of Jerusalem in the Lamentations of Jeremiah and in Psa 74 ; Psa 79 .
The radical critics ascribe Psa 74 ; Psa 79 to the Maccabean period, and their argument is based upon the use of the word “synagogues,” in Psa 74:8 . The answer to their contention is found in the marginal rendering which gives “places of assembly” instead of “synagogues.” The word “synagogue” is a Greek word translated from the Hebrew, which has several meanings, and in this place means the “place of assembly” where God met his people.
The silence of the exile period is shown in Psa 137 , in which they respond that they cannot sing a song of Zion in a strange land. Their brightening of hope is seen in Psa 102 . In this we have the brightening of their hope on the eve of their return. In Psa 85:10 we have a great text:
Mercy and truth are met together;
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
The truth here is God’s law demanding justice; mercy is God’s grace meeting justice. This was gloriously fulfilled in Christ on the cross. He met the demands of the law and offers mercy and grace to all who accept them on the terms of repentance and faith.
Three characteristics of Psa 119 are, first, it is an alphabetical psalm; second, it is the longest chapter in the Bible, and third, it is an expansion of the latter part of Psa 19 . Psalms 146-150 were used for worship in the second temple. The expressions of innocence in the psalms do not refer to original sin, but to a course of conduct in contrast with wicked lives. The psalmists do not claim absolute, but relative sinlessness.
The imprecations in the psalms are real prayers, and are directed against real men who were enemies of David and the Jewish nation, but they are not expressions of personal resentment. They are vigorous expressions of righteous indignation against incorrigible enemies of God and his people and are to be interpreted in the light of progressive revelation. The New Testament contains many exultant expressions of the overthrow of the wicked. (Cf. 1Co 16:22 ; 2Ti 4:14 ; Gal 5:12 ; Rev 16:5-6 ; Rev 18:20 .) These imprecations do not teach that we, even in the worst circumstances, should bear personal malice, nor take vengeance on the enemies of righteousness, but that we should live so close to God that we may acquiesce in the destruction of the wicked and leave the matter of vengeance in the hands of a just God, to whom vengeance belongs (Rom 12:19-21 ).
The clearest teachings on the future life as found in the psalms, both pro and con, are found in these passages, as follows: Psa 16:10-11 ; Psa 17:15 ; Psa 23:6 ; Psa 49:15 ; Psa 73:23-26 . The passages that are construed to the contrary are found in Psa 6:5 ; Psa 30:9 ; Psa 39:13 ; Psa 88:10-12 ; Psa 115:17 . The student will compare these passages and note carefully their teachings. The first group speaks of the triumph over Sheol (the resurrection) ; about awaking in the likeness of God; about dwelling in the house of the Lord forever; about redemption from the power of Sheol; and God’s guiding counsel and final reception into glory, all of which is very clear and unmistakable teaching as to the future life.
The second group speaks of DO remembrance in death; about no profit to the one when he goes down to the pit; of going hence and being no more; about the dead not being able to praise God and about the grave as being the land of forgetfulness ; and about the dead not praising Jehovah, all of which are spoken from the standpoint of the grave and temporal death.
There is positively no contradiction nor discrepancy in the teaching of these scriptures. One group takes the spirit of man as the viewpoint and teaches the continuity of life, the immortality of the soul; the other group takes the physical being of man as the viewpoint and teaches the dissolution of the body and its absolute unconsciousness in the grave.
QUESTIONS
1. How many and what psalms were ascribed to Asaph?
2. Who presided over the Levitical singers in the time of David?
3. What is the theme of Psa 50 , and where do we find the same teaching in the Old Testament?
4. What is the problem of Psa 73 , and what its solution?
5. What psalms are attributed to the sons of Korah?
6. What is the evidence that Psalms 42-43 were one poem and what the characteristic of these two taken together?
7. What parallel to these two psalms do we find in modern literature?
8. What psalms were ascribed to Solomon?
9. What is the theme of Psa 72 ?
10. What is the outline according to DeWitt, which shows the kingdom as desired and foretold?
11. When was Psa 127 written and what the application as a part of the Pilgrim group?
12. Give a brief interpretation of it and the uses made of it by the author on two different occasions.
13. What psalms are assigned to the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah, and what their historical setting?
14. What is their application to Judah at this time?
15. Where may we find in poetry a description of the destruction and desolation of Jerusalem?
16. To what period do radical critics ascribe Psalms 74-79; what is their argument, and what is your answer?
17. Which psalm shows the silence of the exile period and why?
18. Which one shows their brightening of hope?
19. Explain Psa 85:10 .
20. Give three characteristics of Psa 119 .
21. What use was made of Psalms 146-150?
22. Explain the expression of innocence in the psalms in harmony with their teaching of sin.
23. Explain the imprecations in the psalms and show their harmony with New Testament teachings.
24. Cite the clearest teachings on the future life as found in the psalms, both pro and con.
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
PSALMS
XI
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS
According to my usual custom, when taking up the study of a book of the Bible I give at the beginning a list of books as helps to the study of that book. The following books I heartily commend on the Psalms:
1. Sampey’s Syllabus for Old Testament Study . This is especially good on the grouping and outlining of some selected psalms. There are also some valuable suggestions on other features of the book.
2. Kirkpatrick’g commentary, in “Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges,” is an excellent aid in the study of the Psalter.
3. Perowne’s Book of Psalms is a good, scholarly treatise on the Psalms. A special feature of this commentary is the author’s “New Translation” and his notes are very helpful.
4. Spurgeon’s Treasury of David. This is just what the title implies. It is a voluminous, devotional interpretation of the Psalms and helpful to those who have the time for such extensive study of the Psalter.
5. Hengstenburg on the Psalms. This is a fine, scholarly work by one of the greatest of the conservative German scholars.
6. Maclaren on the Psalms, in “The Expositor’s Bible,” is the work of the world’s safest, sanest, and best of all works that have ever been written on the Psalms.
7. Thirtle on the Titles of the Psalms. This is the best on the subject and well worth a careful study.
At this point some definitions are in order. The Hebrew word for psalm means praise. The word in English comes from psalmos , a song of lyrical character, or a song to be sung and accompanied with a lyre. The Psalter is a collection of sacred and inspired songs, composed at different times and by different authors.
The range of time in composition was more than 1,000 years, or from the time of Moses to the time of Ezra. The collection in its present form was arranged probably by Ezra in the fifth century, B.C.
The Jewish classification of Old Testament books was The Law, the Prophets, and the Holy Writings. The Psalms was given the first place in the last group.
They had several names, or titles, of the Psalms. In Hebrew they are called “The Book of Prayers,” or “The Book of Praises.” The Hebrew word thus used means praises. The title of the first two books is found in Psa 72:20 : “The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.” The title of the whole collection of Psalms in the Septuagint is Biblos Psalman which means the “Book of Psalms.” The title in the Alexandrian Codex is Psalterion which is the name of a stringed instrument, and means “The Psalter.”
The derivation of our English words, “psalms,” “psalter,” and “psaltery,” respectively, is as follows:
1. “Psalms” comes from the Greek word, psalmoi, which is also from psallein , which means to play upon a stringed instrument. Therefore the Psalms are songs played upon stringed instruments, and the word here is used to apply to the whole collection.
2. “Psalter” is of the same origin and means the Book of Psalms and refers also to the whole collection.
3. “Psaltery” is from the word psalterion, which means “a harp,” an instrument, supposed to be in the shape of a triangle or like the delta of the Greek alphabet. See Psa 33:2 ; Psa 71:22 ; Psa 81:2 ; Psa 144:9 .
In our collection there are 150 psalms. In the Septuagint there is one extra. It is regarded as being outside the sacred collection and not inspired. The subject of this extra psalm is “David’s victory over Goliath.” The following is a copy of it: I was small among my brethren, And youngest in my father’s house, I used to feed my father’s sheep. My hands made a harp, My fingers fashioned a Psaltery. And who will declare unto my Lord? He is Lord, he it is who heareth. He it was who sent his angel And took me from my father’s sheep, And anointed me with the oil of his anointing. My brethren were goodly and tall, But the Lord took no pleasure in them. I went forth to meet the Philistine. And he cursed me by his idols But I drew the sword from beside him; I beheaded him and removed reproach from the children of Israel.
It will be noted that this psalm does not have the earmarks of an inspired production. There is not found in it the modesty so characteristic of David, but there is here an evident spirit of boasting and self-praise which is foreign to the Spirit of inspiration.
There is a difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint. Omitting the extra one in the Septuagint, there is no difference as to the total number. Both have 150 and the same subject matter, but they are not divided alike.
The following scheme shows the division according to our version and also the Septuagint: Psalms 1-8 in the Hebrew equal 1-8 in the Septuagint; 9-10 in the Hebrew combine into 9 in the Septuagint; 11-113 in the Hebrew equal 10-112 in the Septuagint; 114-115 in the Hebrew combine into 113 in the Septuagint; 116 in the Hebrew divides into 114-115 in the Septuagint; 117-146 in the Hebrew equal 116-145 in the Septuagint; 147 in the Hebrew divides into 146-147 in the Septuagint; 148-150 in the Hebrew equal 148-150 in the Septuagint.
The arrangement in the Vulgate is the same as the Septuagint. Also some of the older English versions have this arangement. Another difficulty in numbering perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another, viz: In the Hebrew often the title is verse I, and sometimes the title embraces verses 1-2.
The book divisions of the Psalter are five books, as follows:
Book I, Psalms 1-41 (41 chapters)
Book II, Psalms 42-72 (31 chapters)
Book III, Psalms 73-89 (17 chapters)
Book IV, Psalms 90-106 (17 chapters)
Book V, Psalms 107-150 (44 chapters)
They are marked by an introduction and a doxology. Psalm I forms an introduction to the whole book; Psa 150 is the doxology for the whole book. The introduction and doxology of each book are the first and last psalms of each division, respectively.
There were smaller collections before the final one, as follows:
Books I and II were by David; Book III, by Hezekiah, and Books IV and V, by Ezra.
Certain principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection:
1. David is honored with first place, Book I and II, including Psalms 1-72.
2. They are grouped according to the use of the name of God:
(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovah psalms;
(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohim-psalms;
(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovah psalms.
3. Book IV is introduced by the psalm of Moses, which is the first psalm written.
4. Some are arranged as companion psalms, for instance, sometimes two, sometimes three, and sometimes more. Examples: Psa 2 and 3; 22, 23, and 24; 113-118.
5. They were arranged for liturgical purposes, which furnished the psalms for special occasions, such as feasts, etc. We may be sure this arrangement was not accidental. An intelligent study of each case is convincing that it was determined upon rational grounds.
All the psalms have titles but thirty-three, as follows:
In Book I, Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 33 , (4 are without titles).
In Book II, Psa 43 ; Psa 71 , (2 are without titles).
In Book IV, Psa 91 ; Psa 93 ; Psa 94 ; Psa 95 ; Psa 96 ; Psa 97 ; Psa 104 ; Psa 105 ; Psa 106 , (9 are without titles).
In Book V, Psa 107 ; III; 112; 113; 114; 115; 116; 117; 118; 119; 135; 136; 137; 146; 147; 148; 149; 150, (18 are without titles).
The Talmud calls these psalms that have no title, “Orphan Psalms.” The later Jews supply these titles by taking the nearest preceding author. The lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; and 10 may be accounted for as follows: Psa 1 is a general introduction to the whole collection and Psa 2 was, perhaps, a part of Psa 1 . Psalms 9-10 were formerly combined into one, therefore Psa 10 has the same title as Psa 9 .
QUESTIONS
1. What books are commended on the Psalms?
2. What is a psalm?
3. What is the Psalter?
4. What is the range of time in composition?
5. When and by whom was the collection in its present form arranged?
6. What the Jewish classification of Old Testament books, and what the position of the Psalter in this classification?
7. What is the Hebrew title of the Psalms?
8. Find the title of the first two books from the books themselves.
9. What is the title of the whole collection of psalms in the Septuagint?
10. What is the title in the Alexandrian Codex?
11. What is the derivation of our English word, “Psalms”, “Psalter”, and “Psaltery,” respectively?
12. How many psalms in our collection?
13. How many psalms in the Septuagint?
14. What about the extra one in the Septuagint?
15. What is the subject of this extra psalm?
16. How does it compare with the Canonical Psalms?
17. What is the difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint?
18. What is the arrangement in the Vulgate?
19. What other difficulty in numbering which perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another?
20. What are the book divisions of the Psalter and how are these divisions marked?
21. Were there smaller collections before the final one? If so, what were they?
22. What principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection?
23. In what conclusion may we rest concerning this arrangement?
24. How many of the psalms have no titles?
25. What does the Talmud call these psalms that have no titles?
26. How do later Jews supply these titles?
27. How do you account for the lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ?
XII
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS (CONTINUED)
The following is a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms:
1. The author: “A Psalm of David” (Psa 37 ).
2. The occasion: “When he fled from Absalom, his son” (Psa 3 ).
3. The nature, or character, of the poem:
(1) Maschil, meaning “instruction,” a didactic poem (Psa 42 ).
(2) Michtam, meaning “gold,” “A Golden Psalm”; this means excellence or mystery (Psa 16 ; 56-60).
4. The occasion of its use: “A Psalm of David for the dedication of the house” (Psa 30 ).
5. Its purpose: “A Psalm of David to bring remembrance” (Psa 38 ; Psa 70 ).
6. Direction for its use: “A Psalm of David for the chief musician” (Psa 4 ).
7. The kind of musical instrument:
(1) Neginoth, meaning to strike a chord, as on stringed instruments (Psa 4 ; Psa 61 ).
(2) Nehiloth, meaning to perforate, as a pipe or flute (Psa 5 ).
(3) Shoshannim, Lilies, which refers probably to cymbals (Psa 45 ; Psa 69 ).
8. A special choir:
(1) Sheminith, the “eighth,” or octave below, as a male choir (Psa 6 ; Psa 12 ).
(2) Alamoth, female choir (Psa 46 ).
(3) Muth-labben, music with virgin voice, to be sung by a choir of boys in the treble (Psa 9 ).
9. The keynote, or tune:
(1) Aijeleth-sharar, “Hind of the morning,” a song to the melody of which this is sung (Psa 22 ).
(2) Al-tashheth, “Destroy thou not,” the beginning of a song the tune of which is sung (Psa 57 ; Psa 58 ; Psa 59 ; Psa 75 ).
(3) Gittith, set to the tune of Gath, perhaps a tune which David brought from Gath (Psa 8 ; Psa 81 ; Psa 84 ).
(4) Jonath-elim-rehokim, “The dove of the distant terebinths,” the commencement of an ode to the air of which this song was to be sung (Psa 56 ).
(5) Leannoth, the name of a tune (Psa 88 ).
(6) Mahalath, an instrument (Psa 53 ); Leonnoth-Mahaloth, to chant to a tune called Mahaloth.
(7) Shiggaion, a song or a hymn.
(8) Shushan-Eduth, “Lily of testimony,” a tune (Psa 60 ). Note some examples: (1) “America,” “Shiloh,” “Auld Lang Syne.” These are the names of songs such as we are familiar with; (2) “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” and “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood,” are examples of sacred hymns.
