Commentary on the Psalms 1 part 28/42

'And the Lord will render to them their iniquity, and according to their wickedness the Lord God will destroy them.' But those men shall reap the fruits of their own labours, and shall receive the recompense worthy of their wickedness.

These things were written not for them alone, but for all mankind.

For the God of all, exercising His providence over all men, offers to each the healing that is fitting.

Josiah the king was exceedingly devout.

When he beheld the greater part of the people embracing the worship of idols, he commanded that all the priests of the idols be slaughtered, and that their altars be torn up from their very foundations;

and having dug open the graves of the priests who had died, he burned their bones upon those very altars of the demons.

Then, having gathered together all the people, he exhorts them to make use of repentance, and to propitiate God, and by this means to escape the destruction that had been threatened.

For Huldah the prophetess had foretold dreadful and grievous things to all the people.

The psalm has been cast in the persona of Josiah and of the priests of God.

"Let us in common," he says, "send up to God the hymn of victory."

For the shout of triumph is the voice of those who conquer.

And the choir of the godly conquered the host of the ungodly.

Fittingly, therefore, they offer the song of victory to God;

[and most of all the choir of the apostles and martyrs.

But all who live according to their example might understand it otherwise too;

that He might deem us all worthy of freedom from passions;

even Him who chose to descend as far as Hades, that He might lead us up into the heavens.] (2)

"Let us come before His face with confession;"

and let us offer to Him also the fitting song of praise.

Then he teaches the victory of God and the defeat of the idols.

This is the true God; this One holds dominion over all things, and refutes the false appellation of those who are called gods.

Then, so far as is possible for human nature, he displays the proofs of the divine power.

"For in His hand are the ends of the earth, and the heights of the mountains are His."

"For the sea is His, and He made it;"

in His hand He encompasses the creation; the moist substance He fashioned, and the dry land also He created by His word;

His also are the summits of the mountains, even though the demons ten thousand times over persuade the foolish among men to fix their shrines upon these very heights.

"For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand."

For He calls us His own people, and to us, as His own sheep, He offers His care.

[And the Lord Himself also says, after His incomprehensible becoming-man:

"My sheep hear My voice." And again:

"I am the good shepherd, and I lay down My life for the sheep," and what follows.] Then, further, they threaten punishment against those who do not obey, terrifying them by the memory of the fathers, and by that accusation working out their benefit.

"Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts."

For he has called "provocation" the contradiction that had often occurred in the wilderness.

So too in another psalm he said:

"How often did they provoke Him in the wilderness, and grieve Him in a land without water." And he has shown also the self-determination of their will.

He did not say "Be not hardened," but "Harden not your hearts," teaching that they themselves are the makers of such a heart;

then more clearly he calls to mind the disobedience of the fathers.

"As in the day of temptation in the wilderness,"

"where your fathers tempted Me, they proved Me, and saw My works."

[(v.10)] "Forty years." For since they were unwilling to enter the promised land, [but contradicted God when He commanded,] putting forward an irrational fear and pleading cowardice, saying that they themselves would be destroyed and their children would become spoils of war, He arranged that they should pass forty years in the wilderness, until they themselves were consumed.

"For this reason," He says, "I loathed that generation," seeing the fickleness and vacillation of their disposition.

"But they themselves did not know My ways, so that I swore in My wrath:"

"They shall not enter into My rest." But they were unwilling to give heed to the threats sworn against them, nor did they wish to dissolve the threat by repentance.

For which reason they did not enjoy the land that had been promised to their fathers.

For He called that land His "rest," or, according to the other translators, His "repose." For since in the wilderness, as they journeyed, they made frequent removals, the tabernacle going before them—in which God was thought to dwell—but in the land of promise both they themselves ceased from their journeying, and the tabernacle was fixed in the places consecrated to it, He fittingly called the land of the promise a "rest."

And by the "ways" of God he meant His dispensations.

But some other person, as it seems, having perceived the surface-meaning of the psalm, set down this superscription;

and the plain appearance of the letter fits also those who returned from Babylon and built the divine temple;

since in them was foreshadowed the salvation of all mankind.

Nevertheless the prophecy foretells also the first and the second appearing of God and our Saviour, and the judgment that is to be, and the salvation already granted to the nations.

"Sing to the Lord a new song." For with new deeds there is need also of a new hymn.

"Sing to the Lord, all the earth." How does this fit the Jews, who are warred upon by all men? For those who beheld their liberation were not glad;

but on the contrary they were vexed, and attempted to surround them with evils of every kind.

