03.03. The Divine Warning (16-22)
THE DIVINE WARNING (Psalms 50:16-22)
TEXT 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?
Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee. When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and thou hast been partaker with adulterers.
Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit.
Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother’s son.
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.
Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.
While the addressee of the former division were the saints the addressee of this division are referred to as "the wicked". The word "but" distinguishes this division from the former. Thus it can be seen that "my people" was set in contrast to "the wicked". These people, then, were not considered the people of God; reminiscent of the prophetic illustration in Hosea 1:9. God commanded Hosea to call his second daughter’s name Lo-ammi, which meant "not my people". This daughter symbolised "God’s rejection of his people Israel."
"The infidelity of Gomer, Hosea’s wife, portrays the apostasy of Israel in her covenant relationship with God. Instead of responding in gratitude and love to God’s grace extended to them in material blessings, the Israelites used their crops in making offerings to idols. The injustice, bribery, mistreatment of others -- all of these reflect their laxity of love toward God as well as their fellow citizens." The prophetic words of this Psalm of Asaph had already warned these people to be cautious and sober almost 250 years before the word came to Hosea. An underestimation and neglect of God and His Covenant is what ultimately alienates man from His Creator. The neglect of the covenant is, of course, displayed through a lifestyle which is in total rebellion to the stipulations of the Covenant itself. Therefore, God says to the wicked: "What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?" A profession of an allegiance which is not in possession is what constitutes hypocritical religiosity. Craigie understands "the wicked" as "those who know the law but did not keep it." Delitzsch understands these to be the "manifest sinners". He writes:
"...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."
Kidner calls them "the hardened and hypocritical" and Leupold labels them "despisers of the Word of the Lord." Surely, their actions spoke louder than their words. And because of this they had nothing to do with God’s Covenant. For once they had broken the Covenant by a transgression of its stipulations, they could no longer claim inheritance of any of its promises. The transgressor was ridden of all rights pertaining to the Covenant and was doomed to death (for the Covenant was a blood covenant). This, however, did not alter God’s commitment to do His Will.
"The soul that sinneth, it shall die. But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right...hath walked in my statutes, and kept my judgements, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord GOD."
Psalms 50:23 describes the visitation of this salvation on the just while Psalms 50:22 deals with a description of how the death penalty will be visited upon these Covenant-breakers. But before the penalty would be effected God exposes their wickedness and issues a warning to them. The Exposure of Their Works (Psalms 50:17-21 a)
Psalms 50:17-21 a deal with God’s exposure of these people’s Godless actions. The section begins with the words "Seeing" which speaks of the conspicuousness of these works of theirs as being a very manifest evidence of and witness against them in the Divine Court of Justice. Delitzsch did rightly call them "manifest sinners". The description of their transgressions against the Covenant is given as follows:
1. Rejection of His teachings. "Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee". As Leupold labelled them, these were surely despisers of the Word of God. The hatred and contempt of the stipulations of the Covenant was undoubtedly fuelled by their own lusts, pride, and the desire to be autonomous and have everything their own way. These were chronic rebellers as is implied by the tense of the word "castest". The word is an Hiphil imperfect conjugation and implies that the discarding of His Law was willingly done on a regular basis. Any attempt to correct them proved only futile since they hated correction. These were those incorrigible and stubborn fools mentioned in the book of Proverbs (Proverbs 1:7, Proverbs 1:28-29; Proverbs 5:12-13; Proverbs 26:11;Proverbs 27:22). A student doesn’t submit to the teaching of his teacher has no right to call him his teacher -- obviously, because he has chosen to learn nothing from that teacher. Therefore, these ungodly men had no right to declare the statutes of God nor to take His Covenant in their mouth. Furthermore, one who despises a law has no authority to teach others to follow that same law (cf. Romans 2:21).
