Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Psalms
Book: Psalms
Chapter: 50
Overview:
The
Glory of
God.
(1-6) Sacrifices to be changed for prayers.
(7-15) Sincere obedience required.
(16-23)
1-6 This psalm is a psalm of instruction. It tells of the
Coming of Christ and the
Day of
Judgment, in which
God will
Call
men to account; and the
Holy Ghost is the
Spirit of judgement.
All the children of men are concerned to know the right way of
worshipping the
Lord, in
Spirit and in
Truth. In the great
Day,
our
God shall come, and make those hear his judgement who would
not hearken to his
Law. Happy are those who come into the
Covenant of
Grace,
By Faith in the
Redeemer's atoning
Sacrifice,
and show the sincerity of their
Love By fruits of
Righteousness.
When
God rejects the services of those who
Rest in outside
performances, he will graciously accept those who seek him
aright. It is only
By Sacrifice,
By Christ, the great
Sacrifice,
from whom the sacrifices of the
Law derived what value they had,
that we can be accepted of
God. True and righteous are his
judgments; even sinners' own consciences will be forced to
acknowledge the
Righteousness of
God.
7-15 To obey is better than
Sacrifice, and to
Love God and our
neighbour better than all burnt-offerings. We are here warned
not to
Rest in these performances. And let us beware of resting
in any form.
God demands the
Heart, and how can human inventions
please him, when
Repentance,
Faith, and
Holiness are neglected?
In the
Day of distress we must apply to the
Lord By fervent
Prayer. Our troubles, though we see them coming from
God's
Hand,
must drive us to him, not drive us from him. We must acknowledge
him in all our ways, depend upon his
Wisdom, power, and
Goodness, and refer ourselves wholly to him, and
So give him
Glory. Thus must we keep up
Communion with
God; meeting him with
prayers under trials, and with praises in deliverances. A
believing supplicant shall not only be graciously answered as to
his petition, and
So have cause for praising
God, but shall also
have
Grace to praise him.
16-23 Hypocrisy is wickedness, which
God will
Judge. And it is
too common, for those who declare the
Lord's statutes to others,
to live in disobedience to them themselves. This delusion arises
from the abuse of
God's long-suffering, and a wilful mistake of
his character and the intention of his
Gospel. The sins of
sinners will be fully proved
On them in the
Judgment of the
great
Day. The
Day is coming when
God will set their sins in
order, sins of childhood and youth, of riper
Age and old
Age, to
their
Everlasting shame and terror. Let those hitherto forgetful
of
God, given up to wickedness, or in any way negligent of
Salvation, consider their urgent danger. The patience of the
Lord is very great. It is the more wonderful, because sinners
make such ill use of it; but if they turn not, they shall be
made to see their error when it is too late. Those that forget
God, forget themselves; and it will never be right with them
till they consider.
Man's chief
End is to
Glorify God: whoso
offers praise, glorifies him, and his spiritual sacrifices shall
be accepted. We must praise
God,
Sacrifice praise,
Put it into
the hands of the
Priest, our
Lord Jesus, who is also the
Altar:
we must be fervent in
Spirit, praising the
Lord. Let us
thankfully accept
God's
Mercy, and endeavour to
Glorify him in
Word and deed.