Commentary on Psalms Volume 3 John Calvin
Psalm 108
PSALM 108
Psalm 108:1-13
A Song or Psalm of David.
1. My heart is prepared, O God! my heart is prepared; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory. 2. Awake, psaltery and harp: I will arise at break of day. 3. I will praise thee, O Jehovah! among the people; and sing unto thee among the nations: 4. Because thy goodness is great above the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds. 5. Be thou, O God! exalted above the heavens; and thy glory above all the earth: 6. That thy chosen may be set free, save me by thy right hand, and hear me. 7. God has spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem, and measure the valley of Succoth. 8. Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine; Ephraim is the strength of my head: Judah is my lawgiver. 292 9. Moab is the pot of my washing; over Edom I will cast my shoe; over Philistina I will triumph. 10. Who will bring me into the fortified city? who will bring me even unto Edom? 11. Wilt not thou, O God! who hadst repulsed us? and wentest not out, O God! with our armies? 12. Lord us help out of our tribulations; because the help of man is vain. 13. Through God we will do valiantly, and he shall trample under foot our enemies.
"Ou, mon duc." — Fr. marg. "Or, my leader."
COMMENTARY ON PSALMS - VOLUME 3
Because this psalm is composed of parts taken from the fifty-seventh and sixtieth psalms, it would be superfluous to repeat, in this place, what we have already said by way of exposition in those psalms. 293
"The 108th psalm is altogether made up of extracts from the others; its first part being identical (with the exceptions of a few slight variations) with the third division of the 57th; its second, with the second division of the 60th. And both these borrowed parts are discriminated, both in the 57th and 60th psalms, from the rest of the context by the word Selah. This is a remarkable fact, and illustrates strongly one of the functions of the Diapsalma. These parts were, then, to a certain degree, regarded as distinct compositions, which occasionally were disjointed from their original context; the very change of sentiment and strain, which originated the word Diapsalma, sanctioning such an occasional practice." — Jebb's Literal Version of the Book of Psalms, with Dissertations, volume 2, page 109.
Psalm 109
PSALM 109
This psalm consists of three parts. It begins with a complaint; next follows an enumeration of various imprecations; and then comes a prayer with an expression of true gratitude. And although David here complains of the injuries which he sustained, yet, as he was a typical character, everything that is expressed in the psalm must properly be applied to Christ, the Head of the Church, and to all the faithful, inasmuch as they are his members; so that when unjustly treated and tormented by their enemies, they may apply to God for help, to whom vengeance belongs. 294
Psalm 109:1-5
To the Chief Musician, a Psalm of David.
From the express application of a part of this awfully prophetic poem to Judas by the Apostle Peter, (Acts 1:20) we learn that the punishment and sufferings of that unhappy man form its subject. It has also been justly viewed as shadowing forth, not merely the fate of the wretched Iscariot, and his immediate associates, but the dreadful and justly-merited destiny of the Jewish polity and nation. "The first five verses of this psalm," says Horsley, "clearly describe the treatment which our Lord met with from the Jews. The curses that follow as clearly describe the judgments which have fallen upon that miserable people. So that the whole is a prediction of his sufferings, and of their punishment, delivered in the form of complaint and imprecation." Whatever, therefore, may be said as to the primary reference of the psalm to the lamentations and denunciations poured forth by David, in consequence of the perfidy and cruelty of some inveterate foe, Christ must be principally understood as the person who gives utterance to these lamentations and denunciations, occasioned by the injurious treatment he received from his betrayer and murderers. — See Appendix.