Expositions on the Psalms 1 part 11/23

O God, when you went forth before your people, when you passed through the wilderness;

He says, then, that when you went before your people who had come out of Egypt, the earth was shaken, that is, the report of its exodus was heard throughout all the earth.

for the heavens also dropped [rain].

The heavens dropped, clearly, the spiritual food;

At the presence of the God of Sinai.

In place of saying: he who ordained the law on Mount Sinai.

At the presence of the God of Israel.

You shall set apart a voluntary rain, O God, for your inheritance;

By 'rain' he means the evangelical word, according to the saying:

He shall come down like rain upon the fleece.

'Voluntary' stands in contrast to the worship under the Law.

For those sacrifices were not voluntary on his part, according to what has been said:

'For who required these at your hands?' and again:

'Your whole burnt offerings are not acceptable, and your sacrifices have not pleased me.'

'And it grew weak, but you restored it.'

It grew weak formerly, when it worshipped idols;

but you restored it by calling it through the evangelical proclamation.

Your living creatures dwell in it.

By 'living creatures' here he means those who have partaken of the life-giving food.

'In it' — in what, if not in his inheritance? 'You prepared in your goodness for the poor, O God.'

And what did he prepare, if not the things which eye has not seen nor ear heard? And who is the poor man, if not those of whom it was said, 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven'? 'The Lord shall give a word to those who preach the gospel, with great power.'

He himself, he says, will give a word to his holy apostles, so that they may be able to preach the Gospel.

'Do not be anxious about what you shall say, or what you shall speak;'

'for it shall be given you in that hour what you should say.'

'And it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of my Father speaking in you.'

'With great power' goes with 'the Lord shall give a word,' not with 'those who preach the gospel,' as some have supposed.

For he means to say that, with great —

power, the God of might will give a word to those who preach the gospel; that is, to those who wish to proclaim the good things concerning us, he himself supplies the word — he who also supplies the very occasion for preaching the gospel.

The King of the hosts, of the beloved one,

He himself is the Lord who gives the word to those who impart the mysteries;

for he himself is the king of the beloved people;

and he himself is, again, its power.

With the beauty of the house, to divide the spoils.

'House' means those who have believed in Christ;

and the beauty of the house is his holy disciples and apostles.

He says, then, that to the beauty of the house, that is, to the evangelists, he himself will give a word, so as to divide the spoils, that is, to draw the nations to the faith, and to despoil Satan.

If you sleep in the midst of the lots.

The word is addressed to the holy apostles.

If, he says, the lots receive you,

By 'lots' he meant those who believed, from the two peoples.

If, then, he says, you rest among them, there will be given to them the wings of a dove, having its back parts overlaid with gold.

He says that those who receive the holy apostles will be counted worthy of the Holy Spirit.

He speaks of the gilded back parts of the dove because it renders the minds of those who receive it precious, that is, wise.

When the Heavenly One distinguishes kings upon her.

By 'kings' he means the apostles who ruled over his inheritance.

'They shall be made snow-white,' in place of 'they shall be thoroughly cleansed.'

'In Selmon' is interpreted as 'in recompense.'

He says, then, that those who received the holy apostles will receive from the heavenly King the recompenses, or rather the rewards, of that reception, namely, the cleansing of sins.

He calls the Church a mountain, and 'fat' because it renders the souls within it well-nourished and richly fed.

'A curdled mountain'? 'A fat mountain';

'Why do you suppose curdled mountains?' And indeed 'curdled' means full of milk, that is, evidently, of a simpler teaching, according to the saying:

'I gave you milk to drink, not solid food.'

He rebukes, then, those who suppose the churches of the heretics to be 'curdled with milk.'

For there is nothing in them able to nourish one unto a spiritual condition.

Why then, O you people, do you suppose that there are other mountains outside the Church, curdled like cheese, and not rather that this alone is the mountain in which God was pleased to dwell? For that he dwells in the Church is clear from what he himself said:

'Here will I dwell, for I have chosen her.'

