John Calvin Commentary Psalms 117

Praise Jehovah, all you nations. When the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of the prophet, exhorted all nations to celebrate the praises of God’s mercy and faithfulness, Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans, very justly considers this as a prediction concerning the calling of the whole world (Romans 15:11). How can unbelievers be qualified for praising God, who, though not entirely destitute of His mercy, are yet insensible of it and are ignorant of His truth?

It would therefore serve no purpose for the prophet to address the Gentile nations, unless they were to be gathered together in the unity of the faith with the children of Abraham. There is no ground for censorious individuals to attempt, with their sophistical arguments, to refute Paul's reasoning.

I grant that the Holy Spirit elsewhere calls upon the mountains, rivers, trees, rain, winds, and thunder to resound God’s praises, because all creation silently proclaims Him as its Maker. However, He is praised in a different manner by His rational creatures.

The reason given is that God’s mercy and truth provide the material for celebrating His praises. Furthermore, the prophet does not mean that God will be praised everywhere by the Gentiles simply because the knowledge of His character is confined to a small part of the land of Judea, but because this knowledge was to be spread over the whole world.

First, he directs that God be praised because His goodness is increased, or strengthened (for the Hebrew term admits of both meanings). Secondly, this praise is directed because His truth remains steadfast forever. How, then, are those qualified to celebrate His praises who, with brutal insensibility, ignore His goodness and shut their ears against His heavenly doctrine?

The truth of God, in this passage, is properly introduced as an attestation of His grace. For He can be true even when He threatens the whole world with perdition and ruin. The prophet, however, has placed His mercy first so that His faithfulness and truth, comprising an assurance of His paternal kindness, might encourage the hearts of the godly.

His power and justice are equally praiseworthy; but as people will never cordially praise God until they are drawn by a foretaste of His goodness, the prophet very justly selects God’s mercy and truth, which alone open the mouths of those who are mute to engage in this exercise. When His truth is said to be everlasting, it is not set in opposition to His mercy, as if mercy, after flourishing for a season, then instantly passed away.

The same reasoning would imply that His truth was small compared with His mercy, which is described as abundant. The meaning is that God’s mercy is rich towards us, flowing in a perennial stream because it is united to His eternal truth. If we read, His mercy is confirmed, all difficulty will be removed, for then both constancy and stability will equally adorn His mercy and His truth.