And these things, then — if indeed these portions of the Psalm too should be referred to our Saviour and Lord — [would apply to him]. But if they are not referred to him, but to some other person, you yourself will likewise judge, once the matters concerning the passage have been examined thoroughly. Nevertheless, concerning the metropolis of the Jews also, Jerusalem itself, following upon the prediction against those who plotted against him, it adds next: 'I have seen lawlessness and contradiction in the city,' and what follows upon these words — the sense of which it is not now the occasion to expound. From Psalm 108.
O God, do not keep silence at my praise; for the mouth of the sinner and the mouth of the deceitful man have been opened against me. They have spoken against me with a deceitful tongue, and have surrounded me with words of hatred, and have fought against me without cause. Instead of loving me, they slandered me; but I gave myself to prayer. And they set against me evils in return for good, and hatred in return for my love. Set a sinner over him, and let the devil stand at his right hand. When he is judged, let him go forth condemned, and let his prayer become sin. Let his days be few, and let another take his office of overseer.
And a reliable witness to the reference of the foregoing prophecies to the traitor Judas is the apostle Peter, who, after our Savior's ascension, when all the apostles were gathered together with a good many other brethren, stood up in their midst and said these things: "Men and brethren, it was necessary that the scripture be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand through the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus, because he was numbered among us and had obtained the lot of this ministry."
"This man therefore acquired a field with the wages of his iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the middle, and all his bowels gushed out. And it became known to all who dwell in Jerusalem, so that that field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood. For it is written in the book of Psalms, 'Let his habitation be made desolate, and let there be no one dwelling in it,' and, 'let another take his office.'"
Peter, then, having said these things, proposes that another must be taken in Judas's place to fill up the number of the twelve apostles, so that the word of prophecy might be fulfilled; whereupon, the lot being cast, the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was numbered with the twelve apostles. These things having thus been accomplished, it would follow that one should regard the speaking person in the Psalm as none other than our Savior, who, anticipating beforehand, deigned that the prayer which he would send up to the Father at the time of his Passion should be recorded through the Holy Spirit, having thus prophesied what was to befall him.
He says therefore, "O God, do not pass over my praise in silence" — entreating that the teaching handed down by him to his disciples, and the praise of the new covenant, not be silenced, but remain in the world for all the age to come.
"The mouth of the sinner and the mouth of the deceitful" might properly be said of the mouth of Judas, who went to the chief priests and said to them, "What are you willing to give me, and I will deliver him to you?" And they weighed out to him thirty pieces of silver. And from then he sought an opportunity to deliver him to them.
Having thus agreed against him, Judas was afterward one of those reclining with him at the Passover meal, when our Savior himself also reclined with the twelve; and as they were eating, he said, "Truly, truly I say to you, that one of you will betray me."
And being greatly grieved, they began each of them to say, "Is it I, Lord?" Among them was Judas also, who, opening a mouth full of all deceit and irony, answered and said, "Is it I, Rabbi?" — a deceitful mouth indeed, by which he indicated the sign to those who were plotting against our Savior, saying, "Whomever I kiss, he is the one; seize him."
Having said this, he fulfilled the deceit in deed also, when, coming to Jesus, he said to him, "Hail, Rabbi," and kissed him. And Jesus said to him, "Friend, for what purpose are you here?" And again, "Judas, do you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?" On account of these things, therefore, he says beforehand through the Psalm: "The mouth of the sinner and the mouth of the deceitful have opened against me; they have spoken against me with a deceitful tongue, and have surrounded me with words of hatred, and warred against me without cause." There he makes mention of Judas along with the rest who plotted against him.
The Gospel says, then, that while our Savior was still speaking to his own disciples, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and elders of the people.
To whom the Lord also said, "Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to seize me? Daily I sat with you, teaching in the temple, and you did not lay hold of me. But all this took place that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled." And further he says in the Psalm: "Instead of loving me, they slandered me; but I gave myself to prayer."
That too came to its fulfillment then, when our Savior, praying with the eleven apostles in the place called Gethsemane, having withdrawn from them a little and fallen down before the Father, and having prayed a second time and a third, Judas, together with the rulers of the Jews, was preparing his plot against him, gathering and procuring the crowd equipped with swords and clubs to seize him; and they set evil against him in place of good, and hatred in place of love for him — treating wickedly the Savior and benefactor and teacher, who had provided them with countless healings and cures, and teaching in word, and every sort of benefit.
For which reasons, since they set evil against him in place of good, and hatred in place of love for him, he fittingly adds: "Set a sinner over him, and let a devil stand at his right hand. When he is judged, let him go forth condemned, and let his prayer become sin. Let his days be few, and let another take his office."
The kind of outcome these words too received, the sacred apostle Peter had already made clear beforehand, applying the scripture to the traitor himself. And it is possible for you yourself to observe whether a sinful ruler and leader has not been set over the Jewish nation, to whom they were handed over after what they dared against our Savior — compelled, instead of their formerly own and God-beloved rulers, to serve foreigners and idolaters.
Who would not marvel at the outcome of this prediction? For when the word says, "Let his days be few," it is clear how brief the whole time was that elapsed, after their plot against our Savior, during which they seemed to endure — after which they underwent the final siege and utter destruction, upon which another took their office, namely the people constituted through Christ.
And you will understand the rest of the Psalm too as corresponding fittingly to these same events; but what follows, spoken as it were concerning certain sons of Judas, in the words "Let his sons be orphans," and the like, would apply primarily to Judas himself, and after him to all who, like him, betray the Savior. And you will likewise fittingly understand also "his wife," and "the sins of his fathers" and of his so-called mother — that is, the synagogue of the Jewish nation. For it is concerning her, I think, that it is said, "and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out."
Moreover, just as in the prophecy prior to this one our Savior and Lord was called "poor" and "needy," as we showed in "Blessed is he who considers the poor and needy man," in the same manner also in the present Psalm he is addressed by these same names.
"Let this and that befall Judas," he says, "and those who have imitated him in like manner, on account of the things they dared." What are these things? He goes on to say: "Because he did not remember to show mercy, but persecuted a man who was poor and needy, and wounded at heart, so as to put him to death; and he loved a curse, and it shall come upon him; and he did not desire a blessing, and it shall be far from him."
After these, descending again, he names himself poor and needy, saying, "And you, O Lord, Lord, deal with me in mercy, for your name's sake, because your mercy is good. Deliver me, for I am poor and needy." And after other things he adds: "My knees grew weak from fasting, and my flesh was changed for want of oil, and I became a reproach to them."
"They saw me, they shook their heads." This too came to fulfillment, when those passing by blasphemed him, shaking their heads and saying, "He saved others, he cannot save himself." And since even now those of the circumcision, drawing upon themselves the curse of their fathers, are accustomed with blasphemous and impious words to curse utterly our Savior and Lord and all who have believed in him, for this reason he adds next: "They will curse, but you will bless."
"Let those who rise up against me be put to shame, but your servant shall rejoice. Let those who slander me be clothed with confusion, and let them wrap themselves in their own shame as in a double cloak. But I will greatly give thanks to the Lord with my mouth, and in the midst of many I will praise him, because he stood at the right hand of the poor man, to save my soul from those who persecute it."
And it is manifest to as many as still, even now, are those who, uttering curses against him in their own synagogues, wrestle with evils from those very times, unable at all to lift up their heads again; and how he himself renders praise to the Father in the midst of many nations, through his new covenant, having gained the Father as fellow-worker and as an assessor seated at his own right hand. Wherefore, he says, "in the midst of many I will praise him, because he stood at the right hand of the poor man."
Having said above, "he persecuted a man poor and needy and wounded at heart, so as to put him to death," and having thus clearly indicated his own death, bounding off the prophecy, he hinted at the salvation after his death when he said, "he stood at the right hand of the poor man, to save my soul from those who persecute it." From Zechariah.
"And I took for myself two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Cord; and I shepherded my sheep. And I removed the three shepherds in one month, and my soul grew weary of them, for indeed their souls also raged against me. And I said, I will not shepherd you: let that which is dying die, and let that which is failing fail, and let the rest devour, each one the flesh of his neighbor. And I took the good staff, and cast it away, to break my covenant which I made with all the peoples. And it was broken in that day, and the Canaanites knew the sheep that are kept for me, that it is the word of the Lord. And I said to them, If it is good in your sight, give me my wages, or refuse. And they weighed out my wages, thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said to me, Put them into the smelting furnace, and see if it is genuine, in the manner I was valued on their behalf. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them into the house of the Lord, into the smelting furnace. And I cast away the second staff, the Cord, to break the covenant between Judah and Israel."
And these things came to their fulfillment when, according to Luke, Judas went and conferred with the chief priests and scribes and the captains of the temple, that he might betray him to them; and they rejoiced, and agreed to give him money. And according to Mark, when he went to the chief priests, that he might betray him; and they rejoiced, and promised to give him money.
Matthew, then, says: "Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said to them, 'What are you willing to give me, and I will deliver him to you?' And they weighed out to him thirty pieces of silver." This, then, is in accord with what was said by the Lord in the prophecy, "and they weighed out my wages, thirty pieces of silver."
In place of which Symmachus rendered, "and they weighed out my wages, thirty pieces of silver"; and Aquila, "and they weighed out my wages, thirty pieces of silver." To which is added, "And the Lord said to me, Put them into the smelting furnace, and see whether it is genuine, in the manner I was valued on their behalf."
In place of which, again, Aquila says: "And the Lord said to me, Put them into the smelting furnace; cast them to the potter — exceedingly great is the price at which I was valued by them." And observe in what manner the Lord himself acknowledges that the thirty pieces of silver were given as his own price.
The sense of the words seems to display a meaning of this sort: "I, the Lord, from the first day, did not cease to furnish you, who are of the circumcision, with tokens of my own goodness, and to benefit you in countless ways — not only through the prophets of old, but also through my own presence, in exhortatory teachings and rational instructions, in signs and wonders and other marvelous works, and in healings and cures. But you, who have been deemed worthy of so great a benefaction, give me my wages, or refuse" — asking of them, as is fitting, the fruits of piety and a token of faith in him.
But they, according to what was said in the preceding citation, "instead of loving me, slandered me, and set evils against me in place of good, and hatred in place of my love," having weighed out thirty pieces of silver, as though selling him for so paltry a sum — that the fire itself might test it — he fittingly commands that they be put into the smelting furnace, adding, "in the manner I was valued on their behalf."
Here, the smelting furnace seems to be a name for the house of the Lord. For when the Lord says, according to the Seventy, "Put them into the smelting furnace," it goes on, "and I cast them into the house of the Lord, into the smelting furnace."
According to Symmachus, when the Lord has said, "Cast it into the smelting furnace," it goes on, saying, "and I cast it into the house of the Lord, into the smelting furnace." And perhaps this too was fulfilled when Judas, who betrayed the Lord, seeing that he was condemned, repented and returned the money to the chief priests and elders, saying, "I have sinned in betraying innocent blood." And they said to him, "What is that to us? You will see to it." And having cast the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and went away and hanged himself.
And the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, "It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is the price of blood." And having taken counsel, they bought with them the potter's field, for the burial of strangers. Wherefore that field was called the Field of Blood, to this day. Then was fulfilled what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet, saying: "And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him who was priced, whom they of the sons of Israel priced, and gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord directed me."
Here you will also pause to consider, since these words are not found in the prophecy of Jeremiah, whether one should suspect that they have been removed from it by some sort of foul play, or whether it has been a scribal error, some copyist of the copies of the sacred Gospels — made rather carelessly — having erred, and having put "Jeremiah" instead of "Zechariah"; so that it ought to have been written thus: "Then was fulfilled what was spoken through Zechariah the prophet," and — instead of "and I cast them into the house of the Lord, into the smelting furnace" — he has mistakenly written, "and they gave them for the potter's field."
For clearly, according to the prophecy, the silver is said to have been cast into the temple of the Lord, and according to the Gospel itself, also into the temple; for it says, "Judas, having cast the pieces of silver into the temple, departed."
And it is likely that on account of those pieces of silver the temple became profaned, and there was fulfilled the saying, "Behold, your house is left to you desolate." And observe, too, whether perhaps the house of the Lord is called a "smelting furnace" for this reason: because, as in a smelting, it happens in the house of God that souls are transformed by the fire of the divine words, or otherwise are proved to be impure, being tested and refined as it were in a smelting furnace.
Whence Aquila, saying, "I cast the silver in the house of the Lord, to the potter," clearly teaches that the divine Word dwells in the house of the Lord after the manner of a potter, forming and renewing the souls of those who come to him. But since the price of him who was priced, being brought into that house, rendered it profane, fittingly it immediately follows: "and I cast away the second staff, the Cord, to break the covenant between Judah and Israel."
For from that time indeed the multitude of the nation was cast off from the oversight of God which had formerly watched over them. And I consider that here the "second staff" signifies the whole Jewish nation together, en masse. He calls it, then, "Cord," saying, "the one I called Beauty, and the second I called Cord." And he clearly adds concerning the second, saying, "and I cast away the second staff, the Cord, to break the covenant between Judah and Israel."
For these were the "Cord" and the second staff. But the first, named "Beauty," could be none other than Jerusalem herself, and the worship according to Moses, and the whole of the old covenant.
And this is established from the prophecy itself, which says: "And I will take my good staff, and cast it away, to break my covenant." You see how he said that the first staff was his covenant, and the second staff the Cord — yet he threatens to cast away both staves, having first said beforehand: "And I will take for myself two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the second I called Cord."
In place of which Aquila says, "the one I called Comeliness, and the other I called Cord"; and Symmachus, "the one I called Comeliness, and the other I called Cord." He fittingly named "Beauty" and "Comeliness" of the whole nation the divine Law and the covenant contained in it.
For the solemnities of Jerusalem, and the rites of the high-priestly ministry, and all that formerly, in earlier times, was conducted among them according to the divine laws and according to the old covenant, was a becoming adornment for those adorned by them. And the multitude of the nation is also called "Cord" in Moses, who says: "The Lord's portion became his people Jacob, Israel the cord of his inheritance."
For indeed he prophesies that a sudden change will befall these two staves, at the times indicated — namely, that the old covenant which was formerly in her, and the beauty formerly in her, would vanish, and the Cord and the whole nation would be scattered, when, having valued at thirty pieces of silver the price of him who was priced, they should undergo the dishonor befitting their impiety.
He says, then, "And I will take my good staff, and cast it away, to break my covenant," and again, "and I cast away the second staff, the Cord." Upon these, when the prophecy also says, "and I will remove the three shepherds in one month," I think it hints at three orders of those who anciently presided over the people of God: king, high priest, and prophet — since through these three shepherds all that pertained to the ancients was administered.
But since these three shepherds also suffered a perversion, all at one time, namely that at the time of our Savior — for the king ruled over them unlawfully, being a foreigner of some sort and not one native to the nation; and the high priest, coming to his ministry through the Romans, entered upon the office not according to the succession of his lineage nor according to the lawful ordinances; and the prophet, having ceased up to the time of John, no longer worked among them, and instead of him a certain impious false prophet, one who led the people astray, was active — fittingly he threatens to remove all at once the three gifts, which had formerly, before all other adornment, adorned the whole nation with becoming beauty, saying: "And I will remove the three shepherds in one month, and my soul grew weary of them."
In place of which Aquila says, "and my soul was cut short in them"; Symmachus, "and I grew fainthearted among them"; Theodotion, "and my soul grew fainthearted over them." And he teaches the cause of the faintheartedness by adding, "for their souls also raged against me." In place of which, again, Aquila: "and indeed their soul rebelled against me."
But Symmachus: "and their soul grew vigorous against me." Similar to what is said in the Seventy, "for their souls also raged against me," is found in Jeremiah, set down as spoken from the person of the Lord: "I have forsaken my house, I have abandoned my inheritance, I have given my beloved soul into the hands of her enemies; my inheritance has become to me like a lion in the forest; she has uttered her voice against me. Is my inheritance to me a hyena's den?"
Fittingly, then, on account of these things, he goes on to add: "And I said, I will not shepherd you: let that which is dying die, and let that which is failing fail, and let the rest devour, each one the flesh of his neighbor." After which he adds: "And I will take my good staff, and cast it away."
In place of which Aquila says, "And I took my staff, Comeliness, and cut it off" — evidently meaning the worship according to Moses. Therefore the first staff, named at the beginning of the oracle, is the first said to be broken and cast away.
But when the price of him who was priced, and the silver given to the traitor for him, was cast into the house of the Lord as into a smelting furnace, then indeed also, concerning the second staff — namely, the whole nation — what it would suffer is accordingly prophesied in the words, "and I cast away the second staff, the Cord, to break the covenant between Judah and Israel."
And since the word has clearly signified through these things the rejection of those people, he fittingly goes on to say that they will no longer recognize the force of the things prophesied, but the Canaanites will, saying: "and the Canaanites shall know the sheep that are kept for me, that it is the word of the Lord."
Who, then, might the Canaanites be, but ourselves — we who were formerly of foreign stock, and from among all the nations that were once godless and impious, kept as sheep for Christ? We who have also been transformed through his grace, and having understood the things prophesied, have received true knowledge of the word of the Lord; and we, the Canaanites, have known and understood the things signified. But those who boast of Israel and are exalted over the seed of Abraham have neither known nor understood. From Jeremiah.
"The sin of Judas is written with an iron pen, with the point of a diamond; it is engraved upon the tablet of his heart, and upon the horns of our altars — when their sons remember their altars, and their sacred groves upon a leafy tree, and upon the high hills. I will give your strength and all your treasures for plunder, and your high places, because of sin, throughout all your borders. And you shall be stripped away, and shall be brought low from the inheritance that I gave you; and I will lead you away among your enemies, into a land that you have not known; for a fire has been kindled in my wrath — it shall burn forever."
Even though this is not found in the text of the Seventy, yet since we found it in the Hebrew, and in the editions of the other translators, and moreover, with the addition of asterisks, in the accurate copies among those of the Seventy, we have of necessity cited it, inasmuch as it names by name the traitor Judas, and teaches that the sin committed by him is indelible. For this is what seems to me to be hinted at by "The sin of Judas is inscribed with an iron pen, with the point of a diamond."
These words might also be applied to the whole Jewish nation, to whom, next and consequently, after their indelible impiety, he threatens the final ruin that overtook them — words which it is not the present occasion to expound in detail. But since so much has already been proclaimed beforehand concerning the one who was about to betray our Savior and Lord, and the others who otherwise conspired against him, it is time to see also the things foretold that were to befall his passion. From Amos.
"The Lord swears by the pride of Jacob, 'Surely all your works shall never be forgotten.' And because of these things shall not the land be troubled, and shall not everyone who dwells in it mourn? And the full consummation shall rise up like a river, and go down like the river of Egypt. And it shall come to pass in that day,' says the Lord, 'that the sun shall go down at noon, and the light shall be darkened over the earth in daytime.'"
"And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon every loin, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it like the mourning for a beloved, and those with him like a day of anguish. Behold, days are coming,' says the Lord, 'and I will send 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. And the waters shall be shaken from sea to sea, and from north to east they shall run about, seeking the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.'"
The present prophecy, foretelling the outrage and pride and rebellion against our Savior, which those of the circumcision raised up against him, says that the Lord swears by the pride of Jacob, meaning that there shall be no forgetfulness of the deeds they dared against him, and that their land, together with its inhabitants, shall suffer things worthy of mourning, and that no longer, as before, having been chastised for a little while, shall they be restored again, but their affairs shall come to a final consummation. "For their consummation," he says, "shall rise up like a river" — hinting at the wrath that came upon them at no other time than under the empire of the Romans, a wrath that would rise up against them like a river, against them who were formerly on high.
And indeed, after the wrath from God against them that has been indicated, their affairs will again, he says, "go down like the river of Egypt." By which I think it is signified that the formerly exalted advantages of the Jewish nation, honored by God and set as it were on high, shall be reduced to a condition like the fluid and river-like affairs of the unbelieving nations that flow past, and shall be overturned from a height to a low estate.