Commentary on the Psalms 1 part 18/24

I will sojourn in Thy tabernacle for ever; I will be sheltered under the covering of Thy wings.

(Of Cyril and Athanasius.) But with respect to the spiritual sense: from the good things which he has already received, he hopes also concerning those to come, that having come to be in the tabernacles above, he shall be under His covering for ever.

For just as those who are about to keep a feast, having it near and at the doors, are filled beforehand with gladness, and see as already present that which is not yet present, so also the saints, having good hopes concerning the life to come, rejoice in it.

And by 'wings' He means the providential powers of God, under which the God-loving man is sheltered, never departing from the tabernacle of God, but dwelling in it through the age.

Days upon days of the king Thou shalt add.

(Of Cyril and Athanasius.) But with respect to the spiritual sense, the word signifies that this too is a portion of the inheritance — eternal life.

For this is to add days of days to the years of the king;

days meaning certain times and ages;

but do not suppose that he says such things concerning some one king; know rather that it is concerning everyone who has been called to the kingdom of the heavens;

whom he also says shall abide unto the age before God.

For those who have become conformed to His sufferings shall also reign together with Him unceasingly.

The prophet, however, having said before:

As for the words, 'For you, O God, have hearkened to my prayers,' he has by inversion joined them to the phrase, 'You will add days upon days to the king.' For, he says, having heard my prayers, you have added days upon days.

'Shall not my soul be subject to God?'

It is best and profitable, and the procurer for us of every good hope, to be subject to the Lord and to bow the neck of our understanding beneath him, and to draw near to him through all gentleness, uttering that word of the prophet:

'Behold, here we are, we shall be yours, for you are the Lord our God. How long will you set upon a man? Will you all commit murder?'

For Satan is a murderer of souls and spirits, and so also are his children;

and, overturning, they thrust further into transgression those who, through the weakness inherent in their nature, have already inclined toward wrongdoing.

But perhaps the word contends also with the wicked ministers of the devil, faulting the immoderation of the plot brought against us by them;

namely, that men are a weak creature, yet you set upon them, not content with a first assault, but bringing on a second and a third also;

until in this way you overturn the soul of him who has fallen among us, so that it becomes like a wall that is bowed and a fence that is thrown down.

'Yet they took counsel to thrust away my honour.'

For the demons all but stripped us of our very reason itself, compelling us to worship wood and stones, so that it was even said concerning us:

'Man, being in honour, did not understand.' 'They ran in thirst.'

He speaks of the intensity of the demons' plotting, that they run against us thirsting for our destruction and for our deprivation of honour.

Do you hear how the sons of iniquity strive to thrust out [

outward] us from the honour apportioned by God, and press to deprive us of the good things granted us from above? Wishing to thrust the sanctified out of their honour, they have thirsted for the accomplishment of the matter and have devoted all their zeal to this end.

For this is the meaning of 'They ran in thirst.' And with what devices do they employ themselves?

'With their mouth they blessed, and with their heart they cursed.'

For there are, indeed there are, some who have a double tongue and a two-faced heart, who are kindly so far as words go, but have a mind filled with venom and with every wickedness.

'Yet be subject to God, O my soul.'

(Of Cyril, Basil, Theodoret.) Again he converses with his own soul, urging on its subjection to God.

He shows the magnitude of the trials, and says what the Apostle says:

'That he will not suffer us to be tempted beyond what we are able to bear.' — 'For from him is my patient endurance. For he himself is my God and my Saviour, my helper; I shall not be removed.'

We confess, not timidly, but with boldness, taking courage and speaking the truth, that our God is Emmanuel, whom the holy Virgin Theotokos brought forth.

Knowing him, therefore, to be true God and the fountain of salvation, we shall not endure to change our servitude and run off to another mastery.

I shall not become, he says, a migrant from the truth into error, and a slave of sin.

'Hope in him, all you assembly of peoples.'

By 'assembly' he does not mean some particular one, just as Moses too says again.

And at the same time, in a more prophetic manner, he foretells the calling of all the nations.