He calls the whole inhabited world to the dance of praise.

"Sing to the Lord, bless His name; proclaim the good tidings of His salvation from day to day." "Each and every day," he says, "declare the benefaction that has been wrought."

Then he teaches also to whom one must offer such instruction.

"Declare His glory among the nations;"

"His wondrous works among all peoples." Let every race of men enjoy such teaching, and learn the divine wonder-workings.

"For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised;"

"He is to be feared above all gods." For the Lord has the ineffable greatness of all things, and against the falsely-named gods He displayed His own power, and exposed their deceit.

For this He made clear through what follows.

"For all the gods of the nations are demons, but the Lord made the heavens." [For concerning Him the blessed Paul also declares:

"For had they known, they would not have crucified Him, the Lord of glory."] For those called gods were shown to be wicked demons;

but our God was declared to be the Maker of the heavens.

[For at the time of His voluntary suffering, not only was the sun darkened and the rocks were rent, and the veil of the temple was torn asunder;

but even the powers of the heavens were shaken, and, to say all in brief, the whole universe threatened to lapse into non-existence when it beheld Him who bears all things hanging upon the cross.] (6?)

"Confession and beauty are before Him; holiness and majesty are in His sanctuary." For indeed, having taken up human nature, and through it having appeared to men, He sends forth the flashing rays of His own majesty, and draws all men to worship;

for He named as His "sanctuary" the temple which He took up.

And of this beauty he made mention already also in the forty-fourth psalm;

for he said, "He is beautiful in comeliness beyond the sons of men." (7, 8)

"Bring to the Lord, you families of the nations, bring to the Lord glory and honour."

'Take up sacrifices, and go into his courts.'

[verse 9] 'Worship the Lord in his holy court.' By 'sacrifices' he means the spiritual ones, which we see continually offered and consecrated by the priests.

And the multitude of 'courts' signifies the churches.

Besides, he did not enjoin this upon the Jews, lest anyone should suppose that the sacrifices of the Law are meant;

but rather upon the families of the nations, who offer up in the churches the sacrifices of the New Covenant.

Concerning these things God also foretold through another prophet, speaking to the Jews:

'I have no pleasure in you, and I will not accept an offering from your hands;'

'for from the rising of the sun to its setting my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure sacrifice.' — 'Let all the earth be shaken before his face.' But Aquila renders it, 'Let all the earth travail before his face.'

'Say among the nations that the Lord reigns;'

for indeed he has set the world aright, so that it shall not be shaken. Proclaim, then, the kingdom of the God of all things;

or rather, the inhabited world: he transformed it when it was wandering, and though it was carried this way and that, he made it firm.

So too Symmachus: 'The Lord reigned, and made the world unshakable.'

And this was made manifest at that time through the transformation of affairs.

He makes mention of it, proclaiming its uprightness and its righteousness.

'Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth exult.' Let all creation, he says, share in gladness together with mankind, and let both the things of heaven and the things of earth be filled with delight.

For if the angels rejoice over one sinner who repents, surely they have greater gladness over the transformation of all mankind.

'Let the sea be moved, and its fullness.' But Theodotion and Symmachus render it thus:

'The sea shall roar, with its fullness.'

For the whole life of men, which imitates the tempest of the sea, shall receive the sound of the divine proclamations.

At the same time he also foretells the uprisings that came from unbelievers against the heralds of the truth, as we have shown in other psalms as well.

'The plains shall rejoice, and all that is in them.' But Symmachus renders it thus:

'The field shall exult, and all that is in it.' And the Lord too, when interpreting the parable of the tares, named the field the world;

so then he says that all things shall be filled with joy and delight.

'Then shall all the trees of the wood exult.' But Aquila renders it:

'Then shall all the trees of the wood praise.'

Those trees in particular shall procure the hymn for God.

For from them came the saving wood, on which the body of the Saviour was nailed, through which good things spring up for mankind.

It is fitting, however, to know that the prophetic word employed personification.

For neither heaven, nor earth, nor sea, nor plains, nor the trees are rational and animate; rather, it is those who dwell in them that offer up the song of praise to God.

For islanders inhabit the sea, mainlanders the land, and angels the heaven.

And those who behold the woods delivered from the worship of idols offer up the hymn to God;

so too, when teaching about the journey of the sons of Israel out of Egypt, the Prophet again employed personification:

'The sea saw, and fled;'

'Jordan was turned back.'

'The mountains skipped like rams, and the hills like lambs of the flock.' And he puts forth the question, and receives the answer, thereby making plain the good cheer of those who were saved.

'From before the face of the Lord, for he comes;'

'for he comes to judge the earth.' Well has he set down the two things, both 'that he has come' and 'that he comes'; for the first appearing gave to mankind the knowledge of God;

but the second shall effect the separation of matters.

'He shall judge the inhabited world in righteousness'

'and the peoples in his truth.' For then, he says, then shall he execute the righteous judgment, no longer employing his former forbearance, but scrutinizing the truth of matters, and pronouncing the upright verdict against all.

Without a title among the Hebrews. Even he who set down this title has admitted that he did not find it among the Hebrews, but himself supplied it.

Therefore not even this title is prophetic;

for it does not fit the meaning of the psalm;

for the prophet speaks of the condition of all the earth, and not of the Jewish land alone.

But it is likely that he who affixed the title understood the prophet's 'earth' to mean the whole inhabited world, since all men made use of this song.

Nevertheless the psalm foretells both the first and the second appearing of our God and Saviour, and the knowledge of God among the nations, and the coming judgment.

For this very reason he stirred up both mainlanders and islanders to dancing and delight.

For both these and those, being cheered by the hope of things to come, rejoice.

And he said that the Lord reigned, not as though he received the kingdom at that time, but as though he then displayed his own kingdom to mankind.

for those who wish to learn this more precisely.

'A cloud and thick darkness are round about him;'

for just as it is impossible to discern one who is concealed by some cloud or thick darkness,

so it is utterly impossible to behold the invisible nature.

Nevertheless he reminds us that it is he himself who on Mount Sinai made his own appearing through cloud and thick darkness;

and he teaches that, even though it is impossible to discern the divine nature, yet through its activity one may contemplate its power.

These things his throne and his kingdom have accomplished.

'A fire shall be kindled before him, and shall set aflame his enemies round about.' These are the oracles of the second appearing.

'His throne,' he says, 'was a flame of fire, its wheels a burning fire;'

'a river of fire went forth and streamed before him;'

'thousand thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him;'

'the judgment was set, and the books were opened.' [verse 4]

for it has power not only to burn, but also to give light.

But the choir of the saints enjoys the one, while those who have lived in lawlessness experience the other.

For 'just as the lightning comes forth from the east and shines even to the west, so shall be the coming of the Son of Man.' 'He looked, and the earth was shaken.' For who does not dread that fearful tribunal? [verse 5]

'The mountains melted like wax before the face of the Lord, before the face of the Lord of all the earth.' For not only those who are ruled, but even the very rulers and kings themselves, like wax approaching fire, shall be dissolved by fear.

For inasmuch as they were entrusted with the management of more affairs, by so much are they subject to a stricter reckoning.

And the greater the debt, the greater the dread.

'The heavens declared his righteousness;'

'and all the peoples saw his glory.' This has both come to pass and shall yet come to pass.

And the peoples throughout the inhabited world saw, through their own transformation, the power of our God and Saviour;

then shall we all hear also the angels' song of praise.

Let all those who worship graven images be put to shame, who boast in their idols. Now that the true Light has dawned, let the darkness withdraw, and let those who are enslaved to error sink down, and let those who serve idols hide their faces.

Worship him, all his angels. And this prophecy the blessed Paul applied to the Saviour.

For he speaks thus in the Epistle to the Hebrews:

And when he again brings the firstborn into the world, he says:

And let all the angels of God worship him. And the Prophet has set this down here also in due season.

Zion heard and was glad, and the daughters of Judea rejoiced, because of your judgments, O Lord. Here too he calls the godly commonwealth Zion.

And by the daughters of Judea he means the Churches throughout the world.

For it was from among the Jews that the Saviour's apostles set out, who planted and begot these Churches.

writing, and saying plainly:

For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel.

Since, therefore, the Saviour's Church is one—

for all who have believed are gathered into one body—

for many are the members of the body—

by Zion he named the common assembly of the godly,

and by the daughters of Judea, the gatherings of the believers in cities and villages and fields and the remotest places.

And he says that both these and those are filled with gladness at the righteous judgments of the Judge.

For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods. All rejoice and exult, having received the knowledge of the true God and King, and having beheld the exposure of the gods that are no gods.

For the vanity of those was exposed, while your loftiness was displayed.

But since we need not faith alone, but also good works, the prophet of necessity offers this counsel as well.

You that love the Lord, hate evil things. If the good is lovely to you, then abhor its opposite.

The Lord keeps the souls of his holy ones; he will deliver them from the hand of the sinner. If you turn away from wickedness and give heed to an upright and righteous manner of life, you will have as your guardian and keeper the Lord of all, and you will become stronger than the enemies who rise up against you.

and gladness for the upright in heart. For not all men were willing to enjoy the light, nor did all receive the gladness that comes from faith.

For the Sun of righteousness himself sent down upon all the rays of salvation;

but there are those who shut their eyes and were unwilling to behold the light.

Rejoice, you righteous, in the Lord;

and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. Therefore all you who have enjoyed the light and embraced the inheritance of virtue, exult and sing praises to God, recounting the multitude of his benefactions.

For here he called thanksgiving 'confession.'

for he foretells both appearings of the Saviour;

but for the most part he treats of the former.

Sing to the Lord a new song. Since he proclaims a change of the ancient state of things and foretells a certain new commonwealth, he fittingly bids us also offer a new song to God.

For the Lord has done marvellous things. For the things wrought by the God of all are transcendent and wondrous.

His right hand has saved for him, and his holy arm. We have often said that by 'hand' he means the working power, and by 'right hand' the good working power.

And he says that the salvation of men is the work of his power.

And using measureless love for mankind, he counts the life of men as his own gain.

He did not say, 'His right hand saved them,' but 'It saved for him.' For having freed them from the error of idols and shown them the loftiness of his kingdom, he imparted salvation to them.

And this he made clearer through what follows.

The Lord has made known his salvation; before the nations he has revealed his righteousness. To all men he has brought the saving streams, and to the nations he has shown his righteous kingdom.

He has remembered his mercy to Jacob, and his truth to the house of Israel;

all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. These closely resemble the oracles of the prophet Isaiah.

For the other translators have rendered 'covenant' as 'compact.'

And he has called Israel his 'race,' since it was from among the Jews that Christ came according to the flesh, as the Apostle says.

that is, so as to fulfil the compacts made with the Jews;

but for a light, no longer of the Jews, but of the nations.

For these obtained a share in salvation through faith,

[having confessed him and confessing him to be God from God.] But those loved the gloom of unbelief.

He has remembered his mercy to Jacob, and his truth to the house of Israel; for he fulfilled the promises made to them.

Indeed, all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

For not upon the Jews alone did the light of the truth arise, but upon all men.

Shout aloud to the Lord, all the earth; sing, and exult, and make music. Since, then, you have all been freed from the bitter tyranny of the devil, offer the hymn of victory to the God who has saved you.

For the shout of triumph is the voice of those who conquer.

For this is the hymn which, shouting and crying aloud, we are accustomed to offer to God at the mystical time, singing and making music and dancing with all cheerfulness.

Make music to the Lord with the harp, and with the voice of a psalm. And this ordinance too one may see continually fulfilled in the churches.

For with the spiritual harp we strike up the divine melody.

And we too make our bodies into rational harps, using our teeth in place of strings and our lips in place of bronze; and the tongue, moving more nimbly than any plectrum, produces the harmonious sound of the strokes.

And the mind moves the tongue, like some musician skilfully effecting its transitions; this harp is more delightful to God than the lifeless one. And he himself is witness, crying out to the Jews through the prophet:

harp is more delightful to God than the lifeless one. And he himself is witness, crying out to the Jews through the prophet:

Take away from me the sound of your songs, and the voice of your instruments I will not hear.

With trumpets of beaten metal, and with the voice of a horn trumpet. Often does the divine Scripture call the shout a 'trumpet.'

Thus the Lord says in the Gospels:

When you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do;

that is, 'Do not proclaim it, nor make it plain to all;'

lest by vainglory you spoil the fruit of your benevolence.

And here too, then, he calls teaching a 'trumpet,' through which we both learn the benefactions that have been shown to us and are instructed in the profitable laws.

And by 'beaten trumpets' he means those of bronze;

and by 'horn trumpets,' those made from horns.

And it was customary for the Jews to use these.

And among them was practised a shadow of our things.

Just as they, then, sacrificed the irrational lamb, but we the saving one, [the God from God,] who takes away the sin of the world;

so they used lifeless trumpets, but we living and rational ones.

The divine apostles, then, are our trumpets, as are the inspired prophets, and those who after them received the gift of teaching.

'Shout aloud before the King, the Lord.' Offer up the hymn of victory to the King and Master of all things.

'Let the sea be shaken, and the fullness thereof, the world, and all that dwell therein.' But Symmachus renders it thus:

'Let the sea resound together with the fullness thereof;'

'the world, and they that dwell therein.'

For the multitude of the godly peoples in the churches imitates a surging sea.

Such too is the sound of those who chant the psalms.

It signified movement and change.

For that which moves is shaken;

and that which is changed is moved.

'The rivers shall clap together with the hand.' Again by 'rivers' he named those who partake of the grace of teaching, and who pour forth the divine streams after the manner of rivers;

these he said clap their hands and sing praises to God.

For the clapping is once more that of those who have won the victory.

'The mountains shall rejoice exceedingly [verse 9] at the presence of the Lord, for he comes;'

'for he has come to judge the earth.' Here by 'mountains' he addressed those who possess a lofty and elevated mind, upon whom the city of God has been built.

'For a city,' he says, 'set upon a mountain cannot be hidden.' And:

'His foundations are in the holy mountains.' These he said rejoice and are glad, having learned of the appearing of God our Savior.

For awaiting the recompenses for their labors, they exult, knowing the justice of the Judge.

'He shall judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in equity.' For the first appearing had abundant mercy;

but the second shall have justice.

'For we shall all,' he says, 'stand before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done through the body, according to what he has done, whether good or evil.' And this the prophet also declared:

'Once God has spoken, these two things have I heard, that power belongs to God, and to you, O Lord, belongs mercy, for you will render to each according to his works.' INTERPRETATION

And when the Jews enjoyed their freedom, all the neighboring peoples were cut to the quick, beholding their marvelous return.

And this made plain the power of him whom they worshiped.

'He who sits upon the cherubim, let the earth be shaken.' This one, he says, who is proclaimed by us, is also the God and Lord of the powers above;

and the phrase 'who sits' he spoke as one conversing toward human beings.

For the incorporeal nature, which is incomprehensible and uncircumscribed, which holds the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants as it were grasshoppers, what kind of seat does it need? Yet nonetheless in speech he portrays the God of all as royally borne upon the cherubim, striking and terrifying those who hear.

'The Lord is great in Zion, and he is high above all the peoples.' And when the Jews had returned and built the divine temple, the power of God was shown forth to all.

'Let them give thanks to your great name, for it is fearful and holy.' It is fitting, therefore, that all should praise you, and recount your acts of kindness, and not pry curiously into your ineffable nature, but offer reverence to your name, which is both fearful and all-holy.

For it sanctifies those who believe, but terrifies those who disbelieve.

'And the king's honor loves judgment.' It befits us to fear him as a king, and as one who practices righteousness;

for it is proper to true kingship to guide its subjects justly.

'For the king's honor loves judgment'—that is, loving what is just makes a king honorable.

And this is shown also by what follows:

'you have executed judgment and righteousness in Jacob.' For as a righteous king, you brought forth an upright and just verdict, and freed Israel from the domination of those who had enslaved them, [and freed the nations from the servitude of the devil.] But according to the other prophetic sense it should be understood thus:

You showed forth the truth of your promise, fulfilling the pledges made to the forefathers of Israel, and granting the salvation that comes through the seed of Abraham.

'at the footstool of his feet, for he is holy.' Requite, therefore, your benefactor with what you can, and offer him the reverence that is fitting;

and the word 'exalt' stands for 'proclaim his loftiness.'

By 'the footstool of his feet' was formerly reckoned the temple in Jerusalem, but now the Churches throughout all land and sea, in which we offer worship to the all-holy God.

'Moses and Aaron among his priests;'

'and Samuel among those who call upon his name.' Not without reason, passing over the other prophets, did he mention these alone, but doing so to teach the frenzy and tyranny that was inbred in the Jews.

For even in the days of Moses and Aaron they attempted to seize the priesthood;

and in the days of Samuel, despising the divine kingship, they loved the kingship of men.

For from of old this madness was habitual to them.

'They called upon the Lord, and he himself heard them.'

'[verse 7] In a pillar of cloud he spoke to them.' And yet, he says, they had great boldness toward God.

For they entreated, and he hearkened, and granted their requests, and while all were watching he held converse with them, displaying his own manifestation through the cloud.

Then he teaches that it was not unjustly that he imparted this grace to them.