Commentary on the Psalms 1 part 16/34

Again, many pride themselves greatly on a horse, but God the Word shows that even the snorting of horses is easily undone;

for 'these trust in chariots and these in horses, but we shall be magnified in the name of the Lord our God.'

Behold, a horse is a false hope for safety.

Pharaoh promised himself, with many horses, to capture the Hebrews.

But those had not even a single horse, and their salvation proved false; it failed, it missed the mark.

And it is also in the Proverbs:

'A horse is prepared for the day of battle, but from the Lord is deliverance.'

You see that it is a false hope for safety, unless this be granted from the Lord.

The body is often called the horse of the soul, and its rider or mounter is the soul;

'I will smite,' he says, 'every horse with astonishment, and its rider with madness.'

Whenever, then, someone borne along upon the body, living in pleasure and fulfilling his desires, receives madness, then salvation comes.

The horse is smitten by God with astonishment; it comes to be outside itself;

for thereafter, when it is buffeted and brought into subjection, it no longer proceeds according to its own impulses, but stands outside of these.

Now Bardesanes lived in earlier times, in the days of Antoninus the emperor of the Romans.

This man at the beginning belonged to the school of Valentinus, then went over to the Church, and became a presbyter.

And by the abundance of his power he shall not be saved.

either the one who makes use of the horses, or the power of the many horses;

for in either case this is true:

a horse is a false hope for safety, even were it many;

for it is not said of a single horse only.

Often the whole cavalry is called a 'horse.'

Either, then, the abundance of the power does not save the horseman who makes use of the horsemen, or it is the multitude and power of the horses.

Behold, the eyes of the Lord are upon those who fear Him.

The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous.

And this again He says in the twelfth psalm:

'Look upon me, hearken to me, O Lord my God.'

The eyes of the Lord, then, are upon those who fear—not once for all, but upon Him;

for there is also a fear that is a passion, which perfect love casts out from those who have the fear of God.

There is fearing, and there is fearing God;

for the fear that is toward God is not a passion, but signifies His pre-eminence over all.

'The fear of the Lord surpasses all things,' and:

'There is no want to those who fear Him.'

Being righteous, they are worthy of being watched over by God.

those who hope in His mercy.

Those who fear God hope in His mercy;

for having done all that is in their power, they wait to receive mercy from Him, as was said a little before.

It is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.

And no one is able to keep his own city undestroyed—whether the city of the body or the city of the soul—unless God keeps watch together with him.

those who hope in His mercy;

He shows mercy to those who fear Him.

to deliver their souls from death.

those who hope in His mercy, that He may deliver their souls from death.

By 'death' here we do not understand the common death by which both the godly and the ungodly, the righteous and the unrighteous alike die, but there is a death of the soul which drags the soul down away from the blessed life.

From this death we are turned to abstain; concerning it is said:

The soul that sins, it shall die.

sin, when it is fully accomplished, brings forth death.

And since this death follows upon sins, God who grants the forgiveness of sins will deliver from the ensuing death those who had previously been held fast by it.

and to nourish them in famine—

those who fear Him and hope in His mercy.

Just as He rescues their souls from death, so also He nourishes them in famine.

Indeed, such a thing has often occurred even in history.

Thus He nourished the people of the Hebrews through a long journey in the wilderness, extending the manna to them and providing it day by day.

And in individual cases you will find this too.

For instance, Elijah was fed by the widow, and by the angel who was shown to him, through the loaf of bread and the jar of water.

And again, while Jezebel was persecuting Elijah and all the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah, the commander of King Ahab's forces, kept fifty men fed in each of two caves, God having prepared him for this.

In any case, he said this to Elijah when he met him:

And your servant fears the Lord.

And he who feared the Lord, for the Lord's sake fed those men.

If then it admits of an anagogical sense—these other things having happened according to the literal history—again He nourishes those who fear His fear and hope in His mercy, supplying them the bread of life which comes down from heaven, His flesh being true food.

Being the Saviour of all, He upholds them.

