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 set them in order before thine eyes.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(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.

Benson Commentary

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.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

21, 22. God, no longer (even in appearance) disregarding such, exposes their sins and threatens a terrible punishment.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

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.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

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. This refers to the space of time between the crucifixion of Christ and the destruction of Jerusalem;

thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself; either that he did not see the things committed by them in secret, as the things before mentioned, theft, adultery, slander, and detraction, commonly are; because they could not see such actions done by others: or that he took pleasure in them, as they did, and that he approved of their crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth, and of their contempt of his Gospel, and of the persecution of his followers;

but I will reprove thee: not verbally by the ministry of the word, much less effectually and savingly by his Spirit; nor in a way of fatherly correction and chastisement; but by sore judgments; by sending the Roman armies to burn their city and temple, and carry them captive;

and set them in order before thine eyes; that is, their sins, and thereby fully confute their vain imagination, that either he did not take notice of them, or else approved of them. This signifies a formal process against them, as in a court of judicature; bringing in a regular charge and accusation against them, and an orderly disposition of their sins, as to time, place, and circumstances, committed by them, and a strong evidence or thorough conviction of them, so as not to be denied and gainsaid by them: or a setting them in battle array, as in Job 6:4; in rank and file; sins being what war against men, and bring upon them utter ruin and destruction; as the sins of the Jews fought against them, and destroyed them; see Jeremiah 2:19.

Geneva Study Bible

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.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

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.

Pulpit Commentary

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

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The accusation of the manifest sinners. It is not those who are addressed in Psalm 50:7, as Hengstenberg thinks, who are here addressed. Even the position of the words ולרשׁע אמר clearly shows that the divine discourse is now turned to another class, viz., to the evil-doers, who, in connection with open and manifest sins and vices, take the word of God upon their lips, a distinct class from those who base their sanctity upon outward works of piety, who outwardly fulfil the commands of God, but satisfy and deceive themselves with this outward observance. מה־לּך ל, what hast thou, that thou equals it belongs not to thee, it does not behove thee. With ועתּה, in Psalm 50:17, an adversative subordinate clause beings: since thou dost not care to know anything of the moral ennobling which it is the design of the Law to give, and my words, instead of having them as a constant test-line before thine eyes, thou castest behind thee and so turnest thy back upon them (cf. Isaiah 38:17). ותּרץ is not from רוּץ (lxx, Targum, and Saadia), in which case it would have to be pointed ותּרץ, but from רצה, and is construed here, as in Job 34:9, with עם: to have pleasure in intercourse with any one. In Psalm 50:18 the transgression of the eighth commandment is condemned, in Psalm 50:18 that of the seventh, in Psalm 50:19. that of the ninth (concerning the truthfulness of testimony). שׁלח פּה ברעה, to give up one's mouth unrestrainedly to evil, i.e., so that evil issues from it. תּשׁב, Psalm 50:20, has reference to gossiping company (cf. Psalm 1:1). דּפי signifies a thrust, a push (cf. הדף), after which the lxx renders it ἐτίθεις σκάνδαλον (cf. Leviticus 19:14), but it also signifies vexation and mockery (cf. גּדף); it is therefore to be rendered: to bring reproach (Jerome, opprobrium) upon any one, to cover him with dishonour. The preposition בּ with דּבּר has, just as in Numbers 12:1, and frequently, a hostile signification. "Thy mother's son" is he who is born of the same mother with thyself, and not merely of the same father, consequently thy brother after the flesh in the fullest sense. What Jahve says in this passage is exactly the same as that which the apostle of Jesus Christ says in Romans 2:17-24. This contradiction between the knowledge and the life of men God must, for His holiness' sake, unmask and punish, Psalm 50:20. The sinner thinks otherwise: God is like himself, i.e., that is also not accounted by God as sin, which he allows himself to do under the cloak of his dead knowledge. For just as a man is in himself, such is his conception also of his God (vid., Psalm 18:26.). But God will not encourage this foolish idea: "I will therefore reprove thee and set (it) in order before thine eyes" (ואערכה, not ואערכה, in order to give expression, the second time at least, to the mood, the form of which has been obliterated by the suffix); He will set before the eyes of the sinner, who practically and also in theory denies the divine holiness, the real state of his heart and life, so that he shall be terrified at it. Instead of היה, the infin. intensit. here, under the influence of the close connection of the clauses (Ew. 240, c), is היות; the oratio obliqua begins with it, without כּי (quod). כמוך exactly corresponds to the German deines Gleichen, thine equal.