Commentary on the Psalms 1 part 41/42

'To make known to the sons of men Thy might, and the glory of the magnificence of Thy kingdom.' For these holy ones, whether prophets or apostles, and those after them who succeeded to the ministry of preaching, shall teach all men of the eternal kingdom and the ineffable power.

For not to Jews only, but to the whole nature of men, shall they bring this teaching.

'Thy kingdom is a kingdom of all the ages, and Thy dominion endures in every generation and generation.' Thou hast dominion that is boundless, and a kingdom that is everlasting, neither having begun nor ceasing.

'The Lord is faithful in all His words, and holy in all His works.' For the truth of His words shines forth, being confirmed by His works;

and these too are adorned with righteousness.

'The Lord upholds all who fall, and sets upright all who are cast down.' For He cares not only for those nurtured in righteousness, but also for those who slip and are cast down, and who receive the wounds of sin.

For some He supports, and does not allow them to fall;

and those who have fallen He raises up, stretching out His right hand.

'The eyes of all look to Thee in hope, and Thou givest them their food in due season.' Here the word 'hope' is not used in the sense of a settled disposition of the soul;

for neither do those who live in impiety possess this hope, nor do the kinds of irrational creatures have any rational perception.

Rather, he teaches that each creature receives from Him the sustenance suited to it.

Then he also points out the ease of this bounteous provision.

'Thou openest Thy hand, and fillest every living thing with good pleasure.' For at the same moment that Thou willest, each creature enjoys the good things Thou dost bestow.

For just as it is easy for us to extend our folded fingers and open the hand,

so it is easy for Thee to supply in an instant the abundance of good things.

For he called His acts of providential governance 'ways.'

'The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, unto all that call upon Him in truth.' The word 'nigh' does not signify a spatial distance;

for by His very nature God is present everywhere.

'For in Him we live, and move, and have our being,' as the divine Apostle says;

but by these words he made clear the relationship and disposition of the soul toward Him.

And the addition of the phrase 'in truth' is a fine one.

For He does not draw near to those who merely call upon Him, but to those who choose to do so in truth.

'He will fulfil the desire of them that fear Him, and He will hear their supplication, and save them.' Those who possess the divine fear first do the will of God.

For they will nothing contrary to what He wills.

'The Lord preserveth all them that love Him, but all the sinners He will utterly destroy.' He showed how the Lord is righteous in all His ways.

For it is proper to the righteous one to render to each what is fitting; and for this reason He guards and protects those who are well disposed toward Him, and delivers them from those who plot against them;

but those who embrace the contrary path He delivers over to punishments.

'My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord, and let all flesh bless His holy name for ever, and unto the age of the age.' 'I, then,' he says, 'have composed this hymn.'

But it is fitting that the whole nature of mankind should ever honour its Maker with doxology, and offer to the divine name the reverence that is due.

It is fitting also to note that here too he did not assign the hymn to the Jews, but called all flesh to the singing of praise.

For among all the nations throughout the inhabited world, according to the prophecy, the God of all is praised in song.

In some copies there is added 'of Haggai and Zechariah.'

But this I found neither in the Hebrew, nor among the other translators, nor did I find it among the Seventy in the Hexapla.

This psalm too exhorts us to sing the praise of the God of all.

For this its very title makes clear.

For 'Alleluia' is interpreted 'Praise ye the Lord,' as we have often said.

'Praise the Lord, O my soul.' The grace of the Spirit enjoins upon us all that we rouse ourselves to the glorifying of God.

'I will praise the Lord in my life, I will sing praises unto my God while I have my being.' In the sixth psalm he said, 'For in death there is no one that remembereth Thee, and in Hades who shall give Thee thanks?' For this reason we are taught to sing the praise of God throughout the time of our life, until we receive the end of this present existence.

'Put not your trust in princes.' A good exhortation. For neither do rulers always rule, but hold their authority only for a season, nor do all rulers honour what is just.

But that both these things may be present, one must consider the perishable nature of man.

'In the sons of men, in whom there is no salvation.' Behold their nature, and trust not in their authority.

For 'Man is made like unto vanity,' and 'Man, his days are as grass.'

'His spirit shall go forth, and he shall return to his earth.' Here he calls the soul 'spirit.'

And when this departs, the body goes to its own kindred, according to the divine sentence, 'For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.' — 'In that day all his thoughts shall perish.' For when the soul is unyoked, and the body is dissolved into dust, the imagining of his reasonings is shown to be vain.

This the Lord taught us also through the parable.

For having introduced the rich man, whose land had yielded plentifully, planning to pull down his storehouses and build greater ones, He added:

'Thou fool, this night they require thy soul of thee; then whose shall those things be which thou hast prepared?' And of other men also, some have their fancies set on offices and dominions, others on possessions of fields and buildings;

others dream of victories in wars, and yet others devise destruction for their enemies;

but death, coming upon them suddenly, leaves the imagining of their reasonings unfulfilled.

Having thus shown the vanity of hope placed in men, he displays the profitableness of confidence placed in God.

'Blessed is he whose helper is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God.' He named 'the God of Jacob' not casually, but to remind us how great a providence Jacob enjoyed by placing his hope in God, and what and how many fruits of hope he gathered; and so He enjoins us to hope in this same God.

And He names Him both 'Lord' and 'God,' and through both proclaims His power.

Then from the creation of His works He teaches His goodness and His power.

'Who made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them.' Concisely, by these words, he encompassed the whole visible and invisible creation.

For he made mention not only of heaven, earth, and sea, but also of all things in them.

In heaven are angels, and the nature of invisible beings, and the sun, and the moon, and the multitude of the stars.

In earth and sea are men, and the kinds of irrational creatures.

'So great,' he says, 'is the power of the Maker of all things.'

You see, then, how great is the difference between the perishable rulers and the Creator of all things.

Having thus shown Him to be the Creator of all things, he shows Him also to be exercising providence over what He has made.

'Who keepeth truth for ever, who executeth judgement for them that are wronged, who giveth food to the hungry.' For He is free from all falsehood in His promises, and, as one who loves truth, He fulfils what He has pledged.

He defends those who are wronged, and judges righteously;

and He also supplies to all the hungry the food suited to them.

From this point he also foretells the benefits that were to come about through the Incarnation of our Saviour.

'The Lord looseth them that are fettered, the Lord giveth wisdom to the blind, the Lord raiseth up them that are cast down.' These things the God of all foretold also through the prophet Isaiah.

'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me; He hath sent me to preach good tidings to the poor, to heal the broken in heart, to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind.' And elsewhere, 'Then shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind that are in darkness and in gloom shall see.'

[9] 'The Lord preserveth the proselytes.' The Lord of all offers to each what is suited to him.

And to those who love Him, being righteous, He requites with the like, and gives back to them love and fatherly affection;

but those who have fled from their ancestral impiety and approach Him with faith, He deems worthy of all protection and providence.

For by 'proselytes' he calls the strangers.

So also the blessed Paul said, 'We were once without Christ, being alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants, having no hope of the promise;

but we who were once far off have been brought near.' — 'He shall take up the orphan and the widow, but the way of sinners He shall bring to naught.' From universal Providence he brought his discourse down to particular instances, and says that the Ruler of all neglects nothing of the whole, but even deems those bereft of all human care worthy of every attention, and dissolves the plots devised against them.

'The Lord shall reign for ever, thy God, O Zion, unto generation and generation.' For He has an everlasting dominion, and His kingship is eternal—He who now, O Zion, is accounted God of thee alone.

Here we have been clearly taught the interpretation of 'Alleluia.'

For the phrase 'Praise ye the Lord' the Hebrew says 'Alleluia';

but Symmachus left it also untranslated;

he says thus: 'Alleluia, for a psalm is good.'

But Theodotion has, 'Praise ye the Ia—'

This psalm too, then, exhorts us to praise.

For it is not, as the Jews expect, that Jerusalem shall once more be built up; rather, the prophetic word foretells the building already accomplished under Zerubbabel.

'Praise the Lord, for a psalm is good; to our God be praise made sweet.' The singing of hymns, he says, is profitable and a bringer of good things.

But what is pleasing to God is not the hymn itself, but the intention of those who sing it.

For He Himself, being in need of nothing, rejoices in the salvation of men.

'The Lord builds up Jerusalem; He will gather together the dispersed of Israel.' And for this reason, he says, it is fitting that He be praised, because He will both rebuild the Jerusalem that had been overthrown and will grant return to those who had become captives of the spear.

And if not all returned, it was not the divine word that proved false, but the wickedness of those men that was exposed.

For He Himself, through Cyrus, gave all leave to return; but those who held a stubborn mind chose the foreign land in preference to their homeland.

'He who heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds.' He joined spiritual things to bodily ones, and showed that He grants freedom not only to the captives, but also bestows healing upon those who have received the wounds of sin.

By 'He who numbers' he here means His knowledge, and by 'the names of the stars' the differences of the stars, their position and arrangement, and their relation to one another.

For the God of all does not call the stars by employing names.

For these are without soul and destitute of reason.

But men, employing an impious mind, assigned names to the stars out of myths fabricated by themselves.

'Great is our Lord, and great is His strength, and of His understanding there is no number.' All things are beyond measure—His greatness, His strength, and His praise.

Yet, as we are able, we nevertheless sing His praise.

'The Lord lifts up the meek, but brings down sinners to the ground.' Symmachus rendered it 'restoring.'

And this too is proper to the divine providence.

For on the one hand He deems worthy of His care those who, on account of their gentleness, are plotted against by certain men;

but those who unjustly assail them He consigns to death.

And the former He makes renowned and illustrious;

but the memory of the latter He hands over to oblivion.

Thus renowned is the choir of the holy apostles;

thus far-celebrated are the multitudes of the martyrs.

But the memory of those who warred against them has been handed over to oblivion.

'Begin unto the Lord with confession;

sing psalms to our God upon the harp.' Knowing, therefore, this goodness, wisdom, and power of God, begin your hymn-singing, employing the accustomed instruments.

'To Him who covers the heaven with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth.' Both are proofs of His power and of His goodness.

For as being good and loving toward mankind, He provides for those upon the earth;

and as being all-powerful, He bears aloft the nature of the waters, and veils the sight of heaven, fashioning through the clouds a kind of roof midway between heaven and earth, and by their travailing waters He irrigates the earth.

Then he shows the benefit that springs from this.

'To Him who makes grass to spring up on the mountains, and green herb for the service of men.' For He waters not only the land tilled by men, but also the mountains and the desert places, offering the fodder that springs from them to the cattle.

And this too He does for the benefit of men;

for He appointed the cattle to serve men.

'And who gives to the cattle their food, and to the young ravens that call upon Him.' The nature of the ravens is not rational, nor do they rationally call upon their Maker;

but the cry that arises from their need imitates a request.

'The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, and in those who hope in His mercy.' Not in strength of body, he says, nor in horsemanship, nor in swiftness of foot does God delight;

but in good deeds, of which piety is the craftsman.

And He provides diligently not only for these, but also for those who have fallen into sins yet have made use of repentance and been established upon the hope of His loving-kindness.

For he said that God takes pleasure not only in the perfect athletes of virtue, but also in those who wait for the divine mercy.

Here too the prophetic word exhorts to praise.

And it foretells the victory that came to pass after the return.

And besides this, it foretells also the proclamations of the apostles, which with all speed traversed the whole inhabited world.

'Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion.'

By 'Jerusalem' he does not mean the buildings, but the inhabitants of it.

'He has blessed your children within you.' For having received the blessing of goodly and numerous offspring, you have been increased into a multitude.

For being terrified with dread at those who had been slain, others in turn do not dare to return. 'And He fills you with the fat of wheat.' He inundated you also with the good things that come from the earth.

For by 'the fat of wheat' he named the abundance of the crops, naming the whole from the part.

For grain is of wheat, and the fat of wheat is the finest bread.

But of old the Jews enjoyed this providence;

but having raged against the Saviour, they became bereft of all good things.

'He who sends forth His oracle to the earth; His word shall run swiftly.' By 'word' he here meant the gospel proclamation.

And this He sent forth not to the Jews only, but also to all other men.

'For go,' He says, 'make disciples of all the nations.' And He also showed the swiftness of the course.

For in a short time they filled all land and sea with the teaching.

Foreseeing this, the Prophet said, 'His word shall run swiftly.' And it is nothing new nor strange.

For all things yield to the divine will.

Thus, for instance, the nature of the waters, being one, He transforms into countless forms according to His will.

'He casts forth His ice like morsels.' For out of the one substance of the waters there comes to be, on the one hand, solid ice;

and on the other hand there comes to be snow, both porous and soft, resembling a flock of wool;

and there comes to be also a moist dust.

For such is the nature of the mist.

'Who shall stand before the face of His cold?' He also changes the air with ease, and makes that which was just now fiery to become, a little later, frost-like.

'He shall send forth His word, and shall melt them;

His wind shall blow, and the waters shall flow.' But again, when He wills, He dissolves the frozen water with ease, and makes it to be borne along in streams.

For when the south wind blows, both snow and ice are dissolved.

And it was not simply that he made this narrative, but signifying other things through these.

For just as the snow, falling down, fills the mountains;

and melting, it passes into the neighbouring rivers, and is brought as irrigation to other regions;

so the bounty of the God-given good things was first offered to the Jews;

but when they rejected the grace, then through the holy apostles, as through certain rivers, the irrigation of the teaching was brought to the nations.

He who sends forth his oracle to Jacob;

his statutes and his judgments to Israel. In former times he gave the Law, and after that grace as well;

but they were shown to be unworthy of both.

He gave the Law through Moses, and afterward brought them the benefit that came through the prophets.

These alone he deemed worthy of such watering;

yet they proved ungrateful toward their Benefactor.

But the nations, having received through the holy apostles the radiance of the spiritual light, came to know their own Maker, and offer him worship without ceasing.

This too is yet another hymn, rousing all creation—intelligible and sensible, rational and irrational, animate and inanimate—into one harmony of song.

It enjoins heaven and earth and the deeps, and the luminaries in heaven, and the mountains and the plants and all such things—even those that have no share in soul or reason—to offer up the hymn.

Rather, he bids us who have received a share of reason to gaze upon these things, and, learning the wisdom manifest in them, to hymn their Maker.

this one that came into being together with the earth, and that later one which was commanded to come to be in the midst of the waters, which he also named the firmament.

that is to say, both those bodiless choirs that dwell in the one and those that dwell in the other.

Since the divine Moses taught us nothing concerning the creation of the intelligible natures, the Prophet here of necessity made mention of these as well.

For this is the debt owed him by his works, and everything that has come to be by him and been honored with reason ought to pay this debt continually.

But if the things that possess a created nature offer praise, while neither the Son nor the all-holy Spirit is ranked among those that praise, it is clear that they do not belong to the created nature;

for otherwise they would, before all others, have hymned the Maker, honoring what is righteous as fountains of righteousness.

But neither does the Son offer praise, nor the all-holy Spirit;

therefore neither the Son nor the all-holy Spirit is of a created nature. Evidently, then, he too is hymned, and the all-holy Spirit as well;

for there is nothing else in between those who praise and those who are praised, but creation praises, while the Creator is praised.

And if anyone does not hymn the Creator, he does not hymn him as one who is ungrateful.

But these matters we have set forth more fully in our discourses concerning the Holy Spirit.

Let us therefore proceed to what follows in the interpretation.

Praise him, all his angels;

praise him, all his hosts. By 'angels' and 'hosts' he means the intelligible natures.

'Angels,' inasmuch as they convey the divine words;

and 'hosts,' inasmuch as they are free from bodily passions and able to fulfill what is commanded.

Very fittingly did he call the heavenly choirs first to the singing of hymns.

Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you stars and light. But Symmachus renders it thus: Hymn him, all you stars of light;

According to the Seventy, however, it is to be understood thus:

On the first day God created the light, and on the fourth the luminaries;

and for this reason he made mention of the light apart, not as though it subsisted by itself, but as having been distributed among the luminaries.

These things, as we have already said before, he does not summon as though they were animate and rational;

rather, he charges us to look toward these things, and to learn the wisdom of God, and through all of them to weave the singing of hymns to him.

by his ineffable wisdom contriving for them the widest possible distribution.

And upon the frozen waters he commanded the boundless fire of the luminaries to travel;

and water and fire are contrary to one another;

yet nevertheless neither is the fire quenched by the waters, nor is the frozen water melted by the boundless fire.

He named the heavens in the plural, not because he knew them to be many, but following the Hebrew idiom;

for they call these in the plural, as we speak of 'Athens' and 'Thebes.'

Indeed, those which he here called 'heavens of heavens,' elsewhere he named 'heaven of heaven.'

'For the heaven,' he says, 'the heaven belongs to the Lord.'

Let them praise the name of the Lord;

for he spoke and they came into being;

he commanded and they were created. For it is fitting, he says, to hymn the One who fashioned all these things by his word.

He established them forever, and unto the age of the age;

he set a decree, and it shall not pass away. And he did not only create them, but continues to provide for them as well;

wherefore they also possess their permanence, in accordance as he himself may will.

For they will not be able to transgress the bounds set by him.

The inanimate things, then, and indeed the kinds of the other creatures as well, reverence the laws laid down for them;

but the nature of humankind alone, honored with reason, transgresses the laws.

And the sea knows its bounds and reverences the sand, and night and day keep the measures appointed them;

but human beings despise the divine laws.

Thus, having called both the supra-heavenly and the heavenly things into fellowship of the singing of hymns, he passes to the earth, the common mother of humans and of the irrational creatures.

The sea is a part of the earth, and in it are the sea-monsters.

showing by their creation, and by the mention of them, that he strikes fear into human beings, while by restraining the harm that comes from them he proclaims his goodness.

Fire, hail, snow, ice, the wind of the storm. These too have their origin from the waters.

For in the air are produced hail and snow and ice and the violent winds.

For these he called 'storms.'

And likewise fire may be seen appearing not only in the earth but also in the air.

For lightnings, and thunderbolts, and fiery whirlwinds are borne down out of the air.

Those that fulfill his word. These too, he says, yield to his beckonings, not as being animate and rational, but as following his will.

For at God's beckoning each of these comes to be.

The mountains and all the hills, fruitful trees and all cedars. These too are enough to stir our tongues to thanksgiving.

For not only is their magnitude worthy of wonder, but also the usefulness that springs from them;

for it is most abundant and of every kind.

The wild beasts, and all the cattle. These too are according to a distinction.

For he did not simply say 'the four-footed beasts,' but distinguished the wild from the tame.

And indeed through these and through those he bids us hymn the Maker.

For nothing is superfluous or without grace, even if it escapes our knowledge.

Creeping things and winged fowl. To the mention of the creeping things is joined that of the swimming creatures by nature;

And thus did God Himself address them.

For He said, 'Let the waters bring forth creeping things having living souls, and fowl that fly above the earth according to the firmament of heaven.' After all these He summons the one who through all things sings His praise;

for after all things man was accounted worthy of the divine creation.

And this one too he gathers together according to their ranks;

and first he brings on the chorus of kings, then the throngs of their subjects, and he says:

'Kings of the earth, and all peoples.' Nor does he deprive of the hymn either the second-rank rulers or the judges who come after them, but to these also he imparts the benefit that comes from it:

'Princes, and all judges of the earth.' And every age too, and each sex, both male and female, this he bids to do the same;

first those who are in the prime of life:

'Young men and maidens.' Then each extreme: 'Old men together with children, let them praise the name of the Lord.' Both the tender and the aged years, he says, let them sing praise to God.

'For His name alone is exalted.' For the memory of the falsely-named gods has been extinguished, and the name of the only true God has been shown to be venerable.

'His confession is upon earth and heaven.' For no longer do the heavenly things alone sing His praise, but 'The whole earth has been filled with the knowledge of the Lord,

as many waters cover the seas.' - 'And He will exalt the horn of His people.' He will make His own people, He says, unconquerable and renowned.

For by 'horn' he named strength, by a metaphor from horned animals, which pride themselves on having their strength in those horns.

'A hymn for all His holy ones.' For not only does He make those who have believed in Him strong, but also renowned in the songs of all.

'For the sons of Israel, a people drawing near to Him.' Israel too enjoyed this glory, when it drew close to God;

but now, along with piety, the splendour has passed over, and they indeed were stripped of it, while the nations exult in the divine gifts.

Those who after the return conquered by the divine influence those many nations exhort men to offer this hymn.

It also contains a prophecy of the deeds accomplished by the Maccabees.

'Sing to the Lord a new song, His praise in the assembly of the holy ones.' For it is proper not to the lawless but to the holy to sing the praise of God.

'Let Israel be glad in Him who made him, and let the sons of Zion rejoice in their King.' The God of all is God of all, but in a special way He was named King of the Israelites.

Straightway, then, when they had fallen sick with ingratitude and had asked that another become king over them, God says to Samuel: 'They have not rejected you, but Me, that I should not reign over them.' [Section 4]

'For the Lord takes pleasure in His people.' He has deemed us worthy, he says, of much loving-kindness, and has shown His own goodness toward us.

'And He will exalt the meek in salvation.' Those who are destitute of help and who practise good ways, He will render lofty and conspicuous.

'The holy ones shall boast in glory, and shall rejoice upon their beds.' And those who honour righteousness shall come to be in renown, enjoying much repose.

For by 'bed' he named repose;

for the couch is significant of repose.

'And two-edged swords in their hands.'

[Section 8.] 'To execute vengeance among the nations, rebukes among the peoples.' To conquer in wars is not contrary to repose.

For victory is more delightful than any repose.

By these words, moreover, he foretells the manly courage of the Maccabees, employing which they both subdued their neighbours and vanquished the Macedonians.

'To bind their kings with fetters, and their nobles with iron shackles.' History teaches that many such things were accomplished by them, and it is easy for those who wish to consult it to learn the truth of the prophecy.

'To execute upon them the written judgement.' For what they justly wrought against those men has been recorded, and to this day their glory has remained ever-memorable.

This hymn too is a song of victory;

and it foretells the knowledge of God that will come to all men.

'Praise God in His holy places.' For this is a sufficient occasion for hymnody. For if from plants and beasts and creeping things we were commanded to take an occasion for thanksgiving, how much more just is it to look to the holy ones and to sing the praise of their God.