Commentary on the Psalms (Fragments) 1 part 8/40

for this is truly dust, having been formed from the earth.

And it is called 'dust of death' because everyone who is born will also die.

For if to be born is to be intertwined with a body, of necessity there also comes dissolution, which is death.

Into this body, then, which is from the Virgin, the Saviour, having entered, said, 'Thou hast brought me down into the dust of death.'

Perhaps also the deadness and the Hades into which He descended for our sake is 'the dust of death;'

for He was in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.

The phrase 'They dug my hands and feet' signifies the death by the cross of those who come to it, their hands and feet being dug through by the piercing of the nails.

'They numbered all my bones.'

All the bones of the body can be numbered whenever it is stripped bare of the flesh fastened about it;

and of Christ's body the apostles have been rendered the bones, while His flesh might be called those who have believed more superficially and in a more bodily manner.

When, then, the body is together in one place, the bones hold fast the flesh, and the flesh is about the bones, covering them.

Whenever, then, some fear throws into confusion, and those who have believed more superficially flee, there are left alone the firm and vigorous zealots, so that these are numbered, laid bare, when the multitude has fled.

'But they themselves observed and looked upon me;'

and yet, although they did not prevail over me (for I willingly took these things up), 'They divided my garments among themselves, and upon my clothing they cast lots.'

In addition to the literal sense, more allegorically, the 'garments' and 'clothing' of Jesus can be the plain expressions of the Scriptures;

for with these the God-Word clothes and wraps Himself, subsisting according to the spiritual meanings.

The heterodox executioners, then, and the Lord-slaying spirits, divide the garments of the Saviour—the expressions of the Scriptures.

For each of them accepts some of the Scriptures and rejects others, even though the tunic of Jesus happens to be without seam, since it is unstitched.

For it possesses a union that is not forced but organically grown together.

And it is also woven from above throughout its whole, by reason of its being God-inspired.

For through every power the Scripture is 'from above.'

But the Church neither divides the garments nor casts lots over them.

For she possesses them whole and has clothed herself with them, standing at the right hand of Jesus, like the Queen arrayed in gold-embroidered raiment, richly adorned.

But rising above even these garments, she shall put on Jesus himself, who is the wisdom and power of the Father, thereby herself becoming wise and mighty.

But while those men do these things, 'Do not remove your help far from me';

for while you help me and attend to my support, on the third day I shall rise from the dead and shall show the plot against me to have been in vain.

Since the enemies who have surrounded me, thirsting to slay me, hold a sword able to wound not the body but the soul, 'Deliver my soul from their sword,' keeping it unharmed from disturbance and cowardice.

For even if our soul is sufficiently prepared, yet when it beholds the devil together with the whole phalanx of demons and the throng of opposing energies and of wicked men, energized by them, it is thrown into confusion (for it is of a changeable nature) and calls upon as its ally the one who is able to deliver it from the sword of its foes.

But perhaps the devil himself may allegorically be called a sword, since he dares, by deliberate choice, to wound every soul.

And so he prays to be delivered from this sword as well.

Those whom he earlier called, in the plural, 'dogs' that surrounded him, he now names in the singular, according to their kind.

And he called his soul 'only-begotten' because it stands alone and is set apart from all other souls.

For all those others knew sin, but this one did not.

And upon those others God the Word visits and abides at intervals, but with this one he will remain inseparably and without interval, unsundered unto the end.

Because these exceptional things belong to it in union, it is said to be his 'only-begotten.'

But perhaps also the glorious Church that stands beside him, having neither spot nor wrinkle, being made complete out of those who are blamelessly perfect, is his only-begotten—those who, as they advance, are divided into many ranks because of the difference arising from their progress;

for though there are sixty queens and eighty concubines and maidens without number, this one alone, above all, is the perfect dove, being the only-begotten to her mother, the Jerusalem that is above.

