Commentary on Psalms Volume 2 John Calvin
COMMENTARY ON PSALMS - VOLUME 2 they have no idea of any difficulty arising from such a quarter. Thus, there is no obstacle to repress their proud and vaunting speeches, but their tongue walketh through the whole earth. This form of expression seems to be hyperbolical; but when we consider how great and unbounded their presumption is, we will admit that the Psalmist teaches nothing but what experience shows to be matter of fact.
Psalm 73:10-14
10. On this account his people will return hither, and waters of a full cup will be wrung out to them. 11. And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the Most High? 12. Behold! These are the ungodly, and yet they enjoy repose [or quietness] for ever: they heap up riches. 13. Surely I have purified my heart in vain, and washed my hands daily. 655 14. And I have been scourged daily, and my chastisement has been every morning.
10. On this account his people will return hither. Commentators wrest this sentence into a variety of meanings. In the first place, as the relative his is used, without an antecedent indicating whose people are spoken of, some understand it simply of the ungodly, as if it had been said, That the ungodly always fall back upon this reflection: and they view the word people as denoting a great troop or band; for as soon as a wicked man raises his standard, he always succeeds in drawing a multitude of associates after him. They, therefore, think the meaning to be, that every prosperous ungodly man has people flocking about him, as it were, in troops; and that, when within his palace or magnificent mansion, they are content with getting water to drink; so much does this perverse imagination bewitch them. But there is another sense much more correct, and which is also approved by the majority of commentators; namely, that the people of God 656 return hither. Some take the word,הלםhalom, which we have rendered hither, as denoting afflicted; 657 but this is a forced interpretation.
"Et lave mes mains en nettete." — Fr. "And washed my hands in innocency." The Psalmist may allude to the rite of ablution which was in use among the Jews. See Deuteronomy 21:6, and Psalm 26:6. Or he may be understood as signifying by the metaphor of washing the hands in general, the pains which he took to be blameless in the whole of his outward conduct. "Opposite to the phrase, to wash in innocence," says Merrick, "is the scelere imbuere of Cicero, (Philipp. v.) 'Cum autem semel gladium scelere imbuisset,'" etc. See Job 9:30.
The Septuagint, Vulgate, Syriac, Arabic, and Æthiopic versions read, "my people."