Exposition of Psalms 100-150 103.1–103.30

(v. 1) "Bless the Lord, O my soul." As in the preceding psalm, so also in this one that follows, it is the voice of the members of Christ's body. There is one man, whose heart in one faith is one and whose soul is one, urging and rousing himself to the praise of God, so that in the contemplation of creatures the Creator may be magnified. "O Lord my God, you are greatly magnified." Nothing can be added to God's greatness or taken from it: what he is, he always is unchangeably. He is magnified, therefore, not for himself but for us, and the more greatly the more he makes himself known to our understanding; so that it is not his glory but our wonder that advances. "You have clothed yourself with confession and beauty." The Lord our God has clothed himself with confession and beauty, that is, he has clothed himself with the church, which through confession has put off its foulness and received beauty; for the confession of sins is itself the adornment of right deeds. (v. 2) "Wrapped about with light as with a garment." This is his garment, which has neither spot nor wrinkle and has been made splendid by grace, which is also called light, as the apostle says, "You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord." "Stretching out the heaven like a skin." If we think of the making of heaven according to the letter, as in the likeness of a skin stretched out, a certain swiftness is shown, with which the Creator unfolded his work without any delay of difficulty. For he said, "Let there be a firmament between water and water," and so it was done; since "by the word of the Lord the heavens were made firm, and all their power by the breath of his mouth." But if we strive to look into the figurative meaning, we find that God stretched out the heaven like a skin when we understand that holy Scripture is called heaven, whose authority he first set as a firmament in his church, and which he stretched out like a skin over the whole world through the ministries of preachers. And by the word "skin" is signified the mortality of the ministers, while their work remains, through which the truth becomes known everywhere and the invisible things of God are understood and seen through the visible elements of the letters. (v. 3) "You who cover its upper parts with waters." This too is well understood according to the letter; for God commanded that there be a firmament between waters and waters, and so it was done; and part of the waters settled on the earth, while part is set above the heaven, removed from our sight and entrusted to faith. But according to the figure, by which we have taken holy Scripture, with its divine authority, as the firmament of heaven, stretched out like a skin over the world by the report of preaching, let us understand that the upper parts of heaven are covered with waters in this: that in this heaven, that is, in the divine sayings and precepts, nothing is more sublime than love, which surpasses all of God's gifts. For it "has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." This pouring out sounds of the waters of which it is said, "And let your waters run in your streets; let no stranger share them with you." This water, that is, the love of God and of neighbour, is the proper and special virtue of the devout and holy, while the other virtues can be common to the good and the wicked. So the upper parts of heaven are covered with these waters, because the precept of love is above all the heavens, that is, above all the books, and every tongue and every teaching of the saints serves it. And the covering of this water does not press down the heaven of the Scriptures beneath it, but holds it suspended, because on the twofold precept of love the whole Law hangs, and the Prophets. "You who make the clouds your ascent." This was fulfilled visibly when the Lord, taken up by a cloud in the sight of the disciples, ascended into heaven; and the apostle, speaking of the resurrection, says, "Then we who are alive shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet Christ, and so we shall always be with the Lord." But we must see what those clouds are by which one ascends into the heaven of the divine Scriptures. They are, surely, the preachers of the truth, who lift the hearts of their hearers from earthly perceptions and carry them up to the height of heavenly understanding. By these clouds, pouring out the word of God, the vineyard of the Lord of hosts, which is the church, is made fruitful, so that, having received the rain, it may bring forth fruit, and bring forth grapes and not thorns; and may not be such a vineyard as that of which the Lord says through the prophet, "I will command my clouds not to rain upon it," and such as that to which the apostles said, "We were sent to you; but since you have thrust away the word of God, we are going to the gentiles." "Who walks upon the wings of the winds." This can be taken literally, so that we understand the swiftness of the word that ranges through all things in the saying that it walks upon the wings of the winds; for we know nothing swifter than the winds, whose speed is signified by the name "wings"; but swifter than these is the announcement of the truth, which "reaches mightily from end to end and orders all things sweetly." But in a figurative sense, by the name of winds souls are understood, not absurdly: not because they are of the same nature, but because they are likewise invisible. Their wings are the two precepts of love, by which they strive toward the Lord. But since the love of God with which he loved us is greater and loftier than our love toward him, he is therefore said to walk upon the wings of the winds, that is, upon the love of souls: because the love of God goes beyond our love; he poured out the very love with which we love in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (v. 4) "Who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a burning fire." According to the letter, we do not doubt that there are spirits, invisible to us, who are God's ministers, and who are called angels from the office they perform. For "spirit" is the name of a nature, "angel" of an activity. These ministers of his God also makes a burning or blazing fire, as we read that fire appeared in the bush, and that fire was sent from above and fulfilled what was commanded by the ministry of angelic execution. Figuratively, however, all the spiritual in the church are called spirits; they become angels, becoming preachers and messengers of the truth. And they are also fire when they are fervent in spirit and kindle those whom they exhort; having a twofold effect, that they both enlighten souls and burn them, since by the same force they both cast in the ardour of virtue and consume the thorns and thistles of sins. (v. 5) "He founded the earth upon its firmness; it will not be moved for ever and ever." It is asserted with difficulty of this earth that it will not be moved for ever and ever, since it has been said, "Heaven and earth will pass away." Now we can understand its being founded upon its own firmness thus: that the force by which it is sustained and held together is called its firmness; and though this is hidden from us, it is rightly believed to lie in the wisdom and power of the Creator, who made all things firm in himself, in whom he also founded all things. But in a mystical sense we have taken the earth as the church, whose firmness and foundation, upon which the earth is founded, is Christ. "For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus." Not withdrawing from this foundation, it will not be moved for ever and ever.

(v. 6) "The deep is his cloak like a garment; the waters will stand above the mountains." By the name "earth" we have understood the church to be foretold, which, having Christ as its foundation, will not be moved for ever and ever. Yet it is shown that it is to be so surrounded by the flood of persecutions (which are signified beforehand by the names "deep" and "waters") that it is to be covered by the attacking peoples as if by a garment; persecution growing so much that the oppression of the persecutors is to be raised even above the mountains, that is, above all the most eminent of the saints. (v. 7) "At your rebuke they will flee; at the voice of your thunder they will be afraid." This came about when God terrified the nations with the thunder of his rebuke. For the ungodly ceased to oppress the church, and the mountains of God, whose height had been covered by the waters standing over them, recovered their eminence when those same waters receded. For when the Lord thundered, the waters were afraid, and the mountains were stripped of the flood. (v. 8) "The mountains rise, and the plains go down, to the place which you founded for them." The mountains are the swellings of the waters, that is, the waves of the persecuting peoples: while they raged, they were mountains; but rebuked, they grew quiet and became plains, a place having been founded for them in which they might be restrained. This place is understood as a certain measure of fear within which the hearts of those who rage are shut in; so that, even if they still keep the bitterness of their unbelief, they still cannot be lifted up over the sweet waters, that is, the faithful peoples; nor will those great and bitter waves turn back to cover the earth. They have received a limit which they will not pass, nor will they be able to bring a flood upon the church. (v. 10) "Who sends forth springs in the valleys." The Spirit of God rests upon the humble and quiet; and, "He who believes in me," he says, "out of his belly will flow rivers of living water." The valleys, then, signify humility, which is never without the spring of grace. And it is not strange that those who are mountains because of the greatness of the Holy Spirit should be valleys because of the humility of their own spirit: as the apostle Paul was a mountain when he said, "Yet not I," and had the spring when he said, "but the grace of my God with me." "Between the midst of the mountains the waters will pass through." The mountains are the great preachers, who send forth the waters of truth from the valleys of humility. Of this abundance they ascribe nothing to themselves, they claim nothing as their own; but the outflow of the spiritual streams is common and in the midst. Or else: let there be no discord of the mountains about the waters, that is, about the preaching, but let the peace of agreement and the fellowship of love make what flows out one and common. (v. 11) "All the beasts of the forest will drink." We have indeed seen this in creation itself, that the beasts of the forest drink from the springs and from the streams running between the mountains. But since through these things, which are known to all, certain hidden things are