A new series appropriately follows in this cluster of Psalms, which opens with God's summons of His people to judgment; and this calls forth the remnant's confession of corruption and blood-guilt, in both acknowledging the insufficiency of legal sacrifice and offering without brokenness of spirit and confidence in divine grace. In Zion we have an instruction that takes the shape of a plaint against their violent and deceitful oppressor with the assurance of his destruction on God's part, Who will deliver and bless His godly ones in His lovingkindness forever. Then comes the moral exposure of the lawless one, but in terms which the apostle in Rom. 3 applies to those under the law; for indeed the Jews as a mass will be first as their chief, the son of perdition; and the heart of a sinner, where not law only but Christ in grace is abandoned, is no better than an Antichrist; and this is morally true since the cross and the rejection of the gospel. The sense of this in the remnant turns by the Spirit into desire for Israel's salvation when God has scattered the bones of the foes who beleaguered the object of His choice. In Psa. 54 the Spirit of Christ identifies the godly with Himself in resting every expectation on the name of God when covenant mercies are gone; but the end is thanksgiving to Jehovah when He has delivered the godly Jew out of all trouble in the displayed judgment of his enemies.
“A psalm of Asaph. God (El), Elohim-Jehovah, hath spoken and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto its setting. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. Our God will come and not be silent: a fire before him shall devour, and around him it shall be tempestuous. He calleth to the heavens from above and to the earth to judge his people. Gather unto me my saints making my covenant by (over) sacrifice. And the heavens declare his righteousness, for God [is] judge himself. Selah. Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify unto (against) thee: God, thy God, [am] I. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices and thy burnt offerings continually before me. I will take no bullock out of thy house, [nor] he-goats out of thy folds. For mine [is] every beast of the forest, cattle upon a thousand hills; I know every bird of the mountains, and the wealth of the field [is] mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee, for mine [is] the world and its fullness. Shall I eat the bulls (strong ones), and drink the blood of he-goats? Sacrifice unto God thanksgiving and pay unto the Most High thy vows: and call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and the), shalt glorify me. And to the wicked God saith, What [is it] to thee, to declare my statutes? And thou hast taken my covenant into thy mouth, and thou hast hated correction, and hast cast my words behind thee. When thou saweth a thief, thou didst take pleasure in him, and with adulterers [was] thy portion. Thy mouth thou hast sent (let loose) unto evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit. Thou sitteth, thou speakest against thy brother; against thy mother's son thou utterest slander.
These things hast thou done, and I kept silence, thou thoughtest I was altogether like thee. I will reprove thee and set (them) in order before thine eyes. Now consider this, forgetters of God (Eloah), lest I tear in pieces, and there be no deliverer. He that sacrificeth praise glorifieth me, and to him that ordereth [his] way will I show the salvation of God” (vss. 1-23).
Psalm 50
“To the chief musician a psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him after he went unto Bathsheba. Be gracious unto me, O God, according to thy mercy; according to the multitude of thy compassions blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sins. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is continually before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and have done the evil in thy sight (eyes); that thou mayest be justified when thou speakest, and be near when thou judgest. Behold, in iniquity was I born, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou hast desired truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden [part] thou wilt make me to know wisdom. Thou wilt purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; thou wilt wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Thou wilt make me to hear joy and gladness; the bones thou hast broken shall rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create for me a pure heart, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me. Cast me not out from thy presence, and the spirit of thy holiness take not from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and let a free spirit uphold me. I will teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall turn unto thee. Deliver me from blood, O God, God of my salvation; my tongue shall celebrate thy righteousness. O Lord, thou wilt open my lips, and my mouth shall declare thy praise. For thou delightest not in sacrifice, else would I give it; in burnt offering thou dost not take pleasure. The sacrifices of God [are] a broken spirit; a heart broken and contrite, O God, thou wilt not despise. Do good in thy good pleasure to Zion; thou wilt build the walls of Jerusalem. Then thou shalt delight in sacrifices of righteousness, burnt offering and whole burnt offering; then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar” (vss. 1-21).
Plainly these two psalms are closely bound together, though the first is a public and general summons, the second a private and personal confession, which at the end the godly remnant will take up as their own in view of corruption and the blood shedding of the Messiah, the great transgression. Real godliness is requisite, not sacrifice, in the former; in the latter not sacrifice but genuine repentance. Ceremonial observances are in vain, when God judges us even on the earth, yet more for eternity. Boasting of the law serves only the more to condemn the sinner
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Psalm 52
“To the chief musician upon Mahaleth; a psalm of instruction of David, when Doeg the Edomite went in, and told Saul and said to him, David went to the house of Ahimelech. Why boastest thou thyself in evil, O mighty man? The mercy of God [is] all the day. Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs, as a sharp razor, working deceit. Thou hast loved evil rather than good, falsehood rather than speaking righteousness. Selah. Thou hast loved all words of destruction, O tongue of deceit. God shall also destroy thee forever; he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of tent, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah. The righteous also shall see and fear, and laugh at him. Behold the man (strong one) that made not God his strength, but confided in the abundance of his riches; he strengthened himself in his wickedness. But for me, I [am] like a green olive-tree in the house of God; I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever. I will praise thee forever, for thou hast done [it], and I will hope in thy name, for it is good before thy saints (vss. 1-9).
As we had the saints brought to renounce ceremonies as a substitute for righteousness and repentance, now we have the treacherous enemy portrayed, and the saints in their helpless exposure suffering, but delivered by the destruction that falls on the Edomite at the end, when good shall flourish like the olive and give thanks forever.
Psalm 53
“To the chief musician upon Mahaleth; a psalm of instruction of David. The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God. They have corrupted themselves, they have done abominable iniquity; there is none doing good. God looked down from the heavens upon the sons of man to see if there were one understanding, seeking God. Every one hath departed; together they are become corrupt; there is none doing good, there is not even one. Have not the workers of iniquity known, eating my people [as] they have eaten bread? They called not upon God. There have they greatly feared [where] no fear was; for God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee. Thou hast put [them] to shame, for God hath rejected them. Who will give; out of Zion the salvation of Israel? When God turneth the captivity of His people, Jacob shall rejoice, Israel shall be glad” (vss. 1-8).
This is the great folly of man, but most guiltily among the Jews, denying Him to Whom we owe all, Who had above all chosen and favored them. Their fear is to come, whatever their contempt and hatred of God's people now. As for the righteous, they had no reason to fear: God's judgment will fall when least expected. And His word proclaims it across the ages.
Psalm 54
“To the chief musician upon Neginoth (stringed instruments); a psalm of instruction of David, when the Ziphites went in and said to Saul, Is not David hiding himself with me? O God, by thy might judge (vindicate) me. O God, hear my prayer; give ear to the words of my mouth. For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors sought after my soul; they set not God before them. Selah. Behold, God [is] a helper for me; the Lord. [is] with them that uphold my soul. He will requite the evil to my adversaries: in thy truth cut them off. With a freewill offering I will sacrifice unto thee; I will praise thy name, O Jehovah, for [it is] good. For out of trouble, he delivered me; and mine eye hath looked (seen its desire) upon mine enemies” (vss. 1-9).
The name of God (Elohim) will be everything in that dark hour to the godly Jews in the latter day, when they find themselves driven away by their apostate brethren amalgamated with the lawless Gentiles, and Antichrist at their head. God's. name is the revelation of what He is, and to this they cling in faith, when they have lost all else. As they besought by it, so they will give thanks and praise it when it emerges as Jehovah (ver. 8), in the power and glory of His day when His hand makes good what His mouth had spoken.