Exposition of Psalms 100-150 141.1–143.1

(v. 2) "With my voice I have cried to the Lord; with my voice I have made supplication to the Lord." What he said, "I have cried," he explained by saying, "I have made supplication with my voice," that is, with inner affection, with the voice not of the body but of the mind. (v. 3) "I pour out my prayer in his sight": that is, in the secret of the heart, which God alone hears and sees, in which chamber, with the door shut, we are commanded to pray, so that our inner recesses may not lie open to the tempter. For there are two things by which a man's inner parts are chiefly struck, namely love and fear; by these twin movements the mind is either opened or shut. But when what it desires or fears is earthly, it offers the devil an entrance; but when it sets its mind on the things above, not on the things on earth, God is received and the tempter shut out. "I declare my tribulation before him." What was said, "in his sight," is the same as "before him"; but the repetition shows how unceasingly he does this, and how he does nothing without God, who professes that he always has him both as helper and as witness. (v. 4) "When my spirit fails within me." It is the confession of humility, by which he becomes strong who does not fail in tribulation. For he would be overcome who did not confess that his spirit was weak; for he is led by the Spirit of God who is not puffed up by his own spirit. "And you have known my paths." Where my desire is heading, he says, and to what end all my actions hasten, does not escape your knowledge, because you know that my paths are your mercies. And God's knowing is the salvation of the one known; for he does not know the one in whom he does not find his works and gifts. "In this way in which I was walking they have hidden snares for me." The way of all the saints is Christ, in whom those who wish to live devoutly suffer persecution. For the cross of Christ is to the Jews a stumbling block and to the gentiles folly. Those, then, who oppose Christ think that they are putting a stumbling block in the way when they reproach Christians with the name of the Crucified. But since they do not frighten the steps of the faithful away from his gospel, they can place no snares in the way; for falsehood does not lie hidden in truth, nor can darkness hide in light. It is said, then, according to the mind of those who lie in wait, that they hid snares in the way; besetting everything near it with their frauds, they could harm no one walking along the way. (v. 5) "I looked to the right and saw, and there was no one who knew me." The things on the right are those that are God's and lead to God's promises, from which the mind of one who endures persecution is not turned away. Looking at these things that are on the right, then, he sees and receives the rewards promised to those who persevere: he attains perseverance in endurance and the love of God, so as not to be overcome. Yet no one knows this intention, because it is impossible for man to look into the recesses of another's heart; hence he had rightly said to God, "You have known my paths." "Flight has perished from me, and there is no one who seeks after my soul." Shut in by persecutors, he lost the freedom of flight, which he could have used without sin, if, his faith remaining, he had withdrawn his limbs from punishments; but since it is in the purpose of his mind to fear falling more than punishment, flight has perished from him who prefers to endure every savagery rather than give way. And with respect to the multitude of persecutors he said there was no one who seeks after his soul, because, apart from the gift of God, no human consolation can confer on anyone this protection, that his faith may remain unharmed amid pressing evils. (v. 6) "I cried to you, O Lord; I said, You are my hope, my portion in the land of the living." He shows how he endured the greatness of tribulations: namely, that both here God is his whole hope, and in the future God is his whole reward, who will be all in all. (v. 7) "Attend to my supplication, for I have been humbled exceedingly. Rescue me from those who persecute me." Exceeding humiliation, exceeding persecution, whose force only the protection of God overcomes. He can indeed grant the saints that their adversaries have no power over them, but more wonderfully he grants that they overcome every suffering. And in the persecutors we must beware not only of human hatreds but much more of the enmities of evil spirits, who secretly attack God's righteous through the work of their ministers; of whom the apostle says, "Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and powers and rulers of this world, of this darkness." And what ruler have the wicked but the devil, as the faithful have none but Christ? "How they have grown strong over me!" It is the voice of the church complaining that the number of the ungodly has grown greatly, that iniquity abounds and the love of many grows cold. (v. 8) "Bring my soul out of prison, to confess your name." All straits and enclosures of troubles make a prison, because they confine the soul and take away its freedom; but the very dwelling in the body can be understood as a prison: not because what God made is evil, for he made all things good; but the body which is corrupted weighs down the soul. He wishes his soul to be brought out not from the body but from the corruption of the body, so that no necessity of mortality may hinder the confession of God's praise. "The righteous wait for me, until you repay me." The whole psalm is concluded with the voice of the head himself, to whom is also attributed what his members suffer, and in whom the whole church will be glorified, which waits for the author of the blessed repayments, who says to the Father, "I will that where I am they also may be with me."

(v. 1) "O Lord, hear my prayer; give ear to my supplication in your truth; hear me in your righteousness." The title of the psalm indicates the passion of Christ; for he is the true David, who in himself and in his own endures persecution from false brothers and false sons. So the head cries to God in the body and the body in the head, that is, the church in Christ and Christ in the church; and when, praying, he asks to be heard in God's righteousness, he expresses the grace of God by a wonderful confession, so that no one may think that his prayer is received in his own righteousness; since if he deserves anything good, it is from God, and the sinner cannot do good unless justified by him who justifies no man except in the forgiveness of sins. (v. 2) "And do not enter into judgment with your servant, for no one living will be justified in your sight." He quickly showed why he did not wish to compare himself with divine righteousness, and feared to be judged with God: "For no one living will be justified in your sight." How shall I presume on innocence, when I am to be convicted of injustice by you? Or what good of my own shall I claim, who have nothing that you have not given? So I dread to be examined, I fear to be judged; for no one living in this mortal flesh can truly say that he has no contagion of sin, since even the chief rams of Christ's sheep are commanded to pray thus, saying, "Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors." (v. 3) "For the enemy has persecuted my soul; he has brought my life low to the earth. They have set me in dark places, like the dead of the world." This is fittingly taken both as said by the body and as said by the head: for both the devil persecuted the soul of Christ, and Judas the soul of his master. And the same devil remains to persecute the body of Christ, nor is Judas lacking, succeeding himself in false brothers. For what does any adversary do with us but try to make us abandon heavenly hope and collapse onto the earth? But we must watch against these, so that we may be able to say, "But our citizenship is in heaven." As for what was said, "They have set me in darkness, like the dead of the world," in whom is this better understood than in the Lord, who alone was free among the dead and was counted with the wicked? since he was the one who could properly and singularly say, "No iniquity has been found in me." (v. 4) "My spirit is in anguish within me." The Lord is recognized, saying, "My soul is sorrowful even to death"; in him we too certainly were, because that sorrow was of our nature, and our old man was crucified together with him. "My heart is troubled within me." This trouble was voluntary, and in him alone the counsel of his mercy remained: for the others withdrew, not understanding the sacrament of great kindness, nor believing that he would rise again who was being subjected to suffering and death. (v. 5) "I remembered the days of old, and I had the eternal years in mind, and I meditated on all your works." This commemoration of the days of old, and recollection of all times, and contemplation of the divine works in them, comes not from the mind of the head but from that of the body. For to the author of all things what was ever not in view, with whom both past things are present and future things are already done? So by the voice of the members the grace of God is proclaimed, and the tongue of the church confesses the works of God's mercy; going over the series of the whole age, it finds nothing that does not subsist by God's providence and goodness, and that all things which were founded by him have been renewed in him and through him, for the old things have passed away; behold, all things have been made new. "I meditated on the works of your hands. And I stretched out my hands to you." My meditation, he says, in which I saw that every good flows from your goodness, and that whatever in us can please your righteousness is your work, has confirmed me in this, that I should set all my hope in you and ask through prayer for the nourishment of your dew. (vv. 6–7) "My soul is to you like land without water. Hear me quickly, O Lord; my spirit has failed." The dryness of my soul, he says, thirsts for you, because it desires to be watered by you; and you have kindled the heat of my heart, so that I ask to be heard quickly. For my spirit has failed, so that your Spirit may fill me; and you have made me poor in spirit, so that you may give me what you have promised to the humble, to whom belongs the kingdom of heaven. "Do not turn your face away from me, or I shall be like those who go down into the pit." When your countenance was turned away from me, I was troubled and became land without water. Since, then, you have aroused desire, give back your sight, lest, your face being turned away from me, I become like those who go down into the pit. And who are these but those of whom it is said, "The sinner, when he has come into the depth of evils, despises," that is, is not converted? Going down into that depth, they fall into the pit of eternal misery, because through stubborn pride they have lost the remedies of confession and repentance. (v. 8) "Make me hear your mercy in the morning, for I have hoped in you." Let the light of your mercy rise in me, he says, and let what I have believed come to pass, so that the hope which was conceived by hearing may be fulfilled. "Make known to me, O Lord, the way in which I should walk." Let your truth be my guide, and let my steps be directed by your grace. "For to you I have lifted up my soul": for I do not presume on myself, but ask you to help me. (v. 9) "Rescue me from my enemies, O Lord, for I have fled to you." He desires to be rescued from those enemies through whom even human hatreds are stirred up, that is, from the devil and his angels, who are the rulers of darkness and the instigators of the ungodly; fleeing from them he takes refuge in the Lord, so as not to follow the example of the old man, who, troubled by a bad conscience, hid himself from the face of the Lord. (v. 10) "Teach me to do your will, for you are my God." Fill me, he says, with the affection of your grace, so that I may both will what I know you will, and there may be nothing in my work other than what is in your will. And I ask this because you are my God, who work all things in all. (vv. 10–11) "Your good Spirit will lead me into the right land. For your name's sake, O Lord, you will give me life in your righteousness." Your good Spirit will rescue me from all error and lead me into the right land, which is the region of the living: not because of my merit but because of your name, for the cause of every gift to me is your mercy. (vv. 11–12) "You will bring my soul out of tribulation, and in your mercy you will destroy my enemies. And you will destroy all who afflict my soul, for I am your servant." How great a dignity and how great a blessedness it is to be God's servant, to whom, with no preceding merit, such great things are granted!

The title of the psalm touches the history of the event in which Goliath, the mighty warrior, is known to have been overcome by the boy David in single combat. But Goliath signifies the devil, and David indicates Christ, who is also understood in his body, that is, the church, because in nothing are the members separated from the head. So the psalm is to be taken in such a way that we know the historical actions to be forms of spiritual things, and refer David's victory, by which he struck down Goliath, to the Lord himself, who is of the seed of David, and to all his members. (v. 1) "Blessed be the Lord my God, who trains my hands for battle and my fingers for war." It is the voice of the members of Christ's body, who always need divine help to overcome Goliath, so that, whether in battle or in war, both the hands and the fingers may be trained. For in the hands is signified the fullness of all work; in the fingers a certain division of labours: so that the whole strength pertains to waging the wars, and the various kinds of battles to the parts of the virtues of the mind. Hence the apostle shows with what arms and defences the soldiers of Christ are equipped, saying, "To one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith in the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing in the one Spirit, to another kinds of tongues, to another prophecy, to another the discerning of spirits. But all these the one and the same Spirit works, dividing to each as he wills." With these fingers, then, whether in war or in battle, the body of Christ fights, and lays low every enemy, visible or invisible, by the throwing of the stone, that is, by the solidity of Christ. (v. 2) "My mercy and my refuge, my upholder and my deliverer." Rightly and truly do we say to the Lord, "My mercy," because he not only has mercy on us but also makes us merciful, lest there be judgment without mercy for him who has shown no mercy. And he is a refuge from whom weakness takes restoration and confidence. He is an upholder who grants the fighter not to fall. He is a deliverer who grants that the one fighting is not wounded; therefore he adds and says, "My protector, and in him I have hoped, who subjects my people under me." In the voice of the head it seems to be said, "who subjects my people under me," that is, you subject the church to me through faith. But in the voice of the body it can be understood of any spiritual warrior, who confesses that the rebellious people of desires and the movement of carnal longings has been subjected to the law of his mind by the help of grace. (v. 3) "O Lord, what is man, that you have become known to him; or the son of man, that you value him?" Great is the dignity of man, who was so created by God as to know his author, and was valued so highly that the only-begotten of God spent his blood for his redemption. (v. 4) "Man has become like vanity; his days pass like a shadow." Man, forgetful of his nature, was changed into the likeness of vanity by voluntary transgression: so that he who had been made in eternal things should be in vain things, that is, in things that set and do not remain, and his days should run past like a shadow. For in comparison with eternal things temporal