V. 1 A psalm of David when he fled from his son Absalom.
Why this psalm is set earlier than others that deal with much earlier events is of little concern to me, for I have not yet been able to discern sufficient reasons for the arrangement, since the history of the 51st Psalm, about the wife of Uriah, undoubtedly happened earlier than the history of this psalm, and the histories of many other psalms are earlier than this one.
It is not my intention to teach the explanations of all interpreters, and yet I have not yet decided which one to choose from so many different interpretations. I am not inclined to secret interpretations, especially since I am looking for the real and true (germanum) meaning, which can dispute in the quarrel, and strengthen the instruction in faith.
But that in this psalm a historical conception (intelligentia) must take place, much seems to contradict it. First of all, what moved St. Augustine, that the word [v. 6] "I lie down and sleep" seems to be a word of the resurrected Christ; secondly, that at the end the blessing of God is pronounced over the people, whereby one receives the conviction that it concerns the whole church. Therefore, St. Augustine explains this Psalm in three ways: first, of Christ as the Head; second, of the whole Christ, that is, of Christ and the Church, the Head and the body; third, spiritually (tropologice), of each individual person (privato).
I want to let everyone have their own opinion. But
Meanwhile, I will interpret [this psalm] from Christ, motivated by the same reason as Augustine, that the sixth 1) verse, as it seems, cannot be understood appropriately by anyone other than Christ. First, because lying down (dormitio) and sleep at this point certainly mean natural death, but not natural sleep, which can be taken from the fact that it follows: "I am risen" (exsurrexi). For if he spoke of the sleep of the body, then he would have said: "I awoke" (evigilavi), although this does not have at all much on itself (urget), if one looks at the Hebrew word. Then, what would be new if he said that he had slept and lain down? Why should he not also say that he walked about, ate, drank, worked, suffered want, or any other such bodily work? Moreover, it seems incongruous that in such great affliction he should have extolled nothing but the sleep of the body, since the affliction would have forced him most strongly to watch, to try everything and to exert himself, especially since these two words, "I lie down and sleep," denote the quiet sleep of a man lying on his bed; but of such a nature is not the sleep into which one falls from sadness.
But it is more important for him to boast that he was resurrected because the Lord was his susceptor, who took care of him when he was asleep and did not leave him in sleep.
1) In all editions the text reads: ynintns, but in both Hebrew and Vulgate it is the sixth verse.
How can we say this glory (in a new spirituality [nova religione]) of any sleep of the body and not 1) also of every daily sleep? Especially since the help (susceptio) of God at the same time indicates the utmost abandonment of the one who sleeps. But this does not take place in bodily sleep, where the sleeper can also be protected by people as guards. This helping of God indicates that it is not a sleep, but gives to understand that there is great suffering (laborem).
Finally, this view is also supported by the word which is written here: XXXXXXX, which is here
is set without closer relation and in Hiphil (transitivum tertii), and means: I have made to rise or to wake up, as if he wanted to say: I have made myself awake, I have awakened myself, which is certainly more appropriately understood of the resurrection of Christ than of bodily sleep, both because those who are asleep are wont to be awakened, and because it is no great thing, nor worthy of so great a sermon, that anyone should awaken by himself, since this happens daily. But this will be something completely different, because it will be introduced by the spirit as something new and special.
Since this is the case, it follows that wherever the title of a psalm indicates a history, it is not always necessary that the history be sung about in the psalm, but that the understanding of the history was the cause, because the prophets recognized from the enlightenment of the Spirit that future things were indicated by it.
2) So the meaning of this title must be: A psalm (that is, a song) [to] David (revealed to him, or happened to him by the Spirit) when he fled etc., that is, on the occasion of such history. Nor does it rhyme that the psalm should have been composed by him at the time of this history and the flight, since he was in exceedingly great anxiety through fear and sad expectation. But the Holy Spirit wants to have a serene (lucidum) and calm tool, not even in the challenge, but only after the challenge man understands what is meant by
1) non is in all editions, but it seems to us that either nou or ^uoMiniio should be erased.
happened to him. Therefore, it is very likely that the psalm was written long after the history, when he calmly saw the secrets that lay in what had happened to him.
But it is to be noted that in all superscriptions "David" is the dative, which in this case expresses the same as the preposition ad with the accusative. According to this way of speaking in the other prophets it is said: The word of the Lord happened to (ad) this or that [Jer. 1, 2. Vulg.] or through (in manu) this or that [Isa. 20, 2. Vulg.]. It is peculiar to this prophet that he calls the word of God a psalm, a song and an instruction, and adorns it with other titles, as we shall see; then, that he ascribes to himself by the dative the revelation of this word, so that the Holy Spirit has praised this very special (singular) prophet or the very special prophecies of this book.
It will be necessary that we know the history of 2 Sam. 15, 14 ff. exactly in order to understand its secrets. First, there is Absalom, who means the Jewish people, both by the image (figura) that lies in his deeds and by his name. Namely by the name, because Absalom means a father of peace, which would be a happy sign, if other things do not force to understand it from the evil peace that the world gives, that is, from the hatred of the cross of Christ.
4 For this people had a very special abhorrence of the cross and the evils of the world, especially since the goods of the world and the peace of this life were promised to them in the law. Hence their speech [Jer. 6:14]: "Peace, peace!" while there was no peace, because they did not keep the law, nor could they keep it, but the apostle also calls them enemies of the cross [Phil. 3:18].
5. but after the fact [he is an image of the Jewish people], because it is written of Absalom 2 Sam. 14, 25. f. that he was the most beautiful man in all Israel, and there was no defect in him from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head, and his hair was of such unheard-of abundance that it was shaved off every year for two hundred shekels, according to the royal weight,
1) where it is said that it was sold to women to decorate their heads.
This is the synagogue, which has a glorious appearance before all the peoples of the earth through the fame of the fathers, through the privilege of serving only the one true God, through the gift of the law, knowledge, prophecy and many other things, Rom. 3, 2. 9, 4. f. Furthermore, the exceedingly rich head of hair means the shining order of the priests and Levites, who at the head and at the top of the synagogue had abundance in riches and pleasures and reveled and courted, of whom it is said: "The Lord will make the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion bald" and [v. 24] "a bald head for a curly hair", that is, instead of their delicious priesthood etc., and Ps. 68:22: "But God shall bruise the head of his enemies, along with the skull of their hair, who continue in their sin."
7 For this also, that Absalom, when he was to be slain, hung by his hair upon an oak tree between heaven and earth, signifies that the priests clung to their carnal opinions, and touched and understood neither the heavenly nor the earthly things of the law. And that the hair was shorn off and sold to the women means that the priests, who are of such a nature, are cut off from the head of the synagogue in spirit, and have given themselves only to the lusts and desires, for even the lusts do not adorn anyone, but they [the lusts] receive a great adornment and attraction from the fact that such great distinguished people are devoted to them and sold.
008 And now to the matter. Absalom, who sought the kingdom and the inheritance against his father David, drove him out of the city on the advice of Ahitophel, who later hanged himself on a rope in his house. Thus the Jewish people are against Christ and say [Luc. 20, 14.], "This is the heir, come, let us kill him." Likewise John 11:48: "If we leave him, they will all believe in him." For this they make use of the counsel
1) The text of the Vulgate can be interpreted in such a way that the shorn hair was sold for two hundred sekels; according to your text of the German Bible "his head hair weighed two hundred sekels".
and the help of Judas the betrayer, who armed himself like Ahitophel with soldiers and servants, but also went down like Ahitophel into the house of his conscience, and, despairing, hanged himself with a rope. For Ahitophel means: My foolish brother. David alluded to this in 2 Sam. 2) 15, 31. when he said: "Lord, make Ahitophel's counsel foolish," as if he wanted to say: May he be foolish and a fool in truth this time.
9. but that David [2 Sam. 15, 30.] went out barefoot and with his head covered, means that Christ was led out to Golgotha, who also literally went barefoot and with his head covered by the crown of thorns and blood. But according to the secret interpretation (allegorice), the head, the divinity, was hidden in weakness, and the feet bare, that is, the humanity was completely left to itself.
10. that David returns to the city after Absalom is killed means the resurrection of Christ after the people of the synagogue died in sins and finally 3) were overcome. For at that time their cheeks are smitten and their teeth are broken, as this Psalm [v. 8/ says, so that they can no longer eat Christ, for He dies no more henceforth [Rom. 6, 9.]. Therefore he says:
V. 2. O Lord, how many are my enemies, and how many set themselves against me!
This psalm has almost the same purpose (scopus) and the same opinion as the previous one. For here, too, it begins with a lament and the futile presumption of Christ's adversaries and closes with a triumphant consolation, saying [v. 8]: "For you smite all my enemies," and [v. 9]: "With the Lord one finds help," etc., only that here it deals with the matter more briefly and the heart movements (affectum) of the sufferer more extensively.
12 For there are three things that greatly distress a man who is in suffering, his loneliness, his helplessness, his despair, which are further increased and strengthened by three
2) In all editions: "I.KkS."; the Weimar one has the correct place in the margin.
3) Instead of camouflage in the editions, which does not seem to us to fit, we have adopted tailliern.
Pieces at the adversaries, their quantity, their violence, their confidence.
(13) Because of his loneliness and the multitude of his adversaries, he says, "O Lord, how many are my enemies! Otherwise, if he were not lonely and forsaken, how would he suffer? how would he be challenged? how would he be touched? since he would lean on an equal or even greater number of those fighting for him, as the devil realized, Job 1:9 f.: "Do you think that Job fears God for nothing? Hast thou kept him, and his house, and all that he hath, round about?"
014 To his powerlessness and to the power of his enemies belongs this, that he says, "There are so many set against me." For he would not suffer even as an individual, if he were not oppressed as the weaker by stronger, as Samson, though he was alone, could not suffer anything from the Philistines, whom he so often smote [Judges 15:15]. Therefore this is to be noted as a general rule, that he has no suffering (patientiam) who has something with which he can retaliate and avenge himself, or by which he resists, so that he cannot be oppressed. For both are found in a suffering man, that he can neither avenge himself nor resist.
(15) It is more difficult to "stand against someone" than to simply be afflicted, just as it is more difficult when one is powerless than when one is alone, and more difficult when the enemy is strong and insurmountable than when there are many of them. Therefore he says: "They stand, are upright, are firm, are strong, have the upper hand, are mighty against me, but I stagger, fall, am weak, am completely thrown down. For this their superiority and his powerlessness he expresses by the word: "They fight against me", as he also expressed the same power above in the 2nd Psalm: "The kings of the land rebel". But over these two pieces this [third], which now follows, penetrates in the strongest and most extreme way:
V. 3. Many say of my soul, "It has no help from God. Sela.
16 Christ truly had to hear this on the cross [Matth. 27, 43]: "He has trusted in God, who will now deliver him, lusts for him".
as it was also proclaimed in the 22nd Psalm [v. 8. 9.]: "All who see me mock me, open their mouths, and shake their heads: let him complain to the Lord, and he will help him out, and save him, if he has a desire for him." For this confidence, mocking, ridiculing, mocking, singing songs of victory and boasting of the adversaries, as over an enemy completely overcome and hopelessly destroyed, is the utmost and bitterest tribulation, since, after all, when one has fallen and been defeated by many and strong enemies, it is only then that it is most terrible, when the hope of rising again even with God Himself is denied, as it is also said in the 41st Psalm. 1) Psalm [v. 9.]: "They have determined a knave upon me: When he lies down, he shall not rise again." But we know that Christ was in this desperate situation (desperatione); not as if he himself despaired, but that all, even his disciples, despaired of him, that is, they had no hope in him that he would rise again, so that he was forgotten in the heart, as of one dead, as the 31st Psalm, v. 13. says. Here a comforter is sought, but not found, yes, instead of comfort, despair is poured on it with the most bitter mockery, which is diabolical.
17 In Hebrew it is written in general (absolute): "By God", 2) without the pronoun ejus, which, as it seems to me, has an emphasis, as if he wanted to say: They say not only that I am abandoned and oppressed by all creatures, but also that God, who helps all, sustains all, cares for all, does not sustain me alone, above all things. Job seems to have tasted me through such a challenge, since he says Cap. 7, 20: "Why do you make me to stumble upon you?" For any challenge, even if the whole world and at the same time the whole hell would gather in one heap, is nothing compared to the one when God comes upon man. Against the same, Jeremiah prays with trembling, Cap. 17, 17: "Be not thou terrible unto me, my confidence in adversity," whereupon it is said in the 6th Psalm, v. 2: "O Lord, punish me!
1) Wittenberg, Jena and Erlanger: "ks. 40." Otherwise, they do not have the Vulgate count.
2) In the Vulgate it says: Xon est sainsixsi in Deo ejus, he has his help in his God.
308 xiv, 96-98. Works on the first 22 Psalms. Ps. 3, 3. W. iv, 374 f. 309
not in thy wrath", and we will see this more often throughout the Psalter. This is the completely unpleasant and quite actual hell, as will be said in the same 6th Psalm [v. 6.]: "For in death you are not remembered" etc., indeed, if one has not experienced this challenge, one cannot even think of it.
Note the modesty, yes, the very special attitude of the one who is challenged in this play. He says in the form of the question, "How are [my enemies] so many?" by which he wants, as it were, to present himself as innocent, and he indicates that he is wronged. But he does not dare to accuse them and give them the name that they are unrighteous or sinners, but uses an undecided word, saying, "Why are they that afflict me so many? But afterwards, after the victory, he pronounces steadily and confidently that they are sinners and unrighteous, saying [v. 8.], "They that are hostile to me without a cause (as our [Latin] text has), and bruise the teeth of the wicked (peccatorum)." For while he is tormented in the temptation, it seems to him as if he were alone; God alone is opposed to him, and is irreconcilably angry with him; at that time he alone is a sinner, all the others righteous, and work together against him at God's command. 1) There remains nothing else but this inexpressible groaning, by which he, without realizing it, supported by the Spirit, says and asks: "Why then do so many torment me one? But also David himself, when he was in the same trouble in this history, said 2 Sam. 15, 26: "But if he says thus: I have no desire for you; behold, here I am, he will do with me as he pleases." O, what a great self-denial, that he also chooses for himself that God should stand against him etc.
19 At the end of this verse, the Hebrew word "sela" is placed; since we will encounter this word often, we will deal with it here once and for all. Even nowadays it is not sufficiently known what it is used for or what it means. The seventy interpreters have put for it in the Greek translation, what St. Augustine explains by pause, under-, and the word "sela".
1) Erlanger and Weimarsche: aubori instead of: autorc.
breaking and cessation of the psalm singing, as, on the other hand, he σΰμψαλμα the performing or
calls the continuation of the singing of the Psalms. He also says that wherever ^άψαλμα or sela.
is a change either of the things or of the persons is noticed. He is followed by Cassiodorus.
St. Jerome, on the basis of various things that he quotes from Origen in the Letter to Marcella, expresses the opinion that it rather means the connection of what precedes with what follows in the chants, or certainly that what is said continues (sempiterna esse); therefore Aquila, an extremely careful interpreter of Hebrew words, has translated it by "always" or "for all eternity" (in sempiternum).
Burgensis says in the 83rd Psalm that it means nothing at all, but is only as it were an addition to the melody, and has nothing but the melody to which it is added, and he denies that it means the constant duration (sempiternitatem). Therefore it is found only in the Psalms, because they are chants, and written to a melody, and in One Chant of Habakuk, and in this chant also only once, 2) at the place [Hab. 4, 3.]: "And the Holy One of Mount Paran. Sela."
He is almost followed by a newer, Stapulensis, who thinks that among the Hebrews "sela" is something similar to the signatura of the final notes among the vocals Evovae, that is, in eternity, Amen, which is not sung with the antiphon, although it is connected with the melody of the same.
Johann Reuchlin in his Elementarlehre (rudimentis) der hebräischen Sprache cites two opinions, one of Jonathan Chaldeus, who, as he writes, translated sela: that is, in the power of eternity (virtute saeculorum), to which 3) Rabbi Eleazar added that where sela is added to any passage of sacred Scripture, the same will have no end, neither in this
2) In Hebrew and in our German Bible, "sela" appears three times in the prophet Habakkuk. In the edition of the Vulgate, which we use iTournay 1885), it is omitted not only in Habakkuk, but also in the Psalms everywhere.
3) Here the Basel edition offers erina instead of: eui.
time, nor in eternity; the other of Abraham Ben Esdra, who thinks that sela means just that which is true (vere); and this is also assumed by the Hebrews, that also according to their opinion there is nothing in it, but that it is only connected with the melody (harmoniae), as Burgensis has said.
Such a great difference is the cause that I must confess I do not know which of these comes closest to the truth. Namely, what makes me question (movent) against all these sayings is this. First, that the examples from the Psalms and from Habakkuk do not puff (quadrant). For although this, that in this place [Ps. 3, 3.] sela is put, speaks for the opinion of St. Augustine against St. Jerome, because the thing changes, but not the person, nor the preceding and the following are connected by the same, yet it speaks strongly against both, that it is sometimes put at the end of the Psalms, sometimes in the words of one and the same person, and [in such words,] which continue the very same exhortation, as this may be seen in the third and fourth Psalms. For at the end of the 3rd Psalm it is said, "Thy blessing upon thy people, Sela"; and in the 4th Psalm, v. 4. f., "Speak with your: hearts upon your camp, and wait, Sela. Sacrifice righteousness." Here is a continuous exhortation of the same person to the same persons, and yet Sela is interposed, which is contrary to St. Augustine. But that it is put at the end [Ps. 3. Ps. 9. Ps. 24. etc.] is against St. Jerome.
Now, even if the opinion of both is defended in every way, whether by connecting the sentences (sententias) or the persons, or by separating them, this still does not serve as proof (ad hoc), because one could say why it is not put in the same way in the Psalms wherever sentences or persons are either distinguished or connected, and that (not seldom) in a clearer way than where it is put, as he who pays attention to it easily recognizes.
But that it does not mean the permanent duration (as Burgensis rightly considers it to be) is sufficiently proved even by this verse, which we now treat, in which it says: "It [the soul] has no help with God, Sela."
Dear, who should be so nonsensical as to claim that Christ or even the righteous have eternal tribulation without help from God? since it is said in the 8th Psalm [v. 6] that it shall be but little and for a short time, as we shall see. And Ps. 83, 9. it says: "And help the children of Lot. Sela." Will Asshur then come as a helper to the children of Lot forever? Yes, then [if Sela was to indicate a constant duration] Sela would fit very few verses. For example, Ps. 4, 5. reads, "Harten auf euren: Lager, Sela." And Ps. 4:3: "And have the lies so gladly. Sela." Shall the children of men wait for ever, and love lies for ever?
Thus, only the opinion of Burgensis remains, which I neither accept nor reject, although it could also be said against him why such a musical appendage (cauda harmonica) is placed here and not also in other places.
In the meantime, I will stay with the seventy interpreters, who also in many other passages, I do not know how it comes about, have an extremely godly understanding, although they often deviate from the actual meaning of the word, as in the passage in the 2nd Psalm [v. 12]: "Receive discipline"; how clearly and distinctly they have expressed there what the Hebrew text has said somewhat obscurely: "Kiss the Son"! For this means in truth to receive Christ, when one takes chastening and the cross upon oneself and, as Paul is wont to say, participates in the sufferings of Christ. Otherwise they would be people who confess that they know Christ, but deny him in deed. For not he that speaketh shall be saved, but he that liveth JESUS Christ crucified. But to live Christ means to be crucified, as Gal. 2:19 f. says: "I am crucified with Christ. But I live, yet now not I, but Christ liveth in me." So here also I do not know what they [the LXX] mean by their διάψαλμα according to the gramma
tic meaning have wanted. I want to interpret it (divinabo) to secrets.
For they seem, as they are wont to do, to have indicated a secret, since they have dared to interpret it by dividing, pausing, stopping, which sela does not mean among the Hebrews; nor have they easily-
312 L. Lrv, los-los. Works on the first 22 Psalms. Ps. 3, 3. 4. w. iv, 375-378. 313
The reason for this is that it is certain that not even the smallest letter or tittle is written in vain in the Holy Scriptures [Matth. 5:18].
(20) So I suppose (I would like to take this for myself) that it denotes an exceedingly great movement of the heart, by which the one who sings the psalm (psallens) is temporarily moved by excitation of the spirit. Because this is not in our power, we cannot have it in every psalm, nor in every verse, but as the Holy Spirit gives it, we are moved. That is why Sela is placed in the Psalms in such a way without order (confuse) and without any discernible reason (rationem), so that he [the prophet] may indicate by this very fact that it is a secret movement of the Spirit, unknown to us, not even to be provided by our ability, which, when it comes, since the words of the Psalm cease (omissis), requires a calm and still mind, which becomes capable of the illumination or movement that is offered. Thus, in this verse, since it deals with the exceedingly great spiritual challenge of having to suffer God in His wrath, let alone the creature, the prophet has been moved to feel and recognize this [challenge] with great vehemence (profundo affectu).
This is my opinion, without wanting to oppose the opinion of others, and this may be enough about the word sela.
V. 4. But you, O Lord, are the shield for me, and the one who sets me in honor, and straightens my head.
21. three things he opposes to other three things: the shield to many who afflict him; the honor to many who set themselves against him; the head to those who blaspheme and revile him.
Therefore he is lonely before men and according to what he feels, but before God and in the spirit he is safe in the strongest protection and not lonely at all, as it says John 16:32: "Behold, the time cometh, that ye should leave me alone: but I am not alone, for the Father is with me."
(23) Thus he is powerless and oppressed in appearance and in the sight of men, but in the sight of God and in spirit exceedingly strong.
and thus confidently boasts in the power of God with the apostle 2 Cor. 12, 10. 9.: "When I am weak, then I am strong, and will most gladly boast of my weakness, that the power of Christ may dwell with me." And of the whole church it is said Ps. 68, 10.: "And thine inheritance, which is barren, thou restorest."
This is how it is before men, and as the unwise look at it, it is desperate for him, and even with God there is no salvation for him anymore, but deeply hidden under this storm he is heard and exalted, according to the words of Ps. 81:8: "When you called on me in distress, I helped you out and heard you when the weather overtook you" (in abscondito tempestatis). Truly "hidden under the storm", because this storm of tribulation hides the exaltation and salvation so much that nothing less than salvation is before one's eyes, and one does not feel that God hears, but only that He is angry.
(25) He who understands or has experienced this will understand at the same time how foolish and sacrilegious it is taught by many that man by nature can love God above all things, since there is no man who, if left to his nature, should not look upon death and the punishment of death, let alone hell, with horror, and who could suffer the threatened wrath of God; and yet God cannot be loved above all things unless this is overcome by love for God.
Therefore the words of this verse are not words of nature, but of grace, not of free will, but of the spirit, of an exceedingly strong faith, which through the darkness of the storm, death and hell also recognizes God who forsakes him as his shield, God who persecutes him as his helper, God who condemns him as his Savior. For He does not judge according to what one sees and feels, "like horses and mules that have no understanding," Ps. 32:9, but He recognizes what one does not see. For, "The hope that is seen is not hope; for how can one hope for that which is seen?" Rom. 8, 24.
27. the same opinion is what is written Ps. 54, 5. [Vulg.]: "For strangers (see, many and foreigners 1), namely God-.
1) Instead of alii in the editions will be read ullkni. After that we have translated.
loose and adversaries) have risen up against me (for I am a solitary and lonely one), and strong men have sought my soul (behold, strong men and those who have the upper hand over the weak), and they have not had God before their eyes". As if he wanted to say: They do not believe that God is with me, but that it is desperate for me, and they even think that I am detestable to God. Likewise Ps. 86:14: "God, the proud are set against me, and the mob of tyrants are after my soul, and have not thee before their eyes," that is, I am forsaken and alone, they are many that afflict me; I am powerless and oppressed, they rise up and stand mightily over me. I am a man in whom there is no hope, and they say that I have no help from God either, but those boast defiantly because of the victory over me.
Thus we see that the life of the righteous man according to the example of Christ must be completed in these three pieces of the cross [ § 12], so that he is lonely, powerless and desperate, until he becomes worthy in such a way that God is his shield, sets him in honor and exalts him. This is what happened to Joshua with the children of Israel; in the war he stood against the people of Ai as if he were fleeing, but by this cunning of war he destroyed them completely, Jos. 8, 14. ff. In the same way the children of Benjamin were defeated by the children of Israel, Judges 20, 32. ff. 20:32 ff, when they pretended to flee, but immediately turned and struck them so that they were almost wiped out. For the cross and suffering is an exceedingly dangerous ambush and a very ruinous escape for the world, by which the devil, the world and the flesh are most easily and powerfully overcome, and according to God's marvelous counsel are defeated while they conquer.
But it is clear that in this passage gloria ["honor"] is taken as gloriatio, or the very thing of which one boasts, according to the manner of speaking of Scripture, since it is said: "My confidence (spes) in adversity," Jer. 17, 17., and Ps. 22, 10.: "My confidence when I was at my mother's breasts", and Ps. 142, 6.: "I say, You are my confidence", that is, it is You in whom I hope and from whom my confidence comes. So God is my mercy
heartiness, the Lord is my enlightenment and my salvation etc.
