John Calvin Commentary Psalms 119:161

"Princes have persecuted me without a cause; But my heart standeth in awe of thy words." — Psalms 119:161 (ASV)

Princes have persecuted me without a cause. Here the Psalmist informs us that as severe and grievous as his temptation had been, he was restrained by the fear of God from desiring to attempt anything unworthy of the character of a godly man. We are prone to fall into despair when princes who are armed with power to overwhelm us are hostile to and trouble us.

The evil is also aggravated by the consideration that it is the very persons who ought to be as shields to defend us, who employ their strength in hurting us. Indeed, when the afflicted are struck by those in high places, they in a way think that the hand of God is against them.

There was also this peculiarity in the case of the Prophet: he had to encounter the leaders of the chosen people—men whom God had placed in such honorable stations so that they might be the pillars of the Church. Some give a more restricted interpretation, which is, that David followed the exhortation of Christ in Matthew 10:28,

“Fear not them who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell;”

This is a sentiment which, although it had not yet been uttered by Christ’s mouth, ought nonetheless to have been fixed in the hearts of all the godly. The sense, then, in their opinion is, that the Prophet had not been turned aside from the fear of God by any of the threats or terrors of his enemies. But his commendation of his own constancy is to be understood in a broader sense than this. The exhortation of Isaiah is well known,

“Neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid; sanctify the Lord of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread” (Isaiah 8:12–13).

The Prophet in that place shows in general what the weapons are with which the faithful, being armed, will succeed in vanquishing all the assaults of the world. He shows that they will do so, provided they not only stand in awe of God but also rest assured that he will always be the guardian of their welfare, so that they may cast all their cares upon him.

Thus it will happen that, resting content with his protection, they will not turn aside to practice whatever may be sinful to secure their safety. Likewise, the Prophet, in this passage, affirms that although oppressed by the unjust violence of princes, he presented a sad spectacle. Yet, he did not succumb but considered what was lawful for him to do. He did not attempt to rival their wicked practices by repelling craft with craft and violence with violence.

In this text, as is evident from the connection, to be afraid at God’s word is to restrain oneself and to attempt nothing that is unlawful.

I have already said that the adverb חנם, hinnam, without a cause, is added for amplification, because the temptation was all the harder from the fact that the tyrants, without cause and merely to gratify their own wicked inclination, assaulted an innocent individual.

Men of a good disposition and of a noble mind, it is well known, are more easily provoked to anger when the one assaulted has done wrong to nobody. It was therefore a remarkable proof of self-control for the Prophet to bridle himself by the word of God, so that he might not compete with others in wrongdoing, or, overcome with temptation, transgress his assigned place in society.

Let us then learn to remain peaceable, although princes tyrannically abuse the power that God has committed to them, lest by creating insurrection we disrupt the peace and order of society.