Commentary on Psalms - Volume 3 - Bible Study Guides

Comm on Psalms (V3)John Calvindistinguish between these two expressions, (which is not less probable,) to bless one’s self in theking, will denote to seek happiness from him; for the nations will be convinced that nothing is moredesirable than to receive from him laws and ordinances.18. Blessed be Jehovah God! the God of Israel. 147 David, after having prayed for prosperity tohis successors, breaks forth in praising God, because he was assured by the divine oracle that hisprayers would not be in vain. Had he not with the eyes of faith beheld those things which we haveseen above, his rejoicing would have been less free and lively. When he says that God alone doethwonderful things, this, no doubt, is spoken in reference to the subject of which he is presentlytreating, with the view not only of commending the excellence of the kingdom, but also to admonishhimself and others of the need which there is that God should display his wonderful and stupendouspower for its preservation. And certainly it was not owing to any of David’s successors, a fewexcepted, that the royal throne did not fall a hundred times, yea, was not even completely ruined.To go no farther, was not Solomon’s most disgraceful apostasy deserving of utter destruction? Andas to the rest of his successors, with the exception of Josias, Hezekiah, Jehoshaphat, and a fewothers, did they not fall from evil to worse, as if each strove to outstrip his predecessor, and thusso provoked the wrath of God, as it were deliberately, that it is wonderful that he did not immediatelylaunch the thunderbolts of his vengeance upon the whole race utterly to destroy them? Moreover,as David, being endued with the Spirit of prophecy, was not ignorant that Satan would alwayscontinue to be a cruel enemy of the Church’s welfare, he doubtless knew that the grace of God, ofwhich he presently speaks, would have great and arduous difficulties to overcome in order tocontinue for ever in his own nation. And the event afterwards unquestionably showed by how manymiracles God accomplished his promises, whether we consider the return of his people from thecaptivity of Babylon, or the astonishing deliverances which followed until Christ as a tender branchsprung out of a dead tree. David, therefore, with good reason prays that the glory of the divine namemay fill the whole earth, since that kingdom was to be extended even to the uttermost boundariesof the globe, And that all the godly, with earnest and ardent affection of heart, may unite with himin the same prayers, there is added a confirmation in the words, Amen, and Amen20. The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended. We have before observed that this wasnot without cause added by Solomon, (if we may suppose him to have put the matter of this psalminto the form of poetical compositions) not only that he might avoid defrauding his father of thepraise which was due to him, but also to stir up the Church the more earnestly to pour forth beforeGod the same prayers which David had continued to offer even with his last breath. Let us thenremember that it is our bounden duty to pray to God, both with unfeigned earnestness, and withunwearied perseverance, that he would be pleased to maintain and defend the Church under thegovernment of his Son. The name of Jesse, the father of David, seems to be here introduced tobring to remembrance David’s origin, that the grace of God may appear the more illustrious inhaving raised from the sheepfold a man of mean birth, as well as the youngest and the least esteemedamong his brethren, and in having advanced him to so high a degree of honor, as to make him kingover the chosen people.147 This psalm concludes the second book of the Psalms, and this and the following verse are a doxology similar to that withwhich the first book and the other three are concluded. See volume 2, p. 126, note.72