Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 50:7
Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I [am] God, [even] thy God.
7. I will testify against thee ] Or, I will protest unto thee, of solemn wanting and exhortation. Cp. Psa 81:8, another Asaphite Psalm.
I am God, even thy God ] The words which stand at the head of the Decalogue, with God substituted for Jehovah by the Elohistic editor of the Psalm. Cp. Psa 81:10, where Jehovah is retained. They express the relation of Jehovah to Israel, upon which was founded His right to give them a law, and now to call them to account for their neglect of it.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
7 15. The trial begins. God is the accuser as well as the judge. Israel’s sacrifices are unexceptionable, but it is not slain beasts which the Lord of all the earth desires, but the devotion of the heart, exhibited in thanksgiving and trust. The people as a whole are addressed. The duty which is enforced is their duty towards God, corresponding to the first Table of the Decalogue.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Hear, O my people, and I will speak – God himself is now introduced as speaking, and as stating the principles on which the judgment will proceed. The previous verses are introductory, or are designed to bring the scene of the judgment before the mind. The solemn scene now opens, and God himself speaks, especially as rebuking the disposition to rely on the mere forms of religion, while its spirituality and its power are denied. The purpose of the whole is, by asking how these things will appear in the judgment, to imply the vanity of mere forms of religion now. The particular address is made to the people of God, or to Israel, because the purpose of the psalmist was to rebuke the prevailing tendency to rely on outward forms.
O Israel, and I will testify against thee – In the judgment. In view of those scenes, and as at that time, I will now bear this solemn testimony against the views which you entertain on the subject of religion, and the practices which prevail in your worship.
I am God, even thy God – I am the true God, and therefore I have a right to speak; I am thy God – the God who has been the Protector of thy people – acknowledged as the God of the nation – and therefore I claim the right to declare the great principles which pertain to true worship, and which constitute true religion.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 7. Hear, O my people] As they were now amply informed concerning the nature and certainty of the general judgment, and were still in a state of probation, Asaph proceeds to show them the danger to which they were exposed, and the necessity of repentance and amendment, that when that great day should arrive, they might be found among those who had made a covenant with God by sacrifice. And he shows them that the sacrifice with which God would be well pleased was quite different from the bullocks, he-goats, c., which they were in the habit of offering. In short, he shows here that God has intended to abrogate those sacrifices, as being no longer of any service: for when the people began to trust in them, without looking to the thing signified, it was time to put them away. When the people began to pay Divine honours to the brazen serpent, though it was originally an ordinance of God’s appointment for the healing of the Israelites, it was ordered to be taken away called nehushtan, a bit of brass; and broken to pieces. The sacrifices under the Jewish law were of God’s appointment; but now that the people began to put their trust in them, God despised them.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Having brought in God as coming to judgment with them, he now gives an account of the process and of the sentence of the Judge, whose words are contained in this and the following verses.
I will testify against thee; I will plead with thee, and declare my charge or indictment against thee.
Even thy God; not only in general, as thou art my creature, but in a special manner, by many singular favours and obligations, and by that solemn covenant made at Sinai; whereby I avouched thee to be my peculiar people, and thou didst avouch me to be thy God, Deu 26:17,18.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. I will testifythat is, forfailure to worship aught.
thy Godand so, bycovenant as well as creation, entitled to a pure worship.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Hear, O my people,…. This is an address to the people of the Jews, whom God had chosen to be his people above all others, and who professed themselves to be his people; but now a “loammi”, Ho 1:9, was about to be written upon them, being a people uncircumcised in heart and ears, refusing to hear the great Prophet of the church, him that spake from heaven;
and I will speak: by way of accusation and charge, and in judgment against them for their sins and transgressions;
O Israel, and I will testify against thee; or “to thee” t; to thy face produce witnesses, and bring sufficient evidence to prove the things laid to thy charge,
I [am] God, [even] thy God; which is an aggravation of their sin against him, and is the reason why they should hearken to him; see
Ps 81:10.
