Commentary on Psalms - Volume 3 - Bible Study Guides

Comm on Psalms (V3)John Calvinaffords a most illustrious display of his own glory; even as he is said to have stirred up the heartof Pharaoh for this very purpose, (Exodus 14:4; Romans 9:17.) Understood in this sense, the textno doubt contains a profitable doctrine, but this being, I am afraid, too refined an explanation, Iprefer considering the meaning simply to be, that although at first the rage of the enemies of Godand his Church may throw all things into confusion, and, as it were, envelop them in darkness, yetall will at length redound to his praise; for the issue will make it manifest, that, whatever they maycontrive and attempt, they cannot in any degree prevail against him. The concluding part of theverse, The remainder of wrath thou wilt restrain, may also be interpreted in two ways. As the word, chagar, signifies to gird, some supply the pronoun thee, and give this sense, All the enemies ofthe Church are not yet overthrown; but thou, O God! wilt gird thyself to destroy those of them whoremain. The other interpretation is, however, the more simple., which is, that although these enemiesmight not cease to breathe forth their cruelty, yet God would effectually restrain them, and preventthem from succeeding in the accomplishment of their enterprises. 281 Perhaps, also, it would not beunsuitable to explain the verb thus, Thou wilt gather into a bundle, as we say in French, “Tutrousseras,” i.e., Thou wilt truss or pack up. Let us therefore learn, while the wicked would involvein obscurity and doubt the providence of God, to wait patiently until he glorify himself by bringingabout a happier state of things, and trample under foot their infatuated presumption, to their shameand confusion. But if new troubles arise from time to time, let us remember that it is his properoffice to restrain the remainder of the wrath of the wicked, that they may not proceed to greaterlengths. Meanwhile, let us not be surprised if we observe fresh outrages every now and then springingforth; for, even to the end of the world, Satan will always have partisans or agents, whom he willurge forward to molest the children of God.11. Vow and pay to Jehovah your God. The faithful are now exhorted to the exercise of gratitude.As under the law the custom prevailed among the Jews of vowing sacrifices for singular blessingswhich God had conferred upon them, by which they solemnly acknowledged that their safetydepended solely upon him, and that to him they were entirely indebted for it, they are called anew281 Hammond’s statement of these two interpretations is clear and full. It is as follows: — “What [which Calvin renders,thou wilt restrain] signifies here, is not agreed among the interpreters, the word signifying 1. to gird, and, 2. to restrain In thenotion of restraining, it will have a very commodious sense, applied to Sennacherib, to whom this psalm belongs. For, as by theslaughter of the one hundred and eighty-five thousand in his army he was forced to depart, and dwell at Nineveh, 2 Kings 19:36;so, after his return thither, there are some remainders of his wrath on the Jews that dwelt there. We may see it, Tobit 1:18, ‘Ifthe king Sennacherib had slain any, when he was come and fled from Judea, I buried them privily, (for in his wrath he killedmany,’) etc. This was the gleanings of his wrath, and this was ‘restrained’ by God; for he soon falls by the hands of his sons,Adrammelech and Sharezer, ‘as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god,’ 2 Kings 19:37. And to this sense Kimchiinterprets it, ‘Thou shalt so repress the malice of our enemies, that the other nations shall not dare to fight against us;’ so likewiseAben Ezra. And thus it must be, if ‘the remainder of wrath’ be ‘man’s wrath,’ as the former part of the verse inclines it, ‘Surelythe wrath of man,’ etc. But , in the primary notion, signifies girding or putting on, arraying oneself Girding, we know, signifiesputting on, and is applied to garments, ornaments, arms: , ‘Gird thy sword upon thy thigh,’ Psalm 45:3, and frequentlyelsewhere; and so ‘girding with gladness,’ is putting on festival ornaments. And in like manner here, in a poetical phrase, ‘Thoushalt gird on the remainder of wrath,’ parallel to ‘putting on the garments of vengeance for clothing,’ Isaiah 59:17, will signifyGod’s adorning and setting out himself by the exercise of his vengeance, vulgarly expressed by his wrath, and the word , wrath,most fitly used with reference on , the wrath of man, in the beginning of the verse. Man’s wrath is the violence, and rage, andblasphemy of the oppressor, upon the meek or poor man foregoing. This begins, goes foremost, in provoking God; and then ,the remnant, or second part of wrath, is still behind for God; and with that he girds himself, i e., sets himself out illustriouslyand dreadfully, as with an ornament, and as with an hostile preparation in the eyes of men. And so in this sense also it is agreeableto the context... In either sense, the parts of this verse are perfectly answerable the one to the other. To this latter rendering of, the Chaldee inclines us, paraphrasing it by, ‘Thou hast girded on, or prepared, or made ready, the remainder of fury, (meaningby God’s fury,) for the destroying of the nations.’”122