'He himself founded it upon the seas'—this is what he signified in another psalm, saying: 'You have established the earth upon the waters.' That the testimony might follow the faith, he showed in what manner he made it. For while there was a confusion of things, and neither earth nor water had its proper form, by the command of God the earth was gathered together and was made firm upon the waters, so that both earth and water might have the property of their origin. Whence in the Book of Kingdoms there is the voice of God saying: 'Did I not make the waters?' And he added: 'And upon the rivers he prepared it.' Thus it was prepared upon the rivers, since it holds within itself the waters that were created, which, flowing as it were through the channels of veins, furnish it density, lest, being utterly dry, it should be brittle and useless for cultivation.
For they furnish a vital effect to the roots of growing things, and at the same time are a help against thirst in dry places. And, that he might show that profession without a good life does not greatly profit, he says: 'Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord, or who shall stand in his holy place?' He sets forth what manner of man he ought to be who professes God the Creator—lest, because he showed that those are to be punished who, as I said, deny the dominion to God, those who confess might think themselves exempt from punishment, if they were by no means rightly conducting themselves. By the mountain of the Lord, then, he signified heaven. Whence in another psalm he says: 'I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, whence help shall come to me.' But the place of the Lord is where he appears. And it is said to Joshua son of Nun, when the Lord had appeared to him:
'And the place on which you stand is holy ground'; and to Jacob, where he saw the Lord: 'This,' he said, 'is the house of God.' And there follows: 'Innocent in hands and clean of heart.' Then he says that he is worthy to ascend into the mountain of the Lord, that is, into heaven, or to stand in his holy place, if anyone be innocent in works and have a clean heart in the cause of God, that is, of faith. For a man of this kind can ascend into heaven and stand in his holy place. For when this life is ended he ascends into heaven. Then, with the city of Jerusalem, at the coming of the Lord he shall descend from heaven, worthy to stand where the Lord shall judge concerning the living and the dead, as one innocent;
but the impious and sinners shall be unworthy to stand in the holy place of God's judgment, who shall rise, the impious to perdition, the sinners to punishment. For if the children of Israel could not, by reason of sin, look upon the glorified face of Moses as he came down from the mountain, how much more shall a conscience liable to offenses dread to behold the very Lord of glory sitting upon the throne of majesty! For they shall hear: 'I knew you not, workers of iniquity.' And he added: 'Who has not taken his soul in vain.' Now he touches upon the very kinds of sins. For in the first place this man is innocent and has a clean heart, who is free from the fornication of idolatry. For that is the vanity to which whoever inclines subjects his soul to corruption. And there follows:
'Nor has sworn deceitfully to his neighbor.' He mentioned two causes, which are the principal ones—of God and of one's neighbor—because he who is approved in these will without doubt be held approved in the rest also, as the Lord says: 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole law and the prophets.' Who, then, loving the Lord with all his heart, would not keep his law? Or who, having love for his neighbor, would be eager for sins, seeing that he loves his neighbor on account of the fear of God? And he added: 'This man shall receive a blessing from the Lord, and mercy from God his Saviour.'
Now he shows what the merit is of him who, in the cause of God and of man, of the Creator and of his neighbor, has had faith and love: that he shall both be blessed by the Lord, so that he may appear as one commended, and in these things shall obtain mercy for those things which he could not fulfill. For no one can be so circumspect as never to err; but because he was found careful and faithful in great matters, in the least matters he shall receive mercy from his God, who is therefore called Saviour, because 'he wills not the death of the dying, but that he should turn back and live.' And there follows: 'This is the generation of those that seek him, that seek the face of the God of Jacob.' He said there is one generation of those seeking God and seeking the face of the God of Jacob, which is not without purpose.
For although each is good, yet by these words he signified two degrees. It is good to seek God, but it is the full good to seek the face of the God of Jacob. For they are more worthy who are before the face of the Judge. Of these merits, then, is this generation. For, that one may come to this, innocence and purity of heart bring it about; just as, on the other hand, that one may come to evil, injustice and iniquity run before. For there are two generations: one on the side of iniquity, which is the mother of Cain; the other on the side of righteousness, which is the mother of Abel. The latter consists in faith and good conduct; the former in faithlessness and crooked works. These are the two laws, of good and of evil, of God and of the devil; and whichever one a man follows, of that one he shall be called the son.
And through this, the generation of those who seek God is this: faith in God and love toward one's neighbor, as we said above. For he who has faith in God will always seek his help; nor will he show himself unjust toward men, who wishes to have God favorable, the sign of which is this, when it is said 'the God of Jacob,' because God is known in Judah. And why are they said to seek the face of God, when Moses heard: 'My face,' he said, 'shall not be seen by you'? If, then, even Moses sought the face of God and could not see it, in vain are these said to seek it, since they are not better than Moses. But no one is to be said to seek the face of God in vain, because they are therefore said to seek the face of God, that it may be known whom they seek—because they are worthy even to see him.
For everyone who is sought is then recognized, if his face be seen. But since the face of God cannot be seen by mortals, this signification stands for the face, when it is said: 'the God of Jacob.' SELAH. Selah in this place signifies a change of person. For after those things which pertain to the person of God the Father, he subjoins those things which pertain to the sacrament of the Son of God, so that the order, whole and entire, of Father and Son may be preserved.
For the law was given through Moses, that it might be as a pedagogue to men, instructing them and preparing them, with righteousness as schoolmistress, that they might become worthy to receive the year of the Lord and the day of recompense; so that those who had been faithful in the hope of the Christ to come might receive him and might be able, secure concerning their own affairs, to escape the sin of Adam, since his coming, which they had hoped for, was to grant them mercy concerning those things in which it had been stolen upon them that they should transgress. This is what he mentioned above, saying: 'He shall receive mercy from God his Saviour.' He says therefore: 'Lift up the gates of your prince.' This is the voice of the holy angels, of whom it says in the Gospel that 'angels came and ministered to him.'
These, then, say to the principalities and powers, against whom the Apostle says we have our wrestling, that they should lift up the gates of their prince, that is, of the devil, who is the prince of the princes set in error, through which gates one goes into Gehenna. These gates are the faithlessness and deceit of idolatry. And there follows: 'And be lifted up, you everlasting gates.' Faith and hope, with love, are the everlasting gates, because what is proclaimed through truth cannot be abolished. But those gates which I said are the faithlessness and deceit of idols, are temporal, because every lie does not endure; for when truth is made manifest, it shall perish.
They are taught, therefore, to lift up the gates of their prince, that is, that, the error of many gods being removed, the faith of the one God might be brought in through Christ. This is what the Apostle testifies he was sent to teach, that he might show, not only to men but also to principalities and powers in the heavenly places, the mystery of the one God in Christ. And he added: 'And the King of glory shall enter in.' He says that the deceitful gates of the devil, composed with subtlety, are to be lifted up—which are presumption, through which he reckoned himself to be God—so that the King of glory may enter in, who is Christ Jesus our Lord.
For the faith of God enters no one's mind unless he have removed from himself the error of the devil, found out by transgression; and the aforesaid princes cannot receive Christ the King into the faith of the one God, unless they have cast from themselves the tradition through which slander is brought upon the one God—not only the earthly tradition, but also that which was usurped in the heavenly places by Satan, the prince of princes, because there the error which they conspired among themselves—that, with the devil as author, they should call themselves gods—they have also here on earth set in order, so that this earthly error might be the image of that. And there follows: 'Who is this King of glory?' Lest perhaps he should be thought to call Christ the King of glory needlessly, he sets the person of one questioning and saying: 'Who is this King of glory?'
as if he would marvel, or wished to be taught, whether it is true and fitting to call Christ the King of glory. And therefore it is answered him: 'The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle,' so that, this being subjoined, he might learn Christ to be the King of glory not by bare words but with testimony. For the strength and power by which he subdued and crushed the devil with his satellites—these show him to be the King of glory. And he added: 'Lift up the gates of your prince, and be lifted up, you everlasting gates.' This is to say: since by the testimony of strength, which it is wicked to contradict, you have learned that it is fitting that Christ be called the King of glory, take away the error from your minds. And he says: 'And the King of glory shall enter in.'
For it is shown that they cannot be made partakers of the faith of Christ unless they have cleansed their hearts from all the uncleanness of idolatry. For unless a man be made new, the Holy Spirit will not enter into him. And there follows: 'Who is this King of glory?' This repetition makes confirmation. For everything that is heard as new is not conceived in the heart unless it be repeated. For marveling produces astonishment, when something is said that has never been heard. And he added: 'The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory.' By repeating the same things he teaches that this one is rightly called the King of glory, who is the Lord of hosts. For not undeservedly is he called the King of glory, who has dominion over the hosts. Whence the Apostle says: 'For if they had understood, they would never have crucified the Lord of majesty.' CXII.
ON PSALM 50. This fiftieth psalm is placed not according to the order of time, but according to reason. For its title is subject not to number but to reason. For as far as concerns the history, it is earlier than the third. For David was first reproved by the prophet Nathan for the cause of his offense, before his son Absalom rose up against him to wish to deprive him both of life and of kingdom. This, then, is the reason why it was placed as the fiftieth, which is established to derive from the law. For there it was provided that the number fifty should hold remission.
For it is, after seven weeks, the first day, bearing the type of the Lord's day, because, just as after seven days the first day is itself the one that was made in the beginning, which, when the week is finished, is always the first, so also after seven weeks the fiftieth, reckoned in mystery, is the first, which in a twofold manner is called 'the Lord's day': first, because it was made in the beginning by the Lord, which, ever turned back upon itself through the completed courses of the week, is the first; then, because on it he rose again, death being triumphed over, it is named the Lord's day. Not undeservedly, therefore, in the number fifty, which we have perceived to be signified as first in mystery, is remission contained. Finally, the law was given on the fiftieth day.
For from the departure of the children of Israel out of Egypt, on the forty-eighth day they are commanded to wash themselves, that, being purified in two days, on the third day they might be ready to receive the law. And what else does this washing indicate than the remission made on the fiftieth day, that, being purified, they might receive the law, from which thenceforth, the past being blotted out, they might render account of their conduct according to the law entrusted to them? By this reasoning also the law commanded that property purchased should be released in the fiftieth year. Hence, then, it is that this psalm too was entitled the fiftieth. For in it King David asks for remission according to the aforesaid sense; whence he says: 'Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy.'
King David, knowing that he had grievously sinned, thus asks, saying: 'Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy.' For mercy is great then, when it forgives grievous sins. And he added: 'And according to the multitude of your compassions blot out my iniquity.' That he might make manifest that he had grievously offended, he calls his sin iniquity, because iniquity is no light sin; and he who blots out iniquity, that is, does not impute it, abounds in compassion. Therefore he strives to excuse nothing in his own cause, that he may not only soften the mind of the Judge toward himself, but also make him share his grief. For the mind is moved to mercy when it sees the accused confess his sins thus, so as to show that he grieves because he has sinned.
For he who does not grieve seems to mock the Judge, because he prays in order to escape for the time, intending afterward to do the same things. And there follows: 'Wash me thoroughly,' he says, 'from my injustice, and cleanse me from my sin.' Since he proclaims the great compassion of God, he prays to be cleansed utterly, that there may remain in him no offense or injustice, on account of which he might be suspect. And, that he might be able to obtain or secure this very thing, he added: 'For I acknowledge my iniquity, and my sin is ever against me.' Since he knows that he has grievously sinned, he is anxious lest the whole be not remitted to him. For considering the magnitude of his sins he fears, knowing that grievous sins are not easily forgiven;
and through this, with weeping he confesses his sin, having it before his eyes, that he may on every side make the Judge favorable to himself. For he knows it to be written: 'Tell first your iniquities, that you may be justified.' And there follows: 'Against you only have I sinned, and done evil before you.' Now from another side he provides a remedy for his cause, that he may bring his petition to effect. For by this pleading he says that in the first cause he is innocent, because he who sins against another god is an enemy of God the author. For in his place he chooses another, to whom he ascribes his authority. Whence here, showing himself alien from this iniquity: 'Against you,' he says, 'only have I sinned, and done evil before you,' that is:
'Because I have sinned against you and against no other whom I might through error call a god, my cause is less than that of the rest, who are liable to perdition. For I am not impious, but a sinner, because I have sinned not against you, but against your law; nor have I denied you, but, confessing you as God and Lord, I have sinned in a man. Therefore, since in that which is your own proper cause I am not guilty, forgive what I have sinned against a fellow-servant. For I have so sinned that I neither denied nor gave to another the honor of your name.' And so there was that whereby the Judge might be moved to mercy. For since many sin against him, whom he even exhorts to turn to him, while these who sin not against him yet, from other causes, ask pardon, he gladly admits them.
For the Lord always wills that his servants flee to him for help. Whence he added: 'That you may be justified in your words, and may overcome when you are judged.' Asking mercy, he prays that God may not change his justice, since justice is wont to be impartial, so as to be equal toward those who do not sin and those who do, that is, that he may render to each one according to his works. But he is not ignorant of what an innocent man asks in the sacrament of God. For knowing that the Lord had frequently said in the law, 'I am merciful, the Lord your God,' he therefore asks that this faithfulness may remain and that God may be justified in his words, while he abides in that which he has spoken, and is not overcome by the sins of men so as not to have mercy.
For those who sin, knowing what God has promised to those who live well, and knowing that He abides in that promise, judge Him a liar; for by living wickedly they do not believe that what He promised is true. For this reason King David asks that God may prevail over what men suppose, and may grant what He promised, so that those who—while they do not keep the commandments—judge that He will not give, may be put to shame. And there follows: 'Behold, I was conceived in iniquities.' Now by adding this he recalls the cause and the weakness of the human race—since it is easy for man to sin—so as to soften the scrutiny of the Judge with regard to himself. For he makes mention of the first cause, by which Adam, through his transgression, made the race of men liable to sin.
For by the persuasion and deceit of the enemy, by conceiving iniquity, he subjected all his seed to iniquity, so that all begotten of him by propagation should be liable to sin. Therefore he added: 'And in sins did my mother conceive me,' so that the derivation of sin made from Adam should be a hindrance to those conceived and born from leading a good life; and on this account mercy must not be denied to the suppliant, since he has the enemy implanted within, who persuades him to sin. For sin—which is the devil—when the first man had been made subject to him, received the power to insinuate himself into his flesh and, by a certain subtlety of transgressions, to suggest enticements, by which, having captured the man, it despoils him of life. Recalling this matter, the teacher of the nations says:
'But I see,' he says, 'another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind,' so that the Judge, beholding this, may stretch out His hand to the grieving man who has been ensnared. And there follows: 'Behold, Thou hast loved truth.' ('Therefore, since Thou lovest truth,' he says, 'come to the aid of him who entreats, and of him whom Thou knowest to lay bare the true hindrances of his own heart—him whom, as a guilty one, Thou hast long ago, moved by mercy, decreed to succor—so that the heavenly providence may amend on earth the error committed.') On account of which he added: 'The uncertain and hidden things of Thy heart Thou hast made manifest to me.' By 'the uncertain and hidden things of the heart' he signifies those which God has provided for the protection of the human race, even as the Apostle says:
'What eye,' he says, 'hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.' Who are they that love God, except those who consent to His law by not concealing nor excusing their sins? These hidden things of the heart, therefore, have been made manifest to those who love God; and because they grieved that they were ensnared by their transgressions, and being rebuked did not deny it of themselves—imputing it both to themselves and to their origin, transferring to God as author the sins they committed—their hearts were illumined with a spiritual flash, so that they might see God's providence in Christ, since He was to come to condemn sin, which through Adam's transgression held sway over the human race.
This, therefore, King David prays: that what God had decreed for the future—foreseeing the human race in travail—He would first apply to him, constrained as he was in the same necessity in which God had decreed to succor all, so that the gift which was to be free and could not be given before its time, might be granted to him for the sake of his prayer and tears. And he is not silent about how this comes to pass, saying: 'Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed.' Rightly does he ask to be cleansed by the sprinkling of hyssop. For with this the children of Israel smeared their doorposts with blood, that they might be kept safe from death; so too here he prays to be cleansed from sins by the sprinkling of hyssop, lest he be touched by death. And there follows: 'Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.' It is plain that the work of God differs from the work of man.
'Therefore,' he says, 'I shall be made whiter than snow,' because what God has made is far better than what man has made. For this reason he asks to be cleansed by the sprinkling of hyssop, so that, just as a fleshly body is washed with water, so also through the signification of hyssop the stains of souls may be washed away by spiritual reasoning. For the sprinkling of hyssop is a kind of illumination, so that through that which is visible, what is invisible may be cleansed. And there follows: 'To my hearing Thou shalt give joy and gladness.' There is no doubt that the voice of one proclaiming remission affords joy to sinners. For who would not rejoice when he hears that pardon is granted? For to whom God remits, he is secure both in the present and in the future. Therefore 'the humbled bones shall rejoice.'
The bones are humbled in a twofold manner: both in that he was humbled so as to sin—for no one who sins is exalted—and in that afterward, as a suppliant, he implored pardon. For surely, rolling in sackcloth and ashes, he besought mercy; and obtaining it, he was lifted up by the exultation of his mind and the refreshment of his body. And he added: 'Turn away Thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.' In this manner he asks for remission, just as it had been ordained for the future through faith in Christ, so that the Savior, who had been specially promised to him, might from Himself begin to grant the forgiveness of all sins to the converted. For he whose sins are not regarded and all whose iniquities are blotted out has nothing whereby he may be made a defendant, and the mouths of his enemies are stopped.
For he who does not regard sins does not impute them. For this is what it means to turn away one's face from someone's sins: not to receive an accusation against him. And what does this mean—that, although he was rebuked for two sins, he here adds by accusing himself of many? And when he had heard from the prophet Nathan that it was unknown to him, why does he so entreat with diligent prayer that he might attain to pardon, except that he is not pleading his own cause alone, but under the occasion of his own sin recounts the miseries of the whole people? For he prays for restoration for himself, since he to whom pardon is granted is not without shame, unless he be restored to his own place, so that the dignity of the place may excuse the shame; but to the rest he signified the benefit of God, which was to come in Christ for the washing away of all sins.
And there follows: 'Create in me a clean heart, O God, and consecrate an upright spirit within my bowels'—that is, to entreat mercy with a good disposition. Yet he asks not only concerning things past, but is also anxious concerning things to come, lest he sin, so that, showing that he hates to sin, he may be helped by God through the spirit of righteousness, which he prays to be consecrated within his bowels; that is, that a new spirit may be placed in him for this purpose: to guard him from sins, lest he be compelled to do what he is known to be unwilling to do. And he can have a clean heart thus, if he offends neither within nor without—that is, neither in deed nor in thought.
And because it is well-nigh impossible that this be observed in all things, at least in the cause of God—which is the chief one—it must be kept, so that the heart may be guarded clean in the sacrament of God and of Christ, while their faith is preserved inviolate; since in another psalm he says: 'Who shall glory that he hath a clean heart, or that he is free from sins?' In short, King David had a clean heart in the cause of God, since he neither at any time sought help from vanity—which is idolatry—nor failed to fulfill anything commanded him by God. You may judge concerning the rest. And he added: 'Cast me not away from Thy face, and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.' This is the meaning which I recalled above: that being secure concerning pardon, he is anxious concerning restoration.
For he to whom only pardon is granted is wont to be set apart from the face of the Lord. For although vengeance is not taken upon him, yet in the mind of the Lord, or of the Judge, his crime is not blotted out. Therefore he prays that his sin may be utterly blotted out, and that he may be worthy to approach the face of the Lord and to prophesy again—which indeed came to pass. For this is what he says: 'And take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.' This is the Spirit of the prophets. And there follows: 'Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation, and strengthen me with a princely spirit.'
He asks that joy be given to him—the joy which had been promised in Christ—so that, washed from all stains and restored, he might be joyful in the salvation he sought, and not removed but confirmed in his kingdom by the Holy Spirit, whom he therefore called 'princely' because He is above every creature, and through Him kings reign. And he added: 'I will teach,' he says, 'the unrighteous Thy ways, and the ungodly shall be converted unto Thee.' He says this so that in him the unrighteous may learn the mercy of God, by which He receives those who confess against themselves as sinners and advances them, and does not neglect the ungodly who are converted, but exhorts them, while He has mercy on others. And there follows: 'Deliver me from blood, O God, the God of my salvation.' By this saying he shows his sin worthy of death, so that he may proclaim how great is the mercy of God.
For by this he also provokes others to flee to the clemency of God. Whence he added: 'My tongue shall exult in Thy righteousness, O Lord.' He says that he rejoices in the righteousness of the Lord, because the Lord abides in what He promised, saying: 'But my mercy I will not remove from them.' Therefore King David, joyful and secure in this part, proclaims the righteousness of his God. And there follows: 'Thou shalt open my lips, and my mouth shall declare Thy praise.' Thus He opens his lips, while He does not permit him to be held subject by the cause of sin. For the mouth of one delivered is open, but the mouth of a sinner is shut; for, gripped by shame and fear, he dares not speak; but one absolved or delivered, dancing for joy, proclaims the praise of the Judge.
For the Apostle also, as he himself testifies, because he was free from all, says: 'Our mouth is open unto you, O Corinthians.' And he added: 'For if Thou hadst desired sacrifice, I would surely have given it.' He speaks this from what was well established, knowing that holy Samuel had said to King Saul—when he thought his sin could be effaced not by sorrow of mind nor by the compassion of tears, but by the offering of sacrifice: 'God,' he says, 'desires not sacrifice so much as that His voice be heard,' since sacrifices of this kind can do harm, yet cannot appease God. For God is thus appeased: if the soul, mindful of its sin, with tribulation and grief of heart bewails what it has sinned. And there follows: 'In burnt offerings Thou wilt not delight.'
God does not delight in burnt offerings, but in causes of this kind. For the soul itself ought to make satisfaction for itself, not to redeem itself from outward things. For those outward things can afford help, but the soul, just as it took pleasure in sins, so ought to be afflicted in penance; and then it will please God to blot out its sins. Whence he added: 'The sacrifice for God is a contrite spirit; a broken and humbled heart God does not despise.' He shows what kind of sacrifice for sins God accepts, since one cannot appease God unless he who has rejoiced against his own salvation has become contrite in heart, that he may be restored to life.