Selected Comments on the Psalms 1503–1523

As he leads out those bound in courage, so he also leads out the unjust in justice and the foolish in prudence.

"O God, when you went out before your people, when you passed through the wilderness," etc. These words seem to fit what happened in the wilderness, but … In one place he stands, in another he passes through: he stood in his holy place, but passes through in the wilderness.

"The earth shook, for the heavens too dropped [rain] at the face of the God of Sinai," that is, of the one who appeared on Sinai.

"You will set apart a voluntary rain, O God, for your inheritance," etc. Whoever has not received the voluntary rain is in drought. The voluntary rain is Christ, who came down from heaven, as he says: "I am the living bread."

"Your living creatures dwell in it; you prepared in your goodness for the poor," etc. The living creatures, the cherubim and the seraphim, dwell in the inheritance of God; of them, I think, it is said: "In the midst of two living creatures you will be known."

Of the same. He calls rational natures "living creatures" when their condition has become rather irrational.

"If you sleep between the lots, wings of a dove covered with silver, and its back with the pale green of gold," etc. The lots and the wings some have said are the Old and New Testament; others, practice and contemplation; others, knowledge of bodies and of incorporeal things; others again, knowledge of God and of Christ whom he sent.

"When the heavenly one sets apart kings over it," etc. Kings are either those who have subdued the passions, or those who have attained the contemplation of created things. The gifts of the Holy Spirit themselves are also called kingdoms, inasmuch as those who share in them are said to reign.

"The chariot of God is ten-thousandfold," etc. The chariot of God is pure souls, on which he rides; for "he rode upon cherubim and flew."

"Having ascended on high, you led captivity captive, you received gifts among man," etc. The captivity of Christ is the return of rational nature from vice and ignorance to virtue and knowledge. And Paul says otherwise of Christ: "Ascending on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men," meaning by gifts the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Having thus shown the descent of the Saviour and the overthrow of the demons, he shows him ascending and setting free those who were captives before. Or he calls the cross "height": ascending it, and pulling down the demons in the air, the spirits of

wickedness, from the pride they had, he set free the souls they had taken captive through wicked deeds and turned away from God, drawing them up like a captivity out of the recesses of Hades.

"But God will crush the heads of his enemies, the hairy crown of those who go on in their offences," etc. The heads of the enemies are their rulers, or their ruling faculties. These enemies, whose being comes from offending, go on in their offences. Or the heads of the enemies are the thoughts that first come upon the soul from the demons.

"The Lord said: I will return from Bashan, I will return in the depths of the sea, so that your foot may be dipped in blood," etc. Bashan is interpreted "shame," into which the Lord came down for our sake, despising shame. And his foot is dipped in the blood that flows from the head of each of the enemies. "For I trod them down," says Isaiah, "in my wrath."

"Your processions were seen, O God," etc. At the coming of Christ the processions of God were seen by those adorned with the word of knowledge.

"In churches bless God, the Lord, from the fountains of Israel," etc. It is not the same for those outside the Church to bless God as to do this in the Church. And he blesses God from the fountains of Israel who blesses according to the treasure of God's wisdom in the Scriptures; but whoever does not do so does not bless God from the fountains of Israel.

"There is Benjamin the younger," etc. They say this prophesies about Paul.

"From your temple at Jerusalem kings will bring you gifts," etc. Paul not only brought himself to God but also offered others to God through his teaching.

"That those tested with silver may be shut out," etc. That those tested like silver may be set apart.

"Ambassadors will come out of Egypt; Ethiopia will stretch out her hand first to God," etc. Through the Egyptians he hinted at the disposition toward vice; through the Ethiopians he showed the settled habit of it.

"Sing psalms to God who rides upon the heaven of heaven toward the east," etc. Earlier: "Make a way for him who rides upon the west"; now: "Sing psalms to him who rides upon the heaven of heaven toward the east." For "he who descended is the same who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things."

"Give glory to God; his magnificence is over Israel,

and his power is in the clouds," etc. He now calls holy powers clouds. "For I will command the clouds," he says, "not to rain rain upon them." And "there will be a famine, not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord." I think he calls the angels clouds; for they are the ones who teach us.

