Commentary on the Psalms 1 part 40/42

'Coals shall fall upon them; in the fire Thou shalt cast them down.' For as with a kind of fire, Thou shalt consume them with Thine anger.

'In miseries, and they shall not stand.' They shall fall into calamities, and shall not survive them.

And these things befell Saul in the war against the foreigners.

For there, being slain, he met the end of his life.

And he teaches that they miss their aim who, for the sake of wealth and dominion, make use of falsehood, and do not obtain the things they crave.

'Evils shall hunt the unjust man unto destruction.' For these very things Saul also endured;

for he was taken in the war, and received the deadly wound.

'I know that the Lord will execute the judgment of the poor, and the cause of the needy.' 'I have learned,' he says, 'the justice of the divine verdict, and I know that He will not leave those who are destitute of all human help an easy prey to be harmed by their enemies, but will exact fitting penalties from the unjust.'

'Nevertheless the righteous shall give thanks unto Thy name, and the upright shall dwell in Thy presence.' For this very reason the choir of the righteous sings Thy praise, since it obtains from Thee this loving care.

And they love Thy presiding presence, ever picturing Thee to themselves, and supposing that they behold Thy face.

Such is that which was said in the fifteenth psalm: 'I foresaw the Lord always before me, for He is at my right hand, that I should not be moved.' INTERPRETATION.

For being pursued by Saul, he entreats God.

For he calls the eagerness of the soul a 'cry.'

'Let my prayer be set forth as incense before Thee;'

'the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice.' To prayer he joined the practice of virtue.

For the lifting up of the hands signifies this;

for the hands have been entrusted with labour.

And he implores that his prayer be sent up in a manner like the vapour of incense, and that it imitate the fragrance thereof.

And likewise that the stretching out of his hands might appear like an evening sacrifice.

He made mention, however, of an evening and not a morning sacrifice, since he was in calamities and sorrows;

and calamity resembles darkness and night.

But nevertheless the Prophet entreats to enjoy yet another guarding, fearing lest he should utter something unseemly while complaining.

For that, even when pursued by Saul, he never allowed himself to speak anything blasphemous, the history bears witness.

For indeed, when they attempted to slay him, he himself named him the Anointed of the Lord.

And conversing with him, he called himself his servant; and the one who reported the slaying of Saul, boasting that he had done it, he put to death, saying:

'Thy blood be upon thine own head, because thou hast said that thou didst slay the Anointed of the Lord.' [4.]

'Incline not my heart to words of wickedness, to make excuses in sins.' He entreats not only that his tongue be guarded, but also the very movements of his mind, so that not even in those might any reasoning be found contrary to the divine laws.

Instead of 'to make excuses in sins,' Symmachus said 'lawless thoughts.'

And according to the Seventy also it must be understood thus:

it was therefore not unjust to slay such a man, since the law declares, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and shalt hate thine enemy.' But looking ahead to the gospel manner of life, he wished to live according to that;

and he prays to take no occasion unto sin.

'With men that work iniquity, and I will not join with their chosen ones.' 'For these things,' he says, 'the workers of lawlessness do;'

'but let me have no fellowship with them, even though they possess the utmost prosperity.'

For here he calls 'the chosen ones' of the wicked those who are prospering.

'The righteous man shall chasten me with mercy, and reprove me.'

'But let not the oil of the sinner anoint my head.' More welcome to me, he says, are the painful things that come from the righteous for the sake of discipline and profit, than the pleasant things offered by sinners; and though these latter, like oil, make the head shine, the former afford me a life more agreeable.

For I choose rather to be disciplined by the righteous than to be indulged by sinners.

'For my prayer also shall still be against their good pleasures.' But Symmachus renders it thus:

'And my prayer moreover is within their evils.'

For I am so far from envying their prosperity that I even pray for them to be changed, so that, once their good fortune is altered, they may receive a turning away from their wickedness.

'Their judges have been swallowed up beside the rock.' Before long, he says, they shall vanish away, and those who have grasped the height of power shall be as men engulfed beneath submerged rocks covered by the waters—which is to say, they shall be handed over to oblivion.

'They shall hear my words, for they are sweet.' Having learned by experience the truth of my words, they shall also perceive the delight and profit of them.

'As a lump of earth is broken upon the ground, their bones have been scattered beside Hades.' By 'lump of earth' he means the compactness of the soil, which, when cut by the plough, is divided into clods.

to death, and in the tombs their bones shall be scattered.

For by 'beside Hades' he called the tombs.

'For unto Thee, O Lord, O Lord, are mine eyes; in Thee have I hoped; take not away my soul.' But I put my confidence in nothing human; rather I await Thy help, and I entreat that my soul be not stripped of it.

'Keep me from the snare which they have laid for me, and from the stumbling-blocks of them that work iniquity.' He made mention of these snares and stumbling-blocks also in the psalm before this one.

By 'snares' and 'stumbling-blocks' he means the plots, from which he entreats to be delivered.

'The sinners shall fall into his net'—that is, into God's.

For those who set snares for others shall themselves be caught, as in a net, by the divine punishment, and shall endure the very things they do, and shall suffer what they bring upon others.

'I am alone until I pass by.' But I shall continue set apart from these until I receive the end of my life.

Then, beholding Saul brought down there, he drove out the timidity of his mind;

and he called upon the divine help, and obtained it.

'With my voice I cried unto the Lord, with my voice I made supplication unto the Lord.' And from this it is clear that by 'crying' he means the eagerness of the mind.

For how could one who was hiding, and eager to escape notice, have cried out with an audible voice? He says therefore that 'With all eagerness I besought God.'

'I will pour out my supplication before Him; I will declare my affliction before Him.' And my calamity, he says, I have made plain to Him, and the supplication concerning it I have diligently presented;

and by the word 'I will pour out' he indicated the abundance of his supplication.

'When my spirit was fainting within me.' These things I did as I beheld the excess of my woes;

for I was encamped beside death itself.

'And Thou knewest my paths.' All my affairs are plain to Thee, and none of my deeds has escaped Thine eye.

'In this way wherein I walked they hid a snare for me.' Even those who hunt beasts track out the paths of the beasts, and along them set their traps.

This the devil also does;

and to him who journeys along the road of temperance he sets the trap of pleasure-seeking;

to him who delights in almsgiving, the net of vainglory;

to him who despises money, the occasions of covetousness;

to virginity, arrogance; and, in a word, for each manner of life the ambush that easily takes it.

'I looked on the right hand, and beheld, but there was no one that knew me.' I saw no helper anywhere, from any quarter, he says.

'Refuge failed me, and there is none that seeketh after my soul.' I have fallen into inescapable toils, and I find no way of flight, nor any who would defend me.

'I cried unto Thee, O Lord; I said:'

'Thou art my hope.' Thee therefore do I entreat, on whom I have hung all my hopes.

'Thou art my portion in the land of the living.'

and now likewise he has done this same thing.

For I have no other help, he says, but Thee alone as my defender, and through Thee I implore to obtain life.

By 'humiliation' here he means his calamities.

For this Symmachus also made plain: 'Give ear to my words, for I am brought exceedingly low.'

'Deliver me from them that persecute me, for they are stronger than I.' Mine enemies have become mightier than I;

but by Thy support I shall escape their hands.

'by Thy name.' But Aquila renders it thus: 'Bring my soul out of confinement.'

For he was held as in a certain prison and dungeon, while the enemies sat before the door of the cave.

And he promises, on obtaining his salvation, to repay God's benefactions with hymns.

'The righteous shall wait for me until Thou recompense me.' But Symmachus renders it thus: 'The righteous shall be crowned with Thy name when Thou dost show me kindness;'

for they shall receive the benefaction wrought toward me as a pledge of the salvation to be shown to them, and they shall hymn Thee, the righteous Judge.

Yet nevertheless it holds fast to the truth.

For this very subject the psalm has as its theme.

'O Lord, hear my prayer; give ear to my supplication in Thy truth;'

'hearken unto me in Thy righteousness.'

yet Absalom was unrighteous, and lawless, and impious, and a parricide, having desired the slaughter of his own father.

'And enter not into judgment with Thy servant, for in Thy sight shall no living man be justified.' In truth, he says, and in righteousness I have besought Thee with my words, not trusting in my own righteousness, but knowing the lawlessness of the enemies.

For I know that it is impossible for anyone to escape guiltless from Thy tribunal.

For if Thou wert to set the rule of the laws ordained by Thee alongside the lives of men, no one would be found to have lived according to it;

and if Thou wert to bring into the midst Thy benefactions also, and all the good things Thou hast supplied to men, what human righteousness in turn could be made equal to Thy gifts?

'For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath brought my life down to the ground.' I entreat therefore to obtain Thy truth and righteousness, not as one being judged between me and Thee, but as one whose cause is pleaded between me and the enemies.

For I have been cast out by them from the kingdom, driven from my homeland.

This his humiliation the history also teaches.

For unshod, and with his head covered, and weeping, he walked.

'He hath made me to dwell in dark places, as those that have been long dead.' For I differ in nothing from a dead man shut up in darkness, having been driven out and compelled to spend my days in desert places.

'And my spirit was in anguish within me.' For this cause I am filled with much despondency and grief.

For by 'spirit' here he means the soul.

'My heart within me was troubled.' All my thoughts, he says, were filled with turmoil and tempest.

'I remembered the days of old; I meditated on all Thy works; I mused on the works of Thy hands.' I took into my mind, he says, from how many calamities Thou didst free our forefathers, and how Thou didst not suffer them to be easily overcome by the enemies;

and I called to remembrance the things concerning Abraham, the things concerning Isaac, the things concerning Jacob, the things concerning Joseph, the things concerning Moses;

and from this I took consolation.

'My soul thirsteth for Thee like a waterless land.' Even so do I thirst for Thy help, just as the waterless land awaits the rain.

'Hear me speedily, O Lord; my spirit hath failed.' By these words he showed the excess of his despondency;

For this is the affliction proper to those who are exceedingly distressed.

'Turn not away Thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.' For if Thou shouldst abhor my supplication because of my sin, I shall straightway be delivered over unto death.

For by 'pit' he figuratively named death.

...to escape; even so, for one who is dead to come to life again is among the impossible things, unless God will it.

'Cause me to hear Thy mercy in the morning, for in Thee have I hoped.' Make known to me, he says, Thy loving-kindness, that I may not fall short of my hope.

For here by 'morning' he named 'quickly.'

'Make known to me, O Lord, the way wherein I should walk, for unto Thee have I lifted up my soul.' Be Thou my guide, he says, and show me the straight path.

'Deliver me from mine enemies, O Lord; unto Thee have I fled for refuge.' Fleeing my foes, I have Thee as a place of refuge, and I entreat to be freed from their plotting.

'Thy good Spirit shall lead me into a land of uprightness.' And from this too we are taught the dignity of the Spirit.

For just as God is good, so also the Spirit is named good.

And as he besought God to guide him, so also he entreats to enjoy the guidance of the Spirit, that nothing may appear to him rough or difficult, but that he may travel a straight road, smooth and free from wandering.

'For Thy name's sake, O Lord, Thou shalt quicken me.' Thou didst put me forward as king.

I enjoyed Thy vote and appointment, and I fear lest, being overlooked by Thee, I become an occasion of blasphemy against Thy name.

Therefore look not upon my worth, but for the good repute of Thy name grant me salvation.

'In Thy righteousness Thou shalt bring my soul out of tribulation.' For having judged between me and my foes, Thou shalt justly free me from the calamities brought upon me by them.

'And in Thy mercy Thou shalt destroy mine enemies, and Thou shalt cut off all them that afflict my soul; for I am Thy servant.' This he also said in the 135th psalm: 'To Him that smote Egypt with their firstborn, for His mercy endureth for ever.' And here he said, 'In Thy mercy Thou shalt destroy mine enemies.' For mercy toward the one who is wronged brings destruction upon the one who does the wrong.

Thus also the excellent husbandman cuts out the thorns by the roots, but waters and tends the plants.

In some of the copies I found added to the title, 'Against Goliath.' But I found it neither in the Hebrew, nor among the other translators, nor indeed among the Seventy in the Hexapla.

Many of the prophets made mention of the nations that rose up against the Jews after the return from Babylon.

But more fully than the others did the divine Ezekiel.

And he says these things also among many others:

'After many days thou shalt be made ready, and thou shalt come into a land turned back from the sword, gathered from many peoples, upon the land of Jerusalem, which had become utterly desolate.'

'And they have come forth out of the nations, and they shall all dwell in peace.'

'And thou shalt come up as rain, and thou shalt come as a tempest, and as a cloud, to cover the land; and thou shalt fall, thou and all who are about thee, and many nations with thee.' Then after many things he teaches also the manner of the death.

'And I will summon against him fear of the sword upon all my mountains, saith the Lord Adonai.'

'A man's sword shall be against his brother, and I will judge him with death and with blood and with overflowing rain and with hailstones.'

'And I will rain fire and brimstone upon them, and upon all who are with him, and upon many nations that are with him.' It is open to whoever wishes to learn these things more precisely by consulting the prophecy.

These things this psalm also foretells:

'Bow Thy heavens, O Lord, and come down.'

'Touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.'

'Flash forth Thy lightning, and Thou shalt scatter them.'

'Blessed be the Lord my God, who teacheth my hands for the battle line, my fingers for war.' For having just returned from Babylon, and being deprived both of arms and of ramparts, by the divine assistance those who had returned prevailed over their adversaries.

And what has been said fits us also.

For having been freed from the tyranny of the devil, we have been taught by God to make war:

with our hands, by working righteousness;

and by our fingers, placing upon our foreheads the seal of the cross.

'My mercy and my refuge, my defender and my helper and my deliverer, and in Him have I hoped.' From the deeds he formed the appellations.

For Thou, he says, art my mercy; for from Thee have I received the fountains of mercy.

Thou art my refuge; for having fled to Thee I was saved.

Thou art my helper; for having enjoyed Thy assistance, I became stronger than my foes.

Thou art my deliverer and my defender. For Thou didst both fence me about when warred upon, and didst rescue me when besieged.

Therefore I shall hold my hope in Thee firm.

'Who subdueth my people under me.' This fits Zerubbabel, and Joshua the priest;

for these were leading the people at that time.

'Lord, what is man, that Thou art made known to him? or the son of man, that Thou takest account of him?' Instead of 'art made known,' Symmachus rendered 'makest Thyself known.'

Exceedingly, he says, do I marvel at Thy measureless loving-kindness;

that, being God and the Maker of all things, Thou takest such care of this lowly creature;

then he shows the perishableness of our nature.

'Man is made like unto vanity; his days pass away as a shadow.' Theodotion says, 'Man is made like unto a vapour.'

For like a vapour that gathers and easily dissolves, the nature of men is corrupted, and their life travels along much like a shadow;

since Thou dost so care for perishable men.

'O Lord, bow Thy heavens, and come down.' He used the words in a human manner, not because he thought the divine nature circumscribed by heaven, but summoning the Helper for the punishment of his foes.

'Touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.' For this also happened on Mount Sinai.

'For the mountain,' it says, 'smoked.'

'Flash forth lightning, and Thou shalt scatter them; send forth Thine arrows, and Thou shalt trouble them.' He casts his words in the form of prayer;

but he foretells the things to come, which God had foretold through the prophet Ezekiel;

for so did He utterly consume all those.

And by 'hand' he named the operative power, as we have often said.

'Take me out, and rescue me from many waters.' By 'many waters' he named the multitude of foes.

So also in the 123rd psalm he said, 'Our soul passed through a torrent, the water that could not be withstood.' And teaching that he figuratively named the enemies 'waters,' he added:

'Out of the hand of strange sons.' And he called them 'strange,' not as being of another race, but as being ungodly.

'And their right hand is a right hand of iniquity.' And to the words correspond the deeds.

For as they blaspheme in words, so also they do wrong in deeds.

For this right hand of theirs works nothing right, but has been shown to be an instrument of iniquity.

'O God, I will sing unto Thee a new song; on a psaltery of ten strings will I make melody unto Thee.' For I shall not be ungrateful when I have obtained salvation, but using the accustomed instruments I shall pay the hymn of thanksgiving.

By 'evil sword' he named the frenzy and savagery of those who came against him;

and the same he calls also 'strange sons,' as being ungodly.

'Whose mouth hath spoken vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of iniquity.' Not in vain did he use the repetition;

but being about to recount their prosperity, he took up the accusation of their wickedness, rousing God to help.

For those who thus blaspheme Thee, he says, and live in iniquity and wickedness, are borne along with fair winds, and having received from Thee the abundance of good things, they have their prosperity as provision for their injustice.

'Whose sons are like newly planted shoots, firmly set in their youth.' They have enjoyed, he says, a wealth of children and goodly offspring, and they are encircled by their sons, who resemble young, freshly flourishing plants.

'Their daughters are adorned, decked out like the likeness of a temple.' For not only does the beauty of nature make them comely, but by artful contrivance they also array themselves in much ornament;

so that they are likened to temples adorned in honour of idols.

Such is the way of cosmetics and of the courtesan.

'Their storehouses are full, overflowing from this into that.' For whenever they see their vessels filled beyond their need, they transfer the surplus once more into others;

like the man who said, 'I will pull down my barns and build greater ones.' 'Their sheep are prolific, multiplying in their pastures.'

[14] 'Their oxen are fat.' Their cattle are well-nourished and fruitful.

'There is no breaking down of a wall, nor any going forth, nor any outcry in their streets.' Symmachus renders it thus: 'Neither breach, nor carrying-out (of the dead), nor wailing in their streets.'

And so likewise the other translators.

These same things he also spoke of in the seventy-second Psalm, that 'There is no denial in their death, and firmness in their scourging.'

'They are not in the toils of men, and they shall not be scourged with men.' We find in the other prophets also many things in harmony with these;

but they all supply the solution to the matters in dispute.

'They called blessed the people who have these things; blessed is the people whose Lord is their God.' For those uninitiated into the truth do not know how to discern the nature of things, but define good fortune by luxury, wealth, and power, and they call those who enjoy these things enviable and blessed.

But those initiated into virtue, having partaken of the divine wisdom, call blessed the people whom Thou dost providentially care for, and they prefer Thy guardianship above all of life.

In such beatitudes as these the Lord also instructed us;

saying, 'Blessed are the poor in spirit; blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness; and blessed are those who mourn; and blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake;'

'for of such is the kingdom of heaven.' But those who choose the pleasure of this life, having enjoyed it for a little while, shall reap long-lasting grief from their brief pleasure.

For he exhorts them to hymn the God of all things, mindful of God's power, His mighty works, His kingship, and His majesty.

The grace of the Spirit composed other such psalms as well, rousing that people to thankfulness.

It also contains a prophecy of the calling and the coming to knowledge of the Gentiles.

This hymn too is composed according to the alphabet, and through its repetition it teaches the Prophet's longing.

'I will exalt Thee, my God, my King, and I will bless Thy name for ever, and unto ages of ages.' By nature God is Most High, and He does not possess His height as something introduced from without.

the well-taught teach also those who are ignorant.

Such is that which was said by Christ in the Gospels;

'Father, I have glorified Thy name on the earth.' And a little later He teaches that He did not give Him glory which He did not have before, but rather that He laid bare the glory which He had.

For He said, 'I have manifested Thy name to men.'

So too the Father did not give the Son glory which He did not have before;

but rather taught those who were ignorant the glory which He had.

So here too, then, the Prophet does not promise to make God exalted, but rather, as far as is possible, to display His height to men;

and he names the God of all as his own God and King, being led to do this by love.

'Every day will I bless Thee, and praise Thy name for ever, and unto ages of ages.' I will continue, he says, ever to hymn Thee, and I will leave no single day without a share in the singing of praise.

'Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and of His greatness there is no end.' Since every perceptible magnitude is shown to be great by being measured in length, breadth, and depth, he fittingly added that 'Of His greatness there is no end,' so as to show that the One being hymned is both incorporeal and uncircumscribed.

For I know Him, he says, to be great, yet not attainable, nor indeed measurable.

For I find neither beginning nor end of His greatness.

For this is infinite, and surpasses all comprehension.

'Generation and generation shall praise Thy works, and shall declare Thy power.' From this point he proclaimed beforehand the divine knowledge of the Gentiles.

For not only we, he says, who are of Israel, shall hymn Thee the Benefactor in this generation, but another generation also, the Church of the Gentiles, shall proclaim the mighty working of Thy works.

'They shall speak of the magnificence of the glory of Thy holiness, and shall recount Thy wonders.' The nature of the One being hymned overcomes the Prophet's power.

For seeking worthy and fitting appellations, and then failing to attain them, he weaves together many names at once, naming holiness, glory, and magnificence.

These things, moreover, he foretells shall be proclaimed by the other generation.

For by 'wonders' he means the marvels wrought for the benefit of certain persons;

and by 'the power of fearful things,' the mighty works displayed for the punishment of others;

as, for instance, through the divinely inspired Moses He brought upon Egypt scourges of every kind;

those things are to be understood as 'the power of fearful things.'

In the wilderness He supplied manna to the people, and heaped up quails, and flooded the waterless land;

these things moved the tongues of the thankful to wonder.

This same distinction the divine Apostle also made.

For he said that by the all-holy Spirit there had been given not only gifts of healings, but also workings of powers.

And he calls 'gifts of healings' the running of the lame, the health of the sick, the raising of the dead, and all such things.

And 'workings of powers,' the blindness of Elymas, the death of Ananias and Sapphira, and those delivered over to Satan that they might be taught not to blaspheme.

'They shall pour forth the memory of the abundance of Thy kindness, and shall exult in Thy righteousness.' The Prophet wishes to point out the riches of the divine goodness and power;

but employing a human tongue, and being unable to attain what he longs for, he again joins together many names, and foretells the thankfulness of the generation that is to come, namely, that revelling in the divine oracles, it will bring forth, as it were, certain eructations—the narration of the divine love for mankind.

This same thing, indeed, the divine Apostle also undergoes; for being unable worthily to narrate divine things, he attempts to do so by means of many names.

'...of Him, and how unsearchable are His ways!' [8]

'The Lord is compassionate and merciful, long-suffering and abounding in mercy.' Here too again the Prophet undergoes the same thing.

For taking to mind how He formed the nature of men, with how much honour and forethought He deemed them worthy—that He ordained the whole visible creation to supply their need; that day by day He bears with them when they transgress, and makes His sun to rise upon the wicked and the good, and sends rain upon the just and the unjust—he calls Him not only compassionate, but also merciful, and long-suffering, and abounding in mercy.

For employing measureless goodness, He removed our iniquities far from us, as far as the east is from the west, and He so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son for it.

'The Lord is good to all, and His compassions are over all His works.' For He exercised providence not only over the Jews, but poured out His love for mankind upon all men.

And not of men only, but He cares also for the irrational creatures, and furnishes to all what is fitting.

'Let all Thy works give thanks to Thee, O Lord, and let Thy holy ones bless Thee.' It is not the inanimate things that hymn God, nor do the irrational creatures utter a rational voice;

but rather, through these things the rational and God-loving ones weave their song of praise.

For gazing upon each of the things made by Him, and beholding the mighty working of His wisdom, they move their tongue to the giving of glory.