Explanation of Twelve Psalms
Explanatio psalmorum XII
Read the whole work on one page
Contents
Reading pages: 1.1.1–1.24.5 · 1.25.1–1.41.2 · 1.42.1–35.3.5 · 35.4.1–35.27.1 · 35.28.1–36.18.6 · 36.19.1–36.39.1 · 36.40.1–36.59.2 · 36.60.1–36.78.2 · 36.79.1–37.18.1 · 37.19.1–37.37.2 · 37.38.1–37.57.4 · 37.58.1–38.19.2 · 38.20.1–39.4.1 · 39.5.1–40.5.3 · 40.6.1–40.29.1 · 40.30.1–43.8.3 · 43.9.1–43.25.3 · 43.26.1–43.51.1 · 43.52.1–43.71.1 · 43.72.1–43.95.2 · 43.96.1–45.24.3 · 45.25.1–48.2.2 · 48.3.1–61.3.1 · 61.4.1–61.26.1 · 61.27.1–61.35.1
- 1.1.1Delight was set by God as a spur to virtue and turned by the devil into a spur to error, as Adam's story shows.
- 1.1.2The devil used delight, which God himself took in his works, to bring death.
- 1.2.1Angels and the heavenly host praise God in song.
- 1.2.2Delight is natural, as nature's echoes, beasts, birds and infants show.
- 1.3.1David gave us psalm-singing to restore something of the heavenly delight Adam lost.
- 1.4.1All Scripture breathes God's grace, but the Psalms are especially sweet; even Moses broke into song at the Red Sea.
- 1.4.2Moses and Miriam sang at the Red Sea, and Moses gave the law its memory in a song.
- 1.5.1God takes delight in song both as praise and as a means of reconciliation.
- 1.5.2Moses' two songs, in Exodus and Deuteronomy, light up his whole work.
- 1.6.1Songs are rare elsewhere in Scripture, but constant in David.
- 1.6.2Daniel, Habakkuk and Solomon each left one song.
- 1.7.1The Psalms contain everything found in the other books and are a medicine for the soul.
- 1.7.2A single psalm can hold the whole history of the fathers.
- 1.7.3The Psalms teach love, as David risked himself for the people, and how to bear rebuke.
- 1.7.4The Psalms teach patience and arm us against evil spirits, as David's playing drove off Saul's spirit.
- 1.8.1David alone was openly promised that Christ would come from his seed.
- 1.8.2The psalms foretell Christ's birth, passion, resurrection, ascension and session.
- 1.9.1A psalm is wholly its own, and is the praise and joy of the whole people.
- 1.9.2The psalm serves day and night and makes one song from many voices.
- 1.9.3Psalm-singing suits every age and both sexes, women included.
- 1.9.4Children learn the psalms gladly, and the psalm creates its own silence in church.
- 1.9.5The psalm is sung by kings and peoples alike and makes the people one.
- 1.9.6In the singing people the Spirit plays without error, and the psalm softens hard hearts.
- 1.10.1What is learned with sweetness in the psalms is retained.
- 1.10.2The psalms kindle love, reveal mysteries, and teach both avoiding sin and repenting of it.
- 1.11.1The psalm is an instrument of virtue played by the Spirit; its strings of dead gut teach us to die to sin.
- 1.12.1We must sing inwardly and with the mind, not for the body's pleasure.
- 1.13.1The psalm opens, like a contest, with the prize: blessedness.
- 1.13.2Like an emperor's herald, David names the reward first to lighten the struggle.
- 1.13.3To be called blessed is to share a title the apostle gives to God himself.
- 1.14.1Saying "blessed is the man" does not exclude women from blessedness.
- 1.14.2Genesis shows that "man" includes the woman.
- 1.14.3Man and woman share one nature, so their work and reward are equal.
- 1.14.4Since the contest is of the soul, which has no sex, the reward is the same for both.
- 1.14.5The man is named first because Eve, who fell first, broke the order of nature.
- 1.15.1Blessedness lies not in wealth, power, birth, beauty or health.
- 1.16.1Ambrose asks why the verbs of Ps 1:1 are in the past tense.
- 1.16.2Only one who has finished life without falling can be called blessed.
- 1.17.1Doers of good are blessed in the very act; abstainers from evil only at the end of a sinless life.
- 1.18.1Why is blessedness tied to avoiding evil rather than doing good?
- 1.18.2For rational beings, abstaining from sin is the first step to goodness.
- 1.18.3The ascent of virtue is like Jacob's ladder, step by step.
- 1.18.4The first step, abstaining from sin, already lifts us from the earth.
- 1.19.1The law's prohibitions suit beginners, as Jesus' answer to the rich young man shows.
- 1.19.2The rich man who claimed to keep the commandments could not take the next step.
- 1.19.3Psalm 1, under the law, warns against evil; Psalm 40 (41), in Christ's person, exhorts to virtue.
- 1.19.4Christ crowns mercy both in Psalm 41 and in the Beatitudes.
- 1.20.1Ps 1:1 names three kinds of sin: thought, deed and persistence.
- 1.20.2Evil thoughts will accuse us at the judgment.
- 1.20.3Two ways of reading the three stages of Ps 1:1.
- 1.20.4Ambrose doubts the second reading.
- 1.20.5The order of the three must be reconsidered.
- 1.20.6Rising order: not persisting, not standing, not even thinking evil.
- 1.21.1Another reading takes the three steps in the psalm's own order.
- 1.21.2Christians and catechumens should keep from the counsels of the ungodly.
- 1.21.3Sudden suggestions from the enemy are not yet guilt; deliberate thoughts are.
- 1.22.1Scripture asks not sinlessness but that we not remain in sin.
- 1.22.2Like Israel told to leave Babylon, the sinner must go out of the confusion of vice.
- 1.22.3The Chaldeans stand for astrology and paganism; like Abraham we must flee them.
- 1.23.1The seat of pestilence is the seat of pleasure, avarice and ambition, like that of the Pharisees.
- 1.23.2Christ overturned such seats in the temple; Eli's sons were "sons of pestilence".
- 1.24.1The "way" is the course of this life.
- 1.24.2Like sleepers on a ship we move toward our end even when we seem still.
- 1.24.3Our time moves on even while we sleep; let the heart keep watch.
- 1.24.4On life's road pleasant and harsh sights alike pass by.
- 1.24.5Neither prosperity nor adversity should hold up the traveller; but he must choose his way.
- 1.25.1There are two ways; our life itself becomes one of them.
- 1.25.2The way of the just is narrow and its reward future; the way of sinners broad and its pleasure present.
- 1.25.3The soul wavers between eternal and present goods.
- 1.25.4The way of virtue offers fasting and tears, the other feasting and songs; few choose the first.
- 1.25.5Blessed is he who chooses virtue's bitter rind over sin's sweetness.
- 1.26.1We must not stand in evil but stand firm in good.
- 1.26.2Scripture's examples of standing with God: Moses, the laborers, the wise virgins.
- 1.27.1Not sitting as such is blamed; we must stand as in the emperor's sight.
- 1.27.2Soldiers of Christ stand; iniquity sits, fixed in sin.
- 1.27.3Long habit makes sin incurable; one must leap away from it at once.
- 1.27.4Some persist in vice into old age; evil counsel is fire in the bosom.
- 1.27.5A spark of sin becomes a blaze; withdraw your foot at once.
- 1.28.1Like mud, sin defiles the more the longer one wallows in it.
- 1.28.2Sin breeds a pestilence of soul and body.
- 1.28.3Riches are an evil sickness, as Ecclesiastes says.
- 1.28.4The rich cannot sleep for anxiety over their wealth.
- 1.28.5Every corruption of the world is a plague to be avoided.
- 1.28.6Avarice makes men lukewarm and spreads sickness to all.
- 1.28.7The sick head and heart of Isaiah 1 are the wise and the church's leaders corrupted by avarice and pleasure.
- 1.29.1Vice spreads like contagion among companions in sin.
- 1.29.2In taverns vice is praised and modesty mocked, and corruption spreads.
- 1.29.3Imitate David, who would not sit with evildoers.
- 1.29.4Those to be fled are the corrupt, and especially those who mock the good.
- 1.30.1Abstaining from evil is blessed only when done by reason and will, as Ps 1:2 adds.
- 1.30.2The blessed man keeps the law willingly, from love, not from necessity.
- 1.30.3The law itself commands love of God first.
- 1.30.4Deuteronomy and Wisdom both make love the root of obedience.
- 1.30.5Will must precede deed; the law seeks the willing.
- 1.31.1Meditating day and night means a constant love of keeping the law.
- 1.31.2Day and night mean prosperity and adversity, in both of which love must last.
- 1.31.3God loves us even when he chastises.
- 1.31.4Love of God is tested in loss, as with Job.
- 1.31.5The first virtue is steadiness in both fortunes, crediting success to God.
- 1.32.1Isaiah's "drink this first" means: drink tribulation first.
- 1.32.2Tribulation leads to repentance; gladness often to error, as with Israel.
- 1.32.3Tribulation, drunk first, produces patience and hope.
- 1.32.4Scripture speaks of tribulation as a drink, as David mixed his drink with tears.
- 1.33.1Mystically, drink the Old Testament first, then the New.
- 1.33.2The devil's food and golden cup are answered by Christ's food of salvation.
- 1.33.3Christ gives the water from the rock and the good, sober drunkenness of his cup.
- 1.33.4In both Testaments we drink Christ, who is vine, rock, fountain, river and peace.
- 1.33.5Scripture is drunk when the Word enters the soul; first the Old, quickly then the New.
- 1.33.6The great light is Christ, the child born to us.
- 1.33.7The child is born of the virgin, the Son given from God: the Word made flesh.
- 1.34.1He who loves God and keeps the law in tribulation is blessed.
- 1.35.1The tree of Ps 1:3 is the tree of life in paradise.
- 1.35.2The tree of life is Christ, brought forth by the virgin, who is "earth".
- 1.35.3Christ is the tree in the midst, among his apostles and in our hearts.
- 1.35.4The blessed man imitates Christ, the tree planted in the virgin by the Father.
- 1.35.5The streams of waters are the Holy Spirit.
- 1.36.1Another reading: the rivers of paradise also stand for waters to avoid.
- 1.36.2The Pishon, "change of mouth", flows where gold is: avarice makes men break their word.
- 1.36.3The Jews were exiled to the lands of these rivers.
- 1.36.4Judah and Benjamin, like an adulterous priest's daughter, were punished more heavily.
- 1.37.1Christ passed through four temptations, figured by the four rivers.
- 1.38.1Paul's four foes in Eph 6:12 are the four rivers.
- 1.38.2To return to paradise one must cross these rivers of temptation.
- 1.38.3Return to paradise is through the fiery sword and through water.
- 1.39.1Aquila's "transplanted": Christ planted in the virgin, then transplanted into paradise.
- 1.40.1Christ gives fruit, and gives it in due season, like the faithful steward.
- 1.40.2Christ gives fruit wisely, in due season: its fullness in the resurrection.
- 1.40.3The fruit is given in the resurrection, when we are incorruptible.
- 1.41.1The fruit is faith and the mysteries; the leaf is moral conduct that guards it.
- 1.41.2Virtues without faith, among pagans or Jews, are leaves without fruit.
- 1.42.1The mysteries save; morals adorn, as Mary's part surpasses Martha's.
- 1.42.2Faith and works belong together, like fruit and leaf.
- 1.43.1The leaves of Adam and Eve foretold the resurrection: the leaf that does not fall.
- 1.43.2The Greek allows "who will give fruit" to refer to the blessed man or to the tree, that is, Christ.
- 1.43.3Aquila's "will be directed" fits any man God guides, and Christ above all.
- 1.44.1The ungodly are unlike the blessed man; Aquila's "resound" means a life that echoes the law.
- 1.44.2The ungodly will not prosper as the blessed man does.
- 1.44.3The repeated "not so" confirms the sentence; the ungodly are scattered like dust by the Spirit.
- 1.45.1The Spirit is the south wind of the Song that softens our hearts.
- 1.45.2The pious soul is a garden, the ungodly soul dust.
- 1.46.1The powerful ungodly man is dust, soon gone.
- 1.46.2Wealth, display and office pass like a shadow; better to feed the poor.
- 1.46.3We leave the world naked; possessions pass to others and cannot save from death.
- 1.46.4The power of the ungodly vanishes like dust, smoke and wax.
- 1.47.1Does Scripture teach that the ungodly will be annihilated?
- 1.47.2Ungodliness, like sin, is contrary to nature.
- 1.47.3Since ungodliness is against nature, its destruction need not destroy the nature.
- 1.47.4What perishes is ungodliness, not the nature; even dust changes rather than vanishes.
- 1.48.1The one ground like dust may be changed for the better, not annihilated.
- 1.48.2The adversaries cease to be adversaries but remain, converted; God punishes to purify.
- 1.48.3Fire purifies rather than annihilates; God wills all to be saved.
- 1.48.4Evil is an accident in the soul, burned away by repentance; the soul's nature is precious.
- 1.49.1Why does Isaiah count the nations as a drop and spittle, if God cares even for sparrows?
- 1.49.2God promised the nations blessing and gave his Son for them.
- 1.49.3Compared with heaven and its hosts the earth is a mere point.
- 1.49.4The nations are small only by comparison with the heavenly hosts, and even so have a weight of justice.
- 1.50.1Christ gathered the slight drop of the nations into the one body of the church.
- 1.50.2Paul's doxology in Romans 11 interprets Isaiah 40.
- 1.51.1The ungodly rise, but not to judgment: they are already judged.
- 1.51.2The apparent conflict between Ps 1:5 and 2 Cor 5:10 is resolved: unbelievers are already judged.
- 1.51.3John 3:18–19 shows that unbelievers are already judged.
- 1.51.4Paul's "all" means believers, who will give account; all rise, the just are changed.
- 1.51.5Daniel foretells the judgment and resurrection.
- 1.52.1The opened books are our consciences, laid bare before Christ.
- 1.52.2Christ knows hidden thoughts; the books are written in the traces of our sins.
- 1.52.3The books include the tablets of the heart written by the Spirit.
- 1.52.4Do not blot out the Spirit's writing on the heart with your sins.
- 1.53.1Daniel and Christ both teach a resurrection to life and to judgment.
- 1.53.2We should fear the judgment, at which our hidden sins will be exposed.
- 1.54.1There are two resurrections; those not in the first are burned until the second.
- 1.54.2The saints who rose at Christ's death entered the heavenly city.
- 1.55.1We must rise from the death of sin now, like Lazarus, to rise in glory then.
- 1.56.1The just rise in their council without judgment; sinners rise to judgment.
- 1.56.2A third order, the ungodly unbelievers, rise straight to punishment.
- 1.56.3Unbelievers loved darkness, not the light they never knew.
- 1.57.1The Lord knows the ways of the just, which he directs.
- 1.57.2Christ is the way; he does not "know" the workers of iniquity.
- 1.58.1Only the path of the ungodly perishes, not their being; sin is an accident.
- 35.1.1Psalm 35 (36) sketches the unjust man before Psalm 36 (37) sketches the just.
- 35.1.2Philosophers followed this order, but David long preceded Plato.
- 35.1.3Plato's image: gold-seekers smear themselves with mud; justice is gold, iniquity mud.
- 35.1.4Philosophy seeks gold in statues; our gold is Christ's blood.
- 35.2.1The title names "the servant of the Lord"; the psalm addresses one with divine attributes.
- 35.2.2Only the Son of God can be meant; but why "servant"?
- 35.2.3Christ took the title of servant for himself.
- 35.2.4The unjust are those who rejected Christ, who became a servant for them.
- 35.3.1Paul explains Christ's poverty: he became poor to make us rich.
- 35.3.2Isaiah explains Christ's pain: he suffered for us.
- 35.3.3Christ reproaches those who plotted against him, the Just One.
- 35.3.4Unwittingly they spoke of the cross, the tree that restores paradise.
- 35.3.5Christ joined flesh and the wood of the cross to end the ancient hunger.
- 35.4.1Isaiah 49 shows Christ formed as a servant to gather Israel.
- 35.4.2Christ is servant from his mother's womb, not by divine nature, against Jews and Arians.
- 35.4.3Emmanuel, Jesus, the ruler from Bethlehem: names of Christ.
- 35.4.4The one Christ is servant in the flesh and Lord, equal to the Father in substance.
- 35.5.1Even as servant Christ is great, as Philippians 2 shows.
- 35.5.2Christ's servitude freed all and won the name above every name.
- 35.6.1Whatever the unjust man says is sin, and recoils on himself.
- 35.6.2Like the viper's brood, the unjust man's sin wounds himself.
- 35.6.3The unjust harm themselves; the just benefit others and themselves.
- 35.7.1Justice serves the common good, as David showed in sparing Saul.
- 35.7.2Abel was just; Cain, the unjust, was tormented by his own conscience.
- 35.7.3Cain's mark preserved him to suffer his own fear.
- 35.8.1A guilty conscience is the heaviest punishment and a self-chosen slavery.
- 35.8.2Sin haunts us in prayer and in sleep like a creditor.
- 35.8.3The just man frees himself by confessing before he is accused.
- 35.8.4Judas's words of betrayal were sin against himself and drove him to death.
- 35.9.1David's confession helped him; Cain's and Ananias's lies were lies to themselves.
- 35.9.2Innocence is sweet; iniquity weighs the conscience down like lead.
- 35.9.3Iniquity blinds the inner eye.
- 35.10.1The just man's speech saves; the unjust man's wounds.
- 35.10.2David's just speech to Saul bore fruit; the unjust man's venom came to nothing.
- 35.11.1The unjust man's word is like the devil's boast; he lacks the fear of God.
- 35.11.2God sees even the secret recesses of the mind.
- 35.12.1The unjust man labors to find iniquity and hatred.
- 35.13.1Herodias, lawfully married to Philip, received Herod as a guest.
- 35.13.2Herodias left her husband for his brother; John called the union unlawful, and she sought his death.
- 35.13.3At Herod's birthday Herodias's daughter danced and, prompted by her mother, asked for John's head.
- 35.13.4Herod, bound by his oath, had John beheaded.
- 35.14.1Judas sought money and found sacrilege, betraying with a kiss.
- 35.15.1Judas sinned not by nature but by will, refusing to understand.
- 35.15.2The greedy refuse to understand, lest they be called back from vice.
- 35.15.3Ahab refused to understand Naboth's just answer or Elijah's signs.
- 35.16.1The bed is a place for compunction, not for plotting sin.
- 35.17.1The unjust man takes a lasting stand on the evil way, unlike the blessed man of Psalm 1.
- 35.17.2Psalm 1 teaches to guard the root from the start.
- 35.17.3If we do evil unwillingly, how much more when we love it.
- 35.17.4The crown is won by striving with God's help.
- 35.18.1After the unjust man, the psalm turns to God's mercy, as Paul does in Romans 7.
- 35.18.2Mercy comes from heaven; God's truth is veiled in the prophets like clouds.
- 35.18.3God hides in darkness so that we may first receive the rain of the mysteries, then the light.
- 35.18.4Aquila's "strong mountains"; Paul's wonder at God's unsearchable judgments.
- 35.18.5The mountains are Christ and his attributes.
- 35.18.6Christ is wisdom, justice, sanctification and redemption; deep calls to deep, Old Testament to New.
- 35.19.1God saves men and beasts: rational and irrational alike.
- 35.19.2The sons of men are fed at the table of the sacraments, with bread, oil and cup.
- 35.19.3The house is the church; the torrent of pleasure is the Holy Spirit.
- 35.20.1The torrent of the Spirit ceased once among the Jews, as Isaiah 50 says of the sea.
- 35.20.2The torrent ceased for the synagogue to flow abundantly for the church.
- 35.21.1The torrent is the fountain of paradise, source of the four virtues.
- 35.22.1Christ is the fountain of life who came down to water our hearts.
- 35.22.2In Christ's light we see the Father.
- 35.22.3Father and Son are one light and one name; the Trinity is one substance in distinct persons.
- 35.22.4The verse can also be addressed to the Father, with whom the Word, the fountain of life, always was.
- 35.23.1Knowledge of God wins mercy, as for Rahab, who knew him when Israel did not.
- 35.23.2We pray for mercy to match faith with deeds, glorying in weakness like Paul.
- 35.24.1Some read the torrent as the martyrs' joy in persecution, where grace abounds.
- 35.25.1Some Greek copies read "in himself": the unjust man sins inwardly.
- 35.25.2The psalm moves from the unjust man to God's mysteries and a prayer for protection.
- 35.25.3We must watch and pray, for the enemy comes by night.
- 35.26.1David prays against pride, which tripped Adam even in paradise.
- 35.26.2The proud fall because they lack the eye that guides; let the church and Christ light the way.
- 35.27.1The sinners' prosperity must not uproot those planted by God.
- 35.28.1What does "there" mean? Other psalms use it of the pangs by which Christ is formed in the church.
- 35.28.2"There" is where they ought to have stood; Christ is set for the fall and rising of many.
- 35.29.1"There" may also refer to the judgment to come.
- 35.29.2Pride leads to sin, fall and expulsion, as for Adam.
- 35.29.3We fell in Adam but rise in Christ.
- 36.1.1Scripture is natural, mystical or moral, as Genesis, Leviticus and Deuteronomy, and Solomon's three books show.
- 36.2.1The psalms include natural teaching, as Psalm 148 shows.
- 36.2.2The psalms also hold mystical teaching about Christ's priesthood, passion and resurrection.
- 36.2.3Psalms 33 (34) and 36 (37) are the chief moral psalms.
- 36.2.4Psalm 36 (37) teaches gentleness, the best salve for the heart.
- 36.3.1Ambrose will apply the psalm's remedies, borrowed from the divine physician.
- 36.3.2Psalm 35 (36) depicts the unjust man, Psalm 36 (37) trains the just.
- 36.4.1"Emulation" can be good or bad; the Greek of Ps 37:1 means "do not provoke the malicious to rivalry".
- 36.5.1An example: adulteresses who flaunt their affairs to provoke the men's wives.
- 36.5.2Such provocation leads wives to break the marriage bond or to constant quarrels; provoking jealousy is vile.
- 36.5.3Misplaced zeal for the law made Paul persecute the church.
- 36.6.1The synagogue provoked God to jealousy like an unfaithful wife.
- 36.6.2Israel worshipped the calf; God answered by provoking them with a non-nation.
- 36.6.3God chose the church from the Gentiles to provoke Israel to jealousy.
- 36.6.4Israel is stirred to jealousy only by the church's claim to its Scriptures.
- 36.7.1The church has no national name, unlike other peoples.
- 36.7.2The church, from no one nation, takes its name from Christ.
- 36.7.3The foolish nation is the church chosen to shame the wise.
- 36.8.1To provoke God to jealousy, as by idol meat, is folly.
- 36.9.1Cain killed Abel from envy, though Abel had provoked nothing.
- 36.9.2Saul's envy of David shows how the malicious are stirred without cause.
- 36.10.1Provoking to rivalry is cunning, emulation simple; both must be spiritual.
- 36.10.2Scripture distinguishes the envious rival from the good emulator.
- 36.11.1The pious must not envy and imitate the dishonest rich.
- 36.11.2Worldly glory withers like grass; do not compete with the wicked.
- 36.11.3Imitate the saints, like Joseph and Habakkuk, who fed others.
- 36.12.1The land to dwell in is one's own soul, to be cultivated.
- 36.12.2The soul must be ploughed to receive the Word, as in the parable of the sower.
- 36.12.3Goodness is the fruit of the Spirit grown in a clean soul.
- 36.12.4The true riches are those of God's word.
- 36.13.1God grants the requests of the inner man, not of the flesh.
- 36.13.2Psalm 20 likewise asks that God grant what is according to the heart.
- 36.14.1To reveal one's way is to confess one's heart to God.
- 36.14.2Open your conscience to the light, as plants need the sun.
- 36.14.3Sin veils the mind and hinders confession.
- 36.14.4Hidden sin festers; we must not hide like Cain.
- 36.14.5David and Paul laid their ways open; so should we.
- 36.15.1We cannot direct our own path; God will open our way.
- 36.15.2Sinners seek darkness to hide their deeds.
- 36.15.3God brings the just man's judgment into the full light of noon, as with Joseph.
- 36.16.1Subjection to God is glorious; it means doing his will.
- 36.16.2Christ, subject to the Father's will, fulfilled the law.
- 36.16.3Christ's subjection is his glory, as in 1 Cor 15:28.
- 36.16.4Christ will be subject when he offers the whole church to the Father as high priest.
- 36.16.5Christ is subject in his body, the church; we must be subject to him.
- 36.16.6Subjection means bearing Christ's yoke; the sinner is a slave.
- 36.17.1Do not envy the prosperity of the wicked, as the psalmist was tempted to do.
- 36.17.2Worldly goods are no reward of virtue; the crown comes after victory.
- 36.17.3Even Paul expected his crown only at the end of the race.
- 36.17.4Complete the time of your contest; the crown comes later.
- 36.18.1Anger is a heavy passion that turns correction into killing.
- 36.18.2Anger destroys even the wise; it must be given a limit.
- 36.18.3"Be angry and do not sin" concedes the feeling but limits it, like a physician.
- 36.18.4The prophet, like a physician, does not forbid anger outright but bids it cease.
- 36.18.5Paul bids anger end by sunset, lest the devil feed it in the night.
- 36.18.6The devil's goads to revenge lead to the ruin that Proverbs describes.
- 36.19.1The wicked are rootless like herbs; do not give up your vineyard as Naboth would not.
- 36.19.2Naboth kept his ancestors' inheritance; so the faithful kept the true faith against those who demanded the Lord's temple.
- 36.19.3The faith is a vineyard planted by God in the heart.
- 36.19.4The heart's vineyard of Sorek must bear grapes, not iniquity like Israel's vineyard.
- 36.20.1The land promised is the heavenly land of the living.
- 36.20.2The heavenly land, like paradise, endures for those who keep God's word.
- 36.20.3Adam hid and was "not seen"; faith makes us present to God.
- 36.20.4Adam was exiled to do penance; Eve saved through childbearing, read as the line of the faithful.
- 36.21.1The sinner's place is on this passing earth and will not be found.
- 36.21.2The waters above and below the firmament figure virtue and sin.
- 36.21.3The abyss belongs to darkness and demons; sinners seek it.
- 36.22.1The gentle, in whom God rests, will possess the land.
- 36.22.2The multitude of peace is the peace Christ gave, which calms the soul.
- 36.23.1The sinner's teeth are his plots against the just.
- 36.23.2The just man's life silently condemns the sinner, whose plots are short-lived.
- 36.24.1The sinner's sword is evil speech, opposite to the Spirit's sword, the word of God.
- 36.24.2Peter and Paul wielded the word as a sword; sinners draw it in insults.
- 36.24.3Their bow is the mind, their arrow poisoned speech; Christ is God's chosen arrow.
- 36.24.4Be armed with faith against unseen spiritual foes.
- 36.24.5True riches are wisdom and good works; the poor whom sinners attack are the poor in spirit.
- 36.25.1The sinners' weapons turn back on themselves, as the apostles' peace returned to them.
- 36.25.2In the recent war a wind turned the enemy's missiles back on them.
- 36.25.3The enemy lost heart when they saw God fighting against them.
- 36.25.4Their army fell apart; ungodly words bring heavy judgment.
- 36.26.1All will be tried by fire, as Malachi foretells of the Lord's coming.
- 36.26.2Some pass through the fire unharmed, like the three youths; others remain in it.
- 36.26.3Even the saved pass through fire, as Israel passed through the sea while Egypt drowned.
- 36.26.4Follow the pillar of fire now, so as to pass through the fire to come.
- 36.27.1God's bow brings calm; the devil's bow brings storms; let God break it.
- 36.28.1Not riches as such but the riches of sinners are condemned.
- 36.28.2The "riches of sinners" may be the philosophers' wealth of words.
- 36.28.3Simple priests, poor in words, win more than eloquent philosophers.
- 36.28.4Much talk leads to sin; the fear of God is the discipline of wisdom.
- 36.29.1God breaks the arms of sinners and crushes Satan.
- 36.30.1God's hand strengthened Job and broke the devil's.
- 36.30.2God's hand heals; pray always to be strengthened.
- 36.31.1God knows the just; to the unjust he says "I do not know you".
- 36.31.2Those who are the Lord's are known by him and depart from iniquity.
- 36.32.1The Greek reads "days": the just, like Elijah and Joseph, have day even amid darkness.
- 36.32.2Justice is light; God enlightens the man who lives as God's image, not as a beast.
- 36.32.3There are good days, like the day of Christ Abraham saw, and evil days.
- 36.32.4The evil day is the day of judgment, when the just will grieve for the punished.
- 36.33.1God's "knowing" is favor; his gaze is the day of the just.
- 36.34.1The just will be satisfied in famine, living by God's word, like the man of 2 Cor 12.
- 36.34.2The man in Christ lives by the Word, who is life.
- 36.35.1Two punctuations of John 1:3–4; Ambrose prefers "what was made in him is life".
- 36.35.2John never says the Word was made, but that the Word was God.
- 36.35.3The Word is the maker, not a thing made.
- 36.35.4"Made in him" does not make the Word a creature, as other texts show.
- 36.36.1John himself explains in his letter: the life appeared in the flesh.
- 36.36.2Everything in Christ, even his death, is life for us.
- 36.36.3Christ's death is life, as baptism and the grain of wheat show.
- 36.36.4All that happened in Christ is life for us.
- 36.36.5Even his being sold was life, for by his blood we are redeemed.
- 36.37.1"A man in Christ" means one made in Christ, in whom all was created.
- 36.37.2The man in Christ is wholly in Christ, as the Father is in the Son (by example, not equality).
- 36.37.3The inner man is made, crucified, buried and raised in Christ.
- 36.37.4The life made in Christ is the church, formed from his side as Eve from Adam's.
- 36.38.1Return to the psalm: the spotless will be satisfied in famine.
- 36.39.1The Greek past tense shows the exalted wicked already failing; the humble are exalted.
- 36.40.1Paul kept his revelation secret fourteen years, to teach humility.
- 36.40.2Paul glories in ignorance, not knowledge, and proclaims God's grace.
- 36.40.3Paul speaks of himself as another, glorying only in that other.
- 36.41.1How could a man hear what a man may not speak?
- 36.41.2What was heard in heaven was not fit to be spoken on earth, as Israel would not sing in exile.
- 36.41.3Paul now proclaims in heaven what he could not on earth.
- 36.42.1Paul received a thorn in the flesh lest he be exalted by revelation.
- 36.42.2Weakness is the workshop of virtue; Paul finished his course in it.
- 36.43.1Paul is the just man who lends the Lord's silver, his words.
- 36.43.2Paul is like the good servant of the parable, rewarded with ten cities.
- 36.43.3Paul preached widely and made clear his teaching was the Lord's, as on marriage.
- 36.43.4The money is the Lord's; the just man gives, the sinner borrows and does not repay.
- 36.44.1The mystical poor man repays God's word by obeying it; the proud rich man does not.
- 36.44.2The church repays the Lord's loan of love; the synagogue did not.
- 36.44.3The sinner is always needy; the just man rich in conscience.
- 36.45.1The land the just possess is the heavenly land flowing with milk and honey.
- 36.45.2The honey of that land is the end of sorrow; its milk is the light of God.
- 36.46.1Christ is the mystical just man who paid our debts; the devil the sinner who borrows.
- 36.46.2The devil borrowed power over the world, but only to test God's servants.
- 36.46.3The devil may give worldly things, but has no right to what is Christ's.
- 36.47.1The Greek word for "steps" means passages: keep passing on, do not stand still.
- 36.47.2Passing on, not standing, we escape admiring the wicked and see God's great sight, like Moses.
- 36.47.3In the exodus God directed Israel's steps with pillar of cloud and fire.
- 36.48.1Pray that your steps be directed and keep the straight path.
- 36.48.2Lot's wife, the Egyptians and the Israelites in the desert slipped and fell.
- 36.49.1Some who long lived a disciplined life suddenly fall away.
- 36.49.2Monks who abandon their monasteries repent of their virtues, not their sins.
- 36.49.3Those who fall away hate the straight way; the man the Lord directs delights in it.
- 36.50.1Our steps are directed by God's mercy; to him belongs the glory.
- 36.51.1The just man may fall but is not overthrown; God strengthens his hand.
- 36.51.2In wrestling a fall is not defeat for the skilled athlete.
- 36.51.3The skilled wrestler can turn a fall into victory.
- 36.51.4A wrestler marked down twice may still win; so the just man.
- 36.51.5The fallen just man must do penance and rise again; forgiveness is repeated.
- 36.51.6The Lord raises the fallen; the just man can rise again.
- 36.52.1Christ's athletes compete at every age, as in the games: boys, youths, men.
- 36.52.2John's boys, young men and fathers are ages of virtue.
- 36.52.3Christ the Child makes childhood a virtue.
- 36.52.4Strength of mind overcomes weakness of age.
- 36.53.1Scripture's spiritual youths: Paul, Eutychus, John.
- 36.53.2John was boy, youth and mature man in the faith.
- 36.54.1Paul, a youth at his conversion, is called a man at his passion.
