Commentary on the Psalms 1 part 15/42

[And indeed the title of the first psalm after the fiftieth has furnished us with this interpretation.

But this same Prophet stated it yet more plainly, beginning from this point thus:] Verse 3.

and Rabshakeh, as one entrusted with the command.

He casts the discourse in the form of a question, exhorting him not to be high-minded over his wickedness, nor to expend all his time upon villainy.

For 'the whole day' Symmachus has rendered as 'each and every day.' Verse 4.

'Thy tongue hath devised iniquity; like a sharpened razor thou hast wrought deceit.' Thou dost defile thy tongue, he says, with lying words.

For 'hath devised' he has set down in the sense of 'hath uttered.'

and after the manner of a sharpened razor thou dost bring forth thy word, contriving destruction for those who are persuaded.

'Thou hast loved wickedness rather than goodness, iniquity rather than to speak righteousness.' Thou hast preferred, he says, the worse things to the better.

and thou hast set the false above the true among words.

and above what is just thou dost embrace what is unjust.

a deceitful tongue. He has called 'words of engulfing' and 'a deceitful tongue' that which is able utterly to make away with a man through falsehood, drawing the metaphor from those who plunge others into the deep, sinking beneath the water those whom they overwhelm in the abyss of the waves.

For utterly did he destroy the whole city of the priests, employing lying words against Abimelech.

This Rabshakeh too attempted to do, but was not able.

for he brought forth his false promises to those standing upon the wall.

'to pluck thee out, and to remove thee from thy dwelling, and thy root from the land of the living.' Thou shalt not escape, he says, having chosen this wickedness, the sentence of the God of all.

For He will overthrow thee most swiftly, and will deliver thee up to utter destruction, and will separate thee from the roll of the living, and, having torn thee up by the roots, will consign thee to death.

For hence the greatest gain shall spring up for those who are distressed at the prosperity of the wicked, when they behold the destruction of these men.

'The righteous shall see, and shall fear.'

'and they shall laugh at him, and shall say,' [At whom? At the unjust man, who not only contends against the truth itself, as that other did, but is also frenzied against the priesthood;

saying, that is, those consecrated to God:] Verse 9. 'Behold the man that made not God his helper;'

'but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and was strengthened in his vanity.' The choir of the righteous, he says, shall be filled with greater reverence, having beheld the just judgment of God, and rejoicing and exulting shall laugh at the barrenness of wickedness and at the gain of its present prosperity.

for both are lovers and nurslings of piety.

And in the first psalm he likened the athlete of virtue to a tree planted by the bank of waters, ever flourishing and bearing its ripe fruit.

And here he has called the righteous man an olive tree laden with much fruit and planted in the house of God.

inasmuch as he has acquired a firm hope in God, and for its sake endures to toil, and bears the laborious fruits of virtue.

awaiting not only the crowns that shall be given to him for his contests, but also to behold here the capture of his enemies.] Verse 11.

'I will give thanks unto Thee for ever, because Thou hast done it; and I will wait on Thy name, for it is good before Thy holy ones.' [Now the phrase 'I will give thanks unto Thee for ever' means 'unto the present age.'

And 'Thou hast done it' means the vindication of those who have put their trust in Thee.

And the phrase 'I will wait on Thy name' means: not only in the contests on Thy behalf shall I persevere with much readiness of will;

but also because Thou art good, that is, benevolent to men, and hast a kingdom without beginning and without end.

For the name of God is good and thrice-longed-for, not to all men, but to those who have been deemed worthy of the knowledge of God.

This psalm indeed holds the same thought as the one set before it.

For the subject of both is one.

Both denounce the blasphemies of Rabshakeh, and both foretell the destruction that came upon the impious.

For which reason it has also received the title of a dance, which those who obtained salvation assuredly performed.

And 'to the end' is added because the prophecy received its fulfillment at a later time.

[This same meaning the present psalm also holds by way of its title.

And hear what the Prophet says:] Verse 2.

'The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.' For not only against those called gods, but even against Him who truly is, did he move his tongue, saying, 'Have the gods of the nations been able to deliver their own land out of my hand?' [Those indeed clearly could not;

for how could they, who themselves have no existence at all?] 'that the Lord shall deliver Jerusalem?' [Behold, O lawless one, to how great a height thou hast tossed up the tongue of thy speech!

For doing whatsoever they please without fear, they are unwilling to take into mind

the God who watches over all, but have persuaded themselves that no one presides over the helm of creation.

'There is none that doeth good.' All, he says, have loved the wickedness of the Assyrians, [and as many as worship their things are without sense;

in whatsoever places or dignities or ranks they may be;

not reckoning with themselves that:] Verse 3.

'God looked down from heaven upon the sons of men;'

'to see if there were any that did understand, or that did seek after God.' Yet nevertheless the God who was disbelieved by them, who dwelleth in the heights and beholdeth the lowly things, willed to make an inquiry into the things that were done.

'They are all gone aside, they are together become unprofitable;' [all who cling to the same mind;] 'there is none that doeth good, no, not one.' He found, he says, that all had turned aside from the straight path, and had embraced every kind of wickedness.

'Have not all the workers of iniquity knowledge?' [What shall they know? That God the Lord will take vengeance;

and he makes their sickness yet more plain, by saying:] Verse 6.

'They have not called upon God.' But indeed through their experience they shall learn the harmfulness of iniquity, those who attempt to devour my people as though they were some loaf of bread, and who despise God their guardian.

'There were they in great fear, where no fear was.' For I will make them to shudder and to be in anguish, though the objects of terror do not appear, but the punishment is borne upon them unseen.

And by these words he signifies the plague brought upon them through the angel.

'For God hath scattered the bones of them that please men;'

For God hath scattered the bones of those encamped about thee.

[For the deadly and all-destroying sentence came upon them, and in a brief moment of time made them all to vanish away.

And one would not err in naming Rabshakeh also a man-pleaser, who, sprung from the Hebrews, sounded forth blasphemous words against the God of all, thinking thereby to render service to the Assyrians.

[As also some, having forsaken God, were forsaken by Him;

I mean those in the days of Julian the Apostate, who reigned at that time.] Verse 7.

For already had the ten tribes been enslaved and removed, and together with these many cities of Judaea.

[As even to this day we see some who wear the covering of friendship on the outside, but within are filled with hypocrisy rather than friendship.] And having at one time trusted those who had given him intelligence, he marches out against him with many picked men;

then, being about to hunt him down suddenly, he was hindered by the assault of the foreigners.

For having learned that they had marched against his land, he turned back, eager to defend those who were being warred upon.

And most fittingly he sets before them this psalm as a common instruction.

'O God, save me by Thy name.' 'The invocation of Thy name,' he says, 'suffices me for my security.'

Thus also the divine apostles wrought their great miracles.

'Judge for me, then, against those who war against me unjustly.'

'For strangers have risen up against me.'

But nevertheless, being seized even by this human polytheism, they took courage and longed to hand me over to death.

And they dare these things against me because they are ignorant of Thy providence, or rather even despise it. For this is what he added, saying:

'And they have not set God before them.' Having thus supplicated, he cries aloud the foreknowledge of the succour that will not be long in coming.

'For behold, God helpeth me, and the Lord is the upholder of my soul.'

'He shall turn back the evils upon mine enemies.' That is to say: they have dug a pit and hollowed it out, and they shall fall into the ditch which they have made.

And moreover the all-holy Spirit of God also joins in prayer, in saying: 'And in Thy truth utterly destroy them.' (v.8)

'Willingly will I sacrifice unto Thee.' 'I,' he says, 'have been taught by Thy grace that Thou wilt deem me worthy of Thy providence, and wilt cast upon those who contrive them the evils plotted against me, and wilt pronounce a just verdict against them.'

For this is the meaning of 'In Thy truth utterly destroy them; willingly will I sacrifice unto Thee.' 'And I, having enjoyed these things, will with all eagerness offer unto Thee the sacrifices pleasing to Thee.'

And teaching the form of this sacred service, he added:

'I will confess unto Thy name, O Lord, for it is good.'

'And upon mine enemies hath mine eye looked down. I will offer unto Thee the sacrifice of praise, recounting Thy benefactions.'

'For this is profitable to me, and to all who are helped by Thee, and pleasing to Thee.'

Taking along with himself the mercies of God, and exhorting those nourished by grace, he speaks thus:

'I beseech you therefore by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, well-pleasing to God.' And what the form of the sacrifice is, he explained in saying: 'by your reasonable service.' (INTERPRETATION)

For he himself was being driven out by Saul whom he had benefited;

But let no one, attending to the lowliness of the words, deem these things unworthy of the incarnation of Christ the Saviour.

Let him consider rather how, having endured gall and vinegar, nails and thorns, spittings and buffetings, and every kind of insolence, and having at last accepted death, He would not have declined lowliness of words.

For it is fitting that the words should correspond to the deeds.

'Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.' And again, 'I have received a commandment what I should say and what I should speak, and I do nothing of Myself.' And, 'My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?' These things, and such as these, He uttered in a human manner, both showing forth the human nature and building up the weakness of the Jews.

'If indeed we suffer together, that we may also be glorified together.' And this is the force of the title and, one might say, of the present psalm as a whole.

And the Prophet, beginning, spoke thus: (vv.2,3)

'Give ear, O God, to my prayer, and despise not my supplication.'

'Overlook me not,' he says, 'as I make earnest entreaty, but graciously attend to me, and stretch out Thy help.'

'I was grieved in my meditation, and was troubled.'

(v.4) 'Because of the voice of the enemy, and because of the affliction of the sinner.' 'For being reviled,' he says, 'and warred against by unjust enemies, and reckoning up their manifold plots, I am filled with much anguish because of the plot they have devised against me.'

For the divine Scripture calls continual meditation 'garrulity' (adolescia).

And Symmachus rendered this thus:

He calls him an enemy and impious, as being one who, though receiving benefits, contrives the murder of his benefactor.

'For iniquities have turned aside upon me, and in wrath they bore a grudge against me.' More clearly Symmachus has said: 'They have cast upon me for impiety, and with wrath have set themselves against me.'

For employing a wicked purpose, they contrive my death.

'My heart was troubled within me;'

'and the fear of death fell upon me.'

'Fear and trembling came upon me, and darkness covered me.' 'Beholding this their malice, and the devices of their plots, I both shudder and am afraid, and await death.'

For it was necessary that in this too there should be shown the nature which receives the suffering, and the great long-suffering which the Lover of mankind had toward our race;

and He accepts suffering in the flesh, desiring in this also to work out our salvation;

so then all these lowly words He speaks, not because of cowardice—far from it—but sets them forth for the sake of the dispensation. (vv.7,8)

For having fled from Saul, and again beholding the malice of the Philistines in Gath, he escaped into the wilderness, as the first history of Kingdoms teaches.

'I waited for God, who saveth me from faint-heartedness and from tempest.' 'For, being flooded by so many waves,' he says, 'and receiving as it were the assaults of certain winds or whirling gales, I await the divine inclination, and am comforted by the hope of succour.'

'For I have seen iniquity and gainsaying in the city.'

(v.11) 'Day and night shall it go round about her upon her walls.' This the Assyrians did, this the Egyptians, and in later time also the dominion of the Romans. 'And iniquity and toil are in the midst of her.'

For neither at that time was Jerusalem held by the Jews, nor was any other reckoned a royal city;

but he seems at once to foretell the gainsaying and lawlessness of Jerusalem, and to set forth the forms of her wickedness—the iniquity, the injustice, the usury.

Which things they cherished, while they would not receive the beneficial laws of the Saviour.

It is fitting, however, to note that not only the perfection of the new covenant, but also the polity of the Law, condemns usury, and couples it with iniquity, injustice, and deceit.

'For if an enemy had reproached me, I would have borne it;'

'and if he that hateth me had spoken great things against me, I would have hidden myself from him.' That is: if I had known his deceit against me, I would have hidden from him. 'But the things done by adversaries I count endurable and bearable;'

'for these things are done by enemies and foes;'

'But thou, a man mine equal, my guide and mine acquaintance.'

'Who together with me didst sweeten my food.'

'In the house of God we walked in concord.' It seems to me the most grievous of all things: that the man who was my familiar, and of one mind with me, and my table-companion and mess-mate, and who had shared with me both divine and human affairs, should do to me the deeds of adversaries and foes;

and clearly through these words the prophetic grace has portrayed for us Judas the traitor—one ordained a leader by Christ the King (for 'Thou shalt make them rulers over all the earth'), one who had shared His table and mystical words, but who became an instrument of those who plotted.

Now in place of 'my guide,' Symmachus rendered 'my familiar.'

for no one of his most loyal men betrayed him while he was being persecuted by Saul.

And with the history of the Gospels the prophecy agrees;

'He that eateth bread with Me,' He says, 'hath lifted up his heel against Me.' Having thus foretold the betrayal, He also predicts the traitor's sudden death.

And even until now one may see the same deceit and murder abounding among certain people, as the outcome of events convinces us.

For not only do they, sharing salt, betray those who provide it, but even, having become partakers of the divine and ineffable mysteries, they not only betray one another but also contrive deaths, and this with oaths intervening.

And Paul does not cease to testify throughout the whole inhabited world to those who, by two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lie—

I mean the oath and the faith;

but some, I know not how, attempt to alter both.

'Let death come upon them;'

'and let them go down alive into Hades.' Such a verdict he threatens against them, wishing to restrain their wicked purpose. And such an end of life did he receive;

for having tied his neck to the noose, he underwent a swift death;

and into such calamities did the Jews also fall after the cross, being given over to the Roman war.

For they did not depart this life by the law of nature, but were struck down by weapons of war.

And if any of the wicked should seem to end his life by a common death, after the resurrection from this world he will receive a double punishment against himself.

For it says: 'Some men's sins are manifest, going before them unto judgment; but some men they follow after.'

Then he shows the justice of the punishment.

'Because wickedness is in their dwellings, in the midst of them.'

Instead of 'in the midst,' that is, into their very heart, wickedness having sprouted brings upon them the deadly verdict of punishment. And he calls the present life a 'sojourning,' in which we sojourn but do not permanently dwell.

And blessed are those who regard the present life as a sojourning and not as a permanent dwelling.

Then, having spoken of the deeds of the lawless, the Prophet transfers his discourse to those who are wronged and yet are not forsaken by the help from above. (verse 17)

'I cried unto God, and the Lord heard me.' For not only, he says, have I learned to entreat the Father, but also His only-begotten Son, who out of His great love for mankind was, a little while afterward, to receive from me the dispensation according to the flesh.

'Evening and morning and at noon will I declare and proclaim, and He shall hear my voice.' And when this prayer is received by the Lover of mankind... (verse 19)

Not only for me, he says, but also for all who have put their trust in Him. And the phrase 'they were with me in great numbers' shows that the enemies were many.

For thus also Symmachus rendered it:

'For they became many against me.'

'God shall hear, and shall bring them low.'

'For there is no ransom for them, because they feared not God.' This Symmachus rendered thus:

'For they are not changed, neither do they fear God.'

For neither is their wicked disposition changed, nor do they fear God;

wherefore indeed, seeing, he says, their unrepentant manner, He will envelop them in the aforesaid calamities.

'He put forth his hand in requiting.' This the three rendered thus:

'He put forth his hand against those who were at peace with him toward him.'

For it was not an enemy whom Saul pursued, but a benefactor, a companion, and a familiar friend.

Nor did Judas betray an enemy, but the Saviour and the Bestower of good things.

Therefore the phrase 'He put forth his hand in requiting' shows this: that having stretched out his hand so as to pay back recompenses, he brought no good thing whatever;

But nevertheless Judas too not only stretched out his hand to betray, but also, having returned the thirty pieces of silver, which after his hanging the slayers of God cast into the treasury. And this is shown by what follows:

'They have profaned his covenant.' For while the divine law expressly commands to love one's neighbour as oneself, they pursued their benefactor as though he were an enemy.

And not only so, but they also condemned him to the cross.

For thus Symmachus rendered it:

'Their mouths are smoother than butter;'

'but the heart of each of them makes war.'

And with this the following also agrees:

'Their words were made softer than oil, yet they are darts.' Such indeed were the words of both Saul and Judas.

'Have I in any way wronged you?' And again the same thing Judas: 'Hail,' he says, 'Rabbi;' and he kissed him.

And the words indeed resembled the smoothness of oil and butter;

but their counsels were like arrows and the sharpest spears.

For their darts were rather lances; for Aquila rendered 'darts' as 'lances.'

'Cast your care upon the Lord,'

'and He shall sustain you.' Not only, he says, will He glorify here, but also in the regeneration He will count worthy of the vision of God.

Therefore, he says, have God as your pilot and charioteer;

and make your own affairs dependent upon that Providence;

for thus you shall remain unshaken and immovable;

for it says, 'He shall not suffer the righteous to be moved for ever.' For even if He should sometimes permit him to fall into temptation, yet He will provide swift help.

And this closely resembles the apostolic sayings: 'God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation also make a way of escape, that ye may be able to bear it.' (verse 24)

'But Thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction.' For those who dare to plot against the righteous man He will deliver over to perpetual punishment.

For by 'pit of destruction' he named the inescapable punishment.

For just as it is impossible for one who has fallen into a pit, full of some mire and filth, to escape destruction;

so it is impossible for one punished by God to find salvation from any other source.

'they shall not live out half their days.' For upon those who choose to live in murder and deceit Thou bringest swift death;

not permitting them to live out the appointed span of time.

'On behalf of the people that is removed far from the holy things;'

but also to many of those that follow.

For the phrase 'on behalf of the people that is hidden from the holy ones' refers either to the people taken captive and separated from the then holy city, which was Jerusalem; or to him who removes himself far from God, that is, from faith in Him. For the sufferings befall accordingly.

For those indeed served the Babylonians, men of a foreign race;

and this one, having fled from Saul, became a sojourner among foreigners.

It should be noted, however, that he came twice to Gath;

and at first, having been thought to be an enemy, then being in danger, and feigning madness, he was let go and escaped.

But later, being trusted, he sojourned there enjoying peace.

The present psalm, however, he composed while enduring the former danger.

'Have mercy on me, O God, for man has trodden me down;'

And the phrase 'all the day' Symmachus rendered 'every day,' meaning continually and perpetually.

'For many are they that war against me from on high.' Instead of 'from their dominion.' I fear not, he says, the prosperity of men, in which trusting they have taken up the war against us.

For by 'the height of the day' he named the present prosperity—the transient, the ephemeral, the perishable, which soon flows away.

Then he teaches for what reason one ought not to dread those who are puffed up over their prosperities.

'but I will hope in Thee.' The transient good fortune, he says, I fear not, having Thy help;

and this Symmachus rendered thus: 'In whatever day I am afraid, I have trusted in Thee.'

I set, he says, against fear the confidence that rests in Thee.

And he made it yet clearer by saying: (verse 5)

'In God I will praise my words.' Praiseworthy, he says, before God are the prayers which, drawing them out through repentance, I shall not cease to offer to Him. 'In God I have hoped; I will not fear what flesh shall do unto me.' By 'flesh' he means the coarser men, those who possess a grovelling manner of life. And giving utterance, he says, I adorn my words with the remembrance of God;

and being warred against, trusting in Thy care, I despise those who make war.

'All the day long they abhorred my words; all their thoughts are against me for evil.' Every reasoning, he says, they set in motion for their plots against me, turning away from my words as false, and shaking off the defence I offer.

And the same thing one may see even to the present time: many enduring it from certain men and demons. (verse 7)

'They shall sojourn and hide themselves, they shall watch my heel;'

secretly, and they watched my steps, waiting to seize my soul.

'On account of nothing wilt Thou thrust them out.' It is an easy thing for Thee, he says, and altogether effortless, to thrust them out and cast them down and deliver them to death;

for the phrase 'on account of nothing' he has set down in the sense of 'without toil and with ease.'

'In wrath shalt Thou bring down the peoples, O God.' For not these alone, but also all who choose to live together with lawlessness, wilt Thou deliver to a punishment filled with wrath.

'My life have I declared unto Thee.' All that is mine lies open before Thee—my deeds, my words, my thoughts.

For thus also did Symmachus render it: 'My inward parts have been numbered by Thee.'

'Thou hast set my tears before Thee, even as in Thy promise.' Thou hast given heed, he says, to my tears, and hast fulfilled Thy promises.

For Thou, in giving the Law, didst promise to hearken to those who are wronged when they groan.

For thus He says in the Law:

'He shall groan unto Me, and I will hearken to him.'

'Mine enemies shall be turned back.' But when Thou hast received my supplication, my foes shall flee and shall cease from their insolence.

'In the Lord will I praise His word;

I will not fear what man shall do unto me.' Excellent here too is the prophetic mind.

How does he offer prayer equally to the undefiled and consubstantial Trinity? 'Nor will I endure so much as to utter a word,' he says, 'without calling upon Thee.'

But whether I bring forth a brief utterance or make use of lengthier discourses, I will adorn them with the invocation of Thy name, and, trusting in Thee, I will despise the plots of men.

'In me, O God, are vows which I will render, of praise unto Thee.' I have faithfully paid my promises to Thee, he says;

for by 'vows' he means the promises made to God.

'I will render unto Thee my vows, which my lips have uttered and my mouth hath spoken in my affliction.' Then he teaches concerning what things, and what, the promises were.

'Because Thou hast delivered my soul from death,

mine eyes from tears;'

and having believed that I possess a firm confidence in these things, in them will I also fulfil the present song. 'I will be well-pleasing before the Lord in the light of the living.' For having enjoyed such great benefits, and having shown myself superior to the various plots, I will take thought for Thy service, and will choose a manner of life which shall please Thee and shall procure for me eternal life and that light which is promised to those who live according to the Law.

This is fitting for us also, who endure many plots from men and from demons, yet through the divine providence escape the ruin that springs from them.

And 'unto the end' both this psalm and that one direct those who read them;

since they contain a foretelling of things to come.

For that one foretold the things concerning the people;

but this one prophesies the calling of the nations.

For since, being able to slay Saul and by that slaughter to make an end of his enemy and to seize the sovereignty, he would not endure to do so—saying, as it were, to himself, 'Do not destroy the virtue of forbearance'—

he added this, teaching by what reasonings he made use in not slaying his enemy.

'Have mercy upon me, O God, have mercy upon me;

for in Thee hath my soul trusted;

and in the shadow of Thy wings will I hope, until iniquity pass by.' Shut up in the cave, and seeing his enemies likewise shut in, he proclaims the divine mercy and lays bare the hope which he has toward God.

And 'the shadow of the wings' he has often interpreted to mean that he is calling upon the divine providence.

And the doubling of the 'mercy' indicates the excess of the danger.

And the phrase 'until iniquity pass by' Aquila rendered more clearly: 'until the plot pass by.'

And Symmachus: 'until the assailant pass by.'

'I will not cease, therefore,' he says, 'from supplicating, until I be delivered from those who plot against me.'

For those who plot against him the Seventy named 'iniquity' from the deed itself.