Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

50:16-22 He Speaks to the "Wicked": He Rebukes Them. It is clear that the wicked here are members of the covenant people who despise the privileges of the covenant: in v. 16 they take his covenant on their lips, but they lack the right to do so; in v. 17 they hate the fatherly discipline that God gives his children (Prov. 3:11-12); and in Ps. 50:22 they forget God (implying that they knew something of him to begin with). The covenant should have knit them together with all of God's people in the great project of showing forth true humanity for the sake of the world, but instead they prefer the thief and adulterers, and use their tongues for destructive purposes (vv. 18-20). They misinterpreted God's silence; they thought he was as greedy as they are; but God in his mercy now issues his rebuke (v. 21) and invites them to change their ways.