- 36.55.1There are three kinds of contest: wrestling, the all-in fight, and boxing.
- 36.56.1Paul's "wrestling" in Eph 6:12 is the Greek πάλη.
- 36.56.2Paul fought as a wrestler and also endured blows, as at Jerusalem.
- 36.56.3Paul struck back with a word, and called himself a boxer.
- 36.56.4Paul was proved in every kind of contest and won the crown.
- 36.57.1Daniel as a boy, Jacob and Jeremiah even in the womb, contended and won.
- 36.57.2John the Baptist leapt in the womb and became herald of Christ's contest.
- 36.57.3John was the voice before the Word; the Lord never abandons his athletes.
- 36.58.1"I have not seen the just forsaken" cannot mean that no just man is abandoned by men.
- 36.58.2The just are forsaken by men, but not by the Lord.
- 36.58.3Job and David were not forsaken by God.
- 36.58.4The saints who wandered in deserts were not forsaken; Jacob saw the camps of angels.
- 36.58.5As the angels followed Jacob, Christ the rock followed Israel.
- 36.58.6Elijah and Elisha were not forsaken; Elijah was taken up, and Elisha worked wonders.
- 36.58.7Elisha, surrounded by Syrians, was protected by heaven's army.
- 36.58.8Elisha, Paul and Elijah, forsaken by men, were strong with God.
- 36.59.1Some are old in youth, like Jeremiah, whom God did not count as young.
- 36.59.2David was young but already a sanctified prophet; he saw that the just are not forsaken.
- 36.60.1Old age is better than youth; Abraham and John were honored in age.
- 36.60.2John called himself the elder; Paul called himself the old man.
- 36.60.3Paul was young at Stephen's death, old at his own; Peter likewise grew old for martyrdom.
- 36.60.4Old age stands for the completed contest.
- 36.61.1The seed of the just man is Christ, formed in believers.
- 36.61.2Abraham's true seed does not seek bodily bread but has the bread from heaven, like Elijah.
- 36.61.3Elijah fed by ravens and Daniel fed by Habakkuk were the true seed of Abraham.
- 36.61.4The just are fed with the bread of angels and the water of refreshment.
- 36.61.5The water of refreshment is the Holy Spirit.
- 36.62.1The just man lends the silver of God's word and never runs short.
- 36.62.2Lending is of money or of grace; one must distinguish rightly, as Abel did and Cain did not.
- 36.62.3The Spirit divides gifts; we must lend faith to the nations.
- 36.62.4The apostles lent Christ's money; the just lend faith by day and are blessed.
- 36.63.1God judges every act and preserves the saints for ever.
- 36.63.2The seed of the ungodly that perishes is their succession in impiety, not offspring.
- 36.63.3Job, of Esau's line, shows that it is malice, not descent, that perishes.
- 36.63.4Baptism makes us heirs of grace, not of family.
- 36.64.1After the moral teaching, the psalm lifts the just man to contemplation.
- 36.64.2The higher precepts: the just man's mouth meditates wisdom.
- 36.64.3The mouth that meditates wisdom is the inner man's; Christ joined inner and outer man.
- 36.64.4In the just even the outer man serves the inner, as Christ transforms our bodies.
- 36.64.5Christ's sinless flesh shared fully in the virtues of the inner man.
- 36.64.6The future "will meditate" refers to the time of redemption, when the whole man is spiritual.
- 36.64.7The just speak wisdom always; the fool changes like the moon.
- 36.65.1Speak always of Christ, who is wisdom and the Word.
- 36.65.2Christ is wisdom, virtue, justice, peace, truth and life; open your mouth and he fills it.
- 36.65.3Faith brings the spirit of wisdom; prayer before dawn and psalmody redeem.
- 36.66.1"Sitting in the house" means in the church or in the inner self, judging oneself with counsel.
- 36.66.2Speak with counsel; on the way, speak to Christ, who is the way.
- 36.66.3Overcome sleep by diligence, as David did with prayer and tears.
- 36.66.4Rouse Christ by thinking of him, and he will raise you.
- 36.66.5In the Song, Christ rouses the soul and the soul rouses Christ, who is love.
- 36.67.1The house is the body, in which we groan in exile and must confess our sins.
- 36.67.2Confess now on life's way, lest you become dumb hereafter like Zechariah.
- 36.67.3Speak even in death, as the souls under the altar do.
- 36.67.4Even after death and resurrection the just will speak wisdom in God's house.
- 36.68.1A third, spiritual sense: the restful sleep of one who keeps God's judgment before him.
- 36.68.2Psalm 90 (91) describes the same fearless rest.
- 36.68.3The just man speaks judgment without passion, weighing what to say and what to keep silent.
- 36.68.4Full judgment comes when we see face to face; even Paul confessed God's judgments unsearchable.
- 36.69.1The law in the just man's heart is the natural law, believed from the heart.
- 36.69.2If Gentiles are a law to themselves, much more the just; Esau was supplanted through gluttony.
- 36.70.1The more just a man is, the more the enemy attacks him, but God protects him.
- 36.70.2With God for us, the just need not fear; Aquila and Symmachus agree.
- 36.71.1The Septuagint's "when he is judged" points to God himself submitting to judgment.
- 36.71.2God submits to judgment with his people, as in Micah and Isaiah.
- 36.72.1What can man answer God, who has given and redeemed everything?
- 36.72.2David, seeing this, flees judgment and asks for mercy.
- 36.72.3David, set in darkness, begs quick help, fearing a judgment of truth without mercy.
- 36.73.1No one is justified before God, though man, made in his image, ought to be sinless.
- 36.73.2God spares the just and punishes the ungrateful; in this life we are owed a contest, not a reward.
- 36.74.1To wait for the Lord is to keep his commands even in affliction.
- 36.75.1The land promised is the higher land of eternal promise.
- 36.76.1Sinners perish for you now if you do not admire their prosperity.
- 36.76.2Worldly goods come from the world's prince and pass away with him.
- 36.77.1The ungodly exalt themselves like the devil, but are nothing.
- 36.77.2The ungodly stand on the devil's mountain, which faith can cast into the sea.
- 36.77.3The rich man is a cedar soon broken; pass beyond the world, like Moses, to see this.
- 36.77.4The soul that passes beyond the world passes through to paradise, like the thief.
- 36.78.1He who clings to the Word truly is; the ungodly, cut off from "He who is", are not.
- 36.78.2Seen from above the world, the exalted ungodly man is no longer.
- 36.79.1For the just all present things pass away.
- 36.79.2David passed in mind beyond his times and sang of the church and Christ's resurrection as present.
- 36.79.3As the coast seems to flee from the sailor, the world passes for one who passes beyond it.
- 36.79.4Flee the world like a ship fleeing a rocky coast toward God's harbor.
- 36.80.1Another such ungodly man is the scribe who reads Scripture only by the letter.
- 36.80.2Passing to the spiritual sense, the literalist is found to be nothing.
- 36.80.3The letter kills; the literalist would not let himself be found and converted.
- 36.80.4The converted soul holds fast the Word; the unjust refuses healing.
- 36.81.1Innocence sees God; others read "keep perfection".
- 36.81.2The "remains" of the peaceable man are what survives for the resurrection.
- 36.81.3The true remains are hope, faith and love; the remnant is saved by grace.
- 36.82.1What remains of the ungodly, their sin, will be blotted out.
- 36.83.1Salvation is from the Lord alone, who remains when heaven passes.
- 37.1.1After his two books On Repentance, Ambrose will show from Psalm 37 (38) how penance should be done.
- 37.1.2Like empirical medicine, penance is learned from experience; David, a king, humbled himself.
- 37.1.3All the psalms teach penance, but Psalm 37 (38) most strongly.
- 37.2.1The title "for remembrance" defines penance as remembering and confessing sins.
- 37.2.2The sabbath means rest, laying down the burden of sins.
- 37.2.3Lay down sins now, to reach the rest of the future sabbath.
- 37.2.4Penance is flight from the wrath to come.
- 37.3.1John baptized at Aenon ("eye of punishments") near Salim ("he who ascends").
- 37.3.2John's baptism looks to punishment, Christ's to grace.
- 37.3.3Christ, who ascended, raises the baptized to newness of life as co-heirs.
- 37.4.1Penance is the medicine taught by Christ the physician.
- 37.4.2Christ's flesh became the antidote to sin's poison.
- 37.5.1Christ came in true flesh, in the likeness of sinful flesh.
- 37.5.2Christ took our nature, but without the contagion of sin.
- 37.5.3Three ways of reading "by sin he condemned sin in the flesh".
- 37.5.4Whoever lives by the Spirit and restrains the flesh condemns sin in the flesh and imitates Christ.
- 37.6.1Christ condemned sin by taking our flesh and being made sin for us.
- 37.6.2In Christ the flesh itself now hates the vices it once loved.
- 37.6.3Paul, disciplining his body, is the model of one condemning sin in the flesh.
- 37.7.1God gave herbs for the body and Scripture for the soul.
- 37.7.2Animals seek remedies; men neglect the medicine Christ brought.
- 37.8.1Even the serpent's flesh yields an antidote, theriac.
- 37.8.2Imitate the serpent: guard your head, Christ; shed the old self; spit out venom.
- 37.8.3The story of the serpent who spits out his venom to mate with the moray eel and loses his head.
- 37.9.1The woman's offspring, Christ, cut off the serpent's head; from sin's venom penance makes a remedy.
- 37.9.2The serpent dies when we die to sin, confess and do good works.
- 37.9.3Sinners are the dragon's body; the faithful feast on Christ's body and pardon.
- 37.10.1The Jordan, the font of baptism, is descent into Christ's death and ascent into his resurrection.
- 37.10.2After baptism, sin is washed by the water of tears.
- 37.10.3The church, like Rachel, weeps for the sinner until he returns.
- 37.10.4Rachel's refusal of comfort may refer to the Jews; the church rejoices in the Gentiles.
- 37.11.1First the water of baptism, then the water of tears.
- 37.11.2Tears become bread; the one forgiven much loves much.
- 37.11.3Confession turns sin's venom into a remedy.
- 37.12.1Ambrose turns to the text of the psalm.
- 37.13.1The penitent must accept rebuke, for condemnation now is absolution later.
- 37.13.2The penitent must offer himself to punishment now rather than later.
- 37.14.1David confessed his sin in numbering the people before the prophet came.
- 37.14.2God offered David a choice of three punishments.
- 37.14.3God's offer of choice teaches us to accept a lightened punishment.
- 37.14.4David chose God's mercy over men's, asking lightening, not remission.
- 37.15.1God shortened the plague and "repented"; we too should not shun repentance.
- 37.15.2When God wills to forgive, he gives the grace to pray, as David prayed for his people.
- 37.15.3God wills to be asked, and reveals what moves us to pray.
- 37.16.1Why David chose the plague: famine is worse than death.
- 37.16.2David chose so that he could pray for the people, then offered himself for them.
- 37.17.1God threatens more than he exacts; he is quick to absolve.
- 37.17.2God's cup of wrath is full to warn, not emptied to strike.
- 37.17.3The cup is punishment; Jerusalem drank it to the dregs.
- 37.17.4Christ emptied the cup of death in his blood and gives the cup of salvation.
- 37.18.1God's reward outruns our prayer, as with the thief.
- 37.19.1David asks for moderated chastening; chastening is instruction.
- 37.19.2God is impassible; his "anger" is his punishing.
- 37.19.3God's wrath is punishment; emperors should be strict in law, merciful in punishing.
- 37.19.4David asks to be healed by the word, not cut in anger.
- 37.20.1David's arrows wound the soul for sin; Job's the body in innocent suffering.
- 37.20.2The contrasts between David's and Job's sufferings.
- 37.20.4David felt God's hand in the crimes of his sons Amnon and Absalom.
- 37.20.5Amnon's incest and Absalom's vengeance, and David's flight from his son.
- 37.20.8God's hand struck Pharaoh, the Egyptians and Saul.
- 37.21.1Even where the devil wounds, the arrows are called the Lord's, as Job shows.
- 37.21.2The devil was allowed to strike Job's goods and children.
- 37.21.3Job calls the devil's blows the Lord's hand and arrows.
- 37.21.4The arrows are the Lord's because he permits the devil to test us.
- 37.22.1Temptation is like the sword of God's word, which pierced even Mary's soul.
- 37.22.2Nothing is hidden from the Word; let us sell all to buy him.
- 37.23.1Even the devil admits a soul is worth more than all possessions.
- 37.23.2The devil offered the world for worship; a Christian should give more to rise with Christ.
- 37.24.1Faith is worth more than everything, as Abraham showed.
- 37.24.2Moses and Rahab valued their souls above all wealth and safety.
- 37.24.3Rahab followed Joshua, a figure of Jesus; money redeems the soul when given to the poor.
- 37.25.1God makes the devil, who tempts us, guard our soul.
- 37.25.2Christ turned the tables: the devil must serve and guard what he hates.
- 37.25.3We condemn the flesh yet follow it, like a widow who breaks her pledge and wants to remarry.
- 37.26.1The face of God's anger is his eye upon evildoers.
- 37.26.2God's anger heals; even when he strikes the flesh he saves the spirit.
- 37.27.1The bones are those of the inner man, as the soul has eyes and nostrils.
- 37.27.2The bones of the soul are the bonds of love, as in marriage and in Christ and the church.
- 37.28.1Sins before our eyes leave the soul no peace, as Paul knew.
- 37.28.2Our own guilt is the heaviest adversary.
- 37.28.3Sin sells us into a slavery that only grows.
- 37.29.1Iniquities over the head press down the mind, as with Nabal.
- 37.29.2The head is Christ; we must break the chains of sin to look up to him.
- 37.29.3Christ refreshes the burdened, as the converted Gentiles show.
- 37.29.4Iniquity festers when it rules the head; its height is the man of iniquity to come.
- 37.30.1David's wounds stink to him, and so there is hope for him, as for Job and Lazarus.
- 37.30.2The luxurious man does not smell his own wounds, like the rich man of the parable.
- 37.31.1David confessed his foolishness, the foolishness that saves.
- 37.31.2Foolishness that sees its sores is better than the world's wisdom; David found penance, Judas did not.
- 37.32.1"Bowed to the end" may refer to the end of penance or to Christ.
- 37.32.2From Christ's wound flowed the water of life; he was bowed and saddened for us.
- 37.32.3Penance must be thorough; we should rejoice in suffering for Christ.
- 37.32.4Priests must suffer for the church as Paul did.
- 37.33.1The psalmist's soul suffers more than his flesh.
- 37.33.2Symmachus reads "loins": the devil mocks through lust.
- 37.33.3The devil works through the loins to bring adultery and sexual immorality.
- 37.33.4The "mockeries" are the devil's illusions that waste the soul's strength.
- 37.33.5We should fear the soul's mockeries more than bodily weakness; Christ strengthens both.
- 37.34.1David humbled himself but did not yield to the enemy.
- 37.34.2"Not knowing" evil means not consenting to it; Christ did not know sin.
- 37.34.3God "does not know" the wicked and their bloody counsels.
- 37.34.4God forgets forgiven sins and "knows" only what endures.
- 37.34.5God "knows" the fruitful, not what is destined for burning.
- 37.35.1The wicked break down the soul's doors so that Christ cannot enter; we must guard them.
- 37.35.2Those who rule themselves well open the gates to Christ; diligence holds firm against the evil spirit.
- 37.35.3David bowed himself in prayer, for the humble man's prayer pierces the clouds.
- 37.36.1The wordless groan is the Spirit's prayer, which God does not despise.
- 37.37.1Guard the soul's doors in prayer; no axe or hammer enters the Lord's house.
- 37.37.2Groaning with conversion is heard, as Peter's was; Ahab's was not lasting.
- 37.38.1"Desire" is used of good things in Scripture.
- 37.38.2The penitent should list his sins, not his good deeds.
- 37.38.3The Greek ἐπιθυμία can mean good desire or evil concupiscence.
- 37.38.4"All my desire before you" means the petitions of prayer, not boasting.
- 37.39.1A troubled heart that feels its pain shows signs of health.
- 37.39.2David's troubled heart was calmed by Abigail; Nabal's hard heart died.
- 37.40.1If bodily strength fails, power is perfected in weakness, as Paul showed.
- 37.40.2The strength that left him may be the Lord, his strength.
- 37.40.3The saints call on God as if absent, to seek his presence.
- 37.40.4Like the bride of the Song, David sought the Christ he never truly lost.
- 37.41.1The light of the eyes is Christ, the true light.
- 37.41.2God's word is a lamp; the persecutors came with lanterns, light shut in.
- 37.41.3The Jews' light is veiled; Christians see God's glory unveiled.
- 37.41.4The torches and weapons foreshadowed the destruction of Jerusalem.
