Expositions on the Psalms 1 part 1/23

He calls blessed those who have not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor indeed stood in the way of sinners, nor taken their stand in the seat of the pestilent.

For there were three orders among the Jews that rose up against the Savior: the scribes, the Pharisees, and the lawyers;

who might fittingly be called ungodly, and sinners, and pestilent.

Life is called a 'way' on account of its leading of those who are born toward their end. 'Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly.'

And since it is harmful to associate with the assemblies of the ungodly, he calls blessed the one who does not come near them even to any degree.

Such was Joseph of Arimathea, who buried the body of the Lord and God.

For it is said of him that he did not consent to the counsel of those who betrayed Jesus.

'And in the seat of the pestilent he has not sat.'

The 'seat of the pestilent,' then, is the teaching of the wicked.

For one must not meditate on the law of the Lord carelessly.

'But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he will meditate day and night.'

By 'the law' he clearly means the law of the angels.

For one must not meditate on the law of the Lord carelessly.

For one ought not to meditate at one time and not at another, but always and continually be fastened to the divine oracles;

for this is what 'day and night' signifies.

Fair is the reward of right conduct;

for he who devotes himself to the divine law, and is watered by the streams that flow from it,

Christ also called his own teaching 'water,' saying:

'If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.'

He is likened to a tree by the waters, ever flourishing, ever laden with fair fruit.

For the athletes of virtue will receive the fruits of their labors in the age to come;

but even now, as though by certain leaves, they are shaded by good hope, and by this consolation they steal away the heaviness of their labors.

'For such a one, all things shall prosper.'

For he will do nothing contrary to the divine laws, fitting his will to the intent of the law;

having first forbidden every form of wickedness, and having shown the perfection of the divine laws, he thus added:

'Whatsoever he shall do.' 'And he shall be like the tree that is planted by the outlets of the waters,'

Christ is recorded in the divinely inspired Scripture as the tree of confession, or rather of the parable, according to what is said:

'She is a tree of life to all who hold fast to her.'

He says, then, that those who have believed in Christ will become his body;

for he will transform the body of our humiliation to become conformed to the body of his glory.

in which everywhere it is possible to find Christ proclaimed.

Christ is the tree of life, the apostles are the branches, the fruit is the blood and water from his side;

of which the one is a type prefiguring martyrdom, the other, baptism.

By the fruit of the tree you should understand right faith;

and by its leaves, the fulfillment of the commandments.

The fruit is also those who are being saved, and the root is baptism;

and the Father is the husbandman. 'Which shall yield its fruit in its season,'

By the fruit of the tree you should understand faith;

and by its leaves, the fulfillment of the commandments.

'And its leaf shall not wither, nor shall it fall off.'

'And whatsoever he shall do shall be prospered.'

For no deed done according to God is without benefit.

By 'wind' you should understand the threat of God, which says:

'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire.'

Those who hear this same voice will justly fall down;

for they have not stood firm upon Christ, who is the support and foundation of believers;

for he says 'unto judgment,' not 'unto inquiry.'

'In the assembly of the righteous,' he says;

for he separates the righteous from sinners: 'Because the Lord knows the way of the righteous,'

'Knows' is used instead of 'honors,' according to what was said by God to Moses:

instead of, 'I honor you, and you have found favor with me.'

Having declared the rulers of the Jewish nation to be ungodly, sinners, and pestilent in the first psalm, in this psalm he shows again, by means of such names, the deeds of which they have become partakers.

Having concluded the first psalm with the mention of the ungodly, he made the beginning of the second proceed from this very point, teaching that the aforementioned end of the ungodly will also receive those who raged madly against the Savior. 'Why did the nations rage furiously, and the peoples meditate vain things?' 'Raging' is an irrational disposition.

'Why' is to be taken as common to both clauses, that is:

it is transferred from the irrational impulse of horses that rushes toward nothing that is fitting;

which is what happened to the Jews in the case of Christ.