'The chariot of God is ten thousandfold, thousands of them that flourish.'

By 'the chariot of God' he means the heavenly and intelligible powers, upon which God is borne.

'Thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.'

These are also they that flourish, inasmuch as they have been freed from sin.

He, then, who is borne upon this chariot of the myriads is himself the Lord, who also on Sinai, the holy mountain, gave the law.

And he again is the one who ascended on high — he speaks of the ascent of the cross — and 'led captivity captive,' that is, took captive in turn the souls that had been taken captive by the devil.

For this he himself had promised, saying:

'When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto myself.'

'Thou hast received gifts among men.'

And from whom did he receive the gifts of men, if not from the Father, who said:

'Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance'? For indeed, even from those who were disobedient, that he might tabernacle among them.

These men, he says, whom you received as gifts, were formerly disobedient.

But even among these, he says, you tabernacled.

The sense is expressed by way of hyperbaton.

'Thou hast received gifts among men,' so as to tabernacle among them, that is, evidently, among those who were given.

These very ones, he says, whom you received, were formerly disobedient.

'The Lord God is blessed; blessed be the Lord day by day.'

For a great achievement the chorus — evidently that of the apostles — sends up a hymn to God: 'God, the God of our salvation, shall make our way to prosper.'

'Our God is the God of salvation; and to the Lord, the Lord, belong the escapes from death.'

He clearly takes courage, in that even those who came to the point of death for the sake of the preaching he will bring out nobly.

For he says that the escapes from death belong to him.

'But God shall crush the heads of his enemies:'

'His,' that is, of the apostolic chorus.

For in delivering them he will surely deliver them, evidently by crushing the heads of the enemies.

The expression is taken from the likeness of serpents, which, whenever they rear up against someone, then perish when struck upon the head.

The passage also bears reference to the rulers of the Jewish people.

'The hairy crown of them that go on still in their trespasses.'

By 'the crown of hair' he again means the head.

He says that he will crush the heads of these, namely those who sin without repentance.

'Bashan' is interpreted 'bitterness,' or rather 'provocation.'

He says, then, that from the house that provokes, that is, Israel, I will bring back to myself.

'I will bring back from the depths of the sea.'

And those, he says, who were brought down into the depth of pleasures, I will turn back to myself.

'That thy foot may be dipped in blood.'

He teaches how they will turn back.

And how will they turn back, if not evidently by the destruction of the wicked powers? For they brought down their blood to the earth, according to the word of Isaiah, so that even his foot was dipped in blood.

But the passage writes such things in a more historical manner.

'That the tongue of thy dogs may have its portion of the enemies, from him.'

By 'dogs' he means the guardians of the intelligible flock, the holy preachers:

whose tongue, moreover, all but tastes the blood of the intelligible enemies.

He says, then, that the voice of the apostles became, as it were, the very cause of death for the wicked demons.

'Thy goings, O God, have been seen.'

By 'the goings of God' he means the acts that took place within the [divine] economy:

such as the birth through the Virgin, the working of signs, the ascent upon the cross, the death that took place according to the economy, the revival from the dead, and the ascent into the heavens.

These goings, he says, have been made manifest:

'The goings of my God, my King, who is in the holy place.'

See how clearly he says that this one who made the goings is both God and his own King.

And he proclaims him to be the one who is in the holy place, that is, on Mount Sinai, according to what is said afterward:

'The Lord is among them, in Sinai, in the holy place.'

'The princes went before, joined with those who sang psalms.'

By 'princes' he means the holy apostles, concerning whom it is said:

'Thou shalt make them princes over all the earth.'

and by 'those who sang psalms' he means those who offer up rational sacrifices through praise.

He says, then, that the princes went before, that is, they were the first to begin the worship in spirit and in truth, evidently the evangelical worship.

'In the midst of the damsels playing timbrels.'

By 'damsels' he means the souls of the believers who became strong through the Holy Spirit, who resound throughout the world under heaven with the evangelical proclamation.

In the midst of whom the holy apostles were found, evidently leading the worship.

'In the congregations bless the Lord God, you who are from the fountains of Israel.'

The fountains of Israel would be the blessed prophets, and even before these, the law.

He says, then, that it is not fitting for us to hymn God from any other source than by drawing from these very things.

He says this because of the heterodox writings of the heretics.

For it is from the Scriptures of the Law and the Prophets that the Lord is blessed by those who are able to draw from them, as from a fountain of salvation, water with gladness, concerning which the Savior said:

'Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will have in himself a fountain of water springing up into eternal life.'

They are not able to bless God in the churches, since they have neither the fountains of Israel, nor their Lord:

inasmuch as they even dare to divide the Godhead.

'There is Benjamin the younger, in ecstasy.'

'There' — where, if not in the midst of those who sing psalms? And who is Benjamin, if not the blessed apostle Paul, who was of the tribe of Benjamin? And 'the younger,' because the Lord appeared to him later than to the other apostles.

He speaks of being “in ecstasy” on account of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, according to what was said by him:

“Whether we were beside ourselves, it was for God; or whether we are of sound mind, it is for you.”

He fittingly mentioned him first of the others, since he had labored more than the others.

“The princes of Judah, their rulers.”

“The princes of Judah,” he says, “were the rulers of those who sang psalms, and they were appointed as rulers.”

Both from the tribe of Judah, and from Zebulun, and from Naphtali.

And from Zebulun and Naphtali came Peter and Andrew and James and John, as the Gospel makes clear;

and from Judah came Levi, that is, Matthew, and the rest of the apostles.

“Command, O God, your strength.”

“Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

The apostolic company, then, entreats the Father that he would strengthen for them that which he prepared for them.

And what did he prepare for them but the body? They ask, then, that having been freed from corruption it be clothed with incorruption, which the Lord will indeed accomplish when he comes down from heaven, and the dead will be raised incorruptible.

“Because of your temple at Jerusalem, kings shall bring you gifts.”

By his temple he means the Church, and by kings he means those who have believed in Christ, according to what was said to them:

“But you are a royal priesthood.”

He says, then, that those who have been called through faith will bring him gifts from the earthly temple, that is, the Church, up to the Jerusalem above;

“Rebuke the beasts of the reeds.”

Since many are hostile to the godly manner of life of the saints, and especially the unclean demons, for this reason he prays that they, being beasts of the reed, be rebuked.

Now “the reed” is a place in Palestine, through which those going up to Jerusalem used to pass.

And this reed-place is indeed full of lions lurking in dens beside the marsh;

who used to lie in wait for those going up to Jerusalem.

Just as, then, the lions lay in wait for those going up to Jerusalem, so also the spiritual lions lie in wait for those going up to the spiritual Jerusalem.

“The congregation of bulls among the heifers of the peoples.”

He speaks of others who are opposed to the preaching.

And who are these but the rulers of the multitude of the Jews, who were also called bulls, while the people were named heifers?

And that they were called bulls is clear from the following:

“Many calves have compassed me, fat bulls have beset me round about”—these are the ones who also stirred up the multitude to war against the preachers.

“That those proven with silver be shut out.”

“Silver” means the divine oracles.

“Rebuke,” he says, “both these and those,”

so that the preachers may not be shut out from preaching;

and “wars” means those waged against the saints.

“Ambassadors shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hand to God.”

Since the spiritual enemies have been scattered and bound, henceforth Egyptians and Ethiopians will run to the preaching.

By the Egyptians he signifies those who are extreme idolaters and opposed to the manner of life of Israel, and by the Ethiopians the ends of the earth.

And how Ethiopia ran to the preaching may be seen from the Ethiopian eunuch.

“Sing unto God, you kingdoms of the earth.”

“Sing praises to the Lord who rides upon the heaven of heavens.”

and it proclaims his ascent into the heavens.

The phrase “toward the east” is figurative.

For just as the sun goes up from its setting toward the east, in the same manner the Lord also ascended, as it were from the recesses of Hades, to the heaven of heaven.

“Behold, he shall give to his voice a voice of power.”

By “a voice of power” he means the voice that raises all the dead;

inasmuch as at his command they shall rise.

“His majesty is upon Israel, and his power is in the clouds.”

“God is wonderful in his saints; the God of Israel, he shall give power and strength to his people; blessed be God.”

Since the discourse has made mention of his second coming, at which he will raise all the dead, for this reason it also teaches us the various honors that will be given to the saints, and the various ranks of the saints.

And the ranks it signifies by “Israel,” and by “the clouds,” and by “the saints,” and by “the people”;

while the honors it makes clear by “majesty,” and by “power,” and by “wonder,” and by “might.”

And over all these things he says that God is blessed.

The psalm contains a prayer offered by the Savior in the person of humanity, and also the reasons for which they brought upon him death on the cross;

and further it clearly relates the passion itself, and the calamities that would befall the Jews after the passion;

and besides these, also the introduction of the evangelical manner of life, and the teaching of worship in spirit and in truth, with which he also brings the psalm to its conclusion.

And that every prayer which the Savior prayed, he prayed in the person of human nature, he indicates this at the end of the psalm, saying: “For the Lord has heard the poor, and has not despised his fettered ones.”

“Save me, O God, for the waters have come in even unto my soul.”

Since he took up our sins, he is grieved on our behalf;

fittingly he also prays to be delivered from the trials, which surrounded his soul like a torrent.

“I am stuck fast in the mire of the deep, and there is no foothold.”

For human nature had suffered these things, having been brought down by sin into death, and into the very region of Hades;

which he here calls “the mire of the deep” and “the depth of the sea.”

“I am wearied with crying out; my throat has grown hoarse.”

What it was that he cried out, and concerning what, he clearly taught in what follows, saying:

“May I be delivered from those that hate me, and from the depth of the waters,” and, “Let not the flood of water overwhelm me,” and the rest that follows.

For he was praying, as I have said, on behalf of human nature;

that the dominion of death might be abolished, the mouth of Hades no longer closing over it;

“Neither let the pit shut its mouth upon me.”

“They that hate me without a cause are multiplied more than the hairs of my head.”

For many are the demons who plot against human nature, though they have suffered no wrong from us, yet are eager to destroy it.

“They that persecute me unjustly and are my enemies have grown strong.”

“O God, you know my foolishness.”

By 'folly,' he means the foolishness reckoned as such by men -- that is, the folly of the Passion, I say.

For, according to the sacred Apostle, the cross of the Lord became to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Gentiles foolishness.

'You, therefore, O Father,' he says, 'have known the dispensation accomplished through the cross.'

He says this because he became obedient to the Father unto death, even death on a cross.

My transgressions have not been hidden from you.

Him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf.

Let not those who wait for you be ashamed because of me, O Lord, Lord of hosts.

The phrase 'because of me' stands in place of 'on my account,' that is, through my suffering endured on their behalf;

and 'let them not be ashamed' stands in place of 'let them no longer be ashamed,' since formerly they had been put to shame on account of the corruption they suffered.

'Since I,' he says, 'have accepted to taste death on their behalf, let the shame that formerly came upon them because of death be abolished.'

For it was a shame that death should reign over man, who was created according to the image of God.

He signifies, then, that through his resurrection death will be removed out of the midst.

Joined together, then, in this interpretation is also the other verse, which is similar to this one:

'Nor let those who seek you be confounded because of me.'

Rightly did he say 'because of me' both above and here.

For since he himself was the one who had exhorted them, had he been overcome, he would have brought shame upon those who had been persuaded, as upon those who had chosen the danger through deceit and easy credulity.

For on your account I have borne reproach.

'I ask,' he says, 'that death be removed out of the way;'

since, having become obedient to you, I have been shown to be subject to it.

I have become estranged from my brothers.

He says this because of the abandonment by all that came upon him at the time of the Passion.

For the zeal of your house has consumed me.

'They denied me,' he says, 'because I rebuked them for having become impious concerning your house,'

when he drove them out of the temple with a scourge.

And the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen upon me.

'Not only did I become a stranger,' he says, 'and estranged, but I was also reproached by those who, because of their wicked deeds, reproach you.'

And I covered my soul with fasting.

'Grieving,' he says, 'over the destruction of their souls that was to come, I did this and that.'

But those for whose sake I did such things carried me on their lips at every time and place, reproaching me with the hardships I endured on their behalf.

But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord.

'Even though,' he says, 'they repaid me evil for good, yet I do not cease making prayers on their behalf.'

And this is evident from what the evangelist has recorded, showing him even at the cross praying for those who were crucifying him.

When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem those under the law.

Save me from the mire, that I may not sink.

These were the things he cried out in praying on behalf of humanity, so that he even said:

The word 'grew hoarse' signifies the intensity of the prayer.

Let not the flood of water overwhelm me, nor let the deep swallow me up.

Since a fearful decree and curse has been set forth, that even if an angel should preach the gospel, or teach us something contrary to what Paul taught, let him be anathema,

who then is able to surpass Paul -- or rather, Christ speaking in him? He himself, therefore, refers this very prayer to himself, and testifies, saying in the Epistle to the Hebrews, that in the days of his flesh -- that is, as he was coming to the cross -- he offered up prayers and supplications, with loud crying and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, that is, to the Father, and was heard because of his godly reverence;

though he was a Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered.

Here Paul -- or rather Christ speaking in him -- has taught us also what was passed over in silence and left out by the evangelists, saying that the prayer, 'Father, let this cup pass from me,' was made with loud crying and tears -- not in hypocrisy, not to entice Satan, not as one appropriating to himself the will of the world;

with tears, with sweat and drops of blood, with an angel strengthening him and, as it were, exhorting and comforting him, although he truly was the Son of God.

But he also, being in agony, prayed, as the evangelist says, and indeed more fervently, and indeed offered the prayer to the Father twice, and even a third time.

Since, then, Paul -- or rather, I say again, Christ, who was speaking in Paul himself -- refers this very prayer to himself,

who is able to falsify what Christ himself has testified concerning himself? 'Do not turn your face away from your servant.'

Since God and the Father had turned away from human nature on account of the transgression in Adam, for this reason he entreats him to turn his face back toward it again.

Attend to my soul, and redeem it;

from that which held it fast, namely, death.

Because of my enemies, deliver me.

From the injustice we have suffered at the hands of the noetic enemies, he arouses the Father, on the basis of this, to mercy toward us.

For you know my reproach.

For on your account I have borne reproach.

My soul has expected reproach.

From this point he narrates to us the Passion;

which the evangelists also clearly narrated.

Let their table become a snare before them.

From this point he signifies the things that would befall the Jews after the Passion.

May they endure things similar to what they contrived to make me experience.

For woe to the wicked man, because evils shall befall him according to the works of his hands.

Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see.

For how were they not darkened, since they did not receive the Sun of Righteousness? 'And bow down their back continually.'

For their captivity has not been temporary for them, as it was in the case of the Babylonians.

Let their dwelling become desolate.

He says this because of the destruction that befell Jerusalem.

And let there be no one dwelling in their tents.

For none of the Jews any longer inhabits the dwellings in Jerusalem.

For him whom you struck, they persecuted.

A statement of the cause on account of which they will suffer such things.

I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.

'This one, then,' he says, 'who according to your good pleasure came to be struck through the Passion -- him they did not receive, and so they drove away, as it were, their own salvation.'

