Commentary on the Psalms 53 part 2/2

but on their unseasonable use, which arises from the slackness of the reason.

There is also another way of destruction that comes about through the mouth, when kisses are shameful and unclean, when they are deceitful and treacherous.

Set a watch over these things too.

Such was the kiss of Judas, full of guile;

but not such was the kiss of Paul, with which he commanded them to greet one another, saying:

Greet one another with a holy kiss;

just as neither was that of David toward Jonathan of that kind, but holy and reverent, and full of genuine love; and such as was that of those who fell upon Paul's neck and kissed him tenderly.

Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth, and a door;

not simply a door, but he adds, of enclosure, so as to enclose the whole and make it secure.

There is yet another kind of destruction that comes through the tongue, namely the saying:

Why is this? To what end has this come about? Wherefore Paul, rebuking those who so speak inconsiderately, says:

Nay but, O man, who are you that reply against God? Now one must guard not the mouth only, but also the mind before the mouth.

Who will set scourges over my thought, that in my ignorances they may not spare me? Wherefore Christ also destroys the wicked thoughts from within, saying:

He that looks upon a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her.

Do you see how he does not permit them to sprout, nor even to take a beginning, neither lust nor anger? For, He that is angry, He says, with his brother shall be liable unto the hell of fire.

It is no small thing, moreover, for one's safety, not to speak much;

wherefore it says, Out of much speaking you shall not escape sin;

but he that spares his lips shall be prudent.

Incline not my heart to words of wickedness, to make excuses in sins.

Another version has: Turn not aside my heart to wicked words, to devise lawless devices.

Why then did he make the order the reverse, and, having first discoursed about the mouth, come then to the heart? Not without purpose, nor at random does he do this.

For just as, in the case of prisoners who wish to escape, those who have the charge of them make it their first task to secure beforehand the doors of the prison, and all are eager for this, since, if this be done, what remains is easily set right;

even so does this man do here also, and by the things he counsels he all but says this:

Let the doors be kept shut, and the wicked thoughts will quickly be mastered.

For this reason he does not from the very outset allow those that have entered from without, and he tears up the wicked root, saying:

Incline not my heart to words of wickedness.

But what he says is of this sort:

Suffer it not to be inclined, suffer it not to be turned aside unto wicked thoughts.

For thence is the fountain both of virtue and of vice, from the heart.

But what are the words of wickedness? They are many and various.

For those who weave plots, those who slander God, those who turn away from virtue, those who pursue vice, and words about corrupt doctrines and a neglected manner of life which are gladly listened to, and such things — all these are put forth out of much wickedness.

And just as there are thoughts and words of wickedness, so also are there thoughts and words of life.

Wherefore also the disciples said to Christ, 'Thou hast the words of eternal life;'

'and to whom shall we go?' Now they are called words of life, as being the things that furnish life;

and they are called also words of salvation, as being the things that procure salvation.

Wherefore also a certain wise man says, 'Hinder not a word in the time of salvation.'

Words of wickedness are also those which make wicked those who speak them.

For just as there are pestilential and disease-bearing winds, so also are there such words.

For what those winds work upon the body, this these words work upon the soul that receives them.

This man too, therefore, prays by the words which he adds, and says:

'Suffer not my heart to receive such words, suffer it not to be inclined thereto.'

Dost thou see how he shows free will, and that our nature does not have wickedness in itself, but receives it when it is bent aside through slothfulness? 'That I should make excuses for my sins.'

This above all is the way of perdition, when either the very soul that has sinned relaxes its fear and devises certain pretexts for slothfulness;

or when, someone having committed adultery, another, wishing to loosen his compunction, says:

'Why, are you to blame? It is desire that is to blame.'

To sin, then, is an evil, but to deny it after having sinned makes it more grievous.

This above all is the devil's weapon.

This came to pass also in the case of the first-formed.

For whereas Adam ought to have confessed his transgressions, he instead shifts the blame onto another, and she again onto the devil.

Whereas they ought to have said, 'We have sinned, we have done iniquity,' they not only do not confess it, but even compose a defence.

For the devil, knowing that the confession of sin is the loosing of sin, persuades the soul to be shameless.

But thou, beloved, whenever thou sinnest, say, 'I have sinned;'

than this defence there is nothing more just.

Thus dost thou make God propitious to thee;

thus too dost thou make thyself more reluctant to fall into the same sins.

But whenever thou art bent on seeking pretexts that do not exist, and on freeing thy soul from fear, thou wilt make it the more eager to be entangled again in the same sins, and wilt provoke God the more.

For none of those who sin lacks a shameless pretext.

For the murderer can lay the blame on his anger, the thief on his poverty, the adulterer on his desire, and another on the power of a ruler;

but these are irrational pretexts, having no reasonable defence.

For it is not those things that produce the sins, but the purposes of those who sin.

And that it is these, I will make clear from a consideration of those who take heed.

For when another man is seen, living together with poverty, having desire, and being subject to the necessities of nature, and yet not sinning in these things, what defence will these men have? Wherefore a certain wise man rightly spoke thus:

'Who will set scourges over my thought, that they may not spare me for my ignorances?' Behold David not making excuses when he had sinned, but saying:

'Why then was the woman uncovered? Why then was she bathing before my eyes?' But he knew that these things were an irrational pretext;

and therefore he came to the clear confession, by saying, 'I have sinned.'

But Saul was not thus; rather, when accused concerning the woman with a familiar spirit, he said, 'I am sore distressed, and the Philistines make war against me.'

For this reason above all was he punished.

For whereas he ought to have said, 'I have sinned,' and, 'I have transgressed;'

he did not say this, but went about seeking irrational pretexts.

'With men that work iniquity.'

This he added to show that it belongs above all to such men to make excuses, to be shameless.

For this very reason David also, in place of a virtue, continually sets forth this thing—the fleeing of such assemblies; nay rather, it is from this that he begins the whole book, saying:

'Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, and has not stood in the way of sinners, and has not sat in the seat of the pestilent.'

And for this very reason you find him always of a right and grateful mind in the matter of his sins.

At any rate, when he had numbered the people, he said:

'I have sinned, and I the shepherd have done wickedly.'

For what is it that 'I have numbered'? Yet he condemns himself, and therefore also obtains pardon.

For nothing so makes God merciful as to confess one's own sins.

This would come to pass through fleeing those assemblies which loosen the fear that springs from our sins and cast us into slothful ease.

Wherefore both Paul and Jeremiah make much account of this matter, both of them commanding us to flee the company of the wicked and of those thus slothful.

And Job too reckons this among the ranks of virtue, saying:

'If I had walked with scoffers.'

But this man shows that he did not even sit down with such people, saying:

'I have not sat in the council of them that play.'

For this very reason Paul too does not permit us to eat with the wicked, nor even simply to associate with them, saying:

'And if any man does not obey our word by this epistle, note that man, and do not keep company with him.'

'And I will not join myself with their chosen ones.'

Another version: 'Nor would I eat of their dainties.'

Another: 'Let me not lodge amid their delights.'

Here he speaks the apostolic word, that one must flee their luxuries and their banquets, where above all the things of sin are increased, where there is fuller licence.

And this is no small sign of virtue, no small road to amendment—to flee such banquets and assemblies, and neither to be swayed by friendship, nor, in slavery to the belly, to loosen the vigour of the soul and to unstring the tautness of true wisdom.

Thus many, out of deference to friendship, have rolled down into the surge of drunkenness; thus they have been captured by fornication, and have kindled the fire of pleasure, by pursuing banquets and theatres that hold much lawlessness.

This too he shows that he himself has done—so as not even to partake of such a table.

'The righteous shall chasten me in mercy, and shall reprove me;'

'but let not the oil of the sinner anoint my head.'

Another version: 'Let the righteous pity me with pity, and let him reprove me.'

And this too is no small kind of virtue, together with the former—not to flee reproofs, nor the rebukes that come from the righteous.

And what he says is of this sort:

'Of those who converse to please, unto one's hurt, may I never partake,' he says—

'but those who are astringent and set me right, these would I choose, those who reprove, those who lay bare my faults, those who rebuke.'

For this is above all the mark of mercy and loving-kindness—to set right the wounds.

'But let not the oil of the sinner,' he says, 'anoint my head.'

Do you see a soul welded together by virtue? Of the righteous he bears even the rebukes with pleasure, but the words of the lawless spoken to please he thrusts away.

Why so? Because those, in showing pity, have oftentimes brought ruin;

but these, in rebuking and being astringent, have set men right;

and to the reproof of the latter mercy is allotted, but to the pity of the former, death.

'More trustworthy are the wounds of a friend than the ready kisses of enemies.'

And observe how here too he makes plain the apostolic word: 'Reprove, rebuke, exhort.'

For such also is the reproof of the saints.

Physicians too act in this way:

they do not merely cut, but they also bind up the wound.

For this reason Christ also, making the rebuke easy to receive, does not permit the reproof to be made public from the outset, but says:

'Go, reprove him between you and him alone.'

Thus Paul also did, administering his reproof together with compassion, at one time saying:

and at another time, 'My little children, of whom I travail in birth again.'

For the one who reproves must devise many things, so that the reproof may become easy to receive; and great discernment is needed by the one who applies this remedy.

Indeed, the one who reproves needs even greater discernment than the one who cuts the body.

How so? Because in the one case the thing that cuts is one thing, and the thing that endures the pain is another;

but here the same soul is both that which is cut and that which bears the anguish.

'But let not the oil of the sinner anoint my head.'

What does this mean? That man, he says, does not seek what is profitable for the hearer, but his own advantage, that he may appear pleasant, that he may be well-liked;

but this other man looks to the interest of that person rather than to his own favor.

So that in this respect above all they stand apart from one another.

But if we must turn away the wicked even when they show us mercy, when then ought we to receive them? Never.

So that even if he offers you money, even if he promises luxury and honors, thrust him aside and flee;

but the righteous man, even if he mocks you with words, even if he rebukes you, pursue him;

'For my prayer also is still amid their good pleasures.'

Another version: 'For my prayer also is still within their evils.'

Another: 'For my prayer also is still amid their wickednesses.'

Some things he asked for, and others he supplies from himself;

and from this he shows that men ought not merely to trust in prayer while lying back and sleeping, but also to contribute what depends on themselves.

What then does this man supply from himself? Not sheep and oxen and money, but gentleness of character, and turning away from their wickedness with the utmost vehemence.

Not only, he says, will I flee their harmful favor, nor prefer it to the reproof of these righteous ones, but I will even set myself against their desires;

so far am I from choosing their mercy, that I even pray against their desires.

For this is the meaning of 'amid their good pleasures.'

'Their judges have been swallowed up beside the rock.'

Another version: 'They shall be plucked up by the hand of the rock.'

Here he shows how easily sin is overcome, and how steep and precipitous is wickedness.

These very men, he says, the mighty ones, who lead and carry off everything, have perished.

And he did not say 'They perished,' but 'They were swallowed up,' showing that it was in such a way that not even a trace of them appears; which he says also concerning the ungodly man: 'He passed by, and behold, he was not;'

'and I sought him, but his place was not found.'

Just as a stone cast into the sea would not appear, so indeed their times of prosperity, sinking down, thereafter become invisible, undergoing utter destruction.

Either, then, he means this—that which is without a name, that which is uprooted from its very root—or that which is strong and mighty and powerful.

For this is the meaning of 'They shall be plucked up by the hand of the rock.'

'They shall hear my words, for they were made sweet.'

Another version: 'For they were made comely.'

That is to say, through experience of the events they will come to know the sweetness of my exhortation and counsel.

And how? The reproof of the righteous bears this fruit, and their discipline holds much sweetness.

it has pain for a season, but gladness that endures forever.

'As a clod of earth is broken open upon the ground,'

'our bones have been scattered beside the grave.'

Another translator renders it: 'As a farmer, when he breaks up the earth,'

'even so our bones have been scattered into the mouth of the grave.'

Yet another: 'As with one who cleaves and splits the earth, our bones have been scattered into the grave.'

And another: 'As one who tills well and digs in the earth, our bones have been scattered beside the grave.'

Having said that his words hold much delight, he speaks also of the calamities of old.

As if to say: Although we have suffered the uttermost, and, like earth that is broken up and ploughed or dug through, we have all been scattered and destroyed, and have come to the very gates of death;

yet even so disposed, we would rather choose the chastening and correction that comes from the righteous than the pity that comes from sinners.

For whatever may befall, we hang upon our hope in Thee, and would never fall away from looking unto Thee.

Wherefore he added, saying, 'For unto Thee, O Lord, O Lord, are mine eyes.'

'In Thee have I hoped; take not away my soul.'

'Though ten thousand terrors assail me,' he says, 'though wars, though battles, though deaths, though the gates of the grave, we do not let go of the sacred anchor, but hold fast to the hope that rests upon Thine alliance; and casting aside weapons and battle-lines, from thence we look for our deliverance, from Thine own inclining favour.'

'In Thee have I hoped; take not away my soul.'

That is: Suffer me not to depart with nothing accomplished.

'Keep me from the snare which they have laid for me, and from the stumbling-blocks of them that work iniquity.'

Here he speaks not simply of plots, but of the secret and hidden ones, which are both hard to guard against and hard to detect; and for that reason they especially need the help from above.

For this reason he shuts up his discourse in prayer, having begun with it at the outset, and here also ending with it;

showing that these are the things that come from himself: the hope set upon God, the looking unto God continually, the fleeing from the assemblies of the wicked, the hating of their evil desires;

while the things that come from God are the help, the alliance, the making of him superior to the most grievous of afflictions.

For thus is virtue woven together, both when our own diligence is brought in, and when God's help fights alongside it.

'The sinners shall fall in his net;'

'I am alone until I pass by.' In whose net shall they fall? In God's own.

That is: they shall be taken captive, they shall be overpowered.

For the dealings with the righteous go only so far as their correction and the rousing up of their love of wisdom;

but the dealings with sinners, seeing that they are sick with an incurable disease, go as far as punishment and retribution.

'I am alone until I pass by.'

Another renders it: 'I am at once, until I pass by.'

That is: gathered together, knit closely, not scattered abroad;

or, according to the Seventy, delivered from the wicked, kept pure from their company, and dwelling as it were alone;

which indeed is the greatest kind of virtue.

And he says he does this not for one, or two, or three days, but for the whole of life.

This is safety, this is a bulwark, this is the growth of virtue: to flee from the wicked, and to be knit together and gathered unto oneself throughout the whole of life, and to dwell alone, apart from those who corrupt.

For it is not solitude that makes a man alone, but a mind devoted to wisdom.

Thus even men who dwell in the midst of cities, and tumults, and market-places, can be alone, whenever they flee the corrupt assemblies and give themselves over to the councils of the righteous.

Therefore let him who is able also to set others right mingle with those who are about to receive the cure, and let him do so;

but let him who is weaker flee from the wicked, lest he receive the harm that comes from them.

And thus he will both pass the present life in safety, and will attain to the good things to come;

which may it be granted us all to attain, by the grace and love toward mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the might, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages.