For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.
The Church has always been plagued by hypocrites who reduce religion to empty ceremony, imagining that outward rites alone satisfy God. This psalm cuts hard against that error, exposing how we dishonor His name by confusing ritual with true worship, which is spiritual and consists of prayer and thanksgiving.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 50:1-23
The address which follows is directed to the professed people of God. It is clearly, in the first place, meant for Israel; but is equally applicable to the visible church of God in every age. It declares the futility of external worship when spiritual faith is absent, and the mere outward ceremonial is rested in.
Commenting on Psalm 50:7
For every beast of the forest is mine. How could they imagine that the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth, had need of beasts, when all the countless hordes that find shelter in a thousand forests and wildernesses belong to him? And the cattle upon a thousand hills. Not alone the wild beasts, but also the tamer creatures are all his own.