Commentary on Psalms - Volume 3 - Bible Study Guides

Comm on Psalms (V3)John CalvinGod. The sea and the Euphrates, as is well known, were the divinely appointed boundaries of theland promised them for an inheritance.12 Why then hast thou broken down its hedges? This is the application of the similitude; fornothing seems more inconsistent than that God should abandon the vine which he had planted withhis own hand, to be rooted up by wild beasts. It is true that he often threatened and forewarned thepeople by his prophets that he would do this; but what constrained him to inflict upon them sostrange and dreadful a species of punishment was, that he might render their ingratitude the moredetestable. At the same time, it is not without reason that true believers are enjoined to takeencouragement from such distinguished liberality on the part of God; that, even in the midst of thisrooting up, they might at least hope that He, who never forsakes the work of his own hands, wouldgraciously extend his care towards them, (Psalm 138:8.) The people were brought to desolation,on account of their own incurable obstinacy; but God did not fail to save a small number of shoots,by means of which he afterwards restored his vine. This form of supplicating pardon was, indeed,set forth for the use of the whole people, with the view of preventing a horrible destruction. But asvery few sought to appease the wrath of God by truly humbling themselves before him, it wasenough that these few were delivered from destruction, that from them a new vine might afterwardsspring up and flourish. The indignity which was done to the Church is aggravated from the contrastcontained in the words, when God, on the one hand, is exhibited to us as a vine-keeper, and whenthe destroyers of this vine, on the other, are represented to be not only all that pass by, but also thewild boars and other savage beasts. The word , kiresem, which I have translated to waste, is takenby some for to fill the belly. 394 This sense would very well agree with the present passage; but it isnot supported by the ordinary meaning of the word.Psalm 80:14-1914. Return, I beseech thee, O God of Hosts! look down from heaven, and behold, and visit thisvine, 15. And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and upon 395 the branch 396 whichthou hast strengthened for thyself. 16. It is burnt with fire; it is cut down; 397 they perish at the394 “ , (jechar-semenna,) will destroy it Targum, Will tear it up with its tusk Fut pih From , he cut off, cut down,consumed, a quadriliteral, same as the Chaldaic . Occurs here only in Scripture, and, according to others, is compounded of, a belly, as though , will fill the belly from it.” — Bythner395 “Hammond thinks it most probable that , al, upon, is an expletive, or that it may refer to , reeh, behold or look, the lastverb except one in the preceding verse, , reeh al, look upon396 The original word which Calvin renders branch is , ben, son “Where,” says Horsley, “does signify a branch?” It is;however, so used in Genesis 49:22, where it is said, “Joseph is a fruitful , ben, bough, or branch, by a well.” The reading ofsome MSS., and of the Septuagint, Vulgate, Syriac, Æthiopic, and Arabic versions, is the son of man, as in the 17th verse; andeighteen of Kennicott’s and De Rossi’s MSS. read , ben adam, son of man It has been thought by many that Christ is hereintended. Aben Ezra and R. Obadiah thus interpret the passage. The Chaldee paraphrase is, “And upon the King Messiah whomthou hast strengthened for thyself.” Hare, Green, Horsley, and Morison, consider the last clause of this verse, “and the branchwhich thou hast strengthened for thyself,” as a misplaced anticipation of the latter clause of the 17th verse.397 Horsley thinks that the word , kesuchah, which Calvin renders as a verb, “it is cut down,” is probably the noun , withthe comparative , caph, prefixed — “It is consumed in fire like refuse;” and he refers to Parkhurst’s Lexicon, under the roots,, and . “This verse,” says he, “with the two preceding, should be thus rendered: —‘Return, we beseech thee, O God of Hosts!Look down from heaven and behold, And visit this vine;182