Commentary on Psalms Volume 3 John Calvin
COMMENTARY ON PSALMS - VOLUME 3
Psalm 106:1-5
1. Hallelujah. 238 Praise ye Jehovah; because he is good; 239 because his mercy endureth for ever. 2. Who shall express the power of Jehovah? who shall declare all his praise? 3. Blessed are they that keep judgment, and blessed is he who worketh in righteousness at all times. 240 4. Remember me, O Jehovah! with the good will which thou bearest towards thy people: visit me with thy salvation; 5. That I may see the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the joy of thy nation, and glory with thy heritage.
1. Praise ye Jehovah This exhortation supplies the want of a title; not that the psalm contains nothing else than thanksgiving and praise to God, but that the people, from the experience of past favors, may obtain the assurance of reconciliation; and thus entertain the hope that God, although at present offended, would soon be pacified towards them. In celebrating the praises of God, therefore, he orders them to call to mind such things as would have a tendency to assuage their grief on account of present ills, and to animate their spirits, and prevent them from sinking into despair. 241
2 Who shall express. This verse is susceptible of two interpretations; for if you read it in connection with the one immediately following, the sense will be, that all men are not alike equal to the task of praising God, because the ungodly and the wicked do nothing else than profane his holy name with their unclean lips; as it is said in the fiftieth psalm: "But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?" And hence to this sentence the following clause should have been annexed, in the form of a reply, Blessed are they that keep judgment I am of opinion, however, that the prophet had another design, namely, that there is no man who has ever endeavored
",יה הללוPraise the Lord. These words constitute the title, and are not to be considered as making any part of the text of the psalm. The Chaldee retains them as a title; the LXX. and Vulgate have the Hebrew words, which are joined into one; whilst the Syriac has in their stead a sort of table of contents of the psalm " — Phillips.
"כי-,טובFor he is good.משפטיוis employed emphatically, denoting that God is good, without any mixture of evil, perfectly good in himself, and is, as it were, the fountain from which flows every good, and nothing but good. Hence we read in Matthew 19:17, 'There is none good but one, that is, God.'" — Ibid.
Bishop Horsley, following the Syriac, which reads,משפטיוand all the other versions, which read,עשיtranslates the verse, "Blessed are they that keep his judgments, and do righteousness at all seasons."
It is the province of faith to celebrate the divine mercy in the most trying circumstances.