Commentary on Psalms Volume 2 John Calvin (continued)
JOHN CALVIN
expectation upon himself. Some, instead of reading, Thou wilt prepare with thy goodness, etc., render it, Thou wilt prepare with rich food; but, without absolutely objecting to this translation, I rather think that he adverts to the circumstance of God's being led to provide for his people entirely by his own good pleasure.
Psalm 68:11-14
11. The 502 Lord shall give the word to the women who announce the great army. 503 12. Kings of armies shall flee — shall flee; and she that tarries at home shall divide the spoil. 13. Though you should lie among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and which behind is of the paleness of gold. 504 14. When the Almighty scattered kings in it, thou shalt make it white 505 in Salmon.
11. The Lord shall give the word, etc. David now adverts to the victories by which God had signally displayed his power in behalf of his people. He had himself been the instrument of restoring peace to the country, by putting down its foes, and he had extended the boundaries of the kingdom; but he
Dr Geddes here observes, that "the poet passes rapidly from former times to his own days, and the occasion of composing his psalm, namely, the discomfiture and flight of the combined kings of Syria, Ammon, Moab, and Edom: for with all these David had been engaged in this war."
The original word for "the women who announce" is,המבשרותhamebasseroth It is from ,בשרbisser, "to announce joyous tidings;" and, being a participle of the feminine gender, is very properly referred to women, who were wont to celebrate victories, or any kind of good news, with songs and music. But we find it on one occasion used to express melancholy news, (1 Samuel 4:17.) The women here are represented as announcing the victory by singing congratulatory songs. All the difficulty is, whether,המבשרותhamebasseroth, be in the dative or the genitive case. If in the genitive case, then,צבאtsaba, which Calvin renders army, must, as Hammond observes, be rendered company — great was the company of the women who thus sang; and,צבאan host, is often taken for the congregation or assembly employed in the service of God. But it, may also be taken in the dative, as the same critic remarks, and as Calvin here renders it. Castellio gives a similar translation. "And thus the LXX. may be understood: Ο Θεός Κύριος δώσει ῥη̑μα τοῖς εὐαγγελισαμένοις (I suppose it should be ταῖς εὐαγγελισαμείαις) δυνάμει πολλὢ; 'the Lord shall give the word or matter to the women that evangelise to or for the great army;' i e., which supply the office of proecones thereto, in proclaiming their victories; though it is certain the Latin that renders it 'virtute multa,' 'by much virtue,' did not thus understand it." — Hammond
"Et posteriora ejus in pallore auri." — Lat. In the French it is, "Et laquelle par derriere est comme fin or bien jaune;" — "and which behind is as fine yellow gold."
"Ou, elle fust blanche." — Fr. marg. "Or, it was white."