Commentary on the Psalms 1 part 12/34

for what greater fruit can an angel gather, so far as is attainable? Then the Saviour says to men, 'I will come, I and my Father, and we will make our abode with him.'

What more can a zealous angel acquire? And further:

'Grant that, even as I and Thou are one, so these also may be one in us.'

What more can the being on high acquire? We receive the distinction according to the more corporeal aspects;

yet this is not what it is for man to be rational—namely, to have flesh—since all things that have flesh are [not necessarily] rational.

If, then, one should speak in our human sense of being exalted—of being raised up from a lowly place to one that lies above and of being lifted on high—there must first be a change of place;

for it is impossible that what does not change its place should be exalted or humbled—I mean in a local sense.

If anyone regards Christ according to the flesh, he does not exalt Him;

but when he no longer knows Him according to the flesh, but beholds His glory, a glory as of the only-begotten from the Father, and knows that he who has seen the Son sees the Father—this is to exalt Him.

It remains, then, that he says this by way of thanksgiving, as the words that follow make plain:

'But when I was exalted, then I knew Thy height.'

And indeed it is possible to observe this even from the matters at hand:

someone comes to a branch of knowledge;

he does not yet see its greatness, nor its beauty, nor its height.

But if he begins to partake of it and grows better day by day, adding now to what he has come to know, then, seeing the greatness and the height of the knowledge and of the art, he exalts it—that is, he confesses its height.

At any rate, whenever he stands before its height and greatness, he sees himself as falling far short.

'Thy knowledge is become too wonderful for me;'

'it is prevailing; I shall not be able to attain unto it.'

The more I stand before it and marvel at it, the mightier it becomes, and I am no longer able to attain unto it, so long as I am in the body.

This is what Solomon too says concerning wisdom:

'It was removed far off beyond what it was, and a deep depth—who shall find it out? It was far from me, and when I desired to receive it, it became farther from me than it was before.'

And thereupon he gives the reason:

'A deep depth—who shall find it out?' The 'who shall find it out' can mean 'no one.'

But 'who' [may also signify] rarity. 'And Thou hast not made mine enemies to rejoice over me.'

Many enemies press upon me, wishing to harm me.

I was saying that these things are spoken in common both concerning the man that is the Saviour and concerning those who imitate Him.

Both the saints had enemies, and the Saviour had enemies.

But no one at all is able to draw near to Him according to His Godhead, so as even to attempt to harm Him.

For it belongs to enemies to draw near for no other cause than to do harm.

And so it is said in the person of Jesus, according to the man, and of everyone who imitates Him and becomes a member of Him:

'For unless Thou hadst upheld me, mine enemies would have rejoiced, having taken me under their hand, and they would not have exalted Thee.'

It can also be said in the person of the Saviour, when we no longer make the distinction and say 'insofar as He is God the Word' or 'insofar as He is man'—as I was just now saying concerning the man of knowledge.

'I will exalt Thee, O Lord, for Thou hast upheld me;'

'Thou hast upheld me' by giving me those on whose behalf I came.

'Behold, I and the children whom God hath given me.'

'I will give Thee the nations for Thine inheritance.'

This the Saviour reckons as His own prize and His own gain;

wherefore 'Thou hast not made mine enemies to rejoice.'

For, the captives having been snatched away through me, both on my own behalf and on behalf of those who held them fast, I indeed exalt Thee, but they do not rejoice.

'O Lord my God, I cried unto Thee, and Thou hast healed me.'

This is the voice of one whose prayer has been heard;

for if he cried out concerning healing, he has already received that which he longed for.

'I said, Lord, have mercy upon me;'

'heal my soul, for I have sinned against Thee.'

For he who says this is one who confesses and repents.

But the person of the Saviour speaks thus:

'I cried unto Thee, and Thou hast healed me;'

'I took upon myself a wound' that heals and cures every disease and infirmity.

Why, then, did I receive the wound? That He Himself might become a remedy for those who had been wounded.

And then my healing comes to pass, whenever the wound heals others who are my body.

'O Lord, then, my God, I cried unto Thee, and Thou hast healed me.'

If each of the righteous says this, he will be heard by Him unto whom he cried.

'While thou art yet speaking, I will say, Behold, I am here.'

Showing forth the work for which thou dost make thy request, I am found present with thee;

for thy prayer does not outrun my giving, but they come to pass together;

let us take examples from the Scriptures:

a leper came to the Saviour, saying:

'If Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.'

And the cleansing came to pass, so that one could not draw a distinction [in time].

In conception alone was the request made prior to the cleansing; it is not prior in time.

'Wilt thou be made whole?' Immediately:

'Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.'

And the deed did not come after the command of Jesus.

Thou knowest that the image in a mirror imitates the [original] appearance, and it is not possible to say which is first, save in conception.

O Lord, You have brought up my soul from Hades.

Having healed me, You have brought up my soul from Hades.

This might be said concerning Jesus.

Since I received a bruise and was wounded on account of the sins of certain ones—and perhaps those who bear the sins are in Hades—I went down there, so that my bruise, drawing near, might heal them.

And the healing consists in my soul being brought up from thence.

I came to be there not so that I myself might remain, nor indeed merely so that I might go and come, but so that I might bring up those who were there.

Being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also He preached the proclamation to the spirits in prison, He brought them up.

And for their sake He went down there, and for their sake He says that He goes up.

If they were not going up, He would not have gone up there.

For it was not for His own sake that He went down or goes up.

But it is also possible to say this.

The soul that is truly rational is our own.

Thus His soul also might be spoken of.

You have brought up my soul from Hades.

You have saved me from among those who go down into the pit.

Those who go down into the pit were also called the ones of the day, because they are they who have fallen from above.

For the pits are not springs.

They do not have water supplied to them from any source.

And for this reason Hades too is continually named a pit in the Scriptures, because the souls that have fallen down fall there.

You have saved me from among those who go down into the pit.

For even though I went down into Hades, yet I was not held fast in the pit like the waters that fall, but I was saved; wherefore it has not befallen me to be harmed by the things that befall certain of those who fall into Hades.

Sing praise to the Lord, O you His holy ones.

Henceforth, singing and praising because He has been taken up, He wills that those also should follow in the hymn whom He brought up from Hades, now shown to be His holy ones.

For indeed those about Abraham and the other saints were there.

And there too were the other souls, but some were shown to be souls of the holy, while others were not.

For we do not say that the Savior brought up all souls, but those souls that were awaiting Him there also.

Are You the one who is coming, or do we look for another? That man knew that he was about to die.

For while he was in the prison he sent forth this utterance—Do You come there through Yourself, or do You send another?—not because he was in doubt, but because he wished to minister there, having learned from Him, being commissioned by Him.

The good achievement is on our behalf, or common to us and to you.

As therefore I sing a psalm of song, do you also sing praise.

Strike in accompaniment upon the instruments to our song, which I send up on your behalf, saying:

And give thanks unto the remembrance of His holiness.

Here confession does not mean the disclosure regarding sins.

For that too is called confession, as when it says:

Confess your sins to one another.

But for the most part in Scripture the word confession signifies thanksgiving.

We will give You thanks, O God, we will give You thanks.

Here the remembrance of doctrines is set in motion; it says, of His holiness.

The recollections of the learner are not now for the first time.

If anyone is sanctified, having partaken of the Holy One he has gained holiness.

And it came about thus, that he might be holy not according to essence, but by free choice, having received the holy, the good, by first application.

Recall to mind, therefore, as you confess and sing praise, that holiness is proper to you.

Take up again that for which you came into being.

You came into being so that you might be holy, not profane.

But you came to be in filthiness and profanity.

Recall to mind your holiness, and so will to become such.

For there is wrath in His anger, and life in His will.

For this reason I exhort you, now that you have become holy ones, to sing praise and to give thanks unto the remembrance of His holiness, because there is wrath in His anger, lest you fall under wrath and anger.

For when I have accomplished such great things, if you remain in the same state as before my coming, and in the very things on account of which I came, wrath will succeed, because even after so many aids and after so many benefits and exhortations you remain in the same state.

And just as there is wrath in His anger, so also there is life in His will.

He who follows His will and works it, having asked to know it from Him—someone indeed sends up a prayer, saying:

Teach me to do Your will.

By saying, with a causal expression:

For You are my God, he shows that the will of God alone is life.

But our will too must run together with it, lest He say:

How often I willed, and you would not.

Life, then, is in Your will.

It is also possible here to call God the Word 'will.'

And in Him all things came to be; all things came into being through Him into existence.

In the will, therefore, of Him who brought you into existence, life was laid up.

At evening weeping shall lodge, and toward morning gladness.

Evening is the end of day and the beginning of night, just as morning in turn is the limit of night and the beginning of day.

They are contraries: the good and the evil.

It is possible to take evening as the end of the shadow, the end of the letter.

But when, the letter and the shadow having reached their end, someone wills to remain within them, he weeps rather, no longer seeing the gladsomeness of the letter, no longer beholding the flower of the writing.

But when the life-giving Spirit has risen and the new covenant has appeared, it is the beginning of a day that brings gladness.

Now for the more ordinary meanings as well:

When the synagogue that is of the circumcision received its evening, the sun of righteousness setting upon her—for she who bore seven was made empty, and the sun set upon her while it was yet midday—

then she had received the Sabbath, so that in it she might spiritually accomplish all things and become a mother of good thoughts and works; but she was made empty.

She did not receive the fullness, from which John, who signifies the letter and the old writing, having received, says:

Of his fullness we have all received.

For this reason her soul grew faint when the sun went down while it was yet midday, while this present age still stands.

For this age too is often called a 'day'.

And so 'in the morning, gladness'.

'But as for me, I said in my prosperity: I shall never be moved for ever.'

It can be read in this way.

'But as for me, I said in my prosperity: I shall never be moved for ever.'

When I was prospering, I said this:

'I shall never be moved for ever.'

'I said: In my prosperity I shall never be moved for ever.'

Both punctuations yield a coherent sense.

When I was prospering, having sown unto righteousness and reaped the fruits of righteousness, I was so disposed that I shall no longer be moved for ever.

For if he who does the will of God abides for ever, and his righteousness is immortal, then, having brought in the fruits of righteousness and being in prosperity, I said:

For I said this out of my inner disposition, as in the passage:

'No one says "Lord Jesus"'—that is, by his disposition and manner of life.

Prospering and bearing the fruits of virtue, I confessed this: that I remain unshaken for ever, according to the saying:

'He who believes'—and everyone who lives and believes shall never die for ever.

The righteousness of the Lord abides unto ages of ages.

Otherwise one may punctuate: 'I said in my prosperity—'

When I was prospering and thought I was at rest, I said:

'I shall never be moved for ever.'

But had help not come quickly, he would have been shaken, because he had grown over-confident in himself and put great trust in his fruitfulness.

If, then, it be the person of the Saviour who is speaking, let the former interpretation prevail; but if it be one of the rest, let this one also be accepted.

'Lord, in your will you gave power to my beauty.'

He says this either as a prayer or as thanksgiving.

Let us see what sort of beauty he is speaking of.

He is not speaking of bodily beauty, but of the beauty of the soul and of the inner man.

This perceptible beauty, which is displayed in the face and form, has its constitution from the proportion of the members, when a person's members are in due proportion to one another and are not such that some overreach while others fall short.

For beauty is distorted <when this is not so>.

The eye must be fittingly matched to the nose, and the nose to the mouth.

For if the members are disproportionate, even though each in itself may seem comely, yet it does not produce beauty in the face.

In your will, the particular virtues follow one upon another, so that my thoughts are in due proportion to my deeds.

And in the Song of Songs he who praises the bride says:

'You are all fair, my neighbour, and there is no blemish in you.'

For this reason you are all fair, because there is no blemish, nor anything in you contrary to proportion, nor any deformity.

'To you, Lord, will I cry, and to my God will I call aloud.'

It is possible—that we may expound it more plainly—

To you, O Lord, as to a high priest, as to a physician, will I cry; and to my God will I call aloud—not separating the Father from the Son.

And he who cries out to God cries out to the Trinity.

For the Trinity is one God—not the sameness of number, if indeed one must speak of numbers there at all.

'...of me, when I go down to corruption?' I went down into corruption.

What benefit came of it? Behold, they persist in their own evils.

But he does not say this absolutely of all.

'You were bought with a price'—with the blood of Christ; and that:

'You were not redeemed with corruptible things, with silver and gold, from your vain manner of life, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.'

The whole assembly of those who are being saved is called the body of Christ.

Since, then, when the Saviour had come and taken upon himself all that we have said before—the stripe, the cross, and the descent into Hades—not all turned back, not all took up virtue and faith, but some did and some did not, for this reason he says:

He turned my face away from certain of these who are my members, who are my body, and I became troubled.

If, then, he rescued and redeemed and set them free by his own blood, how does he say:

'What benefit is there in my blood, when I go down to corruption?' Much benefit has come of it—but with reference to those who persisted in their evils.

So far as concerns you, no benefit has come to be in my blood, though I went down to corruption.

Rousing them to repentance, he next says:

'Shall the dust confess to you, or declare your truth?' Behold, there are some who are dust.

But I have come to suffer, that I might transform them and make them heavenly instead of earthy.

Since, then, they persist in still bearing the image of the man of dust, they do not confess to you, nor will they declare your truth.

But I have come, that I might both make manifest the truth by destroying error and falsehood, and grant confession, so that a man may cast off the image of the man of dust and take up that of the heavenly man.

'Shall the dust confess to you?' If the dust does not confess to you, so far as concerns it, no benefit has come of my blood, though I went down into corruption.

Then—since I said that he says this because of those held fast in their former evils, though we also confessed that he redeemed many by his own blood—pointing to those others, he says:

'The Lord heard and had mercy on me.'

Pointing to those others, he calls their salvation the Lord's mercy—that they obtained mercy.

'The Lord became my helper.'

'Becoming' signifies a relation, not a coming-into-being of substance.

He became a helper and protector to me unto salvation.

'The Lord heard and had mercy on me.'

I was lamenting, because when I went down to corruption no benefit had come of my blood in some persons.

But by edifying those who obtained mercy, I also show forth those others who are still in such a state, that they too shall one day be saved.

The remedy will one day take effect in them.

'You turned my mourning into joy for me.'

Out of love for mankind he mourned over those dead ones, that he might rouse them.

For immediately someone would receive the thought:

If, when I have sinned, that one mourns and laments over me, how much more ought I myself to do this.

You have therefore turned my mourning into joy for me.

Their benefit is joy to me; and when they were sinning, mine was the wailing and the mourning.

You have rent my sackcloth and girded me about with gladness.

While mourning I used to wear sackcloth—a harsh, rough manner of life—but he changed it into gladness.

And thus we have spoken also concerning the passage:

For if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

We were saying that the term 'sackcloth' signifies the harsh and toilsome life which lays hold of the one who mourns.

Along with this sackcloth a man takes ashes and sits, no longer acting according to it, but he sits still and quells the fury of wickedness.

He would groan over these things—the tares and thorns and thistles which he had brought forth as fruit.

For he could not sit among the thorns and thistles; but having reduced them to ashes and shown them powerless, and having done away with that quality by which they were base, he sat upon them.

My glory, and I shall not be pricked with remorse.

Some read it with a comma (a minor pause):

While my glory sings praise to you, I am not pricked with remorse.

But this reading does not please me.

Yet many of those in the Church read it in this way.

The word 'compunction' often signifies a certain repentance or change of mind.

So then, when Ahab repented:

You have seen how Ahab was pricked with compunction? And again:

You gave them to drink a spirit of compunction, a spirit of repentance.

My glory sings praise to you; I do according to your will, and I do not repent, I am not pricked with remorse.

It is not as though over some evil that I am pricked with compunction, so as to act no longer.

O Lord, my God, I will give you thanks forever.

O Lord, my God, I will give you thanks forever.

Since therefore I give thanks to you forever, singing praise to your glory, I am not pricked with remorse, I do not repent.

The word 'ecstasy' is equivocal;

for it signifies many things, one of which is derangement or madness;

and the word 'ecstasy' also signifies amazement (a state of wonder);

for the one who marvels is said to be 'beside himself' (in ecstasy);

I considered your works and was amazed, beholding their greatness and the skill by which they came to be.

And there are many sayings which make clear that amazement is manifested by the word 'ecstasy'.

Thus indeed Isaac too was 'amazed with a great amazement' (fell into a great ecstasy), when Esau received the blessing.

And again, 'ecstasy' signifies that one comes to be outside his former condition, as if he were to say:

But I said in my ecstasy: Every man is a liar.

When I came out of myself and was no longer a man, but became a god—having received into myself the God, the Word, who came to me—then I said:

For if we were to take this in a plain sense, he is lying.

If every man is a liar, and he too is one of men, then he is lying.

But if he is lying when he says that every man is a liar, then not all are liars.

The things of men are unstable, without foundation.

Such also is that which the Apostle says:

Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered into the heart of man.

He then is not a man, but he adds:

But to us God has revealed it through the Spirit—to us who are no longer men, who are able to say with boldness:

We are beside ourselves for God, we are of sound mind for you.

The one, then, who speaks these things in the psalm was also in ecstasy;

he became other than himself, he became a god by partaking of the God, the Word;

he has ceased to be a man.

Observe indeed how he speaks not human things, but such things as befit a man who has been deified to declare and to sing.

In you, O Lord, have I hoped; let me never be put to shame forever.

For I am not put to shame, when the objects of my petition come to pass;

for then does the one who prays undergo shame, when he does not obtain the things he expected.

And if we take 'forever' (the age) in the simpler sense, this is what he says:

In all the time of my life, may I not be put to shame, ever obtaining the things I beseech to receive from you;

for it has often been said that the time which extends over a man's life is called an 'age', as in the passage:

I will not eat flesh forever.

But it is also possible to say it thus:

Since you are eternal, and your existence and kingdom extend unto all ages, and I too am immortal in respect of my soul, let me not be put to shame forever;

now I know in part and prophesy, but the partial will be succeeded by the perfect, so that my hope has rather become greater, having henceforth its expectation set upon greater things.

He therefore who hopes in the Lord is not put to shame.

In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me.

The beginning of the seventieth psalm and of this one have a certain kinship and likeness.

And in the seventieth psalm there stands the phrase 'rescue me'; for he himself is the one concerning whom it is said:

Righteousness looked down, when, having bowed the heavens, he came down.

He came to undo iniquity;

for the world that had come to be about the earth was full of iniquity;

of the flood, when all had turned aside, together they had become useless, there is none that does good.

As therefore the light, rising and coming to be there where darkness is, dissolves the darkness—for by the presence of light the darkness vanishes, and when virtue shines forth wickedness is put out of the way and departs—so, when righteousness has been made manifest and rescues those who call upon it, all iniquity is dissolved.

Incline your ear to me, make haste to rescue me.

Even though I cry out to you, yet in comparison with your majesty I am but faint of voice.

If therefore you do not incline your ear to me, my cry has not strength to ascend up to you.

Unless you condescend to me, you do not receive my voice.

Since He does not scrutinize all the transgressions of those judged and examined by Him, He must incline His ear that He may hear.

For if He should remain of such knowledge and such power as He is, the prayer does not ascend up to Him.

Unless He gives His assent, He does not receive the prayer.

And He gives His assent by condescending.

When you incline your ear to me, you receive me and swiftly deliver me from those who hold me fast, from those who lay me waste.

Even if they be enemies, make haste to deliver me.

Was he speaking these things while out of his mind? — I did not say that madness is here signified, but rather amazement, the going out of oneself.

Are you ignorant of this, that perfection is not a single thing?

'Of all consummation I have seen the end.'

For surely it is not as one possessing the end which is above all that he says these things.

'Become to me a God who is my defender, and a house of refuge to save me.'

Become to me an impregnable stronghold, an unassailable rampart; become also my defender by Your shield, Your weapon.

When You become my defender, none of my enemies is able to harm me.

No wild beast can prevail over me, not even the very ravisher, concerning whom I was sending up prayer:

'Lest at any time he seize my soul like a lion.'

Become to me what is called a place of refuge, whither one flees and comes to be within the walls;

for it is a building that proves to be a guardian for one's safety.

'For You are my strength and my refuge.'

You are all things to me, both strength and refuge.

To no one else do I flee for refuge, neither to a ruler nor to riches.

From You I have the power to prevail, by partaking of You, as a king has power to prevail.

'For Your name's sake You will guide me and sustain me.'

Since Your name has been invoked upon me, for the sake of this Your name which I bear, grant me both things:

both guide me, that I may finish the course blamelessly and be able to say:

'Without transgression I ran and directed my way'; and:

Your way and Your bread is Your Son.

He Himself, therefore, is also the bread.

Therefore for the sake of Your name, which You have graciously given me, that I may have salvation:

'O God, save me in Your name.'

You will lead me out of this snare which they hid for me, because You are my defender.

Many enemies, certain deceivers, contrived a snare for me, that they might hunt me.

Therefore I entreat not only that You not permit me to go off thither, but that even if I did enter, You may lead me out of it.

'Because You are my defender, into Your hands I will commit my spirit.'

To no other do I commit my spirit, but into Your hands.

And if the man who says these things be holy, his spirit is that which is joined together with the soul, concerning which it is said:

'May your spirit and soul and body be preserved whole.'

Some say that the spirit is nothing other than the soul; others say it is its mind; and others its disposition.

But in either case, according to all the interpretations, God guards the spirit.

If it be the soul, He commits it into the hands of God, that, being sheltered, it may remain unharmed, may not be wounded by enemies, may not be destroyed.

That the soul is sometimes called spirit, Stephen teaches;

for when he was about to die and entreated that the sin of those raging murderously against him might not be set to their charge, he says:

just as the body without a spirit is dead, he calls the soul 'spirit'.

And as I said, that rational thing which is yoked together with it, so as to be an inseparable teacher of the soul, is also called spirit.

And since this is present with the soul when it cleaves to God, it says this:

May no such things be done to me as would put my spirit outside Your hands; but may every virtue be perfected in me, that my spirit may be in Your hands.

He is also able to call his own disposition 'spirit', so that he wishes it too to be kept in the hands of God.

The two covenants can be the hands of God.

Into these, therefore, I commit my spirit, willing both to understand the Old — that is, the things there commanded — and the New.

May both Your hands encompass my spirit.

But it is also possible not to speak of only two hands of God;

for it was not spoken in the dual, but in the plural;

yet it makes no difference whether in the plural or the dual.

Nevertheless, if it be the two covenants, the hands are spoken of in the dual.

But if every power of God be named His hand — for we call the military force the hand of a king — then into Your military force, which is a garrison being Your hand, I commit my spirit.

God speaks to Jerusalem in Isaiah the prophet:

'Behold, upon My hands I have painted your walls, and you are continually before Me.'

Can we, even as a figure, speak of perceptible walls being painted in the hands of God, who is incorporeal?

If therefore, He says, your walls be painted upon My hands, you remain before Me continually, since no one is able to lead you captive;

for the walls written in My hands are indestructible;

no one is able to mount an assault against them.

As therefore the walls painted in the hands of God are not perceptible, so too the one who commits his own spirit into the hands of God shows that the spirit is not something cheap, but rather either the rational substance yoked to the soul, or its divine mind, which holds itself unmingled both with matter and with evil.

When the mind preserves the virtue of the mind, it is outside all matter, holding itself unentangled with bodily things, and moreover it has no share in any evil.

For this reason it is able to be given into the hands of God and to be guarded;

for God does not guard the one who possesses evil.

But in another manner He guards him, willing to lead him out of the evil.

The walls — what are they? The walls are named in manifold ways in the Scripture.