Homily 60, on Psalm 10 (Alternate Series)
Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Tractatus sive Homiliae in Psalmos quattuordecim (alternate series), Anecdota Maredsolana III, Pars III (Maredsoli, 1903) — public domain. Psalm numbering follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin).
What the phrase "unto the end" signifies — for which Symmachus rendered ἐπινίκιον (a song of victory), while Aquila and the sixth edition rendered τῷ νικοποιῷ (to the giver of victory) — has been discussed more fully above. Now let us return to the order of the tenth psalm: a number which is both an end and a beginning, in which every reckoning is rolled around, and to which the decalogue also — that is, the first law — is owed. The just man too, on account of the Lord's money doubled in the Gospel, received cities of this number to govern. And, to bring in something rather curious: from this the name of Jesus, that is, of the Savior, begins, and that ineffable name of four letters among the Hebrews takes its start from here, being written with ioth, he, vau, he; into which, through its tens, the hundredth number unrolls, and again the thousandth grows through ten hundreds, and as far as human reason can proceed, always this number is both an end and a beginning, according to that sense: "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end." In the Lord I trust; how do you say to my soul: Flee away to the mountains like a sparrow? Those who eat the raw flesh of the lamb and follow the letter that kills would have this psalm understood of the person of David, when he fled from the face of Saul and was compelled to dwell in the deserts of Judah. And they say that it is spoken by him thus: Although Saul and all his army do not permit me to dwell in my homeland, and I flit or run to and fro, here and there, wandering and roving after the manner of birds and beasts, yet I have God as my protector, in whom trusting I shall not fear your snares. And in truth, if only the beginning be read, their exposition does not appear frivolous. But what follows — "For they have destroyed the things which you have perfected" — and the rest down to the end does not agree with this exposition. Therefore the spiritual man, who judges all things and is himself judged by no one, says that this psalm was sung by our Lord and Savior according to a twofold understanding: either he was speaking to the angels who ministered to him, or to the adverse powers, which desired to mock and terrify him. If to the angels, this is the sense: Why do you exhort me to return to heavenly things, and, leaving behind earthly and lowly things, to dwell in my mountains, because of the snares of the devil and all his army, which you behold stirred up against me? Why do you wish that I take up the wings of my deity, and desert human converse, and dwell secure in the heavens, when I have come for this purpose: that in the Lord — that is, having confidence in my own divinity — I may overcome my exulting adversaries? But if his speech is to the adverse powers, it is to be understood thus: In vain do you think that I am to be terrified by your voices and by the wedge of battle drawn up against me, since I have come for this purpose: that I may fight, and by fighting overcome — as is also shown by the very title of the psalm, according to Aquila and Symmachus. Furthermore, another (since this psalm has nothing so special that it cannot also be understood under the person of any just man) will indeed accept the holy intention of those who refer the psalm to Christ, but will also assert that the whole context can be understood from the person of the prophet — that is, of the just man. In the Lord I trust; how do you say to my soul: Flee away to the mountains like a sparrow? The crafty adversary both tempted the Lord and Savior in the wilderness, and wishes all the saints to depart from the land of Judah and to dwell in the desert of the virtues, that there he may more easily strike them down. But even his very counsel is deceitful: for he does not exhort that one take the wings of the dove — a bird gentle, simple, and domestic, said to lack gall, and which is offered for the Lord in the temple — but the wings of a sparrow, a bird chattering and roving, which after the rearing of its young knows nothing of the fidelity of wedlock; although Aquila and Symmachus rendered "bird" generally in place of "sparrow." By the mountains, however, we can understand those of which it is said in another place, "Draw near to the eternal mountains," and in the second psalm of the steps, "I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains from whence help shall come to me": and to which, after the abomination of desolation shall stand in the holy place, we ought to migrate. For behold, the sinners have bent the bow, they have prepared their