Psalms 50:14

Offer unto God thanksgiving,.... Which is a sacrifice, Psalms 50:23; and the Jews say (x), that all sacrifices will cease in future time, the times of the Messiah, but the sacrifice of praise; and

Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High: -The true sacrifices, as contrasted with the false: the duty is stated in Psalms 50:14; the blessed result in Psalms 50:15. Verse 14.

If thou wouldst know what sacrifices I most prize, and indispensably require, in the first place, it is that of thankfulness and praise proportionable to my great, and glorious, and numberless favours; which doth not consist barely in verbal acknowledgments, but proceeds from a heart truly and deeply affected with God’ s mercies, and is accompanied with such a course of life as is gratified or well-pleasing to God; all which is plainly comprehended in thanksgiving, as that duty is explained in other Scriptures. Thy vows; either, 1. Ceremonial vows, the sacrifices which thou hast vowed to God. Or rather, 2. Moral vows; for the things here mentioned are directly opposed unto sacrifices, and preferred before them; for having disparaged, and in some sort rejected, their sacrifices and burnt-offerings, , it is not likely that he should have a better opinion of, or value for, their vowed sacrifices; which were of an inferior sort. He seems therefore to understand those substantial vows, and promises, and covenants, which were the very soul of their sacrifices, and to which their sacrifices were but appurtenances and seals, as was noted above, on , whereby they did avouch the Lord to be their God, and to walk in his ways, &c., as it is expressed, , and engaged themselves to love, and serve, and obey the Lord according to that solemn vow and covenant which they entered into at Sinai, ,7,8, which they oft renewed, and indeed did implicitly repeat in all their sacrifices, which were appointed for this very end, to confirm this covenant.

Psalms 50:14 Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:Ver. 14. Offer unto God thanksgiving] That pith of your peace offerings, that sacrifice more acceptable to God than an ox that hath horns and hoofs, Psalms 69:31. Oh cover God’ s altar with the calves of your lips, giving thanks to his name, Hebrews 13:15. And pay thy vows unto the Most High] Say not God a thank only, but do him thanks; the life of thanksgiving is the good life of the thanksgiver. Our praises should be real and substantial: vow and perform to the Lord your God, Psalms 76:11.

(14) Offer.—Gratitude, and the loyal performance of known duties, are the ritual most pleasing to God. Not that the verse implies the cessation of outward rites, but the subordination of the outward to the inward, the form to the spirit. (See Psalms 51:17-19.)

Verse 14. Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the Most High] זבח zebach, "sacrifice unto God, אלהים Elohim, the תודה todah, thank-offering," which was the same as the sin-offering, viz. a bullock, or a ram, without blemish; only there were, in addition, "unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil; and cakes of fine flour mingled with oil and fried," Leviticus 7:12. And pay thy vows] נדריך nedareycha, "thy vow-offering, to the Most High." The neder or vow-offering was a male without blemish, taken from among the beeves, the sheep, or the goats. Compare Leviticus 22:19 with Psalms 50:22. Now these were offerings, in their spiritual and proper meaning, which God required of the people: and as the sacrificial system was established for an especial end - to show the sinfulness of sin, and the purity of Jehovah, and to show how sin could be atoned for, forgiven, and removed; this system was now to end in the thing that it signified,-the grand sacrifice of Christ, which was to make atonement, feed, nourish, and save the souls of believers unto eternal life; to excite their praise and thanksgiving; bind them to God Almighty by the most solemn vows to live to him in the spirit of gratitude and obedience all the days of their life. And, in order that they might be able to hold fast faith and a good conscience, they were to make continual prayer to God, who promised to hear and deliver them, that they might glorify him, Psalms 50:15. From the 16th to the 22nd verse Asaph appears to refer to the final rejection of the Jews from having any part in the true covenant sacrifice.

7–15. The trial begins. God is the accuser as well as the judge. Israel’s sacrifices are unexceptionable, but it is not slain beasts which the Lord of all the earth desires, but the devotion of the heart, exhibited in thanksgiving and trust. The people as a whole are addressed. The duty which is enforced is their duty towards God, corresponding to the first Table of the Decalogue.

Offer unto God thanksgiving - The word rendered “offer” in this place - זבח zâbach - means properly “sacrifice.” So it is rendered by the Septuagint, θῦσον thuson - and by the Vulgate, “immola.”

14. Offer unto God thanksgiving— “The calves of the lips,” says the prophet, Hosea 14:2, which the apostle calls “the sacrifice of praise to God,” Hebrews 13:15. The Hebrew reads: Sacrifice to God a todah.