Commentary on the Psalms 1 part 31/34

The same man cannot, at any rate, possess both cowardice and rashness, but a whole people can possess them.

And again, concerning things that can coexist—even if they do not coexist because of their multitude—if I say that the whole city possesses branches of knowledge, not everyone possesses the same ones;

for it is impossible that all should possess them as they ought.

But it is possible to possess them as it were by hearsay.

'Our fathers have declared to us.'

'Our fathers' according to instruction.

Insofar, then, as they are begotten wise ones out of them, not insofar as they are men;

for many wise men come from those who are not wise, and many who are not wise come from the wise.

'The work which you wrought in their days, in days of old.'

'In their days,' which are days of old...

'Our fathers have declared to us.'

And that one must hear in a scientific manner...

'In days of old,' as for example in Exodus:

it would have been impossible to learn that an exodus took place in Egypt if those men had not declared it, unless indeed through those who set it down in writing...

for by every means it is necessary to tell all the things that came to pass, lest someone come and say...

'In days of old,' then, in the first days.

But what is this...

...and of a worse land, upon the holy ones and the...

But this very thing is by no means signified as the primary meaning; rather it is said so that through it that other thing may be contemplated.

God transfers men from the region about the earth into the lofty heavens.

So then, if he says 'work,' he does not mean one in number, but one in species, or even in genus.

'In their enlightenment'—for since we take the fathers to be knowers, we say that:

in the days in which they were illumined by the true light of the Sun of Righteousness—there came to be, in the enlightenment of their life, a work which they did not begrudge to share with us.

He cast down seven nations by means of what was later called the Holy Land.

They were planted, being brought in by God into that country.

Indeed, at any rate, Moses prays, once more interweaving the mystical meaning:

'Having brought them in, plant them in the mountain of your inheritance, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have prepared.'

Observe that no one who lives and hears in an external manner is able to enter into the holy mountain.

The crowds, then, hearing in parables and being outside, did not enter into the holy mountain, where the parables were made clear.

One must, therefore, first be brought in, and then thus be planted.

'Your hand utterly destroyed nations, and you planted them.'

Not of God 'in days of old.'

He was the Ancient of Days, and we do not say that he was 'in days of old,' but he was the Ancient of Days;

for he was before the days, before all time;

and his being the Ancient of Days is equivalent to his existing before the ages, as has been said:

Thy hand, therefore, destroyed the nations.

The angels who administer punishments can also be called the hands of God, just as we speak of the hand of a king, and yet by this we do not mean the bodily member.

And Job too, concerning the punishing power—which was the devil himself—said:

Thy hand—that is, the punishing power, or the force that carries out painful things, or the ministering power that is thine—destroyed the nations.

The destruction of the nations you should take, by way of a higher interpretation, as the death of men, in that it works both the loss of life according to which the nations were estranged from God.

And thou didst plant our fathers.

The nations are destroyed on account of the wickedness they possess;

for their wickedness was their country and their city.

And those others are planted by none other than his right hand.

Now hand and right hand are not the same thing;

for the right hand is altogether a hand, but not every hand is a right hand.

For we may say that the things done in a praiseworthy manner are accomplished by the right hand.

Thus in the Psalms it says:

Thou hast held my right hand.

The active power for good things is the right hand, but the left is the power that opposes.

And since the things that are done proceed from disposition and from the reasoning that is called the heart—and the wise man is said to have his heart toward the right, but the fool toward the left—here we do not understand bodily locations.

The wise man has a mind that thinks rightly, and possesses understanding concerning intelligible things;

but the heart of the fool is left-handed, for it turns about material things alone.

Often in the Scriptures the left is set down not in blame but in the sense of a lesser degree, as in the Song of Songs it says:

His left hand is under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me.

And concerning Wisdom it is said:

For length of life and years of living are in her right hand—and by length are meant things immortal, things not dissolved—but in her left hand are riches and glory.

And she gives the riches that are sensible.

These are gifts of the hand, and not paltry ones.

Thou didst afflict the peoples and didst cast them out;

for not by their own sword did they inherit the land, and their own arm did not save them.

Those whom thou didst cast out, thou didst cast out by afflicting them.

And thou didst bring the affliction upon them that they might be disciplined.

Often affliction disciplines;

for by affliction here we do not mean that which comes from sin, but that which comes from painful discipline.

Since, then, they did not receive the painful discipline as they ought, they were thereafter cast out and rejected.

For not by their own sword did they inherit the land.

Our fathers, common to those who were cast out, having taken the land according to the historical account, obtained the land taken from those others not by their own warfare nor by their own power.

For not by their own sword, nor did their arm prevail for them, but thy right hand and thy arm and the light of thy countenance.

Where the light is, there also is salvation.

That, therefore, through which the affliction and the casting out come to pass is simply the hand.

Thus also in one of the Psalms it is said concerning Christ:

And he shall set his hand upon the sea, and his right hand upon the rivers.

Where there is tempest and bitter brine, the hand is simply set against the wicked powers;

for the wicked powers are those now signified by the sea.

But upon the rivers, the right hand.

And the rivers are the prophets, who have received streams from the fountain of the water that springs up unto life eternal;

for 'he that believeth on me,' as the Scripture said, 'out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.'

But this he spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed were about to receive.

These, then, being rivers, shall clap their hands together in unison.

And clapping together is an act of concord.

See, then: the hand is where the sea, the brine, the tempest is;

but thy right hand and thy arm and the light of thy countenance.

The right hand has also an arm corresponding to it.

Not, therefore, by your own hand or by your own arm did you inherit the land, but God's arm and right hand and the light of his countenance granted this to you.

In either way, taking it figuratively, that it was not by your own power nor by your own action that you were set free and came to be in the holy land.

But if you take it according to a loftier allegory, then his arm and right hand and the light of his countenance is the Saviour.

Not in yourselves, therefore, but in him were you rescued and removed from the worse country into the good one.

He conquered having prepared himself, yet with God fighting alongside, as the saying goes:

It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.

Thou art thyself my King and my God.

For thou art not only my God, being my Maker and having brought me into being, but also my King, because under...

...providence I begin to be governed, being no longer entangled in the affairs of this life.

And thou art my God inasmuch as I am a creature of God—and every creature has God as its God—but inasmuch as...

Thou who commandest the salvations of Jacob.

To Jacob, who supplants wickedness, thou dost command the salvations, being King and God.

And he commands salvations to the spirits that minister the salvations, concerning whom the Apostle says:

Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for the sake of those who shall inherit salvation? Not that they should confirm and bestow it, but that they should proclaim it beforehand, having heard:

Say to the daughter of Zion: Behold, a Saviour cometh to thee.

And the salvations of Jacob may be the particular virtues, or the two virtues, the practical and the intellectual—the contemplation of truth and the doing of praiseworthy works.

In thee will we gore our enemies.

You see: it is not by using horns of our own that we overthrow our enemies.

But thou art our horn and our defence.

You have, then, what is said in one of the Psalms by all the saints:

And in thy good pleasure shall our horn be exalted.

For again, the horn is a means of defense for those who possess it.

Therefore, he says, those who are under You, since You are King and God, have no other horn than Yourself.

The word therefore accuses certain people in one of the Twelve Prophets:

those who say, 'Have we not by our own strength obtained horns for ourselves?' — having horns and having power, we gore our enemies.

For this reason too their horns are broken in pieces:

'And I will shatter all the horns of the sinner.'

It is also possible to take 'horn' as a king and a kingdom, as it is set forth in Daniel:

'the ten horns are ten kingdoms.'

For this reason, therefore, having You as King, we have You as our horn, and in You we shall gore our enemies.

And in Your name — since we bear Your appellation upon ourselves — we set at nought all who rise up against us, having as an invincible weapon Your appellation.

But one must possess the appellation not merely in a bare, nominal way.

It is not he who calls himself a Christian who altogether possesses the name of Christ, but he who truly is a Christian.

'And in Your name we have set at nought those who rise up against us.'

And from this it is again shown that they are risers-up by their own deliberate choice.

They are not such by nature, nor by nature are those who ...

... they are ..., as those who introduce fixed natures assert.

'For I will not hope in my bow, and my sword shall not save me.'

I do indeed have a bow and a sword, since I am clothed with the whole armor of God, yet I do not hope in these:

the whole of my expectation is not raised up in these ...

while making use of them, I desire that God become my ally and champion, that ... strength ...

... I may be able to shoot my arrows against those to whom I send them, and that my sword may in due season ...

Often the reasoned word of those who possess it is called a 'sword':

'who have sharpened their tongues like a sword.'

'the sons of men, whose teeth are a weapon and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.'

'his sword upon his thigh.'

They have swords not only in their hands, but also upon their thighs.

And perhaps the discourses concerning self-control, which put to death the members that are upon the earth, are the swords upon the thighs.

Often the matters of generation are signified by the name of the 'thigh.'

When, for instance, He says in Ezekiel:

'and every thigh shall be made wet with wetness,' this is what He means:

all are licentious, pursuing after the moistness of pleasures.

'For You have saved us from those who afflict us.'

Since You have also saved us from those who afflict us, we have known that in You we shall gore our enemies.

For this reason, therefore, since this has come to us from You, we have known that we must not hope in the bow — using it indeed, yet not as though it were beyond dispute — having shot down our foes.

'And You have put to shame those who hate us.'

Again, those who hate differ from those who afflict, sometimes in their actual person, sometimes only in conception.

Often the same persons both afflict and hate, and these are the same as regards the underlying subject.

But sometimes he who hates is not able to be an open enemy, whenever he is weak:

for indeed the weak man is able to hate, but he cannot openly wage enmity:

yet whether they be the same as regards the underlying subject, differing only in conception, or whether they be different persons, God delivers from them, and saves, and puts them to shame.

'In God shall we be praised the whole day long.'

Of those who are praised, some are praised for beauty of body, others for strength.

Boxers are praised for their strength, others in another art, and others for wealth or for noble birth; but we shall be praised in You.

We have no other cause of praise than You:

for even if laborious things befall us, since we have received them through You and in God we accomplish deeds of power, in You we have our praise.

Often the 'day' signifies the span of the life of those speaking, as in the text:

'For Your sake we are put to death the whole day long,' that is, throughout our life.

'And to Your name will we give thanks forever.'

Your appellation furnishes us with much power.

In it, then, we set at nought all who rise up against us.

Here the word 'confession' signifies thanksgiving:

'I will confess to You, because You have hidden these things from the wise and understanding, and have revealed them to babes.'

So that it may be dative, it can be understood thus:

'to Your name we give thanks, because it has become for us the cause of salvation.'

in Your name which has been called upon us, as if You should say:

'in knowledge or in virtue I will give thanks.'

'But now You have rejected and put us to shame, and You will not go forth with our hosts.'

'You Yourself are my King and my God.'

For of those who draw near and approach ...

... He is God and King.

'who commands the salvations of Jacob.'

He commands the salvations and all good things.

'In You shall we be praised the whole day long, and to Your name will we give thanks forever' — that is, we shall give thanks.

'But now You have rejected and put us to shame, and You will not go forth with our hosts.'

But when You did go forth with our hosts — that of His army, or by the power that was our strength — we always accomplished everything.

But now the entire opposite is our lot here.

And since I was saying that one ought not to speak the problematic matters expressly concerning them:

Israel, having sinned, was removed from Jerusalem to Babylon by way of captivity.

And Daniel too, and those three men, and Joshua son of Nun, and Ezekiel, and the others of the Twelve Prophets were there — Haggai and Zechariah.

These were carried off to Babylon not by way of captivity, but for the sake of being partakers, as helpers and physicians, of those who had been condemned there.

God condemns someone with forbearance, that is, He does not leave him without help.

And He sends out angels, and causes holy men to fall under affliction and captivity, not on account of their own sins, but for the salvation of others.

They say, then, that a change to the opposite has come about, from good things to base ones — from being helped and having Him as a defender, to being forsaken; yet in a certain manner they were forsaken by becoming helpers of others, not that they might perish, but that they might be of benefit and might not permit the sins of those who had been condemned to increase further.

And the phrase 'You have cast off' does not altogether convey censure.

'Cain went out from the presence of the Lord God.'

God did not cast him off; rather, with self-prompted eagerness he embraced evil and rushed headlong into wickedness.

But concerning Adam, who did not fall away altogether, it is said that:

God cast Adam out, though he plainly laid claim to the things within and did not wish to depart.

And it was on account of Eve his wife that he was cast out of Paradise;

for indeed it was on her account that he transgressed the commandment;

for when God inquired, he says:

'Who told you?' He says:

'The woman whom You gave to be with me.'

'Whom You gave' — but You gave her to be with me.

And this is the point:

'And I too was of the opinion that, since she was deceived by the devil — as she herself confessed — and was cast out of Paradise, I should do the same as she, that I too might be cast out of Paradise;

for had Adam not been cast out along with her, the woman would not have re-entered Paradise.'

'O God, with our ears we have heard, our fathers have declared to us.'

'But it was Your right hand and Your arm ...'

'and the light of Your countenance.'

Not all the people were saying this.

This is like what is said in the Epistle to the Corinthians:

'I give thanks that in everything you were enriched, in all utterance and all knowledge.'

It was not, then, concerning one thing only that ...

Among this people, some in their own manner ...

These, then, did not stretch out their hands to a strange god.

'But now You have cast us off and put us to shame.'

No one who sins is put to shame by God, but by himself.

Yet God in a certain manner does put to shame, when He [ranks] the one who has not sinned together with sinners ...

He has no hidden things of shame, such things as must be renounced according to the philosophy of him who says:

'We have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness.'

'To those without the law I became as without law' — he was not put to shame by himself, but the word of Christ, urging him on, persuaded him.

'I became without law' — is he put to shame? So far as it depended on human understanding, no one would have wished to imitate the wicked.

'And You will not go forth with our hosts.'

'Of old You used to go forth with our hosts;

You would run before us into the battles, and we would prevail over those who assailed us.'

And by 'not going forth with the hosts' he means this:

'You help us, so that we may be shown to be athletes — having, as it were, been forsaken — and may be of benefit to others as well;

You have overthrown our hosts, yet You will not go forth with our hosts.'

'You have turned us back behind our enemies.'

Behind them were their enemies.

And they speak in praise of themselves:

'For upon my back the sinners fashioned their work.'

The enemies turn their backs; they will not grow faint, and they are pursued only by those who are destined to prevail over them.

The Saviour, then, drives out all the enemies and holds His hands upon their back, smiting them, pursuing them.

'You have turned us back behind our enemies' — this could not properly be said of one who turns back by choice and imitates the enemies;

but that which comes about through God is good and praiseworthy.

Behold, let those around Daniel and the other holy ones who were in Babylon say:

'He has turned us back behind our enemies,

and those who hate us plundered for themselves.'

They could not have seized us under their hand, had He not turned us back among them for the sake of what is useful.

They are enemies and haters;

for it belongs to enemies to hate.

But we are neither enemies of those men nor do we hate them.

And for this reason we were far off.

'Master, You have turned us back to those men; You have made us to be with them, who are the condemned?' Those, then, who were formerly in the form of God, and who took the form of a servant out of compassion — such men say this:

'We have come to the place upon earth, not for our own sakes, but for the sake of others, since You did not go forth with our hosts;

for formerly You would go forth with our hosts, holding out to us the victory over our enemies and guarding us in the land of our fathers into which we had come down.'

'Since, then, You did not go forth with our hosts, we were turned back behind those who hate us,

as those men plundered us — to whom He gave [us] over, though with evil purpose ...'

And you find many such instances in the Scripture.

It was not with this purpose that those men sold him.

Again, Judas betrayed the Saviour, yet the betrayal became useful for the taking away of the sin of the world.

Again, it was not with this purpose that those who crucified Him crucified Him.

'Those who hate us plundered for themselves' — they did not slay us.

But if you say this — that they took our belongings for their own benefit — then fittingly the matters of the handing-over and of the turning back have come about at the proper season.

'All these things came upon us, and we did not forget You.'

'You have given us over like sheep for food.'

Of old, in open manner, You would help us, so that You were our praise all the day long, and we gave thanks in Your name for ever.

But why now have we been handed over into captivity, having suffered this not on account of our own wickedness or impiety? And he said that those who speak this psalm were such men as were Daniel ...

There were the son of Nun, and Ezekiel, and Haggai, and Zechariah, and the three young men, and many others besides.

These men were not in Babylon on account of any wickedness of their own.

Into those places of affliction, where the will itself stands in peril because those to whom men are handed over for chastisement rejoice at their evil, these men were sent as physicians go among enemies, so that they might care for them; and they bring remedies, some that preserve the health already present in them, and others that dissolve disease and restore health.

For it is not, as some suppose, in blaming the day that they speak thus.

So, in addition to the other things that have been said, they also add this:

You have given us over like sheep for food.

We ourselves were handed over to be their food; after the manner of lions and wolves they devour us.

Yet even if we are devoured, we do not cease to be sheep.

Israel is a straying sheep; lions have driven him out.

The first to devour him was the king of Assyria.

And it is an evil thing that what has become something praiseworthy should not remain what it is, but be dissolved into another quality.

He who eats bread, if he sends it down into the belly, it no longer remains bread.

But those who were swallowed up and became the food of enemies did not cease to be sheep.

It is often said that the disciple becomes the food of the teacher, concerning which He also says:

My food is that someone should do the will of my Father.

The Samaritan woman, at any rate, was a disciple, concerning whom He also said:

I have food to eat that you do not know of.

If, then, the man who preserves that which is according to the image and according to the likeness of God, having become a teacher after the manner of Jesus, should eat the savage man by instructing him ...

... having been made by the teacher and having become his nourishment, he will not be a lion.

For this reason he is blessed and is called blessed, not because he is a lion, but because he has become a man.

But if ever a rational man, moving in a rational way, should be devoured by some cruel-tempered savage man or by an evil power, he becomes a lion, and such a one is wretched.

For woe to the man whom a lion shall devour.

You have given us over like sheep for food.

Though devoured, they remained sheep.

And you have scattered us among the nations.

According to the plain sense of the wording, they appear to be saying this:

We were sown among the nations, we were scattered in many places.

Yet they appear to have suffered this in Babylon and Assyria alone.

So what he means is something of this sort:

First one must make use of a Gospel saying. The sowing of these seeds—such as of wheat or barley—if they are sown in the earth, they take that earth up into their own substance through change and transformation;

for out of the earth they were transformed, becoming many from a single grain; out of the earth they were changed into the wheat.

... the earth that lies near it, and it gives form to that earth and transforms it into its own nature.

And by 'seeds' he means the saints who say these things, namely:

In you shall we be praised, and in your name shall we give thanks for ever.

In you shall we gore our enemies, and the rest—let them say:

You have sown us among the nations after the manner of seeds, so that the nations—in a certain way, if we are sown among them in a foreign land—we may transform into ourselves, and one of us may become an ear bearing many grains, that is, many souls that have been benefited.

And those who are benefited are called by different names: sometimes children of those who benefit them, when the latter are named fathers; and sometimes sheep, when the latter hold the condition and manner of life of a shepherd.

These men, then, were cast down like seeds; they took up into themselves those who were benefited by their having been placed alongside them.

When the seeds were placed alongside, they transformed the earth.

The nations, therefore, are earth, and the seeds are those cast down for the benefit of others.

Let this too be laid down more simply: that the Assyrians were in Babylon—not, indeed, that there were many nations and all the nations.

Let this also be laid down with respect to the historical sense.

You have sold your people for no price.

For when we were led away into captivity, we were not led there with honor, but were led away by the law of captivity;

for nothing is more dishonorable than this.

So you sold your people for a price.

You sold the people to those who wished to gain mastery over them.

But it is also possible to speak of that people on whose behalf ...

And since you sold your people for no price—that is, without receiving any price—you sold them ...

For by their own sins they were sold.

And the phrase 'for no price' can also mean ...

For this reason we endured these things—the being brought into captivity ...

... to be scattered among the nations, so that you might gather together the ...

By sin one has sold oneself and made oneself a debtor.

Indeed, that by which the enemy king holds the souls in his power is at once called a bond (handwriting).

And a bond is that which someone has drawn up with his own hands.

He therefore took it out of the way, so that he might no longer hold us fast by the bond which we ourselves drew up, signing ourselves over to him.

And do they sign themselves over as well?—Either 'you sold us, being your people, for no price'—then were we honored—by the manner of captivity; or they speak concerning the people on whose behalf they themselves went into captivity:

You have sold your people for no price.

And for this reason we endure these things, since for the sake of their help you have made us drain to the dregs the same grievous things as they.

And there was no multitude in our exchanges.

Often, on behalf of certain persons, ransoms and redemption-prices are given as exchanges.

Holy is everything that opens the womb, being male.

And it says that, if the firstborn should be a sheep or an ox or a goat, of those that are brought up to the altar, one must offer them in sacrifice.

But if the firstborn should be a donkey or some other of the ...

... the priests do not [offer them], nor is it brought to the altar;

You shall exchange a sheep in its place.

By means of a sheep its value is exchanged, and it passes into the sanctuary.

... there was no multitude in their exchanges.

There were not so many exchanges as to ...

For it is God who gives the ransoms on their behalf, not ·····

the ransoms are given for those who are being exchanged.

and by few he is able ······

he nourished populous multitudes.

and, that I may speak from the sacred history ·····

they were populous; and if ten righteous men had been found there—for even for their sake ka·····

since the ransoms were not many, they were being exchanged.

to Babylon, but few in number, like those who were taken captive together ·····

both they themselves and the people—the latter too—on account of sin; but the people on account of their own sins, while these on account of the sins of others.

and there was no multitude in their ransoms.

but few became sufficient for s·····

it would have come to pass, had they turned back and recognized to what evils they had come.

their sins are exceedingly great;

'I will go down and see whether they are being brought to completion according to their cry that comes up to me; and if not, that I may know.'

as far as it depended on the outcry of their wickedness and its intensification ·····

but if I should not find them to be such, but rather repentant like the Ninevites, I will acknowledge them.

and that those who are known by God are not worthless;

'The Lord knew those who are his own.'

'but then, not knowing God, you were in bondage to those who by nature are not gods;'

'but now, having come to know God, or rather, having been known by God.'

when they had come to know, they were rather being known by their Benefactor.

'You have made us a reproach to our neighbours.'

with respect to the sacred history, the neighbours are those dwelling nearby, those close at hand ·····

since therefore we were led away into captivity, you have made us a reproach to our neighbours.

they themselves have suffered nothing, nor have they been overcome along with the enemies who came up, but we have.

but as regards the deeper meaning, this is so:

as the cross of the Saviour became a reproach for the sake of salvation—for it is said:

'accounting the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt'—so these men too in a certain manner fell into reproaches, being overcome and led away into captivity.

who did not keep their own principality, but forsaking their own habitation, he consigned to everlasting bonds.