Commentary on Psalms - Volume 3 - Bible Study Guides

Comm on Psalms (V3)John Calvinin one word, that it is gratuitous, and that his grace is not only the foundation on which it rests, butalso the cause why it is preserved inviolate. The amount is, that God will be always merciful toDavid, in order that his covenant may never fail. From this it follows, that its inviolability dependsupon the mere good pleasure of God. In the next verse, God expresses the effect of his truth,declaring, that the posterity of David will sit for ever on the royal throne. There being nothing underheaven of long continuance, the days of heaven is an expression employed to denote everlastingduration. Whence it follows, that this prophecy cannot have its full accomplishment in any till wecome to Christ, in whom alone, in the strict and proper sense, this everlasting duration is to befound.Psalm 89:30-3730. If his children shall forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; 31. If they violate 545my ordinances, and keep not my statutes; 32. Then will I visit their transgression with my rod, 546and their iniquity with stripes. 33. But my loving-kindness will I not withdraw from him; nor suffermy faithfulness to fail, [literally, nor will I lie in my truth.] 34. My covenant will I not break, noralter that which hath proceeded from my lips. 35. Once have I sworn by my holiness, That I willnot lie 547 to David. 36. His seed shall endure for ever; and his throne as the sun before me. 37. Itshall be established for ever as the moon, and a faithful witness in the heaven. 548 Selah.30. If his children shall forsake my law. The prophet proceeds yet farther, declaring, that althoughthe posterity of David should fall into sin, yet God had promised to show himself merciful towardsthem, and that he would not punish their transgressions to the full extent of their desert. Moreover,to give the promise the greater efficacy, he always introduces God speaking, as if he presented tohim a request corresponding with the precise words and express articles of his covenant. 549 It wasvery necessary that this should be added; for so easily do we slide into evil, and so prone are weto continual falls, that unless God, in the exercise of his infinite mercy, pardoned us, there wouldnot be a single article of his covenant which would continue steadfast. God, therefore, seeing thatit could not be otherwise, but that the posterity of David, in so far as it depended upon themselves,would frequently fall from the covenant, by their own fault, has provided a remedy for such cases,in his pardoning grace.Farther, as it is profitable for men to be subjected to divine correction, he does not promise thathe will allow them to escape unpunished, which would be to encourage them in their sins; but hepromises, that in his chastisements he will exercise a fatherly moderation, and will not execute545 “C’est a dire, de son temps.”546 The original word for “they violate” is , yechallelu, from , chalal, he perforated or pierced through “When said ofsacred things, he profaned, violated, polluted, prostituted, as though, pierced through divine things.” — Bythner547 “In virga.” — Lat. “Avec ma verge.” — Fr.548 Heb. ‘if I lie,’ the most solemn form of negative in that language.” — Williams.549 “The whole passage, beginning with ‘I have laid help,’ in verse 19, to the end of verse 37, may be considered as a paraphraseof what God had said unto David, (2 Samuel 7:8, etc.,) through the mouth of Nathan. The promises herein recited, we knowfrom history, had their fulfillment only in Jesus Christ. The Psalmist, therefore, in the next subsequent verses, contemplatingthe calamities of his nation, indulges in the language of complaint.” — Cresswell.264