John Calvin Commentary Psalms 41

Blessed is he that judgeth wisely of the poor. Interpreters generally believe that the exercise of kindness and compassion, shown in caring for the miserable and helping them, is commended here. Those, however, who maintain that the Psalmist here commends the considerate candor of those who judge wisely and charitably of men in adversity form a better judgment of his meaning.

Indeed, the participle משכיל, maskil, cannot be explained in any other way. At the same time, it should be observed why David declares those to be blessed who form a wise and prudent judgment concerning the afflictions by which God chastises His servants. We have said that he had to contend in his own heart against the perverse judgments of foolish and wicked men, because, when affliction was pressing heavily upon him, many considered that he had fallen into a desperate condition and was altogether beyond the hope of recovery.

Undoubtedly, it happened to him as it did to the holy patriarch Job, whom his friends considered to be one of the most wicked of men when they saw God treating him with great severity. And certainly, it is an error that is far too common among men to look upon those who are oppressed with afflictions as condemned and reprobate.

As, on the one hand, most men, judging God's favor from an uncertain and transitory state of prosperity, applaud the rich and those upon whom, as they say, fortune smiles; so, on the other hand, they act contemptuously towards the wretched and miserable, and foolishly imagine that God hates them because he does not exercise as much forbearance towards them as he does towards the reprobate.

The error of which we speak—namely, that of judging wrongfully and wickedly—is one that has prevailed in all ages of the world. The Scriptures in many places plainly and distinctly declare that God, for various reasons, tries the faithful by adversities: at one time to train them to patience, at another to subdue the sinful affections of the flesh, at another to cleanse and, as it were, purify them from the remaining desires of the flesh, which still dwell within them; sometimes to humble them, sometimes to make them an example to others, and at other times to stir them up to the contemplation of the divine life.

Indeed, for the most part, we often speak rashly and indiscriminately concerning others and, so to speak, plunge even into the lowest abyss those who labor under affliction. To restrain such a rash and unbridled spirit, David says that those are blessed who do not allow themselves, by speaking at random, to judge their neighbors harshly; but, rightly discerning the afflictions by which they are visited, mitigate, by the wisdom of the Spirit, the severe and unjust judgments to which we are naturally so prone.

I have just cited as an example the case of Job, whom his friends, when they saw him involved in extreme misery, did not hesitate to consider an outcast and one whose case was altogether hopeless. If anyone endowed with candor and possessed of a humane disposition should meet with such a case, he would regard it with the same discretion that David here commends.

As for ourselves, being admonished by this testimony of the Holy Spirit, let us learn to guard against too precipitate a judgment. We must therefore judge our brethren who are in affliction prudently; that is to say, we must have good hope for their salvation, lest, if we condemn them unmercifully before the time, this unjust severity in the end fall upon our own heads.

However, it should especially be observed (what indeed I have already noted) that David's object, when he saw himself, as it were, overwhelmed by the malicious and cruel judgments expressed concerning him, was to fortify himself with this as a ground of consolation, lest he should sink under the temptation.

Therefore, if at any time Satan should endeavor to destroy the foundation of our faith by the rash and presumptuous judgments of men, let us also learn to have recourse to this device of wisdom, lest unawares we fall into despair. This is the proper use of the doctrine contained in this passage.

The Lord will deliver him in the day of evil. Some connect these words, in the day of evil, with the preceding clause, and the reading thus suggested might indeed be admitted; but the distinction I have followed is better adapted to the sense and is also supported by the Hebrew accent.

Thus, at least, the doctrine that can be deduced from these words has a fuller meaning: namely, that the Lord will deliver the poor in the day of his adversity. Some think that David here prays for a blessing on behalf of the upright and compassionate, as if he had said, "May the Lord himself recompense them again for their kindness, if at any time it happens that they are grievously afflicted!"

Others suppose that David here records the language of such men, from which we may learn of their wisdom and uprightness. In my opinion, however, both are equally in error in reading this clause in the form of a desire or prayer. Whether, indeed, David speaks in his own name or in the name of others, he briefly recommends and enjoins the kindness that we should exercise towards the afflicted; for although God may for a time manifest his displeasure against them, yet he will, nevertheless, be gracious to them, so that the outcome will eventually be happier and more joyful than the judgment we might be led to form from the present state of things.

We now see that the sense in which I have explained this verse is much more copious and fuller of meaning: namely, that we should hope for salvation and deliverance from the Lord's hand, even in the day of adversity. For otherwise, no one who had once fallen into a state of sorrow and sadness would ever be able to rise again.

And I say this because the design of the Holy Spirit in this passage is not only to exhort the faithful to be ready to show kindness towards their brethren when they see them in affliction, but also to point out the remedy that has been provided for the mitigation of our sorrow whenever our faith is shaken by adversity.

Jehovah will keep him, and preserve him in life. Here David expands on the same sentiment expressed in the preceding verse, when he says that the Lord will keep the afflicted, whose destruction cruel and unjust men represent as inevitable. It is also necessary always to keep in mind the contrast which is stated between the day of evil and the blessing of deliverance.

