John Calvin Commentary Psalms 89:19

"Then thou spakest in vision to thy saints, And saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people." — Psalms 89:19 (ASV)

Then you spoke in vision to your meek ones. The Psalmist now declares at greater length why he said that the king, set over the chosen people for the preservation of the public good, was given to them from heaven.

This was because he was not chosen by the votes of men, nor usurped the supreme power by his own hand, nor insinuated himself into it by corrupt methods. Instead, he was elected by God to be the instrument of maintaining the public good and performed the duties of his office under the guidance and direction of God.

The design of the prophet, as we shall soon see more clearly, is to distinguish this Divinely-appointed king from all other kings. Although what Paul teaches in Romans 13:1 is true, There is no power but of God; yet there was a great difference between David and all earthly kings who have acquired sovereign power by worldly means.

God had delivered the scepter to his servant David immediately with his own hand, so to speak, and had seated him on the royal throne by his own authority. The particle az, which properly means then, is also taken to mean long ago, or in ancient times. The meaning, therefore, is that whereas some are born kings, succeeding their fathers by right of inheritance, and some are elevated to the royal dignity by election, while others acquire it for themselves by violence and force of arms, God was the founder of this kingdom, having chosen David to the throne by his own voice.

Furthermore, although he revealed his purpose to Samuel, yet as the plural number is here used, implying that the same oracle had been delivered to others, we may certainly conclude that it had been communicated to other prophets that they might be able, unanimously, to bear testimony that David was created king by the Divine appointment. Indeed, as other distinguished and celebrated prophets lived at that time, it is not very probable that a matter of so great importance was concealed from them. But Samuel alone is named in this business, because he was the proclaimer of the Divine oracle and the minister of the royal anointing. As God in those days spoke to his prophets either by dreams or by visions, this last mode of revelation is here mentioned.

There next follows the substance of the Divine oracle: that God had furnished the strong or mighty one whom he had chosen to be the supreme head and governor of the kingdom with help. David is called strong, not because naturally and in himself he excelled in strength (for, as is well known, he was of small stature, and despised among his brethren, so that even Samuel overlooked him), but because God, after having chosen him, endowed him with new strength and other distinguished qualities suitable for a king. Even as in a parallel case, when Christ chose his apostles, he not only honored them with the title, but at the same time bestowed the gifts that were necessary for executing their office.

And at the present day he imparts to his ministers the same grace of his Spirit. The strength of David, then, of which mention is here made, was the effect of his election; for God, in creating him king, furnished him at the same time with strength sufficient for the preservation of the people.

This appears even more distinctly from the second clause, where this invincible strength is traced to its source: I have exalted one chosen from among the people. All the words are emphatic.

When God declares that he exalted him, it is to intimate the lowly and humble condition in which David lived—unknown and obscure—before God stretched out his hand to him. To the same effect is the expression that follows, from among the people.

The meaning is that he was at that time unnoticed and belonged to the lowest class of the people, giving no indications of superior excellence, being the least esteemed of his father’s children, in whose country cottage he held the humble office of a herdsman. By the word chosen, God calls us back to the consideration of his own free will, as if he forbid us to seek for any other cause of David’s exaltation than his own good pleasure.