On the Trinity & Psalm Commentary 1 part 31/55

And because our servitude, in order that it may abide in the faith of servitude, needs the mercy of the Lord, he added further: 'according to thy mercy'; because there is need of his compassion that we may abide in this profession of our servitude. For human weakness is feeble of itself to obtain anything, and this only is the office of its nature, that it should both will and begin to join itself to the household of God. But it belongs to the divine mercy to help the willing, to confirm those who begin, to receive those who approach: while from us is the beginning, that he may bring it to perfection. But what at last does he ask him to do with his servant according to his mercy? Namely, that he may teach him his justifications.

He knows that in the ordinances which Moses was commanded to establish there is contained some great thing, incomprehensible to human understanding. He desires to know, as we have often said, who that purchased Hebrew boy is who is to serve for only six years. He reads these things indeed, but what is read is not at once understood. He wishes to know what that servitude is, what the freedom of the seventh year, what the boring of the ear with an awl means if he refuses to be free, who that Hebrew woman is, what it means that he himself should go out without the woman, then what the second ordinance is, what the third, and what prefiguration of future mysteries the following ones contain. It is not within human capacity to be able to attain these things:

There is need of a heavenly teacher, and it is necessary for the many merits of our faith that we should be worthy to be taught these things. But it behooves us to know that in all the prophet's words there is nothing lowly, nothing common with ordinary things, but that what is proper either to himself or to those like him is declared; and under familiar words there lies hidden the greatest profession of conscience and of faith, as we now understand in what follows. For he says: 'I am your servant: give me understanding, that I may know your testimonies.' There is none of us who does not confess himself a servant of God, whether in the prayer of his supplication or in the habit of common speech. And what great thing did the prophet do by professing himself a servant, which no one would dare to deny?

But the profession of others is deceptive, for although it has the compulsion of conscience, it does not yet have the truth of confession. This is proper to the prophet, that he professes himself a servant of God, fulfilling the service of his condition in every kind of life, whether walking or sitting, whether waking or sleeping, in food also and in fasting, whether he hungers for God or is filled, and at no time departs from the duties of his servitude. This man will freely say: 'I am your servant.' But he who sleeps in debaucheries, keeps vigil for robberies, travels for gain, and rests in luxury—if he says 'I am your servant,' he indeed professes what he is, but he does not do what he is.

But the prophet, although he confesses the condition of his office even by his very service, yet is mindful of his weakness; for he asks that understanding be given to him. For understanding is stored up in a certain treasury of spiritual graces, which the devil sometimes insinuates into imprudent minds under the error of false opinion. But the prophet asks understanding from God, lest an empty understanding creep upon him, such as is that of the gentiles, of the Jews, of the heretics: and he asks for this reason, that he may know the testimonies of God, which were handed down under witnesses, which are reproached for having been neglected and violated under witnesses, and which, at the coming of Him for whose sake they were solemnly spoken, will be vindicated after having been neglected and disdained.

And the prophet is not ignorant of the time of these testimonies, saying: 'It is time for the Lord to act: they have made void your law.' The law was given to the people under witnesses; and when it had been made void and cast aside by the Jews, then was the time for the Lord to do those things which were contained in the law. For he promised in the law that he would give salvation to the gentiles, that he would take upon himself the body of man, who was made according to the image and likeness of God, and that with the law made void he would grant the grace of faith. He recalls this time through the prophet Isaiah, saying: 'In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.' And the apostle, the interpreter of this saying, writes thus: 'Behold, now is the well-accepted time, behold, the day of salvation'; that is:

With the law made void, the time of gospel preaching has come. But while they make the law void, the prophet has another task; and what it is, we are taught from what follows. For he says: 'Therefore I have loved your commandments above gold and topaz.' When he says 'therefore,' he refers it back to what he had said: 'It is time for the Lord to act,' because he knew it was the time for the Lord to act when they had made void the law. And he loved the commandments for this reason, because in them was contained the time for the Lord to act. For all the law bore witness to the coming of the Lord, He himself saying: 'If you believed Moses, you would surely believe me also; for he wrote of me.' Therefore the prophet loved God's commandments for this reason, because in them he understood the coming of the Lord's incarnation.

