John Calvin Commentary Psalms 22:26

"The meek shall eat and be satisfied; They shall praise Jehovah that seek after him: Let your heart live for ever." — Psalms 22:26 (ASV)

The poor shall eat. The Psalmist refers to the custom prevalent among the Jews at that time of feasting on their sacrifices, as is well known. He promises this feast here in order to exercise and prove his charity. And surely, that is a pleasant and acceptable offering to God to which compassion and mercy are joined.

Without these, the ceremonies by which people profess to worship God, with all their pomp and magnificence, vanish into smoke. David does not, however, simply promise to give the poor and the hungry something for the mere nourishment of the body. He declares that they will partake of this feast for another purpose: namely, that comfort being ministered to them, joy might be restored to their hearts and flourish anew.

For they saw in that feast, as in a mirror, the goodness of God set forth to all who are in affliction, which might assuage with wonderful consolation the grief arising from all their calamities. The Psalmist therefore adds, They shall praise Jehovah that seek him. The abundant meal of which they had partaken ought, no doubt, to have incited them to give thanks to God; but what is particularly meant is praising God for that deliverance, in grateful commemoration of which the sacrifice was offered.

This appears still more clearly from the last clause of the verse: Your heart shall live for ever. One meal could not have sufficed to make their hearts live forever. It was rather the hope they held of having ready help from God that did this; for all the faithful justly considered the deliverance of this one man as a deliverance worked for themselves in particular.

From this it follows that, in the peace offerings, the praises of God were so celebrated that genuine worshippers also exercised their hope in them. Furthermore, as hypocrites content themselves with merely going through the bare and lifeless ceremony, the Psalmist restricts the right performance of this practice to true and holy Israelites; They shall praise Jehovah that seek him; and to seek God is the sure sign of genuine godliness.

Now, if the fathers under the Law had their spiritual life renewed and invigorated by their holy feasts, this power will show itself much more abundantly today in the holy supper of Christ, provided those who come to partake of it seek the Lord truly, and with their whole heart.