John Calvin Commentary Psalms 111:10

"The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all they that do [his commandments]: His praise endureth for ever." — Psalms 111:10 (ASV)

The fear of Jehovah: Having addressed the kindness of God and paid a fitting tribute to the law, the prophet then exhorts the faithful to reverence God and be zealous in keeping the law. In calling the fear of God, The beginning or source of wisdom, he charges with folly those who do not give implicit obedience to God.

As if to say, those who do not fear God and do not regulate their lives according to His law are brute beasts and are ignorant of the first elements of true wisdom. We must pay careful attention to this, for although people generally wish to be considered wise, almost all the world esteems God lightly and takes pleasure in their own wicked cunning.

And since the very worst of people are reputed to be superior to all others in wisdom, and, puffed up with this confidence, harden themselves against God, the prophet declares all the wisdom of the world, without the fear of God, to be vanity or an empty shadow.

And, indeed, all who are ignorant of the purpose for which they live are fools and madmen. But to serve God is the purpose for which we have been born and for which we are preserved in life. Therefore, there is no worse blindness, no insensibility so degrading, as when we despise God and set our affections elsewhere.

For whatever ingenuity the wicked may possess, they are destitute of the main thing: genuine piety. To the same effect are the words that immediately follow: a good understanding have all they who keep God’s commandments. There is great emphasis upon the qualifying term טוב, tob; because the prophet, in denouncing the foolish opinion to which we have already referred, tacitly condemns those who delight in their own wicked cunning.

His meaning is, I admit, that those are usually considered wise who look out well for their own interests, who can pursue an opportunistic policy, who have the sharpness and cunning to preserve the favorable opinion of the world, and who even deceive others. But even if I were to grant that this description applies to them, yet their wisdom is unprofitable and perverse, because true wisdom manifests itself in the observance of the law.

Next, he substitutes the keeping of God’s commandments for the fear of God. For though all people, without exception, boast that they fear God, yet nothing is more common than for them to live in neglect of His law. Hence, the prophet very properly impresses upon us the voluntary taking up of His yoke and submission to the regulations of His word as the most satisfactory evidence that we live in the fear of God.

The term beginning has misled some, leading them to imagine that the fear of God was called the entrance of wisdom, as if it were the alphabet, because it prepares people for true piety. Such an opinion is hardly worth noting, since in Job 28:28, it is called “wisdom.” In this passage, fear is not to be understood as referring to the first or elementary principles of piety, as in 1 John 4:18, but encompasses all true godliness, or the worship of God.

The conclusion of the psalm requires no explanation, as the prophet's object is simply to impress upon the faithful that nothing is more profitable for them than to spend their lives celebrating the praises of God.