Expositions on the Psalms 1 part 14/23

You, then, who sit upon the cherubim, and go before the ark, so as to be in front of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh (for 'opposite' signifies 'in front'), grant salvation by your own power.

You brought a vine out of Egypt.

You cast out the nations, and planted it.

For going before them, you cast out the nations from before their face.

Its shadow covered the mountains.

The shadow of the vine is the worship according to the Law, because the Law has the shadow of the good things to come;

and by 'mountains' he means both the one in Shiloh and the one in Zion.

For in these two places the tabernacle was established.

It signifies nothing other than that the things pertaining to the Law, which were a shadow of the good things to come, were accomplished on these two mountains.

And its tendrils covered the cedars of God.

The cedars are the heavenly powers;

and the tendrils of the vine are the prophets, raised up from among the people to a height, and resting upon the powers above that are rational.

It stretched out its branches as far as the sea.

By 'branches' and 'shoots' of the vine, he means the whole multitude of the people, which extended from the river Euphrates as far as the Indian Sea.

Why have you broken down its hedge? Its hedge was the guard of the angels, which God removed from them.

And all who pass along the way pluck its grapes.

O God of hosts, turn again.

For it was this very providence of yours that gave the former prosperity.

And perfect that which your right hand has planted.

Since you, he says, planted it, and then it was burned with fire and dug down and perished when you rebuked it, perfect it now and make it ready for salvation;

and prepare it through the Son of Man.

For 'upon the son of man' signifies 'through the son of man'.

But who is the son of man, if not our Lord himself, as he himself says concerning himself in the Gospels? 'Let your hand be upon the man of your right hand.'

This, he says, is the work of the people's salvation, which is also signified through the hand: let it come to be upon the man of your right hand, that is, through the man who is at your right hand.

And who is this but the Son of Man, who is the right hand of the Father, even though he has become man? And when this comes to pass, and your right hand — he who has been named 'man' and 'Son of man' — saves us, he says, we shall never depart from you, seeing that we have partaken of your life, and have been called by your name, that is, Christians.

Lord God of hosts, turn us again.

He continually puts forward this supplication, hastening that the appearing of the Only-begotten should come to pass, through whom also they will be saved.

A Psalm of Asaph. Alleluia.

In interpreting the eighth psalm already, we explained that the winepresses are the churches.

From this psalm too, then, one can see how he calls the nations to faith in the Lord;

giving them instruction never to depart from him, speaking of the rejection of the former people on account of their wickedness.

Rejoice in God our helper; shout aloud to the God of Jacob.

A shout of acclamation is a hymn of victory.

He exhorts the nations, then, to sing songs of victory to the God who helped them, and who delivered them from the tyranny of demons.

Take a psalm, and give forth the timbrel.

By 'psalm' in this passage he means the divine teaching.

The timbrel is an instrument made of skins.

Having become obedient to the divine oracles, present your bodies a living sacrifice, acceptable to God.

A pleasant psaltery with the harp.

Again by 'psaltery' he means the body, on account of the harmony and concord that the soul comes to have with it;

so that the people of God may become complete, dedicating both their souls and their body to God, not to the world, but to the Lord.

Blow the trumpet at the new moon.

Just as of old Israel, taking sensible trumpets, sounded them at the new moon — this being a commandment given by God, and a testimony of their having been freed from the slavery of Egypt —

so also the new people, using the evangelical trumpet, whose sound has gone out into all the earth, is commanded to sound it at the new moons, that is, in the renewal of its mind;

himself confessing and bearing witness that he indeed freed him from the intelligible Egypt, that is, from the dominion of darkness.

He heard a tongue which he did not know.

The people, he says, going out from Egypt, heard a tongue which they had not known before.

And what is this but the voice of God that came to the people on the mountain? 'He removed his shoulder from the burdens.'

He means that he freed them from the burdens which they used to carry while building the cities for Pharaoh.

His hands were enslaved to the basket.

He says this because they used to carry the clay and the straw in baskets to the work.

In affliction you called upon me, and I delivered you.

Similar to: 'For I have heard their groaning, and I have heard their cry, and I have come down to deliver them.'

I answered you in the secret place of the storm.

Instead of saying: 'I delivered you out of great and exceeding affliction.'

I tested you at the water of contention.

When the people, being thirsty, said to Moses:

'Why do you revile me and tempt the Lord?' Hear, my people.

He introduces an exhortation to the people, saying that he has made himself ready to be attentive to them.

For indeed, if he does this, he would not be enslaved to another god, nor would the Lord himself become to him a strange god.

For he himself is the one who long ago redeemed them out of Egypt.

Open wide your mouth, and I will fill it.

He promises to those who obey him both fleshly and spiritual nourishment.

But my people did not listen to my voice.

Since I promised these things, but they stopped their ears;

For this reason I cast them off, giving them the punishment worthy of their deeds.

The enemies of the Lord lied to him, and their time shall be forever.

Instead of the people's lying to the Lord, there shall be for it a time of punishment;

and this is that of the age to come.

'And he fed them with the fat of wheat.'

They, he says, lied to him;

but he, being good, filled them with intelligible food;

and this food is the Lord himself, the living bread that came down from heaven and gives life to the world.

'And he satisfied them with honey out of the rock.'

The rock is the Lord himself, and the honey is his divine sayings.

He says, then, that he filled them with his holy sayings.

In this psalm, here too he sets forth more clearly the causes for which God cast them off.

'God stood in the assembly of gods.'

He called 'gods' the rulers of the Jews, who had been called sons of God.

God, then, stood in their midst when he made his saving advent, that he might judge them, holding an examination of the things done by them.

'How long will you judge unjustly?' He brings to light the injustice being done to the people by them.

'Let all the foundations of the earth be shaken.'

By 'the foundations of the earth' he means the rulers of this age;

who indeed, even before the people of the Jews, paid the penalty, being cast out from their tyranny over us, according to the saying spoken concerning us:

'Now shall the ruler of this world be cast out.'

For they were shaken from the standing which they once of old held.

Inasmuch as these were the first to be abolished through his cross, and then the casting-out of Israel took place after the Gospel had been proclaimed to all the nations, he added:

'But you shall die like men;'

'and you fall like one of the princes.'

And what princes, if not those whom he had indicated a little earlier through the shaken foundations of the earth? A Song, a Psalm of Asaph.

Here he lifts up a prayer to God, asking that the nations who joined with the Assyrians in waging war against Jerusalem be punished for their arrogance.

And these are the ones indicated next in the psalm.

'O God, who shall be likened to you? Do not be silent, nor be still, O God.'

No one, he says, shall be like you, unresentful and long-suffering over injustices;

but I pray that you may not be silent at the unjust assaults made against us by our enemies.

'For behold, your enemies have made a tumult.'

The injustice done by them against us, he says, has become widely heard of.

'They have become a help to the children of Lot.'

Those previously indicated, he says, gave aid and fought together with the children of Lot in the war against us.

The children of Lot are the Moabites and the Ammonites.

From this we know that the demons summon one another to the destruction of the soul, to bring utter ruin upon us, and to consign the much-renowned Israel to oblivion.

Then he lists the neighboring peoples, by whom, being called together, the others also assembled.

'Do to them as to Midian and to Sisera.'

Just as once Midian and Sisera, and also Jabin, rose up against Israel and were utterly destroyed, some at the brook Kishon, others at Endor;

in the same way may those who attacked us together with Assyria meet with the like punishment.

Sisera was the commander of the army, and Jabin was the king of Canaan.

'In an unseemly place.' For by Endor is signified indecency.

'They became as dung for the earth.'

For remaining unburied they decomposed, and were mingled with the earth like a kind of dung.

'Make their princes like Oreb.'

Cause the princes of the Edomites, Ishmaelites, Moabites, Hagarenes, and their aforementioned allies to suffer the same things as Oreb and the others.

And these also, being evil men, perished an evil death.

'O my God, make them like a wheel.'

That is, may they not remain in the same standing, but be rolled backward.

'As stubble before the face of the wind.'

That is, they shall become easily tossed about, just as indeed the stubble of the ear of grain is.

'As fire that shall burn up the forest.'

Let them enjoy, he says, the fire which they themselves kindled, and let that very fire consume them, just as perceptible fire also consumes a forest.

'Behold, all you who kindle a fire, walk in the light of your fire, and in the flame which you have kindled.'

'Fill their faces with dishonor.'

'And they shall seek your name, O Lord.'

He says this, since there shall be a benefit for them arising from the punishments.

'They shall seek' is used in place of 'they shall know.'

Unto the end, concerning the winepresses, for the sons of Korah. Psalm 83.

Again in this psalm too he makes his discourse concerning the Churches, and this is clear from the fact that it is entitled 'concerning the winepresses.'

'How beloved are your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!'

By 'tabernacles' he means the holy churches of God established in each place, toward which every God-loving soul hastens eagerly.

'My heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God.'

With both body and soul I have presented myself to serve the living and true God.

Now 'to the living God' is said in contradistinction to the idols;

since those are dead, and happen to be made of lifeless matter.

'For even the sparrow has found a house for herself, and the turtledove a nest for herself, where she may lay her young: your altars, O Lord.'

