詩篇註釋 第 31 章 第 2/2 段

For indeed our affairs do not halt at what has already come to pass, but advance to other and greater things: the resurrection, the kingdom, our lot with Christ; all of which, wishing to set before us, he added:

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

This Christ too said to the Jews:

You shall not see me, until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'

For since they kept putting forward this very charge, over and over, that he was not from God, that he was an adversary of God, he says to them:

You yourselves will bear witness to me that I am no adversary of God, when you see me coming upon the clouds, and you send forth this very cry, saying, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord' — casting yourselves out of all defense by these very words of praise.

For the manifestation of the things that come to pass at that time will make them send forth this cry, at once praising and at the same time making their own condemnation more bitter.

We have blessed you out of the house of the Lord.

The Lord is God, and he has appeared to us.

He means the whole faithful people, who enjoy the blessing in the house of God.

For everywhere the prophets are seen pronouncing blessed those who are destined to believe.

On what account did you bless, and whence comes the blessing? Because God has appeared to us.

For, he says, the saving grace of God has appeared, instructing us that, denying impiety and worldly desires, we should live soberly and righteously and godly, awaiting the blessed hope and the appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.

Here, then, the Prophet marvels at the incarnation, that being God, and Lord, and of that very essence, he deigned to appear.

And by 'appearing' he meant the dispensation: the coming into a virgin's womb, the becoming man, and the dwelling among men.

For this reason, he says, We have blessed you, because you have enjoyed such a gift.

This too Christ hinted at when he said:

Many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things which you see, and did not see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and did not hear them.

Order a feast among the leafy boughs, up to the horns of the altar.

Bind together bundles of foliage at the festal assembly.

Another version: Bind the feast with fat things.

He has gone out again from prophecy to the historical narrative.

And what he says is of this sort:

And what is meant by, 'Order a feast among the leafy boughs'? According to one interpreter: Offer fat sacrifices;

and according to the other: Hang up wreaths and boughs upon the temple.

But the Hebrew put it thus: Esrou ang baad othim.

Whether, then, it be this or that, it signifies a feast, and a bright day, and a festal assembly.

For he has carried the discourse over again from the things perceived by the mind to the things perceived by the senses, and made mention of their return.

You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;

You are my God, and I will exalt you.

I will give thanks to you, because you have heard me, and have become my salvation.

Here he shows that even apart from benefactions one ought to give thanks to God, and on this account to glorify him — for his greatness, for his ineffable glory.

For this is what he hints at when, after recounting the benefits with which he had been favored, he thus goes on to add:

And apart from these things I will also give thanks and make confession, because I have such a Master, so exalted, so great, so invisible, so incomprehensible;

for the phrase 'I will exalt' means 'I will glorify.'

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever.

He is not content to offer this sacrifice by himself alone, but he summons many partners to share in the praise and the thanksgiving, and he proclaims aloud the loving-kindness of God, everywhere hymning both its abiding constancy and its greatness.

Knowing these things, then, let us also continue always giving thanks to the God who loves mankind, and let us offer up this sacrifice, so that we may also enjoy the good things to come, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory to the Father, now and always, and unto the ages of ages.