John Calvin Commentary Psalms 19:11

"Moreover by them is thy servant warned: In keeping them there is great reward." — Psalms 19:11 (ASV)

Moreover, by them is your servant made circumspect. These words may be extended generally to all the people of God, but they are properly to be understood of David himself. By them, he testifies that he knew well from his own experience all that he had stated in the preceding verses concerning the law.

No one will ever speak truly and earnestly of heavenly truth unless he has it deeply fixed in his own heart. David therefore acknowledges that whatever prudence he had for regulating and framing his life correctly, he owed to the law of God. Although he is properly speaking of himself, by his own example he sets forth a general rule: if people wish to have a proper method for governing life well, the law of God alone is perfectly sufficient for this purpose. Conversely, as soon as they depart from it, they are liable to fall into numerous errors and sins.

It is to be observed that David, by suddenly turning his discourse to God, appeals to Him as a witness of what he had said, to convince people more effectively that he speaks sincerely and from the bottom of his heart. As the Hebrew word זהר, zahar, which I have translated made circumspect, signifies to teach as well as to be on one’s guard, some translate it in this place: Your servant is taught, or warned, by the commandments of the law.

But the sentence implies much more when it is viewed as meaning that he who yields himself to God to be governed by Him is made circumspect and cautious; therefore, this translation seems to me to be preferable.

In the second clause, the Psalmist declares that those who yield themselves to God to observe the rule of righteousness which He prescribes do not lose their labor, since He has in reserve for them a great and rich reward: In keeping of them there is great reward. This is no small commendation of the law, that in it God enters into covenant with us and, so to speak, brings Himself under obligation to recompense our obedience.

In requiring from us whatever is contained in the law, He demands nothing but what He has a right to. Yet such is His free and undeserved liberality that He promises His servants a reward which, in point of justice, He does not owe them.

The promises of the law, it is true, are rendered ineffective, but this is through our own fault. For even the most perfect among us falls far short of full and complete righteousness, and people cannot expect any reward for their works until they have perfectly and fully satisfied the requirements of the law.

Thus, these two doctrines completely harmonize: first, that eternal life will be given as the reward of works to him who fulfills the law in every point; and secondly, that the law nevertheless denounces a curse against all people, because the whole human family is destitute of the righteousness of works.

This will soon appear from the following verse. David, after celebrating this benefit of the law—that it offers an abundant reward to those who serve God—immediately changes his discourse and cries out, Who can understand his errors? By this, he pronounces all people liable to eternal death and thus utterly overthrows all the confidence which people may be disposed to place in the merit of their works.

It may be objected that this commendation, In the keeping of your commandments there is great reward, is futilely ascribed to the law, since it is without effect.

The answer is easy: since the covenant of adoption includes the free pardon of sins (upon which the imputation of righteousness depends), God bestows a recompense upon the works of His people, although, in point of justice, it is not due to them.

What God promises in the law to those who perfectly obey it, true believers obtain by His gracious liberality and fatherly goodness, because He accepts their holy desires and earnest endeavors to obey as perfect righteousness.