Selected Comments on the Psalms 1261–1279

[Ps 22, continued] scourges and punishments, Scripture itself will testify, saying, “If my sons forsake my law and do not walk in my judgments, if they profane my ordinances and do not keep my commandments, I will visit their lawless deeds with a rod and their sins with scourges, but my mercy I will not scatter from them.” So if you have sinned and see the rod of God laid upon you, know that the mercy of God has not been scattered from you. But if you have sinned and there is no rod anywhere, nor scourge, be afraid: God does not accept you, he “who scourges every son whom he accepts.” Such things are said about sinners when they are not scourged: “But as for me, my feet were almost shaken; my steps had nearly slipped … for there is no refusal in their death, and firmness in their scourge. They are not in the toils of men, and they will not be scourged with men. Therefore pride took hold of them; they clothed themselves with their injustice and ungodliness.” “Your rod and your staff.” A rod would suffice; what does a staff do? If you are a sinful sheep, you will be struck with a rod; if you are a sinful man, with a staff. That is why, in their case, it is named not a rod but a staff by Solomon in the Proverbs: “He who spares the staff hates his own son.” These things, then, comfort the one who is beaten and punished, persuaded that God scourges every son whom he accepts. By the same. As a rod disciplines, so the practical life teaches moderation of the passions; and as a staff gives rest, so knowledge gladdens. The staff is what is strong. So he means: “Your mighty kingdom became the supplier of this comfort to me.”

“You prepared a table before me, over against those who afflict me,” etc. What does “over against those who afflict me” mean? It holds an unspeakable mystery, so that one should pray to be afflicted. Think with me: as in the great games prizes are set for each contest, so for each affliction, when what afflicts is present, and the afflicting opposing powers, think of a spiritual and intelligible table prepared because of this affliction. So as often as you are afflicted, so often is a spiritual table set before you. Only have eyes that see my tables, so that you may say with thanksgiving, with the Apostle, “And not only that, but we also boast in afflictions.” At the beginning we said that the one who is making progress dwells in a place of green pasture. Since, then, the one making progress, if he reaches the end, no longer remains a sheep but, shown to be rational, has a table of rational food made ready by the Lord. For to one who attains to the Lord wisdom will prepare her own table, on which she offers her own sacrifices. Giving thanks, then, he says, “You prepared before

[Ps 22, continued] me a table,” no longer introductory and moral teaching, as before, but mystical teaching and the contemplation of the truth. Consider whether, as long as one is in this life, seeing through a mirror and in a riddle, he is a sheep led by a shepherd; but, having passed into the age to come and meeting the truth face to face, he will come to a spiritual table, according to “And I appoint to you a covenant, to eat and drink at the table of my Father in the truth.” Hence also: “God has prepared what eye has not seen,” and what follows. And “before me” shows that my table has been made manifest and known, over against those who afflict me, the many who wish to be my enemies. And the Lord, wishing me to rise up strongly against them by means of those who afflict me, prepared a table before me, on which solid food is laid, so that, having eaten my fill of it like an athlete, I may be able to resist nobly those who afflict me. And the one whose head is anointed with oil by the Lord will say, “But let not the oil of a sinner anoint my head,” as Christ is anointed by God with the oil of gladness. And I think that one who fasts in this way anoints his head and washes his face. And since wisdom not only prepared a table but also mixed her wine in a bowl, wine born from the true vine itself, and mixed this wine by blending divine thoughts with human words, she gives each a cup apportioned from such a bowl; and this cup, being most excellent, that is, precious and choice, is said to belong to the one who has received it. By the same. Earlier Christ shepherds the sheep as a shepherd; but now, as a friend, he calls his friends to the table. “No longer,” he says, “do I call you servants, but friends.” The fear of God makes servants; the knowledge of the mysteries of God makes friends. Here he calls the table immortality. And “over against those who afflict me” stands for “against the will of those who plot against me.” For the Babylonians perhaps did not want them released; but Cyrus, having become stronger, released them from captivity.

“And your mercy will pursue me all the days of my life,” etc. Who is the mercy that pursues, if not he of whom the Apostle says, “He became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption”? The pursuer, a living Mercy, pursues you; some he overtakes, others not. Those who flee hard he does not overtake; but those who flee less he seizes, to have mercy on them. And mercy not only pursues, but also brings it about “that I dwell in the house of the Lord for length of days.” For length of time and years of life are in the right hand of wisdom;

[Ps 22, continued] and the days of life are the various illuminations of the truth.

[Ps 23 LXX / 24] “The earth is the Lord’s, and its fullness, the world and all who dwell in it,” etc. Consider it this way too: whether not all men are the Lord’s portion, so that one should not take it simply that all who dwell in the world are the Lord’s—unless indeed this is prophesied because of the calling from all the nations. By the same. Before Christ’s coming God was known only in Judea; but since Christ came, the whole earth is the Lord’s. And before Christ’s coming one could not find fullness in all the earth, but most of the earth was, if one may say so, emptiness; but when Christ came, many of those who believed from the nations could say, “From his fullness we have all received,” and therefore they are his fullness. For those empty of the gospel way of life could not be Christ’s fullness. And not only the earth and its fullness, but also the world. The sinner dwells in a desert; but the one who is in the church, which is filled with the holy Trinity, dwells in the inhabited world, which is the church, founded by the Lord upon the seas of temptations and conquering in them, so that after this, watered, it may be prepared upon the river.

“Who will ascend to the mountain of the Lord, and who will stand in his holy place?” etc. Compare this with “Lord, who will sojourn in your tent?” and what follows; and see that there such a man first sojourns in the tent of the Lord and then dwells on his holy mountain; but here such a man first ascends to the mountain of the Lord, and second stands in his holy place. By the mountain of the Lord he means the final good and God the Word; for rare is the one who can ascend to its summit by progress. But the one who has been perfected, no longer able to go further, stands firm and is called a holy place of God. For walking behind the Lord he ascends, “forgetting what lies behind and straining toward what lies ahead,” having as his good end to stand with God in his holy place. If you wish to take an example from the sacred writings: Moses stood in the place of God’s sanctuary, to whom God said, “But you, stand here with me.” But since you seek the sanctuary of God where one must stand: “And he set my feet upon a rock,” say the prophets, since “the rock was Christ.” Let us learn who it is that will obtain these promises.

“Innocent in hands and pure in heart,” etc.

[Ps 23, continued] He answers the question: such a man is both practical and contemplative. But many have pure actions, yet, doing this for the praise of men, are not pure in heart. A vain soul is one that is rational but does not flee what is harmful and choose the good. The one who keeps the “yes” and the “no” makes his oath without deceit, having blessing as his prize; and God will save him by mercy and grace. For whatever sort of man he may be, he needs the mercy that comes from God. By the same. Judas went up to the mountain of the Lord, but did not stand in his holy place; for he was not innocent in hands nor pure in heart, but was a thief, carrying off what was put in. By the same. Since some have pure actions but are not pure in heart, he added “pure in heart.” For the one who succeeds in actions must also be pure in knowledge.

“This is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.” But no one who seeks the face of God will see the face of God here: “For no man,” he says, “shall see my face and live.” You must change, so that, seeking the face of God, you may see it. You must put off everything human; you must already become an angel, and God. “For do not despise,” says the Saviour, “one of these little ones in the church. For truly I tell you that their angels continually see the face of my Father in heaven.” This, then, is the generation of those who seek the Lord, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. By the same. If it belongs to angels continually to see the face of God, and men too seek to see this face, then men too seek the knowledge of angels, if indeed a man can eat the bread of angels.

“Lift up your gates, O rulers, and be lifted up, eternal gates, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts,” etc. He calls the virtues gates: “Open to me,” he says, “the gates of righteousness.” As the gates of righteousness are opened, so also those of self-control and courage and love and long-suffering, through which the knowledge of God naturally enters, as though God goes before them, having broken up the captivity and declared the captives victors. And as they enter a splendid city with a display of trophies, the crowds call out, “Lift up your gates, O rulers.”

[Ps 23, continued] By the same. He did not say, “Open the gates that you rule and guard,” but “lift up.” For as, coming down, he bowed the heavens and descended without opening them, in the same way, when taken up, he entered not by gates that were opened but by gates that were taken away. By the same. “And be lifted up, eternal gates.” He says “be lifted up” to them as to rational beings; and they are spiritual and not temporary, because they are immaterial and pure.

“The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in war,” etc. “Take courage,” says the Saviour, “I have overcome the world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out.”

“The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory,” etc. They called him Lord of hosts as commander of armies. It should be noted that those who have studied Hebrew closely say that the Seventy, rendering into Greek the word “Sabaoth” that stands in the Hebrew, sometimes put “Lord of hosts,” sometimes “Lord strong,” sometimes “Almighty.” They say, then, that in this place too the “Sabaoth” that stands there was rendered “Lord of hosts.” If “Sabaoth” is applied to the Saviour, it is translated “Almighty.” Fittingly the word “Almighty” would be predicated of the Saviour; for if “all things came into being through him,” and he is before all things, he is consistently called Almighty.

[Ps 24 LXX / 25] “Let those who act lawlessly without cause be put to shame,” etc. It is possible to act lawlessly not without cause: “I became to those without law as one without law”; this lawlessness is not without cause. Turn the shame, Master, upon those who act lawlessly against us, who have done no wrong; for this is what “without cause” means.

“Make known to me your ways, O Lord, and teach me your paths,” etc. Let the one who wants to know the ways of the Lord become meek; for “he will teach the meek his ways,” those who have stopped the unceasing battle in the soul of anger and desire and the passions subordinate to them. “Make known to me” and “teach” he says of realities. For he means, “Establish me in the enjoyment of your works,” that is, “Bring me into what is my own”; hence he adds, “Lead me into your truth.”

“Remember not the sins of my youth and of my ignorance,” etc. For the things in which he still errs

[Ps 24 LXX / 25, continued] someone does not confess when he repents; so also the sins committed in youth and in ignorance are no longer active in one who has passed beyond youth. One might also call the instability of character “youth,” when someone sins in ignorance, until God grants such a person perception. For it is said, “to give shrewdness to the innocent.” These words do not fit David, against whom no sin of youth is recorded; rather, he teaches all who have fallen into youthful sins to show them, like old wounds, to the one who can heal them, through confession.

“According to your mercy remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord,” etc. Men, when they remember things, stir up in themselves the images of what they knew before; but God, when he remembers the rational nature, comes to be in it. For he is said to remember that in which he has room. And he has room first through the contemplation of the things that have come to be, and then also through the knowledge of himself.

“Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he will give law to sinners in the way. He will guide the meek in judgment; he will teach the meek his ways,” etc. “For law is not laid down for the righteous.” For this reason, he says, since justice too belongs to him, he gives law to those who sin in the way, that is, he turns sinners back to godliness; and toward sinners, he says, he shows justice, but toward the others goodness. Hence he adds, “He will guide the meek in judgment; he will teach the meek his ways.”

“Look upon me and have mercy on me, for I am an only one and poor,” etc. The one who does and says everything for the sake of the knowledge of God always has the eyes of his soul toward the Lord. If anyone has not received the spirit of adoption and has not become a brother of the holy powers and of Christ himself, let him say that he is an only one and poor, deprived of the wealth of knowledge. But I think David sings these words in modesty; for God had made known to him the unseen and hidden things of his wisdom.

“The afflictions of my heart have multiplied; bring me out of my distresses. See my humiliation and my toil, and forgive all my sins,” etc. Not every toil removes sins, but the toil added to the practical life for the Lord’s sake. Be satisfied, he says, Master, with the afflictions brought upon me, and cut short the penalty I owe for the multitude of my offences. A man is humbled when he has no boldness because he is aware of his sins, and he toils for fruits of repentance.

“Let me not be put to shame, for I hoped in you,” etc. Hope does not put to shame. For it is the daughter of tested character, and tested character is the offspring of endurance; and endurance comes from afflictions, which the virtues bring about, and which the knowledge of God follows.

[Ps 25 LXX / 26] “Burn my kidneys,” etc. The kidneys are a symbol of the passionate part of the soul, that is, of anger and desire; the heart, of the reasoning part.

“For your mercy is before my eyes, and I was well pleasing in your truth,” etc. The one who understands the things concerning mercy will say this, remembering the contemplation concerning mercy: your mercy, contemplated by me, because it is before my eyes, works together toward my being well pleasing in your truth. For the mercy of God makes one well pleasing in truth and not in pretence. The voice is that of one who is wise and contemplates the truth. Then he goes through the forms of being well pleasing. By the same. If the truth is Christ our God, as he said, “I am the truth,” and David was well pleasing to God in the truth, then David was well pleasing to God in God. Therefore, he says, I hastened to be well pleasing to your truth, instead of “to you”; for by a periphrasis he calls God himself “the truth of God.”

“I did not sit with a council of vanity, and I will not go in with lawbreakers. I hated the assembly of evildoers, and I will not sit with the ungodly,” etc. The council of vanity: heretical presbyters; the lawbreakers: lawless laymen. The assembly of evildoers: a heretical congregation; and the ungodly: heretical presbyters. With these, he says, I did not gather, nor did I join with those who transgress the divine law. Above all I turned away from those who outrage divine worship, gathering, so they claim, in a church; and besides these, from the ungodliness of idolaters, with whom I thought it dangerous even to spend time. By the same. These words should be said to … and heretics. He set all this down wishing to show that he never shared in the festivals of the idols, nor loved the splendours of the ungodly, nor was the wealth of Babylon a marvel to him; but godliness and humility were his pursuit.

“I will wash my hands among the innocent, and I will go around your altar, O Lord,” etc. The rational altar of God is our mind, on which, with the fire cast upon the earth by the Saviour, we burn every irrational thought that leaps away from the master’s flock. So when the soul does not incline outward but

[Ps 25, continued] looks to itself and its own centre, it goes around the altar of God, producing no corner that admits corruption; for “folly lurks at a corner,” says the wise Solomon. The altar is the contemplation of bodies and of bodiless things, in which the mind is purified; the one who has gone around it, that is, who has come to know it, tells all the wonders of God.

“Lord, I loved the beauty of your house, and the place of the dwelling of your glory. Do not destroy my soul with the ungodly, nor my life with men of blood, in whose hands are lawless deeds; their right hand is filled with bribes,” etc. I kept my soul free from passion. By the same. He says this as though even a righteous man could perish along with the ungodly. Abraham too said to God, “Will you destroy the righteous with the ungodly? And will the righteous be as the ungodly?” This text should be used for devout men or women who live with wicked people. By the same. “Their right hand is filled with bribes.” Since they worked lawlessness, for that reason they filled their right hand with bribes.

[Ps 26 LXX / 27] “The Lord is my light and my saviour; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” etc. The courageous man, enlightened by knowledge, will say this, such as was the one who said, “Who will separate us from the love of Christ?” For if Christ is truly for us, everyone against us has been brought to nothing. But if we do not take “of my life” of him who said, “I am the life,” but of life understood more simply, the Lord will not be the protector of the life of the martyrs. And Paul, saying, “so that we despaired even of living,” meant the divine life. The one who says these things from the heart will not suffer cowardice; for “the cowardly,” according to the Lord, “have their portion in the lake of fire.” A blind soul stumbles and fears everything, and will deny its confession toward God; but enlightened by God, it first beholds its champion and Saviour, and after that takes courage against its enemies, whether men ignorant of God or invisible powers, since it has the Son himself as helper. For in this Hebrew word, “my saviour,” the name of our Saviour Jesus Christ is written, by the letters with which one would write “Jesus” in Hebrew characters.

“When evildoers drew near to me to eat my flesh, my oppressors and my enemies, they themselves weakened and fell,” etc. When the tempters draw near to us doing evil, wishing to eat

[Ps 26, continued] the flesh that cannot inherit the kingdom of God, and to feed on the works of the flesh that we do when we sin—this flesh being different from the flesh that shall see the salvation of God; and when, doing evil, they draw near to the righteous man, then first they weaken and then they fall, the very touch with which they touch the righteous man punishing them and making them weaken and fall. By the same. If we eat the flesh of Christ (for “he who eats my flesh,” he says, “and drinks my blood”), and the demons eat ours, then perhaps the demons also eat the flesh of Christ, striving to destroy the virtues and the true doctrines in us; for “to eat” is also said for “to destroy.” “If you are willing,” he says, “and listen to me, you shall eat the good things of the land. But if you are not willing and do not listen to me, a sword shall devour you; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things.” Here “shall devour” stands for “destroys,” for a sword does not naturally eat. Or the demons are said to eat our flesh in the sense of what grows out of the flesh. “Now the works of the flesh are plain,” says the holy Apostle, “which are adulteries, sexual immorality, licentiousness, idolatries,” and what follows.

“If an army encamps against me, my heart will not fear,” etc. Such an army is like the Legion that lived in the tombs. And perhaps the army of the opponents is light. The heart, that is, the ruling faculty, will not fear; since its mind is enmity against God, not being subject to the law of God. “If war rises against me,” and what follows. In this, it has been granted to hope in the heart without recall. By the same. Let the practical man fight the foreigners through the virtues; the contemplative pulls down with true doctrines every height raised up against the knowledge of God. He calls the ruling faculty the heart, which will not fear. For perhaps the flesh that has weakened will fear, since its mind is hostile to God, not being subject to the law of God. By the same. “If war rises against me, in this I hope”: in the heart. For I was enlightened by this help of which I had experience; hence I do not fear any other, greater battle line either, since such help shelters me.

“One thing I asked of the Lord, this I will seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the delight of the Lord and to visit his temple; for he hid me in his tent in the day of my troubles; he sheltered me in the hidden place of his tent; he lifted me up upon a rock.” We have learned

[Ps 26, continued] that the house of the Lord is called the church of the living God, built of living stones. Since there is both the kindness and the severity of God, those who dwell in the house of the Lord will see the delight that is in God’s kindness, while those who are outside the house will experience his severity. You will consider whether the temple of the Lord differs from the house of the Lord, and whether the house is the church in correspondence with the Levites and priests. First one is hidden by the Lord in the tent of God in the day of troubles; then he is sheltered in the hidden place of his tent; and third he is lifted up on a rock. He asks, then, to dwell in the church by thinking the things of the church all the days of his enlightened life. While I am on earth, he says, though I need many good things, I make one request for now. For since one cannot come into all good things at once, let not this great and choice one be lacking: “that I may behold,” and what follows. The one who loves the beauty of the house of the Lord wishes to enjoy the sight with delight, and after the contemplation to visit his temple. One beholds the delight of the Lord in seeing the lower doctrines of the church; but having reached those concerning the Trinity, he will survey his temple. And the beauty of the Lord is also the whole virtuous life of those distinguished in godliness. “For he hid me,” and what follows. The enemies, he says, weakened and fell, but I was hidden by his right hand, dwelling in a tent, because I was living in deserts and did not then have the house of God, nor his temple. And in that time of persecutions he sheltered me. The hidden place of the tent is the innermost and inaccessible part, which they called the Holy of Holies. He does not say that the tent was altogether in a place, but in a sanctified condition of the soul, freed from all fellowship with the many. But he did not let me remain hidden to the end, he says, but, wishing me to become useful to others too, lifted me up on the rock, Christ. And it has often been said in other ways that the tent signifies progress and the house perfection. So no one, while the day of troubles is upon him, can be in the house of God; but he is hidden in the shade, since progress shelters the one being freed from wickedness. For those still repenting cannot have perfection. Here too “troubles” may be understood as adversities, and “the hidden place of his tent” of discipline; there we make progress. Some things are open, others mystical; so God does not shelter the one making progress in superficial things. He said “his” tent, since not all progress is according to God; and the rock of perfection succeeded the progress. “He hid” fits progress, and “he lifted up” fits perfection. You might also call the tent the training through the law and the prophets, in which God hides the one being trained, in the mystical sense, lifting him up on the rock, Christ,