John Calvin Commentary Psalms 12:1

"Help, Jehovah; for the godly man ceaseth; For the faithful fail from among the children of men." — Psalms 12:1 (ASV)

To the chief musician upon the eighth. With respect to the word eighth, there are two opinions among interpreters. According to some, it means a musical instrument, while others are rather inclined to think that it is a tune. But as it is of no great importance which of these opinions is adopted, I do not trouble myself much about this matter.

The conjecture of some, that it was the beginning of a song, does not seem to me to be as probable as that it refers to the tune and was intended to point out how the psalm was to be sung.

In the beginning, David complains that the land was so overspread with wicked men, and persons who had burst forth into the commission of every kind of wickedness, that the practice of righteousness and justice had ceased, and no one was found to defend the cause of the good; in short, that there remained no longer either humanity or faithfulness.

It is probable that the Psalmist here speaks of the time when Saul persecuted him, because then all, from the highest to the lowest, had conspired to destroy an innocent and afflicted man.

It is very distressing to relate, and yet it was perfectly true, that righteousness was so utterly overthrown among the chosen people of God, that all of them, with one accord, from their hostility to a good and just cause, had burst forth into acts of outrage and cruelty.

David does not here accuse strangers or foreigners, but informs us that this deluge of iniquity prevailed in the Church of God.

Let the faithful, therefore, in our day, not be unduly discouraged at the melancholy sight of a very corrupt and confused state of the world; but let them consider that they ought to bear it patiently, since their condition is just like that of David in the past.

And it is to be observed that when David calls upon God for aid, he encourages himself in the hope of obtaining it because there was no uprightness among men, so that from his example we may learn to turn to God when we see nothing around us but black despair.

We ought to be fully persuaded of this: that the greater the confusion of things in the world is, God is so much the readier to aid and help His people, and that it is then the most fitting time for Him to intervene with His assistance.

The merciful man hath failed. Some think that this is a complaint that the righteous had been unjustly put to death, as if the Psalmist had said, Saul has cruelly cut off all who observed justice and faithfulness. But I would understand the words in a simpler sense, as meaning that there is no longer any beneficence or truth remaining among men.

In these two words, he has expressed what true righteousness consists of. As there are two kinds of unrighteousness—violence and deceit—so men live righteously when, in their dealings with each other, they conscientiously abstain from doing any wrong or injury to one another and cultivate peace and mutual friendship, when they are neither lions nor foxes.

When, however, we see the world in such a state of disorder as is here described, and are afflicted by it, we ought to be careful not to howl with the wolves, nor to allow ourselves to be carried away with the dissipation and overflowing flood of iniquity which we see prevailing around us, but should rather imitate the example of David.