詩篇註釋 第 51 章

For the end, for the giver of victory.

O Lord, You have tried me, and You have known me.

What are you saying? Does God know after He has tried, but before trying He does not know? By no means; God forbid!

For how could that be so of Him who knows all things before their coming into being? Rather, the phrase 'You have tried me' means: You know me exactly.

For just as the Apostle, when he says that He searches the hearts, does not imply ignorance but exact knowledge, speaks thus;

so indeed this one too, when he says, 'You have tried me,' signifies the clearest knowledge, that is, You know me exactly.

You have known my sitting down and my rising up.

By sitting down and rising up he means the whole of life;

for in these things our life consists;

our deeds, our activities, our comings in, our goings out.

Then, since at the outset he had said, 'You have tried me,' lest any of the foolish should suppose that He knows from trial, or from experience of events, because of his saying, 'You have known my sitting down and my rising up,' see how he corrects this by the addition which he brought in, saying, 'You have understood my thoughts from afar off.'

For by this he shows that He does not know by trial, nor has need of trying, but by His foreknowing power understands all things.

For He who knows the reasonings that lie in the mind has no need of the testing that comes through deeds.

And moreover He knows them not only when they are stirring in the mind, but even before they are stirred;

and not merely before they are stirred, but even a long time beforehand.

Wherefore, wishing to make these things plain, he added the phrase, 'You have understood my thoughts from afar off.'

If then God knows even the thoughts, why does He bring in the testing that comes through deeds? Not that He Himself may learn, but that He may render those who endure it approved.

Since He knew Job also before the trial;

A righteous man, truthful, and God-fearing.

But He brought the trial upon him, so as both to render that man more steadfast in endurance, and to expose the wickedness of the devil, and to make others more zealous through the example.

And why do you marvel that He did this in the case of Job, when He works the very same thing even in the case of sinners? For He knew clearly that the Ninevites were not worthy to be destroyed, but would become better through repentance;

yet nevertheless He brought upon them the trial through actual events as well;

and everywhere He furnishes many proofs of His own providential care and of His love for mankind, not content to rest in His own foreknowledge alone.

For this reason the Only-Begotten also said:

If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me;

but if I do, even though you do not believe Me, believe the works.

For since many, being duller in understanding and insensible, utter many such things—that God chose this one, and loved that one, and hated the other, and that therefore the one became wicked and the other base—

He persuades them from the facts, correcting the judgment of each of these persons, and bringing forward into their midst the proof drawn from the works. And He declares indeed, even before the events, that such a one is virtuous, so that they may learn His power of foreknowledge;

but He also brings in the assurance drawn from the actual events, so that none of the foolish may say that this one was such-and-such because of the prediction.

See, then, how Paul also makes this clear, when he says:

For when they were not yet born, nor had done anything good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls, it was said to her that

the elder shall serve the younger.

For He has no need to await the outcome of the works, but even before these He Himself knows the one who is base and the one who will not be such.

My path and my measuring-line You have traced out, and all my ways You have foreseen.

As from common usage, he calls a man's deeds his sitting down and his rising up;

for indeed we too often say, 'So-and-so knows how such a man sits, how he rises,' bearing witness to his exact knowledge of him;

so here by 'path' and 'measuring-line' he means the whole of a man's life.

And all my ways You have foreseen.

And the word 'You have traced out' belongs not to one who is searching, nor to one who is inquiring, but to one who knows exactly.

And showing this, he added, 'You have foreseen';

that is, Before they came to be, You knew all my deeds, both the wicked and the good.

For there is no deceit on my tongue.

This is the greatest token of virtue, this is the sum of good things, this is what Christ especially seeks after when He says:

Unless you turn and become as little children, you shall in no way enter into the kingdom of heaven;

hinting at what is innocent, guileless, unfeigned, and simple.

For this reason also He chose unlearned men, and said:

I confess to You, Father, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them to babes.

He did not say, 'I received and then cast off deceit';

but, 'This disease never even came into being, nor ever set foot upon my tongue, but this wickedness has become a thing untrodden, far removed from me.'

Behold, O Lord, You have known all things, the last and the ancient.

You know not only my thoughts, he says, nor only my deeds, nor only my ways, but all things that have come to pass and that shall come to pass.

You have formed me, and have laid Your hand upon me.

From the power of foreknowledge he passed on to the creative power, and from the creative power back again to the foreknowledge.

For not only did He make us who were not, but He also upholds us now that we have come to be.

Both of these things Paul also witnesses concerning Christ, when he says:

God, having spoken in many portions and in many ways of old to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by a Son, whom He appointed heir of all things;

Then, adding further, he speaks also of the work of creation:

through whom He also made the ages.

And having discoursed concerning His essence, and having said, 'Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person,' he goes on to show also His providential power, saying:

'And upholding all things by the word of His power.'

And writing to the Colossians he said these same things again: 'For in Him were all things created that are in the heavens and that are upon the earth, whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things have been created through Him, and unto Him; He is before all things.'

This belongs to His work of creation.

Then, declaring His providential care, he adds:

'And in Him all things consist.'

John too, setting forth both these truths again, said:

'All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.'

This he said to make plain the work of creation.

'In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.'

This too the prophet hints at here when he says:

He spoke also of the matter of providence:

'And Thou hast laid Thy hand upon me.'

What is the meaning of 'Thou hast laid'? Thou dost hold me fast, sustain me, and bear me up.

This is what Paul also declared when he said, 'For in Him we live, and move, and have our being.'

For it is not only in coming into being, but also in continuing to be and to abide, that we need His power.

'Thy knowledge is become too wonderful for me; it is mighty.'

Instead of 'it is mighty,' another translator has 'it is exalted above me.' What he means is something like this: I both enjoy Thy providence, and know that Thou foreknowest all things, and that Thou madest me out of things that were not; yet I am unable to possess an exact and altogether clear knowledge concerning Thee, but 'it is become too wonderful' — that is,

it surpassed me, it was lifted up above me, it became too strong to be grasped by my reasonings;

so wonderful is it, so great.

What then? If it is wonderful and great, can it be comprehended? By no means.

For this reason he added, 'I cannot attain unto it,' that thou mightest not say this.

But when he speaks of 'knowledge,' he does not mean this, that 'I am ignorant of God,' but that 'I do not possess a complete and clear knowledge concerning Him.'

For that He exists, we know;

but what He is in His essence, we know not.

'For he that cometh to God must believe that He is.'

And he did not say what He is in His essence;

for this is known to no one.

That He loves mankind, we know; that He is kind, that He is good;

but this prophet, passing over all these things, puts forward another that seems to be easier, and says that even this he is ignorant of.

For I do not speak, he says, of what He is in His essence, nor of how great His goodness is;

for it is agreed that these things are incomprehensible;

but even how He is everywhere present, I am unable to tell; this too is beyond our comprehension.

Wherefore, having said, 'Thy knowledge is become too wonderful for me,' he added:

'Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit, and from Thy presence whither shall I flee? If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there;'

'if I go down into hell, Thou art there.'

'If I take up my wings toward the dawn, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea.'

For there too, as another translator renders it, 'Even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me.'

By 'Spirit' and 'presence' he means God Himself.

That is: Whither shall I go from Thee? Thou fillest all things, Thou art present to all, not part by part, but wholly present to all at once.

And having spoken of the things above and the things below, of breadth, length, depth, and height, he makes clear that God is present everywhere.

And he did not say, 'Wherever I go, you will follow after me and lay hold of me';

but rather, 'Wherever I go, there you are';

that is to say, 'There I find you already awaiting me before I arrive.'

For this reason he says, 'Your knowledge is made wondrous beyond me.'

'And if you do not know it exactly,' someone might say, 'how do you know that it is wondrous?' Because it surpasses my reasoning, because it overcomes my understanding.

For indeed, we cannot clearly comprehend even the sun's ray, and yet for this very reason we marvel at it all the more;

so it is also with the knowledge of God;

we are not wholly ignorant of it;

for we know that God exists, and that he is a lover of mankind, and that he is good, and that he is kind and gentle, and that he is everywhere;

but what his essence is, or how great the things we have named, or in what manner he is everywhere, this we do not know.

Having therefore said the things from which 'Your knowledge is made wondrous,' and having proclaimed his foreknowing, his creative, his providential power, and the incomprehensibility and inexplicability of his essence;

he again recounts another of his powers, one likewise full of great perplexity, if it should be sought out by reasonings.

For indeed this too is incomprehensible.

What then is this? It is the saying, 'For even there your hand will guide me, and your right hand will lay hold of me.'

That is, it is possible for men who have fallen into dire straits not to be given over to be seized by those calamities, even while they are in the very midst of the calamities themselves.

Interpreting this, then, he went on to add:

'And I said, Surely darkness will trample me down, and night will be my light in my delight.'

'For darkness will not be dark from you, and night will be lit up as day.'

'As its darkness, so also is its light.'

Having said above these things which I have enumerated, and along with them not only that God is present everywhere, but that he also leads, secures, and fortifies, he now goes on, in this passage too, to show the marvel: not only that he fortifies and secures, but that he does so even beyond the very nature of things.

For having said, 'Your right hand will lay hold of me,' and that 'It will guide me,' he added:

'And I said, Surely darkness will trample me down.'

Another translator renders it, 'If I say, Perhaps darkness will cover me over.'

Here 'darkness' signifies affliction.

I was hemmed in on every side by calamities, and I said within myself that the calamities would prevail over me.

Another says, 'Darkness will hide me.'

'And night will be my light in my delight.'

Another renders it, 'Night is bright about me.'

And what does this mean? 'I,' he says, 'said these things reasoning from the nature of the circumstances;

but all at once the calamities were turned into good things;

or rather, the calamities were not turned into good things, but while the calamities remained, I nonetheless enjoyed much of God's kindness.'

For he did not say, 'The night was made to vanish';

but rather, 'The night was bright';

that is, the night remaining night—and it is clear that by the name of 'night' he signifies the calamities and misfortunes—these did not have power to trample me down, but in the night there came light, that is, help and support around me.

For contrary things both come to pass and appear amid contrary things, whenever God so wills.

Or have you not seen a furnace blazing up, and dew hissing through it, and neither the one being quenched nor the other dried up, and hail and flame together? Whence then did this come about? Tell me.

And how it came about, I desire to learn.

Or rather, I do not even desire to learn the manner of it;

but I believe in what has come to pass, and I worship the One who did it.

For the greater part of His works are in secret.

Have you not seen that, while it was day, the Egyptians groped about as though in darkness, and that, while darkness held everything fast, the Israelites saw; and again, at the very beginning, while there was darkness, the light shone in the midst of it? For everywhere the Maker is Lord of the nature of things — not so as to bring into being what did not exist, but so that, while they remain in their own nature, He should contrive to make them appear otherwise.

For darkness shall not be darkened from Thee.

And night shall be lightened as the day.

Another version: But even night shall appear as day.

As its darkness, so also its light.

Another version: Its darkness and its light are alike.

Well did he say, From Thee, that is, With Thee.

Making plain that, if Thou willest, the darkness shall not be darkness, but shall display the properties of light.

Therefore he added, And night shall be lightened as the day, making the former statement clearer, and showing that the night shall display the things of day as though they were its own.

For whenever God so wills, the working of the elements is transferred to its contraries — so exactly to the contraries as it had been allotted to its own proper qualities at the beginning.

For if Thou willest, such shall the night be, and it shall have its light allotted to it, even as it has its darkness.

Therefore, to make this plain also, he added,

As its darkness, so also its light.

These things are said properly of the elements, but figuratively of human affairs.

From these it is shown that God is able, in afflictions, to grant to those who fall into them as great a relief as to those who are at ease — providing for them in their affliction.

For this is the marvellous and paradoxical thing, which indeed also came to pass in the case of Joseph.

For that man did not enjoy so great ease and honour while dwelling in his father's house as he did when he was sold and nourished in a foreign household.

And through the very men who plotted against him the diadem was woven, and the purple robe was prepared, and this very occasion of dishonour became for him an occasion of honour and of kingship.

Do you see how we have interpreted the words, Night shall be lightened as the day? And with regard to the words, As its darkness, so also its light, again it is necessary to say the same thing:

As was that, so also shall this be its own — not in appearance, but because Thou, the Lord of natures, art transposing the things.

For Thou hast possessed my reins, O Lord;

Thou hast taken hold of me from my mother's womb.

And what connexion has this with what has been said? Much indeed, and very closely joined.

For since he had spoken concerning His so great power, he now shows that He has used this power for what is profitable to men and for their benefit.

For lest any of the foolish should say, And what are these things to me, if He is great and mighty and foreknowing? — show whether we gain anything from this;

he added the words, For Thou hast possessed my reins, speaking of the whole man from a part.

And this is no small part of praise and of providence — to be a possession of God.

Therefore, to make this plain also, he adds what follows, saying:

Thou hast taken hold of me from my mother's womb.

That is: Thou hast at all times walled me about, made provision for me, and secured me from my earliest age, from the very swaddling-clothes; and these things Thou hast taught me through those very works of which I spoke.

I will confess to Thee, for Thou art fearfully wondrous;

wondrous are Thy works, and my soul knoweth it right well.

What is this? Thou hast formed me, he says, but I know not how Thou hast formed me;

Thou dost provide for me, but I cannot embrace the whole of Thy providence together in my reasonings.

Thou art everywhere present, but not even this do I understand.

Thou foreknowest things to come, and things that have already happened, and the hidden secrets of men's minds;

but not even this can I grasp with my reasonings.

For Thou changest the natures of things, and, while they remain, Thou dost cause them to display their contraries; and again Thou dost bring forth the contraries in such a way as though they were kindred and allotted by nature.

Having then gathered all these things together again, and being filled with inspiration, he cried aloud with a great voice, saying:

'I will give thanks unto Thee, for Thou art fearfully to be wondered at' — that is, Thou hast shown Thyself wonderful, and wonderful Thou art.

'Marvellous are Thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well.'

And why do I speak, he says, concerning Thyself, when even the things wrought by Thee hold much cause for wonder? Then, leaving off to go through them all, he is content with his own knowledge, saying:

'And that my soul knoweth right well.'

It knows not simply, but with intensity, he says, with vehemence.

And if it knows, how did he say before, 'Thy knowledge is become too wonderful for me; it is strong,'

'I cannot attain unto it'? Well, that indeed was said concerning Him, but this concerning His works.

But even if this too be said concerning Him, we might say that he knows that He is wonderful, that He is great, that He is exalted;

but what His essence is — for again I shall say the same things — and how His majesty is, and what the manner of the things spoken of is, this he does not know.

Yet this very ignorance is a proof of knowledge, even though what is said be marvellous.

For as regards the sea also, we are ignorant how great it is, and nevertheless for this very reason we know it to be a sea, precisely because we are ignorant of its measure.

But if anyone says he knows its quantity, this man above all is the one who is ignorant of it.

So then there is a profession of knowledge that convicts ignorance, and there is an ignorance that bears witness to knowledge for us.

'My bone was not hid from Thee, which Thou madest in secret;'

'and my substance in the lowest parts of the earth.'

Again he discourses concerning His knowledge, and shows that He knows all these things.

Either, then, he means all His hidden things, or he hints at something else — the fashioning and the forming;

and Thou wast ignorant of nothing even while I was being fashioned, but Thou knewest all things, as nature was little by little weaving me together — and this though she worked in secret, and as it were in the lowest parts of the earth;

but nevertheless, he says, to Thee all things are naked and laid open.

But another interpreter spoke thus:

'My bones were not covered from Thee, with which I was made in secret.'

Another: 'My strength escaped Thee not, wherewith I was made in secret;'

'I was wrought in varied form as in the lowest parts of the earth.'

Yet another: 'My power, or my bones, escaped Thee not; for I was both made in secret, and fashioned into form in the lowest parts of the earth.'

All of them, then, say the same thing: that Thou knowest me exactly even while I am being fashioned, part by part, and Thou knowest each even to the members, and to their growth.

Just as Christ also says:

'But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.'

And the word is at the same time declaring both concerning providence and concerning knowledge.

'Thine eyes saw my unwrought substance.'

Either he says the same thing again, namely, 'Thou knewest me even while unformed;'

for another too spoke thus: 'Thine eyes saw me unformed;'

or it refers to the deeds themselves, namely, that Thine eyes saw even what had not yet been done.

'And in Thy book shall all be written.'

'They shall be fashioned in days, and no one among them.'

What is said is obscure, but one must from the

sequence and from the other interpreter hunt it out.

For what he says is of this sort, agreeing with what went before.

And what was that former thing? 'Thine eyes saw me unformed;'

that is, when I had not yet received form, while still being fashioned, still being woven together, even so Thou sawest me as clearly as him that is already formed, as him that is already shaped, as him that is already made complete and no longer needing any day for his finishing.

And that thou mayest learn that this is so, hear the interpretation of the other translator:

Your eyes foresaw me when I was yet unformed, together with all things that are written in Your book, being fashioned day by day, while not a single one was lacking.

'You saw me along with those,' he says, 'You saw me just like those who are being fashioned in their days'—days in which not one single day was lacking.

But he says these things, not as though there were a book on high, nor as though certain things were being inscribed, but signifying by 'the book' the exact and perfect knowledge, just as when he says:

'The Lord heard, and He wrote it in a book.'

And again, 'The books were opened.'

'But to me Your friends have been greatly honored, O God.'

Another translator has: 'Your companions have become precious.'

This too is no small virtue: to hold the friends of God in great honor.

'You took thought for me beforehand,' he says; 'when I did not exist You brought me forth, and You sustain me; and I render this recompense, by honoring Your friends.'

'Their rulership has been greatly strengthened.'

That is to say, they themselves have been made strong.

'How exceedingly numerous are their heads?' Which is stated more plainly as well:

'I will number them, and they shall be multiplied more than the sand.'

'I honor them, and You make them many, and more numerous than the sand.'

and not only many, but strong as well.

For this is what 'They have been strengthened' means.

And he speaks of a twofold prosperity: both in respect of multitude, and in respect of the increase of strength.

'I awoke, and I am still with You.'

Another translator: 'I awoke from sleep, and forever I shall be beside You.'

This is no small sign of virtue: to remain in prosperity while keeping virtue intact.

For many, indeed, having enjoyed good fortune, forgot themselves.

'But not I,' he says; 'rather, even when I have risen up'—that is, when I have been delivered from my troubles—'I shall be with You always.'

'If You slay the sinners, O God.'

He does not mean this, that 'If You slay them, then I will be with You';

rather, that abiding with God has been promised even apart from this;

and he asks that this may come to pass, not that he might destroy the very being of men, but that he might turn them from sin unto righteousness.

For he did not say, 'If You slay men,' but 'Sinners.'

Another translator, instead of 'Sinners,' said 'Transgressor,' speaking of the enemies who worship idols.

'Men of blood, depart from me.'

By 'men of blood' he means the murderous, those who delight in slaughter.

And this too is no small road toward the increase of virtue: to flee and leap away from the company of such men.

'Because you are contentious in your reasonings.'

Another translator: 'Who spoke against You a scheming purpose.'

Another: 'Because they provoked You with evil counsel.'

See how he leaps away and flees from association with them, not seeking his own interests, but on account of the insult offered to God.

For this very thing became a cause of ruin to the Jews as well: the mingling with the wicked.

For this reason they received a law, and by the law were walled off from them, and were commanded to shun intermarriage with them; and when they had then come out of Egypt, in the wilderness for forty years they were fashioned by themselves.

For this reason too the law was called a fence, since it was set around them on every side, and restrained their associations with the wicked;

for their character was easily deceived, easily captured, and easily turned aside.

'They shall take Your cities for vanity.'

Another version reads, 'Thy rivals have exalted themselves in vain.'

For this reason he flees and springs away: because they had exalted themselves against the glory of God, because they were transgressing the law, because they were uttering blasphemous words.

'Do I not hate those who hate Thee, O Lord,

and did I not pine away over Thine enemies? With a perfect hatred did I hate them.'

In this very way God too has promised to be an enemy to His enemies, and to oppose those who oppose them.

For these things are the surest proofs of friendship.

And so he too requites God through both of these things.

For higher up he said, 'But to me Thy friends, O God, were exceedingly honoured';

and here, 'Those who hate Thee I hated';

there with surpassing measure, and here too with surpassing measure.

For he does not say merely 'I hated,' but also 'I pined away.'

'Prove me, O God, and know my heart;

Examine me, and know my paths, and see if there be any way of iniquity in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.'

And yet at the beginning he was saying:

'Thou hast proved me, and hast known me.'

'Thou knowest my sitting down and my rising up.'

'Thou hast understood my thoughts from afar off;

my path and my line Thou hast searched out.'

'And all my ways Thou hast foreseen.'

'Thou hast known all things, both the last and the ancient.'

How then does he here again say 'Prove me,' as though he had not yet been proved? Do you see that he uses human expressions, not that we should linger in their lowliness, but that, gathering together through all of them a conception worthy of God, we may ascend to lofty thoughts?

For he asks to be proved and examined, not that He who beforehand knew all things, even before their coming into being, might know his heart, but that we, who learn from the outcome of events, might know it.

For the phrase 'Prove me' means this in this place.

'And see if there be any way of iniquity in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.'

And what is the everlasting way, but the spiritual one, which leads up to heaven, and whose end there is none? Whereas all other things have become perishable, and are dissolved together with the present life.

Therefore, passing by all things, he seeks that way, the immortal, the boundless, the one that does not come to an end.

And how might one be led to it? By enjoying the impulse that comes from God, and by contributing what is one's own—pursuing virtue, laying hold of the philosophic life, becoming higher than the things of this world.

For the things that come from that way are not fleeting, nor temporary,

but it has fruits that flourish perpetually and never wither, and its good things are immortal, undefiled, and unending;

which may it be granted to us all to attain, by the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and might, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages.