Homily 59, on Psalm 149
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).
Psalm 149 has been read, which has at its beginning: Sing to the Lord a new song. The holy presbyter has said that both the ninety-fifth psalm and the ninety-seventh have the same beginnings. The ninety-fifth psalm is headed with this title: A Psalm of David, when the house was being built after the captivity. The house of Christ is built after the captivity, that is, after repentance. Since, therefore, he said in the first one, Sing to the Lord a new song, so that a new people might sing a new song — and he put it well — let us run through the rest.
Let Israel rejoice in him who made him. Let that man rejoice who sees God with the mind: for Israel is interpreted as "one seeing God with the mind." And let the sons of Zion exult in their king. Let the sons of the Church, the sons of the new people, exult in their king: in Christ, who reigns over them. You see how lightly we touch upon each of the highest points.
Let them praise his name in the choir. Wherever there is a choir, there diverse voices are gathered together into one song. For just as diverse strings produce the one sound of a song, so also diverse voices — that is, when they have been gathered together at once — make the choir of the Lord. Let them praise his name in the choir: where there is dissension, where there is envy, there is no choir. Let them praise his name in the choir: let them sing praise to him on the timbrel and the psaltery. Let this choir have a song, and have a timbrel and a psaltery. Let us crucify our bodies to Christ, and with such a timbrel let us sing to God. Let them sing praise to him on the timbrel and the psaltery. A timbrel does not have flesh, but a skin: and we, as long as we are fleshly, are not a timbrel. It is not a timbrel unless it has no flesh, unless it is stretched taut: a timbrel cannot be shrunken, but stretched out. And let sins not shrink us up, but let righteousness stretch us wide. Let us run through the rest. Let them sing praise to him on the timbrel and the psaltery. What we say in the choir, let us say this on the psaltery. The psaltery properly is a kind of musical instrument, which is like a lyre. It has a resemblance to a lyre, but it is not a lyre. Between the psaltery and the lyre there is this difference: the lyre is struck below, whereas the psaltery is struck above, which in the common word is called polyphthongon (many-toned). This, then, is the psaltery. Here, therefore, it is enjoined upon us that in the new song we should not sing to the Lord from below on the lyre, but from above, that is, on the psaltery. For the Lord is well pleased with his people, and he will exalt the meek in salvation. "Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth." If, therefore, it is said there, Blessed are the meek — that is, the gentle — for they shall possess the earth; and here it is said, And he will exalt the meek in salvation; and these meek shall possess the earth by inheritance: therefore this earth is not below, but is above. For what does he say? He will exalt the meek in salvation. For if these meek were to possess the earth that is below, he would not say, He will exalt.
The saints shall exult in glory. In what glory? "Arise, my glory; arise, psaltery and lyre: I will arise at dawn." In glory. "For the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified" — that is, he had not yet been crucified. Scripture says this, The Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus had not been glorified, that is, he had not been crucified. The saints shall exult in glory. Why do I say all this? Because it is said, The saints shall exult in glory. This, then, is what I say: the saints shall exult in the cross. "But far be it from me to glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Behold, in the voice of the apostle the prophecy is fulfilled. Let the saints exult in glory. Let them rejoice in their beds. "I will wash my bed every night; with my tears I will drench my couch." That belongs to the sinner, that belongs to the penitent; but this which is said, They shall rejoice in their beds, pertains to the saints, pertains to the just. Which of us rejoices in his bed? Who does not fight with his own flesh? When I have lain awake on my little bed, I do not rejoice, but I fight: I do not sigh for the kingdom of heaven, but I fight with the flesh. The burning of the flesh I drench with tears, and I quench it. For this reason it is said, I will wash my bed every night; with my tears I will drench my couch. My little bed, which burns with lust, is quenched with tears. Happy are those of whom it is said, They shall rejoice in their beds.
The exaltations of God are in their throat. Surely he who cries out does not cry out in the throat, but on the lips: that is, he does not cry out in the throat, but cries out on the lips. And how does he say here, The exaltations of God are in their throat? "Crying out in our hearts, Abba, Father." The voice that cries out to God is not of the lips, but is of the heart. Finally, the Lord says to Moses: "Why do you cry out to me?" And certainly Moses had said nothing. And two-edged swords are in their hands. These who exult in their beds — it is said of the saints, it is said of perfect men — what else do they have? And two-edged swords are in their hands. Two-edged swords. The swords of the saints are two-edged. We read in the Apocalypse of John, which is read in the churches and is received — for it is not held among the apocryphal scriptures, but among the ecclesiastical — it is said there, then, of the Lord Savior: "And a sword, he says, sharp on both sides went forth from his mouth." You see, therefore, that these saints received those two-edged swords, which they have in their hands, from the mouth of the Lord. The Lord, therefore, gives a sword from his mouth to his disciples: a two-edged sword, that is, the word of his teaching. A two-edged sword: both according to history and according to allegory, both according to the letter and according to the spirit. A two-edged sword: which both kills adversaries and defends its own. A two-edged sword. This two-edged sword has two edges: it speaks both of the present age and of the age to come: and here it kills adversaries, and in heaven it opens the kingdoms of heaven. Why do the saints have these swords?
To execute, he says, vengeance upon the nations. Oh, if only I too might have that two-edged sword, that I might execute vengeance upon the nations, that I might slay the various peoples, that I might slay Arius, that I might slay Eunomius, that I might slay Manichaeus, that I might slay all the heresies! And see what he says, To execute vengeance upon the nations. That they may be killed? that they may perish? He does not say this. Rebukes among the peoples. Rebuke, that the peoples may be saved, that those who have been led astray by evil teachers may be saved. But the peoples cannot be set free unless the teachers have been bound. Whence it follows:
To bind their kings in fetters. Do you wish the peoples to be set free? bind the teachers. To bind the kings. He did not call them teachers, but kings: for they reign by the miseries of those people. To bind their kings in fetters. He put it well, in fetters: lest the teachers should run about too much, lest they deceive many, but let them be bound and stand still. And their nobles in iron chains. Their nobles. You may see them saying among the heretics: This man is learned, that one works signs, this one casts out demons. The saints of the Lord, who have the two-edged swords — that is, of two edges, both of the Old and of the New Testament — bind those teachers, and shackle their feet, so that they cannot run. And their nobles in iron chains. They bind, they do not kill; they do not slay, but they bind. They fetter the hands, and lead them captive to the Church in iron chains. These chains are made only from the testimonies of the scriptures, when I join testimony to testimony. If you wish that these chains not be broken, let them not be single, but woven together from this side and that. "A threefold cord is not broken." But why is all this done?
That they may execute upon them the judgment that is written. What is the judgment that is written? That those who at first had denied God may afterward return through repentance. The judgment that is written: that they may loose their captives, that those whom they had bound, those whom they had led bound out of the Church, they may afterward set free in the Church. That they may execute upon them the judgment that is written. I speak in simpler words. That they may execute upon them the judgment that is written: that is, that they may so judge them as it has been set forth in the holy scriptures. This is the glory for all his saints. Truly it is not glory where there is gold, where there is silver, where there are jewels, where there are silken garments. Whoever has these swords, what else does he need? See what he says, This is the glory for all his saints. Let us ask the Lord that we may have this glory: that a sword going forth from the mouth of our Savior may arm our hands, and that we may be able to say: "Blessed be the Lord my God, who teaches my hands for the fight, and my fingers for the war." He who has this broadsword does not fear the sword of the world. He who has this sword does not fear the sword of the world. I tell you a new thing. Frequently the sword of this world grants that sword: frequently it happens that the sword of the world bestows that sword upon us. For if we do not fear this one, we receive that one. Let us therefore give thanks to him who has this sword, and let us bless him for ever and ever. Amen.