Commentary on the Psalms (Fragments) 1 part 27/40

'Look therefore upon thy servants and upon the works of thy hands,' and guide unto the way of salvation those born to us according to instruction and imitation of virtue, who are manly and vigorous.

For thus also thy splendour, O God, shall be upon us who shall shine forth as the sun in thy kingdom.

Wherefore we pray, 'Direct thou the works of our hands upon us.'

And this belongs to those who are confident in the things they have done and in which they are disposed, whereas the worthless man does not wish the works of his hands to be established upon himself, but rather to be given over to oblivion.

Hunters in these matters would also be the deceivers and the sophistical men who attempt to ensnare people, so as to lead them, through 'wisdom,' into false doctrines which they intend.

Wherefore also, interpreting their snare, he called it a 'troubling word.'

It throws the understanding into confusion, like a contentious word.

The evil powers also hunt by means of a snare, capturing souls through harmful desires and the other passions.

'For the eye of a harlot,' it says, 'is a snare of a sinner,' and again, 'For a woman ensnares the precious souls of men.'

And through wealth and things like it these also hunt.

And the leader of these hunters is the devil, who himself also has a snare.

At any rate, it is said concerning a certain one, 'Lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.'

In harmony with these things it is sung concerning God in the song of Deuteronomy:

'As an eagle covers its nest and yearns over its young, spreading out its wings it received them and took them up upon its back.'

All those who, through patient endurance and the other strength that comes from virtue, are, like the eagle, high-flying, being borne aloft upon the wings of understanding and of practical virtue.

They have obtained it from God to be such.

Wherefore they are also his young, whence it is said in the prophet, 'But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall put forth feathers like eagles; they shall run and not grow weary.'

Those who have put forth feathers in the same manner as the eagles, God will cover like the young of an eagle.

'For as an eagle he will cover his nest.'

Whence also, yearning over his young, he took them up upon his back in order to cover them.

And so in the passage before us, concerning him who dwells in the help of the Most High, it is said that God takes him up upon his back, in order that he may hope and expect good things, being under the wings of God.

And it has been stated what the wings of God are, and how one who is overshadowed by them hopes, in Psalm 56.

Where it is written, 'And in the shadow of thy wings will I hope.'

God the protector, as with a shield and a weapon, encircles with His own truth everyone who is guarded by Him, so that he may remain invulnerable to all who take counsel to strike him, and above all to the evil one who sends forth his fiery darts.

And this man, encircled by the truth of God through having put on the whole armour of God and having taken up in all things the shield of faith, even if he finds himself in the night, is not afraid, for he is illumined by the truth that surrounds him, which is also light.

For if ever someone, falling into ignorance, should seem to be in a nocturnal condition, he will not be afraid, since he possesses the light that is the cause of knowledge, which is said to be the same as the truth.

And if 'night' should stand for the harmful and gloomy affairs of life, not even when he finds himself in this night is he afraid, for he can say, 'The Lord is my light and my saviour;'

'whom shall I fear?' For honouring God and thereby being made strong, he fears no one except Him, having learned the saying, 'Honour God and you will be strong, and besides Him fear no other.'

For just as the man who happens to be in the night is not afraid when he has light and there are watchmen keeping guard through the night, so too the man who has the One who said, 'Fear not;

for I am with you,' will fear none of the aforementioned nocturnal things.

Those alone are afraid who sleep in the night and are drunk; but the man encircled by the truth of God is not even alarmed by the arrow that flies by day.

But neither does he fear the thing that stalks in darkness, since he uses the truth as his weapon.

And the 'thing that stalks in darkness' is every sin and every ignorance, and the evil spirits of error that work them.

Besides these, neither will he fear calamity, bearing all things with patient endurance and nobility, saying together with Job, 'If we have received good things from the hand of the Lord, shall we not endure the evil? As it seemed good to the Lord, so also it came to pass.'

Indeed, then, it comes about that he even conquers and turns the tables upon them;

for 'Blessed is the man who endures temptation, because, having been proved, he will receive the crown of life.'

And even if it promise a shining light through philosophy and empty deceit, this very thing is wholly the noonday demon.

And not it alone, but also its ministers who transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, are noonday demons.

But even if each of these pretends to be a noonday thing, they do not remain such as they pretend to be, for the light of the ungodly shall be quenched when Christ comes and illumines the hidden things of darkness and makes manifest the counsels of the hearts.

He who succeeds both in the practical life and in the knowledge of the truth has many who lie in wait treacherously against him, yet he prevails over them all, having put on the whole armour of God.

Then, since fewer lie in wait against those who are established in ethics, as being on the left, but many against those who are spiritual, being on the right, from the side of the perfect man a thousand fall, while ten thousand fall from his right hand.

The 'side,' spoken in contradistinction to the right, suggests the notion concerning the left and the sinister.

Things similar to these are said also in Deuteronomy to those who keep the law upright: 'One of you shall pursue a thousand, and two shall put to flight ten thousand.'

And Paul, then, thus perfected, wars against his adversaries through the weapons of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, so that from his left there falls a thousand, and from his right ten thousand.

And in Ecclesiastes the right is set forth by way of praise thus:

'The heart of the wise man is at his right hand, but the heart of the fool is at his left;'

since the wise man has his mind set upon things intelligible and spiritual, because they are precious, it is called the right; but for the fool, being set upon things sensible and material, it is secondary and left.

But the thousand and the ten thousand, though falling, do not draw near to the righteous man to harm him;

for it is written, 'But it shall not come near you.'

For at the very moment of wishing to draw near to the diligent man, the phalanx of the adversaries falls;

for 'When those who did me evil drew near against me to devour my flesh, they that afflicted me and my enemies, they themselves grew weak and fell.'

You will find these things brought to fulfilment symbolically in the Gospel;

for when those who had come to arrest Him dared to draw near to Jesus, and He said, 'Whom do you seek?' and they answered, 'Jesus the Nazarene,' and Jesus answered, 'I am He,' they went backward and fell to the ground.

Moreover, when these things come to pass (I mean the fact that the falling thousand and ten thousand of the enemies do not draw near to the righteous man), guarded by the truth he will contemplate with the eyes of his understanding the good deeds accomplished in him, and will also behold the recompense of sinners;

and when these things are said concerning them, straightway he confesses that very One who is the cause of the good things that have come to him.

For he said in the preceding verses, 'And God is my refuge, and I will hope upon Him,' and concerning Him, 'And under the wings of Him, of God, you will hope.'

Since the circumstantial trials fall in common upon the unrighteous and the righteous—things which have been named 'evils' on account of their laboriousness—the foregoing sayings are surely not about evils of that kind.

For 'They were tested, they were scourged,' says Paul.

And indeed the Saviour Himself was scourged as He was led to the cross, fulfilling what He had foretold through the prophet concerning Himself: 'I gave my back to scourges.'

Since, therefore, the kind of evils is twofold—the one occurring indifferently to the diligent and the base—the other does not draw near to him who has made the Most High his refuge.

Sharing in good things, he says, 'But for me it is good to cleave to God.'

For having this good, he is untouched by the contrary evils, conquering evil by good, and on account of this doing good.

He, then, who has been filled with goodness by doing and working the good, is without share in the evils that are properly so called.

But since the aforementioned evils do not draw near to him who has made the Most High his refuge, neither does the chastisement upon these things, called a scourge, come near his dwelling, since he is not a sinner;

for the being scourged upon these things belongs to him alone.

For 'Many are the scourges of the sinner;'

and in other places it has been said by us that the same circumstances are, for sinners, scourges, but for the righteous, contests.

And so, if ever one of the laborious and afflicting things should approach the godly man, it comes not as a scourge but as a testing, just as it came upon Job so that he might be shown to be righteous.

And it is well said too, 'Evils shall not approach you.'

For the nature of wickedness comes upon one from without, whereas virtue has its occasion from within;

for God made man upright, but he, seeking out wicked reasonings, drew wickedness upon himself from without.

These sayings the devil took as spoken with reference to the Saviour, as is recorded in the Gospel;

but the psalm is spoken in the person of every righteous man who is helped and sheltered by the Most High, who is God of heaven.

And if it be spoken also concerning Christ, it is manifest that it is not insofar as He is God, but insofar as He is man;

and all that is proclaimed concerning Him or to Him as man will also fit every saint who imitates Him and follows after Him.

But let us also see the intent of the very words.

God gives a commandment to His own angels, that they should guard and shelter the righteous man, since they are ministering spirits sent forth for service on account of those who are to inherit salvation.

Indeed, the angels encamp round about those who fear Him, to deliver them from invisible enemies and foes.

Indeed, then, the patriarch Jacob too, when about to engage exceedingly mighty foes, saw an encampment of God being filled up by angels who would fight on his behalf; wherefore, giving thanks, he said, 'The God who has fed me from my youth, the angel who delivers me from all my evils.'

Likewise Elisha too had a multitude of angels encircling him, visible to him but not indeed to his servant;

he prays, then, that the young man's eyes might be opened, so that he might see that those who fought on their behalf were more than those who opposed them.

And the angels, having received a commandment from the Lord to guard the diligent man in all the actions and workings which He called his 'ways,' bear him up, lifting him upon their own hands (and these are the angelic operations), so that the foot of his soul might not strike against a stone.

For he who is borne up by angels attains to the blessing which says, 'And your foot shall not stumble.'

For when the true light has arisen and has shone forth the intelligible day, he who walks in this day will not stumble, because he sees the light.

And the stone against which those who are not borne up by angels strike is foolish and most hardened sin.

And they stumble also against the chief cornerstone, chosen and precious, so that through unbelief it becomes to them a stone of stumbling.

Four kinds of hostile powers are signified through the four names here set down, being venomous and savage beasts.

And Paul too, having gone beyond the wrestling against blood and flesh, has his contests against four kinds of invisible adversaries: against principalities, against powers, against the world-rulers of darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness.

And so he who is now praised for his valour treads upon the asp and the basilisk, having received authority from Jesus to tread upon serpents and scorpions;

and trampling upon every power of the enemy, he will tread down the lion and the dragon.

The lion and the dragon are our adversary the devil;

for 'Like a lion he walks about, seeking whom he may devour;'

he himself being also the serpent and the dragon, the ancient Satan, according to the Apocalypse.

'Because he hoped in me,' says the Lord — he who has taken refuge and hoped in me, he who has said, 'For you, O Lord, are my hope' — 'I will deliver him from the thousand falling at his side and the ten thousand at his right hand.'

'But I will also shelter him' — him who has known my name — so that he may remain unharmed, treading upon the asp and the basilisk and trampling down the lion and the dragon, since the knowledge of my name becomes for him a quality that wards off all evil.

And when he cries out to me with the mighty voice of his soul, he will find me listening to him and inclining toward him.

For I am ever present to him, even if he happens to be in distress.

For 'I am with him in tribulation' (for it is precisely then that there is need of his presence, when things distressing and full of trouble beset us).

And I will not only set him free from what afflicts him, but I will also make him honored and looked upon.

And I will grant him also the life eternal, so that, being of many days and long-lived, he may possess eternal light (for 'there is light for the righteous continually').

And I will show him my salvation — that is, the salvation that comes from me, or its author, Jesus — which the blessed Symeon also, upon seeing, gave thanks, saying: 'Now you release your servant, Master, in peace, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared before the face of all peoples.'

One must not suppose that the whole psalm is spoken concerning the Lord, as the Arians and Eusebius wish, but also concerning a righteous man who has put his trust in God, before whom is set as the goal of his hope the finest thing: to behold Christ Jesus, the salvation of God.

But if the devil, in his words to the Lord, declared that the promise laid down for him was that 'he will command his angels concerning you' — since he too was conversing with him as with a righteous man, seeing in him a purity and eminence of righteousness, yet not yet able to comprehend in Christ that which is more and higher than man —

He who confesses and accuses himself before the Lord, seeking pardon and forgiveness, having learned by experience the benefit that comes from confessing, proclaims by his deeds the mercy of God, having obtained mercy for the things of which he repented.

And he declares the mercy of God that came upon him, having been enlightened and having come to stand, at the day's beginning, under the Sun of Righteousness — whence he said that he proclaims 'in the morning' the benefit which he received from God.

And the singing of praise to the name of the Lord Most High, being the ground of theology and of the vision of God, has as its goal the truth, which it is fitting to declare not superficially and from things manifest, but from things deep and hidden, through an exceeding measure of knowledge.

And the obscurity in such matters he named 'night.'

For by nature the things said reverently and rightly concerning God depart, because of the greatness of their power, from the knowledge of the many.

And 'night' is that which is difficult to grasp.

And this 'night' has reference to the darkness which God made his hiding place.

And he proclaims 'in the morning' the mercy of God, and 'in the night' his truth.

And the more the greatness of these things is revealed to us, the more we see plumbed to their depths God's reckonings concerning them, according to which he made them and magnified them.

With these agrees the saying of Ecclesiastes: 'I said, I will become wise, and this was made far from me, farther than what it was, even a deep depth — who shall find it?' — as if to say that its depth appeared to him incomprehensible.

And having said, 'Your reckonings have been made exceedingly weighty,' he heartens those who love wisdom, declaring that 'a foolish and senseless man' will not know or comprehend them — meaning, of course, that the wise man who possesses the Spirit of God, which searches all things, understands even the deep things of God.

And he calls 'foolish and senseless' the one who is bereft of divine prudence and understanding, even if he seems in other respects to be prudent and intelligent.

On the contrary, the one who possesses the wisdom of God is most foolish — not absolutely, but with respect to the prudence of men.

'For I am the most foolish of all men, and there is not in me the prudence of men;

but God has taught me wisdom.'

Whence also: 'Let him who is wise in this age become a fool' — that is, with respect to mortal wisdom.

On the day of judgment, when all men are brought low from the arrogance they had over transient things, the Lord alone is exalted, being shown forth as king of all, who has blamelessly provided for all things and ordered the whole.

And it is possible to grasp yet another sense in the matters set before us.

When the sinners spring up like grass, and lawlessness is at work, and their enmity toward God intensifies, the height and greatness of God is not perceived, since wickedness blinds the eye of the mind that is able to fix its gaze upon the Lord;

but when there comes a destruction of sin, such that those who through sinning have become enemies of God perish — and they are of the sort that must perish — then God Most High will be found unto the age by the mind that has been purified.

And not only will 'my horn be exalted like that of the unicorn,' but also my old age, being made rich with 'the oil of gladness' — an old age not of the body, but that which represents the perfect maturity of the inner man, concerning which it is written: 'For honorable old age is not that of long duration, nor is it measured by the number of years; but understanding is gray hair for men, and an old age unspotted is a blameless life.'

Having attained to this, Abraham is said to have been nourished in a goodly old age;

for it is written concerning him: 'And Abraham, expiring, died, having been nourished in a goodly old age, an elder and full of days.'

But concerning bodily age, if it were being spoken of, these things would rather have been said concerning those before Abraham, who lived to a greater length of years.

This old age, then, which has been interpreted, is made rich with oil pressed from that true olive tree in the house of God, which says: 'But I am like a fruitful olive tree in the house of God.'

This oil not only enriches the light of knowledge, but also heals and dissolves pains, enriching the aforesaid old age.

'And my eye has looked upon my enemies, and my ear shall hear concerning those who rise up against me in malice.'

Perhaps he looks upon the enemies at present cast down, but his ear shall hear concerning those who are yet to rise against him,

as though even these had already been dissolved; and all these things are to be understood concerning the wicked powers.

For it is properly these that are hostile to us.

But since some assail the Scripture as at times saying things superfluous and vain, come, let us also make a defense concerning the matters before us.

Who does not know that one who looks upon someone and hears about someone sees and hears with his own eye and ear? To these things, so maliciously spoken, one must reply that there is a twofold kind of senses in us, mortal and immortal; and, properly speaking, ours as rational beings is the immortal, which is intelligible.

For the mortal is not properly ours, but is common also to the irrational animals.

When, therefore, Scripture signifies the senses of the inner man, it speaks of 'my eye' and 'my ear' seeing and hearing, as in the matters before us.

Since the palm bears abundant fruit, and the cedar in Lebanon is many-branched and many-rooted, he fittingly compared the righteous man to such trees, since he is fruitful in the various forms of virtue and in the diverse doctrines of the truth.

For in these respects his flourishing is compared to the palm; but also because of his firmness and steadfastness in good things he is likened to the cedar in Lebanon;

for the cedar is incorruptible and very dense, and the palm is ever-flourishing and has its heart inclined upward — to which is fittingly likened the one who has laid up treasure in heaven and therefore has his heart there.

And the Church, saying, 'I said, I will go up into the palm tree and lay hold of its heights,' — see whether the righteous man will flourish in like manner to this palm, receiving from it the power to preserve the flourishing fruit.

For the palms that are called by farmers 'female' receive from the male palm the means of preserving their fruit.

And such is the one upon which the bride says she goes up in order to lay hold — according to one of the interpreters, of its 'fronds,' which, being the divine teachings of the palm itself, receive the fructifying and preserving power of the fruits;

whence the bride too, who says these things — being none other than the righteous man that flourishes like the palm — says: 'I shall be made like the palm tree.'

Taking from this palm the decorative festal ornaments made from the branches of the palms, one keeps the feast of Tabernacles; and the symbols of victory are borne from it by those who conquer.

The rivers that imitate the river which gladdens the city of God first lift up their own understanding, then the words that interpret the things understood by them, so that, from the voice of these many rivers' waters, they become wondrous and worthy of acceptance, through repentance and the taking up of virtue — they who once, through boastfulness and wealth and self-will and vain reputation, were the surgings of the sea of the life of men.

And it is possible also for the very words of the God-inspired Scriptures, of both the New and Old Testaments, to be rivers, on account of their being drinkable, life-giving, and the cause of fruit-bearing.

And these rivers lift up and raise on high, in the contemplation of the truth, the one who drinks from them — those whom they find ready — lifting up also their voices, from which voices, understood in a manner befitting God and in a lofty way, the surgings of the sea become wondrous.

The 'surgings of the sea,' according to the present sense, being those which are called temptations — which also will become wondrous, being shown forth as causes of salvation, appearing from the voices of the many drinkable waters; for it is indeed possible to see, amid these temptations and struggles, certain men shown forth as victors.

'For blessed is the man who endures temptation,' and what follows.

Consider whether the 'many waters,' from whose voices the surgings of the sea become wondrous, belong to the sea;

for it is from her affairs, and from the things that befall men in them, that her surgings become wondrous, when they are rationally and prudently examined and known.

In the lofty and exalted words the Lord is wondrous, so that upon this the testimonies akin to what are called his ordinances and statutes are confirmed; but the lofty things of God himself, in which he is wondrous —

it is possible to take them as the divine men exalted through faith and the rest of virtue, or also the angels and archangels in heaven — lofty ones, in whom the Lord, being wondrous, has testimonies and oracles that have been tested and examined, which, because of their firmness, are said to be trustworthy.

The house of God is all those who have received him into themselves, to whom it truly befits to be holy, not for one or a second day, but unto length of days;

whence the initiator into the mysteries, wishing the house of God to have holiness unto length of days, says: 'Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone corrupts the temple of God, God will destroy him;

for the temple of God is holy, which you are.'

For holiness and consecration truly befit every one that has become a house of God, so that, just as he is God's, he may be holy, and, just as he is holy, so also he may be God's.

The God of vengeances, being in the very act of taking vengeance, spoke with boldness.

For by his accurately knowing the affairs of those being judged and the very intention of those who commit them, he brings vengeances with boldness, whereas the other judges are sometimes in error, in that they do not bring punishment in proportion to the quantity and quality of the sins committed;

wherefore it also comes about that the judge is put to shame, as not having rebuked as he ought those who have been overcome by wickedness — while he alone speaks with boldness in taking vengeance who says: 'With what measure you measure, it shall be measured back to you';

for he renders to each according to his works.

Let all these things be referred also to the sojourning of Christ among us.

For at that time He spoke with boldness, having become a man without sin, though He was God, the Lord of vengeances; yet He also judged the earth, showing it to be full of sin, while He Himself committed no sin nor knew any sin.

Wherefore He also requited the Pharisees who despised Him, and the invisible enemies who were lifted up in the crucifying of Him.

In many places the pit is spoken of in place of chastisement, as it is said: 'And he shall fall into the pit which he made.'

Since the phrase 'until it be dug' is expressed impersonally (for it is not said by whom), it is established from other Scriptures that the pit dug for the sinner is not dug by another, but by him who is himself going to fall into it.

For 'they dug a pit before my face, and fell into it themselves.'

And: 'He that diggeth a pit for his neighbour shall fall into it.'

And: 'The fool diggeth evils for himself'—calling 'evils' the punishments into which those fall who sin through folly.

Thou, being our Creator, dost care for us and take thought for us, O Master.

Whence, if any good is present with us, we know it to be Thine and to be from Thee.

But since we see certain wicked men thirsting for the blood of the righteous and condemning the innocent, we cry out to Thee: Is another throne of kingdom in league with Thee, or shall it be joined to Thee, that these things are being accomplished against Thy servants? Nay, but the throne of iniquity is not with Thee;

For Thou hast set up law as king over all things, according to which the whole is governed.

If therefore the devil, having become an apostate from Thy commandments, should undertake to rule lawlessly, he is neither with Thee nor shall he be joined to Thee; but having revolted and become far from Thee, after the manner of a chief of robbers he tyrannizes over those who have chosen to come under his cruelty.

For a throne of iniquity is rule accompanied by tyranny;

for a tyrant is nothing other than lawless rule.

Wherefore, being most cruel and burdensome, he commands things heavy and toilsome, storing up hardship in his ordinances.

But the commandments of Thee, our God, are not burdensome, according to John; whence they are also upward-tending, exalting and lifting on high the one who takes them to himself.

It is also possible to understand the phrase thus:

While Thou, Master, dost command things light and easy, the throne of iniquity fashions toils upon Thy ordinances, casting into the mind cowardice and things contrary to what has been enjoined.

For when right reason exhorts to righteousness as being profitable, it sets injustice over against it, holding out as gains and profits the things that come from it;

again, when reason calls to poverty and freedom from care, upon such an ordinance too it fabricates toil, injecting a reasoning of cowardice and the fear of coming short of necessities should sickness and old age overtake one.

In like manner also, concerning the other ordinances of God which are not burdensome, it fabricates toil, casting in an appearance of heaviness.

It may also be read thus: