Expositions on the Psalms 1 part 15/23

and you have troubled me with the most fearful punishments, and by these, as by waters, you have made me sink beneath the surface.

'You have removed far from me friend and neighbor, and my acquaintances, because of my misery.'

By 'misery' he signifies the time of the Passion.

He says, then, that on account of the Passion both his friends and his acquaintances forsook him.

But since he became obedient to the Father unto death, even death on a cross, and on the cross he was forsaken by his disciples;

for this reason he says that his Father removed his friends and acquaintances far from him.

A PSALM of understanding, of Ethan the Israelite.

It is entitled 'of understanding' because a spiritual mind is especially needed in order to comprehend the depth of its mysteries.

The facts concerning Heman, that he too was a prophet, have been clearly related in what has gone before.

'Your mercies, O Lord, I will sing forever.'

And what are the mercies of the Lord which he has wrought for us, which we ought also to sing? Is it not the casting down of the principalities and the powers, and the very dominion of the devil itself;

and to free us from sin and death?

'To generation and generation I will declare your truth with my mouth.'

The truth of the Father is the Son, whom the saints carry upon their mouth to generation and generation;

for the word is, as it were, from the apostolic choir.

'Mercy shall be built up forever.'

that is, it shall be constructed, that is, it shall be raised up.

For that which is built up is, in a manner, raised up and rises.

And this is the salvation and grace that comes through Christ.

The mercy of God builds up mankind, while his truth prepares the holy powers.

'Your truth shall be established.'

Just as the salvation that comes through Christ is called mercy and grace, so again it is also called truth; or else, he says, it has been raised up even to the heavens through the blood, whether on earth or in heaven.

'Abraham,' he says, 'and Jacob;'

For indeed to these he gave the promises concerning Christ, according to what was said:

'And in your seed shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed.'

And where did he swear, if not in saying to him:

'And it shall come to pass, when your days are fulfilled, and you sleep with your fathers,

there shall arise from your seed another, who shall be from your body,

and I will establish his kingdom forever.

'He shall build a house for my name,

and I will set up his kingdom forever.'

'I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.'

'The heavens shall confess your wonders.'

This he says with reference to Christ who was born, and to the angels bringing good tidings to the shepherds, saying:

and that a multitude of another heavenly host also appeared, saying:

'For who among the clouds shall be equal to the Lord?' For even though, he says, the Only-begotten became man, and let himself down into voluntary self-emptying, and took the form of a servant,

yet even so he is beyond comparison above all things, even above the heavenly powers;

for those possess the rank of servants;

'But indeed neither among the sons of God is there any like him.'

And this they themselves testify, saying, 'Of his fullness have we all received.'

He, then, gives as God, while they are enriched with what comes from him.

'God, who is glorified in the council of the saints, great and terrible,'

...in form; yet hearing him say,

and, 'Before Abraham came to be, I am,'

thus the saints, on the contrary, glorify him, and call him great and terrible.

And this is clear from the fact that Peter, as though from the mouth of all, cried out:

'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God':

when he rebuked the sea and the winds—

'You rule over the might of the sea;

and he is the one who set the sand as a boundary for the sea, and said to it,

'Thus far shall you come, and no farther.'

And he showed this to be true, when he rebuked both the sea and the winds, as he was sailing together with the disciples.

'And the surging of its waves you calm.'

'You humbled the proud one as one slain.'

For he is the one who bound the strong and proud one, and gave to his own the power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy.

'The heavens are yours, and the earth is yours;

the world and its fullness you have founded.'

'The north and the sea you created.'

By these he signifies the four quarters of the world:

by the north, the northern regions, and by the sea, the regions of the west;

for Scripture calls the west 'sea';

and by Mount Hermon, the south;

and by Mount Tabor, again, the east.

'Yours is the arm, with might.'

For even though he became man and appeared as one of us, yet the surpassing excellence of his majesty was made manifest.

'Blessed is the people that knows the joyful shout.'

Having proclaimed the incarnation of the Only-begotten, he fittingly calls blessed those who have come to know his mystery.

And this is to sing him the songs of victory.

For the joyful shout is the song that arises over fallen enemies.

And he arrayed himself in battle on our behalf, and has conquered the opposing powers.

'Lord, in the light of your face they shall walk, and in your name they shall rejoice.'

He calls his holy apostles blessed, because indeed it was in his name and by his power that they did whatever wonders they did.

'And in your good pleasure our horn shall be exalted.'

He speaks, then, as it were to the Father:

Since you were well pleased to send the Only-begotten, for this reason our glory has been raised up;

for we were glorified, having been raised together with Christ and having reigned together with him.

'Then you spoke in a vision to your sons.'

'Then'—instead of 'formerly,' he says—that is, through prophetic visions you spoke to your sons; and by 'sons' he means those who have been called to the dignity of adoption—to them, he says, you spoke.

'I have laid help upon one who is mighty.' It is as though he were saying something like this:

the mighty one, whom the Father has given to us for help, is assuredly Christ;

for indeed he is the Lord of hosts;

and yet also a servant, because he appeared in the form of a servant.

'With my holy oil I have anointed him.'

While the Word was God, he was born according to the flesh of a woman, and came forth as man, remaining, as he was, God;

then, having received the anointing for your sake, he was named Christ.

For the Word, being God and existing as king before the ages, made our condition his own, that we too might be enriched with what is his.

'For my hand shall assist him.'

'But the Father who abides in me, he himself does the works.'

And this is what the Father now says concerning him:

'For my hand shall assist him, and my arm shall strengthen him.'

'The enemy shall not prevail against him.'

but the scheme proved profitless to Satan and to the Jews, and their undertaking turned out to leave them utterly exposed and unguarded.

For the Savior came back to life on the third day, having trampled down death and despoiled Hades:

And he ascended to the Father and God who is in the heavens.

And he is at the right hand of the throne of majesty in the heights, ruling over all things together with his own begetter.

Therefore that which was said is true: 'The enemy shall not prevail against him.'

'And I will cut down his enemies before his face.'

For they have been handed over to the Roman army, and have utterly perished.

'And my truth and my mercy shall be with him.'

By 'truth' he means the worship in spirit and in truth which Christ introduced to us, according to what was said to the woman of Samaria:

'God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.'

And indeed God has wrought mercy toward us through none other than his only-begotten Son.

'And in my name shall his horn be exalted.'

For by the very names which most properly belong to the Father, the Son himself is also glorified;

for he himself is the truth;

and the Father both is and is called 'life' according to nature, and this again the Son also is;

'I am the resurrection and the life.'

This he was saying to his own Father: 'All that is mine is yours, and yours is mine.'

'And I will set his hand upon the sea.'

By 'sea,' as we have said before, he means the region in the west;

and by 'rivers' he means the land between the rivers, that is, the east.

He says, then, that his activity shall be extended into the whole inhabited world.

'And in the rivers, his right hand.'

In the sea is set the hand of Christ, and in the rivers his right hand.

Yet if he wills, the sea becomes a river;

and again the river, if it keeps the river of living water flowing out of his belly, becomes a sea.

'You are my Father, my God.'

Here again, in accordance with the economy, he who was made flesh calls his own Father 'God,' saying:

'I am going to my Father and your Father, and my God and your God.'

For the prophet, prophesying concerning him as a child being born, called him 'Mighty God, Father of the age to come.'

'Forever I will keep my mercy for him, and my covenant.'

He says this to the people who have believed through him.

By 'mercy' he means the forgiveness that comes through faith.

For the first covenant has ceased on account of its weakness and unprofitableness;

for the law made nothing perfect.

'And I will establish his seed forever and ever.'

For the name of Christians shall not cease, nor the power of the evangelical worship;

rather it shall be continual and unceasing.

This is similar to what is said elsewhere:

'His seed remains forever.'

'who also remains forever.'

For it is not among the things possible that one who is God, and truly the Son of God, should not be eternal in every respect and altogether.

'And his throne shall be as the sun before me.'

Understand the throne of Christ to be the Church;

He says, then, that the Church of Christ shall flash like lightning and illumine all that is under heaven, and shall remain continually, as the sun and the moon remain.

For this saying goes thus:

'And his throne shall be as the sun before me, and as the moon perfected forever, and the witness in heaven is faithful.'

'But you have rejected and despised him; you have spurned your anointed one.'

The blessed prophets speak of the things that came to pass at the precious cross.

They speak, then, as though addressing the Father and God:

'but you have rejected and despised him;'

And 'you have rejected and despised' means: 'you have permitted him to be rejected and to be despised.'

For it was not the Father who rejected and despised his own Son;

rather, it was the Jews who did this;

yet by the permission of God the Father.

And this is what was said:

'He who did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all.'

'You have overturned the covenant of your servant.'

He says: 'You have deferred fulfilling the promises concerning him;'

saying, 'you have overturned the covenant of your servant.'

'For you promised,' he says, 'that it would remain forever;'

and this was the covenant made by you concerning him.

'But the Jews crucified him, and he was numbered among the dead.'

'For he suffered,' he says, 'and was crucified;'

'therefore you have overturned the covenant of your servant.'

'You have profaned his sanctuary to the ground.'

'You have cast his glory to the ground,' he says;

for when he came to suffer, he was regarded by the lawless Jews as a mere man.

But he did not remain dead, he who is 'free among the dead,' according to the voice of the prophet;

nor indeed did the suffering bring upon him any dishonor at all; rather, he was glorified all the more through abolishing him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and through setting free the race of mankind.

Yet the prophets speak of the things that came to pass.

'You have thrown down all his hedges.'

By 'his hedges and fortifications' he means the holy apostles, who indeed all forsook him and fled in fear;

'You have made his fortifications a thing of cowardice.'

'You have gladdened all his enemies.'

For they rejoiced and wagged their heads at him, seeing him hanging upon the tree.

'You have turned back the help of his sword.'

Since he has not immediately punished those who crucified the only-begotten Son of God the Father, though they deserved to pay the ultimate penalty, but because of his great love for mankind has granted even to them a time of repentance—that which comes through baptism—

for this reason he is said to have turned back the help of his sword.

'You turned away' is used in place of 'you restrained.'

'You have made his purification to cease.'

'You have made to cease' is used instead of 'you cast down.'

'You cast down,' therefore, he says—that is, you overthrew the belief that he is pure.

For he was contrived to be wicked, and was condemned as a sinner, and was reckoned among the lawless.

'You have cast his throne down to the ground.'

Since he suffered in the flesh, and became free among the dead—

those who crucified him supposed that, having suffered, he had shrunk away and had utterly ceased both to exist and to be named;

for this reason he expounds the suppositions of those who crucified him, saying:

'You have cast his throne down to the ground.'

'How long, O Lord, will you turn away forever? Will your wrath burn like fire?' That is: how long will the presumptuous deeds of the Jews prevail, who were so zealous for the crucifixion of the Only-begotten and our Savior? But Symmachus has:

'but do you kindle your wrath like fire at the remembrance of our sins?' 'Remember what my substance is.'

'You made man for incorruption,' he says, 'and fashioned him according to your image;'

'but he came under corruption through deceit,' he says.

Therefore grant incorruption, that they may be saved, even as your creation was fashioned to be.

'Where are your ancient mercies, O Lord?' The ancient mercies of God, he says, are the restoration to incorruption that was appointed before the foundation of the world.

'Remember, O Lord, the reproach of your servants.'

Since, O Lord, your enemies have reproached me, claiming that the promises given to the nations concerning me are false;

and these promises were that they should be saved, and set free from death and sin;

and they reproached me, looking to my death;

and declared those promises to be vain.

for this reason I ask you to remember;

for they reproached the ransom-price of your Christ, he says.

And his ransom-price is his death and blood, the price of redemption given for the salvation of the world;

which they also reproached, supposing him to have been held fast by death.

But he who is free among the dead did not remain there;

rather, he rose on the third day.

'Blessed be the Lord forever. Amen, amen.'

This is said since he has now risen and ascended into the heavens, and is blessed—that is, glorified—forever together with his own Father.

'A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.'

This prayer, he says, Moses wrote down among hidden things and handed it down;

so that those living in each successive age might know how they ought to make confession when they fall into the calamities that came upon them in the last times, after the disobedience and bloodguilt committed against the Lord.

But so that it might not be given over to oblivion with the passage of time, it has been included among the Psalms;

and fittingly placed after the eighty-eighth Psalm, which also signifies the Passion of the Lord.

'Lord, you have become a refuge for us from generation to generation.'

Since he is about to call upon God for mercy, he fittingly frames his preface from the benefits which God had already bestowed many times.

One may see how he showed benefit in every generation by looking at what happened under Pharaoh, what happened under Joshua, and what happened at Babylon.

'Before the mountains were made, and the earth was formed.'

Since, looking at the flesh of the Lord, they supposed him to be a mere man, saying:

'You are not yet thirty years old, and have you seen Abraham?' And this especially became for them the cause of their fall: their ignorance of his divinity.

'Do not turn man back to humiliation.'

And he asks that, since God has called all the nations to the knowledge of the truth, he himself also might be turned back to God.

'Return, O backsliding children, and I will heal your wounds.'

Since, therefore, we have turned back, do not turn us back to humiliation.

'For a thousand years in your sight, O Lord...'

He speaks of the age of worship under the Law, during which, especially once the divine temple had been completed, it flourished;

For from Solomon, who built the house, until the siege that took place after the precious cross, this span extends to a thousand years.

'But these thousand years,' he says, 'may be reckoned as one day before you;'

or rather, a small fraction of a day.

And he fittingly likens to night the age before the coming of the Savior;

inasmuch as all mankind was, as it were, in an untimely state and in confusion, because the Sun of Righteousness had not yet risen upon them.

'Their years shall be as things of no account. In the morning...'

Their years—clearly, the years of those who denied you—shall be held in great contempt.

For they became something trampled underfoot by both men and demons, since they denied him who redeems and saves them.

'In the morning let it flourish, and pass away.'

By 'morning' they signify the time of Christ's manifestation to them on Mount Sinai;

and by 'grass' is meant the worship of the Law, since it was destined to wither away shortly afterward.

He calls 'evening' the time at the end of the age, in which the Only-begotten also appeared;

in which the flourishing of the worship of the Law likewise passed away, having been hardened by the deceit of disobedience.

'For we have been consumed in your wrath.'

They clearly declare the calamities that came upon them because of their own sins.

And these things apply both to the Jews and to all mankind.

For indeed human nature, paying the penalty for its transgressions, was subjected to calamities, and is engulfed by billows of every kind.

And the Jews, because of the wickedness of their intent, fell from freedom.

You have set our transgressions before you.

You did not pass over our transgressions, he says, seeing that we ourselves called them down upon our own heads, because we had said:

'His blood be on us and on our children.'

Our lifetime lies exposed in the light of your countenance.

Our life, and the wicked deeds done in it, appear before your face.

For you were ignorant of nothing that has been done by us, from beginning to end.

For all our days have failed, and in your wrath we have been consumed.

Sin, he says, stirred up your wrath against us;

and wrath brought on punishment;

and punishment brought on sorrows.

For in sorrows we have spent our brief life.

Our years were spun out like a spider's web.

Human nature, he says, possesses nothing firm or stable;

like a spider's web, it is easily torn apart.

The days of our years, in themselves, are seventy years.

