Expositions on the Psalms 1 part 19/23

And what did he promise, but that, having taken the cup of the Lord, he would call upon his name? 'This too I will do,' he says, 'when I come to be in the divine courts';

meaning the Church of Christ, or the heavenly Jerusalem.

Praise the Lord, all you nations,

for his mercy has been made mighty toward us.

The nations, he says, would not have obtained such a change, had not the mercy of God become mightier than our sins.

And the truth of the Lord endures forever;

for the salvation which he promised through the holy prophets, he has now given.

This also the blessed Paul says at the beginning of his letter to the Romans:

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures;

I say that Christ Jesus became a servant of the circumcision for the sake of the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers,

and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.

Since, then, the God of all has fulfilled his promises, and has given the salvation which he promised, and has opened to all the fountains of mercy, both you who have come forward from among the Jews, and you who have believed from among the nations - blending together a harmonious hymn, repay the Benefactor,

offering up to him the thank-offerings of the victory;

asking also for the paths that lead through the virtues, and besides all these, giving thanks to the Lord who is called the stone,

rejected indeed by the builders, but made the head of the corner.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever.

He exhorts them to be the first to begin the thanksgiving, since they were the first to be called through the proclamation of the gospel.

Out of my affliction I called upon the Lord, and he heard me and brought me into a broad place.

And that when afflicted one should call upon no other helper than the Lord himself, who indeed leads our affliction into great spaciousness,

we shall receive great recompenses.

All the nations surrounded me.

They surrounded me like bees around a honeycomb, and in the name of the Lord I warded them off.

For the people of God called upon God alone, and by speaking his name warded off enemies both visible and invisible;

but the men who plotted against them trusted only in the rule and power of men.

And the phrase 'all the nations' is hyperbolic;

for it was not all the nations that surrounded the whole of Judea.

In the mornings I destroyed all the sinners of the land;

clearly meaning the passion-laden thoughts brought on by demons, and the sophistical arguments they let loose.

For these are the things that will overthrow the nations.

There are times when he even destroys these by calling upon God, cutting off the passionate impulses and overturning sophistical arguments.

But the drones, so closely resembling bees as to escape the notice of the unwary, have no sting and produce no honey;

yet, having a larger body, they eat up the labor of the bees;

and the bees, banding together with one another, destroy them.

The Church, then, is the bee;

and the beekeeper is she who esteems the wisdom of God above all else;

whose labors kings and commoners alike apply for the sake of health, weak though she is;

according to the saying, that the preaching should not consist in the persuasiveness of human wisdom.

Yet she has her sting in the demonstration of the Spirit and of the power of God, possessing as she does the word of faith;

so that she even destroys the heresies as though they were drones, cutting them off from the truth by her refutation.

One, then, is the bee that has honored the wisdom of God;

but many have fallen away from the wisdom of God;

these are not bees, but exist as drones resembling bees,

wishing to consume the honey of the one true bee, and they are set ablaze like fire among thorns;

for those who belong to the heresies kindle the fire of shameful desires;

for the things done by them in secret are shameful even to speak of.

And the Gospel has interpreted the thorns as the pleasures;

whose arguments he who calls upon God overturns.

For his weapons are not carnal, but mighty for God, pulling down every height that raises itself up against the knowledge of God.

The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous.

As though the intelligible enemies who from time to time persecuted the people of God had now indeed been destroyed, fittingly are the voices of rejoicing heard, and nowhere else than in the tents of the righteous.

This is the voice of rejoicing that arose from the Church: the confession that the power of the Lord alone preserved those who contended, and made them exalted.

Open to me the gates of righteousness.

By 'the gates of righteousness' he means the advances in understanding that come according to virtue, which those who have endured the seasons of affliction likewise travel.

This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter by it.

Those who walk by way of the virtues will come to that gate, which leads to the very contemplation of the Lord.

And what is this gate, but purity of heart? 'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.'

The stone which the builders rejected, this has become the head of the corner.

You yourself, who for our sake became the rejected stone — you the builders indeed rejected;

but after the conversion of the nations, you became the head of another corner;

And what is this corner? It is that which joined the two peoples into one new man.

This is the day which the Lord has made.

And what could this be but the resurrection-day of the Lord? For what day is this but the day of salvation for all the nations, on which the rejected stone became the head of the corner? The word signifies the resurrection-day of our Savior, the very day that has taken its name from him, namely, the Lord's Day.

O Lord, save now; O Lord, prosper now.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

This too is what the doxology sung in Jerusalem taught us, as to whom it was to be applied.

As for 'We have blessed you out of the house of the Lord,' these words the prophets speak to those who believe in Christ,

for the Lord dwells in you.

Ordain a feast with thick branches.

He commands those who have come to the faith to understand this, and to fill the divine tabernacle, so that, because of their great number, they reach even to the horns of the altar.

By 'those that make thick' he means the cherubim, who overshadow the mercy seat;

for this is the meaning of 'they make it thick.'

For the cherubim covered the mercy seat with their wings.

You are my God, and I will give thanks to you.

We are taught to refer this word to Christ the Savior.

In this psalm he describes the manner of life of the saints, their contests, their afflictions, their arenas of struggle, the assaults of the demons, the countless thoughts insinuated against them, the snares, and the traps;

and moreover also the means by which they prevail: the law, the oracles, endurance, and the alliance from above;

and then, after the labors, the prizes, the crowns, and the recompenses.

Blessed are the blameless in the way.

He who sins in no way at all — this one would be both blameless and blessed.

Blessed are they who search out his testimonies; they shall seek him with the whole heart.

For one ought not to keep the law rightly at one time, and become a transgressor at another.

For what profit is there in simply searching out his testimonies, yet not seeking God with the whole heart? For 'they that work iniquity have not walked in his ways.'

Therefore the one who sins does not truly know the divine law;

for to know it is to practice it.

You have commanded that your commandments be kept diligently.

Would that my ways were directed to keep your statutes!

Knowing that without help from above it is impossible for anyone to become a keeper of the law, he secures this for himself by prayer;

The word 'would that' is used in place of 'may it come to pass.'

I will give thanks to you in uprightness of heart.

After the prayer, he also sets down what proceeds from his own resolve.

For the beginning of salvation is confession.

Do not forsake me utterly.

Again he calls upon the help that comes from above.

By what shall a young man direct his way? For, he says, youth is full of many stumbling-blocks.

How, then, does one overcome these things, if not by keeping the words of God always in memory? For the contemplation of the divine law is altogether both purifying and protective.

With my whole heart I have sought you out.

If, he says, the remembrance of God prepares one to escape the snares of Satan, then I have devoted the whole of my own mind to you, God;

I am worthy not to remain outside your commandments.

Now what he says here — lest it become for anyone an occasion of despair with regard to what we are about to say — is this: those who pursue the law merely out of eager desire, without understanding, fall into senselessness;

or, for many, it turns their zeal into its very opposite, so that in the very things wherein they think they are succeeding, they have actually failed — according to what is said by Solomon:

There is a way which seems right to men;

but its end comes to the depths of Hades.

Therefore, whoever seeks God with only half a heart, wishing now to devote himself to God, now to the world, this one He casts out from His own commandments, as an unworthy soldier.

In my heart I have hidden your sayings.

For unless one locks up the commandments of God within the heart as within a treasury, the evildoer comes and snatches them away.

He sins against God who, having been deemed worthy of more secret sayings — sayings worthy of being hidden from the multitude — does not hide them from those from whom they ought to be hidden.

For the danger lies not only in speaking falsehoods, but also in speaking truths, whenever one declares altogether things that ought not to be told;

For pearls ought not to be cast before swine, nor should holy things be given to dogs.

Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes.

Perceiving his own advancement, which came from seeking God with his whole heart, he blesses Him, giving thanks already for what he has been deemed worthy to receive;

and from Him he seeks to learn what meaning His statutes hold.

With my lips I have declared all the judgments of your mouth.

for all must stand before your tribunal;

so that we may receive according to what we have done.

In the way of your testimonies I delighted, as in all riches.

He teaches us what wealth according to God truly is;

Nothing in the present life has captivated me — not gold, not rank, not power;

But instead of all things, your testimonies are to me gladness and wealth.

I will meditate on your ordinances;

I will not forget your words.

Meditation does not stop at the mere wording;

but it makes the one who has understood them put them into practice.

For it is not the hearers of God's ordinances who are righteous before God, but the doers of them.

For in this way one will never forget them.

Deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live.

And what does he wish to be given him in return for what he has offered, but that his mind be enlightened, that he may know the wonderful works of God? 'Open my eyes, and I will understand the wonders of your law.'

'I have not,' he says, 'made this life's vanity my own home;'

therefore I ask to receive knowledge of the divine commandments;

for some of them are known;

known, such as 'You shall not murder,' and the rest;

but unknown are things such as: for what reason infants are circumcised on the eighth day;

or, for what reason sacrifices are offered on behalf of the newly born.

He who sets himself against the proud, this same one also rebukes the proud.

But the Lord sets himself against the proud; the Lord, therefore, also rebukes the proud.

Remove from me reproach and contempt.

The impious, in the time of persecution, will reproach and hold me in contempt.

I ask, therefore, that the reproaches against me be brought to nothing.

'And if ever,' he says, 'I have been minded according to the flesh, yet having turned back I ask to be given life by the divine words;'

'If, being thus driven by the transgressors, I have come to utmost helplessness,' he says, 'I deem it right to be saved according to your promise.'

For rulers sat, and spoke against me.

Nevertheless, even though the rulers of injustice do these things, the servant of God does not depart from his ordinances;

having as counselors for this the words of God, which he called ordinances.

And such a one admits not even one wicked counselor.

But the rulers of this age also, just as in the case of Christ, gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ.

Theirs is the wisdom of this age.

My soul cleaves to the dust.

'Being driven by the transgressors, I have come to utmost helplessness,' he says, 'and I deem it right to be saved according to your promise, which says:'

And the torrents shall not close in upon you.

I have declared my ways, and you heard me.

Make me understand the way of your ordinances.

For having received understanding of the mysteries within them, so as also to walk in this way, I shall be able both to speak and give an account concerning the wonders contained in them.

My soul has slumbered from listlessness.

One must therefore be sober and watchful, because of him who said:

Watch and pray.

Remove [the way of falsehood] from me, and have mercy on me by your law.

I have chosen the way of truth.

The one thing he asks of God, the other he confesses to contribute himself.

Turn away my eyes, that they may not see vanity.

Vanity is the madness for spectacles, the beholding of things not fitting, and also the improper fantasy of the mind, which Paul also makes clear, saying:

Being in the futility of their mind, darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God.

Observe that 'vanity of mind' is spoken of whenever one has a mind, and does not use it for the contemplation of true things, but hands it over to Satan who binds it.

Praying for this, then, he says:

Turn away my eyes, that they may not see vanities.

The things that are fair in the body and appear beautiful to the eyes of the flesh, he calls vanity.

Establish your word to your servant, unto your fear.

the fear of God is necessary in all the commandments;

for this reason he prays that God himself establish it for him.

And the words 'Remove my reproach' come after he has set [the word] as, so to speak, a guardian of the divine laws.

And concerning the things for which he had already before recognized himself to be at fault, he confesses them, reproaching himself.

Establish your word to your servant.

'Since, being your servant, I fear you, and I wish to have fear rationally and in accordance with reason, establish your word unto your fear — the fear that is yours, not that from which you yourself fear, but that from which I fear you.'

So that we may have neither fear without reason, nor reason without fear;

and God establishes his word unto his fear, confirming it by proof to the reverent.

For just as there are some who have zeal, but not according to knowledge, so there are some who have the fear of God, but not according to knowledge.

Remove my reproach, which I dreaded.

The prophet, having sinned as a man, entreats, since he sees the reproach following him at the divine tribunal after the resurrection, and he speaks the verse before us.

But you would not say this, speaking thus:

Remove your reproach.

For when I am reproached for Christ's sake, that reproach is not mine, but Christ's;

but when I am reproached for my own sins, and do not repent, I ought not to say:

Remove my reproach from me, which I dreaded, for your judgments are good.

Behold, I have desired your commandments; in your righteousness give me life.

He asks as recompense the righteous life lived according to virtue — not merely having kept the commandments, but also being lovingly disposed toward them, and fulfilling them not for the sake of other things, but for their own sake and on their own account.

And since the Son is the righteousness of the Father, he who wishes to live in the Son says this.

And let your mercy come upon me, O Lord.

'If I obtain your mercy,' he says, 'and this mercy comes to me through your salvation, I shall have boldness toward those who reproach me and rise up against me.'

And I will answer a word to those who reproach me, because I have hoped in your words.

For I will say that he who holds such doctrines is not worthy to be reproached — doctrines which the foolish, those alien to the faith, mock.

But I will demonstrate words filled with understanding and wisdom.

And I will answer a word, since I have hoped in your words.

And do not take away the word of truth utterly from my mouth;

for I have hoped in your judgments.

'Utterly,' he says, means until my last breath.

If we live unworthily of the good things we speak, God will take away the word of truth from our mouth.

And I will keep your law continually.

'I will be,' he says, 'a keeper of your law' — not succeeding at one time and failing at another;

but, he says, both in the present life and in the life to come I will keep it rightly.

And I spoke of your testimonies before kings.

Such was Paul, such was Peter, such was the whole company of the apostles and of the martyrs.

This will fit the martyr who is led before governors and kings for the sake of Christ;

it will also fit the holy souls who open their mouth in the presence of royal courts.

For he who has received a word from God with great power, yet does not use it to preach the gospel, is worthy of shame;

for a life lived according to the law is what creates boldness of speech.

And I meditated on your commandments, which I greatly loved.

And I lifted up my hands to your commandments.

Here he calls 'hands' the practical activities.

For action is the end of meditating on the commandments;

for after receiving the Word of the commandments, it is good to lift up one's hands to the practice of the commandments;

not out of grief or out of necessity, but also with willing disposition;

and after this, continually to muse upon them and to discourse concerning them.

Remember your word to your servant.

And what is the word which he asks to be remembered, if not that he would be with them — the promise he gave them, which also became a comfort to them in persecutions? 'This comforted me in my humiliation.'

This hope, arising in me from your word, comforted me and consoled me — namely:

whether something grievous, or the loss of possessions, or persecution, or whatever else among the things reckoned harsh befell me, my hope in you was my comfort.

For your word has given me life.

Nothing else makes a rational soul live its own proper life as does the word of God.

For to the degree that the word of God grows — being understood and received into the soul of man — to that same degree the things of life also grow.

And this is to live here with virtue; and after this it also gives eternal life.

The proud transgressed exceedingly, but I did not turn away from your law.

For I conducted my life within it, guarding my governing faculty, so that no lawless word might arise hidden in my heart.

For while those men were transgressing exceedingly, I did not transgress your law even in the smallest degree.

I remembered your judgments of old, O Lord, and I was comforted.

For remembering the judgments that from of old, and even unto the age to come, will be rendered to each person, the righteous man is comforted and remains free of grief, saying:

'The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us.'

Remembering the judgments which you executed of old against those who wronged Israel, I was comforted;

knowing that I too will not be forsaken in persecutions, and that all things happen to men according to the judgment of God.

Despondency seized me because of the sinners who forsake your law.

Concerning sinners: some sin lawlessly, in that from the outset they have not even attempted to keep any laws;

while others sin within the law, by transgressing it.

For if one member suffers, all the members suffer together;

and if one member is glorified, all the members rejoice together.

Therefore, concerning our brothers who sin, it is fitting for us to grieve that they are such, and to be so disposed after the manner of this holy man.

Your statutes were my songs in the place of my sojourning.

By 'the place of sojourning' he means the present life;

for they knew that they were strangers and sojourners upon the earth.

in which place I rejoiced harmoniously, uttering your statutes;

on the one hand contemplating them, and on the other hand practicing them.

Since, he says, I devoted my whole mind to your commandments, for this reason I walked in the way of your testimonies.

I was prepared, and I was not troubled.

'My child, if you come forward to serve the Lord, prepare your soul for trial;'

and meditating on this continually, I was not troubled amid the assaults, since I had trained myself to bear them nobly.

The cords of sinners entangled me.

And what were the cords, but the wicked thoughts by which they tried to overthrow his standing before God? 'At midnight I arose to give thanks to you.'

For not by day only, but also by night — at that very midmost point of the night in which sleep comes upon men with the greatest sweetness — I continued hymning you, and I proclaimed your righteous judgments.

This the divine Apostle also did together with Silas: even there, with his foot bound fast, and after outrage and scourging, he blended hymnody with prayer, and reaped the fruit of that good vigil.

For he enjoyed the divine bounty.

I am a companion of all who fear you.

The perfect man would be a partaker of Christ, according to what is said:

For we have become partakers of Christ.

But the one at hand here, as one still being led along, says that he himself is a companion of those who fear the Lord;

and not simply of those who fear, but of those who, because of their fear, keep the commandments of God.

The earth, O Lord, is full of your mercy.

Teach me your statutes.

Prophetically he speaks of things to come, namely that the whole earth will be full of those who fear the Lord.

And this, he says, will come about from no other cause than from your mercy;

for you yourself accomplish this mercifully, giving yourself to be a teacher of men.

You have dealt kindly with your servant, O Lord.

For he would not have been released from sin, nor numbered among the servants of the Lord, in any other way, unless some divine grace had become for him the cause of these things.

Before I was humbled, I went astray.

For this very reason, having been given over to discipline, I ask for instruction, so that I may know that the humbling that came upon me came about according to goodness and for my training.

The righteous man, in all things, even if what happens to him is bitter, says to God:

I will bless the Lord at all times.

And in Your goodness teach me Your statutes.

And he asks to be taught by the goodness of God:

for the statutes of God are good, being enacted according to the worth of each person;

Your judgments have been shown righteous, O God.

The injustice of the arrogant has been heaped up against me.

To such an extent, he says, have they driven on in arrogance, that their heart has become such as follows:

Their heart is curdled like milk.

You will be handed over to evil and grievous trials, to a manner of life and conduct that humbles, and that teaches one to buffet the body and bring it into subjection, and not to walk the broad and spacious way of the arrogant, but the narrow and afflicted one;

For the heart of the saints is lean, but the heart of the arrogant is fat.

It is good for me that You have humbled me.

I take pleasure in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in distresses, being made worthy to behold Your statutes, seeking after things that cannot be learned otherwise.

The law of Your mouth is good to me above thousands of gold and silver.

Of how great a dignity man has been deemed worthy, he is taught as he is being led in.

Your hands have made me.

Another dignity is that he is receptive and capable of containing His understanding.

Give me understanding, and I shall learn Your commandments.

Very fittingly, following the thanksgiving for his creation, comes the request for the intellectual power that makes him understand the commandments.

Those who fear You shall see You, and shall be glad.

For he is sweet only to the pious, whether beheld with the senses, or according to reason and according to the thoughts of the wisdom that he possesses;

but to others he is burdensome even to look upon.

Because his life is unlike that of others, and his paths are set apart, therefore he says:

They shall rejoice, because I have set my hope on Your words.

I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are righteousness.

So that it is necessary for us not to make light of chastisements, but rather to fall down before God all the more, and to ask for mercy through the keeping of the law.

Let Your mercy come to comfort me.

The mercy of the Father is the Son, who has also comforted our hearts, which were being tyrannized by Satan.

For many, having obtained comfort, are deceived, thinking that they have received this from their own understanding.

That I may not be deceived in the same way as these, let Your mercy come upon me, Your servant, according to Your word.

Let Your compassions come to me, and I shall live.

Just as You promised, he says, so bring about the comfort, having compassion on Your servants.

Let the arrogant be put to shame, because they have unjustly transgressed against me.

If I should obtain, he says, help from You, then the wicked ones — that is, both the demons and the men who are enemies of the truth — will be put to shame.

But I, while they are being put to shame, shall not be exalted in pride;

but I shall meditate on Your commandments.

Let those who fear You turn back to me.

May I obtain the teaching that comes from Your servants.

which is of such a kind as to know how to turn souls back, because it is rich in the fear of You.

Let my heart become blameless.

He would not, after so many things, say the following, if he already had a blameless heart:

Let my heart become blameless.

Create in me a clean heart, O God.

For only then shall I not be put to shame, when I keep the commandments of God blamelessly.

My soul is set on Your salvation, and I have hoped in Your word.

And what else could 'salvation' be but the coming of the Lord? 'I have hoped in Your word.'

Understand this as meaning: the promise.

But the God-inspired Scripture is also called an 'oracle' (word).

Therefore it is not only the one who awaits the divine promise, and expects the release from the evils pressing upon him, whose eyes fail, but also the one who studies the divine oracles, and earnestly longs to learn their meaning precisely, and who counts the discovery of that meaning as comfort and refreshment of the soul.

My eyes have failed with longing for Your word.

That is, he says, toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

For we have Him as an Advocate with the Father, according to the word of the Apostle:

and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins.

Saying, 'When will You comfort me?' For when the Word comes to dwell with me, then I am comforted.

For I have become like a wineskin in the frost.

The righteous, though living, become rather like the dead through their afflictions, growing cold and lifeless, so that they resemble wineskins more than men, congealing as it were like gathering frost, choosing to give up what is fiery and active within them.

He becomes a wineskin in the frost who has worn away his own flesh, and leaves in it nothing fiery and given to desire, but has, as it were, chilled it.

How many are the days of Your servant? For the days of men on earth are few, in which he prays that Satan be quickly crushed under his feet, so that his soul may be made subject, the divine Word having come to be within it.

By this he means either the old wives' fables that are the teachings of the Jews, or the precepts of men, and the idle chatter of the wise men of this age.

All Your commandments are truth.

Knowing that at the divine tribunal he will receive recompense for the injustices he has suffered, he hastens to see that time.

They almost made an end of me on the earth.

Almost, that is, through their persecution.

According to Your mercy, keep me alive, and I will keep the testimonies of Your mouth.

The mouth of God refers to the prophets who ministered His testimonies, commandments, and statutes.

Forever, O Lord, Your word remains in heaven.

Making progress, he now touches upon loftier doctrines, making mention of the eternal Word of the Father, and all but saying:

Saying, ‘In the beginning was the Word,’ he speaks of the ordering of the universe, and clearly calls the whole creation His slave.

‘Your truth [endures] unto generation and generation.’

But the other nations have gone astray.

But when the former generation also cast out the truth, and said: