John Calvin Commentary Psalms 78:26

"He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens; And by his power he guided the south wind." — Psalms 78:26 (ASV)

He caused an east wind to blow in the heavens. Here it is related how God granted the request of his people. This does not imply that he favorably regarded their fretful desires, but that he showed by the result that it was in his power to do what they believed it was impossible for him to accomplish.

From this, we can perceive how injudiciously some expositors here join together the flesh and the manna. The reason the flesh was given was altogether different from that for which the manna was given. God, in giving the manna, fulfilled the role of a father; but with the flesh, he satisfied their gluttonous desires, so that their very greediness in devouring it might choke them.

It would not have been difficult for God to have created quails in the midst of the wilderness; but he chose instead to bring them by the force of the winds, to teach the Israelites that all the elements are obedient to his command, and that the distance of places cannot prevent his power from immediately penetrating from the east even to the west.

Those unbelieving people, therefore, were provided with an undoubted proof of the power of God, which they had malignantly detracted from, in seeing all the elements of nature ready to obey and promptly execute whatever he has commanded. Besides, he no doubt raised the winds according to the situation of the camp, although it would have been easy for him, without any means, to have presented flesh before them.

It is stated that they did eat and were filled, not only to indicate that God brought them a large supply of birds, with which their bellies might be stuffed to the full, but also that it was ungovernable lust which led them to ask for flesh, and not a concern for having food on which to live.

It has been said above that manna had been given them in the greatest abundance, but here the intention is expressly to censure their gluttony, in which they gave clear proof of their unbridled appetite. God promises, in Psalm 145:19, as a peculiar privilege to those who fear him, that he will fulfill their desire; but it is in a different way that he is here said to have yielded to the perverse desires of the people, who had cast off all fear of him. For what his favor and loving-kindness would have led him to refuse, he now granted them in his wrath.

This is an example well deserving of our attention, so that we may not complain if our desires are met with disapproval and thwarted by the secret providence of God when they exceed proper bounds.

God then truly hears us when, instead of yielding to our foolish inclinations, he regulates his beneficence according to what promotes our well-being.

Similarly, when lavishing upon the wicked more than is good for them, he cannot, properly speaking, be said to hear them. Instead, he rather loads them with a deadly burden, which serves to cast them headlong into destruction.

The Psalmist expresses this still more clearly by adding immediately after (verses 30 and 31) that this pampering proved fatal to them, as if with the meat they had swallowed the flame of the divine wrath. When he says that they were not estranged from their lust, this implies that they were still burning with their lust.

If it is objected that this does not agree with the preceding sentence, where it is said that they did eat, and were thoroughly filled, I would answer that if, as is well known, human minds are not kept within the bounds of reason and temperance, they become insatiable; and, therefore, a great abundance will not extinguish the fire of a depraved appetite.

Some translate the clause, They were not disappointed, and others, They did not yet loathe their meat. This last translation brings out the meaning very well, but it is too far removed from the signification of the Hebrew word זור, zur, which I have rendered estranged. The prophet intended to express by this phrase a present, felt pleasure; for when God executed vengeance on the people, they still indulged in the excessive gratification of their appetite.

The wrath of God is said metaphorically to ascend, when he suddenly rises up to execute judgment; for when he apparently shuts his eyes and takes no notice of our sins, he seems, so to speak, to be asleep. The punishment was felt by persons of every condition among the Israelites; but the fat ones and the chosen are expressly named, in order to exhibit the judgment of God in a light still more conspicuous.

It did not happen by chance that the most robust and vigorous were attacked and cut off by the plague. As the strong are commonly deceived by their strength, and proudly exalt themselves against God, forgetting their own weakness, and thinking that they may do whatever they please, it is not surprising to find that the wrath of God burned more fiercely against such persons than against others.