John Calvin Commentary Psalms 62:10

"Trust not in oppression, And become not vain in robbery: If riches increase, set not your heart [thereon]." — Psalms 62:10 (ASV)

Trust not in oppression and robbery. We are taught here that there can be no real trusting in God until we put away all those vain confidences that prove to be so many ways of turning us away from Him. The Psalmist bids us remove whatever would have this tendency and purge ourselves of every vicious desire that would usurp the place of God in our hearts.

Only one or two kinds of sin are mentioned, but these are to be understood as representing a part for the whole—all those vain and rival confidences from which we must be freed before we can cleave to God with true purpose and sincerity of heart. By oppression and robbery may be understood the act itself of taking by violence, and the thing that has been taken.

It is obviously the design of the passage to warn us against the presumption and boldness of sin, which is so apt to blind the hearts of people and deceive them into believing that their evil ways are sanctioned by the impunity granted to them. Interpreters have differed in their interpretation of the words of this verse.

Some connect each noun with its own verb, reading, Trust not in oppression, and be not vain in robbery: if riches increase, set not your heart upon them. Others connect the words oppression and robbery with the first verb and consider the second to stand apart by itself in an indefinite sense.

It is of very little consequence which of the interpretations we adopt, since both express the main sentiment, and it is evident that the Psalmist, in condemning the infatuated confidence of those who boast in robbery, appropriately terms it a mere illusion of the mind, with which they deceive or amuse themselves.

Having first denounced those desires that are plainly evil and positively wicked, the Psalmist then proceeds to guard against an inordinate attachment even to riches that may have been honestly acquired. To set the heart upon riches means more than simply to covet their possession. It implies being carried away by them into a false confidence, or, to use an expression of Paul, Being high-minded.

The admonition given here is one that daily observation shows is necessary. It is uniformly seen that prosperity and abundance engender a haughty spirit, leading people at once to be presumptuous in their conduct before God and reckless in inflicting injury upon their fellow human beings.

But, indeed, the worst effect to be feared from such a blind and ungoverned spirit is that, in the intoxication of outward greatness, we may be left to forget how frail we are, and proudly and contemptuously exalt ourselves against God.