詩篇註釋殘篇 第 1 章 第 4/40 段

And perhaps what has been said concerning the poor man may be established also from Scripture; for it is said, 'The rich have become poor,' and 'Because we have become exceedingly poor';

in agreement with these you may also take what is said concerning the Saviour: 'How, being rich, he became poor for our sakes, that we by his poverty might become rich.'

The phrase 'I will set in salvation' signifies 'I will appoint and make,' just as also in the words 'Whom he appointed heir of all things,' where the expression makes clear the one whom he ordained and designated as heir.

In this sense you may take the words, 'God has set in the Church first apostles,' and so forth, and that which is said to the elders of the Church, 'The Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the Church';

for the word 'has set' indicates the demonstration that comes through their having been ordained and made apostles and overseers.

According to this sense of 'keeping,' the Saviour too said to the Father concerning the disciples, 'Holy Father, keep them;

while I was with them, I kept them, and the evil one did not touch them.'

I have spoken according to this sense because of what is said in Genesis concerning Adam to the serpent, 'He shall keep watch over your head, and you shall keep watch over his heel.'

For here 'to keep' is no longer the same as 'to guard'; for it appears from the text itself: 'He shall watch over your head, and you over his heel.'

He sends up the prayer who says, 'You, O Lord, will guard us,' after having done all that lies within his own power in keeping the exhortation which says, 'With all watchfulness keep your heart';

and since, even when these things are rightly accomplished, our own diligent efforts are not sufficient to secure us against plotting ('For unless the Lord guard the city, in vain has he who guards it kept watch'), the sequence leads us, after being guarded by ourselves, to offer the prayer which says, 'You, O Lord, will guard us and will preserve us.'

For since he guards, let us take courage, that we shall be secure against all plotting for ever;

for being Most High, O Master, and dwelling in the heights, according to the height that belongs to your goodness you have greatly regarded the sons of men, judging them worthy to have protection from your providence.

Even if these things are spoken by the holy one after the manner of intercession, yet he is not subject to forgetfulness of God, but, taking upon himself the concerns of others, he utters all the words of the petition.

It is clear that the petition is not concerning perceptible illumination or sleep and death, but concerning the illumination that comes from the knowledge of God.

For 'Kindle for yourselves the light of knowledge,' and 'Draw near to the Lord and be enlightened.'

But this illumination does not concern the eye of the flesh (for that is fitted to see the sun) or any other perceptible light of those who behold the Sun of righteousness;

it is the true light of eyes not of the body but of the heart.

For the eyes of the inner man are the powers of the intellect.

'For I am the light of the world,' says the Lord;

'He who walks in me,' He says, 'shall not abide in the darkness, but shall have the light of life.'

When the life comes to the one who has been enlightened, the sleeping unto death departs from him; for the one who abides in the darkness of ignorance is asleep and dying.

For the one who through carelessness and slothfulness gives his eyes over to sleep shall straightway die, falling away from the life that is lived with virtue.

Wherefore we must flee this reproachful sleep and death, so that, the eyes of the soul being enlightened, the enemy may no longer say, 'I have prevailed against him' — he who once thought he had prevailed when we sinned.

Since the enemies who afflict the righteous, being malicious and rejoicing in evil, exult;

if it should come to pass that a shaking arise out of sin, one ought rather to grieve over those who fall;

but even if those enemies exult over someone's being shaken, yet I, O Master, hoping in Thy mercy, shall not suffer that which they long to see in me.

For I look for Thy salvation, which comes speedily, over which my heart rejoices;

for how shall he not be glad and rejoice who has experience of God's salvation? And if there is a prophecy signified concerning the coming of the salvation of God, namely Christ, consider it.

For this One, having come for the salvation of the world, cast down those who took delight in the ones shaken in soul;

proudly, He enlightened the eyes, that no one might see the death of the soul.

When these things have been set right, the one who fares well sings a thanksgiving, a triumphant ode, saying:

'I will sing to the Lord who has done me good, and I will make melody to the name of the Lord Most High.'

Having learned in a practical way that which is well spoken by the Lord to those who pray, 'While thou art yet speaking, I will say, Behold, here I am';

and He says these things to those who are already present with Him.

I have fared well, having obtained the things which I asked for; wherefore, 'I will make melody to the name of the Lord Most High.'

Therefore, upon each benefit that comes to us, let us too sing praises, uttering the hymn here set forth, not by contemplation alone but also by making melody;

for singing signifies contemplation, while making melody signifies practical activity.

The fool is one lacking not in common notions nor in cleverness joined with acumen, but in the one virtue of prudence, concerning which it is written:

'He who acquires prudence loves himself, and he who keeps prudence shall find good things.'

That he possessed natural acumen, the wording makes plain, showing that it is not in the hearing of others but in his own heart that he says there is no God.

For he knew that no one would receive words about the denial of God,

since almost all men hold an undistorted notion concerning God; and the first verse has much fittingness as being spoken concerning the devil.

For that one too said it not to anyone or any persons, but 'In his own mind':

'I will ascend into heaven, above the stars of heaven I will set my throne;

I will be like the Most High.'

And just as the one who has knowledge of God keeps His word and transforms His commandments into deeds, so everyone who sins in ignorance of God comes to this state;

John writes, at any rate, that everyone who sins is far from having knowledge of God, saying: 'Everyone who sins has not seen Him nor known Him.'

For having cast out from his soul godliness — the queen and sovereign among the virtues — he has the virtues departing along with it.

That this understanding is well-founded would be clear from the things written concerning the sons of Eli;

for these, not knowing the Lord, being shown to be pestilent men, sinned, or rather acted impiously concerning the sacred service, corrupting through their practices the things of the law and of the fear of God.

You will take the things set forth also with reference to what is announced in Jeremiah thus:

'Usury upon usury, deceit upon deceit;

they all commit adultery, an assembly of transgressors, because they have gone forth from evils to evils;

but Me they knew not, says the Lord.'

For how were they not bound, having ignorance of God, to be transgressors of His laws? These things, considered as a whole, persuade us to keep God in remembrance, that we may be shown praiseworthy in our doings, pursuing them with an incorruptible resolve.

Among those who have been made abominable by corrupting themselves in their practices, no one is found doing kindness;

As 'Into a soul that devises evil wisdom will not enter, nor dwell in a body enslaved to sin,' so neither does he who still works iniquity receive divine knowledge;

for no one who sins sees or knows God, according to what is written in the epistle of John;

wherefore the one who longs to be a knower sows unto righteousness, and reaps the fruit of life, that thus he may kindle for himself the light of knowledge.

And since the enemies of God's people happen to be workers of iniquity, so as to devour it like bread, they are deprived of the knowledge of God;

'Take heed lest ye be consumed by one another.'

And in Isaiah also it is written thus:

'Syria from the rising of the sun and the Greeks from the setting of the sun, who devour Israel with open mouth.'

Yet even if they should sometimes be able to devour the people of God delivered over to them, they shall pay the penalty for sin;

for 'Israel is holy to the Lord, the firstfruits of His increase';

those who set themselves to devour God's people like bread did not call upon the Lord, supposing that by their own strength they accomplish all things and have overpowered the people of God.

For if they had known that by the judgment of God on account of sin they had received him, they would have feared all the more to impose measures against the one delivered over, lest they fall under the same judgment.

Therefore it is said to them, who were enraged beyond what was fitting:

'Whereas I was angry but a little, they conspired together unto evils.'

Thus, having unjustly overpowered the people of God, they fell into cowardice

where there was no need even to fear;

and since they did everything harshly and without mercy, they became fearful, falling into the very things which they had inflicted on others.

Since 'God is in the generation of the righteous,' you shall speak of a generation of the righteous — either the concord of righteous deeds, in which the righteous Judge is found, or the like-mindedness of righteous men and their gathering into one.

For if where two or three come together in His name the Lord is found present, how much more would He be found where there is a whole generation of the righteous? And that those of the same mind and the same manner of life make up one generation, even if they be born in different times, may be said afterward, when the occasion calls for it.

'One is afraid with a fear where there was no fear';

and 'He who fears man' and, in a word once for all, those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul.

For it is said, 'Except God, fear no other.'

Jerusalem, being held fast by this passion, the Lord rebukes, saying:

'Who art thou, that thou wast afraid of mortal man?' But first it must be considered what was the captivity of the people, that we may consequently also behold its return.

The one who falls away, through his own slothfulness, from the doing of good is taken captive by the law of sin, so as to come under the devil who tyrannically domineers, having the power of death;

the Lord, by the way of repentance, calls back this man who has thus become captive to the enemies outside his fatherland (and this is the participation in virtue), at the same time promising also the remission of former sins;

and this is the redeeming of the captives and the turning back of the captivity.

And when this had been fulfilled by the Lord's cross, so that all the people from the nations who believe were redeemed, Jacob rejoices.

The same one, as regards the subject, has the difference in conception alone.

For if, by doing good things and working the things according to virtue, he supplants the passions and vices and the evil powers that work in them, so as to appear as their victor, he is Jacob rejoicing;

but if, after the practical life, having acquired a pure heart, he sees God, he is Israel, a mind seeing God.

No one is grieved to take, side by side, the sayings 'Let him rejoice' and 'Let him be glad.'

Consider whether the one who governs his life according to the Law dwells as a sojourner in the tabernacle of the Lord, occupying himself with the tent of witness, having received the schoolmaster who leads to Christ.

But he who has attained to Christ, having welcomed the gospel teaching, encamps upon the holy mountain of God, which is none other than the Son of God, concerning whom it was said prophetically: 'The mountain of the Lord shall be made manifest.'

Ponder whether it may rightly be understood that the holy mountain of God is God the Word, and that his tabernacle is the man whom he assumed.

And one must first come to know Christ according to the flesh, and thereafter to know him as the Only-begotten from the Father.

He dwells as a sojourner in the tabernacle who says, 'Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him thus no longer'; whereas he who beheld his glory, 'glory as of the Only-begotten from the Father,' no longer sojourns but abides upon the holy mountain of God.

Therefore the prophet, seeking a man equal to the angels, one able to say, 'But our commonwealth is in the heavens,' was inquiring of him to whom the Master makes reply.

He who is here portrayed, being a lover of his neighbour and a lover of his companions, hastens to be wise, spending his time among the wise, with all his strength withdrawing himself from the foolish, lest he be reckoned one of their number.

If then he turns away from the base, but keeps company with the good (for the wise, with whom he purposes to walk, are good), he receives no reproach on account of those who draw near to him; for those who have wicked men drawing near to them are always reproached, whereas those whose neighbours are praiseworthy and who have good friends are commended.

With this very same one is well pleased he who declares:

'He who walked in a blameless way, he ministered to me;'

'He who spoke unrighteous things did not prosper before my eyes.'

Now the oath of so great a man is an unimpeachable word, whereby is confirmed the 'Yea, yea' and the 'Nay, nay.'

But if ever there be need, for the sake of those to whom the word is addressed, even of God as witness, he does this too without officiousness, even as the divinely-inspired Apostle left a pattern and rule of oaths in his Epistles, where in one place he says:

'God is my witness, whom I serve in the gospel of his Son.'

'I call God to witness upon my soul.'

'He who is God over all knows that I do not lie.'

For this is a faith beyond reproach.

For an oath is nothing else than a word accompanied by God's testimony, or a matter confirmed by God's testimony.

But however the oath may stand, he who swears does not deal falsely with his neighbour.

It is possible also to lend spiritually without interest, according to the meaning in which it was said to the disciples of Jesus by their Teacher:

'And from him who wishes to borrow from you, do not turn away.'

For how could anyone say this was spoken in a material sense to those who say, 'We have left all and followed you,' to those who declare with boldness, 'Silver and gold have I none'? Since therefore lending in the material sense is excluded for the saints (if ever they be said to do it), one must take it spiritually, since everyone lends in a spiritual sense who teaches the word, which is silver, in order to gain something bodily.

For even though those who sow spiritual things in teaching receive fleshly things only for their sustenance ('For the labourer is worthy of his food'), yet they do not lend;

for they do not receive according to the worth of the rational silver they have given, but only sustenance.

'He shall not be moved for ever,' abiding throughout his life in the virtues which he has attained.

For what is said here is the same as, 'I will by no means eat flesh for ever,' and, 'He shall be your servant for ever.'

He abides unshaken for ever who has heard the words of Jesus and done them;

for the house—for so his manner of life is named—has its foundations laid upon Christ, who is called the rock.

'There are some of those standing here;'

and further, concerning whom the Apostle writes:

'Being rooted and grounded in love.'

But if the being not moved 'for ever' indicates also some further extension of an age, similarly to what is said, 'And everyone who lives and believes in me shall live for ever,' examine it closely.

Remaining unshaken for ever, the saints accomplish a life not bounded by time but abiding for ever, which is like a pillar, being the symbol of their victory;

and to this the inscription-on-a-pillar of David is said to refer, namely the superscription of the psalm about to be set forth.

For the deeds of those who are dissolved and no longer exist do not endure;

such is the case with the deeds of sinners, that they do not remain.

At any rate, the enjoyment of sin is said to be but for a season, and it is said that the sin of the sinner and the wicked shall not be;

for though it be sought, it shall not be found.

But not such is the life of the saints;

for they look upon the things which are not seen and are eternal.

'His righteousness abides for ever and ever.'

And since a pillar is spoken of in another sense also—where writings concerning laws are set up, which they call tablets and boards—one must speak likewise of an inscription-on-a-pillar of the saints, namely the teachings which they have handed down, written not on tablets of stone but on tablets that are hearts of flesh, that is, hearts in good condition and readily receptive of the writing.

But how matters stand with the superscription of the psalm, we shall know when God makes it plain.

'Since I have you as my hope, O Master, preserve me;'

for thus shall I be able to pass through unharmed, though countless enemies, both visible and invisible, lie in wait.

Having prayed these things, he added the words, 'I said to the Lord, You are my Lord.'

What sinner is able to verify this utterance in himself? For being a slave of the sins which he commits, he cannot serve God;

'For no one,' he says, 'can serve two masters.'

Let it be said also in another way concerning the passage before us.

The Apostle writes that 'No one can say Lord Jesus except in the Holy Spirit,' the saying of this coming to pass among such men in deed and in disposition.

For if it be taken merely in the bare sense, it will not be true, since countless heretics and hypocrites utter the bare expression while assuredly not possessing the Holy Spirit.

The Saviour himself, at any rate, says:

'Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord;'

'and I,' he says, 'will confess to them, Depart from me, you workers of iniquity, I never knew you.'

'Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say?' As therefore he who says Lord Jesus in the Holy Spirit—not with a bare utterance but with earnest deed and disposition—is truly a servant, so as to hear along with the apostles, 'You call me the Lord and the Teacher, and you say well, for so I am;'

so he who declares the things before us, by a life both practical and contemplative—by which he has set up an indestructible pillar—cries aloud, 'I said to the Lord, You are my Lord.'

'And since you are my Lord, out of your own doctrines I bring gifts to you, not as to one that is in need or lacking;'

for I know that, not as one having need of our good things, you receive them, in order to bestow in exceeding abundance things more numerous and greater.

And not only in the case of things offered in a material sense, but this utterance is to be applied spiritually as well.

For we offer virtues as a sacred service, even our own bodies through perfect self-control.

We know that God receives them, not for his own advantage, but that he may give us the good things from heaven when we ask him;

for what other reason does God seek human virtue, save that he may bestow worthy rewards in return for what we have offered him? 'The saints of God dwell upon his earth.'

And this is the heavenly Jerusalem, upon which they come to be, having their commonwealth in heaven, even though they still tarry on earth.

He does not say once for all that he will not gather their assemblies, but rather 'from bloods';

nor does he say absolutely that he will not make mention of their names, but rather 'through my lips.'

Lest perhaps therefore—since there are some who gather assemblies out of bloods, pouring them out by harming those who are gathered—he himself, benefiting, or rather giving life to those he summons, gathers them not out of bloods but out of immortality, making mention of their appellations not superficially but out of a disposition that has depth.

Even though many prophets and apostles were slain, their blood being shed, yet not in these many bloods will I gather their assemblies, but in the one blood alone of the unblemished and spotless Lamb, Christ;

for this was given as the price, that they might be redeemed from their vain manner of life handed down from their fathers.

Of those thus redeemed he will make mention, not with the lips alone, but with deep understanding.

He who has come to be, in his disposition, above all the world, has nothing else as his portion and inheritance than God;

Whence one must renounce all things, so that a man may be able to say, 'God is my portion unto ages of ages.'

And just as of the inheritance, so also of the cup that gladdens the righteous, the Lord is the portion.

He who is also a cup according to the contemplation of the truth, bestowing gladness upon the one who drinks—through his assent—the illumination of knowledge.

This cup is supplied by the true Vine, that the mind may be given to drink and be gladdened, so that the one who has partaken may say in thanksgiving, 'You have put gladness into my heart.'

He who has God harmoniously will also possess the things that are His.

Whence he who has the Lord as the portion of his inheritance will also enjoy the things that are His, saying:

'You are the one who restores my inheritance to me.'

'Come, inherit the kingdom prepared for you'; and the same may say:

'You are my portion in the land of the living.'

Since such spiritual inheritance is given to the heirs in proportion to their faith and their excellent manner of life, it is fittingly added, 'The measuring-lines have fallen for me in the best places.'

The measuring-line is a symbol of measure and lot.

Indeed, of the perceptible land as well, into which the Hebrews were brought by Joshua the son of Nun, when it was being apportioned, it has often been recorded:

'The line fell to the tribe of Judah, or Reuben, or some other of the twelve, upon this region'—say the eastern, or another beside this.

'The measuring-lines have fallen for me in the best places' presents that good things were apportioned to him, his lot having come into the best portions of the inheritance, which he indicates through these spiritual, geometric measuring-lines.

Such a measuring-line an angel was seen by the prophet Zechariah holding in his hand, in order to measure how great was the length and breadth of the true Jerusalem.

'For indeed my inheritance is best for me'—signifying by this that my inheritance is truly the fairest.

According to this signification, Theophilus, to whom Luke the evangelist writes, was 'most excellent.'

Let no one consider the saying unfitting for Christ.

For if He needed angelic support, showing His humanity, what of it? If He was being made wise by the Godhead united to Him—making wise as God and the fountain of wisdom, yet being made wise as man—

Since the foregoing words are spoken in the person of Christ, and the person that speaks these things is preserved without any change from the words 'The Lord is the portion of my inheritance,' one does not err in taking these verses also as spoken by the Lord.

But those who do not have articulated conceptions concerning God take it in a local sense—that the Son is at the right hand of the Father because of 'Sit at my right hand,' or that the Savior sat down after the ascension at the right hand of the Majesty—to whom it is impossible to say anything.

For if the Son is at the Father's right hand in a local sense, it is impossible for the Father to be at the Son's right hand according to that very signification:

'I foresaw the Lord at my right hand.'

Whence the Son must be taken as being the right hand of the Father, and the Father of the Son, in some other sense than a local one—likewise with the saying 'I am in the Father and the Father is in me.'

But one must consider, since the Savior is understood as at once man and God, whether these things ought to be interpreted of His Godhead or of His economy according to the flesh.

But it is not possible to take it piously as though it were said in the person of God the Word that He has the Father at His right hand and before Himself continually, so that He may remain unshaken.

For God the Word is unchangeable, undergoing not even the least shaking.

And since it is incongruous to state as the cause of God the Word not being shaken that the Father is in His sight and at His right hand continually (for He Himself, being in the Father and having Him in Himself, exists at someone's right hand and before Him continually), He becomes the cause of the one who sees Him and has Him at his right hand not being shaken.

Since therefore it is incongruous—rather, impious—to take these things of the only-begotten Son of God apart from His economy according to the flesh, they must fittingly be understood as spoken when He became man without change and humbled Himself and, being rich, became poor.

the humanity, made like us in all things apart from sin;

But neither was His flesh without a soul, as some have supposed.

For how could flesh not having a soul say that it has God at its right hand and foresees Him continually, that it may not sin? For a sinful motion is presented from being shaken.

But if these things are impossible (for a body does not foresee God, nor has it any perception of Him who is at its right hand and before it continually), it remains that these things were said according to the economy, in a human manner, by God the Word made flesh without change, perfectly, and truly.

For all things are spoken as from a single person, both the things befitting God and the human ones. So then, as man, when He became such, having God at His right hand He would not be shaken, even though bitter things surrounded Him, even though the kings of the earth should stand up and the rulers be gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ.

Thus indeed, not being shaken in soul, 'He did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth,' being tempted in all things after our likeness apart from sin.

Next it is added that his heart was gladdened and his tongue rejoiced greatly at having the Lord at his right hand and before himself continually.

It is a praiseworthy exultation and gladness, when it comes to be not because of any chance thing, but through the contemplation of God.

And from these syllables it is especially shown that the Lord became man perfectly;

for while the flesh was laid aside in the tomb, His soul came to be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights, after which, having risen, He took up the flesh which He had for a time disjoined from the body.

And the flesh is said to have taken up its rest in hope, on account of the resurrection that was to be alongside it;

for it was not dissolved nor did it suffer any corruption, but having remained unharmed it was again joined to the soul which was not abandoned in Hades.

But if the soul in question, even when separated from the flesh, subsists and comes to be in Hades—where the rational souls of men are—it is clear that it cannot be irrational;

for an irrational soul, when separated from the flesh, does not subsist, nor does it journey into Hades.

But indeed the soul of Jesus had experience of both;

for it came to be both in the region of human souls, and, having come to be outside the flesh, it lives and subsists;

it is therefore rational and consubstantial with the souls of men, just as also His flesh, having come forth from Mary, is consubstantial with the flesh of men.

And even if He seemed to have suffered through the cross, yet nevertheless He did not see corruption, since both His soul and His flesh, of which He who was constituted was manifested, remained unharmed.

Again, the Holy One of God did not see corruption, but is even the cause of the raising of the other dead;

for on account of Him, who was born the firstborn from the dead, our corruptible and mortal nature, having put on incorruption, is made immortal together with the Holy One of God who saw no corruption.

Having risen from the dead, the incarnate Word of God sings praise—inasmuch as He became man without forsaking also His being God—to Him who made known to Him the ways that lead to eternal life, so that He too might be filled with perfect gladness, He who fills the saints with all spiritual gladness.

And the face of God is His image and the express character of His substance.

And what follows for the one who has traveled the known ways of life, except to have the divine delight in the right hand of God, which is Truth and Wisdom? And this is the only-begotten Son of God.

And since the delight in the right hand of God is unsurpassable, it will be the ultimate end, being the last object of desire;

for all things exist not for the sake of another, but for its own sake.

No one will say 'Hear, O Lord, my righteousness,' and 'Let my judgment come forth from Your presence.'

the judgment from the divine presence.

'Let my eyes behold uprightness.'