Homily 68, on Psalm 90 (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).
The praise of a song, by David himself. First we ought to know this: that from the eighty-eighth psalm up to the hundredth—that is, eleven psalms—have no title in the Hebrew; and that they belong, as we treated most recently in the previous psalm, to the same person to whom that one belongs as well which is headed with this title: "A prayer of Moses, the man of God."
He who dwells in the help of the Most High. Ours it is to begin, God's it is to help; for He does not crown those who sleep, but those who labor. He shall abide in the protection of the God of heaven. In place of what we read, "of the God of heaven," the Hebrew has saddai. Hence that which is said in Ezekiel, "And I heard the voice of the Lord Saddai speaking," can be understood thus: that he heard the voice of the Lord, the God of heaven, speaking; for Saddai is interpreted "God of heaven."
My refuge is my God. Beautifully he said, "refuge," for there are many persecutors, and you alone are a refuge. Many are the wounds, but you alone are the physician.
I will hope in Him, for He Himself shall deliver me from the snare of the hunters. In this world there are many hunters who long to capture our souls, just as is said by the prophet: "Our soul has been snatched away like a sparrow from the snare of the hunters." Now that hunters are taken in a sinister sense in the holy Scriptures, we have already said often. For that Nimrod, the giant, always a rebel against God, was a hunter. Esau too was a hunter. For He Himself shall deliver me from the snare of the hunters. We read in Proverbs: "The eye of the harlot is the snare of the sinner." "For whoever shall look upon a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." As many as are the sins, so many are the snares; as many as the snares, so many the hunters. The doctrines of the heretics are the snares of death. Finally there follows: and from the harsh word. You see that it is spoken concerning the heretics. In place of what we have, "harsh," the Hebrew has "hidden." For heretics always promise certain secret and great things, so that they may snatch away those things which are true and manifest.
With His shoulders He shall overshadow you. Who shall overshadow? Surely the God of heaven, as a hen her chicks, and as an eagle its nest. Hence also in the song of Deuteronomy it is said that He carried the people of Israel upon His shoulders, and protected them as an eagle. It can also be understood of the Savior, that upon His cross He protected us with His wings. And under His feathers you shall hope. "All the day long I have stretched forth my hands to a people that did not believe and that contradicted me." The hands of the Lord raised to heaven did not ask for help, but were protecting us wretches.
His truth shall surround you with a shield: that is, you shall be encircled round about with truth. And what follows? You shall not fear from the terror of the night. The just man has no terror of the night, but of the day. "Come, children, hear me, I will teach you the fear of the Lord." Those who are the children of the prophets have no terror of the night, nor of the darkness, but of the light and of the day. "That they may shoot in secret at the upright of heart." The devil does not send his arrows in the day, lest he be seen. For everything that is done in the light is made manifest by the light.
But someone may say: If the devil does not shoot in the day, how then in the following little verse does the psalmist say, From the arrow that flies by day? What is this arrow that flies by day? It is the teaching of the heretics: which, as it were through the day—that is, the law of God—flies here and there, while they anxiously gather up testimonies searched out against us, which by their own interpretations they corrupt away from the truth. And from the business that walks about in the darkness. He did not say, "standing," but "walking about"; because heretics are never stable in their opinions, but are always changing and walking about. From the onslaught and the noonday demon. We read in Genesis that Joseph fed his brothers at noon; and in the Song of Songs it is written: "Where do you lie down, where do you feed? At noon." Therefore, just as the saints have a noon and a light where they may feed and lie down, so too the devil, transfigured into an angel of light, has his ministers transfigured, as it were ministers of righteousness. Therefore when you see a heretic preaching, and saying, "This says Moses, this is written in the prophets, this in the Gospels," does it not seem to you—if you are ignorant of the treachery of his mind—that you are hearing an angel of the Savior speaking? But the simple think there is a certain noonday demon who at noon can more readily assail men. We, however, shall interpret the chiefs of the heretics as the noonday demons, who, feigning themselves angels of light, preach the doctrines of darkness. Do you wish us to say something elegantly? Arius, or the rest of the heretics who came forth from Alexandria, are called noonday demons.
A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand. "At your side" and "at your right hand." He did not say, "at your left," because the just man has no left, just as it is written in the Gospel: "Whoever shall strike you on the right cheek, offer him the other also." He did not say, "offer the left"; since indeed the lambs shall stand at the right, and the kids at the left. A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand. By the "side" of the just man we can understand the weaknesses of the body; but by the "right hand," the integrity of the soul. By the labors of the body—that is, by fastings and chastity—a thousand shall fall; but at the right hand, where through the freedom of the soul there is pure and holy doctrine, there shall fall the very great multitude of the enemy. But to you they shall not draw near. Imagine the fortified wedges of the enemy coming against the just man, concerning whom it is said, But to you they shall not draw near: that is, they shall collapse before they can reach as far as you.
Nevertheless with your eyes you shall consider, and you shall see the retribution of sinners. You shall see the corpses of the dead, and you shall marvel at the majesty of the Lord and Savior. And you shall see the retribution of sinners. The ruin of sinners is their destruction. What he says is this: You who have made the Lord your refuge look with your eyes, secure, upon the retribution of the heretics, since you have guarded yourself from their traditions.
These things have been said in the person of the Lord to the just man; but now the person is changed, and out of the contemplation of the just man an answer is made to the Lord: For you, O Lord, are my hope. For he who says these things is the just man. You have made the Most High your refuge. Again the person is changed: and for this reason the psalms are obscure, because very often the persons are changed. For while the just man calls upon the Lord and says, For you, O Lord, are my hope, he hears from the Lord, You have made the Most High your refuge. And therefore the following verse is fitting for you:
Evils shall not come to you, and the scourge shall not draw near to your tabernacle. He did not say, "shall not sound," but, "shall not draw near to your tabernacle": for it cannot come to pass that the scourge of the devil should not sound for the just man. For if the Lord Himself was scourged, and was vexed with tribulations and temptations, which of the just shall not be scourged? But let us see what this is, "shall not draw near to your tabernacle." This is it: it sounded indeed from without, and by fleshly passions it tried to disturb; but the tabernacle of the soul, or the mind, which is the tabernacle of faith, it did not overthrow.
For He has given His angels charge concerning you, that they may keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall carry you, lest ever you dash your foot against a stone. If ever the heretics interpret certain things from the Scriptures against us, we ought not to be disturbed: because the devil too used this testimony against the Lord and Savior, saying, "If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down; for it is written that He has given His angels charge concerning you," and the rest. The devil interprets the Scriptures like a devil: for he was applying this psalm to the person of the Lord, which is spoken not of the Lord, but of any just man. But I grant you, O devil, that it be written concerning the Lord Himself, "in their hands the angels shall carry you": why did you not say what follows, "Upon the asp and the basilisk you shall tread"? O the cunning of the crafty, shape-shifting enemy! What seemed to pertain to the frailty of the Savior and to the temptation of the man, he spoke; but what he understood to be against himself, with his ancient craftiness he kept silent. You err, O devil, and by your deceit you ensnare your very self. In this place your lie profits the Church: although you did this in order to tempt, you have shown that the children of God, all the just, are carried by the hands of the angels—that is, by their help—at the command and bidding of the Lord.
The rest of what follows pertains to the same exposition. But that the just and those dear to God have the power to trample upon the ancient and twisted serpent, and to press down his whole army with the heel of the foot, we find most evidently in the Gospel. For thus the Lord says to the apostles: "Behold, I have given you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions." Which power we too shall be able to understand as given to us, when we know ourselves to be girded against them by an apostolic way of life. Let us therefore ask the Lord that He who gave power to the just may give also to us, still little ones, the help of righteousness: that we may be imitators of the apostles, and may be aided by their merits, in Christ Jesus our Lord. To whom is glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.