Commentary on the Psalms 1 part 3/42

His virtue covered the heavens, and the earth is full of his praise. And he himself, appearing to Jacob when he inquired his appellation, said:

'Why do you ask my name?' And this is wonderful. (3)

Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings you have perfected praise, because of your enemies;

that you might destroy the enemy and avenger. And this above all showed your power: that through men who had not learned human wisdom, but who imitated the simplicity of infants at the breast, you destroyed that all-wicked tyrant;

who, being always hostile to you, O God, and deceiving men on account of his war against you, again like some avenger exacts from them the penalties of the deception.

Thus, having prompted Ahithophel to speak those things, he sent him to death by his own hand;

thus, having armed Judas for the betrayal, he gave the noose in return as the wages of his obedience;

and from the history too it is indeed possible to know the truth of the prophecy.

Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings you have perfected praise? Those infants, then, condemn the thankless people of the Jews, who were, like the devil, both enemy and avenger.

But the providence that extends even to lowly men proclaims your greater and ineffable loving-kindness.

For what is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you visit him? These words he sets forth not concerning the creation, but concerning providence.

For he did not say, 'that you fashioned,' but 'that you are mindful and visit.' And elsewhere he laments still more clearly the meanness of our nature:

For man, he says, has become like vanity;

his days pass away like a shadow. And again:

his days, like the flower of the field, so shall he flourish;

for a wind has passed over him, and he shall be no more, and his place shall know him no longer. And countless other such things one may find in the divine Scripture, curbing human pride.

And here too, then, the prophetic word marvels, crying aloud:

What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you visit him? For you not only brought him into being, but also bestowed well-being, and continue mindful of him, and visit him when he is ill-disposed.

You made him a little lower than the angels. Here he called to mind the sentence pronounced after the transgression.

For by mortality he was made lower than the angels.

[7.] And you have set him over the works of your hands. But these things our nature received after the incarnation of God our Savior.

For by grace you have been saved, as the divine Apostle says, and he raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (8, 9)

You have subjected all things under his feet:

all sheep and oxen, and moreover also the beasts of the field.

The birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, that pass through the paths of the seas. And this too, he says, is an exact demonstration of your loving-kindness and power: that you filled the lowly nature of men with such great wisdom, so that they rule not only over land animals, but also over the winged, and the swimming, and the amphibious creatures, and by their devices hunt down what is higher and deeper;

and to have under their hand the creatures that traverse the air and those hidden in the waters.

Of these, then, you have bestowed the dominion in common upon all men.

But the divine Word, having taken up our firstfruits, and having declared it his own temple, and having called it his own flesh, and having wrought the ineffable union, seated it above all rule, and authority, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the age to come;

and he subjected all things under his feet;

not all sheep and oxen, but the whole visible and invisible creation.

And of these things the divine Apostle is a witness, crying out plainly:

But we behold Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honour because of the suffering of death. And a little above this he says:

For, he says, thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. And in the Epistle to the Corinthians: But when, he says, it is said that all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted who did put all things under him. For the uncreated nature alone, as being free, is set apart from this subjection.

So great was the honour which the nature of men received from the God of all.

O Lord, our Lord, how wonderful is thy name in all the earth. INTERPRETATION.

But Aquila renders it, 'to the victor of the youthfulness of the Son,' and Theodotion, 'concerning the vigour of the Son.'

For having conquered sin manfully and youthfully, and having given death no occasion to take hold, he dissolved its dominion.

The Seventy named this a hidden mystery, since it was concealed both from all the others and from the very apostles themselves.

And the evangelist is a witness;

for though the Lord had often said to them, 'Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man shall be delivered up to be crucified, and they shall kill him, and on the third day he shall rise again,' the evangelist adds:

We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which none of the rulers of this age knew;

for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. And again:

The mystery which hath been hidden from the ages and from the generations. Fittingly, therefore, the Seventy named the death of the Son 'hidden.'

I will confess to thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will declare all thy marvellous works.

I will be glad and rejoice in thee;

I will sing praise to thy name, O Most High. It is proper to the perfect to devote the whole heart to God, and to consecrate to him the whole mind.

For, it says, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind. But he who divides his thoughts between mammon and God, between Christ and gold, between the present life and the life to come, cannot say truthfully:

I will confess to thee, O Lord, with my whole heart. But the prophet, foreseeing with spiritual eyes the things to come, not only confesses with his whole heart, but also declares all his marvellous works, making the hearers sharers in the hymnody, and desiring to hymn the Benefactor alone;

and to have as the occasion of gladness not wealth and power, nor health and bodily vigour, but the remembrance of God.

For, it says, I will be glad and rejoice in thee. So also elsewhere:

I remembered God, and was gladdened. And in another place, Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous. And again:

Let the heart of them that seek the Lord rejoice. (verse 4)

When mine enemy is turned back, they shall be weakened and shall perish at thy presence. These things Symmachus interpreted thus: I will sing to thy name, O Most High, when mine enemies are overturned backward, and stumble and perish from thy presence.

For having beheld my foes destroyed, and turned to flight, then captured and enduring utter ruin, I hymn thee and continue singing thy benefactions.

But the prophet expounds these things on behalf of human nature;

inasmuch as it has been delivered from the destroyer, and has received freedom through the divine grace.

For not, as some have supposed, is this psalm spoken by the Saviour himself, but rather addressed to him, as to a benefactor, by those who have been well treated, as the very words teach.

For thou hast maintained my right and my cause. In what manner? Thou hast sat on the throne, thou that judgest righteousness.

And what verdict did he pronounce? (verse 6)

Thou hast rebuked the nations, and the ungodly hath perished;

thou hast blotted out his name for ever and ever. For thou didst not endure, he says, to overlook for long the nature of men being wickedly enslaved by the bitter tyrant, but like some judge, having sat upon a lofty throne and a fearful tribunal, thou didst bring upon him such punishment that his memory was consigned to utter oblivion.

And the phrase, Thou hast rebuked the nations, and the ungodly hath perished, has this meaning:

when they received it, and were delivered from the error, the ungodly one perished, no longer having those whom he deceived and who worshipped him.

So Barnabas and Paul rebuked the Lycaonians when they attempted to sacrifice, crying out:

Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, turning you from these vain things to God. So the blessed Paul rebuked the Galatians:

O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly set forth crucified? So to the Corinthians:

It is actually reported that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the nations. He rebuked the nations, therefore, and the ungodly one perished, and blotted out his name for ever and ever.

for men to know the mysteries of ungodliness.

The swords of the enemy have failed utterly, and thou hast destroyed cities. For he was stripped of his own weapons, no longer having the ministers of ungodliness;

and those who had set themselves up as his instruments, these now, having changed sides, took up the war against him.

And the cities also, when the ungodliness that of old was practised in them was abolished, received the edifice of godliness.

For it was among things impossible to build up godliness without first having abolished ungodliness.

This the divine Apostle also said:

The saving grace of God hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live soberly and godly in this present age, and so forth.

Thus each one does not rise together with Christ before receiving fellowship with his death.

For if we have become planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be so also in that of the resurrection. And again:

If we died with him, we shall also live with him. So also, having abolished the ungodliness of the enemies, he built up godliness.

Their memorial hath perished with a crash;

[verse 8] and the Lord abideth for ever. That one, he says, has undergone a ruin evident to all and exceedingly conspicuous.

For the phrase 'with a crash' signifies this, by a metaphor from houses that collapse in some earthquake and produce a great din.

He hath prepared his throne in judgment;

[verse 9] and he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall judge the peoples in uprightness. For not only in the present life did he display his own power, but also in the age to come he will display his dread tribunal, judging all men, and awarding to each according to his desert.

And the Lord became a refuge for the poor, a helper in due seasons, in afflictions. The phrase 'in due seasons' Aquila rendered 'in the fitting time,' and Symmachus 'seasonably.'

For he calls the nature of men 'poor,' because of the great poverty of transgression.

The opportuneness of this season the blessed Paul teaches:

For when we were, he says, children, we were held in bondage under the elements of the world;

but when the fulness of time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem those under the law, that we might receive the adoption. (verse 11)

And let them that know thy name put their hope in thee, for thou hast not forsaken them that seek thee, O Lord. The word 'let them hope' Aquila and Symmachus rendered 'they shall trust,' using the indicative mood instead of the imperative.

For, he says, when this salvation has come from thee, those who have learned that thou art their Maker and God will set their hopes upon thee.

Sing praises to the Lord that dwelleth in Sion. According to the ancient opinion of the Jews the prophet said this;

yet we have learned from the apostolic teaching that Sion is also heavenly.

For, he says, ye are come to Mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. – Declare among the nations his doings. The word 'doings' Symmachus rendered 'devices,' and Aquila 'changes.'

For in very truth a very great change of affairs came to pass.

Those of old enemies became friends, those far off near, the slaves sons, those in ignorance in knowledge, those in darkness in light, the dead in hope of life, the poor heirs of the kingdom of heaven;

the Jews afar off, and the nations near;

the sons dogs, and the dogs sons;

and the devices of the Saviour are worthy of God.

For immortality was bestowed through mortality, and through death life, honour through dishonour, blessing through cursing, salvation through the cross.

These are the devices, these the doings of our God.

For he that maketh inquisition for their blood hath remembered, he hath not forgotten the cry of the poor.

through deceit come the slaughters of men, and he has come to the aid of those who are wronged.

For this is the meaning of, 'He did not forget the cry of the poor.' By 'cry' here he does not mean prayer and supplication, but the misery that entered in through sin, on account of which come untimely deaths, laments, and calamities.

'Have mercy on me, O Lord; behold my affliction from my enemies.' Such, he says, was the cry that arose from the wailings and laments, bearing as it were a certain petition concerning the evils that beset them.

'You who lift me up from the gates of death, that I may declare all your praises.' This, he says, is the goal of good things: deliverance from corruption and the abolition of death;

enjoying which, we shall ever sing hymns to your benefactions.

'In the gates of the daughter of Zion we shall rejoice in your salvation.' By Zion he calls the heavenly city, as the blessed Paul taught;

and by its gates, the Churches everywhere throughout the earth, through which those who believe entered into that city.

In these, then, he says, rejoicing and dancing in the hopes of the resurrection, we shall sing praises to the one who procured these things for us.

And since he had made mention of the abolition of death, he fittingly added:

'The nations are stuck fast in the destruction which they made; in this snare which they hid their own foot was caught. The Lord is known as one who executes judgments;'

'in the works of his own hands the sinner was caught.' And here too by 'nations' he designates the throng of demons.

For these, having fashioned the saving cross, through it fell from their tyranny;

'and in the snare which they hid their own foot was caught, and in the works of his own hands the sinner was caught.'

But if these foregoing words be taken also of the nations that refused to believe and that put to death the gloriously victorious apostles and martyrs, in this way too we shall find the truth of the prophecy.

'and in the works of his own hands the sinner was caught, and the Lord was known as one executing judgments,' that is, governing wisely and justly.

'Let the sinners be turned back into Hades, all the nations that forget God.'

'For the poor man shall not be forgotten to the end; the patient endurance of the needy shall not perish for ever.' These, he says, who disbelieved the divine proclamation, shall most speedily be seized by Hades and delivered over to death, having not even brought the slightest harm upon those persecuted by them.

'For the patient endurance of the needy shall not perish for ever.' Because 'he who endures to the end, this one shall be saved.' And:

'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.' Then, beholding from afar with prophetic eyes the heralds of piety being plundered by the impious, he says by way of prayer:

'Arise, O Lord, let not man prevail; let the nations be judged before you.'

'Appoint, O Lord, a lawgiver over them; let the nations know that they are but men.' One might reasonably ask the Jews: what sort of lawgiver does the prophet here entreat to be given? For Moses the great, who long, long ago became the minister of the divine legislation, had received the end of his life;

he who in the sacred Gospels cries out:

'It was said to those of old, You shall not murder;'

'but I say to you, everyone who is angry with his brother without cause shall be liable to judgment.'

'It was said to those of old, You shall not commit adultery;'

'but I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.' And all the rest likewise.

It is the legislation of this one, then, that the prophet earnestly prays may be furnished to the nations;

so that, forsaking their bestial manner of life,

they may know that they are but men.

'Let the nations know that they are but men.' PSALM 10 ACCORDING TO THE HEBREWS

and by despondency, as by a kind of fire, those who are wronged are consumed, beholding the arrogance of those who do the wrong.

And very aptly he has set the word 'is set on fire' with reference to the despondent;

for the despondent resemble those who are ablaze, and they send forth their groaning through the mouth like a kind of smoke.

But harm, he says, shall come to them from despondency, since they employ thoughts that are unseemly, but are divided in mind concerning your providence.

For this is the meaning of, 'they are caught in the devices which they contrive.' And teaching the cause, he added:

'Because the sinner is praised in the desires of his soul, and the one who does wrong is blessed.' For, doing countless dreadful things, they reap praises from flatterers.

'The sinner has provoked the Lord according to the multitude of his wrath.' Here one must pause, then bring in: 'he will not seek out.' That is, saying, 'he has provoked the Lord,' 'he will not seek out.' For, using frenzy and rage, as though no one were watching, he rushes into every lawlessness, not reckoning that the Judge seeks out the things that are done.

Then he states this more plainly:

'God is not before him.' [The faithless man and the sinner never sets God before his eyes;

but each day and at every season he defiles and befouls his ways, not believing that there is a judgment.] But what is the cause of this? 'His ways are profaned at every season.'

'Your judgments are taken away from before his face.' He utterly despises your laws;

he spends every season in lawlessness.

[For the faithless man belittles and cheapens the commandments of God.] 'He will lord it over all his enemies.' And yet, even doing such things, he prospers.

Then he depicts the excess of his conceit.

'For he said in his heart, I shall not be moved from generation to generation, without evil.' Symmachus rendered this more plainly:

'I shall not be overthrown from generation to generation, nor shall I be in affliction.' And he employs this insolence;

and he thinks he will suffer nothing dreadful, though he pursues every kind of wickedness.

'His mouth is full of cursing, and bitterness, and deceit;'

[Toil that is useless and labour that yields no gain;

apart from this he neither moves nor stirs his tongue.] 8.

'He sits in ambush with the rich, in secret places, to kill the innocent.' Both in gatherings and sitting in councils, he devises certain ambushes and contrivances against the guiltless.

[Those who are rich in impiety live continually in dissimulation;

for they lie in wait for the guileless;

and moreover the rich lie in wait for the poor.

For the devil secretly sought to kill Christ;

for God alone is innocent in his hands and pure in his heart.] 9, 10.

'His eyes look upon the poor man;'

'he lies in wait secretly, like a lion in his den;'

'he lies in wait to seize the poor man, dragging him away.'

'In his snare he will humble him.' Just as the lion turns its eye here and there in search of prey,

so this man, night and day, devises contrivances for plunder and greed;

but like the others he shall be delivered over to the grave.

[The enemy supposed, then, that he ruled even over the apostles themselves, and also over the martyrs;

so when he seemed to have prevailed over all, then, being crushed, he fell;

for the phrase 'he will bow down' signifies being crushed.] 11.

'For he said in his heart, God has forgotten; he has turned away his face so as not to see to the end.' [All these things the impious man does against the poor of God;

deceiving himself and reckoning in his own thoughts that there is no God overseeing.

He said, then, in his heart, God has forgotten; he has turned away his face, so as not to look to the end.] And the impious words and the reasonings of godlessness shall profit him nothing;

but through the very course of events he shall learn that the Ruler of all oversees the affairs of men.

Greatly grieved by these impious words, the Prophet again turns his discourse into prayer, saying, 12.

Arise, O Lord my God, let Thy hand be lifted up;

forget not Thy poor to the end. Since those who live in impiety and lawlessness say by their very deeds that God has forgotten, teach them by experience that Thou hast not forgotten, neither dost Thou turn away Thy face;

but rather Thou dost exercise care over those who are wronged.

And being more vehemently grieved at their blasphemies, he added:

Wherefore hath the ungodly provoked God? For he hath said in his heart, He will not require it. But even if he reckon these things ten thousand times over, Thou seest.

[That is: However much I may swallow up the man, there is none that requireth him, saith the devil.] 14

Thou seest, for Thou dost consider trouble and wrath, that Thou mightest deliver him into Thy hands. For thus also Symmachus distinguished it:

Thou beholdest that Thou dost survey toil and provocation.

Thou hast seen that Thou dost look upon travail and provocation.

Even if, he says, those who live in impiety say ten thousand times that Thou dost not look upon human affairs, we know that Thou seest and dost survey their transgressions, and dost exact from them the deserved penalty.

For unto Thee is the poor man committed; Thou wast a helper to the orphan.

Break Thou the arm of the sinner and the wicked. And this shall come to pass if only Thou wilt to seek out his sin.

For if this should happen, he shall straightway be undone, and shall be given over to utter destruction;

for this he made plain when he said:

His sin shall be sought out, and shall not be found; that is, on account of the sin itself;

and this too Symmachus stated more clearly:

His impiety shall be sought out, that he himself may not be found.

For when that is sought out and exposed, this man perishes.

The Lord is King for ever, and to the age of the age. For since the impious were saying, He requireth not, neither seeth, fittingly the prophetic word teaches that He shall reign, and not simply reign, but to the age of the age.

And it is proper to a king to provide for those he rules.

Ye shall perish, O nations, out of His land — ye that live in lawlessness, that received not the saving proclamation.

The desire of the poor Thou hast heard, O Lord; to the preparation of their heart Thine ear hath given heed. And the 'preparation' Symmachus rendered as 'purpose.'

Thou knowest exactly, he says, what the poor desire, and what purpose they hold.

Then he teaches this more plainly.

To do justice to the orphan and the lowly. This, he says, each of those who are wronged longs for;

That man may no more presume to magnify himself upon the earth. For when those who practise impiety and lawlessness are punished, there will be the greatest benefit for other men, who, looking to these, dare not do the like.

Now the prophet did not join these things to the foregoing psalm without purpose;

but first, wishing to show how the nature of men was disposed of old, and that the only-begotten Word of God, having become man in due time, applied medicines suited to the wounds.

And in addition to these things he teaches that those who were unwilling to receive any benefit from the beneficence, the God of all shall, in the day of His second appearing, deliver over to greater punishments.

And it is fitting for everyone who is wronged and who has acquired hope in God.

And it is inscribed 'Unto the end,' inasmuch as it contains a prediction of the righteous judgment of God, and of the punishment that shall be brought upon the lawless.

How say ye to my soul, Flee to the mountains as a sparrow? Why then, he says, do ye exhort me to flee and to wander about the mountains like a frightened sparrow, and to shift my tents hither and thither, when I hold a firm hope in God, and on account of it do not dread my adversaries? 3

For behold, the sinners have bent their bow;

they have prepared arrows in the quiver, to shoot in the dark moon at the upright in heart.

Some have joined these words also to the verses previously stated;

but what follows does not permit it.

For what Thou hast established, they themselves have pulled down. And from this we are taught that the prophet turned his words toward God, making entreaty, and showing that the weapons of the enemies were ready — both the bows and the arrows — and that their aim was, as it were in a dark and moonless night, to make use of ambushes and snares against us.

For he called the secret and hidden nature of the plot 'a dark moon';

and this name signifies the moonless night.

And he named them 'upright in heart,' not bearing witness to himself of the highest virtue;

but knowing that he had never done anything at all to harm Saul, but had continually treated him with the utmost goodwill.

For what Thou hast established, they themselves have pulled down. I did not seize the kingdom, he says, but I received the appointment from Thy grace.

But those men try to overthrow me, arming themselves against Thy decree.

But the righteous one, what did he do? [5, 6.] The Lord is in His holy temple, the Lord — His throne is in heaven;

His eyes look upon the world, His eyelids try the sons of men.

The Lord tries the righteous and the ungodly. Those men, then, have employed their wickedness against me;

but Thou, the righteous judge, seated upon the heavenly thrones and making Thine own manifestation in the temple that is upon earth, dost survey the whole world, and it suffices Thee with but the eyelids of Thine eyes to discern all things human.

And Thou knowest exactly the deeds both of the unjust and of the just, and Thou dost weigh out the recompenses according to the works.

But it must be known that he speaks of eyes, and eyelids, and thrones, and all other such things, in a more bodily fashion, teaching men divine things from human affairs, and assigning to the divine operations the names of human members.

But he that loveth iniquity hateth his own soul. He that loveth his soul hateth iniquity;

but he that is well-disposed toward it contrives destruction for his soul;

for he draws upon himself the divine wrath, concerning which the prophetic word proceeds to speak.

For He shall rain snares upon the sinners, fire and brimstone and a stormy blast. From the things that had already befallen Sodom he fashions the punishments;

for indeed upon those cities the Lord rained from the Lord fire and brimstone out of heaven.

These things, then, He threatened here also;

not as though He would altogether bring these very things to pass, but through them intimating the punishments of every kind.

The portion of their cup. These things, he says, they have allotted to themselves, having chosen lawlessness.

And here by 'cup' he names the punishment.

And thus also in another psalm: For there is a cup in the hand of the Lord, full of unmixed wine of mixture; and a little after: