Translator's Preface

Translator's Preface

INTRODUCTORY NOTICE

The Book Of Psalms, viewed merely as a poetical composition, has very high claims on our attention. Men of the most refined and cultivated taste have often been attracted to the study of it from the poetical beauties with which it abounds, and have admitted, in this respect, the superiority of its claims. The greatest of our English poets thus speaks of these sacred songs: ”Not in their divine argument alone, but in the very critical art of composition, they may be easily made appear over all the kinds of lyric poesy to be incomparable.” Another elegant scholar speaking on the same subject, says, “In lyric flow and fire, in crushing force and majesty, that seems still to echo the awful sounds once heard beneath the thunder clouds of Sinai, the poetry of the ancient Scriptures is the most superb that ever burned within the breast of man.”

Note 1. Milton

Note 2. Sir David K. Sandford

But the intrinsic excellence of this Book gives it still higher claims on our attention. written under the influence of the Spirit of inspiration, its subject-matter is worthy of its celestial origin. In general, it contains details of the national history of the Jewish people, records of particular portions of the life and experience of individuals, and predictions of future events. Each of these heads embraces a wide field, and they include illustrations of every religions truth which it is necessary for us to know, exemplifications of every devout feeling which it is our duty to cherish, and examples of every spiritual conflict which it is possible for us to experience. We meet with many disclosures of the greatness, majesty, and perfections of the only true God; his government of the world; and his special care over his chosen people. We meet with the varied exercises of the regenerated soul, and behold it at one time offering up fervent supplications to the Hearer of prayer, at another celebrating his perfections and works; at one time giving utterance to the ardent breathings of love to God, and trust in him, at another struggling with unbelief and corruption; at one time mourning under the divine chastisement on account of sin, at another rejoicing in a sense of forgiving mercy, and enjoying the peace which passeth all understanding. We have presented to us many wonderful predictions concerning the Messiah, his humiliation, sufferings, death, resurrection, and ascension to his Fatherright hand; his work in heaven as the intercessor of his people, and his authority as universal King; the effusion of the influences of the Holy Spirit, and the conversion of all nations to the faith of the Gospel. In short, we have unfolded to our view the final judgment, the gathering of all the righteous to God, and the eternal exclusion of the wicked from happiness and from hope.

These and similar topics which are set forth in the noblest strains of poetry, and in a diction whose magnificence and sublimity correspond to the importance and grandeur of the sentiments, constitute the materials of this Book; and while they afford an incontestable proof that it Is inspired, that it does not consist of the creations of mere human genius, but is an emanation from heaven, they show that its character and tendency are altogether different from the character and tendency of the most admired poetry, which the genius of heathen nations has ever produced. It ministers to no depraved passion; it fosters no fictitious virtue; it disdains to offer its delicious incense at the shrine of degrading superstition. It teaches the most exalted piety, and the purest morality. It tends only to refine and exalt the nature of man, to elevate the soul to God, and inspire it with the admiration and love of his character, to curb the passions, purify the affections, and excite to the cultivation of whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report. It has guided the saint in doubt and difficulty; it has nerved him for self-denial and suffering; it has imparted support and comfort to him in the hour of death. This Book has accordingly been highly appreciated by the best of men in every age, and they have labored to find expressions in which to set forth its excellence. Athanasius styles it, “An epitome of the whole Scriptures;” Basil, “A compendium of all theology;” Luther, “A little Bible, and the summary of the Old Testament;” Melancthon, “The most elegant work extant in the world;” and for Calvin’s estimate of its value we refer to the excellent preface with which he introduces this department of his labors to the attention of the reader.

Calvin’s Commentary On The Psalms, a new Translation of which is now in course of being presented to the English reader, is distinguished by many of the excellencies which have acquired for his Commentaries on other parts of Scripture so great reputation. In this, as in his other Commentaries, his first and great object is to ascertain the mind of the Holy Spirit. To ascertain this, he proceeds on the principle laid down by Melancthon, “that Scripture cannot be understood theologically, unless it be first understood grammatically.” Before his time the mystical and allegorical method of explaining the Scriptures was very prevalent; according to which, the interpreter, dwelling very little or not at all upon the literal sense, sought for hidden and allegorical meanings. But rejecting this mode of interpretation, which contributed little to the right understanding of the word of God, and according to which the meaning was made to depend entirely upon the fancy of the interpreter, Calvin set himself to the investigation of the grammatical and literal sense, by a careful examination of the Hebrew test, and by a diligent attention to the drift and intention of the writer’s discourse.

This principle of interpretation cannot be too highly commended. It should first engage the attention of the commentator; and when it is neglected, the fundamental principle of sacred criticism is violated. Calvin was deeply alive to its importance. His only defect lies in his acting upon it too exclusively. Many of the Psalms, in addition to the literal meaning, have a prophetical, evangelical, and spiritual sense. While referring primarily to David and the nation of Israel, they have, at the same time, a reference to Christ and the New Testament Church, founded on the fact that the former were typical of the latter. Calvin, indeed, explains some of the Psalms on this principle. But he applies the principle less frequently than he might have done, without contravening the canons of sound hermeneutics. His great aversion to the mystical method of interpretation, and to the absurd and extravagant lengths to which it was carried by the Fathers, perhaps made him err on the other extreme of confining his attention too much to the literal meanings and directing his attention too little to the prophetical and spiritual character of the Book, and to the reference which it has to Christ and the Church. In consequence of this, his expositions have less unction, and contain less of rich evangelical sentiment, than would otherwise have distinguished them. There are, however, two principles of evangelical truth which he is at pains to inculcates whenever a fit opportunity presents itself —the doctrine of justification by faith in Christ without the works of the Law; and the necessity of personal holiness in order to salvation.

Another excellence of this commentary is its practical character. The author does not confine himself to the dry and lifeless detail of mere grammatical praxis, as if he had been commenting on a Greek or Roman classic. He turns all his explanations to practical account, and thus his work exhibits a happy combination of critical and philological remark with practical exposition.

Here, again, we find displayed the sound and penetrating judgment for which Calvin has been universally admired. This is manifest in the judicious selection which he makes from amongst a variety of interpretations of that which is evidently the true one, or which appears to be the most probable. Sometimes he pronounces a certain interpretation to be meagre and unsatisfactory. At other times, he simply states hit preference of one interpretation to another, when, after careful examinations it appeared to him to have the balance of arguments in its favor; without, however, expressing any decided opposition to the other, when the view which he preferred to it was supported only bit a slight preponderance of evidence. At other times, he does not decide between different interpretations, showing that with respect to certain words and expressions he had not come to a fixed opinion. In all these instances, he generally shows much penetration and judgment. He is, no doubt, sometimes mistaken in his interpretation of particular passages. But when it is considered that the Scriptures had long been a sealed book, and that his helps were few and imperfect compared with those which we now possess, the wonder is, that he should have succeeded so well in bringing out their true meaning. This was chiefly owing to vigor and acuteness of intellects combined with a sound and discriminating judgment. These, indeed, were the mental qualities by which he was peculiarly distinguished. We meet with no flashes of poetry, no brilliant coruscation of fancy, giving evidence of a powerful imagination. The eloquent passages which occur are the eloquence of reason, not the bursts of imagination. But his strength of thought, the vigor and perspicacity of his intellect, the extraordinary power of his judgment, command our willing admiration.

Note 3. From the variety of interpretations of the same passages which we meet with in Calvin’s Commentary, and of which we have still more numerous specimens in Poole’s Synopsis Criticorum, it is by no means to be supposed that the meaning of the language of Scripture is vague, uncertain, and unsettled. Had the professed interpreters of Scripture always performed their task with judgment, as well as learning and talent, and been guided by the rules of sound hermeneutics, the reader would not have been bewildered with so many different and contradictory interpretations. Still, however, there are words and sentences, the exact import of which is more or less doubtful and uncertain, so that it is difficult to determine between different senses which have been put upon them. The reasons of this are so well stated by Cresswell, in his preface to The Book of Psalms with Notes, (pp. 14, 15, 16,) and the passage has so direct a bearing on a number of the various interpretations, which Calvin deals with in this Commentary, that we shall quote it entire though it is long. “The Hebrew is not only a dead language, but the oldest of all dead languages; it is, moreover, the language of a people that lived under institutions and in a climate very different from those of our own country, so that the idioms with which it abounds cannot but be strange to our habits of thinking and our modes of speech; nor have we any book but the Bible itself to consult for an illustration of these phraseological peculiarities. The paucity of the words also contained in that ancient tongue is such, that the same Hebrew term very often bears a great variety of significations, the connection of which with each other cannot always be satisfactorily ascertained: and, again, there are words, each of which is found but once in the whole volume of Scripture, so that their meanings can only be conjectured, either from their affinity to other words, or from the purport of the passage wherein they occur.” “The following are amongst the many grammatical Hebraisms which we meet with in The Book of Psalms. The future and past tenses are put almost indiscriminately, the one for the other, and the former of them is used occasionally to designate not that which will happen, but that which is accustomed to happen. The infinitive is put for every other mood, and also for nouns even in the accusative case. The future tense is sometimes expressed by a verb in the imperative mood. Two substantives are put instead of a substantive and an adjective; a substantive is frequently used adverbially; and the same substantive repeated denotes multitude When the negative particle occurs in the first member of a sentence, it is sometimes to be understood, and must be supplied, in the following members. Hebrew sentences are also in other respects very often elliptical, broken, and imperfect; and in the same sentence there is in many instances a change of person in the speaker, without any express intimation of it.” “From the peculiarities above mentioned, and especially from the different ways in which an ellipse may be supplied, it is plain that the text of Scripture must needs admit of a considerable latitude of interpretation; so that although none of its important doctrines whether they relate to faith or morals, are thereby left doubtful, yet does it contain passages the exact meanings of which are more or less uncertain. The candid and pious reader, however, will with Augustine gladly acknowledge that all which he fully comprehends in the sacred volume is most excellent; whilst he looks with feelings of veneration upon that smaller portion of it which he less perfectly understands, but which the diligence and erudition of future times may, through divine aid, be enabled to elucidate.”

