HOMILY 22
HOMILY 22
ON PSALM 93 (94)
i\1 E HAVE ALWAYS maintained that from its title one may learn the theme of a psalm. 'A psalm for David himself on the fourth day of the week.'l The fourth day is midway to the sabbath; it is, as it were, the heart of the week, the middle day in seven. It is the fourth day, and the fourth day has an equal number of days on each side. On one, the first, second, and third; and on the other, the fifth, sixth, and seventh. You see, therefore, that the fourth day of the week is supported on both sides by a trinity. At the same time you must remember that the fourth number is the tenth in power. How is that? If you sum up one, two, three, four consecutively, the total is ten, so you see the fourth number produces the tenth. From this computation consider, too, that the four Gospels are summed up in the decalogue. Everything contained in the decalogue is fulfilled in the four Gospels; hence, the Old Law does not contradict the authority of the Gospels. So much for the title; now let us turn our attention to the psalm itself.
'God of vengeance, Lord, God of vengeance, show yourself.'
He, who concealed Himself for a long time and did not appear among the people, at long last revealed Himself. He, who before was unknown, afterwards triumphed on the cross.
'God of vengeance, Lord.' If God is the Lord of vengeance ('Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord'2), why do you seek revenge, a man? You have the Lord as your
1 Cf. Ps. 93 (94).1, LXX.
2 Rom. 12.19; d. Deut. 32.35; Heb. 10.30.
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Avenger. That is in substance what the Apostle says: 'If thy enemy is hungry, give him food; if he is thirsty, give him drink: For by so doing thou wilt heap coals of fire upon his head.'3 But that does not seem like an act of kindness; rather it seems like cruelty. If I do an enemy good only that God may do him evil, I am acting not from piety, but from a motive of cruelty. What, then, does the Apostle mean? 'If your enemy is hungry, give him food,' kind and pious words.
'If he thirsts, give him drink.' Thus far it sounds like compassion. The conclusion, however: 'for by doing this you will heap coals of fire upon his head,' does not seem kind but cruel. You seem, in fact, to be giving him bread to eat and water to drink only to torture him for all eternity. Does the Apostle really mean that; does the preacher of mercy teach cruelty? No, it is not to be taken that way but in another sense.4 If your enemy strikes you, turn to him also your other cheek; if he does you wrong, you do him a good; for when you do that, you are heaping coals of fire upon his head. In other words, you will purify your enemy of sin, for your patience will conquer his cruelty. If you aim an arrow at a stone, and the stone is hard, not only will the arrow fail to penetrate, but it will even rebound. It is the same with your enemy; if he should strike you and you do not· retaliate, he will be conquered by your patience and you will convert him.
'How long, a Lord, shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked glory?' Human impatience does not want God to have patience. Creatures truly pitiable are we who would have God patient with us but impatient with our enemies.
When we commit sin, we beg God to be patient with us; yet when somebody wrongs us, we do not expect God to be patient with him. 'How long shall the wicked glory?' Not enough that they commit sin; they even glory in their sins.
3 Rom. 12.20.
4 Letter 120.1, PL 22.983 (821); Against the pelagians 1.30, PL 23.548
(782).
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Their first misfortune is to sin; their second degree of wretchedness-nay, rather their last-is impenitence. These sinners not only refuse to bend their necks in humility, but openly parade their wrongdoing.
'Mouthing insolent speeches.' These are the heretics without a doubt. 'Boasting, all the evildoers?' Watch for the signal: the man who is rebellious and insolent with his tongue must needs be evil in his deeds: 'for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.'5 Wherever there is a damaged conscience, sins of the tongue abound.
'Your people, 0 Lord, they trample down.' God's people are always being crushed, ever being trampled down. 'Your people, 0 Lord, they trample down.' God's people are laid low in humility in imitation of God who was meek and humble of heart. 6
'Widow and stranger they slay, the fatherless they murder, and they say, "The Lord sees not.'"
Although this passage is obviously a record of history, for the unprotected are always the ready prey of tyranny, and the more humble the victim the more does the persecutor offend against God, nevertheless, we are going to follow tropology in our exegesis. I have already noted for you the appropriate application of this psalm to heretics: Widow and stranger, they have slain. The widow is the soul of the sinner who has lost God as his spouse; the stranger is a non-inhabitant, that is, one who is not a permanent dweller. He is the recent believer who quickly falls away the first time he meets with scandal. 'The fatherless they murder, and they say, "The Lord sees not.'"
Are we wondering, since the fatherless are mentioned, where the widow is?
By the same token that the widow is the soul of the sinner, the fatherless are they who have lost God their Father.1
'And they say.' What do they say? 'The Lord sees not; the God of Jacob perceives not.' This is the prating of one who 5 Luke 6.45.
6 Cf. Matt. 11.29.
7 Cf. Commentary on Osee 14.2-4, PL 25.942 (158).
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treats the saints scornfully. Hear now the Holy Spirit's answer to those who mouth such insolence.
'Understand, you senseless ones among the people; and, you fools, when will you be wise? Shall he who shaped the ear not hear?' Does the potter not know his own pottery?
He who makes another hear, will He Himself be deaf? He who gave me eyes, will He Himself be blind? He who is the author of my understanding, will He Himself be without intelligence?8 This passage opposes especially the Anthropomorphites who say that God has the same human form and members that we have. They say, for example, that God has eyes: the eyes of the Lord behold all things; the hands of the Lord have made all things. 'And Adam heard the footsteps of the Lord walking in the garden,' says Holy Writ.9 Naturally, they hear these words and collate human weaknesses with the magnificence of God. But I say that God is all eye;
He is all hand; He is all foot. He is all eye because He sees everything; He is all hand because He is the maker of everything; He is all foot because He is everywhere. Consider again, therefore, the words: 'Shall he who shaped the ear not hear?' Scripture did not say, Shall He who shaped the ear not Himself have an ear? It did not say: Shall He not Himself, therefore, have eyes? But what did it say? He who fashioned the ear, shall He not have the power of hearing?
He who implanted the eye with which to see, does He not survey all things? He produced the parts of the body; He gave them their efficient powers.10
'Shall he who instructs nations not chastise': shall the Teacher of others, Himself be ignorant? 'He who teaches men knowledge?' Is it to be understood, therefore, that He Himself is without knowledge? The Lord knows the thoughts of 8 Cf. Commentarioli in ps. 93.9.
9 Cf. Gen. 3.8.
10 Cf. Commentary on Amos 6.7-12, PL 25.1063 (316).
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men, and that they are vain: We read in the writing of a profane poet: o the conceit of mankind! How great the vanity in human affairslll Both the Gentiles and the philosophers praise this verse excessively. And what do they say? This is positively the last word in wisdom! Behold our rustic Hebrew has voiced this same thought many ages before. And what did he say? 'The Lord knows the thoughts of men, and that they are vain:
Do you need proof that the thoughts of men are vain? A father and mother rear a son; they look forward with great promise to the fortune and happiness that he will bring them; they send him to school, give him the best education; he comes of age and they even arrange for his military service.
After thirty years of careful and matured planning, along comes a slight fever and that is the end of all their schemes.
I have an enemy with whom I must go to court, and the day of the trial is thirty days off; day and night I do nothing but prepare my defense. When I am in bed, all I do is frame answers to the charges of my enemy who is absent. My enemy is not present but my words are answering him as if he were. I rehearse in this way for days and nights. When the day of judgment arrives, however, all my carefully planned debate vanishes and I answer only what God inspires. That is precisely why the Lord says in the Gospel: 'And when they bring you before the magistrate, do not be anxious how or wherewith you shall defend yourselves, or what you shall say, for the Lord will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say:12 'The Lord knows the thoughts of men, and that they are vain: One preoccupation alone is worthwhile and wholesome-thinking about the Lord.
'Happy the man whom you instruct, 0 Lord,' happy the man who accepts God as his Teacher. 'Whom by your law you teach, giving him rest from evil days: Just think what
II Perseus. Satire 1.1.
12 Luke 12.11. 12.
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that means: Happy the man whom You school, 0 Lord, and instruct in Your law, in Your Scriptures. What profit, moreover, does he derive from instruction in Your law? 'Giving him rest from evil days.' So you see that the knowledge of Holy Writ, training in its lessons and performing its works, lightens for us our days of adversity_ 'Till the pit be dug for the wicked.' When you have been schooled in the law of the Lord, it will benefit you twofold: it will give you a lift in days of trouble, and it will dig a pit for the sinner.
'Who will rise up for me against the wicked?' The psalms are involved and frequently change person;13 for that reason they are obscure and it is often difficult to know in individual versicles just who the speaker is. 'Who will rise up for me against the wicked? Who will stand by me against the evildoers?' The Savior is speaking: '1 am the man of holiness; 1 have been raised up on the cross; 1 have died; 1 have risen from the dead; I have ascended into heaven in triumph. Who of the saints do you suppose will rise with Me?' This is what
He means: I arose from the dead that others might rise up with Me.
'Who will rise up for me?' When He asks, 'Who,' He is inviting everyone to rise with Him, for just as we read in Isaia: 'Whom shall I send? Who will go for US?'14 and Isaia' offers himself, so, too, the Lord invites us with the words:
'Who will rise up for me against the wicked?' Whoever shall rise, shall rise up for Me; he is of My army. 'Against the wicked': against the devil and his army. 'Who will stand by me?' Mark the order. He did not say first, who will stand, and then, who will rise up; but who will rise up and then who will stand. First we arise, naturally; then we stand.
'Who will stand by me against the evildoers?'; like a commander may He stand and cry out: 'Who will join My army?'
'Were not the Lord my help, I would soon dwell in the silent grave.' That is why I rise again, Lord, because You have
13 Cf. Homily 3 on Ps. 7, p. 25; 13 on Ps. SO, p. 93.
14 Isa.6.S.
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been in the land of the dead and have risen from the dead.
My soul would have been detained in hell, if Your soul had not arisen from the dead.
'When I say, "My foot is slipping.'"
In view of my frailty and human infirmity, I did not see how my foothold could be firm and steady; with every step I feared to slip. But when
I turned my thoughts back to You again and called upon Your name, my foothold became secure.
'When cares abound within me, your comfort gladdens my soul.' This is comparable to the saying of the Apostle that we shall receive a reward from God in heaven in proportion to our labor and sufferings on earth.15 The magnitude of our tribulations determines the magnitude of our reward; as many wounds we endure. that many crowns do we merit.
Now for the meaning of the verse: as many times as I have repented, that many times You have consoled me. I have shed one tear, I have earned one consolation; I have shed ten tears, I have merited ten consolations. The weight of my repentance equated the number of Your consolations.
'Who cause toil by your law.'16 No one receives a crown while he is asleep; no one is secure in his possession of the kingdom of heaven; no one with a full stomach is fit to discourse on fasting,l1 You grasp now the force of the versicle:
'who cause toil by your law.' All the commandments of the Lord demand effort. Without labor and toil, we cannot possess the kingdom of heaven. Do you want to know why?
'1£ thou wilt be perfect, go, sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and come, follow me.'18 In other words, he who desires to attain the kingdom of heaven, let him pray night and day; let him keep watch; let him fast; let him make his bed on rushes, not on down and silk. Penitence has no fel15 Cf. 1 Cor. 3.8, 9.
16 Cf. Ps. 93 (94).20; d. Letter 133.7. PL 22.1155 (1035).
17 Cf. Letter 52.7, PL 22.533 (262); 58.2. PL 22.580 (320).
18 Matt. 19.21.
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lowship with soft luxuries. 'For I eat ashes like bread, and mingle my drink with tears:19
'Who cause toil by your law. Though they attack the life of the just: Notice that there is no apparent connection between these two versicles, for what relation is there between 'who cause toil by your law: and 'though they attack the life of the just'? Now when the ear of the body does not understand, the ear of the spirit does. What is the meaning then?
'Who cause toil by your law': we are laboring day and night by the law of the Lord, in vigils, prayer, and fasts, for we have many adversaries who are setting traps for the soul of the just man. They attack the soul of the just, not of the unjust. They are out, not to harass those who have been trapped, but to ensnare the guiltless. That is why it says in Habacuc: 'His repast sumptuous:20
'And condemn innocent blood.' There are always some who will assert that the slain would not have been slain if they had not been fornicators, or had not committed some other sin; disaster would not have overtaken this man, if he had not been a sinner; shipwreck would not have befallen that man, if he had not been a sinner. Perceive, therefore, the meaning of Holy Writ in: 'And condemn innocent blood.'
As long as we are in this world, we endure all things together. The just man and the sinner equally suffer shipwreck; they are equals in flesh and equals in the condition of flesh. The just and the sinner perish equally; death comes to each alike; but there are different rewards that await the just and the sinner. One goes to hell, the other is conducted into the kingdom of heaven. 'And condemn innocent blood.'
Your conscience is sufficient for you,D just man; if you are condemned, your blood is innocent, and it will cry out to the Lord.
'Yet the Lord has been made my stronghold.'21 This text 19 Ps. 101.10.
20 Hab. 1.16; cf. Letter 22.4, PL 22.396 (90).
21 Cf. Ps. 93 (94).22.
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provides refutation to the Arians. Since they deny the Lord Savior because it says He has been made, behold we affirm: the Lord has been made my strongholdl No one doubts but that these words refer to the Father. If, moreover, it is said of the Father: 'the Lord has been made my stronghold,' it must be understood in this sense: the Lord who always was, has become my stronghold; therefore, the Savior who always was, has become my Redeemer.22
22 Cf. Commentary on lsaia 12.2, PL 24.152 (165).