John Calvin Commentary Psalms 102:14

"For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, And have pity upon her dust." — Psalms 102:14 (ASV)

For thy servants take pleasure in her stones. To restrict this interpretation only to Cyrus and Darius is altogether unsuitable. It is not at all surprising to find Jewish teachers eagerly pursuing foolish subtleties; but I am surprised that some modern commentators subscribe to such a poor and cold interpretation.

I am aware that, in some places, the unbelieving and the wicked are called the servants of God, as in Jeremiah 25:9, because God uses them as instruments for executing his judgments. Indeed, I admit that Cyrus is specifically called God’s chosen servant (Isaiah 44:28), but the Holy Spirit would not have bestowed such an honorable title on either him or Darius without some qualification.

Besides, it is probable that this psalm was composed before the edict was published which granted the people liberty to return to their native country. It therefore follows, that God’s people alone are included in the category of his servants, because it is their purpose throughout their whole lives to obey his will in all things. The prophet, I have no doubt, speaks generally of the whole Church, intimating that this was not the wish entertained merely by one person, but was shared by the whole body of the Church. To induce God more effectively to listen to his prayer, he calls upon all the godly who were then in the world to join with him in the same request. It unquestionably contributes greatly to increasing the confidence of success when supplications are made by all the people of God together, as if by one person, according to what the Apostle Paul declares:

“Ye also, helping together by prayer for us, that, for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons, thanks may be given by many on our behalf.” (2 Corinthians 1:11)

Furthermore, when the deformed materials remaining from the ruins of the temple and city are emphatically termed the stones of Zion, this is intended to suggest not only that the faithful in the past were affected by the outward splendor of the temple, when, besides attracting human eyes, it had power to overwhelm all their senses with admiration, but also that, although the temple was destroyed and nothing but hideous desolation was to be seen where it stood, their attachment to it remained unalterable, and they acknowledged God’s glory in its crumbling stones and decayed rubbish.

Since the temple was built by God’s appointment, and since he had promised its restoration, it was undoubtedly proper and fitting that the godly should not withdraw their affection from its ruins. Meanwhile, as an antidote to the discouraging influence of the taunting mockery of the heathen, they needed to look to the divine Word for something other than what presented itself to their physical eyes.

Knowing that the very site of the temple was consecrated to God, and that that sacred edifice was to be rebuilt on the same spot, they continued to regard it with reverence, even though its stones lay in disorder, mutilated and broken, and heaps of useless rubbish were scattered here and there.

The sadder the desolation to which the Church has been brought, the less should our affection be alienated from her. Indeed, rather, this compassion that the faithful then exercised should draw sighs and groans from us; and would to God that the melancholy description in this passage were not so applicable to our own time as it is!

He, no doubt, has his churches erected in some places, where he is worshipped purely; but, if we cast our eyes upon the whole world, we behold his word everywhere trampled underfoot, and his worship defiled by countless abominations. This being the case, his holy temple is certainly everywhere demolished and in a state of wretched desolation; indeed, even those small churches in which he dwells are torn and scattered.

What are these humble structures, when compared to that splendid edifice described by Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah? But no desolation should prevent us from loving the very stones and dust of the Church. Let us leave the Papists to be proud of their altars, their huge buildings, and their other displays of pomp and splendor; for all that heathenish magnificence is nothing but an abomination in the sight of God and his angels, whereas the ruins of the true temple are sacred.