Psalms 50:14
Ver. 14. Offer unto God thanksgiving,.... Which is a sacrifice, Ps 50:23; and the Jews say {x}, that all sacrifices will cease in future time, the times of the Messiah, but the sacrifice of praise; and this should be offered up for all mercies, temporal and spiritual; and unto God, because they all come from him; and because such sacrifices are well pleasing to him, and are no other than our reasonable service, and agreeably to his will; and then are they offered up aright when they are offered up through Christ, the great High Priest, by whom they are acceptable unto God, and upon him the altar, which sanctifies every gift, and by faith in him, without which it is impossible to please God. Some render the word "confession" {y}; and in all thanksgivings it is necessary that men should confess their sins and unworthiness, and acknowledge the goodness of God, and ascribe all the glory to him; for to him, and him only, is this sacrifice to be offered: not to man; for that would be to sacrifice to his own net, and burn incense to his drag;
and pay thy vows unto the most High: meaning not ceremonial ones, as the vow of the Nazarite; nor to offer such and such a sacrifice, since these are distinguished from and opposed unto the sacrifices of the ceremonial law before mentioned; and much less monastic ones, as the vow of celibacy, and abstinence from certain meats at certain times; but moral, or spiritual and evangelical ones; such as devoting one's self to the Lord and to his service and worship, under the influence and in the strength of grace; signified by saying, I am the Lord's, and the giving up ourselves to him and to his churches, to walk with them in all his commands and ordinances, to which his love and grace constrain and oblige; see Isa 44:5; and particularly by them may be meant giving God the glory and praise of every mercy and deliverance, as was promised previous to it; hence those are put together, Ps 65:1. This Scripture does not oblige to the making of vows, but to the payment of them when made; see Ec 5:4; and may refer to everything a man lays himself in a solemn manner under obligation to perform, especially in religious affairs.{x} Vajikra Rabba, fol. 153. 1. & 168. 4. {y} hdwt "confessionem", Montanus, Cocceius, Gejerus, Michaelis; so Ainsworth. Psalms 50:15Ver. 15. And call upon me in the day of trouble,.... This is another part of spiritual sacrifice or worship, which is much more acceptable to God than legal sacrifices. Invocation of God includes all parts of religious worship, and particularly designs prayer, as it does here, of which God, and he only, is the object; and which should be performed in faith, in sincerity, and with fervency; and though it should be made at all times, in private and in public, yet more especially should be attended to in a time of affliction, whether of soul or body, whether of a personal, family, or public kind, Jas 5:13; and the encouragement to it is,I will deliver thee: that is, out of trouble: as he is able, so faithful is he that hath promised, and will do it. The obligation follows,and thou shall glorify me; by offering praise, Ps 50:23; ascribing the glory of the deliverance to God, and serving him in righteousness and true holiness continually. Psalms 50:16Ver. 16. But unto the wicked God saith,.... By whom are meant, not openly profane sinners; but men under a profession of religion, and indeed who were teachers of others, as appears from the following expostulation with them: the Scribes, Pharisees, and doctors among the Jews, are designed; and so Kimchi interprets it of their wise men, who learnt and taught the law, but did not act according to it. It seems as if the preceding verses respected the truly godly among the Jews, who believed in Christ, and yet were zealous of the law; and retained legal sacrifices; as such there were, Ac 21:20; and that these words, and what follow, are spoken to hypocrites among them, who sat in Moses's chair, and said, and did not; were outwardly righteous before men, but inwardly full of wickedness, destitute of the grace of God and righteousness of Christ;what hast thou to do to declare my statutes; the laws of God, which were given to the people of Israel; some of which were of a moral, others of a ceremonial, and others of a judicial nature; and there were persons appointed to teach and explain these to the people, as the priests and Levites: now some of these were abrogated, and not to be declared at all in the times this psalm refers to; and as for others, those persons were very improper to teach and urge the observance of them, when they themselves did not keep them; and especially it was wrong in them to declare them to the people, for such purposes as they did, namely, to obtain life and righteousness by them;or [that] thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? which is to be understood, not of the covenant of works made with Adam, and now broke; nor of the pure covenant of grace, as administered under the Gospel dispensation, of which Christ is the Mediator, and the Gospel a transcript, since both were rejected by these persons; but the covenant at Mount Sinai, which was a typical one; and being in some sense faulty, was now antiquated, and ought to have ceased; and therefore these men are blamed for taking it in their mouths, and urging it on the people: and besides, they had no true sight of and faith in the thing exhibited by it; and moreover were not steadfast, nor did they continue in it, like their fathers before them, Ps 78:37 Heb 8:7. Psalms 50:17Ver. 17. Seeing thou hatest instruction,.... Or "correction" {z}; to be reproved or reformed by the statutes and covenant they declared to others; they taught others, but not themselves, Ro 2:21; or evangelical instruction, the doctrines of grace, and of Christ; for, as concerning the Gospel, they were enemies, Ro 11:28; and since they were haters of that, they ought not to have been teachers of others;and castest my words behind thee; the doctrines of the Gospel, which they despised and rejected with the utmost abhorrence, as loathsome, and not fit to be looked upon and into; and also the ordinances of it, the counsel of God, which they rejected against themselves, Ac 13:45.{z} dowm "correctionem", Vatablus; "correptionem", Gejerus. Psalms 50:18Ver. 18. When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him,.... Or "didst run with him" {a}; joined and agreed with him in the commission of the same things; which was literally true of the Scribes and Pharisees: they devoured widows' houses, and robbed them of their substance, under a pretence of long prayers; they consented to the deeds of Barabbas, a robber, when they preferred him to Jesus Christ; and they joined with the thieves on the cross in reviling him: and, in a spiritual sense, they stole away the word of the Lord, every man from his neighbour; took away the key of knowledge from the people, and put false glosses upon the sacred writings;and hast been a partaker with adulterers; these teachers of the law were guilty both of theft and adultery, Ro 2:21; they are called by our Lord an adulterous generation, Mt 12:39; and they were so in a literal sense; see Joh 8:4; and in a figurative one, adulterating the word of God, and handling it deceitfully.{a} wme Urt sunetrecev autw, Sept. "currebas cum eo", V. L. sic Eth. Syr. Targum, so Vatablus, Musculus, Piscator, Ainsworth. Psalms 50:19Ver. 19. Thou givest thy mouth to evil,.... To speak evil things against Christ, his doctrines, ordinances, ministers and people; and to deliver out evil doctrines, pernicious to the souls of men;and thy tongue frameth deceit; puts and joins together deceitful words in a very artful manner, by which simple and unstable minds are beguiled. Psalms 50:20Ver. 20. Thou sittest,.... Either in the chair of Moses, or on the seat of judgment, in the great sanhedrim of the nation; or, as Aben Ezra paraphrases it, "in the seat of the scornful";[and] speakest against thy brother; even to pass sentence upon him, to put him to death for professing faith in Christ, Mt 10:21;thou slanderest thine own mother's son; the apostles and disciples of Christ, who were their brethren and kinsmen according to the flesh; and even our Lord Jesus Christ himself, who was bone of their bone, and flesh of their flesh. Psalms 50:21Ver. 21. These things hast thou done,.... "These evil works", as the Targum; which they had done over and over again without remorse, with the greatest pleasure, and with promises of impunity to themselves. This is a confirmation of the charge made by the omniscient God, who saw and knew all their actions;and I kept silence; spoke not by terrible things in righteousness, deferred the execution of judgment, exercised forbearance and patience, and gave space to repent; which being despised, they were hardened yet more and more in sin; see Ec 8:11. This refers to the space of time between the crucifixion of Christ and the destruction of Jerusalem;thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself; either that he did not see the things committed by them in secret, as the things before mentioned, theft, adultery, slander, and detraction, commonly are; because they could not see such actions done by others: or that he took pleasure in them, as they did, and that he approved of their crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth, and of their contempt of his Gospel, and of the persecution of his followers;[but] I will reprove thee: not verbally by the ministry of the word, much less effectually and savingly by his Spirit; nor in a way of fatherly correction and chastisement; but by sore judgments; by sending the Roman armies to burn their city and temple, and carry them captive;and set [them] in order before thine eyes; that is, their sins, and thereby fully confute their vain imagination, that either he did not take notice of them, or else approved of them. This signifies a formal process against them, as in a court of judicature; bringing in a regular charge and accusation against them, and an orderly disposition of their sins, as to time, place, and circumstances, committed by them, and a strong evidence or thorough conviction of them, so as not to be denied and gainsaid by them: or a setting them in battle array, as in Job 6:4; in rank and file; sins being what war against men, and bring upon them utter ruin and destruction; as the sins of the Jews fought against them, and destroyed them; see Jer 2:19. Psalms 50:22Ver. 22. Now consider this,.... The evils that had been committed, and repent of them; for repentance is an after thought and reconsideration of sin, and humiliation for it; that the Lord, was not like them, not an approver of sin, but a reprover for it; and what would be their latter end, what all this would issue in, in case of impenitence;ye that forget God; that there is a God, his being, perfections, word, works, and benefits;lest I tear [you] in pieces; as a lion, leopard, or bear; see Ho 13:7; which was accomplished in the destruction of Jerusalem; when both their civil and ecclesiastical state were torn in pieces; their city and temple levelled with the ground, and not one stone left upon another; and they scattered about in the earth;and [there be] none to deliver; which denotes their utter and irreparable ruin, till the time comes they shall turn to the Lord; see Isa 42:22. Psalms 50:23Ver. 23. Whoso offereth praise,...., Which is exhorted to;See Gill on "Ps 50:14";glorifieth me; celebrates the divine perfections, gives God the glory of all mercies; which honours him, and is more grateful and well pleasing to him than all burnt offerings and sacrifices;and to him that ordereth [his] conversation [aright]; according to the rule of God's word, and as becomes the Gospel of Christ; who walks inoffensively to all, circumspectly and wisely in the world, and in love to the saints; in wisdom towards them that are without, and in peace with them that are within; who is a follower of God, of Christ, and of his people; and who lives so as to glorify God, and cause others to glorify him likewise: or that chooses for himself the right way, as Aben Ezra, the right way to eternal life; and the sense is, he that puts or sets his heart upon it, and is in pursuit after the evangelical way of life. To himwill I show the salvation of God; or, "cause to see" or "enjoy it" {b}; not only temporal salvation from time to time, but spiritual and eternal salvation; to see interest in it, and to possess it; and particularly Christ, the author of it, who is the salvation of God's providing, appointing, and sending, and whose glory is greatly concerned therein; see Isa 52:10.{b} wnada "videre faciam eum", Montanus; "faciam ut is fruatur", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
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