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(14Α_364> INTERPRETATION OF THE 59TH (59) PSALM* “For the end, for those who will be changed, for an inscription on a pillar for David, for

instruction, when he set fire to Mesopotamia and Syria-Zobah and Joab returned and struck the Valley of Salt, twelve thousand.”

“For the end, for those who will be changed,” the present psalm is inscribed, both on account of the change and alteration—affecting the will and choice—which came to men at the end of time through the coming of Christ, from unbelief to faith and from vice to virtue and from ignorance to knowledge of God, and on account of the alteration and renewal which will happen later at the end of the ages, through our Savior and God Himself, a universal and natural change for the entire human race, by grace, from death and corruption to immortal life and incorruptibility through the expected resurrection; but “for an inscription on a pillar” for “David,” that is, for Christ Himself, both on account of the abolition of vice that has already taken place at His divine incarnation, like a pillar—in Him as leader and Savior, and after Him in those who live piously according to Him—and on account of the complete annihilation of both death and corruption which is yet to come through Him. And “for instruction,” when “he set fire to Mesopotamia and Syria-Zobah.” For our instruction, we who are being changed and who will be changed—that is, the praiseworthy and divine alteration—the psalm is inscribed by (14Α_366> the spiritual David, I mean Christ the God. For He alone, being the true king of Israel and of the one who sees God, as the destroyer of all vice and ignorance and the conqueror of all time and nature (through which vice is wont to be constituted in us), set fire to Mesopotamia by speaking to us through the flesh, that is, the disposition of vice, which is flooded with the unnatural passions of the flesh, and “Syria-Zobah,” that is, the disposition enslaved to time, or rather, deceived by this age; for Zobah is interpreted as seven, and this clearly indicates the property of time; for time is reckoned by sevens. For the devil is accustomed to move nature and time with himself against virtue and knowledge, weaving unseen wars, just as Hadadezer did with the two Syrias against David—for Hadadezer, translated into the Greek tongue, is interpreted as “loosing strength” or “demolishing power”—who is the devil, who through deceit dissolved the spiritual strength of our nature in the beginning by the transgression of the divine commandment, and enslaved man to time and nature; for without the things under nature and time, he is completely unable to fight against men.

“And Joab returned and struck the Valley of Salt, twelve thousand.”

For everyone who serves as a general for the spiritual king David, that is, for our Lord Jesus, against the opposing powers, strikes twelve thousand in the Valley of Salt. And the Valley of Salt is the flesh, as it has become a place of dishonorable passions through disobedience, in which, as in a valley, through reason and contemplation every pious and God-loving person strikes nature and time, that is, the soul’s irrational preoccupation with them, in no way abiding (14Α_368> by the laws under nature and time, on account of the height of virtue and knowledge. For the number twelve signifies nature and time,

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(14Α_364> ΕΡΜΗΝΕΙΑ ΕΙΣ ΤΟΝ ΝΘ' (59) ΨΑΛΜΟΝ* «Εἰς τὸ τέλος, τοῖς ἀλλοιωθησομένοις, εἰς στηλογραφίαν τῷ ∆αυΐδ, εἰς

διδαχήν, ὁπότε ἐνεπύρισε τὴν Μεσοποταμίαν καὶ Συρίαν Σωβὰ καὶ ἐπέστρεψεν Ἰωὰβ καὶ ἐπάταξε τὴν φάραγγα τῶν ἁλῶν, δώδεκα χιλιάδας».

«Εἰς τὸ τέλος, τοῖς ἀλλοιωθησομένοις» ὁ παρὼν ἐπιγέγραπται ψαλμός, διά τε τὴν ἐπὶ τέλει τῶν χρόνων διὰ τῆς ἐπιδημίας τοῦ Χριστοῦ γενομένην τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐξ ἀπιστίας εἰς πίστιν καὶ ἀπὸ κακίας εἰς ἀρετὴν καὶ ἀγνοίας εἰς γνῶσιν Θεοῦ γνωμικήν τε καὶ προαιρετικὴν μεταβολὴν καὶ ἀλλοίωσιν, διά τε τὴν εἰς ὕστερον ἐπὶ τέλει τῶν αἰώνων γενησομένην δι᾽ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Θεοῦ καθολικὴν τοῦ παντὸς γένους τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐν χάριτι φυσικὴν ἐκ θανάτου καὶ φθορᾶς εἰς ζωὴν ἀθάνατον καὶ ἀφθαρσίαν διὰ τῆς προσδοκωμένης ἀναστάσεως ἀλλοίωσίν τε καὶ ἀνανέωσιν· «εἰς στηλογραφίαν» δὲ τῷ «∆αυΐδ», τουτέστιν αὐτῷ τῷ Χριστῷ, διά τε τὴν γεγενημένην ἤδη κατὰ τὴν θείαν αὐτοῦ σάρκωσιν, στήλης δίκην, ἐν αὐτῷ μὲν ὡς ἀρχηγῷ καὶ Σωτῆρι, καὶ μετ᾽ αὐτὸν ἐν τοῖς κατ᾽ αὐτὸν εὐσεβῶς βιοῦσι τῆς κακίας ἀναίρεσιν, διά τε τὸν ἔτι δι᾽ αὐτοῦ γενησόμενον παντελῆ τοῦ τε θανάτου καὶ τῆς φθορᾶς ἀφανισμόν. «Εἰς διδαχὴν» δέ, ὁπόταν «ἐνεπύρισε τὴν Μεσοποταμίαν καὶ τὴν Συρίαν Σωβά». Εἰς διδαχὴν ἡμῖν τοῖς ἀλλοιουμένοις καὶ ἀλλοιωθησομένοις, δηλονότι τὴν ἐπαινετὴν καὶ θείαν ἀλλοίωσιν, ὁ ψαλμὸς ἐπιγέγραπται παρὰ τοῦ (14Α_366> ∆αβὶδ τοῦ νοητοῦ, λέγω δὲ Χριστοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ. Μόνος γὰρ αὐτὸς ἀληθινὸς βασιλεὺς ὑπάρχων τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ καὶ ὁρῶντος Θεόν, ὡς πάσης ἀναιρέτης κακίας καὶ ἀγνωσίας καὶ νικητὴς παντὸς χρόνου καὶ φύσεως, δι᾽ ὧν ἐν ἡμῖν ἡ κακία συνίστασθαι πέφυκεν, ἐνεπύρισε τὴν Μεσοποταμίαν, διὰ σαρκὸς ἡμῖν ὁμιλήσας, τουτέστι τὴν ἐπικλυζομένην τοῖς παρὰ φύσιν πάθεσι τῆς σαρκὸς ἕξιν τῆς κακίας, καὶ τὴν «Συρίαν Σωβά», τουτέστι τὴν δεδουλωμένην τῷ χρόνῳ ἤγουν ἠπατημένην τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ διάθεσιν· ἑπτὰ γὰρ ἡ Σωβὰ ἑρμηνεύεται, σαφῶς δὲ τοῦτο δηλοῖ τὴν χρονικὴν ἰδιότητα· ἑβδοματικὸς γὰρ ὁ χρόνος. Φύσιν γὰρ καὶ χρόνον εἴωθεν ὁ διάβολος συνεπικινεῖν ἑαυτῷ κατὰ τῆς ἀρετῆς καὶ τῆς γνώσεως, τοὺς ἀφανεῖς συμπλέκων πολέμους, ὡς τὰς δύο Συρίας κατὰ τοῦ ∆αβὶδ ὁ Ἀδρααζάρ Ἀδρααζὰρ γὰρ εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα φωνὴν μεταφραζόμενος λύων ἰσχὺν ἢ κατασκάπτων δύναμιν ἑρμηνεύεται , ὅστις ἐστὶν ὁ διάβολος ὁ δι᾽ ἀπάτης τὴν πνευματικὴν ἰσχὺν τῆς ἡμετέρας φύσεως κατ᾽ ἀρχὰς τῇ παραβάσει τῆς θείας ἐντολῆς διαλύσας, καὶ τῷ χρόνῳ καὶ τῇ φύσει δουλώσας τὸν ἄνθρωπον· ἄνευ γὰρ τῶν ὑπὸ φύσιν καὶ χρόνον μάχεσθαι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις παντελῶς οὐ δύναται.

«Καὶ ἐπέστρεψεν Ἰωὰβ καὶ ἐπάταξε τὴν φάραγγα τῶν Ἁλῶν, δώδεκα χιλιάδας».

Πᾶς γὰρ ὁ τῷ νοητῷ βασιλεῖ ∆αβὶδ στρατηγῶν, τουτέστι τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ, κατὰ τῶν ἐναντίων δυνάμεων, πατάσσει δώδεκα χιλιάδας ἐν τῇ φάραγγι τῶν Ἁλῶν. Φάραγξ δέ ἐστιν Ἁλῶν ἡ σάρξ, ὡς χωρίον παθῶν ἀτιμίας διὰ τῆς παρακοῆς γενομένη, ἐν ᾗ, καθάπερ φάραγγι, διὰ λόγου καὶ θεωρίας πᾶς εὐσεβὴς καὶ φιλόθεος πατάσσει φύσιν καὶ χρόνον, ἤγουν τὴν ἐπ᾽ αὐτοῖς τῆς ψυχῆς παράλογον πρόληψιν, μηδαμῶς ἐμμένων (14Α_368> διὰ τὸ ὕψος τῆς ἀρετῆς καὶ τῆς γνώσεως τοῖς ὑπὸ φύσιν καὶ χρόνον νόμοις. Ὁ γὰρ δώδεκα ἀριθμὸς τὴν φύσιν δηλοῖ καὶ τὸν χρόνον,