Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 50:5

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms 50:0 True worship

In a scene that displays his awesome majesty, God commands the whole world to stand before his judgment throne (1-3). He is the righteous judge of all the peoples of the world, and his first call to judgment concerns his own people, Israel (4-6).
God’s complaint against the Israelites is not that they have failed to offer sacrifices and offerings. Indeed, they have offered them continually (7-8). But God will not accept their offerings. Instead of offering their sacrifices in a spirit of humble worship, the people were offering them as if they were doing God a favour for which he should be thankful. They offered their sacrifices as if they were giving God something he needed. But God needs nothing; he already owns everything (9-11). The meat and blood of the sacrifices are of no material use to him. God is not like the mortal beings of earth who have to eat and drink to keep alive (12-13). The offerings that he accepts are those based on thanksgiving, obedience and complete trust (14-15).
Turning to judge those who are not his people, God condemns them for their disobedience, lies, adultery and slander (16-20). Because God does not act in immediate judgment against them, they think he approves of their behaviour. They are about to find out that such thinking is mistaken (21). They are warned of God’s terrible judgment and invited to accept his free salvation (22-23).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"The Mighty One, God, Jehovah hath spoken, And called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined forth. Our God cometh, and doth not keep silence: A fire devoureth before him, And it is very tempestuous round about him. He calleth to the heavens above, And to the earth that he may judge his people: Gather together my saints unto me, Those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare his righteousness; For God is judge himself. (Selah)"

"The first six verses here seem to contain a description of the Great Judgment. It seems impossible to assign them to any minor consideration."Ibid.

"The Mighty One, God, Jehovah" This impressive array of titles, includes two general names for God, and the special covenant name, Jehovah. "The three names are, `[~'El],' `[~'Elohiym]', and `Jehovah.'"Derek Kidner, Vol. 1, p. 186.

"Mighty One, God, Jehovah" The Hebrews used many names for God, often using them synonymously as here. Of all the critical nonsense which this writer has read in a lifetime of study, nothing is any more ridiculous than the so-called documentary hypothesis regarding the writing of the Book of Moses (called the Pentateuch), in which different names of God are alleged to indicate different writers. Can anyone believe that "three different writers composed Psalms 50:1?" or that "five different authors" wrote Genesis 49:24-25? This combination of names for God is also found in Joshua 22:22. The evidence is overwhelming that the Jews customarily used multiple names for God, very frequently using them as synonyms, with no indication whatever that they indicated multiple authorships of passages where they were thus used.

"Out of Zion" Jewish pride no doubt considered that all the world would be summonsed to Jerusalem, in order to receive the sentence of their final destiny; but what is meant here was accurately discerned by Jones, "This means that the great principles that are to determine the destiny of mankind in the Final Judgement are, those very principles which have been taught in the word of God that went forth from Jerusalem."Wilson Jones, p. 246.

"Called the earth" In Psalms 50:3, the gathering of the `covenant people' are mentioned; but there is no such limitation here. All men, from the rising of the sun till the going down thereof, are here summoned to stand before the throne of God. Rhodes thought that the whole world was called "for witnesses" rather than as "subjects" of this judgment scene;The Layman's Bible Commentary, Vol. 9, p. 84. but our view is that the righteous and the wicked alike, the covenant people, and those who are not, will be judged simultaneously (See Matthew 25). As an apostle said, "We must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ."

As for the notion that the whole world of Gentile nations were here called "as witnesses" of the judgment, several things forbid such an interpretation. (1) The godless Gentiles of the whole earth can never, in any sense, be considered competent witnesses. (2) Besides that, Almighty God does not need any witnesses; he already knows all the facts. (3) They are certainly not so designated in this passage. (4) One scholar thought the Gentile nations might have been summonsed as "judges";Mitchell Dahood in The Anchor Bible, p. 306. but this is just as unreasonable and impossible as the idea of their being "witnesses." As Leupold said of such persons, "They are not to do any `judging'; God does that"!H. C. Leupold, p. 391.