What is the cause of the nations and the peoples running together to the same purpose? For whether by 'nations and peoples' he means the Israelites, or whether he calls those around Herod and Pilate 'nations,' as Gentiles, and calls the Jews 'peoples' — 'The kings of the earth stood up,'

'Stood up' is used instead of 'set themselves apart for this,' namely, the kings Herod and Pontius Pilate.

Thus also the holy apostles interpreted it in the Acts. 'And the rulers were gathered together as one,'

the scribes and Pharisees and lawyers.

'Against the Lord and against his Christ.'

For the plot against Christ recoils also upon the Father himself.

For if the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father, how could the outrage against them not be one and the same?

'They gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ,' saying:

For they did not want to come within the sacred net, concerning which it is written:

'The kingdom of heaven is like a net.'

'And let us cast their yoke away from us.'

The heaviness of the law, concerning which he has said:

'For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.'

For the plot against Christ recoils also upon the Father himself.

For if the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father, how would the outrage against them not be a single one? 'He who dwells in the heavens shall laugh them to scorn.'

As those who had devised foolish plans;

for he who was nailed by them and delivered to death, being in the heavens and containing all things, shows their plans to be empty and vain.

'And the Lord shall deride them.'

'For he will utterly despise them,' it says, 'and hate them, and turn away.'

'He shall deride' is used in place of 'he will hate and turn away.'

He will expose it as a plot, since they undertake it like fools.

For indeed, derision (μυκτηρισμός) is breath released through the nostrils, meant to hold in contempt those who bluster arrogantly.

And the fact that these words are said with prepositional prefixes makes the derision more intense.

'And not only this,' it says, 'but they shall also experience wrath.' 'Then he shall speak to them in his wrath.'

'Then' - when was this? It was when they were saying:

'Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees;'

'The kingdom shall be taken away from you;'

'And woe to you, lawyers.'

For the Roman army led them away captive,

Anger (θυμός), then, is more incomplete than wrath (ὀργή), and wrath is the fulfillment of anger.

And the outcome of events teaches the interpretation of such sayings.

For a Roman army came upon them, sacked the city, burned down the temple, and put most of them to death;

and those who escaped the slaughter, it took captive and delivered over to slavery.

It is fitting that the believer take note that he mentions two persons in succession - first, the Lord Christ;

'For against the Lord,' he said, 'and against his Christ;'

then, him who dwells in the heavens, and the Lord;

'He who dwells in the heavens shall laugh them to scorn, and the Lord shall deride them;'

and again he kept the same pattern. 'But I have been established king by him upon Zion.'

As though the people from Israel had been cast off, he himself relates to them the faith that came to be among the Gentiles;

and Zion signifies the Church.

'The Lord said to me, You are my Son,' and so on;

instead of saying, 'The Father's nature declared me to be Son;'

not by the operation of a command,

but by the essence (οὐσία) demonstrating me to be the exact expression (χαρακτήρ) of the Father's hypostasis (ὑπόστασις).

For the word 'you are' is rightly added, signifying the begetting before the ages;

and he added, 'Today have I begotten you,' in order to show the begetting according to the flesh;

for 'today' belongs to time;

therefore it is set down with reference to the temporal begetting.

And consistent with what is human is also what follows, 'I have begotten you.'

See how the Father makes the fleshly begetting of the only-begotten Christ his own. 'And I will give you the ends of the earth for your possession; you shall shepherd them with a rod of iron.'

for the material is of wood, but the strength is as of iron.

But some interpret this as signifying the empire of the Romans.

'And now, O kings, be wise;'

that is, 'perceive, and turn to repentance.'

'Be instructed, all you who judge the earth.'

'lest you perish from the righteous way.'

The title set before this psalm reads as follows:

For this is what the psalm says: that the company of the prophets is persecuted by the people of the Jews;

which is the company of the prophets.

'O Lord, how are they multiplied that afflict me!' The word 'how' stands in place of 'exceedingly.'

'There is no salvation for him in his God.'

'His God,' it says, 'will not save him;'

for they looked only to the sin he had committed, being ignorant of his repentance.

