Commentary on the Psalms 58

'Praise the Lord, O my soul.'

'I will praise the Lord in my life.'

'I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.'

Where he left off, from that very point he begins again—from praise and thanksgiving.

For such a practice cleanses the soul in no small measure.

And by 'praise' he means—as I continually say—the praise offered through works;

'Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in the heavens.'

'Glorify God therefore in your body, and in your spirit.'

And just as in the psalm before this he said, 'Every day will I bless Thee,'

so also here he says, 'I will sing praise unto my God as long as I have my being.'

Then, wishing once more to take men as partners in his song of praise, he plunges into the recital of God's loving-kindness toward mankind—burning, kindled with longing, running about over the whole inhabited world, gathering all men into his own choir.

For this above all is praise, this above all is glory to God: when a man earnestly seeks out many who are to enjoy His salvation.

'Put not your trust in princes, in sons of men, in whom there is no salvation.'

Another version has: 'In him who has no power to save.'

Let those give heed to this exhortation and counsel who stand agape after human patronages that are perishable and corrupt.

But what does 'in whom there is no salvation' mean? Not even of their own salvation, he says, are they masters, nor are they able to protect themselves.

For if death should come upon them, they will lie more voiceless than stones.

For this is what he goes on to add, saying:

'His spirit shall go forth, and he shall return to his earth.'

'In that day all his thoughts shall perish.'

Another version has: 'His purposes.'

He who cannot protect himself, how shall he snatch others to safety? For nothing is so precarious and rotten as such a hope.

And the very nature of things demonstrates this.

Wherefore Paul too, discoursing about hope in God, said:

'And hope maketh not ashamed.'

But human things are not such; rather they are feebler than a shadow.

For do not say to me, 'He is a ruler.'

For even the ruler has nothing more than any chance man.

And if one must say something even more remarkable: precisely because he is a ruler, for this very reason above all one ought not to be confident in him.

For such positions of power are precarious.

And even if he does not fall from power, he is quick-tempered and prone to wrath, and he abuses his authority to work injustice, as one who will not be held accountable to the man who received his promise;

and even if he shows himself well-disposed, he will experience reversals more readily than private men, inasmuch as he is exposed to greater and more numerous plots;

and this man is the more easily overthrown, in proportion as he has the more who plot against him.

For what is the point of the bodyguards? And what of the many advance-guards? How then shall he who, in a well-ordered city, is not even confident about his own body, but conducts himself as though moving in the midst of enemies, being thus in constant struggle—how shall he be able to save others? He who, in time of peace, is more afraid than men in war, how shall he set others in security and snatch them from dangers? And for many who were able to live for themselves in freedom from fear, this very thing became their ruin—to have trusted in such men;

and when those men fell, these too were dragged down along with them;

while for others, their very guards became betrayers.

But nevertheless the prophet, passing over all these things, since many have escaped them, sets down the one thing that admits of no dispute—that of death.

though it flow along smoothly for you, even though he be well-disposed, even though he be grateful, he says, even though he be about to repay you—yet having ended his life in the very midst of his promises, he has left you in empty hopes, because his life did not suffice to reach the fulfillment of the promise.

But when he does not even have a life sufficient for the promise, but his existence is dissolved before its fulfillment, then you are taking refuge in a rotten alliance.

Or do you not know that many have suffered this very thing—that when their ally fell and they were stripped of their patron, they were thereby cast down all the more? And why do I speak of the promise, that it is dissipated and comes to nothing, when even the very lord of it does not himself endure? For 'he returns,' it says, 'to his earth.'

But if that man himself has perished, much more do these things also perish.

Wherefore he also added the words, 'In that day all his thoughts shall perish';

showing that not only will the matters of his promise not come to their end, but that he himself who made the promise will pass away.

What then does he do next? Since he has led them away from human hopes, he now points out the safe harbor and the impregnable tower, and gives counsel.

For this is the best manner of exhortation: to lead men away from what is rotten, and to bring them toward what is strong;

to pull down what is vain, and to set up what is true;

to expose what deceives, and to point out what profits.

'Blessed is he whose helper is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God.'

Do you see the abundance of counsel and exhortation? And when he pronounces a blessing, he names all good things, and he shows the security of hope.

Having therefore pronounced blessed the one who hopes in Him, he next speaks of the power of the Helper, showing that the one is man, but the other is God;

the one perishing, but the other abiding;

and not He alone abiding, but His works as well.

"Him who made the heaven and the earth, the sea and all things that are in them."

And if His works endure, much more does He Himself both endure and remain mighty;

and that He is such, the things that have come to be through Him demonstrate His strength.

What then, if He is indeed both enduring and mighty, but is not willing? For many of the senseless say these things. But observe how he does away with this suspicion also.

For having said, "Him who made the heaven and the earth, the sea and all things that are in them," he added:

"Him who keeps truth forever, who executes judgment for those who are wronged."

This is His work, this is His wont, this is especially proper to God: not to overlook those who are wronged, not to pass by those who are maltreated, but to stretch out His hand to those who are plotted against;

and this unto perpetuity.

Therefore also he said, "Forever," making this plain;

and not this only, but also what follows next in order:

"Him who gives food to the hungry."

"The Lord looses those who are bound, the Lord makes wise the blind."

"The Lord raises up those who are cast down."

"The Lord guards the sojourners;"

"He will take up the orphan and the widow, and He will bring to nought the way of sinners."

Do you see how through all these things he shows His providence extended, and that this is His work: to loose calamities, to set right famine, to free from bonds?

But these things men too can do in part;

For indeed He sets right the maiming of nature itself; He raises up the fallen, it says; He praises those who shine in virtue; He saves the defenceless; those who are distressed and pained by orphanhood or widowhood He comforts and restores.

Then, since he had said, "He loves the righteous," he shows that to many He gave help from calamity alone.

For indeed, those whom He nourishes, He nourishes because of their hunger, which is not a matter of virtue;

and those who are bound, He looses because of their bonds;

and this too is not a matter of virtue, but of calamity;

and the blind He enlightens because of their maiming;

and this too is not a matter of merit, but this also of calamity.

Likewise also the being cast down, and the being a sojourner, and orphan, and widow.

If then He helps men because of calamities, much more does He help those who are diligent in virtue.

When therefore He is both able and willing, and all that is with Him proves sufficient, and He welcomes virtue, and shows mercy on account of calamities, for what reason do you not let go of him who is perishing, who is weak, who is subject to death, and take refuge in the One who is strong and invincible, who does not reproach men with their misfortunes but sets them right, who is able to do all that He wills? Consider also how precisely he has spoken the last clause.

For he did not say, "He will bring sinners to nought," but, "Their way"—that is, their conduct.

For He does not turn away from their nature, but hates their wickedness.

"The Lord shall reign forever, your God, O Zion, unto generation and generation."

If then He reigns continually and abides continually, there is no room for suspicion; but even if He does not grant the recompense here, He keeps it in store for greater things.

Let us therefore neither be thrown into confusion nor disturbed in temptations, if deliverance does not come at once; but let us yield to the Lord Himself the timing of the deliverance;

nor, if we accomplish some good thing, let us immediately demand the rewards, but even so, let us again await His will;

for He gives with a greater reward whenever He defers it;

and let us give thanks in all things, and continue in praising Him.

For thus we shall both live the present life with much security, and shall attain the ineffable good things, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the might, together with His Father who is without beginning and the life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.