John Calvin Commentary Psalms 145:15

"The eyes of all wait for thee; And thou givest them their food in due season." — Psalms 145:15 (ASV)

The eyes of all hope in thee. David presents an additional proof of God’s goodness in giving food to all living creatures, and thus showing Himself as the father of a family. Some interpreters, led by the term 'hope,' which is used, restrict its application to humans, as being endowed with reason and intelligence to seek their food from their heavenly Father, while the beasts seek it only in a crude manner, by sight or smell.

But although they are not endowed with reason that would lead them to depend on God’s providence, necessity itself compels even them, by a certain hidden instinct, to seek their food. Therefore, they may very properly be said to hope in God, just as elsewhere the young ravens are said to cry unto him (Psalms 147:9).

Besides, those who would restrict these words to humans still leave them open to the charge of inaccuracy, for the wicked have no more regard for the fatherly care of God than the ox or the ass. Since the established order in nature brings all animals to a dependence upon their Maker, it is not inaccurate to suppose that the feeling of desire or expectation is used here to represent the fact of dependence itself.

All ambiguity is removed by the next verse, where every living thing is said to be satisfied. It is said that He gives them their food in its season, for its very variety serves more to illustrate the providence of God.

Each has its own way of feeding, and the different kinds of nourishment are designed and adapted for different uses. David therefore speaks of the food that is particular to them.

The pronoun is not in the plural, and we are not to read in their season as if it applied to the animals. He notes that the food is given in its season. For we should also notice here the admirable arrangements of divine providence: a specific time is appointed for harvest, vintage, and the hay crop, and the year is so divided into intervals that cattle are fed at one time on grass, and at other times on hay, straw, acorns, or other products of the earth.

If the whole supply were poured forth at one and the same moment, it could not be gathered so conveniently; and we have no small reason to admire the timeliness with which the different kinds of fruit and nourishment are yearly produced.