Commentary on the Psalms (Fragments) 1 part 36/40

For those who passed by did not say, 'The blessing of the Lord be upon you,' nor did they even say, 'We have blessed you in the name of the Lord.'

He who has fallen into the depths of vice and impiety, according to the saying, 'When the ungodly comes into the depth of evils, he despises,' coming to a consciousness of the evils he is in, having reached the depths of the surging sea of life through his own sloth, has need of one to lead him up from there.

But finding no one able to help, he cries out to God.

Together with confessing to what depth he has fallen, he says, 'Out of the depths I have cried to you, O Lord.'

'Lord, hear my voice.'

For having heard, you will lead me up from that very abyss of vice and from the deepest Hades.

In harmony with this interpretation are the words spoken by him a little afterward in the verse, 'If you should mark iniquities, O Lord, Lord, who shall stand?' It is possible also that everyone dwelling in the earthly region amid human polity sends up this prayer, perceiving himself to be very far below both heaven and God.

For 'the heaven is high and the earth deep.'

It is also possible that the one praying is holy, according to what has been set forth before.

This one sends up his prayer not concerning small and earthly things, but concerning great and heavenly ones.

He sends up his prayer to God, asking for these things not out of a merely psychical apprehension concerning them.

But being enlightened by the Spirit who searches all things, even the depths of God, with knowledge and contemplation.

Following the Spirit who searches out these things, out of these very depths, whatever things it is right to ask of God, he cries out to him, deeming his voice worthy to be heard.

And out of these depths he cries who asks to receive nothing sensible, but all things spiritual, and the Holy Spirit himself.

The phrase 'Let your ears be attentive' has the same force as 'Incline your ear to me.'

Since our voice does not reach the lofty things, and 'Your ears,' being far off through the difference of nature.

And from this too we learn, upon reflection, that the word 'Let it become' signifies not always substantiation but also a certain relation.

He does not simply ask that the ears of God come to be, but that they come to be attentive to him.

Consistently with these things one must understand also what is said concerning Christ: 'Who became for us wisdom from God,' and 'That God made him both Lord and Christ,' and all such things.

Since with you is the propitiation—the Savior who makes propitiation and forgives sins—do not keep watch, examining iniquities.

For if you should do this, no one will stand.

Therefore, since no one can withstand the judgment from you, there is need of the propitiation from you who makes propitiation for the salvation of all.

That the Savior is the propitiation, John writes, 'And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ the righteous.'

'And he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.'

And Paul also: 'For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation through faith in his blood,' and what follows.

A symbol of this propitiatory was constructed in the Law, concerning which even now the one praying says to God, 'For with you is the propitiation.'

From you, as an offspring from the only good Father, is the propitiation.

Every rational creature is in need, since no God would withstand who would keep watch upon the iniquities of each of the things he has made.

One must always and at every time hope upon the Lord, not only when things are gracious, but also when gloomy things stand round about.

From the morning watch, then, when present things are bright, and even until night, when the surrounding things are unpleasant and darker; and still further, from the morning watch, when the true light arises and makes the beginning of a spiritual day, let the discerning mind, called Israel in the Hebrew tongue, hope upon the Lord, expecting from him an increase of glad things and a deliverance from gloomy ones; for with him, as in a fountain, and from him, is the mercy which those who hope upon him do not lack.

But also much redemption is with him, which is none other than that which comes from the propitiation.

Hence he, the Lord, will redeem him out of all his iniquities.

For even if the iniquities of Israel are many, yet out of them all he will redeem him.

'For having remembered me,' he says, 'you will thereupon give me an inheritance, the land of the meek.'

And those holy ones who are with these priests will rejoice—not just anyhow, but with exceeding joy shall they rejoice, since only the one who is perfect and rejoices out of a settled habit possesses this rejoicing from the most perfect gladness.

It is possible for the priest and the holy one to be the same person, so that in his subsistence the underlying subject is one, while he differs in the relations according to which he is priest and holy one of God.

And who is it that has caused them to put on righteousness and to rejoice with exultation, but David, who was holy, being mighty by his hand? Whence it is added: 'For the sake of David thy servant.'

For he who according to the flesh came from the seed of David is the servant of God, having taken the form of a servant when he emptied himself.

Having purposed by thy grace to cause the face of thy Christ to shine upon men — O Master, turn it not away — so that they may not remain devoid of vision, but may be benefited by his manifestation.

And the reason for which there shall assuredly be a shining forth he adds, saying: 'The Lord swore truth to David, and he will not annul it.'

The 'shall assuredly be,' which he swore in truth to David, concerns the sojourning of the Lord, who as the fruit of David's loins is to sit upon his throne.

For God's truth is an oath, according to what was spoken by Gabriel to Mary concerning him who is reckoned in the genealogy from David: 'And God shall give unto him the throne of David his father, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever.'

How could one understand 'This is my rest for ever and ever,' seeing that at the end of this age it passes away, when heaven and earth pass away? For if the whole earth passes away, then Zion also, which is upon the earth, shall pass away.

The passage before us, then, concerns the spiritual Zion, about which it is written: 'Sing praises to the Lord who dwells in Zion.'

And this is the most holy Church, which he who said, 'Here will I dwell, for I have chosen her,' chose to have as a dwelling for himself.

Another edition, instead of 'her prey' (thēra), gives 'the widow' (chēra), and says:

'Her who is without protection and has no husband to care for her, I will bless together with the poor,' to whom, providing bread unto fullness, he says: 'Her poor I will satisfy with bread,' since each of such poor, being the seed of a righteous man, is not diminished in bread.

In some copies it stands as: 'Blessing I will bless her prey.'

And the prey which is blessed with the Lord's blessing is that which those fishers and hunters sent by the Lord hunt upon every high mountain and in the clefts of the rocks; of whom Andrew, Peter, and Philip bear the symbol, being inhabitants of the village of hunters.

For all these inhabit Bethsaida, which is rendered as 'house of hunters.'

And the priests of this Zion I will clothe with salvation.

And the salvation of all is Christ, who came to seek and to save that which was lost.

But besides being salvation, he is also a garment, concerning which it is written: 'Let my soul rejoice, for thou hast clothed me with a garment of salvation,' while his holy ones also exult with divine exultation.

'There in Zion will I make a horn to spring up for David.'

This horn of the kingdom is made to spring up by God in the house of David, according to what was spoken by the righteous man: 'He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of David.'

And for this horn, who is Christ, the Father prepared a lamp running before his sojourning — the divine Law — concerning which it is written: 'Thy law is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my paths.'

Or else John also — until the Law and the Prophets — is a lamp prepared for God's Christ; concerning whom the Saviour said: 'He was the burning and shining lamp, in whose light you were willing for a season to rejoice.'

While these things are proclaimed in divine terms concerning him who came from the seed of David according to the flesh, his enemies shall be clothed with shame, wishing they had been burned with fire, because 'a child is born, a son is given unto us, whose government is upon his shoulder'; and they incur yet greater shame, in that though he greeted men in the same manner as other men, he did not lead the transcendent life.

Wherefore upon him also his sanctification shall flourish, concerning which he says in Isaiah: 'And a flower shall come up out of the root'; in accordance with which the flowers of the earth appeared in our land — such flowers having received their being as flowers from the sanctification that flourishes forth from the Lord.

For this that flourishes forth sanctifies those who draw near to it, being itself both the Holy One of God and a flower, so that it may say: 'I am the flower of the field and the lily of the valleys.'

When, therefore, the flower and the lily of the field and of the valleys does these things, fittingly shall the flowers appear in our land, God having caused his sanctification to spring up upon us, that we may be enlightened and renewed unto the blessed and spiritual feast.

The beard is a symbol of manly maturity.

And the ointment runs down from the beard of Aaron upon the hem of his garment.

Aaron bears the figure of the priesthood that is according to the shadow.

The head of this priesthood, the archetype and true priesthood, is filled with the divine ointment of the name of Christ, concerning whom it is said: 'Thy name is ointment.'

And this ointment comes down upon the beard of each one who is able to say, after having passed beyond the shadow: 'When I became a man, I did away with the things of the child.'

Nevertheless, even if the ointment comes down upon the head of Aaron, it does not come down upon just any beard, but upon the high-priestly one, and thence also upon the hem of the high-priestly garment.

And the high-priestly garment, of which the tunic of Aaron bore the type, is the Lord's body, the Holy Spirit having begotten it, according to what was spoken concerning the Virgin: 'For that which is begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit.'

By the mountains of Zion you will understand the mountains of the divine and universal Church, that is, either the lofty doctrines of the truth, or those who by the elevation of soul have received their being as mountains of Zion.

And upon these mountains comes down a spiritual dew, concerning which Moses says: 'And let my words come down as dew,' and in the prophet: 'For thy dew is healing to her.'

From this dew, which is heavenly, the dwelling of those who are blessed shall be from heaven.

And this spiritual dew does not come down from just any clouds, but from the light on high which says: 'I am come as a light into the world.'

For this light both bedews and lifts on high and causes one to come to be in the purest brightness.

All the servants of the Lord bless the Lord, not having gone far from him, but drawing near to him in their disposition of mind.

Wherefore they also stand in the house of the Lord, being firmly established in him.

And they stand also in the courts of the house of our God.

And the courts of God in which those who fear him stand are the God-inspired Scriptures and the doctrines of the truth.

(Argument) After the songs of the steps were completed, it was fitting that those who had gone up into the temple itself should praise God with thanksgiving, whose temple it is.

Wherefore also the psalm is inscribed 'Alleluia,' the superscription signifying that the God who truly is must be hymned.

For how were those who had gone up all the steps with songs and hymns not going to stand in the house of the Lord with upright understanding and blameless conduct, being his servants in the house of the Lord, and to hymn him in the courts of the house of our God? And the courts of God are the Old and New Scriptures, or the partial expositions of theology, or the many mansions in the promises within the house of the Father.

And first, at the entrances, they praise his name, then the Lord himself, by serving him and genuinely being his servants.

And with a view to allegory, there might be certain spiritual clouds, pouring down an intelligible and invisible rain.

And these are brought up from the end of the earth, since it is not from great rulers, rich men, philosophers, or orators, but from men accounted the lowest, whom in the Gospel it is customary to call unlettered and common.

But he has also made the lightnings — the luminous contemplations — and the acts of righteousness into rain, so as at once to enlighten and to water those things that have need of them, in a manner suited to the matters at hand.

And he brings winds out of their treasuries, which signify the superior breaths and the rational natures that transcend all.

This is the memorial from the former generation, that of the Hebrews, unto the generation of the calling of the nations, concerning which it is written: 'A generation to come shall be told of the Lord.'

And these things shall abide, God having compassion on his people and being entreated in his servants.

For having assented to the intercession and entreaty of his servants sent up on behalf of the people and of themselves, he was entreated — that is, he accepted the entreaty.

Wherefore also he had compassion on his people.

According to the higher sense, the house of Israel might be those who are clear-sighted and shall see God with a pure heart, and the house of Aaron those who serve him perfectly and in priestly fashion, continually and not merely from day to day.

...serving the things of God, whom one might justly address as temple-keepers of God.

And above all, those from the foreign nations who are added in the fear of the Lord.

Nevertheless, even though all bless him, yet each will do this according to the proportion of his capacity.

And he whom the aforesaid bless is not only blessed but also worthy of blessing, not from any ordinary Zion, but from the heavenly Zion, dwelling in the city of God, who has given the heavenly Jerusalem and the Church that has neither spot nor wrinkle nor any such thing, being Jerusalem by beholding the peace which Jesus gives, saying: 'My peace I give unto you.'

But even if according to another conception he is worthy of blessing in Zion, in this way too God is in her and out of her.

And these things might be said also concerning a soul which, by reason of knowledge and perfect virtue, is called Zion and Jerusalem.

And the present psalm, calling us to thanksgiving, commands us to give thanks to the Lord who acts with kindness and with much goodness.

Wherefore also, upon each verse, by way of a refrain, is appended: 'For his mercy endures for ever.'

For since he does not have mercy at one time and not at another, but always has mercy, fittingly do those who sing the refrain say: 'For his mercy endures for ever.'

But of what gods is he God, save of those concerning whom it is said? If, then, he called those gods to whom the word of God came, according to the Scripture which says, 'I said, Ye are gods' — for it is fitting that this one himself be truly called God — indeed, then, since those around Abraham are also gods in this way (God is recorded as saying, 'I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob';

for it is fitting that this one himself be truly called God) — according to this signification of divinity both angels and divine powers may be called gods, even as the Apostle says, 'As there are gods many and lords many in heaven and on earth,' inasmuch as all those called gods after the Trinity are such by participation in divinity.

But the Saviour is not so; rather, he is God according to essence.

Wherefore he makes gods of those who partake of him.

For he alone is the true God from the true God, being God in the same manner as the Father, in that he is consubstantial with the one who begot him.

And besides being God of gods, he is also Lord of lords — of those in heaven and on earth who have kinship with the holy principalities and authorities and dominions.

For He alone is recorded as doing wondrous things;

for the Father, abiding in the Son, works the works.

But thanksgiving must again be rendered to Him who made the heavens with understanding and established the earth upon the waters.

In accord with what has been set forth is the saying, 'God by wisdom founded the earth, and by prudence He prepared the heavens.'

The understanding and prudence through which the heavens are prepared and established—what else could this be but the Wisdom through whom all things have come to be, concerning whom the theologian says, 'Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God'?

But indeed those also who bear the image of the heavenly One, being heavens in a spiritual sense, come to be such.

Such persons are prepared in the aforesaid understanding and prudence of God.

And the earth is established upon the water—the soul which has received the seed cast by Jesus so as to bear fruit.

For while it still tarries allegorically in the water, that is, amid the fluid and transient affairs of this life, it has gained firmness and vigor so as to bear fruit most fully.

He alone made the great lights by saying, 'Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven';

He appointed the sun for the ruling of the day, and the moon and the stars for the ruling of the night, just as in the account of creation it is said that the sun came to be for the ruling of the day, and the moon for the ruling of the night, and the stars—

marking out signs, imaging the courses of day and night, guiding travelers on land and sea, and furnishing countless other services.

You see how His mercy endures unto the age.

And with respect to the deeper meaning, since Egypt figuratively stands for the world about the earth, its supposed firstborn are smitten by God for the benefit of Israel.

For when these have been smitten, the mind that beholds God comes out of it, being led by God.

And God leads Israel out from that very midst of what is allegorically called Egypt, by His Word and His Wisdom, which is named His arm and His mighty hand.

These things may also be said concerning Christ, since, according to the Epistle of Jude, it was Jesus who saved the people out of Egypt.

And His mighty hand and lofty arm must be understood as His wonder-working operation and power.

Not into one division but into many did God part the Red Sea, so that Israel, walking as upon dry land, might be brought out from the midst of it by God.

It is handed down that it was parted into twelve divisions, there being twelve passages, so that each tribe of Israel, having its own crossing, might pass through.

And these things are according to the literal sense;

but with respect to the deeper meaning, the life of men is often, as has been said before, called a sea, which the Word of God renders passable for us though it is filled with waves and much saltiness and turmoil, holding back and parting the towering surges that assail us from the passions, so that, once the passions are dried up and all their moisture is restrained by God, it becomes passable for us, while the spiritual Pharaoh and all the power gathered from demons and unclean spirits is drowned in it, God shaking them off into it like the cheapest dust.

They are those skilled at deceiving through their sophistical training, since 'Amorites' is interpreted as 'talkative' or 'those who provoke to bitterness,' and their king Sihon means 'temptation' or 'provocation to anger.' Whom else ought we to reckon as provoking to bitterness and as talkative but those who through sophistical arguments provoke to bitterness the enemies of the truth, and who, in their readiness to deceive, wish to talk and shout aloud, and who have it as their aim to tempt and to provoke to anger? But also, since 'Bashan' is interpreted as 'shame,' being a symbol of the vice that shames those who practice it, accordingly its king Og, together with Sihon king of the Amorites, is smitten and slain, so that their land may be given to Israel—the land which they wrongly held by sophistry, spending themselves with a corrupt disposition upon the nature of things and supposing themselves to reign over it.

But that land of theirs, being taken from them—the land thus interpreted—is given to Israel for a possession, that he may inherit it, being a true servant of the Cause of all.

And when we have been humbled through freedom from vanity, He remembers us and redeems us.

'My confession is rendered upon Your mercy and Your truth,' since, having often received mercy and having beheld the truth enlightened for me from You, I was delivered from all vice and from the deceit akin to it, Your mercy granting me forgiveness of sins, and Your truth setting me outside all error.

But since You have magnified the oracle given me from You, attaching it to Your own name so that it is called Your oracle, I will worship toward Your holy temple and give thanks to Your name, confessing my gratitude that Your oracle is magnified for me;

for it is then magnified for me, when, advancing according to it, I press on toward perfection.

There is also brought forward another reading, saying, 'For You have magnified Your holy name above all.'

At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father, the Son at that time proclaiming the Father's name to those who have become His brethren;

for He alone has come in the name of the Father, that the holy name of God might be magnified above all.

We learn to say in prayer, 'Hallowed be Your name.'

And just as the name of God that is hallowed does not become holy from being profane, but, being shown to be such, is holy, so also it is not magnified by increase, as though becoming great from small, but by its greatness being made manifest.

He who prays without ceasing, and does this both in spirit and in mind—saying, 'I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the mind also'—has each day God hearkening to him, concerning whom it is written, 'He hearkens to the prayers of the righteous,' and, 'The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears unto their supplication.'

And he prays to have God as a guardian who does not neglect nor despise him, but who greatly cares for him in His providential power.

Because they mind earthly things and seek what is below and transient, being called 'peoples of the earth,' concerning whom the prophecy here speaks—and the reason for my willing that they hear all the words of Your mouth which You spoke in the law and the prophets concerning their calling—for even if they are not hearers of Your oracles, yet in potentiality, inasmuch as their faith was foreknown, they heard them.

Therefore I also desire to reach them by singing tunefully and musically in Your ways, that is, in the Scriptures, in which one who journeys through diligent study and constant habit sings, declaring the insights drawn from them.

But if one calls the virtues also the ways of the Lord, then he who journeys in these too sings songs of victory against those who of old wrought vice in them.

Or he sings in the ways of the Lord who is able to render an account concerning each virtuous activity, sending forth a tuneful voice through the very deeds performed according to them.

And all these things shall be accomplished, since great is the glory of the Lord that brings them to perfection, concerning which it is said to Jerusalem, 'And the glory of the Lord has risen upon you,' and, 'All flesh shall see the salvation of our God,' since the glory of the Lord shall be seen.

And who could this be but the Savior, who is the effulgence of God's glory and the impress of His substance? Instead of 'peoples,' the reading 'kings' is brought forward thus:

'Let all the kings of the earth give thanks to You, O Lord.'

And indeed both wordings are in harmony, in that the peoples who give thanks to the Lord are called to reign, being about to be a royal priesthood and a holy nation;

wherefore it is also written by one of them, 'And would that you did reign, that we also might reign with you.'

These things are to be said not concerning the Father alone but also concerning the Son, who holds sway over all that has come to be through Him and subsists in Him, and who is before all things;

wherefore the appellation 'Almighty' is ascribed to Him also, as in Zechariah the prophet.

Even if, then, there are certain lofty things among the lowly ones in which the exalted Lord looks—being lofty in comparison with the heavenly, or even belonging to a nature that has ascended still higher—yet even these He knows from afar, as being far from Him by the difference of their mode of existence.

Like this is the apostolic word which runs thus:

'Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to wrath;

for we know Him who said, Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord.'

That is, do not overlook us men, while invisible enemies are murderously disposed against us.

According to which, pressing on I stretch forward to the things that are ahead, until I attain to the prize of the upward calling.

It is nothing wonderful, He says, if You have known all things concerning me;

but You know also their beginnings and their ends, and the causes for which they came to be, and what shall be concerning them after the manifold order of the world.

Having then the knowledge of all things, having formed me, You laid Your hand upon me, so that what is said may be a case of 'last things first.'

Having laid Your hand upon me who was dust and clay, You formed me a man, so that each of the understanding may say this: 'Your hands made me and formed me,' and elsewhere, 'Remember that You have formed me as clay.'

Having formed me, You were not content merely with having made me, but You also laid Your hand upon me to better me and to guard me and to have me exalted by it.

Indeed, he who knew this gift counsels others also, saying, 'Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,' so that, being made secure under it, no insult or plot can befall you;

for no one snatches out of the Father's hand.

For only those who have been thrust away from it do the invisible enemies pierce through.

'When I considered how You have knowledge of all things, I came to a marvel.'

But even though, upon considering, I marveled at Your knowledge, yet, while I still wished to comprehend it, it has been made mighty above me, become greater than I, so that I could not attain to it.

In accord with this is the saying in Ecclesiastes, 'I said, I will become wise, but it was far from me, farther than it was, and a deep depth—who shall find it out?' And Paul too uttered the same words, exclaiming, 'O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!—

how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out.'

And he too said these things, since it is not possible to prevail against the knowledge of God that has been made mighty above him.

The added phrase 'from me' can also indicate that from me and from the affairs concerning me Your wondrous knowledge was manifested to me;

inasmuch as, once it has been made mighty, I shall no longer be able to withstand it or to assail it.

But if it is also concerning the knowledge of God—the knowledge which the holy man himself has concerning Him, treating of it insofar as he is able—that the foregoing discourse speaks, you will consider it together.

Having discoursed theologically about God's being foreknower and having knowledge and understanding of all things, he passes over to speaking of His being everywhere.

He says, then, to God Himself, who is the object of this theological discourse:

If your Spirit has filled the whole inhabited world, where shall I be able to go away from it? But since your face also watches over and beholds all things, where shall I be able to flee from it? For when I ascend into heaven, I receive an impression of you being present.

And if I come to be in Hades, I see you present with me.