t “tibi”, V. L. Vatablus; so Ainsworth.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Exposition of the sacrificial Tra for the good of those whose holiness consists in outward works. The forms strengthened by ah , in Psa 50:7, describe God’s earnest desire to have Israel for willing hearers as being quite as strong as His desire to speak and to bear witness. , obtestari aliquem , to come forward as witness, either solemnly assuring, or, as here and in the Psalm of Asaph, Psa 81:9, earnestly warning and punishing (cf. Arab. sahida with b , to bear witness against any one). On the Dagesh forte conjunctive in , vid., Ges. 20, 2, a. He who is speaking has a right thus to stand face to face with Israel, for he is Elohim, the God of Israel – by which designation reference is made to the words (Exo 20:2), with which begins the Law as given from Sinai, and which here take the Elohimic form (whereas in Psa 81:11 they remain unaltered) and are inverted in accordance with the context. As Psa 50:8 states, it is not the material sacrifices, which Israel continually, without cessation, offers, that are the object of the censuring testimony. , even if it has Mugrash, as in Baer, is not on this account, according to the interpretation given by the accentuation, equivalent to (cf. on the other hand Psa 38:18); it is a simple assertory substantival clause: thy burnt-offerings are, without intermission, continually before Me. God will not dispute about sacrifices in their outward characteristics; for – so Psa 50:9 go on to say-He does not need sacrifices for the sake of receiving from Israel what He does not otherwise possess. His is every wild beast ( , as in the Asaph Psa 79:2) of the forest, His the cattle , upon the mountains of a thousand, i.e., upon the thousand (and myriad) mountains (similar to or ), or: where they live by thousands (a similar combination to ). Both explanations of the genitive are unsupported by any perfectly analogous instance so far as language is concerned; the former, however, is to be preferred on account of the singular, which is better suited to it. He knows every bird that makes its home on the mountains; , as usually, of a knowledge which masters a subject, compasses it and makes it its own. Whatever moves about the fields if with Him, i.e., is within the range of His knowledge (cf. Job 27:11; Psa 10:13), and therefore of His power; (here and in the Asaph Psa 80:14) from = , to move to and fro, like from , to swept out, cf. , , from . But just as little as God requires sacrifices in order thereby to enrich Himself, is there any need on His part that might be satisfied by sacrifices, Psa 50:12. If God should hunger, He would not stand in need of man’s help in order to satisfy Himself; but He is never hungry, for He is the Being raised above all carnal wants. Just on this account, what God requires is not by any means the outward worship of sacrifice, but a spiritual offering, the worship of the heart, Psa 50:14. Instead of the , and more particularly , Lev 7:11-15, and , Lev 7:16 (under the generic idea of which are also included, strictly speaking, vowed thank-offerings), God desires the thanksgiving of the heart and the performance of that which has been vowed in respect of our moral relationship to Himself and to men; and instead of the in its manifold forms of devotion, the prayer of the heart, which shall not remain unanswered, so that in the round of this everything proceeds from and ends in . It is not the sacrifices offered in a becoming spirit that are contrasted with those offered without the heart (as, e.g., Sir. 32 [35]:1-9), but the outward sacrifice appears on the whole to be rejected in comparison with the spiritual sacrifice. This entire turning away from the outward form of the legal ceremonial is, in the Old Testament, already a predictive turning towards that worship of God in spirit and in truth which the new covenant makes alone of avail, after the forms of the Law have served as swaddling clothes to the New Testament life which was coming into being in the old covenant. This “becoming” begins even in the Tra itself, especially in Deuteronomy. Our Psalm, like the Chokma (Pro 21:3), and prophecy in the succeeding age (cf. Hos 6:6; Mic 6:6-8; Isa 1:11-15, and other passages), stands upon the standpoint of this concluding book of the Tra, which traces back all the requirements of the Law to the fundamental command of love.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Inefficacy of Legal Sacrifices. | |
7 Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I am God, even thy God. 8 I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me. 9 I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds. 10 For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. 11 I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine. 12 If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. 13 Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? 14 Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High: 15 And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
God is here dealing with those that placed all their religion in the observances of the ceremonial law, and thought those sufficient.
I. He lays down the original contract between him and Israel, in which they had avouched him to be their God, and he them to be his people, and so both parties were agreed (v. 7): Hear, O my people! and I will speak. Note, It is justly expected that whatever others doe, when he speaks, his people should give ear; who will, if they do not? And then we may comfortably expect that God will speak to us when we are ready to hear what he says; even when he testifies against us in the rebukes and threatenings of his word and providences we must be forward to hear what he says, to hear even the rod and him that has appointed it.
II. He puts a slight upon the legal sacrifices, v. 8, c. Now,
1. This may be considered as looking back to the use of these under the law. God had a controversy with the Jews but what was the ground of the controversy? Not their neglect of the ceremonial institutions; no, they had not been wanting in the observance of them, their burnt-offerings had been continually before God, they took a pride in them, and hoped by their offerings to procure a dispensation for their lusts, as the adulterous woman, Prov. vii. 14. Their constant sacrifices, they thought, would both expiate and excuse their neglect of the weightier matters of the law. Nay, if they had, in some degree, neglected these institutions, yet that should not have been the cause of God’s quarrel with them, for it was but a small offence in comparison with the immoralities of their conversation. They thought God was mightily beholden to them for the many sacrifices they had brought to his altar, and that they had made him very much their debtor by them, as if he could not h have maintained his numerous family of priests without their contributions; but God here shows them the contrary, (1.) That he did not need their sacrifices. What occasion had he for their bullocks and goats who has the command of all the beasts of the forest, and the cattle upon a thousand hills (Psa 50:9; Psa 50:10), has an incontestable propriety in them and dominion over them, has them all always under his eye and within his reach, and can make what use he pleases of them; they all wait on him, and are all at his disposal? Ps. civ. 27-29. Can we add any thing to his store whose all the wild fowl and wild beasts are, the world itself and the fulness thereof? Psa 50:11; Psa 50:12. God’s infinite self-sufficiency proves our utter insufficiency to add any thing to him. (2.) That he could not be benefited by their sacrifices. Their goodness, of this kind, could not possibly extend to him, nor, if they were in this matter righteous, was he the better (v. 13): Will I eat the flesh of bulls? It is as absurd to think that their sacrifices could, of themselves, and by virtue of any innate excellency in them, add any pleasure of praise to God, as it would be to imagine that an infinite Spirit could be supported by meat and drink, as our bodies are. It is said indeed of the demons whom the Gentiles worshipped that they did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drink the wine of their drink-offerings (Deut. xxxii. 38): they regaled themselves in the homage they robbed the true God of; but will the great Jehovah be thus entertained? No; to obey is better than sacrifice, and to love God and our neighbour better than all burnt-offerings, so much better that God by his prophets often told them that their sacrifices were not only not acceptable, but abominable, to him, while they lived in sin; instead of pleasing him, he looked upon them as a mockery, and therefore an affront and provocation to him; see Pro 15:8; Isa 1:11-23; Isa 66:3; Jer 6:20; Amo 5:21. They are therefore here warned not to rest in these performances; but to conduct themselves, in all other instances, towards God as their God.
2. This may be considered as looking forward to the abolishing of these by the gospel of Christ. Thus Dr. Hammond understands it. When God shall set up the kingdom of the Messiah he shall abolish the old way of worship by sacrifice and offerings; he will no more have those to be continually before him (v. 8); he will no more require of his worshippers to bring him their bullocks and their goats, to be burnt upon his altar, v. 9. For indeed he never appointed this as that which he had any need of, or took any pleasure in, for, besides that all we have is his already, he has far more beasts in the forest and upon the mountains, which we know nothing of nor have any property in, than we have in our folds; but he instituted it to prefigure the great sacrifice which his own Son should in the fulness of time offer upon the cross, to make atonement for sin, and all the other spiritual sacrifices of acknowledgment with which God, through Christ, will be well pleased.
III. He directs to the best sacrifices of prayer and praise as those which, under the law, were preferred before all burn-offerings and sacrifices, and on which then the greatest stress was laid, and which now, under the gospel, come in the room of those carnal ordinances which were imposed until the times of reformation. He shows us here (Psa 50:14; Psa 50:15) what is good, and what the Lord our God requires of us, and will accept, when sacrifices are slighted and superseded. 1. We must make a penitent acknowledgment of our sins: Offer to God confession, so some read it, and understand it of the confession of sin, in order to our giving glory to God and taking shame to ourselves, that we may never return to it. A broken and contrite heart is the sacrifice which God will not despise, Ps. li. 17. If the sin was not abandoned the sin-offering was not accepted. 2. We must give God thanks for his mercies to us: Offer to God thanksgiving, every day, often every day (seven times a day will I praise thee), and upon special occasions; and this shall please the Lord, if it come from a humble thankful heart, full of love to him and joy in him, better than an ox or bullock that has horns and hoofs,Psa 69:30; Psa 69:31. 3. We must make conscience of performing our covenants with him: Pay thy vows to the Most High, forsake thy sins, and do thy duty better, pursuant to the solemn promises thou has made him to that purport. When we give God thanks for any mercy we have received we must be sure to pay the vows we made to him when we were in the pursuit of the mercy, else our thanksgivings will not be accepted. Dr. Hammond applies this to the great gospel ordinance of the eucharist, in which we are to give thanks to God for his great love in sending his Son to save us, and to pay our vows of love and duty to him, and to give alms. Instead of all the Old Testament types of a Christ to come, we have that blessed memorial of a Christ already come. 4. In the day of distress we must address ourselves to God by faithful and fervent prayer (v. 15): Call upon me in the day of trouble, and not upon any other god. Our troubles, though we see them coming from God’s hand, must drive us to him, and not drive us from him. We must thus acknowledge him in all our ways, depend upon his wisdom, power, and goodness, and refer ourselves entirely to him, and so give him glory. This is a cheaper, easier, readier way of seeking his favour than by a peace-offering, and yet more acceptable. 5. When he, in answer to our prayers, delivers us, as he has promised to do in such way and time as he shall think fit, we must glorify him, not only by a grateful mention of his favour, but by living to his praise. Thus must we keep up our communion with God, meeting him with our prayers when he afflicts us and with our praises when he delivers us.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
7. Hear, O my people! and I will speak. Hitherto the prophet has spoken as the herald of God, throwing out several expressions designed to alarm the minds of those whom he addressed. But from this to the end of the psalm God himself is introduced as the speaker; and to show the importance of the subject, he uses additional terms to awaken attention, calling them his own people, that he might challenge the higher authority to his words, and intimating, that the following address is not of a mere ordinary description, but an expostulation with them for the infraction of his covenant. Some read, I will testify against thee. But the reference, as we may gather from the common usage of Scripture, seems rather to be to a discussion of mutual claims. God would remind them of his covenant, and solemnly exact from them, as his chosen people, what was due according to the terms of it. He announces himself to be the God of Israel, that he may recall them to allegiance and subjection, and the repetition of his name is emphatical: as if he had said, When you would have me to submit to your inventions, how far is this audacity from that honor and reverence which belong to me? I am God, and therefore my majesty ought to repress presumption, and make all flesh keep silence when I speak; and among you, to whom I have made myself known as your God, I have still stronger claims to homage.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(7) Hear.The actual judgment now opens, God asserting in impressive tones His right to preside: God, thy God, I . . . the Elohistic form of the more usual Jehovah, thy God.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7. Hear, O my people The court and witnesses being called, (Psa 50:1-6,) the case is now opened. The charge is, that they had backslidden in heart, lost the spirituality of their religion, and their worship consisted only in empty forms. Compare Rev 2:1-5. In Psa 50:8-13 God is not to be understood as condemning their forms, as such, but only their substitution of forms for vital and heart piety. They had merged the spirit in the letter, the substance in the shadow, and thus their heartless worship became a lie. Comp. Mat 23:23
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
God Addresses His People As Defendants And Reveals That He Is Not Judging Them Because Of The Inadequacy of Their Physical Sacrifices, Which In Fact Are Not Needed By Him, But Because Of The Inadequacy Of Their Thanksgiving And Faithfulness To Their Vows ( Psa 50:7-15 ).
God assures them that He is not judging them because of the inadequacy of their sacrifices. Indeed they were not necessary for His sustenance, because had He required sustenance the whole of nature was His, the world and all its fullness was available to Him. No what He rather requires is their offerings of thanksgiving, and their obedience to their vows. Then they can be sure that when they call on Him He will respond.
We are reminded here of Samuel’s words to Saul in 1Sa 15:22, ‘has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen and respond than the fat of rams.’
Psa 50:7
‘Hear, O my people, and I will speak,
O Israel, and I will testify to you,
God, even your God am I.
God now calls on Israel to listen to Him in what He says to them, for He wants to testify to them. And He reminds them of Who He is. He stresses that He is God, even their own God. That is why they should hear what He has to say.
Psa 50:8-10
‘I will not reprove you for your sacrifices,
And your burnt-offerings are continually before me.
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 on a thousand hills.’
He assures them that He is not reproving them for the quality and number of their sacrifices. Indeed their burnt offerings are continually before Him. Thus it is not their ritual observance that is at fault.
In fact He stresses that He wants nothing more from them in that regard. He will not take any bullock from their house, or he-goats from their fold, for He has no need of them. After all, every beast of the forest is His. He possesses the cattle on a thousand hills. (We have here a typical use of ‘a thousand’ to simply mean a large number. Israelites were not on the whole very numerate, and large numbers tended to be used in this way).
Psa 50:11-12
‘I know all the birds of the mountains,
And the wild beasts of the field are mine.
If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
For the world is mine, and its fullness.’
Continuing the same theme He stresses that He knows all the birds of the mountains, and the wild beasts of the countryside. Thus if He had been hungry He would not have needed to tell them, because the whole world was His, and all its fullness.
In many polytheistic religions the belief was that their gods fed on sacrifices, and needed such sacrifices in order to maintain their welfare. But they are assured that this is not true of the God of Israel. He requires no sustenance from sacrifices. Thus they should recognise that their offerings and sacrifices are for their benefit, not His.
Psa 50:13-15
‘Will I eat the flesh of bulls,
Or drink the blood of goats?
Offer to God the sacrifice of thanksgiving,
And pay your vows to the Most High,
And call on me in the day of trouble,
I will deliver you, and you will glorify me.’
To suggest therefore that God would eat the flesh of bulls or would drink the blood of goats when they were offered in sacrifice was ludicrous. No. The truth was that what God required of them was the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and the performance of their vows to serve and worship Him faithfully. In other words He sought their spiritual worship and gratitude, and their fulfilling of their promises. As long as they offered these things they could then be sure that when they called on Him in the day of trouble, He would deliver them, so that they could give glory to God, and give Him glory by their testimony. He is not here speaking of the ‘thanksgiving sacrifice’ of Lev 7:12, but of genuine thanksgiving as being itself the ‘sacrifice’ that is pleasing to Him.
It is similar to the worship that is required in the New Testament. ‘Through Him (Who sanctified us through His own blood) therefore let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that make confession to His Name. Do not neglect to do good, and to share what you have with others, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased’ (Heb 13:15-16). Man looks at ritual. God looks at the heart.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Psa 50:7-8. Hear, O my people The prophet here, as in Psa 50:5 introduces God the Father, speaking to the church. I will testify against thee, is rendered by Castalio, while I give thee this notice; namely, “of my establishing a new law with the members of the Christian church, and entering into a covenant of mercy with them, ratified and sealed by the death of my son.” For I am thy God; i.e. in a more particular manner the God of the faithful; See Rom 6:8. In the 8th and five following verses is expressed the rejection of the sacrifices of beasts, and of the legal worship. I will not reprove thee, &c. means, “I do not complain of any negligence you have been guilty of, with relation to sacrifices, which were continually before me; punctually and regularly offered to me, according to the law; (See Num 28:31.) But I now testify unto you, and admonish you, that those sacrifices are to cease; since they were but types of the perfect sacrifice of Christ.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 584
SPIRITUAL OBEDIENCE PREFERRED BEFORE SACRIFICE
Psa 50:7-15. 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.
IN the psalm before us we have one of those sublime addresses which Jehovah occasionally makes to the whole creation, to hear and judge between him and his offending people [Note: Isa 1:2-3. Mic 6:2.]. The images are taken from his appearance on Mount Sinai, which was with terrible majesty, insomuch that Moses himself said, I exceedingly fear and quake [Note: Exo 19:16-18. with Heb 12:18-21.]. The scene is Mount Zion, the perfection of beauty, even that Zion from whence the Gospel has proceeded, and from whence Jehovah speaks to us as our Covenant-God: and this circumstance adds ten-fold weight to his accusations against us. The persons whom he arraigns before his tribunal are of two descriptions: those who rested in mere ceremonial observances for the obtaining of Gods favour; and those who, pretending to higher principles, dishonoured by their conduct their high and holy profession; or in other words, formalists and hypocrites. It is the former of these two characters whom he reproves in our text: and the testimony which he bears against them sets forth in very striking terms,
I.
The worthlessness of merely formal religion
Men are apt to imagine, that by their observance of external duties they lay God under obligation to them
[God had appointed many rites and ceremonies; and he required the observance of them on the pain of death [Note: Num 15:30.]: but he enjoined them for the peoples good, and not for any benefit that could accrue to himself. What pleasure could he take in the blood of bulls and goats? or, if he did, what need had he to be indebted to his people for such offerings, when the whole world was his, and all the cattle on a thousand hills were at his command? It was absurd therefore, and impious, in his people to think that they conferred any obligation upon him by their offerings and oblations.
But the very same error obtains amongst us at this day. If we comply with the external commands of God in an observance of the sabbath, an attendance on ordinances, and a performance of certain duties in the family and the closet, we think that we have a just claim on God, and that he must of necessity feel as much complacency in us, as we do in ourselves. We adduce these services as a clear evidence of the goodness of our hearts, and as an indisputable title to the divine favour ]
But external services are of no value in the sight of God, any farther than they are accompanied by vital piety
[On many occasions God declared his contempt for outward observances, in comparison of spiritual obedience: I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice; and to hearken, than the fat of rams. By the Prophet Isaiah, God replies to those who boasted of the multitude of their sacrifices; and tells them, that the whole course of their services, unaccompanied as they were by real piety, were an utter abomination in his sight [Note: Isa 1:11-15.] Even whilst bringing his people through the wilderness, he had explicitly declared to them, by Balaam, that it was not by offering thousands of rams, or rivers of oil, or by giving their first-born for their transgression, the fruit of their body for the sin of their soul, that they were to please him, but by doing justly, and loving mercy, and walking humbly with their God [Note: Mic 6:6-8.]. In like manner we are told by our blessed Lord, that it is to no purpose that we pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, if we neglect the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and truth [Note: Mat 23:23.]; and that to draw nigh to God with our lips, whilst our heart is far from him, is nothing but vile hypocrisy [Note: Mat 15:8.]. Indeed a moments consideration may convince us, that outward services, of whatever kind, cannot be of any value in the sight of God, except as expressions or vehicles of inward piety: for they may be performed without any good principle in the soul; yea, they may proceed from extremely vile and corrupt principles, such as pride, and ostentation, and self-righteousness; and they may most abound, not only where all manner of iniquity is harboured, but as a cloak and cover to that iniquity [Note: Mat 23:14.]. In a word, a form of godliness, where the power of it is denied, is the consummation of all ungodliness [Note: 2Ti 3:1-5.].]
This is an offensive truth indeed, but it is indispensably necessary to be received
[How offensive a truth this is, may be seen, by the way in which the hearers of the first martyr, Stephen, resented it, even before it was actually declared, and when they discovered it only as the ultimate scope of his argument. Stephen had given a summary view of Gods dealings with his people from the very beginning: and the scope of his argument was, that as God had a people before the Mosaic dispensation commenced, so he would after its termination; as had been intimated by the Prophet Isaiah, who represents God, as pouring contempt even upon the temple itself, in comparison of a broken and contrite heart. This passage having been cited by Stephen, the whole audience were filled with indignation, which was visibly manifested in all their countenances, and which gave occasion to that exceedingly abrupt change in Stephens address to them; Ye stiff-necked, and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye [Note: Compare Isa 66:1-2. with Act 7:47-51.]. Similar offence is given at this day, when we declare the worthlessness of all external duties as detached from the feelings of the heart But the very circumstance of God calling heaven and earth to hear his testimony against his people, sufficiently shews, that his accusations, against whomsoever brought, involve in them the deepest criminality, and subject the accused to the heaviest condemnation.]
Contrasted with mere ritual observances, we behold in our text,
II.
The religion which alone is pleasing and acceptable to God
Religion consists not so much in actions, as in the habit of the mind towards God. Holy actions of every kind spring from it; but they are only as the fruit, which originates in, and bears testimony to, the vital energy of the root. Wherever religion exists in the soul, it will have respect to God in all things, and will induce in us a habit towards him,
1.
Of lively gratitude
[He is our Creator, our Benefactor, our Redeemer: and the very first motions of religion will lead us to view him under these relations, and with feelings suited to the obligations he has conferred upon us. Can we reflect on the faculties with which he has endowed us, so far superior to all the brute creation, and not adore and magnify his name? Can we contemplate the innumerable benefits with which we are loaded by him from day to day, and not feel how greatly we are indebted to him? Above all, can we survey the wonders of redeeming love, and not have our whole souls penetrated with an overwhelming sense of gratitude? So infinitely does this love surpass all human comprehension or conception, that if our minds were filled with it as they ought to be, we should scarcely be able to think or speak of any thing else Such, we are sure, is the religion of heaven; for there they rest not day nor night in ascribing all possible praises to their redeeming God [Note: Rev 4:8-11; Rev 5:11-13.]: and such, according to the measure of grace given to us, will be the dispositions and habits of all who are truly alive to God We shall offer him the sacrifice of praise continually [Note: Heb 13:15.], and render to him the calves of our lips [Note: Hos 14:2.].]
2.
Of willing service
[The Jews were, by the very covenant they had entered into at their circumcision, bound to consider themselves as a holy people, a kingdom of priests: and we also, by virtue of our baptismal vows, are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people [Note: 1Pe 2:9.]. The vows then made, it will be our labour, and our delight, to perform. As the holy angels are doing Gods will, hearkening to the voice of his word, so we shall be studying to know his will, and be standing ready to execute it to the utmost of our power. It is astonishing what an alteration a principle of religion makes in the soul in this particular! The natural man lives only to himself: the spiritual man lives, or at least endeavours to live, wholly to the Lord; to have no will, no way, no desire, no thought, but what will be pleasing and acceptable in his sight. That which was the first expression of piety in Paul, is the first of every converted soul; Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? A view of him as our Master and our Father will ensure this [Note: Mal 1:6.]: and in proportion as religion increases in the soul, will be our endeavour to glorify God with our bodies and our spirits, which are his [Note: Rom 12:1. 1Co 6:20.].]
3.
Of humble dependence
[Religion leads us to realize in our minds the thought of Gods superintending care and effectual agency in our behalf. It does not bring us only to a sense of our obligations to him, but, if we may so speak, to a sense of his obligations to us: for, if we be his people, he also is our God: and he, by virtue of his covenant and oath, is as much bound to employ all his glorious perfections for us, as we are to improve all our faculties and powers for him. What a blessed thought is this! In what an exalted view does it place religion, which, if it calls us to duties, invests us also with the most glorious privileges! It teaches us to call upon him in every time of trouble, persuaded that he will hear us, and give us ever increasing occasion to glorify his name. This realizing sense of his presence, this assurance of his effectual interposition in every time of need, is the crown and summit of religion: it most of all glorifies God, and ensures beyond a doubt the richest testimonies of his approbation.]
Let us learn then from hence,
1.
How to estimate aright our own character
[It is not by negative virtues, no, nor by positive virtues of an external kind, that we are to judge of ourselves, but by the disposition of our minds towards God. We may be able to say with the Pharisee, I am no extortioner, not unjust, no adulterer; and may be able to add with him, I fast twice in the week, and give tithes of all that I possess; and yet be odious characters in the sight of God. If we would not deceive ourselves, we must inquire into the sense we have of our obligations to him, the determination we feel to approve ourselves faithful to him in the whole extent of our duty, and the confidence with which we are enabled to cast our care on him for body and for soul, for time and for eternity. Without this, whatever else we may possess, we are only as sounding brass, and as tinkling cymbals: and if a man think himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. We must therefore prove our own selves, that so we may have rejoicing in ourselves and not another [Note: Gal 6:3-4.].]
2.
How to secure a favourable testimony from your God
[Man may easily be deceived: but God will assuredly judge according to truth. He weigheth, not the actions only, but the spirits of men. And when he shall come at the last day, as he certainly will, in majesty and glory infinitely more terrible than that displayed at Sinai, he will testify of us before the assembled universe: and it will be a small matter that he has not to lay to our charge a neglect of outward services, if he have to accuse us of a want of those holy dispositions which we should have entertained and exercised towards him.
We entreat you then, Brethren, to look well to the state and habit of your minds: see to it, that you delight yourselves in God; that your whole life be a life of faith in him, of love towards him, and of zeal for the glory of his name: and, whilst you are presenting to him your own bodies and souls as a living sacrifice, present to him that great Sacrifice which was once offered on Mount Calvary for the sins of the whole world, and which alone can avail for your final acceptance with him. Much as he despises the blood of bulls and goats, he will not despise the blood of his only dear Son; but will, for the sake of it, pardon all your sins, and accept, yea and reward too with everlasting happiness and glory, all your imperfect services.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Here is a solemn appeal to God’s ancient people, the Jews, on the subject of sacrifices. What language here is, to show in what light sacrifices under the law ought to have been regarded, and with what view they were appointed. How sweetly is the gospel preached here, even from the law. Gal 3:24-25 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
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.
Ver. 7. Hear, O my people, and I will speak, &c. ] What sweet and winning language is here for a preface! God’s proceedings against sinners, whom he might confound with his terrors, is with meekness and much mildness, Gen 3:9 ; Gen 3:11 ; Gen 4:9 Mat 22:11 ; Mat 26:50 . Be we herein followers of God as dear children, Jos 7:19 Gal 6:1 2Ti 2:19 .
O Israel, I will testify against thee
I am God
Even thy God
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 50:7-15
7Hear, O My people, and I will speak;
O Israel, I will testify against you;
I am God, your God.
8I do not reprove you for your sacrifices,
And your burnt offerings are continually before Me.
9I shall take no young bull out of your house
Nor male goats out of your folds.
10For every beast of the forest is Mine,
The cattle on a thousand hills.
11I know every bird of the mountains,
And everything that moves in the field is Mine.
12If I were hungry I would not tell you,
For the world is Mine, and all it contains.
13Shall I eat the flesh of bulls
Or drink the blood of male goats?
14Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving
And pay your vows to the Most High;
15Call upon Me in the day of trouble;
I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me.
Psa 50:7-15 This strophe seems to have three foci.
1. a word to His ritual-oriented followers
2. an affirmation of His Lordship over His creation, whereby He does not need human sacrifices, especially if by giving them humans feel YHWH is obliged to act on their behalf!
3. the need for heart faith (cf. Deu 10:16; Jer 4:4), not just the ritual/liturgy of the sacrificial system (cf. Psa 51:16-17; Isa 1:10-15; Hos 6:6; Amo 5:21-24; Mic 6:6-8)
Psa 50:7 Covenant summons followers to hear YHWH speak.
1. Hear BDB 1033, KB 1570, Qal imperative, the Judge is speaking
2. I will speak BDB 180, KB 210, Piel cohortative
3. I will testify against you BDB 729, KB 795, Hiphil cohortative
This verse has several phrases that are known as covenant terminology.
1. My people (cf. Exo 19:5-6)
2. O Israel (cf. Deu 6:4-5)
3. I am God, your God (cf. Exo 20:2; often in Leviticus)
The issue being addressed is lifestyle covenant obedience, not just sacrifices. Sacrifice was a ritual means of a holy God forgiving and staying in fellowship with sinful mankind. The heart was as crucial (cf. Deu 10:16) as the act itself!
Psa 50:10-12 YHWH is affirming His lordship over all creation. Notice the repeated use of every, everything (cf. Deu 10:14; Neh 9:6; Psa 103:19-22).
Psa 50:11
NASB, NRSV everything that moves in the field
NKJVthe wild beasts of the field
TEVall living things in the field
NJBwhatever moves in the fields
JPSOAcreatures of the field
REBthe teeming life of the plains
The MT has moving things of the field (BDB 265 I construct BDB 961). The first word is used only here and in Psa 80:13. It would seem to refer to the teeming things of Gen 1:24-26.
1. small animals (i.e., mice, rats, foxes, etc.)
2. insects
Whatever they are, they are one example of YHWH’s ownership of all creatures on this planet (cf. Psa 50:10 a).
Psa 50:12 Sacrifices were never viewed in the OT as food for God.
1. In Mesopotamian theology the gods ate the offerings of humans.
2. In Canaanite theology, Anath did eat flesh and drink blood.
One wonders how much of the vocabulary (not theology) of Israel was affected first by Canaanite mythology and later Judaism by Zoroastrian theology.
Psa 50:14-15 The last two verses of this strophe are characterization of what things ritual-oriented followers should do, which are not directly related to the sacrifices of Leviticus 1-7.
1. offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving BDB 256, KB 261, Qal imperative; this may have been the expected fulfillment of a vow, cf. Psa 66:13-15
2. pay your vows to the Most High BDB 1022, KB 1532, Piel imperative (Numbers 30; Deu 23:21; Psa 22:25; Psa 56:12; Psa 61:8; Psa 65:1)
3. call upon Me (i.e., prayer) in the day of trouble BDB 894, KB1128, Qal imperative
If they do these things, then YHWH will rescue (i.e., deliver, BDB 322, KB 321, Piel imperfect) each one. In turn each one will honor God (BDB 457, KB 455, Piel imperfect).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Psa 50:7-15
Psa 50:7-15
JUDGMENT BEGINS AT THE HOUSE OF GOD
“Hear, O my people, and I will speak;
O Israel, and I will testify unto thee:
I am God, even thy God.
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-goats out of thy folds.
For every beast of the forest is mine,
And the cattle upon a thousand hills.
I know all 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?
Offer unto God the sacrifice of 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.”
“Hear, O my people” (Psa 50:7). All the world, from one end of the earth to the other, are present; but God’s covenant people are the first to be judged. As an apostle said, “Judgment must first begin at the house of God” (1Pe 4:17); and so it is here. What a disappointment awaited Israel. They, no doubt, were primed to hear God’s “Well done, thou good and faithful servant,” but that is not what they heard.
It is unfair to call this a rebuke of “hypocrites,” which is the standard approach to the passage. “The whole nation of Israel is here addressed. There has been a departure of “all Israel” from what God truly desired.
“I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices.., thy burnt-offerings are continually before me” (Psa 50:8). This means that God was aware of Israel’s careful observance of the sacrifices commanded in the Law of Moses. This verse admits that they were indeed observing all such things. “God does not here condemn Israel for the neglect of the outward sacrifices of religion. These they certainly had honored by their obedience; and God’s approval of that is here stated.
However, something was dreadfully wrong. There was such a deficiency in Israel’s sacrificial offerings that God here declared that he would absolutely refuse all of their sacrifices. Why? Only two things are cited in this whole paragraph; and that is in Psa 50:14, where “thanksgiving” and “paying one’s vows” are mentioned, with the implication that it was deficiency in those things that rendered their sacrifices unacceptable to God.
The commentaries are full of allegations about the hypocrisy, the immorality, the violence, and the evil that Israel was perpetrating at the same time they were offering all those sacrifices; but there’s not a word in this text about any of that! Men have simply let their imagination run wild on that subject.
What is actually said here? It is simply this, God will abolish animal sacrifices! There is twenty-times as much in these verses regarding the inadequacy of animal sacrifices as there is regarding any deficiency of God’s people. All of this points squarely to the New Covenant.
“Offer unto God the sacrifice of thanksgiving” (Psa 50:14) . This was indeed an animal sacrifice commanded under Moses Law, called a “Thank-offering”; and why were God’s people here commanded to bring such a sacrifice? It was because of the “glorious good news” that God would terminate animal sacrifices altogether. When? That was not revealed here; but the faithful would indeed receive it as a fact, despite the fact of the realization of such a promise being reserved for the indefinite future.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 50:7. It was true that God had a covenant with his people which required material sacrifices. However, such services were not enough unless the general conduct was right. Israel had often lapsed into a mere formality with their altar service and that was displeasing to God. In other words, the ritualistic features of the covenant could not be depended upon to make up for their shortcomings in Personal life. This thought will be prominent in the next several verses.
Psa 50:8. God was not going to charge his people with failure to offer the sacrifices or burnt offerings. They had not been short in such performances.
Psa 50:9. I will not take, etc. God was not calling for more gifts of this kind for they had brought their quota along that line.
Psa 50:10-11. The covenant of sacrifices in the first place was not for the purpose of supplying a need for the Lord. The very creatures that were being offered in sacrifice had already been the possessions of the Lord.
Psa 50:12. Even if God were in personal need of anything, he would not look to man to supply it. The very things that man could present were the creation of God.
Psa 50:13. God is a spirit and has no bodily use for the food of animals. It was not for such use that animal sacrifices were ordained.
Psa 50:14. With this verse the psalmist begins to show what it is that God desires in addition to the material sacrifices. Generally speaking it consists in the spiritual devotions out of a pure heart.
Psa 50:15. If God’s people are consistent in their professed service, they may call upon Him with the assurance that he will hear and bless them.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Hear: Psa 81:8, Isa 1:18, Jer 2:4, Jer 2:5, Jer 2:9, Mic 6:1-8
O my: Psa 81:10-12, Exo 19:5, Exo 19:6, Deu 26:17, Deu 26:18, 1Sa 12:22-25
testify: Deu 31:19-21, 2Ki 17:13, Neh 9:29, Neh 9:30, Mal 3:5
I am: Exo 20:2, 2Ch 28:5, Eze 20:5, Eze 20:7, Eze 20:19, Eze 20:20, Zec 13:9
Reciprocal: Lev 26:12 – will be Deu 9:13 – I have Deu 28:58 – fear this glorious Neh 13:15 – I testified Jer 6:20 – To what Jer 10:1 – General Mic 1:2 – let Mic 6:3 – O my 1Ti 4:8 – bodily
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 50:7. Hear, O my people, &c. Having brought in God, as entering into judgment with them, he now gives an account of the process and of the sentence of the judge, whose words are contained in this and the following verses. O Israel, I will testify against thee I will plead with thee, and declare my charge or endictment against thee. I am God, even thy God Not only in general, but in a special manner, by that solemn covenant made at Sinai; whereby I avouched thee to be my peculiar people, and thou didst avouch me to be thy God.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2. Charge 1: formalistic worship 50:7-15
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
God spoke to His people as their God and as their Judge. They had sinned against Him.