Expositions on the Psalms 1 part 10/23

And 'from the ends of the earth' signifies that he makes his supplications on behalf of the whole inhabited world.

'From the ends of the earth I cried out to you.'

For since Babylon lies many stages distant from Palestine, those who had been carried off into slavery supposed that they dwelt at the very ends of the inhabited world, having been consigned to dwell in that land.

And he clearly proclaims through whom salvation comes;

for he says that he has been set high upon a rock.

For through Christ — who is called 'the Rock' by the blessed Paul — we have become superior to, and set above, the demons that assail us.

'You have guided me, because you became my hope.'

For if he himself is the way, and he himself is the door, it is clear that he will teach us to walk the good path, having prepared us to set our hope in him.

'A tower of strength before the face of the enemy.'

You have become a wall and a safeguard, so that we suffer nothing from the enemies who assail us.

'I will sojourn in your tabernacle forever.'

From the good things he has already received, he also comes to hope for those still to come;

namely, that once he has come to be in the tabernacles above, he will forever be under God's shelter.

'You have given an inheritance to those who fear your name.'

so that they may inherit the kingdom

of God, and be called Christians upon the earth.

'You will add days upon days to the king.'

The word signifies that this too is part of the inheritance: eternal life.

For this is what it means 'to add days upon days to the years of the king.'

For by 'days' it signifies certain periods of time and ages.

'Who will seek out his mercy and his truth?' The statement is inverted, so that it means this:

If anyone seeks out his mercy and his truth, that one abides before God unto the endless ages.

'So will I sing psalms to your name forever.'

'So' — how? By abiding before you in the age to come. For then, being counted worthy of that blessed standing, I shall unceasingly offer up hymns.

Thus, and not otherwise, glorifying God, man will never cease, throughout the age, to render his vows to the Lord.

For the faithful never cease, day after day, to perform the divine mysteries.

Jeduthun was one of the choir-leaders in the divine temple.

In it he prophesies also the redemption that would come to the whole human race through the economy of the Savior, and the overthrow of the intelligible enemies;

and he introduces to men an exhortation containing a turning away from wickedness, setting before them the matters concerning God's judgment.

'Shall not my soul be subject to God?' Even though you have been shaken, he says, O soul, and have fallen from your standing in virtue, yet be subject to the Lord.

For he himself will indeed take hold of you, and will save you from being shaken any further.

For he himself will provide salvation to the one wronged by you, and will altogether deliver him from your wickedness.

'How long will you set upon a man?' He cries out against the opposing powers;

for indeed they set upon human nature, which has already inclined toward evil, and which, through its natural weakness, is in a way like a leaning wall about to fall, and like a fence thrown down.

Yet they have taken counsel to cast away my honor.

For they have all but deprived us even of reason itself, compelling us to worship wood and stone, so that it is said concerning us: 'Man, being in honor, did not understand.'

This, he says, was the course the opposing powers ran, thirsting to deprive me of my honor.

'With their mouth they blessed, but in their heart they cursed.'

suggesting pleasant things to us, they thereby render us children of the curse.

'Yet be subject to God, O my soul.'

Again he addresses the soul, intensifying its subjection toward God.

He indicates the magnitude of the trials, and states the same as the Apostle:

'that he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able to bear.'

'In God is my salvation and my glory.'

In him I have my hope of salvation and of glory.

That is, he himself will preserve me and make me glorious, having made me a victor over these.

[ 'Yet be subject to God, O my soul.'

For they have all but deprived us even of reason itself, compelling us to worship wood and stone, so that it is even said concerning us:

'Man, being in honor, did not understand.'

But those, O soul, are such;

but you, submit yourself to his service.

Then he adds that this very thing is what I hope for from him: to obtain salvation, since he lays hold of me and does not permit me to become a migrant and fugitive from him, that is, to exchange him for another master.

For from him I expect both to be saved and to be helped, out of my hoping in him.] 'Hope in him, all you assemblies of peoples.'

Having first prepared in himself the course leading to repentance, he exhorts others also to this, and at the same time, more prophetically, he proclaims beforehand the calling of all the nations.

'Pour out your hearts before him.'

'Do not approach him with a double heart;'

'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind.'

'Yet the sons of men are vain.'

Knowing that all would receive the calling through the Gospel, he laments those who do not believe, and especially the teachers of the Jews, who were indeed false, inasmuch as they rejected the truth;

and not only did they practice injustice with scales and weights, but they also assembled together for vanity.

For truly vain was their plot against the Savior.

'Do not hope in injustice, and do not long after plunder.'

He says this to them, since it was for the sake of covetousness that they plotted against him, hoping to receive from him the fruits accruing from the law.

'Once God has spoken; these two things have I heard:'

God, he says, pronounced a word concerning judgment, through which I have heard these two things:

one, that to those who deserve wrath on account of the excess of their sins, he will render wrath;

but to those who have done things worthy of mercy, he would allot mercy.

For 'might' signifies wrath, and the severity exercised against those deserving of it.

This psalm he sings while fleeing from the face of Saul, calling upon God for help through the virtue of his life.

It is also referred to the soul that was formerly in a desert bereft of every good thing, and then was converted by the grace of Christ.

'O God, my God, I rise early to you.'

By these words he indicates the earnestness of his devoted attendance.

'To you,' he says, 'I rise at dawn, in order to send up to you both hymns and prayers.'

Not only, he says, has my soul been filled with divine longing;

but indeed even more so my flesh as well.

For we must not only practice piety, but also please God through the body — as, for example, through fasting, through continual prayer, through sleeping on the ground, through the labor of our hands, so as to provide for those in need.

I have suffered no harm from the wilderness, he says, but as though standing right beside your sacred tabernacle, I offer up hymnody.

For by 'in the holy place' he means the tabernacle.

For the divine temple had not yet been built.

'So have I appeared to you in the holy place.'

'So' — how? Is it not by thirsting and longing for union with you, the Holy One? And who could 'the Holy One' be but the Only-Begotten? 'For your mercy is better than lives.'

[better] than a multitude of life — evidently the present life — meaning that the mercy given to them through the Only-Begotten is better than it.

'So will I bless you in my life.'

This I shall continue to do throughout my whole life: praising with my tongue, stretching out my hands, and asking for your loving-kindness.

'In your name I will lift up my hands.'

No longer, he says, as formerly, will I stretch out my hands to a foreign god, but to you alone, calling upon your name in my prayers.

'May my soul be filled as with marrow and fatness.'

And my mouth shall praise you with lips of exultation.

Whenever, he says, I come to be in remembrance of your name, then indeed then my lips are filled with joy.

If I remembered you upon my bed.

The phrase 'If I remembered' is used in place of 'remembering';

so that the sense is: remembering you, he says, I became sleepless in thinking upon your praises, and your luminous gifts, which you give to those who call upon you.

For you have become my helper, and in the shelter of your wings I will exult.

Since you yourself help me by the guarding of your help, I receive gladness.

For he calls the guarding that comes from God's help 'the shelter of wings.'

Being sheltered by you, he says, I shall rejoice with joy.

My soul has clung fast behind you.

Not even for a short while, he says, am I able to remove my thought from remembrance of you.

But being kindled with a warm affection, as though by a kind of glue of remembrance, I am bound fast to desire for you.

Then he shows the fruit of this longing.

And your right hand has taken hold of me.

And who could the right hand of the Father be, but his only-begotten Son? 'But they have sought my soul in vain.'

He then cries out against the opposing powers, telling of the violence he endured when set forth as prey, praying that they be handed over to eternal punishments.

But the king shall rejoice in God.

Having gone through the end of those who committed impiety against Christ, and having shown that the lowest parts of the earth will become their portion and lot, he now transfers his discourse to the other order of men;

and this was that of those who believed in Christ, who, having also been deemed worthy of the kingdom of the heavens, are fittingly also called kings, according to what was said by the Apostle:

And would that you did indeed reign!

This, then, was the reigning people, who rejoice with that intelligible gladness which God himself has granted to them.

I, he says, who have received the kingdom from you, delight in your aid, not in the death of those enemies.

Everyone who swears by him shall be praised.

Thus, he says, Christ will also be their boast — that is, of those who have reigned;

so that, making him also the object of their oath, they are justly praised.

For they will swear by the true God, according to what is written:

For the mouth of those who speak unjust things has been stopped up.

And who are these but those who dared to say, 'Away with such a man from the earth,'

'for it was not fitting that he should live'? The mouth of these, then, was stopped up when the Lord trampled down death and rose on the third day.

And the mouth of the opposing powers themselves was also stopped up, since sin was destroyed through grace, according to what is said elsewhere:

And all iniquity shall stop its own mouth.

He sings this psalm in the person of the holy apostles, praying to be delivered from the enemies of the evangelical proclamation, and clearly recounting the things contrived against them by the rulers of the people of the Jews, and what they themselves have endured — evidently at the hands of the aforementioned rulers, on account of their impiety toward Christ.

Hear, O God, my voice when I make supplication.

Deliver my soul from fear of the enemy.

And now, Lord, look upon their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with boldness.

Who have sharpened their tongues like a sword.

he says, because, blaspheming, they said to the apostles:

We strictly charged you not to speak to anyone in this name.

They have bent their bow, a bitter thing.

He likens the death-dealing words of their tongue to the shooting of a bow.

For how are words not death-dealing which attempt to persuade men not to believe Jesus to be God? 'Suddenly they will shoot at him, and they will not fear.'

Lying in ambush, he says, they suddenly attack, not fearing the God who watches over all things.

They have strengthened for themselves an evil word;

'The Lord has not risen from the dead.'

Up and down, he says, they were plotting to kill secretly the heralds of the evangelical teachings.

'Who,' they said, 'shall see them?' They did these things, he says, thinking that God would not require of them the penalty for such impiety.

Man shall draw near, and the heart is deep.

The lawless, he says, did not cease from plotting evil against the Lord;

but the man of God, who devises wise counsel (for this is what 'a deep heart' signifies), having precisely understood the mystery, and making use of fitting hymns, will exalt God, according to what is said elsewhere: 'I will exalt you, O Lord my God, my King.'

Their wounds became as the arrow of babes.

Having spoken of their arrogance against the holy heralds, he now goes on to relate also their downfall.

For who would not be afraid, seeing the visitation from God coming upon the impious? 'The righteous shall be glad in the Lord, and shall hope in him.'

And all the upright in heart shall be praised.

And those who direct themselves rightly toward God, and who do not tolerate walking outside the straight path, shall reap good repute from men.

A song of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, of the people of the sojourning, when they were about to go forth.

In this psalm he introduces the person of the nations who believed in Christ, crying out against the wise men of this age, and asking for forgiveness of their former impiety.

He also sends up a prayer on their behalf, they who were formerly unfruitful but have now become fruitful through faith in Christ.

To you, O God, a hymn is fitting in Zion.

No longer, he says, shall we send up hymns to those we used to think were gods, knowing that it is not fitting to sing hymns to them, being as they are wood and stone and demons;

but to you alone is such a debt most fitting.

And to you shall a vow be rendered in Jerusalem.

He means either the earthly Jerusalem, which is the Church, or the heavenly one, where, having arrived, we shall send up our praises.

Hear my prayer; to you all flesh shall come.

By these words he proclaims as good news the calling of all the nations, according to what was said by Joel:

I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh.

The words of the lawless have overpowered us.

By 'words of the lawless' he means the wisdom of the wise men of this age, by which they also were weakened, having fallen away from true knowledge.

And you shall be propitious toward our impieties.

They pray to be delivered from the impiety that befell them in their error.

Blessed is he whom you have chosen and taken to yourself.

They call blessed those who have been perfected in virtue and have attained to the prize of the calling from above.

We shall be filled with the good things of your house.

By 'the good things of the house' he means the various gifts of the Spirit.

For to one, he says, is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, and to another the word of knowledge, and likewise the other gifts.

whether the heavenly or the earthly [house], according to what has been said:

For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

and through your oracles he instructs those who draw near in your righteousness.] Hear us, O God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth.

In you, he says, the ends of the inhabited world shall hope, and also those who dwell far off by the sea.

Who establishes the mountains by his strength.

Here he speaks of the opposing powers.

And he prepares them for punishment:

for he has prepared the abyss for them.

And this you will do, being mighty.

Who stirs up the depths of the sea.

Here by 'sea' he means the multitude of unclean spirits, which is indeed thrown into confusion at the coming of Christ.

Have you come here to torment us before the time?

The nations shall be troubled, and those who dwell at the ends [of the earth] shall fear, because of your signs.

When, he says, the nations are troubled—that is, the hosts of the demons—then, indeed then, the people at the ends of the inhabited world will also fear you, having beheld the great signs.

By 'signs' he means those that took place at his coming.

You will make the outgoings of morning and evening rejoice.

For when the people who dwell in the inhabited world, having beheld the great signs, fear with a good fear, then, indeed then, there will be delight for them at the outgoings of morning and of evening—that is, at every time—as they exult over what your coming has accomplished.

You have visited the earth and made it drunk.

On account of what things? Namely, that he has deemed the earth worthy of his visitation, and made it drunk—clearly, with the gifts that come from him. 'The river of God is filled with water.'

Here by 'river' he means the evangelical word:

and it is said to be filled with water:

of what waters? Of the divine promises, he says, which he promised to those worthy of the kingdom of heaven. And the promises would be the following:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, and the beatitudes that follow.

You have prepared their food.

By 'food' he means spiritual food.

And he says it has been prepared, because before the foundation of the world the mystery concerning Christ was determined—he who is the bread that came down from heaven and gives life to the world.

Drench her furrows abundantly, multiply her produce.

By 'furrows' he means the depths of hearts, and by 'produce' the pious thoughts.

In its drops it shall rejoice as it springs up.

Even the small [drops], he says, of the divine gifts given to her make her rejoice and cause her to spring up—that is, clearly, to bring forth the intelligible fruit.

You will understand her drops from what has been said concerning Christ:

He shall come down like rain upon the grain, and like the drop that drips upon the earth.

You will bless the crown of the year of your goodness.

By 'year' he means the time of the age to come, and he calls it 'the crown of goodness' because it is in much goodness that the saints are crowned in it.

And your plains shall be filled with fatness.

Again, by 'plains' he calls the souls of those who have believed in him.

The beautiful places of the wilderness shall grow fat.

By 'mountains' he means the holy apostles and evangelists, who have grown well-nourished by the spiritual gifts:

and he calls 'wilderness' the church gathered from the nations, which was formerly barren of the knowledge concerning God.

And the hills shall be girded with rejoicing.

By 'hills' he means the presiding bishops of the churches.

The rams of the flock have clothed themselves.

By 'rams of the flock' he means the rulers of the peoples.

And what will they put on but the garment of incorruption and the tunic of gladness? He also calls the holy apostles 'rams of the flock,' as those who have come forward and are strong enough to butt their enemies with their horns.

Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.

And the valleys shall abound in grain.

The souls of the nations, he says, which were once most destitute and barren, shall be full of spiritual fruits.

Having changed for the better, he says, and having been multiplied in intelligible fruits, the valleys shall fervently send up hymns to you.

Through the present psalm he signifies the calling of the nations, and he proclaims as good news the resurrection that will take place of their souls, according to what has been said:

And indeed he also introduces the person of the apostles, teaching all that they have suffered for the sake of the gospel proclamation, and how many afflictions have led them out into eternal joys.

Moreover, the rejection of the Jewish people is also signified.

Shout for joy to God, all the earth; sing, then, to his name.

The shout of joy is a hymn of victory, sung over fallen enemies.

Therefore, since the rulers of this age have been destroyed—clearly through the coming of Christ—all the nations are exhorted to send up hymns of victory.

And what works does he mean but the divine signs, he says, and the fact that the multitudes of unclean demons have been driven out of the way? 'In the abundance of your power your enemies shall lie to you.'

Here he condemns the stupor of the Jews, in that not even the utmost excess of the wonders moved them to belief.

Let all the earth worship you and sing to you.

Since the Jews, he says, although seeing the utmost excess of signs being performed, lied to you,

nevertheless, in their place, the whole multitude of the nations shall worship you.

Here the person of the apostles is introduced, teaching the nations that this very one who worked the divine signs in his coming according to the flesh is also the one who long ago dried up the Red Sea, and indeed also held back the streams of the river Jordan, so that the sons of Israel might pass through on foot.

Who turns the sea into dry land.

And proof of this are the things that have already happened, how he changed the sea into dry land.

He changed the sea into dry land:

For this, he says, is the God who grants to us both the return and salvation:

who long ago parted both the sea and the river, and commanded our forefathers to cross over without danger.

There shall we rejoice in him.

The word 'there' is indicative of time.

He says, therefore, that at that time in which he will reign over the new age, there we shall reign together with him, and we shall rejoice with inexpressible joy.

His eyes look upon the nations.

He attends to all things, and examines everything that comes to pass.

Let not those who provoke him be exalted in themselves.

And who might the provoking ones be, other than those concerning whom it was said, 'Son of man, go to the house that provokes me'? And indeed they provoked him in the wilderness:

'Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.'

'Bless God, O nations.'

And all of you, being gathered together at one and the same [time], all the more praise him and marvel at him.

[Who has set my soul in life,

By 'eyes' he means the apostles.] 'For you have tried us, O God, you have refined us by fire.'

The prophetic Spirit foretells beforehand the afflictions that would come upon the apostles on account of their preaching:

speaking in their person, he enumerates the snares—that is, the imprisonments—and he signifies also the trials that come through fire and water.

'I will go into your house with whole burnt offerings.'

for they dedicated themselves wholly to God, in the manner of whole burnt offerings.

[And by whole burnt offerings understood in a spiritual sense—

ours are such things as this: to enter into the temple and offer you thank-offerings; and by this he means the very same thing when he says 'uttered' and 'spoke'.

By this he means: as many things as I vowed.] 'I will render to you my vows.'

What I vowed, he says, while afflicted, I will render to you.

And I vowed that, once delivered from the present affliction, I would continually send up to you my praises.

'I will offer to you whole burnt offerings full of marrow.'

What you commanded to be offered, I will sacrifice with ready eagerness.

By 'full of marrow' he means the well-fed and fat offerings:

for thus also the Law commanded that offerings be presented both unblemished and complete.

And the prophet Malachi also pronounces a curse on those who, though possessing such animals, offer up maimed ones instead.

And this also became for Cain the beginning of those evils.

'I will offer to you oxen together with goats.'

And all these are spiritual, as I have said—both the whole burnt offerings and the oxen and the goats which he promises to render.

And what else does he recount than what he already explained above, 'You have tried us,' and the rest? 'If I regarded iniquity in my heart, let not the Lord hear me.'

And I knew that God would not deign to hear my prayer, if I were engaged in unrighteousness.

Having seen something unprofitable in my heart, the Lord will not hearken.

He means to say that, in bringing my petitions to God, I took care of what was fitting, knowing that my petition would be of no benefit to me if I did not do what was required.

