John Calvin Commentary Psalms 144

Blessed be Jehovah, my strength. It is very evident that David, because he celebrates the favor of God in such high terms, had not only obtained the kingdom, but gained significant victories.

When he calls God his strength, he acknowledges that any courage he possessed was given to him from above. This was not only because he had been transformed from a country shepherd into a mighty warrior, but also because the constancy and perseverance he had shown was remarkably a gift from God.

This term is more fitting than if we were to translate it "rock"; for, by way of explanation, he immediately adds that he had been formed under God’s teaching for war. The words certainly imply an acknowledgment that, although he had a warlike spirit, he was not born for warlike enterprises but needed to undergo a change.

What kind of a beginning, for example, did he show in the case of Goliath? That attempt would have been preposterous unless he was upheld by secret divine support, making him independent of mere human help (1 Samuel 17:40).

My goodness, etc. This way of using the word in a passive sense, as in the Hebrew, sounds harsh in Latin; just as elsewhere (Psalms 18:50) he calls himself “God’s king,” not in the sense of his having dominion over God, but of being made and appointed king by him.

Having experienced God’s kindness in so many ways, he calls him “his goodness,” meaning that whatever good he possessed flowed from him. The accumulation of terms, one upon another, which follows, may appear unnecessary, yet it tends greatly to strengthen faith. We know how unstable human minds are, and especially how soon faith wavers, when they are assailed by some trial of more than usual severity.

If God is to sustain us under such weakness, it is not enough for him to promise us his help in individual or single expressions; and, no matter how many aids he supplies us with, we are subject to very great vacillations, and a forgetfulness of his mercy creeps in upon us which almost overwhelms our minds.

We are to remember that it is not merely as a sign of his gratitude that David heaps together so many terms in declaring the goodness of God, but to fortify God’s people against all attacks of the world and of the evil one. He had a reason for reckoning it among the greatest of God’s mercies that God controlled the people under his government.

For עמי, ami, my people, some read עמים, amim, peoples; and it is surprising that they prefer such a forced rendering, as David simply means that the settled state of the kingdom was owing not to any counsel, valor, or authority of his own, but to God’s secret favor.

The verb רדד, radad, is used appropriately, signifying to spread out. The idea some have, that by a people spread out is meant a people set down at ease in a prosperous and happy condition, is far-fetched. I have as great objections to the idea of others, that it means a people laid prostrate, so that they may be trodden under foot; for a violent domination like this would not have been desirable over the chosen people, and sacred inheritance of the Lord.

When a people yields cordial and willing obedience to the laws, all subordinating themselves to their own place peaceably, this signally proves the divine blessing. And in such a settlement as this, where there is no turbulence nor confusion, the people are appropriately represented, according to what we have said above, as being spread out.

Accordingly, David, having ascribed the victories he had gained over foreign enemies to God, thanks him at the same time for the settled state of the kingdom. Raised indeed as he was from an obscure station and exposed to hatred from calumnious charges, it could scarcely have been believed that he would ever obtain a peaceable reign. The people had suddenly and beyond expectation submitted to him, and so surprising a change was eminently God’s work.

O Jehovah! what is man, etc. He amplifies the goodness shown by God by instituting a comparison. Having declared how uniquely he had been dealt with, he turns his eyes inward and asks, "Who am I, that God should show me such condescension?" He speaks of man in general; notably, he commends the mercy of God by considering his lowly and abject condition.

In other places he mentions grounds of humiliation of a more personal or private nature — here he confines himself to what has reference to our common nature. And though even in discussing the nature of man there are other reasons he might have specified why he is unworthy of the regard and love of God, he briefly refers to his being like the smoke, and as a shadow. We are left to infer that the riches of the divine goodness are extended to objects altogether unworthy in themselves.

We are warned, when prone at any time to forget ourselves and think we are something when we are nothing, that the simple fact of the shortness of our life should subdue all arrogance and pride.

The Scriptures, in speaking of the frailty of man, encompass whatever is necessarily connected with it. Indeed, if our life vanishes in a moment, what is there stable about us?

We are also taught this truth — that we cannot properly estimate the divine goodness unless we take into consideration our true condition, since we can only ascribe to God what is due to Him by acknowledging that His goodness is bestowed upon undeserving creatures.

The reader may seek further information on this point in Psalm 8, where nearly the same truth is emphasized.

O Jehovah! bow thy heavens. After extolling, as was fitting, the great goodness of God, he requests him to provide the help for the preservation of the kingdom that was necessary in the present urgent need.

As we previously saw that he had gloried in God with heroic courage, so here he uses the same lofty terms in his prayers: that he would bow the heavens, make the mountains smoke, disturb the air with thunderings, and shoot forth arrows.

These are forms of speech by which, undoubtedly, he would remove from himself all the obstacles that stand between us and a believing grasp of God’s omnipotence, and from which we find it so difficult to emerge.

He uses almost the same phraseology in Psalm 18, but there it is in praising God for help already given, and to show that he had been preserved from above in a wonderful and unusual manner.

For although such signs as he mentions might not always have occurred when God intervened on his behalf, he had good reason to celebrate what had unexpectedly happened to him by referring to extraordinary phenomena.

In the present passage, his purpose is different. Threatened by various kinds of destruction that might overwhelm his mind with despair, he sought to realize the wonderful power of God, before which all worldly obstacles must necessarily give way.

We can be certain, at least, that he employed this figurative language for a good reason: so that he would not limit deliverance to human remedies, for nothing could be more preposterous at such a time than to measure divine power by ordinary rules.

Send your hand, etc. In short, we are now made to see what was meant by the figures formerly used—that in the absence of all earthly help, God would put forth His hand from above, the greatness of the urgency making extraordinary help necessary. Accordingly, he compares his enemies to great and deep waters.

He calls them strangers, not with respect to generic origin, but character and disposition. It would be a mistake to refer the term to the uncircumcision, for David rather comments critically on degenerate Jews who gloried in the flesh; and shortly afterwards, he hints that he had to do with internal foes rather than a foreign enemy, who would openly assault him with violence and arms.

Some interpret "the right hand of falsehood" as rash attempts, which David hoped would be frustrated. Others limit the phrase to the solemn ceremony of taking an oath, as if he said they were perjured; while others explain it as meaning that they not only lied with the tongue but also executed wicked devices with the hand.

But as it was customary in making promises to join hands, as Solomon says (Proverbs 11:21; Proverbs 16:5), I have no doubt David’s reference here is to false, treacherous, and perfidious persons. The two things go naturally together in the verse—the lying tongue and the deceitful hand—meaning, in essence, that nothing was to be expected from any of their promises, since it was only to deceive that they flattered with their mouth and gave the hand.