Commentary on the Psalms 1 part 20/42

'Because they persecuted him whom Thou hast smitten.'

'And they added to the pain of my wounds.' For Thou indeed, he says, in exacting from me the penalty of my transgression, didst hand me over to these men as to certain executioners;

but these men encompassed me with evils greater than Thou hadst ordained;

and they increased for me the anguish that came because of sin.

This same cruelty of theirs the God of all also condemns, and says: 'I delivered them into thy hands, but thou didst not show them mercy;

and upon the aged thou didst make heavy thy yoke, and the young thou didst not pity.' (28)

'Add iniquity to their iniquity, and let them not enter into thy righteousness.' The punishment brought on because of sin he called 'iniquity';

as if to say: Lay upon them, who live lawlessly, a punishment they deserve;

and let them not obtain those good things which Thou art wont to bestow upon the righteous.

'Let them be blotted out of the book of the living.'

'For the tribunal,' he says, 'was set, and the books were opened.'

And what he means is of this sort:

Of those things which Thou givest to them that are consecrated to Thee, may these men have no share;

nor may they obtain that restoration which we, he says, shall obtain through Thy loving-kindness.

'But I am poor and in pain;

let the salvation of Thy countenance, O God, uphold me.' From this point onward, then, he foretells the change of circumstances;

namely, the loosing of slavery, and the return of those taken captive in war.

For having exercised repentance in Babylon, they recovered their former freedom.

Both things, then, the present psalm foretells;

and the phrase 'I am poor and in pain' signifies this:

'Seeing me,' he says, 'in poverty, and tried by many pains, Thou didst count me worthy of Thy salvation.'

'I will praise the name of my God with a song; I will magnify Him with praise.' I will not be unthankful for His benefactions;

but I will repay His graces with hymns, showing His greatness by the recounting of His benefactions to those who know it not.

'And it shall please my God more than a young calf that puts forth horns and hoofs.' More pleasing to Him than the sacrifice will be the praise, more than a young and fatted calf that is just now putting forth its hoofs and just now its horns.

It is worthy of lamentation that the Jews were unwilling to perceive their own transgression, nor the childish nature of the legal worship;

and this though the captives in Babylon promised, after their return, to hymn God, not to officiate at sacrifices, since the singing of hymns is more pleasing to God.

But let us for the present leave aside the accusation against these men,

and proceed to the interpretation.

'Let the poor see it, and be glad.' All those, he says, who fall into like misfortunes, let them take from us an occasion for good hope.

'Seek God, and your soul shall live.' Besides this, he exhorts them to obtain salvation through hope in God and through prayer.

'For the Lord hath heard the needy;

and He hath not despised His prisoners.' For He received our supplication, seeing our poverty;

and He loosed the bonds of slavery.

He called them 'prisoners,' since He Himself had delivered them over into slavery.

'Let the heavens and the earth praise Him;

the sea, and all things that creep in it.' I summon the whole creation, he says, into fellowship of the hymn-singing;

for the human tongue does not suffice to declare the divine graces.

'For God shall save Zion, and the cities of Judah shall be built.' This hymn I offer to Him, beholding Zion bright and resplendent, and the cities of Judah that are now desolate recovering their former prosperity.

Having thus prophesied the renewal of the cities, he also foretells the multitude of their inhabitants.

'And they shall dwell there, and shall inherit it.' Those who are now captives, he says, having obtained their return, shall also rebuild their own cities and dwell in them;

and not they alone, but their children and their descendants also.

'And the seed of Thy servants shall possess it.' But since, because of their madness against the Saviour, they were destined to endure utter and total ruin, fittingly he has appended this conclusion to the psalm.

'And they that love Thy name shall dwell therein.' – For not all, according to the divine Apostle, who are of Israel, these are Israel; neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children. And with these the prophetic sayings also agree;

in that fury those dogs were indeed driven out;

but those who love Him took up their dwelling in Zion, offering to Him the sacrifice of praise.

But it is neither in the Hebrew, nor in the other translators.

Yet it nevertheless accords with the sense of the psalm;

for the prophet asks for salvation, and for deliverance from those who make war upon him.

And fittingly the phrase 'for a remembrance' is added in the superscription;

for the remembrance of sin pierced him more sharply than the enemies did;

'O God, attend unto my help;

O Lord, make haste to help me.' By many and manifold calamities, he says, I am overwhelmed;

and for this reason I ask that speedy help be granted to me.

