Commentary on Psalms Volume 3 John Calvin
COMMENTARY ON PSALMS - VOLUME 3 announces his words to Jacob, his edicts and his judgments to Israel. 20. He hath not done so to every nation, and his judgments he hath not showed them. Hallelujah.
15. While he sends forth, etc. He again touches upon some instances of the operation of God, everywhere to be seen in the system of nature. And as the changes which take place in the air, and upon the earth, and which should be considered evidences of his power, may perhaps be regarded by the world as the effect of chance, the Psalmist, before proceeding to speak of the snow, hoar frost, and ice, expressly declares, that earth is governed by his power and control. The sending forth of his word is nothing else than the secret influence by which he regulates and governs all things, for without his orders and appointment no movement could take place among the elements, nor could they be borne, now one way and now another, upon their own spontaneous impulse without his foregoing secret decree. He says, that his word runneth quickly, because, when once God has intimated his will, all things concur to carry it into effect. If we do not hold fast by this principle, however acutely we may investigate second causes, all our perspicacity will come to nothing. It is thus that Aristotle, for example, has shown such ingenuity upon the subject of meteors, that he discusses their natural causes most exactly, while he omits the main point of all, upon which the merest child, at least having any religion, has the superiority over him. He must have little discernment who, in the sudden snows and hoar-frosts, does not perceive how quickly the word of God runs. If, then, we would avoid a senseless natural philosophy, we must always start with this principle, that everything in nature depends upon the will of God, and that the whole course of nature is only the prompt carrying into effect of his orders. When the waters congeal, when the hail spreads through the air, and hoar frosts darken the sky, surely we have proof how effectual his word is. But if all these wonders produce no effect upon most men, at least the piercing cold which benumbs our bodies, should force us to recognize the power of God. When the heat of the sun scorches us in summer, and again, upon the succession of winter, all things are bound up, such a change as this, which must have appeared incredible had we not been accustomed to it, cries out loudly that there is a being who reigns above.
"The cold is sometimes extremely severe and even mortal in Palestine and the neighboring countries. Fulchirius Carnotensis, as cited by Mr. Harmer, 'saw the cold prove deadly to many. Jacobus de Vitriaco informs us, that the same thing happened to many of the poorer people, engaged in an expedition in which he himself was concerned, against Mount Tabor: they had suffered severely the preceding days by cold; but on the 24th of December it was so sharp that many of the poor people, and of the beasts of burden, actually died. Albertus Acquensis tells us the same thing happened to thirty of the people that attended King Baldwin I., in the mountainous districts of Arabia by the Dead Sea, where they had to conflict with horrible hail, with ice, and unheard of snow and rain.' These citations, as Harmer appositely remarks, may remove our wonder at such passages as that here commented on, in a hymn composed in those warmer climates." — Mant.