For the Only-begotten appeared, not making some partial calling, nor saving Israel only any longer, as also through the holy prophets, but proclaiming to and addressing those throughout the whole inhabited world, saying:

'Hear, all you nations,' and what follows.

For the [law] given through Moses instructed one nation, Israel;

but the grace given through Christ is broadened out unto all that is under heaven.

'Yet vain are the sons of men.'

Vain indeed, in truth, are the sons of men — that is, those who set their minds only on the things upon the earth, who are attached to the desires of the flesh, and who seek only the things that are temporary.

'If riches flow in, set not your heart on them.'

Do not suppose the matter to be anything great.

For riches run past, as I have said, and, once seen, flee away like a shadow.

But let us everywhere seek the righteousness of God, let us search out what is the will of God — that which is good and well-pleasing and perfect.

'Once has God spoken; these two things have I heard.'

How then did you say here that God spoke once? Let us understand the force of the word;

the Spirit-bearer wishes to signify something of this sort:

Even if, he says, God spoke but once, yet, having straightway the whole knowledge of what is profitable, I shall not need many words for this.

Let him speak once, and I am persuaded;

and I gather within myself a double instruction, at once both of soul and of spirit.

Or else, 'Once has he spoken' stands for: The word of God, spoken once to Moses, stands firm and is no longer changed — namely, that the Lord God is compassionate and merciful and preserves righteousness.

Therefore he has set down 'once' not with reference to number, but with reference to that which shall assuredly come to pass.

For it is impossible that what God has declared should not come to pass.

He will not defer the decree;

as in the passage, 'Once have I sworn by my holiness,' which stands for 'assuredly.'

Or 'once' means that, even though he spoke many times, there was one aim of his manifold discourses: that we should know God to be mighty and loving toward mankind — so that we may fear him as mighty and run to him as loving toward mankind.

For God is mighty in judgement, he says, and the same is also merciful.

For he has declared a word concerning the judgement, through which I have heard these two things: one, that to those who have deserved wrath through the excess of their sins, he will render wrath;

and to those who have done things worthy of mercy, he apportions mercy.

For 'might' signifies the wrath and the severity that comes upon those deserving of it.

For God, who holds authority over all, prevails over all things;

and with a mighty hand he overturns the boaster and punishes the apostate, but has mercy on those who love him.

For he will render to each according to his works.

Therefore neither hope in unrighteousness, nor set your heart upon riches.

'O God, my God, to you I keep vigil at dawn.'

He says that he keeps vigil at dawn toward God, not as having his mind upon other matters, but upon those things alone that seem good to him and are dear to him.

For this is the truly holy manner of life, and the righteous deeds of that excellent way of living.

'... for you, in a land desolate and untrodden and waterless.'

(Of Cyril and of Nyssa.) The soul says these things, being in a land desolate of sound teaching, and seeking a divine influx;

and it can say, 'My soul thirsted for you, and my flesh also.' And whoever subjects the flesh to the spirit and renders it in accord with the soul makes it desolate of passions and untrodden and waterless to them — that is to say, freed from lasciviousness and from foul flux and from the moisture of pleasures.

'So in the holy place,' and what follows.

Or, thirsting and longing for the union with your holy one.

And who is the holy one, if not your Only-begotten Son? 'Because your mercy is better than lives.'

Those who have come to the mercy of God — that is, of Christ — reckoning the life of the present age as nothing, utter such a voice as this;

saying, that is, that the mercy given them by the Only-begotten is better than the abundance of the present life.

Or by 'mercy' he names the salvation that is in Christ.

And by 'lives' he means the Law, that is, the way of the polity that is according to the Law.

'Greater, therefore,' he says, 'than lives is Your mercy.'

'My lips shall praise You; thus will I bless You in my life.'

He promises the singing of hymns as the fruit of his lips, and he undertakes to bless God not only with his mouth but also to do this through his life, that is, to glorify Him by a virtuous manner of living.

And he says: 'I will not stretch out my hands to any alien god, but to You alone; and calling upon Your name in prayer, I will not ask any petition from any of the falsely-named gods.'

