Commentary on Psalms Volume 1 John Calvin
JOHN CALVIN
Psalm 18:20-24
20. Jehovah rewarded me according to my righteousness; he recompensed me according to the cleanness of my hands. 21. For I have kept the ways of Jehovah, and have not wickedly departed from my God. 22. For all his judgments were before me, nor did I put away his statutes [or ordinances] from me. 23. I was also upright with him, 410 and kept myself from my iniquity. 24. Therefore Jehovah hath recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands before his eyes.
20. Jehovah rewarded me. David might seem at first sight to contradict himself; for, while a little before he declared that all the blessings which he possessed were to be traced to the good pleasure of God, he now boasts that God rendered to him a just recompense. But if we remember for what purpose he connects these commendations of his own integrity with the good pleasure of God, it will be easy to reconcile these apparently conflicting statements. He has before declared that God was the sole author and originator of the hope of coming to the kingdom which he entertained, and that he had not been elevated to it by the suffrages of men, nor had he rushed forward to it through the mere impulse of his own mind, but accepted it because such was the will of God. Now he adds, in the second place, that he had yielded faithful obedience to God, and had never turned aside from his will. Both these things were necessary; first, that God should previously show his favor freely towards David, in choosing him to be king; and next, that David, on the other hand, should, with an obedient spirit, and a pure conscience, receive the kingdom which God thus freely gave him; and farther, that whatever the wicked might attempt, with the view of overthrowing or shaking his faith, he should nevertheless continue to adhere to the direct course of his calling. Thus, then, we see that these two statements, so far from disagreeing with each other, admirably harmonise. David here represents God as if the president 411 of a combat, under whose authority and conduct he had been brought forth to engage in the combats. Now that depended upon election, in other words, upon this, that God having embraced him with his favor, had created him king. He adds in the verses which immediately follow, that he had faithfully performed the "Envers ou devant luy." — Note, Fr. marg. "Towards or before him."
Agonotheta. Calvin alludes to the ancient games and combats of Greece, the presidents of which were called Agonothetee.