Those who cannot see the Final Judgment here are hard pressed to find anything else either in the history of Israel or of the whole world that fits what is here written.

Some try to explain it by calling it, "Poetic fancy, `teaching that if God came, thus he would speak and act'; but there is more to the matter than that."Ibid., p. 390.

Still others can find nothing here except God's rejecting the very sacrifices that he commanded Israel to offer. God did no such thing. What is depicted here, prophetically, is the worship of the New Covenant and the total abolition of all animal and typical sacrifices.

"Actually, the kind of sacrifices condemned here were those which were not offered in spirit and in truth,"Ibid. but the language is also applicable to the more spiritual worship of the New Covenant.

"My saints that made a covenant with me by sacrifice" This verse nullifies the notion that God was here condemning the very sacrifices he had commanded Israel to offer. Taylor called this a "favorable attitude toward sacrifice,"The Interpreter's Bible, Vol. IV, p. 262. which it most certainly is. See more on this question under Psalms 50:8, below.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Gather my saints together unto me - This is an address to the messengers employed for assembling those who are to be judged. Similar language is used by the Saviour Matthew 24:31 : “And he (the Son of Man) shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” The idea is, that God will bring them, or assemble them together. All this is language derived froth the notion of a universal judgment, “as if” the scattered people of God were thus gathered together by special messengers sent out for this purpose. The word “saints” here refers to those who are truly his people. The object - the purpose - of the judgment is to assemble in heaven those who are sincerely his friends; or, as the Saviour expresses it Matthew 24:31, his “elect.” Yet in order to this, or in order to determine who “are” his true people, there will be a larger gathering - an assembling of all the dwellers on the earth.

Those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice - Exodus 24:6-7. Compare the notes at Hebrews 9:19-22. The idea here is, that they are the professed people of God; that they have entered into a solemn covenant-relation to him, or have bound themselves in the most solemn manner to be his; that they have done this in connection with the sacrifices which accompany their worship; that they have brought their sacrifices or bloody offerings as a pledge that they mean to be his, and will be his. Over these solemn sacrifices made to him, they have bound themselves to be the Lord’s; and the purpose of the judgment now is, to determine whether this was sincere, and whether they have been faithful to their vows. As applied to professed believers under the Christian system, the “idea” here presented would be, that the vow to be the Lord’s has been made over the body and blood of the Redeemer once offered as a sacrifice, and that by partaking of the memorials of that sacrifice they have entered into a solemn “covenant” to be his. Nothing more solemn can be conceived than a “covenant” or pledge entered into in such a manner; and yet nothing is more painfully certain than that the process of a judgment will be necessary to determine in what cases it is genuine, for the mere outward act, no matter how solemn, does not of necessity decide the question whether he who performs it will enter into heaven.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 50:1-23

Psalms 50:1-23 is divided into three categories. The first six verses deal with God who is speaking. In the Hebrew it begins, "El Elohim, Jehovah, hath spoken." God, singular; Gods, plural; and then the name Yahweh or Jehovah, hath spoken. "El Elohim," the El, God singular, is many times translated mighty, because it is that force concentrated, and thus, the thought of God as mighty. So it is translated,

The mighty God, even Jehovah, hath spoken ( Psalms 50:1 ),

God Gods, Elohim; or God Gods, Jehovah, hath spoken,

and he called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. Our God shall come, he will not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him ( Psalms 50:1-3 ).

When our Lord comes again, breaking again into history... now there are those who have declared that God has alienated Himself from the earth, from man, and from history. In the last days Peter said, "Scoffers are going to come saying, 'Where is the promise of His coming? Since our fathers have fallen asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning'" ( 2 Peter 3:3-4 ). "God has pulled away from His work, from His world, from His universe. He is allowing things now to just progress in an evolutionary order" is the word of scoffers. But Peter points out God has intervened in history before. These men are willingly ignorant of the flood where God intervened in history. Willingly ignorant of the incarnation of Jesus Christ, where God came in the flesh and dwelt among us.

And He is coming again. He is not going to keep silent. God has spoken. He is coming, and around Him and before Him the devouring fire of the Great Tribulation and this tempestuous movements about Him. When Jesus returns, the earth is going to be in the midst of the greatest carnage it has ever known. That battle of Armageddon will be in full swing. Blood will be flowing to the horses' bridles throughout the valley of Megiddo. Horrible carnage as man is unleashing all of his pent up anger and resentment and bitterness and hatred against each other. Culminating in this mad rebellion against God and seeing the climax of man's rebellion against God saying, "We don't want God to rule over us. We will rule over ourselves. We can live without God. We don't need God. We don't need to be confined by prudish laws or by restraining principles by which I am not allowed to follow the full desires of my own passions and flesh." And we will see the culmination of man's rebellion there in the valley of Megiddo. And while that battle is full swing, Jesus will come again. He'll set His foot on the Mount of Olives, and that thing is just going to split right through the middle. There is going to be... it's tempestuous. It's gonna be, the world will be in a tempestuous state at His coming.

He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people ( Psalms 50:4 )

Gathering together the people for judgment.

Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself ( Psalms 50:5-6 ).

And so God is speaking. He tells of the day that is coming, the day of His judgment. He is not going to keep silent forever. First of all, God addresses Himself now to His people, the second part of the psalm, beginning with verse Psalms 50:7 , and going through verse Psalms 50:15 . And God said,

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 ( Psalms 50:7-8 ).

"I don't have anything to say against the fact that you were faithful in your religious duties. You kept the sacrifices, the offerings there continually. You were very faithful in your religious duties." But God is saying that's not what it is about. "I don't want mechanical worship from you. I don't want your service to Me to be out of a sense of obligation or duty." So,

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 upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountain: 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 fullness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? ( Psalms 50:9-13 )

Now God is showing that the people had the wrong concept when they were bringing their sacrifices to Him. When they were giving to God they had just that idea, "Oh, I am giving to God." As though God had a need for me to give to Him. As though God needed me to supply the meat for His dinner tonight. So I will take one of the lambs out of my flock and I'll bring it to God so that He can have dinner tonight, for He is depending on me to feed Him. God said, "Look, I'm not hungry. If I were hungry I wouldn't tell you. Because the world is Mine and the fullness thereof. I wouldn't go to you."

It is manifestly wrong for us to give the assumption to people today that God is broke. I am tired of the letters that I get every week where God is in another financial crisis. "This is the greatest crisis we've ever faced in the history of our ministry, and God is going to have cut back His marvelous work. It is going to cease unless you send in twenty-five dollars this week." And these ministries that are facing one crisis after another. What a poor image they are giving of God to the world as they get on television with their sniffles and tell us how desperate God is. How He needs immediate, emergency action on your part to save Him from financial disaster. So that people are giving with the idea of helping God out. "Oh God, please don't file bankruptcy. Here! I will send You a check for five dollars." As though God is depending on me for support, and if I fail to support Him, His whole program is down the tubes. God doesn't want you to give with the idea of helping Him out. God doesn't want you to think that He is holding out a tin cup.

And God was upset with the people. "I am not hungry. If I were hungry, I wouldn't tell you. I don't need you to supply Me for food. Do you think I am going to eat that dirty old goat out of your flock? You're kidding yourself. The reason why you are bringing a sacrifice isn't to feed Me. The reason why you are brining a sacrifice is that your sins might be covered in order that you might have restored fellowship with Me, and that is what I desire. Is meaningful, heartfelt fellowship with you. That's what I want. I don't need your money. I don't need your goats. I don't need your sheep. I want your fellowship. I want your love. I want your service to Me not to be a duty, not to be an obligation. I want it to be a response in love, your love to Me, so that we can have this close, beautiful fellowship with each other. Now sin has broken your fellowship; sin keeps you away. Therefore, bring a sacrifice so you can cover your sin. The sacrifice is for your benefit, to cover your guilt in order that you can have fellowship with Me." And that's the real thrust behind the sacrifice is restored fellowship with God that you might have this deep, heartfelt, intimate communion with Him.

Now the same with our giving to God today, it isn't to help God out. It isn't to keep God solvent. The giving is an expression of my love. "God, I love You so much. I appreciate so much what You have done for me. I want to do something for You, God." And I am giving with a heart of love. I am giving with a heart that is overflowing. I desire to give. I want to give. The Bible said your giving to God should never be grudgingly or out of constraint. You should never be giving by pressure. And using pressure methods to induce people to give is manifestly wrong. Boy, I would be embarrassed to stand before God when I got to heaven if I were guilty of some of these methods of raising funds for God. Oh man, I am going to enjoy just sitting back and just watch God rake them over the coals for the way they have represented Him. Watch Him as He shakes them until their teeth rattle. Making people think He is broke. Making people think that He is begging and has to beg in order to survive. What a blasphemous concept of God they are promoting.

And God doesn't want that kind of giving anyhow. God wants you to give out of a heart of love. Therefore, "As every man has purposed in his own heart, so let him give. For God loves a hilarious giver" ( 2 Corinthians 9:7 ). Oh, the way we motivate people, "Give and God is going to give back to you, measured out, pressed down, running over. Men are going to give unto your bosom. You give ten, God will give you a hundred." And we motivate them out of their own greed. We're using their own greed as a motivator to get them to give because, "Look what God is going to give to you. You just give to God and you will be driving, you know, limousines." And we're using carnal motivation, when in reality God doesn't want people giving out of that kind of motive. Thinking, "Oh boy, gonna give ten and gonna get a hundred. Man, that's neat. Give a hundred; get a thousand. All right! Give a thousand; get a million. You know, I'll get rich." What poor motivation for giving. "Oh God, I love You. God, I appreciate so much You've done. How can I do less than just give You my best. Give You my all, God. You have done so much for me. I had nothing; I deserve nothing, and yet, You have been so good. So rich unto me. You've blessed me so much, oh God. What can I give You, God?" And my giving to God is just out of a heart that's overflowing with love and appreciation. That's the kind of gift that God desires.

So God says, "Look, I am not hungry. I'm not hurting. I'm not broke. I would just assume that you not offer your sacrifices, except that you need to in order to come to Me. But what I want you to really offer to Me... now the sacrifice is for you; it's to cover your sin. That you can come to Me, but then offer to Me thanksgiving." I think we ought to keep a tally sheet this week. And let's keep a record of how many times we complain to God about things that aren't quite right. Things that we don't like, things that have gone wrong. And then keep another sheet on how many times I've stopped to just thank God for all that I have. I think that if we would really keep a tally on ourselves, we would be rather amazed at how much gripping and complaining we do and how little thanks we give. And yet, God wants our thanksgiving. God said,

Offer unto me thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the Most High ( Psalms 50:14 ):

Now when I make a vow to God it is because I am conscious of the fact that I am not all that I should be, and I am promising God I am going to be better. David said, "I will pay the vows that I made to You in the day in which I was in trouble." And that is usually when you make a vow, when you are really in trouble. "Oh God, help me now. Just get me out of this mess and I promise, Lord, I am going to live a better life. Lord, just help me out of this and I promise this is what I am going to do." And when I am in trouble I make my vows to God.

But then when I get out of trouble, like the little kid sliding down the roof, crying out to God, "Oh God, help me. Help me, God. I am slipping. I am falling." And his pants got caught on a nail and he turned and said, "Never mind, God. The nail stopped me." And we forget God so quickly. We are willing to attribute the work to just circumstances or to coincidences. "Oh, that's all right, God. I don't need You any more." You know. And we forget the promises that we made. We forget the vows. We go on living the same old crummy life. Substandard in our Christian walk. Then we get in trouble, "Oh God, if You just get me out of this, I promise, this time really, Lord. Really and truly. Cross my heart and hope to die, Lord." You see, I am aware of my shortcomings. I am aware that I am not living the kind of life that I should. I am conscious of that. I am guilty. I know I am guilty. Now, I spend most of my life trying to cover my guilt and not let people know how guilty I am. But in my own heart I know that I am not all that I should be. And that's why, when I am in trouble, I make promises to God. But God is saying, "Hey, just keep your vows. Start living a right kind of a life."

And then call upon me in the day of trouble: and I will deliver you ( Psalms 50:15 ),

God so many times has said for us to call on Him in trouble. Jeremiah 33:1-26 , "Call upon Me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not." Imagine God inviting you to call on Him. "Anytime you are in trouble, just call on Me."

I have a friend who gave me his card, and he said, "Anytime you're in trouble, just call this number." Oh man, does that make you feel good. Anytime you are in trouble, you've got a number to call. I have a friend who was in her eighties. She had a beautiful gift of exhortation to the body of Christ. She had a big old Cadillac, and she would drive across the country in this big old Cadillac, ministering in churches, exhorting the body of Christ across the country. Blessed little old saint. She had to sit up on a cushion to see over the dashboard. And she was in a meeting in Texas, and through her gift of exhortation, a wealthy man there in the meeting was really touched. And he came up to her and he said, "I am worried about you driving across the country in that big old car." It was an old Cadillac, and he said, "I own a fleet of trucks." And he said, "We have garages all over the country." And he said, "I want you to take my card and here is my number on it," and he said, "anytime, anywhere, when you need help, just call the number." And he said, "You are not far from one of my garages," and he said, "I will see that your car is towed in and that you are taken care of." And she smiled and handed the card back to him and said, "You know, that is a very generous offer and I want you to know that I appreciate it very much, but," she said, "for over sixty years I have been trusting in the Lord to take care of me, and He hasn't failed me yet. I don't know why I should accept a substitute."

God says, "Call upon Me in trouble. I will deliver you." Now when you can call on God, why should you accept a substitute? How beautiful it is that we can call upon God. "I will deliver you." And as a result of God's deliverance,

I will glorify him ( Psalms 50:15 ).

And that is the kind of praise that God desires. That praise that is a response to what He has done for me. Now God has said that to His people.

Now He is talking to the wicked, in the day of judgment.

But unto the wicked God says, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? Seeing that you hate instruction, and that you cast my words behind you ( Psalms 50:16-17 ).

Why should you come into the kingdom? Why should you come under the authority of My reigning and My ruling, seeing that you have hated instruction? You didn't want anything to do with Me.

When you saw a thief, you consented with him ( Psalms 50:18 ),

Now Jesus said that if a person tries to come into the kingdom any other way than by Me, the Door, he is a thief and a robber. And He said, "Now you have seen the way of thieves, people that have been trying to come in by other ways, and you consent with them."

It's amazing the weird things that people will believe when they reject Jesus Christ. The weird antics they will go through. The weird concepts they will take up. Otherwise intelligent, brilliant men. Some of the biggest spiritual dupes I have ever met are college professors who are constantly putting down Jesus Christ in the classroom. But they all have, it seems, their little quest in, you know, spiritism, or into this or that or the other weird thing, you know. Too intelligent for Jesus Christ. But trying to find another way. The Lord in the day of judgment said, "Hey, why should you try to come into My kingdom now? Why should you be a part of it? You have hated instruction. You've put My words behind you. When you saw a thief you consented with them,"

and you have been a partaker with adulterers ( Psalms 50:18 ).

That is, those of spiritual adultery. "You've been following other gods."

You give your mouth to evil, and your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against thy brother; and you slander your own mother's son. These things you have done, and I've kept silence; but you thought that I was altogether one such as you: but I will reprove thee, and set thee in order before thine eyes ( Psalms 50:19-21 ).

"Now you made the mistake, you've made the sad mistake of thinking that My silence was weakness. That because I was silent, I didn't care. That because I was silent it didn't matter." Because you weren't judged immediately you thought that God was approving. This is a mistake, and let me warn you, a mistake that many people make, even Christians who fall into a path of wickedness and sin. I have heard them say, I have had them say to me, "If what we are doing is so wrong, then why does God still bless our lives?" And they mistake the patience and the longsuffering and the grace of God as approval for their wickedness. Or that God is condoning the evil that they are doing. God will never condone wickedness. God is merciful. God is gracious. God is longsuffering. But make no mistake, He is not weak. And the day of judgment will come. And though it may seem that you are getting by with it because God hasn't already cut you off, because God hasn't already with a swift hand brought His judgment upon you, it doesn't mean that you are going to escape judgment. It doesn't mean that God won't judge, that God is too weak to judge, or that God approves what you are doing. Never. The day will come.

But it is fatal mistake for many people, for they have made a fatal mistake in thinking, "Because God hasn't judged me... " Here is guy that stands out in the field and says, "If there is a God up there in heaven, let Him strike me dead. Now see, that is a proof that there's no God, cause I am still here." God is so patient with us. But He's not weak. And He will come; He will judge.

Now consider this, you that forget God ( Psalms 50:22 ),

Just remember this, consider it.

lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver ( Psalms 50:22 ).

You better take note of this. I am not smiling. I am not approving. You better take careful note of that. For if you don't change, if you go on in your wickedness, there will be none to deliver.

The psalm closes with,

Whoso offereth praise glorifies me: and to him that ordereth his conversation ( Psalms 50:23 )

The word conversation is an old English word. The word literally means, "his manner of living." And if you'll just order your life, your manner of living, in the right way, God said,

I will show you my salvation ( Psalms 50:23 ).

Shall we pray.

Father, we pray that we might give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest we should drift away from them. For we know that if the words spoken by angels was steadfast, and that if every trespass received a just recompense of reward, we know that there is no escaping if we neglect this great salvation that You have offered to us through Your Son Jesus Christ. Lord, help us that we might order our lives aright. Help us, Lord, to be giving thanks to You. Help us, Lord, to live up to what we know to be right. To pay our vows and to call upon You at all times, that You might work in our lives Your beautiful work of love and of grace. Lord, may we experience with the psalmist that great thirst after Thee. Hungering and thirsting after righteousness. That we might be filled and that we might overflow with Your love and with Your Spirit. In Jesus' name. Amen. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

1. The heavenly Judge 50:1-6

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 50

This psalm pictures God seated in His heavenly throne room. He has two indictments against His people Israel. The wicked among them were hypocritical in their worship, a violation of the first part of the Decalogue, and in their interpersonal relationships, a violation of the second part. They needed to return to Him wholeheartedly. This is a didactic psalm written to teach God’s people an important lesson.

"This psalm is the speech of God, who addresses his covenant partner concerning matters of violated covenant. After the narrative introduction of Psalms 50:1-6, it is all one extended speech in the form of a decree with no room for negotiation." [Note: Breuggemann, p. 89.]

The Levitical musician, Asaph, evidently wrote this psalm, as well as Psalms 73-83 (cf. 1 Chronicles 16:4-5).

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Asaph described God summoning those living in heaven, the angels, and on earth, mortals, to serve as witnesses in the trial. Israel is the defendant. The covenant in view is the Mosaic Covenant, under which the nation had obligations to God. The writer called on the angels to declare the Judge righteous, a way of affirming that He is just.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Gather my saints together unto me,.... These words are spoken by Christ to the heavens and the earth; that is, to the angels, the ministers of the Gospel, to gather in, by the ministry of the word, his elect ones among the Gentiles; see Matthew 24:30; called his "saints", who had an interest in his favour and lovingkindness, and were sanctified or set apart for his service and glory;

those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice; or, "who have made my covenant by, or on sacrifice" s; the covenant of grace, which was made with Christ from everlasting, and which was confirmed by his blood and sacrifice; this his people may be said to make with God in him, he being their head, surety, and representative: now these covenant ones he will have gathered in to himself by the effectual calling, which is usually done by the ministry of the word; for this is not to be understood of the gathering of all nations to him, before him as a Judge; but of his special people to him as a Saviour, the "Shiloh", to whom the gathering of the people was to be, Genesis 49:10.

s So Pagninus.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

A psalm of Asaph.

      1 The mighty God, even the LORD, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.   2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.   3 Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.   4 He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.   5 Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.   6 And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah.

      It is probable that Asaph was not only the chief musician, who was to put a tune to this psalm, but that he was himself the penman of it; for we read that in Hezekiah's time they praised God in the words of David and of Asaph the seer,2 Chronicles 29:30. Here is,

      I. The court called, in the name of the King of kings (Psalms 50:2; Psalms 50:2): The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken--El, Elohim, Jehovah, the God of infinite power justice and mercy, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. God is the Judge, the Son of God came for judgement into the world, and the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of judgment. All the earth is called to attend, not only because the controversy God had with his people Israel for their hypocrisy and ingratitude might safely be referred to any man of reason (nay, let the house of Israel itself judge between God and his vineyard,Isaiah 5:3), but because all the children of men are concerned to know the right way of worshipping God, in spirit and in truth, because when the kingdom of the Messiah should be set up all should be instructed in the evangelical worship, and invited to join in it (see Malachi 1:11; Acts 10:34), and because in the day of final judgment all nations shall be gathered together to receive their doom, and every man shall give an account of himself unto God.

      II. The judgment set, and the Judge taking his seat. As, when God gave the law to Israel in the wilderness, it is said, He came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir, and shone forth from Mount Paran, and came with ten thousands of his saints, and then from his right hand went a fiery law (Deuteronomy 33:2), so, with allusion to that, when God comes to reprove them for their hypocrisy, and to send forth his gospel to supersede the legal institutions, it is said here, 1. That he shall shine out of Zion, as then from the top of Sinai, Psalms 50:2; Psalms 50:2. Because in Zion his oracle was now fixed, thence his judgments upon that provoking people denounced, and thence the orders issued for the execution of them (Joel 2:1): Blow you the trumpet in Zion. Sometimes there are more than ordinary appearances of God's presence and power working with and by his word and ordinances, for the convincing of men's consciences and the reforming and refining of his church; and then God, who always dwells in Zion, may be said to shine out of Zion. Moreover, he may be said to shine out of Zion because the gospel, which set up spiritual worship, was to go forth from Mount Zion (Isaiah 2:3; Micah 4:2), and the preachers of it were to begin at Jerusalem (Luke 24:47), and Christians are said to come unto Mount Zion, to receive their instructions, Hebrews 12:22; Hebrews 12:28. Zion is here called the perfection of beauty, because it was the holy hill; and holiness is indeed the perfection of beauty. 2. That he shall come, and not keep silence, shall no longer seem to wink at the sins of men, as he had done (Psalms 50:21; Psalms 50:21), but shall show his displeasure at them, and shall also cause that mystery to be published to the world by his holy apostles which had long lain hid, that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs (Ephesians 3:5; Ephesians 3:6) and that the partition-wall of the ceremonial law should be taken down; this shall now no longer be concealed. In the great day our God shall come and shall not keep silence, but shall make those to hear his judgment that would not hearken to his law. 3. That his appearance should be very majestic and terrible: A fire shall devour before him. The fire of his judgments shall make way for the rebukes of his word, in order to the awakening of the hypocritical nation of the Jews, that the sinners in Zion, being afraid of that devouring fire (Isaiah 33:14), might be startled out of their sins. When his gospel kingdom was to be set up Christ came to send fire on the earth,Luke 12:49. The Spirit was given in cloven tongues as of fire, introduced by a rushing mighty wind, which was very tempestuous, Acts 2:2; Acts 2:3. And in the last judgment Christ shall come in flaming fire, 2 Thessalonians 1:8. See Daniel 7:9; Hebrews 10:27. 4. That as on Mount Sinai he came with ten thousands of his saints, so he shall now call to the heavens from above, to take notice of this solemn process (Psalms 50:4; Psalms 50:4), as Moses often called heaven and earth to witness against Israel (Deuteronomy 4:26; Deuteronomy 31:28; Deuteronomy 32:21), and God by his prophets, Isaiah 1:2; Micah 6:2. The equity of the judgment of the great day will be attested and applauded by heaven and earth, by saints and angels, even all the holy myriads.

      III. The parties summoned (Psalms 50:5; Psalms 50:5): Gather my saints together unto me. This may be understood either, 1. Of saints indeed: "Let them be gathered to God through Christ; let the few pious Israelites be set by themselves;" for to them the following denunciations of wrath do not belong; rebukes to hypocrites ought not to be terrors to the upright. When God will reject the services of those that only offered sacrifice, resting in the outside of the performance, he will graciously accept those who, in sacrificing, make a covenant with him, and so attend to and answer the end of the institution of sacrifices. The design of the preaching of the gospel, and the setting up of Christ's kingdom, was to gather together in one the children of God, John 11:52. And at the second coming of Jesus Christ all his saints shall be gathered together unto him (2 Thessalonians 2:1) to be assessors with him in the judgment; for the saints shall judge the world,1 Corinthians 6:2. Now it is here given as a character of the saints that they have made a covenant with God by sacrifice. Note, (1.) Those only shall be gathered to God as his saints who have, in sincerity, covenanted with him, who have taken him to be their God and given up themselves to him to be his people, and thus have joined themselves unto the Lord. (2.) It is only by sacrifice, by Christ the great sacrifice (from whom all the legal sacrifices derived what value they had), that we poor sinners can covenant with God so as to be accepted of him. There must be an atonement made for the breach of the first covenant before we can be admitted again into covenant. Or, 2. It may be understood of saints in profession, such as the people of Israel were, who are called a kingdom of priests and a holy nation,Exodus 19:6. They were, as a body politic, taken into covenant with God, the covenant of peculiarity; and it was done with great solemnity, by sacrifice,Exodus 24:8. "Let them come and hear what God has to say to them; let them receive the reproofs God sends them now by his prophets, and the gospel he will, in due time, send them by his Son, which shall supersede the ceremonial law. If these be slighted, let them expect to hear from God another way, and to be judged by that word which they will not be ruled by."

      IV. The issue of this solemn trial foretold (Psalms 50:6; Psalms 50:6): The heavens shall declare his righteousness, those heavens that were called to be witnesses to the trial (Psalms 50:4; Psalms 50:4); the people in heaven shall say, Hallelujah. True and righteous are his judgments,Revelation 19:1; Revelation 19:2. The righteousness of God in all the rebukes of his word and providence, in the establishment of his gospel (which brings in an everlasting righteousness, and in which the righteousness of God is revealed), and especially in the judgment of the great day, is what the heavens will declare; that is, 1. It will be universally known, and proclaimed to all the world. As the heavens declare the glory, the wisdom and power, of God the Creator (Psalms 19:1), so they shall no less openly declare the glory, the justice and righteousness, of God the Judge; and so loudly do they proclaim both that there is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard, as it follows there, Psalms 50:3; Psalms 50:3. 2. It will be incontestably owned and proved; who can deny what the heavens declare? Even sinners' own consciences will subscribe to it, and hell as well as heaven will be forced to acknowledge the righteousness of God. The reason given is, for God is Judge himself, and therefore, (1.) He will be just; for it is impossible he should do any wrong to any of his creatures, he never did, nor ever will. When men are employed to judge for him they may do unjustly; but, when he is Judge himself, there can be no injustice done. Is God unrighteous, who takes vengeance? The apostle, for this reason, startles at the thought of it; God forbid! for then how shall God judge the world?Romans 3:5; Romans 3:6. These decisions will be perfectly just, for against them there will lie no exception, and from them there will lie no appeal. (2.) He will be justified; God is Judge, and therefore he will not only execute justice, but he will oblige all to own it; for he will be clear when he judges,Psalms 51:4.