Bible Commentaries

THE SILENCE OF GOD

‘Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence.… These things hast thou done, and I kept silence.’

Psalms 50:3; Psalms 50:21

These two sentences—occurring as they do in the same psalm—are startling and suggestive.

I. The silence of God—what is it?—Look at His commands and threatenings, and at what He is doing, and you will see. His voice was heard on Sinai, saying, ‘Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.’ But is it not true that men daily blaspheme that worthy Name by the which ye are called? that there are many of whom it may be said, ‘He clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment’? And while this stream of blasphemy is flowing from human lips, does it not seem as if God took no notice of it—as if He had forgotten His threatening, and neither cared nor knew what men are doing? To use their own words, ‘Thou hatest instruction and castest my words behind thee: when thou sawest a thief, thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker of 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 [besides many others forbidden in the Scriptures] thou hast done, and I kept silence.’ How striking the thought! How wonderful Jehovah’s forbearance! Men have denied His existence, defied Him to execute judgment, and iniquity in every conceivable form has been perpetrated for ages, yet the silence remains unbroken. For centuries there has been no visible manifestation of God’s presence—no utterance of His voice as in Eden—on Sinai—in the desert—or on Judea’s plains. But is God forgetful, or careless, or indifferent, respecting the treatment of His laws and the veracity of His statements? Nay, verily.

II. The silence will be broken.—‘Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence.’ He will yet ‘cause His glorious voice to be heard, and shall show the lighting down of His arm, with the indignation of His anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones.’ His voice will be heard calling His people to Himself, and commanding His foes to destruction. His law will be vindicated. His honour maintained. ‘Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest’ as the two she—bears destroyed the forty-two children who mocked Elisha, so He tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver’ (Psalms 50:22). The Lion of the tribe of Judah will arise from His lair. He ‘shall roar out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem: and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of His people, and the strength of the children of Israel.’ The silence of centuries will be terribly broken when the heavens shall be lighted up with the glory of God, and the despised Nazarene ascends the throne of universal empire. His voice will sound through the ages, and penetrate the deepest grave, and as the ransomed millions put on immortality—and give the royal salutation, ‘O King! live for ever,’ the hosts of hell will realise that God has broken earth’s silence, and the import of these two sentences of the fiftieth psalm will be fully understood by saint and sinner.

THE SILENCE OF GOD

‘Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence.… These things hast thou done, and I kept silence.’

Psalms 50:3; Psalms 50:21

These two sentences—occurring as they do in the same psalm—are startling and suggestive.

I. The silence of God—what is it?—Look at His commands and threatenings, and at what He is doing, and you will see. His voice was heard on Sinai, saying, ‘Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.’ But is it not true that men daily blaspheme that worthy Name by the which ye are called? that there are many of whom it may be said, ‘He clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment’? And while this stream of blasphemy is flowing from human lips, does it not seem as if God took no notice of it—as if He had forgotten His threatening, and neither cared nor knew what men are doing? To use their own words, ‘Thou hatest instruction and castest my words behind thee: when thou sawest a thief, thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker of 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 [besides many others forbidden in the Scriptures] thou hast done, and I kept silence.’ How striking the thought! How wonderful Jehovah’s forbearance! Men have denied His existence, defied Him to execute judgment, and iniquity in every conceivable form has been perpetrated for ages, yet the silence remains unbroken. For centuries there has been no visible manifestation of God’s presence—no utterance of His voice as in Eden—on Sinai—in the desert—or on Judea’s plains. But is God forgetful, or careless, or indifferent, respecting the treatment of His laws and the veracity of His statements? Nay, verily.

II. The silence will be broken.—‘Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence.’ He will yet ‘cause His glorious voice to be heard, and shall show the lighting down of His arm, with the indignation of His anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones.’ His voice will be heard calling His people to Himself, and commanding His foes to destruction. His law will be vindicated. His honour maintained. ‘Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest’ as the two she—bears destroyed the forty-two children who mocked Elisha, so He tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver’ (Psalms 50:22). The Lion of the tribe of Judah will arise from His lair. He ‘shall roar out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem: and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of His people, and the strength of the children of Israel.’ The silence of centuries will be terribly broken when the heavens shall be lighted up with the glory of God, and the despised Nazarene ascends the throne of universal empire. His voice will sound through the ages, and penetrate the deepest grave, and as the ransomed millions put on immortality—and give the royal salutation, ‘O King! live for ever,’ the hosts of hell will realise that God has broken earth’s silence, and the import of these two sentences of the fiftieth psalm will be fully understood by saint and sinner.