Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 50:17
Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee.
17. instruction ] Or, correction; the whole discipline of moral education; a word occurring here only in the Psalter, but common in Proverbs, where it is the mark of the fool and the scorner to despise instruction. Cp. Deu 8:5; Deu 11:2.
and castest &c.] Lit., and hast cast, flung them away out of sight and got rid of them. Contrast David’s behaviour, Psa 18:22. My words includes all God’s commandments, but points especially to the ‘ten words’ of the Decalogue (Deu 4:13; cp. Exo 20:1).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Seeing thou hatest instruction – That is, He is unwilling himself to be taught. He will not learn the true nature of religion, and yet he presumes to instruct others. Compare the notes at Rom 2:21.
And castest my words behind thee – He treated them with contempt, or as unworthy of attention. He did not regard them as worthy of being retained, but threw them contemptuously away.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 17. Seeing thou hatest instruction] All these rejected the counsel of God against themselves; and refused to receive the instructions of Christ.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Seeing thy practice contradicts thy profession, and makes thee a notorious and impudent liar. Though with thy mouth thou showest much love (as is said of them, Eze 33:31) to my statutes and counsels, yet in truth thou hatest them, as they are curbs to thy beloved lusts, and instruments of thy just condemnation, and a manifest reproach to thy conversation. Or,
seeing thou hatest reproof, as this word is oft rendered. And this, above all other parts of Gods word, is most hateful to ungodly men, Pro 9:8; Pro 12:1; 15:10,12; Am 5:10. And therefore this is fitly alleged as an evidence of their wickedness.
Castest my words behind thee; as men do things which they abhor or despise.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Seeing thou hatest instruction,…. Or “correction” z; to be reproved or reformed by the statutes and covenant they declared to others; they taught others, but not themselves, Ro 2:21; or evangelical instruction, the doctrines of grace, and of Christ; for, as concerning the Gospel, they were enemies, Ro 11:28; and since they were haters of that, they ought not to have been teachers of others;
and castest my words behind thee; the doctrines of the Gospel, which they despised and rejected with the utmost abhorrence, as loathsome, and not fit to be looked upon and into; and also the ordinances of it, the counsel of God, which they rejected against themselves,
Ac 13:45.
z “correctionem”, Vatablus; “correptionem”, Gejerus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
17. Also thou hatest correction Here hypocrites are challenged with treacherous duplicity in denying, by their life and their works, that godliness which they have professed with the lip. Their contempt of God he proves from their want of reverential deference to his Word; subjection to the Word of God, and cordial submission to his precepts and instructions, being the surest test of religious principle. One way in which hypocrisy usually displays itself is, by the ingenious excuses it invents for evading the duty of obedience. The Psalmist points to this as the mainspring of their ungodliness, that they had cast the Word of God behind their back, while he insinuates that the principle from which all true worship flows is the obedience of faith. He adverts also to the cause of their perversity, which lies in the unwillingness of their corrupt heart to suffer the yoke of God. They have no hesitation in granting that whatever proceeds from the mouth of God is both true and right; this honor they are willing to concede to his Word; but in so far as it proposes to regulate their conduct, and restrain their sinful affections, they dislike and detest it. Our corruption, indisposing us to receive correction, exasperates us against the Word of God; nor is it possible that we can ever listen to it with true docility and meekness of mind, till we have been brought to give ourselves up to be ruled and disciplined by its precepts. The Psalmist next proceeds to specify some of those works of ungodliness, informing us that hypocrites, who were addicted to theft and adultery, mixed up and polluted the holy name of God with their wickedness. By adverting only to some species of vices, he would intimate, in general, that those who have despised correction, and hardened themselves against instruction, are prepared to launch into every excess which corrupt desire or evil example may suggests. He makes mention, first, of thefts; then of adulteries; and, thirdly, of calumnies or false reproaches. Most interpreters render תרף, tirets, to run, although others derive it from רצה, ratsah, rendering it to consent. Either translation agrees sufficiently with the scope of the Psalmist, and the preference may be left to the reader’s own choice. The charge here brought against hypocrites, that they put forth their mouth to evil, may include not merely slander, but all the different kinds of speaking which injure their neighbors, for it immediately follows, my tongue frameth deceit It is well known in what a variety of ways the lying and deceitful tongue may inflict injury and pain. When it is added, Thou sittest, etc., the allusion may be to one who sits for the passing of a formal judgment; as if it had been said, Thou defamest thy brethren under pretext of issuing a just sentence. (253) Or there may be a reference to petty calumny; such as men maliciously indulge in, and in which they pass their time as they sit at ease in their houses. (254) It seems more probable, however, that he refers to the higher crime of accusing the innocent and righteous in open court, and bringing false charges against them. Brethren, and the children of their mother, (255) are mentioned, the more emphatically to express the cruelty of their calumnies, when they are represented as violating the ties of nature, and not even sparing the nearest relations.
