(V. 11.) But whoever keeps the commandments of life will not see destruction, when they see those who appeared to be the most wise and prudent in this world dying. This specifically applies to the scribes and Pharisees, who claim seats of authority in the synagogues, as if they were the rulers of wisdom. They truly labor in vain, thinking that they will be set free by a silver coin, while they despise the spiritual price of their soul and reject the unique sacrifice of the Lord's body through an empty interpretation of the Law, refusing the sacrament of baptism. For the blood of goats and bulls can never take away sins; but it is the blood of Christ that redeems us all, as prefigured in Leviticus. It is not by the payment of a didrachma, but by the price of His blood alone that we are set free.
Therefore, let us be teachable by God, so that none of us may experience eternal damnation on that day when the wise of this world or the leaders of the Jews will be condemned to everlasting death, while the foolish and the stupid perish together. They are not the same. The foolish one is he who understands nothing and comprehends folly; the stupid one is he who understands wrongly. The stupid one says there is no God. Just as the wicked one, not because he is ignorant of justice, but because of the wickedness of his own heart, commits unjust deeds: he is also called wicked because he wants to destroy goodness through his malice, not because he is unaware of goodness. Therefore, when the foolish and ignorant perish, they leave behind their riches to strangers; for they cannot find a deserving and rightful heir to their folly and wickedness. For the rightful heirs say: 'Because we are children of God.' But if we are children, then we are also heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, so that we may also be glorified together (Rom. VIII, 16 and 17). Therefore, the foolish do not have riches, because they do not have an inheritance. They do not have untrustworthy wealth, nor possessions; for to the faithful, the whole world is a possession. They do not have inheritance, for the inheritance is only for those who believe in the Lord. But they have their own wealth. Therefore, the greedy person says: I have no place to gather my fruits (Luke 12:17); for the true fruits, but the fruits of the greedy person, is money. And the Lord says to the greedy person: Go, sell your possessions . . . and come; follow me (Matthew 19:21). For an inherited estate is not a perfect good, but these are ill-gotten gains that are acquired through some profit. Sell, he says, what you think is yours; even though they are not yours, because they pass to others just like a river: and follow me, so that you may recognize the immortal good. Therefore, the wise are led to destruction, to whom God hides the things that He revealed to little ones. They will perish together, and in the same place there will be both the fool and the ignorant, and they will leave their wealth to strangers; because wickedness does not find a legitimate successor.
(Verse 12.) And their graves shall be their houses forever, their dwelling places to all generations. They have named lands after themselves. Everywhere Scripture considers graves as worthless, compared to those who are degenerate and greedy for this life. Their throat is an open sepulcher (Psalms 5:11). Therefore, they live for the present and not for eternity; their graves are their houses. For the houses of the righteous are not on earth, but in heaven, as the Apostle taught, saying: But our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20). It is our home, which is the house of Christ. Therefore, Scripture says: 'And Moses indeed was faithful over his whole house as a servant, to bear witness to those things which were to be spoken: but Christ as the Son in his own house' (Heb. III, 5 et 6). Hence, for the pious, the Church is their home, and heaven is their homeland. Therefore, the just man says: 'I am a stranger with you and a sojourner, as all my fathers were' (Psal. XXXVIII, 13). For the indulgent, their home is a tomb. Indeed, they live as if in a tomb, those who can say: 'Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die' (Isaiah 22:13), having no view of resurrection before their eyes. Therefore, they adhere and cling to their own tombs, because they did not believe that they could be raised. Therefore, their dwelling is in their own burial place, and their tent is in the earthly generation and progeny; they leave worms as heirs to their body, so that only their memory remains here, and cannot pass into eternity.
Finally, their names are written in their own lands; because their works are corruptible and earthly. And therefore their names are written where they preferred to live. But to those who have elevated their works, it is said to them: Do not rejoice, because demons are subject to you; but rejoice, because your names are written in heaven (Luke 10:20). Hence, let us understand that the Lord does not accuse them in vain, who built themselves tombs or adorned the tombs of the prophets (Matthew 23:28). For the Jews are condemned, who offered earthly consolations, not eternal rewards, to the prophets they had killed. Therefore, he prohibits his disciple from burying his father (Matthew 8:22) because he should be continuously focused on the eternal Father. And it is written in the book of Isaiah: 'What, you ask, have you built and torn down your tomb for yourself?' (Isaiah 22:16) And Mary is criticized for seeking Christ in the tomb. Leave the tombs which they left, who, hearing the voice of the Lord, rose from the graves in His passion. Do not dwell among the dead, who are alive. Hear the voice of Jesus, the one who resurrects: Rise, you who sleep, and rise from the dead; so that the light of Christ may be poured out upon you (Ephesians 5:14). The other light is His Holy Spirit, which shone like fire upon the holy apostles in the dispersion of tongues.
