John Calvin Commentary Psalms 9:12

"For he that maketh inquisition for blood remembereth them; He forgetteth not the cry of the poor." — Psalms 9:12 (ASV)

For in requiring blood. In the original, it is bloods, in the plural, and therefore the relative that follows immediately after, And remembers THEM, can very properly be referred to that word in this way: He requires bloods, and remembers them. But since it is common enough in Hebrew to invert the order of the antecedent and the relative, and to put them before the word to which it refers, some explain it as referring to the poor, in this way: In requiring blood, he has remembered them, namely, the poor, whom he speaks of a little later.

Regarding the essence of the matter, it is of little importance how we explain the relative; but the former is, in my view, the more natural explanation. Here, there is a repetition of what the Psalmist had said a little earlier: that we should especially consider God’s power as it is manifested in the mercy that he shows toward his servants, who are unrighteously persecuted by wicked men. From God's numerous works, he selects one that he commends as especially worthy of being remembered: namely, his work in delivering the poor from death. God sometimes leaves them in his holy providence to be persecuted by men, but eventually he takes vengeance for the wrongs inflicted upon them. The words that David uses denote a continuous act, but I have no doubt that he intends, from those examples that he has related in the preceding part of the psalm, to lead people to acknowledge that God requires innocent blood and remembers the cry of his people.

He again insists on what I referred to earlier: that God does not always stop injuries as quickly as we would wish, nor thwart the attempts of the wicked at the outset, but rather withholds and delays his assistance, so that it may seem that we cry to him in vain. This is a truth that is important for us to understand, for if we measure God's help according to our senses, our courage will repeatedly fail us, and in the end our hope will be entirely extinguished and will yield to despondency and despair.

We would dearly wish him, as I have said, to extend his hand from afar and drive back the troubles that he sees are prepared for us. Yet he seems to take no notice and does not prevent the blood of the innocent from being shed. Let this comforting consideration, however, sustain us: that he will eventually show how precious our blood was in his sight.

If it is objected that God’s assistance comes too late, after we have endured all calamities, I answer: God delays interfering no longer than he knows it is advantageous for us to be humbled under the cross. If he chooses rather to take vengeance after we have suffered outrage, than to aid us before the infliction of evil, it is not because he is not always willing and ready to help us, but because he knows it is not always a proper time for manifesting his grace.

Furthermore, it is a striking evidence, not only of his fatherly love toward us but also of the blessed immortality that is the portion of all God's children, that he cares for them even after they are dead. If he were always by his grace to prevent affliction from befalling us, who among us would not be wholly attached to the present life?

When, however, he avenges our death, from this it appears that, though dead, we still remain alive in his presence. For he does not, like humans, merely hold in esteem the memory of those whom he could not keep alive; rather, he actually shows that he keeps them close to his heart and gives protection to those who seem, according to the flesh, to be no more.

And this is the reason why David says that God remembers blood when he requires it; for although he may not immediately deliver his servants from the swords of the wicked, yet he does not allow their murder to pass unpunished. To the same purpose is the last clause: He forgets not the cry of the afflicted; God may not show, by granting instant deliverance or relief, that he immediately listens to the complaints of his servants, but eventually he proves unanswerably that he has regarded them. Express mention is made of crying, to encourage all who desire to experience God as their deliverer and protector to direct their wishes, groanings, and prayers to him.