Psalm 138
God’s special providence over his servants.
1 Lord, thou hast proved me, and known me:
2 Thou hast known my sitting down, and my rising up.
3 Thou hast understood my thoughts afar off: my path and my line thou hast searched out.
4 And thou hast foreseen all my ways: for there is no speech in my tongue.
5 Behold, O Lord, thou hast known all things, the last and those of old: thou hast formed me, and hast laid thy hand upon me.
6 Thy knowledge is become wonderful to me; it is high, and I cannot reach to it.
7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy face?
8 If I ascend into heaven, thou art there: if I descend into hell, thou art present.
9 If I take my wings early in the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 Even there also shall thy hand lead me; and thy right hand shall hold me.
11 And I said: Perhaps darkness shall cover me: and night shall be my light in my pleasures.
12 But darkness shall not be dark to thee: and night shall be light as the day: the darkness thereof, and the light thereof, are alike to thee.
13 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast protected me from my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise thee, for thou art fearfully magnified: wonderful are thy works, and my soul knoweth right well.
15 My bone is not hidden from thee, which thou hast made in secret; and my substance in the lower parts of the earth.
16 Thy eyes did see my imperfect being, and in thy bock all shall be written: days shall be formed, and no one in them.
17 But to me thy friends, O God, are made exceedingly honourable: their principality is exceedingly strengthened.
18 I will number them, and they shall be multiplied above the sand: I rose up, and am still with thee.
19 If thou wilt kill the wicked, O God: ye men of blood, depart from me:
20 Because you say in thought: They shall receive thy cities in vain.
21 Have I not hated them, O Lord, that hated thee; and pined away because of thy enemies ?
22 I have hated them with a perfect hatred: and they are become enemies to me.
23 Prove me, O God, and know my heart: examine me, and know my paths.
24 And see if there be in me the way of iniquity: and lead me in the eternal way.
EXPLANATION OF THE PSALM.
1 ‘‘ Lord, thou hast proved me, and known me:
2 “ Thou hast known my sitting down, and my rising up.”
David, speaking not only for himself but for all mankind, asserts that God has a most intimate knowledge of us, and of every thing connected with us. “‘ Lord, thou hast proved me; you have searched and examined me, for such is the meaning of the word in the Hebrew. Now, God is said to search and examine, in a metaphorical sense, because he wishes to have the most perfect and exact knowledge of every thing, as he really has; and because they who wish for such perfect and complete knowledge of a matter, examine and inquire into it with the greatest diligence; and David, therefore, expresses himself in such manner, without, for a moment, supposing that God needs such inquiry or examina-
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tion. The meaning, then, is, you are not content, O Lord, with a superficial knowledge of our affairs, but you would have as intimate a knowledge of them as they who search and examine; and, in point of fact, you have a most accurate knowledge of me. “ Thou hast known my sitting down, and my rising up.” He now enters into details of his general assertion, saying, you have known from eternity, when, where, and why I should sit and I should rise; and not only as regards the motions of my body, but also of my soul, when, where, and why I should be humbled or exalted. If God has such an intimate knowledge, then, of man in general, how much more so must not have been his knowledge of Christ, the head of men and Angels; and it is, therefore, with great propriety that the Church uses these words in the Liturgy, on the feast of the Resurrection. ‘‘ Zhou hast known my sitting down, and my rising up.”
3 “* Thou hast understood my thoughts afar off: my path and my line thou hast searched out.”
He now tells us that God not only knows every downfall and every uprise connected with our whole life, but that he also knows in detail all our thoughts, all our counsels, everything that is to happen us; or, perhaps, after having informed us that God knows everything connected with our exterior, our rise, or downfall, to wit, he now tells us that he is equally acquainted with our interior, meaning our thoughts and desires. “ Thou hast understood my thoughts afar off;’ you knew what my thoughts would turn upon long before I began to think. “dZy path ;” my progress and path through life, not only as far as my body is concerned, but algo in regard of my soul, which has strayed, and that through various doubts and difficulties; “‘ and my line,” to what end I was likely to come, what inheritance I was to fall in for, what rest to secure, thou ‘ hast searched out,” have been in full possession of. Briefly, youhad, from eternity, a thorough knowledge of the motives, means, and end of all my actions.
4 ** And thou hast foreseen all my ways: for there is no speech in my tongue.”
Having stated that God foresaw our thoughts, counsels, and actions, he now adds, that he also foresees all our other acts, however indifferent, such as our idle words; ‘for there is no speech in my tongue” that you have not foreseen. Hence the Lord assures us in the Gospel, that men will have to render account, on the day of judgment, of every idle word that falls from them; and it was in terror thereat that holy Job exclaimed, ‘ Thou, indeed, hast numbered my steps, but spare my sins.” For God observes everything, weighs everything, that he may, in his own time, bring everything to judgment.
5 “ Behold, O Lord, thou hast known all things, the last and those of old: thow hast formed me, and hast laid thy hand upon me.”
He proves, by two arguments, that God knows everything that appertains to man: first, because he
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
knows everything past and future; and it, therefore, should not be surprising if he had an intimate knowledge of everything connected with man, whose actions are not the least important among the daily events of life. Secondly, having created man, and being his sovereign Lord, there can be no doubt but he has a knowledge of everything connected with him. “ Behold, O Lord, thou hast known all things, the last and those of old’—everything past and future. With that, “thou hast formed me,” created me in human shape; and when you did so make me you did not, like other workmen, lose sight of me, but thou “hast laid thy hand upon me,” to guide, support, and protect me; for, otherwise, I should have at once returned to the dust, from whence I sprung, or, rather, to my original nothingness.
6 ** Thy knowledge is become wonderful to me ; it 28 high, and I cannot reach to it.”
Having proved, by the two aforesaid arguments, that God’s knowledge extends to everything connected with man, lest any one should suppose that we have, in consequence, come to complete and just notions of God’s knowledge, he adds the present verse, that we may understand that, however satisfied we may be of God’s knowledge being supreme, and extending to all things, still, that we are quite in the dark—that, in fact, we know nothing at all about it in detail; that is to say, that it is perfectly incomprehensible how God can foresee what is to happen, especially human acts, which man may do or not do as it pleases or suits him, such as all our thoughts, desires, words, and all our actions. The same applies to the essence and attributes of God. We know that he exists, that he is powerful, wise, good, just, and merciful; but who knows or who can explain his essence, or how, with so many attributes, he can be essentially one? He, therefore, says, ‘ Thy knowledge is become wonderful to me,” more wonderful than I can comprehend; such is the meaning of the phrase in the Hebrew ; “ Zt is high, and I cannot reach to i;” far beyond my ca pacity.
7 ‘* Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy face ?
8 “If T ascend into heaven, thou art there: if I descend into hell, thou art present.
9 “If T take my wings early in the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 ‘* Even there also shall thy hand lead me; and thy right hand shall hold me,”
He now adduces another argument to prove that no one can escape God’s ken, inasmuch as God is everywhere, penetrating everything. ‘“ Whither shall 1 go Jrom thy spirit 2” to hide myself from you, to escape from your mind or intelligence, “or whither shall I Sly from your face?” from youreyes. “ If I ascend into heaven,” to the very highest—“ if Z descend into hell,” to the depth of the abyss, the greatest possible distance from heaven—there, too, you are present.
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
“TfL take my wings early in the morning,” could I assume the wings of a bird, and fly all the day with the greatest rapidity, ‘“‘ and dwell in the uttermost part of the sea,” so as to reach the other extremity of the world, I could not, even thus, escape from you; “ for thy hand shall lead me and hold me,” becanse without God’s help we cannot stir, nor can we go along but as he carries us, for ‘in him we live, move, and have our being.”
11 ‘* And I said: Perhaps darkness shall cover me: and night shall be my light in my pleasures.
12 ‘* But darkness shall not be dark to thee ; and night shall be light as the day: the darkness thereof, and the laght thereof, are alike to thee.”
He raises an objection to himself, saying it is possible to hide one’s self from God in the dark ; and he answers it by saying such is not possible, because darkness ceases to be darkness with God, “for God ts light,” as St. John asserts in his epistle; and he also asserts, “* The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend tt.” For as the sun’s light cannot be obscured by darkness, because it dissipates all darkness by its presence—and wherever the sun is, there day is—so it is with the spiritual and increate light, God, that cannot be obstructed by any darkness, because its presence dissipates all darkness ; and, thus, there is no hiding-place left for man in which to hide himself from God’s all-seeing eye. “And I said, perhaps, darkness shall cover me ;” perhaps dense darkness may envelope me, and I may thus escape God’s eye, “‘ and night shall be my light in my pleasures ;” darkness will not cover you, because the very night will be turned into light, that they may be visible. The literal meaning, then, of the two verses is, the night, so naturally dark, will cease to be such with God ; instead of being dark, it will “be my light in my pleasures,” will throw a light on and expose me, indulging in my sinful pleasures; for those who are devoted to impurity always seek the darkness of the night, when they think they can be seen by none, and thus commit sin with greater security ; and hence the Apostle says, “‘ For they who sleep, sleep in the night ; and they who are drunk, are drunk in the night ; and he might have added, and they who abandon themselves ‘ to chambering and impurities,” do so mostly in the night. But to no purpose, for the all-seeing eye of God, brighter than the sun itself, penetrates all darkness, and there is nothing hidden from it. He repeats it, by way of confirmation. “ But darkness shall not be darkness to thee, and night shall be light as the day.” The night, instead of being dark to you, will be as bright as the day.
13 ‘ For thou hast possessed my reins : thou hast protected me from my mother’s womb.”
That God sees in the dark, and that nothing, however secret, is hidden from him, the prophet now proves, from the formation of our interior members, while still in the mother’s womb, where they are doubly ‘hid; first, by reason of their being inte-
rior parts of the infant itself; secondly, by reason, of that very infant being hidden in the mother’s womb. For thou “hast possessed my reins;” that day or night, light or darkness, is all the same to you, is evident from the fact of your having formed my reins, the most secret part of my body, and that even when my whole body lay concealed and covered in my mother’s womb,
14 “T will praise thee, for thou art fearfully magnified: wonderful are thy works, and my soul knoweth right well.”
He now interrupts his narration of the formation of man, by an address to God, in admiration of the wisdom and knowledge displayed in the formation of man by God. “ J will praise thee,” when I reflect on these your works; I will render to you my tribute of praise, for “thow art fearfully magnified.” I am filled with terror through admiration and reverence for you—and he explains in what respect, when he says, “‘ Wonderful are thy works, and my soul knoweth right well.” Your creating man in his mother’s womb, in a place so hidden and obscure, is truly a most wonderful work, and J am fully alive to the greatness of such a work. We are not to infer that the latter part of this sentence implies a thorough knowledge of God’s works, it merely means that we know them to be great and wonderful. Thus, we neither see nor know the extent of the sea, yet we know it to be very extensive ; and that from the mere fact of our not being able to take the whole of it in
at a glance, from any one given point. In like manner, though we cannot look directly on the sun, we know from that very fact that its light is intense.
15 “* My bone is not hidden from thee, which thou hast made in secret ; and my substance in the lower parts of the earth.”
He returns to the knowledge and wisdom displayed by God in the formation of man. “My bone ts not hidden from thee ;” you know the use, object, arrangement, and structure of every bone in my body ; no wonder you should, because thou ‘‘ hast made” them all, and that “in secret,” enveloped in my own skin and flesh; and in addition to it, by my mother’s womb. “And my substance in the lower part of the earth;” a repetition of the former idea, with this addition, that my astonishing formation took place “in the lower parts of the earth,” where one would suppose I was so far removed from God’s handiwork. Any one acquainted with the anatomy of the human frame, cannot fail to be struck with astonishment at the wisdom of God, in the fabrication of so many bones, large ones, middling ones, small and minute ones, so marvellous by being connected with each other; and the whole thing accomplished in the smallest and obscurest possible place, without either tools or machinery.
16 “* Thy eyes did see my imperfect being, and in thy book all shall be written: days shall be formed, and no one in them.”
He goes further in shewing the wisdom of God as displayed in the structure of the human frame. “ My imperfect being,” means the embryo in the mother’s womb, before the formation of the bones, so as to be distinguished. “ Thy eyes did see my imperfect being,” and they not only saw it, but they knew what was to come from it, what it was to turn into; and he tells why, when he says, ‘‘ and in thy book all shall be written ;” because you have, as it were, a book, as would a painter or a sculptor, containing copies or designs of all the works you may want to produce ; “‘days shall be formed;” all these embryos will be formed from time to time, and brought to perfection, “and no one in them” will fail, or fall short of the object of its creation ; ordinarily speaking, no human being, conceived in the womb, will fail in coming to perfection, or will be found deficient in any of his natural members; and, when abortions occur, such as the being born blind, or with any other such defect, such does not happen through any deficiency in the first cause, it generally arises from secondary causes. All this may apply also to the perfection of man in respect to his soul, that is, in regard of his wisdom, prudence, moral virtues, grace, and glory. For the Lord knows our imperfect state, that, of ourselves, we are nothing but an unformed mass, but by reason of our being written in the book of life we are every other day formed aud made more perfect, until we become ‘‘conformable to the image of the Son of God,” and “ be made like to the body of his glory.” And it is on looking at such extraordinary perfection of body and soul, to which the favoured of God are brought, out of so much imperfection, that makes the prophet exclaim in the following verse,
17 ‘‘ But to me thy friends, O God, are made exceedingly honourable: their principality is exceedingly strengthened.”
On reflecting from what a.depth of imperfection God brings his friends to the very highest and most exalted perfection, thereby displaying his own providence in the management of human affairs, as if they were his own, in highly rewarding the good, and severely punishing the wicked, the prophet now exclaims, in great surprise and admiration, ‘* But to me,” with me, or in my opinion, “‘ thy friends, O God, are made exceedingly honourable ;” they have been honoured beyond my comprehension, for “ their principality 1s exceedingly strengthened;” for they have been rescued from a mass of corruption, and from the bondage of the evil one, and translated to an everlasting kingdom, put on a level with the Angels, children and heirs of God, and brethren and co-heirs
_ of the only-begotten, “whom he hath appointed heir of all things.”
18 ‘I will number them, and they shall be multiplied above the sand: I rose up, and am still with thee.”
He now explains how “ their principality is exceedingly strengthened,” and says it arises from the wonderful propagation of it in so very short a time,
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
And such was the fact, because these principalities . became so numerous, that St. John had to declare,
“ T saw a great crowd that no one could count, from
all-nations, tribes, and tongues;” as also, because after the last judgment all created things, the very demons as well as the reprobate, will be laid prostrate under the feet of the saints, and will be subject to them. He, therefore, says, “ J well number them;” I will endeavour to number them, I mean God’s friends, or, if you will, the subjects of the principalities of those friends, and such will be the number of them that I will fail in it; ‘* for they shall be multiplied above the sand,” will be more numerous than the grains of sand on the sea shore. This, to be sure, is an exaggeration,” but not unusual in the Scriptures; thus, the Lord said to Abraham, “ J wall make thy seed as the dust of the earth;’ and again, “I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is by the sea shore.” Having said so much, the prophet now reverts to himself, and says that from having come to know the great glory of the saints and friends of God, he, too, was greatly moved to love him affectionately, and got the greatest desire of sharing in the same glory. “J rose up”— or rather as the Hebrew implies—I waked up to this new light, and rose up through love and desire of you, “ and am still,” to the present moment, “ with thee,” adhering to you, depending on you, with an earnest desire of final perseverance.
19 “Tf thou wilt kill the wicked, O God: ye men of blood, depart from me:
20 ‘* Because you say in thought : They shall receive thy cities in vain.”
Having said that the just, the friends of God, were exceedingly honoured by God, and that he wished for a place among them, he now, on the contrary, asserts that the wicked, the enemies of God would be slain by his just judgment; and he repudiates any friendship or companionship with such people. ‘If thow wilt kill the wicked, O God.” If you, in justice, honour and exalt the virtuous, you will, with equal justice, reprobate the wicked, and condemn them to eternal punishment; and I, therefore, want to have nothing to say to them; and I, therefore, tell them, ‘* Ye men of blood, depart from me;” which expression includes not only homicides, who shed human blood, but all other wicked and evil doers, who injure, or seek to injure, others, or who slay their own souls by sin, or the souls of others by scandal; all of whom may be truly called homicides ; for hatred may be called the mainspring of homicide; and thus St. John says, “‘ Who hateth his brother ts a homicide.”—“ Because you say in thoughts ;” you think with yourselves, and say in your hearts, ‘ They shall receive thy cities in vain.” The just shall receive the cities of God in vain, because they will shortly be deprived of them. This has reference to ‘‘ ther principality is exceedingly strengthened ;” that is, widely propagated by the conversion of the gentiles to the faith, and of sinners to
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
justice ; and as, in consequence thereof, many cities, that is, congregations, were rescued from the slavery of the demons, and the worship of idols, the wicked remnants of idolatry, envying the propagation of Christ’s kingdom, said in their hearts, ** They shall receive thy cities in vain,” foolishly hoping that they would return to idolatry.
21 “ Have I not hated them, O Lord, that hated thee ; and pied away because of thy enemies ?
22 “T have hated them with a perfect hatred: and they are become enemies to me.”
It is no wonder that he who has his eyes fixed on God, and who cleaves to him with his whole heart, should avow that he hated them who hated him, and that he should pine away with grief and sadness on beholding him so insulted by the wicked. And his
hatred of them was intense; for it was ‘a perfect hatred,” consummate and irreconcileable, but applying to the sin, and not to the sinner; and he, therefore, observes, “ And they are become enemies to me.” J was no enemy of theirs—for I merely sought te correct and reform them—but they became enemies to me, by reason of my having so reproved and sought to reform them.
23 ‘* Prove me, O God, and know my heart : examine me, and know my paths.
24 “* And see fi there be in me the way of iniquity : and lead me in the eternal way.”
He now implores of God to do what he said, in the beginning of the Psalm, God had already done ; that is, to go on in the search of his heart and his ways, that is, of his thoughts, desires, progress, and conduct, with the view thatif God “ see if there be any of the way of iniquity in him,” he may take him at once out of such way, “ and lead him in the eternal way ;” that is, to reflect on, to desire, and to do everything that tends to eternal happiness.
PSALM CXXXIX. A prayer to be delivered from the wicked.
1 Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man: rescue me from the unjust man.
2 Who have devised iniquities in their hearts: all the day long they designed battles.
3 They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent: the venom of asps is under their lips.
4 Keep me, O Lord, from the hand of the wicked: and from unjust men deliver me. Who have proposed to supplant my steps:
5 The proud have hidden a net for me. And they have stretched out cords for a snare: they have laid for me a stumbling-block by the way side.
6 I said to the Lord: Thou art my God: hear, O Lord, the voice of my supplication.
7 O Lord, Lord, the strength of my sal-
vation, thou hast overshadowed my head in the day of battle.
8 Give me not up, O Lord, from my desire to the wicked: they have plotted against me; do not thou forsake me, lest they should triumph.
9 The head of them compassing me about: the labour of their lips shall overwhelm them.
10 Burning coals shall fall upon them: thou wilt cast them down into the fire: in miseries they shall not be able to stand.
11 A man full of tongue shall not be established in the earth: evils shall catch the unjust man unto destruction.
12 I know that the Lord will do justice to the needy, and will revenge the poor.
13 But as for the just, they shall give glory to thy name: and the upright shall dwell with thy countenance.
EXPLANATION OF THE PSALM.
1 “ Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man: rescue me from the unjust man.”
The prayer of the faithful in general. By the evil man, St. Augustine says he means the devil, who is called in the Gospel “the enemy.” Others will have it that it means evil men in general, who are excited and governed by the devil. Both interpretations are true, and, therefore, may be united; and thus, the meaning will be, “ Deliver me from the ev man,” be he the evil spirit, who directly, or through servants of his, harasses me. And as the word ‘* me” does not apply to one individual in particular, but to the faithful in general, in like manner the expression, ‘‘the evil man,” is not confined to one individual persecutor, but to persecutors in general, or to every persecutor. The next sentence, ** Rescue me from the unjust man,” is no more than a repetition; for, though some sinners may not be looked upon as being unjust, still, to a certain extent, every sinner is an unjust man, because he is, at all events, unjust to himself, and to others, if he injures them by his example, as St. John says, “* Whosoever committeth stn, committeth also iniquity, and sin is iniquity.”
2 “* Who have devised iniquities in their hearts: alt the day long they designed battles.”
He assigns a reason for having said, ‘‘ Deliver me,” and the reason is because he was assailed through thought, word, and deed; and so repeatedly, that they might be called daily, without intermission or truce; and the Apostle, therefore, justly exhorts us “to put on the armour of God,” or, as the Greek has it, all sorts of armour, to wit, the helmet, coat of mail, shield, and sword, to enable us to offer the necessary resistance, and to stand perfect in every respect. First, then, in regard to our engagement, in
respect of thought. ‘“ Who have devised iniquity in their hearts.” This proves that the expression, “the evil man,” in the first verse, is not intended for an
individual, such as Saul, but for a lot of evil men, .
be they demons or men; “to devise iniquity in their hearts,” means their having recourse to all manner of deception, scheming, and intrigue. ‘‘ AU the day long they devised battles.” They never ceased arranging the plans of battle they had previously decided on. All this may, possibly, refer to the interior struggle within us, in respect of bid thoughts the prince of darkness turns up to us; such as unchaste thoughts, temptations, infidelities to grace, scruples, and mental perplexities; all the source of much annoyance and trouble.
3 ‘* They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent : the venom of asps is under their lips.”
The second persecution of our enemies is that of the tongue, which consists in calumny, detraction, abuse, deception, and the like, resorted to by our fellow-creatures, either through selfishness or through revenge, and by the evil spirit, with a view of provoking man to impatience or anger, or hatred of his neighbour, and to the sins consequent thereon. The aforesaid wicked, then, ‘* have sharpened their tongue like a serpent,” the more easily to pierce the ears and the heart; “ the venom of asps,” the most deadly of all poison, “‘7s wnder ther lips;” in store, ready to shoot it with their tongues on their hearers.
4 * Keen me, O Lord, from the hand of the wicked: and from unjust men deliver me. Who have proposed to supplant my steps :”
Next in order is persecution the third, or personal persecution, in reference to which the just ask for protection, to “keep off the hand of the wicked” from harming them. By the ‘‘ wicked” he seems to have the prince of darkness in view ; and then he, farthermore, asks, “And from unjust men deliver me,” they being members of the prince of darkness; and, for fear they, too, may have got the power of doing harm. The harm he dreads, and from which he seeks to be delivered, is explained as follows: “* Who have proposed to supplant my steps.” The object of the prince of darkness is to keep us out of the path of salvation, from which he irreparably fell. He and his Angels, therefore, have the one object in view, at all times, and that is, ‘to supplant our steps,” so that we may no longer walk in the path of the Lord, that we may fall therein, or turn back, or, at least, make slow progress in it. ‘They accomplish that by laying snares for, and by concealing them in the way as we move along, as we are told ia the following verse,
5 “ The proud have hidden a net for me. And they have stretched out cords for a snare: they have laid for mea stumbling-block by the way side.”
The demons could not be called by a more appropriate name than “ proud,” because their fall was not owing to the concupiscence of the fl:sh, nor to
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
the concupiscence of the eyes, but to “ the pride of
,life;” they would be equal to the supreme being ;
hence we have ia Tobias, “ Never suffer pride to reign in thy mind or in thy words: for from it all perdition took its beginning;” and in the book of Job the devil is styled, “‘ king over all the children of pride.” Now, the devil ‘hides his net’’ when he displays the advantage of any human act, and hides the evil of it; that is, when he causes man to look upon the utility or the pleasure of any thing, without reflecting on the consequent sorrow and suffering sure to follow from it. Thus, he causes the adulterer to revel in the beauty of the object of his desire, and hides the hideousness of the sin from him. He makes the thief gloat over the stolen property, and keeps from his view his having lost the kingdom of heaven for it. He puts before the eyes of the ambitious the advantages of their pre-eminence, and conceals the danger of a fall from such a height. Finally, he never fails in bringing under our notice the pleasure of the transgression, while he studiously conceals the bitterness of the consequent punishment. “ And they have stretched out cords for a snare;” set additional snares; for no socner has one snare taken its victim than the evil spirits set another ; thus, he who has fallen into the snare of adultery will at once fall into that of murder, in the hope of concealing it, and they soon lead him to perjury, in order to conceal both, and thereby escape a welldeserved sentence. Finally, ‘ they have laid for me a stuwnbling-block by the way-side;” for in the way of the Lord there can be no stumbling-block ; as we read in Psalm exvili., “‘ Much peace have they that love thy law; and to them there is no stumblingblock.” ‘The moment we tura out of that way we fall into all manner of snares, and knock against all manner of stumling-blocks. The only remedy, then, is that of the Apostle, ** to walk with caution,” and never to let our foot outside the path of the Lord.
6 “I suid to the Lord: Thou art my God: hear, O Lord, the voice of my supplication.
7 ‘*O Lord, Lord, the strength of my salvation, thou hast overshadowed my head in the day of battle.”
He now invokes the divine assistance, without which we can do nothing against so many dangers. “T said to the Lord thou art my God,” and I am, therefore, your people. “* Thou art my Lord,” and I am, in consequence, your servant; and, therefore, as I belong to you, “hear the voice of my supplication.” In order, then, to shew that the dangers were present and pressing, he again appeals to the Lord, saying, ‘* O Lord, the strength of my salvation,” I appeal to you with such confidence, because you are my strength, on whom I depend for salvation ; you are the only power to save and protect me from my enemies. ‘* Thou hast overshadowed my head in the day of battle.” It is not the first time you have protected me; you did so in the day of battle, when I was hemmed in on all sides by my enemies, when
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
you overshadowed my head,” as if with a helmet, and saved me from the death that stared me in the face, and that now emboldens me to appeal to you with so much confidence. This may also apply to a spiritual overshadowing of not only the head, but of the whole person, “in the day of batile,” the interior battle, in which man has to fight against his Own concupiscences, because poor man, tired and feverish through temptation and bad desires, would wither and succumb altogether if not overshadowed by God Almighty.
8 “ Give me not up, O Lord,, from my desire to the wicked : they have plotted against me ; do not thou forsake me, lest they should triumph.”
In consequence of the foregoing, he now asks for constant overshadowing, or protection, from the fire of his evil desires, because, if concupiscence had not got a bold of us, vain would be the temptation of the evil one or the rage of man. ‘‘ Give me not up, O Lord;” that is, do not suffer me to be given up “from my desire to the wicked,” be he man or demon that tempts me. ‘* We are given up from our desires to the wicked” when concupiscence holds us captive, and gives us up to the power of Satan ; for instance, when you look on another with an eye of concupiscence you become guilty at once, and subject to temptation; when death, in the time of persecution, is threatened, nothing can be offered to the evil one by the persecutor but the desire of life ; when the tempter puts an opportunity for committing fraud in the way of man he can offer him nothing but the desire of lucre, and so of other sins. “ They have plotted against me, do not thou forsake me.” The reason why I am so desirous of the overshadowing of your grace is, because my enemies “‘ have plotted against me,” have laid snares for me, and, if they chance to take me, will “triumph,” and glory, and rejoice, for not only having conquered me, but you along with me.
9 ** The head of them compassing me about : the labour of their lips shall overwhelm them.”
He now begins to predict the punishment sure tO overtake the wicked, who so persecuted the just. There is a degree of obscurity as to the nature of that punishment here that is so clearly expressed in Psalm vii., where he says, “He is fallen into the hole he made, his sorrow shall be turned on his own head;” the persecutions they prepared for the just will recoil on themselves, and will ‘ overwhelm them.” The wicked feel that at their death, and, on the day of judgment, the whole world will see it ; for on that day all the sufferings of the just will be turned into glory, and all the sins of the wicked into eternal misery. ‘ The head of ther compassing me about;” the sum total of their snares, which the wicked sought to lay by going round and round about me, just like the devil, who “ goes about like a roaring lion,” will all recoil on themselves, “ and overwhelm them;? and he repeats it when he adds,
“the labour of their lips shall overwhelm them;” that is to say, the labour of affliction or trouble inflicted on the just by their lips, by their bad or vicious language, will also overwhelm them.
10 “‘ Burning coals shall fall upon them: thou wilt cast them down into the fire: in miseries they shall not be able to stand.”
A further relation of the punishments of the wicked: “coals” imply they will be punishments of the severest description ; and the expression, ‘ shall fall,” conveys that they will come from above, from the supreme and sovereign Judge. Lest we should imagine they will be few in number, he adds, “ thou wilt cast them down into the fire;” for such will be the quantity of fire rained down upon them that it will completely cover and overwhelm them, as if they had been cast into the fire; and, in order to explain it more fully, headds, ‘in miseries, they shall not be able to stand;” they will be stretched so prostrate by all the misery that will accumulate on them that they will not be able to rise or to stand erect.
11 “A man full of tongue shall not be established in the earth: evils shall catch the unjust man unto destruction.”
Having predicted the future punishment of the wicked, he now turns to the punishments in store for them here below. ‘‘A man full of tongue.” The man, too, given to talk, the liar, the flatterer, the detractor, the scold, the brawler, ‘‘ shall not be established in the earth,” for such people are hated by the wicked, even as well as by the good, and, therefore, St. James desires, “‘ And let every man be swift to hear, but slow to speak, and slow to anger.” “ Evils shall catch the unjust man unto destruction.” Not only will the man full of tongue, and, therefore, an unjust man, neither thrive nor prosper, ‘‘ but the evils that will catch him,” which would have gone to reward his patience, as they do to the just, will tend to his everlasting ‘ destruction.” The expression “ catch” implies a sudden unexpected catch, like that of a hunter; and such is the mode in which the wicked are generally surprised, while they are bent on the capture and spoliation of the just ; they apprehend no danger from the devil, who is as intent on them as would a hunter on a wild beast. And it is not alone by the devil that they are led away captives; for they are captives to much misery, anxiety, troubles, fears, and bad passions, with this difference, however, between them and the virtuous who, too, have to contend against the like, that with them all such things ‘co-operate unto good,” while, with the wicked, they only tend to their eternal condemnation.
12 “I know that the Lord will do justice to the needy, and will revenge the poor.
13 ‘ But as for the just, they shall give glory to thy name : and the upright shall dwell with thy countenance.”
He now comes to the conclusion, that the delivery and the happiness of the just are certain, as are also
the miserable state and the punishment of the wicked. “6 T knew that the Lord will do justice to the needy.” T am convinced, both from my own experience, from the records of my ancestors, as well as from a knowledge of God’s promises and of his justice, that he regards the humble and the poor; which include those abounding in the wealth of the world, yet, by reason of their not looking upon such wealth as their own, but as so much entrusted to them by God to dispense, as being but so many stewards, are still really poor in spirit. ‘ [ know that the Lord will,” beyond any manner of doubt, ‘do justice to the needy ;” and he will also “‘ revenge the poor,” by punishing those that persecuted them, with the greatest severity. “ Butas for the just, they shall give glory to thy name,” giving themselves credit for nothing, but attributing all to God, “and the upright shall
dwell with thy countenance,” will see him, and know’
him, as he is. One is known from their countenance. Look at any one’s person, you will never recognise him; look at his face alone, and you need no more !
x PSALM CXL. A prayer against sinful words and deceitful flatterers.
1 I have cried to thee, O Lord, hear me: hearken to my voice, when I cry to thee.
2 Let my prayer be directed as incense in thy sight; the lifting up of my hands, as evening sacrifice,
3 Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; and a door round about my lips.
4 Incline not my heart to evil words; to make excuses in sins, with men that work iniquity: and I will not communicate with the choicest of them.
5 The just man shall correct me in mercy, and shall reprove me: but let not the oil of the sinner fatten my head. For my prayer also shall still be against the things with which they are well pleased:
_ 6 Their judges falling upon the rock have been swallowed up. They shall hear my words, for they have prevailed:
7 As when the thickness of the earth is broken up upon the ground: our bones are scattered by the side of hell. j _ 8 But to thee, O Lord, Lord, are my eyes: -in thee have I put my trust, take not away my soul.
9 Keep me from the snare, which they have laid for me, and from the stumbling-blocks of them that work iniquity.
10 The wicked shall fall in his net: I am alone until I pass.
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
EXPLANATION OF THE PSALM.
1 “I have cried to thee, O Lord, hear me: hearken to my voice, when I cry to thee.”
Such is the language of Christ’s body, or the body of the faithful, from the midst of the enemy. ‘J have cried to thee, O Lord,” to help me, surrounded as I am by so many dangers ; andas “‘ I have cried” with all the powers of my interior, and with great affection, ‘hear me.” In the Hebrew it is, hasten to help me, and thus prove that you hear me. And hear me not only on this occasion, but “ hearken to my voice, when I cry-to thee;” as much as to say, be sure to attend to my prayers, whenever I put them up to thee.
2 “ Let my prayer be directed as incense in thy sight ; the lifting up of my hands, as evening sacrifice.’ —
He now tells what he wants, and in what respect he wishes God should hear him. He first, and most properly, begs of God to assist him in praying well ; for, as the Apostle has it, “ For we know not what we should pray for;” and we are equally ignorant of the manner in which we should pray for anything, unless the Spirit help our infirmity. He, therefore, begs of God to afford him the assistance of his grace to enable him to pray well. He then declares the conditions of prayer by comparing it to the incense that was daily, morning and evening, by God’s command, offered up in thetemple. “ Let my prayer be directed as incense in thy sight.” My first request is, that my prayer, through your grace, may ascend like incense. Now, incense suggests the following remarks: First, it was composed of four gums that were highly fragrant and aromatic, frankincense, gum, alkanet, and myrrh, which emitted a most exquisite fragrance. Secondly, it was offered up in the inmost recess, in the most noble part of the temple, called the Holy of Holies, where the tables of the law and the altar of gold were kept. Thirdly, it was offered by the high priest. Fourthly, it was put on the fire, from which it ascended in the form of smoke, mounting up in a direct straight line. The four aromatic substances represent the four virtues, Faith, Hope, Love, Humility, and the most grateful prayer that can be put up to God is composed of them. Man is the temple of God, for the Apostle says, ‘* Your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost,” the inmost part of which is the soul, in which is the law, written there by the finger of God; there, also, is the will, representing the altar of gold, namely, a pure heart, adorned by the grace of God. Christ is the high priest, for it is through him, as being our advocate, that we must always pray; and it is for that reason that we conclude every prayer with ‘through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Finally, the fire that produced the fragrant smoke, that rose up and ascended so directly, is fervour of desire, but in order that it should ascend in a straight and direct line, there must be a pure intention and constant attention ; for they who pray with a view to attract
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
notice have their incense turned aside by the draught of the world, and it will not ascend in a direct line ; while they who allow the cares of this world, and its distractions, to interfere with them when they pray, they do not give proper direction to their prayer, and such distractions, like so many currents, blow away, and dissipate the incense of their prayer, and will not suffer it to soar aloft, as it ought; and it was a consciousness of this that makes the prophet pray, ‘‘ Let my prayer be directed as incense in thy sight.” “ The lifting up of my hands as evening sacrifice.” A repetition of the preceding: “‘ lifting up the hands” signifies prayer, for the Jews, as well as ourselves, were wont to raise up their hands in prayer ; thus, in Psalm cxxxiii., ‘In the nights lift up your hands to the holy places; and the Apostle, “ Lifting up pure hands, without anger and strife.” The “ evening sacrifice” means the sacrifice of incense, that was offered up every evening. The meaning, then, is, “the lifting up of my hands,” the prayer | offer with uplifted hands, may it be like the sacrifice of incense offered up every evening. The prophet wishes that his prayer should be like the evening, rather than the morning sacrifice ; perhaps, because it was in the evening he composed the Psalm, as it is in the evening the Church sings it too; or, perhaps, because the evening sacrifice was of more value as being a figure of the sacrifice on the cross, that occurred in the evening. ;
3 ‘ Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; and a door round about my lips.”
The second petition he lays before God, is to give him the grace of knowing when he ought to speak, and when to be silent; for as St. James says, “ Jf any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man ;” and according to Kcclesiastes, there is ‘‘ a time to speak, and a time to be silent;’ and in order to explain it, the prophet uses a figure, taken from the guard put on the gates of a house ora city. Two things are necessary to ensure freedom of exit to those entitled to it, and detention to those not entitled to it; and the two things are, gates, and a porter to stand by the gates; for a gate without a porter will not suffice, for it must, of necessity, in such case, be always shut or always open; nor will a porter without a gate do the business, unless he keep guard at all hours and be strong enough to prevent any forcible ingress or egress ; but with a gate and a porter all is right and safe ; and he, therefore, says, “* Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth,” my mouth being the gates throygh which pass the language that causes so much mischief and harm, I pray
_you to set a porter or a watchman on it, to guard it with the greatest diligence; ‘‘and a door round about my lips.” As a porter would hardly suffice to restrain my words, or to keep sufficient guard, I further beg of you to put “a door round my lips ;” that is to say, a strong, secure one, that cannot easily be stormed. The porter and the gate signify
two gifts of the Holy Ghost, one pertaining to the understanding, that man may know when, how, and what to say, or to do; and the other having reference to the will; that is to say, that one should have the courage to speak when they ought to speak, and fear to speak when they should be silent ; these are the gifts which Isaias calls “‘ the spirit of counsel and fortitude,” which are nearly identical with prudence and charity. Now, we are not to ask these gifts of God without doing all in us lies to co-operate with his grace, at the same time that we are also to bear in mind that such co-operation is also a gift from God ; and, therefore, that we should glory in nothing, when, in point of fact, we have nothing.
4 ** Incline not my heart to evil words ; to make excuses in sins, with men that work iniquity : and I will not communicate with the choicest of them.”
His third petition is, that as, in spite of all his diligence, yet, such is human frailty, that even the “ just man falls seven times,” and ‘ we all offend in many things; that God may give us the grace to make a free confession of our sins, for fear, by representing ourselves in a state of perfect health, we may prevent our heavenly physician from curing us. * Incline not my heart to evil words.” Do not allow us, when we shall have fallen into sin, to ‘let our heart incline” to lies and excuses. ‘‘ To make eaxcuses in sins;” instead of acknowledging our guilt, to excuse ourselves in all possible forms. “ With men that work iniquity; and I will not communicate with the choicest of them.” Here is the fourth petition, for God to guard us, and keep us from the company, and from making too free with the wicked. Many and many a one would have preserved their innocence only for the company they fell into! To understand this latter part of the verse we must connect it with the first part, and then the meaning will be, Do not incline my heart to. evil words, to make excuses for sinners, as their fellows do, for fear, by doing so, I may become one too ; and thus, “ nf will not communicate with the choicest of thents” your grace will enable me to avoid and shun fhe very choicest of them.
5 “ Thejust man shall correct me in mercy, and shall reprove me: but let not the oil of the sinner fatten my head. For my prayer also shall still be against the things with which they are well pleased :”
The fifth petition is, that, through God’s grace, we may fall in with friends, who will correct us in charity, instead of fawning flatterers, who deceive by their false praise. And one of the greatest blessings from God is to meet faithful friends, to tell us the truth in regard of ourselves, and also to give us the grace to hear them willingly, and to be thankful to them. For with those who belong to the world, and have not got such grace from God, “ flattery creates Sriends, and truth hatred.” “ The just man shalt correct me in mercy;” he will reprove me with a view to my correction, in order to heal me, and not
as the sinner would, to destroy me ; because he will do it ‘in mercy,” that is to say, in charity, from a feeling for my wretched state; and not in anger or bitterness, from a desire of revenge. Such a man “ shall reprove me” with pleasure ; but “ let not the oil of the sinner fatten my heart;” that sweet unction the sinner will seek to lay on the soul of another poor sinner, in extenuation of, or frequently in defence of, nay, more, in praise of, their sins. ‘‘ For my prayer also shall still be against the things with which they are well pleased.” All allow this to be a most obscure passage. St. Chrysostom explains it thus, I will not only shut off all communication with the wicked, but, furthermore, ‘‘my prayer shall be against the things with which they are well pleased ;” against the crimes and the vices in which they revel, which will be very transitory ; because
6 ‘* Their judges falling upon the rock have been swallowed up. They shall hear my words, for they have prevailed :”
The career of the wicked will be short; because “their judges,” the great ones amongst them, will fall upon the rock, as if they were battling with a seething sea, that dashes them unmercifully on a rock, and shivers them to pieces. ‘ They shall hear my words, for they have prevailed.” An allusion to “ My prayer also shall stil be against the things with which they are well pleased;” by which he gives us to understand that many unfortunate souls, who prided themselves on their sins, would hear his words, and be converted to God through them ; for as the hardest soil is entered by the plough, so the heart of man, however hardened it may be, will be entered and stirred up by the power and the efficacy of the word of God.
7 ‘As when the thickness of the earth is broken up upon the ground: our bones are scattered by the side of hell.”
Those poor souls, already alluded to, will hear my words; for these words. were most effectual in moving them; as effectual as a spade or a plough, to enter into and turn up the thick, sluggish clay. “Our bones are scattered by the side of hell.” Such and so numerous are the temptations that surround us, that “our bones,” which represent our strength and courage, are so scattered, weakened, and debilitated as to be brought almost nigh to the gates of hell, to the last extremities.
8 “* But to thee, O Lord, Lord, are my eyes: in thee have I put my trust, take not away my soul.”
This is the last petition, similar to the first, in which he asked to deliver us from all the dangers of temptation; and he now repeats it, on consideration of the miserable state alluded to in the preceding verse. “ 7'o thee, O Lord, are my eyes” looking out for help from you; “i thee have I put my trust ;” and I, therefore, pray that you “take not away my soul.” Do not suffer my life to be taken, myself to be lost.
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
9 ‘* Keep me from the snare, which they have laid for me, and from the stumbling-biocks of them that work iniquity.”
He tells from what quarter he apprehends death, and says it is from the snares and stumbling-blocks, that is, from the temptation of the devil and from bad example. ‘ Keep me from the snare which they have laid before me’—be it the concupiscence of the flesh, the concupiscence of the eyes, or the pride of life, “ and from the stumbling-blocks of them that work iniquity,’ from the examples set by the carnal, the covetous, and the proud.
10 ‘‘ The wicked shall fallin his net: I am alone until I pass.”
He finally tells us, that all those attached to sin will fall into the net of the evil spirit ; while he, and all who, like him, have a hatred of sin, will escape it; an admonition that proves man to be endowed with free will, and one that must prove a great consolation to those who fear God. ‘“* The wicked,” all those who take pleasure in sin, that is, who are at present, and wish to remain, sinners, ‘“ shall fall in his net,” in the net of the arch-hunter, the devil ; °° I am alone until I pass,” 1 will keep aloof from the whole world, until I should have passed al! snares and stumbling-blocks. Though I may be kept an exile for a time in this world, I will not belong to it. “T am alone,” until I shall have passed to my country, where I shall have no snares or stumbling-blocks to encounter.
PSALM CXLI. A prayer of David in extremity of danger.
1 Icried to the Lord with my voice: with my voice I made supplication to the Lord.
2 In his sight I pour out my prayer; and before him I declare my trouble.
3 When my spirit failed me, then thou knewest my paths. In this way wherein I walked, they have hidden a snare for me.
4 Ilooked on my right hand, and beheld. and there was no one that would know me. Flight hath failed me: and there is no one that hath regard to my soul.
5 I cried to thee, O Lord; Isaid : Thou art my hope, my portion in the land of the living.
6 Attend to my supplication: for I am brought very low. Deliver me from my persecutors ; for they are stronger than I.
7 Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the just wait for me, until thou reward me.
EXPLANATION OF THE PSALM.
1 “I cried to the Lord with my voice: with my voice I made supplication to the Lord.”
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
2“ In his sight I pour out my prayer ; and before him I declare my trouble.”
We learn nothing more from these two verses, but
that David put up a certain prayer to God, but the several expressions in them are worth attention. “ With my voice,” intimating that David did not pray with his lips alone, as they do who do not attend to, or understand what they are about ; but he prayed ‘* with his voice,” that was formed in his heart, and sent forth through the organs he got for the purpose. “ Tcried.” We have already explained, that such expression implies, crying with earnestness. ‘ J made supplication,” is an explanation of the nature of his cry, viz., that he cried not by way of reproach or blasphemy, but in prayer and invocation. ‘‘ In his sight I pour out my prayer,” implying his prayer was put up from the cave when he was flying from Saul, where God alone beheld him, and as if he foresaw the monition of Christ, who advises us to pray in our closed chamber ; and with that, as is principally intended here, to signify that the cry was principally in the interior, where God alone can hear or see it. ‘ And before him I declare my trouble,” is no more than an explanation of “ in his sight [pour out my prayer.”
3‘ When my spirit failed me, then thou knewest my paths. In this way wherein [ walked, they have hidden a snare for me.”
He now tells why and when he declared his trouble before God. It was when he was at death’s door, ‘‘ wher my spirit failed me,” when he was lurking in the cave, and in great danger for his life. This is more applicable to Christ in the garden, or on the cross. “ Then thou knewest my paths.” When my spirit failed me, I prayed to you, who well “knew my paths,’ my thoughts, actions, and desires, and how unjustly I was suffering so much persecution. ‘ In this way wherein J walked, they have hidden a snare for me.” He tells us that such persecation commenced by his enemies privately plotting against him, and then, that they had recourse to open violence. Saul frequently sought David’s death privately, by sending him to fight where he expected he would be slain; but when he did not succeed in that, he openly attacked him. And so with the Pharisees, who frequently sought to take advantage of our Lord in his language ; but when his wisdom proved superior to their malice, they openly charged him and demanded his crucifixion. ‘‘ In this way wherein I walked” in the way of justice and of God’s commandments, in the very path you know so well. “ They have hidden a snare for me.” Togive an example. Saul promised his daughter in marriage to David, on condition of his killing two hundred Philistines, with whom God’s people were then, justly, at war; and he did so, in the hope of David being killed in the battle. David, however, through God’s assistance, in obedience to the king, set out to battle, and killed the two hundred Pailistines. Thus, the Pharisees watched Christ, to see would he heal on the sabbath, that they
may afterwards be able to say, * This man is not of God who keepeth not the sabbath,” and thus they, too, “hid snares in the way” of the commandments of God. Christ, however, did work in curing on the sabbath, and shewed that he did nt violate the sabbath thereby, inasmuch as it was only servile works, and not works of charity, that were forbidden on the sabbath. They also “ hed snares in his way,” when they brought the adulteress before him, saying, “Moses ordered such one to be stoned, what say you?”
4 “ I looked on my right hand, and beheld: and there was no one that would know me. Flight hath failed me: and there is no one that hath regard to my soul.”
This refers to the violence offered him ; for his enemies, on seeing that their private plots against him did not succeed, had recourse to open violence. Under such persecution, he says, ‘‘ [looked to the right,” for help from my friends, “ and beheld,” to see was any friend or companion coming to my aid, “and there was no one that would know me,” not one that would dare to acknowledge his having the slightest knowledge of me. This applies to David, who, when persecuted by Saul, flew for protection to King Achis, who refused to receive him, whereon he had to hide himself ina cave. It applies much more forcibly to Christ, who, in his passion, saw many on his left hand, his enemies and accusers, and not one on his right hand, his friends and acquaintances. For, as the Gospel has it, “* And all his acquaintance stood afar off,” and Peter himself, the principal one among them, swore with an oath, “ Tknow not the man;” and with just reason, therefore, might the Lord say, ‘* There was no one that would know me.” “ Flight hath failed me.” He was now reduced to such extremities that, so far from having any hope of external aid, he was even unable to run away, and thus save himself by flight. “ Flight hath failed me,” and I, therefore, have no means of escape, “‘ and there is no one that hath regard to my soul,” not one having the least concern for me, or caring to save me from utter destruction. David complained of his being unable to fly away by reason of his inability; but Christ was unable to do so because he would not do so, and because both he and his Father had interdicted it. Flight fails the one who will not fly as effectually as the one who cannot fly. And, in fact, not one appeared “ to have regard” to Christ’s life in order to save it, though he said, ** Z lay down my life;” and again, “ Zhe good shepherd layeth down his life for his sheep;” and though he said to his Father, “ My Father, why hast thou forsaken me?’
5 ‘*T cried to thee, O Lord; I said: Thou art my hope, my portion in the land of the living.”
Having now no hope whatever of any aid from man, he has recourse to God, to whom “ nothing is difficult ;” and being a spiritual man, fully aware that God sometimes afflicts his friends ia their pilgrimage, with a view to crown them with additional glory in
their country, he says, ‘‘ Z cried to thee, O Lord ; I said: Thou art my hope,” down here in my pilgrimage; “my portion’’—in other words, my inheritance “in the land of the living.”
6 ‘ Attend to my supplication: for I am brought very low.- Deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I.”
He now uses two arguments to move God to deliver him, because he is brought very low, and his enemies are made very strong. “* Attend to my supplication,” and hear me at last, “for I am brought very low,” grievously depressed and afflicted. ‘‘ Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are stronger than I.” They have become so much stronger and more powerful than I am that they must easily overcome me. However true this may have been of David lurking in a cave, while his enemy, Saul, was at the head of a powerful army, it is more literally true of Christ, who could truly say, ‘‘ J am brought very low,” because ‘‘he humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross.” He was also “‘ brought very low,” when he, that had the right of sitting on the cherubim, hung between two robbers. Truly, also, were his enemies “ stronger than him” when “their hour came,” and “ power was given to darkness,” so as to appear, for a while, to eclipse the sun of justice itself.
7 “ Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the just wait for me, until thou reward me.”
As regards David, St. John Chrysostom says, “the prisun” means the troubles and afflictions that caused him to hide himself in the cave, so that the meaning would be, Bring me clear of those aftlictions, so that I may be able to leave this cave, and, upon being set at liberty, that I may praise thy name. “ The just wait for me;” for they all expect you, in your providence, will free me, innocent as I am. Still, perhaps, David, holy as he was, and favoured with great lights from God, had loftier aspirations, and, in his desire to be freed from his mortality, as he would from a prison, said, with the Apostle, “* Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” for they wbo thus ascend to the dwelling of those who praise the Lord for ever and ever are those who really praise his name, which is confirmed by the subsequent sentence, “ the just wait for me until thou reward me;” for the souls of the holy prophets in Limbo were waiting for the just Prophet, to see him rewarded; and so were the holy Angels in heaven, who were looking out for the true and eternal happiness to be secured by his merits. As regards Christ, he prays “ to be brought out of the prison” of the flesh, and, through his resurrection, to put on his spiritual body, to praise the name of the Lord; so that he, who had had so much labour in preaching to the people, may thenceforth be at rest in praising his Father. A number of the holy fathers agree in saying that the words,
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
*‘ the just wait for me until thou reward me,” are most applicable to Christ, because all the just, including all from the very beginning of the world, as well as the Apostles and the other faithful then alive, waited most ardently for the resurrection and the glorification of Christ, because they were all to receive from “the fulness of his glory;” for, as St. John says, “ For as yet the Spirit was not given, because Jesus was not yet glorified,” so we, too, can say, the souls of the saints had not ascended from the prison of Limbo to the kingdom of heaven, because Christ, the King of Glory, had not yet entered into his
glory.
PSALM CXEII.
The psalmist in tribulation calleth upon God for his delivery. The seventh penitential psalm.
1 Hear, O Lord, my prayer: give ear to my supplication in thy truth : hear me in thy justice, 9
2 And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight no man living shall be justified.
3 For the enemy hath persecuted my soul: he hath brought down my life to the earth. He hath made me to dwell in darkness as those that have been dead of old:
4 And my spirit is in anguish within me: my heart within me is troubled.
5 I remembered the days of old: I meditated on all thy works: I meditated upon the works of thy hands.
6 I stretched forth mv hands to thee: my soul is as earth without water unto thee.
7 Hear me speedily, O Lord: my spirit hath fainted away. Turn not away thy face from me, lest | be like unto them that go down into the pit.
8 Cause me to hear thy mercy in the morning; for in thee have I hoped. Make the way known to me, wherein I should walk: for I have lifted up my soul to thee.
9 Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord, to thee have I fled:
10 Teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God. Thy good spirit shall lead me into the right land:
11 For thy name’s sake, O Lord, thou wilt quicken me in thy justice. Thou wilt bring my soul out of trouble:
12 And in thy mercy thou wilt destroy my enemies. And thou wilt cut off all them that afflict my soul: for | am thy servant.
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
EXPLANATION OF THE PSALM.
1 “ Hear, O Lord, my prayer : give ear to my supplication in thy truth: hear me in thy justice,”
_ The Psalmist commences by asking for an audience in truth and justice, and tells us what he wants, because he takes it for granted that God knows full well what he wants, namely, forgiveness of the sin that he was now paying the penalty of. Now, God knew full well why he asked for it, and wished his prayer should be heard, because he saw the desires of his heart, as also, perhaps, understood them from his groans and sighs, arising from perfect contrition. Thus, we read of Mary Magdalen, who made no expression when she sought for forgiveness, but let the tears, with which she washed the Saviour’s feet, convey to the Saviour what she sought; and, hence, the immediate reply, “ Thy sins are forgiven thee.” David, then, full of contrition, and groaning internally, in asking pardon for his sin says, ‘* Hear, O Lord, my prayer,” the purport of which you are well acquainted with ; and repeats it, saying, ‘‘ Give ear to my supplication in thy truth;” that is to say, in accordance with the faithful observance of the promise you made of forgiveness to the truly penitent. And he repeats it again when he adds, “* Hear me in thy justice,” justice meaning here a strict adherance to, and observance of, his promise. St. John Chrysostom interprets justice to mean the kindness with which God receives the penitent; and he says that David studiously says, ‘‘ hear me in thy justice,” instead of hear me in justice, because the justice God exhibits towards the penitent deserves rather the name of inexpressible kindness. ‘The moment God sees any one truly penitent, aud acknowledging their faults, he at once forgives them, as he says, through Jsaias xliii., “ Tell if thou hast anything to justify thyself.” Judges here below seek a confession from the accused, in order to condemn him ; God seeks for it in order to absolve him. Finally, the father of the prodigal son, that is, God, the moment he beheld the son on his return, exclaiming, “ Father, I have sinned against heaven, and against thee,” threw himself on his neck, kissed and embraced him, ordered the best robe and ring to clothe him, and the fatted calf to be killed to celebrate his return.
2 * And enter not into judgment with thy servant : for in thy sight no man living shall be justified.”
Having asked for pardon on the ground of God’s promises, to which he faithfully adheres, he asks for pardon again, on the ground of the frailty and infirmity of buman nature. “ And enter not into judgment with thy servant.” Don’t dispute the matter with me, I will make no defence, I will avow my guilt instead of pleading my innocence, “ for in thy sight no man living shall be justified ;” because not only one like me, but any human being whatever will be cast when they come to stand in judgment before you. Human beings may be divided into sinners, the just here below, and the just in heaven.
Sinners, such as homicides, adulterers, and the like, may justify themselves in the eyes of man, their crimes being often occult, or incapable of proof ; but they will not be justified before God, who knows their hearts and sees their conscience, and will bring them in guilty on its testimony. The just, in this place of trial, will not be justified before God, because they will not dare to justify themselves, but will rather say with the Apostle, “ For I am not conscious to myself of anything; yet in this I am not justified, but he that judgeth me is the Lord; for, perhaps, he sees something in me that I do not see ; and with Job, then, I should rather say, “‘ Z, who although I should have any just thing, would not answer, but would make supplication to my judge.” Another reason why they ‘will -not be justified” is, because they feel that their justice has not been acquired by themselves, but is a free gift of God ; and thus, they will not justify themselves before God, as if the justification proceeded from themselves, but they will rather return thanks to him who justifies them. Finally, “ they will not be justified” in the sight of the Lord, because, however just they may be, and free from sin, they still feel themselves to be sinners, inasmuch as they are subject to sin every day, and need to say with the rest of the saints, ‘“‘ Forgive us our trespasses;” and with St. John, “ Tf we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves.” The just in heaven, who are not only free from crime and sin, but are even beyond the reach of either, “are not justified in thy sight,” because they do not attribute their justice to themselves, but to the God who conferred it on them, and compared with whose justice all others may be looked upon as pure injustice, for “the stars are not pure in his sight.”
Lutherans and Calvinists seek to prove from this passage, that there is no real justice in the justified soul, it being merely imputed to it; and that all the acts of the just are so many mortal sins, deserving eternal punishment, if God chose to impute them so, In reply, we must observe, that David did not say that there was no just person to be found; on the contrary, in Psalm xvii., he says, “‘ And the Lord will reward me according to my justice, and will repay me according to the cleanness of my hands, because I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not done wickedly against my God, and I shall be spotless with him,” &c.; and in Psalm cxviii., * Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.” Observe, also, that David does not say no one will be justified, but he says no one “will be justified in thy sight,” either because _ the justice any one may come to is not from themselves, but from God ; or, because, however just any one may get to be, they still are not free from venial sins and imperfections ; or, finally, because no matter how just and perfect any one may become, they can be called any thing but just, when compared to the infinite and increate justice of God ; just as all light,
however brilliant, dwindles into insignificance, when compared to that of the sun, to which Job alludes, when he says, chap. iv., “ Shall man be justified in comparison of God 2” and, again, in chap. ix., “‘ Indeed I know it is so, and that man cannot be justified compared with God.”
3 ‘ For the enemy hath persecuted my soul: he hath brought down my life to the earth. He hath made me to dwell in darkness as those that have been dead of old:”
He now puts forward a third reason for obtaining pardon, derived from the grievousness of the temptation under which he fell; for it was not spontaneously, or without being under the influence of temptation, as did the reprobate angels, who, consequently, were not forgiven, that he fell, but it was under a most grievous temptation of the devil, our enemy, “ who goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour,” that he was laid prostrate and hurled from the height of innocence to the lowest depths of mortal sin. The word “for,” then, is to be read with “hear me in thy justice;” as much as to say, hear me, because you are just, because you adhere to your promise, because “in thy sight no man lining shall be justified,” because “ the enemy hath perseeuted my soul,” by exciting me to adultery, and tempting me to murder, and thus ‘brought down my life to the earth,” made me vile and contemptible in thy sight, and that of the holy Angels. “ He hath made me to dwell in darkness,” &c. He goes on to detail the calamities in which he got involved through sin, into which he fell through the persecution of the devil. Having ‘‘ brought down his life to the earth.” He next made him ‘‘ dwell in darkness,” in spiritual darkness ; and that by blinding the eyes of the interior, so as to be taken up with false for true happiness, not to advert to the depths and precipices, avd to lose sight entirely of the way that leads to life ; and finally, to cause him to dwell in darkness, as completely as those who have been dead and buried for many years, speaking of which darkness the Apostle says, Ephes. iv.,“‘ Having the understanding obscured with darkness, alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance which is in them, because of the blindness of their heart;” and in chap. vi., “* For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness.”
4 “ And my spirit ts in anguish within me: my heart within me is troubled.”
He now explains how, by the light of divine grace, he began to see the darkness in which he had been enveloped, and how he had fallen in his love for the
- things of this world, and how therefrom arose great
anxiety and fear of God’s judgments, and of the wretched state into which he had fallen through sin. Such is the first stage of penance. He was in such a state of anxiety as nigh caused his death, had he not been consoled with the hope of mercy. “ My heart within me is troubled.” When I began to re-
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
flect on my miserable state, I was troubled not lightly, nor superficially but in the inmost recesses of my heart, as should all those who seek to imitate the repentance of David.
5 ** T remembered the days of old: I meditated on ail thy works: I meditated upon the works of thy hands.”
He now tells how he began to get his breathing in such anxiety, and by his example shews the way to recovery after a relapse. ‘‘ I remembered the days of old.” I began to remember the mercy with which you dealt with our fathers from time immemorial, when you bore their infirmities, healed their sores, and spared their iniquities. And it was not a passing thought I bestowed on them, but “I meditated on all thy works.” 1 studied all your works, whether of nature or of grace, with the greatest care ; and I saw that mercy predominated in every one of them, which he repeats, when he adds, ‘‘ J meditated upon the works of thy hands”—was quite absorbed in reflection on all your works.
6 “I stretched forth my hands to thee: my soul is as earth without water unto thee.”
The consideration of God’s mercy having inspired him with hope, he began to sigh and to look up to. him. “J stretched forth my hands to thee” in prayer ; for my soul thirsts as much for your grace, as the parched earth does for the rain. A most appropriate comparison; for as the earth, when devoid of moisture, does not adhere together, is not clothed with herbage, nor adorned with flowers, produces no fruit, and is altogether idle and unproductive; so the soul, without God’s grace, offers no resistance to tempta-~ tion ; but like the dust, that is carried about by the wind, has neither the clothing of justice, nor the ornaments of wisdom, nor the fruit of good works, of all which the penitent had practical experience, and was therefore the more thirsty.
7 ‘* Hear me speedily, O Lord: my spirit hath fainted away. Turn not away thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.”
The turpitude of the sin he acknowledged and the desire of grace now so presses on the penitent, that he can brook no further delay ; and the fact of the penitent not deferring his confession, and the other remedies suggested, from day to day, but running at once to his spiritual physician, just as one taken suddenly ill would urgently send for the doctor, or one suffering from thirst would run to the water, is a sign of true contrition. ‘‘ Hear me speedily ;” I cannot bear my wretched state any longer; wash me quickly from my iniquities ; heal, at once, my disease; because “ my spirit hath fainted away ;” I am in the last extremities, can scarce draw my breath. ‘ Turn not away thy face from me”— the same petition in different language—as much as to say, Do not refuse to be reconciled, be not inexorable; look upon me with a face of benignity and
mercy, ‘‘ lest I become like those that go down into the
pit;” the lowest pit of hell; for such is the fate of
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
those whom God refuses to pardon, and from whom he withholds his grace.
8 “* Cause me to hear thy mercy in the morning ; for
in thee have I hoped. Make the way known to me,_
eo I should walk: for I have lifted up my soul to hee.
He again reverts to the same subject, in another manner, however. ‘“ Cause me to hear thy mercy in the morning ;” that is, at once, in the very beginning of the day ; or the morning may mean that dawn of grace that succeeded the dark night of sin in which he had so long lain ; as if he were to say, The night of sin, in which I have been enveloped, has been long enough; through your mercy, let the day of grace and reconciliation now commence, and let me hear your voice, saying, “‘ J am thy salvation, for in thee have I hoped;” that is to say, may the grace of hope already given me, merit the grace of forgiveness ; for though the sinner can merit nothing with God, still, grace itself merits an increase of it, that by its increase it may merit the being perfected ; and, as St. Augustine observes, that as justification is obtained through faith, the same may also be said of hope. ‘‘ Make the way known to me wherein I should walk; for I have lifted up my soul to thee.” The penitent having now succeeded in securing his justification, and fearful of a relapse, earnestly asks for the grace of knowing the path of justice, and of walking in it, and the desire of forming such rule of life as becomes a friend and child of God, after being reconciled to him, is also a mark of a true penitent. “ Make the way known to me wherein I should walk ;” so illuminate my mind as to know the path of justice, through the aid of which I may be able to come to you; because “ J have lifted up my soul to thee;” because it is to you I have directed my course ; for you I have renounced the desires of the world; thee alone I desire; and I, therefore, ask for the light of wisdom, for fear of straying from thee.
9 ‘ Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord, to thee have IT fled:
10 ‘* Teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God. Thy good spirit shall lead me into the right land:
11 “ For thy name’s sake, O Lord, thou wilt quicken me in thy justice. Thou wilt bring my soul out of trouble :”
He follows up the same petition, begging to be delivered from the temptations of the devil, who frequently seeks to. blind up the mind, so that it may not see the path of justice. These concupiscences so raised up by the devil, make things appear in a very different light from what they really are; and hence arises an error of judgment. ‘‘ Deliver me from my enemies;” from his temptations; for I have renounced him, and fled to thee. ‘ Teach me to do thy will.” Assist me by your light to repel his temptations, and find out the true path, and so understand your good will and your thorough good pleasure ; “‘ for thou art my God;” I desire and wish to serve you alone; because you are my God, the source and the end of all the goods I enjoy, from whom I have got existence
and all the goods of soul and body, and from whom I expect happiness and everlasting glory. ‘ Thy good spirit shall lead me into the right land.” THaving previously asked for wisdom, which appertains to the understanding—for we, then, in reality, tread the paths of justice when we understand, and we intend to do what is right. ““Zhy good Spirit ;” not my spirit, but yours, which is essentially good, and of which the Saviour says, ‘‘ How much more will your Father from heaven give the good Spirit to them that ask him ? That good Spirit is the Holy Ghost, who is essentially good, and through whom “‘ the charity of God is poured out into our hearts;” and this it is that makes us wish to work and carry out our wishes; and it is of it Ezechiel speaks when he says, “ And L will put my Spirit in the midst-of you, and I will cause you to walk in my commandments.” This good Spirit “ shall lead me into the right land;” in that plain and direct road, the Lord’s law, which is most plain and direct. The “ right land” may also mean our country above, where all is right and straight, and nothing distorted or crooked. ‘ For thy name's sake thou wilt quicken me in thy justice.” To shew us that justification, which is a sort of spiritual resuscitation, is not to be had from our own merits, but from the gratuitous gift of God, he adds, ‘* For thy name’s sake,” for the glory that will accrue to you by the gift of so much grace, “ thou wilt quicken me in thy justice.”
12 ‘“* And in thy mercy thou wilt destroy my enemies. And thou wilt cut off all them that afflict my soul: for I am thy servant.”
He concludes, by predicting his own salvation and deliverance, and the ruin of all his enemies, which will certainly be accomplished on the last day. And what the prophet says of himself is equally applicable to all the true servants of God, who have preserved their innocence, or who, by true penance, have returned to the paths of justice.
Chapter 113 of 123