Psalm 50:12

EXPOSITION

Verse 12. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee. Strange conception, a hungry God! Yet if such an absurd ideal could be truth, and if the Lord hungered for meat, he would not ask it of men. He could provide for himself out of his own possessions; he would not turn suppliant to his own creatures. Even under the grossest ideal of God, faith in outward ceremonies is ridiculous. Do men fancy that the Lord needs banners, and music, and incense, and fine linen? If he did, the stars would emblazon his standard, the winds and the waves become his orchestra, ten thousand times ten thousand flowers would breathe forth perfume, the snow should be his alb, the rainbow his girdle, the clouds of light his mantle. O fools and slow of heart, ye worship ye know not what! For the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. What can he need who is owner of all things and able to create as he wills? Thus overwhelmingly does the Lord pour forth his arguments upon formalists.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Verse 11-12. See Psalms on "Psalms 50:11" for further information.

Verse 12. If I were hungry, etc. Pagan sacrifices were considered as feasts of the gods. Daniel Cresswell.

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

Verse 1-15.

1. God's call to man.
2. Man's call to God.