John Calvin Commentary Psalms 60

O God! you have cast us off. To excite both himself and others to a more serious consideration of the goodness of God, which they currently experienced, he begins the psalm with prayer; and a comparison is made, designed to show that the government of Saul had been under divine reprobation.

He complains of the sad confusions into which the nation had been thrown, and prays that God would return to it in mercy and re-establish its affairs. Some have thought that David here refers to his own distressed condition: this is not probable. I grant that, before coming to the throne, he underwent severe afflictions; but in this place he evidently speaks of the whole people as well as himself.

The calamities which he describes are such as extended to the whole kingdom; and I have not the least doubt, therefore, that he is to be considered as drawing a comparison which might illustrate the favor of God, as it had been shown so remarkably, from the beginning, to his own government.

With this in mind, he deplores the long-continued and heavy disasters which had fallen upon the people of God under Saul’s administration. It is particularly noticeable that, though he had found his own countrymen his worst and bitterest enemies, now that he sat upon the throne, he forgets all the injuries which they had done him and, mindful only of the situation which he occupied, associates himself with the rest of them in his addresses to God.

The scattered condition of the nation is what he emphasizes as the main calamity. In consequence of the dispersion of Saul’s forces, the country lay completely exposed to the incursions of enemies; not a man was safe in his own house, and no relief remained but in flight or banishment.

He next describes the confusions which reigned by a metaphor, representing the country as opened, or cleft asunder; not that there had been a literal earthquake, but that the kingdom, in its torn and shattered condition, presented that calamitous aspect which generally follows an earthquake. The affairs of Saul ceased to prosper from the time that he forsook God; and when he perished at last, he left the nation in a state little short of ruin.

The greatest apprehension must have been felt throughout it; it had become the scorn of its enemies, and was ready to submit to any yoke, however degrading, which promised tolerable conditions. Such is the manner in which David intimates that the divine favor had been alienated by Saul, pointing, when he says that God was displeased, at the radical source of all the evils that prevailed; and he prays that the same physician who had broken would heal.

You have shown your people hard things. He says, first, that the nation had been dealt with severely, and then adds a figure of speech that may additionally represent the grievousness of its calamities, speaking of it as drunk with the wine of stupor or astonishment. Even the Hebraist interpreters do not agree among themselves on the meaning of תרעלה, tarelah, which I have rendered astonishment. Several of them translate it as poison. But it is evident that the Psalmist alludes to some kind of poisoned drink that deprives a person of his senses, insinuating that the Jews were stupefied by their calamities. He intends, in short, to place before their eyes the curse of God that had pressed upon the government of Saul, and to induce them to abandon their obstinate attempts to maintain the interests of a throne that lay under divine reprobation.

Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee. Some interpreters would change the past tense and read the words as if they formed a continuation of the preceding prayers—O that thou wouldst give a banner to them that fear thee! But it is better to suppose that David diverges to the language of congratulation and, by pointing to the change that had taken place, calls attention to the evident appearances of divine favor.

He returns thanks to God, in the name of all the people, for having raised a standard that might at once cheer their hearts and unite their divided numbers. It is a poor and meager interpretation that some have attached to the words before the truth—that God showed favor to the Jews because he had found them true-hearted and sound in his cause.

Those in the higher ranks, as is well known, had proved eminently disloyal; the common people, along with their king, had broken their divine allegiance. From the highest to the lowest in the kingdom, all had conspired to overthrow the gracious purpose of God. It is evident, then, that David refers to the truth of God as having emerged in a remarkable manner, now that the Church began to be restored.

This was an event that had not been expected. Indeed, who did not imagine, in the desperate circumstances, that God’s promises had altogether failed? But when David mounted the throne, his truth, which had been so long obscured, again shone forth. The advantage that ensued extended to the whole nation, but David intimates that God had a special respect for his own people, whose deliverance, however few they might be in number, he particularly contemplated.

He next proceeds to address God again in prayer. Although I may observe in passing, some read the words that follow, that thy beloved may be delivered, in connection with the preceding verse. I am myself inclined to adopt that construction, for David would seem to magnify the illustration that had been given of divine favor by referring to the change that had taken place: God had inspirited his people enough to display a banner, whereas formerly they were reduced to a state of extremity from which it seemed impossible to escape without a miracle.

In the previous verse he calls them fearers of the Lord, and now his beloved, implying that when God rewards those who fear and worship him, it is always with respect to his own free love. And prayer is added, for however great the favors that God has bestowed upon us, modesty and humility will teach us always to pray that he would perfect what his goodness has begun.

God hath spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice. Until now he has referred to the proofs which had come under their own observation, and from which they might easily see that God had manifested his favor in a manner new, and for many years unprecedented. He had raised the nation from a state of deep distress to prosperity, and had changed the state of affairs so far, that one victory was following another in rapid succession.

But now he calls their attention to a point of even greater importance, the divine promise—the fact that God had previously declared all this with his own mouth. However numerous and striking the practical demonstrations we receive of the favor of God may be, we can never recognize them except in connection with his previously revealed promise.

What follows, although spoken by David as concerning himself individually, may be considered as the language adopted by the people generally, of whom he was the political head. Accordingly, he urges them, provided they were not satisfied with the tangible proofs of divine favor, to reflect upon the oracle by which he had been made king in the most distinct and remarkable terms.

He says that God had spoken in his holiness, not by his Holy Spirit, as some, with an over-refinement of interpretation, have interpreted it, nor by his holy place, the sanctuary; for we read of no response having been given from it to the prophet Samuel. It is best to retain the term holiness, as he refers to the fact that the truth of the oracle had been confirmed, and the constancy and efficacy of the promise had been placed beyond all doubt by numerous practical proofs.

Since no room had been left for question on the point, he uses this epithet to honor the words which had been spoken by Samuel. He immediately adds that this word of God was the chief ground upon which he placed his trust. It might be true that he had gained many victories and that these had tended to encourage his heart; but he intimates that no testimony of this kind which he had received gave him so much satisfaction as the word.

This accords with the general experience of the Lord’s people. While they are unquestionably cheered by every expression of divine goodness, faith must still always be considered as holding the highest place—as being that which dissipates their worst sorrows and quickens them, even when dead, to a happiness that is not of this world.

Nor does David mean that he merely rejoiced himself. In general, he includes all who feared the Lord in that Kingdom. And now he proceeds to give the sum of the oracle, and it is observable that he does so in such a way as to show, in his very narration of it, how firmly he believed in its truth: for he speaks of it as something which admitted of no doubt whatsoever, and boasts that he would do what God had promised.

I will divide Shechem, he says, and mete out the valley of Succoth. The parts he names are those that came into his possession later. These would appear to have still been in the hands of Saul’s son when this psalm was written. Since a severe struggle was necessary for their acquisition, he asserts that, though subdued late, they would certainly be brought under his subjection in due time, as God had condescended to promise this by his word.

So with Gilead and Manasseh. As Ephraim was the most populous of all the tribes, he appropriately terms it the strength of his head, that is, of his dominions.

To gain greater credibility for the oracle by showing that it derived sanction from antiquity, he adds that Judah would be his lawgiver, or chief. This was equivalent to saying that the posterity of Abraham could never prosper unless, in agreement with the prediction of the patriarch Jacob, they were brought under the government of Judah, or of one who was descended from that tribe.

He evidently alludes to what is narrated by Moses (Genesis 49:10): The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come.

The same word is used there, מחוקק, Mechokek, or legislator. It followed that no government could stand which was not resident in the tribe of Judah, this being the decree and the good pleasure of God.

The words are more appropriate in the mouth of the people than of David; and, as already remarked, he does not speak in his own name, but in that of the Church at large.

Moab is my wash-pot. In proceeding to speak of foreigners, he observes a wide distinction between them and his own countrymen. The posterity of Abraham he would govern as brethren, and not as slaves; but it was allowable for him to exercise greater severities upon the profane and the uncircumcised, to bring them under forcible subjection.

In this, he affords no precedent to conquerors who would inflict lawless oppression upon nations taken in war; for they lack the divine warrant and commission that David had, invested as he was not only with the authority of a king but also with the character of an avenger of the Church, especially of its more implacable enemies, who had thrown off every feeling of humanity and persisted in harassing a people descended from the same stock as themselves.

He remarks, in contempt of the Moabites, that they would be a vessel in which he should wash his feet, the washing of the feet being, as is well known, a customary practice in Eastern nations.

Likewise, he speaks of casting his shoe over Edom. This is expressive of reproach and intimates that, as Edom had once insulted the chosen people of God, so now it should be reduced to servitude.

What follows concerning Palestina is ambiguous. By some, the words are taken ironically, as if David would deride the vain boastings of the Philistines, who were constantly assaulting him with all the petulance they could command. And the Hebrew verb רוע, ruang, though it generally means to shout with triumph, also signifies to make a tumult, as soldiers do when they rush to battle.

Others, without supposing any ironical allusion, take the words as they stand and interpret them as meaning servile plaudits: that however much and obstinately they hated his dominion, they would be forced to hail and applaud him as conqueror. Thus, in Psalm 18:44, it is said, The sons of the strangers shall feign submission to me.