Commentary on the Psalms 1 part 26/42

saying, 'Ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven.' Verse 7.

'For who among the clouds shall be equalled unto the Lord, shall be likened unto the Lord among the sons of God?' But Symmachus renders it thus:

'For who in the upper air shall set himself over against the Lord, shall make himself equal to the Lord among the sons of gods?'

He calls the gods 'sons of God,' just as he calls men 'sons of men.'

And he calls them 'gods,' not as being such, but as being reckoned so among the unbelievers.

He says, then, that 'Thou art set above even the heavenly ones, and art incomparably higher than all, and none of the things that exist can be compared with thee.'

For the falsehood of those who are deified by men is exposed;

but thy power is enduring and imperishable.

He employs words of this kind in another place as well, saying:

'And our Lord is above all gods.' The prophets make this comparison not because they are ignorant of the surpassing greatness of the difference, but because they offer teaching suited to the weakness of the unbelieving.

'God is glorified in the council of the saints;'

'and he is great and fearful over all who are round about him.' Since he had made mention of gods that do not exist, while the God who truly is remained unknown among the impious, he fittingly brought forward the saints, by whom the true God is hymned, and to whom he is fearful, inasmuch as they draw near to him and know his ineffable power.

By 'the council of the saints' he here named the assembly of the saints.

'O Lord God of hosts, who is like unto thee? Thou art mighty, O Lord, and thy truth is round about thee.' They continually make mention of truth, longing to see the unfailing certainty of the promises.

'All things are true and sure with thee.'

Then he goes on to recount the proofs of his power.

'Thou rulest over the might of the sea;'

'and the surging of its waves thou stillest.'

'Thou hast brought low the proud one, as one that is slain;'

'with the arm of thy power thou hast scattered thine enemies.' Thou art, he says, the Maker and Master of all things;

and it is an easy thing for thee both to stir up the sea and to work a calm.

Having made mention of the sea, he also recalls the things that were done in it.

For he calls Pharaoh 'the proud one,' and the Egyptians 'the enemies,' whom he delivered over to the sea, while he preserved his own people.

At the same time he foretells also the destruction of the teachers of arrogance;

for these too, together with their wicked host, he does away with in the all-holy baptism;

[just as there through Moses, so here through the priest.] 12

'Thine are the heavens, and thine is the earth;'

'the world and the fulness thereof thou hast founded.' For not only of the sea and of all the earth, but also of the heavens that lie above, art thou the Maker and Creator.

For thy work is not only the visible heaven, but also that which is higher than it.

'The north and the sea thou hast created.' But Theodotion has it thus:

'The north and the south thou hast created.'

[He calls the south 'the sea,' since it is the south especially that stirs up the depths of the sea.] And the winds, he says, and the very regions of the world, are thy creations.

Now it was not without reason that he made mention of these two regions;

but because to the south of Jerusalem are the Egyptians, and to the north the Assyrians;

and having overthrown the insolence of the Egyptians, he bestowed freedom upon them.

It is an easy thing for thee, he says, to overthrow these also, just as thou didst those.

For these are the mountains of that land.

As for 'they shall rejoice,' Aquila rendered it 'they shall praise,' and Symmachus 'they shall extol.'

Yet he did not say that the mountains would do this, but the men who dwell on the mountains, or beside the mountains.

'Thine is the arm with dominion.' It is thine own property to accomplish all things with power.

For he took the 'arm' to signify the operation, and 'dominion' to signify the power;

Aquila put 'power' in place of 'dominion.'

'let thy right hand be exalted.' But Symmachus has it thus:

'Unconquerable is thy hand, exalted is thy right hand.'

We have often said that by the 'hand' he signifies the operation;

and by the 'right hand,' the good operation;

so, standing in need of a twofold operation, they made mention of both.

For they both desire to see their foes overthrown, and themselves long to attain salvation.

For this reason they call the hand 'unconquerable' and the right hand 'exalted,' as being able both to chastise those enemies and to set themselves free.

This they make plain also by what follows.

'mercy and truth shall go before thy face.' For, entreating God to judge between themselves and the Babylonians, they implore him to bring forth a just verdict against those, but to grant mercy to themselves, and to show the truth of his promise.

'Blessed is the people that knoweth the shout of joy.' The shout of joy, as we have often said, is the cry of those who have conquered.

Since therefore, being defeated, they had been led into captivity, they call those who conquered blessed;

and the word foretells also the people that in all the earth and sea offers to God the mystical shout of joy, and sings the victory hymn.

And what follows is in harmony with this understanding.

'O Lord, in the light of thy countenance they shall walk;'

[17.] 'And in thy name they shall rejoice all the day;'

'and in thy righteousness they shall be exalted.' They shout aloud, and raise the battle-song against the enemies, and offer to thee, the giver of victory, the victory hymn, being illumined by thine appearing, and receiving the light that comes from thee [through the regeneration of the laver], and continually enjoying gladness, and setting aright the righteousness that has been ordained by law, and becoming thereby lofty and illustrious.

'For thou art the boast of their power.' They take great pride, he says, in thy power;

for it was from thee that they received it.

'And in thy righteousness our horn shall be exalted.' We too, he says, hold this hope, and await thy help;

for by it we shall become mightier than our foes;

for by 'horn' he named strength and might, from the metaphor of horned animals, which, being armed with horns, use these against their assailants.

'For our help is of the Lord, and of the Holy One of Israel our king.' Nourished by this hope, we have thee as our king, living under thy fatherly care.

'Then thou spakest in a vision to thy sons.' But Symmachus has it thus:

'Then thou spakest through a vision to thy sons.'

For we know thy promises that were made through the prophets.

For these men they used to call 'seers' and 'beholders.'

'I have laid help upon a mighty one; I have exalted a chosen one out of my people.'

'For my hand shall assist him, and my arm shall strengthen him.' Thou saidst to him that thou wouldst grant him strength, and impart to him thy fatherly care.

'No enemy shall prevail against him.'

'And the son of iniquity shall not proceed to afflict him.' Thou didst promise also to make the vain plots of his enemies of none effect, and to set him above those who attempt to do him harm. 24, 25

'And I will cut down his enemies from before his face;'

'and those that hate him I will put to flight.'

'And my truth and my mercy shall be with him;'

'and in my name his horn shall be exalted.' Thou didst promise also to overthrow all his foes, and to grant him thy steadfast lovingkindness, and to make him illustrious and conspicuous.

'And I will set his hand upon the sea;'

for by 'the rivers' he indicated the mainland.

'My God and the helper of my salvation' — as when Christ says, 'Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me'; and again when He says to the apostles:

'I go to my Father and your Father, and my God and your God.' (28)

'And I will make him my firstborn.'

For so also did Aquila render it: 'Most High over the kings of the earth';

and Symmachus: 'Highest of the kings of the earth,'

having some as willing worshippers, while convicting the weakness of those who dare to contradict.

For though they employ countless devices, they are unable to prevail over the laws He has laid down.

'Go, tell my brethren:

I ascend to my Father and your Father, and my God and your God.'

For just as He is Only-begotten as God (for He alone was begotten of the Father), yet Firstborn as man (for as man He has as brethren those who have believed),

so He calls God His Father as being God, but names God His God as being man.

In Him, therefore, the prophecy received its fulfilment.

And what follows also bears witness:

'I will keep my mercy for him for ever, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.'

'And I will establish his seed for ever and ever,

and his throne as the days of heaven.' His seed are those nurtured by grace, and the kingdom which He Himself has bestowed upon them;

concerning which the Lord Himself said to those who believe in Him:

But if they can prove neither of these, and are exceedingly shameless in this too,

one of two things remains: either to call God's promise false, or, confessing the promise to be true, to accept the testimony of the facts.

For to which of the angels did He ever say:

For thus also did the blessed Isaiah prophesy,

For having said, 'For unto us a child is born, a son is also given unto us, whose government is upon his shoulder,'

in order that no one should suppose the child to be a man and not God, through what follows he showed it more clearly, by saying: 'And his name is called the Angel of great counsel, Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Ruler, Prince of peace, Father of the age to come.'

to establish His kingdom, to order it aright from henceforth and unto everlasting time.

'If his sons forsake my law, and walk not in my judgements;

if they profane my statutes, and keep not my commandments;

I will visit their transgressions with a rod,

and their iniquities with scourges.'

Where the text has 'I will do wrong,' Symmachus has said 'I will transgress';

and Aquila, 'I will not lie.'

'Neither will I do wrong' — that is, 'I will not transgress, nor will I falsify my promises.' (35)

'Neither will I profane my covenant, and the things that proceed out of my lips I will not set aside.' I will not falsify my promises, I will not transgress my agreements, but I will demonstrate the truth of my pledges;

for this He says through what follows.

For 'I have sworn' He has set down as a mark of certainty, since those who make promises confirm their pledges by an oath.

'His seed shall abide for ever,

and his throne as the sun before me.'

'And as the moon that is established for ever;

and the witness in heaven is faithful.' Instead of 'the witness,' Symmachus has set 'he who bears full witness.'

'Before the sun his name abides, and shall continue with the sun, and before the moon, from generation to generation.' For since the sun causes time to be measured by its rising and setting, making day and night, He willed through the sun to signify the indissolubility of the throne, and He promised to establish the seed unto everlasting.

The seed of God the Word are all those who believe in Him. And He who made these promises and bore this witness is in heaven, and employs words that are true and faithful, since He alone is incapable of falsehood.

'But thou hast cast off and set at nought;

thou hast deferred thine anointed.'

'Thou hast overthrown the covenant of thy servant.' And Symmachus renders it thus: 'But thou thyself hast rejected and reprobated; thou wast wroth with thine anointed, thou hast given the covenant of thy servant over to a curse.'

For here he calls the kingdom 'anointed' (Christ).

For Zerubbabel, who governed after the captivity, was a leader of the people, not a king.

He says that this was profaned by the incursion of the Babylonians, and became like a flower in bloom.

For being cast down, it fell into the dust, and became like barren ground.

'Thou hast broken down all his hedges.' Thou hast stripped him of all security.

'Thou hast made his strongholds a terror.' For having once trusted in the walls of his cities, he fell from his confidence, and is beset with terror.

'He is become a reproach to his neighbours.' He became an object of malicious joy and of reproach to those who border upon him.

'Thou hast exalted the right hand of them that afflict him.' Thou hast made his enemies stronger than himself.

'Thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice.' Thou hast made him an object of derision to his adversaries.

'Thou hast turned back the help of his sword, and hast not supported him in the battle.' His weapons became useless to him, stripped as he was of thy protecting care.

'Thou hast made his purification to cease.' And Symmachus thus: 'Thou hast caused his purity to cease.'

For one who is a captive, and dwells far from thy temple, cannot be purified with the sprinklings of purification.

'Thou hast cast his throne down to the ground.' Thou hast utterly abolished his kingdom.

'Thou hast shortened the days of his time.' Having promised to keep the kingdom for ever, thou hast confined it to a brief time. 'Thou hast poured shame upon him.' He has become an object of reproach, and is filled with shame.

For Zedekiah, when his eyes had been put out, was handed over to the mill for all the rest of his life.

And Jechoniah too was himself made a slave.

And these things are full of shame and reproach.

Having thus recounted the calamities, the prophetic word enjoins men to lament and to make supplication.

'Remember what my substance is.' Thou art my Maker and Fashioner, and thou knowest the measure of my strength.

'For hast thou created all the sons of men in vain?' Not idly nor in vain didst thou fashion men, but goodness was the guide of the creation.

Do not, therefore, overlook those who have been allotted so great evils.

'What man is he that shall live, and not see death, that shall deliver his soul from the hand of Hades?' The end of every man is death;

for it is among things impossible to prevail over death itself.

To the living, therefore, impart thy loving-kindness.

Then again he calls to mind the promises.

And he wove the prelude out of mercy, and at the end again he calls mercy to mind;

for of this above all they had need.

'Remember, O Lord, the reproach of Thy servants, which I have borne in my bosom of many nations.' But Symmachus renders it thus: 'And I have carried in my bosom the reproach of very many nations.'

Do not overlook me, he says, when I am reproached—not by one nation, but by countless multitudes.

For not only do the Assyrians and Babylonians mock me, but so also do all the neighbouring peoples, who have ever harboured hostility toward me.

And they rejoice not only over me, but they also set their tongue against Thee, and employ blasphemous words, reckoning my servitude to be a weakness on Thy part.

This he made plain by what follows:

'Wherewith Thine enemies have reproached, O Lord;'

'wherewith they have reproached the recompense of Thine Anointed.' But Symmachus and Theodotion render it thus:

'They have reproached the footsteps of Thine Anointed;'

and by 'the footsteps of the Anointed' he designated the kings of that time, through whom passed the word concerning the kingdom of the Anointed.

And the Seventy called them 'the recompense,' inasmuch as they were His forefathers according to the flesh, and inasmuch as they directed the kingdom, as it were, in a kind of darkness.

'Blessed be the Lord for evermore;'

'so be it, so be it.' This hymn is one of good hope.

For having believed that their petitions would be received, they offered up this hymn to God.

This same sense Aquila too shows more precisely, having translated the 'Amen, Amen'

as 'faithful,' that is to say, 'Thou art true, and exceedingly true.'

'Blessed therefore be He for evermore;'

for Thou dost confirm Thy promises by Thy works.

'A Prayer of Moses the man of God.' Some of the commentators have said that the great Moses composed this prayer.

double. Nevertheless, the psalm contains an oracular pronouncement.

For it foretells not only the calamities of the Jews, but also teaches the corruptible and perishable nature of all humankind.

And it predicts the change for the better both of these and of those.

And through the prophets He deemed them worthy of all care, and when they were under kings He imparted to them all succour.

And the whole nature of mankind employs these words, calling God to remembrance of His manifold benefits: how He translated Enoch; how, when all had embraced a beastly manner of life, He preserved the godlike Noah as a spark for the race; how, having chosen the patriarch Abraham, He promised the blessing to all the nations.

For it was not, as certain unbelievers dare to say, out of a change of mind that the Lord of all came to the benefaction of the nations; rather, He continued ever to make provision for all men [—the Lord of all—even before His incomprehensible incarnation].

And the prophecy taught us to say this:

'Before the mountains were brought forth, and before the earth and the world were formed, even from everlasting to everlasting Thou art.' For Thou dost pre-exist all created things—both the mountains, and the earth, and the whole inhabited world;

for Thou art eternal, without beginning and without end, bounded by no limit.

For the phrase 'Thou art' is to be joined with 'Before the mountains were brought forth.'

'Turn not man away unto abasement.' I therefore beseech Thee, the everlasting, the eternal, who hast ever been our refuge, not utterly to overlook us who are overwhelmed by so many evils.

For since He Himself condemned Adam to sweat and toil, saying, 'In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread, until thou return unto the earth from which thou wast taken, for earth thou art, and unto earth shalt thou return'; fittingly does the prophetic word teach us to entreat that we be not altogether turned back unto abasement and unto the misery that has been allotted as our lot.

And indeed the Jews too, being compelled to serve, offer up this supplication, lamenting their enslavement and servitude.

'And Thou saidst, Return, ye sons of men.' But Aquila renders it thus:

'And Thou shalt say, Be ye turned back, ye sons of men.'

Not in vain, he says, do we make our entreaty, but knowing clearly that Thou wilt receive our supplications, and wilt work for us a change of our present evils;

exhorting us to turn back, and to be delivered from our former wickedness.

'For a thousand years in Thine eyes, O Lord,'

'are as yesterday which is past, and as a watch in the night.' The sense of the words is by transposition.

But to Thee, who art everlasting and eternal, even the number of a thousand years is likened to a single day—nay rather, to a small portion of a night.

He called it 'a portion' of the night;

for those entrusted with keeping watch over it divided it into four parts;

and it was at the fourth watch that the Lord came to the apostles.

'Their things brought to nought shall be as years.' For Thou hast yoked them, he says, to this misery for a very long time;

and at the same time it signifies also the rejection of the Jews after the Passion of our Saviour, and the deprivation of the divine care—not for a short time, but for a very long time to come.

'In the morning let it pass away as the grass.'

[verse.] 'In the morning let it flower, and let it pass away;'

'in the evening let it fall away, let it be hardened and withered.' For at first indeed the Jews, having been deemed worthy of the divine care, both flowered and sprang up, and acquired great splendour.

But being unwilling to yield ripe fruit to the husbandman, and having instead hardened their heart, they were utterly dried up;

for they no longer partook of the former watering.

By 'morning' he calls the beginning of the care shown to the Jews;

and by 'evening,' the cessation of the divine solicitude.

Of this they were stripped after the cross, [because they set up the cross against God and the Saviour;

for this he says by means of what follows:] verse 7.

'For we have failed in Thy wrath, and in Thine anger we have been troubled.' These things are fitting both for the Jews and for all men.

For indeed the nature of men, paying the penalties of transgression, was subjected to calamities and is overwhelmed by manifold surging waves; and the Jews, through the wickedness of their disposition, fell away from freedom, [just as many men too, through unbelief, dug a pit for themselves;

for 'He hath dug a pit and delved it, and shall fall into the ditch which he hath made.'] verse 8.

'Thou hast set our iniquities before Thee, our lifetime in the light of Thy countenance.' But Symmachus renders it thus:

'Thou hast set our iniquities right over against Thee, so that our negligences appear before Thy countenance.'

To these punishments Thou hast delivered us, having beheld us both neglecting Thy laws, and choosing to live in lawlessness.

'For all our days have failed, and in Thy wrath we have failed.' Sin, he says, stirred up wrath against us, and the wrath brought on the punishment, and the punishment brought the pains;

for in pains we spent our brief life.

'Our years have been meditated upon as a spider.' Human nature, he says, has nothing firm or stable.

'The days of our years in them are seventy years;'

'and if in strength, eighty years;'

'and the most of them are labour and toil.' These things resemble what was said by the patriarch Jacob:

'The days of my life are few and evil, they have not attained unto the days of my fathers.' There are indeed some who live longer than the time here mentioned, but that befalls only a few.

But that which is common, and prevails for the most part, he teaches here.

For just as he made no mention of those who meet with an untimely end, so also he passed over the longevity of the very aged.

But nevertheless, he says, even this brief span is filled full of pain and toils;

[just as, for those who were led away captive from Jerusalem, the seventy years during which they served their captors became grievous and exceedingly painful.] 'For meekness hath come upon us, and we shall be chastened.' Behold, with how many evils are we overwhelmed on account of Thy slight wrath!

For he called the moderate punishment that came upon them 'meekness.'

'Who knows the power of your wrath, and out of fear of you your anger?' But Symmachus renders it thus:

'Who knows the strength of your fury, and according to the fear of you your wrath?' If your moderate displeasure, he says, brought upon us so great a chastisement, who is able to comprehend the punishment that proceeds from your anger? And the passage hints at the eternal chastisement.

'So make me to number your right hand, and those who are fettered in heart in wisdom.' I beseech you, he says, to enjoy your beneficence, and to number and recount the gifts of your right hand, and to imitate those who have been made wise by your grace, who guide others toward the knowledge of you.

'We were filled in the morning with your mercy, and we rejoiced and were glad in all our days.' The tense has been altered by the Seventy.

For Aquila and the others have put it thus: 'Fill us in the morning with your mercy, and we shall praise and be glad in all our days.'

By 'morning' and 'dawn' they signify the change of their misfortunes;

and they implore that that darkness be scattered and that light rise upon them, not on account of their own virtue, but on account of the divine mercy.

For when this comes to pass, he says, having been filled with all gladness of heart, we shall offer the fitting hymn of praise.

'We were made glad in return for the days in which you humbled us,'

'the years in which we saw evil.' And here likewise the tense has been altered.

For Symmachus and the rest have said, 'Make us glad.'

Grant us, he says, cheerfulness in place of despondency, and bestow a change from the ill fortune that lies upon us.

'And look upon your servants and upon your works.'

And from this it is clear that they said these things not as though they had already happened, but as things yet to be.

For they did not say, 'You looked upon your servants and upon your works.' For we are your creatures, he says, and belong to your lordship as household servants;

therefore we beseech to obtain your providential care.

'And guide their children.' That is to say, your servants;

for both those in Babylon, offering their supplication, beseech the God of the departed to lead back the children of his servants, and human nature entreats that those found alive at the appearing of our Savior be guided toward the truth.

'And let the splendor of the Lord our God be upon us.' [By 'splendor' he calls the incarnation of God the Word;

for then indeed] the light of the knowledge of God rendered us also splendid and illustrious.

[For concerning this the son of thunder said:

'The light shines in the darkness.'] And the Jews too, after the return, became once more conspicuous.

'And direct the works of our hands upon us;'

'yea, the work of our hands direct.' Fine is the addition of 'upon us.'

For the profit of righteousness is our own;

and while God works together with those who love virtue and helps to accomplish its deeds, yet it is those who sow that reap the fruit thereof.

Nevertheless he rejoices in the good fortune and prosperity of men, [whenever they offer their whole selves to him as a sacrifice;

just as Paul instructs:

'I beseech you therefore by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, well-pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.'

'He who dwells in the help of the Most High shall lodge under the shelter of the God of heaven.' He who trusts, he says, in the divine care shall enjoy the protection that comes from the God of heaven, and shall have him as a strong rampart and an inviolable security.

[And when he has put on this shield and, being helped by it, is preserved unwounded, then he will say.] (2)

'You are my helper and my refuge, my God, and I will hope in him.' For having a firm hope in him, he will call him both his champion and his guardian and an indestructible rampart.

'... and from a troublesome word.' From this point onward he addresses the one who has believed the words, and encourages him, saying that he renders him superior not only to open enemies, but also to those who lie in ambush and set snares and secretly contrive their plots.

And 'the troublesome word' Symmachus has called 'a word of insult.'

Such are those who stitch together falsehood and slanders.

Yet nevertheless many became superior even to these through their hope in God.

Thus the great Joseph, having endured the slander of adultery, escaped its snares;

thus the admirable Susanna enjoyed the succor from above.

[And not only these, but even up to the present time we have both heard and known of countless myriads who have been saved.] (4)

'With his shoulders he will overshadow you, and under his wings you shall hope.' For he will become your champion and will cover you when you are warred against.

He has set this down by a metaphor drawn from those who stand foremost in battles and with their shoulders shield those behind them.

And by 'wings' he calls the operations of Providence.

He has set this down using the image of birds;

for they too cover their nestlings with their wings.

Thus the blessed Moses called God's providential care.

'How often would I have gathered your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks together, and you would not?' (5)

'His truth shall encircle you as a weapon.' Since he mentioned above a troublesome and false word, fittingly here he promised that his truth would become full armor.