Homilies on the Psalms 61.0–61.4

“To the end, for Idithun, a psalm of David.”

We know two psalms that have the title “For Idithun”: the thirty-eighth and the one in hand. And we reckon that the composition of the work is David's, but that it was given to Idithun for his benefit, for the correction of the passions in his soul, and for singing before the people, through which God was glorified and those who heard the harmony had their characters set right. For Idithun too was a sacred singer, as the history of Chronicles testifies to us, saying, “And with them Heman and Idithun, trumpets and cymbals for sounding aloud, and instruments for the songs of God.” And a little later it says, “And David the king and the commanders of the army set apart for the service the sons of Asaph and Heman and Idithun, who prophesied with lyres and with harps and with drums.” Both psalms, then, make endurance their main subject, through which the angry part of the soul is calmed, and, all pride being banished, humility is achieved. For it is impossible for one who has not accepted being lower and last of all ever to master anger when he is reviled, or to overcome trials by long-suffering when he is afflicted. For the one who has achieved the height of humility, having condemned himself beforehand as more worthless than they say, will not be moved in his soul by the words of dishonor; but if he hears, “You are poor,” he knows that he is poor and in need of everything, and in want of the daily provision from the Lord; and if he hears that he is low-born and of obscure origin, … to have been born. That is why there he says, “I said, I will guard my ways,” and he tells of the sinner's attack upon him and of his own long-suffering: “When the sinner stood against me,” he says, “I was dumb and humbled, and kept silent from good things”; then, going on, he says, “But all things are vanity, every man living”; then, “He stores up treasure, and does not know for whom he will gather it.” But in the present psalm he begins by raising a question, as though speaking with his own soul, as following from what was said before. For so that the soul, subjected to the mind of the flesh, may not be provoked to anger and grief, “Why,” he says, “do I make my soul a slave of evil passions, when it has been entrusted by God who created it with the rule of the body and of its passions?” It must, then, rule the passions and serve God. For it is impossible for it to be ruled both by sin and by God; but it must master wickedness and be subject to the Master of all. That is why the prophet, addressing the one who brings on the trials, who stirs up against him the great crowd of evils and is eager to enslave the mind of the spirit and throw it beneath the flesh, as though convicting him that his design against him is vain, says this: “Why do you force me to serve what is not lawful? I have a Master; I know the true King.”

“Shall not my soul be subject to God? For from him is my salvation.” He gave the reason … from God. For it belongs to a Maker to care for the safety of his own works. Or, “From him is the salvation,” since, foreseeing prophetically the grace of the Lord's incarnation that was to come, he says this: that we must serve God and love him who laid down such a great benefit for the human race that he did not even spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all. For Scripture is accustomed to call the Christ of God “salvation,” as Simeon too says somewhere: “Now you let your servant go, Master, for my eyes have seen your salvation.” Let us, then, be subject to God, because from him is the salvation. And what the salvation is, he explains. Not some activity … release from sickness and bodily health. But what is the salvation? “For he is my God and my Savior, my helper; I shall not be shaken any more.” Our God is the Son who is from God. He himself is also the Savior of the human race, who supports our weakness, who sets right the shaking that comes about in our souls from trials. “I shall not be shaken any more”: humanly he admits the shaking. “Any more”: for it is impossible in a human soul for there not to be some shaking from trials. As long, then, as we sin in small things and few, we are shaken gently, like plants swayed by a mild breeze; but when the evils are more and greater, the shaking naturally increases in proportion to the growth of the sins. And some are shaken more; others are overturned even to the roots, when the spiritual hosts of wickedness more violently [tear away], as it were, the roots of the soul, by which it was made firm in faith … [I was shaken], then, as a man; but more I shall not be shaken, because of being supported by the right hand of the Savior. [3] “How long will you set upon a man? You all commit murder, as against a leaning wall and a tottering fence.” Again the word fights against the wicked servants of the devil, blaming the excess of the plotting brought on by them: that men are a weak creature, but you set upon them, not content with the first assault, but bringing on a second and a third, until you thus [make] the soul of the … like a wall that has leaned and a fence that has been overturned. A wall, as long as it keeps its upright stance, stays firm; but once it leans, it must altogether come apart and fall. For weights that are one piece are set upright after leaning, but things put together from many parts, once they have tipped to one side, no longer admit of being set right. The word shows, then, that the nature of man, being composite, was made to lean by sin, and must altogether be dissolved, so that, rebuilt again by the craftsman who built it at the beginning, [it may recover] its security and indestructibility and be proof against plotting for a second fall …: “You are God's field,” he says, “God's building.” This building the enemy shook; the cracks that came about in it the Maker repaired. Thus the fall is necessary because of sin, but the resurrection is great because of immortality. “But they planned to reject my honor; they ran …,” thirsting to see my destruction. Instead of “in thirst,” Aquila rendered “in deception,” Symmachus “in falsehood,” the fifth edition “in a lie,” and another edition again “in guile.” It is likely, then, that in our reading too “in a lie” originally stood, so that the saying would be: “They ran in a lie,” that is, my enemies and those who plot against me, not with truth, made their race and their effort against me, having given themselves wholly to falsehood; and that a scribal error came about in the times after these, so that “in thirst” was written instead of “in a lie.” … “in thirst; they blessed with their mouth, and in their heart … they cursed.” The honor of man is the blood of Christ: “For you were bought,” he says, “with a price; do not become slaves of men.” This honor, then, the soldiers of the evil one planned to make useless to us, leading back into slavery those who had once been set free. “They ran in thirst”: he means the intensity of the demons' plotting, that they run against us, thirsting for our destruction. “They blessed with their mouth, and cursed in their heart.” Many approve of evil deeds, calling the buffoon charming and the foul-mouthed urbane; they call the bitter and wrathful man not to be trifled with; they praise the stingy and unsharing man as thrifty, the prodigal as generous, the fornicator and the licentious man as a man of pleasure and easy-going; and in a word they give every vice a pet name from the virtue that lies next to it. Such men bless with their mouth but curse in their heart. For by the flattery of their words they bring every curse on these people's life, making them liable to eternal condemnation through the things they approve. Again he speaks with his soul, increasing its subjection toward God: “But be subject to God, my soul,” he says, “for from him is my endurance.” He shows the greatness of the trials, and says what the Apostle says, that he will not let us be tried beyond what we can bear. “For from him is my endurance.”

“In God is my salvation and my glory; the God of my help, and my hope is in God.” Blessed is the one who exults in none of the lofty things of life, but has God as his glory; who has Christ as his boast; who can say with the Apostle, “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of Christ.” But now many glory in the body, those who have given their time to athletic contests, or in general those who are bursting with the vigor of their age; and many in courage in wars, who even count the killing of their own kind a virtue. For distinction in wars and the trophies raised by generals and cities are according to the abundance of killing. … others in the construction of aqueducts and the building of great gymnasia. So-and-so, spending his wealth on fighters with wild beasts and exulting in the empty shouts of the crowds, is puffed up by praise and is proud, having his glory in his shame; he even displays his own sin in writing on tablets in the conspicuous places of the city. Another glories in wealth; another because he is a clever and invincible orator, or skilled in the wisdom of the world. The glory of all these deserves pity; but blessed are those who make God their glory. For if so-and-so is proud because he is a king's servant, greatly honored by him, how much more ought you to be magnified in yourself, because you are a servant of the great King, called by him into the closest intimacy, having received the Spirit of promise, so that, sealed in him, you have been shown to be a son of God? Having learned in himself the benefit of genuine hope in God, he calls the people to the same zeal as his own, saying, “Hope in him, all the congregation of the peoples; pour out your hearts before him.” It is impossible for us to become capable of receiving divine grace unless we drive out the passions of wickedness that have occupied our souls beforehand. I have seen physicians who do not give saving medicines before they have emptied out by emetics the disease-producing matter which the licentious have stored up in themselves from bad living. And a vessel filled beforehand with some foul-smelling liquid, unless it is washed out, will not receive the inflowing of perfume. What was there before, then, must be poured out, so that what is brought in may find room. “But vain are the sons of men.” He saw that not all were following his exhortation or consenting to hope in God, but had their hope in the vain things of life. That is why he says, “But vain are the sons of men, false are the sons of men.” Why vain? Because false. Where is their falsehood most refuted? “In the scales,” he says, “to do wrong.” What scales does he mean? Do all men weigh things? Are all wool-sellers or butchers, or do they deal in gold or silver, or in general give their effort to those materials which merchants are accustomed to exchange by scales and weights? But the race of craftsmen is large, needing no scales at all for their work; many are sailors; many are busy about the law courts and government, among whom there is falsehood, but the fraud of the scales is not practiced. What, then, does he mean? That in each of us there is in secret a kind of scale … to judge the nature of things. “I have set before your face life and death, good and evil”: two natures opposed to each other. Weigh them against each other on your own judgment seat; weigh exactly which is more profitable for you: to choose the fleeting pleasure and through it receive eternal death, or, choosing the hardship in the practice of virtue, to use it as the provider of eternal delight. Men, then, are false, having the judgment seats of their souls corrupted; whom the prophet too calls wretched, saying, “Woe to those who call darkness light and light darkness, who call bitter sweet and sweet bitter.” “For me,” one says, “the present things; who knows the future?” You weigh badly, choosing evil things in exchange for good, preferring vain things to true, putting fleeting things before eternal, choosing the passing pleasure instead of unceasing and continual gladness. “False, then, are the sons of men in the scales to do wrong.” They wrong first themselves, then also their neighbors: they become bad counselors to themselves in their actions, and a depraved example to others. You cannot say on the day of judgment, “I did not know the good.” Your own scales are set before you, providing sufficient discernment of good and evil. For we test the weights of bodies by the turn of the balance, but we discern the choices of life by the self-determination of the soul; which he has called a scale because it can incline equally to either side. [5] “Do not hope in wrongdoing, and do not desire robbery.” Above he said, “Hope in him, all the congregation of the peoples.” He saw their slowness to obey, and declared, “But vain are the sons of men.” Again he forbids them to hope in wrongdoing. The one who judges that wealth collected by wrongdoing is a sufficient means for himself to be strong and to rule is like a sick man who places good health in the abundance of his disease. “Do not hope in wrongdoing.” It hinders you in every activity. “And do not desire robbery.” He exhorts us not to covet what belongs to others. “If wealth flows, do not set your heart on it.” If you see one of the very rich, do not call his life blessed. If money flows round you from many sides and from abundant springs, do not welcome its abundance. “If wealth flows.” Marvel at the expression. The nature of wealth is flowing: it runs past its owners more swiftly than a torrent; it is wont to pass from one to another … it comes near to those standing on the bank, and as soon as it has touched them, it at once draws back; so too the ease of wealth has a most swift and slippery presence, by nature passing from some to others. Today the field is this man's, tomorrow another's, and after a little someone else's. Look at the houses in the city: how many names they have already taken since they were built, named now after one owner, now after another. And gold, always flowing through the hands of its owner, passes to another, and from him to someone else. You could sooner hold water by grasping it in your hand than keep wealth secure for yourself. So it is well said, “If wealth flows, do not set your heart on it.” Do not [cling to it] in your soul, loving and admiring it too much as one of the goods, but choose its service as an instrument. Then he adds to all that has been said a declaration, no longer in his own words, but one which he heard from God himself. “For once,” he says, “God has spoken; these two things I have heard.” And let no one be troubled as at something strange in what is said, how God spoke once and the prophet heard two things. For it is possible for someone to speak once, and in that once for many things to be spoken. For a man who meets someone once has talked about many things; and the one who heard his words can say, “He spoke to me once, but he talked about many things.” This is what is said here: “God's appearing to me happened once, but there are two things that he spoke.” He did not say, “God spoke one thing, but I heard these two things”; for so the word would have seemed to contain a contradiction with itself. What, then, were the two things he heard? That “power belongs to God, and mercy is yours, O Lord.” That God, he says, is mighty in judgment, and the same is merciful. So, do not hope in wrongdoing, do not set your heart on wealth, do not choose vanity, do not carry about a corrupted judgment seat of the soul. Knowing that our Master is mighty, fear his strength, and do not despair of his love for mankind. For not doing wrong, fear is good; but for one who has once slipped into sin, so that he may not throw himself away through despair, the hope of mercy is good. “For power belongs to God, and from him is mercy.” “For you will render to each according to his works.” “For with the measure you measure, it will be measured back to you.” Have you afflicted your brother? Expect the same. Have you robbed the goods of those lower than you, beaten the poor, …, moved your fathers' boundaries, encroached on orphans' properties, crushed widows, preferred the present pleasure to the good things in the promises? Expect … the measure of these in return. “For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” And yet, if you have done anything good, expect for that too manifold repayments: “For you will render to each according to his works.” Remembering this declaration throughout your whole life, you will be able to escape most sins, in Christ Jesus [our Lord, to whom be glory and power to the ages] of ages. Amen.