Bible Commentaries

1. The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken—Hebrew, God, God Jehovah, hath spoken. The psalms of Asaph are Elohistic. The name “God” appears ten times in this psalm, the name “Jehovah” once. This accumulating of titles is not to give a turgid exordium, but to make a solemn impression of the judicial summons, Psalms 50:4-7, for the trial of his people. The titles mark a gradation in the sense, אלהים, (Eloheem, God,) plural, the pluralis excellentia, being more emphatic than אל, (el,) the Mighty One. As if he would say: “The Almighty, the most awful God, Jehovah,” etc. The fundamental idea of the first two titles is that of almightiness, the second being intensive of the first; that of the last is self-existence.

Called the earth—All nations, all mankind.

From the rising of the sun— מזרח, (mizrahh,) east, where it stands opposed to west, as here, denotes the extreme east, the sun rising, that is, the extreme part of heaven, as מבוא, (mahboh,) going down of the sun, does the extreme west, which, according to Hebrew ideas, represented the utmost boundaries of the world east and west.

2. Out of Zion—The seat and source of supreme authority.

Perfection of beauty—Not to be taken physically, but morally, as the abode of God. Psalms 48:2

3. Is an allusion to Leviticus 10:2; Numbers 16:26. See Psalms 97:3.

Tempestuous—Like the terrifying scenes of Sinai, Exodus 19:16. Compare Psalms 18:8-14

4. The heavens… the earth—These are summoned as witnesses, as Deuteronomy 4:26; Deuteronomy 30:19

5. Gather my saints— “My saints” are here defined as those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. This “covenant” is recorded Exodus 24:7-8; comp. Hebrews 9:19-20. It was national, solemn, perpetual, sealed in blood, and comprehended all of God’s revealed will, and now God is to judge whether they have fulfilled it.

7. Hear, O my people—The court and witnesses being called, (Psalms 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 Revelation 2:1-5. In Psalms 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. Matthew 23:23

13. Will I eat the flesh of bulls—Such gross ideas of worship as linger in the mere forms, as if God delighted in them, arise from gross ideas of God, and this is the source of corruption in all heathenism and false religions.

14. Offer unto God thanksgiving— “The calves of the lips,” says the prophet, Hosea 14:2, which the apostle calls “the sacrifice of praise to God,” Hebrews 13:15. The Hebrew reads: Sacrifice to God a todah. The todah was a praise offering, one of the species of “peace offerings,” described Leviticus 7:11-15, the fundamental idea of which was, thanksgiving to God for reconciliation, or peace, with him. So, also, the next line—pay thy vows—refers to the “freewill offering,” another species of “peace offering,” described in Leviticus 7:16. It was an offering which the individual had freely and voluntarily assumed. The idea of the text is, that to offer to God, from the heart, thanksgiving and praise, and to heartily fulfil their covenant vows, the things signified by the external sacrifice, is the real requirement and intent of the law, without which the form is only empty mockery. Compare 1 Samuel 15:22-23

15. Call upon me… I will deliver thee—Acting upon these instructions, and meeting the spirit and intent of the law, your prayers will be acceptable and will be answered.

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.

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,” Ephesians 6:4. Both are treated with hatred and contempt by the class now addressed.

18. Thou consentedst—A charge of complicity and participation with civil wrongs and personal vices. These things they did covertly.

19. Mouth to evil… tongue frameth deceit—Wholly given to lies. Their business is to devise deceitful pretexts for unlawful gains and lustful pleasures.

20. Thou… speakest against—In Psalms 50:19 they are seen framing “deceit,” now it comes out into public slander.

Thine own mother’s son—In polygamous countries brothers have not always the same mother. Here the idea of a common motherhood as well as fatherhood marks the closest relation, and the crime of alienation and slander is thereby aggravated.

21. I kept silence—The delay of judgment caused them to infer that God took no judicial notice of their sins. Thou thoughtest, etc.—Here is the common delusion of sin. The more corrupt the heart, the less sinful will sin appear; and such persons form their estimates of the divine character by comparison with themselves.

Set them in order before thine eyes—The setting “in order” is a judicial opening and arranging the case, as to law, fact, and testimony. See Job 13:18; Job 23:4. When God shall do this “every mouth shall be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God.” Romans 3:19

23. Whose offereth praise—Sacrificeth a todah, or peace offering, because he is reconciled to God. (See Psalms 50:14,) That is, whose “offereth” heart-felt thanksgiving with the accustomed peace sacrifice, uniting the form and the spirit. This stands opposed to the formalist, Psalms 50:7-13.

Ordereth his conversation—Hebrew, his way, that is, his daily moral life. This applies reprovingly to the immoral class, Psalms 50:16-22. Thus, to worship God in spirit and truth, and to regulate the moral life according to the divine law, will alone assure “the salvation of God.”