Commentary on the Psalms (Fragments) 1 part 2/40

And since it is not said everywhere in Scripture 'bones' in the sense that what is signified is entirely about perceptible things, one must attend to the words 'All my bones shall say, Lord, Lord, who is like unto You?' and to 'Our bones were scattered beside Hades.'

The word 'Turn' is understood in two ways.

For at one time such an understanding is signified:

Since You have turned Your face away from me, I entreat You for that which is profitable to me, that You may turn and shine it upon me.

But at another time such a contemplation is presented:

Since my soul in sinning has turned away to its own hurt, turn it back toward Yourself, calling it according to the saying, 'Return, O apostate sons,' and redeem it from the sins that have estranged it and from the evil powers that work them.

Those who suppose that the foregoing was spoken concerning the common death go astray, or rather they act impiously.

For the holy men have remembrance of God not only then, when they possess the common life, but much more when they are separated from the corruptible body.

What, then, does he say? Since no one who remembers You comes to be in the death which sin gives birth to (and this is that which separates the sinning soul from the virtuous life), yet I long to have remembrance of You;

having inclined Your goodness unto this very thing;

save me, that the weakness and disturbance which cleave to me may not prevail against me, and I be swallowed up by death.

For it is not said, 'He who is in death does not remember God,' but 'He who remembers Him is not in death,' concerning whom the Saviour says, 'He who hears My word shall not behold death forever.'

See whether 'I have grown old among all my enemies' can also bear another understanding.

He who lived in righteousness was ever young, ever living according to the newness of the Spirit and the New Covenant;

but since, through our own carelessness, I fell away from a praiseworthy manner of life and came to be among the enemies, I have grown old according to the oldness of that man whom Paul exhorts us to put off (for that is the wicked life), so that we might 'put on the new man, who is created according to God in holiness and in the knowledge of the truth'; and this is the life that is without stain.

You will understand that these things are also said with reference to the invisible enemies who wrought the plot against him, and the evil powers who envy his progress toward God, and who, after his sin, malignantly rejoicing over his misfortune, say, 'There is no salvation for him in his God.'

With a good disposition he prays on behalf of his enemies;

for he wishes them to be put to shame for the things they were doing, on account of which they were enemies both of the righteous and of God.

And this will be to their advantage;

for he who, out of awareness, is ashamed and troubled at the wickedness being worked by him, and condemns it, will cease from still acting in that way.

The interpretation is confirmed from the verse that follows, which reads thus:

'Let the enemies be turned back and put to confusion,' no longer driving forward into wickedness, but turning back to the virtuous manner of life which they had abandoned.

And let this very thing, which is for their good, come to pass not with delay in time nor slackly, but 'exceedingly and speedily.'

He was called 'son of Jemini' from the tribe from which Saul came, and Shimei, and the one who reported the tidings concerning Saul; but 'son of Arachi' from his father; and 'chief companion' means the ruler of the friends and one of old in friendship.

He sings the psalm in a practical way, yet at the same time offering it contemplatively.

It is stated in the superscription of the fourth psalm that a psalm signifies action, while an ode signifies contemplation;

for an ode is the contemplation concerning practical matters and moral instruction, while a psalm of an ode is the action necessarily taken up in the contemplation of the truth;

for many things are done for the sake of the contemplation of wisdom, which one would not be off the mark to call a psalm of an ode.

These things being thus contemplated, David fittingly sings the psalm set before us, which is practical, while contemplating, concerning each of the things done wisely and altogether in a manner befitting God, wishing to know what each thing is that is signified by the things thus perceptibly accomplished.

We must also set forth the very words of the psalm, which begin thus:

And who is this but he who said, 'There is no Saviour besides me,' who came 'to seek and to save that which was lost,' and 'to give his life a ransom for many'?

And these things show that the Father, being God, saves through the Son, who is God the Word;

wherefore neither in the present passages must one divide the divinity of the Father and of the Son, as it has seemed good to some.

'I beseech thee, O Lord, that thou, having arisen in wrath, mayest be seen exalted in the borders of thine enemies;'

for thus the things of injustice, on account of which they happen to be my enemies, will come to an end.

It is possible to call the 'borders of the enemies' their boastings and haughtinesses, at which, having arrived, and reckoning themselves secure in them, they suppose themselves to be among the most excellent ends.

For not rendering evil for evil, but having forbearance toward those who are his enemies, he prays that they may know that God is exalted in their borders, having used wrath not against their substance but against the wicked disposition which they have.

And since a reading is transmitted which has 'in the borders of my enemies,' it is made clear that they are the enemies of the holy one and of God.

It is all but to say: 'According to my innocence and my righteousness, bring upon me thy judgment;'

for thus also shall I be justified, no injustice being found in my deeds.

By 'innocence' here, he says, one must not understand simple-mindedness, according to what is written, 'The innocent believes every word,' but the simplicity that is pure of guile, in which sense it is said to God by the holy one, 'But for my innocence thou hast upheld me,' and the phrase 'In my innocence I have walked.'

Paul, indeed, writing about the difference between these things concerning the Jews, said, 'For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge;'

'for being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to the righteousness of God.'

And calling 'the righteousness of God' that which comes to all who believe through Jesus Christ, which he himself also obtained by longing for it, he says that all things have been cast away on account of which he was righteous in a Jewish manner, that he might be found having the righteousness which is from God through faith, and not his own.

Jesus, wishing this to belong also to the disciples, said to them, 'Unless your righteousness abound more than that of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of the heavens.'

This distinction between human righteousness and that of God existing, he wishes to be judged according to that of the Master, knowing that being thus judged 'shall turn out to him for salvation.'

In the case of God, 'to examine and search hearts' does not signify to seek and track down, but to have a complete comprehension;

for he is the knower of secret things, and every mind is manifest to him.

And by 'kidneys' one must not understand the bodily ones, but the intellective powers of the soul, called by the same name as the bodily ones.

This is established from several Scriptures, one of which is: 'Thou art near to their mouth, but far from their kidneys.'

This is said concerning wicked men, who in word confess that there is a God, but do not have him in their understanding.

'Righteous is my help from God, who saves the upright in heart.'

By this he teaches, in effect, if he saves the upright in heart,

then from him is that whereby I shall be saved;

I have an upright heart that is apart from all guile;

wherefore also I ask to be judged according to my innocence.

Having offered a supplication for the perfecting of the wickedness of sinners and for the Lord to be exalted in the borders of the enemies, having arisen in wrath, out of love toward his neighbors, he wishes no one to suffer the consummation of wickedness unwillingly, but rather that they, knowing God by deliberate knowledge, may recognize him to be their judge.

And if God is a righteous judge, one must fear to sin;

for we have our account to render to a judge who sees what is hidden and is ignorant of none of the things done.

And just as he is a judge, so also is he righteous, bringing the judgment upon those judged by him according to their desert.

And being a righteous judge, he also has the strength so as to be able without delay to chastise those who err.

If, then, someone is not immediately punished for the impieties and sins committed, the deferral of retribution comes about through the longsuffering that springs from the goodness of the judge;

for if he were only a righteous and mighty judge, the whole would be utterly destroyed, since the mind of men is prone to sinning; but he has, in addition to what has been said, also the being longsuffering.

For being good, he does not bring wrath every day, although impiety exists on each occasion and sins are being committed.

And he is longsuffering not that we may persist in wickedness, but that we may have time and place for repentance;

for he wills the repentance of the sinner, that he may live rather than the death which he receives by persisting in sin, being ignorant of what is said: 'The goodness of God leads thee to repentance.'

Nevertheless, even if he does not bring wrath every day on account of his surpassing goodness and longsuffering, yet upon those who persist in wickedness throughout life, wrath shall be brought in the day of wrath, that is, in the day of judgment.

'For unless ye turn back,' he says, 'taking pleasure in persisting in sin, he will furbish his sword' (that is, will whet it);

and together with it he will also make ready his bow, preparing in it vessels of death, having already fashioned the arrows of chastisements against those who are set aflame by the burning of the passions.

In many places of the divine instructions, chastisement is found signified by the name of the sword.

For the passage in the prophet Amos which reads thus, 'By the sword shall all the sinners of the people die,' does not signify a perceptible knife;

for not by all means are all sinners done away with by a slaughter understood in a literal sense;

since this is not necessary, it is established that all sinners meet their end being delivered over to chastisement, to perish in soul and body in Gehenna.

The same thing is signified also in the prophet Zephaniah, God saying:

'And ye also, O Ethiopians, are the slain of my sword,' by the sword of God there made clear, since everyone is called an 'Ethiopian' on account of the darkening that comes from ignorance and wickedness.

And most clearly, in Exodus, the sword is taken up in place of the cruelest punishment;

there, the scribes of the sons of Israel who were over the works of the tyrant, appointed by him, having fallen under a most bitter threat and affliction, when they met Moses and Aaron, said, invoking a curse:

'May God look upon you and judge;'

'for ye have made our savour to be abhorred before Pharaoh, so as to put a sword into his hand to slay us.'

For it was not the iron knife that they had in view, but the cruelty of the ruler, that they spoke these things.

The longsuffering of God is established also from these words: he did not use the sword severely against those who do not repent, but furbished it.

And he also bent the bow and made it ready to shoot the arrows of chastisement, but he did not yet loose the arrows, although he had fashioned them and was ready to shoot.

It is possible to say that the 'vessels of death' made ready in the bow are those who minister to the chastisements, who are in many places named 'vessels of wrath.'

These are the wicked angels through whom wrath and fury and affliction are sent out upon those who deserve them.

But if the arrows fashioned for those set aflame, filled full of deadly poison, are the instruments of death, this too must be carefully weighed.

'He has been in travail with iniquity; he has conceived toil so as to bring forth unrighteousness.'

These offspring bring destruction upon the one who conceived them, who is to be punished for the iniquity and unrighteousness he committed, and who will accordingly incur along with them the toil that lies in punishment, or the toil that lies in sinning.

For the working of iniquity is most burdensome and oppressive, being likened to a talent of lead;

for nothing is more downward-tending than wickedness, which always drags down the one who has been shaped according to it.

It has been said by some that, because of the disorderliness of wickedness, the travail is spoken of before the conception.

For in the case of pregnant women, after conception comes the travail, and after the travail comes the giving birth; but here the travail is named before the conception, because nothing in wickedness has coherence or order.

It is also well put that iniquity is set before unrighteousness.

For one who has become lawless out of this is no longer under the law of righteousness, so that henceforth he even sets himself against other men to do them wrong.

This is found most especially in the case of Cain;

for having first become lawless by not rightly dividing what he ought to offer to God, he afterwards also brought forth unrighteousness by murderously assaulting his brother.

But most of all these utterances are appropriated to the devil, who is the author of evil, in that he transgressed and did wrong before all others.

And everyone who sins first harms himself, and then another or others;

for since evil is damaging and injurious, it above all damages and injures the one who partakes of it.

For 'the folly of a man ruins his ways,' whence it is aptly said, 'Evils shall hunt down those who sin.'

But what is the pit which the one being censured has dug, or the evil which he has wrought? For it is written concerning a sinning soul, 'As a cistern keeps its water cold, so its wickedness keeps it cold.'

And a ditch is in many places of Scripture taken for wickedness, as in 'If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a ditch;'

for here too we must understand the blind teachers and disciples who are blinded by ignorance and other wickedness.

Having begun the psalm from hoping in the Lord his God, he brings it to rest in thanksgiving, as is fitting, having obtained the things he asked for, or faithfully expecting them;

for here the word 'I will confess' signifies thanksgiving;

wherefore there is joined to it the phrase 'I will sing praise.'

And he confesses not just as it happens, but 'according to the righteousness of God;'

and he sings praise not carelessly, but 'to the name of the Lord Most High,' as one who has already had it invoked upon himself.

Wherefore he too is lofty in holiness and virtue;

for no lowly person, but only he who is exalted for the sake of godliness, has shared in the title of the Most High.

For the life of each man is called a vineyard according to the Scriptures.

Concerning such a vineyard the righteous Naboth withstood the one who tyrannically demanded it, choosing rather to die than to give his vineyard to the one who wished to make it a garden of herbs.

For the man was great-souled, and the vineyard was worth fighting for, being a most excellent life, at once practical and contemplative.

This the wicked wish to take, not in order to bear fruit in accord with it, but to drag it down into temporary and swiftly withering things, fittingly named herbs;

for it says, 'Like herbs they shall quickly fall away.'

This is said concerning those who have transient pursuits.

Similar to this vineyard are also those named in the Song of Songs in the words, 'The sons of my mother fought against me, they set me as keeper in the vineyards;'

'my own vineyard I have not kept.'

But we have here taken up this text only for the sake of showing that the name of the vineyard signifies life.

He who bears fruit in accord with such a vineyard produces clusters of truth and a grape-bunch.

When the vine's fruits, thus grown, have their season for being gathered, it is fitting to pluck them and to carry them off into the winepresses, so that when they are pressed out they may make the wine that gladdens the heart of man.

But he shall bring forth praiseworthy works.

The winepress into which the fruits are brought is not one, but many, whence the vintage song is not 'concerning the winepress' but 'concerning the winepresses.'

Again, since the practical virtues of the fruit are many, for each one there will be its own proper winepress: another winepress of temperance, into which those who succeed in celibacy and preserve an undefiled bed bring their fruits; another of courage, into which the cultivators of it bring theirs; and concerning the other virtues they establish the like.

And since there are several winepresses into which those who cultivate the practical virtues after the manner of vineyards bring their fruit, there must also be several belonging to the contemplative life, into which they bring the doctrines and contemplations of truth, having borne fruit like a grape-cluster; and it is said of these, 'Let no one deceive himself' by setting aside the mutual entailment of the virtues.

For where there is one, there are also the kindred ones; but since those who partake do not have an equal inclination toward all of them, they are named after that which they most have, rather than after the others.

He who partakes more of righteousness is named from it; likewise also in the case of each of the others.

For thus you will also understand the various beatitudes spoken in the Gospel, one being named meek from the predominant quality, another merciful, and correspondingly in the rest.

But this song is also arranged in its proper number, being the eighth.

For it has much harmony with the resurrection day of the Lord, on which the vintage of many vines took place, when the disciples of the one risen from the dead were sent out to make disciples of all the nations and to bear witness to the risen one unto the ends of the earth, so that the title of the risen one might be extended everywhere, as is immediately presented from the words of the psalm.

In former times, when Israel alone held fast to the worship of God, it was said concerning God, 'In Israel his name is great;' but now that the prophecy is fulfilled which says, 'All the nations shall serve him' (for he is the expectation of the nations), 'Marvellous has your name become in all the earth,' among those everywhere who partake of the name of Christ.

For 'he has magnified his name above all,' as is set forth in another psalm.

But what is the cause of his name being marvelled at everywhere in the earth is rendered in the following verse.

For since it says, 'Your magnificence has been lifted up above the heavens,' when you were taken up, having risen from the dead, the men everywhere on earth are called Christians by your title, the title of Christ.

The magnificence of the Saviour that is lifted up above the heavens is the economy which he undertook for the salvation of the world.

For what can be found in it that falls short of having, among great things, what is fitting? His magnificence was lifted up above the heavens, when he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, after he had made purification of sins.

