Selected Comments on the Psalms 1221–1239

[Ps 16, continued] The enemies do not surround those who are inside, for they cannot; but only when they have cast them out from within. And they set their eyes, he says, to bend me away from heaven down to the earth, that is, to matter. Those who seek to destroy surround to do harm, seeking that one look toward the earth and consider only temporal things; and they turn aside the straight way, acting lawlessly, even against one’s will.

Of the same. The demons surround the one whom they cast out of virtue; therefore it is well said: “If the spirit of the ruler rises up against you, do not leave your place,” and: “Give no place to the evil one”; as if he were saying: If a spirit of sexual immorality rises up against you, do not leave your self-control; and if a spirit of hatred rises up against you, do not leave your love. But we must attend whether the one who has fallen from all the virtues is surrounded, or from many, or from one. If the vices follow one another as the virtues do, the one who has fallen from one virtue is surrounded; but if the vices do not follow one another, it is not the one cast out from one virtue who is surrounded, but the one cast out from all. Or perhaps, from whichever virtue someone falls, he is surrounded by the vice opposed to it.

“They have taken me up like a lion ready for prey, and like a young lion dwelling in secret places,” and so on. For the enemies lay their ambushes against us in secret and unforeseen, like a young lion.

Of the same. Through the impure thought the lion that opposes us takes up our mind. Having cast away the rational part of their nature, they imitate beasts that long for food, look about for it, and spring suddenly.

“Arise, Lord, go before them and trip them up; rescue my soul from the ungodly, your sword from the enemies of your hand,” and so on. The enemies of his hand sometimes take up God’s sword against us. He prays to God, then, that this be rescued and taken from the enemies.

Of the same. As Job calls the power that struck him the hand of God — “Let not your hand,” he says, “whirl me about” — so David calls the enemies of God’s beneficent hand the sword of God. The beneficent hand is the holy angels, through whom God provides for the world, to whom the demons are opposed, who do not wish all people to come to the knowledge of the truth. The hand of God is the only-begotten Son; and the sword is his strength, his power, his authority. Every righteous soul that draws sinners from ungodliness to godliness is a sword of God, sharpened against the spirits of wickedness. Rescue, then, this your sword from your enemies who resist faith in the Only-begotten.

[Ps 16, continued] “Lord, from the few of the earth divide them in their life; and their belly has been filled with your hidden things,” and so on. Divide them, so that they may not be of one mind. “And their belly has been filled with your hidden things.” When the enemies of the Gospel, philosophizing, sometimes state great and well-achieved doctrines, you will say to God: “Their belly has been filled with your hidden things,” which perhaps they bring up, since they knew them; and, having their outlines dim, they made them brilliant by their exercises and inquiries. Another translator says: “Their portion is among the living.” For the whole inheritance of the enemies of God is in the present life, and they were filled with every luxury.

“They were satisfied with sons, and left their remains to their infants,” and so on. They were satisfied with their own offspring, whose remains they have left to their own infants. For this is added also among the curses of Leviticus: “You shall eat the flesh of your sons.”

Of the same. “Sons” instead of “uncleanness.” Not only did they themselves become unclean, but they also gave a share of the uncleanness to their children. For it is not the mark of the perfect to prefer unclean things to clean.

“But I shall appear before your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when your glory appears,” and so on. In righteousness and every virtue the saint will appear before the face of God; no unrighteous man will appear. The blessed satisfaction will be when the glory of God appears and is made clear. For this is the food that fills up all that is lacking in the soul; the one who hungers and longs for it in health will be satisfied, being filled with it.

[Ps 17 LXX / 18] “I will love you, Lord, my strength. The Lord is my firmness, and my refuge, and my deliverer; my God is my helper, I will hope in him; my protector, and the horn of my salvation, and my helper,” and so on. The Lord is the very strength and the very firmness of the saints. None, then, of those not in the Lord is strong or firm. Firmness is not the same as hardness, nor strength the same as the tensions of the frenzied.

Of the same. By the like we recognize the like: by love, love, and by the righteous, righteousness. For this is the great and first commandment. And the one who loves also serves the one loved. He calls God his strength, as having been rescued through him from all his enemies, visible and intelligible.

Of the same. He called God his firmness, as having been rescued by him against his enemies; and his refuge,

[Ps 17, continued] as having become a wall to him; his deliverer, as having been ransomed by him.

Of the same. He called God his helper, as having come to his aid.

Of the same. He called God his protector, as a champion fighting before him; the horn of salvation, as having through him, in a way, gored his enemies, and been saved by his forethought. Christ too is a horn of salvation, according to Zechariah, who says: “And he has raised up a horn of salvation for us.” The kingdom too is a horn, as in: “He will exalt the horn of his Christ.”

“Praising, I will call upon the Lord, and I will be saved from my enemies,” and so on. The one who prays with hymn-singing calls upon the Lord with praise. No one prays thus who is displeased with what happens. Even when enemies surround us, then, we must pray thus.

“The pangs of death surrounded me, and the torrents of lawlessness troubled me. The pangs of Hades encircled me; the snares of death came upon me beforehand,” and so on. Christ says these things as a man. For death brought forth pangs for him, and the torrents of lawlessness troubled him, when he said, “My soul is troubled”; yet they did not hold him. And the pangs of Hades encircled him, thinking to seize him; yet he never became a son of Hades. And the sins unto death, that is, snares, came upon him beforehand, that is, went before him; but they did not catch him. So you will call the torrents of lawlessness the streams of vice, and the snares of death sins in action.

Of the same. Pangs of death are either those that give birth to death, or those conceived from death, which Paul has proclaimed as the last enemy to be abolished.

Of the same. The torrents of lawlessness are the lawless thoughts, which are called pangs when they linger in us, and again snares when they put us to death through sin in act.

“And in my affliction I called upon the Lord, and to my God I cried. He heard my voice from his holy temple, and my cry before him will enter his ears,” and so on. In the midst of afflictions, and at their height, we must call upon the Lord and cry to God. For thus he will hear us from his temple of words; and from such a disposition our prayer will enter with boldness, as into its own place, into what are called his ears. Perhaps we are also armed against the enemies by the very praising and calling upon the Lord.

Of the same. The temple of God is Christ, and the temple of Christ the intellectual and holy powers. That is why Christ

[Ps 17, continued] is now said to sit on the throne of David his father.

“And the earth shook and trembled, and the foundations of the mountains were troubled and shaken, for God was angry with them. Smoke went up in his wrath, and fire blazed from his face; coals were kindled by him,” and so on. For the one who stands firm God stands; for the one who is shaken he is shaken; as it is said to Moses, “Stand before Pharaoh.” But when Adam disobeyed God, or rather listened to the woman, then he heard the Lord God walking; for God no longer stood for him; and, being good, the judge did not stand. When God is shaken, it is not heaven that trembles but the earth, and the foundations of the mountains are troubled, since the fire kindled from the anger of God will trouble the foundations of the mountains. “The face of the Lord is against those who do evil”; for it enlightens the saints, as in: “The light of your face has been signed upon us.”

Of the same. “And fire blazed from his face,” burning up wood, hay, straw, that is, consuming the wicked habits. So it once burned up Matthew when he was a tax collector, and Paul a persecutor and insolent man.

Of the same. Being good, God is shaken, so that his earth may no longer despise him, but fear him as a father; and so that the foundations of the mountains may no longer be unmoved, but in turmoil. And, being good, God, as a burning, consuming fire, first going up, sends out smoke, then kindles coals, then comes down, having bowed the heavens, and after this shows the darkness under his feet. Then, mounting the cherubim, he flies, and flies on the wings of the winds. Going up and coming down must be understood as his various dispensations; for God is present to everyone and everywhere.

Of the same. God dwells and walks among holy men, but flies among the cherubim. And if you take the winds as the sensible ones, he mounts them by the principle of providence, driving them as he wills.

“And he made darkness his hiding place; round about him his tent; dark water in clouds of the air,” and so on. Since he made darkness his hiding place, and his tent is round about him, therefore the dark water is in clouds of the air; that is what is in the prophets: “For I will command the clouds,” he says, “not to rain upon them; and there will be a famine, not a famine of bread, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord.” If our God is light, how is he covered by darkness? I think that darkness covers him in the way that what is known is uncovered by ignorance —

[Ps 17, continued] ignorance which is spoken of with respect to the knower, not with respect to what is known. He named as his tent the flesh, in which Christ was seated; and also called it a tent because the incarnation was temporary. “For even if we have known Christ according to the flesh,” he says, “yet now we know him so no longer.” Or perhaps he named the body a tent because of the vine which he brought out of Egypt, so that he might guard it until the cluster ripens, and the boar from the forest may not ravage it. He can also call bodily nature a tent, in which God is seen through the Word, since from the beauty of creatures the Author of becoming is contemplated, and, being understood through the things made, he is clearly seen.

“And he sent out arrows and scattered them, and multiplied lightnings and threw them into confusion. And the springs of the waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were uncovered, at your rebuke, Lord, at the blast of the breath of your anger,” and so on. All those gloomy things are for the sake of this good. He rebukes, then, and breathes a breath of anger, so that the springs of the waters may be seen and the foundations of the world uncovered. If it is good that the springs of the waters be seen and made manifest — of which he is the head who said, “You have forsaken me, the spring of living water” — and good too that the foundations of the world be uncovered, so that the holy Trinity, which rules over the creatures, may be contemplated, how could anyone reasonably blame what produces these, even if it seems gloomy: the hail, the coals of fire, the arrows, the lightnings, the rebukes of God, and the blast of the breath of his anger? At the same time observe that rebuke is a kind of healing of the one rebuked, who is reproved so that he may stop doing worse things. So when you hear of fever and winds and sea rebuked by Jesus, understand it in a way worthy of Jesus’ kindness. Or thus: thoughts, words, and actions, built upon habits and dispositions, make up a world. When, then, having scattered the base with his arrows, he throws them into confusion also with lightnings — the hidden things of men being made manifest, as God lights up the hidden things of darkness — he will also uncover the foundations of the world, rebuking the ungodly through punishments. The foundations of the world are also divine men, because of their vigor, upon whom those who live according to Christ are built. These too are uncovered when rebuke is made against the wicked, their punishment being in no way rejected. God does not punish sinners at once, but announces beforehand the punishments of his wrath; and this is his breathing the breath of his anger.

Of the same. When we compare spiritual things with spiritual, then we make lightnings, showing the knowledge that comes from them. You will understand lightnings

[Ps 17 LXX / 18, continued] … and the splendours of the divine proclamation, through which the dark sayings of the prophets have been made to shine. By the same. He calls the virtues springs, from which knowledge comes forth. For “Blessed,” he says, “are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

“He sent from on high and took me; he drew me to himself out of many waters. He will rescue me from my mighty enemies and from those who hate me, for they were made stronger than I,” etc. He himself took me from on high: taking to himself the one who came down, out of the many waters of human life, and rescuing him from enemies who are mighty in their enmity. Notice, however, that the enemies are attested to be mighty. And perhaps the doctrines of godlessness too are much water, which cannot quench love. And the mighty enemies are both the invisible ones and the men who work deceit through knowledge falsely so called. By the same. From this we learn that before the coming of the Saviour the demons were stronger than we, but now we are stronger than they, we to whom Christ has given “to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy.”

“They came upon me first in the day of my affliction, and the Lord became my support. And he brought me out into a broad place; he will rescue me, because he desired me,” etc. Let those who are afflicted but not hemmed in know that they will be brought out of affliction and led into the holy broad place of God. For in the day of affliction God will support the one who flees to him, so that he is not shaken and does not fall; and while supporting him he brings out into a broad place the one hard pressed by afflictions, as in the words, “In affliction you made room for me.” This happens not always by his being set free, but by his bearing it nobly.

“And the Lord will repay me according to my righteousness, and according to the cleanness of my hands he will repay me, because I kept the ways of the Lord,” etc. The one who lifts up holy hands and is bold to say, “The lifting up of my hands is an evening sacrifice,” would also confess that he has cleanness of hands. The saying belongs to one who sees that each thing comes about by judgment. And there are certain judgments of God concerning each of the sins committed. So when someone has all the judgments concerning all sins before his eyes, he will say, “All his judgments are before me.” Otherwise the one who says these things condemns himself of nothing. Hence these words must be referred to the Saviour, “who was tempted in every respect in the same way, without sin.” By the same. Cleanness of soul is freedom from passion, arising from the grace of God with the zeal

[Ps 17, continued] of the man added to it. By cleanness of hands he means the prophetic activities, which are undefiled because they proceed from the best disposition.

“And I shall be blameless with him, and I shall keep myself from my lawlessness,” etc. Without God it is not possible to be blameless; so a little later he says, “And he made my way blameless.” And one who says, “The Lord will repay me according to my righteousness,” and what follows, cannot have lawlessness. And “I shall keep myself from my lawlessness” can be referred to what is called the darkness in us, as in the words, “If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” By the same. Blameless is the one who has in himself the way of God, Christ. For “I am,” he says, “the way.” And David too called this way blameless, saying, “My God, your way is blameless.”

“And the Lord will repay me according to my righteousness,” etc. “With the measure you measure, it will be measured back to you.” This is the voice of the saints, who through great boldness are able to say, “Repay your servant.” He means the righteousness that is through faith in Jesus Christ, which has been manifested to all who believe; for to those who believe rightly faith is reckoned as righteousness.

“With the holy you will be holy, and with the innocent man you will be innocent, and with the elect you will be elect, and with the crooked you will be perverse,” etc. As I shall be blameless with God himself, so God will be holy with the holy, innocent with the innocent, and he himself will be elect with the elect. But with the crooked he will not be crooked (that is not permitted); rather, “you will pervert,” as with Pharaoh. By the same. Among the holy God is holy, among the innocent innocent, among the elect elect; but among the crooked not crooked, but twisting along with them, for reverence’s sake: he guarded against calling God crooked. The simpler often take these verses as said of men. God twists along in the way he says in Deuteronomy: “If you come to me crosswise, I too will come to you in crosswise anger.” By the same. You fit your recompenses to the dispositions of men. For you give the holy what is worthy of holiness, the guiltless and righteous what suits them, the elect and perfect what is perfect; but for those who have turned aside and travel the opposite way you prepare a matching end of the road. And in what way? “For you will save a humble people.”

“For you will light my lamp, O Lord; my God, you will light my darkness,” etc. The lamp of the body is the eye; this the Lord will light. And we have something of darkness even in the human constitution; this, in the righteous man, the Lord will light. Or the lamp of the soul is the mind, as being receptive of light; and its darkness is the irascible and the desiring part, which is lit by the mind once it has received the divine rays. And perhaps those too who have been illumined all round with the truth by the Lord have a lamp kindled, and, guiding their actions by right reason because their mind has been enlightened, have their darkness lit as well.

“For in you I shall be rescued from a band of raiders, and in my God I shall leap over a wall,” etc. Life, I think, is a trial, as in Job. And no one can be rescued from bitter circumstances except one who has come to be in God. A man comes to be in God by sharing in him, just as someone is rescued from ignorance by coming to be in knowledge. Such a man does not enter into temptation, not by not being tempted, but by not being caught in the snares of temptation. So this man leaps over the wall of sin, putting sins behind him.

“My God, his way is blameless; the sayings of the Lord are tried in fire; he is a protector of all who hope in him,” etc. The blameless way is Christ, who said, “I am the way.” And since the sayings of the Lord are tried in fire, those who hear them say, “Was not our heart burning within us?” They are fervent in spirit, and they do not admit fire foreign to God, which is in the arrows of the evil one. But he who said, “I came to cast fire on the earth,” had sayings tried in fire; therefore he says, “And what do I want, if it is already kindled?” And perhaps Jesus baptizes in the Holy Spirit and fire, but the fire burns up wood, hay, straw.

