Commentary on Psalms Volume 3 John Calvin
JOHN CALVIN
33. He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and springs of water into dryness; 34. A fruitful land into saltness, 287 because of the wickedness of those who dwell in it. 35. He turneth the desert into a pool of water, and the land of barrenness into springs of water. 36. And there he maketh the hungry to dwell, that they may build a city of habitation; 37. And sow fields, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of the increase. 38. And he blesses them, and they multiplied greatly; and he maketh not their cattle to decrease. 39. Afterwards they are lessened and dejected, by reason of anguish, misery, and sorrow. 40. He poureth contempt upon princes, and maketh them to wander in a wilderness, where there is no way; 288 41. And he raiseth the afflicted out of misery, and maketh him families like a flock.
33. He turneth rivers into a wilderness Here then is an account of changes which it would be the height of folly to attribute to chance. Fruitful lands become unfruitful, and barren lands assume the new aspect of freshness and fruitfulness. And how happens it that one district becomes sterile, and another becomes fat and fertile, contrary to what they were wont to be, but because that God pours out his wrath upon the inhabitants of the one, by taking his blessing from them, and renders the other fruitful to feed the hungry? It may be ascribed to the thinness of the population, that many parts of Asia and Greece, once exceedingly fruitful, now lie uncultivated and unproductive; but we must ascribe to the providence of God, which the prophet praises, the well authenticated fact, that in some places the earth that was fruitful has now become barren and parched, while others are beginning to be fertile.
It is, however, not sufficient merely to observe, that these wonderful revolutions of the surface of the earth are the result of God's overruling purpose, unless we also observe, in the second place, what the prophet does not omit, that the earth is cursed by him on account of the iniquity of its inhabitants, who prove themselves to be undeserving of being so amply sustained by his bountiful hand. He has put pools and springs of water for fields or countries where there is an abundance of water; because moisture is
",למלחהinto saltness, or barrenness. The word has here the force of sterility. Pliny says, 'Omnislocus in quo reperitursal, sterilis est, nihilque gignit.' — Hist. Nat. Lib. 31, cap. 7. Allusion is here made to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, 'The whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning; that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, which the Lord overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath,' (Deuteronomy 29:23) The Chaldee has paraphrased the verse as follows: 'The land of Israel which bore fruit he hath laid waste as Sodom, which was overturned on account of the wickedness of its inhabitants.'" — Phillips.
The words of this verse are found in Job 12:21, 24, from which they are supposed, with great probability, to have been borrowed.