John Calvin Commentary Psalms 21:3

"For thou meetest him with the blessings of goodness: Thou settest a crown of fine gold on his head." — Psalms 21:3 (ASV)

For you will anticipate him. The change of tense in the verbs does not break the connection of the discourse. Therefore, I have, without hesitation, translated this sentence into the future tense, as we know that changing one tense into another is quite common in Hebrew.

Those who limit this psalm to the last victory David gained over foreign nations, and who suppose that the crown mentioned here was the crown of the king of the Ammonites (an account of which is in sacred history), give, in my judgment, too low a view of what the Holy Spirit has dictated here concerning the perpetual prosperity of this kingdom.

David, I have no doubt, included his successors all the way to Christ, and intended to celebrate the continual course of God's grace in maintaining his kingdom through successive ages. It was not said of one man only:

I will be his father, and he shall be my son (2 Samuel 7:14).

But this was a prophecy that ought to be extended from Solomon to Christ. This is fully established by the testimony of Isaiah (Isaiah 9:6), who informs us that it was fulfilled when the Son was given or manifested.

When it is said, You will anticipate him, the meaning is that God's liberality and promptitude in spontaneously bestowing blessings will be such that he will not only grant what is asked from him, but, anticipating the king's requests, he will load him with every kind of good thing far beyond what he had ever expected.

By blessings we are to understand abundance or plenteousness. Some translate the Hebrew word טוב, tob, as goodness; but I cannot agree with this. It is to be taken rather as the beneficence or the free gifts of God.

Thus the meaning will be: The king will lack nothing that is requisite to make his life happy in every respect, since God, of his own good pleasure, will anticipate his wishes and enrich him with an abundance of all good things.

The Psalmist makes express mention of the crown because it was the emblem and symbol of royalty; and by this he intimates that God would be the guardian of the king, whom he himself had created.

But as the prophet testifies that the royal diadem, after lying long dishonored in the dust, will again be put upon the head of Christ, we conclude that by this song the minds of the godly were elevated to the hope of the eternal kingdom, of which only a shadow or an obscure image was set forth in the person of David's successors.

Therefore, the doctrine of the everlasting duration of Christ's kingdom is established here, seeing he was not placed upon the throne by the favor or votes of men, but by God, who, from heaven, set the royal crown upon his head with his own hand.