John Calvin Commentary Psalms 116

I have loved, because Jehovah will hear the voice of my supplication. At the very beginning of this psalm, David declares that he was attracted by the sweetness of God’s goodness to place his hope and confidence in him alone. This abrupt way of speaking, I have loved, is more emphatic, intimating that he could receive joy and rest nowhere but in God.

We know that our hearts will always be wandering after fruitless pleasures and harassed with care, until God unites them to himself. David affirms this disorder was removed from him because he felt that God was indeed favorable towards him. And, having found by experience that, in general, those who call upon God are happy, he declares that no allurements will draw him away from God.

When, therefore, he says, I have loved, it means that, without God, nothing would be pleasant or agreeable to him. This teaches us that those who have been heard by God, but do not place themselves entirely under his guidance and guardianship, have derived little advantage from the experience of his grace.

The second verse also refers to the same subject, except that the latter clause has a very appropriate meaning, which expositors overlook. The phrase, during my days I will call upon him, is uniformly understood by them to mean, I, who until now have been so successful in addressing God, will pursue the same course all my life.

But it should be considered whether it may not be equally appropriate for the days of David to be regarded as indicating a suitable time for asking for assistance—the season when he was under great pressure from hardship. I am not prevented from adopting this meaning, because it may be said that the prophet uses the future tense of the verb אקרא, ekra.

In the first verse also, the term, he shall hear, is to be understood in the past tense as he has heard. In that case, the copulative conjunction would need to be taken as an adverb of time, meaning when, a circumstance by no means unusual among the Hebrews.

The passage can be understood very well as follows: Because he has bowed his ear to me when I called upon him in the time of my adversity, and even at the season, too, when I was reduced to the direst difficulties. If any are disposed to prefer the former interpretation, I will not argue with them about it.

The following context, however, appears to support the latter meaning, in which David energetically begins to point out what those days were. And, with the intention of magnifying God’s glory as it deserves, he says that there was no way of his escaping from death, for he was like one among enemies, bound with fetters and chains, from whom all hope of deliverance was cut off.

He acknowledges, therefore, that he was subjected to death, that he was overtaken and seized, so that escape was impossible. And as he declares that he was bound by the cords of death, so he, at the same time, adds that he fell into tribulation and sorrow. Here he confirms what he said previously, that when he seemed to be most forsaken of God, that was truly the proper time, and the right season for him to devote himself to prayer.

Jehovah is gracious. He now comes to point out the fruits of that love about which he spoke, setting before himself God’s titles, so that they might serve to preserve his faith in Him. First, he calls Him gracious, because He is so ready graciously to provide assistance.

From this source springs the justice He displays for the protection of His own people. To this is added mercy, without which we would not deserve God’s aid. And as the afflictions that overtake us frequently seem to preclude the exercise of His justice, it therefore follows that there is nothing better than to rest in Him alone, so that His fatherly kindness may engross our thoughts, and no voluptuous pleasure may steal them away to anything else.

He then applies the experience of God’s kindness and fairness to the preservation of the simple—that is, those who, being guileless, do not possess the necessary prudence for managing their own affairs. The term, translated simple, is often understood in a negative sense, referring to inconsiderate and foolish people who will not follow sound advice.

But in this place, the term is applied to those who are exposed to the abuse of the wicked, who are not sufficiently subtle and circumspect to elude the snares laid for them—in short, to those who are easily taken advantage of. In contrast, the children of this world are full of ingenuity and have every means at their command for maintaining and protecting themselves.

David, therefore, acknowledges himself to be like a child, unable to provide for his own safety, and totally unfit to ward off the dangers to which he was exposed. Thus, the Septuagint has not improperly translated the Hebrew term with the Greek τὰ νήπια, little children.

The point is that when those who are vulnerable to suffering have neither the prudence nor the means of securing their deliverance, God manifests His wisdom toward them and interposes the secret protection of His providence between them and all the dangers by which their safety may be assailed. Finally, David presents himself as a personal example of this fact: after being reduced to the greatest straits, he was, by the grace of God, restored to his former state.

Return, O my soul! to your rest. He now encourages himself, or rather, addressing his soul, tells it to be tranquil, because God was favorable towards him. By the term rest, some commentators understand God himself, but this is an unnatural interpretation. It is rather to be regarded as expressive of a calm and composed state of mind.

For it should be noted that David confesses he was severely agitated and perplexed amidst an accumulation of evils, just as each of us is aware of our own restlessness when the terrors of death surround us. Although David possessed unusual fortitude, he was still distressed because of the conflict of grief, and an inward trembling so distracted his mind that he rightly complains of being deprived of his peace. However, he declares that God's grace was sufficient to calm all these troubles.

It may be asked whether the experience of God's grace alone can calm the fear and anxiety of our minds, since David declares that, having experienced relief from divine help, he would, in the future, be at rest? If the faithful regain their peace of mind only when God reveals himself as their deliverer, what room is there for the exercise of faith, and what power will the promises possess?

For, certainly, to wait calmly and silently for those signs of God's favor, which he conceals from us, is the undeniable evidence of faith. And strong faith calms the conscience and settles the spirit; so that, according to Paul, the peace of God, which passeth all understandings reigns supremely there (Philippians 4:7).

And so the godly remain unmoved, even if the whole world were about to go to ruin. What is the meaning of this returning to rest? I answer that however much God's children may be driven here and there, they still constantly derive support from the word of God, so that they cannot totally and finally fall away.

Trusting in his promises, they throw themselves upon his providence; and still they are severely distressed by unsettling fears, and sadly buffeted by the storms of temptation. As soon as God comes to their aid, not only does inward peace take possession of their minds, but from the manifestation of his grace, they are also supplied with grounds for joy and gladness.

David here discusses this latter kind of quietness—declaring that, despite all the prevailing agitation of mind, it was now time for him to delight himself calmly in God. The term גמל , gamal, is incorrectly translated to reward; because, in Hebrew, it usually signifies conferring a favor as well as giving a recompense; which he confirms in the following verse, where he says that his soul was delivered from death. This, then, properly speaking, is the recompense: namely, that God, in delivering him from death, had wiped away the tears from his eyes.

The arrangement of the words is transposed; for, according to our idiom, we would rather have said, he hath delivered my feet from falling; and my eyes from tears, and then he hath delivered my soul from death; for we are accustomed to follow an arrangement where the most important circumstance is mentioned last. Among the Hebrews, such a word order, as in this passage, is by no means improper.

This is their meaning: God has not only rescued me from present death but has also treated me with further kindness by chasing away sorrow and stretching out his hand to prevent me from stumbling. God's grace is enhanced in that he restored to life one who had been almost dead.

I will walk in the presence of Jehovah. To walk in the presence of God is, in my opinion, equivalent to living under his care. And therefore David expects to enjoy his safety continually. For nothing is more desirable than that God should keep watch over us, that our life may be surrounded by his protecting care. The wicked, indeed, regard themselves as secure the farther they are from God; but the godly consider themselves happy in this one thing, that he directs the whole tenor of their life. God adding, in the land of the living, he means to point out to us the course that we are expected to pursue; and that, at almost every moment, fresh destructions press upon us if he were to overlook us.

I have believed. So that his wonderful deliverance may appear more conspicuous, he again relates the imminent danger in which he had been placed. He begins by declaring that he spoke in the true sincerity of his heart, and that nothing proceeded from his lips except what was the fruit of long reflection and mature deliberation.

Such is the meaning of the clause, I have believed, therefore I will speak; words that proceed from the full conviction of the heart. In 2 Corinthians 4:13, Paul, quoting this passage, follows the Greek version, I believed, therefore I have spoken. I have remarked elsewhere that it was not the apostles' design to repeat every word and syllable; it is enough for us that David's words are appropriately applied in their proper and natural sense to the subject to which Paul refers there.

Having referred indirectly to the Corinthians, who were exalting themselves above the clouds, as if they had been exempted from the common lot of mankind, “I believed,” says he, “and therefore I have spoken, that he who hath once raised Christ from the dead, will also extend Christ’s life to us;” that is, I believe, and therefore I speak.

Thus he charges the Corinthians with being inflated with foolish pride, because they do not humbly submit to the cross of Christ, especially as they ought to speak in the exercise of the same spirit of faith with himself. The particle כי, ki, which we translate therefore, is by some Hebrew interpreters understood as a disjunctive particle; but the more correct meaning, which is supported by the best scholars, is, I will speak nothing but the sentiments of my heart.

The main point of the passage, too, requires this: namely, that the external professions of the lips correspond with the internal feelings of the heart, for many talk inconsiderately and utter what never entered their hearts. “Let no one imagine that I use meaningless or exaggerated terms; what I speak, I have truly believed.”

From this we learn the useful doctrine that faith cannot remain inoperative in the heart, but must necessarily manifest itself. Here the Holy Spirit unites, with a sacred bond, the faith of the heart with outward confession; and what God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. Those dissemblers, therefore, who willingly envelop their faith in obscurity, treacherously corrupt the whole Word of God.

We must remember, however, that the order David observes here is required of all God’s children: believing before they make any professions with their lips. But, as I said, he speaks of his imminent danger so that he may further enhance the safety and deliverance God had granted to him.