Selected Comments on the Psalms 1569–1585

[Ps 113 LXX / 114–115] … in the wilderness he turned the rock and gave Israel drink; but as regards the spirit he always turns the rock, which is Christ, and gives drink to the spiritual Israel.

"He blessed those who fear the Lord, the small with the great," etc. Not the great with the small are blessed, but the small with the great, so that they too may become great. And small and great here are to be understood not of what is outward but of what is inward.

"The dead will not praise you, Lord, nor all who go down to Hades. But we who live will bless the Lord from now and for ever," etc. A dead man cannot praise the Life that said, "I am the life." "Nor all": he did not say "those who went down," but "those who go down." "But we who live": as Paul too says, "Then we who are alive, who are left."

[Ps 114 LXX / 116] "For he inclined his ear to me, and in my days I will call upon him," etc. Since we cannot stretch ourselves out to God when we pray, he himself inclines his ear to us and draws near to us.

Of the same. Let the one who calls upon the sun of righteousness, living in the days of this sun, …

"The pangs of death encompassed me," etc. One who has been in heavier temptations and has given in them a proof of his own choice, so that he came into danger of being overcome, but was not overcome, might say: "The pangs of death encompassed me, the dangers of Hades found me." "Hades found me" is not the same as "the dangers of Hades found me." For Hades finds the one over whom its gates prevail; but the dangers of Hades find only the one who, because of the greatness of his temptations, was in danger of being held by the gates of Hades, but was not held by them.

"I found affliction and pain," etc. Affliction is a find for the one who endures it and boasts in afflictions, and walks the way that leads to life, which is narrow and afflicted. So too pain is a fine find, when one is pained out of love, like Paul, who said: "I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart," and what follows.

"And I called upon the name of the Lord," etc. "For everyone," he says, "who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved." Therefore let the merciful man call upon the merciful one, and the righteous man upon righteousness. For the righteousness in us arises in us like an echo, by reflection of the first righteousness.

"The Lord is merciful and righteous, and our God

has mercy," etc. Since the Lord has mercy with righteousness, he is merciful and righteous; but Saul was not righteous in showing mercy when he spared Agag. And if all showing of mercy were righteous, the law would not have said of some people: "You shall not have mercy on him." And "he who shows mercy with cheerfulness" shows mercy with righteousness.

"Return, my soul, to your rest," etc. The rest of the soul is the cutting off of sins; for sin racks it and crushes all its powers. That is why David also called baptism, since it brings release from sins, "water of rest." So he urges the soul, as one that has wandered in sins, to return to rest, either through baptism or through tears and repentance.

"For he has delivered my soul," etc. The soul, clearly, of one who no longer sins: "For the soul that sins shall die." And one who has received freedom from grief will say that the Lord has delivered my eyes from tears. He too will say it who has mourned the mourning that is called blessed, when he obtains "they will laugh" and "they will be comforted." And one who has heard, "But you, stand here with me," will say: "The Lord has delivered my feet from slipping."

[Ps 115 LXX / 116, continued] "I believed, therefore I spoke," etc. If anyone has not believed firmly and without distraction, let him not teach; for the voice of a genuine teacher is: "I believed, therefore I spoke." And proof of this man's freedom from conceit and of his humility, as one by no means puffed up at teaching, is: "But I was greatly humbled."

Of the same. Faith is the rational assent of a self-determining soul.

"But I said in my ecstasy: Every man is a liar," etc. If David too is a man, he is a liar; but if he is a liar when he calls himself a liar, he is not a liar but truthful. And if he is truthful when he calls himself a liar, then, being a man, he is not a liar. The argument thus turns round to both: to his being truthful, if he is a man, and to his being a liar. The dialecticians call this argument insoluble.

Of the same. Insofar as someone is a man, he is a liar; but if he puts off being a man, he is truthful. For the name "man" sometimes indicates the essence, as in "There was a man in the land of Ausitis"; and sometimes the worst condition, as in "But you die like men, and fall like one of the rulers." The one indicates the essence, the other the worst habit.

"What shall I render to the Lord?" etc. As one who has been greatly benefited by the Lord in these things and wishes to repay his benefactor, being at a loss about the manner

of repayment, he says: "What shall I render to the Lord for all that he has rendered to me?" For he has come to perceive the countless gifts from God: that he was brought from not being into being; that, formed from earth, he has been honoured with reason, by which he can also bear the image of the heavenly one; then, looking also to the dispensation on behalf of the human race, that the Lord gave himself as a ransom for many of us. So he is at a loss and searches among all that he has for some gift worthy of the Master: not sacrifices or burnt offerings, but his whole life itself.

"You have broken my bonds," etc. To "What shall I render to the Lord?" the answer seems to me to be given: first, "I will take the cup of salvation"; second, "I will pay my vows"; third, "I will offer you a sacrifice of praise"; fourth, "I will pay my vows to the Lord." But the first "I will pay my vows" has only "before all his people"; the second has also "in the courts of the house of the Lord" and "in your midst, Jerusalem." And the first "I will pay my vows to the Lord" is added after the cup of salvation; but the second comes after all, joined to "you have broken my bonds" and to "I will offer you a sacrifice of praise"; and "you have broken my bonds" is joined to the death that is precious before the Lord. The one who has glorified God by martyrdom says this because through martyrdom the former chains of his sins have been broken by God, so that he no longer has bonds of sin. Or, if the bonds of the soul are the bodily masses of the various members, it might well be said in this way too, that one released from the bonds in martyrdom is in peace, since no one but God has broken them. For God does not break the bonds of those who leave the body violently for any cause whatever. Sometimes, then, God kills without breaking a man's bonds; but the martyr he does not kill, he only breaks his bonds. For through martyrdom each martyr offers himself to God as a spotless sacrifice, imitating Christ, and says: "I will offer you a sacrifice of praise." For in the heavenly Jerusalem, our mother above, the righteous man will pay his vows to the Lord before every witness of the people of God and of Jerusalem, in a chosen place; and this is "in the courts of the house of the Lord, in the midst of Jerusalem."

Of the same. "You have broken my bonds." He did not say "you have loosed" but "you have broken," so that they became useless. Here he calls afflictions bonds. For there is also a good bond, as when he says: "in the bond of love." And the chains of sins that are added are also bonds; these are broken not only through divine baptism, but also through martyrdom for Christ and through the tears that come from repentance.

[Ps 117 LXX / 118] "Let the house of Israel now say," etc. "Let Israel now say" is said in this psalm, and in "If the Lord had not been among us, let Israel now say," which is the hundred and twenty-third, the fifth of the Ascents; and in the hundred and twenty-eighth, the tenth of the Ascents, which begins: "Often they have fought against me, let Israel now say."

"Let the house of Aaron say," etc. Unless someone is Israel, or the house of Aaron, or one who fears the Lord, he does not taste the goodness of the Lord, whose mercy is for ever. Therefore these alone will say: "His mercy is for ever." For these three orders, I think, there are three general [kinds] of mercy. And since a house is a system lawfully established for living, for this reason "the house" is here set with the house of Aaron. And consider whether the temple can be the house of Aaron, where the priests perform the worship. He called the priests separately to the hymn-singing, because they also enjoyed greater honour, not only by reason of the priesthood but in all other respects. For when fire came down, it came down because of them; and the earth was shaken, and the rod budded; and countless other wonders happened through them and on their behalf.

"Let all who fear the Lord now say," etc. Above too it is said: Israel hoped to call upon the Lord; then the house of Aaron; then those who fear the Lord. And we have said before that those who fear the Lord, the house of Aaron, and Israel are one. That is why he ordered them to bring forth a common song proclaiming the mercy of God. For the mercy of the Lord is upon all flesh, and neither circumcision nor uncircumcision can be saved without mercy.

"Out of affliction I called upon the Lord," etc. Whoever walks the narrow and afflicted way calls upon the Lord out of affliction; but whoever walks the broad one does not even call upon him. "For everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved."

"I will not fear what man will do to me," etc. Scripture calls the devil "man," as in "An enemy, a man, has done this," namely the sowing of the tares.

"All the nations surrounded me, and in the name of the Lord I drove them back," etc. Of the demons, some fought him as a practical man, others as a contemplative; and he drove back the first by righteousness, the second by wisdom.

Of the same. These words fit rather Christ, who is warred against by all the nations. There are many kinds of doctrines, which the holy man drives back by the wisdom of God, overturning them by sound reason.

"They surrounded me like bees," etc. Each of the doctrines of the nations produces something sweet, sweetening and delighting the hearer; therefore those who champion

[Ps 117 LXX / 118, continued] them are like bees, but are not bees. And according to Solomon, "honey drips from the lips of a harlot woman"; she is knowledge falsely so called. Whoever cleaves to her is one body with her, as whoever cleaves to the Lord and the true Word is one spirit.

"The Lord is my strength and my song," etc. The Word is strength to the one who has taken him up; through him "I can do all things," says Paul, "in Christ Jesus who strengthens me." This Word is also song, for in him is theology. And it would be the voice of a confident martyr: "The Lord is my strength and my song."

"I shall not die, but live, and tell the works of the Lord," etc. It belongs to the living to tell the works of the Lord.

"Open to me the gates of righteousness," etc. As the gates of righteousness, which is one of the virtues, are the acts that accord with it, so there would also be gates of prudence, of temperance, of courage, and of the other virtues, open in the good man but shut in the base. There are also, however, gates of the vices, opened to the base man through acts that accord with vice, but shut in the refined man. But perhaps also in another way, because of "Lift up your gates, O rulers, and be lifted up, eternal gates," each of the virtues is an eternal gate into the eternal dwellings, through which the good will enter, each according to his own deeds. And the Saviour had to pass through all of them, as they were lifted up and enlarged worthily of the greatness of Christ; for he took them all up in accordance with the dignity of the subsistence of the Firstborn of all creation. And consider whether, as they are lifted and raised for the Saviour, so for each according to his worth they are either lifted and raised, or set in place and not raised. These gates are also ensouled and living; that is why "Be lifted up" is said to them. And perhaps the rulers and the gates say in wonder: "Who is this King of glory?" There are, however, gates of righteousness used by many, but one gate that belongs to the Lord alone. So he calls the various forms of virtue gates of righteousness; for through them it is possible to hymn the God of all worthily. And he made this clearer through what follows, for he gives a kind of answer, saying: "This is the gate of the Lord."

Of the same. As the gates of righteousness are opened, so also those of temperance and courage and love; for through these gates the mind enters the kingdom of heaven.

"This is the gate of the Lord," etc. After entering through the practical virtues we shall find the gate of knowledge, which is the contemplation of things that have come to be, bodies and incorporeal beings.

"The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner," etc. This verse refers to Christ; for he himself in

the Gospels brings forward this prophecy, saying: "Have you never read: The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner?" By the builders he means the Jews, the scribes, the Pharisees, because they rejected him, saying: "You are a Samaritan and have a demon"; and again: "He is not from God, but leads the crowd astray."

"This came from the Lord," etc. What happened was not human, nor the work of one of the many; it was not for angels or archangels to frame such a corner. For no one was able, no righteous man, no prophet, no angel, no archangel; the achievement was God's, and this was his work alone.

"This is the day that the Lord has made," etc. This day was not made by lawgivers or prophets, but by the Sun of righteousness himself. And by "day" he means the knowledge of Christ.

Of the same. By "day" here he means not the sun's course, but the achievements accomplished in it. For as he speaks of an evil day, meaning not the sun's course but the evils done in it, so also by a good day he means the achievements done in it. What he says is this: All the achievements accomplished in it God made; for the things done were the work of that hand alone. For what could equal this day, in which reconciliation of God with men took place, and the long war was ended, and earth was shown to be heaven, and men unworthy of the earth were shown worthy of the kingdom, and the firstfruits of our nature was carried up above the heavens, and paradise was opened, and we recovered our ancient homeland, and the curse was abolished, and sin was undone? For though he made all the days, he made that one in a special way, since in it he fulfilled the greatest of his own mysteries. Therefore let us too exult and be glad in it, keeping a festival of double joy: first, that we were rescued from the captivity of the devil; second, that we are being led up to the kingdom of heaven.

"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord," etc. This saying too the evangelists understood as a prophecy about Christ. For he is truly the one who comes with authority and in the name of the Lord, while all the men and angels before him came as servants of the Lord. Each of them indeed said, "Thus says the Lord," and each of the angels says to the one to whom he comes, "The Lord has sent me." But he who comes in the name of the Lord is blessed.

"God is the Lord, and he has appeared to us," etc. For his coming is not a change of place, but an appearing, when before he was not seen. For being invisible, since he is the image of the invisible God, he took the form of a servant, and the Word became flesh and was seen, so that, appearing in this way,

he might lead us by the hand through this understanding to behold his glory too, "glory as of the Only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth."

"Bind the festival with leafy boughs," etc. Those are leafy who are luxuriant with leaves and fruits: with leaves, that is, their duties, and with fruits, the virtues. For "their leaf will not fall, and they will give their fruit in its season," because they have become "trees planted by the channels of waters."

Of the same. By "those that cover" he means the cherubim that overshadow the mercy seat; for this is what "cover" means. And the cherubim covered the mercy seat with their wings.

"You are my God, and I will confess to you," etc. Here he shows that we must give thanks to God even apart from his benefits, and glorify him for this: for the greatness of his essence, for his ineffable glory. This is what he hints at here too, after speaking of the benefits he had received. Even apart from these, he says, I will give thanks and confess, because I have such a Master: so lofty, so great, so invisible, incomprehensible. "I will exalt" means "I will glorify."

"Confess to the Lord, for he is good," etc. Not without purpose has the Psalmist placed this verse a second time in the present psalm. He wishes us to practise the same song often, so that, remembering what our salvation was, we may no longer run back to the enemy who became our ruin.

[Ps 118 LXX / 119] "Blessed are the blameless in the way," etc. The elements of the beginning of the words of God are a divine topic. This is what the hundred and eighteenth psalm deals with; it is written according to the Hebrew letters, so that its first eight verses are from Aleph, which is the first of their letters, the next eight from Beth, and so on in order. And this psalm contains the whole moral topic, with every contemplation of the different names used in the moral topics in the Scriptures. One should know that law is one thing, statute another, ordinance another, testimony another, judgment another. The letters are put first here so that it may be shown to readers that the letters are the knowledge of the moral topic. So too the hundred and tenth and hundred and eleventh psalms, which are also in a way moral, had the beginnings of their verses from the Hebrew letters; there, however, the alphabetic arrangement is not extended but given briefly. One should know, then, that these things too, like others, were written in the Holy Spirit and have a reason that is not to be despised. And the reason why each of the letters is said eight times by

the Hebrews in this psalm [is this]. Come, then, to the number eight, and wherever it is named in Scripture, take it up, together with the matter in connection with which it is said; and the study will be useful to you for seeing that each letter is a perfection, together with the number. And when we are being perfected in the elements, the number [eight] is to be preferred by us, since [seven] is dedicated to matter; for seven is a sign of material grossness, while eight is the beginning of the more immaterial and greater state. For even if we say, above all, that six too signifies the matter of the world in a relative way, yet we refer the one to wholeness in quantity and the other to perfection in habit, by which a person wipes away the filth of the soul and is cleansed. For before the eighth day of the Lord Jesus Christ came, the whole world was uncleansed and uncircumcised; but when the eighth day, of Christ's resurrection, came, all at once we were all cleansed in the circumcision of Christ, buried with him and raised with him, as the Apostle says. Since, then, our soul is cleansed through the alphabetic arrangement, as we learn the moral topic and are perfected in the knowledge of it, the number eight was taken for each of the letters in the psalm before us. In this psalm, then, he describes the way of life of the saints, their contests, their afflictions, and so on. The one who never in any way sins would be blameless, and indeed blessed.

Of the same. A man is called blessed not because of his blamelessness, but because of the knowledge of God which he is to acquire through his blamelessness: "For blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

"For those who work lawlessness have not walked in his ways," etc. If those who work lawlessness do not walk in the ways of God, clearly those who work righteousness will walk in the ways of God. So the ways of God are the contemplations of things that have come to be, in which we shall walk as we work righteousness. And if Christ is our righteousness ("for he became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption"), Solomon rightly says in Proverbs that Wisdom, which is Christ, is the beginning of the ways of the Lord. And by Christ I mean the Lord who came among us with the Word of God.

Of the same. If anyone works lawlessness, he does not walk in the way of the Lord; therefore he is not blameless in the way either.

"You have commanded your commandments to be kept diligently," etc. Whoever does not sin in thought keeps the commandments of God diligently.

Of the same. It is possible to keep the commandments of God vigorously, and possible to keep them slackly. Or: God commanded his commandments to be kept vigorously.

"O that my ways were directed to keep your statutes!" etc. For I shall not keep your statutes in any other way unless my ways are directed by you. What, then, are these statutes, "which you shall set before the sons of Israel"? "If you acquire a Hebrew servant, he shall serve you six years; in the seventh you shall send him away free," and so on. "O that my ways were directed," he says, so that whatever you have ordained I may render to each as is fitting.

"Then I shall not be put to shame, when I look upon all your commandments," etc. Not on some, but on all; for I shall be put to shame by those commandments I do not look upon. And for us who look to the divine Spirit, not being put to shame will come when we see ourselves fitted to him in every respect, nowhere shifting toward the flesh, nor brought down as if by a fall from on high.

Of the same. If whoever has done all the commandments but stumbles in one becomes guilty of all, it is well written: "Then I shall not be put to shame when I look upon all your commandments"; for even one commandment neglected can bring us shame.

"I will confess to you in uprightness of heart," etc. One who has never taken up uprightness of heart, but still has it crooked, has not yet made confession in such a way that his confession is accepted by God. How this comes about, what follows shows.

"Do not utterly forsake me," etc. My strength has its limits when I am tempted. Do not, he says, subject me to temptations beyond my strength, and do not utterly forsake me. "But God is faithful, who will not let us be tempted beyond what we are able," and so on.

"In my heart I have hidden your sayings, that I may not sin against you," etc. He sins against God who has been counted worthy of more secret sayings and commanded to hide them from the many, and yet does not hide them from those from whom he should. For it is dangerous not only to speak what is false, but also to speak what is true when one ought not to declare it at all. For pearls must not be thrown before swine, nor holy things given to dogs.

"Blessed are you, Lord," etc. Whoever perceives his own progress from seeking God with his whole heart blesses him, already giving thanks for what he has been counted worthy of. For having sayings that are secret and worthy to be hidden, he blesses the Lord for them.

"In the way of your testimonies I have delighted, as in all riches," etc. Whoever [delights in them] as in all riches of gold and silver and clothing and lands and estates and cattle and servants