Commentary on Psalms - Volume 3 - Bible Study Guides

Comm on Psalms (V3)John CalvinThe words, however, convey a further instruction than this. They teach us the general truth, thatbelievers are, by the hidden and mysterious power of God, preserved unhurt in the midst of theirafflictions, or suddenly recovered so as to exhibit no marks of them. The language admits of beinginterpreted to mean either that they shine even when lying under filth and darkness, or that, whenfreed from their troubles, they shake off any defilement which they may have contracted. Let eithersense be adopted, and it remains true that the believer is never consumed or overwhelmed by hisafflictions, but comes out safe. An elegant figure is drawn from the dove, which, though it lieamongst the pots, retains the beauty which naturally belongs to it, and contracts no defilement onits wings. From this we learn that the Church does not always present a fair or peaceable aspect,but rather emerges occasionally from the darkness that envelops it, and recovers its beauty asperfectly as if it had never been subjected to calamity.14. When the Almighty scattered kings in it We might read extended, or divided kings, etc., andthen the allusion would be to his leading them in triumph. But the other reading is preferable, andcorresponds better with what was said above of their being put to flight. There is more difficultyin the second part of the verse, some reading, it was white in Salmon; that is, the Church of Godpresented a fair and beautiful appearance. Or the verb may be viewed as in the second person —Thou, O God! Didst make it fair and white as mount Salmon 26 with snows The reader may adopteither construction, for the meaning is the same. It is evident that David insists still upon the figureof the whiteness of silver, which he had previously introduced. The country had, as it were, beenblackened or sullied by the hostile confusions into which it was thrown, and he says that it had nowrecovered its fair appearance, and resembled Salmon, which is well known to have been ordinarilycovered with snows. 27 Others think that Salmon is not the name of a place, but an appellative,meaning a dark shade. 28 I would retain the commonly received reading. At the same time, I thinkthat there may have been an allusion to the etymology. It comes from the word , tselem, signifyinga shade, and mount Salmon had been so called on account of its blackness. 29 This makes thecomparison more striking; for it intimates, that as the snows whitened this black mountain, so thecountry had resumed its former beauty, and put on an aspect of joy, when God dispelled the darknesswhich had lain upon it during the oppression of enemies. 3026 Salmon is the name of a mountain in Samaria, in the tribe of Ephraim, (Judges 9:48,) white with perpetual snow.27 Carrieres, in his paraphrase, has, “You became white as snow on mount Salmon.” “We certainly think,” says the author ofthe Illustrated <strong>Commentary</strong> upon the Bible, “that Carrieres has seized the right idea. The intention evidently is, to describe bya figure the honor and prosperity the Hebrews acquired by the defeat of their enemies, and to express this by whiteness, andsuperlatively by the whiteness of snow. Nothing can be more usual in Persia, for instance, than for a person to say, under aninflux of prosperity or honor, or on receiving happy intelligence, ‘My face is made white;’ or gratefully, in return for a favor orcompliment, ‘You have made my face white;’ so also, ‘His face is whitened,’ expresses the sense which is entertained of thehappiness or favor which has before been received. Such a figurative use of the idea of whiteness does, we imagine, furnish thebest explanation of the present and some other texts of Scripture.”28 Instead of “in Salmon,” the Targum has, “in the shade of death;” and Boothroyd has,“The Almighty having scattered these kings,hath by this turned death-shade to splendor.”Walford gives a similar version, and explains the meaning to be, “Though you have been in bondage and the darkness ofa dejected condition, you are now illuminated with the splendor of victory and prosperity.”29 That is, it was so called from the dark shade produced by its trees.30 “Que comme les neiges font blanchir ceste montagne, laquelle de soy est obscure et noire, ainsi quand il a pleu a Dieud’oster l’obscurite qu’apportoit l’affliction des ennemis, lors on a veu la terre reluire d’un lustre naif, et par maniere de dire,porter une face joyeuse.” — Fr.12