10. The liturgical use, those noted for the feasts, e.g., the Hallels and Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 146-150).
11. The destination, as “Song of Ascents” (Psalms 120-134)
12. The direction for the music, such as Selah, which means “Singers, pause”; Higgaion-Selah, to strike a symphony with selah, which means an instrumental interlude (Psa 9:16 ).
The longest and fullest title to any of the psalms is the title to Psa 60 . The items of information from this title are as follows: (1) the author; (2) the chief musician; (3) the historical occasion; (4) the use, or design; (5) the style of poetry; (6) the instrument or style of music.
The parts of these superscriptions which most concern us now are those indicating author, occasion, and date. As to the historic value or trustworthiness of these titles most modern scholars deny that they are a part of the Hebrew text, but the oldest Hebrew text of which we know anything had all of them. This is the text from which the Septuagint was translated. It is much more probable that the author affixed them than later writers. There is no internal evidence in any of the psalms that disproves the correctness of them, but much to confirm. The critics disagree among themselves altogether as to these titles. Hence their testimony cannot consistently be received. Nor can it ever be received until they have at least agreed upon a common ground of opposition.
David is the author of more than half the entire collection, the arrangement of which is as follows:
1. Seventy-three are ascribed to him in the superscriptions.
2. Some of these are but continuations of the preceding ones of a pair, trio, or larger group.
3. Some of the Korahite Psalms are manifestly Davidic.
4. Some not ascribed to him in the titles are attributed to him expressly by New Testament writers.
5. It is not possible to account for some parts of the Psalter without David. The history of his early life as found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1and 2 Chronicles, not only shows his remarkable genius for patriotic and sacred songs and music, but also shows his cultivation of that gift in the schools of the prophets. Some of these psalms of the history appear in the Psalter itself. It is plain to all who read these that they are founded on experience, and the experience of no other Hebrew fits the case. These experiences are found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles.
As to the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition, I have this to say:
1. This theory has no historical support whatever, and therefore is not to be accepted at all.
2. It has no support in tradition, which weakens the contention of the critics greatly.
3. It has no support from finding any one with the necessary experience for their basis.
4. They can give no reasonable account as to how the titles ever got there.
5. It is psychologically impossible for anyone to have written these 150 psalms in the Maccabean times.
6. Their position is expressly contrary to the testimony of Christ and the apostles. Some of the psalms which they ascribe to the Maccabean Age are attributed to David by Christ himself, who said that David wrote them in the Spirit.
The obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result if it be Just, is a positive denial of the inspiration of both Testaments.
Other authors are named in the titles, as follows: (1) Asaph, to whom twelve psalms have been assigned: (2) Mosee, Psa 90 ; (3) Solomon, Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ; (4) Heman, Psa 80 ; (5) Ethem, Psa 89 ; (6) A number of the psalms are ascribed to the sons of Korah.
Not all the psalms ascribed to Asaph were composed by one person. History indicates that Asaph’s family presided over the song service for several generations. Some of them were composed by his descendants by the game name. The five general outlines of the whole collection are as follows:
I. By books
1. Psalms 1-41 (41)
2. Psalms 42-72 (31)
3. Psalms 73-89 (17)
4. Psalms 90-106 (17)
5. Psalms 107-150 (44)
II. According to date and authorship
1. The psalm of Moses (Psa 90 )
2. Psalms of David:
(1) The shepherd boy (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 ).
(2) David when persecuted by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ).
(3) David the King (Psa 101 ; Psa 18 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 110 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 21 ; Psa 60 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 41 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 3:4 ; Psa 64 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 ).
3. The Asaph Psalms (Psa 50 ; Psa 73 ; Psa 83 ).
4. The Korahite Psalms (Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 84 ).
5. The psalms of Solomon (Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ).
6. The psalms of the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah (Psa 46 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 )
7. The psalms of the Exile (Psa 74 ; Psa 79 ; Psa 137 ; Psa 102 )
8. The psalms of the Restoration (Psa 85 ; Psa 126 ; Psa 118 ; 146-150)
III. By groups
1. The Jehovistic and Elohistic Psalms:
(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovistic;
(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohistic Psalms;
(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovistic.
2. The Penitential Psalms (Psa 6 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 130 ; Psa 143 )
3. The Pilgrim Psalms (Psalms 120-134)
4. The Alphabetical Psalms (Psa 9 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 25 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 37 ; 111:112; Psa 119 ; Psa 145 )
5. The Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 11-113; 115-117; 146-150; to which may be added Psa 135 ) Psalms 113-118 are called “the Egyptian Hallel”
IV. Doctrines of the Psalms
1. The throne of grace and how to approach it by sacrifice, prayer, and praise.
2. The covenant, the basis of worship.
3. The paradoxical assertions of both innocence & guilt.
4. The pardon of sin and justification.
5. The Messiah.
6. The future life, pro and con.
7. The imprecations.
8. Other doctrines.
V. The New Testament use of the Psalms
1. Direct references and quotations in the New Testament.
2. The allusions to the psalms in the New Testament. Certain experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart, such as: (1) his peaceful early life; (2) his persecution by Saul; (3) his being crowned king of the people; (4) the bringing up of the ark; (5) his first great sin; (6) Absalom’s rebellion; (7) his second great sin; (8) the great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 ; (9) the feelings of his old age.
We may classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time, thus:
1. His peaceful early life (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 )
2. His persecution by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 7 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 120 ; Psa 140 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ; Psa 17 ; Psa 18 )
3. Making David King (Psa 27 ; Psa 133 ; Psa 101 )
4. Bringing up the ark (Psa 68 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 132 ; Psa 15 ; Psa 78 ; Psa 96 )
5. His first great sin (Psa 51 ; Psa 32 )
6. Absalom’s rebellion (Psa 41 ; Psa 6 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 109 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 39 ; Psa 3 ; Psa 4 ; Psa 63 ; Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 5 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 )
7. His second great sin (Psa 69 ; Psa 71 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 103 )
8. The great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 (Psa 2 )
9. Feelings of old age (Psa 37 )
The great doctrines of the psalms may be noted as follows: (1) the being and attributes of God; (3) sin, both original and individual; (3) both covenants; (4) the doctrine of justification; (5) concerning the Messiah.
There is a striking analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms. The Pentateuch contains five books of law; the Psalms contain five books of heart responses to the law.
It is interesting to note the historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms. These were controversies about singing uninspired songs, in the Middle Ages. The church would not allow anything to be used but psalms.
The history in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah is very valuable toward a proper interpretation of the psalms. These books furnish the historical setting for a great many of the psalms which is very indispensable to their proper interpretation.
Professor James Robertson, in the Poetry and Religion of the Psalms constructs a broad and strong argument in favor of the Davidic Psalms, as follows:
1. The age of David furnished promising soil for the growth of poetry.
2. David’s qualifications for composing the psalms make it highly probable that David is the author of the psalms ascribed to him.
3. The arguments against the possibility of ascribing to David any of the hymns in the Hebrew Psalter rests upon assumptions that are thoroughly antibiblical.
The New Testament makes large use of the psalms and we learn much as to their importance in teaching. There are seventy direct quotations in the New Testament from this book, from which we learn that the Scriptures were used extensively in accord with 2Ti 3:16-17 . There are also eleven references to the psalms in the New Testament from which we learn that the New Testament writers were thoroughly imbued with the spirit and teaching of the psalms. Then there are eight allusions ‘to this book in the New Testament from which we gather that the Psalms was one of the divisions of the Old Testament and that they were used in the early church.
QUESTIONS
1. Give a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms.
2. What is the longest title to any of the psalms and what the items of this title?
3. What parts of these superscriptions most concern us now?
4. What is the historic value, or trustworthiness of these titles?
5. State the argument showing David’s relation to the psalms.
6. What have you to say of the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition?
7. What the obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result, if it be just?
8. What other authors are named in the titles?
9. Were all the psalms ascribed to Asaph composed by one person?
10. Give the five general outlines of the whole collection, as follows: I. The outline by books II. The outline according to date and authorship III. The outline by groups IV. The outline of doctrines V. The outline by New Testament quotations or allusions.
11. What experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart?
12. Classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time.
13. What the great doctrines of the psalms?
14. What analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms?
15. What historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms?
16. Of what value is the history in Samuel, 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah toward a proper interpretation of the psalms?
17. Give Professor James Robertson’s argument in favor of the Davidic authorship of the psalms.
18. What can you say of the New Testament use of the psalms and what do we learn as to their importance in teaching?
19. What can you say of the New Testament references to the psalms, and from the New Testament references what the impression on the New Testament writers?
20. What can you say of the allusions to the psalms in the New Testament?
XVII
THE MESSIAH IN THE PSALMS
A fine text for this chapter is as follows: “All things must be fulfilled which were written in the Psalms concerning me,” Luk 24:44 . I know of no better way to close my brief treatise on the Psalms than to discuss the subject of the Messiah as revealed in this book.
Attention has been called to the threefold division of the Old Testament cited by our Lord, namely, the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms (Luk 24:44 ), in all of which were the prophecies relating to himself that “must be fulfilled.” It has been shown just what Old Testament books belong to each of these several divisions. The division called the Psalms included many books, styled Holy Writings, and because the Psalms proper was the first book of the division it gave the name to the whole division.
The object of this discussion is to sketch the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah, or rather, to show how nearly a complete picture of our Lord is foredrawn in this one book. Let us understand however with Paul, that all prophecy is but in part (1Co 13:9 ), and that when we fill in on one canvas all the prophecies concerning the Messiah of all the Old Testament divisions, we are far from having a perfect portrait of our Lord. The present purpose is limited to three things:
1. What the book of the Psalms teaches concerning the Messiah.
2. That the New Testament shall authoritatively specify and expound this teaching.
3. That the many messianic predictions scattered over the book and the specifications thereof over the New Testament may be grouped into an orderly analysis, so that by the adjustment of the scattered parts we may have before us a picture of our Lord as foreseen by the psalmists.
In allowing the New Testament to authoritatively specify and expound the predictive features of the book, I am not unmindful of what the so-called “higher critics” urge against the New Testament quotations from the Old Testament and the use made of them. In this discussion, however, these objections are not considered, for sufficient reasons. There is not space for it. Even at the risk of being misjudged I must just now summarily pass all these objections, dismissing them with a single statement upon which the reader may place his own estimate of value. That statement is that in the days of my own infidelity, before this old method of criticism had its new name, I was quite familiar with the most and certainly the strongest of the objections now classified as higher criticism, and have since patiently re-examined them in their widely conflicting restatements under their modern name, and find my faith in the New Testament method of dealing with the Old Testament in no way shattered, but in every way confirmed. God is his own interpreter. The Old Testament as we now have it was in the hands of our Lord. I understand his apostle to declare, substantially, that “every one of these sacred scriptures is God-inspired and is profitable for teaching us what is right to believe and to do, for convincing us what is wrong in faith or practice, for rectifying the wrong when done, that we may be ready at every point, furnished completely, to do every good work, at the right time, in the right manner, and from the proper motive” (2Ti 3:16-17 ).
This New Testament declares that David was a prophet (Act 2:30 ), that he spake by the Holy Spirit (Act 1:16 ), that when the book speaks the Holy Spirit speaks (Heb 3:7 ), and that all its predictive utterances, as sacred Scripture, “must be fulfilled” (Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:16 ). It is not claimed that David wrote all the psalms, but that all are inspired, and that as he was the chief author, the book goes by his name.
It would be a fine thing to make out two lists, as follows:
1. All of the 150 psalms in order from which the New Testament quotes with messianic application.
2. The New Testament quotations, book by book, i.e., Matthew so many, and then the other books in their order.
We would find in neither of these any order as to time, that is, Psa 1 which forecasts an incident in the coming Messiah’s life does not forecast the first incident of his life. And even the New Testament citations are not in exact order as to time and incident of his life. To get the messianic picture before us, therefore, we must put the scattered parts together in their due relation and order, and so construct our own analysis. That is the prime object of this discussion. It is not claimed that the analysis now presented is perfect. It is too much the result of hasty, offhand work by an exceedingly busy man. It will serve, however, as a temporary working model, which any one may subsequently improve. We come at once to the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah.
1. The necessity for a Saviour. This foreseen necessity is a background of the psalmists’ portrait of the Messiah. The necessity consists in (1) man’s sinfulness; (2) his sin; (3) his inability of wisdom and power to recover himself; (4) the insufficiency of legal, typical sacrifices in securing atonement.
The predicate of Paul’s great argument on justification by faith is the universal depravity and guilt of man. He is everywhere corrupt in nature; everywhere an actual transgressor; everywhere under condemnation. But the scriptural proofs of this depravity and sin the apostle draws mainly from the book of the Psalms. In one paragraph of the letter to the Romans (Rom 3:4-18 ), he cites and groups six passages from six divisions of the Psalms (Psa 5:9 ; Psa 10:7 ; Psa 14:1-3 ; Psa 36:1 ; Psa 51:4-6 ; Psa 140:3 ). These passages abundantly prove man’s sinfulness, or natural depravity, and his universal practice of sin.
The predicate also of the same apostle’s great argument for revelation and salvation by a Redeemer is man’s inability of wisdom and power to re-establish communion with God. In one of his letters to the Corinthians he thus commences his argument: “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? -For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preach-ing to save them that believe.” He closes this discussion with the broad proposition: “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God,” and proves it by a citation from Psa 94:11 : “The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.”
In like manner our Lord himself pours scorn on human wisdom and strength by twice citing Psa 8 : “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight” (Mat 11:25-26 ). “And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children that were crying in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, and said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” (Mat 21:15-16 ).
But the necessity for a Saviour as foreseen by the psalmist did not stop at man’s depravity, sin, and helplessness. The Jews were trusting in the sacrifices of their law offered on the smoking altar. The inherent weakness of these offerings, their lack of intrinsic merit, their ultimate abolition, their complete fulfilment and supercession by a glorious antitype were foreseen and foreshown in this wonderful prophetic book: I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices; And thy burnt offerings are continually before me. I will take no bullock out of thy house, Nor he-goat out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, And the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all of the birds of the mountains; And the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; For the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, Or drink the blood of goats? Psa 50:8-13 .
Yet again it speaks in that more striking passage cited in the letter to the Hebrews: “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshipers, once purged should have no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance made of sins year by year. For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, But a body didst thou prepare for me; In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hadst no pleasure: Then said I, Lo, I am come (In the roll of the book it is written of me) To do thy will, O God. Saying above, Sacrifice and offering and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou wouldst not, neither hadst pleasure therein, (the which are offered according to the law), then hath he said, Lo, I am come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second” (Heb 10:1-9 ).
This keen foresight of the temporary character and intrinsic worthlessness of animal sacrifices anticipated similar utterances by the later prophets (Isa 1:10-17 ; Jer 6:20 ; Jer 7:21-23 ; Hos 6:6 ; Amo 5:21 ; Mic 6:6-8 ). Indeed, I may as well state in passing that when the apostle declares, “It is impossible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins,” he lays down a broad principle, just as applicable to baptism and the Lord’s Supper. With reverence I state the principle: Not even God himself by mere appointment can vest in any ordinance, itself lacking intrinsic merit, the power to take away sin. There can be, therefore, in the nature of the case, no sacramental salvation. This would destroy the justice of God in order to exalt his mercy. Clearly the psalmist foresaw that “truth and mercy must meet together” before “righteousness and peace could kiss each other” (Psa 85:10 ). Thus we find as the dark background of the psalmists’ luminous portrait of the Messiah, the necessity for a Saviour.
2. The nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah. In no other prophetic book are the nature, fullness, and blessedness of salvation so clearly seen and so vividly portrayed. Besides others not now enumerated, certainly the psalmists clearly forecast four great elements of salvation:
(1) An atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit offered once for all (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:4-10 ).
(2) Regeneration itself consisting of cleansing, renewal, and justification. We hear his impassioned statement of the necessity of regeneration: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts,” followed by his earnest prayer: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me,” and his equally fervent petition: “Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow” (Psa 51 ). And we hear him again as Paul describes the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputes righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, And whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin Psa 32:1 ; Rom 4:6-8 .
(3) Introduction into the heavenly rest (Psa 95:7-11 ; Heb 3:7-19 ; Heb 4:1-11 ). Here is the antitypical Joshua leading spiritual Israel across the Jordan of death into the heavenly Canaan, the eternal rest that remaineth for the people of God. Here we find creation’s original sabbath eclipsed by redemption’s greater sabbath when the Redeemer “entered his rest, ceasing from his own works as God did from his.”
(4) The recovery of all the universal dominion lost by the first Adam and the securement of all possible dominion which the first Adam never attained (Psa 8:5-6 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 ; 1Co 15:24-28 ).
What vast extent then and what blessedness in the salvation foreseen by the psalmists, and to be wrought by the Messiah. Atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit; regeneration by the Holy Spirit; heavenly rest as an eternal inheritance; and universal dominion shared with Christ!
3. The wondrous person of the Messiah in his dual nature, divine and human.
(1) His divinity,
(a) as God: “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever” (Psa 45:6 and Heb 1:8 ) ;
(b) as creator of the heavens and earth, immutable and eternal: Of old didst thou lay the foundation of the earth; And the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, And thy years shall have no end Psa 102:25-27 quoted with slight changes in Heb 1:10-12 .
(c) As owner of the earth: The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof; The world, and they that dwell therein, Psa 24:1 quoted in 1Co 10:26 .
(d) As the Son of God: “Thou art my Son; This day have I begotten thee” Psa 2:7 ; Heb 1:5 .
(e) As David’s Lord: The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, Until I make thine enemies thy footstool, Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:41-46 .
(f) As the object of angelic worship: “And let all the angels of God worship him” Psa 97:7 ; Heb 1:6 .
(g) As the Bread of life: And he rained down manna upon them to eat, And gave them food from heaven Psa 78:24 ; interpreted in Joh 6:31-58 . These are but samples which ascribe deity to the Messiah of the psalmists.
(2) His humanity, (a) As the Son of man, or Son of Adam: Psa 8:4-6 , cited in 1Co 15:24-28 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Compare Luke’s genealogy, Luk 3:23-38 . This is the ideal man, or Second Adam, who regains Paradise Lost, who recovers race dominion, in whose image all his spiritual lineage is begotten. 1Co 15:45-49 . (b) As the Son of David: Psa 18:50 ; Psa 89:4 ; Psa 89:29 ; Psa 89:36 ; Psa 132:11 , cited in Luk 1:32 ; Act 13:22-23 ; Rom 1:3 ; 2Ti 2:8 . Perhaps a better statement of the psalmists’ vision of the wonderful person of the Messiah would be: He saw the uncreated Son, the second person of the trinity, in counsel and compact with the Father, arranging in eternity for the salvation of men: Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 . Then he saw this Holy One stoop to be the Son of man: Psa 8:4-6 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Then he was the son of David, and then he saw him rise again to be the Son of God: Psa 2:7 ; Rom 1:3-4 .
4. His offices.
(1) As the one atoning sacrifice (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 ).
(2) As the great Prophet, or Preacher (Psa 40:9-10 ; Psa 22:22 ; Heb 2:12 ). Even the method of his teaching by parable was foreseen (Psa 78:2 ; Mat 13:35 ). Equally also the grace, wisdom, and power of his teaching. When the psalmist declares that “Grace is poured into thy lips” (Psa 45:2 ), we need not be startled when we read that all the doctors in the Temple who heard him when only a boy “were astonished at his understanding and answers” (Luk 2:47 ); nor that his home people at Nazareth “all bear him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth” (Luk 4:22 ); nor that those of his own country were astonished, and said, “Whence hath this man this wisdom?” (Mat 13:54 ); nor that the Jews in the Temple marveled, saying, “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” (Joh 7:15 ) ; nor that the stern officers of the law found their justification in failure to arrest him in the declaration, “Never man spake like this man” (Joh 7:46 ).
(3) As the king (Psa 2:6 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 45:1-17 ; Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:42-46 ; Act 2:33-36 ; 1Co 15:25 ; Eph 1:20 ; Heb 1:13 ).
(4) As the priest (Psa 110:4 ; Heb 5:5-10 ; Heb 7:1-21 ; Heb 10:12-14 ).
(5) As the final judge. The very sentence of expulsion pronounced upon the finally impenitent by the great judge (Mat 25:41 ) is borrowed from the psalmist’s prophetic words (Psa 6:8 ).
5. Incidents of life. The psalmists not only foresaw the necessity for a Saviour; the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation; the wonderful human-divine person of the Saviour; the offices to be filled by him in the work of salvation, but also many thrilling details of his work in life, death, resurrection, and exaltation. It is not assumed to cite all these details, but some of the most important are enumerated in order, thus:
(1) The visit, adoration, and gifts of the Magi recorded in Mat 2 are but partial fulfilment of Psa 72:9-10 .
(2) The scripture employed by Satan in the temptation of our Lord (Luk 4:10-11 ) was cited from Psa 91:11-12 and its pertinency not denied.
(3) In accounting for his intense earnestness and the apparently extreme measures adopted by our Lord in his first purification of the Temple (Joh 2:17 ), he cites the messianic zeal predicted in Psa 69:9 .
(4) Alienation from his own family was one of the saddest trials of our Lord’s earthly life. They are slow to understand his mission and to enter into sympathy with him. His self-abnegation and exhaustive toil were regarded by them as evidences of mental aberration, and it seems at one time they were ready to resort to forcible restraint of his freedom) virtually what in our time would be called arrest under a writ of lunacy. While at the last his half-brothers became distinguished preachers of his gospel, for a long while they do not believe on him. And the evidence forces us to the conclusion that his own mother shared with her other sons, in kind though not in degree, the misunderstanding of the supremacy of his mission over family relations. The New Testament record speaks for itself:
Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them. How is it that ye sought me? Knew ye not that I must be in my Father’s house? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them Luk 2:48-51 (R.V.).
And when the wine failed, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. And Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. Joh 2:3-5 (R.V.).
And there come his mother and his brethren; and standing without; they sent unto him, calling him. And a multitude was sitting about him; and they say unto him. Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. And he answereth them, and saith, Who is my mother and my brethren? And looking round on them that sat round about him, he saith, Behold, my mother and my brethren) For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother Mar 3:31-35 (R.V.).
Now the feast of the Jews, the feast of tabernacles, was at hand. His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may behold thy works which thou doest. For no man doeth anything in secret, and himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou doest these things, manifest thyself to the world. For even his brethren did not believe on him. Jesus therefore saith unto them, My time is not yet come; but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that its works are evil. Go ye up unto the feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; because my time is not fulfilled. Joh 7:2-9 (R.V.).
These citations from the Revised Version tell their own story. But all that sad story is foreshown in the prophetic psalms. For example: I am become a stranger unto my brethren, And an alien unto my mother’s children. Psa 69:8 .
(5) The triumphal entry into Jerusalem was welcomed by a joyous people shouting a benediction from Psa 118:26 : “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Mat 21:9 ); and the Lord’s lamentation over Jerusalem predicts continued desolation and banishment from his sight until the Jews are ready to repeat that benediction (Mat 23:39 ).
(6) The children’s hosanna in the Temple after its second purgation is declared by our Lord to be a fulfilment of that perfect praise forecast in Psa 8:2 .
(7) The final rejection of our Lord by his own people was also clear in the psalmist’s vision (Psa 118:22 ; Mat 21:42-44 ).
(8) Gethsemane’s baptism of suffering, with its strong crying and tears and prayers was as clear to the psalmist’s prophetic vision as to the evangelist and apostle after it became history (Psa 69:1-4 ; Psa 69:13-20 ; and Mat 26:36-44 ; Heb 5:7 ).
(9) In life-size also before the psalmist was the betrayer of Christ and his doom (Psa 41:9 ; Psa 69:25 ; Psa 109:6-8 ; Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:20 ).
(10) The rage of the people, Jew and Gentile, and the conspiracy of Pilate and Herod are clearly outlined (Psa 2:1-3 ; Act 4:25-27 ).
(11) All the farce of his trial the false accusation, his own marvelous silence; and the inhuman maltreatment to which he was subjected, is foreshown in the prophecy as dramatically as in the history (Mat 26:57-68 ; Mat 27:26-31 ; Psa 27:12 ; Psa 35:15-16 ; Psa 38:3 ; Psa 69:19 ).
The circumstances of his death, many and clear, are distinctly foreseen. He died in the prime of life (Psa 89:45 ; Psa 102:23-24 ). He died by crucifixion (Psa 22:14-17 ; Luk 23 ; 33; Joh 19:23-37 ; Joh 20:27 ). But yet not a bone of his body was broken (Psa 34:20 ; Joh 19:36 ).
The persecution, hatred without a cause, the mockery and insults, are all vividly and dramatically foretold (Psa 22:6-13 ; Psa 35:7 ; Psa 35:12 ; Psa 35:15 ; Psa 35:21 ; Psa 109:25 ).
The parting of his garments and the gambling for his vesture (Psa 22:18 ; Mat 27:35 ).
His intense thirst and the gall and vinegar offered for his drink (Psa 69:21 ; Mat 27:34 ).
In the psalms, too, we hear his prayers for his enemies so remarkably fulfilled in fact (Psa 109:4 ; Luk 23:34 ).
His spiritual death was also before the eye of the psalmist, and the very words which expressed it the psalmist heard. Separation from the Father is spiritual death. The sinner’s substitute must die the sinner’s death, death physical, i.e., separation of soul from body; death spiritual, i.e., separation of the soul from God. The latter is the real death and must precede the former. This death the substitute died when he cried out: “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me.” (Psa 22:1 ; Mat 27:46 ).
Emerging from the darkness of that death, which was the hour of the prince of darkness, the psalmist heard him commend his spirit to the Father (Psa_31:35; Luk 23:46 ) showing that while he died the spiritual death, his soul was not permanently abandoned unto hell (Psa 16:8-10 ; Act 2:25 ) so that while he “tasted death” for every man it was not permanent death (Heb 2:9 ).
With equal clearness the psalmist foresaw his resurrection, his triumph over death and hell, his glorious ascension into heaven, and his exaltation at the right hand of God as King of kings and Lord of lords, as a high Driest forever, as invested with universal sovereignty (Psa 16:8-11 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 68:18 ; Psa 2:6 ; Psa 111:1-4 ; Psa 8:4-6 ; Act 2:25-36 ; Eph 1:19-23 ; Eph 4:8-10 ).
We see, therefore, brethren, when the scattered parts are put together and adjusted, how nearly complete a portrait of our Lord is put upon the prophetic canvas by this inspired limner, the sweet singer of Israel.
QUESTIONS
1. What is a good text for this chapter?
2. What is the threefold division of the Old Testament as cited by our Lord?
3. What is the last division called and why?
4. What is the object of the discussion in this chapter?
5. To what three things is the purpose limited?
6. What especially qualifies the author to meet the objections of the higher critics to allowing the New Testament usage of the Old Testament to determine its meaning and application?
7. What is the author’s conviction relative to the Scriptures?
8. What is the New Testament testimony on the question of inspiration?
9. What is the author’s suggested plan of approach to the study of the Messiah in the Psalms?
10. What the background of the Psalmist’s portrait of the Messiah and of what does it consist?
11. Give the substance of Paul’s discussion of man’s sinfulness.
12. What is the teaching of Jesus on this point?
13. What is the teaching relative to sacrifices?
14. What the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah and what the four great elements of it as forecast by the psalmist?
15. What is the teaching of the psalms relative to the wondrous person of the Messiah? Discuss.
16. What are the offices of the Messiah according to psalms? Discuss each.
17. Cite the more important events of the Messiah’s life according to the vision of the psalmist.
18. What the circumstances of the Messiah’s death and resurrection as foreseen by the psalmist?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Psa 50:1
A Psalm of Asaph ] Who was both a music master, 1Ch 25:2 , and a psalm composer, 2Ch 29:30 . The most are of the opinion that this psalm was made by David, and committed to Asaph to be sung, after that Israel had been afflicted with three years’ famine and three days’ pestilence, and the angel had appeared to David, and set out the place where the temple should be built, 2Sa 21:1-3 2Sa 24:13-18 1Ch 21:18 ; 1Ch 22:4 (Jun.).
Ver. 1. The mighty God, even the Lord ] Heb. The God of gods, whether they be so deputed, as angels, magistrates; or reputed only, as heathen deities, 1Co 8:5 . Jehovah or Essentiator, is God’s proper name. Some say God is here thrice named, to note the Trinity in Unity (R. Nahum ap. Nebien).
Hath spoken
And called the earth from the rising, &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
It is “A psalm of Asaph.” Here it is God’s call to judgment, not yet of the dead but of the earth, and of those that know His law in particular.
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 50:1-6
1The Mighty One, God, the Lord, has spoken,
And summoned the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.
2Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God has shone forth.
3May our God come and not keep silence;
Fire devours before Him,
And it is very tempestuous around Him.
4He summons the heavens above,
And the earth, to judge His people:
5Gather My godly ones to Me,
Those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.
6And the heavens declare His righteousness,
For God Himself is judge. Selah.
Psa 50:1-6 This strophe characterizes YHWH as the righteous Judge (cf. Psa 50:6). The imagery of much of this Psalm is a court scene.