[Ps 68 LXX / 69] "Save me, O God, for the waters have come in up to my soul," etc. He calls waters the thoughts and the temptations that come into the soul.

"I am stuck in the mire of the deep, and there is no standing; I have come into the depths of the sea, and a storm has drowned me," etc. We find nothing of this kind suffered by David in the histories; and if the psalm is referred to the Saviour because of "Zeal for your house has consumed me," we do not know of anything of the kind happening to the Saviour himself either.

Of the same. If in the psalm before this the speaking person taught how he went down to Bashan, and said, "I will return in the depths of the sea," it follows that we should consider the one saying the present words to be the same. So God the Word himself sends up a prayer to the Father, making his own the sufferings of the man he assumed. He indicates the regions of Hades, where he alone went down and passed through.

"I am weary with crying out, my throat has become hoarse, my eyes have failed from my hoping in my God," etc. This is said with reference to the obstinacy of those who would not obey his teaching. And if he said he had grown weary with crying out in view of the duty not to lose heart in praying but to cry to God day and night, this agrees with "with loud crying and tears" …

"Those who hate me without cause are more than the hairs of my head; my enemies who persecute me unjustly have grown strong. What I did not seize, I then repaid," etc. From this, I think, one can know the multitude of the demons.

Of the same. Though he repaid what he did not seize, still he redeemed us (and this is "to repay"), blotting out the handwriting that was against us. What we were bound to repay, being charged against us, has been blotted out and taken out of the way, since forgiveness of sins has been given.

Of the same. God seizes no human being against his will. For if he seized, he would not say: "Come to me, all who labour and are burdened, and I will give you rest"; and: "If you are willing and

listen to me, you will eat the good things of the land." And Paul was caught up to the third heaven when he had already given himself to God.

"O God, you know my folly, and my offences are not hidden from you," etc. God does not know the folly of all, but of him who became foolish for the sake of the foolish, and lawless for the lawless, and weak for the weak.

Of the same. Since false witnesses stood up against me, you know, O God, whether any offence has been committed by me; for they would not be hidden from you. And otherwise: since he took up our sins and became a curse for us, "these offences too," he says, "which I took up on behalf of men, you know."

"For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen upon me," etc. This verse is placed in the Gospels at the casting out of the money-changers and bankers from the temple. For "has consumed me" Symmachus rendered "has used me up."

Of the same. Anyone speaking on behalf of the Creator might say these things to those who stumble at Providence, or to the heterodox who speak evil of the Creator. And especially one reproached on God's behalf might say: "The reproaches," and so on.

"And I covered my soul with fasting, and it became a reproach to me," etc. The disciples remembered this, as is written in the Gospel according to John: "And I covered my soul with fasting, and it became a reproach to me; and I made sackcloth my garment, and I became a byword to them."

Of the same. Fasting is a covering of the soul, hiding its passions, that is, shameful desire and irrational anger. So whoever does not fast is stripped of decency.

Of the same. Nothing strange, he says, has happened; those who in the Old [Testament] reproached and insulted you, God the Father, have come also against me, your Son.

"And those who drink wine sang against me," etc. This wine is the wrath of dragons.

"Save me from the mire, that I may not stick fast; may I be rescued from those who hate me and from the depth of the waters," etc. It is no ordinary task to allegorize what is written as things that happened to our Saviour. I think all these are to be taken of his journey into Hades.

Of the same. The depth of the waters is that into which

God alone rescues those able to say: "Out of the depths I have cried to you, Lord." It is written "from the depth of the waters," and not "from the …"

"Nor let the pit shut its mouth upon me," etc. Here he has called some subterranean rational nature a pit, into which many souls have fallen.

"For you know my reproach and my shame and my disgrace," etc. Worthy of the knowledge of God is the reproach of Christ, which he suffered for righteousness. So too the righteous man may be reproached.

Of the same. Our high priest, Christ, who has passed through the heavens, is ashamed on our account, being reproached by the adverse spirits.

"And I waited for one who would grieve with [me], and there was none, and for one who would comfort, and I found none," etc. It is not said "one who would grieve with me," but "one who would grieve with others," the one who weeps with those who weep; nor "one who would comfort me," but one who would comfort the person able to say: "We comfort those in affliction." Or perhaps whoever does these things to one of those in the Church grieves with Christ and comforts him, as also in the saying "Inasmuch as …"

"And they gave gall for my food, and in my thirst they made me drink vinegar," etc. All these things happened at the time of the cross.

Of the same. Wine that turns produces vinegar, and virtue corrupted gives birth to vice.

"Let their table become a snare before them, and a recompense, and a stumbling block," etc. The table of the Jews is the Old Covenant, at which they stumble, not understanding what concerns Christ. For it proclaims Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, to the Gentiles [folly].

Of the same. Perhaps the table from which the people's rational food came is the Law and the Prophets. This table, when Scripture is not understood, has become to the Jews a snare and a recompense and a stumbling block. But not for all can the table be called such. The Lord, being Wisdom, is the one who says: "Come, eat my bread"; and he is the bread of life that came down from heaven, whose flesh is true food and whose blood is true drink.

"Let their dwelling be made desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in their tents," etc. One can take these words as prophecies about the temple of the Jews and about their city.

[Ps 68 LXX / 69, continued] Of the same. After the cross their dwelling, the temple and Jerusalem, was made desolate.

"Add lawlessness to their lawlessness, and let them not come into your righteousness," etc. When those who have sinned lawlessly perish lawlessly, the punishment that answers to their lawlessness is added to the lawlessness of those who sinned. "For with the measure you measure, it will be measured back to you."

Of the same. For how can those whose eyes are darkened enter into righteousness?

"Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and let them not be written with the righteous," etc. The book of the living is the knowledge of God, from which those who have impure hearts fall away. "For blessed," he says, "are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." And to see God is to be counted worthy of knowledge of him.

Of the same. The unrighteous man is written with the righteous if he ceases to be unrighteous.

"It will please God more than a young calf that puts forth horns and hoofs," etc. That is, more than the irrational and sensible sacrifice.

"For the Lord has heard the poor, and has not despised his prisoners," etc. Let us become poor, so that our Lord may hear us.

"Let the heavens and the earth praise him, the sea and all that creep in them," etc. Here he calls the heavenly and the earthly beings by the same names as their worlds. Such also is: "The heavens declare the glory of God."

Of the same. Will the creeping animals, then, give praise when Zion is saved and Judea built up? If the creeping things are to be taken in a spiritual sense, clearly the things built up should also be taken in a spiritual sense.

"For God will save Zion, and the cities of Judea will be built," etc. He calls rational souls the cities of Judea.

[Ps 69 LXX / 70] "Let those who seek my soul be put to shame and confounded," etc. Our invisible enemies seek the soul, wishing to get it into their hands by urging it toward vice.

[Ps 70 LXX / 71] That Christ speaks the words in this psalm is clear. He prays that God may be a strong place for him. He who

says, "I am in the Father," also says: "On you I was cast from the womb; from my mother's belly you are my protector." The first, because from his birth he alone was conscious of God and leaned upon him; the second, because of the plot against Christ after the worship of the magi: he suffered nothing from Herod, being sheltered by God when the children of two years old and under were killed in the region of Bethlehem. And who is "the one who adds to all the praise" of God, the praise in the law and the prophets, but the Son? He, pronouncing woe on the scribes, "did not know" their "letters." For he knows how to teach from the letter that kills the things of the Spirit who gives life. He, risen from the dead, he who also declared the arm of God to the whole generation, says to the Father: "From the depths of the earth you brought me up again."

"In you, Lord, I have hoped; let me not be put to shame for ever," etc. If we endure in afflictions, we shall not be put to shame in the age to come: "For affliction produces endurance, and endurance character, and character hope, and hope does not put to shame."

"My God, rescue me from the hand of the sinner, from the hand of the lawless and the unjust," etc. He calls Satan sinner, lawless, and unjust: sinner because of his very evil habit; lawless because he transgressed his natural law; unjust because he deprives himself of the knowledge of God.

"On you I have leaned from the womb; from my mother's belly you are my protector," etc. Jesus, who alone knew how to lean on God from the womb, says this. And God became his protector when the magi were warned to go back to their own country by another way, and Joseph, taking the child with his mother, went to Egypt at the command, so that Jesus would not be killed with the children.

"I have become as a portent to many," etc. To those who walk the wide and spacious road that leads to destruction, to many (for many are those who go through it), Jesus became as a portent; but not to the few who find the narrow and hard road that leads away to life.

"Let my mouth be filled with praise, that I may hymn your glory, your majesty all the day," etc. Unless the mind is filled with the grace of God, it cannot hymn the glory of God. For he named the mind the mouth of the soul, and the Son of God the glory.

"Saying: God has forsaken him," etc. He has set down these words as spoken by the demons.

"O God, do not be far from me," etc. "Do not be far" means "Do not become far from me."

Of the same. God becomes far from a man not in his essence (for he is present everywhere and fills all things) but in the working of his providence and his help. And he is separated from us by the stench of our sins, as another prophet says: "Your sins stand between me and you."

"Let those who seek evil for me be clothed with shame and disgrace," etc. The saying "Let him have your cloak as well" can be referred to the shame and disgrace with which such a person is clothed.

"But I will hope continually, and will add to all your praise," etc. Many praises of God are spoken in the law and the prophets, and to them he adds who said, "I did not come to abolish the law or the prophets but to fulfil them," as is pleasing to the Church that bears the name of Christ.

"For I did not know letters," etc. If there is a letter that kills and a spirit that gives life, then "the Lord who knows those who are his" did not know what is named after the letter, but knew what is named after the spirit.

"Lord, I will remember your righteousness alone," etc. Christ will remember the righteousness of the Father.

"Until I declare your arm to all the generation that is to come," etc. The arm of God is Christ.

"O God, the great things you have done reach to the highest," etc. "Having made peace through his blood, both the things in heaven and the things on earth."

"How many afflictions, many and evil, you have shown me! And you turned and gave me life, and brought me up again from the depths of the earth," etc. Clearly this is said of the resurrection from the dead.

Of the same. He has now named the region of the subterranean demons "abyss." There are some who call the demons themselves abysses because of the boundlessness of their wickedness.

"For I too will confess your truth on the instrument of psalm," etc. The instrument of psalm is a pure soul.

[Ps 71 LXX / 72] "For Solomon," etc. For Solomon, the son of David: "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David." For Solomon is interpreted "peaceable"; for he is our peace.

"O God, give your judgment to the king, and your righteousness to the king's son," etc. Christ is king, the Son of God the king; that is why he reigns until all his enemies are subjected to him. Then he will hand over the kingdom to God the Father.

"To judge your people in righteousness and your poor in judgment," etc. Not all the poor are God's, but those whom Jesus declares blessed because they are with him.

"Let the mountains bring peace," etc. "For blessed are the peacemakers."

"He will judge the poor of the people, and save the sons of the needy, and humble the false accuser," etc. If the one who believes is not judged, perhaps the one who is rich in all speech and knowledge, rich in good works, who has stored up treasure ("a man's own wealth is the ransom of his soul"), is not judged; while the one who is poor and of the people is judged, since he has neither advanced so far in faith as to attain "He who believes in me is not judged," nor fallen away so as to be among those of whom it is said, "He who does not believe is already judged." I take "he who does not believe" to mean "the unbeliever."

"He will come down like rain upon a fleece, and like drops that drip upon the earth," etc. Like rain on the nations, like drops on Israel.

"In his days righteousness will rise, and abundance of peace, until the moon is taken away," etc. That is, until the consummation. For when the moon is taken away, time is taken away; and when time is taken away, the sensible world will come to an end. But he can also call the opposing power the moon, as ruling the night.

"The Ethiopians will fall down before him, and his enemies will lick the dust. The kings of Tharsis and the islands," etc. I think these words show a difference among those who come to Christ.

Of the same. Tharsis is an Ethiopian nation. Again, Tharsis signifies the hyacinth colour, as we have in the prophet: "Their likeness was as Tharsis." In Jonah it signifies the city of Tarsus. Saba is a city of India, from which the queen of the south came to Solomon. Tharsis is interpreted "spies," a spying-out of gladness and of land.

"All the nations will serve him," etc. If all the nations will serve him, then surely those that wage the wars will serve him too. And if so, then every rational nature will serve Christ; and this is what Paul says, that every knee will bow to him.

"And he will live, and there will be given to him of the gold of Arabia," etc. Christ lives in those who receive him: "I live," he says, "no longer I, but Christ lives in me." Another says of Solomon that the Arabs too and the neighbouring inhabitants pay him tribute.

"And they will pray for him continually; all the day they will bless him," etc. Saying: "Give us each day our daily bread."

Of the same. The saints, having learned that no one born will redeem men from the evil state that holds them, continually sent up prayer to the Father about the one who is able to rescue from the hand of the mighty.

"His fruit will be exalted above Lebanon," etc. In many places he calls a certain mountain, and the temple, and the sons of Israel, Lebanon.

Of the same. The fruit of Christ is the nations that believed and were exalted in godliness above Israel, which he figuratively calls Lebanon.

"All the nations will call him blessed," etc. Paul says: "The blessed and only Sovereign."

[Ps 72 LXX / 73] "How good is the God of Israel to the upright in heart," etc. As far as it rests with him, God is good to all: "For he is the Saviour of all men, especially of believers." But perhaps what is written is equivalent to: "To the upright in heart God is seen to be good." For how is the physician not good also to the sick, who need him?

"For I was jealous of the lawless, seeing the peace of sinners," etc. He has here named the prosperity of the sensible life "peace."

"For there is no refusal in their death," etc. He calls the remembrance of death "refusal"; that is why Symmachus rendered, "For they did not think about their own death."

"They clothed themselves with their injustice and impiety," etc. Injustice is seen in an evil life, impiety in false doctrines.

"Their injustice will come out as from fat," etc. "Their eyes went out from fatness," according to Symmachus.

"They set their mouth against heaven, and their tongue went through the earth," etc.

"They set" means "they appointed," he says, to blaspheme God and to wrong men.

"And they said: How does God know, and is there knowledge in the Most High?" etc. "Is there knowledge in the Most High" means: does the Lord know and watch over human affairs?

"And I said: In vain then have I justified my heart, and washed my hands among the innocent," etc. That is, I became pure.

Of the same. Such things are in Malachi too: "You said: He who serves God is vain; and what profit is it that we kept his charges?" Those who feared the Lord spoke these things against him, each to his neighbour.

"And I undertook to know this; it is toil before me," etc. It is toil to know the doctrine of Providence.

"Until I enter the sanctuary of God and understand their last end," etc. When we enter the sanctuary of God, then we shall know the doctrine of Providence.

"Lord, in your city you will bring their image to nothing," etc. The image of the sinner is the old man, corrupted according to the desires of deceit; this he brings to nothing through knowledge of himself.

"For my heart was inflamed, and my kidneys were changed," etc. By the heart he means the thinking part, by the kidneys the passible part, from which arise both the desiring and the irascible parts.

"For what have I in heaven, and besides you what have I desired on earth?" etc. Let those who prefer the earthly to the heavenly say this; for here, even if we do not confess it in word, we show it by our deeds.

"My heart and my flesh have failed," etc. From the affairs of this life, that is, human affairs; for when he fails from there, that is, withdraws from them all, then he will have God as his portion for ever.

"And God is my portion for ever," etc. The portion of the righteous is the knowledge of God.

"You have destroyed everyone who goes whoring away from you," etc. He goes whoring away from God who has given himself over to the worship of demons.

"But for me it is good to cleave to God, to put my hope in the Lord," etc. Similar is: "To him you shall cleave," and: