Commentary on the Psalms 2 part 2/2

Since the blessed Job also, though seated on the dunghill and ulcerated with the discharge of his wounds, though teeming with countless springs of worms, though suffering those unspeakable torments, though spat upon by his household servants, and plotted against by friends and by enemies and by his own wife, though cast down into poverty, into famine, and into that incurable infirmity, was yet more blessed than all men.

How so? Because God blessed him, saying:

A man blameless, righteous, true, godly, abstaining from every evil deed.

O Lord, as with a shield of good pleasure Thou hast crowned us.

Again he closed with thanksgiving, offering up hymns of thanks to God.

But what is a shield of good pleasure? A most excellent shield, a shield according to God's mind, a most beautiful shield.

And what he means is this:

Symmachus renders it: 'With the fairest alliance Thou hast walled us about.'

But another translator, rendering it 'Thou shalt crown him,' teaches that this is said concerning the righteous man:

namely, 'Thou shalt crown him,' that is, the righteous man; which means that Thy good pleasure serves in place of a shield to him,

and in place of a most beautiful shield;

that is, 'With the fairest alliance Thou dost wall about the righteous man,' and neither is his beauty bereft of security, nor is his security destitute of glory.

For what is mightier than a man, and what more comely, than he who is walled about by the right hand from above? This crown is woven also of mercy, even as the same David says elsewhere:

Who crowneth thee with mercy and compassions.

This crown is also of righteousness, even as Paul says:

Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness.

There is also a crown of grace, as another says:

And with a crown of graces He shall shield thee.

And there is also a crown of glory, even as Isaiah says: 'There shall be,' he says, 'the crown of hope, woven of glory.'

For the crown possesses all these things: lovingkindness, righteousness, grace, glory, comeliness.

For it is the gift of God, bringing forth grace in manifold form.

There is also a crown of incorruption, even as Paul says:

They indeed do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.

What then he says here is this:

With security and with glory Thou hast clothed us about.

For such are the gifts of God: strong, and full of comeliness;

For among men this is not possible;

but he who is in glory is by no means secure;

and he who is in security is by no means in glory, nor could these things readily coincide;

and even if they should coincide, it is quickly swept away.

Those who are in positions of power are indeed splendid and conspicuous, but they are not in security;

nay, for this very reason above all they are set in a most perilous place, on account of the greatness of their glory.

Those who are cast aside and held in contempt are indeed in security because they are not noticed, but they are not in honour;

nay, for this very reason above all they are in dishonour, because they are in security.

But with God this is not so;

rather, both run together in great abundance, both glory and security.

Considering, therefore, the greatness of these good things, and above all how great a good it is to please God — which is at once a weapon, and a glory, and a security, and ten thousand blessings — let us run with patience the race that is set before us, and let us never sink down, nor be found stripped of our armor.

For this kind of warfare will not endure to behold a soldier unarmed;

but the preparation is dissolved only when the theater itself is dissolved;

and the theater is dissolved when the soul is loosed from the body.

So then, as long as we are here, we must box on — whether sitting at home, or thrusting ourselves into the marketplace, or taking our meal, or being sick, or being in health.

For indeed it is in the time of sickness above all that the season of this combat comes, when pains from every side throw the soul into tumult, when anguish lays siege to it, when the devil stands over us, goading us to utter some bitter word.

Then most of all one must be on guard, must fence oneself with the breastplate, the shield, the helmet, and the rest of the armor, and continually give thanks to God.

These are grievous darts against the devil, this is a mortal blow against the demon; then above all do the crowns shine bright.

Since blessed Job too — for nothing hinders us from taking refuge in him once again — it was this above all that made him illustrious, this that proclaimed him aloud, this that crowned him: that in the time of trial and sickness and poverty he showed a purpose unshaken, a mind unmoved; that he offered up to God words of thanksgiving, and that spiritual sacrifice.

For his words were a sacrifice — the words which he spoke:

'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 for evermore.'

This let us too do always — in trials, in adversities, in plots against us, glorifying God and blessing Him continually;

for to Him belongs the glory unto the ages of ages.