Commentary on Psalms Volume 3 John Calvin (continued)
JOHN CALVIN
strong man so are the children of youth. 543 5. Blessed is the man who shall have filled his quiver with them; for 544 they shall not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies in the gate.
3. Lo! children are the heritage of Jehovah. Solomon here adduces one instance in which, in a particular manner, he would have us to recognize the truth which he has hitherto asserted generally — that the life of men is governed by God. Nothing seems more natural than for men to be produced of men. The majority of mankind dream, that after God had once ordained this at the beginning, children were thenceforth begotten solely by a secret instinct of nature, God ceasing to interfere in the matter; and even those who are endued with some sense of piety, although they may not deny that He is the Father and Creator of the human race, yet do not acknowledge that his providential care descends to this particular case, but rather think that men are created by a certain universal motion. With the view of correcting this preposterous error, Solomon calls children the heritage of God, and the fruit of the womb his gift; for the Hebrew word,שכרsachar, translated reward, signifies whatever benefits God bestows upon men, as is plainly manifest from many passages of Scripture. The meaning then is, that, children are not the fruit of chance, but that God, as it seems good to him, distributes to every man his share of them. Moreover, as the Prophet repeats the same thing twice, heritage and reward are to be understood as equivalent; for both these terms are set in opposition to fortune, or the strength of men. The stronger a man is he seems so much the better fitted for procreation. Solomon declares on the contrary, that those become fathers to whom God vouchsafes that honor.
As the majority of children are not always a source of joy to their parents, a second favor of God is added, which is his forming the minds of children, and adorning them with an excellent disposition, and all kinds of virtues. Aristotle in his Politics very properly discusses the question whether πολυτεκνια, that is, the having of many children, ought to be accounted among good things or no; and he decides it in the negative, unless there is added εὐγενεια, that is, generosity or goodness of nature in the children themselves. And assuredly it would be a far happier lot for many to be without children, or barren, than to have a numerous offspring,,הנעורים בניsons of youth, words which may signify children begotten by the father in his youth, asבז-,זקניםis a son begotten by a parent in his old age, (Genesis 37:3;) or the expression may denote youths, asנכר בניmean strangers, (Psalm 18:45.) Either rendering, I apprehend, will be suitable on this occasion; for the object of the verse is doubtless to show, that a numerous progeny is a great blessing to a man, and an important addition to his strength and safety; that they will be a defence to him in a time of danger, and serve him to repel an enemy, as arrows do in the hand of a mighty man." — Phillips.
"Car " — Fr.