Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 50:5

"Gather my saints together unto me, Those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice." — Psalms 50:5 (ASV)

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.