Chapter VIII.
David demands that he be distinguished from the unjust, but not Christ, to whom all judgment has been given by the Father. It is right that the Prophet, troubled by internal and external enemies, should have sought divine help in order that the light of divine assistance might shine upon him in good time; yet he was refreshed by God with the knowledge of future redemption.
29. The third interruption of the Prophet is that, as he is stationed among people who exercise wickedness, he desires to be separated from their contamination. Many think that this refers to the Lord Jesus, because it is His alone not to fear judgment, since He conquers when He is judged. For He has a judgment from an unjust man, into which Christ willingly enters, as you have written: My people, what have I done to you, or in what have I saddened you? (Micah 6:3)? Moreover, when the father gives all judgment to him, not as if to an infirm person, but as if to a son, because he himself can undergo judgment? If they think that the judgment of the Father must be undergone by the Son, then the Father surely does not judge anyone, but he has given all judgment to the son; so that everyone may honor the son just as they honor the father. The father honors the son, and do you judge? We have said this so that no one would consider us as placing the person of the Prophet in the place of the Lord due to fear of questioning, when the holy David, foreseeing by the spirit that the Jews would rise up against the passion of the Lord, does not fear the judgment of his faith: he even demands that his cause be distinguished from the nation of persecutors; so that he would not be entangled with the descendants of his wicked generation and the heirs of his posterity, the lineage of the whole Jewish race.
30. Therefore, it is not without reason that he is troubled, who sees that there is a struggle against the flesh and blood, and that there is a heavy shipwreck in his own body, a storm which he is not able to withstand unless heavenly help supports him. For there is no greater enemy to man than his own household: but what is more domestic than man himself and the weakness of his own flesh? And therefore the Prophet hastens and prays with all his passion, that Christ may come as the strength of all, who takes on all infirmities and makes the two one, by removing the wall that divides the conflict between the mind and the flesh, so that they may come together in harmony. Therefore, because within himself there was a conflict, he was in danger from those who were ignorant of the law and equity, who were preparing snares of deceit and ambushes, and the hoped-for remedy was being delayed; he considered himself repelled, as if the one who had promised the remedy was refusing to come. And as if recalling from the depths of dark shadows to the dawning light of day, he prayed that the radiance of the truth would dispel the darkness of this age, and that eternal truth would be present, which would erase the deceptive image of this world.
31. God was present through their prayers, who is accustomed to assist unexpectedly and reveal himself to those who do not ask, as he himself says: 'I was found by those who did not seek me' (Isaiah 65:1). And he, favoring the prayers of the pious, swiftly surpassed the sequence of their prayers with speedy fulfillment, and suddenly led the holy Prophet into the church and his tabernacle in spirit, and placed before his eyes the sacred altar, on which the redemption of the whole world was to take place and the forgiveness of sins for all people throughout the entire world.