Commentary on Psalms - Volume 3 - Bible Study Guides

Comm on Psalms (V3)John CalvinPsalm 68:15-1715. The hill of God, the hill of Bashan, a high hill, 31 the hill of Bashan. 16. Why leap ye, yehigh hills? the hill which God desireth to dwell in; yea, Jehovah will dwell in it for ever. 17. Thechariots of God are twenty thousand thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, inthe holy place.15. The hill of God, the hill of Bashan Here he adverts to the spring and source of all the kindnesswhich God had shown, this being the circumstance that he had chosen mount Zion as the place ofhis palace and temple, whence all blessings should go out to the nation. A Divine declaration tothat effect had been made to David, and this pre-eminence and dignity conferred upon mount Zionis very properly adduced as a proof of his being king, lawfully and by Divine appointment; forthere was an inseparable connection between God’s dwelling upon that mountain, and David’ssitting upon the throne to govern the people. The words of the verse admit of two senses. We maysuppose that the mountain of God is compared to mount Bashan as being like it, or we mayunderstand that it is opposed to it. The first is the sense adopted almost by all interpreters, that whileBashan was famed for its fertility, Zion excelled it. It is of little importance which we prefer; butperhaps the distinction would be brought out as well were we to construe the words the hill of Godby themselves, and consider that Bashan with its boasted height is afterwards ordered to yieldprecedence, as if David would say, that there was but one mountain which God had consecrated tohimself by an irrevocable decree, and that though Bashan was renowned for height and fertility, itmust rank with other mountains, which might in vain exalt themselves to an equality with Zion,honored as the chosen residence of God. If we read the verse differently, and consider it as applyingto mount Zion throughout, then the Psalmist extols it as high and illustrious, and this because thereemanated from it the Divine favor, which distinguished the Jews from every other nation.16. Why leap ye, 32 ye high hills? In this verse there is no obscurity or ambiguity. David havingsaid that there was only one mountain in all the world which God had chosen, calls upon the highesthills to yield it the pre-eminency. As he repeats in the plural number what had been said immediatelybefore of Bashan, this leads me to think that he intended first to oppose that mountain, and then all31 “La montagne des hauteurs,” “the hill of highnesses or eminences.” — Fr. That is, (says Calvin, on the margin,) “treshaute,”“very high.” The literal rendering of the original words is, “a hill of gibbosities,” “a hill with humps,” i e., projections, eminences.This seems peculiarly applicable to Bashan, which had many tops; and this may explain the origin of the name of that mountain.It has its name from , a tooth; and , the mountain with teeth, might be given to it, from the appearance of the face of itstudded over with small hills. See Street, in loco What is here rendered “a high hill,” is, in the Septuagint, rendered ὄροςτετυρωμένον, and in the Vulgate, “mons coagulatus,” “cheesey, full of cheeses;” or, as Hammond renders it, “a hill that yieldedmuch butter and cheese,” Bashan being a rich and fertile mountain beyond Jordan. Horsley has, “a hill of lofty brows;” and Fry,“a hill of swelling heights.”32 The word here rendered leap ye “occurs only here,” observes Hammond, “and is by guess rendered to leap, or lift up, orexalt one’s self; but may best be interpreted, not leap as an expression of joy, but lift up, or exalt yourselves, as an effect ofpride;” and he understands the meaning to be, Why do ye lift up or exalt yourselves, ye high hills, God not having chosen anyof the highest hills to build his temple on, but the hill of Zion, of a very moderate size, lower than the hill of Hermon, and at thefoot of it, (Psalm 133:3.) Some Jewish commentators, founding their opinion on the cognate Arabic word , would render it, tolook after This gives the same sense. What look ye for? what expect ye, ye high hills, to be done to you? Ye are not those whichGod has chosen to beautify with his glorious presence, but mount Zion is the object of his choice. Aquila and Jerome read, “Whycontend ye?” Dr Chandler renders it, “Why look askance?” i e., “with jealous leer malign,” as Milton expresses it. “Why are yejealous?” Horsley, following Jerome, has, “For what would ye contend?”13