Questions on the Old and New Testament 110.1–111.21

The prophet David signified spiritual truth through the figure of carnal things, and with an eager mind he uttered psalms of various kinds and merits for the praise and the mystery of God. The first psalm he covered with no veil and assigned to no one, but made it general, so that it belongs to those who, separated from the wicked, have fortified themselves with the company of the good. The beginning, especially of this grace, ought not to be sung in obscurity (for light comes before darkness, and the head of each thing is in plain view); and so no question arises from the opening but from what follows. He began thus: “Blessed is the man who has not gone away into the counsel of the ungodly.” The counsel of the ungodly is the conspiracy of the wicked, to be understood in many ways. The ungodly differ from sinners, for ungodliness is the gravest sin; every ungodliness is sin, but not every sin is ungodliness. How then does one go away into the counsel of the ungodly? Surely when he is called away from himself. In saying this he shows that, as long as one does not go out from his nature, he does not incur sin. For this reason he says, “Blessed is he who has not gone away into the counsel of the ungodly.” Ungodliness, begun by the devil with his followers consenting, entices human beings so as to make them partners in his ungodliness. He himself, first sinning against God by wishing to usurp primacy for himself by tyranny, was cast down from the sacred seats and thought it a consolation if he could acquire as many companions as possible for his perdition. And therefore he says, “Blessed is the man who has not gone away into the counsel of the ungodly.” Those who act under this prince are our enemies and always entice human beings, as the apostle says: “For your struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers”; and in another letter he says among other things of their tyrant, “so that he sits in the temple of God, showing himself as if he were God.” Because sinning seems sweet, and evil is not felt until there has been loss (so that deceivers do not show themselves while they are catching people, but are recognized once they have deceived them), he calls blessed the one who has not been enticed into the counsel of the ungodly so as to enter into the fellowship of their ungodliness.

The first cause of ungodliness, then, is this, by which they began to rebel against God in wicked conspiracy, and by imitation of which idolatry began. The transgression that began on high came down to the earth. For when people were not content to be subject to one God and Creator, they became ungodly by dividing his majesty among others, so that, spurning him, they chose others to worship. This is the first cause of the human race’s offense, for which, abandoned by God, they are handed over to various enticements and passions to be made sport of, according to the faith of the apostle Paul. What work remains unharmed that has not acknowledged its maker? From there the evil, once sown, knows no restraint and spreads in many directions, like a vine stretching out its shoots, so that those who had not spared God leaped more easily to insulting and killing their parents. For, to say nothing of the others (as the apostle says, “For what have I to do with judging those outside?”), Reuben committed sexual immorality with his father’s concubine to insult his father, and Absalom, against all right, seized the kingdom so as to deprive his father of his rule and his life.

Ungodliness has still other parts: to disregard someone who begs for help in danger when one could help him is ungodliness, and so is giving advice in a harsh and wicked affair so that it can be carried out …, and other such things that could be found in this sense. Not without reason, then, is the man blessed who has not gone away into the counsel of the ungodly. It is a great ruin for a man, and an incurable wound, to be joined to these errors after knowing God. One who turns from the truth to falsehood must necessarily be dealt with more severely; and the man is blessed who, having received knowledge of the truth, flees the counsels of the ungodly, because ungodliness is the head of error.

And it follows: “and has not stood in the way of sinners”; for it is impossible not to sin, as it is possible not to be ungodly, since the gravest sin can be avoided, but the others find ways to creep in. Human life itself, even when it is not thinking of sin, often falls into sin unexpectedly. And therefore blessed is he who does not go into the counsel of the ungodly, that is, does not even begin the evil. But since sin cannot fail to be begun, as I said, he called blessed the one who does not remain in it, that is, does not stand in the way of sinners. The way of sinners is a life lived in sins. One is said to walk badly who goes forward in order to seek sin. When his mind does not stand firm in God’s law but wanders, he is said to walk in the way of sinners, because this wandering seeks sin. And therefore “blessed is he who does not stand in the way of sinners,” that is, who, with repentance following, grieves that he was ensnared and withdraws from the conspiracy of sinful men. So, as he is blessed who has not gone into the counsel of the ungodly, he will be beyond correction if he has gone, as Solomon says that “the hope of the ungodly will perish”; and “blessed is the man who has not stood in the way of sinners.” But if he has stood there, he is no longer blessed but guilty and deserving of stripes; yet he seems to have some hope of amendment, because he is not ungodly but a sinner. But if there is someone who has not gone into the counsel of the ungodly and does not stand in the way of sinners, he is blessed in a twofold way. He cannot be blessed if he does not go into the counsel of the ungodly but stands in the way of sinners, because, if not to perdition, he is still liable to punishment.

Then he added: “and has not sat in the chair of pestilence.” He says that this is the blessedness that consists of these three steps and is fortified by a threefold reasoning: that one neither go into the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the chair of pestilence. But since only two kinds are held up for reproof above, the ungodly and sinners, to which did he mean to assign this third, which he added in saying, “and has not sat in the chair of pestilence”? To the ungodly or to sinners? Let us see what it is to sit in the chair of pestilence, and then we will understand to which kind he assigns it. We call that the chair of pestilence which is outside God’s ordering and which was certainly devised so that unjust judgments might come out of it; it is called the chair of pestilence because pestilence is a corruption that brings death, as iniquity brings condemnation. The chair of death, then, is not from God; for Moses received a chair of life. It was given so that in it there might be the authority of the just judge, God the Creator. Hence the Lord says, “The scribes and Pharisees have sat on the chair of Moses”; and the apostle says, “There is no authority except from God; for those that exist have been ordained by God.”

Hence Paul says to the ruler of the people: “You sit judging according to the law, and contrary to the law you order me to be struck?” By saying “according to the law” he indicated the just and saving authority of the chair. By saying “contrary to the law you order me to be struck,” he showed that the man himself was an unjust judge, sitting in God’s chair and judging unjustly. Hence Daniel too says, “The kingdom is God’s, and he will give it to whom he wills.” As the authority of an earthly emperor runs through all, so that he is reverenced in all, so God established that God’s authority should begin from the king himself and run through all. Although the world often does not understand this, and a man placed in power submits himself to someone other than he should, yet the institution is that there should be one who is feared. Where this institution is absent, there the chair of pestilence is found. Nowhere is the authority of the one God refused except among those who preach fear and reverence of many gods. These are the ones who sit in the chair of pestilence, because what their pontiffs preach is death. They teach that worshipers of the one God, as fools and enemies, should either be held in contempt or removed from this life. This is the very substance of ungodliness, which also extends into other areas in which it displays the laws of its ungodliness. At Jezebel’s command the chiefs of wickedness sat in the chair of pestilence: though they were not judges, they plotted evil against the innocent Naboth, suborned false witnesses, and passed sentence of death. Hence he says in another psalm, “And I will not sit with the ungodly.” This is the judgment of the one whose chair is also of pestilence. So if those who sit in God’s chair oppress the innocent, it is the judgment that will be unjust, not the chair. But where there is a chair of pestilence, the judgment cannot fail to be unjust, although they put on certain veils to cover their ungodliness, so that those who see them are deceived. Ungodliness alone cannot be put forward, because it finds no buyer; and where the devil’s law is, if he himself is named, he is shuddered at.

As something is mixed with poison to hide it, so they mix certain just things into the devil’s law and give it the name of truth; but the meaning of each thing must be judged, for the devil sometimes shows something true in order to deceive, so that when he preaches what is wicked it may be thought good. Since we have asserted that the chair of pestilence is not of God’s ordering, we also say that the seat of those who have set up seats for themselves outside the church or against the church is a chair of pestilence. Whoever presumes what has not been granted is guilty; how much more if he also corrupts the tradition of the one whose seat he usurps! For they also disturb the order that began with the apostle Peter and has been kept to this time by the succession of bishops one after another, claiming for themselves an order without origin, that is, professing a body without a head; hence it is fitting to call their seat too a chair of pestilence. Nor will they go unpunished because they do these things under God’s name. It is clear that they pursue their own causes under God’s name; they act not out of zeal for God but from a wish to defend a position for themselves, though we know that Korah and the two hundred and fifty men who presumptuously offered to God were swallowed up when the earth opened, and that King Uzziah, when he unlawfully offered to God, was struck with leprosy on his forehead.

Since it has become clear that the chair of pestilence belongs to the ungodliness mentioned above, let us go on to the rest. He added: “but his will is in the law of the Lord.” He says that the will of that man is in the law of the Lord who, spurning the ungodly, leaving sinners, and refusing the chair of pestilence, has set his will in God’s law. For this reason he called him “blessed.”

