Commentary on Psalms - Volume 3 - Bible Study Guides

Comm on Psalms (V3)John Calvinbut that he always continued to deal with him in the same merciful way. This has a reference to thewhole Church of Christ, so that the divine goodness is manifested in the whole course of oursalvation, and not only at our first entrance upon it, as these shufflers and sophists the Sorbonistsfoolishly talk. 543 The horn of David denotes here, as it often does in other places, his glory, dignity,and power. The meaning therefore is, that by the grace of God, this kingdom shall always flourishand prosper.25. And I will set his hand in the sea. The vast extent of the kingdom is here adverted to. Asthe people by their wickedness had, as it were, blocked up the way, and intercepted the blessing ofGod, their inheritance was more limited than the promise implied. But now God declares, thatduring the reign of David, it will be again enlarged, so that the people shall possess the wholecountry, from the sea even to the river Euphrates. From this we gather, that what God had promisedby Moses was fulfilled only in the person of David, that is to say, from his time. 544 By the riversmay be understood, either the Euphrates alone, which is cut into many channels, or the otherneighboring rivers on the coast of Syria.26. He shall cry to me, Thou art my Father. In this verse it is declared, that the chief excellenceof this king will consist in this, that he will be accounted the Son of God. This indeed is a title ofhonor, which is applied to all whom God ordains to be kings, as we have seen in a previous psalm,“I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the Most High:”(Psalm 82:6)but in the passage before us, something special is expressed of the holy king whom God hadchosen, and it is intended to say, that he will be the son of God in a different sense. We shallimmediately see in the subsequent verse, how he is placed in a higher rank than the kings of theearth, although they may sway the scepter over a larger extent of country. It was therefore a privilegepeculiar to only one king in this world, to be called the Son of God. Had it been otherwise, theapostle reasoned not only inconclusively but absurdly, in quoting this text as a proof of the doctrine,that Christ is superior to the angels:“I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son,”(Hebrews 1:5.)Angels, and kings, and all who are regenerated by the Spirit of adoption, are called sons of God;but David, when God promises to take him for his son, is, by singular prerogative, elevated aboveall others to whom this designation is applied. This is still more apparent from the following verse,in which he is called God’s first-born, because he is higher than all the kings of the earth; and thisis an honor which transcends all the dignity both of men and angels. If it is objected, that Davidbeing a mortal man could not be equal to the angels, the obvious answer is, that if he is consideredin himself, he cannot justly be elevated to the same rank with them, but with the highest proprietyhe may, in so far as for a time he represented the person of Christ.28. And I will keep my mercy to him for ever. We see how God frequently repeats, that he hadset up the kingdom of David with the express design of establishing it for ever. By placing hismercy first in order, and then adding his covenant, he points out the cause of this covenant, intimating543 “I will make him my first-born; i.e., as the eldest son of a family ranks the highest, and receives the most from his father,so shall David be first in the order of kings, who, when they are legitimate sovereigns, may be regarded as the sons of God, theircommon Father: comp. Genesis 27:1, etc.; Exodus 4:22; Deuteronomy 21:17; Psalm 2:7; Colossians 1:15. In Isaiah 14:30, bythe first-born of the poor, is meant the extreme of that class, they who are the poorest of the poor.” — Cresswell.544 “Sicuti nugantur Sophistae.” — Lat. “Comme gazouillent ces brouillons et Sophistes de Sorbonistes.” — Fr.263