Homily 22, on Psalm 93
Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae in Psalmos , Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin).
We are always discussing the title, so that from the title the psalm too may be understood. "A psalm of David, on the fourth day of the week." The fourth day of the week is in the middle of the week, as if in the heart of the week — that is, in the middle of the seven days. For it is the fourth day, and the fourth day has an equal number of days on either side. For on one side it has the first, second, and third day; and on the other side it has the fifth, sixth, and seventh day. You see, therefore, that the fourth day — that is, the fourth day of the week — is made firm on either side by a double trinity. And at the same time it must be considered that the fourth number, in its power, is the tenth. How so? For if you count and make an ordered sum — one, two, three, four — the number ten is produced. You see, therefore, that the fourth number produces the tenth. And consider from this that the four Gospels are reckoned within the Decalogue, so that whatever was said in the Decalogue is fulfilled in the four Gospels, so that the old Law is not at variance with the dignity of the Gospel. So much, for the moment, we have said about the title; now let us come to the psalm.
"The Lord is the God of vengeances; the God of vengeances has acted freely." He who for so long lay hidden and did not appear among the people, afterward acted freely. He who before was unknown, afterward triumphed on the cross. "The Lord is the God of vengeances." If the Lord is the God of vengeances ("Vengeance is mine, and I will repay, says the Lord"), why do you, O man, desire to avenge yourself? You have the Lord as your avenger. The Apostle says this too: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he thirsts, give him drink: for in doing this you will heap coals of fire upon his head." This does not seem to belong to kindness, but to cruelty. For if I do him good so that God may do him evil, this does not come from kindness, but from a cruelty of mind. For what does the Apostle say? "If your enemy is hungry, feed him." A dutiful utterance. "If he thirsts, give him drink." Up to this point it seems to be mercy. But what he adds — "for in doing this you will heap coals of fire upon his head" — does not seem to belong to mercy, but to cruelty. For you seem to give bread and to give water to drink for this reason: that he may be tormented for ages. And does the Apostle say this — does the preacher of mercy teach cruelty? It must therefore not be taken so, but in another sense. If your enemy strikes you, offer him the other cheek as well; if he does you evil, do him good: for if you do this, you will heap coals of fire upon his head. What he says is this: you will cleanse him from sin; for his cruelty will be overcome by your patience. If you aim an arrow at a stone, and the stone is hard, not only is it not driven in, but it rebounds: so your enemy, if he has struck you and has not been struck back, overcome by your patience will return to better things.
"How long, O Lord, the sinners — how long shall the sinners glory?" Human impatience does not want God to have patience. Wretched are we, who want God to be patient toward us and impatient toward our enemies. Whenever we sin, we desire him to be patient; but whenever someone offends against us, we do not want God to be patient toward that man. "How long shall the sinners glory?" It is not enough for them to sin, but they even glory in their sins. The first misfortune is to sin; the second misfortune, or rather the last, is not to do penance. These sinners, therefore, not only do not bend the neck, but freely glory after their sin.
"They will utter and speak iniquity." He speaks of this properly concerning the heretics. "All who work iniquity shall speak." See the sign: he who speaks evil must necessarily do evil. "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." Wherever the conscience is wounded, there sin is easily committed in the mouth.
"They have humbled your people, O Lord." Always the people of God are humbled, the people of God are oppressed. "They have humbled your people, O Lord." The people of God are humbled, and imitate God who was humbled and meek of heart.
"They have slain the widow and the stranger, and murdered the orphans: and they said, The Lord shall not see." Although this is plain according to the literal history — for always whoever needs protection is easily oppressed, and the more lowly anyone is, the more does the one who oppresses him offend God — nevertheless let us also interpret it according to the tropology. For I had said that this is said of the heretics: "They have slain the widow and the stranger." That widow — that is, the soul of the sinner, which has ceased to have God as its husband. A stranger is one who is not a resident — that is, one who does not dwell. He who had recently believed, being suddenly scandalized, perishes. "And they murdered the orphans; and they said, The Lord shall not see." Do we wonder that they are called orphans, where there is a widow? For just as the widow is the soul of the sinner, so he calls those orphans who have lost having God as their father. "And they said." What did they say? "The Lord shall not see, nor shall the God of Jacob understand." This everyone says who oppresses the saints. As they say this, see what the Holy Spirit answers.
"Understand, you who are foolish among the people, and be wise at last, you fools. He who planted the ear, shall he not hear?" He who is a potter, is he ignorant of his own vessel? He who makes another hear, shall he then himself not hear? He who gave me eyes, shall he then himself not see? He who is the author of my understanding, shall he himself not understand? This passage tells especially against those who are Anthropomorphites, who say that God has the members that we too have. For example, God is said to have eyes: "The eyes of the Lord look upon all things"; "the hand of God makes all things." "And Adam heard," it says, "the sound of the Lord's feet walking in paradise." These things they hear simply, and refer human weaknesses to the majesty of God. But I say that God is wholly eye, wholly hand, wholly foot. He is wholly eye, because he sees all things; wholly hand, because he works all things; wholly foot, because he is everywhere. So see what he says: "He who planted the ear, shall he not hear?" He did not say, "He who planted the ear, does he then himself not have an ear?" He did not say, "Does he then himself not have eyes?" But what did he say? "He who planted the ear, shall he not hear? He who formed the eyes, does he not consider?" He took away the members, he bestowed the functions.
"He who chastises the nations, shall he not reprove?" He who teaches others, does he then himself not know? "He who teaches man knowledge." It is understood: does he then himself not have knowledge?
"The Lord knows the thoughts of men, that they are vain." We read in a secular poet: "O the cares of men, O how much emptiness there is in things!" Both the Gentiles and the philosophers lift this little verse to heaven. And what do they say? Nothing could be said more prudently. Behold, our rustic Hebrew, so many ages before, spoke this. And what did he say? "The Lord knows the thoughts of men, that they are vain." Do you want to know that the thoughts of men are vain? A father and mother rear their son: they promise themselves happiness from him, they send him to his studies, they educate him, he comes all the way to young manhood, they arrange that he should even serve in the army. When they have thought of everything over thirty years, one little fever comes and carries off all their thoughts. I have an enemy, and the day of judgment is thirty days off; by day and by night I think of nothing else except what I shall answer him. I am on my bed, and my thought is answering my absent enemy. The enemy is not there, and my words are answering the enemy: by day and by night I am wrapped in thought. But when the day of judgment has come, all those things that I had thought perish, and whatever God has said, that I speak. For this reason the Lord too says in the Gospel: "When you stand before the judges, do not think what you shall answer: for the Lord will give you in that hour what you shall answer." "The Lord knows the thoughts of men, that they are vain." One thought alone is happy: to think about the Lord.
"Blessed is the man whom you shall instruct, O Lord." Happy is he who has God as his teacher. "And whom you shall teach out of your law: that you may soften for him the evil days." See what he says. "Blessed is the man whom you shall instruct, O Lord, and whom you shall teach out of your law" — that is, out of your Scriptures. But of what use is this, that he should be taught out of your law? "That you may soften for him the evil days." You see, therefore, that knowledge and practice and works drawn from the Scriptures soften for us the evil days. "Until a pit be dug for the sinner." When you are instructed out of the law of the Lord, one thing is divided for you into two: for it softens for you the evil days, and it digs a pit for the sinner.
"Who will rise up for me against the evildoers?" The psalms are obscure, and they are always changing the speakers; and for this reason they are obscure, and it is of exceeding difficulty to know in each verse who is speaking. "Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand with me against those who work iniquity?" These verses the Savior speaks. "I am holy, I was lifted up on the cross, I died, I rose again, and I ascended a victor to the heavens. Who, do you suppose, among the saints, is there who will rise again with me?" So what he says is this: For this reason I rose again, that others too might rise with me. "Who will rise up for me?" When he says "Who," he provokes the rest to rise. For just as we read in Isaiah, "Whom shall I send to this people, and who will go for us?" — as Isaiah himself offers himself, so the Lord too provokes us, saying, "Who will rise up for me against the evildoers?" Whoever rises again, will rise for me, is of my army. "Against the evildoers": against the devil and his army. "Or who will stand with me?" See the order: he did not say first "who will stand," and "who will rise"; but "who will rise," and "who will stand." For first we rise, then we stand. "Or who will stand with me against those who work iniquity" — as a general might stand and say, "Who is coming in my army?"
"Unless the Lord had helped me, my soul had almost dwelt in hell." For this reason, O Lord, I rise again, because you were among the dead and rose again. My soul would have been held fast among the dead, if your soul had not risen again from the dead.
"If I said, My foot has slipped." Considering my frailty and human weakness, I did not think my foot stood on firm footing: wherever I set my foot, I feared a fall. Again I thought of your name, and I stood with firm foot.
"According to the multitude of my sorrows in my heart, your consolations have gladdened my soul." This very thing the Apostle too speaks of, namely that according to the labors and miseries which we suffer in this world, we have a reward with God in the heavens. The greatness of the tribulations is the greatness of the rewards. As many wounds as we suffer, so many crowns do we also deserve. This is what he says: The more I did penance, so many times did you console me. I shed one tear, I deserved one consolation: I shed ten tears, I deserved ten consolations. However great the weight of penance was, so great also was the number of consolations.
"He who fashions toil in the commandment." No one is crowned while sleeping, no one at ease possesses the kingdom of heaven, no one with a stuffed belly can worthily discourse about fasting. You see, then, what he says: "He who fashions toil in the commandment." All the commandments of the Lord have toil: without toil we cannot possess the kingdom of heaven. Do you want to know that it is so? "If you wish," he says, "to be perfect, go, sell all that you possess, and give to the poor, and come, follow me." He who wants, he says, to attain the kingdom of heaven, let him pray day and night, keep vigil, fast, lie on a rush mat, not on a feather cushion, not on silk. Penance does not love luxuries. "For I ate ashes," he says, "like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping." "He who fashions toil in the commandment: they will hunt the soul of the righteous." See how it seems not to be consistent. For what is the logical connection: "He who fashions toil in the commandment: they will hunt the soul of the righteous"? But what the fleshly ear does not understand, the spiritual ear understands. What then does he say? "He who fashions toil in the commandment": therefore, he says, we toil in the commandments of the Lord day and night, we keep vigil, we pray, we fast, because we have many adversaries who hunt the soul of the righteous. See what he says: they hunt the soul of the righteous, not of the unrighteous. For they do not want to deceive those who have been deceived, but the righteous. Whence it is said in Habakkuk: "His food is choice." "And they shall condemn innocent blood." Some are accustomed to say: That man who was killed would not have been killed, unless he were a fornicator, or had had some sin; the collapse would not have overtaken him, unless he had been a sinner; the shipwreck would not have overwhelmed him, unless he had been a sinner. See, then, what holy Scripture says: "And they shall condemn innocent blood." As long as we are in this world, we suffer all things in common. The righteous man and the sinner are shipwrecked alike, they have equal flesh, and equal conditions of the flesh. The righteous man and the sinner perish alike: the righteous man and the sinner have a similar end, but different rewards. One is led to Gehenna, another is led to the kingdom of heaven. "And they shall condemn innocent blood." Your conscience is enough for you, O righteous man: and even if you are condemned, let your blood be innocent, and it will cry out to the Lord.
"And the Lord has become a refuge for me." This passage tells against the Arians. For since they contradict the Lord the Savior, because he is said to be "made," behold, we say, "The Lord has become a refuge for me." No one doubts that this is interpreted of the Father. But if it is said of the Father, "The Lord has become a refuge for me," it must be understood in this sense: the Lord who always was, has become a refuge for me. So too the Savior who always was, has become a Savior for me.