Homilia in Psalmum XXXVII

On the Thirty-Seventh Psalm. A lesson in confession. A psalm for David for remembrance. The words of the divinely inspired Scripture will stand before the tribunal of Christ. "For I will convict," he says, "and set before your face your sins." So let us attend soberly to what is said according to Scripture, and let us hasten to bring the Lord's commandments into effect, for we do not know at what hour or on what day our Lord comes. "Lord, do not convict me in your wrath, nor discipline me in your anger." With these words and syllables the sixth psalm also begins similarly, and the rest of the sixth psalm is akin to what is carried in the present one: for he said in the sixth that his bones were humbled and his soul wearied in his groaning, and he added, saying, "I will wash my bed each night, I will wet my bedding with my tears," and what is connected with these. Similar to those would be the things in the present psalm, through which it is said: "There is no healing in my flesh, and there is no peace in my bones because of my sins; for my iniquities have overtopped my head," and what is brought in through the whole psalm, in which he bewails his own misery. For he himself has used this very word, saying, "I was wretched and was bent down exceedingly to the end; I went about gloomy all day long." But in the sixth psalm the superscription had: "For the end, in hymns for the eighth, a psalm for David"; but in the present one, none of these, but only: "The psalm for David is said for remembrance.

The addition, "for remembrance," seems to send us back to the inscription in the sixth psalm, so that the present words are: "To the end, and in hymns for the eighth." For this, "for remembrance," would be indicative of all these things. But since, in going through the matters that fell under discussion in the sixth psalm, we have spoken about the inscription, let us also go back to the remembrance of those things on the present occasion. It seems to me that David, having confessed in various and many ways concerning the transgression committed by him, has specifically set apart the present psalm for remembrance, so that he might always and continually carry it on his lips; and that he used it as an incantation for the healing of his own soul. At any rate, he sends up a supplication to God, by which he turns away the wrath that hangs over all who sin, and propitiates the good Lord with words of exceeding confession. Saying, "Lord, do not convict me in your wrath," he does not decline the conviction, but that which is with wrath; and, "Do not discipline me in your anger," he does not flee from being disciplined, but deems it worthy to receive discipline without anger—as if someone, to a physician offering remedies by cautery, iron, and bitter antidotes for the treatment of an underlying disease, were to say: Do not treat me with fire, nor with iron and incisions, but with mild and gentler drugs; for such a person does not deny the treatment, but the painfulness of the remedies. It has often been said that "wrath" and "anger" of God, spoken of in the divinely inspired Scriptures, do not signify passions; for the divine is alien to every passion.

By way of metaphor, the language of Scripture is accustomed to name such things, as also the eyes of God, and ears, and hands, and fingers, and feet, and the remaining members; which it manages usefully with regard to human beings, descending to the quality of the hearers. Thus also the punishments imposed upon sinners according to God's judgment, being gloomy and painful to those who suffer, are represented as if imposed from wrath and anger. And the holy Apostle teaches this, saying: "But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart, you store up for yourself wrath on the day of wrath, and of revelation, and of the just judgment of God, who will render to each according to his works." As if one were to call the penalties hanging over the murderer from the law, wrath and anger, not because the law is truly angered and wrathful, but because the one punished conceives of the punishment as the law's wrath. Already also the evil demons who administer the punishments against the impious, and the ministerial powers of God, such things have been named both wrath and anger. Thus, for example, it is said in the account concerning the ten plagues brought upon the Egyptians: "He sent upon them wrath and anger," a sending through evil angels. Thus also the right hand of God is spoken of, the things provided through the right and good powers to those who are worthy. Therefore David entreats that he not be convicted through evil powers, nor be disciplined through a sending of evil angels, but through saving words and beneficial teachings. And in another way he implores not to be kept for a day of wrath, and of revelation, and of the just judgment of God.

Already in this present life, before death, one receives the penalties for sins. And indeed he achieved his aim; at any rate, he appears to have paid the penalty, through what he suffered, before death. And in another way, he punished himself, subjecting himself to all kinds of chastisements in the modes of confession. "For your arrows have been fixed in me, and you have set your hand upon me. There is no healing in my flesh from the face of your wrath. There is no peace in my bones from the face of my sins." The great athlete Job, having endured all kinds of trials, was not ignorant of whence this came to him; therefore he said: "For the arrows of the Lord are in my body, whose fury drinks my blood." But David, not struck in the body like Job, but wounded in the soul itself mortally, does not say like Job: "For the arrows of the Lord are in my body," but: "For your arrows have been fixed in me, and you have set your hand upon me." Now Job mentions the hand of the Lord, saying: "It is the hand of the Lord that has touched me." And the devil, speaking to the Lord, said: "Send your hand, and touch all that he has." And again: "Send your hand, and touch his flesh and his bones." But that was one kind of hand, and other arrows reaching his flesh and his bodily possessions. Here, since David was sick in the soul itself, it signifies that other arrows have reached him, and another hand has touched him.

It seems to me that the arrows spoken of here are rational, or rather, they are the very words of God, piercing and wounding his soul, and punishing and chastising his conscience itself; since this man, being so great and having received so many good things from God, gave himself over to a shameful deed. But perhaps it also signifies the devil himself and the fiery darts of the evil one, the passionate and amorous ones, which kindled into desire for the wife of Uriah; concerning which the Apostle also teaches, saying: Take up the full armor of God, so as to be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. For since he was found unprotected, he did not hold out against the fiery darts of the evil one, and being naturally wounded in the soul, he was captured by desire. And just as Job, because the wounds inflicted upon his body by the devil’s darts occurred by the permission of God, called them the arrows of the Lord, saying: For the arrows of the Lord are in my body, whose anger drinks my blood; so it is likely that David here has spoken of the arrows of the Lord, since by the permission of the Lord

The adversary made war against him, so that he might learn not to say, "I shall never be shaken." For, being strengthened by the grace of God, he once thought highly of himself, to the point of being insolent and saying, "I said in my prosperity, 'I shall never be shaken.'" For this reason he was justly handed over to the tempter, who, seizing his soul, inflicted greater damage on him than on Job. The words, which remind him of God's righteous judgment and teach of the wrath impending upon sinners, are sharper than arrows, piercing, wounding, and pricking his conscience. And thus you might say that David, pricked by these holy and divine words, reasonably begs to be spared the reproof through anger and the discipline through God's wrath. "Do not reprove me with your anger," he says, "Lord, nor discipline me with your wrath." Why? "Because your arrows have been fixed in me." For the arrows that come from you, having taken up wrath and anger, punish me sufficiently and chastise me adequately. Therefore he entreats that he not experience another anger or wrath, "Because your arrows have been fixed in me," or, "have reached me," according to Symmachus. "And you have set your hand upon me." Understand the hand of the Lord that has seized him, as was manifested in the case of Job. This hand of the Lord shook the entire house of David from its foundations, driving his firstborn son Amnon mad with love for his sister, and inflaming Absalom with anger against his brother, so that he killed Amnon, and then rose up against his own father.

And all the rest that is presented through the history, the hand that was shown. "Your hand has touched me through the successive calamities." "I beseech you," he says, "that I not be rebuked by another wrath, nor disciplined by a worse anger." And not only these things, but also what is added, which he teaches next, saying: "There is no healing in my flesh from the face of your wrath; there is no peace in my bones from the face of my sins." "I," he says, "anticipating, and not waiting for someone from outside to punish my body, punished myself with an evil ulcer, and delivered my flesh, through which the sin was committed by me, to punishments, avenging myself and chastising myself with all kinds of punishments." For he made this clear also through other words, saying: "I humbled my soul with fasting, and my flesh was changed because of oil, and I forgot to eat my bread; from the sound of my groaning, my bones stuck to my flesh." And, "I will wash my bed each night, I will wet my bedding with my tears." Thus, then, also now he says: "There is no healing in my flesh from the face of your wrath." And instead of "wrath," both Aquila and Symmachus translated "from the face of your indignation." "For it was sufficient for me," he says, "the indignation from your divine Scriptures, and the threat through your prophet Nathan. Therefore, from the face of your indignation, I punished myself in such a way as to chastise my own flesh, and for my bones to have no peace from the face of my sins." In place of which Symmachus says, "Because of my sins.

Because my lawless acts have overtopped my head, like a heavy burden they have weighed heavily upon me. My sores have festered and rotted from the face of my folly. I have been afflicted, and I have been bent down utterly to the very end. Since these things have been done by me, he says, therefore I have been afflicted, and I have been bent down to the end, and I have gone about the whole day with a gloomy countenance. Through these things he sets forth what he has suffered, and how he punished himself, accusing himself not of one sin, but of many all at once, and so many that they could not be hidden within his own soul, nor lie concealed within his body, but have overtopped him, so that they are known to all. He himself, then, was the accuser of himself in the first speech, and before all, so that it might be fulfilled in him: "A just accuser of himself, outstripping every human accuser." He himself condemned himself, and he stopped up the mouth of all enemies, they having nothing else to say against him. The word teaches us not to hide our own evils, nor, as if they were some kind of blackness and rot, to keep our sins confined in the depth of the soul, being branded on the conscience. Just as in the case of fevers, when the fever goes inward and into the depth, it produces a greater illness, but when it has advanced into the open, it gives hope of abatement; so also it might be with the soul. And David teaches something else that has happened concerning himself, saying: "Like a heavy burden they have weighed heavily upon me." For the things he had dared weighed upon his conscience, so that he could not bear them because of the nobility and good disposition of his soul.

For the one who is harsh and unyielding, according to his own hardness and unrepentant heart, stores up wrath for himself on a day of wrath, drawing sin upon sin, increasing his own evils. For when a sinner falls into a depth of evils, he becomes contemptuous. But the well-disposed person, even if he should slip once at some time through a snatching away by the devil, is grievously burdened in his conscience, so that he is unable to be silent or to hide his own evil. From the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. Hence, unable to bear silence, he revealed what was oppressing him, saying: "Like a heavy burden they have weighed heavily upon me"—it is clear that these are my lawless acts. And again: "My sores have festered from the face of my folly." And he calls folly the foolish action that comes from folly. For every sin occurs through folly; but prudence, being virtue, renders all things done in accordance with it worthy of praise and virtue. Moreover, things done according to prudence are productive of health for the soul; but folly produces wounds and sores. Now those who persist in their sins, rejoicing in them and taking delight, are like pigs wallowing in filth; but the one who has slipped once, then has recovered himself, abhors that foul action as foul-smelling and unclean. Having experienced something of this sort, David, from a healthy self-awareness, confesses, saying: "My sores have festered and rotted from the face of my folly." Since, then, my lawless acts have been raised up, having multiplied and become higher than my head, they have weighed heavily upon me, and have festered and rotted.

For this reason, healing myself, I suffered and was bent down to the end; and not for a single day, nor for a brief hour, but every day I went about gloomy, or, according to Symmachus, I walked about gloomy; not being indifferent to what had been done by me, nor like a king exalting myself because I was subject to no judge; but because of your fear and your rebuke, I went about gloomy the whole day. That my loins were filled with mockeries, and there is no healing in my flesh. I was afflicted and humbled exceedingly, I roared from the groaning of my heart. Lord, before you is all my desire, and my groaning is not hidden from you. Instead of, my loins were filled with mockeries, Aquila has, because my flanks were filled with dishonor, and Symmachus has, because my loins were filled with dishonor. And for this reason, coming to a recollection of the shameful and dishonorable deed, because the faculty of his soul was sound, he said these things: My wounds have become foul and festered from the face of my folly. And why they became foul, he adds, saying: Because my loins were filled with mockeries, or, my flanks with dishonor; and by these he hinted at the form of the shameful deed. Then, recovering himself, he said: There is no healing in my flesh.

Since my loins were filled with mockeries, for this reason, he says, having come to repentance for what was done, I punish and chastise my own flesh; therefore I say: There is no healing in my flesh, so that, having perhaps succeeded, I might say: Even if the outer man in us is corrupted, the inner man is renewed. And earlier he said: There is no healing in my flesh, and there is no peace in my bones. Then he adds: I was afflicted and humbled exceedingly. This he indicated differently in the preceding passages, saying: I suffered and was bent down to the end. It is characteristic of prudent men not to be elated over sins committed through preconception and seizure, but to be ashamed and blush, and to be struck in conscience, and to be humbled. For David adds to these: I roared from the groaning of my heart, or, according to Aquila, I gnashed from the grinding of my heart. For it is not that I may become visible to the many that I confess with my lips; but within, in the heart itself, closing my eye, I display my own groans to you alone who see what is hidden, roaring within myself. For I had no need of long words for confession; the groans of my heart sufficed for confession, and the lamentations sent up from the depth of my soul to you, God. But also the desire, being good, was before you, Lord, and this was concerning my own salvation. For when I became a desirer of evils, my desire was not before you.

Now, when I do everything humbled and roaring from the groaning of my heart, and desiring to meet with you, God, savior and physician, my desire is contrary to you, and you are not ignorant of the cause of my groans. For you know that I send up a groan befitting your philanthropy, since you do not wish the death of the sinner as much as his repentance. Therefore I say: And my groan was not hidden from you. My heart was troubled, my strength abandoned me, and the light of my eyes, even that, is not with me. My friends and my neighbors drew near against me and stood. And those nearest to me stood afar off; and those seeking my soul were constrained; and those seeking my evils spoke vanities to me, and they devised deceits all day long. Having indicated in the preface that it was for remembrance, he naturally recapitulates and takes up again in memory the things that happened to him long ago. And he teaches in what circumstances he fell into the slip of sin; for which reason he also makes the entire confession. I suffered hardship, then, and I was bowed down, and I went about gloomy, and I was humbled, and I roared from the groaning of my heart. I have come to all these things; for at some time my heart was troubled, and my strength abandoned me, and the light of my eyes, even that, is not with me. For at the time of sin, his reasoning faculty underwent no small disturbance, being confounded and darkened by that which works the sin, so as even to fall into folly. Therefore he also said above:

My sores have festered and rotted from the face of my folly. His heart was troubled, then, when he was in folly, and he fell from the virtue that comes with prudence and did deeds of folly. Then also his strength abandoned him; for he was no longer able to say, "I am strong in all things through Christ who strengthens me," having been overcome by passion and enfeebled. For in the case of those who succeed, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak; in the case of those who are defeated, the flesh is arrogant and prevails, while the soul is slack and weakens. Then, he says, when I was sinning, my heart was troubled, and my strength abandoned me, and something else grievous happened to me. For the light of my eyes (and this was the prophetic Spirit, which illumines the vision of his soul), even that was not with me, having left me and withdrawn, since wisdom will not enter a soul that is crafty in evil, nor will it dwell in a body that is a debtor to sin. For the holy Spirit of instruction will flee from deceit and will depart from senseless thoughts. So, when the holy Spirit withdrew from him, it left him desolate after his heart was troubled and his strength enfeebled. For then the light of his eyes also left him desolate. But also his former friends and his neighbors, who had spent all their time with him, left him and stood at a distance, no longer wishing to be with him, weeping from afar, as it seems, at the misfortune of a friend.

Who were they, if not those rejoicing at his former good deeds, clearly good angels and ministers of God, accustomed to rejoicing together with the salvation of men? Since, indeed, over a sinner who repents, joy arises in the heavens: And the angel of the Lord will encamp around those who fear him. And so all these friends of David, at the time of his sin, withdrew, turning away; yet they did not entirely abandon him, but standing at a distance they groaned; which indeed he himself teaches, saying: My friends and my neighbors drew near opposite me, and stood. And those nearest to me stood far off. When they had gone far from me, certain others, those who work the sin, having come near me, pressed hard and mocked my soul. Therefore he adds, saying: Those who sought my soul pressed hard; and those who sought evils for me spoke vanities, and they practiced deceptions all day long. For long ago these, thirsting for my blood, and from distant times praying to see my fall, as if seizing the opportunity, when they saw that my strength had left me, and the light of my eyes had withdrawn from me, and my friends and my neighbors had gone far from me; immediately leaping upon me, they pressed hard upon my soul, and as if malicious, They spoke vanities, suggesting vain words within my soul; but also with deceit, charming and deceiving, they lured me as if with good things, dragging me down into sin. Therefore he adds: And they practiced deceptions all day long.

But I, as if deaf, did not hear, and as if speechless, did not open my mouth; and I became like a man who does not hear, and who has no reproofs in his mouth. Since those who sought my soul found it, and having found it, they mocked me, and they set upon me, scoffing at my misfortunes; then they spoke vanities and deceits all day long. In these circumstances, having become bereft of my own friends, I had nothing to say, being filled with shame; therefore, as if deaf, I did not hear. But I, once most eloquent and wise with the wisdom at hand, became as if deaf, not hearing, and as speechless, not opening my mouth. For I had no word of defense; nor did I have anything to say to my enemies, once defeated by them; but I was like a man who does not hear, and who has no reproofs in his mouth. For I myself was reproached, but I did not reproach, nor did I have boldness, being covered with shame. Because I hoped in you, O Lord, you will hear, O Lord my God. Because I said, "May my enemies never rejoice over me"; and when my feet were shaken, they spoke boastfully against me. These are the things that have befallen me. Therefore I became as if deaf, not hearing, and as speechless, not opening his mouth, and as a man having no reproofs; therefore I said nothing to my enemies, as if defeated by them. Yet I did not despair of myself on this account; but I gathered myself again, leaping away from sin as from death, and healing my own wound with the medicines of confession. And the sores that stank from my folly, I healed with treatment.

I deem it worthy to obtain. Therefore, "In you, Lord, I hoped"; for not trusting in myself, nor placing any other hope before my eyes but you, did I prescribe the remedies for myself. Since, then, I hoped, Lord, and hope does not put to shame, for this reason hear me, because you are a lover of mercy, and you do not desire the death of the sinner, but rather his repentance. Because I hoped in you, I beseech you to obtain your aid: "Let my enemies never rejoice over me." For they have not yet fully rejoiced; but they will rejoice if I do not obtain your mercy. But so that my enemies may not rejoice over me—those who already earlier, when my feet were shaken, boasted loudly—I fled to you, and I say: "May I not be put to shame forever, nor may my enemies mock me." And again I say: "To you, Lord, I will cry out; do not be silent toward me, never be silent toward me, and I will become like those who descend into a pit." And gathering together the rest of what has been said by me in various ways in the other psalms, in this supplication to you, I deem it worthy to obtain present help. For even if it happened that my feet were very much shaken, at the time when my heart was disturbed and my strength abandoned me and the light of my eyes was not with me, yet I was not utterly overturned, nor did I fall such a fall as apostates do. Since at that very time, when my feet were shaken, my enemies boasted loudly over me, so that they might not clap their hands even more against me, I fled to you as to a harbor of safety, you who are able to heal even the incurable passions of the soul among men.

That I am ready for scourges, and my pain is before me continually. That I will declare my lawlessness and be anxious concerning my sin. Having said at the beginning, "Do not rebuke me in your wrath," he now says: "That I am ready for scourges." Therefore, he deprecates wrath and anger, but says he is ready to be scourged; for he knows that the Lord disciplines whom he loves, and scourges every son whom he receives. Hence he bore nobly the scourges that came upon him through successive calamities after his sin, which the history of the Kings contains. And my pain is before me continually. For most people consign their former sins to oblivion, being indifferent to them and despising them, as if no vengeance would occur; but he who has the judgment of God before his eyes continually, and is convinced that we shall all stand before the tribunal of Christ, so that each may receive through the body what he has done, whether good or evil, is always in anguish, and, caring to heal the pain in his own soul, accuses himself through his confessions to God. Therefore he says: "My pain is before me continually, that I will declare my lawlessness, and be anxious concerning my sin." Such utterances belong to a faithful soul and one thoroughly convinced concerning the judgment of God. But my enemies live, and have grown strong against me; and those who hate me unjustly have multiplied. Those who repay me evil for good slandered me, because I pursued goodness.

Do not abandon me, Lord my God, do not depart from me. Pay attention to my help, Lord of my salvation. He remembers all his enemies, those who dragged him into sin, and he entreats and beseeches the Lord not to depart from him. For he sees the enemies still now standing around him and pressing upon him, not content with their former audacity against him. Therefore, anxious lest he fall into the same things a second time, he says with great vigilance: But my enemies live. For they have not died, nor have they passed away after acting once; hence it is written: Do not call a man blessed before his death. They live; but they have also grown strong, being more numerous than I. For those who hate me have multiplied, and those who return evil to me instead of good; who even now do not cease slandering me, because I pursue the good and saving path, begrudging me my salvation. For this reason I entreat and implore: do not abandon me, Lord; for alone against so many I would not be able to hold out. Therefore you, my God, do not depart from me, but be present to me as a helper and guardian of my salvation.