John Calvin Commentary Psalms 123:3

"Have mercy upon us, O Jehovah, have mercy upon us; For we are exceedingly filled with contempt." — Psalms 123:3 (ASV)

Have mercy upon us, O Jehovah! etc. The Psalmist expounds upon and confirms the preceding teaching. He had said that the godly, finding themselves utterly broken in spirit and cast down, intently directed their eyes to the hand of God; now he adds that they are filled with reproach. From this we learn that the wicked not only assaulted them by such ways of violence as came to their minds, but that by their mockery they, so to speak, trampled underfoot the children of God.

The repetition of the prayer, Have mercy upon us, which is a sign of strong and fervent desire, indicates that they were reduced to the utmost misery. When insult is added to wrongs, there is nothing which inflicts a deeper wound upon sound minds. The Prophet therefore complains chiefly of that, as if it were the culmination of all calamities.

He says that rich and proud men treated the Church with insolent triumph, for it commonly happens that those who are elevated in the world look down with contempt upon the people of God. The splendor of their honor and power dazzles their eyes, so that they disregard God’s spiritual kingdom. Indeed, the more the wicked prosper and are favored by fortune, the more their pride swells, and the more violently it foams.

This passage teaches us that it is nothing new for the Church to be held in contempt by the children of this world who abound in riches. The epithet proud is justly applied to the same persons who are described as rich, for wealth breeds pride of heart. Furthermore, as we see that in times past the Church of God was covered with reproaches and pointed at with the finger of scorn, we should not be discouraged if the world despises us, nor should we allow our faith to be shaken by the wicked when they assault us with their scoffs, indeed, even defame us with their injurious and insulting language.

We must always bear in mind what is recorded here: that the heart, not of one person only, or of a few, but of the whole Church, was filled not merely with the violence, cruelty, cunning, and other evil deeds of the wicked, but also with reproaches and mockery. It is also to be remembered that all the loftiness and pride existing in the world are here represented as in opposition to the Church, so that she is considered no better than the filth of the world and the offscouring of all things, as the Apostle Paul declares (1 Corinthians 4:13).

When the same thing happens to us today, let us leave the wicked to swell with their pride until they burst; and let it be enough for us to know that we are nevertheless precious in the sight of God. By the verb cloy, especially as it is emphatically repeated, the Prophet intended to express a long-continued oppression, which filled the hearts of the godly with weariness and sorrow.

It requires no lengthy discussion to demonstrate how necessary the lesson taught in this text is in our own time. We see the Church lacking all worldly protection and lying at the feet of her enemies, who abound in riches and are armed with dreadful power. We see the Papists boldly rising up and with all their might pouring out their mockeries against us and the whole service of God.

On the other hand, mingled among us and flying about everywhere are Epicureans, who deride our simplicity. There are also many giants who overwhelm us with reproaches; and this baseness has lasted from the time that the Gospel began to emerge from the corruptions of Popery even to this day.

What then remains to be done, but that, finding ourselves surrounded by darkness on all sides, we seek the light of life in heaven? And that our soul, although it may be filled to satiety with all kinds of reproaches, breathe forth prayers to God for deliverance with the persistence of the famished?