Commentary on Psalms Volume 2 John Calvin (continued)
COMMENTARY ON PSALMS - VOLUME 2
In the 15th verse, David is not speaking of the laughter of God, but is denouncing vengeance against the ungodly, just as we have already seen in the second psalm, at the fourth verse, that although God, by conniving at the wicked, has often suffered them for a time to run to every excess in mirth and rioting, yet he at length speaks to them in his anger to overthrow them. The amount of what is stated is, that the ungodly should prevail so little, that the sword which they had drawn should return into their own bowels, and that their bow should be broken in pieces.
Psalm 37:16-19
16. Better is the little of the righteous than the abundance of many wicked. 31 17. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken; but Jehovah upholdeth the righteous. 18. Jehovah knoweth the days of the upright, and their inheritance shall be everlasting. 19. They shall not be ashamed in the season of adversity; and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.
16. Better is the little of the righteous, etc This verse, without any sufficient reason, has been variously rendered. The word,המוןhamon, 32 which is rendered abundance, indeed, sometimes signifies a great multitude of men, and sometimes abundance of things; sometimes, too, an adjective of the plural number is joined to a substantive of the singular number. But those who wrest David's words to this sense, that a few righteous persons are better than a great multitude of the ungodly, 33 plainly destroy their import, and pervert the meaning of the whole sentence. Nor can I receive the explanation which others have given, that the little which the just man possesses is better than the great abundance of the wicked; for I see no necessity for connecting, contrary to the rules of grammar, the word ,המוןhamon, which denotes abundance, with the word,רביםrabbim. which signifies many or great, and not with the word,רשעיםreshaim, which means wicked I have therefore no doubt; that David here contrasts the limited possessions of one righteous man with the riches and wealth of many wicked men. The Hebrew word,רביםrabbim, however, which I have rendered many, "Ou, aux grans qui sont meschans." — Fr. marg. "Or, to the great who are wicked."
Ainsworth renders this word, "plenteous mammon," which, he remarks, "signifieth multitude, plenty, or store of riches, or any other thing." The Septuagint renders it riches. The English word mammon is derived from this Hebrew word.
This is the view taken by Fry, who renders the words, "Better are the few of the Just one, Than the great multitude of the wicked."
By the Just One, he understands Christ.