The refrain is slightly but significantly varied. Instead of "abides not," it reads "and has not understanding." The alteration in the Hebrew is very slight, the two verbs differing only by one letter, and the similarity in sound is no doubt the reason for the selection of the word. But the change brings out the limitations under which the first form of the refrain is true, and guards the whole teaching of the psalm from being taken to be launched at rich men as such. The illuminative addition in this second form shows that it is the abuse of riches, when they steal away that recognition of God and of man's mortality which underlies the psalmist's conception of _understanding_, that is doomed to destruction like the beasts that are put to silence. The two forms of the refrain are, then, precisely parallel to our Lord's two sayings, when He first declared that it was hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, and then, in answer to His disciples' surprise, put His dictum in the more definite form, "How hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom!"
1 El, Elohim, Jehovah has spoken, and called the earth From the place of sunrise to its going down. 2 From Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shone. 3 Our God will come, and cannot be silent: Fire devours before Him, And round Him it is tempestuous exceedingly. 4 He calls to the heavens above, And to the earth, that He may judge His people: 5 "Assemble to Me My favoured ones, Who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice." 6 And the heavens declare His righteousness; For God--the judge is He. Selah.
7 Hearken, My people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will witness against thee: Elohim, thy God am I. 8 Not on [account of] thy sacrifices will I reprove thee; Yea, thy burnt offerings are before me continually. 9 I will not take a bullock out of thy house, Nor out of thy folds he-goats. 10 For Mine is every beast of the forest, The cattle on the mountains in thousands. 11 I know every bird of the mountains, And whatever moves on the field is before Me. 12 If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: For Mine is the world and its fulness. 13 Shall I eat the flesh of bulls, or the blood of he-goats shall I drink? 14 Sacrifice to God thanksgiving; And pay thy vows to the Most High: 15 And call on Me in the day of trouble. I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me. 16 But to the wicked [man] God saith, What hast thou to do to tell My statutes, And that thou takest My covenant into thy mouth? 17 And [all the while] thou hatest correction, And flingest My words behind thee. 18 If thou seest a robber, thou art pleased with him; And with adulterers is thy portion. 19 Thy mouth thou dost let loose for evil, And thy tongue weaves deceit. 20 Thou sittest [and] speakest against thy brother; At thine own mother's son thou aimest a thrust. 21 These things hast thou done, and I was silent; Thou thoughtest that I was altogether like thyself: I will reprove thee, and order [the proofs] before thine eyes.
22 Consider now this, ye that forget God, Lest I tear you in pieces, and there be no deliverer: 23 He who offers thanksgiving as sacrifice glorifies Me; And he who orders his way [aright]--I will show him the salvation of God.
This is the first of the Asaph psalms, and is separated from the other eleven (Psalms lxxiii.-lxxxiii.) for reasons that do not appear. Probably they are no more recondite than the verbal resemblance between the summons to all the earth at the beginning of Psalm xlix. and the similar proclamation in the first verses of Psalm l. The arrangement of the Psalter is often obviously determined by such slight links. The group has certain features in common, of which some appear here: _e.g._, the fondness for descriptions of theophanies; the prominence given to God's judicial action; the preference for the Divine names of El, Adonai (the Lord), Elyōn (Most High). Other peculiarities of the class--_e.g._, the love for the designation "Joseph" for the nation, and delight in the image of the Divine Shepherd--are not found in this psalm. It contains no historical allusions which aid in dating it. The leading idea of it--viz., the depreciation of outward sacrifice--is unhesitatingly declared by many to have been impossible in the days of the Levite Asaph, who was one of David's musical staff. But is it so certain that such thoughts were foreign to the period in which Samuel declared that obedience was better than sacrifice? Certainly the tone of the psalm is that of later prophets, and there is much probability in the view that Asaph is the name of the family or guild of singers from whom these psalms came rather than that of an individual.