And he offers to God another kind of boast: that he had become free from all unrighteousness:

therefore he is also confident of being heard.

Here again the person of the apostles is introduced, giving instruction to the nations and praying to be delivered from those who oppose their teaching.

[This psalm too follows in sequence upon the one before it:

for it bears the character of the priestly blessing, and this whole prayer is found almost in its entirety in Judges:

since, then, this too was to come to pass, it was prophesied after the return, and it also proclaims the divine incarnation and manifestation, and the salvation of the nations.

It is inscribed 'in hymns,' since to be hymned belongs to God, whereas to be extolled through praises belongs to men.] 'May God have compassion on us and bless us.'

For everywhere he calls his coming 'salvation.'

'Let the peoples give thanks to you, O God.'

He prophesies the confession of all the nations unto Christ.

'Let the nations be glad and rejoice.'

The prophetic Spirit, delighting in the salvation of the world, often utters the same things, savoring gladness through this continual recounting.

'Let the peoples give thanks to you, O God; let all the peoples give thanks to you.'

He has not set down the repetition idly, but in order to render his hearers more eager.

'The earth has given its fruit.'

And its fruit is the advances made in piety.

[Let the peoples give thanks to you, O God.

Just as he twice roused the nations to hymn-singing, so twice he sought a blessing for them:

having, it is evident, also come to enjoy that very blessing.

Or else, because those sprung from that earth are not ignorant of the God over all, but offer to him the sweetest fruit of piety:

which fruit, if we offer to you—that is, the practice of virtue—we are blessed by you.] [May God bless us,

It is fitting to know that when men bless God, they offer him only words, but are not able to benefit him in deed.

But God, when he blesses, confirms his words by deed, and provides to those who are blessed an abundant supply of every kind of good thing.

In this psalm he signifies the coming of the Lord, and the destruction of the spiritual enemies, and the release from spiritual captivity.

Moreover, he also teaches that he himself is the one who long ago led the sons of Israel out of Egypt.

In addition to these things, he promises the gift of the Holy Spirit to those who receive the preaching,

promising to deliver them—evidently from the affliction that arose on account of the preaching.

But indeed he also promises to turn back many from among those who provoke him, and likewise also from among those who have fallen into the sea of pleasures.

No less does he also proclaim the manifestation of the apostles, both who they were and from where.

And he announces as good news the faith of all the nations in the Lord.

And in addition to all these, he clearly teaches the Lord's ascent into the heavens.

And it is possible to observe all these things one by one by attending closely to the verses.

'Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered.'

The word signifies God's impulse to judge the unclean demons.

For by his coming they were driven out from their tyranny over mankind.

'Prepare a way for him who rides upon the west.'

Become fitting, he says, to walk in his ways—his who appeared in the flesh to those on earth in the last times.

Or, 'him who rides upon the west' [may be understood] as him who made his descent as far as Hades.

Let them be troubled before his face.

That is, evidently, the nations belonging to the demons.

Father of orphans and judge of widows.

By 'orphans' he means those without a protector, and by 'widows' he means the souls that have no bridegroom, the Word.

For he is the protector of the weak, and of those who have no human help, such as we are.

But who and what sort is this one? 'God is in his holy place.'

Since he had said that he mounted upon the west, that is, went as far as the recesses of Hades, he now teaches again that, having ascended into the heavens, he has come to be in his own places;

even though, in the highest degree, he had never departed from them in the nature of his Godhead.

God settles the solitary in a house.

By 'solitary' he means those who have devoted their own life to him alone, and have estranged it from every double-mindedness and worldly desire.

These, then, he promises to settle also in his house, the heavenly city.

Leading forth the fettered in strength.

To those in bonds: 'Come forth';

and to those in darkness: 'Be revealed.'

Likewise, those who provoke him, who dwell in tombs.

This he says because, having gone even into Hades, he also preached to the spirits there who had once been disobedient.

For he has put 'those who provoke' in place of 'those who provoked.'