Commentarius magnus in Psalmos

And he did wondrous things with Job, with David, with Daniel, with the three children, and with the others who were crowned in trials. And he set up a testimony in Jacob. For instance, when? When God wrestled with him in the winter torrent of Jacob. For it is clear that God wrestled in the form of a human shape, and he indicates that he was held by him with these words: "Let me go, for dawn has risen"; to which Jacob added: "I will not let you go unless you bless me." That wonder, then, is a testimony, which Christ also established as a reminder of his own theophany in the flesh. And he set a law in Israel. As many things as he commanded our fathers, so that they might make them known to their sons. For this reason, he says, he set a law in Israel, even though they were about to transgress and reject the ordinances, so that to their sons (and we have said that these are those from the nations who are converting) he might make known as many things as he commanded our fathers. Therefore, for our sake the people of the Jews receive legislation; for we keep the law according to the spirit and as a target for the lawgiver; and the following makes this clearer: "So that another generation might know." Which one? Sons who will be born. Do you see that he speaks about the nations? For these were not yet born into piety; but they were about to be born through baptism; hence they were rightly called sons who will be born; but also they had fallen because of idolatry. Well then, their prophecy is of the resurrection that would come through faith in Christ; and they will rise and announce these things to their sons, so that they may place their hope in God.

and they may not forget the works of God, and they may seek out his commandments. For this is truly knowledge of God: to impart knowledge also to others, and to make sons through discipleship in the commandments, which is clearly what those who believed in Christ have done. For they begrudged no one the knowledge of God; nor do those who believed before wish to close the way to others, but they exhort them to place their hope in God, and not to forget the works of God, and to seek out his commandments. For these things are proclaimed daily by the Church to all, both the faithful and the outsiders; in which Paul cries out to all men and women: "My little children, whom I again bring forth in labor, until Christ is formed in you." Not so did the scribes and Pharisees act, taking the key of knowledge and allowing no one to enter; for the Lord revealed this, lamenting them, as the following words say: "That they may not become like their fathers." For the nations rightly claim the fathers from Israel because Christ came from them; among these, some are good—prophets and true priests, and all who fulfilled the law—but others are wicked, all who falsely bore these titles. But since he was about to mention wicked and lawless men, having necessarily said "fathers," he added concerning those of whom it is said: "A crooked and embittered generation; a generation that did not direct its heart, and whose spirit was not faithful with God." For with their tongue alone they professed faith, but not with their whole heart and pure spirit.

Hence they were crooked and embittered, and they did not direct their heart toward God, for he wishes to receive not what comes from the lips, but what comes from the movements within the soul. Lest we emulate them, the law which was neglected by them has been given to us for spiritual remembrance and correction. The sons of Ephraim, drawing and shooting with bows, were turned back on the day of battle. They did not keep the covenant of God, and they did not wish to walk in his law. From the greater tribe he indicated the whole people of Israel who were separated from Judah; for Ephraim held the chief place among the ten tribes that came under Jeroboam. Thus, moreover, you will find the other prophets naming Israel. And Hosea makes it clear; for he says: What shall I do for you, Ephraim? What shall I do for you, Manasseh? What shall I do for you, Judah? Calling Judah the two tribes over which the house of Judah reigned, and Ephraim again the ten, since the tribe of Ephraim possessed the kingship of these. These, then, drawing and shooting with bows; for they had instruments of piety. Yet they were turned to flight, clearly on the day of the spiritual war, having given their backs to the enemies, the demons. And what caused them to turn to flight and give their backs to the enemies? Not keeping the covenant of God, nor walking in his law. And when did they undergo this? When they worshipped two molten heifers. Hence, lamenting over them, he added the following: And they forgot his benefactions and his wonders, which he showed them, in the presence of their fathers.

The wonders that he performed in the land of Egypt, in the plain of Tanis. 3. In few words he recalled all the wonders in Egypt, for which he reproaches them with forgetfulness. For they would not have abandoned their benefactor, had they not, through the magnitude of their ingratitude, cast the benefits out of memory, and the wonders of which they had made their fathers witnesses, having themselves received the signs with their own eyes, which he set forth as having occurred in the plain of Tanis; since Pharaoh dwelt in this city as the more ancient and greater one. And that Tanis is more ancient, divine Scripture makes clear. For, wishing to attest to the great antiquity of Hebron, it made the comparison with Tanis; and it speaks thus: "And Hebron was built before Tanis was built in Egypt," that is, the palace of Pharaoh. He split the sea and led them through; he set up the waters like a wineskin. Here he displayed the great power of the wonder-worker; for, although he could have dried up the sea for the passage of the people, yet, sparing his own element, he divided it into two. For this is what "he split" means. Then, curving each lip of the divided water like a wineskin, he gave dry land in the middle, the sea having been laid bare, to those who traveled; wherefore, when the people had crossed, he released the sea back into its own place. And he led them by a cloud by day, and throughout the whole night by a light of fire. Do you see the magnitude of the providence of the wonder-worker? For since they needed a sign for the road, which was desert and unknown to them, he cared not only for their need but also for the benefit of those who received the sign.

Therefore, he provided them with a cloud by day, shading from the heat of the sun, and a pillar of fire by night, providing both light and warmth (for the night is more moist and colder). So that we also, when we travel with God guiding, if the heat of pleasures comes upon us, we may take the cloud of repentance; and when love has grown cold, we will be able to kindle it with zeal as with a pillar of fire. He split a rock in the desert and gave them drink as from a great abyss. And he brought water out of a rock and led it down like rivers of water. Perhaps some think that the prophet set forth the same sign twice; but it is not so; rather, Moses brought water out of a rock for them a second time, once in the desert of Horeb, and the second time at Kadesh, where Miriam was buried after her death; and each was for abundance, so that the phrase "as from a great abyss" is used, since the water was not comparable to a river but to many waters because of the multitude. For this was proof that the wonders had truly happened to them, not as a mere illusion. And they added still more to their sinning against him. He set forth a terrible accusation against the people of the Jews, that while receiving such great wonders, they ought to have refrained from their former sins, yet they added others to those, not simply sinning, but sinning against him, that is, offending the one who provided the signs; therefore he added: "They embittered the Most High in a waterless place." How did they embitter him? Not by being thirsty or asking for water, but by disparaging and reviling the provider.

Hence the places of the wonders: one was called the Water of Contradiction, the other Temptation and Reviling, because they tempted the Lord, saying, "Is the Lord among us or not?" For Moses the lawgiver set this forth in these very words. These things clearly resemble what follows: "And they tempted God in their hearts, to ask for food for their souls." You see that they tempted God, whether he could provide food in the desert; so that the request arose from wickedness, not from need. Therefore they did not simply ask for "food," but "for their souls," that is, according to their own pleasures and the desires of their soul, they wanted to grumble about cucumbers, melons, and onions as if they were scarce. And they slandered God and said: It is grievous to slander even an ordinary person; hence David says, "They drove out the one who secretly slanders his neighbor." It is more grievous to slander a master, for punishment follows the slanderer; but it is most grievous to slander God, since God is our father, master, and nourisher, and holds every benefit or power you might name. Therefore, one must refrain from slandering him, either from fear of his power or from love of his beneficence. But what did they slander? "Will God be able to prepare a table in the desert?" Since he struck a rock and waters flowed, and torrents were flooded, can he not also give bread or prepare a table for his people? Harsh, then, is the blindness of blasphemers and lawbreakers.

From these things, since they ought to have expected great things from God and to have trusted that he can do all things and that nothing is impossible for him, they instead deny the things concerning him, virtually saying even this: "He provided water, but he cannot provide food, as if he were weary from working wonders and had exhausted his generosity on the preceding signs." At these things he is naturally moved; the following verses make this clear. For this reason, "the Lord heard and delayed" means he was moved to anger; for so Theodotion and those who produced the fifth version have rendered it. 4. Why did both take "delay" in the sense of anger? This is not without reason, but because it often happens that those who are stirred up by wrath delay their garment, as if hastening to vengeance. It is customary for the prophets to attribute human forms to God, in order to show the quality of each action that he performs. That here "delay" calls the swift movement of anger, hear what follows: "And fire was kindled in Jacob, and anger arose against Israel." For as if God were angry, fire went out against those who prepared the anger, for vengeance. And what is the cause? That they did not believe in God, nor did they hope in his salvation. For God is provoked when he is disbelieved, since everyone who disbelieves in God does not even accept judgment, but also disparages his law; and if the divine law, much more the human; and from this confusion arises in our polity. For what will they not dare to say, those who do not believe in God, nor hope in the salvation from him?

He will accuse them all together, as not only disbelieving in the Father, but also having disbelieved in the Son. Therefore he says: "Nor did they hope in his salvation," speaking of Christ, whom many of the prophets called "salvation," and whom Symeon, taking him in his arms, clearly named so. And he commanded clouds above, and opened the doors of heaven. He calls "clouds above" those in the height; for this reason he also named them "doors of heaven," as being set before heaven; for there are some clouds near the earth, so that they are found even lower than the mountains. And he rained down manna for them to eat, and gave them bread of heaven. A man ate the bread of angels; he sent them provisions for satiety. Lest they think that God became angry because of inability to fulfill the request—since they were blasphemers and not petitioners, and did not know how one must intercede with God—he kindled fire among them and brought it upon them, so that the place was called "the burning," a great portion of the people having been burned there. After this, he gave what was asked. He calls manna "bread of heaven" and "bread of angels," because it was not prepared by human hands, but was brought from heaven, where the chorus of angels is. What provisions he sent them for satiety is clearly shown by what follows: "He removed the south wind from heaven, and brought in the west wind in its power. And he rained down upon them flesh like dust, and winged birds like the sand of the seas." Goods are ready for God; yet they are kept for the appropriate time by him.

Therefore, wishing to satiate the people of the Jews, he did not produce some common (or new) creation, having conquered the south wind and the Libyan wind. For these blow in the warmer regions, where the creator of the quail ordained that it should dwell, and as if from ready storehouses he fulfilled what was planned. But let us not suppose that these things were said by the prophet entirely hyperbolically, that "He rained flesh like dust, and winged fowl like the sand of the seas." For the creations of God are infinite and unknown to us. So great, then, was the multitude of birds that they used not nets nor snares nor other devices, but their hands for the hunt, which was ready and at hand, as the following especially demonstrates. And they fell into the midst of their camp, around their tents. And they ate, and were filled exceedingly. Therefore, understand this multitude of people as well, so great in number, and so gluttonous, satiated not for one day, but for thirty, as you may learn by going through the history in the book of Numbers by Moses. And he brought their desire to them; they were not deprived of their desire. While the food was still in their mouths, the wrath of God came upon them, and it killed most of them, and it hobbled the chosen ones of Israel. Not in vain, then, does God delay many of our requests, but for our benefit, since most desires are disadvantageous to men, which he often fulfills for sinners when angry. And for what reason does he fulfill them?

Lest they should blame him as being weak, as we said. Having accomplished it, he punishes those who receive, so that he might also frighten us from ever forcing God with lawless requests. Therefore, he gave the Jews the desire for food, but while they were still eating he brought on the wrath, killing their fat ones, that is, the obese, and hobbling the chosen ones—not those chosen for virtues, but those chosen for wickedness; for there are those who are exceptional in evil. In all these things they sinned still, and did not believe in his wonders. And their days ended in vanity, and their years with haste. 5. The prophet is astounded at the disobedience and hard-heartedness of the Jews, because not only when they were treated well, but also when they were being disciplined, they remained insensible, and they sinned still; that is, they added sins to sins. They did this because they did not believe in the wonders of God; that is, they possessed no assurance or faith. For they thought that the miracles and signs that occurred happened by chance, as is the custom of the impious. For this reason their days ended with haste; by "end" he means not necessarily the shortness of time, but the fruitlessness of virtues. For everyone who has not lived in virtues, even if he happens to have lived a long time, nevertheless dies in an end of days, that is, untimely, not having produced the fruits for the sake of which he entered human life. For this reason, Scripture calls Abraham and Job "full of days," even though many others lived more years.

When he killed them, then they sought him, and they turned back and rose early to go to God. And they remembered that God is their helper, and that God the Most High is their deliverer. Now truly it is good always to remember God, so that even in times of prosperity one may call upon his help. For if we remember him when we are flourishing, then he also remembers us when we are distressed. But to seek him when one is struck and scourged, not to turn back from conviction, but to confess under compulsion that they have God as helper and deliverer—this is characteristic of wicked and ungrateful servants, to whom the master, seeing that the confession is forced, will not grant favor on account of it. Much more so does God; for he is not ignorant of the hypocrisy of deceitful and wicked men, whose actions he clearly remembers. And they loved him with their mouth, and with their tongue they lied to him. But their heart was not straight with him, and they were not confirmed in his covenant. Isaiah likewise reproached the Jews with similar words: "This people loves me with their lips, but their heart is far from me." How is this proven? For we find many even now who are pious only in tongue; when, as the prophet says, they are not confirmed in his covenant. For when they do not trust in God's commandments, they are shown to have no good relationship or conscience toward the one who gave them; concerning whom Paul said: "They confess to know God, but by their deeds they deny him." But he himself is merciful, and will be propitious toward their sins, and will not destroy them.

And he will multiply to turn away his wrath, and he will not kindle all his anger. He will be appeased; when? For having indicated the future time, he directly proclaimed the incarnation of Christ, since the Father sent him as an appeasement for our sins, who is so merciful that he first established repentance as a proclamation to men. But finding the people of the Jews worthy of destruction, he did not destroy them. For he did not annihilate them completely, but left them a seed and a remnant: the apostles who believed from among them. Concerning these, Isaiah said, "If the Lord Sabaoth had not left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have been likened to Gomorrah." He therefore multiplied his mercy, and for this reason turned away his wrath. And how did he turn it away? He did not kindle all his anger. He kindled it partially, bringing it against the temple and the ancient city; as if he had kindled it all, the people would have perished together with the temple, and the land would have been destroyed along with the city, as in Sodom. And he remembered that they are flesh, a passing spirit, and not returning. For God never forgets how we are by nature or in weakness. But these things are said concerning the Son who became incarnate for us, who not only as creator knows our affairs, but also, having become flesh, learned our weakness by experience itself; so that Paul says concerning him, "Although he is the Son, he learned obedience from what he suffered"; and again, "In that he himself, having been tried, suffered, he is able to help those who are tried." Therefore, that the Word became flesh, he remembered that we are flesh.

That is, he learned by experience the weakness of our flesh. And he calls the whole human being "flesh." For this reason he offered, "a spirit going forth and not returning." For we no longer return to this present life. Therefore we ought to be sober for this reason, traveling a road to which we can in no way return. How many times did they embitter him in the desert, provoke him in a waterless land? And they turned back and tempted God, and provoked the Holy One of Israel. He marvels at the quantity of Jewish wickedness, and at the same time also its quality, that not only did they often embitter God, but also in the desert, where they ought rather to have been contrite and to look to heaven, with nothing of the things that happen in cities deceiving or enticing them; but also in a waterless land they provoked him, when they ought to have been humble and thirsty, appearing arrogant. Then, turning back, they turned not to righteousness but to another wickedness, tempting God (and it was a madness to tempt the one who knows everything), and provoking the Holy One of Israel. And he means Christ, about whom also Isaiah said, "To whom have you likened me, and shall I be exalted?" said the Holy One, foreshadowing the cross; for thus Christ also addressed him.

Why then did they embitter not only God—that is, the Father—in the desert, but also provoke the Holy One of Israel, that is, the Son? Because Christ was a rock following them, yet they disbelieved that he could draw forth and supply water from a rock, so that even Moses says, "Hear me, you disobedient ones: shall we not draw forth water for you from this rock?" Therefore, angered at them, God said, "Because you did not believe in me, to sanctify me before the sons of Israel," and the things that follow. They did not remember his hand, the day on which he delivered them from the hand of the oppressor, how he set his signs in Egypt and his wonders in the plain of Tanis. Again, he fittingly calls Christ the hand of God, that is, of the Father, because through him everything came to be, and without him nothing came to be, so that another prophet says, "For the hand of the Lord made all these things." They did not remember him, who delivered them from the hand of the oppressor—that is, of Pharaoh—on the day of the exodus, when, entering about midnight, he struck the firstborn of Egypt, and he himself set his signs and wonders in Egypt, in the plain of Tanis, where the palace of Pharaoh was. Not that we separate the Father from the wonder-working of that time, but because everything the Father works, the Son likewise does. However, he calls "signs" those things according to nature, such as the locust (for it is its nature to ruin the crops), and "wonders" those things beyond nature, such as the frog (for it is not its nature to run about and feed outside of water).

The same is true of the hail mixed with fire, and the river turned to blood; for each of these was a sign contrary to nature. And he turned their rivers to blood, and their rainwaters, so that they might not drink. He calls rainwaters the waters of the rains, since all water—not only that in springs and rivers, but also that in wood and in stones—Moses, at God's command, changed into blood, so that the God worshipped by the Hebrews might not be thought to have only partial authority, but to be the maker and ruler of all the elements. For the children of the Greeks assign to their gods certain partial authorities. For this reason he goes through the whole of creation in order, as the following can testify. He sent against them the dog-fly, and it devoured them, and the frog, and it destroyed them. And he gave their crops to rust, and their labors to the locust. He killed their vine with hail, and their fig-mulberries with frost. And he gave their cattle over to hail, and their possessions to fire. The order of the signs performed in Egypt is different, the one that Moses set forth. For the prophet's discourse is not now concerned with this; rather, his purpose is to show that all the elements, at God's command, marched against Pharaoh. See how he has fittingly assigned to each plague the consequence that came from it. For concerning the dog-fly he says, "It devoured them," since it attacked not the crops but the people; concerning the frogs, "It destroyed them.

For they did this not only in the houses, but also crawling into the ovens, they seized all their necessary food; and according to this account, they naturally destroyed them. But even when dead, they made the land stink because of them, and again corruption was naturally born from the resulting foul odor. For it says that their labors and their fruits were given to the locust and to the erysibe, since the damage from these occurs only to the fruits and in nothing else. And hearing of erysibe, do not be surprised as if it were not among the plagues mentioned by Moses; but it means the small and imperfect kind of locust; whence Aquila has rendered βροῦχος instead of erysibe. And it rightly says that the vine was killed by the hail; for it is especially destructive of its fruits and branches. And further, the mulberry trees by the frost, since the plant does not withstand cold, so that it naturally grows only in warmer regions; and the hail produced the frost. But indeed also the fire, which he mentioned next; he said that the cattle were killed by the hail, and their possession by the fire—that is, the wealth from the land; for he called this possession; since the hail and the fire ran through, and as all the shoots were consumed, they were destroyed; and the wonder was for this reason portentous, fire running in water.

7. But you, attending to the powerful, clear, and concise prophetic words, marvel at the wisdom of the Spirit; for it alone utters what is to the point. He sent forth against them the anger of his wrath, wrath, and anger, and affliction, a sending through evil angels—not evil in nature, nor in purpose; for God does not employ such angels for service. But he called them evil because they brought toils and afflictions as commanded. Hence also the psalmist himself, naming the day of judgment evil as full of necessities and toils for sinners, says: "Blessed is he who understands concerning the poor and needy; on an evil day the Lord will deliver him." And anger and wrath; then again he sets forth wrath and anger and affliction in the present verses, not saying different things, nor idly repeating the same words, but declaring the multitude of God's motion. He made a path for his anger. In what manner? Having endured for a long time and been patient with those who were to receive it; for in that sense he made a path for his own anger, showing that he justly and at the right time brings it upon those unwilling to be corrected. For this is also witnessed by what follows. He did not spare their souls from death. For he states the reason why he did not spare; and this was the death of their souls, that is, sin. For a soul that sins will itself die; and again, "The death of sinners is evil." Therefore he did not spare; for those who did not spare themselves, but delivered their souls to death, necessarily did not obtain mercy.

Worthily, then, sparing not, see what he brought upon them. And he shut up their cattle to death. And he struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt, the firstfruits of all their labor in the tents of Ham. God employs great philanthropy even toward those being disciplined, beginning from the lesser things, so that, having been brought to their senses, they might gain the greater; for this reason he shut up the cattle of the Egyptians first to death; but finding them insensible, he struck the firstborn, so that he would not have brought the plague of the firstborn if, having been brought to their senses by the death of the cattle, they had come to their senses. And he fittingly called their firstborn the firstfruits of labors, wishing to recall the curse written upon Eve: In pains you will bear children; and he said the plague of the firstborn took place in the tents of Ham. For the land of the Egyptians was rightly called the house and tents of Ham, not only because Ham was the father of Mestrem, from whom the race of the Egyptians happened, but also because they emulated their wickedness. And he removed his people like sheep, and led them up as a flock in the wilderness. To the enemies, he says, he dealt according to the manner previously mentioned; but his own people he removed like sheep, and led them up in the wilderness, as a flock, he himself obviously guiding, and pointing out pastures to them, and delivering them from wild beasts, and gathering the assembled with a pipe, and turning back the wandering with a staff. For these and more than these things, having mentioned flocks and sheep, he indicated. And he led them in hope, and they did not fear, and the sea covered their enemies. In hope, of what kind?

The promise made to the fathers is clear; for he says to Abraham: "You shall know by knowing that your seed will be a sojourner in a land not their own, and they will enslave them and oppress them, and they will humble them for four hundred years. And the nation to which they are enslaved I will judge, and they will come out from there with much baggage." Guided by this hope, they did not fear the Red Sea when they crossed it on foot, which covered their enemies, and the water that rushed over became a tomb for the Egyptians. And he led them into the mountain of his sanctuary, this mountain which his right hand acquired. He calls Jerusalem the mountain of the sanctuary, not so much because of the former sanctuary that dwelt in it, namely the ark, but because of the second ark, the flesh of the Lord. For that was truly a sanctuary, and therefore it is called the possession of his right hand, that is, of Christ; he acquired it not by arms, but by the wonders and sufferings he underwent for us. And he cast out nations from before them, and allotted them by the measuring line of inheritance. And he settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

8. He reproaches the people of the Jews, because after enjoying so many good things, so that they even received a foreign allotment and divided it with great equality, God showing that just as a father to his children, so he had dealt with Israel—for which reason he ordered that the allotment be made by lot, increasing the portion for the many and diminishing it for the few, so that the strong tribe might dominate the weaker—nevertheless, they remembered neither the nations expelled from before them nor the God who expelled them, so that they might remain grateful to him and in no way emulate the lawlessness of those expelled, lest they suffer something similar. And they tempted and embittered the Most High God, and they did not guard his testimonies. He sets forth a double sin of theirs. For not only, he says, did they tempt, but they also embittered; and those embitter who, after a first and second and many a temptation, continue tempting, which is grievous even when done against any ordinary person, but much more so against the Most High God—that is, against one who, as immeasurable, cannot be tempted by us. For this, the Spirit, through the prophecy of Isaiah, is found reproaching them similarly: "Hear now, O house of Israel: is it a small thing for you to cause a contest to men? And how do you cause a contest to the Lord?" In addition to these things, the psalmist also says this: "They did not guard his testimonies." They transgressed even these, which are set forth with some threat and through the testimony of the lawgiver; and this was a matter of great arrogance and disobedience.

And they turned away and rejected, just as their fathers were twisted into a crooked bow. And they provoked him on their high places, and with their carved images they provoked him to jealousy. From the generation in the wilderness onward, the prophet transferred the discourse: in the same way that the fathers had sent him in. What did they reject? Clearly the covenants with God, which they made through Moses on Mount Sinai, and through Joshua the son of Nun in the land of promise, after receiving it by lot. They did not remain, but were twisted into a crooked bow; therefore they can no longer shoot straight, just as the people of the Jews, having been perverted, did not possess a straight polity. But they also provoked God on their altars, and with their carved images they provoked him to jealousy—not because he is jealous of the deaf and lifeless idols or demons, but because he is provoked to jealousy on our behalf, in the way a father is for his children, or a bridegroom for his bride, sparing our salvation. God heard and overlooked. For when does God not hear? And what need of hearing does he have, who knows our thoughts? But now he says he heard, meaning that he did not disregard it, but was moved, and by this he indicated his hearing. And what did he do upon hearing? He did not inflict a blow, but overlooked; and this is more severe than any scourge—to be overlooked by God, for we are saved only by his eye. See then, having been overlooked, how great they suffered. And he utterly despised Israel, and thrust away the tent of Shiloh, the dwelling which he had pitched among men.

If He had not utterly despised Israel, He would not have rejected His own tabernacle among them, in which He had dwelt for the sake of mediation with them. But you might perhaps say, why did He reject His own tabernacle on account of men who had sinned? Because He did not acquire it out of need; it was for their sake, and since they had sinned, He naturally turned away from the place of mediation with them. And what was this Shiloh? The Spirit did not mention it in vain, but wished to show that just as, when Israel sinned, God left Shiloh and chose another place for Himself, Jerusalem, so again He will turn away from this place when its inhabitants are impious, and will give His glory to other places to boast of. And He delivered their strength into captivity, and their beauty into the hands of an enemy. He is still speaking about the tabernacle. For this was the strength and beauty of the people, because of the service of the holy things. He delivered it into captivity, not that which comes from men (for this did not happen), but the captivity that came into the hands of the spiritual enemy; therefore he mentioned one, not many, indicating by this the special enemy. And the other interpreters, wishing to clarify this even more, have rendered it either "into the hands of an adversary" or "into the hands of an oppressor." He delivered the tabernacle to him, as having been defiled by those who served it, and having become profane, and no longer bearing anything worthy of God, but of that one to whom it was delivered. And do not be surprised, for Isaiah also threatened that God would deliver the ancient Jerusalem to demons, sirens, and onocentaurs.

And he shut up his people with the sword, and disregarded his inheritance. This too is an accusation against the Jews, that although they were the people of God and an inheritance through their fathers, he nevertheless caused them to be disregarded and shut up with the sword—not only the sword in war, but also the sword in the divine word. For this word is living and active, more than any double-edged blade. Therefore it is rightly called a sword. 9. How then did he shut them up with this sword, that is, confine and hinder them? In the law he commanded circumcision of the flesh, but in the Gospels circumcision of the spirit; there a sensible sabbath, here a spiritual one. For being shut up by these things, they cannot enter within the kingdom of God; and the following verses also show this. Fire devoured their young men. By young men he means those powerful in the law, such as the scribes and Pharisees, who trusted in the strength of the letter. Fire devoured them—the zeal against us, seeing that we are justified without the yoke of the law. Hence Isaiah said to them: Zeal will seize an untaught people, and now fire will consume the adversaries. And their virgins were not mourned. For there were none to mourn them when they died the death of sin; so that he wrote this as an accusation of the Jewish teachers, that they were unsympathetic even toward virgins who sinned, and did not emulate Jeremiah saying: At the ruin of my people’s daughter I was darkened with perplexity; pangs overcame me like those of a woman giving birth. Upon which he accordingly added the following.

Who will give water to my head, and springs of tears to my eyes? Therefore also Paul rebukes the Corinthians, because they did not mourn the fornicator among them. Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows will not be lamented. This too is an accusation against their condition, that the priests stumbled against the word of God; for this was what it meant to fall by the sword. And the widows had none to weep for them; the teaching order among them being unsympathetic, not only toward the virgins, but also toward the widows. By virgins he means the souls which then first began to sin; by widows, those which have sinned often and have cast off the fear of God, which brought them into communion with the law. And the Lord awoke as one sleeping, as a strong man roused from wine. Therefore the preceding things—the sword, the fire, and the not being mourned—were not punishment; they were sins, for which God arose to vengeance. He arose as one sleeping, that is, having laid aside patience as if it were sleep; which patience was so great that it was even thought to be a hangover. And what hangover? That which comes from wine to the strong, by which some become idle for a time and inactive; but after sleep, having arisen, they become more impetuous. So also we expect that God, after patience, will be more vehement against those who are not aware of it. For what indeed did he do now? He struck his enemies from behind, and gave them eternal disgrace.

There are those whom God has struck in the front, that is, those for whom the blow has been for their benefit, and the lash has made them cling to righteousness; but in the back, those who are hardened by punishments, just as Pharaoh was, to these he gives eternal reproach. For the blows of the excessively wicked become an example of those who are incurably sick. Or, that the phrase "in the back" has, in a reverent word, called the affliction of the seat. And he rejected the dwelling of Joseph, and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim. For impious children are not accustomed to benefit pious fathers. And he chose the tribe of Judah, the mountain of Zion, which he loved. And yet neither the tribe of Judah, but the tribe of Benjamin, was Zion itself and ancient Jerusalem; but he says Judah means the one who confesses, for this is what Judah is interpreted as. Its tribe is the Church. For through repentance and confession the mountain of Zion is preserved among her, which indeed they loved. For how, if one contemplates God, is this one called Zion? Because Zion is interpreted as a watchtower. But if you say that Zion is the place, it is not that, he says, that Micah and Isaiah wrote, that Zion will be plowed like a field, but that which is among us, which God so loved that he delivered all the mysteries in it, concerning which the following clearly applies. And he built his sanctuary in the land like that of unicorns, he founded it for eternity. If these things were said about the ancient one, the prophecy lies. For how has it been founded for eternity, of which not even the traces remain?

But this one he established for eternity and built like a unicorn, having given it a single horn as a foundation. For there are not for her different baptisms, as for the Jews, nor many distractions concerning new moons and purifications and sabbaths, nor many gods, as for the nations that persisted in impiety, but one Lord, one faith, one baptism; therefore the gates of Hades will not prevail against her—and he means the mouths of the heretics. And David chose his servant, and took him up from the flocks of sheep, from behind the lambing ewes he took him. Surely you will say, if he was recalling the mysteries of the Church, why did he bring David into the midst, who is much more ancient than these? Because he was father and image of Christ. Hence he was taken up from the flocks of sheep, not from the flock. For Christ has many flocks: some of men, some of angels, some of rational and visible powers; and these are lambing, that is, they are pregnant. For he has no barren flock, but all, through fear of him, are pregnant and give birth to salvation. Therefore Isaiah also said: "From fear of you, Lord, we conceived in the womb and gave birth, we made the spirit of your salvation upon the earth." From there Christ was taken up; so what is he to do? To shepherd Jacob his servant, and Israel his inheritance. That is, the people from the nations; for this is Jacob, since he supplanted the Jews and took their firstborn; and also Israel, for he sees God face to face at the time of the mysteries, just as that one did face to face.

That God shepherds, hear David saying this: The Lord shepherds me, and nothing will I lack. Hear also Christ: I am the good shepherd. And he shepherded them in the innocence of his heart, and in the skills of his hands he led them. Do you see that he speaks clearly about Christ? For this one truly possessed no wickedness of heart. Since he did no evil, nor was deceit found in his mouth. And he possessed such skill of hands that with them he gave sight to the blind, made the lame stand upright, cleansed lepers, and simply remade the whole corrupted man. A psalm for Asaph. 78. 1. The inscription of the prophecy is clear; therefore let us occupy the discourse with the interpretation of the psalm. For it does not contain an accusation of the nations, as some think; but a prophecy of what will happen to the people of the Jews, when the nations take possession of their inheritance. O God, nations have come into your inheritance, they have defiled your holy temple. These things happened to the Jews when Assyrians took Jerusalem, and after them Macedonians, and Romans after all. And since this is evident, let us also turn the prophecy to the spiritual sense. For when the nations arrived at the inheritance of the Jews, that is, at the knowledge of God—for this was the ancient lot of the Jews—so that Moses says to them in Deuteronomy: The Lord God chose you from all the nations under heaven.

Then they defiled their holy temple, which they had possessed in ancient Jerusalem, not because they themselves were responsible for the pollution, but because they uncovered the hidden pollution of the temple, which those serving in it were impiously committing in various ways—just as a priest who observes a spreading leprosy, and then, after diagnosis, confirms the condition, is said to defile the sufferer, not by introducing pollution (for that is foreign to a priest), but by making the existing pollution manifest. This is what happened to the Jews at the hands of the nations. For the justification of the latter profaned the former, and the obedience of the new people made the disobedience of the old people more evident. They made Jerusalem into a fruit-watch. For what purpose? Into a fruit-watch? Because, having taken the spirit of the law and the prophets, they left her only to guard for themselves the fruit of the letter. This was not from men, but from God, who willed that the proofs of our faith be preserved among the enemies. The fruit is called the letter, because it provides nourishment that is not genuine, but also temporary. They gave the carrion of your servants as food to the birds of the sky, the flesh of your holy ones to the beasts of the earth. The lowly things of the sky are often taken by the divinely inspired Scripture in a base sense. This is shown by the chief baker of Pharaoh, who, when he saw in a dream the birds of the sky feeding on the fine loaves he carried on his head, the dream is interpreted as the removal of his head. To these, the Church gave the carrion of the Jews for consumption.

But indeed, also to the beasts of the earth, the flesh of the holy ones. These too are wicked powers, as Isaiah has plainly explained to us; for he says concerning Babylon: "There beasts will rest." What these are he adds: "And there sirens will rest, and demons will dance there." It is nothing remarkable that they are called slaves; for a sluggish and wicked slave bearing their image was so called, and the one who hid the talent. For if they were good, they would not have possessed carrion—that is, polluted thoughts and deeds of wickedness. And if he called them "holy ones," he does not mean holy in deed, but in name only; just as he often calls false prophets "prophets," even though they do not prophesy in the name of God, and "saints" those who have been anointed with sanctification, even though they do not preserve the sanctification. Therefore, when Ezekiel beheld the vision of those destroying Jerusalem, he heard such words from God addressing him: "Do not spare the old man, the youth, the virgin, the infant, and the women; kill them for eradication; but do not approach any upon whom the sign is; and begin from my holy ones," since they were holy only in appearance, not in reality; for otherwise they would have possessed the sign, and they would not have been destined to be destroyed equally with the others. So now too he speaks of "holy ones" in name; hence he likened their flesh—that is, their earthly deeds—to being eaten by the spiritual beasts. For those who think earthly things are called "flesh," as God indicated when he was about to bring the flood.

My spirit will not remain among these men because they are flesh. They poured out their blood like water around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them. 2. Their blood: the soul's transgressions, for which vengeance turns into blood. These were poured out like water, so that they could no longer be taken up, just as water after its outpouring cannot. Therefore the Thecoite said to David: "We will die a death, and like water wasted on the ground will not be gathered." Where did it pour? Around Jerusalem, that is, upon her and those from her [...] for their blood upon them, and upon their children, they said, slandering Christ. And there was no one to bury them. Why? Because they themselves, as dead, could not bury one another; and the Church is not permitted to bury them, that is, to conceal their sins. What prevents it? The judgment of God that says: "Leave your dead." Why? Because, in trying to conceal sinners, they make their own deeds more naked and reproachful to all. We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a mockery and derision to those around us. For neither poverty, nor bodily ugliness, nor weakness, nor anything else of the sort is as reproachful to those who have it as sin, since it is a voluntary passion and a wound inflicted by choice. But observe the prophet's wisdom: he says that the punishments come upon those, namely the transgressors, but he shows himself sharing in the reproaches against them.

Whether he was a prophet over those disobedient to prophecy, or a priest over those consecrated and initiated by him who then transgress, and this for the sake of those being punished, he is ashamed. But to whom are the Jews a reproach, a mockery and a derision to their neighbors round about? He clearly means the demons, who are neighbors of the Jews on account of their wickedness; and they are round about them, as if lying in wait for them each day. How long, Lord, will you be angry to the end, will your zeal be kindled like fire? This zeal Moses the lawgiver of God also set forth against the Jews; for he says, They provoked me with jealousy against not God, they angered me with their idols. And I will make them jealous against not a nation; I will provoke them against a senseless nation. Then he added to these things, Fire has been kindled from my wrath. Since, therefore, the zeal against the Jews prepared the calling of the nations (for Paul also says, Just as you once disobeyed God, now you have been pitied by their disobedience; and again the same, Their transgression, that is, of the Jews, is the wealth of the world, and their defeat is the wealth of the nations), the prophet necessarily asks how long and whether he remains angry with the Jews to the end; to which the Spirit through Paul answers thus: When the fullness of the nations enters, then all Israel will be saved. Pour out your wrath upon the nations that do not know you, and upon kingdoms which have not called upon your name. Because they devoured Jacob and laid waste his place. He does not, therefore, speak about all the nations.

For this reason he placed a comma, saying "Nations" not simply, but "Those who do not know you," while "We know." And the name of God has been invoked upon us; but we have not devoured Jacob; for we do not blaspheme against him, or revile him, which Paul indicated is what it means to devour: "But if you bite and devour one another, see that you are not consumed by one another." Nor do we lay waste his place. For how could we, when each of us claims him as a common fatherland instead of our own? Therefore the prophet did not curse us, but those who remained in ignorance and who do not wish to acquire the name of the kingdom of God; for that reason let them beware of the curse. "Do not remember our ancient iniquities." For how shall we be able to suffice for both ancient evils and new ones? Perhaps the prophet calls "ancient iniquities" those in the wilderness, since God set many and various threats against them; therefore he fears their recollection. "Let your compassions quickly overtake us, Lord, for we have become exceedingly poor." Nothing shows a man so poor as sin; but he becomes poorer when impiety is added to sin. Therefore they interceded for God's compassions to be hastened to them, lest, despairing in their more severe poverty, they perish. "Help us, O God our savior; for the sake of the glory of your name, Lord, deliver us." The prophet rightly took refuge in the glory of God, since he could not put forward the people's righteousnesses; and the glory of the name of God is to show compassion to those who have sinned, since he is called compassionate, merciful, and long-suffering. For Moses says:

And he called by the name of the Lord, and passed before his face, and called: "Lord, Lord God, merciful and compassionate, long-suffering and very merciful and true." 3. You see that these things are intercessions on behalf of Christ. For he is not only God, but has been expressly named also Savior; he is also the glory of the name of God, that is, of the Father; whence Paul also addressed him as the radiance of the glory of the Father. And the following clearly indicate that these things are said concerning the Lord. "And be propitiated to our sins for the sake of your name; lest the nations say, Where is their God?" And whose is it, on account of his own name, to be propitiated to sins, but that of Christ, who possesses the mercy seat for this reason? He provided propitiation for the sins of the Jews when, being crucified, he said to the Father: "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they do." Therefore Paul also says concerning him: "Whom God set forth as a mercy seat through faith in his own blood, as a demonstration of his righteousness, for the remission of sins that had previously occurred." And he becomes propitious to the sins of the Jews, not only for their sake, but much more for the sake of the nations, lest, being ignorant of the philanthropy of God, they say, "Where is their God?" and stumble in their ignorance; but rather, having recognized it, they may be led by the hand by it, and, being urged on, may run to it with all haste and be saved. And the following will be proof of what has been said: "And let the vengeance for the blood of your servants that has been shed be known among the nations before our eyes.

Why does he wish the vengeance to become known to the nations? Because it was about to occur against the demons who had corrupted the blood—that is, the souls of the servants of God, namely the Jews—through idolatry. And what was the vengeance? The destruction of the idols, the burning of the devilish temples, which takes place before the eyes of the Jews; for they see what is done and do not cooperate. But it is known among the nations; for these know by what hand and power these things are accomplished and done, and they attribute the annihilation of those who see to the cross of Christ. "Let the groan of the fettered enter before you"—not those fettered with iron chains, but with those from sin; for each is bound by the chains of his own sins. He asked that this groan enter before God, so that the following consequences might befall them. "According to the greatness of your arm, preserve the sons of those who have been put to death." We have often demonstrated that the arm of the Father is called Christ; according to his greatness—that is, the great mysteries of his theophany—which are the cross and the resurrection. He intercedes that God preserve not those who have been put to death, but their sons; those who were put to death were those who did not believe in this present life, but their sons, netted by the apostles, became many tens of thousands. "Give back to our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom their reproach, with which they reproached you, Lord." Even now he does not call men neighbors.

For he would not have prayed that they become sevenfold, knowing that the judge does not tolerate this. Or how else would he sing to him, "For you will repay each according to his works"? Therefore, then, he speaks about demons. For they justly receive a sevenfold penalty, since they are of a nature superior to ours, yet were cast down from heaven, and have not truly become more prudent, but disturb the earth with their machinations. They not only sin themselves, but also urge us to sin, and in addition reproach God as though his fallen image were an insult. Then they do not desist from idolatry even through the theophany of Christ, but persist even so. And what is their bosom? Gehenna. For that place has been allotted to them from the beginning. The Lord makes it clear: "Go, you accursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." But we are your people and the sheep of your pasture. He means all humanity, for contrasting us with the demons cast down from above, he calls man the people of God and the sheep of his pasture. And why sheep of his pasture? Because we, the faithful, feed on him through the reception of the mysteries. We will confess you, O God, forever. From generation to generation we will proclaim your praise. "Confession" is used as though a prior acknowledgment had already occurred. For Christ, anticipating us, acknowledged us by saying "sheep": "My sheep hear my voice." Then, wishing to include the nations as well, he added: "I have other sheep that are not from this fold.

And I must gather those things as well. We acknowledge him in return, naming him shepherd also through the following psalm. And we do this not for a time, but for eternity, that is, continuously and from generation to generation we will proclaim his praise, bearing praise of thanksgiving in all his generations; or also that we praise him from each generation, we who not only from those in the flesh, but also from those already departing from the flesh, calling patriarchs, apostles, prophets, and martyrs into our midst when we pray to him. For the end, concerning those who will be changed, a testimony for Asaph, a psalm concerning the Assyrian. 1. He calls those who are renewed through repentance "those who will be changed." And he necessarily added "For the end," since we have repentance as a last anchor; and also because it has been proclaimed at the very end of the ages through the coming of Christ. Asaph sang this present psalm as a testimony for these, having narrated in the psalm what the people of the Jews suffered because of the multitude of their sins. The one shepherding Israel, pay attention; the one leading like a sheep, Joseph; the one seated upon the Cherubim, appear. You see how these words of the Lord coincide, which are recorded as having been spoken by him in the Gospels: "I am the good shepherd." But for what reason, leaving the others aside, did he bring Joseph and Jacob into the midst? Because each of those mentioned, the one having gone down into Egypt, the other into Mesopotamia, served.

But God transformed their servitude into freedom and the goods set before them in this, which the prophet now asks him to attend to; for, seeing our entire race enslaved to the intelligible enemies (for the prophet did not beseech him to attend to himself indefinitely, that is, to all), he might hasten to our freedom and more quickly dwell in flesh, since we need his presence for freedom; and men could not otherwise receive him who is seated on the Cherubim manifesting himself, except through flesh. Against Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, rouse your dominion, and come to save us. He clearly asked for the arrival of the Only-begotten in flesh, whence he calls upon him not only to come but also to rouse his own dominion; and he calls the incarnation dominion, for thus he also named it in another place of the Psalms: The Lord put on power and girded himself. And why, since he was powerful even before, but hidden from men, yet when he dwelt in flesh he manifested his power to the whole earth, does he say that this dominion is roused against Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh? Calling the whole Israel from the part, to whom Christ, having become flesh, came down from the heavens; therefore, he says, rouse the dominion against them; or because they were opposed to him, they found such a one as he approached them. O God, turn us back, and show your face, and we shall be saved.

The prophet made the discourse clearer as he proceeded, revealing both how Christ would dwell among us and for what purpose he was to come. For the cause of the advent was to turn us back and set us right; the manner was a clear manifestation, so that we might see him face to face, since we would not otherwise be saved unless he appeared to us in this way. Thus the patriarch Jacob also said: "For I saw God face to face, and my soul lived." For this reason Moses also sought to see him in this way, not out of idle curiosity, but as a prophet knowing that in this the salvation of mankind lies; not that he might behold the bare divinity—for no one, as God himself says, will be able to gaze upon his face. "Lord God of the powers, how long will you be angry at the prayer of your servants?" He did not use these words in vain, but both indicated his own rank and at the same time interceded for him to come; hence he called him not only God, but also Lord of the powers, clearly those in heaven. Perceiving in spirit that the mystery of Christ was for the time being delayed, he called this delay anger, since his prayer was not then reaching its fulfillment; and he asks how long the anger will be prolonged. To this he accordingly added the following: "You will feed us with the bread of tears, and you will give us to drink with tears in measure." The phrase "How long" is understood from the context; for until then the prophets received bread of tears and also drink, lamenting humanity, until Christ, having come to dwell, himself became the bread of life and the cup.

He added "in measure" well, showing that nothing is without measure with God, but everything—whether anger or discipline—is brought upon people by rule and measure for their benefit. "You set us in opposition to our neighbors, and our enemies mocked us." The discourse now clearly hints that the same ones are both enemies and neighbors. [...] Christ delayed his own coming until [the time when] they held the prophets in mockery and derision [...] toward people, and especially they considered the prophets as not speaking the truth in what they prophesied concerning the arrival of the Savior. Moreover, the prophets endured no ordinary opposition from them, as those enemies worked through the false prophets and uttered different things. But properly, he assigned the opposition to the demons, the intelligible enemies and neighbors, clearly showing that just as servants are subject to their own masters, so the demons are subject to the prophets, yet often from arrogance they rise up and speak in opposition. "Lord God of the powers, turn us back, and show your face, and we shall be saved." He adheres to the same intercession, to show how necessary it is; and at the same time, teaching us not to be discouraged when we fail in prayer, but to persist; for surely we will obtain it. "You transplanted a vine from Egypt, you cast out nations, and you planted it.

2. Here it shows how much God cared for the salvation of the people of the Jews, as the narrative demonstrates. For just as a farmer, wishing to make a vine more noble and fruitful, transplants it once or twice for this purpose, so God led Israel from the land of the Chaldeans through Abraham into the land of the Canaanites; from there, through Jacob, he brought them down into Egypt; finally, as if into a rich field, he led them up to the land promised from the beginning. He did not simply plant it, but he planted it deeply, that is, he rooted it in depth, so that they ought no longer to be moved. He did not do this, however, until he had cast out the nations dwelling there like thorns. Hence it also flourished greatly, as the following verses show. "You made a way before her." In what manner? Through the giving of the law and the destruction of the nations. "And you planted her roots, and she filled the land." The root of the Jewish vine is Moses, Joshua, Phinehas, Eleazar. These filled the land with their own piety; for their virtues spread everywhere. "Her shadow covered mountains, and her branches covered the cedars of God." The mountains are the righteous of God, because of the height and loftiness of their way of life; and these same are also cedars: for "the righteous will flourish like a palm, will be multiplied like a cedar in Lebanon." The shadow of the Jewish vine covered these, that is, the law, as Paul says: "The law has a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the realities.

By "vine trained on trees" you will understand the prophetic utterances, which, raised up by the virtues of those who work them, like farmers training vines on trees, display their proper fruit. These things, then, covered the righteous—not so as to hide them, but so as to drive away the concealment of their disbelief, which is a burning heat of other sins and of the ordinary kind. It stretched out its branches as far as the sea, and its offshoots as far as the rivers. By "sea" it means baptism, by "rivers" the partial purifications, and by "branches" those from which the grape clusters are born—namely, how many of the Jewish people were illustrious in their way of life. These were not stretched out in the sea, but as far as the sea, having come near to the grace of baptism through their own virtues. But those who were offshoots, not being branches but imitating branches and feigning the righteousness of the law, these were stretched out as far as the rivers, the partial purifications, not being purified by them, but seeming to be purified. Why did you take down its fence, and do all who pass by on the road pluck it? The fence of the Jewish vine is the law. But if you disbelieve, listen to Isaiah saying: "A vineyard was planted for the beloved, on a horn, in a fertile place"; and again, "I placed a fence around it"—and he means the law—"and I palisaded it," that is, with the commandments; "and I planted a vine of Sorek, and I built a tower in its midst," that is, Jerusalem; "and I dug a winepress in it," that is, the temple; then he adds: "What shall I do with the vineyard? I will remove its fence, and it will be for plunder.

This hedge He tore down when they sinned against Christ, which had fenced them in with the law, and they are plucked by those passing by on the road—that is, by those who transgress the law and do not walk the royal road. For such are the children of the Jews now, transgressing the law while in the law; hence they are said not to walk the road but to pass by it. So also Wisdom in Proverbs said of the young man deceived by a worthless woman, "Deficient in mind, passing by in the marketplace at a corner," not walking. A wild boar from the thicket ravaged it, and a solitary wild beast devoured it. Not only a lion for its rapacity, nor a serpent for the venom of wickedness, and other such things as are said in the divinely inspired Scriptures, but also a boar, because it delights in the mire of wickedness, the devil is called, who dwells in the fruitless thicket of wickedness; and a solitary beast, as one who alone boasted against God, is called; wild, for it is bestial and untamed. This one ravages the synagogue of the Jews, from the time its hedge was torn down—that is, from when Christ put an end to the legal polity; for they are of the enemy's party, since they possess neither the law, nor an altar, nor anything else pertaining to the worship of God. God of the powers, turn now, and look from heaven, and see. For since neither the law turned Israel, nor the prophets, he necessarily calls upon Him to turn him—that is, to correct him. And how to turn? By looking from heaven and seeing. For when does He not see?

But now he asks to see him more compassionately, so that he might do something more for our benefit than before. And what is this? The following verses make it clear. "And inspect this vine. And tend it, which your right hand planted, and for the Son of Man whom you strengthened for yourself." You see that he has asked God to assume not only the role of a farmer but also that of a physician. For it is the physician's role to inspect, who makes the inspection in person. 3. Therefore, he wishes to dwell among them as a physician, and as a farmer to tend the vine, to remove the spiritual worm, and to cut away the superfluous branches from which it will not be able to bear fruit. And for whose sake? Not for its own sake, he says, for which he tore down the hedge and handed it over to the enemy, but because of the branch that is to be produced from it, the Lordly one. Therefore, having said, "Inspect this vine," he added, "And for the Son of Man, whom you strengthened for yourself"; that is, because of the Son who comes from the Jewish vine, whom you strengthened for yourself, inspect it. For truly, the visitation of the Only-begotten was for the people of the Jews, if they had endured it. Therefore John also said, "He came to his own, and his own did not know him"; and the Lord himself said, "I came only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel." "Burned with fire and dug up, they will perish from the rebuke of your face." Since he compared the synagogue of the Jews to a vineyard, he necessarily divides his discourse, sometimes addressing the image, sometimes addressing those for whom he adopted the image.

The vine of the Jews was therefore burned with fire, that is, the synagogue; and that is what Christ spoke of: "I came to cast fire upon the earth, and what do I wish, if it has already been kindled?" For this reason the fire was cast, and it was dug up, so that when it was dug up, the foundation hidden within it might be laid bare; concerning which Isaiah said: "Behold, I will place a precious stone, choice, cornerstone, honorable, into the foundations of Zion; and he who believes in it will not be put to shame." And indeed David also said: "Remember, Lord, the sons of Edom on the day of Jerusalem," that is, the nations that say, "Lay waste even to its foundations." For to that extent the things among the Jews are dug out by the nations, being diligently searched and felt, until they lay bare the foundation which they hide. Therefore, from the rebuke of the face of God, you will understand that of Christ, they will perish. For he rebuked them because, having the keys of knowledge, they neither enter themselves nor prevent those who wish to enter. "Let your hand be upon the man of your right hand, and upon the Son of Man, whom you strengthened for yourself. And we shall not depart from you." He calls Christ the man of the right hand: man because of his humanity; of his right hand, first as sitting at the right hand of the Father with flesh, then because he established all creation. He also calls him Son of Man similarly because of the flesh, but so that he might consider the whole consubstantial with the Father because of the divinity, "whom you strengthened for yourself," he says. For he strengthened him, as having begotten him himself.

He strengthened for himself, because he begot one equal in power and identical in all respects. He prays that the hand of the Father be upon these, that is, that the signs and wonders be advanced among us; for these are sometimes called the hand of God, sometimes the finger. He no longer asks that the signs among us be performed through a prophet or some God-bearer, as through Moses, or through Elijah and the prophets, but through the Son, promising that if this happens, we will not abandon him—for we have often abandoned him. You will give us life, and we will call upon your name. You will give us life with the living water of baptism. For then we call upon his name, being called Christians from Christ. Lord God of the powers, turn us back, and show your face, and we will be saved. These things are constant. For the prophet does not intercede only for the present; showing that we cannot be turned back or saved otherwise, except through the manifestation of the face of God, that is, of the Word incarnate.

Psalm 80. For the End, concerning the winepresses. A psalm for Asaph. 1. For what reason, then, did the prophet assign the present psalm to the winepress? For he makes no mention at all of a winepress, or of any vintage, or of first fruits from the field in the present context; but he sets forth Joseph as an image and testimony of Christ, who trod the winepress of the sufferings on our behalf, as he himself taught through the prophecy of Isaiah: "I alone trod the winepress." Why does he call the sufferings a winepress? Because, like new wine, we drink the blood that flowed from them and are gladdened. Rejoice in God, our helper; shout aloud to the God of Jacob. He rightly wishes us to rejoice in God as both powerful and genuine helper, but in no man; for among them neither power nor genuineness is preserved, since they are of slippery judgment and likewise of weak strength. Moreover, he commanded us to shout aloud as already victorious through the help of God. And of which God? Of the God, he says, of Jacob. He passes over Abraham in silence and leaves out Isaac; then he mentions only Jacob as fitting the present subject. And having mentioned the shout of victory, he intimated some victory or symbol in the shouting. This victory came to us when the enemy was tripped up by Christ. Therefore he rightly introduced the God of Jacob, since Jacob is interpreted as "he who trips." Take up the psalm, and give the timbrel, the pleasant psaltery with the cithara. The timbrel is a symbol of the Old Covenant, as having a voice that booms emptily and indistinctly; and because Miriam, the sister of Moses, danced with a timbrel before the people of the Jews.

The psalmist characterizes the New [Covenant]; for those who sing utter clear, distinct, and very articulate words, just as the Gospel speaks. Since, then, these things are addressed to the people of the Jews, instructing them on what they ought to rejoice and raise the shout, and what kind of agreement they should make with the Church from the Gentiles, he clearly urges them to take the new things and give the old things to them; for by the interweaving they become more useful. And the one who has the truth is even more fulfilled by receiving the image; while the one who has the image is greatly benefited by receiving the truth, for the sake of which he also possesses the image. Therefore he says, "A pleasant psaltery with a cithara," that is, the new things with the old; just as Solomon says in the Song of Songs: "New things with old, all that my mother gave me, my brother, I kept for you." Why did he liken these to a psaltery and a cithara? Because the instruments are akin to each other, but have different fastenings of the strings: one bound above, the other below, just as the Old and the New are akin; for they look to one goal, piety. But the commandments of the former are below, because of the lowliness of the things legislated; while those of the latter are high and elevated, because of the very high and exalted nature of the things taught by Christ. "Blow the trumpet at the new moon, on a notable day of your feast." The law clearly prescribes that one must blow the trumpet at the new moon, not of every month; therefore David mentioned a notable day, wishing to refer the matter to the first day of the seventh month. For this was notable, that is, distinguished because of the law.

He speaks thus: "On the seventh month, on the first day of the month, there will be a rest for you, a memorial of trumpets." Hence also now the psalmist added: "Because it is a commandment to Israel, and a judgment to the God of Jacob," indicating that he is not innovating the word, but follows some ancient legislation; but why he mentioned the present [matter] instead of that, he certainly calls the time of the Savior's arrival a new moon; for "in Christ, there is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new," Paul says; and the trumpet he calls the evangelical word, and the well-signified day, the Lord's Pascha; whence Aquila rendered it "full moon," and Symmachus "monthly," each referring to the fifteenth day of the month. On this day, according to the law, it was not permitted to blow the trumpet, so that day is therefore alluded to, on which Christ suffers for us. For on the fourteenth day, at the time of the typological Pascha, having been handed over, he undergoes the cross on the following day, that is, the fifteenth. That day, then, he calls a new moon and a full moon, as both the beginning and the fulfillment of the time in which our salvation occurs. On it he commands to blow the trumpet, that is, to proclaim the gospel, having said that this is a commandment to Israel, and not merely a commandment, but a judgment to the God of Jacob, who, having taken the beginning of his activity from the cross, justified the evangelical proclamation; therefore he said to the apostles: "When I am raised up, I will draw all to myself." And that he called Christ the God of Jacob, learn from what follows. He placed a testimony in Joseph, when he came out of the land of Egypt. Who is the God of Jacob? Concerning whom he said earlier.

How then, O Martyrium, did he come out of the land of Egypt? For since Joseph was an image of Christ because of the envy of his brothers, because of the sale, because of the slavery in freedom, because of the adoration of the stars, and other such things as may be selected from the history concerning him, wishing to show in deed that Joseph was his martyrdom and monument, and just as that one, so also he was succeeded by plots upon plots. After the death of Herod, who attempted to kill him, having returned from Egypt he hides in Galilee because of fear of Archelaus, since this one also was about to plot against him after Herod. 2. He heard a tongue which he did not know. What tongue? That of the false accusers, you will say; for this he did not know, not being ignorant, but as one who did not admit falsehood into his ears, for such a thing is alien to God. But nevertheless, since he became man, while being judged, he was compelled to hear the false accusers. And this also was a martyrdom for Joseph, since he also heard the Egyptian woman saying, "Sleep with me," but he did not know the tongue of the speaker, for he did not consent. He turned his back away from burdens; he did not ear-carry, it says, to sin; for it calls burdens the loads of sins, whose weight David, hinting, said, "Like a heavy burden they weighed heavily upon me." But Joseph abstained from adultery, and Christ entirely from sin. His hands served in the basket.

Christ was a slave in the present life, which is rightly called a basket, since in it all good and evil things, as if heaped in a basket, we carry on our shoulders when we journey from here. Observe then the precision of the prophecy, and marvel how it speaks of the new Joseph, Christ: He removed his back from burdens, since he bore no sin of his own, yet his hands served in the basket of the present life; for bearing the basket of our sins, he served. Nevertheless, the prophet used a great shifting of persons in the present psalmody. For above he speaks to certain victors, who for that reason have occasion for a feast; from there, having passed to Joseph, he transferred the word and the image of Christ; but now he clearly addresses the people from Israel; he speaks thus: In distress you called upon me, and I rescued you. Where and when? When he surely said to Moses: I saw the oppression of my people in Egypt, and I heard their cry from their taskmasters. For I know their pain, and I came down to deliver them. I heard you in the hidden place of the storm. When he came down upon Mount Sinai, and a dark cloud covered the mountain (such a cloud is called a storm), then he heard them. What were they saying? We will do the words that the Lord spoke, and we will listen. But a little later he caught them lying; for what follows clearly presents this. I tested you at the water of contradiction.

There, as they journeyed, they reviled God, and after enjoying many signs beforehand, forgetting all of them, they said to Moses: Would that we had died in the destruction of our fathers before the Lord, and all that pertains to these things, revealing the blasphemy of the Jews. To these verses the psalmist added a diapsalma, not simply nor in vain, but perhaps pausing the prophecy for a certain time; but more truly, because he clearly introduced the person of Christ. Listen, my people, and I solemnly warn you. If you wish to be called the people of God, listen to his commandment, so that you may acquire this great title. Yet it is worth seeing what and of what sort he solemnly warns. Israel, if you listen to me, you will have no recent god, nor will you worship a foreign god. For I am the Lord your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. The phrase, "If you listen to me," he commanded for this reason, to show that he foreknew their insolence, yet not thereby removing from them the possibility of changing. For it was possible, if they wished; and God's foreknowledge does not harm repentance, since he also foreknows this, that it is possible even for sinners to change, if they wish. Yet the prophet hints at something new and mysterious; rather, God through the prophet, For why does he solemnly warn the people of the Jews? That if they listen to him. To him, to whom? To him whose witness was Joseph, whose hands served in the basket; there will be among them no recent god, nor will they worship a foreign god. For Christ was not a recent god, nor a foreign one.

He himself was the one who led them up out of the land of Egypt; he was from the beginning, and he was also after these things, as he made clear through the prophecy of Isaiah. For he says, "I am the first God, and there is no other besides me." And the Savior, without any contradiction, is the one who became flesh in order to save our race, and is so called. "Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it." Why does he not say "your ears" or "your heart," but "your mouth"? Because the Word, who came down from the heavens, was the bread of life; if someone, by opening his mouth wide through good disposition, received him, he became full of theology. "And my people did not hear my voice, and Israel did not pay attention to me." For they did not endure to hear him teaching or proclaiming the good news, nor did they wish to pay attention to him working miracles; but they weighed down their ears so as not to hear the Lord's commandments. They shut their eyes, as Isaiah said, so as not to see the signs. What then did they suffer in return for these things? "And I sent them out according to the pursuits of their hearts; they will go in their pursuits." By "pursuits of hearts" he means the varied thoughts and the devices of their reasonings, which the people of the Jews employed when plotting against the Lord, when they said: "What shall we do, since this man performs many signs? If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take from us both our place and our nation." So, according to this pursuit and according to this plan, they were sent out and they went; for the Romans took over both their city and their place, while they themselves went off as captives.

If my people had listened to me, if Israel had walked in my ways, I would have humbled their enemies in an instant, and I would have laid my hand upon those who oppress them. He laments the people of the Jews, because they did not listen to God when he legislated, because they did not walk in his ways, the ways of the one who is unerring and saving; nor did he permit their enemies, the demons, to be humbled, nor the hand of God to be laid upon those who oppress them. God did lay his own right hand upon the invisible oppressors, and he humbled the unseen enemies; but not for the sake of the Jews; for among them the horn of the demons is still raised high; but for the grace of us, the Gentiles, they were humbled, we who have both denied their slavery and destroyed their worship. Therefore, God, being angry with the Jews, defines them as enemies, as the following shows: The enemies of the Lord lied to him, and their time will be for eternity. Enemies, who? Concerning whom Paul said: The enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction. For this reason, he threatened that their time, that is, the time of judgment against them, will be in the coming eternity. And what did they lie to him about? That he came to them as to his own, but his own, as John says, did not receive him. He fed them with the fat of wheat, and from a rock he sated them with honey. He reproaches them, reminding them of what they obtained, yet they remained ungrateful, hinting through the sensible things at the intelligible things. For he calls the law the fat of wheat, because of the spirit dwelling in the letter; therefore, in another psalm he says:

The one who sets your boundaries in peace and fills you with the fat of wheat. What this is, he revealed to those who follow: the one who sends his oracle to the earth. For he calls the prophets honey from a rock, since they have their prophecy from Christ, who is called a rock, with which God filled them, granting not one prophet or a second, but many and over many generations. For understanding, to Asaph. Psalm 81. The inscription of the psalm is brief; for it has such a subject as well, an exhortation to justice and a reproach that they do not adhere to these things. God stands in an assembly of gods, and in the midst he judges gods. This too is a great demonstration of God's generosity toward us, that the creator shared his own title with the creature. And he himself, called God par excellence, by grace granted that some be so named, as many as hold the dignity of rule in emulation of God, who rules all, and preserve it. Therefore now too he called those who are preeminent among the people gods; concerning whom Moses also said: You shall not speak ill of gods, and you shall not speak ill of the ruler of your people. But of these, he so honors those who are truthful and do not falsify the pretense, but preserve the dignity of prophecy, or of priesthood, or of military command, that he stands in their assembly, as the psalmist says; but those who act unworthily of the honor granted, he judges in their midst, that is, before all creation he strips them of their worth and pretense and makes an example of them, because, having been allotted to rule, they were on the contrary ruled by vice.

To whom the prophet both rebukes and at the same time exhorts in what follows. "How long do you judge injustice and accept the faces of sinners?" Well did he command, "How long," showing that they linger in injustice and do not perceive the forbearance of God; but they do not at all understand that the time is passing and running out, after which punishment comes upon the unjust. Therefore they judge injustice and accept the faces of sinners, when it is necessary to establish the justice of God everywhere, since he wishes it, and for this reason in every judgment he brings forward his own face; so that Moses says, "You shall not accept a face in judgment, because the judgment is the Lord's." Why does he say, "You accept the face of sinners"? Because everyone who strives to corrupt justice and to gain an advantage in judgment over his neighbor is truly a sinner, even if he wears the appearance of a just man. He added a diapsalma, since he turned the rebuke into counsel. "Judge for the orphan and the poor, justify the lowly and the needy." He does not say, judge for the just man, nor for the prophet, nor for the priest, concerning whom God so earnestly charges, "Do not touch my anointed ones," and "Do not be wicked against my prophets." But "for the orphan and the poor and the lowly and the needy." Why? Because it is fitting for those others to be wronged, just as Paul also said, "Why are you not rather deprived?" But it is not bearable for these to be wronged because of the weakness imposed by age or poverty; hence the lawgiver more vehemently protects them. "Rescue the needy and the poor from the hand of a sinner, deliver him.

He speaks as if about wild beasts, those who delight in injustice or greed. Hence elsewhere he says: "He lies in wait in a hidden place like a lion in its lair; he lies in wait to snatch the poor man." Therefore, the one who saves the poor man carries off the worth and reward of a shepherd—that is, of the one who gave himself for us and delivered us from the spiritual beasts; but the one who snatches or ravages is ranked among the beasts. Wanting to intensify for us the protection of the wronged, he added: "Rescue from the hand of the sinner," so that we might hasten to defense, seeing the wrongdoer as weak and without compassion. For the sinner is weak, as one who has offended God; and without compassion, as one who does not spare himself—for he would not have sinned, so much the more does he not spare his neighbor. "They did not know, nor did they understand; they walk in darkness." What did they not know? The rottenness of the present life, the instability of human life—that they join fields to fields and houses to houses, often storing these up for their enemies. And what did they not understand? That by busying themselves with small things, they deprive themselves of greater things. Therefore they walk in the darkness of wickedness, ashamed to come to the light; for everyone who does base deeds hates the light, as Paul used to say. Perhaps he also blames this: that walking in darkness, they did not know nor understand what follows. And what is this? Listen: "Let all the foundations of the earth be shaken." If the foundations of the earth are shaken, how will the things on it be able to remain? And while these remain, why do we overreach our brother and devour the poor, from which no benefit is found for us?

I said, "You are gods, and all sons of the Most High." But you die as men, and you fall as one of the rulers. When did he decree that all are gods and sons of the Most High? For he now speaks not only about the rulers, but about all of humanity. Therefore, when he fashioned man, he set for him such a standard of dignity: "Let us make man according to our image and likeness; and let them rule over all the fish of the sea, and the birds of the sky, and the beasts, and the whole earth, and all the reptiles." If they had remained keeping this, and had not surrendered the image through disobedience to God, they would not have been condemned to death. For it is an insult to God to be ignorant of his honor, and to suffer the same as the devil. Therefore he says, "You die as men," showing that death is a human passion. But nevertheless, it was possible not to die, if we had kept God's law from the beginning; for our nature had both capacities. "And you fall," he says, "as one of the rulers," hinting at the devil; for he had been allotted the authority of a ruler among the angels. Hence Paul says: "Our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against the principalities, against the powers"; having been exalted and desiring greater things, he fell. And the same thing happened to man; for having heard the serpent say, "God knew that on the day you eat from it," that is, from the tree, "your eyes will be opened, and you will be as gods, knowing good and evil," he gave himself over to disobedience, so that he is necessarily compared to it because of the passion and the fall.

Arise, O God, judge the earth, for you will apportion inheritance among all the nations. Therefore the prophet does not hint at a present inheritance, but a future one; hence he calls upon God to arise and judge the earth, that is, man; who, when he arises, apportions inheritance to all the nations. For he assigns to all the fitting lot: one to the humble, one to the temperate, one to the merciful, another to the fornicators, another to the proud, another to the greedy; for here he called "nations" not the differences of tongues, but of lives. A song-psalm for Asaph. 82. 1. Fittingly he called the present composition a song and a psalm; since to the prophecy (which he often calls a psalm) he added a victory song against certain enemies. O God, who will be likened to you? The prophet does not ask this (for the question would be senseless), but wrote extolling the infinite magnitude of God and his incomparability in all things. For no one will boast of being likened in any respect to God, who is the cause of all beings. Since it is fitting to observe the difference of the words; for he did not say, "Who was likened to you?" but, "Who will be likened to you?" and by this he indicated a future time; therefore he hints at the economy of the Only-begotten with flesh, that to some prophets he might have a similar appearance; hence some thought him to be Elijah, others one of the prophets; but none of those mentioned could be likened to him. For he alone was both God and man, he alone saved our race. Do not be silent, nor be appeased, O God; that is, do not be patient for long.

For he called the silence of the time the forbearance toward sinners. And why did he pray for this? Because, behold, your enemies have made a noise, and those who hate you have lifted up their head. To such an extent, he says, have the sinners been puffed up by your forbearance, that they have made a noise, that is, have spoken boldly, and have made their own wickedness manifest like a trumpet through shamelessness, and have lifted up their head, not being ashamed of their transgressions, but even boasting, as if there were no one whom they would fear. He calls sinners enemies of God, because they are enemies of themselves, doing what is not beneficial; and since God is benevolent, not desiring the death of the sinner, he sets them as enemies plotting against themselves. Against your people they have devised a crafty plan, and they have plotted against your saints. Behold, the prophet has set forth another form of enmity toward God. For those who are hostile to the people of God and to the saints take up war against him, whose servants and brothers they happen to be. And the war is indicated not only by what is written subsequently, in which he also mentioned the nations that warred against the Jews, but he also hints at some hidden war, which sinners are accustomed to wage against the saints. And for this reason he does not say simply that they have devised a plan, but that they have devised a crafty plan, that is, that they have employed a varied and manifold craftiness; such as are those who first deprive those consecrated to God of money or possessions or some other things, in order to provoke them to blaspheme through ingratitude.

But when they are weak in this, they suggest pleasures to them, desire for empty glory, boastfulness, fantasy, advising as friends the things of enemies; and he makes clear what follows. They said, "Come, let us destroy them from the nation, and let the name of Israel be remembered no more." These things are clearly said and done to the enemies of Israel, whom he is about to mention next; but also understand those who advise or compel evil things. For these wish to destroy us from the nation, so that we may be named neither with the lawless, since we have a law and sin, nor with those who keep the law, since we transgress; but they wish the name of Israel to be consigned to oblivion. For if Israel is the one who sees God, but someone does not do what is necessary for one who sees God and has the eyes of his mind turned toward him, it is necessary that such a person be given over to total forgetfulness; nor can one who has become Israel by seeing these things spiritually—that is, who has ever known God—be remembered because of subsequent inattention. That they conspired in unanimity, they made a covenant against you. And who can plan anything against God, or make a covenant, or even imagine it, since he is inaccessible not only to sight but also to thoughts? But he reckons to himself the things of those who trust in him; and for this reason, plots against them are said to be against God himself, as father, protector, and guardian of those plotted against. And who are those who devise the plots? The tents of the Edomites and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagarenes, Gebal and Ammon and Amalek.

All these are descended from Abraham, so that they were relatives of Israel. For the Ishmaelites had Ishmael as their father, who was a son of Abraham; the Hagarenes, however, were not from Abraham, but from Hagar, whom Sarah had joined to Abraham for a time, but later, becoming jealous, caused her to be cast out along with Ishmael; then, having been joined to another, she gave those from her the name Hagarenes. Likewise, Amalek was a descendant of Esau, while Moab and Ammon were sons of Lot born from his daughters after the burning of Sodom, and Gebal was their neighbor, perhaps also related by marriage, for which reason he is counted among them. What then did the discourse intend to set forth here? Or for what reason did it show them to be relatives? So that you may know that among enemies, one's own household, as Christ says, that is, relatives, take precedence; hence the prophet placed the foreigners in the last order; therefore he added: "Foreigners along with those dwelling in Tyre." For Asshur came along with them. Not with those dwelling in Tyre, but with Moab and Ammon and the others whom we have shown to be related by marriage to the people of the Jews, so that they did not come to war against him on their own, but were incited by their relatives; hence he added: "They became a support for the sons of Lot," that is, they came to their aid. So beware of internal enemies; for they arm those outside. And do not trust in kinship, since it often turns into enmity; and consider also the curse which he pronounced against them. Diapsalma.

since he changed the discourse to prayer. Do to them as to Midian and Sisera, as to Jabin at the torrent Kishon. They were utterly destroyed at Endor. 2. Not in vain has he selected these from among all, but because the war against them was strangely turned: for Gideon, coming upon Midian, which covered the land with its multitude, without weapons, destroyed it with three hundred men, having neither swords, nor shields, nor helmets, nor any other instruments of war, but only torches and horn trumpets, which they used. And Sisera, who was the commander of the nation of Jabin, and campaigned with nine hundred iron chariots, was terrified by God, put to flight, and delivered to Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, who killed him by driving a peg through his jaw. So by the hand of God, he prays that those enemies, whom he previously enumerated, may fall like these. For he mentions the torrent Kishon and Endor because the war against Sisera was joined there. They became like dung for the earth. For their arrogance was so humbled by their defeat that they were considered as worthless as dung. And dung is well spoken. Just as that, though worthless, prepares the earth to bear fruit, so the fall and humiliation of the proud makes our souls productive of virtues. Set their rulers as Oreb, and Zeeb, and Zebah, and Zalmunna. He mentions men who were killed by Gideon; he asked that the rulers be treated like them.

Which rulers he means, the following makes clearer: all their rulers, who said, "Let us take possession of the sanctuary of God for ourselves." So by "rulers" he means not so much those in office as those in wickedness; hence they imagine the sanctuary of God to be their inheritance, so as to use the holy things for their own profit and the divine for their own gain. And not only do those who seize the sacred vessels and sell the holy things do this, but also all who traffic in divine things, selling what belongs to God, and buying and making unlawful contracts—such as Simon, who wished to acquire the gifts of the Holy Spirit for money, for which reason Peter judged him unworthy of the gift of the Holy Spirit. "My God, set them like a wheel"—in turmoil and unstable motion and perpetual change, for that is the property of a wheel. "Like chaff before the wind"—so that they may stand nowhere, but their substance may be scattered everywhere, made invisible by the force of the wind that fans them. "Like fire that will consume a thicket, like a flame that will burn up mountains." He prays for barrenness for them from every side. For that fire is useful by which gold is smelted, or silver, or bread is baked, or some drug is heated, or something for our need is boiled; but fire that burns a thicket or consumes a mountain yields no benefit, nor is any use found from it; rather, it burns more fiercely, but when quenched it ends in nothing but soot and ash—such are sinners found to be after the wrath brought upon them by God. Thus you will pursue them in your storm, and in your wrath you will confound them.

He calls a "storm" the sudden and most violent movement of God against those who sin, which intends them to be driven away and troubled. And thus it has been said through the preceding verses: that they are scattered into fine particles, just as chaff is scattered, and that they fall to earth and dust, their temporary arrogance being quenched like fire. But he prays this for their benefit, not for their harm. For what did he add? "Fill their faces with shame, and they will seek your name, Lord." For when they fall from that hope on account of which they neglected God, they necessarily undergo shame and dishonor, having dared to trust in vain things, because they considered fleeting things as stable. But changing, they seek the name of God, choosing intimacy with him instead of all else. Since in the present this does not happen to all who sin—for some remain prosperous until the end, while others, even ceasing from prosperity, do not return to God—listen to what he added concerning these: "Let them be ashamed and troubled for the age of the age." It is clear that he speaks of the future, where sinners are not only ashamed, but also troubled and, being confounded, perish, because there they have no time for repentance. For they cannot conceal their own shame by repentance. They are confounded not only before the judge, but also before those before whom they are judged, whom they may have wronged, against whom they vainly plotted. They are necessarily confounded before these, seeing them in good circumstances and themselves in evil.

Then indeed they will know God by necessity, compulsion, fear, and judgment; but they will not naturally have the impulse to seek him so as to run to him, as the following verses show: "And let them know that your name is Lord, you alone are the Highest over all the earth." Here he speaks of knowledge not as recognition from conviction, but as confession from necessity. For just as when we see a sword is sharp, we truly know it when we experience it; and further, we proclaim fire as hot, confessing this more when we approach it; so all the unbelievers at the time of judgment will recognize God, and will know that he alone is the Highest over all the earth—not as now some of the impious suppose, that he has his rule divided among idols; from which he refrains, they think he cannot do everything or act in all matters. Then indeed they will not say this; for he no longer deals with them in forbearance, but in justice. For the end, concerning the winepresses, for the sons of Kore, Psalm 83.

1. We have already shown, having arrived at that point, that the sons of Kore are psalm-singers, just like Asaph, receiving prophecy concerning the psalms from David. And the mysteries of Christ's sufferings are also winepresses, since he filled them, leaping and treading the winepress as if trampling death. Hence we find that other interpreters have rendered the superscription of this psalm as a Victory Ode concerning the winepresses. And the Seventy also rendered it well, "For the end," since Christ is the end of the law, about whom these things were spoken. "How beloved are your tents, Lord of the powers." The tents of the Lord are called not only the temples, the places of prayer, but also all those who invite God to dwell in themselves through holiness; and much more so since Christ, who dwells among us through love for humanity, has come among us. Hence John the Theologian wrote: "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." These things, then, are beloved to God, as being dwelt in by him; and they are beloved to us as well, since through them we are able to approach God, who is unapproachable. "My soul yearns and faints for the courts of the Lord." It faints, not from weakness, but from loving exceedingly, just as passionate lovers faint when they are separated from their beloved for a short time. The prophet says he experiences this concerning the courts of God, whether the perceptible or the intelligible ones. And this is quite reasonable. For there the poor find consolation, the wronged find endurance, the prosperous find restraint; we all receive everything, either remedies for passions or things that anoint and strengthen us for virtue.

My heart and my flesh exulted in the living God. First the heart, and after this the flesh receives the exultation of God. For if we dedicate our mind to God, the flesh, being guided by it, no longer rejoices in drunkenness, debauchery, and licentiousness, but exults in the living one, pursuing through philosophy the hope of the incorruption that will soon follow, which belongs to true life. For the sparrow found a house for itself, and the turtledove a nest for itself, where it will place its young: your altars, Lord of the powers, my king and my God. You may understand it thus, that just as the sparrows have a house and the turtledoves a nest, so we have found the altars of God, providing us refuge and shelter. But the truer meaning is that it calls the man in monastic philosophy a sparrow. For he has many similarities to the sparrow: he has no house on the earth, he does not worry about tomorrow, he does not practice deceit, he uses whatever food comes to hand; and the turtledove, the chaste virgin, because of her purity and love of solitude, because of the plaintive quality of her voice (for this befits the virgin), and the one philosophizing from widowhood, who is fond of tears. These have found nests and houses for themselves, the altars of God; for there they need to dwell, there to build their nests: to dwell, for the sake of security, to build nests, because the fruit and children of virgins and the continent are sanctification and the mortification of the passions, of which the altars are the character and encouragement.

Observe also this: that he calls the Lord of the powers the one in heaven, or rather he has addressed him as king and God of himself everywhere, indicating that the common good is possible to have as one's own; whence he who is in no way contained deigns to dwell in us. Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they will praise you for ever and ever. The house of God is the law; for there he dwells as in his own tent, and through it he appears to those who work the commandments. Therefore those who dwell there are blessed: first, because they dwell with God; then, because they inhabit a place that admits no ambush, but possesses an exact discernment of present things, and a clear foreknowledge and contemplation of future things. Hence those who dwell there will praise God for ever and ever, taking up already the life of angels who ceaselessly praise the creator, and joining the future doxology to the present one. A diapsalma intervenes in the prophecy; since, while discoursing about those who are exceedingly and perpetually confident in God, behold, he has transferred the discourse to those who have come into being for this purpose, but who, through the support of God and progress, ascend to those. Blessed is the man whose support is from you. And indeed; for even if he has fallen, he stands; even if he is a sinner, he is purified; even if he has been given up, he will nevertheless not see death. But who this is, hear: He has arranged ascents in his heart. How and in what manner? Into the valley of weeping, into the place which he has set.

2. Therefore God is not a respecter of persons, nor does he take hold of some and not others, but he provides assistance to all who offer themselves. And how do they offer themselves? Into the valley of weeping; that is, into the place of repentance. For there God established a place of return and salvation for sinners, saying: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has drawn near. So the one who travels this road has set Ascents in his heart, having reasoned to ascend from earth to heaven, not by a single step, but by many. For this reason he said Ascents, not ascent; for we need many virtues and manifold good deeds in order, having been freed from things below, to take hold of things above. And what are these? Learn. For the lawgiver will give blessings; they will go from strength to strength; the God of gods will be seen in Zion. He speaks, then, of the evangelical commandments, in which it is possible to find not one blessing, but many—the various beatitudes which Christ legislated, in which the one who attends goes from strength to strength, walking from virtue to virtue, from humility to mourning for sins, from there to meekness, after this to the constant desire for righteousness, then to mercy, from there to integrity of heart, from this to the accomplishment of peace. And the crown of all are the persecutions for Christ, in which the one who has been perfected and has become the end will see God in Zion, in the watchtower of the soul. For Zion is called a watchtower. The progress of blessedness, then, is to see God, not as he is by nature, but as he grants.

You will say that all these things are said from where the diapsalma has been spoken by us, and that they are said about Peter. For he was blessed, having obtained assistance at the time of his denial; whence he did not despair of ascents in his heart, having placed them through repentance in the valley of weeping. For you see how he wept, and receiving the blessings of the new lawgiver, Christ, he went from power to power; for having run to the resurrection, and having seen the linens, and having also seen Christ, who later met him, as Luke revealed, he is not satisfied with these, but went to another power, Zion, and there again Christ, the God of gods, appeared to him, legislating blessings, the peace which he gave to the disciples, and the gift of the Spirit. Lord God of powers, hear my prayer; give ear, God of Jacob. For is it not enough to hear? No, he says; but he must also give ear; that is, to store it in the ears, so that even if he does not fulfill the prayer now, he will at least complete it later; for as a prophet he knew that what he now prayed for required a long time. Here again he added a diapsalma accordingly, giving way to the prayer, so that he might pray the same things many times, since they pertained to human salvation. Our protector, see, O God, and look upon the face of your Christ. See that we need your visitation; see that the wound is not healed by human remedies; see that the vessel is broken. It is your body, not another's. And thus look upon us; but upon the face of your Christ.

That is, in the person of Christ, so that in the Son the Father might visit us all, and the mystery concerning us might be accomplished by the Father's good will. And why do you ask the Father to look upon us through the Son, and not through the prophets? Because one day in your courts is better than thousands. He calls Bethlehem, the cross, the resurrection the courts of God. In each of these, then, one day is better than thousands of times. For what the ages from the beginning of the world did not accomplish, this the day of Christ's birth, or of the cross, or of the resurrection, and also of the ascension, accomplished for the whole race. Therefore, magnifying these courts exceedingly, the prophet said the following: I have chosen to be cast away in the house of my God rather than to dwell in the tents of sinners. I wish, he says, to be placed among the lowly and the rejected in the aforementioned courts, rather than to dwell in the synagogues of the Jews, which are no longer called tents of God, but of sinners who transgress the law. So the prophet chooses to inherit with a thief, who seems to be more lowly than the Church of God, or with a Canaanite woman, who, being cast away, asked for the crumbs falling from the table, rather than with Caiaphas and the other high priests who held the first place in the synagogue of the Jews. And let us also, being the last of the righteous and an abortion, as Paul said, pray not to dwell with sinners; for learn what follows. That the Lord God loves mercy and truth, he will give grace and glory.

mercy and truth upon those who have repented from being sinners, and through mercy they are ranked with the righteous, but through truth they do not have equality with them; hence they are said to be cast aside. So, occupying the last place among them, he gives them both grace and glory: grace, because they are saved by grace; glory, because they are glorified with the righteous, even if in the final rank. And that this is true, and that the righteous necessarily take precedence, the following verses show. The Lord will not deprive the good things from those who walk in innocence. For those who have lived without wickedness and have conducted themselves in righteousness, which is innocence, are not deprived of the good things; but they will receive crowns proportionately, since each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. Lord God of hosts, blessed is the man who hopes in you. The prophet has placed a fine seal on the psalm: hope in God, which it is blessed to hold. For it becomes an anchor for the storm-tossed, and an unbreakable wall for the besieged. He hopes in him who trusts in none of the present things, but chooses hope in God over the whole world.

For the end, to the sons of Kore, a psalm, the eighty-fourth. Necessarily also now the psalm is inscribed "For the end," or, according to the other interpreters, "A victory song." For it contains the mysteries accomplished at the end of the ages, which are truly victory songs against the devil. You have been pleased, Lord, with your land; you have turned back the captivity of Jacob. The events are common to man and to the land. For when the land is flourishing, man also flourishes; but when it is disciplined, he is disciplined along with it, since he is from it and nourished by it. Hence also what is now said by the prophet can be understood in a common sense; because creation, of which the land is an element, awaits our redemption, as Paul says, which the prophet now called "pleasure," common to the whole man, who is called "land" for this reason, as has often been demonstrated; but specific to those from the people of the Jews who turned to him, whom the prophet called "the captivity of Jacob." But what this pleasure is, learn more clearly from what follows. You have forgiven the lawless acts of your people; you have covered all their sins. For it is well for him to think concerning us; for he has forgiven us not one lawless act, but all; and he has also covered all our sins through his own philanthropy, just as a physician covers wounds with remedies.

He mentioned lawlessness and sin not because he wished to repeat the same thing, but to show that he granted remission not only to the Jews, whose transgressions are called lawless acts, since they are under the law of Moses, but also to the Gentiles, whose faults are called sins, because when they err, they sin against the heavenly concepts that look toward simplicity. A diapsalma is set before the melody, not because the prophet idly rested his words, but because he had set forth matters exceedingly great, so that the mind, wearied by the magnitude of the revelations, needs to rest for the sake of a more precise contemplation of these things. You have caused all your wrath to cease; you have turned away from the anger of your fury. He caused the wrath to cease not partially, but completely, not so as to postpone it for a time, but so as to utterly obliterate it and leave no reminder of it; therefore he is also said to turn away from the anger of his fury; and having turned away from anger, he evidently inclined toward love of humanity. But since he set forth future events as present, employing a prophetic character, observe how he turned the prophecy into a prayer, indicating that these things have not yet happened but are in hope. Turn us back, O God of our salvations, and turn your fury away from us. Therefore, wrath in God is not a passion, but a threat made for our benefit. For this reason, if we turn back, he himself turns away from his fury, and ceases, setting great store by our salvation, so that he devised many ways to find many paths for it; and for this reason he is fittingly called the God of salvations.

Do not be angry with us for all eternity, or will you extend your anger from generation to generation? It is fearful even now for God to be angry with men, but since at present he mostly employs forbearance, the coming anger is necessarily more fearful. Therefore he prays that God not be angry with us for the whole of this present age, nor transfer his anger against us from the present generation to the next, but that it be quenched by his love for humanity. How this happens and in what way, when we are slow to convert, the following verses show. O God, you, having turned, will give us life, and your people will rejoice over you. You will speak of God’s turning, the conversion wrought by him through us, but properly, the turning he himself accomplished on our behalf; for he says, O God, you, having turned, will give us life. This clearly occurred when he became incarnate and, having become man, offered himself on our behalf, and accomplished our conversion, which he achieved for himself, doing and suffering everything for us, through which he gave us life, and now he has prepared his own people, that is, those who believe in him, to rejoice and celebrate over him. Show us, Lord, your mercy, and may you grant us your salvation. You see the psalmist speaking as both prophet and servant; for as a prophet he declared what was to come, but he prays again as a servant, for what he once as a prophet had already answered. What does he pray for at all? That God’s mercy and salvation be shown to men, that is, the Word of God appearing in the flesh, which is called salvation, as Symeon testifies. For having taken him in the temple, he gave thanks and said:

Now you release your servant, Master, according to your word in peace, because my eyes have seen your salvation. That he himself is also called mercy, this prophet will show shortly. Yet each receives its name from the realities. I will hear what the Lord God will say to me, for he will speak peace upon his people, and upon his holy ones, and upon those who turn their heart toward him. The prophet of faith is admirable, for together with the sowing of prayer he receives the fruit that comes from it; and knowing to whom he had made his plea, he prepared himself to hear peace—that peace which Christ gave to his people, that is, to those who are pious toward him, through the choir of the apostles. These are rightly called his holy ones and those who turn to him in heart, having consecrated themselves wholly to Christ and turned from all worldly things to him with their whole heart, so that they no longer concern themselves with parents or relatives or craft, but say with boldness: Behold, we have left everything and followed you; what then will be for us? Yet his salvation is near to those who fear him, to encamp glory in our land. Here it is clearly testified that even if the synagogue of the Jews wishes to be called his people, nevertheless the salvation of God comes near to those from the nations who have believed and who fear him, since those who were once not a people are now found to be a people of God, having returned to him from error; and those who were once far off have become near through faith. This is for the sake of encamping glory in our land.

For where was the glory of God to encamp, if the nations were turned away from Abraham as if they did not exist, while those who were from Abraham were unwilling to approach, as John says: He came to his own, and his own did not receive him? For this reason he welcomed the nations, so that he might find a place to encamp in our land, that is, in humanity. For the theologian made this clear in what follows: But those who received him, he gave them authority to become children of God; not from bloodlines nor from the will of the flesh, speaking of the nations. For they did not have kinship from the blood or flesh of Abraham, but were born from God; to whom he fittingly added: And the Word became flesh, and encamped among us. Mercy and truth met, justice and peace kissed. Truth rose from the earth, and justice leaned out from heaven. Here he speaks of a convergence of divinity and humanity, each running according to its own worth; for this is what "met" means. And the slow meets the swift, and the lame meets the sound of foot. Not only convergence, but also union from love he indicated; for this is what "kissed" means, since those who love and those who are loved are united with one another through a kiss. And the Word of God would not have descended into humanity, if the creator did not possess a warm love for man. For thus, he says, God loved the world, so that he sent his only-begotten Son into it. But whence did the convergence and the meeting come about? Truth rose from the earth, and justice leaned out from heaven. Truth is the flesh.

Not only that it rose from the earth in this way, as the psalmist says, but also that truth was incarnated, and the man truly became God the Word. Righteousness is the divinity; for this reason he says that it looked down from heaven; it accomplished righteousness, having broken the injustice that was tyrannizing the earth; but after the union these things cannot be separated. Hence Christ is called wholly truth: "For I," he says, "am the truth and the life." Again, he is called wholly righteousness by Paul: "Who became for us righteousness from God," speaking concerning Christ. And the prophet continues explaining the mystery. For the Lord will give kindness; the Father his own Word. Hence the other interpreters have said, "He will give the good one." For no one is good except God alone, as he says, "You know." And our earth will give its fruit; and flesh that sprouted from Mary; for from each of these the mystery of Christ came together, righteousness concerning which he said earlier: "Righteousness looked down from heaven"; for the divinity of the humanity goes before, just as Habakkuk also says: "A word will go before his face"; then concerning the humanity, "And he will go out into instruction at his feet," speaking in agreement with the present psalms. For behold, he adheres to what has been said: "And he will place his steps on the path"; since the divinity going before, that is, leading its own flesh, directs the steps onto the path of the economy, so that it may not be led astray by any human things, nor stumble.

Prayer to David. Psalm 85. Do you see the dignity of the prayer? For he yielded to Asaph and the sons of Korah to sing the other psalms, but he himself purifies the prayer to God, not only on his own behalf, but acting it out from the whole person of humanity. Incline your ear, Lord, and hear me, for I am poor and needy. Every human being is poor and needy, whose person the prophet now assumes. For we are poor from sin, and we are needy because of Adam, who bequeathed poverty to us as an inheritance. For this reason he prayed that God incline his ear, so that he might condescend as a rich man to the poor, as a physician to the sick. And why does he condescend? Because often we ask unworthy things of God; but he, as a physician, deigns to hear the request, but provides only what is beneficial. Guard my soul, for I am holy. And how can one who is poor in virtue, or needy, be holy? Surely because he confessed his poverty, he has become holy through the confession; or he calls the human being holy because of the dignity he had in paradise before the transgression. Save your servant, my God, who hopes in you. The prophet's words are sufficient to move God. For since the Master can in no way disown his own servant when he hopes in him, but rather preserves him because of that hope, even if he has other faults, he puts forward his servitude to draw God to us, so that he, wishing not to lose his own possession, may not be harmed. Have mercy on me, Lord, for I will cry out to you all day long.

Do you understand in what way we are able to be pitied? Crying out to God the whole day, not now praying with words, now provoking him with deeds; nor now attending to the church of God, now to the assembly of lawless men—concerning which David himself said, "I hated the assembly of evildoers." Gladden the soul of your servant, because I have lifted my soul to you. From you, he says, I ask for joy, toward whom I lifted my soul, having lightened it from the earth upward, and having borne it up by the hope of divine things, so that it does not gape toward human things. You, therefore, gladden. For the joy from men, as harmful and ceasing, I do not desire. Because you, Lord, are kind and gentle and very merciful to all who call upon you. Not in vain have I lifted my soul to you, but because you sympathize as kind, and you support those who err as gentle; in addition to these, you do not pity in a single way, but you pity in many and various ways: you pity through love of the poor, you pity through tears, you pity through righteous deeds, you pity through faith—not some, but all who call upon you. Therefore, as many as do not call upon God cannot be pitied; so that prayer has become for us a weapon and a harbor and a door of salvation. Give ear, Lord, to my prayer, and attend to the voice of my supplication. "Give ear" means deem it worthy of your ears; "attend to the voice" so that you may grant sympathy to the one offering the supplication, who is intense in the strain of the soul and in the longing for you (for this is the "voice of prayer"), having beheld. Therefore he added: "In the day of my distress I cried out to you, because you heard me.

Since afflictions for the most part cut off prayers, casting a person into despondency, he says that he himself has not suffered these things, but has cried out and used a more intense voice—which was the mark of one not fallen, but rather confident in his petition. And what is the cause? That you have heard me. For as one already heard, he naturally did not grow slack in prayer; so that he has also used his voice. "There is none like you among gods, Lord, and there is none according to your works." The prophet is not now speaking about idols (for what communion has light with darkness, or what comparison has falsehood with truth?), but he calls "gods" those to whom the word of God came, just as Christ said in the Gospels, namely the holy and God-bearing men, of whom none will be able to be likened to the Lord. For even if he was related to them by flesh, yet on account of his divinity he was incomparable; rather, also on account of his humanity. For none of them was born of a virgin, bore our sins, none of them repelled death through death. Therefore, neither to him nor to the works done by him is there anyone able to be compared. "All the nations, as many as you have made, will come and worship before you, Lord." Before—where then? In the temple of the Jews? But neither does the temple exist, nor could the nations, being uncircumcised, worship there. Therefore, he clearly speaks concerning Christ, before whom all the nations worship. For those who worship in Bethlehem, at the cross, and at the resurrection, worship face to face with the one who accomplished our salvation there.

The same thing also those who worship before the altar, worship before him. For there they see him seated at each mystical sacrifice. And they will glorify your name. What has happened? For they used to worship wood and stones, and were subjects and slaves of demons. Therefore, hear what follows: That you are great, and you perform wonders; you are God alone. 2. Therefore, they glorify Christ for this reason, having found him great and the only one who has performed wonders. And what is his greatness, and what are the wonders? He has abolished the error of idols that existed from eternity, not sending angels for this, not shaking the earth, not raining fire from heaven, but using as servants for this men who were illiterate, poor, and fishermen. Lead me, Lord, in your way, and I will walk in your truth. Clearly the prophet, before the Gospels, speaks evangelically, wishing to be led by the way to the way, and to walk in the truth of the one who says: I am the way and the life and the truth. However, we first need to be led to the way of God, and to learn its beginnings, that is, its elements, and then we will walk in the truth. For the end of the knowledge of God is to grasp the truth of beings. Let my heart rejoice to fear your name. He asks for a good joy, he prays for a good festival, to fear the name of God. For from that comes to us the true joy, which is not of the flesh, but of the soul and of the heart itself, which has much familiarity and kinship with God.

Hence he also establishes fear as a festival, not unaware of what dignity it holds. I will confess to you, Lord, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever. Therefore, he does not permit glorifying God before confession of sins; for he wished to glorify God with a pure tongue; but this tongue is cleansed by selecting sins from the whole heart. For this is truly confession: to vomit sin from the whole mind, and never to return to it, but to turn away from it as once vomited. Because your mercy is great upon me, and you rescued my soul from the lowest Hades. For this reason, he says, I dared to make confession of sins, though I ought to fear and be ashamed of it, because your mercy is great upon me, that is, upon man, so that the one confessing sin not only enjoys leniency and forgiveness, but also expects a reward. And what is this? That the soul be rescued from the lowest Hades, that is, from the place of Gehenna and the outermost darkness. For that place is allotted to sinners; necessarily the lowest Hades. For it is not possible, we say, for one who has descended there to ascend. O God, lawless men rose up against me, and a gathering of strong ones sought my soul, and they did not set you before themselves. For the one who wrongs his neighbor does not set God before his own eyes; for if he did set him, he would not wrong him, fearing the judge; nor would he act lawlessly, considering the threat of the lawgiver. But they suffer this not from ignorance, but from audacity.

Just as brigands in the desert, though not ignorant that there are judges and magistrates, commit robbery, yet have no care or fear of them due to their folly. These he called not only lawless men, but also a gathering of the mighty, of those who are powerful in wickedness, whom he reproached in another part of the prophecy: "Why do you boast in wickedness, O mighty one?" And why did he address those who rose up not only as lawless, but also as mighty in wickedness, which we said means powerful? Because they were not seeking a field, a house, garments, or slaves, but the only possession of a human being, the soul, plotting against it and wishing to destroy it. So these things were said directly about the truly lawless and the powerful in wickedness, the demons, for which reason he marshaled God against them. And you, Lord my God, are compassionate and merciful, long-suffering and very merciful and true; look upon me and have mercy on me. In vain, he says, did they rise up; for you, as God, fight for your creature; as compassionate and merciful, you sympathize with the one plotted against; as long-suffering, you do not hand over the sinner into the hands of enemies; as very merciful, you show mercy not once but many times; as true, you repel the wrongdoer and save the wronged. Therefore, "Look upon me"; for a sheep that the shepherd looks upon, a wolf cannot seize. "And have mercy on me." For since I have no deeds by which to summon your hand to my aid, I necessarily offer mercy, which is especially owed to those who are plotted against.

Give your power to your child, and save the son of your handmaid, he says, for as a human being he is a child and a slave, who also asks to receive power over the passions; but as the son of his handmaid, that is, of wisdom, he seeks to be saved; or he calls the handmaid of God our nature. For as a handmaid she obeys the creator in whatever he wishes and commands, and she sets her own boundaries when she perceives the maker commanding this. Therefore, the prophet, saying that the human being is a slave and the son of a slave woman, takes pride; for this reason he considered that the power of God also belongs to him, as an old slave and one from ancestral lineage. Such servants are entrusted with their master's wealth without suspicion. And who this was, learn now from what follows. Make with me a sign for good, and let those who hate me see, and let them be ashamed, because you, Lord, helped me and comforted me. He does not simply ask for a sign, but for one for good, that is, occurring for the benefit of the race; such as that which Isaiah set forth to say to God concerning Ahaz: Ask for yourself a sign for depth or for height; and after this he added: Behold, the virgin will conceive in her womb, and will bear a son, and they will call his name Emmanuel. That a virgin should give birth, this is a clear sign; but indeed also what the Lord himself said: This generation seeks a sign, and a sign will not be given to it, except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

For just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. At these signs, all the demons who hate us were put to shame. Neither an elder nor an angel, as Isaiah says, but God himself helped us, born of a virgin and become man for our sake; he himself also comforted us. For while we were mourning over the condemnation of death, he rose from the dead, showing death to be a sleep. To the sons of Korah, a psalm of a song, 186. It has often been said to us that a psalm of a song, or also a song of a psalm, describes those subjects, especially those in which it mingles prophecies about Christ with melody. His foundations are in the holy mountains. The foundations of Christ are the mysteries of the sufferings and wonders that pertain to him. These are found in the holy mountains: in Bethlehem, in Golgotha, in the Resurrection, in Mount Tabor of the Transfiguration, in the hill of the Ascension. Therefore he called the mountains holy, as having received the sanctification of the Lord’s mysteries. Let the mountains also be the prophets, fittingly because of the height of their foreknowledge, who hold the foundations of God, that is, the preludes of the knowledge of God. For from them we are initiated into piety. The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. The dwellings of Jacob are surely the twelve tribes, or rather Shiloh; for there the ark encamped, as the ancient people of the Jews themselves, where the holy of holies encamped. But he loved the gates of Zion more than all that has been mentioned.

For in those things he performed the type, but here the truth. And he loves the gates of Zion, because when they were closed, Zion received Christ; so that the following is also very fitting: "Glorious things have been spoken about you, the city of God." Diapsalma. Not only because Christ entered there when the gates were closed, but because as God he entered without gates, as man he allowed himself to be touched in you, he did not add this in vain, but because he transferred the discourse to the Church of the Gentiles, and at the same time, having set aside his own person, the prophet now brought forward that of God. "I will remember Rahab and Babylon for those who know me." And for what reason does God promise to remember Rahab? For Rahab is a harlot, and Babylon is interpreted as confusion. For what reason, the following phrase shows; for it says, "For those who know me." Therefore, if Rahab, because of her harlotry, is the Church from the Gentiles, and Babylon, because of the gathering of idols, is interpreted as confusion, and she recognizes God after turning back, she rightly comes into the memory of God. For the synagogue of the Jews, because of ignorance, has been forgotten. But what fruit does Rahab and Babylon, having been remembered by God, offer to the one who remembered them, the psalmist added: "And behold, the foreigners and Tyre and the people of the Ethiopians, these were born there." The word "were born," the rest of the interpreters have rendered more clearly, some setting forth the word as "were begotten," others as "were born.

Allophyloi and the people of the Ethiopians, who still have the black and dark nature of idolatry, and also Tyre, which reigned in error, were born to God through the Church by the birth through water and baptism. Mother Zion will say: Man. What will she say? The mysteries previously spoken concerning the nations are evident. But she does not say that these are taught by a man; for she has Christ as teacher, concerning whom she added how she glorifies: And a man was born in her, and the Highest himself founded her. She calls Christ both man and Highest: man, because of the flesh; Highest, because of the divinity. Wonderfully and very clearly, then, she expressed the mystery accomplished by Christ for Zion, when he gave himself to the disciples for touching; for then a man was born in her, that is, he was manifested, when the Highest himself founded her, having given there the grace of the Father; but indeed also having laid his own faith as a foundation for Zion, concerning which he himself speaks through the tongue of the voice of Isaiah. Behold, I place in the foundations of Zion a chosen corner stone, precious; and he who believes in it will not be put to shame. The Lord will recount in a writing of peoples and of rulers of those who have been born in her. Which Lord? The one manifested in Zion as a man, but having founded her as the Highest. This same one recounts in a writing of peoples, that is, in the census of the nations. For he did not say one people, lest they think of the people of the Jews; but many, to hint at the nations. And he says, And of rulers of those who have been born in her; he means the apostles.

For these have been appointed rulers in Zion. Take the proof of each. For John wrote that Christ said in Zion to the apostles: "As the Father sent me, so I send you." Clearly, then, he established the apostles here as rulers; for with this authority he sent them into the world. And Luke introduced Christ in Zion expounding the revelation of the mystery: "Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them that thus it was necessary for Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins were to be proclaimed in his name to all the nations." Behold, he added also the census of the peoples, I mean the allotment of the nations. Reasonably, then, a mere man does not speak the mysteries to Zion; since the man who is God and the Most High himself narrated each thing most clearly to her. The prophet added a diapsalma, because after changing the person of God, he again introduced his own, wishing to glorify Zion from his own character. For what does he say? "As of all who rejoice, the dwelling is in you." "As," that is, "how." For the prophet marvels at how and how greatly all who dwell in Zion rejoice, remembering the wonders performed and accomplished there. And they dwell in her who live by the Spirit, since Zion is the house of the Spirit.

A song of a psalm for the sons of Kore, for the end, concerning Maëleth, for a word of understanding to be answered by Heman the Israelite. Psalm 87. 1. You have already learned that the sons of Kore are psalm-singers; but understand also that "song of a psalm" is that melody which is mingled with the prophecy that must be spoken concerning Christ. You will inquire why it is written "For the end, concerning Maëleth," which the others have. They have rendered it as a victory song through a chorus. Therefore it is clear that not one psalm-singer, but a chorus, composed this melody, with Heman the Israelite, a psalm-singer, leading—a psalm-singer certainly distinct from the one to whom the chorus responded rhythmically and intelligently. Hence the inscription reads: "For a word of understanding to be answered by Heman the Israelite." "Lord, God of my salvation, I cried out by day and by night before you. Let my prayer enter before you." Each of us, when praying, must pray before God—that is, according to what is pleasing to him—by day and throughout the night, if we wish our prayer to enter before him and our intercessions to succeed, so that we too may hear: "Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God." Since the entire psalm is composed concerning Christ, he necessarily named the Lord and God of his own salvation; he speaks of the common salvation, for he considers our salvation as his own, having become the firstfruits, reckoning the Father. For because the Father consented that the Son come into the world, we were saved.

To this one, often by day on the mountain and by night in the place of Gethsemane, when Judas was about to betray him, he cried out, that is, he openly petitioned the Father, that his own prayer might enter before him. And what was this prayer? "Father, if this cup cannot pass by, unless I drink it, let your will be done." Incline your ear to my supplication. That is, accurately consider the power of my prayer, or also condescend to those on whose behalf I offer the supplication; for I do not pray for myself, but for those whose form and character I have taken. "For my soul is filled with evils." With what kind? With human ones; for I bear the sins of all. "And my life has approached Hades." For those whose debt I came to pay owed death. "I was counted among those who descend into the pit." He says he is like those who go down into the pit of death. "I seemed also to owe death as they do"; but it was not so, for what follows makes this clear. "I became like a helpless man, free among the dead." For he endured the cross and the passion as a helpless man, not permitting an angel to stand by, so that he might say, "I trod the winepress alone," and rebuking Peter when he cut off the ear of one of those arresting him, saying to him, "Does it not seem to you that I can call upon my Father, and he will now stand by me with more than twelve legions of angels? How then shall the Scriptures of the prophets be fulfilled, that it had to happen this way?

By saying these things, he showed that he himself also restrained the power of his own divinity, so that the mystery of the economy prophesied concerning him might be fulfilled. Among the dead, he was free, not only as God, but also as one whose flesh was sinless. For this reason, it was not possible for him, as Paul declares in his public speech, to be held by the pangs of death. Like wounded men sleeping in a tomb, whom you have not yet remembered, they too were thrust away from your hand. It is fitting now also to supply the word, "I became." For he became like a wounded man, since the children of the Jews attempted to place upon him the reputation of a wounded man, that is, a sinner. For this reason, approaching Pilate, they called him an impostor. That the wounded are called sinners in Scripture, learn from Jeremiah, who says: "Who will give water to my head, and a fountain of tears to my eyes? And I will weep for the wounded of the daughter of my people." And what is now said by the psalmist also makes this clear. For he set forth not only the wounded, but also those cast out from the memory of God and thrust from his hand, according to whom Christ says he is considered; and further, those sleeping in a tomb, the inactive and ineffectual, these things also effecting the resurrection of the dead. They placed me in the lowest pit, in dark places and in the shadow of death. See how he preserves the truth of the passion and the dignity of the one who suffered. For he says, "I have been placed in the lowest pit," since nothing is lower than Hades; and also in dark places, so that through the darkness he might hint at the regions of death.

Moreover, by the shadow of death he indicates the transient nature of the passion, and at the same time that Christ was the sun of righteousness, hidden for a short time as if by the shadow of death. "Your wrath was fixed upon me." Necessarily, since he himself bore the sins of the race, the wrath against sinners was upon him; and it was death and a curse that came upon him; where it was fixed, it no longer comes upon the human race. "And you brought all your high things upon me." By "high things" of God he means the lofty things from him, such as kingship, sanctification, and the sitting together of servants with the Master. Just as the lowly things for our sake, so also the high things concerning us the Father necessarily brought upon Christ. For in him we have the enjoyment of these things. That "high things" means the lofty, Jeremiah clearly reveals to us; for he speaks thus: "If the heaven is raised to the high," says the Lord; that is, if it becomes higher than itself. A diapsalm is attached to what has been said, because after recalling the things concerning the tomb and death in the preceding verses, he now raises the discourse to things higher than these, namely the betrayal and the cross. "You removed my acquaintances from me.

2. Luke relates this in the very same words, where he set forth the history of the cross. All his acquaintances stood at a distance, and the women who had followed him from Galilee, seeing these things. They made me an abomination to themselves. This was fulfilled in the case of Peter, when in the court of the high priest, being cautious of those who said, "Truly you also are one of them, for your speech betrays you," he began to curse and swear, "I do not know the man." I was betrayed, and I did not go out. For it was possible for him to go out, that is, to withdraw, since he also knew the time of the approach of the Jews, so as to say to the disciples, "Sleep the rest and rest; behold, the one who betrays me has drawn near." Yet he willingly submitted to be betrayed. My eyes grew weak from poverty; I cried out to you, Lord. He calls the passion "poverty"; whence also Paul says concerning him, "He became poor for our sake, though he was rich." His eyes, then, grew weak because of the passion; for he willingly endured human things. And he weakened his eyes to such an extent that he even cried out, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani." All the day long I stretched out my hands to you; this is evident in the case of the cross; for the high priest, offering the sacrifice for us, stretching out his hands in the form of prayer, accomplished the economy of the passion. Will you not work wonders for the dead, or will physicians raise them up, and will they confess to you? Here he has made a discourse to the Father, wishing to make known to us the reasons on account of which his descent to the dead was necessary.

These are the reasons: he does not perform wonders for the dead; for he does not cause lightning or thunder among them, nor a storm from a clear sky, nor again fair weather suddenly from a storm, nor any other such marvels as he provides for the living from creation. But neither will physicians raise the dead so that they may behold these things. How then can those who have died in unbelief confess, and how can they be saved, having heard neither the law nor the prophets? For they did not listen to them. The prophet placed a diapsalma before what follows, the Spirit having given him a rest in the melody; yet it still has the same economy of words. Will no one in the tomb recount your mercy and your truth in a land of destruction? For what prophet or lawgiver is in the tomb, or in the land of destruction? He calls the place of the dead "destruction" because of the hopelessness of life, thus naming death. The mercy of God or the truth—that is, his law and commandments, or even Christ himself—for mercy and truth in him he was able to recount, being subject to death because of the sentence against the whole race. Will your wonders and your righteousness not be known in the darkness, in a forgotten land? He still adheres to the same points; for he calls Hades "darkness" as lightless; and the same is also "forgotten land." For those places had not received visitation until the Savior's descent to the dead. Hence neither the wonders of God nor righteousness—that is, neither the signs nor the law—were expected to be known among them.

Often he repeats the same arguments, wishing to show that the economy of the passion is unavoidable, as it benefits both the dead and the living together. "And I cried out to you, Lord, and in the morning my prayer will anticipate you." For since the Son, being of equal honor with the Father, was praying, the prayer necessarily anticipated him, as if running to meet the one to whom it was addressed. And he fittingly added the time, so that you might learn from this as well that it is consistent with the Gospels. For Luke says: "It happened in those days that he went out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the night in prayer to God." And why he prayed with a cry, the following clearly shows: for the words are those of an intercessor. "Why, Lord, do you reject my soul, my prayer, and turn your face away from me?" He said these things having assumed our person, which God turned away from because of disobedience and rejected our soul, because it blamed the creator for transgressing. But Christ does not ask in ignorance, but shows that he should no longer be turned away, as he offers his defense on behalf of all. "I am poor and in labors from my youth." For he became poor for our sake, though rich, and also was in labors from youth, coming to Egypt, then hiding in Nazareth of Galilee, and undergoing many other plots. "And when I was exalted, I was humbled and reduced to perplexity." Whether you speak of the height of the signs or of the cross, in both cases he was humbled and reduced to perplexity, being disparaged by the Jews. "Your wrath passed over me.

He speaks of the angers against humanity, that is, the punishments and threats which he received, offering himself through sufferings on our behalf. "Your terrors have troubled me, they have surrounded me like water." He speaks of the terrors against the first-formed man. For they were strong, since they possessed the sealing and allied decree of God. By these he was so troubled that he says, "My soul is very sorrowful unto death." Indeed, he was also constrained, being encircled by thoughts as by water. Therefore he said to the Father, "Now my soul is troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour." But for this reason I came to this hour. "All day long they surrounded me together." Here he mentioned the day of the passion, on which all together—high priests, elders, Pharisees, scribes, and the people of the Jews—surrounded him. Matthew also makes this clear, when all were gathered and Pilate inquired, "Whom do you wish me to release to you?" "You have removed from me a friend and a neighbor, and my acquaintances from misery." He speaks of Peter; for he was a friend because of his discipleship. You will know this from the Lord saying, "I no longer call you servants, but friends." He calls him "neighbor" because of the very fervent and intense faith; and "acquaintances" refers to all the apostles. For they knew him above all, as you have heard him saying in the Gospels, "Righteous Father, and the world did not know you; but I knew you, and they knew that you sent me." Yet, because of the misery of the passion, for a time all were removed.

He does not attribute this to them, but to the Father. For the mystery of the cross surpassed their power. But this was done by the Father's will and good pleasure. Of Understanding, to Aitham the Israelite. Psalm 88. 1. This is a different psalmist from the one indicated by the inscription of the eighty-seventh psalm. For that one was Haiman, but this one is called Aitham. They are perhaps relatives or fellow citizens; therefore each of them is named Israelite, receiving this designation from place or kinship. The present psalm is also inscribed "Of Understanding"; for the matters set forth in this prophecy concern great things requiring understanding of God: "Your mercies, Lord, I will sing forever." He means the present age. Here he indicates not a single form of mercy, but many kinds of philanthropy: baptism, repentance, almsgiving, by each of which the sinner can obtain mercy and compassion. "To generation and generation I will proclaim your truth in my mouth." To generation and generation, that is, the present and the future; for in each we recount the truth of God. Now we learn it from the divinely inspired Scripture, later we receive it through deeds themselves, and we see the truth shining clearly in our own judgment, when each receives the recompense of his own works. But why he assigns mercy to the present age, and truth to both the present and the future, the following shows: "Because you said, mercy will be built forever in the heavens; your truth will be prepared.

Of God, he says, each of the things spoken has become a decree. What is this and of what sort? It is perhaps the proclamation of God: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has drawn near. For the saying was urgent, hastening the repentance of sinners. Therefore he says, Repent. Since now mercy has place, and here the architect of our salvation built the philanthropy that is in our power; then, sealing this, he added, For the kingdom of heaven has drawn near, showing that if the kingdom of heaven arrives, repentance no longer has place, because in the heavens the judge has prepared his own truth; and the truth of a judge conducts judgment without any partiality. How then is mercy built, that is, constructed, and how is truth prepared in the heavens? Evidently by the guidance of judgment; but each is accomplished through the coming of Christ; therefore he brings this forward most clearly in what follows. I have established a covenant with my elect. What kind? The evangelical covenant, concerning which the prophet Jeremiah set forth: Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, and I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah; not according to the covenant which I made with your fathers, on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. And who becomes the mediator of this covenant? I swore to David my servant: I will prepare your seed for eternity, and I will build your throne for generation after generation. You see that the one from the seed of David is the mediator of this covenant. He does not, he says, improvise the mystery, but prepares it above.

For it was an ancient and true plan, the arrival of the Savior. Hence he promised to prepare the seed of David for eternity. He speaks of Christ, about whom also Paul wrote to the Romans: Paul, slave of Jesus Christ, called apostle, set apart for the Gospel of God, which he previously promised in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son who is born from the seed of David according to the flesh. This throne, that is, the kingdom, God promises to build for generation after generation. For he who is born from the seed of David according to the flesh possesses, in addition to the present kingdom, also the future one, concerning whom Daniel also set forth thus: And to him were given honor and dominion and the kingdom; all peoples, tribes, tongues will serve him; his kingdom is an eternal kingdom, and his authority, which is not destroyed. The Spirit inserted a diapsalma in the middle, since he transferred the speech to the person of the prophet. The heavens will confess your wonders, Lord; and indeed your truth in the assembly of saints. Understand heavens as those who contemplate heavenly things. For such a person is called heavenly also by Paul. Therefore elsewhere this same prophet says: The heavens proclaim the glory of God, hinting at the apostles, as also now. For these confess, that is, with thanksgiving they announce the wonders of God and the truth in the assembly of saints. Of whom? Of those in Jerusalem; which Luke clearly recorded about Barnabas and Paul in the apostolic Acts, when the apostles and the elders gathered to consider the question at hand.