Commentary on Psalms Volume 1 John Calvin (continued)
COMMENTARY ON PSALMS
1. And he said, I will affectionately love thee, 385 O Jehovah, my strength. 2. Jehovah is my rock, 386 a my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my rock, I will trust in him my shield, and the horn 387 of my salvation, my refuge.
1. And he said, etc. I will not stop to examine too minutely the syllables, or the few words, in which this psalm differs from the song which is recorded in the twenty-second chapter of the Second Book of Samuel. When, however, we meet with any important difference, we shall advert to it in the proper place; and we find one in the remarkable sentence with which this psalm commences, I will love thee affectionately, O Jehovah, my strength, which is omitted in the song in Samuel. As the Scripture does not use the verb,רהם racham, for to love, except in the conjugation pihel, and as it is here put in the conjugation kal, some of the Jewish expositors explain it as here meaning to seek mercy; as if David had said, Lord, since I have so often experienced thee to be a merciful God, I will trust to and repose in thy mercies for ever. And certainly this exposition would not be unsuitable, but I am unwilling to depart from the other, which is more generally received. It is to be observed, that love to God is here laid down as constituting the principal part of true godliness; for there is no better way of serving God than to love him. No doubt, the service which we owe him is better expressed by the word reverence, that thus his majesty may prominently stand forth to our view in its infinite greatness. But as he requires nothing so expressly as to possess all the affections of our heart, and to have them going out towards him, so there is no sacrifice which he values more than when we are bound
This is the rendering of the French version. The word in the Hebrew text, which is,רחם racham, is very expressive. "",רחםsays Cocceius, "est intime ac medullitus cum motu omnium viscerum diligere;" — "is to love with the deepest and strongest affections of the heart, with all of all the bowels." Ainsworth reads, "I will dearly love thee;" Street, "I love thee exceedingly;" Bishop Horne, "With all the yearnings of affection I will love thee, O Jehovah;" and Dr Adam Clarke, "From my inmost bowels will I love thee, O Lord." The word, therefore, denotes the tenderness and intensity of David's emotions.
The Hebrew word literally means a cliff or crag; and is a different word from the one which is translated rock in the following part of this verse. "The word,סלעsela," says Dr Adam Clarke, "signifies those craggy precipices which afforded shelter to men and animals; where the bees often made their nests, and whence honey was collected in great abundance. 'He made him to suck honey out of the rock,' Deuteronomy 32:13."
The horn is the emblem of strength and power. The metaphor is taken from the bull and other powerful animals, who put forth their strength principally by the use of their horns.