'Let them be turned backward;

and let those who wish me evil be put to shame.' [As if to say: Not only shall they be delivered over to the earth, but also with shame shall they depart from this life—those who have tyrannically wrought dread deeds against them that live piously;

for this he also says through what follows.] (4)

'Let those be turned back forthwith in shame who say to me, Aha, aha.' And in addition to these, may those also who rejoice over my misfortunes be turned to flight with shame, when they see my change of estate;

'Let all that seek Thee be glad and rejoice in Thee, O God;

and let those who love Thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified.' The word 'Lord' is not found in the Hexapla.

Fill, he says, Thy lovers with all gladness of soul.

so that, hymning your benefactions, they may dance for joy.

'But I am poor and needy; O God, help me.' This means: I have been stripped of the righteousness spoken of above, and, living in poverty, I possess not the wealth of virtue. 'You are my helper and my deliverer.' For I have obtained your providential care.

'O Lord, do not delay.' Give aid as swiftly as possible, and do not put off my petition.

Of the sons of Jonadab, and of those who were first taken captive.

This psalm is without a title among the Hebrews. Even the one who composed the title acknowledged that he did not find it in the Hebrew text, but had himself added it.

One should note, however, that it was not the sons of Jonadab who were the first to be taken captive.

For the blessed Jeremiah was commanded by God to set wine before them, as a rebuke to the lawlessness of the Jews.

But when they refused to drink because of the injunctions of their forefathers, the prophet thereupon accused the disobedience of the Jews;

for those men kept human commandments, while these Jews transgressed the divine ordinances.

The psalm is spoken in the person of those who had been carried off to Babylon, who longed for their return and yearned for release from bondage;

[And most especially it foretells things concerning the sons of grace, who are being freed from the abominable bondage of idols, who believe in Christ our God and receive the providence that comes from him.] (1)

'In you, O Lord, have I hoped; let me never be put to shame.' Let me not fail of my hope, he says, as I wait for your assistance;

[The former offer this supplication concerning those who had enslaved them, the latter concerning the wicked demons.] (2)

'In your righteousness deliver me, and rescue me.' I entreat you to judge between the Babylonians and me, and to bring forth a just verdict against them;

for in this way I too shall be set free from their bondage.

'Incline your ear to me, and save me.'

[(3)] 'Be to me a God who is a protector, and a place of strength to save me;'

'for you are my firmament and my refuge.' I have you as my champion, my secure enclosure, and my safe stronghold;

graciously, then, receive my supplication.

[But just as we said above, these things are spoken by both of the others, and by those who thereafter, up to the present and throughout the whole of life, turn away from evil and cleave to what is good;

for this is what he means to say in what follows.] (4)

'For you are my patient endurance, O Lord; O Lord, you are my hope from my youth.' [The first people] He calls 'youth' the time under the great Moses, when they also enjoyed their freedom, having served the Egyptians for a very long time.

From that time, he says, I have set my hopes upon you, and I await your help.

[But the new people call 'youth' the renewal which it has obtained through the regeneration of the washing (of baptism).] (5)

'On you have I been sustained from the womb;'

'from my mother's belly you are my protector.' He calls the exodus from Egypt a birth and a bringing-forth.

This the God of all things also teaches through the most divine Ezekiel.

'Your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite,' he added;

'In the day you were born, your navel-cord was not cut, and you were not rubbed with salt, nor washed with water for cleansing.' For since the navel is, as it were, a kind of root of the infant;

for through it the infant grows and is nourished;

but Israel, even after the exodus from Egypt, retained the impiety of the Egyptians as something ingrained; and so he fittingly said:

'Your navel-cord was not cut'; because, he says, you still draw your nourishment from your mother's womb, and persist in your former practices.

The company of the more godly, therefore, entreating God, says:

'Because from above and from the beginning I have had my hope in you;'

'In you is my praise continually.' I continually hymn and glorify you, and through your providence I have become renowned.

'I have become as a portent to many.' But after that splendour, I underwent a great change;

so that my circumstances were regarded by many as a kind of portent and sign.

'But you are my mighty helper.' Nevertheless, I await your help.

'Let my mouth be filled with praise;'

'that I may hymn your glory, all the day long your magnificence.' Transform, then, the misfortune that lies upon me, and stir my tongue to song;

so that I may forever offer you my hymn.

For the phrase 'all the day long' Symmachus rendered 'each and every day.'

'Do not cast me off in the time of old age;'

'when my strength fails, do not forsake me.' The providence I received in my youth, I entreat to enjoy now also;

and I plead that I may not be stripped of your loving care in old age itself.

For since he called the exodus from Egypt 'youth,' he called the time of the captivity 'old age,'

as a very long time had elapsed in the interval.

'For my enemies have spoken against me, and those who watch for my soul have taken counsel together, saying:'

'God has forsaken him;'

'pursue and seize him, for there is none to deliver.' All my adversaries, he says, trample upon my calamities and encompass me with every kind of evil, seeing me bereft of your loving care, and supposing that I have been wholly disregarded, and that I shall no longer obtain your providence.

'O my God, do not go far from me;'

'O my God, hasten to help me.' Grant me your aid swiftly;

and establish me under your loving care.

By 'going far from him,' he does not mean the essence of God;

for God is present everywhere, and is at hand to all things;

but he means his providence, and the operation of his help.

'Let those who slander my soul be put to shame and fail.' But Symmachus renders it thus:

'Let those who set themselves against my soul be put to shame and be consumed;'

and let them come to nothing, who unjustly contrive my destruction.

'Let those who seek my harm be clothed with shame and disgrace.' Let those who encompass me with every kind of evil become objects of reproach and derision.

'But I will hope in you continually.' For seeing these things come to pass, I shall be confirmed in my hope in you.

'And I will add to all your praise.' And I will offer you my song of praise many times over.

'My mouth shall declare your righteousness;'

'all the day long your salvation.' I will not cease to recount this just verdict of yours, and to teach all men how, judging between me and my foes, you set me free from their bondage.

'Because I knew not letters, [(11)] I will enter into the mighty power of the Lord.' But Symmachus renders it thus:

'I will come in the mighty power of the Lord.'

Since he had promised to recount the righteousness of God and the salvation wrought toward him, and since the promise was greater than what befits a man, he fittingly added:

'Many are the wonders you have done, O Lord my God, and in your thoughts there is none that shall be likened to you,' he added;

'I have declared and spoken of them; they are multiplied beyond number.' This too he says here:

'Because I know not how to number them.' For my nature has not grasped writings and learning of this kind;

Yet I will enter in the might of the Lord, and, so far as is possible to human nature, I will offer up the song of praise.

O Lord, I will make mention of Your righteousness alone.

beholding the righteousness that has been shown toward me, and remembering Your commandments.

For these things You taught me from my youth.

And from this it is clear that he calls the time under the great Moses his 'youth.'

[Just as through the dispensation of the only-begotten Son of God the grace came upon us who are of the Gentiles.] And even until now I will declare Your wondrous works.

[v.18] And even unto old age and gray hairs, O my God, forsake me not. As for me, I will teach those who are ignorant of Your wonder-workings.

And You, since You have been called my God from above, deem me ever worthy of Your providential care.

And he calls the end of the Law 'old age.'

In saying 'a new covenant,' He has made the first one old.

But that which grows old and ages is near to vanishing away.

And here too, then, he prophetically teaches those in Babylon to say:

Even unto old age and gray hairs, O my God, forsake me not. Then, showing what sort of old age he means, he added:

Until I declare Your arm to all the generation that is to come.

Your might, [v.19] and Your righteousness, O God. And the generation that is to come is that which follows the incarnation of the only-begotten Son of God;

after which the Church of the Gentiles was established, having received as heralds from among the Jews the holy apostles.

Concerning this generation he also speaks in the twenty-first psalm:

The generation that is to come shall be declared to the Lord, and they shall proclaim His righteousness to a people that shall be born, whom the Lord has made. Therefore a people other than the people of the Jews, which the prophet foretold would not have already been born, but would yet be born.

So here too, then, he says:

... Yours. And this resembles the pronouncement of the patriarch Jacob: A ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his loins, until He come for whom it is reserved;

and He Himself shall be the expectation of the nations. — O God, even to the highest, the great things which You have done for me. But Aquila and Symmachus render it thus:

and things sufficient to persuade all to name You Most High.

O God, who is like unto You? For no one, he says, can be compared or set alongside You.

For You surpass all, both in nature, and in power, and in all good things;

hence he foretells the return.

How many afflictions, many and evil, You have shown me;

and having turned again, You gave me life. Having delivered me over, he says, to manifold calamities on account of the transgressions committed by me, You have again brought me back to life.

And from the depths of the earth You brought me up again of old. I suppose, he says, that I have attained a kind of resurrection;

having been delivered, beyond human expectation, from so many calamities.

[One might say that these things are spoken also in the person of human nature.

For from the depths of the earth He brought it up—He who descended into the lower parts of the earth, that is, He who is God from God, who for its sake chose also to become man.] This too God declared through Ezekiel:

For I will open your graves, and bring you up out of Babylon: that is, I will loose human despair, and beyond the hopes of the enemy I will grant you the return.

You have multiplied Your greatness upon me;

and having turned again, You comforted me, and from the depths of the earth You brought me up once more. But Symmachus renders it thus:

You will increase my greatness, and encompass me round about with consolation.

And the rest also he has foretold in like manner.

For by the providential care shown toward me, Your goodness will be made manifest.

For I too will give thanks to You among the peoples, O Lord. For I will not cease recounting Your gifts, and teaching those who are ignorant.

And it is fitting to note that here too he made mention of many peoples, who after the incarnation of our Savior, through the heralds from among the Jews, enjoyed salvation.

Upon instruments of the psaltery I will sing Your truth, O God; I will make melody to You on the harp, O Holy One of Israel. And I will make use also of the customary instruments, weaving my hymn of praise.

My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing to You;

and my soul, which You have redeemed.

Moreover, my tongue also shall meditate on Your righteousness all the day long;

when they that seek my hurt are put to shame and confounded. He foretells at the same time the destruction of the Babylonians wrought by Cyrus the Persian, and the recall of the Jews.

For when those are overthrown, he says, I shall obtain the return;

and having enjoyed this, I will dance in joy and gladness, hymning Your benefactions, and making continual meditation upon Your law.

For Solomon. That the present psalm in no way suits Solomon, I think even the Jews would confess, if they were willing to speak the truth—much more the nurslings of the faith.

For first of all, neither did Solomon rule over the ends of the earth;

nor did he receive tribute from the peoples of the west and of the east.

Then, being a man, and having lived out the span of time proportionate to nature, he met the end of his life—and that not a glorious one.

But the psalm shows the one prophesied of to be older than the sun and the moon.

The interpretation of the words will teach these things more precisely.

And the superscription too is not unsuitable, but simply and exactly befitting the Savior.

For 'Solomon' is interpreted 'peaceable';

and this the history of Chronicles clearly teaches us.

And Paul, the great herald of the truth, cries aloud:

... is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of partition. And the Lord Himself says to the holy apostles:

My peace I give unto you, My peace I leave with you. Therefore this psalm foretells His kingdom, and the peace established by Him, and the salvation of the nations.

And since He is both God and man—the former being what He is eternally, the latter being what He took on for our sake—the prophecy teaches both;

and it says that He, as God, has authority over all things;

but that He receives this also as man, from His own Father.

Thus also the patriarch Jacob names Him a lion and a lion's whelp:

For Judah is a lion's whelp, he says; from a shoot of mine, my son, you have gone up;

reclining, you have lain down like a lion, and like a whelp—who shall rouse him up? For He is not only a king, but also a king's son.

To this One the prophetic word entreats that righteousness be given by God, as to a man.

To judge Your people in righteousness, and Your poor with judgment. For those who are held fast in the poverty of sin He will free from the servitude of the wicked tyrant;

having justly given judgment for him and for those held fast by him.

Let the mountains take up peace for the people, and the hills righteousness. This is a personification, showing the change of all things.

Thus, recounting the exodus of the people, he said:

The mountains skipped like rams, and the hills like the lambs of the flock. And yet we behold the change both of the mountains and of the hills;

For in place of the impiety that once held sway among them, those who have embraced the angelic life now reap the evangelical righteousness in their midst.

And making intercession on behalf of humankind, they negotiate reconciliation with God.

'He shall judge the poor of the people, and shall save the sons of the needy, and shall bring low the slanderer.' Fittingly is the devil called a slanderer;

for he slandered God, alleging that out of envy He had forbidden the partaking of the tree;

and against Job he employed the same falsehoods, saying:

'Does Job fear God for nothing? Only put forth Your hand, he says, and touch all that he has, and surely he will bless You to Your face.' In the eighth psalm he named this one 'enemy and avenger,' but here 'slanderer.'

But those who were tyrannized by him He deemed worthy of freedom and salvation.

'And He shall endure together with the sun,'

'and before the moon, throughout generations of generations.' He who accomplishes all these things, it says, has, to speak in apostolic fashion, neither beginning of days nor end of life.

For He was begotten of the Father before the moon, throughout generations of generations, that is, existing before the creation by certain infinite generations.

But 'He shall also endure together with the sun'; that is, He shall possess an enduring being;

not because the sun possesses enduring being;

'He shall come down like rain upon a fleece;'

for just as a fleece receiving rain produces no sound, and dewy droplets falling to the earth give no perception to the ears,

so came about the Master's conception;

nor did the betrothed man dwelling with her perceive it.

For afterwards, suspecting after the pregnancy some impropriety, he wished to send her away secretly;

but through an angel he learned that the birth was spiritual and not human.

The facts bear witness to the words;

for the nature of humankind, being delivered from its former impiety, has learned anew true piety.

And even if some of those who have believed do not conduct themselves according to the evangelical laws, nevertheless there are countless myriads, superior in number, both among soldiers and among private persons, both among townsfolk and among country dwellers, who devote much care to virtue.

'And abundance of peace, until the moon be taken away.' For of old the provinces and the kingdoms divided among each nation, being harassed by continual wars, could not enjoy the gift of peace.

And of these wars many both Romans and Greeks have written accounts.

But after the incarnation of our God and Saviour, those things have ceased, and one kingdom rules over the world in which we dwell; and through it peace, prevailing as a mode of life, has given strength to the divine proclamation.

And the phrase 'until the moon be taken away' means 'for the whole duration of the present life.'

For it would be superfluous to speak concerning the age to come, in which true peace shall prevail.

'And He shall have dominion from sea to sea.' That is, He shall rule over all the boundaries of the world.

For since beyond the land lie the great and unnavigable seas, which some call the Atlantic, or the western and eastern ocean, fittingly did he show that the dominion of the world is encircled by the outer seas.

And the verse following this one has made this yet clearer:

'From that time,' says the evangelist, 'He began to preach and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.' For which cause the prophecy also says that 'He shall have dominion from the river unto the ends of the world.' Then from another quarter as well he makes this plain.

'Before Him the Ethiopians shall fall down, and His enemies shall lick the dust.'

'The kings of Tarshish and the isles shall bring gifts;'

'the kings of the Arabians and Sheba shall offer gifts.' Tarshish is what both the blessed Isaiah and the wondrous Ezekiel name Carthage, which presides over Libya.

And Sheba is an Ethiopian nation;

but the Libyans, who are also called Africans, occupy the western portions of the world;

the Ethiopians the eastern and southern parts;

the Arabians the central continent;

and the islanders the middle parts of the sea.

These, he said, shall fall down before Him, and shall offer Him worship as to God, and shall bring gifts as to a king;

but the enemies shall be subjected to the curses pronounced against the serpent;

'Upon your breast and belly shall you go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your life.' The enemies of our God and Saviour are the utterly wicked demons, against whom He gave the authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions.

And since he made mention of three or four nations, and enigmatically intimated the conversion of all the nations, he makes his discourse yet clearer.

'And all the kings of the earth shall worship Him.' Some willingly in the present life;

and all after the resurrection.

For, as the divine Apostle says, 'We do not yet see all things put under Him,' but then 'every knee shall bow to Him, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth.' 'All the nations shall serve Him.' These things agree with the prophecy of the patriarch Jacob, 'For He is the expectation of the nations.' And we see the fulfilment of the prediction;

for there is no nation deaf to the evangelical proclamations;

but in each there are those who have received the radiance of the knowledge of God.

'For He delivered the poor from the mighty one, and the needy who had no helper.'

'He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy.' All shall worship Him, being delivered from the bitter tyranny of the devil.

Moreover, by His divine laws He restrains those who wield power, and by the threats of Gehenna He strikes them with terror, and prepares them to exercise a certain forbearance toward the needy.

'From usury and from injustice He shall redeem their souls.' By 'usury' he meant covetousness;

for so also the ancient law calls it, 'You shall not take usury nor increase.' He shall therefore persuade, it says, those who delight in injustice and covetousness to make use of mercy and love of humankind.

'And His name shall be honoured before them.' Venerable, it says, shall He be among all, and glorious.

'And He shall live, and there shall be given to Him of the gold of Arabia.' In place of 'Arabia,' the other translators have set 'Sheba.'

And this too, like the former passage, foretells the votive offerings brought to Him by all, both kings and barbarians.

And 'He shall live' he has set in place of 'He shall endure.'

'And they shall pray concerning Him continually; all the day long shall they bless Him.' They shall praise Him unceasingly;

and they shall praise also His Father, having received through Him the occasions of their hymnody.

For the phrase 'They shall pray concerning Him' resembles that apostolic saying:

'I thank my God through Jesus Christ.' And again:

And they shall praise Him too, as having received these things from Him.

'He shall be a support in the earth on the tops of the mountains.' He Himself, it says, shall support and firmly establish those who have believed in Him, and shall make them lofty and exalted, as though standing upon the very summits of the mountains.

This very thing the Lord also said to His own disciples:

'A city set upon a hill cannot be hidden;'

'neither do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.' 'Its fruit shall be exalted above Lebanon.' Since he made mention of the lofty mountains, fittingly he introduced also the mention of Lebanon, as being the highest of the mountains throughout Palestine;

and he says that His teaching, and those who expound and proclaim it, shall become loftier and more conspicuous than Lebanon.

'And they shall blossom forth from the city like the grass of the earth.' Now those who have believed in Him shall put forth such fruit.