John Calvin Commentary Psalms 107

Praise Jehovah. We have already explained this verse, for it formed the beginning of the previous psalm. And it appears that it was not only frequently used among the Jews, but also so incorporated with other psalms, that when one part of the chorus on one side was singing a portion of the psalm, the other part of the chorus on the opposite side, in its turn, after each succeeding verse, responded, Praise Jehovah, because he is good, etc. The author of this psalm, whoever he was, has, instead of the ordinary preface, inserted this beautiful sentiment, in which praise and thanksgiving to God were so frequently expressed by the Israelite Church.

Immediately he proceeds to speak more particularly. And first, he exhorts those to offer up a tribute of gratitude to God, who, after having been delivered from slavery and imprisonment, and after a long and painful journey, arrived in safety at their homes. These he calls the redeemed of God; because, in wandering through the trackless desert and howling wilderness, they many a time would have been prevented from returning home, had not God, as it were, with His outstretched hand, appeared as their guard and their guide. He does not here refer to travelers indiscriminately, but to such as either by hostile power, or by any other kind of violence, or by stern necessity, having been banished to distant regions, felt themselves to be in the midst of imminent dangers; or it may be that he refers to those who had been made prisoners by enemies, pirates, or other robbers. He reminds them that it was by no chance event that they had been driven about in that manner and had been brought back to their native country, but that all their wanderings had been under the superintending providence of God.

But the second verse might be joined with the first, as if the prophet were commanding the persons whom he was addressing to sing this celebrated ode. It may, with equal appropriateness, be read by itself thus: Let the redeemed of Jehovah, who have returned from captivity to their own land, now come forth and take part in the celebration of God’s praises, and let them publish His loving-kindness which they have experienced in their deliverance.

Among the Jews, who undertook extensive journeys, such occurrences as these were very common, because they could hardly leave their own land without encountering from all directions rugged, difficult, and perilous ways; and the same observation is equally applicable to mankind in general. He reminds them how often they wandered and strayed from the right way, and found no place of shelter; something not at all rare in these lonely deserts. Were a person to enter a forest without any knowledge of the proper direction, he would, in the course of his wandering, be in danger of becoming the prey of lions and wolves. However, he particularly has in mind those who, finding themselves unexpectedly in desert places, are also in danger of perishing from hunger and thirst. For it is certain that such persons are in hourly danger of death, unless the Lord comes to their rescue.

In their straits they called upon Jehovah. The verbs here are in the past tense and, according to grammarians, represent a continuous action. Therefore, the meaning is that those who wander in desert places are often afflicted by hunger and thirst because they find no place to lodge; and when all hope of deliverance fails them, they then cry out to God.

Doubtless, God grants deliverance to many when in straits, even though they do not offer their supplications to Him for aid. And so, the prophet's design in this passage was not so much to praise the faith of the pious, who call on God with all their heart, as it was to describe common human feelings.

There are many whose hope is not centered on God, who are nevertheless compelled by some invisible disposition of mind to turn to Him when under the pressure of dire necessity.

This is the plan God sometimes pursues to extort from such people the acknowledgment that deliverance is to be sought from no other source than from Him alone. He even constrains the ungodly—who, while living for pleasure, scoff at Him—to invoke His name in spite of themselves.

It has been customary in all ages for heathens, who regard religion as a fable, when compelled by stern necessity, to call on God for help. Did they do so in jest? By no means. It was by a secret natural instinct that they were led to reverence God’s name, which they formerly held in derision.

Therefore, in my opinion, the Spirit of God here describes what frequently happens: namely, that people destitute of piety and faith, and who have no desire to have anything to do with God, if placed in perilous circumstances, are compelled by natural instinct, and without any real understanding of what they are doing, to call on the name of God.

Since it is only in doubtful and desperate cases that they turn to God, this acknowledgment they make of their helplessness is a clear proof of their stupidity. In times of peace and tranquility they neglect Him, so much are they then under the intoxicating influence of their own prosperity.

And even though the seed of piety is planted in their hearts, they nevertheless never think of learning wisdom unless driven by the force of adversity—I mean, learning the wisdom of acknowledging that there is a God in heaven who directs every event.

It is unnecessary here to allude to the sarcastic retort of the ancient buffoon who, on entering a temple and seeing a number of tablets that several merchants had hung there as memorials of their escape from shipwreck through the kind intervention of the gods, smartly and humorously remarked, “But the deaths of those who have been drowned are not counted, the number of which is innumerable.” Perhaps he had some just cause for scoffing at such idols in this manner.

But even if a hundred times more were drowned in the sea than safely reach the harbor, this does not in the least detract from the glory of God’s goodness. God, who while He is merciful is at the same time also just, ensures that the dispensing of mercy does not interfere with the exercise of justice.

The same observation applies to travelers who stray from the path and wander up and down in the desert. If many of them perish from hunger and thirst, if many are devoured by wild animals, if many die from cold, these are nothing less than tokens of God’s judgments, which He intends for our consideration.

From this we infer that the same thing would happen to all people if it were not God’s will to save a portion of them. Thus, acting as a judge between them, He preserves some to show His mercy and pours out His judgments on others to declare His justice.

Therefore, the prophet very properly adds that by God’s hand they were led into the right way, where they may find a suitable place for lodging; and consequently he exhorts them to give thanks to God for this manifestation of His goodness.

And to enhance God’s loving-kindness, he connects his wondrous works with His mercy. It is as if to say that in this kind intervention, God’s grace is too clear either to be unperceived or unacknowledged by all.

For those who have experienced such a remarkable deliverance to remain silent about it would be nothing less than an impious attempt to suppress God’s wonderful deeds—an attempt as futile as trying to trample the sunlight under their feet.

For what else can be said of us? Seeing that our natural instinct drives us to God for help when we are in perplexity and peril, and when, after being rescued, we immediately forget Him—who will deny that His glory is, as it were, obscured by our wickedness and ingratitude?

They who dwell in darkness—the Spirit of God mentions here another kind of danger in which God clearly shows His power and grace in protecting and delivering people. The world, as I said, calls these changes the sport of fortune, and scarcely one in a hundred can be found who attributes them to the superintending providence of God.

It is a very different kind of practical wisdom that God expects from us; namely, that we should meditate on His judgments in the time of adversity and on His goodness in delivering us from it. For surely it is not by mere chance that a person falls into the hands of enemies or robbers; neither is it by chance that he is rescued from them.

But this is what we must constantly keep in mind: that all afflictions are God’s rod, and therefore there is no remedy for them except in His grace. If a person falls into the hands of robbers or pirates and is not instantly murdered but, giving up all hope of life, expects death every moment, surely the deliverance of such a person is a striking proof of the grace of God, which shines all the more splendidly in proportion to the small number of those who escape. So, even if many perish, this circumstance should in no way diminish the praises of God.

For this reason, the prophet charges all those with ingratitude who, after they have been wonderfully preserved, very soon lose sight of the deliverance thus granted to them. To strengthen the charge, he presents, as a testimony against them, their sighs and cries. For when they are in distress, they sincerely confess that God is their deliverer; how is it, then, that this confession disappears when they are enjoying peace and quietness?

Because they rebelled — in assigning the cause of their afflictions, he corrects the false impressions of those people who imagine that these afflictions happen by chance. If they were to reflect on the judgments of God, they would immediately perceive that there was nothing like chance or fortune in the government of the world.

Moreover, until people are persuaded that all their troubles come upon them by God's appointment, it will never occur to them to supplicate Him for deliverance.

Furthermore, when the prophet assigns the reason for their afflictions, he should not be understood as speaking of those people as if they were notoriously wicked. Instead, he is to be seen as calling upon the afflicted to examine carefully certain parts of their lives and, even if no one accuses them, to look into their own hearts, where they will always discover the true origin of all the miseries that overtake them.

Nor does he only charge them with having merely sinned, but with having rebelled against the word of God, thus intimating that the best and only regulation for our lives consists in yielding a prompt obedience to His commandments. When, therefore, sheer necessity compels those who are convicted in this way to cry to God, they must be senseless indeed if they do not acknowledge that the deliverance they receive, contrary to their expectation, comes directly from God.

For bronze gates and iron bars are spoken of to enhance the benefit, as if to say, the chains of perpetual slavery have been broken apart.

Fools are afflicted on account of the way of their transgression. He now comes to another kind of chastisement. For as he observed above that those who refused to obey God were given over to captivity, so now he teaches that others have been afflicted by God with disease, as the fruit of their transgressions. And when the transgressor realizes that it is God who is correcting him, this will pave the way for him to come to the knowledge of His grace.

He calls them fools who, thoughtlessly giving themselves up to sensuality, bring destruction upon themselves. The sin they commit is not only the result of ignorance and error, but of their carnal affections. These affections, depriving them of proper understanding, cause them to devise things detrimental to themselves. The maxim that the fear of God is wisdom must never be forgotten.

Hence it plainly follows that those who shake off God's yoke and surrender themselves to Satan and sin are the victims of their own folly and fury. And as a principal ingredient of this madness, the prophet uses the term deletion or transgression; and then he adds iniquities. This is because when a man once departs from God, from that moment he loses all self-control and falls from one sin into another.

But this passage does not refer to the common diseases that prevail in the world. Instead, it refers to those considered fatal, for which all hope of life is abandoned.

In such cases, God's grace becomes more conspicuous when deliverance from them is obtained.

When a man recovers from a slight illness, he does not discern God's power as plainly as when it is displayed in a wonderful and remarkable manner to bring some back from the gates of death and restore them to their usual health and vigor. He says, therefore, that they are preserved from many corruptions, which is equivalent to saying that they are delivered from just as many deaths.

To this effect are the following words of the prophet, in which he says, that they approach the gates of death, and that they loathe all food. We have already referred to their calling upon God.

Namely, when people are reduced to the greatest distress, by calling upon God for aid in this way, they acknowledge that they would be lost unless He wonderfully intervened for their deliverance.