Commentary on the Psalms 1 part 16/24

And what should be understood by us as the right hand of God and Father, save that in truth it is the Only-begotten Word of God who has shone forth from Him? This great and surpassing right hand of the Father, beyond all things, by a just verdict drove away the accursed Satan from those on the [earth],

those who of old had been mastered and had fallen under him.

The Son Himself also confirms this when He says here:

'Now is the judgment of this world;'

'now shall the ruler of this world be cast out.'

'And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Myself.' Therefore, for its holiness and righteousness, the ever-admirable right hand of God the Father has been greatly marveled at by all the nations, in that it defended those who had been wronged, raised up those who had been beaten down, and gave light to those who had been shrouded in darkness.

'Let mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judaea be glad.'

Those from among all the nations who have pressed on into the light of truth rejoice greatly for their own sakes, as having obtained mercy and been made partakers of every good thing through the divine and all-powerful right hand of God the Father.

And they seem in some way also to rejoice together with the other people, I mean Israel, as one that shall in due time be called to the knowledge of the glory of Christ, the Saviour of us all, and to the partaking of the gifts of grace which they themselves, having entered in first, already possess.

'For the sake of Judaea, because of Thy judgments, O Lord' — meaning, that is, Thy good judgments.

By the daughters of Jerusalem may be understood the cities that lie round about her and under her sway.

By mount Zion he means the Church of Christ;

and by her daughters, the souls of the saints reared within her — that is, the children of the Church, which has obtained the circumcision that is in the spirit, a circumcision better and truer than the first.

For the law was a shadow, but Christ is the truth, and so too are the things wrought through Him.

'Go round about Zion, and encompass her; tell ye of her towers.'

(Of Cyril and Eusebius.) The Holy Spirit calls upon the divine powers to guard the Church of God, so as to compass her about on every side and keep her safe.

Instead of 'encompass,' Symmachus said 'Wall her round about;'

and instead of 'tell,' Aquila says 'Count her towers;'

while Symmachus has 'Number them.'

He bids them form the figure of a choir, and, as it were, having Zion in their midst as a mother, that her holy daughters should speak forth in praise of Christ.

And we call to mind the prophet also, who says:

'Take words with you,' those, that is, which come from the Holy Spirit, through which one may learn the mystery of Christ.

For it is truly a saving thing to be mindful of God, and to have upon the tongue the things that make for glory.

And somewhere else the Psalmist says:

'My tongue shall meditate on Thy righteousness, all the day long on Thy salvation.' Moreover, the Spirit plainly calls upon those who have been justified in Christ to open wide the eyes of their understanding, and to gaze carefully upon the Redeemer of the Church, who is Christ Jesus.

For all our strength is both He Himself and in Him.

And indeed He said to us, 'Without Me ye can do nothing.' We shall behold Christ, first of all as from the invisible and visible creation (for He is the Maker of all things, being God and Lord and enthroned together with the Father who begat Him), and also from the mighty works accomplished at the time of His sojourning among us.

For He cast down all the power of the enemy, saved that which is under heaven, justified by faith those who had gone astray, and called to adoption as sons those from the ends of the earth — this by all-wise sacred instructions, and this too by marvelous divine signs, through which it was possible to discern how great He is.

In no way less than God the Father.

But where equality of power is seen without any difference, there most certainly there must also be identity of essence.

(And again, we say that by 'palaces' are named especially the notable of the towers;

and these palaces would be the great and outstanding ones of the city of God, those who hold eminence within her, in whom God is known as taking hold of them and saving them out of temptations.

With these we who came after them as mystagogues are in a manner apportioned our share, receiving what has been rightly and unerringly spoken by them for the confirmation of whatever discourses we may compose, since we desire to advocate for the doctrines of truth, or rather to weave together an ethical instruction for the peoples under our hand.

And the discourse of those who teach the mysteries insists, always and at every season, that being God He shall never cease, but rather shall reign over us for ever.

'Unto the end, for the sons of Korah.'

The sons of Korah would bear the person of the apostles, who taught the mysteries to all that is under heaven;

whence consequently the proclamation of the word here spreads abroad into all the earth;

and just as before the confusion of tongues there was one lip for all and one voice, so now too all nations and the whole inhabited world and all men become one hearing and one heart, as the one Word sounds forth in the ears of all.

For the old law was confessedly slow of speech and knew not how to speak eloquently, only with difficulty and after a long circuit, in the manner of the letter, as it were haltingly stammering out to us what seemed good to God.

But Christ is the most eloquent mouth of Moses, transferring the types into truth, and everywhere setting forth ready knowledge of things needful.