But in that he loves, he signifies something more. To do something is less than to love, because for the most part that which we do is of necessity, but love is an affection of one's own will. But that love is truly perfect which is greatest and which is equaled by no comparison with similar things. And he loves God's commandments above gold and topaz. Human error thinks nothing more precious than gold and gems, and these are the things that have subjected men's desires to the dominion of their price and honor. For gold, right, honor, and chastity are for sale; and by gems the more excellent beauty, as they think, of the human body is sought, to the reproach of nature.

And therefore each sex has nothing more precious, since men wish to be able to do all things by gold, while women think themselves made more beautiful by gems. But as gold surpasses the other metals, so topaz surpasses the other stones. For it is the rarest and most beautiful of all, and the largest. And it is usually found in a place of the Thebaid which is called Alabastrane. The records of secular history also relate that it was found on the island of Topazon by its inhabitants, that is, by the Troglodyte Arabs, and was brought as a gift to the mother of Ptolemy, king of Egypt, under whom the scriptures of the law were translated from Hebrew into Greek.

And it alone contains in itself the appearance of the other best and most precious gems, and in that one stone a mixture of the most diverse colors is contained. Therefore above this topaz and above gold the prophet loved God's commandments, signifying that he was held not by earthly but by heavenly desires. And having despised the desire for worldly riches, he cut off from himself every occasion of a perverse and depraved will. For loving God's commandments above gold and topaz, he says: 'On account of this I was directed toward all your commandments, I hated every wicked way.' He is not turned aside, not twisted away by earthly desires, but is directed toward all God's commandments: the things that meet him do not occupy him. He saw gold, he knew it to be the mud of the earth;

He saw gems, he remembered that they are pebbles either of the mountains or of the sea; he saw a face enticing to wantonness, he knows that he must escape from these snares as birds of heaven from theirs. Therefore he resists the vices of his nature that have grown up with him, and hates every way of iniquity. And so he is directed in all the commandments, because he loves them above earthly desires: and he is directed lest he become a partaker of those of whom it is said, 'a depraved and perverse generation.' And he hates every way of iniquity, that he may be in Him who is the Way, namely our Lord, who is blessed unto the ages of ages. Amen. PHE. 'Wonderful are your testimonies, O Lord,' and the rest. The nature of human perception is such that it holds those things wonderful which it has come to know beforehand.

For from things known there arises the judgment of admiration. Otherwise no one can wonder at things unknown. These things have therefore been mentioned beforehand, so that the reason of the prophetic saying might be more diligently sought. For he is thought to have said these things against the opinion of the general sense: 'Wonderful are your testimonies; therefore my soul has searched them out.' For whereas, according to human custom, one must first search out and find, and then wonder at what is found, to this man the testimonies of the Lord are wonderful beforehand, and for this reason they are worthy of searching out.

But the reason of this perfect and most beautiful saying is this: the testimonies of God, that is, those things which were written under witnesses, even though through the observance of the law they imbue human weakness with the knowledge and service of God—since therein chastity, piety, modesty, charity, truth, innocence, frugality and religion are commanded, and through certain religious customs and varieties of sacrifices the duty of divine honor is prescribed, in which, though there be great wonder at the victim offered for sins and the gift given for the redemption of the soul and the lamb slain in the sacrament of the Pasch—yet in these there is contained more wonder from the hope and doctrine of things to come. These things therefore are wonderful to this prophet.

But because through present admiration they are wonderful by the examples of future and eternal goods, he searches them out. He does not merely inquire, in which is the diligent investigation of hidden things; but he also thoroughly searches them out, that is, by an addition of more diligent investigation, showing his own labor in the searching. Nor does he merely search them out, but he searches them out from the soul, with the soul's intent joined to the duty of the will. There follows next: 'The declaration of your words gives light and gives understanding to the little ones.' And here too the saying perhaps seems to be different from the custom of our nature.

For since one must first understand and then use the light of understanding—because the light of understanding once obtained is what dispels the night of ignorance—yet the prophet says that the declaration of God's words first enlightens and after enlightenment bestows understanding. But what God's words are must first be learned; and then the account of enlightenment and afterward of understanding must be given. God's words are whatever the prophets have spoken. For although Moses announced to the Hebrew people the observance of the law in his own words, yet in the book of that same law it is thus written: 'And God said to Moses: Speak to the children of Israel.' Therefore the lawgiver used these words which he was commanded to use.

Therefore they are God's words, though heard through the service of a human mouth. And even that great prophet, by the very judgment of our Lord Jesus Christ, spoke well; when he had said, 'Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth,' he says, 'For the Lord has spoken'; and after some things which were rebuked with the greatest complaints, he said, 'For the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things.' Therefore all these are God's words. But the declaration of the words is most necessary. For they were proclaimed under the veil of another meaning; they are, according to the apostle, allegories; they are ambiguous through comparative significations. The Lord is witness that these same things were spoken through Isaiah, reproaching the unbelieving Jews, saying: 'Hearing you shall hear and shall not understand.'

For all things are sealed and are to be unsealed only through spiritual doctrine. For these things were said to Daniel, the man of desires: 'Go, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed.' Isaiah also says: 'This book shall be given into the hand of a man who knows letters, and it shall be said to him: Read this; and he answers: I cannot read, for it is sealed.' But the declaration of the mystical words is provided through the gospels, where the hidden things of the law and the concealed prophetic commandments are laid open while the Lord dwells in the body. From these first faith is learned. For there the things which were spoken by the prophets are fulfilled by him in deeds and works.

When a virgin gives birth, when God is the Word and the Word becomes flesh and dwells among us, when the mute speak, when the deaf hear, when the lame walk, when the lepers are cleansed, when the blind see, when the possessed are healed, when the dead rise, this declaration of God's words illumines with the light of faith our darkness and that of nature. For then we understand the glory of the resurrection, the power of judgment, the honor of eternity. And we understand these things as little ones, either reborn to innocence or unskilled through ignorance. Of what time and age this declaration of God's words and the understanding bestowed on the little ones is a matter, the Lord himself demonstrates in the gospels, saying:

'I confess to you, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to little ones.' Behold the time of declaration and enlightenment and understanding. For these things, hidden until these days, are declared; and being declared, they enlighten; and enlightening, they supply understanding to the little ones: and through this understanding they become already capable of the Holy Spirit. Finally, the following saying added this very thing, saying: 'I opened my mouth and drew in the spirit; because I longed for your commandments.' He did not say this of this mouth of the human body, which is closed and opened by the lips. For we draw in breath by the function of the nostrils rather than of the mouth. But more laboriously it is poured into the soul by the entrance of the mouth;

But more freely it passes through the natural course by the service and function of the nostrils. But scripture is accustomed to name as 'mouth' not only that of the lips but also that of the heart. For with the heart lying open through faith and gaping with desire to draw in, the understanding of heavenly doctrine is received. This is not the function of the soul, but of the heart. For the apostle says: 'But the natural man does not perceive the things that are of the Spirit: for it is foolishness to him.' And the same teacher of the gentiles says: 'For the law is written not on tablets of stone, but on the fleshly tablets of the heart.' Therefore the prophet, opening this mouth of his, drew in the spirit; for it does not rush in of its own accord. It must be sought, it must be drawn in, and in the manner of infants it must be drawn in like innocent milk.

And the prophet opened his mouth for this reason, that he remembered what was said to him in the psalm: 'Open wide your mouth, and I will fill it,' and knew what is written in the law: 'Write these things upon the breadth of your heart'; for the preaching of God is received by the heart, not by the mouth. And according to the gospel preaching the evil one snatches away from the heart the word of God, which delights in the mouth beyond honey and the honeycomb. For as through the mouth we take food for the nourishment of the body, so also through the heart we receive the food of heavenly doctrine for the enlivening of the soul, which, unless they have been drawn in as it were by an enlarged and open heart, will not enter. There follows next: 'Look upon me and have mercy on me according to the judgment of those who love your name.' To that which he had said, 'Look upon me,' he immediately added: 'and have mercy on me.'

For he knows that the Lord also looks for the vengeance and punishment of the wicked. For he looked, as it is written, upon the camp of the Egyptians and bound the axles of their chariots. And again: 'The Lord looked upon Sodom and Gomorrah.' And he looks not only unto punishment, but also unto terror, when it is said: 'Looking upon the earth and making it tremble.' Therefore the prophet does not pray this alone, that God look upon him, but that he look with compassion: and not only with compassion, but according to the judgment of those who love his name. Mercy is indeed from the goodness of God;

But this must be merited by us through zeal for innocence, that he may look upon us in the manner he looked upon Abraham, upon Isaac, upon Jacob, upon Joseph, upon Job, upon Moses. For he knows that God is wont to look to these works of his mercy, when it is said: 'The Lord looked from heaven upon the earth, that he might hear the groaning of the fettered and loose the sons of the slain,' and again: 'And he looked upon the sons of the poor and did not despise their supplication.' Therefore according to this judgment of those who fear the Lord he prays that God may look upon him and have mercy:

So that, if he sees him fasting, if he beholds him showing mercy, if he perceives him pious and religious in every work, then according to the judgment of those who love his name, he himself too may be worthy of God's mercy. Then follows: 'Direct my steps according to your word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me.' The prophet indeed walks by his own will with the steps of righteousness, but he knows that the dominions of iniquity threaten him on every side. Above he had prayed that God would look upon him and have mercy according to those who love his name.

And he perceives that this is the fruit of the mercy he prays for, that his steps be directed, not according to the ways of the world, not according to human glory, not according to the pleasures of the body, but according to the words of God. If no impediment should meet him anywhere, if adversaries were not present on every side, he would be strengthened by his own powers in the things he wished to do. But where there are ambushes, where there is war, there is need of a mightier help, lest all iniquity have dominion over him. He prays not that it be absent from him, but that it not have dominion over him. He knows that glory is attained through temptations. He remembers that Abraham was tempted both by the injury of pilgrimage and by the fear of losing his wife and through the sorrow of sacrificing his son.

He knows that Job went through the whole warfare of temptations. He recalls that Joseph, when he is sold by his brothers, when he is compelled to adultery by the wife of his master, when he is kept for punishment in prison, merited the glory of the greatest faith through these trials of injustice. The prophet fears the dominion of iniquity, but he does not refuse the temptation of it. And he remembers that his steps must be directed by the Lord according to his words, lest the iniquity that would tempt might have the power of dominion. After which follows this: 'Redeem me from the calumnies of men, and I will keep your precepts.' Human temptation is not grievous, the apostle saying: 'But temptation has not yet seized you, except such as is human'; but calumny is grievous.

And calumny is this, either when to a good work the name of an evil crime is ascribed, or when under a flattering appearance the poison of inner malice is concealed. For it is not the work of open ill-will, but is deceitful and cunning and, under the appearance of good will, raging with the operation of malice. And it is difficult to guard against such people, who under the name of brothers are enemies, under the name of friends are foes, under the appearance of sons are parricides, under the concord of spouses are an inevitable evil. Wicked Cain slew righteous Abel through the intimacy of a brother. His son Ham mocked Noah, who was approved by God. Esau made Jacob an exile from his father's house. His wife alone tried to bend Job, the mightiest warrior against the devil.

This same holy prophet—what calumnies of men deceived him? How often was he betrayed to Saul? How often was it reported in what places he was staying? Everywhere the snares of calumniators were present to him. The Lord knows that these scandals of domestic calumny are wont to bring the gravest ruin of faith, saying: 'But if your right eye scandalizes you, and if your right foot or hand scandalizes you, pluck it out and cut it off from you.' He did not say these things of the members of the body, since neither foot nor hand could bring scandals;

But he commands these things concerning those members most closely joined to us and most necessary—because we are all one body in Christ—lest, with domestic calumnies and scandals remaining among us, some stain of vices should cling to us on the day of judgment. Therefore the prophet, if he were redeemed from these, promises that he will keep the precepts of God, because these calumnies of all one's household would frequently bring an impediment to faith. Then follows: 'Make your face to shine upon your servant, and teach me your ordinances.' The countenance of the Lord is indeed upon those who do evil, to cut off from the earth the memory of them; but as God looks unto punishment, he looks also unto mercy; so also he turns his countenance to both.

But the prophet prays for this face of the Lord unto his own enlightenment. For from the majesty and countenance of God, who deems us worthy, we receive light, and his countenance of mercy turned toward us radiates unto the grace of spiritual virtue. Or surely when he will be present on the day of judgment, when he will stand visible to us in the glory of the Father's majesty, then he will enlighten us with the light of his face. For as certain metals and gems pour back the splendor of their nature upon those things that are near them and bestow an emulating appearance from the vicinity of their appearance, as Moses too received from the contemplation of God the light of glory in such a way that the people could not contemplate the honor of his glory:

So also the prophet, confessing himself God's servant, prays to be enlightened and to be made, according to the apostle, conformed to the glory of God and to be taught the ordinances of God, that He may be discerned by him not in part nor through the shadow of the law, but face to face and by spiritual contemplation. Then he says: 'My eyes have passed over as streams of waters: because they have not kept your law.' Conscious of old sins, he is taught by the very history; although he has directed himself to God with his whole heart, yet, because he himself had already written the sorrow of his sin in the earlier psalm—then, when at the prophet Nathan's rebuke he recognized his crime and wept—now too he does not cease to wash away the guilt of his old deed with the tears of true repentance, saying: 'My eyes have passed over as streams of waters':

Namely, that the fountains of his tears passed beyond the fountains of rivers. For this is the voice of repentance, to pray with tears, to groan with tears, and through this confidence to say: 'I will wash my bed every night. I will water my couch with tears.' This is the pardon of sin, to weep with a fountain of weeping and to be drenched with an abundant shower of tears. But with a reckoning of time and by the now-immovable firmness of faith he preserved also a most measured limit to his saying. For of the past he said: 'because they have not kept your law.' The confession of a crime is indeed always in season, because the repentance of sin must not cease; but the end of the sin is of the earlier time;

Because the true confession of sin is to repent without any interval of time, but the repentance of sin is to have desisted from that which you understood must be repented of. And for this reason the prophet neither ceases to confess sin and confesses sin as belonging to the past. 'You are righteous, O Lord, and your judgment is right,' and the rest. With unwearied and persevering faith it is necessary that the confession within us be immovable and unshaken, lest, moved by any injury of the times or by the pain of persecutions, we should slacken the zeal of our devotion; but, whenever diseases will vex us, sufferings and torments of the body will rage, losses will exhaust us, griefs and bereavements will afflict us, let us always use this voice, which the prophet has now used, saying:

'You are righteous, O Lord, and your judgment is just. You have commanded righteousness, your testimonies, and your truth exceedingly.' For let us remember first that he who is Lord of all is righteous, and that his judgments are right. For why should he be unjust toward his own? Why should he be unjust toward those whom he himself begot? The immensity of his goodness does not permit this to be thought of him. He begot us not for injury, he begot us not for the sorrow of the nature of our origin; if there is anything we suffer, it happens from the judgment of his goodness. He delights that the devil is conquered by the virtues of our patience, and he desires that we be tested through griefs and sorrows and losses, so that the power of the world may understand that it has no right or dominion in his servants.

Whatever he has commanded is just and attested and true, with the increase of an addition: for they are exceedingly true. And because it is rare to be an observer of these things, and it is difficult to direct an unshaken faith amid these storms of the world and amid these shipwrecks of human vices—because, if any adversity happens, the complaint against God is ready. For the greedy man accuses God amid his losses. The bereaved man, with the envy of his weeping, is angry at God. He who is tested by persecutions unto the glory of confession reproaches God with injustice. This is the most foolish complaint of all, when they accuse God of injustice through the impatience of impious grief. And therefore the prophet added, saying:

'Your zeal has made me pine away, because my enemies have forgotten your words.' By zeal for God the prophet is exhausted over all our vices and crimes. Human nature also has this custom, that whenever we see any people opposing the will of those whom we love, we exercise zeal for the one who is not obeyed. But how great is our sorrow when we see one from the people of God made a minister of the world and a workman of the devil and a vessel of death and fuel for gehenna! Therefore whoever sees a Christian reveling in banquets on a fast day is angered by zeal for God. Whoever beholds one insolent toward brothers and ministers is angered by zeal for God. Whoever convicts a body already sanctified in Christ of dwelling in debaucheries is angered by zeal for God.

We have learned that the apostles too remembered this zeal, when the Lord, having entered the temple, cast out with a scourge of cords all who were selling and buying, and that zeal of which it is written: 'And the zeal of your house has consumed me.' For we sometimes make ourselves a temple of God, or a house of trafficking, or a den of robbers. For the temple of God, according to the apostle, is our bodies, which are sanctified in Christ. And these same bodies, when we think and commit debaucheries, murders, thefts, falsehoods, robberies, we make into a den of robbers;