Commentary on Psalms Volume 2 John Calvin
JOHN CALVIN
itself upon us, we immediately magnify a fly into an elephant; or rather, we rear very high mountains, which keep the hand of God from reaching us; and at the same time we basely limit the power of God. The exclamation of David, then, Who is like thee? tends to teach us the lesson, that we should force our way through every impediment by faith, and regard the power of God, which is well entitled to be so regarded, as superior to all obstacles. All men, indeed, confess with the mouth, that none is like God; but there is scarce one out of a hundred who is truly and fully persuaded that He alone is sufficient to save us.
Psalm 71:20-24
20. Thou hast made me to see great and sore troubles, but turning, thou wilt quicken me, and turning 597 thou wilt lift me up from the deep places of the earth. 598 21. Thou wilt multiply my greatness; and turning, thou wilt comfort me. 22. I will also, O my God: praise thee, for thy truth, with the psaltery; I will sing to thee with the harp, O Holy One of Israel! 23. My lips shall rejoice when I sing to thee; and my soul, which thou hast redeemed. 24. My tongue also shall daily declare thy righteousness: for they who seek my hurt are confounded and brought to shame.
20. Thou hast made me to see great and sore troubles. The verb to see among the Hebrews, as is well known, is applied to the other senses also. Accordingly, when David complains that calamities had been shown to him, he means that he had suffered them. And as he attributes to God the praise of the deliverances which he had obtained, so he, on the other hand, acknowledges that whatever adversities he had endured were inflicted on him according to the counsel and will of God. But we must first consider the object which David has in view, which is to render by comparison the grace of God the more illustrious, in the way of recounting how hardly he had been dealt with. Had he always enjoyed a uniform course of prosperity, he would no doubt have had good reason to rejoice; but in that case he would not have experienced what it is to be delivered from destruction by the stupendous power of God. We must be brought down even to the gates of death before God can be seen to be our deliverer. As we are born without thought and understanding, our minds, during the earlier part of our life, are not sufficiently impressed with a sense of the Author of our existence; but when God comes to our help, as we are lying in a state of despair, this resurrection is to us a bright mirror from which is seen reflected his "Et to retournant, estant appaise." — Fr. "And returning, being appeased."
"The depths of the earth, expressive of the lowest state of misery and suffering." — Hewlett.