Commentary on Psalms Volume 2 John Calvin
JOHN CALVIN
enter into thy righteousness. 28. Let them be blotted out from the book of the living; and let them not be written among the righteous. 29. As for me, I am poor and sorrowful; thy salutation shall exalt me.
22. Let their table before them be for a snare. Here we have a series of dire imprecations, with respect to which we must bear in mind, what we have elsewhere observed, that David did not allow himself recklessly to pour out his wrath, even as the greater part of men, when they feel themselves wronged, intemperately give way to their own passion; but, being under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, he was kept from going beyond the bounds of duty, 569 and simply called upon God to exercise just judgment against the reprobate. Farther, it was not on his own account that he pleaded in this manner; but it was a holy zeal for the divine glory which impelled him to summon the wicked to God's judgment-seat. It was also owing to this: that he was not carried away by violence of passion, like those who are actuated by a desire of taking revenge. Since, then, the Spirit of wisdom, uprightness, and moderation, put these imprecations into the mouth of David, his example cannot justly be pleaded in self-vindication by those who pour forth their wrath and spite upon every one that comes in their way, or who are carried away by a foolish impatience to take revenge; never allowing themselves to reflect for a moment what good purpose this can serve, nor making any efforts to keep their passion within due bounds. We need wisdom by which to distinguish between those who are wholly reprobate and those of whose amendment there is still some hope; we have also need of uprightness, that none may devote himself exclusively to his own private interests; and of moderation too, to dispose our minds to calm endurance. It being evident, then, that David was distinguished by these three qualities, whoever would follow him aright, must not allow himself
The LXX. have rendered the word here translated prosperity by a word which signifies recompense: "Let their table before them be for a snare, και είς ἀνταπόδοσιν, and for a recompense, and for a stumbling-block." Paul, in quoting this and the verse immediately following, as descriptive of the judgments which befell the Jews after their rejection of the Messiah, quotes with some slight difference the words of the LXX. He has, Εἰς ἀνταπόομα αὐτοῖς, "for a retribution upon them." The Psalmist's enemies had given him gall for his meat, and in his thirst vinegar to drink, and he denounces on them evils similar in kind: as if he had said, Would that their own table may be made bitter by misery and misfortune, and the food provided for the nourishment and strengthening of their bodies turned, in the righteous retribution of God, into the means of their injury and destruction. "Michaelis," says Walford, "shows how exactly these comminations were fulfilled in the history of the final siege of Jerusalem by the Romans. Many thousands of the Jews had assembled in the city to eat the Paschal lamb, when Titus unexpectedly made an assault upon them. In this siege the greater part of the inhabitants of Jerusalem miserably perished."
"Mais estant conduit par le Sainct Esprit, il n'a point passe outre les limites." — Fr.