Expositions on the Psalms 1 part 2/23

And the seal upon these hidden things is death, and what was accomplished in Hades, and the resurrection and the ascension.

'I will give thanks to you, O Lord, with my whole heart.'

'in that my enemy is turned back.'

He shows for what things this thanksgiving is offered.

He says that his enemy, death, is the one turned back, that is, turned back into non-being.

'They shall be weakened and shall perish from your presence.'

For, he says, whenever death is turned back, then indeed every opposing power too will be abolished.

For if death, the last enemy, is abolished, it is clear that this happens only after the opposing powers have already been destroyed.

'For you have executed my judgment and my cause.'

He renders the reason for his thanksgiving.

The phrase 'You sat upon the throne' signifies God's oversight exercised for judging.

'You rebuked the nations, and the ungodly perished.'

Clearly meaning the intelligible enemies.

'You have blotted out his name forever.'

He means the intelligible dragon, who is the devil.

[You rebuked the nations, and the ungodly perished.

He means the dragon, that is, the devil;

since 'rebuke' also signifies correction.

One might say that, as the nations were being corrected by the apostles, the ungodly one perished, since the reek of his altars was quenched and brought to an end.

For when the nations had been rebuked and had turned back to the Lord, the devil, who was at work in them as in sons of disobedience, perished together with the temples of the idols;

which, like cities, held together those who looked toward impiety.

And thus they perished, so that not even a trace was left behind.

It is possible to understand this also with reference to the final judgment;

for then, when sinners are rebuked, the devil too, who is properly the ungodly one, will vanish.

The cities, once the impiety that had long been practiced within them was overthrown, received the edifice of piety.] 'The enemy's swords have failed utterly, forever.'

By 'the enemy's swords' he means the opposing powers, through which he was strong. [The 'cities' are the opposing powers, which, like strongly walled cities, seized those deceived by them and held them captive within themselves.

And what cities does he mean, if not these, of which it is said elsewhere:

'You laid strong cities in a heap, that their foundations might fall'; these are, as has been shown, the opposing powers.] 'Their memorial has perished with a sound.'

[so that their destruction became widely heard of,

either he means their utter ruin, or the extremity of their evils, and the conspicuousness of their destruction.] For their destruction became widely known.

'And the Lord became a refuge for the poor.'

[He continually calls himself needy and poor, even though he dwelt in royal palaces,

for he knew that all human things are more feeble than a shadow.

By 'an opportune time' he means the time of affliction;

for we always stand in need of help, even in times of prosperity;

but in affliction we perceive that aid more keenly.] 'For the poor'—he means the spiritual people.

'A helper in opportune times, in afflictions.'

'In an acceptable time I have heard you.'

'Sing praises to the Lord who dwells in Zion.'

He means the heavenly Jerusalem.

'Declare among the nations his deeds.'

He says this with reference to the apostles and the heralds of the Gospels.

'For he who seeks out their blood has remembered them.'

He says that he will seek out the blood shed on his behalf, in order to grant it vindication.

[He has not forgotten the supplication of the poor.

Again by 'the poor' he means those who are made poor for his sake, who continually offer up their supplications to him, asking for vengeance for the wrongs done against them by the demons.] 'You who lift me up from the gates of death.'

[In the gates of the daughter of Zion,

that is, in the heavenly Jerusalem.

The word 'I will proclaim' stands for 'I will sing for a long time to come.'] 'The Lord is known, executing judgments.'

For it is truly a just judgment that those who fashioned death for man should themselves be encompassed by it.

Perhaps also because those upon whom the judgment falls will come to know the Judge at the time of judgment.

'Arise, O Lord, let not man prevail.'

He prays that the Only-begotten will shine forth upon those on earth;

so that that haughty-minded devil, whom he here calls 'man,' might no longer raise his brow in arrogance any further.

'Let the nations be judged before you.'

He prays, hastening the calling of the nations that came about unto salvation.

'Appoint, O Lord, a lawgiver over them.'

Through the excess of the demons' deceit they had been transformed into the manner of beasts;

'He was compared to the senseless beasts, and became like them.'

'Why, O Lord, do you stand afar off?' He prays for the hastening of the calling of the nations, which was to come to pass long afterward.

And this very thing the devil's arrogance has brought about.

'When the ungodly one is arrogant, the poor is set aflame.'

The arrogance, he says, of the evil one becomes for your poor people a consuming fire;

'They are caught in the schemes which they devise.'

'For you are he,' he says, 'who catches the wise in their own craftiness.'

'For the sinner is praised in the desires of his soul.'

So great, he says, has God's forbearance become, that because the ungodly remain unpunished, their way of life has come to seem, in the eyes of some of the more foolish, even acceptable.

'The sinner has provoked the Lord.'

He provoked him by mocking the teachings concerning his providence and his judgment;

for many, when they hear such a thing, laugh immediately;

and this is connected with the phrase 'according to the abundance of his wrath':

'The sinner has provoked the Lord,' he says, storing up for himself a multitude of wrath.

For the word 'his' is to be taken as referring to the one who provoked him.

Then the phrase that follows, 'he will not seek out,' must be read with a pause;

so that the sense may be as follows:

Does he, then, provoke God, kindling for himself a multitude of wrath, while God will not seek him out? The reading is with a pause, so that it may mean:

'Will God not seek it out,' he says, 'and repay him according to the wrath which he has stored up for himself against the day of his wrath?' For the wicked says, 'God is not before him.'

The beginning of every wicked deed is not to reckon God as judge.

'Your judgments are taken away from before his face.'

For he who does not know that God exists does not know either that He is judge.

'He will lord it over all his enemies.'

Like the saying, 'I will seize the whole world in my hand as a bird's nest.'

For he said in his heart:

'I shall never fail, I shall never be overthrown, from generation to generation.'

[ 'God is not before him.'

Having cast the fear of God out of his soul, he spends all his time in wickedness.

The beginning of every wicked deed is not to reckon God as judge.

'Your judgments are taken away from before his face.'

He does not wish to know that You are a righteous judge;

For he who does not know that God exists does not know either that He is judge.

'He will lord it over all his enemies.'

Of temptations, some are brought to bear upon the soul, some upon the body, and some upon the things that surround the body.

these are called unclean, begetting sins and false doctrines;

while those brought to bear upon the body become the cause of blows, tortures, persecutions, imprisonments, and deaths;

and the temptations concerning the things around the body consist of losses of money and property, the loss of children, and the taking away of wives.

for Christ alone did no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth.] 'Whose mouth is full of cursing.'

He has reckoned, it says, that he will possess prosperity that abides forever.

and indeed he lies in wait for the poor, to kill them by his own snares.

As for the phrase 'with the rich' — what else could be understood by it than those who are rich in evil deeds? For these men cooperate with the devil, their father, against the poor: 'He sits in ambush with the rich.'

And sitting in assemblies and councils, he devises certain ambushes and schemes against the innocent.

'I have conquered' — then, having fallen, he is put to shame.

For he said in his heart:

The devil says these things not because they are actually so, but because he wishes to deceive us, so that we may be tripped up by supposing that God is careless of human affairs.

'Arise, O Lord my God.'

He prays that God's forbearance and goodness may be moved to act;

for when the hand of God is not lifted up against the folly of the impious, they become all the more reckless.

'Lift up Your hand,' and teach them, as one who cares for those who are wronged;

and, as one risen from sleep, show that the punishment coming from You is higher than their intent.

And punish them, but spare the one who is wronged, being all the more vehemently displeased at their audacity and blasphemies.

'For what reason,' he says, 'has the wicked provoked God to anger?'] For he said in his heart:

This is the cause both of his being exalted and of his fall.

'You see it, for You observe trouble and wrath.'

You, O Lord, he says, know all things, and nothing that is done escapes You, nor anything that arises in the mind and in reasonings.

But You also know precisely the troubles and the wraths of those who do harm, and the provocations of men.

Since You perceive the thoughts of all, and it is You who tries hearts and reins.

And beholding all these things, You are longsuffering, knowing that all men are under Your hands, and that there is nowhere for anyone to escape.

'To You the poor man has been left; You have been the helper of the orphan.'

That is, he awaits the help that comes from You.

'Break the arm of the sinner and the wicked man.'

That is, break the power of the enemy.

'His sin will be sought, and it will not be found.'

If, he says, You seek out the sin of the wicked man, it will not be found;

that is, the wicked man will perish on account of it.

[ Those who are being saved are found by God, as in the saying:

and since he was not found, he would have perished.

Those who perish are not found forever;

for the Judge remains, and reigns forever in the age to come, the new age.] 'The Lord shall reign forever.'

In the age to come, the new age.

'You shall perish, O nations, out of His land.'

For in His kingdom they shall be cast into the eternal fire.

[ He calls the unjust 'nations,' since they do not live according to the law, but display a heathen and barbarous cruelty.

He asks for their cutting off, saying 'You shall perish,' and threatening them with utter destruction;

so that these might have relief, and those might be brought to their senses.] 'Lord, You have heard the desire of the poor.'

For this was their desire, and this was their longing: to be counted worthy of the good things to come.

'Your ear has attended to the preparation of their heart.'

For being prepared for this, they make themselves ready in heart to endure all things.

When, he says, He executes vengeance for the poor, then man will no longer go on boasting.

And he sings this psalm after having prevailed over his enemies.

And it expresses a disposition befitting holiness.

'In the Lord I have put my trust; how then will you say to my soul...?' How can you say to me, he asks, 'Flee to the mountains like a sparrow,' when I trust in God? 'Remove to the mountains like a sparrow.'

'Remove, depart, flee to the mountains' — that is, to the virtues.

'For behold, the sinners have bent their bow; they have prepared their arrows for the quiver.'

With these words they were provoking him to flight, saying that unless he fled, the sinners would shoot him down.

'To shoot down in the dark of the moon those who are upright in heart' — that is, instead of saying 'secretly.'

For such are the arrows of the intelligible enemies.

'For what You established, they have thrown down.'

The enemy, he says, brought man down into corruption, although he had been fashioned for incorruption.

But what did the righteous one do? Even if the enemies, he says, did such things, yet the Lord, whose temple is heaven, examining the righteous and the impious, allots good things to the one, but hands the other over to everlasting punishments.

[For what you established, they themselves tore down.

That is, they hasten to destroy your works through me;

for they are eager to nullify the one you anointed as king, arming themselves against your decree.

And they do these things after destroying within themselves the upright notions according to nature, which he had indeed established.] His eyes look upon the poor man.

This signifies the unerring nature of God;

and by 'eyes' he means his beneficent oversight.

'His eyelids examine the sons of men.'

And by 'eyelids' he means his judging providence, which examines matters closely.

What concerns the eighth has been stated in the sixth psalm.

He prays to be delivered from the wicked generation.

And this would be the generation belonging to the time of our Savior Jesus Christ;

'The men of Nineveh will rise up and will condemn this generation.'

'Save me, O Lord, for the godly man has failed; for truths have grown scarce among the sons of men.'

gathering together the plots against our Savior.

For the Jews, having abandoned the truth, carried out a falsehood against Christ.

For, while calling him teacher and good, they were plotting other things concerning him.

'The Lord will utterly destroy all deceitful lips, the boastful tongue.'

For how was that tongue not boastful, which dared to say to the Savior:

'By what authority do you do these things? And who gave you this authority?' Concerning those who said:

'We will magnify our tongue;'

'our lips are our own;'

'Who is lord over us?' — as men thinking this, namely, that they had authority to say whatever they wished against the Savior. And this saying:

'Who is lord over us?' is like the saying, 'But as for this man, we do not know where he is from.'

'On account of the misery of the poor,'

By 'poor' and 'needy' he means those who are poor in spirit;

and having heard their groaning, 'I will arise,' he says,

'I will set him in safety; I will speak of it openly.'

That is, 'I will make salvation manifest to all, and I will cause it to be proclaimed abroad.'

For it was proclaimed to all the earth.

'The words of the Lord are pure words, silver refined by fire.'

True, he says, are the words promised concerning salvation, just like silver that has been smelted many times.

And he has put 'sevenfold' in place of 'many times over';

for this is customary in divine Scripture.

'According to your loftiness you have shown great care for the sons of men.'

By 'loftiness' he means power;

and by 'great care' he means length of time.

So that what is being said is something like this:

For after the saving resurrection, the things of life are extended for us into endless ages.

Or he speaks of loftiness because you have made them like yourself, so far as is possible for man;

or because you have deemed them worthy of much forethought.

He sings this psalm having come to repentance for his sin, and at the same time announcing to us the good news of salvation.

'How long, O Lord, will you forget me utterly?' As though the approach to God that comes to him through repentance for sin were a long one.

'How long will you turn your face away from me?' It is his face that the angels behold continually.

'How long shall I take counsel in my soul?' For I am grieved, he says, deliberating in my soul lest perhaps I die in my sin, and this is what most brings pain to my soul.

'having sorrows in my heart day and night?'

To be anxious in the heart every day.

'How long will my enemy be exalted over me?' For if, when we are devout, our enemy the devil is brought low, it is clear that when we sin he is exalted.

For the humiliation of men is exaltation for Satan;

since, just as God is said to be exalted in our salvation, so the devil is said to be lifted up in our destruction.

'Enlighten my eyes,'

He indicates the eyes of the mind.

'For enlighten yourselves with the light of knowledge.'

'But I have hoped in your mercy.'

I am confident, he says, of receiving forgiveness of sins, relying upon your mercy, through which you have also given salvation to all men;

and this very salvation will cause my heart, once pained on account of sin, to rejoice.

'The fool has said in his heart:'

Since, he says, not reckoning that there is a God who watches over human affairs and judges with righteous judgment, they committed every kind of lawless deed;

for this very reason the Lord looked down from heaven.

For this clearly signifies the Lord's coming forth to men.

'There is none who does good, there is not even one.'

When the Lord came, he says, he found not even one worker of goodness, but rather found every man liable to every kind of unseemly deed.

'Their throat is an open grave.'

For the demons held man as food, as it were, in their own throat, not understanding that God cannot forget his own creation.

'Shall not all the workers of iniquity know?' This must be read with a pause, and 'the Lord' must be supplied from outside;

so that the meaning is as follows:

'All have turned aside, and have done this' —

they are not about to know the Lord.

'Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread? They have not called upon the Lord.'

For they were devouring his people, persuading them to worship the creation rather than the Creator.

And these, he says, having become instigators of evils to others, will not call upon the Lord.

For thus it must be read as future instead of past [tense].

There they trembled with fear, where there was no fear.

The law of Moses, he says, produced punishment;

but the fear of Christ is pure;

for it prepared them to fear the Father as sons.

At that time, he says — clearly meaning the time at which the manifestation occurs — they will fear a fear where there is no fear.

Not, clearly, from a threat of the law, but rather the reverence more fitting for the free.

'For the Lord is in the generation of the righteous.'

'The counsel of the poor is put to shame.'

These things are said with reference to those who remained in unbelief and persecuted those who believed in Christ.

'Who will give out of Zion the salvation of Israel?' This has a double prophecy:

for he names not only the salvation that came at that time to those under siege, but also the saving manifestation of our Savior that came from there many years later.

He means the holy patriarchs and prophets, who rejoiced with great joy that Christ fulfilled the promises previously spoken by them.

And these were the promises signifying the salvation of all the nations.

He sings this psalm, teaching what would prepare a man to attain that blessed lot;

'Lord, who shall sojourn in your tabernacle?' Sojourning is a temporary manner of life, indicating not a settled life, but a transient one, in hope of removal to better things.

For it belongs to a holy man to pass through this life as through a road, and to be led on to another life.

'I am a sojourner with you, and a stranger, as all my fathers were.'

'Who,' he says, 'will be worthy to come to be in those heavenly tabernacles? Or who will dwell on your holy mountain?' For whoever is deemed worthy of that blessed tabernacle will possess that blessedness unto endless ages.

'He who walks blameless,' and what follows.

And first, whether we walk the blameless way, which is Christ;

then, whether we work righteousness;

third, whether we make the heart a house of truth;

fourth, whether we do not acquire a deceitful tongue;

fifth, not to work evil against one's neighbor;

sixth, not arrogantly to reproach one's neighbor;

seventh, not to be a respecter of persons;

eighth, not to transgress the faithfulness of an oath;

ninth, not to exact usury;

tenth, which is also the goal of every good, to be incorruptible by bribes.

He who has thoroughly learned to carry out these things will possess an unshakable gift of good things.

The prophecy at hand contains the calling of the nations, and the accusations against Israel for their disobedience, and indeed also the very mystery of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Savior of us all;

And the words in it are sung as though in the person of Christ.

For thus Peter taught us to understand.

'Preserve me, O Lord, for I have hoped in you.'

Having taken on, as it were, the common person of humanity, he addresses these words to God and the Father;

not indeed on his own behalf, but for our sake and on our behalf, as one of us because of the economy of salvation.

He therefore names the Father 'Lord' because he came to be in the form of a servant.

And he asks to be preserved for the sake of the Church, which is his flesh.

For the Church is his flesh;

and he asks that she be preserved.

Fittingly, then, the preservation might also be referred to his own person.

'I said to the Lord, You are my God.'

Again, he says this too in accordance with the form of a servant, exhorting;

and at the same time he shows the righteousness that comes through confession in faith.

'For you have no need of my goods.'

By these he means the sacrifices offered according to the law as 'goods';

for that saying which comes from faith does away with them;

'For shall I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?' he says. 'As for the saints who are in his land, the Lord has made all his will wonderful in them.'

By 'saints' he means those sanctified in the Spirit;

and by 'the land' of Christ, the Church;

and 'has made wonderful' is used instead of 'has taught';

and 'his' [refers to] the Father's;

To those sanctified in faith he made known the will of the Father;

'the messenger of great counsel'

'[To the good in the land God has made wonderful...'

To those sanctified in faith he made known the will of the Father, in them, that is, in those who are in the land of God, namely the Church;

or of certain ones in the holy land, or because the saints, though having their citizenship in heaven, dwell in his land, even while they are still on this earth.

The 'wills' of God are the particular virtues, which God makes wonderful in his saints, since these have something more than other men in acting according to virtue.

For the courage of the apostles and martyrs is not the same as that of those who are brave in other ways, nor is the chastity of Joseph like that of others.

And thus one who has been made wonderful perceives his own weakness, as falling far short of the divine strength and greatness.

For when the weaknesses of the righteous are multiplied, they hasten to God in repentance.] 'Their weaknesses were multiplied;'

Even though, he says, they were formerly weak, being in sins, yet having heard the preaching, they quickly obeyed.

'Afterward they hastened' — clearly, to obey the preaching.

'I will by no means gather their assemblies from blood offerings.'

'Gathering,' he says, 'assemblies from the nations, I will not gather them through blood offerings' — that is, I will not prepare them to come to me through the worship of the law, but rather through praise and the bloodless sacrifice.

'Nor will I make mention of their names through my lips.'

No longer, he says, will they be called idolaters and godless, but called and elect.

"Formerly," he says, "they bore titles answering to their deeds, being called idolaters, worshippers of many gods;"

"but now I will no longer remember those names, calling them instead pious, holy, called, and elect."

["Their infirmities were multiplied"

Even if they are multiplied, they do not remain;

for they had them persisting only up to the point of perception, because of their strength in Christ who empowers them.

Or he seems to be speaking of the apostles, and those who came to believe through them, in whom the divine wonders were also made manifest, since they had kept all the divine commandments.

And their infirmities were multiplied — or, put otherwise, their toils — since many peoples, orators, generals, and kings rose up against them, and having overcome them all, they finished the race;

or the brevity and transience of their afflictions points to the boundless age to come.

"They hastened to obey the proclamation;"

Those who are to be gathered together by Christ must be pure from murders and bloodshed.

"Gathering together," he says, "assemblies out of the nations, I will not gather them by means of bloodshed, nor will I make them come to me through the worship of the Law, but rather through praise and the bloodless sacrifice."] "The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup."

My Father has granted the nations to me as an inheritance and a portion, to whom I also became obedient unto death.

For the cup signifies death, according to what was said:

"Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me."

["The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup."

He calls the kingdom of the nations "inheritance."

And of my Church, which is my inheritance, the Lord the Father is the portion; and the same one is also the portion of my cup, that is, of my death.

And the Church has inherited the Father, having rightly performed his commandments;

and my very death itself inherited the Father, according to the one who says:

"Heir of God, joint heir with Christ."] "The measuring lines have fallen to me among the most excellent places;"

for indeed my inheritance is most excellent to me.

He speaks of the bonds of love which he had toward the Church, which is also "most excellent," that is, pleasing to him.

"I will bless the Lord who has given me understanding."

The interpretation of this is found in the Acts of the Apostles.

"Moreover, even until night my inmost parts instructed me."

It is the custom of the God-inspired Scripture to call the hidden and deep thoughts "the reins" [inward parts];

"I foresaw the Lord always before me, because he is at my right hand, that I should not be shaken."

Insofar as he is understood as God, he himself is the one who establishes and upholds all things;

but insofar as he became man, it would be fitting for him also to say that he had the Lord at his right hand, that he should not be shaken.

For everywhere he conforms himself to the measures of humanity, and is not ashamed of what is fitting to his self-emptying, on account of the dispensation.

See, then, how our nature has become well-approved in Christ.

And we, who had been cast out because of the transgression in Adam, were brought into the presence of the Father, and we have had him defending and establishing us.

This carries a manifest refutation of the obtuseness of the Jews.

For Peter also, the chief of the apostles, in the Acts applied these words to Christ.

For insofar as he is God, he himself is the one who establishes and upholds all things;

but insofar as he is man, it would be fitting for him also to have the Lord at his right hand, that he should not be shaken.

"You will not abandon my soul."

He himself, being life and life-giver, is said to have been made alive by the Father, on account of the dispensation.

"You have made known to me the paths of life" — he who bears the countenance of humanity, having become as we are, utters words fitting to us rather than to himself, insofar as he is understood as God.] "Fullness of joy is at your right hand forever."

This signifies that the saints will be in delights and gladness after they come back to life, at the time of the resurrection.

And they say that they will receive this delight and gladness, which is incorruption, from Christ, who is in us and is also the right hand of the Father.

And that this word is true is clear from the oracle that says:

"who will transform the form of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of his glory."

The psalm is sung in the person of the one who is perfect according to God.

"Hear, O Lord, my righteousness."

The word is full of great confidence;

for the mention of righteousness here is not as one boasting, nor as declaring himself righteous;

"Give ear to my prayer, not from deceitful lips."

For God gives ear to prayer not offered through deceitful lips, but through a purified tongue accustomed to meditate on the divine oracles.

"Let my judgment come forth from your presence."

He clearly prays that the Only-Begotten should become his judge.

"Let your eyes behold what is upright."

He asks for the just judgment of the Son, which he decreed for us.

"You have tested my heart, you have visited me by night, you have tried me by fire, and no unrighteousness was found in me."

Divine Scripture is accustomed to call blasphemy against God "unrighteousness";

For, it says, "they spoke unrighteousness on high."

"That my mouth may not speak of the works of men."

"Order my steps in your paths."

[And the Lord's paths are the keeping of the commandments.] "I have cried out, because you heard me, O God."

"You heard" is used instead of "you will hear."