John Calvin Commentary Psalms 11:7

"For Jehovah is righteous; he loveth righteousness: The upright shall behold his face." — Psalms 11:7 (ASV)

For the righteous Jehovah loveth righteousness. The Psalmist has just now reasoned from God's office that He will punish the wicked, and now, from God's nature, he concludes that He will be the defender of the good and the upright. Since He is righteous, David shows that, as a consequence of this, He must love righteousness, for otherwise He would deny Himself.

Besides, it would be a cold speculation to conceive of righteousness as inherent in God, unless we could also reach the firm conclusion that God graciously acknowledges whatever is His own, and provides evidence of this in His governance of the world. Some think that the abstract term righteousness stands for righteous persons. But, in my opinion, the literal sense is more suitable here: namely, that righteousness is well pleasing to God, and that, therefore, He favors good causes.

From this the Psalmist concludes that the upright are the objects of His regard: His countenance approveth the upright. The Psalmist had said a little before, in a different sense, that God beholds the children of men, meaning that He will judge the life of every man. But here the Psalmist means that God graciously exercises special care over the upright and the sincere, takes them under His protection, and keeps them in perfect safety.

This conclusion of the psalm sufficiently shows that its entire scope was to make it clear that all those who, depending upon God's grace, sincerely pursue righteousness will be safe under His protection. The Psalmist himself was one of this number and, indeed, the foremost among them.

This last clause, His countenance approveth the upright, is, indeed, explained in various ways. However, I have no doubt that its true meaning is that God always has regard for the upright and never turns His eyes away from them. It is a strained interpretation to view the words as meaning that the upright will behold God's face. But I will not stop to refute the opinions of others.