Commentary on Psalms Volume 2 John Calvin
COMMENTARY ON PSALMS - VOLUME 2 and generation of generations shall fear thee 603 in the presence of the moon. 6. He shall descend as rain upon the mown grass; as the showers 604 which water the earth.
1. O God! give thy judgments to the king. 605 While David, to whom the promise had been made, at his death affectionately recommended to God his son, who was to succeed him in his kingdom, he doubtless endited to the Church a common form of prayer, that the faithful, convinced of the impossibility of being prosperous and happy, except under one head, should show all respect, and yield all obedience to this legitimate order of things, and also that from this typical kingdom they might be conducted to Christ. In short, this is a prayer that God would furnish the king whom he had chosen with the spirit of uprightness and wisdom. By the terms righteousness and judgment, the Psalmist means a due and well-regulated administration of government, which he opposes to the tyrannical and unbridled license of heathen kings, who, despising God, rule according to the dictates of their own will; and thus the holy king of Israel, who was anointed to his office by divine appointment, is distinguished from other earthly kings. From the words we learn by the way, that no government in the world can be rightly managed but under the conduct of God, and by the guidance of the Holy Spirit. If kings possessed in themselves resources sufficiently ample, it would have been to no purpose for David to have sought by prayer from another, that with which they were of themselves already provided. But in requesting that the righteousness and judgment of God may be given to kings, he reminds them that none are fit for occupying that exalted station, except in so far as they are formed for it by the hand of God. Accordingly, in the Proverbs of Solomon, (Proverbs 8:15,) Wisdom proclaims that kings reign by her. Nor is this to be wondered at, when we consider that civil government is so excellent an institution, that God
"Te craindra," "shall fear thee," is a supplement in the French version. There is no supplement in the Latin version.
"Comme les pluyes drues et longues." — Fr. "As the plenteous and prolonged showers."
"In other places, those events which God himself brings to pass in defending the righteous, and in punishing the wicked, are called his judgments, as in Psalm 36:7; but the statutes promulgated by God for the regulation of human conduct are also styled his judgments. In this sense, the judgments and laws of God may be considered as synonymous terms, Psalm 119. 20, 30, 39, 52, 75. The clause is justly explained by Jarchi: 'Knowledge of the judgments — to wit, of the particular rules of right — which thou hast commanded in the law.' The explication given by Kimchi is suitable also: 'That he may not err in giving forth sentences, give him knowledge and understanding, that he may judge with judgment and justice.'" — Rosenmüller on the Messianic Psalms, Biblical Cabinet, volume 32, pp. 232, 233.