Commentary on the Psalms 21 part 1/2

The God of gods, the Lord, has spoken, and has called the earth from the rising of the sun even to its setting.

And elsewhere the same prophet says:

God stood in the congregation of gods.

For indeed, even if there are those called gods, and many lords.

The sons of God, seeing the daughters of men.

He who curses God shall bear his sin;

and he who names the name of the Lord shall be stoned.

Let the gods, who did not make the heaven and the earth, perish from under the heaven.

Whom, then, does he indicate by this name in those testimonies, and whom does he here call gods? The rulers.

You shall not revile the gods, nor speak evil of the ruler of your people.

He also refers to those who have been born of some virtuous ancestor.

For since Enosh, having displayed much virtue, was called by the name of God;

and since all those descended from him, and the offspring of his brother, mingled with one another, he calls the descendants of the virtuous man sons of God.

'For they began,' he says, 'to call upon the name of God.'

He also refers to the people of the Jews, who were honoured with this appellation in the saying:

You are gods, and sons of Israel.

For thus He called their people, out of His own loving-kindness toward mankind.

In this way also that saying is resolved: 'He who curses God shall bear his sin';

that is to say, He who speaks evil of the ruler sins.

But he who names the name of the Lord shall be stoned;

that is, he who attaches the name of the God who truly is to those things which have no being.

For since the sin is unpardonable, the punishment for it is also most severe;

the gods of the Greeks are also called gods, not by way of honour, nor as a gracious appellation, but because of the deception of those who went astray and who thus named them.

For this reason Paul also says:

'For even if there are so-called gods,' making clear that they have no being, not even so far as an appellation given in honour.

Here then, of whom does he speak when he says, 'God of gods'? To me it seems he speaks of the gods of the Greeks, not as beings that truly are,

but as those which are imagined to be so among the deluded.

For since the Jews were still rather gross, and were not entirely delivered from idolatry, but stood gaping after the idols and retained many remnants of their transgression, from this very point He tears down their conceits, showing that He is Lord even of those idols.

For indeed He is Lord even of the demons—I mean of their very substances;

for their evil dispositions have been introduced by themselves, and so has all their wickedness.

And this psalm too seems to me to be connected with the preceding one.

For here too there is written a reproof and an accusation of those who have offended;

but there he summoned the whole inhabited world to give ear, while here he summons the very elements themselves that are spread over the whole inhabited world.

There is one theatre here and another audience;

there it was the nations, the earthborn, the rich man, the poor man;

here it is heaven and earth, and he brings in God Himself pleading His cause, and He utters such words as one who is pleading His just cause against the people of the Jews.

Wherefore we too have need of greater attention.

Another prophet also does this, and brings in God pleading His cause, and sets the ravines and the foundations of the earth in the rank of judges.

'Hear,' he says, 'you ravines and foundations of the earth;

for the Lord has a controversy with His people, and He will reason with His people.'

'He will enter into judgement with you and with your fathers.'

And in many places of the Scriptures one may see this figure, which is especially most striking and worthy of the loving-kindness of God.

For indeed it displays His unspeakable goodness, in that He condescends so far as to be judged together with men.

'Out of Zion is the beauty of His comeliness.'

What is here said has something prophetic, and also something historical.

For even under the Old Covenant His comeliness came from thence.

For the temple, the Holy of Holies, all the worship and the polity of the old legislation, the multitude of priests, and the sacrifices, and the whole burnt offerings, and the sacred hymns and psalmody—all these were from thence, and from thence the type of the things to come had been foredrawn.

And when the truth itself had come, from thence again it took its beginning.

From thence the cross shone forth;

from thence the countless mighty works.

For this very reason Isaiah too, writing concerning the law of the New Covenant, says:

'For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, and He shall judge among the nations.'

For by Zion he here means the whole region and the city lying beside it, the mother-city of the Jews.

For from thence, as from some starting-line, the apostles like swift-limbed horses were let loose into the whole inhabited world;

from thence they began to work the signs;

there the resurrection took place, there the ascension, there the prelude and the beginning of our salvation;

there the ineffable doctrines began to be proclaimed.

There first was the Father revealed, the Only-begotten made known, and so great a grace of the Spirit given.

And there the apostles exercised the doctrine concerning incorporeal beings, and concerning the gifts, and powers, and the good things to come that were promised.

Pondering all these things, the Prophet calls it His comeliness.

For the beauties of God and His comeliness are His goodness and His love for mankind, and His beneficence toward all.

'God shall come manifestly, our God, and shall not keep silence.'

Do you see how, as he proceeds, he lays the word bare, uncovers the treasure, and sends forth a brighter ray, when he says:

For when did He not come manifestly? When? At His former coming;

for He came noiselessly, hidden from the many, and for a long time escaping notice.

Why do I speak of the many, when not even the Virgin herself who bore Him in her womb knew the ineffable mystery, nor did His brethren believe in Him, nor did he who was thought to be His father imagine anything great concerning Him?

And why do I speak of men? He escaped the notice even of the devil himself;

for had he known, he would not, after so long a time, have asked Him upon the mountain, 'If Thou be the Son of God,' and have done this once, and twice, and a third time.

Therefore also He said to John, when he began to reveal Him:

for it was not yet the time for the ineffable mystery of the dispensation to be unveiled;

'I wish still to escape the notice of the devil;'

'for thus it is fitting for us.'

And when He came down from the mountain, He charged them that they should tell no one that He is the Christ.

For at that time He came as a shepherd, seeking the sheep that had gone astray, and wishing to hunt down the quarry that had broken loose;

wherefore also He kept Himself in shadow.

For just as a physician does not at once become fearsome to the sick man, so too He from the outset was unwilling to make Himself manifest, but did so quietly and little by little.

Wherefore, this same prophet, making clear this noiseless coming of His, says as he proceeds:

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

For He did not come making a din, nor troubling, nor shaking the earth, nor sending forth lightnings, nor convulsing the heaven, nor bringing with Him hosts of angels, nor tearing asunder the midst of the firmament and so descending upon the clouds;

but noiselessly, through a virgin's womb, carried for a nine months' term, He is born like a carpenter's son in a manger, is plotted against while in mean swaddling-clothes, and flees with His mother into Egypt.

Then, after the death of him who had committed such lawless deeds, He returned, and went about continually like one of the multitude in outward appearance; His garment was mean, and His table meaner still, and His walking was unceasing, and so unceasing that weariness came upon Him from the walking.

But then He shall not come thus, but so manifestly as to have no need of one to announce beforehand His coming.

For this reason He too, making clear His own conspicuousness, said:

'If they shall say to you, Behold, He is in the inner chambers, go not forth;'

'that, Behold, He is in the wilderness, go not out.'

'For as the lightning goeth forth from the rising of the sun, and shineth even unto the west,'

'so shall the coming of the Son of Man be'—itself displaying and proclaiming itself.

For with the lightning this is what happens: we have no need of one to announce it, but at once it appears and becomes known to all, and to all at the same moment.

For 'the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the last trumpet.'

And the prophet also saw Him thus, borne upon the clouds, with a river drawn along before Him, and the fearful tribunal, and the inexorable reckonings.

For then, then is the time of the court and of judgment;

wherefore He appears no longer as a physician, but as a judge.

Daniel, at any rate, beholds both His throne, and the river drawn along before the tribunal, and all things are shown to him as of fire—the chariot, the wheels.

But not when, at the beginning and in His first coming, He arrived, did He show anything of this sort—no fire, no river, nor anything else of the kind;

but a manger and a lodging, and a hut, and a poor mother.

And in another way, from this too, he shows His unchangeableness and immutability.

For since he had said that He who sat upon the throne had hair white as wool, and a garment as snow, lest you should suppose it to be hair, or a garment, but rather that the pure and translucent fire is everywhere, he says:

'Fire shall be kindled before Him, and round about Him a mighty tempest.'

So this one too, by means of these images, sets forth at once His immutability, and unchangeableness, and radiance, and unapproachableness.

And he does not stop at the fire, but, wishing to set forth the vehemence of the punishment, he goes on to say:

A tempest (kataigis) is spoken of either as an unbearable mass of snow, sweeping away and overturning everything it falls upon, or as a violent rush of winds accomplishing the very same thing, and being unbearable to those

Wishing, therefore, to show the unbearableness of that chastisement, he brought forward these images.

He shall call the heaven above, and the earth, that he may judge his people.

Again he makes mention of the elements, through which countless good things have come to the race of men—not only for the life and constitution of the body, but also as the very foundation of the knowledge of God.

For both the beauties and the magnitudes, and the modes of their arrangements, and the substances out of which these elements are composed, and the things that come to be from them—both those that happen universally throughout all time and those that happen particularly and often—all these both nourish and sustain our bodies, and lead us by the hand to the knowledge of the Maker.

For the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead.

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God—that is, through the wisdom manifested in created things, seeing it is no small, but indeed a very great and most evident teaching—

And the things that come to pass daily through them, even if they seem to happen according to the sequence of nature, yet these too proclaim the Creator.

For the Creator is also the Master of nature.

Do not be amazed if he directs his discourse against the Jews while discoursing about the universal judgment.

For so also Paul says:

Wrath and anger, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that works evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Greek.

For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law;

and as many as have sinned under the law shall be judged by the law.

Gather to him his holy ones, who make his covenant upon sacrifices.

Why ever does he here call those whom he is about to accuse, and whom he is about to condemn, holy ones? To heighten the accusation, and to make the honour a greater mark of the punishment.

So too we ourselves, whenever we see certain people who have transgressed, and wish to reproach them more severely, address them together with their titles of dignity, so as to make the accusation heavier, saying:

Summon the deacon, or the presbyter!

Since, then, these too were reckoned a royal priesthood and a peculiar people, and prided themselves greatly on this;

and from this very thing he weaves the magnitude of the charges.

Those who make his covenant upon sacrifices.

Since, daring countless evils, and practising so many forms of wickedness—plundering, taking more than their share, murdering, committing adultery, mingling blood upon blood—they nevertheless supposed that they were achieving great things, and fulfilling the law and the covenant, if only they should sacrifice sheep and calves, he therefore reproaches them on this very score, and mocking them, says:

Those who make his covenant upon sacrifices;

that is, those who suppose that, for their salvation, it suffices to slaughter the bodies of irrational animals.

And the heavens shall declare his righteousness.

Again here, wishing to show the resplendence of his righteousness—its brightness, its clarity, its incontrovertibleness, its acknowledged character—he brings in the insensible elements proclaiming it after the very same fashion as he was saying before:

Determining what is just for each one, he says.

For he did not here set down simply the act of judging, but in order to make clear that he is also righteous, and that he grants this to others as well.

For in the case of God, the word 'Judge' is taken in the sense of 'righteous,' just as Paul also has set it down, saying:

For how shall God judge the world? For this is above all judgement, this is above all what makes one a judge—not merely to render a verdict, but to render it justly.

But the Jews shall be judged—both those of that time, and those who afterward transgressed under the New Covenant;

the former having nature and the law as their accuser, but the latter, together with these, also the things that were done by Christ unto

For what could they say, or what cause could they put forward, on account of which they did not believe? But attend to the things being said, I beseech you, that you may be able to silence those who contradict.

For it is better that they, being refuted by us now, should be set right, than that, thinking they conquer, they should depart thither and be condemned by the common Judge of the whole world.

What, then, could the Jews say—for what reason did they slay Christ? What small or great thing did they have to charge against him? 'Because he made himself God,' one says.

And yet these were not the words spoken at the time of the cross, but certain others.

For they did not say, 'He who makes himself God,' but, 'He who makes himself a king is no friend of Caesar.'

And yet many times they wished to make him king by their vote, and he fled.

But before this, he says, they were bringing the charge that he made himself God.

And what does this mean? For if it were falsely and unjustly, and He was not what He claimed, the accusation would have had some reason;

but if it were justly done, then He ought to have been worshipped, not crucified.

Let us therefore see whether, not being truly God, He was making Himself God — that is, whether He was demonstrating and manifesting it.

From what source, then, do you wish to learn? From the things of that time? From the things of the present? From the things surrounding His birth? Who, then, was ever born of a virgin? Who displayed such a star? Who led magi over so great a road, not by necessity and force, but by persuasion and revelation? Do you see all creation acknowledging its Master? Nature yields first, and does not contradict, nor stand against Him, saying:

I have not learned to bring forth a child from a virgin's womb;

I do not know how to make a mother apart from marriage;

but it departed from itself and yielded up its own bounds;

for it recognized its own Master.

Again, when He was born, angels appeared, announcing upon earth Him who is in the heavens; and the earth became heaven, since the King was here; and the Magi came and worshipped, having arrived from so great a distance;

and the child lay in a manger in Palestine, while these men from a barbarian land offered such honour and worship as is fitting to offer to God.

But perhaps they will not accept these things, and will demand other signs — those pertaining to the present generation.

Yet neither shall we be at a loss for these.

He is surrounded on every side with righteous deeds.

For above all, not even here have they any shadow of contradiction to allege.

For even if you were not present when He was born of a virgin, you ought to have believed the prophet who says:

Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son;

and they shall call His name Emmanuel.

If you were not present when, clothed in flesh, He went about the earth, and the Master consorted with His servants, meet with Jeremiah, and he too will discourse with you, saying thus:

no other shall be reckoned beside Him.

He found out all the way of knowledge, and gave it to Jacob His servant, and to Israel who was beloved by Him.

After these things He was seen upon the earth, and consorted with men.

And in all the other cases too you will see the prophets — whose books you turn over in vain and worry to this very day — clearly proclaiming all things for the sake of this very theme.

But the contests against these people have both often been spoken of by us, and will be spoken of again;

for the present, however, let us hold to the matters before us.

And the heavens shall declare His righteousness, for God is judge.

Here it seems to me that he calls 'righteousness' His great care, His loving-kindness towards those very people, and His manifold and varied dispensation towards all men — that through creation, that through the Law, that through grace, that through things visible, that through things invisible, that through the prophets, that through the angels, that through the apostles, that through chastisements, that through benefactions, that through threats, that through promises, that through the ordering that accords with the times.

Hear, O My people, and I will speak to you; O Israel, and

See again His forbearance and gentleness from the very preamble.

For just as if a man should say to another man who is making a tumult and disturbance, 'If you will listen, I speak';

so too the Master to His servants: 'If you will hear Me,' He says, 'I will speak.'

For indeed they were slothful and slack, and would not give heed to the reading of the laws even for a little while in quietness.

And a certain prophet who dwelt in Persia, making this plain, said:

I shall be to them as the sound of a sweet-toned harp;

and they continually told the prophets not to prophesy — nay rather, they even thrust them away, and thought themselves troubled by them.

And a king too is shown threatening a certain prophet and commanding him not to gather crowds.

I am the God, thy God.

The repetition is not set down without purpose; but since He was speaking to those who were insensible and hardened and deafened, He raises the subject of His lordship, giving thereby the best possible beginning to the discourse that follows, and showing that they owe Him their liberty, and would in justice be bound to pay it as a debt — as servants to a Master, as works to a Craftsman, as those who have received the greatest benefactions and been honoured with so great an honour.

I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices;

and thy burnt-offerings are continually before Me.

For thus the rest of the prophets also accuse them, because, overlooking the greater part of virtue, they placed their hopes of salvation in these things.

For indeed they were about to put this forward in their own defense, saying that 'We pour out sacrifices, we offer up whole burnt offerings.'

But it was not on account of these things, He says, that I came to enter into judgment, nor to bring an accusation because these were neglected.

And Isaiah reaches them even more forcibly than these, saying:

'What to Me is the multitude of your sacrifices? I am full.'

'The whole burnt offering of rams, and the fat of lambs, and the blood of bulls and of goats I do not desire.'

'For who has required these things at your hands?' And yet many words concerning sacrifices have been spoken;

yet it was not because He primarily willed these things that He gave the law, but because He condescended to their weakness.

'To what purpose do you bring Me frankincense from Sheba, and cinnamon from a far country?' And all the prophets, so to speak, declare that this is no great thing.

Therefore He Himself also, beginning, spoke thus:

'God, I am your God;'

and thereby showing that this manner of service is unworthy of Him.

For God must be served, not through smoke and the savor of burning fat, but through the best and bodiless and spiritual conduct of life.

But the demons of the heathen are not so; rather, they even seek after these things.

This too a certain poet among the Greeks appears to show, saying:

'For this is the honor that we have obtained as our portion.'

But our God is not so.

For those demons, thirsting for human blood and wishing little by little to lead men on to these murderous deeds, kept demanding these things continually;

but He, wishing little by little to draw them away even from the slaughter of the irrational beasts, made use of this condescension, and permitted sacrifices in order that He might abolish sacrifices.

'I will not accept calves out of your house, nor he-goats out of your flocks.'

'For all the wild beasts of the forest are Mine, the cattle upon the mountains and the oxen.'

'I know all the birds of the heaven, and the beauty of the field is with Me.'

See how, little by little, He raises up the mind of those who are earthbound, opening up their hardened understanding, and showing that it was not from any need that He enjoined these things, nor because He accepted them that He gave them as law.

'For if I willed to be served in this way,' He says, 'holding the whole world beneath the sun, and being Myself the Creator of all things, I would have provided sacrifices for Myself in lavish abundance.'

Then, both ridiculing and mocking them, so that the accusation might become still more striking, He added:

'If I were hungry, I would not tell you;'

'for the whole inhabited world is Mine, and the fullness thereof.'

For since He Himself permitted these things in order that little by little He might lead them away from them, but they remained fixed in this paltry practice, reaping nothing great from

this condescension, therefore, speaking somewhat more grossly and in a more human way, He says:

'If I were hungry, I would not tell you;'

for God will not hunger, will not grow weary;

nor, if I willed to be served by these things, would I be at a loss for countless sacrifices and whole burnt offerings.

'For indeed all things lie before Me in great abundance, and being Myself their Lord and Master, I wish to receive My own from you, that by this manner of the way I may draw you to friendship with Me, and withdraw you from the habit of vain things.'

Then, leading them up again to something higher, He says:

'Shall I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?' 'For these things,' He says, 'I did not even command men to do, but I appointed the greatest punishment for those who eat blood.'

'How then should I have need of blood, I who lead My servants away from such a feast?' Having therefore cast out all these things, and shown them to be unworthy of Him, and mingled much ridicule with the accusation, He did not halt His discourse at this point, but shows the manner of another sacrifice, which is a kind of the best physician's art, leading away from things that profit nothing, and laying upon the wounds the things that are able to set them right.

For after bringing these things to completion, He says:

'And how shall I sacrifice,' one asks? Without blood.

For this above all is a sacrifice befitting God.

Therefore, having said, 'Sacrifice to God,' He added, 'a sacrifice of praise;'

that is, of thanksgiving, of sacred hymns, of the glorifying that is through works.

And what he says means something like this:

So live that your Master may be glorified.

This very thing Christ also taught, when He said:

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

For praise is nothing else than commendation, glory and good report.

Let your life then be such that your Master may be well spoken of, and you will have brought in a perfect sacrifice.

This is the sacrifice which Paul also seeks after, when he says:

Present your members a living sacrifice, holy, well-pleasing to God.

And elsewhere again the same prophet says:

I will praise the name of my God with a song; I will magnify Him with praise;

and this will please God more than a young bullock that has horns and hoofs.

Thus too did Job offer sacrifice after those blows that were beyond nature, giving thanks and uttering these very words:

The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; as it seemed good to the Lord, so also has it come to pass;

blessed be the name of the Lord forever.

And pay your vows to the Most High.

By 'vows' he here means our supplications, so that we should persevere continually in prayer, and repay with all speed whatever we have promised.

For after the promise, the matter becomes a debt.

Thus Hannah rendered back her son, as a most weighty debt.

You too, then, whether you promise almsgiving, or a chaste life, or any other such thing, make haste toward the discharging of it.

But if anyone examines it strictly, even if he makes no promise, he owes to God the things of virtue.

And declaring this, Christ said:

For what we were bound to do, we have done.

And yet He was speaking the parable of the servant who was commanded to render the least service — not to recline at table, but to pass by and to serve.

Do not delay to pay your vow.

Have you made a promise? Pay it, lest death come upon you and cut it short.

for I was not master of my own life.

For this reason it was needful not to delay, considering the uncertainty of one's departure, and that you are not master of your life nor of your going hence.

So that what seems to be a defense is in fact an accusation.

For your failure to pay was not, after all, the doing of death, but of your own delay and postponement.

And call upon Me in the day of your affliction, and I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.

Do you see the recompense given out of great abundance? What then could be equal to such lovingkindness,

when He gives us wages even for virtue itself, and wages far greater than the toils, and bestowed at the very moment of need? And why, one asks, did He say:

Call upon Me? Why does He wait to be called by us? Because He desires to make our intimacy with Him greater, and our friendship toward Him warmer — both by giving, and by being called upon, and by our receiving.

For virtue draws us near to God, and the recompense works the same effect;

and prayer, again, knits together this same intimacy.

And in giving, too, you yourself receive;

for He Himself has no need of these things.

So that even if you become forbearing, or moderate, or chaste, you have added nothing to God, but have made yourself splendid and better;

yet nevertheless, even for these things He appoints for you, as though you were benefiting Him, the greatest wages and crowns.

And even before those crowns, you enjoy no small pleasure, being nourished by a good conscience, and given wings by good hopes.

By 'a day of affliction' he means here, not the affliction of calamities, nor that of adverse circumstances, but rather this: that even if sin wages war, even if the devil lays siege by introducing wicked desires, you will enjoy an abundant alliance of help.

'And I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.'

Once again here He says this, not because He stands in need of glory from us — for how could He, who is the God of glory? — but so that through the hymn of thanksgiving there may arise the remembrance of His benefit, and a warmer disposition toward Him, and that one may above all obtain the greatest well-being of life.

Nor would one miss the mark of propriety if he were to say that here He calls 'a day of affliction' also the day that is to come;

for that affliction is unceasing.

For here, indeed, death when it comes puts an end to calamities, and friends by their comfort, and an anticipated conclusion; and often, too, an expected change of affairs, and the length of time, has softened the soul's suffering, as has the misfortune of one's neighbors.

For to have companions in one's sorrows, and to see many such examples, has seemed to many to be a great source of consolation.

But there, nothing of the sort exists;

for neither is there anyone present to console, but all are in a desolation, bereft of friends.

Nor does length of time soften the pain — for how could it, while the flame presses upon them throughout? —

for the punishment is immortal, and the bodies that are chastised are likewise immortal;

nor even is there that which seems to many to bring consolation — namely, to see others in chastisement.