Exposition of Psalms 100-150 135.1–137.1

(v. 1) "Confess to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy is for ever." This psalm contains the praise of God, and it ends in the same way in all its verses, so that whatever works of God it runs through are understood to have been done in order that the eternity of his goodness and mercy might be made manifest. For although after the judgment, in which at the end of the age the living and the dead are to be judged, the righteous being sent into eternal life and the ungodly into eternal burning, there will be no more who are to be saved by the dispensation of divine grace, yet his mercy can rightly be understood to be for ever, which he bestows on his saints and faithful; for the blessedness which they will obtain by God's mercy will be struck by no temptation, but will remain unchangeable in eternal peace and glory. Since this work of ineffable kindness was in God's everlasting purpose and counsel, that eternal things should be prepared beforehand through temporal ones, the making of the whole world and of the elements is wonderfully said to have been established for the sake of this mercy, so that the order of all things might serve for its accomplishment. (vv. 2–3) "Confess to the God of gods, for his mercy is for ever. Confess to the Lord of lords, for his mercy is for ever." When the name "gods" is found used in a good sense, it is to be understood according to grace, not according to nature, as the apostle says, "For although there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we through him." Those, then, who are sons of God and through the sacrament of adoption are partakers of the divine nature have the gift of this name, because they serve the one God and minister to the one Lord in willing subjection. But the gods of the nations are demons; and since they rejoice to be worshipped by those who err, they will be condemned to the eternal fire with their worshippers. (v. 4) "Who alone does great wonders, for his mercy is for ever." Those wonders can be taken as done by God alone which were accomplished neither through angels nor through men, but by God's power working alone. For although he himself works all things in all, yet he alone established the natures of all creatures, heaven and the heavenly things, earth and sea, with all that is in them. Not that the Father did anything without his Son the Word or the Holy Spirit, but because the Trinity is one God, who made creatures not through a creature but by the power of the Godhead alone. And what is said second, "for his mercy is for ever," is to be referred to the restoration of the human race, which the mercy of God restores to eternal life through the sacrament of regeneration. (v. 5) "Who made the heavens in understanding, for his mercy is for ever." The heavens were made in understanding, to instruct that creature which was destined beforehand to know its author. For, as the apostle says, "the invisible things of God, from the creation of the world, are understood and seen through the things that are made, his eternal power also and divinity"; and this same prophet says, "The heavens tell the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims the work of his hands": because the beauty of the invisible majesty, the incorporeal Creator, is recognized even through the bodily creation. (v. 6) "Who made the earth firm upon the waters, for his mercy is for ever." It is well understood that the earth is founded upon the waters, in that it rises above the waters that flow around it, and the nature of moisture is so found even in the lowest parts that a solid element is set beneath it. But according to the sacrament of the church, which is celebrated through the whole world in the washing of regeneration, this is more sacredly taken as said of the preparation of baptism, upon which the earth of human nature is founded, so that the whole structure of the eternal temple may rise from the waters. (v. 7) "Who alone made great lights, for his mercy is for ever." He added "alone" here because the other wonders he is going to tell he did through men or through angels. (vv. 8–9) "The sun to rule the day, the moon and stars to rule the night." The brightness of the sun is powerful by day, that of the moon and stars by night. But besides the usefulness they provide to the world by their alternations, and besides the beauty by which the adornment of the whole world is increased, they give a meaning of spiritual graces. For the chief light of faithful hearts is wisdom, coming from the very sun of righteousness; the second light is knowledge, which gives a kind of lunar comfort in the darkness of the road of this age; and then the gifts of many spiritual graces are rightly compared to the fires of the stars, so that heavenly help may never be lacking to those who walk on a difficult road. (v. 10) "Who struck Egypt with their firstborn." There is no part of the world which the sword of truth does not strike, so that all the chief things may be subjected to Christ. (v. 11) "Who brought Israel out of their midst." Daily the saints are rescued from the wicked and from adverse tribulations. (v. 12) "With a mighty hand and an uplifted arm." What is mightier than he of whom it was said, "And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" (v. 13) "Who divided the Red Sea into parts." By the dividing of the Red Sea is signified the baptism of Christ, in which divisions are made, so that one and the same thing is for some unto life, for others unto death: unto life for the faithful, unto death for the persecutors. (v. 14) "And brought Israel out through its midst." And the Lord brings out his people renewed through the washing of regeneration. (v. 15) "And shook off Pharaoh and his host into the Red Sea." The king of sin perishes in the waters, and guilt is shaken off from the baptized. (v. 16) "Who led his people through the desert." He leads us too through the dryness and barrenness of this world, so that we may not perish in it. (vv. 17–18) "Who struck great kings and killed mighty kings." He strikes and kills, even through us, the devilish and harmful powers, as often as he gives the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (v. 19) "Sihon king of the Amorites." A useless seed, which is what Sihon is interpreted, and the king of the Amorites, which is interpreted "those who embitter," the Lord strikes through his church. (v. 20) "And Og," the one heaping up, "of Bashan," that is, of confusion: for what does the devil heap up but confusion? (vv. 21–22) "And he gave their land as an inheritance, an inheritance to Israel his people." He gives also those whom the devil possessed as an inheritance to the seed of Abraham, which is Christ. (vv. 23–24) "For in our humiliation he remembered us, and redeemed us from our enemies." He redeemed us with the blood of his only-begotten. (v. 25) "Who gives food to all flesh." This is the food of which the Lord says, "My flesh is true food," which is given to all nations; for none of the reborn faithful is excluded from eating it. (vv. 26–27) "Confess to the Lord of heaven; confess to the Lord of lords, for his mercy is for ever." What he says here, "to the Lord of heaven," he seems to have said above, "to the God of gods"; and what he added there he also joined here, "Confess to the Lord of lords": so that, if there are so-called gods and lords, whether in heaven or on earth, yet for us there may be one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we in him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we through him, to whom we confess, for his mercy is for ever.

(v. 1) "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept, when we remembered you, O Zion." The prophecy of the psalm announces not only what properly pertained to the people of Israel according to the order of events, but also what is done and fulfilled in the whole church of God, which is in the whole world. For all the faithful who are citizens of Jerusalem and are on pilgrimage in this age fittingly and suitably use these words, so as to say what the words of the psalm pronounce. For those who have been justified by faith and saved in hope long for the heavenly and angelic homeland, remembering God's promise; they weep and groan over their earthly dwelling, which in every part of it is Babylon; and its rivers are all the temporal enticements, whether in conduct or in opinions, which each has chosen for himself, in which nothing is stable, nothing firm, but all is fluid and leads into the depths of the sea. But those who set their mind on the things above, not on the things on earth, sit indeed by its rivers and torrents, yet they are not swept along by the course of the gliding waters, nor mixed with the confusion that Babylon is interpreted to mean; but remembering Zion, which is rendered "watchtower," they look toward what God has promised and advance from temporal things to eternal ones. (v. 2) "On the willows in its midst we hung our instruments." The citizens of Jerusalem have their instruments: the Scriptures of God, his precepts and promises, and a kind of meditation on the age to come; but when they are in the midst of Babylon, they hang their instruments on its willows. The trees of Babylon, watered by its rivers and bearing no fruit, bear the likeness of barren men who feed on worldly enticements and are fruitful in no virtue: no seeds of the divine Scriptures can be planted in them, because they are not capable of God's precepts; and rightly what they cannot hear because of their folly is hung up in them by being deferred. (v. 3) "For there those who led us captive asked us for the words of songs; and those who carried us off said, Sing us a hymn from the songs of Zion." All of us men were taken captive by the devil through the first transgression, for "everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin"; but from this captivity Jesus Christ redeemed us by his blood. That part, then, which willingly serves its captors and delights in what pleases the enemies, offers itself as a servant for attacking the redeemed; and through it the devil carries out whatever he dares against the saints, so that he is rightly said to do what he does through men subject to him. So pagans, and the ungodly followers of whatever doctrines, ask Christians what is the reason of our religion, what the use of faith in Christ, or what its fruit; and their questioning does not wish to learn the truth but to disturb the hearts of believers. Hence from the ears of such people the instruments are to be hung up, and the sacraments of our songs and hymns are not to be laid open, lest what is holy be given to dogs and pearls be thrown before swine. So to those who wish to build their slanders out of the confession of our faith, the answer is what the psalm says: (v. 4) "How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?" A man given over to the flesh, given over to the world, serving vanities, full of errors, is a foreign land, in which the sacred seeds, which are the divine words of the song, cannot be sown; for the divine praise is not fittingly celebrated except in Zion, that is, in the church. So, lest through the contagion of foreigners some forgetfulness of the heavenly homeland creep in, faith must be confirmed by a kind of oath, and one must say: (v. 5) "If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget me." Our right hand is eternal life, the left is temporal life: the one full of the hope of blessedness, the other full of the danger of perdition. Whatever is done for the sake of eternal life, the right hand works; but whatever is fitted or done for the sake of passing joys is of the left; and the right hand comes into forgetfulness of the left when love and habit of virtue have prevailed. To those, then, who depart from the love of Jerusalem it happens that their right hand forgets them. For eternal life remains in itself; but they remain in deadly delight, embracing evil for good, false for true, left for right. (v. 6) "Let my tongue cleave to my throat if I do not remember you, and if I do not set Jerusalem at the beginning of my joy." Let me be struck dumb, he says, if I do not remember. For what does he speak, or what does he sound, who does not sound the songs of Zion in praise? The speech of our tongue is the song of Jerusalem. But a mouth that speaks carnal things and sings worldly things is dumb and stopped up, because it delights in that by which it is confounded. So the true lover and citizen of Jerusalem binds himself by this law, to undergo the condemnation of this penalty if he does not set the love of the heavenly homeland before all pleasures. (v. 7) "Remember, O Lord, the sons of Edom in the day of Jerusalem." The Israelite, set among foreigners, prays the Lord to remember that there can be no concord between the sons of Edom, that is, of Esau, and the sons of Jacob; and that those enmities remain which the struggle of the unborn twins in their mother's womb already signified, and which the foreknowledge of the Creator afterward so distinguished as to say, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." Hence all the sons of the promise bear the person of Jacob, while by the name of Esau the whole part of the unbelievers is figured. He asks, then, that God remember how Esau rose up against Jacob; and remember also the day of Jerusalem's labours, in which it bears the pride of the ungodly; or the day of its happiness, in which it is daily rescued from the slavery of captivity and led to the true goods of the eternal homeland. "Who said, Empty it, empty it, even to its foundation." No devastation of any kind satisfies the persecutors of God's people unless they overthrow, by savage emptying, even the faith which is the foundation of the holy building. (v. 8) "Wretched daughter of Babylon." She is the same as Babylon, which in its offspring is both mother and daughter: mother by begetting, daughter by succeeding. Unhappy indeed and wretched, which is both begotten and begets for perdition. (vv. 8–9) "Blessed is he who will repay you the repayment which you repaid us. Blessed is he who will take and dash your little ones against the rock." We were all begotten in Babylon by our first birth, and from that very carnal beginning worldly confusion received us as little ones; and this age did nothing else with us than entangle us in various errors through diverse opinions and devilish arts. But from this general evil the grace of God rescues countless people, and while they still linger among the delights of Babylon it already counts them among the citizens of Jerusalem. He who is blessed and makes blessed rescues them from darkness and from the power of darkness, so that they may be sons of light and of the kingdom; dashed against the rock, Christ, so that by dying to the world they may live to God: cast down and raised up, destroyed and built up, ground to dust, and made firm on the rock, the rock restoring them.

(v. 1) "I will confess to you, O Lord, with my whole heart, for you have heard all the words of my mouth." The psalm's title, under the name of David, signifies him who is of the seed of David according to the flesh, to whom the prophetic confession is directed, a confession of divine praise, not of human iniquity. For the word "confession" usually indicates the confession of a penitent; but here the rejoicing of one who praises is shown, which is brought forth with the whole heart because no other affection is joined to it; and therefore the words of his mouth were heard. Of what mouth, but that of the heart, from which the words themselves take their beginning? There the voice of the mind is heard by the ears of God. (vv. 1–2) "In the sight of the angels I will sing psalms to you. I will worship toward your holy temple, and I will confess to your name, for your mercy and your truth." If we sing psalms to God spiritually in true exultation of heart, we sing before the angels, because we set our minds not on earthly but on heavenly things, the duty of devotion in which the blessedness of the angels excels. For carnal desires sing psalms only before men, whose minds do not rise above earthly things and who cannot share in the joys of the saints; for they do not worship toward God's holy temple, which is Jerusalem, at once both mother and daughter: mother in the angels, daughter in men, to whom it is said, "You are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you." And religious confession proclaims God's truth and mercy: truth in judging, mercy in helping. For there are no other ways by which he comes to us, or others by which he carries us to himself. "For you have magnified your holy name above us." The Lord has magnified his holy name over all: over Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, over the twelve tribes of Israel, whom he rescued from the yoke of slavery and brought into the land of promise; and over all the nations, from which, as from stones, he daily raises up sons of Abraham, so that at the name of the Lord Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father. (v. 3) "On whatever day I call upon you, hear me quickly." Why quickly? Because you yourself have said, "While you are still speaking, I will say, Here I am." Why quickly? Because I do not reach toward different things, nor covet superfluous things; but I desire to be granted what you have taught me to ask. "You will multiply me in my soul in much power." The wish is expressed according to desire and cleansed of every carnal greed. If he had said only, "You will multiply me," it could have seemed some earthly conception; but since he added "in power" [or "in righteousness"], nothing can be asked more fully and perfectly, because the supreme good is signified by the name of virtue. (v. 4) "Let all the kings of the earth confess to you, O Lord, for they have heard all the words of your mouth." Everywhere the gospel will be preached, everywhere the apostolic teaching will be learned. For their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. Let all the kings of the earth confess to you, then, O Lord; and since they have no need to desire anything higher, let them praise you for the eminence you have given them, because it can no longer be hidden from them that their sceptres are your gifts. (v. 5) "And let them sing in the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord." In what ways, but those of which it is said, "All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth"? So that, since all God's works are accomplished in these, no one may glory except in his glory. (v. 6) "For the Lord is high, and he looks upon lowly things, and the lofty he knows from afar." Both the humble and the proud are under the Lord's eyes. But the humble he sees close at hand, because he pleases him; the proud he recognizes from afar, because he displeases him; and although he is near to those who are troubled in heart, yet salvation is far from sinners. (v. 7) "If I walk in the midst of tribulation, you will give me life." If, he says, I do not love present things, and if, heading toward your promises, I do not cling to earthly enticements, you will give me life and hear me quickly; for temporal things will bring tribulation to me, whom eternal hope invites. "Over the anger of my enemies you have stretched out your hand, and your right hand has saved me." The protection of your arm, he says, has defended me from my enemies; and your right hand, which has freed me from all things on the left, has brought it about that I am not overcome by adversities. (v. 8) "O Lord, repay for me." I, he says, am a debtor, and by the condition of my own debt I cannot be free; you, Lord, who owe nothing, will repay for me; you who by dying kill death, paying what is mine so that I may follow what is yours. "O Lord, your mercy is for ever; do not despise the works of your hands." I seek, he says, that mercy by which you rescue from temporal things and lead to eternal ones, O Lord. "Do not despise the works of your hands": for whether in that we are men, or in that we have been changed from our ungodliness and justified, we are the works of your hands, by which you both create and renew us.