6. " For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous" (ver. 6). As it is said, medicine knows health, but knows not disease, and yet disease is recognised by the art of medicine. In like manner can it be said that " the Ix>rd knoweth the way of the righteous," but the way of the ungodly He knoweth not. Not that the Lord is ignorant of anything, and yet He says to sinners, " I never knew you." " "But the way of the ungodly shall perish; " is the same as if it were said, the way of the ungodly the Lord knoweth not. But it is expressed more plainly that this should be not to be known of the Lord, namely, to " perish; " and this to be known of the Lord, namely, to " abide; " so as that to be should appertain to the knowledge of God, but to His not knowing not to be. For the Lord saith, "I AM that I AM," and, "I AM hath sent me." " PSALM II.
PSALM II.
1. " Why do the heathen rage, and the people meditate vain things?" (ver. 1). "The kings of the earth have stood up, and the rulers taken counsel together, against the Lord, and against His Christ" (ver. 2). It is said, "why?" as if it were said, in vain. For what they wished, namely, Christ's destruction, they accomplished not; for this is spoken of our Lord's persecutors, of whom also mention is made in the Acts of the Apostles.'3 2. " Let us break their bonds asunder, and cast away their yoke from us" (ver. 3). Al- though it admits of another acceptation, yet is it more fitly understood as in the person of those who are said to " meditate vain things." So that " let us break their bonds asunder, and cast away their yoke from us," may be, let us do our en- deavour, that the Christian religion do not bind us, nor be imposed upon us.
3. " He that dwelleth in the heavens shall laugh them to scorn, and the Lord shall have them in derision" (ver. 4). The sentence is repeated; for " He who dwelleth in the heavens," is afterwards put, " the Lord; " and for " shall 11 Matt. vii. 33.
13 Acts iv. 36.
TSALM II.]
ON THE PSALMS.
laugh them to scorn," is afterwards put, "shall have them in derision." Nothing of this how- ever must be taken in a carnal sort, as if God either laugheth with cheek, or derideth with nos- tril; but it is to be understood of that power which He giveth to His saints, that they seeing things to come, namely, that the Name and rule of Christ is to pervade posterity and possess all nations, should understand that those men " meditate a vain thing." J For this power whereby these things are foreknown is God's " laughter" and " derision." " He that dwelleth in the heavens shall laugh them to scorn." If by " heavens " we understand holy souls, by these God, as foreknowing what is to come, will " laugh them to scorn, and have them in de- rision."
4. " Then He shall speak unto them in His wrath, and vex them in His sore displeasure " (ver. 5). For showing more clearly how He will "speak unto them," he added, He will "vex them; " so that " in His wrath," is, " in His sore displeasure." But by the " wrath and sore dis- pleasure " of the Lord God must not be under- stood any mental perturbation; but the might whereby He most justly avengeth, by the sub- jection of all creation to His service. For that is to be observed and remembered which is written in the Wisdom of Solomon, " But Thou, Lord of power, judgest with tranquillity, and with great favour orderest us." ■ The " wrath " of God then is an emotion which is produced in the soul which knoweth the law of God, when it sees this same law transgressed by the sinner. For by this emotion of righteous souls many things are avenged. Although the " wrath " of God can be well understood of that darkening of the mind, which overtakes those who trans- gress the law of God.
5. " Yet am I set by Him as King upon Sion, His holy hill, preaching His decree" (ver. 6). This is clearly spoken in the Person of the very Lord our Saviour Christ. But if Sion signify, as some interpret, beholding, we must not under- stand it of anything rather than of the Church, where daily is the desire raised of beholding the bright glory of God, according to that of the Apostle, " but we with open face beholding the glory of the Lord." 2 Therefore the meaning of this is, Yet I am set by Him as King over His holy Church; which for its eminence and stabil- ity He calleth a mountain. " Yet I am set by Him as King." I, that is, whose " bands " they were meditating " to break asunder," and whose " yoke " to " cast away." " Preaching His de- cree." Who doth not see the meaning of this, seeing it is daily practised?
6. " The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art ' Wisd. xii. 18.
2 2 Cor. iii. 18.
My Son, to-day have I begotten Thee " (ver. 7)., Although that day may also seem to be pro- phetically spoken of, on which Jesus Christ was born according to the flesh;. and in eternity there is nothing past as if it had ceased to be, nor future as if it were not yet, but present only, since whatever is eternal, always is; yet as "to- day " intimates presentiality, a divine interpre- tation is given to that expression, " To-day have I begotten Thee," whereby the uncorrupt and Catholic faith proclaims the eternal general ion of the Power and Wisdom of God, who is the Only-begotten Son.
7. " Ask of Me,' and I shall give Thee the nations for Thine inheritance" (ver. 8). This has at once a temporal sense with reference to the Manhood which He took on Himself, who offered up Himself as a Sacrifice in the stead of all sacrifices, who also maketh intercession for us; so that the words, " ask of Me," may be referred to all this temporal dispensation, which has been instituted for mankind, namely, that the " nations " should be joined to the Name of Christ, and so be redeemed from death, and possessed by God. "I shall give Thee the nations for Thine inheritance," which so possess them for their salvation, and to bear unto Thee spiritual fruit. " And the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession." The same repeated, " The uttermost parts of the earth," is put for " the nations; " but more clearly, that we might understand all the nations. And " Thy posses- sion " stands for " Thine inheritance."
8. " Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron," with inflexible justice, and " Thou shalt break them like a potter's vessel " (ver. 9); that is, " Thou shalt break " in them earthly lusts, and the filthy doings of the old man, and whatso- ever hath been derived and inured from the sinful clay. " And now understand, ye kings " (ver. 10). "And now;" that is, being now renewed, your covering of clay worn out, that is, the carnal vessels of error, which belong to your past life, " now understand," ye who now are " kings; " that is, able now to govern all that is servile and brutish in you, able now too to fight, not as " they who beat the air, but chastening your bodies, and bringing them into subjec- tion." 3 " Be instructed, all ye who judge the earth." • This again is a repetition; " Be in- structed " is instead of " understand; " and " ye who judge the earth " instead of " ye kings." For He signifies the spiritual by " those who judge the earth." For whatsoever we judge, is below us; and whatsoever is below the spiritual man, is with good reason called " the earth; " because it is defiled with earthly corruption.
9. " Serve the Lord with fear; " lest what is THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm III.
said, " Ye kings and judges of the earth," turn into pride: " And rejoice with trembling " (ver. n). Very excellently is "rejoice" added, lest "serve the I-ord with fear " should seem to tend to misery. But again, lest this same rejoicing should run on to unrestrained inconsiderateness, there is added " with trembling," that it might avail for a warning, and for the careful guarding of holiness. It can also be taken thus, "And now ye kings understand; " that is, And now that I am set as King, be ye not sad, kings of the earth, as if your excellency were taken from you, but rather " understand and be instructed." For it is expedient for you, that ye should be under Him, by whom understanding and in- struction are given you. And this is expedient for you, that ye lord it not with rashness, but that ye " serve the Lord " of all " with fear," and " rejoice " in bliss most sure and most pure, with all caution and carefulness, lest ye fall there- from into pride.
10. " Lay hold of discipline," lest at any time the Lord be angry, and ye perish from the right- eous way" (ver. 12). This is the same as, "understand," and, "be instructed." For to understand and be instructed, this is to lay hold of discipline. Still in that it is said, " lay hold of," it is plainly enough intimated that there is some protection and defence against all things which might do hurt unless with so great care- fulness it be laid hold of. " Lest at any time the Lord be angry," is expressed with a doubt, not as regards the vision of the prophet to whom it is certain, but as regards those who are warned; for they, to whom it is not openly re- vealed, are wont to think with doubt of the anger of God. This then they ought to say to themselves, let us " lay hold of discipline, lest at any time the Lord be angry, and we perish from the righteous way." Now, how " the Lord be angry " is to be taken, has been said above. And " ye perish from the righteous way." This is a great punishment, and dreaded by those who have had any perception of the sweetness of righteousness; for he who perisheth from the way of righteousness, in much misery will wan- der through the ways of unrighteousness.
11. "When His anger shall be shortly kin- dled, blessed are all they who put their trust in Him; " that is, when the vengeance shall come which is prepared for the ungodly and for sinners, not only will it not light on those " who put their trust in " the Lord, but it will even avail for the foundation and exaltation of a kingdom for them. For he said not, " When His anger shall be shortly kindled," safe " are all they who put their trust in Him," as though they should have this only thereby, to be exempt from punish- ment; but he said, " blessed; " in which there is the sum and accumulation of all good things. Now the meaning of " shortly " I sup- pose to be this, that it will be something sudden, whilst sinners will deem it far off and long to come, PSALM HI.'
A PSALM OF DAVID, WHEN HE FLED FROM THE FACE OF ABESSALON HIS SON.
i. The words, "I slept, and took rest; and rose, for the Lord will take me up," lead us to believe that this Psalm is to be understood as in the Person of Christ; for they sound more ap- plicable to the Passion and Resurrection of our Lord, than to that history in which David's flight is described from the face of his rebellious son. And, since it is written of Christ's disciples, " The sons of the bridegroom fast not as long as the bridegroom is with them; " ^ it is no wonder if by his undutiful 4 son be here meant that un- dutiful 4 disciple who betrayed Him. From whose face although it may be understood historically that He fled, when on his departure He withdrew with the rest to the mountain; yet in a spiritual sense, when the Son of God, that is the Power and Wisdom of God, abandoned the mind of Judas; when the Devil wholly oc- cupied him; as it is written, " The Devil entered into his heart," s may it be well understood that Christ fled from his face; not that Christ gave place to the Devil, but that on Christ's departure the Devil took possession. Which departure, I suppose, is called a flight in this Psalm, because of its quickness; which is indicated also by the word of our Lord, saying, " That thou doest, do quickly." s So even in common conver- sation we say of anything that does not come to mind, it has fled from me; and of a man of much learning we say, nothing flies from him. Wherefore truth fled from the mind of Judas, when it ceased to enlighten him. But Absalom, as some interpret, in the Latin tongue signifies, Patris pax, a father's peace. And it may seem strange, whether in the history of the kings, when Absalom carried on war against his father; or in the history of the New Testament, when Judas was the betrayer of our Lord; how " fa- ther's peace " can be understood. But both in the former place they who read carefully, see that David in that war was at peace with his son, who even with sore grief lamented his death, saying, " O Absalom, my son, would God I had died for thee! " 6 And in the history of the ' [This reading is corrected by St. Jerome in his Hebraic Psalter, and our Authorized Version " Kiss the Son " is sustained by the best authorities. See a forcible elucidation in Bishop Wordsworth's Cemmintary on Psalms. Ps. ii.— C] * [On the place of this Psalm in the Ordt> Psaltttorum, see the important principle laid down by Bishop Wordsworth, in his Intro- duction to the Psalms, p. v. — C] ' Malt. ix. 15. 4 Impius. i John xiii. 27.
6 a Sam. xvui. 33.
Psalm III.]
ON THE PSALMS.
New Testament by that so great and so wonder- ful forbearance of our Lord; in that He bore so long with him as if good, when He was not ig- norant of his thoughts; in that He admitted him to the Supper in which He committed and delivered to His disciples the figure of His Body and Blood; finally, in that He received the kiss of peace at the very time of His be- trayal; it is easily understood how Christ showed peace to His betrayer, although he was laid waste by the intestine war of so abominable a device. And therefore is Absalom called " fa- ther's peace," because his father had the peace, which he had not.
2. "O Lord, how are they multiplied that trouble me!" (ver. i). So multiplied indeed were they, that one even from the number of His disciples was not wanting, who was added to the number of His persecutors. " Many rise up against me; many say unto my soul, There is no salvation for him in his God " (ver. 2). It is clear that if they had had any idea that He would rise again, assuredly they would not have slain Him. To this end are those speeches, " Let Him come down from the cross, if He be the Son of God; " and again, " He saved others, Himself He cannot save." ' Therefore, neither would Judas have betrayed Him, if he had not been of the number of those who de- spised Christ, saying, " There is no salvation for Him in His God." S 3. "But Thou, O EggLart mv taker."2 It ; is said to God in the ^riaturetoy man, for the taking of man is, the Word made Flesh. " My 1 glory." Even He calls God his glory, whom the Word of God so took, that God became one with Him. Let the proud learn, who unwilling- ly hear, when it is said to them, " For what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? " ' " And the lifter up of my head" (ver. 3). I think that this should be here taken of the human mind, which is not un- reasonably called the head of the soul;4 which so inhered in, and in a sort coalesced with, the supereminent excellency of the Word taking man, that it was not laid aside by so great humiliation of the Passion.
4. "With my voice have I cried unto the Lord " (ver. 4); that is, not with the voice of the body, which is drawn out with the sound of the reverberation of the air; but with the voice of the heart, which to men speaks not, but with God sounds as a cry. By this voice Susanna was heard; s and with this voice the Lord Him- self commanded that prayer should be made in Matt.
3 1 Cor. iv. 7.
42. 2 Susceptor.
closets, 6 that is, in the recesses of the heart noiselessly. Nor would one easily say that prayer is not made with this voice, if no sound of words is uttered from the body; since even when in silence we pray within the heart, if thoughts interpose alien from the mind of one praying, it cannot yet be said, " With my voice have I cried unto the Lord." Nor is this rightly said, save when the soul alone, taking to itself nothing of the flesh, and nothing of the aims of the flesh, in prayer, speaks to God, where He only hears. But even this is called a cry by reason of the strength of its intention. " And He heard me out of His holy mountain." We have the Lord Himself called a mountain by the Prophet, as it is written, " The stone that was cut out without hands grew to the size of a mountain." 1 But this cannot be taken of His Person, unless peradventure He would speak thus, out of myself, as of His holy mountain He heard me, when He dwelt in me, that is, in this very mountain. But it is more plain and unembarrassed, if we understand that God out of His justice heard. For it was just that He should raise again from the dead the Innocent who was slain, and to whom evil had been rec- ompensed for good, and that He should render to the persecutor a meet reward, who repaid Him evil for good. For we read, " Thy justice is as the mountains of God." 8 5. "I slept, and took rest"9 (ver. 5). It may be not unsuitably remarked, that it is ex- pressly said, " I," to signify that of His own Will He underwent death, according to that, " There- fore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me; I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." IO Therefore, saith He, you have not taken Me as though against My will, and slain Me; but " I' slept, and took rest; and rose, for the Lord will take me up." Scripture contains numberless in- stances of sleep being put for death; as the Apos- tle says, " I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep." " Nor need we make any question why it is added, " took rest," seeing that it has already been said, " I slept." Repetitions of this kind are usual in Scripture, as we have pointed out many in the second Psalm. But some copies have, " I slept, and was cast into a deep sleep.",2 And different copies express it differently, ac- cording to the possible renderings of the Greek words, eyo) Bi iKoi/j.-qOrju teal vTrvwaa. Unless per- haps sleeping »' may be taken of one dying, but 6 Matt. vi. 6. 7 Dan. ii. 34,35.
9 Ego dormivi, et somnum cepi. In the Hebrew, also, / is emphatic.
12 Dormivi, et soporatus sum. 13 Dormitio.
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm III.
sleep ' of one dead: so that sleeping may be the transition into sleep, as awakening is the transi- tion into wakefulness. Let us not deem these repetitions in the sacred writings empty orna- ments of speech. " I slept, and took rest," is therefore well understood as " I gave Myself up to My Passion, and death ensued." " And I rose, for the Lord will take Me up.'" This is the more to be remarked, how that in one sen- tence the Psalmist has used a verb of past and future time. For he has said, both " I rose," which is the past, and " will take Me up," which is the future; seeing that assuredly the rising again could not be without that taking up. But in prophecy the future is well joined to the past, whereby both are signified. Since things which are prophesied of as yet to come in refer- ence to time are future; but in reference to the knowledge of those who prophesy they are already to be viewed as done. Verbs of the present tense are also mixed in, which shall be treated of in their proper place when they occur.
6. " I will not fear the thousands of people that surround me" (ver. 6). It is written in the Gospels how great a multitude stood around Him as He was suffering, and on the cross. " Arise, O Lord, save me, O my God " (ver. 7). It is not said to God, " Arise," as if asleep or lying down, but it is usual in holy Scripture to attribute to God what He doeth in us; not indeed universally, but where it can be done suit- ably; as when He is said to speak, when by His gift Prophets speak, and Apostles, or whatsoever messengers of the truth. Hence that text, " Would you have proof of Christ, who speaketh in me? "3 For he doth not say, of Christ, by whose enlightening or order I speak; but he attributes at once the speaking itself to Him, by whose gift he spake.