He does not do this in one single sense, but according to the circumstances at hand:

He saves in wars, placing them out of reach of enemies and not allowing them to fall into captivity; He saves those who are ill; and He saves as a helmsman, whenever we are tempest-tossed on the open sea of this life.

He gives to each one to have a spring—he in whom there is a spring welling up to eternal life, this one, even when he finds himself in a waterless place, is nourished.

Open your eyes and be filled with bread.

He who has opened the eyes of the soul and is filled with divine words, chewed after the manner of bread, is not starved to death;

for the Lord will not let the soul of the righteous starve.

Whoever is in longing for bread, not opening his eyes upon the loaves that are his own, passes his life in famine;

for the soul has within itself, from God, much food.

Our soul waits patiently for the Lord.

Since we have come to know these things—that the eyes of the Lord are upon those who fear Him (and if ever they were in death, He delivered them; and if ever they were in famine, He fed them)—if ever we fall into some lack, we wait in patience, having come to know that we too shall enjoy these same benefits.

And our soul, if ever it comes to be in death, shall be delivered.

For He is our helper and defender.

You observe that from this point on it turned into the plural number:

From heaven the Lord looked down; He saw all the sons of men.

Whenever some things are stated that are discordant and contrary, consider whether these are said concerning one and the same subject;

for then a contradiction arises.

But if it is said concerning a church, or a city, or a household, they are not contrary;

for some things are said concerning these, and other things concerning those.

And this too you ought to know, that the saints send up their prayers and thanksgivings not for themselves alone, but for all those over whom they have charge.

It is not the same thing for something to be said to one person, which must be fitted to one, and to a multitude, such as a people, a nation, or a city.

It is impossible for the same person to be at once both good and evil, both temperate and licentious.

But the Apostle writes to the Corinthians as to those who have been enriched in every word and all knowledge.

If he were saying these things to one person, they would be discordant.

But since the whole church is being addressed by these words, and there are in the assemblies people of this sort and of that sort, he says all things, so that each one may take for himself the help he needs.

Thus indeed he also blames them for erring concerning the resurrection, and concerning the spiritual gifts, and for gaping after things sacrificed to idols.

How then are these people enriched in every word and knowledge? It was others concerning whom he was speaking.

So too the saint speaks not concerning himself alone—for he was a teacher—but concerning all who were under him, both those who had death and those who had fallen into famine because they neglected their own land.

He does not say all things concerning all, but says all things concerning different people, fitting each thing to each.

Since He is our helper and defender, on this account our soul waits patiently for Him.

But we know that, even if we set before ourselves some good thing, even if we wish to run

toward what is good and wish to bring it to completion, unless He Himself works together with us and shows mercy, we cannot accomplish these things aright.

He is a helper, extending to us the things of which we are in need; He is a defender, holding out His own shield before us so that our adversaries may not be able to wound us.

For in Him our heart shall rejoice.

Others rejoice in strength, in office, in rank, in praises; but the cause of our gladness is He Himself, the helper and defender.

And in His holy name we have hoped.

In Him whose name has been called upon over us, we have hoped.

And since it seems to belong to that other order—for I do not say that those who fear the Lord are also in death—consider:

No one hopes for things present, but for things future and awaited;

for hope that is seen is not hope.

And whenever they say, in the manner of a prayer:

Hallowed be Your name—they do not say this as though, being unholy, it should be made holy, but rather: let it be shown forth, let it appear holy.

And then it appears holy, whenever He both helps us and shelters us.

And when we were expounding upon the Gospel, we gave many interpretations bearing on this, on the words:

Hallowed be Your name—and this was understood thus:

Since we bear it, work together with us that we may not blaspheme it; hallow it; keep it holy within us;

for it has been expressed in imperative words.

For men now drag down your name into images, into demons, and into the belly — those whose god is the belly. But when knowledge comes to men concerning your majesty, so that they deify nothing else, when you become all in all, then your name is hallowed, being torn away from the demons.

Let your mercy, O Lord, be upon us, even as we have hoped in you.

Let your mercy be upon us.

The prayer is sent up not by those who already possess the mercy;

it does not say 'may your mercy be kept safe,' but 'let it come to be, even as we have hoped in you.'

For this reason we have hoped in you.

Observe how, according to the proportion of faith, he gives the gifts of grace, and how not all things are given to all, nor in the same measure, but according to the measure of the faith that receives them — and so it is here also.

There are some who have hoped altogether perfectly, and there are others who have not done so in like manner, but according to a certain progress, or otherwise at the stage of a beginner's introduction.

According to the proportion of our faith, then, let your mercy come upon us, O Lord;

Of David, when he changed his countenance before Abimelech, and he sent him away, and he departed.

To those who have read the histories of the Kings, the narrative here set down is clear.

When David was being pursued by Saul and was about to be captured, he departed to Gath, to king Anchous.

But here he is named Abimelech.

For double names are also found in Scripture, as in the case of Moses' father-in-law;

he is called both Jothor (Jethro) and Ragouel (Reuel).

And Thomas is called also Didymus.

And there are indeed many such double names;

in the Gospel according to Luke he seems to name Levi.

But this is not the same man; rather, Matthias, who was appointed in place of Judas, and Levi are one person bearing two names.

This appears in the Gospel according to the Hebrews.

It is therefore possible that the king of Gath was called both Anchous and Abimelech.

But it is also possible to approach the matter in another way;

many of the kings are named by a common name and by a proper name, as all who ruled over Egypt are thus called Pharaoh.

Yet their proper names are found to be Soumachi, Nechao, so that Pharaoh is the name of the dignity, while among the Romans it corresponds to 'the sovereign' (krysson/kraton).

It is therefore possible that this man too had 'Anchous' as the name of his dignity, but 'Abimelech' as his own proper name.

But however it may be, the sense is not in conflict.

You wish it, then: the one is a name of dignity, the other a proper name.

This is what the grammarians call a proper name, distinguished from a common (appellative) noun;

for 'proper' (kyrion) too is used in two senses;

it is distinguished both from the appellative and from catachresis (improper usage).

They call 'man,' and the names of species and genera, which signify a common substance, appellatives; but 'so-and-so' or 'such-a-one' — say, a particular individual — they call proper names.

And 'proper' (kyrion) is spoken of in yet another sense, in contrast to catachresis.

A quantity is said to be equal in measure to another quantity.

And I mean that it accords and sounds in harmony with it.

For 'to sound together' and 'to be in concord' is said properly of musical notes;

and again we say that those who are of one mind and of one accord are 'in concord.'

In the proper sense, 'to be of one mind' and 'to be of one accord' applies to those who think and understand the same things, whereas 'to be in concord (symphonein)' is a catachresis.

It is therefore possible that 'Abimelech' is the proper name — proper not in the sense distinguished from catachresis, but in the sense distinguished from the appellative — while 'Anchous' is the name of the dignity.

He saw that Saul the king was pressing hard with a military force against a single man, David himself, and that men in arms were set against one unarmed.

Then, since it was not safe to come into a foreign city or land — for it was precisely then that suspicion of spies most arose, because neighbouring peoples were always at war with one another — he feigned madness and let his spittle run down, and went about drumming on the doors of the gate, that he might be thought to be possessed by demons.

At any rate, Anchous' men denounced him.

'Am I short of madmen,' he says, 'that you bring an epileptic to me?' And he sent him away, and he departed.

This condition, then, he named 'a change of countenance';

for indeed 'change (alteration)' signifies an alteration of quality.

There was therefore a voluntary alteration of quality, not an involuntary one;

for it happens that one is altered involuntarily, as when someone grows pale through fear, or through being ill-treated, or seems flushed red because of something that troubles him.

This alteration, then, was voluntary, extending only as far as outward appearance.

And since David is often referred, as has been said in what precedes, to the Saviour, you may call the taking on of the form of a servant the 'change of countenance' of the Saviour.

And here there was no change from one form into another form, but a concealing of one form beneath another form already manifest;

for no change of countenance can occur in respect of the Unchangeable One.

And concerning the Saviour himself, at any rate, it is said in one of the Psalms:

'This is the change of the right hand of the Most High.'

For the 'right hand of the Father' — especially according to the conception of the psalmist — is often taken to mean the Saviour.

But he was altered when he became flesh, a curse.

He submitted to become sin, that the sinners might become the righteousness of God in him.

The 'alteration,' therefore, is here a taking-on (assumption), not a change;

for concerning the Unchangeable One no one could inquire into any change.

Otherwise, as someone once said, it would be monstrous.

This, then, is the change of the right hand of the Most High.

The right hand of the Most High is unchangeable.

But he became sin, not at random, but in order that he might work righteousness.

And sin that works righteousness is no change from not-being-sin into being sin;

for sin makes men evil, it works unrighteousness.

But this 'sin' makes those who have it righteous.

He takes on the form of a servant; he was altered in respect of countenance, not by way of change, as I have already said many times, but by way of assumption.

'We beheld him, glory as of the only-begotten from the Father' — this signifies his glory according to nature.

He therefore had a glory fitting to himself as become composite, in the flesh.

This is the change of the right hand of the Most High.

Not that we should here speak of the alteration which he himself underwent, when we said that he was altered by the assumption of the form of the servant, but rather this is the alteration which he himself effects;

for he himself circumscribes the wrath and makes the mercies to be at work.

Passing over 'to glorify and to praise,' he adds a little further on:

'For I will remember from the beginning your wondrous works.'

I have spoken of all the gloomy things: that being troubled I did not speak, that the watchers came about me; but henceforth—

now I shall recount other things, those that came after those events, the things that succeed the gloomy ones.

This is 'the change of the right hand of the Most High.'

'Who is a god as great as our God? You made known your power among your peoples.'

Behold, this is the change.

Then, therefore, he changed his countenance.

You may take 'the king of Gath' more allegorically as the ruler of this world, the devil.

The land of the foreigners, then, is the place we inhabit.

And just as, when Egypt is spoken of as the region upon the earth, Pharaoh is called its master and tyrant, and when Babylon is spoken of, Nebuchadnezzar is named, and when Assyria, the Assyrian—so too, in the case of Gath, from the place upon the earth so called, we must again understand this 'king' of it to be some wicked power.

He changed his own countenance, then, by taking the form of a servant;

for so did that one suppose he held power over him, that he even contrived death against him.

By the grace of God he tasted death on behalf of all.

And a sign of his change is this:

he was not able to hold him fast.

If he was not able to hold fast even his diminished state, what would they say concerning his divinity? Whence, then, you who say that the Word was crucified—the Lord of glory? He released him, therefore, and he departed.

For neither did he come to be there for the sake of lingering there, but that, having accomplished the divine economy, he might withdraw and draw many away from thence together with himself.

He came, then, also into Hades and led up from thence many souls of the righteous.

But when you hear 'bodies,' do not by all means look to the tabernacles of flesh;

for this is what many suppose.

And it is not out of keeping to say that, alongside the other divine signs, this marvel too came to pass;

but consider whether it does not conflict with the whole sequence of the economy.

Know this: that if men had recognized their own, it would have been difficult for them to remain in unbelief.

Peter, in the Acts of the Apostles, says concerning David that:

'And his tomb is among us to this day.'

If anyone at all had been raised, David would have been raised.

The souls, then, that were transferred out of the earth we call 'bodies of the saints.'

We speak thus in the same way as we call the whole Church the body of Christ.

And concerning the resurrection it is said:

'each in his own order.'

Now the several orders of those raised from the dead are characterized by nothing other than the advancement of souls.

Those who have the same virtue and faith and piety are ranked together into one order.

The firstfruits, then, is Christ; thereafter those who are Christ's, each in his own order.

Those who are Christ's are they who possess different orders.

And, to take it from another image: as in the case of the earth that received the seed, which yields fruit a hundredfold, sixtyfold, thirtyfold, there come to be different orders;

for surely it is not one and the same heart that bears a hundred and sixty and thirty.

At any rate, our expositors say this: that those who bear the hundred are they who keep virginity, and those who bear the thirty are they who enter into godly marriage.

They looked to the lessening and inequality of the numbers, not to the nature of the numbers.

Certain ones bear perfect fruit;

and these are signified by the number one hundred.

And in the promise, at any rate, he says:

and Abraham, having become a father at a hundred years old, was so designated by promise.

And altogether the number is most excellent;

for the ten, when multiplied tenfold, makes the hundred.

And we were saying that the number ten is all-receiving;

it contains all the numbers.

Again, the sixty seems to have a kinship with the world;

for it came to be in six days.

As many, then, as become citizens of the world and surpass it and inherit that which is signified by it—and the number six was called perfect—these are another order.

And perhaps those of prophetic character, who in addition to the two they possess have also the Holy Spirit abounding in them—these are the thirty.

And the thirty has an affinity with the adorable Trinity.

Or perhaps, since the Savior, having become thirty years old, began his most excellent, evangelical way of life and discourse, those who have just now come to him bear the thirtyfold.

The virtues follow upon one another, so that he who has one has them all.

We take this as applying to the exceedingly perfect man.

But whenever someone is still in the process of advancing, he sometimes has one virtue more predominant—that from which he began or about which he was zealous—as is also the case with the arts;

you often see a grammarian and a musician and a physician, and he has one that predominates, into which he puts his whole inclination.

And we are taught this from the Beatitudes;

for surely the poor in spirit does not lack the other virtues, does he? The poor in spirit is also compassionate;

for if he were without compassion, he would not be poor in spirit.

For if he were prone to anger, he could not be called blessed.

So it is on account of the virtue that most prevails and the more predominant disposition that those who are given a byname are marveled at.

Many, he says, they beheld in the holy city; but Jerusalem, which killed the prophets, was not holy—the city that the Savior forsook, saying:

'Behold, your house is left unto you.'

To those who walk upon the earth yet have their citizenship in the heavens, they appeared in the holy city, in the city of the living God.

'They appeared'?—these grosser senses lay hold of gross things.

The thirty has three threes, eleven and three—thirty-three.

And often the number fifteen has been said to be referred up to the two covenants;

for they are assigned to the seven and to the eight;

for it has been said by us in what precedes that it is also triangular, and, being handed down, it contains a pentad, and it has an affinity with the things perceived by the senses.

For how could it not have come about that his countenance was altered? Since—

should we say that he remained there?—not immediately,

another sojourn having taken place there.

This is roughly at the beginning of the Kingdoms, but that other event was toward the end, at the time when at last they went out to war against Saul.

Was he not at first dismissed and did he not go away?—Do not examine the higher (allegorical) senses too literally.

Since I too will tell you what concerns Abraham:

he had two sons, one by the slave woman and one by the free woman.

And it was not as Abraham that he had them.

Ishmael by Hagar Abram had, but this one Abraham had.

She corresponds to the present Jerusalem.

He does not say 'I say' just now, so that you may grasp the correspondence and understand it in a symbolic sense.

Now correspondence is spoken of in many ways.

For instance, even in grammar the aspirated letters are said to correspond to the smooth ones, and the long syllables to the short.

But among the logicians those things are called corresponding which are set over against each other by division.

You divide the living being into rational and irrational, into mortal and immortal, into footed and footless.

The corresponding term to the rational is not the mortal, but the irrational.

But here in the Apostle 'to correspond' means the symbolic in relation to that which it prefigures.

There is a sensible sacrifice and circumcision, and both are spiritual.

One must not take circumcision according to the flesh as corresponding to the spiritual sacrifice, nor the more bodily sacrifice as corresponding to the spiritual sacrifice—circumcision—but as sacrifice.

As for the phrase 'By the word of the Lord the heavens were established,' and again:

'the word of the Lord'—the same realities, when they are not perceptible, seem by conception to be one thing and another.

The Holy Spirit is one, yet we speak of his various gifts of grace.

If you look to the gifts of grace, it seems that there is a multitude of holy spirits.

And 'the spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophets.'

There is spoken of both a spirit of Elijah and a spirit of Elisha.

These are not different in essence, but by conception and by the relation of those who partake are they called spirits in the plural.

And so the Word of God too, when he was still with God—for 'the Word was with God'—had no relation to another, but only to God, and secondarily also to those who partake of him.

For he called those gods to whom the word of God came.

To him indeed the Word of God was directed.

Without relation, then, his Word is toward God; but in relation he came to be toward those who partake of him.

Sometimes those who partake, partake according to a single application, as I said concerning the Spirit:

for one has an utterance of wisdom, another an utterance of knowledge;

for this word is not one thing and another according to its underlying subject.

There are some who have a knowledge of spiritual things, a knowledge of the truth, of the doctrines of piety;

for they are unable to expound anything concerning them.

And we have known men who understand very intelligently and yet are unable to speak even to a chance hearer.

These have an utterance of knowledge.

But when, besides having the knowledge, one also has the ability to expound in detail, to teach, and to convey to others the thoughts within him, this is an utterance of wisdom.

Indeed, Wisdom herself says:

'I have stretched out words'—that is to say, in a teaching manner.

So the same Word of God comes to the prophets and is toward God and toward those who by fellowship with him become gods.

And we do not seek the same relation;

for in the case of the Father it is surpassing all measure.

His fellowship with God is not by way of condescension, but toward those who have become gods it comes about according to the worth, the capacity, and the proportion of the progress which they possess.

And thus it comes about with regard to the prophets also:

'the word which came to Jeremiah.'

He did not say 'which was,' but 'which came.'

And in coming, it comes according to that man's measure.

And so here too we have expounded in various ways the upright word of God, whose works are done in faithfulness.

We have said that it can be the teaching word.

So that we may understand what sort of spirit?—By some conception you will take 'the spirit of the mouth of God' to stand for:

when through the word he brings it to the knowledge of those whom he judges worthy to receive it.

'Put away from yourself a crooked mouth.'

'But his rash mouth invites death.'

When the Spirit is toward God and toward the Son, it is not called the spirit of the mouth; but it is so called when it is ministered to those who are able to receive it by the word.

Do you not call a man who is a practitioner a partaker of righteousness?—the one who has righteousness with understanding and is able to make it as clear to another as he himself possesses it.

Do you not say he does this by word?—I do not mean by the uttered word.

'I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.'

He blesses God at all times who gives thanks in everything that befalls him.

And the Apostle also writes:

He who gives thanks to God, not only for pleasant things—

does this, but also for unpleasant things.

Job, at any rate, blesses God not only for the good season and the safety of his children and the rest of his overflowing wealth, but also when he was deprived of all things at once.

So when all his children and his possessions were taken from him, he gives thanks to God; and 'Job did not sin,' it says, 'before the Lord, nor did he impute folly to God.'

He who says concerning providence that:

'He ought to have done thus or thus,' attributes folly to God, in so far as he does not conceive of God as understanding what he ought to have done.

when they are sick, he imputes folly to the one who governs and provides.

He did not, then, impute folly to God.

Since, therefore, the seasons also are various, and since it is fitting to give thanks in everything, he rightly says that:

'I will bless the Lord at all times.'

There is never a time when I do not bless the Lord.

Even if the things that befall me are unpleasant, I receive them as good.

And another word said this:

Receive as good everything that is brought upon you by the Lord.

Would you not say, when you see a sick man being treated by an excellent physician, that he gives thanks to the physician because he longs for healing? For when he...

and though the physician cuts him with the knife that he may be healed, he welcomes it—not only when the physician gives him gentle remedies.

He does not look to the pleasantness nor to the unpleasantness of what is applied, but to what is beneficial and profitable.

Every season, therefore, is a time for blessing God.

We understand 'season' in two ways: as the fitting time, and as the condition of the one being helped.

Thus we say, in the case of those who are healthy, that the season for the midday meal is noon and for supper the evening; but in the case of the sick man we do not take the season with regard to the hour, but with regard to how his body is faring.

In both senses, the holy one blesses God at every season.

For he knows that he is under providence, and that the One who exercises providence knows better than he does what is profitable for him.