Commentary on the Psalms 60

'Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion.'

Not to the city, but to those who dwell in it does he direct his word, which he does throughout the whole book, doing so here as well.

He continually exhorts and counsels them to offer up to God thanksgivings for His benefits, and to place their confidence neither in buildings nor in the security of walls, but in His providence.

Having thus prepared the way beforehand, he goes on and says:

'For He has strengthened the bars of your gates; He has blessed your children within you.'

What does it mean, 'He strengthened the bars'? He established you in security, he says; He made you unassailable.

'He has blessed your children'—that is, He caused them to increase into a multitude.

This, then, is one kind of benefit;

so then, what he means is this:

He caused them to increase not scattered nor dispersed, but gathered together and abiding within you.

Then, showing yet another kind of providence, he says:

'Who makes your borders peace.'

For it is possible both to be in security, and to be many, and yet to be at war;

but here he shows them delivered from this hostile plotting also, by speaking thus, and by showing that not only the city was freed from those who conspired against it, but even its outermost bounds.

Do you see how many benefits he enumerates? And the first and greatest of all, in saying 'your God.'

For by this one word he expresses all these things: that He made you His own, that He made you His heir, that though He is the common Master of all, He is in a special way yours;

which is the chief and foremost of good things.

Second, that He established the city in security.

Third, that He made them to be many.

He delivered from wars and tumult not the city alone, but the whole nation as well;

and that not at one time only, or a second, or a third, but continually He did this;

for he did not say, 'Who has set,' but 'Who sets.'

But if ever wars did come to pass, it was not because He forsook them, but because they themselves sprang away;

since this was His work, continually performed: to wall them about, to make them secure, to bring it about that they were freed from all tumult and war.

Then, together with that, he mentions yet another benefit—the good seasons and abundance of the fruits of the earth—here again instructing them to attribute the whole not to the earth, nor to the nature of the air, but to His providence.

And what is this benefit? The one which he brought in, saying: 'And filling you with the fat of wheat.'

He did not say simply 'wheat,' but 'the fat of wheat,' thereby indicating the great abundance.

For 'the fat of wheat' signifies the richness of the produce.

For such are the gifts of God: proven and flourishing.

He says, then, that here He fills them abundantly with the finest wheat.

For, to make this plain, he did not say, 'Giving,' but, 'Filling thee.'

'Who sendeth forth His oracle to the earth.'

It is his custom to shift his discourse from particular matters to general ones, and again from general matters to particular ones; and this he does here also.

For since he had said, 'Praise thy God,' lest any of the foolish should suppose that He is the God of the Jews only, he shows how He is the common God of the whole inhabited world, and how His providence is stretched out over every part of the earth, leading the discourse from particular things to the general and to His universal providence.

Therefore, having said, 'Who sendeth forth His oracle to the earth,' he added, 'His word shall run swiftly.'

This he said, showing that He cares not only for us, but for the whole inhabited world.

By 'word' here he means the command, the providential working.

Then, setting forth its readiness, he presents it not merely by the name of 'word,' but also by the designation of 'running.'

And not even this sufficed him, but he added also the swiftness.

Now what he says is of this sort:

Whatever He commands comes to pass with great swiftness.

For He gives commands in every part of the inhabited world.

And what does He command? Those things which sustain our life — I mean the things concerning the ordering of the seasons, and of the turnings and the changes.

'Who giveth snow like wool;'

'scattering the mist like ashes.'

This another translator renders as 'congealed dew.'

And the Hebrew has, 'Chephor chaepher.'

'Casting forth His ice like morsels.'

'Who can stand before His cold?'

But another says, 'Who can stand before His heat? He shall send forth His word, and shall melt them;'

'His wind shall blow, and the waters shall flow.'

Here he sets before me the irresistible and boundless nature of His power: that He brings into being substances which did not exist, and, when they have come to be, transforms them, and reshapes them to whatever He wills.

This another prophet also declared, saying:

'Who maketh all things, and changeth them.'

For even though they are bound fast by the unmoving limits of nature, yet whenever it seems good to Him, these limits are loosed.

For to Him all things yield and give way.

And at one time He changes the very substances themselves, while at another time, leaving them as they are, He transfers them to a different working; and the operation proper to them and allotted to them He lets rest quiet, while He displays another and opposite one:

which is exactly what He did in the case of the furnace.

For it was fire, and yet it did not burn;

but those who were cast in enjoyed a most delightful dew.

There was a sea in the case of the Jews, and the waters did not drown them, but they crossed over more firmly than upon rock.

There was earth in the case of Dathan and Abiram, and yet it did not hold their bodies up, but they were swallowed down more readily than in the sea.

The rod of Aaron was a dry piece of wood, and it bore fruit fairer than the things planted in the earth.

The ass, the most sluggish of all animals, in the case of Balaam made a defense against the one who struck it no less well than a rational man.

There were lions in the case of Daniel, and they showed the gentleness of sheep — not because their nature

was done away with, but because their working was changed.

Many other such wonders as these one may behold also in the created order.

Do not, then, because it happens every year and comes to pass before our eyes, count the marvel a small thing;

since consider how great a thing it is, that at one moment snow should appear, and at another water, and that in a brief span of time so many changes should take place.

For lest any of the foolish should reckon these things to the natural operation of the elements, and suppose that these are simply the causes of them, but rather that he might know who it is that gives the command, he traces the account of all these things back to His ordinance, and says:

He shall send forth His word, and shall melt them.

For it is not the nature of the winds that primarily accomplishes this, but God who made the winds.

He directed the account to the elements and to the changes that occur within the elements, persuading the coarse and insensible Jew, from the things that happen year by year, to acknowledge the might of God—that it is easy for Him to arrange all that pertains to His people as He wills, and to change from contraries into contraries.

For just as, when frost has come and ice unbearable, it is easy for Him to bring about calm and to dissolve everything,

so also, when they were brought into captivity and into wars, it was all the easier for Him to lead them back to peace and to their own land, and to guide them by the hand to their former prosperity.

But he does not signify this alone; he also hints obscurely at something else.

What then is this? That just as these things, though often grievous, come about usefully and profitably, so also the things that befell them came about advantageously, and worked much benefit.

Lest He should grieve them further, He again changed things into a more serene alteration.

But what do the comparisons mean to him? For he did not say merely, 'giving snow,' but he added, 'like wool';

nor, 'scattering mist,' but he added, 'like ashes';

nor, 'casting ice,' but he added, 'like morsels.'

It seems to me that hereby too he indicates the ease and the abundant resource of the One who works.

He who declares His word to Jacob,

His statutes and His judgments to Israel.

He has not done so to any other nation,

and His judgments He has not made known to them.

See how again he transfers the discourse from universal matters to particular ones, and to the special privileges of the Jews, wishing to rouse them to greater zeal.

Now at the beginning of the psalm he discoursed concerning the things perceptible to the senses and profitable to the body—such as security, good seasons, peace;

but here he raises the discourse to loftier things, unfolding the account concerning the giving of the Law, which is especially a kind of benefaction—to lead away from vice, to guide by the hand toward virtue, to enlighten the understanding.

Wherefore also Moses, turning this over again and again, used to say:

What people is like this? What is the great nation, to which God is so near to them, as the Lord our God is, in all things whensoever we call upon Him? And David again:

The Lord executes acts of mercy, and judgment for all who are wronged.

He made known His ways to Moses, His purposes to the children of Israel.

None other shall be reckoned in comparison with Him.

He found out every way of knowledge, and gave it to Jacob His servant, and to Israel His beloved.

And since He did not make it known to the rest of mankind, how does He punish them? For that He does punish both those before the Law and those who sin everywhere throughout the world is clear from the words which Christ speaks:

The queen of the south shall rise up, and shall condemn this generation.

The men of Nineveh shall rise up, and shall condemn this generation.

For assuredly it was said thus for this reason, that those also render an account, some being commended and others being punished.

But if the things to be done were not clear to them, how were they going to condemn these? And again, how did He say that the blood shall be required from the blood

of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zechariah? And how also, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah? For by saying 'more tolerable,' He signifies not complete deliverance, but a lighter punishment.

This shows that they render account for the things wherein they sinned.

But if those who were punished so severely nevertheless pay the penalty again, who among the rest shall escape? (3)

We see also those in the time of the flood having paid the penalty, and many others, and Cain himself.

And Paul too says, declaring this very thing:

The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

because that which may be known of God is manifest in them.

For God has manifested it to them.

For His invisible things, since the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.

Then, taking up the discourse concerning their manner of life, not even here does he leave them without accountability, speaking in this way:

'Who, knowing the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, not only do them, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.'

'And do you reckon this, O man, you who judge those that practice such things and yet do them yourself, that you shall escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of His kindness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But according to your hardness and impenitent heart you treasure up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation and righteous judgment of God, who will render to each one according to his works':

'to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and incorruption, eternal life';

'but to those who are of a contentious spirit, and who do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness, there shall be wrath and indignation, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that works evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Greek.'

Do you see, through all that has been said, how all who ever became men—even those before the Law—render account, and how all who cultivated virtue and were freed from impiety enjoy good things? How then shall either the one or the other come to pass, if indeed they did not know what ought to be done? But if they did indeed know what ought to be done—one may ask—how does it say, 'He has not done so to any nation, and His judgments He has not shown to them'? What then is the meaning of what is said, and what does it wish to make plain? Listen.

A written law He gave to none of the others;

for all of them had the natural law within, sounding forth what is good and what is not such.

For at the very moment when God fashioned man, He implanted in him this incorruptible tribunal, the verdict of conscience within each one.

But for the Jews He wrought something exceptional, namely, to make His statutes plain also through written characters.

For this reason he himself did not say, 'He has not done it in any nation,' but, 'He has not done so.'

That is, He did not send them tablets, nor written characters, nor Moses the lawgiver, nor the other things that took place on Mount Sinai;

but of all these things the Jews alone enjoyed the abundance;

yet the whole of human nature had, as sufficient, the law that comes from conscience.

This very thing Paul also made clear when he said:

'For when the Gentiles, who do not have the Law, do by nature the things of the Law, these, though not having the Law, are a law unto themselves.'

Therefore the Jews are worthy of the greater condemnation, because, having received the written law in addition to the natural, they nevertheless transgressed so greatly.

So that the great beneficence of God becomes for them an occasion of the greater condemnation, since they had grown slothful.

Now then, according to the literal sense, what has been said suffices;

but if anyone has a desire to take up the psalm also according to the anagogical sense, we shall not decline to travel this road as well—not doing violence to the historical meaning, God forbid, but adding these things alongside that meaning for the more diligent, so far as may be possible.

'Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem';

Paul knows the Jerusalem that is above, concerning which he says:

'But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is our mother';

just as he also knows Zion to be the Church, when he says:

'For you have not come to a mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, but you have come to Mount Zion, the city, and to the Church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven.'

It is possible, therefore, according to the anagogical sense, that this too is spoken concerning her: 'Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion';

'for He has strengthened the bars of your gates, He has blessed your children within you.'

For indeed He walled her about more securely than Jerusalem, not with bars and doors, but by fencing her round with the cross and with the declaration of His own power, whereby He raised up her rampart on every side, saying that 'the gates of Hades shall not prevail against her.'

In the beginning, at any rate, all the kings, and peoples, and cities, and the battalions of demons, and the very tyranny of the devil, and countless things, set themselves against the Church;

and yet all those things were dissolved and perished;

while she, ever growing, was lifted up to so great a height that she even surpassed the very heavens.

'He has blessed your children within you.'

Just as in the beginning He said, 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth,' and the word ran through the whole earth;

so after these things, 'Go and make disciples of all the nations';

and that 'This Gospel shall be preached in the whole world';

and the very ends of the inhabited world, in a brief turn of time, the command laid hold of.

'The grain of wheat, if it falls into the ground and does not die, it abides alone;

but if it dies, it bears much fruit.'

And again, 'When I am lifted up, I will draw all men to Myself.'

In the beginning, then, from one man there came to be many, the multitude increasing by the law of nature;

For this reason the matter also advanced rather slowly.

But in the days of the apostles the multitude increased not by the law of nature, but by grace.

Wherefore straightway, in a single day, three thousand, then five thousand, then ten thousand, then the whole world, brought to birth through this good regeneration, grew and were multiplied, and displayed by their works the blessing which they had received.

For they were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, but of the grace of God.

He who makes thy borders peace.

This one might say most properly concerning the Church.

And what is yet more wonderful, that even while warred upon she enjoyed peace, and while all plotted against her she revelled in security.

My peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.

And filling thee with the fat of wheat.

This too may be applied to the Church; or it may be taken in another sense, of spiritual nourishment, namely that He has given us the bread of life.

He who sends forth His word to the earth.

His word runs swiftly.

He who through the apostles ran over all things lighter than any wing.

Wherefore David also, hinting at this in another place, says:

The Lord shall give the word to them that preach the good tidings with great power.

But if any of the senseless should doubt, let him take his proof from the things that happen among the elements, and let him learn how the snow comes on all at once, and in a single instant of time covers the whole earth, not advancing over its surface by stages, but wrapping it round all at once.

Since therefore he was a prophet, and it was fitting that he, foretelling and hinting at things to come, should speak these things by way of a higher spiritual meaning, he accordingly dwells upon the discourse concerning the elements.

And what he says is this:

The whole earth is to be catechized by the word of God, and that with great speed and in a short time.

Then, lest anyone should doubt—reasoning that if the Jews, a single nation, though enjoying such great care over so long a time, did not prove approved, how could those who inhabit the whole world be transformed in a short time—he takes, for the confirmation of his argument, the examples drawn from the elements: the snow, the mist, the ice, which especially come to pass in a single instant of time.

Therefore do not disbelieve, even if the disposition of their minds is to be changed.

But there are many who resist? Yet these too shall give way and yield.

For if, when the cold grows a little more severe, no one can endure it, but all give in to it and yield;

much more shall all things that set themselves in opposition give way before His word and His command.

For He is able both to transform substances, and to bring into being things that are not, and to increase them to such power that they become unbearable to all.

He who declares His word to Jacob, His ordinances and judgments to Israel.

Here one would not err in taking Jacob to mean the spiritual Jacob, and Israel likewise, of whom Paul also speaks when he says, Peace be upon them, and upon the Israel of God;

to whom be the glory unto the ages of ages.