Psalms 50 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Psalm 50

God Himself Is Judge

A Psalm of Asaph.

50:1   The Mighty One, God the LORD,
    speaks and summons the earth
    from the rising of the sun to its setting.
2   Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
    God shines forth.
3   Our God comes; he does not keep silence;¹
    before him is a devouring fire,
    around him a mighty tempest.
4   He calls to the heavens above
    and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
5   “Gather to me my faithful ones,
    who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”
6   The heavens declare his righteousness,
    for God himself is judge! Selah
7   “Hear, O my people, and I will speak;
    O Israel, I will testify against you.
    I am God, your God.
8   Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;
    your burnt offerings are continually before me.
9   I will not accept a bull from your house
    or goats from your folds.
10   For every beast of the forest is mine,
    the cattle on a thousand hills.
11   I know all the birds of the hills,
    and all that moves in the field is mine.
12   “If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
    for the world and its fullness are mine.
13   Do I eat the flesh of bulls
    or drink the blood of goats?
14   Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,²
    and perform your vows to the Most High,
15   and call upon me in the day of trouble;
    I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
16   But to the wicked God says:
    “What right have you to recite my statutes
    or take my covenant on your lips?
17   For you hate discipline,
    and you cast my words behind you.
18   If you see a thief, you are pleased with him,
    and you keep company with adulterers.
19   “You give your mouth free rein for evil,
    and your tongue frames deceit.
20   You sit and speak against your brother;
    you slander your own mother’s son.
21   These things you have done, and I have been silent;
    you thought that I³ was one like yourself.
  But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.
22   “Mark this, then, you who forget God,
    lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver!
23   The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;
    to one who orders his way rightly
    I will show the salvation of God!”

Footnotes

[1] 50:3 Or May our God come, and not keep silence
[2] 50:14 Or Make thanksgiving your sacrifice to God
[3] 50:21 Or that the I am

Commentary

A Psalm of Asaph (Ps 72-83 also); the self-sufficiency of God.

v1-3: God has spoken, He has revealed Himself. For the Jewish people, He spoke from Mount Zion. He is not silent, nor absent, nor complacent.

v4-7: The call to the people of God, His "consecrated ones", those separated to Him. They were joined to God by a sacrifice. In the O.T., this was primarily through the Passover; in the N.T., we are joined to God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

God is the Judge of His people, the righteous Judge. His relationship with His people means that sometimes a rebuke is the needful thing; the Lord disciplines those He loves.

v8-9: The problem was that religious form had taken the place of spiritual reality. Animal sacrifices were part of Jewish religion, but they had failed to love the God who would accept such sacrifices. See Is 1.10-17; God does not need such things.

v10-13: All things belong to God anyway; we must realise this, that we might worship Him aright.

v14-15: The call to real devotion, in which God delights; thanksgiving and prayer, through which we glorify Him. See also v23.

v16: The words to the wicked unbelieving world are very different to even the harshest rebuke to the people of God. The world has largely rejected God, and is rejected by God.

Some claimed to know God, whilst practising and tolerating sin (Rom 2.17-24).

Others claim to declare the message of God, whilst living sinful lives, like Balaam who led the people of Israel into idolatry. Such contradiction cannot be tolerated.

v17: The reality was that such people rejected God's ways for their lives.

v18-20: The catalogue of sins, practised and approved of. Included is agreement with sinners, as in Ps 1.1. Our company exposes our desires.

v21: Judgment was deferred, for God is long-suffering; but that is not the same as divine approval. The absence of clear punishment is not a sign that God is like sinful man. God has said that He will bring the evil deeds of the wicked to light. The wicked think that God is like them, human, fallible, changeable; but the godly accept that God is altogether different; and we meditate on Him, that w might know this truth better.

We have a responsibility to seek His will, and to obey it.

God is not like His creation. In particular, mankind seeks to bargain with God. But our praise to Him is not so that we will earn blessings as a reward. A proper understanding is that we are grateful for the blessings we have already receive in Christ.

v22: The uncomfortable truth, that God will judge those who set Him aside, who do not believe. His arm (indicating His strength) is strong (Job 40.9)

v23: The response, as in Ps 2.9; What should we do? The answer; praise and practice, with such God is well-pleased, and we will richly enjoy His blessings. God receives glory through His people, through praise, through worship, Ps 86.13. He demands and commands our praise. We are wise never to forget this simple truth. But equally, we are given many ways to bring glory to our God and Father. See also Heb 13.15-16, which implies a gracious and sacrificial attitude.