1<A Psalm. Of Asaph.> The God of gods, even the Lord, has sent out his voice, and the earth is full of fear; from the coming up of the sun to its going down. 2From Zion, most beautiful of places, God has sent out his light. 3Our God will come, and will not keep quiet; with fire burning before him, and storm-winds round him. 4His voice will go out to the heavens and to the earth, for the judging of his people: 5Let my saints come together to me; those who have made an agreement with me by offerings. 6And let the heavens make clear his righteousness; for God himself is the judge. (Selah.) 7Give ear, O my people, to my words; O Israel, I will be a witness against you; I am God, even your God. 8I will not take up a cause against you because of your offerings, or because of your burned offerings, which are ever before me. 9I will take no ox out of your house, or he-goats from your flocks; 10For every beast of the woodland is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. 11I see all the birds of the mountains, and the beasts of the field are mine. 12If I had need of food, I would not give you word of it; for the earth is mine and all its wealth. 13Am I to take the flesh of the ox for my food, or the blood of goats for my drink? 14Make an offering of praise to God; keep the agreements which you have made with the Most High; 15Let your voice come up to me in the day of trouble; I will be your saviour, so that you may give glory to me. 16But to the sinner, God says, What are you doing, talking of my laws, or taking the words of my agreement in your mouth? 17Seeing that you have no desire for my teaching, turning your back on my words. 18When you saw a thief, you were in agreement with him, and you were joined with those who took other men's wives. 19You have given your mouth to evil, your tongue to words of deceit. 20You say evil of your brother; you make false statements against your mother's son. 21These things have you done, and I said nothing; it seemed to you that I was such a one as yourself; but I will make a protest against you, and put them in order before your eyes. 22Now keep this in mind, you who have no memory of God, for fear that you may be crushed under my hand, with no one to give you help: 23Whoever makes an offering of praise gives glory to me; and to him who is upright in his ways I will make clear the salvation of God.
Matthew Henry's Commentary
The glory of God. (1-6) Sacrifices to be changed for prayers. (7-15) Sincere obedience required. (16-23) 1-6 This psalm is a psalm of instruction. It tells of the coming of Christ and the day of judgment, in which God will call men to account; and the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of judgement. All the children of men are concerned to know the right way of worshipping the Lord, in spirit and in truth. In the great day, our God shall come, and make those hear his judgement who would not hearken to his law. Happy are those who come into the covenant of grace, by faith in the Redeemer's atoning sacrifice, and show the sincerity of their love by fruits of righteousness. When God rejects the services of those who rest in outside performances, he will graciously accept those who seek him aright. It is only by sacrifice, by Christ, the great Sacrifice, from whom the sacrifices of the law derived what value they had, that we can be accepted of God. True and righteous are his judgments; even sinners' own consciences will be forced to acknowledge the righteousness of God. 7-15 To obey is better than sacrifice, and to love God and our neighbour better than all burnt-offerings. We are here warned not to rest in these performances. And let us beware of resting in any form. God demands the heart, and how can human inventions please him, when repentance, faith, and holiness are neglected? In the day of distress we must apply to the Lord by fervent prayer. Our troubles, though we see them coming from God's hand, must drive us to him, not drive us from him. We must acknowledge him in all our ways, depend upon his wisdom, power, and goodness, and refer ourselves wholly to him, and so give him glory. Thus must we keep up communion with God; meeting him with prayers under trials, and with praises in deliverances. A believing supplicant shall not only be graciously answered as to his petition, and so have cause for praising God, but shall also have grace to praise him. 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.