Exposition of Psalms 100-150 118.73–118.129

(v. 73) "Your hands have made me and fashioned me." The hands of the Lord are the power of God, which accomplishes the works of his will, so that we may not think of God anything bodily because of the word "hand." But if the plural number troubles us, let the hands of God be taken as power and wisdom, both of which are the one Christ, who is also called the arm of the Lord. Or, finally, let the hands of God be taken as the Son and the Holy Spirit, since the Holy Spirit too is a co-worker with the Father and the Son; only so that no bodily form be imagined in the nature of the unchangeable Godhead. As for his saying, "Your hands have made me and formed," or "fashioned me," it is not unfittingly distinguished so that "made" pertains to the soul and "formed" to the body, though these words are usually found used without distinction. And this work of God not only went before in the making of the first man, in whom all were made by a seminal principle, but is also accomplished in the daily creation of individual men. For if that working power of God held itself back from this work, all things would fail. "Give me understanding, that I may learn your commandments." Was human nature made in such a way as to lack understanding? Why, then, does he ask to be given what he has received? Unless because by the fault of sin the very rational faculty given at the first has been corrupted and must be re-formed by the gift of grace. For what remains to nature is not enough unless it receives from the restorer what it lost. So the Lord Jesus in this psalm, through the prophet, asked as if for himself that understanding be given by God to his body, which is the church. For with him the life of his body, that is, of his people, is hidden in the Lord; and he himself suffers need in that same body of his through what is necessary for his members. (v. 74) "Those who fear you will see me and rejoice, because I have hoped in your words." The present life of the saints is one of fear and labour; but they have the hope of the gladness of eternal joy. Since, then, the church still fears and does not yet see itself in that kingdom where it will rejoice securely, it is the church that will be seen; for amid present temptations it does not fail to hope in the promises of God. (vv. 75–76) "I have known, O Lord, that your judgments are just, and in your truth you have humbled me. But let your mercy be done, to comfort me, according to your saying to your servant." Although the yoke is heavy on the sons of Adam, by which the human creature is pressed down, yet I have known that your judgments are just, and that man has been humbled according to truth. Let your mercy be done, then, according to your promise; let mortal life receive comfort from present gifts, so that it may wait patiently for the future goods of eternity. (v. 77) "Let your compassions come to me, and I shall live." Then I shall truly live, when I shall not fear to die. For that is true life which is called life without any addition, as though to live there were nothing else than to live without any end and without any misery. "For your law is my meditation." This meditation, unless it were in the faith which works through love, would not come to eternal life. He does not usefully meditate on God's law, then, who labours to hold in memory what he does not fulfil in action. (v. 78) "Let the proud be put to shame, for they have unjustly done iniquity against me; but I will be exercised in your commandments." Though the proud rage and work iniquity against the saints, yet the love of the godly does not grow cold and does not cease from exercising itself in God's commandments. (v. 79) "Let those who fear you turn to me, and those who know your testimonies." There is no man who could say this except him who, being the God of the universe, united human nature to himself: to him those will turn who fear the Lord and know that the testimonies of God are being fulfilled which were foretold of him through the prophets so long before. (v. 80) "Let my heart be made spotless in your ordinances, that I may not be put to shame." He returns to the voice of the body, that is, of his members, whose heart is made spotless through the very head of the body, that is, through the grace of God: in the washing of regeneration, where all past sins have been washed away; in the help of the Spirit, by which we desire against the flesh, so as not to be overcome by its desire; and in the working of the Lord's Prayer, in which we say, "Forgive us our debts." Thus, regeneration having been given to us and prayer poured out, our heart is made spotless, so that we may not be put to shame; for this too belongs to God's ordinances, when among his other commandments it is enjoined, "Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you."

(v. 81) "My soul has fainted for your salvation, and in your word I have always hoped." He does not say, "It has fainted from your salvation," but, "My soul has fainted for your salvation," that is, toward your salvation. This fainting, then, is good: for it shows the desire for a good not yet obtained but most eagerly longed for; and with this desire the saints of all times have been inflamed. For as there was never a lack of those who desired the coming of Christ's incarnation, so after he ascended into heaven there is no lack of those who long for his manifestation, in which he will come to judge the living and the dead. "My soul has fainted for your salvation, and in your word I have hoped exceedingly." For this hope of your promise has brought it about that I both desire vehemently and wait patiently for what I do not yet see. (v. 82) "My eyes have fainted for your saying, saying, When will you comfort me?" In the inner eyes there is the same fainting of his desire as it reaches toward God's sayings, that is, his promises, for one whose hoped-for comforts are long delayed. For even what is short to the one who comes to help seems long to the one who longs for it. (v. 83) "For I have become like a wineskin in the frost; I have not forgotten your ordinances." By the wineskin he wishes us to understand the flesh of this death; by the frost the heavenly benefit by which carnal desires grow numb, as if checked by cold; and so it comes about that God's ordinances do not slip from memory. (v. 84) "How many are the days of your servant? When will you execute judgment on those who persecute me?" In the Apocalypse too this is the voice of the martyrs; and the disciples ask the Lord to make known to them the day of the end. But patience is enjoined on the former, and the secret decree is not disclosed to the latter. In these words of the psalm, then, this very inquiry of the church is well understood as prophesied. (v. 85) "The wicked have told me delights; but not as your law, O Lord." He says that tales of vain opinions, composed with the art of delightful speech, have been told him by the wicked; but that he found nothing useful in them as he does in the law of the Lord, in which is all truth. (v. 86) "All your commandments are truth; they have persecuted me unjustly; help me." I have preferred, he says, the commandments of truth to the tales of lies; and for this the lovers of falsehood have persecuted me unjustly. Help me, then, so that I may be able to contend for the truth even to death. (v. 87) "They have almost finished me on the earth; but I have not forsaken your commandments." The slaughter of the martyrs having been made, they now confess and proclaim the truth, which, helped by you, I did not desert. (v. 88) "According to your mercy give me life, and I will keep the testimonies of your mouth." For the martyrs, because they were helped and given life by God's mercy, not denying the truth, which is life, conquered by dying for it.

(v. 89) "For ever, O Lord, your word remains in heaven." The word remains in the angels, who keep their eternal service without failing. (v. 90) "Your truth is from generation to generation; you founded the earth, and it remains." After the heavenly Jerusalem he looked to her daughter, the church, which lives in this world, and said, "Your truth is from generation to generation." By this repetition he signified either all the generations, from which God's truth has not been absent, or he wished two to be understood: one pertaining to the law and the prophets, the other to the gospel, upon the eternal foundation, which is Christ; and this earth remains, which, made firm on such a foundation, is not moved for ever and ever. (v. 91) "By your ordinance the day continues, for all things serve you": all things, namely, of which he was speaking, and which belong to the eternal day. (v. 92) "Unless your law had been my meditation, I would perhaps have perished in my humiliation." This law is that of the faith which works through love; persevering in meditation on it, he earns the help of grace, so as not to perish in the humiliation of tribulations. (v. 93) "I will never forget your ordinances, for in them you have given me life." See from what it came about that he did not perish in his humiliation: from that by which he was justified, by that he was given life. (v. 94) "I am yours; save me, O Lord, for I have sought out your ordinances." I have not sought out my own wills, by which I was my own, but your ordinances, so that I might now be yours. (v. 95) "Sinners have waited for me to destroy me; I have understood your testimonies." He did not here fear to perish by the death of the body, which was to be undergone for the truth. The sinners, then, waited for him to consent to them in evil, for then they would destroy him. But they did not prevail, because he understood God's testimonies; that is, because, confessing the truth, even if he met death, he would not perish. (v. 96) "Of all consummation I have seen the end; your commandment is exceedingly broad." He who understood the testimonies and knew that he must contend for the truth even to death was not ignorant of the blessed end that awaits every departure of the godly. And the exceedingly broad commandment of God is to be understood as love, by which God and neighbour are commanded to be loved: what can be broader than this, since on it hang the whole law and the prophets?

(v. 97) "How I have loved your law, O Lord! It is my meditation all the day." I have so loved, he says, the law of faith which works through love that it is my meditation all the day, that is, at all times. (v. 98) "By your commandment you have made me wiser than my enemies, for it is mine for ever." "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes," so that he may be justified freely by his grace; in him this man's enemies did not believe. But he who sought not his own righteousness but that which is from God, whom God made wiser than his enemies, found the commandment itself to be his for ever, because he did not covet temporal rewards for keeping it. For the reward of the one who loves is the beloved himself. (v. 99) "I have understood more than all my teachers." He understood more than all teachers whom the Father taught. This is hard to understand in the person of the Word, unless one can somehow grasp that for the Son to have been taught by the Father is the same as to have been begotten. For from whom he has his being, from him he has also, at once, his having been taught. But in the person of the man, where he took the form of a servant, it is more easily understood that he learned from the Father what he said. In this form men of greater age thought the boy needed to be taught. But he whom the Father taught was of deeper understanding than those who taught. "For your testimonies are my meditation." He understood more than all who taught him because he meditated on God's testimonies, which foretold him; he himself knew them better and fulfilled them. (v. 100) "I have understood more than the elders, for I have sought out your commandments." Your commandments, not the commandments of men; your commandments, not the commandments of the elders, who, wishing to be teachers of the law, understand neither what they say nor the things about which they make assertions. (v. 101) "I have held back my feet from every evil way, that I may keep your words." This is the voice of the members, not of the head; for the Saviour of our body himself was not struck by any desires, so that he would need to hold back his feet from the way of wicked desire. It is our movements, then, our appetites that he restrains, so that we may not be drawn into crooked paths by harmful desires. (v. 102) "I have not turned aside from your judgments, for you have set a law for me." I have believed your judgments perseveringly, he says, because you have set a law for me in my heart, as though writing with your finger; so that I might not fear it as a slave without love, but love it as a son with chaste fear. (v. 103) "How sweet are your sayings to my throat, above honey and the honeycomb to my mouth!" This is that sweetness which the Lord gives, so that our earth may yield its fruit, and that we may do good well, that is, not from fear of carnal evil but from delight in spiritual good. (v. 104) "From your commandments I have understood." This is the voice of the spiritual members of Christ. For the body of Christ rightly says this in those to whom, as they keep the commandments, a richer teaching of wisdom is given because of that very keeping of the commandments. "Therefore I have hated every way of iniquity." For the love of righteousness, which is increased and inflamed, must hate all iniquity; and so it obeys God and understands from his commandments.

(v. 105) "Your word is a lamp to my feet, O Lord, and a light to my paths." "Word" is to be understood here not as that Word which is equal to the one who begets him, and which is the true light that enlightens every man, but the word that came to the prophets or was preached through the apostles: the word of Christ, namely, of which it is written, "Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." For the apostle Peter too, comparing the prophetic word to a lamp, says, "We have the more certain prophetic word, to which you do well to attend, as to a lamp in a dark place." So what he says here, "Your word is a lamp to my feet, O Lord, and a light to my paths," is the word contained in all the holy Scriptures. It is not, then, the Word that is God, but the word of God. (v. 106) "I have sworn and determined to keep all the judgments of your righteousness." He called by the name of an oath what he determined without a sworn rite: because the mind ought to be so fixed on keeping the judgments of God's righteousness that what it has determined is wholly as good as an oath. (v. 107) "I have been humbled exceedingly, O Lord; give me life according to your word." Because he swore and determined to keep the judgments of God's righteousness, he suffered the greatest persecution; and lest he fail in so great a humiliation, he asks to be given life according to the word of promise; for in the night of tribulations the promise itself is a lamp to the feet and a light to the paths. (v. 108) "Make the freewill offerings of my mouth well pleasing, O Lord, and teach me your judgments." The freewill offerings of the mouth which he asks to be approved are sacrifices of praise, offered by the confession of love, not by the fear of necessity. And he desires to be taught God's judgments not because he does not know them but so as to make progress. (v. 109) "My soul is in your hands always, and I have not forgotten your law." It is said as though, so that God's law may not be forgotten, his memory is helped by God's hands. (v. 110) "Sinners have set a snare for me, and I have not strayed from your commandments." From where comes this, but that his soul is always in God's hands? (v. 111) "I have acquired your testimonies as an inheritance for ever, for they are the exultation of my heart." That I should desire to be your witness, he says, you have granted; and that I should not fear to die for the truth belongs to your inheritance, to your grace: a gift that is mine for ever, because there is no temporal glory in it. For this reason, though I am afflicted in body, I am glad in heart. (v. 112) "I have inclined my heart to do your ordinances for ever, for the sake of the reward." He who says, "I have inclined my heart," had already said, "Incline my heart to your testimonies," so that we may understand that this is at the same time both a divine gift and one's own will. And let him do this for the sake of the reward: so that, since he pursues God's ordinances with love, he may deserve to have for ever what he loves.

(v. 113) "I have hated the wicked, and I have loved your law." He who loves the law of God proves that he hates in wicked men what is against the law, not the men. (v. 114) "You are my helper and my supporter, and in your word I have hoped exceedingly." Helper and supporter for escaping evils. (v. 115) "Depart from me, you evildoers, and I will search the commandments of my God." Only a quiet mind can search God's commandments. So that this pursuit may be practised, the pursuits of the evil must be driven away. (v. 116) "Uphold me according to your saying, and I shall live; and do not put me to shame in my expectation." He who hopes intently asks to be upheld by the Lord more and more, knowing that only when he has obtained those things will he live; for present things are more like death than life. (v. 117) "Help me, and I shall be saved, and I will meditate on your ordinances always." That I may live, that I may not be put to shame, that I may always be exercised in your ordinances, help me, he says, and I shall be saved; for one does not come to your promises except by your help. (v. 118) "You have brought to nothing all who depart from your ordinances, for their thought is unjust." All works, whether good or evil, proceed from thought. So he who is wicked in heart, who departs from God's ordinances by unjust thought, is brought to nothing. (v. 119) "I have counted all the sinners of the earth as transgressors; therefore I have loved your testimonies." Since no one can be called a transgressor except one who transgresses the commandments of a law, it is asked how all the sinners of the earth should be counted transgressors, many of whom, it is agreed, are sinners without the law. And it is found that all the nations except the people of Israel were indeed outside the law; but every man is bound by the law of nature, so that he knows that what he does not wish to suffer must not be done to another. Although, then, he is much more a transgressor who transgresses not only the natural but also the divine law, yet no one is a sinner except by transgression; for even one whom the letter does not condemn, conscience convicts. Among these the little ones too are fittingly counted, because of the bonds of original sin. For they too are shown to belong to that transgression, the first committed in paradise, after the likeness of the transgression of Adam. Since, then, all had sinned and lacked the glory of God, and there was salvation for no one in his own righteousness, it remained that the justification of faith, given by God through the grace of the Saviour, should come to their aid. Hence the apostle says, "Through the law comes the knowledge of sin": knowledge, not abolition. "But now," he says, "apart from the law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets." Rightly, then, he added, "therefore I have loved your testimonies"; as if he said, "Since the law, whether given in paradise, or implanted by nature, or promulgated in letters, has made all the sinners of the earth transgressors, therefore I have loved your testimonies, which are in your law concerning your grace." (v. 120) "Pierce my flesh with nails from your fear." What does he wish to be understood in these words but what the apostle says, "But far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world"? And again, "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me." "For I have feared your judgments." If he already feared, or was fearing, why did he still pray that God would crucify his flesh from his fear, unless because he wished fear to be added to him, enough to put to death the desires and carnal affections? It is also understood in another way: "Pierce my flesh with nails from your fear, for I have feared your judgments"; that is, from your chaste fear, which endures for ever and ever, let carnal desires be pressed down in me, from which dread of your judgments has restrained me. Since, then, I desire to do your will and to live rightly not from fear of punishment but from love of righteousness, give me this chaste and free fear, to ask for which that fear by which I have feared your judgments has led me, like the tutor of the law.

(v. 121) "I have done judgment and righteousness; do not hand me over to those who harm me." Whoever has his flesh crucified by the chaste fear of God, and, corrupted by no carnal enticement, does judgment and the work of righteousness, ought to pray not to be handed over to his adversaries; that is, that he may not, through fear of suffering evils, yield to his persecutors in doing evils. For from him from whom he receives the victory, so as not to be overcome by the pleasure of desire, he also receives the strength of patience, so as not to be broken by pain. For of him of whom it is said, "The Lord has given sweetness," it is also said, "From him is my patience." (v. 122) "Uphold your servant for good, that the proud may not slander me." That is, lest they drive me to fall into evil, uphold me for good. They slander in pride: defend me in humility, so that the slanders of the proud may not harm me. (v. 123) "My eyes have fainted for your salvation and for the saying of your righteousness." He says that the eyes of his heart have fainted for the saying of God's righteousness, that is, for the promise of Christ: not because the intention of his longing mind was overcome and gave way, but because it passed with all the ardour of the mind into the expectation of God's grace. And the righteousness of God is Christ, who makes men righteous. (v. 124) "Deal with your servant according to your mercy": not, certainly, according to my righteousness. "Teach me your ordinances": those, without doubt, by which he makes men righteous, not they themselves. (v. 125) "I am your servant." For it did not go well with me when I wished to be my own free man and not your servant. "Give me understanding, that I may learn your testimonies." No one is so intelligent, no one so learned, as not to need this request. For no increases of these gifts are so sufficient that there does not always remain something that one desires both to understand and to know. (v. 126) "It is time to act, O Lord; the proud have scattered your law." What is "they have scattered your law" but that by the iniquity of transgression they did not keep it whole? The law having been scattered, then, it was time for mercy to be sent through the only-begotten Son of God. For "the law came in, that the offence might abound"; by this offence the law was scattered; and at the fitting time Christ came, so that where the offence abounded grace might superabound. (v. 127) "Therefore I have loved your commandments above gold and topaz." Grace brings it about that God's commandments are fulfilled by love, which could not be fulfilled by fear. And they are loved above gold and topaz, that is, above the things that are held precious on earth, when in observing the commandments no temporal reward is sought, but righteousness itself; for nothing is better than that good by which man himself is made good. (v. 128) "Therefore I was directed to all your commandments": because I clung to them, as upright, with love, so that I too might be upright. "I have hated every way of iniquity." For how could it be that one who loves the right should not hate the wicked way?

(v. 129) "Wonderful are your testimonies; therefore my soul has searched them." All the works of God are indeed testimonies of his majesty and goodness, and there is none of them that is not to be marvelled at and wondered at. But many wonderful things are the testimonies of the law itself, whose usefulness and justice lie hidden very deep, when it is asked why the law was given, which could not give life and by which no flesh would be justified before God. Rightly, then, did he search this depth, who understood that through the difficulties of the law God's mercy brought it about that those who could not fulfil the law should turn to grace, and lay hold by divine help of what they were not able to attain by their own strength. (v. 130) "The unfolding of your words gives light and gives understanding to the little ones." By searching, this little one understood what the apostle Paul also understood, that the law which could not give life was given for this reason: because "Scripture has shut up all things under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe." The unfolding of this mystery, then, gives light and gives understanding to the little ones. For this secret of grace is disclosed only to the humble and weak, who, fleeing to God's help, confess that they cannot be justified by their own strength. (v. 131) "I opened my mouth and drew in breath, for I longed for your commandments." He longed for the divine commandments in order to do them. But the weak had no means of doing strong things, the little one great things. He opened his mouth, confessing that he could not do it by himself. (v. 132) "Look upon me and have mercy on me, according to the judgment of those who love your name." That is, according to the judgment you have made on those who love your name: for, that they might love you, you first loved them. (v. 133) "Direct my steps according to your saying, and let no iniquity have dominion over me." What does he pray for but that God, by helping, may make to be fulfilled the precepts which he imposes by commanding? (v. 134) "Redeem me from the slanders of men, and I will keep your commandments." Act, he says, by pouring in your Spirit, lest the slanders of men overcome me by terrors and draw me away from your commandments to their own evil deeds. For if you redeem me in this way, giving me constancy and patience amid the persecutions of the slanderers, I will keep your commandments. (v. 135) "Make your face shine upon your servant, and teach me your ordinances." Show your presence, he says, by coming to my aid and helping me; and so teach me your ordinances that for me to have learned them is to have done them. (v. 136) "My eyes have gone down in streams of water, because they did not keep your law." The going down of the eyes in the pouring out of tears shows the humility of the penitent. And why is it so wept that the law was not kept, if not so that grace might be fulfilled, which helps the will of one who confesses his iniquity and believes?