John Calvin Commentary Psalms 11:6

"Upon the wicked he will rain snares; Fire and brimstone and burning wind shall be the portion of their cup." — Psalms 11:6 (ASV)

He will rain upon the ungodly. David now, finally, lays it down as a certain truth that although God, for a time, may be still and delay His judgments, yet the hour of vengeance will certainly come. Thus we see how by degrees he rises to the hope of a happy outcome for his present affliction, and he strives for this, so that the social and moral disorder he saw prevailing around him might not weaken his faith.

Since the tribunal of God remains firm and immovable, he, first, sustains and comforts himself by considering that God from on high beholds all that is done here below. Next, he considers what the office of a judge requires, from which he concludes that the actions of men cannot escape the inspection of God’s omniscient eye, and that although He does not immediately punish their evil deeds, He hates all the wicked.

Finally, he adds that since God is armed with power, this hatred will not be in vain or ineffectual. Thus, while God defers the infliction of punishment, the knowledge of His justice will have a powerful influence in maintaining our faith, until He actually shows that He has never departed from His watch-tower, from which He beholds the actions of men.

He appropriately compares the punishments which God inflicts to rain. As rain is not constant, but the Lord sends it forth when He pleases; and, when the weather is calmest and most serene, suddenly raises a storm of hail or violent showers of rain; similarly, it is here intimated that the vengeance that will be inflicted on the wicked will come suddenly, so that, when they are indulging in mirth and intoxicated with their pleasures, and when they shall say, Peace and safety, sudden destruction will come upon them. At the same time, David here evidently alludes to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

As the prophets, when they would promise the grace of God to the elect, remind them of the deliverance from Egypt, which God performed on behalf of His ancient people, so when they would alarm the wicked, they threaten them with a destruction like that which befell Sodom and Gomorrah, and they do so on good grounds; since Jude, in his Epistle, tells us that these cities are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire (Jude 1:7). The Psalmist, with much beauty and propriety, puts snares before fire and brimstone.

We see that the ungodly, while God spares them, fear nothing, but give themselves ample scope in their wayward courses, like horses let loose in an open field; and then, if they see any adversity impending over them, they devise for themselves ways of escape. In short, they continually mock God, as if they could not be caught unless He first entangles and holds them fast in His snares.

God, therefore, begins His vengeance by snares, shutting up against the wicked every way of escape; and when He has them entangled and bound, He thunders upon them dreadfully and horribly, just as He consumed Sodom and the neighboring cities with fire from heaven. The word זלעפות, zilaphoth, which we have rendered whirlwinds, is by some translated kindlings or burnings; and by others, commotions or terrors. But the context requires the interpretation I have brought forward, for a tempest is raised by stormy winds, and then follow thunder and lightning.

The portion of their cup. By this expression he testifies that the judgments of God will certainly take effect, although ungodly men may delude themselves with deceitful flattery. This metaphor is frequently found in the Scriptures.

Since the carnal mind believes nothing with greater difficulty than that the calamities and miseries which seem to be fortuitous happen according to a just distribution from God, He represents Himself as a householder who distributes to each member his portion or allowance.

David, therefore, here intimates that there is certainly a reward stored up for the ungodly; that it will be in vain for them to resist when the Lord shall reach to them the cup of His wrath to drink; and that the cup prepared for them is not one they may sip drop by drop, but a cup, the whole of which they will be compelled to drink, as the prophet threatens:

Thou shalt drink it off even to the dregs (Ezekiel 23:34).