John Calvin Commentary Psalms 61:3

"For thou hast been a refuge for me, A strong tower from the enemy." — Psalms 61:3 (ASV)

For you have been my hope. Here we may suppose either that he recalls benefits he had previously received, or that he congratulates himself on a deliverance he had just experienced. There is much probability in either supposition. Nothing encourages our hopes more than remembering the past goodness of God, and in the middle of his prayers, we frequently find David engaging in reflections of this kind.

On the other hand, the rest of the psalm is concerned with giving praise to God for His present goodness. It is reasonable to suppose that these words form the beginning of the thanksgiving. In that case, the Hebrew particle, which has been translated for or because, can be understood instead in an affirmative sense, as surely or certainly.

In the following verse, he expresses the confidence he had that he would dwell from now on in the sanctuary of the Lord. I do not entirely agree with those who think that David was still in exile from his homeland when this was written, and is simply to be understood as assuring himself of his return.

He seems rather to be rejoicing in a restoration already obtained, than soothing his grief by anticipating it in the future; and this will become even more apparent when we consider the immediate context. It is noteworthy that now, when he had returned from his banishment and was settled in his own palace, his heart was more focused on the worship of God than on all the wealth, splendor, and pleasures of royalty.

He testifies in other parts of his writings that in the worst calamities he endured, he experienced nothing comparable to the bitterness of being excluded from the ordinances of religion. Now he considers it a greater pleasure to lie as a supplicant before the altar than to sit on the throne of a king.

By the words that immediately follow, he shows that he did not, like too many uninformed people, attach a superstitious importance to the mere outward forms of religion, adding that he found his safety under the shadow of God’s wings. Uninformed people might imagine God as necessarily confined to the physical tabernacle, but David only used this symbol of the Divine presence as a means to elevate the spiritual exercises of his faith.

I would not deny that there might be an allusion to the cherubim when he speaks of the shadow of God’s wings. However, we must remember that David did not rely on carnal ordinances, the elements of the world, but rose through them and above them to the spiritual worship of God.