Commentary on the Psalms 44

'Remember, O Lord, David and all his meekness.'

Elsewhere they deem it worthy to be saved merely by the memory of their forefathers;

but here they recount also the right deeds, and that which is the cause of all good things—forbearance, humility, meekness—in which Moses above all was admired.

For he was, it says, the meekest of all men upon the earth.

But some of the heretics, laying hold of his manner of life and of what was said, assert:

What do you say? Was that man meek who kicked the Egyptian and slew him? who filled the Jews with the blood and wars of civil strife? who commanded kindred slaughters to be carried out? who divided the earth by prayer, and brought down thunderbolts from above, and drowned some and consumed others with fire? If this man was gentle, who then is wrathful and hard? Cease, do not utter such extravagances.

That he was meek, and the meekest of all men, I both affirm and will not cease affirming; and if you wish, I will attempt to demonstrate his meekness not from other sources, but from these very things that have been alleged.

And yet it was possible to cite the things said by him to God concerning his sister, the supplication which he offered on behalf of the nation, all those apostolic words worthy of the heavens, and the forbearance with which he conversed with the people.

It was possible to say these things too, and to enumerate yet more than these;

but if you please, passing these by, come, let us from these very things previously alleged by his enemies show that he was most meek—from those very things by which they charge that he was harsh and hard and wrathful.

How then shall we show it? If first we distinguish and define what meekness is and what harshness is.

For neither is striking a mark of harshness simply, nor is sparing a mark of meekness;

but that man is meek who is able to bear the offenses committed against himself, and who defends those who are wronged, and becomes a vehement avenger of those who are outraged;

for he who is not such a man, but sluggish and drowsy and disposed no better than a corpse, is not meek, nor forbearing.

To overlook those who are wronged, not to grieve on behalf of the wronged, nor to be indignant at those who commit outrage, belongs not to virtue but to vice;

it is therefore not a mark of meekness, but of sluggishness.

So that this very thing displays his meekness—that he was so ardent as even to leap forward in cases where he saw others being wronged, being unable to restrain his indignation on behalf of justice;

yet when he himself suffered ill, he neither defended himself nor took revenge, but remained continually in philosophic composure.

But if he had been harsh and wrathful, he who thus seethed and burned on behalf of others would never have consented to keep quiet in his own cause, but would then have grown all the more savage.

For you know that we grieve more over our own affairs than over those of others.

But that man, when others suffered ill, avenged them no less than the sufferers themselves;

yet the offenses committed against himself he passed over with great endurance, being extreme in both respects—displaying in the one his hatred of wickedness, and in the other his long-suffering.

But what ought he to have done, tell me? To overlook the injustice being done and the evil spreading out to the multitude? But this was not the part of a leader of the people, nor of one long-suffering and forbearing, but of a sluggard and a weakling.

You do not blame the physician who by his incision checks in advance the gangrene creeping over the whole body; yet you say that man was most harsh, who wished by a harsher stroke to hold back a disease far more grievous than gangrene, flowing over the whole people? But these are the words of an unfair judge.

For as leader of so great a people, and guiding a nation so hard and rough and unruly, he had to check the evil at its very beginning and cut it off at the threshold, so that the calamity should not advance further.

'But he swallowed up,' it says, 'Dathan and Abiram.'

What do you say? Ought he to have looked on while the priesthood was trampled underfoot, and God's laws overturned, and that which holds all things together—I mean the dignity of the priesthood—dissolved? and to have made the holy of holies accessible to all, and by his laxity toward these men to have set the sacred precincts open for any who wished to trample them, and to have let everything be turned upside down? But this above all was not the part of meekness, but of inhumanity and cruelty—to look on while so great an evil grew, and, sparing two hundred, to destroy so many myriads.

For tell me, when he commanded the kinsmen to be slain, what ought to have been done, God being angered, ungodliness increasing, and there being none able to snatch them from the wrath? To let the blow from heaven be brought upon all the tribes, and to hand over the whole race to utter destruction, and, together with the chastisement, to look on while the sin also became incurable? or, by the punishment and slaying of a few bodies, both to do away with the sin and to hold back the wrath and to render God propitious to those who had so transgressed? If you examine the deeds of the righteous man in this way, you will see chiefly from this that he was most meek.

But leaving these matters to be gleaned from what has been said by those who love learning, lest we make the digression greater than the matter in hand, let us proceed to the subject before us.

And what was the subject before us? 'Remember, O Lord, David and all his meekness;

how he swore to the Lord and vowed to the God of Jacob.'

Having set out to speak concerning meekness, and leaving aside the narration of the events touching Saul, touching his brothers, the affair of Jonathan, and his long-suffering toward the

soldier who heaped upon him countless reproaches, and many more things besides these, he leads his discourse to another chief point, which was above all a matter of great zeal.

And for what reason does he do this? For two reasons:

for one, because God takes delight in this above all;

'For upon whom shall I look,' He says, 'but upon the meek and quiet one who trembles at my words?' And for another, because this was the most pressing matter—the raising up of the temple, the building of the city, and the restoration of the ancient polity—toward this above all he urges his discourse, and the one thing he passes over as evident and acknowledged;

but that which was manifest to all, namely his meekness—

which indeed he chiefly needed for the matter before him—this he brings into the midst.

For what did they long to see? The temple raised up, and the ancient sanctity restored.

Since therefore David shone forth chiefly in this, he demands of God, as it were a recompense for that man's diligence, the building of the temple, and says:

'Remember, O Lord, David and all his meekness;

how he swore to the Lord and vowed to the God of Jacob:

If I shall enter into the tabernacle of my house, if I shall go up upon the couch of my bed, if I shall give sleep to my eyes and slumber to my eyelids and rest to my temples, until I find a place for the Lord, a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.'

And what is this to you? Because, he says, I am that man's descendant; and since, having accepted him for his diligence, You promised to establish his lineage and his kingdom, for this reason we now demand these covenants.

And he did not say, 'until I build'—for this was not permitted him—but, 'Until I find a place for the Lord and a tabernacle.'

Then the one who built he passes over;

but the one who made the promise he sets in the midst, that you may learn how great a good is a right disposition, and how God is ever wont to determine the reward according to the intent;

for this very reason he makes mention of him rather, since he himself is rather the builder than the son.

For the one made the promise, while the other was commanded.

And behold his eagerness.

For not only, he says, will I not enter into a house, nor go up upon a bed, but not even those things that belong to natural necessity will I enjoy in security, until I find a place and a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.

The opposite of these things they themselves were charged with by God, who said:

You yourselves dwell in ceiled houses;

but my house is desolate.

'Until I find a place for the Lord, a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.'

See here again his zeal, and his soul filled with care.

The king says, 'Until I find a place for the Lord, a tabernacle for the God of Jacob'—he who holds sway over all.

For he did not simply wish to build, but in the most suitable spot, one exceedingly befitting the temple; and it required searching:

so wakeful was he in his soul.

Behold, we heard of it in Ephratha; we found it in the fields of the wood.

He is now relating things of old, showing that even beforehand the ark went about for a long time, moving from place to place:

Behold, we heard of it in Ephratha;

that is to say, our fathers recounted these things to us, we hold these things by report, that even then, going about everywhere, in plains and fields, it was afterward settled:

By Ephratha he here means the tribe of Judah, into which, after its long circuit, it was brought.

We will go into his tabernacles; we will worship at the place where his feet stood.

Do you see what grossness of expression he employs, because of the great dullness of his hearers, speaking of the tabernacles of God, and of feet, and of a place where his feet stood?

But by all these things he means the place of the ark, since from there the awesome utterances were borne forth concerning the affairs among the Jews, resolving what was obscure, and foretelling things to come.

Arise, O Lord, into your rest, you and the ark of your holiness.

For indeed holiness was granted from there, and the writings that lay upon it were productive of holiness, and of strength.

For God displayed great power through it, both once and twice and many times—as when it was taken by the Azotians, when it cast down their idols, when it smote those who had taken it, when it stayed the plague upon its being restored; and through the other things also which it wrought there, he displayed his own might.

And what does it mean, 'Arise into your rest'? Set us who are wandering in a fixed place, he says, and the ark that is carried about, and at length, even if late, give it rest.

Your priests will be clothed with righteousness.

Another version has, 'Let them be clothed,' which is especially clearer;

for it is the language of one who prays, not of one who prophesies, and who asks for the acquisition of virtue.

And by 'righteousness' here he means holiness, the priesthood, the divine service, the sacrifices, the offerings, and along with these an exact manner of life, since it is above all from priests that this must be required.

And your holy ones will rejoice greatly.

See how he seeks not the building of a city, nor abundance of provisions, nor other prosperity, but the seemliness of the temple, the resting of the ark, the full complement of the priests, the holiness, the divine service, the priesthood.

Then, since they had asked for these things, while they themselves were liable to many sins, he takes refuge again in their forefather, saying:

For the sake of David Your servant, do not turn away the face of Your anointed.

What does 'For the sake of David Your servant' mean? Not for the sake of that man's virtue alone, he says, nor because he showed such great zeal in raising up the temple, but also because You entered into a covenant with him.

For the sake of David Your servant, do not turn away the face of Your anointed.

Of whom does he speak? Of the one then anointed and leading the people, and set over them as their ruler.

The Lord swore to David a truth, and He will not annul it.

Of the fruit of your body I will set upon your throne.

For since he had made mention of David, and of the man's virtue, and of his zeal for the temple, and had recounted the ancient histories, and had thought it right to appeal to his former manner of life—then, as the mightiest point of all, he brings forward this: he reads aloud the covenants of God.

And what are these covenants? 'Of the fruit of your body I will set upon your throne.'

But the covenants were not made without qualification, but with a certain stipulation.

And what was the stipulation? Listen:

If your sons keep My covenant and these My testimonies

which I shall teach them, their sons also forever shall sit upon your throne.

Having established these covenants, God put the bond into their hands;

and they in turn kept saying, 'All that the Lord has spoken we will do and we will hearken.'

Then, since he sees that the one party has transgressed the covenants, he directs the discourse to the place, stirring up words of comfort from every quarter, and saying:

For the Lord has chosen Zion; He has preferred her as a dwelling-place for Himself.

This is My resting-place forever and ever.

Here I will dwell, for I have chosen her.

That is to say, it was not man who chose the place, but God who decreed it, condescending to their weakness.

So then, what he says is of this sort:

him whom You chose, whom You selected, whom You decreed, whom You approved as fitting, do not let slip away nor perish.

For You said this: that 'I will dwell here.'

But these things were said together with those covenants.

Which covenants, then? 'If your sons keep My covenant.'

Blessing I will bless her provision.

By 'provision' he means the abundance of goods for sale, the plenty of good seasons, and he prays that all things may flow to them as from fountains.

For the Jews of old had such a manner of life, one that did not feel the pressures of nature, if ever

for there was among them no scarcity of grain, no famine or pestilence, no untimely death, nor any other such thing as is wont to befall men; but all things flowed to them as from fountains, since the hand of God was correcting the weakness of human affairs.

This, then, is what he says here: that 'You promised to bless her provision'—that is, to supply the abundance of necessities together with much security.

Her poor I will satisfy with bread.

Her priests I will clothe with salvation, and her holy ones shall rejoice with rejoicing.

There I will cause a horn to spring forth for David;

I have prepared a lamp for My anointed.

His enemies I will clothe with shame;

but upon him My holy crown shall flourish.

See prosperity gathered together from every quarter: from lacking none of the necessities, from the priests being in security, from the people being in gladness, from the king being in strength.

For by 'lamp' here he means either the king, or aid, or salvation, or light;

and along with these, the greatest form of prosperity.

And what is this? That the enemies are covered with confusion, and that there is none to injure these good things.

And he did not say 'destruction' simply, but 'shame,' desiring that while yet living they should be covered with confusion, and sink down, and by the things they suffer bear witness to the strength and prosperity of this nation.

But upon him shall my sanctuary flourish.

What does 'But upon him' mean? It means upon the people.

For 'the sanctuary' another translator has said 'the horn.'

Another renders it 'that which is set apart for him.'

What then is the meaning of what is said? To me it seems to speak of his prosperity, his security, his strength, his kingdom.

The things which from the beginning I set apart for him, he says, these shall remain blossoming and teeming with life, neither withering nor falling away;

but all these things shall come to pass, provided that the determination declared beforehand remains in force.

And what determination is this? 'If your sons keep my covenant.'

For the promises of God alone do not bestow good things upon us, unless we too do our part; nor should we, relying on these promises, grow slack and lie idle upon our backs.

For many of the good things which God has promised he does not bring about, when those who received the promises are found unworthy;

just as also the evils which he has threatened he does not bring into effect, when those who provoked him afterward change and turn aside his wrath.

Knowing these things, then, let us neither on account of the promises grow careless, lest we fall, nor on account of the threats despair, but let us change our ways.

For thus shall we be able to attain the good things to come, by the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the might unto ages of ages.