Commentary on the Psalms 5 part 2/2

but in the case of things visible, I am obliged to prove only that he made them.

Therefore the argument is also the easier;

for sight itself provides the witness of what is asserted.

For the hearer sees the greatness, the beauty, the usefulness, the position, and the fair order of things.

So that for me there is but one thing to establish: to show that God wrought it.

And why did he make mention not of the sun, but of the moon and

the stars? Indeed, by saying this he hinted at that other matter as well.

For since some sever the night from God's creation, by means of the moon he brought it to light, showing that he is the Maker of this too.

No small thing, too, is the variety of the stars and the demonstration afforded by the courses of the moon.

'What is man, that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man, that thou visitest him?' Another version: 'What is a man, that thou rememberest him?' Another, instead of 'thou visitest him,' says, 'thou wilt visit him.'

Having spoken of the creation, and having hinted at the whole from a part, he thereafter plunges into the discourse concerning the providence exercised toward men.

For those things which were spoken were indeed on account of our race, but so also are the tokens of the loving care by which he holds us fast;

for the whole creation is for the sake of man.

Yet he also stirs up another kind of providence, and does not simply enter upon this discourse, but with great thankfulness, giving thanks on behalf of the whole world, declaring the universal benefaction, and setting forth the greatness of the dispensation that has come to pass toward him.

For if before this there was nothing, much more was there nothing when Christ came, after so many and so great sins.

And he shows that the coming of Christ was not apart from sparing mercy, but out of great love toward mankind.

For just as some excellent physician, leaving those who are in health, he came to us who are sick.

Setting forth this very thing, therefore, he said:

'What is man?' That is to say, 'He is nothing, he is something paltry.'

For looking to so great a providence, and to God's so great loving care, and to the works which he wrought for the salvation of the human race, he is exceedingly amazed and marvels why on earth he counted him worthy of such great providence.

For consider that on account of him are all the things that are seen.

On account of him were the things dispensed from Adam until his coming;

on account of him were paradise, and commandments, and chastisements, and miracles, and punishments, and benefactions after the law;

on account of him the Son of God became man.

What could one say of the things to come, which he is destined to enjoy? Reckoning up all these things, therefore, he says:

'What so great a thing is man, that he was counted worthy of so much?' (Section 7)

For if anyone considers how many things have come to pass and are still coming to pass on his account, and how many things he shall enjoy hereafter, he will be filled with much awe, and then he will see clearly how greatly prized by God is this living creature.

'Thou madest him a little lower than the angels.'

Another version reads, 'A little lower than God.'

And the Hebrew reads, 'Vattechasserehu me'at me'elohim.'

Here he called to mind the condemnation, and the ancient sin, bringing death into the midst of his discourse.

But this too the Only-begotten, when He came, dissolved.

'Thou hast crowned him with glory and honour.'

Another version, 'Thou wilt crown him with glory and dignity.'

These words may be understood both according to the literal history and according to a higher, anagogical sense.

For he speaks both of the dominion which was entrusted to him at his creation,

and he speaks of the good things that came afterward, which he enjoyed after the coming of Christ.

For at the beginning he heard the words:

'The dread of you and the fear of you shall be upon all the beasts of the earth.'

And, 'Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea.'

'Tread upon serpents and scorpions.'

But leaving these things aside, he weaves his discourse from the humbler matters, leaving those loftier things to be discerned by those who are able to see more keenly.

For the greater glory and the honour are the things that came to pass under the New Covenant, when a man has Christ for his head, when he is perfected into His body, when he becomes a brother and joint-heir and conformed to His body, when he receives a glory greater than that of Moses, as Paul made plain, showing that not as Moses put a veil, but 'we all with unveiled face behold the glory of God as in a mirror.'

'For that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect.'

'by reason of the glory that surpasseth.'

This, then, is the glory of which the Prophet speaks according to the anagogical sense.

For what is equal to this, when we join in the dance with angels, when we are led into adoption as sons, when God does not even spare the Only-begotten for our sake? What purple robe, what diadem is not less splendid than these things, when we laugh death to scorn, when we are removed to the impassibility of the bodiless powers—we who before this were dishonoured, and inglorious, and abominable? Adam, having wrought neither anything evil nor anything good, was honoured immediately upon coming into being.

For how could he who did not yet exist have wrought anything? But we, who have committed countless dreadful deeds, have enjoyed far greater honour.

'No longer,' He says, 'do I call you servants.'

No longer do the angels feel shame at us, but they even minister to our salvation.

For indeed an angel came to Philip, and to many others;

and they brought good tidings to men.

And we are heirs not upon earth, but partakers of the heavenly good things, and sharers with Christ, and we are called into fellowship with the Only-begotten.

All these things he intimates through 'the glory and the honour.'

Wherefore also he said, 'Thou shalt crown him with glory and honour,' foretelling that which was to come.

'And Thou hast set him over the works of Thy hands.'

Another version, 'Thou hast made him to have authority over the works of Thy hands.'

'Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet.'

'All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field also.'

'The birds of the heaven, and the fish of the sea, whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.'

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

Just as, when discoursing about the creation, he does not touch upon the powers above alone, but brings his discourse down also to the things perceived by the senses;

so also, when teaching about the honour that has been bestowed upon men, having hinted at those ineffable and bodiless things which he enumerated, he now dwells more upon the things of sense, which were clearer than those to the grosser minds.

And what were these things? The earthly dominion that was given to him.

And the marvellous thing, and that which he especially hinted at, is that, having honoured him before the transgression, God did not, even after his sin, cast him out from that honour.

'For Thou hast made him,' he says, 'a little lower than the angels'—that is, 'Thou hast condemned him to death when he sinned';

yet not, because Thou didst condemn him to death, didst Thou strip him of the gift.

For this very reason, having said the one thing, he then adds the other, showing the unspeakable loving-kindness of God: that even him who was made lower on account of his own transgression, God allowed to be crowned with the honour of glory, and did not annul his dominion.

But if He withdrew some small thing, this too was a part of His providential care.

For before the transgression man held even the wild beasts in his power;

but after the transgression He curtailed a little of this authority.

For even now man does rule over them by certain arts, yet with fear and trembling.

For He neither took away the whole dominion nor left the whole of it, but as many as were serviceable to man for food and for labour He left subject to him;

but the more savage beasts no longer, so that from the anxiety these cause he might be reminded of the ancient sin of the forefather Adam.

So that even from their not being wholly subject to us a great gain arose.

For what benefit is there in having the lion under one's hand and tamed? What advantage in having the leopard domesticated? None at all, but only boastfulness and folly.

For this reason, then, He left these beasts outside man's dominion, but made those useful to us tame: the ox that ploughs, the sheep that clothes the nakedness of the body, the beasts of burden fit for the carrying of loads, birds and fishes, so that our table too might be the more abundant.

For just as one who partly disinherits his son does not cast him out of everything, but only of some portion, in order to bring him to soberness, so also does God;

for a man, when he disinherits, casts out the greater part and leaves the lesser;

but God, leaving the greater part, cast out but a little, and that too for our benefit, lest we should too easily gain the mastery over all the rest.

But this too belongs to God's providential care;

for whetting his wisdom, humbling his pride, and cutting off his untimely idleness—since, having everything with ease, he broke his neck in ruin—He mingled a certain difficulty also into the use of life, and permitted him neither to reap all things with toil nor all things without toil;

but the things needful He suffered him to have without labour and sweat, while the things of luxury with labour and sweat, desiring to curtail for us also this great licence.

But what benefit is there in wild animals? one will ask.

First, it works humility of soul, and makes man watchful in the contest, and reminds the exceedingly boastful of his own nature, whenever an irrational creature is a terror to him.

And from these creatures many remedies also arise for bodies that are sick.

But he who asks these things—why ever the wild beasts came to be—

will ask also why ever there are phlegm and bile within us. For these too, if provoked, come forth more grievous than a wild beast, and do injury to the whole body.

Anger too is set within us, and again desire;

and these do more grievous harm than wild beasts, to those who do not restrain and bridle them.

And why do I speak of anger and wrath, when even our own eye has clothed itself in passions worse than those of wild beasts, transfixing us upon a bitter lust? Yet not on this account shall we say:

Why have these things come to be? Rather, we shall render thanks to the Master for all things.

For what the strap is to a child, that a wild beast is to men.

For if, hemmed in by so many terrors, the greater part are lifted up into such folly, should you take away this bridle as well, consider to what lengths their wickedness would proceed.

For this reason too our body has been so framed—liable to sickness, subject to suffering, besieged by countless ills;

and the earth yields its produce with toils;

and the whole of life is full of sweat.

Since the present life is a place of schooling, and ease and leisure destroy the greater part of mankind, for this reason He mingled with us occupation and toil, that, as if by certain bridles, the elation of the mind might be chastened.

But do you consider both the things that swim through the deep of the waters, and the things that soar aloft—the Master has subjected them to you through skill.

And why ever did he not go over all things visible—both plants and seeds and trees? From a part he hinted at the whole, and left the discourse concerning these things to those who love learning.

And again he brings it to a close in the same ending from which he also began;

setting down the same words both before the demonstration and after the demonstration.

Let us then also continue perpetually saying the same things, marvelling at His providential care, astonished at His wisdom, His love of mankind, His forethought on our behalf.

And these things have been said by us by way of interpretation.

But if you please, let us handle the discourse also in a more contentious manner, and let us ask the Jews: where did infants sing forth a voice? and where did such a voice bring an enemy to nought? and when did His name become wonderful? But they would be able to name no other season than this, which shows forth the power of the truth more brightly than the sun.

I will behold the heavens, the works of Thy fingers;

and yet Moses had already said that In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth.

But against the Jews these things too suffice, together with what has been said before.

But since there are those who, without circumcision, imitate and emulate the ways of those men — the followers of Paul of Samosata — and who say that Christ came into being only from the time when He proceeded from Mary, let us ask these people as well: how, if Christ existed only from that time, did He fashion the heavens? For the Prophet says that the very One spoken of here — the One who out of the mouth of infants and nursing babes perfected praise — is the same One who wrought the heavens.

As the Maker of the heavens, He must then be prior to the heavens.

And He did not take His beginning from Mary, but was even before Mary.

And consider the wisdom of the Prophet.

For he does not introduce Him simply as Creator, but as one creating with great ease.

'I will behold the heavens, the works of Thy fingers.'

Not that God has fingers, but he calls the things that are seen the product of His smallest exertion — teaching us the things that are above us by means of names familiar to us.

Since indeed, when He says, 'He who measures the heaven with a span, and the earth in the hollow of His hand,'

he does not say this to signify an actual handful and span, but wishing to set forth the boundlessness of the power of God.

How then do some dare to call the Son a subordinate helper? For He who did not set in motion even His whole energy when the heaven had to be made —

why do I say His whole energy? Nay, not even the least part of it, but only the very smallest —

how could this One be a subordinate helper? How a helper, if 'Whatever the Father does, these the Son also does likewise'? For where is the 'likewise,' if the one is a helper and the other the Creator? And how does He say that the works are His, when at one time He says, 'Thou, Lord, in the beginning didst lay the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of Thy hands,'

while here He says, 'I will behold the heavens, the works of Thy fingers'? For these are the works not of helpers, but of creators.

And even if someone be a helper, the work is not reckoned to him, but to the one who creates.

Therefore the things spoken earlier by Moses were said concerning the Son — namely, 'In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth,'

and 'Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea.'

For this same One, who out of the mouth of infants and nursing babes perfected praise, He it is who visited man.

So then, the things which Moses speaks concerning the Father, Paul applies to the Son, showing forth their great equality.

When therefore it is a matter of indifference to the saints to reckon the things said concerning the Father to the Son, and the things said concerning the Son to the Father — for 'all things came into being through Him' — where at all does the name of 'helper' find any place? One could nowhere see it.

'Yes,' he says, 'it is said, ‹Through Him.›'

What of it, since the same thing is said also concerning the Father? Hear how.

'God is faithful, through whom ye were called into the fellowship of His Son.'

'Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God.'

'For of Him, and through Him, and unto Him are all things.'

For what reason, then, do you call Him a subordinate helper? 'That we may honour the Father.'

'That all may honour the Son, even as they honour the Father.'

'And he that honoureth not the Son,' it is plain that neither does he honour the Father.

'What then,' he says, 'shall I call the Son Father?' By no means.

But what then? That, while He remains Son, you may honour Him as the Father.

But if you call the Son Father, you have confounded all things.

While therefore this distinct property remains, the things pertaining to honour are common.

For this reason He spoke of Son and Father, that you might not confound the hypostases.

But if the substance were not the same, how could He demand equal honour? 'For what reason, then,' he says, 'does Christ utter many lowly things?' Both to teach humility, and on account of the enrobing of the flesh, and on account of the insensibility of the Jews, and because it was needful to lead the human race gradually into knowledge, and because of the imperfection of His hearers;

and besides this, He often speaks in accommodation to the supposition of His hearers.

For the higher things belong to His dignity alone;

or rather, whatever you may say concerning God, it is far, exceedingly far short of that substance, and is a matter of condescension.

For what do you wish to say? That God is great? But this is a small thing to say of God;

for the great, however great it may be, is something finite;

and this too is a small thing to say of God.

For that He has no limit, I know;

But I do not even know what it is, nor where it is.

Though you should call Him wise, though you should call Him good, and these things without limit, you have said nothing worthy of that Essence; but there must be joined to the word a conception befitting God.

If such great things do not represent His worth, what pardon could they deserve who even attempt to curtail these? Let us therefore flee their assemblies, and having learned the pre-eternal existence of the Only-begotten, His creative power, His authoritative sovereignty, His unchangeableness in relation to the Father, the condescension of the dispensation, the manifold providence of His care for us — for all these things, and more than these, the treasure that lies stored in the Psalm teaches those who attend to it with exactness — let us guard the exactness of the doctrines, and let us display a manner of life that is worthy, that we may also attain the good things to come;

which may it be granted to us all to be counted worthy of, by the grace and love toward mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father together with the Holy Spirit be honour and glory unto the ages of ages.