Commentary on Psalms - Volume 3 - Bible Study Guides

Comm on Psalms (V3)John CalvinPSALM 75It affords matter of rejoicing and thanksgiving to the whole Church, to reflect that the world isgoverned exclusively according to the will of God, and that she herself is sustained by his graceand power alone. Encouraged by this consideration, she triumphs over the proud despisers of God,who, by their infatuated presumption, are driven headlong into all manner of excess.To the chief musician. Destroy not. A Psalm of Asaph. A Song.Psalm 75:1-71. We will praise thee, O God! we will praise thee: and 245 thy name is near: they will declare[or recount 246 ] thy wondrous works. 2. When I shall have taken the congregation, 247 I will judgerighteously. 248 3. The earth is dissolved, and all its inhabitants: I will establish 249 the pillars of it.4. I said to the fools, Act not foolishly: and to the ungodly, Lift not up the horn. 5. Lift not up yourhorn on high; and speak not with a stiff neck. 6. For exaltations come neither from the east, norfrom the west, nor from the wilderness. 250 7. For God is judge: 251 he bringeth low, and he settethup.1. We will praise thee, O God! With respect to the inscription of this psalm, I have sufficientlyspoken when explaining the 57th psalm. As to the author of it, this is a point, in the determinationof which, I am not inclined to give myself much trouble. Whoever he was, whether David or someother prophet, he breaks forth at the very commencement into the language of joy and thanksgiving:We will praise thee, O God! we will praise thee. The repetition serves the more forcibly to expresshis strong affection and his ardent zeal in singing the praises of God. The verbs in the Hebrew arein the past tense; but the subject of the psalm requires that they should be translated into the future;which may be done in perfect consistency with the idiom of the Hebrew language. The inspiredwriter, however, may declare that God had been praised among his people for the benefits whichhe had bestowed in the times of old, the design being thereby to induce God to persevere in actingin the same manner, that thus continuing like himself, he might from time to time afford his peoplenew matter for celebrating his praises. The change of the person in the concluding part of the versehas led some interpreters to supply the relative pronoun , asher, who, as if the reading were, OLord! we will praise thee; and thy name is near to those who declare thy wondrous works 252 Butthe prophet, I have no doubt, puts the verb they will declare, indefinitely, that is to say, withoutdetermining the person; 253 and he has used the copula and instead of the causal participle for, as245 “C’est, car.” — Fr. marg. “That is, for.”246 “Par ainsi on racontera.” — Fr. “Therefore they will recount.”247 “Quand j’auray prins assignation.” — Fr. “When I shall have received the appointment.” “Ou, assemble la congregation.”— Fr. marg “Or, assembled the congregation.”248 “C’est, je remettray les choses en leur estat.” — Fr. marg. “That is, I will restore things to order.”249 “Mais j’affermiray.” — Fr. “But I will support or sustain.”250 “C’est, du Midi.” — Fr. marg. “That is, from the South.”251 “C’est, gouverne le monde.” — Fr. marg. “That is, governs the world.”252 This is the reading adopted by Hammond; but instead of making it out by supplying the pronoun , asher, as is done bysome, he renders, , sipperu, as a participle plural in the sense of the dative case. “Thy name is near, , sipperu, to them thatdeclare thy wondrous works.” He supports this view from the Chaldee, and from the translation of the learned Castellio.253 “C’est a dire, sans determiner personne.” — Fr.110