7. " Since Thou hast smitten all who oppose me without a cause." It is not to be pointed as if it were one sentence, " Arise, O Lord, save me, O my God; since Thou hast smitten all who oppose me without a cause." For He did not therefore save Him, because He smote His enemies; but rather He being saved, He smote them. Therefore it belongs to what follows, so that the sense is this; " Since Thou hast smitten all who oppose me without a cause, Thou hast broken the teeth of the sinners; " that is, thereby hast Thou broken the teeth of the sinners, since Thou hast smitten all who oppose me. It is for- sooth the punishment of the opposers, whereby their teeth have been broken, that is, the words of sinners rending with their cursing the Son of God, brought to nought, as it were to dust; so > Somnus.
that we may understand " teeth" thus, as words of cursing. Of 4 which teeth the Apostle speaks, " If ye bite one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another." 5 The teeth of sinners can also be taken as the chiefs of sinners; by whose authority each one is cut off from the fellowship of godly livers, and as it were incor- porated with evil livers. To these teeth are op- posed the Church's teeth, by whose authority believers are cut off from the error of the Gen- tiles and divers opinions, and are translated into that fellowship which is the body of Christ. With these teeth Peter was told to eat the ani- mals when they had been killed, that is, by kill- ing in the Gentiles what they were, and changing them into what he was himself. Of these teeth too of the Church it is said, " Thy teeth are as a flock of shorn sheep, coming up from the bath, whereof every one beareth twins, and there is not one barren among them."6 These are they who prescribe rightly, and as they prescribe, live; who do what is written, " Let your works shine before men, that they may bless your Father which is in heaven." 7 For moved by their authority, they believe God who speaketh and worketh through these men; and separated from the world, to which they were once con- formed, they pass over into the members of the Church. And rightly therefore are they, through whom such things are done, called teeth like to shorn sheep; for they have laid aside the bur- dens of earthly cares, and coming up from the bath, from the washing away of the filth of the world by the Sacrament of Baptism, every one beareth twins. For they fulfil the two command- ments, of which it is said, " On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Proph- ets;" 8 loving God with all their heart, and with all their soul, and with all their mind, and their neighbour as themselves. "There is not one barren among them," for much fruit they render unto God. According to this sense then it is to be thus understood, " Thou hast broken the teeth of the sinners," that is, Thou hast brought the chiefs of the sinners to nought, by smiting all who op- pose Me without a cause. For the chiefs accord- ing to the Gospel history persecuted Him, whilst the lower people honoured Him.
8. " Salvation is of the Lord; and upon Thy people be Thy blessing" (ver. 8). In one sen- tence the Psalmist has enjoined men what to believe, and has prayed for believers. For when it is said, " Salvation is of the Lord," the words are addressed to men. Nor does it follow, " And upon Thy people " be " Thy blessing," in such wise as that the whole is spoken to men, but there is a change into prayer addressed to God Himself, for the very people to whom it Psalm III.]
ON THE PSALMS.
was said, " Salvation is of the Lord." What else then doth he say but this? Let no man presume on himself, seeing that it is of the Lord to save from the death of sin; for, " Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord." ■ But do Thou, O Lord, bless Thy people, who look for salvation from Thee.
9. This Psalm can be taken as in the Person of Christ another way; which is that whole Christ should speak.2 I mean by whole, with His body, of which He is the Head, according to the Apostle, who says, " Ye are the body of Christ, and the members."3 He therefore is the Head of this body; wherefore in another place he saith, " But doing the truth in love, we may increase in Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ, from whom the whole body is joined together and compacted." 4 In the Prophet then at once, the Church, and her Head (the Church founded amidst the storms of persecution throughout the whole world, which we know already to have come to pass), speaks, " O Lord, how are they multiplied that trouble me! many rise up against me; " wish- ing to exterminate the Christian name. " Many say unto my soul, There is no salvation for him in his God." For they would not otherwise hope that they could destroy the Church, branch- ing out so very far and wide, unless they believed that God had no care thereof. " But Thou, O Lord, art my taker; " in Christ of course. For into that flesh 5 the Church too hath been taken by the Word, " who was made flesh, and dwelt in us; " 6 for that " In heavenly places hath He made us to sit together with Him." 7 When the Head goes before, the other members will follow; for, " Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?"8 Justly then does the Church say, " Thou art my taker. My glory; " for she doth not attribute her excellency to herself, seeing that she knoweth by whose grace and mercy she is what she is. " And the lifter up of my head," of Him, namely, who, " the First-born from the dead," ' ascended up into heaven. " With my voice have I cried unto the Lord, and He heard me out of His holy mountain." This is the prayer of all the Saints, the odour of sweet- ness, which ascends up in the sight of the Lord. For now the Church is heard out of this moun- tain, which is also her head; or, out of that justice of God, by which both His elect are set free, and their persecutors punished. Let the people of God also say, " I slept, and took rest; and rose, for the Lord will take me up; " that they 1 Rom. vii. 24, 25.
2 [On this principle, which rules throughout this commentary, see the author's remark on Ps. xcvi., infra. — C.j » Col. i. 18.