(Verses 13, 14.) It follows: When a man is honored, he does not understand; he is compared to the beasts that are without understanding; and he becomes like them. This is their way, it becomes a stumbling block to them; and afterwards they will please with their mouth. Because the man did not understand, when he was honored (and honor consists in this, that he was made in the image of God, he became capable of reason), he was compared to the beasts, which do not have understanding; but he who understood, is compared to the angels. And therefore, here he is magnified by the clarity of good works: he is esteemed like a horse neighing at the filthiness of living, which brings stumbling blocks to those who live in wickedness and obscenity. For the foolishness of a man contaminates his ways. But such men live according to their own desires, which create stumbling blocks, and they will please themselves with their mouth, but not in their heart. For they are not good, of whom it is said: They blessed with their mouth, and cursed with their heart (Psalm 62:5). And it is also a response to those who have written in their books as follows: And afterwards, they will bless with their mouth. For your word is near, and it should be in your mouth and in your heart.
(Verse 15.) As sheep are led down to hell: death shall feed on them. And the just shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their help shall decay in hell, from their glory. Christ who did not wish to feed them, shall feed them with death. Who then would abandon the good shepherd, who lays down his own life for his sheep, because the care of his flock belongs to him? Or who would choose the hired death, which is repaid with the reward of the worst deeds? At the same time, know, O man, that Christ is the true shepherd, who feeds his own unto life. Death has entered, which leads strangers to ruin, and devours those whom it can prevail against because of their wickedness. While it is permitted to exert power and accumulate wealth in this life, so as to boast over others at home: in the resurrection there will be servitude, when the morning light shines upon the righteous: whose figure is that the lord Jacob is placed before his brother. And so, a miserable servitude, that at the time when others are called to the glory of splendor and light, the glory of these people fades and is consumed in the darkness of hell. And rightly it is said about them: They were expelled from their honor and glory; for this glory is temporal.
But God will free, he says, my soul from the hand of hell; when he shall take it. He says this well, who knew that his soul was not to be abandoned in hell. For he descended, in order to set free the captives from the jaws of hell, not to remain captive among them.
(Verse 17.) Therefore, since these things that are in this world cannot pass with us; therefore it is said to you: Do not be afraid when a man becomes rich, and when the glory of his house is multiplied. Because when he dies, he will not take everything with him, nor will the glory of his house descend with him. Do not be afraid of riches, and the power of the rich, and the worldly glory; for those things are transient, and they depart more quickly than they came. This world is a dream: you wake up, and it disappears; for whoever can sleep off the intoxication of this world and assume the sobriety of virtue, despises these things and considers money worthless. And do not be afraid when you hear of the multiplied glory of some powerful person's house. Look carefully, and it is empty, having nothing in itself of the fullness of faith. And what shall I say about the world? It was completely empty before Christ filled it with believers. And so it is written: He will judge among the nations, he will fill ruins (Psalm 109:6). For what else was there in this world before, except the ruin of faithlessness? What is ruin? Listen to him saying: Where there is ruin, there also are eagles (Matthew 24:28); that is, where there is ruin, there is also resurrection. Ruin is emptiness of stability; resurrection is fullness of life. And so, that ruin of Adam emptied us, but the grace of Christ filled us. That is why he emptied himself; so that he could fill us, and dwell in the flesh of man, the fullness of power. Know what is ruin. While a person is alive, they are infused with spirit: when they have died, surely the spirit of this vital life is empty. The loss of spiritual grace makes it even more empty, which grace is accustomed to filling; so that we can say: For we have all received from his fullness, and grace for grace (John 1:16). It is said of another: I have labored in vain (Isaiah 49:4): but the righteous are like the fragrance of a full field.