By this understanding one must also take the fact that he became higher than the heavens after the resurrection.

But surely all who believe from among the nations and those from the circumcision who have come to the gospel, whatever and however great an age of the outer man they may ever have, are infants as regards wickedness, and are made childlike through having a simplicity that does not know evil.

A distinction between infants and sucklings is presented from the wording: the sucklings being those still receiving milk, while the infants are those named as having surpassed this age, for whom is fitting the food after milk, according to the apostle who wrote to the Corinthians, 'I gave you milk to drink, not solid food.'

The one being introduced, who receives milk, is a suckling; but he who has been made perfect in understanding, yet is childlike as regards wickedness, is an infant;

and such are all who have turned and become as little children.

For it is not far from their nature to have knowledge of you and to be made like you by the assumption of holiness and virtue, as far as is attainable.

And it is most rightly said, 'You made him lower,' but not 'You made him inferior.'

by providence, through which you alone are the one who provides, being surpassed for a mortal life by being interwoven with the flesh.

But even if the things concerning him have come to be thus, nevertheless he has surpassing honour, being crowned with honour and glory by you in that he came to be according to your image and likeness; on account of which image and likeness you entrusted to him, being a rational being, the charge over the mortal animals, having subjected all things to him so as to have them under his feet.

These words, spoken concerning Christ, Paul writes to the Hebrews, beginning the passage thus:

'Someone has somewhere testified, saying, What is man that you are mindful of him?' and, having set down in order the other words of the psalm, he added, 'But we behold Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, on account of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour;'

'for it became him, for whom are all things and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings.'

He has not been set to rule over all mortal animals once for all, but over the tame ones.

For he does not have power over the unicorn, nor is he presented as ruling over the other strong and wild creatures as if over tame ones, from the words 'All sheep and oxen, and further also the beasts of the field,' and what follows.

I think this has not been well said.

For before the transgression man ruled over these also;

and the righteous rule over these even after the transgression, as Daniel, cast into the pit of lions and suffering no harm from them, and Paul, who shook the viper from his own hand into the fire.

'For the wild beasts,' it says, 'shall be at peace with you.'

Besides these, together with the beasts of the field the wild animals are also comprehended, as we have learned in Genesis.

It was fitting that the ode spoken concerning the resurrection of the Saviour should have its end resemble its beginning; for both in commencing and in concluding it employs the very same phrase, since the Spirit teaches that, as to the underlying subject, the beginning is one with the end.

For both in beginning and in ending it uses the same phrase, the Spirit teaching that the beginning is, in respect of its subject-matter, identical with the end.

The words 'Let all the earth worship thee and sing to thee' accord with 'How wonderful is thy name in all the earth.'

Since it is not added whose son he is, it is evident that the Saviour is the one indicated, who is in many places named in this way.

Thus in the Epistle to the Hebrews Paul said, 'Christ as a son over his house, whose house we are';

and again, 'In these last days he has spoken to us in a Son';

and the Saviour himself, concerning himself, says in the Gospel, 'If then the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.'

It is well too that the present triumphal ode has reference 'unto the end';

for it was for the sake of that end that the Saviour came to dwell among us, concerning which the foremost of the apostles writes: 'Receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of souls; concerning which salvation the prophets sought and searched diligently'; and a little later, 'Testifying beforehand the sufferings destined for Christ and the glories that should follow.'

Perhaps the Jews will say that the title refers to Absalom, who was a son of the psalmist; but they are refuted as not having rightly understood it, being in all things led astray through their not searching the Scriptures.

For what plausible thing can they say concerning 'Of the hidden things,' unless perhaps they will maintain that the phrase 'concerning the hidden things' refers to the secretly formed designs of Absalom? But what they say has great silliness in it.

Such a sitting signifies that he is a judge, and not that he is settled upon some seat.

Consider whether there is room to say further that, when the nations have been rebuked, the ungodly perishes together with their godless manner of life, so that they no longer bear that name.

The swords of the enemy would perhaps be the heretical teachings and the several forms of vice, which failed so that they could no longer contend on behalf of the cities they held; and these too shall be destroyed;

for it is written concerning him who established them that he was 'building cities with blood and preparing cities with iniquities.'

For their material is iniquities and the shedding of the blood of those who are caused to stumble.

These the Saviour will destroy when he comes to dwell among us, casting down the enemy who wishes tyrannically to rule over the cities he supposed he had gotten.

Those who have beheld this valiant deed with a divine eye, praising the champion, utter the thanksgiving cry as if with one voice, beginning thus:

'O Lord my God, I will glorify thee, I will hymn thy name, for thou hast done wonderful things, an ancient and true counsel;

so be it, O Lord, for thou hast turned cities into a heap; the city of the ungodly shall never be built up for ever.'

Consider whether it signifies the fall of Jerusalem, never to be raised again, since the Saviour was crucified in her, her citizens being thereafter ungodly on account of the slaying of the Lord.

The phrase 'with a sound' stands instead of 'Not with quietness'—the sound of the shout of those who have gained the victory in their achievement.

The foregoing exhorts one to withdraw indeed from vice and impiety, but to draw near to virtue and godliness.

For what person of sense, believing what has thus been said, will not fear lest he fall under him who judges in righteousness and in uprightness, on account of blameworthy deeds and an impious mind? For since he judges thus, the judgment will be inescapable.

Indicative of this is what is spoken in the person of God, 'In an acceptable time I have heard thee,' and what stands thus in the hundred and first psalm:

'Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion, for it is time to have mercy upon her, for the appointed time is come.'

Having advanced above all human confidence (for holding a sure and perfect knowledge of thy name), they will place their hope in none of those things, but they seek God—those who will that all things be furnished to them by him, which of themselves they are unable to possess; whence they are not forsaken by him.

It is fitting to hear this phrase too devoutly and prudently.

For if anyone should suppose that the man who prospers in worldly affairs is not forsaken by God, he is mistaken;

for many ungodly men live in this way.

Since otherwise it would be time to say that Abel had been forsaken (for he was slain), and likewise the prophets and apostles;

for they were continually afflicted, and in the end most of them were slain by men.

Thus, when the distinction has been made, we say that the man who is upheld by God unto his last breath is not forsaken, even though he suffer ten thousand times at the hands of enemies.

For this is truly what it is not to be forsaken by the Lord.

The manner in which one ought to seek God is set forth from what stands thus in the book of Wisdom:

'Think of the Lord in goodness, and seek him in simplicity of heart, for he is found by those who do not tempt him, and he manifests himself to those who do not disbelieve him.'

Those who have their psalmody in spirit and in mind are commanded to speak a hymn; and these sing with godly understanding and by the inspiration of the Spirit;

for they are commanded to sing and make melody in the heart.

Those who thus make melody to the Lord who dwells in Zion, according to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, also receive from him another command, in the words 'to declare among the nations his doings.'

And these are all the wondrous things, both intelligible and perceptible, which he did when he came to dwell among us.

This second command might be spoken especially to the apostles who were sent to make disciples of all the nations.

And that 'requiring their blood he remembered' those slain by the fiery darts of the evil one.

Upon these, he says, follows the phrase 'He did not forget the cry of the poor,' concerning which someone might raise a difficulty, saying:

How did those from among the nations, being poor, cry out to God, seeing that they had been destroyed by the polytheistic deceit that held them and by the invisible enemies working within it? To which it must be said that they raise up the cry in a real sense, as the blood of Abel cries out to God, and the wage of which the labourers have been defrauded;

'For behold,' he says, 'the wage of those who reaped your fields cries out, which has been withheld by you from them;'

not to the labourer, but to the owner of the field that was reaped.

But another meaning may also be stated;

the poor whose voice the Benefactor did not forget are not necessarily the very same persons from among the nations whose blood he remembered.