- 37.42.1The psalmist's friends turned against him, and he kept silent like a deaf mute.
- 37.42.2In temptation a man's enemies are those of his own household.
- 37.42.3Like Job's friends, comforters can become attackers; consolation must be gentle.
- 37.42.4Like physicians, comforters should soothe first and speak with care.
- 37.42.5Silence can heal; the comforter must wait for the right moment.
- 37.42.6Comforters must speak at the right time; Job and David complain of their friends.
- 37.43.1Mystically, the "neighbors far off" are the guardian angels, who wait God's time to help.
- 37.43.2When the soul's guilt is greater, the enemies gain more power, as with Ahab.
- 37.43.3Priests should rebuke kings only for grave sins, but then without sparing.
- 37.44.1Confession forestalled his accusers, so they spoke vanity.
- 37.45.1David truly did not hear his provokers, shutting them out with his mind.
- 37.45.2Blessed is he who does not return insult, like Christ.
- 37.45.3The just man imitates Christ, the silent lamb.
- 37.45.4Christ answered a blow gently; it is better to overlook an injury.
- 37.45.5The blessed dumb man speaks inwardly to God, like Zechariah.
- 37.45.6Susanna, silent before her accusers, spoke inwardly to God and was heard.
- 37.46.1Those who revile a penitent help him, as Shimei's curses helped David.
- 37.46.2The penitent should accuse himself, not quarrel with accusers.
- 37.46.3A sinner should spend his time in tears, not in disputes.
- 37.47.1David, silent before men, spoke to God in hope.
- 37.47.2David speaks only to God, who forgives and raises the fallen.
- 37.47.3Grace makes sinners more blessed than innocence; have the will to rise.
- 37.48.1David prayed to persevere, lest his enemies boast if he faltered.
- 37.48.2David stands ready for chastisement, scourged by his own grief.
- 37.49.1The "moved feet" of Psalm 72 (73) concern envy of the wicked, not penance.
- 37.49.2Scripture's sense must be sought, which translation tends to weaken.
- 37.50.1The remedy: to stand ready for whatever chastisement God wills.
- 37.50.2God's servant accepts any chastisement, knowing it lightens future punishment.
- 37.51.1Do not let rank or shame keep you from asking God's forgiveness.
- 37.51.2David, though king, did not blush to do penance; false shame will be regretted at the judgment.
- 37.51.3Those ashamed to confess Christ will be shamed; David confessed openly.
- 37.51.4Job and David were not ashamed to confess, and God will not be ashamed of them.
- 37.51.5Amend now while you can, as the parable of the rich man warns.
- 37.52.1The psalmist's enemies thrive; Paul died daily for his people.
- 37.52.2An honorable death crowns a life; better to die to rise than to live to die.
- 37.52.3To die daily is to carry Christ's death; only strength in Christ is sound.
- 37.53.1"Without cause" fits Christ, "wrongfully" fits David.
- 37.54.1"Followed after" justice implies close pursuit.
- 37.55.1David attributes justice to grace and prays not to be forsaken.
- 37.55.2David desires God's healing blows, which leave clean scars.
- 37.55.3The martyrs' scars are glorious; the flesh of death becomes a robe of glory.
- 37.56.1Commit yourself to Christ the physician and let him choose the cure.
- 37.56.2Christ's medicine is rebuke; David asks for it without anger.
- 37.57.1Confessed sin, like a fever that breaks out, can end.
- 37.57.2The sick man should offer himself to the cure, as David did.
- 37.57.3God's word healed Job's wounds; may it heal mine.
- 37.57.4Men shun the sinner's wounds; God heals without being defiled.
- 37.58.1A verse in some Greek copies: "they cast me off like an abominable corpse".
- 37.58.2Christ, who raised the stinking Lazarus, can cure our wounds.
- 37.59.1Penance with prayer and tears is light compared with the glory to come.
- 37.59.2Doxology closing the exposition of Psalm 37 (38).
- 38.1.1Psalm 38 (39) teaches patience; David wrote it for Jeduthun to sing.
- 38.1.2Unlike poets who sought fading crowns, David sought the incorruptible reward.
- 38.1.3The "end" in the title is Christ, the goal of every virtue, whom we must follow.
- 38.2.1Provoked by enemies, human and spiritual, David meditated and chose patience.
- 38.2.2Silence is a shield; David held his tongue when provoked.
- 38.3.1David vowed to himself to guard his tongue; a promise to oneself must stand.
- 38.3.2The first sin came through speech; Job conquered by silence.
- 38.3.3Cain and Israel sinned by speech.
- 38.4.1Solomon too names the ways of a young man among things beyond knowing.
- 38.4.2David asked God to forget the sins of his youth, which even Solomon could not trace.
- 38.4.3Speech is safe only when founded on faith.
- 38.5.1If David feared sinning with his tongue, we should fear it more.
- 38.5.2Unfruitful words are dangerous; silence is safe and seemly.
- 38.5.3The wise man binds his lips with understanding.
- 38.5.4The wise man guards his mouth and the treasure of his heart.
- 38.6.1Judas was held back by Christ's kindness until the devil entered his heart.
- 38.6.2Those who trouble the just are the devil's ministers; David's silence guarded him.
- 38.7.1The devil is always present, lying in wait; he who sees him can avoid sin.
- 38.7.2Shimei was driven by the devil; David fought the devil rather than punish Shimei.
- 38.7.3The devil is beaten by God's word; Christ, Moses and Susanna were silent yet heard.
- 38.8.1When troubled, David put on sackcloth and fasted.
- 38.8.2We are most at risk of a wrong word in pain, sadness or anger.
- 38.8.3Those of our own household are often driven against us; patience and silence are the remedy.
- 38.9.1The just man grieves for those who wrong him, as Jacob for Esau.
- 38.9.2Be silent under insult and pray God not to leave you; he who has God is not alone.
- 38.10.1The just man is silent, prays, blesses, and loves his enemies.
- 38.10.2Praying for enemies is more than silence.
- 38.10.3Loving enemies is higher still; God is love.
- 38.10.4Praying for persecutors is the fullness of the gospel, as Job prayed for his friends.
- 38.11.1Pray when weak for yourself, when strong for your enemy.
- 38.11.2Prayer for enemies returns as blessing into one's own bosom.
- 38.11.3The bosom is the soul's secret place, as the just rest in Abraham's bosom.
- 38.12.1How can David both humble and exalt his soul?
- 38.12.2Fasting humbles the flesh; grace exalts the soul; one who knows how to be humble knows how to be lifted up.
- 38.12.3David exalted his soul by thinking highly of Christ, unlike the Arians.
- 38.13.1David kept silent, for a good conscience needs no defense in words.
- 38.13.2The just man leaves judgment to Christ; silence is always useful.
- 38.14.1His grief was renewed when old sins were thrown at him, a sign he was not yet perfect.
- 38.14.2In this psalm David is not yet perfect; elsewhere he speaks as stronger.
- 38.14.3Like a weaker boxer struck on an old scar, the imperfect feel old sins renewed.
- 38.14.4The perfect are secure in God's forgiveness; the imperfect feel the old wound reopened.
- 38.15.1The wise man burns his own wound, and his heart grows hot under insult.
- 38.15.2The fire of conscience scorches but does not consume, like the burning bush.
- 38.15.3There is a fire kindled by Scripture, the fire Christ came to cast on earth.
- 38.16.1The fire that made David speak is the Spirit's fire of Pentecost.
- 38.16.2The "end" David asks about is the end of 1 Cor 15, not his death.
- 38.16.3The end is the abolition of death and sorrow, which Paul worked toward by rebuke.
- 38.16.4The end is the end of all; David speaks as representative man.
- 38.17.1He asks what is lacking for perfection, not for bodily life.
- 38.17.2The number of days is that of the many mansions in the Father's house.
- 38.17.3Christ prepares a fitting mansion for each and is the way to it.
- 38.17.4The saints ascend by stages through the heavens.
- 38.18.1The "old days" are those of the old man, crucified with Christ; the new day is Christ's.
- 38.18.2The saint rejoices in the Lord's new day and its light.
- 38.19.1"Palaestae" also suggests wrestling: our days are full of struggle.
- 38.19.2Our days are labor and grief; Paul labored most for the crown.
- 38.20.1As a builder's measure, "handbreadths" means God has measured our days.
- 38.20.2Before God man's substance is as nothing.
- 38.21.1"Spans" need not mean short days: God measured heaven with a span.
- 38.21.2The days of sinful life were shortened; eternal days have no end.
- 38.22.1Life was shortened to limit sin; earthly contagion weighs on us unless we put off the old man.
- 38.22.2Grace strips sin off; penance covers it with labor; both are blessed.
- 38.23.1Man walks in God's image, yet heaps up treasure in vain.
- 38.23.2Faith serves God, avarice the tempter; the rich man does not know his heir.
- 38.23.3Riches pass to unknown and often ungrateful heirs.
- 38.24.1The image in which man walks is Christ, God's image.
- 38.24.2Christians walk in Christ the image, the Jews in the shadow.
- 38.24.3In Christ the image, Father and Son are seen working as one.
- 38.25.1Shadow in the law, image in the gospel, truth in heaven; the church's mysteries were foreshadowed.
- 38.25.2The rock's water foreshadowed Christ's blood; now we see the high priest offering his blood.
- 38.25.3Priests offer the sacrifice, in which Christ is offered and himself offers by his word.
- 38.26.1In heaven we shall see face to face the true light and the perfected saints.
- 38.27.1Do not bring the devil's image of avarice and ambition into Christ's city.
- 38.27.2Like Jacob before Laban, let the devil find nothing of his in you.
- 38.27.3Give to the poor rather than be troubled in vain over riches.
- 38.28.1Christ is our expectation; fear only him who can save or destroy the soul.
- 38.29.1He prays to be freed from all sins, knowing all are born under sin.
- 38.30.1The fool is the devil, author of sin.
- 38.30.2Bear Christ's reproach like Moses; David confesses his own reproaches.
- 38.31.1Reproach accepted from God is profitable.
- 38.31.2David bore Shimei's reproach and was restored; reproach accepted brings victory.
- 38.31.3He kept silent, recognizing God's will in the reproach.
- 38.32.1Having paid for his sins by shame, he asks the blows to cease; God protects what he made.
- 38.32.2A guardian angel protects man unless God permits a contest.
- 38.32.3Made by God and patient under reproach, he trusts in quick forgiveness.
- 38.33.1God's strong hand both strikes and heals.
- 38.33.2One may fail under God's hand and rise stronger, like Job and Paul.
- 38.34.1God instructs man by rebukes for sin; the wise man scourges his own thoughts.
- 38.34.2The soul wastes away as sin lessens; sinners grow fat.
- 38.34.3Those not corrected by the rod are put into the pot, as in Ezekiel.
- 38.34.4A purifying fire awaits sinners; crush the heart now in penance.
- 38.34.5Luxury fattens sin; Paul chastised his body; sin is of guilt, not nature.
- 38.35.1Worldly pursuits are spider's webs; Christ's soldier must be firm.
- 38.35.2The greedy, like spiders, build in vain without Christ as foundation.
- 38.36.1The wise man longs for eternity, a stranger on earth.
- 38.36.2Inhabitant, stranger, sojourner: in the body we are exiles from the Lord.
- 38.36.3Paul's words show desire for the Lord, not yet attainment.
- 38.36.4We strive to please God now and at the judgment.
- 38.36.5Like Adam in exile we weep; Christ has opened our way home.
- 38.37.1Sins must be remitted here; what is loosed on earth is loosed in heaven.
- 38.37.2Christ gave the apostles power to loose sins; Novatian denied it.
- 38.37.3The church must loose those the Lord wills to be loosed.
- 38.38.1Remission belongs to the gospel; pardon must be sought here with tears.
- 38.38.2Without remission here there is no rest, life or being hereafter.
- 38.39.1David trusts in redemption; "remit" can mean "end my exile".
- 38.39.2Forgiven, he will be no exile but a citizen with the saints.
- 39.1.1Psalm 39 (Protestant 40) announces the New Testament: the perfect are those who have already waited.
- 39.2.1The verse “Waiting, I waited for the Lord” is fulfilled in the gospel, where Christ lifts us from the pit of sin.
- 39.2.2Thanks to Christ, who came down to rescue us from the mire of this world and set our steps firm in his flesh.
- 39.2.3The rock on which the psalmist’s feet are set is Christ, who gives water to the thirsty and footing to those who slip.
- 39.3.1The “new song” is the New Testament, with its new precepts: leaving all for Christ, loving enemies, blessing those who curse, and virginity.
- 39.4.1The man made blessed no longer looks to the world’s vanities and “false madnesses”: wars, theatre, circus, heresy and false prophecy.
- 39.5.1The prophets’ inspired “madness”, like Isaiah walking naked and barefoot, is a true madness.
- 39.6.1Adam awaited Christ, and looked for him in Noah, the survivor of the flood.
- 39.6.2Noah’s vine and drunkenness prefigure Christ, who lay naked on the cross and poured out the cup of a new wisdom.
- 39.6.3As Ham who mocked Noah was cursed, so those who make Christ’s death a reproach are bound; those who accept it are saved.
- 39.7.1Christ was awaited in Moses, who opened the sea and drew water from the rock.
- 39.8.1Aaron standing between the living and the dead prefigures Christ the advocate who offers his death for all.
- 39.9.1Joshua, who bore the name Jesus, prefigured Christ, whom he worshipped as the commander of the Lord’s army.
- 39.10.1The true Jesus came when Christ, given a body, came to do the Father’s will, and the sacrifices of the law ceased.
- 39.11.1“In the head of the book” refers to Genesis, where Eve, formed as man’s help, is a type of the church.
- 39.11.2Genesis 2:23–24 speaks of the great mystery of Christ and the church, to whom we cleave as members of his body.
- 39.12.1Abel’s sacrifice and the ram offered in Isaac’s place prefigure Christ’s sacrifice, in which his flesh, not his divinity, suffered.
- 39.13.1The man who would command heavenly powers is Christ, served by angels.
- 39.14.1The Passover lamb is Christ, slain for all; woe to those who rejected him, yet he offered them the remedy if they turned.
- 39.15.1The one who wills what God wills is of the same divinity; so Christ went willingly to his passion.
- 39.16.1Christ’s prayer in Gethsemane does not imply a divided will: he spoke there according to human feeling.
- 39.16.2Christ taught caution, not presumption, in the face of persecution, and in Gethsemane he spoke, prayed and grieved as man.
- 39.16.3Christ took the three readiest disciples as witnesses; his words in Jeremiah, “I did not know”, cannot mean the Wisdom of God was ignorant.
- 39.16.4Christ’s cry of forsakenness expresses the feeling of men in danger, not a real abandonment by the Father.
- 39.16.5The man Christ is seen and heard, but his divinity is known in his works, and only the wise recognize him.
- 39.16.6The reader of the gospel must read wisely, for Christ’s words cleanse, enlighten and give life.
- 39.17.1Christ’s words to Judas expose the betrayal of the kiss, the sign of love and peace.
- 39.17.2Judas betrays the Son of Man who came down from heaven and made him an apostle.
- 39.17.3Judas, overwhelmed by the Lord’s patience, returned the money and confessed, which makes the guilt of those who paid him the heavier.
- 39.17.4The thief on the cross, who recognized Christ’s kingdom in his punishment, is absolved.
- 39.17.5The devil, who gained Judas, lost more when the thief was carried into paradise.
- 39.18.1One will of Father and Son means one substance of the Trinity; the human voice of Christ also consented to God’s will.
- 39.18.2Christ took on the fear of death, our sins and weaknesses in order to conquer them for us.
- 39.18.3Christ took on our own flesh, born of a human virgin, and so is truly man, the mediator.
- 39.19.1Christ took on flesh to make it immortal; those who follow him will hear, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”
- 39.19.2In paradise with Christ there is no fear of falling as Adam fell.
- 39.19.3The redeemed will be where Christ is, safe from Satan, who is cast down and bound.
- 39.20.1Adam fell, but his fall is repaired for the better; in paradise there will be no marriage, and those with Christ need not fear the serpent.
- 39.20.2Adam fell because he did not remain in Christ’s word; hence the question, “Adam, where are you?”
- 39.20.3Adam made himself absent by hiding from God’s face.
- 39.20.4Christ seeks those who hide from him, calling, “Man, where are you?”
- 39.21.1Evening came in paradise because of sin; Adam erred in the morning and is freed at evening.
- 39.21.2Saul was blinded by Christ’s light because he did not know him, and received his sight when he acknowledged him.
- 39.21.3Christ, as physician, threatened Saul in order to heal him, and Saul received a light he had never had.
- 39.22.1Ambrose quotes the next verses of the psalm.
- 39.22.2The “belly” of the variant reading is the womb of the mind, in which, as Paul says, Christ is formed.
- 39.22.3The womb of the inner man is the heart, where the natural law is kept and done.
- 39.22.4The gentiles, keeping the natural law, acknowledged Christ, whom the people who had the law did not receive.
- 39.22.5The believer’s belly is filled by the Holy Spirit, from which flow the rivers of living water.
- 39.23.1The “great church” is the church gathered from the whole world.
- 39.23.2The great church is a “weighty” people, steadfast in faith and founded in Christ by love.
- 39.24.1The preacher in the great church does not hide God’s righteousness, which is faith, but proclaims Christ crucified.
- 39.25.1The whole psalm is spoken by Christ, who came to establish faith and forgive sins.
- 39.26.1Against the Apollinarians, the psalm shows that Christ had a human soul as well as a body.
- 39.27.1Ambrose ends his treatment of the psalm with a doxology.
- 40.1.1Psalm 40 (Protestant 41) follows the coming of Psalm 39 with the passion; its number recalls Christ’s forty-day fast, which repaired Adam’s fall.
- 40.1.2The title “to David himself” points to Christ, who took away the world’s sin and is our wisdom, redemption and sanctification.
- 40.2.1The opening verse calls the hearer to open his ears to the mystery of the passion and to know what and when to speak.
- 40.3.1Mercy to the poor is blessed, but the verse in a psalm of the passion must mean more, since Christ rebuked Judas’s objection about the ointment.
- 40.3.2Judas objected from greed, the other disciples from mercy; Christ answered that she was preparing his burial.
- 40.4.1The blessed man is the one who understands, by faith, the poverty of Christ, who became poor in taking our impoverished flesh.
- 40.4.2Christ suffered in our poverty, that is, in the flesh, not in the fullness of his Godhead.
- 40.4.3Psalm 108 (109), spoken against Judas, confirms that the “poor man” is Christ, whose poverty, cross and death bring us riches and life.
- 40.5.1Christ’s poverty enriches us; its riches are seen in the simplicity of the sacraments.
- 40.5.2Unlike pagan blood-rites and the old sacrifices, baptism and the heavenly table bring the riches of Christ’s poverty.
- 40.5.3There is a good poverty of spirit and a rich poverty in small gifts given in faith.
- 40.6.1Christ called himself poor and sorrowful because he grieved for us, not for himself, in order to break death’s sting before the day of judgment.
- 40.7.1The day of judgment is called evil because it condemns many, for the way of virtue is narrow and few walk it.
- 40.7.2Christ speaks of the day of judgment with our dread, for it lays open hidden things and condemns many.
- 40.7.3Christ himself, the Judge, calls the day of judgment evil out of compassion for those who will be condemned.
- 40.8.1The “evil day” may also be the present evil age, in which we must be freed from sin so as to be free from punishment hereafter.
- 40.9.1Christ, our advocate, prays that the believer be preserved, given life and made blessed.
- 40.10.1One must be cleansed on earth to be clean hereafter, and only the Lord who made the body from earth can cleanse it.
- 40.11.1The enemy is the devil; the Greek reading “into the souls of his enemies” points to their plotting minds.
- 40.12.1The “bed of pain” is the weak flesh, the body of death in which the soul lies sick.
- 40.12.2These verses are fit for the long sick; the Lord says to the soul, “Rise, take up your bed.”
- 40.12.3The healed soul returns to its “house” of health; the Lord turns the sick man’s bedding from sickness toward health.
- 40.13.1Christ, wounded for our sins, turned his weakness into salvation through his passion and resurrection.
- 40.13.2Christ turned the weakness of all men in his own body on the cross, like a wrestler who lets himself be pinned and then throws his opponent.
- 40.13.3In the contest of the passion Christ hid his divinity, and the devil, thinking him a mere man, struck at his side as he had at Adam’s rib.
- 40.13.4From his wounded side Christ brought forth life and, by his own power, rose while the adversary fell.
- 40.14.1“I have sinned against you” may be David’s confession, or the Saviour’s words, who was made sin for us.
- 40.14.2In spiritual combat we must confess our sins, since the physician demands confession before he heals.
- 40.15.1The psalm’s “When will he die, and his name perish?” was fulfilled in the hostility of Christ’s enemies.
- 40.15.2The church answered their hope by proclaiming that Christ’s name grows even through his death.
- 40.15.3The church, who knows Christ as the author of life, recalls the disciples at prayer when the risen Lord appeared to them.
- 40.15.4Christ’s enemies wished his name to perish, but he was lifted from the earth, rose, ascended and restored his kingdom.
- 40.16.1The verses about the man who comes in to see and goes out to speak are a prophecy of Judas the traitor.
- 40.16.2Judas, though among the disciples, was never inside with Jesus, being shut out by his faithlessness and greed.
- 40.16.3Judas spoke vain words about the poor while thinking of his theft, and the devil filled his heart with iniquity.
- 40.16.4Jesus was not deceived by Judas, whom he named as his betrayer, though Judas did not understand that he was known.
- 40.17.1“He went out”: outside are the wolves and the adversary, inside are Moses, Zechariah and the Spirit crying to the Father.
- 40.17.2Judas went out from faith, from the apostles and from Christ’s supper into the devil’s service.
- 40.17.3Judas went out because he did not understand the Scriptures that foretold Christ’s rising and his own betrayal.
- 40.18.1Judas, sent to proclaim the faith openly, sank to whispering with plotters, condemning himself.
- 40.18.2Judas was ashamed to be found out, for he repaid good with evil and sold his master for money.
- 40.18.3Those who suborned false witnesses about the temple were truly outside, not understanding that Christ spoke of his body.
- 40.19.1The “unjust word” is the bargain over Christ’s blood, made as if he who sleeps would not rise again.
- 40.20.1The “adding” is the grace given to man to live again after death, as years were added to Hezekiah.
- 40.20.2Something may be added to man, but nothing to God; Christ rose in the humanity he had assumed.
- 40.20.3The flesh belongs to Christ’s saving dispensation; the psalm’s active verb shows that the Son of God raised himself.
- 40.20.4The flesh received resurrection, but Christ as God worked it by his own power, the one power of Father and Son.
- 40.21.1Christ’s own apostle and table companion betrayed him; some excuse Judas because he returned the money.
- 40.21.2Judas is more guilty than the others, since he had received more, even Christ’s peace.
- 40.21.3Christ said he had hoped in Judas to make his guilt the heavier.
- 40.22.1Divine sanctification can convert the depraved, as Zacchaeus the tax collector shows.
- 40.22.2The thief and the centurion confessed Christ at the cross when even the apostles hid.
- 40.22.3Rahab the harlot was converted to faith; so Christ could rightly hope that his apostle would turn to better ways.
- 40.22.4Man is free to choose good or evil; Judas, who betrayed his table companion, chose evil.
- 40.23.1“My bread” means the nourishment of the heavenly word, which belongs to Christ.
- 40.23.2Even gentiles, enemies and robbers spare those they have eaten with, which makes the betrayal of a table companion the worse.
- 40.23.3The “sweet food” always shared is the word of life, on which we can meditate day and night.
- 40.24.1The Greek and the gospel’s “lifted up his heel” describe the insolence of a victor striking a fallen opponent.
- 40.24.2Judas lifted his heel against Christ, defiling the feet Christ had washed, and so did not hold to the head.
- 40.24.3Judas tripped Christ up by the treacherous kiss, as Jacob tripped up Esau.
- 40.24.4Like the serpent, Judas wounded only Christ’s “heel”, his body, not his head, which is God; and he hanged himself.
- 40.25.1Jacob’s prophecy of Dan as a serpent biting the horse’s heel may be applied here.
- 40.25.2Dan’s prophecy points beyond Samson to the Antichrist, who will come from that tribe.
- 40.25.3Dan (“judgment”) points to the Antichrist, who will judge only the people of impiety; the believer is not judged.
- 40.26.1The serpent lies in wait in the ways from which Christ called the nations to his supper, but cannot wound the souls of the faithful.
- 40.26.2Judas is the serpent biting the heel of the “horse”, Christ’s flesh, which bore the world’s sin.
- 40.26.3The wounded “horse” is Christ’s spotless flesh, the white horse of the Apocalypse.
- 40.26.4The wounded “horse” rose and ascended above all heavens to sit at the right hand of power.
- 40.27.1The horse ridden by the heavenly warrior against Heliodorus is a figure of Christ.
- 40.27.2Christ alone rode this “horse”, the flesh, without sin and conquered death.
- 40.28.1Judas’s trick was matched by Christ’s willing suffering, as a strong man lets himself be struck.
- 40.28.2The rider fell backward willingly, onto those who followed him, to save those on whom he fell.
- 40.28.3The stone that falls on us cleanses and heals; anyone once received in baptism must not stray from Christ’s body, the church.
- 40.28.4Christ’s death, cross, burial and resurrection free, cleanse and heal the one who comes to believe in him.
- 40.29.1Christ fell backward onto those behind him, seeking Adam like the good shepherd to carry him into paradise.
- 40.30.1The persecutors fell backward at Christ’s word, because he willed to fall upon sinners in order to heal them.
- 40.30.2Christ willed to free even his persecutors, as Peter’s call to repentance shows.
- 40.30.3Christ’s fall was toward salvation from the Lord; his persecutors, earthly, fell to the earth.
- 40.30.4The faithless fall to the earth and to hell, but Christ falls upon the church.
- 40.30.5Peter followed behind Christ; where Peter is, there is the church, against which hell does not prevail.
- 40.31.1The Samaritan’s beast that carried the wounded man is another figure of the good “horse”.
- 40.31.2Chariots and horses do not condemn: in God’s name all, rich or poor, are safe, if riches are well used.
- 40.32.1“Raise me up” gives man a pattern of hope, or asks for Matthias to be raised up in Judas’s place.
- 40.32.2“Raise me up” also means the raising of his body, the church, in place of the unbelieving people of whom Judas was a figure.
- 40.33.1“I will repay them” may mean punishment, or, since “repay” can be for good, the final salvation of all Israel.
- 40.34.1Here Christ discloses his majesty: he alone is without sin, and his enemy did not rejoice over him.
- 40.34.2Christ’s resurrection, and ours, destroys the enemy’s joy and triumph.
- 40.35.1Christ’s innocence, without sin or deceit, is why the Father upheld him.
- 40.35.2Born of the Spirit and the Virgin without the stain of ordinary generation, Christ returned spotless to the Father.
- 40.35.3The Father speaks: the Son lived among sinners and bore their sin without being touched by it, fulfilling the Father’s will.
- 40.35.4The Son, the spotless light, is always with the Father; the Father and the Son honour each other.
- 40.36.1The doxology’s “so be it, so be it” renders the Hebrew “amen, amen”.
- 40.36.2“So be it” can command, pray, or confirm; here it confirms the blessing.
- 40.36.3As the people answer the priest’s blessing with “amen”, so the psalm answers “so be it”, a word of confirmation.
- 40.36.4The doubled “amen” in John marks the deepest mysteries.
- 40.37.1“So be it” closes the first of the five books of the Psalter; the fortieth psalm ends with the passion, as the passion ends Lent.
- 40.37.2The second book of psalms foretells baptism, the rest of the saints, Pentecost, the altar, the ascension and virginity.
- 40.37.3The other books of the Psalter end in Psalms 71, 88 and 105 (LXX numbering) with “So be it”, and the fifth with “Let every spirit praise the Lord”.
- 40.38.1As the one gospel has four books, so the one Psalter has five books.
- 40.39.1The five books of the Psalter answer to the five bodily senses and the five spiritual senses of the inner man.
- 40.39.2The spiritual senses: inner sight, the fragrance of Christ and the Spirit, and inner food.
- 40.39.3The inner touch is faith, as with the woman healed by touching Christ; the ten senses are the ten strings of the psaltery.
- 40.40.1The psaltery is the man perfected in Christ, whose virtues sound in harmony.
- 40.40.2The psalmist sings in joy, while Paul was still in the contest, though he too sang with spirit and mind.
- 40.41.1There is a twofold voice; the psalmist’s “my voice” is the inner voice that does not err.
- 40.41.2The inner voice is that of Moses’ silent cry and Hannah’s silent prayer, which God hears and repays.
- 40.41.3The prayer of the righteous returns to them with its fruit; Ambrose closes with the psalm’s doxology.
- 43.1.1Psalm 43 (Protestant 44) follows the mysteries of passion, baptism and altar by teaching how Christ trains his athlete for the contests that follow forgiveness.
- 43.1.2We must wrestle against the flesh and spiritual wickedness, but with Christ we need fear no one.
- 43.1.3We contend to the end, when Christ hands the kingdom to the Father and death is destroyed, so that God may reign in us.
- 43.2.1The title “for understanding” calls for spiritual understanding; Aquila renders “discipline”.
- 43.2.2Wisdom, discipline and understanding are the chief virtues of prudence: mother, teacher and searcher.
- 43.3.1Scripture testifies to wisdom, which waters like a fountain, and to discipline, which corrects.
- 43.3.2Discipline is severe in rebuke but sweet in correction; like wisdom, the word can mean both perfect and imperfect discipline.
- 43.3.3Without qualification the terms mean perfection; understanding, which contains wisdom and discipline, is good to those who practise it.
- 43.4.1“With our ears” means the ears of the mind, which are truly ours.
- 43.4.2Our true self is the mind made in God’s image; the psalmist speaks of the flesh as of another.
- 43.4.3The soul, the body’s older ruler, is the one who hears; those blocked by vice and greed cannot hear the mysteries.
- 43.5.1Who were the fathers of the sons of Korah, since Korah perished in the desert?
- 43.5.2The fathers who tell are teachers like Paul, who forms Christ in us.
- 43.5.3The fathers are those who know him who is from the beginning; the learner should listen in silence.
- 43.6.1The “days of old” point to the glorious day of the Lord foretold by Joel.
- 43.6.2The day of the resurrection, lit by the sun of righteousness, is the day the Lord made; there are “days of Christ” in which righteousness rises.
- 43.6.3In the days of Christ righteousness, peace and wisdom have risen, and faith has spread over the world.
- 43.6.4Jacob saw God in a figure at Penuel; the Jews saw him in truth in Christ’s days and did not believe.
- 43.6.5The “half of my days” are days darkened by unbelief; the sun of righteousness rises for the righteous and sets for the unbelieving.
- 43.7.1Christ’s saying that the days will be shortened for the elect must be read with what precedes it.
- 43.7.2The elect must not follow false prophets but await Christ, who will come like lightning in full majesty.
- 43.7.8When Christ comes, all will be full of his light; we must not believe the Antichrist’s heralds but the signs Christ foretold.
- 43.8.1The “half-days” are the days of faithlessness under the Antichrist, not short days, for David lamented that his sojourning was prolonged.
- 43.8.2The promise of long life for honouring parents must mean eternal life, since in this life the dutiful often die young.
- 43.8.3The Greek “of many days” means living in the light of piety, as the law is to be read “all the days” of life.
- 43.9.1The driving out of the nations is read not as past history but as a prophecy of the gospel.
- 43.9.2The church conquered the nations not by the sword but by gentleness and faith.
- 43.9.3The nations the church conquers are named with old names but are new mysteries.
- 43.9.4The nations are the passions; the church fights not with weapons but against the war within, conquering itself in Christ.
- 43.10.1Paul fights the “Canaanite” of the flesh; the Hittite and Amorite are weakness and bitter faithlessness, against which Peter’s faith clings to Christ.
- 43.10.2The other nations stand for philosophical sophistry, worldly servility, avarice, trust in riches and the physician who cannot heal himself.
- 43.10.3Only Christ, the heavenly physician, heals as the woman with the flow of blood found; he, rather than Jeremiah, uprooted the nations’ vices and planted faith.
- 43.11.1Death reigned until Moses, that is, the law, whose end is Christ; Moses taught us to lift our hands to the Lord.
- 43.11.2Moses’ raised hands teach us to lift our conduct to Christ in order to defeat Amalek, the deceiver.
- 43.11.3Jesus (Joshua) upholding Moses’ arms prefigures Christ, who on the cross stretched out his hands to raise the world.
- 43.11.4Moses’ prayer to plant the people in God’s mountain points to God planting his people in virtue by grace.
- 43.12.1The land won not by sword but by God’s right hand is the land of promise, the land of the living.
- 43.12.2The land is possessed by the meek, who claim nothing for themselves and trust in God’s right hand.
- 43.12.3Christ is the right hand, the sword (the word of God) and the brightness of the Father’s countenance.
- 43.12.4Joshua stopped the sun not by his own confidence but by trust in Christ, attributing nothing to his works.
- 43.12.5God gives the reward from mercy, not merit, as with Abraham’s faith and the parable of the labourers.
- 43.12.6Not Moses or Joshua but God, who gives the growth, has the glory of bringing the people into the land.
- 43.13.1God, who gives the growth, is himself the planter, in those who please him through faith in Christ.
- 43.13.2God is pleased in the Son by nature and unity of substance, and with us because he gave us the power to please him.
- 43.13.3God is pleased in his Image, the Son, and in those made according to that image, whose likeness will be revealed.
- 43.14.1Only one in whom God reigns, not sin, can truly say, “You are my king and my God.”
- 43.14.2Only the righteous call God their own, as Thomas did when he touched Christ’s side.
- 43.14.3Christ is Lord and God; salvation comes by God’s command and through faith, not works, lest anyone boast.
- 43.15.1“Toss” refers to horned animals defending themselves; how can man, who has no horns, toss his enemies?
- 43.15.2Christ is our horn, as Moses’ blessing of Joseph, with the horns of the unicorn, foretold.
- 43.15.3The one in the burning bush was the Son of God, who purifies our thorny earth by continence rather than destroying it.
- 43.15.4The fire that did not consume the bush signifies the glory of the risen body.
- 43.16.1Christ is the one glorified among his brothers, whom Joseph’s dream of the sheaves foreshadowed.
- 43.16.2Christ took our flesh to bear the fruit of resurrection; “firstborn” cannot mean Joseph, who was not the eldest.
- 43.17.1Christ is the bull who leads his herd, the nations, to the pasture of the church.
- 43.17.2The bull is the greatest victim, Christ, whose passion Jacob foretold: “They hamstrung the bull.”
- 43.17.3The one who wrestled with Jacob and touched his sinew foreshadowed Christ, hamstrung in his passion.
- 43.17.4By refusing the “sinew”, the passion of Christ, they renounced the flesh and blood that give eternal life.
- 43.17.5The sinew is love, the bond of Christ’s body the church; Peter, who professed love three times, is chosen.
- 43.18.1Christ’s horns toss the nations to heal them and overcome Satan, whose horn Daniel saw.
- 43.18.2The unicorn is the only-begotten Word, who gives life to the nations in tens of thousands and later to the Jews.
- 43.19.1The blessing may be taken of Joseph, who had spiritual horns, but only as a figure of Christ.
- 43.19.2“Return to me” fits Christ, who returned to the Father, better than Joseph; the archers of Jacob’s blessing did not lie in wait for Joseph.
- 43.19.3The blessing of the womb belongs not to Joseph but to Christ, born of a virgin and blessed above all powers.
- 43.19.4The horn trumpet of the sacrifices and of the new moon points to the church, the moon, raised by gospel preaching.
- 43.20.1A name expresses what is proper to each; so Moses asked God’s name to know what is proper to him.
- 43.20.2God’s name, “I am who I am”, means eternal being; those who deny the Son’s co-eternity deny God.
- 43.20.3God’s proper name is Father of Christ; those who refused Christ, who came in the Father’s name, will receive the Antichrist.
- 43.21.1We hope not in our own bow but in God’s bow, the rainbow of the covenant, with which he protects us.
- 43.22.1God frees us by piercing our earthly nature with his arrows from heaven, stilling every earthly movement.
- 43.22.2We are freed when the hostile powers and the wisdom of the flesh are put to shame in their vices.
- 43.22.3Sinners will be put to shame still more at the resurrection.
- 43.23.1The saint is praised not in this life of nights but in God, all the day, for he walked in the light.
- 43.23.2Walking honourably as in the day, the saint seeks future grace rather than present praise; nothing is hidden from God.
- 43.24.1The saint never ceases to praise God, unmoved by grief, like David and Job.
- 43.25.1How can the psalm say God has cast off his people, when elsewhere he will not cast them off?
- 43.25.2Paul, citing Isaiah, shows that God has not cast off his people, for a remnant is saved by grace.
- 43.25.3God kept a remnant of seven thousand in Elijah’s time; much less had he cast off the people in David’s time.
- 43.26.1God, who draws near, casts off only those who withdraw from him and go whoring from him.
- 43.26.2The sinner is not cast off by God; he casts himself off, and God does not know those who do not know him.
- 43.27.1God seems to cast off when he withholds his help; but what does it mean that God “goes forth”?
- 43.27.2God does not move bodily; such expressions show when and for whom he acts.
- 43.27.3God seems to sleep because of our unworthy acts, as Christ slept in the boat; for the faithful he keeps watch.
- 43.28.1God draws the weak to himself, while the strong, like Moses, go up and enter into the cloud.
- 43.28.2Moses, more perfect, met the Lord in the cloud at the tabernacle; whoever seeks God enters into him.
- 43.29.1The righteous enter into God as Moses into the cloud, and pray to the Father in secret.
- 43.29.2God “goes forth” from his place, as when he passed from the Jews to the gentiles and as the bridegroom of Psalm 18 (19).
- 43.30.1God goes out from and comes in to men as Christ knocks and enters for the one who opens.
- 43.31.1God went forth with Israel’s forces at Jericho and against the Assyrians, giving victory.
- 43.31.2God at times leaves those he would crown, so that adversity may correct and strengthen them.
- 43.32.1Christ’s cry of forsakenness expresses human feeling in the contest of the passion, not real abandonment.
- 43.32.2As man Christ felt forsaken; as God he knew he was never left by the Father.
- 43.33.1Turning back is perilous, as for the ploughman and Lot’s wife, figures of those who follow temporal things.
- 43.33.2Being “behind” can be good: like Paul we stretch forward, and like Peter we follow behind Christ.
- 43.34.1Aquila and Symmachus render the verse differently; what is “contrary” to us are worldly pleasures, which deceived Lot’s wife.
- 43.34.2Our true enemies are the prince of this world and his associates, who crucified the Lord in ignorance.
- 43.34.3The follower of Christ does not look back; one who looks back to the flesh becomes last in heart.
- 43.34.4The apostles, last in the world, are first with Christ, for their citizenship is in heaven.
- 43.35.1Even the faithful are plundered here, yet their minds cannot be separated from Christ.
- 43.35.2The apostles and the prophets in exile were plundered in body but kept their faith unconquered.
- 43.36.1The insults and plundering of enemies cannot harm the saint, whom nothing can separate from Christ’s love.
- 43.36.2The faithful, though plundered in body, are free in spirit and themselves seize the kingdom of heaven.
- 43.37.1Christ became the sheep of our feast, the Passover lamb, whose sacrament we eat daily.
- 43.37.2Christ is the food of those who eat; without eating his flesh no one reaches eternal life.
- 43.38.1As Christ’s flesh and blood redeemed us, so the apostles endured sufferings for the church.
- 43.38.2The apostles’ sufferings built up the church and moved others to hasten to martyrdom.
- 43.39.1The scattering among the nations is the sending of the apostles.
- 43.39.2Like Christ the grain of wheat, the apostles were scattered to sow good seed among the nations.
- 43.39.3Christ is the seed of all, scattered so as to transform our bodies; from him the apostles were sent out as seeds.
- 43.39.4The apostles were scattered to bear new fruit, to be gathered like wheat into the church.
- 43.40.1The law speaks of a dispersion “from the highest heaven to the highest heaven”: who could be scattered so?
- 43.40.2Only the bridegroom, Christ, ran from the height of heaven, opening a way for mortals to ascend.
- 43.40.3The psalm’s “from the highest heaven” cannot be said of any man; even Moses only climbed Sinai at God’s call.
- 43.40.4Christ alone came down from the highest heaven while remaining in heaven, filling heaven and earth.
- 43.41.1Winnowing, like scattering, means testing: temptation separates our chaff from the wheat.
- 43.41.2Peter was winnowed by Satan and denied Christ in word, but was grounded the more firmly in heart.
- 43.41.3Peter’s tears washed his fault, and the temptation won him Christ’s intercession; the devil’s temptations make the saints better.
- 43.41.4After his testing Peter was set over the church as shepherd, to strengthen his brothers and become food for us.
- 43.42.1In buying and selling, each sells what he values less and buys what he values more.
- 43.43.1God “sold” the people that was sold by its own sin and bought the Christian people with blood.
- 43.43.2Christians were bought with the precious blood of the spotless Lamb.
- 43.43.3Bought with a price, Christians must not be slaves of men, of sin or of the serpent, but serve the Lord alone.
- 43.44.1God sells only the bad servant; Joseph was sold by his brothers, not by the Lord, and redeemed.
- 43.44.2Joseph, sold and then exalted, is a figure of Christ.
- 43.45.1To be sold is to become as nothing; sin has no substance, while those chosen by God are.
- 43.46.1God gains nothing by giving up a soul; the soul that refuses conversion hands itself over to sin.
- 43.47.1No possessions can buy back the soul, and the ungodly have no share in the change of the resurrection.
- 43.47.2Not all will be changed at the resurrection; lighter sins may be relieved by good works, but grave sins have no exchange.
- 43.48.1Whoever is redeemed is redeemed freely by grace, not by the merit of works.
- 43.48.2Israel did not obtain what it sought because it sought to justify itself by works; the elect, who received grace, obtained it.
- 43.49.1Who the hostile neighbours are is hard to discern, for wisdom grows deeper the more it is sought.
- 43.49.2Ambrose confesses his diffidence before Scripture’s mysteries; even Paul sought help that the word might run.
- 43.50.1Ambrose lists the historical neighbours of Israel’s tribes.
- 43.50.2Through Israel’s neighbours the knowledge of God reached the nations, as with the Canaanite woman.
- 43.50.3The Canaanite woman, first of the gentiles to come out to Christ, won his praise of her great faith by her persevering prayer.
- 43.51.1Christ’s mission first to Israel shows his fatherly will not to reject them; when they rejected him, he turned to the gentiles.
- 43.52.1Christ’s saying about the children’s bread does not mean that birth matters more than zeal for the sacraments.
- 43.52.2Christ praised the Canaanite woman’s humility, who asked only for crumbs of the word.
- 43.52.3Gathering the crumbs of Scripture leads to the height of the mysteries, as Christ’s answer to her shows.
- 43.53.1The neighbour who goes out to Christ in prayer is accepted, while the unbelieving Jew becomes a reproach.
- 43.54.1The psalm refers to the believing nations, to whom Israel’s fall brought salvation and examples.
- 43.54.2Those who speak in the psalm are spiritual Israelites, mocked by those who surround them, as Christ was surrounded.
- 43.54.3The wicked who surround the righteous fall, while the Lord’s angel encamps around those who fear him.
- 43.54.4The speakers are spiritual Israelites, mocked by worldly men and by spiritual powers against whom they wrestle.
- 43.54.5Even in exile the Jews were better than the gentiles who mocked them.
- 43.55.1Literally the psalm speaks of the exiles in Babylon; spiritually, of the devil, the true Nebuchadnezzar.
- 43.55.2The devil leads us captive by the law of the flesh, as Paul describes.
- 43.55.3Aquila’s “contempt and show” fits the apostles, made a spectacle and despised by sinners.
- 43.55.4Paul, made a spectacle, was content in insults and persecutions, counting all as loss to gain Christ.
- 43.56.1Israel’s history is a parable and figure for the believing nations, which the Jews did not understand.
- 43.57.1Paul solved the parable of Abraham’s two sons: Hagar and Sarah are two covenants, Sinai meaning the measure of the law.
- 43.57.2Sinai, the “wage”, stands for justification by works; the free Jerusalem above, like Sarah, has freedom.
- 43.57.3The unbelieving people, born according to the flesh, reads Scripture by the letter; the believing people is born through promise.
- 43.57.4The son of the free woman is the church’s son; the faith of the gentiles, taught by Paul, solved the parable.
- 43.58.1Christ became a “parable” to those who sat in the gate and said, “Physician, heal yourself.”
- 43.58.2The Jews sat idle in the gate and hated Christ, who stood at the gate of his passion.
- 43.58.3Christ became a “parable” because his death solved the riddles of the prophets, and he gave himself up to die for all.
- 43.59.1Paul solved the parable of the ox treading grain as written for us.
- 43.59.2We plough in hope and sow spiritual things; the law is a figure, the gospel the light of truth.
- 43.60.1Christ showed himself to the Jews in a parable, his flesh, which they crucified without understanding.
- 43.60.2Those who crucified Christ shook their heads in mockery, but the gesture signified a mystery beyond their meaning.
- 43.61.1Shaking the head has two meanings; the blameworthy kind is that of the passers-by at the cross.
- 43.61.2Those who pass by the vineyard and do not stand in the Lord’s courts are the unbelieving passers-by.
- 43.61.3By refusing to be Christ’s members, they shook off Christ, their true head; there is also a praiseworthy shaking of the head.
- 43.61.4The praiseworthy shaking of the head is moving the mind’s senses by studying Scripture, unlike heretics who stir up unbelief.
- 43.62.1Christ is the head of the peoples; the synagogue is joined, as to a husband, to the bodily law.
- 43.62.2When the bodily law dies, the people may lawfully marry Christ, as a widow remarries; the two covenants are like two marriages.
- 43.62.3Paul’s teaching that a wife is bound to her husband’s law while he lives underlies the figure of the two marriages.
- 43.62.4A wife may remarry after her husband’s death, but while he lives she is called an adulteress if joined to another man.
- 43.62.5As Paul says, we have died to the law through Christ’s body so as to belong to the risen one.
- 43.62.6Mixing false with true interpretation is spiritual adultery; Paul became all things to all, while remaining in the law of Christ.
- 43.63.1Christ was the head of the synagogue founded by Moses, who preferred the reproach of Christ to Egypt’s treasures.
- 43.63.2When the spiritual understanding of the law died, the synagogue was joined to the bodily rite, an adultery against chastity.
- 43.63.3The church married Christ, whose death freed the soul from sin; a woman marries another only when her husband has died.
- 43.64.1The levirate law bound a widow to her husband’s brother, who could refuse by loosing his shoe.
- 43.64.2In Ruth the kinsman loosed his shoe and Boaz took Ruth, with the people’s blessing.
- 43.64.3The levirate law is a figure of Christ, the brother who raises up offspring for the dead people, or of the gospel restoring the law.
- 43.65.1By rejecting wisdom, the Jews caused the gospel to go out to the peoples, so that the Lord reigns among the nations.
- 43.65.2Aquila’s “change of place” refers to the passing of the law from Judea to the nations; the scribes sit on Moses’ seat but do not move the burdens.
- 43.66.1The scribes follow the killing letter, and the Pharisees, whose name means “division”, are divided from the truth.
- 43.66.2The scribes lay the heavy burdens of a bodily reading on their hearers and will not move toward the spiritual sense.
- 43.66.3The “finger of God” is the Spirit of God, as Luke and Matthew show, by whom the heavens were made.
- 43.67.1The scribes and Pharisees care only for the outer man and act to be seen, not to please the Father in secret.
- 43.68.1The gentiles “shook their heads” to read the law spiritually; the letter brings a curse, the Spirit a blessing.
- 43.68.2No one is justified by works of the law; all must flee to the blessing in Christ, who did not desert the synagogue and redeemed us.
- 43.68.3Christ saved a remnant of Israel by grace and redeemed the gentiles; their calling brought salvation to the Jews too.
- 43.69.1The psalm moves between singular and plural speakers.
- 43.69.2The same shift between one and many occurs in Psalm 108 (109).
- 43.69.3Plural verses refer to the saints, singular ones to Christ, who speaks of his own shame.
- 43.69.4The “shame” is the mockery at the cross; “all the day” is the day of the incarnation.
- 43.69.5Christ’s confusion is the cross; the choir of saints, many yet one, may also speak in singular and plural.
- 43.70.1The confusion of the cross abolishes sin, and every shame endured for Christ’s name in persecution is glorious.
- 43.70.2Shame for Christ’s sake is the glory of confession; being ashamed of Christ brings his shame on us.
- 43.71.1Christ’s confusion was the cross, or his shame before the Father at his people’s fall.
- 43.72.1Unlike those who glory in their shame, Christ did not shrink from the shame of the cross, nor should we when mocked for it.
- 43.72.2When mocked for the cross, one should keep silence before scoffers and speak when there is a willing hearer.
- 43.72.3The shame endured by the faithful enlightens the conscience; the shame of sinners confounds them.
- 43.73.1How can those who did not forget God say that he turned aside their paths?
- 43.73.2Even the righteous stagger, and God allows their testing so that they may be proved.
- 43.73.3No one stands unmoved without the Lord’s help; David was shaken, and all share the curse on the earth.
- 43.73.4Even Paul, freed from the old curse, lamented the law of sin and found deliverance only in Christ.
- 43.74.1What is the “place of affliction”: the world, the flesh, or the adversities of this body?
- 43.74.2In this body we groan, waiting for mortality to be swallowed up by life; grace strips it off, repentance swallows it up.
- 43.74.3The body of death is the place of affliction; we must look always to the lamp of God’s word.
- 43.75.1Aquila’s “place of the sirens” points to the enticements, not the flesh itself, that bring us to shipwreck.
- 43.75.2As the sirens’ song, not the shore, wrecked sailors, so worldly pleasures, not the flesh itself, endanger us.
- 43.76.1The Septuagint’s “humbled” is explained from Deuteronomy’s law on the captive woman.
- 43.76.2The laws on the dismissed captive wife and the betrothed virgin show that “humbling” is the act of the one who violates, not of nature.
- 43.76.3The law forbidding the violator to put away the girl he “humbled” shows again that guilt, not the flesh, humbles us.
- 43.77.1The flesh is humbled through frailty, but Adam was in glory until his own transgression humbled him.
- 43.77.2Adam’s fault passed to us; the corruptible body weighs down the soul and the wisdom of the flesh will not submit to God.
- 43.78.1Christ took on real flesh and willingly humbled himself to death on a cross.
- 43.78.2Christ humbled himself as man to free the humbled; his body is a body of life and glory, not of death.
- 43.78.3Christ humbled himself to teach humility and to be exalted from the gates of death.
- 43.79.1Since Christ came, our flesh shines; the inner eye is the lamp of the body.
- 43.79.2The inner eye brings light or darkness to the whole man.
- 43.79.3Each person makes himself light or darkness; the same inner sense is dark in the sinner and bright in the innocent.
- 43.80.1Symmachus’s “desert place” is the world under the curse, before Christ blessed the earth.
- 43.80.2Against the world’s sirens we need not Ulysses’ bonds or wax, but to turn our ears away and bring in God’s word.
- 43.81.1God, who knows the secrets of the heart, “requires” forgetfulness of him so as to remove every trace of it.
- 43.81.2God sees the heart’s thoughts; to die in Christ for his name is glorious.
- 43.81.3God searches hearts and will reveal their hidden counsels at his coming.
- 43.81.4The “hidden things of darkness” are the secrets of the heart, known to Christ and revealed at the judgment.
- 43.82.1Some hidden things are good, like works kept secret and the mysteries Paul heard in paradise.
- 43.82.2The Lord will reveal the hidden things of wisdom; he knows his own and turns from iniquity.
- 43.83.1Those who never forgot God hid only innocence and faced death daily for him, like Paul.
- 43.83.2Paul died daily in the flesh, but his inner man was renewed day by day.
- 43.83.3One renewed in Christ’s love lives in light and cannot be separated from Christ by any persecution.
- 43.84.1The righteous ask for help when tempted, as the apostles woke Christ in the storm, as if praying this psalm.
- 43.84.2Christ slept in body but watched in power, knowing the storm.
- 43.84.3Christ let the storm test the disciples’ faith, which was awake and made them call on him.
- 43.85.1Jonah asleep in the ship and in the whale prefigured Christ asleep in the boat and in the tomb.
- 43.85.2Christ is the true Jonah, who gave his life as a ransom and emptied the whale’s belly, that is, death.
- 43.85.3The great whale made captive is the devil, whom Christ conquered, leading captivity captive.
- 43.86.1Jonah’s prayer from “the belly of hell” points to Christ’s descent to free the dead.
- 43.86.2Jonah’s words about the abyss and the clefts of the mountains do not fit Jonah himself.
- 43.86.3The clefts of the mountains are Christ’s rock-hewn tomb.
- 43.87.1Christ, the chief priest, offered the sacrifice of praise that Jonah vowed, and calmed the world as Jonah calmed the sea.
- 43.87.2Christ made peace by his blood, called men to God by his works, and offered the saving sacrifice.
- 43.88.1Christ “sleeps” for those for whom he has not risen; we must cling to him in spirit, who was cast off for us.
- 43.88.2Cast off for us, Christ bore the reproach of the cross to clothe us with the glory of his resurrection.
- 43.89.1God seems to turn away his face when afflictions darken our minds; if he visits us, nothing can darken us.
- 43.89.2If a human face reveals a person, how much more does God’s face enlighten those it looks upon.
- 43.89.3God’s light shines in our hearts in the face of Christ, the eternal brightness sent so that we may see heavenly things.
- 43.89.4The lame man who looked at Peter was lit up by faith and healed.
- 43.89.5Zacchaeus saw Christ and found light; so the saints long for God’s face.
- 43.90.1Christ is the Father’s face; the saints long for his coming, though the light of his face is sealed in them.
- 43.90.2The light of God’s face is sealed in us; all creation depends on his face and his Spirit.
- 43.90.3The food God gives is doing the Father’s will, the food of the Son.
- 43.91.1God’s hand and face are his goodness and enlightenment; like Moses on the rock, we see by faith the “back” of Christ, the glory of his passion.
- 43.92.1Aquila’s “hide your face” echoes Moses’ prayer, “Show yourself to me.”
- 43.93.1What is the poverty the psalmist complains God has forgotten?
- 43.93.2The poverty in question is the blessed poverty of spirit, to which the kingdom of heaven belongs.
- 43.93.3Since poverty opens heaven, let us neglect earthly riches, as the first Christians laid their money at the apostles’ feet.
- 43.93.4The saints of old practised gospel poverty, as the apostles left everything to follow Christ.
- 43.94.1The tribulations of the righteous are good, for in them they are enlarged, not crushed.
- 43.94.2God enlarged Paul through his blinding and conversion, and Paul urged others to be enlarged in heart.
- 43.95.1Breadth of heart is wisdom, which Solomon asked for above riches and power.
- 43.95.2Solomon received wisdom and all else; the wise must write wisdom on the heart and proclaim it openly.
- 43.96.1In every tribulation we must remain in the Lord; if we withdraw from him, we strengthen our adversary.
- 45.1.1Psalm 45 (Protestant 46) is “for the hidden things”, the mysteries of wisdom revealed to the little ones.
- 45.1.2The hidden things of wisdom are to be kept in the heart and shared only with those who share the sacraments.
- 45.2.1Christ revealed his mysteries only to a few, at Sinai and at the Transfiguration, and bade them keep silence.
- 45.2.2At the Transfiguration Peter spoke without understanding; the three fell and, within the cloud, heard the Father’s voice.
- 45.2.3The Father’s voice shows that the Son is not to be ranked with Moses and Elijah, who were only servants.
- 45.2.4As stars fade at sunrise, so the servants’ glory is hidden before the risen Lord, the Sun of righteousness.
- 45.2.5The Son alone is the true light, one with the Father; his tent is in heaven, not on earth.
- 45.3.1The hidden mysteries require a clean heart, cleansed by drinking from one’s own wells.
- 45.3.2The “hidden place of the storm” and “water of contradiction” are the inner turmoil of tribulation.
- 45.3.3Only Christ’s word, which forgives sins, can calm the inner storm.
- 45.4.1The Word of God became all things for us, flesh to save flesh and water to sweeten the water of contradiction.
- 45.4.2God’s word, sent to heal, must fill the hidden places of the heart so that the devil cannot enter.
- 45.4.3When the devil enters, Christ withdraws, as with Judas; Psalm 9 shows the adversary driven from the heart’s hidden places.
- 45.4.4Prayer in the secret room is the hidden place of wisdom, where God finds our patience and humility.
- 45.5.1The wells of the patriarchs and Jacob’s well point to Christ the spring, found by those who seek.
- 45.5.2Christ is the door; in him the treasures of wisdom and our life are hidden, as Paul learned in the third heaven.
- 45.6.1The aim of the “hidden things” is that the unworthy do not grasp wisdom, while the diligent attain it; only Psalms 9 and 45 bear this title.
- 45.7.1God is “our” refuge, that is, the refuge of believers who place their hope in him alone.
- 45.7.2God became the refuge and strength of the gentiles, for whom the cross is God’s power and wisdom.
- 45.7.3Those who have taken refuge in Christ must not desert him, their foundation.
- 45.8.1The greater the tribulations, the greater God’s help; in harder contests, through tears and prayer, we are crowned.
- 45.9.1With God for us we need not fear the troubles of our frail flesh.
- 45.9.2The mountain cast into the sea is the devil, who entered Judas’s heart and tossed it with passions.
- 45.9.3The fruitful soul is like a field, the restless soul like the stormy sea, as Judas’s bitterness showed.
- 45.9.4The mountain moved by faith is the demon; perfect faith, like mustard seed, must be joined to love.
- 45.10.1Another punctuation joins the moving mountains to the roaring waters; troubled waters are bad, passing waters good.
- 45.10.2Troubled waters are evil powers, like the legion of demons in the swine; the good waters fear God and are calm.
- 45.10.3The depths are the evil powers; from the abyss the beast, the Antichrist, will rise against God’s witnesses.
- 45.11.1The roaring waters are the unclean spirits, troubled at Christ’s coming and passion.
- 45.11.2The devil seeks noise, Christ silence, as the prophets show of the silent Lamb who wins the victory.
- 45.11.3The devil’s powers were troubled when the dead rose; the good “mountains” are carried into paradise, like the thief, John and Enoch.
- 45.12.1The river that gladdens the city is the water and blood from Christ’s side and the word of God that waters paradise.
- 45.12.2From the one Word flow the four virtues and the gifts of the Spirit, the “rushings of the river”.
- 45.13.1The city and tabernacle of the Most High are the soul in which Christ dwells and the body born of the Virgin.
- 45.13.2God in the midst of the city is not moved: Christ, who rose on the third day, was never moved by sin.
- 45.13.3Christ was never separated from the Father; God “moves” away from the sinner, as with Adam, but “stands” for the martyr Stephen.
- 45.13.4God moves away from the unfaithful, as when he left the synagogue desolate; in the church he is not moved.
- 45.14.1“At daybreak” points to the morning resurrection; Christ suffered at evening, like the Passover lamb, and rose at dawn.
- 45.14.2Christ died at the world’s evening and brought back the light of innocence and grace.
- 45.14.3The day has come; let us put on the garment of light and live soberly.
- 45.15.1Another reading has “with his countenance”; God’s look is our salvation, as with Abel’s gifts.
- 45.15.2Whom God looks upon he saves, as Christ’s look made Peter weep and confess him with tears.
- 45.16.1At Christ’s coming the demons and idol-worship were troubled, and the heavy kingdom of sin bowed down.
- 45.16.2The kingdom of sin was the kingdom of death; Christ’s coming brought life and forgave even grave crimes.
- 45.16.3The gospel bowed down the kingdoms of spiritual wickedness and of sin; Christ’s voice calls all to rest.
- 45.17.1At God’s voice the nations fled the kingdom of sin and took Christ’s sweet yoke, which frees those it binds.
- 45.17.2In Christ the slave is free and the free man a slave; at his passion the earth trembled and the gentile rites were undone.
- 45.17.3Christ’s voice daily moves believers from error and luxury to the sacraments, chastity and virtue.
- 45.18.1“The earth was moved”: earthly men, who could not lift their minds to God.
- 45.18.2Since Emmanuel was born of the virgin, we can say, “The God of powers is with us.”
- 45.19.1To claim the God of Jacob we must imitate Jacob’s virtue and labour, as Abraham’s sons do his works.
- 45.20.1The prophet sees the peace that Christ’s coming would bring and calls all to come and see God’s wonderful works.
- 45.21.1Before the Roman empire spread, kings and even Romans fought endless civil wars.
- 45.21.2After the civil wars of Lepidus, Sertorius, Caesar, Pompey and the triumvirs, the empire was given to Augustus and peace came.
- 45.21.3God spread the Roman peace so that the apostles could preach everywhere and all might confess the one God.
- 45.22.1Christ also ends the inner wars of the heart, breaking the adversary’s bow and leaving us his peace.
- 45.23.1“Be still”: free from errors, disturbances and sins, for the sinner has not seen God.
- 45.23.2Pharaoh increased Israel’s labours so that they would have no leisure for God; we must be free for knowing him.
- 45.24.1God, exalted among angels and saints, was not exalted among idol-worshippers; Mary Magdalene was rebuked for seeking him in the tomb.
- 45.24.2Christ told Mary not to touch him because only perfect faith touches him, as the woman with the flow of blood did.
- 45.24.3The woman was healed by faith; the Lord is exalted on earth when he draws all to himself and his will is done on earth.
- 45.25.1The refrain is repeated as confirmation: God is with us in Christ, born of the Virgin and risen, until the end of the world.
- 47.1.1Psalm 47 (Protestant 48) is “for the second day of the week”, sung by the sons of Korah.
- 47.1.2The sons of Korah, who sang before the ark, were fittingly chosen to sing of the day of the resurrection.
- 47.1.3The “second day of the week” is the Lord’s day, the eighth and first day, sanctified by the resurrection.
- 47.1.4The gospel’s “second-first sabbath” shows the Lord’s day replacing the sabbath as the true rest.
- 47.2.1True rest is in the resurrection; Christians call Sunday “the first of the sabbath”, as the gospel does.
- 47.2.2The gospels call the day after the resurrection “the first of the sabbath”.
- 47.2.3David, under the law, spoke cautiously of the Lord’s day as “the second of the sabbath”, keeping the order of numbers yet revealing the mystery.
- 47.3.1God is great everywhere, but the narrow mind cannot grasp it; the nearer we come to him, the greater he appears.
- 47.3.2Thomas, touching the risen Christ, came to marvel at his majesty.
- 47.3.3Thomas fully confessed Christ’s divinity; God’s power is proclaimed most of all in the heavenly city.
- 47.4.1God is great because he spread joy over a world once full of sin and grief, through Christ’s forgiveness.
- 47.4.2The Greek reading “well-rooted” points to joy rooted in Christ, the true vine, whose sacraments cleanse from sin.
- 47.5.1Those who were the “sides of the north”, the devil’s allies, have become Mount Sion, the church gathered by Christ from sinners.
- 47.5.2Through baptism the devil’s former followers became Mount Sion; the “sides” are his companions and helpers.
- 47.5.3Those who did the devil’s will now watch for God; Paul, once a persecutor, was such a “side of the north”.
- 47.5.4Paul became a mountain of watch; the servants of Christ are mountains around the church; Christ suffered at Calvary, on the north side.
- 47.6.1The remnant of the Jews, in Peter, Paul, John and James, became the firm foundations and lofty summits of the church.
- 47.6.2As a builder is known by his works, God is known as the dweller in his people, the house he builds.
- 47.6.3God, who founded such men, takes up his city; its people must not fall away from the house built on rock.
- 47.7.1The “kings of the earth” are those who rule their own bodies, like Abraham, whom the sons of Heth called a king from God.
- 47.7.2Such kings were gathered in one heart and soul, like the first believers.
- 47.7.3Passing over from vice to virtue, from earthly to eternal, is great virtue; God is with the one who passes over.
- 47.8.1Those reconciled in Christ’s peace marvelled at God and at the conversion of men.
- 47.8.2Those who have struggled to master themselves marvel at others’ progress yet fear relapse, for human nature can turn either way.
- 47.9.1Trembling seized them, as Peter wept for his fall after presuming on his own constancy.
- 47.9.2Peter was restored, but Judas remained in his crime; the falls of Judas and Saul made even the strong tremble.
- 47.10.1The struggles of the righteous life are like the pains of childbirth in the church, until Christ is formed in us.
- 47.10.2Paul’s labour pains for the Galatians and Christ’s image of the woman in labour show the pain of forming Christ.
- 47.10.3Acquiring Christ is great labour; Christ is the joy and the child borne in the mind.
- 47.11.1We must bear and nourish Christ, not as a mere child, but adoring him as true God from true God.
- 47.11.2The magi adored Christ as God; Mary bore him without labour pains, rejoicing in God her Saviour.
- 47.12.1The breaking of the ships of Tarshish signifies the servants of God disciplining their bodies.
- 47.12.2By the Spirit’s strength they dissolve their bodies through abstinence, and are told to be strong.
- 47.12.3Whoever practises dissolving himself by abstinence will not fear death, which is to be with Christ.
- 47.13.1The ships are bodies, tossed by passions and sinking without a helmsman.
- 47.13.2They sail well who carry Christ’s cross as their mast and steer by the Spirit to the harbour of salvation.
- 47.14.1Our bodies become ships of Tarshish when we choose the bitterness of fasting; Tarshish is the watch-tower of grace.
- 47.14.2Jehoshaphat’s ships, joined to the ungodly, were broken; to wise Solomon ships came from Tarshish.
- 47.14.3Those who rule their bodies see their “ships” renewed from corruption to the light of grace and resurrection.
- 47.15.1What was heard outside is seen in the city of God, whose light is God himself and whose foundation is eternal.
- 47.16.1The temple in which we received God’s mercy is the body of Christ.
- 47.16.2Christ’s sinless flesh, in which the Godhead dwelt, is the temple; or God was in Christ reconciling the world.
- 47.17.1The mercy received in the temple is the Word made flesh, who offered himself; his flesh, full of the Spirit, is God’s temple.
- 47.17.2God with his Son founded the church, the city the Son builds, which fills the earth with his praise.
- 47.17.3The earth is full of God’s praise, and every knee bows at the name of Jesus.
- 47.18.1Christ, the right hand of God, is full of the Father’s righteousness and power; nothing of the divine majesty is divided between them.
- 47.19.1Foreseeing Christ’s praise in all lands, the prophet urges gladness: “Let Mount Sion be glad.”
- 47.19.2Mount Sion is those who trust in the Lord, and Christ himself is the mountain on which the preacher stands.
- 47.20.1The “daughters of Judah” are the souls that confess God; the Judea of the letter did not acknowledge him.
- 47.20.2The daughters of confession cover their sins and will rejoice to know God’s judgments face to face.
- 47.21.1Those who understand Sion embrace her and hold fast, as the bride holds her beloved in the Song.
- 47.21.2Moses, with Joshua beside him, entered the cloud to learn hidden things, for no one grasps them without the true Jesus.
- 47.22.1Those who understand Sion tell from her towers what to do and avoid; the walled city of God watches for the enemy.
- 47.22.2Against the devil’s siege, the watchmen must preach from the towers.
- 47.22.3The watchmen must never be silent, for the adversary prowls; the Lord crushes the lions’ teeth.
- 47.23.1The psalm bids us understand God’s power and distribute the “steps” (Greek: towered houses) of his city.
- 47.23.2The “steps” are the many dwellings of heaven, assigned by order of merit.
- 47.24.1The lofty precepts are to be divided according to each one’s capacity, as Paul taught Christ crucified to some and wisdom to the perfect.
- 47.25.1Christ hid wisdom so that the prudent would seek it; the earlier generation, weak in faith, sought signs and rejected the truth.
- 47.25.2The Ninevites believed Jonah’s sign, but the Jews did not believe even after the resurrection of Christ.
- 48.1.1Psalm 48 (Protestant 49) opens with the Saviour calling the nations to the church and promising pardon.
- 48.1.2The same call sounds in Christ’s invitation, “Come to me, all you who labour.”
- 48.2.1The coming physician sets out his medicines, as the woman with the flow of blood found when she touched him.
- 48.2.2As Christ healed the woman who touched him, so he invites every soul to be redeemed freely.
- 48.3.1The “world” of the psalm is that of Psalm 23 (24), founded on the seas.
- 48.3.2The inhabited world, oikoumenē, is the church, inhabited by Christ; the Latin “orbis” suggests the smooth course of the saints’ life.
- 48.4.1The church is founded in tribulations and prepared in the rivers of the Spirit.
- 48.4.2All may hear, but only the elect “give ear” and become rivers pouring the word into others.
- 48.4.3The ears meant are the spiritual senses of the inner man, which the natural man lacks.
- 48.5.1The psalm calls the earth-born and the spiritual, rich and poor alike.
- 48.5.2All are called to the church: the sick find a physician, the captive a redeemer; Scripture builds up everyone.
- 48.5.3The common call of rich and poor teaches humility and equality, for Christ became poor to save both.
- 48.6.1Wisdom, more precious than treasure, is open to rich and poor; speech must be weighed by meditation.
- 48.7.1God opens his hidden meaning through a chosen vessel like Paul, a psaltery played by the Holy Spirit.
- 48.7.2A good psaltery is a life in harmony with faith; through such men Christ opens the prophets’ hidden sense.
- 48.8.1The “iniquity of the heel” is Adam’s wound from the serpent, from which all his descendants limp.
- 48.8.2Christ washed the disciples’ feet to wash away the serpent’s poison from the heel.
- 48.9.1David confesses his own iniquities; Christ, sinless, speaks only of Adam’s iniquity at his heel, which cannot condemn him.
- 48.9.2The iniquity of the heel is the inherited slipperiness toward sin from Adam’s transgression, which Christ washes away.
- 48.10.1Judas’s betrayal is another “iniquity of the heel”; Christ calls Judas his heel, the lowest part of his body.
- 48.10.2Adam’s fall affected all his heirs, Judas’s only himself, for believers are now the Redeemer’s inheritance.
- 48.11.1The heel that surrounded Christ is the synagogue; the church is the beauty of his face.
- 48.12.1The heel are those who trust in strength and riches, especially Judas, proud of his apostleship.
- 48.13.1No brother can redeem, but a man will; Christ, the redeemer of all, needs no redemption himself.
- 48.13.2No brother of like weakness can redeem, but the man God sends, Christ, who spoke the truth.
- 48.13.3Christ, the one mediator, alone redeems man, shedding his blood even for strangers.
- 48.13.4Christ alone redeems, for he alone is free of Adam’s sin and gave his life for his servants.
- 48.14.1Christ redeems not as our brother but as God in Christ reconciling the world; he needed no reconciliation himself.
- 48.14.2Christ paid the temple tax only to avoid offence, for the Son is free.
- 48.14.3The Son, free from sin, owed nothing for himself, and his blood could redeem the whole world.
- 48.15.1No one now needs to pay his own redemption, for Christ is the propitiation and redemption of all.
- 48.15.2No blood compares with Christ’s, the one sacrifice that reconciled the world.
- 48.15.3Christ’s blood is the price for all; he took up our labour, as the psalm and Jacob’s blessing of Issachar foretell.
- 48.15.4Redeemed once by Christ’s blood, the believer must still labour to keep God’s commands to the end.
- 48.16.1Those who keep God’s commands will not see destruction; the scribes, trusting the didrachma and refusing baptism, labour in vain.
- 48.17.1The fool knows nothing; the senseless knows wrongly; both will perish together at the judgment.
- 48.17.2The senseless leave their riches to strangers, having no inheritance, while God’s sons are heirs with Christ.
- 48.17.3The faithless have no true riches; the greedy man’s “fruits” are only money, and Christ bids him sell all.
- 48.17.4Riches pass like a river; the worldly wise perish and leave their wealth to strangers.
- 48.18.1For those who live only for this life, tombs are their houses; the house of the righteous is in heaven.
- 48.18.2Our citizenship is in heaven; the house of the devout is the church, the house of Christ.
- 48.18.3The righteous are pilgrims on earth; the luxurious, not believing in the resurrection, live as in their tombs.
- 48.19.1The worldly have their names written on earth; the faithful in heaven; the Lord rebuked those who adorned tombs.
- 48.19.2Earthly honours for the dead are rebuked; the disciple must look to the eternal Father, and Mary is rebuked for seeking Christ in the tomb.
- 48.19.3Leave the tombs and rise at Christ’s call, so that the light of the Holy Spirit may shine on you.
- 48.20.1Man, made in God’s image, is likened to beasts when he does not understand his honour; one who understands is like the angels.
- 48.20.2The base man, like a neighing horse, stumbles by his folly and blesses with the mouth but not the heart.
- 48.21.1Those who refuse Christ the good shepherd are fed upon by death, the hireling.
- 48.21.2At the resurrection the powerful of this world will serve, as Esau served Jacob, while the righteous shine in the morning.
- 48.22.1Christ, whose soul was not left in hell, went down to free its captives.
- 48.23.1Do not fear the rich, for they take nothing with them at death.
- 48.23.2Worldly treasure is a dream; the world was empty until Christ filled it with believers.
- 48.23.3Adam’s ruin emptied us, and Christ, emptying himself, filled us with his grace and resurrection.
- 48.23.4Loss of grace empties a man more than death; the righteous are filled from Christ’s fullness.
- 48.24.1All worldly things are empty; the rich man enters the tomb alone, taking nothing.
- 48.24.2Worldly glory stays behind; the glory of virtue goes up with the innocent to paradise.
- 48.24.3Lazarus the poor man rests in Abraham’s bosom; the rich man, once blessed in his lifetime, is tormented.
- 48.25.1The worldly man is blessed by flatterers and thanks God only in prosperity, cursing him in adversity.
- 48.25.2The righteous man, like Job, blesses God even in loss and suffering.
- 48.26.1The ungodly man goes to the generation of his fathers; the father of the ungodly is the devil.
- 48.26.2Those who imitate their fathers’ sins enter their generation, as with the Moabites and the children of adulterers.
- 48.26.3Followers of the earthly father never see light; those who follow Christ, the light of every man, see eternal light.
- 48.27.1The man who did not understand his honour becomes like the beasts, when he could have been like the angels.
- 61.1.1The title “to the end” of Psalm 61 (Protestant 62) points to Christ, the end of the law.
- 61.1.2Psalms titled “to the end” are about Christ or spoken by Christ himself.
- 61.2.1“To David himself” refers to the true David, Christ, whose voice spoke through the prophet.
- 61.3.1Jeduthun, a prophet who sang psalms with his sons, introduces the psalm of the Lord’s passion.
- 61.4.1Christ, taking flesh, first restored the obedience lost by Adam’s disobedience.
- 61.4.2Like a good physician, Christ had to heal the root of sin, the disposition to sin, not only its outward effect.
- 61.4.3Christ took on obedience to pour it into us, so that by one man’s obedience many might be made righteous.
- 61.5.1Those who say Christ took flesh without a human soul and affections are wrong, for he had to heal the source of sin.
- 61.5.2We know Christ is truly man because he hungered, thirsted, wept and was sorrowful.
- 61.5.3Christ called himself man and Son of Man; true faith confesses him both Son of God and man.
- 61.5.4Christ is one person, from the Father and from Mary, who took our affections and so grieved for us.
- 61.6.1Christ grieved and was weak as man, not for his own sins but ours, to heal us by his wounds.
- 61.6.2Christ carried our sins to forgive them and cleansed them to correct us.
- 61.6.3It is Christ’s human soul, not his Godhead, that is subject to God.
- 61.6.4The subjection is that of the assumed soul, a temporary dispensation, not perpetual slavery.
- 61.7.1“Will be” shows that the subjection belongs to the soul taken on in time, not to the eternal Son.
- 61.7.2Christ’s obedience and humility were taken on for our instruction, as Philippians 2 describes, a temporal subjection.
- 61.7.3Hebrews shows the same: Christ in the days of his flesh learned obedience through suffering.
- 61.7.4Christ learned obedience as man, to become the cause of our salvation, as Adam was the cause of death.
- 61.8.1Christ’s subjection to the Father no more makes him lesser than his subjection to his mother.
- 61.8.2Christ will be subject to the Father “in us”, when all are united in faith and God is all in all.
- 61.8.3When Christ is all in all, God will be all in all; the kingdom of Father, Son and Spirit is one.
- 61.9.1“From him is my salvation”: the Son is always from and in the Father, and the Spirit proceeds from the Father.
- 61.9.2Son and Spirit both proceed from the Father, so the Godhead is one; eternal life is to know the Father and the Son.
- 61.10.1Christ speaks as man in trusting God, yet “I shall be moved no more” reveals his divine power.
- 61.10.2God once moved the earth in judgment, but in Christ he comes in mercy, to redeem us by his own blood.
- 61.11.1“How long will you rush upon a man?”: the persecutors and evil spirits attack Christ’s humanity, who offered himself for all.
- 61.11.2Christ, the man the persecutors sought, gave himself up alone so that his companions might go free.
- 61.11.3Christ came as peace to break down the dividing wall between flesh and soul.
- 61.12.1Christ removed the wall between mind and flesh; the “wall” is the heaped-up prominence of sins.
- 61.12.2Israel’s brickmaking in Egypt figures the building of sin, from which God freed them by the law and grace.
- 61.13.1The rejection of Christ’s “price” was fulfilled when the Jews refused Judas’s silver as blood money; Judas condemned himself.
- 61.13.2The chiefs condemned themselves; the field bought for strangers figures the gentiles, buried with Christ and made citizens of God.
- 61.13.3Judas at least confessed; the chiefs who bought Christ shared his guilt and added worse crime.
- 61.14.1“I ran in thirst”: Christ thirsted for us on the cross, when living water flowed from his side.
- 61.14.2The Greek can mean “I ran” or “they ran”: Christ ran to quench our thirst, his enemies ran to their own drought.
- 61.14.3Those who rejected the eternal fountain thirsted; falsehood brings thirst, truth abundance.
- 61.15.1Christ’s enemies blessed with their mouths and cursed in their hearts, mocking him at the cross.
- 61.16.1Christ is attacked not only in his own body but in his church and in each of his saints.
- 61.17.1Ambrose applies the psalm to a recent victim, an emperor betrayed by his own men.
- 61.17.2The betrayed emperor could say with the psalm that his soul was subject to God, whom alone he feared.
- 61.17.3The soul subject to God is free of human power; for the righteous, death is an escape from sin.
- 61.18.1He who stands on the rock of Christ is not moved but keeps a firm footing.
- 61.18.2God’s will is immovable; men are easily moved, as those who passed the cross shook their heads.
- 61.18.3Christ must remain in us; those who “passed by” rejected him, while the church holds him fast.
- 61.18.4The passers-by, like the priest and Levite, give no blessing; they plunder the vineyard and mock Jerusalem.
- 61.18.5Stephen, immovable in faith, saw Christ standing and was crowned; the moved are poor, the righteous rich.
- 61.19.1To be “moved” is to fall into sin, as David shows.
- 61.19.2He who stands with God does not fall; every passion tries to move the mind, but Peter was told to come behind Christ.
- 61.19.3Following Christ, Peter learns divine things; for the righteous, death with Christ is the end of sin, not of life.
- 61.20.1The betrayed emperor, seeing his pursuers, is anxious not for himself but for those with him.
- 61.20.2Imitating Christ, who asked that his disciples go free, the emperor offered himself for others.
- 61.20.3The emperor, once the wall of the Roman empire, collapses like a leaning wall.
- 61.21.1The enemies sought to destroy not only the emperor’s life but his good name; our true “price” is chastity, mercy, faith, reputation and simplicity.
- 61.21.2Simplicity is rich and fearless, unlike cunning; the enemies took the emperor’s gold but rejected his faith.
- 61.22.1“I ran in thirst”: the emperor sought faith and found none, and was reduced from royal wealth to thirst.
- 61.23.1“They ran in thirst”: the murderers thirsted for blood, as the righteous thirst for God.
- 61.23.2Ambrose rebukes the murderer who plotted the emperor’s death at a banquet, like Judas at the supper.
- 61.24.1Judas has many heirs; the emperor’s betrayer, entrusted with provinces and command, betrayed Christ in his servant.
- 61.24.2Judas at least returned the money; the emperor’s betrayer kept and extorted his wages and deceived in order to kill.
- 61.24.3The betrayer swore an oath to lure the emperor, and then refused him burial.
- 61.25.1As Pilate washed his hands in vain, so the emperor’s murderers condemned themselves by their own words.
- 61.25.2The murderer perjured himself on the gospel, and another “Pilate” sent the captured emperor to a “Herod”.
- 61.25.3Like Christ mocked in a white robe, the emperor was mocked, yet kept even in death the dignity of his power.
- 61.26.1Maximus, crueller than Pilate, refused the emperor burial, but God’s vengeance is only postponed.
- 61.27.1Denied burial, the emperor yet has his everlasting rest with God.
- 61.27.2The righteous cannot be moved from God’s tabernacle; it is the heirs of Judas who are cast out.
- 61.28.1Christ, crucified and buried, never left the Father and lost nothing of his divine glory.
- 61.29.1Christ calls all the people, gentiles and Israel together, to hope in God, for all Israel will be saved.
- 61.29.2In God’s deep wisdom Israel’s fall profited the gentiles, and the gentiles’ faith frees Israel.
- 61.30.1To receive grace we must pour out our hearts, emptying them of malice, and be renewed.
- 61.30.2We pour out our hearts to receive the Spirit poured out, opening all our thoughts to God.
- 61.31.1The sons of men are vain and false in their balances; the sons of God, born of God, are not.
- 61.31.2The false balance is the hypocrisy of the greedy; avarice, the root of all vices, must be fled by the baptized.
- 61.32.1Do not set your heart on riches that flow past; only the Jordan of baptism turned back to its source.
- 61.32.2Baptism returns us to the nakedness of nature; shame at nakedness came from sin, not from nature.
- 61.32.3The psalm teaches the tempted to subject themselves to God and cease from sin.
- 61.33.1God spoke once, yet many things were heard, through visions, graces, law and gospel.
- 61.33.2God spoke once in his Son, and then the Old Testament too was understood.
- 61.34.1In the church the two Testaments are heard together, for Christ alone opened the sealed book of the prophets.
- 61.35.1God will render to each according to his works, by their number and their quality.