Commentary on the Psalms 1 part 10/42

And they rejoiced against me, and gathered together;

scourges were gathered against me, and I knew it not. For they came upon me in a multitude, expecting to destroy me, and they attacked suddenly, attempting to seize me unawares.

For the phrase 'scourges were gathered against me, and I knew it not,' Symmachus thus interpreted: 'Smiters were gathered against me, and I was not aware.'

but again they attempted the same things.

for at one time, using deceitful words, they tried to ensnare me, and at another they roared like lions, thirsting for blood.

Lord, when wilt thou look upon this? This he said not in accusation, but longing for help.

When, he says, wilt thou appear and defend one who is wronged? (verse 17)

Restore my soul from their malice. Declare my soul mightier than their machinations.

Deliver my only one from the lions. Having said above, 'They gnashed their teeth against me'—and the roar belongs properly to lions;

with good reason he also called them lions, exposing the savage and beastlike quality of their disposition.

'My only one' Symmachus rendered 'my solitary one,' instead of 'that which is bereft of all human help.'

I will confess to thee, Lord, in a great congregation; among a mighty people I will praise thee. The phrase 'among a mighty people,' Symmachus rendered 'among a very numerous people.'

And this was a prophecy—and a prophecy that has received its fulfilment.

For by 'a great congregation' and 'a very numerous people' he calls the Churches throughout the whole inhabited world.

Let not those who unjustly are my enemies rejoice over me;

those who hate me without cause and wink with their eyes. Here again he makes mention of those who provoked Saul, as men who feigned friendship but did the deeds of enemies.

And this he has stated more clearly through the following words.

For to me indeed they spoke words of peace;

and in wrath they devised deceits. For using friendly words, they tried as it were to bury their wrath in some ground, while holding a mind full of deceit.

And they opened wide their mouth against me, and said:

Aha, aha, our eyes have seen it. Having observed that I perceived their plot, they thereupon laid bare their hidden hostility, exulting with a loud voice over my misfortunes.

Thou hast seen it, O Lord; keep not silence: O Lord, be not far from me.

Overlook not the things that have been done, nor leave me destitute of thy providence;

but judge, and render thy verdict speedily.

And this the words that follow also make clear.

Judge me, O Lord, according to thy righteousness, O Lord my God, and let not my enemies rejoice over me.

Let them not say in their hearts, 'Aha, aha, so would we have it'; nor let them say:

Let them be ashamed and confounded together who rejoice at my hurt;

let them be clothed with shame and confusion who magnify themselves against me. Shame is fitting for those who mock their neighbours;

wherefore the prophet invoked this upon the arrogant and boastful.

And my tongue shall meditate on thy righteousness, all the day long on thy praise. But I, having enjoyed thy providence, night and day will make thy commandments my meditation, and continually will I hymn thy benefits.

For 'all the day long,' Symmachus rendered 'every day,' signifying by these words continuance.

This, then, was the end of the Psalm.

But I exhort those who shall read it to receive no harm from the prayer of the righteous man, nor to derive from it any pretext for curses against their enemies;

but to understand that the prophet was following a manner of life under the Law, not that of the Gospel.

Now the Law prescribes to love the neighbour, and to hate the enemy.

Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and shalt hate thine enemy;

Love your enemies, bless them that persecute you. In harmony with these words the divine Apostle also said:

Bless, and curse not. Looking therefore upon this distinction, know what befits the Law, and what befits grace.

And that he too, in accordance with the legislation of the Gospel, did not take vengeance on those who wronged him, hear him as he says:

'If I have repaid with evil those who repaid me, may I then fall away empty from my enemies; may the enemy then pursue my soul and overtake it, and trample my life to the ground, and lay my glory in the dust.' And he did not merely say these things without doing them accordingly;

for he set the seal upon his words, and his deeds were clearer than his sayings.

When Saul fell in battle he bitterly lamented him, and he handed over to death the man who reported the death, as one who rejoiced in it and boasted that he himself had slain him;

and thereby he exposed the injustice of the hostility;

teaching that, when he had found Saul asleep by night, he did not slay him as an enemy but preserved him as a benefactor;

and he showed the corner of Saul's cloak, and the cruse of water, and the spear, which he had taken as proof of the truth of his words.

To these things Saul replied, using words tinged with goodwill and clothed with the mask of friendship.

He added oaths to his words, feigning repentance.

...making [mention?] of those who live in wickedness, and proclaiming the providence of God that pervades all things;

and he mingled theology and prophecy also with his words;

and for this very reason the inscription too directs the reader 'to the end.'

'The transgressor says, so as to sin, within himself.' He who has been reared in wickedness supposes, it says, that no one beholds the hidden counsels of his soul.

For the word 'says,' it means, he has here set in the sense of 'reckons' and 'supposes.'

'There is no fear of God before his eyes.'

'For he has acted deceitfully before Him, so as to find out his iniquity and to hate it.' [He has, it says, so twisted himself, and cast the fear of God away from his own eyes, that his iniquity, being manifest, is seen and found out by all, and for this reason is worthy of hatred.

'Unbendingly he has given himself over to iniquity.'] Willingly he holds to this ignorance, since he is unwilling to take account of what he has done and to hate the evil deeds he has committed.

'The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit;'

'he would not understand so as to do good.'

'He devised iniquity upon his bed; he set himself in every way that is not good;'

'but he did not abhor evil.' For he used words stripped of truth and interwoven with deceit;

and he is unwilling to perceive what is fitting, but by night he brews evil against his neighbour, and by day he sets about fulfilling his designs.

And the cause of this is that he does not loathe, nor altogether turn away from, the forms of wickedness.

For the phrase 'he did not abhor evil' he has set in the sense of 'he did not loathe it.'

For indeed the divine Scripture at times calls the idols 'abominations,' and at other times 'objects of loathing.'

This Aquila rendered as 'he did not cast away;'

[and Symmachus, 'he did not reject;'] and Theodotion, 'he did not thrust away.'

'O Lord, in heaven is Thy mercy, and Thy truth reaches to the clouds.'

'And Thy righteousness is like the mountains of God.' Those men, then, as though no one were watching, undertake to do such things;

but Thy truth advances even as far as men, through the prophets, as through certain clouds, supplying them with the rain of salvation.

'Thy judgments are a great deep.' Yet having so great truth and righteousness, for what reason Thou art longsuffering I do not know;

the unfathomable nature of the deep imitates Thy judgments.

For just as the abyss of that deep is invisible to men, so the comprehension of Thy judgments is unattainable;

'Men and beasts Thou wilt save, O Lord.' And what is the cause of this? (8)

'How hast Thou multiplied Thy mercy, O God!' For Thy lovingkindness reaches even to the beasts, and Thou nourishest not only men but also the things that came into being for man's sake, benefiting men through these as well.

'But the sons of men shall hope in the shelter of Thy wings.' The saying contains a prediction of the change that came about after the incarnation of our Saviour.

For it did not say 'they hoped,' but 'they shall hope.'

'They shall be drunk with the fatness of Thy house, and Thou shalt give them to drink of the torrent of Thy delight.' The nature of mankind shall take refuge with Thee, beholding the abundant crop of good things springing up in Thy house.

And by these things it hints not only at the streams of divine teaching, but also at the enjoyment of the mystical nourishment;

and it likened the supplying of so many good things to a torrent;

first, because it was not given to men from the beginning;

and then, moreover, urging all men to come and drink, since the river is not ever-flowing but a torrent, borne along only for a season.

For those who do not draw near in the present season, after their departure hence, shall no longer enjoy the sacred streams.

And showing that by nature the outflow of good things is ever-flowing, but that it becomes a torrent for the sake of the dispensations, he added 'for a season;'

for he named the only-begotten Word of God a 'fountain of life.'

For thus He calls Himself also through Jeremiah the prophet:

'They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and have gone and hewn out for themselves broken cisterns, which cannot hold water.' He says, therefore, that this fountain is with the Father, according to the evangelical teaching which says:

'I am in the Father, and the Father in Me.' – 'In Thy light we shall see light.' For being illumined by Thy all-holy Spirit we behold the rays of Thine Only-begotten.

For 'no one,' it says, 'can say "Lord Jesus" except in the Holy Spirit.' And:

'God has revealed it to us through His Spirit.' We have therefore learned accurately, through the prophetic words, the three properties of the one Godhead.

'Extend Thy mercy to those who know Thee,'

'and Thy righteousness to those upright in heart.' Therefore continually impart Thy gentle and just care to those who have been counted worthy of the knowledge of God and who choose to do good.

For he has spoken both things concerning the same persons, employing the distinction according to its proper idiom.

For he does not mean that those who know Him are one group, and those upright in heart another, nor does he request mercy for the one and righteousness for the other;

but having defined perfect virtue as consisting in true doctrines and good deeds, he promised mercy and righteousness to those who possess this.

'Let not the foot of pride come to me, and let not the hand of the sinner move me.'

'There have fallen all the workers of iniquity;'

'they were thrust out, and shall not be able to stand.' The phrase 'There have fallen all the workers of iniquity' Symmachus rendered thus:

'Where the workers of iniquity fall, they are thrust down and shall not be able to stand.'

The prophet asks to keep the measures of his nature, and not to be turned aside from the straight way by the plots of the lawless;

inasmuch as he knows the end of the contrary way.

For those who fall down into it, he says, shall no longer be able to rise up and run into the other.

The things said resemble those in the sixth Psalm:

'For in death there is none that remembers Thee;'

'and in Hades who shall give Thee thanks?' INTERPRETATION.

'Do not be envious of evildoers;'

and he had learned these things both from the events concerning Saul and Absalom, and from those of the others who had done deeds like theirs;

he brings in an exhortation to all men;

exhorting them to bear nobly the grievous things that befall them, and not to reckon the prosperity and good fortune of wicked men as blessed, but rather to call them wretched;

and for this very reason, beginning immediately at the start of the psalm, he says:

'Do not fret because of evildoers, neither be envious of those who work iniquity.' The phrase 'do not fret' Symmachus rendered 'do not contend,' while Theodotion rendered it 'be not provoked';

that is, 'Do not be stirred up to imitate those who live in lawlessness, when you behold the good fortune that has come to them.'

And showing the transitory nature of their prosperity, he at once added:

'For they shall soon wither like grass, and like the green herb they shall soon fall away.' These things the blessed Isaiah also said:

'All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass.'

'Hope in the Lord, and do good, and dwell in the land, and you shall be fed with its riches.'

he shall enjoy the things bountifully supplied;

but they shall attain these things in a special degree who count as their delight unceasing communion with Him.

'Reveal your way to the Lord, and hope in Him, and He will act.'

'And He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your judgment as the noonday.' 'Commit to God,' he says, 'both yourself and your deeds, and await the assistance that comes from Him;

for He, as a judge, will bring forth a just verdict, and will proclaim you aloud, and will make you resplendent, so that it may be plain to all, even as the light of noonday.'

'Submit yourself to the Lord, and make supplication to Him.' 'Knowing these things, therefore, obey God who governs all, and continue asking good things from Him.'

'Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,'

'because of the man who works lawlessness.' 'Even if you see someone choosing wicked ways and not failing of his aim, but being carried along on a favorable current, do not be vexed, nor take it hard, as though none were directing creation.'

For this is what the words that follow make clear:

'Cease from anger, and forsake wrath;'

'do not fret so as to do evil.'

'For evildoers shall be utterly destroyed.' 'Do not look upon their prosperity, but await the end, and you shall behold their destruction.'

'But those who wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.'

[verses 10, 11.] 'And yet a little while, and the sinner shall not be, and you shall seek his place, and shall not find it.'

'But the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.' 'For know well that those who have suspended themselves upon the divine hope, and who choose the gentle way of life, shall pass their days in freedom from trouble and in peace, having as their abiding delight the purity of conscience.'

'But those who trust in transitory prosperity shall receive a swift reversal, and shall be delivered over to utter oblivion.'

'The sinner shall watch the righteous, and shall gnash his teeth against him.'

'But the Lord shall laugh him to scorn, for He foresees that his day shall come.' And through these words He offers consolation to those who are wronged,

and presents the righteous judge as laughing at the undertaking,

inasmuch as He foresees their swift end.

'The sinners have drawn the sword, they have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, to slay those who are upright in heart.'

'Let their sword enter into their own hearts, and let their bows be broken.' These words have the same sense as those already spoken.

For by 'sword' and 'bow' he has designated their manifold plots.

These resemble what was said in the seventh Psalm:

'He dug a pit and hollowed it out, and he shall fall into the ditch which he made.'

'A little is better to the righteous than the great wealth of sinners.' 'Better,' he says, 'is a sufficiency accompanied by righteousness than unlawful wealth and unjust abundance.'

Then, showing the fruit of both, he says:

'For the arms of sinners shall be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous.' By 'arms' he figuratively named their strength;

since it is by means of these that men are wont to do their work.

And most fittingly has he set down the phrase 'He upholds the righteous';

for though thrust at by demons and men, yet being supported by the divine grace they stand firm, and prevail over the hardships that assail them.

'The Lord knows the ways of the blameless, and their inheritance shall be for ever.'

'They shall not be put to shame in an evil time, and in days of famine they shall be satisfied.' All providence do they enjoy who choose a blameless life.

For even if they should fall into misfortunes, they show themselves superior to them;

and when a general want arises, they shall receive from God their sufficiency, and in addition to these things they shall enjoy the eternal good things.

And I hold that the famine here hinted at is that which of old was threatened against the Jews:

not of water, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord.

'For the sinners shall perish;'

'but the enemies of the Lord, as soon as they are glorified and exalted, vanishing away, like smoke have they vanished.' The change of the conjunction has produced a distinction of persons;

and it suggests that we should understand the sinners as one set and the enemies of the Lord as another.

But Aquila and Symmachus, having put the conjunction 'and' instead of 'but,' showed that the sinners and the enemies of the Lord are the same.

And he says that those men who are hateful to God on account of their own transgressions, having flourished for a short time and having seemed to be conspicuous and admired, were dissolved after the manner of smoke.

Such were the Jews, who received manifold healings from the holy apostles, and yet displayed their murderous disposition;

but nevertheless the divine apostles bountifully distributed to them the divine gifts.

'For those who bless Him shall inherit the earth, but those who curse Him shall be utterly destroyed.' This the God of all promised to the patriarch Abraham: 'I will bless those who bless you, and those who curse you I will curse.' verses 23, 24.

'By the Lord are the steps of a man directed, and He shall take great pleasure in his way.'

'When he falls, he shall not be dashed down, for the Lord upholds his hand.' For this reason indeed He blesses the one who blesses the righteous, and requites with like measure the one who curses him;

since He Himself directs the ways of the righteous.

For it is impossible, apart from His grace, for anyone to travel blamelessly the road of virtue.

He does, however, cooperate with those who have this as their aim;

and there is need that, toward the acquisition of virtue, human eagerness and divine forethought should run together in concert.

For thus, even if he who makes this journey should ever slip, he shall obtain the divine support.

'I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread.'

'All the day long the righteous is merciful and lends, and his seed shall be for a blessing.' 'Both when I was young and when I came to old age, I do not know of ever having beheld a righteous man left destitute of the divine providence.'

For indeed the righteous judge takes all care not only of them, but also of those who spring from them.

Thus, though Israel transgressed even in these matters, it was provided for on account of the virtue of the forefathers.

Thus, though Solomon acted impiously, He bore with him on account of his father's love of God.

And the phrase 'All the day long the righteous is merciful and lends' declares the manifold benefactions of the righteous man—those through money, those through deeds, those through words and counsels.

And in doing these things, he shows mercy indeed to those who benefit, but he lends to their God;

'For he who has mercy on the poor,' it says, 'lends to God,' so that the same act is both mercy and a loan.

'Turn away from evil, and do good, and dwell for ever and ever.' 'Therefore, all you men, knowing these things and having learned the wages of virtue and of vice, flee the forms of vice, and travel the opposite road, that you may enjoy the eternal good things.'

'For the Lord loves judgment, and forsakes not His holy ones; they shall be preserved for ever;'

'but the lawless shall be driven out, and the seed of the ungodly shall be utterly destroyed.'

and He will count the lovers of righteousness worthy of all care, but those who choose the contrary He will pluck up by the roots.

He goes on to teach how one may accomplish the righteousness that is dear to God.

'The mouth of the righteous will meditate on wisdom, and his tongue will speak of judgement.'

'The law of his God is in his heart, and his steps will not be tripped up.' It is fitting, he says, both on the tongue and in the mind to carry about the divine sayings, and to make the meditation of these things unceasing.

For thus, learning what must be done, the lover of virtue will remain steadfast and unshaken, prevailing over those who attempt to cast him down.

These things he also said in the first psalm.

'But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law will he meditate day and night'; and what follows.

'The sinner watches the righteous, and seeks to put him to death.'

Of this providence Abraham enjoyed, when Sarah was twice seized;

of this Isaac, having suffered this very same thing;

of this Jacob, envied by his brother and his father-in-law;

of this Joseph, assailed by envy and slander.

And what need is there to recount them all? For it is easy for those who love learning both to gather the things of old and to observe the new.

'Wait on the Lord, and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the earth; when the sinners are utterly destroyed, you will see it.' Having learned these things, therefore, await the divine verdict and keep the established laws.

For thus, both in the present life you will become highly esteemed, and in the age to come you will enjoy the abiding good things, and you will see the thrice-wretched end of the sinners.

Then, since it grieves many that they do not now see the punishment of the unjust, but must await it for a long time, he fittingly confirms things to come from the things that have already happened.

'I saw the ungodly greatly exalted and lifted up like the cedars of Lebanon.'

'And I passed by, and behold, he was not.'

and of not a few others besides these he showed their boastfulness, and their arrogance, and their utter ruin.

Fittingly, therefore, he likened their prosperity to fruitless trees.

He said that not only they themselves had vanished, but also their places;

and by these words he indicated their memory.

Then again he introduces an exhortation and counsel.

'Keep innocence, and behold uprightness, for there is a remnant for the man of peace.' This Symmachus rendered thus:

'Keep simplicity, and see what is upright, for there is a future for the man of peace.'

Do not look, he says, to present sorrows, but await the things to come.

For there is a time in which the due reward will be rendered to those who have practised simplicity and uprightness.

'But the transgressors will be utterly destroyed together;'

'the remnants of the ungodly will be utterly destroyed.' This again Symmachus has expressed thus:

'But those who set at nought will be blotted out together, the last of the lawless will be cut off.'

In that time, he says, these too will receive the wages of their deeds, and will undergo a common destruction.

'But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord, and he is their protector in the time of affliction.'

'And the Lord will help them and deliver them, and he will rescue them from sinners and save them, because they hoped in him.' But the workers of righteousness will enjoy the divine favour, and will attain salvation, and will prevail over those who attempt to wrong them, inasmuch as they have gained an untainted hope concerning themselves.

For in many psalms he makes mention of sin, not tolerating the wound, but setting forth in the midst both the disease and its healing, offering to men a theme of instruction.

And so in this psalm too he makes mention both of sin, and of the chastening brought on account of the healing of sin.

Many and various hardships were brought upon him;

the slaying of Amnon, the tyranny of Absalom, Ahithophel the counsellor plotting against him, Shimei reviling him, and the other things which the history teaches.

'O Lord, do not rebuke me in your wrath, nor chasten me in your anger.' This he also made the opening of the sixth psalm, entreating to be chastened in the manner of a physician and not of a judge, to be cured not by sharper but by gentler remedies.

'For your arrows have been fixed in me, and you have laid your hand firmly upon me.' This, he says, I do not implore in vain, but seeing showers of arrows borne down upon me, and your hand lying very heavily upon me, and scourging me severely.

For the phrase 'You have laid your hand firmly upon me' he has set down by metaphor from those who beat and inflict many blows.

'There is no healing in my flesh because of the face of your wrath;'

'there is no peace in my bones because of the face of my sins.' Being stung, he says, by the punishment, I am reminded of the sin;

and the remembrance of it works in me laments and wailings;

and from these there comes upon me affliction and misery.

'For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden they have weighed heavily upon me.'

'My wounds have festered and putrefied because of the face of my folly.'

'I was made miserable and bowed down utterly, all the day I went about mourning.' The heavy burden of sin bowed me down, he says, and the stench of those festered wounds also grieves me — wounds which, having cast away prudence and become a slave to folly, I took upon myself.

For which reason, being deprived of all gladness of heart, I am ceaselessly distressed and troubled, and I find no change from my gloom.

For in these the kidneys are situated, through which the desires are wont to be set in motion.

He says, therefore, that the cause of these evils has become for me the fact that I employed desire not for what is needful, but for licentiousness.

'I was afflicted and humbled exceedingly;'

'I roared because of the groaning of my heart.' From that desire, he says, I reaped the fruit of bowing to the ground and of unceasing lamentation because of the bitter pains of the heart.

For this reason, having changed the operation of desire, I have made it a servant of the divine will.

'Lord, all my desire is before you.' For since I once used it wrongly, I will henceforth ever devote it to your commands.

'And my groaning was not hidden from you.'

[verse 11] 'My heart was troubled;'

which he fittingly named the light of the eyes.

'My friends and my neighbours drew near over against me and stood;'

'and those nearest to me stood far off.' This Symmachus interpreted thus:

'My friends and my companions stood opposed to me in my affliction.'

For some of my friends, he says, seeing my wound, acted as enemies would, and openly set themselves against me;

And by the former he alludes to Ahithophel, who not only separated himself, but also brought forward ruinous counsels.

And others too, as is likely, did these things to that man;

or rather the greater part of Israel, and even this tribe of Judah, went to war alongside Absalom.

'And those who sought my life used violence.'

'And those who sought evils for me spoke vanity, and all the day long they meditated deceits.' The enemies, seeing me stripped of friends, continued to weave plots against me, longing for my slaughter.

'But I, like a deaf man, did not hear, and like a mute man who does not open his mouth.'

'And I became like a man who does not hear, and who has no rebukes in his mouth.' This the history teaches more plainly.

And when Shimei was reviling him, and hurling insults with both tongue and hand, he received the abuses in silence.

'For in you, O Lord, have I hoped; you will hear, O Lord my God.'

'For I said, Let not my enemies ever rejoice over me, and when my feet were shaken, they magnified themselves against me.' Practising this endurance, he says, I continued to keep my hope in you, and to commit my cause to you, entreating that I might not become an occasion of rejoicing to my enemies, nor that my defeat might become for them a pretext for boasting.

'For I am ready for scourges.'