For 'to rise up against' is properly said of those who were formerly established in the rank of subjects, but afterward took up war.

'But you, O Lord, are my helper, my glory.'

Since it has been said that the psalm is spoken as from the person of the Lord, it must be said that his head too - being God - is exalted, whenever his divinity is made manifest to the faithful through demonstration.

'But you, O Lord, are my helper;'

A voice fitting the faith of the prophet, who bears such great troubles unshaken, and is confident that he will not be forsaken;

but rather that he will be helped, and exalted, and will receive back the kingdom;

for this is what some have said 'lifting up the head' means;

and he to whom God is his glory, this one has his head lifted up. 'With my voice I cried unto the Lord.'

'With my voice I cried unto the Lord.'

He set the prayer first, then after the interlude (διάψαλμα), the thanksgiving, for having obtained what he asked.

But now he turns his face toward us, and relates how, having prayed, he was heard, and says:

'With my voice I cried unto the Lord.'

And by 'voice' one must understand the intelligent supplication of the mind directed to the God of all;

for he does not mean the audible cry, but the silent prayer of the mind.

'He heard me from the mountain' is said according to the prevailing opinion;

for he was thought to dwell in the Tabernacle, since the oracles too were given to the priests from there.

Or, 'from the holy mountain' is used in place of 'from heaven;'

and, 'Draw near to the eternal mountains' - it is possible that the holy mountain of God, from which God hears those who pray, is his only-begotten Son, concerning whom it is said:

'The mountain of the Lord shall be made manifest in the last days;'

this expression signifying the manifestation of him that came to pass, according to his sojourning at the consummation of the ages;

or, 'from the holy mountain' means 'from heaven.'

The holy mountain of God is His transcendent knowledge.

The diapsalma [Selah] signifies a change of musical melody or mode, or a shift in the sense and force of the discourse.

The word 'I awoke' signifies this: that having enjoyed the divine turning, I became stronger than the evils that had befallen me.] 'I lay down and slept.'

He speaks of the sleep that concerns the mind, through which he also fell into sin.

[For thou hast smitten all who are hostile to me.

'Strike,' 'crush,' or 'thou wilt strike.'

He urges on God's rising up against them, that is, His vengeance.

He who gives no occasion for hatred has enemies in vain.

By 'the teeth of sinners' he means either the strength of those who sin against him, or the words spoken against him, and the blasphemies;

or 'the teeth of sinners' are the irrational thoughts, contrary to nature, that befall us.

For using their thoughts as teeth, the adversaries often draw near to us in order to devour our flesh, that is, the things that spring forth from the flesh.

'Now the works of the flesh are manifest,' says the divine Apostle.

He says this by way of metaphor drawn from wild beasts, whose strength lies especially in their teeth; and once these are shattered, the beasts become easily despised.

For murderers and those who delight in blood are worse than even the blood-devouring beasts themselves, or are equal to them.] 'Salvation is of the Lord.'

I pray also that this may be proclaimed to all the people.

One must know that the whole psalm has reference to humanity: having sinned, and for this reason having been handed over to the intelligible enemies; crying out in affliction and being heard by God; and indeed also having been saved through his rising from the dead—evidently Christ—and through his smiting the demons that are hostile to us.

For he himself is the Lord who has broken the molar teeth of the lions.

And salvation is His, that is, it comes from Him.

This psalm, after winning the war, he dedicates to the Giver of victory. [Instead of 'unto the end,' Aquila and Theodotion rendered it 'to the Victor';

but Symmachus rendered it 'A Song of Victory.'] 'When I call upon Him, the God of my righteousness hears me.'

Similar to: 'While thou art yet speaking, he will say...'

'Not only,' he says, 'didst thou bring me out of my straits, but thou also madest me stand in a spacious place.'

When we come to understand the reasons for afflictions and trials, then especially are we set at large.

But it is possible to speak of 'spaciousness' in another sense as well.] 'Have mercy on me, and hearken to my prayer.'

Since he had said that he was heard on account of His righteousness, for this reason he now has recourse to the compassions of God.

'Sons of men, how long will ye be heavy of heart?'

These things are said with reference to those who trusted in the multitude of their army to capture the righteous man.

'But this hope,' he says, 'is vain and false.'

'And know that the Lord has made His holy one wonderful.'

That is: 'Know, therefore, ye who trust in a multitude, how wonderfully He has shown forth the one who trusts in Him.'

'The Lord will hearken unto me when I cry unto Him.'

One tense has been taken in place of another;

that is, instead of 'He heard,' he used the word 'He will hear.' 'Be angry, and sin not.'

'What ye say in your hearts, be pricked with compunction upon your beds.'

He says these things with reference to his own people, though they apply to all men.

'Even if,' he says, 'ye give way to anger, yet render it powerless through compunction in stillness.'

For this is the meaning of 'Be pricked with compunction upon your beds.'

'Offer the sacrifice of righteousness, and hope in the Lord.'

But how shall we prevail? By acting righteously, and offering this up to God as though it were a sacrifice.

'Who will show us good things?' These are the words of those who are careless of God's governance and dispensations.

'The light of thy countenance, O Lord, has been signed upon us.'

The light of the world is Christ, who also taught us the things that are truly good, on account of which we have come to have spiritual joy in mind and heart.

The God-loving soul, that is, the Church, is the one who inherits.

And what is it that she inherits? 'What eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of man.'

And she prays, doing all she can to be heard, both presenting her own uprightness and denouncing the wickedness of those responsible for her afflictions.

[For unto thee will I pray.

'Having come,' she says, 'to enjoy the intelligible light, I will pray to thee;'

'therefore I also believe that I shall be heard.'] 'Give ear to my words.'

It is a great boast of striving that, rising from her very bed, she presents herself before God and anticipates the sun itself in giving thanks.

'For thus,' she says, 'shall I behold thy divine and holy mysteries, which thou hast prepared for those who love thee.'

'For thou art not a God who wills lawlessness.'

And these are: lawlessness, wickedness, transgression, falsehood, envy, and deceit.

'Thou hast hated all who work lawlessness; thou wilt destroy all who speak falsehood.'

Those who stumble in their manner of life he named 'those who work lawlessness';

but those who have fallen away from the truth—the heterodox—he called 'those who speak falsehood,' whom God will destroy.

And observe the difference between 'thou hast hated' and 'thou wilt destroy.'

First, whether 'thou wilt destroy' is worse than 'thou hast hated';

and second, why the one was cast in the past tense, and the other in the future.

[He means] the demons, who speak through the idols false and crooked words and oracles.] 'The Lord abhors the man of blood and the deceitful man.'

For God hates such a one and turns away from him.

'But I, in the multitude of thy mercy, will come into thy house.'

The heavenly Jerusalem, the mother of the firstborn.

'I will worship toward thy holy temple in thy fear.'

The temple of God is the virtuous and holy condition, which those who possess it, he says, approach with confidence.

But Christ, as Son, will rest upon His house, of which house we are.

'For enjoying thy loving-kindness, and guarded by thy right hand, I offer thee continual worship in the temple consecrated to thy glory,' says the holy and pure soul;

'for always bearing about thy fear, I will not endure to cast it away, even while trusting in thy loving-kindness.'

'Because of my enemies, direct my way before thee.'

[He means] the wise men of this age, or also the heretics.

For these do not know the word of truth.

Their throat is an open sepulcher;

with their tongues they have dealt deceitfully

They smooth their tongue, and belch forth dead doctrines

Let them fall away from their own devices

For, he says, all these devices were contrived against me, since they were opposing my progress according to God.

[According to the multitude of their impieties, drive them out — for they have but fashioned themselves as pious

For those who persecute the soul that does what is pleasing to God embitter God, clearly warring against God.] And you will dwell in them

For He Himself will come, and the Father, and they will make their abode with him

And those who love your name will glory in you, for you will bless the righteous, O Lord

For since your blessing and providence are supplied to your servants, who, having made themselves lovers of your name, will think great things because of your care for them, recounting your power

Thus also the blessed Paul says:

Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord

You have crowned us as with a shield of favor

A crown, he says, you will grant as the completion of our labors, fencing us about with this as with a kind of shield

And what could the eighth day be, but the resurrection day of Christ, on which we shall receive the fruits of our labors — our enemies, that is, being turned back, evidently with shame and confusion?

