Commentary on Psalms - Volume 3 - Bible Study Guides

Comm on Psalms (V3)John Calvindeath, he cherishes the hope of deliverance. This is expressed still more clearly in the last clauseof the 15th verse, where he prays, Let not the pit close its mouth upon me; which is as if he hadsaid, Let not the great multitude and weight of my afflictions overwhelm me, and let not sorrowswallow me up.16. Answer me, O Jehovah! for thy mercy is good. The appeal which he here makes to the mercyand compassion of God is an evidence of the distressed condition into which he was brought. Therecan be no doubt that he sustained a dreadful conflict, when he had recourse to these as the onlymeans of his safety. It is a very difficult matter to believe that God is merciful to us when he isangry with us, and that he is near us when he has withdrawn himself from us. David, aware of this,brings to his view a subject which he may oppose to this distrust, and by pleading for the exerciseof the mercy and great compassions of God towards him, shows, that the only consideration whichinspired him with hope was the benignant and merciful character of God. When he says, a littleafter, Look upon me, it is a prayer that God would make it manifest in very deed that he had heardhim by granting him succor. In the following verse he utters a similar prayer. And by repeating sooften the same things, he declares both the bitterness of his grief and the ardor of his desires. Whenhe beseeches God not to hide his face, it is not from any apprehension which he entertained ofbeing rejected, but because those who are oppressed with calamities cannot avoid being agitatedand distracted with mental disquietude. But as God, in a peculiar manner, invites his servants tohim, David avows that he is one of their number. In thus speaking, as I have already shown, andwill afterwards have occasion to state at greater length, he does not boast of services on accountof which he could prefer any claim to a divine reward, but rather depends on the gratuitous electionof God; although, at the same time, he is to be understood as adducing the service which he hadfaithfully yielded to God by whom he was called, as an evidence of his godliness.18. Draw near to my soul, redeem it. David was doubtless fully persuaded by faith that Godwas near him; but as we are accustomed to measure the presence or absence of God by the effects,David here tacitly complains, judging according to the flesh, that he is far from him. By theexpression, Draw near, he means, that in so far as could be gathered from his actual condition, Godappeared to have no regard to his welfare. Again, by calling upon God to draw near to his life,which he seemed to have forsaken, he exhibits a striking proof of the strength of his faith. The morecruelly he is molested by the wicked and proud, the more does he trust that God will appear todeliver him. As has been elsewhere observed, it is always to be held as an undoubted truth, thatsince “God resisteth the proud” (James 4:6,) he must at length repress the insolence and pride ofthose who obstinately resist him, although he may seem to connive at them for a time.Psalm 69:19-2119. Thou knowest my reproach, and my confusion, and my ignominy: all my adversaries arebefore thee. 20. Reproach hath broken my heart, and I am afflicted: and I looked for one to takepity upon me, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. 21. And they put gall intomy meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.38