Expositions on the Psalms 1 part 18/23

'The sower went out to sow his seed;'

and by the vineyards, the Churches, according to what is said:

'The vines have blossomed, they have given forth their fragrance.'

And he did not diminish their cattle.

By 'cattle' he means those in the Church who are more irrational, according to what is said:

'I became like a beast before you;'

and, 'Men and beasts you will save, O Lord.'

Evidently those in the former people.

Contempt was poured out upon their rulers.

He means the Scribes and Pharisees.

And he made them wander in a trackless waste, not in a way.

For they wander, he says, having failed to recognize him who said:

And he helped the poor man in his poverty.

And who is the poor man, but he of whom it is said:

'Blessed are the poor in spirit'? And he made the families like flocks of sheep.

He considered as his own, he says, the flocks gathered together from all the families.

The upright will see and be glad.

And who are the upright, but those of whom it is said:

'But blessed are your eyes, for they see.'

And all iniquity shall stop its own mouth.

And in this the coming of the Lord that took place to the nations is proclaimed.

Now since all the verses in the present psalm have already been interpreted in the psalms treated above, it would be superfluous to use the same words again for the interpretation of the passages before us.

'My heart is ready, O God.'

And in this psalm too the coming of the Lord that took place to the nations is proclaimed.

But we have already given the interpretation of these verses in the fifty-ninth psalm.

'For your mercy is great above the heavens.'

So great is your mercy that it surpasses the height of heaven, and everywhere the rays of your truth dart forth, as prophets and apostles and teachers water the earth with the droplets of that truth.

'Be exalted above the heavens, O God.'

From the beginning up to the present phrase, this psalm is identical with the fifty-sixth psalm, and from this phrase to the end, with the fifty-ninth.

'I will be exalted, and I will divide Shechem.'

He promised, with joy, to divide among the nations the choicest and most excellent things of the Jews, and to allot them for an inheritance.

For as a good father rejoices in receiving and acquiring many sons.

He speaks these things symbolically, hinting at them in a riddle by way of enigma.

For this place, in the valley of the nations, happened to be the one called Shechem, that is, Sichima.

For the sons of Jacob, meeting him, slaughtered him together with all his people.

Thus Shechem, the valley of tents, became the possession of the patriarch.

So then, dividing this place among his sons, Jacob assigned the special portion to Joseph;

since, being young, he did not share with his brothers in that deed.

And for this reason he promises to measure out and divide;

so that you may understand symbolically that the special inheritance of the new Joseph, who is Christ, is being divided among the nations.

The present psalm signifies the sufferings of Christ, and also the punishments that were to come both upon Judas and upon the Jewish people themselves.

But as for the things spoken in the psalm in the form of a wish, one must know that they are all spoken prophetically.

For he is not praying that this should happen;

but he foretells what is destined to happen because of that man's wickedness;

and likewise concerning the rest as well.

'May these too,' he says, 'have their accusers, and may these not depart from them.'

And if they should be judged, may they be condemned before them.

But even if, he says, they called upon you in the time of necessity, may it be reckoned to them as sin, remembrance being made of what they have sinned.

Cut short their days, so that, while they are still living and watching, another may seize the office which they themselves did not even rightly acquire.

Then afterward destroy them also, so that the calamity may pass over to those descended from them;

so that their sons may become orphans, and their wife may be given over to widowhood;

so that the sons, being compelled and dragged along, will pay the penalty for the transgressions of their fathers.

'O God, do not pass over my praise in silence.'

As long as the Churches of Christ stand, rising up everywhere, God praises the Son in them.

Christ therefore says to the Father:

'Even if Judas, by betraying me, will seem to hinder my praise;'

yet praise me all the more, bearing witness to my divinity, which Judas, not having believed in me, has betrayed.

'For the mouth of the sinner and the mouth of the deceitful has been opened against me.'

for he himself is truly a sinner;

for both spoke against Christ.

'Instead of loving me, they slandered me;'

'and they repaid me evil for good,' and so forth.

...some are words of love, but others of hatred, and others hold neither disposition.

For he flattered him as a teacher, and by deceit, as it seemed, he strove for the betrayal of the teacher.

'Set a sinner over him.'

The sinner is Satan himself, the inventor of sin;

and 'set' stands for 'is about to be set.'

But over whom else but the traitor Judas? 'And let the devil stand at his right hand.'

And in Zechariah too he says:

'And the Lord showed me Jesus the high priest, standing before the face of the angel of the Lord, and the devil stood at his right hand, to oppose him.'

But he does not oppose Judas.

'When he is judged, let him go forth condemned.'

In the judgment to come, he says, he will have no word of defense.

'And let his prayer become sin.'

There are some for whom the very prayer becomes sin, as when the Gentiles pray to idols, or to the creation;

and when Jews pray to God not through Jesus Christ;

and when heretics pray to a god who does not exist;

and when men pray with anger and through wandering thoughts, or with a doubting mind, their prayer becomes sin.

'Let his days be few.'

For immediately after the betrayal, having dealt with himself by a noose, he departed and was seen no more.

'And let another take his office of overseer.'

for that other man was reckoned for righteousness, and received into the lot of the apostles.

'Let his children be orphans.'

For they became orphans, deprived of the grace of Christ.

For she too was widowed, having fallen away from Christ through transgression.

'Let his children be tossed about, and become wanderers, and beg.'

For his thoughts, which we said were his children, having become exiles from Christ, stretched out their hand toward the love of money, toward the silver, as beggars and paupers in want.

'Let the sin of his fathers be remembered before the Lord.'

For he joins the lawless people to the traitor.

And by the lawlessness of the fathers he means the killing of the prophets, according to what was said by the Lord:

that all the righteous blood shed from Abel to Zechariah the prophet shall be required of this generation.

'And let the sin of his mother not be blotted out.'

By the mother of the impious people you are to understand that wicked assembly, which many times provoked God to anger.

'Let it be before the Lord continually;'

'and let their memorial be utterly destroyed from the earth.'

Whatever, he says, they dared to do, since God ever beholds it, He will grant him no sparing;

as concerning all who have disbelieved.

And not speaking of Judas alone, he said 'their memorial' in the plural.

You might also, in another way, call 'the fathers of Judas' those who begot him unto betrayal.

These would be those who incited him by means of the silver pieces.

And first, Satan, who cast it into his heart, and the rulers who possess the wisdom of this age, concerning whom Paul says:

'For if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.'

'And let his memorial be utterly destroyed from the earth.'

He speaks of the memorial of Judas himself;

or, in another way, of those rulers who conspired against Christ.

For not even their seed remained as a memorial of them.

'Because he did not remember to show mercy.'

The mercy, he says, which the Father gave to men, and especially to those same lost sheep of Israel, he was unwilling to receive.

For he has put 'to do' in place of 'to receive.'

'And he persecuted a needy and poor man.'

He means the Lord himself, who, being rich, became poor, that we through his poverty might become rich.

'And to slay him that was broken in heart.'

for he grieved, seeing their destruction.

This one, then, who grieved on their account, they pursued to put to death.

'And he clothed himself with cursing as with a garment.'

Since, he says, having abandoned the blessing of me, they curse every day;

for this is what the children of the Jews do even to this day;

'And it entered like water into his inward parts.'

For the evils that surround him are not only from without, but also from within, engulfing him.

'And like oil into his bones.'

For this has a lasting moisture.

He speaks of an onrush of evils, the water signifying its violence, and the oil its persistence.

By these, he says, let him be covered as with a garment, and girded as with a belt.

This is the work of those who slander and speak evil against my soul.

These fruits shall they reap who have taken up hatred against me, and the traitor who served them.

For since they called him an opponent of God and a lawbreaker, he fittingly said:

'Of those who slander me before the Lord.'

'But you, O Lord, Lord, deal with me for your name's sake.'

For he has fulfilled all that is human, except sin.

For he was born according to the law of nature.

For to be born of a woman belongs to human nature;

but beyond this, to be born of a Virgin.

He received swaddling clothes and circumcision, and nourishment from milk;

and he offered sacrifices, fasted, hungered, thirsted, and grew weary;

thus also he is continually recorded as praying in the holy Gospels

And here too, in a human manner, he calls upon the divine help

Deliver me, for I am poor and needy

This too we find said by him in the sacred Gospels

For when he was about to approach his passion, he said:

Now is my soul troubled

And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour

Abba, for this cause I have come to this hour

Like a shadow when it declines, I was taken away

In the manner of a shadow that has inclined, I received the end of life;

but I also continued, like locusts carried about by the winds, having no city, no village, no house, moving now to one place, now to another, and even to the mountains, and at times fleeing into the desert

Those who saw me shook their heads

He says this because, while he was on the cross, they shook their heads and said:

You who destroy the temple, save yourself

And let them know that this is your hand

Here he calls 'hand' the deed which he wrought in raising himself from the dead

Let them curse, but you will bless; let those who rise up against me be put to shame

For they were all put to shame, since they had no priest, nor sacrifice, nor priesthood, nor oracle, according to the word of the prophet

But your servant shall be glad

Nor will this word compel us to take it in a different sense;

But he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant;

Thus says the Lord who formed me in the womb to be his servant:

and he himself also says in the Gospels, that the Son of man came not to be served, but to serve

Let those who slander me be clothed with shame

For what shame is not upon the Jews? They see their own holy places obliterated from their very foundations;

while the tomb of him whom they dishonored and crucified is worshiped;

and his Churches everywhere increasing so greatly in both number and glory

I will give thanks to the Lord greatly with my mouth

The 'confession' signifies the thanksgiving which the Son offers through the nations

And in the midst of many I will praise him

PSALM 109 The Lord said to my Lord:

By these words he signifies the Lord's birth according to the flesh, and his evangelical word, which mastered all the nations, and his ascent into the heavens, with which the psalm begins, saying:

The Lord said to my Lord:

Until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet

And who the enemies might be, the Apostle makes clear, crying out:

When he has abolished the rulers and the authorities and the world-rulers, the last enemy to be abolished is death

The Lord will send forth for you a rod of power out of Zion

He speaks of the evangelical word that was sent forth, which also mastered all the enemies

With you is dominion in the day of your power

Either he signifies by these words the time of judgment, in which he will come with divine power and judge all, together with his holy angels;

or the time of his birth, which is also called the day of power

For with you will be the dominion

For he has authority over all things, even though he became man

In the splendors of your saints

But the phrase 'In the splendors of your saints' signifies to us nothing other than those choirs of holy angels who, on that night when Christ was born, cried out:

From the womb, before the morning star, I begot you

See how the Father appropriates to himself the birth of the Only-begotten according to the flesh

For the Father says to the Son:

For before this visible world and the birth of the shining light, I have begotten you

Not that God has a womb;

but because it is genuine children, and not illegitimate ones, who by nature possess from the womb the rights of the firstborn

The Lord has sworn, and he will not change his mind

The oath of God is his word, fully assuring those who hear it, and giving to each one confidence, that what he has promised and spoken will certainly come to pass

For God does not swear as man does;

but for us his word becomes, in place of an oath, unto truth, since all that is unchangeable will come to pass, his promise being equivalent to an oath

You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek

Because Melchizedek was not anointed with oil for the priesthood, as Aaron was;

and because he did not offer sacrifices through blood;

and because he was high priest of the nations, and because he blessed Abraham through bread and wine

The Lord at your right hand has shattered kings in the day of his wrath

He calls the time of judgment 'the day of wrath,' in which he will shatter the men who once reigned through the deception of the demons, shutting them up in the abyss

He will judge among the nations, he will fill up the dead bodies

He says that, in punishing the nations of the unclean demons at the time of judgment, he will show them full of corpses, that is, full of the punishment consigning them to the lower parts of the earth

He will crush the heads of many upon the earth

Similar to what was said by him through Isaiah:

And I brought down their blood to the earth

He will drink from the brook by the way

Scripture calls the torrent 'trial'

And by 'way' he signifies his journey upon earth, in which he endured the passion, which also descends through the torrent

I will confess to you, O Lord, with my whole heart.

The present psalm is introduced in the person of the apostles, as they recount how great and of what kind were the works of the Savior's dispensation.

For this reason it is also inscribed 'Alleluia.'

In the council of the upright, and in the congregation.

By 'the council of the upright' he meant the people of the new congregation, in distinction from the old.

For that old congregation was not upright, since it was ever erring in heart.

Great are the works of the Lord, sought out according to all his purposes.

In the congregation of the upright, all the purposes of God are sought out.

For there is none of the commandments given by him which the congregation of the upright does not seek out and rightly perform, always striving to accomplish his will.

Confession and majesty are his work.

By 'works' he means those things which were accomplished in the dispensation.

Let it be hymned, since it is truly majestic.

And his righteousness endures forever.

Because indeed he set forth salvation equally for all men.

The Lord is merciful and compassionate.

Long ago he promised through his prophets that in the time of the dispensation he would do wondrous things;

and he willed to fulfill those very promises;

namely, the calling which he accomplished both in word and in deed.

He gave food to those who fear him.

He means the intelligible bread, the one that came down from heaven.

He will remember his covenant forever.

That is: 'In you shall all the nations be blessed.'

He says that the apostolic choir announced to the people called to faith the power of the works of Christ;

the very works which he ever works by his own power.

Concerning the return: of Haggai and Zechariah.

Blessed is the man who fears the Lord; he shall delight greatly in his commandments.

In this the apostolic choir is taught that the fulfilling of the commandments, declaring those who perform it blessed, furnishes good expectations for the age to come.

By 'seed' he means good deeds, which will also possess spiritual power in that land of the meek, so that those who wrought them may receive their rewards.

And let not the glory and the wealth be reckoned among the things that pass away;

for nothing of that kind is found among the saints.

Light has risen in darkness for the upright.

And who else but the apostolic choir, which drove out the ignorance of the nations through the evangelic proclamation? 'He will order his words with judgment.'

For one ought not simply and indiscriminately set forth the word of the mystery to everyone.

And this is what the Lord said to them:

Do not cast holy things to the dogs.

He shall not be afraid of an evil report.

For the fear belonging to those under punishment has nothing to do with the saints.

He has scattered abroad, he has given to the poor.

Here too you should understand 'the poor' as those in need of the divine word, namely the nations;

who, after the manner of farmers, sowed the intelligible word.

For nothing prevents receiving this also in its historical sense.

His righteousness endures forever, and so on.

That is, evidently, of him who distributed the evangelic word.

The sinner will see it and be angry.

By 'the sinner' he means the devil, who will be indignant even at the salvation of the nations, since he thirsts for the destruction of all.

In this the new people are taught to offer unceasing hymnody to him who redeemed them;

and at the same time it signifies the calling of all the nations.

Praise the Lord, O servants; praise the name of the Lord.

Evidently, the people of the nations.

He who makes the barren woman to dwell in a house.

The barren woman is the multitude of the nations, which has also become a spiritual house, since it has the Lord dwelling within it.

And she has become the joyful mother of many children.

For her children were saved through faith in Christ.

And it has a certain contrast with the synagogue as well, in that the latter did not rejoice over her children, since they had been given up to destruction.

And in this the calling of the nations is signified.

Judea became his sanctuary.

When, he says, it was delivered from the slavery of the Egyptians;

then Judea became his sanctuary.

But he did not rule over Israel alone; rather now, he says, grace is given to all the nations.

The mountains skipped like rams.

Since God was making his appearances upon them, they, as it were, leaped for joy at the salvation of Israel.

'What ailed you, O sea, that you fled; and you, O Jordan, that you turned back?' Since those things were irrational and inanimate, he himself makes the reply on their behalf.

At the presence of the Lord the earth was shaken.

Each of these things, he says, came to pass on account of the Lord who appeared.

This is the cause of the earth's quaking and of the sea's dividing.

For he himself flooded even the barren rock, deprived of all moisture and, because of its hardness, not even enduring to be cut, pouring waters upon it, and commanding that abundant springs of water be sent forth from it.

Nothing marvelous has happened, then, he says;

for the Maker commanded, and the sea was divided, and the sheer rock gushed forth water, and heaven supplied manna, and the winds gathered together the quail;

and all the other things came to pass at his nod.

Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory.

He seems to be hinting at the falling-away of the people of the circumcision;

and to hand down to them a prayer for confession, since they no longer have the divine power that watched over them.

Yet for your name's sake do that which from the beginning was invoked upon us.

But not giving recompense according to righteousness -- for he is a true God, unlike the idols.

The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the works of men's hands.

In some copies these words form the beginning of another psalm, so that this one becomes the hundred and fourteenth.

But we, following the Hebrew division, set these down as belonging to the hundred and thirteenth psalm.

For the servants are instructed, to whom he was speaking:

Which Lord is it fitting to praise? Indeed, that very one who wrought so many wonders on behalf of those who came out of Egypt -- once one has learned what sort of gods these people had of old.

For the idols not only had nothing in common with the God who works wonders, but not even with the lowest of living creatures, which at least partake of sensation.

And those are works of God, but these are the products of human craft.

Not cursing men,

And we learn what sort of end awaits idolatry.

For those who cling to them senselessly will in no way differ from them in understanding.

the demonic power lurking within them working such great harm upon them.

Let those who make them become like them.

Thus they will perish, just as riches perish, along with those who hoard them.

The house of Israel has hoped in the Lord.

These are the words of the nations: that just as of old he saved Israel when it believed, so also now he will save the nations.

For those who fear the Lord would be the nations.

For with the house of Israel set apart -- that is, the whole multitude -- and the house of Aaron, and the house of Levi --

who else could those who fear the Lord be, than the people from the nations? 'May the Lord add to us, to us and to our sons.'

For he is the one whose laws we keep.

For in order that no one should suppose the legislation given through Moses to belong to some other god, before the giving of these laws he handed down the account concerning the making of the world;

through which he teaches that there is one God, and that all the rest are created things.

The dead shall not praise you, O Lord.

He calls 'dead' the worshippers of demons, who do not have life in themselves, that is, the knowledge of the only God.

By this he signifies the contest of those who pursue the evangelical way of life, and their victory according to God, and the crown that will be given for their labors.

I loved, because the Lord will hear the voice of my supplication.

And whom did he love? The Lord God, with his whole heart, and with his whole mind, and with his whole strength;

and as the reward of his love he received a hearing.

And in my days I will call upon him.

And in what days, but those of the struggle, when his soul was in danger? 'The pangs of death surrounded me.'

He signifies the excess of the afflictions that came upon him because of piety, which he also calls the pangs of death, and the perils of Hades, and tribulation and pain.

By God, he says, he became higher than these afflictions.

I loved, because the Lord will hear the voice of my supplication.

O Lord, deliver my soul.

In the singular, above, he said: And I called upon him in my days.

And what is this, but 'O Lord, deliver my soul'? He said these things knowing that, being merciful, he would hear.

Mercy is an affection that arises, on the part of those disposed with compassion, toward those who have been humbled beyond their desert.

Since, then, we too have become inglorious after having been glorious, having fallen from our life in paradise, God, seeing what we have become in place of what we were, has mercy on us.

For it was a voice of mercy that called out to Adam:

'Where are you?' -- clearly meaning, 'From where, to where have you fallen?' The Lord preserves the infants.

By 'infants' he means those who have been regenerated through the Holy Spirit in Christ, who are infants according to the commandment of Jesus, having turned and become as little children.

These the Lord preserves, not allowing the enemies to assail them, because they do not yet have the season for combat.

For by 'infants' he means those who have been regenerated through the Holy Spirit in Christ Jesus.

And even according to the plain sense, he himself preserves infants in the womb;

in that small, cramped place, so full of moisture, which allows the infant neither to move nor to breathe -- he keeps it from being suffocated, giving it both motion and nourishment; and when it grows chilled, he keeps it from dying, once it comes forth from the warmth of the womb into an unaccustomed place.

Since I was humbled as an infant, and as a little child received the kingdom of heaven, the Lord who preserves infants saved me.

Those who, according to the commandment of Jesus, become as infants -- having turned and become as little children -- the Lord himself preserves, keeping them untried, because they do not yet have the season for combat.

But me, as one who had advanced beyond the children, he humbled through great contests, yet nevertheless kept unconquered.

Return, O my soul, to your rest.

By 'his rest' he means the mansions above, which he will receive as recompense for his labors.

But again, the rest of the soul is also abstinence from sins.

For he delivered my soul from death.

He means the death of sin;

and fearing lest he had perhaps been brought down into it, he did not cease weeping, asking for escape from it; for the sake of which indeed his feet also, that is, the steps of his soul, stood firm in the standing that is according to God, having become superior to every slip.

And by 'the land of the living' he means the heavenly Jerusalem, in which those who have contended according to God will, as the noblest victors, hear: 'Well done, good and faithful servant.'

I believed, therefore I spoke -- he says this as one who has been well-pleasing to the Lord, having arrived at the mansions above;

since he would not have brought forth this statement, had he not been emboldened by the promises of God;

and these promises were full of mercy:

Blessed are those who weep now, for they shall rejoice.

And if his eyes were full of tears, it is clear that he will receive exultation in those very mansions.

And this saying Paul addresses to the Corinthians, when he says, 'Having the same spirit of faith,' in accordance with, 'I believed, therefore I spoke.'

For with the heart one believes unto righteousness;

and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation;

and we believe, therefore we also speak.

By 'spirit of faith' he means either the disposition that arises from it, or the Spirit that is supplied by God to the one who has faith.

'I believed, therefore I spoke' -- of the same kind also is this:

If you do not believe, neither will you understand at all.

First one believes, then one understands, and after these things one speaks.

But when, he says, having believed I spoke great things, then, seeing myself as nothing, I was greatly humbled.

Such is John's saying concerning Jesus:

He must increase, but I must decrease.

For he was diminished, not by casting away any part of the greatness he had;

but by comparison with the surpassing teaching and manner of life of Christ.

when he said 'I was humbled,' he did not mean a removal of stature, but spoke from a contemplation greater than his own measure.

But I said in my amazement:

Having come to be, he says, above man, I accounted all human things as worthless.

For amazement signifies a change.

Having said, he means, 'I will be well-pleasing to the Lord,' and then knowing that every man is a liar:

for the reasonings of men are deceitful;

for this reason I humbled myself and disciplined myself with hardships, lest I should fall from such a standing.

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his holy ones.

And indeed this death shall also be counted among the things exceedingly precious before God.

O Lord, I am your servant, and the son of your handmaid.

With confidence he says he is a servant, according to the Apostle;

and he calls himself the son of a handmaid, meaning the former instruction that came through the Law.

And what are the bonds, if not those of sin, according to what is said:

For each one is bound tight by the cords of his own sins. I will offer to you a sacrifice of praise.

As one who has made progress, he declines the sacrifices offered through blood, and promises instead to render sacrifices of praise.

I will pay my vows to the Lord.

By 'vows' he means the promises.