Psalms 50:3

Our God shall come,.... That is, Christ, who is truly and properly God, and who was promised and expected as a divine Person; and which was necessary on account of the work he came about; and

Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. Our God shall come.

Our God: these words are used here, as they are also , emphatically. The prophet speaks this in the person of the Israelites and worshippers of God, whereof he was one, and thereby takes off their fond pretence, as if because God was their God, in covenant with them, and nearly related to them by Abraham his friend for ever, he would bear with their miscarriages, and would not deal so severely with them as some fancied; which also was their conceit, , &c.; ,10. No, saith he, though he be our God, yet he will come to execute judgment upon us. Shall come; either, 1. From heaven, his dwelling-place, to Zion, to sit in judgment there. Or, 2. Out of Zion to some other place, as was said on . And shall not keep silence: so the sense is, he will no longer forbear or connive at the hypocrisy and profaneness of the professors of the true religion, but will now speak to them in his wrath, and will effectually reprove and chastise them. But because the psalmist is not now describing what God did or would say against them, which he doth below, , &c., but as yet continues in his description of the preparation or coming of the Judge to his throne, it seems more proper to translate the words, as some do, he will not cease, (for this verb signifies not only a cessation from speech, but from motion or action, as it doth ,15) i.e. not neglect or delay to come. So here is the same thing expressed, both affirmatively and negatively, (as is frequent in Scripture, whereof divers instances have been formerly given,) for the greater assurance of the truth of the thing. It shall be very tempestuous round about him: this is a further description of that terrible majesty wherewith God clothed himself when he came to his tribunal, in token of that just severity which, he would use in his proceedings with them. He alludes to the manner of God’ s appearance at Sinai, Exodus 19, and intimates to them, that although Zion was a place of grace and blessing to all true Israelites, yet God would be as dreadful there to the hypocrites among them, as ever he was at Sinai. See .

Psalms 50:3 Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.Ver. 3. Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence] He doth daily come and sit upon the tribunal in his Church by the ministry of his servants, Matthew 18:17, who must reprove sinners with all authority, and show themselves sons of thunder, that they may save some at least with fear, snatching them out of the fire, Judges 1:23, as Peter, Acts 2:40, and Paul, 2 Corinthians 5:11, but especially when, to work upon the Proconsul Paulus Sergius, he set his eyes upon Elymas the sorcerer, as if he would have looked through him; after which lightning followed that terrible thunder crack, "O thou full of all subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the straight ways of the Lord?" Acts 13:9-10. A fire shall devour before him] As he gave his law in fire, so in fire shall he require it. And it shall be very tempestuous round about him] Not before him only, but around him; lest the wicked should hope to escape by creeping behind him. That was a terrible tempest that befell Alexander the Great and his army marching into the country of Pabaza; when, by reason of continual thundering and lightning, with hailstones and lightning bolts, the army was disorganized and wandered any way; many dared not stir out of the place (Curtius, lib. 3, ex Diodor.). Tremellius rendereth it wish wise, but in a parenthesis, Let our Lord come, and let him not be silent. The saints know that they shall be safe, when others shall smoke for it; because God is their God.

(3) Our God shall come . . . shall devour . . . shall be.—Better, comes . . . devours . . . is. The drama, the expected scene having been announced, now opens. The vision unfolds itself before the poet’s eye.

3. In the preceding verses the Theophany is described as already visibly beginning. Instead of simply continuing that description, the poet-seer “imagines himself as an eager and interested spectator,” and prays God to come near and declare His will: Let our God come, and not keep silence! Fire devoureth before him, And round about him it is very tempestuous. See Driver, Hebrew Tenses, § 58; and for similar constructions cp. Psalms 41:2 (note); Isaiah 2:9. Lightnings and storm are the outward symbols which express the awfulness of God’s coming to judgement. He is ‘a consuming fire’ (Deuteronomy 4:24; Deuteronomy 9:3; Hebrews 12:29) devouring His enemies; an irresistible whirlwind (Psalms 58:9), sweeping them away like chaff (Psalms 1:4; Isaiah 29:5). Cp. Exodus 19:16; Exodus 19:18; Isaiah 29:6; Psalms 18:7 ff; Psalms 97:2 ff.

Our God shall come - That is, he will come to judgment. This language is derived from the supposition that God “will” judge the world, and it shows that this doctrine was understood and believed by the Hebrews.

3. Is an allusion to Leviticus 10:2; Numbers 16:26. See Psalms 97:3. Tempestuous—Like the terrifying scenes of Sinai, Exodus 19:16. Compare Psalms 18:8-14