Commentary on the Psalms 1 part 37/42

«I beheld the foolish and I pined away, for they kept not Thy words.» So too did the blessed Paul lament over the Jews;

«Behold, I have loved Thy commandments, O Lord; quicken me in Thy mercy.» Continually he makes mention of commandments, and laws, and statutes, and testimonies, showing his longing concerning these things.

«The beginning of Thy words is truth, and all the judgements of Thy righteousness endure for ever.» Thou hast promises that cannot deceive;

with truth Thou dost adorn Thy promises, and by deed Thou dost confirm Thy words.

And by «the beginning of words» he calls the promises made to Abraham.

For from him the race of the Jews took its origin.

But He fulfilled the promises, and multiplied the people in number as the stars of heaven, and in his seed blessed all the nations according to the promises.

For this he intimated when he said, «All the judgements of Thy righteousness endure for ever.» For being a prophet he saw the eternal dominion of Christ.

«Princes have persecuted me without cause, and because of Thy words my heart hath been in awe.» «Those who war against me and persecute me,» he says, «I have not feared, but Thy laws I have held in awe.»

And taking pity even on that parricidal and abominable son, he said,

«Deal gently for my sake with the young man.»

«I will rejoice over Thy sayings, as one that findeth much spoil.» Since he had made mention of enemies who persecute, fittingly he brought forward also the mention of spoils.

And he says: «Even if I had slain all those men, and having despoiled them had gathered ever so many spoils, I would not have rejoiced so much as I do exulting in Thy laws.»

«Iniquity have I hated and abhorred;»

«but Thy law have I loved.» This word too is true.

For he who is fervently disposed toward divine things abhors the contrary.

«Seven times a day have I praised Thee, because of the judgements of Thy righteousness.» Some have interpreted «seven times» as «very many times.»

And this saying, like the former, shows the fervent love of the Prophet;

for he took no surfeit of the divine hymnody.

«Great peace have they that love Thy law, and to them there is no stumbling-block.» They who are set aflame with the divine love, and who acquire peace with Him through the keeping of the commandments, even if they be warred against by all men, live a life full of gladness.

And a witness is the all-inspired Paul, crying out: «In everything afflicted, yet not straitened;»

«perplexed, but not in despair;»

«persecuted, but not forsaken;»

«cast down, but not destroyed.» And the Lord too, having sent forth the holy apostles as sheep in the midst of wolves into all the world, said to them:

«My peace I give unto you, My peace I leave with you.»

«I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord, and have loved Thy commandments.»

«Even when encompassed by calamities, I did not cut off my better hopes;»

«but I continued awaiting Thy salvation, and following Thy commandments.»

«My soul hath kept Thy testimonies, and hath loved them exceedingly.»

«I have kept Thy commandments and Thy testimonies, for all my ways are before Thee, O Lord.» For knowing that Thou dost survey all things, as one living under Thee as spectator, I not only fulfilled Thy commandments, but did so also with a fervent disposition.

«Let my supplication draw near before Thee, O Lord; give me understanding according to Thy word.» Having offered up all his entreaty, he beseeches that his supplication be received and not cast away;

and he entreats to receive understanding, not human, but the knowledge of the divine oracles.

«Let my petition come in before Thee, O Lord;»

«deliver me according to Thy word.» By «petition» he calls his supplication.

«My lips shall pour forth a hymn, when Thou shalt teach me Thy statutes.» The eructation is suited to the nourishment;

«for learning Thy statutes,» he says, «I shall offer up my hymnody to Thee, the Teacher of such things.»

«Let my tongue utter Thy sayings, for all Thy commandments are righteousness.» I will consecrate my tongue to the meditation of Thy oracles, knowing that Thy commandments are adorned with all Thy righteousness.

«Let Thy hand be to save me, for I have chosen Thy commandments.» Symmachus rendered «I chose,» and Aquila and Theodotion «I selected.»

And by «hand» he calls the divine energy, by which he entreats to obtain the divine salvation.

«I have longed for Thy salvation, O Lord, and Thy law is my meditation.» «I yearn,» he says, «to obtain salvation from Thee, having Thy law as my constant meditation.»

«My soul shall live and shall praise Thee, and Thy judgements shall help me.» I know that I shall not fail of my hope, but shall obtain the true life from Thee, and shall praise Thee, the Giver of good things.

«I have gone astray like a lost sheep.» This it befitted the Prophet to say after his sin, and it befits the whole nature of mankind.

«Seek Thy servant, for I have not forgotten Thy commandments.» For even if he transgressed some of them, yet he did not receive a total forgetfulness of them.

But this prayer the Prophet offered up;

yet the whole nature of mankind has obtained salvation.

For the good Shepherd ran after the straying sheep, and going about the mountains and the hills—

for beside these it wandered, serving the demons—

found it, and brought it back upon His shoulders;

and rejoiced over it more than over the ninety and nine that had not gone astray.

But we, having made the interpretation of the psalm in summary fashion, exhort those who read it not to be content with what has been written, nor to think that these things pertain to the Prophet alone;

but that each one should take from these the benefit that is fitting for himself, and prepare a defensive remedy for his own passions.

«A Song of the Ascents.» Theodotion has «A Song of the Goings-up;»

and Symmachus and Aquila, «For the Ascents.»

For the grace of the Spirit, foreseeing both the captivity and the freedom that was to come, foretold both these things and those;

contriving benefit for those of that time, and bringing to us also the gain that comes therefrom.

But each of the ascents does not prophesy the same things: one prophesies the calamities in Babylon, another the good tidings of the return;

Another refers it to the gladness experienced along the way;

another to the wars that arose after the return;

yet another to the building of the temple.

And the variety of the prophecy drives away any surfeit of the melody.

Each of these psalms has been cast in the form of the choir of the saints who lived at that time.

For the prophetic word introduces them speaking the words here set forth.

The first of the Songs of Ascents, however, recounts both the calamities and the divine favour.

'In my affliction I cried unto the Lord, and he heard me.' The opening has taught both the greatness of the distress and the surpassing measure of the divine loving-kindness.

Then he says also with what words he made his supplication.

'O Lord, deliver my soul from unjust lips, and from a deceitful tongue.' I entreat, he says, to be freed from those who unjustly plot against me and who employ deceitful frauds.

'What shall be given unto thee, and what shall be added unto thee, against a deceitful tongue? Sharpened arrows of the mighty one, together with coals of the desert.' Here the grace of the Spirit consoles those who are downcast, and points to the just sentence being brought forth against those who have practised deceit.

By 'arrows of the mighty one' he means the sharpness of the punishments,

using a metaphor drawn from arrows that are sped forth and easily cleave the air.

And by 'coals of the desert' he means the vehemence of the punishment, its consuming and desolating power.

For such is the nature of fire.

It is as if to say: Do not be downcast when struck by the unjust tongue;

for ready at hand are the punishments sent forth by the just Judge, imitating in their working both the sharpness of arrows and the desolating power of coals.

'Woe is me, that my sojourning is prolonged.' These things, he says, I spoke as I prayed, and hearing them the Lover of mankind had compassion; and by 'sojourning' he calls the manner of life in a foreign land.

And the seventieth year is with good reason reckoned as a long time;

for the Prophet said that this is the full span of human life:

'For the days of our years in them are seventy years.' — 'I dwelt with the tents of Kedar.' Kedar was the second son of Ishmael, and his descendants have to this very day pitched their tents not far from Babylon.

Since, then, from of old they were disposed in enmity toward one another;

for it says: 'Cast out the bondwoman and her son;

for the son of the bondwoman shall by no means inherit together with my son Isaac.'

with reason do they lament themselves, as having fallen from their former freedom and as living close to the state of half-slaves and being compelled to serve.

'My soul has long sojourned.' Long, he says, is the time of the sojourning.

'With those who hated peace I was peaceable;

when I spoke to them, they made war upon me without cause.' Here he sets forth the wickedness of the Babylonians;

for having, he says, nothing to lay to my charge, they plotted against me, and treated as enemies those who embraced peace.

A Song of Ascents. This psalm too is suited to those still dwelling in Babylon.

'I lifted up my eyes unto the mountains, whence my help shall come.' Beset on every side by many and manifold afflictions, I turned my eyes in every direction, longing to obtain some succour.

'My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.' But I know that I shall receive no aid from any human quarter, and that for me the favour of God alone suffices.

And showing the mightiness of that help, he added:

'Of him who made heaven and earth.' For he who fashioned these things by a word is able to succour me also.

Hence the Prophet expounds to them what they ought to do.

'May he not suffer thy foot to be moved, nor may he that keepeth thee slumber.' If thou abide, he says, holding firm thy hope in him, thou shalt obtain from him all care and protection.

Now the phrase 'He that keepeth thee shall not slumber' he has set down in a human manner, drawing a metaphor from those who diligently guard flocks and armies and cities.

For that the divine nature is impassible, he made clear through what follows.

'Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.' By nature the Keeper is sleepless; but if thou art shaken, he too will receive, as it were, a kind of slumber in the form of neglect.

For he will no longer take thought for thee, but will hand thee over to those who have chosen to plot against thee.

'The Lord shall keep thee, the Lord is thy shelter upon thy right hand.' This he said also in the fifteenth psalm:

'I foresaw the Lord always before me, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved.' And here therefore he says: since I have come to be at thy right hand, he will both shelter and guard thee, and account thee worthy of all providence.

'By day the sun shall not scorch thee, neither the moon by night.' They say that the moon is not only moist but also warm, and burns bodies in like manner to the sun.

And he says: both by night and by day, enjoying his providence, thou shalt be preserved unharmed.

He reminds them also of an ancient history.

For indeed, when they were set free from the bondage of the Egyptians, being overshadowed by the cloud, they had no experience of the sun's flame.

'The Lord shall keep thee from all evil; the Lord shall keep thy soul.'

'The Lord shall keep thy going out and thy coming in, from this time forth and even for evermore.' Through what has been said he has made plain the all-encompassing providence of God;

and when it is present, we become stronger than our warring foes, and we escape the snares of things both visible and invisible.

A Song of Ascents. The foregoing psalms the prophet fitted to those in despondency;

but this present one he fits to those who have already received the good tidings of the return, and have set out upon the longed-for journey.

For rejoicing and dancing for joy, they say to one another:

'I was glad because of those who said unto me:'

'We will go into the house of the Lord.' This is the voice of piety;

for they exult and rejoice, not as being about to recover their houses, but as being about to behold the divine house.

'Our feet were standing in thy courts, O Jerusalem.' Already, he says, we seem to be standing in those sacred courts, and to be performing the divine liturgies.

'Jerusalem is built as a city, whose participation is together in one.' But Symmachus has it thus:

'Jerusalem, which is built as a city having close conjunction.'

For she who is now desolate, and has her houses scattered abroad, shall again flourish, and be closely built up, and recover her former precincts.

'For thither the tribes went up, the tribes of the Lord;'

and after the return there came to be a single governance, and all ran together to Jerusalem according to the divine law, offering to God the customary liturgy.

the tribes shall recover their former concord, and shall run together to Jerusalem, hymning God after their custom.

And he called the divine law a 'testimony,' which expressly commands Israel to run together to the place which the Lord God shall choose.

For since in Jerusalem not only the divine temple was built, but also the royal palace;

and thither all ran together to settle their disputes, the prophet of necessity foretold this also:

namely, that the ten tribes shall not run to Samaria;

'Ask now the things that are for the peace of Jerusalem, and prosperity to those who love thee.' But Symmachus has it thus:

'Salute Jerusalem; may those who love thee be at rest,' that is to say: Having enjoyed deep peace, salute the dwelling of Jerusalem.

For in all gladness of heart do those who love her continue.

'May there be peace in thy strength, and prosperity in thy towers.' But Symmachus has it thus:

May there be peace in your enclosure, tranquillity in your palaces.

For the sake of my brethren and my neighbours, I would indeed speak of peace concerning you.

For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I sought good things for you. These things, he says, I pray for you, though I myself no longer have my citizenship among you;

for how could he, who had already long before received the end of his life? But longing that his kinsmen should attain peace, and desiring that the house of my God should recover its former splendour.

And this psalm too displays the piety of the righteous who lived at that time.

He said that God dwells in heaven, not as though circumscribed by a place, but as taking delight in the invisible powers that inhabit heaven.

Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hands of their masters, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hands of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God. For just as, he says, household servants look to the hands of their masters, inasmuch as from thence they gather the means of their livelihood;

He mentioned the maidservant, however, not by way of tautology, but to show the intensity of the disposition.

For maidservants, more than menservants, inasmuch as they are together with their mistresses in the inner chambers, are wont to attend to them continually, and long for their good will.

Until he have mercy upon us. For we do not limit this hope to any fixed time, but wait until we be deemed worthy of clemency.

Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us. The repetition signifies the fervour of the petition.

For we are exceedingly filled with contempt.

[verse 4] Our soul is exceedingly filled. We ask for mercy, he says, not as being worthy to obtain it, but as having become exceedingly deserving of reproach.

The reproach to those who prosper, and the contempt to the proud. But Symmachus renders it thus: Our soul has been sated with the scorn of those who prosper, with the contempt of the proud.

For when the boastful Babylonians mocked us and jeered at us, we were grieved.

But according to the Seventy it is to be understood thus:

A Song of Ascents. After the return from Babylon, all the neighbouring peoples, indignant at the freedom of the Jews, jointly undertook war against them, and gathering barbarian nations, marched against them all together, hoping to extinguish even their very memory.

But again the God of all sufficed to aid his own, and struck down all the enemies.

Most of the prophets say these things—Joel, and Ezekiel, and Micah, and Zechariah, and many others besides these.

If it had not been that the Lord was among us, let Israel now say.

[verses 2, 3] If it had not been that the Lord was among us, when men rose up against us.

Then they would have swallowed us up alive. Do not ascribe, he says, the victory to your own power, for God became the provider of it.

Say therefore to one another, as you dance for joy: If we had not obtained the divine help, when so many enemies had assembled against us, we would not even have been deemed worthy of burial, but would have been swallowed alive as by wild beasts.

When his wrath was kindled against us. By these words he indicated the envy and hostility of the neighbouring nations.

Then the water would have drowned us.

Our soul passed through a torrent;

then our soul passed through the water that could not be withstood. He has said all this figuratively.

For since he had said, Then they would have swallowed us up alive, he shows the excess of the multitude, assailing like a torrent, and expecting to overwhelm them all.

And fittingly he has set down the image of the torrent.

For just as a torrent, gathered from many rains, becomes more violent, so those who at that time assailed Jerusalem were gathered together from many and diverse nations;

but they were destroyed by a righteous verdict.

For this is what the prophet teaches.

Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as a prey to their teeth. At the same time he indicated both their cruelty and God's aid;

for he set down the teeth, showing their cruelty.

Our soul was delivered like a sparrow out of the snare of the fowlers. Gratefully they confess their own weakness, likening themselves to a sparrow, and they proclaim the power of God, showing the strength of their enemies.

For they call those men fowlers;

and he also teaches the manner of the deliverance.

The snare was broken, and we were delivered. For we enjoyed not only deliverance, but also saw the destruction of our enemies. [verse 8]

Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth. For this reason we despise all human power, having as our helper the maker of heaven and earth, whose very name suffices for our salvation.

A Song of Ascents. Those who had obtained that victory sing the hymn of triumph, and proclaim the strength of the hope that is in God.

They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion. He who is fortified by hope in God shall remain, like Mount Zion, unshaken and immovable, conspicuous and much regarded.

He that dwells in Jerusalem shall not be moved for ever. He who dwells in Jerusalem must order his life according to the laws of Jerusalem.

For to those who thus dwell, and obey the aim of the law, the prophet promised steadfastness.

...of it, and the Lord is round about his people. For just as the mountains encircle the city, so the divine care fences round the pious people;

From henceforth, and even for ever. For the power of God is not temporary, but eternal, and he deems those worthy of it who greatly value his service.

For the Lord will not leave the rod of sinners upon the lot of the righteous. God, through Isaiah the prophet, called the Assyrians also the rod of his wrath: Woe, he says, to the Assyrians, the rod of my wrath and of my anger, which is in their hands;

I will send my anger against a lawless nation, and I will charge my people to make spoil and plunder. That is to say, using the Assyrians as a kind of rod, I chastise those who deserve it.

So the prophet says here too that the Lord of all, using a righteous verdict, will not permit the rod of the lawless to be brought upon the company of the righteous.

Then he also teaches the reason.

That the righteous may not stretch out their hands to iniquities. That is, lest, he says, those who care for what is fitting, supposing everything to be disordered and ungoverned, should incline to the worse, and draw upon themselves the harm that comes therefrom.

for he entreats that the good may receive equal recompense.

This the Lord also said:

With what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again. And:

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. [verse 5]

But those who turn aside to crooked ways the Lord will lead away with the workers of iniquity. As for the crooked ways, Aquila rendered them as 'entanglements,' Symmachus as 'perversities,' and Theodotion as 'things distorted.'

Yet the prophet asked for nothing unjust;

but rather that the good should enjoy good things, while those who forsook the divine way, and made use of entanglements and crooked devices, should find a corresponding end.

Peace be upon Israel. For while those received destruction, these enjoyed peace.

It is fitting, moreover, to know that Jacob obtained this appellation when he was deemed worthy of the divine vision.

Accordingly he has as bearers of the same name those who are of like manner, and who have acquired a pure faith and soul.

For not all who are of Israel are Israel, but those who embrace the piety of Israel.

A Song of Ascents. Cyrus, when he became king, commanded all the Jews to return; but most of them, having a wicked disposition and resisting the divine laws in everything, were unwilling to return.

But as many as took care for their ancestral piety, and longed for the worship according to the law, gladly made the return.

These then, in this psalm, rejoice as they behold their own freedom;

and they pray that their kinsmen too may obtain it.

When the Lord turned back the captivity of Zion, we became as those who are comforted. Here the word 'as' has the force of intensification.

We enjoyed, he says, great gladness of heart, when God released the term of the punishment, and bestowed freedom upon the captives.

Then was our mouth filled with joy, and our tongue with exultation. For straightway, being poured out with gladness of heart, we moved our tongues to hymn-singing.

For 'exultation,' Aquila rendered as 'praise,' and Symmachus as 'benediction.'

Then shall they say among the nations, The Lord has done great things for them. This has made us renowned among all.

For all men marvel at the mighty work of God, that He delivered us from that bitter servitude.

And we ourselves, indeed, cry aloud.

That those who have obtained mercy should sicken with ingratitude.

In calling Jerusalem 'the South,' he assigned the name from its position; thus both Ezekiel and Habakkuk name it.

Thus both Ezekiel and Habakkuk name it.

For the south wind, being moist, fills the air with clouds and brings on violent rains.

And moreover, being of a nature to dissolve the snow, it fills the torrents with water.

Therefore, he says, in this same way command that our kinsmen too, scattered everywhere, be gathered together and make their journey after the manner of a torrent.

'Those who sow in tears shall reap in exultation.' We do not make our supplications in vain, but knowing the fruits of tears.

For those who cast down their seed together with these tears are made glad when they behold the abundant harvest.

'They went on their way and wept, casting down their seed.'

A Song of the Steps, of Solomon. Of old, Solomon built the divine temple; but when it had been destroyed by the Babylonians, Zerubbabel raised it up again.

This one, I think, is called Solomon, both as tracing his descent from Solomon and as renewing Solomon's work.

For the prophetic word does not fit Solomon's building, but that which was accomplished by Zerubbabel after the return.

At that time they were themselves attempting to build, but their neighbors hindered them, both by continually making war upon them and by inciting the kingdom of the Persians against them.

And these things the Scripture of Ezra teaches more clearly.

Those, then, who were with Zerubbabel and Joshua the son of Shealtiel, and those with them who were adorned with piety, offer this introduction of the psalm.

'Unless the Lord build the house, in vain do they labor who build it.'

'Unless the Lord guard the city, in vain does the watchman keep watch.' Let no one, neither of those who build nor of those who guard, take confidence in his own power, but let him call upon the divine aid.

For when this aid works together with us, either task is easy.

But when God withholds His help, the zeal of men is vain.

'It is in vain for you to rise early; rise up after you have sat down, you who eat the bread of sorrow.' The word 'rise up' is not imperative but infinitive.

He says that all things are vain when the God of all does not work together with us — both the rising early and the standing up, whether for the guarding of the city or for the building that lies before them.

'When He gives sleep to His beloved.'

[Verse 3.] 'Behold, the inheritance of the Lord is sons, the reward is the fruit of the womb.' Here he called rest 'sleep' figuratively.

For sleep too affords rest to men.

Therefore, he says, when God deems us worthy of His own care, we shall be able to overcome those who war against us, and to build without toil, and to live in safety, and to sleep free from care, and to become the fathers of many children according to the divine promise.

For He promised to make our race like the sand that is by the shore of the sea.

'Behold, the inheritance of the Lord is sons, the reward is the fruit of the womb'; that is, the divine promise and the blessing concerning children has been bestowed on us who have hoped in Him, as a kind of reward.

And in accordance with this both Aquila and Symmachus have rendered it.

And he says: 'We who trust in God shall be not only many, but also mighty, like arrows shot from the hand of some mighty man.'

'And we who are now weak and utterly afflicted (for this is what 'shaken off' signifies) shall become exceedingly strong, having enjoyed the aid from above.'

'Blessed is he who shall fill his desire from them' — that is, from the enemies.

For not only shall we not be defeated, but we shall also prevail over these, and become the envy of all.

'They shall not be put to shame when they speak with their enemies in the gates' — that is, when before the gates we converse with the envoys sent by the enemy.

He said this according to the ancient custom.

For they did not receive the envoys sent to them within the gates, but conducted their negotiations outside.

A Song of the Steps. Having shown in the preceding psalm how many good things trust in God procures, here he pronounces blessed those who, together with hope, possess the divine fear, through which also the possession of virtue is gained.

And a manner of life according to God is necessary for those who have believed in God; for this is the perfect definition of piety.

'Blessed are all they that fear the Lord.' It was not the one descended from Abraham's line, nor the one of the seed of Israel, that the prophetic word blessed, but the one adorned with the divine fear.

This too the blessed Peter says in the Acts.

'In truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that fears Him and works righteousness is acceptable to Him.' And the prophetic word also indicated the character of the divine fear.