arrows in the quiver, that they may shoot in the dark the upright of heart. For which it is written in the Hebrew, "For behold, the impious have bent the bow, they have set the arrow upon the string, that they may strike in the dark the upright of heart." Therefore, he says, you wish me to migrate to the mountains, because the sinners, or the impious, burning, have prepared arrows, which must be repelled with the shield of faith. And in their quivers they have darts to strike the just, not in the day, not in the faintly-lit night, when the darkness is tempered by the solace of the moon, but when the night is full, and the darkness is palpable — that is, ψηλαφητὸν σκότος (touchable darkness, psēlaphēton skotos). Know that for this very reason I do not heed your counsels: because the adversaries are prepared for battle, and desire to wound not so much me, whom they cannot overcome, as my just ones; and since I have come from heaven for their salvation, I ought not to leave them orphans. For behold, as you say, they have set their arrow upon the string, and they wish to capture my boys, the sons of my ripening youth, my little young men, with the sweet enticements of pleasures. For all the strength of the devil is in the loin: for which cause also, when Jacob wrestled with me in the struggle, I made his γλαφυρόν (sinew, glaphyron) wither — that is, dry up. Since, therefore, they wish to strike the upright of heart in the darkness, let my just man speak and say: "Your word is a lamp to my feet, O Lord, and a light to my paths." But I, standing in the battle-line and placed in array, do not forsake the contest once begun, especially when you say that they have bent the bow, prepared arrows in the quiver, wish to wound my saints in the darkness, and yet have not yet been able to strike. For they have bent the bow, they have prepared arrows in the quiver, that they may shoot in the dark the upright of heart. Since, then, they are thus prepared, I will set myself in the midst, I will receive their arrows, that my servants may not grieve at my grief, may be healed by my wounds, may not suffer while I suffer, and may say: "O Lord, you have crowned us as with a shield of your good will." But it can also be understood otherwise: that the heretical or adverse powers, through the dogmas of the heretics, have aimed their blasphemies, and desire to deceive my just ones with varied fraud. For they are archers who, through the occasion of their darkness — which they understand as hidden mysteries — wish to strike the upright hearts of the just. Therefore I and my saints must migrate to the sublime testimonies of the Scriptures, as it is also written in the Gospel: "If he strike you on the right cheek, offer him the other also." He does not say, offer him the left, but the other — that is, the other right — because the just man has nothing left-handed in himself. If, he says, he confounds you in one testimony of the Scriptures, do you overcome him from another, and fulfill that which is written in another psalm: "Deep calls to deep at the voice of your cataracts": so that each Testament may be a defense to the other in turn, and in such a way the snare of the heretics may be broken by the opposing of the other right hand, and by migration to the mountains, and by the calling of deep to deep. For they have destroyed the things which you have perfected. And this too those who above still speak either to any just man or to the Lord: Therefore you must return to the heavenly things, because both the adversaries are so bravely prepared for the fight, and whatever you build up, they demolish. For daily they undermine your precepts and the law written in the hearts of believers, and by persuading diverse things they overturn them. But what did the just man do? This is understood in various ways. Either concerning the person of the just man, in this manner: While they strive to destroy the laws of God, the just man has done nothing worthy of ruin, and in vain suffers their snares; or certainly, while they oppose and attempt to destroy God's commandments, the just man does this one thing only: that he implore the help of him who dwells in his holy temple, whose throne is in heaven, and whose eyes look upon the poor man, that he may rescue him from the snares prepared. But concerning the person of God in this manner: Although the adversaries are prepared for battle, and lie in wait in secret like a lion in his den, that in hidden places they may kill the innocent and destroy the temple of God, yet the Lord dwells in his holy temple, and never is either temple or throne wanting to him, because as some fall others rise. Whence in what follows it is written: The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord's seat is in heaven. By the seat — that is, the throne of God — let us, according to the custom of the Scriptures, understand the kingdom, as in that place: "God shall give him the throne of David his father." And elsewhere: "With justice is the throne of dominion prepared." And: "When a just king shall sit upon the throne." The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord's seat is in heaven. Before the bodily temple was built by Solomon, the prophet knows the spiritual temple of the Lord and his throne in heaven. Whereupon it is asked, how it is said elsewhere, "Heaven is my throne." When the throne of the Lord is in heaven, his throne is encompassed by heaven, and the throne of the Lord is in a part of heaven; when heaven is the throne of the Lord, the whole heaven is turned into the throne of the Lord. From which, according to the ἀναγωγήν (higher spiritual sense, anagōgē), the Lord dwelling in his holy temple — that is, in the soul of the believer — dwells either in a part of it or in the whole. When we are still imperfect, and there is in us both something good and something evil, God dwells only in a part of our soul, that is, in heaven. But when we are consummate and perfect, we are wholly turned into a dwelling-place of God, and we are made heaven, his throne. But the temple of God, properly, is understood either as our Lord and Savior, who says, "I am in the Father and the Father in me": or as that man who was assumed by the Savior, or generally the Church, or specially each one of the saints. His eyes look upon the poor man, his eyelids question the sons of men. Against those who understand the wrath and fury of God simply, let us set forth the eyelids and eyes of the Lord. For if they understand those things ἀνθρωποπαθῶς (after the manner of human passions, anthrōpopathōs), they will be compelled to take these things likewise. But if it is absurd to place eyes and eyelids in the almighty Lord, they will equally be compelled to seek some spiritual interpretation for wrath also and fury. For it is exceedingly unfitting not to understand both those and these alike, either spiritually or carnally. Whence in this place it is to be perceived that the just man does not dread the assault of the adversaries, having God as his helper, who beholds and sees all things, and does not permit his poor man to be deceived by their frauds and wounded by their darts. The poor man: that one of whom it is said above, "To you the poor man is left." And at the same time it is to be observed, that God opens his eyes, bringing an open judgment, to the lowly with help, though he be one and poor, and always watches over him with his regard. But where he is judge, and those who are judged are sons of men (for they do not deserve to be called sons of God), there he does not look with his eyes, but examines with his eyelids, in a manner half-closing them and dissembling, and unwilling to know what he knows. "For if you, Lord, will mark iniquity, who shall endure?" Varro relates that eyelids (palpebrae) are so called from the fact that they move and quiver (palpitent), that is, ὀνοματοποιῶς (by onomatopoeia, onomatopoiōs). The Lord questions the just and the impious: but he who loves iniquity hates his own soul. For which it is better written in the Hebrew: "The Lord tests the just, but the impious and the one who loves iniquity — his soul hates him." So that the sense is joined with the foregoing: In vain are the adversaries prepared, that they may shoot in the dark the upright of heart, and so on; because the Lord is a just judge, and nothing can be hidden from him, and he does both: that he both prove his just ones by tempting them, and hate those who are impious. The impious and the one who loves iniquity — his soul hates him: that is, he hates them with his whole heart and his whole soul. But let us understand "soul" in accordance with the eyes and eyelids, according to that: "My soul hates your new moons and feast days and sabbaths." Furthermore, according to those who say, with the Septuagint, The Lord questions the just and the impious, the sense is far different: that he himself is the judge of the just and the impious, and that the impious are to be judged in this, that by loving iniquity they hate their own soul. And in a certain way the last part of a syllogism is knit together, which is called the conclusion. For although a man may deny that he hates his own soul, yet from the fact that he loves iniquity, he is convicted of hating it. As Solomon also says in the Proverbs: "He who rejects discipline hates himself." But if he who loves iniquity hates his own soul, contrariwise he who loves justice loves his own soul, according to that: "He who possesses prudence loves himself." Whence also the Savior says: "He who loves me keeps my commandments." For he himself is justice. Nor indeed is it to be thought, according to the Septuagint interpreters, that something contrary is now said — The Lord questions the just and the impious — to that which is written in the first psalm, "Therefore the impious shall not rise again in the judgment": because just as there is a difference among the just, so also among the impious; and just as the just, differing among themselves, possess mansions, so also the impious who are perfect in malice and iniquity and who fight with their whole mind against the Lord shall not rise again in the judgment; but other impious ones, who are sometimes understood as sinners, because they are of lesser malice, are reserved for God's judgment. He shall rain snares upon sinners. There is no doubt but that the Lord does this even for the sake of the sinners themselves, so that those who were badly abusing their liberty, being ensnared in the Lord's snares, may walk in the right path as if under his bridle, and may be able to advance through him who says, "I am the way." Whence also fishermen are sent, and hunters, in Jeremiah, that they may hold with their nets the fish that wander and toss about in the depths, and may capture unto salvation the beasts straying about on all the mountains and hills. Therefore it is not, as many suppose, punishments that are promised to sinners from this little verse and from those that follow, but remedies. Fire, brimstone, and the spirit of storms is the portion of their cup. It is said to Babylon: "You have coals of fire, you shall sit upon them, and they shall be for a help to you." The brimstone rouses the fire of these coals into a flame; which flame is fanned by the rushing wind, by the whirlwind of the tempest, so that whatever is filthy in our gold, and whatever — according to the prophecy of Ezekiel — consuming the silver in us, the bronze, the tin, and the lead, may reduce us into gold. Whence also it is written in Isaiah: "The Lord shall wash away the filth of the sons and daughters of Zion, and shall cleanse the blood from their midst by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning." And in Malachi: "Behold, the Lord enters in like the fire of the smelting-furnace and like the herb of the fullers, and he shall sit smelting his people like gold and silver." The cup of sinners is full of fire, brimstone, and the spirit of tempest. "A cup of pure wine full of mixture," from which "all the sinners of the earth shall drink." I judge that from this cup of fire and brimstone Sodom had drunk, and therefore it is prophesied concerning her through Ezekiel: "Sodom shall be restored to her former state." And in the Gospel: "It shall be more tolerable for the land of the Sodomites." "For the Lord will not take vengeance twice upon the same thing." Whence also Lazarus, who had received his sins in his lifetime, and had drunk the cup of the Lord's fury, in the bosom of Abraham drinks that cup of which it is written: "I will take the cup of salvation, and I will call upon the name of the Lord." Jerusalem too had drunk the cup of punishments for her remedy; whence it is said to her: "Rise up, rise up, Jerusalem, you who have drunk the cup of ruin, the goblet of fury." And Jeremiah received this same cup of pure wine from the hand of the Lord, that he might give it to Jerusalem to drink, and to all the nations round about; who, drinking, vomit, and fall down, and, their pride broken, are laid low in repentance. For the Lord is just and has loved justices; his countenance has beheld equity. For which the Hebrew has: "For the Lord is just and loves justice; their faces shall behold equity." The Lord, he says, is just for the causes stated above: because he both, leaving the just man in the present age to temptations, does not punish but proves him, and his soul hates the impious man who loves injustice. For it is one thing to sin overcome by the necessity of the flesh, another to pass over into the disposition of the sinner. Whence also such men, whose heart is impenitent, the soul of God hates. And because he rains snares upon sinners, and gives them to drink the goblet of torments which they deserve, God himself, being just, loves justices. For just as there is one true God, even if there are many gods who are so called by participation in him, and there is one only-begotten Son of God, while others are called so by adoption; so also there is one true justice, as is written in the beginning of the Proverbs, but from communication of it the Lord loves many things called justices. But in that he says, His countenance — that is, God's — has beheld equity, so that the sense is, He judges the things that are right; in the Hebrew, according to that understanding, it is said: Those very ones who shall be judged, both the just and the impious and sinners, shall behold the justice of God, and their faces shall contemplate the equity of the Lord, and they shall say, "You are just, O Lord, and your judgment is right."