Homily 26, on Psalm 98
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).
The Lord has reigned, let the peoples be angry. Three psalms have the same beginning: the ninety-second, the ninety-sixth, and the ninety-eighth. But although they have the same beginning in the opening verse, at the end they are different. For how does it read in the ninety-second? 'The Lord has reigned, he has clothed himself in beauty.' But in the ninety-sixth: 'The Lord has reigned, let the earth rejoice'; and in the ninety-eighth: 'The Lord has reigned, let the peoples be angry.' The sequence seems as it were to be contrary to itself. For it ought first to have said 'The Lord has reigned, let the peoples be angry,' and afterwards to say 'The Lord has reigned, let the earth rejoice,' and last of all 'The Lord has reigned, he has clothed himself in beauty.' But the different order gives us some hint toward understanding. 'The Lord has reigned, he has clothed himself in beauty.' The Lord has reigned, and he has clothed himself with the patriarchs and the prophets and the believing people. He has clothed himself in beauty: the patriarchs and the prophets were as it were the garment of Christ. That is the loincloth which is written of in Jeremiah: that is the loincloth which Jeremiah had about his loins. Do you wish to know that the saints are, as it were, a loincloth, the garment of God? Afterwards God himself speaks to Jeremiah: 'Just as you,' he says, 'placed that loincloth about your loins, so I too have joined my people to myself.' As, then, a garment is about a man, so the people is about God. But because this loincloth, because this beauty with which the Lord had been clothed, was exposed across the Euphrates in a cleft of the rock, and there rotted away, and was led off into captivity by the Assyrians—what does the Lord do? He is not naked, he cannot be without a loincloth, he cannot be without a garment: the former people having been lost, he makes himself a garment out of the people of the Gentiles. And what is said? The Lord has reigned, let the earth rejoice. Let the earth rejoice, the whole earth, that is, the entire people of believers. Then, do you wish to know that the second loincloth is spoken of concerning the people of the Gentiles? The Lord, he says, has reigned, let the earth rejoice: let the many islands be glad. Not one island, Judaea, but many islands, that is, the whole world. Let someone say to me: Give me an example from the Scriptures where Judaea alone is called one island. Everything we say we ought to affirm from the holy Scriptures. 'For in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word stand.' The word of the one speaking does not have as much authority as the Lord's command. We read in the prophet Ezekiel: 'And you,' he says, 'son of man, speak to the inhabitants of this island'—that is, of Judaea. Since, therefore, one island has been forsaken, now it is said: Let the many islands be glad. Therefore concerning the loincloth it is said of the former people: The Lord has reigned, he has clothed himself in beauty. Of the second people, gathered from the Gentiles: The Lord has reigned, let the earth rejoice, let the many islands be glad. Now in the third it is said: The Lord has reigned, let the peoples be angry. Whether they be of the Jews, or of the Gentiles, whoever do not believe, let them be angry. 'Why have the nations raged, and the peoples devised vain things?'
The Lord has reigned, let the peoples be angry. The Lord suffered, the Lord was crucified, the Lord died, the Lord rose again, the Lord ascended victorious to heaven. The Lord has reigned, let the peoples be angry. Who are these peoples? Let us give an example from the Gospel. 'A certain man,' he says, 'a householder, went to receive for himself a kingdom in a far country.' What is farther than heaven from earth? He left the earth, he went to the heavens, to receive for himself a kingdom. 'And his citizens,' he says, 'who hated him, sent an embassy, saying: We will not have this man to reign over us.' But he received the kingdom, and came to those wicked citizens. He came to those who did not want to have him as king. And now the Holy Spirit says to the wicked citizens: Whether you will or will not, the Lord has reigned, let the peoples be angry. O the mercy of the Holy Spirit: he did not say, let them perish, but, let them be angry. He wished to signify the fault, not the punishments. They are angry, and the Lord entreats. And what does he say? 'Come to me, all you who are burdened.' I have received the kingdom from the Father—rather, the man whom I took up. I give as God, I receive as man.
Who sits upon the cherubim, let the earth be moved. As long as the earth is unmoved, it cannot be healed. He is not speaking of the earthquake by which we see lands shaken, and the whole race of mortals afraid; but he speaks of our earth, which, as long as it is unmoved, cannot be healed: but when it is moved and trembles, then it will recover health. 'Upon whom,' he says, 'shall I rest, except upon the humble and the quiet, and him who trembles at my words?' Since the earth of the one trembling is moved, therefore he who sits upon the cherubim begins to sit upon the earth of the trembling one. Happy is he who is the throne of God, happy is he in whom God ever sits. There are different postures: for either we sit, or we stand, or we walk, or we lie down. Unhappy is he for whom God lies down: for he lies down with the one lying down. Just as he weeps with the one weeping and laughs with the one laughing, so he lies down with the one lying down. Just as he thirsts with the one thirsting, and hungers with the one hungering, and is naked with the one naked, so too he lies down with the one lying down. He, then, who is wounded and lies down—he too is in a manner said to lie down with him. But he who walks—he also walks with him. He who walks seems indeed to be better than he who lies down; yet he has not yet come to the happiness of him who stands. Finally, when Adam hid himself from the face of God, God was walking to him after midday. Let someone say: If Adam had offended, and had been cast out of paradise, then whoever has God walking to him is in perfect unhappiness. And I say: If Adam had been utterly slain, and no place of repentance had been given to him, God would have lain down for him. But now, because a place of repentance is given to him, therefore God walks to him. Moses hears from God: 'But you, stand here with me.' And Stephen the martyr, when he was fighting, saw Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father. But God is presented as sitting in two ways. If he sits in us, we are happy; but if, while we walk, he sits in others, we are unhappy. As it says, 'The books were opened, and thrones were placed,' in Daniel. And thrones were placed. There he is set as it were a judge. Although, therefore, unhappy is he who is judged, yet happy is he for whom he sits. So, then, here too God is said to sit upon the cherubim. Cherubim is interpreted 'multitude of knowledge': whoever has a multitude of knowledge, he is the throne of God. Multitude of knowledge is not knowledge alone, but also works: for that is true knowledge which is confirmed by works. Otherwise, in vain does someone promise knowledge by word, when he destroys it by his deed.
And the king's honor loves judgment. Whoever is a sinner fears the judgment of God: for he does not want to know a judge, but a merciful one. But whoever is holy, and hears God, and glorifies him in his body, this man does not fear the judge, but loves him. For example, if some most severe judge should come, and is said to be cruel and as it were drinking blood—if anyone is a murderer, he fears such a judge as this. But he who has done no evil, and hates the things that are evil, not only does not fear the judge, but even loves him. For what does he say? It is well done, that such a judge should come: there were so many robberies, so many vices are practiced, there are so many murderers: it is well done, that such a judge should come. For whoever is holy does not fear the judge, but loves him. At that time is fulfilled, And the king's honor loves judgment.
You have prepared uprightnesses. What he says is this: You made all men upright, but by their own fault they have been corrupted. You created man upright. And see what he said, uprightnesses: not one, but many. For everything that you made is upright.
And adore the footstool of his feet, for it is holy. What is this footstool of the feet of Jesus, which is holy? We read in another place: 'Heaven is my throne, but the earth is the footstool of my feet.' And now it is said, Adore the footstool of his feet. If the earth is the footstool of the feet of Jesus, and it is said, Adore the footstool of his feet: is the earth therefore to be adored? How is it that we read in the Apostle that, except for the Creator, we ought not to adore the creature? To adore is said in Scripture in two ways: for there is said an adoration as toward God, and there is said to adore as it were to honor. When we say to adore toward God, adoration is properly set toward God. But when it is said of a man—for example, Sarah adored Abraham, and Elijah adored Ahab, that most impious king—it is not said that Elijah so adored Ahab as God, but here adoration is set as a greeting. Now, therefore, let us see this that he says, And adore the footstool of his feet, in which sense he says it. Do we adore the footstool of the feet of God as God, or do we adore and greet it as a man? We read in the Lamentations of Jeremiah, we read also in another prophet: 'How the Lord,' he says, 'has sanctified the footstool of his feet.' And there the footstool of his feet is called Jerusalem, or the temple: this, then, according to the history. We read also in another place, And adore the footstool of his feet. If the feet do not stand except on the footstool, then this which is said 'And adore where his feet have stood' is said also of the footstool. Therefore according to the letter we can say, for example, where he was born, where he was crucified, where he rose again. This we say for beginners. But otherwise the footstool of the feet of Jesus is the soul of the believer. Happy is he in whose breast the feet of Jesus are daily placed. Would that his feet were placed in my breast too, would that his footprints might ever cling in my heart, would that I too might say with the bride: 'I will hold him, and I will not let him go.' The bridegroom is quickly offended, he ever loves cleanness: wherever he sees filth, he quickly withdraws. And adore the footstool of his feet, for it is holy. Not every footstool of his feet, but whatever is holy: as many as persevere in holiness. For example, Adore the footstool of his feet: adore Peter and Paul and the rest of the apostles—that is, honor them. For it is holy. Adore those who persevere in holiness; but those who were a footstool and are not holy, do not adore them. For example, Judas the traitor was a footstool of God: but since he is not holy, do not adore him. I have read in a certain man's book: 'The assumption,' he says, 'of the human body—that is, the man whom God deigned to take up from Mary—this,' he says, 'he calls the footstool of his feet.' Although indeed the man was taken up, and in comparison with God every creature is the footstool of his feet, yet this very footstool has been joined to God and to him who sits upon it. See what a thing I dare to say. I adore the footstool that once was, just as I adore the throne. 'For even if we had known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him so no longer.' He had, perhaps, a footstool before his death, before his resurrection, when he ate, when he drank, when he suffered our affections. But after he rose again and ascended victorious to the heavens, I do not understand one who sits and another that is the footstool, but the whole in Christ is a throne. You ask and say: Why, or on what account? How it is, I do not know, and yet I believe that it is so. Do you wonder if I am ignorant of the mystery of the divinity, when I do not know myself? Do you ask me how both the divinity and the incarnation are one, when I do not know how I live? To have understood God is to have believed; to know God is to honor him. It suffices me to know what is written, it suffices me to know what I believe: more than that I neither will nor desire. For if I should wish to know more, I begin to lose even this which I believe. We are called faithful, not rational. Finally, it is said even by the Lord: 'Do you believe that I can do this?' And it is said to the woman: 'Your faith has made you whole'—not reason, not inquiry, not why or on what account it was done. She believed that it might be done, and it was done because she believed.
Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among those who call upon his name. Many err, and think that blessed Samuel was a priest. He was not a priest, he was a Levite. Finally, even his garment was not made as for a priest, but as for a Levite. For it is written: 'And his mother made for him,' it says, 'an ephod bad garment.' Ephod means garment, but bad means linen. Now, none had the linen garment except the Levites. But the priests of God had it of five kinds, that is, of gold, of hyacinth, of fine linen, of purple, of scarlet. Whoever, then, were of the priestly line had these garments. But the Levites had the ephod bad, that is, the linen garment. This very thing, then, is now said. Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among those who call upon his name. They are priests, this one is a Levite. Yet with God it is not rank that is sought, but works. Finally, what Moses did, Samuel also did. Just as Moses withstood God, that he should not strike the people, when he said to him: 'Let me alone, that I may strike this people.' See the power of Moses. What does God say to him? Let me alone: you do me violence, your prayers as it were hold me fast, your prayers restrain my hand. I send the arrow, I send the darts: and your prayers protect the people. Let me alone, that I may strike this people. And at the same time consider the mercy of God. When he says, Let me alone, he shows that if Moses does not let him alone, God does not strike. If, then, you do not let me alone, I will not strike: let me alone, and I will strike. In another manner, therefore, what does he say? Do not let me alone, and I will not strike. Let us see whether Samuel too did this very thing. We read in the books of Kingdoms that he stayed the wrath of God coming upon the people, since even in the time of the harvest he made rain and thunders and lightnings. And what, he says, is written there? 'And there came,' it says there, 'stones of hail, and they struck the Allophyli.' See how wise the fire, how wise the hail. Where Samuel was, the lightnings do not dare to come: for they see the prophet of God, they see the Levite. The hands of Samuel threatened the lightnings. He was praying, and the lightnings could not come. But why have I said all this? Because Moses and Aaron and Samuel, under different names, performed the same virtues. And let us bless the Lord: to whom be glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.