Commentary on Psalms - Volume 3 - Bible Study Guides

Comm on Psalms (V3)John Calvin“Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!” As the fear of God among the Jews was at thattime well nigh extinguished, and there remained among them almost nothing else but the“circumcision made with hands,” that is to say, outward circumcision, Christ, to discriminatebetween the true children of Abraham and hypocrites, lays it down as a distinguishing characteristicof the former, that they are free from guile. And assuredly in the service of God, no qualificationis more indispensable than uprightness of heart.2. As for me, etc. Literally, it is, And I: which ought to be read with emphasis; for David meansthat those temptations, which cast an affront upon the honor of God, and overwhelm faith, not onlyassail the common class of men, or those who are endued only with some small measure of the fearof God, but that he himself, who ought to have profited above all others in the school of God, hadexperienced his own share of them. By thus setting himself forth as an example, he designed themore effectually to arouse and incite us to take great heed to ourselves. He did not, it is true, actuallysuccumb under the temptation; but, in declaring that his feet were almost gone, and that his stepshad well nigh slipped, he warns us that all are in danger of falling, unless they are upheld by thepowerful hand of God.3. For I envied the foolish 154 Here he declares the nature of the temptation with which he wasassailed. It consisted in this, that when he saw the present prosperous state of the wicked, and fromit judged them to be happy, he had envied their condition. We are certainly under a grievous anda dangerous temptation, when we not only, in our own minds, quarrel with God for not settingmatters in due order, but also when we give ourselves loose reins, boldly to commit iniquity, becauseit seems to us that we may commit it, and yet escape with impunity. The sneering jest of Dionysiusthe younger, a tyrant of Sicily, when, after having robbed the temple of Syracuse, he had a prosperousvoyage with the plunder, is well known. 155 “See you not,” says he to those who were with him,“how the gods favor the sacrilegious?” In the same way, the prosperity of the wicked is taken asan encouragement to commit sin; for we are ready to imagine, that, since God grants them so muchof the good things of this life, they are the objects of his approbation and favor. We see how theirprosperous condition wounded David to the heart, leading him almost to think that there was nothingbetter for him than to join himself to their company, and to follow their course of life. 156 By applyingto the ungodly the appellation of foolish, he does not simply mean that the sins which they commitare committed through ignorance or inadvertence, but he sets their folly in opposition to the fearof God, which is the principal constituent of true wisdom. 157 The ungodly are, no doubt, crafty;but, being destitute of the fundamental principle of all right judgment, which consists in this, thatwe must regulate and frame our lives according to the will of God, they are foolish; and this is theeffect of their own blindness.154 The original word for the foolish signifies “men of no principle, wild, giddy, vain boasters.” Boothroyd renders it “themadly profane,” and Fry, “the vain-glorious.”155 “On scait assez par les histoires le brocard duquel usa anciennement un tyran de Sicile nomme Denis le jeune, quand apresavoir pille le temple de Syracuses, il se mit sur la mer, et veit qu’il avoit fort bon vent pour naviger.” — Fr.156 “Et suyvre a leur train.” — Fr.157 “Laquelle est le fondement et le comble de sagesse.” — Fr. “Which is the foundation and the cope-stone of wisdom.76