John Calvin Commentary Psalms 109:12

"Let there be none to extend kindness unto him; Neither let there be any to have pity on his fatherless children." — Psalms 109:12 (ASV)

Let there be none prolonging mercy to him. According to the Hebrew idiom, to continue to show humanity and mercy is equivalent to constant and successive acts of kindness. It also sometimes denotes pity, or being moved to sympathy, when, after many years, anger is appeased, and even a person's calamity melts the heart of the one who hated him.

Accordingly, some understand this clause to mean that there will be none to show kindness to his offspring, an interpretation consistent with the next clause of the verse. David, however, also includes the wicked man himself along with his children, as if he were saying that even though the wicked man visibly pines away under such calamities, and these calamities descend to his children, no one should show pity toward them.

We are aware that it often happens that the long-continued misfortune of an enemy either excites the sympathy of even cruel people or makes them forget all their hatred and malevolence.

But in this part of the psalm, David expresses a desire that his enemy and all his posterity may be so hated and detested that the people may never grow weary of witnessing the calamities they endure, but may become so familiar with the sight that it is as if their hearts were of iron.

At the same time, it should be noted that David is not rashly excited by any personal anguish to speak in this manner; rather, as God’s messenger, he declares the punishment that was awaiting the ungodly. Indeed, the law considers it one of God’s judgments when He hardens people’s hearts, so that those who have been passionately and unmercifully cruel should find no sympathy (Deuteronomy 2:30). It is just that the same measure they have used toward others should also be meted out to themselves.