Commentary on Psalms - Volume 3 - Bible Study Guides

Comm on Psalms (V3)John Calvinof the earth. 9. The inhabitants of the desert shall bow before him; and his enemies shall lick thedust. 10. The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring a present: the kings of Sheba and Sebashall bring a gift to him. 11. And all kings shall prostrate themselves before him; all nations shallserve him.7. In his days shall the righteous flourish It is unnecessary for me frequently to repeat what Ihave once stated, that all these sentences depend upon the first verse. David, therefore, prayed thatthe king might be adorned with righteousness and judgment, that the just might flourish and thepeople prosper. This prediction receives its highest fulfillment in Christ. It was, indeed, the dutyof Solomon to maintain the righteous; but it is the proper office of Christ to make men righteous.He not only gives to every man his own, but also reforms their hearts through the agency of hisSpirit. By this means he brings righteousness back, as it were, from exile, which otherwise wouldbe altogether banished from the world. Upon the return of righteousness there succeeds the blessingof God, by which he causes all his children to rejoice in the way of making them to perceive thatunder their King, Christ, every provision is made for their enjoying all manner of prosperity andfelicity. If any would rather take the word peace in its proper and more restricted signification, Ihave no objections to it. And, certainly, to the consummation of a happy life, nothing is moredesirable than peace; for amidst the turmoils and contentions of war, men derive almost no goodfrom having an abundance of all things, as it is then wasted and destroyed. Moreover, when Davidrepresents the life of the king as prolonged to the end of the world, this shows more clearly that henot only comprehends his successors who occupied an earthly throne, but that he ascends even toChrist, who, by rising from the dead, obtained for himself celestial life and glory, that he mightgovern his Church for ever.8 He shall have dominion from sea to sea. As the Lord, when he promised his people the landof Canaan for an inheritance, assigned to it these four boundaries, (Genesis 15:18,) David intimates,that so long as the kingdom shall continue to exist, the possession of the promised land will beentire, to teach the faithful that the blessing of God cannot be fully realised, except whilst thiskingdom shall flourish. He therefore declares that he will exercise dominion from the Red Sea, orfrom that arm of the Egyptian sea to the sea of Syria, which is called the Sea of the Philistines, 134and also from the river Euphrates to the great wilderness. If it is objected that such narrow boundsdo not correspond with the kingdom of Christ, which was to be extended from the rising of the sunto the going down thereof, we reply, that David obviously accommodates his language to his owntime, the amplitude of the kingdom of Christ not having been, as yet, fully unfolded. He has thereforebegun his description in phraseology well known, and in familiar use under the law and the prophets;and even Christ himself commenced his reign within the limits here marked out before he penetratedto the uttermost boundaries of the earth; as it is said in Psalm 110:2,“The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion.”But, soon after, the Psalmist proceeds to speak of the enlarged extent of the empire of this king,declaring that the kings beyond the sea shall also be tributaries to him; and also that the inhabitantsof the desert shall receive his yoke. The word , tsiim, 135 which we have translated inhabitants of134 Or the Mediterranean.135 , tsiim, is from , tsiyah, a dry and parched country, a desert Rosenmüller translates it, the rude nations “The word ,”says he, “seems to signify rude, barbarous tribes; the inhabitants of desert places, — of vast and unknown regions. This sense66