Spiritual worship is the great, the essential matter; all else without
it is rather provoking than pleasing to God. As helps to the soul,
outward offerings were precious, but when men went not beyond them, even
their hallowed things were profaned in the view of heaven.
16 But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my
statutes, or _that_ thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?
17 Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee.
18 When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and
hast been partaker with adulterers.
19 Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit.
20 Thou sittest _and_ speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest
thine own mother’s son.
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.
Here the Lord turns to the manifestly wicked among his people; and such
there were even in the highest places of his sanctuary. If moral
formalists had been rebuked, how much more these immoral pretenders to
fellowship with heaven? If the lack of heart spoiled the worship of the
more decent and virtuous, how much more would violations of the law,
committed with a high hand, corrupt the sacrifices of the wicked?
16. “_But unto the wicked God saith._” To the breakers of the second
table he now addresses himself; he had previously spoken to the
neglecters of the first. “_What hast thou to do to declare my
statutes?_” You violate openly my moral law, and yet are great sticklers
for my ceremonial commands! What have you to do with them? What interest
can you have in them? Do you dare to teach my law to others, and profane
it yourselves? What impudence, what blasphemy is this! Even if you claim
to be sons of Levi, what of that? Your wickedness disqualifies you,
disinherits you, puts you out of the succession. It should silence you,
and would if my people were as spiritual as I would have them, for they
would refuse to hear you, and to pay you the portion of temporal things
which is due to my true servants. You count up your holy days, you
contend for rituals, you fight for externals, and yet the weightier
matters of the law ye despise! Ye blind guides, ye strain out gnats and
swallow camels; your hypocrisy is written on your foreheads and manifest
to all. “_Or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth._” Ye
talk of being in covenant with me, and yet trample my holiness beneath
your feet as swine trample upon pearls; think ye that I can brook this?
Your mouths are full of lying and slander, and yet ye mouth my words as
if they were fit morsels for such as you! How horrible an evil it is,
that to this day we see men explaining doctrines who despise precepts!
They make grace a coverlet for sin, and even judge themselves to be
sound in the faith, while they are rotten in life. We need the grace of
the doctrines as much as the doctrines of grace, and without it an
apostle is but a Judas, and a fair-spoken professor is an arrant enemy
of the cross of Christ.
17. “_Seeing thou hatest instruction._” Profane professors are often too
wise to learn, too besotted with conceit to be taught of God. What a
monstrosity that men should declare those statutes which with their
hearts they do not know, and which in their lives they openly disavow!
Woe unto the men who hate the instruction which they take upon
themselves to give. “_And castest my words behind thee._” Despising
them, throwing them away as worthless, putting them out of sight as
obnoxious. Many boasters of the law did this practically; and in these
last days there are pickers and choosers of God’s words who cannot
endure the practical part of Scripture; they are disgusted at duty, they
abhor responsibility, they disembowel texts of their plain meanings,
they wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction. It is an ill sign
when a man dares not look a Scripture in the face, and an evidence of
brazen impudence when he tries to make it mean something less
condemnatory of his sins, and endeavours to prove it to be less sweeping
in its demands. How powerful is the argument that such men have no right
to take the covenant of God into their mouths, seeing that its spirit
does not regulate their lives!
18. “_When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him._” Moral
honesty cannot be absent where true grace is present. Those who excuse
others in trickery are guilty themselves; those who use others to do
unjust actions for them are doubly so. If a man be ever so religious, if
his own actions do not rebuke dishonesty, he is an accomplice with
thieves. If we can acquiesce in anything which is not upright, we are
not upright ourselves, and our religion is a lie. “_And hast been
partaker with adulterers._” One by one the moral precepts are thus
broken by the sinners in Zion. Under the cloak of piety, unclean livers
conceal themselves. We may do this by smiling at unchaste jests,
listening to indelicate expressions, and conniving at licentious
behaviour in our presence; and if we thus act, how dare we preach, or
lead public prayer, or wear the Christian name? See how the Lord lays
righteousness to the plummet! How plainly all this declares that without
holiness no man shall see the Lord! No amount of ceremonial or
theological accuracy can cover dishonesty and fornication; these filthy
things must be either purged from us by the blood of Jesus, or they will
kindle a fire in God’s anger which will burn even to the lowest hell.
19. “_Thou givest thy mouth to evil._” Sins against the ninth
commandment are here mentioned. The man who surrenders himself to the
habit of slander is a vile hypocrite if he associates himself with the
people of God. A man’s health is readily judged by his tongue. A foul
mouth, a foul heart. Some slander almost as often as they breathe, and
yet are great upholders of the church, and great sticklers for holiness.
To what depths will not they go in evil, who delight in spreading it
with their tongues? “_And thy tongue frameth deceit._” This is a more
deliberate sort of slander, where the man dexterously elaborates false
witness, and concocts methods of defamation. There is an ingenuity of
calumny in some men, and, alas! even in some who are thought to be
followers of the Lord Jesus. They manufacture falsehoods, weave them in
their loom, hammer them on their anvil, and then retail their wares in
every company. Are these accepted with God? Though they bring their
wealth to the altar, and speak eloquently of truth and of salvation,
have they any favour with God? We should blaspheme the holy God if we
were to think so. They are corrupt in his sight, a stench in his
nostrils. He will cast all liars into hell. Let them preach, and pray,
and sacrifice as they will; till they become truthful, the God of truth
loathes them utterly.
20. “_Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother._” He sits down to
it, makes it his meat, studies it, resolves upon it, becomes a master of
defamation, occupies the chair of calumny. His nearest friend is not
safe, his dearest relative escapes not. “_Thou slanderest thine own
mother’s son._” He ought to love him best, but he has an ill word for
him. The son of one’s own mother was to the Oriental a very tender
relation; but the wretched slanderer knows no claims of kindred. He
stabs his brother in the dark, and aims a blow at him who came forth of
the same womb: yet he wraps himself in the robe of hypocrisy, and dreams
that he is a favourite of heaven, an accepted worshipper of the Lord.
Are such monsters to be met with nowadays? Alas! they pollute our
churches still, and are roots of bitterness, spots in our solemn feasts,
wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
Perhaps some such may read these lines, but they will probably read them
in vain; their eyes are too dim to see their own condition, their hearts
are waxen gross, their ears are dull of hearing; they are given up to a
strong delusion to believe a lie, that they may be damned.
21. “_These things hast thou done, and I kept silence._” No swift
judgment overthrew the sinner—longsuffering reigned; no thunder was
heard in threatening, and no bolt of fire was hurled in execution.
“_Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself._” The
inference drawn from the Lord’s patience was infamous: the respited
culprit thought his judge to be one of the same order as himself. He
offered sacrifice, and deemed it accepted; he continued in sin, and
remained unpunished, and therefore he rudely said, “Why need believe
these crazy prophets? God cares not how we live so long as we pay our
tithes. Little does he consider how we get the plunder, so long as we
bring a bullock to his altar.” What will not men imagine of the Lord? At
one time they liken the glory of Israel to a calf and anon their brutish
selves. “_But I will reprove thee._” At last I will break silence and
let thee know my mind. “_And set them in order before thine eyes._” I
will marshal thy sins in battle array. I will make thee see them, I will
put them down item by item, classified, and arranged. Thou shalt know
that if silent awhile, I was never blind or deaf. I will make thee
perceive what thou hast tried to deny. I will leave the seat of mercy
for the throne of judgment, and there will I let thee see how great the
difference between thee and me.
22 Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear _you_ in
pieces, and _there be_ none to deliver.
22. “_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.
23 Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth
_his_ conversation _aright_ will I shew the salvation of God.
23. “_Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me._” Praise is the best
sacrifice; true, hearty, gracious thanksgiving from a renewed mind. Not
the lowing of bullocks bound to the altar, but the songs of redeemed men
are the music which the ear of Jehovah delights in. Sacrifice your
loving gratitude, and God is honoured thereby. “_And to him that
ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God._”
Holy living is a choice evidence of salvation. He who submits his whole
way to divine guidance, and is careful to honour God in his life, brings
an offering which the Lord accepts through his dear Son; and such a one
shall be more and more instructed, and made experimentally to know the
Lord’s salvation. He needs salvation, for the best ordering of the life
cannot save us, but _that salvation_ he shall have. Not to ceremonies,
not to unpurified lips, is the blessing promised, but to grateful hearts
and holy lives.
O Lord, give us to stand in the judgment with those who have worshipped
thee aright and have seen thy salvation.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.
_Whole Psalm._—The exordium or beginning of this Psalm is the most grand
and striking that can possibly be imagined—the speaker GOD, the audience
an assembled world! We cannot compare or assimilate the scene here
presented to us with any human resemblance; nor do I imagine that earth
will ever behold such a day till that hour when the trumpet of the
archangel shall sound, and shall gather all the nations of the earth
from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other; when the dead,
small and great, shall stand before God, and the sea shall give up the
dead which are in it, and death and hell shall deliver up the dead that
are in them.—_Barton Bouchier._
_Verse 1.—“El, Elohim, Jehovah has spoken!”_ So reads the
Hebrew.—_Andrew A. Bonar._
_Verse 1 (first clause)._—Some have observed that these three names,
_El_, _Elohim_, _Jehovah_, here mentioned, have three very distinct
accents set to them, and which being joined to a verb singular דִּבֶּר,
_hath spoken_, contains the mystery of the trinity of Persons in the
unity of the divine Essence.—_John Gill._
_Verse 1.—“And called the earth,”_ etc., _i.e._, _all the inhabitants of
the earth_ he has commanded to come as witnesses and spectators of the
judgment.—_Simon de Muis._
_Verses 1-5._—
No more shall atheists mock his long delay;
His vengeance sleeps no more; behold the day!
Behold!—the Judge descends; his guards are nigh,
Tempests and fire attend him down the sky.
When God appears, all nature shall adore him.
While sinners tremble, saints rejoice before him.
Heaven, earth, and hell, draw near; let all things come,
To hear my justice, and the sinner’s doom;
But gather first my saints (the Judge commands),
Bring them, ye angels, from their distant lands.
When Christ returns, wake every cheerful passion,
And shout, ye saints; he comes for your salvation.
_Isaac Watts._
_Verse 2.—Out of Zion, the perfection of God’s beauty hath shined; or,
God has caused the perfection of beauty to shine out of Zion._—_Martin
Geier._
_Verse 2.—“God hath shined.”_ Like the sun in his strength, sometimes
for the comfort of his people, as Psalm lxxx. 1; sometimes for the
terror of evil-doers, as Psalm xciv. 1, and here. But evermore God is
terrible out of his holy places. Psalm lxviii. 35, and lxxxix. 7.—_John
Trapp._
_Verse 2.—“God hath shined.”_ The proper meaning of יָפַא is to scatter
rays from afar, and from a lofty place, and to glitter. _It is a word of
a grand sound_, says Ch. Schultens, _which is always used of a
magnificent and flashing light_.... It is apparently used of the
splendid symbol of God’s presence, as in Deut. xxxiv. 2, where he is
said to _scatter beams_ from Mount Paran. From which it is manifest that
it may refer to the pillar of cloud and fire, the seat of the Divine
Majesty conspicuous on Mount Sinai, or on the tabernacle, or the
loftiest part of the temple.—_Hermann Venema._
_Verse 3.—“Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence.”_ He kept
silence that he might be judged, he will not keep silence when he begins
to judge. It would not have been said, “_He shall come manifestly_,”
unless at first he had come concealed; nor, “_He shall not keep
silence_,” had he not at first kept silence. How did he keep silence?
Ask Isaiah: “He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep
before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.” Isa. liii. 7.
But he shall come manifestly, and shall not keep silence. How
manifestly? “_A fire shall go before him, and round about him a mighty
tempest._” That tempest is to carry wholly away the chaff from the floor
which is now in threshing; that fire, to consume what the tempest
carries off. Now, however, he is silent; silent in judgment, but not in
precept. For if Christ is silent, what mean these gospels? What the
voices of the apostles? the canticles of the Psalms? the lofty
utterances of the prophets? Truly in all these Christ is not silent.
Howbeit he is silent for the present in not taking vengeance, not in not
warning. But he will come in surpassing brightness to take vengeance,
and will be seen of all, even of those who believe not on him; but now,
forasmuch as although present he was not concealed, it behoved him to be
despised: for unless he had been despised he would not have been
crucified; if not crucified he would not have shed his blood, the price
with which he redeemed us. But in order that he might give a price for
us, he was crucified; that he might be crucified, he was despised; that
he might be despised, he appeared in humble guise.—_Augustine._
_Verse 3 (first clause)._—The future in the first clause may be rendered
_he is coming_, as if the sound of his voice and the light of his glory
had preceded his actual appearance. The imagery is borrowed from the
giving of the law at Sinai.—_J. A. Alexander._
_Verse 3 (first clause)._—May our God come![22] A prayer for the
hastening of his advent, as in the Apocalypse, xxii. 20.—_Pool’s
Synopsis._
_Verse 3.—“A fire shall devour before him.”_ As he gave his law in fire,
so in fire shall he require it.—_John Trapp._
_Verse 4.—“He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth.”_
That these dumb creatures may be as so many speaking evidences against
an unworthy people, and witnesses of God’s righteous dealings against
them. See Deut. xxxii. 1; Isaiah i. 2; Mic. vi. 2. The Chaldee thus
paraphraseth: _He will call the high angels from above; and the just of
the earth from beneath._—_John Trapp._
_Verse 5.—“Gather,”_ etc. To whom are these words addressed? Many
suppose to the angels, as the ministers of God’s will; but it is
unnecessary to make the expression more definite than it is in the
Psalm.—_J. J. Stewart Perowne._
_Verse 5.—“My saints,”_ the objects of my mercy, those whom I have
called and specially distinguished. The term is here descriptive of a
relation, not of an intrinsic quality.—_J. A. Alexander._
_Verse 5.—“Gather my saints together unto me.”_ There is a double or
two-fold gathering to Christ. There is a gathering unto Christ by faith,
a gathering within the bond of the covenant, a gathering into the family
of God, a gathering unto the root of Jesse, standing up for an ensign of
the people. “In that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall
stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and
his rest shall be glorious.” Isa. xi. 10. This is the main end of the
gospel, the great work of ministers, the gathering of sinners unto
Christ. But then there is a gathering unto Christ at the general
judgment; and this is the gathering that is here spoken of. This
gathering is consequential to the other. Christ will gather none to him
at the last day but those that are gathered to him by faith here; he
will give orders to gather together unto him all these, and none but
these, that have taken hold of his covenant....
I would speak of Christ’s owning and acknowledging the saints at his
second coming. His owning and acknowledging them is imported in his
giving these orders, “_Gather my saints together unto me_.”... Now upon
this head I mention the things following:—1. Saintship will be the only
mark of distinction in that day. There are many marks of distinction
now; but these will all cease, and this only will remain. 2. Saintship
will then be Christ’s badge of honour. Beware of mocking at saintship,
or sanctity, holiness, and purity; for it is Christ’s badge of honour,
the garment with which his followers are clothed, and will be the only
badge of honour at the great day. 3. Christ will forget and misken none
of the saints. Many of the saints are forgotten here, it is forgotten
that such persons were in the world, but Christ will forget and misken
none of them at the great day; he will give forth a list of all his
saints, and give orders to gather them all unto him. 4. He will confess,
own, and acknowledge them before his Father, and his holy angels. Matt.
x. 32; Luke xii. 8; Rev. iii. 5; They are to go to my Father’s house,
and they are to go thither in my name, in my right, and at my back; and
so it is necessary I should own and acknowledge them before my Father.
But what need is there for his owning them before the angels? _Ans._
They are to be the angels’ companions, and so it is necessary he should
own them before the angels. This will be like a testimonial for them
unto the angels. Lastly. The evidences of his right to, and propriety in
them, will then be made to appear. Mal. iii. 17: “And they shall be
mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels.” It
is too late for persons to become his then; so the meaning is, they
shall evidently appear to be mine.—_James Scot, 1773._
_Verse 5.—“Gather my saints together unto me.”_ Our text may be
considered as the commission given by the great Judge to his
angels—those ministering spirits who do his will, hearkening to the
voice of his power. The language of the text is in accordance with that
which was uttered by our Lord when, alluding to the coming of the Son of
Man, he says, “And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a
trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds,
from one end of heaven to the other.” But previous to this final, this
_general_ gathering together of his saints to judgment, Jehovah gathers
them together in various ways, in various places, and by various means,
both of providence and of grace. Previous to his being seated on a
throne of judgment, we behold him sitting on a throne of mercy, and we
hear him saying, “_Gather my saints together unto me._” These words lead
us to notice—I. The characters described, “_My saints._” II. The command
issued, “_Gather my saints together unto me._” I. THE CHARACTERS HERE
DESCRIBED—“_My saints._” By the term “_my saints_,” we are to understand
_my holy ones_—those who have been sanctified and set apart by God. None
of us possess this character by _nature_. We are born sinners, and there
is no difference; but by divine _grace_ we experience a change of
nature, and consequently a change of name. The title of saint is
frequently given to the people of God in derision. “Such an one,” says a
man of the world, “is one of your saints.” But, my brethren, no higher
honour can be conferred upon us than to be denominated saints, if we
truly deserve that character; but in what way do we become saints? We
become saints—1. _By divine choice._ The saints are the objects of
everlasting love; their names are written in the Lamb’s book of life;
and it is worthy of remark that wherever the people of God are spoken of
in sacred Scripture, as the objects of that everlasting love, it is in
connection with their _personal sanctification_. Observe, they are not
chosen because they _are_ saints, nor because it is foreseen that they
_will_ be so, but they are chosen _to be_ saints; sanctification is the
effect and the only evidence of election. We become saints—2. _By a
divine change which is the necessary consequence of this election._ An
inward, spiritual, supernatural, universal change is effected in the
saints by the power of the Holy Ghost. Thus they are renewed in the
spirit of their minds, and made partakers of a divine nature....
Remember, then, this important truth, that Christians are called by the
gospel to be saints; that you are Christians, not so much by your
_orthodoxy_ as by your _holiness_; that you are saints no further than
as you are holy in all manner of conversation. 3. _The people of God
furnish an evidence of being saints by their godly conduct._ “By their
fruits,” not by their feelings; not by their lips, not by their general
profession, but, “by their fruits shall ye know them.” 4. The character
of the saints is evidenced _by divine consecration_. The people of God
are called holy inasmuch as they are dedicated to God. It is the duty
and the privilege of saints to consecrate themselves to the service of
God. Even a heathen philosopher could say, “I _lend_ myself to the
_world_, but I _give_ myself to the _gods_.” But we possess more light
and knowledge, and are therefore laid under greater obligations than was
Seneca.