Psalms 60

Wesley: Rejected us—withdrawn thy favour and help; Broken—defeated us; Restore—bring us into thy favour again. The psalm opens by naming anger and asking restoration, not denial of guilt.

Restore us is a living plea after defeat. Grace that once fought for Israel still invites a people to seek favour again; rejection felt is not treated as final when restore is prayed.

Calvin: David complains that God had cast off his people and broken their power, yet turns at once to prayer for restoration. Anger is confessed as God’s; the remedy is God himself restoring.

Broken defenses are read theologically, not merely militarily. Restore us rests on covenant mercy, not human regrouping.

Wesley: Quake—by thine anger and by our enemies; Breaches—the ruins made by the enemy. The land totters; prayer asks God to repair what his judgment has torn.

Breaches can be mended when God is asked. Shared seriousness—national tottering is not ignored; the asker seeks divine repair, not self-made stability alone.

Calvin: the shaking of the land pictures the disordered state of the kingdom under divine chastisement. Repair is begged from the same hand that tore.

Tottering breaches call for God’s mend. Providence that shakes also alone can heal the rift.

Wesley: Hard things—sore calamities; Wine—the cup of thy wrath. Staggering wine names judgment that confuses and weakens.

Hard things are faced honestly in prayer. Grace does not require pretending the cup was sweet; it invites confession of staggering need.

Calvin ties hard things and staggering wine to God’s severe dealing—discipline that makes a people reel. The cup is from his hand.

Stagger is theological, not mere bad luck. Wrath’s cup drives the cry that follows for banner and salvation.

Wesley: Banner—a token of thy presence and protection for those who fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Fear of God gathers under a visible hope.

Fleeing to the banner is a living act. Those who fear are invited to gather under God’s signal; the bow does not erase the call to take refuge there.

Calvin: God has given a banner to them that fear him—a signal of hope under the crossbow of enemies. Fear of God, not military pride, marks those for whom the banner is raised.

The banner is God’s gift. Flight to it is faith under fire, not cowardice.

Wesley: Beloved—thy people whom thou lovest; deliverance begged by the right hand; answer us joins salvation to prayer heard.

Beloved ones may still ask to be delivered. Right-hand salvation is sought in petition; answer us keeps the dialogue open.

Calvin: beloved ones are delivered by God’s right hand alone; answer us stakes the plea on his hearing. Salvation is gift, not wage.

Beloved is God’s naming. Deliverance by the right hand excludes boasting in man’s arm.

Wesley: Spoken—promised; Holiness—or, sanctuary; Divide—as a conqueror. God’s holy speech claims the land with exultation.

The oracle invites trust in what God has spoken. Shared—holiness underwrites the promise; Shechem and Succoth are portioned by his word, not chance.

Calvin cites God’s own oracle spoken in his holiness—divine claim on the land with conquering joy. The word, not circumstance, settles the map.

God has spoken stands over defeat. Faith leans on the holy utterance when armies fail.

Wesley: Helmet—defence; Sceptre—the seat of my kingdom. God claims tribes as his own armor and rule.

Mine repeats ownership that summons loyalty. Grace that claims Ephraim and Judah still calls those tribes to live under the helmet and scepter.

Calvin: Gilead, Manasseh, Ephraim, Judah are God’s—helmet and scepter picture defense and royal rule from him. The people are instruments of his dominion.

Identity is “mine.” Kingdom security rests on God’s claim, not tribal strength alone.

Wesley: Wash-pot—a vessel of no esteem; Cast my shoe—take possession of, as of a mean thing. Enemies are humbled in God’s speech.

Triumph shouted is God’s, not fleshly gloating as final ethic. The nations’ low place under the oracle warns pride and comforts the afraid.

Calvin: Moab, Edom, and Philistia are despised in the divine oracle—washbasin and cast shoe mark subjection under God’s triumph.

Enemy humiliation is God’s verdict. The shout belongs to the Lord who owns the map.

Wesley: Fortified city—the chief city of Edom. The question seeks a leader into the stronghold still untaken.

Who will bring me keeps asking for guidance into hard places. Faith does not skip the fortified city; it seeks the one who leads.

Calvin: even after the oracle, David asks who will lead to Edom’s strong city—promise drives petition for actual leading.

God’s oracle and Israel’s need meet here. God who claimed Edom is asked to bring the army there.

Wesley: Rejected—seems to have cast us off; God not going forth with armies explains the felt absence in battle.

Honest lament of rejection still speaks to God. The complaint is prayer, not atheism—seeking that he would go forth again.

Calvin returns to the complaint of rejection and God’s absence from the armies—victory fails when he does not march.

Military loss is read as God’s withholding. The cure is his presence, not better tactics alone.

Wesley: Vain—insufficient and deceitful. Help against the foe is begged because man’s salvation cannot save.

Grant us help is still asked. Shared—human rescue is named vain so that prayer turns wholly to God.

Calvin: human help is vanity; therefore Give us help against the adversary is addressed to God alone. Man’s salvation cannot underwrite the war.

Vain is confession of creaturely emptiness. Help is grace from above the foe.

Wesley: Valiantly—triumphantly; Tread down—subdue. With God courage becomes possible; he treads the foes.

We shall do valiantly still includes the people’s action under God. Grace enables valor; the treading remains his—cooperation under divine might, not self-salvation.

Calvin: only with God shall we do valiantly, for it is he who treads down our foes. Valor is true, but the decisive trampling is God’s.

With God closes the psalm. Human arm is vain (v. 11); divine treading secures the field.