Commentary on Psalms Volume 2 John Calvin
COMMENTARY ON PSALMS - VOLUME 2 true religion and the fear of God. And Paul, when enjoining us in 1 Timothy 2:2, to pray for kings, expressly mentions what we ought to have in view in our prayers, which is, "that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty." As there is no small danger, were civil government overthrown, of religion being destroyed, and the worship of God annihilated, David beseeches God to have respect to his own name and glory in preserving the king. By this argument he at once reminds kings of their duty, and stirs up the people to prayer; for we cannot be better employed than in directing all our desires and prayers to the advancement of the service and honor of God. When we come to Christ, this is far more truly applicable to him, true religion being established in his kingdom and nowhere else. And certainly David, in describing the worship or service of God as continuing to the end of the world, intimates by the way that he ascends in thought to that everlasting kingdom which God had promised: They shall fear thee with the sun; and generation of generations shall fear thee in the presence of the moon. 613
6. He shall descend as the rain upon the mown grass. This comparison may seem at first sight to be somewhat harsh; but it elegantly and appositely expresses the great advantage which is derived by all from the good and equitable constitution of a kingdom. Meadows, we know, are cut in the beginning of summer when the heat prevails; and did not the earth imbibe new moisture by the falling rain, even the very roots of the herbage would wither by reason of the barren and parched state of the soil. David, therefore, teaches us that as God defends the earth from the heat of the sun by watering
"The poet in this clause addresses God; not the king, of whom he speaks always in the third person. The sense is, This king shall establish and preserve among his subjects the true religion, — the uncorrupted worship of God. Michaelis, on this passage, justly remarks that this could not, without extreme flattery, be predicated of Solomon." — Dathe.
"With the sun," and "in the presence of the moon," are Hebrew idioms, designating the eternity of the Messiah's kingdom. "'They shall venerate thee with the sun, and in presence of the moon;' that is, as long as the sun shines, and is succeeded by the moon, or while the sun and moon continue to give light, — in a word, for ever. Compare verse seventh, where the same idea is expressed, only in a slightly different manner, — until there be no moon Psalm 89:37 — 'His throne shall be as the sun before me, as the moon it shall be established for ever.' The word[ ,לפניtranslated in presence of,] in this passage, is to be understood in the same sense as in Genesis 11:28, Mortuus est Haran,על-,פניcoram facie Terah; 'And Haran died before the face of Terah,' that is, while Terah still survived. Hence, in Psalm 102:28, where,לפניךcoram te, 'before thee,' is used in reference to God, — the Alexandrine version gives εἰς αἰω̑νας 'for ever.' Here the sense is given in the words immediately following,,דורים דורgeneratio generationum, 'a generation of generations' shall venerate thee; — in other words, throughout all generations, or during a continual series of years, men shall celebrate thy happy and glorious reign." — Rosenmüller Calvin also reads" ,דורים דורgeneration of generations," in the nominative case. The translators of our English Bible supply the preposition,לlamed, thus making it, "throughout all generations." But in either case the meaning is the same.