John Calvin Commentary Psalms 76:3

"There he brake the arrows of the bow; The shield, and the sword, and the battle. Selah" — Psalms 76:3 (ASV)

There he broke the arrows of the bow. Here we have stated the particular way in which God was known in Judah. He was known by the wonderful proofs of his power, which he displayed in preserving the city. Under these figures, the destruction of the enemies of the chosen people is described.

They could not have been overthrown except by being stripped of their armor and weapons of war. It is therefore said that the arrows, the swords, and the shields, were broken, indeed, all the implements of war, implying that these impious enemies of the Church were deprived of the power of doing harm.

Indeed, the fact is that they were wounded and slain while their weapons remained uninjured; but this metonymy, by which what happened to them is represented as happening to their implements of war, is appropriate.

Some translate the word רשפים, reshaphim, points of weapons! Properly, it should be rendered fires; but it is more accurate to take it for arrows. Even birds are sometimes metaphorically so called because of their swiftness, and flying is attributed to arrows in Psalm 91:6.

It is further added (verse 4) that God is more glorious and terrible than the mountains of prey. By the mountains of prey, kingdoms distinguished by their violence and extortion are meant. We know that from the beginning, the one who engaged most in robbery and pillage was the man who most enlarged his borders and became greatest.

The Psalmist, therefore, here compares those great kings, who had acquired large dominions by violence and the shedding of human blood, to savage beasts that live only on prey. He compares their kingdoms to mountains covered with forests, inhabited by beasts accustomed to live by destroying other animals.

The enemies of God’s ancient people had been accustomed to make violent and furious assaults on Jerusalem; but it is affirmed that God greatly surpassed them all in power, so that the faithful might not be overwhelmed with terror.