Commentary on the Psalms 12

To the end, concerning the eighth.

Another version: To the giver of victory, concerning the eighth. But the Hebrew says, Aseminith.

Save me, O Lord, for the holy man has failed, for truths have grown few among the sons of men.

Another version: For the faithful have come to an end from among the sons of men.

Virtue is a hard thing, and difficult to accomplish even in itself; but most of all when the one who labors at it is amid a scarcity of good men.

For just as a journey brings toil, but far more so when the traveler is alone and has no one to share the journey with him;

for no small thing is the fellowship and encouragement of brethren.

Considering one another, to provoke unto love and good works.

For this reason especially it is fitting to count the ancients blessed, not because they achieved virtue, but because, when there was so great a drought of virtue and those who practiced it were nowhere to be seen, they yet achieved it.

This indeed the Scripture also hinted at when it said:

Noah was a righteous man, perfect in his generation.

For this reason we marvel at Abraham, for this reason at Lot, for this reason at Moses, because, like stars appearing in the deep of night, and roses amid thorns, and sheep amid ten thousand wolves, they walked the road contrary to all men, and were not cut off.

For if this very thing brings difficulty even amid a multitude, and, when many go the opposite way, he who alone walks against the multitude endures many troubles; and if in sailing it is hard, when the surge bears the other way, to steer the ship against it;

how much more so in the matter of virtue.

This is what this righteous man too does: inasmuch as he alone had laid hold of virtue while all walked the opposite way, he takes refuge in the providence of God, saying:

He indicates nothing else from this, then, but this:

I have need of the hand from above, of the impulse from the heavens, of that alliance.

For walking the road contrary to all men, I have great need of providence.

And he did not say, Save me, because no holy man has come to be, but, Because the holy man has failed, showing that even those who existed perished, since wickedness prevailed and the disease got the upper hand.

This too Paul fears, saying:

Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? And again:

Evil communications corrupt good manners.

What does it mean, Truths have grown few? Truths are many.

Just as in the case of colors, and of other kinds of things, some are genuine and some are false—there is a true purple and a false purple, and so too with saffron, and with precious stones, and with spices, and with other such things—

so also is it in the case of the virtues.

For truth is that which truly is, but falsehood is that which is not.

Since, then, these things had been distorted and darkened—not having lost their substance of themselves, but having been driven into exile by men—

for this reason he did not say only that Truths have grown few, but he added, From among the sons of men, wishing to make this very thing plain.

What, then, is the true adornment? That which pertains to the soul.

And what is the false? That which pertains to the body.

False is the adornment of riches, true is the adornment of righteous deeds.

There is a gladness that is false and one that is true; and beauties too, and powers, and glories.

But the greater part of mankind, forsaking the truth of these things, pursue after what is false.

For just as there is a man who is true and a man who is false—

the true man being the one who lives and acts, but the false one being the man that is only painted—

so too may one behold it in the case of the virtues.

'Each one spoke vain things to his neighbour.'

'Deceitful lips: in a heart, and in a heart, they spoke evil things.'

Another renders it, 'With one heart and another he speaks.'

He names two forms of wickedness here: both that they spoke vain things, and that it was against their neighbour;

or else he calls 'vain' either the false things, or the things that are superfluous and profitless.

Paul too says something of this kind, when he declares—

And what is yet more grievous, that they were all corrupted.

Therefore he did not say, 'This man and that man,' but 'Each one.'

For the wickedness was not merely superficial, but came from below, and from the heart.

'In a heart and in a heart'—which another interpreter rendered, 'In one heart and another'—thereby teaching that great was the duplicity in their heart.

This is more bitter than all enemies.

For the former are open and manifest, and on that account become easy to guard against;

but these men, putting forward one mask while being another, prove hard to detect for those against whom they plot, and are far more dangerous than those who conceal daggers.

'The Lord shall utterly destroy all deceitful lips, and the boastful tongue—even those who said,'

'We will magnify our tongue.'

'Our lips are our own.'

'Who is lord over us?' Another renders it, 'Who shall be lord over us?' Do you see the Prophet's tender care, how he prays on their behalf? For that which is spoken is not against them, but on their behalf.

For he did not say that they should perish, but that their wickedness should be done away.

For he did not say, 'The Lord shall utterly destroy them,' but, 'The deceitful lips.'

And again, he asks not that their substance, but that their tongue, their madness, their deceit be taken away, that their pride be cut off.

And ridiculing their folly, he says:

'Our lips are our own.'

'Who is lord over us?' These are the words of raving men who are out of their minds.

For this very reason Paul, speaking the very opposite to them, exhorts:

'You are not your own, you were bought with a price;'

and he commands us not even to live for ourselves.

'Your lips are not your own,' he says, 'but the Master's.'

For He Himself made them, He Himself fashioned them, He Himself breathed life into them.

But do you possess them? Yet not all the things we possess are our own;

since we also hold moneys that others have deposited with us;

and we rent land that others have given over to us.

So too God has leased these things to you, not that you should bear thorns, but that you should turn the seeds to useful ends;

not that you should make madness or deceit spring up through them, but that you should make humility, and good repute, and love spring forth by their means.

And He gave you eyes, not that you should look upon licentious things, but that you should adorn them with chastity;

and hands, not that you should strike, but that you should show mercy.

And how do you say, 'Our lips are our own,' when you make them slaves of sin, when you make them slaves of fornication, when you make them slaves of uncleanness? 'Who is lord over us?' O what a devilish saying!

You see, O man, how all nature proclaims aloud the might of your Master, His wisdom, His care, His providence;

your body, your soul, your life, the things seen, the things unseen—one might almost say all things—sending forth a voice and proclaiming the power of the Creator; and yet you say:

'Who is Lord over us?' This is the mark of madness, of derangement, of a corrupted soul.

'Who is Lord over us?' Others, again, confess the Master, yet do away with the doctrine of judgment and of punishment, purchasing for themselves a great chastisement in exchange for a slight indulgence; and while they seek to comfort themselves by not remembering hell, they unwittingly, through this very fearlessness, cast themselves down into the pit of destruction.

Wherefore I exhort you both to remember hell and to speak concerning hell;

in this way fashion your soul into comeliness.

For great is the profit of these words.

For God did not threaten it simply, and then straightway make it manifest, but in order that by fear He might make men better.

For this reason the devil also does everything and contrives every device, wishing to remove the remembrance of it.

Do not, therefore, cast out the remembrance, nor say:

'Why do I grieve myself unseasonably?' Do you grieve unseasonably? That is grieving unseasonably, when you shall be in anguish in hell.

This is the time for grieving, not that.

And this the rich man in the story of Lazarus shows, who, though he grieved ten thousand times over, gained nothing thereby.

But had he grieved in due season, he would not have suffered what he suffered.

'For the misery of the poor, and the groaning of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord.'

'I will set him in safety; I will deal boldly with him therein.'

Another version reads: 'I will appoint a manifest salvation.'

Learn how great is the strength of lowliness of mind.

The power of the poor—the poor, I say, those who are crushed in mind—is a defense against suffering ill.

For it is not a good life He speaks of here, nor virtue, but suffering ill, He says—this is what rouses God and calls Him forth to vengeance and requital.

So great a thing is it to bear injustice nobly; so great is the providence of God toward those who are wronged; and the calamity that comes through suffering ill serves in the place of the mightiest advocate.

Great is the strength of the groan, which summons help from on high.

Fear, all you who wrong the poor.

You have power, and wealth, and money, and the goodwill of judges;

but they have a weapon mightier than all these—their groans and their lamentations, and the very fact of being wronged—which draw down alliance from the heavens.

This weapon undermines houses, this has razed foundations, this has destroyed cities, this has sunk whole nations beneath the waves;

the groans of wronged men, I mean.

God reverences their good temper, when, though suffering ill, they utter no wicked word, but only groan and bewail their own troubles.

But what is the meaning of, 'I will set him in safety; I will deal boldly with him therein'? 'With boldness,' He says,

I will champion them openly and manifestly, so that all may learn it.'

And when does He not save openly? There are times when He saves not openly, but secretly;

for He has no need of the glory that comes from men.

But now, since it was likely that their enemies would trample upon them, leap upon them, and reproach them as having no God to help them—in order that these too might be brought to their senses and become better, learning by experience the alliance of the Master—'I will make manifest,' He says, 'the salvation that is on their behalf.'

'The oracles of the Lord are pure oracles;'

'silver tried by fire, proved for the earth.'

And what connection has this with what has been said? Much and continuous.

For do not think, He says, that these things were spoken idly, nor that the threat is superfluous;

pure are His words, free from all falsehood.

For just as silver tried by fire has nothing alien or spurious in it, so also the words of God: whatever He may say must by all means come to pass.

'Silver tried by fire, proved for the earth.'

Another translator has: 'Refined by fire, poured out upon the earth.'

But the Hebrew, in place of 'poured out upon the earth,' said 'Baalil laares,' that is, 'that which is smelted, that which flows in the earth.'

Purified sevenfold.

Do you see how, by the image of the metal, he shows that which is free of all falsehood, that which is true? For just as that smelted, fire-tried substance, which has undergone this many times over, is estranged from all foreign matter, being purified with exactness,

so also is the decree of God.

'Thou, O Lord, shalt keep us, and shalt preserve us from this generation, and for ever.'

Another has: 'Thou shalt keep them, and shalt preserve us from this generation, and for ever.'

Another has: 'Together with the everlasting generation.'

'On every side the ungodly walk about.'

Another has: 'They shall walk about in the circle of the ungodly.'

'According to thy height thou hast greatly regarded the sons of men.'

Another has: 'When the lowly among the sons of men are exalted.'

Yet another has: 'Prized according to the height for the sons of men.'

And the Hebrew says: 'Charm zollo, lebne Adam.'

'Thou, O Lord, shalt keep us, and shalt preserve us.'

Behold him continually—or rather, unceasingly—taking refuge in God, and from thence seeking his ally and defence;

for the help is all-powerful, cut off by no lapse of time.

'We have need of nothing that is human,' he says;

'for thou art he that keepeth us continually.'

What is the meaning of 'On every side the ungodly walk about'? According to the Seventy it must be understood thus: that even should the ungodly encircle us, we shall suffer nothing;

for thou dost keep us, and dost lift us on high, and dost make us glorious.

But according to the other interpreter it must be expressed thus:

'The ungodly shall be thrust out, when thou dost exalt the lowly, the sons of men;'

that is to say, when thou dost glorify us who are reckoned to be contemptible, us who have been brought low, thou wilt drive them away and thrust them off.

And what is the meaning of 'According to thy height'? It stands for: 'Thou hast made us like unto thee, so far as it is possible for a man to be like;'

for 'Let us make man,' he says, 'after our image, and after our likeness.'

For what he himself is in heaven, that are we upon the earth;

and just as none is higher than he above, so upon the earth none is like unto this living being in respect of virtue.

'Be ye,' he says, 'like unto your Father which is in the heavens.'

And he has imparted to us even of his name;

'I said, Ye are gods,' he says, 'and all of you sons of the Most High.'

And he has made man to be a fashioner both of things bodily and of things bodiless.

And now Moses transforms creation, now others transform other elements;

but to us he has enjoined that we ourselves build a temple for him.

If then thou dost not fashion a heaven, yet thou dost fashion a temple of God.

Since heaven also is glorious for this reason, because it has God dwelling in it;

or rather, through Christ, so are we also.

'For he raised us up together,' he says, 'and made us sit together at his right hand in the heavens;'

and he has granted us to do greater things than those which he himself did.

'For the signs which I do,' he says, 'he also shall do.'

and greater things than these shall he do.

And under the Old Covenant one man turned the sea aside, another bridled the sun, another commanded the moon to stand still, and yet another turned its rays back upon themselves;

and the youths in the furnace bound fast the energy of the element, and the raging flame fell silent, and being fettered it did but hiss.

Even wild beasts know how to reverence the friends of God;

and even when hunger constrains them, they become more given to self-restraint.

Let the gluttons stand in awe of the self-control of the beasts.

The lions beheld Daniel, and they practised self-restraint;

yet we, though we behold the Son of God coming to us, do not practise self-restraint.

Those beasts chose rather to be destroyed by hunger than to touch the body of the holy man;

but we, though we see Christ naked and going about wasted with hunger, do not part even with our superfluities, but, living in abundance, we overlook the saints.

Again, the earth offered to another friend of God so many gifts out of her own bosom, so great a yield as never before.

And why do you marvel that they themselves were revered, when even their garments and their shadows were fearful to demons, to death, and to disease? Angels too showed reverence to men, and honored them exceedingly.

For how should they not, seeing that their own Master honored them? And both in the Old and in the New this is to be seen.

According to your height you have greatly cared for the sons of men.

Considering, therefore, the greatness of the honor, let us render a worthy return for it, lest the exceeding greatness of the honor become for us an occasion of punishment;

from which may we all be delivered, both we who teach these things and those who learn them, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom belongs all glory, honor, and worship unto the ages of ages.