John Calvin Commentary Psalms 119:130

"The opening of thy words giveth light; It giveth understanding unto the simple." — Psalms 119:130 (ASV)

The entrance of thy word is light. The meaning is that the light of the truth revealed in God’s word is so distinct that the very first sight of it illuminates the mind. The word פתח pethach, properly means an opening, but metaphorically it is understood as a gate. Accordingly, the old translator has translated it as beginning, which is appropriate, provided it is understood as referring to the rudiments or first elements of the divine law.

It is as if the Prophet had said: “Not only do those who have attained an accurate acquaintance with the whole law, and who have made its study the business of their lives, discern there a clear light, but also those who have studied it even very imperfectly, and who have only, so to speak, entered the porch.” Now we must reason from the less to the greater. If beginners and novices begin to be enlightened at their first entrance, how much more will this be the case when a person is admitted to full and perfect knowledge?

In the second clause, the Prophet unfolds his meaning more fully. By little ones he refers to those who neither excel in ingenuity nor are endowed with wisdom, but rather are unlearned and unrefined by education. He affirms that such people, as soon as they have learned the first principles of the law of God, will be endowed with understanding.

It should strongly motivate us to have an earnest desire to know the law of God, when we are told that even those who, in the world's estimation, are fools and contemptible simpletons, if they apply their minds to this subject, acquire from it wisdom sufficient to lead them to eternal salvation.

Although not everyone is given the ability to attain the highest degree in this wisdom, yet all the godly commonly profit enough to know the certain and unerring rule by which to guide their lives. Thus, no one who surrenders himself to the teaching of God will lose his labor in God's school, for from his first entrance he will reap inestimable fruit.

Meanwhile, we are warned that all who follow their own understanding wander in darkness. By affirming that the little ones are enlightened, David intimates that it is only when people, stripped of all self-confidence, humbly and teachably submit themselves to God, that they are properly prepared to become proficient students in the study of the divine law. Let the Papists mock, as they are accustomed to do, because we advocate for the Scriptures to be read by all without exception; yet it is not a falsehood that God utters by the mouth of David when he affirms that the light of his truth is revealed to fools. God will not, therefore, disappoint the desire of those who acknowledge their own ignorance and humbly submit themselves to his teaching.