Homily 36, on Psalm 109
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 said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand. A Psalm of David. It is David who speaks, a prophet, a holy man, a king. So what does the king say? What does the king and prophet say? The Lord said to my Lord. The Savior expounded this passage in the Gospel, saying: "If Christ is the son of David," he says, "how does David in the Spirit call him Lord?" You see, then, what he is saying. If he is David's son, how do you say it — how does David in the Spirit call him Lord? Someone may say: So then he is not the son of David? He was saying this about the Pharisees, who confessed Christ to be merely the son of David. To the Jew and to Photinus I say this very thing: If he is the son of David, how does David call his own son Lord? But the one who confesses him to be Lord and God, and the Son of God — for instance the Manichaean, who denies that he is the son of David — before that man I prove that he is the son of David. To us, then, the one who is the Son of God, he himself is also the son of David: not one son here and another son there; I do not make two persons out of God and man; but the very one who is the Son of God, he himself is also the son of David. The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand. In the Hebrew the first name of "Lord" is written with those letters with which it is written only of God. But the second name of "Lord" is written with those letters with which men are accustomed to call one "lord": just as one is called "lord" by a servant, and kings are called "lords." See, then, what he says. The Lord said to my Lord: to this Lord, who is commanded to sit. God does not sit; it is the assumption of a body that sits. To this one, then, it is commanded that he sit — the one who is man, who was assumed. This we say against the Arians, and against those who say: Greater is the Father, who bids him sit, than the one who is bidden. All the Gospels ring out concerning the person of the man, and now no proof is needed: because everything whatsoever that seems lowly is referred to the man, is referred to the flesh. Now let us speak about the psalm.
The Lord shall send forth the rod of your power out of Sion. "The rod." In the Hebrew it has not so much "rod" as "scepter," that is, the emblem of royal power. The Lord shall send forth the rod of your power out of Sion. "For out of Sion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem." Rule in the midst of your enemies. He did not say, Kill your enemies. But what? Rule in the midst of your enemies. Make your enemies, who had been strangers, begin to be yours. Rule in the midst of your enemies. Your enemies, of whom it is written in the sixty-seventh psalm: "The tongue of your dogs from the enemies, from him." These are the enemies, who were in another's power. Now, then, the psalmist prays for this: rule over your enemies, deign to be the Lord of your enemies.
With you is the beginning in the day of your power, in the splendors of the saints. The little verse is obscure. Let us see the day of the Lord's power, so that when we have known the day, then we may know what the "beginning" is, and how this beginning is with him and has been with him; how this very beginning is in the day of his power, in the splendors of the saints. This beginning, then, which is with the Lord in the day of his power, is with the Lord for this reason: that the saints may shine. With you is the beginning in the day of your power. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This was in the beginning with God." The Father is a beginning, but the Son too is a beginning. For a beginning does not have a beginning: for if it should have another beginning, then it itself ceases to be a beginning. Whatever, therefore, we grant to the Father, this we grant also to the Son. For if the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father, and all things of the Father are the Son's, and all things of the Son are the Father's, then the beginning of the Father is the beginning of the Son. Therefore what he says is this: At that time when you were suffering and were saying "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit," and you were speaking as it were out of the affection of a man, you were not making request as though weak. For with you was the beginning, with you was the divinity: but you besought help for this reason, that having received help you might give it to your saints, and they might shine. As for this that is said, "having received you might give" — let it be a stumbling-block to no one: he speaks according to the man. For if he assumed the body of a man, it is necessary that he also take on the words of a man. Christ is man, and truly man: we say this according to the assumption of flesh. If, then, he is man according to the body, you see the body, and you are not scandalized: and do you marvel if he speaks with the words of a man? But if the lowliness of the body scandalizes you, and the cross, and the injuries, and the blows, and the scourges, and every outrage of the cross — if this scandalizes you, return to the beginning, and you are not scandalized. For the Father says to the Son: From the womb before the morning star I begot you. Do you marvel if our Lord and Savior, who truly assumed a man, speaks according to the man, when God the Father himself, who did not assume a man, speaks as it were as a man, "From the womb before the morning star I begot you"? I have no womb: but I cannot otherwise show myself to be a Father, unless I have spoken with the words of a man. From the womb before the morning star I begot you. "From the womb," from my substance. "From the womb." Hear, Eunomius, hear, Arius: if the Lord is a creature, if he is a thing made, does a craftsman ever beget his work? does a craftsman ever call his work a son? A carpenter-craftsman made a bench: did he beget it from his womb? does he say to it, "From my womb I begot you, O bench"? By no means does he say this. But what does he say? "I made you with my hand." But when a "womb" is spoken of, a son is signified, and a son not adopted. For adopted ones too are called sons. "For as many as received him, he gave them power to become sons of God." There he gave power: but here he begot from the womb, from his own nature, from his own inward parts, from his own substance. "From the womb," that is, from the marrow of his divinity. The whole of whatever the Father is in divinity, he gave to the Son whom he begot. From the womb before the morning star I begot you. "Before the morning star." This figure is called in Greek synecdoche (συνεκδοχή), which the grammarians call "the whole from a part" (ἀπὸ μέρους τὸ πᾶν). So when it says "before the morning star," it names one creature, and it indicates all creatures. When it says "before the morning star," let us understand it thus, as though it had said, before the moon, before the sun, before every creature. From the womb before the morning star I begot you. "Before the morning star." Before that morning star which is seen in the world, the true light was begotten. Hence he says in another passage of the psalm: "In your light we shall see light." The speech is to the Father: O Father, in the light of the Son we shall see the light, the Holy Spirit. From the womb before the morning star I begot you.
The Lord has sworn, and he will not repent. "The Lord has sworn." In what he says, "he has sworn," it is not to the one who was begotten before the morning star, but he swore to the one who after the morning star was born of the Virgin. You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedech. It is superfluous for us to wish to interpret this little verse, since the holy Apostle argued about it most fully to the Hebrews. For this Melchizedech himself is without father, without mother, without lineage. And there he interprets most diligently why "without father, without mother, without lineage"; and it has been said by all churchmen that he is called "without father" according to the flesh, and "without mother" according to God. Let us therefore interpret only this: You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedech. Let us say only this, why he said "according to the order." "According to the order": by no means will you be a priest according to the Jewish victims, but you will be a priest according to the order of Melchizedech. For just as Melchizedech, king of Salem, offered bread and wine, so you too will offer your body and blood, the true bread and the true wine. This Melchizedech gave to us these mysteries which we have. He it is who said, "Whoever shall eat my flesh and drink my blood": according to the order of Melchizedech he handed down to us his sacrament.
The Lord at your right hand. I see a new thing. It is said at the beginning: The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand; and now it is said to him: The Lord at your right hand. If he himself sits at the right hand of the Father, how in turn does the Father sit at the right hand of the Son? For when it is said, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, it is said most plainly that the Son sits at the right hand of the Father. But when it is said, The Lord at your right hand, this is said, that the Father sits at the right hand of the Son. All this is said for this reason, that the Son may be equal to the Father. There are many things that might be said. But to sinners the devil stands at the right hand. Yet that discussion is another matter. Whoever is a sinner, the devil stands at his right hand. But someone says: How is it that in Zechariah it is said to stand also to Jesus the son of Josedech? "And the devil was standing at his right hand." How is it written in Zechariah that the devil stands at the right hand of the Savior? You see that there is a question here. But at that time when the devil was standing at the right hand of the Savior, "Jesus," it says, "had filthy garments." He was bearing our sins, he was wrapped in our vices: therefore the devil was standing at his right hand. He shall shatter kings in the day of his wrath. "All these things have been handed over to me." "In a moment of time," it says, "he showed him all the kingdoms of the earth." The devil shows the kingdoms of the world. And what does he say? "All these things have been handed over to me: if, falling down, you will adore before me, all will be yours." In the day, then, of war, in the day of contest, he shall shatter kings. "Of his wrath."
He shall judge among the nations. See the differences: kings are shattered, nations are judged. He shall fill up the ruins. Our Lord ascended upon the cross, and many ruins came about. "This one is set for the ruin and resurrection of many, and for a sign that shall be contradicted." He shall fill up the ruins: of those who do not believe, who did not believe the scouts, the apostles. For Moses too sent scouts into the world; and because the people did not believe the scouts, therefore they fell in the desert. Even to this day the bodies of those who do not believe fall in the desert of this world. He shall crush the heads in the land of many. He shall fill up the ruins of those who do not believe; he shall crush the heads of those who are doubtful, of those who do not have perfect faith. He shall crush the heads in the land of many, not of all: for if he had said "of all," none of us would have hope. "Of many" is said, so that others may be left.
He shall drink from the torrent in the way. Who shall drink from the torrent in the way? This one, to whom it was said, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand: this one who heard, You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedech: this one who shattered kings in the day of his wrath, who judges the nations, shall fill up the ruins, shall crush the heads in the land of many: what else will this one do? He shall drink from the torrent in the way. Let us first look at the way, so that afterward we may look at the torrent in the way. The way of this world is meant, through which he walked. Indeed it is written in the Gospel: "Be agreeing with your adversary, while you are in the way" — that is, while you walk in this world, and you go along the way to him who is the true Way. Hence it is said also in the one hundred and eighteenth psalm: "Blessed are the unspotted in the way." Blessed are those who in the way of this world are unspotted, and in this world. Therefore the priest according to the order of Melchizedech, since he came into the way of the world, and walked in our way, he too drank from the torrent that was in the world. A torrent does not have natural waters, it does not have waters that always flow: but it has waters from storms, from rains, from whirlwinds, from tempests. A torrent is never in the mountains, but always in the valleys, in steep places. It takes in foreign waters, and gives birth to them, and swelling it rushes on. He shall drink from the torrent in the way. A torrent never has clean water, but always turbid water. This is said because the waters of this world are always turbid, always full of storm. Do you wish to know how he drank from the turbid torrent? He himself said: "My soul is sorrowful even unto death." And the Gospel says: "And he began," it says, "to be sorrowful and troubled." Our Lord too, then, drank from the torrent of this world the turbid waters, the sorrowful waters, the waters that have no gladness. He took the cup, and filled it from the torrent of the world; and because the waters were turbid, he says: "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me." He drank, then, from the torrent of this world: but he did not drink as though in his own home, but in the way, hastening to go elsewhere. He shall drink from the torrent in the way. For this reason he drank from the torrent, because he was in the way. He shall drink from the torrent. If the Lord drank from the torrent of this world, how much more the saints? Do you wish to know that the saints always drink from the torrent? He says also in another place: "Our soul has passed through the torrent." He shall drink from the torrent in the way. We have spoken about the torrent; let us speak also about the testimony, "Our soul has passed through the torrent." Do you wish to know of yet another torrent? Elijah the holy prophet, when Jezebel was persecuting him, when he received food, and passing on for forty days went into the wilderness: "He was," it says, "in the desert, and drank from the torrent of Chobar." But hearing of the torrent of this world, do not despair: frequently this torrent fails. It seems indeed to be swelling, it seems to have many waters: but it quickly fails, if you endure. As for Elijah, he did indeed drink water in the desert, at that time when he was in sorrow, when he was in distress... He had left Judea: see how great his fear had been: he had left Judea, and had gone on to Mount Sinai. For Jezebel was persecuting him, and therefore he had drunk from the torrent of Chobar. But because he persevered to the end, therefore the water of the torrent failed. And it was said to him by the Lord, when the water of the torrent had failed: "Go," it says, "to the widow in Sarepta of the Sidonians," and the rest. Behold, Elijah too drank from the torrent. But the Lord and Savior himself also drank the cup from the torrent of Cedron. For thus the Scripture reports, when they came and seized him. "They came," it says, "and seized him at the torrent," and the rest. You see how lowly is the place of the torrent, how rugged. "Cedron" in the Hebrew tongue is interpreted "darkness." You see, then, that the torrents of this world are in darkness. The Lord, therefore, is handed over: he is not handed over up above on the Mount of Olives, he is not handed over in the temple: but he is handed over at the torrent, and the torrent of darkness, that is, Cedron. For all who hate the light love the darkness. He shall drink from the torrent in the way. Because, therefore, the Lord drank from the torrent and tasted death, therefore the Father exalted him, and gave him a name which is above every name. Next it is now said, He shall drink from the torrent in the way; and because he drank from the torrent in the way, therefore he lifted up his head. And what does he say? "When I have been lifted up, I will draw all things to myself." He is lifted up, and he lifted us up. His head has been exalted: as for the rest, the heads of the dragon have been crushed, and shattered in the sea. Therefore he lifted up his head. He did not say, "Therefore his head has been exalted," that is, exalted by another: but the one who had humbled himself, he himself exalted. For he himself says in the Gospel: "I have power to lay down my soul, and I have power to take it up again." Therefore he lifted up his head. He exalted himself, who is the head of all. Or else, when it says "he lifted up his head," he did not exalt himself. Therefore he lifted up his head: for he was always on high. But when it says "he lifted up his head," he exalted our head, we who were lying down below on the earth; he exalted our head, we who, bent over, could not look up to heaven, but to the earth. Do you wish to know that he himself lifted up the head? That woman too, whom the devil had bound, he himself set free, and lifted up her head, she who was always bent over: and she adored him. To whom is glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.