Reformed commentators tend to find Christ in the Psalms typologically, and that approach to the text is demonstrated in John Calvin’s (1509-1564) interpretation of Psalm 41:9. While Christ applied this text to Judas, Calvin finds a broader correspondence between David and Christ. David’s words concerning his own situation, Calvin argues, are representative of Christ, and…

When modern interpreters imagine the literal sense of Scripture, they tend to conceive it in terms of the historical, grammatical, and literary elements of the text. For sixteenth-century commentators, however, to observe this narrow definition would be to sever the letter of Scripture from the Spirit, its divine author. While Cardinal Cajetan’s (1469-1534) interpretation of…

In the prayer for deliverance in Psalm 122, Wolfgang Musculus (1497-1563), a reformer in Strasbourg, Augsburg, and Bern, finds much material for reflection. Pausing on verse 22, he looks towards the future age, where all of God’s people are gathered together to worship the Lord, all kingdoms and churches in perfect union. The Unity of…

Sure, it’s possible to cry “victim-blaming!” as a way of side-stepping issues of personal morality, but the concept/accusation contains an important truth about power that Christians as far back as Augustine, consoling nuns raped during the sack of Rome, invoked to keep the community’s focus on those who abuse their position. Arcangela Tarabotti (1604–1652) was…

While recognizing that David might have had good reasons to celebrate the death of Saul, Anglican priest and exegete John Mayer (1583-1664) argues that his mourning was not feigned. Instead, in David’s sorrow, he finds a true and moving prefiguration of Christ’s command to love one’s enemies. David Foreshadows Christ’s Command to Love Our Enemies…

The shepherd boy didn’t begin his week expecting to face down a blood-thirsty giant anymore than you may be facing an unexpected challenge in your life. How should one cope? According to the Puritan pastor Henry Airay (c.1560–1616), the people of God should face challenges the same way that David faced Goliath—without fear and drawing…

Our word “hypocrite” comes from a Greek word that meant “actor,” that is, one who wore a mask and pretended to be other than they were. Contrasting Saul’s repentance to that of David in 2 Sam 12:13, Anglican preacher and expositor Andrew Willet (1562–1621) criticizes Saul’s confession, believing it to be that of a hypocrite:…

Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving-kindness: according to the multitude of thy compassions put away mine iniquities. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from mine sin. For I know mine iniquities, and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, against thee only have I sinned, and done…

But the Lord sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for justice, and he judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with uprightness. The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord,…

John Calvin (1509–1564) knew suffering. He was an outlaw in his beloved France; the magistrates of Geneva exiled him—only to beg him to return to “that cross on which I should have to die a thousand times each day.” His son died in infancy. He was a widower. And throughout the course of his career…