Commentary on the Psalms (Fragments) 1 part 19/40

There, whence Adam was cast out from the Paradise planted toward the east, that he might bring him again into the east — which indeed he has done, saying to the penitent thief: 「Today you shall be with me in Paradise.」

The word, cheering those who are worn down by Satan, urges them to exultation by showing forth him who will be their protector and helper, who is a father of the orphans and a judge of the widows.

Wherefore let it be your earnest concern to exult before him, especially when, having forsaken your former father who begot you according to wickedness and the first husband who dwelt with you lawlessly, you have become orphans from him;

for you shall have God as your Father.

But also the souls that have renounced the lawless union, having become widowed of it, shall make trial of dwelling together with God.

His holy place is either the Church sanctified by Christ, or each one of those who have believed;

and his holy place is also the ensouled and rational body which he assumed.

But he also leads the dead forth from their tombs, according to the saying, 'The dead shall rise, and those in the graves shall be raised up.'

For the dew that comes from you is healing to them.

Such also is the saying in the Gospel: 'The hour shall come when all who are in the graves shall hear his voice' (that is, the voice of the Son), 'and they shall come forth: those who have done good, unto the resurrection of life, but those who have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgement.'

In its midst, when he said, 'Behold, your house is left unto you desolate,' in accordance with the saying in Jeremiah, 'I have forsaken my house, I have abandoned my inheritance.' As he passed through the wilderness—that is, the Church gathered from the nations—'the earth was shaken,' that is, the letter and the shadow of the Law, so called on account of its grossness.

The shaking of this earth came about when the heavens dropped down the divine mind, according to the life-giving Spirit of the divine Scriptures.

By 'heavens' in these passages are meant either Moses and the prophets, or the mystical contemplations.

'Heaven' and 'clouds' amount to the same thing in this respect.

Here indeed 'the heavens dropped,' while elsewhere it says, 'Let the clouds rain down righteousness.'

But of the nations too that were removed from idolatry 'the earth was shaken,' now that the evangelical order prevails—the apostles and evangelists and the rest of the teachers pouring forth their spiritual offspring.

The rain of which we spoke was prepared, in that the life-giving flesh of the Lord, which received the cross out of weakness—a cross chosen and longed for—was made complete, having come to life by the power of God.

For the divine Word gave life to his own body, which was crucified out of weakness.

And 'poor,' in the singular, can signify the people from among the nations who believed, because they were without God and had no hope at all.

Concerning this people the prophecy of Isaiah says, 'Therefore the poor people shall bless you, and the cities of men who are wronged shall bless you.'

And those who were oppressed under Satan were the ones being wronged.

Another interpreter said that it signifies the lots and the channels of the waters.

For it is said in Genesis concerning Issachar that, called a man who is a farmer, he took his rest in the midst of the lots.

And this must now be turned toward the Old and the New Covenant.

For these are the ones that bring to souls the spiritual watering unto spiritual fruitfulness.

Between these two lots someone lies down, consenting that they belong to the one God, so as to distinguish the spirit from the letter.

One who thus lies down between the lots takes wings, understanding according to the Holy Spirit.

And since the wings of this dove, which are acts of understanding lifting up the winged soul and are attested by the divine oracles to be, as it is said, refined silver, they are 'covered with silver,' the back of the dove being fitted together with the pale-green sheen of gold.

In many places of the divine Scriptures gold is taken to signify the purest mind.

And the gold has a pale-green hue, signifying its life.

For this colour is a symbol of living plants.

You might also interpret the phrase 'in the midst of the lots' in this way as well:

In Leviticus, on the Day of Atonement, two goats were brought to the tent of witness.

Then, when the lot had been cast, the one was led to the altar to be offered up in smoke to the Lord, while the other was sent away to the wilderness as the scapegoat.

And these are symbols of good and of evil,

in the midst of which one must, by discernment, offer up the good as a sacrifice to the Lord, but send away the evil to the one who is pleased with it, since from him it took its beginning.

And the knowledge of the divine Scripture is like gold flashing forth.

These are the virtues, which water the mind with their stream and cool the burning heat of the passions.

For neither in the words 'You shall wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow' is the discourse about sensible snow.

For that snow is not comparable to the brightness of a purified soul.

Of the same kind is the saying, 'Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow,' and, 'Her Nazirites were made purer than snow.'

And 'Salmon' is interpreted as 'shadow of a portion.'

Perhaps, then, since the kings (these being the apostles) once judaized by keeping the Law according to the shadow, they belong to the shadow of a portion—having indeed a spiritual portion, yet having also had experience of the shadow.

Such is the one who says, 'A Hebrew of Hebrews, according to the Law a Pharisee.'

The portion of the disciples of Christ was indeed in the heavens, according to the saying, 'to him who has made us fit for the portion of the saints in light'; yet they had not yet attained to it. Even though they had their citizenship in the heavens, still walking upon earth, knowing in part and prophesying in part, and having the pledge of the Spirit, they were in the shadow of their own portion.

Therefore it is also a great thing for one who is in this portion to be made snow-white, having a life without stain.

Strictly speaking, the Saviour is the mountain of God.

For it is said concerning him, 'In the last days the mountain of the Lord shall be made manifest.'

And again, 'Get you up onto a high mountain, you who bring good tidings to Zion.'

And the ascent is by way of progress.

God the Word, therefore, being wisdom and life and sanctification, is 'rich'—not receiving richness from without, but supplying it to those who partake of him.

This mountain, besides being 'rich,' is also 'curdled,' giving milk to some to drink and imparting solid food to others—this solid food being none other than the milk itself.

For that same milk, when curdled, became the food of the perfect.

The phrase 'curdled' may also be interpreted in this way:

The 'rich mountain,' being God, became man, taking on flesh from a virgin, on account of which it is called 'curdled,' the human birth being made plain by this expression—as is clear from Job, who says to God, 'Remember that you fashioned me as clay,' and what follows;

'Did you not pour me out like milk, and curdle me like cheese? You clothed me with skin and flesh,' and what follows.

Then, since even after becoming 'curdled' he preserves the Godhead unharmed, and after being curdled he is 'rich,' as the very expression sets forth in saying, 'A curdled mountain, a rich mountain'—

for both before being curdled and after it, he is 'rich.'

Then he adds, 'Why do you suppose there are curdled mountains? This is the mountain in which God was well pleased.' And the discourse will fit rather against the followers of Valentinus.

For since the Saviour is called by many appellations in Scripture, they supposed that by each one a different substance was indicated, so as to say that the Lord is one thing distinct from Jesus, and Wisdom another, and so on.

So then, the mountain in which the Lord dwells is one, according to the saying, 'God was in Christ,' and, 'The Father who abides in me.'

He therefore demands the reason for which they supposed there to be many curdled mountains, whereas the one incarnate from the God-bearing Virgin is a single curdled mountain, in which the Lord, dwelling to the end, takes up his abode, not passing over from one to another as in the case of the holy men.

But teachers too have arisen from among men—both Moses and the prophets and the apostles—and angels as well.

For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, each one was 'rich,' being made rich as by God, from whom he had also been curdled.

'The chariot of God is not of one kind, but is manifold beyond number,' having yoked to it patriarchs, Moses and the prophets, apostles, evangelists, angels, archangels, principalities, thrones, dominions, and, in a word, all who are possessed by God and have the Holy Spirit; concerning whom he says in an ode, 'Mount upon your horses, and your horsemanship is salvation.'

For through them he stretched out the saving Gospel into the whole inhabited world.

For there are shown to be many ranks of rational beings yoked to the yoke of Christ.

For this reason it is added, 'as it were one chariot of thousands upon thousands of them that flourish.'

For none among them is unfruitful.

Just as, then, those in whom God rides form one chariot and vehicle, so also those who have become at Sinai one mountain have the Lord within themselves giving the Law.

And high is that mountain upon which God, having come down, commands Moses to ascend.

For it is impossible for a created being to ascend to the divine height, unless God has first come down together into him.

And 'Sinai' is interpreted as 'temptation'—not as synonymous with hardship, but with 'trial,' by which one who is tested through much experience will become high, so as to be shown forth as the lawgiver who ascends upon it and as the hierophant of God by an oracle.

To him who took captive those oppressed under Satan and set them free from his tyrannical savagery, having given his own soul as a ransom for many.

In this manner he redeemed all.

For since not all come to him willingly and of their own accord, he takes even those who are disobedient, so that they may dwell with him.

For many, disobeying the call of the Gospel, have been drawn by sickness and by some other hardship.

Yet there are times when, through visions also, they came to make their dwelling with Jesus.

Since such great benefits have been wrought by the Lord, how could they fail to bless the Author of so many and so great good things — and to bless Him not at some times and not at others, but every single day, mingling prayer with their blessing? They ask that they may be prospered by God, who holds out salvation.

He is 'blessed' (worthy of praise) not because He receives blessings, but because He bestows them.

For just as He is good, not by becoming good but by making others good, and holy by sanctifying, not by being sanctified,

so too He is blessed, being the fountain of all blessing.

If the words before us are spoken concerning the common death, there are countless ways, familiar to all, that lead to the common death.

But if what is signified here concerns living according to God and the death opposed to this, then our God, being the Saviour, is the God of saving.

Indeed He says concerning Himself: 'There is none that saves besides Me.'

Therefore, just as it belongs to God to save, so also the outlets of death belong to Him, since He is Lord, ever providing outlets by which one may go forth, through repentance, from the death that follows upon sin.

For the devil too is so named in the words 'Death, having prevailed, swallowed them up.'

And He provides the outlets of death to him who has been lifted up from the gates of death.

Now 'the heads of enemies' are either the rulers or the governing powers, as in the text 'From the head of the rulers of the nations';

and the governing faculty is indicated in the words 'Their ways I have laid upon their heads,' and in 'Thy hands are upon thy head.'

And perhaps both are signified by the text 'Thou hast cast death upon the heads of the lawless,' since God does good so that they may no longer live wickedly, the life lived according to sin being circumscribed.

But these, being enemies through their transgressing, journey on in their transgressions.

It should be noted that divine Scripture applies the name of 'contemplation' to the case of Moses.

For the ways of God are not grasped by sight, but by pious and upright understanding.

By 'those who sing psalms' we must understand those who rightly accomplish the practical life; and 'the young women playing timbrels' are consistently to be taken as the souls who have put to death their members that are upon the earth, and who bear about the dying of Jesus in their own body.

These psalm-singers were preceded by the rulers in the way of teaching, in that these too had begun from practical virtue.

But they are also in the midst of the young women — those who are called 'young women' because they have made a beginning of playing the timbrel, that is, of putting to death their members that are upon the earth.

The rulers who go before the psalm-singers are the apostles.

'The fountains of Israel' are the writings of the Law and the Prophets.

For from these fountains the Lord is blessed by those able to draw from them, since they are fountains of salvation, yielding water with gladness.

And this is that concerning which Jesus said: 'Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will have within himself a fountain of water springing up unto eternal life.'

By this we must refute those who sever the Old Scripture from the New, showing that they cannot bless God in the churches, since they do not possess the fountains of Israel, nor its Lord, in that they dare to divide the very Godhead.

'Command Thy power over all,' O Creator, that, when it has come to dwell among us, it may dissolve the weakness of men.

And it will dissolve that weakness by coming to us from Thy temple, when He who was wrought for our sake has been empowered.

And this is the birth of Emmanuel, in that Thy Word became flesh.

God spoke, that all things might come to be, and He commanded, that the various things might be created.

When the weakness has been dissolved by the presence of God's power, the kings bring gifts to God unto the spiritual Jerusalem, that is, the Church.

And if those kings whom the Heavenly One distinguished in His inheritance were the ones bearing gifts to Jerusalem, then those benefited by them are the ones being brought forward.

Thus the apostle Peter presented as a gift his brother Andrew, and Philip presented Nathanael, and the other apostles presented yet more; while others brought as gifts earnest thoughts, and words, and praiseworthy deeds.

Nathanael and all of them presented their own disciples;

or rather the faithful, according to the text 'Would that you did reign, that we also might reign with you' — whose gifts are thoughts and words and praiseworthy deeds.

Concerning these the prophecy may be spoken which runs thus: 'Woe to those who write wickedness.'

By 'the Egyptian woman' He signified the whole land over which the spiritual Pharaoh ruled, and by 'Ethiopia' the darkness and unsightliness of the souls that are in sins;

as He also says in one of the psalms: 'And behold, the foreigners and Tyre and the people of the Ethiopians;'

'these were born there' (clearly, in the spiritual Zion).

And Zephaniah too says: 'Then will I turn unto the peoples a language, that all may call upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him under one yoke;'

that Ethiopia is filled from among the kingdoms, and in what is called...

This very one, both she who is 'from near' and Ethiopia, having become spiritual and having brought with her genuine repentance, says concerning herself: 'I am black and beautiful;'

black indeed because of idolatry and practical wickedness, but beautiful because of her withdrawal from those things, on account of which I was called black.

But what shall belong to her when she has made confession and has stretched out her hand to God, or been cleansed by casting away every stain of heart and coming to be in light? This is shown by the passage from the Song of Songs, in her being seen together with — even so, indeed, that Ethiopia signifies all the nations, the bride who speaks through repentance sets forth, saying: 'I am black and beautiful;'

black indeed and unsightly because of idolatry and practical wickedness, but beautiful because of her withdrawal from these.

And it belonged to her to become radiant, having stretched out her hand to God, so that those who behold her, together with Him who has done her good, say: 'Who is this that comes up made white?' His voice is the divine Scripture.

To her He will give a voice, that she may receive spiritual power.

But if in these words too we must take John as His voice, who said 'I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness,' then it must be said that the Saviour, having mounted upon the heaven of heaven and fulfilled the prophecies that had foretold His incarnation and death and resurrection and ascension, gave a voice to those prophecies.

For the things that speak of what is to come seem weak on account of the uncertainty of the outcome, but then receive a voice of power when it is fulfilled.

And it is well said that God has mounted upon the heaven of heaven;

which alone is reserved for the Lord, according to the text 'The heaven of heaven belongs to the Lord,' and 'Behold, to the Lord thy God belong the heaven and the heaven of heaven,' into which none of the intelligible beings is by nature able to ascend.

For it is not some created thing or place into which God ascended as heaven, but a preeminence befitting God, or an ineffable state, not disclosed by any proper term.

Becoming thankful in deed and word, glorify Him with hymns and theologies, that you may be able to contain His magnificence, having become the true Israel, seeing God through purity of heart.

For the transcendent knowledge of God, having its fitting place among great things, dwells only with him who possesses sanctification and peace.

Since from beginning to end it keeps the same person speaking, it follows that the whole is to be understood according to the same connected sequence of thought.

Since, then, the psalm signifies the Lord who came to dwell among us, who by His life and teaching so changed men that from unbelieving and sinful they became believing and righteous, most fittingly the title stands: 'Concerning those who shall be changed.'

But also those who believed from among the circumcision were changed, living according to the spirit of the law.

But if the change also takes place in reverse, from the better to the worse quality, I say even so:

no less will it be 'concerning those who shall be changed,' namely the Jews who did not believe in Him.

And whether it refers also to those changed by the resurrection from the dead, according to the text 'And we shall be changed,' consider together.

For if the psalm is spoken in the person of Christ, and there is signified in it also His passion, upon which, when He had died and risen, it follows that all are raised, then it is not out of tune to understand the title as being 'concerning those who shall thus be changed.'

It should be known that most of what is in this psalm is spoken by Jesus in our person, since He bears our weaknesses and grieves on our behalf.

This one, then, makes confession concerning sins of which He has done absolutely nothing.

If, then, He does not confess on His own behalf, it is clear that He does this on our behalf.

For indeed those who, entreating a king on behalf of sinners who have fled because of what they did, take the transgressions of those for whom they entreat upon their own person, and ask for benefaction and pardon of the evils done by them.

It is indeed the custom of the saints, in their confessions on behalf of others, to say: 'We have sinned, we have transgressed, we have acted impiously.'

If, then, the king's bodyguards and the friends of God intercede on behalf of others, asking grace as if in their own person, it is nothing strange that, out of surpassing solicitude, He should make confession on our behalf and demand grace and pardon on behalf of others — He who is the Advocate with the Father on behalf of the sins of the whole world.

Concerning our sins, then, He gives account — sins of which He has done absolutely nothing.

For it is unfitting that the Saviour, who is the supplier of all good things, should ask anything for Himself.

He therefore takes away the sin of the world, and holds out forgiveness of sins to those who come to Him.

Since, then, the Lord came to that place not because of sin but on account of the death which He undertook on our behalf, He says: 'The tempest sank me down into the depths of the sea.'

The 'tempest' signifies temptations, just as in the words 'a tempest passed through the desert,' and 'I waited for the God who saves me from faintheartedness and from the tempest.'

You should not suppose that this stands opposed to the saying, 'No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of myself,' since he willingly took death upon himself.

For since he is said to have given up his life not through sickness nor simply by his own natural end, but having endured the cross, on this account he is said to be sunk by the tempest, even though he did not endure it unwillingly, having become obedient to the Father even unto death.

This is illustrative of the deafening of the Jews.

If then, praying that one ought not to lose heart but to cry out to God day and night, he said that he had grown weary in crying out—in accord with 'with strong crying and tears'—consider this together.

And he who has stretched out all his expectation toward God will say, 'My eyes have failed'—clearly meaning the eyes of the heart.

In vain is the benefactor of those who do these things persecuted and hated, as the Savior, who healed every kind of infirmity among the Jews and raised the dead, on account of which their city became conspicuous.

That those who hate the hated one are more numerous than the hairs of his head is spoken by way of hyperbole.

For the manner of hyperbole is regularly observed even in the Scriptures: 'What I did not seize, then I was repaying.'

Even though he repaid what he had not seized, yet he did redeem us—that is, in making payment he blotted out the handwriting that was against us, which we were compelled to pay, being brought forward against us.

And this has been blotted out and taken out of the way, since forgiveness of sins has been granted.

No sinner, indeed, has folly known by God, or faults abiding before him, since the lawless do not remain over against his eyes.

Why is anyone troubled at hearing of 'folly'? For this term is not far from confessing that he had ignorance, when in speaking to certain ones he says, 'I never knew you.'

And he affirms that he did not know anything about the day and hour of the judgment.

As, then, these things are received in a pious sense, so also the matters concerning his 'folly' will attain clarity when understood piously.

For indeed a teacher possessing perfect knowledge, through condescension to beginners, appears to know these things of which those are capable, in a certain way likening himself to them.

Everyone has accepted such a condescension as being in a certain sense ignorance and folly.

For since, being rich in wisdom, he became poor for our sake, so as to be supposed by some not to be wisdom, he took on folly through which we should become rich 'in all utterance and all knowledge.'

Correspondingly to the folly thus understood, it is fitting also to receive the faults 'not hidden from God.'

But what have those to say who are superstitiously scrupulous about these words, when such things are said about God in which there is rather absurdity? For how is forgetfulness, repentance, wrath, anger—all of which, and yet very many more than these, are said of God—not worse than folly and faults? Either, then, let them say that these words too are not spoken of God, or let them consent also to the ones set before us.

This saying, spoken by the Savior, the apostle who speaks in Christ has taken up, writing thus:

'Let each of us please his neighbor for good.'

'For Christ also did not please himself, as it is written: The reproaches of those who reproached you fell upon me.'

Jesus abstained from fasting, so as to acquire among the more malicious the reputation of a glutton and a wine-drinker.

It might indeed be said to him that neither Jesus nor his disciples were always in eating and drinking, even if they did this when invited to feasts for the sake of benefiting others and working signs.

Looking, then, to the feasts, they called him a glutton and a wine-drinker.

For indeed he also fasted forty days.

Since, then, fasting is a hindrance to the soul's being lifted up by irrational passions, he said, 'I covered my soul in fasting.'

It is customary for the wicked to reproach the good for the virtues which they possess.

'For godliness is an abomination to the sinner.'

Since the Savior confesses on our behalf and is afflicted, he intimates by the 'sackcloth' the hard and painful manner of life.

For it was not in a perceptible sense stated anywhere that Jesus put on sackcloth.

But some say that by this garment is signified the body which Christ took on.

'Therefore hear me in the abundance of your mercy,' granting the salvation that is in truth to those on whose behalf I make request.

And this will come to pass when you save him who has died, through resurrection.

For thus there will be life and salvation on their behalf, which I take upon myself.

Salvation 'in truth' is that which is according to God, since the salvation wrought by physicians and generals for the sick and endangered is not in truth but in figure and image.

If then at some time, pointing me out to them, you said, 'This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased,' raise up him who is crucified on their behalf.

For thus is the 'season,' that is, the end of the good pleasure of your will, which is for the sake of salvation.

'Therefore hear me also,' that when I am made alive, those who are dead through sin may be made alive together with me.

Initiating us into this mystery, the apostle said: 'God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, made us, who were dead through trespasses and sins, alive together with Christ.'

And he offers this petition on our behalf, that we may not be fixed fast in the body through the passions—here named 'mire.'

That he may take them away, having ascended upon the cross—which is the 'mire'—consider this together.

The 'waters' are the temptations which he took upon himself for our sake, that his salvation alone might belong to us.

'For in that he himself has suffered, being tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.'

And the 'deep' of the waters interpreted is that into which fall those who do not nobly bear their trials, from which, being unable to be delivered by God alone, they say, 'Out of the depths I cried to you, O Lord,' and the rest; and he asks that these too may belong to him for our sake.

For none of the things that harm others astonishes or frightens him.

If, then, even in the very presence of death he begins to be astonished and distressed, this is chiefly for our sake, and not least that he might be shown to have truly become man; on this account he takes on these sufferings.

One must suppose that those who hate him are both the demons and the men who hate him, such as were those who said, 'Away, away, crucify him.'

Let not the calamities hold me as a pit, so that they become for me utterly without escape.

For he sets these things figuratively, abiding by the theme from the beginning.

For there too he said, 'For the waters have come in even unto my soul,' and how, having said, 'And a tempest has sunk me'—

since it is possible for one who has been sunk to swim up again, he prays, concerning the things of which he had experience, not to receive a second trial of them again.

Since out of great goodness your mercy—which I ask may come upon those on whose behalf I make request—will be kind (for you will loose their sins), hear me.

As you will look upon me interceding on behalf of all, they will be saved not one by one or by twos but according to the multitude of your compassions, and will obtain much benefit.

For it was to administer these things that, in your will, you sent me.

For I was sent not to judge but to save the world, by your compassions toward those who are benefited and by your kind mercy.

And the addition 'kind' establishes that not all mercy is of such a sort.

For God says concerning the guilty ones to those who judge, 'Your eye shall not spare him, nor shall you have mercy on him.'

It is not plausible that these things are spoken in the person of the Only-begotten stripped of the incarnation, even if at times the appellation 'child/servant' signifies someone's son.

But rather it was clearly he who emptied himself and took the form of a servant and became like us in all things apart from sin, and appropriated to himself our sufferings (I mean the natural and blameless ones), who said:

'Attend to my soul and redeem it.'