Psalm 50 is a psalm of Asaph, a singer and musician of David and Solomon’s era, who was also a prophet in his musical compositions. It is a psalm of instruction, reproof, and admonition, not of prayer or praise. It is a prophetic imagining of God’s judgment on the Israelites, who placed their religion in ritual services, while they neglected practical godliness. It has three sections: the judge, the players, and the judgment that will come. It begins with a proclamation of God’s sovereignty and glory and ends with a call to repentance and obedience. It forms a regular part of Jewish, Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican and other Protestant liturgies, and has been set to music completely and in single verses. Judgment Begins Among the People of God. The Mighty One comes to judge the earth. · The Mighty One: “El stands for the might of God simply and absolutely. “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. God is so close to us that we can ask anything in Jesus’ name. I see God taking and burning all that is not of Him so what’s wasted will disappear. Gods’ beauty remains as all walk hand and hand with Him in His goodness.
It reads in Psalm 50:1-23 NIV:
A psalm of Asaph.
The Mighty One, God, the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to where it sets. From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth. Our God comes and will not be silent a fire devours before him, and around him a tempest rages. He summons the heavens above, and the earth, that he may judge his people: “Gather to me this consecrated people, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.” And the heavens proclaim his righteousness, for he is a God of justice. “Listen, my people, and I will speak; I will testify against you, Israel: I am God, your God. I bring no charges against you concerning your sacrifices or concerning your burnt offerings, which are ever before me. I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the fields are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? “Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.” But to the wicked person, God says: “What right have you to recite my laws or take my covenant on your lips? You hate my instruction and cast my words behind you. When you see a thief, you join with him; you throw in your lot with adulterers. You use your mouth for evil and harness your tongue to deceit. You sit and testify against your brother and slander your own mother’s son. When you did these things and I kept silent, you thought I was exactly like you. But I now arraign you and set my accusations before you. “Consider this, you who forget God, or I will tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you: Those who sacrifice thank offerings honor me, and to the blameless I will show my salvation.”