He sings this psalm as one who has spent a long time in the repentance which he offered on account of sin

O Lord, do not rebuke me in your wrath

He does not refuse the rebuke itself, but the one accompanied by wrath;

nor does he refuse discipline, but that which comes with anger

Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak

For no soul falls into sin before it first gives way in its strength

[He hints at the weakness that arises from despondency and lamentation.] And my soul is greatly troubled

That is, evidently, the powers of the soul

'And you, O Lord, how long?' — this phrase is indicative of a long-continued repentance

Turn, O Lord, deliver my soul

As one evidently turned away because of sin

Save me for your mercy's sake

For everything belonging to our salvation must be attributed to the mercy of God

For in death there is no one who remembers you

Since the time of my repentance has grown long, he says, I fear lest death overtake your mercy, since in death there is no place for confession

For this reason I ask that mercy be hastened

I have grown weary with my groaning

Let us hear what kind of repentance the king displayed

He did not simply grow tired, but wearied himself with groaning;

nor did he simply weep, but drenched his bed, and this every night

And he does not look only to the past, but also makes promises for the future, throughout his whole life;

and the time which most people make an occasion of praise [or: of rest], this he made an occasion of confession

Instead of the one night, he says, in which I committed the sin, I spent many nights drenching my bed with tears

My eye is troubled because of grief

By 'eye' he means the mind, since the mind is the eye of the soul

I have grown old among all my enemies

Here he indicates the length of time of his affliction

[Which he has also reckoned as a rank of achievement, because it was so great.] For the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping

As one already heard, he strings together a lengthy discourse against his enemies

And this too is no small path toward virtue: to flee and repel the company of the wicked

For this is the fruit of repentance and the gain of tears

Or this is said elliptically, instead of:

'Depart, for I have been heard, for I who was cast off through sin have been received back'

who, having gone and feigned betrayal, when counsel was proposed by Absalom to both Hushai himself and Ahithophel—

Ahithophel urging pursuit, but Hushai urging otherwise;

for one must not, he says, attack rashly a man skilled in warfare;

so that, not being saved by human help, he offers up to God a song of thanksgiving for these things, attributing the whole to God's grace, and to no man

O Lord my God, in you I have put my hope

Since, he says, I do not put my confidence in man for salvation, even though Hushai's words were good, save me both from my present enemies, and especially from the intelligible lion lying in wait for our soul

If I have repaid with evil those who repaid me evil

He puts forward his freedom from bearing grudges, thereby calling upon God unto mercy

then may I fall away from my enemies empty

The righteous man, having conquered, comes forth full from his enemies;

but the base man, having been defeated, falls away from them empty, having nothing of fullness

Then let the enemy pursue my soul

May I fall into the hands of the devil, if I have done any such thing as has been said before;

and if I have done this or that, may I not be freed from sin before death

Be exalted at the borders of my enemies

That is, among the mightiest of my enemies

And arise, O Lord my God, at the commandment which you have ordained

Clearly, through these words he proclaims the good news of the theophany of the Savior

And the assembly of the peoples will surround you

Clearly through these words he indicates the Church's faith in him

And for her sake, return on high

That is, evidently, of this assembly

And 'on high' hints either at the precious cross, onto which he bore up our sins, or at the ascension into heaven.

For he went to appear before the face of the Father on our behalf.

'Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness.' Again he asks to be saved from his enemies, invoking mercy in view of what they have done.

Of him who saves the upright in heart.

'Since you know,' he says, 'the thoughts of our heart, for this reason I ask for help.'

'God is a righteous judge, strong and long-suffering.'

