John Calvin Commentary Psalms 11:1

"In Jehovah do I take refuge: How say ye to my soul, Flee [as] a bird to your mountain;" — Psalms 11:1 (ASV)

In Jehovah do I put my trust. Almost all interpreters think that this is a complaint David brings against his countrymen: that while seeking everywhere for hiding places, he could find nowhere even common humanity. It is indeed true that in the whole course of his wanderings, after fleeing to escape Saul's cruelty, he could find no secure place of retreat—at least, none where he might continue for any length of time undisturbed.

He might, therefore, justly complain of his own countrymen, because none of them deigned to shelter him when he was a fugitive. But I think he is referring to something higher. When everyone was striving, as it were, against each other to drive him to despair, he must, according to the weakness of the flesh, have been afflicted with great and almost overwhelming distress of mind; but fortified by faith, he confidently and steadfastly leaned on God's promises and was thus preserved from yielding to the temptations to which he was exposed.

He recounts here these spiritual conflicts, through which God tested him amidst his extreme perils. Accordingly, as I have just observed, the psalm should be divided into two parts. Before celebrating God's righteousness, which He displays in the preservation of the godly, the Psalmist shows how he had encountered even death itself, and yet, through faith and an upright conscience, had obtained the victory.

Since everyone advised him to leave his country and retreat to some place of exile where he might be hidden—given that no hope of life remained for him unless he relinquished the kingdom promised to him—he, in the beginning of the psalm, counters this perverse advice with the shield of his trust in God.

But before going further into the subject, let us interpret the words. The word נוד, nud, which we have translated to flee, is written in the plural, yet it is read in the singular; but, in my opinion, this is a corrupt reading. Since David tells us that this was said to himself only, the Jewish scholars, thinking the plural unsuitable, have taken it upon themselves to read the word in the singular.

Some of them, wishing to retain the literal sense, as it is called, perplex themselves with the question of why it is said Flee ye, rather than Flee thou; and, eventually, they resort to a very weak subtlety, as if those who counseled him to flee addressed both his soul and his body.

But it was unnecessary effort to go to so much trouble in a matter where there is no difficulty, for it is certain that those who counseled David did not say that he alone should flee, but that he should flee together with all his attendants, who were in the same danger as himself.

Although, therefore, they addressed David especially, they also included his companions, who had a common cause with him and were exposed to the same danger. Commentators also differ in their interpretation of what follows. Many translate it from your mountain, as if it were מהרכם, meharkem; and, according to them, there is a change of person, because those who spoke to him must have said, you flee from Our mountain. But this is harsh and strained.

Nor does it seem to me that they have any more reason on their side when they say that Judea is here called "mountain." Others think we should read הר כמו צפור, har kemo tsippor, that is, into the mountain as a bird, without a pronoun.

But if we follow what I have said, it will agree very well with the passage's scope to read it this way: Flee ye into your mountain, for you are not permitted to dwell in your own country. I do not, however, think that any particular mountain is indicated, but that David was sent away to the desert rocks wherever chance might lead him.

Condemning those who gave him this advice, he declares that he depends on God's promise and is not at all disposed to go away into exile like this. Such, then, was David's condition that, in his extreme necessity, everyone repelled and chased him far away into desert places.

But since he seems to imply that it would be a sign of distrust if he were to place his safety in flight, it may be asked whether or not it would have been lawful for him to flee. Indeed, we know that he was often forced to retreat into exile, driven about from place to place, and that he even sometimes hid himself in caves.

I answer that it is true he was unsettled like a poor, fearful bird, which leaps from branch to branch, and was compelled to seek different bypaths and to wander from place to place to avoid his enemies' snares; yet still his faith continued so steadfast that he never alienated himself from God's people.

Others considered him a lost man, one whose affairs were in a hopeless condition, valuing him no more than if he had been a rotten limb; yet he never separated himself from the body of the Church. And certainly these words, Flee ye, tended only to make him yield to utter despair.

But it would have been wrong for him to have yielded to these fears and to have fled, as if uncertain of the outcome. He therefore says expressly that this was spoken to his soul, meaning that his heart was deeply pierced by such an ignominious rejection, since he saw (as I have said) that it tended only to shake and weaken his faith.

In short, although he had always lived innocently, as befitted a true servant of God, yet these malignant people would have doomed him to remain forever in exile from his native country.

This verse teaches us that however much the world may hate and persecute us, we should nevertheless remain steadfast at our post, so that we do not deprive ourselves of the right to claim God's promises, or so that these promises do not slip away from us. Furthermore, however much and however long we may be harassed, we should always remain firm and unwavering in the faith that we have God's call.