John Calvin Commentary Psalms 78

Give ear, O my people, to my law. From the end of the psalm, it can likely be conjectured that it was written long after David's death, for there we find celebrated the kingdom established by God in David's family. There also the tribe of Ephraim, which is said to have been rejected, is contrasted with and set in opposition to the house of David. From this it is evident that the ten tribes were at that time separated from the rest of the chosen people, for there must be some good reason why the kingdom of Ephraim is branded with a mark of dishonor as being illegitimate and bastard.

Whoever the inspired writer of this psalm was, he does not introduce God speaking, as some think, but he himself addresses the Jews in the character of a teacher. It is no objection to this that he calls the people his people and the law his law, since it was not uncommon for the prophets to borrow the name of Him by whom they were sent, so that their doctrine might have greater authority.

Indeed, the truth committed to their trust can properly be called theirs. Thus Paul, in Romans 2:16, glories in the gospel as his gospel—an expression not to be understood as implying that it was a system that originated with him, but that he was a preacher and a witness of it.

I am somewhat doubtful whether interpreters are strictly correct in translating the word תורה (torah) as law. Its meaning seems to be somewhat more general, as appears from the following clause, where the Psalmist uses the phrase the words of my mouth in the same sense.

If we consider how inattentively even those who profess to be disciples of God listen to His voice, we will admit that the prophet had good reason to introduce his lessons of instruction with a solemn call for attention.

It is true, he does not address the unteachable and obstinate, who stubbornly refuse to submit to the word of God. But since even true believers themselves are generally too reluctant to receive instruction, this exhortation, far from being superfluous, was highly necessary to stir up the sluggish and inactive among them.

To secure greater attention, he declares his purpose to discuss profound and difficult subjects. The word משל (mashal), which I have translated a parable, denotes serious and striking sentences, such as adages, proverbs, and pithy sayings. Since the subject matter itself, if it is weighty and important, awakens people's minds, the inspired writer affirms his purpose to utter only striking sentences and notable sayings.

The word חידות (chidoth), which, following others, I have rendered enigmas, is used here not so much for obscure sentences as for sayings that are pointed and worthy of special notice. He does not intend to obscure his song with ambiguous language, but to dwell clearly and distinctly on both God's benefits and the people's ingratitude.

Rather, as I have said, his design is to stimulate his readers to weigh and consider the proposed subject more attentively. This passage is quoted by Matthew (Matthew 13:35) and applied to Christ, when He kept the people's minds in suspense with parables they could not understand.

Christ’s object in doing so was to prove that He was a distinguished prophet of God, and so that He might be received with greater reverence. Since He then resembled a prophet because He preached sublime mysteries in a style of language above the ordinary, what the sacred writer here affirms concerning himself is properly transferred to Him.

If such majesty shines forth in this psalm that it may justly stir up and inflame readers with a desire to learn, we gather from it how earnestly we should receive the gospel, in which Christ opens and displays to us the treasures of His celestial wisdom.

What we have heard and known. There seems to be some discrepancy between what the Psalmist had stated in the beginning, when he said that he would speak of great and hidden matters, and what he now adds: that his subject is a common one, and is transmitted from one age to another by the father to the son.

If it was the duty of the fathers to recount to their children the things spoken of here, these things should, of course, have been familiarly known to all the people, indeed, even to those who were most uneducated and had the weakest understanding. Where, then, it may be asked, are the enigmas or dark sayings he just mentioned?

I answer that these things can easily be reconciled. Although the psalm contains many things that are generally known, he illustrates them with all the splendor and richness of language, so that he may more powerfully affect people's hearts and gain greater authority for himself.

At the same time, it should be observed that however high the majesty of the Word of God may be, this does not prevent its benefits or advantages from reaching even the unlearned and infants. The Holy Spirit does not invite and encourage such people to learn from it in vain—a truth we should carefully note.

If God, accommodating Himself to the limited capacity of people, speaks in a humble and plain style, this manner of teaching is despised as too simple. But if He rises to a higher style to give greater authority to His Word, people, to excuse their ignorance, will pretend it is too obscure.

Since these two vices are very prevalent in the world, the Holy Spirit so moderates His style that the sublimity of the truths He teaches is not hidden even from those with the weakest understanding, provided they have a submissive and teachable disposition and bring with them an earnest desire to learn.

The prophet's aim is to remove all doubt from the mind regarding his sayings. For this purpose, he resolves to present nothing new, but only subjects that had long been well known and received without dispute in the Church. Accordingly, he not only says we have heard, but also we have known. Many things are carelessly spread that have no basis in truth; indeed, nothing is more common than for people's ears to be filled with fables. Therefore, it is not without reason that the prophet, after speaking of the things he had heard, also refers to undeniable testimony to confirm their truth. He adds that the knowledge of these subjects had been communicated to the Jews by their fathers.

This does not mean that what is taught in the home is always flawless. However, it is obvious that a more favorable opportunity is provided for imposing forgeries as truth upon people when things are brought from a distant country. What should be primarily observed is that not all fathers are spoken of here indiscriminately, but only those who were chosen to be God’s special people, to whom the care of divine truth was entrusted.

We will not conceal them from their children in the generation to come. Some take the verb נכחד, nechached, in the Niphal conjugation, and translate it, they are not concealed or hidden.

But it should, according to the rules of grammar, be resolved as follows: We will not conceal them from our posterity, implying that what we have been taught by our ancestors we should endeavor to transmit to their children.

By this means, all pretense of ignorance is removed, for it was God’s will that these things should be published from age to age without interruption, so that, being transmitted from father to child in each family, they might reach even the last family of man.

The purpose for which this was to be done is shown: that they might celebrate the praises of Jehovah, in the wonderful works which he hath done.

He established a testimony in Jacob. As the reception or approval of any doctrine by men would not be a sufficient reason for yielding a firm assent to its truth, the prophet proceeds further and represents God as the author of what he brings forward. He declares that the fathers were not led to instruct their children in these truths under the mere impulse of their own minds, but by the commandment of God.

Some understand the words, He hath established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, as implying that God had established a decree in Jacob, to be observed as an inviolable rule: that the deliverance divinely wrought for the people should be at all times in the mouth of every Israelite. However, this seems to give too restricted a sense.

I therefore consider statute, or testimony, and law as referring to the written law. This law, however, was partly given for this purpose: that by the remembrance of their deliverance, the people, after having been once gathered into one body, might be kept in their allegiance to God. The meaning then is that God not only acquired a right to the Jews as his people by his mighty power, but he also sealed up his grace so that the knowledge of it might never be obliterated.

And, undoubtedly, it was then registered, as it were, in public records when the covenant was ratified by the written law, in order to assure the posterity of Abraham that they had been separated from all other nations. Merely being acquainted with, or remembering the bare history of what had been done, would have been of very small importance if their eyes had not, at the same time, been directed to the free adoption and its fruit.

The decree, then, is this: that the fathers, being instructed in the doctrine of the law themselves, should recount to their children, as it were from the mouth of God, that they had not only been delivered once but also gathered into one body as his Church, so that throughout all ages they might yield a holy and pure obedience to him as their deliverer.

The reading of the beginning of the second clause of the verse properly is, Which he commanded, etc. But the relative pronoun אשר (asher), which is which, I have no doubt, is here put by way of exposition for namely, or that is, he commanded, etc. I have translated it for, which amounts to the same thing.

That the generation to come might know them. In this verse, the Psalmist confirms what he had said concerning the continued transmission of divine truth. It greatly concerns us to know that the law was given not for one age only, but that the fathers should transmit it to their children, as if it were their rightful inheritance, so that it might never be lost but be preserved to the end of the world. This is the reason why Paul, in 1 Timothy 3:15, asserts that the Church is the pillar and ground of the truth; by which he does not mean that the truth by itself is weak and needs external supports, but that God extends and spreads it through the agency of his ministers, who, when they faithfully carry out the teaching office with which they are entrusted, sustain the truth, so to speak, on their shoulders.

Now, the prophet teaches us that it is our solemn duty to strive so that there may be a continual succession of people to communicate instruction in divine truth. It is said of Abraham, before the law was written (Genesis 18:19):

I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment;

And after his death, this was instructed to the patriarchs as a necessary part of their duty. As soon as the law was delivered, God appointed priests in his Church to be public masters and teachers. He has also testified through the prophet Isaiah that the same is to be observed under the New Testament dispensation, saying:

My Spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, from henceforth and for ever. (Isaiah 59:21)

In the present passage, however, a particular instruction is given to the fathers on this point—each of them is commanded diligently to instruct his own children, and all without distinction are taught that their efforts in transmitting the name of God to their descendants will be most acceptable to Him and receive his highest approval. By the words, That the children to be born should arise, is not meant a small number of individuals; but it is implied that the preachers of divine truth, through whose efforts pure religion may flourish and prevail forever, will be as numerous as those who are born.