These words resemble those spoken by the patriarch Jacob:

'My days are few and evil, and have not attained to the days of my fathers.'

There are, indeed, some who live longer than the time stated;

but that happens in the case of a few.

What he teaches here is what is common, and holds true for the majority.

For just as he made no mention of those who meet their end prematurely, so too, in speaking of long life, he has left out those who are exceedingly aged.

But nevertheless, he says, even this brief span of time is filled with sorrow and toil.

'For gentleness has come upon us, and we shall be chastened.'

Since our life is a dead and worthless thing, and we do not know what will befall us hereafter at the hand of your power;

for this reason, he says, chasten us gently.

For 'has come,' he says, stands in place of 'may it come.'

And they ask to partake of the instruction that comes through Christ, who is the right hand of the Father:

'Make your right hand thus known to me.'

'Make known' is to be taken in common with what follows, so that it reads:

'And make known to us your right hand,' that is, Christ;

and make known to us those who have wisdom in their heart;

and these would be the holy apostles and evangelists, through whom we also learned the ways of conversion.

'We were filled in the morning with your mercy.'

As though they had already found the fulfillment of their prayer, they speak in this manner:

For the Sun of Righteousness will also rise for them at the consummation of this age.

'And look upon your servants, and upon your works.'

'Look' again stands in place of 'you have looked,' that is, 'you have visited your servants and the works of your hands.'

'And let the brightness of the Lord our God be upon us.'

And the light of the knowledge of God has made us radiant and renowned;

and the Jews, after their return, again became conspicuous.

'And direct the works of our hands.'

This is the work accomplished in the New [Covenant]. For in the Old there were various sacrifices;

but in the New, only the Son is sacrificed.

'And direct the work of our hands.'

'The works of the hands' is each individual deed;

but 'the work of the hands' is the knowledge that arises from these.

...the authorities, and the world-rulers of this darkness, and the spiritual forces of wickedness, and the accursed Satan himself;

and these are also signified in many ways through the words now before us.

Both the terror by night, and the arrow in darkness, and the destruction and the noonday demon, and the thousand and the ten thousand, and the asp, and the basilisk, and the lion, and the dragon.

Over all these he proclaims victory for the man of God.

'He who dwells in the help of the Most High.'

The prophetic Spirit calls blessed the man who has made Christ — who is also the Most High — his help and support.

For how is he not blessed, who has been deemed worthy to have the God of heaven as his protector? 'He shall lodge under the shelter of the God of heaven.'

He who abides in this help is sheltered and guarded.

And who is it that says to the Lord — that is, the man who trusts in him and leans upon his salvation? 'For he himself will deliver you from the snare.'

He taught beforehand that the opposing powers are signified through these things.

'He will overshadow you with his shoulders.'

When the man of God had said that God himself will deliver him from the snare of the hunters and from turbulent words, the prophetic Spirit answers, encouraging him and gently leading him on toward spiritual courage:

'He will overshadow you with his shoulders;'

'He will cover you under the shadow of his wings;'

and indeed he will shield you with armor as well.

And when this has come to pass, none of the opposing powers will do you harm.

'From the arrow that flies by day.'

He has here called a certain unclean power 'an arrow.'

'From the destruction, and from the noonday demon.'

It is not some demonic affliction of midday.

For he says that the noonday demon is that of listlessness.

'A thousand shall fall at your side.'

'Side' signifies the left part, and quite fittingly so;

and he says that it is against this side that the thousands lay their plots.

yet at your right hand, the ten thousands

For the multitude of the evil powers attempts to undo the favorable outcomes of our affairs, and the stronger and more marvelous of our virtues.

But you will only look on with your eyes.

You will suffer no harm at all, he says, from those who plot against you;

but it will happen to you to see your enemies fallen.

You have made the Most High your refuge.

The prophetic Spirit speaks in reply through the man of God, declaring how great is the gain of hope placed in God.

No evils shall come near you.

For the nature of evil comes from outside, whereas virtue has its origin from within.

For God made man upright, but man, having sought after wicked reasonings, drew evil upon himself from outside.

And no scourge shall come near your dwelling.

He exhorts them to take courage and to suffer nothing unpleasant, since he believes that an angel is sent down as a helper to those who believe in God.

For he will give his angels charge concerning you.

This he also said in the thirty-third psalm:

The angel of the Lord will encamp around those who fear him, and will deliver them.

Let us also hear the patriarch Jacob saying:

The angel who delivers me from all my evils

And the great Abraham, encouraging his servant, said:

God will send his angel before your face, and you shall take from there a wife for Isaac my son.

From every side, then, we learn that the God of all also guards, through angels, those who trust in him.

To keep you in all your ways.

He who stumbles in nothing, this one is kept in all his ways.

Lest you dash your foot against a stone.

The foot signifies the soul, and the stone signifies sin.

You shall tread upon the asp and the basilisk.

Not only, he says, will you suffer nothing terrible, O man of God, but you will also see the very multitudes of the spirits brought down beneath your own feet;

so that with complete confidence you will also trample upon their heads.

Because he has hoped in me, I will also deliver him.

He brings in the person of God, promising salvation as the reward of faith.

...the God of all has said, teaching what the fruit of hope is.

For I will deliver him, he says, from the aforementioned visible and invisible enemies, since he has fortified himself with hope in me;

For this reason I will guard him, and I will hear him when he calls, and I will receive his supplication.

I will shelter him, because he has known my name.

Not only, he says, will I deliver those who are my own from those who plot against them, but I will also grant them unending life;

and indeed I will also deem them worthy of my own salvation.

May this salvation of ours be Jesus Christ, who both leads us into the new contest and prepares us to reign together with him.

He will cry out to me, and I will hearken to him.

And having cried out to me with the loud voice of his soul, he will find me hearkening and nodding assent to him.

For I am always present with him, even if he happens to be in distress.

With length of days I will fill him, and I will show him my salvation.

May this salvation be our Lord Jesus Christ himself, who has led us into the new age, and who also prepares us to reign together with him.

A PSALM. A song for the Sabbath day.

The sabbath-rest, that is, the Sabbath, would be the coming inheritance, since a rest will indeed succeed the labors here, once we have plainly received our rewards.

He therefore praises that future rest which is to come.

It is good to give thanks to the Lord.

He puts forward praise, he says, and promises to recount it unceasingly day and night for the things the Only-begotten has done.

And what has he done, other than that he has prepared the resurrection for us? — To declare your mercy in the morning.

To proclaim your mercy at dawn, and your faithfulness by night.

On the ten-stringed psaltery, with a song upon the harp.

For you have made me glad, O Lord, in your work.

For as I behold your creations and your ineffable dispensations, I exult and rejoice, and by the soul's delight I move my tongue to hymnody.

How great are your works, O Lord!

As for me, he says, while hymning your works, I am also amazed at the depth of your thoughts, which you have wrought in your dispensation.

But the foolish do not understand the depth of the mystery.

When sinners sprang up like grass

Those who do not understand the mystery, he says, will be like grass, having, that is, no depth, and they will quickly fall and wither away.

And my horn shall be exalted like that of the unicorn.

When, he says, the enemies perish and are scattered, then indeed my horn — that is, the kingdom that has been prepared — will become manifest.

But we who have knowledge of you, having beheld the overthrow of your enemies, will exult in you and think great things;

inasmuch as we have indeed been delivered from the error of polytheism, and worship you as the true God who is.

For here again he has introduced the unicorn, so that by the one horn he might signify the one God.

For just as that animal received one horn from nature;

so also the disciples of piety will worship one Godhead.

And my old age shall be in rich oil.

After the labors, he says, which I endure, then indeed I shall make use, as it were, of oil for a royal priesthood;

and this shall be for me the reward of my long labors.