From the lion, the devil, mentioned a little before, he now prays to be saved, but also his own humiliation, according to which 'He humbled himself, becoming obedient to the Father unto death, even the death of the cross.'

And there are those who suppose that the cross is signified by the word here set forth, 'horn,' since it bears the shape of a horn.

And that this saying was spoken in the person of Christ, the Epistle to the Hebrews declares, as he cries out to the Father:

'O Father, your name'—that is, your distinct property and intimacy—'your concept I will declare,' making it manifest to my brethren who have come to be, to whom you sent down my Spirit;

to whom it might be said that, 'Because you are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts.'

And these are they who have received from God the Spirit of adoption, so that they may be sons of God and brethren of the Only-begotten.

And so, having risen from the dead and appeared to the women, he said, 'Go, tell my brethren that I am risen.'

And in the midst of the Church gathered from these he will hymn the Father, sending up praises and theological paeans.

Since Jacob is named in several senses (for this appellation signifies at times the holy man, son of Isaac and father of the twelve patriarchs; at times the twelve-tribed people that came forth from him; at times the ten tribes alone that were torn away from the house of David and followed Jeroboam; at times the Saviour himself, according to 'Jacob my servant, I will uphold him;

Israel my chosen, my soul has accepted him';

for Matthew wrote that this prophecy was spoken concerning the Saviour)—it must be inquired according to which of the significations the words 'All the seed of Jacob, glorify him' are said.

The twelve-tribed seed of the patriarch Jacob, nurtured in the reading of the Law and the Prophets, desires to glorify God both through thoughts and words and good works.

But perhaps, since this would be false—for many descended from Jacob became unbelieving and betrayers of Jesus—someone will say that the whole seed of Jacob, the supplanter who overthrew death and the opposing power (and this one is Jesus), the seed that arose from his teaching, will be able to glorify God.

And since there is also Israel, whom the soul of God accepted, being his chosen seed, in that he is Israel he shall fear God.

And each of the imitators of Jesus, if indeed he has the wrestling against principalities and powers and the world-rulers of this darkness, is a Jacob, supplanting his adversaries;

but if he has a pure heart and a translucent mind, he shall see God, being in this respect Israel.

The seed, therefore, of every such person shall fear God.

Since he did not despise the supplication of me, the poor one, nor was he vexed in scorning it, for this reason, becoming thankful that the supplication made on our behalf has been heard by the Lord, praise and glorify and fear him.

For even though I prayed to him as a poor man, yet you ought to know that I, being rich, being the treasure of the fullness of good things, for your sakes became poor, that through my poverty I might make you rich;

on your behalf I cried out to the Lord, and he heard me, giving you those things for which you were declared rich.

For as I thus interceded for you, 'He did not turn away his face from me,' but rather shone it upon me all the more;

wherefore also he received my cry.

Men praise on account of manifest deeds and pursuits, but God, who sees the hidden thing, praises on account of perfect virtue and surpassing knowledge.

It belongs, therefore, to someone great to say with boldness:

'From you, O God, is my praise, not among ordinary folk but in the great congregation';

and the great congregation is that which is gathered from those who are individually great, just as a numerous congregation is that which is collected from many.

A vow is a confession of thanksgiving made, if one should obtain from God certain particular things.

Since wealth is spoken of in two ways according to the Scriptures—so that some are rich in good works and in all speech and all knowledge, while others are rich from false-glorying doctrines and displeasing deeds—it follows that to each kind of wealth there is a contrary poverty.

And he who has the divine wealth but is deprived of the base wealth would have the poverty contrary to it, so that he is at once rich and poor in a praiseworthy manner;

just as, conversely, he who has the base wealth would have also the blameworthy poverty that is opposed to the true wealth.

Concerning those, then, who are poor in a praiseworthy manner, the words 'The poor shall eat and be satisfied' are spoken.

And you may call 'poor,' according to what has already been said, also those from among the Gentiles who formerly had no hope and were without God in the world, who eat and shall be satisfied as they draw near to the faith.

'The ends of the earth' that remember God and turn to him are either the Gentiles or those who have passed over from the earth by having their commonwealth in heaven.

'And all the families of the Gentiles shall worship before him.'

The Jews, when they inhabited Judaea, thought to worship before God by coming to Jerusalem and the temple which Solomon built.

This typical worship, bound to a place, the Gentiles were not able to perform, dwelling as they did unto the ends of the earth;

but they were taught to worship in spirit and in truth, remaining wherever they might be, making their worship before God, whenever they conduct themselves as God wills.

With this the prophecy also concurs, which says:

'And they shall worship before him, each one from his own place, all the islands of the Gentiles,' as Zephaniah says.

'The fat ones of the earth' can be those nurtured on earthly things, who, being called to repentance by the Spirit, putting to death the deeds of the body so as no longer to mind the things of earth, having eaten the spiritual food dispensed by Jesus, worshiped God in spirit and in truth.

But it is possible to call 'the fat ones of the earth' those among earthly men who are distinguished, whether by pursuing worldly wisdom or by being rich and rulers in a perceptible sense;

for these too, having eaten the food from Jesus which is a remedy against the evils that had previously seized them, shall worship God, having found him to surpass all the wisdom and wealth and rule that they had.

And one might call 'those going down into the earth' all the angels who come down from heaven to earth and worship the Master and Saviour, according to 'Let all the angels of God worship him';

but consider whether those who undergo the common death can 'go down into the earth,' who shall worship the Lord who for their sake came to be in the lower parts of the earth.

And rightly did he say that his own soul lives but does not serve him, whereas his seed serves.

For the nature that was assumed was united to the Godhead that assumed it, and has partaken of the same glory and honour.

The words 'A generation goes and a generation comes,' some, applying them to the two peoples, have said that the 'generation that goes' is those of the circumcision, in that it departed from the Lord because it had become a crooked and wicked generation;

and the 'generation that comes' is the calling from the Gentiles, hastening toward the Saviour himself who calls it.

'To you the nations shall come from the end of the earth,' and 'All the nations which you made shall come and worship before you.'

For the Saviour who speaks does not cast out this generation that comes to him;

'Him who comes to me I will in no wise cast out.'

It is well too that He said 'him who comes' and not 'him who has come'; for the one who is ever active in drawing near to Him by the practice of virtue He does not cast out.

For the one who is ever at work in coming to Him through the doing of the things of virtue He does not cast out.

And the generation of which the word speaks did not 'come,' but 'comes' to Him, embracing the things of faith.

And these very ones who declare to the Lord the generation that is coming, and the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus which works effectually unto all who believe—these will proclaim it to the people that shall be born in a divine birth, whom the Lord made, having purchased them through His own blood, calling that which was not a people His own people.

He who by cultivating meekness and steadfastness has been named a sheep of Christ will say concerning the good Shepherd: 'The Lord shepherds me, and I shall lack nothing.'

For He leads me to the pasture of salvation, where are the divine herbs, concerning which the Shepherd Himself says of His own sheep: 'He shall go in and go out, and shall find pasture.'

In this place, then, 'He has made me to encamp,' not 'to dwell permanently'; for He wills that I, as far as I advance, should make use of such pasture unto perfection.

For He wills that I, in so far as I make progress, should employ such pasture unto perfection.

For, having become a man out of a sheep, I shall come to know the way not of a shepherd but of an instructor and teacher.

'By the water of rest He nourished me.'

For moral instruction is not only a remedy for thirst, but also grants the loosing of sins.

'He turned back my soul.'

For even if, being a sheep, I have wandered outside the pasture, having strayed through sinning, yet the Shepherd who turns back that which is lost has turned back my soul.

It is to be noted that no one is evil by nature, in that he is capable of conversion.

And one is turned back to that place where he passed his life at the beginning.

Sin, then, is something that has befallen those who have turned away from God.

