Expositions on the Psalms 1 part 21/23

By 'children' he means those who have been weaned, thereby signifying affliction.

For it does not leave its mother's side, grieving at being deprived of the milk.

'Thus,' he says, 'being amid misfortunes, I too prayed to God continually.'

But if I should not be so, may I pay the utmost penalty.

'O Lord, remember' — rendering to him according to his meekness. For just as he, being meek, forgave Saul the wrongs done to him, so also forgive him his transgressions.

How he swore unto the Lord, and vowed unto the God of Jacob, and so forth.

For having learned from the Holy Spirit that the Lord would come to dwell among men, granting forgiveness of many sins, and hoping himself to be saved through this, he hastens to learn when this will be, where it will happen, and in what manner he will come to dwell.

Longing to know these things, he subjected himself to such hardship as to renounce all bedding, to take leave of his house, and to lie before God, before the face of the sanctuary, upon the ground, confirming by oath that he would not rise until he had learned them.

And God, taking pity on his fervor, assents.

even as, having once sworn, he did not prove false.

Behold, we heard of it at Ephratah.

And what is 'it,' but the coming of the Lord that was to be? 'We found it in the fields of the wood.'

For the cave in which Christ was born is amid the fields, that is, in the countryside.

We will go into his tabernacles.

He signifies the churches that would come to be in their time.

We will worship at the place where his feet stood.

Arise, O Lord, into thy resting place.

They are eagerly urging on his ascension into the heavens.

Thou, and the ark of thy sanctuary.

By 'the ark of the sanctuary' he means his holy flesh.

Thy priests shall be clothed with righteousness.

'No longer,' he says, 'garments according to the law, but righteousness itself.'

And where is it that he 'swore'? In his saying to him:

And it shall be, when thy days are fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, that another shall arise from thy seed, who shall come from thy body.

And I will prepare his kingdom forever.

He shall build a house for my name.

and I will establish his kingdom forever.

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

If thy sons keep my covenant...

This is my resting place forever.

For even if the ancient temple lies desolate on account of the madness of the Jews, still, there again, the sites of the cross, of the resurrection, and of the ascension have been made worthy of divine grace.

Her provision I will surely bless.

For each such person, being seed of the righteous, is not lacking in bread.

It is also written 'her widow,' plainly meaning the one who has no protector.

I will satisfy her poor with bread.

Those who have become poor for God's sake.

I will clothe her priests with salvation.

Once again it is Christ himself who is the salvation, the very one also named righteousness above.

I have prepared a lamp for my anointed one.

He says this concerning John, in accordance with what was said by the Lord:

He was the lamp, burning and shining.

The fourteenth ode, following upon the Savior's shining forth, makes manifest the good bestowed by him upon men, saying:

Behold now, how good, or how pleasant...

As ointment upon the head, which ran down upon the beard.

For, he says, when the Church is gathered together and made, as it were, into a single harmony, then—indeed, then—the anointing of the Holy Spirit and the priesthood is applied: first upon the head of the Church, which is Christ, and afterward upon the beard, which is the comeliness of the Church's face.

By this are meant the apostles.

And at last it has passed over also to the whole body, that is, to all who in the Church have put on Christ.

For there the Lord commanded the blessing, and life forevermore.

And it is clear that this is among those brothers who dwell together in the same place;

not any ordinary life, but the immortal one.

For upon Zion the life-giving dew of the all-holy Spirit was sent down upon the sacred apostles, through which all who believe reap the eternal blessing as their fruit.

For of them the heart and the soul were one.

Behold now, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord.

The fifteenth ode exhorts those still being catechized in the Church to praise God.

In the nights lift up your hands to the holy places.

He says that they still stand in the night, inasmuch as they have not yet been deemed worthy of the illumination of the Holy Spirit.

May the Lord bless you out of Zion.

it belonged to them, there where the foundation of every sacred rite lay.

Then he teaches them to call upon him from every quarter, saying:

who made heaven and earth.

