Commentary on the Psalms 1 part 10/34

and some he made of silver, some of gold; but the laver he fashioned out of the women's mirrors, teaching that whoever washes his own deeds and the wayfaring powers of the soul ought to behold himself as in a mirror.

And that such a course of life is called a mirror, James too writes:

of the hearer who becomes forgetful and is no doer of the work, he says:

'he observed his face in a mirror, and straightway went away and forgot what manner of man he was.'

He did not find fault with observing one's face in a mirror, but with departing straightway.

And just as one who looks in a mirror, when he departs from the mirror, no longer sees himself, so he who attends to the law, if he is not a doer of the law, passes away like the one departing from the mirror, and receives forgetfulness of that which pertains to it.

'But we all, with unveiled face, behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord.'

In the laver, then, that was made from mirrors, the apostle also washed his hands, and urged others on to this.

'that I may hear the voice of your praise.'

You see that after the washing of the hands there comes also the beholding of the wonders and the hearing of the voice of praise;

for virtue must not halt at action alone, but must reach even to contemplation and praise, even to the recognition of the Good itself, the Truth.

'and to declare all your wondrous works.'

The hearing of the voice of praise comes about with a view to declaring all the wonders of God.

He has, in his own discourse, no other narrative at all than that concerning the wonders of God.

And thus he who says these things is a priest — not one exercising the priesthood by succession according to the courses of the law, but rather like Samuel, who was ever in the house.

And each of the saints who is able to say:

'But I am continually with you' —

'My eyes are continually toward the Lord' —

he who continually has his eyes toward God goes about the altar of God,

abiding with him always, and always he ministers as a priest.

'O Lord, I have loved the beauty of your house, and the place of the tabernacle of your glory.'

In what do tabernacle and house differ? It has often been said that the tabernacle signifies progress;

for it is a dwelling of those on a journey, a portable house,

whereas the house is set fast in one place;

and so it signifies perfection.

'And the place of the tabernacle of your glory I have loved' — that is, when I was making progress.

The glory of the tabernacle — that is, of progress — comes to be both in practical and in intellectual virtue.

Magnificent is this one who is able to say:

'All that we were bound to do, we have done.'

In the proper sense the fitting is good, when it is directed toward virtue and godliness.

Comely is he who through celibacy succeeds in how he may please the Lord.

He who is holy in body and in spirit possesses comeliness.

'The beauty, therefore, of your house I have loved' — that is, the perfection.

'Destroy not my soul together with the ungodly, nor my life with men of blood.'

Being righteous, do not condemn me with the ungodly; do not drag me down into their company.

And you will not chastise me together with the ungodly, if you restrain me from coming into ungodliness —

as I journey, if I hope in you, so as not to grow weak.

But being perfect, I do not perish together with the ungodly;

no zealous man is condemned along with the base.

And the form of destruction is twofold:

'Chastise me not with the ungodly'; do not number me among these who are punished for ungodliness.

Keep me in godliness, in being well-pleasing to your truth;

for ungodliness will not save the one who is its own,

and, failing to save, it destroys him.

'and my life with men of blood.'

May I never have such a life as murderous men have.

Those who boast of being great and of being men, yet cause the little ones in the church to stumble, are men of blood.

May such things never be done by me, so that I should have my life together with them.

This is life and length of days: to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

He who possesses this manner of living does not have his life together with men of blood; he is dead as regards the men of blood.

And he is dead in that he does not have the life which they themselves possess.

Moreover, in their deeds they still have lawlessness.

They have not ceased to have it, but still have it.

And their right hand is filled with bribes.

This can also serve to accuse judges who take bribes.

But even quietly, even we who are not sitting in judgement often take bribes, whenever we show partiality toward someone.

And if a man procures pleasant things for himself, he takes a bribe; he receives gifts from his own self.

But I have walked in my innocence.

None of those who take bribes and have their right hand filled with gifts, none of the lawless and of the men of blood, has walked in innocence.

Such a man was Elymas the magician, both impious and walking in lawlessness and having his right hand full of bribes;

for he seemed to be zealous in deceiving, and it was said to him:

'O you who are full of all guile and all villainy, you son of the devil!'

But he who is filled with all villainy cannot say:

Redeem me, O God, and have mercy on me.

He who walks in innocence, he who abides in the aforementioned upright deeds, is the one who says 'Redeem me.'

'Even if I am engaged in such great upright deeds, and by your co-working all things pertaining to virtue are accomplished in me, yet the body of my humiliation still weighs me down; I am still in the place of affliction;

for my foot has stood in uprightness.'

For the foot of the inner man to stand in uprightness is the same as to stand upon the rock, according to what is said:

You have set my feet upon a rock;

for uprightness, like a rock, is unbreakable and cannot be cut through.

My foot, therefore, is firm in my uprightness.

And to stand in uprightness is the same as to stand in the faith;

for indeed 'you stand in the faith.'

Such a standing does not come to be apart from Jesus.

Those who have this standing stand with him, so that he says:

'There are some of those standing here, of those here with me.'

In the congregations I will bless you, O Lord.

In the church I will render up the hymns of thanksgiving, not somewhere outside.

He who, outside and contrary to the mind of the church, professes to give thanks to God, does not bless him in the congregations.

The psalms before this one belonged to David;

this one is inscribed as of David.

He himself brought it forth at the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

He sent it up before he was anointed.

Now David appears to have been anointed three times;

first, when he came to Samuel and was anointed, and Samuel came to Jesse;

the second, when Saul had died;

for some had chosen David as king, but others Mephibosheth the son of Saul.

When the son of Saul had been betrayed by Abner on the pretext of a woman, David was anointed over all the people in Hebron.

Formerly, at that point, he plainly lived as a private man.

Secondly, that he might rule over some portion of the people.

At the death of Saul's son, so that he might rule over the remaining portion of the people as well, thereupon and once more he was anointed by all.

We inquire, then, concerning which anointing he speaks here.

For it is universally concerning every anointing;

he says that the psalm was spoken before he was anointed at all, and reasonably so;

if before the first anointing, it is evident that it was also before the second and the third.

But if before the second, it is not necessarily before the first.

If before the third, it is not of necessity also before the first and the second.

But the psalm appears above all to have been spoken before the first anointing, that is, before every anointing.

The psalm, therefore, is before his being anointed.

The Lord is my light and my saviour;

whom shall I fear? If God enlightens me and saves me, whom do I fear? Neither man, nor evil power, nor the devil himself.

The word 'whom' here stands in place of 'no one';

for this usage occurs continually in the Scriptures;

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? — in place of 'no one.'

Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? — in place of 'no one'; and further:

Who shall harm me? Since, then, many things are signified by the word, as has been said elsewhere, here 'who' stands in place of 'no one.'

The discourse, then, is not about perceptible life and some perceptible illumination;

for by the divine light they are illumined in the mind and the soul.

And life is always yoked together with salvation.

Eternal life and eternal salvation are the same thing;

Israel, at any rate, is saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation.

And that life is always yoked together with illumination can be seen from many passages;

The life was the light of men; and again this holy man prays:

Enlighten my eyes, lest I sleep unto death — signifying that he who is deprived of the true illumination sleeps unto death;

death, not the common one, but that which is opposed to the blessed life.

The Lord, then, is my light and my saviour.

He himself instructs me, he speaks to me in secret, he enlightens me through the things he converses about, and his word prepares me straightway to have salvation.

Since I have said that the one who is enlightened altogether possesses life — indeed the Saviour himself also says:

I am the light of the world;

he who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

He who possesses the light of life fears no one, especially because the very truth of God becomes a shield doing battle on his behalf;

for his truth shall encompass you as with a weapon of defense.

The Lord is the defender of my life;

of whom shall I be afraid? The Lord is the defender of my life;

of whom shall I be afraid? Who is able to instill dread in me? I am clothed in the whole armor of God, I hold the shield of faith, which quenches all the flaming darts of the evil one.

But if the shield of faith quenches the darts of the evil one, how much more will it quench those of the lesser archers;

for there are also other base archers.

Indeed, behold, the sinners have bent the bow, they have made ready arrows in the quiver, to shoot down in darkness the upright in heart.

Invulnerable and unassailable is the whole armor of God.

His shield is truth,

and no one is able to prevail against the truth;

for we can do nothing, he says, against the truth, but only for the truth.

It is a whole armor that girds fast the one armed with it and keeps him unharmed.

The Lord, then, is the defender of my life.

He does not say this concerning our common life;

for many of those consecrated to God, and who put on his whole armor, have died the common death—not to say all of them;

and moreover many were subjected to a violent death, among whom are Naboth and many of the apostles.

When those who work evil draw near against me to devour my flesh.

Those who set themselves to injure the soul devour flesh.

If anyone be found having flesh, he has powerful adversaries against him.

But that flesh concerning which Paul speaks, saying:

that the mind of the flesh is enmity against God; and again:

if he were speaking of the flesh perceived by the senses, the saying would be false;

for all the saints, being in the flesh, pleased God while still clothed about with the flesh, and they cannot say:

But when someone mortifies the flesh and does away with its works, he is not in the flesh.

Those who belong to Jesus Christ have crucified the flesh with its lusts, and they hold it mortified, no longer active.

The one being crucified has his hands hindered from acting and his feet from going wherever he wishes.

Those, then, who were crucified with Christ crucified the flesh with its lusts, and rendered it dead, so as henceforth to carry about in their own flesh the dying of Jesus;

we always carry about the dying of Jesus.

The Lord is the defender of my life;

of whom shall I be afraid? When those who work evil draw near against me to devour my flesh, since they found not the food they craved, they were weakened and fell.

But observe what is here joined together.

Those who afflict me and my enemies, they themselves were weakened and fell.

They came to drag me down into weakness, to reduce me to an evil plight;

but the suffering which they wished to inflict on me came upon themselves;

for had they found flesh, they would have devoured me and dragged me down into weakness and sickness.

But since they found no flesh, they themselves were weakened and fell, being subjected to famine.

Those who afflict me and my enemies, they themselves were weakened and fell.

The one who afflicts is not in every case an enemy;

for many enemies, wishing to surround with afflictions and ill-treatment those against whom they bear enmity, are not able to do this if God does not permit it.

And many afflict who are not enemies.

Indeed, parents afflict when disciplining their children, and masters their servants, and surely they do not do this out of enmity.

It is possible, then, to say that both ranks—those who afflict and the enemies—were weakened and fell.

The very ones who afflict are also enemies;

for they do not afflict for the sake of admonition and instruction.

They are not such as those of whom it is said:

He who brings forth wisdom from his lips smites with a rod the man void of heart; and again:

What will you? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love? These who afflict are not enemies.

But there are times when the enemy also afflicts;

What kind of mortification? — This: not living according to base activities.

He who carries about the dying of Jesus does not live licentiously;

he has been mortified toward licentiousness, mortified toward making a god of his own belly, and he holds his members inactive with regard to fleshly lusts;

he does not allow it to be a law unto itself;

for it has blameworthy lusts.

Let not sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its lusts.

Though an army should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear.

Next he sets forth how it is that he does not fear or dread, saying:

of whom shall I be afraid? — since the expression seems to surpass anyone.

Even should a whole host of wicked men and powers array itself against me, my heart does not fear;

and even should they kill the body, the heart remains unshaken, my mind is not struck down.

Even should a whole army with great generals come against me, I keep my heart fearless, my mind does not fear.

And that a multitude of armies is called by this name:

Jacob, when he was returning from Mesopotamia and was about to meet Esau, saw a camp of angels;

for how should there not be a camp about him who was about to go to meet a foe surpassing in might and full of hatred? And likewise Elisha:

The army of Syria arrayed itself against Elisha.

A divine camp came to be about him, not according to the literal history, but according to the spiritual sense.

The soul is led by the mind, and is guided by it as by a charioteer.

But if anyone should wish to take the moral sense as well, it is possible.

The name 'spirit of the heart' sometimes signifies the mind's disposition.

Here we must understand it as the intellect.

'If war should rise up against me, in this will I be confident'—

in a heart strengthened by the fear of God.

The fear of the Lord surpasses all things; and:

'There is no want to them that fear him.'

I am confident that this heart becomes to me in the place of all things.

The virtues are the weapons of godliness.

'Let us put on the armour of light, let us lay aside the works of the flesh.'

The weapons of light are the virtues—the godly conceptions, the mysteries and doctrines of the truth.

Secured in this full armour, a man dreads no one; he holds a hope that cannot be put to shame.

'In this, then, I hope'—not simply in my own conception, but in one thus secured.

'One thing have I asked of the Lord, this will I seek after.'

God is the giver of many good things;

'for he will give good things to them that ask him,' and he fills their desire with his own good things;

'who satisfies your desire with good things.'

One might therefore say, more plausibly, that these good things are the virtues considered according to their species, the mysteries of the truth according to their species.

Whenever, then, someone possesses—so to speak—the very genus of the virtues, he possesses them all.

So he asks one request: the whole of virtue.

When someone does not yet possess the virtues in their flourishing, he does not send up a single request;

for if he is in the course of advancing and growing greater in other respects, he again has need of asking, and does not ask a single request.

But he who sends up his prayer for the whole of virtue and for the godliness of doctrine sends up a single prayer.

It is possible to say this too:

these are signified by the name of the tabernacle, as has often been demonstrated.

If, then, someone comes to be in some measure of progress and asks to have God as a helper, to have him also as an ally, he does not remain in that request;

for he passes from progress to progress.

He becomes ever better than himself.

The dwellings are said to be many, but the house is one.

So he who has come to perfection asks one request.

'One thing, then, have I asked of the Lord.'

Their help—that being prepared they may be able to withstand those who stir up war and the encampments—does not ask a single request.

They seek many aids: a soldier's array, the strength of walls, fortifications.

But he who has God himself as helper and asks for him alone asks a single request.

He becomes all in all, so that each of those who have been perfected has him as everything—as bread, as light, as teacher, as shepherd.

'One thing, then, have I asked; this will I seek after.'

He who says 'I will seek after' and 'I have asked' shows that the one who seeks and longs to find does not yet possess.

And no one yet possesses perfection, except perhaps he attain to the very goal and end of virtue and of union with God.

'That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.'

I did not begin asking only now, but even in beginning I began for the sake of the end;

for indeed he who begins a craft begins for the sake of the craft's end.

Those who have attained to this dwell there.

'Blessed are all they that dwell in your house.'

He who has the blessed life is in days, and comes not to be in nights.

And even if he should ever come to be in night, yet should he take a beginning of longing for that life, he comes to be outside the night.

'That I may behold the delightfulness of the Lord, and visit his temple.'

Just as I dwell all the days in the house of God, so on all the days do I behold the delightfulness of the Lord and visit his temple.

The delightfulness of the Lord is participation in him.

And his temple is that state in which God is found, in which God dwells.

Perfect virtue is the house of God.

And Christ as a Son over his own house, whose house we are; and:

'Know ye not that ye are the temple of God?' However, though we have called virtue and complete holiness a house, secondarily we have so called the faithful also.

For this reason they become a house: because they possess virtue and holiness.

It is not that virtue is called the house of God on account of those who partake of it, but rather, on account of virtue, those who share in it are so called.

And the end that lies above all is sketched out most of all.

But since this does not come all at once, we speak of the ends that precede the final end;

for there are also ends before the end;

when a man has completed one thing, then he makes a beginning.

When, then, he completes it, he sees the limit of a certain advance;

then, beginning, he seeks to see another end, and above all he arrives at the end that is above all.

Take the matter for me also in the case of the building of a city:

he who ambitiously wishes to build a costly city—and what more can I say?—a royal one, begins the construction.

He often completes the quarrying of stone.

When he has made ready those materials which he needs and as many as he needs, he then begins to seek a place where he may raise up the city.

God becomes all in all—not all in each one, but all in all.

In one he is compassionate, whenever someone hastens to be such; in another a good judge; in another just; in another bountiful; in another as a teacher in a disciple.

And in all he becomes all things to those who draw near to him, yet not all in each one, but either one or two or three gifts of grace.

And that we may make this plain in the case of the gifts of grace, take the case of the Spirit:

one has a word of wisdom, another a word of knowledge, another a gift of healings.

But whenever someone becomes perfect, no longer having the pledge of the Spirit but the Spirit itself, he becomes all things in each one.

I become a perfect overseer and guardian of the temple of God, having nothing else before my eyes than this very thing—beholding the temple of God.

'For he hid me in his tabernacle in the day of my troubles.'

For this reason 'one thing have I asked, and this will I seek after,' namely, that in the day of my troubles he hid me in his tabernacle.

When many evils were pressing upon me and wishing to do me harm, he hid me.

Now the body too is sometimes called a tabernacle;

for 'the earthly tent weighs down the much-pondering mind,' and again:

'we who are in this tent groan.'

Often, while we are still in the tabernacle and still clothed about with the body, it hides us so that we are not harmed by it, whenever, as I said before, one carries about the dying of Jesus in the body, and buffets the body and brings it into subjection.

'He sheltered me in the secret place of his tabernacle.'

For the secret place of his tabernacle is not harmful, but protective.

But the exposed part of the tabernacle already spoken of does harm rather.

'Thus am I clothed about with a body as though not being in a body,' since 'what is mortal is swallowed up by life.'

To be swallowed up and to swallow up, in Scripture, signifies victory;

'when they rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us up alive'—that is, they would have conquered us.

'Israel is swallowed up; now is he become among the nations as a useless vessel.'

'All they,' it says, 'that devour him shall offend.'

'In the tabernacle, then, in the secret place of his tabernacle, he hid me.'

It is also possible that one who has come to be in a body, if he apprehends the cause and the mystery on account of which he has come to be in it, is hidden in its secret place;

for as soon as he knows the mystery and the cause, he will mortify himself and is not swallowed up.

It is also possible that this is said concerning the Saviour, or addressed to the Saviour.

'In the secret place of his tabernacle he hid me;'

he had a tabernacle, he became man.

The descent of the Saviour holds a certain hidden mystery.

He, then, who is able—after the Word who became flesh has tabernacled in him—to say:

'we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth'—he has been sheltered in the secret place of his tabernacle.

His shelter has become the apprehending of the mystery of the Saviour's sojourning.

The Jews, at any rate, did not apprehend it, and all who are like them, and they were not sheltered in the secret place of his tabernacle.

It is also possible, according to the former interpretation, that the secret place of the tabernacle is the end;

for it is for the sake of this that men advance, even if it escapes the notice of those who are advancing;

for unless one attains to it, he cannot see it as it is—destined to see God then as he is, when he comes to the very consummation of blessedness.

Have we already beheld?—Yet we do not know.

It is not a man who says these things, but the race of the righteous, the assembly of the saints;

for not even the Son of God, when he speaks according to the man, [says these things merely as a man].

'The Lord is my light and my saviour;'

'whom shall I fear?' I have often said that what is spoken concerning righteous men and concerning the Lord's manhood is said in common;

yet common not according to equality;

for beyond all comparison he surpasses all, even in these things.

I call them common according to participation, just as I call the art of medicine common both to the one who has been perfected and possesses it without deficiency, and to those who are still advancing.

I do not call it common according to quantity, but according to quality.

The fornicator is not hidden, but comes to be outside the tabernacle;

for he does not abstain from the fleshly lusts which war against the soul.

But he who manifestly lives entirely according to the flesh, giving himself to licentiousness and luxury, and in general preferring pleasures to toils even though they be displeasing—that man has his tabernacle exposed, has his body exposed, and it is evident that he is clothed about with a body;

but 'you are not in the flesh,' which teaches that one is to be outside the passions of the flesh.

And he who is outside the passions of the flesh is hidden in the tabernacle.

In another sense, the secret place of the tabernacle is that which is not known to all.

It is no great thing to be exalted upon a perceptible rock, so as to send up thankful praises.

All the things done by God, for which it is fitting to give thanks, which one ought to hymn, are not close at hand, nor able to belong to everyone.

The rock, then, is the unbreakable Word of God himself, and he who comes to be encircled about it is not struck down.

It is said, at any rate, in other places also:

'their judges,' or 'their mighty ones, were swallowed up, being held fast by the rock.'

And rulers, at any rate, so long as they are outside the rock, seem to be strong and to have mastery over things unstable;

but when they come near to the rock, they are straightway overcome.

I said yesterday too that being swallowed up signifies victory;

'when they rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us up alive,' and:

'those who swallow up Israel with the whole mouth.'

He, then, who is worsted is swallowed up; he who prevails swallows up.

You have, at any rate, a certain riddle that came about at the Exodus: Aaron, at God's instruction, cast down his rod;

the enchanters of the Egyptians also cast theirs down by their sorceries;

and those became serpents;

and the rod of Aaron swallowed up their rods;

for the sceptre of truth, which the servant of God holds, when cast down and stretched forth, swallows up the sophistries of the Egyptians, so that they confess their defeat, saying:

'This is the finger of God.'

As, then, the rod of Aaron swallowed up the rods of the enchanters—that is, conquered them, and hid them and reduced them to nothing—so, of the rock upon which the one who prays gives thanks, the mighty ones of the adversaries who drew near were swallowed up when they came close to the rock, or their judges.

Those who champion the teachings of the heterodox, thinking to establish the heretical arguments as strong and mighty, when the rock—the truth—draws near to them, are swallowed up and reduced to nothing.

'We have swallowed him up'—let them not boast as though they had prevailed and conquered me.

He who has his feet standing firm upon this rock sends up thankful praises;

'he put a new song into my mouth.'

When the feet stand upon the rock and the steps of the one thus helped are made straight, then he will say:

'he put into my mouth a new song, a song of victory.'

Upon the rock, then, he who is exalted sends forth songs of victory, having made secure his own onward-marching impulses.

'And now, behold, he has lifted up my head above my enemies.'

The speaker even now shows that his head has often been lifted up above his enemies.

By 'head' he means the mind, as has often been demonstrated.

Concerning it, then, it is said also in Ecclesiastes:

'The eyes of the wise man are in his head.'

The wise man possesses a clear-seeing mind.

'And now, therefore, he has lifted up my head.'

There are enemies who set upon us — he speaks at each victory:

'And now he has lifted up my head above my enemies.'

Certain men rose up, urging others toward licentiousness — such as the elders in the case of Susanna, the brothers against Joseph, and she who afterward boasted of having become his mistress.

Speaking at the same time in thanksgiving, he shows that he obtained these successes not by his own power, but with God's help.

'I went about and offered in his tabernacle a sacrifice of jubilation.'

The jubilant shout hints at victory;

for it is an inarticulate cry raised over fallen foes.

Thus, for instance, when they encircled Jericho and sounded the ram's-horn trumpets and raised the shout, at their shout the walls of Jericho fell.

Jericho, according to allegory, is the region pertaining to earth; being interpreted as 'moon,' it is the earthly region — not in respect of its waxing, but of its waning, like the fool;

for 'the fool changes like the moon.'

Whenever, then, one encircles his own tabernacle according to all the interpretations — the tabernacle was said to be [spiritual] progress —

he who advances and genuinely accomplishes his progress comes to be encircling it.

And again, the body was said to be a tabernacle.

Whenever the inner man vigorously sets himself against the body, he comes to be encircling it and prevails.

Whenever anyone encircles the tabernacle — the body of Jesus — through faith, he is shown to be a victor.

It was said to us in the preceding psalms that 'to sing a song' signifies contemplation — the sending up of praises and odes without an instrument.