Commentary on Psalms - Volume 3 - Bible Study Guides

Comm on Psalms (V3)John Calvinhigh places, and like the earth which he has established for ever. 70. And he chose David hisservant, and took him from the sheepfolds: 71. He took him froth following the suckling ewes, tofeed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance: 72. And he fed them in the uprightness of hisheart, and guided them by the prudence of his hands.67. And he rejected the tabernacle of Joseph. Those who suppose that the word enemies, in the66th verse, applies to the Israelites, connect these verses with the preceding, and suppose themeaning to be, that the wound which God had inflicted upon them was incurable. But, preferringthe other opinion, which regards the Philistines as spoken of, and the scope to be, that God, inpunishing them so severely, evidently showed that the covenant which he had made with his peoplewas not disannulled, since he had avenged himself in such an awful manner upon their enemies,the explanation which I would rather give is, that this is added by way of correction, as if it hadbeen said, That God was not yet fully reconciled towards his people who had wickedly revoltedfrom him, and that, as an evidence of this, there remained among them some traces of the punishmentwith which he had visited them. The meaning of the text, therefore, is, that when the ark was takenby the Philistines, God was, so to speak, asleep, having been made drunk by the sins of his people,so that he could no longer keep watch for their defense as he had been accustomed to do; and yet,that he did not continue long sunk in sleep, but that, whenever he saw the ungodly Philistinestreating with mockery the glory of his majesty, this heinous insult awoke and provoked him, justas if a giant, having well supped, had awoke from his first sleep before he had recovered from theexciting effects of his wine; and that, at the same time, his anger had not been so provoked againstthis heathen and uncircumcised nation as to prevent him from exhibiting some signs of thechastisement which he had inflicted upon the wicked and ungrateful Israelites even to the end. Therejection spoken of amounts to this, that when God permitted his ark to be carried away to anotherplace, the Israelites were thereby deprived of the honor with which, by special privilege, they hadbeen previously distinguished.There are two principal points which should here be particularly attended to; in the first place,when the Philistines were smitten with unseemly ulcers, the plainest evidence was afforded thatwhen the Israelites were conquered by them, this happened solely because God willed it to be so.He did not recover new strength, or gather together a new army for the purpose of invading, someshort time after, the Philistines who had been victorious, nor did he have recourse, in doing this,to foreign aid. The other point is, that although God stretched forth his hand against the Philistines,to show that he had still some remembrance of his covenant, and some care of the people whomhe had chosen, yet in restoring the Israelites in some measure to their former state, he made therejection of Shiloh a perpetual monument of his wrath. He, therefore, rejected the tribe of Ephraim;366not that he cast them off for ever, or completely severed them from the rest of the body of theChurch, but he would not have the ark of his covenant to reside any longer within the boundariesof that tribe. To the tribe of Ephraim is here opposed the tribe of Judah, in which God afterwardschose for himself a dwelling-place.Thus the prophet proceeds to show, that when the ark of the covenant had a resting-placeassigned to it on mount Zion, the people were in a manner renewed; and this symbol of reconciliation366 Shiloh, as formerly observed, was a city in the tribe of Ephraim, and it was rejected as the resting-place of the ark.165