Tractates on the Psalms 57.1–58.13

From the heading of the preceding psalm only some indication of events is lacking. For there is "for the end," and "do not destroy," and "inscription of a title." For the psalm contains no prophecy through events, as in the others, where holy David prophesies both by words and by deeds; rather it contains a rebuke of the ungodly, the announcement of God's judgment on sinners, the recompense of joy for the saints, and the fruit of righteousness for man. This, then, is the end in the psalm, this the confidence of driving away corruption, this the inscription of the title for him who redeemed us through death.

And indeed the whole psalm presents itself thus: "If you truly speak righteousness, judge rightly, sons of men. For in your heart you work iniquities; on the earth your hands weave iniquity." Speaking of righteousness is common; but pursuing judgment is the zeal and habit of few. But one is to be thought truly to speak righteousness when he keeps the judgment of truth, since God judges for this not human words but the works of the heart, that is, the contrivances of thoughts. Iniquity is often not carried out for shame of public conscience; and therefore, though the hands may not have woven iniquity, yet the heart works iniquity before God on the earth. Hence adultery conceived in the heart alone is already a crime; hence, according to Paul's gospel, God judges the secrets of men, God beholding the wills of men already in the very beginnings of human birth. For since the power of a mighty nature enters not so much the fibres of the inner parts as the appetites of the mind, he must not take the beginning of his insight from the movements of the senses, but must grasp, through knowledge of nature, foreknowing even the future movements of the senses.

And therefore, of those who complete in the heart the iniquities woven with the hands, he at once added: "Sinners are estranged from the womb; they have gone astray from the belly; they have spoken false things." So Esau was estranged from the womb, when it was announced even before he existed that the elder would serve the younger, God not being ignorant of the future will, since both falseness of speech and error of life are from the belly; God knowing this rather than anyone being begotten to the necessity and nature of sin. And so that the fault could not be referred to origin, he reproaches the crime of a will hardened against obeying, saying: "Their fury is like that of a serpent, like a deaf asp that stops its ears, which does not hear the voice of the charmers, nor the medicine skilfully prepared by the wise." No natural necessity is excused in the crime. For the serpent could have been innocent, whose ears are stopped by itself so as to be deaf; and it does not hear the voice of the charmer and does not receive the medicines prepared by the wise. Nor does he recall here the songs of the Marsi and the lulled hissing of vipers, since these same things become numb with greater inertness through faith in the name and power of God; but he teaches that stubborn and insolent disobedience of the ancient serpent, which grows deaf to the songs of the saints and the medicines prepared by the wise; and though it is commanded daily, even under the invocation of the divine name, not to deceive, not to creep in, not to bite, yet with stopped hearing it rages; from which those who do not obey the gospel are a brood of vipers.

But since his power and that of his followers is crushed and all their weapons of cruelty are broken, these words were added: "God has broken their teeth in their mouth; the Lord has shattered the molars of the lions. They will be despised like running water; he will bend his bow until they are weakened. Like melted wax they will be taken away; fire has fallen upon them, and they have not seen the sun." We have often spoken of the teeth of sinners and the molars of lions, since in them the impulse of raging malice is signified. When these are broken and crushed, then, they will be despised like running water. For every course of overflowing waters is useless, since each person draws off only what he thinks useful for himself, the rest running on to perish, being carried down to the seas only to their own abolition. He mentions this nature and contempt in them in another psalm too, when he says: "I am poured out like water and my bones are scattered; my heart has become like melting wax in the midst of my belly." Many things dissolved from solid into liquid change their form without abolishing their nature, so that from rigid they become fluid; but wax, if received by fire alone, melts so as to perish. In the same way he has now set an example of both created things in the destruction of sinners: "They will be despised like running water; he will bend his bow until they are weakened. Like melted wax they will be taken away." First, then, they will be despised, flowing away uselessly without hope of standing firm and remaining; then the Lord's bow will be bent until they are weakened; and weakened, they will be taken away like melted wax. And we have often shown that the severity of God's judgment is signified by the bow, always bent upon the punishments of sinners for those who will be punished. And indeed, with the bow bent, the following words declare that they are to be taken away by the fire of judgment like melted wax: "Fire has fallen upon them, and they have not seen the sun." The fire cast upon them will take them away, so that they may not behold the sun of righteousness; for they are unworthy to be co-heirs of the eternal light.

And so that the words that they will be taken away like melted wax, the fire falling upon them so that they do not see the sun, should not signify their abolition rather than their punishment, he added: "Before your thorns produce the bramble, as living, so in anger he swallows you up." The bramble is a kind of thorn bush that puts forth many dense thorns like the briar; it blossoms when warmed in spring with the others. So before the bramble produces the thorns of sinners, fire swallows them up living in anger. For it was not fitting that, while the time of judgment is still suspended, sinners should rest without punishment; so the fire swallows them up living, that is, with the sense of punishment, even before they rise. For the resurrection of bodies is signified in the bramble, and the bodies themselves will display in themselves the thorns by which they are to be pricked: some will have the fruits of an eternal flower, but these will be raised only to bring forth in themselves the points of thorns like brambles. We remember that the force and pain of sins are signified by the thorn, when it is said, "He fell into misery while a thorn pierced him"; because he who was humbled even to death condemned sin in the flesh by means of sin, as when a thorn that pierces is pierced. And each, according to the apostle, will receive in the flesh whether good or evil, since the sinner will have the very material and sense in which to be pricked. Before the resurrection of the flesh, that is, before the bramble puts forth its thorns, his soul, which is living, is swallowed up alive for punishment, to be punished like the rich man of the Gospel.

But amid these things the joy of every righteous man, resting like Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham, is shown. For there follows: "The righteous will rejoice when he sees vengeance; he will wash his hands in the blood of the sinner. And man will say: Is there then fruit for the righteous? There is indeed a God who judges them on the earth." The joy of the righteous is when he sees vengeance, because, while sinners are to be punished, he rejoices that he has been led by angels into eternal rest: not washing his hands in the blood of sinners, but, since sinners are in blood because they are guilty of blood, he will keep his hands washed of all guilt of blood. He testified this very thing in another psalm when he says: "I have hated the assembly of the wicked and will not sit with the ungodly; I will wash my hands among the innocent." And having recalled the duties of innocence he added: "Do not destroy my soul with the ungodly, nor my life with men of blood." In the blood of sinners, that is, he will wash his hands among the innocent. And these are men of blood to such a degree that the blood of all who were killed from Abel to Zechariah is to be required of them, and, when Pilate washed his hands, they declared that the blood of the righteous one was upon themselves and their own.

But while the righteous washes his hands and rejoices, man will say: "Will there be fruit for the righteous?" And he says that there certainly is, because God is on the earth judging them. Man, then, saying, "Is there fruit for the righteous?", undoubtedly awaits judgment; yet the righteous has already been judged on earth, since he has been led by angels into Abraham's bosom, according to that saying: "He who believes in me is not judged, but passes from death to life; but he who does not believe has already been judged." Since, then, the saint, who is to pass from death to life, is not to be judged, and the unbeliever has already been judged for punishment, it is understood that judgment remains for those who are to be judged, according to the quality of their deeds, between sins and faith, by our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed for ever and ever. Amen.

The heading of the psalm does not differ from the preceding one, but the psalm differs in that certain things done to David himself are set before it: "When Saul sent and watched his house to kill him." But if the prayer were to be directed to God only for this reason, it would not have been necessary to set before it those earlier words, that is, "for the end," "do not destroy" or "do not corrupt," and "for the inscription of a title." These, however, though distributed especially by spiritual reasoning (since Christ is the end of the law, his eternity was not subjected to corruption, and the title of his glorious death is for the salvation of the nations), nevertheless declare that even the things set down about his deeds are prophetic, since David, as a prophet not ignorant of the Lord's passion, taught on the occasion and at the time of the hatreds he was suffering that he was a prophet both by suffering and by speaking. We shall treat the psalm in such a way as not to burden the understanding of those who are wise according to the letter; but also so that his being watched by Saul to be killed is no less a prophecy of that time when the Lord was shut in and watched for death by the people in Jerusalem as in his own house.

"Rescue me from my enemies, Lord, and free me from those who rise against me. Rescue me from those who work iniquity, and free me from men of blood." He has included the causes and progress of human vices, so that we might know where ungodliness arose and to what it would come. And for this reason the Gospel restrained anger, quarrels, and enmities (since being angry with a brother without cause brings the guilt of Gehenna, and the offering of a gift is not allowed except after reconciliation of a quarrel, and it decrees that enemies are not only to be loved but also prayed for), because from these one arrives at being a man of blood. For first they are enemies; then they rise against the one whose enemies they are; and rising, they are workers of iniquity; finally, workers of iniquity have advanced to being men of blood. And not only murder committed but also murder contemplated completes the man of blood.

For there follows: "For they have hunted my soul; the strong have rushed upon me. Neither my iniquity nor my sin, Lord; without iniquity I ran and went straight." David's soul was hunted when he was shut in his house to be killed. And although he was rescued from Saul's hands, yet those who desired his blood are men of blood. But according to the heading of the psalm, the prayer should have been against one, since it was the king who wished it. But the prophetic prayer had to be tempered so that the complaint referred to the people, when the strong rush in and hunt the soul: for he armed them as strong who also entered Judas's heart for the ministry of destruction. These strong ones, then, hunt the soul, and the soul of him in whom there is neither iniquity nor sin, who, running without iniquity, went straight.

And I do not know whether the earlier psalm allows these things to be referred to David, in which it is said: "Behold, I acknowledge my iniquity, and my sin is always before me." So great a difference does not suit the order of the psalms, so that both should be understood to have been said by the same person. But if, because the earlier psalm of confessed sin is later in time, David seems to have said these things before his sin, as one not knowing sin, let us remember that under the same sin he said, in confession of human necessity: "For behold, I was conceived in iniquities, and in sins my mother bore me"; according to that saying: "For who will boast that he has a pure heart before God, not even if he were an infant of one day?", since even according to the apostle both the origin and the law of sin remain in us. These words, then, will not suit a human conscience.

But let us see whether these words denying iniquity of oneself do not suit the complaints of him who did no sin and in whom no deceit was found, who also said: "Behold, the prince of the world will come and will find nothing in me": that is, no charge of sin would be found in him, by which, through sin, he would condemn sin in the flesh. Here, then, he is to be understood as complaining that his soul was hunted and the strong rushed upon him; he who had this security in complaint, so as to profess that there was neither iniquity nor sin in him, and who said that he ran without iniquity, according to that saying: "He exulted like a giant to run the way. His going out is from the height of heaven, and his return to its height."

He alone, then, running, went straight, who, having taken the lowliness of our weakness, went out from the heavens and returned to the heavens; who, carrying us back with him and about to offer us to God as a gift, prayed: "Arise to meet me and see, Lord God of hosts, God of Israel. Attend to visiting all the nations; have no mercy on all who work iniquity." He prays that the God of hosts arise to meet him to visit all the nations: for in him the nations have been raised together and seated at his right hand in the heavenly places. And it was fitting that his return be adorned by the honour of a heavenly meeting, so that the Father's favour should not be lacking when he was about to enter the heavens. Nor is this surprising, since God the Father came down, as it were in the forefront of heaven, to meet Stephen, the first martyr of his name. So he prays that all the nations be visited at his meeting, according to that saying: "For God did not send his Son into this world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him." For rejoicing angels and opened heavens honoured his descent into flesh and his birth from Mary. This prayer for a meeting, then, is not shameless, for to him, the firstborn from the dead, for the salvation of the nations, as is contained both in another psalm and in the apostolic testimony, the voice of the one who met him was this: "You are my Son, today I have begotten you." He entreats, then, this meaning of his being met for the nations to be visited in him, yet without passing over the severity of judgment, since mercy is turned away from all who work iniquity: all the nations visited in him because he became flesh, but likewise all who do iniquity judged.

For with a diapsalma interposed he declares what was to await the ungodliness of the people. For soon followed both the desolation of the temple, the overthrow of the city, and the captivity of the people themselves. Indeed, even now they are forbidden entry into that same city by edict of the Roman emperor. And when they remember the holy of holies deserted, the prophecies silent, the sacrifices of propitiation lacking, and all the dignity of the Levitical ministry disfigured, turned back now and afflicted with hunger for the word of God and for saving food, they are accustomed to go around the city for consolation in their present miseries. For this follows: "They will return at evening and suffer hunger like dogs and go around the city." God announces the time of this hunger through another prophet too, when he says: "Behold, I will bring a hunger upon the land: not a hunger for bread, nor a thirst for water, but a hunger for the word, that the word of God be heard"; rebuking their shamelessness and madness by calling them dogs, according to that saying: "Free my only one from the mouth of the lion and from the hand of the dog." And they have this grief of their inner conscience when they groan over being scattered, captive, tributary, without temple, without priest, without kingdom; and this after they laid ungodly hands on the Lord of majesty and Saviour of the world.

But when they are convicted of the sin of crucifying the only-begotten God, they do not cease to be ungodly; and, inflamed with grief that the knowledge of God has been transferred to the Gentiles, they still rage with mouth and words. For there follows: "Behold, they will speak with their mouth, and a sword is on their lips."

But this ungodliness of disparaging and attacking is condemned by the divine word not only in them but also in the nations that refuse to hear, thus: "For who has heard? And you, Lord, will laugh at them; you will count all the nations as nothing." When no one hears, they are laughed at by God; for where "who?" is said, either a rare person or none is signified: none, according to that saying, "Who is like you among the gods, Lord?"; rare, when it is said, "Who will give out of Sion the salvation of Israel?" They are laughed at, then, who do not hear and in whose mouth and lips there is a sword; because God who dwells in the heavens will mock the kings and rulers gathered against God and his Christ. He will also spurn all the nations that were visited and did not obey; because, although from them there is some portion, however small, of believers, yet the whole is reckoned by the majority, according to the Lord's saying: "When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" Not that it will not be found in some, to whom it will be said, "Come, blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world"; but since the faithful from all nations are few, it is not brought about by the few that all nations are not unbelieving. And the chief reason the nations are to be laughed at is that, while the folly of worldly prudence reproaches him as crucified, dead, and buried, not understanding the mystery of great godliness, they do not believe that the Son of God rose from the dead and is the Lord of majesty.

But he, having power to lay down his soul and to take it up again, because he received this command from the Father, added after the nations were laughed at and spurned: "I will keep my strength for you, for God is my upholder: my God, his mercy will go before me; my God has shown me among my enemies." He will keep his strength for God, that is, his soul, which he laid down to take up again; for no one will take it from him, since God is his strength and his refuge, into whose hands he commended his spirit. His mercy will go before him, so that he is understood to be Son of God even before the resurrection: when, as he dies, the sun is darkened and light perishes; when, as he hangs on the cross, the earth trembles; when, as he descends to the underworld, the underworld does not hold his saints; when, as he gives up his spirit, the veil of the temple is torn, as though the spiritual guard were breaking out from there; when finally the centurion cries out, "Truly this was the Son of God." Having kept his strength for God, then, because the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it, and his mercy going before him, he showed him among his enemies that he was his upholder, since this was made plain even by the confession of an enemy: the centurion proclaims that he truly is the Son of God. And these things were then known so.

But according to that saying, "And they will look on him whom they pierced," God will show also in the future, among his enemies, that he is his upholder, since, according to the apostle, when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, what remains of Israel will be saved, so that what is written may be fulfilled: "The deliverer will come from Sion and will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; and this will be my covenant with them, when I take away their ungodliness." To signify this mercy and hope laid up, then, he added: "Do not kill them, lest at some time they forget your law; scatter them in your power and destroy them, Lord my protector: the sins of their mouth, the word of their lips; and let them be caught in their pride, and from cursing and lying they will be torn away in the consummation; in the anger of the consummation they will not be, and they will know that God rules Jacob and the ends of the earth." Enemies indeed for our sake, but beloved for the sake of the fathers; what remains of them is reserved for mercy. Scattered meanwhile among almost all nations, yet by the holiness of their lump and their root they will be freed. They will be destroyed, then, according to the prophecy, not killed but scattered; and destroyed in the sins of their mouth and the word of their lips, when the deliverer comes from Sion, of whom they cried "Crucify, crucify," and to whom they said, "We have Abraham as father," and again, "Who gave you this authority?" and "By what authority do you do these things?" In this pride, then, they will be caught, when they do not recognize that they inflicted these things on their Saviour; and, ungodliness having been turned away, they will be torn from cursing and lying, and this in the consummation, because when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, then what remains of Israel will be saved. In the anger of the consummation they will not be, because he who comes from Sion will turn away their ungodliness; yet they will not cease to be, they who are to know and will know that the God of Jacob rules the ends of the earth: no longer known in the measuring line of the inheritance and in the portion of Jacob, but the God of Jacob, that is, he who was understood and seen as God in a man by Jacob, is ruler of the ends of the earth, of which he is also to be confessed creator.

But meanwhile the punishment of their desolation and dispersion awaits them. For although this dispensation of mercy is reserved for the consummation of the times for the sake of the fathers and the elect, yet with a diapsalma interposed it is shown, by a repeated meaning, what has been appointed for them meanwhile. For there follows: "And they will return at evening and suffer hunger like dogs and go around the city. They will be scattered to eat; and if they are not filled, they will also murmur." The city lost and the temple deserted, and, according to the edicts of the Roman emperor, going only around the city and not entering it, hunger will afflict them, not for this bread and food, but for the offerings, sacrifices, and visions with which they used to be filled, barking with the shamelessness of dogs against their guardian. And they will be scattered to eat: because in different places they imitate the appearance of that lawful priesthood, of burnt offering and circumcision, although these were established as lawful only within Jerusalem. But scattered to eat, they are not filled. For they will be satisfied only by the solemnities that are holy and pleasing to God and religious by the constitution of that place and temple. But they will murmur still, not tamed even by this hunger for their festivals, so as to come to their senses in the quiet of repentance, as after the murmuring with which they provoked God in the desert.

But amid these things he concludes all his hopes and thanksgivings at the end of the psalm, saying: "But I will sing to your strength; I will exalt your mercy in the morning, for you have become my upholder and my refuge in the day of my tribulation. My helper, to you I will sing psalms, for God is my upholder, my God my mercy." All these can be referred to the prophet's thanksgiving; but neither are they different from the Lord's confession. For this dispersion of theirs followed the ungodliness of the passion. But that he will exult in the morning in the mercy of God, because he has become his upholder and refuge, seems to be referred to the time of the resurrection; because, although the praise of God is to be sung by the prophet at every time, yet the exultation of morning thanksgiving belongs properly to him who rose from the dead at dawn and was to return to the heavens, our Lord, the witness, Christ, who is blessed for ever and ever. Amen.