And the law tutored only the Israel according to the flesh, but Christ, having spread out the net of gentleness, drew the whole inhabited world as with a seine.

Fittingly, therefore, He counsels those throughout all the earth:

'Hear this, all ye nations,' and so forth.

'I will incline mine ear to a parable; I will open my riddle upon the psaltery.'

I have been trained to be a lover of inquiry, and most gladly do I learn the dark and least evident of contemplations.

And if ever there should be need also to open these up — that is, to make them plain to the many — I do this with pleasure.

For the word that comes from me will not be without grace, but like a certain song of the psaltery.

And 'the riddle,' he says, means whatever things I may set forth to speak.

And the word of the saints is in some way always mingled with sweetness.

For so, in some manner, the all-wise Paul also writes, that 'Your speech should be with grace, seasoned with salt, that it may give grace to those who hear.'

And no one would doubt that it shall surely be in every way sweet and dear to the souls of those who love virtue.

'Wherefore should I fear in the evil day?' and so forth.

'They that trust in their own strength,' and so forth.

'A brother redeemeth not,' and so forth.

(Of Cyril, Eusebius, and Theodoret.) Thou wilt understand it also in this way.

I, who have been counted worthy to prophesy the divine oracles by the Holy Spirit, am full of fear, shuddering at the judgment of God;

but do ye hear, ye that are without fear, ye that live luxuriously amid the present indulgence of life, ye that trust not in God but in your own strength, and that boast in the abundance of your riches.

Know that these things shall not stand by you in that day of which we have spoken.

Neither shall a brother redeem a brother, nor a friend a friend;

for each shall receive his own reward;

'A brother redeemeth not — shall a man redeem?' Nay, nor shall anyone give to God a ransom for himself in that day, nor, as though buying himself off, lay down a price in exchange for his own soul;

so that riches are vain to their possessor, and vain is the mortal strength of those who trust in it.

For if in the present life and the existing age one should use riches well, employing their possession with understanding according to the saving precept which says:

'Who then is the faithful and wise steward, who in due season shall give the measure of food to his fellow-servants?' — he shall have good hopes.

Sowing henceforth for thyself unto righteousness, thou shalt then reap the fruits of life.

For 'a man's own riches are the ransom of his life,' as the wise man says.

But if he should do none of these things, then having suffered shipwreck, he shall, together with the very cargo of his riches, lose his own soul, being no longer able to make use of his wealth after his departure from this world.

But those who neither trusted in riches nor boasted in strength, but rather acquired a laborious and toilsome present life, shall be counted worthy of the life promised by the word.

'And he laboured for ever.'

(Instead of 'And he laboured for ever,' Symmachus says, 'But having ceased from this age, he shall continue living for ever;'

and according to Aquila, 'And he ceased for ever, and shall live unto victory;'

while the fifth edition says, 'And he laboured for ever, and shall live unto victory.'

For he who in the present age has toiled for the sake of piety and righteousness, having ceased from all the tumult and disturbance, shall pass a calm and quiet life, and in the end shall obtain eternal life.

Such a one shall not see corruption, when he beholds the wise dying.

Or, according to Symmachus: He shall not see the corruption when he looks upon the wise dying.

For he is so far removed from the ungodly that he does not even draw near to their destruction, but from afar and as it were from on high, as from a lofty watch-post, he shall learn of the corruption of the wise.

But of what sort of wise men — save those whose wisdom God has made foolish? In their mouth they shall find good pleasure.

So then, he says, whenever we who love the venerable and undefiled life look with sorrow upon those accustomed to live otherwise, saying, 'Man being in honour understood not,' and what follows — then those very men, even if now they will not consent to confess it while they are in this world, yet afterward shall find good pleasure in our words;

for that these words are true, being already persuaded from the very things that have befallen them, they shall assent.

But another reading is transmitted:

'Afterward in their mouth they shall bless' — instead of 'They shall curse themselves,' repenting over the things which they so did.

For in that day, he says, all their reasonings shall perish.

Death shall shepherd them, and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning.

By 'death shepherding them,' then, you shall understand the punishment in death.

For having cast away all the strength and glory that was in them, they shall in a certain manner be brought into subjection by the saints, when it becomes morning — that is, when the season of Christ's glory shines upon them.

For He shall come down from heaven with the holy angels, with the glory of His Father, to restore to the saints the rewards prepared for them, but subjecting the sinners to punishments and penalties.

Then also their help shall wax old — that is, shall vanish away;

for that which waxes old and grows aged, he says, is near to vanishing.

And from that very glory which they had in the world they shall pass over into dishonour.

But God shall redeem my soul from the hand of Hades, when He takes me.

For the souls of the saints shall run into the hands of God;

and this too the Saviour and Lord of all procured for us at the time of the precious Cross, when He said to the Father and God in the heavens:

'Father, into Thy hands I shall commit My spirit.' And He apportioned Paradise as accessible to the souls of men, having entered first, and having said to the robber crucified together with Him:

'Today thou shalt be with Me in Paradise.' Wherefore also the blessed Stephen, being stoned, said:

'Lord Jesus Christ, receive my spirit.' For the souls of the saints no longer depart into Hades, as do those of sinners.

And this, I think, is what he means:

'But God shall redeem my soul from the hand of Hades, when He takes me. He shall enter even unto the generation of his fathers; unto the age he shall not see light.'

Such a one is deprived of light, together with his fathers of like manner of life.

For those who have wrought the works of darkness go into the outer darkness — they who led the brutish life.

He has called the earth from the rising of the sun unto its setting.

The saints are called by God, when, having become man, He spoke and called together the whole earth.

For Christ is the great and far-sounding trumpet.

For thus the prophet Isaiah makes mention of the proclamations made through Him, saying:

'And it shall be, in that day they shall sound with the great trumpet.' He has therefore called, not — as did the hierophant Moses — Israel alone, but rather all those from the rising of the sun unto its setting.

The divinely-inspired Moses called Israel only, inasmuch as he had but a servant's measure, being slow of speech and slow of tongue.

Wherefore, according to the voice of the Psalmist, 'God was known in Judaea, and in Israel His name was great.' But the Saviour and Lord of all, inasmuch as He is also God of God, appeared to us, that He might call the whole inhabited world, those from the rising of the sun even unto its setting.

'Go ye, make disciples of all the nations.' Out of Zion is the comeliness of His beauty.

For the Word was and is God, consubstantial with the Father, and preeminent in every kind of likeness whatsoever.

But being of such a nature, He let Himself down into emptying, and took the form of a servant.

He seemed then not to be seen in the beauty of comeliness, on account of His having come to be in the likeness that is toward us.

That therefore one might behold His divine and surpassing beauty not from the measures of humanity, but from those things whereby He is God and equal in power to the Father, He shows plainly, saying:

'Out of Zion is the comeliness of His beauty.' And the phrase 'out of Zion' thou shalt understand as meaning 'out of the Zion above';

that is, through Zion, that which is from the heavens and from above.

For Christ was not simply a man, but rather heavenly;

not as having brought down His flesh from heaven (for He was begotten of the holy Virgin);

but since it was from the heavens that the Word who was united to the flesh came, Christ was named the heavenly man;

for this reason, out of Zion is the comeliness of His beauty.

We shall find that it was the holy apostles who perceived His beauty.

For the all-wise Paul said:

'For even if we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we no longer know Him thus.' For after the resurrection from the dead and the ascent into the heavens, we recognize Him not from the measures of the emptying, but from the splendour befitting God.

Our God shall come manifestly; our God, and shall not keep silence.

When did He come manifestly, save when He became flesh, according to the voice of John? — when, having taken up the likeness that is according to us, He was born through the holy Virgin and conversed among men.

For then He became visible who according to His own nature is not visible; touchable, He who is untouchable; like us, He who is above all creation.

But having come, he says, He shall not keep silence — that is, He shall reprove the sin of the world, or rather, He shall announce the will of the Father;

for His name is called the Angel of Great Counsel.

A fire shall be kindled before Him, and round about Him a mighty tempest.

But the fire, understood in reference to the former coming, or in place of the light, inasmuch as it names the fire as the generation of light;

so that we may understand that the spiritual light of the knowledge concerning Christ shall draw near, through which faith in Him is wrought.

Of which also a type was the pillar of fire that went before the synagogue of the Jews in the night, and itself pointed out the way.

Or perhaps it is consistent to think of it thus:

for finding those throughout all the earth, as it were, frozen into manifold sin, the Word of God kindled them anew into longing and eagerness for every good deed, casting into it, as it were, a spiritual fire — the partaking of the Holy Spirit.

and we are fervent, as many of us as have been counted worthy of such grace;

and we have become partakers of the divine nature through partaking of the Holy Spirit.

Wherefore also in the grace of the Holy Spirit a manifestation of fire is brought in together.

For we are baptized in Christ, according to the voice of John, in the Holy Spirit and fire.

And one of the holy prophets said somewhere concerning Him, that 'Suddenly the Lord whom ye seek shall come into His temple, even the angel of the covenant whom ye desire.'

'Behold, the Lord cometh; and who shall endure the day of His entering in? Or who shall stand at His appearing? For He cometh in as the fire of a furnace, and as the herb of fullers.'

'And He shall sit refining and purifying as the silver and the gold.' For the energy and power of the Holy Spirit melts down every defilement that is in us, consuming after the manner of fire the refuse of sin.

Yet it profited the hardness of heart of the Jews nothing, in that they did not receive the grace.

Wherefore also through the voice of Jeremiah the God of all said concerning them:

'The bellows have failed from the fire, the lead has failed;

in vain the silversmith works silver.'

Their iniquities have not melted away.

And round about him a tempest. For all who wish to live godly in Christ shall be persecuted.

For Christ was seen, as it says, in a form like ours, that is, as a man; yet even so He was in the authority and power of His Godhead.

as though hurling a kind of fire and a violent tempest against those who set themselves in opposition to His decrees, consuming with flame every diabolical strength, and spending the wicked and adverse powers.

For thus indeed elsewhere too the Psalmist speaks to Him concerning those who stand against His glory:

O my God, make them like a wheel, as stubble before the face of the wind; as a fire that burns up the forests, as a flame that shall consume the mountains;

so shalt thou persecute them with thy tempest, and in thy wrath thou shalt trouble them. He shall call the heaven above, and the earth, that he may judge his people.

But here again you will find the consummate skill of the Saviour's dispensation which was accomplished on our behalf.

For of old those upon the earth continued to live a beast-like life, and were, in the words of the Psalmist, portions for foxes.

For they served the unclean spirits, holding their worship according to their regions and cities, and reckoning to be god whatever seemed good to each one.

But when God the Lord appeared to us, He shone into the hearts of all the light of the true knowledge of God, turned back that which had gone astray, and bound up that which was sick;

inasmuch as He is the good Shepherd, He drove off the wild beasts from the fold of the sheep, sanctified them by the Spirit, secured them with angelic powers, and set holy initiators over those throughout all the earth.

He shall call, then, it says, the heaven above, that is, the holy angels who are above and in the heavens; and the earth, that is, those chosen upon it and appointed for the apostolate, to judge his people.

For those who ministered the divine proclamation brought to God those who were obedient, but abandoned to Satan those who were not such, all but saying:

Walk in the light of your fire, and in the flame which you have kindled.

And indeed they spoke first to the Jews;

but when they saw that they were hard, and looked much toward what was unbridled, they said outright:

It was necessary that the word of God should first be spoken to you;

but since you thrust it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. Consider, then, how they judge the people of the Lord.

And that angels also come to the aid of the holy initiators, even while these are themselves being initiated, Paul makes plain, saying concerning them:

Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to serve for the sake of those who shall inherit salvation? Thus too the divinely-inspired Jacob says that he beheld the ladder reaching from earth up into heaven, and that the Lord was resting upon it, while the angels ran up and down.

there has come to be for men a fellowship and a bond of love toward the holy angels.

The angel of the Lord shall encamp round about those who fear him, and shall deliver them. Working together, then, with the holy initiators, they too judge the people of the Lord.

Gather to him his holy ones.

You may understand it also in this way, which seems to me the better said.

This is plainly what it means for the people of the Lord to be judged both by the rational powers and by those appointed to minister the evangelical and saving proclamation.

For indeed the Spirit charges them to gather together for Christ his holy ones.

Whom he foreknew, it says, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son; these he also called;

and whom he called, these he also justified;

and whom he justified, these he also glorified. Therefore, from all the earth gather together those already foreknown as destined to be faithful and genuine, it says;

and they in turn make a covenant, that is, they hasten to fulfil the covenant of Christ upon sacrifices—not those by means of blood and smoke, but rather upon spiritual ones.

Offer the sacrifice of righteousness, and hope in the Lord. In such sacrifices God takes delight;

and again He will receive, in the rank of a spiritual fragrance, the doxology.

Accordingly the divinely-inspired Melodist said:

I went round about, and offered in his tabernacle a sacrifice of jubilation. And one might easily heap up very many other passages besides these, through which it is possible to see that the matter of doxology may become a sacrifice most acceptable to God.

And the heavens shall declare thy righteousness, O Lord.

That before all others He set forth the saving proclamation to those of Israel;

for theirs were the promises, and the giving of the Law, and the covenant, and the fathers.

But since they became wicked and implacable, and cared little for the evangelical proclamations, they thrust away the grace of Him who calls to salvation; and it necessarily passed over to the flocks of the Gentiles, and gained possession of all that is under heaven.

And for the sake of this holy verdict the heavens declare his righteousness;

for he is a righteous judge, holy and good.

But he also gave judgment in another way, both toward those throughout all the earth and toward the wicked and apostate dragon.

And indeed he said plainly:

Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the prince of this world be cast out;

and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself. And yet he himself says:

God sent not his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world through him might be saved. How then has the judgment of this world come to be? He gave sentence against Satan as one grasping at more than his due, and against the murderous demons together with him;

but he justified those upon the earth as having been wronged.

And that he received all judgment from the Father, he did not conceal, saying that God is the judge.

Having thus given judgment, he was glorified by the holy spirits above and in the heavens, as God, a holy judge, and one exercising uprightness in every single matter without partiality.

Hear, O my people, and I will speak to you;

O Israel, and I will testify to you;

God, I am thy God.

In these words the person of God is openly brought in, transferring the types that are in the Law into the truth.

For the all-wise Paul says that the commandment given through Moses was appointed only until a time of reformation.

And the time of reformation was none other than that in which Christ shone forth to those upon the earth, saying most plainly:

I am the truth. Useless, therefore, are the things in types, when the truth is present;

for the shadows travail with the truth itself, and one might behold the form of the mystery according to Christ within the letters of the Law, if indeed he be spiritual.

Therefore, since the Saviour was about to appear to those on earth as the one who introduces an initiation surpassing the Law, He necessarily, through the lyre of the Psalmist, draws near and testifies to those of Israel, saying:

Hear, O my people, and I will speak to you;

and lest anyone should suppose that the Psalmist was making these words not rather from the mouth of the Lord, but out of his own heart, he added:

God, I am thy God. What kind, then? The Good One, who delivered Israel from the iron furnace of the Egyptians' rapacity, who bestowed the way through the sea, who nourished them in the wilderness, who gave you that Law.

For do not suppose me to be some other lawgiver, when you see the difference of the laws.

If I should hunger, I would not tell you.

The saying, If I should hunger, I would not tell you, is to be taken as spoken by way of custom. For it sets down the impossible as though possible, refuting the senseless.

For as the prophet Isaiah says, The eternal God, the God who framed the ends of the earth, shall not hunger, nor be weary, nor is there any searching out of his understanding. To the sinner God said, and so forth.

That it is not to the worshippers of idols, nor to those not yet enriched with the divine light, that God addresses such things, but rather to those of the blood of Israel, would surely be evident.

For what practice of the divine law was there at all among those people, who did not even know that it had been laid down? And who among them was there that took up the divine covenant upon his lips? Therefore in these words He calls a sinner the disobedient and unredeemed Jew, still a slave of sin.

For everyone, it says, who commits sin is a slave of sin. For the Son had not set them free.

Then I, forbearing, kept silence, and did not exact from you the penalties on the spot when you transgressed, awaiting your repentance;

but you supposed that I would be like you—that is, you imagined that I was not rather keeping silence out of forbearance, but that I approved your manner of life, or perhaps even took pleasure in the things you did contrary to the Law.

I will therefore convict you, laying justice upon you and demanding an accounting for the deeds outrageously committed, and setting your own lawlessness as it were before your very face, so that your conscience may chastise you;

and your very transgression fights alongside as an ally, accusing you and condemning you;

for the conscience is a terrible thing when it comes to reproofs.] Sitting, you spoke against your brother.

) And sitting also in their councils they spoke against Christ, saying:

'What are we doing, seeing that this man performs many signs? If we let him alone thus, the Romans will come and take away from us both our nation and our land.' Then also they contrived the stumbling-block against him, and devised the snare of death;

for they brought him to Pilate and urged that he be crucified.

But if he names Christ a brother of the Jews and a son of their mother, the substance of the saying is not carried outside of what is fitting;

for according to the flesh he came forth from the Jews, and on this account might be called a son of the Synagogue.

'And there is the way, wherein I will show him the salvation of God.'

) For observe that, although the Law was given long ago, yet as though the way by which one might press on toward salvation had not yet been shown, he promises to show it forth.

Incomparably, then, the things through Christ are among better things than those through Moses; and if in these lies the way of salvation, Christ himself would be understood, and the oracles given through him.

The inspired Isaiah, at all events, said:

[There shall be there a clean way, and it shall be called a holy way. And again Jeremiah:

Stand in the ways, and ask for the everlasting paths of the Lord, and see which is the good way, and walk therein, and you shall find purification for your souls. Indeed the Saviour himself declared that he was the way that saves, saying:

'If you saw a thief, you ran together with him, and with adulterers you set your portion.' Struck by the remembrance of the stealthy adultery, he anticipates the judgment of God, joining to himself, as it were as a pillar of accusation against himself, the psalm set before us.

'Your mouth abounded with malice, and your tongue wove together deceit;'