Commentary on the Psalms (Fragments) 1 part 1/40

In the New Covenant there stand testimonies drawn from the book of the Psalms, cited as words spoken by the Holy Spirit.

Paul, in his Epistle to the Hebrews, having taken a passage from the ninety-fourth Psalm, writes that it was uttered by the Holy Spirit, saying: 'As the Holy Spirit says.'

'Today, if you will hear his voice,' and what follows.

In addition to this, Peter also, the foremost of the apostles, speaks in agreement in the Acts of the Apostles, saying in one place: 'The Scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became guide to those who arrested Jesus,' and what follows; to which, after adding a few words, he went on: 'For it is written in the book of Psalms:'

'Let his habitation be desolate, and let there be none to dwell in it,' and:

'Let another take his office.'

It is nothing strange that the apostles should write these things, since the Saviour himself above all sets his seal upon them.

For mention being made in the Gospel of the opening of the hundred and ninth Psalm, which runs thus:

'The Lord said to my Lord:'

'Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool,' — he inquired of the Pharisees whether, since David in the Holy Spirit called the Christ 'Lord,' how then is he his son.

If, then, the Psalms contain spiritual meanings, one must not approach their text carelessly.

One may call the devil the 'way of sinners,' in which he who has once entered should not remain, following the teaching that says: 'Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.'

He who has not stood in this way will come to him who said, 'I am the way,' the Lord; and having entered upon it, running toward the goal, he will attain the prize.

For how should not he who is witnessed by the aforesaid words to be wise be made like unto Wisdom? For one is made like to that which bestows such a quality upon him — is not the righteous man like unto righteousness, and the holy man like unto holiness?

If this be so, then the wise man too is made like unto Wisdom.

Drawing near and receiving from it his being, the wise man is made like unto it, according to what was said by the Saviour: 'It is enough for the disciple that he become as his teacher, and the servant as his lord.'

But he who is made like unto the tree of life comes to be in Paradise, that he may be planted together with it;

thus one must understand what is written in Isaiah from the person of God: 'According to the days of the tree of life shall be the days of my people.'

This being true, since the tree of life is eternal, it makes him co-eternal and co-immortal with itself;

this likeness makes us grow together in the tree, so that we are named its branches and shoots, in that we bring forth divine fruit.

For the tree of life, being the true vine, says to those who become its imitators through nobility of character: 'I am the true vine;'

'Every branch that abides in me, he prunes it, that it may bear more fruit.'

But of the tree planted by the streams of waters (and this is the Wisdom of God), the fruit is the mystical and spiritual sense of the Scriptures, while the leaves that shelter the said fruit are the plain words of the text, which, while performing their own work in guarding the fruits, also become nourishment for the more guileless men, who for their simplicity are called 'beasts,' according to the saying, 'Men and beasts you will save, O Lord.'

Assuredly, then, on account of the worthlessness they got from their impiety — having wished to be chaff and to bear the image of the earthy — they are cast out like the most worthless chaff from off the face of the earth, an evil wind blowing them up and scattering them hither and thither.

That which casts them out is both the angel that punishes them and the impetus of the teaching that has led them astray, being 'carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness.'

The ungodly indeed shall rise, but they shall not be judged, in that they are self-condemned.

'For he who does not believe in me,' he says, 'is condemned already,' shown to be condemned out of his own unbelief.

He makes the deeds of the righteous his own;

for it is to this that the word 'knows' here refers.

It having been shown that the ungodly are not raised in judgment, it has been made clear how 'Many of those who sleep in the mound of earth' rise, some to eternal life, and some to reproach and everlasting shame.

For how do they not rise to reproach and everlasting shame, those who are raised to be judged, since the very judgment reveals their sins? If this has become clear, why then is it not said that all who sleep in the mound of earth are raised, some to eternal life and some to reproach and everlasting shame? For these things are written only concerning the sinners who come into judgment and the righteous who are raised to eternal life; the ungodly are raised to neither of these, since there shall be no examination of them after the resurrection.

Since all men are moved by choice (for they are self-determining), no one is good or evil by essence;

and since he alone who partakes of virtue is made God's own, every such man becomes the inheritance of God.

So then, when Israel was good, it was said of him: 'Jacob became the portion of the Lord, Israel the lot of his inheritance.'

It is made evident that this nation was so named not merely by arbitrary allotment, but on account of nobility of character, from what is said concerning God by the holy men: 'He chose out for us his inheritance, the beauty of Jacob which he loved.'

But if it is by keeping the commandments and by faith toward God that one becomes God's inheritance, then he who transgresses the commandments of God and falls away from faith in him is cast out of such honour; just as, on the other hand, he who turns from evil and does good becomes God's portion, even though he was not so before.

This sequence holding true, Israel, who of old through piety was an heir of God, having become an apostate from God, fell away, not having received the Saviour who came primarily for his benefaction, and then also for that of the rest of mankind.

It was necessary, therefore, that another people be introduced in his stead, made up out of many nations and coming to the Gospel.

So the words 'Ask of me, and I will give you' are spoken for our sake, and not for the sake of the Son;

for it makes plain that nothing is added to him, but rather to those who have need of him;

for as to a physician and a teacher these things are given, that men may become healthy and knowledgeable through him.

But also the phrase 'the ends of the earth for your possession' may be understood more simply thus:

as far as the uttermost parts of the earth shall your teaching prevail, the Gospel being preached in all the creation under heaven.

Consider whether it be possible that here 'the ends of the earth' should be called those who by their manner of life and thought have transcended the earth.

'Even now receive understanding' — now that the crucified one has risen from the dead — 'and you, the rulers, be instructed,' having come to know that he whom you thought to cast about with death has risen, having undone deadness;

for this will urge you to serve in fear him against whom you conspired, once you have come to know that he is God, against whom you assembled.

This service in fear shall cease once progress has been made, so that a divine exultation with trembling arises in you;

for even if exultation be a certain joy rightly arising,

yet in relation to God it comes to pass with trembling.

With this accords the verse: 'Shout unto God with a voice of exultation, for the Lord Most High is terrible;'

for since he Most High and terrible is the one over whom the exultation is, one must hold that exultation with trembling.

The phrase 'quickly' is to be rendered together with 'Lay hold of instruction,' being said in hyperbaton (inverted order), so that the natural sequence of the expression is thus:

Lay hold of instruction quickly, while you are yet in this present life, lest at any time, if you are slothful, the Lord be angry and you perish from the righteous way.

But since it was said that the Psalm is proclaimed in the person of the Lord, it must be stated that his head also is exalted — the head being God — whenever his Godhead becomes manifest through demonstration to the faithful.

The name 'head' in these passages signifies a ruler;

wherefore Christ, being ruler of holy men, is fittingly their king, and thereby is called their head.

His surpassing knowledge may be the 'holy mountain' of God, from which God — his only-begotten Son — hearkens to those who pray, concerning whom it is said: 'The mountain of the Lord shall be manifest in the last of days,' this expression declaring the manifestation of him that came to pass at his sojourning at the consummation of the ages.

'To fall asleep' signifies the lying down after which sleep immediately follows.

Since, then, Jesus voluntarily laid down his soul, in this respect having fallen asleep he slept;

for he would not have died, had he not given himself over to this; but having been raised from the dead, with God laying hold of him, he became the firstborn from the dead.

He has enemies in vain who provides no occasion for hatred or enmity;

and such are all who are persecuted for living godly in Christ Jesus, to whom it is said by the Saviour: 'Blessed are you when they revile you and speak all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake,' and what follows.

David too, being of this purpose, had many enemies in vain, such as Saul and Absalom and those with them;

for although the holy one had many times shown much gentleness and goodness toward them, in vain were they his enemies.

Concerning such teeth he often said to God, 'They gnashed their teeth against me,' and, giving thanks that he was not harmed by them, he says, 'Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as a prey to their teeth.'

It is plain that he says these things concerning intelligible realities.

The Galatians, using ill the teeth so called, bit one another wickedly and devoured one another, employing in a vain and sinful manner the powers of the soul, which are allegorically called 'teeth.'

For once the petition is confirmed, they shall become friends instead of enemies, and zealous instead of sinners.

Let us therefore seek this from no other source than from him.

'And upon your people be your good pleasure.'

But what is the good pleasure that comes upon the people, or the will of the Father concerning the sojourn among us? For, having pointed out the Saviour who became man, He said, 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.'

In this sense you are to take the words, 'And in thy good pleasure our horn shall be exalted.'

An 'ode' is a song of victory or a hymn of thanksgiving offered by the voice alone, whereas a 'psalm' is a hymn sounded upon the instrument called the psaltery, or also struck upon the lyre.

But if we take it in an anagogical sense, the 'ode' would be the contemplation of the truth, made musical by pure understanding alone, while the 'psalm' would be deeds accomplished according to right reason—so that he who leads the active life is the one who plays the psalm, and he who leads the contemplative life is the one who sings the ode.

Since, therefore, David beholds God and His truth with a pure heart, he brings forth an ode, which he says exists 'among psalms' because much had been rightly accomplished by him in practice.

This ode is 'unto the end,' that end which men are accustomed to call the ultimate object of desire, for the sake of which all other things are chosen and desired, while it itself is not for the sake of anything else.

This is the perfecting of all things, concerning which Paul also says, 'Then cometh the end,' according to which one who has become like unto God shall see Him.

But with what intent is it inscribed 'To David the ode,' and not 'Of David'? Some, then, say that the psalm or the ode is 'of David' whenever he himself, being inspired, is the one who utters it, but that the ode or psalm is 'to David' whenever the things spoken have reference back to him.

When he had ministered to the Spirit, the things prompted by it were first spoken forth; then, the psalm having been given to one of the singers, it was proclaimed through them as 'To David.'

In which of the two ways each of the things laid down in the Scriptures stands, belongs only to the one who is wise according to God to know. But 'God enlargeth in affliction,' not putting an end to the circumstance, nor overthrowing those who do harm, but granting greatness of soul to bear the trying circumstances nobly.

According to this same understanding one must also hear the words, 'Many are the afflictions of the righteous, and out of them all will He deliver them,' by granting them endurance.

But there are also times when He sets outside the trying circumstances the one who has stood magnanimously against them—as Joseph and Job, and also the very one about whom the present matters are spoken.

Many such expressions are borne along in Scripture, among which is this: 'For man that is born of a woman,' and this: 'Among them that are born of women there is none greater than John.'

For these very phrases are spoken in place of 'men.'

Or is not the holy one of God made an object of wonder, both when he bears afflictions magnanimously that seem beyond human strength, and also when, calling upon God, he straightway has Him assenting?—all of which the man of a 'heavy heart' (that is, an understanding joined with wickedness) knows nothing. But if the word is spoken concerning Christ, addressed to the Jews on account of their heaviness of heart—for they are no longer sons of God but of men—how then did the Lord not make wondrous the holy one in Him and through Him, fulfilling prophecies, when marvellous acts of power were done through Him, and indeed even after He rose from the dead? You shall come to know it, once you have cast off your heaviness of heart and have searched the Scriptures concerning the Holy One.

For to you who search, the newness of the Spirit shall be found.

Taking up this phrase, the Apostle added to it:

'Let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil.'

He who has received this apostolic exhortation, being angered, does not sin—unlike the one who remains disposed toward anger and holds it persistently, whom it is customary to call a bearer of rancour.

This understanding is confirmed by what follows immediately after:

'For the things which ye say' (evidently, having been angered) 'in your hearts, upon your beds be pricked with remorse'—so that, having risen from sleep, you may do or say none of the things devised in anger within the heart.

It is possible to interpret 'the light of God's countenance' as the express image of His substance and the icon of the invisible God Himself—which light was thereupon marked upon us who have been conformed according to Him.

It should not be overlooked that some read the words 'Who will show us good things?' in this way:

The good things do not belong to many, but it belongs to One to show them.

And this One is the only-begotten Son of God.

To those who understand it thus, the word 'Who' signifies what is properly named as a particular quality, or an individual, and a substance that is one in number.

They make use of the testimony 'A certain nobleman,' for there too the word 'certain' indicates the individual in its particular quality.

Even if these men thought they were being multiplied from pleasant things, yet I, awaiting the age to come and the reward of an upright manner of life, having come to be beyond all disturbance because of my hope, 'Will lay me down in peace and sleep,' calling the departure from this life a lying-down and a sleep.

Giving the cause of having lain down and slept in peace, he straightway added, 'For thou hast made me to dwell in hope.'

It is said also in Hosea, to the soul in the person of God, 'I will make thee to dwell in hope.'

God does this by holding out the hope of divine goods to come, to those who are settled by Him in intellectual and practical virtue, and in the doctrines of truth and the ordinances of the Church.

'Unto the end' a hymn of thanksgiving is sung, on behalf of the soul—that is, the Church—being led into the divine inheritance prepared for the servants of God.

It has its being not in perceptible wealth.

For it is said that the heirs of this inheritance are brought 'Into an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away, reserved in the heavens.'

Calling the worthy into this, the Saviour said, 'Come, ye blessed of my Father, at my right hand, inherit the kingdom prepared for you.'

He who speaks the psalm here set before us, having conceived a longing for this inheritance, sends up a prayer to God who has prepared it, that he may be counted worthy to be shown forth as its heir according to the new covenant—so that the inscription 'On behalf of her that inherits' signifies also concerning his own soul.

The word 'Give ear,' which is not borne along in common usage, lies in the Scripture continually, indicating that the hearer receives into his ears the words announced by the one who speaks them, because of their being near.

By relationship the righteous are near to God; whence God is said to hearken to the prayers of the righteous and to have His ears open to their supplication.

God happens to be at once King and Maker of those who have not spread out their hands to a strange god, nor are ruled over by sin.

He upon whom the Sun of righteousness has risen, having come to be at the beginning of the spiritual day, offering a hymn of thanksgiving to the Author of his illumination, said, 'In the morning thou shalt hear my voice.'

For to whom ought I to confess thanks for so great a good, but to thee, O Master, who hast made light to rise upon me, being the cause to me of the greatest contemplation? Ever, then, does longing enter in, alongside the contemplations already possessed, still to desire to behold the beauties of the truth.

This is also shown from the words, 'And I will look upon it.'

For just as 'I go forth' indicates an unceasing advance, so 'I will look upon' shows a perception that is continually being added to.

For how does he not always behold, who has obtained the promise, 'The Lord shall be to thee an everlasting light,' and 'Light to the righteous continually'? And there is also another reading which has, 'I will present myself to thee, and thou shalt look upon me'—which it is not for everyone to say, but only for those like the great Elijah, who through the boldness that comes from their manner of life dare to say, 'As the Lord liveth, before whom I stood in His presence this day.'

This being true, evil is not from God, as those suppose who posit wickedness as having a real substance of its own.

For 'Out of the mouth of the Most High there shall not proceed the evil and the good.'

For He wills only the good to exist.

This being so, it is impossible for evil to have subsistence in anyone.

He destroys 'those who speak the lie'—insofar as they are liars—that they may come to recognize the truth which even of old they had known.

For this is what 'to recognize' indicates.

For no one who is at the beginning of coming to know a thing is said to 'recognize' it.

But since all who speak the lie are destroyed by God, that one also shall be destroyed concerning whom it is said, 'Whenever he speaketh the lie, he speaketh of his own.'

But if this is so, he is not evil according to his essence.

For not at the very moment of coming to be and passing into existence, but afterwards, having turned, he took the beginning of speaking the lie, having once possessed being in truth.

And this is made clear from what is written concerning him in this manner:

'He stood not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.'

For being blameworthy on account of his not standing, he is made manifest, having been tried by these dispositions.

But the liar must be judged from his intention and not from his voice alone, lest those who have at some time done this by way of dispensation—as Rahab—should fall under the threat.

For she seemed to lie to those who were seeking, in order to kill, the spies who were good men.

For, having been sent by Joshua the son of Nun, they were praiseworthy.

Since the intention of the person carries much of what is earnest, it is not consistent, then, to rank her among those who are destroyed, or among those who speak the lie.

And just as he who in whatever manner kills a man is not a murderer, so neither is he who sheds blood absolutely and in every case 'a man of bloods.'

For some have slain certain persons on account of impiety and the greatest of crimes.

These things being rightly agreed, one must call him 'a man of murders and of bloods' who, by transgression of the law, has become the cause of a man's destruction.

And 'the deceitful' is reasonably yoked together with this.

For how is he who with deceit murderously sheds the blood of men not an abomination to the Lord? But how one is guided by the righteousness of God must be examined.

May it not be, then, that he who advances according to the righteousness of God (and this is genuine virtue), following God according to the word 'Thou shalt walk after the Lord thy God,' is guided by Him who supplies the virtue—that is, evidently, by God Himself?

And since 'They provoked to bitterness' is a human expression, we must consider how one ought to take it when it is said of God.

God, being unchangeable and unturning, is impassible; He seems to be encompassed by passions whenever we ourselves have passions.

For our own affairs are reckoned as though brought near to Him: for example, the forgetfulness which we have concerning Him is supposed to be His.

Concerning us, at any rate, He said, 'You have forgotten the law of your God, and I too will forget your children.'

Similar to this saying is what is written by Paul: 'If anyone is ignorant, let him be ignored.'

For it is plain that this is spoken by Him who said to the wicked, 'Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity; I never knew you.'

So then, since he who provokes to bitterness embitters his own character through the most bitter wickedness, suffering things worthy of what he has done, he supposes that God is embittered against him.

At any rate, the soul that had fallen under judgment by the verdict of God on account of its sins said this very thing: 'I, provoking to bitterness, was made bitter.'

Wherefore also, perceiving the consequence of the judgment, it said, 'The Lord is righteous, for I have embittered His mouth.'

'All who hope in You shall rejoice,' when those who plot against them have been destroyed.

And the gladness of those who hope in You is not short-lived nor transient;

Wherefore, 'They shall exult forever,' since You dwell in them.

For how shall he not always have exultation in whom God is present, dwelling as in His own temple? For just as being far from God, when sin takes one captive, is worthy of lamentations and mournings, so it is fitting to exult for those who have God indwelling and walking about within them.

The foregoing may also be said concerning the coming of the Saviour, when all who eagerly awaited His becoming man rejoiced;

for this was the hope of the prophets and of those who understood the prophecies.

For God the Word came to dwell among us, having become flesh by the assumption of flesh, that He might tabernacle in those who believe in Him;

'For the Word,' it says, 'became flesh and dwelt among us.'

When He had thus tabernacled, 'They shall exult forever,' those who have received Him within themselves;

for they shall behold the glory of the Word who tabernacled among them through the flesh, 'as of the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth' — those who from this present time exult unto the age, having in very deed beheld the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, of whom they say:

'Even if we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer,' having the contemplation of His glory according to which He is only-begotten from the Father.

The Cross is both a weapon and a crown;

a weapon for those who fight, a crown for those who conquer.

a weapon for the soldiers, a crown for those who reign.

And he who has a more divine understanding is himself also, being such a one, embraced within the hymns;

and this psalm too is sung 'unto the end,' inasmuch as the contemplations concerning the eighth day are most perfect.

And one must consider what is the spiritual circumcision by which he who has it is circumcised unto God, whereas he who is circumcised according to the flesh does not necessarily have this.

At any rate, the prophet says to those who are zealous only about the fleshly circumcision: 'Be circumcised to your God, and do not circumcise the flesh of your foreskin.'