Concerning the Shepherd he says the words 'He guided me,' as of one going before and making a way, that we might walk in the tracks which He Himself has trodden, following after His footsteps.

For whenever He puts forth His own sheep, He goes before them, and His own sheep follow Him.

By 'righteousness' he means the disposition according to which we are doers of just things, and by its 'paths' the things accomplished in accordance with it.

Or perhaps righteousness is the universal and generic virtue, and its 'paths' are the particular virtues according to their several kinds.

For the sake, therefore, of the name which has been called upon me from Him, He guided me unto the aforesaid paths of righteousness.

When God is present, nothing of harmful things is able to hurt or damage, as the prophet says:

'Who shall do me harm?' If ever, then, I should walk in things afflicting and toilsome, which are called the shadow of death, I shall not fear the things that hurt, having God with me.

By 'evils' here he does not mean evils in the strict sense, but toilsome things—poverty, sickness, hardship and the like—concerning which Job also speaks.

For one who has God with him does not come to be where those evils are which are opposed to the goods that are good in the strict sense.

For sin is far from everyone who is with God.

The 'rod' he says means to rebuke and to discipline, according to the saying: 'What will you? Shall I come to you with a rod?'; while the 'staff' means to give support through counsel, exhortation, and encouragement.

At the outset we said that the one who is in the state of advancing encamps in a place of green grass.

Since, then, the one who advances would also arrive at the goal, no longer remaining a sheep but shown forth as a rational being, he has a table of rational nourishments prepared by the Lord.

'A table before me'—no longer the introductory and moral teaching as before, but the mystical teaching and the contemplation of the truth.

Consider, however, whether, in so far as one is in this life, seeing the truth through a mirror and in a riddle, he is a sheep led under a shepherd; but having passed over into the age to come, beholding the truth face to face, he applies himself to a spiritual table, according to the saying: 'And I will make with you a covenant, to eat and drink at the table of the Father in the truth.'

Whence also the words 'Thou hast prepared' are spoken.

For from thence God has prepared those things which 'eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, which God has prepared for those who love Him.'

And the phrase 'before me' shows that the Table has been made manifest to me and made known to me, over against those who afflict me, since many wish to be at enmity with me and for this reason afflict me.

The Lord, willing that I should stand firmly against them, prepared before me a table on which solid food is set, that being athletically filled with this I might be able nobly to withstand those who afflict me.

For indeed, when we attain perfect goods, we have adversaries who are stronger and more numerous.

'For a great door has been opened to me, and the adversaries are many.'

That is, pouring it abundantly upon the mind.

And this anointing is the priestly myrrh whose symbol Aaron bore.

For 'like myrrh,' he says, 'upon the head, that runs down upon the beard, the beard of Aaron.'

Since wisdom prepared not only a table but also mingled her own wine into a mixing-bowl—wine sprung from herself, who is the true vine—and she mingled this wine by blending the divine contemplations with human words.

Distributing from this bowl, she gives to each a cup, which cup, being most excellent—that is, precious and choice for the one who receives it—is spoken of, as also the Holy Spirit is thus designated.

Of the one who has received it, he says: 'And my cup.'

For the aforesaid mixture held forth by wisdom is not a human one.

One does not so much reap salvation from works as from the grace of God, who is merciful.

For God, being rich in mercy, through the great love that is in Him toward men, made alive together with Christ those who were dead by reason of their sins and trespasses.

Whence the holy one also says:

'And Thy mercy shall pursue me,' ever coming upon me and being poured out upon me.

For it is not at one time yes and at another no, but 'All the days of my life' it pursues me.

And 'all the days of my life' are either the various illuminations of the truth by which we are made alive, or Christ who is present with us throughout life.

In a place of green grass He makes to encamp, but in the house of the Lord He causes to dwell—not for some season, but 'all the days' of the immortal life, being illumined without interval and continually.

But in a more mystical sense the earth became the Lord's when, having descended, He freed it from the demons that held it in tyranny, abolishing all the things deceitfully practiced upon it—magic, sorcery, the oracles of the demons upon earth, together with the laws concerning idols and sacrifices.

But 'its fullness' also is the Lord's—that is, all the nations dwelling upon it.

The fullness of the good things which He bestowed upon it, according to the saying: 'The earth is full of the mercy of the Lord,' and 'The earth is full of His praise.'

And this is His Church under the sun, together with those who dwell in her.

And those who dwell in this inhabited world are they who think and live in an ecclesiastical manner.

'He Himself founded it upon the seas'—the seas being understood as the circumstances attending temptations, which have much surge and briny bitterness.

For then the Church receives a foundation and an immovable seat, whenever, though the surging waves assail, she remains unshaken in the faith.

He established the aforesaid inhabited world and earth in good order through the legislation that was given, unto the receiving of the Holy Spirit, from whom, as from a fountain, the varied gifts flow as rivers of living water.

For with a view to her having these rivers He prepared her, having founded her, as was said before, upon the seas.

An answer is brought forth to the one who asked, interpreting of what sort this one is.

And 'innocent in hands' is he who has blameless and innocent deeds; and he has 'a clean heart' who has taken up the best disposition and is contemplative of the truth.

To 'take up the soul in vain' is when someone, having a rational soul that knows what is beneficial and harmful, does not use this knowledge so as to flee the harmful and choose the beneficial.

Just as we say that one has received the law in vain who, having learned from it the things enjoined, uses it in the opposite way by doing the things forbidden.

The one, therefore, who follows the judgments of the soul concerning goods and evils, so as to withdraw from base things and to lay hold of the good, this one 'has not taken up his soul in vain.'

And perhaps too one who, having received a rational soul capable of virtues and sciences, and not having received these things of which it is capable, but rather torn to pieces by the deceit of life and worldly care, by pleasures and passions, has taken up his soul in vain.

But he who is disposed contrariwise to this one has not taken it up in vain.

And the whole life of the many is vanity of vanities.

It belongs to the one of whom the word speaks both to swear truly and not to swear craftily with guile against his neighbor.

He alone swears without deceit, together with everyone who keeps the 'Yes, yes' and the 'No, no.'

And he shall receive from God his Savior a reward, namely a blessing, which alights upon the head of the righteous man.

This blessing is altogether spiritual, not of the earth.

Together with this blessing he shall also receive mercy from God who saves him by pity and grace; and for this reason he shall be blessed, since, having become merciful and generous in sharing, he shall himself obtain mercy.

For 'Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.'

Since the question is not about some single person ascending into the mountain of the Lord and standing in his holy place, neither is the answer about a single one, but about everyone who is innocent in hands and pure in heart.

Wherefore he adds, 'This is the generation of those who seek him,' meaning 'All such as these, who possess the virtue arising from what was aforesaid, are a generation that seeks the Lord.'

And they seek in order to find the face of the God of Jacob, whom they long to behold, that being made better through contemplating and being illumined by him, they may say:

'The light of your countenance has been signed upon us, O Lord.'

'Lift up your gates, O you rulers—your own gates, over which you preside and of which you are the guardians.'

For just as when he descended, bowing the heavens, he came down without opening them, so likewise, being taken up, he entered not through gates being opened, but through gates being lifted up.

Then, since these gates happen to be rational as well, the angels also say to them:

These spiritual gates are not temporary, since they are not bodily, but eternal, because of their immateriality and incorruptibility.

Yet in declaring that the gates are lifted and raised up, they say that not one of the glorious ones is to enter, but the King of glory.

The Savior is called King of glory because he rules over all who are glorious according to God, and because he receives the glory offered by all and possesses the true and abiding kingdom.

And bestowing this glory upon the worthy, he is also called its Lord, according to the saying, 'For had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.'

But since it was not God the Word alone who ascended, but bearing the flesh which he had taken up, animated by a rational soul, the powers above, astonished, inquired, 'Who is this King of glory?' For beholding the one called King of glory clothed in flesh, they marveled.