And they have added to the pain of my wounds.

He says this because he humbled himself, but they encompassed him with death besides.

Add iniquity to their iniquity.

And he says this because after the cross and the resurrection they slandered him.

And let them not enter into your righteousness.

They will be far off, he says, from the delight that is to be granted to the righteous.

Let them be blotted out of the book of the living.

Even if they were inscribed, he says, on the ground that the promises belonged to them, yet since they did such things, they will justly be blotted out.

I am poor and sorrowful; let your salvation, O God, take hold of me, etc.

From this the evangelical way of life is proclaimed, which the man poor in God's sight was the first to begin;

Blessed are the poor in spirit.

This poor company enters, giving thanks for the salvation that has come to it from the Only-begotten.

For he himself is the face of the Father.

And he promises no longer to offer sacrifices through blood;

but rather those of praise and spiritual song.

Let the poor see and be glad, etc.

Knowing these things, he says, those who are poor in spirit will greatly rejoice.

The apostles say these things on account of those who came to believe in Christ through them.

For the Lord hearkened to the needy.

And he did not despise his own who were in fetters.

and to those in darkness, 'Reveal yourselves.'

And he did not despise his own who were in fetters.

And rightly he called them 'fettered,' on account of the things by which they suffered these things.

Let the heavens and the earth praise him.

If there is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, much more will they rejoice when the whole earth has been set free.

And if heaven rejoices over the salvation of men, and praises God for this,

much more will those who have been saved upon the earth themselves praise the one who saved them;

The sea, and everything that creeps in them.

He says this because in the islands too they were about to receive the salvation of God.

And the phrase 'in them' refers both to the land and to the sea.

For God will save Zion, and the cities of Judea shall be built.

What does he say Zion is, but the holy Church, whose 'cities' have likewise been built — evidently the souls of men that have been raised up? For they had fallen when they were ignorant of God.

And these are the ones that have been raised up through confession.

For 'Judea' is interpreted 'confession.'

And they shall dwell there, and inherit it.

Those who are now captives, he says, having obtained their return, will build their own cities and will dwell in them.

Not they alone, but also their children and their descendants;

And the seed of his servants shall possess it, and those who love your name shall dwell in it.

And their 'seed' are those who came to believe in Christ through them.

For remembrance, that the Lord might save me.

He sings this psalm in the person of humanity, entreating God to arise for its help.

For thus it came about that the demonic enemies who opposed it were put to shame, while those who rejoice at its salvation were made glad.

O God, attend unto my help, etc.

Let them be ashamed and confounded.

Let them be turned back, etc.

And here again, in the present verses, he calls down curses upon those who plot against him and wish him to suffer harm;

May those who delight in my misfortunes be turned to flight with shame, when they see my change of fortune.

Let them immediately be turned back, put to shame.

Those who rejoiced over the fall that once befell me because of the curse of death. But I am poor and needy.

That is to say: I have been deprived of the aforementioned righteousness, and living together with poverty, I do not possess the wealth of righteousness;

therefore I beseech to obtain your help.

You are my helper and my deliverer, O Lord; do not delay.

For I have obtained your providence.

Hear me as quickly as possible, and do not defer my request.

It is without a title among the Hebrews.

The sons of Jonadab became men reverent and righteous, and exact keepers of their father's commandments, and so god-fearing and upright in character that God himself became a witness of their virtue, speaking of them to the prophet Jeremiah.

And in their days the first captivity of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans also took place.

These men might well represent the apostolic company, which likewise kept most earnestly the commandments of the heavenly Father, and received its praises through the beatitudes spoken to them.

Likewise, then, in the time of these apostles too, I say, the first captivity of Jerusalem by the Romans took place.

through the evangelical proclamation he delivered them from the noetic demons that plot against their soul;

and, moreover, promising to offer up only the sacrifices of praise, having evidently been set free from the worship prescribed by the law.