(Verse 18.) But what is not empty, that which is worldly and secular; when he rightly said, who with sober virtue despised this world: naked I was born, naked I will die (Job 1:21)? Can anyone take with them what they possess? This person leaves behind everything, enters the tomb alone, and his rich tomb is empty, which the earth itself couldn't contain. Hence it is said: Will you alone dwell on the earth? Does the glory of his house or wealth descend into that tomb (Isaiah 5:8)? See the power of Scripture. The glory of the world does not descend with the sinner, but the glory of virtue ascends with the innocent. And to put it more succinctly, the glory of a man will ascend with the one ascending; it will not descend with the one descending. That which is of grace and virtue will ascend. One ascends to paradise, one descends to hell. Descending, it says, the living descend into hell (Psalm 54:16). Therefore, Lazarus, the poor man, was lifted up by angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man, who lived in luxury, lifted up his eyes in hell and begged Abraham to send the poor man to him, so that he could touch his tongue with his finger, and thus find some relief in the midst of the great burning. See this poor man, abundantly blessed with all good things, surrounded by the blissful rest of the holy Patriarchs. See this empty man, who seemed to abound in everything in this world, whose soul was blessed in his life: but now, in death, he is tormented and without strength (Luke 16:22 and following).
(Verse 19.) Hence it follows beautifully: For his soul will be blessed in his own life: he will give thanks to you when you do good to him. They will bless him, he says, with an earthly blessing. Foolish men, who consider the present, not the future. His followers and sycophants will bless him. He himself also considers himself blessed if he seizes some desired field. He confesses to God when good things succeed for him in this world; but when adverse things happen, he curses with an impious mouth. Therefore he says this, because the secular man does not give thanks when placed in poverty and adversity; but the just man, on the other hand, blesses the Lord with grateful affection in difficulties. Lastly, the devil says to God: What is surprising, if Job blesses you? He has everything in abundance. But send, he says, your hand, and touch what he possesses, let us see if he will bless you to your face (Job 1:11). And the Lord gave him the power to take away those things that belonged to this world; he would pour out the ulcerous severity of his flesh. Nevertheless, Job blessed saying: The Lord gave, the Lord took away... blessed be the name of the Lord (Ibid., 21).
(Verses 20, 21.) He shall go on to his fathers' generation: he shall never see light. When a man is in honor, yet does not understand, he is compared to the senseless beasts and becomes like them. Therefore, it is said, he shall go on to his fathers' generation. The Lord declared, saying: You are of your father the devil (John 8:44). There are also those fathers of whom it is said: Let the dead bury their own dead (Matthew 8:22). Therefore, the Moabites were forbidden to enter the Church of the Lord for three or four generations (Deut. 23:3), so that their children, due to the sins of their fathers, would enter into the same generation whose deeds and customs they imitated. Hence it is written: The children of adulterers will come to a complete end (Wisdom 3:16). Therefore, whoever does not follow the Father who is in heaven, but instead follows the earthly corruption, enters into the lineage of an earthly father. For as earthly, so are the earthly ones; so that his earthly life is without rest after death. He will not see eternal light forever; because he sought after worldly things. However, he who has followed Christ's glory, who has desired that light which enlightens every person coming into this world, will find and see eternal light; because Christ has redeemed him from death.
Then therefore he will think with himself, that when he was in honor, he did not understand; and therefore he will be similar to the beasts, who ought to be similar to the angels, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: to whom is honor, glory, perpetuity from ages, and now, and always, and unto all ages of ages. Amen.
On Psalm 62, Commentary
On the Psalm LXI, Commentary. Title: To the end, for Idithun, a Psalm by David himself.
In this treatise on the psalm, Blessed Ambrose strongly reproaches the unfaithfulness and impiety of the tyrant Maximus, who dared to deceive and kill his lord Emperor Gratian through fraud and deceit. He declares that the emperor dwells in the Lord's sanctuary and rests on his mountain.
(Verse 1.) It is the unquestioned custom of all of us to hurry toward the end, and we want to know the sum of what we have read or seen and heard. Hence the title itself does not allow us to be idle, nor does it let the indication of common desire pass by our resting ears. For among other things, although it shines forth even in other things, in this kind of psalm a divine oracle shines forth. Hence let us consider more diligently what the end is; for the end is called τέλος, and the sum of the thing we want to explain. Christ is called the end because he is the end of the Law; as it is written: Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes (Rom. X, 4). He is also called the end because he is the beginning and the end. Therefore, those psalms which are titled: To the end; are either about Christ or are of Christ himself: about Christ, when he is proclaimed; of Christ himself, when he proclaims himself, and promises to come to the earth and deigns to reveal to us the future passion of his own body.
And so they are inscribed on the title themselves, as if truly David, the ministries of the prophetic mouth of the Lord, are assigned through him, by whom the office of the human voice reproved the heavenly and divine sentence resounded.
And rightly, the introduction is given for Idithun, who was a prophet, and sang the psalms with his six sons, as if a certain preface; because it was fitting for him to prophesy, who, being appointed in the ministry of singing, spoke divine oracles with a human voice. And because the passion of the Lord's body was to be undertaken for the purpose of abolishing the error of the whole world, although the diligence of the person whose name it is was approved, it expressed a more commendable education of the people. And so, we hear him speaking.
(Verse 2) Will not my soul be subject to God? Our Lord Jesus, taking on the flesh of man in order to cleanse it in himself, first had to abolish the contamination of ancient sin. For because guilt had crept in through disobedience, while divine commands were transgressed, he had to reform obedience above all, in order to exclude the seedbed of error. For the sin had originated from there: and therefore, like a good physician, he had to first cut off the roots of the ulcer, so that the healing remedy of medicines could be felt by the mouth of the wound. For in vain have you healed the scar if the inner infections spread; rather the wound worsens if it is closed on the outside, while the virus boils within. For what good is it to forgive sin if the desire for sinning remains? This was not healing the scar, but rather closing it off. Therefore, He wanted to cleanse the wound in order to heal the desire; so that no trace of disobedience would remain. He Himself took on obedience, in order to impart it to us. For it was necessary that just as many were made sinners through the disobedience of one man, so also many would be made righteous through the obedience of one man.
Hence, it greatly indicates an error on their part who assert that the flesh of man was assumed by Christ but deny the affect: and, on the contrary, go against the counsel of our Lord Jesus, who take away man from man; for man cannot exist without the affect. For the flesh, without the affect, is immune to both reward and fault. Therefore, it was necessary for it to assume and heal that from whence the fault had flowed; so that it might close the source of the error and the gates of a certain breaking forth of sin. Where could I recognize the Lord Jesus today, whose flesh I do not see, but read about his suffering? Where, I ask, could I recognize him as a man; unless he had hungered, unless he had thirsted, unless he had wept, unless he had said: My soul is sorrowful even unto death (Matthew 26:38)? Finally, it is written: He is a man, and who will know him (Jeremiah 17:9)? But a man is recognized by these things, who is esteemed above men by divine works. And so, he himself wanted to be believed as a man, even though he was God; so that he might call himself a man, saying: Why do you seek to kill me, a man who has spoken the truth to you (John 8:40)? Not only a man, but also the Son of Man, as he says: Who do men say that the Son of Man is (Matthew 16:13)? Therefore, he was declared to hold the highest faith, who both knew the Son of God and did not deny being a man. Therefore, he is both one, inseparable in number, and recognizable in the distinction of his works, not in the variety of his person. For it is not one from the Father and another from Mary, but he who was from the Father took flesh from the Virgin: he assumed our affections from our mother, in order to take upon himself our weaknesses. Hence the Prophet says: 'Surely he has borne our griefs' (Isaiah 53:4). How could he suffer with my pain if he did not assume my flesh? He says, 'He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief' (ibid., 3).
And so He was weakened like a man, He suffered like a man; and we considered Him to be a man acquainted with sorrows: but He, like a conqueror of weaknesses, not conquered by weaknesses, grieved for us, not for Himself; and He was weakened not because of His own, but because of our sins, in order to heal us with His bruises. What indeed is man in affliction, and knowing how to bear infirmity; unless he had compassion for afflictions? Or how would He know how to bear infirmity, if He had excluded the sense of weakness? For what we carry, we endure as a burden. He therefore took on our sins, so that he might carry them; he also took on them, so that he might cleanse them. Finally, it is written: And he himself cleansed their sins. Therefore, he will possess many through inheritance, and will divide the spoils of the strong. There is indeed a greater triumph where the internal mind is cleansed. Therefore, what he carries pertains to remission; what he cleanses, to correction. He therefore took on our compassion, he also took on our submission. For whatever subjects all things to itself, is its own: what is subject, is ours. Therefore he says: Will not my soul be subject to God? Soul, he says, is subject, not divinity; subject soul, not the power of God. For the power of God is not subject to power; but it uses the unity and partnership of power. That is subject, which is often changed by the frailty of human condition, not that which cannot be changed. The soul sympathizes with the flesh, and the flesh with the soul, which are joined together in a certain union. That which is sad is subject; for it is written: My soul is sorrowful even unto death. That which is subject is what is assumed, not born of God the Father: although this subjection is not in the nature of weakness, but in the exercise of virtue; rather a temporary dispensation than a perpetual enslavement. Hence he also says: Will not my soul be subject to God?
Why did he say he would be, if the subjection is eternal? But because the Son of God who was speaking is eternal, and yet he took on a soul in time; therefore, he speaks of the future subjection of his soul. Through this obedience, through this humility; which, however, were not undertaken due to weakness of power, but for the purpose of teaching discipline. For the Lord Jesus Himself, when he was in the form of God, did not consider robbery to be equal with God; but he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man: he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death (Philippians 2:6-8). As the Apostle says, not desiring to declare a perpetual and everlasting subjection, but to explain the temporal subjection that He assumed with flesh and laid down with the servitude of His own body. Similarly, it is written in Hebrews: For when He presented an example, saying, 'You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek,' Paul added the following: In the days of His flesh, He offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from what He suffered and, once made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 5:6-10). Therefore, the Apostle clearly proclaims that this obedience and humility were not of divinity, but of the flesh. For what is learned is temporal. Therefore, as a man, He learned obedience from what He suffered, so that He may be perfected in the flesh and through the obedience, the cause of eternal salvation may be transmitted to us. For it was through the inheritance of disobedience that the first Adam, who became the cause of death, came into existence.
Therefore, subjecting the authority of human virtue is a diminution of power, not divine. For if they say that the Son is lesser and unequal to the Father because he was subject to God the Father, does that mean that the mother is also lesser because she was subject to the father? It is written about Joseph and Mary: 'And he was subject to them' (Luke 2:51). But piety is not a detriment to us, but an increase, through which the Lord Jesus has infused faith and grace in all of us, so that he may make us faithful in spirit and subject to God the Father. And therefore, with a new and profound purpose, the Apostle says that he himself will be subject to the Father in us, when in all there is the fullness of faith and a certain unity of devotion. For now, as long as we disagree in our opinions, we in a way diminish the kingdom of Christ; because not all things have yet been subjected to Him, whose kingdom is unity. But when all things are subjected to Him, then He Himself will also be subject to Him who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all (1 Corinthians 15:28); as it is written. Now indeed he is above all in power, but it is necessary for him to be in all things by will: for he desires, when he has knowledge of all things in us, that they be full of himself and empty of sins. Therefore he is not yet subject to the Father; because Christ is not yet all things and in all things: but when Christ is all things and in all things, then God will be all things and in all things. From this it is understood that the kingdom of the Father and the Son is one, and also of the Holy Spirit; because whoever receives the Son, receives also the Father, receives also the Holy Spirit; for there is one power, one grace, one operation of the Trinity.
And the Lord rightly added: For from him is my salvation. As if to say: Do not be troubled because I said that my soul will be subject to God. The soul will be subject, which is a part of you: but my salvation is from him; that is, because I am always from the Father and in the Father. For I came from the Father into this world: although you see a man, believe that he is the Son of God. But when the Paraclete whom I will send to you from my Father comes, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from my Father, he will bear witness about me (John 15:26). And the Son proceeds from the Father, and the Spirit proceeds from Him. Therefore, there is no doubt about the unity of divinity. And so, David desired that this salvation of God be given to us; for He himself is the eternal life, if we know both the true God the Father and the Son, who came for our certain salvation. But He did not consider equality with God to be robbery. He separates the assertion of His divinity and represents the role of human dispensation.
Therefore he added immediately: For indeed he is my God, my helper, my defender: I shall not be moved any longer. These things, of course, are spoken as if by a man; because in God we ought to place our hope, we are not easily shaken: although in what he said, I shall not be moved any longer; he shows himself to have the divine insignia of power. For elsewhere you have him saying: Yet once more I will shake the earth (Haggai 2:7). He shook it with the flood, when all flesh perished except that which was in Noah's ark: he shook it when Sodom and Gomorrah were consumed by sacred fire. These are signs of divine wrath. But because the Lord chose to save the human race rather than destroy it, he will no longer be moved to anger, for he came to show mercy: he came to redeem us with his blood, not to spill ours. He came to offer himself for us, like a good merchant preserving his own merchandise through the suffering of his own body.