John Calvin Commentary Psalms 5

I do not presume to determine with certainty whether David, in this psalm, bewails the wrongs which he suffered from his enemies at some particular time, or whether he complains generally of the various persecutions with which he was harassed for a long time under Saul. Some of the Jewish commentators apply the psalm even to Absalom; because, by the bloody and deceitful man, they think Doeg and Ahithophel are pointed out.

To me, however, it appears more probable that when David, after the death of Saul, had obtained peaceable possession of the kingdoms, he committed to writing the prayers he had meditated on during his afflictions and dangers. But to come to the words: First, he expresses one thing in three different ways; and this repetition denotes the strength of his devotion and his long perseverance in prayer.

For he was not so fond of using many words as to employ different forms of expression that had no meaning; but being deeply engaged in prayer, he represented, through these various expressions, the variety of his complaints.

Therefore, it signifies that he prayed neither coldly nor only with few words. Instead, as the vehemence of his grief urged him, he was earnest in bewailing his calamities before God. And since their outcome was not immediately apparent, he persevered in repeating the same complaints.

Again, he does not explicitly state what he desires to ask from God, but this kind of suppression has greater force than if he had spoken distinctly. By not uttering the desires of his heart, he shows more emphatically that his inward feelings, brought before God, were such that language was insufficient to express them.

Again, the word cry, which signifies a loud and resonant utterance of the voice, serves to mark the earnestness of his desire. David did not cry out as if to one who was deaf; but the vehemence of his grief and his inward anguish burst forth into this cry.

The verb הגה hagah, from which the noun הגיג, hagig, speech, which the prophet here uses, is derived, means both to speak distinctly, and to whisper or to mutter. But the second sense seems better suited to this passage. After David has said in general that God hears his words, he seems, immediately after, in order to be more specific, to divide them into two kinds, calling the one obscure or indistinct moanings, and the other loud crying.

By the first he means a confused muttering, such as is described in the Song of Hezekiah, when sorrow hindered him from speaking distinctly and making his voice heard. “Like a crane, or a swallow, so did I chatter; I did mourn as a dove” (Isaiah 38:14). If, then, at any time we are either reluctant to pray, or our devout feelings begin to lose their fervor, we must here seek for arguments to stimulate and urge us forward.

And as by calling God his King and his God, he intended to stir himself up to entertain more lively and favorable hopes regarding the outcome of his afflictions, let us learn to apply these titles for a similar use, namely, to make ourselves more familiar with God.

At the close, he testifies that he does not sullenly gnaw the bit, as unbelievers are accustomed to do, but directs his groaning to God. For those who, disregarding God, either fret inwardly or utter their complaints to men, are not worthy of being regarded by Him.

Some translate the last clause thus, When I pray to thee; but to me it seems rather to be the reason David assigns for what he had said immediately before. His purpose is to encourage himself to trust in God by assuming this as a general principle: that whoever calls upon God in their calamities never meets with rejection from Him.

The first sentence may also be read in the future tense of the indicative mood, Thou shalt hear my prayer. But, in my opinion, the verb is rather in the optative mood, as I have translated it. Having implored God to grant his requests, he now urges Him to hasten.

Some think he alludes to the morning prayers which were usually joined with the daily sacrifices in the temple, according to the requirement of the law. Although I do not disapprove of this opinion, I have no doubt that, compelled by the weariness of a rather long delay, he wishes his deliverance to be hastened. It is as if he had said, “As soon as I awaken, this will be the first subject of my thoughts. Therefore, O Lord, delay no longer the help that I need, but grant my desires immediately.”

The expression, To direct to God, I understand to mean the same thing as directly approaching God. Many, as if the language were elliptical, supply the words, my prayer. But in my judgment, David rather intends to declare that he was not turned here and there, nor drawn in different directions by the temptations to which he was exposed, but that to turn to God was the established pattern of his life.

In these words, there is an implied contrast between the wandering and uncertain movements of those who look around them for worldly assistance, or depend on their own plans, and the direct guidance of faith. By this faith, all godly people are drawn away from the vain allurements of the world and turn to God alone.

The Hebrew word ערך, arac, means to set in order or arrange, and sometimes to prepare or make ready. This meaning is very fitting for the passage, where David clearly states his resolve not to be drawn away in any degree from his orderly course into the indirect and circuitous paths of error and sin, but to come directly to God.

By the word, watch, he conveys the idea of hope and patience as well as of anxiety. As צפה, tsapah, in Hebrew means, to wait for, as well as to look for, I have no doubt David intended to say that after he had unburdened his cares into the bosom of God, he would, with an anxious mind, watch like a sentinel, so to speak, until it became clear that God had indeed heard Him.

No doubt, in the act of longing, some degree of uneasiness is always implied; but the one who looks for the grace of God with anxious desire will wait for it patiently. This passage, therefore, teaches us the futility of prayers that lack the hope which can be said to elevate the minds of the petitioners into a watchtower.

Here David makes the malice and wickedness of his enemies an argument to support his prayer for divine favor toward him. The language is indeed abrupt, as the saints in prayer will often stammer; but this stammering is more acceptable to God than all the figures of rhetoric, however fine and glittering.

Besides, David's primary aim is to show that since the cruelty and treachery of his enemies had reached their utmost height, it was certain that God would soon stop them in their course. His reasoning is based on the nature of God. Since righteousness and upright dealing are pleasing to him, David concludes from this that he will take vengeance on all the unjust and wicked.

And how is it possible for them to escape from his hand unpunished, since he is the judge of the world? The passage is worthy of our most special attention. For we know how greatly we are discouraged by the unbounded insolence of the wicked. If God does not immediately restrain it, we are either stupefied and dismayed, or cast down into despair.

But David, from this, instead finds reason for encouragement and confidence. The greater the lawlessness with which his enemies proceeded against him, the more earnestly he supplicated God for preservation, as it is his role to destroy all the wicked, because he hates all wickedness.

Therefore, let all the godly learn, whenever they must contend against violence, deceit, and injustice, to raise their thoughts to God to encourage themselves in the certain hope of deliverance. This is just as Paul also exhorts them in 2 Thessalonians 1:5: “Which is,” he says, “a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer: seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled, rest with us.” And assuredly, he would not be the judge of the world if he did not have a recompense in store for all the ungodly.

One application of this doctrine, then, is this: when we see the wicked indulging themselves in their lusts, and when, as a result, doubts about whether God takes any care of us steal into our minds, we should learn to be reassured by the understanding that God, who hates and abhors all iniquity, will not permit them to pass unpunished. Although he bears with them for a time, he will eventually ascend to the judgment seat and show himself an avenger, as he is the protector and defender of his people.

Again, we may also infer from this passage the common doctrine that God, although he works through Satan and through the ungodly, and uses their malice to execute his judgments, is not, for this reason, the author of sin. Nor is he pleased with it, because the end which he purposes is always righteous; and he justly condemns and punishes those who, by his mysterious providence, are driven wherever he pleases.

In the 4th verse, some interpret רע, ra, in the masculine gender, as a wicked man; but I understand it rather as wickedness itself. David declares simply that there is no agreement between God and unrighteousness. He immediately proceeds to speak of the men themselves, saying, the foolish shall not stand in your sight; and it is a very just inference from this that iniquity is hateful to God, and that, therefore, he will execute just punishment upon all the wicked.

He calls those fools, according to a frequent use of the term in Scripture, who, impelled by blind passion, rush headlong into sin. Nothing is more foolish than for the ungodly to cast away the fear of God and allow the desire to do mischief to be their ruling principle; indeed, there is no madness worse than the contempt of God, under the influence of which people pervert all right.

David sets this truth before himself for his own comfort; but we also can draw from it doctrine very useful for training us in the fear of God. For the Holy Spirit, by declaring God to be the avenger of wickedness, puts a bridle on us to restrain us from committing sin in the vain hope of escaping with impunity.

Some think that the word and, by which this sentence is joined to the preceding, is used for 'but'; as if David, comparing himself with the ungodly, declared and assured himself that God would be merciful to him, while He abhorred and would destroy the wicked. But I leave it to my readers to judge whether it does not suit the passage better to consider this verse as an inference from what goes before, which might be put in this form: “O Lord, you cannot bear with the wicked; when, therefore, I am saved out of their hands by your power, I will come to present myself before you in your temple, to give you thanks for the deliverance which you have granted to me.” If the former interpretation is preferred, then the prophet, by simply commending his own piety towards God, separates himself from the class of whom he spoke.

The scope of the passage leads us to understand him as promising to give thanks to God. He had previously spoken of his enemies as hated by God; and now, being persuaded that God will keep him in safety, he calls himself to the exercise of gratitude. I will come into your temples, he says, in the multitude of your mercy; as if he had said, I may now seem to be in an almost desperate condition, but by the favor of God, I will be kept in perfect safety.

This passage, therefore, teaches us that when we are afflicted by the most distressing temptations, we should set the grace of God before our eyes, in order to be supported with the hope of divine intervention in the midst of the greatest dangers. Further, as our carnal minds either wickedly undervalue the grace of God or assign it the low value that the world commonly does, let us learn to extol its wonderful greatness, which is sufficient to enable us to overcome all fears.

David's primary objective was to encourage himself in the assured hope of preservation through the mercy of God. At the same time, he shows that upon obtaining deliverance, he will be grateful to God for it and keep it in remembrance. And since hypocrites, in giving thanks to God, do nothing but profane His name, because they themselves are unholy and polluted, he therefore resolves to come in the fear of God, in order to worship Him with a sincere and upright heart.

Again, we may draw from this the general truth that it is only through the goodness of God that we have access to Him, and that no one prays rightly except the one who, having experienced His grace, believes and is fully persuaded that He will be merciful to him. The fear of God is at the same time added to distinguish genuine and godly trust from the vain confidence of the flesh.

O Jehovah, lead me forth, etc. Some explain these words as follows: Show me what is right, and make me wholly devoted to practicing the righteousness that adorns your character; and do this because of my adversaries. For the saints, driven by the wicked practices and deceitful arts of the ungodly, are in danger of turning aside from the right way.

This meaning is unquestionably a pious and useful one. But the other interpretation is more suitable, which views the words as a prayer that God would lead His servant safely through the middle of his enemies' snares and open a way of escape for him, even when, apparently, he was caught and surrounded on every side.

The righteousness of God, therefore, in this passage, as in many others, is to be understood as His faithfulness and mercy, which He shows in defending and preserving His people. Consequently, "in your righteousness" means the same thing as "for or according to your righteousness." David, desiring to have God as the guide of his path, encourages himself with the hope of obtaining his request because God is righteous. It is as if he had said, "Lord, as you are righteous, defend me with your aid, so that I may escape from the wicked plots of my enemies."

The last clause of the verse has the same meaning, where he prays that the way of God may be made straight before his face. In other words, he prays that he might be delivered by God's power from the distresses that so completely surrounded him that, according to the judgment of the flesh, he never expected to find a way of escape.

In this way, he acknowledges how impossible it was for him to avoid being entangled in his enemies' snares unless God both gave him wisdom and opened a way for him where there was no way.

It is fitting for us, following his example, to do the same. Therefore, when counsel fails us, we distrust ourselves, and the malice and wickedness of our enemies prevail, we should quickly turn to God, in whose hands are the issues of death, as we will see later (Psalms 69:1).