By 'sparrow' he hints at the soul of men, which is hunted by the intelligible hunter, according to what is said:

'Our soul has been rescued like a sparrow from the snare of the hunters;'

and by 'turtledove' the soul that dwells together with purity and chastity.

He says, therefore, that every soul will find this as its refuge: entrance into the sanctuary (the altars).

'Blessed are those who dwell in your house;'

'Blessed is the man whose help comes from you;'

'he has set ascents in his heart'

He says that the one inscribed as having You for his helper builds up good thoughts for himself day by day, which he here calls 'ascents,' because in them there is, as it were, an ascent from earthly things to heavenly things.

'Into the valley of weeping'

He calls this mortal life the valley of weeping.

In this mortal life he fills them with good thoughts, building them up day by day.

Perception has come to them from your assistance.

'For the Lawgiver will give blessings;'

'they will go from strength to strength'

What could the blessings be, but to go from strength to strength? He speaks of going from the manner of life here according to God, to the Jerusalem above, where, having departed thither, they will see God as He is.

'Look upon the face of your Christ (your anointed one)'

Here by 'Christ,' the anointed one, he means the people who have been called into a royal priesthood.

'For one day in your courts is better than a thousand'

By 'one day' of the courts of God, that is, of the churches, he signifies the resurrection day of the Savior.

By 'thousands,' or rather 'a thousand' — for so it is found in the Hebrew Scripture — he means the worship according to the Law, which lasted for a thousand years, beginning from the time of Solomon, from when the divine temple was founded, until the coming of the Savior.

'I have chosen to lie prostrate in the house of my God'

I would rather be someone small and lowly among those in the Church, than great among the sinful people.

These things are fitting for those in Babylon, and suitable for us as well.

For the grace of the Spirit taught them not to overlook the desolation of the divine house, and we too are instructed always to long for and love the shrines dedicated to God.

'The Lord will not withhold good things from those who walk in blamelessness'

For those who have this disposition enjoy all these good things.

For mercy springs up from the divine shrines, and from there flows an abundant, unstinting supply of truth.

'we draw from the streams of the all-holy Spirit;'

Indeed, from this we also become distinguished and greatly renowned, and, to put it briefly, we receive the enjoyment of every good thing, being freed from vice and wickedness, and choosing to live together in simplicity and truth.

To the end. For the sons of Korah.

Furthermore, he introduces the Jewish people, after the calling of the Gentiles, confessing the sins they have committed, and asking that they too may obtain the mercy that comes through Christ.

'You were well pleased, O Lord, with your land'

For truly God the Father was well pleased to sum up all things in Christ.

'You turned back the captivity of Jacob'

For having preached first to the Jews themselves, he redeemed many from the spiritual captivity that had overtaken them.

The Savior declared this, following the prophecy of Isaiah, which said:

'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me; he has sent me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to captives and recovery of sight to the blind,' saying:

'Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your ears'

For he it is who put an end to our servitude to polytheistic error and demons, and who loosed the chains of our sins.

Both things are prophesied here: the return of the sons of Israel from Babylon, and the salvation of the whole world.

And he interprets the whole thing in a twofold way.

The Lord is well pleased with the good and earnest heart, which is his land, because it receives the seed from him and bears fruit a hundredfold.

'You forgave the iniquities of your people'

Of the people who became his through faith;

He means the people from among the Gentiles, according to what was said by the prophet Zechariah:

'In that day many nations shall flee for refuge to the Lord, and shall become a people to him'

'Turn us back, O God of our salvation'

From here he sends up a supplication in the person of the Jewish people, asking that they too may obtain grace.

When Cyrus, king of the Persians, according to the prophecy of Isaiah, had granted authority for the return, they hastened to reach their native land.

Thus the prophet, having offered the supplication as if from them, receives the answer of God, and says:

'I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me'

Having ceased from supplication, the prophet awaits the answer from the Spirit in silence.

'Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him'

As the prophet awaited the answer — that which he would hear from God concerning his own race — he came to know this: that he was ready to draw near to all, if only they would embrace the fear of him;

and it will come to pass for those who embrace this, that glory will dwell among them.

'That glory may dwell in our land'

By these words he signifies the incarnate dispensation of the Only-Begotten.

For righteousness and peace and mercy and truth have come to us from God the Father.

Having shown mercy to us, he taught us the truth;

and indeed he also declared us righteous, having made peace through him for all things, both those in heaven and those on earth.

'Mercy and truth have met together'

Clearly he proclaims the truth that rose upon the world through the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin.

For he himself is the truth, even though he was born of a woman.

'And righteousness looked down from heaven'

Similar to what was said to the Virgin:

'The Holy Spirit will come upon you,' and so forth

'For the Lord will give goodness'

...the Lord; then we too, being intelligible land, will render the spiritual fruits of righteousness.

Having said that the intelligible land will give its fruit, he teaches how it will give it.

'Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear me'

For truly humility is a great provision toward having one's prayer heard.

'For I am poor and needy'

The prelude of the prayer is an expression of a humble mind.

'Incline, O Lord, your ear' he has set forth by way of metaphor, from someone who is sick and, on account of weakness, unable to speak more loudly, and who compels the physician to bring his hearing close to the mouth.

Keep my soul, for I am holy.

On the basis of the good deeds he has accomplished, he asks to be heard.

Save your servant, O my God, who hopes in you.

Since he had proclaimed himself holy, he brings his speech back down again to humility, registering himself as a servant of God, and professing that he holds the hope of salvation in him alone.

Have mercy on me, O Lord, for to you will I cry.

For you, O Lord, are good and gentle.

For he will certainly give ear to them, since he is good and exceedingly rich in mercy.

There is none like you among the gods, O Lord.

By 'gods' he means the holy prophets, to whom the word of God came.

He says that none of the prophets was able to deliver human beings from sin, but the Lord alone, according to what is said elsewhere:

Not an envoy, not an angel, but the Lord himself saved us.

Let my heart rejoice, so as to fear your name.

The one who has acquired reverence toward God embraces the life lived according to the law.

And such a life is the mother of joy.

Fittingly, then, the prophet expected his own heart to be gladdened by fear.

For thus he also says elsewhere:

Let the heart of those who seek the Lord rejoice.

I remembered God, and I rejoiced.

I will give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with all my heart.

Having at once turned his prayer into thanksgiving for the fact that he was delivered from Hades, he then confesses the cause on account of which he had sinned, speaking of a plot of many and mighty ones, hinting at the invisible powers who did not set God before their eyes.

But you, O Lord, he says, granted what they did not expect, delivering my soul from the lowest Hades by your loving-kindness.

Christ says these things while the kings of the earth stood by, and the rulers were gathered together against him.

For your mercy toward me is great.

As his prayer has now been brought to its conclusion, he says that he will praise the great mercy of God forever;

because he indeed freed their souls also from the hand of Hades.

O God, transgressors have risen up against me.

But how else, if not through some assembly of evil spirits rising up and tripping him from the course of virtue? And you, O Lord my God, are compassionate and merciful.

...sin, and through it into the lowest Hades that lay before him;

but you, O Lord, yourself, having spread your own compassions upon me also, delivered my soul; wherefore I again ask to be shown mercy.

And mercy will come to me through your looking upon me.

Show me a sign for good.

Just as of old in Egypt God gave the sons of Israel a sign, so that they would not be harmed by the destroyer, so he too asks that a sign be given to him, so that he might both be protected by it and put his enemies to shame.

The sons of Korah again sing this psalm concerning the Church, proclaiming through it the calling of the nations, and the illumination that came upon the Church of the Only-begotten through his economy in the flesh.

His foundations are in the holy mountains.

That is, of the people called through faith.

He says that a people from the nations has been built up upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets.

The Lord loves the gates of Zion above all the dwellings of Jacob.

By 'gates of Zion' he means the introductory and elementary teaching of the Church;

and by 'dwellings of Jacob,' the worship according to the law.

He says, then, that the evangelical way of life is judged by God to be more to be chosen than the worship according to the law.

Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God.

What glorious things were spoken concerning her, other than that the Only-begotten should dwell in her, according to what is said:

'Here will I dwell, for I have chosen her'? I will remember Rahab and Babylon.

Of those who turn back to me, he says, I will make a remembrance for good—even of those who have monstrously turned aside into love of pleasure, and of those exceedingly given to idolatry.

For he signified these things to us through Rahab and Babylon.

And behold, the Philistines and Tyre and the people of the Ethiopians.

This man and that man was born in her.

He calls her mother, and it is clear that we who have believed will be enrolled as citizens of Zion, that is, of the Church, in which is the man—or rather, he himself who founded it.

And this is he who became man for our sake, and who promised to found the Church upon the rock.

The Lord shall recount in the register of peoples and rulers.

Of the peoples, he says, and of the rulers who have come to be within this very Church, the Lord will recount the register.

And how could this be, he says, except the enrollment made in the heavens, which he himself will recount to them, saying:

'Rejoice, because your names have been written in heaven'? As of those who rejoice, is the dwelling in you.

When, he says, the dwelling of all who are in the Church comes to be in you, then they will also be full of joy.

A Song. A Psalm. For the sons of Korah.

To the end, concerning Maeleth, for responding; a psalm of understanding, of Ethan the Israelite.

In this psalm the death of Christ is introduced, which he took upon himself on our behalf;

so that, having preached also to the spirits in Hades, he might grant them the resurrection.

And he also bewails Jerusalem, since indeed she was about to fall away from hope in him.

And this Jerusalem, that is, the people, was of old, as it were, a kind of choir, inasmuch as it was also called his portion and inheritance;

wherefore also the psalm is inscribed 'concerning Maeleth,' which means 'of the dance,' or 'of the choir.'

But since the mystery of Christ is deep, and requires a very subtle spiritual understanding in order to comprehend it,

for this reason it is inscribed 'of understanding.'

And it is said that the psalm belongs to Heman, having been composed in Egypt by Moses.

And this Heman was a descendant of Israel, being a descendant of Zerah, who was the son of Judah, the son of Israel.

O Lord God of my salvation, I have cried out by day.

Since he is good, knowing the falling-away of the people and the destruction of the disciple, he sends up prayers to the Father on their behalf,

so that, not partaking of the wickedness, they too might obtain the salvation that comes through him.

For my soul is filled with troubles.

Even though he himself bore our sins and suffers pain on our behalf, he fittingly says that he has been filled with evils.

'And my life drew near to Hades.'

He says this because by the grace of God he tasted death on behalf of all.

'I became like a man without help, free among the dead.'

Jesus alone also died, being led to death for the transgressions of the people, according to the word of Isaiah:

and though dead, he alone would be free;

for he had no sin holding him fast in death.

'I have authority to lay down my life, and again I have authority to take it up.'

'Like the slain who sleep in the tomb.'

I have become, he says, like men who have been wounded and lie in tombs, who, not having obtained your help, have not obtained resurrection.

But I, he says, have been wounded for the sins of the people, and I have been among the tombs, yet I did not remain there;

because even after my wounding and my being laid in the tomb, you remembered me.

For I rose, having trampled death underfoot.

'Your wrath has rested firmly upon me.'

By 'the wrath of God' he means the curse of death that was brought upon the human race.

Since, then, he became a curse for us, for this reason he says that the wrath of God rested firmly upon him.

'And you have brought all your surging waves upon me.'

By 'surging waves' he means the penalty violently brought upon the human race on account of the transgression.

Again this signifies death.

'You have put my acquaintances far from me.'

He says this because all forsook him at the time of the Passion.

'They made me an abomination to themselves.'

See how even to this day the Jews abhor the name of Christ.

'I was delivered up, and I could not go out.'

He says this because he was shut up in the house of the ruler of the synagogue.

'My eyes failed from poverty.'

I wept, he says, for the people, seeing that they were about to fall from the wealth that is according to God and be brought down into utter poverty.

'I cried out to you, O Lord, all the day.'

For continually stretching out my hands, I entreat you.

This figure signifies the bitter anguish of the soul.

For being compelled by need, one entreats more earnestly him who is able to give.

'Will you work wonders for the dead? Will physicians raise them up?' He teaches us the reasons for his descent into death, saying, as it were:

Since, he says, it is not possible for wonders to be worked for the dead, nor for physicians to raise them up so that they might confess you, nor indeed were those in destruction able to know your truth;

for this reason, O Father, I have been numbered also among those in Hades;

so that those in the forgotten land, having risen, might have experience of your wonders, and those who were long ago in darkness might declare your truth.

'Will anyone declare your mercy in the tomb?' Is it possible, he says, for the dead who have been dissolved into dust and who dwell in the gloom of death, and who have been given over to oblivion, to partake of your loving-kindness and become spectators of your wonders? Will your wonders be known in the darkness? Just as there is no truth among those who have perished, so there are no wonders among those who are in darkness.

The 'forgotten land' is the rational soul that has been deprived of the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

'Why, O Lord, do you cast off my soul, and turn your face away from me?' He was praying on behalf of the people, but they, through the excess of their wickedness, showed themselves unworthy of salvation;

as if rendering his prayer on their behalf ineffective.

'I am poor and in troubles from my youth.'

Poor, indeed, because he took the form of a servant;

and 'in troubles from his youth,' because from his very swaddling clothes he was plotted against by Herod and those like him.

'But having been exalted, I was humbled and brought to utter helplessness.'

By 'exaltation' he means the ascent upon the cross, according to what was said by him:

But 'I was humbled' he says on account of his descent even unto Hades.

'Your wraths have passed over me.'

You have stirred up, he says, all your wrath against me;