Commentary on the Psalms 32

Another translator renders it: 'A Song of the Goings-up.'

To the Lord in my affliction I cried out, and he heard me.

While each of the other psalms has some heading peculiar to itself, here many psalms come together and receive a single designation: 'A Song of the Steps,' or, as another translator put it, 'of the Goings-up.'

Some also call them 'steps.'

And for what reason, someone asks, are they so called? According to the historical sense, because they treat of the going-up from Babylon and make mention of the captivity there;

but according to the anagogical sense, because they lead one by the hand onto the way of virtue;

for some have understood them in this way.

For indeed the road that leads thither is like a flight of steps, gradually bringing up the virtuous and heavenly-minded man, and setting him firmly in heaven itself.

Others say that by these words the ladder of Jacob is hinted at—the one shown to him, planted upon the earth and reaching to heaven.

For in this way even trackless and lofty regions become passable, when steps and ladders are set beneath us.

But since those who have ascended, once they are borne up to a height, are bound to grow dizzy, for this reason one must make oneself secure not only while climbing, but also when one has arrived at the very summit.

And the one safeguard is this: that we not look at how far we have ascended and grow presumptuous, but rather survey how much of the ascent still remains, and strain toward that.

This too Paul made clear when he said:

Forgetting the things that are behind, and reaching forward to the things that are ahead.

But such, then, is the account according to the higher, spiritual sense;

let us now, however, if it seems good, come to the historical sense, and behold those who were delivered from the captivity.

How, then, were they delivered from the captivity? By their longing for Jerusalem;

since indeed those who did not accomplish this gained nothing from the grace of God, but remained in their servitude and died in it;

and if we too emulate them, we shall suffer the same fate.

For if we are not gripped by love for heavenly things and by longing for the Jerusalem above, but are forever nailed fast to the present life, wallowing in the mire of worldly cares, we shall not be able to recover our homeland.

To the Lord in my affliction I cried out, and he heard me.

Do you see the gain that comes of affliction? Do you see the readiness of God's loving-kindness? The gain of affliction, in that it brought them to pure prayer;

the promptness of his loving-kindness, in that he assented at once when they called upon him;

which he did also for those in Egypt of old.

I have surely seen the affliction of my people, and I have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them.

You too, therefore, beloved, when you find yourself in affliction, do not despair, nor grow slothful, but then above all rouse yourself;

since at that time also prayers are purer, and greater is the good will that comes from God;

and live your whole life in such a way that life is toilsome to you, knowing that 'All who wish to live godly in Christ Jesus shall be persecuted';

and that 'Through many afflictions we must enter into the kingdom of God.'

Do not, then, love the soft and dissolute life, nor wish to walk the broad way; for that road does not lead to heaven, but rather the narrow and afflicted one.

But if you wish to arrive at the dwellings above, flee from pleasures, trample underfoot the illusion of this life, count riches and glory and power as nothing;

but acquire poverty and contrition of mind and confession and fountains of tears, and pursue all things that are able to procure salvation.

For these things both establish their possessor in greater security and make his prayers loftier.

If you prepare yourself in this way, and with such a mind you too call upon God, he will assuredly hear you.

For this reason the Prophet also said, 'In my affliction I cried out, and He heard me,' that you might learn to ascend little by little, and to make your prayers winged, so that you may not be vexed nor grow weary in your afflictions, but may reap the profit that comes from them.

For if the prophet Elisha, being but a man, would not allow his disciple to thrust away the woman who drew near, but said, 'Let her alone, for her soul is in bitter anguish';

showing thereby nothing else than that affliction has a great plea and an advocate on its behalf;

much more will God not thrust you away when you draw near to Him with a soul in bitter anguish.

For this reason Christ also calls the mourners blessed, and pronounces woe upon those who laugh.

For this reason too, when beginning the Beatitudes, He made His prelude from this very point, saying, 'Blessed are the...'

If then you wish to ascend these steps, cut away the dissoluteness and slackness of your life, gird yourself tightly to the laborious way of the godly life, and withdraw from earthly affairs.

For it is not possible, it is not possible, at one and the same time to ascend the ladder and to cling to the earth.

Do you see how great is the height of heaven?

You know the brevity of time;

you know the uncertainty of death.

Therefore do not delay, nor put it off, but with great vehemence lay hold of this journey, that in a single day you may ascend two and three and ten and twenty steps.

'Lord, deliver my soul from unjust lips, and from a deceitful tongue.'

Behold here that Gospel precept shining forth:

'Pray that you enter not into temptation.'

For nothing, beloved, is equal to this temptation—to fall in with a deceitful man;

such a one is even more dangerous than a wild beast.

For the beast appears as the very thing it is;

but this man often hides his venom behind a screen of gentleness, so that his ambush becomes hard to detect, and the one who falls in tumbles unawares into the pit.

For this reason he continually, again and again, beseeches God for this—to be delivered from such treacherous men.

And if we must flee the deceitful and the insidious, much more must we flee the impostors, and those who instill wicked doctrines.

But most of all might one call those lips unjust which do harm regarding virtue, and which lead away toward vice.

It is for these reasons that this Prophet too asks that his soul be delivered;

'What shall be given to you, and what shall be added to you, against a deceitful tongue?' Another translator says:

'What shall a deceitful tongue give you, or what shall it add?' And yet another:

'What shall a tongue bent on assault give you, or what shall it add to you?' The saying therefore sets forth nothing else than that this wickedness is great, and this form of vice grievous.

For this very reason you see the Prophet also indignant, wroth, and saying:

'What shall be given to you, and what shall be added to you, against a deceitful tongue?' And what he means is this:

What punishment could be found worthy of this wickedness? This is the very thing Isaiah also said to the Jews:

'Why should you be stricken any more, adding to your lawlessness?' This very thing he too says:

'What shall be given to you, and what shall be added to you, against a deceitful tongue?' Either, then, he says this, or that this very thing is itself the punishment, and that even before the judgment you exact the penalty from yourself, breeding wickedness from within.

For the greatest punishment of the soul is wickedness itself, even before the judgment.

What penalty, then, could be worthy of such a man? Here below, none; but the blow that comes from God.

For a man could not requite him according to his deserts;

for his wickedness surpasses every punishment;

but God will bring the blow upon him.

Wherefore, showing this too, he quickly added, saying:

'The arrows of the mighty one, sharpened, together with the coals of the desert.'

Again here he calls the punishments 'arrows.'

And the other translator said, 'The arrows of the mighty one are sharpened, with coals heaped up.'

And another translator has it, 'With coals of the juniper,' by the metaphor of the words heightening the terror of the punishment.

For both the word 'Heaped up' and the word 'Of juniper' convey the same idea.

There the multitude is set forth;

but here the quality and the vehemence of the punishment.

And this the Seventy also, making it plain, rendered 'With the desolating coals,' that is, coals that lay waste, that consume, that utterly devour.

For the Scriptures fashion even the punishments of God after the pattern of the things we hold to be fearful, calling them arrows and fire.

But in this place he seems to me to be hinting at the barbarians.

Wherefore another interpreter, making this plain, said,

'Deliver my soul from lying lips.'

For such are their words, such their deceits and their plottings, all of them full of error and of much wickedness.

'Woe is me, that my sojourning is prolonged; I have dwelt among the tents of Kedar.'

'Woe is me, that in sojourning I have been drawn out at length.'

Another renders it, 'Ah, woe to me, that I have sojourned as a stranger in exile far off.'

These men, then, lament in this fashion over the captivity in Babylon;

but Paul laments over our sojourn here, saying,

'For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened.' And, 'Not only so, but ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves.'

For the present life is indeed a sojourning.

And why do I say a sojourning, when this life is a thing even meaner than a sojourning? Wherefore Christ also called it a road, saying,

'Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that leads unto life.'

For this too is the best teaching, and especially the first of all: to know that we are but sojourners in this present life.

Wherefore the ancients also confessed this, and for this reason above all were held in admiration.

This too Paul made plain when he wrote, saying,

'For this cause God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God.'

Because they confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims.

This is the root and foundation of all virtue.

For he who is a stranger to the things here below will be a citizen of the things above.

He who is a stranger to the things here will not become attached to things present;

he will not busy himself over a house, nor over money, nor over food, nor over any other such thing whatsoever;

but just as those who sojourn in a foreign land do all things and busy themselves with everything for the sake of their restoration to their fatherland, and each day press on to see the day that shall bring them back;

even so also he who longs for the things to come will neither be cast down by present sorrows, nor be lifted up by present prosperity, but will pass by both, as one walking along a road. For this reason too we are bidden in prayer to say, 'Thy kingdom come,' that, turning our yearning and desire toward that day, and holding it before our eyes, we may not so much as look upon things present.

For if the Jews, longing for Jerusalem, lament over what is past even after their deliverance, what pardon could we obtain, what defence could we plead, if we are not held fast by an ardent longing for the Jerusalem above? (3)

See, then, how these men lament their sojourn among those people, saying, 'I have dwelt among the tents of Kedar';

'My soul has long sojourned.'

For here they lament not only their sojourn in a foreign land, but also their manner of life among barbarians.

This other prophets also did, lamenting over the present life and saying,

'Woe is me, for the godly man has perished from the earth, and there is none upright among men;'

and this same prophet too, saying,

'Save me, O Lord, for the godly man ceases to be.'

For life is toilsome not only in this respect, that it holds much vanity and untimely cares, but also because the throng of the wicked is great.

And nothing is more grievous and more irksome than converse with such men.

For smoke and dust do not so weigh down the eyes as the company of the wicked disquiets and distresses the soul.

Do you not see that even our Lord Jesus Christ showed forth the grievousness of such a manner of dwelling? For when He says, 'How long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you?' He hints at this very thing, saying, 'I have sojourned among the tents of Kedar.'

This is a barbarous race, more brutish in its disposition toward those it has subdued, dwelling in tents and huts, and sunk to the savagery of wild beasts.

But far more grievous than these are the rapacious, the covetous, those who live in wantonness and in luxury.

'My soul has long been a sojourner.'

For it was but seventy years;

yet he calls them many, not by reason of their number, but by reason of the hardship of the circumstances.

For even though they be few, to those in affliction they appear many.

So too ought we to be disposed: even though we live but few years here, to count them many by reason of our longing for the things to come.

for this too is the work of God;

but anointing you for the love of the things to come, and that you may not cling to things present, nor be nailed to the body, nor be disposed like the faint-hearted among the multitude;

who, even if they should live ten thousand years, say that these are few.

What could be more unreasonable than these? What more gross, if, when heaven is set before them, and the good things that are in the heavens, 'which neither eye has seen, nor ear has heard,' they gape after shadows, and are willing to cross the strait of the present life, tumbled about amid unceasing waves, and storm, and shipwrecks? But not so Paul; rather he hastened and pressed on, and one thing alone held him fast: the salvation of men.

'With those who hated peace I was peaceable;'

'when I spoke to them, they warred against me without cause.'

Do you see how he shows the burdensomeness of dwelling there? For he did not say, 'With those who had no peace,' but, 'With those who hated peace I was peaceable.'

Do you see the gain of affliction? Do you see the fruit of captivity? But now, which of us will be able to say this? For it is well enough to be peaceable among the peaceable;

but this man was peaceable even among those who hated peace.

How then shall we too achieve this? If we live as sojourners;

for I bring the discourse back once more to the same theme;

if we live as strangers, if we are held fast by none of the things present.

For nothing so produces strife and war as the love of things present, as the desire either for glory, or for money, or for luxury.

But when you have cut through all these cords, and no longer allow your soul to be held fast by any of them, then you will see whence war takes its beginning, and whence virtue will take its foundation.

For this reason He commands us to be sheep in the midst of wolves, that you may not say, 'I suffered this and that, and therefore I grew savage.'

'Even if you suffer ten thousand things,' He says, 'remain a sheep, and so you will prevail over the wolves.'

Such a one is wicked and corrupt, but you have such great power as to overcome even the wicked.

What is gentler than a sheep? What is fiercer than a wolf? Yet nevertheless the one shall prevail over the other;

and this was shown in the case of the apostles.

For nothing is more powerful than meekness, nothing more mighty than long-suffering.

For this very reason Christ commands us to be sheep in the midst of wolves.

Then, having spoken thus, as though this gentleness—I mean that of the sheep, which He wishes to display in the disciple—were not sufficient, He adds yet another thing;

'Be harmless as the doves;'

joining together the meekness of two gentle and guileless creatures;

so great is the forbearance He requires of us, when we are in the midst of the savage.

And do not say to me, 'He is wicked, and I cannot bear it.'

For then most of all ought we to display meekness, when we have to do with the savage, when with the untamed;

then is its strength shown, then do its work and its achievement and its fruit shine forth.

'When I spoke to them, they warred against me without cause.'

But another interpreter says, 'And when I spoke to them, they warred;'

either hinting at this, 'With those who hated peace I was peaceable,' or that, 'Because I spoke to them, they warred against me.'

But what he means is something like this:

At the very moment of our conversation, he says, when I was most of all displaying my love, when I was most of all uttering words of friendship, then they grew savage, then they were stitching together their treacheries, and none of my kindness could restrain them;

yet nevertheless I kept displaying my own virtue, even while they were disposed in this way toward me.

So too must we be disposed: even if they strike us, even if they beat those who love them, even if they plot against us, we must display what comes from ourselves, remembering that parable which commands us to be as sheep and doves in the midst of wolves, so that we may both make them better and ourselves enjoy the good things in the heavens;

which may it be granted to us all to attain, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory unto the ages of ages.