Psalms 113

Praise the Lord: the Egyptian Hallel opens with a triple call—praise, servants, name. Wesley frames the psalm as exhortation for glory and greatness, then grace and goodness. Servants are not spectators; they are the choir.

Hallelujah is owed. Wesley’s heirs hear a sincere summons to willing praise under grace—the name is to be praised because it is worthy, and servants answer freely, not as mute instruments.

Calvin: abundant reasons for all men without exception to praise God; yet the faithful, endued with spiritual perception, are addressed in particular. The repetition stirs cold hearts to unwearied zeal. If Levites lead, they show the way so the whole Church may respond in one holy chorus; under Christ all are a royal priesthood.

Praise is commanded because God has already shown Himself. Wesley concurs: Praise the Lord; servants of the Lord.

Blessed be the name from this time forward and forevermore. Duration matches dignity—praise is not a festival mood that expires at sundown.

Forevermore invites lifelong and generational blessing of the name. Arminian readers refuse a praise that treats God's name as seasonal fashion; the time-frame is as wide as His mercy held out.

Calvin: the praises of God must be continued throughout the whole course of our life. If His name is to be continually praised, we should at least endeavor, during our brief pilgrimage, that the remembrance of it may flourish after we are dead.

Praise is meant to persevere. Where they meet: from this time forward and forevermore.

From sunrise to sunset the name is to be praised. Geography joins chronology—east to west as well as now to forever.

Both traditions hear: no latitude is exempt. One hears a public name meant for the inhabited earth, not a private password for one zip code. The Hallel already stretches toward the nations.

Calvin: extends the glory of God's name to all parts of the earth; apathy is inexcusable if we do not make its praises resound. Under the law, right praise was centered in Judea; His works visible to all nations are worthy of the whole world's admiration.

After the gospel, exaltation above the nations is more evident.

The Lord is high above all nations; His glory above the heavens. Height is not absence—it is supremacy over every people and every sky.

No rival nation-god, no ceiling that outranks Him. Classical Arminians preach a Most High whose glory invites the nations rather than hiding from them.

Calvin: in extolling the name so highly, the prophet shows there is no ground for indifference; silence would savor of impiety. When he adds that God is high above all nations, there is implied reproach of apathy in praise among the chosen people who are eye-witnesses.

Loftiness that fills thoughts with admiration. The LORD is high above all nations.

Who is like the Lord our God, seated on high? The question is rhetorical worship—uniqueness, not puzzle. Wesley's outline places glory and greatness here before the descent of grace.

Both traditions confess that no one compares with the LORD. Arminian readers and Reformed together refuse idols and demiurges; the fork is not whether anyone matches Him.

Calvin strengthens celebration by contrasting the height of God's glory and power with His unbounded goodness. Not that goodness can be separated from glory; the distinction is made out of regard to men who could not endure majesty unless He kindly drew us.

Seated on high, yet about to look down. Who is like the Lord our God?

Who stoops down to see in heaven and on the earth. Wesley: who is so high that it is wonderful condescension to notice even the heavenly host, and much more sinful and miserable men upon earth. Height and nearness are held together.

Looking far down is paternal notice, not reluctant surveillance. The God who is sincerely good toward creatures does not need to be coaxed into seeing the earth.

Calvin: God's dwelling above the heavens does not prevent Him from showing Himself near and providing for our welfare. He might righteously hold even angels in contempt were He not moved by paternal regard; if He humbles Himself toward angels, what of men groveling on the earth? It is not from our proximity but from His free choice that He makes us objects of peculiar care.

Free condescension from infinite distance. Wesley says as much: wonderful looking-down.

He raises up the poor out of the dust, and lifts up the needy from the ash heap. Hannah's song echoes; providence reverses what markets and courts ignore.

Either reading: elevation of the low. Arminian interpreters hear mercy that sincerely reaches the ash heap—without requiring the poor to climb into heaven first. The raise is God's act; the needy are truly lifted.

Calvin: solely by God's appointment things undergo changes far surpassing anticipation. Vicissitudes teach that all is regulated by His secret counsel. He enjoins admiration of providence in marvellous occurrence—cowherds elevated to power—so attention is arrested by the unexpected.

This is not a matter of chance social mobility. Both sides agree: poor raised from dust; needy from ash heap.

To make them sit with princes, even with the princes of his people. Wesley: as He did Joseph, David, and others; His people are far more honourable than heathen princes. The seat is honor among God's own, not mere celebrity.

God can and does exalt; the invitation of the gospel is not contradicted by surprising promotions. Classical Arminians refuse a fatalism that calls every rise and fall meaningless.

Calvin: men of mean condition are not merely elevated to petty sovereignty but invested with authority over God's holy people—of far more consequence than rule elsewhere. The Church is the principal theater where God displays tokens of wonderful power, wisdom, and righteousness.

Exaltation unto the people of God. Wesley concurs: sit with princes of His people.

He settles the barren woman in her home as a joyful mother of children. Praise the LORD! Wesley's grace-and-goodness section lands here; Hannah stands behind the line. Home and joy answer barrenness.

Both traditions see: ordinary providence that still astonishes. Arminian interpreters preach a Father who can open the closed womb and the closed house—The Hallel ends as it began: Praise the Lord.

Calvin: another work which, if apparently less notable, ought not less to engage us. When a long-barren woman unexpectedly becomes mother of a numerous family, astonishment is constrained. She fills the house with children; joy is attributed to mothers because progeny is preferred to many other advantages. Since God alters the current of events and makes the barren fruitful, insensibility is culpable.

Admire the hand in household mercy. Joyous mother; Praise the Lord.