Psalms 73 · The Lantern

Understanding for Asaph. O God, why hast thou cast us off unto the end: why is thy wrath enkindled against the sheep of thy pasture?

"How good is God to Israel, to them that are right in heart!" Growth in moral perfection is evident as a theme from the beginning of the psalm. Indeed, no one can truly proclaim that God is good but one who knows that goodness is not from his own successes and profits but out of the depth of the heavenly mysteries and the height of God's plan.

"How good is the God of Israel!" But to whom? "To men right in heart" (ver. 1). To men perverse what? Perverse He seemeth. So also in another Psalm He saith: "With a holy man holy Thou shalt be, and with the innocent man innocent Thou shalt be, and with the perverse man perverse Thou shalt be." What is, perverse Thou shalt be with the perverse man?

David sheweth in a psalm that the grace of God aboundeth specially with the pure in heart, saying, "God is good to Israel, even to the pure in heart;" now he uniteth purity of heart with the sight of God, for the name Israel is interpreted "He hath seen God". And whosoever is simple and pure in heart is able to see God.

Remember thy congregation, which thou hast possessed from the beginning. The sceptre of thy inheritance which thou hast redeemed: mount Sion in which thou hast dwelt.

If someone speaks like this: "If ever someone is deceived or snatched away in one of these [abysses], is he already lost and has he no longer repentance," I will tell him that a person who has repentance and a true understanding regarding the faith and God's commandments, with a zeal for this, even if he comes close to falling through negligence, yet the Lord will not let him b…

But what to you? "But my feet were almost moved" [Psalm 73:2]. When were the feet moved, except when the heart was not right? Whence was the heart not right?

Although the hearts of all the faithful do not doubt that divine providence is never absent in any part of the world or at any time or that success in temporal affairs does not rest on the power of the stars (which is no power) but it acknowledges that all things are disposed according to the most just and most kind decision of the King on High, as it is written: "All the paths…

Lift up thy hands against their pride unto the end; see what things the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.

And they that hate thee have made their boasts, in the midst of thy solemnity. They have set up their ensigns for signs,

And they knew not both in the going out and on the highest top. As with axes in a wood of trees,

Hence we should know that the Holy Spirit has condemned those detestable people who hold such views. For what other people does he specifically condemn except the Arians, who say that the Son of God does not experience periods of time and years? For there isn't anything with which that God is not familiar.

"In the labours of men they are not, and with men they shall not be scourged" [Psalm 73:5]. Does not even the devil himself escape scourging with men, for whom nevertheless an eternal punishment is being prepared?

Perhaps someone may say, Why did God cause Pharaoh to be hardened by sparing him, and why did he remove his scourges? At this point I reply with assurance: God removed his scourges so often because by the immense number of his sins Pharaoh did not merit to be rebuked as a son for the amendment of his life, but like an enemy he was allowed to become hardened.

They have cut down at once the gates thereof, with axe and hatchet they have brought it down.

They have set fire to thy sanctuary: they have defiled the dwelling place of thy name on the earth.

They said in their heart, the whole kindred of them together: Let us abolish all the festival days of God from the land.

Our signs we have not seen, there is now no prophet: and he will know us no more.

How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach: is the adversary to provoke thy name for ever?

Why dost thou turn away thy hand: and thy right hand out of the midst of thy bosom for ever?

But God is our king before ages: he hath wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.

Thou by thy strength didst make the sea firm: thou didst crush the heads of the dragons in the waters.

And therefore I conferred with my heart and I said to myself, "if I will speak thus, that I have justified my heart in vain," and the voice of God replied to me and said, "Behold the generation of your children, to which I have made distribution." This means: Behold, you find in the Scriptures, O you son of Adam, that I have made distribution to the generation of your children,…

Indeed, you have there: "Behold, these are the sinners, and they prosper in the world; they have obtained riches. Surely in vain have I justified my heart, and in innocence washed my hands, and been scourged all day long?" I worship God, they blaspheme God. They have happiness, I have calamity. Where is the fairness?

And again when David sheweth concerning the purity of his thoughts he likeneth them unto hands, and their freedom from iniquity he compareth unto the washing of the hands, saying, "I have washed my hands in innocency," that is to say, I have cleansed and purified my thoughts, and I have remembered Thy altar, O Lord.

Thou hast broken the heads of the dragon: thou hast given him to be meat for the people of the Ethiopians.

Thou hast broken up the fountains and the torrents: thou hast dried up the Ethan rivers.

Thine is the day, and thine is the night: thou hast made the morning light and the sun.

Thou hast made all the borders of the earth: the summer and the spring were formed by thee.

Remember this, the enemy hath reproached the Lord: and a foolish people hath provoked thy name.

Deliver not up to beasts the souls that confess to thee: and forget not to the end the souls of thy poor.

Therefore, in regard to the latter, David also says, "They have ceased to be and have perished by reason of their iniquity as the dream of one that wakes up." This means: The wicked cease to be, and they disappear as a dream does when one first wakes up from sleep, "because they are in darkness and have walked in darkness";7 not a trace of their good work remains, but they are…

"How have they become a desolation suddenly?" (ver. 19). He is wondering at them, understanding unto the last things. "They have vanished." Truly like smoke, which while it mounteth upward, doth vanish, so they have vanished. How doth he say, "They have vanished"? In the manner of one who understandeth the last things: "they have perished because of their iniquity."

Have regard to thy covenant: for they that are the obscure of the earth have been filled with dwellings of iniquity.

Let not the humble be turned away with confusion: the poor and needy shall praise thy name.

Arise, O God, judge thy own cause: remember thy reproaches with which the foolish man hath reproached thee all the day.

And hear how. "And I was brought unto nothing, and I knew not" [Psalm 73:22]. I, the very man, who now say these things of rich men, once longed for such things: therefore "even I was brought to nothing" when my steps were almost overthrown. "And I was brought unto nothing, and I knew not." We must not therefore despair even of them, against whom I was saying such things.

And again that same prophet testifieth concerning the simplicity of his soul, and how he was with God, saying, "I was innocent and ignorant, and I was like a beast before Thee;" and he was brought down to such ignorance like the beast with man, which by reason of its irrational and indiscriminating nature is unable to judge one of his deeds or actions; even thus was the knowled…

Abbot Pimenius asked Abbot Nesteron, who was sitting in the monastery, "Where did you acquire this virtue, brother, that, whenever a quarrel arises in the monastery, you neither speak nor interfere as mediator?" Though he was unwilling to speak, he was compelled by the old man and said, "Forgive me, father, for in the beginning when I entered here I said to my thought: 'Lo, you…

Forget not the voices of thy enemies: the pride of them that hate thee ascendeth continually.

For this reason David says, as if visited by him," "You have held my right hand, and in your will you have conducted me and have taken me up with glory." This is the text we have received, and it is in accord with the Greek, for the Greek said, ekratēsas tēs cheiros, that is, "you have held the hand," tēs dexias mou, "my right hand." A person receives good guidance when God tak…

What is, "I knew not"? "As it were a beast I became to You, and I am always with You" [Psalm 73:23]. There is a great difference between this man and others. He became as it were a beast in longing for earthly things, when being brought to nothing he knew not things eternal: but he departed not from his God, because he did not desire these things of demons, of the devil.

Psalms73