Commentary on the Psalms 41

Many times have they warred against me from my youth — let Israel now say.

Many times have they warred against me from my youth;

and indeed they did not prevail against me.

Another translator says, 'But they did not prevail against me.'

This psalm too is connected with the one before it.

For since the work of the building was being cut short, and the task was not coming to its completion, He leads them to good hopes, so that they may not despair, and by means of things past He prepares them to take courage concerning things to come, and He teaches them to say these words.

And what words? That, having many times assailed them, they had not the strength to gain the upper hand, nor did they win a complete victory.

And yet, one might say, they did take captives, and removed them to a foreign land, and won many wars.

Chiefly, even then it was not from their own strength, but from the sin of the Jews, that they gained the upper hand.

And moreover, they did not remain to the end as those who had prevailed.

For they had not the strength utterly to destroy the race, nor to blot out the city, nor to bring the nation to complete ruin;

but having prevailed for a little while, since God permitted it, they were again defeated.

And how were they defeated? When the Jews returned to their former prosperity.

This too another translator makes plain, saying, 'But they did not overpower me.'

Upon my back the sinners wrought; they prolonged their iniquity.

What does this mean? They did not, he says, plot against me as it might chance, but they contrived and busied themselves with many schemes, stitching together deceits, secretly setting upon me.

For the phrase 'upon my back' signifies either what is treacherous and underhanded, or what is done with full force and with great vehemence.

That is to say, they attempted to shatter my very strength.

And another, instead of 'they wrought,' said 'they ploughed,' in order to show that they made the plot against the righteous man their very occupation.

They prolonged their iniquity.

What is it that he says? He shows that they came against me not only with vehemence, but also with great persistence, spending much time, making the plot their occupation, and persevering unremittingly.

But nothing more came of it for them.

not through our own strength, but through the power of God.

Wherefore, pointing to the One who sets up the trophy and works the victory, he added:

The Lord is righteous; He has cut asunder the necks of sinners.

And another, instead of 'necks,' said 'snares,' signifying the plots, the assaults, the contrivances.

And well did he say, not 'He loosed,' but 'He cut asunder,' so as the more to make plain that He accomplished this, rendering their counsels utterly useless in the end.

For indeed, when the city was beginning to be built again, many from every quarter kept setting upon it, consumed with envy, and they did this not once, nor twice, but many times over.

This same thing has happened in the case of the Church.

For when she was but beginning to grow, all men assailed her without ceasing;

at the beginning, kings, and peoples, and tyrants;

and after these, the plots of the heresies, and much war was kindled on every side and in manifold forms;

yet the schemes of her enemies were dissolved,

while the affairs of the Church flourish.

'Let all those who hate Zion be put to shame and turned back.'

Another translator has, 'Let them be overturned backward.'

'Let them become like the grass on the housetops, which withers before it is plucked up;'

'wherewith the reaper does not fill his hand.'

Another says, 'His handful.'

'Nor he who gathers the sheaves his bosom.'

'Neither did those who passed by say, The blessing of the Lord be upon you.'

'We bless you in the name of the Lord.'

He closes the exhortation with a prayer, preparing the hearer to take courage both from the narrative of past events and from the prayer itself, and showing that the ground of the war was unjust.

For it was out of envy and hatred that the strife was stirred up;

therefore he says, 'Let all those who hate Zion be put to shame and turned back.'

May they not only be defeated, but be so both shamefully and ridiculously.

Then, having said, 'Let them become like the grass on the housetops,' he dwells upon the image, comparing them not simply to grass, but to that which grows upon the housetops.

And yet even the grass in a rich meadow quickly fades away; but he, wishing to display more fully the worthlessness of his adversaries, likens them to that which grows on the housetops;

so as to show from both sides how prone they are to fall—both from the nature of the grass, and from the nature of the place.

'Such,' he says, 'are the assaults of the adversaries, having neither root nor substance;'

but for a little while they seem to flourish, and afterward they are exposed and fall upon their own heads.

Such too is the prosperity of those who live in unrighteousness, and the brilliance of worldly things;

for it appears and perishes at one and the same moment, possessing neither any substance nor any power.

Wherefore we ought not to give heed to these things, but, considering how readily they dissolve, to reach out after those things that are immortal and unshaken, and that admit of no change;

which may it be granted us all to attain, by the grace and love toward mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father be glory, together with the Holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages.