John Calvin Commentary Psalms 105:6

"O ye seed of Abraham his servant, Ye children of Jacob, his chosen ones." — Psalms 105:6 (ASV)

Ye seed of Abraham his servant. The Psalmist addresses his own countrymen by this title, whom, as has been stated, God had bound to Himself by a special adoption. It was a still more sacred bond of union that, by the mere good pleasure of God, they were preferred to all other nations.

By calling them the seed of Abraham, and the sons of Jacob, he reminds them that they had not attained such great dignity by their own power, but because they were descended from the holy fathers. He, however, affirms at the same time that the holiness of their fathers flowed exclusively from God’s election, and not from their own nature.

He expressly states both these truths: first, that before they were born as children of Abraham, they were already heirs of the covenant because they derived their origin from the holy fathers; and secondly, that the fathers themselves had not acquired this prerogative by their own merit or worth but had been freely chosen.

This is why Jacob is called God’s chosen. Although Abraham is also called God’s servant here (Genesis 26:24), because he purely and sincerely worshipped Him, it is testified in the second clause that the beginning of this distinction was not to be traced to men but to God alone, who conferred upon the Israelites the honor of choosing them to be His peculiar possession.

From this covenant, the Psalmist infers that although the government of God extends throughout the whole world, and although He executes His judgment in all places, He was nevertheless especially the God of that one people (verse 7), according to the statement in the song of Moses:

When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people, according to the number of the children of Israel: For the Lord’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. (Deuteronomy 32:8, 9)

The prophet again intended to show that the reason the children of Israel excelled others was not because they were better than others, but because such was the good pleasure of God. If the divine judgments extend throughout all regions of the globe, the condition of all nations is in this respect equal.

From this it follows that the difference referred to proceeded from the love of God—that the source of the superiority of the Israelites to other nations was His free favor. Although, then, He is the rightful proprietor of the whole earth, it is declared that He chose one people over whom He might reign.

This is a doctrine that also applies to us today. If we duly ponder our calling, we will undoubtedly find that God has not been induced by anything outside of Himself to prefer us to others, but that He was pleased to do so purely from His own free grace.