(not the one who leads it around in a circle) and stretched it out as a tent to dwell in (not to be rolled up as a circle); and Isaiah says that those coming from afar on the earth come from the uttermost foundation of heaven, so that heaven is founded and standing still and not running around in a circle. But these things are for the sake of a brief reminder, so that we are not carried away to the fictions of the Greeks, neglecting the divine scriptures. 124 Ps 76,20.21 He says the divine way has no visible trace like a human one; for which reason he also called it a journey In the sea and in the waters, since Solomon says that not even the tracks of a sea-faring ship are recognized, so that what is said is parabolic. And there is no longer a transitional journey for God; for the Hebrews did not walk through the sea, so that He might also guide them through it, but the part of the Red Sea on their journey was short, while the part through the land was long and took much time. You led your people like sheep by the hand of Moses and Aaron. But although your journey was unseen, this became known and manifest to men: that you guided the people on their journey from Egypt like sheep being led by Moses and Aaron. Thus indeed an instruction the psalm ... by calamities ... *
125 Ps 77,1 [But others have explained these things thus:] the ... ended in silence
aforementioned psalm, having neither sought out nor declared the reasons for which the people were so greatly overlooked by God their guardian, but this one indicates from the beginning the reason for God's turning away, which God also afterward revealed through Isaiah, saying: Is not the hand of the Lord strong enough to save? Or is his ear too heavy to hear? But your sins stand between you and God, and because of your sins he has turned his face away from you, so as not to have mercy, and what follows. A remembrance, therefore, is made in the psalm of the unbelief and contradiction of Israel in the desert, inasmuch as to show that those who fall away from God become the cause of evils for themselves, with David clearly recounting his deeds. And he begins at once in a kingly manner, commanding his own people to attend to his own law, or to his own instructions as Symmachus interprets; for as a certain law, he says, I offer the present exhortation. 126 Ps 77,38-39 And if, he says, the philanthropy and pity of God and his great propitiation had not preserved their succession, but he had pursued them with his whole wrath, they would have perished and become nameless, God not accepting their choice, but pitying their weakness as being of perishing flesh and departing spirit.
127a Ps 78 arg. [Those who have interpreted the hypothesis of this psalm differently
have published it. For one says that the prophet simply laments a captivity and the things that happened in Jerusalem on account of it, without specifying which one; another says that the one by the Romans is indicated, which happened after the betrayal of our savior Jesus Christ; and others, the one under Antiochus surnamed Epiphanes. Therefore, leaving this aside, let us examine some of the sayings.] 128 Ps 78,1b-3 The intercession is against the nations because, having been impious and unclean, they stained the holy land and defiled the sacred temple, but the supplication for Jerusalem is that the city called holy of God has become a mound of earth and a heap of stones, which Theodotion says is For stone-gathering. And these things are a remembrance of the election that came to pass concerning Jerusalem. Furthermore, he also speaks of the pitiable state of their inhabitants, that even after death they were unburied and were exposed as food for birds, showing the great and cruel act of the enemies against the captives and calling those who suffered these things servants of God, which is able to be an appropriation to God and a supplication to the
17
(οὐχ ὁ κύκλῳ περιάγων αὐτόν) καὶ διατείνας αὐτὸν ὡς σκηνὴν κατοικεῖν (οὐχ ὡς κύκλον περιελίττεσθαι)· καὶ Ἀπ' ἄκρου θεμελίου οὐρανοῦ φησιν Ἡσαΐας ἔρχεσθαι τοὺς ἐκ γῆς πόρρωθεν ἐρχομένους, ὥστε τεθεμελιωμένου τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ ἑστῶτος ἀλλ' οὐχὶ κύκλῳ περιθέοντος. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν βραχείας ὑπομνήσεως χάριν πρὸς τὸ μὴ ἐκφέρεσθαι ἡμᾶς πρὸς τὰ Ἑλλήνων πλάσματα τῶν θείων ἀμελοῦντας γραφῶν. 124 Ps 76,20.21 Τὴν θείαν ὁδὸν λέγει μηδὲν ἴχνος ἔχειν θεωρητὸν ὥσπερ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην· διὸ καὶ πορείαν αὐτὴν εἶπεν Ἐν θαλάσσῃ καὶ ὕδασιν, ἐπεὶ μηδὲ τρίβους νηὸς ποντοπορούσης ὁ Σολομὼν ἐπιγινώσκεσθαι λέγει ὥστε παραβολικὸν τὸ λεγόμενον. καὶ οὐκέτι πορεία τις θεῷ μεταβατική· οὐδὲ γὰρ διὰ θαλάσσης ἐβάδιζον οἱ Ἑβραῖοι, ἵνα καὶ διὰ ταύτης αὐτοῖς καθηγήσαιτο, ἀλλὰ βραχὺ μὲν αὐτοῖς τὸ τῆς ἐρυθρᾶς ἐγένετο κατὰ τὴν πορείαν, πολὺ δὲ καὶ πολυχρόνιον τὸ διὰ γῆς. Ὡδήγησας ὡς πρόβατα τὸν λαόν σου ἐν χειρὶ Μωυσῆ καὶ Ἀαρών. Πλὴν καίτοιγε ἀθεάτου τῆς σῆς πορείας οὔσης, τοῦτο γνώριμον καὶ ἐμφανὲς ἀνθρώποις ἐγένετο ὅτι καθηγήσω τῷ λαῷ τὴν ἀπ' Αἰγύπτου πορείαν ὡς προβάτοις ὑπὸ Μωυσῆ καὶ Ἀαρὼν ἀγομένοις. οὕτω δὴ παράγγελμα ὁ ψαλμὸς ... συμφοραῖς διαπρ... *
125 Ps 77,1 [Ἄλλοι δὲ ταῦτα οὕτως ἐξηγήσαντο·] κατέληξε μὲν εἰς σιωπὴν ὁ
προειρημένος ψαλμὸς οὔτε ἀναζητήσας οὔτε ἐξειπὼν τὰς αἰτίας δι' ἃς ὁ λαὸς ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ὑπερώφθη παρὰ τῷ κηδεμόνι θεῷ, οὗτος δὲ ἄνωθεν τῆς ἀποστροφῆς τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν αἰτίαν ὑποδείκνυσιν ἥνπερ καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα διὰ τοῦ Ἡσαΐου θεὸς ἐξέφηνε λέγων· Μὴ οὐκ ἰσχύει ἡ χεὶρ κυρίου τοῦ σῶσαι; ἢ ἐβάρυνε τὸ οὖς τοῦ εἰσακοῦσαι· ἀλλὰ τὰ ἁμαρτήματα ὑμῶν διϊστῶσιν ἀνὰ μέσον ὑμῶν καὶ τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ διὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας ὑμῶν ἀπέστρεψε τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ ἀφ' ὑμῶν τοῦ μὴ ἐλεῆσαι, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. μνήμη τοίνυν ἐν τῷ ψαλμῷ γίνεται τῆς ἐν ἐρήμῳ δυσπιστίας καὶ ἀντιλογίας τοῦ Ἰσραήλ, ὅσον εἰς τὸ δεῖξαι τοὺς ἀφισταμένους θεοῦ τῶν κακῶν αἰτίους ἑαυτοῖς γινομένους αὐτοῦ τὰ πράγματα διηγουμένου σαφῶς τοῦ ∆αυίδ. καὶ ἄρχεταί γε βασιλικῶς εὐθὺς λαὸν τὸν ἑαυτοῦ κελεύων προσέχειν τῷ οἰκείῳ νόμῳ, ἢ ταῖς ἰδίαις ὑποδείξεσιν ὡς Σύμμαχος ἑρμηνεύει· οἷον γάρ τινα νόμον, φησί, τὴν προκειμένην προσφέρω παραίνεσιν. 126 Ps 77,38-39 Καὶ εἴ γέ φησιν μὴ φιλανθρωπία καὶ οἶκτος θεοῦ καὶ πολὺς ἱλασμὸς διεφύλαξεν αὐτῶν τὴν διαδοχὴν ἀλλ' ὅλῳ θυμῷ μετῆλθεν αὐτούς, ἀπώλοντο ἂν καὶ ἀνώνυμοι κατέστησαν, τὴν μὲν προαίρεσιν οὐκ ἀποδεξαμένου αὐτῶν τοῦ θεοῦ, τὴν δὲ ἀσθένειαν αὐτῶν οἰκτείραντος ὡς ἐπὶ σαρκῶν φθειρομένων καὶ πνεύματος ἐξιόντος.
127a Ps 78 arg. [∆ιαφόρως τὴν ὑπόθεσιν τοῦδε τοῦ ψαλμοῦ οἱ ἑρμηνεύσαντες
ἐκδεδώκασιν. ὁ μὲν γάρ φησιν ἀποδύρεσθαι τὸν προφήτην ἁπλῶς αἰχμαλωσίαν καὶ τὰ ἐπ' αὐτῇ γεγενημένα τῇ Ἱερουσαλήμ, μὴ διορίσας ποίαν· ὁ δὲ τὴν ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων φησὶ δηλοῦσθαι τὴν γενομένην μετὰ τὴν τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ προδοσίαν· ἄλλοι δὲ τὴν ἐπὶ Ἀντιόχου τοῦ ἐπίκλην Ἐπιφανοῦς. διὸ ταύτην ἐάσαντές τινα τῶν ῥητῶν ἐξετάσωμεν.] 128 Ps 78,1b-3 Κατὰ τῶν ἐθνῶν ἡ ἔντευξις ὅτι δὴ δυσσεβήσαντες καὶ ἀκάθαρτοι γῆν ἁγίαν ἔχραναν καὶ ναὸν ἱερὸν ἐμόλυναν, ὑπὲρ δὲ τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἡ παρά κλησις ὅτι πόλις ἁγία κληθεῖσα θεοῦ χῶμα γέγονε καὶ λίθων σωρὸς ὅπερ Θεοδοτίων φησὶν Εἰς λιθολογίαν. Ἀνάμνησις δὲ ταῦτα δύναται τῆς ἐκλογῆς τῆς περὶ Ἱερουσαλὴμ γεγονυίας. ἔτι δὲ καὶ περὶ τῶν οἰκητόρων αὐτῶν λέγει τὸ ἐλεεινόν, ὅτι καὶ μετὰ θάνατον ἄταφοι καὶ πτηνοῖς ἐξετέθησαν βορά, πολὺ καὶ ὠμὸν ἀποδεικνὺς τὸ τῶν πολεμίων ἐπὶ τοῖς ἡλωκόσι καὶ δούλους θεοῦ καλῶν τοὺς ταῦτα πεπονθότας, ὅπερ οἰκείωσιν πρὸς θεὸν καὶ παράκλησιν δύναται πρὸς τὸν
17