John Calvin Commentary Psalms 109:13

"Let his posterity be cut off; In the generation following let their name be blotted out." — Psalms 109:13 (ASV)

Let his posterity be cut off. This is a continuation of the same subject, which the prophet had just begun to consider: that God would visit the iniquities of the fathers upon their children. And as he had to deal with the whole court of Saul, and not with any single individual, he here uses the plural number.

But as in deeds of wickedness, there are always some who are the prime movers and act as the ringleaders of others, we need not be surprised that having spoken of one person, he next addresses the many, and then returns to the same person. The more natural and simple mode of explanation is to refer it to his offspring, for the Hebrew term which signifies posterity is collective, implying a multitude and not only a single individual.

This is a heavier imprecation than the former. It sometimes happens that a family, overthrown by an unexpected disaster, rises up again later. Here, however, it is the prophet's wish that the wicked may be so completely ruined as never to be able to regain their former state; for this much is implied in their name being erased in the next generation, or after ages have passed.

And as the destruction which he denounces against the houses and families of the wicked is so extensive that God punishes them through their posterity, so he desires that God may remember the iniquities of their fathers and mothers, so that their condemnation may be complete; and this is a principle in perfect accordance with the commonly received doctrine of Scripture.

God, out of regard for His covenant, which is in force for a thousand generations, extends and continues His mercy toward posterity; but He also punishes iniquity to the third and fourth generation. In doing this, He does not involve the guiltless with the wicked indiscriminately, but by withholding from the reprobate the grace and illumination of His Spirit, He prepares the vessels of wrath for destruction, even before they are born (Romans 9:21).

To the common sense of humankind, the thought of such severity is horrifying: but then we must remember that if we attempt to measure the secret and inscrutable judgments of God by our finite minds, we do Him wrong. Struck with horror at the severity of this threat, let us use it as a means of filling us with reverence and godly fear. In reference to the language of Ezekiel:

“The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, but the soul that sinneth, it shall die;” (Ezekiel 18:20).

We know that in these words he disproves the groundless complaints of the people who, boasting that they were guiltless, imagined that they were punished wrongfully. When, however, God continues His vengeance from the father to the children, He leaves them no room for palliation or complaint, because they are all equally guilty. We have already said that vengeance commences when God, in withdrawing His Spirit both from the children and the fathers, delivers them over to Satan.

Some may inquire why the prophet, in desiring that their sin may be continually before God’s eyes, does not also add, let their name be blotted out from heaven, but merely wishes them to be cut off, and to perish in the world? My reply is that he spoke according to the custom of the age in which he lived, when the nature of spiritual punishments was not as well understood as it is in our times, because the period had not yet arrived when the revelation of God’s will was to be full and complete. Besides, it is David’s design that the vengeance of God may be so manifest that the whole world may acquiesce in His equity as a judge.