So also here: "Thou art he that settest me in honor" (gloria mea tu), of which I boast; so that the meaning is: Those trust in their honor, and boast of the multitude of their riches, Ps. 49, 7. [loosely from the Vulgate]: "Their strength is their glory", but I do not boast of my strength, which I do not have, nor do I become ashamed in my powerlessness, which I suffer, but boast of thy strength. Thy power is my glory, as it is said in Ps. 89:18, "For thou art the glory of their strength," and Jer. 9:24, 23, "Let him that will boast boast of this, that he knoweth me: let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, let not a strong man boast of his strength, let not a rich man boast of his riches." So also 2 Cor. 1) 10, 17.
If someone should now have pleasure in a sharper grammatical determination (rigidior grammatica), that here actually the Greek xxxx means, which in Latin is used to be rendered by gloria, and therefore is something different than gloriatio, which, as one thinks, is called by the Greeks ζαύχ^α,
and by the Hebrews XXX or XXXXX, it is also understood in such a way, not without rhyme, that God is the glory of the righteous man, as [the apostle] 1 Cor. 11, 7. calls the man "the glory of God" and the woman "the glory of the man", because God is glorified (glorificatur), honored, praised, glorified in his saints, whom he has redeemed. Again, they are also glorified (glorificantur), since God has honored them with such a great benefit by confessing that they were not helped by their own power, but by God's power.
But with me there is only a slight difference between these two words, especially in this place; only that gloria [honor], apart from the person of the one to whom it befalls (passi), denotes the good opinion which others have of him and a name of good sound, but gloriatio [boasting] denotes the person's own disposition (affectum) and his confidence in God. Let each one accept what he wants in this, for in the spirit and before God, one can
1) In the Basel edition only: "OoriiNN."; in the other editions: 1. 0or.; in the Weimar ricbtig: II I'or. X.
316 L. XIV, 104-106. Works on the first 22 Psalms. Ps. 3, 4. W. IV, 379 f. 317
You can neither have honor without boasting, nor boasting without honor. For in order to boast and be blessedly hopeful in God, there must be a good opinion of you with God, and this you must both know (sentire) and firmly believe, and so by your honor, which you have known and believed, God makes you rejoice and boast in God. For who should not boast, exult, despise everything, and be immensely hopeful who knows or believes that the opinion of him is good with God, that is, that God thinks good of him, is pleased with him, wants to help him, contend for him, praise him among all.
Again, it is not enough that the opinion of you is good with God, and that there you are loved, praised, pleasing (that is, honored), if you do not also know or rather believe this. But you should know that if you believe this, the boasting and joy of conscience can in no way be lacking. Thus it comes about that there must necessarily be at the same time that God be glorified (glorificari) and that the righteous boast, as it is said in Ps. 106, 47: "That we may praise your praise," and that God be at the same time the honor of the righteous and his boasting; the honor in God, the boasting in the conscience. For the honor is the good opinion of another, but the boasting, the hopefulness and the defiance because of one's own honor.
29 So you see how great faith and strength these words contain. He says, "Though many set themselves against me, think evil of me, have the worst opinion of me, yet I know that I shall not be put to shame. My glory is the Lord, in whom I have constant confidence that he thinks the best of me, and I boast of this opinion of God about me.
"Who aligns my head." Although I know that this "head" is understood by others to mean both Christ Himself and the mind of Christ, it still seems to me to be a figurative and figurative (tropologica) conception. Therefore, I believe (this is my opinion) that it should be taken quite simply according to the common way of speaking in Scripture for glorification, so that the clear sense of this whole speech would be: "He who aligns my head", that is, he has
He lifted me up and put me in an exalted place, according to the words of 2 Kings 1:25, 27 ff: "Then Evilmerodach king of Babylon lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of the dungeon, and spoke kindly to him, and set his throne over the throne of the kings that were with him at Babylon." Here it is clear that "to lift up the head" is to exalt the whole man himself and set him in honor and dominion. Thus Christ, who was signified by Jehoiakin, king of Judah, when he died and descended into hell, and when it was already said to him, as he had nothing to hope for, "He has no help from God," is immediately exalted by the right hand of God out of the lowest hell (inferiori lacu, Ps. 30:4) above all heavens, above all authority, appointed King above all kings and Lord above all lords. In the same way it is said in the 110th Psalm [v. 7]: "He will drink from the brook in the way; therefore he will lift up his head," that is, he will be exalted above all.
And as according to the custom of Scripture "to lift up the head" signifies dominion and power, so according to a not dissimilar idiom "to lift up the hand" signifies to have the upper hand and to be mighty in deeds, as Isa. 49:22: "Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and to the nations will I cast up my banner; and they shall bring forth thy sons in arms" etc. So also Ps. 74:3: "Lift up thine hand against their hope." Thus "to lift up the feet" means to be swift on the way, as in Gen. 29:1, where we have [in the Vulgate), "Now Jacob set out on his journey," where the Hebrew text says, "Then Jacob lifted up his feet." But also in our German mother tongue we use the same way of speaking to encourage the walkers to walk quickly by saying, "Heb die Füße auf," leva pedes tuos.
I have discussed this more extensively, because the right understanding lies largely in the manner of speech (in tropis locutionis), especially in the sacred Scriptures, which have their special kind (idiotismos); if one does not know this, a great fog arises, sometimes in broad daylight. So it is that the head is erect
1) Baseler: 3 Erlanger: 2 RsZ. instead of: 4. lieA-
318 L- xiv, ios-108. interpretations on the psalms. W. iv, sso^W. 319
I will be exalted to kingship and glorified.
(30) I always urge and remind that these are words of faith, hope and love, by which we are instructed in Christ, so that we may not fall away in all fear, for they are written for our learning and comfort (as the apostle says in Romans 15:4), that through patience we may have hope. For it is a difficult thing and an effect of divine grace to believe that God lifts up our heads and crowns us in the midst of death and hell. For here the exaltation is hidden, and there is nothing before our eyes but despair and no help from God.
Thus we are taught here to believe against the hope of hope [Rom. 4:18]. This wisdom of the cross is nowadays very much hidden in deep mystery. For there is no other way to heaven than this cross of Christ. Therefore we must be careful that the active life with its works and the contemplative life with its speculation do not seduce us. Both are very pleasant and quiet, but therefore also dangerous, until they are properly tainted by the cross and disturbed by adversities; but the cross is the most certain thing. Blessed is he who understands it.
V. 5. I call upon (clamavi) the Lord with my voice, and he hears (exaudivit) me from his holy mountain. Sela.
The Hebrew text speaks in the future tense, as St. Jerome also translates: I will call and he will hear; and it pleases me better than the past tense. For it is the voice of one already triumphant, praising, extolling, and giving thanks to God, who has protected, sustained, and exalted him, as he had hoped in the preceding verse. For this is the way of those who triumph and praise, that they tell what they have accomplished, what they have suffered, and sing a song of victory to their helper (adjutori), as in the 66th Psalm, v. 16. f.: "Come, listen, all you who fear God; I will tell what he has done for my soul. To him I cried with my mouth, and praised him with my tongue." And Ps. 81, 2.: "Sing joyfully
God, who is our strength" (adjutori). And 2 Mos. 15, 1. [Vulg.]: "We will sing to the Lord, for he has done a glorious deed" etc. So also here he sings that he has been heard, that he has slept, that he has been protected, that the enemies have been defeated, that the teeth of the wicked have been shattered, with a heart that is completely full of gratitude and joy.
Without a doubt, this is what causes the change, and that he, who until then spoke to God in the second person, suddenly addresses the word to others and speaks of God in the third person: "He hears me," he says, not: You hear me; likewise: "I call upon the Lord," not: I call upon you. For he desires that all may know what good God has done for him; this is the manner of a thankful heart.
But that it is said in the Hebrew in the future tense, "I will call and he will hear me," contains a stronger emphasis (affectum) than "I have called" in the past tense, though it does not exclude the past time, rather, because of the strength of the expression (vehementia) it includes the past time; and to explain this, if I can, the prophet's disposition (ejus) is of this kind: I, who have already experienced how good, how kind the Lord is, how he does not forsake, how he does not despise those who call upon him, how faithfully he protects, sustains, and exalts all who cry out to him, will henceforth so hold myself against him that I will take refuge in him alone with complete confidence. Nor will I fear many hundreds of lousy ones, I am ready to hope in him, although I would have to suffer much more and greater, and (as Job [Cap. 13, 15. Vulg.] says) even if he should kill me, I will hope in him. He is the God in whom all should trust and be undaunted, and it is not fitting that anyone should despair of Him. O the wretched people who, broken either by the crowd or by the greatness of their misfortune, do not know how mighty, how wonderful, how glorious this God saves those who call upon Him!
33. This attitude is also indicated by the following words: "I am not afraid," says
He says, "before many hundreds of thousands"; likewise: "With the Lord one finds help. In the same spirit he says Ps. 34, 2: "I will praise the Lord always," as if he wanted to say: I, Thor, who until now have praised the Lord only at one time, namely in happy and calm times, I did not know how powerful he was also at the time of adversity, therefore I will henceforth praise him also at the time of adversity. For there are people who praise God when everything is going well, according to the words [Ps. 49:19, Vulg.]: "He will praise you when you do good to Him," but in times of adversity they fall away so completely that they rather take refuge in something else than in God, indeed, they cannot even call upon Him, let alone praise and glorify Him.
But here we are instructed to pray the fourth verse of the 18th Psalm at the time of the cross: "I will praise and call upon the Lord, and I will be delivered from my enemies," so that God will please you and be loved by you even when it seems to you that he cannot please you at all and is worthy of all hatred. For this love for God is righteous (castus) and firm. This is what Isaiah Cap. 48, 9. [Vulg,] says: "I will restrain thee with my praise, that thou be not cut off." For by this praise the heart is kept in check in the midst of the waters and whirlpools of temptations, that it may not fall away from the love of God. But this is the work of the Spirit, not of nature, which is most perfectly fulfilled in the One Christ, and prescribed as an example for all who are of Christ.
"With my voice." This, thinks St. Augustine, and after him Cassiodorus, is said not of the bodily voice, but of the voice of the heart, and even of this only when it is exceedingly pure, because of the pronoun "mine"; because that would not be its voice, which would be interrupted by impure thoughts of the one praying. I believe that this is true, but I do not mean that the bodily voice is excluded, because the voice of the heart, when it is violent, cannot refrain from breaking out also into the bodily voice. For Christ on the cross also spoke with a bodily voice.
He has taught us to call in fear, so that we may call on the Lord with all our strength, both inwardly and outwardly.
35 He says, "From his holy mountain." I see that this mountain is understood in different ways. By some it is understood of Christ, who was heard in relation to himself, others understand it of the highest divinity, still others interpret it in other ways. I like the interpretation of the mountain of the highest divinity, only that one is careful (as I let myself think) that this mountain has no name. In the 2nd Psalm, v. 6, he said: "the holy mountain Zion", on which he was appointed king as on a lower one. Therefore that mountain had to be called by name, since he could not have ruled it if he had not known it; but here he by whom he is ruled, and from whom down (de) he is heard, cannot be called by name (innominabilis), since he has neither a form (speciem) nor a name.
It seems to me that we are all instructed by this that we must indeed expect divine help from above in the time of temptation, but that the way, the time and the nature of the help is not known to us, so that there is an opportunity for faith and hope, which are based on what is neither seen nor heard, nor does it come into the heart of a man. And so the eye of faith looks up at the inner darkness and the darkness of the mountain, and sees nothing but that he who looks up and expects help to come to him is weakened. He looks to the heights and waits for help from on high, but he does not know what the heights are like and what kind of help they will be. For though Christ knew all things, yet in all things he was likewise tempted for us, so that even to him in the hour of suffering this mountain was in a certain sense unknown and incomprehensible according to his humanity, which he also expresses in another psalm, the twenty-second, by saying [v. 4. Vulg.], "But thou dwellest in the sanctuary," that is, in a hidden and inaccessible secret. For just as
As God is ineffable, incomprehensible and inaccessible, so is His will and His help, especially at the time of abandonment.
Therefore, if faith does not make a man experienced here, and proves the challenge, it cannot be taught in any words what this holy mountain of God is. So it is the same as if he said: "He has heard me from His holy mountain" (that is, as it is expressed in ordinary life: He has heard me in an unspeakable and incomprehensible way, that I would never have thought it. I know that I have been heard from above, but in what way I do not know. From above he has plucked me out, and from on high he has received me (as we will hear elsewhere), but I do not know what this "from above", this height, this mountain is.
(37) It is the same when he leaves and is not heard. For we know not whither the wind goeth, or from whence it cometh, though we hear the sound thereof when it bloweth, as Christ saith John 3:8. And Job, Cap. 9, II [Vulg.], says: "When he [GOtte] comes to me, I cannot see him; when he goes away, I cannot know him." "So (says Christ) is every one that is born of the Spirit." He departs with him who departs (that is, he is forsaken when the Spirit departs him), and comes with him who comes (that is, he is heard when the Spirit hears him), but neither knows what is done with him or how.
This is what the little word "holy" indicates, which, as was said above [35], means something separate and secret, and precisely that which can be attained neither through the senses nor through the mind; whoever is transferred into it (rapitur) is transferred into the invisible God, and is purified, separated, sanctified in the most perfect way. But this thing is hard and unbearable to human nature, unless the spirit of the Lord floats on the water and covers the darkness of this depth until it becomes light.
38Therefore all folly lies in the fact that man does not remain silent to the counsel of God, but desires that he be given the way
and be helped at the time that he has chosen and that pleases him, whereby he makes for himself a mountain that cannot be called by name, and thus desecrates the holy mountain of God by touching it [Ex. 19:12] with his thoughts, as much as there is in it. For such a man is like a horse and a mule, who suffers the Lord as far as he feels or understands, but where it goes beyond his understanding he does not follow, because he lives not by his faith but by his reason. This can be proven with the examples of all the stories of the Old and New Testament (as the apostle Heb. 11 does), in which one finds that God always saved His saints in such a way that the way and the way and the time were not at all in view, but since the help was expected from above and from heaven, 1) it happened to all, since they did not mean it.
Therefore it is very well spoken: "From his holy mountain", that is, from the highest deity. But not all understand what they say. For to be heard by the highest deity is (as I have said) to stand in despair, and to be heard in an unimaginable way, so that nothing less is felt than the help or hearing of the deity. For here faith and hope speak, or a story is told of faith and hope that have been heard. But faith and hope, which have been heard, feel nothing, experience nothing, recognize nothing of the hearing, since they deal with things that are not seen.
This is what the word "sela" at the end of this verse indicates, namely, that this attitude is worth standing still for, since one must not pass by it lightly. It is such a difficult thing to expect one's salvation from the holy mountain of God. For an unwise man does not understand these deep thoughts of God, as the 92nd Psalm, v. 7. says. Therefore, "the Lord also brings to naught the counsel of the Gentiles and turns away the thoughts of the nations," Ps. 33:10, because
1) Erlanger and Weimarsche: expsetata, in the other editions: inexpearata.
"He knows that the thoughts of men are vain," Ps. 94, 11. Yes, in this trepidation the believer must exclaim: "All men are liars," Ps. 116, 11. It is so necessary that all reason be put to death and taken captive under the obedience of God.
V. 6. I lie down and sleep (ego dormivi et somnum cepi), and awake, for the Lord has me.
41 The word dormivi in Hebrew indicates the position of a reclining or sleeping person, but somnum cepi indicates the sleep itself, so that the meaning is: I have lain and slept, so that it indicates he has been laid in the grave, has rested, and has been dead. This resting is commemorated in many places in Scripture. Thus Gen. 49:9, [Vulg.] "Thou hast rested, and lain down like a lion, and like a lioness. Who shall rouse him?" And Ps. 4, 9. "I lie down and sleep altogether with peace," where exactly the same two words are found as in this verse, but not translated in the same way [in the Vulgate]. So also in our mother tongue we say, "I have lain down and slept," so that by your first word you must understand resting, by your last sleeping.
This is the rest Ps. 16, 9. [Vulg.] "And my flesh shall rest in hope," and Isa. 11, 10. [Vulg.] "And his grave shall be glorious (gloriosum)." For thus St. Jerome translated, but altogether brazenly (fidenter). But the Septuagint, "And there shall be rest his honor (honor)," or as it is in the Hebrew, "And his rest shall be his honor (gloria)," as if to say: Whereas the honor of other kings comes to an end with death, and their honor (as the apostle [Phil. 3, 19.] says) is put to shame, the honor of this king, on the other hand, begins with death, with which his shame comes to an end. It is the same with all who belong to Christ, according to the words of Ps. 116:15: "The death of his saints is accounted worthy in the sight of the Lord," because their life is full of shame in the sight of men. But this only in passing. We want to come back to peace.
This is the rest which the ancient Sabbath once signified (for Sabbath means rest), which even now our holidays signify, as
through Christ makes us dead from our works (that is, our sins) and resting and celebrating, so that we alone live God, and now it is no longer we, but God who works and reigns in us. For this reason it was commanded in ancient times with such strictness that no service work (servile opus) should be done on the Sabbath, but that the day should be holy to the Lord. St. Augustine has beautifully interpreted this about the first book of Moses, and teaches that this is to be understood from our works, which are always sins. Therefore, we must do only lordly works (herelia), free works, and princely works, yes, divine works, after Christ has made a Sabbath for us, by erasing our works through his Sabbath and rest.
For this purpose, Christ wanted to lie in the grave on the whole Sabbath day, so that the matter and the time, the name and the image (figura), all coincided, and he emphasized the extremely conscientious observance of this rest, since it is terrible if someone is still busy in his works at this time of grace and holy rest, and is found without the divine works. As the Jews, to whom it was said [Ex. 20:8], "Remember the Sabbath day, that thou hallow it," do not understand it at all, remain in their works, and by hallowing the Sabbath, most grievously profane the Sabbath. But this belongs to the secret interpretation.
Let us return to Christ, who by these words indicates his burial and death, as stated in the beginning of this psalm. For it is not necessary to believe that he preaches such glorious things about the natural rest and the natural sleep, especially since the preceding and the following make it necessary to understand him about a particularly great tribulation, and that he speaks of a wonderful victory over the enemies. Through all this he enkindles us to faith in God by praising the power and grace of God, that he is mighty to raise us from death, by singing and presenting to us the example of this in his own person. For there is nothing that could frighten us wretched people more than the terror of death, with which we were all punished in the first Adam;
and there is no more pleasant message than that we hear that this curse has been changed, or (what is even better) overcome, and that this death has not only been defeated, but also transformed into a helper and servant to a better life than we could have had.
Therefore, in the death and resurrection of Christ, the greatest consolation that could be proclaimed to the human race is proclaimed to us, namely, that the evil common to all men, death, has been so conquered, so subjected to the believer, that he is compelled to cooperate more powerfully to life (which he seems to devour) than anything else. Who should not sing here? Who should not rejoice with Christ here? Therefore, this virtutem of Christ, which is exceedingly joyful, had to be presented not merely with dry words and in plain speech, but in a psalm and full-sounding song (as the songs of victory are wont to be), so that we would be all the more inspired to despise this life and love death, since music by nature (genuinam) has the power to make and excite the mind. Therefore Elisha also had a minstrel [2 Kings 3:15], and Moses had drums made for war, Numbers 10:9. Therefore the Holy Spirit wanted to use it [music] in such a salutary and necessary matter, so that, since it is difficult to put life aside and to desire death, he would the more easily move us to it by singing the exhortation, and show that we should the more easily be moved to it.
43) In addition, he uses little words, which extraordinarily weaken the abhorrence of death. He says: "I lie and sleep", he does not say: "I am buried and dead. For death and the grave have already lost their power as well as their name, and death is now not even a death but a sleep; the grave is not a grave but a bed or a little bed. This he does, not only because the words of the prophecy had to be set somewhat darkly and mysteriously, but much more so that he made death exceedingly lovable to us, not to mention very contemptible, since in it, as in the sweet rest of sleep, we have an undoubted
and better resurrection and awakening is promised. For who should not be quite sure that he will be awakened or awake again, who rests in a gentle sleep and does not die? But here he says that he did not die, but slept, and therefore he awoke again. And just as sleep is useful and necessary to restore the strength, as Ambrose says in the hymn: [As it is necessary] that sleep restores the tired limbs, so death is useful, and now arranged to help to a better life. This is what he will say in the following psalm [Ps. 4, 9.]: "I lie down and sleep entirely in peace, for you alone, O Lord, help me to dwell safely."
(44) Therefore, those who are in Christ must not see death itself in death, but also a certain life and resurrection, so that the word may stand, John 8:51: "If anyone keeps my word, he will not see death forever. How will he not see it? Will he not feel it? Will he not die? No, not at all, but he will see a sleep, and by having the eyes of faith fixed on the resurrection, he will pass through death so smoothly (labetur) that he will not even see death, and to him death, as I have said, is no death either. And again John 11:25: "He that believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live."
45 But all this begins in baptism and is completed at the end of life. For (as the apostle says Rom. 6:4), "We are buried with him through baptism into death." This, I believe, is to be understood not of the spiritual death of sin alone, but also of the bodily death, that sin does not wholly die until the body is destroyed, or as Paul [Rom. 6:6.] speaks, until the sinful body ceases. Therefore, we are immediately prepared for death in baptism, so that through death we may the more quickly attain to life.
Here St. Augustine asks, why he said in the future tense: "For the Lord will keep me" (suscipiet)? Because this is how it is said in Hebrew, although our [Latin] translation has the preterite "he has kept" (suscepit). And although it is true that in the
328 XIV, 116-118. Works on the first 22 Psalms. Ps. 3, 6. 7. W. IV, 390 f. 329
In the prophets the tenses of the past and of the future are mixed together, whereby both are to be indicated, that what is prophesied to come is future according to time, but that it is to be considered as having already happened according to the opinion (scientiam) of those who make the prophecy, Nevertheless, this may also serve for our comfort and admonition, that the Lord Christ our Head has not only kept him, but will also keep him in all his members who follow him, so that it must be understood in such a way that he speaks for himself and with us in his person and in the person of all of us.
46 But this Hebrew word which Jerome translated: He woke me up, and elsewhere: He sustains (sustentat), has a certain emphasis which the Latin (latinitas) has not rendered, namely, as Reuchlin interprets, he will sustain me, he will come to me, he will be near me, which roughly gives the sense that the one who dies will not be abandoned by the Lord, but is sustained from above, as it were by God's hand stretched out and laid upon him, so that he does not fall into the depths, but rather is pulled out and lifted up, wherein is expressed with marvelous art the manner of a dying man, and God sustaining him. For he who dies there seems to perish and as it were to be swallowed up from below; but there the hand of God sustains him, which approaches him from above, so that he does not perish, so that he is rather lifted up into life, and indeed himself (sibi) perishes and falls, but GOtte is resurrected and comes forth.
V. 7. I am not afraid of many hundreds of those who baptize, who lie about against me. 1) Arise, Lord, and help me, my God.
This third verse of the Song of Victory expresses the same thing as the preceding and following verses, that is, it praises to us the holy hopeful heart that despises adversity. For we have said that this is spoken in the person of the one who is thankful and rejoices against God,
1) The following words are in the Vulgate, to which the explanation refers, still drawn to the seventh verse.
praises and proclaims his liberator, his virtue [1 Petr. 2, 9] and grace, so proven and strengthened by the experience of adversity, that in the future he will definitely not fear any misfortune under the protection of God, whom he has already recognized and experienced. Although in Christ, who has risen from the dead, tribulation no longer has a place, or death, or the lurkers of people who oppose him, there is no doubt that such a spirit prevails and triumphs in him, of which it was prophesied that it would be in him. All this was not done for the sake of Christ, who had no need of it, but for our sake, who, though we have overcome some tribulations, have yet to overcome most of those that remain. Therefore, we must be admonished that once we have tasted the grace of God's assistance, we will be strengthened to endure much greater things, since we have been strengthened to the highest degree by the example of Christ. And for this reason the prophet seems to me to alternate with the tenses of the verba in such a way that he sometimes says in the past tense [Vulg.]: "I called with my voice to the Lord and he heard me," and: "I lay and slept and awoke," sometimes in the future tense: "I will not be afraid of many hundreds baptizing," sometimes in the present tense: "Arise, Lord, help me," and again in the past tense: "For you have slain all my enemies," etc., so that he speaks this in the person of the suffering Christ, but at the same time instructs us by this example of Christ that what has already happened and what is yet to happen are one and the same for us.
So he also said Joh. 12, 27. at the hour of suffering: "Now my soul is sorrowful. And what shall I say? Father, help me out of this hour. But this is why I have come to this hour" etc. In short, one must get used to this way of speaking, that in the prophets and the psalms many things are said at the same time as if they had happened at the same time, and some things as if they belonged to a later time, which happened earlier; as here in the person of Christ: "Arise, Lord, and help me," belongs to the time before the suffering, but what precedes: "I have called with my voice to the Lord,
and he has heard me", and: "I am awakened" etc., belongs to the time after (post) the suffering. Moreover, it is understood according to its members, as I have said, that it is spoken from a heart that is full of praise and awaits the future challenges with exceeding courage, arming and admonishing itself with confidence in the divine power.
But this is too well known to need to be proved, that it is not said to God, who sleeps or lies down, "Arise," but either, as Augustine says here, it is attributed to God what he himself works in us; that he arises when he makes us arise, just as it is said that he spoke in the prophets when he made the prophets speak, and the apostle says 2 Cor. 13:3, "Seek ye that ye may know him that speaketh in me, even Christ?" or it is said that he rises and opens when he shows by present effect that he assists us. This way of speaking is more common than the former, according to which it is said in Scripture that something is done by God when it is either felt or recognized by us that it is done, as Gen. 22:12: "Now I know that you fear God," and Luc. 7:47, where he had said of Mary, "Her many sins are forgiven," but afterwards, revealing this to her, says [v. 48], "Your sins are forgiven you." In such a way God, although He never does not help, is nevertheless called upon to help, yes, He has given and helped so that He might be called upon, and so that one does not fall away, He helps in the meantime until He can help.
But it seems also that this verse [v. 7. Vulg.] is opposed to the first two [v. 2. and 3.It seems to be opposed to the first two [vv. 2 and 3], so that against the multitude of those who oppress him he says: "I am not afraid of many hundreds of those who are baptized, who set themselves against me", against the power of those who set themselves against him: "Arise, Lord", and against those who boast that he is in despair (desperationem): "Help me, my God"; or, even more, this verse would be opposed to the multitude of enemies (tribulantium), the following verse (vv. 8? to the power of those who set themselves against him, because it says: "For you strike all my enemies on the cheeks", and the last verse to those who state that it is desperate
standing around him, saying, "He has no help with God": worse, "you find help with God, and your blessing upon your people."
48. There is an emphasis in these words: "I will not be afraid of many hundreds of baptizing people who are laying themselves against me," as if he said out of an exceedingly great fervor of faith: I will not be afraid, though not all the rulers of the people alone, but also some nation itself [set itself against me], yea, though there were many thousands of nations, and, that I may add it, if they had so caught me one and solitary, that I was utterly compassed about, and had nowhere to escape, even then I will not be afraid, but will be safe; not of my strength, but because thou, O Lord, dost open up etc. Thus, I say, the Holy Spirit graciously prompts us everywhere, that we may have a completely confident courage in faith in God and in hope in Him.
V. 8. for thou smitest all mine enemies in the jaws, and bruisest the fangs of the wicked).
The preterite [percussisti and contrivisti] stands for the future tense when it is taken in the person of Christ before the suffering; but if it is understood of the time after the resurrection, it is a continuation of the song of victory and the praise of God for our admonition, as has been sufficiently said.
Jerome translated from the Hebrew instead of: sine causa: "the cheeks", in this way: For thou hast smitten the jaws of all mine enemies, and thus it is quite true that it follows: Thou hast broken the teeth of the wicked. And so here seems to be a repetition of the same thing (tautologia).
But this is the order: I will not fear, I say, many thousands, nor will my faithful fear any multitude, however wicked and mighty, for I have already experienced how you strike those who seek to consume and devour me, raising me up also from the
1) In the Vulgate: Huoniana tu pereussisti orunss uävi>r8untk8 uüüi sinn causu, üeut^s peeeutoruna ooutrivisti.
Kill them so that they can no longer devour me, and strengthen my believers through the Spirit so that they cannot harm them.
50 But this smiting could also be understood of the destruction of the Jewish people by Titus and Vespasianus. For though they are still biting and blaspheming against Christ and the Christians, yet they are bruised and crushed, that they can eat no man. Therefore they have teeth and jaws, but bruised and crushed, as it is said elsewhere, Ps. 58:7 [Vulg.]: "God will break the teeth in their mouths, the chins of the lions the Lord will crush."
51. but in this figurative speech he uses "jaws" and "teeth" for biting words, after-talk, slander and such harmful things by which the innocent are oppressed, as it is said in Prov. 30:14: "a kind that has swords for teeth, that eats with its molars, and devours the wretched of the land, and the wretched of the people." For by these Christ was devoured, since he was condemned to the cross before Pilate by their cries and accusations. Thus the apostle Gal. 5:15 says: "If ye bite and devour one another, see that ye be not consumed one of another." In many other passages of Scripture, too, this figurative speech of teeth and cheeks is frequently found, and is clear enough in itself.
52. but the bride of Christ also has teeth, Hohel. 4, 2. 6, 5.Your teeth are like the flock of circumcised wool that comes out of the flood," that is, the rebuke with which the church bites and punishes sinners, and converts and incorporates the bitten, is like shorn sheep, gentle, for the punishers are without anger and zeal, then also shorn, that is, they are free from concern for temporal goods, not seeking their gain and the wool of the sheep. For even the apostles could not preach the word and serve at table at the same time, as Apost. 6, 2. is written. But about this elsewhere.
These teeth are pictured in the jaw that Samson picked up and struck a thousand men with, Judges. 15, 15. Therefore, God also mercifully bruises and breaks the teeth of sinners (in a milder sense) when, through the grace of conversion from
He makes the accusers and slanderers of the righteous into their praisers and eulogists, just as he destroyed St. Paul, the most ferocious wolf, who was exceedingly strong by very strong teeth, and made him an apostle, a devourer of all the Gentiles to this day. On this opinion also says Isaiah, Cap. 2, 4: "They shall turn their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks," as if to say, "They shall turn their pernicious tongues into wholesome ones, which work the earthly-minded (terrenorum) people, so that they may be plowshares in punishing, and pruning hooks in gathering the people to Christ.
The teeth can also be understood according to the secret interpretation, as St. Augustine says, of the principes among the sinners, by whose power everyone is cut off from the community of the rightly living and is, as it were, incorporated into the evil living; 1) to these are opposed the principes among the righteous, as the priests, who by good example and word persuade people to believe, to go out from the world, and to join the church as members. And for this purpose, what is said in the Song of Songs Cap. 4 and 6 about the teeth. But everyone may indulge in such spiritual interpretations as he likes, I will not deal with it further.
But this psalm will not be of no use to comfort weak consciences, if it is interpreted morally (tropologiam), and if the enemies and the teeth of sinners are understood to be the extremely burdensome attacks of vice and conscience over an evil spent life. For here the heart of the sinner suffers in truth heavily, lonely, powerless, despairing, and if it does not accustom itself to lift up its eyes against the attack of its sins and to call upon God against conscience, there is danger that the evil spirits, which in this commerce creeping in darkness [Ps. 111, 6.] seek to catch the soul, will at last plunge it into despair through sadness.
54 Therefore, the heart must be most strongly
1) Here the Basel edition has the marginal gloss: Xota, nostrorurn äentiurn exeolumunieationem invbniss works on, here you will find the spell of our teethj.
and one must say confidently with Christ, whether against the sins that persecute the conscience or against the punishments that impugn blessedness:
V. 9: With the Lord you will find a sheath, and your blessing upon your people. Sela.
55 A very beautiful conclusion, and as it were a summa of all the aforementioned movements of the heart. But the meaning is: It is the Lord alone who can help and bless, and even if the whole Hanseatic League of all misfortunes would come together, he is still the Lord who can save. In his hand is help and blessing, so what should I fear? What should I not fear? since I know that if God wills it, no one will be lost, no one will be cursed, even if all should perish and curse [him], if God wills it, none of them will be saved and blessed, however much they preserve and bless themselves, and, as Gregory of Nazianzus says: If God exists, envy can do nothing, and if God does not exist, all effort (labor) can do nothing.
56. to this opinion also Paul says Rom. 8, 31: "If God is for us, who may be against us?" So again: If God is against them, who may be for them? Why? Because the help is with the Lord, not with them, not even with us, for "the help of men is of no avail" [Ps. 60, 13.] Therefore it is said in Revelation 7, 12."Praise, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and praise, and power, and strength fei our God" etc.; likewise therein [v. 10. Vulg.]: "Salvation is with our God and the Lamb"; and Ps. 109, 28.: "If they curse, bless them"; and Mal. 2:2: "I will curse your blessing" and turn your curse into blessing.
57 Thus saith the blessed Christ, and so saith the Christian soul in the midst of tribulation, It is not that they destroy and curse me; it is not with them, but with the Lord, to preserve and bless. Nor does it profit them to preserve themselves by their own strength, and to bless one another; it is not with them, but with the Lord, that help and blessing are to be found.
they will be corrupted and cursed; again, when he protects and blesses, they seem to corrupt and curse us at the hour, but in truth we are protected and blessed. This is what the 146. 1) Psalm, v. 3. wants: "Do not rely on princes, they are men, they cannot help."
58. And in order to have comfort in this confidence, it is forbidden in the Law of Moses before times that one man should not bless another, in that God says, 4 Mos. 6, 23. ff. [Vulg.]: "Thus shall you bless the children of Israel, and thus shall you say to them, 'The Lord bless you, ...' so will I bless them." O a wholesome and necessary commandment!
59. Why do you think that God does not want any man to be blessed by another? This happened for no other reason than because He already then considered the word Matth. 5, 11: "Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you because of Me, and speak all kinds of evil against you, when they lie about it. For so it is with men, as Ps. 10:3 [Vulg.] is written, "For the sinner is praised in his lusts, and the wicked is blessed"; whereas, of course, the righteous is reproved and cursed. Quite rightly and exceedingly, therefore, the Lord says, "I will. bless them," which he repeats, as it were, in this verse, saying, "Over thy people [find mau] thy blessing."
Therefore this verse must be read in such a way that the emphasis and the tone with a raised voice lies on the genitive domini ["with the Lord"] and on the pronoun tun. ["thy"], so that by the contrast we may at the same time recognize the attitude which is full of the sweetest confidence, which as it were ridicules the evil attempts of the adversaries, and mocks their confidence, in this vow: "With the Lord is found help, and thy blessing upon thy people," so that we may learn to despise the curse of men, and not to seek their blessing, since we know that it is with God alone to save and to bless. In the same opinion, God mocks them in Isaiah, Cap. 41, 23: "Defiance, do good, or do not do evil.
Is In the Weimar: I'". 146; in the other Latin editions: 1'8. 147.
336 nv, 124-126. Works on the first 22 Psalms. Ps. 3, 9. w. iv, sW-^oo. 337
Harm", as if he wanted to say: You are neither able to harm us nor to benefit yourselves.
61 First, see that he puts the help before the blessing, of course in the right order, because the blessing in the holy Scriptures expresses the progress (profectum) and the increase, as Gen. 1:28: "He blessed them, saying, 'Be fruitful and multiply,'" which cannot happen unless the one who is to be blessed is first protected, so that he does not perish. And in a fitting manner he contrasts these two things with the first two verses; the help of the Lord to the enemies and to those who set themselves against him, for these perish; but the blessing of the Lord to the cursers and to those who say, "He has no help with God." For this is the most severe cursing.
62. For since the wicked have nothing left to do to the righteous, who have been destroyed by them, only one thing remains, that they speak disparagingly of them, revile them, blaspheme (as Christ showed us on the cross), where they strive to eradicate the good report of those [righteous], both with God and with men; with men by evil reproach, with God by attacking the good confidence of their conscience, that they also should not boast in God, but should be put to shame on both sides.
At the same time, the serious challenge to blaspheme is touched upon here, by which man is driven to despair by the devils, so that he thinks that the curse of God is pronounced upon him, and thus does not consider God to be God, since he does not think of anything good for Him. For this is to blaspheme God, of whom we are commanded to hope all good things from Him and to provide ourselves with the best for Him, since we are commanded in the first commandment to serve Him in faith, hope and love, as it is written in the Book of Wisdom, Cap. 1:1: "Provide yourselves with the best for God, and seek Him with a simple heart."
64 And this is perhaps the reason that he so often changes the person. For since he had said in the third person: "With the Lord one finds help," as if he wanted to praise God to other people, he immediately returns to the first person.
second person back, saying, "Thy blessing." For since this blasphemy tears away from God the very furthest, and he flees, as it were, the curser and seeks another giver of blessing, while yet there is no other who can bless, he reminds us that we are to turn to God the very furthest when we are turned away from Him the very furthest in the contestation. And this movement of the heart, because it is something very special and exceedingly violent, is perhaps not without reason designated by the word sela, of which enough has been said above.
We have interpreted this whole psalm from Christ. Now, if anyone does not like this explanation, he will have no difficulty in understanding it from David, as an example of such suffering and the same movements of the heart, which, as we have seen, were described in Christ and in every Christian, except that the fifth verse alone will cause some difficulty in this interpretation. But let us give those who are better able an opportunity [to do better], and briefly interpret the psalm thus:
66 "O Lord, how many are mine enemies!" namely Absalom, Ahithophel and all the people, as it is written in 2 Sam. 15.
67 V. 3. "Many set themselves against me, many say to my soul, It has no help from God. This was done by Shimei, who cursed David in 2 Sam. 16:7, saying, "Come out, come out, you bloodhound, you loose man!" and threw stones at David, saying [v. 8], "The Lord has rewarded you; see, now you are in your misery. "etc.
68. v. 4. "But thou, O Lord, art the shield of me, and the one that setteth me in honor, and setteth up my head." For there [2 Sam. 16, 11. f.] he said, "Let him be subdued, that he may curse, for the Lord hath told him. Perhaps the Lord will look upon my misery, and repay me with kindness for his cursing today." With these words he indicates that he has not yet despaired, indeed, that he has strongly trusted in God, so that he acknowledged and justified His commandment and His will.
69 [v. 5.] "I call with my voice
the Lord, he will hear me from his holy mountain." This he did when he said [2 Sam. 15, 31.], "Lord, make the counsel of Ahitophel foolish," and perhaps also otherwise, which is not written. For, as I have said, it is not credible that he made this psalm in the tribulation, but after the tribulation.
(70) O strong faith, that a man should speak thus to God when he is angry, that he should cry out to him who smites him, that he should fly to him who drives him out, that he should praise him as his shield, his honor, and as the one who sets up his head, whom he feels is forsaking him, disgracing him, and oppressing him; an exceedingly delicious example of Christian faith. He says [2 Sam. 15, 20.], "I will go where I can go," as if to say: I do not know where I will go; that is to believe, to go into such great darkness, where you do not know at all what will happen to you, and yet you have good confidence and do not doubt that you will be heard.
71 [v. 6.] "I lie, and sleep, and awake, for the Lord keepeth me." This, in my judgment, is to be understood thus: I was then such a man that it was desperate for my life, for my honor, and for all my affairs; I was like one that was dead, and went down into the pit, as much as there was in fact and in the sight of men, and truly nothing lived in me but faith; neither did it seem to me otherwise, if I should be restored into the kingdom, than if I should be raised again out of the sleep of death, and out of the grave. For into such peril and to such gates of hell the Lord is wont to lead those whose faith he would try; for a man who suffers these things is not at all different from a dead man.
(72) Or if this interpretation is not to your liking, well, this may be [David's] affectus: I was immersed in this affliction, and just as those who are overcome by a deep sleep do not feel that they are alive, and are quite like the dead, so I am from too great affliction in a deep faintness (ecstasi).
I was already really dead, as Gen 45:26 f. is said of Jacob, when he heard that his son Joseph was reigning in Egypt, awoke as it were from a heavy sleep, but still did not believe them; for he had so despaired of Joseph. But when he saw the chariots and all that Joseph had sent, his spirit came alive again.
So David also says here that he has revived and awakened from the deep sleep of the heart and, as it were, from death. For I confess that I cannot understand it from the natural sleep and the natural rest; but also David, when he returned, says 2 Sam. 19:22: "Do you think that I do not know that I have become a king over Israel today?" in which he obviously indicates the position of the heart, of which we have said that he had despaired of the kingdom as far as the present facts were concerned.
74. v. 7. "I am not afraid of many hundred lukewarm ones that encamp against me round about. Arise, O Lord, and help me, my God." This he says, having already been reinstated [to the kingdom]. Henceforth I shall fear no evil, if thou be with me, as it is said in the 23rd Psalm, v. 4. Only arise and save me, as you have done now, and be only my God, then there will be nothing for me to fear.
75 [v. 8.] "For thou smitest all mine enemies in the jaws, and shatterest the teeth of the wicked." For the people are smitten with Absalom, and "there was a great slaughter that day, twenty thousand men," 2 Sam. 18:7. and so they are smitten and dashed down who were already devouring and destroying him.
76 (v. 9) "With the Lord you will find help, and your blessing upon your people. Sela," as if to say: Though Simei with his had bored their cursing teeth into me, saying, "He hath no help with God"; "now thou art in thy calamity," etc. yet blessing and preservation are with the Lord alone. To Him alone be glory forever and ever, amen.
340 D- nv, 128 f. Works on the first 22 Psalms. Ps. 4, 1. W. iv, E f. Z4I