2. Accomplice with the lawless. "When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers." The accomplice is an accomplice by either of the ways: a. Consent. The verb is set in the imperfect tense implying that the consent was given whenever a thief was spotted. The wicked agreed with the moral code of the thief and thus broke the eighth commandment of the Covenant (Exodus 20:15). b. Involvement. The Hebrew literally reads "thy portion was with adulterers." It might be that these hypocrites were really adulterers in the literal sense of the word. The sons of Eli were examples of such hypocrites. It was said concerning them that they were sons of Belial and that they knew not the LORD (1 Samuel 2:12). It could even be a reference to spiritual adultery as pictured in the book of Hosea. These people, by rejecting the God of their covenant by a rejection of His commands (cf.2 Samuel 12:9-10), and by intercoursing with the companions of wickedness, were committing spiritual adultery.
3. Godless Speech. "Thou givest thy mouth to....slanderest thy mother’s son." The Godless chatter is a consequence of submitting the mouth to the dictates of evil itself, or of a commitment to speak evil alone. This is implied by the perfect tense in which the word "givest" is set in. The Hebrew word for "givest", used in the Text, literally means "sendest". The picture seems to be that of someone sending an other with a commission to accomplish a given task. Thus, the purpose of their tongue seems to be just one: evil. Two things flow out of such an abandonment to evil: a. Creative deception. The speech is deceitful. The hypocrite’s speech is incredulous and not worth any belief. If he has been unfaithful to God what is the surety that he will be faithful to men. "...thy tongue frameth deceit." The verb is in the imperfect tense suggesting, perhaps, that this continual behaviour is only a result of what had already been done earlier: the commitment to evil-talk. The tongue is said to be the one that is framing deceit. Such an identification seems to indicate the intensity with which the tongue was being implemented for wicked purposes. It must also be noted that the Hebrew language often pictured the body parts as initiating a function when to specify how the person was doing a thing. For example: "...no eye shall see me." (Job 24:15); "...mine eye shall weep sore...." (Jeremiah 13:17); "Thy hands have made me and fashioned me...." (Psalms 119:73). Thus is the Godless person’s deliberate and active act of deceptive speech exposed. b. Coldblood, constant slander. "Thou sittest" indicates the cold-bloodedness of the action. The imperfect tense in which the words "sittest" and "speakest" are cast imply that the accusative behaviour was constantly displayed. The word "speakest" is a Piel conjugation indicating the intensity of the slander. It also shows that the slander was continued until its purpose be accomplished. The gravity of this breaking of God’s ninth commandment is, further, intensified with the modification of "thy brother" by "thine own mother’s son". The sin was grievous. If the fellowship of the Covenant was not maintained how could the Covenant be maintained? The contempt of the fellowship of His Covenant was a contempt of His Covenant itself. In addition, if one couldn’t love his own brother whom he encounters daily, how can he love God whom he cannot see (1 John 4:20).
Thus, it has been made obvious the fact that the wicked one has no inheritance in the promises of His Covenant. In addition, it is also implied that the transgressor of the Covenant is worth to suffer its penalty. "These things hast thou done...." The works of the wicked have been exposed. The guilt of the transgressor has been proven in the court of His Justice. The Exposure of Their Thoughts (Psalms 50:21 b)
"...and I kept silence...." Earlier, we noted that the silence of God had only served to enflame the idleness, carefreeness, and lustfulness of the wicked. The fact was that God was patiently waiting to see if they would repent and change their way of living.
"And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgement: blessed are all they that wait for him." The word "kept silence" is a Hiphil perfect conjugation. The meaning conveyed is that the keeping of silence, of being patient, had been very persistent, perseverant, and resolved so as to give a chance for them to bear the fruits of repentance. But the wicked had interpreted this silence of God very differently. "thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself...." The wicked were, now, questioning the very Justice of God. The perfection of Heaven’s rule was questioned. In effect, it was a direct mockery of His Justice, His Authority, and His Power. The intensity and seriousness of their way of thinking is shown by the tense of the word "thoughtest" itself, which is a Piel perfect conjugation. They were sincerely deceived by themselves. Sin had blinded them. Their conception of YHWH was identical to the pagan conceptions of their gods and goddesses. They thought that He was also like them -- lenient and unjust. God is not going to keep them in this misapprehension for too long. The Exposition of The Fact (Psalms 50:21 c,Psalms 50:22)
"...but I will reprove thee...." The Lord had been patient, gracious, and long-suffering: but it was time now to remind these men that the Covenant is also a Covenant of Judgement. And Judgement belongs to the Lord. He would reprove them, perhaps meaning that He would convict them of their sins. The Hindi version interprets "will reprove" as "will make [you] understand". "...and set them in order before thine eyes." The Amplified Version reads: "...and put[the charge] in order before your eyes." The idea seems to be that till now they had been deceived concerning the Justice of God, but now God Himself will show them the order of His judgement after rebuking them for their foolishness. The RSV puts it as "But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you." The wicked are rebuked for their false way of thinking and are convicted for their very acts of wickedness.
"Now consider this...." This is a command that must be followed. To consider is imperative. "this" might refer to either what has been said this so far or what is going to be told now or both. "ye that forget God...." The wicked are now referred to as the forgetters of God. These are those who live their lives as if God is not there, or if He is He is bothered about them. The word God, in the Hebrew Text, is Eloah which ’comes from "Ahlah"(to worship, to adore), and thus presents God as the one supreme object of worship; the Adorable One.’ These people had forgotten the only Adorable One. They were being irreverent and disobedient towards Him. The consequences of such insolence can only be very terrible. He continues, "...lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver." Surely, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." If the God of the Covenant Himself turns against them then who can deliver? Years later, lamenting on the desolation that had fallen on Jerusalem because of her unfaithfulness to the God of the Covenant, the writer of the book of Lamentations expresses the grief of Jerusalem as follows:
"For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me: my children are desolate, because the enemy prevailed."
Jerusalem would not have had to lament so if the Divine warning, in Psalm 50, had been heeded to earlier. They didn’t, and they suffered the consequences thereof. The description of the Judgement as through tearing in pieces has allusions to the event of the making of the Covenant. The penalty of breaking any blood covenant, it has been pointed out, would be the tearing apart of the defaulter in the same manner in which the animal, through which the blood covenant was made, was torn apart for the shedding of the blood. Craigie considers the language as metaphorically referring to God as the fierce lion who would tear apart evil doers (cf. Hosea 5:14).
CONCLUSION
Honesty is vital and indispensable to the maintenance of any relationship. God did not make a covenant with the Israelites because of their quality, but because of His own great love. They did not choose Him; it was He who had chosen them to be a people unto Himself. The stipulations of the Covenant were only for the good of the people (Deuteronomy 10:13). God is loving but He is also Just. He is forever truthful to His promise of the Covenant. It was the transgressor of the Covenant who would suffer the penalty. Those who forsake the Lord by the breaking of His Covenant will be forsaken by Him (Deuteronomy 31:16-17). And when God turns against someone in the fiery wrath of His Justice, who can deliver that one? The despiser of Moses’ Law, the Covenant, suffered the penalty of death, how much more the one who despised the very blood of the Covenant of Jesus Christ? The writer of Hebrews says:
’A man who has violated the law of Moses dies without mercy at the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the man who has spurned the Son of God, and profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay." And again, "The Lord will judge his people." It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.’ The grace of God has only been made available to us because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ our Lord. One can forfeit the blessings of this grace by simply proving by his lifestyle that he owes no allegiance to Christ any longer. The Covenant of Grace is also the Covenant of Judgement. The Divine warning must not be left unheeded. Covetousness, deception, fornication, and slander of a brother-in-Christ is nothing but an expression of a heart which has no reverence for either God or the relationship which one could have with Him through the blood of His Covenant. That is the reason why the writer of Hebrews says:
"Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire." May this Divine Warning only serve us to the intensification and deepening of a love, worship, reverence, and awe which is acceptable and pleasing in His sight!