John Calvin Commentary Psalms 18:20

"Jehovah hath rewarded me according to my righteousness; According to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me." — Psalms 18:20 (ASV)

Jehovah rewarded me. David might seem at first sight to contradict himself; for, while previously he declared that all the blessings which he possessed were to be traced to the good pleasure of God, he now boasts that God rendered to him a just recompense. But if we remember for what purpose he connects these commendations of his own integrity with the good pleasure of God, it will be easy to reconcile these apparently conflicting statements.

He has previously declared that God was the sole author and originator of the hope of coming to the kingdom which he entertained, and that he had not been elevated to it by the approval of men, nor had he rushed forward to it through the mere impulse of his own mind, but accepted it because such was the will of God.

Now he adds, in the second place, that he had yielded faithful obedience to God, and had never turned aside from His will. Both these things were necessary: first, that God should previously show His favor freely towards David, in choosing him to be king; and next, that David, on the other hand, should, with an obedient spirit and a pure conscience, receive the kingdom which God thus freely gave him. And further, that whatever the wicked might attempt, with the aim of overthrowing or shaking his faith, he should nevertheless continue to adhere to the direct course of his calling.

Thus, then, we see that these two statements, so far from disagreeing with each other, admirably harmonize. David here represents God as if the presiding official of a contest, under whose authority and guidance he had been brought forth to engage in the battles. Now that depended upon election—in other words, upon this: that God, having embraced him with His favor, had appointed him king.

He adds in the verses which immediately follow, that he had faithfully performed the duties of the charge and office committed to him to the fullest extent. It is not, therefore, surprising if God maintained and protected David, and even showed, by manifest miracles, that He was the defender of His own champion, whom He had, of His own free choice, admitted to the battle, and who He saw had performed his duty with all fidelity.

We ought not, however, to think that David, for the sake of obtaining praise among men, has here purposely indulged in the language of vain boasting. We ought rather to view the Holy Spirit as intending by the mouth of David to teach us the profitable doctrine that the aid of God will never fail us, provided we follow our calling, keep ourselves within the limits which it prescribes, and undertake nothing without the command or warrant of God.

At the same time, let this truth be deeply fixed in our minds: that we can only begin an upright course of life when God, of His good pleasure, adopts us into His family and, in effectually calling, anticipates us by His grace, without which neither we nor any creature would give Him an opportunity of bestowing this blessing upon us.

There, however, still remains one question. If God rendered to David a just recompense, it may be said, does it not seem, when He shows Himself liberal towards His people, that He is so in proportion as each of them has deserved? I answer, when the Scripture uses the word reward or recompense, it is not to show that God owes us anything, and it is therefore a groundless and false conclusion to infer from this that there is any merit or worth in works.

God, as a just judge, rewards every man according to his works, but He does it in such a manner as to show that all men are indebted to Him, while He Himself is under obligation to no one. The reason is not only that which St. Augustine has assigned—namely, that God finds no righteousness in us to recompense except what He Himself has freely given us—but also because, forgiving the blemishes and imperfections which cling to our works, He imputes to us for righteousness that which He might justly reject.

If, therefore, none of our works please God unless the sin which mingles with them is pardoned, it follows that the recompense which He bestows on account of them proceeds not from our merit, but from His free and undeserved grace. We ought, however, to attend to the special reason why David here speaks of God rewarding him according to his righteousness.

He does not presumptuously thrust himself into the presence of God, trusting to or depending upon his own obedience to the law as the ground of his justification; but knowing that God approved the affection of his heart, and wishing to defend and acquit himself from the false and wicked calumnies of his enemies, he makes God Himself the judge of his cause.

We know how unjustly and shamefully he had been loaded with false accusations, and yet these calumnies did not so much bear against the honor and name of David as against the welfare and state of the whole Church in common. It was indeed mere private spite which stirred up Saul and drove him into fury against David; and it was to please the king that all other men were so rancorous against an innocent individual and broke forth so outrageously against him.

But Satan, there is no doubt, had a primary role in exciting these formidable assaults upon the kingdom of David, and by them he endeavored to accomplish his ruin, because in the person of this one man God had placed and, as it were, enclosed the hope of the salvation of the whole people.

This is the reason why David labors so carefully and so earnestly to show and to maintain the righteousness of his cause. When he presents and defends himself before the judgment-seat of God against his enemies, the question is not concerning the whole course of his life, but only respecting a specific cause or a particular point.

We ought, therefore, to attend to the precise subject of his discourse and what he here debates. The state of the matter is this: His adversaries charged him with many crimes:

1. Of rebellion and treason, accusing him of having revolted from the king, his father-in-law.
2. Of plunder and robbery, as if, like a robber, he had taken possession of the kingdom.
3. Of sedition, as if he had thrown the kingdom into confusion when it enjoyed tranquility.
4. Of cruelty and many wicked actions, as if he had been the cause of murders and had prosecuted his conspiracy by many dangerous means and unlawful schemes.

David, in opposition to these accusations, with the aim of maintaining his innocence before God, protests and affirms that he had acted uprightly and sincerely in this matter, inasmuch as he attempted nothing without the command or warrant of God; and whatever hostile attempts his enemies made against him, he nevertheless always kept himself within the bounds prescribed by the Divine Law.

It would be absurd to draw from this the inference that God is merciful to men according as He judges them to be worthy of His favor. Here the object in view is only to show the goodness of a particular cause and to maintain it in opposition to wicked calumniators, and not to bring into examination the whole life of a man that he may obtain favor and be pronounced righteous before God.

In short, David concludes from the effect and the outcome that his cause was approved by God—not that one victory is always and necessarily the sign of a good cause, but because God, by evident tokens of His assistance, showed that He was on the side of David.