Commentary on the Psalms 6 part 2/3

Here too he hints at a great doctrine:

namely, that murder is not a thing dared with impunity, but is by all means avenged.

This Moses also shows in Genesis, when he says:

This is a proof of his boundless providence, of his far-reaching care.

But if he does not exact the penalty at once, on the very heels of the deed, do not be amazed;

for he gives to sinners an occasion for repentance.

He has not forgotten the cry of the poor.

See again the poor held in high esteem.

But he does not simply say the poor; rather he means those who are poor in spirit, even as Christ says:

For these above all are heard when they pray, namely, those who are humble in heart and contrite.

And here he sets down two things: prayer and humility of mind.

'Upon whom shall I look,' he says, 'but upon him who is humble and quiet, and who trembles at my words?' And everywhere humility is found to be the vehicle of prayer.

For the Lord is near to those who are contrite in heart.

Thus he who prays must above all be freed from inflammation of the soul, which Paul also requires when he says:

Without wrath and disputing.

Well did he say, 'The cry of the poor,' calling 'cry' the disposition of the mind, not the loudness of the voice;

and by saying 'He has not forgotten,' he made clear that they were continually calling out, and did not obtain their request at the very outset.

What then is it that he means? Do not think that God had forgotten, and that for this reason he did not exact vengeance;

for it is his own proper work to seek out such things even when no one entreats him;

but when they do entreat, and those who entreat are humble, then much more so.

Have mercy on me, O Lord; behold my affliction from my enemies.

You who lift me up from the gates of death, that I may declare all your praises in the gates of the daughter of Zion.

See him continually fixed upon prayer.

For even after being delivered from his troubles and having come into safety, he does not cease from praying again, saying:

Have mercy on me, entreating him also for things to come.

For we always need the providence of God, but especially in the deliverance from evils.

For another war succeeds the former one, more grievous than it: the war of sloth, the war of presumption;

and then the devil blows more violently.

Therefore especially after being delivered from evils, we need that support, so that we may bear our prosperity with ease.

Since the Jews too, when they had been delivered from the Egyptians, were in a grievous war, with presumption and with sloth.

Then indeed above all they perished, being unable to marshal themselves well.

For since they stood nobly firm neither against gluttony nor against faintheartedness, but emulated the passions of the Egyptians, these things destroyed them.

And David also, in the time of Saul, when he had been delivered from his troubles and from the rest of his enemies, and had come to enjoy relief, underwent a more grievous war, that of unbridled desire, which indeed chastised him the more severely.

Wherefore we ought above all to be afraid at that very time, when we have been delivered from troubles.

For just as we do not so greatly fear a wild beast that is bound as one that has been set loose,

so too we ought not to dread wickedness so much in the time of tribulation;

for then it is bound by dejection and by the other bonds;

but after the relief, then we ought to be afraid.

For this very reason you will often see prosperity working greater harms than adversities.

Thus Hezekiah too, after his triumph, was on the point of perishing.

Wherefore this man too says in another place:

'It is good for me that You have humbled me.'

And once again, after his deliverance, he seeks God's mercy; and he sets forth as a claim upon that mercy the fact that he has suffered ill.

'Behold my humiliation at the hands of my enemies,'

'You who lift me up from the gates of death.'

'For to my protector and guardian I flee for refuge, to Him who ever stretches out His hand to me.'

Do you see him, in the very act of asking for things to come, becoming thankful for things past, and speaking of a twofold benefit? For he did not say, 'He who delivers me from the gates of death,' but, 'He who lifts me up.'

For God's beneficence did not stop merely at loosing him from his troubles, but it also made men wondrous, glorious, more illustrious, and exalted.

And he did not say, 'From the gate,' but, 'From the gates,' thus indicating the multitude of his dangers.

'That I may declare all Your praises in the gates of the daughter of Zion.'

That which he exhorted others to do, this he himself also does:

'For declare,' he says, 'among the nations His doings.'

This I too will now do:

and I will not do it in an ordinary way, in the presence of one, or two, or three, but in the midst of a great theatre.

'I will rejoice in Your salvation.'

This is my crown, this is my diadem: to set up a trophy through You, to enjoy salvation through You.

So then let us too not seek by all means to be saved, nor by every means to be delivered from our troubles, but according to God's will.

I say this because of those who resort to incantations in their sicknesses, and who seek out other sorceries for the relief of their infirmity.

For this is not to be saved, but to be destroyed.

For the greatest salvation is to be saved through God.

'The nations are sunk down in the corruption which they made.'

By 'corruption' he means wickedness;

for nothing corrupts so much as wickedness.

For nothing is weaker than the wicked man.

He is caught by his own weapons, just as iron is consumed by rust, and wool by the moth;

so too is the wicked man consumed by his own wickedness.

So that even before the punishment which comes from God, wickedness itself exacts the penalty from the one who works it.

For since he had discoursed much concerning the judgment above and concerning God's decisive influence, and yet this does not follow hard on the heels of sin, but often delays and is deferred, and this makes the many more careless, he shows that punishment stands at the very doors, and that the wicked endure it, even as Paul also says:

'And receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was due.'

And observe how precisely he uses his words.

that is to say, he was held fast by main force; the plot became inescapable for him.

'In this snare which they hid, their own foot was caught.'

'With bonds that cannot be loosed,' he says, 'the wicked are fettered.'

These things came to pass in the case of the apostles and of the Jews.

For when they warred against the apostles, they did those men no harm at all, but involved themselves in countless evils, falling away from their city, their freedom, and everything else; and while the preaching increased, those who plotted against it were undone.

And those who cast the three children into the Babylonian furnace were themselves in turn seized by it;

which indeed also came to pass in the case of Daniel.

But in Daniel's case this happened with good reason, for they themselves had cast him in;

but in the case of the three children, why on earth, when it was the king who sinned, are these men who stood before the furnace the ones punished? Because these men who were burned up had themselves served the tyrant's command and had worshipped the golden image.

See how he showed their guilt to be unspeakable.

For since what was being done was full of shame, on this account they hide it and try to escape notice.

The Lord is made known in executing judgments.

Another version has: He was made known in that He executed judgment;

that is, in punishing, in avenging, in bringing men to account.

Do you see another kind of beneficence that comes from punishment? For not only, he says, does it make those who are punished more earnest, but it also causes the word of the knowledge of God Himself to shine forth;

and one might see Him turning men back to Himself more effectively from this quarter.

At any rate, when He allowed the herd of swine to be carried down the steep places and to be drowned in the sea, then above all were they astounded.

And in the Old Testament likewise the Jews: When He slew them, then they sought Him out, as the Prophet says.

And why then does He not do this continually rather than otherwise? Because He does not wish the works of virtue to be accomplished by compulsion, but rather by free choice, and men to be set right by benefaction rather than by punishment.

And how much better, he says, is it to be good by necessity than evil by choice? It is not really good to be good by necessity.

For he who becomes good by constraint will not always remain good, but once freed from the necessity, he will return to wickedness;

but he who is trained so as to become good by choice, once he has become so, remains firm.

In the works of his own hands the sinner is snared.

He did not say in the hands of God, but in the hands of the sinner.

Do you see how he varies the discourse, both bringing in the punishment from above and inflicting the penalty that arises from wickedness itself? How, the punishment from above? The Lord, he says, is made known in executing judgments.

How, the penalty from wickedness itself? The nations are sunk down in the corruption which they made.

And again, the penalty that arises from their own depravity:

In the works of his own hands the sinner is snared.

For he speaks neither of the punishment from God alone, since it is often delayed and slow in coming;

nor of the penalty from wickedness alone, since many even take delight and linger in it;

but he secures his discourse on both sides.

In the works of his own hands he is snared.

Therefore do not suppose that you are contriving your schemes against another when you plot;

for it is against yourself that you are weaving the nets.

Let the sinners be turned back into hell, all the nations that forget God.

Again he dwells on the same points, showing that wickedness has punishment allotted to it, and that impiety gives birth to death, and sin to perils.

For the poor shall not be forgotten to the end, the patient endurance of the needy shall not perish to the end.

For the expectation of the meek shall not perish to the end.

Well did he say, To the end, showing that one does not always seek relief.

For where would the fruits of endurance be displayed, if there were always to be relief? And what he means is something of this sort:

The wicked shall pay the penalty, and shall suffer the uttermost things.

For God will not endure that those who are wronged should for ever be subject to plots against them.

Hereby he both comforts these and puts fear into those others, and he shows the loving-kindness of God, that even His delay makes the one sort more approved, and draws the other sort to repentance.

See again the poor being held in high esteem;

poor not simply so called, but those who are contrite in heart.

For these especially are also well fitted for endurance;

or rather, these things build up one another, humility building up endurance, and endurance building up humility.

And how is humility poverty? We shall say this, that it is better fitted for virtue.

For the rich man is distracted and troubled;

but the poor man bears everything easily, being often exercised by poverty as in a wrestling-school.

For this reason Christ also said that it is hard for one with riches to enter into the kingdom.

What does it mean, 'The patience of the poor shall not perish for ever'? Never, he says, but assuredly it shall receive its own fruit.

Which is not so in the affairs of this life; rather, one often falls short of the end, the labours being lost.

For indeed both the farmer waits, and the merchant;

yet often, through the inconstancy of the weather, both fall short of the fruit of their labours.

But with God this is not so; rather, it is altogether necessary that one enjoy the end.

And this is no small thing toward the ground of comfort—to be always confident concerning the end.

'Arise, O Lord; let not man prevail.'

'Let the nations be judged before you.'

Another version has: 'And before your face.'

Having spoken of the wickedness that holds sway over the greater part of mankind, and having recounted their villainy, their plunderings, their acts of greed, their murders, he calls upon God for the help of those who are wronged.

For such are the tender affections of the saints: not to care only for their own concerns, but, as though for a single household—the whole inhabited world—or for one body—the multitude of mankind—so to call upon God.

'Arise, O Lord; let not man prevail.'

But what does 'Arise, O Lord' mean? Go forth, he says; give aid; punish those who do wrong.

And well did he use bare terms, saying, 'Arise,' and, 'Let not man prevail;'

so as to show that man is a paltry thing, sprung from earth, dust and ashes.

'Let the nations be judged before you.'

What is this? Let them pay the penalty, he says, for their sins.

They have not become better through your long-suffering;

demand an accounting for the things they have dared to do.

'Appoint, O Lord, a lawgiver over them.'

'Let the nations know that they are but men.'

What does 'Appoint a lawgiver over them' mean? Since, he says, they do all things as though under no law, unwilling to pay any penalty, go forth, and let punishment come upon them in place of admonition.

This another also declared, saying, 'Appoint, O Lord, a terror over them.'

See how he does not seek their punishment, but their admonition and correction, and that they should not live lawlessly.

For the punishment shall be to them, he says, in place of admonition;

and not to them alone, but to others also.

And that you may learn how great the gain is, and how it checks the disease, hear what follows.

'Let the nations know,' he says, 'that they are but men.'

And what he means is this:

Many have lost even this: they have forgotten their nature, they have run aground into madness, they have been ignorant of themselves.

And well did he add the word 'Always,' to show that it is not in adversities only, but also in prosperity.

For if you chastise them now, while their fear is at its height and the memory of the dreadful things that have befallen them is fresh, then even if they come into prosperity, they will know their own nature.

Do you see how he makes his supplication on their behalf, and counts it worthy that their madness be corrected? For to be ignorant of oneself is worse than the utmost madness and frenzy.

for the one is a disease of necessity, but the other of a corrupted will.

'Why, O Lord, do you stand afar off, do you overlook us in seasons of need, in tribulations?' These things the Prophet says, in the person of those in tribulation, entreating and beseeching, not accusing;

since many of those in tribulation, on account of their pain, deem it right that judgment should come before the fitting time;

just as those undergoing surgery, before the incision is fully completed, beseech the physician to withdraw his hand;

asking a favour that is to their hurt, and suffering this because they cannot bear the pains.

And often they cry out to the physicians, 'You have tormented me, you have destroyed me, you have killed me;'

But these are not the words of a deliberate mind, but of anguish.

Thus indeed do many of the faint-hearted speak amid their afflictions, unable to bear their sufferings.

And Zephaniah too employs a saying of this kind.