1. summoned the earth, Psa 50:1; Psa 50:4
2. the two eternal witnessesheaven and earth (cf., Deu 4:26; Deu 30:19; Deu 31:28; Deu 32:1), Psa 50:4
3. God Himself is Judge, Psa 50:6
4. I will testify against you, Psa 50:7; notice the whole world, heaven and earth, are called to witness YHWH’s accusations against His covenant people
Psa 50:1 Notice the names/titles of Deity used (see SPECIAL TOPIC: NAMES FOR DEITY ):
1. El, Psa 50:1 BDB 42, general name for God in the ANE from the root, to be strong
2. Elohim, Psa 50:1-3; Psa 50:6-7 (twice), 14,16,23 BDB 43, God as creator, provider, and sustainer of all life
3. YHWH, Psa 50:1 BDB 217, the covenant-making God, God as Savior, Redeemer (Psa 50:5)
4. Elyon, Psa 50:14 BDB 751 II, see full note at Psa 46:4 b, Most High (cf. Deu 32:8; Psa 9:2; Psa 21:7; etc.)
5. Eloah, Psa 50:22 BDB 42, singular of Elohim (mostly in Job)
It is possible that the first three are meant to form one title (cf. Jos 22:22). The LXX, NJB, and AB (p. 304) suggest, The God (El) of gods (Elohim) is YHWH. There was some literary/theological reason to link these three names in a series, but it is lost to moderns.
earth This is the Hebrew word erets (BDB 75, see SPECIAL TOPIC: LAND, COUNTRY, EARTH ). A parallel term, world (BDB 385, cf. Psa 9:8; Psa 18:15; Psa 19:4; Psa 24:1; Psa 33:8; Psa 50:12), is used mostly in Psalms and Isaiah.
from the rising of the sun to its setting The phrase (cf. Psa 113:3) is an idiom of universality, as is from the east to the west. All peoples are summoned to YHWH’s court. This concept is brought into the NT as
1. the sheep and goat judgment of Mat 25:31-46
2. the judgment seat of Christ of 2Co 5:10
3. the great white throne judgment of Rev 20:11-15
This is alluded to in 1Co 15:25-28. Humans will give an account to God of their stewardship of the gift of life!
Psa 50:2 Zion Here the city of God, Jerusalem, is characterized as the perfection of beauty. In Psa 48:2 she is called, beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth. Both of these descriptive phrases are combined in Lam 2:15. See notes at Psa 2:2; Psa 9:11; Psa 20:1. See Special Topic: Moriah. Salem, Jebus, Jerusalem, Zion.
God has shone forth This same verb (BDB 422, KB 424, Hiphil imperative) is used in Psa 80:1 (Hiphil imperative) and Psa 94:1 (also Hiphil imperative). In Psa 49:14 I have listed how the light imagery is used to refer to different things. God is the light of the world (cf. Psa 27:1; Isa 60:1-3; Isa 60:19-20) and so is His Son (cf. Joh 8:12; Joh 12:35). Because of Them, so are Their faithful followers (cf. Mat 5:14; Mat 6:23; Joh 12:36).
Psa 50:3 This verse begins with two jussives (may. . .).
1. may our God come BDB 97, KB 112, Qal imperfect used in a jussive sense
2. may He not keep silence BDB 361, KB 357, Qal imperfect used in a jussive sense
Judgment Day has arrived and the people of God are first to be charged (cf. Jer 25:29; 1Pe 4:17).
Fire devours before Him Fire is often associated with
1. the holiness/purity of God Dan 7:10
2. cleansing Num 31:23
3. judgment Lev 10:2; Num 16:35
For a full listing of the imagery associated with fire, see the Special Topic: Fire.
In this context it is associated with the physical destruction on earth that occurs when a holy God approaches (comes, Psa 50:3 a) His fallen creation (cf. Psa 18:7-15; Psa 97:1-6).
Psa 50:4 heaven. . .earth These are the two required witnesses (cf. Num 35:30; Deu 17:6; Deu 19:15) for YHWH to take His people to court (cf. Psa 50:4-5; Psa 50:7; Psa 50:16-23). These represent the first two created things (i.e., the planet and its atmosphere).
Psa 50:5 gather This verb (BDB 62, KB 74, Qal imperfect) is contextually parallel to summoned (Psa 50:1; Psa 50:4). Notice it is the godly ones (i.e., the covenant people) who are gathered for Judgment Day (i.e., the judgment seat of Christ in 2Co 5:10 is also for believers not unbelievers).
Notice how the ritual-oriented followers are described.
1. My godly ones, Psa 50:5
2. those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice, Psa 50:5
3. O My people, Psa 50:7 (covenant terminology)
4. they are commanded to (Psa 50:14-15)
a. offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving (Qal imperative)
b. pay your vows to the Most High (Piel imperative)
c. call upon YHWH in the day of trouble (Qal imperative)
My godly ones This word/title (BDB 339) is used often in Psalms to refer to faithful followers (see notes at Psa 4:3; Psa 12:1; Psa 16:10; Psa 18:25; Psa 30:4; Psa 31:23; Psa 32:6; Psa 37:28; Psa 43:1; Psa 52:9, etc.). At Psa 16:10 it refers by typology and NT quotes to the Messiah (see Special Topic: Messiah).
Here it denotes Israelites who focus too much on sacrificial rituals and not enough on personal faith and lifestyle godliness.
to Me Even a judgment scene is a call to intimate fellowship. For the wicked it is a call to judgment and separation! To those ritual-oriented believers, it is a call to change.
covenant This crucial theological term (BDB 136) is not Hebraic. This concept best describes a sovereign God and a commanded, continuing, responsible choice on behalf of human creatures (see SPECIAL TOPIC: COVENANT ).
by sacrifice See Special Topic below.
SPECIAL TOPIC: SACRIFICES IN MESOPOTAMIA AND ISRAEL AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE
Psa 50:6 This is an idiomatic affirmation of YHWH as Creator and thereby His right to pass judgment.
the heavens declare His righteousness This affirms natural revelation (cf. Psa 8:3; Psa 19:1-6; Psa 97:6).
Selah See note at Psa 3:2 and Introduction to Psalms, VII.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Title. of Asaph = of, or for Asaph. The only Psalm of Asaph in Book II, the others being in Book III of the Psalms.
The mighty God, even the LORD. Hebrew “El, Elohim, Jehovah” = The God of Gods, even Jehovah. Occurs only here and Jos 22:22 (twice). See App-4.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 50:1-23
Psa 50:1-23 is divided into three categories. The first six verses deal with God who is speaking. In the Hebrew it begins, “El Elohim, Jehovah, hath spoken.” God, singular; Gods, plural; and then the name Yahweh or Jehovah, hath spoken. “El Elohim,” the El, God singular, is many times translated mighty, because it is that force concentrated, and thus, the thought of God as mighty. So it is translated,
The mighty God, even Jehovah, hath spoken ( Psa 50:1 ),
God Gods, Elohim; or God Gods, Jehovah, hath spoken,
and he called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. Our God shall come, he will not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him ( Psa 50:1-3 ).
When our Lord comes again, breaking again into history… now there are those who have declared that God has alienated Himself from the earth, from man, and from history. In the last days Peter said, “Scoffers are going to come saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? Since our fathers have fallen asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning'” ( 2Pe 3:3-4 ). “God has pulled away from His work, from His world, from His universe. He is allowing things now to just progress in an evolutionary order” is the word of scoffers. But Peter points out God has intervened in history before. These men are willingly ignorant of the flood where God intervened in history. Willingly ignorant of the incarnation of Jesus Christ, where God came in the flesh and dwelt among us.
And He is coming again. He is not going to keep silent. God has spoken. He is coming, and around Him and before Him the devouring fire of the Great Tribulation and this tempestuous movements about Him. When Jesus returns, the earth is going to be in the midst of the greatest carnage it has ever known. That battle of Armageddon will be in full swing. Blood will be flowing to the horses’ bridles throughout the valley of Megiddo. Horrible carnage as man is unleashing all of his pent up anger and resentment and bitterness and hatred against each other. Culminating in this mad rebellion against God and seeing the climax of man’s rebellion against God saying, “We don’t want God to rule over us. We will rule over ourselves. We can live without God. We don’t need God. We don’t need to be confined by prudish laws or by restraining principles by which I am not allowed to follow the full desires of my own passions and flesh.” And we will see the culmination of man’s rebellion there in the valley of Megiddo. And while that battle is full swing, Jesus will come again. He’ll set His foot on the Mount of Olives, and that thing is just going to split right through the middle. There is going to be… it’s tempestuous. It’s gonna be, the world will be in a tempestuous state at His coming.
He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people ( Psa 50:4 )
Gathering together the people for judgment.
Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself ( Psa 50:5-6 ).
And so God is speaking. He tells of the day that is coming, the day of His judgment. He is not going to keep silent forever. First of all, God addresses Himself now to His people, the second part of the psalm, beginning with verse Psa 50:7 , and going through verse Psa 50:15 . And God said,
Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I am God, even thy God. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me ( Psa 50:7-8 ).
“I don’t have anything to say against the fact that you were faithful in your religious duties. You kept the sacrifices, the offerings there continually. You were very faithful in your religious duties.” But God is saying that’s not what it is about. “I don’t want mechanical worship from you. I don’t want your service to Me to be out of a sense of obligation or duty.” So,
I will take no bullock out of your house, nor he goats out of your folds: For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountain: and the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fullness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? ( Psa 50:9-13 )
Now God is showing that the people had the wrong concept when they were bringing their sacrifices to Him. When they were giving to God they had just that idea, “Oh, I am giving to God.” As though God had a need for me to give to Him. As though God needed me to supply the meat for His dinner tonight. So I will take one of the lambs out of my flock and I’ll bring it to God so that He can have dinner tonight, for He is depending on me to feed Him. God said, “Look, I’m not hungry. If I were hungry I wouldn’t tell you. Because the world is Mine and the fullness thereof. I wouldn’t go to you.”
It is manifestly wrong for us to give the assumption to people today that God is broke. I am tired of the letters that I get every week where God is in another financial crisis. “This is the greatest crisis we’ve ever faced in the history of our ministry, and God is going to have cut back His marvelous work. It is going to cease unless you send in twenty-five dollars this week.” And these ministries that are facing one crisis after another. What a poor image they are giving of God to the world as they get on television with their sniffles and tell us how desperate God is. How He needs immediate, emergency action on your part to save Him from financial disaster. So that people are giving with the idea of helping God out. “Oh God, please don’t file bankruptcy. Here! I will send You a check for five dollars.” As though God is depending on me for support, and if I fail to support Him, His whole program is down the tubes. God doesn’t want you to give with the idea of helping Him out. God doesn’t want you to think that He is holding out a tin cup.
And God was upset with the people. “I am not hungry. If I were hungry, I wouldn’t tell you. I don’t need you to supply Me for food. Do you think I am going to eat that dirty old goat out of your flock? You’re kidding yourself. The reason why you are bringing a sacrifice isn’t to feed Me. The reason why you are brining a sacrifice is that your sins might be covered in order that you might have restored fellowship with Me, and that is what I desire. Is meaningful, heartfelt fellowship with you. That’s what I want. I don’t need your money. I don’t need your goats. I don’t need your sheep. I want your fellowship. I want your love. I want your service to Me not to be a duty, not to be an obligation. I want it to be a response in love, your love to Me, so that we can have this close, beautiful fellowship with each other. Now sin has broken your fellowship; sin keeps you away. Therefore, bring a sacrifice so you can cover your sin. The sacrifice is for your benefit, to cover your guilt in order that you can have fellowship with Me.” And that’s the real thrust behind the sacrifice is restored fellowship with God that you might have this deep, heartfelt, intimate communion with Him.
Now the same with our giving to God today, it isn’t to help God out. It isn’t to keep God solvent. The giving is an expression of my love. “God, I love You so much. I appreciate so much what You have done for me. I want to do something for You, God.” And I am giving with a heart of love. I am giving with a heart that is overflowing. I desire to give. I want to give. The Bible said your giving to God should never be grudgingly or out of constraint. You should never be giving by pressure. And using pressure methods to induce people to give is manifestly wrong. Boy, I would be embarrassed to stand before God when I got to heaven if I were guilty of some of these methods of raising funds for God. Oh man, I am going to enjoy just sitting back and just watch God rake them over the coals for the way they have represented Him. Watch Him as He shakes them until their teeth rattle. Making people think He is broke. Making people think that He is begging and has to beg in order to survive. What a blasphemous concept of God they are promoting.
And God doesn’t want that kind of giving anyhow. God wants you to give out of a heart of love. Therefore, “As every man has purposed in his own heart, so let him give. For God loves a hilarious giver” ( 2Co 9:7 ). Oh, the way we motivate people, “Give and God is going to give back to you, measured out, pressed down, running over. Men are going to give unto your bosom. You give ten, God will give you a hundred.” And we motivate them out of their own greed. We’re using their own greed as a motivator to get them to give because, “Look what God is going to give to you. You just give to God and you will be driving, you know, limousines.” And we’re using carnal motivation, when in reality God doesn’t want people giving out of that kind of motive. Thinking, “Oh boy, gonna give ten and gonna get a hundred. Man, that’s neat. Give a hundred; get a thousand. All right! Give a thousand; get a million. You know, I’ll get rich.” What poor motivation for giving. “Oh God, I love You. God, I appreciate so much You’ve done. How can I do less than just give You my best. Give You my all, God. You have done so much for me. I had nothing; I deserve nothing, and yet, You have been so good. So rich unto me. You’ve blessed me so much, oh God. What can I give You, God?” And my giving to God is just out of a heart that’s overflowing with love and appreciation. That’s the kind of gift that God desires.
So God says, “Look, I am not hungry. I’m not hurting. I’m not broke. I would just assume that you not offer your sacrifices, except that you need to in order to come to Me. But what I want you to really offer to Me… now the sacrifice is for you; it’s to cover your sin. That you can come to Me, but then offer to Me thanksgiving.” I think we ought to keep a tally sheet this week. And let’s keep a record of how many times we complain to God about things that aren’t quite right. Things that we don’t like, things that have gone wrong. And then keep another sheet on how many times I’ve stopped to just thank God for all that I have. I think that if we would really keep a tally on ourselves, we would be rather amazed at how much gripping and complaining we do and how little thanks we give. And yet, God wants our thanksgiving. God said,
Offer unto me thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the Most High ( Psa 50:14 ):
Now when I make a vow to God it is because I am conscious of the fact that I am not all that I should be, and I am promising God I am going to be better. David said, “I will pay the vows that I made to You in the day in which I was in trouble.” And that is usually when you make a vow, when you are really in trouble. “Oh God, help me now. Just get me out of this mess and I promise, Lord, I am going to live a better life. Lord, just help me out of this and I promise this is what I am going to do.” And when I am in trouble I make my vows to God.
But then when I get out of trouble, like the little kid sliding down the roof, crying out to God, “Oh God, help me. Help me, God. I am slipping. I am falling.” And his pants got caught on a nail and he turned and said, “Never mind, God. The nail stopped me.” And we forget God so quickly. We are willing to attribute the work to just circumstances or to coincidences. “Oh, that’s all right, God. I don’t need You any more.” You know. And we forget the promises that we made. We forget the vows. We go on living the same old crummy life. Substandard in our Christian walk. Then we get in trouble, “Oh God, if You just get me out of this, I promise, this time really, Lord. Really and truly. Cross my heart and hope to die, Lord.” You see, I am aware of my shortcomings. I am aware that I am not living the kind of life that I should. I am conscious of that. I am guilty. I know I am guilty. Now, I spend most of my life trying to cover my guilt and not let people know how guilty I am. But in my own heart I know that I am not all that I should be. And that’s why, when I am in trouble, I make promises to God. But God is saying, “Hey, just keep your vows. Start living a right kind of a life.”
And then call upon me in the day of trouble: and I will deliver you ( Psa 50:15 ),
God so many times has said for us to call on Him in trouble. Jer 33:1-26 , “Call upon Me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.” Imagine God inviting you to call on Him. “Anytime you are in trouble, just call on Me.”
I have a friend who gave me his card, and he said, “Anytime you’re in trouble, just call this number.” Oh man, does that make you feel good. Anytime you are in trouble, you’ve got a number to call. I have a friend who was in her eighties. She had a beautiful gift of exhortation to the body of Christ. She had a big old Cadillac, and she would drive across the country in this big old Cadillac, ministering in churches, exhorting the body of Christ across the country. Blessed little old saint. She had to sit up on a cushion to see over the dashboard. And she was in a meeting in Texas, and through her gift of exhortation, a wealthy man there in the meeting was really touched. And he came up to her and he said, “I am worried about you driving across the country in that big old car.” It was an old Cadillac, and he said, “I own a fleet of trucks.” And he said, “We have garages all over the country.” And he said, “I want you to take my card and here is my number on it,” and he said, “anytime, anywhere, when you need help, just call the number.” And he said, “You are not far from one of my garages,” and he said, “I will see that your car is towed in and that you are taken care of.” And she smiled and handed the card back to him and said, “You know, that is a very generous offer and I want you to know that I appreciate it very much, but,” she said, “for over sixty years I have been trusting in the Lord to take care of me, and He hasn’t failed me yet. I don’t know why I should accept a substitute.”
God says, “Call upon Me in trouble. I will deliver you.” Now when you can call on God, why should you accept a substitute? How beautiful it is that we can call upon God. “I will deliver you.” And as a result of God’s deliverance,
I will glorify him ( Psa 50:15 ).
And that is the kind of praise that God desires. That praise that is a response to what He has done for me. Now God has said that to His people.
Now He is talking to the wicked, in the day of judgment.
But unto the wicked God says, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? Seeing that you hate instruction, and that you cast my words behind you ( Psa 50:16-17 ).
Why should you come into the kingdom? Why should you come under the authority of My reigning and My ruling, seeing that you have hated instruction? You didn’t want anything to do with Me.
When you saw a thief, you consented with him ( Psa 50:18 ),
Now Jesus said that if a person tries to come into the kingdom any other way than by Me, the Door, he is a thief and a robber. And He said, “Now you have seen the way of thieves, people that have been trying to come in by other ways, and you consent with them.”
It’s amazing the weird things that people will believe when they reject Jesus Christ. The weird antics they will go through. The weird concepts they will take up. Otherwise intelligent, brilliant men. Some of the biggest spiritual dupes I have ever met are college professors who are constantly putting down Jesus Christ in the classroom. But they all have, it seems, their little quest in, you know, spiritism, or into this or that or the other weird thing, you know. Too intelligent for Jesus Christ. But trying to find another way. The Lord in the day of judgment said, “Hey, why should you try to come into My kingdom now? Why should you be a part of it? You have hated instruction. You’ve put My words behind you. When you saw a thief you consented with them,”
and you have been a partaker with adulterers ( Psa 50:18 ).
That is, those of spiritual adultery. “You’ve been following other gods.”
You give your mouth to evil, and your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against thy brother; and you slander your own mother’s son. These things you have done, and I’ve kept silence; but you thought that I was altogether one such as you: but I will reprove thee, and set thee in order before thine eyes ( Psa 50:19-21 ).
“Now you made the mistake, you’ve made the sad mistake of thinking that My silence was weakness. That because I was silent, I didn’t care. That because I was silent it didn’t matter.” Because you weren’t judged immediately you thought that God was approving. This is a mistake, and let me warn you, a mistake that many people make, even Christians who fall into a path of wickedness and sin. I have heard them say, I have had them say to me, “If what we are doing is so wrong, then why does God still bless our lives?” And they mistake the patience and the longsuffering and the grace of God as approval for their wickedness. Or that God is condoning the evil that they are doing. God will never condone wickedness. God is merciful. God is gracious. God is longsuffering. But make no mistake, He is not weak. And the day of judgment will come. And though it may seem that you are getting by with it because God hasn’t already cut you off, because God hasn’t already with a swift hand brought His judgment upon you, it doesn’t mean that you are going to escape judgment. It doesn’t mean that God won’t judge, that God is too weak to judge, or that God approves what you are doing. Never. The day will come.
But it is fatal mistake for many people, for they have made a fatal mistake in thinking, “Because God hasn’t judged me… ” Here is guy that stands out in the field and says, “If there is a God up there in heaven, let Him strike me dead. Now see, that is a proof that there’s no God, cause I am still here.” God is so patient with us. But He’s not weak. And He will come; He will judge.
Now consider this, you that forget God ( Psa 50:22 ),
Just remember this, consider it.
lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver ( Psa 50:22 ).
You better take note of this. I am not smiling. I am not approving. You better take careful note of that. For if you don’t change, if you go on in your wickedness, there will be none to deliver.
The psalm closes with,
Whoso offereth praise glorifies me: and to him that ordereth his conversation ( Psa 50:23 )
The word conversation is an old English word. The word literally means, “his manner of living.” And if you’ll just order your life, your manner of living, in the right way, God said,
I will show you my salvation ( Psa 50:23 ).
Shall we pray.
Father, we pray that we might give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest we should drift away from them. For we know that if the words spoken by angels was steadfast, and that if every trespass received a just recompense of reward, we know that there is no escaping if we neglect this great salvation that You have offered to us through Your Son Jesus Christ. Lord, help us that we might order our lives aright. Help us, Lord, to be giving thanks to You. Help us, Lord, to live up to what we know to be right. To pay our vows and to call upon You at all times, that You might work in our lives Your beautiful work of love and of grace. Lord, may we experience with the psalmist that great thirst after Thee. Hungering and thirsting after righteousness. That we might be filled and that we might overflow with Your love and with Your Spirit. In Jesus’ name. Amen. “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
A Psalm of Asaph.
Whether this means that Asaph wrote it, or that it was committed to him to sing, we do not know. Certainly Asaph did write some Psalms. There are twelve ascribed to him in the book of Psalms. He wrote some, and it is equally certain that some ethers were dedicated to him. He had the leadership of the orchestra, who sang the Psalm in the temple. This is a very marvelous Psalm. If we only consider the poetry of it, it is one of the chief of the Psalms, but its matter is very deep august. It should be read with great reverence of spirit. The Psalm begins with a prologue in which the scene is introduced. God is represented as coming forth out of Zion to judge those who profess to be his people to discern between the precious and the vile to separate between mere professors and pretenders. The first six verses represent God as coming.
Psa 50:1. The mighty God, even the LORD, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.
The Hebrew hath it, El Elohim, Jehovah hath spoken three names of God great and mysterious the strong God, the only God, the self-existent God. He speaks calls upon the whole earth from the east to the west to listen to his voice.
Psa 50:2. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.
There he dwelt. Now in this scene he is represented as shining forth from it. As he had described the earth as being lighted by the sun from the east to the west, so now God himself, who at first speaks and demands a hearing, now shines forth with beams of glory which altogether eclipse the brightness of the sun. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.
Psa 50:3. Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.
The voice was heard saying that God would come, and then the beams of glory which warned men that he was coming; and here his people stand attentive, expecting him to come. They expect him to speak. Fire and rushing wind are usually used in Scripture as attendants of the throne of God, fire representing justice in action, and the tempest representing his power when it is displayed. Think of Gods coming thus. The poet here pictures it, but it will be so in very deed. The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire, taking vengeance upon thee that know not God. He will even came after this manner, for our God is a consuming fire.
Psa 50:4. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.
Do you catch the thought? There comes the great Judge with the fire burning before him. He rides upon a cherub yea, rides upon the wings of the wind, and then he calls heaven, with all the angels and glorified spirits,
and he calls to earth, with all its inhabitants, to stand and witness what he does while he judges his people.
Psa 50:5. Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.
God has a separated and chosen people. It will be a part of the proceedings at the last great day to gather these together unto God. There will be a day when he will make up his jewels a time when he will gather his wheat into his garner. But as this Psalm stands, this is a large gathering. It refers to a picture of all professing saints being brought before the throne of God true saints that made a covenant with God by sacrifice. They see Jesus Christ, who ratifies the covenant of grace by blood, and they have laid their hands on Christ, and the covenant made between them and God. But there were others in the Psalmists day who had offered sacrifice and pretended to have made a covenant with God, and there are their representatives in these days. They are now to be gathered before the throne of judgment, for God has come to judge them.
Psa 50:6. And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah.
The very heavens, as they look down upon the august assize where God himself, not by deputy, but in the person of his dear Son, shall sit and judge the heavens shall declare his righteousness. Now I doubt not the heavens often wonder how it is that God permits the ungodly to be mixed with the righteous in his Church. But ah! when the fan shall be in his hand, and he shall thoroughly purge his floor when he shall lay justice to the line and righteousness to the plummet the angels shall wonder at the exactness and accuracy of the divine judgment. Selah. Pause, rest, consider, admire, adore, humble yourself, pray. It is good to have a pause when such a scene as this is before us. Now from the 5th verse down to the 15th verse you have Gods dealing with his people. The Judge is sitting on the throne. He begins to speak thus:
Psa 50:7. Hear, O my people, and I will speak: O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I am God, even thy God.
It is with his national people, the Jews; it is with his visible Church, God is now dealing. He himself has seen the ways of his professing people: he need not, therefore, call any witnesses. He who cannot err will testify against us; and he declares himself here not only as God, but under that name, thy God. It was thus the law began. I am the Lord thy God that brought thee up out of the land of Egypt and out of the house of bondage. It is thus the judgment and rebuke begin: I am God, even thy God.
Psa 50:8. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.
He is going to deal with weightier matters than that. Whether they have, or have not, offered abundant sacrifices, that is not the thing which God looks at. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices. Nay, I have done with thy sacrifices.
Psa 50:9. I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds.
Do you think that these things in themselves are of any value to me. O ye formalists? I will not even take them.
Psa 50:10. For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.
Though men call them theirs, yet they are thy Gods.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Psa 50:1-6
Psalms 50
A PROPHETIC GLIMPSE OF THE ETERNAL JUDGMENT
The superscription entitles this psalm as “A Psalm of Asaph.” This is the very first of the twelve Asaph Psalms, the other eleven being Psalms 72-82 at the beginning of Book Three of the Psalter.
“In 1Ch 16:5, Asaph is described as the chief of sacred music, in the tent where the Ark was placed, who played the cymbals. He is often mentioned along with Heman and Ethan, but never first. Not only was Asaph a musician, but he was also a Psalm writer … In 2Ch 29:30, Hezekiah is said to have brought the words of David and of Asaph the seer into use again in the service of the house of the Lord (The Temple). These words fully establish the inspiration of Asaph; but as Leupold wrote, “We could wish that we knew more about Asaph.
Several different titles have been suggested for this psalm, Leupold entitled it, “True Worship.” Yates named it, “The Nature of True Worship.” Addis has, “God Looks to Conduct Rather than Sacrifice.” Delitzsch gave it this heading, “Concerning the True Sacrifice and Worship.” “God Addresses His People” is the title used in Interpreter’s Bible. Rhodes headed it, “Before the Judgment Bar of God”; McCaw named it, “Man Impeached in Heaven’s Court”; Kidner labeled it, “The Judge breaks Silence”; and Baigent suggested, “God’s Assessment of His People’s Worship.”
Just to read these titles gives a fair idea of what the psalm contains. However, our own title which we have assigned to this psalm is different from any cited above. We shall attempt to justify this.
Scholars have not generally named this psalm as a prophecy, although Rhodes did call it a “Prophetic Liturgy”; but there is one respect in which it surely is just that, a prophecy of the Eternal Judgment. The true Judge of All the Earth is not the Father but the Son (Joh 5:22); and the tremendous theophany of these first six verses, in which God is represented as convening Heaven’s court, calling all the world to appear, and summonsing his people before his throne for judgment -all of this speaks eloquently of the Final Judgment.
Of course, when the psalm was written, Israel had no knowledge of the Son of God; and therefore the terminology of the entire psalm is that of the First Israel only; but when Christ came, he made it perfectly clear that the principles of judgment announced here would also be binding in that Great Assize before the Great White Throne.
There are a number of things that support a prophetic view here. (1) As a matter of history, God did not formally judge the Old Israel, as represented here. (2) In no sense did God “come” (Psa 50:3) from heaven to earth for such a Court Scene as this during the days of the old Israel’s history. Furthermore (3) “The grandeur and solemnity of the majestic appearance of God himself in these verses resembles that of his giving of the Law of Moses at Mount Sinai (Exo 19:16; Exo 20:18).” However, no such grand occasion as that ever took place in the subsequent history of Israel. Therefore, we are driven to the conclusion that we have here a prophetic glimpse of the Eternal Judgment that shall close this Dispensation of God’s Grace. (4) There is the additional fact that a prophetic interpretation does no violence whatever to what is written here. This is true because every word spoken here certainly had its application to the Old Testament Israel. (5) Most convincing of all, however, is the simple truth stated in the Gospel of John, Neither doth the Father judge any man, but he hath given all judgment unto the Son (Joh 5:22).
Of course, this psalm speaks of “God’s” judging his people, but the “God” here referred to is “God the Son,” unto whom all judgment has been committed by the Father.
We shall follow the outline of the psalm that was proposed by the great Methodist scholar, Adam Clarke.
I. God Summons All Men Before His Throne of Judgment (Psa 50:1-6).
II. God Expresses Disapproval of their Sacrifices (Psa 50:7-13).
III. God Reveals What He Expects of Them (Psa 50:14-15).
IV. God Speaks `To the Wicked’ (Psa 50:16-22).
V. Blessedness of the True Worshipper whose life Does not Negate it (Psa 50:23).
God’s Summons of All Nations to Judgment
Psa 50:1-6
“The Mighty One, God, Jehovah hath spoken,
And called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God hath shined forth.
Our God cometh, and doth not keep silence:
A fire devoureth before him,
And it is very tempestuous round about him.
He calleth to the heavens above,
And to the earth that he may judge his people:
Gather together my saints unto me,
Those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.
And the heavens shall declare his righteousness;
For God is judge himself. (Selah)”
“The first six verses here seem to contain a description of the Great Judgment. It seems impossible to assign them to any minor consideration.
“The Mighty One, God, Jehovah” (Psa 50:1). This impressive array of titles, includes two general names for God, and the special covenant name, Jehovah. “The three names are, `[~’El],’ `[~’Elohiym]’, and `Jehovah.’
“Mighty One, God, Jehovah” (Psa 50:1), The Hebrews used many names for God, often using them synonymously as here. Of all the critical nonsense which this writer has read in a lifetime of study, nothing is any more ridiculous than the so-called documentary hypothesis regarding the writing of the Book of Moses (called the Pentateuch), in which different names of God are alleged to indicate different writers. Can anyone believe that “three different writers composed Psa 50:1?” or that “five different authors” wrote Gen 49:24-25? This combination of names for God is also found in Jos 22:22. The evidence is overwhelming that the Jews customarily used multiple names for God, very frequently using them as synonyms, with no indication whatever that they indicated multiple authorships of passages where they were thus used.
“Out of Zion” (Psa 50:2). Jewish pride no doubt considered that all the world would be summonsed to Jerusalem, in order to receive the sentence of their final destiny; but what is meant here was accurately discerned by Jones, “This means that the great principles that are to determine the destiny of mankind in the Final Judgement are, those very principles which have been taught in the word of God that went forth from Jerusalem.
“Called the earth” (Psa 50:1; Psa 50:4). In Psa 50:3, the gathering of the `covenant people’ are mentioned; but there is no such limitation here. All men, from the rising of the sun till the going down thereof, are here summoned to stand before the throne of God. Rhodes thought that the whole world was called “for witnesses” rather than as “subjects” of this judgment scene; but our view is that the righteous and the wicked alike, the covenant people, and those who are not, will be judged simultaneously (See Matthew 25). As an apostle said, “We must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ.”
As for the notion that the whole world of Gentile nations were here called “as witnesses” of the judgment, several things forbid such an interpretation. (1) The godless Gentiles of the whole earth can never, in any sense, be considered competent witnesses. (2) Besides that, Almighty God does not need any witnesses; he already knows all the facts. (3) They are certainly not so designated in this passage. (4) One scholar thought the Gentile nations might have been summonsed as “judges”; but this is just as unreasonable and impossible as the idea of their being “witnesses.” As Leupold said of such persons, “They are not to do any `judging’; God does that”!
Those who cannot see the Final Judgment here are hard pressed to find anything else either in the history of Israel or of the whole world that fits what is here written.
Some try to explain it by calling it, “Poetic fancy, `teaching that if God came, thus he would speak and act’; but there is more to the matter than that.
Still others can find nothing here except God’s rejecting the very sacrifices that he commanded Israel to offer. God did no such thing. What is depicted here, prophetically, is the worship of the New Covenant and the total abolition of all animal and typical sacrifices.
“Actually, the kind of sacrifices condemned here were those which were not offered in spirit and in truth, but the language is also applicable to the more spiritual worship of the New Covenant.
“My saints that made a covenant with me by sacrifice” (Psa 50:5). This verse nullifies the notion that God was here condemning the very sacrifices he had commanded Israel to offer. Taylor called this a “favorable attitude toward sacrifice, which it most certainly is. See more on this question under Psa 50:8, below.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 50:1. The original for God means a supreme ruler, and that for Lord means the self-existent One. Both are applied to the same Being and it is affirmed that he bath spoken. Called means that all people of the earth are commanded to hear the divine voice from morning until night.
Psa 50:2. Zion was that part of Jerusalem where the temple was located. The government of God on earth was administered from that place. Perfection of beauty indicates that real beauty in its perfect form shines from that source. It is about the same thought as expressed by “beauty of holiness” in ch. 29:2.
Psa 50:3. Shall come means that God will be in evidence. The fire refers to the fiery judgments that he will send on the earth.
Psa 50:4. Heavens and earth are used figuratively; that is, God’s call was universal.
Psa 50:5. There was a general call to all inhabitants of the earth (Psa 50:4), but this is a special call to the professed people of God. Covenant by sacrifice refers to the great institution of national service, the central item of which was the sacrifices of animals and the shedding of their blood. (See Heb 9:22.)
Psa 50:6. This verse is similar in thought to Psa 19:1.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
The singer addresses himself in the name of God to the whole earth, that it may hear and learn an important lesson. The call is made in the first verse. The final appeal is in verses Psa 50:22-23.
The lesson is that forgetfulness of God issues in gravest peril, while the remembrance which worships ensures the blessing of salvation. Between the call to attention and the final appeal the psalmist sings of the relation between God and His own (verses Psa 50:2-15), and then of the attitude of God to the wicked. As for the former, they are to be the medium of His praise. God shone forth out of Zion. To do this the saints are to be gathered to Him, that, through them He may be manifested in power and righteousness. Their gathering is not because of any sacrifice they can bring of things already belonging to God, but wholly on the basis of praise and trust. The wicked can have no part in such manifestation of God, and therein lie their chief sin and failure.
This is a thought of most searching power. Our most heinous sin is not the act of wrong done, but the fact that such wrong incapacitates us from fulfilling our highest function of glorifying God, and showing forth His praise.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Sacrifices Which God Desires
Psa 50:1-15
This is one of the most majestic compositions of this book. For literary power it cannot be excelled. The psalmist hears God calling the whole world from east to west. His presence is compared to the dawn and to a tropical storm. When He is seated on His throne, the heavens and the earth bear witness while He judges His people. Then up the crowded aisles His saints advance and stand before Him.
There is no need to enlarge upon the spiritual insight of the psalmist, who realizes that God cannot be enriched by anything that we can bring; but insists on the sacrifice of thanksgiving, vows of consecration, and the loud call for help in the day of trouble. These are characteristic of those whose God is the Lord, and of the people whom He has taken for His own inheritance. Let us specially ponder these three conditions of the happy life, Psa 50:14-15. What comfort is contained in the blessed promise of Psa 50:15! It is so absolute in its certainty and assurance. God has here bound Himself to deliver the soul that calls on Him in its trouble and give it reason to glorify Him.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Psa 50:15
We have in the text:
I. A precept for the day of trouble. God saith, “Call upon Me.” (1) This calling is a suitable recognition of Himself in His relation to us. Is He not our Father? And as our Father, is He not our Deliverer? (2) This calling is an act of homage to His delivering power. It recognises God’s hand. (3) This calling brings us near to God, face to face with God. (4) This calling is a beneficial religious exercise. It comforts. It lessens pressure. (5) This calling is the best possible preparation for the deliverance. It promises humility, humbleness of mind.
II. God encourages us to obey this precept by the promise and assurance, “I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me.” Thus does God speak to us now: (1) By verbal revelations of His character He saith, “Call upon Me” (Gen 17:1); (2) by exceeding great and precious promises (Isa 43:2); (3) by various precepts and exhortations (Isa 43:1); (4) by the history of the deliverances He has wrought (Psa 44:1-4); (5) by our experience and observation of deliverances effected (Psa 34:5-6); (6) by the mediation of His Son He saith, “Call upon Me” (Heb 12:24); (7) by the ministry of the Holy Ghost He saith, “Call upon Me” (Rom 8:26).
S. Martin, Comfort in Trouble, p. 12.
References: Psa 50:15.-T. Kelly, Pulpit Trees, p. 300; Congregationalist, vol. vi., p. 461; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxv., No. 1505, and vol. xxxi., No. 1876; G. S. Barrett, Old Testament Outlines, p. 114.
Psa 50:21
Psa 50:3
I. God’s keeping silence. (1) His keeping silence means that He seems to take no notice of the wickedness of men. He is “strong,” and therefore He can punish; “righteous,” and therefore He will punish; but He is “patient” also, so patient that, though He is provoked before His face every day, He still waits and waits, and never executes judgment speedily upon an evil work. (2) Another meaning of God’s keeping silence is that He does not nowadays interfere with the course of nature. God has spoken, and now He is giving to mankind a trial, to see whether they will heed what He says. All things continue as they were, and an infidel may deny God if he pleases, and a bad man may defy God if he pleases; no lightning falls from heaven to blast either him who denies or him who defies. (3) Since we know God to be grievously displeased with sin, there is something very awful in His keeping silence while it is committed under His eyes. In countries where earthquakes happen, a dead silence always goes before the earthquake. So it is with God’s silence. It will be followed, when it seems deepest, by the earthquake of His judgments.
II. Consider, next, God’s breaking silence. (1) When our Lord came to found the Christian Church and sent His Apostles into the world with the glad tidings of salvation, there was a bright blaze of miracles. When He comes a second time to earth, a far brighter blaze of miracles will shine round Him than that which ushered in His first appearance. The present system of all things shall be broken up, and exchanged for another and a better system. (2) “Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence.” He shall come when death comes, or rather He shall come in and by death. The sky crimsons and flushes no less at sundown than at sunrise, and the human heart shall glow at the end of a man’s career as it once glowed in the old forgotten days of the beginning. When the framework of this tabernacle is being unpinned, then shall signs and wonders be shown to the trembling soul. The voice of Christ may be suppressed at present, but, willing or unwilling, we must then give heed to it. “He will not keep silence.”
E. M. Goulburn, Penny Pulpit, No. 3059.
Psa 50:21
In what sense are the words true that we think wickedly that God is such a one as ourselves?
I. We are constantly judging of His knowledge by our own.
II. This is true also with reference to His holiness.
III. We have an inadequate estimate of the veracity of God. We infer from the delay of His interposition that, like a mere man, He may threaten and not execute. It needs a very firm faith, and a very patient spirit, and a very tender conscience to keep alive in man’s heart the practical and living conviction that for all these things God will bring him into judgment.
C. J. Vaughan, Harrow Sermons, 2nd series, p. 321.
Notice:-
I. God keeping silence. By this is intended God’s appearing for a while not to take heed of the course of those who are sinning against Him. There is sufficient of God’s prompt and even swift and startling vindication of His law to show that there is a God who judgeth the earth; and there is not sufficient of it to lead us to suppose that a final day, when the judgment shall be perfect, is not necessary.
II. Look, next, at man misinterpreting and misusing God’s silence. The intention of God is to lead man to repentance, and the effect of it upon too many hearts which thus misinterpret and misuse it is only to lead them to sink more deeply into indifference and to be hardened in sin.
III. God says at last that He will break silence. The longsuffering of God will not last for ever. Whether we look at the history of the Flood, or at the history of the Cities of the Plain, or at the history of the people of Canaan, or at the history of Nebuchadnezzar, or at the history of the Jews and the destruction of Jerusalem, we see that at last even the longsuffering of God comes to an end.
J. C. Miller, Penny Pulpit, No. 771.
References: Psa 50:21.-G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 137; J. Armstrong, Parochial Sermons, p. 66.
Psa 50:21-22
The disposition of many to misinterpret the moral government of God arises from one remarkable characteristic of it, to which our attention is drawn in this passage. Men misunderstand and misinterpret the majestic silence of God. “I kept silence.” This has been the rule in God’s dealings with men, and it is upon this rule that men presume.
I. Why does God keep silence and show Himself patient as well as strong, although He be provoked every day? The answer is, not because He is indifferent to sin, and not because He does not intend to punish it, but because He has ordained certain conditions for our probation here, and He is not so inconsistent as to reverse them. Man was created by God in His own image, in this respect above all others, that he possessed from the first a power of independent volition, a capacity of freewill, by the right and dutiful exercise of which he was to be raised to his proper destiny and fitted to share the glories of the Divine Being. If God broke silence and inflicted penalty every time that we transgressed against Him, it might become our will not to transgress against Him; but surely our will would only be free in a very limited sense of the word.
II. A further explanation of God’s silence lies in His forbearing compassion. “He is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish.” This is no sign of weakness; but it is a sign of patient, persevering, though ill-requited love, and it is evident that such an exhibition of forbearance on God’s part makes our sin all the greater when we do sin against it.
III. Besides the occasional warnings which come within the experience of most of us, God has broken silence thrice at least in human history and spoken in a way that must needs appeal to our hearts if we reflect at all. There are three stupendous facts in human history in which we may say God has broken silence. They are (1) the curse which fell upon the world in consequence of a single sin; (2) the Flood; (3) the judgment upon the Sin-bearer at Calvary.
IV. God does even more than this. He has sent His Holy Spirit into the world especially to carry on the work of reproof, and to anticipate that judgment from which there is no escape and no appeal, by setting in order before us the things which we have done. The Holy Spirit is seeking to convict us of sin. Let us listen to His voice, and plead guilty to those charges which He brings against us. We may be sure that His friendly accusations are true.
W. Hay Aitken, Around the Cross, p. 17.
References: Psa 50:23.-H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 1495; S. Cox, Expositions, 3rd series, p. 152. Psa 51:1.-G. Forbes, The Voice of God in the Psalms, p. 173.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
Psalm 50
The Demands of a Righteous God
1. His coming and His call (Psa 50:1-6)
2. The God of Israel speaks (Psa 50:7-13)
3. The demands of righteousness (Psa 50:16-21)
Psa 50:1-23; Psa 51:1-19 belong together. In the first God is described coming to Israel, proclaiming His righteousness and demanding righteousness from His people and in the second Israel makes confession of sin. Psa 50:1-23 is by Asaph. He describes the Lord shining out of Zion, coming in glory as the righteous judge to judge His people. When the Lord appears His people will be gathered in His presence, for He has a controversy with them; He declares unto them the righteousness which He as their God requires. He does not want their ritual services, sacrifices and offerings, but He requires that which is the fruit of true faith, the sacrifice of thanksgiving and practical righteousness of life. He uncovers their moral condition and warns, Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
mighty: Psa 145:3-6, Gen 17:1, Jos 22:22, Neh 9:6, Neh 9:32, Isa 9:6, Jer 10:6, Jer 32:18, Jer 32:19
even: 1Ki 18:21, 1Ki 18:36, 1Ki 18:37, Isa 37:20, Isa 54:5
hath spoken: Isa 1:2, Amo 3:8
called: Psa 49:1, Psa 49:2, Psa 113:3, Mal 1:11, Mat 25:32
Reciprocal: Num 26:11 – General 1Sa 2:10 – judge 1Ch 6:39 – Asaph 2Ch 5:12 – Asaph Psa 24:8 – The Lord strong Psa 77:1 – of Asaph Psa 103:12 – as the east Psa 132:2 – the mighty Pro 8:4 – General Isa 18:3 – All ye Isa 30:30 – the flame Isa 34:1 – Come Isa 43:9 – all the Jer 34:18 – when Mic 1:2 – hearken Mic 6:1 – contend Zec 8:7 – west country
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
A righteous God requiring righteousness.
A psalm of Asaph.
{Verse 5, ‘saints’ Chasidim, “pious ones”; ‘made’: literally, “cut.”}
In the fiftieth psalm there are two things emphasized: the righteousness of the Judge; and the righteousness required by Him. God Himself, in a world fallen away from Him; has come into question; and no heart amongst mere men; but has more or less admitted the question. In fact the perfect settlement of this on man;s part would be his own perfect restoration to God and complete ability to walk with Him. It would mean absolute faith in God; and faith is that which accomplishes the whole work in man; working by love and purifying the heart. Faith enthrones God on an absolute throne; and yields up to Him all the faculties and powers of the whole being. The fall began with a question of God; and Satan, who first uttered it, knew well its fatal import. Man, entertaining it, lost, with his confidence in Him; his place of dependence, and became necessarily a seeker of his own things, an assentor of his own will, the slave only of his captor who beguiles him by the lusts awakened within him. The disorder produced by the sin which has come in adds to his questions about the government of One who is “far above out of his sight;” and so the mind works with the heart to increase his alienation.
We need not wonder, then, that in the working of God to bring back the soul to Him; a first point should be to make the soul realize the just judgment of its sin; -the righteousness of God who judges it. Only here it must be noticed that already; for those called to do so at this time, deliverance has come in; God’s heart has been already told out in a wonderful salvation which has filled their hearts with joy and their tongues with praise. It is “out of Zion, the perfection of beauty;” God’s glory shines. Yet they still need the full searching out which here they find. They need apparently also as yet the knowledge of atonement; but this we do not find in the present psalm; and we shall examine it in its evident place in connection with the next one.
It would seem also certain by this psalm that there will be a sessional judgment in Israel, after the appearing of Christ, answering to that among the Gentiles which the Lord pictures in Mat 25:1-46. Here; too; among the people just delivered, there will be “goats” -the wicked -to put upon His left side; and separate from those really His. This the fourth section of the psalm surely intimates; though it be true that there is difficulty in constructing prophetical details out of psalms which are yet clearly prophetical.
This psalm is not one of the Korahite series: that is ended. The singer now is Asaph, “the gatherer,” from a word used for the gathering of fruit and also of men (as ver. 5). Twelve psalms are ascribed to Asaph, whether this be the singer of David’s time, or (as most think) his family be included under it. The character of these psalms is plain in a general way by the place occupied by the other eleven, at the commencement of the third or sanctuary-book. They are saturated indeed with the thought of God’s holiness; and the character and position of the present psalms are perfectly similar. Holiness indeed is an absolute necessity for the gathering of God’s people; if it is to be with Him; and that is a principle which this psalm declares.
1. We have in the first section of it the summons of God, who appears in. full majesty. The Mighty One (El), God (Elohim), Jehovah; the Unchangeable, -and this we know to be His covenant-name with Israel, -summons the whole earth to hear His voice. He shines out of Zion; which He has chosen as the place of His rest; and which accordingly is blooming out for Him in bridal attire, “the perfection of beauty.” Thus they can claim Him as their own God, who comes out of the sanctuary, and not to maintain silence. The fire of His holiness consumes before Him, and a tempest gathers around Him, -signs that show His holiness can not yet be exhibited in the serenity of complacent love. Nay, it is judgment for which He comes, and heaven and earth are summoned as His witnesses. Let His saints -those that are positionally that, at least, -be gathered unto Him: those who have covenanted by sacrifice to be His own. And the heavens shall declare His righteousness: for God Himself it is who is the Judge.
This gathering of covenanted saints is not, as some have suggested, the saints of the present time. This neither suits the character of the Psalms, nor the connection in this case. The “sacrifice” by which they have made a covenant with Him can hardly be the work of Christ upon the cross; while those spoken of a little later are plainly only the legal ones. Nor is it according to Scripture, and in conformity with the gospel, to speak of our making a covenant with God by the work of Christ. God has covenanted with us by it, if you please to use the expression, at least, the blessings of the new covenant are ours through the “blood of the covenant”; but that is not a covenant which has two parties to it, as its terms prove conclusively (Heb 8:10-12), but one alone. Those gathered here are plainly those He calls His people in the seventh verse, and are Israel; gathered for judgment: that is, not for the execution of wrath upon them, but that He may plead with them as to their sin. And the “covenant by sacrifice” clearly refers to Exo 24:1-18, when they had as a nation taken upon them to keep all the Lord’s words, and the blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled upon them. If the heavenly saints come into this psalm, it may be in the next verse, in a much more obscure, but more beautiful way. For “the heavens shall indeed declare His righteousness,” when sinners like ourselves shall be seen through the manifestation of this in the cross, in their place in glory, “made the righteousness of God in Him” (2Co 5:21). How the utter failure of man, and the righteousness of God, will be thus declared. together; in grace more marvelous, and yet in principle the same as that shown in the deliverance and blessing of Israel in the day here contemplated!
2. But God’s controversy with them must now be declared: the legal controversy, not yet as to the rejection of Christ, which we find however from another side in the psalm following. First, negatively, He declares what it is not about. It is not about their ritual services -peace-offerings or burnt-offerings. He desires no bullock or goat, no flocks or herds of theirs; -He to whom all that exist belong, and who is well acquainted with all His possessions. Were He, as this implied; limited as they, and hungry, why should the Owner of the world bring His wants to them to be satisfied? But did they really think Him an eater of bulls, flesh; or that He drank the blood. of goats? What were they; in fact, who needed such arguments? But they are not conceptions too gross for men; as abundant testimony declares.
3. He goes on to the positive side: what He really sought was thanksgiving, the sign of conscious dependence, and of their realization of the bounties of His bounteous hand. A vow was of a higher character than an offering of thanksgiving (see Lev 7:11, sq. notes); as the expression of more positive faith in. God under the pressure of circumstances. Here the distinct assertion which has been made of the non-requirement of sacrifice shows that it is the New Testament “sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving” upon which He insists; with which also must be joined that faith which must underlie this if it be real, which in the day of distress draws nearer to Him instead of wandering off in paths devised by one’s own wisdom; or yielding to the pressure. The most encouraging assurance is connected with this: “call upon Me in the day of strait: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me.”
The legal sacrifices had not, of course, passed away in the psalmist’s day; nor will those thus addressed in the future time to which this transports us, know how (as for us) the type has yielded to the antitype. This is really also, and necessarily, a looking back over the past time when Israel was fully under the legal covenant, and does not speak of change just initiated. What is insisted on is what always had been really the question, -what had always been in the heart of God for them: what in the sin-offering psalm comes out as to be the fruit of the cross, the Holy One inhabiting the praises of Israel. Could less than this possibly yield Him satisfaction? -the whole heart His, and the whole being filled with the joy of what it has found in Him.
4. The practical life will be as the heart is, and the second table of the law share the fortunes of the first. To this the Lord goes on therefore now. A barren profession may consist, alas, with hatred of correction and contemptuous rejection of the words of God; the heart finding its secret delight in that in which there may be no open indulgence, for there are fences put about men which may hinder this. The tongue will constantly be freer than the steps here, and show whereon the heart is set. Yet with a mouth let loose in evil, the tongue will cover this license with deceit. Nothing appears more like righteousness often, than what is really the voice of slander, -never far off from the ready proclamation of another’s evil, while this is really thus rejoiced in. The slipping of the righteous is used as against righteousness, often to lower the standard of it practically, and favor that which is not this.*
{*This twentieth verse gives us in the plainest way the sin against the fifth commandment (of the second table of the law), and thus vindicates its numerical place as a fifth verse of the fourth section of the psalm. But I cannot characterize it further, and feel that this does not go to the root of the matter. Why is this fifth commandment such? Probably we have to learn more as to the symbolism of the number itself; as we have learned as to other numbers since this study of the Psalms began: their fullness of meaning is not exhausted yet.}
All this going on under the eye of God, and with no interference upon His part; the patience of divine government comes to be misread as if it were indifference -misread; alas; not only on the side of the wicked; but the cause of gravest exercise on the part of the righteous also, sufferers under it. But the wicked readily believe it to be indifference; for it is as natural for wickedness to believe in wickedness; as it is for goodness to believe in goodness. The accusations made against the righteous are not thus always mere malice. The hypocrite comes easily to believe in the hypocrisy of others; the deceiver may make transparent honesty a mirror in which he only sees deceit. The world knew not Christ, and has never known God, -cannot with all its searching find Him out; and yet “He is not far from every one of us.”
So here: “These things thou diddest, and I kept silence: thou thoughtest Me just like thyself.” But the limit of patience has been reached: “I will reprove thee, and set them in array before thine eyes.”
5. The way and the end are clearly put before all in the closing verse. The simple leaving God out of account is fatal to the one who does this. Nothing beside this is necessary to secure the condemnation; which, if it be slow to come, is no less certain to arrive. On the other hand, the best life cannot avail without salvation. We are not to expect in the book of Psalms the full declaration of the gospel, as we know it; nor would this be just the place in which to find it. But the need of salvation by all, is emphasized, and it is made plain by the contrast with what has just preceded it, that this is no mere temporal deliverance. The close here is a finger pointing to the psalm that follows.
Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary
Psa 50:1. The mighty God, even the Lord Hebrew. Eel Elohim, Jehovah; the God of gods; Jehovah; the supreme Lord of heaven and earth, the Lawgiver and Judge of men and angels; to whom the greatest kings and potentates are but subjects; the infinite, the eternal, who changes not; hath spoken and called the earth, &c. Hath given forth his orders, that all the inhabitants of the earth, from one end to the other, should appear before him. These he now summons to be witnesses of his proceedings in this solemn judgment, between him and his people, which is here poetically represented. For here is a tribunal erected, the judge coming to it, the witnesses and delinquents summoned, and at last the sentence given, and cause determined.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Asaph, to whom this psalm is inscribed, was a seer, as well as head of the singers. He was also the author of twelve psalms, extremely beautiful, and highly prophetic. He here declares that EL ELOHIM JEHOVAH hath spoken. The Latin reads, The God of gods, Jehovah hath spoken. All versions fall short of the original. The prophet speaks here like Enoch, like Joel, like Daniel, of the Lords coming to judge and to punish the apostate priests and rulers for rejecting Christ and the gospel; but under these figures, reference is had to the final day of judgment. It is very striking that the spirit of prophecy wholly ascribes the fall of the Jewish nation to the infidelity, the bribery, and the adulteries of their priestly rulers.
Psa 50:3. Our God shall come; literally, our Elohim comesa fire shall devour before him. As the elder rabbins refer this psalm to the Messiah, and as the sibylline verses have been defended by Justin Martyr, by Origen, by Clemens of Alexandria, by Augustine, and by Lactantius, notwithstanding the exclamations of forgery in Arian writers, I make no apology for citing them here, as collateral evidences of the truth. SIBYLLA ERYTHRA is thus recited, in the Oration of Constantine, from the Greek.
When the great day, the judgment shall appear, The affrighted earth shall melt away with fear; The King immortal shall from heaven descend, And at his bar all nations shall attend; The just and unjust shall, when time grows old, Their Mighty God, arrayed in flesh, behold. The countless hosts at his right hand shall come, And every soul of man await its doom.
With indignation men shall cast away, Their wealth and idols in that vengeful day; The burning earth in flames ascending high, Whose fires shall search and drain the ocean dry.
All flesh which in their graves immured lay, Shall burst their barriers, and return to day. This fire the saints from sinners shall refine, And make the gold with brighter lustre shine: Mens secret deeds shall then be open laid, The latent mazes of the heart displayed; Gnashing their teeth their fate they then shall wail, The light of sun and shining orbs shall fail.
Mountains and plains shall undistinguished lie, Nor vales their bosom ope, nor Alps be high. No more the seas the stately ships shall boast, The rolling waves forsake the burning coast.
Te impetuous lavas shall in rivers burn, And all the grosser earth to crystal turn: The trumpet then from heaven shall sound, And earths destruction in its sins be found.
Psa 50:16. But to the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes? These prohibitions are understood to be a dismissal of the Jewish doctors as the ministers of the holy God. Like the sons of Eli, they joined the thief and the adulterer, instead of seeking the salvation of his soul. But on a minor scale, they apply to all unholy men who officiate in the sanctuary of the Lord.
Psa 50:22. Lest I tear you in pieces, as a hungry lion rends his prey, and there be none to deliver you, as was the case when the Romans besieged Jerusalem.
Psa 50:23. Show the salvation of God. The original indicates not only an insight into the gospel law, but that God would save the christian church when he destroyed the temple. He sets a mark, or writes his name, on those that sigh and cry for sin.
REFLECTIONS.
We have here another psalm of the didactic kind; it is a production of the pious Asaphs, and moves in a higher sphere than the preseding. It opens by calling the whole earth to audience, for the speaker is God of the gentiles, as well as the jews. The subject is worthy of audience and attention: it is God shining forth out of Zion, in the purity of his law and the glory of his gospel. Futurity, in this flood of day, bursts for a moment into open view. The vision was double, closing, like our Saviours prophecies, with the destruction of Jerusalem, and the destruction of the world. The prophet, filled with the subject, could hold no moreOur God shall come, and shall not keep silence, at the apostasy of his people: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about. Wherever the guilty Jews shall fly for refuge, vengeance, bloody vengeance shall pursue. So all the holy prophets, impelled by the same spirit, arrayed their sermons with the terrors of the Lord. Isa 33:14. Joel 2. Malachi 4. Acts 2. The law was published on Sinai with fire and smoke; and the heavens which have attested its violations, shall punish the guilty with sheets of flame.
Before the Judge pours his vengeance down, he gathers the saints under the covert of his wings; for they have made a covenant with him by sacrifice. Providence confirms the prophecy; many of the saints were driven out of Judea by Jewish persecution, 1Pe 4:12; and the rest, believing our Saviours words, fled beyond the Jordan on the approach of the Roman armies. The final judgment is related at large in Matthew 25. Revelation 20.
The grand cause of Israels ruin was corrupt teachers, and hypocrisy of worship. The Lord would not reprove them for sacrifices, but because he loathed their services while they retained their sins. How strikingly also does this apply to the christian church. We may look on the ruins of Israels Zion and tremble, for we daringly tread in the same steps.
The prophet, willing to reform his country, says, Offer unto God thanksgivings; worship him with all your heart, not merely with your gifts. Call upon him in the day of trouble, then he will deliver you from the sword, as by Gideon, Samuel, David, and others. So he will deliver the christian in all his trials and afflictions; but we must leave him to choose the time, and the way of our deliverance. Very often he delivers the godly out of the miseries of this sinful world.
But the prophet, most indignant with the corrupters of his country, gives a terrible stroke at the scribes and pharisees, the dignitaries of that age. But unto the wicked, God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes; or that thou takest my covenant into thy mouth; for they hated instruction. If the pious poor dared to intimate their duty, their pride resented it; and when Christ and his apostles delivered their souls of them, they persecuted them to death. They were corrupt on the bench of justice, and took bribes to exempt thieves from punishment; at adultery they made a secret sneer; and habituated to crime, they thought God was like themselves. The prophet exhorts them to consider their forgetfulness of God; for he knew that God would not long keep silence, but would tear them to pieces in the day of his wrath. Hence also christian ministers should read, tremble, and be sanctified. Every wicked minister, says Jesus, is a thief and a robber; and even among the regenerate, whoever is overcome of any known sin, should weep before the Lord, and not presume to go into the sanctuary till he is in some sort again reconciled to God. Origen, in the time of persecution, having fallen by offering incense on the pagan altar, was of course excommunicated, and wept most bitterly for his sin. But one day in the church, when this psalm was read, on hearing these words, he wept so loud, and with grief so sincere, as to bring all the congregation into a flood of tears. His repentance is reckoned the most pathetic of any ancient writing. How holy, how jealous is the Lord! He will be sanctified in them that draw near to him.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
L. God Looks to Conduct rather than to Sacrifice.For the attitude to sacrifice, cf. Psalms 40*.
Psa 50:1-6. The expected Theophany.
Psa 50:1. Read mg. with LXX.called the earth: since the calling occurs in Psa 50:4, which is a more appropriate place, read the earth feared.
Psa 50:5. The LXX reads Gather his saints together unto him, those that have made his covenant with him by sacrifice. The last words refer to Exo 24:5 ff. For saints (hasdm), see on Psalms 4.
Psa 50:7-15. God does not ask for abundance of sacrifice. He does not eat flesh or drink blood. It is surprising that a Jewish poet should have found occasion to rebuke such gross materialism.
Psa 50:11. Read with LXX, birds of the heaven, i.e. of the air.
Psa 50:14 f. Prayer and thanksgiving are better than material sacrifice.
Psa 50:16-21. The show of piety in men of corrupt life is hateful to God. The requirements implied are all negative.
Psa 50:22 f. Final admonition and summary.
Psa 50:23. To offer a material sacrifice, for the technical language compels us to understand no less, is well, but a well-ordered life is better.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
PSALM 50
A testimony of God to the heavens and the earth, that rebukes those who are content with the form of religion without the power.
Psalm 49 rebukes the folly of the worldly man that trusts in riches; Psalm 50 the religious man that trusts in forms of religion.
(vv. 1-2) God is present in His majesty, as the mighty and unchangeable One, speaking to the whole earth from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof. He speaks out of Zion, and hence in sovereign blessing for man.
(vv. 3-6) The verses that follow declare that God has reached the throne of blessing in Zion through judgment. During long ages God has kept silence while the world has ripened for judgment. At length the silence will be broken and God will come with the devouring fire of judgment.
The scene being cleared in judgment, God gathers around Him those who are in relationship with Him on the ground of sacrifice – the death of Christ. The earth has manifested the unrighteousness of man; now, at last, the heavens will declare the righteousness of God that, on the one hand, deals in judgment with the rejectors of Christ, and on the other hand blesses those who trust in Christ.
(vv. 7-13) The verses that follow declare God’s testimony to Israel, reproving them for trusting in the outward form of religion. God does not reprove them in relation to their sacrifices, as if they had not brought them. God does not want sacrifice from man, He requires righteousness. God has wearied with religious men continually bringing sacrifices, as if He were claiming cattle from men, or as if He were hungry and needed meat. Every beast of the forest is His, and the cattle on a thousand hills. All the fullness of the earth is at His disposal.
(vv. 14-15) God looks for a spirit of thanksgiving, and the practical fulfillment of obligations. God desires that men should confide in Him and call upon Him in the day of trouble.
(vv. 16-21) Alas! while observing a round of religious ceremonies, the professing people of God hated instruction, and treated God’s words with contempt. They might not be guilty of any gross sin, as stealing, but they took pleasure in a thief, and had partaken, if only in mind and imagination, with adulterers. Their mouth had been used for evil-speaking, deceit, and slander.
Yet, because God kept silence, and bore long in patience, men thought that all was well, and that God, like themselves, was satisfied with outward religious observances. When, however, God speaks he raises the question of man’s unrighteousness. These things hast thou done. Man’s religion is one of outward forms with nothing to disturb the conscience. God beginning with the conscience, raises the question, What hast thou done? (cp. Gen 3:13; Gen 4:10).
(vv. 22-23) The formalist may indeed be religious, but he is forgetting God. Let such beware lest he is overtaken by judgment. Let him glorify God by offering praise, and ordering his way aright; then indeed he will see the salvation of God.
Fuente: Smith’s Writings on 24 Books of the Bible
50:1 [A Psalm of {a} Asaph.] The mighty God, [even] the LORD, hath spoken, and called the {b} earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.
(a) Who was either the author, or a chief singer, to whom it was committed.
(b) To plead against his deceitful people before heaven and earth.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Psalms 50
This psalm pictures God seated in His heavenly throne room. He has two indictments against His people Israel. The wicked among them were hypocritical in their worship, a violation of the first part of the Decalogue, and in their interpersonal relationships, a violation of the second part. They needed to return to Him wholeheartedly. This is a didactic psalm written to teach God’s people an important lesson.
"This psalm is the speech of God, who addresses his covenant partner concerning matters of violated covenant. After the narrative introduction of Psa 50:1-6, it is all one extended speech in the form of a decree with no room for negotiation." [Note: Breuggemann, p. 89.]
The Levitical musician, Asaph, evidently wrote this psalm, as well as Psalms 73-83 (cf. 1Ch 16:4-5).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
1. The heavenly Judge 50:1-6
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Asaph pictured God as the cosmic Judge summoning all people to stand before Him. The titles Mighty One, God, and Yahweh, present the Lord as the greatest of all judges. His ability to command all of humanity also shows His greatness.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 50:1-23
This is the first of the Asaph psalms, and is separated from the other eleven (Psa 73:1-28; Psa 74:1-23; Psa 75:1-10; Psa 76:1-12; Psa 77:1-20; Psa 78:1-72; Psa 79:1-13; Psa 80:1-19; Psa 81:1-16; Psa 82:1-8; Psa 83:1-18) for reasons that do not appear. Probably they are no more recondite than the verbal resemblance between the summons to all the earth at the beginning of Psa 49:1 and the similar proclamation in the first verses of Psa 50:1-23. The arrangement of the Psalter is often obviously determined by such slight links. The group has certain features in common, of which some appear here: e.g., the fondness for descriptions of theophanies; the prominence given to Gods judicial action; the preference for the Divine names of El, Adonai (the Lord), Elyon (Most High). Other peculiarities of the class-e.g., the love for the designation “Joseph” for the nation, and delight in the image of the Divine Shepherd-are not found in this psalm. It contains no historical allusions which aid in dating it. The leading idea of it-viz., the depreciation of outward sacrifice-is unhesitatingly declared by many to have been impossible in the days of the Levite Asaph, who was one of Davids musical staff. But is it so certain that such thoughts were foreign to the period in which Samuel declared that obedience was better than sacrifice? Certainly the tone of the psalm is that of later prophets, and there is much probability in the view that Asaph is the name of the family or guild of singers from whom these psalms came rather than that of an individual.
The structure is clear and simple. There is, first, a magnificent description of Gods coming to judgment and summoning heaven and earth to witness while He judges His people (Psa 50:1-6). The second part (Psa 50:7-15) proclaims the worthlessness of sacrifice; and the third (Psa 50:16-21) brands hypocrites who pollute Gods statutes by taking them into their lips while their lives are foul. A closing strophe of two verses (Psa 50:22-23) gathers up the double lesson of the whole.
The first part falls again into two, of three verses each, of which the former describes the coming of the judge, and the latter the opening of the judgment. The psalm begins with a majestic heaping together of the Divine names, as if a herald were proclaiming the style and titles of a mighty king at the opening of a solemn assize. No English equivalents are available, and it is best to retain the Hebrew, only noting that each name is separated from the others by the accents in the original, and that to render either “the mighty God” (A.V.) or “the God of gods” is not only against that punctuation, but destroys the completeness symbolised by the threefold designation. Hupfeld finds the heaping together of names “frosty.” Some ears will rather hear in it a solemn reiteration like the boom of triple thunders. Each name has its own force of meaning. El speaks of God as mighty; Elohim, as the object of religious fear; Jehovah, as the self-existent and covenant God.
The earth from east to west is summoned, not to be judged, but to witness God judging His people. The peculiarity of this theophany is that God is not represented as coming from afar or from above, but as letting His light blaze out from Zion, where He sits enthroned. As His presence made the city “the joy of the whole earth,” {Psa 48:2} so it makes Zion the sum of all beauty. The idea underlying the representation of His shining out of Zion is that His presence among His people makes certain His judgment of their worship. It is the poetic clothing of the prophetic announcement, “You only have I known of all the inhabitants of the earth; therefore will I punish you for your iniquities.” The seer beholds the dread pomp of the advent of the Judge, and describes it with accessories familiar in such pictures: devouring fire is His forerunner, as clearing a path for Him among tangles of evil, and wild tempests whirl round His stable throne. “He cannot be silent.” The form of the negation in the original is emotional or emphatic, conveying the idea of the impossibility of His silence in the face of such corruptions.
The opening of the court or preparation for the judgment follows. That Divine voice speaks, summoning heaven and earth to attend as spectators of the solemn process. The universal significance of Gods relation to and dealings with Israel, and the vindication of His righteousness by His inflexible justice dealt out to their faults, are grandly taught in this making heaven and earth assessors of that tribunal. The court having been thus constituted, the Judge on His seat, the spectators standing around, the accused are next brought in. There is no need to be prosaically definite as to the attendants who are bidden to escort them. His officers are everywhere, and to ask who they are in the present case is to apply to poetry the measuring lines meant for bald prose. It is more important to note the names by which the persons to be judged are designated. They are “My favoured ones, who have made a covenant with Me by (lit. over) sacrifice.” These terms carry an indictment, recalling the lavish mercies so unworthily requited, and the solemn obligations so unthankfully broken. The application of the name “favoured ones” to the whole nation is noteworthy. In other psalms it is usually applied to the more devout section, who are by it sharply distinguished from the mass: here it includes the whole. It does not follow that the diversity of usage indicates difference of date. All that is certainly shown is difference of point of dew. Here the ideal of the nation is set forth, in order to bring out more emphatically the miserable contrast of the reality. Sacrifice is set aside as worthless in the subsequent verses. But could the psalmist have given clearer indication that his depreciation is not to be exaggerated into entire rejection of external rites, than by thus putting in front of it the worth of sacrifice when offered aright, as the means of founding and sustaining covenant relations with God? If his own words had been given heed to, his commentators would have been saved the blunder of supposing that he is antagonistic to the sacrificial worship which he thus regards.
But before the assize opens, the heavens, which had been summoned to behold, declare beforehand His righteousness, as manifested by the fact that He is about to judge His people. The Selah indicates that a long-drawn swell of music fills the expectant pause before the Judge speaks from His tribunal.
The second part (Psa 50:7-15) deals with one of the two permanent tendencies which work for the corruption of religion-namely, the reliance on external worship, and neglect of the emotions of thankfulness and trust. God appeals first to the relation into which He has entered with the people, as giving Him the right to judge. There may be a reference to the Mosaic formula, “I am Jehovah, thy God,” which is here converted, in accordance with the usage of this book of the Psalter, into “God (Elohim), thy God.” The formula which was the seal of laws when enacted is also the warrant for the action of the Judge. He has no fault to find with the external acts of worship. They are abundant and “continually before Him.” Surely this declaration at the outset sets aside the notion that the psalmist was launching a polemic against sacrifices per se. It distinctly takes the ground that the habitual offering of these was pleasing to the Judge. Their presentation continually is not reproved, but approved. What then is condemned? Surely it can be nothing but sacrifice without the thanksgiving and prayer required in Psa 50:14-15. The irony of Psa 50:9-13 is directed against the folly of believing that in sacrifice itself God delighted; but the shafts are pointless as against offerings which are embodied gratitude and trust. The gross stupidity of supposing that mans gift makes the offering to be Gods more truly than before is laid bare in the fine, sympathetic glance at the free, wild life of forest, mountain, and plain, which is all Gods possession, and present to His upholding thought, and by the side of which mans folds are very small affairs. “The cattle” in Psa 50:10 are not, as usually, domesticated animals, but the larger wild animals. They graze or roam “on the mountains of a thousand”-a harsh expression, best taken, perhaps, as meaning mountains where thousands [of the cattle] are. But the omission of one letter gives the more natural reading “mountains of God”. {cf. Psa 36:6} It is adopted by Olshausen and Cheyne, and smooths the construction, but has against it its obliteration of the fine thought of the multitudes of creatures peopling the untravelled hills. The word rendered “whatever moves” is obscure; but that meaning is accepted by most. Cheyne in his Commentary gives as alternative “that which comes forth abundantly,” and in “Orig. of Psalt.,” 473, “offspring.” All these are “with Me”-i.e., present to His mind-a parallel to “I know” in the first clause of the same verse.
Psa 50:12-13 turn the stream of irony on another absurdity involved in the superstition attacked-the grossly material thought of God involved in it. What good do bulls flesh and goats blood do to Him? But if these are expressions of thankful love, they are delightsome to Him. Therefore the section ends with the declaration that the true sacrifice is thanksgiving and the discharge of vows. Men honour God by asking and taking, not by giving. They glorify Him when, by calling on Him in trouble, they are delivered; and then, by thankfulness and service, as well as by the evidence which their experience gives that prayer is not in vain, they again glorify Him. All sacrifices are Gods before they are offered, and do not become any more His by being offered. He neither needs nor can partake of material sustenance. But mens hearts are not His without their glad surrender, in the same way as after it; and thankful love, trust, and obedience are as the food of God, sacrifices acceptable, well-pleasing to Him.
The third part of the psalm is still sterner in tone. It strikes at the other great corruption of worship by hypocrites. As has been often remarked, it condemns breaches of the second table of the law, just as the former part may be regarded as dealing with transgressions of the first. The eighth, seventh, and ninth commandments are referred to in Psa 50:18-19 as examples of the hypocrites sins. The irreconcilable contradiction of their professions and conduct is vividly brought out in the juxtaposition of “declare My statutes” and “castest My words behind thee.” They do two opposite things with the same words-at the same time proclaiming them with all lip-reverence, and scornfully flinging them behind their backs in their conduct. The word rendered in the A.V. “slanderest” is better taken as in margin of the R.V, “givest a thrust,” meaning to use violence so as to harm or overthrow.
Hypocrisy finds encouragement in impunity. Gods silence is an emphatic way of expressing His patient tolerance of evil unpunished. Such “long suffering” is meant to lead to repentance, and indicates Gods unwillingness to smite. But, as experience shows, it is often abused, and “because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, the heart of the sons of men is thoroughly set in them to do evil.” The gross mind has gross conceptions of God. One nemesis of hypocrisy is the dimming of the idea of the righteous Judge. All sin darkens the image of God. When men turn away from Gods self-revelation, as they do by transgression and most fatally by hypocrisy, they cannot but make a God after their own linage. Browning has taught us in his marvellous “Caliban on Setebos” how a coarse nature projects its own image into the heavens and calls it God. God made man in His own likeness. Men who have lost that likeness make God in theirs, and so sink deeper in evil till He speaks. Then comes an apocalypse to the dreamer, when there is flashed before him what God is and what he himself” is. How terror-stricken the gaze of these eyes before which God arrays the deeds of a life, seen for the first time in their true character! It will be the hypocrites turn to keep silence then, and his thought of a complaisant God like himself wilt perish before the stern reality.
The whole teaching of the psalm is gathered up in the two closing verses. “Ye that forget God” includes both the superstitious formalists and the hypocrites. Reflection upon such truths as those of the psalm will save them from else inevitable destruction. “This” points on to Psa 50:23, which is a compendium of both parts of the psalm. The true worship, which consists in thankfulness and praise, is opposed in Psa 50:23 a to mere externalisms of sacrifice, as being the right way of glorifying God. The second clause presents a difficulty. But it would seem that we must expect to find in it a summing up of the warning of the third part of the psalm similar to that of the second part in the preceding clause. That consideration goes against the rendering in the R.V. margin (adopted from Delitzsch): “and prepares a way [by which] I may show, etc. The ellipsis of the relative is also somewhat harsh. The literal rendering of the ambiguous words is, “one setting a way.” Graetz, who is often wild in his emendations, proposes a very slight one here-the change of one letter, which would yield a good meaning: “he that is perfect in his way.” Cheyne adopts this, and it eases a difficulty. But the received text is capable of the rendering given in the A.V, and, even without the natural supplement “aright,” is sufficiently intelligible. To order ones way or “conversation” is, of course, equivalent to giving heed to it according to Gods word, and is the opposite of the conduct stigmatised in Psa 50:16-21. The promise to him who thus acts is that he shall see Gods salvation, both in the narrower sense of daily interpositions for deliverance, and in the wider of a full and final rescue from all evil and endowment with all good. The psalm has as keen an edge for modern as for ancient sins. Superstitious reliance on externals of worship survives, though sacrifices have ceased; and hypocrites, with their months full of the Gospel, still cast Gods words behind them, as did those ancient hollow-hearted proclaimers and breakers of the Law.