HOMILY 25
HOMILY 25
ON PSALM 97 (98)
TO THE Lord a new song'; the story of the Son of God crucified is the new song that had never been heard of before. A new event should have a new song. 'Sing to the Lord a new song.' It was the man, indeed, who suffered; but, you, sing to the Lord. Suffer, certainly,
He did as man; He redeemed as God. 'Sing to the Lord a new song.' A new name merits a new song. This thought is intrinsic to what Scripture says in another place: 'You shall be called by a new name.'1 A new name is deserving of a new song. So in the Apocalypse: 'To him who overcomes I will give a white pebble, and upon the pebble a new name written.'2 The new name is that of Christians.3
'Sing to the Lord.' Why? ·What has He done? Why is there a new song due Him? 'For he has done wondrous deeds.'
He performed miracles among the Jews: He cured paralytics; He cleansed lepers; He raised the dead to life. But other prophets had done that too. He changed a few loaves into many and fed a countless multitude. But Eliseus did that.
What new thing, then, did He do to merit a new song?
Would you know what He did that was new? God died as man that men might live; the Son of God was crucified that He might lift us up to heaven. 'For he has done wondrous deeds.' Would you know what wondrous deeds He has done?
The son of a widow was lying dead in an upper chamber; lIsa. 62.2.
2 Cf. Apoc. 2.17; 3.12; d. Letter 69.7, PL 22.661 (421).
3 Cf. Commentary on Isaia 62.1-4, PL 24.605 (739).
SAINT JEROME
Eliseus came and drew himself together over the child and he put his mouth upon the mouth of the boy, and his hands upon his hands, and his feet upon his feet.4 If, instead of contracting and decreasing himself, Eliseus had expanded and increased himself, the widow's son would not have been restored to life; and so it was, in order to give life, that he made himself less. Although He was in the form of God, He received the form of man; thus did He decrease that through Him we might increase.5
'His right hand has won victory for him: This means He redeemed mankind, His own workmanship, not the work of another; or in other words, what He had made for Himself
He ransomed for Himself. He had made man for eternal life, man who had perished through his own vice; He died that with His own right hand He might preserve man for Himself. 'Right hand' in this passage symbolizes 'power,' and 'arm' is the symbol of 'strength: 'His holy arm: Granted that Christ is called both 'arm' and 'right hand'-'The right hand of the Lord has struck with power:s 'To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?'7 Because this psalm is speaking of Christ, the right hand and arm of the Lord represent His power.
'The Lord has made his salvation known: The psalmist did not say He 'has shown' but He 'has made known: The point is that the human race had known God, but by reason of its vice had forgotten that it knew Him. God in coming by His own will, therefore, manifested to man what he had lost; hence, the verse says: He, whom Adam had known, whom
Seth had known, whom Enoch that had called upon the Lord and had hoped in Him had known, and N oe had known, but afterwards the human race had forgotten, came again into the world in order that mankind, who had forgotten Him, might come to know Him once more. 'The Lord has made
4 4 Kings 4.34.
5 Cf. John 3.30.
6 Ps. 117.16.
7 Isa. 53.1.
HOMILY 25
His salvation known': in the Hebrew: 'The Lord has made His Jesus known: Wherever, in fact, our word salvation appears, the Hebrew text has 'Jesus:s 'In the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice,' by no means in Judea alone, but in the sight of the nations. It was just, surely, for the Savior to redeem His creature. 'He has revealed his justice,' His justice that had been obscured by the incredulity of mankind.
'He has remembered his kindness: 'He has shut up all in unbelief, that he may have mercy upon all:9 'And his faithfulness toward the house of Israel': He remembers His promise of mercy; He keeps faith. 'He has remembered his kindness' towards the peoples of all nations; 'And his faithfulness toward the house of Israel: By this work, He fulfilled His promise to the Patriarchs.
'All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation by our God: Not only Israel and Judea, but all lands have seen His salvation. The phrase 'the ends of the earth' has, likewise, a mystical implication. As long as we are in the midst of the world, we cannot see God, but when we leave the world, as it were, and reach the heights, then, we deserve to see God.
Do you want to know how all the ends of the earth see God?
We read in Ezechiel: lO 'And the wheels, those which revolve, to them he called, gelgel,' which means, 'revelation, revelation: GEL means revelation, GEL GEL, revelation revel ation.H Those wheels, therefore, hear 'revelation revelation,' for the wheel, with just a slight part of its base seemingly touching the ground, the whole of it whirls up to heaven.
Whereupon another passage of Holy Writ says: 'holy stones are rolled on his land.'12 And what does Ezechiel say? 'Wher8 Cf. Homily 12 on Ps. 78, p. 90.
9 Cf. Rom. 11.32.
10 Cf. Ezech. 10.13, LXX.
11 Cf. Against Jovinian 1.21, PL 23.250 (270); Commentary on Ezechiel 10.8-14, PL 25.94 (103); on Michea 6.3, PL 25.1209 (504), where Jerome gives 'volubilitas' as the meaning of GaJgaJa instead of 'revelatio.'
12 Cf. Zach. 9.16, LXX; cf. Commentary on Ezechiel 1.15·19, PL 25.28 (18).
SAINT JEROME
ever the spirit wished to go, there the wheels went.'13 Let us, likewise, follow the Holy Spirit and be called wheels. What does Ezechiel say? 'There they went; they did not turn when they moved.'14 At the same time, ponder carefully that it means they did not turn back, but always went forward. Forgetting what was behind, they strained forward to what was before.15 'They were full of eyes.'16 All these wheels were full of the light of God. But this is not the time to discourse17 on wheels, or the cherubim, or the creatures in Ezechiel.
'Sing joyfully to God, all you lands.'18 Not Judea alone, but all the lands, sing joyfully to the Lord. Bring forth all the regalia of a victorious army. 'Break into song; sing praise.'
Break into song with the praise of all your faculties: sing praise truly, sing with every part of your being. Let your hand sing in almsgiving; let your foot sing in haste to a good work.
'Sing praise to the Lord with the harp.' Let all your chords resound. If a single string is missing, there can be no harp.19
What does it profit you to be chaste and at the same time greedy? What does it profit you if you are chaste, if you are generous in almsgiving, but at the same time you are envious? What benefit to you if you have six good strings and one that is broken? If there is even one string broken, a perfectly sounding harp is not possible.
'With trumpets and the sound of the horn.' We read in the Book of Numbers20 that there are two kinds of trumpets: one, the long trumpet of silver; the other, the horn trumpet.
13 Ezech. 1.20, 12.
14 Ezech. 1.12,17.
15 Cf. Phil. 3.13.
16 Cf. Ezech. 1.18.
17 Cf. Letter 21.3, PL 22.381 (71); 59.3, PL 22.588 (329); 65.3, PL 22.625
(375); 84.6, PL 22.748 (527); 133.13, PL 22.1160 (1041); Against Jovinian 1.31, PL 23.266 (287); Hebrew Questions on Genesis 10.6, PL 23.1001
(319).
18 Cf. Ps. 97 (98).4.
19 Cf. Commentary on lsaia 16.11-14, PL 24.238 (275).
20 Cf. Num. 10.
HOMILY 25
Both kinds are mentioned in this verse: 'With trumpets and the sound of the horn.' Hear what they symbolize. The long silver trumpet is the word of God. 'The promises of the Lord are sure; like tried silver, freed from dross, sevenfold refined.'21
On the other hand, the sound of the horn represents the man of God in all His sovereignty. In Scripture, the horn properly signifies kingship and power just as it is written: 'He has raised up a horn of salvation for US';22 and in another place:
'Our foes through you we struck down with a horn.'23 See, then, what the psalmist means here? Have two trumpets, one of silver and one of horn: the silver for speech, and the horn for strength.
Would you have proof that the horn is used always in a favorable sense? We read in Leviticus: 24 No animal without horns may be offered in sacrifice. Three species of animals are immolated: the horned bull; the ram, a horned animal; and the buck which has horns. Do you think that there is no reason for specifying that a beast may not be presented for sacrifice unless it has horns? We, therefore, as long as we have a horn, are worthy to be dedicated holocausts of God, but if our horn has been broken, we are like feeble men and cannot enter the priesthood of God.
'Let the sea and what fills it resound.' Let the sea resound and the bitter waters be changed into sweet. In fact, Mara also was changed and rendered sweet tasting. Nothing made that bitter water sweet save the wood of the cross which had been let fall into it. It seems to me that the bitter sea is the Law of Moses. That is what Mara means-bitterness. This bitter water of the Old Law received the wood of the cross and was made sweet.25
'Let the rivers clap their hands.' Here, let us direct a question to the Jews who follow only a literal interpretation. Do
21 Ps.l1.7.
22 Cf. Luke 1.69.
23 Cf. Ps. 43.6; cf. Homily 21 on Ps. 91, p. 164.
24 Cf. Lev. 22.19-28; 4; 9; Num. 7; 28; 29.
25 Cf. Exod. 15.25; cf. Letter 69.6, PL 22.660 (419); 78.5, PL 22.703 (473).
SAINT JEROME
rivers have hands? Do they have voices? Do rivers have feet?
Do they have a stomach? Someone may object: There is nothing written about a stomach or about feet, but I answer:
When one member is mentioned, we take the others for granted, for we cannot understand hands without feet, without a belly, without the rest of the body.
'Let the rivers clap their. hands.' Rivers that have drunk from the fountain, Jesus. 'They have forsaken me, the source of living waters.'26 These are the rivers that flow from the fountain of Christ. He is the fountain; we are the rivers; if, indeed, we deserve to be rivers. Christ is the fountain, and the saints are rivers; the less holy, however, are the rivulets.
Others, in truth, are torrents. Who are the torrents? They who have water in quantity, but with the approach of temptation dry up.
'Let the rivers clap their hands.' There is not one river; there are many rivers; there are as many rivers as there are saints. But these rivers do not feud among themselves; because they are Christ's rivers, they are in perfect accord. 'Let the rivers clap their hands.' Let them clap their hands: the work of the saints is the praise of God. Christ is not praised in word but in works; He does not heed the voice, but the deed. 'Let the rivers clap their hands.' He Himself cries out in the Gospel: 'If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink, and "From within him there shall flow rivers of living water." '27 Let 'the mountains shout with them for joy before the Lord.' What fellowship is there between rivers and mountains? Because the prophet is speaking of proficients, he did not say let rivulets clap their hands, but let rivers clap their hands. Notice the order. Let the sea resound, and the whole world; let the rivers clap their hands,
His holy ones, His mountains, who have arrived at supreme justice.
Let us word this differently. Let the sea resound, the sea 26 Jer.2.13.
27 John 7.37,38.
HOMILY 25
that formerly had been still, let it resound at the coming of Christ. Let the sea resound; we have already mentioned that this refers to the Law of Moses. Let the rivers clap their hands, namely, the prophets. Let the mountains shout with them for joy in the presence of the Lord: the apostles. 'For he comes to rule the earth.' By no means does He come only humble in the flesh, but He comes glorious in His majesty. 'For he comes to rule the earth.' The prophet did not say, to destroy, but to rule. He comes to judge, to separate the cockle from the grain; He comes to separate the bad· fish from the good.
'He will rule the world with justice and the peoples with equity.' Justice is placed first, then equity. If justice comes first, and equity afterwards, then dJfJVT'Y/'> is the right word28 to express the notion of rectitude: that the wrong has been corrected. He comes, therefore, to rule with His justice that through Him disorder may return to order. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen.
28 Cf. Commentary on lsaia 26.7-9, PL 24.296 (347).