Commentary on the Psalms 16 part 1/3

A song of triumph concerning the flowers, for the sons of Korah.

Another version: 'To the giver of victory, upon the lilies, of the sons of Korah.'

And the Hebrew, instead of 'lilies,' says 'Al shoshannim.'

A song of understanding, unto the beloved.

Another version: 'A song of the skilled one, concerning friendships.'

But the Hebrew says 'Jedidoth.'

And the Seventy: 'For the end, concerning those who shall be changed, for the sons of Korah, unto understanding, an ode concerning the beloved.'

My heart has poured forth a good word.

Another version: 'My heart was moved with a good word.'

I could wish that all the Jews and Greeks were present now, and that, taking this book from the Jews, I might read the psalm in this way.

For you surely know this, that both in the courts and everywhere the testimony of facts becomes most free from suspicion when it is brought forward by one's enemies.

So that this may come about today as well, we bring forward the testimony from the Old Testament, so that both Jews and Greeks may be put to shame:

the Jews, because they read yet do not understand;

and the Greeks, because they see the books brought to us from our enemies.

For surely they will not be able to say that these things have been fabricated by us, since it is not our books, but the books of those who crucified Christ, that provide us with what speaks concerning His power.

But whether these men are present or not present, let us do our part and take up the interpretation.

For this psalm has been inscribed concerning Christ;

therefore also it bears the superscription 'Unto the beloved' and 'Concerning those who shall be changed.'

For He wrought in us a great change, a transformation and transposition of things.

Signifying this change, Paul also said:

'So that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.'

Therefore also, as he begins, he speaks in this manner:

For since none of the things being spoken was human, but he was about to relate heavenly and spiritual things, and that not from his own invention but from divine working, he indicates this by the word 'belching forth.'

For we belch forth not when we will;

for this ordinary word we utter when we wish, and we speak it, and we hold it back;

Showing therefore that the things spoken are not of human diligence, but of the divine inspiration that moves him, he called the prophecy a 'belching forth.'

For just as in belching the thing that comes about is of the quality of the food, so also it is in spiritual teaching.

Such things, therefore, he belched forth as also he had fed upon.

And observe elsewhere another prophet likening this working to a perceptible image, both eating the scroll of the book and eating it with delight.

'For it came about,' he says, 'in my body like honey giving sweetness.'

Since, therefore, they received the spiritual grace, such things also they belched forth.

For that the discourse is not about this perceptible belching, nor about food, hear what is belched forth, and who it is that belches.

It is not the stomach that receives the food, but the heart.

'For my heart,' he says, 'has belched forth.'

And what does it pour forth? Not food, nor drink, but that which is akin to the table: a good Word, the Word concerning the Only-begotten.

For 'I came,' He says, 'not that I might judge the world, but that I might save the world.'

All things gentle, all things free from punishment.

And he pours forth such things because he had cleansed his heart.

For just as the belly, when it is full of foul humours, belches forth things akin to these, but when it happens to be in a healthy state, produces a belch that corresponds to that condition;

so also the heart of the Prophet, since it was free from sins, received the grace of the Spirit, and pours forth a good word.

From this we also learn another thing: that the prophets were not like the soothsayers.

For in that case the demon, when it falls upon the soul, maims the understanding and darkens the reason, and thus they utter everything while their mind comprehends nothing of what is spoken, but as though some lifeless flute were sounding.

This too one of their own philosophers stated, speaking thus:

Just as oracle-chanters and diviners of the gods say many things, yet know nothing of what they say.

But the Holy Spirit does not act in this way; rather, it permits the heart to know the things that are said.

For if he did not know, how could he say, 'A good Word'? For the demon, like an enemy and adversary, wages war against human nature;

but the Holy Spirit, as one who cares and does good, makes those who receive it share in its intent, and reveals the things spoken together with their own understanding.

'I speak of my works to the king.'

What sort of works does he mean? The prophecy.

For just as it is the work of the smith to fashion the axe, and of the builder to make the house, and of the shipwright to fit together the ship;

so also it is the work of the prophet to weave together the prophecy.

For that this too is a work, hear Christ speaking concerning the apostles:

'The labourer is worthy of his hire.'

'Especially those who labour in word and teaching.'

And if it were not a work, how could it involve toil? For what is more honourable than this work? And what more beneficial? It is higher than all the crafts.

What then is the work which he speaks of to the king? This hymn, this prophecy.

And he did not say to which king, making clear that it was to the God of all.

For just as when we say 'the king of the Persians,' we do not simply call him king, but add 'of the Persians,' and likewise 'of the Armenians';

but when we speak of our own King, we need no addition, but are content to say 'King';

so also the Prophet, since he was speaking about the true King, is content to say, 'To the King.'

For just as, when we say 'Almighty,' we need no addition, because there is no other Almighty;

so, when we say 'King,' we need no other addition, because there is no other King who is God.

And besides, the one who was speaking was himself a king.

Whence it is clear that he was not speaking about a man, but about the God of all;

for this reason he did not say 'To a king,' but 'To the King,' presenting the lordship by the addition of the article.

Then again, showing that the things spoken were not of human thought, nor of study and composition, but of divine grace, and that he himself lent only his tongue, he went on to add:

'My tongue is the pen of a swift-writing scribe.'

And the pen writes these things which the hand that holds it commands.

'My tongue is like the stylus of a swift writer.'

What does 'swift' mean? That from this too he might display the grace.

For the one who speaks from his own resources delays and is slow, pondering, composing, hindered by ignorance and lack of learning and hesitation, and there are many things that spoil the swiftness of speech;

but when the Spirit moves the understanding, there is nothing to hinder;

rather, just as the rush of water borne along with a mighty roar goes forward, so also the grace of the Spirit advances with great swiftness, bringing forth all things smoothly, all things with ease.

Then again, cleansing this very point, and showing that nothing of what was spoken was human, he went on: 'Fair in beauty beyond the sons of men.' Now some indeed say that this was spoken concerning the tongue, that it is a reed fair in beauty;

But to me it seems that henceforth he is speaking about Christ.

Therefore another translator also says:

In beauty you were adorned above the sons of men.

For he turns his discourse toward Him out of great fervor and out of his disposition toward Him, just as Jacob also said:

From a shoot, my son, you went up;

you crouched down and lay to rest like a lion.

For having become inspired, he thenceforth converses with Him and directs his discourse toward Him.

But this he says not by way of comparison;

for he did not say, 'More beautiful,' but, 'Beautiful in comeliness beyond the sons of men.'

This beauty, he says, is another thing altogether, differing from that other.

And observe how he first sets in motion the discourse concerning the divine economy.

And that this refers to the economy is plain from what follows.

For having said, 'Beautiful in comeliness beyond the sons of men,' he went on to add:

Grace was poured out upon your lips.

But God does not have lips; rather, the saying pertains to the economy.

And another translator, by saying, 'Grace was poured up over your lips,' made this clearer.

And what does 'was poured up' mean, save, as one might say, that the grace within welled up and gushed forth as from a spring? How then does another prophet say:

We saw him, and he had no form nor beauty, but his appearance was dishonored, failing beyond the sons of men? He says this not concerning any deformity—God forbid—but concerning that which was held in contempt.

For having once consented to become man, He passed through all lowly things, neither inscribing a queen as His mother, nor at the time of His swaddling clothes being laid upon a golden bed, but in a manger; nor being reared in a costly house, but in the humble little dwelling of a carpenter.

And again, when He took disciples, He did not take orators and philosophers and kings, but fishermen and tax collectors;

and He led this frugal manner of life, having neither a house, nor clothed in costly garments, nor enjoying such a table, but being fed by others, insulted, despised, driven about, persecuted.

And these things He did, treading down human vainglory out of His great abundance.

Since therefore He clothed Himself neither with any show and pomp, nor had attendants and spear-bearers, but there were times when He went about even alone, as one of the many, for this reason that one says:

We saw him, and he had no form, nor beauty;

but this one says, 'Beautiful in comeliness beyond the sons of men';

declaring the grace, the wisdom, the teaching, the miracles.

Then, delineating this comeliness, he says:

Grace was poured out upon your lips.

Do you see that the discourse is concerning the economy? And what is this grace? That by which He taught, that by which He worked miracles.

Here he calls grace that which came upon the flesh;

'Upon whomever you see the Spirit,' he says, 'descending as a dove, and remaining upon him, this is he who baptizes.'

For all the grace was poured out into that temple.

For God does not give the Spirit to Him by measure;

for we indeed have received of His fullness;

but that temple received the grace entire.

This too Isaiah declared, saying:

There shall rest upon him the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and godliness.

The Spirit of the fear of God shall fill him.

But there the grace is entire;

whereas upon men there is but a little, a mere drop from that grace.

For this reason He did not say, 'I give the Spirit,' but, 'I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh.'

For the whole inhabited world received of that Spirit.

The gift indeed had its beginning from Palestine;

but it went forth to Egypt, to Phoenicia, to the land of the Syrians, of the Cilicians, to the Euphrates, to Mesopotamia, to the land of the Cappadocians, of the Galatians, of the Scythians, of the Thracians, to Greece, to the land of the Gauls, of the Italians, to all Libya, to Europe, to Asia, even to the Ocean itself.

And why need one say much? As far as the sun beholds the earth, so far did this grace go forth;

and this drop, this single droplet of the Spirit, filled the whole inhabited world with knowledge.

Through this grace the signs were wrought, the sins of all were loosed.

Yet nevertheless the grace given in so many regions is but a portion of the gift and a pledge.

For 'He has given,' he says, 'the pledge of the Spirit in our hearts';

he speaks of a portion of the working;

for the Paraclete is surely not divided.

But behold the fountain, how great it is;

to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith, to another gifts of healings, to another workings of powers in the same Spirit, to another prophecies, to another discernings of spirits, to another kinds of tongues.

And so many gifts among so many nations did the grace given in baptism stretch out over all the earth;

and all these things the single droplet of the Spirit accomplishes.

For that it was a droplet, He made clear by saying, 'I will pour out of My Spirit,' and by calling it a pledge.

For by this it is plain that some small part of the whole was given.

For this reason John also, declaring this very thing, said:

'Of His fullness we all received';

of that which overflows, as one might say, of that which abounds, of that which is poured out in excess, we all received.

Consider therefore the grace of the Spirit, how all-sufficient it is, sufficing for so great an inhabited world through so many ages;

and not even so is it circumscribed, nor is it exhausted, but it fills all with riches and grace, while itself is nowhere diminished.

Then, since the name of 'spirit' is one of many meanings—for an angel is called this, and a soul, and a wind, and many other things besides—he added, 'Of My Spirit.'

As therefore a man's spirit is akin to the man, so also is the Spirit of God, yet abiding in its own hypostasis.

And Paul, declaring this, said:

'For what man knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man which is in him? So also no one knows the things of God, except the Spirit of God';

not confounding the hypostases—far be it!—but declaring the nobility of the Spirit.

For as great as is the concord of the soul itself with itself, so great is the kinship of the Spirit with the Father.

As therefore the Son also is called Word, yet not without hypostasis, but for this reason—that we might learn His kinship with the Father;

so also the Spirit of God is called Spirit, yet not without hypostasis.

And just as, because He is the true Son of the Father, for this reason He bestows on us adoption as sons;

so also the Spirit, because by nature It is of the essence of God, bestows on us the spiritual gifts.

Since a man too, because he is by nature a man, for this reason is able to paint the image of a man.

'Therefore God has blessed you for ever.'

Do you see how throughout he directs himself toward Him out of heartfelt affection? For this reason too, elsewhere, he does not simply prophesy, but under the form of a rebuke, as when he says:

'Why did the nations rage, and the peoples devise vain things?' So indeed here too, saying, 'Therefore God has blessed you for ever.'

For having discoursed nothing concerning His birth, nor concerning His upbringing, nor concerning the other matters, from this point he introduces the discourse about Him.

Why so? Because to relate all things in sequence belongs to the evangelists;

wherefore he reserved these things for them;

for indeed it belonged to their narrative.

It is the work of prophecy to take up certain portions and to discourse concerning them.

For this very reason the prophets everywhere do this;

for casting only a few things into the narrative and leaving them in shadow, they withdraw.

For this reason this one too says, 'God hath blessed thee for ever;'

having thus spoken, because his words were laden with so great grace.

Consider, then, the power of that grace;

He was once passing along beside the sea, and He finds James and John, and says to them:

'Come after Me, and I will make you fishers of men.'

And they, leaving both their father and their nets, followed Him.

Then again at another time, saying to all the disciples:

'Do ye also wish to go away?' Peter says to Him:

'Lord, Thou hast the words of eternal life, and we have believed and come to know that Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God;'

'and to whom shall we go away?' But why do I speak of the disciples? The very Pharisees, having sent officers, heard them say:

'Never did a man so speak, as this man.'

And others again said, 'Never was it so seen in Israel.'

because He taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes and the Pharisees.

And if thou too wishest to learn that grace, hear the weight of His commandments, and thou wilt see the power of it.

'Unless a man renounce all, and moreover hate even his own soul,' He says, 'he is not worthy of Me.'

But nevertheless the word had power to become deed;

And yet what is more one's own than the soul? But even this was despised because of His command.

But thou, when thou hearest, 'God hath blessed thee,' do not fall down, nor think anything lowly.

For as I said before, the discourse is concerning the flesh, which hath lips; concerning that which receiveth the grace, concerning that which receiveth the blessing.

For God hath no need of blessing, nor of grace;

'For as the Father raiseth the dead and giveth them life,' He says,

'so also the Son giveth life to whom He willeth.'

'The works which He doeth, these also the Son doeth likewise.'

'As the Father knoweth Me, I also know the Father.'

For the 'so,' and the 'likewise,' and the 'as,' are expressions of no variation whatever.

But here the discourse is concerning the dispensation.

And we hear Him too again saying:

'For this reason the Father loveth Me, because I lay down My soul for the sheep.'

Was it, then, that before this He did not love Him? How then did He say:

'This is My beloved Son'? But wishing to show the greatness of the achievement, He set this down.

As, therefore, there the assigning of a cause has a certain reason, so here too the cause is manifest.

For on this account, taking it up beforehand, he said:

'Thou art fairer in beauty than the sons of men;'

and, 'Grace is poured forth upon thy lips;'

and, 'Therefore God hath blessed thee for ever;'

drawing it toward the reasoning of the dispensation, so that when he is about again to say something falling short of His dignity, thou mayest not fall down, but mayest see concerning whom the discourse is.

So also Jacob, making known the dispensation, after saying many things, said:

His eyes are gladsome as wine, and His teeth whiter than milk.

Yet the Godhead has no teeth.

He shall smite the earth with the word of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the ungodly;

uttering the very same things as Paul, when he says:

Whom the Lord shall consume with the breath of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of the appearing of His coming.

Therefore, lest upon hearing these things you should despise them, He shows you the might of the Godhead.

For neither does He divide the flesh from the Godhead, nor the Godhead from the flesh — not confounding the essences (God forbid!), but displaying the union.

God has blessed you for ever.

And what is the manner of this blessing? Angels and archangels stand by, thrones, dominions, principalities, powers, sending up praise;

the whole earth, from one end to the other, glorifies and hymns and praises the God who became flesh.

For the first Adam was filled with countless curses;

but this One, contrary to that first, was filled with abundant blessing.

That one heard: Cursed are you in your works;

and the one after him again, and: Cursed is he who does the works of the Lord negligently;

and: Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all the things written in this book;

and: Cursed is he who hangs upon a tree.

Do you see how many curses there are? From these Christ set you free, having become a curse.

For just as He humbled Himself that He might exalt you, and died that He might make you immortal,

so also He became a curse, that He might fill you with blessing.

What is equal to this blessing, when through a curse He bestows blessing? For He Himself had no need of blessing, but gives it to you.

For just as, when I say that He was humbled, I do not speak of a change, but of the condescension of the dispensation;

so also when I say that He was blessed, I do not mean this, that He had need of blessing, but again I am showing the condescension of the dispensation.

For Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more, neither is He subject to a curse;

or rather, not even before this was He subject to it, but He took up the curse, that He might release you from it.

Gird your sword upon your thigh, O mighty One.

Another version: Gird your sword upon your thigh.

Another: Put on as it were your sword upon your thigh.

In your comeliness and in your beauty.

Another says: Your praise and your dignity.

Another: In your glory and your excellence.

What is this change, and what is this shift of the words? For while he is discoursing about a teacher — for this is what is meant by, Grace is poured out upon your lips — he suddenly sketches for us a king in full armor, and not in the manner of prophecy, but in the manner of supplication.

He does not say: He shall gird His sword;

but he entreats, and says: Gird your sword.

Then to this arming he also mingles beauty, at one moment showing a man-at-arms, at another one adorned in comeliness;

For in your comeliness, he says, and in your beauty.

For your arrows, he says, are sharpened, O mighty One.

And again as a victor and bearer of trophies;

Peoples, he says, shall fall under you, in the heart of the king's enemies.

And this same One again he brings in anointed with myrrh — the man-at-arms, and king, and archer, and victor;

For myrrh, he says, and aloes, and cassia are from your garments.

What fellowship, then, is there between weapons and perfumes, between anointing-oil and a sword, between teaching and warfare, between bows and adornment? For the one set are symbols of peace, but the other of battle and of the ranks drawn up for war.

Who, then, is this One who is at once peaceable and warlike—who drips with fragrant oil, yet is hedged about with weapons; who comes forth from ivory palaces, yet strikes down countless enemies and works so great a slaughter? How shall we resolve this perplexity? We shall do so if we come to understand precisely that these things are spoken also concerning His Father.

For indeed the Prophet elsewhere introduces Him also as arming Himself, as when he says:

'Unless you turn back, He will whet His sword;'

'He has bent His bow and made it ready, and in it He has prepared the instruments of death.'

'He will put on righteousness as a breastplate.'

And observe the same sovereign authority here as well.

For just as there he says, 'He will whet His sword'—not commanded by anyone, but of Himself, from His own power—

so also here: 'The arrows of the Mighty One are sharpened; the peoples shall fall under You; they shall fall in the heart of the King's enemies.'

Then, showing that He does all things of Himself, he says:

'Your right hand shall guide You wonderfully.'

'You do not receive Your working from any other source,' he says, 'but You are sufficient unto Yourself.'

Hear, too, the very God of peace Himself speaking to His disciples:

'I came not to bring peace upon the earth, but a sword.'

'I came to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!' And this same One, speaking concerning Himself, tells how He shall come, saying:

'He shall come down like rain upon a fleece, and like a drop that trickles down upon the earth.'

These things I say that you may be roused and alert, and that by grasping with exactness the things signified by the words, you may resolve for yourselves even this perplexity.

For these names are indicative of His workings.

So then, here also, when you hear, 'Gird Your sword upon Your thigh, O Mighty One,' regard it as a name of His working;

For just as Scripture says that God is angry—not attaching passion to Him, but through this expression setting forth His punitive working and taking hold of the grosser sort of hearers—

so also, when it speaks of weapons, it signifies this same thing.

For since we ourselves inflict punishment not by our own hands but through other instruments, He, wishing to display His punitive power, made it plain through names familiar to us—not that we should conceive of God as possessing weapons, but that we might hear of His chastisement in a more vivid manner.

'But many,' one may say, 'stumble from this.'

But it is in vain and to no purpose, and through their own folly;

for above all, when they heard the word 'God,' they ought to have understood that it was spoken in a figurative manner;

yet as it is, Scripture did not neglect, even through other words, to teach them the impassibility of God.

Hear, then, how elsewhere it shows the ease of His retribution, saying:

'Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered.'

Is there any need of weapons? Any need of a sword? 'His rising up alone suffices,' he says.

But this too, again, is a coarse and gross way of speaking;

'He who looks upon the earth and makes it tremble.'

'At His countenance the earth was shaken.'

'All that He willed, He did;'

for it suffices Him merely to will.

Consider, then, how even in these grosser expressions themselves He shows the self-sufficiency of God.

For he did not make mention of weapons until he had first called Him 'Mighty One';

and again, after enumerating the weapons, he reckoned the whole victory to His right hand—that is, to His own nature and His own power.

Which another prophet also declared, saying:

'The government shall be upon His shoulder;'

not that you should conceive of a shoulder—God forbid!—but that you may know that God has no need of any other's aid.

Gird your sword upon your thigh, O mighty one, with your comeliness and your beauty.

What, then, does he say here? Through these grosser names he displays that working of his, whereby he set the whole world aright, whereby he brought the war to an end, and set up the trophy.

For there was indeed a grievous war, the bitterest of all wars, not of barbarians waging battle, but of demons plotting their schemes and corrupting the whole inhabited world.

For this very reason Isaiah too was saying:

And he shall divide the spoils of the strong;

for which cause he anointed me; he has sent me to preach good tidings to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives.

For this very reason Paul too, writing at the head of his epistles everywhere, would say:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one.

But that you may not, upon hearing 'Gird your sword,' suppose it to be a sword perceptible to the senses, listen to what follows.

For having said, 'Gird on your sword,' he added, 'With your comeliness and your beauty';

this is the sword — his comeliness, and his beauty, and his glory, and his dignity, and his majesty.

For that essence needs nothing in order to accomplish the things set before it;

The prophet therefore entreats him, leading him forth to war on behalf of the inhabited world.

Then again he brings the discourse down from the lofty things to the grosser ones.

For having spoken of a sword and a thigh, he ascended to the comeliness;

and again from there he descends to the more corporeal things, and says:

And bend, and prosper on your way, and reign.

And by saying, 'Bend,' he made known to us the bow and the arrow.

Then, showing again that he has no need of weapons, he added, 'And prosper on your way, and reign.'

But another interpreter says, 'Advance.'

By 'kingdom' he here means that which, when he came, he established in the last times — the kingdom that is according to intimate fellowship and knowledge.

And these words are most of all words of the prophetic longing, of one already beholding the great achievements and the inhabited world being led by the hand toward the truth.

For this reason he has employed the figure of speech that belongs to one who exhorts.

For it is customary even for lesser persons, when they grow warm with zeal toward their superiors, to make use of such expressions.

For the sake of truth and meekness and righteousness.

He uses the adverbial expression 'of truth.'

Do you see how the Scripture interprets itself, and shows that the victory is intellectual and spiritual? For he who made mention of weapons, and a sword, and bows, how does he here make mention of meekness? For what fellowship is there between meekness and war, between forbearance and battle? Much indeed, if one considers.

Since David too and Moses were meek.

Wherefore concerning the one the Scripture says:

Remember, O Lord, David and all his meekness;

and concerning Moses, that 'Moses was the meekest of all men who were upon the earth';

and yet these men, the meekest of all, appear most of all to have defended themselves.

But if you please, let us first speak of their meekness;

Many times this blessed man, having taken Saul, and being master to slay him, did not lay his hand upon him;

but even when others urged him on, he spared him, and slackened his wrath.

And when Shimei was hurling such insults, and was at that time trampling upon his misfortune, and the commanders deemed it fit to cross over and cut off the reviler who was so drunkenly heaping such abuse — what words does he utter, filled with all wisdom!

And that father-striking and licentious youth — how does he commit him to his own commanders, saying: