Psalms 112

Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who delights greatly in his commandments. Fear joined to great delight—not servile dread alone.

Shared gateway with Psalm 111:10—fear and delight together. Grace enables delight; the blessed still greatly delight and keep. Blessedness is true for the fearer who loves the commands.

Calvin: blessed is the man that fears Jehovah and delights greatly in His commandments—fear specified by delight; none belong to God’s worshippers but those who endeavor to keep the law. Cheerful love of the law must overcome the flesh’s allurements; forced obedience is not enough.

Fear proved by delighted keeping. Shared—happiness is not in doing evil but in this fear.

Offspring mighty in the land; generation of the upright blessed. Wesley: Generation—the posterity.

Blessing extends to the upright’s line. Shared—God’s kindness often runs in families that fear Him, without making prosperity an automatic machine.

Calvin: his seed shall be powerful; the generation of the righteous blessed—fatherly kindness extends to posterity (Exod 34:7), yet God dispenses temporal favors as He sees best; some good men are childless or poor.

Hold the promise without turning it into a rigid ledger. Shared hope for the upright’s generation.

Wealth and riches in his house; his righteousness endures forever. Wesley: Righteousness—the fruit or reward of his righteousness, God’s blessing on his estate.

Righteousness outlasts goods. Wealth may come; enduring righteousness is the true abiding.

Calvin: wealth and riches in his house; righteousness endures forever—God sometimes gives more, sometimes less; the virtuous may hunger. Integrity is the surest preserver of blessings; unrighteous gain vanishes at God’s blast.

Enduring righteousness distinguishes the godly. Shared warning not to read every rich house as blessed or every poor saint as cursed.

Light dawns in the darkness for the upright, gracious, merciful, and righteous. Wesley: Darkness—troubles and calamities; He—the upright man.

Light in trouble; the upright mirrors God’s gracious, merciful, righteous character (cf. 111:4).

Calvin: light arises in darkness to the righteous—either exempted under common troubles by God’s favor, or calm after storm; epithets gracious, merciful, just apply fittingly to God as the light’s source.

Grace shines on the faithful when the world is dark. Shared character of the upright under that light.

Well with the man who deals graciously and lends; conducts affairs with justice. Wesley: Lendeth—gives freely to some, lends to others; Affairs—domestic; Discretion—not unjust gain, nor prodigal waste, nor withholding from the needy.

Shared ethics—generosity, just lending, discreet affairs. Faith works through liberal justice.

Calvin: well with those gracious and communicative; lending as fruit of mercy, not usury’s snare; managing affairs with prudence—neither lavish nor sordid, always equitable.

Kindness opens a channel for God’s favor. Shared refusal of oppressive lending.

The righteous will never be shaken. The righteous will be remembered forever. Wesley: Moved—though afflicted for a season, not eternally destroyed.

The righteous are promised stability and a lasting remembrance. Shared—affliction may come; final overthrow of the righteous will not.

Calvin: surely he shall not be moved forever; the just in perpetual remembrance—God sustains the compassionate; they may seem to sink yet confidence holds; innocence appears despite slander.

Unmoved in the end; name blessed before God. Shared forever remembrance.

Not be afraid of evil news; heart steadfast, trusting in the LORD. Wesley: Evil tidings—report of approaching calamities.

Trust steadies the heart when rumors fly. Grace enables firm trust; the hearer must actually trust.

Calvin: not afraid when he hears evil tidings; heart fixed, trusting in Jehovah—unlike unbelievers who tremble at every rumor because they think fortune sports while God rests. The faithful may feel fear yet keep tenor of life under God’s care.

Fixed heart from trust, not iron insensibility. Shared peace under bad news.

Heart steady; not afraid, until he sees his desire on his adversaries.

For the church: steadiness until vindication. Shared—fear yields as God gives the upright to see enemies put down; not a thirst for private revenge.

Calvin: heart established; not afraid until he see upon his enemies—calm until the fit season of God’s vengeance; trials alarm but do not shake faith.

Patience until God’s time. Shared steady heart.

Distributed freely; given to the poor; righteousness endures forever; horn exalted in honor. Wesley: Dispersed—goods freely; Righteousness—liberality or its reward; Ever—what he gives is not lost but abides to eternity.

Paul cites this (2 Cor 9:9). Liberal giving to the poor; righteousness lasting; honor from God. Classical Arminians stress free, willing generosity as fruit of grace.

Calvin: he has distributed and given to the poor—liberally as means allow, prudently to the necessitous, not ostentatious waste. Righteousness endureth forever; horn exalted—God preserves the glory of their liberality and does not disappoint the reward.

Enduring fruit of charity. Shared exaltation of the generous righteous.

The wicked see it, and be grieved; gnashes teeth, and melt away. The desire of the wicked will perish. Wesley: The desire—either of the misery of good men, or of his own constant prosperity.

Shared end—envy melts; wicked desire perishes. Contrast with the righteous’ forever remembrance. Do not envy the gnashing; delight in the commandments.

Calvin: the wicked shall see and be angry; gnash and melt away; desire of the wicked shall perish—forced to feel that charity is not vain; envy consumes them; God snatches what they thought they held.

Frustrated desire of the wicked. Shared warning and comfort—the upright’s honor vexes evil to its own melt.