Commentary on the Psalms 1 part 34/34

—that is, at the sinner who gnashes his teeth against the righteous man;

for He foresees that his day is coming.

The Lord, foreseeing that his day will come, on which he shall be condemned, shall laugh the sinner to scorn.

But such expressions, when spoken of God, must not be heard in a human, passible sense;

rather we take up their meaning in a manner befitting God:

'He that dwelleth in the heavens shall laugh at them, and the Lord shall hold them in derision.'

This is not spoken after the manner of men; we do not take it up in a human, passible sense with respect to God.

And again in Exodus He says:

'the things wherewith I have mocked the Egyptians.'

The mockery here again has such a meaning:

He brought upon them not lions, not serpents, not the other great beasts, but a gnat and a dog-fly, together with the frog and the caterpillar.

What of the 'He drowned'?—but there he does not say it (thus).

The sinners have drawn their sword and bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy man.

They have made ready their sword, that they might cast down the poor and needy man.

It turns back and comes upon their own heart, according to the saying:

He who digs a pit for his neighbour shall himself fall into it.

And let the snare which they hid catch them.

And in Ecclesiastes he says:

He who breaks down a hedge, a serpent shall bite him.

A serpent shall bite the one who breaks down another's hedge — the one who tears down another's security.

From the sheath they drew it out into the open ...

The sword may be the word spoken with guile;

for they draw it out, that by it they may strike.

You have it said in Proverbs:

There are those who, in speaking, wound as with a sword, but the tongues of the wise bring healing.

There are those who, in speaking, wound as with a sword.

There are those who, in speaking, are wounding as with a sword.

Those who corrupt good manners by evil communications, in their speaking wound as with a sword.

And their tongue is a sharp sword;

their word, like a sword, harms and wounds.

In their speaking, then, there are some who wound as with a sword, but the tongues of the wise, the words of the wise, bring healing.

These swords belong to the healing art: they do not wound, they do not strike, they do not injure, but they heal the wounds inflicted by the words of others.

The bow that is bent is the ruling faculty of the soul, so prepared that arrows may be loosed from it.

But let these be wicked reasonings, harmful words.

Behold, the sinners have bent the bow, they have made ready arrows in the quiver,

to slay the upright in heart.

Here we understand 'the upright in heart' as the righteous man who is reproved, and the wise and righteous man who accuses himself.

In the Gospel it is set down, from the person of the Lord, that:

All who take the sword shall perish by the sword.

And the many suppose that He means by this that whoever slays a man shall assuredly be slain.

But this does not appear to be beyond dispute;

many murderers have met their own natural end.

Everyone who brings punishment upon another shall himself fall under punishment; everyone who wishes to harm another with a sword — whether with his own sharpened mind, or with tongue and word — shall fall under the very same things.

To cast down the poor and needy? — They cannot cast down the rich; they cannot cast down the one who possesses riches in all knowledge and in every word, but only the poor and needy, even though he may seem to be upright in heart, as I said before, like the wise man who is reproved and the righteous man who accuses himself.

Nevertheless, the sword, turned back against those who sharpened it, strikes and destroys them;

and in like manner the bow also is broken in pieces.

May their sword enter into their own heart.

This harmful sword, the sword of enemies, is not native to [the soul] ... And in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.

[the words] that nourish the soul, that give it drink ...

Indeed, in the prophet himself, where it is written:

I will bring a famine upon the land — not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord — there is added:

Many are they who have fallen in every place; I will cast silence upon them.

For those who have fallen, there is the famine;

and upon these the silence of the divine word is brought.

In the days of famine, then, they shall be satisfied,

because the sinners shall perish.

Again, we understand the destruction of the sinners in two ways:

either they perish in so far as they are sinners, or [they are undone] by having received a trial of hardships.

The righteous are not put to shame in an evil time, but the sinners are put to shame.

When they are ashamed, recognizing to what evils they belong, and blush because of their sinning, sometimes they come to despise the sin and get outside of it, and so are undone in such a way that they are no longer sinners.

But the enemies of the Lord, at the very moment of their being glorified and exalted, failing away like smoke, have vanished.

The sinners can be enemies of the Lord.

It is possible also to call 'sinners' those who sin in matters of conduct, the transgressors of the divine commandments, but 'enemies of the Lord' those who hold impious opinions, those outside the fear of God, those who hold false doctrines.

These enemies of the Lord, then, at the very moment of their being glorified and exalted, straightway, like smoke, have vanished.

And observe indeed that he always likens the sinners to smoke.

And so in another psalm it is said:

As smoke vanishes, let them vanish away;

as wax melts before the face of the fire, so let the sinners perish from before the face of God.

The word establishes that the sinners are not of a different nature.

Smoke is a by-product of fire, and wax of honey.

But the honey comes into being primarily.

And since it cannot subsist otherwise than in wax, the wax subsists incidentally.

The honey is not for the sake of the wax, but the wax for the sake of the honey; and the fire is not for the sake of the smoke, but the smoke for the sake of the fire.

The sinners, then, vanish like the smoke, being a mere by-product;

for the very act of sinning and of being an enemy to the Lord is a by-product.

Now the rational living being came into being that it might be receptive of virtue.

But that which is receptive of something is not such by its very essence.

Men are not good by essence;

for they were created for this very purpose, that they might become good by participation in the One who is truly good.

But upon that which is receptive of virtue there follows that which is receptive of vice.

And just as evil things always come after good things — bad craft after craft, disobedience after hearing —

so sin is a by-product of virtue.

It could not hold together unless the living creature that sins were capable of receiving virtue.

In like manner the wax too is but an accompanying consequence.

This, at any rate, melts away, yet it does not pass over into non-existence, but is transformed into something better.

So the sinners too become smoke by reason of that very wickedness of theirs;

for wickedness is in this way lawlessness: just as the unripe grape is harmful to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is transgression to those who indulge in it.

You see that transgression becomes smoke to the eyes of those who practise it.

But smoke does not require any great force to be dispersed;

for this reason the sinners are 'as wax melts before the fire', and 'as smoke vanishes, so let them vanish away'.

For smoke holds together either while the fire already exists or when it has come to be.

The enemies of the Lord, therefore, however monstrously they may swagger, however they may exalt themselves as though they were mighty and held in high esteem, are quenched like smoke at the very moment of their being lifted up.

It belongs to us to behold their vanishing; for even though they remain for some span of time, glorified and exalted, thinking great things of themselves, yet to him who is able to see the thing on which they pride themselves, they are found straightway to have vanished away.

The sinner borrows and will not repay.

The things which God gives for the benefit of men and of the soul, those who receive them do not receive as of a debt owed to them;

for no one in this age receives anything as of a debt, but freely bestowing, God lends; he gives the good thing as an advance, that having laboured with it a man may gain from it and pay back interest.

I receive the word concerning righteousness.

If in repaying I render also the interest, I bring the works of righteousness to God.

But if, having received the word concerning righteousness, I do nothing in accordance with righteousness, then having borrowed from God I have not repaid;

for God gives that we may act; God bestows that we may transform the words into deeds.

And the Divine lends its own silver, concerning which it is said:

'silver tried by fire, proved for the earth'.

The borrower, then, pays back both the interest and the very thing which he received.

But the righteous man shows compassion and gives.