Commentary on the Psalms 43

O Lord, my heart is not lifted up, nor are my eyes raised on high.

Neither have I walked among great matters, nor among things too wonderful for me.

Another translator renders it: 'Among things of majesty, nor in things surpassing what is above me.'

What is this? Paul says that even when there is necessity, to praise oneself is folly;

yet this the Prophet did not know, and now he boasts, not before two, or three, or ten, but before the whole inhabited world, and he boasts saying: I am lowly and moderate, exceedingly humble and simple. For this is the meaning of the words, 'As a child that has been weaned from its mother.'

For what reason, then, does he do this? Because the practice is not everywhere forbidden, but there are occasions when it is even necessary; or rather, there are occasions when, by not boasting instead of boasting, we become fools.

He that boasts, let him boast in the Lord.

For indeed he who does not boast in the Cross is of all men the most foolish and the most lawless;

he who does not boast in the faith is of all men the most wretched;

he who does not boast in these things and speak of them with confidence shall utterly perish.

For this reason the Apostle spoke with confidence, saying:

But God forbid that I should boast, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let not the rich man boast in his riches, nor the wise man in his wisdom, but let him boast in this, that he understands and knows the Lord.

But how is boasting an evil thing? If we do it as the Pharisee did.

And why then, one asks, did Paul say, 'I am become a fool in glorying;

ye have compelled me'? Because he was recounting his achievements in the affairs of his life and conduct, which he ought not to have brought forward when there was no necessity.

'For though I should desire to glory, I shall not be a fool;'

So then, he who speaks the truth, when the occasion calls for it, is no fool.

Neither, then, is the Prophet a fool in glorying.

But what is the reason for which he brought his discourse down to this point? In order to instruct his hearers not to return to arrogance after being delivered from their evils, nor, once set free from the bond, to leap away again and fall into the necessity of another captivity.

For this very reason, in recounting his own affairs, he corrects the hearer.

And he does not say, 'I was indeed exalted, but I restrained my passion,' but what does he say? 'My heart was not lifted up.'

That is to say, wickedness did not even so much as touch my soul.

For his mind was like some waveless harbor, not receiving the surges of that disease which is the cause of all evils and the root of the uttermost lawlessness.

What is it that he says, 'Lord, my heart was not lifted up, neither were mine eyes raised on high'? 'I did not,' he says, 'arch my brows, nor stretch out my neck.'

For from the inward fountain of the passion the disease overflows and fashions even the body to conform to the inward inflammation.

'Neither did I walk in great matters, nor in things too wonderful for me.'

What does 'in great matters' mean? Among the overweening men, the wealthy, the boasters, the arrogant.

Do you see the exactness of his humility? Not only was he himself free from the disease, but he even fled from those thus inflamed and sprang away from such gatherings, because of his great hatred of arrogance.

For since he was hostile toward this vice, he not only sprang away from it, nor merely made the region of his mind impassable to it, but he also fled from those who pursued it, keeping a great distance, so as to receive no defilement even from that quarter.

And this is no small achievement—to flee the overweening, to hate the boasters, to turn away from them and abhor them;

it is the greatest safeguard of virtue, the greatest protection of humility.

'Nor in things too wonderful for me.'

Another translator has, 'Nor in things surpassing me.'

'If I was not humble-minded, but exalted my soul, as a child weaned upon his mother, so mayest Thou requite upon my soul.'

Another renders it, 'So let it be requited to my soul.'

What is said is by way of transposition, thus: 'If I was not humble-minded, as a child weaned upon his mother, but exalted my heart, so let it be requited to my soul.'

And what he means is this:

not only was I pure from the vice—I mean arrogance—nor merely a stranger to those who possess it, but I also received with great abundance the virtue opposed to it, namely humility, moderation, the...

This is that very thing which Christ commanded the disciples, saying:

'Unless you turn and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.'

'Such humility,' he says, 'have I acquired, like a nursing infant at the breast.'

For just as the infant clings to its mother, is lowly, is pure of all arrogance, and lives in guilelessness and simplicity,

so also was I disposed toward God, holding fast to Him continually.

He did not mention the weaned child at random, but wishing to portray the affliction, the anguish, the pain, and the magnitude of the evils.

Just as a child freshly torn from the breast does not even so withdraw from its mother, but though it grieves, laments, chafes, frets, and wails, it nonetheless clings to her who bore it and would not be parted from her;

so also I, he says, being in affliction and in straits and in many calamities, held fast to God.

'And if I were not so,' he says, 'let it be requited upon my soul,' that is, may I suffer the uttermost penalty.

'Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth and for ever.'

You see, as I said from the outset, that in matters concerning faith and doctrine, even when there is no occasion for it, one must boast continually, and he who does not boast is undone;

but in the right deeds of one's life, when the occasion calls, one must never decline to boast.

And what sort of occasion? Many and various, of which one is the instruction of the hearer.

This the psalmist too knew, and showing that for this reason he recounts his right deeds—namely, to draw the hearer toward the same zeal—he added, saying:

'Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth and for ever.'

Though calamities befall you, he says, though despondency, though wars, though captivities, though any of the unexpected terrors surround you, hold fast to your hope in God and to that expectation, and you shall assuredly attain a good end, since God, by the loosing of your troubles, will reward you for this fair hope, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and dominion unto the ages of ages.