Commentary on the Psalms 21 part 2/2

For, in the first place, it is not even possible to see those who are being chastised, since the darkness, serving as a partition in place of every barrier, overshadows their eyes;

and next, the excess of the pain does not even allow one to gain the perception of this consolation.

The rich man, at any rate, reaped from that place no ground for consolation, nor did those who gnash their teeth.

But to the sinner God said:

'Why do you declare My ordinances?' Have you seen the perfectly tuned lyre, the harmonious harp, sounding forth one harmony in its diverse notes? For this same thought may be seen laid down both among the apostles and among other prophets;

and Paul indeed speaks somewhat in this manner, showing, he too, that there is no benefit in teaching others, when a man does not first take himself in hand and teach himself.

For since they took great pride — as in their sacrifices, so also in possessing the Law and in being reputed teachers of others — showing that they reap no great gain when they themselves remain untaught, and rebuking such men more vehemently, he says:

'You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? You who abhor idols, do you commit sacrilege? You who boast in the Law, do you dishonor God through the transgression of the Law?' Therefore he said also concerning himself:

'I fear, lest by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified;'

thereby demolishing the inflated conceit of those who think highly of themselves over the teaching of the word, while they themselves are destitute of virtue.

And in another way, too, he handles this argument when directing it against the Jews, when he says:

'For when the Gentiles, who have not the Law, do by nature the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law unto themselves.'

'For not the hearers of the Law are just before God, but the doers of the Law shall be justified.'

'They who cling to the Law knew Me not.'

'In vain has the false pen of the scribes been made.'

For what reason? 'Because the turtledove and the swallow, and the sparrows of the field, knew the times of their coming, but My people knew not My judgments.'

But this psalmist says that the man who does not pursue virtue not only gains nothing from teaching others, but even casts himself out of that very seat of honor.

For if in the courts outside the Church the offender is punished with the dishonor of enforced silence, how, he says, could one who is liable for sin have a voice in the common school of teaching? And this school is greater than that tribunal.

For there, indeed, those who are chastised pay penalties;

but here everything is done so that the offenders may not be punished, but may through repentance set right what has been done amiss.

And in royal courts, too, no one would become an interpreter of the royal voice if he were found to be of corrupt life.

For what reason do you recount ordinances and teach others, while you in fact do the very opposite, your life contradicting your words and turning away some of those who would give heed? For you do not so much teach by your words as you lead them astray by your deeds.

For this reason Christ also praises that teacher who displays a teaching made perfect through works as well as through words.

'For whosoever shall do and teach them,' He says, 'the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.'

Let your life, therefore, have a resplendent voice, teaching these things;

and even if you stop up your mouth, you will sound forth more brilliantly than a trumpet, both to those who are present and to those who are far off.

Thus does the heaven declare the glory of God;

having no mouth, moving no tongue, sending forth no breath from below, but by the beauty of its appearance conducting the beholder to wonder at the Creator.

What, therefore, the beauty of appearance is there in the heaven, let virtue be that upon your soul.

But if, being defiled and having ten thousand accusers, and above all your own conscience, you are eager to lay hold of the teacher's chair, then whenever you accuse wickedness you will be accusing no others more than yourself.

And do you take up my covenant in your mouth? Well did he say it;

for the heart is desolate of the fruits that come from these things, and the lips move in vain, and to the condemnation of the one who speaks.

But if one should search out the mind, he will find that the warfare is great.

But you hated instruction, and cast my words behind you.

By 'instruction' he here means the teaching of the law, which orders the soul, which drives away wickedness, and which plants virtue.

How then do you handle it and sow it into others, while you yourself do not possess it in your deeds? For 'you cast my words behind you,' he says.

For not only did you add nothing beyond the teaching of the law, but you even maimed that which you had from nature.

For concerning the things not to be done, and the things that are not of such a kind, the reasons are naturally implanted in us.

But you thrust them away, and did not keep them in remembrance.

If you saw a thief, you ran along with him, and with the adulterer you cast in your lot.

For since it is not possible to find a man altogether without sin—

Who shall boast that he has a pure heart? or who shall speak with confidence that he is clean from sin? And Paul, having said, 'I know nothing against myself,' added:

'yet I am not thereby justified.'

and, 'The righteous man is his own accuser in the first speaking,' it is plain that it is concerning the sins committed by him;

one might say that, if all are in sins, and he commanded the sinner not to recount the ordinances, who then will there be to recount them? Therefore, lest anyone say these things, he also sets down kinds of sins according to their species.

For there is a sin unto death, even as Eli also said:

'If a man sinning shall sin against a man, the priest shall pray for him;

but if he sin against the Lord, who shall pray for him?' And in the law also some things were incurable, so as to be punished even with death;

but others had some very speedy remedy;

so also Christ in the New Covenant:

'If your brother sin,' he says, 'reprove him between you and him alone.'

'But if he will not hear, take with you still two more,' he says.

'If he will not hear these either, let him be to you as the heathen and the tax-collector.'

And yet elsewhere, when Peter had said:

'How often, if my brother sin against me, shall I forgive him?' and having heard:

but here, after two admonitions, he shows the offense to be great, and does not compel one to remain any longer.

What then? Are these things contrary to those? By no means;

but the 'seventy times seven' he speaks of the one who repents.

For how could anyone forgive him who neither confesses that he has sinned nor repents? For indeed, when we ask the physician for remedies, we also show him the wound.

Who then is the sinner concerning whom the Scripture here speaks? Let us listen with exactness.

For indeed he depicts him, saying thus in what follows:

If you saw a thief, you ran along with him, and with adulterers you cast in your lot.

Your mouth abounded in wickedness, and your tongue wove together deceits.

Sitting, you spoke against your brother, and against your mother's son you laid a stumbling-block.

Do you see, as in a picture of wickedness, its colors, and how the evil man has become a beast through wickedness, having betrayed the nobility of his nature? Let us not, therefore, go over the picture superficially, but examine it exactly and part by part.

'If you saw a thief,' he says, 'you ran along with him.'

This is the cause of all evils;

this most of all is what overturns virtue, what slackens the zeal of the many for what is good—when certain people not only do not rebuke, but even take pleasure together with those who sin.

This is no less a thing than to sin itself.

Hear, at any rate, what Paul says:

They not only do these things themselves, but also give hearty approval to those who practise them.

And this too is no small sin: even though a man does not himself commit the evil deeds, yet to take pleasure together with those who do evil.

For the one has necessity to plead, he can allege his poverty, even if the pretexts are not reasonable;

but you, on what ground do you praise the deed that has been done, when you do not even reap from it any pleasure of your own? And that man, perhaps, will even come to repentance;

you, however, shut even these doors, and do away with the remedy, and overturn so great a consolation, on every side heaping up earth to block for him the harbour of return unto repentance.

When, therefore, he sees you, who are outside the sin, and who ought to rebuke it, not only not rebuking, but even helping to conceal it, and not merely concealing it, but even joining in the deed, what will he think concerning himself? and what concerning the thing that has been dared? For, as for the most part, the greater number of men cast these votes concerning what is to be done not out of their own judgement alone, but being corrupted also by the disposition of others;

and if the one who has sinned sees all men turning away from him, he will consider that he has wrought some great and wicked deed;

but when he sees them not only not indignant, nor displeased, but even bearing it gently and lending a hand, then having corrupted the tribunal that comes from conscience, since the vote of the many co-operates with his corrupted judgement, what will he not dare? and when will he ever condemn himself and cease from sinning without fear? Wherefore it is needful that, even though a man does the wicked deed, he condemn himself;

for this is a way toward departing from what is wicked;

and even though a man does not himself do the good, let him at least praise the good.

For eager readiness is a way toward the doing of it.

Here, however, since he also lends a hand in the things that are done, with good reason does he brand him with exceeding severity.

For if vice, though rebuked, flourishes so greatly, and virtue, though praised, is scarcely called forth to its own labours and sweats;

what will happen if this should not take place? One might see this happening often even among a company of priests;

and if among disciples this is grievous, much more so among teachers.

What are you doing, O man? The law has been transgressed, temperance has been despised, so many offences have been dared by one of those consecrated to holy office, things above have been turned below, and do you not shudder? But the prophet calls even the very insensible elements to share in and take part in the lamentation over the evils that have been committed against all in common, saying, 'The heaven was astonished, and the earth shuddered exceedingly.'

'Carmel shall mourn, the wine shall mourn, the vine shall mourn.'

And the lifeless things mourn, and groan, and share in indignation with the Master;

and do you, the rational being, feel no pain? do you not rebuke, do you not become a stern avenger of the laws of God, but even take part in the fellowship? And what pardon could you have? For God does not need an avenger;

for does He stand in need of helpers? But He wills that you become His servant in this, that you may not fall into the same sins, becoming more temperate through your indignation against another, so that from this also you may show your love for God.

For when, another having sinned, you pass it by, and do not pursue it, nor feel any pain, you make your own soul more slothful and prone to fall, and above all you often prepare yourself to fall into the same sins;

and him too you injure in no ordinary way by this ill-timed favour, making the reckonings sterner for him in the age to come, and rendering him more slothful toward the present things.

These things have been said not concerning thieves only, but concerning every sin;

and he has set down the last of the offences, that you may know that he who has no pardon in such a case will much more, in the case of another sin, not enjoy this consolation.

Hear, then, what he says next as well:

'And with adulterers you set your portion.'

For that former thing is much less than this.

And a certain man, making a comparison of these sins, spoke thus:

'It is no marvel if a man be caught stealing;

for he steals in order that he may fill his soul when it is hungry.'

If, then, this is unpardonable, much more so is adultery.

Here he calls fornication adultery.

If, then, you see one of those who herd together with you committing fornication and yet coming forward to the mysteries, say to the one who ministers at the distribution of these things:

'Such a one is unworthy of the mysteries; keep back his profane hands.'

For if he is not even worthy to declare the ordinances, consider to what a pitch the things of his punishment will advance for him, when he even lays hold of the sacred table—and not for him alone, but also for the one who helps to conceal it.

For he did not say, 'And you committed adultery,' but, 'With adulterers you set your portion.'

Alas! how great an evil it is to cover over the corruptions of others, seeing that he says such a one is even a partaker of the punishment for the offence, and no less than the offender himself.

For the one has his passion to plead, even if the pretext is unpardonable, just as the thief has his hunger;

Why then, when you have no share in the pleasure, do you become a partner and sharer in the punishment? It is for this very reason that even the pagan judges chastise not only those who dared the deed, but also any of the household servants whom they find to have been privy to the matter; and the masters who hand them over would gladly drink up their blood and taste of their very flesh, and they reckon the responsibility for what was done to belong to these servants no less than to the woman who committed the adultery.

For those who did not draw back the curtains have themselves given the greater licence to the things that were concealed;

these men have outraged both the woman who was seduced and the wronged husband and the adulterer himself.

For had they given warning beforehand, had they made the matter plain, they would have scared away the whole quarry.

And just as those men are most of all the ones who cast others into the snares, namely those who

conceal the snares, and lie in wait round about for those who are about to be caught, and hide from every side every deceit, and allow neither a sound nor anything else to occur that might be able to scare away the prey;

so too here: if you sit down beside the snare set by the devil, and knowing that the adulterer is about to fall in, you do not raise an outcry nor startle him, then most of all you destroy him.

Do not, I beg you, allege to me that saying so full of unfeeling callousness:

'What is it to me? I mind my own affairs.'

For then most of all will you be minding your own affairs, when you seek your own interests in what is profitable to your neighbour.

Let no one seek his own, but that of the other.

In order, he says, that you may find your own, seek that of the other.

Your mouth has abounded in wickedness, and your tongue has woven together deceits.

Sitting, you spoke against your brother, and against the son of your mother you laid a stumbling-block.

'I do these things out of love for humanity.'

First of all, what kind of love for humanity could this be — not to hinder nor to hold back one who is about to fall into a pit? To gratify an unjust pleasure? To look on while a man drinks a deadly poison? Yet you will not even be able to say this.

For that this is not love for humanity, but drowsiness and sloth and indolence — how is it that, leaving the wrongdoer alone, you speak evil of the brother who has done no wrong? How do you plot against him who has done no wrong nor committed any offence? See how wickedness is stretched to its extreme on both sides.

The one who is drunk with lust you do not hinder from his drunkenness, so that he might come to his senses; but the one who has done no wrong you chastise.

For sitting, you spoke against your brother, and against the son of your mother you laid a stumbling-block.

See how by the further explanation he heightens the accusation.

Him who was born of the same birth-pangs as you, he says, him who shared the same womb with you, him who partook of the same house and table and nourishment, him who sprang from one root, him who has the same origin of generation, him who from earliest infancy grew up together with you — this one you speak evil of; and not only do you speak evil of him, but you even carry your plot into deed. For this is the meaning of 'You laid a stumbling-block.'

But if one must not speak evil of him who shared in one's natural birth-pangs, much more must one not speak evil of him who shared in the spiritual ones.

Do not, then, either let him who is about to sin fall down headlong, nor slander and revile him who has done no wrong.

For the one springs from envy, the other from callousness;

for not to check him who is about to fall is a mark of callousness;

while to cast down him who is standing firm is a mark of envy.

And see how he hints not simply at the accuser, but at the one who does this deed with guile and eager diligence.

For sitting, he says, you spoke against your brother.

And Cain, when he slew his brother, drove but one man out of this present life;

but these men, by the evil they speak, cast down countless multitudes, and themselves first of all.

For they harm not only the one accused, but others also;

or rather, they harm only those who receive the slander.

For he who is falsely spoken evil of is not only not wronged, but even has a very great reward.

For it is not the one who suffers, but the one who does the evil, who is deserving of punishment;

so also it is the one who speaks, not the one who hears, provided that the latter gives no reasonable handles for the evil-speaking.

Let us not, then, be zealous for this — that we may not be spoken evil of; for this is impossible;

and there is a declaration of Christ which says, 'Woe to you, when all men shall speak well of you'; but let our zeal be that we may give no handles.

For indeed he who wishes to be well spoken of by all often ruins his own soul, being enamoured of human glory, rendering service in matters where he ought not, pleasing men in things where he should not, so as to purchase their favour.

Again, he who despises being spoken ill of by all likewise brings destruction upon himself as well.

As it is impossible for the virtuous man to be well spoken of by all, so it is impossible that he who has furnished many handles from many quarters for being spoken ill of should not be spoken ill of by all.

But if, while you present a blameless life, there are still those who accuse you, then your reward is even greater, just as it happened in the case of the apostles and of those noble men.

But this too we must know: that even if someone speaks ill of us in a matter which our conscience does not condemn, we ought not on that account to despise the accuser because of the harm he does himself, but rather to do everything with fitting circumspection, so as to remove even the unreasonable pretext.

For this reason Paul too, in the matter of money, sent many to convey the provisions for the poor;

and he gives the reason, saying:

'That no one should blame us in this abundance which is administered by us.'

For it was not the case that, seeing they were going to be wrongly offended, he overlooked and despised the matter;

but rather, since he had it in his power to dissolve the stumbling-block, he made provision for the very ones who were being offended.

'If food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I cause my brother to stumble.'

And yet these things were matters of indifference;

but nevertheless, if it brings a stumbling-block, he says, even though it does me no harm, I do not despise the salvation of those who are being offended.

For if a harm should arise that is greater than the salvation, then despise the one who is offended;

for this would be the universal boundary and rule, teaching when one ought to disregard those who are offended, and when not.

The Jews were offended because Paul did not keep the law, and on this account many tens of thousands fell away and went lame concerning the faith.

What then does he do? Wishing to heal the stumbling-block — for the salvation of so many tens of thousands was the greater thing — and to set right the lameness, he for the time hindered showing that he did not keep the law, which was the greater consideration.

Again they were offended, because he preached One who had been crucified;

here he disregarded those who were offended;

for the gain of the preaching was the greater thing.

For when he was speaking to them concerning foods, and they were offended at his saying that it is not what enters that defiles a man, but what comes forth, he says:

'Every plant which my Father has not planted shall be rooted up.'

But when they demanded tribute of him, although he knew that it was not necessary to pay, nevertheless, since the time did not yet call for his dignity to be uncovered, he says:

'But that we may not offend them, go to the sea, cast a hook, and take the first fish that comes up, and in it you will find a stater;'

'give that to them for me and for you.'

For when he was laying down a law full of much lofty wisdom, and those men were incurable, he reasonably took no thought for them and dissolved the law;

but when they were not yet able to receive the teaching concerning his dignity, he reasonably condescends again, and by the paying of the tribute veils the doctrine concerning his divinity.

'Sitting, you spoke against your brother.'

'But it was that I might correct him,' he says.

Then you ought not to have slandered him secretly, but, as Christ commanded, to have taken him aside privately and corrected him.

For accusations made in public often make men even more shameless;

and as long as most of those who sin see that it is possible for them to escape notice, they readily choose to turn back;

but when they have lost their good repute in the eyes of the many, some thereafter fall into despair and slide down into shamelessness.

'But I was wronged in some way by him.'

Why then do you also wrong yourself? For he who takes revenge thrusts the sword against himself.

For if you wish both to benefit yourself and to avenge yourself on him, speak well of the one who wronged you;

in this way you will make many his accusers in your stead,

and you yourself will receive a great reward; but if you speak ill, you will not even be believed, being suspected of enmity.

So that the fruit of your zeal turns out to the very opposite of what you intended.

For you wish to wound his reputation, but the opposite comes about;

for this comes to pass through commendation, not through accusation;

and you shame yourself the more, while your arrows will not so much as touch him.

For the enmity, meeting the minds of the hearers beforehand, does not allow what is said to be lodged in their ears, and the same thing happens as in the case of legal demurrers.

For when someone lodges an objection in a court of law, the whole case is for the moment dissolved;

so also here the suspicion of enmity does not permit the suit to be admitted for trial.

Do not, then, speak evil, lest you defile yourself as well; do not weave together filth with mire and brickwork, but plait garlands of roses and violets and the rest of the flowers;

do not carry dung upon your mouth, like the beetles—for this is what slanderers do;

they themselves are the first to enjoy the stench; but gather flowers, like the bees, and weave honeycombs after their manner, and become agreeable to all.

For everyone turns away from the slanderer as from one who reeks with rottenness, like some leech gorged with blood, or a beetle nourished on dung—feeding on the evils of others;

but the man who keeps a mouth of good report they welcome as a common member, as a true brother, as a child, as a father.

And why do I speak of things present and the opinions of men? Consider for me that dreadful day, the tribunal that takes no bribe; for if you speak falsehoods, you will add to yourself a further burden of superfluous sins.

For I say to you that for every idle word which men shall speak, they shall give account for it to God in the day of judgment.

And even if what you say be true, he says, not even so will you escape condemnation, if you parade abroad your neighbor's misfortunes and reproaches.

Consider, at any rate, the Pharisee.

He was not a tax collector, yet he became more sinful than the tax collector, because he spoke ill of the tax collector.

The tax collector was not a Pharisee, yet he became more righteous than the Pharisee, because he counted himself wretched.

These things you have done, and I kept silence.

You supposed, in your lawlessness, that I would be like you.

I will reprove you, and set your sins in order before your face.

Do you see His unspeakable lovingkindness? Do you see the excess of His goodness? Do you see the boundless riches of His longsuffering? For here by 'silence' He means His longsuffering.

You dared such great things, He says, and I did not proceed against you, but bore with you and endured, giving you room for repentance.

But you not only gained nothing from this, but even ran aground upon greater wickedness.

For not only did you not change, nor were you put to shame, nor did you condemn yourself for the things that were done;

but you even supposed that I—who had been longsuffering toward you, who had borne with you, who had kept silence, who had endured so much—did so, not out of longsuffering and lovingkindness, but because I did not wish to chastise these things, nor to be indignant at what was being done.

Understand these things, then, you that forget God.

For what has been said in a veiled manner? And what requires much searching out? Above all, the very manner of the teaching introduces a changed way of life.

For indeed, making no great account of the sacrifices, He introduces the evangelical legislation;

and besides, since they were buried under the great heap of their sins, wishing to draw them up as from certain quagmires of wickedness, and as it were to purge away from their eyes the rheum which the preceding path of their evil habit had left, He rouses them to come to remembrance of the things that had been done, so that they may not, by consigning them to oblivion, depart without profit.

For the habit of sinning works much hardening upon the soul, and makes men senseless, and blinds the keen-sighted eye of the understanding.

...lest he snatch away, and there be none to deliver.

These are the words of a tender-loving mother—or rather, of a goodness that infinitely surpasses that tender affection.

For He who displayed so great an accusation, who showed forth so great a wrath, takes precaution beforehand.

He who said, 'I will reprove you, and set your sins in order before your face,' and who had pronounced a condemning sentence, again dissolves the sentence—not delivering them over to punishment as condemned, but handing them over, as those who ought to be set right, to admonition and counsel, chastening them by fear, and saying, 'Lest at any time he snatch you away like a lion, and there be none to deliver.'

The sacrifice of praise shall glorify Me, and there is the way in which I will show him the salvation of God.

Having shown His lovingkindness, having admonished, counseled, threatened, put in fear, and set the punishment before them undiluted, and having brought in His counsel, He tells also the manner by which it is possible to set right the things that had been done, saying:

The sacrifice of praise shall glorify Me.

Not only will it stay My wrath, nor merely loose the condemnation, but it will even glorify Me.

Behold the greatness of the good deed, when God is glorified on account of it.

And there is the way in which I will show him the salvation of God.

Do you see the unspeakable reward? Do you see the excess of His lovingkindness? For He promises to show the way of God, and the salvation of God that is truly salvation, to those who do what is right.

Let us therefore obey Him who promises, and by an upright life and a sacrifice of praise let us glorify Him.

For this is the way that leads to salvation, through this sacrifice;

which may it be granted to us all to attain, by the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the might, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages.