Expositions on the Psalms 1 part 9/23

Then the Ziphites went to Saul and reported the place where he was hiding.

But they urged him to come and seize him.

But he, having taken the lyre into his hands, since he knew by the prophetic Spirit that he would suffer nothing terrible from Saul, sings what lies before him.

For indeed, when Saul had gone out to seize him, he heard a report concerning the Philistines, and turned back in haste with his men.

But the present matters may also bear reference to the person of the apostolic company, in that, recounting the uprisings from the nation of the Jews, and also the wrath of the kings of the nations, he asks God to be saved out of them all through his name.

And he declares prophetically that God will turn the evils back upon the heads of the enemies, while he himself will offer up the sacrifices of victory.

O God, save me by your name,

He asks to be saved by nothing other than his (God's) name.

Since, he says, I call upon your name, grant my salvation in this very thing,

and by your might—that is, by your Son—you will judge me;

not to be handed over to other judges for examination, but to your power. And by your power you will judge me,

For having judged their case, he delivered some over to destruction, but saved others from their enemies.

O God, hear my prayer,

give ear to the words of my mouth.

And now, Lord, look upon their threats.

Having beheld by the Spirit the things that were to come upon Christ at the hands of the Jewish people and of Judas himself, the Prophet, filled with grief and helplessness—which in the present passage he has called 'complaint'—continues to be troubled and perplexed at the audacity of what was being dared, and entreats God to give ear to his prayer, and to grant him this;

then secondly, to know the petition sent up through the prayer;

and thirdly, to look upon the condition of the one sending up the prayer;

and so to deem him worthy of his hearing.

Attend to me, and hear me,

Give ear, O God, to my prayer,

For do not overlook me, he says, as I make supplication, but attend to me graciously, and extend your help.

I was grieved in my complaint, and I was troubled,

For he was filled with helplessness, seeing the lawlessness being committed against the Savior, which he also teaches next, saying:

Because of the voice of the enemy, and because of the oppression of the sinner,

Observe how I was grieved, how I was troubled, how I have been filled with complaint;

and having accepted these things, hear me.

For lawless deeds have turned aside upon me,

For he refers everything that happened against the Savior to his own person.

and I reckoned flight to be better than all things, and I prayed that wings might be given me, so as to remove elsewhere and find rest. My heart was troubled within me, and the terror of death fell upon me,

Behold, he says, my heart has thrown my inward parts into turmoil;

but also the terror of death has fallen upon me.

Now he speaks either of the saving death, at which the Prophet was filled with terror, being moved by human reasoning;

or of the death of souls, of those who were about to perish because of such audacious deeds.

But fear and trembling fell upon the Prophet as he beheld the Beloved of God suffering such things at the hands of the impious, and darkness covered him, since indeed the deeds done against the Savior were truly worthy of darkness.

Then, as though left behind in the midst of those doing these things, having no way of escape, nor any place to turn aside so as to be outside the evils, he prays to be lifted up on high, and, becoming winged, to escape through the air.

I was waiting for God who saves me from faintheartedness and from the tempest,

He calls 'tempest' the grief that came upon him through the Passion.

For I saw lawlessness and strife in the city,

He sets forth the reason for which he also made his prayer.

For if an enemy had reproached me, I would have borne it,

These things might rightly be referred to the person of the betrayer.

But you, O man of like soul, my guide and my acquaintance,

In place of, 'You were established as guide by me'—namely, Judas.

who together with me sweetened my food,

Having often been deemed worthy of the same table.

We walked in the house of God in harmony,

He says this because he had often gone together with him into the temple.

Let death come upon them, and let them go down alive into Hades,

Since they were not willing to receive you, the Life, therefore death shall succeed them in your place.

As for 'let them go down alive into Hades'—this is because, knowing him to be the heir, they said:

for he had set down 'knowledge' in place of 'life'.

I cried to God, and the Lord heard me,

I cried to God,

And what did he cry out? That his soul might be redeemed from those seeking to destroy it.

Evening, and morning, and at noon I will tell,

I will cease telling, since indeed, having heard, you have redeemed my soul,

For they were with me among many,

Because the many were conspiring against me, wishing to take away my soul.

For there is no ransom for them,

They will be humbled, he says, since they do not even have a ransom for their soul.

For having once denied the precious blood of Christ—the ransom that was taken on behalf of the life of the world—they no longer have any means of redemption.

He stretched out his hand in repaying,

He himself stretched out the hand that bestows good things, so that they might partake of the blessing;

but they not only did not receive it;

but also profaned the covenant—clearly, the covenant of the Gospel.

Since they became evildoers against their benefactor, therefore he also scattered them to every wind.

And their hearts drew near,

Again he directs his discourse concerning Judas;

In his heart, he says, he consented to the betrayal of Christ.

And indeed he brought forth words soft and smooth, but they were full of malice.

But what are these words, but the ones spoken at the betrayal, 'Hail, Rabbi'? 'Cast your care upon the Lord, and he himself will nourish you.'

Do not be anxious about what you shall eat, or what you shall drink, or what you shall put on.

He will never give the righteous over to disturbance.

He will pluck out the righteous at every time from every uprising of enemies.

But you, O God, will bring them down into the pit of destruction.

Clearly he means those who rose up against him and delivered him to the cross.

For by 'the pit of destruction' he means Hades.

Men of blood and deceit shall not live out half their days.

By 'men of blood' he means those who killed the author of life; and indeed they did not complete the full span of their life, having been given over to the sword of the Romans.

Then, passing through into Gath, he was honored by the foreigners;

for they set apart Ziklag for him as a dwelling place.

The psalm may also be referred to the person of the Church, which of old was estranged from the saints, in the time when it practiced idolatry and was enslaved to demons.

For then the foreigners also deemed him worthy of honor, that is, those from the nations who believe in him.

Have mercy on me, O God, for man has trampled upon me.

And often each one of us as a man endures this grievous war, being warred against by Satan the whole day and being trampled by him.

For even though the psalm has made mention of man, nevertheless it hints at Satan himself, who is often named in divine Scripture, or at one of those who serve in his army.

Yet it is also fitting for the people of the nations to sing these words softly, they who for a long time were deceived by Satan, and endured war from him through the plotting of demons, whom he speaks of, hinting at them more clearly, in what follows.

My enemies trampled upon me the whole day.

He knew that Saul plotted against him, being incited by the invisible demons.

Or it also shows what is said: 'Our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.'

For many are those who war against me from on high.

Even if they rise up against me, he says, yet I shall overcome them all by hoping in you.

For this hope furnished me with such strength that I no longer feared those who had long been warring against me.

In God I will praise my words.

doing this and dedicating it to God, and placing his hope upon him;

wherefore I also put away all fear of flesh.

All the day long they abhorred my words.

I, he says, dedicated my words to God the whole day long;

but they did not cease, every day, devoting their zeal against me toward evils.

They will gather together and hide themselves; they will watch my heel.

The word 'they will sojourn' is used in place of 'they will be gathered together.'

Thus, he says, every day they occupied themselves in stirring up words against me, and their every thought was directed against me, so that they were eager to gather together and to make their preparations against me in secret; and they did not stop even there, but also pried curiously into my heel, that is, the course of my life, hoping that by tripping me up they might be able to cast me down.

And they also carefully watched what tracks I walked in, in order to seize me.

These, then, were the things done against me by those who pursued me in vain;

but you, O Lord, my hope, deliver me from their unjust contrivance;

and go after them yourself and cast them down in your wrath.

O God, I have declared my life to you.

With boldness, he says, and not being ashamed of my own life, I have declared all of it to you;

and you, receiving it, did not reject my tears;

but you set them before your eyes, thereby confirming your promise which says:

In whatever day I call upon you,

my enemies shall turn back.

By these very deeds, he says, I have learned, and I have known precisely, that my hope is not set upon what is vain;

but I have acquired God as my helper.

Upon me, O God, are vows, which I will render as your praise.

Since you have deemed us worthy of your dispensation, he says, and have saved us, what shall we render to you but sacrifices of praise? For you have delivered my soul from death,

He means, he says, the intelligible death, that is, ignorance concerning God.

And my feet from slipping.

He speaks of sin, for it is this that brings a man down to death.

I will be well-pleasing before the Lord in the light of the living.

For he who has been delivered from sin and made pure will, in the age to come, be well-pleasing to the Lord in the land of the living.

And the cause for us of being delivered from death, and being freed from sin, and having a portion also in the land of the living, has been the coming of the Lord.

And then he also sings this psalm.

This is also referred to the things accomplished for us by Christ, when, appearing upon the earth with flesh in the last days, he drove away our corruption.

Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.

He offers this hymn to him from the person of humanity.

For my soul trusts in you, and in the shadow of your wings I will hope.

It is the custom of divine Scripture to call the overseeing power of God 'wings,' according to what is said:

How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.

In your help, then, he says, I have my hope.

That is, until Satan and the evil powers with him are put out of the way.

I will cry out to God Most High, to God who has done good to me.

I will confess, he says, and I will offer up thanksgiving to you, my benefactor.

He sent from heaven, and saved me.

He clearly proclaims the descent of the Lord.

He gave over to reproach those who trampled upon me.

[Grant, then, this kindness, that I may be able to say with boldness, that you looked down from heaven upon our affairs;

and you set right our affairs, but brought those of the enemies to reproach.

Or indeed he means the deliverance by which he was saved in the cave, when he had the enemy the more in his power, and yet spared him.

This indeed was a reproach to the one who had been spared, as one who had vainly plotted against his savior.] God sent forth his mercy and his truth.

The Son is the mercy and truth of the Father.

And he delivered my soul from the midst of young lions.

[Being left in the midst of the young lions, that is, of the foreign Philistines of Gath,

or, as far as it depended on me, I lay down disturbed on account of human impiety,

but the Most High, having sent forth his Word, delivered my soul, so that it suffered no harm at all from the disturbance of the young lions.

But what are these beasts? They would be the sons of men;

their teeth are weapons, and so are their counsels;

that is, they are harmful in every respect.

Just as a sword, when sharpened, easily kills, so too the tongue, when sharpened, kills through slanders.] Evidently, of the spiritual young lions.

Since I have been delivered, he says, from the spiritual young lions, for this reason I shall also find rest, although formerly I was troubled by them.

Sons of men, whose teeth are weapons and arrows,

He says these things, signifying what happened to the Savior at the time of the Passion, when the Jews cried out against Christ before Pilate, 'Away with him, away with him, crucify him,' and, 'If this man were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.'

Be exalted above the heavens, O God, and your glory above all the earth.

Even though you lowered yourself, he says, for our salvation into a voluntary self-emptying, and became obedient unto death, yet ascend again into the heavens, for having ascended you will fill all the earth with your glory as well.

They prepared a snare for my feet.

Those who cast me down through snares, he says, you have caused to fall into the very pit which they themselves dug.

My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready.

He entreats to receive the Holy Spirit, whom the Only-begotten promised, as he was ascending, to send, saying that his own heart has become ready to receive him.

Awake, psaltery and harp.

By 'psaltery' he means the soul, and he calls the body 'harp.'

Having come, he says, into perception of the spiritual light, I shall be awakened to the singing of hymns.

I will confess to you among the peoples, O Lord; I will sing praise to you among the nations.

By his giving thanks he proclaims as good news the conversion of all the nations, inasmuch as all the nations shall then be singing his hymns.

For your mercy has been magnified unto the heavens.

Similar to: 'because the creation itself also will be set free from corruption into the freedom of the children of God.'

And your truth unto the clouds.

He says that by your deeds you have proved true the voices of the clouds, that is, of the prophets, concerning you.

[Your truth reaches unto the clouds:

He says that by deeds they showed the voices of the clouds, that is, of the prophets, to be true.

'Unto the heavens' is similar to the following:

The present psalm has the same subject as the preceding one, or rather, it explains clearly what end befell those who rose up against the Savior.

If indeed you speak righteousness truly,

Since they gathered together against the Savior as though defending the law, the prophetic Spirit fittingly commands them — if indeed they are truly concerned for what is just — to judge rightly, that is, justly.

But they did not judge justly, since they wished to kill the innocent and righteous one.

Even though the words, he says, are fair, while they pretend to be vindicating the law,

yet the heart is full of bitterness, and the deeds likewise are filled with lawlessness.

The sinners have been estranged from the womb.

I knew that you would surely deal falsely, and that you are lawless, and that from the belly you would be called [a transgressor];

calling the belly 'holy baptism.'] Their fury is according to the likeness of the serpent,

By 'fury' he means the soul, which he also says is like the serpent in paradise;

who, feigning words of friendship, brought in death.

For this reason they have been compared to the likeness of the serpent.

Like a deaf asp that stops up her ears,

They would be compared, he says, not only to the serpent, but also to the asp which carries venom in its teeth and is unwilling to heed the charmers, so as to cease from its fury.

He says this because they too, according to the word of Isaiah, made their ears heavy, so as not to hear the words that came from the Lord.

God will break their teeth in their mouth.

By 'teeth' here he means the slanders which they fabricated against the Lord, and especially those concerning the resurrection;

or by 'teeth' he means their power, since the power of lions lies in their teeth.

They shall be brought to nothing, like water that runs away.

They shall be, he says, contemptible, like water that has been scattered and is altogether useless.

He will bend his bow until they grow weak.

By 'bow' in these words he means the sentence that is to be pronounced at the divine judgment seat.

And the [phrase] 'until' is used in place of 'and';

Fire fell upon them, and they did not see the sun.

Having been cast, he says, into the eternal fire, they did not behold the sun of righteousness.

Let the impious be taken away, that he may not see the glory of the Lord.

Before your thorns could perceive the bramble,

He speaks of the crown of thorns.

Before, he says, your thorns — that is, your sins — grow and become a bramble, that is, before they blossom and bear fruit, the divine wrath will overtake you.

The righteous shall rejoice when he sees vengeance.

The righteous, he says, beholding the wicked demons being removed from their midst at the time of the just judgment, will rejoice at the righteous judgment of God;

inasmuch as they themselves are found innocent of the punishment of death.

For the [word] 'he shall wash' is to be understood as referring to the innocent, according to the [verse]:

I will wash my hands among the innocent.

Truly there is a God who judges them on the earth.

The [word] 'therefore' is used in place of 'truly.'

Truly there is a God who judges them.

They confess, he says, that the judgment of God pronounced against them is truly just.

This is referred to the person of the Savior, who benefited the ungrateful Israel — whose figure Saul also bore — yet was plotted against by him.

He also proclaims as good news the calling of all the nations, since Israel is evidently cast out from the citizenship pertaining to God on account of its impiety.

Deliver me from my enemies, O God.

He prays to be set free from enemies both perceptible to the senses and intelligible.

For these men, committing lawless deeds, were filled with envy against him.

Neither my lawlessness, nor my sin, O Lord.

For he committed no lawlessness, nor was guile found in his mouth.

Attend to visit all the nations.

namely, that the idolaters should come to faith in Christ, while Israel should be cast off on account of their lawlessness.

Do not have pity on all who work lawlessness.

They shall return at evening.

He states the reason on account of which he prayed that they should not be pitied.

The reason is that they would form a conspiracy against the Savior at that time, at which, in the last of days, he came to sojourn in the world in the flesh.

