David’s condition was such, that deserving his people’s esteem, he was nontheless groundlessly hated by many (as he complained that “he had paid back what he had not taken away”). No small consolation for me it was— when assaulted by the unwarranted hatred of those who should have put their efforts into helping me—To conform myself to such a great, excellent pattern. And this very knowledge and experience was a great help to me in understanding the Psalms, to keep me from wandering, as it were, in a strange land. And actually, my readers, (I am sure) will recognize that when I recount the inner feelings both of David and of others, I am speaking of them as things, with which I am intimately acquainted. —John Calvin