things are vain, and those things are not true which either cease to be or lose what they are. Wonderful, then, is God's goodness and love toward men, that he calls such a one even to know him, and thinks him worthy to redeem at so great a price and lead out of the shadow of vanity. "For he who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also with him give us all things?" (vv. 5–7) "O Lord, bow your heavens and come down; touch the mountains, and they will smoke. Flash forth lightnings and scatter them; send out your arrows and you will throw them into confusion. Send forth your hand from on high; rescue me and deliver me from many waters." The heavens are the preachers of the truth, telling the glory of God; by their bowing down and their endurance of sufferings the flashing of the gospel becomes known to the world, and the lightnings of miracles illuminate the hearts of believers. The mountains, that is, all the lofty and swollen, when the grace of God touches them, will smoke and will send forth the vapour of a kindled heart with the tears of confession. And God's arrows are God's words, by which the counsel of the proud is scattered, and the unsound are struck so that, well wounded, they may be healed; and this is done by the hand of God sent forth from on high, since the arm of God, which is Christ, became man, and does not abandon the members of his body, and rescues his church from many waters, that is, from unbelieving peoples, whether attacking from outside or lying in wait within. (vv. 7–8) "From the hand of strangers' sons, whose mouth has spoken vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of iniquity." From what waters does the Lord rescue the lowliness of David, that is, the lowliness of Christ's body, but from the hand of strangers' sons? For all unbelievers are foreigners, and are not counted in the adoption of God's sons; and their mouth speaks vanity, whose tongue is estranged from confessing the truth; and iniquity is their right hand, because they rejoice in what is unjust and delight in crooked things as though they were right. (v. 9) "O God, I will sing a new song to you; on a ten-stringed psaltery I will play to you." The new song is the song of grace, and of the new man, and of the New Testament, which is sung on the ten-stringed instrument, that is, in the ten precepts of the law; for the singing is perfect in love, and love is the fullness of the law. (v. 10) "Who give salvation to kings": that is, because you touch the mountains and they smoke, and, humbled, they submit to you with a confession of amends. "Who redeem David your servant." He does not lack the name of David who is the body of Christ, and who has the contest against Goliath. (v. 11) "Rescue me from the malignant sword." It was not enough for him to say "from the sword" without adding "malignant," because there is without doubt also a benign one, of which the Lord says, "I came not to send peace on the earth, but a sword." That one is malignant, then, which separates from Christ; that one benign which cuts off from the world. "And rescue me from the hand of strangers' sons," who, namely, use the malignant sword. For "the sons of men, their teeth are weapons and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword." The strangers' sons, then, are themselves the malignant sword, they are the many waters; and so he adds the same words he had said before, to show more openly of whom he is speaking, saying: "whose mouth has spoken vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of iniquity." What vanity, then, the strangers' sons speak, and what their right hand of iniquity is, what follows shows. (vv. 12–14) "Whose sons are like new plants, made firm from their youth; their daughters adorned and decked like the likeness of a temple; their storehouses full, overflowing from this to that; their sheep fruitful, abounding in their goings out; their oxen fat. There is no ruin of the wall, nor going out, nor outcry in their streets." This abundance and prosperity is common to the wicked and the good; but by the wicked it is held as the right hand, while by the good it is counted as the left: not because these too are not gifts of God, but because heavenly and eternal things surpass earthly and temporal ones; and as the saints use present things as though not using them, and are having as though not having, so the strangers' sons, who set their right hand in passing goods and slippery happiness, are not reproved for their wealth but blamed for their perverse love of things that can be lost. The vanity and iniquity of their judgment is this, that neither by faith nor by hope nor by love do they set their minds on the things above, but love the lowest and perishable rewards, which they leave and by which they are left. (v. 15) "They have called the people blessed that has these things." Full of vanity, empty of faith, armed with iniquity, and strangers to the lot of the eternal inheritance, they burst out into saying that the people is blessed that has these things. But let the sons of the promise say: "Blessed is the people whose God is the Lord."