詩篇註釋 第 1 章 第 2/34 段

In the weaving of this crown lie those stones which are built up with gold and silver upon the foundation, which is Christ.

It is plain that neither the gold nor the silver nor the stones are taken in a material sense.

And if we say it concerning each king, such as Abraham was, such as the other saints are, that:

there was a likeness and a crown of beauty, it was not bound with material stones; from such stones one is crowned.

Take, for instance, Joseph, who strove for the sake of chastity.

Chastity is a precious stone.

These crowned him, and Susanna, and the martyrs.

And since the virtues follow upon one another, and he who has one has them all, the crown that is woven is not one single stone.

'Of a precious stone, therefore, Thou hast set a crown upon his head.'

The word 'precious' belongs to the category of relatives.

These stones here—such as pearls and hyacinths and the rest—we call precious, since there are also other stones as distinguished from those.

Since, then, these great stones are the species of virtue, behold, these stones are precious, and they surpass all things that are reckoned of worth in the world.

And that the disciples are the crowns of their teachers, Paul taught:

'my joy and my crown,' addressing the church that had been made his disciple.

In that day the Lord of hosts shall be the crown of hope.

The material of this crown is the Lord of hosts;

for the Lord of hosts shall be the crown of hope.

And since one who is here cannot yet possess perfect participation in God, but this shall come to pass then, when God becomes all in all—it is perfected as a fire in Him who is over all, in the final object of desire—for this reason he called Him a crown of hope;

for if we shall know Him then, when we see Him as He is, and then we shall see Him as He is when we attain to the end—this crown is a crown of hope.

For the present it is of hope, it is a thing awaited.

He asked life of Thee, and Thou gavest it him.

We were saying that the Saviour, according to His manhood—and when I say 'according to the manhood,' do not separate Him from the Word—is an Advocate with the Father.

For neither is the Word apart from the Man, nor the Man apart from the Word, but He Himself, blended of both, becomes an Advocate, and ever living to make intercession for them, He pleads on their behalf.

He asks, then, for that life which He wills to be quickened into being.

And through Him the quickening comes to pass;

for having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit.

And the soul of Jesus is not itself Life, but has its living from God, who apportions and graciously grants the power to live;

and so too all other souls, so that each may say:

the soul holds its life according to immortality as a thing of honour.

But its living unto God it reaps from that which lies within our power, just as living unto sin, again, is from that which lies within our power.

length of days unto the age and unto the age of the age.

Again, we cannot take the length of days according to the literal sense.

He says 'unto the age' and 'unto the age of the age.'

But these days, which are given and produced by the sun, are spoken of only in this present age.

'When shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of Thy coming and of the consummation of the age?' And also:

until the consummation of this age.

And if the Scriptures speak of 'the days of the age,' they mean the days of the age.

Now this man who made the request was great, and it was not concerning some small and indifferent matter that he sent up his prayer—so that his prayer is even remembered—nor concerning these days that are bounded by the sun and moon.

These things, therefore, must be contemplated in another way.

And you will see that in the Scriptures such things often break down and appear as impossible.

'Honour,' He says, 'thy father and thy mother, that it may be well with thee and that thou mayest be long-lived upon the earth.'

But it is by no means the case that one who honours his parents always remains many years upon the earth.

Many younger persons are taken away.

It is said, at any rate, in the Wisdom of Solomon concerning such persons:

'He was caught away, lest wickedness should alter his understanding, or guile deceive his soul.'

'Being made perfect in a short time, he fulfilled long years.'

And it says that prudence is grey hair, and that the unspotted life is old age.

But if the unspotted life is old age, and this consists not of days but of virtue, then the days too must be taken in another sense.

but in order that those on whose behalf he offers up his supplication—

we have spoken concerning the life, not the common life, but that which is according to virtue.

He who knew no sin, nor committed it, nor held guile in his heart, had no deadness such as is set in contrast to the blessed life.

Whence, when asking for life, he did not ask it for himself, but wills that it be given to those on whose behalf he brings up his petition;

for He ever lives to make intercession on behalf of those who are to have life from Him.

'He asked life of Thee, and Thou gavest it him.'

It is either the psalmist or the Holy Spirit within him that speaks to God.

And it is a great testimony when he who has sent up a prayer receives his requests.

'Thou gavest it him, therefore—length of days unto the age and unto the age of the age.'

The saints do not at all wish to have the common life prolonged in this present existence.

Indeed, 'it is far better,' he says, 'to depart and to be with Christ.'

'Woe is me, that my sojourning is prolonged!'

'I am a sojourner in the earth.'

He who is a sojourner and a stranger has as his longing and aim to depart from his sojourning, that he may dwell in the place suited to him.

As, therefore, the life here signified is not the common life—which even ungodly men and irrational animals live—so neither does he mean by 'length of days' a life of many years, but rather a length of days, just as he who honours his parents shall be long-lived and of many days.

And in Deuteronomy also it is said:

'This is thy life and this is the length of thy days: to love me, the Lord thy God, with all thy heart and with all thy soul.'

Behold, the length of days too is that which loves Him with all the soul and with all the strength and with all longing.

'length of days, therefore, unto the age.'

It is possible to take these words concerning the blessed life in this manner:

for there is a life which is identical with the knowledge concerning God.

'And this is eternal life, that they should know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent'—this life is the knowledge concerning the Father and the Son.

'He that believeth in me hath eternal life.'

He that believeth in the Saviour does not have the common life.

The ungodly are often found to be longer-lived than the diligent.

Those men long for this life of many days, inasmuch as they consider no other thing good than such a condition.

As, therefore, there is a praiseworthy life both present and to come, so also there is a length of days unto this age, that one may have great illumination, each doctrine of the truth being known and giving light.

And each practical virtue rightly accomplished is a praiseworthy day.

Since, therefore, just as here knowledge is partial and will be succeeded by perfect and complete knowledge, so also in the case of practical virtue those who from this present time have been shown righteous according to practical virtue will be diligent in another way—for again they have both a present and a future righteousness—there is a length of days unto the age that is here, not this common one, but that which is able to come to be, concerning which they say:

'This is the day which the Lord hath made.'

For in pointing it out they have spoken.

But no one points to that which is to come, rather to that which is already present and at hand.

The future, when that time comes at which it arrives, is no longer future.

Again, it too will fall under demonstration.

So then, whether you take the king, or the holy man, or Him who came forth from Mary, they do not pray concerning that life or the length of days perceptible to the senses, but concerning those things already spoken of.

They receive a long-aged life, and concerning this they send up their petition.

But the long-aged life is not the life of one age.

And take the life correspondingly to each age: at one time as introductory and preliminary, at another as intermediate, at another as perfect.

After all these aforementioned days?—Each doctrine that gives light to the soul, being illumined by the Sun of Righteousness, we have called a day.

But after these illuminations that come in the course of progress, there is a certain perfect condition of light.

It is interrupted by night; a multitude of days does not come to be.

But it is possible to take it also in this way:

Since the virtues have a connection with one another—for each one is luminous—there comes to be one length of days out of their mutual sequence, and it is not broken off.

Each scientific theorem is divided off from the others;

for the man of knowledge knows many things.

For instance, as in medicine there is the surgical theorem, the dietetic; in grammar there is this or that.

When someone is made perfect, he no longer has them as separate things;

for now it is possible to have the surgical part to a greater degree, but the dietetic to a lesser.

But when you set before me a perfect physician, having all the theorems perfectly and unsurpassably, they are no longer dispersed, nor do they have their difference in the matter.

Set before me a man having complete health in his body.

He no longer needs diet alone, nor surgery.

He has cast off those things for the sake of which he needed these; and for the rest he has health, which no longer produces anything else.

It is for her own sake that all these things are pursued with such zeal.

And the holding fast of her is pursued with a certain longing; for just as there are things that produce health, so also there are things that preserve it—such as exercise or such-and-such a diet.

For there are, as it were, things that produce health, and likewise things that preserve it, such as exercise or such-and-such a food.

That long-lived day, then, is unbroken and without interruption;

for it comes at last, whenever that word is fulfilled:

'The Lord shall be to you an everlasting light,' when the sun no longer fails, nor does the rising of the moon give light to the night.

These things are not spoken concerning the perceptible luminaries;

for immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give its light.

These lights, then, that are dear to those here below, shall give light no longer;

for the sun shall be sevenfold, and the moon shall be as the sun.

Concerning the heavens in general it has been said that they shall be changed.

And when he speaks of the heavens being changed, he also means the stars and luminaries within them—just as, if we were to speak of the earth, saying:

'All the earth worships you,' we mean those who dwell in the earth.

'Sing to the Lord, all the earth.'

'Great is his glory in your salvation.'

If we take 'glory' in its proper sense, we do not call any chance pleasant condition 'glory.'

For instance, we do not call human office 'glory,' nor rank or dignity;

for all these petty glories belong to small-minded and inexperienced men.

Now physicians who bring restoration to health to those they cure seem to procure glory for them—indeed the one in health is more glorified than the one who is sick—yet the glory is not great.

In the salvation of God, therefore, there is great glory;

for this salvation touches the mind and the soul.

And of all that is within us, the mind and the soul surpass the body, even if to some it does not seem so.

It is possible, too, to call the Savior himself 'salvation,' as it stands in many places:

'All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.'

And, 'All flesh shall see the salvation of God'—meaning every human being, or every sentient soul.

In this salvation, therefore, the glory is great.

Even if the death which he took upon himself seems dishonorable—for according to the Law 'cursed is everyone who hangs upon a tree'—yet this seeming dishonor had power to receive so great a glory from the aim of salvation, because it became a salvation not of cattle, nor of men merely, but of soul and mind and spirit, as Paul writes:

'May your spirit and soul and body be kept whole.'

The seeming dishonor, therefore, is a surpassing glory.

When I was expounding the Gospel, at that passage which says:

'He who believes in me, the works that I do he also shall do, and greater works than these shall he do'—among other interpretations, this one also has been given:

If you consider the proportion relative to the one who does them, even great things are small;

in relation to God they are small.

The apostles did not perform perceptible works beyond those of the Savior.

The Savior raised Lazarus, who had already been four days in death, near to dissolution, and had already come to the point of stinking.

The apostles did nothing of this kind.

Jesus brought a man blind from birth to sight.

of the Savior, these are small in comparison with his having made rational being, the heavens, and souls.

But the works of the apostles, even though they were inferior to those of the Savior, are said to be greater—because they exceed their own power—than those which the Savior did;

for greater than these they could not do.

But Jesus both did them and always does them.

For we behold Jesus made lower because of the suffering of death.

He was made lower because of the suffering of death, yet was crowned with glory and honor.

The being made lower brought glory—and indeed brought the greatest glory.

'I reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed.'

And the sufferings of Christ are those which his imitators have suffered, he himself having first suffered.

Even if it be a cross, even if it be death—if you look to the aim of salvation and to the one who saves, it is something great.

But the suffering of others is not great.

Assuredly, at any rate, there were times when they had glory, but for some the glory departed even while they were still living.

Thus, then, I have understood also that which is said in Isaiah:

'And of his peace there is no bound.'

'In his days righteousness shall spring up, and abundance of peace, until the moon be taken away.'

Consider the peace that has sprung up;

for it holds sway until the consummation;

for the taking away of the moon signifies nothing other than the consummation, when the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give its light.

The peace is not in one nation, nor upon the earth only;

for he made peace through the blood of his cross, not for the things on earth only, but also for the things in the heavens.

'Glory and majesty you shall lay upon him.'

The glory and the majesty are laid upon him, together with this great glory which came to be in his salvation.

And majesty consists in deeds and endeavors in which what is fitting is present.

The works that arise from virtue come to pass fittingly.

But many things seem to men to be done fittingly which are not in truth fitting;

as I have also said concerning glory, that there are ranks and petty glories which are not such as men suppose them to be, but have merely been imagined by them to be such.

So then they speak of 'majesty' in this way—meanwhile take the sense from the literal account, from the illustration:

There are presiders over the games, and if they be small-minded, they diminish the contests and the expenditures out of a mean disposition, and they seem indeed to do what is fitting for the president of the games, yet they do it meanly, and these are called mean-spirited;

for they are not so surpassing as to be found in no way inferior in fitting conduct to the presiders over the games before them.

This, then, is called majesty—when in that which is done fittingly there is greatness.

And it is majesty most of all when the fitting thing is done not for the sake of anything else, but for its own sake.

Let me put it thus: if someone who is rich lavishes great sums upon small matters and paltry festivals, this man is not magnificent.

It is an excess of magnificence, just as we say that recklessness is an excess of courage, and superstition an excess of piety.

Suppose a man makes a banquet for his fellow gamblers and lavishes on it as much as another man does not lavish even at a wedding.

Such a man is not magnificent.

But magnificence is not exercised for the sake of vainglory.

Being led by the hand from things perceptible by the senses, let us come to the matters of which our discourse treats.

The Saviour wrought what is fitting in great things.

And the righteous man too displays what is fitting in great things.

What is greater than to save the whole world, to make peace not only among things earthly but also among things heavenly? What is greater than to accomplish that for which things heavenly, things earthly, and things beneath the earth bend the knee to the Saviour unto the glory of God the Father? This glory is magnificence, and it has kinship with comeliness.

And so concerning God himself it is said:

«The Lord reigns; he has clothed himself with comeliness.»

This comeliness and magnificence are one and the same.

Knowing sin, that it is good to abstain from sin and to possess righteousness; it is good, when reviled, not to revile in return, and not to take vengeance on those who treat us cruelly.

«When he suffered,» it says, «he did not threaten.»

Not only did he not requite like for like, but he did not even threaten.

A threat is a forewarning of things fearful.

When, however, it is no longer a forewarning but has attained its outcome, it is no longer a threat.

«Glory therefore and magnificence you will lay upon him.»

It is well said, «you will lay upon.»

This too is laid upon what already lies beneath.

For it was not now only, when he sojourned among us, that he began to place this glory and magnificence in rational beings, but at every time and everywhere, so far as was possible, he was doing this.

But the glory and magnificence that came through his sojourn among us was an addition, as for instance through the cross.

«For you will give him blessing unto ages of ages.»

It is just as we have said concerning life:

not that he himself may possess it — for he does possess it — but that those who draw near to him, those who become his disciples, may possess it.

This blessing unto ages of ages is distinguished from that which is reckoned to be a blessing among mortal things.

For that too is sometimes called a blessing:

«For in his life his soul will be blessed; he will not see light for ever.»

He will not see the light, even though now he seems to behold splendid things.

He does not have this good repute as an abiding thing.

The spiritual blessings, therefore, that are given in the heavenly places are the very same as this blessing which abides unto ages of ages.

For if anyone should regard the acquisition of wealth as a blessing, he does not possess it unto ages of ages.

For it departs together with the material life.

But it is possible to say, gracefully and in a moral sense, that:

The man who has wealth, if he so expends it as to find thereafter also glory, concerning which it says:

«Charge the rich of this age not to be high-minded,»

«laying up for themselves a foundation of good works» — the blessing of such a man abides unto ages of ages.

And the deeds done from that wealth remain indestructible.

Likewise also in the case of the other things:

If a man is glorified and blessed on account of self-control — the true self-control — he possesses it as abiding unto ages of ages.

But if anyone supposes that he is blessed on account of a hypocritical virtue, he possesses it as something that is being dissolved.

For when the truth shines forth and matters appear as they are in their nature, the blessing based on mere supposition is dissolved.

Sometimes it even brings on danger.

«You will gladden him with joy by your countenance.»

The expression seems to be ambiguous.

For one thing is signified by it:

«You will gladden him with joy by your countenance»:

by gladdening your own countenance you will gladden him also.

Or else both things gladden him:

«You will gladden him with joy, and your countenance together with you will gladden him.»

A similar expression is found also in Isaiah:

«And the Lord, the Lord, sent me, and his Spirit.»

«The Lord sent me,» and «his Spirit also sent me.»

And they say that the sending of the Saviour, according to his sojourn among us, came about both from the Father and from the Holy Spirit:

«The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you» — addressed to her who conceived him or was to bear him — «and the power of the Most High.»

He seems here to have been sent from the Father and from the Holy Spirit.

But others read it thus, and this reading is the better one:

«And the Lord, the Lord, sent me»:

«and he also sent his Spirit»:

the Father sent the Son and the Holy Spirit.

But the former interpretation says this: that the Father and the Holy Spirit sent the Son.

And each person receives an understanding suited to himself with respect to the reading, as has already been said.

And so here too there is a «countenance» of the Lord who is here spoken of.

And the Son is his image, the express character of his substance.

Concerning, then, the person taken up by the Saviour and by every righteous man, it is said that:

«Father» — and one who has beheld the express character straightway sees also him whose the character is:

«for he who has seen me has seen the Father.»

Gladness comes about from God and from his countenance.

But it is possible also to understand it thus:

«You will gladden him with joy by your countenance.»

Furthermore, it says this concerning every righteous man:

For your countenance, according to which he came to be after the image and likeness, will be revealed as his.

Accidents, even if they are separable, often coexist together with the substances;

for the body is not first created and then afterwards coloured;

it is created already coloured, and yet we say that in certain cases colour belongs to the things that come and go.

But I added 'in certain cases,' since among sensible things whiteness in snow neither comes upon it nor departs from it;

nor does wetness come upon water as something added.

Since, then, the rational being was made good from the beginning, it is not good in the same way that God is;

for it is good not according to its substance, but according to habit and disposition.

Even though, then, man was made according to the image and likeness, this form which he possesses is separable—capable of being cast off and taken up again.

Yet when God saves, every merely outward image will pass away,

and this true image will be displayed in the one who has been saved.

'For the king hopes in the Lord.'

This king hopes in the Lord.

He hopes that there will be salvation for those on whose behalf He came to suffer.

He does not hold the outcome of what He earnestly pursues in doubt, but hopes unshakeably;

for in the mercy of the Most High he shall not be shaken.

His hope, therefore, does not fail.

And I offer an illustration—though perhaps it is somewhat forced:

no one hopes for what is already present.

The one who is healthy does not hope to become healthy, nor does the one who is rich hope to become rich.

Hope and expectation are one and the same.

Expectation is a genus of hope;

hope, at any rate, is the expectation of good things from God.

Now of things to come, some have a contingent existence, so that they are able either to happen or not to happen, like those that fall out one way or another, while others will certainly come to pass;

for example, what I say by way of scientific knowledge, by way of illustration, is that after such and such a period there is an eclipse of the sun.

Only the man of knowledge hopes for this;

for the other man simply does not know whether it happens or does not happen.

It is good to recall this: that there are four kinds of inquiry;

the simple ones are 'that it is' and 'what it is,'

then the composite ones are 'how it is' and 'why it is.'

It belongs, then, to the man of knowledge to expect those things which will certainly come to pass in accordance with scientific knowledge.

For he knows both that there is an eclipse and what an eclipse is—namely, the running-under of the moon;

and how it comes about—namely, that when the moon comes directly beneath the sun, an eclipse occurs;

and why it is so—namely, that the sun in its circuit comes to be at differing distances.

The moon's circle is beneath the sun's circle.

It does not, therefore, always come directly beneath.

If it comes here and again to the position below, the one coming to be below hides the one above.

They say, at any rate, that an eclipse is the blocking-off of the moon over against the sun.

It belongs, then, to the man of knowledge to know this unfailing expectation.

As for chance things, one may expect, say, rain or a good harvest;

but these often turn out otherwise.

'For the king hopes in the Lord.'

His hope and expectation are unfailing.

'In the mercy of the Most High he shall not be shaken.'

The one who is shown mercy by the Most High is not shaken;

for he is shaken then, when his subjects are found unworthy of his kingdom.

Then he forsakes them, he turns away from them.

And 'hoping,' just as 'God's repenting,' we understand in this way, according to a conceptual notion.

It belongs to the Most High to bless rational beings, just as also in the words:

'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace.'

'May your hand be found by all your enemies; may your right hand find out all those who hate you.'

It is possible even in the case of the body to have a distinction between the right hand and the hand in general;

for the right hand is a hand, but not every hand is a right hand.

Here too we have both a 'hand' and a 'right hand' named of God.

And concerning the true David, who is of the seed of David, it is said in another psalm:

'And he will set his hand upon the sea, and his right hand upon the rivers.'

And observe that upon the sea the 'hand' is set simply;

for the 'right hand' is not upon the sea, but upon his rivers.

'Your hand utterly destroyed the nations.'

Often the 'hand' is spoken of even as the military power of a king, and the 'hands' of judges are their executioners.

The devil too, then, knew that the hand is the harmful one;

'Send forth'—not 'your right hand,' but 'your hand, and touch all that he has.'

'May your hand be found by all your enemies.'

Your hand that punishes your enemies shall be made manifest.

'But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.'

Those who do evil suppose that there is no providence, that there is no requital against those whom they wrong;

but when they receive the trial of some painful thing, coming at times to full awareness, they behold the face of God.

And just as from the greatness and beauty of created things we contemplate proportionately their Author, so from the greatness and intricacy of the workings of His governance the Judge is contemplated.

We have found Pharaoh too despising God, and then, when he was struck, coming to a conception of God.

'I do not know the Lord'—now he both confesses that he knows Him and that He is righteous:

'But I and my people are ungodly.'

But if the face of God came upon Pharaoh when he was doing evil, then the hand is found;

for they must at some time come to know that there is a Judge—if not in this present life, yet at last.

But the hand is found upon the enemies;

and the right hand finds out those who hate.

And those who hate can be less evil than the enemies;

for not everyone who hates is hostile, but everyone who is hostile hates.

And just as it was said that the hand of God is set in the sea, that by grievous labours it might still the tossing and the brine, while the right hand is set in the rivers of the Saviour—these are they who possess a life according to the Spirit, out of whose belly flow living rivers—

'The rivers have lifted up, O Lord, the rivers have lifted up their voices'—thus is found the right hand of the Saviour that saves, that exalts, according to what is said:

'The right hand of the Lord has exalted me, the right hand of the Lord has wrought power; I shall not die, but I shall live.'

'Thou shalt make them as an oven of fire in the time of thy presence.'

This can be said of the enemies alone, those who are delivered over to punishment.

But if it be also concerning both, then understand what is written thus:

Those who are built upon the foundation, which is Christ, if they be gold and silver, are only tried by fire but are not destroyed, nor are they consumed even though they be overtaken by the fire.

But if they be wood, hay, stubble, they are destroyed and are set as an oven of fire; they are, in the end, but as smoke.

Now the smoke is a consequence that follows upon the beneficial working of the fire.

Whenever, then, wood and hay and stubble come to be in the time of the face of God, as it is set down—for there shall be a time when a Judge shall be shown forth—those who are called wood and hay and stubble are not destroyed so as to be no more (for it is impossible to be destroyed in that way), but they are destroyed in that in which they are hay.

For this fire of punishment does not work upon substance, but upon dispositions and qualities.

This fire consumes not created things, but qualified states, dispositions of such a kind.

And teaching too does the very same thing:

it takes the ignorant man and destroys him not in that he is a man, but in that he is ignorant;

for it destroys his ignorance.

So also righteousness destroys the unrighteous man, not so that he should be no more, but so that he should be unrighteous no more.

'O Lord, in thy wrath confound them, and fire shall devour them.'