Commentary on Psalms - Volume 3 - Bible Study Guides

Comm on Psalms (V3)John Calvinare employed in the same sense — flesh meaning that men are subject to corruption and putrefaction;and spirit, that they are only a breath or a fleeting shadow. As men are brought to death by acontinual wasting and decay, the people are compared to a wind which passes away, and which,of its own accord, falls and does not return again. When we have run our race, we do not commencea new life upon the earth; even as it is said in Job,“For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branchthereof will not cease. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die inthe ground; yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant. But mandieth and wasteth away; yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?” (Job 14:7)The meaning, then, as we may now clearly perceive, is, that God, in the exercise of his mercyand goodness, bare with the Jews, not because they deserved this, but because their frail andtransitory condition called forth his pity and induced him to pardon them. We shall afterwards meetwith an almost similar statement in Psalm 103:13-16, where God is represented as being mercifulto us, because he sees that we are like grass, and that we soon wither and become dry like hay.Now, if God find in us nothing but misery to move him to compassion, it follows that it is solelyhis own pure and undeserved goodness which induces him to sustain us. When it is affirmed thatmen return not, when they have finished the course of their life in this world, it is not meant toexclude the hope of a future resurrection; for men are contemplated only as they are in themselves,and it is merely their state on earth which is spoken of. With respect to the renovation of man tothe heavenly life, it is a miracle far surpassing nature. In the same sense it is said, in another place,“His spirit goeth forth, and returneth not,” (Wisdom 16:14;) language which implies that men, whenthey are born into the world, do not bring with them the hope of future restoration, which must bederived from the grace of regeneration.40. How often did they provoke him in the desert? Here the preceding sentence is confirmed,it being declared that, as they had in so many instances provoked God in the wilderness, by thevast accumulation of their sins, 342 they must of necessity have perished a thousand times, had notGod as often shown himself favorable and merciful towards them. The interrogatory form of thesentence expresses more significantly that they continued sinning without intermission. The wordwilderness includes in it the circumstance both of place and of time. By this it is intended, first, toreprove their ingratitude, in that the memory of God’s benefits, while still so fresh in their minds,and even the sight of them daily before their eyes, were not at least able to check them in theirwickedness; and, secondly, to condemn their impetuous and infatuated recklessness, in heaping upsuch a multitude of sins within so short a period.In the same sense it is added immediately after, (verse 41,) that they returned to their formerways, and tempted God. The word return does not here signify change, but a continued course ofsinning. The heinous indignity which is done to God when men tempt him, is expressed by abeautiful metaphor. The Hebrew word , tavah, signifies to mark out or describe. It is intimated,that when the people dared to limit the operations of God, according to their own pleasure, he was,342 “They provoked God at least ten times, (Numbers 14:22,) during the first two years of their journey through the wilderness.1. at the Red Sea, (Exodus 14:11, 12;) 2. at the waters of Marah, (Exodus 15:24;) 3. in the wilderness of Sin, (Exodus 15:2;) 4.when they kept the manna until the following day, (Exodus 16:10;) 5, when the manna was collected on the Sabbath, (Exodus16:27;) 6. in Rephidim, where there was no water, (Numbers 20:2, 13;) 7. at Horeb, when a molten calf was made, (Exodus 32:1,etc.;) 8. at Taberah, (Numbers 11:1, 2, 3;) 9. when they lusted for flesh, (Numbers 11:4;) 10. when they murmured at the newsbrought by the men, who had been sent to search the land, (Numbers 14:1, etc.”) — Cresswell.154