TITLE. A Psalm of Asaph. This is the
first of the Psalms of Asaph, but whether the production of that
eminent musician, or merely dedicated to him, we cannot tell.
The titles of twelve Psalms bear his name, but it could not in
all of them be meant to ascribe their authorship to him, for
several of these Psalms are of too late a date to have been
composed by the same writer as the others. There was an Asaph in
David's time, who was one of David's chief musicians, and his
family appear to have continued long after in their hereditary
office of temple musicians. An Asaph is mentioned as a recorder
or secretary in the days of Hezekiah 2Ki 18:18, and another was
keeper of the royal forests under Artaxerxes. That Asaph did
most certainly write some of the Psalms is clear from 2Ch 29:30,
where it is recorded that the Levites were commanded to
"sing praises unto the Lord with the words of David, and of
Asaph the seer, "but that other Asaphic Psalms were not of
his composition, but were only committed to his care as a
musician, is equally certain from 1Ch 16:7, where David is said
to have delivered a Psalm into the hand of Asaph and his
brethren. It matters little to us whether he wrote or sang, for
poet and musician are near akin, and if one composes words and
another sets them to music, they rejoice together before the
Lord.
DIVISION. The Lord is represented as
summoning the whole earth to hear his declaration, Ps 50:1-6; he
then declares the nature of the worship which he accepts, Ps
50:7-15, accuses the ungodly of breaches of the precepts of the
second table, Ps 50:16-21, and closes the court with a word of
threatening, Ps 50:22, and a direction of grace, Ps 50:23.
EXPOSITION
Verse 1. The mighty God, even the Lord. El,
Elohim, Jehovah, three glorious names for the God of Israel. To
render the address the more impressive, these august titles are
mentioned, just as in royal decrees the names and dignities of
monarchs are placed in the forefront. Here the true God is
described as Almighty, as the only and perfect object of
adoration and as the self existent One. Hath spoken, and
called the earth from the rising of the sun until the going down
thereof. The dominion of Jehovah extends over the whole
earth, and therefore to all mankind is his decree directed. The
east and the west are bidden to hear the God who makes his sun
to rise on every quarter of the globe. Shall the summons of the
great King be despised? Will we dare provoke him to anger by
slighting his call?
Verse 2. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God
hath shined. The Lord is represented not only as speaking to
the earth, but as coming forth to reveal the glory of his
presence to an assembled universe. God of old dwelt in Zion
among his chosen people, but here the beams of his splendour are
described as shining forth upon all nations. The sun was spoken
of in the first verse, but here is a far brighter sun. The
majesty of God is most conspicuous among his own elect, but is
not confined to them; the church is not a dark lantern, but a
candlestick. God shines not only in Zion, but out of her. She is
made perfect in beauty by his indwelling, and that beauty is
seen by all observers when the Lord shines forth from her.
Observe how with trumpet voice and flaming ensign the infinite
Jehovah summons the heavens and the earth to hearken to his
word.
Verse 3. Our God shall come. The psalmist
speaks of himself and his brethren as standing in immediate
anticipation of the appearing of the Lord upon the scene.
"He comes, "they say, "our covenant God is
coming; "they can hear his voice from afar, and perceive
the splendour of his attending train. Even thus should we await
the long promised appearing of the Lord from heaven. And
shall not keep silence. He comes to speak, to plead with his
people, to accuse and judge the ungodly. He has been silent long
in patience, but soon he will speak with power. What a moment of
awe when the Omnipotent is expected to reveal himself! What will
be the reverent joy and solemn expectation when the poetic scene
of this Psalm becomes in the last great day an actual reality! A
fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous
round about him. Flame and hurricane are frequently
described as the attendants of the divine appearance. "Our
God is a consuming fire." "At the brightness that was
before him his thick clouds passed, hailstones and coals of
fire." Ps 18:12. "He rode upon a cherub, and did fly;
yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind." "The Lord
Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in
flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God."
2Th 1:7-8. Fire is the emblem of justice in action, and the
tempest is a token of his overwhelming power. Who will not
listen in solemn silence when such is the tribunal from which
the judge pleads with heaven and earth?
Verse 4. He shall call to the heavens from above,
and to the earth. Angels and men, the upper and the lower
worlds, are called to witness the solemn scene. The whole
creation shall stand in court to testify to the solemnity and
the truth of the divine pleading. Both earth beneath and heaven
above shall unite in condemning sin; the guilty shall have no
appeal, though all are summoned that they may appeal if they
dare. Both angels and men have seen the guilt of mankind and the
goodness of the Lord, they shall therefore confess the justice
of the divine utterance, and say "Amen" to the
sentence of the supreme Judge. Alas, ye despisers! What will ye
do and to whom will ye fly? That he may judge his people.
Judgment begins at the house of God. The trial of the visible
people of God will be a most awful ceremonial. He will
thoroughly purge his floor. He will discern between his nominal
and his real people, and that in open court, the whole universe
looking on. My soul, when this actually takes place, how will it
fare with thee? Canst thou endure the day of his coming?
Verse 5. Gather my saints together unto me. Go,
ye swift winged messengers, and separate the precious from the
vile. Gather out the wheat of the heavenly garner. Let the long
scattered, but elect people, known by my separating grace to be
my sanctified ones, be now assembled in one place. All are not
saints who seem to be so—a severance must be made; therefore
let all who profess to be saints be gathered before my throne of
judgment, and let them hear the word which will search and try
the whole, that the false may be convicted and the true
revealed. Those that have made a covenant with me by
sacrifice; this is the grand test, and yet some have dared
to imitate it. The covenant was ratified by the slaying of
victims, the cutting and dividing of offerings; this the
righteous have done by accepting with true faith the great
propitiatory sacrifice, and this the pretenders have done in
merely outward form. Let them be gathered before the throne for
trial and testing, and as many as have really ratified the
covenant by faith in the Lord Jesus shall be attested before all
worlds as the objects of distinguishing grace, while formalists
shall learn that outward sacrifices are all in vain. Oh, solemn
assize, how does my soul bow in awe at the prospect thereof!
Verse 6. And the heavens shall declare his
righteousness. Celestial intelligences and the spirits of
just men made perfect, shall magnify the infallible judgment of
the divine tribunal. Now they doubtless wonder at the hypocrisy
of men; then they shall equally marvel at the exactness of the
severance between the true and the false. For God is judge
himself. This is the reason for the correctness of the
judgment. Priests of old, and churches of later times, were
readily deceived, but not so the all discerning Lord. No deputy
judge sits on the great white throne; the injured Lord of all
himself weighs the evidence and allots the vengeance or reward.
The scene in the Psalm is a grand poetical conception, but it is
also an inspired prophecy of that day which shall burn as an
oven, when the Lord shall discern between him that feareth and
him that feareth him not. Selah. Here we may well pause
in reverent prostration, in deep searching of heart, in humble
prayer, and in awe struck expectation.
Verses 7-15. The address which follows is directed to
the professed people of God. It is clearly, in the first place,
meant for Israel; but is equally applicable to the visible
church of God in every age. It declares the futility of external
worship when spiritual faith is absent, and the mere outward
ceremonial is rested in.
Verse 7. Hear, O my people, and I will speak.
Because Jehovah speaks and they are avowedly his own people,
they are bound to give earnest heed. "Let me speak, "saith
the great I AM. The heavens and earth are but listeners, the
Lord is about both to testify and to judge. O Israel, and I
will testify against thee. Their covenant name is mentioned
to give point to the address; it was a double evil that the
chosen nation should become so carnal, so unspiritual, so false,
so heartless to their God. God himself, whose eyes sleep not,
who is not misled by rumour, but sees for himself, enters on the
scene as witness against his favoured nation. Alas! for us when
God, even our fathers' God, testifies to the hypocrisy of the
visible church. I am God, even thy God. He had taken them
to be his peculiar people above all other nations, and they had
in the most solemn manner avowed that he was their God. Hence
the special reason for calling them to account. The law began
with, "I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee up out of
the land of Egypt, "and now the session of their judgment
opens with the same reminder of their singular position,
privilege, and responsibility. It is not only that Jehovah is
God, but thy God, O Israel; this is that makes thee so
amenable to his searching reproofs.
Verse 8. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices
or thy burnt offerings, to have been ever before me. Though
they had not failed in maintaining his outward worship, or even
if they had, he was not about to call them to account for this:
a more weighty matter was now under consideration. They thought
the daily sacrifices and the abounding burnt offerings to be
everything: he counted them nothing if the inner sacrifice of
heart devotion had been neglected. What was greatest with them
was least with God. It is even so today. Sacraments (so called)
and sacred rites are them main concern with unconverted but
religious men, but with the Most High the spiritual worship
which they forget is the sole matter. Let the external be
maintained by all means, according to the divine command, but if
the secret and spiritual be not in them, they are a vain
oblation, a dead ritual, and even an abomination before the
Lord.
Verse 9. I will take no bullock out of thy house.
Foolishly they dreamed that bullocks with horns and hoofs could
please the Lord, when indeed he sought for hearts and souls.
Impiously they fancied that Jehovah needed these supplies, and
that if they fed his altar with their fat beasts, he would be
content. What he intended for their instruction, they made their
confidence. They remembered not that "to obey is better
than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." Nor
he goats out of thy folds. He mentions these lesser victims
as if to rouse their common sense to see that the great Creator
could find not satisfaction in mere animal offerings. If he
needed these, he would not appeal to their scanty stalls and
folds; in fact, he here refuses to take so much as one, if they
brought them under the false and dishonouring view, that they
were in themselves pleasing to him. This shows that the
sacrifices of the law were symbolical of higher and spiritual
things, and were not pleasing to God except under their typical
aspect. The believing worshipper looking beyond the outward was
accepted, the unspiritual who had no respect to their meaning
was wasting his substance, and blaspheming the God of heaven.
Verse 10. For every beast of the forest is mine.
How could they imagine that the Most High God, possessor of
heaven and earth, had need of beasts, when all the countless
hordes that find shelter in a thousand forests and wildernesses
belong to him? And the cattle upon a thousand hills. Not
alone the wild beasts, but also the tamer creatures are all his
own. Even if God cared for these things, he could supply
himself. Their cattle were not, after all, their own, but were
still the great Creator's property, why then should he be
beholden to them. From Dan to Beersheba, from Nebaioth to
Lebanon, there fed not a beast which was not marked with the
name of the great Shepherd; why, then, should he crave oblations
of Israel? What a slight is here put even upon sacrifices of
divine appointment when wrongly viewed as in themselves pleasing
to God! And all this to be so expressly stated under the law!
How much more is this clear under the gospel, when it is so much
more plainly revealed, that "God is a Spirit, and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth"? Ye
Ritualists, ye Sacramentarians, ye modern Pharisees, what say ye
to this?
Verse 11. I know all the fowls of the mountain.
All the winged creatures are under my inspection and near my
hand; what then can be the value of your pairs of turtledoves,
and your two young pigeons? The great Lord not only feeds all
his creatures, but is well acquainted with each one; how
wondrous is this knowledge! And the wild beasts of the fields
are mine. The whole population moving over the plain belongs
to me; why then should I seek you beeves and rams? In me all
things live and move; how mad are you to suppose that I desire
your living things! A spiritual God demands other life than that
which is seen in animals; he looks for spiritual sacrifice; for
the love, the trust, the praise, the life of your hearts.
Verse 12. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee.
Strange conception, a hungry God! Yet if such an absurd ideal
could be truth, and if the Lord hungered for meat, he would not
ask it of men. He could provide for himself out of his own
possessions; he would not turn suppliant to his own creatures.
Even under the grossest ideal of God, faith in outward
ceremonies is ridiculous. Do men fancy that the Lord needs
banners, and music, and incense, and fine linen? If he did, the
stars would emblazon his standard, the winds and the waves
become his orchestra, ten thousand times ten thousand flowers
would breathe forth perfume, the snow should be his alb, the
rainbow his girdle, the clouds of light his mantle. O fools and
slow of heart, ye worship ye know not what! For the world is
mine, and the fulness thereof. What can he need who is owner
of all things and able to create as he wills? Thus
overwhelmingly does the Lord pour forth his arguments upon
formalists.
Verse 13. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink
the blood of goats? Are you so infatuated as to think this?
Is the great I AM subject to corporeal wants, and are they to be
thus grossly satisfied? Heathens thought thus of their idols,
but dare ye think thus of the God who made the heavens and the
earth? Can ye have fallen so low as to think thus of me, O
Israel? What vivid reasoning is here! How the fire flashes dart
into the idiot faces of trusters in outward forms! Ye dupes of
Rome, can ye read this and be unmoved? The expostulation is
indignant; the questions utterly confound; the conclusion is
inevitable; heart worship only can be acceptable with the true
God. It is inconceivable that outward things can gratify him,
except so far as through them our faith and love express
themselves.
Verse 14. Offer unto God thanksgiving. No
longer look at your sacrifices as in themselves gifts pleasing
to me, but present them as the tributes of your gratitude; it is
then that I will accept them, but not while your poor souls have
no love and no thankfulness to offer me. The sacrifices, as
considered in themselves, are contemned, but the internal
emotions of love consequent upon a remembrance of divine
goodness, are commended as the substance, meaning, and soul of
sacrifice. Even when the legal ceremonials were not abolished,
this was true, and when they came to an end, this truth was more
than ever made manifest. Not for want of bullocks on the altar
was Israel blamed, but for want of thankful adoration before the
Lord. She excelled in the visible, but in the inward grace,
which is the one thing needful, she sadly failed. Too many in
these days are in the same condemnation. And pay thy vows
unto the most High. Let the sacrifice be really presented to
the God who seeth the heart, pay to him the love you promised,
the service you covenanted to render, the loyalty of heart you
have vowed to maintain. O for grace to do this! O that we may be
graciously enabled to love God, and live up to our profession!
To be, indeed, the servants of the Lord, the lovers of Jesus,
this is our main concern. What avails our baptism, to what end
our gatherings at the Lord's table, to what purpose our solemn
assemblies, if we have not the fear of the Lord, and vital
godliness reigning within our bosoms?
Verse 15. And call upon me in the day of trouble.
Oh blessed verse! Is this then true sacrifice? Is it an offering
to ask an alms of heaven? It is even so. The King himself so
regards it. For herein is faith manifested, herein is love
proved, for in the hour of peril we fly to those we love. It
seems a small think to pray to God when we are distressed, yet
is it a more acceptable worship than the mere heartless
presentation of bullocks and he goats. This is a voice from the
throne, and how full of mercy it is! It is very tempestuous
round about Jehovah, and yet what soft drops of mercy's rain
drop from the bosom of the storm! Who would not offer such
sacrifices? Troubled one, haste to present it now! Who shall say
that Old Testament saints did not know the gospel? Its very
spirit and essence breathes like frankincense all around this
holy Psalm. I will deliver thee. The reality of thy
sacrifice of prayer shall be seen in its answer. Whether the
smoke of burning bulls be sweet to me or no, certainly thy
humble prayer shall be, and I will prove it so by my gracious
reply to thy supplication. This promise is very large, and may
refer both to temporal and eternal deliverances; faith can turn
it every way, like the sword of the cherubim. And thou shalt
glorify me. Thy prayer will honour me, and thy grateful
perception of my answering mercy will also glorify me. The goats
and bullocks would prove a failure, but the true sacrifice never
could. The calves of the stall might be a vain oblation, but not
the calves of sincere lips. Thus we see what is true ritual.
Here we read inspired rubrics. Spiritual worship is the great,
the essential matter; all else without it is rather provoking
than pleasing to God. As helps to the soul, outward offerings
were precious, but when men went not beyond them, even their
hallowed things were profaned in the view of heaven.
Verses 16-21. Here the Lord turns to the manifestly
wicked among his people; and such there were even in the highest
places of his sanctuary. If moral formalists had been rebuked,
how much more these immoral pretenders to fellowship with
heaven? If the lack of heart spoiled the worship of the more
decent and virtuous, how much more would violations of the law,
committed with a high hand, corrupt the sacrifices of the
wicked?
Verse 16. But unto the wicked God saith. To the
breakers of the second table he now addresses himself; he had
previously spoken to the neglectors of the first. What hast
thou to do to declare my statutes? You violate openly my
moral law, and yet are great sticklers for my ceremonial
commands! What have you to do with them? What interest can you
have in them? Do you dare to teach my law to others, and profane
it yourselves? What impudence, what blasphemy is this! Even if
you claim to be sons of Levi, what of that? Your wickedness
disqualifies you, disinherits you, puts you out of the
succession. It should silence you, and would if my people were
as spiritual as I would have them, for they would refuse to hear
you, and to pay you the portion of temporal things which is due
to my true servants. You count up your holy days, you contend
for rituals, you fight for externals, and yet the weightier
matters of the law ye despise! Ye blind guides, ye strain out
gnats and swallow camels; your hypocrisy is written on your
foreheads and manifest to all. Or that thou shouldest take my
covenant in thy mouth. Ye talk of being in covenant with me,
and yet trample my holiness beneath you feet as swine trample
upon pearls; think ye that I can brook this? Your mouths are
full of lying and slander, and yet ye mouth my words as if they
were fit morsels for such as you! How horrible and evil it is,
that to this day we see men explaining doctrines who despise
precepts! They make grace a coverlet for sin, and even judge
themselves to be sound in the faith, while they are rotten in
life. We need the grace of the doctrines as much as the
doctrines of grace, and without it an apostle is but a Judas,
and a fair spoken professor is an arrant enemy of the cross of
Christ.
Verse 17. Seeing thou hatest instruction.
Profane professors are often too wise to learn, too besotted
with conceit to be taught of God. What a monstrosity that men
should declare those statutes which with their hearts they do
not know, and which in their lives they openly disavow! Woe unto
the men who hate the instruction which they take upon themselves
to give. And castest my words behind thee. Despising
them, throwing them away as worthless, putting them out of sight
as obnoxious. Many boasters of the law did this practically; and
in these last days there are pickers and choosers of God's words
who cannot endure the practical part of Scripture; they are
disgusted at duty, they abhor responsibility, they disembowel
texts of their plain meanings, they wrest the Scriptures to
their own destruction. It is an ill sign when a man dares not
look a Scripture in the face, and an evidence of brazen
impudence when he tries to make it mean something less
condemnatory of his sins, and endeavours to prove it to be less
sweeping in its demands. How powerful is the argument that such
men have no right to take the covenant of God into their mouths,
seeing that its spirit does not regulate their lives!
Verse 18. When thou sawest a thief, then thou
consentedst with him. Moral honesty cannot be absent where
true grace is present. Those who excuse others in trickery are
guilty themselves; those who use others to do unjust actions for
them are doubly so. If a man be ever so religious, if his own
actions do not rebuke dishonesty, he is an accomplice with
thieves. If we can acquiesce in anything which is not upright,
we are not upright ourselves, and our religion is a lie. And
hast been partaker with adulterers. One by one the moral
precepts are thus broken by the sinners in Zion. Under the cloak
of piety, unclean livers conceal themselves. We may do this by
smiling at unchaste jests, listening to indelicate expressions,
and conniving at licentious behaviour in our presence; and if we
thus act, how dare we preach, or lead public prayer, or wear the
Christian name? See how the Lord lays righteousness to the
plummet. How plainly all this declares that without holiness no
man shall see the Lord! No amount of ceremonial or theological
accuracy can cover dishonesty and fornication: these filthy
things must be either purged from us by the blood of Jesus, or
they will kindle a fire in God's anger which will burn even to
the lowest hell.
Verse 19. Thou givest thy mouth to evil. Sins
against the ninth commandment are here mentioned. The man who
surrenders himself to the habit of slander is a vile hypocrite
if he associates himself with the people of God. A man's health
is readily judged by his tongue. A foul mouth, a foul heart.
Some slander almost as often as they breathe, and yet are great
upholders of the church, and great sticklers for holiness. To
what depths will not they go in evil, who delight in spreading
it with their tongues? And thy tongue frameth deceit.
This is a more deliberate sort of slander, where the man
dexterously elaborates false witness, and concocts methods of
defamation. There is an ingenuity of calumny in some men, and,
alas! even in some who are thought to be followers of the Lord
Jesus. They manufacture falsehoods, weave them in their loom,
hammer them on their anvil, and then retail their wares in every
company. Are these accepted with God? Though they bring their
wealth to the altar, and speak eloquently of truth and of
salvation, have they any favour with God? We should blaspheme
the holy God if we were to think so. They are corrupt in his
sight, a stench in his nostrils. He will cast all liars into
hell. Let them preach, and pray, and sacrifice as they will;
till they become truthful, the God of truth loathes them
utterly.
Verse 20. Thou sittest and speakest against thy
brother. He sits down to it, makes it his meat, studies it,
resolves upon it, becomes a master of defamation, occupies the
chair of calumny. His nearest friend is not safe, his dearest
relative escapes not. Thou slanderest thine own mother's son.
He ought to love him best, but he has an ill word for him. The
son of one's own mother was to the Oriental a very tender
relation; but the wretched slanderer knows no claims of kindred.
He stabs his brother in the dark, and aims a blow at him who
came forth of the same womb; yet he wraps himself in the robe of
hypocrisy, and dreams that he is a favourite of heaven, an
accepted worshipper of the Lord. Are such monsters to be met
with nowadays? Alas! they pollute our churches still, and are
roots of bitterness, spots on our solemn feasts, wandering stars
for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. Perhaps
some such may read these lines, but they will probably read them
in vain; their eyes are too dim to see their own condition,
their hearts are waxen gross, their ears are dull of hearing;
they are given up to a strong delusion to believe a lie, that
they may be damned.
Verse 21. These things hast thou done, and I kept
silence. No swift judgment overthrew the
sinner—longsuffering reigned; no thunder was heard in
threatening, and no bolt of fire was hurled in execution. Thou
thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself. The
inference drawn from the Lord's patience was infamous; the
respited culprit thought his judge to be one of the same order
as himself. He offered sacrifice, and deemed it accepted; he
continued in sin, and remained unpunished, and therefore he
rudely said, "Why need believe these crazy prophets? God
cares not how we live so long as we pay our tithes. Little does
he consider how we get the plunder, so long as we bring a
bullock to his altar." What will not men imagine of the
Lord? At one time they liken the glory of Israel to a calf, and
anon unto their brutish selves. But I will reprove thee.
At last I will break silence and let them know my mind. And
set them in order before thine eyes. I will marshall thy
sins in battle array. I will make thee see them, I will put them
down item by item, classified and arranged. Thou shalt know that
if silent awhile, I was never blind or deaf. I will make thee
perceive what thou hast tried to deny. I will leave the seat of
mercy for the throne of judgment, and there I will let thee see
how great the difference between thee and me.
Verse 22. Now or oh! it is a word of
entreaty, for the Lord is loath even to let the most ungodly run
on to destruction. Consider this; take these truths to
heart, ye who trust in ceremonies and ye who live in vice, for
both of you sin in that ye forget God. Bethink you how
unaccepted you are, and turn unto the Lord. See how you have
mocked the eternal, and repent of your iniquities. Lest I
tear you in pieces, as the lion rends his prey, and there
be none to deliver, no Saviour, no refuge, no hope. Ye
reject the Mediator: beware, for ye will sorely need one in the
day of wrath, and none will be near to plead for you. How
terrible, how complete, how painful, how humiliating, will be
the destruction of the wicked! God uses no soft words, or velvet
metaphors, nor may his servants do so when they speak of the
wrath to come. O reader, consider this.
Verse 23. Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me.
Praise is the best sacrifice; true, hearty, gracious
thanksgiving from a renewed mind. Not the lowing of bullocks
bound to the altar, but the songs of redeemed men are the music
which the ear of Jehovah delights in. Sacrifice your loving
gratitude, and God is honoured thereby. And to him that
ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of
God. Holy living is a choice evidence of salvation. He who
submits his whole way to divine guidance, and is careful to
honour God in his life, brings an offering which the Lord
accepts through his dear Son; and such a one shall be more and
more instructed, and made experimentally to know the Lord's
salvation. He needs salvation, for the best ordering of the life
cannot save us, but that salvation he shall have. Not to
ceremonies, not to unpurified lips, is the blessing promised,
but to grateful hearts and holy lives. O Lord, give us to stand
in the judgment with those who have worshipped thee aright and
have seen thy salvation.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Whole Psalm. The exordium or beginning of this Psalm
is the most grand and striking that can possibly be
imagined—the speaker GOD, the audience an assembled world! We
cannot compare or assimilate the scene here presented to us with
any human resemblance; nor do I imagine that earth will ever
behold such a day till that hour when the trumpet of the
archangel shall sound and shall gather all the nations of the
earth from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other;
when the dead, small and great, shall stand before God, and the
sea shall give up the dead which are in it, and death and hell
shall deliver up the dead that are in them. Barton Bouchier.
Verse 1. El, Elohim, Jehovah has spoken! So
reads the Hebrew. Andrew A. Bonar.
Verse 1. (first clause). Some have observed
that these three names, El, Elohim, Jehovah, here
mentioned, have three very distinct accents set to them, and
which being joined to a verb singular (dbd), hath spoken,
contains the mystery of the trinity of Persons in the unity of
the divine Essence. John Gill.
Verse 1. And called the earth, etc., i.e.,
all the inhabitants of the earth he has commanded to come as
witnesses and spectators of the judgment. Simon de Muis.
Verses 1-5.
No more shall atheists mock his long delay;
His vengeance sleeps no more; behold the day!
Behold!—the Judge descends; his guards are nigh,
Tempests and fire attend him down the sky.
When God appears, all nature shall adore him.
While sinners tremble, saints rejoice before him.
Heaven, earth and hell, draw near; let all things come,
To hear my justice, and the sinner's doom;
But gather first my saints (the Judge commands),
Bring them, ye angels, from their distant lands.
When Christ returns, wake every cheerful passion,
And shout, ye saints; he comes for your salvation.
—Isaac Watts.
Verse 5. Gather, etc. To whom are these words
addressed? Many suppose to the angels, as the ministers of God's
will; but it is unnecessary to make the expression more definite
than it is in the Psalm. J. J. Stewart Perowne.
Verse 5. My saints, the objects of my mercy,
those whom I have called and specially distinguished. The term
is here descriptive of a relation, not of an intrinsic quality. J.
A. Alexander.
Verse 5. Gather my saints together unto me.
There is a double or twofold gathering to Christ. There is a
gathering unto Christ by faith, a gathering within the bond of
the covenant, a gathering into the family of God, a gathering
unto the root of Jesse, standing up for an ensign of the people.
"In that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall
stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles
seek; and his rest shall be glorious." Isa 11:10. This is
the main end of the gospel, the great work of ministers, the
gathering of sinners unto Christ. But then there is a gathering
at the general judgment; and this is the fathering that is here
spoken of. This gathering is consequential to the other. Christ
will gather none to him at the last day but those that are
gathered to him by faith here; he will give orders to gather
together unto him all these, and none but these, that have taken
hold of his covenant.
I would speak of Christ's owning and acknowledging the saints
at his second coming. His owning and acknowledging them is
imported in his giving these orders: Gather my saints
together unto me. ... Now upon this head I mention the
things following:—1. Saintship will be the only mark of
distinction in that day. There are many marks of distinction
now; but these will all cease, and this only will remain. 2.
Saintship will then be Christ's badge of honour. Beware of
mocking at saintship, or sanctity, holiness and purity; for it
is Christ's badge of honour, the garments with which his
followers are clothed, and will be the only badge of honour at
the great day. 3. Christ will forget and mistake none of the
saints. Many of the saints are forgotten here, it is forgotten
that such persons were in the world, but Christ will forget and
mistake none of them at the great day; he will give forth a list
of all his saints, and give orders to gather them all unto him.
4. He will confess, own, and acknowledge them before his Father,
and his holy angels. Mt 10:32 Lu 12:8 Re 3:5. They are to go to
my Father's house, and they are to go thither in my name, in my
right, and at my back; and so it is necessary I should own and
acknowledge them before my Father. But what need is there for
his owning them before the angels? Answer. They are to be
the angel's companions, and so it is necessary he should own
them before the angels. This will be like a testimonial for them
unto the angels. Lastly. The evidences of his right to and
propriety in them, will then be made to appear. Mal 3:17:
"And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that
day when I make up my jewels." It is too late for persons
to become his then; so the meaning is, they shall evidently
appear to be mine. James Scot, 1773.
Verse 5. Gather my saints together unto me. Our
text may be considered as the commission given by the great
Judge to his angels—those ministering spirits who do his will,
hearkening to the voice of his power. The language of the text
is in accordance with that which was uttered by our Lord when,
alluding to the coming of the Son of Man, he says, "And he
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." But previous to this final,
this general gathering together of his saints to
judgment, Jehovah gathers them together in various ways, in
various places, and by various means, both of providence and of
grace. Previous to his being seated on a throne of judgment, we
behold him sitting on a throne of mercy, and we hear him saying,
Gather my saints together unto me. These words lead us to
notice—I. The characters described, My saints. II. The
command issued, Gather my saints together unto me.
1. THE CHARACTERS HERE DESCRIBED—my saints, we are
to understand my holy ones—those who have been
sanctified and set apart by God. None of us possess this
character by nature. We are born sinners, and there is no
difference; but by divine grace we experience a change of
nature, and consequently a change of name. The title of saint is
frequently given to the people of God in derision. "Such an
one, "says a man of the world, "is one of your
saints." But, my brethren, no higher honour can be
conferred upon us than to be denominated saints, if we truly
deserve that character; but in what way do we become saints? We
become saints—1. By divine choice. The saints are the
objects of everlasting love; their names are written in the
Lamb's book of life; and it is worthy of remark that wherever
the people of God are spoken of in sacred Scripture, as the
objects of that everlasting love, it is in connection with their
personal sanctification. Observe, they are not chosen
because they are saints, nor because it is foreseen that
they will be so, but they are chosen to be saints;
sanctification is the effect and the only evidence of election.
We become saints—2. By a divine change which is the
necessary consequence of this election. An inward,
spiritual, supernatural, universal change is effected in the
saints by the power of the Holy Ghost. Thus they are renewed in
the spirit of their minds, and made partakers of a divine
nature...Remember, then, this important truth, that Christians
are called by the gospel to be saints; that you are Christians,
not so much by your orthodoxy as by your holiness;
that you are saints no further than as you are holy in all
manner of conversation. 3. The people of God furnish an
evidence of being saints by their godly conduct. "By
their fruits, "not by their feelings; not by their lips,
not by their general profession, but, "by their fruits
shall ye know them." 4. The character of the saints is
evidenced by divine consecration. The people of God are
called holy inasmuch as they are dedicated to God. It is the
duty and the privilege of saints to consecrate themselves to the
service of God. Even a heathen philosopher could say, "I lend
myself to the world, but I give myself to the gods.
But we possess more light and knowledge, and are therefore laid
under greater obligation than was Seneca."
2. THE COMMAND ISSUED. Gather my saints together unto me.
Jehovah gathers his saints to himself in various ways. 1. He
gathers them to himself in their conversion. The commission
given by Christ to his ministers is, "Go ye forth into all
the world, and preach the gospel to every creature, "or in
other words, Gather my saints together unto me. The
gospel is to be preached to sinners in order that they
may become saints. 2. Saints are gathered together by
God in public worship. 3. He gathers his saints together
to himself in times of danger. When storms appear to be
gathering around them, he is desirous to screen them from the
blast. He say to them, in the language of Isaiah, "Come, my
people, and enter into thy chamber—the chamber of my
perfections and my promises—enter into thy chamber and shut
the doors about thee, and hide thyself until the calamity is
overpast."
Verse 4. God gathers his saints together in the
service of his church. Thus Christ collected his apostles
together to give them their apostolic commission to go and teach
all nations. At the period of the Reformation, the great Head of
the church raised up Luther and Calvin, together with other
eminent reformers, in order that they might light up a flame in
Europe, yea, throughout the world, that the breath of popery
should never be able to blow out. 5. God gathers his saints
together in death, and at the resurrection. "Precious
in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." This
is the commission which death is habitually
receiving—"Go, death, and gather such and such of my
saints unto me." As the gardener enters the garden, and
plucks up the full blown flower and the ripened fruit, so Jesus
Christ enters the garden of his church and gathers his saints to
himself; for he says, "Father, I will that all they whom
thou hast given me may be with me, where I am, and behold my
glory." Condensed from J. Sibree's "Sermon preached
at the reopening of Surrey Chapel, August 29th, 1830."
Verse 5. (second clause). Made, or ratifying
a covenant; literally, cutting, striking, perhaps in
allusion to the practice of slaying and dividing victims as a
religious rite, accompanying solemn compacts. (See Ge 15:10-18.)
The same usage may be referred to in the following words, over
sacrifice, i.e., standing over it: or on sacrifice, i.e.,
founding the engagement on a previous appeal to God. There is
probably allusion to the great covenant transaction recorded in
Ex 24:4-8. This reference to sacrifice shows clearly that what
follows was not intended to discredit or repudiate that
essential symbol of the typical or ceremonial system. J. A.
Alexander.
Verse 5. Made a covenant with me. Formerly
soldiers used to take an oath not to flinch from their colours,
but faithfully to cleave to their leaders; thus they called sacramentum
militaire, a military oath; such an oath lies upon every
Christian. It is so essential to the being of a saint, that they
are described by this, Gather together unto me; those that
have made a covenant with me. We are not Christians till we
have subscribed this covenant, and that without any reservation.
When we take upon us the profession of Christ's name, we enlist
ourselves in his muster roll, and by it do promise that we will
live and die with him in opposition to all his enemies ...He
will not entertain us till we resign up ourselves freely to his
disposal, that there may be no disputing with is commands
afterwards, but, as one under his authority, go and come at his
word. William Gurnall.
Verse 6. The heavens shall declare his
righteousness. It is the manner of Scripture to commit the
teaching of that which it desires should be most noticeable and
important to the heavens and the earth: for the
heavens are seen by all, and their light discovers all
things. Here it speaks of the heavens, not the earth,
because these are everlasting, but not the earth. Geier and
Muis, in Poole's Synopsis.
Verse 8. I will not reprove thee for thy
sacrifices; i.e., for thy neglect of them, but for thy
resting in them, sticking in the bark, bringing me the bare
shell without the kernel, not referring to the right end and
use, but satisfying thyself in the work done. John Trapp.
Verse 8. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices
or thy burnt offerings continually before me. Those words to
have been, which our translators supply, may be left out,
and the sense remain perfect: or if those words be continued,
then the negative particle not, is to be reassumed out of
the first part of the verse, and the whole read thus, I will
not reprove thee for thy sacrifices, or thy burnt offerings not
to have been continually before me. That is, I will not
charge thee with a neglect of outward duty or worship, the
inward or spiritual (of which he speaks, Ps 50:14), being that
which is most pleasing unto me. Joseph Caryl.
Verses 8-9. It is the very remonstrance which our Lord
himself makes against the Pharisees of his days, for laying so
much stress on the outward observance of their own traditions,
the washing of pots and cups and other such like things; the
paying of tithes of anise and mint and cummin; the ostentatious
fulfilment of all ceremonious observances in the eyes of men,
the exalting the shadow to the exclusion of the substance. And
have we not seen the like in our own days, even to the very
vestment of the minister, the obeisance of the knee, and the
posture of the body? as if the material church were all in all,
and God were not Spirit, that demanded of those that worshipped
him that they should worship him in spirit and in truth; as if
the gold and ornaments of the temple were far beyond the hidden
man of the heart in that which is incorruptible, even the
ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of
God of great price. Barton Bouchier.
Verse 10. "For to me (belongs) every
beast of the forest, the cattle in hills of a thousand."
This last idiomatic phrase may either mean a thousand hills, or
hills where the cattle rove by thousands, with probable allusion
to the hilly grounds of Bashan beyond Jordan. According to
etymology, the noun in the first clause means an animal,
and that in the second beasts or brutes in
general. But when placed in antithesis, the first denotes a wild
beast, and the second domesticated animals or cattle. Both words
were necessary to express God's sovereign propriety in the whole
animal creation. Thus understood, the verse assigns a reason for
the negative assertion in the one before it. Even if God could
stand in need of animal oblations, for his own sake, or for
their sake, he would not be under the necessity of coming to man
for them, since the whole animal creation is his property and
perfectly at his disposal. J. A. Alexander.
Verses 11-12. We show our scorn of God's sufficiency,
by secret thoughts of meriting from him by any religious act, as
though God could be indebted to us, and obliged by us. As though
our devotions could bring a blessedness to God more than he
essentially hath; when indeed "our goodness extends not to
him." Ps 16:2. Our services to God are rather services to
ourselves, and bring a happiness to us, not to God. This secret
opinion of merit (though disputed among the Papists, yet) is
natural to man; and this secret self pleasing, when we have
performed any duty, and upon that account expect some fair
compensation from God, as having been profitable to him; God
intimates this: "The wild beasts of the field are mine. If
I were hungry, I would not tell thee; for the world is mine, and
the fulness thereof." He implies, that they wronged his
infinite fulness, by thinking that he stood in need of their
sacrifices and services, and that he was beholden to them for
their adoration of him. All merit implies a moral or natural
insufficiency in the person of whom we merit, and our doing
something for him, which he could not, or at least so well do
for himself. It is implied in our murmuring at God's dealing
with us as a course of cross providences, wherein men think they
have deserved better at the hands of God by their service, than
to be cast aside and degraded by him. In our prosperity we are
apt to have secret thoughts that our enjoyments were the debts
God owes us, rather than gifts freely bestowed upon us. Hence it
is that men are more unwilling to part with their righteousness
than with their sins, and are apt to challenge salvation as a
due, rather than beg it as an act of grace. Stephen Charnock.
Verse 12. If I were hungry, etc. Pagan
sacrifices were considered as feasts of the gods. Daniel
Cresswell.
Verse 13. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink
the blood of goats? That is, did I want anything I would not
tell thee; but hast thou indeed such gross notions of me, as to
imagine that I have appointed and required the blood and flesh
of animals for their own sake and not with some design? Dost
thou think I am pleased with these, when they are offered
without faith, love, and gratitude? Nay, offer the sacrifice of
praise, etc. Render to me a spiritual and reasonable service,
performing thy engagements, and then thou wilt find me a very
present help in trouble. B. Boothroyd.
Verse 15. Call upon me, etc. Prayer is like the
ring which Queen Elizabeth gave to the Earl of Essex, bidding
him if he were in any distress send that ring to her, and she
would help him. God commandeth his people if they be in any
perplexity to send this ring to him: Call upon me in the day
of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
George Swinnock.
Verse 15. Call upon me in the day of trouble,
etc. Who will scrape to a keeper for a piece of venison who may
have free access to the master of the game to ask and have?
Hanker not after other helpers, rely on him only, fully trusting
him in the use of such means as he prescribes and affords. God
is jealous, will have no co-rival, nor allow thee (in this case)
two strings to thy bow. He who worketh all in all must be unto
thee all in all; of, through, and to whom are all things, to him
be all praise for ever. Ro 11:36. George Gipps, in "A
Sermon preached (before God, and from him) to the Honourable
House of Commons," 1645.
Verse 15. Call upon me in the day of trouble,
etc. The Lord hath promised his children supply of all good
things, yet they must use the means of impetration; by prayer.
He feed the young ravens when they call upon him. Ps 147:9. He
feeds the young ravens, but first they call upon him. God
withholds from them that ask not, lest he should give to them
that desire not. (Augustine.) David was confident that by God's
power he should spring over a wall; yet not without putting his
own strength and agility to it. Those things we pray for, we
must work for. (Augustine.) The carter in Isidore, when his cart
was overthrown, would needs have his god Hercules come down from
heaven, to help him up with it; but whilst he forbore to set his
own shoulder to it, his cart lay still. Abraham was as rich as
any of our aldermen, David as valiant as any of our gentlemen,
Solomon as wise as any of our deepest naturians, Susanna as fair
as any of our painted pieces. Yet none of them thought that
their riches, valour, policy, beauty, or excellent parts could
save them; but they stirred the sparks of grace, and bestirred
themselves in pious work. And this is our means, if our meaning
be to be saved. Thomas Adams.
Verse 15. I will deliver thee: properly, I
will draw forth with my own mighty hand, and plant thee in
liberty and prosperity. Hermann Venema.
Verse 16. Unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou
to do to declare my statutes? etc. "As snow in summer,
and as rain in harvest, so honour is not seemly for a
fool." Is it not? No wonder then that divine wisdom
requires us ourselves to put off the old man (as snakes put off
their skins) before we take on us the most honourable office of
reproving sin; a duty which above any other brings praise to
God, and profit to men; insomuch that God hath not a more
honourable work that I know of to set us about. And what think
you? Are greasy scullions fit to stand before kings? Are dirty
kennel rakers fit to be plenipotentiaries or ambassadors? Are
unclean beasts fit to be made lord almoners, and sent to bestow
the king's favours? Are swine fit to cast pearl, and the very
richest pearl of God's royal word? No man dreams it;
consequently none can believe himself qualified or commissioned
to be a reprover of sin "till he is washed, till he is
sanctified, till he is justified in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and by the Spirit of our God." A lunatick beggar in
Athens would not believe but that all the ships in the harbour
were his. His mistake exceeded not theirs, who persuade
themselves that this richer office is theirs, before they are
"alive from the dead, "and "born of the Spirit,
"before they are returned to God or to themselves. The Duke
of Alva is said to have complained that `his king sent him in
fetters to fight for him; 'because without his pardon given him,
and while he was a prisoner, he employed him in war. But the
Supreme King is a more merciful one, and orders our charity to
begin at home; making it our first duty to break off our sins;
and then when we have put off these our shackles, go to fight
his battles. Daniel Burgess (1645—1712-13) in "The
Golden Sufferers."
Verse 16. The wicked. 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 expostulations 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. John Gill.
Verse 16. What hast thou to do to declare my
statutes? etc. All the medieval writers teach us, even from
the Mosaic law, concerning the leper, how the writer of this
Psalm only put in words what those statutes expressed in fact.
For so it is written: "The leper in whom the plague is,
...he shall put a covering upon his upper lip." As they
all, following Origen, say: Let them who are themselves of
polluted lips, take good heed not to teach others. Or, to take
it in the opposite way, see how Isaiah would not speak to his
people, because he was a man of polluted lips, and he dwelt
among a people of polluted lips, till they had been touched with
the living coal from the altar; and by that, as by a sacrament
of the Old Testament, a sentence of absolution had been
pronounced upon them. J. M. Neale.
Verse 16. (second clause). Emphasis is laid on
the phrase, to declare God's statutes, which both denotes
such an accurate knowledge of them as one may obtain by numbering
them, and a diligent and public review of them. Properly
speaking the word is derived from the Arabic, and signifies to
reckon in dust, for the ancients were accustomed to
calculate in dust finely sprinkled over tablets of the
Abacus. Hermann Venema.
Verse 16. But unto the wicked God saith, What has
thou to do...to take my covenant into thy mouth? For whom is
the covenant made but for the wicked? If men were not wicked or
sinful what needed there a covenant of grace? The covenant is
for the wicked, and the covenant brings grace enough to pardon
those who are most wicked; why, then, doth the Lord say to the
wicked, What hast thou to do to take my covenant unto thy
mouth? Observe what follows, and his meaning is expounded: Seeing
thou hatest to be reformed. As if God had said, You wicked
man, who protects you sin, and holds it close, refusing to
return and hating to reform; what hast thou to do to meddle with
my covenant? Lay off thy defiled hands. He that is resolved to
hold his sin takes hold of the covenant in vain, or rather he
lets it go, while he seems to hold it. Woe unto them who sue for
mercy while they neglect duty. Joseph Caryl.
Verse 16. When a minister does not do what he teaches,
this makes him a vile person; nay, this makes him ridiculous,
like Lucian's apothecary, who had medicines in his shop to cure
the cough, and told others that he had them, and yet was
troubled with it himself. With what a forehead canst thou stand
in a pulpit and publish the laws of God, and undertake the
charge of souls, that when thine own nakedness appears, when thy
tongue is of a larger size than thy hands, thy ministry is
divided against itself, thy courses give thy doctrine the lie;
thou sayest that men must be holy, and thy deeds do declare thy
mouth's hypocrisy; thou doest more mischief than a hundred
others. William Fenner.
Verse 17. And castest my words behind thee. Thou
castest away contemptuously, with disgust and detestation,
as idols are cast out of a city; or as Moses indignantly dashed
to the earth the tables of the law. Martin Geier.
Verse 17. My words: apparently the ten
commandments, accustomed to be called the ten words, by
which God is often said to have made his covenant with Israel. Hermann
Venema.
Verse 18. When thou sawest a thief, then thou
consentedst with him; or didst run with him. This was
literally true of the Scribes and Pharisees; they devoured
widow's houses, and robbed them of their substance, under a
pretext 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. John
Gill.
Verse 18. Thou consentedst with him; became his
accomplice. Sunetreces. LXX, i.e., you helped him to
carry off his booty and to make his escape. Samuel Horsley.
Verse 18. Thou consentedst with him. Or, thou
runnest along with him. Hast been partaker with; namely,
thou art his companion; a term taken from commerce of merchants,
or from banquets made after the ancient manner, to which divers
did contribute, and had their shares therein. John Diodati.
Verse 18. (last clause). To give entertainment
to them we know to be dissolute, is to communicate with their
sins. Thomas Adams.
Verse 19. Thou givest thy mouth to evil, etc. Thou
givest. Hebrew, thou sendest forth; to wit, free; for
the word is used of men dismissing their wives or their
servants, whom they left to their freedom. Thou hast an
unbridled tongue, and castest off all restraints of God's law,
and of thine own conscience, and givest thy tongue liberty to
speak what you please, though it be offensive and dishonourable
to God, and injurious to thy neighbour, or to thy own soul;
which is justly produced as an evidence of their hypocrisy. To
evil, either to sinful or mischievous speeches. Frameth
deceit, i.e., uttereth lies or fair words, wherewith to
circumvent those who deal with them. Matthew Poole.
Verse 19. The ninth commandment is now added to the
other two, as being habitually violated by the person here
addressed. J. A. Alexander.
Verse 20. Thou sittest and speakest, etc. A man
may both speak and do evil while he sits still and doth nothing;
an idle posture may serve the turn for such work as that. Joseph
Caryl.
Verse 20. Thou sittest and speakest against thy
brother, etc. When you are sitting still, and have nothing
else to do, you are ever injuring your neighbour with your
slanderous speech. Your table talk is abuse of your nearest
friends. Samuel Horsley.
Verse 20. Thine own mother's son. To understand
the force of this expression, it is necessary to bear in mind
that polygamy was allowed amongst the Israelites. Those who were
born to the same father were all brethren, but a yet more
intimate relationship subsisted between those who had the same
mother, as well as the same father. French and Skinner.
Verse 21. These things hast thou done, and I kept
silence. Neither sleep nor slumber, nor connivance, nor
neglect of anything can be incident to God. Because he doth not
execute present judgment and visible destruction upon sinners,
therefore blasphemy presumptuously infers—will God trouble
himself about such petty matters? So they imagined of their
imaginary Jupiter. Non vacat exiguis rebus adesse Jovem.
What a narrow and finite apprehension this is of God! He that
causes and produces every action—shall he not be present at
every action? What can we do without him, that cannot move but
in him? He that taketh notice of sparrows, and numbers the seeds
which the very ploughman thrusts in the ground, can any action
of man escape his knowledge, or slip from his contemplation? He
may seem to wink at things, but never shuts his eyes. He doth
not always manifest a reprehensive knowledge, yet he always
retains an apprehensive knowledge. Though David smote not Shimei
cursing, yet he heard Shimei cursing. As judges often determine
to hear, but do not hear to determine; so though God does not
see to like, ye he likes to see. Thomas Adams.
Verse 21. Thou thoughtest that I was altogether
such an one as thyself. Such is the blindness and corruption
of our nature, that we have very deformed and misshapen thoughts
of him, till with the eye of faith we see his face in the glass
of the word; and therefore Mr. Perkins affirms, that all men who
ever came of Adam (Christ alone excepted) are by nature
atheists; because at the same time that they acknowledge God,
they deny his power, presence, and justice, and allow him to be
only what pleaseth themselves. Indeed, it is natural for every
man to desire to accommodate his lusts with a conception of God
as may be most favourable to and suit best with them. God
charges some for this: Thou thoughtest that I was altogether
such an one as thyself. Sinners do with God as the
Ethiopians do with angels, whom they picture with black faces
that they may be like themselves. William Gurnall.
Verse 21. Thou thoughtest that I was altogether
such an one as thyself. This men do when they plead for sins
as little, as venial, as that which is below God to take notice
of; because they themselves think it so, therefore God must
think it so too. Man, with a giant like pride, would climb into
the throne of the Almighty, and establish a contradiction to the
will of God by making his own will, and not God's, the square
and rule of his actions. This principle commenced and took date
in Paradise, where Adam would not depend upon the will of God
revealed to him, but upon himself and his own will, and thereby
makes himself as God. Stephen Charnock.
Verse 21. I will set them in order before thine
eyes. This is to be understood more militari, when
sins shall be set in rank and file, in bloody array against thy
soul; or more forensi, when they shall be set in order as
so many indictments for thy rebellion and treason. Stephen
Charnock.
Verse 21. And set them in order before thine eyes:
as if he should say, Thou thoughtest all thy sins were scattered
and dispersed; that there was not a sin to be found; that they
should never be rallied and brought together; but I assure thee
I will make an army of those sins, a complete army of them, I
will set them in rank and file before thine eyes; and see how
thou canst behold, much less contend with, such an host as they.
Take heed therefore you do not levy war against your own souls;
that's the worst of all civil or interstine wars. If an army of
divine terrors be so fearful, what will an army of black,
hellish sins be? when God shall bring whole regiments of sins
against you—here a regiment of oaths, there a regiment of
lies, there a third of false dealings, here a troop of filthy
actions, and there a legion of unclean or profane thoughts, all
at once fighting against thy life and everlasting peace. Joseph
Caryl.
Verse 21. Atheists do mock at those Scriptures which
tell us that we shall give account of all our deeds; but God
shall make them find the truth of it in that day of their
reckoning. It is as easy for him to make their forgetful minds
remember as to create the minds in them. When he applies his
register to their forgetful spirits they shall see all their
forgotten sins. When the printer presseth clean paper upon his
oiled irons, it receiveth the print of every letter: so when God
shall stamp their minds with his register, they shall see all
their former sins in a view. The hand was ever writing against
Belshazzar, as he was ever sinning, though he saw it not till
the cup was filled: so is it to the wicked; their sins are
numbered, and themselves weighed, and see not till they be
divided by a fearful wakening. William Struther.
Verse 21. (last clause). God setteth his
sins in order before his eyes. Imprimis, the sin of his
conception. Item, the sins of his childhood. Item,
of his youth. Item, of his man's estate, etc. Or, Imprimis,
sins against the first table. Item, sins against the
second; so many of ignorance, so many of knowledge, so many of
presumption, severally sorted by themselves. He committed sins
confusedly, huddling them up in heaps; but God sets them in
order, and methodizes them to his hands. Thomas Fuller.
Verse 22. Now consider this, ye that forget God,
etc. What is less than a grain of sand? Yet when it comes to be
multiplied, what is heavier than the sands of the sea? A little
sum multiplied rises high; so a little sin unrepented of will
damn us, as one leak in the ship, if it be not well looked to,
will drown us. "Little sins" as the world calls them,
but great sins against the majesty of God Almighty, whose
majesty, against which they are committed, doth accent and
enhance them, if not repented of, will damn. One would think it
no great matter to forget God, yet it has a heavy doom
attending on it. The non improvement of talents, the non
exercise of grace, the world looks upon as a small thing; yet we
read of him who hid his talent in the earth—he had not
spent it, only not trading it is sentenced. Thomas Watson.
Verse 22. Lest I tear you in pieces. This is a
metamorphic expression, taken from the strength and irresistible
fury of a lion, from which the interference of the shepherd can
supply no protection, or defence, for his flock. William
Walford.
Verse 23. Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me.
Thanksgiving is a God exalting work. Though nothing can add the
least cubit to God's essential glory, yet praise exalts him in
the eyes of others. Praise is a setting forth of God's honour, a
lifting up of his name, a displaying the trophy of his goodness,
a proclaiming his excellency, a spreading his renown, a breaking
open the box of ointment, whereby the sweet savour and perfume
of God's name is sent abroad into the world. To him that
ordereth his conversation aright. Though the main work of
religion lies within, yet "our light must so shine,
"that others may behold it; the foundation of sincerity is
in the heart, yet its beautiful front piece appears in the
conversation. The saints are called "jewels, "because
they cast a sparkling lustre in the eyes of others. An upright
Christian is like Solomon's temple, gold within and without:
sincerity is a holy leaven, which if it be in the heart
will work itself into the life, and make it swell and rise as
high as heaven. Php 3:20. Thomas Watson.
HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER
Verse 1. It unspeakably concerns all men to
know what God has spoken. W. S. Plumer.
Verse 1.
1. Who has spoken? The Mighty, not men or angels, but God
himself.
2. To whom has he spoken? To all nations—all ranks—all
characters. This calls for,
(a) Reverence—it is the voice of God.
(b) Hope—because he condescends to speak to rebels.
3. Where has he spoken?
(a) In creation.
(b) In providence.
(c) In his word. G. R.
Verses 1-6.
1. The court called in the name of the King of kings.
2. The judgment set, and the judge taking his seat; Ps
50:2-3.
3. The parties summoned; Ps 50:8.
4. The issue of this solemn trial foretold; Ps 50:6. —Matthew
Henry.
Verses 1-15.
1. God's call to man.
2. Man's call to God.
Verse 2.
1. The internal beauty of Zion.
(a) Positive beauty of wisdom—holiness—love.
(b) Comparative with the beauty of Paradise and the
heaven of angels.
(c) Superlative—all the perfections of God combined.
2. Its external glory. Out of it God hath shined.
(a) On this world.
(b) On gracious souls.
(c) On angels who desire to look, etc.
(d) On the universe. "All the creatures heard I, "etc.
Verse 4.
1. What God will do for his people. He will judge them. (a)
Deliver. (b) Defend. (c) Uphold.
2. The means at his disposal for this purpose. "He shall
call, "etc.—Heaven and earth are subservient to him for
the good of his church. G. R.
Verse 4. The judgment of the visible church. It will
be by God himself, public, searching—with fire and wind,
exact, final.
Verse 5. The great family gathering.
(a) Who are gathered.
(b) How they are gathered.
(c) To whom.
(d) When they are gathered.
Verse 5 (last clause).
1. The covenant.
2. The sacrifice which ratifies it.
3. How we may be said to make it.
Verse 6 (last clause). Then slander will not
pervert the sentence, undue severity will not embitter it,
partiality will not excuse, falsehood will not deceive, justice
will surely be done.
Verse 7. Sins of God's people specially against God,
and only known to God. A searching subject.
Verses 13-15. What sacrifices are not, and what are
acceptable with God.
Verse 15.
1. The occasion—"trouble."
2. The command—"call upon me."
3. The promise—"I will deliver thee."
4. The design—"Thou shalt, "etc. G. R.
Verse 15. Thou shalt glorify me. This we do by
praying, and by praising when prayer is heard; as also by
confidence in his promises, submission to his chastisements,
concern for his honour, attachment to his cause, affection to
his people, and by continual obedience to his commands.
Verse 15.
1. A special invitation as to person and time.
2. Special promise to those accepting it.
3. Special duty involved when the promise is fulfilled.
Verses 16-17.
1. The prohibition given.
(a) The prohibited things—"declare my
statutes." "Take my covenant, "etc. (1.)
Preaching. (2.) Teaching, as in Sunday schools. (3.) Praying.
(4.) Attending ordinances.
(b) Prohibited persons. Wicked preachers, etc., while
they continue in wickedness.
2. The reason assigned; Ps 50:17.
(a) No self application of the truth.
(b) Inward hatred of it.
(c) Outward rejection. —G. R.
Verse 17.
1. The fatal sign. (a) Hating to be taught. (b) Hating
what is taught.
2. What it indicates: (a) Pride. (b) Contempt of God.
(c) Indifference to truth. (d) Atheism at heart. (e) Deadness of
conscience.
3. What it leads to. See Ps 50:22.
Verses 17-18. Rejection of salutary instruction leads
sooner or later to open transgression. Instances, reasons,
inferential warnings.
Verses 20-21.
1. Man speaking and God silent.
2. God speaking and man silent.
Verse 21.
1. God leaves men for a time to themselves.
2. They judge of God on this account by themselves.
3. He will in due time reveal their whole selves to
themselves. "I will reprove, "etc. G. R.
Verses 21, 23. Note the alternative; a life rightly
ordered now, or sins set in order hereafter.
Verse 22.
1. The accusation—"Ye that forget God, "his
omniscience, his power, his justice, his goodness, his mercy,
his word, his great salvation.
2. The admonition—"Consider this, "rouse
yourselves from your forgetfulness into serious reflection.
3. The condemnation—"Lest, "etc. (a) The
awfulness. "Tear, "as a lion or eagle its prey—tear
body and soul. (b) Its irresistibleness—"None to
deliver." —G. R.
Verses 21, 23. Note the alternative; a life rightly
ordered now, or sins set in order hereafter.
Verse 23.
1. Salvation is the work of God.
2. The evidence of salvation is holiness of heart and life.
3. The effect of that evidence is praise.
4. The tendency of that praise is to glorify God. God is not
glorified by the doubts, and fears, and murmurings of his
people, but by their praise. G. R.
Verse 23. (last clause). The true order of
life.
1. That first which is first.
2. That most which is most.
3. That ever which is ever.
4. That all which is all.
WORK UPON THE FIFTIETH PSALM
In the old quarto edition (1634) of "Mr.
Paul Bayne's Commentary on Colossians, "among the "divers
places of Scripture briefly explained, "there is an
exposition of Ps 50:21-23, of this Psalm, entitled, "The
Terror of God displayed against carnal security."