Psalm 50:22

Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Psalm 50:22. Now consider this, ye that forget God — Ye hypocritical and ungodly Israelites, who have forgotten (as Moses foretold ye would do, Deuteronomy 32:18) the God that formed you, and made you his people, and have forgotten his mercies and judgments, by which you should have been instructed, and the covenant which you made with him, and by which you stand obliged to obey and serve him. Lest I tear you in pieces — Lest my patience be turned into fury, and I proceed to take vengeance on you; and there be none, or, for there is none to deliver — None that can rescue you from the power of mine anger.

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

Now consider this - Understand this; give attention to this. The word "now" does not well express the force of the original. The Hebrew word is not an adverb of "time," but a particle denoting "entreaty," and would be better rendered by, "Oh, consider this;" or, "Consider this, I beseech you." The matter is presented to them as that which deserved their most solemn attention.

Ye that forget God - Who really forget him though you are professedly engaged in his worship; who, amidst the forms of religion, are actually living in entire forgetfulness of the just claims and of the true character of God.

Lest I tear you in pieces - Language derived from the fury of a ravenous beast tearing his victim from limb to limb.

And there be none to deliver - As none can do when God rises up in his wrath to inflict vengeance. None would "venture" to Interpose; none "could" rescue from his hand. There "is" a point of time in relation to all sinners when no one, not even the Redeemer - the great and merciful Mediator - will interpose to save; when the sinner will be left to be dealt with by simple, pure, unmixed and unmitigated "justice;" when mercy and kindness will have done their work in regard to them in vain; and when they will be left to the "mere desert" of their sins. At that point there is no power that can deliver them.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

22. forget God—This denotes unmindfulness of His true character.

The Treasury of David

22 Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.

"Now" or oh! it is a word of entreaty, for the Lord is loth even to let the most ungodly run on to destruction. "Consider this;" take these truths to heart, ye who trust in ceremonies and ye who live in vice, for both of you sin in that "ye forget God." Bethink you how unaccepted you are, and turn unto the Lord. See how you have mocked the eternal, and repent of your iniquities. "Lest I tear you in pieces," as a lion rends his prey, "and there be none to deliver," no Saviour, no refuge, no hope. Ye reject the Mediator: beware, for ye will sorely need one in the day of wrath, and none will be near to plead for you. How terrible, how complete, how painful, how humiliating, will be the destruction of the wicked! God uses no soft words, or velvet metaphors, nor may his servants do so when they speak of the wrath to come. O reader, consider this.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Ye that forget God; ye hypocritical and ungodly Israelites, who have forgotten (as Moses foretold you would do, Deu 32:18) the God that formed you, and made you his people, and forgotten his mercies and judgments, by which you should have been instructed, and the covenant which you made with him, and by which you stand obliged to him.

Lest I tear you in pieces; lest my patience be turned into fury, and I proceed to take vengeance on you.

And there be none to deliver; or, for (as the Hebrew particle is oft rendered) there is none that can or will deliver you. None can rescue you from the power of mine anger.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Now consider this,.... The evils that had been committed, and repent of them; for repentance is an after thought and reconsideration of sin, and humiliation for it; that the Lord, was not like them, not an approver of sin, but a reprover for it; and what would be their latter end, what all this would issue in, in case of impenitence;

ye that forget God; that there is a God, his being, perfections, word, works, and benefits;

lest I tear you in pieces; as a lion, leopard, or bear; see Hosea 13:7; which was accomplished in the destruction of Jerusalem; when both their civil and ecclesiastical state were torn in pieces; their city and temple levelled with the ground, and not one stone left upon another; and they scattered about in the earth;

and there be none to deliver; which denotes their utter and irreparable ruin, till the time comes they shall turn to the Lord; see Isaiah 42:22.

Geneva Study Bible

Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

22. ye that forget God] Elôah: see note on Psalm 50:1. For the phrase cp. Psalm 9:17; Job 8:13; and for the thought, Psalm 10:4.

lest I tear &c.] Like a lion. Cp. Hosea 5:14.

22, 23. Practical conclusion, addressed to both classes: to the formal worshippers who ‘forget God’ by ignoring the spiritual character of the worship which He desires, as well as to the hypocrites whose conduct proves that they “refuse to have Him in their knowledge.”

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 22. - Now consider this, ye that forget God. Having been "reproved," the wicked are now, in conclusion, exhorted and warned. "Consider this;" i.e. take it to heart, reflect upon it, let it sink deeply into your minds and consciences, and act upon it. Lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. A most awful threat. To "tear in pieces" is the act of a wild beast (Psalm 7:2). Job declares that God "teareth him;" but otherwise the expression is scarcely used of Divine chastisements. Certainly, if God, in his anger, lays hold upon a man to punish him, there is no possible deliverance at the hand of any other man (Psalm 49:7, 8). Deliverance, if it comes at all, must come from the Redeemer within the Godhead. Psalm 50:22

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Epilogue of the divine discourse. Under the name שׁכחי אלוהּ are comprehended the decent or honourable whose sanctity relies upon outward works, and those who know better but give way to licentiousness; and they are warned of the final execution of the sentence which they have deserved. In dead works God delighteth not, but whoso offereth thanksgiving (viz., not shelamim-tôda, but the tôda of the heart), he praises Him

(Note: In Vedic jag', old Bactrian jaz (whence jag'jas, the primitive word of ἅγιος), the notions of offering and of praising lie one within the other.)

and שׂם דּרך. It is unnecessary with Luther, following the lxx, Vulgate, and Syriac versions, to read שׁם. The Talmudic remark אל תקרי ושׂם אלא ושׁם [do not read ושׂם, but ושׁם] assumes ושׂם to be the traditional reading. If we take שׂם דּרך as a thought complete in itself, - which is perfectly possible in a certain sense (vid., Isaiah 43:19), - then it is best explained according to the Vulgate (qui ordinat viam), with Bצttcher, Maurer, and Hupfeld: viam h. e. recta incedere (legel agere) parans; but the expression is inadequate to express this ethical sense (cf. Proverbs 4:26), and consequently is also without example. The lxx indicates the correct idea in the rendering καὶ ἐκεῖ ὁδὸς ᾗ δείξω αὐτῷ τὸ σωτήριον Θεοῦ. The ושׂם דוך (designedly not pointed דּרך), which standing entirely by itself has no definite meaning, receives its requisite supplement by means of the attributive clause that follows. Such an one prepares a way along which I will grant to him to see the salvation of Elohim, i.e., along which I will grant him a rapturous vision of the full reality of My salvation. The form יכבּדנני is without example elsewhere. It sounds like the likewise epenthetical יקראנני, Proverbs 1:28, cf. Proverbs 8:17, Hosea 5:15, and may be understood as an imitation of it as regards sound. יכבּדנני ( equals יכבּדני) is in the writer's mind as the form out of pause (Ges. ֗58, 4). With Psalm 50:23 the Psalm recurs to its central point and climax, Psalm 50:14. What Jahve here discourses in a post-Sinaitic appearing, is the very same discourse concerning the worthlessness of dead works and concerning the true will of God that Jesus addresses to the assembled people when He enters upon His ministry. The cycle of the revelation of the Gospel is linked to the cycle of the revelation of the Law by the Sermon on the Mount; this is the point at which both cycles touch.