Since this commentary was first published, a great number of Translations of The Psalms, as well as numerous critical and explanatory works upon them, have made their appearance, while much new light has been thrown upon many passages from more extensive philological research, from an attention to the parallelism of Hebrew poetry, and from the fuller information which we now possess, by the discoveries of modern travelers, of the natural history, customs, and mannered of the East, to which frequent allusion is made in The Psalms. But such id the acuteness of judgment, and success in discovering the mind of the Spirit which distinguish these prelections, that they are not superseded by any modern Commentary on the same subject: and though it is nearly three centuries since they were written, there are few separate works on The Psalms from which the student of the present day, who wishes critically to examine them, will derive more important assistance.

Note 4. Parallelism is the distinguishing characteristic of Hebrew poetry, and an attention to it, it must be admitted, affords much assistance in elucidating obscure, and explaining difficult passages. Some modern translations of The Psalms, as French and Skinner’s, have the lines so arranged as to make the parallelisms apparent to the eye; which enables the reader to discover at a glance niceties both of structure and of meaning, which, in the ordinary mode of printing, might pass unnoticed after frequent and even close perusal. For a full investigation of this subject, the reader is referred to Dr Lowth’s elegant Lectures on Sacred Poetry, and his Preliminary Dissertation prefixed to his translation of the prophet Isaiah, works which created a new era in sacred literature, by the light which they cast on the character of Hebrew poetry, with respect to which the learned world were previously unsettled and perplexed, from the obscurity which rested on the subject. Bishop Jebb, in his “Sacred Literature,” has also investigated the parallelism of Hebrew poetry with much ability, and successfully controverted some of Bishop Lowth’s positions.

Nor is Calvin’s impartiality and integrity as an interpreter less apparent in this Work than his judgment. It being his first and leading object to ascertain the mind of the Holy Spirit, he came to the Word of God not for the purpose of finding arguments to establish some preconceived opinion or theory, but in the humble character of a learner, and we never find him perverting or twisting a passage to support even those doctrines which he most deeply cherished. So far from doing this, he not infrequently gives up a text which has been explained by other commentators as a proof of some important doctrine, and which he would have viewed in the same light had it not been for his aversion to put on Scripture a forced construction, and his determination rigidly to adhere to the principles of fair and logical interpretation. For example, these words in Psalm 2:7,

“Jehovah hath said unto me,
Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee,”

have been quoted by Augustine and many other eminent divines, in proof of the eternal generation of the Son of God. But as Paul, in Acts 13:33, explains them as receiving their fulfillment in the resurrection of Christ, Calvin sets them aside from the class of proofs which support the doctrine of an eternal generation, although he held that doctrine, and considers them as referring merely to the manifestation afforded of Christ’s Sonship by his resurrection from the dead. Again, Psalm 8:5, etc.,

Note 5. That Calvin held this doctrine is evident from his Commentary on Acts 13:33, where, after stating that the words of the second Psalm, above quoted, refer to the unequivocal evidence by which the Father proved that Christ was his Son in raising him from the dead, he observes “This, however, is no objection to the doctrine that Christ, the personal Word, was begotten by the eternal Father before time; but that generation is an inscrutable mystery.“ With respect to those who argue from this passage in support of that doctrine, he says, “I know that Augustine, and the greatest number of commentators, are better pleased with the subtile speculation that ‘to-day‘ denotes a continued or an eternal act. But when the Spirit of God himself is his own interpreter, and explains by the mouth of Paul what was spoken by David, we are not warranted to invent and put upon the words any other meaning.“

Note 6. P. 118

“Thou hast made him a little lower than God, and hast crowned him with glory and honor,” etc.,

has been often explained as prophetic of the temporary humiliation and subsequent exaltation of Christ, an opinion which is supported by reasons far from contemptible; but Calvin, judging from the scope of the passage, considers it as exclusively referring to man, and that when Paul quotes it in Hebrews 2:7, and applies it to Christ, he applies it to him only by way of accommodation. Again, these words in Psalm 33:6,

Note 7. Pp. 103-105

“By the word of Jehovah were the heavens established, and all the host of them by the spirit of his mouth,”

have been viewed by many judicious divines as a proof of the Trinity, “Jehovah,” denoting the Father, “the word of Jehovah,” the Son, and “the spirit of Jehovah’s mouth,” the Holy Spirit; but while Calvin admits that the “word of Jehovah” means the Eternal Word, the only begotten Son of God, yet reasoning from the sense which the phrase, “the spirit of Jehovah’s mouth,” ordinarily bears in Scripture, he argues that it does not there mean the third person of the adorable Trinity, but simply sermo, speech, although there were no truths which he held more firmly, and regarded as more essential to the Christian system, than the doctrines of the Trinity and of the Divinity of the Holy Spirit. “It is very possible,” says Tholuck, “that in following this direction of mind, he may have unnecessarily sacrificed this and the other proof text; still the principle upon which he proceeded is in all cases to be approved.” This commentary, again, bears evident marks of the learning of its author. His intimate acquaintance with the Hebrew language, the knowledge of which is of so much importance to the interpretation of the Old Testament Scriptures, is everywhere apparent. Father Simon, whom the acrimony of controversy led to indulge too much in depreciating and abusing those who differed from him, asserts, indeed, that Calvin was so ignorant of the Hebrew language, that he knew nothing more than the letters. But we have only to examine his Commentary on The Psalms, not to speak of his Commentaries on other parts of the Old Testament, to be convinced that his knowledge of the Hebrew language was accurate and minute, considering the age in which he lived He frequently enters into a critical examination of the original text, and manifests by his philological remarks, brief though they be, an intimate acquaintance with that language; arriving, in his interpretations, at the same results to which a more profound exegesis and a more minute attention to philology have conducted modern critics. Often, when he does not professedly criticise the Hebrew text, or make his statements in the form of criticisms the Hebrew scholar will perceive that his remarks are founded upon a close attention to the strict meaning of the Hebrew words, and that he frequently states their precise import with much force, felicity, and delicacy of expression. Nor is proof wanting, from this Commentary, that Calvin had traveled over the whole field of knowledge, in so far as it had been explored in his day. From ancient and modern systems of philosophy, from civil and ecclesiastical history, as well as from the Greek and Roman classical he draws materials, and shows how he could employ with ease and power, and yet without the least ostentation or pedantry, his varied acquisitions for the illustration of sacred truth.

Note 8. P. 543

In short this Work is pervaded by earnest piety and much Christian experience. Its whole tone evinces it to be the fruit of a soul which felt the deep workings of piety; of a Soul in which the love of God was extreme, which sought its rest and happiness in him alone, which recognised his hand and providence in every event, which confided in him in all circumstances, which looked to him as a Father and a friend for every blessing, and which, in all its powers, was consecrated with entire devotedness to Christ and the Gospel. It everywhere, too, bespeaks the man of large religious experience. Whether the author comments on the plaintive songs in which grief pours forth its bitterness, or on the triumphant and joyful songs in which the perfections and providence of God, individual and national deliverances are celebrated; whether he speaks of David’s religious exercises, or of the trials of his life, or of his inward conflicts, we perceive a mind which had itself experienced much of what it illustrates. This experience eminently qualified Calvin to be an interpreter of The Psalms. Placed often in circumstances similar to those of David, as he graphically describes in his Preface, he was thus enabled accurately to conceive of David’s train of thinking, to see things as it were with his eyes, to trace the complexion and character of his feelings, and thus to portray them in so just and natural a manner, that we are almost ready to think, in perusing the description of them, that they are described by David himself.