John Calvin Commentary Psalms 72:18

"Blessed be Jehovah God, the God of Israel, Who only doeth wondrous things:" — Psalms 72:18 (ASV)

Blessed be Jehovah God! the God of Israel. David, after praying for prosperity for his successors, breaks forth in praising God, because he was assured by the divine oracle that his prayers would not be in vain. If he had not, with the eyes of faith, seen those things which we have considered above, his rejoicing would have been less free and lively.

When he says that God alone doeth wonderful things, this, no doubt, is spoken in reference to the subject he is currently discussing, with the aim not only of commending the excellence of the kingdom but also of admonishing himself and others about the need for God to display His wonderful and stupendous power for its preservation.

And certainly, it was not due to any of David’s successors, with a few exceptions, that the royal throne did not fall a hundred times, or indeed, was not completely ruined.

To go no further, was not Solomon’s most disgraceful apostasy deserving of utter destruction? As for the rest of his successors—with the exception of Josiah, Hezekiah, Jehoshaphat, and a few others—did they not fall from evil to worse, as if each strove to outstrip his predecessor, and thus provoke God’s wrath, seemingly deliberately, to such an extent that it is a wonder He did not immediately unleash the thunderbolts of His vengeance upon the whole line to destroy them utterly?

Moreover, since David, being endowed with the Spirit of prophecy, was not ignorant that Satan would always remain a cruel enemy to the Church’s welfare, he doubtless knew that the grace of God, of which he is now speaking, would have to overcome great and arduous difficulties to continue forever in his own nation.

And subsequent events unquestionably showed by how many miracles God fulfilled His promises, whether we consider the return of His people from the Babylonian captivity, or the astonishing deliverances that followed until Christ, like a tender branch, sprang from a dead tree.

David, therefore, with good reason prays that the glory of the divine name may fill the whole earth, since that kingdom was to be extended even to the uttermost boundaries of the globe. And so that all the godly, with earnest and ardent affection of heart, might unite with him in these same prayers, a confirmation is added in the words, Amen, and Amen.