John Calvin Commentary Psalms 105:25

"He turned their heart to hate his people, To deal subtly with his servants." — Psalms 105:25 (ASV)

He turned their heart, so that they hated his people. The Egyptians, though at first kind and courteous hosts to the Israelites, afterward became cruel enemies; and this also the prophet ascribes to the counsel of God. They were undoubtedly driven to this by a perverse and malignant spirit, by pride and covetousness; but still such a thing did not happen without the providence of God, who in an incomprehensible manner so accomplishes his work in the reprobate, that he brings forth light even out of darkness.

The form of expression seems to some a little too harsh, and therefore they translate the verb passively: their (that is, the Egyptians’) hearts were turned. But this is poor and does not suit the context; for we see that it is the express object of the inspired writer to put the whole government of the Church under God, so that nothing may happen except according to his will.

If the delicate ears of some are offended at such doctrine, let it be observed that the Holy Spirit unequivocally affirms in other places as well as here, that the minds of men are driven here and there by a secret impulse (Proverbs 21:1), so that they can neither will nor do anything except as God pleases.

What madness is it to embrace nothing but what commends itself to human reason? What authority will God’s word have, if it is not admitted any further than we are inclined to receive it? Those, then, who reject this doctrine because it is not very agreeable to human understanding, are inflated with a perverse arrogance.

Others malignantly misrepresent it, not through ignorance or by mistake, but only that they may excite commotion in the Church, or to bring us into disrepute among the ignorant. Some overly timid persons could wish, for the sake of peace, that this doctrine were buried. They are surely ill-equipped for resolving differences.

This was the very reason why in former times the doctors of the Church, in their writings, swerved from the pure and genuine truths of the gospel and turned aside to a heathen philosophy. From where did the doctrine of free will originate, and from where that of the righteousness of works, if not because these good fathers were afraid of giving an opening to evil-tongued or malignant men if they freely professed what is contained in the sacred Scriptures?

And had not God, as it were, by a strong hand, prevented Augustine, he would, in this respect, have been exactly like the rest. But God, so to speak, polishing him with a hammer, corrected that foolish wisdom, which rears its crest against the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, we see, affirms that the Egyptians were so wicked that God turned their hearts to hate his people.

The middle-scheme men seek to evade and qualify this statement by saying that his turning their hearts denotes his permitting this; or, that when the Egyptians set their hearts on hating the Israelites, he made use of their malice as something that, so to speak, came accidentally in his way, as if the Holy Spirit, from being defective in the power of language, spoke one thing when he meant another.

If the doctrine of this text, at first sight, seems strange to us, let us remember that God’s judgments, in other places, are justly called unsearchable (Romans 11:33), and a great deep (Psalms 36:6). If our capacity did not fail in reaching their height, they would not have that intricacy and mystery by which they are characterized.

It is, however, to be observed that the root of the malice was in the Egyptians themselves, so that the fault cannot be transferred to God. I say, they were spontaneously and innately wicked, and not forced by the instigation of another. In regard to God, it ought to suffice for us to know that such was his will, although the reason may be unknown to us.

But the reason is also apparent, which vindicates his righteousness from every objection. If we learn and keep in mind only this small piece of advice: that the revealed will of God ought to be reverently acquiesced in, we will receive without disputation those mysteries which offend either the proud or those who would be overly careful to remove the difficulties in which, according to their view, such mysteries seem to be involved.

The prophet next expresses the manner in which the Egyptians worked mischief against the people of God: they did not assault them openly, so that they might put them to death, but they endeavored, by craft and policy, to oppress them little by little. His expression is borrowed from Moses himself. And it is purposely used so that we may not think that the hearts of the ungodly are permitted without restraint to work our destruction.

It is a consideration that ought surely to satisfy our minds that, whatever the devil and wicked men may plot against us, God nevertheless represses their attempts. But it is a double confirmation of our faith when we hear that not only their hands are bound, but also their hearts and thoughts, so that they can purpose nothing except what God pleases.