Praise the name of the Lord; praise the Lord, you servants.

This psalm too is spoken to those newly brought in, exhorting: Praise God.

For 'Allelu' is interpreted 'praise,' and 'ia,' 'the Lord.'

Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good;

sing psalms to his name, for it is lovely.

He urges them to sing psalms—men who, before this, had even practiced other forms of idolatry in Egypt.

These were those descended from Jacob.

And they were called to hymn God.

Israel for his own peculiar possession.

For Israel is the mind that sees clearly.

For I have known that the Lord is great, and our Lord is above all gods.

From his creative power he has known him to be Lord.

in the seas and in all the depths.

bringing up clouds from the ends of the earth.

He says this because the seas surround the earth on the outside, and it is from them that he brings up the clouds.

He made lightnings for the rain.

And this too would be a symbol of the power befitting God, that in it the fiery nature of the lightnings and water are mingled together.

He brings forth winds out of his treasuries.

By 'treasuries' he made clear that the nature of the winds is incomprehensible to men.

Similar is what was said by the Lord:

The wind blows where it wills, and you hear its sound;

but you do not know where it comes from, and where it goes.

who struck the firstborn of Egypt, from man to beast.

He placed the last plague first, since it was after this one that they received their freedom.

He mentions the beasts too, since these things came into being for man's sake, and it is for man's sake that they are punished as well.

So that the plague might be shown to be sent from God, unto the increase of fear.

The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the works of men's hands.

After showing forth the divine providence and offering it praise, as one still conversing with servants who had but lately come over from the nations, he goes on in due course to set out, by comparison, the refutation of the gods whom they formerly esteemed:

For I have known that the Lord is great, and our Lord is above all gods.

For he has done such great and so many things;

but your former gods are nothing but dead and mute idols, and may those who make them become like them.

For how could those who worship lifeless things not have their very souls turned to stone? And those whom, by former custom, he once called gods, he now shames and has called idols, condemning them both by their material and by their workmanship.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever.

To him who divided the Red Sea into parts.

An ancient tradition says that the sea, having been divided into twelve sections, gave to each tribe a single path of its own.

To him who led his people through the wilderness.

The wonder of the wilderness is no less than that of the sea.

For many were the things that threatened death: famine, drought, thirst, a multitude of wild beasts, and the desert's lack of every necessity.

Yet they walked on, fearing nothing.

And he delivered them from two mighty kings, who prided themselves on their strength, their power, and the greatness of their stature.

Og, whose bed was nine cubits in length and five in breadth, and it was made of iron.

Sihon, king of the Amorites.

It is not without purpose that, passing over the other kings, he made particular mention of these two, but rather to remind the people of the victory given them by God.

For these too prided themselves on their strength, their power, and the greatness of their stature.

who remembered us in our low estate.

The saying that 'the Lord remembered us in our low estate' will fit better those who have been set free from intelligible slavery than those freed from sensible slavery.

who gives food to all flesh.

a providence reaching from the wonders in heaven down to the smallest things on earth;

and from there it extends back up again to heaven.

Give thanks to the God of heaven.

And though he is the maker of all things, he is styled, by special distinction, God of heaven, being served by those who dwell there.

For it is a place pure of sin.

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and wept.

If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand be forgotten.

That is, may I not attain the help that comes from above.

Let my tongue cling to my throat, if I do not remember you.

I will sing to the Lord throughout my life.

The city was precious to them because of divine worship, as was said before: 'For the sake of the Lord our God, I have sought good things for you.'

If I do not set Jerusalem before me as the beginning of my joy.

That is, he says, 'I will set the remembrance of you before every joy.'

For in this way it happens that our remaining joys, too, become good for us.

And the Lord too teaches us to put sacred nourishment before bodily nourishment.

Remember, O Lord, the sons of Edom.

The sons of Edom are the Idumeans descended from Esau, who, when Jerusalem was taken, trampled upon her bitterly, until they saw her torn up from her very foundations.

O wretched daughter of Babylon.

This is a prophetic word; that saying too signifies the sack of Babylon.

Blessed is he who will repay you your recompense.

That one, he says, is blessed, who leads you captive in turn.

The present psalm contains a prophecy of the calling of all the nations;

for which he also gives thanks, that he alone, though a king, was not the only one deemed worthy of the divine manifestation;

but that many kings of the nations, he says, would also be deemed worthy of the same grace, a thing that came to pass only after the Lord's coming among us.

I will give thanks to you, O Lord, with my whole heart.

This is the commandment the Savior gave to the rich man, saying:

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

And before the angels I will sing to you; I will worship toward your holy temple.

As though the angels were present, always beholding his victory that is according to God.

And I will give thanks to your name for your mercy and your truth.

I will give thanks, he says, for the fact that I have been redeemed from the shadow and deemed worthy of the truth.

For you have magnified your holy name above all things.

He says that he offers thanksgiving for the calling of the nations.

I give thanks not only for the good things that have happened to me;

but also because I behold your glory throughout all things, in creating, in benefiting, and in chastising.

For there is nothing in creation that does not proclaim your majesty.

You will greatly care for me in my soul, with your power.

By 'abundant care' he means 'long duration.'

And let them sing in the songs of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord.

He has recorded the songs of the Lord, which he promises that all those from the nations will sing.

For the Lord is high, and he looks upon the lowly.

Do not marvel, he says, if these things come to pass among men;

for human affairs are not estranged from the providence of God.

And he knows lofty things from afar.

For, according to the divine Apostle, he foreordained from the foundation of the world both the calling of the nations and their elevation to the heights.

If I walk in the midst of affliction, you will give me life.

In the world you will have tribulation;

but take courage, I have overcome the world.

For the right hand of the Father has been stretched forth against them, that is, the Son, who also saved us.

The Lord will repay on my behalf.

For having judged the injustice done against us, he cast out the ruler of this world.

The psalm is referred to the person of Zachariah, at the time when the sons of Israel were still in captivity, and indeed the prophet himself was among them.

He writes concerning the manner of God's care for us;

and how he exercises providence not only over things in general, but also over each particular thing;

so that not even our movements nor our thoughts fall outside his providence.

He also marvels greatly at the depth of the divine dispensation, and clearly signifies both the calling of the nations and the contradiction raised against the Savior Christ by the people from Israel.

We have said many times that the psalms so titled are to be referred to the time of the Lord's coming.

O Lord, you have tested me and known me.

As one confident that he holds firm faith in Christ, and that he has had no part in the lawlessness of the wicked people, he calls upon the fashioner of their hearts as his witness.

You have understood my thoughts from afar; my path and my line you have traced out.

If God knows the movement of our thoughts, how much more does he have knowledge of the course of our life.

My path and my line you have traced out.

A measuring line is a fixed measure of a road.

He means that you know every movement of reasoning;

for he signifies these movements by means of 'ways.'

For there is no deceit in my tongue.

Behold, O Lord, you have known all things, the last and the first.

The middle things are passed over in silence, because it is evil that lies in between.

For evil was not in the beginning, nor will it be again in the end.

You fashioned me, and laid your hand upon me.

Even though you fashioned me, he says, and sustain me now that I exist;

for the laying on of God's hand signifies the gift of the Spirit granted to us;

just as the apostles, through the laying on of hands, imparted the Holy Spirit.

Your knowledge is too wonderful for me; it has grown too strong; I shall not be able to attain to it.

For there are very many other things that have come to him from God, and he is not able fully to discern them.

For the knowledge of these things, he says, surpasses my power and lies beyond my comprehension, so that I am unable either to find them out or to declare them.

For as many things as I have said turn out to be small and utterly slight.

For the comprehension of the divine power escapes my smallness.

'If I ascend into heaven, you are there.'

Similar to: 'Heaven is my throne.'

'If I go down to Hades, you are present.'

He prophesies the descent of the Lord into Hades that came to pass.

'If I should take up my wings at dawn and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea.'

That is, if I should take the wings of birds not yet wearied;

for this is what 'at dawn' signifies: fresh in their flying and filled with strength.

'Having encompassed all things,' he says, 'O Lord, you know all things beforehand, and you are present everywhere, and you fill all things as God.'

What shall become of me, if some sin should befall me, and if I should have need of flight and escape, since you, the Lord, have encompassed all things? And I said:

'Surely darkness will trample me down.'

'Will trample' is used instead of 'will cover and hide me from your eyes.'

But even this darkness, he says, is in your knowledge just as the light itself would be.

'As its darkness, so also its light.'

For just as night is dark to me, so it is bright to you.

He says that the kidneys are what produce fear.

'You took hold of me from my mother's womb.'

Fittingly, he says, I acquired the fear of you, since your providence guarded me even while I was being formed in the womb.

'I will confess to you, for you were made fearfully wonderful.'

Fittingly, after the aforesaid theology, he now utters this confession.

'Wonderful are your works, and my soul knows it exceedingly.'

This, he says, is to me an ineffable power, yet it is manifest to you, God.

'My bone, which you made in secret, was not hidden from you.'

It did not escape your notice, he says, the taking of the woman, whom you secretly formed out of my bone, having lulled me into a heavy sleep;

but you knew our hidden matters, you who brought her secretly into being.

'And my substance in the lowest parts of the earth.'

And even if I should be dissolved, he says, and go into dust, this too is likewise known to you. 'Your eyes saw my unformed substance.'

Before I came into being, he says, and before I was formed, your eyes of foreknowledge beheld me and foresaw me — not merely in a general way, but as one already laid up, numbered, and written in your book.

'Days will be formed, and not one of them yet exists.'

Throughout all the days of their life they conducted themselves in an orderly and well-formed manner, and not even one of their days was without order or without form.

'But to me your friends have been greatly honored, O God;'

'He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward.'

'I will number them, and they will be multiplied beyond the sand.'

I am full of good hope, he says, in honoring your friends, that indeed at the resurrection I shall stand together with them, and through them I shall obtain honor from you.

Then indeed, he says, the sinners too will be slain, that is, they will receive their fitting punishments.

'If only you would slay sinners, O God.'

Knowing the punishments that would come upon them, he in some way sets them apart, outside of himself.

'Men of blood, depart from me, for you are contentious in your reasonings.'

He states the reason for which he drives the sinners away from himself.

'Have I not hated those who hate you, O Lord?' For your friends I loved and welcomed;

but your enemies I hated completely.

The enemies of God, first and properly, are the unclean demons;

and second after them, those who champion idolatry, and the founders of the heresies.

139. 'Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man.'

Because of the injustice done by the demons to human nature, [human nature] cries out to God to execute vengeance, and to turn the injustice back upon the head of those who commit it.

But these words might also be spoken concerning perceptible enemies.

'Who devised injustice in their heart; all the day they arrayed wars.'

For they did not merely employ evil reasonings, but they also added deeds to their reasonings.

As for 'all the day,' Symmachus renders it 'every day.'

'Along the path they set snares for me.'

All these things, he says, they did in order to halt the course of his journey toward God, ensnaring his feet with traps, so as to cast him down from his standing in God.

'Do not deliver me, O Lord, according to my desire, to the sinner.'

I, O Lord, he says, desire the desire of salvation;

therefore do not forsake me, so that, turned aside from this, I be delivered to the sinner, that is, to the devil.

'Do not forsake me, lest they be exalted.'

He asks to be sheltered in the covering of his wings, and under his mighty hand, from which no one can snatch away, so that they might not become proud of themselves as though over something else.

'As for the head of those who surround me,'

May what they plotted, he says, come upon them.

For this is what 'the head of their encirclement' signifies.

For the head of sinners is their reasoning and their perception.

Indeed, may also their trouble and the toil they exerted against me come back upon them.

These are also to be handed over to the punishment by fire.

'Coals shall fall upon them in the fire.'

For as though by a kind of fire — your wrath — you will consume them.

'You will cast them down into miseries, and they shall not endure.'

They will fall into calamities, and they will not prevail over them.

These things happened to Saul in the war against the Philistines.

For there, having been slain, he met the end of his life.

'A man full of tongue shall not be established upon the earth.'

Eternal fire awaits the ungodly.

And in this present life as well, the man of the evil tongue will not be guided aright unto the end.

For no contentious and abusive man, being of an earthly disposition, is set aright, since he is warped by the very fact of being contentious.

For since such men are lovers of sin, how could they be guided aright by virtue? 'Evils shall hunt the unjust man to destruction.'

For just as a man is destroyed by a disease that is his own, apart from any wickedness of another, so he pays the fitting penalty.

For wickedness alone is sufficient, in place of every punishment, to destroy the soul that possesses it.

This verse too resembles the one that follows, except that it is more doctrinal in character.

O Lord, I have cried unto You; hear me.

Attend to the voice of my supplication, when I cry unto You.

The cry surely signifies the intensity of the mind.

Let my prayer be directed as incense before You.

He likens the things that come from the mind to incense, seeing that they are subtle, and are offered up to God alone.

The lifting up of my hands, as the evening sacrifice.

He likens the deeds signified by the hands to a sacrifice, since these are coarser than the choices of the mind.

He says 'evening' because one must practice good deeds all the way to the end.

Set, O Lord, a watch upon my mouth, and a door of enclosure round about my lips.

Since he knows that success in guarding the tongue is a great thing, he asks God to grant him mastery over it.

Incline not my heart to words of wickedness.

That is, do not allow my mind, which was once well fashioned, to be turned aside to the contrary;

that I may not, he says, conceive thoughts of lawlessness.

Let the righteous man chasten me in mercy, and reprove me.

I would welcome every chastening from the righteous man, but may I never receive the flattering praise of the sinner, with which they anoint my head as though with oil.

For my prayer continues even in the midst of their delights; their judges have been swallowed up, cast close beside the rock.

Having come near the rock, he says, they shall be sunk into the deep.

And he signifies that Christ Himself will sink them into the abyss.

They shall hear my words, for they were sweet.

The outcome, he says, of the punishment foretold against them will lend my words the credit of truth and fitting comeliness.

As when a clod of earth is broken up upon the ground.

All that is earthly in us, he says, we have rent asunder, humbling ourselves for Your sake;

so that all our strength has been brought down as far as Hades.

This is similar to, 'For Your sake we are put to death all the day long.'

For unto You, O Lord, Lord, are my eyes.

But I trust in none of the things that are human;

rather, I wait for Your help, and I beseech that my soul not be stripped of it.

In You have I hoped; take not away my soul.

Do not pour out or empty me of the hope which I have toward You.

The sinners shall fall into their own net.

May the sinners, he says, fall into their own nets.

I am alone, until I shall pass by.

Then, he says, I shall pass by without fear and without anxiety, when the sinners themselves fall into their own nets.

But I shall continue on, separated from these, until I reach the end of my life.

What lies before us is indeed a prayer, and nothing else.

Nevertheless, it requires understanding;

so that we may learn in what manner, when we are in the midst of trials, we may be able to escape evils.

With my voice I cried unto the Lord;

with my voice I made supplication to the Lord.

I will pour out my supplication before Him.

As it were, he says, he has dedicated his whole mind to the Lord.

I will declare my affliction before Him.

Contending, he says, in the race that concerns the soul itself, I offer up my supplications, praying that my afflictions be made known.

You know, he says, that I am pursued unjustly.

When my spirit was failing within me.

He did these things, beholding the extremity of the evils;

for I was encamped right beside death itself.

'And You have known my paths' is spoken by one who has confidence in the course of his life and in his deeds: 'You have known my paths.'

They hid a snare for me, which the present prayer has brought to nothing.

For, so far as depended on men, once he was caught in the cave he was shut off from every escape, and there was no one to rescue him, or to seek after his soul.

In this way in which I was walking, they hid a snare for me.

If one considers the place in the cave, he will find that what has been said fits it exactly.

I looked on my right hand and beheld, and there was no one who knew me.

Setting evils that closely border upon virtue right beside the virtues being practiced.

As, for instance, to one journeying toward wisdom they hid a snare, a wisdom not of God;

and to one seeking knowledge they set before him that which is falsely called by its name.

This saying bears some resemblance to, 'Close beside the path they have set stumbling blocks for me.'

For to those who are more ambitious for honor, snares are laid on the right hand.

Flight has perished from me, and there is no one who seeks after my soul.

For it was not possible to flee from the cave, since the approaches before it were held by Saul's men.

No one, he says, seeks the salvation of my soul. 'I have cried unto You, O Lord.'

For upon Him alone does he place the hopes of his salvation.

Bring my soul out of prison.

He says these things with reference to the place of the cave.

Bring my soul out from its confinement,

that I may give thanks to your name.

When, he says, you have released me from this affliction and from the prison, I will send up songs of thanksgiving.

The righteous wait for me, until you repay me.

If, he says, you bring me out from here, having rewarded my good deeds, then the rest of the righteous too, holding me before their eyes as an example, and laying up for themselves from what concerns me what concerns them, will render their supplications to you and will run to you.

This psalm too has a subject similar to the one before it.

For he prays to be delivered from those who persecute him, as the Apostle says.

These things happened as a type to the men of old;

but they were written for our admonition.

One must know that the prayer is referred to the person of humanity, being persecuted and afflicted by Satan who has gained the advantage over it, from whom it also prays to be delivered through the coming of the Only-begotten.

Lord, hear my prayer.

I ask, he says, to be heard through your truth.

Be attentive to me, by sending your Only-begotten, who is truth and righteousness.

He has made me sit in dark places, like those long dead.

By 'darkness' he indicates the ignorance which he once had.

For I differed in nothing from a dead man.

By 'those long dead' he means those who were idolaters of old.

Hear me quickly, O Lord; my spirit has failed.

to make necessary use of the circumstances.

Cause me to hear your mercy in the morning.

He speaks of the morning resurrection of the Lord;

or perhaps he also prays for the morning resurrection of Christ to come to pass, through which we are shown mercy.

Make known to me, Lord, the way in which I should walk.

He prays to obtain the teaching of the gospel.

Deliver me from my enemies.

Blessed be the Lord my God.

The opening is uttered out of great joy.

who teaches my hands for battle.

By 'hands' he means the deeds done according to godliness, through which we war against Satan.

Man has become like vanity.

Each of men has become like this world.

Flash forth lightning, and you will scatter them.

By 'lightning' he means the evangelical proclamation.

Send forth your hand from on high;

deliver me and rescue me from many waters, from the hand of the sons of strangers,

whose mouth has spoken vanities.

That is, the thoughts that have surrounded us through the plotting of the demons.

Or also by 'waters' he means the people of the Jews, who surrounded the apostles in order to seize and destroy them.

And these would be the alienated sons, who also speak vain things.

And what vain things, but this — to say to Christ:

'How is it that you, being a man, make yourself God?' — 'O God, I will sing a new song to you,'

on a ten-stringed harp I will sing psalms to you.

The ten-stringed harp is the body, inasmuch as it has five senses and five activities of the soul, an activity of each kind arising through each sense.

To him who gives salvation to our kings.

That is, to the holy apostles, whom Christ appointed as their rulers.

Rescue me and deliver me from the hand of the sons of strangers,

For he called the madness and savagery of those who attacked an evil sword;

and he calls these same men 'strangers,' as being impious.

whose sons are like plants firmly set in their youth,

The sons of the people according to the flesh, he says, are flourishing;

but those according to the spirit are humbled.