Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 50:9
I will take no bullock out of thy house, [nor] he goats out of thy folds.
I will take no bullock out of thy house – Bullocks were offered regularly in the Hebrew service and sacrifice Exo 29:11, Exo 29:36; Lev 4:4; 1Ki 18:23, 1Ki 18:33; and it is with reference to this that the language is used here. In obedience to the law it was right and proper to offer such sacrifices; and the design here is not to express disapprobation of these offerings in themselves considered. On this subject – on the external compliance with the law in this respect – God says Psa 50:8 that he had no cause to complain against them. It was only with respect to the design and the spirit with which they did this, that the language in this verse and the following verses is used. The idea which it is the purpose of these verses to suggest is, that God did not need such offerings; that they were not to be made as if he needed them; and that if he needed such he was not dependent on them, for all the beasts of the earth and all the fowls of the mountains were his, and could be taken for that purpose; and that if he took what was claimed to be theirs – the bullocks and the goats – he did not wrong them, for all were his, and he claimed only his own.
Nor he-goats out of thy folds – Goats were also offered in sacrifice. Lev 3:12; Lev 4:24; Lev 10:16 : Num 15:27.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
But be not so vain and foolish as to imagine that thou dost lay any obligations upon me by thy sacrifices; or that I required them because I had need of them, or took any pleasure in them for themselves, or for my own satisfaction by them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
I will take no bullock out of thy house,…. That is, will accept of none; such sacrifices being no more agreeable to the will of God, Heb 10:5; the “bullock” is mentioned, that being a principal creature used in sacrifice; as also the following,
[nor] he goats out of thy folds; the reasons follow.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
9 I will take no calf out thy house Two reasons are given in this and the succeeding verses to prove that he cannot set any value upon sacrifices. The first is, that supposing him to depend upon these, he needs not to be indebted for them to man, having all the fullness of the earth at his command; and the second, that he requires neither food nor drink as we do for the support of our infirm natures. Upon the first of these he insists in the ninth and three following verses, where he adverts to his own boundless possessions, that he may show his absolute independence of human offerings. He then points at the wide distinction betwixt himself and man, the latter being dependent for a frail subsistence upon meat and drink, while he is the self-existent One, and communicates life to all beside. There may be nothing new in the truths here laid down by the Psalmist; but, considering the strong propensity we have by nature to form our estimate of God from ourselves, and to degenerate into a carnal worship, they convey a lesson by no means unnecessary, and which contains profound wisdom, that man can never benefit God by any of his services, as we have seen in Psa 16:2, “My goodness extendeth not unto thee.” In the second place, God says that he does not require any thing for his own us but that, as he is sufficient in his own perfection, he has consulted the good of man in all that he has enjoined. We have a passage in Isaiah to a similar effect,
“
The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me, and where is the place of my rest? For all these things hath mine hand made.” — (Isa 66:1,)
In these words
God asserts his absolute independence; for while the world had a beginning, he himself was from eternity. From this it follows, that as he subsisted when there was nothing without him which could contribute to his fullness, he must have in himself a glorious all-sufficiency.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(9-18) Notice the fine tone of irony that pervades this rebuke, the best weapon against ritualistic errors.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 50:9 I will take no bullock out of thy house, [nor] he goats out of thy folds.
Ver. 9. I will take no bullock out of thy house, &c. ] q.d. Keep them to thyself, I need them not; thou settest a high price upon them, and thinkest to ingratiate with me by them; I value them not, nay, I loathe them, Sordet in conspectu Iudicis quod fulget in conspectu operantis. “That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God,” Luk 16:15 . Displeasing service is double dishonour.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 43:23, Isa 43:24, Mic 6:6-8, Act 17:25, Heb 10:4-6
Reciprocal: Gen 1:24 – Let Num 23:1 – seven altars Num 29:17 – General 1Sa 15:22 – Hath the Lord Ezr 6:9 – young bullocks Psa 16:2 – my goodness Mic 6:7 – pleased Act 7:50 – General