The majesty of God in the church, 1-4. His order to gather his saints, 5, 6. The pleasure of God is not in ceremonies, 7-13, but in sincerity of obedience, 14-23.
1 [A Psalm of Asaph.]
The mighty God, even the LORD, has spoken/
and called the earth from the rising to the setting of the sun.
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,/
God has shined.
3 Our God shall come and shall not keep silence./
A fire shall devour before him/
and it shall be very tempestuous around him.
4 He shall call to the heavens from above/
and to the earth so that he may judge his people.
5 "Gather my saints together to me,/
those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice."
6 And the heavens shall declare his righteousness,/
for God is judge himself./
[Selah.]
7 "Hear, O my people, and I will speak,/
O Israel, and I will testify against you./
I am God, even your God.
8 I will not reprove you for your sacrifices/
or your burnt-offerings which have been continually before me.
9 I will take no bull out of your house,/
nor male goats out of your folds.
10 For every beast of the forest is mine,/
and the cattle upon a thousand hills.
11 I know all the birds of the mountains./
And the wild beasts of the field are mine.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you,/
for the world is mine, and the fullness thereof.
13 Will I eat the flesh of bulls/
or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer to God thanksgiving/
and pay your vows to the Most High.
15 And call upon me in the day of trouble./
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me."
16 But to the wicked, God says,/
"What have you to do to declare my statutes,/
or that you should take my covenant in your mouth,
17 Seeing you hate instruction/
and cast my words behind you?
18 When you saw a thief, you consented with him./
You have been partaker with adulterers.
19 You give your mouth to evil/
and your tongue frames deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your brother./
You slander your own mother's son.
21 These things you have done, and I kept silence./
You thought that I was altogether such a one as yourself./
But I will reprove you and set them in order before your eyes.
22 Now consider this, you who forget God,/
lest I tear you in pieces and there be no one to deliver:
23 Whoever offers praise glorifies me,/
and to him who orders his deportment aright/
I will show the salvation of God."
Matthew Henry Commentary - Psalms, Chapter 50[➚]
John Calvin's Chapter Summary:
There have always been hypocrites in the Church, men who have placed religion in a mere observance of outward ceremonies, and among the Jews there were many who turned their attention entirely to the figures of the Law, without regarding the truth which was represented under them. They conceived that nothing more was demanded of them but their sacrifices and other rites. The following psalm is occupied with the reprehension of this gross error, and the prophet exposes in severe terms the dishonor which is cast upon the name of God by confounding ceremony with religion, showing that the worship of God is spiritual, and consists of two parts, prayer and thanksgiving.
[v.5] - Reference, Matthew 24:31.
[v.12] - Reference, Psalm 24:1; 1st Corinthians 10:26, 28.