But these things belong to the Old Testament, when the contests were of a measured kind;

such things, however, are far removed from the philosophy of the New Testament.

'While the ungodly man behaves proudly, the poor man is set ablaze;'

'they are taken in the devices which they have imagined.'

'Because the sinner is praised in the desires of his soul, and the one who does wrong is blessed.'

'The sinner has provoked the Lord.'

The Prophet, clothing himself in the guise of a suppliant and interceding on behalf of those who are wronged, tells also of the sufferings that have befallen them, which belong to human weakness;

namely, that before any chastisement or retribution comes, the one who is wronged already grieves, being unable to endure the prosperity of the wicked.

And this too is no small punishment.

Then he asks that they may pay the penalty, and that their plots may be turned back upon themselves;

and he speaks of an intolerable kind of wickedness.

What sort is this then? 'That the sinner is praised in the desires of his soul.'

For the very things at which he ought to hide his face, the very things, he says, of which he ought to be ashamed, for these he is admired and praised.

And how could there any longer be a cure for this, when wickedness itself is praised? For indeed this happens even now.

One man is admired as a man of power;

another, as one who takes vengeance on his enemies;

another, as a prudent man, because he has gathered together the goods of everyone;

and even when he has ruined himself, they praise him;

and there is among them no discourse about spiritual things.

Nowhere is the man free of worldly business quickly praised, nor the lover of poverty;

but rather the money-maker, the huckster, the flatterer, the man who submits to servile ministrations for the sake of nothing useful.

These things the Prophet laments, that wickedness has so prevailed as even to preen itself and speak with boldness, and, what is more grievous still, that it is not ashamed, and not only praises itself for what is done, but has others also as its praisers.

What could be worse than this madness? 'The sinner has provoked the Lord.'

Another translator says: 'Because the lawless man, having praised according to the desire of his soul, and the covetous man, having blessed himself, has provoked the Lord.'

'When his rage is exalted, he does not seek Him out.'

Another: 'Because he sang praise according to the longing of his soul, and the covetous man, having blessed himself, reviled the Lord.'

'The ungodly man, in the loftiness of his rage, will surely not seek Him out.'

But the Seventy render it: 'The sinner has provoked the Lord;'

'according to the greatness of his wrath he will not seek Him out.'

Do you see to what point the works of wickedness have advanced? Why do I say, he asks, that he grieves the poor? He provokes God Himself.

'And according to the greatness of his wrath he will not seek Him out,' that is, God, he says.

And another shows that this refers to the ungodly man, saying, 'Of his loftiness,' that is, of his senseless folly and his arrogance.

Do you see the intensity of the madness, and its corruption? He is a foe and enemy toward his own kinsmen, estranged from virtue, a lover and praiser of wickedness.

And well did another say: 'God is not in all his thoughts;'

making clear that he does not seek out God, because he is filled with darkness, because he does not keep the fear of Him before his eyes.

But just as the rheum darkens the pupil of the eye, so wickedness darkens the mind, and carries it down over precipices.

'God is not before him.'

Another translator has it: 'Through all his devices.'

His ways are profaned at every season; your judgments are taken away

from before his face.

Another has it: 'Your judgment is removed.'

Do you see the fruit of wickedness? His light is quenched, his reasonings are blinded, he is given over a captive to depravity.

For just as the man who has been blinded falls continually into pits, so too does this man; since he has not the fear of God before his eyes, he spends his whole life in wickedness;

not now in virtue and now in wickedness, but always in wickedness; and he remembers neither hell, nor the judgment to come, nor the reckoning to be rendered;

but having cast off all these aids like a bridle, he is given over, like a ship without ballast, to wicked winds and savage waves, with none to guide his understanding.

Do you see the wicked man undergoing his punishment in his very wickedness? For what is more grievous than an unbridled horse, than a ship without ballast, than a man who has been blinded? (verse 10)

But more wretched than all of these is the man who lives in wickedness, who has quenched the light that comes from the fear of God, and has been given over as a captive.

He shall have dominion over all his enemies.

For he has said in his heart:

I shall not be moved from generation to generation, being without evil.

Another has it: 'He blows away all his enemies, saying in his heart:'

I shall not be overthrown from generation to generation.

Do you see the madness? Do you see the unspeakable ruin? Do you see the destruction growing little by little? Do you see the things counted blessed among the foolish, though laden with much misery, and how he is sinking down? He is praised in his sins, he is blessed in his iniquities.

This is the first pit, and it is enough to break the neck of the man who does not take heed.

Wherefore we ought rather to welcome those who blame and correct us, than those who praise and flatter us to our destruction.

For these men corrupt the dull-witted, and thrust them on to greater wickedness;

just as, having puffed up this sinner too, they trained him into folly.

Wherefore Paul also says this very thing to the Corinthians concerning the man who had committed fornication:

And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned.

The one who sins ought to be mourned over much, not praised.

Do you see the perversity of wickedness, that not only is he not accused, but he is even applauded? Hence, from his own folly and from the praises, he intensified his depravity; he forgot the fear of God and His judgments;

hence he forgot even his own nature.

For the man who forgets the judgments of God comes in time to be ignorant even of himself.

I shall not be moved from generation to generation, but shall be without evil.

What is more senseless than this way of thinking, that a man—being mortal and perishable, entangled in transient affairs and subject to countless changes—should imagine such things? And whence does this arise? From folly.

For whenever a foolish man enjoys great prosperity, and prevails over his enemies, and is praised and admired, he becomes the most wretched of all.

For by not expecting any change, he neither bears his prosperity with self-restraint, and when he falls into adversity—being untrained and unpractised—he is thrown into confusion and turmoil.

but rather, even in prosperity, he expected adversity each day;

'For the fear that I feared has come upon me, and that which I dreaded has befallen me.'

'Neither was I at peace, nor was I quiet, nor did I rest;'

'Remember the time of famine in the time of plenty, and poverty and want in the day of wealth.'

But this man, being utterly corrupted, does not consider human affairs, but supposes, on account of his prosperity, that things are immovable for him;

which is the ground of the utmost folly and corruption, and the occasion of utter destruction.

Do not, then, count blessed those who grow rich, those who get the better of their enemies, those who are praised for these things.

For these are great pits and precipices to those who do not take heed, hurling them down to the very depth of impiety.

His mouth is full of cursing, and of bitterness, and of deceit.

Under his tongue are toil and trouble.

He sitteth in ambush with the rich in secret places, to slay the innocent.

Another version: Lying in wait beside the courts.

His eyes are fixed upon the poor man.

He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den.

Another version: As within his enclosure.

He lieth in wait to catch the poor; he doth catch the poor when he draweth him into his net.

In his snare he will bring him low.

He will crouch and fall, when he hath gained the mastery over the poor.

Another version: But he that is crushed shall be bowed down, when he falleth upon the weak with his mighty ones.

Dost thou see that the man himself has become a wild beast? For the Prophet describes him as though depicting a beast, and thus discourses concerning him, parading forth his deceits, his ambushes, and his plots.

What could be more wretched than such a man, and what more destitute, when he covets the goods of the poor? Shall we then, tell me, call this man rich? Then we must call the thief and the burglar rich as well.

For what does it matter that he does not break into courts of justice? What does it matter that he does not come by night, but with deceit quenches the light of the judge? What does it matter that he attacks not when men sleep, but when all are wide awake? For such a man is only the more shameless.

Indeed, of robbers too, the laws punish more severely those who steal by day.

Hast thou seen his poverty? Hast thou seen his savagery? His poverty, in that he covets the possessions of the poor;

his savagery, in that he is not even moved to compassion by their misfortune, but the very poverty which ought to be pitied and set right, this he grinds down all the more.

Yet nevertheless he does not work these things unpunished;

but when he has prevailed, when he seems to have gained the upper hand, when he supposes himself to be invincible, then shall he perish;

so that thereby the resourcefulness of God may be made manifest, and the patient endurance of the poor, and this man's incorrigibility, and the forbearance of God's long-suffering.

For this reason justice does not follow hard upon his heels, since God through His long-suffering calls him to repentance;

but when he gains nothing from that long-suffering, then God admonishes him through punishment.

For these men, though they were wronged, suffered no harm;

nay, they became both better and more illustrious through their affliction;

while God displayed His own long-suffering, bearing with him and enduring his malice, and together with His long-suffering both His might and His abundant resource;

for it is when He is mightier than Himself, so to speak, that He gains the victory over him;

but this man, remaining incorrigible, pays the uttermost penalty.

And this is no small lesson in self-restraint for those who prosper.

Therefore, when thou hast prevailed over thine enemies and all things go for thee with a fair wind, be not confident to live in wickedness, but rather fear all the more.

For thy wickedness increases, while the grounds of thy defence are taken away, and the means of pardon are cut off from thee, so long as thou remainest wicked.

For he hath said in his heart:

He hath turned away his face, that he may never see.

See to what an abyss of destruction he goes down, what manner of doctrines he gathers together—doctrines which for very shamelessness he dares not utter openly, yet turns over within himself, warring against the truth, and casting into shadow things clearer than the sun, because of the blindness of his own understanding.

Arise, O Lord my God; let Thy hand be lifted up.

Another version: Lift up Thy hand.

For what cause hath the ungodly provoked God? For he hath said in his heart:

Thou seest it; for Thou dost consider trouble and wrath, to deliver him into Thy hands.

Another version: Thou hast seen that Thou wilt look upon trouble and provocation, to give with Thy hand.

Another version: That they may be delivered into Thy hands.

The transgressor indeed says these things—he who plunders, he who is grasping—as though he would never pay the penalty;

but the Prophet, refuting his doctrines, fulfils his discourse concerning the long-suffering of God.

He hath turned away his face, that he may never see.

Thou seest, and dost consider, and art longsuffering, until they themselves fall into thy hands.

What does this mean, 'Until they themselves be given into thy hands'? He has spoken in a manner more suited to human understanding.

Thou dost wait, thou dost bear with evil, so that by the excess of their wickedness they may be delivered up.

For thou art able, even from the very beginning, to seize and to subdue them;

but unspeakable is the ocean of thy forbearance, in that thou dost behold them, and yet dost not proceed against them, but dost await their repentance.

But if they are unwilling, then thou dost punish, when they gain nothing from thy longsuffering.

For that he holds the wronged in great account, hear how he establishes this very thing in what follows:

'To thee is the poor man left; thou wast a helper to the orphan.'

And what he says is of this sort:

This is thy work, this is thy peculiar office.

And he would not have abandoned what is his own, and betrayed it.

For as it belongs to the craftsman to build, and to the pilot to steer the vessel straight, and to the sun to give light;

so also is it thine to stand as protector over orphans, and to stretch out a hand to the poor.

No one is so great a protector of these as thou, but thou alone.

For the word 'is left' sets this very thing before us.

No other, he says, but thou alone art the protector of orphans and of the poor.

'Break thou the arm of the sinner and the wicked man.'

'His sin shall be sought out, and it shall not be found because of it.'

Another translator: 'Let his impiety be sought out, that he himself may not be found.'

He does not simply ask that the sinner be broken, but his strength, his power, the fuel of his wickedness;

then he asks that the man render account, and give a reckoning of the things he has done; and, showing the magnitude of the injustice, he says:

If this comes to pass, he will not even be able to stand, nor will he appear, but he will perish, be gone, be utterly rooted out and wiped away, when the things he has done are examined.

Let no one, then, bewail his orphanhood; let no one bewail his poverty.

For the more these afflictions are intensified, so much the more will the help of God be increased.

Let no one be high-minded on account of power, nor be puffed up.

For this ground is treacherous and precipitous, and it overturns with great ease those who are not on their guard.

'The Lord shall reign unto the age, and unto the age of the age.'

Here he replies to those who are troubled and disturbed because those who sin do not straightway pay the penalty.

Why, he says, art thou afraid? Why art thou terrified? Is the Judge but for a season? Has his kingdom an end? Even if he does not give recompense now, he will assuredly give it.

For he who demands the reckoning abides, and reigns perpetually.

'Ye nations shall perish out of his land.'

'The desire of the poor thou hast heard, O Lord;'

'thine ear hath given heed to the preparation of their heart.'

Another translator: 'Thine ear hearkened to the purpose of their heart.'

Another: 'Thou wilt prepare their heart; thine ear will give heed.'