Commentary on the Psalms 1 part 7/34

Henceforth he no longer dwells for one or two days only, but for all the days of my life.

And by 'all the days of life' understand the illuminations of the soul that come from the Sun of Righteousness.

It has a fitting superscription.

For it is 'for the first day of the week' (literally, the one day of the sabbaths).

This is also the first day of the sabbath-week.

Then, since it is supposedly the beginning of the cycle of the week, it is also called the eighth.

For the week is bounded up to the seventh, up to the seventh addition, that is, up to the seventh day or unit.

The second week again begins from a unit.

This day is at one time called the first of the sabbath, that is, the day after the sabbath, and at another time the eighth, so that the two weeks may be gathered together.

Since the Holy One assigns a portion both to the seven and to the eight, the Jew has only the sabbath.

They have neither the first of the sabbath nor the eighth, since they have altogether failed to contemplate the former week.

Only he who holds the mind of the Church, who, according to another parable of the Gospel, brings forth from his treasure things new and old — he alone possesses the new day of the sabbath.

And this day is called the eighth in relation to the first week, and the first of the sabbaths.

The first verses of the psalm can be understood both according to the letter and in a spiritual sense.

By 'the fullness of the earth' we must understand its ordered world.

For when plants and animals had come into being upon it, it is said that:

'The world of heaven and earth was completed.'

'And on the sixth day God finished his works.'

And in the literal sense we take it that the fruits and the animals are the fullness of the earth.

And the Apostle instructs us, saying:

For, counseling both those from the nations who had believed and the Jews not to be superstitious about foods, he says:

'Eat everything that is sold in the meat-market, raising no question;'

'for the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof.'

It is meat especially that is sold in the meat-markets, but also the other goods that contribute to nourishment.

'The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof, the world and all that dwell therein.'

And I said earlier that the earth was divided such that part of it is arable, and part is suited for habitation.

That part, then, which is prepared for habitation is called 'the world' (the inhabited earth), while that which is for farming and other uses is called 'earth'.

God, then, is the maker of both.

For how would these things be his, unless he himself had made them? Therefore the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof.

He himself has founded it upon the seas, and prepared it upon the rivers.

Either the earth or the inhabited world.

And the inhabited world is also earth.

What is said here is equivalent to what is said thus:

'To him who established the earth upon the water,' and to what is said by Job:

'Who hangs the earth upon nothing.'

For if it is founded upon the sea, it does not have a hard and resistant foundation, but it has its hanging upon the waters.

And every body of water that offers resistance has a floor.

But since the sea has a floor lying beneath it, that floor too must surely have something lying beneath it.

And nothing else is found except the moist element.

For this reason he says that the earth is founded upon the seas.

Turning in upon itself, it holds itself together.

It is not a hard, resisting floor that keeps it thus positioned, but it revolves about itself.

Indeed, even the discourses of the Greeks say that straight lines sent out from the circle — not perceptible lines, but such as are contemplated by reason — hold it fast at the very center.

And this is what is meant by its hanging upon nothing.

And this is the will of God:

'For thou hast founded the earth upon its steadfastness; it shall not be moved unto ages of ages.'

For how could that which has received its seat by God's decree be made to totter? Since, therefore, the earth is founded upon the sea, and the inhabited world is a part of the earth, it too fittingly has its seat in this same moist substance.

And he says that it has been prepared upon the rivers:

not that it is founded upon the rivers, but that it is prepared upon them.

For one cannot say that it has its foundation both in the sea and in the rivers; rather, it is founded upon the sea, having been prepared with rivers, so that in it, like certain springs and gushing fountains flowing forth, they may be of benefit to it.

For such bodies, unless they have water dispersed through them by which they can be held together, become mere crumbling grains.

And these things are said with regard to the literal sense.

But since what follows can no longer be taken in a historical sense:

'For who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord, and who shall stand in his holy place?' — whereas it would be fitting to state the road of ascent and the ground of standing, he said nothing of the sort, but the answer is given to the one who asked:

'Who is he that ascends, and who is he that stands?' — thus:

'He that is innocent in his hands and pure in his heart.'

To be innocent in the hands signifies to be pure in one's deeds.

Then he states a divine characteristic:

'Innocent in his hands and pure in his heart, who has not received his soul in vain.'

He receives his soul in vain who thinks, chooses, and does vain things.

'And thou shalt know where thou wast, when thou didst put thy trust in vain things, in the things of the passing moment.'

It can also refer to sins themselves.

He receives it in vain who rises early in the morning and drinks wine, and lingers till late, so as to be inflamed by the wine:

'For woe to those who rise up early in the morning and pursue strong drink, and linger till late;'

'and the wine shall inflame them.'

In another way again, there are those who make it their eager business to rise at dawn and hasten to the law-courts, whom injustice accompanies.

This man has received his soul in vain.

It agrees also with what is said in Isaiah to certain persons:

'Vain is the strength of your spirit.'

This is very similar to what was said concerning the Virgin, namely that just as she is holy in body, so also is she holy in spirit, in will and in mind.

Vain, therefore, is the strength of your spirit.

If, then, anyone wearies his mind and his intent with the cares of this life upon vain things, he possesses his strength in vain.

They expend the power of understanding upon vain things.

One may indeed see such men becoming even more malicious.

They wholly expend the entire strength of the mind upon these things.

"Who has not received his soul in vain."

God fashioned man as a rational being, not merely that he might possess reason and yet do nothing in accordance with it.

For it was for this reason that He made him rational: that he might receive virtue and put it into practice.

He received his own soul in vain, God not having given it thus, but he himself having taken it thus.

He made man of soul and body; and there are certain motions of the soul, and there are also those of the body.

We have the activity of our members: walking, doing something with the hands, seeing.

If, then, suppose, someone who has feet never walks, in a certain manner he possesses his feet in vain.

What follows compels one to carry up and interpret the earlier verses as well.

The Lord's is that earth, the good and noble heart which received the seed that Jesus cast, and bore fruit a hundredfold, or unto a hundred and sixty and thirty.

I have often said that intelligible realities can be understood in many different senses of the same terms, as when I said that the soul is called both a sheep and a plant.

Here, then, the same earth is both earth and inhabited world.

When, then, it bears the fruit of the practical virtues, it is earth possessing its fullness.

But when it possesses the divine gifts of the Spirit, it is an inhabited world having its inhabitants.

"Come, let us also forsake it," as was said to the world under condemnation.

And this is the synagogue of the Jews.

But this extends also to every soul which formerly was inhabited, yet through its own fault is forsaken.

There is joined, then, to these the words:

"He Himself founded it upon the seas."

"Sea" and "seas" name the region about the earth and the condition of those who pass their life here.

Their dwelling having its existence amid the surging waves and the brine—I mean their habitation—He founded upon these seas.

But this sea receives the net of Jesus, that from it good creatures, the earnest ones, may be caught.

But if these lovers of virtue, these who are hunted, are in one sense said to be hunted out of the sea, that they may come to be outside it, they are in another sense said to be founded upon the sea.

For they are founded here in this way, that being founded and rooted in love they may be made manifest.

And they are made ready upon the rivers that flow from the belly of him who has the Spirit, that they may receive these rivers which flow from the belly of each of the faithful.

And the various gifts of the Spirit are the rivers.

To the one who inquires and desires to learn:

"Who is he that ascends into the mountain of the Lord and stands in His holy place?" An answer is brought forward:

You ask who it is that ascends and stands? He that is innocent in his hands and pure in heart, he that has not received his soul in vain.

He is the one who ascends by way of progress.

And progress is an ascent.

When one becomes perfect as the heavenly Father is, he has stood in the holy place—unless indeed he transcends the whole of such a state and takes the beginning of another.

Wherefore it is also said in the Psalms:

"I have seen an end of all perfection."

There are many ends, as is the case with the learning of letters.

One is brought to completion in the knowledge of the characters, and then begins with syllables; and again, when these have received their end, another beginning arises.

Of a circle one can grasp neither beginning nor end.

If, then, you set the beginning of the circle from a point, you will also complete the whole circle.

It comes back again to the beginning, as is the case with the sun.

In such ends it is ever borne along over the same courses.

The Jews, perhaps, take "to ascend into the mountain" to mean to ascend into the temple and to stand in it.

But what follows, being joined on, excludes this interpretation.

"Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord, and who shall stand in His holy place? He that is innocent in hands and pure in heart, who has not received his soul in vain, and has not sworn deceitfully to his neighbor."

"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain";

for the Lord will by no means hold guiltless the one who takes His name in vain.

This must be understood both in an inward and perfect sense, and in an introductory and fitting sense for beginners.

Properly speaking, the young man who is ready to receive the laws of God does not swear at all;

wherefore he does not take the name of the Lord in vain.

He takes it up in no vain matter, being content with "yes, yes" and "no, no."

But it is possible to say this with reference to those being introduced to the faith:

For he who falsely names the name of the Lord, so far as it depends on him, has taken it in vain;

for one who is able to prove his case and to give assurance to the one in dispute without an oath, yet readily resorts to an oath.

This assurance given through an oath they call undemonstrated.

And the laws outside as well, when it was not possible to prove a matter—neither through documents nor through witnesses—then indeed a man does not cast himself into swearing, but the judges, having wished to find every proof and not having found it, take refuge in this as the last resort.

"Who has not received his soul in vain."

For every perjurer swears with guile;

for let him not suppose that he is not committing perjury.

Rarely does it come about through ignorance.

Often someone, having forgotten, swears, and then again bears the charge, as in the case of involuntary sins.

Some do not blame those who, being drunk, say what they ought not and do what is not fitting, saying that drunkenness—from which come those things they blame, the things done after drunkenness—is involuntary;

but drunkenness itself is voluntary.

"This man shall receive a blessing from the Lord."

Having described who it is that ascends into the mountain and stands in the holy place, he states also what follows for such a one:

It pertains to the one who has ascended into the mountain of God and has stood in the holy place.

And after the ascent of the mountain—so that the holy place would be the summit of the mountain—he says that this man shall receive a blessing from the Lord, a spiritual blessing, that which is in the heavenly places;

For indeed the Lawgiver will grant blessings.

But the Lawgiver gives, not to those who transgress the law, but to those who translate it into deed.

'Behold,' he says, 'thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord.'

The cause of the blessing is reverence, the fear that is directed toward the Lord.

'The Lord shall bless you out of Zion.'

If God blesses such a man out of Zion, it is on account of a virtue already possessed and of upright prudence that He extends the blessing to him.

Behold, of the diligent man, innocent in his hands and pure in his heart, who has not taken up his soul in vanity, nor sworn deceitfully to his neighbor, He says that he shall receive a blessing from the Lord.

It is not from any chance source that he receives it.

That is, speaking things worthy of praise concerning them.

This one, then, shall receive it from the Lord.

Something closely similar is set forth in the Proverbs.

'The blessing of the Lord is upon the head of the righteous.'

The righteous man does not draw the blessing upon himself, nor do men apportion it to him; rather, the blessing of the Lord rests upon his mind, which is called allegorically 'the head.'

'And mercy from God his Savior.'

For even if a man has the works that bring the blessing, since the blessing is greater than the deeds performed, and since God bestows beyond what we conceive or do, for this reason he also stands in need of the mercy that comes from Him.

'And mercy from God his Savior. This is the generation of those who seek Him.'

Since the question is put in the singular:

'Who shall ascend, and who shall stand?' And the answer is as concerning one:

'He that is innocent in hands and pure in heart.' Yet it is not one man alone who is fitted to accomplish virtue; he straightway adds:

'This is the generation of those who seek Him,' calling a 'generation' all those who have come to share in the same right achievements and virtues.

And by this contemplation an evangelical saying is unlocked for us:

'All the righteous blood shed upon the earth shall be required of this generation.'

And He says, 'from the blood of righteous Abel.'

If, pointing to the Jews, He should say 'of this generation,' the requital would not be just.

Cain slew Abel, and others slew others, before the calling and the giving that belong to time.

But He says 'of such a generation,' that is, of those begotten through such works from the devil, according to the saying:

'You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will to do.'

And the lusts make one a child of the devil.

Again, those who have the same lusts are one generation.

'The generation of the upright shall be blessed.'

'Of those who seek the face of the God of Jacob.'

Everyone who genuinely prays, prays to receive the manifestation of God, and this is what it means to seek the face of God.

The saints indeed send up a prayer, saying:

'Cause Your face to shine, and we shall be saved.'

And this too is possible, namely that:

We took the superscription of the psalm 'for the first day of the week,' and we said that the resurrection of the Savior, called 'the Lord's Day,' is sometimes called 'the eighth' and sometimes 'the first of the week,' according to different considerations.

They seek the face of Him who is about to come, having heard that 'He shall bow the heavens and come down,' that the Savior draws near.

For the heralds of the truth, who run before Him who is coming, hear:

'Behold, the Savior comes to you,' and:

'Say to the cities of Judah:'

'Behold, our God comes with strength'—of Him who tramples down wickedness, that we may learn from Him to tread upon our adversaries, upon those who work wickedness, upon him who is at work in the sons of disobedience.

When the dispensation has reached its consummation—for 'while you are yet speaking, He shall say: Here I am'—straightway the ascent of the Savior after His sojourn is signified.

For with a 'diapsalma' (pause) the passage says:

'Lift up your gates, O you rulers.'

'Lift up the gates, O you rulers of them.'

'Your gates, O rulers, lift up—the gates over which you preside, which you guard.'

'And be lifted up, you everlasting doors.'

The passage, setting forth the greatness of Him who is about to go up and enter through the gates, says:

'Remaining as you are, you cannot contain His exaltation.'

The words 'lift up' and 'raise up' can also signify the removing of them out of the way.

For one who is so great a King has no need of an entryway.

'And the King of glory shall come in.'

The angels who run before speak these things, as the Savior is taken up, to the powers above, to those who part asunder the heavenly gates.

Then those others inquire:

'Who is this King of glory,' whom you proclaim beforehand as coming, for whom the gates must be lifted and the everlasting ones raised up—not the temporary, but the immortal? Close to this is what is similarly set forth in Isaiah:

'From Bozrah? Why are your garments red?' And again they inquire.

Even though this body, when raised from the dead—and especially first that of the Savior—does not have the properties of the flesh, having been transformed into a spiritual body, yet by the grace of Him who ascends, traces were preserved for the recognition of whence that which ascends comes.

'The redness of garments from Bozrah.'

And just as, having risen from the dead and appeared to the disciples, wishing to assure them that the very body which He had was raised, He showed them the marks of the nails, He showed the scars—not that that body bears scars, for it belongs to what is hard and resistant to bear scars, but that He might give full assurance that it is He who rose; and then, lest from the sign given for the assurance of the resurrection they should think wrongly concerning the resurrection, as though after the resurrection the body that is raised again bears the properties of what is corruptible, He entered when the doors were shut—so also here, being taken up, at the very moment of the ascension He displayed the properties of the flesh, not that they should remain.

Neither did those things which He showed—such as having eaten, and the marks of the nails and the rest—remain as things He continued to possess.

It was not that we should eat that He ate after the resurrection, but that they might see that it was He of whom He had spoken, that He Himself was the one who rose.

This indeed is what Luke says:

'To whom also He presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many infallible proofs, being seen of them and eating together with them.'

Observe that also through eating together with them He presented Himself alive after His suffering.

'Lift up your gates, O you rulers, and be lifted up, you everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in.'

'Who is this King of glory?' they inquire.

Concerning whom is this said, that He shall come in, so that we may open the doors to Him and lift them up? He says:

'The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.'

'The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.'

He makes the answer from His works.

As in the beginning of the ascent to the mountain of the Lord.

And who shall stand? And no such man was brought forward — not because it was Abraham, or John — but rather:

If anyone is innocent in his hands and pure in his heart. So here too he did not say 'such a one,' but showed the matter by deed.

The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.

As he was descending, these things were proclaimed beforehand.

But when he had risen and been taken up, it is no longer said that he shall go forth — he who put to rout the kingdom upon earth, who destroyed the dominion of death, the devil; rather this one is both mighty and strong, the Lord mighty in battle.

Comparing that prophecy which runs thus:

The Lord of hosts shall go forth and shatter war.

As he was descending, these things were proclaimed beforehand.

But when he had risen and been taken up, it is no longer said that another shall go forth; the Lord, having become mighty in battle, cast down the tyrants.

The Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your gates, O you rulers.

Since they had asked who it is to whom the command was given to lift up the gates and open them, they say:

Since the Lord is strong and mighty, and mighty even in battle, do not delay, do not tarry.

To those set in authority he says that:

And since the gates too are rational, he addresses them as well, declaring:

And be lifted up, O everlasting gates.

And be lifted up, O everlasting gates, and the King of glory shall come in.

The Lord of hosts, this one is the King of glory.

Often the armies are signified by the name of 'hosts.'

He is the Lord of these hosts, of the heavenly armies.

For indeed such hosts appeared to the shepherds, hymning God when Christ was born.

And altogether he is the Lord of all these hosts, of the thousands and ten thousands that hymn and minister.

It is possible also to understand the hosts in this way:

Every rational being that lays claim to holiness is a 'power.'

Just as we call a woman 'musical' or a woman 'grammatical' when she possesses these arts, so she who partakes of Christ, the power of God, each such one is a 'power.'

Of these powers, then, he is the Lord.

That is, either each rational being partaking of the power of the Saviour himself is called a 'power,' or it is the army of rational beings that thus wage warfare.

Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he himself is this King of glory.

Do not seek who it is of whom we speak;

for the Lord of hosts, he himself is he.

And you too are powers, and each of you is a 'power' according to the second sense.

Therefore with authority he said that he himself is the King of glory.

Concerning this power and this manifestation Paul too writes:

Great is the mystery of godliness, and it was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit; and at the end:

He who was taken up in glory is the Lord of glory, is the King of glory.

It is not untimely now to take up a saying that is badly interpreted by some.

They want the Lord of glory who was crucified to be God the Word;

for those who deny the perfect incarnation say that the crucified Lord of glory is God the Word himself.

And indeed such is the syllogism which those thus in error propound — it is the very reasoning of Apollinarius the heretic, who says that the Word became flesh by a change of substance, and such syllogisms as Apollinarius set down in his writings:

The crucified one is the King of glory.

Therefore Christ is the King of glory.

But they understand the syllogism thus:

Christ is the King of glory.

Therefore the King of glory was crucified.

For it is a nailing of a body:

They pierced my hands and my feet.

He who says that God the Word, being bodiless, was crucified allegorizes the cross.

And if the cross is allegorized, the resurrection too will be allegorized.

And if the resurrection is allegorized, all that took place is like dreams.

And these very men say so;

for although, to deceive some, they use the words:

'A body, indeed a body' — and if you say 'yes,' this very body is nothing other than God the Word.

Do we not then speak of two? For what is absurd in calling the temple and him who is in the temple two? For the body was called the temple of the Saviour.

He who was manifested — not 'flesh,' but 'in flesh.'

Every spirit that confesses him as having come in the flesh.

Whence, even though they be unwilling, they are two: the flesh, and he who was seen in it.

But we do not call the flesh soulless;

for this flesh, when brought forth, would clearly have become soulless, like a mere strap of leather.

The flesh shall dwell in hope, for you will not abandon my soul in Hades.

As if, had it remained in Hades, the flesh would have had no hope of resurrection.

Who is this King of glory? And they heard an answer; then, since the King of glory is no ordinary one, for the sake of more complete precision they inquire a second time, and thereafter obtained yet another answer — no longer 'the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle' —

for perhaps it might have been supposed that one of the powers under God had proved himself supreme;

The Lord of hosts, he himself is the King.

Thus I call him mighty as Lord of hosts, not as a mere power.

The psalm is said 'concerning David';

for it is one thing to be 'of David' and another to be 'for David.'

It is said to be 'of David' whenever he himself was the one who composed it or sang it.

But it is said to be 'for him' whenever it refers to him.

If, then, I say that this victory hymn is for the athlete, for the boxer —

He set forth David, then, as a pattern.

What is said applies not only to his own person, but also if another be found to be like him.

And who is this David? He who, it says, shall do all my will.

Let the psalm be said concerning everyone who does the will of God.

Unto thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul.

Unto thee have I lifted up my soul, O God.

But he alone lifts up his soul to God who is able to say:

I do not speak of place—this has often been made clear to us—but in the height of pre-eminence he is second to none.

Whenever, then, someone draws his own soul away from the things below—from the devil, from the causes of evil, and from evil itself—he lifts it up to God, that it may live for him alone, that he may make it wholly his own, that, being joined to him, it may become one spirit with him.

It belongs to a great man to utter this saying; it is the voice of one who has a soul free from self-condemnation.

If our heart, it says, condemn us not, we have boldness toward God.

When the heart is condemned, being reproved by the conscience, it cannot say such things concerning itself.

Such a one is rare, and because he is so hard to find, some perhaps think that he does not even exist.

The author of Proverbs further shows this rarity when he says:

Who shall boast that he has a pure heart, and shall declare with boldness that he is clean from sin? By calling him pure in heart he means the one who is rightly disposed and rightly minded concerning godliness.

He who has been formed according to the truth, that man has a pure heart.

But he who is also free from sin in deed declares with boldness that he is clean from sin.

That the truth and things truly held in mind purify the soul and the heart, Peter the apostle writes:

Having purified your souls in obedience to the truth.

Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.

Those who make their own deeds virtuous cleanse their hands, and those who cast off all double-mindedness purify their own soul;

for it says, And purify your hearts, ye double-minded.

For the most part it is those who think wrongly who are double-minded.

Sometimes they are seized beforehand by an opinion and held fast by it, but when they attend to the facts they find them to be otherwise, yet somehow they persist in the false opinion that has taken hold of them.

He stands clean from sin, then, who has set his practical life aright.

He has a pure heart who is minded upon the things of the truth, who has received the mysteries of the kingdom in his soul and has been initiated according to them.

This man, then, lifts up his soul to the Lord.

It is no ordinary person who does the lifting.

Perhaps it is easy for anyone to say, but to do it is either difficult, or the thing has come near to the impossible—not because of its own nature.

And this too, since according to the apostle no one says 'Lord Jesus' except by the Holy Spirit.

And these very men, when they call God 'Lord,' say it not with the voice alone, but with deed and disposition.

When, being thus disposed as toward a master, they do the things that he himself wills and commands, they are servants in very deed; and since the relation of the true servant is reciprocal, he is a master in very deed.

O my God, in thee have I trusted;

And so he who has exact knowledge, trusting in it, discourses with all men and is not put to shame.

He who trusts in virtue is not overcome by vice;

for to undergo shame belongs to those who sin;

some indeed shall rise to reproach and everlasting shame.

The word therefore prays that shame may befall the insensible;

Fill their faces, it says, with dishonour—he speaks of the wicked—and let them be ashamed and perish, and let them know that thy name is the Lord.

When they perceive to what evils they belong, they perish according to that condition in which they are what they are.

The unrighteous man who trusts in his wrongdoings, if he comes to know that he does wrong, is ashamed and perishes in that respect in which he is unrighteous, not in respect of his rational being.

For this reason the apostles say: