The judgment scene. To the heavens above (מעל, elsewhere a preposition, here, as in Genesis 27:39; Genesis 49:25, an adverb, desuper, superne) and to the earth God calls (קרא אל, as, e.g., Genesis 28:1), to both לדין עמּו, in order to sit in judgment upon His people in their presence, and with them as witnesses of His doings. Or is it not that they are summoned to attend, but that the commission, Psalm 50:5, is addressed to them (Olshausen, Hitzig)? Certainly not, for the act of gathering is not one that properly belongs to the heavens and the earth, which, however, because they exist from the beginning and will last for ever, are suited to be witnesses (Deuteronomy 4:26; Deuteronomy 32:1; Isaiah 1:2, 1 Macc. 2:37). The summons אספוּ is addressed, as in Matthew 24:31, and frequently in visions, to the celestial spirits, the servants of the God here appearing. The accused who are to be brought before the divine tribunal are mentioned by names which, without their state of mind and heart corresponding to them, express the relationship to Himself in which God has placed them (cf. Deuteronomy 32:15; Isaiah 42:19). They are called חסידים, as in the Asaph Psalm 79:2. This contradiction between their relationship and their conduct makes an undesigned but bitter irony. In a covenant relationship, consecrated and ratified by a covenant sacrifice (עלי־זבח similar to Psalm 92:4; Psalm 10:10), has God placed Himself towards them (Exodus 24); and this covenant relationship is also maintained on their part by offering sacrifices as an expression of their obedience and of their fidelity. The participle כּרתי here implies the constant continuance of that primary covenant-making. Now, while the accused are gathered up, the poet hears the heavens solemnly acknowledge the righteousness of the Judge beforehand. The participial construction שׁפט הוּא, which always, according to the connection, expresses the present (Nahum 1:2), or the past (Judges 4:4), or the future (Jeremiah 25:31), is in this instance an expression of that which is near at hand (fut. instans). הוּא has not the sense of ipse (Ew. 314, a), for it corresponds to the "I" in אני שׁפט or הנני שׁפט; and כּי is not to be translated by nam (Hitzig), for the fact that God intends to judge requires no further announcement. On the contrary, because God is just now in the act of sitting in judgment, the heavens, the witnesses most prominent and nearest to Him, bear witness to His righteousness. The earthly music, as the סלה directs, is here to join in with the celestial praise. Nothing further is now wanting to the completeness of the judgment scene; the action now begins.

Psalm 50:10 Parallel Commentaries

every

Psalm 8:6-8 You made him to have dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet...

Psalm 104:24,25 O LORD, how manifold are your works! in wisdom have you made them all: the earth is full of your riches...

Genesis 1:24,25 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing...

Genesis 2:19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air...

Genesis 8:17 Bring forth with you every living thing that is with you, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle...

Genesis 9:2,3 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, and on every fowl of the air...

1 Chronicles 29:14-16 But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of you...

Job 40:15 Behold now behemoth, which I made with you; he eats grass as an ox.

Jeremiah 27:5,6 I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are on the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm...

Daniel 2:38 And wherever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven has he given into your hand...

cattle

Psalm 104:14 He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth;

Genesis 31:9 Thus God has taken away the cattle of your father, and given them to me.

Jonah 4:11 And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city...