John Calvin Commentary Psalms 113:1

"Praise ye Jehovah. Praise, O ye servants of Jehovah, Praise the name of Jehovah." — Psalms 113:1 (ASV)

Praise, you servants of Jehovah! This psalm contains abundant reasons for all people, without exception, to praise God. The faithful alone being endowed with spiritual perception to recognize the hand of God, the prophet addresses them in particular. And if we consider how cold and callous people are in this religious exercise, we will not consider the repetition of the call to praise God superfluous.

We all acknowledge that we are created to praise God’s name, while, at the same time, his glory is disregarded by us. Such criminal apathy is justly condemned by the prophet, in order to stir us up to unwearied zeal in praising God. The repetition, then, of the exhortation to praise him, should be considered as referring both to perseverance and ardor in this service.

If, by the servants of God, some would rather understand this to mean the Levites, to whom the charge of celebrating his praises under the Law was committed, I am not much opposed to it. This interpretation is acceptable, provided they do not exclude the rest of the faithful. For God formerly appointed the Levites as leaders and chief musicians over them, so that he might be praised by all his people without exception.

When the Holy Spirit explicitly addresses the Levites concerning God’s praises, this is intentionally so, that by their example they may show the way to others, and that the whole Church may respond in one holy chorus. Now that we are all “a royal priesthood,” (1 Peter 2:9) and as Zechariah testifies (Zechariah 14:21) that under the reign of Christ even the humblest of the people shall be Levites, there is no question that, except for unbelievers who are mute, the prophet invites all of us collectively to render this service to God.