John Calvin Commentary Psalms 65

Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion. Literally, it reads, Praise is silent to thee, but the verb דמיה, dumiyah, has been metaphorically rendered first, to be at rest, then to wait. The meaning of the expression is that God’s goodness to his people is such that it constantly provides new reasons for praise.

It is diffused over the whole world but especially shown to the Church. Besides, others who do not belong to the Church of God, however abundantly benefits may be showered upon them, do not see from where they come, and revel in the blessings which they have received without any acknowledgment of them.

But the main thing the Psalmist means to convey is that thanksgiving is due to the Lord for his goodness shown to his Church and people. The second clause of the verse is to the same effect, where he says, unto thee shall the vow be performed; for while he engages on the part of the people to render due acknowledgment, his language implies that there will always be remaining and new grounds for praise.

With the verse we have just been considering, the one that follows is closely connected, asserting that God hears the prayers of his people. This forms a reason why the vow should be paid to him, since God never disappoints his worshippers but crowns their prayers with a favorable answer.

Thus, what is stated last is first in the natural order of consideration. The title here given to God carries with it a truth of great importance: that the answer to our prayers is secured by the fact that in rejecting them, he would, in a certain sense, deny his own nature.

The Psalmist does not say that God has heard prayer in this or that instance, but gives him the name of the hearer of prayer, as what constitutes an abiding part of his glory, so that he might as soon deny himself as shut his ear to our petitions. If we could only impress this upon our minds, that it is something peculiar to God, and inseparable from him, to hear prayer, it would inspire us with unfailing confidence.

He can never lack the power to help us, so nothing can stand in the way of a successful outcome of our supplications. What follows in the verse is also well worthy of our attention, that all flesh shall come unto God. None could venture into his presence without a persuasion that he is open to entreaty; but when he anticipates our fears and comes forward declaring that prayer is never offered to him in vain, the door is thrown wide for the admission of all.

The hypocrite and the ungodly, who pray under the constraint of present necessity, are not heard. For they cannot be said to come to God when they have no faith founded upon his word, but only a mere vague expectation of a chance outcome.

Before we can approach God acceptably in prayer, it is necessary that his promises should be made known to us, without which we can have no access to him, as is evident from the words of the apostle Paul (Ephesians 3:12), where he tells us that all who would come to God must first be endowed with such a faith in Christ as may animate them with confidence.

From this we may infer that no right rule of prayer is observed in the Papacy, when they pray to God in a state of suspense and doubt.

Invaluable is the privilege we enjoy by the Gospel: free access to God.

When the Psalmist uses the expression all flesh, he intimates by these few words that the privilege which was then peculiar to the Jews will be extended to all nations. It is a prediction of Christ’s future kingdom.

Words of iniquity have prevailed against me. He does not complain of the people being assailed with calumny, but is to be understood as confessing that their sins were the cause of any interruption that had occurred in the communication of divine favor to the Jews. The passage is parallel with that:

The ear of the Lord is not heavy that it cannot hear, but our iniquities have separated betwixt us and him (Isaiah 59:1).

David attributes it to his own sins and those of the people that God, who was accustomed to be liberal in his help, and so gracious and kind in inviting their dependence on him, had for a time withdrawn his divine countenance. First, he acknowledges his own personal guilt; afterwards, like Daniel 9:5, he joins the whole nation with himself.

And this truth is introduced by the Psalmist with no intention to dampen confidence in prayer, but rather to remove an obstacle standing in its way, as none could draw near to God unless convinced that he would hear the unworthy. It is probable that the Lord’s people were at that time suffering under some sign of divine displeasure, since David seems here to struggle with some temptation of this kind.

He evidently felt that a sure remedy was at hand, for no sooner has he referred to the subject of guilt than he recognises God's prerogative to pardon and expiate it. The verse before us must be viewed in connection with the preceding one, meaning that though their iniquities merited their being cast out of God’s sight, they would continue to pray, encouraged by his readiness to be reconciled to them.

We learn from this passage that God will not be entreated by us unless we humbly supplicate the pardon of our sins. On the other hand, we are to believe firmly that reconciliation with God is procured through gratuitous remission. Should he at any time withdraw his favor and frown upon us, we must learn by David’s example to rise to the hope of the expiation of our sins.

The reason for his using the singular number in the confession he makes of sin may be that, as king, he represented the whole people, or that he intended, like Daniel, to exhort each of them to an individual and particular examination and confession of his own guilt. We know how inclined hypocrites are to hide their personal sin under a formal acknowledgment of their share in the general transgression. But David, not from any affectation of humility but from deep inward conviction, begins with himself and afterwards includes others in the same charge.

Blessed is the man whom you have chosen. Having already acknowledged that the people had separated themselves from God by their sins and forfeited all right to be heard, he now takes refuge in the free grace of God, which secures the remission of sin among other blessings.

He thus casts additional light on what he had said about guilt being purged away, by pointing to God's own nature as favorable to poor sinners—a nature that can only be found in His fatherly love, leading Him to welcome them into His presence, however undeserving.

That pardon which we daily receive flows from our adoption, and on it also are all our prayers founded. How could the sinner venture into the sight of God, to obtain reconciliation with Him, if he were not persuaded of His being a Father? In the words before us, David does not speak of the grace of God as reaching to the Gentiles (which he had done in a preceding part of the psalm), but in terms that apply only to the times in which he wrote.

The Church of God was confined to the Jews, and they only were admitted into the sanctuary; whereas now, when the distinction has been abolished, and other nations called to the same privilege, we are all at liberty to approach Him with familiarity. Christ is our peace (Ephesians 2:14), who has united in one those who were far off and those who were near.

What has just been said may show the scope of the Psalmist. The Church and chosen people of God, being in possession of the promise of the remission of sin, he calls those blessed whom God has included within that number and introduced into the enjoyment of such a distinguished privilege.

His language intimates that the election did not at that time apply to all; for he insists upon it as the special prerogative of the Jews that they had been chosen by God in preference to the other nations. If it were supposed that man could do anything to anticipate the grace of God, the election would cease to be with God Himself, although the right and power of it are expressly ascribed to Him.

But the Jews had no excellence above others, except in the one point of having enjoyed the distinguishing favor of God. The middle wall of partition is now broken down, so that the Gentiles might be called in. It is evident, however, that all are not alike called; and observation proves the ignorance of those who will assert that the grace of God is extended to all in common, without any choice exerted on His part.

Can any reason be imagined why God should not call all alike, except that His sovereign election distinguishes some from others? Faith and prayer may be means for obtaining for us an interest in the grace of God; but the source from which it flows is not within but without us.

There is a blessedness in exercising trust in God and embracing His promises—a blessedness experienced when, through faith in Christ the Mediator, we apprehend Him as our Father and direct our prayers to Him in that character. But before this faith and prayer can have any existence, it must be supposed that we who are estranged from God by nature have been brought near by an act of His favor.

We are near Him, not as having anticipated His grace and come to Him of ourselves, but because, in His condescension, He has stretched out His hand as far as hell itself to reach us. To speak more properly, He first elects us, and then testifies His love by calling us.

It is noticeable, also, that though God separated the seed of Abraham to be a peculiar people, entitled as the circumcision to a place in His temple, there can be no question that David recognized a distinction even among those who were Jews, all not having been the subjects of God’s effectual calling, nor were they properly entitled to a place in His temple.

The Psalmist alludes, indeed, to the outward sanctuary when he speaks of the Jews as chosen to approach God. However, we must remember (as was brought to our attention in Psalm 15:1 and Psalm 24:3) that not all who walked in the court of the temple were real members of the Church; the great qualifications necessary were a pure heart and clean hands.

Accordingly, we must understand "those brought near to God" to mean those who present themselves before Him in the exercise of genuine faith, not merely those who occupy a place in His temple in outward appearance.

Furthermore, "being chosen" and "being called to approach God" are mentioned here together to correct any foolish idea that the sheep of God’s flock are allowed to wander at will for any length of time and are not brought into the fold. This coming to the sanctuary under the leading of the Holy Spirit is one way our gratuitous adoption is evidenced.

The Psalmist insists upon the fruit springing out of the blessed privilege of which he had spoken, when he adds that believers would be satisfied with the fullness of His temple. Hypocrites may go there, but they return empty and unsatisfied as to any spiritual blessing enjoyed. It is noticeable that the person is changed in this part of the verse, and that David associates himself with other believers, preferring to speak upon this subject from personal experience.

We are not to understand that believers are fully replenished with the goodness of God at any one moment; it is conveyed to them gradually. But while the influences of the Spirit are thus imparted in successive measures, each of them is enriched with a present sufficiency, until all are in due time advanced to perfection.

I might remark here that while it is true, as stated (Psalms 103:5), that God satisfieth our mouth with good things, it is also necessary to remember what is said elsewhere: Open thy mouth, and I will fill it. Our contracted desires are the reason we do not receive a more copious supply of blessings from God; He sees that we are restricted in ourselves and accommodates the communications of His goodness to the measure of our expectations.

By specifying particularly the goodness of the sanctuary, the Psalmist offers an implied commendation of the outward helps God has appointed for leading us into the enjoyment of heavenly blessings.

In those former times, God could have directly stretched out His hand from heaven to supply the wants of His worshippers, but He saw fit to satisfy their souls by means of the doctrine of the law, sacrifices, and other rites and external aids to piety. Similar are the means He employs in the Church still; and though we are not to rest in these, neither must we neglect them.

Terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer to us. He proceeds to illustrate, although in a somewhat different form, the same point of the blessedness of those who are admitted into the temple of God and nourished in His house. He declares that God would answer His people by miracles or fearful signs, displaying His power, as if he had said, in deliverances as wonderful as those which He performed for their fathers when they went out of Egypt.

It is in no common or ordinary manner that God has preserved His Church, but with terrible majesty. It is well that this should be known, and the people of God taught to sustain their hopes in the most apparently desperate exigencies.

The Psalmist speaks of the deliverances of God as specially enjoyed by the Jewish nation, but adds that He was the hope of the ends of the earth, even to the world’s remotest extremities. Hence it follows that the grace of God was to be extended to the Gentiles.

By his strength setting fast the mountains. For the sake of illustration, he uses as an example the power of God seen in the general fabric of the world. In those times, it sounded like a new and strange truth to say that the Gentiles would be called to the same hope as the Jews.

To prove that it was not as incredible as they were inclined to imagine, the Psalmist very appropriately refers to the divine power apparent in all parts of the world. He points to the mountains rather than the plains, because the immense masses of earth and the lofty rocks they present convey a more impressive idea of the Godhead.

Interpreters do not agree on the exact meaning of the following verse. Some think that a word indicating comparison (like "as" or "like") must be mentally added before the first word of the sentence. They believe it means that God stills the tumults of men when they are raging in their insolent attempts, just as He stills the agitations of the sea. Others understand the first part of the verse to be a metaphorical statement of what is plainly declared at its end.

I would take the words simply as they stand. I consider that in the first part of the verse, David refers to the illustration of divine power we see in the sea, and in the second part, he refers to what we see in God's actions among men.

God's strength is shown in calming the waves and the stormy surgings of the ocean. It is also demonstrated in suppressing disturbances that may have been stirred up by the people.