11 I have known every fowl of the mountains, And the wild beast of the field `is' with Me.
And God saith, `Let the waters teem with the teeming living creature, and fowl let fly on the earth on the face of the expanse of the heavens.' And God prepareth the great monsters, and every living creature that is creeping, which the waters have teemed with, after their kind, and every fowl with wing, after its kind, and God seeth that `it is' good. And God blesseth them, saying, `Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and the fowl let multiply in the earth:'
look to the fowls of the heaven, for they do not sow, nor reap, nor gather into storehouses, and your heavenly Father doth nourish them; are not ye much better than they?
The wing of the rattling ones exulteth, Whether the pinion of the ostrich or hawk. For she leaveth on the earth her eggs, And on the dust she doth warm them, And she forgetteth that a foot may press it, And a beast of the field tread it down. Her young ones it hath hardened without her, In vain `is' her labour without fear. For God hath caused her to forget wisdom, And He hath not given a portion To her in understanding: At the time on high she lifteth herself up, She laugheth at the horse and at his rider.
By thine understanding flieth a hawk? Spreadeth he his wings to the south? At thy command goeth an eagle up high? Or lifteth he up his nest? A rock he doth inhabit, Yea, he lodgeth on the tooth of a rock, and fortress. From thence he hath sought food, To a far off place his eyes look attentively, And his brood gulph up blood, And where the pierced `are' -- there `is' he!
Giving to the beast its food, To the young of the ravens that call.
Every beast of the field, Come to devour, every beast in the forest.
`If an evil beast I cause to pass through the land, and it hath bereaved, and it hath been a desolation, without any passing through because of the beast -- these three men in its midst: I live -- an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah -- neither sons nor daughters do they deliver; they alone are delivered, and the land is a desolation.
`Are not two sparrows sold for an assar? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father; and of you -- even the hairs of the head are all numbered; be not therefore afraid, than many sparrows ye are better.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 50
Commentary on Psalms 50 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 50
This psalm, as the former, is a psalm of instruction, not of prayer or praise; it is a psalm of reproof and admonition, in singing which we are to teach and admonish one another. In the foregoing psalm, after a general demand of attention, God by his prophet deals (v. 3) with the children of this world, to convince them of their sin and folly in setting their hearts upon the wealth of this world; in this psalm, after a like preface, he deals with those that were, in profession, the church's children, to convince them of their sin and folly in placing their religion in ritual services, while they neglected practical godliness; and this is as sure a way to ruin as the other. This psalm is intended,
These instructions and admonitions we must take to ourselves, and give to one another, in singing this psalm.
A psalm of Asaph.
Psa 50:1-6
It is probable that Asaph was not only the chief musician, who was to put a tune to this psalm, but that he was himself the penman of it; for we read that in Hezekiah's time they praised God in the words of David and of Asaph the seer, 2 Chr. 29:30. Here is,
Psa 50:7-15
God is here dealing with those that placed all their religion in the observances of the ceremonial law, and thought those sufficient.
Psa 50:16-23
God, by the psalmist, having instructed his people in the right way of worshipping him and keeping up their communion with him, here directs his speech to the wicked, to hypocrites, whether they were such as professed the Jewish or the Christian religion: hypocrisy is wickedness for which God will judge. Observe here,