Commentary on Psalms Volume 2 John Calvin
COMMENTARY ON PSALMS - VOLUME 2 character. We must also remember, what has been already observed, that in such prayers he was not influenced by mere private feelings, and these of a rancorous, distempered, and inordinate description. Not only did he know well that those of whom he speaks with such severity were already doomed to destruction, but he is here pleading the common cause of the Church, and this under the influence of the pure and well-regulated zeal of the Spirit. He therefore affords no precedent to such as resent private injuries by vending curses on those who have inflicted them.
Psalm 59:6-9
6. They will return at evening; they will make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city 361 7. Behold, they will prate 362 with their mouth; swords are in their lips for who (say they) will hear? 8. But thou, O Jehovah! shalt laugh at them; thou shalt have all the nations in derision. 9. I will put in trust his strength with thee; 363 for God is my fortress.
6. They will return at evening. He compares his enemies to famished and furious dogs which hunger impels to course with endless circuits in every direction, and under this figure accuses their insatiable fierceness, shown in the ceaseless activity to which they were instigated by the desire of mischief. He says that they return in the evening, to intimate, not that they rested at other times, but were indefatigable in pursuing their evil courses. If they came no speed through the day, yet the night would find them at their work. The barking of dogs aptly expressed as a figure the formidable nature of their assaults.
In the verse which follows, he describes their fierceness. The expression, prating, or belching out with their mouth, denotes that they proclaimed their infamous counsels openly, and without affecting concealment. The Hebrew word,נבעnabang, means, metaphorically, to speak, but properly, it signifies to gush out, 364 and here denotes more than simply speaking. He would inform us, that not content with plotting the destruction of the innocent
"Ou, ils iront et viendront." — Fr. marg. "Or, they go and come." "He here describes the ceaseless pursuit of him in which his enemies were engaged all the day they were seeking him in vain in more distant places; in the evening they came again into the city, and continued their search, while their execrations and curses resembled the angry howling of a dog." — Walford.
"Ou, bouilloneront." — Fr. marg. "Or, will belch out."
"Ou, sa force est a toy, je me tiendray coy: ou, ma force est a toy," etc. — Fr. marg. "Or, his strength is with thee, I will keep myself quiet: or, my strength is with thee," etc.