HOMILY 34
HOMILY 34
ON PSALM 107 (108)
SONG OF a psalm of David.'1 Song always suggests the work of the mind, but psalm that of the body. To express this distinction more clearly, song implies theory, and the psalm practice in reference to the art. Since, therefore, the title announces a song of a psalm, the second versicle continues logically and correctly with: 'I will sing and chant praise in my glory.'2
'My heart is ready, 0 God; my heart is ready.'3 I am ready, not only in act, but also in heart and in mind. My heart is ready in desire, my heart is ready in service, in deeds. Because I am ready, not only in heart and in mind, but also in works, that is why I say in the next versicle: 'I will sing and chant praise in my glory.' 'I will sing,' in my heart, that means. 'And chant praise.' Just as the psaltery is composed of many strings and if one should be broken the instrument as such is useless; so, too, in our actions, if we transgress one commandment our psaltery is broken. Hence, the prophet said, I will sing of You and chant praise to You in my glory.
In some codices the wording is, 'in your glory,' but the better reading agrees with the Hebrew text, 'in my glory.'
The versicle: 'I will sing, and chant praise, in my glory,' simply means, when I praise You with melody, 0 Lord, when
I sing to You, I render You no favor, but only to myself.
As a matter of fact, another psalm says: 'For you have no need 1 Cf. Ps. 107 (108).1; d. Commentary on Ephesians 5:19, PL 26.561 (651).
2 Cf. Ps. 107 (108).2.
3 Ibid.
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of my goods.'4 What I do, therefore, I do for my own good.
Because I serve you, it is to my glory. We fast. Do we thereby give God anything? We do it for our sins. We sleep on haircloth. What are we doing for the Lord in that? Only one thing; we are saving our souls, and that is what He desires.
Just as the good and kind doctor rejoices with his patient when he has cured him, so also does our Lord.
'Awake, lyre and harp.' 0 psaltery, 0 harp, you were made and fashioned to give praise to God; awake my harp and give praise; why do you lie idle? 0 monk, you are standing there in body; why is your soul listless, why are you not chanting praises to the Lord? 'Cursed be he who does the Lord's work remissly.'6 If you are a psaltery, if you are a harp, why are you so mute and not glorifying God? 'I will wake the dawn.'
There is no blessing and praising God in darkness, but only in light. I am going to say something startling. Even if we arise in the nighttime, we are blessing God in light. For the Christian, it is never night; for the Christian, the sun of justice is ever rising.
In the foregoing observations, we are quite in agreement with the Jews. According to another interpretation, however, it is the Lord who says: 'My heart is ready, 0 God; my heart is ready.' I am ready here; I am ready in the future world;
I am Savior on earth; I am Savior in heaven; I give eternal life both to angels and to men. 'Awake, lyre and harp.' The Lord is addressing His own body: Psaltery and harp, you that descended into hell and lay at rest, awake and praise the Lord. Be sure that you comprehend what He is saying. Not he who plucks the harp and the psaltery gives praise; but the harp and the psaltery themselves bless the Father; He is God and He is blessed and praised by others, but His body and the human nature that He assumed praise the Lord.
Now, for your satisfaction, not because I am merely airing my opinion, but because the prophet is speaking in the name
4 Cf. Ps. 15.2.
5 Cf. Jer. 48.10.
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of the Lord, consider what follows. 'I will give thanks to you among the peoples, 0 Lord': 'the peoples'; in other words, the Jews. 'And I will chant your praise among the nations: Here, He is speaking of us, for He calls 'the peoples' those who were the first to believe from among the Jews. Note carefully the order: first He praises God among the peoples; after that, among the nations. At first they who believed were of the Jews; later, of the Gentiles.
'For your kindness towers to the heavens.' There is no creature that does not depend upon the loving kindness of God. 6 Every last one of us is in need of God's compassion.
Gabriel, Michael, Seraphim, Cherubim, Powers, Dominations, all are holy, indeed, but stand in need just the same of the mercy of their Creator. I am not detracting from the angels, but I am proclaiming their Creator, inasmuch as the angels have themselves given Him glory, freely and gladly.
We may express the thought of this versicle in still another way: Your loving kindness lifts us from earth to heaven 'and your truth to the clouds.'7 Where are the Jews, where are their followers, they who limit their understanding to the letter only? How does the truth of God reach to the clouds? The Son of God says: 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life,'8 and He came down to earth and conversed with men.9 How, then, is the truth of God in the clouds? It is obvious enough that the prophet is referring to the apostles and to the saints; that they are not to rain His rain upon the Jews, but upon the Gentiles, as it is written: 'I will command my clouds not to send rain upon Israel.'lO In these clouds, therefore, is the truth of God. If the truth of God is in these clouds, by what right do Montanus and the Cataphrygians maintain that what was not revealed to the apostles has been revealed to us?
6 Cf. Against the Pelagians 2.4, PL 23.562 (744).
7 Cf. Ps. lO7 (108).5.
8 John 14.6.
9 Cf. Bar. 3.38. lO Cf. Isa. 5.6.
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'Be exalted above the heavens, 0 God.' God is not exalted except above the heavens; He is not exalted above the earth.
When we are woddly, we do not exalt God; but if from earthly beings we become heavenly beings, then we give glory to God. Our Lord, when He was on earth, did not exalt us. Someone may object: You are speaking rather temerariously, since, indeed, the Lord says Himself in the Gospel: 'I, if I be lifted up, will draw all things to myself.'l1
See what He says: When I shall be lifted up to the heavens, then I will draw all things to Myself. That is a good and holy thought, true enough, but I see a different meaning.
'When I shall be lifted up, when I shall be crucified, then I will draw all to myself.' 'That your loved ones may escape.' 0 wonderful power of discernment! The Lord is crucified and lifted up in order that His loved ones may escape. 'That your loved ones may escape. Be exalted above the heavens, 0 God.' Our prayer has been answered; He has been exalted, and we have been deliverd.
'God promised in his sanctuary,' whether in the temple, in anyone of His saints, in the prophet. He is heard in Moses; He is heard in the Apostle; and verily, do I say, He has spoken in His Son. What did God promise? That which follows: 'Exultantly I will apportion Sichem.' That is why
I am crucified, He says, that I may apportion Sichem. Now Sichem in our language means 'shoulders.'12 Shoulders, on the other hand, imply work; hence, the sense is: the purpose of My crucifixion is to share My work with My saints. For this reason I am crucified; that I may place My yoke that is sweet and My burden that is light upon the shoulders of men.
That You have done, Lord, as You have promised; You have been exalted and You have divided up Sichem.
'And measure off the valley of tents.'13 Truly has our Lord and Savior entered secretly into this valley of tears, into the II Cf. John 12.32.
12 Cf. Hebrew Questions on Genesis 48.22. PL 23.1055 (373); Commentary on Osee 6.9. PL 25.871 (67).
13 Cf. Ps. 107 (108).8.
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place of our lowliness, that is, into this world. Even though one is a saint in this world, still he does not yet know what it behooves him to know, 'for we know in part and we prophesy in part.'14
'Mine is Galaad, and mine Manasse.' Our Lord and Savior rejoices because He has many riches. The meaning of Galaad is 'emigration.' He rejoices because the Gentiles migrated from the nations and came to Him. Manasse means 'from forgetfulness,' consequently, understand that He is saying:
That son who took his inheritance and squandered it and forgot all about Me, has remembered Me now; I am calling him Manasse, that is, 'from forgetfulness,' because he has not forgotten but has returned to his Father.
Ephraim is interpreted 'fruitful.' 'Ephraim,' He says, 'is the helmet for my head.' He used helmet here in place of crown, for that which is set upon the head is a crown, and Holy Writ has many different expressions for crown. In one place it has: 'His truth shall compass you with a shield';15 in another: 'He crowns you with kindness and compassion.'16
Just as shield in the preceding psalm stands for crown, in our psalm, helmet means crown. Perceive, then, what the psalm says: you have become Galaad; you have become Manasse; you have migrated to the Lord, and after your forgetfulness, you have returned to your Father. Be Ephraim, too; be fruitful, yield good works, and afterwards you will be the Lord's crown.
'.Tuda, my scepter.' Think of how much glory there awaits the penitent, for the name Judas means 'confession.' 'Moab the caldron of my hope.'17 A great mystery is learned from these few words. I beg you to pay strict attention, for it will be of profit both to you who are listening and to me who am speaking. The translation of Moab is 'from the father.' AB means 'father'; MO means 'from.' Who is this man 'from 14 1 Cor. 13.9.
15 Cf. Ps. 90.4.
16 Ps. 102.4.
17 Cf. Ps. 107 (108).10.
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the father'?18 He who has lost his father, who has deserted him, who has not returned to him, and who is not worthy to be called Manasse. Who is this Moab? The enemy of the Lord from whose race even to the fourth and to the tenth generation-even to the end of the world-no one will enter the Church of the Lord. Who is this Moab? He who is born in a den of darkness from an impure union. From the union of Lot and his daughters, two sons were born, Moab and Aman, and Moab is the elder. Notice, therefore, how a mystery is concealed behind the letter. In darkness, in a cave; not in the sun, not in the light; hence, Moab is another name for the devil who is unmindful of his father. Indeed, Absalom who was the persecutor of his own father, also represents the devil.
But in what sense is this Moab called the caldron of the Lord's hope? 'Lebes' means caldron. How is a caldron the hope of the Lord? Is it believable that Moab, who is interpreted devil, is the caldron of the Lord's hope? In what sense is he the hope of the Lord? The Apostle says: 'Whom
I have delivered up to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.'19 The devil is, as it were, the Lord's torturer. 20
They who do not walk to God in justice are given over to the devil. Why? That they may be lost forever? Where, then, is God's clemency? Where is the loving, merciful Father?
Where is He who makes His sun rise on the just and on sinners alike and sends His rain down on both sinners and just?21
What it means is: I give sinners over to the devil so that tortured by him they may be converted to Me. Jeremia says of this: 'What do you see, Jeremia?' 'I see a boiling caldron,'22 he replies. You see, meat is put into the caldron; Ezechiel23
18 Cf. Hebrew Questions on Genesis 19.36, PL 23.1017 (335).
19 1 Tim. 1.20.
20 Cf. Commentary on Joel 2.22-28, PL 25.973 (199).
21 Cf. Matt. 5.45.
22 Jer. l.B. 13.
23 Cf. Ezech. 24.
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says so. 'And 1 put meat into the caldron'; that sinners, in other words, may soften and their hardness be converted to the Lord and their stony heart become a heart of flesh, so that where at first there could be no writing because of the hardness of the substance, afterwards there could be because of its softness. 'I will heap up a great bonfire beneath this pot and I shall boil the meat and bones until they lose all their moisture and their filth.'24 Note what it says later on: 'Thus they shall know that 1 am the Lord.'25 Great mercy, a great mystery! Pieces of meat are put into a caldron that the heart of man be melted and he may learn that It IS the Lord. There is much for us to learn from Moab and the caldron, but our homily is already too long.
'Upon Edom 1 will set my shoe.' Edom means 'of earth' and 'of blood.' The God of love and kindness claims, not only heavenly beings, but also those of earth. 'The Philistines have become my friends.'26 He says this of us who have believed from among the Gentiles.
'Who will bring me into the fortified city?' No one, Lord, [or You are He who says: 'The wine press I have trodden alone, and of my people there was no one with me.'27 'All alike have gone astray; they have become perverse; there is not one who does good, not even one.'28 Who, then, will lead Me into the fortified city? No one, Lord, since even
Peter who had promised to die for You afterwards denied You. What is this city that is fortified? Hell, where they are shut in, and whence there is no departure. Truly, from that fortress no other except the Lord comes out victorious; that is in truth a fortified city. Moses could not depart frorn that city; Jacob, likewise, entered it and did not return. Would you know that he did not return? He says to his sons: 'I will
24 Cf. Ezech. 24.10. II.
25 Cf. Ezech. 24.24.
26 Cf. Ps. lO7 (108).10.
27 Isa. 63.3; cf. Against jovinian 2.36. PL 23.349 (380).
28 Ps. 13.3.
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go down mourning, to my son in the nether world.'29 He descended into hell because Paradise had not yet been opened by the thief. That city is fortified against exit, but it is always open for entrance. 'Who will lead me into Edom,' the place of punishment and of blood-Edom means bloodythe place for the slaughter of souls where many are destroyed?
No one descends into hell in triumph save You alone, Lord.
'Have not you, 0 God, rejected us?' The psalmist did not say, who is rejecting us, but, who at one time rejected us.
'So that you go not forth, 0 God, with our armies?' These words must be read interrogatively: Will You not go into battle, 0 God, and lead our armies? You who suffered for us, why do You not help us? Why do You permit us to be crushed under the foot of the cruelest of devils? 'So that you go not forth, 0 God, with our armies?' Notice the exact words of the prophet. He did not say, You have gone forth, but, will You not go forth, 0 God, with our armies?
The instruction of the prophet is: When we are putting forth our effort, God helps us. 'So then· there is question not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God showing mercy.'30 Do you understand that it says: There is question not of him who is resting, nor of him who is sleeping, but of God showing mercy? Realize what that means: there is question not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God showing mercy. If we neither will nor run, however, God will not come to help us. It is ours to will3! and to run, then, He will take pity on us. While the athlete sleeps, he loses the victory.
'Give us aid against the foe.' The prophet did not say: Give us aid against delights, but against the foe. 'In my distressI called to the Lord; and he answered me.'32 The psalmist did not say, when I was enjoying delights I called, or while
29 Gen. 37.35; cf. Letter 39.3, PL 22.469(181).
30 Rom. 9.16; d. Letter 130.12, PL 22.1117 (989); 133.5 (6), PL 22.1154
(1033); Against the Pelagians 1.5, PL 23.523 (700).
31 Cf. Homily 2 on Ps. 5, p. 15.
32 Ps. 119.1.
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I was asleep I called. Do you want to be 4eard graciously by the Lord? Be in distress and call to Him, and He will answer . you graciously. Unless one is in distress, he cannot call upon the Lord for help. 'For worthless is the help of men.' 'Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings.'33 No need to interpret this saying from Scripture; the thought is clear to everyone. Someone, for example, has placed his trust in a general, has set his hopes in a prince, in a father, or a mother; then, in some trouble or other, suddenly the one in whom he hoped dies, and gone with him is all his help. Notice that the psalmist did not say, worthless is the help of that man in whom one hopes, but vain is his help who sets his hopes on man.
'Under God we shall do valiantly.' Let us put our trust in no one save God alone. Do not let us say: If this or that should happen to me, on what would I live? I answer you: if persecution should break out, would your resources be any greater? For the Christian, there is always persecution; nakedness has always been his lot. No one, therefore, ought to take thought on what he would live; no one should fear; no one should fret, 'If I grow old, on what shall I live? If my health breaks down, how shall I live?' You have Christ, and yet you are afraid? If He feeds the birds of the sky, do you doubt that He is able to feed you, too? Does the devil feed his men, and Christ not feed His servants? Does the devil make his servants judges of this world, and rich men, and is Christ not able to keep you from becoming a beggar? The devil gives gold and precious stones, and is Christ not able to give bread?
Let us cast all anxiety from our hearts and say: 'Under God we shall do valiantly.' He will be our strength; He will be our bread; He will be our king. 'It is he who will tread down our foes.' He crowns; He fights at our side with us; more than that, He even conquers in us. Why do we say this?
'Under God we shall do valiantly.' Indeed, when we are 33 Jer. 17.5.
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courageous, it is He who tramples down our enemies. Scripture did not say, He will fight or kill, but He will tread down our foes. He will tread them down in such a way that if it is His will, He may strengthen and glorify them. Let us, therefore, bless God, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.