John Calvin Commentary Psalms 4:5

"Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, And put your trust in Jehovah." — Psalms 4:5 (ASV)

Sacrifice ye. Many are of the opinion that David exhorts his enemies to give some evidence of their repentance; and I certainly admit, that sacrifices were partly prescribed for the purpose of inducing men to walk in newness of life. But when I consider the character of the men who opposed David, I am convinced that he here censures their hypocrisy and demolishes their groundless boasting.

David, when he wandered as a fugitive in deserts, or in caves, or on mountains, or in foreign lands, might seem to have been separated from the Church of God; and certainly he was commonly regarded as a corrupt member cut off from the body and the communion of the saints.

Meanwhile, the ark of the covenant was in the hands of his enemies, they kept possession of the temple, and they were foremost in offering sacrifices. They, therefore, boasted against David with the same boldness and presumption with which we know hypocrites have always been puffed up.

There is no doubt that they proudly abused the name of God as if they alone were his true worshippers. But as Jeremiah (Jeremiah 7:4) rebukes the ungodly because of the false confidence which they placed in the temple of the Lord, so David also denies that God is pacified by mere outward ceremonies, since he requires pure sacrifices.

In these words, there is an implied contrast between the sacrifices of righteousness and all those vain and spurious rites with which counterfeit worshippers of God satisfy themselves.

The meaning, therefore, is: “You boast of having God on your side, because you have free access to his altar to offer your sacrifices there with great pomp; and because I am banished from the Holy Land and not allowed to come to the temple, you think that I am not under God’s care. But you must worship God in a far different manner, if you expect any good from him; for your unclean sacrifices with which you pollute his altar, far from making him favorable to you, will do nothing else but provoke his wrath.”

Let us learn from this passage that, in contending with the corrupters of true religion, who may have the name of God continually in their mouth and boast about their observance of his outward worship, we may safely rebuke their boasting because they do not offer the right sacrifices.

But, at the same time, we must be careful that a vain pretense of godliness does not foster in us a perverse and ill-founded confidence, in place of true hope.