'But to You, who are God by nature, will I bring my supplications.'

And this is a fitting and singular boast: to know the God of all things alone, and to bring one's prayers to Him.

'As with marrow and fatness let my soul be filled.'

For just as the body is fattened all the more by fatty things, that is, by rich foods, so the soul is nourished by the lavish supply of the Spirit and by the gladness with which the prophet prays to be filled, so that with lips of exultation he may praise the Lord, being satisfied with spiritual nourishment.

'For when,' he says, 'I have Your name in my remembrance, then indeed, then is my mouth filled with joy.'

'In the shelter of Your wings will I rejoice.'

He signifies the protecting power of God, or else the Old and the New Testaments.

'My soul has cleaved close behind You.'

By 'cleaving' he names, as it were, a firmly-fixed mind, and the earnest striving toward virtue, and the unbroken constancy in love.

Such was Paul, who said:

'Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?' And when someone is joined to the Pure One through purification, he is thereafter led by that One's right hand, that is, by Christ's;

for He is the right hand of God, through whom He sets all things aright and works all things.

And that man is able to cleave to the Lord who has attained to that very end of blessedness:

'But you, stand here with Me.' 'They shall go into the lowest parts of the earth.'

He then cries out against the opposing powers because of the violence he endured at their hands, praying that they be delivered over to eternal punishments;

or else he prophesies that there shall be turned back upon his enemies the things they contrived against him: death, and the descent into Hades,

and the sword which they raised against him, and the seizing by wild beasts.

'They shall be delivered into the hands of the sword; they shall be portions for foxes.'

The sword signifies the punishment yonder;

and its 'hands' are either the torments inflicted by it, or those who serve its command, who are called vessels of wrath;

and because of their wickedness the wicked powers are called foxes;

for the spiritual foxes apportion among themselves the souls of the weaker ones—those foxes that feed on dead and stinking bodies—that is, the wicked and most crooked spirits.

Here and there shall wander those who have inclined toward slothfulness, but not those who keep the Law.

For rightly has it been said concerning the righteous man:

'The Law of his God is in his heart, and his steps shall not be tripped up.' For the Law sets one straight toward what is pleasing to God.

'Everyone who swears by Him shall be praised.'

Thus, he says, Christ shall be the boast of them—namely of those who have reigned—so that, making Him even their oath, they are justly praised.

For they swear by the true God, according to what is written.

And the inspired Moses also says:

'You shall fear the Lord your God, and by His name shall you swear'—that is, 'You shall swear.'

For it behooves us also, even in the necessities of oaths, to be mindful of God alone, who is God by nature and in truth, and of no other whatsoever besides Him.

'Everyone who swears by Him shall be praised'; for this too, along with the rest, is a proof of love toward Him: that, should the need for an oath perchance arise, one should call to remembrance Him alone.

Do we then say this—that the prophet's word urges us toward oaths? And yet how is it not better never even to swear at all? For this the Savior Himself has commanded us to do.

What, then, is that which is here indicated? How is he who swears by Him praiseworthy? The saying contains a certain wise and necessary dispensation.

Those of the blood of Israel, although trained under the divine Law and commanded to worship one and only God, out of exceeding great impiety turned aside at various times to absurd idolatries, and bowed down to the works of their own hands, forsaking the God who is by nature, and swore by gods that have no existence.

Faithful, therefore, and genuine at that time, and free from the charges of idolatry, was he who did not swear by any other god, but in the necessities of oaths named the name of the God who exists by nature.

From the custom that then prevailed, therefore, he designates the truly faithful and genuine worshiper, saying:

'Everyone who swears by God shall be praised.' PSALM 63.

'Hear, O God, my voice when I make supplication to You; from fear of the enemy deliver my soul.'

And the phrase 'Hear me when I make supplication' stands for 'not while I keep silent, but while I pray';

for silence in such matters is a harmful thing.

Or else it means: 'Hear me quickly, even in the very act of supplication,' according to the saying, 'While you are yet speaking, I will say,

Behold, I am here.' And see how precise is the language of the prayer:

not 'Deliver my soul from the enemy,' but 'From the fear of the enemy.' He does not dread the contests, he does not decline the battle, he does not flee the resistance, but rather he asks from God for the power not to be crushed by fear.

This, I think, is what is meant by 'From the fear of the enemy deliver my soul.' For he asks God for courage, so as utterly to overthrow the adversary.

'They have bent their bow, a bitter thing, to shoot down in secret the blameless one.'

By 'a bitter thing' he called the slander against the blameless, that is, the innocent one;

since to slander even an ordinary person is out of place, but to slander the righteous is more grievous still;

whom they shoot at in secret, that is, in a hidden manner;

for they do not even dare to slander him openly.

For those who mind earthly things do not fight with visible arrows, nor indeed with those made of reed and wood, but bending their own perversity as though it were a bow, with bitter and maliciously-fashioned arrows they wound the souls of the holy.

Whom shall they fear? For they do not even dread, he says, the God who presides over the saints;

and they suppose, perhaps, that they even escape His notice, saying:

'They have strengthened for themselves an evil word.'

For evil, as I have already said many times, are the designs of the impious;

and searching out every manner of malice, they give offense to the virtue-loving God.

'To You is due a hymn, O God, in Zion, and to You shall a vow be paid in Jerusalem.'

He speaks of Zion, not the earthly one situated in the land of Judea, but the one above and in the heavens, the truly Fair City, the Church of the firstborn, the mother of the saints, the all-holy dwelling-place of the angels.

And in likeness to this one, we too fill the earthly Zion, that is, the Church, and with fitting doxologies we crown the Savior and Redeemer of all.

For there the perfect and true hymns are rendered to God;

the hymn, therefore, in Zion—whether the heavenly one, or also the Church on earth—rendered to God, would befit God alone, the One who is hymned, to whom it is also proper to render vows.

And it is customary for Scripture to call a 'vow' the promise which someone promises to God.

'The words of the lawless prevailed too mightily over us.'

By 'the words of the lawless' he means the wisdom of the wise of this age, through which they were even weakened, having fallen away from the true knowledge.

'Preparing the mountains in Your strength.'

'Preparing,' he says, is used in the sense of smoothing down and making them fair and comely;

and that some are able to leap up even onto the mountains, that is, to attain to the very loftiest virtues.

'Who troubles the depths of the sea.' — 'The nations shall be troubled.'

(Of Cyril and Athanasius.) By 'the sea' he names the world, and the whole multitude of the nations dwelling in it.

But according to the deeper meaning, Christ troubles, as though a certain depth and expanse of the sea, the multitudes of the nations;

not permitting them to remain at rest in their ancient deceptions, but rather stirring them up unto the knowledge of His own power and pre-eminence, and, as it were, raising up like the sounds of waves the doxologies of all men rendered to Him.

For where, or by whom, is Christ not glorified? And a little after:

And in what manner they shall be troubled, he again himself interprets, saying:

'And they that dwell in the uttermost parts shall be afraid at Thy signs.' For the nations have feared Christ;

for they have heard of His wondrous deeds accomplished through His own power and authority;

they have come to know of the dead being raised up out of their tombs;

by a single word and nod He delivered the paralytic from so long an infirmity;

to the blind He unexpectedly imparted sight;

the raging sea He marvellously stilled to sleep.

Having heard of these signs, the nations have rightly feared the Saviour and Redeemer of all;

and having forsaken their ancient and familiar error, they received the faith.

Or by 'the sea' here he means the multitude of unclean spirits, which is thrown into confusion at the coming of Christ.

'Art Thou come hither before the time to torment us?' Or by 'the sea' he calls the multitude of tyrants, on account of the brininess of their idolatry;

and by 'the sounds of the waves,' the plots and torments against the martyrs, which who could have endured had he not been strengthened and upheld by the power of Christ? 'Thou shalt make the goings forth of morning and evening to rejoice.'

(Of Cyril, Athanasius, and Eusebius.) And whenever the morning of the day begins to run its course, and in the evening — that is, at the beginning of the day and at its end —

when the inhabitants of the world, beholding great signs, are seized with the good fear, then indeed both at the morning and at the evening goings forth — that is, at every season — there shall be joy for them as they exult over what the coming of Christ has accomplished.

And of Christ Himself there are also two goings forth, or comings forth: the one of the morning, which took place before all the ages from the Father, according to the words, 'His goings forth are from the beginning, from the days of eternity'; and the one of the evening, which was from the Virgin, and which came at the consummation of the ages;

and each of these is a rejoicing and an exultation.

'They shall sing praises at the approaches of dawn and of evening'; this he seems to mean: that both at the day's beginning and at its close, those who have abandoned error and come to know Him who is God by nature shall offer up the hymnody well-pleasing to God.

But some understand by 'the goings forth of morning' the eastern parts of the earth,

and by 'the goings forth of evening' the western parts.

'Having therefore become man,' he says, 'and having lived on earth, Thou shalt gladden both those in the east and those in the west.' —

That in Thy light Thou mightest lead forth the nations, and at the consummation of the age mightest fill them with exultation.

'Thou hast visited the earth and made it drunk.'

(He says:) Thou hast sated with the good things from above the whole earth, Thou hast filled it with spiritual graces — all those who are under the whole heaven;

and us who had gone astray, who were as a dry and waterless land, Thou hast shown to be fruitful and most fecund.

'The river of God is full of waters.'

(The) river of God is His Word.

He is also the fountain of life, according to what is said:

'With Thee is the fountain of life.' The rushings of this river — that is, its teachings — gladden the Church.

(Thus) most providentially and in a manner befitting God;

hence clearly this is a prediction of things to come, and not the narration of things already done.

'Make drunk her furrows.'

(Of Cyril and Hesychius.) By 'furrows' he means the depths of the heart;

which, whenever they are made drunk by the bestowal of the Spirit, cause a multitude of virtues to sprout up within us.

'Thou shalt bless the crown of the year of Thy goodness.'

(According to the deeper sense:) The year of goodness bearing piety as its fruit is that of the sojourning of Christ, when also we were blessed, God having exercised toward us His inborn goodness and love for mankind.

So also Christ Himself speaks through the voice of the prophet Isaiah:

'The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, wherefore He hath anointed Me; He hath sent Me to preach good tidings to the poor,' and what follows;

and we too have been received through faith, He presenting us to God the Father.

When therefore Thou blessest the crown of the year of Thy goodness, then also Thy plains shall be filled with fatness.

By 'plains' and 'lands' he likens the souls of believers, which God enriches with divine and spiritual graces, that they may be able to bear the fruits of piety.

'And the hills shall be girded with exultation.'

(Of Cyril and Athanasius.) According to the deeper sense: when God's goodness has appeared, the land that was once desert shall bear fruit;

and the hills that were defiled with idolatrous sacrifices, having received those who choose the angelic manner of life, shall be gladdened.

Or by 'hills' he likens those who from time to time preside over the holy Churches and stand at the head of the peoples — namely, the shepherds and teachers.

For just as the mountains and hills tower above all the rest of the earth, in the same manner the dignity of the holy mystagogues is loftier than that of others.

These also are girded with exultation, that is, they have within themselves the consolation of the Spirit.

'And the valleys shall abound with corn.'

(He says:) Then also the valleys — that is, the Churches — multiplied that corn concerning which the Lord said:

'Except the grain of corn fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone';

why are they called 'valleys'? Because they receive the water of the spiritual mountains, that is, of the prophets.

'Unto the end, a song of a psalm of resurrection.'

(He) foretells at the same time both the calling and salvation of the nations, and proclaims as good tidings the resurrection of their souls which came to pass;

'Who raiseth up the poor from the earth.' And indeed the person of the apostles too is introduced, as they teach how much they suffered for the sake of the gospel proclamation, and how their afflictions led them forth into everlasting joys.

Furthermore, the casting away of the people of the Jews is also signified.

