Commentary on the Psalms 10 part 2/3

which Moses also shows in Genesis, when he says:

This is a proof of His boundless providence, of His far-reaching care.

But if He does not seek it out immediately, on the heels of the deed, do not be astonished;

for He grants to those who sin an occasion for repentance.

He has not forgotten the cry of the poor.

See again how the poor are held in high esteem.

Yet he does not simply speak of the poor, but of those who are poor in spirit, even as Christ says.

For these especially are heard when they pray, namely the humble in heart and the contrite.

And here he sets down two things: prayer and humility of mind.

For upon whom, He says, shall I look, but upon the humble and quiet one, and him who trembles at My words? And everywhere humility is found to be the chariot of prayer.

For the Lord is near to those who are contrite in heart.

So that the one who prays must above all be free from inflammation of anger — which Paul also requires, when he says:

without wrath and doubting.

Well did he say, 'Of the cry of the poor,' calling 'cry' the disposition of the mind, not the loudness of the voice;

and by saying, 'He has not forgotten,' he made clear that those men cried out continually, and did not obtain their request at the very outset.

What then is it that he says? Do not think that God has forgotten, and that for this reason He did not exact retribution;

for it is proper to Him to seek out such matters even when no one entreats;

but when they do entreat, and when those who entreat are humble, much more so.

Have mercy on me, O Lord; behold my humiliation at the hands of my enemies,

You who lift me up from the gates of death, that I may declare all Your praises in the gates of the daughter of Zion.

See him ceaselessly fastened to prayer.

For even when delivered from his troubles and brought into safety, he does not desist from praying again, saying, 'Have mercy on me,' and entreating Him also for things to come.

For we always have need of God's providence, but most of all in the deliverance from evils.

For another war succeeds the former, more grievous than it — the war of laziness, the war of presumption;

and then the devil blows more fiercely.

So that especially after being delivered from evils, we have need of that support, in order that we may bear our prosperity with ease.

Since the Jews too, when delivered from the Egyptians, were in a grievous war — the war of presumption and of laziness —

and they perished, being unable to command themselves well.

For since they stood nobly firm neither against gluttony nor against faintheartedness, but emulated the passions of the Egyptians, these things destroyed them.

And David too, in the time of Saul, when he had been delivered from his troubles and from his other foes, once he enjoyed relief, underwent a more grievous war — that of unbridled lust — which indeed chastised him the more severely.

Therefore we must be especially afraid at that very time, when we have been delivered from our troubles.

For just as we do not fear a wild beast that is bound as much as one that has been let loose,

so also we ought not to dread wickedness so much in the time of affliction;

for then it is bound fast by despondency and by the other fetters;

but after the relief — then we must be afraid.

For this very reason you will often see prosperity working greater harm than evils.

Thus Hezekiah too, after the victory, was on the verge of perishing.

Wherefore he too says elsewhere:

It is good for me that You humbled me.

And he seeks mercy again after his deliverance, and lays down as the ground for that mercy the fact that he suffered ill.

For 'behold my humiliation at the hands of my enemies;'

'You who lift me up from the gates of death.'

For I flee for refuge to my protector and guardian, who ever stretches out His hand to me.

Do you see how, in asking for things to come, he becomes thankful for things past, and speaks of a twofold benefit? For he did not say, 'He who delivers me from the gates of death,' but, 'He who lifts me up.'

For the benefaction of God did not stop at loosing the terrors, but also made them marvellous, and glorious, and more illustrious, and exalted.

And he did not say, 'From the gate,' but, 'From the gates,' indicating the multitude of the dangers.

'That I may declare all Your praises in the gates of the daughter of Zion.'

That which he exhorted others to do, this he himself also does;

for 'Declare,' he says, 'among the nations His doings.'

This I too will now do;

and I will not do it in a mere ordinary way, with one, or two, or three present, but in the midst of a full assembly.

'I will rejoice in Your salvation.'

This is my crown, this is my diadem: that through You I have set up a trophy, that through You I have enjoyed salvation.

So then let us too not seek by all means to be saved, nor by every device to be delivered from our troubles, but to be saved according to God.

I say this because of those who resort to incantations in their sicknesses, and seek out other sorceries for the relief of their infirmity.

For this is not to be saved, but to be destroyed.

For the greatest salvation is to be saved through God.

'The nations are sunk down in the destruction which they made.'

By 'destruction' he means wickedness;

for nothing so corrupts as wickedness.

For nothing is weaker than the wicked man.

He is taken by his own weapons, just as iron is consumed by rust, and wool by the moth;

so also is the wicked man consumed by his own wickedness.

So that, even before the punishment that comes from God, wickedness itself exacts its penalty from the one who works it.

For since he had discoursed much concerning the judgment from above and concerning the inclination of God's favour, and since this judgment does not follow close on the heels of sin, but often lingers and is deferred, and this makes the many more careless, he shows that punishment stands at the very doors, and that the wicked endure it, as Paul also says:

'And receiving in themselves the recompense of their error which was due.'

And observe how strictly he uses the words.

that is, he was held fast with all force; the plot became inescapable for him.

'In this snare which they hid, their own foot was caught.'

'With bonds that cannot be loosed,' he says, 'are the wicked entangled.'

These things happened in the case of the apostles and of the Jews.

For when they warred against the apostles, they did those men no harm at all, but wrapped themselves in countless evils, falling away from their city, and their freedom, and everything else; and while the

preaching increased, those who plotted against it were being destroyed.

And those who cast the three children into the Babylonian furnace were themselves in turn taken by it;

which indeed also happened in the case of Daniel.

But in the case of Daniel this happened with good reason, for they themselves cast him in;

but in the case of the three children, why then, when it was the king who sinned, are these men who stood before the furnace punished? Because these men who were burned up had themselves served the tyrant's command, and had worshipped the golden image.

See how he showed that the accusation against them was beyond words.

For since what was done was full of shame, therefore they conceal it, and try to escape notice.

'The Lord is known by executing judgments.'

Another version: 'He was made known by having executed judgment;'

that is, punishing, avenging, calling to account.

Do you see another kind of benefaction that comes through chastisement? For not only, he says, does it make those who are chastised more earnest, but it also causes the word of the knowledge of God Himself to shine forth.

And one might see Him rather from this turning men back to Himself.

At any rate, when He permitted the herd of swine to be carried down the steep places and to be drowned in the sea, then above all were they astonished.

And in the Old Testament, the Jews, when He slew them, then they sought after Him, as the Prophet says.

And why then does He not do this more continually? Because He does not wish the things of virtue to be accomplished by force, but rather by free choice, and men to be set right by benefaction rather than by chastisement.

And how much better, he says, is it to be good by necessity than evil by choice? It is not possible to be good by necessity.

For he who becomes good through constraint will not always be good, but once freed from the necessity, he will return to wickedness;

but he who is so trained as to become good by his own choice, having become so, remains steadfast.

'In the works of his own hands is the sinner caught.'

He did not say 'of the hands of God,' but 'of the hands of the sinner.'

Do you see how he varies his discourse, both bringing in the punishment from above and introducing the penalty that arises from wickedness itself? How does he speak of the punishment from above? 'The Lord is known,' he says, 'in executing judgments.'

How does he speak of the penalty that comes from wickedness? 'The nations were snared in the corruption which they made.'

And again the penalty that comes from evil-doing:

'In the works of his own hands is the sinner caught.'

For he does not speak of the punishment from God alone, since it often is delayed and comes slowly;

nor of that which comes from wickedness alone, since many even linger and take delight in it;

but he makes his argument secure on both sides.

'In the works of his own hands is he caught.'

Do not therefore suppose that you are contriving devices for another when you plot against him;

for it is for yourself that you are weaving the nets.

'Let the sinners be turned back into hell, all the nations that forget God.'

Again he dwells on the same points, showing that wickedness has chastisement allotted together with it, and that impiety begets death, and sin brings dangers.

'For the poor shall not be forgotten unto the end; the patient endurance of the needy shall not perish for ever.'

'For the expectation of the meek shall not be forgotten unto the end.'

He said well, 'unto the end,' showing that one does not always seek for relief.

For where would the works of patient endurance be displayed, if there were always to be relief? What he means is this:

The wicked shall pay the penalty, and shall suffer the uttermost.

For God will not endure that those who are wronged should for ever be exposed to plots.

By this he both comforts these and strikes fear into those, and displays the loving-kindness of God, that even the delay makes the one sort more approved, and draws the other to repentance.

the poor, not simply so, but those who are contrite in heart.

For these especially are also well fitted for patient endurance;

or rather, these things build up one another: humility builds up patient endurance, and patient endurance humility.

And how is humility a kind of poverty? We shall say this, that it is more suited to virtue.

For he who is rich is restless and troubled;

but the poor man bears everything easily, being, as it were, often exercised by poverty as in a wrestling-school.

For this reason Christ also said that it is hard for one with riches to enter into the kingdom.

What does it mean, 'The patient endurance of the needy shall not perish unto the end'? Never, he says, but he shall assuredly receive his own proper fruit.

This is not possible in the affairs of this life, but one often falls short of the goal, when the labours have been lost.

For both the farmer waits, and the merchant;

yet often, through the inconstancy of the weather, both fall short of the fruit of their labours.

But in the case of God this cannot be; rather, it is wholly necessary that one attain the end.

And this is no small thing as a ground of consolation: to have confidence always concerning the end.

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

'Let the nations be judged before you.'

Another version reads, 'And before your face.'

Having spoken of the wickedness that holds sway over the greater part of mankind, and having recounted their villainy, their rapacities, their acts of greed, their murders, he calls upon God for the succor of those who are wronged.

For such are the bowels of compassion of the saints: not to be anxious for their own concerns alone, but, as though for a single household—the whole inhabited world—or for a single body—the multitude of mankind—so to make their entreaty to God.

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

But what is the meaning of 'Arise, O Lord'? It means: Come forth, he says; give aid; punish those who commit injustice.

And well did he use those bare names, saying, 'Arise,' and, 'Let not man prevail';

so as to make plain that it is the worthless one, the one from the earth, the one who is dust and ashes.

'Let the nations be judged before you.'

What does this mean? Let them pay the penalty, he says, for their sins.

They have not become better through your longsuffering;

demand an accounting for the outrages they have dared to commit.

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

'Let the nations know that they are but men.'

What is the meaning of 'Appoint a lawgiver over them'? Since, he says, they do everything as though under their own law, unwilling to pay any penalty, come forth, and let punishment be to them in place of admonition.

This also another writer declared, saying, 'Appoint, O Lord, a terror over them.'

See how he does not seek their punishment, but their admonition and correction, and that they should no longer live lawlessly.

For the punishment will be to them, he says, in place of admonition;

and not to them only, but to others as well.

And that you may learn how great the gain is, and how it checks the disease, listen to what follows.

'Let the nations know,' he says, 'that they are but men.'

And what he means is this:

Many have lost even this awareness; they have forgotten their own nature, they have run aground into madness, they have become ignorant of themselves.

And well did he add the word 'Always,' to make plain that it should be so not only in adversities, but also in prosperities.

For indeed, if you chastise them now, while the fear is at its height and the memory of the dreadful things that befell them is fresh, then even should they come into prosperity, they will know their own nature.

Do you see how he makes his supplication on their behalf, and asks that their madness be corrected? For to be ignorant of oneself is more grievous than the uttermost madness and frenzy.

For the one is a disease of necessity, but the other of a corrupted will.

'Why, O Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you overlook us in seasons of opportunity, in tribulations?' These things the Prophet speaks in the person of the afflicted, entreating and beseeching, not accusing;

since many of the afflicted, out of their pain, ask that the judgment come before the fitting time;

just as those who are undergoing surgery, while the incision is not yet complete, beg the physician to withdraw his hand;

asking a favor that is harmful, and this because they cannot bear the pains.

And often they cry out to the physicians, 'You have tortured me, you have destroyed me, you have killed me';

but these are not the words of the understanding, but of the pain.

In just this way many of the fainthearted also speak in their tribulations, being unable to bear the sufferings.

And Zephaniah too employs a like manner of speech.

But these things belonged to the Old Covenant, when the contests were of measured proportion;

such things are far removed from the higher wisdom that is in the New Covenant.

When the ungodly man exalts himself in pride, the poor man is set aflame;

they are caught in the schemes which they devise.

For the sinner is praised in the desires of his soul, and he who does wrong is blessed.

The sinner has provoked the Lord to anger.

The Prophet, clothing himself in the guise of a suppliant and interceding on behalf of those who are wronged, speaks also of the sufferings that befall them, which belong to human weakness;

namely, that even before the punishment and the vengeance, he who is wronged is in anguish, unable to bear the prosperity of the wicked.

And this too is no small punishment.

Then he asks that they may pay the penalty, and that their plots may be turned back upon themselves;

and he speaks of a kind of wickedness that is unbearable.

What kind is this? That the sinner is praised in the desires of his soul.

For the very things over which he ought to have hidden his face, the very things, he says, of which he ought to be ashamed, for these he is admired and praised.

How then could there henceforth be any cure for this, when wickedness itself is praised? For indeed this happens even now.

This man is admired as a man of power;

that man as one who takes vengeance on his enemies;

another as prudent, because he has gathered up the goods of all;

and when he has destroyed himself, they still speak well of him;

and they have no thought at all for spiritual things.

Nowhere is the man who keeps to himself quickly praised, nor the one who loves poverty;

but rather the money-maker, the huckster, the flatterer, the man who submits to servile services for the sake of nothing useful.

These things the Prophet laments, that wickedness has so gained the upper hand that it even preens itself and speaks with boldness; and, what is yet more grievous, that it is not ashamed, nor does the man merely praise himself for what he does, but he has others as well to praise him.

What could be worse than this madness? The sinner has provoked the Lord to anger.

Another translator says, Because the lawless one, praising according to the desire of his soul, and blessing the covetous man, has provoked the Lord to anger.

When his wrath is exalted, he does not seek after Him.

Another renders it, Because he has sung praises according to the longing of his soul, and, blessing the covetous man, has reviled the Lord.

The ungodly man, in the loftiness of his wrath, will by no means seek Him out.

But the Seventy render it, The sinner has provoked the Lord to anger;

according to the greatness of his wrath, he will not seek Him out.

Do you see to what a pitch the works of wickedness have advanced? Why do I say, he asks, that he grieves the poor? He provokes God Himself to anger.

And according to the greatness of his wrath, he says, he will not seek out God.

But another translator shows this to refer to the ungodly man, saying, Of his loftiness, that is, of his senselessness, of his arrogance.

Do you see the intensity of the madness, and its corruption? Toward his own kinsmen he is an enemy and a foe, estranged from virtue, a lover and praiser of wickedness.

And well did another say, God is not in all his thoughts;

showing that he does not seek after God, because he is filled with darkness, because he does not have the fear of Him before his eyes.

But just as a rheum darkens the pupil of the eye, so does wickedness darken the understanding, and hurls it down over precipices.

God is not before him.

Another says, Through all his devisings.

His ways are profaned at every season; Your judgments are taken away from before his face.

Another says, Your judgment is removed.

Do you see the fruit of wickedness? His light is quenched, his reasonings are blinded, he is given over as a captive to evil.

For just as the blind man continually falls into pits, so also does this man; since he does not have the fear of God before his eyes, he spends his whole life in wickedness;

Not now in virtue and now in vice, but always in vice; and he remembers neither hell, nor the coming judgment, nor the reckoning to be given.

Having cast out these helps, like a ship without ballast he is given over to wicked winds and savage waves, since there is no one to guide his understanding aright.

Do you see the wicked man undergoing his punishment in his very wickedness? For what is more grievous than an unbridled horse, than a ship without ballast, than a maimed and crippled man? (10)

But more wretched than all these is the man who lives in wickedness, who has quenched the light that comes from the fear of God, and has been handed over as a captive.

He shall have dominion over all his enemies.

For he said in his heart:

I shall not be shaken from generation to generation, without evil.

Another version has: He blows away all his enemies, saying in his heart:

I shall not be overturned from generation to generation.

Do you see the madness? Do you see the unspeakable ruin? Do you see the destruction growing little by little? Do you see the things counted blessed among the foolish, which are full of much misery, and how he sinks down? He is praised in his sins, he is blessed in his acts of injustice.

This is the first pit, and it is enough to break the neck of one who does not take heed.

Therefore we ought rather to welcome those who blame and correct us than those who praise and flatter us to our ruin.

For these men corrupt the dull-witted and push them on to greater wickedness;

just as, by puffing up this sinner too, they trained him into folly.

Therefore Paul too says this very thing to the Corinthians concerning the man who had committed fornication:

And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned.

One ought to mourn much over the sinner, not to praise him.

Do you see how perverse is wickedness, that not only is it not accused, but is even applauded? From this point, from his own folly and from the praises, he intensified his wickedness, forgot the fear of God and His judgments;

from this point he forgot even his own nature.

For he who forgets the judgments of God comes in time to be ignorant even of himself.

I shall not be shaken from generation to generation, but shall be without evil.

What is more senseless than this way of thinking—that a man, being mortal and perishable, entangled in transient affairs and subject to countless changes, should imagine such things? And whence does this come? From folly.

For when a senseless man enjoys great prosperity, prevails over his enemies, and is praised and admired, he becomes the most wretched of all.

For because he does not expect any change, he neither bears his prosperity with self-control; and falling into adversity, being untrained and unpracticed, he is troubled and thrown into confusion.

But he ought even in prosperity to have expected adversity every single day;

For the fear which I feared has come upon me, and that which I dreaded has met me.

I was neither at peace, nor at rest, nor did I take repose;

Remember the time of famine in the time of abundance, of poverty and want in the day of wealth.

But this man, being utterly corrupted, does not consider the human condition, but supposes that his affairs are unshakable because of his good fortune;

which is the ground of the utmost folly and corruption, and the starting-point of destruction.

Do not therefore call blessed those who are rich, those who prevail over their enemies, those who are praised for these things.

For these are great pits and precipices to those who do not take heed, hurling them down to the very bottom of ungodliness.

Whose mouth is full of cursing, and of bitterness, and of deceit.

Under his tongue are toil and pain.

He sits in ambush with the rich in secret places, to slay the innocent.

Another version has: Lying in wait beside the courts.

His eyes are fixed upon the poor man.

He lies in wait in secret like a lion in his den.

Another version has: As in his enclosure.

He lies in wait to seize the poor man, to seize the poor man by drawing him in.

In his snare he will bring him low.

He will crouch down and fall, when he has gained the mastery over the poor.

Another version: But he who is crushed shall be bowed down, when he falls upon the weak together with his mighty ones.

Do you see how he too has become a wild beast? For just as though sketching a wild beast, so the Prophet discourses concerning him, holding up to public view his frauds, his ambushes, his plots.

What could be more wretched than such a man, and what poorer, when he stands in need of the poor man's goods? Shall we then, tell me, call this man rich? Why, then we must call the thief and the burglar rich too.

For what if he does not break into the courts of law? What if he does not come by night, but with guile puts out the light of him who sits in judgment? What if he does not fall upon men while they sleep, but while all are awake? For such a one is the more brazen.

Since even among robbers, the laws punish more severely those who steal by day.

Do you see the poverty? Do you see the cruelty? Poverty, because he covets what belongs to the poor man;

cruelty, because he is not even softened by the man's misfortune, but the very poverty which he ought to pity and to relieve, this he grinds down still further.

Yet nevertheless he does not work these deeds without punishment;

but when he prevails, when he seems to have gotten the upper hand, when he supposes himself to be unconquerable, then he shall perish;

so that both the resourcefulness of God may be made manifest, and the patient endurance of the poor, and this man's incorrigibility, and the forbearance of God's long-suffering.

For this reason justice does not follow hard upon his heels, since God through His long-suffering is calling him to repentance;

but when he gains nothing from the long-suffering, then God admonishes him by punishment.

For these men, though wronged, suffered no harm;

nay, they even became better and more illustrious as a result of the affliction;

while God displayed His own long-suffering, in bearing with and enduring evil patiently, and along with the long-suffering also His strength and His abundant resource;

for it is when He is mightier than Himself that He then prevails over him;

but this man, having remained incorrigible, pays the uttermost penalty.

And this is no small lesson in self-restraint for those who prosper.

Therefore, when you prevail over your enemies, and everything is borne along for you with a fair wind, do not take courage to live in wickedness, but rather then be afraid.

For your wickedness increases, the grounds of your defense are taken away, and your claim to pardon is cut off, so long as you remain wicked.

For he has said in his heart:

He has turned away His face, so as never to see.

See to what a pit of destruction he descends, what manner of tenets he gathers together, which for very shamelessness he does not dare to bring out into the open, but turns them over within himself, warring against the truth, and casting into shadow things clearer than the sun, because of the blindness of his own understanding.

Arise, O Lord my God, let Your hand be lifted high.

Another version: Lift up Your hand.

For what reason has the ungodly man provoked God? For he has said in his heart:

You see, for You perceive trouble and wrath, so as to deliver him into Your hands.

Another version: You have seen, for You will look upon trouble and provocation, so as to give it into Your hand.

Another version: That they may be given into Your hands.

The lawless man says these things, the one who plunders, the one who is grasping, as though he would pay no penalty;

but the Prophet, doing away with his tenets, fills up the discourse concerning long-suffering.

He has turned away His face, so as never to see;

Yet You do see, and You do perceive, and You are long-suffering, until they themselves fall into Your hands.

What does it mean, Until they themselves be given into Your hands? He has spoken in a manner more suited to human understanding.

You wait, You bear with evil patiently, so that by the excess of their wickedness they may be delivered up.

For You are able even from the very beginning to seize and to subdue him;

but unutterable is the ocean of Your forbearance, in that You look on and do not proceed against them, but wait for them to come to repentance.

But if they are unwilling, then You punish, when they have gained nothing from the long-suffering.

For that He takes great account of those who are wronged, listen how the psalmist establishes this very thing through what follows.

'To You the poor man is left; You were a helper to the orphan.'

And what he means is this:

This is Your work, this is Your special task.

For He would not have abandoned what is His own and betrayed it.

For just as it belongs to the craftsman to build, and to the pilot to steer the vessel straight, and to the sun to give light,

so also it is Yours to stand as protector of orphans, to stretch out a hand to the poor.

No one is such a champion of these as You, but You alone.

For the word 'is left' presents just this.

'No other,' he says, 'but You alone are the protector of orphans and of the poor.'

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

'His sin shall be sought out, and it shall by no means be found on account of it.'

Another version: 'Let his ungodliness be sought out, that he himself may not be found.'

He does not simply ask that the sinner be crushed, but his strength, his dominion, the fuel of his wickedness.

Then he asks that the man submit to a reckoning and give account of his deeds; and showing the magnitude of his injustice, he says:

'If this happens, he will not even be able to stand, nor will he appear, but he will perish, be gone, be utterly rooted out and destroyed, when his deeds are examined.'

Let no one, then, bewail his orphanhood, let no one lament his poverty.

For by so much as these are intensified, by so much will the help of God be increased.

Let no one be haughty over his power, nor puff himself up.

For this ground is treacherous and full of precipices, and it overturns with great ease those who do not take heed.

'The Lord shall reign forever, and to the age of the age.'

Here he answers those who are troubled and disturbed because sinners do not pay the penalty at once.

Why, he says, are you afraid? Why do you dread? Is the Judge but for a season? Does His kingdom have an end? Even if He does not give it now, He will give it beyond all doubt.

For He who demands the reckoning abides, and reigns perpetually.

'You nations shall perish out of His land.'

'The desire of the poor You have heard, O Lord;'

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

Another version: 'Your ear has hearkened to the purpose of their heart.'

Another version: 'You will prepare their heart; Your ear will give heed.'

'To judge for the orphan and the lowly, that man may no more presume to boast upon the earth.'

Another version: 'To judge for the orphan and the crushed.'

Do you see how the prophet makes a fuller discourse concerning care for the wicked? For it is these especially who fare badly.