Commentary on Psalms Volume 1 John Calvin
JOHN CALVIN
means that which is worthy of his majesty, of which the great men of this world are wont to deprive him. The repetition, also, shows that they must be vehemently urged ere a proper acknowledgement be extorted from them. By the brightness of God's sanctuary 608 is to be understood, not heaven as some think, but the tabernacle of the covenant, adorned with the symbols of the divine glory, as is evident from the context. And the prophet designedly makes mention of this place, in which the true God had manifested himself, that all men, bidding adieu to superstition, should betake themselves to the pure worship of God. It would not be sufficient to worship any heavenly power, but the one and unchangeable God alone must be worshipped, which cannot come to pass until the world be reclaimed from all foolish inventions and services forged in the brains of men.
3. The voice of Jehovah is upon the waters. David now rehearses the wonders of nature which I have previously referred to; and well indeed does he celebrate the power of God as well as his goodness, in his works. As there is nothing in the ordinary course of nature, throughout the whole frame of heaven and earth, which does not invite us to the contemplation of God, he might have brought forward, as in Psalm 19:1, the sun and the stars, and the whole host of heaven, and the earth with its riches; but he selects only those works of God which prove not only that the world was at first created by him, and is governed by his power, but which also awaken the torpid, and drag them, as it were, in spite of themselves, humbly to adore him; as even Horace was compelled, though he was not only a heathen poet, but an Epicurean, and a vile contemner of Deity, to say of himself in one of his Odes, — (Lib. I. Ode 34.)
"A fugitive from heaven and prayer, I mocked at all religious fear, Deep scienced in the mazy lore Of mad philosophy; but now Hoist sail, and back my voyage plough To that blest harbour which I left before.
"For, lo! that awful heavenly Sire, Who frequent cleaves the clouds with fire,
Parent of day, immortal Jove; Late through the floating fields of air,
This translation conveys a somewhat different meaning from that of our English version; but it is supported by several critics. Green reads, "In his beautiful sanctuary;" and Fry, "Worship Jehovah with holy reverence," or, "Worship Jehovah in the glorious places of the sanctuary." "Where the Hebrews read"בהדרתsays Hammond, "in the glory or beauty of holiness, from,הדרto honor, or beautify, the LXX. read, ἐν αὐλὣἁγίᾳαὐτου, in his holy court, as if it were from, "penetrale, thalamus, area, a closet, a marriage-chamber, a court; and so the Latin and Syriac follow them, and the Arabic, in his "holy habitation."