Commentary on the Psalms 1 part 2/42

'and not I alone, but also Your people who together with me are being warred against.'

'Yet I have concern even for those who make war;'

'for that people too is reckoned as Yours.'

For he hinted at this when he said:

'And Your blessing is upon Your people.' For indeed the blessed Moses arranges peace together with the blessings;

Now the phrase 'unto the end' signifies that the things prophesied will be fulfilled after long stretches of time.

And at the end of the psalm he foretold the resurrection from the dead, saying:

'In peace I will both lie down together and sleep;'

For the psalm seems to have been spoken in these circumstances after the ending of that war;

and to establish the teaching he recounts each particular in detail.

'When I called, the God of my righteousness heard me.' 'Learn,' he says, 'from what has happened to me, how the God of all watches over human affairs, and hears those who call upon Him sincerely.'

'I at any rate, as soon as I offered my prayer, obtained my request.'

And the phrase 'of my righteousness' he set down in the sense of 'of my just request.'

These words resemble what was said by God through Isaiah: 'Then you will call, and I will hearken to you;'

'while you are still speaking, I will say, Behold, I am here.' — 'In affliction You have made room for me.' The God of all is accustomed to permit grievous things to happen to the saints;

but after the exercise and testing, He proclaims the athletes as victors;

and indeed even in the very midst of the trials He brings them every comfort.

Such is that which was said by the God of all to the divinely-inspired Paul: 'My grace is sufficient for you;'

'for My power is made perfect in weakness.' (3)

'Have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.' The righteous man does not take his fill of prayer;

but even while making supplication, and enjoying favour, and gathering the fruits of his petition, he persists in offering his entreaties, inasmuch as he knows the benefit that will thence come to be.

how He also watches over human affairs, and extends their requests to those who approach diligently;

and having cast away your vain reasonings

'Know that the Lord has made His holy one marvellous;'

'The Lord will hear me when I cry to Him.' For He did not simply free me from the calamities that had befallen me, but through the victory He has also made me conspicuous and admired by all;

for this is what he meant by 'has made marvellous'; and He persists continually in receiving my supplications.

Again here he set down 'holy one' in the sense of 'the innocent one,' and 'the one who has in no way wronged those who make war on him, but has been wronged by them.'

He fittingly named the unbelievers 'heavy of heart,' as those unwilling to look up toward God, and not wishing to behold the divine dispensations;

by a metaphor drawn from those whose head is weighed down by some drunkenness through the vapours sent up from below, and who are compelled to close their eyes and are unable to open them.

Here one must place a slight pause, and thus read the rest: 'and do not sin.' 'Be angry,' he says, 'and be indignant when you see those who unjustly rise up against you prospering.'

'But do not increase evil upon evil, by attempting to persuade others also that all things are borne along in disorder and without a helmsman.'

'For it behoves you to do the opposite of these things: to exact from yourselves by night the reckoning for the sins committed by day.'

'The things which you say in your hearts, be pierced with compunction upon your beds.' For since the night-time, being freed from outward tumults, affords great quiet to the reasonings,

he fittingly commanded that in this time one should make the examination of the things said or done in the day, and he laid down as law that one should heal the wounds with the medicine of compunction. (6)

'Offer the sacrifice of righteousness, and hope in the Lord.' By these words too he dismisses the legal worship as superfluous, and lays down as law that one should offer the sacrifice of righteousness;

for the possession of righteousness is more pleasing to God than every hecatomb and chiliomb, when joined to it, evidently, is the hope in Him.

Since many both of the Greeks and of the Jews, and of the heretics who hold contrary opinions, do at times pursue both self-control and righteousness;

yet, being deprived of piety, they procure no fruit from it.

And He did not simply say 'bearing no fruit,' but 'bearing no fruit in Me,' that is, according to My commandments, according to My laws, with faith in Me — since there are some who seem to cultivate virtue even apart from the confession of Him, for the sake of human glory.

'Many say, Who will show us good things?' He alludes to those whom he named 'heavy of heart,' as being indignant at the grievous things that befall them, and daring to say this. (7)

'The light of Your countenance has been marked upon us, O Lord;'

'You have put gladness into my heart.' Those men, then, both reason and utter such things;

but we, who have received the radiance of the knowledge of You, and have been enlightened by the beams that come from You, even in the very calamities that rise up against us have a sufficient comfort in the hope in You.

'From the fruit of their grain, wine, and oil they were multiplied.' Again he accuses those who say:

'Who will show us good things?' — as those who enjoy so many things even in the present life, and yet are sick with ingratitude.

The sense is somewhat transposed (in inverted order);

'Who will show us good things? From the fruit of their grain, and wine, and oil they were multiplied.' 'And yet,' he says, 'those who say these things enjoy the manifold fruits of the earth;'

for by these three kinds, which pertain to human nature, he necessarily included the other good things as well;

carrying in their hands the gifts of God, and lavishly reveling in His good things, they dare to speak as though enjoying nothing:

'Who will show us good things?' 'But I, having enjoyed Your light, and having acquired the knowledge,' (9, 10)

'In peace I will both lie down together and sleep;'

'For You, O Lord, alone have made me to dwell in hope.' For having driven out all tumult and division of the reasonings, and having established peace over them, and having taught me to be thus minded concerning Your good providence, I shall receive death in the hope of the resurrection.

For here he called death 'sleep.'

And very fittingly he yoked hope together with the remembrance of death, having gone through the discourses concerning providence.

'Unto the end, concerning her that inherits;'

For it is possible to hear the Lord saying in the holy Gospels:

The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are children of God;

and if children, then heirs also — heirs indeed of God, and joint-heirs with Christ;

if so be that we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together with him. And again: So then thou art no longer a servant, but a son;

and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. And many other such things one may find in the divine Scripture, guided by which we shall be able to discern the meaning with our understanding.

Give ear to my words, O Lord; consider my crying.

Attend to the voice of my supplication, my King and my God. Battered by many storms from every side, the Church of God — and indeed every soul that embraces the godly life — prevails and swims above the surging flood, ceaselessly calling upon the divine assistance.

This is precisely what the prophetic word teaches us, instructing how we ought to entreat and beseech the God and King of all:

Give ear to my words, O Lord; consider my crying; attend to the voice of my supplication. But we must not understand the crying as literal crying, nor the ears as literal ears;

for concerning the God of all it is the custom of divine Scripture to speak in a somewhat corporeal manner, and to name the divine operations after human members;

calling the faculty of sight 'eyes,' the faculty of hearing 'ears,' and the rest likewise.

By 'crying' he denotes the fervour of those who pray, and the earnest supplication of the mind.

And 'give ear' means: Let the words of my prayer come within thy ears, and graciously hear my supplication, and attend carefully to the words of my petition, since I know thee to be God and King.

For unto thee will I pray, O Lord; in the morning shalt thou hear my voice.

But it is not for everyone to say to the God of all, I will stand before thee, and thou wilt look upon me; but only for those who, like the great Elijah, dare to speak because of the boldness that comes from their manner of life: As the Lord liveth, before whom I stood this day. For thou art not a God that willest iniquity.

[6.] Neither shall the evildoer dwell beside thee;

since thou forbiddest all iniquity, and utterly turnest away from those who live in wickedness;

for thou abhorrest all who embrace a lawless life.

Thou hatest, O Lord, all them that work iniquity;

thou wilt destroy all them that speak falsehood.

The Lord abhorreth the man of blood and deceit. He has brought forward a catalogue of wickedness, showing all of it to be contrary to the divine will.

For he not only forbids wickedness, and lawlessness, and falsehood, and deceit, and bloodshed;

but he also abhors the workers of these things, who are unwilling to give heed to repentance.

By these words he signifies those who at various times have risen up against the Church and yet have not been able to prevail, according to the very declaration of God our Saviour:

For the gates of hell, he says, shall not prevail against it. This too the psalm has intimated.

But as for me, in the multitude of thy mercy will I enter into thy house;

I will worship toward thy holy temple in thy fear. For enjoying thy loving-kindness and guarded by thy right hand, I offer thee continual worship in the temple consecrated to thy glory, ever bearing about thy fear;

for I will not endure to cast this off, trusting in thy loving-kindness.

O Lord, lead me in thy righteousness; because of mine enemies make my way straight before thee. Some of the copies have 'make thy way straight before me';

but both readings hold to a godly meaning.

For whether our way be made straight before God, we shall not undergo the experience of straying;

or whether the way of God be made straight before us, we shall travel along it, and shall run eagerly toward it.

The heir, then, asks to be led by the righteousness of God, and that her way be made straight, and be made smooth for her, so that she may travel it with ease.

This is the meaning that Symmachus has set forth;

for instead of 'make straight,' he has said 'make level.'

And we hear Christ himself say through Isaiah;

The steps of a man are directed by the Lord, and he shall greatly desire his way. And the words of the heir are full of humility.

For she does not ask that her way be made straight on account of her own righteousness, but on account of her enemies who live in impiety, who war against her unjustly.

Then he teaches in detail the practices of their wickedness.

For there is no truth in their mouth. With falsehood, he says, they continually defile their tongue.

Their heart is vain. Their reasonings agree with their words, and their mind concurs with their mouth.

Their throat is an open sepulchre. Closed tombs keep their stench hidden, but open ones send forth a great foulness;

such words, he says, do these men also belch forth, full of all impiety and foul odour.

With their tongues they have dealt deceitfully;

judge them, O God. What is hidden is more grievous than the words uttered;

for employing deceit they contrive countless plots against their neighbours.

For they have provoked thee, O Lord. For they have stirred up war against thee, directing their battle-array against those who are devoted to thee.

And let all them rejoice that hope in thee;

for ever shall they exult, and thou shalt dwell among them. This will fill with gladness those who have believed in thee, and will grant them eternal delight;

not the destruction of those others, but thy providence.

For they are persuaded that thou dwellest in them, and walkest about among them, and declarest them to be a house consecrated to thee.

And all that love thy name shall glory in thee.

justly, O Lord. For since thy blessing and providence are supplied to thy worshippers, those who have made themselves lovers of thy name will take great pride in thy care, recounting thy power.

So too the blessed Paul says:

He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. — Thou hast crowned us as with a shield of good favour. The divine Scripture calls the good will of God 'good pleasure.'

Such is the saying, Thou hast been well pleased, O Lord, with thy land, meaning, Thou hast willed good things for thy land. And in the blessed Paul, According to the good pleasure of his will — that is, according to his good will.

And so here too he says this: that Thy good will, and thy great tenderness and love toward us, has become for us both a weapon procuring victory and a triumphal crown;

for since the present life revolves through the seven days of the week;

for time, beginning from the first day and ending at the seventh, returns again to the first, and thus proceeds on to the seventh;

fittingly the divine word named the age beyond the sevenfold number 'the eighth.'

He makes mention of death and judgment in this psalm;

wherefore he has set this superscription.

For in death there is none that remembereth thee; and in Hades who shall confess to thee? — meaning, The door of repentance is shut to those who depart from this world, and it is not possible for those who have not used the remedies of repentance during the present life to offer there to God confession for their sin.

The parable of the virgins also bears witness to these words.

For through it we have learned how the foolish virgins, when their lamps were quenched, remained outside the doors of the bridal chamber, knocking indeed at the doors, but being sent away and deprived of the wedding-chamber.

O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath, neither chasten me in thine anger. He does not entreat not to be rebuked, but not to be rebuked in wrath; nor does he beseech not to be chastened, but not to suffer this with anger.

Chasten me, he says, as a father, not as a judge;

Measure not the punishment to the sin, but temper justice with loving-kindness. 3.

Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am weak. Such an utterance is fitting for those who have sinned.

For when weakness takes the lead, sin prevails.

For if that which is within us does not grow weak—

being rational, the passions will not rise in revolt;

for when the charioteer is strong, and with skill both turns and guides the horses, the leapings have no room to occur.

'Heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled;'

'and my soul is troubled exceedingly.' Here by 'bones' he names the thoughts;

for since the bones have a firmer nature and themselves bear the body, he figuratively called the thoughts—by which the living creature is guided—'bones.'

'The disturbance of these,' he says, 'has shaken me and thrown me into confusion.'

'And thou, O Lord, how long? [5.] Return, O Lord, deliver my soul; save me for thy mercy's sake.' The phrase 'how long' he speaks not as one making accusation, but as one in anguish, entreating that the help be hastened.

And fittingly he added, 'For thy mercy's sake.' 'For I do not trust in myself,' he says, 'nor do I ascribe thy help to my own righteousness, but I beseech to obtain it through thy mercy.'

And 'Return, O Lord' stands for 'Attend to me, and turn not thy face away from me';

for men are unwilling to look upon those who have offended them.

'For in death there is none that remembereth thee;'

for he who is mindful of God is not in death, but in life.

Thus in Hades there is for the departed no confession nor correction.

For God has enclosed life and action here, but the examination of what has been done there;

and indeed this is proper to the eighth, that it no longer gives to those who come to be in it any time for the preparation of good things or of evil.

But whatever seeds a man has sown for himself through his works, of these it renders back the sheaves;

wherefore he prescribes as law that repentance be exercised here, since in Hades such diligence is fruitless.

'Since the season of repentance has become long for me, I fear lest death—in which there is no confession—outrun the mercy that comes from thee;'

'for this reason I ask that the mercy be hastened.'

Then he instructs the hearer that, together with God's loving-kindness, our own efforts must also follow.

For whether we plead our weakness, or our trouble, or the goodness of God, yet if the part that is ours be not added, there is no profit to us.

'I am wearied in my groaning; every night will I wash my bed, I will drench my couch with my tears.' 'I know indeed that I have grievously and sorely transgressed, yet nevertheless I continue in ceaseless weeping, lamenting the things I have dared to do.'

'Moreover, the bed defiled by lawlessness I will ever wash away with tears, striving to cleanse it through these;'

'and even should I obtain forgiveness, I will not cease doing this.'

For this is what it signifies: 'Every night will I wash my bed, and I will drench it.' 8.

For here by 'eye' he named the mind, wherefore also he made mention of one only.

'I have grown old among all mine enemies.' 'Harsher for me than all things,' he says, 'are the reproaches of my enemies;'

'for these consume me, and waste me away, and bring on an untimely old age.'

'Depart from me, all ye that work iniquity, for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping;'

'the Lord hath heard my supplication.'

'The Lord hath received my prayer.' 'Let them no longer,' he says, 'jeer at me—those who see not their own transgressions, yet make a mockery of my faults.'

'For I have obtained the divine favor, and through my entreaties I have prevailed to have my faults overlooked and pardon granted.'

'Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore troubled;'

'let them be turned back, and be put to shame exceedingly, and suddenly.' 'Knowing therefore these things, cease from bringing reproaches upon me, and taking your own lawless deeds to mind, be filled with shame and turmoil and confusion.'

Ahithophel therefore, being grieved and exceedingly distressed—since the counsel of Hushai had appeared preferable—became his own executioner, and met his end by hanging.

This psalm, then, as a kind of hymn and prayer, he offers to God the Saviour;

and as teaching—exhorting those who are wronged by any to have their hopes set on God and to await the aid from thence, while frightening the wrongdoers by the remembrance of God's righteous judgment.

'O Lord my God, in thee have I hoped; save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me.'

'Lest at any time he seize my soul as a lion, while there is none to redeem, nor to save.' 'Trusting in no human help,' he says, 'but bearing in myself thy hope alone, I entreat to obtain thy providence.'

'O Lord my God, if I have done this.' Then he teaches more clearly what he means;

'If there be iniquity in my hands.' And showing what kind of iniquity he here means, he straightway adds:

'If I have requited them that requited me with evil, then let me fall from before mine enemies empty.'

'Then let the enemy pursue my soul, and overtake it, and tread my life down to the earth, and lay my glory in the dust.' The parts of virtue are many.

For not only self-control and prudence, but also courage and justice.

Here, then, he does not testify to himself the highest virtue;

but that, having in no way wronged these foes, he yet endures for their sake an unjust exile.

'For not only,' he says, 'did I not begin the wrongdoing, but I never even suffered myself to take vengeance on those who had wronged me.'

'For often, having taken Saul into my power, I exacted no penalty for his unjust hostility.'

'And if I have ever done any such thing, strip me of thy care;'

for this is what he means by 'Then let me fall from before mine enemies empty'; and 'deliver me over into the hands of my foes;'

'so that they may not only strip me of the glory and kingdom that come from thee, but also deliver me over to a laughable death.'

For this he indicated when he said, 'Lay my glory in the dust.' 7.

'Arise, O Lord, in thine anger;'

'be exalted at the borders of mine enemies.' Now Symmachus rendered it 'in wrath,' Theodotion 'in fury,' and Aquila 'without delay.'

He therefore entreats the righteous Judge no longer to use long-suffering, but employing a just verdict, to lay punishment upon the wrongdoers.

For 'Arise' he set down in the sense of 'Be long-suffering no longer';

of like meaning is 'Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord'; for there too he called long-suffering 'sleep.'

And, 'Arise, O Lord, help us.' For the season is not one for loving-kindness, but for righteous wrath.

'Set therefore an end upon mine enemies, putting a stop to their unjust assault.'

'And awake, O Lord my God, in the ordinance which thou hast commanded.' 'For thou hast enacted as law that vengeance be taken for those who are wronged.'

'And the congregation of the peoples shall encompass thee.'

'And for this, return thou on high.' 'For when this thy providence is displayed, all men shall offer thee their hymns, and shall call thee God Most High—as one who beholdest all things, and layest the deserved penalty upon the wrongdoers.'

For 'return on high' stands for: 'Being Most High by nature, but unknown to the many, show thyself to be what thou art through thy care for those who are wronged.'

'The Lord shall judge the peoples.' For he will not only try my cause, but also that of the whole nature of mankind.

For we hear him crying out the very opposite: 'For I acknowledge my lawlessness, and my sin is ever before me'; and:

'I said, I will confess my lawlessness against myself unto the Lord.' But he speaks of the righteousness that pertains to the matter in hand;

'For neither,' he says, 'have I wronged Absalom in anything, nor Ahithophel, nor those who together with them make war against me.'

'According to this righteousness, then, and this innocence, I beseech to be judged, and not according to the faults already committed by me.'

'I entreat to be judged with respect to this present case in and of itself, and not now to pay the penalty for other sins.'

'Let the wickedness of sinners then be brought to an end, and thou shalt direct the righteous.' Instead of 'be brought to an end,' Symmachus set down 'be completed.'

If, he says, the wickedness of those who live in the company of vice be shown to be vain, those who are nurtured in virtue will pursue with greater zeal the journey set before them in her path.

God who searches hearts and reins.

For since the reins arouse the appetites of the lower belly, and from thence in turn the reasonings of desire are stirred, he figuratively called the reasonings 'reins.'

He therefore, he says, who knows the hidden reasonings of men's minds, will grant me just aid, seeing that this is what he is wont to do.

For he continually comes to the defense of those who are wronged.

From this point, then, he also strikes terror into those who live in wickedness, pointing out the just punishments;

and he foretells the destruction of Ahithophel.

God is a righteous judge, strong and longsuffering, not bringing forth wrath every day. He has also loving-kindness, on account of which he bears with the transgressions of men for a very long time.

For whenever he should see that men reap no profit from this, meanwhile he brings forth threats, deferring the punishment.

But if, despising even this, they should persist in sinning, at once he brings on the utter destruction that carries justice with it.

These things he made clear through what follows.

If you do not turn back, he will sharpen his sword;

he has bent his bow, and made it ready.

And within it he has prepared instruments of death. For these words are not of punishment, but of threat.

For he said 'he will sharpen,' not 'he will bring upon';

and 'he has bent the bow,' not 'he has let the arrow fly';

and, teaching against whom he will let fly the arrows, he immediately added:

His arrows he has fashioned for those who are set ablaze. For those who have received the readily-kindled fuel of sin, and have built with wood and hay and stubble, as the divine Apostle says, shall be struck by these fire-bearing arrows.

Behold, he was in travail with iniquity. Ahithophel, who introduced that wicked counsel, conceived toil and brought forth lawlessness. For out of a wickedness that left no excess unattained, he armed the lawless son against a father who had done him no wrong.

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

His toil shall return upon his own head, and his iniquity shall come down upon the crown of his head. By his own snares, he says, he shall be taken, and shall receive the wages of his own toils, and shall be hunted in the nets which he fixed for the catching of others.

I will give thanks to the Lord according to his righteousness, and will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High. But I, having obtained so great a providence of God, will hymn my benefactor continually, recounting the justice of his judgment.

And this psalm too, therefore, is offered as a song of victory to the God who gives victory, to him who has destroyed the enemy and avenger, the devil, and has utterly freed men from that one's tyranny.

He calls the Churches 'winepresses,' since he also calls the Lord a 'vine';

for he himself said in the holy Gospels, 'I am the true vine.' And those who have believed, harvesting her, prepare the mystical wine.

And this too is a very great accusation of the unbelief of the Jews.

For hearing of a multitude of winepresses, and knowing clearly that a single winepress was given—or rather, not even a winepress, but a fore-vat—

a vineyard, but it produced thorns—they are unwilling to understand that the old things have ceased, and the grace of the new covenant has appeared, calling all men to salvation.

For which reason the priests no longer, according to the old law, tread out the fruits of men in the winepress upon a single altar;

but altars beyond number, surpassing all count, have been set up throughout all the earth and sea.

And this the eighty-third psalm teaches more clearly.

For it too, having the superscription 'of the winepresses,' made mention of many altars;

for, 'How beloved are your dwelling-places, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord;'

'your altars, O Lord of hosts.' And the eighth psalm too, inscribed 'Concerning the winepresses,' foretells the salvation of the world, and teaches God's care for men, and prophesies the incarnation of the Only-begotten.

O Lord, our Lord, how wonderful is your name in all the earth!

For your majesty is exalted above the heavens. The 'how' here is not comparative, but intensive.

For the phrase 'Your majesty is exalted above the heavens' signifies this: that 'all have come to know that you are Master of heaven and earth and of all things';

for he himself indeed always had majesty, but this was not always known to men.

Such things the blessed Habakkuk also foretells.

For having said, 'God shall come from Teman, and the Holy One from the shady mountain,' he added: