Commentary on Psalms - Volume 3 - Bible Study Guides

Comm on Psalms (V3)John Calvin38. Yet he, being merciful, expiated their iniquity, 340 and did not destroy them: and he multipliedto turn away his anger, and did not stir up all his wrath. 39. And he remembered that they wereflesh; a spirit 341 that passeth, and returneth not. 40. How often did they provoke him in the desert,and grieve him in the wilderness! 41. And they returned, and tempted God, and limited the HolyOne of Israel.38. Yet he, being merciful, expiated their iniquity. To show the more fully that no means hadsucceeded in bending the Israelites, and causing them to return to a sound state of mind, we arenow informed that, although God bare with their multiplied transgressions, and exercised his mercyin forgiving them, they had no less manifested their wickedness in abusing his benignity in everyinstance in which it was displayed, than they had shown themselves refractory and obstinate whenhe treated them with severity. At the same time, the reason is assigned why they did not utterlyperish. They no doubt deserved to be involved in one common destruction; but it is declared thatGod mitigated his anger, that some seed of them might remain. That none might infer, from theseexamples of vengeance which have been mentioned, that God had proceeded to punish them withundue severity, we are told that the punishments inflicted upon them were moderate — yea, mild,when compared with the aggravated nature of their wickedness. God kept back his hand, not lookingso much to what they had deserved, as desiring to give place to his mercy. We are not, however,to imagine that he is changeable, when at one time he chastises us with a degree of severity, andat another time gently draws and allures us to himself; for in the exercise of his matchless wisdom,he has recourse to different means by which to try whether there is really any hope of our recovery.But the guilt of men becomes more aggravated, when neither his severity can reform them nor hismercy melt them. It is to be observed, that the mercy of God, which is an essential attribute of hisnature, is here assigned as the reason why he spared his people, to teach us that he was not inducedby any other cause but this, to show himself so much inclined and ready to pardon. Moreover, ashe pardoned them not only in one instance, nor in one respect, it is affirmed that he expiated theiriniquity, that he might not destroy them; and again, that although he had been oftentimes provoked,he yet ceased not to turn away his anger; and, finally, that he mitigated his chastisements, lest thepeople should be overwhelmed with the weight of them.39. And he remembered that they were flesh. Another reason is now brought forward why Godhad compassion on the people, which is, his unwillingness to try his strength against men who areso constituted as to live only for a short period in this world, and who then quickly pass away; forthe forms of expression here used denote the frailty by which the condition of men is made miserable.Flesh and spirit are frequently contrasted in the Scriptures; not only when flesh means our depravedand sinful nature, and spirit the uprightness to which the children of God are born again; but alsowhen men are called flesh, because there is nothing firm or stable in them: as it is said in Isaiah,(Isaiah 31:3,) “Egypt is flesh, and not spirit.” In this passage, however, the words flesh and spirit340 “ , yecapher, made an atonement for their iniquity.” — Dr Adam Clarke341 “C’est a dire, souffle.” — Fr. marg. “That is to say, a breath.” Dr Adam Clarke translates, “the spirit goeth away, and itdoth not return.” “The present life,” he observes, “is the state of probation; when, therefore, the flesh, the body, fails, the spiritgoeth away into the eternal world, and returneth not hither again.” He considers the translation in our English Bible, “a windthat passeth away, and cometh not again,” to be a bad one, and that it may be productive of error; as if when a man dies, hisbeing were ended, and death were an eternal sleep.153