John Calvin Commentary Romans 11:9

"And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, And a stumblingblock, and a recompense unto them:" — Romans 11:9 (ASV)

And David says, etc. In this testimony of David, some change is also made in the words, but it does not change the meaning. For he speaks as follows: Let their table before them become a snare, and their peaceful things a trap; there is no mention of retribution.

As to the main point, there is sufficient agreement. The Prophet prays that whatever is desirable and happy in life might turn out to the ruin and destruction of the ungodly; and this is what he means by table and peaceful things. He then gives them up to blindness of spirit and weakening of strength, one of which he expresses by the darkening of the eyes, and the other by the bowing of the back.

That this should be extended almost to the whole nation should not be surprising, for we know that not only the chief men were incensed against David, but that the common people were also opposed to him. It is clear that what is read in that passage was not applied to a few, but to a large number; indeed, when we consider of whom David was a type, there appears to be a spiritual import in the opposite clause.

Since, then, this imprecation remains for all the adversaries of Christ — that their meat will be converted into poison (as we see that the gospel is the savor of death unto death) — let us embrace with humility and trembling the grace of God. We may add that since David speaks of the Israelites, who descended according to the flesh from Abraham, Paul appropriately applies his testimony to the subject at hand, so that the blindness of the majority of the people might not appear new or unusual.