Psalms 50:21

50:16-23 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.

These things hast thou done,.... "These evil works", as the Targum; which they had done over and over again without remorse, with the greatest pleasure, and with promises of impunity to themselves. This is a confirmation of the charge made by the omniscient God, who saw and knew all their actions; and I kept silence; spoke not by terrible things in righteousness, deferred the execution of judgment, exercised forbearance and patience, and gave space to repent; which being despised, they were hardened yet more and more in sin; see Ecclesiastes 8:11.

Psalm 50:21 . These things hast thou done, and I kept silence — I did not express my displeasure against thee in such grievous judgments as thou didst deserve. Or, I was deaf: I conducted myself like one that did not hear thy sinful speeches, nor see, or take any notice of thy wicked actions. And thou thoughtest, &c. — Thou didst misconstrue and abuse my patience and long-suffering, as if it had proceeded from my not noticing, or not regarding thy evil courses, or from my approving of them; and therefore thou didst grow more audacious and impudent in sin. But I will reprove thee — I will quickly undeceive thee, and convince thee of the contrary, to thy cost; and set them, thy sins, in order before thine eyes — I will bring to thy remembrance, and lay upon thy conscience, all thy sins in full number, and in their order, with all their circumstances of aggravation: and thou shalt then see and know that I particularly observed and hated them all, and that none of them shall go unpunished.

Thus the psalmist, as from the mouth of God, foretels the destruction of the impenitent Jews; who, having received the law of God, and the ordinances of his worship and service, and entered into a solemn covenant with him, would not be reformed by the warnings and exhortations of Moses or the prophets, nor by the preaching and miracles of Christ and his apostles; and, therefore, after a long series of lesser judgments and calamities, of which we have a circumstantial account in their history, at last suffered an infliction of wrath and vengeance sufficient to make the ears of every one that heareth it to tingle.

(21) The forbearance of God (intended to give room for repentance, Romans 2:4 ) is misconstrued. Men come to think the Divine Being as indifferent to evil as themselves. That I was altogether.—We might render, that I was actually. And set them in order.—The insertion of “them,” referring back to “these things,” is rather confusing. Better supply thine offences. All the sins of the wicked are marshalled before them.

Verse 21. - These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself. Because God did not interpose openly to punish the sins committed, the transgressor dared to imagine him to be indifferent to sin, "such an one as himself" - no holier, no purer, no more averse to evil. But I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes . But now the time is come when I shall no longer keep silence; I shall openly "reprove" thee, and marshal in set order before thee all the wicked deeds which thou hast done. God, as Calvin says, "will lay before them in exact order a full catalogue of their misdeeds, which they must read and own, whether they will or not." Psalm 50:21

These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and {q} set them in order before thine eyes. (q) I will write all your wicked deeds in a roll, and make you read and acknowledge them, whether you will or not.

I kept silence; I did not express my displeasure against thee in such grievous judgments as thou didst deserve. Or, I was deaf ; I carried myself like one that did not hear thy sinful speeches, nor see or take any notice of thy wicked actions. And thou didst misconstrue and abuse this my patience and long-suffering, as if it had proceeded from my ignorance, or regardlessness, or approbation of thy evil courses, which I seemed by my connivance to justify or allow, and thereupon didst grow more audacious and impudent in sin. See Ecclesiastes 11:9 Isaiah 26:10 Romans 2:4,5 . I will reprove thee, not with verbal, but real reproofs, i.e. by severe punishments, as this word is used, Job 13:10 Psalm 6:1 38:1 39:11 , and oft elsewhere. I will quickly undeceive and convince thee of the contrary to thy cost. Set them in order before thine eyes; I will bring to thy remembrance, and lay upon thy conscience, all thy sins, in full number and in their order, with all their circumstances; and thou shalt then see and know that I diligently observed and hated them all, and that none of them shall go unpunished.

21 . When thou didst these things, and I kept silence, refraining from immediate condemnation of thy conduct by condign punishment, thou didst mistake longsuffering for indifference, and think that I cared as little as thyself for the laws of morality. that I was ] This rendering hardly represents the original, which means that I should be or prove myself . It is the same word Ehyeh, I am , or I will be , which is found in Exodus 3:14 , in God’s proclamation of Himself as the Self-revealing One, ‘ I will be that I will be .’ The wicked man degrades his conception of God into a reflection of himself, and fancies that Jehovah as He reveals Himself will prove to be only like a man. set them in order ] All the offences of which thou art guilty. The word is a forensic term, used of drawing up the various counts of an indictment. Cp. Job 23:4 ; Job 33:5 .

These things hast thou done, and I kept silence - Compare the notes at Isaiah 18:4 . The meaning is, that while they did these things - while they committed these abominations - he did not interfere. He did not come forth in his anger to destroy them. He had borne all this with patience. He had borne this until it was now time that he should interpose Isaiah 18:3 , and state the true principles of his government, and warn then of the consequences of such a course of sin and hypocrisy. Compare the notes at Acts 17:30 . Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself - The idea here is, that they thought or imagined that God was just like themselves in the matter under consideration, and they acted under this impression; or, in other words, the fair interpretation of their conduct was that they thus regarded God. That is, they supposed that "God" would be satisfied with the "forms" of religion, as "they" were; that all he required was the proper offering of sacrifice, according to "their" views of the nature of religion; that he did not regard principle, justice, pure morality, sincerity, even as they themselves did not; and that he would not be strict to punish sin, or to reprove them for it, if these forms were kept up, even as "they" were not disposed to be rigid on the subject of sin. But I will reprove thee - I will rebuke thee alike for thy sins, and for this view of the nature of religion.

And set them in order - literally, I will "array" them; that is, I will draw them out to view in their appropriate ranks and orders, as soldiers are drawn up in martial array. They shall be so arranged and classified that they may be seen distinctly. Before thine eyes - So that they may be plainly seen. The meaning is, that they would have a clear and impressive view of them: they would be made to see them as they were. This might be done then, as it is done now, either (a) by their being set before their minds and hearts, so that they would see and feel the enormity of sin, to wit, by conviction for it; or (b) by sending such punishment on them for their sins that they might "measure" the guilt and the number of their transgressions by the penalties which would be inflicted. In some way all sinners will yet be made to see the nature and the extent of their guilt before God.