John Calvin Commentary Psalms 50

The God of gods, even Jehovah, hath spoken. The inscription of this psalm bears the name of Asaph; but whether he was the author of it, or merely received it as chief singer from the hand of David, cannot be known. This, however, is a matter of little consequence.

The opinion has been very generally entertained that the psalm points to the period of the Church’s renovation, and that the design of the prophet is to inform the Jews of the coming abrogation of their figurative worship under the Law. That the Jews were subjected to the rudiments of the world, which continued until the Church’s majority and the arrival of what the apostle calls the fullness of times (Galatians 4:4), admits of no doubt; the only question is whether the prophet must here be considered as addressing the people of his own age, and simply condemning the abuse and corruption of the legal worship, or as predicting the future kingdom of Christ?

From the scope of the psalm, it is sufficiently apparent that the prophet does in fact interpret the Law to his contemporaries, to show them that the ceremonies, while they existed, were of no importance whatever by themselves, or unless connected with a higher meaning.

Is it objected that God never called the whole world except upon the promulgation of the Gospel, and that the doctrine of the Law was addressed only to one peculiar people? The answer is obvious: the prophet in this place describes the whole world as convened not for the purpose of receiving one common system of faith, but of hearing God plead His cause with the Jews in its presence. The appeal is of a parallel nature with others which we find in Scripture:

Give ear, O ye heavens! and I will speak; and hear, O earth! the words of my mouths (Deuteronomy 32:1);

or as in another place, I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death (Deuteronomy 30:19);

and again Isaiah, Hear, O heaven! and give ear, O earth! for the Lord hath spoken (Isaiah 1:2).

This vehement mode of address was required in speaking to hypocrites, that they might be roused from their complacent security, and their serious attention engaged to the message of God. The Jews had special need to be awakened upon the point to which reference is here made. People are naturally disposed to outward show in religion and, measuring God by themselves, imagine that an attention to ceremonies constitutes the sum of their duty.

There was a strong disposition among the Jews to rest in an observance of the figures of the Law, and it is well known with what severity the prophets all along rebuked this superstition, by which the worst and most abandoned characters were led to arrogate a claim to piety and hide their abominations under the specious garb of godliness.

The prophet, therefore, needed to do more than simply expose the defective nature of that worship which withdraws the attention of people from faith and holiness of heart to outward ceremonies; it was necessary for him, in order to check false confidence and banish insensibility, to adopt the style of severe reproof.

God is here represented as citing all the nations of the earth to His tribunal, not for the purpose of prescribing the rule of piety to an assembled world or collecting a church for His service, but with the intention of alarming the hypocrite and terrifying him out of his self-complacency.

It would serve as a spur to conviction for them to be made aware that the whole world was summoned as a witness to their dissimulation, and that they would be stripped of that pretended piety of which they were disposed to boast. It is with a similar object that he addresses Jehovah as the God of gods, to possess their minds with a salutary terror and dissuade them from their vain attempts to elude His knowledge.

That this is his design will become even more apparent from the remaining context, where we are presented with a formidable description of the majesty of God, intended to convince the hypocrite of the vanity of those childish trifles with which he would evade the scrutiny of so great and so strict a Judge.

To counter an objection that might be raised against his doctrine in this psalm—that it was subversive of the worship prescribed by Moses—the prophet indicates that this judgment which he announced would be in harmony with the Law. When God speaks out of Zion, He necessarily sanctions the authority of the Law; and the Prophets, whenever they use this form of speech, declare themselves to be interpreters of the Law. That holy mountain was not chosen by human caprice and therefore stands identified with the Law.

The prophet thus cuts off any pretext which the Jews might allege to evade his doctrine, by announcing that those who concealed their wickedness under the specious covert of ceremonies would not be condemned by God according to any new code of religion, but by that which was ministered originally by Moses. He gives Zion the honorable name of the perfection of beauty because God had chosen it for His sanctuary, the place where His name should be invoked and where His glory should be manifested in the doctrine of the Law.

Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence. He repeats that God would come in order to confirm his doctrine and more effectively arouse them. He would come and would not always keep silence, so that they would not be encouraged to presume upon his patience.

Two reasons may be given why the prophet calls God our God. He may be considered as setting himself, and the comparatively small number of those who truly fear the Lord, in opposition to the hypocrites whom he abhors, claiming God to be his God and not theirs, as they were inclined to boast. Or rather, he speaks as one of the people and declares that the God who was coming to avenge the corruptions of his worship was the same God whom all the children of Abraham professed to serve. He who will come, as if he had said, is our God, the same in whom we glory, who established his covenant with Abraham and gave us his Law by the hand of Moses.

He adds that God would come with fire and tempest to awaken a wholesome fear in the complacent hearts of the Jews, so that they might learn to tremble at the judgments of God, which they had until then regarded with indifference and despised. This alludes to the awe-inspiring manifestation God made of himself from Sinai (Exodus 19:16). On that occasion, the air resounded with thunders and the noise of trumpets, the heavens were illuminated with lightnings, and the mountain was in flames, as it was God's design to secure reverential submission to the Law which he announced.

And it is implied here that God would make a similarly terrifying display of his power in coming to avenge the gross abuses of his holy religion.

He shall call to the heavens from above. It is plain from this verse for what purpose God, as he had already announced, would call upon the earth. This was to witness the settlement of his controversy with his own people, the Jews, against whom judgment was to be pronounced, not in the ordinary manner as by his prophets, but with great solemnity before the whole world.

The prophet warns the hypocritical that they must prepare to be driven from their hiding place, that their cause would be decided in the presence of men and angels, and that they would be dragged without excuse before that dreadful assembly. It may be asked why the prophet represents those who truly fear the Lord as cited to his bar, when it is evident that the remonstrance which follows in the psalm is addressed to the hypocritical and degenerate portion of the Jews.

To this I answer that God here speaks of the whole Church; for though a great part of the race of Abraham had departed from the piety of their ancestors, yet he has regard for the Jewish Church, as being his own institution. He speaks of them as his meek ones, to remind them of what they ought to be, consistent with their calling, and not as if they were all without exception patterns of godliness.

The form of the address conveys a rebuke to those among them whose real character was far from corresponding with their profession. Others have suggested a more refined interpretation, as if the meaning were: Separate the small number of my sincere worshippers from the mixed multitude by whom my name is profaned, lest they too should afterwards be seduced to a vain religion of outward form.

I do not deny that this agrees with the scope of the prophet. But I see no reason why a church, however universally corrupted, provided it contains a few godly members, should not be called, in honor of this remnant, the holy people of God.

Interpreters have differed on the last clause of the verse, Those who strike a covenant with me over sacrifices. Some think over is used for besides, or beyond, and that God commends his true servants because they acknowledged that something more was required in his covenant than an observance of outward ceremonies, and they were not guilty of resting in the carnal figures of the Law.

Others think that the spiritual and true worship of God is here directly opposed to sacrifices, as if it had been said: Those who, instead of sacrifices, keep my covenant in the right and appointed manner, by yielding to me the sincere homage of their heart. But in my opinion, the prophet is here to be viewed as pointing out with commendation the true and genuine use of the legal worship; for it was of the utmost importance that it should be known what was the real purpose for which God appointed sacrifices under the Law.

The prophet here declares that sacrifices were of no value whatever except as seals of God’s covenant, an interpretative handwriting of submission to it, or in general as means employed for ratifying it. There is an allusion to the custom then universally prevalent of interposing sacrifices, so that covenants might be made more solemn and be more faithfully observed.

In like manner, the purpose for which sacrifices were instituted by God was to bind his people more closely to himself, and to ratify and confirm his covenant. The passage is well worthy of our particular notice, as it defines those who are to be considered the true members of the Church.

They are, on the one hand, those characterised by the spirit of meekness, practising righteousness in their dealings with the world; and on the other hand, those who, in the exercise of genuine faith, embrace the covenant of adoption which God has proposed to them. This constitutes the true worship of God, as he himself has delivered it to us from heaven; and those who depart from it, whatever pretensions they may make to be considered a church of God, are excommunicated from it by the Holy Spirit.

As to sacrifices or other ceremonies, they are of no value, except insofar as they seal to us the pure truth of God. Consequently, all such rites that have no foundation in the word of God are unauthorised; and worship that does not have a distinct reference to the word is merely a corruption of sacred things.

And the heavens shall declare his righteousness. The Jews were arrogant enough to imagine that their empty and fanciful service was the perfection of righteousness; but they are here warned by the prophet that God, who had seemed to overlook their folly, was about to reveal his own righteousness from heaven and expose their pathetic schemes.

"Do you think," as if he had said, "that God can take delight in the mockery of your deluded services? Though you send up their smoke to heaven, God will make known his righteousness in due time from above and vindicate it from the dishonor inflicted upon it by your wicked fabrications. The heavens themselves will attest to your treachery in despising true holiness and corrupting the pure worship of God. He will no longer tolerate your baseless slanders against his character, as if he did not notice the hostility hidden beneath your pretended friendship."

There is thus a forcefulness in the prophet’s manner of addressing his subject. People are inclined to admit that God is judge but, at the same time, to fabricate excuses for evading his judgment. It was therefore necessary that the sentence God was about to pronounce should be defended against the pointless objections that might be brought against it.

Hear, O my people! and I will speak. Until now, the prophet has spoken as the herald of God, employing several expressions designed to alarm the minds of those he addressed. But from this point to the end of the psalm, God himself is introduced as the speaker. To show the importance of the subject, he uses additional terms to awaken attention. He calls them his own people, that he might assert the greater authority of his words, and intimates that the following address is not merely ordinary but an expostulation with them for the infraction of his covenant.

Some read, I will testify against thee. But the reference, as we may gather from the common usage of Scripture, seems rather to be to a discussion of mutual claims. God would remind them of his covenant and solemnly exact from them, as his chosen people, what was due according to its terms. He announces himself to be the God of Israel, so that he may recall them to allegiance and subjection. The repetition of his name is emphatic: as if he had said, 'When you would have me submit to your inventions, how far is this audacity from the honor and reverence that belong to me?' I am God. Therefore, my majesty ought to repress presumption and make all flesh keep silence when I speak. And among you, to whom I have made myself known as your God, I have still stronger claims to homage.