Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 50

The mighty God, even the Lord. —Hebrew, El Elohîm, Jehovah, a combination of the Divine names that has been very variously understood. The Authorized Version follows the rendering of Aquila and Symmachus. But the Masoretic accents favor taking each term as an appellative. Hitzig objects that this is stiff, but it is so on purpose. The poet introduces his vision of judgment in the style of a formal royal proclamation, as the preterite tenses also indicate.

But as in this case it is not the earthly monarch, but the Divine, who is Lord also of the whole earth, the range of the proclamation is not territorial, from Dan even unto Beersheba, as in 2 Chronicles 30:5, but is couched in larger terms, from sunrise to sunset, an expression constantly used of the operation of Divine power and mercy. (Psalms 113:3; Isaiah 41:25; Isaiah 45:6.)

Perfection of beauty — that is, Zion, because the Temple, the residence of Jehovah, was there. (Lamentations 2:15; Malachi 2:12.)

Has shined. — Compare to Psalms 80:1; Deuteronomy 33:2. A natural figure of the Divine manifestation, whether taken from the dawn or from lighting.

Our God shall come ... shall devour ... shall be. —Better, comes ... devours ... is. The drama, the expected scene having been announced, now opens. The vision unfolds itself before the poet’s eye.

He shall call. —Better, He calls. The poet actually hears the summons go forth calling heaven and earth as witnesses, or assessors , of the judgment scene. (Deuteronomy 32:1; Isaiah 1:2; Micah 1:2; 1 Maccabees 2:37.)

Israel, politically so insignificant, must have been profoundly conscious of the tremendous issues involved in its religious character to demand a theater so vast, an audience so august.

My saints. —This verse is of great importance, as it contains a formal definition of the word chasîdîm, and so provides a direction for its interpretation wherever it occurs in the Hebrew hymn book. The “saints” are those in the “covenant,” and that covenant was ratified by sacrifices. Whenever a sacrifice was offered by an Israelite, then, it was a witness to the existence of the covenant. Therefore, we are not to conclude from this psalm that outward acts of sacrifice were annulled by the higher spirit taught in it; they were merely subordinated to their proper place. And those who thought more of the rites that bore testimony to the covenant than of the moral duties which the covenant enjoined are those censured in this part of the psalm.