Psalm 50 is a psalm about divine justice. It comes in two parts, after the opening verses about the Mighty One, God the Lord who has spoken and who calls the earth to Him. The first part (verses 4 to 15) is about the Lord’s people who bring their sacrifices and burnt offerings. The Lord shows his frustration with their endeavours to please Him, saying it is futile. ‘Offer thanksgiving to God and call upon Me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver you and you shall glorify Me.’

The second part is directed to those who are in wickedness and have allowed themselves to take part with thieves and adulterers and who speak evil and deceit and who slander their mother’s son. They believe God is like them, but they are rebuked and will be judged. The last two verses give a warning and an appeal: ‘Lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver; whoever gives praise glorifies Me and to him who orders his conduct right, I will show the salvation of God.’

One remarkable feature of this psalm is that both types of people being judged are imperfect. None seem to follow the actual way of the Lord. While this sounds harsh, it is true; all people in every spiritual state will have a response to the Lord that is tainted, or coming from some deluded or incomplete impression of what God requires, rather than in the way in which this psalm ends, with given praise and the intention of right conduct. We should not see this imperfection as condemning but simply as how it is with us as we strive to regenerate and grow in our understanding of the Lord. (New Jerusalem 194)

In the introduction it says that God ‘will shine forth’, ‘shall come’, and ‘not keep silent’. A fire will devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous all round Him. All this describes the eventual situation for all of us, that our inner state will be manifested and no longer be hidden from view. This takes place mainly in the spiritual world, but the process of it begins here in this life. All that is said of God here is about how the penetrating light of divine truth leaves nothing unseen. This, surely, will be quite tempestuous for all of us. (Heaven and Hell 131)

Verses 4 to 6 describe the gathering together for judgment, of all the ‘saints’, those who have chosen to worship the Lord. Spiritually, ‘saints’ mean those who live what the Word teaches, not that this makes them saints but that the Word, which is holy, is in them. (AR 586.3) ‘Sacrifice’ means to worship. (Arcana Caelestia 923)

The next nine verses (7 to 15) form a divine rebuke on those who come with sacrifices to offer to the Lord, of bulls, goats, birds. They are not rebuked for this, because all these genuinely represent what their worship should be in their hearts and lives, but it is merely external, and for that they are strongly rebuked. ‘Every beast of the forest is mine; I know all the birds of the mountains.’ The whole litany is against nominal religion where there is no repentance and regeneration in the heart. (Arcana Caelestia 10506)

This part ends with the call to offer real worship of the heart to the Lord, to confess to Him and to deeply acknowledge that He is the source of all that is. Then He will be there to deliver us in states of temptation because we have owned Him, and we glorify Him. (Arcana Caelestia 3880.7)

The next part is the judgment of the wicked, who come and talk about God’s laws, but it means nothing to them and is pure hypocrisy. Wickedness specifically means to know what God asks of us and to despise this, and yet to pretend it is everything to you. It is a far worse state for us than unintentionally doing wrong. This is why the examples given in this section – consenting with a thief, joining with adulterers, slandering your mother’s son – are so spiritually expressive of that real intended evil which finally destroys our heart and understanding. (Heaven and Hell 595)

The psalm ends with the very heart of religion in our mind, heart, and life, which is to praise and acknowledge God in all things and to determine that our life, inwardly and outwardly, is based on all that God commands us. This is essential, for otherwise we will tear ourselves in pieces. (Heaven and Hell 575)

886. That 'olive' means the good that stems from charity is clear not only from the meaning of 'olive' but also from the meaning of 'oil' in the Word. Olive oil in addition to spices was used to anoint priests and kings, and it was also used in the lamps. Concerning the former, see Exodus 30:24, and the latter, Exodus 27:20. The reason olive oil was used in anointing and in lamps was that it represented everything celestial and so everything good that stems from love and charity. Oil is in fact the essential element of the tree, its soul so to speak, as the celestial or the good that stems from love and charity is the essential element or soul itself of faith. This is the origin of its representation. That 'oil' means that which is celestial or the good that stems from love and charity may be confirmed from many places in the Word, but since the olive itself is referred to here, let some that confirm the meaning solely of the olive be quoted. In Jeremiah,

Jehovah called your name, Green Olive Tree, fair with shapely fruit. Jeremiah 11:16.

The name given here applies to the Most Ancient or celestial Church, which was the basis of the Jewish Church. Consequently all the representatives of the Jewish Church had regard to celestial things, and through the latter to the Lord.

[2] In Hosea,

His branches will go out and his beauty will be like the olive, and his smell like that of Lebanon. Hosea 14:6.

This refers to the Church that is to be established. Its beauty is 'the olive', that is, the good that stems from love and charity, while 'the smell like that of Lebanon' is resulting affection for the truth of faith. 'Lebanon' stands for its cedars, which meant spiritual things, or the truths of faith.

In Zechariah,

Two olive trees beside the lampstand, one on the right of the bowl and one on the left of it. These are the two sons of pure oil, standing beside the Lord of the whole earth. Zechariah 4:3, 11, 14.

Here 'the two olive trees' stands for the celestial and the spiritual, and so for love which belongs to the celestial Church and for charity which belongs to the spiritual Church. These stand to the right and to the left of the Lord. 'The lampstand' here means the Lord, just as it used to represent Him in the Jewish Church. 'The lamps' are celestial things from which spiritual things radiate like rays of light, or light itself, from a flame. In David,

Your wife will be like a fruitful vine on the sides of your house, your sons will be like olive shoots. Psalms 128:3.

Here 'a wife like a vine' stands for the spiritual Church, and 'sons' stands for the truths of faith which are called 'olive shoots' because they stem from the goods of charity. In Isaiah,

Gleanings will be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries on the top of the [highest] branch. Isaiah 17:6.

This refers to the remnants residing with a person. 'Olives' stands for celestial remnants. In Micah,

You will tread olives but not anoint yourself with oil, and tread the new wine but not drink wine. Micah 6:15.

And in Moses,

You will plant and dress vineyards but not drink wine. You will have olive trees within all your borders but not anoint yourself with oil. Deuteronomy 28:39-40.

The subject here is the abundance of doctrinal detail concerning the goods and truths of faith which they rejected because of the kind of people they were. From these quotations it becomes clear that 'a leaf' means the truth of faith and 'olive' the good that stems from charity. And similar things are meant by 'the olive leaf which the dove was carrying in its mouth', that is, a small measure of the truth of faith deriving from the good that stems from charity was now showing itself with the member of the Ancient Church.