And it follows: “and on his law he will meditate day and night.” It is plain that one who is free from all enticements and untouched by what is contrary to God’s law exercises himself in nothing but God’s law. Strengthened by the sacraments of the Son of God, by day he devotes himself to good works and by night to prayers. This is the one of whom it says in the Song of Songs that “he sleeps and his heart keeps watch.”

Hence he says: “and he will be like a tree planted beside the streams of water.” Who doubts that one who meditates on God’s law has hope of receiving a reward? As a tree planted beside water cannot be barren, so one who devotes himself constantly to God’s law cannot fail to see the effect of his work.

And he added: “which will give its fruit in its season.” Every well-tended planting gives fruit at the proper time; so too he who obeys God’s law will have fruit at the appointed time. He will receive the reward of this devotion when the Lord Jesus Christ takes his seat to judge the living and the dead.

Then he added: “and its leaf will not fall.” It is plain that by a tree whose leaves do not fall he signified life. A tree invigorated by the moisture of flowing water keeps its leaves. The Lord Jesus too says: “If they do these things in the green wood, what will happen in the dry?” By the green wood he signified life and fruit. As the tree, then, does not suffer drought because of the flowing water, so he who devotes himself to God’s law, when temptation comes, kept safe by God’s protection, does not lose salvation but gains it, as the apostle says: “For through tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.”

And it follows: “and all things whatever he does will prosper.” What he says is plain: one who keeps faith with God’s law and longs for his commandments becomes fortunate in all he does; as with Joseph, because he put the fear of God before this present life, God made all that he did prosper in his hands.

And he added: “Not so the ungodly, not so.” The repetition of the words signifies that the future will be in no way other than he promises: for the ungodly nothing will prosper in the future, but everything will be against them until their destruction.

Hence he says: “but like dust which the wind scatters from the face of the earth.” He says that the ungodly perish in the same way as dust which the wind scatters from the face of the earth, so that it perishes. Lifted from its place and dispersed through the air, it gradually vanishes; so the ungodly too, cast out by the ministering angels from the face of God their maker, without whom no one can live, will perish.

And it follows: “therefore the ungodly do not rise in the judgment.” What he says is fitting. Why should they rise in the judgment who preferred that no business of God be entrusted to them for which they would have to give an account? Spurning and denying God’s law, they have nothing for which to render account, so as to state their case when questioned at the judgment according to the law entrusted to them. Found arrogant and rebellious against God, they will rise only to see that what they refused to believe is true, so that they may perish, because they judged God a liar.

And he added: “nor sinners in the council of the righteous.” In this psalm he signifies three kinds of people, the ungodly, sinners, and the righteous, in the order in which error began. The ungodly are excluded from these, because, as I said, they did not wish to live under God’s decree. Sinners, who live under God’s law, are to be set before Christ’s tribunal, separated from the righteous, to give an account of the law they received, and to be corrected in the things in which they did not take pains to earn more praise than blame. The righteous, found far more devoted in the practice of fulfilling the law, are to be rewarded.

And he added: “because the Lord knows the way of the righteous.” God is said to know those who, mindful of his precepts, devote themselves to good works, so that, held righteous, they may be crowned. But to those who, forgetful of him, neglect the care of their soul, he says: “Depart from me; I do not know you, workers of iniquity.”

And it follows: “and the path of the ungodly will perish.” The psalm begins and ends with the ungodly, so that, once their case has been treated, they would be shown liable to nothing but perdition. As I said, God is said to know the way of the righteous because they walk in his law; but the path of the ungodly, because it lies outside God’s law, will perish; for “all the ways of the ungodly are dark,” says Solomon, “but those of the godly most bright,” with Christ our Lord as guide.

The title of the psalm suggests its meaning. Being about to speak of the mystery of Christ our Lord, he indicated the Lord’s day, saying: “To this David, on the first of the Sabbath.” When it says “to this David,” it refers to the one whose image this David bears, of whom the prophet says: “And my servant David will shepherd them.” “The first of the Sabbath” is the first day of the week; for after the Sabbath the first day is the Lord’s day, as the gospel affirms when it says: “On the first of the Sabbath Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to the tomb,” and so on. By the Lord’s day, then, he indicated the Savior’s mystery. But so that the psalm might be set out in a reasoned order, he began from the person of God the Father, so that the mystery of the truth would not be shown to people without order. For whoever wishes to introduce a subject cannot show its proper character or teach its truth unless he holds to its head and origin.

So the prophet began thus: “The earth is the Lord’s and its fullness.” He held to the faith about things when he said, “The earth is the Lord’s and its fullness”; for he followed the authority of the ancient saints, who said that the earth and what is in it belong to the dominion of the Lord God.

And he added: “the world and all who dwell in it.” Lest he be thought to have meant something less when he said that the earth and its fullness are the Lord’s, he made his meaning clear by saying, “the world and all who dwell in it,” to teach that absolutely all the earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, so that nothing is excepted that is not his, as certain heretics think, who, in the words of the apostle Peter, deny God his lordship. For their condemnation the prophetic oracles taught that all things are God’s.

And it follows: “He himself founded it upon the seas,” which he expressed in another psalm, saying, “You established the earth upon the waters.” So that testimony might follow faith, he shows how God made it. When there was confusion of things, and neither earth nor water had its own form, at God’s command the earth was gathered together and established upon the waters, so that both earth and water would have the character proper to their origin. Hence in Kingdoms there is the voice of God saying, “Did I not make the waters?”

And he added: “and prepared it upon the rivers.” It was prepared upon the rivers in that it has waters stored within it, which flow as through the channels of veins and give it density, so that it would not be wholly dry, brittle, and useless for cultivation. They give life to the roots of growing things and at the same time relieve the thirst of dry places.

And to show that profession without a good life profits little, he says: “Who will ascend the mountain of the Lord, or who will stand in his holy place?” He sets out what kind of person one ought to be who professes God as Creator, so that, since he showed that those who deny God’s lordship, as I said, are to be punished, those who confess him might know that they are not exempt from punishment if they do not live rightly. By “the mountain of the Lord,” then, he signified heaven. Hence in another psalm he says, “I lifted my eyes to the mountains, from where my help will come.” And the Lord’s place is where he appears. For it is said to Joshua son of Nun, when the Lord had appeared to him, “And the place where you stand is holy ground”; and Jacob, where he saw the Lord, says, “This is the house of God.”

And it follows: “innocent in hands and clean of heart.” He says that a person is worthy to ascend the mountain of the Lord, that is, into heaven, or to stand in his holy place, if he is innocent in his works and has a clean heart in God’s cause, that is, in faith. Such a one can ascend into heaven and stand in his holy place. When this life is ended he ascends into heaven; then, at the Lord’s coming, he will descend from heaven with the city of Jerusalem, worthy, as one innocent, to stand where the Lord will judge the living and the dead. But the ungodly and sinners will be unworthy to stand in the holy place of God’s judgment; they will rise, the ungodly to perdition, sinners to punishment. If the sons of Israel, because of sin, could not look at the glorified face of Moses as he came down from the mountain, how much more will a conscience guilty of offenses dread to look on the Lord of glory himself sitting on the throne of majesty! For they will hear: “I do not know you, workers of iniquity.”

And he added: “who has not received his soul in vain.” Now he touches on the kinds of sins themselves. In the first place, he is innocent and has a clean heart who is free from the immorality of idolatry. For this is the vanity to which whoever bows down subjects his soul to corruption.

And it follows: “nor sworn deceitfully to his neighbor.” He mentioned the two principal matters, God and the neighbor, because one who proves fit in these will without doubt be held approved in the rest as well, as the Lord says: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hangs the whole law and the prophets.” Who, loving the Lord with his whole heart, would not keep his law? Or who, having love for his neighbor, would be eager for sin, since he loves his neighbor out of the fear of God?

And he added: “This one will receive blessing from the Lord and mercy from God his savior.” Now he shows the reward of one who has kept faith and love in what concerns God and man, the Creator and the neighbor: he will be blessed by the Lord, so as to be seen to be approved, and he will obtain mercy for the things he could not fulfill. No one can be so careful as never to go wrong; but because he was found careful and faithful in great things, in the least he will receive mercy from his God, who is called savior because he does not will the death of one who is dying, but that he should turn back and live.

And it follows: “This is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.” He said that there is one generation of those who seek God and seek the face of the God of Jacob, and this is not idle. Although both are good, he indicated two steps by these words. It is good to seek God; but seeking the face of the God of Jacob is the full good. Those who stand before the judge’s face are more worthy. This, then, is the generation of these merits; for innocence and purity of heart bring one to this, just as injustice and iniquity run ahead so that one comes to evil. There are two generations, one on the side of iniquity, which is the mother of Cain, the other on the side of righteousness, which is the mother of Abel. The latter consists in faith and good conduct, the former in faithlessness and crooked works. These are the two laws, of good and of evil, of God and of the devil, and whichever one has followed, he will be called its son. And therefore this is the generation of those who seek God: faith in God and love toward the neighbor, as we said above. One who has faith in God will always seek his help; and one who wants to have God favorable will not show himself unjust to men. The sign of this is the phrase “the God of Jacob,” because “God is known in Judea.” And why are they said to seek God’s face, when Moses heard, “My face will not be seen by you”? If Moses too sought God’s face and could not see it, these people, who are not better than Moses, would be said to seek in vain. But no one should be said to seek God’s face in vain; they are said to seek God’s face so that it may be known whom they seek, because they are worthy also to see. Everyone who is sought is recognized when his face is seen. But since God’s face cannot be seen by mortals, the phrase “the God of Jacob” stands for the face.

Diapsalma. The diapsalma in this place signifies a change of person. After the things that concern the person of God the Father, he adds those that concern the mystery of the Son of God, so that the order of Father and Son is kept whole. The law was given through Moses to be a kind of pedagogue to people, teaching them and preparing them, with righteousness as their teacher, so that they would become worthy to receive the year of the Lord and the day of retribution; so that those who had been faithful in the hope of the Christ to come would receive him and could escape Adam’s sin, being secure about their own sins, because the coming of the one they had hoped for would give them mercy for the things in which they had been caught off guard and had offended. This is what he mentioned above, saying, “he will receive mercy from God his savior.”

He says, then: “Lift up the gates of your prince.” This is the voice of the holy angels, of whom it says in the gospel, “Angels came and ministered to him.” They say to the principalities and powers, against whom the apostle says we have our struggle, that they should lift up the gates of their prince, that is, of the devil, who is the prince of the princes established in error, gates through which one goes into Gehenna. These gates are the faithlessness and deceit of idolatry.

And it follows: “and be lifted up, eternal gates.” Faith and hope, with love, are the eternal gates, because what is preached through the truth cannot be abolished. But those gates which I said are faithlessness and the deceit of idols are temporal, because no lie endures; when the truth is made manifest it will perish. So they are taught to lift up the gates of their prince, that is, to remove the error of many gods so that faith in the one God may be brought in, in Christ. This is what the apostle testifies he was sent to teach: to show the mystery of the one God in Christ not only to men but also to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places.

And he added: “and the king of glory will enter.” He says that the deceitful gates of the devil, made by his subtlety, are to be lifted up (they are the presumption by which he thought himself God), so that the king of glory may enter, who is Christ Jesus our Lord. Faith in God enters no one’s mind unless he has put away from himself the error devised through the devil’s transgression; and the princes mentioned above cannot receive Christ the king into faith in the one God unless they cast away from themselves the tradition by which slander is brought against the one God, not only the earthly one but also that which was usurped in the heavenly places by Satan, the prince of princes. For the error they conspired in among themselves there, to call themselves gods with the devil as author, they also set up here on earth, so that this error is an image of that one.

And it follows: “Who is this king of glory?” Lest he be thought to call Christ king of glory without reason, he introduces a person asking, “Who is this king of glory?”, as if marveling or wishing to be taught whether it is true and fitting to call Christ king of glory.

And therefore he is answered: “The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle,” so that by this addition he might learn that Christ is king of glory not by bare words but with testimony. The power and might by which he subdued and crushed the devil with his followers show him to be the king of glory.

And he added: “Lift up the gates of your prince, and be lifted up, eternal gates.” That is: since by the testimony of power, which it is impious to contradict, you have learned that Christ is worthy to be called king of glory, remove error from your minds.

And he says: “and the king of glory will enter.” It is shown that they cannot share in the faith of Christ unless they cleanse their hearts from all the uncleanness of idolatry. For unless a person has been renewed, the Holy Spirit will not enter into him.

And it follows: “Who is this king of glory?” This repetition gives confirmation. Anything new that is heard is not taken into the heart unless it is repeated; for wonder produces astonishment when something is said that has never been heard.

And he added: “The Lord of powers, he is the king of glory.” By repeating the same thing he teaches that he who is Lord of powers is rightly called king of glory. Not without reason is he called king of glory who rules over the powers. Hence the apostle says: “For if they had understood, they would never have crucified the Lord of majesty.”