John Calvin Commentary Psalms 141:5

"Let the righteous smite me, [it shall be] a kindness; And let him reprove me, [it shall be as] oil upon the head; Let not my head refuse it: For even in their wickedness shall my prayer continue." — Psalms 141:5 (ASV)

Let the righteous smite me, etc. While Satan tempts the wicked with his allurements, they, at the same time, deceive one another with flattery, which leads David to declare that he would much rather be awakened to his duty by the severe rod of reproof than be seduced by pleasing falsehoods.

Among those who hold religion in contempt, no reproof is administered to one who has committed any sin. Therefore, if we have any concern for our spiritual safety, we will connect ourselves with good men, who restore those who have fallen with upright admonition and bring back those who have erred to the right way.

It is not agreeable to our corrupt nature to be reproved when we sin, but David had brought himself to such a degree of docility and self-denial that he considered no reproof distasteful which he knew to proceed from a spirit of kindness. As there is some ambiguity in the words, let us try to ascertain their proper meaning.

The noun חסד, chesed, can very well be interpreted as an adverb—the righteous shall smite me mercifully, or in mercy, by supplying the preposition. This is the meaning adopted by most interpreters: that David considered reproofs that breathed charity and kindness, or proceeded from a kind and dispassionate spirit, as the best ointment.

If this reading is preferred, it should be remembered that David refers not so much to the outward manner in which the reproof is administered as to the frame of the heart.

However good men may be, and whatever severity of language they may employ in admonishing those who have erred, they are still motivated by brotherly affection. Indeed, the very severity is, in fact, caused by their holy anxiety and fear for their brother’s safety.

The righteous act mercifully even in all this apparent sharpness and severity—just as the wicked, on the other hand, act cruelly even when they censure only in a very gentle manner. By noticing this feature in reproof, David would also distinguish that kind of it which arises from sincere affection from invectives that proceed from hatred or private animosity, as Solomon says (Proverbs 10:12).

However, the other rendering of the words, which I have adopted, is equally suitable:

Let the righteous censure me, it shall be mercy; or, I will consider it a benefit. Let him reprove me; this shall be precious ointment that will not hurt my head.

Some interpret the last clause in another way—the oil of the head let it not break my head; that is, let not the wicked seduce me to destruction with their pleasing flatteries. By the oil, they understand the pernicious adulations by which the wicked would ruin us and plunge us deeper and deeper into destruction, while they seem to offer pleasure.

This interpretation would make the passage convey a fuller meaning: that while David was pliable and yielding regarding reproof, he fled from flattery as from the fatal songs of the Sirens.

However sweet praise may be to the taste at first, everyone who lends an ear to flattery drinks in a poison that will soon diffuse itself throughout the whole heart.

Let us learn from David’s example to reject all flatteries, prone as we naturally are to receive them, and to renounce waywardness and obstinacy, lest we reject those corrections that are wholesome remedies for our vices.

For such is the infatuated love people have for their own destruction, that even when forced to condemn themselves, they still wish to have the approval of the world. And why is this? So that by inducing a stupor of conscience, they may, by their own spontaneous act, devote themselves to ruin.

For yet my prayer, etc. Three explanations of this clause have been suggested:

1. According to some, its meaning is that, as we are always ready to be corrupted by bad example, David here prays that he might not turn to their evils, or the evils they practiced.

2. The second interpretation is that David, recognizing their mischievous devices, prays that he may be kept by the Lord from their wickedness.

3. The third interpretation is that, recognizing them as reduced to desperate calamities, he prays that God's just vengeance might be executed upon them according to their deserts.

The very opposite meaning might seem more suitable: that David was not prevented by their obstinacy in wickedness from praying for their welfare, for the adverb ‘yet’ is emphatically inserted.

Or, what if David is to be understood as predicting their unfortunate end, intimating that, though the ungodly now riot in excess, they will shortly be arrested, and that before long his compassion would be exercised toward them?

The way the words are connected favors this view; for he does not say—yet my prayer shall be in their calamities—but rather, separately: “Yet, or, yet a little while, and then my power shall be in their calamities.”

As David was in danger of being tempted to yield to similar vain courses with them, he very properly suggests a sustaining motive to his soul for retaining his integrity: that before long they would be overtaken by such an awful destruction that they would entreat compassion from him and others of the people of God.