(253) תשכ. Gejerus and others suppose that this word alludes to the mode of sitting in judgment. See Psa 119:23.” — Dimock ’ s Notes on the Book of Psalms
(254) When you are sitting still, and have nothing else to do, you are ever injuring your neighbor with your slanderous speech. Your table-talk is abuse of your nearest friends.” — Horsley. The meaning, according to others, is, Thou sittest in the most public places of resort, which were usually the gates of the city, and spendest thy time in calumniating thy brother. See Psa 69:12.
(255) “ Thine own mother ’ s son. To understand the force of this expression, it is necessary to bear in mind that polygamy was allowed amongst the Israelites. Those who were born to the same father were all brethren, but a yet more intimate relationship subsisted between those who had the same mother as well as the same father.” — French and Skinner. Compare Gen 20:12. It was a high aggravation of the wickedness and malignity of the persons here spoken or; that they indulged in abusing with their tongues those to whom they were most nearly related, their brother, yea, the son of their mother.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
17. Instruction words The first refers to discipline, the last to verbal revelation; the one is designed to nourish and enlighten, the other to govern, the man. Compare “nurture and admonition [instruction and discipline] of the Lord,” Eph 6:4. Both are treated with hatred and contempt by the class now addressed.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 50:17 Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee.
Ver. 17. Seeing thou hatest instruction ] Or discipline, thou wilt not be brought to live strictly, to exercise godliness; thou refusest to be reformed, hatest to be healed. Bucer and Melancthon framed a form of reformation, with approbation of the peers and states; but the clergy of Cullen rejected it with slander, and said that they would rather live under the Great Turk than under a magistrate that should seek to settle such a reformation (Melch. Adam in Vit. Bucer).
And castest my words behind thee
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
hatest: Pro 1:7, Pro 1:28, Pro 1:29, Pro 5:12, Pro 5:13, Pro 8:36, Pro 12:1, Joh 3:20, Rom 1:28, Rom 2:21, Rom 2:23, 2Th 2:10-12, 2Ti 4:3, 2Ti 4:4
castest: Neh 9:26, Isa 5:23, Jer 8:9, Jer 18:12, Jer 36:23-32
Reciprocal: Lev 26:15 – soul Lev 26:43 – their soul 1Sa 4:4 – Hophni 1Ki 14:9 – cast me Psa 119:150 – draw nigh Pro 15:32 – refuseth Pro 17:7 – Excellent speech Isa 5:24 – cast away Isa 28:9 – shall he teach Jer 6:8 – Be thou Jer 6:20 – To what Jer 7:28 – correction Jer 17:23 – nor Hos 8:12 – but Zep 3:2 – correction Zec 7:12 – lest 1Co 6:10 – thieves
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 50:17. Seeing thou hatest instruction Seeing thy practice contradicts thy profession, and makes thee a notorious and impudent liar. For though with thy mouth thou showest much love to my statutes and counsels, yet, in truth, thou hatest them, as they oppose and hinder the gratification of thy beloved lusts, and are the instruments of thy just condemnation, and a manifest reproach to thy conduct. Or, seeing thou hatest reproof as , musar, is often rendered. And this, above all other parts of Gods word, is most hateful to ungodly men; and, therefore, this is fitly alleged as an evidence of their wickedness. And castest my words behind thee As men do things which they abhor and despise.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
50:17 Seeing thou hatest {n} instruction, and castest my words behind thee.
(n) To live according to my word.