“For who is God but the Lord? And who is God except our God? It is God who girds me with power and made my way blameless, who makes my feet like a deer’s and sets me on the heights,” etc. In this sense the only true God is the God and Father—unless indeed we refer the “who,” which often stands for what is rare, to the Only-begotten. Here the girdle is power, but in Paul it is truth. The feet of one who runs well and completes the course are made like those of deer. “And sets me on the heights”: perhaps each person has heights from which he fell or came down. By the same. Someone’s feet are made like a deer’s through the practical life, and they are lifted up through

[Ps 17, continued] contemplation. Because the deer destroys the …

“Who trains my hands for war, and you made my arms a bow of bronze,” etc. Bronze is a symbol of the practical life. “For he destroyed your bronze,” says Ezekiel to Jerusalem. Since, then, our arms send arrows, he says, “You prepared my arms as a bow,” and adds “of bronze,” showing its strength and unbreakableness, as if saying, “You have made me invincible in the contests against the enemies.”

“And you gave me the shield of my salvation, and your right hand upheld me, and your discipline set me upright to the end, and your discipline itself will teach me,” etc. He who sits at the right hand of the Father is himself called the right hand. By the first discipline he sets us upright; by the second he teaches. For a right way of life raises a soul up, and true knowledge enlarges it. The right hand is the Son who made all things, of whom it is also said elsewhere, “The right hand of the Lord has wrought power; the right hand of the Lord has exalted me.”

“You enlarged my steps under me, and my footprints did not weaken,” etc. This is the voice of one who bears afflictions easily, because of the Word who produces room even in such things, so that not even ordinary weakness shows in his footprints.

“I will pursue my enemies and overtake them, and I will not turn back until they fail. I will crush them, and they will not be able to stand; they will fall under my feet,” etc. The one made sufficient by God to be a minister of a new covenant, so as to pull down every height raised against the knowledge of God, having pursued the enemy arguments with the salvation that comes from God, will overtake them, and will not turn back from fighting them before they fail. And the arguments that are enemies of the truth, crushed, will not be able to stand before the one made sufficient by God. By the same. That man pursues the enemies who does not let passionate thoughts arise in himself; for from these our sins follow. By the same. Freedom from passion brings about the failing of the enemies. By the same. Those who fall from their standing in what is base are benefited. But neither will the arguments that are enemies of the truth be able to stand before the one strong of hand, which is the meaning of the name David.

“And you made my enemies turn their back to me, and you utterly destroyed those who hate me,” etc. The enemies

[Ps 17, continued] have turned their back, no longer able to cast passionate thoughts into the soul. By the same. You made my enemies change and follow me, inseparable from me, so that they became my back; or else, fleeing.

“Rescue me from the contradictions of the people; you will make me head of nations,” etc. Christ, who became a sign spoken against, says these things; God made him head of nations. For Christ is the head of the church.

“A people whom I did not know served me; at the hearing of the ear they obeyed me,” etc. The Scriptures use “I did not know” particularly of the worse. Here Christ used “I did not know” of the people from the nations, for there was a time when it was not known. You will find God too saying such things. By the same. Not knowing, they were not known; and having come to know, they were known.

“Foreign sons grew old and limped away from their paths,” etc. Virtue renews, but wickedness makes old; and limping belongs to those who grow old. By the same. “How long will you limp on both your hams?” The paths of men are practice and contemplation.

“God, who grants me vengeance and subjected peoples under me,” etc. Having received vengeance from God, Christ says, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” By the same. “Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions,” and what follows. He grants the people formerly unknown to be ranked under him. “My rescuer from wrathful enemies.” In those in whom rage prevails, wrathfulness too prevails. If my enemies are wrathful, then they are also full of rage. For “they have rage,” he says, “like a serpent.”

[Ps 18 LXX / 19] Psalm 18. “The heavens tell the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims the work of his hands,” etc. If the heavens tell the glory of God, and the heavens will perish (for “the heavens,” he says, “will perish, but you remain”), will those who tell the glory of God then perish? But no one who tells the glory of God will perish; for “those who glorify me,” says God, “I will glorify.” So the heavens will not perish. Rather, the heavens that tell the glory of God belong to the intellectual nature, and are called heavens because they have in themselves the sun of righteousness; while the heavens that perish belong to bodily substance.