And again the same prophet:

'All the nations are uncircumcised in flesh, but the house of Israel are uncircumcised in their heart.'

Just as, therefore, he who is circumcised in a perceptible manner removes something of the member that serves procreation, so he who has cast out every reasoning that is a friend to the coming-to-be of the understanding has circumcised his heart.

This circumcision have those who have genuinely set celibacy before themselves, caring for the things of the Lord, that they may please Him.

This circumcision is accomplished on the eighth day;

for he who is circumcised must transcend the world that came to be in six days, and this is what it is to come to be in the seventh day, which is a true, holy, and delightful Sabbath.

And since ceasing from worldly doings does not suffice for perfect blessedness, it is necessary to attain, after the abiding in the Sabbath, the supra-mundane condition which is the eighth.

He who has a longing to experience this will not love the world nor the things in it.

To this spiritual understanding we are also led by hand by that which was mingled with the ordinance of the perceptible circumcision, which does not preserve its reasonableness for those who remain upon the bare letter of history;

'Every,' it says, 'male shall be circumcised on the eighth day.'

Upon the transgression of what is thus enjoined, a threat of extermination is decreed against the child that is not circumcised on the eighth day, but not against the parents or against him who otherwise rears the child;

for the threat would seem reasonable if it were brought against one of these, but it no longer preserves what is fitting when directed against an eight-day-old child who as yet has no capacity to act, especially with the intention of keeping God's commandment.

He is reproved in wrath, whose sins are made manifest, a bitter and painful discipline being brought upon him by way of recompense; so that he who has fallen under the things brought on by God's anger, taking to himself an awareness of the wickedness that became the cause of his suffering these things, is chastened in wrath.

With this meaning it is said, by one who has been brought to awareness: 'I will bear the anger of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him, until He justify my cause; and He shall bring forth my judgement and lead me into the light.'

For whenever, having been brought to such a condition, he knows that the anger has been brought upon him from God by way of healing, he is not for the present displeased to be subject to it, until the judgement of Him who so judged for the sake of help be justified.

For he knows that when the anger has accomplished its purpose according to the intention of Him who brought it on, he shall be led forth into the light by God, His judgement having been carried away by Him.

If, then, of those who are reproved and chastened, some are supported through wrath and anger, others through rational teaching, these things must be traversed: the painful things are brought on for reproof and chastening.

For the change of mind that follows upon these is no longer altogether voluntary, whereas the approach through reason has much of the voluntary in its reproof and chastening.

'All things,' it says, 'that are reproved are made manifest by the light,' Paul writes.

The reproof through light is a manifestation that comes about by way of demonstration, not of sinners only but also of the righteous — God illumining the hidden things of the sinners (who because of ignorance and wickedness are called darkness) and making manifest the counsels of the hearts of the righteous.

Nevertheless, even if the wrath and anger of God bring on painful things, yet they come about with a good intention, to hinder wickedness and impiety.

Indeed, he who has experienced the usefulness of anger and wrath gives thanks, saying:

'You turned away Your wrath and had mercy on me.'

And God Himself, making manifest the goodness hidden within His anger, says: 'When there be anger of My wrath, again I will heal;'

for He brings it on not to harm men, but to do away with the evils which they had by their own choice.

For even if 'the wrath of God is revealed from heaven,' yet it is brought upon all impiety and unrighteousness of men, that there may be done away from them the unrighteousness and impiety which they had before they experienced the wrath.

That no passion of God is presented by these expressions, we learn also from the words of Moses spoken to God, which run thus:

'You sent forth Your wrath, and it devoured them like stubble.'

The painful things that lay hold of the wicked are here called the anger of God, coming upon those who deserve it by His judgement.

Anger is the passion of those who are sent forth;

for it has its being only in the irascible power of the soul, outside of which it has no subsistence whatsoever;

for it belongs to those things which have their being in others.

But the healing of the soul's weakness is the power from God, so that he who has attained it says: 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.'