Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 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?
16. What meanest thou by rehearsing my statutes, and by having taken (R.V. rightly, and that thou hast taken) my covenant in thy mouth? The people had pledged themselves to observe the conditions of the covenant as laid down in the ‘book of the covenant,’ of which the Decalogue (‘the tables of the covenant’) was the first and most important part (Exo 24:7), and these men professed to recognise their duty as Israelites. Cp. Isa 29:13; Mat 15:8.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
16 21. In the preceding verses God has reproved the formalist: the man who regarded the offering of sacrifice as the essence of religion. He now turns to address the wicked man: the hypocrite, who repeated His commandments and professed allegiance to Him, while he deliberately set those commandments at defiance by his conduct. To him God adopts a sterner tone. The offences with which he is charged are breaches of the commandments of the second Table of the Decalogue, neglect of the simplest moral duties toward his neighbour. The general reproof in Psa 50:16-17 is followed by specific charges of breaking the eighth, seventh, and ninth commandments, and the address concludes with a stern warning, Psa 50:21. Comp. generally Hos 4:1-2; Rom 2:17-24.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
But unto the wicked God saith – This commences a second part of the subject. See the introduction. Thus far the psalm had reference to those who were merely external worshippers, or mere formalists, as showing that such could not be approved and accepted in the day of judgment; that spiritual religion – the offering of the heart – was necessary in order to acceptance with God. In this part of the psalm the same principles are applied to those who actually violate the law which they profess to receive as prescribing the rules of true religion, and which they profess to teach to others. The design of the psalm is not merely to reprove the mass of the people as mere formalists in religion, but especially to reprove the leaders and teachers of the people, who, under the form of religion, gave themselves up to a course of life wholly inconsistent with the true service of God. The address here, therefore, is to those who, while they professed to be teachers of religion, and to lead the devotions of others, gave themselves up to abandoned lives.
What hast thou to do – What right hast thou to do this? How can people, who lead such lives, consistently and properly do this? The idea is, that they who profess to declare the law of a holy God should be themselves holy; that they who profess to teach the principles and doctrines of true religion should themselves be examples of purity and holiness.
To declare my statutes – My laws. This evidently refers rather to the teaching of others than to the profession of their own faith. The language would be applicable to the priests under the Jewish system, who were expected not only to conduct the outward services of religion, but also to instruct the people; to explain the principles of religion; to be the guides and teachers of others. Compare Mal 2:7. There is a striking resemblance between the language used in this part of the psalm Psa 50:16-20 and the language of the apostle Paul in Rom 2:17-23; and it would seem probable that the apostle in that passage had this portion of the psalm in his eye. See the notes at that passage.
Or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth – Either as professing faith in it, and a purpose to be governed by it – or, more probably, as explaining it to others. The covenant here is equivalent to the law of God, or the principles of his religion; and the idea is, that he who undertakes to explain that to others, should himself be a holy man. He can have no right to attempt to explain it, if he is otherwise; he cannot hope to be able to explain it, unless he himself sees and appreciates its truth and beauty. This is as true now of the Gospel as it was of the law. A wicked man can have no right to undertake the work of the Christian ministry, nor can he be able to explain to others what he himself does not understand.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 50:16-23
But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare My statutes?
The mere formalist and the spiritualist in religion
I. The mere formalists in religion.
1. They are religiously active–often very busy in preaching and praying. The less heart in religion, generally the more hand; the less vitality, the more voice.
2. They are morally wicked.
(1) No desire for knowledge.
(2) No reverence for Gods Word.
(3) No practical regard for the rights of society. Religious formality crucified the Son of God Himself. Religious form without the genuine spirit is law without justice–a tyranny; language without truth–a deception; an atmosphere without oxygen–a poison.
3. They are God-degrading. The God of the formalist is fashioned after his own character.
4. They are Divinely threatened.
(1) With a terrible conviction of their own guilt (Psa 50:21). What calamity can be greater, than for a sinner to have all his sins, in all their awful enormity, brought before the eye of his conscience; brought into contact with all the tenderest and profoundest sensibilities of his moral being?
(2) With an irremediable destruction (Psa 50:22). The language here is derived from a ravenous beast, tearing its victim limb from limb. None to deliver. I called, and ye refused, etc.
II. The true spiritualist in religion (Psa 50:23, etc.).
1. He worships God acceptably. The sentiments of gratitude, reverence, adoration, that rise out of his regenerated heart are the praise that is well-pleasing to God.
2. He lives an upright life. He walks in all the commandments of the Lord, blameless.
3. He secures the true salvation–from all ignorance, error, selfishness, sin, and sorrow. (Homilist.)
The inconsistency, absurdity, and sin of professing religion without a corresponding conduct
By their talking of the statutes of Jehovah, and having His covenant in their mouths, the psalmist must have intended to denote their religious profession and hopes as Jews. They are men of an unteachable disposition and an untractable temper, rendered, by their vices, averse to religious and moral instruction. So far from attending to the Mosaic revelation, and consulting it as containing the proper rules for the regulation of their conduct, they, in fact, entirely neglected it; they treated it as persons do any worthless thing, which they throw from them with disdain.
I. The expectations and hopes of those, whose characters have been described, and who are here represented as wicked, must be vain and delusive. For the rewards annexed to any law are, certainly, intended to enforce its precepts, and to induce men, from the additional motive of interest, to practise their duty. To consider them in a different light is absurdly supposing the law to be constructed in such a manner as to counteract itself, and to destroy its own authority and influence. If it argued the highest presumption and folly to hope for the benefits and blessings of the Mosaic covenant, although the condition of observing all the commandment of the law to do them were not complied with, then, to retain these hopes, even while the prohibitions and threatenings of the law stood in full force against them, was certainly, of all others, the most unaccountable instance of infatuation.
II. How far the address in the text may, with equal propriety and justice, be applicable to any, who live in the present times, who acknowledge the truth of the Christian religion, and who profess to be the followers of Christ. If we entertain hopes of enjoying the blessings which the Gospel proposes to mankind, while, at the same time, our characters correspond with those described in the text, our profession, when compared with theirs, will be found equally insincere, inconsistent, and contradictory: our hopes, too, will prove to be equally presumptuous and vain. We, indeed, shall be more inexcusably foolish and absurd; because a subsequent revelation, wherever it agrees with the former, should certainly be considered as an additional confirmation of it. Every renewal of its prohibitions reminds us, in a stronger manner, of the offensive nature and dangerous consequences of the particular vices already forbidden. But, alas I how many are there who profess to receive the Gospel that are very impatient of religious and moral discipline I How many are there who sanguinely hope for the salvation which the Gospel offers, and yet knowingly live in direct opposition to its most sacred and important commands, with which alone this salvation stands connected! (A. R. Beard.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 16. But unto the wicked] The bloodthirsty priests, proud Pharisees, and ignorant scribes of the Jewish people.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Unto the wicked, i.e. the same ungodly and hypocritical professors whom he calleth saints, Psa 50:5, in regard of their profession, and here wicked in respect of their practice, and the truth of the thing. God saith: he told them what he would not reprove them for, Psa 50:8, and why, Psa 50:9,10, &c.; now he tells them for what he did reprove and condemn them, even for a vain and false profession of religion. With what confidence darest thou make mention of or boast of Gods grade and favour vouchsafed unto time, in giving thee such a covenant and statutes, pretending to embrace them, and to give up thyself to the observation of them? This concerns not only the teachers, (of whom some understand these words,) but all the Israelites in general; of whom he rather seems to speak.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16-20. the wickedthat is, theformalists, as now exposed, and who lead vicious lives (compareRom 2:21; Rom 2:23).They are unworthy to use even the words of God’s law. Their hypocrisyand vice are exposed by illustrations from sins against the seventh,eighth, and ninth commandments.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But unto the wicked God saith,…. By whom are meant, not openly profane sinners; but men under a profession of religion, and indeed who were teachers of others, as appears from the following expostulation with them: the Scribes, Pharisees, and doctors among the Jews, are designed; and so Kimchi interprets it of their wise men, who learnt and taught the law, but did not act according to it. It seems as if the preceding verses respected the truly godly among the Jews, who believed in Christ, and yet were zealous of the law; and retained legal sacrifices; as such there were, Ac 21:20; and that these words, and what follow, are spoken to hypocrites among them, who sat in Moses’s chair, and said, and did not; were outwardly righteous before men, but inwardly full of wickedness, destitute of the grace of God and righteousness of Christ;
what hast thou to do to declare my statutes; the laws of God, which were given to the people of Israel; some of which were of a moral, others of a ceremonial, and others of a judicial nature; and there were persons appointed to teach and explain these to the people, as the priests and Levites: now some of these were abrogated, and not to be declared at all in the times this psalm refers to; and as for others, those persons were very improper to teach and urge the observance of them, when they themselves did not keep them; and especially it was wrong in them to declare them to the people, for such purposes as they did, namely, to obtain life and righteousness by them;
or [that] thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? which is to be understood, not of the covenant of works made with Adam, and now broke; nor of the pure covenant of grace, as administered under the Gospel dispensation, of which Christ is the Mediator, and the Gospel a transcript, since both were rejected by these persons; but the covenant at Mount Sinai, which was a typical one; and being in some sense faulty, was now antiquated, and ought to have ceased; and therefore these men are blamed for taking it in their mouths, and urging it on the people: and besides, they had no true sight of and faith in the thing exhibited by it; and moreover were not steadfast, nor did they continue in it, like their fathers before them, Ps 78:37 Heb 8:7.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The accusation of the manifest sinners. It is not those who are addressed in Psa 50:7, as Hengstenberg thinks, who are here addressed. Even the position of the words clearly shows that the divine discourse is now turned to another class, viz., to the evil-doers, who, in connection with open and manifest sins and vices, take the word of God upon their lips, a distinct class from those who base their sanctity upon outward works of piety, who outwardly fulfil the commands of God, but satisfy and deceive themselves with this outward observance. , what hast thou, that thou = it belongs not to thee, it does not behove thee. With , in Psa 50:17, an adversative subordinate clause beings: since thou dost not care to know anything of the moral ennobling which it is the design of the Law to give, and my words, instead of having them as a constant test-line before thine eyes, thou castest behind thee and so turnest thy back upon them (cf. Isa 38:17). is not from (lxx, Targum, and Saadia), in which case it would have to be pointed , but from , and is construed here, as in Job 34:9, with : to have pleasure in intercourse with any one. In Psa 50:18 the transgression of the eighth commandment is condemned, in Psa 50:18 that of the seventh, in Psa 50:19. that of the ninth (concerning the truthfulness of testimony). , to give up one’s mouth unrestrainedly to evil, i.e., so that evil issues from it. , Psa 50:20, has reference to gossiping company (cf. Psa 1:1). signifies a thrust, a push (cf. ), after which the lxx renders it (cf. Lev 19:14), but it also signifies vexation and mockery (cf. ); it is therefore to be rendered: to bring reproach (Jerome, opprobrium ) upon any one, to cover him with dishonour. The preposition with has, just as in Num 12:1, and frequently, a hostile signification. “Thy mother’s son” is he who is born of the same mother with thyself, and not merely of the same father, consequently thy brother after the flesh in the fullest sense. What Jahve says in this passage is exactly the same as that which the apostle of Jesus Christ says in Rom 2:17-24. This contradiction between the knowledge and the life of men God must, for His holiness’ sake, unmask and punish, Psa 50:20. The sinner thinks otherwise: God is like himself, i.e., that is also not accounted by God as sin, which he allows himself to do under the cloak of his dead knowledge. For just as a man is in himself, such is his conception also of his God (vid., Psa 18:26.). But God will not encourage this foolish idea: “I will therefore reprove thee and set (it) in order before thine eyes” ( , not , in order to give expression, the second time at least, to the mood, the form of which has been obliterated by the suffix); He will set before the eyes of the sinner, who practically and also in theory denies the divine holiness, the real state of his heart and life, so that he shall be terrified at it. Instead of , the infin. intensit. here, under the influence of the close connection of the clauses (Ew. 240, c), is ; the oratio obliqua begins with it, without ( quod ). exactly corresponds to the German deines Gleichen , thine equal.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Character of the Wicked. | |
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? 17 Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee. 18 When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers. 19 Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit. 20 Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother’s son. 21 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. 22 Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. 23 Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I show the salvation of God.
God, by the psalmist, having instructed his people in the right way of worshipping him and keeping up their communion with him, here directs his speech to the wicked, to hypocrites, whether they were such as professed the Jewish or the Christian religion: hypocrisy is wickedness for which God will judge. Observe here,
I. The charge drawn up against them. 1. They are charged with invading and usurping the honours and privileges of religion (v. 16): What has thou to do, O wicked man! to declare my statutes? This is a challenge to those that rare really profane, but seemingly godly, to show what title they have to the cloak of religion, and by what authority they wear it, when they use it only to cover and conceal the abominable impieties of their hearts and lives. Let them make out their claim to it if they can. Some think it points prophetically at the scribes and Pharisees that were the teachers and leaders of the Jewish church at the time when the kingdom of the Messiah, and that evangelical way of worship spoken of in the foregoing verses, were to be set up. They violently opposed that great revolution, and used all the power and interest which they had by sitting in Moses’s seat to hinder it; but the account which our blessed Saviour gives of them (Matt. xxiii.), and St. Paul (Rom 2:21; Rom 2:22), makes this expostulation here agree very well to them. They took on them to declare God’s statues, but they hated Christ’s instruction; and therefore what had they to do to expound the law, when they rejected the gospel? But it is applicable to all those that are practicers of iniquity, and yet professors of piety, especially if withal they be preachers of it. Note, It is very absurd in itself, and a great affront to the God of heaven, for those that are wicked and ungodly to declare his statutes and to take his covenant in their mouths. It is very possible, and too common, for those that declare God’s statutes to others to live in disobedience to them themselves, and for those that take God’s covenant in their mouths yet in their hearts to continue their covenant with sin and death; but they are guilty of a usurpation, they take to themselves an honour which they have no title to, and there is a day coming when they will be thrust out as intruders. Friend, how camest thou in hither? 2. They are charged with transgressing and violating the laws and precepts of religion. (1.) They are charged with a daring contempt of the word of God (v. 17): Thou hatest instruction. They loved to give instruction, and to tell others what they should do, for this fed their pride and made them look great, and by this craft they got their living; but they hated to receive instruction from God himself, for that would be a check upon them and a mortification to them. “Thou hatest discipline, the reproofs of the word and the rebukes of Providence.” No wonder that those who hate to be reformed hate the means of reformation. Thou castest my words behind thee. They seemed to set God’s words before them, when they sat in Moses’s seat, and undertook to teach others out of the law (Rom. ii. 19); but in their conversations they cast God’s word behind them, and did not care for seeing that rule which they were resolved not to be ruled by. This is despising the commandment of the Lord. (2.) A close confederacy with the worst of sinners (v. 18): “When thou sawest a thief, instead of reproving him and witnessing against him, as those should do that declare God’s statutes, thou consentedst with him, didst approve of his practices, and desire to be a partner with him and to share in the profits of his cursed trade; and thou hast been partaker with adulterers, hast done as they did, and encouraged them to go on in their wicked courses, hast done these things and hast had pleasure in those that do them,” Rom. i. 32. (3.) A constant persisting in the worst of tongue-sins (v. 19): “Thou givest thy mouth to evil, not only allowest thyself in, but addictest thyself wholly to, all manner of evil-speaking.” [1.] Lying: Thy tongue frames deceit, which denotes contrivance and deliberation in lying. It knits or links deceit, so some. One lie begets another, and one fraud requires another to cover it. [2.] Slandering (v. 20): “Thou sittest, and speakest against thy brother, dost basely abuse and misrepresent him, magisterially judge and censure him, and pass sentence upon him, as if you wert his master to whom he must stand or fall, whereas he is thy brother, as good as thou art, and upon the level with thee, for he is thy own mother’s son. He is thy near relation, whom thou oughtest to love, to vindicate, and stand up for, if others abused him; yet thou dost thyself abuse him, whose faults thou oughtest to cover and make the best of; if really he had done amiss, yet thou dost most falsely and unjustly charge him with that which he is innocent of; thou sittest and doest this, as a judge upon the bench, with authority; thou sittest in the seat of the scornful, to deride and backbite those whom thou oughtest to respect and be kind to.” Those that do ill themselves commonly delight in speaking ill of others.
II. The proof of this charge (v. 21): “These things thou hast done; the fact is too plain to be denied, the fault too bad to be excused; these things God knows, and thy own heart knows, thou hast done.” The sins of sinners will be proved upon them, beyond contradiction, in the judgment of the great day: “I will reprove thee, or convince thee, so that thou shalt have not one word to say for thyself.” The day is coming when impenitent sinners will have their mouths for ever stopped and be struck speechless. What confusion will they be filled with when God shall set their sins in order before their eyes! They would not see their sins to their humiliation, but cast them behind their backs, covered them, and endeavoured to forget them, nor would they suffer their own consciences to put them in mind of them; but the day is coming when God will make them see their sins to their everlasting shame and terror; he will set them in order, original sin, actual sins, sins against the law, sins against the gospel, against the first table, against the second table, sins of childhood and youth, of riper age, and old age. He will set them in order, as the witnesses are set in order, and called in order, against the criminal, and asked what they have to say against him.
III. The Judge’s patience, and the sinner’s abuse of that patience: “I kept silence, did not give thee any disturbance in thy sinful way, but let thee alone to take thy course; sentence against thy evil works was respited, and not executed speedily.” Note, The patience of God is very great towards provoking sinners. He sees their sins and hates them; it would be neither difficulty nor damage to him to punish them, and yet he waits to be gracious and gives them space to repent, that he may render them inexcusable if they repent not. His patience is the more wonderful because the sinner makes such an ill use of it: “Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself, as weak and forgetful as thyself, as false to my word as thyself, nay, as much a friend to sin as thyself.” Sinners take God’s silence for consent and his patience for connivance; and therefore the longer they are reprieved the more are their hearts hardened; but, if they turn not, they shall be made to see their error when it is too late, and that the God they provoke is just, and holy, and terrible, and not such a one as themselves.
IV. The fair warning given of the dreadful doom of hypocrites (v. 22): “Now consider this, you that forget God, consider that God knows and keeps account of all your sins, that he will call you to an account for them, that patience abused will turn into the greater wrath, that though you forget God and your duty to him he will not forget you and your rebellions against him: consider this in time, before it be too late; for if these things be not considered, and the consideration of them improved, he will tear you in pieces, and there will be none to deliver.” It is the doom of hypocrites to be cut asunder, Matt. xxiv. 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 God’s word will certainly be torn in pieces by the executions 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.
V. Full instructions given to us all how to prevent this fearful doom. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter; we have it, v. 23, which directs us what to do that we may attain our chief end. 1. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and we are here told that whoso offers praise glorifies him; whether he be Jew or Gentile, those spiritual sacrifices shall be accepted from him. We must praise God, and we must sacrifice praise, direct it to God, as every sacrifice was directed; put it into the hands of the priest, our Lord Jesus, who is also the altar; see that it be made by fire, sacred fire, that it be kindled with the flame of holy and devout affection; we must be fervent in spirit, praising the Lord. This he is pleased, in infinite condescension, to interpret as glorifying him. Hereby we give him the glory due to his name and do what we can to advance the interests of his kingdom among men. 2. Man’s chief end, in conjunction with this, is to enjoy God; and we are here told that those who order their conversation aright shall see his salvation. (1.) It is not enough for us to offer praise, but we must withal order our conversation aright. Thanksgiving is good, but thanks-living 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; 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 for ever in it. Note, The right ordering of the conversation is the only way, and it is a sure way, to obtain the great salvation.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
16 But unto the wicked, etc. He now proceeds to direct his censures more openly against those whose whole religion lies in an observance of ceremonies, with which they attempt to blind the eyes of God. An exposure is made of the vanity of seeking to shelter impurity of heart and life under a veil of outward services, a lesson which ought to have been received by all with true consent, but which was peculiarly ungrateful to Jewish ears. It has been universally confessed, that the worship of God is pure and acceptable only when it proceeds from a sincere heart. The acknowledgement has been extorted from the poets of the heathen, and it is known that the profligate were wont to be excluded from their temples and from participation in their sacrifices. And yet such is the influence of hypocrisy in choking and obliterating even a sentiment so universally felt as this, that men of the most abandoned character will obtrude themselves into the presence of God, in the confidence of deceiving him with their vain inventions. This may explain the frequency of the warnings which we find in the prophets upon this subject, declaring to the ungodly again and again, that they only aggravate their guilt by assuming the semblance of piety. Loudly as the Spirit of God has asserted, that a form of godliness, unaccompanied by the grace of faith and repentance, is but a sacrilegious abuse of the name of God; it is yet impossible to drive the Papists out of the devilish delusion, that their idlest services are sanctified by what they call their final intention. They grant that none but such as are in a state of grace can possess the meritum de condigno; (252) but they maintain that the mere outward acts of devotion, without any accompanying sentiments of the heart, may prepare a person at least for the reception of grace. And thus, if a monk rise from the bed of his adultery to chant a few psalms without one spark of godliness in his breast, or if a whore-monger, a thief, or any foresworn villain, seeks to make reparation for his crimes by mass or pilgrimage, they would be loath to consider this lost labor. By God, on the other hand, such a disjunction of the form from the inward sentiment of devotion is branded as sacrilege. In the passage before us, the Psalmist sets aside and refutes a very common objection which might be urged. Must not, it might be said, those sacrifices be in some respect acceptable to God which are offered up in his honor? He shows that, on the contrary, they entail guilt upon the parties who present them, inasmuch as they lie to God, and profane his holy name. He checks their presumption with the words, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes? that is, to pretend that you are one of my people, and that you have a part in my covenant. Now, if God in this manner rejects the whole of that profession of godliness, which is unaccompanied by purity of heart, how shall we expect him to treat the observance of mere ceremonies, which hold quite an inferior place to the declaration of the statutes of God?
(252) “The Schoolmen in that Church, ‘the Church of Rome,’ spoke of meritum de congruo , and meritum de condigno . By meritum de congruo , ‘to which Calvin refers in the concluding part of the sentence,’ they meant the value of good works and good dispositions previous to justification, which it was fit or congruous for God to reward by infusing his grace. By meritum de condigno they meant the value of good works performed after justification, in consequence of the grace then infused.” — Dr Hill ’ s Lectures in Divinity, volume 2, p. 348; see also Turretine ’ s Theology, volume 2, p. 778.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(16) But.The psalm here turns to address a worse class, those who, while undisguisedly wicked, shelter themselves under the name of the covenant.
What hast thou to do?i.e., how darest thou?
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
16. But unto the wicked Hither-to God has addressed and judged the dead formalist the blind Pharisee. He now speaks to a class who add to the hypocrisy of ritualism an immoral life, still holding the profession of the covenant people of God.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
God Speaks To The ‘Wicked’, The More Overt Covenant Breakers, Whom He Sees As Blatantly Hypocritical, And Outlines The Activities That Cut Them Off From His Mercy. He Points Out That He Is Coming In Order To ‘Reprove’ Them And Put Things Right ( Psa 50:16-21 ).
Psa 50:16-17
‘But to the wicked God says,
What have you to do to declare my statutes,
And that you have taken my covenant in your mouth,
Seeing you hate instruction,
And cast my words behind you?’
God challenges ‘the wicked’ for their hypocrisy in that they hate His instruction and cast His words behind them, and yet declare His statutes and take His covenant in their mouths. In Israelite society this was almost inevitable for any who wanted to demonstrate their respectability and yet had no wish really to obey God, but that gave them no excuse before God. Rather the opposite. In the same way today many pay lip service to God, but by their lives they deny Him.
The Psalmist then goes on to give examples of their disobedience to God’s instruction and statutes., demonstrating how they ‘cast His words behind them’.
Psa 50:18-21
‘When you saw a thief, you consented with him,
And have been partaker with adulterers.
You give your mouth to evil,
And your tongue frames deceit.
You sit and speak against your brother,
You slander your own mother’s son.
These things have you done, and I kept silence,
You thought that I was altogether such a one as yourself,
But I will reprove you,
And set things in order before your eyes.’
Examples of their perfidy are now presented in detail. Instead of convicting thieves, they allow them to get away with it, and share with them in their ill-gotten gains. They have partaken in adultery and have not reproved it in others. They speak evil with their mouths, and deceive with their tongues, both by bearing false witness, and by general deception and lies. They even deliberately (they sit) and slanderously speak out wrongly and untruthfully about their own family. And foolishly they think that because God appears to do nothing about it, He is not concerned about it. They think that God is like themselves.
However, He assures them that He is not such a one as themselves. Let them recognise that He will reprove them severely and put things right in front of their eyes. Note the contrast with Psa 50:8 where God did not reprove them in respect of their sacrifices. Now we know that He will, however, reprove them because of their sins. And we should recognise that God’s reproof can be severe and devastating, especially when He sets about putting things right. Large parts of the most painful parts of Israel’s history occurred because of His reproof, and because He was seeking to put things right.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Psa 50:16-17. But unto the wicked God saith The prophet now proceeds, as from the mouth of God, to foretel the destruction of the impenitent Jews; who, having received the law of God, and entered into covenant with him, yet would not be reformed by the preaching of Christ, who came to fulfil the law, and to make a new covenant with them. What hast thou to do? &c. was the reproach with which our Saviour upbraided the Jews of his time, who had continually the law of Moses in their mouths, while they were entirely ignorant of the true spirit and the design of it. See Joh 5:45; Joh 5:47. Psa 50:17 may well be applied to the Pharisees and masters of the synagogue, the secret motives of whose hatred against Christ were, his sharp reproofs of their hypocrisy and other crimes. See Mat 23:13-14; Mat 23:39.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
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?
Ver. 16 But unto the wicked God saith ] To the fair professor, but foul sinner, to the hypocrites in Sion, Isa 33:14 , to the sacrificing Sodomites, Isa 1:10-11 , those that take upon them to be teachers of others especially, Rom 2:20-21 . Origen, after his foul fall, opening the book and lighting upon this text, was not able to preach, but brake out into abundance of tears.
What hast thou to do to declare my statutes?
Or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 50:16-21
16But to the wicked God says,
What right have you to tell of My statutes
And to take My covenant in your mouth?
17For you hate discipline,
And you cast My words behind you.
18When you see a thief, you are pleased with him,
And you associate with adulterers.
19You let your mouth loose in evil
And your tongue frames deceit.
20You sit and speak against your brother;
You slander your own mother’s son.
21These things you have done and I kept silence;
You thought that I was just like you;
I will reprove you and state the case in order before your eyes.
Psa 50:16-21 This strophe is directed to the faithless follower, here called the wicked (BDB 957). These were men/women/youth of the covenant people who, by their words, deeds, and omissions, showed their rebellious, self-centered orientation (i.e., violated three of the Ten Commandments).
1. they speak of God and His covenant but ignore it, Psa 50:16 (i.e., possibly the repeating of covenant verses or ritual but without faith and lifestyle)
2. they hate its requirements and ignore them (i.e., cast My words behind you; they were practical atheists), Psa 50:17; cf. Neh 9:26
3. not only are they not offended by evil deeds, they associate with those who do them, Psa 50:18 (by their fruits. . ., Mat 7:16-20; 1Co 15:33)
4. their words reveal their hearts, Psa 50:19-20 (cf. Mat 12:33-37)
5. they thought YHWH’s patience with them was an affirmation (cf. Ecc 8:11; Isa 57:11)
But YHWH will act.
1. I will reprove you BDB 406, KB 410, Hiphil imperfect used in a cohortative sense
2. I will state the case in order before your eyes BDB 789, KB 884, Qal cohortative, i.e., prepare a legal case, cf. Job 13:18; Job 23:4; Job 32:14; Job 33:5
Psa 50:18
NASByou are pleased with him
NKJVyou consented with him
NRSV, TEV,
NJBmake friends with
LXXyou would join him
JPSOAyou fall in with him
REByou choose him as a friend
The MT has pleased (BDB 953, KB 1280, Qal imperfect with waw). The LXX, Syrian, and Vulgate have, run with or associate with, which seems to fit the parallelism better. The UBS Text Project gives the MT wording a B rating (some doubt).
Psa 50:21 You thought that I was just like you This phrase is intensified by the verb to be in both an infinitive construct and an imperfect verb.
Peripheral believers always assume they are secure and their beliefs are the same as God’s. Revelation is the final arbiter! Fallen humans, even covenant humans, do not understand God or His word, but they think they do! For me as a Bible teacher, it is crucial that I maintain a teachable, repentant, humble spirit. My theology is not God’s theology. He is not part of my tradition. I must remember all humans are
1. historically conditioned
2. sinful, damaged humans
3. susceptible to dogmatism and arrogance
The more you know, the more you know you do not know!
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
wicked. Hebrew rasha. App-44.
saith = hath said.
What. ? Figures of speech Erotesis and Apodioxis. App-6. See Rom 2:21, Rom 2:22.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 50:16-21
Psa 50:16-21
THE WICKED ARE THEN JUDGED
Just as Peter said, “Judgment began at the House of God; but the sinner and the ungodly came next. The following verses are an account of the judgment of the wicked, not of Israel, but of the wicked.
“But unto the wicked God saith,
What hast thou to do to declare my statutes,
And that thou hast taken thy covenant in thy mouth,
Seeing that thou hatest instruction,
And castest my words behind thee?
When thou sawest a thief, thou consentedst with him.
And thou hast been partakers with adulterers.
Thou givest thy mouth to evil,
And thy tongue frameth deceit.
Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother;
Thou slanderest thine own mother’s son.
These 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.”
“Unto the wicked, God saith” (Psa 50:16). The first thing to observe here is that God is definitely not judging “his people,” but “the wicked.” Oh yes, we are aware that many of the writers have a field day here tongue-lashing their favorite whipping-boy, the “hypocrite’; but there’s not a word here about `hypocrites.’ The “wicked” here is definitely not a designation of hypocritical Israelites; but as DeHoff said, these words, “Refer to people who had no intention of keeping God’s word but sought to tread it under foot.
“Declare my statutes … take my covenant in thy mouth” (Psa 50:16). Oh yes, these wicked people did a lot of talking about God’s word and about his covenant; but there is no indication here that they ever had any such thing “in their hearts.” Their `mouth’ does not qualify them as citizens of God’s kingdom. Did not the Devil himself take God’s word in his mouth, etc., when he deceived Eve?
If we may state a purely personal opinion here, it is that the greatest enemies of God on earth today, are precisely those who are doing an incredible amount of writing about God’s word, with one and only one design, namely, that of destroying all confidence in it as God’s word. Thus, talking (or writing) about the word of God, and declaiming about `his covenant’ is the `stock in trade’ of the most wicked people of our generation.
We may further identify the “wicked” of this passage.
“Thou hatest instruction … castest my words behind thee” (Psa 50:17). These terms have no application to hypocrites but refer to arrogant sinners who hate God’s word and belittle and deny it continually, casting it behind them as worthless.
Psa 50:18-20 enumerate a number of sins including: thievery, adultery, evil speech, deceit and slander – still not a word about hypocrites. Hypocrites these men are not; they are “the wicked” of Psa 50:16.
The community of critics who love to apply this passage to “hypocrites” are aware that no mention whatever of them is in the passage and that the powerful identification that stands at the head of it, “the wicked,” absolutely denies any such limited application. Some have even taken the critic’s last resort of claiming that the words do not belong in the Bible. “`To the wicked’ is probably a gloss. But the words are not a gloss; they belong in the text as all trustworthy versions demonstrate.
This chapter concludes with a word to both classes who shall be featured in the Judgment of the Last Day, namely the good and the bad, the wheat and the chaff, the wise and the foolish, those on the right and those on the left, the wheat and the tares, the sheep and the goats, etc. Thus this view of the Eternal Judgment harmonizes with the view throughout the Bible, namely, that there are two classes, and only two classes, of God’s human children, the saved and the lost. Both are addressed in the final two verses.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 50:16. God does not ask unrighteous persons to proclaim his Word. If a wicked person preaches the statutes of the Lord they will still be the truth. And those who hear and accept it will be blessed. But the wicked speaker will get no reward from God.
Psa 50:17. When a wicked man presumes to preach the word of the Lord it is from the wrong motive. Were he moved by the right purpose he would not himself remain a wicked man. But in his inconsistency the Lord regards him as having cast the truth away.
Psa 50:18. The preceding verses made general charges of the one-sided lives of the people. Some specific accusations will next be made, such as theft and adultery.
Psa 50:19-20. Deception and evil speaking are charged against them.
Psa 50:21. The longsuffering of God had been mistaken for approval of their evil lives. The time for their chastisement finally came and God was rebuking them.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Gods Warning to the Wicked
Psa 50:16-23
These searching words are for us all. We have no right to declare Gods statutes, if our hearts hide wickedness in their secret chambers. We must not share ill-gotten money. Impurity, deceit, slander must be far from us, if we would have fellowship with God in prayer or service. Gods silence must not be taken as indifference, for He is carefully watching each word and act; and if we persist, He will arise and set out all these unforgiven sins in order before the quickened vision of the soul.
Notice the two final conditions of a blessed life, Psa 50:23. First, we must offer the sacrifice of praise, for we are priests and must not be slack in presenting the fruit of our lips. See Heb 13:15. But in addition we must order our behavior, or way, aright. It is a solemn thing to be entrusted with the great opportunity of living. Every passing moment should have something committed to it to keep in store. We dare not live by haphazard or chance. We must order our ways with prayerful deliberation.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
wicked: Isa 48:22, Isa 55:6, Isa 55:7, Eze 18:27
What: Pro 26:7, Isa 1:11-15, Isa 48:1, Isa 48:2, Isa 58:1-7, Jer 7:4-7, Mat 7:3-5, Mat 7:22, Mat 7:23, Joh 4:24, Act 19:13-16, Rom 2:17-24, 1Co 9:27, 2Pe 2:15
thou shouldest: Psa 25:14, Psa 78:36-38, Eze 20:37, Eze 20:38, Heb 8:9
Reciprocal: 1Sa 4:4 – Hophni 1Sa 15:14 – What meaneth 1Sa 20:24 – the king 2Sa 15:12 – while he offered Psa 2:5 – Then Psa 119:43 – take not Pro 1:29 – that Pro 17:7 – Excellent speech Jer 6:20 – To what Jer 7:9 – steal Jer 11:15 – to do Jer 29:23 – and have Jer 44:26 – that my name Eze 33:26 – and shall Eze 44:9 – General Mat 23:3 – for Mar 1:25 – rebuked Luk 4:35 – Jesus Luk 6:42 – cast Joh 8:7 – He that Joh 12:6 – because Rom 2:21 – therefore 1Co 5:11 – fornicator 2Th 2:12 – but Heb 13:4 – God Jam 3:10 – of
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 50:16. But unto the wicked The same hypocritical professors, whom he called saints, Psa 50:5, in regard of their profession, and here wicked, in respect of their practice; God saith By his Holy Spirit inspiring his prophets with the knowledge of his will, and commissioning them to declare it; What hast thou to do to declare my statutes? Having informed them what he would not reprove them for, Psa 50:8, and why, Psa 50:9-13, he now tells them for what he did reprove and condemn them, even for a vain and false profession of religion. That thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth With what confidence darest thou make mention of my grace and favour in giving thee such a covenant and such statutes, pretending to embrace them, and to give up thyself to the observation of them? This concerned not only the instructers of the people, such as the scribes and Pharisees, at whom it prophetically pointed, but the hypocritical and formal Israelites in general, who professed to know God, but by works denied him. And it still concerns all those professors of the true religion, whose practice contradicts their profession, and in an especial manner those ministers of the gospel who, while they teach others, neglect to teach themselves. All such, according to the psalmist here, are guilty of a usurpation, and take unto themselves an honour to which they have no title, and from which therefore they shall soon be removed with shame and disgrace as intruders.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
50:16 But unto the wicked God saith, {m} What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or [that] thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?
(m) Why do you pretend to be of my people and talk of my covenant, seeing that you are a hypocrite?
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
3. Charge 2: hypocritical living 50:16-21
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The Lord also charged the wicked in Israel with professing allegiance to Him while disobeying Him.