Calvin's commentary on Psalm 44.12

Psalm 44:6-17 (ESV)

^6 For not in my bow do I trust, nor can my sword save me. ^7 But you have saved us from our foes and have put to shame those who hate us. ^8 In God we have boasted continually, and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah ^9 But you have rejected us and disgraced us and have not gone out with our armies. ^10 You have made us turn back from the foe, and those who hate us have gotten spoil. ^11 You have made us like sheep for slaughter and have scattered us among the nations. ¹² You have sold your people for a trifle, demanding no high price for them. ^13 You have made us the taunt of our neighbors, the derision and scorn of those around us. ^14 You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples. ^15 All day long my disgrace is before me, and shame has covered my face ^16 at the sound of the taunter and reviler, at the sight of the enemy and the avenger. ^17 All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten you, and we have not been false to your covenant.

John Calvin’s commentary on Psalm 44.12 (underlines mine): “ 'Thou hast sold thy people, and not become rich'. In saying that they were sold without any gain, it is meant that they were exposed to sale as slaves that are contemptible, and of no value. In the second clause, too, And hast not increased the price of them, there seems to be an allusion to the custom of exposing things to auction, and selling them to the highest bidder. We know that those slaves who were sold were not delivered to the buyers till the price of them had been increased by bidding. Thus the faithful mean, that they were cast out as being altogether worthless, so that their condition had been worse than that of any bond-slave.

And as they rather appeal to God than turn to their enemies, of whose pride and cruelty they had just cause to complain, let us learn from this, that there is nothing better, or more advantageous for us in our adversity, than to give ourselves to meditation upon the providence and judgment of God. When men trouble us, it is no doubt the devil who drives them to it, and it is with him we have to do; but we must, notwithstanding, raise our thoughts to God himself, that we may know that we are proved and tried by him, either to chastise us, or to exercise our patience, or to subdue the sinful desires of our flesh, or to humble us and train us to the practice of self-denial. And when we hear that the Fathers who lived under the Law were treated so ignominiously, there is no reason why we should lose courage by any outrage or ill treatment, if God should at any time see meet to subject us to it. It is not here said simply that God sold some people, but that he sold his own people, as if his own inheritance were of no estimation in his sight. Even at this day, we may in our prayers still make the same complaint, provided we, at the same time, make use of this example, for the purpose of supporting and establishing our faith, so that, however much afflicted we may be, our hearts may not fail us.”