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is connected to this psalm. For the same power becomes light and gladness to the righteous, but wrath to the unbelieving people. For "The Lord," it says, "has reigned, let the peoples be angry." Who is this Lord who has reigned, who sits above the angelic and heavenly nature? For through the Cherubim the Word indicates the preeminence of the supracelestial power (whose kingdom brings about the dissolution of that which is ill-constituted; for it brings not the heavenly part of us, but the earthly, into turmoil), saying thus in the statement "He who sits upon the Cherubim; let the earth be shaken." And the 5.106 following things I omit, so as not to bring a great crowd to the sequence of the exegesis, having said this much, that everything looks to one and the same purpose until the end of the psalm. For it testifies that this God who has reigned has not now appeared to us for the first time, but he is the same one who was manifest also to the renowned among the prophets. Therefore he remembers Moses and Aaron and Samuel, each of whom is conspicuous and celebrated for his piety toward God. And he adds to the account also the pillar of the cloud, in which God conversed with them, teaching, I think, the unbelievers through this not to be astonished at the conversation of God that came to us through a man. For the God who then spoke in the pillar of the cloud was afterwards manifested in the flesh. So that if someone should say the flesh is unworthy for God to speak to us through it, he would not even attest worthiness to the pillar of the cloud. For what is there in it of such a kind as to be judged worthy of the divine majesty? But if it is credible to the Jews that God spoke in a pillar of a cloud, let it not be incredible that he has spoken in the flesh, especially since Isaiah also understood the flesh through the cloud: "For behold," he says, "the Lord sits upon a light cloud." And again the same prophet names those who follow him clouds, where he says: "Who are these that fly as clouds?" so as to show, through the homonymy of the clouds, the kinship of the Lord's flesh to the rest of human nature. To this God, therefore, who once spoke to men through a cloud, and afterwards through flesh, David says as he proceeds: "O Lord our God, you heard them." O God, you became propitious to them and taking vengeance on all their practices. 5.107 But lest someone looking to the economy should slip 5.107 into certain lowly and human suppositions about the divine, he brings this voice at the end of the psalm, turning the word to us: "Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at the footstool of his feet, for he is holy." And we suppose the meaning of what has been said to be this, that O men, the divine mysteries have been revealed to you, as far as it is possible for human hearing to receive. But you, having been guided by these things to the pious knowledge of God, exalt the glory of God as much as your reason comprehends, knowing that when your mind is over-extended and passes beyond every lofty imagination in its suppositions about God, then what is found and worshipped by you is not the majesty itself of the one being sought, but the footstool of his feet, interpreting through this what is beneath and lies below our mind in comparison with the unattainable comprehension. Then after this, not a few psalms having been placed in between, in the one hundred and third, which he ranked far down the list among those without inscriptions according to the Hebrews, he explicitly theologizes the only-begotten God, ascribing to him the cause of the constitution of the universe. For he says that this psalm of David concerning the creation of the world is without an inscription among the Hebrews. And this signifies that they do not accept the purpose of this prophecy. And the inscription is as follows: Of David concerning the creation of the world, without inscription among the Hebrews. We will set forth the meaning of this psalm at the proper time, but for now it will suffice for us to say this much, that 5.108 the same cause, I mean on account of the unbelief of the Jews, made the inscription of this one also unacceptable to the Hebrews.

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ταύτης τῆς ψαλμῳδίας συνάπτεται. ἡ γὰρ αὐτὴ δύναμις τῷ μὲν δικαίῳ φῶς τε καὶ εὐφροσύνη γίνεται, ὀργὴ δὲ τῷ ἀπιστοῦντι λαῷ. Ὁ κύριος γάρ, φησίν, ἐβασίλευσεν, ὀργιζέσθωσαν λαοί. τίς οὗτος ὁ βασιλεύσας κύριος ὁ τῆς ἀγγελικῆς τε καὶ οὐρανίας ὑπερκαθήμενος φύσεως; διὰ γὰρ τῶν Χερουβὶμ τὸ ἐξέχον τῆς ὑπερκοσμίου δυνάμεως ὁ λόγος ἐνδείκνυται (οὗ ἡ βασιλεία διάλυσιν τοῦ κακῶς συνεστῶτος ποιεῖ· οὐ γὰρ τὸ οὐράνιον τῶν ἐν ἡμῖν, ἀλλὰ τὸ γήϊνον εἰς σάλον ἄγει) οὑτωσὶ λέγων τῷ ῥήματι Ὁ καθήμενος ἐπὶ τῶν Χερουβίμ· σαλευθήτω ἡ γῆ. καὶ τὰ 5.106 ἐφεξῆς παρίημι, ὡς ἂν μὴ πολὺν ὄχλον ἐπάγοιμι τῇ ἀκολουθίᾳ τῆς ἐξηγήσεως τοσοῦτον εἰπών, ὅτι πάντα πρὸς ἕνα καὶ τὸν αὐτὸν σκοπὸν βλέπει μέχρι τοῦ τέλους τῆς ψαλμῳδίας. διαμαρτύρεται γὰρ ὅτι οὗτος ὁ βασιλεύσας θεὸς οὐ νῦν ἡμῖν πέφηνε πρῶτον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς ὀνομαστοῖς τῶν προφητῶν ἐμφανὴς ὁ αὐτός ἐστι. διὸ Μωυσέως μέμνηται καὶ Ἀαρὼν καὶ τοῦ Σαμουήλ, ὧν ἕκαστος ἀπὸ τῆς εἰς τὸν θεὸν εὐσεβείας περίβλεπτός ἐστι καὶ ἀοίδιμος. προστίθησι δὲ τῷ λόγῳ καὶ τῆς νεφέλης τὸν στύλον, ἐν ᾧ πρὸς αὐτοὺς ὁ θεὸς διελέγετο, διδάσκων, οἶμαι, τοὺς ἀπίστους διὰ τούτου μὴ ξενίζεσθαι πρὸς τὴν δι' ἀνθρώπου γενομένην ἡμῖν τοῦ θεοῦ ὁμιλίαν. ὁ γὰρ τότε ἐν τῷ στύλῳ τῆς νεφέλης λαλήσας θεὸς μετὰ ταῦτα ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί. ὥστε εἴ τις ἀναξίαν λέγοι τὴν σάρκα τοῦ δι' αὐτῆς ἡμῖν τὸν θεὸν λαλῆσαι, οὐδ' ἂν τῷ στύλῳ τῆς νεφέλης τὴν ἀξίαν προσμαρτυρήσειεν. τί γὰρ ἐν αὐτῇ τοιοῦτον, ὡς τῆς θείας μεγαλειότητος ἄξιον κρίνεσθαι; εἰ δὲ πιστὸν τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις ἐστὶ τὸ ἐν στύλῳ νεφέλης τὸν θεὸν λαλῆσαι, μηδὲ τὸ ἐν σαρκὶ αὐτὸν λελαληκέναι ἄπιστον ἔστω, ἄλλως τε καὶ τοῦ Ἠσαΐου τὴν σάρκα διὰ τῆς νεφέλης νοήσαντος· Ἰδοὺ γάρ, φησί, κύριος κάθηται ἐπὶ νεφέλης κούφης. καὶ τοὺς ἑπομένους αὐτῷ πάλιν ὁ αὐτὸς προφήτης ὀνομάζει νεφέλας, ἐν οἷς φησιν· Τίνες οἵδε ὡς νεφέλαι πέτανται; ὡς διὰ τῆς τῶν νεφελῶν ὁμωνυμίας τὸ συγγενὲς τῆς τοῦ κυρίου σαρκὸς πρὸς τὴν λοιπὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων φύσιν ἐνδείξασθαι. πρὸς τοῦτον οὖν τὸν θεὸν τόν ποτε μὲν διὰ νεφέλης, μετὰ ταῦτα δὲ διὰ σαρκὸς τοῖς ἀνθρώποις λαλήσαντα, φησὶ προϊὼν ὁ ∆αβίδ· Κύριε ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν, σὺ ἐπήκουες αὐτῶν. ὁ θεός, σὺ εὐίλατος ἐγίνου αὐτοῖς καὶ ἐκδικῶν ἐπὶ πάντα τὰ ἐπιτηδεύματα αὐτῶν. 5.107 Ὡς δ' ἂν μή τις πρὸς τὴν οἰκονομίαν βλέπων εἰς ταπεινάς 5.107 τινας καὶ ἀνθρωπίνας ὑπολήψεις περὶ τὸ θεῖον κατολισθή σειεν, ταύτην ἐπὶ τέλει τῆς ψαλμῳδίας ἐπάγει τὴν φωνὴν πρὸς ἡμᾶς τρέψας τὸν λόγον· Ὑψοῦτε κύριον τὸν θεὸν ἡμῶν καὶ προσκυνεῖτε τῷ ὑποποδίῳ τῶν ποδῶν αὐτοῦ, ὅτι ἅγιός ἐστιν. τὴν δὲ διάνοιαν τῶν εἰρημένων ταύτην εἶναι ὑπονοοῦμεν, ὅτι ὦ ἄνθρωποι, μεμήνυται μὲν ὑμῖν, ὡς δυνατὸν δέξασθαι τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην ἀκοήν, τὰ θεῖα μυστήρια. ὑμεῖς δὲ διὰ τούτων ὁδηγηθέντες πρὸς τὴν εὐσεβῆ θεογνωσίαν, ὅσον χωρεῖ ὑμῶν ὁ λογισμός, τοσοῦτον τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν δόξαν ὑψώσατε, εἰδότες ὅτι ὅταν ὑπερταθῇ ὑμῶν ἡ διάνοια καὶ πᾶσαν παρέλθῃ ὑψηλὴν φαντασίαν ἐν ταῖς περὶ θεοῦ ὑπολή ψεσι, τότε τὸ παρ' ὑμῶν εὑρισκόμενον καὶ προσκυνούμενον οὐκ αὐτὴ ἡ μεγαλειότης τοῦ ζητουμένου ἐστίν, ἀλλὰ τὸ ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν αὐτοῦ, τὸ ὑποβεβηκὸς διὰ τούτου καὶ κάτω κείμενον τῆς διανοίας ἡμῶν συγκρίσει τῆς ἀνεφίκτου καταλήψεως διερμηνεῦον. Εἶτα μετὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ὀλίγων ἐν τῷ μέσῳ παρεθέντων ψαλμῶν, ἐν ἑκατοστῷ τρίτῳ, ὃν πολλοστὸν ἐν τοῖς καθ' Ἑβραίους ἀνεπιγράφοις ἔταξεν, διαρρήδην θεολογεῖ τὸν μονογενῆ θεόν, ἐκείνῳ τῆς τοῦ παντὸς συστάσεως ἀνατιθεὶς τὴν αἰτίαν. λέγει γὰρ ἐπὶ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου κτίσεως τοῦ ∆αβὶδ ὄντα τὸν ψαλμὸν τοῦτον ἀνεπίγραφον εἶναι παρ' Ἑβραίοις. σημαίνει δὲ τὸ ἐκείνους τὸν σκοπὸν τῆς προφητείας ταύτης μὴ παραδέχεσθαι. ἔχει δὲ ἡ ἐπιγραφὴ οὕτως· Τοῦ ∆αβὶδ ἐπὶ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου γενέσεως, ἀνεπίγραφος παρ' Ἑβραίοις. τοῦ δὲ ψαλμοῦ τούτου τὴν διάνοιαν ἐπὶ καιροῦ ἐκθησόμεθα, νῦν δὲ ἡμῖν ἐξαρκέσει τοσοῦτον εἰπεῖν, ὅτι 5.108 ἡ αὐτὴ αἰτία, ἡ κατὰ τὴν ἀπιστίαν λέγω τῶν Ἰουδαίων, καὶ τούτου τὴν ἐπιγραφὴν ἀπαράδεκτον τοῖς Ἑβραίοις ἐποίησε.