But those running before him were saying, 'The Lord, strong and mighty,' crying out this very thing openly:

'The one whom you know to be the King of all and Master of all things, strong and mighty—this is he who is clothed in a body, who has prevailed against those that fell from among us and took up a tyrannical disposition; he is the Lord mighty in battle, seen to be so by having destroyed all who willed to contend against his glory and to resist him.'

Having heard these things, the rulers, together with their eternal gates, were not content merely to do what was commanded, but they also announced to the higher powers who preside even over the gates themselves of the upper heavens the things they had heard, proclaiming, 'Lift up your gates, O you rulers,' and what follows.

And when these in turn inquired, they gave them the same answer that they themselves had received, saying, 'The Lord of hosts—he is the King of glory.'

They called him Lord of hosts as being the commander of armies.

It should be noted that those who have accurately studied Hebrew matters say that the word 'Sabaoth' stands in the Hebrew.

When rendering it into the Greek tongue, the Seventy translators sometimes set 'Lord of the powers,' sometimes 'Lord of armies,' and sometimes 'Almighty.'

At any rate they say that, 'Sabaoth' standing also in this passage, it was rendered as 'Lord of the powers.'

But if 'Sabaoth' is applied to the Savior, and is also interpreted as 'Almighty,' then fittingly the word 'Almighty' would be predicated of the Savior.

For if 'All things came into being through him,' and 'He is before all things, and in him all things hold together,' and he providentially governs all that has come into being through him, and is before all things that have come to subsist in him, then consequently he is called Almighty.

For the Son is Almighty, being sent by the Almighty, dispatched by the Father.

Most manifestly in the Apocalypse of John the Savior is called Almighty:

For 'Thus says the Lord, the faithful and true witness, who was and who is and who is coming, the Lord God the Almighty.'

For beyond dispute these things are spoken concerning the Son.

'For he who trusts in wealth—this one shall fall.'

And by way of synecdoche this must be said concerning all temporal things.

For, having my confidence in you, I pray that I may not fail of the things I earnestly pursue, that I may not incur mockery from my enemies.

My enemies are the devil and the other wicked powers, and men who are without piety toward God.

And perhaps these things are fitting for the saints who lived before the Advent.

They await him and patiently endure until his coming down here below.

For when he had come, the mockery of the enemies came to an end, that mockery with which they used to laugh loudly against those who hoped in God.

The phrase 'in vain' signifies what is futile and empty.

Of such a kind is that saying in Proverbs, 'This is the way of all who accomplish lawless things, bringing shame upon those who act lawlessly in vain.'

For it is not toward any good end, as with the keepers of the law, that they accomplish the works of lawlessness.

By 'the ways of the Lord' one must understand his commandments.

But he also says, 'Teach me the very paths that lie upon the ways,' so that, keeping to the tracks which those who went before have ever trodden, I may make my journey unerring.

And since the practical life alone does not suffice for perfect salvation, in order that along with it I may also accomplish the contemplative life, he says, 'Guide me by instruction unto your truth.'

And it may also be said in another way, according to the passage:

Since the law and the prophets are the ways of the Lord, none other was able to make them known to the one who longs to have experience of them than the Lord.

For he himself, having made known to us his ways and taught us his paths through having spoken to the fathers in the prophets, says, 'Guide me unto him who said:'

'I am the truth'—he who at the last of the days spoke in a Son.

As the proper activity of light is to illuminate, and of knowledge to lead to knowing, so the peculiar activity of God is to have compassion and to show mercy; whence he is also called 'Father of compassions.'

Being a compassionate Father in that he is the fountain and origin of the compassions—'Remember these your offspring.'

For even if for a little while you were angry with those who had sinned, yet let the anger—which is not according to your nature but arose serviceably for the destroying of evil—cease, as you take remembrance of the compassions that belong to your nature.