Expositions on the Book of Psalms
THE WORKS?) OF 'ST... AUGUSTIN, [PsaLm CIX, and was almost dying with a kind of weariness, restored him by sending him the medicine of His Word ; who, when he was endangered among the risks of shipwreck and storm, stilled the sea, and brought him into port; who, finally, placed him in that people, where He giveth grace to the humble; not in that where he resisteth the proud ; and hath made him His own, that remaining within he may be multiplied, not that going out he may be minished. The righteous see this, and rejoice. "The mouth," therefore, maketh men strong by taking up, causing fruit in us; for the interpretation of Ephraim is, bearing fruit. But "taking up" may be understood of us, when we take up Christ; or of Christ, when He, who is Head of the Church, taketh us up. And the words, "them that trouble us," in the former Psalm,'5 are the same with "our enemies," in this.!°
2. We are taught by this Psalm, that those titles which seem to refer to history are most rightly understood prophetically, according to the object of the composition of the Psalms.
" of all wickedness shall be stopped."
. .. And yet this Psalm is composed of the latter portions of two,'7 whose titles are different. Where it is signified that each concur in a common object, not in the surface of the history, but in the depth of prophecy, the objects of both being united in this one, the title of which is, "A Song or Psalm of David:" 18 resembling neither of the former titles, otherwise than in the word David. Since, "in many places, and in diverse manners," as the Epistle to the Hebrews saith, " God spoke in former times to the fathers through the Prophets ;"' "9 yet He spoke of Him whom He sent afterwards, that the words of the Prophets might be fulfilled: for "all the promises of God in Him are yea." #°
PSALM CVIII.!
1. I have not thought that the CVIIIth Psalm required an exposition; since I have already expounded it in the LVIIth Psalm,? and in the LXth, of the last divisions of which this Psalm consisteth. For the last part of the LVIIth is the first of this, as far as the verse, "Thy glory is above all the earth." Henceforth to the end, is the last part of the LXth: as the last part of the CXXXVth is the same as that of the CXVth,3 from the verse, '' The images of the heathen are but gold and silver: " as the XI Vth 4 and LIIId,5 with a few alterations in the middle, have everything the same from the beginning to the end. Whatever slight differences therefore occur in this CVI1Ith Psalm, compared with those two, of parts of which it is composed, are easy to understand ; just as we find in the LVIIth,® "I will sing and give praise; awake, O my glory:" here, " I will sing and give praise, with my glory." 7 Awake, is said there, that he may sing and give praise therewith. Also, there, "Thy mercy is great' (or, as some translate, "is lifted up"') "unto the heavens ;''® but here, "Thy mercy is great above the heavens." 9 For it is great unto the heavens, that it may be great in the heavens ; and this is what he wished to express by "above the heavens." Also in the LXth, "J will rejoice, I will divide Shechem:" !° here '"T will be exalted, and will divide Shechem." ?! Where is shown what is signified in the division of Shechem, which it was prophesied should happen after the Lord's exaltation, and that this joy doth refer to that exaltation; so that He
PSALM CIX.?!
1. Every one who faithfully readeth the Acts of the Apostles, acknowledgeth that this Psalm containeth a prophecy of Christ ; for it evidently appeareth that what is here written, "let his days be few, and let another take his office," is prophesied of Judas, the betrayer of Christ... . For as some things are said which seem peculiarly to apply to the Apostle Peter, and yet are not clear in their meaning, unless when referred to the Church, whom he is acknowledged to have figuratively represented, on account of the primacy ?? which he bore among the Disciples ; as it is written, "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven," ?3 and other passages of the like purport: so Judas doth represent those Jews who were enemies of Christ, who both then hated Christ, and now, in their line of succession, this species of wickedness continuing, hate Him. Of these men, and of this people, not only may what we read more openly discovered in this Psalm be conveniently understood, but also those things which are more expressly stated concerning Judas himself.
rejoiceth, because He is exalted. Whence he elsewhere saith, " Thou hast turned my heaviness into joy; Thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness." ?? Also there, "Ephraim, the strength of my head:''*3 but here, " Ephraim the taking up of my head.' "4 But strength cometh from taking up, that is, He
2. The Psalm, then, beginneth thus: "O God,
15 Ps, Ix. 12, 18 Ps. cviii. Tit. 16 Ps, cviii. 13. 17 Ps. lvii. Tit.; Ps. lx. Tit. 19 Heb. i. 1. 20 2 Cor. i. 20. 2t Lat. CVIII. 22 [That he was facz/e prznceps in the original college, nobody denies; that he had any supremacy over his brethren, all antiquity, as well as Holy Scripture, disproves. The keys were equally given to the others. See A. N, F, vol. viii. p. 601 e¢ seg. —C.] 23 Matt. xvi. 19.
T Lat. CVII. Why no exposition is here given. 2 Ps, lvii. 8-12, Ix. 5-12. 3 Ps. Cxxxv. 15. CXV. 4. 4 Ps, xiv. 5 Ps. liii. © Ps, lvii. 7, 8. 7 Ps. cvili 1, 8 Ps. lvii. 10, 9 Ps. cviii. 4. 10 Ps, Ix. 6. 3t Ps. cviil. 7. IZOPSHARKULLES 13 Ps. lx. 7. 14 Ps, cviii. 8.
Leela es 537
Psatm CIX.] ON THE be not silent as to my praise; for the mouth of the ungodly, yea, the mouth of the deceitful is opened upon me" (ver.1). Whence it appeareth, both that the blame, which the ungodly and the deceitful is not silent of, is false, and that the praise, which God is not silent of, is true.
the Cross, said, " Father, ee them ; for they know not what they.do..S. + 5. But after he had said, "in place of loving me, they detracted from me ;"' what doth he add ? " But I gave myself unto prayer." He said not indeed what he prayed, but what can we better understand than for them themselves? For they were detracting greatly from Him whom they crucified, when they ridiculed Him as if He were a man, whom in their opinion they had conquered ; from which Cross He said, " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do;" so that while they in the depth of their malignity were rendering evil for good, He in the height of His goodness was rendering good for evil. . . . The divine words then teach us by our Lord's example, that when we feel others ungrateful to us, not only in that they do not repay us with good, but even return evil for good, we should pray ; He indeed for others who were raging against Him, or in sorrow, or endangered in faith ; but we tor ourselves in the first place, that we may by the mercy and aid of God conquer our own mind, by which we are borne on to the desire of revenge, when any detraction is made from us, either in our presence or our absence. .%.
" For God is true, but every man a liar ;"? for no man is true, except him in whom Ged speaketh. But the highest praise is that of the onlybegotten Son of God, in which He is proclaimed even that which He is, the only-begotten Son of God. But this did not appear, but, when His weakness appeared, lay hid, when the mouth of the ungodly and deceitful was opened upon Him ; and for this reason his mouth was opened, because His virtue was concealed: and he saith, "the mouth of the deceitful was opened,' because the hatred which was covered by deceit burst out into language.
3. "They have spoken against me with false tongues '' (ver. 2): then chiefly when they praised him as a " good Master" with insidious adulation. Whence it is elsewhere said: "and they that praised me, are sworn together against me." 2 Next, because they burst into cries, " Crucify Him, crucify Him; 3 he hath added, "They compassed me about also with words of hatred."" They who with a treacherous tongue spoke words seemingly of love, and not of hatred, "against me," since they did this insidiously ; afterwards " compassed me about with words"' not of false and deceitful love, but of open " hatred, and fought against me without a cause." For as the pious love Christ for nought, so do the wicked hate Him for nought; for as truth is earnestly sought by the best men on its own account, without any advantage, external to itself, in view, so is wickedness sought by the worst men. Whence among secular authors it is said of a very bad man, "' he was wicked and cruel for no object." 4
6.-He addeth, "Thus have they rewarded me evil for good" (ver. 4). And as if we asked, what evil? for what good? "And hatred," he saith, " for my good will." This is the sum total of their great guilt. For how could the persecutors injure Him who died of His own freewill, and not by compulsion? But this very hatred is the greatest crime of the persecutor, although it be the willing atonement of the sufferer. And he hath sufficiently explained the sense of the above words, "In place of loving me," since they owed love not as a general duty only, but in return for His love: in that he hath here added, " for my good will." This love He mentioneth in the Gospel, when He saith, '' How often would I have gathered thy children together, and thou wouldest not !''7
4. "In place," saith he, " of loving me, they detracted from me" (ver. 3). There are six different acts of this class, which may, when mentioned, very easily be borne in mind; (1) to return good for evil, (2) not to return evil for evil; (3) to return good for good, (4) to return evil for evil; (5) not to return good for good,
7. He then beginneth to prophesy what they should receive for this very impiety ; detailing their lot in such a manner, as if he wished its realization from a desire of revenge. Some not understanding this mode of predicting the future, under the appearance of wishing evil, suppose hatred to be returned for hatred, and an evil will for an evil will, since in truth it belongeth to few to distinguish, in what way the punishment of the wicked pleaseth the accuser, who longeth to satiate his enmity ; and in how widely different a way it pleaseth the judge, who with a righteous mind punisheth sins. For the former returneth evil for evil: but the judge when he punisheth doth
(6) to return evil for good. The two first of these belong to the good, and the first of these two is the better; the two last belong to the wicked, and the latter of the two is the worse ; the two middle to a sort of middle class of persons, but the first of these borders upon the good, the latter on the bad. We should remark these things in the holy Scriptures. Our Lord Himself returneth good for evil, who " justifieth the ungodly ;''5 and who, when hanging upon
I Rom. iii. 2 Ps, cil, 8. 3 John xix. 6, 4 Sallust. Beit, Catul: 5 Rom. iv. 5.
6 Luke xxiii. 34. 7 Matt. xxiii. 37.
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[PsaLm CIX.
"Let them be driven from their habitations." He here' explaineth what he had said above, " Let them be carried away." How all this happened to his wife and children, the following verses explain.
destitute of all help.
not return evil for evil, since he returneth justice to the unjust ; and what is just, is surely good. He therefore punisheth not from delight in another's misery, which is evil for evil: but from love of justice, which is good for evil. . 8. "Set thou an ungodly man to be ruler over him; and let Satan stand at his right hand"
12. "Let the extortioner search out all his substance, and let the strangers spoil his labour "'
(ver. 10). ' Let there be no man to help him"' (ver. 11): that is, to guard his posterity ; wherefore followeth, "nor to have compassion on his fatherless children "
(ver. 5). Though the complaint had been before concerning many, the Psalm is now speaking of one. ... Since therefore he is here speaking of the traitor Judas, who, according to the Scripture in the Acts of the Apostles, was to be punished with the penalty due to him,' what meaneth, "set thou an ungodly man over him," save him whom in the next verse he mentioneth by name, when he saith, " and let Satan stand at his right hand"? He therefore who refused to be subject unto Christ, deserved this, that he should have the devil set over him, that is, that he should be subject unto the devil. . . . For this reason also it is said of those who, preferring the pleasures of this world to God, styled the people blessed who have such and such things, "their right hand is a right hand of iniquity."? . g. "' When sentence is given upon him, let him be condemned, and let his prayer be turned into sin" (ver.6). For prayer is not righteous except through Christ, whom he sold in his atrocious sin :. but the prayer which is not made through Christ, not only cannot blot out sin, but is itself turned into sin. But it may be inquired on what occasion Judas could have so prayed, that his prayer was turned into sin. I suppose that before he betrayed the Lord, while he was thinking of betraying Him; for he could no longer pray through Christ. For after he betrayed Him, and repented of it, if he prayed through Christ, he would ask for pardon ; if he asked for pardon, he would have hope ; if he had hope, he would hope for mercy ; if he hoped for mercy, he would not have hanged himself in despair. . . to. " Let his days be few" (ver. 7). By "his days," he meant the days of his apostleship, which were few ; since before the Passion of our Lord, they were ended by his crime and death. And as if it were asked, What then shall become of that most sacred number twelve, within which our Lord willed, not without a meaning, to limit His twelve first Apostles? he at once addeth, "and let another take his office." As much as to say, let both himself be punished according to his desert, and let his number be filled up.
13. But as even orphans may, without one to help them, and without a guardian, nevertheless increase amid trouble and want, and preserve their race by descent; he next saith, " Let his posterity be destroyed ; and in the next generation let his name be clean put out" (ver. 12): that is, let what hath been generated by him generate no more, and quickly pass away.
14. But what is it that he next addeth? "Let the wickedness of his fathers be had in remembrance in the sight of the Lord, and let not the sin of his mother be done away"' (ver. 13). Is it to be understood, that even the sins of his fathers shall be visited upon him? For upon him they are not visited, who hath been changed in Christ, and hath ceased to be the child of the wicked, by not having imitated their conduct.3 . . . And to these words, "I will visit the sins of the fathers upon the children," 4 is added, "' who hate Me ;"' that is, hate Me as their fathers hated Me: so that as the effect of imitating the good is that even their own sins are blotted out, so the imitation of the wicked causeth men to suffer not their own deservings only, but those also of those whom they have imitated... . 15. " Let them alway be against5 the Lord" (ver. 14). 'Against the Lord," meaneth in the Lord's sight: for other translators have rendered this line, 'let them be always in the sight of the Lord ;" while others have rendered it, "let them be before the Lord alway ;" as it is elsewhere said, "Thou hast set our misdeeds in Thy sight."° By "alway," he meaneth that this great crime should be without pardon, both here, and in a future life. "Let the memorial of them perish from off the earth: " that is, of his father and of his mother. By memorial of them, he meaneth, that which is preserved by successive generations : this he prophesied should perish from the earth, because both Judas himself, and his sons, who were the memorial of his father and mother, without any succeeding offspring, as it is said above, were consumed in the short space of one generation.? .. .
11. '' Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow" (ver. 8). After his death, both his children were fatherless, and his wife a widow.
" Let his children be vagabonds, and be carried away, and beg their bread" (ver. 9). By " vagabonds" he meaneth, uncertain whither to go,: Ezek. xviii. 4,20, 4 Exod. xx. 5. 5 Contra. © Ps. xc. 8, 7 [Here he inquires whether poner in Hades, could know the condition of his family; and he replies, '' It is indeed a great question, and not one to be discussed at present, because it belongeth toa labour of greater extent, whether, or to what degree, or in what manner, the spirits of the dead are aware of what is passing around us.' He compares Luke xvi. 23, 28.—C.]
1 Acts i. 20, 2 Ps, cxliv, 11.