Commentary on the Psalms 33

Another version: A Song for the Ascents.

I lifted up my eyes to the mountains, whence shall come my help.

Another version: I lift up my eyes to the mountains, whence shall come my help.

Behold a soul at a loss and utterly perplexed, as though caught in the midst of evils, and desiring to obtain consolation, looking away toward God.

This again is a good achievement of trials, and their gain: that it gives the soul wings and rouses it, and makes it seek the help from above, and cuts it off from all the concerns of this life.

For if the Jews, gross men fastened to the earth, became through the misery of their captivity so earnest, and looked toward heaven,

how much more would it be right for us to do this in our circumstances, and to flee for refuge to God, we who are required to show greater exactness than they.

For since at that time they were cut off in the midst of their enemies, and had no city, no wall, no tower, no weapons, no human alliance, no abundance of possessions, nor any other such thing, but were living as captives and slaves among masters who were at the same time their enemies,

being pressed down by the magnitude of their calamities, they took refuge with the invincible hand; and being stripped of all human help, from this very desolation they came to the practice of true wisdom.

I lifted up my eyes to the mountains, whence shall come my help.

All that comes from men has been abandoned; all is vanished, all is gone;

one salvation alone remains, he says, that which is from God.

My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Do you see them seeking God everywhere? From the earth, from heaven, from the mountains, from the desolate place, everywhere picturing Him to themselves? Do you see their mind becoming more exalted, and their proclaiming that His providence is extended everywhere? For it was not idly that he added, Who made heaven and earth;

but reasoning this out enigmatically and saying:

If He made heaven and earth, He is able also to help even in a foreign land, and everywhere, and to stretch out His hand even among barbarians, and to preserve those who have fallen away from their homeland.

For if by a word alone He brought these elements into being, much more will He be able to deliver us from the barbarians.

Do you see how they practice true wisdom, they who were more senseless than stones, while sojourning in a foreign land? For they no longer make mention of the temple, but of heaven and earth.

Behold how they proclaim both the creative work and the wisdom of God, and His providence.

For those who before this said to the wood, You are my God, and to the stone, You have begotten me, now acknowledge the Creator of the whole inhabited world.

My help is from the Lord, not from men, nor from horses, not from riches, not from allies, nor from ramparts.

Our help is from the Lord;

this is the alliance that cannot be overcome, this the help that is invincible;

and not only invincible, but also ready and easy.

For one need not travel a long road, nor flatter doorkeepers, nor spend money, nor dispatch an embassy, but even while remaining at home it is possible to draw down this favor, if only a man withdraws himself from the things of men, holds fast to that hope, and has a keen-sighted eye, and looks on high.

For it was for this reason that God made this creature alone with an upright form, and set its eyes on the height of the flesh, teaching it even by things perceptible to the senses that it must look toward the height.

For this creature alone is so fashioned;

all the others look downward and are bent toward the earth.

But this one is stretched toward heaven, that it may look around upon the things there, and practice wisdom in them, and picture them to itself, and have a keen-sighted eye of the soul.

It was for this very reason that a certain wise man said, The eyes of the wise man are in his head;

that is, he is set free from all things below, and dwells as a citizen of heaven, and pictures to himself the things on high.

Let not your foot be moved to slipping, neither let Him who keeps you slumber.

Do you see how much earnestness the word demands from us? For since they had made mention of help, and were calling upon the aid from above, he exhorts and counsels them, as if all but saying this:

If you wish to enjoy this help, bring in what is from yourself.

And what is it that he exhorts? Listen:

Suffer not your foot to be moved.

That is, do not be overturned, do not be caused to stumble, and then you will have God stretching out His hand to you, not forsaking you, not letting you go.

So then the beginnings rest with us, and of this we are the masters.

But since we are masters of it, whenever we wish to obtain anything, we too must contribute our own part; for so also God wills it. Small indeed and cheap are our contributions, yet contribute them we must, not being idle, nor sleeping and snoring, nor lying supine, but working and striving earnestly to bring things safely through.

For this reason He hired labourers even about the eleventh hour.

And yet what so great a work were they going to do about the eleventh hour? But it was that he might have his labour as an occasion, that he might have a ground for the crowns.

Suffer not your foot to be moved, and He who keeps you shall not slumber.

If you supply what is yours, His part too will follow.

From this too something of this kind is shown: that even though we contribute our own part, yet even so we still need the impulse that comes from Him, so that we may be in safety, so that we may remain unshaken.

But who is it that gives his foot to be moved? He who treads upon slippery matters that have no firm footing—such as is the love of money, such as the desire for the things of this life.

For this reason they are continually overturned and fall down, and hang over themselves the peril concerning the last things.

For those things are never immovable, nor are they ever unshaken, but they are always changing and shifting, and are more agitated than the waves, and pass by more swiftly than the currents of rivers, and are weaker than any sand, and flow away.

Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

If you are so disposed, he says, He shall neither slumber nor sleep—that is, He will not forsake, He will not abandon, He will not leave you naked and desolate.

Wishing to hint at this, and not without purpose, he has set down: He who keeps Israel.

If this is His continual work—from of old and from your forefathers to establish you in safety—He will not abandon His own work, and what is customary for Him to do He will not forsake, provided you yourself do not suffer your foot to be moved.

And not only will He not forsake you, but He will also stand before you as your defender with much security.

The Lord is your shelter upon your right hand.

Another translator has: At your right hand.

He will be, he says, your attendant, your ally, your helper.

Do you see how here too He wills you to be active? And by a metaphor drawn from those who stand in battle array, He will stand at your right hand, so that you may be unconquerable, so that you may be active, so that you may be strong, so that you may be mighty, so that you may set up a trophy, so that you may bear off the victory—since it is especially by this hand that we accomplish all things.

And He will not be to you an attendant only, nor an ally only, but also a shelter.

By means of the affairs among us he characterizes the aids of God; he sets forth His entire protection and His most intimate alliance by the figures of the right hand and of the shelter.

By day the sun shall not scorch you, nor the moon by night.

And this came to pass when they were coming up out of Egypt, and were tarrying in the wilderness.

But here he is speaking of the great freedom from fear.

And it is likely that at that time also, on their return, they enjoyed some such marvellous work in yet another manner.

Therefore, out of His abundance, wishing to show His

providence—that He not only delivers from dreadful things, but does not even suffer you to endure the things that come from men—he added this.

For lavish is the supply of His help, unspeakable His loving-kindness, which affords the aid that comes from Himself not according to the measure of our need, but surpassing even our requests in its recompenses.

The Lord shall keep you from all evil;

the Lord shall keep your soul.

For He who does not permit even these small things to grieve you, but extends His providence and His tender care to so great a length, will much more make you unconquerable by other things.

Each of the griefs that come upon us yields and gives way to the beck of God, which among men is not possible.

But even if He has often delivered from this evil, He was not able to deliver from another;

or he was able, but was not willing;

but the almighty and mighty hand of God, whatever may come upon you, will be able to loose it and to deliver you from all things, and to restore you free.

The Lord shall keep your coming in and your going out.

Another interpreter says: Your approach.

Do you see the perpetual alliance present everywhere, for him who enters and for him who goes out? What could be equal to this love? What to this loving-kindness? Here indeed he is hinting at the whole of life.

For in these two things our whole life consists, in goings in and goings out.

And to make this yet plainer, he added:

From this time forth, and even for evermore.

Not for one day, he says, nor for two, nor three, nor ten, nor twenty, nor a hundred, but continually and without end.

Which among men is not possible;

but the changes are many, the reverses unceasing, the removals sudden;

he who is a friend today is tomorrow an enemy;

he who is a helper today, tomorrow forsakes you.

And often he does not merely forsake, but even wars against you and plots against you more grievously than any foe.

But the things of God are unmoved, perpetual, deathless, abiding, having no end.

In order, therefore, that we may attain these things, let us also contribute what is our own, so as to enjoy much security, and to obtain the good things to come, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory unto the ages of ages.