Commentary on Psalms - Volume 3 - Bible Study Guides

Comm on Psalms (V3)John Calvintheir impiety emboldened them to run to excess, when they shook off the yoke of God, and waxedwanton against him. In calling these enemies the enemies of Jehovah, it is intended to censure thefolly of the Israelites in breaking the bond of the covenant made between God and them, and therebyseparating themselves from him, and preventing him from forthwith engaging in war in their behalfagainst those who were alike their and his enemies. As earthly princes, when they are disappointedof the assistance promised by their allies, are excited to enter into terms of agreement with theirenemies, and in this way avenge themselves on those who have been found to be guilty of perjuryand covenant-breakers; so God declares that he had spared his own enemies, because he had beentreacherously and wickedly deceived by the people of Israel. Why does he permit his avowedenemies to remain unpunished, and cease for a time to maintain his own glory, if it is not becausehis object is to set them in contrast with his own rebellious and disobedient people, whom, by thismeans, he intends to subdue? The meaning of the word , cachash, which we have rendered lied,has been explained in a previous psalm 417 . It is here intimated that peace with the reprobate cannotbe looked for except in so far as God restrains their rage by hidden chains. A lion shut up in an ironcage still retains his own nature, but he is kept from mangling and tearing in pieces those who arenot even more than five or six feet distant from him. Thus it is with respect to the wicked. Theymay greedily desire our destruction; but they are unable to accomplish what their hearts are setupon; yea God humbles and abases their fierceness and arrogance, so that they put on the appearanceof gentleness and meekness. The amount of the whole is, that it was the fault of the Israelitesthemselves that their enemies prevailed against them, and insolently triumphed over them; whereas,had they continued the humble and obedient children of God, these enemies would have been in astate of subjection to them. When it is said, their time should have been everlasting, 418 the expressionis to be referred to the promises; and so must the abundance of wheat and of honey, with whichthey would have been fully satisfied. God had solemnly declared that he would be their protectorand guardian even to the end. The change, then, which so suddenly befell them is set before themas a matter of reproach, inasmuch as they had deliberately cast away all at once their happy state.The same remarks are applicable to the fruitfulness of the land. How is it to be accounted for thatthey suffered hunger in the land in which God had promised them abundance of wheat and honey,but because the blessing of God had been withheld on account of their iniquity? By the fat of corn419is meant, metaphorically, pure grain, unless it may be thought preferable to understand it of thefinest wheat. Some are of opinion that the expression, honey out of the rock, is hyperbolical, implyingthat honey would have flowed from the very rocks rather than that God would have failed to satisfyhis people. But as it is evident from sacred history that honey was found everywhere in the hollowsof the rocks 420 so long as they enjoyed the blessing of God, the meaning simply is, that the grace417 See volume 1, page 301.418 “Their time, etc.: that is, the time, the continuance, the prosperity of my people, would have been durable.” — Warner.419 It is an usual phrase with the Hebrews to call the most esteemed part of anything , cheleb, “the fat.” The word is usedwith this combination in Deuteronomy 32:14; and is adopted again in Psalm 147:14. See also Genesis 45:18; Numbers 18:29;and Psalm 73:4. The translators of our English version have rendered it here “the finest of the wheat.”420 Palestine abounded in wild bees, which, living in the crevices of rocks, and in the hollows of trees, furnished honey in greatplenty. To this there are frequent allusions in Scripture. In Deuteronomy 32:13, Moses, speaking of God’s goodness to Israel inthe song with which he closed his long and eventful career, says, “He made him suck honey out of the rock.” As an evidence ofthe great abundance of wild honey in that country, we may refer to 1 Samuel 14:25, where it is said, “And all they of the landcame to a wood, and there was honey upon the ground; and when the people were come to the wood, behold the honey dropped.”In proof of the same point, reference may be also made to the fact, that a part of the food of John the Baptist in the wilderness195