In this verse the expressions denoting restoration to life, and blessedness on the earth, have a similar meaning. By these expressions, David means to show that although he had been, to all appearances, a dead man, yet the hope of life both for himself and for all the faithful had not been extinguished.

There might, it is true, appear some inconsistency in his promising himself a happy life in this world, since our condition here would be miserable indeed if we did not have the expectation of a better state in the world to come. But the answer to this is, that as many had despaired of his recovery, he expressly declares that he will yet be restored to his former state, and will continue alive, indeed, that clear signs of God's favor will be seen in him.

He does not in the least exclude by these expressions the hope of a better life after death. What follows concerning the bed of sorrow has led some to make a conjecture which, in my opinion, is not at all probable. What David says about affliction in general, without specifying what kind, they consider to apply exclusively to sickness.

But it is not uncommon for those who are sorrowful and grieved in their minds to throw themselves upon their bed, and to seek rest; for people's hearts are sometimes more distressed by grief than by sickness. It is, certainly, highly probable that David was at that time afflicted with some very heavy calamity, which might be a sign that God was considerably displeased with him.

In the second clause of the verse there is some obscurity. Some understand the expression, turning the bed, in the same sense as if God, in order to give some relief to his servant in the time of trouble, had made his bed and arranged it, as we usually do for those who are sick, so that they may lie more comfortably.

Others maintain, and, in my opinion, more correctly, that when David was restored to health, his bed, which had previously served him as a sickbed, was turned, that is to say, changed. Thus the sense would be, that although he now languishes in sorrow, while the Lord is chastening him and training him through affliction, yet in a short time he will experience relief by the hand of the same God, and thus recover his strength.

I have said, O Jehovah! have mercy upon me. By this verse he shows that in his adversity he did not seek to soothe his mind with flattery, as most people do, who try to lessen their sorrows with some empty consolation. And certainly, the person who is guided by the Spirit of God will, when warned by God through the afflictions they experience, frankly acknowledge their sins, and quietly submit to the admonitions of fellow believers; indeed, they will even anticipate them with a voluntary confession.

David here sets forth a mark by which he distinguishes himself from the reprobate and wicked, when he tells us that he earnestly pleaded that his sin might not be counted against him, and that he had sought refuge in the mercy of God. He indeed requests that some alleviation might be granted to him from the affliction he endured; but he rises to a higher source of relief when he asks that through the forgiveness of his sins he might obtain reconciliation with God.

Those who seek a remedy only for the outward miseries they suffer, while all the time neglecting their cause, invert the natural order of things, as we have said elsewhere. They act like a sick man who seeks only to quench his thirst but never thinks of the fever from which he suffers, and which is the chief cause of his trouble.

Before David, therefore, speaks at all of the healing of his soul, that is to say, of his life, he first says, Have mercy upon me: and with this we must connect the reason which immediately follows—for I have sinned against thee. In saying this, he confesses that God is justly displeased with him, and that he can only be restored to God's favor by his sins being blotted out.

I take the particle כי, ki, in its proper and natural meaning, and not in an opposing sense, as some would understand it. He asks then that God would have mercy upon him because he had sinned. From that proceeds the healing of the soul, which he places between his prayer and confession as the effect of God's compassion and mercy; for David expects that as soon as he has obtained forgiveness, he will also obtain relief from his affliction.

My enemies have spoken evil of me. To speak is here used in the sense of to imprecate. In this way describing the improper conduct of his enemies, he seeks, as has been stated elsewhere, to move God to have mercy on him, because the more God sees His own people cruelly treated, the more He is disposed to mercifully aid them.

Thus David, by his own example, stirs up and encourages us to greater confidence in God, because the more our enemies break forth in their cruelty towards us, the more it gains favor for us in God's sight.

The terms in which his enemies uttered this imprecation show how cruel their hatred had been towards him, since it could only be appeased by his destruction—and that, moreover, accompanied by shame and disgrace, for they wished that with his life the very remembrance of his name should also be blotted out.

And if he come to see me, he speaketh lies. What is contained in this verse relates to his false and treacherous friends. Those who were his professed enemies made no secret of their enmity against him, but openly persecuted him; and that he has already shown in the preceding verse.

In addition to this, he now complains that many came to him with professions of attachment to him, as if they had been his friends, who, nevertheless, afterwards poured forth their malicious ill-will in secret against him. Enemies of this sort, who thus cover and conceal their malice, and insinuate themselves under the mask of a fair appearance, only for the purpose of secretly doing us mischief, are indeed much more to be feared than those who openly declare their wicked intentions.

Accordingly, having complained of his open enemies, he proceeds to speak of his pretended friends, of whom he declares that they come to see him with no other design than to speak lies, and yet that they are meanwhile devising some deceitful and malicious purpose against him, indeed, that they are even secretly heaping up iniquity, and, so to speak, laying it up in store in their hearts; and then he adds, that when they have gone forth from his presence, they manifest their hypocrisy and deceitfulness.