Selected Comments on the Psalms 1423–1441

[Ps 43, continued] By the same. The mind is covered with the shadow of death when it does not see. Or the body of humiliation is a shadow of death, born in its shadow.

“If we spread out our hands to a foreign god,” etc. If anything is not essential knowledge, or if one does not have this knowledge in himself, it is a foreign god.

“For your sake we are put to death all day long; we were reckoned as sheep for slaughter,” etc. Paul says, “I die every day, by the boast in you that I have in Christ Jesus.” And why does he say “for your sake”? Because it was possible for us to change sides and abandon our ancestral way of life and be in safety; but we choose rather to suffer evil and keep the ancestral ways than to enjoy peace and fall away from the ancestral ways. It is worth being amazed at the power of God, that he preserved those so exposed, like sheep for slaughter, and did not let those dying daily fall into death.

“Awake! Why do you sleep, O Lord?” etc. Christ once slept in the disciples’ boat, but when a storm arose the disciples woke him. The word shows that, when a storm of thoughts arises in the soul—of anger or injustice or gluttony or pride—we should awaken love, righteousness, self-control, continence, humility, knowledge.

“Rise, O Lord, help us, and redeem us for your name’s sake,” etc. They might say such things to the Saviour while he spent time in the heart of the earth at the time of his passion; he, giving his soul as a ransom for many, does this for the glory of his name.

[Ps 44 LXX / 45] Psalm 44. “My heart poured forth a good word; I speak my works to the king. My tongue is the pen of a swift scribe,” etc. He said “poured forth” instead of “uttered,” not to call the Son an utterance, but the account about him. The speaker would be David; for if the Father announced it to the Son, the Son would be found ignorant. By the same. A good word is one that signifies virtue or the knowledge of God. By the same. The tongue of everyone who speaks his works to the king is the pen of a swift scribe. For with a good conscience he declares his own brave deeds; but the one conscious of the opposite in himself, when he speaks his works to the king, is slow of tongue.

“Fair in beauty beyond the sons of men,” etc. This is said from the person of the prophet,

[Ps 44, continued] whose tongue was the pen of a swift scribe. Grace was poured out on the lips of the imitator of Christ, and of Christ himself, not only because of the words of grace that came forth from his mouth, but because of the grace of the forgiveness of sins, when he said, “Your sins are forgiven you.” By the same. He compares spiritual wisdom and the word of God with worldly wisdom and human speech.

“Gird your sword upon your thigh, O mighty one,” etc. This sword separates the soul from wickedness and the mind from ignorance, destroying what is called the old man and making him new in Christ, according to the image of the one who created him. By the same. Perhaps the thigh is a symbol of generation. What is said, then, is something like this: Join to your generation the destruction of the enemies. And clearly the birth of Jesus became a sword against his enemies. Or the Word who is in purity of life, destroying the passions, is said to gird a sword upon his thigh. Jesus first did this, since nothing in Christ was slack or loose. In this sense you will understand “bend [your bow].” And his right hand guides the Saviour and his saints.

“For the sake of truth and meekness and righteousness,” etc. The true, the meek, and the righteous are ruled as by a king by Christ. “And your right hand will guide you wonderfully.” The right hand of God is God the Word who is in him.

“Your arrows are sharpened, O mighty one; peoples will fall under you, in the heart of the king’s enemies,” etc. The arrows of Christ are the practical virtues: with righteousness he shoots the unjust, with prudence the foolish, the cowardly with courage, with continence the licentious, with long-suffering the wrathful, and with faith the unbeliever. The arrow of faith is sent before the others; for one must first believe that God exists. By the same. The rational arrows of one who ably champions the truth and mightily pulls down falsehood are sharpened. And those who fall under Christ are in the heart and thoughts of the enemies of the … is king. Clearly Christ is God. And perhaps it is possible to do righteousness and abstain from lawlessness out of fear of God, and not by love toward God beyond justice, nor by hating lawlessness. But Christ is not such.

“The rod of your kingdom is a rod of uprightness,” etc. The rod that Christ uses in punishing sinners is called a rod of uprightness, setting straight,

[Ps 44, continued] and freeing those whom he rules from all crookedness. And since he punishes with royal authority through it, it is the rod of his kingdom.

“Daughters of kings are among your honoured ones. The queen stood at your right hand, clothed in a robe woven with gold, adorned in many colours,” etc. The holy disciples, having received the kingdom of heaven, have become kings; therefore the souls begotten by them according to virtue are called daughters of kings. And all these souls, united according to faith and virtue, make up one queen standing at the right hand of Christ God. Now the church of God has robes woven with gold, knowing in part and prophesying in part; but when the perfect comes and the partial is abolished, then she will have robes of pure gold. For the robe of the rational nature is the manifold wisdom of God.

“And incline your ear,” etc. “Incline your ear,” the Father says to the church. The forgetting is praiseworthy, being the cause of the king’s desiring the beauty of the one who forgot. Next, the cause of the glory that the church has is in the hidden part of the heart, and her glory is within, in the true garments that accord with the wisdom of God, and in a conscience full of boldness. Therefore it is said of her, “All the glory of the king’s daughter is within”; and her glory is such glory as a king’s daughter would have. Here God is called king. But her garments too are many-coloured according to the virtues. “All the glory of the king’s daughter is within,” etc. All the glory of our church is in the inner man, contemplated according to virtue and knowledge.

“Virgins will be brought to the king after her; her companions will be brought to you,” etc. The undefiled and pure, and therefore virgin, souls, going forth, will be brought to Christ with gladness and rejoicing. The chamber of the king, that is, of Christ, is also his temple, since he is also God; and in place of the patriarchs the apostles have come to be. By the same. Our neighbours are either all men, or those who are not wholly akin to us in doctrines.

“In place of your fathers sons have been born to you,” etc. In place of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the others who were well pleasing to him in the Old Testament, the disciples were born, and we who believed through them, inheriting that faith and knowledge. For the inheritance of the rational nature is the knowledge of God.

[Ps 45 LXX / 46] Psalm 45. “God is our refuge and strength,” etc. God alone is a refuge; therefore let us flee to no one else.

[Ps 45, continued] If the one who is able is able by power, and God is the power of the saints, then the saint is able by God. And God is also a helper in afflictions, so that we may boast in them while we endure them. Note “Many are the afflictions of the righteous,” which are other than the scourges of sinners. And because the way that leads to life is narrow and afflicted, and few find it, perhaps it is the afflictions that find the righteous.

“Therefore we will not fear,” and what follows. At the consummation the sinners, being earth, will be troubled; but the saints, being mountains, will be removed with the removal of Enoch. And Israel too, a mountain, has been removed because of the nations. “In his might” is to be taken with both, so that it reads, “Therefore we will not fear when the earth is troubled and the mountains are removed, in his might.” By the same. Fleeing sexual immorality, we take refuge in self-control; and fighting against gluttony, we fight with continence. If we take refuge in it, it is called refuge; if we wage war with it, strength. “Therefore we will not fear when the earth is troubled,” etc. Here he calls seas and mountains the rational natures that are exalted and lifted up against the knowledge of God.

“The rushes of the river gladden the city of God,” etc. The rushes of the river correspond to the varieties of gifts and the varieties of ministries. The city of God is helped as day draws near. It is also written, “He will help her with his face”; for he keeps her beauty unwounded when she is troubled by the adversaries. By the same. The city of God is either the church or the rational soul itself; and the rushes of the river are the gifts of the Spirit.

“Nations were troubled, kingdoms bowed,” etc. At the coming of Christ the kingdoms bowed. “Christ gave his voice, the earth was shaken,” that is, those on the earth, as churches were being established everywhere. By the same. If a rational soul hears the voice of the Lord, it is shaken, passing from wickedness to virtue and from ignorance to the knowledge of God. When divine help appeared, he says, the enemies turned their backs, and the kingdoms that long thought the opposite bowed their neck to the divine and saving yoke; for, using as it were a voice—the truth, the testimony of events, and miracles of every kind—God showed men his own height.

“Making wars cease to the ends of the earth; he will break the bow and shatter the weapon, and

[Ps 45, continued] the shields he will burn with fire,” etc. “Making wars cease” can be said because the wars that were formerly continual were stopped by the Romans, who after the birth of the Saviour made the many former kingdoms into one kingdom. For there was “glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure among men.” So the Lord Jesus set wonders on the earth, making cease, to the ends of the earth, the wars by which men were warred against. And in making the wars cease he broke the bow from which the fiery arrows of the devil were sent, and shattered his weapon, and burned his shields. And “I will be exalted” is the voice of God saying these things, after the wars to the ends of the earth have been made to cease, the bow broken, and the weapon shattered. By the same. Here he calls the worst condition and evil thoughts bow and weapon and shield.

“Be still and know that I am God,” etc. Leisure is needed to know the Lord.

[Ps 46 LXX / 47] Psalm 46. “All you nations, clap your hands,” etc. As it were, let our hands send forth a voice of rejoicing from good works. For whether we shout or do anything else, we do it either for God, when it is according to God, or for the devil, when we work wickedness. So too we sing to God and to Christ the king; “with a voice of rejoicing” is to be taken with both, so that it reads, “Clap your hands to God with a voice of rejoicing.” Every action that is according to God can be such, and rejoicing follows it; but weeping follows the opposite. Formerly the Lord was not over all the earth: he was most high to few, fearful to a countable number of the devout, king to not many, and great to rare men, such as the great Isaac and the great Moses. But now he is all these things to many more; and at last he will be, simply, all in all. Formerly his name was great over Israel only; but from the coming of Christ he is great over all the earth. For God is now king of all the earth, since God has reigned over the nations. By the same. Men naturally clap their hands at victories. Let us too, then, clap at the victory of the one who said, “Take courage, I have conquered the world.” A shout is a song of victory. So he exhorts the nations to shout at the downfall of the opposing powers.

“He subjected peoples to us,” etc. “He subjected peoples”: those being taught the mysteries of Israel. The apostles will say this about those being taught,

[Ps 46, continued] who are many. And our Lord himself, since we did not know how to choose for ourselves what we would inherit, chose for us a portion that we will inherit, which is the beauty of Jacob that the Lord loved. By the same. He gave us authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy.

“God went up with a shout,” etc. As the Lord will come “with the voice of an angel, and with the trumpet of God will descend from heaven,” so God went up with a shout. And the Lord “with the sound of a trumpet,” and perhaps with the shout of all the nations who clapped their hands and shouted to God with a voice of rejoicing. By these, I think, God also ascends. And if anyone praises him with the sound of the trumpet, he too will ascend, he who ascends with the sound of the trumpet.

“Sing to our God,” etc. In both ways to God, because “God is king of all the earth.” “With understanding” is equivalent to “sing with the mind.” It is also an exhortation to knowledge. And he reigned at the coming of Christ. The holy throne of God is those ruled by him, in whom God is seated. By the same. Singing belongs to one who is cheerful according to God, as in, “Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing.”

“God sits on his holy throne,” etc. The throne of God is Christ, and the throne of Christ is the rational nature.

“The rulers of the peoples were gathered with the God of Abraham, for the mighty ones of the earth belong to God; they were greatly exalted,” etc. All who are gathered with Abraham have the knowledge of Abraham. “Were gathered” stands for “will be gathered.” For from what has happened, he says, the rulers of all the nations, gathered together with us into hymnody, will praise God. By the same. If anyone is mighty of the earth, he belongs to God; for the weak man is not yet his. Mighty of the earth is the one who has been made mighty against the mind of the flesh. Of the mighty on earth some are God’s, who were not simply exalted, but greatly; yet not over-exalted.

[Ps 47 LXX / 48] “Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised,” etc. Where the majesty of the Lord is contemplated, there especially the Lord is great and praised, in the city of God, by those enrolled as its citizens. If, then, the Lord is great and praised especially in the city of God,

[Ps 47, continued] what else would be the holy mountain of the Lord, “well rooted, the joy” not only of part of the earth but of all of it, but Christ, rooted in the Father, at whose coming the whole earth rejoiced, because of the churches of God established everywhere in his name? Perhaps the reading is not “well rooting” (for that is unintelligible) but “well rooted,” as having a good root that fits the branch.

“Well rooted, with the joy of all the earth, the mountains of Zion, the sides of the north, the city of the great king,” etc. The well-rooted joy is Christ. “My joy,” he says, “redeem me from those who surround me.” His root is God the Word who is in him. By the same. The mountains of Zion, the sides of the north, are the city of the great king. In this sense it can be said in the Gospel that Jerusalem is the city of the great king, as here: “The mountains of Zion, the sides of the north, the city of the great king.” As one is called high priest in distinction from the priesthood under him, so also great king; for he is king of those who reign.

“For behold, the kings of the earth were gathered,” etc. So that all may speak the same thing, and there be no divisions among them.

“With a violent wind you will shatter the ships of Tarshish,” etc. Tarshish means “of the sea.” Tarshish is said to be part of Ethiopia; and the city of Tarsus is called Tharsis in Jonah.

“As we have heard, so have we seen, in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God,” etc. Outside the city we heard; having come to be in the city, we saw what we had heard before. And having come to be in the midst of your temple, we received your name at the coming of Christ. Their praise was worthy of the name of God. By the same. Whatever we hear about God by faith, this we come to know through a pure life, receiving through freedom from passion the proofs of what we have believed.

“Your right hand is full of righteousness,” etc. Christ is the right hand of God, filled with righteousness. Therefore “from his fullness we have all received.”

“Let Mount Zion be glad,” etc. Let Mount Zion be glad and the daughters of Judea rejoice because of the judgments of God, by contemplating their principles and the works that accord with those principles.

[Ps 47 LXX / 48, continued] And those who have understood Zion go around her and encompass her; and having gone up onto her towers, they tell from above those not yet able to go up onto her towers, saying: Set your hearts to perceive her power, and let each one, living as a citizen through what he does, receive a worthy remembrance of the city as it is divided up. Or also thus: Since the mind of the church watches out for the truth, and is therefore called Zion, its doctrines must be grasped in the understanding. Having understood its teaching, then, with knowledge, examine each part by distinguishing. For its bulwarks are the particular contemplations in which the doctrines of godliness dwell. And since the former generation, which received the city and its power, was proved evil, by attending to the power of the city and dividing up its bulwarks you will know something about the calling of the saints, which is another generation beside the former; if indeed you will also tell that this is God, who did the marvels spoken of before, having cast off the former generation, being eternal and always the same. And he will shepherd us, according to “The Lord will stand and see and shepherd his flock in strength.” “And divide up her bulwarks,” etc. These things are fulfilled in the disciples dividing up the inhabited world among themselves, to tell that Christ is our God who shepherds us.

[Ps 48 LXX / 49] “For the end; for the sons of Korah, a psalm. Hear these things, all you nations,” etc. The title can refer to the victory of each of those who conquer in the contest. “Hear” is the voice of Christ calling all the nations, he who said, “Come to me, all who labour.” And since the earthborn and poor man too is built up, more simply, from the wording of the Scriptures, while the one able to pass over to spiritual things, being a son of man and rich, is benefited more, therefore he calls all together to the hearing, as to a feast. The calling together of rich and poor summons us to equality and freedom from pride. He spoke of three pairs of opposites: nations and earthborn, rich and poor, world and sons of men. Those foreign to the faith are called “nations.” Those in the church are those who inhabit the world.

“My mouth will speak wisdom, and the meditation of my heart understanding. I will incline my ear to a parable; I will open my problem on the harp,” etc. The mouth of Christ speaks wisdom. Those who minister his word are the mouth of Christ, and the rest are the rest of his body. And if meditation is understanding, what is the promise?

[Ps 48, continued] When the meditation of the heart is understanding, evil reasonings do not come out from within the heart, nor are there the things that defile a man, nor is room given to the devil. Clearly the Saviour calls the understanding hearers his ears. Another might say that he speaks wisdom in the New Testament, but hears the Old as a parable. Christ opens his problem, shut up in obscurity, when he finds a well-tuned instrument and a chosen vessel, which he calls a harp; for through such a one he opens and makes clear what is shut up in obscurity for those who are not such. The apostles too could say this. By the same. The cheerful man sings; and through the harp he opens the problem. Through cheerfulness he discerns the problem. Cheerfulness is the freedom from passion of a rational soul.

“Why should I fear in the evil day? The lawlessness of my heel will surround me,” etc. He says this not about himself, but out of concern for the Jews who will be judged, most of whom have done things worthy of punishment. And if the speaker is the person of Christ, you would find his heel to be the last part of the body, the part near the earth: Judas; for the apostles are the body of the Lord. So I do not fear the betrayal of Judas at the time of the cross; since neither does each man fear the disobedience of Adam (for we hinted that this is the lawlessness of the heel). For no one is condemned for another’s wickedness. He called Adam’s disobedience the lawlessness of the heel, because the serpent has power against his heel. Or, since the apostles, or the prophet who says this, were not such that it could be said of him, “He committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth,” it is likely that he sinned in the last and least things. Therefore Symmachus rendered it “the lawlessness of his footsteps.” For they had, as it were, only faint traces of lawlessness; therefore he says, “I do not fear the day of judgment.” And the heel of Christ is also those who are lower than all the believers. By the same. He calls the day of judgment the evil day, and the heel the way and the life.

“Those who trust in their power,” etc. “A man will not give God a ransom for himself, and the price of the redemption of his soul”; for Jesus gave himself for all.

“A brother does not redeem; will a man redeem?” etc. It must be read as a question: “Will a man redeem?”

“And he toiled for ever,” etc. The one who toils for the whole of his age and the life here will live for ever the true life,

[Ps 48, continued] not seeing corruption, when the wise die; together the fool and the senseless will perish. By the same. The one who toils through the practical life will live for ever through knowledge. Having attacked the unrepentant, he turns also to the repentant, and consoles the toil of repentance with the hopes of what is to come. He toiled here, he says, repenting, and henceforth he will live always. For this is what “for ever” means. And he calls life the life in the proper sense, the one free of toil; for the life here is so called by a misuse of the word. You will understand the end as the age to come, which is the end of the present one. Symmachus says this as follows: “Having rested in this age, he will continue living for ever”; and Aquila: “And he rested for ever, and will live to victory.” For the one who has here acquired a laborious and toilsome life will be counted worthy of the life promised in the age to come, not seeing corruption when the wise die.

“For he will not see corruption when he sees the wise dying; together the fool and the senseless will perish,” etc. We shall see the wise of this world deprived, in the age to come, of the life that said, “I am the life.” And who are these wise who die, if not those of whom it is said, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,” from whom God hid the mysteries that he revealed to infants? He calls the crafty wise, according to “They are wise to do evil,” and the disciples of the rulers of this age, whose death the one will not see who has been redeemed by him who was pleased, through the foolishness of preaching, to save those who believe. The one fully assured of the coming judgment, when he sees the wise dying, will not think what happens to be a destruction of soul and body together, as those men defined death while they lived, but a migration to another world.

“And their graves are their houses for ever,” etc. “Those who are like whitewashed tombs, full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness”—these the Saviour blames, and those who build tombs, even of prophets, and those who adorn monuments, even of the righteous; and he does not permit a disciple to bury a dead man, even his father. And in Isaiah: “Why,” he says, “have you built yourself a tomb and hewn yourself a monument?” And those in the tombs, if they hear the voice of the Son of Man, will live. The names of the senseless and the fool are “on the lands.” By the same. An unclean soul is a tomb of the mind, and the body is a tomb of the soul. “They called their names upon the lands.” They are named not from virtues but from earthly things. For they are not called righteous