John Calvin Commentary Psalms 37:16

"Better is a little that the righteous hath Than the abundance of many wicked." — Psalms 37:16 (ASV)

Better is the little of the righteous, etc This verse, without any sufficient reason, has been rendered in various ways. The word המון, hamon, which is rendered abundance, indeed sometimes signifies a great multitude of men, and sometimes an abundance of things; sometimes, too, an adjective of the plural number is joined to a substantive of the singular number.

But those who twist David’s words to this sense, that a few righteous persons are better than a great multitude of the ungodly, plainly destroy their meaning and pervert the meaning of the whole sentence. Nor can I accept the explanation which others have given, that the little which the just man possesses is better than the great abundance of the wicked; for I see no necessity for connecting, contrary to the rules of grammar, the word המון, hamon, which denotes abundance, with the word רבים, rabbim, which signifies many or great, and not with the word רשעים, reshaim, which means wicked. I have therefore no doubt that David here contrasts the limited possessions of one righteous man with the riches and wealth of many wicked men.

The Hebrew word רבים, rabbim, however, which I have rendered many, may also be properly taken to denote persons of great authority and power. Certainly, it is not difficult to understand that David means to say that although the wicked excel in this world, are enriched with its possessions in great abundance, and trust in their riches, yet the little which the just man possesses is far better than all their treasures.

From this we learn that David is here speaking not so much of external grandeur and wealth as of the secret blessing of God which truly enriches the righteous. For although they live from hand to mouth, yet they are fed from heaven, as it were, with manna, while the ungodly are always hungry or else waste away in the very midst of their abundance.

To this also belongs the reason which is added in the next verse, namely, that there is nothing stable in the world unless it is sustained by the power of God. But we are plainly told that the righteous only are upheld by him, and that the power of the ungodly shall be broken. Here again we see that, in order to form a right and proper estimate of true felicity, we must look forward to the future or contemplate by the eye of faith the secret grace of God and his hidden judgments.

Unless we are persuaded by faith that God cherishes us in his bosom as a father does his children, our poverty will always be a source of trouble to us; and, on the other hand, unless we bear in mind what is said here concerning the wicked, that their arms shall be broken, we will attach too much importance to their present condition.

But if this doctrine is deeply fixed in the hearts of the faithful, as soon as they have learned to rely upon the divine blessing, the delight and joy which they will experience from their little store will be equal to the magnanimity with which they will look down, as it were from an eminence, upon the vast treasures in which the ungodly glory.

At the same time, we are here admonished that while the ungodly rely upon their own strength and proudly boast of it, we ought to wait patiently until God arises and breaks their arms in pieces. As for us, the best consolation that we could have in our infirmity is that God himself upholds and strengthens us.