John Calvin Commentary Psalms 144:12

"When our sons shall be as plants grown up in their youth, And our daughters as corner-stones hewn after the fashion of a palace;" — Psalms 144:12 (ASV)

Because our sons, and so forth. Some consider these three concluding verses to be a wish or a prayer. Others think that David congratulates himself and all the people that, through the divine blessing, every kind of mercy was showered down prosperously upon them. I have no doubt that David commemorates, by way of thanksgiving, the generosity God had shown to his people.

But it is quite consistent with this to suppose that he prays at the same time for the continuance or preservation of those divine benefits. These benefits would almost be cut off altogether by wicked men and internal enemies unless God intervened in the troubles and confusions that prevailed. His purpose, therefore, is that God would not allow the notable blessings with which He had loaded his people to fail and depart.

He begins by mentioning the children, comparing the sons, to commend their excellence, to plants which have grown up in their youth; for trees rarely reach a great height if they do not grow significantly while young and tender. He speaks of the daughters as being like corners skillfully and ingeniously cut out to make the building beautiful; as if to say that they adorned the house with their beauty and grace.

It is not surprising that he considers a noble and well-trained offspring to be among the foremost of God’s earthly blessings, a point I have discussed elsewhere in greater detail. Since David speaks in the name of all the people, and his own condition is intertwined with that of the community, we may infer from this that he was not solely focused on his own private interests.