John Gill Commentary Psalms 50

The mighty God
In the Hebrew text it is "El", "Elohim", which Jarchi renders the "God of gods"; that is, of angels, who are so called, (Psalms 8:5) (97:7); so Christ, who is God over all, is over them; he is their Creator, and the object of their worship, (Hebrews 1:6Hebrews 1:7); or of kings, princes, judges, and all civil magistrates, called gods, (Psalms 82:1Psalms 82:6); and so Kimchi interprets the phrase here "Judge of judges". Christ is King of kings, and Lord of lords, by whom they reign and judge, and to whom they are accountable. The Targum renders it "the mighty God"; as we do; which is the title and name of Christ in (Isaiah 9:6); and well agrees with him, as appears by his works of creation, providence, and redemption, and by his government of his church and people; by all the grace, strength, assistance, and preservation they have from him now, and by all that glory and happiness they will be brought to by him hereafter, when raised from the dead, according to his mighty power. It is added,

[even] the Lord, has spoken :
or "Jehovah", Some have observed, that these three names, El, Elohim, Jehovah, here mentioned, have three very distinctive accents set to them, and which being joined to a verb singular, (rbd) , "has spoken", contains the mystery of the trinity of Persons in the unity of the divine Essence; see (Joshua 22:22); though rather all the names belong to Christ the Son of God, and who is Jehovah our righteousness, and to whom, he being the eternal Logos, speech is very properly ascribed. He has spoken for the elect in the council and covenant of grace and peace, that they might be given to him; and on their behalf, that they might have grace and glory, and he might be their Surety, Saviour, and Redeemer.

He spoke all things out of nothing in creation: he spoke with Moses at the giving of the law on Mount Sinai: he, the Angel of God's presence, spoke for the Old Testament saints, and spoke good and comfortable words to them: he spoke in his own person here on earth, and such words and with such authority as never man did; and he has spoken in his judgments and providences against the Jews; and he now speaks in his Gospel by his ministers: wherefore it follows,

and called the earth from the rising of the sun to the going down
of it ;
which may be considered as a preface, exciting attention to what is after spoken, as being of moment and importance; see (Deuteronomy 32:1); or as calling the earth, and so the heavens, (Psalms 50:4) , to be witnesses of the justness and equity of his dealings with the Jews, for their rejection of him and his Gospel; see (Deuteronomy 4:26); or rather as a call to the inhabitants of the earth to hear the Gospel; which had its accomplishment in the times of the apostles; when Christ having a people, not in Judea only, but in the several parts of the world from east to west, sent them into all the world with his Gospel, and by it effectually called them through his grace; and churches were planted everywhere to the honour of his name; compare with this (Malachi 1:11) .

Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shined .
] Or "shall shine" ^F16 ; the past for the future, as Kimchi observes; or "the perfection of the beauty of God has shined out of Zion" ^F17 ; that is, Christ; he is the perfection of beauty; he is fairer than the children of men; he is more glorious than the angels in heaven: as Mediator, he is full of grace and truth, which makes him very lovely and amiable to his people: he is the express image of his Father's person; and the glory of all the divine perfections is conspicuous in his work of salvation, as well as in himself: now as he was to come out of Zion, (Psalms 14:7) ; that is, not from the fort of Zion, or city of Jerusalem; for he was to be born at Bethlehem; only he was to be of the Jews, and spring from them; so he shone out, or his appearance and manifestation in Israel was like the rising sun; see (Malachi 4:2) (Luke 1:78Luke 1:79) ; and the love and kindness of God in the mission and gift of him appeared and shone out in like manner, (Titus 3:4) ; or else the Gospel may be meant, which has a beauty in it: it is a glorious Gospel, and holds forth the beauty and glory of Christ. All truth is lovely and amiable, especially evangelical truth: it has a divine beauty on it; it comes from God, and bears his impress; yea, it is a perfection of beauty: it contains a perfect plan of truth, and is able to make the man of God perfect; and this was to come out of Zion, (Isaiah 2:3) ; and which great light first arose in Judea, and from thence shone out in the Gentile world, like the sun in all its lustre and glory, (Titus 2:11) ;

or, according to our version, "God has shined out of Zion"; which, as Ben Melech on the text observes, is the perfection of beauty; see (Lamentations 2:15) ; by which is meant the church under the Gospel dispensation, (Hebrews 12:22) ; which, as in Gospel order, is exceeding beautiful; and as its members are adorned with the graces of the Spirit, by which they are all glorious within; and especially as they are clothed with the righteousness of Christ, and so are perfectly comely through the comeliness he has put upon them and here it is that Christ, who is the great God, and our Saviour, shines forth upon his people, grants his gracious presence, and manifests himself in his ordinances, to their great joy and pleasure.

FOOTNOTES:

• F16: (eymwh) "emicabit", Tigurine version; "vel effulgebit", Vatablus; "illucescet", Amama, Grotius.
• F17: So De Dieu.

Our God shall come
That is, Christ, who is truly and properly God, and who was promised and expected as a divine Person; and which was necessary on account of the work he came about; and believers claim an interest in him as their God; and he is their God, in whom they trust, and whom they worship:

and this coming of his is to be understood, not of his coming in the flesh; for though that was promised, believed, and prayed for, as these words are by some rendered, "may our God come" ^F18 ; yet at his first coming he was silent, his voice was not heard in the streets, (Matthew 12:19); nor did any fire or tempest attend that:

nor is it to be interpreted of his second coming, or coming to judgment; for though that also is promised, believed, and prayed for; and when he will not be silent, but by his voice will raise the dead, summon all before him, and pronounce the sentence on all; and the world, and all that is therein, will be burnt with fire, and a horrible tempest rained upon the wicked;

yet it is better to understand it of his coming to set up his kingdom in the world, and to punish his professing people for their disbelief and rejection of him; see (Matthew 16:28) (Hebrews 10:37);

and shall not keep silence ;
contain himself, bear with the Jews any longer, but come forth in his wrath against them; see (Psalms 50:21Psalms 50:22); and it may also denote the great sound of the Gospel, and the very public ministration of it in the Gentile world, at or before this time, for the enlargement of Christ's kingdom in it;

a fire shall devour before him ;
meaning either the fire of the divine word making its way among the Gentiles, consuming their idolatry, superstition or rather the fire of divine wrath coming upon the Jews to the uttermost and even it may be literally understood of the fire that consumed their city and temple, as was predicted, (Zechariah 11:1) (Matthew 22:7);

and it shall be very tempestuous round about him ;
the time of Jerusalem's destruction being such a time of trouble as has not been since the world began, (Matthew 24:21) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F18: (aby) "veniat", Junius & Tremellius; so Ainsworth.

He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth
To hear what he shall say, when he will no longer keep silence; and to be witnesses of the justice of his proceedings; see (Isaiah 1:2) (Deuteronomy 4:26) . The Targum interprets this of the angels above on high, and of the righteous on the earth below; and so Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Ben Melech, explain it of the angels of heaven, and of the inhabitants of the earth;

that he may judge his people ;
not that they, the heavens and the earth, the inhabitants of either, may judge his people; but the Lord himself, as in (Psalms 50:6) ; and this designs not the judgment of the whole world, nor that of his own covenant people, whom he judges when he corrects them in love, that they might not be condemned with the world; when he vindicates them, and avenges them on their enemies, and when he protects and saves them; but the judgment of the Jewish nation, his professing people, the same that Peter speaks of, (1 Peter 4:17) .

Gather my saints together unto me
These words are spoken by Christ to the heavens and the earth; that is, to the angels, the ministers of the Gospel, to gather in, by the ministry of the word, his elect ones among the Gentiles; see (Matthew 24:30); called his "saints", who had an interest in his favour and lovingkindness, and were sanctified or set apart for his service and glory;

those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice ;
or, "who have made my covenant by, or on sacrifice" ^F19 ; the covenant of grace, which was made with Christ from everlasting, and which was confirmed by his blood and sacrifice; this his people may be said to make with God in him, he being their head, surety, and representative: now these covenant ones he will have gathered in to himself by the effectual calling, which is usually done by the ministry of the word; for this is not to be understood of the gathering of all nations to him, before him as a Judge; but of his special people to him as a Saviour, the "Shiloh", to whom the gathering of the people was to be, (Genesis 49:10) (Isaiah 27:12Isaiah 27:13) (56:8) (Zechariah 10:8) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F19: So Pagninus.