Commentary on Psalms - Volume 3 - Bible Study Guides

Comm on Psalms (V3)John Calvinperverse and wicked man; and we know that they were held in honorable estimation as judges. Letus therefore learn from this example to prepare ourselves not only to bear patiently all losses andtroubles, yea, even death itself; but also shame and reproach, if at any time we are loaded withunfounded accusations. Christ himself, the fountain of all righteousness and holiness, was notexempted from foul calumny, why then should we be dismayed when we meet with a similar trial?It may well fortify our minds against it when we consider, that to persevere steadfastly in the practiceof righteousness, although such is the reward which we receive from the world, is the genuine testof our integrity.5. O God! thou knowest my foolishness Augustine has labored to little purpose to show in whatway these words are applicable to Christ; and at length he transfers to his members that which couldnot properly be said of the Head. 72 David here uses the language of irony; and by this mode ofexpressing himself he meant to intimate, that, overwhelmed with the unrighteous judgments ofmen, he betakes himself to God, and implores him to appear as the defender of his cause. This ismuch more emphatic than if he had affirmed plainly, and without figure, that his integrity wasknown to God. In this way he administers a sharp rebuke to his enemies, and as it were looks downwith a noble contempt upon the calumnious speeches which they uttered against him; as Jeremiahdoes when he says,“O Lord! thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived.”(Psalm 20:7)Some ignorant people put a violent construction on these words of Jeremiah, as if they impliedthat he was actually deceived; whereas he is rather to be understood as deriding with bitter sarcasmhis calumniators, who, in speaking evil of him, were chargeable with reproaching and blasphemingGod himself. David in like manner, in the passage before us, as a means of preserving himself fromsuccumbing under the perverse judgments of men, appeals to God as the judge of his cause; and72 According to Augustine, the Messiah, when he says “my foolishness” and “my iniquities,” speaks of the sins of men whichwere imputed to him, and for which he suffered and died under the curse of the law, which treated him as if he had been a sinner,in consequence of the sins thus imputed to him. A similar interpretation is given by Bishops Horsley and Horne, as well as manyothers. “The Messiah,” says the first of these critics, “here, as in many places, may speak of the follies and crimes of men, forwhich he had made himself answerable as his own.” Admitting, as we are disposed to do, although Calvin takes an oppositeview, that the passage is applicable to Christ, it may be doubted whether this is the correct interpretation. The sins of those forwhom Christ died, by being imputed to him, no doubt became his in the eye of the law, in such a sense as to make him answerablefor them. But the Scriptures, be it observed, while they speak of him as “wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for ouriniquities,” and as “bearing our sins in his own body on the tree,” as if afraid to use any forms of expression which would evenseem to derogate from his immaculate purity, never speak of the sins of those for whom he died as his own sins. What Horsleyadds, as an additional explanation, is very unguarded. “Perhaps,” says he, “He who, although he was without sin, was yet temptedin all points like up to us, might, in his humility, speak of the incitement of the passions in his own mind as weakness and fault,making confession of it before the Father.” Nothing, doubtless, was farther from the mind of the prelate than to teach any thinginconsistent with the perfect holiness of the Son of God; and he expressly warns that “he was without sin;” but the languagewhich he employs is scarcely consistent with this position, and it can convey no idea on the subject except an erroneous one.“The prince of this world cometh,” said Jesus to his disciples, “and hath nothing in me” — hath nothing in me, that is, to usethe words of Dr Doddridge, “no guilt of mine to give him power over me; nor any inward corruption, to take part with histemptations.” The explanation of the text, which appears to be the most natural and consistent, is that which considers the Savioras solemnly appealing to the Father in vindication of his innocence. His enemies falsely charged him with crimes, and madethese charges the ground of their cruel and malignant proceedings against him. The Divine Sufferer, therefore, with confidenceappeals to God, saying, Thou, who art the omniscient and all-righteous Judge, knowest that I am innocent of the crimes laid tomy charge, and I invoke thee to plead my cause. This interpretation, which is adopted by many eminent critics, as Dr Boothroyd,Dr Morrison, Walford, and others, is strongly supported by the context. The preceding verse contains strong assertions of hisinnocence; and it was very natural to accompany these with an appeal from the falsehood and calumny of men, to the all-seeingand righteous Judge of the universe.31