They will hunger, because they did not receive the life-giving bread.

He calls them dogs because of the shamelessness of their soul.

They shall go about the city, because, having fallen from their homeland and being kept from it by royal laws, they wander about it in a circle from outside, scarcely beholding it from afar.

Behold, they shall utter with their mouth.

And a sword is on their lips.

Away with him, away with him, crucify him.

And you, O Lord, shall laugh them to scorn.

They blasphemed, he says, and indeed they plotted even unto the cross, saying that God would not see their words and deeds.

But even though they devised these things, you, O Lord, he says, will bring it about that they become objects of ridicule.

They indeed dare such things, but you both hear and see, and laugh at their vain madness.

You shall utterly bring to nothing all the nations.

Clearly the intelligible nations, those which also stirred them up to war against the Lord.

Attend to visit all the nations.

You shall utterly bring to nothing all the nations.

having employed, throughout the whole sequence of the discourse and by means of what lies in between, a great deal of order

then he related what sort of things they do, since they do not even believe there is one who exercises providence.

And then he added the punishment, saying this, that:

For these things you shall punish them worthily, and by the punishment from you shall show them to be nothing.

My strength I will keep toward you.

Those, he says, have committed such impieties against you, but I, the prophet who says these things, shall have, in the Spirit, my strength and my kingdom to be kept through you;

since indeed you helped me, and before my prayers you embraced me with your mercy, so that I even saw the fall of my enemies.

Do not slay them, lest they forget your law.

He prays that the race of those who rose up against the Lord should not be utterly blotted out from among men;

but rather he asks that they be scattered and live in captivity, because of the sin of their mouth and because of their arrogance.

And on account of cursing and lying they shall be proclaimed at the consummation.

May their end, he says, become widely known, on account of the curses with which they curse you, falsely accusing your glory.

By 'consummation' he does not mean the utter destruction of the nation, but the overthrow of their glory,

all of which things came to pass together, all at once, after the bloody murder committed against the Lord.

And they shall know that God rules over Jacob and the ends of the earth.

They shall return at evening.

He repeats what was said before, rendering the prophecy against them more certain.

Reasonably he made use of the repetition, 'They shall return.'

According to the letter, the verses are somewhat obscure.

For he wishes to state the example of dogs, which, gathered together over some food, devour one another before ever touching the food;

wherefore they also often become divided, missing out on the food. They shall be scattered in order to eat.

and if they are not satisfied, they will also grumble.

Let them go about seeking the word of the Lord, and they shall by no means find it.

But if ever, having partaken of some word of the divine Scripture, they seem to have enjoyed it to the full, even so they will grumble, since they are ever grumblers and speak against God.

But I will sing of your power.

Those indeed do thus, he says;

but I, clearly the people from the nations, having recognized your power, shall rejoice in your mercy which came to be in light, and in your day of resurrection.

For you became my helper and my refuge.

For I have always enjoyed your assistance, and through your providence I escaped the calamities that befell me.

For this reason indeed I know you alone as God, and I call you the fountain of mercy and loving-kindness,

and indeed he fulfills his promises, offering the hymnody through the pious.

For these things Scripture teaches us, speaking for our instruction.

First he laments the overthrow that came upon him because of impiety toward Christ, wherefore he also says:

O God, you have rejected us, and cast us down; you were angry, and had compassion on us.

You punished us, he says, on account of the impiety committed against you.

But you also had compassion on us;

for 'you had compassion' stands in place of 'have compassion,' or else 'you had compassion' means: you rendered us pitiable and wretched, so that on account of our calamities it is now, at last, time to be pitied.

You shook the earth, and troubled it.

He speaks of Jerusalem, because it was besieged, and the temple in it was destroyed.

Or he also speaks of their intelligible earth, which has been shaken because of the aversion that came upon them.

Heal its breaches, for it was shaken.

Again he goes through what has happened.

You showed your people hard things.

By the multitude of calamities, he says, you produced in us, as it were by some wine, a stupor, and filled our souls with anguish,

You gave us to drink the wine of compunction.

Thus Aquila too translated it:

'You have made us drink the wine of stupefaction.'

By 'wine of compunction' he means the punishments recorded in the divine Scriptures, which had been foretold to them on account of their impiety toward Christ.

For as they read and learn by experience the things that had been foretold, they are pierced in conscience.

'You have given to those who fear you a sign, that they might flee from before the bow.'

The 'sign' is illumination, by which one is able to have discernment of spirits, both the good and the evil.

For once this knowledge is present, we flee from the worse things, keeping ourselves far from evil deeds and from the evil spirit.

'We indeed,' he says, 'have been punished for the impiety we committed;'

'but those who fear you have received a sign' (clearly the one with which we were sealed), so that they might be kept beyond the reach of every chastising blow.

And the type of this sign was the blood of the sheep smeared on the doorposts in Egypt.

'God has spoken in his holy one.'

'In these last days he has spoken to us in a Son.'

For he is the Holy One of God the Father.

But what did he say, and to whom did he speak? Since in the preceding psalm he had prayed, saying:

'Be exalted above the heavens, O God, and your glory above all the earth;'

for this reason he answers that he will divide Shechem — that is, the kingdom of Israel;

'and I will measure out the valley of the tents.'

By 'valley' the divine Scripture means the dwelling place of all mankind.

'This whole valley, then,' he says, 'I will measure out for myself into tents;'

that is, I will make it most abundantly filled with churches.

'Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine.'

'But Ephraim also,' he says, 'and Judah, the two kingdoms of Israel, will likewise receive the grace.'

The phrase 'the strength of my head' stands for 'the strength of my rule.'

For of the realm which he ruled — that is, Israel — Ephraim was the strength;

for from Ephraim came the kingdom of Israel.

'Moab is the cauldron of my hope.'

And he means that the Moabites too — that is, the nation formerly godless — receive hope in me.

'Upon Edom I will stretch out my sandal.'

'And in Idumea,' he says, 'I will walk about as its lord.'

And Idumea, in turn, was a nation of foreigners.

'The foreigners have been subjected to me.'

'Who will lead me to the city of the stronghold?' Having heard through the Spirit that the nations were receiving grace, the prophet says:

'Who will lead me into the city of the stronghold?' By 'city of the stronghold' he means the Church, which is fenced all around by the power of God.

The prophet speaks these things in the person of the Jewish people repenting and longing to receive faith in Christ.

Who, then, is Idumea? By Idumea he signifies all the nations that have received the grace.

'Not by human alliance,' he says, 'do we hope to be delivered from the afflictions that shall come upon us, but only through your help alone.'

'And vain is the salvation of man.'

For everyone who hopes in the salvation that comes from man has placed his hope in a vain hope.

Symmachus translated more clearly, adding the conjunction and saying:

'For indeed vain is the salvation of man.'

'In God we shall work valiantly.'

'Come to our aid,' he says, 'for we are in a bad state.'

You alone have the power to dissolve our misfortunes.

And the assistance of men, without your assent, is vain.

Therefore we shall call upon his providence, and we shall put our confidence in his power.

For this power alone is sufficient to resolve our difficulties and to overthrow the dominion of those who war against us.

They exclaim to one another, as it were, that henceforth they must place their hopes of salvation in God alone.

Whenever we hope to be made strong in God, then we shall find that our enemies amount to nothing.

He offers thanksgiving to God both for himself and for the people saved through faith.

And he promises that, even when he has come to dwell in the eternal mansions, he will unceasingly send up praise.

'Hear, O God, my petition.'

Since, looking upon the oppression and tyranny of the demons, I have been filled with despondency;

for this reason I beseech you that, having appeared, you may deliver me from the hand of those who do us violence.