Selected Comments on the Psalms 1161–1179

[Ps 4, continued] builds with the one who cannot complete by himself what is being built; and the same must be understood of the city that is guarded. And just as, if I were to say that the farmer’s good, which produces the fruit, is mixed, from the chosen good of the farmer’s art and the unchosen good from Providence in the right temperature of the air and the fall of sufficient rain, so the good of the rational being is mixed from his own choice and the divine power that breathes together with the one who has chosen the best things. Not only, then, to become noble and good is there need both of our choice and of the divine breathing-with, which is, as far as we are concerned, unchosen; but also for one who has become noble and good to remain in virtue; for even the one who has been perfected will fall away if he becomes overly lifted up by his excellence and inscribes himself as its cause, not referring the due glory to the one who contributed much more to the acquisition and maintenance of virtue. Some such cause, we think, lies also behind what is said in Ezekiel, that he walked blameless in all his ways until lawlessness was found in him, and behind his having fallen from heaven, according to Isaiah, being once the morning star rising early, and afterward broken to the ground. For it is true not only of the sons of men that, if someone is perfect but the wisdom from God is absent, he will be reckoned as nothing, but also of the angelic and ruling order, and of every order that is divine insofar as God is present to it. Perhaps it is because he saw that our power of choice is much less than God’s power toward the acquisition of goods that the holy Apostle says that the end “is not of the one who wills, nor of the one who runs, but of God who has mercy” — not as though God has mercy without willing and running, but because willing and running are nothing in comparison with God’s mercy; and therefore the inscription of the good must be referred rather to God’s mercy than to human willing and running.

We have examined these things, though we seem to have digressed at length, persuaded that they are necessary for “Many say: Who will show us good things?” For as far as possible the word has presented and shown to the many who say “Who will show us good things?” what the good things are, and clearly also what the evil things are, so that through ascetic exercises and prayers we may acquire the good and overthrow the evil from our souls. But since in speaking one sometimes uses words in their proper sense and sometimes by extension, it is no wonder if at times we find the names “good” and “evil” applied to the bodily and the so-called external things among those who do not hold sound doctrines; as in Job: “If we received good things from the hand of the Lord, shall we not endure evil things?” and in Jeremiah: “Evils came down from the Lord upon the gates of Jerusalem.” For instead of saying, “If we received such pleasant and sweet things, which came to us from Providence, shall we not bear bitter and painful things readily?” it says: “If we received good things from the hand of the Lord, shall we not endure evil things?” And instead of saying, “By Providence such and such things came upon Jerusalem because of

[Ps 4, continued] … “The light of your face has been signed upon us, Lord,” and so on. That God is light, John says in his Catholic Epistle: “God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.” And even if he is called fire, as Paul says in the Epistle to the Hebrews, “For our God is a consuming fire” — showing that he is the God of the law and of the Gospel, that is, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore our God — we must not think that the consuming fire is anything other than the light, differing only in our conception of it. Just as it happens with the bodily light: the same substance, insofar as it gives light, is light, and insofar as it masters certain materials, burning and consuming them, is consuming fire; so too God destroys the worse and consumes vice, but is light to those who are fit and pure in heart. And in the way that bodily light works together with those who have healthy eyes both for seeing it and for seeing the objects of sense, in the same way God, reaching by a certain power to the mind of each, if the mind he reaches is in no way veiled and has suffered nothing from the passions that hinders its own keen sight, becomes the cause both of his being understood and of the mind enlightened by him reaching the other intelligible things. It is no wonder if some who are clear-sighted in certain arts or sciences, or very sharp in understanding certain ethical and logical problems, are ignorant of God. For we liken their reasoning faculty to an eye that gazes at anything rather than the sun, and never lifts itself to look at its rays. But just as the sun’s ray reaches the face of one who looks toward it, and one who is turned toward it cannot fail to have a share of the sun, so we must think that the one who contemplates the law of the divine word, having applied his mind to understanding God, certainly shares in God. I think that the Prophet shows this here when he says: “The light of your face has been signed upon us, Lord.” For, he says, a sign of the light in your face, reaching us, has been imprinted on us, and the very light of your face has been engraved, so that the one who knows how to see the sign of God’s light, signed upon him, then understands that this has come about in us. And I think this secret is shown also in Exodus, that, when Moses conversed more with God and was with him, his face was glorified, so that

[Ps 4, continued] the sons of Israel could not gaze at his glory, and for that reason the servant took a veil and spoke with the people. Every soul devoted to God, which has entered into his truth, unseen by the many, and has shared in his divinity, becomes impossible for the many to take in, so that it deals with the lesser ones veiled, speaking to them what suits them. That what is named the face of God, enlightening the ruling faculty that can receive its rays, becomes the cause of knowledge, is shown by the sixty-sixth psalm, which runs thus: “God have mercy on us and bless us, make his face shine upon us, that your way may be known on earth, your salvation among all the nations,” and so on. Those who share thus in the light and can say in deed, “The light of your face has been signed upon us, Lord,” have the light in which they have shared as the cause of their suffering nothing at the time when those who need such remedies are punished. I think this is shown in the Psalms and in Ezekiel: in the Psalms thus: “You have given to those who fear you a sign, to flee from before the bow, so that your beloved may be delivered”; and in Ezekiel: “And the glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherubim, which was upon them, to the court of the house. And he called the man clothed in the long robe, who had the girdle on his loins. And he said to him: Go through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a sign on the foreheads of the men who groan and grieve over all the lawless deeds done in her midst. And to these he said in my hearing: Go after him into the city and strike, and let your eyes not spare, and do not have pity. Kill old man and young man and virgin and infants and women, to wipe them out; but do not come near any on whom is the sign; and begin from my holy places.” For what is the sign given by God to the reverent, or the sign placed on the foreheads of those zealous for truth and groaning over the transgressions done among the people, if not the fellowship of divinity reaching those who understand it soundly?

“You have put gladness into my heart,” and so on. The sense of the verse agrees with what we said on the one before it. For when the light of the Lord’s face is signed upon the saints, what else is it than the heart made glad? We take “heart” for the mind, to which gladness is given as it contemplates God and shares in his divinity. It is not the same thing for the heart to be glad and for the flesh to be glad. For the heart is glad in contemplation, while the flesh is glad in material foods and drinks and sexual unions, when the heart has been made thick and hindered from its own good. When, then, it is said in the Psalms themselves, “Wine gladdens

[Ps 4, continued] the heart of man, and bread strengthens the heart of man,” we must understand the true bread, more nourishing …

“From the fruit of their grain, wine, and oil they have been multiplied,” and so on. The Hebrew had “from the time.” The Seventy too have set it down so, so that the sense of the whole saying is this: “In the time of the harvested seeds of wheat and barley, and of all these legumes, they were multiplied.” Those who receive their ration at the right time were multiplied “from the time” of grain, being benefited toward increase by its timeliness. The same must be said about the wine that gladdens the heart of man.

“In peace I will lie down together and sleep; for you, Lord, alone have made me dwell in hope,” and so on. If the psalm is spoken in the person of Christ, according to the greatness given him by the Father, which is incomparable, so that no one can share in the whole of his greatness, then he consistently says, “alone you have made me dwell.” But if in the person of the prophet, I think the rarity of holiness is shown, especially in sinful generations, such as it was in the days of Elijah, who said: “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have torn down your altars, and I alone am left.” And perhaps one who receives the prize and rises above those of his own generation will say this verse of the psalm. As for “in hope,” if the Savior speaks according to the economy, it is no wonder that, hoping for his own restoration, he says he has been made to dwell in hope by God, according to: “Glorify me, Father, with the glory I had with you before the world was.” “Alone” can also be said by the Savior because of the time when all his disciples were offended and left him. And if the Prophet is the one speaking, “in hope” is clear, since every saint, through love, hopes all things.

[Ps 5] “Give ear to my words, Lord, understand my cry. Attend to the voice of my petition, my King and my God,” and so on. We must consider how great an intelligible voice we must have in order to call upon the understanding of God, and such words as befit the Lord, and a voice of petition that is confident even of the Master’s attention. No one ruled by sin will say to God, “my King”; and those whose god is the belly will not say to God, “my God.”

“In the morning you will hear my voice,” and so on. Let the one who has put off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light say these words.

[Ps 5, continued] “In the morning I will stand before you, and I will look; for you are not a God who wills lawlessness, nor will an evildoer dwell beside you, nor will the lawless remain before your eyes,” and so on. As soon as the sun rises I will stand before you, and I will be in contemplation “that you are not a God who wills lawlessness, nor will an evil man dwell beside you, nor will the lawless remain before your eyes.” For just as a sick man does not remain sick under the eyes of a physician able to heal him, so the lawless will not remain before the eyes of God.

“You hated all who work lawlessness; you will destroy all who speak falsehood,” and so on. Those who stumble in their way of life he named workers of lawlessness, and God hates them; those who have fallen away from the truth, holders of other doctrines, he called speakers of falsehood, whom God will destroy. And note the difference between “you hated” and “you will destroy”: first, whether “you hated” is worse than “you will destroy”; second, why he put the one in the past tense and the other in the future. “You will destroy all who speak falsehood” — not those who spoke, but those who speak falsehood. And if the Lord destroys these, and “every man is a liar,” God destroys all, so that, putting off being men, they may become gods; since, though they had become gods and all sons of the Most High, they became men. The holders of other doctrines, then, God will destroy in the age to come.

“The Lord abhors a man of blood and deceit,” and so on. A man of blood is one born of blood, or a murderer.

“But I, in the abundance of your mercy, will enter your house; I will worship toward your holy temple in fear of you,” and so on. Since the evildoers and the lawless do not dwell beside you, nor remain under your gaze, I by your mercy will enter your house. For so I will also be able to say: “In the morning I will stand before you, and you will look upon me.” And since I will enter your house in no other way than by your mercy, with great reverence, which is named fear of you, I will worship you in spirit and truth, coming to your holy temple. The temple and house of God is the holy and virtuous condition, which those who have it speak of with boldness: “Christ as a son over his house, whose house we are.” Indeed, they address other believers, writing: “You are a holy temple, and your bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit, whom you have from God.” For how is he not a house and temple of God who keeps the word of Jesus, with whom the Son and the Father make their dwelling? One can also call the mind and teaching of the church the house of the Lord and his temple. This is shown from what is written to Timothy: “That you may know how one ought to behave in the house

[Ps 5, continued] of the Lord, which is the church of the living God.” In both senses one enters the house and worships toward the holy temple of the Lord, by the mercy of God rather than by one’s own conduct and prudence.

“Judge them, O God; let them fall from their counsels. According to the multitude of their ungodly deeds thrust them out, for they have provoked you, Lord,” and so on. It is more profitable for the sinner to be judged by God than to be outside judgment. And to fall from wicked counsels is no evil for the one who falls, since he does not come to their wicked end; just as it is not good for better counsels not to come to their end. It is very graceful how he did not say from where he thrust them out, so that it might not be clear to the many. I think it is from their ungodly deeds, according to their multitude. For God does not thrust anyone away from himself: “For those who remove themselves far from you,” it says, “will perish.”

“Lord, lead me in your righteousness because of my enemies; make my way straight before you,” and so on. The one who sets out to think and act rightly has many opponents. For there are envious men and demons, grieved at the good of those who do right. Seeing this, the one in the psalm did not trust his own power to fight off those attacking him, but asked God to stretch out a hand to him, sheltering him unharmed from so many and such great enemies, saying: “You yourself, Master, lead me in your righteousness; for thus it will be achieved that my way is made straight before you.”

“For there is no truth in their mouth; their heart is vain. Their throat is an open grave; with their tongues they have dealt deceitfully,” and so on. Since enemies hinder your way from being shown before my eyes, make it straight before me. For I know that in what they profess about the way they do not speak truly, since there is no truth in their mouth, and their heart is vain. All that is uttered in their throat is dead, since it is an open grave. Their words are calculated sophistries.

“They will rejoice forever, and you will dwell among them,” and so on. An age is a natural system, made of various bodies, containing rational distinctions for the sake of the knowledge of God. “They will rejoice forever,” he says, because there is also an eternal dwelling for them.

“And all who love your name will boast in you; for you, Lord, have blessed the righteous,” and so on. If those who love are better than those who fear, boasting belongs rather to those who love.

[Ps 5, continued] And if there is a reasonable boasting also in the fear of the Lord, it is less than “they will boast in you.” Noah blesses Shem and Japheth; Melchizedek blesses Abraham, and Isaac Jacob, and Jacob the twelve, and Moses the tribes; but above all these and after them the Lord himself will bless the righteous, in keeping with “I who speak am myself present,” and “Will you not go with us yourself?”

“As with a shield of good pleasure you have crowned us,” and so on. The shield and the crown of the righteous are the same, so that the one who is armed is crowned, and the one crowned is armed. This has something like “With a crown of delight he will defend you.” The knowledge of God, then, if it repels enemies, is a shield of good pleasure; if it makes someone reign over the passions, it is called a crown. The knowledge of God is divided into two, practice and contemplation; the shield of good pleasure belongs to practice, the crown to contemplation. The order too is kept: the shield comes before the crown, since practice also comes before contemplation.

[Ps 6] “For the end, in hymns, for the eighth, a psalm of David,” and so on. The eleventh too is “for the eighth.” The titles of this psalm and of the eleventh differ, in that this one is “For the end, in hymns, for the eighth, a psalm of David,” and that one “For the end, for the eighth, a psalm of David.” On the eighth, I think, anger rebukes and wrath disciplines.

“Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath,” and so on. Anger is an impulse of the desire of a gentle soul toward retaliation par excellence. He says, then: “Even if anger rebukes more sharply and wrath disciplines more quickly, I, because of my weakness, ask your mercy to be rebuked and disciplined by another treatment that does not bring so much pain.”

“Heal me, Lord, for my bones are troubled, and my soul is greatly troubled,” and so on. Heal me, sick in soul; for the joints of its bones are troubled, and it itself is greatly troubled.

“And you, Lord, how long?” and so on. This is said elliptically, for “How long will you not rescue my soul, nor save me according to your mercy, nor turn me back?” The one who does not trust that he will be saved by works will say: “Save me for the sake of your mercy.” After hearing that the Lord had taken away his sin, David, wrestling with trials and afflictions and tasting remedies, … asks the physician for release from the remedies.

[Ps 6, continued] “Turn, Lord, rescue my soul; save me for the sake of your mercy,” and so on. He sets down two things here: turning, and rescuing his soul. This was what the righteous most earnestly sought. “Turn,” that is, restore to intimacy. And also rescue it, being among enemies. You turned away because of my sins; turn back because of your love for humankind, having given me over to trials for discipline.

“For in death there is no one who remembers you; and in Hades who will confess to you?” and so on. The one who remembers God, who says, “I am the life,” is not in death. It is not possible, in death, which is the last enemy of God, to remember you; therefore rescue me from it, so that I may remember you again. For this reason too those who sin before death do not remember God. In it no one will confess, or very little; for this is what it shows; perhaps because of “Let death come upon them, and let them go down alive into Hades.” Those who go down alive into Hades can remember God, as not being in death, and confess to him.

“I have grown weary in my groaning,” and so on. With such groaning the sons of Israel groaned in Egypt and were heard. And Paul, saying, “We who are in this tent groan,” does the same. Such too is: “I roared from the groaning of my heart.” And it is not enough to groan; one must groan so as to grow weary. We shall gracefully use this saying as an exhortation to chastity: “Every night I will wash my bed,” saying that “Every night I will wash my bed” is rightly said only by those who always keep pure from sexual union; and these, devoting themselves to prayer, wet their couch with tears over their sins of old. That is why he said: “Blessed are those who weep now.”

“My eye was troubled by anger; I grew old among all my enemies,” and so on. Nothing blinds the mind like troubled anger. Because of this trouble of the eye, even one who seems to see intelligible things sees not clearly but confusedly. “I grew old,” that is: I have become old and long-lived, spending my life among them where they are; or: I took up among them the old man with his deeds, “who is being corrupted according to the desires of deceit.”

“Depart from me, all who work lawlessness,” and so on. To work lawlessness always belongs to demons; not always, to human beings; never, to angels.

“For the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping.

[Ps 6, continued] The Lord has heard my petition; the Lord has accepted my prayer,” and so on. The one who understands the blessing of those who weep, and weeps, will say these things to all the workers of lawlessness present with him, visible and invisible. First God hears the voice and the weeping, then the petition, then he accepts the prayer.

“Let all my enemies be ashamed and greatly troubled,” and so on. Shame brings the sinner to awareness. “Stop bringing reproaches against me,” he says; “consider your own evils, and be filled with shame and trouble.” For the divine tribunal is just and fearful.

“Let them be turned back and be greatly ashamed, quickly,” and so on. If we conquer, the opposing powers are put to shame, especially when the man is found stronger than they, and confounds and troubles them by his own wisdom. Perhaps he also turns them back ashamed, and the saint does this quickly.

Of the same. You will understand that these things are said also to the invisible enemies who wrought his downfall, envious of his progress toward God, and who attacked him after his sin, when they said: “There is no salvation for him in his God.”

[Ps 7] “Lord my God, in you I have hoped; save me from all who pursue me, and rescue me, lest like a lion he seize my soul,” and so on. At each provocation to sin we are pursued by the one who works the provocation. Understand from this how many pursue a person, from whom the Prophet prays to be rescued, since if he were not rescued his soul would be seized as by a lion.

“Lord my God, if I have done this, if there is injustice in my hands,” and so on. For freedom from resentment

[Ps 7, continued] the saying is useful. “If I have done this,” he says, “which I suffer; if I rose up against my father or acted lawlessly.” For he puts forward his freedom from resentment, calling forth the mercy of God.

“If I have repaid those who repaid me with evil, then may I fall empty from my enemies,” and so on. If the law, our tutor, permits repaying evil, as to those still children under a tutor, this man was no longer a child in Christ, but from then on a man of the Gospel. “Then may I fall”: the righteous man, having conquered, comes away from his enemies full; but the base man, as conquered, falls from them empty, having nothing of fullness.

Of the same. Empty is the one who does not say: “And from his fullness we have all received.” Such people are also called reeds, nourishing beasts within themselves, about which it is said: “Rebuke the beasts of the reed.” And “The devil sleeps beside papyrus,” says Job, “and rush and reed.” For he is king of those in the waters.

“Then let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it, and trample my life into the ground, and lay my glory in the dust,” and so on. The life of one who still bears the image of the man of dust has been trampled into the ground by the enemy. And even if such a one seems at times to be glorified, his glory has been laid in the dust, as with those who do anything for glory and for praise from the many, or for acceptance from them.

“Arise, Lord, in your wrath; be exalted in the boundaries of my enemies,” and so on. “Arise” is not to be understood bodily, but as the power of punishing and consuming.

Of the same. If the wrath of God disciplines those who did not wish to be disciplined by his word, the one who says these things prays that some may be disciplined. When the enmity reaches its end and boundary, as the enemies of Christ are abolished, the Lord is exalted in the very boundaries of the enemies; and in each of those who were enemies of Christ through vice the Lord is exalted, when the enmity has reached its end and reconciliation and friendship have their beginning. You will say the same also of the enemies of the righteous man.

“Awake, Lord my God, in the command which you commanded, and an assembly of peoples will surround you,” and so on. Instead of: Awake with the command which you commanded, commanding it to powers working together with the assembly of peoples that surrounds you. “And for its sake return on high. The Lord will judge peoples,” and so on. Return to the height from which you came down, after the resurrection.