John Calvin Commentary Psalms 146:7

"Who executeth justice for the oppressed; Who giveth food to the hungry. Jehovah looseth the prisoners;" — Psalms 146:7 (ASV)

Rendering right, etc. He points to other kinds of both the power and goodness of God, which are just so many reasons why we should hope in Him.

All of them support the point that God's help will be ready and forthcoming to those who are in the lowest circumstances. Accordingly, our miseries will be no barrier to His helping us; indeed, such is His nature that He is inclined to assist all in proportion to their need.

He says first, that God renders justice to the oppressed, to remind us that although it may seem to our senses that God overlooks the injuries done to us, He will not neglect the duty that properly belongs to Him: to compel the wicked to account for their violence.

In short, because God intends for the patience of His people to be tested, He here expressly calls upon the afflicted not to lose heart in their troubles, but to wait calmly for deliverance from One who is slow to intervene, only so that He may ultimately appear as the righteous judge of the world.

It follows that He gives bread to the hungry. We learn from this that He is not always so indulgent to His own as to load them with abundance, but occasionally withdraws His blessing, so that He may help them when they are reduced to hunger. If the Psalmist had said that God fed His people with abundance and pampered them, would not any of those in want or famine have immediately despaired?

God's goodness is therefore appropriately extended further to feeding the hungry. What is added is to the same purpose—that he looses them that are bound, and enlightens the blind.

Since it is the fate of His people to be constricted by anxiety, oppressed by human tyranny, or reduced to extremity—in a way equivalent to being shut up in the worst dungeons—it was necessary to announce, for comfort, that God can easily find a way out for us when we are brought into such difficulties.

To enlighten the blind is the same as giving light in the midst of darkness. Whenever we do not know what to do—are in perplexity, and lie confused and dismayed, as if the darkness of death had fallen upon us—let us learn to ascribe this title to God, so that He may dispel the gloom and open our eyes.

So when He is said to raise up the bowed down, we are taught to take courage when we are weary and groaning under any burden. Nor is it merely that God intends for His praises to be celebrated here; He, in a way, stretches out His hand to the blind, the captives, and the afflicted, so that they may cast their griefs and cares upon Him.

There is a reason for repeating the name Jehovah three times. In this way He stimulates and excites people to seek Him, as they will often rather fret and pine away in their miseries than take refuge in this sure asylum.

What is added at the end of the verse—that Jehovah loves the righteous—seems to be a qualification of what was said before.

Evidently, there are many who, though severely afflicted, groaning with anxiety, and lying in darkness, experience no comfort from God. This lack of comfort occurs because, in such circumstances, they further provoke God by their stubborn rebellion.

By largely failing to seek His mercy, they reap the just reward for their unthankfulness. The Psalmist therefore very appropriately restricts what he had said in general terms about God helping the afflicted to the righteous, so that those who wish to experience His deliverance may turn to Him in the sincere practice of godliness.