Psalm 17 — I will love you, O Lord, my strength

^17:1^ Unto the end, for David the servant of the Lord, who spoke to the Lord the words of this canticle, in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hands of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. ^17:2^ I will love you, O Lord, my strength. ^17:3a^ The Lord is my firmament, my refuge, and my deliverer.

^17:3b^ My God is my helper, and in him will I put my trust. My protector and the horn of my salvation, and my support. ^17:4^ Praising I will call upon the Lord, and I shall be saved from my enemies.

^17:5^ The sorrows of death surrounded me and the torrents of iniquity troubled me.

^17:6^ The sorrows of hell encompassed me and the snares of death prevented me. ^17:7^ In my affliction I called upon the Lord and I cried to my God, and he heard my voice from his holy temple, and my cry before him came into his ears.

^17:8^ The earth shook and trembled; the foundations of the mountains were troubled and were moved, because he was angry with them.

^17:9^ There went up a smoke in his wrath, and a fire flamed from his face; coals were kindled by it.

^17:10^ He bowed the heavens and came down, and darkness was under his feet. ^17:11a^ And he ascended upon the cherubim,

^17:11b^ and he flew; he flew upon the wings of the winds. ^17:12^ And he made darkness his covert, his pavilion round about him: dark waters in the clouds of the air. ^17:13^ At the brightness that was before him the clouds passed, hail and coals of fire.

^17:14^ And the Lord thundered from heaven, and the Highest gave his voice: hail and coals of fire. ^17:15a^ And he sent forth his arrows, and he scattered them;

^17:15b^ he multiplied lightnings, and troubled them.

^17:16^ Then the fountains of waters appeared, and the foundations of the world were discovered. At your rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the spirit of your wrath.

^17:17^ He sent from on high, and took me and received me out of many waters.

^17:18^ He delivered me from my strongest enemies and from those who hated me, for they were too strong for me. ^17:19^ They prevented me in the day of my affliction and the Lord became my protector. ^17:20^ And he brought me forth into a large place; he saved me, because he was well pleased with me. ^17:21^ And the Lord will reward me according to my justice and will repay me according to the cleanness of my hands. ^17:22^ Because I have kept the ways of the Lord and have not done wickedly against my God. ^17:23^ For all his judgments are in my sight and his justices I have not put away from me.

^17:24^ And I shall be spotless with him and shall keep myself from my iniquity. ^17:25^ And the Lord will reward me according to my justice and according to the cleanness of my hands before his eyes.

^17:26^ With the holy, you will be holy, and with the innocent man you will be innocent; ^17:27^ and with the elect you will be elect, and with the perverse you will be perverse. ^17:28^ For you will save the humble people but will bring down the eyes of the proud.

^17:29^ For you light my lamp, O Lord; O my God, enlighten my darkness.

^17:30^ For by you I shall be delivered from temptation, and through my God I shall go over a wall.

^17:31^ As for my God, his way is undefiled; the words of the Lord are fire-tried; he is the protector of all that trust in him. ^17:32^ For who is God but the Lord? Or who is God but our God?

^17:33^ God who has girt me with strength and made my way blameless,

^17:34^ who has made my feet like the feet of harts and who sets me upon high places; ^17:35^ who teaches my hands to war. And you have made my arms like a brazen bow,

^17:36^ and you have given me the protection of your salvation, and your right hand has held me up, and your discipline has corrected me unto the end, and your discipline, the same shall teach me. ^17:37^ You have enlarged my steps under me, and my feet are not weakened.

^17:38^ I will pursue after my enemies and overtake them, and I will not turn again until they fail.

^17:39^ I will break them, and they shall not be able to stand; they shall fall under my feet.

^17:40^ And you have girded me with strength unto battle and have subdued under me those who rose up against me. ^17:41^ And you have made my enemies turn their back upon me, and have destroyed those who hated me.

^17:42^ They cried, but there was none to save them, to the Lord, but he heard them not. ^17:43^ And I shall beat them as small as the dust before the wind; I shall bring them to naught, like the dirt in the streets.

^17:44^ You will deliver me from the contradictions of the people; you will make me head of the gentiles. ^17:45^ A people, which I knew not, has served me; at the hearing of the ear they have obeyed me.

^17:46^ The children who are strangers have lied to me; strange children have faded away, and have halted on their paths.

^17:47^ The Lord lives, and blessed be my God, and let the God of my salvation be exalted.

^17:48^ O God, who avenges me, and subdues the people under me, my deliverer from my wrathful enemies. ^17:49^ And you will lift me up above those who rise up against me; from the unjust man you will deliver me. ^17:50^ Therefore will I give glory to you, O Lord, among the nations, and I will sing a psalm to your name. ^17:51^ Giving great deliverance to his king, and showing mercy to David his anointed and to his seed forever.

121. In the previous psalm (Ps 16), the psalmist made a petition, praying to be delivered from his enemies; now here he gives thanks, having been delivered.

First, he gives thanks for the favor of being delivered.

Second, he bursts forth in the praise of his liberator: the heavens show forth the glory of God (Ps 18:2).

The title is unto the end, for David the servant of the Lord. And he spoke to the Lord the words of this canticle, in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.

And this psalm is found, word-for-word, in 2 Samuel 22. And the history is written in 1 Samuel 19, how Saul sought to kill him, and after he had died, Abner and his son were against him (2 Sam 2). In the end, David achieved victory over them and so he made this psalm. And Jerome says the same. (Pseudo-Jerome, Breviarium in Psalmos (Patrologia Latina [Migne], vol. 26).)

Now, since Christ is signified by David, all of this can be referred to Christ, either as the head or in regard to his body, namely the Church, which is delivered from Saul, that is, death. For Saul is interpreted to mean “petition,” since he was given at the petition of the people, indeed rather at their insistence. Thus he was not given to be permanent. Although Christ first endured death, afterwards he remained at peace, according to the gloss. (Peter Lombard, Magna glossatura (Patrologia Latina [Migne], 191:187).) For he was delivered from all his enemies, the Jews and the demons, and this is so also in regard to his body, that is, the Church.

Now this part is divided into three.

In the first, he recalls the favor of being delivered in general.

In the second, he shows the power of his deliverance, at the earth shook.

In the third, he shows the method of his deliverance, at he sent from on high.

He considers two aspects of the favor of being delivered.

First, he recalls the affection he conceived when the favor was foretold.

In the second, he shows the effect following from it, at praising.

A double affection arose in him as a result of this favor, namely, love and hope.

First, he describes the first;

second, the second, at my God.

First, he describes the affection of love towards God;

and second, its reason, at my strength.

Therefore, he says, O Lord, who delivered me, I will love you always, since I will remain in you. Abide in my love (John 15:9). I am sure that neither life nor death, nor angels . . . nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of Christ (Rom 8:38–39). For to love is a quality of rationality, while to feel fondness is general. (Cf. ST I-II, q. 26, a. 1.) Let those who love you shine as the sun shines in his rising (Judg 5:31).

Now the reason for love of something is on account of one’s own proper good. So, when someone considers his good to depend on another, this is a reason why he loves him.

David considered that his whole good was from God, so he says, I love you, because you are my strength.

Strength acts to stabilize the soul, so that he will not draw back from the good on account of threatening difficulties.

Next, he shows how he is his strength. A man needs strength for two things.

First, in regard to goods, that he be made firm in them. And so he says, the Lord is my firmament, that is, my firm foundation. The Lord is my rock (2 Sam 22:2). Every one therefore who hears my words, and does them, shall be likened to a man who builds his house upon a rock (Matt 7:24).

He also needs strength in evils, in two situations.

First, he needs it before they arrive, so that he may flee; so he says, my refuge. The name of the Lord is a strong tower (Prov 18:10). The rock is a refuge for hedgehogs (Ps 103:18).

He also needs it after they have arrived, that he may be delivered, and so he says, my deliverer.

122. My God is my helper. Here he describes the affection of hope, and there is a difference between hope and love since love is a unitive power, for we love something insofar as we consider it to be ours. And so he says that he is his strength. The Lord is my strength and praise and he has become my salvation (Isa 12:2). Hope implies defense from something outside. And God causes both.

Or they differ in this way: the object of hope is an arduous future good, possible to attain. (Cf. ST I-II, q. 40, a. 1, resp.) Therefore, one loves on account of a good already given, but hopes for something in the future out of the trust engendered by love and from similar things, insofar as he believes he will receive similar things in the future. (Cf. ST I-II, q. 25, a. 1.)

And so he makes three points about hope.

First, he hopes for a refuge and firmament founded in good things.

Second, he asks for protection against those evils which already have occurred.

Therefore, he says first, my God is my helper. Unless the Lord had been my helper, my soul had almost dwelt in hell (Ps 93:17).

And in him I will put my trust. You who fear the Lord, hope in him, and mercy shall come to you with delight (Sir 2:9).

Second, because he defends us, we hope to be freed from the evils to which we are not yet subject.

First, we hope that we may not fall;

second, that we may conquer them, and he will crown us on account of victory.

In regard to not falling, he says, my protector. Jerome has, shield, which protects one from being pierced by evil things, just as God does. You have protected me from the assembly of the malignant (Ps 63:3).

In regard to the conquering, he says, and the horn of salvation, since animals strike with the horns, and so the power of God resists enemies, since he fights to conquer temporal and spiritual evils. Through you we will push down our enemies with the horn and through your name we will despise those who rise up against us (Ps 43:6). My heart has rejoiced in the Lord, and my horn is exalted in my God (1 Sam 2:1), that is, my virtue.

As a third comment about hope he says, and my support. When someone conquers, he is received with a triumph, and God will also do this. I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you also may be (John 14:3). With your glory you have received me (Ps 72:24). There is something similar in 2 Samuel 22.

Afterwards, he describes the effect that follows, namely, praise. Praise is speech making clear the greatness of virtue, or at least it follows from it.

First, therefore, he gives the praise;

second, describes its effectiveness.

Therefore, he says, praising I will call upon the Lord, as if to say, “I do not have fitting praise for this, but I will strive to praise you because you have accomplished it.” I will remember the tender mercies of the Lord, the praise of the Lord for all the things that the Lord has bestowed upon me (Isa 63:7).

And I will call upon you, certain of the effect, since by calling upon you I shall be saved from my enemies. Everyone who shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Joel 2:32).

123. The sorrows of death surrounded me. Here he describes the necessity of being delivered.

First, he shows the greatness of the deliverance;

second, the prayer which he pours out to God, at in affliction.

Third, he describes being heard: he heard.

Notice that these three things, iniquity, death, and hell, are ordered to each other because man is led to death by iniquity and through death he is brought down to hell; and so, as the first is the way to the second, the second is to the third.

Therefore, he first speaks about the first step;

second, about the second, that they go from death to hell, at the sorrows of hell encompassed me.

He considers two aspects of this.

First, he describes its manner;

second, the way to it, namely, iniquity: the torrents of iniquity.

The sorrow of death is the greatest. Does bitter death separate in this manner? (1 Sam 15:32); O death, how bitter is your remembrance! (Sir 41:1). So, when someone cannot escape it, then sorrows surround him, and they are as great as they are inescapable.

The way is iniquity, as though I fear it, since the torrents of iniquity troubled me. A torrent is a flow of water gushing with force. As the torrent that passes swiftly in the valleys (Job 6:15). Therefore, the sudden force of interior iniquity, that is, of sudden and grave temptation, is a torrent pushing towards sin.

Or it acts exteriorly, such as by the force of some enemy. And these troubled me.

124. The sorrows of hell encompassed me. Here it continues following the progression, and so he mentions the sorrows of hell, that is, sorrows like those of hell. I will go down to hell, mourning (Gen 37:35).

Or they are the sorrows which come about from the fear of hell. And these surround one when they are inescapable. And these sorrows come because the snares of death prevented me.

To which death is he referring? He who gathers treasures by a lying tongue is vain and foolish, and shall stumble upon the snares of death (Prov 21:6). Behold the need in which he finds himself. But he puts forward the remedy of prayer.

So first he describes his prayer, and so he says, in my affliction I called upon the Lord. In their affliction they will rise early to me (Hos 6:1). And now, O Lord God . . . let your wrath be turned away from us, for we are left a few among the nations (Bar 2:11, 13). Seek the Lord, while he may be found (Isa 55:6). Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver you (Ps 49:15). I called, and the spirit of wisdom came upon me (Wis 7:7).

Afterwards, he describes the devotion of his prayer, since I cried to my Lord, that is, praying with great devotion. In my trouble I cried to the Lord and he heard me (Ps 119:1). With a strong cry and tears, he was heard offering up prayers (Heb 5:7).

And he says, I cried to my Lord, not to another. Adore the Lord your God (Matt 4:10; Luke 4:8; Deut 10:20).

Third, he describes being heard: he heard. He has said two things: he called, and he cried out. And so he speaks about the voice and cry being heard.

From where? He heard my voice from his holy temple. The temple of God is the excellence of his holiness, since the Lord is his own temple. I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God almighty is its temple (Rev 21:22).

Also, the temple is Christ himself. But he spoke of the temple of his body (John 2:21) in which God is through the union of persons.

Likewise, it is the soul of the just, in which God dwells by grace. For the temple of God is holy which you are (1 Cor 3:17).

Likewise, it is the Blessed Virgin. I will worship towards your holy temple (Ps 5:8) in which (that is, through whom) God has heard us. He heard me and he delivered me from all my troubles (Ps 33:5).

Likewise, it is the Church. The Lord is in his holy temple (Ps 10:5). And in this temple he will listen to any concern. If he shall know the wound of his own heart, and shall spread forth his hands in this house, you shall hear in the place of your dwelling (1 Kgs 18:38–39).

And he says that not only the prayer is heard, but also the cry; so he says, and my cry before him came into his ears.

And he says, before him, that is, in his sight, since he sees all things. Seeing, I have seen the affliction of my people (Exod 3:7).

Or it is before him, that is, in his good pleasure, or in the heart where he alone sees. A man sees those things that appear, but God beholds the heart (1 Sam 16:7).

And it came into his ears through his acceptance of it. Their cry has entered into the ears of the Lord (Jas 5:4).

Or it is, in his ears, that is, in his kindness. The prayer of him who humbles himself shall pierce the clouds (Sir 35:21).

125. The earth shook and trembled. Above, the psalmist treated the affection engendered by the favors of deliverance; here he describes the power of delivering.

The power of the agent is shown by the effect of the agent. Now what is said here can pertain to two effects of God, namely, to that which he shows forth in bodies and to the effect of redemption. And indeed, it applies well to both, since those things which are said under bodily figures are fulfilled spiritually through the effect of redemption.

Now the effect of the divine power is most greatly manifested in bodily things, since spiritual things are less known to us and men principally marvel at these. These are the shaking of the elements, namely, earth, air, water, and fire.

Therefore, this part is divided into three parts.

In the first, he shows the power of God in effects which concern the earth.

In the second, he shows it in the movement of the air.

Third, he shows it in the movements of the waters.

The second is at he bowed the heavens.

The third is at the fountains of waters appeared.

If this is interpreted in the mystical sense, it is divided instead into two sections.

First, he shows the fruits of divine redemption accomplished through Christ.

Second, he shows the way this is accomplished, at he bowed the heavens.

The first part of the discussion of the effect on the earth has two parts.

He first treats the effects on the earth, which is lower.

Second, he treats that which ascends, having come from on high.

If interpreted mystically, he shows the twofold effect of redemption:

namely, repentance of sinners;

and the devotion of the just, at he ascended.

But in regard to the bodily effect from the earth below, the most wondrous effect is an earthquake.

Here, he touches on three things:

first, the shaking itself;

second, that which makes it wondrous;

third, its cause.

Therefore, he says, the earth shook and trembled.

Something can be moved in two ways.

In one way, something is moved from one place to another, and the earth is not moved in this way.

Another type of movement is trembling, and so the disturbance of the mountains makes an earthquake wondrous, since if the earth was moved only a little bit, it would not be wondrous, but when the mountains are moved, then it is wondrous; and so he says, they were troubled, since they seem to have lost their stability.

The first cause is the divine will, and this is expressed metaphorically when he says, because he, namely God, was angry with them. Just as when a lord is disturbed, those who wait upon him tremble, so at God’s disturbance all things are troubled.

Mystically, this signifies men being moved to repentance. This takes place also among those who are lesser, and these are signified by the earth; so he says, the earth shook and trembled, that is, those who were previously sinners and earthly. You have laid your heart as the earth, and as a way to those who went over (Isa 51:23). This movement is that of the desire being moved from earthly things to heavenly things, and is caused by a tremor engendered by punishments. From the fear of you, Lord we have conceived, and been as it were in labor, and have brought forth wind of salvation (Isa 26:18).

Some are great, and these are called mountains, that is, those proud in the world. They were moved, through the coming of Christ. The foundations of the mountains are those things in which they are established, namely, riches, powers, and honors. The mountains shall be removed into the heart of the sea (Ps 45:3). Understand that they are troubled when adversities come, and afterwards they are completely shaken. The Lord of hosts has designed it, to pull down the pride of all glory, and bring to disgrace all the glorious ones of the earth (Isa 23:9).

All kingdoms and powers which have a beginning will have a fall. The reason is because he was angry with them.

This can be understood in two ways.

If it is said about the evil, there is no doubt that the vengeance of God which is called anger brings it about.

If it is about the good, it is that anger of God which is made known to them so they are converted.

He reveals it through this: for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and injustice of those men who detain the truth of God in injustice (Rom 1:18).

126. There went up a smoke. Here the effect which is from on high is described physically. Now the effect on the earth is from on high when the earth is burned somewhere with heavenly fire. And he considers two aspects of this.

First, he touches on the matter itself;

second, on the rising of the fire and its burning.

Its matter is dry smoke, set loose, and it ascends as long as it is kindled, and so he says, there went up a smoke in his wrath, that is, in his will—that is, God’s, through which he punishes.

From his face, that is, from his power, a fire flamed, that is, rose, and coals, that is, combustible material is kindled here.

Mystically, two things are expressed by this:

namely, the devotion of prayer,

and the inflammation of charity.

There went up a smoke in his wrath. By this the wrath of God kindled against sinners can be understood.

There went up a smoke of devout prayer. The smoke of the incense ascended (Rev 8:4), that is, of the fire of charity; from his face, that is, Christ’s, it flamed. I am come to cast fire on the earth (Luke 12:49).

Coals were kindled by it, namely, those able to be lit. A coal had fire at one time, like man who had charity in the beginning, but it went out; but these have been rekindled by Christ. Likewise, coals which are not wet burn, but those which are wet do not, like those who are wet from the flow of carnal lust. The sharp arrows of the mighty with coals (Ps 119:4).

The earth shook and trembled; the foundations of the mountains were troubled and were moved, because he was angry with them. God is said to be angry not because he has the qualities of angry in himself but because of his effect. (Cf. ST I, q. 19, a. 11, resp.) Now when a lord is angry, he makes his servants tremble, and a lion, the cub. Through this we should know that the power controlling the members draws back from the exterior and returns to the interior, as though retreating towards the heart, and surrendering to the pictured evil.

Or, he is not able to resist the powers surging up against him, and his members tremble as a wall does when its foundation is undermined. For the soul contains the body and is like its foundation, and part of the soul contains part of the body. (Cf. ST I, q. 76, a. 8.) So, as when the foundation is struck the wall trembles, when the power is struck the member trembles. So, therefore, the effect of anger in an animal is called a tremor. Now an animal is said to tremble when part of it is struck while the whole remains in place, and this also applies to an earthquake, when the earth is said to tremble because of its likeness to an animal. Therefore, God is said to be angry at the earth in an earthquake.

Or it can be understood in this way. There are four things in man: reason, the sensitive powers, the natural faculties, (A parallel text in the Summa theologiae reads vires naturales, referring to the human powers that are also shared by vegetables, i.e., absorption of nutrients, growth, etc.; cf. ST I, q. 96, a. 2, resp.) and the body. (Cf. ST I, q. 96, a. 2, resp. In the parallel text in the Summa, Thomas does not compare God to one of the human powers. The angels are paralleled to reason, etc.) But in the world are God, angels, animals, plants, and the elements.

Now we see that the body immediately trembles at an evil depicted in the imagination which the body cannot resist, not from intellectual knowledge of it, but according to a certain natural order, or naturally, insofar as the power of the pictured evil is stronger than the body. (Cf. ST I-II, q. 44, a. 3.)

And so, when God directs his power to the earth, although it does not have knowledge of anger, it naturally trembles. The foundations: these are the cavities or caves in the earth, by whose motion the mountains are shaken. Because he was angry.

The first cause is the will of God or his power willing to act in them, but he acts here through mediating causes so that all secondary causes are related to the earth as the imagined evil moving the members.

There went up a smoke. Here note that, according to the Philosopher, warm and moist vapor is released from the moist earth by the power of the sun, but hot and dry vapor is released from dry earth. (Aristotle, Meteorology 1.4, 341b.) In nature, the second ascends higher than the first. For this second is like fire, but that is like air, and the psalmist calls this vapor smoke because it is hot and dry. The Philosopher rightly calls it the material for fire. (Aristotle, Meteorology 1.4, 341b.) For this rising vapor, made to expand through the addition of a little heat, is lit as it circulates.

This dry smoke, if it has length and width after it has been lit, is called flame. For, according to the Philosopher a flame is a breath of dry heat. (Aristotle, Meteorology 1.4, 341b.) If it has only length, it is called brands (or firebrands) and billy goats or goats and stars. It is a brand when the matter continues burning for a long time without shimmering. It is called a goat when it shimmers, that is, when it seems to dance and run, as a goat. It is called stars when the matter is discontinuous and seems to fly like the stars, and this has the least amount of material. (Aristotle, Meteorology 1.4, 341b.)

And there is another type of star, which is cold, expelling what is hot, and these stars do not seem to fly, but rather to be thrown out, as the Philosopher says, and they are generated not from smoke that is entirely dry, but from a moist and hot vapor which, according to its nature, does not ascend like the dry, as was said. (Aristotle, Meteorology 1.4, 342a.) And since it is dry, it is affected by the cold and is reflected off and thrown down. And this takes place during the day and when it is clear; at another time it would be put out by the density and moisture of the air. And that it is seen during the day is a sign that it belongs to the earth.

Now, it is set afire in two ways:

either through continuity, as a flame above lights a lamp below;

or through motion from cold and compression or by the gathering together of the hot.

Therefore, he says, the smoke went up, that is, the dry exhalation, in his wrath, that is, through his willing to act in it.

And a fire, that is, that smoke which is called fire by the Philosopher in the beginning of the Meteorology, as if it does not have a proper name, just like the exhalation of moisture which is called vapor, but it is called fire since it is disposed to rise upwards and since it is hot and dry like fire. (Cf. Aristotle, Meteorology 1.4, 342a.)

For this fire flames, that is, it has been lit by God as the first cause, which rising fire is called brands, flames, and stars. I say that the stars are generated in the first way, as was said.

Coals were kindled by it, that is, the stars generated in the second way.

Or the passages can be understood in this way: the earth shook and trembled. Dry vapor lifted up from the earth by the power of the heat of the sun is sometimes fine, and then it is raised higher and expands as was said above. Sometimes it is on the surface of the earth and is somewhat thicker; then, because of the cold seeping into it, it does not rise so far, and it is wind. Sometimes a thicker dry vapor arises in the earth, which, because of its thickness and the solidity and depth of the earth, it does not breathe forth but is collected in some cave of the earth appropriate to it, and it is compressed by another body unlike it in kind, and so it is disturbed within the bowels of the earth and so moves them. Nor is this surprising since we see the wind on the sea raise up waves like mountains, and on the earth it lifts up the trees and makes buildings fall, and in the air it causes great storms.

Now, a sign that wind is the cause of earthquakes is seen in that before an earthquake the wind is usually still, but after an earthquake there is wind. Then the subtle matter moving the earth rises from the earth through the heat of the sun, and so the earthquake stops and there are winds. The cause of an earthquake is the pressure of one wind upon another, and as a result there cannot be an earthquake throughout the whole earth at the same time, but they continue for two hundred miles or more, as Seneca says. (Seneca, Naturales quaestiones, 2.6.25.3, 30.3.) And he says that an earthquake divided Sicily from Calabria and Hispania from Africa. And sometimes one can last for forty days, sometimes for a year.

Also, note that solid earth, from which vapor cannot breathe forth exteriorly, is more likely to be moved rapidly, for it is not the nature of stone to be lightly moved and shaken; nevertheless, there must be some porous part where the vapor enters, since vapor enters through the porous and is contained by the solid. And if you were to ask why if it enters it cannot get out, it could be said that it cannot always do that, since sometimes the entry of the vapor and its rising continues to this place.

And likewise, since heat does not go into the lower regions, the waves of the sea add to this by closing the pores and sealing off the lower regions by their coldness. So a cavernous place near the sea has frequent earthquakes.

Likewise, note that this vapor is always entering the earth to some degree, and for this reason animals who have their head near the earth are often poisoned by the poisonous vapor issuing from the earth. (Cf. Seneca, Naturales quaestiones, 2.6.27.4.)

127. He bowed the heavens. Here, he treats of the winds.

Note here that the matter of wind is vapor or a dry, warm exhalation, but it is not so fine nor so hot that it can ascend to the highest reaches, and so it is impeded by the cold and made to thicken and rebound in the lower regions, and this rebounding moves the air. Nevertheless, it has enough heat that it is not overcome by the cold and converted into earth, and so it is called darkness, and it is said to be under his feet, since it is not as high as that which is lit into flames.

Now sometimes it does not rebound immediately, but it stirs up the clouds since it is not totally held down; nor does it go directly down to the earth; because of this has a twisting motion, so it seems to attempt to arise, but cannot because of it rebounding, and this is what he says.

128. And he flew. Here he treats the movements in the air as a bodily effect, and the movement is threefold: namely, in the winds, in the clouds, and in the thunder, and he treats these as he pleases.

He describes three things about the winds.

First is the effective cause of all these changes;

second, the matter;

third, the mode.

Now the cause of all of these is the heavenly body which causes these changes in the air by its motion, and so he says, he bowed the heavens, that is, he ordered the power of the heavenly bodies to this effect since they received this ability from God.

And came down. Although God accomplishes all of this while remaining unmoving himself, he nevertheless is said to move through the effect, insofar as he causes moving effects. Wisdom is more active than all active things (Wis 7:24), and according to this, he is said to descend, because he makes the power of the heavens descend.

The matter of winds is darkness or dry smoke, not so fine that ascends and becomes fire, but it remains below, and so he says, under his feet, that is, under his power, and the whole is from God.

The mode is: he ascended upon the cherubim. It should be noted that the Jews imagined that just as a king has a chariot, so God has a chariot which is the cherubim, and they pictured God as corporeal, and likewise the cherubim.

And so, in the Psalter of Jerome, instead of this word he says, he rode upon the cherubim. And their imagination was wrong, since those things said using imagery in Scripture are signs of spiritual truth.

Now, the divine wisdom is said to be moved insofar as it causes motion in movable things. Now, whatever God causes in lower things, he causes through the ministry of spiritual creatures; so Augustine says that God moves the bodily creature through the mediation of the spiritual creature, but that God presides. (Augustine, On the Trinity 3.4 (Corpus Christianorum Series Latina, 50:135).) And this is particularly said to be in regard to cherubim, which word is interpreted as “fullness of knowledge,” and God causes all things through his knowledge.

And he is said to be upon the cherubim, since the knowledge of God exceeds the knowledge of the angels.

And so God does this flying, that is, he makes to fly. And he does this through the cherubim, that is, through his knowledge, and he who exceeds them is upon them. And so he says, he flew, because the motion of the wind is not uniform, and he says, upon the wings of the wind, because of the speed of his motion.

Mystically, the mystery of the Incarnation is described.

First, the Incarnation of Christ through which he left and came into the world is recorded.

Second is mentioned his Ascension, by which he went to the Father: he ascended upon the cherubim.

Third are mentioned those things which took place in the Church after Christ’s Ascension: and he made darkness his covert.

Therefore, he says, he bowed the heavens and came down. If someone great acts humbly to another who is from a small village, he is said to injure and degrade the whole place which he governs. So the Son of Man is said to humiliate himself and bow down the heavens, because he chose to come humble to us.

He came down, that is, he appeared visibly. Afterwards he was seen upon earth, and conversed with men (Bar 3:38). That which we have seen, and we have heard . . . and our hands have handled of the word of life (1 John 1:1). Therefore, he descended through the humility with which he accepted human flesh, by which he died and taught humble things.

Or: he bowed down the heavens, that is, the preachers, and came down, making them speak things suited to the capacity of men.

And darkness, that is, the devil and all evil, is under his feet, that is, Christ’s. I will make your enemies your footstool (Ps 109:1).

He speaks about the Ascension: he ascended upon the cherubim. He who descended is the same also who ascended above all the heavens, that he might fill all things (Eph 4:10). He is upon the cherubim, that is, over the orders of angels. Setting him on his right hand in the heavenly places above all principality and power and virtue and dominion. . . . And he has subjected all things under his feet, and has made him head over all the church which is his body (Eph 1:20–23). O most mighty, great, and powerful, the Lord of hosts is your name, great in counsel and incomprehensible in thought (Jer 32:18–19). And he particularly says, upon the cherubim, because he does not only ascend in that he is superior to them, but in that he is incomprehensible.

By he flew, he flew, a twofold flight is understood.

The first is that after the Ascension, his fame reached the whole world in a brief time. So he says, upon the wings of the wind, that is, faster than feathers scattered by the force of the winds, because in a little less than three years, their sound had gone forth into all the earth (Ps 18:5), since it took place before the destruction of Jerusalem.

Or, he flew, made invisible ascending into heaven, and he flew out of our sight. A cloud received him from their sight (Acts 1:9).

Likewise, he flew upon the wings of the wind, that is, above the knowledge of the angels. Who makes your angels spirits (Ps 103:4). So it is said in the Book of Causes, that the first cause is above all expression, and language does not fail in speaking about it except because it fails in speaking of that being itself which is higher than any cause. (The Book of Causes 5. The commentator mentioned in the next sentence likely refers to the comments that follow in De causis itself.) And the Commentator says that there can be no judgment or knowledge of him.

And he made darkness his covert. As has been said, those things which are used here to show the wonderful power of God, by which David was liberated, can be taken as referring to physical effects as images and to spiritual effects in mystery.

Therefore, the psalmist first introduces those things which show the excellence of the divine power in the air by physical effects, and he does this in three ways:

in the wind,

in the rain and clouds,

and in the lightning.

And since the winds were discussed above, we should speak about the rain in the air. Now, in regard to clouds and rain, we find a double movement in the air:

one that goes from clear to cloudy;

another that goes from cloudy to clear.

Therefore, he first describes the first movement;

second, the second: at the brightness.

He makes three points about the change from clear to cloudy.

First, he shows the obscurity of the cloudy time.

Second, he gives an image of this.

Third, he describes the cause of the obscurity.

Therefore, as a description of the cloudiness, he says, he made darkness his covert. It is said that God dwells in heaven. Therefore, when the clouds hide heaven, God seems to dwell in concealment. I will cover heaven with a cloud (Ezek 32:7). And he gives an image related to the tabernacle, and so he says, his pavilion round about him. For a tabernacle is pitched and moved as the clouds are. He says, dark waters in the clouds of the air.

Then he treats of the second movement in regard to clouds and rain: at the brightness that was before him. And he uses a similar image. When light comes, it expels the darkness, and so, when God shows his light, the obscurity of the clouds flees. And so he says, at the brightness that was before him the clouds passed: before the brightness of the light of your face, the clouds passed, just as clouds flee and evaporate at the light or splendor of the sun, as is said in the Meteorology. (Aristotle, Meteorology 1.9, 346b–47a.)

Brands or firebrands occur during the passing of clouds, since the cause of their generation is like that of hail and lightning, or fire. Indeed, the ancients said that they are generated in the highest place and that they are caused by a more intense congealing from a stronger cold. So snow requires more intense cold than water, and rain and hail more than snow. So when it is very cold it immediately condenses into hail. Sometimes precipitation begins as water and afterwards becomes hail. And they say that the vapors that rise higher freeze more and so produce larger hailstones.

But, on the contrary, the Philosopher says that they should be larger in the mountains and in winter, but we see the opposite, since they are actually larger in valleys and in spring and autumn, and they are generated in a nearby place. (Aristotle, Meteorology 1.12, 348a–b.)

Likewise, according to the Philosopher, they are sometimes angular, which is a sign that they come from nearby, for those which are angular melt more quickly.

Now it is known that it is natural for an opposite to act more strongly on an opposite. Now it happens that in clouds the cold and hot are mixed together; therefore, when moving hot air encircles and compresses the cold which it is not able to consume, then the cold air circulates around within the surrounding heat.

But falling firebrands can be generated from two causes.

In one way, from smoke, which ascends high up to a point where it ignites, and then descends until it finds combustible material. And he touches on this when he says, coals were kindled by it.

And here he touches on the other way, which comes about through resistance against it. Now, sometimes in a cloud there is some heat, and it is constricted inside by the cold on the outside, and it increases, so that the material sticks together and falls, and so coals of fire and hailstones have a similar origin, namely, the constriction of the cold or the hot, as was said. Therefore, he says, at the brightness that was before him. And these pass at the same time as coals and hailstones which are generated from clouds, as has been said.

129. Here he treats of the third movement.

First, he speaks about thunder;

second, about lightning, at he sent forth his arrows.

It should be known that the psalmist says this using an image so that whatever is in the heavens will be attributed to God. So the sound heard in heaven is taken as the voice of God.

Now, there are two sounds in heaven.

One is thunder, and although some say it is the extinguishing of fire in the cloud, the psalmist rejects this, and says that it occurs when winds and clouds crash together. And so the psalmist says, the Lord thundered from heaven.

Likewise, sometimes there are thick clouds from which hailstones are generated with sound, so the Philosopher says that sometimes a noise comes from a cloud before hail is generated, and sometimes it does not, for just as when hot and dry vapor is expelled from the cold, it makes a sound as it tears the cloud, so does this happen in lightning: moist vapor freezes into hail and, expelled by the hot, also tears the cloud and makes a sound. (Aristotle, Meteorology 1.12, 348a–b.)

And so he says, the Highest gave his voice, that is, manifested his power, and it follows, hail and coals of fire, which are generated from the clouds, as has been said.

Or so: he thundered from heaven. Note that sometimes moist vapor ascends to a higher place, and because it has the nature of water, from it come the forms of humidity which are clouds, dew, mist, rain, hail, and snow, and these kinds of things.

Now, these different forms occur sometimes because of the difference in the fineness or density of the hot and cold. For sometimes dry vapor ascends, and if it ascends alone, it makes winds. However, if this dry vapor is surrounded by humid vapor, then, when the humid vapor ascends and begins to thicken because of the cold, the dry vapor enclosed in the humid vapor is greatly agitated and kindled, for such vapor is easily kindled, as is seen in the vapor which comes forth from the belly of a man, and this kindling is the cause of lightning and flashing.

Now, the dry vapor moving about inside the clouds makes many sounds.

For if, when kindled, it beats against the side of a cloud and does not tear it, then it glitters indistinctly; as if someone should see a light through a cloth, for insofar as the cloud is somewhat translucent, it is seen partially. The sound is like that of a flame in the middle of a conflagration.

Sometimes, it does not kindle, and, without flashing, it makes sound like a tumult, and this takes place when it pierces through the sides of clouds without being kindled.

Now, if it pierces the side and tears through it, although with some difficulty—this takes place in parts of the thicker clouds—then there is a terrible sound, like someone tearing a great length of cloth, and then the lightning and flashing seen are curved, since they do not come forth directly from the cloud, as has been said.

Sometimes it tears a cloud with great power and almost immediately, and then the whole vapor issues forth at the same time, and then the sound is as though an inflamed bladder or an inflated skin were broken on someone’s head, and it strikes the air with a strong clapping sound.

Sometimes, the dry vapor grows as it expands, and, seeking a larger place, it suddenly dissolves the cloud with a sound like green wood or a large egg crackling in the fire, and this is especially apparent in chestnuts: when they are placed in fire, the moisture within them begins to loosen, and seeking a larger place, breaks the resisting shell and exits with a great sound.

Sometimes, it cannot entirely exit, and it sounds like white-hot iron extinguished in water, which sound the Philosopher calls sisinum or hissing. (Aristotle, Meteorology 2.9, 369a–b.)

Sometimes this vapor makes various fissures in places in a less dense cloud, and then it makes a sound of whistling, like the wind when it exits through a fissure.

Sometimes it bursts forth from a cloud before lighting, and then it sounds like a workman’s bellows when they are pumped.

130. He multiplied lightnings. Here he describes the motion of lightning, and he compares it to arrows on account of the intensity of the wind by which it is moved.

And he scattered them, namely, sinners, who sometimes are moved by these. For there are different movements of lightning which correspond to the different winds. For just as above he said, he flew, he flew, about the ways in which the wind is agitated to show the different forms of the winds, so here he says, lightnings, to show the different types of lightning.

He says, he troubled them, since Pliny says that augury is based on lightning, since sometimes it is a good sign, such as when it is in the east, and sometimes it is not good; and so men making these predictions are disturbed by these signs of future things. (Pliny, Naturalis historia 18.81.)

131. Then the fountains of waters appeared. Here he treats the generation of waters which come forth from certain beginnings, which are called fountains from which all water is generated.

Now these are generated in two ways.

Sometimes they arise from a fitting and natural cause, and it is like when the vapors above the earth are lifted up, and, as a result of this elevation, they congeal higher up and descend and become rain. So also when vapors rising from the interior heat of the earth do not exit, but gather together and condense into water and become fountains of water. Just as rain is generated in the air, so fountains are generated in the earth, and so fountains arise around mountains from which vapors cannot exit. And this is what he says, the fountains of waters appeared.

Sometimes fountains are generated from the overturning of the earth during an earthquake, from which shaking veins of water submerged deep in the earth appear, and so he says, the foundations of the world were discovered.

The Philosopher thinks that overturning is caused by the enclosed interior wind, like when the wind in the air moves the air. (Aristotle, Meteorology 2.8, 368b.) But when the wind is held in, there is an earthquake, and both winds seem to come from the wrath of God. And so he says it was done by the earth, as in an earthquake.

Mystically, this describes spiritual effects, and just as above, the mystery of the Incarnation was shown, signifying that Incarnation through which he descended and the Ascension, so here those things which came afterwards are signified.

First, therefore, he shows his concealment;

second, the congregation of the Church, at his pavilion round about him;

and third, the preaching of the apostles, at dark waters.

In regard to the first, he says, he made darkness. The gloss distinguishes four kinds of darkness. (Peter Lombard, Magna glossatura (Patrologia Latina [Migne], 191:191–92).)

The first is his humanity. I will cover heaven with a cloud (Ezek 32:7). Verity, you are a hidden God (Isa 45:15).

The second is the sacramental appearances, as in baptism, and the other sacraments in which the divine power works secretly.

Third, he is hidden in the faith of the faithful. While we are in the body, we are absent from the Lord (2 Cor 5:6).

Fourth is when he accomplishes something in a hidden way through the evil, who are darkness. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it (John 1:5).

Sometimes the evil are permitted to do something against the saints, but in the midst of this darkness his pavilion, that is, his Church, is round about him. The Most High has sanctified his own tabernacle (Ps 45:5). Behold, the tabernacle of God with men (Rev 21:3), through faith and charity, insofar as they cling to him as a medium, who equally supports them, as the gloss says. (Peter Lombard, Magna glossatura (Patrologia Latina [Migne], 191:192).)

Dark waters in the clouds of the air. Here he treats the preaching of the apostles.

First he describes the quality of their preaching;

second, the condition of those preaching, at clouds;

and third, the effect of preaching: the fountains of waters appeared.

Therefore, he says, dark water, that is, doctrine, in the clouds, that is, in the prophets and preachers. He calls them clouds because, lifted up above the earth as clouds, they rain down the word of God. Who are these, who fly as clouds? (Isa 60:8). Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain on the just (Isa 45:8).

Or he says, in the clouds of the air, that is, the apostles lifted up above the earth. I will command the clouds to rain no rain upon it (Isa 5:6).

And the apostles are called dark waters in comparison to the light, that is, Christ who appeared to those seeing him. We see now through a glass in a dark manner; but then face to face (1 Cor 13:12).

Or it can be punctuated in another way: dark waters in the clouds of the air, at the brightness that was before him the clouds passed. Afterwards it follows: hail and coals of fire.

And a twofold teaching is distinguished:

that of the prophets, which is obscure because it is veiled, as is said: for, until this present day, the selfsame veil, in the reading of the Old Testament, remains not taken away, because in Christ it is made void (2 Cor 3:14). And so the doctrine is said to be dark waters in the prophets.

But the doctrine of the New Testament is clear, and so he says, at the brightness. The whole is one saying: that is, it is brightness, as was said: in other generations it was not known (Eph 3:5). He has not done in like manner to every nation (Ps 147:9).

Afterwards, he treats the doctors, and they are compared to the clouds, arrows, and lightning.

The clouds are the preachers.

And he says three things about them.

First is their passing: clouds.

Then is the quality of the preaching: hail and coals of fire.

Then is the authority of their preaching: thundered.

The clouds, that is, the apostles, passed, from the Jews to the gentiles. The clouds spread their light which go round about (Job 37:11–12). To you it behooved us first to speak the word of God, but because you reject it . . . we turn to the gentiles (Acts 13:46).

Hail damages many fruits and flowers, and their preaching was like a hail of threats. And coals of fire, that is, burning words, and they had authority because the Lord spoke through them.

So the Lord thundered from heaven, that is, threatening words thundered from the apostles. For it is not you who speak, but the spirit of your Father who speaks in you (Matt 10:20).

The Highest gave his voice, by encouraging meekness. With meekness receive the ingrafted word (Jas 1:21).

And the first word is hail, then second, coals of fire.

Or in another way, he thundered over Christ. A voice came from heaven, “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” The crowd that . . . heard said there was thunder (John 12:28–29).

And the Highest gave his voice, at the Transfiguration: this is my beloved Son (Luke 9:35; cf. Luke 3:17).

He sent forth arrows. The doctors are compared to arrows because of the fervor of the Holy Spirit in them. He has made me as a chosen arrow (Isa 49:2). When they shall rush in to Jacob . . . and fill the face of the world with seed (Isa 27:6).

And he scattered them, since to some the odor of life unto life, to others they were the odor of death unto death (2 Cor 2:16).

He multiplied lightnings. Here he speaks of the clarity of the miracles. Can you send lightnings, and will they go, and will they say to you with respect, “Here we are?” (Job 38:35).

And he troubled them, that is, he stupefied them. Acts 3:10 speaks about the miracle of Peter, which filled everyone with stupefaction and ecstasy in what had come to pass.

Fountains appeared. Here he describes the effect of preaching.

First, he describes the effect;

and second, the beginning: at your rebuke.

There is a twofold effect.

The first is shown when he says, the fountains of water appeared, that is, the lessons of wisdom. I will open rivers in the high hills, and fountains in the midst of the plains; I will turn the desert into pools of waters, and the impassable land into streams of waters (Isa 41:18). Also, you shall draw waters with joy out of the savior’s fountains (Isa 12:3).

Or it is the gifts of the Holy Spirit: there shall be a fountain open to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for the washing of the sinner, and of the unclean woman (Zech 13:1).

Another effect is given when he says, the foundations were discovered, those of the holy patriarchs, upon whose faith ours is founded, since in them those things were said and done figuratively which were revealed through the apostles.

Now the beginning of these things was when Christ began to rebuke. Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matt 4:217). Unless you do penance, you shall all likewise perish (Luke 13:5).

At the blast of the spirit of your wrath, when he inspired them to be disturbed against sins.

132. He sent from on high. Above, the psalmist treated the power of deliverance; here he continues through the order of the blessings of deliverance, and he makes two points.

First, he gives thanks for deliverance in the past;

second, for what he hopes for the future: and I shall be spotless with him.

He does say three things about deliverance in the past.

First, he tells from what he was delivered;

second, he describes his deliverance, at he became;

and third, he gives the cause of his deliverance, at he saved me.

He says two things about that from which he was delivered.

First, he shows that he has been delivered from great tribulations.

Second, he explains how great those tribulations were, at he delivered me.

The gloss reads this according to the literal sense, he sent from on high, as though saying that God is powerful since he, having the highest power, did everything mentioned, namely, moved, and he thundered having the highest power.

And he did this from on high, that is, by his power; he took me by delivering me, and received me, that is, he raised me by protecting me from many waters, that is, from many tribulations. Many are the afflictions of the just; but out of them all will the Lord deliver them (Ps 33:20). You have delivered me . . . from the gate of affliction which compassed me about, and from the oppression of the flame which surrounded me (Sir 51:4–6).

In the mystical sense, God sent his own Son from on high, that is, from heaven. I came down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me (John 6:38). This is what he asked: put forth your hand from on high, and deliver me from out of many waters (Ps 143:7). His going out is from the end of heaven (Ps 18:7).

Or it is about the Holy Spirit: from above he has sent fire (Lam 1:13). And he took me, sick, to heal me. And received me from the many waters of baptism or from a multitude of sins.

Or: he sent from on high, that is, he sent grace to just men. Every gift . . . is from above (Jas 1:17). And took me, in repentance. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd; he shall gather together the lambs with his arm (Isa 40:11). I was like a foster father to Ephraim, I carried them in my arms (Hos 11:3).

Or it is about the people, since the faithful have been taken from many nations.

133. He delivered me. Here he demonstrates that his tribulations were many:

first, from the condition of his enemies;

second, from their persecution: for they were too strong.

The condition of his enemies was very dangerous, since they were powerful and hateful: he delivered me from my strongest enemies, and from those who hated me.

Mystically, the powerful are fleshly sins. If you give to your soul her desires, she will make you a joy to your enemies (Sir 18:31). Should the prey be taken from the strong? (Isa 49:24).

The hating are demons. The Egyptians hated the children of Israel (Exod 1:13). I will cut down his enemies before his face (Ps 88:24).

Afterwards, the persecution is described.

One can be delivered from enemies in two ways:

either because one does not allow oneself to be conquered

or because one flees.

Now, both ways are closed to him, first, because they are powerful and too strong, that is, they have multiplied and surpass him.

Nor can he flee, and this is what he says, they prevented me, blocking the way to escape. Our persecutors were swifter than the eagles of the air; they pursued us upon the mountains (Lam 4:19).

And this takes place in the day of affliction, since a man is weaker when he is afflicted. All her persecutors have taken her away in the midst of straits (Lam 1:3).

He describes a double help from the liberator.

The first is against the strengthening enemies, and so he says, the Lord became my protector, that they might not harm me. You have protected me from the assembly of the malignant (Ps 63:3).

The second is against the prudent, so it follows, he brought me forth into a large place, from a narrow place, in which I did not know what to do, giving me ways to take.

Or he brought me into the large place of charity. Your commandment is exceedingly broad (Ps 118:96).

The cause of deliverance is twofold: namely, divine grace and human merit. So he says, he saved me, because he was well pleased with me.

The strongest reason for deliverance is his own will. Who works all things according to the counsel of his will (Eph 1:11).

And nevertheless, following upon this, some human merit does contribute. The grace of God in me has not been void (1 Cor 15:10). And so he adds, the Lord will reward me according to my justice.

He considers three points on this topic.

First, he describes merit;

second, in what it consists;

and third, he describes the way to reach this merit.

The second is at because I have kept.

The third is at for all his judgments.

The merit of a man consists in two things: namely, in good works and in avoiding evil. Turn away from evil and do good (Ps 36: 27; Ps 33:15).

And so, in regard to the first, he says, the Lord will reward me according to my justice, which he works in me. The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and the torment of the evil shall not touch them (Wis 3:1). To him who sows justice, there is a faithful reward (Prov 11:18).

In regard to the second, he says, he will repay me according to the cleanness of my hands, that is, the innocence. The innocent shall be saved, and he shall be saved by the cleanness of his hands (Job 22:30). He will not deprive of good things those who walk in innocence (Ps 83:13).

Now, this justice consists in keeping the ways of God. I have run the way of your commandments (Ps 118:32). And so he says, because I have kept the ways of the Lord and have not done wickedly against my God. My foot has followed his steps; I have kept his way and have not turned back from it (Job 23:11).

And this is because I have not done wickedly, by drawing back from God, since a man draws back from God through sin and becomes defiled. Our heart has not turned back (Ps 43:19).

How has he reached this? Because all his judgments are in my sight. Thinking about the divine justice is very useful for doing good and avoiding evil. Flee from the face of the sword, for the sword is the revenger of iniquities (Job 19:29).

And I have kept this since his justices I have not put away from me, by eagerness in sinning. Who have said to God, “Depart from us” (Job 21:14). And it follows that a deluge should come upon them (Job 21:17). He who sins from weakness or ignorance is easily pardoned afterwards.

134. And I shall be spotless. Above, the psalmist remembered the favor of his past deliverance; here he hopes for the future.

And first, he calls to mind the favors given in general;

second, those which he has received in particular and for which he hopes, at my God, his way is undefiled.

Third, he commends the divine justice.

He considers two things regarding the first.

First, he puts down a prayer to God.

Second, he calls to mind his hope of being heard: for you light my lamp.

He puts forward three things:

first, his intention of persevering in innocence;

second, the merit of reward;

and third, the reason given.

The second is at he will reward.

The third is at with the holy, you will be holy.

Therefore, he says, and I shall be spotless with him, that is, I will cling to God, since this is spoken both in his own person and in that of others who are innocent, and so he says, and I will be, that is, I will remain and persevere in innocence. Blessed is the . . . man who is found without blemish (Sir 31:8).

Or: I shall be spotless with him, that is, I will adhere to God. But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit (1 Cor 6:16), preserving you from every stain. Until I die I will not depart from my innocence (Job 27:5).

Some are penitent, and to these it belongs to avoid falling back into sin, and so he says, and I shall keep myself from my iniquity. The dog is returned to his vomit, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire (2 Pet 2:22). At two things my heart is grieved, and the third brings anger upon me; a man of war fainting through poverty, and a man of sense despised, and who passes over from justice to sin; God has prepared such a one for the sword (Sir 26:25–27).

Afterwards, he describes his hope of reward when he says, the Lord will reward me according to my justice and according to the cleanness of my hands before his eyes.

Now, there is a twofold reward.

One is given for having done good things. And he says about this, the Lord will reward me according to my justice. Anselm: justice is rectitude of will kept for its own sake. (Anselm, On Truth 12 (Patrologia Latina [Migne], 158:482).)

Or, he repays a man according to his works. He will render to every man according to his works (Ps 61:13; Matt 16:27).

He says, I shall keep myself and he will reward, since if a man is just and does works of justice at some time, but does not keep himself from sins, or does not continue in the works of justice, and dies like this, he will not merit reward. All the justice which he has done shall not be remembered (Ezek 18:24).

Another reward is that given for favors, and so he says, he will reward me . . . according to the cleanness of my hands before his eyes.

Sometimes people have pure hands merely exteriorly, and God does not reward these; but when they have pure works in the heart, then he rewards. And this is what is meant by before his eyes. The eye has not seen, O God, besides you (Isa 64:4).

And with what will he reward? Ineffable joy and an increase of grace, which are given through observing the commandments of God. (Cf. ST I-II q. 114, a. 8.) In keeping them, there is great reward (Ps 18:12).

And he will reward . . . according the cleanness of my hands, that is, of my works. Now a work is said to be impure by reason of fleshly desire. Your hands are full of blood (Isa 1:15). Likewise, it becomes impure by reason of vainglory. Take heed that you do not your justice before men, to be seen by them; otherwise you shall not have a reward of your Father who is in heaven (Matt 6:1). Gregory: it is mad to do great things and desire to be praised. Those things could be rewarded from heaven, but instead he seeks vain and passing words. (Gregory the Great, Moralia, sive expositio in Iob 8.43 (Corpus Christianorum Series Latina, 143:436).)

135. Afterwards, the reason for the reward is given, and so it follows, with the holy, you will be holy.

He treats two aspects of this:

first, he describes the reason for the reward;

second, he explains it, at for you will save the humble people.

The first two verses can be understood in two ways.

In one way, they can be understood as spoken to God, so the literal sense is as though he says, “You, Lord, will be holy with the holy.”

And so he says two things:

namely, that God is a rewarder and approver of the good;

second, how he is a condemner of the evil; so it follows, and with the innocent you will be innocent . . . and with the perverse, you will be perverse.

Now, it should be known that he calls the saints: the holy, the innocent, and the elect.

The elect can be understood in two ways.

In one way, because they are chosen by God, and it is common to all the saints. God chose us before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4).

In another way, those are called the elect who are excellent in innocence and holiness. My beloved is white and ruddy, chosen out of thousands (Song 5:10).

If the elect is taken in the first way, then the second is on our part and the third is on God’s part.

If it is taken in the second way, he describes two things which belong to our part.

First is doing good, which is proper to God and which has the proper ratio of holiness, since all things which are ordered to God are called holy; and this is what he says, Lord, you are holy with the holy, causing holiness in them. I am the God who sanctifies you (Lev 20:8).

Or you are holy effectively, that is, showing that you love and approve holiness, for he does not show himself except through works, for we do not see his substance.

Nor is he holy with the holy in any other way except by showing holiness. For he is not visible to us now so that we could say that he makes himself like the holy in outward actions, as a man does who makes himself like various things in various ways, especially his friends, since every animal loves that which is like himself, and what someone loves he rewards. So you are showing yourself holy when you reward, he says, the works of holiness.

And with the innocent man you will be innocent, effectively and by rewarding.

And with the elect, who love you, you will be elect, since you make him choose you. You have not chosen me but I have chosen you (John 15:16). In the beginning, he loved your fathers, and chose their seed after them (Deut 4:37). You have chosen the Lord this day to be your God, and . . . obey his command. And the Lord has chosen you this day to be his peculiar people . . . and to make you higher than all nations . . . that you may be a holy people (Deut 26:17–19).

Or, the elect means excellently distinguished.

And with the perverse, you are perverse, that is, you permit him to be perverted.

Or, the perverse are those who do not follow those whom they should follow. Therefore, those who do not follow the will of God seem to be perverse. Therefore, you are against the will of God, and God is against your will, as if he says, “You desire to have happiness and God gives misery.” If you walk contrary to me, I also will walk contrary to you and will strike you seven times for your sins (Lev 26:23–24). And so he says, with the perverse, you are perverse, that is, acting against the will of the perverse.

It can be read in another way, so that it refers the saying to another man, and so a man will be holy with a holy man, or with Christ, since in that company you do not hear anything but holiness regarding God. Treat with a religious man about sanctity (Sir 37:12).

And with the innocent, you will be innocent, since your manners are shaped by your association. Evil communications corrupt good manners (1 Cor 15:33).

And with the perverse, you will be perverse. He who touches pitch shall be defiled with it, and he who has fellowship with the proud shall put on pride (Sir 13:1).

Continuing, he explains what was said already according to its first interpretation.

Why, Lord, are you holy with the holy? Because you will save the humble people, that is, he shows that you are holy with the holy in that you save the humble. He gives grace to the humble (Jas 4:6). Suffer the little children to come to me . . . for the kingdom of heaven is for such (Matt 19:14). The Lord is high and looks upon the low (Ps 137:6).

Why are you perverse with the perverse? Because you will bring down the eyes of the proud. Everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled (Luke 14:11). The lofty eyes of man are humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be made to stoop (Isa 2:11).

And he says, the eyes, since pride consists in this, that a man raises his gaze to those things greater than his measure. His pride and his arrogance . . . is greater than his strength (Isa 16:6). And so, Lord, my heart is not exalted nor are my eyes lofty (Ps 130:1).

136. For you light. Here, he turns to prayer, as if to say, “So you are just.” For you light my lamp, O Lord.

And he makes two points.

First, he gives thanks for the favors he has received.

Second, he puts forward a petition for those still to be received: O my God, enlighten my darkness.

Therefore, he says, you light.

This whole verse can be expounded according to the literal sense. By the lamp, prosperity can be understood; by darkness, adversity can be understood. So when a man is glad everything seems bright to him, but when he is sad everything seems gloomy. This is what he says, for you light my lamp, O Lord, since you have given prosperity to me and continue to give it. Enlighten my darkness, that is, if any hostility remains in me, expel and remove it from me.

In another way, it can be understood in the moral sense, so that by the lamp the mind or soul of the man is understood. The spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord (Prov 20:27).

Therefore, the mind of a man is like the lamp of God, lit by divine light. The light of your countenance, O Lord, is signed upon us (Ps 4:7). As long as we are without sin, our lamp is lit—that is, our soul shines with the light of grace—but when something of the darkness of the corruptible flesh remains, it is extinguished. I myself, with the mind serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin (Rom 7:25).

And this is what he says, for you light my lamp, O Lord, that is, since my soul is lit with the light of grace.

Enlighten my darkness, that is, remove from me the defects and corruption by which a man falls into the darkness.

Or it can be read in the allegorical sense, so that the words are said in the person of Christ or of any just man.

In the Church there are many lamps, such as the faithful and the saints. Among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding the word of life (Phil 2:15–16).

Also, there are many who are dark, such as the unbelievers and sinners. You were heretofore darkness, but now light in the Lord (Eph 5:8).

Therefore, a man praying for the Church, or the Church praying for itself, says, for you light my lamp, O Lord, that is, the faithful who shine; enlighten the darkness, that is, the sinners.

137. He describes his hope of being heard when he says, for by you I shall be delivered.

Here he makes two points.

First, he touches on his being delivered from evil;

second, he touches on his victory over evil.

Therefore, he says, “I pray because I hope that by you, that is, by your power, I shall be delivered from temptation, that is, from any tribulation or attack.” God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able (1 Cor 10:13).

And through my God I shall go over a wall, that is, I will achieve victory over sin by the power of God. For an enemy achieves victory over a city when it goes over the wall. This wall is whichever difficulties impede us from acting well or the sins which provoke us to do evil.

Jerome says, I will break the wall, since we cannot be in the world without sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves (1 John 1:8). But we go over, since we overcome it when we do not give in to the desire for it.

138. Then it follows, as for my God.

Above, he called to mind in general the favors which he expected in the future from God, that by you I shall be delivered. Here he describes them in particular. And it should be noted that he speaks as one suffering adversity and who has enemies over whom he hopes to be victorious.

There are three steps to this.

First is that one pursue fleeing enemies and, having captured them, destroy them.

Second is that he reign over them, at and you have girded me.

Third is that he be exalted, at and you will deliver me.

He makes three points about the first.

First, he commends his helper, God.

Second, he shows how those things by which he is able to pursue them were given to him by God.

Third, he treats the pursuit.

The second is at God who has girt me.

The third is at I will pursue.

The first has two parts.

First, he commends God.

Second, he justifies this commendation, at for who is God but the Lord.

Therefore, he trusts God for three reasons:

that he is just in his work,

true in his word,

and that he is merciful in giving aid.

In regard to the justice in his work, he says, I shall be delivered from temptation, when I consider the purity of the divine justice, since my God, his way is undefiled.

Likewise, when I consider his disposition, since there is nothing unjust in him. Is it my way that is not right, and are not rather your ways perverse? (Ezek 18:25).

Or he considers the way of God through which God goes to the blameless soul. And it is charity: I show to you yet a more excellent way (1 Cor 12:31), so that you may be secure. This is undefiled, since charity does not act wrongly, that is, perversely.

Or, the way of God is Christ himself, since he did not sin. It shall be called the holy way; the unclean shall not pass over it, and this shall be unto you a straight way, so that fools shall not err therein (Isa 35:8).

Or the way of Christ is the Blessed Virgin. Your way is in the sea (Ps 76:20), which is undefiled. You are all fair, my love (Song 4:7). Enlarge the place of your tent (Isa 54:2).

In regard to his words, he says, the words of the Lord are fire-tried. And he speaks though the image of gold and silver, which, if they are pure, have been tried by fire. So, just as gold purged by fire has no impurity, so the words of the Lord are purged. All my words are just, there is nothing wicked nor perverse in them (Prov 8:8). Fire-tried: the words of the Lord are pure words as silver tried by the fire (Ps 11:7).

And he says they are fire-tried by the Holy Spirit. The ear discerns words, and the palate of him who eats tastes (Job 12:11). No one can try these words unless he has the fire of the Holy Spirit. The sensual man perceives not these things that are of the Spirit of God (1 Cor 2:14).

They are true, that is, truthful; he will fulfill what he promised. And because of this, he says he is the protector of all who trust in him. Who has hoped in the Lord, and has been confounded? (Sir 2:11).

Afterwards, he gives evidence for this commendation, since these things are his properties: that he is just, that he is true, that he is merciful. Therefore, if these fit my God well, do not seek another.

But there is no God but him. And so he says, who is God but the Lord? As if to say, “No one.” I am the Lord, this is my name (Isa 42:8). Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one Lord (Deut 6:4).

In this the Jews differed from others. And since the others worshipped the elements of the world, or men, or angels, these are truly said to be their makers, but the Jews worshipped the true God their maker. Therefore, he says that he is the maker of all creatures.

Second is that he was particularly worshipped by the Jews. Therefore, he says in regard to the first, who is God but the Lord, namely the maker of all creatures? Let all your creatures serve you (Jdt 16:17). Or who is God but our God? particularly. There is none holy as the Lord is, for there is no other beside you, and there is none strong like our God (1 Sam 2:2). In Judea God is known (Ps 75:2).

He is said to be ours particularly through piety, and worship, and the union of nature, and the assumption of flesh, and redemption. In this the Manicheans are confounded, since this God is also the Lord of visible things, and it testifies that the God of the Old Testament is the true God, since there is no God but him.

139. God who has girt me with strength. Here he shows how he received from God the ability to conquer, for God sometimes gives someone the power to work well, although it is not enough unless God also protects him outwardly.

Therefore, first he shows how God gave him interior strength;

second, how God helped him exteriorly, at you have given me the protection.

Three things are necessary for someone to conquer:

that he be strong: strength and beauty are her clothing (Prov 31:25); a strong man armed keeps his court (Luke 11:21);

that he be agile;

and that he be practiced in war.

And he claims to have these three.

The second is at who has made my feet.

The third is at who teaches my hands.

He says two things about strength.

First, he confesses that he has received fortitude from God.

Second, he has been given the ability to use that fortitude.

Therefore, he says, you have girded me with strength unto battle. Soldiers are said to be girded with arms and with a sword so that they can go forth and be prepared to fight. Judas Maccabeus . . . put on a breastplate as a giant, and girt his warlike armor about him in battles (1 Macc 3:1, 3). This is fortitude, namely the strength which is given to me from God, not only for bodily wars, but also for the spiritual, in which I cannot conquer without the strength of God. And so he says, you have girded me with strength. Be strengthened in the Lord, and in the might of his power (Eph 6:10). He who gives strength to the fallen, and increases force and might to those who are not (Isa 40:29).

Or, you have girded me to run without being impeded by flowing garments. So the strength of God holds in the affections so that they do not flow down towards earthly things.

And so it follows, and made my way blameless. Blessed be God . . . who has kept his servant from evil (1 Sam 25:39). Blessed are the undefiled in the way (Ps 118:1).

Or the way is the way of charity, which does not do anything wrongly, as was said above.

140. Who has made my feet. Here he describes the agility which is necessary for fighting.

In 1 Samuel 24 it is said that Saul had come against David out over the precipitous rocks which only a deer could pass through; the text is as if to say, “God has conferred such great agility upon me that I was going through the mountains like a deer.”

And who sets me upon high places. The footsteps of man are not able to fasten themselves upon the steep mountains, but God gave him such grace that he did not slip in them.

Mystically, it can be read in this way: a deer passes through the thorns and forests without being torn by spines, and so the affections of the spiritual man pass without being torn or infected by evil or the delights of the world. Naphtali, a hart let loose, and giving words of beauty (Gen 49:21). Then shall the lame man leap as a hart (Isa 35:6).

And who sets me upon high places, that is, he makes my mind be fixed upon heavenly things. The conqueror will lead me upon my high places (Hab 3:19).

Afterwards, he describes military knowledge; so he says, who teaches my hands to war. Military knowledge is an acquired science and is perfected by its exercise. Therefore, he first seeks this knowledge or teaching, since this teaching is necessary for soldiers. War is managed by due ordering (Prov 24:6). But he says he is taught by God in regard to the following: you have made my arms like a brazen bow, that is you have given my arms untiring strength for fighting.

Or: who teaches my hands to war, that is, he teaches us to act against vices and the demons to overcome the enemies, who try to close the gates of heaven.

Afterwards, changing the person, he says, you have made my arms like a brazen bow.

Another text has, you have broken a brazen bow, that is, my arm. Blessed be the Lord my God, who teaches my hands to fight (Ps 143:1).

Notice that excellent agility and excellent strength are found in lions, which, from their great dryness, do not have marrow in their bones, and this results from a great inequality in the mixture of the elements and so they live only briefly. (Cf. Aristotle, History of Animals 3.7, 516b.) This does not apply to man in regard to his operations, so these things are said because of a special gift bestowed upon David, as is said, he played with lions as with lambs: and with bears he did in like manner as with the lambs of his (Sir 47:3).

And mystically, something similar was given by God of the grace of learning to fight. Now we must be taught in spiritual warfare. Many are the snares of the deceitful (Sir 11:31), which we cannot escape unless we have teaching and divine help. The glory of his nostrils, that is, of the demon, is terror. . . . He despises fear; he turns not his back to the sword (Job 39:20, 22). Though our outward man is corrupted, yet the inward man is renewed day by day (1 Cor 4:16).

141. And you have given me. Here he shows how those things mentioned above are preserved by God exteriorly, so he says, you have girded me with strength, yet he also protects me: and you have given me the protection of your salvation, that is, you have protected me for salvation, since what was spoken about above is not sufficient unless the protection of God is added. God, you have protected me from the assembly of the malignant (Ps 63:3).

And your right hand has held me, that is, the favor of your grace has strengthened me in war. About this war is said, the hand of the Lord was with me, strengthening me (Ezek 3:14).

Or, your right hand, that is, your Son, has held me, that is, my nature.

Or it means, me, weak and needing to be cured, and your discipline has corrected me unto the end, that is, finally and perfectly. Whom the Lord loves, he chastises and as a father in the son he pleases himself (Prov 3:12). So: your discipline has corrected me unto the end.

In regard to the second he says, discipline.

Sometimes, someone may doubt; sometimes he may err. But he, namely, God, corrects the error, so: your discipline has corrected me to the end, as was said above.

Likewise, he directs what is doubtful: and your discipline, the same shall teach me. Teach me goodness and discipline and knowledge (Ps 118:66).

In regard to the third, he says, you have enlarged my steps under me, as if by giving agility, and in these things he encourages those who have wide steps when they are not hemmed in.

Or, spiritually, it is when the heart is eager through charity for the good. I have run the way of your commandments, when you did enlarge my heart (Ps 118:32). And my feet are not weakened, because he does not fail.

Or it means, my footprints, that is, the signs which are left on a journey.

142. I will pursue after my enemies. Above, the psalmist described his fitness for conquering; now here he treats of the victory—how he pursued those fleeing—and he makes two points regarding this.

First, he describes the way of pursuit;

second, he shows their inability to resist: I will break them, and they shall not be able to stand.

He mentions three things about the way of pursuit.

First, he shows that his pursuit is just;

second, that it is effective;

third, that it is persevering.

He shows it is just when he says, I will pursue after my enemies, not my friends but my enemies. Judas pursued the wicked and sought them out, and those who troubled his people he burnt with fire (1 Macc 3:5).

But it does not seem that good men should persecute others. But as then he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him that was after the spirit, so also it is now (Gal 4:29). Therefore, it is the fleshly who bring about persecution, and the spiritual suffer it.

But it must be said that the type of persecution is differentiated by the intention in persecuting.

For some persecute out of love and zeal. Zeal for your house has eaten me up (Ps 68:10), and they do this either to bring a good man to safety or to impede the evil. The man who in private detracted his neighbor, him did I persecute (Ps 100:5). And in this way the good persecute the evil or sinners.

Some persecute out of hatred, doing evil and impeding the good, and the evil or the fleshly persecute just men in this way. Pursue and take him (Ps 70:11).

Or: I will pursue after my enemies, that is, fleshly desires. I will overtake them; they shall not overtake me, according to the gloss. (Peter Lombard, Magna glossatura (Patrologia Latina [Migne], 191:200).)

And he shows how effective he is at following his enemies, so he says, I will overtake them. The effectiveness is shown when he pursues them to the end to capture them. “Shall I go up to the Philistines? And will you deliver them into my hand?” And the Lord said to David: “Go up” (2 Sam 5:19). And above: he went on prospering and growing up, and the Lord God of hosts was with him (2 Sam 5:10).

Likewise, he shows how he is persevering, since I will not turn again, namely, from following the unjust, until they fail, that is, until they are consumed. The arrow of Jonathan never turned back (2 Sam 1:22).

In the moral sense, our enemies are the movements of concupiscence in us, and they wage continuous war. I see another law in my members, fighting against the law of my mind (Rom 7:23). We should persecute and overtake and bind these, so they are mastered and restrained. And I will not turn again, that is, desist from following, until they fail, in rebellion. David defeated the Philistines, and brought them down (2 Sam 8:1). But these do not fail in this life, for although they grow always weaker, they are never totally rooted out. I will draw my sword, my hand shall slay them (Exod 15:9).

In the allegorical sense, it is said about Christ, who persecutes our enemies the Jews and other sinners, punishing them bodily and spiritually.

143. I will break them. Here he excludes their power to resist, as if to say, “They do not resist me since, I will break them, that is, I shall weaken their men, so that they shall not be able to stand.” All who work iniquity are fallen, they are cast out, and could not stand (Ps 35:13). The high arm shall be broken (Job 38:15), that is, they will not endure against me, nor be able to resist. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you (Lev 26:7).

And this is so that they will come into my power, and this is what he means when he says, they shall fall under my feet. We should do this to evil inclinations and to sins and demons. You shall tread down the wicked when they shall be ashes under the sole of your feet (Mal 4:3). Behold, I have given you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy and nothing shall hurt you (Luke 10:19). The lust thereof shall be under you, and you shall have dominion over it (Gen 4:7).

144. And this all comes from him, because you have girded me.

Here he treats their total abandonment, and he calls to mind two things:

first, the divine favor;

second, their final extermination, at and I shall beat them.

And since those things which he said seem to pertain to his own glory, he attributes them to God.

And first he excludes his own strength;

second, he shows the downfall of his enemies: you have subdued;

and third, their loss of help, at they cried.

Therefore he says, “O Lord, you have done this for me and you have girded me with strength unto battle, that is, the entire strength for fighting which I have is from you and not from myself.” It is he who gives strength to the fallen, and increases force and might (Isa 40:29).

He describes the downfall of his enemies, about which he mentioned three things:

namely, their flight: you have made them turn their back;

their weakening: I shall break them;

and their fall, since they shall fall.

And he attributes this to God, but not in that order.

First, he describes the fall of his enemies, as if to say, “My enemies will fall subdued under me.” Youths shall faint, and labor, and young men shall fall by infirmity (Isa 40:30), but you have done this, and you have subdued under me those who rose up against me, that is, you have taken away their strength, so they cannot resist me. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others (Lev 26:8).

Second, he describes the flight of enemies: and you have made my enemies turn their back upon me. To turn the backs of kings (Isa 45:1).

Third, he treats their breaking: and have dispersed those who hated me, among nations which they did not know.

145. They cried. He shows here that they are completely abandoned, so he says, they cried, but there was none to save them, since they had no help from man, nor from the gods whom they called the creators of things. Where are the gods you have made? Let them arise and deliver you in the day of affliction (Jer 2:28), so it follows, they cried . . . to the Lord but he heard them not. When you multiply prayer, I will not hear you (Isa 1:15).

But, on the contrary is: before they call, I will hear (Isa: 65:24). He shall cry to me and I will hear him (Ps 90:15).

And it should be said that when someone cries or prays with the right intention, then he is heard, and God approves and listens to his prayer. If a man be a server of God, that is, with right intention, he hears him (John 9:31); but when he cries to God with an insincere and fake prayer, he does not hear: you ask and do not receive because you ask amiss (Jas 4:3), that is, with a bad intention or with an unjust petition. Then shall they call upon me, and I will not hear; they shall rise in the morning and shall not find me (Prov 1:28).

Afterwards, he shows their total destruction, so he says, and I shall beat them as small as dust before the wind; I shall bring them to naught, like the dirt in the streets. When dust is thrown no trace remains, since the wind disperses it; so when the evil are destroyed they will not remain at all, and so he says, and I shall beat them as small as the dust before the wind. The wicked . . . like the dust which the wind drives away from the face of the earth (Ps 1:4), namely, they are dispersed. Their memory has perished (Ps 9:7).

But since others are sometimes destroyed with honor, he shows that the evil or sinner are destroyed vilely and dishonorably, so he says, I shall bring them to naught, like the dirt in the streets. If his, namely, a sinner’s, pride mount up even to heaven and his head touches the clouds, in the end he is destroyed as a dunghill (Job 20:6–7). Let them be blotted out of the book of the living (Ps 68:29). He (namely, the sinner) shall be carried away as the dust of the mountains before the face of the wind and as a whirlwind before a tempest (Isa 17:13). Your necks shall be brought to clay (Job 13:12).

146. You will deliver me. Above, the psalmist called to mind the pursuit of his enemies and their complete destruction; now here he calls to mind his exaltation, by which he was promoted to the kingship, and he considers two things about this.

First, he describes his exaltation;

second, he gives thanks: the Lord lives.

He describes two things about his exaltation.

First, he describes his exaltation over the Jews;

second, he describes the devotion of the gentiles, at a people, which I knew not has served me;

third, the shamelessness of the Jews, at the children who are strangers.

This pertains more particularly to Christ than to David.

And so he considers two aspects of it.

First, he shows how he is delivered from the opposition of the Jews;

second, how he is given power over the gentiles.

Therefore he says not only, you have destroyed those who hated me, but also, you will deliver me from the contradictions of the people. If this is understood about David, it is because the Jews were greatly opposed to him. We have no part in David, nor inheritance in the son of Isai. Return to your dwellings, O Israel (2 Sam 20:1). They likewise opposed Christ, as is clear in the Gospel. Think diligently upon him who endured such opposition from sinners against himself (Heb 12:3). David was delivered from this, and Christ was also. You will make me head of the gentiles, as if to say, “The Jews do not allow me to rule over them, but you have made me lord of the Jews and the gentiles.” And this is most appropriate for Christ, as it is said, he has made him head over all the church which is his body (Eph 1:22–23).

Afterwards, the devout submission of the gentiles is described, so he says, a people, which I knew not, has served me, namely a foreign people—think of the Ishmaelites and the Moabites who, as is mentioned in 2 Samuel 8, were made subject to his tribute. It is similar in regard to Christ, since those he did not know from encountering them physically, served him and were obedient to him. I was not sent but to the sheep that are lost of the house of Israel (Matt 15:24), in regard to physically visiting.

Or: which I knew not, that is, which I did not approach by giving them the law and the prophets. Behold you shall call a nation which you knew not, and the nations that knew you not shall run to you, because of the Lord your God (Isa 55:5).

At the hearing of the ear they have obeyed me, since, although they did not see me, they were obedient after merely hearing the faith from the apostles. They have found me, who sought me not (Isa 65:1). Faith comes by hearing (Rom 10:17).

Or: at the hearing of the ear they have obeyed me, since as soon as they had heard, as is said, leaving all things, they followed him (Luke 5:11; Matt 4:20).

147. The children who are strangers have lied. Here, the shamelessness of the Jews is described, and he calls them children who are strangers, since they once were sons descended from God through grace and the teaching of the law: Israel is my son, my firstborn (Exod 4:22), but now they have become strangers. I have brought up children and exalted them (Isa 1:2). And it follows: they have gone away backwards (Isa 1:4).

And they are strangers for three reasons:

because they have lied to me;

because they have faded away;

because they have halted on their paths.

Someone is alienated from God when he does not remain faithful, and in regard to this, he says, they have lied to me, that is, they have broken a pact.

Likewise this happens when they do not follow the footsteps of the father faithfully, so they have faded away. A thing fades away, growing old because of its ruination. In the beginning, they were fresh, when they said, we are yours, O David, and for you, O son of Isai (1 Chr 12:18), but after a little while, they grew lukewarm.

It is something further when someone totally turns back, so he says, they have halted on their paths, as if they were lame in one foot, keeping the Old Covenant badly and rejecting the New.

Or, if it is applied to Christ, the children who are strangers have lied to me, because they made a pact with God—all the things which the Lord has spoken to us, we will do (Exod 24:7)—but broke it afterwards. In the multitude of your strength your enemies shall lie to you (Ps 65:3).

Likewise, the strength which was in the fathers is not in the sons, and so they have faded away. How is it, Israel, that you are in your enemies’ land, and you are grown old in a strange country? (Bar 3:10–11).

Likewise, they have halted on their paths, that is, the precepts of the law, since they are walking with one foot, namely the literal sense, not the spiritual.

Likewise, it is said in the literal sense, they have halted, since they followed only the traditions of the Pharisees. How long do you halt between two sides? If the Lord be God, follow him (1 Kgs 18:21).

148. The Lord lives. Here he gives thanks, and he makes three points about this.

First, he says it.

Second, he describes its matter, at God who gives.

Third, he bursts forth in praise of God, at therefore the Lord lives.

And he speaks about God like a king. The ancient way of greeting a king was “May the king live.” This is fitting for God, since he himself is eternal life. For with you is the fountain of life (Ps 35:10). And so he says, the Lord lives. As I live, says the Lord God (Ezek 33:11). For he is the giver of life to men. What was made in him was life (John 1:3–4).

Likewise, a blessing can be desired for others, but he himself is the very blessing: blessed be my God. The Son is called my God. A son is given to us (Isa 9:6). May God, our God, bless us. May God bless us (Ps 66:7–8). Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers, and worthy of praise, and glorious and blessed for ever (Dan 3:26), and since he fills us with blessings.

Third, he desires his exaltation: and let the God of my salvation be exalted, that is, as the author and giver of salvation and grace in the present and of glory in the future. You are yourself my king and my God, who commands the saving of Jacob (Ps 43:5). He has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth (Ps 73:12). He does not ask that he be exalted in himself, since he is the Most High—the Highest himself has founded her (Ps 86:5)—but that he be exalted in the knowledge of others.

And he says, my salvation, that is, he who saves me. A just God and a Savior, there is none besides me (Isa 45:21). There is no other name under heaven given to men (Acts 4:12).

Or may God who saves me be exalted through his effects, that he saves me not only in regard to the lowest things but also in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest (Matt 21:9). Exalt him as much as you can; for he is above all praise (Sir 43:33). Exalt the Lord our God, and adore his footstool, for it is holy (Ps 98:5).

149. O God, who avenges me. Here he describes the matter for thanksgiving, and for the favor of deliverance from evil, and for the favor of advancing in the good, so he says, God, who avenges me.

And here he is able to speak in the person of the Church, since those who persecute her will be subjected to her. The children of those who afflict you shall come bowing down to you . . . and shall worship the steps of your feet (Isa 60:14).

Just as Paul, who condemned Stephen, was knocked down so that there was pious retribution, so it will be when the rebel is subdued and humiliated. Therefore, you are my deliverer. If the Son make you free (John 8:36).

From my enemies, not of any sort, but from those who are wrathful. Anger has no mercy (Prov 27:4), so it is a greater glory to be delivered from seething enemies.

And you will lift me up above those who rise up against me. Psalm 26:12 says, unjust witnesses have risen up against me.

You will lift me up. He says this to show the providence of God—that is, that in those things about which they believed they would be pressed down, they are exalted. For which cause God also has exalted him (Phil 2:9). The waters increased and lifted the ark on high from the earth (Gen 7:17).

From the unjust man you will deliver me, that is, from the deceitful. Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man; rescue me from the unjust man (Ps 139:2).

Afterwards, he concludes his thanksgiving for the reasons already mentioned.

Therefore will I give glory to you, O Lord, among the nations, that is, I will praise you before the face of the whole people. Bless the God of heaven, give glory to him in the sight of all who live (Tob 12:6).

And I will sing a psalm to your name. By “a psalm,” we understand a good work, since whatever good we do, we should do it for the glory of God’s name.

Giving great deliverance to his king. Jerome has, so to you who magnify and accomplish, namely, to you who magnify and accomplish according to the text, God who avenges. And he is God insofar as he magnifies.

And he describes two things:

one belonging to the state of the king,

and one to the person,

since he is magnified in both ways.

In regard to the first, he says, giving great deliverance to his king, since you have promoted me to reign.

Or, of the king, that is, of Christ through whose name all are saved. There is no other name given (Acts 4:12).

In regard to his person he says, and showing mercy to David his anointed and to his seed forever, since he multiplied his seed as he promised.