signified, at whose discovery the studies of the spiritual rejoice, we understand the beasts of the forest as the nations; for in holy Scripture the nations are often found indicated by the name of beasts. As when beasts of every kind are gathered into Noah's ark, and the dish let down from heaven by four cords in the vision of the apostle Peter, full of all animals, nothing else is declared than that men of every kind are to be gathered in the unity of the church. From these waters, then, which pass through between the mountains, that is, from the apostolic teaching flowing in the midst because of the harmony of communion, every beast of the forest drinks. For all were in the ark, all in the dish. And these waters pass through, because all teaching that is dispensed in this time passes, as the apostle says, "And knowledge will be destroyed, and prophecy will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when what is perfect has come, what is in part will be done away." "The wild asses will receive their thirst." By the wild asses the larger and stronger beasts are named, which take from the passing waters as much as they thirst for. For these waters are so sufficient that both small and great animals draw from them as much as they desire. The apostolic teaching is so wholesome and so life-giving that, according to the capacity of those who use it, it leaves no one without a share in it; for whether little ones or great, weak or strong, they have in it what will nourish them and what will satisfy them. (v. 12) "Above them the birds of the sky will dwell; from the midst of the rocks they will give forth their voice." There are certain birds that dwell only upon the mountains; and by their name spiritual souls are signified, which rejoice in the free air and the clear sky, but have their dwelling and food in the mountains. For the prophets are mountains, the apostles are mountains, all the preachers of the truth and all the lofty teachers are mountains, from whom the spiritual man does not stray, but in them takes both food and rest. Such birds, then, in the mountains in which they dwell, find rocks, certain strongholds of the precepts. For as that one rock is Christ, the Word of God, so the many words of God are many rocks; from the midst of them they give forth their voice, and as they sound, the rocks answer and echo, when the testimonies of the Scriptures agree with their discourses. (vv. 13–14) "Watering the mountains from his upper places." Whatever waters these mountains pour out from their valleys, whatever voices they give forth from the midst of the rocks, they have received from above, and they have been watered by divine grace so as to abound in both waters and voices, with which they might fill the thirsty and delight the hearers, bringing forth what suits each according to the measure of his capacity. "The earth will be satisfied from the fruit of your works, producing grass for the cattle and herbage for the service of men." Let no one glory in his own works as though he had from himself what he has, but "let him who glories, glory in the Lord"; for that by which one is satisfied is the fruit not of one's own merits but of grace. The earth, then, justified and made fruitful by the waterings from above, produces grass for the cattle and herbage for the service of men; so that what is necessary may be supplied to the tillers of the Lord's field who sow the seed of the word, and that those who proclaim the gospel may live by the gospel. For those who receive spiritual things are debtors in carnal things, which are signified by the names of grass and herbage. For who ever serves as a soldier at his own expense? Or who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not get some of the milk of the flock? Food, then, is to be supplied to the service of those who preside. For the preachers of the word are both cattle and servants; and "he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward; he who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet receives a prophet's reward; and whoever gives a cup of cold water to one of these least ones, only in the name of a disciple, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward." (v. 15) "That he may bring forth bread from the earth, and wine may gladden the heart of man." The earth produces grass so that it may bring forth bread from the earth: that is, the holy peoples serve those who devoutly serve them, and by supplying carnal things they receive spiritual things from the preachers of the word of God, who is the bread that came down from heaven. Through these, while they still walk on the earth and carry an earthly body (for which reason they themselves are also called earth), "the cup that inebriates, how excellent it is," is ministered to others, so that those who drink may be filled with the gladness of the Holy Spirit. "That the face may be made cheerful with oil." A certain grace, which is of men toward men and is especially fitted to win holy love, is called oil; in the divine anointing with which the whole body of Christ is anointed, who was anointed first and is the fountain of this oil. "And bread strengthens the heart of man." He has shown of what bread he was speaking. For visible bread satisfies the belly and strengthens the stomach; but this food is the strength of the heart and soul, of which the Lord himself says, "I am the living bread who came down from heaven."

(v. 16) "The trees of the field will be satisfied." From this grace the trees of the field will be satisfied, that is, the peoples of the Jews. "And the cedars of Lebanon, which you planted." Not only the humble of this world will be satisfied with this grace, but also the noble and exalted, who because of their eminence are called cedars; but those which the Lord planted, who has justified many even from among the rich and illustrious. (v. 17) "There the sparrows will build their nests; the house of the coot is their leader." In these cedars of Lebanon, which the grace of God plants and satisfies, the sparrows will build their nests: namely, those who have chosen humility and, having left or sold what they had, have kept nothing for themselves in this world, but, taken into the houses and estates of rich Christians, are helped with the necessary comforts. Yet though they rest in the height of the cedars, they do not take the cedars themselves as their leaders; but "the house of the coot is their leader." The house of the coot, which is a sea bird, is not in holes in the ground nor in the branches of trees, but on a rock surrounded by waters. And the rock is understood as Christ, who gave an example of patience to the humble and to the sparrows; he is their strength, so that they are not moved when the waves roar around them; and if anything in the cedars of Lebanon gives offence, they follow the house of the coot. (v. 18) "The highest mountains for the deer, the rock a refuge for the hedgehogs." The deer are the great and eminent spiritual men, who pursue all the loftiest of God's commandments and dwell in the mountains of the Scriptures. But those also who cannot hold the heights have the refuge of their humility; and although they are bristly and prickly with certain small sins (which is signified by the name of hedgehogs), yet they too are received by the rock, which, whether in the mountains or in the sea or in the valleys, is the protection of all everywhere. (v. 19) "He made the moon for seasons." The Lord founded the church, which passes through temporal things to eternal ones; and although it is destined for perpetual brightness, yet while it lives here it is subject to changes. "The sun has known its setting." Christ acknowledged his passion. The setting of Christ is the passion of Christ. But does the sun set so as not to rise? "Shall he who sleeps not rise again?" And what is "he has known his setting" but that it pleased him to die? For he took up the cross and death by his will; and just as what does not please him is foreign to his knowledge, so what accords with his will he knows and recognizes. (vv. 20–21) "You have set darkness, and it has become night." When the Lord had suffered, the hearts of the apostles were troubled by the darkness of fear, and a kind of night came about there, when he who seemed to be the Redeemer of all was killed. "In it all the beasts of the forest will pass through; the lions' whelps roaring to seize their prey, seeking their food from the Lord." In this night of despair and in this darkness of ignorance the beasts of the forest, that is, the evil spirits, lay in wait; and the lions' whelps, that is, all the fiercer demons, raging to seize as their food those whom they find in the darkness of unbelief. Yet they can inflict nothing harmful on them unless God permits; and so they ask the power to seize from him by whose judgment a man is handed over to his enemies either to be chastised or to be tested. (v. 22) "The sun has risen, and they are gathered together, and they will be put away in their lairs." The sun has risen because the sun set: that is, Christ, having died, rose again and filled the whole world with the manifestation of his brightness; and although darkness persists in the hearts of unbelievers, the church throughout the whole world, for which the sun has risen, is in the light. Hence those spirits which stir up the minds of the ungodly to persecute Christians do not dare to rage in so great a light of the truth received everywhere, but, gathered into their lairs, are confined within the hearts of unbelievers. (v. 23) "Man went out to his work, and to his labour until evening." For now, in the peace of the church, the man of God, serving the righteousness of God, acts freely, and goes out securely to works that will profit him, until evening. For at the end of the world there will be a kind of darkening by persecution from outside. (v. 24) "How great are your works, O Lord! You have made all things in wisdom." This wonder, in which one is amazed at the magnificence of the divine works, pertains to both foundations, that is, both of this world and of the church. For the beauty of temporal things signifies the glory of eternal ones, and through the visible things the things that do not appear are understood and seen. "You have made all things in wisdom," that is, they were made in Christ, who is the power of God and the wisdom of God. "The earth is filled with your creation." The beauty of the world appears widely to the eyes and is to be seen in many ways; it testifies to the wisdom and power of its author. But we ought rather to attend to that creation of which the apostle says, "If then there is any new creation in Christ, the old things have passed away; behold, they have become new." For he came who would renew his work, who would refine his silver, who would form his coin. And we see the earth full of Christians who believe in him and who, leaving behind past vanity, run toward the hope of the new age. (vv. 25–26) "This great and wide sea; there are creeping things without number." Although the new creation belongs to the new age, in this life it is a pilgrim and cannot reach its homeland except by sailing across this great and restless sea amid storms, while innumerable creeping things lie in wait by guile, that is, by the onset of many temptations. We must beware of these, lest, while they creep, they creep in upon us; and we must not leave the wood of the cross, on which this savage sea is crossed under Christ's steering. "Animals small and great; there the ships will pass." In this sea are the unbelievers, and the small and the great, that is, both the weak and the leading men of this world, move among the bitter and barren waters. Though they oppose the Christian religion, yet among them the passage of our ships is safe; that is, amid the storms and waves of the sea, with Christ steering, the course of the churches is safe. "This dragon which you formed to be mocked." In this great sea, where there are creeping things without number, where there are animals small and great, where our ships also pass, there is also the dragon, who, cast down by God's judgment from the heights to the depths, was made the devil out of an angel for this purpose, that his malice and wickedness might be mocked by the saints. And although he has an unceasing desire to harm, he can inflict on no one more temptations than he is permitted. (vv. 27–29) "All things wait upon you, O Lord, that you may give them food in due season. When you give, they will gather." No food is available to all the creeping things, to all the animals, and to the dragon himself, except what the Lord has given. For though the dragon is always eager to devour, he can devour only what God, the just distributor of all foods, has assigned to him to eat. And his food is earth. So no one will be given to be eaten who has not been earth, that is, who has not given himself over to earthly desires and deeds. "When you open your hand, all things will be filled with goodness; but when you turn away your face, they will be troubled." The opening of God's hand is the revelation of Christ. For the hand of the Lord is Christ. "And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" To whom it is revealed, to him it is opened; and to whom it is opened, he is filled with goodness. And that he may know that he has received this goodness from above, the Lord sometimes turns away his face, and he who seemed full of goodness is troubled, so that through sudden want he may understand that that abundance of good was not his own. "You will take away their spirit, and they will fail, and they will return to their dust." Those who gloried in themselves are taught to lose their swelling: the spirit of pride is taken from them, so that they are turned into their dust, acknowledging that they are earth and repenting of their pride, so that they may be filled with goodness again.

(v. 30) "Send forth your Spirit, and they will be created, and you will renew the face of the earth." "For we are his workmanship," says the apostle, "created in good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." From the Spirit of God we have received the grace to live for righteousness. For God justifies the ungodly and renews the face of the earth, founding a new creation in the whole world through the Spirit of grace, so that, having put off the old man, we may walk in newness of life. (v. 31) "Let the glory of the Lord be for ever; the Lord will rejoice in his works." To God, then, be the glory; let God rejoice in his works. For if anything worthy of praise or of joy is done by man, it is the work of God and the gift of his grace, who takes away the proud spirit and gives the Holy Spirit. (v. 32) "Who looks upon the earth and makes it tremble; who touches the mountains, and they will smoke." These are the works of God who converts those who have turned away: he looks upon the earth that trusted in itself and presumed on its own strength, and makes it tremble, and it recognizes that this is the cause of its trembling, that God works in it so that it may be good, it having failed when he turned away. And by the same work the mountains also are touched, that is, certain of the loftier and more powerful of this world; and they will smoke, that is, they will give confession to God, and their prayers rise like smoke to God who touched them. (v. 33) "I will sing to the Lord in my life; I will sing psalms to my God as long as I am." I will refer everything, he says, to the praise of God, and I will praise the Lord without end in all his works. (v. 34) "Let my discourse be pleasing to him; but I will be delighted in the Lord." Pleasing to the Lord is the discourse of one who by humble confession discloses himself to God who knows, and to whom God discloses himself, who did not know [him]. And from such a discourse delight arises, because the confession of one who does not glory in himself advances into the knowledge of God. (v. 35) "Let sinners fail from the earth, and the unjust, so that they may not be." This seems to be the voice of anger and hatred, but it is the voice of an exceptional love. For it says what it said above, that the spirit of the proud may be taken away and they may fail, and that the Spirit of God may be sent into them, so that there may be a new creation, malice failing and the substance not perishing. For he who, when he was ungodly, was justified, will not be ungodly but will be righteous. "Bless the Lord, O my soul." Let the faithful soul bless God in all things, and "let him who glories, glory in the Lord."