詩篇註釋 第 11 章

Another version: 'A song of victory for David.'

'Flee away to the mountains like a sparrow.' Another version: 'Be driven up to the mountains like a sparrow.' Another version: 'Remove yourself.'

'For behold, the sinners have bent the bow; they have prepared arrows for the quiver, to shoot down in the darkness of the moon those who are upright in heart.'

'Because what you had set in order, they themselves have pulled down.'

Another version: 'Because the ordinances have been dissolved.'

Another version: 'Because the teachings shall be shattered.'

Great is the power of hope set upon the Lord: an impregnable fortress, an unassailable wall, an alliance that cannot be overcome, a calm harbor, a tower that cannot be stormed, a weapon that cannot be vanquished, an irresistible power that even out of what is impossible finds a way.

By this the unarmed prevailed over the armed, and women over men, and children with much ease proved stronger than those trained for war.

And what wonder is it if they overcame their enemies, seeing that they prevailed even over the world itself? For the elements, forgetting their own nature, were changed to serve their advantage; and the wild beasts were no longer beasts, nor was the furnace a furnace.

For hope in God transforms all things.

Sharpened teeth, and a narrow prison; the savagery of nature, and hunger arming that nature; no partition anywhere, and the jaws of the body close to the Prophet;

but hope in God, stronger than any bridle, falling upon those jaws, drew them back again.

Reasoning thus in wisdom, this man too said to those who were urging him to flee and take to his heels, and to procure safety for himself from the security of places:

'How is it that you say to my soul? What are you saying? I have the Master of the whole world as my ally;

him who everywhere easily works all things, him I have as my general and standing at my side;

and do you send me to the uninhabited wilderness, and gather safety for me from the desert? Is the help of the desert then greater than that of him who can do all things with all ease? Why do you make me, who am strongly armed, flee as though naked and unarmed, and command me to become a wanderer? Now the man who has an army, and is fenced about with walls and weapons — you would not have bidden him take refuge in the wilderness, but would have appeared ridiculous in giving such counsel;

yet the man who has the Master of the whole world with him — do you drive into exile, and send into flight, and make a wanderer, because of the war waged by sinners? For besides the things already said, I have this further ground of right for not fleeing.

For when God is the helper, and sinners are the ones making war, how does not he who counsels imitating the timidity of birds incur the utmost shame? Do you not consider the army arrayed against me, how it is more worthless than a spider's web? For if the enemy of the earthly king lives insecurely wherever he goes, and fears, and trembles,

how much more the enemy of the God of all things.

For wherever he goes, he has all things as his enemies, even creation itself.

For just as both the elements and the wild beasts stand in awe of God's friends, and all creation reveres them,

so even insensible things make war upon the foe and enemy of God, and spurn him.

For this very reason the beasts made an end of some before they touched the ground, while the fire consumed others.

they possess, and all things have been made ready for them;

'For they have prepared them,' he says, 'for the quiver;'

but there is no strength in these things, and by them we are in no way terrified.

For even if I saw someone holding a slackened bow, I would not have been afraid.

For what benefit is there in weapons, when there is no strength? So neither here, when the good will of God is absent.

But they stitch together deceits, and do not approach in a straightforward manner.

For this very reason I laugh them most to scorn, because they shoot in the darkness of the moon.

For nothing is weaker than a man who plots against another.

He needs not be caught by the weapons of others, but falls by his own hand, and is overthrown by his own deceit.

What then could be weaker than one who is caught by his own contrivances? And along with these things there is yet another matter to be spoken of:

namely, that sinners not only make war with deceit against those who are helped by God, but that they wage it even against the guiltless and against those who have done them no wrong at all.

And this too, not by chance, renders them weak.

For just as those who kick against the goads do the goads no harm at all, but bloody their own feet,

so, besides these things, there is yet another cause that dissolves the strength of their warfare.

What then is this? Because, he says, what You had established, they themselves tore down.

And what he means is this:

It is against You that they wage war and fight, tearing down Your law and Your ordinances.

For indeed they attempt to tear down Your ordinances, and these too though they have been firmly established.

Either he means this, or that they are also transgressors of the law.

And this too is no small ground of weakness that men who have not kept Your commandments should thus go forth to war.

For it is on this account that they make war upon the upright and stitch together deceptions, because they do not hearken to Your ordinances.

Having therefore given an account of the weakness of the enemies, and having shown it not from those grounds by which others reckon it, but from those which befitted him for he did not say, They have no money, nor fortresses, nor allies, nor cities, nor that they are inexperienced in wars, but passing over all these things and spurning them as being nothing, and saying that they are lawless, that they make war on those who have done no wrong, that they tear down the things of God he next speaks also of the array of the righteous, thereby showing how easily those others may be overcome.

So let us also test who is strong and who is weak, and let us not fear those things by which the ridiculous among men are afraid; rather from these very things let us the more take courage.

For what do they say? He is formidable, he is wicked, he is clothed about with a great mass of riches and with power.

For this very reason above all I laugh him to scorn.

For these are but forms of weakness.

But he knows how to lay plots, one says.

Again you are telling me of another form of weakness.

Why then is it that many such men prevail? Because you do not know how to box well;

because you too contend to the utmost for the very things by which those men become weaker for glory and for power.

Flee the ground of the contest, and strike your assailants from another quarter with forbearance the braggart, with poverty the covetous, with self-control the licentious, with kindliness the envious;

and thus you will easily get the better of them.

But, as I said before, having described the weakness of the adversaries, see how he also tells of the full armor of the righteous man.

But the righteous man what has he done? that is to say:

When those men are thus arrayed for battle, do you seek from where the righteous man armed himself? Listen:

The Lord is in His holy temple;

The Lord His throne is in heaven.

Do you see how concisely he has described His alliance? What has he done, you ask? He has taken refuge in the God who is in heaven, who is present everywhere.

He did not string his bow, nor make ready a quiver, as that other man did, nor did he set his battle line in the moonless dark;

but leaving all these things aside, he set up against them all his hope in God as a rampart, and opposed to them Him who has need of none of these things not of seasons, nor of places, nor of weapons, nor of money, but accomplishes all things by a mere nod

an alliance both invincible and easy and effortless? His eyes look upon the poor man, His eyelids examine the sons of men.

The Lord examines the righteous and the ungodly, but he who loves unrighteousness hates his own soul.

Another translator has, His eyelids prove them.

Another, The Lord is a righteous examiner.

Another, He proves the righteous and the ungodly, and His soul has hated him who loves unjust things.

Another, He who loves unrighteousness hates his own soul.

Do you see an ally made ready, a helper prepared, present everywhere, seeing all things, beholding all things, having this above all as His work that, even though there be none to entreat Him, He provides, He cares, He restrains those who do wrong, He helps those who are wronged, rendering to some the recompense of their good deeds, and appointing for others the punishments of their sins? Nothing therefore is unknown to Him;

for His eyes look upon the whole inhabited world.

And He does not merely know these things, but He also wills to set them right.

Wherefore another too, declaring this very thing, said, 'The righteous one.'

For if He is righteous, He will not simply endure to overlook these things when they are done.

He turns away from the wicked; He commends the righteous.

Then, that very thing which he said in the former psalm, showing that wickedness is itself sufficient to consume them, this too he here declares and adds:

'But he that loves unrighteousness hates his own soul.'

For wickedness is a foe to the soul, an enemy and a destroyer, so that even before the punishment the wicked man pays the penalty.

Do you see how he shows those who oppose to be easily overcome on every side, when He has such an ally, and they are captured by their own weapons—consumed through the very things by which they are fenced about, and injuring themselves? Do you see the ease of this alliance? For there is no need to travel anywhere or to run, nor to spend money, since God is present everywhere and beholds all things.

'He shall rain snares upon sinners; fire and brimstone and a stormy blast shall be the portion of their cup.'

'For the Lord is righteous and has loved righteousness; His countenance has beheld uprightness.'

Another version: 'He shall rain coals upon the transgressors.'

Another: 'Uprightness shall behold His countenance'—that is, the countenance of the righteous, or of God Himself.

Having spoken of the penalty that comes from wickedness itself, since many despise this, he next shakes the mind of the wicked with the blow that is borne from above, employing speech that is vivid and advancing by means of terrifying names.

For he says that fire, and brimstone, and a stormy blast, and coals are rained upon them from above, wishing by the metaphor of the words to set forth the inescapableness of the vengeance, the abundance of the punishment, the ease of the blow, and its consuming power.

What is 'the portion of their cup'? This, he says, is their allotment, this their possession; in this they shall abide, on these they shall be consumed.

namely, that He who oversees all things will not endure to pass these by unpunished.

This too another prophet says:

'Your eye is pure, so as not to look upon evil things, and You will not be able to gaze upon toils.'

This too the psalmist here sets forth, saying:

'For the Lord is righteous and has loved righteousness.'

This is God's most special excellence: to approve of what is just, of uprightness;

and He would not endure to the end the things done otherwise.

For this very reason, at the beginning of the psalm he said:

'Flee to the mountains like a sparrow?' For those who trust in worldly things are in no better a state than the sparrow, which, taking refuge in the wilderness, becomes an easy prey to all.

Such is he who hopes in riches.

Just as the sparrow is caught even by little children, and by birdlime, and by a snare, and by countless other means,

so too the rich man is caught both by his own household and by enemies;

and he lives more precariously even than that bird, having many who lie in wait for him with lime, and before them, evil desires;

and he is a wanderer, always shifting with the changing seasons, and the rage of executioners

dreading both the king's wrath, and the plots of flatterers, and the treacheries of friends;

and when enemies stand against him, he trembles more than all men, and even when there is peace, he suspects those who scheme against him;

for he does not possess wealth that is stable and cannot be taken away.

For this reason he is always flying and wandering, pursuing the deserts and the mountains, passing his life in moonless darkness, having thick gloom in the very midst of noonday, and stitching together deceits.

But the righteous man is not such.

For the ways of the righteous shine like the light.

For they neither choose to plot nor to do wrong, but have a soul at ease.

But these, ever stitching together deceits, are ever in darkness and fear, like robbers, and burglars, and adulterers;

and in the daytime they see darkness, since their soul is smitten with dread.

How then might this darkness be scattered? If, having removed yourself from all these things, you were to hang upon the hope of God, even though you were ten thousand times a sinner.

'For look,' he says, 'to the ancient generations, and see: who ever hoped in the Lord and was put to shame?' He did not say, 'the righteous man,' but 'who?'—even if he be a sinner, he says.

For this is the marvelous thing: that even sinners, holding fast to this anchor, are to all men invincible.

For this is the surest mark of a right disposition toward God: when, though weighed down with so many evils, you yet take courage in His loving-kindness.

For as cursed is he who hopes in man, so blessed is he who hopes in God.

Withdraw yourself, therefore, from all things, and hold fast to this anchor.

For God oversees all things, and judges what is just; and He does not judge only, but also brings it into effect.

Therefore, having spoken concerning His righteousness, he showed also the punishment, by fire, by tempest;

and this too He does out of care for them, making them more temperate through chastisement.

For all these reasons, then, let us draw near to Him, and let us continually remain looking toward Him.

For thus shall we also obtain all good things in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory unto the ages of ages.