Clearly through such words he sets forth the long-suffering of God, who indeed grants a delay of our punishment, yet not complete pardon.

'He has wrought his arrows for those who burn.'

By 'arrows' he means punishment, and by 'those who burn' those worthy of fire.

The enemy of our life.

'He has conceived travail and brought forth iniquity.'

That is, he has both plotted and brought his schemes into action.

'He has dug a pit and hollowed it out.'

For having contrived death against Christ the Savior, he is himself delivered over to death.

Formerly, in the worship under the Law, there was one winepress, namely, the altar in the temple;

but after the calling of the nations, there are many winepresses;

and these would be the churches, which receive the fruits of those who succeed in godliness.

[It is said 'unto the end,' because the things prophesied were to reach their fulfillment at the end of the ages,

for it speaks concerning Christ and the churches that came after the incarnation.

since indeed the Only-begotten is called the vine, and the faithful the branches.

But if the Jew insists that the psalm is spoken of man in common,

then let it thus be known, that for this reason all things were subjected to him, as to one made in the image of God who was to become man.] 'O Lord, our Lord, how wonderful is your name in all the earth!'

He is astonished at the knowledge of the name of God that has been given to men.

For God is no longer known to those in Judea alone.

'Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings you have perfected praise.'

Of those who, in relation to God, are as infants in wickedness.

This is also clearly recorded in the Gospels, the Savior having said it when the Pharisees tried to silence the children who were blessing him.

'Because of your enemies, to destroy the enemy and the avenger.'

Either the sensible enemy, or the intelligible one, or the Jewish people;

for they pursued Christ as an enemy;

yet they pretended to be doing this in avenging the Father.

'He who hates me hates my Father also.'

'The enemy and the avenger' clearly means the devil.

Since, after compelling them to fulfill sin, he also punishes those who sin, thereby setting before their eyes the magnitude of their offense.

Or the people of the Jews, enemies of the truth, yet avengers in seeming to avenge the law.

'For I will behold the heavens, the works of your fingers.'

Those men were indignant at the infants perfecting praise;

but I behold that which is so great and beautiful — I mean the heavens — as but a small work of your creation.

'What is man, that you are mindful of him? Or the son of man, that you visit him? You have made him a little lower than the angels.'

Since Paul has clearly interpreted these words as referring to our Savior, we must be content with that exposition.

'You have put all things in subjection under his feet.'

'Let us make man according to our image and likeness,' he added;

'and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,' and he goes on to enumerate the rest in turn, adding;

'Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and have dominion over it;'

for to the rational nature, as being made like unto God, he granted dominion over all things.

And man, having received the power of the divine image, was established as ruler over the things on earth, just as God is King of all.

'And you have set him over the works of your hands'; and elsewhere it says, 'And the heavens are the works of your hands';

it is clear, then, that he set him over the heavens, and perhaps he obscurely signifies the sojourn in heaven of those who are transferred there from earth, when they are to inherit the kingdom of heaven, as has been promised.

'Heirs indeed of God, and joint heirs with Christ.'

In this way also the phrase, 'You have put all things in subjection under his feet,' is to be understood.

For since a life equal to the angels is laid up for men in heaven, once established there over the works of his hands, man will be a beholder of the heavens and of the things in them.

But the blessed Paul understood this too as referring to the Savior, and as coming to pass in the age to come.

'Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.'

He hints at those from Israel who believe.

'And also the cattle of the field.'

'The birds of the heaven' means those who are puffed up in life and mind lofty things — the most unreasoning.

'O Lord, our Lord, how wonderful is your name in all the earth!'

He redoubles his wonder, being amazed, as I have said, at the knowledge of God that has come to be among men.

For many were the things done by him in secret;

namely, the birth according to the flesh from a Virgin through the Holy Spirit, the paradoxical and wonder-working powers, death itself, the descent into Hades, and the revival from the dead.

For all these things were done by him in secret.

For he hid these things even from the rulers of this world.

For these hidden things, then, the prophet comes forward in the person of mankind, giving thanks and saying:

'I will give thanks to you, O Lord.'