(Of Cyril and Athanasius.) And thus indeed according to the historical sense;

but according to the spiritual interpretation, exceedingly terrible are the works of Christ, that is, the divine signs, and the driving away of the multitudes of unclean demons;

and the abundance and superabundance of His power is His resurrection, which overthrows the dominion of death, and renews the whole nature of man unto incorruption.

But the multitudes of the Jews, though they had been eyewitnesses of the great miracles of Christ, when they ought to have marvelled at the Worker of wonders, on the contrary blasphemed, saying:

'This man doth not cast out the demons except by Beelzebul, prince of the demons.' And a little after:

The blessed Psalmist therefore rebukes them, saying:

'Terrible are Thy works.' Cease, he says, from letting loose so wanton and unbridled a tongue against Christ, the Saviour of us all.

It is the custom of the saints to be no little indignant at whatever things any may transgress against Christ, the Saviour of all.

But the prophet Isaiah more fervently assails those who commit outrage, saying:

Lawless sons, seed of adulterers and of a harlot. And a little further on:

Are you not children of perdition? Therefore, since he saw them refusing to obey, he leaves off speaking to them and instead converses with the slandered Christ, saying:

Great is your power, even though your enemies have lied against you;

for of their own will they closed their eyes to your divine light that had shone upon the world, and not even the exceeding greatness of the miracles moved them to believe.

For when our Lord, by the fullness of his power, had accomplished his own resurrection from the dead according to his human nature, his enemies the Hebrews lied against him—that is, they slandered the resurrection. By 'enemies' and 'liars' he indicates the teachers of the Jews, who lied concerning the resurrection and gave money to the soldiers.

Let all the earth worship you, and sing to you.

(Cyril, Athanasius, and Gregory of Nyssa.) Even if the Jews shall deny you, he says, yet in their place all the earth shall bow down and worship you—that is, the nations that dwell upon the earth.

For no longer is worship in Jerusalem, now that the shadow of the Law has ceased, according to the word: 'They shall worship him, each one from his own place'; and when worship has come to be in spirit and in truth, works fitting to the worship of God being performed, and his name having been named upon them.

There we shall rejoice in him.

(Cyril and Athanasius.) And as to the deeper sense: There we shall reign together with Christ, when he shall reign over the new age, and we shall rejoice in him;

and we rejoice in him who has made hard things easy.

For there he wipes away our tears, there he removes us from all sorrow, calling out to us in his love for mankind and saying:

wiping out your sins, and I will remember them no more. Let not those who provoke to bitterness exalt themselves in their own eyes.

He calls the Jews 'those who provoke to bitterness.'

That is: let not the arrogant people—that is, Israel—now think great things of themselves, nor lift up a haughty brow against the multitude of the nations.

I have become the firstborn among the children of God; I have Abraham as my father.

Let him not think great things of himself, but let him rather know that through his disobedience he provoked to bitterness against himself the God who had honored him.

Make heard the voice of his praise.

When, he says, you shall hear from us in what manner it is fitting to give glory, then bless together with us—no longer, as of old, the falsely-named gods, but our God.

That is: be taught by us, and then give glory together with us, ever crowning with unceasing praises the Savior and Redeemer of all.

For you have tested us, O God; you have tried us as by fire, as silver is tried by fire.

(Cyril and Athanasius.) As to the deeper sense: the Spirit foretells the afflictions that befell the apostles because of the preaching, recounting them in their person.

For just as silver, when melted by fire, is thoroughly purified, so also the souls of the saints are freed from every defilement, valiantly confronting the assaults of temptations;

and their good repute comes about through firings, they being tested as through fire.

These words Paul assigns to the holy martyrs.

But those also who have passed through the fire and water of seething wrath, and of dissolute pleasure and desire, and who have not remained fixed in these passions, find refreshment.

The Savior's disciple has proclaimed to us:

Brethren, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial among you, which comes to prove you, as though some strange thing were happening to you;

but inasmuch as you share in the sufferings of Christ, rejoice. And by 'fiery trial' he here means the testing through toils.