79

responsible for the notion of God, but also the one who led them to this destruction. Such are those who have also inherited the wickedness of their ancestors, and have it hard to wash off, because it has been confirmed by long-standing custom. Unto eternity he will not see light. For they are sent Into the outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth; and they endure this according to the just judgment of God, since in this life, by doing evil things, they hated the light. Man, being in honor, did not understand; he was compared to the senseless beasts, and was made like them. The voice is one of lamentation. Man, who was made a little lower than the 29.460 angels, about whom Solomon also says: 29.460 Great is man, and precious is a merciful man; this one, because he did not perceive his own dignity, but yielded to the passions of the flesh, Was compared to the senseless beasts, and was made like them.

ON THE 59TH PSALM.

Looking to the eagerness of your hearing, and the weakness of my own ability,

an image came to me of a rather young child, not yet weaned, however, but bothering its mother's nipple, which was cold from sickness; to whom even if the mother perceives she has dry springs of milk, being pulled and torn at by him, she offers her breast; not to nourish the infant, but to stop its whimpering. And so, even if our own resources are dried up by this long and varied sickness of the body, nevertheless they are set before you, providing not a noteworthy enjoyment, but a certain assurance, because the exceeding measure of your love is content even with the voice alone to soothe the longing for us. Let the Church of God therefore be addressed, and be taught to say what we were just saying: Give us help from trouble, for vain is the salvation of man. So that perhaps the meaning of the psalm does not even allow us to make an excuse of sickness, if indeed affliction is a provider of help, and not a cause of weakness. For those, therefore, who were cast off on account of their sins, and then through God's love for mankind were received again, it is opportune to say: O God, you have cast us off, and you have destroyed us; you were angry, and you have had compassion on us. Rather, since the discourse has fallen into a sequence with the meaning of the psalm, come, let us moderately touch upon its interpretation. The history of the psalm before us, literally, according to the inscription, is not yet found anywhere among the divinely inspired histories; however, things equivalent to it will be found by those who diligently search in the second book of Kings, in which it is written: And David smote Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to establish his hand upon the river Euphrates. And David took from him a thousand chariots, and seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen. And David hamstrung all the chariot horses, and there remained of them one hundred 29.461 chariots. And after a little bit it says: And David reigned over Israel, and David was doing judgment and justice, and Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army. And after a little: And the children of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Beth-rehob, and the Syrians of Zobah, twenty thousand men; and Joab saw that the front of the battle was against him, and he chose from all the sons of Israel, and they arrayed themselves against Syria. And the servants of Hadadezer saw that they were smitten before Israel, and they defected to Israel, and served them. In this passage of the history we find the inscription of the psalm corresponds; except that the time of this inscription is when David was at his most brilliant and most illustrious in his deeds of valor in war. So that of the inquiry

79

περὶ Θεοῦ ἐν νοίας ὑπαίτιος, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ τούτων πρὸς τὴν ἀπώλειαν ταύτην καθηγησάμενος. Τοιοῦτοι δὲ οἱ καὶ τὴν προ γόνων κακίαν διαδεξάμενοι, καὶ δυσέκνιπτον ἔχοντες, διὰ τὸ χρονίῳ ἔθει βεβαιωθῆναι. Ἕως αἰῶνος οὐκ ὄψεται φῶς. Πέμπονται γὰρ Εἰς τὸ σκότος τὸ ἐξώ τερον· ἐκεῖ ἔσται ὁ κλαυθμὸς καὶ ὁ βρυγμὸς τῶν ὀδόντων· καὶ τοῦτο κατὰ τὴν δικαίαν κρίσιν τοῦ Θεοῦ ὑπομένουσιν, ἐπειδὴ ἐν τῷ βίῳ τούτῳ, διὰ τοῦ τὰ φαῦλα πράσσειν, ἐμίσουν τὸ φῶς. Ἄνθρω πος, ἐν τιμῇ ὢν, οὐ συνῆκε· παρασυνεβλήθη τοῖς κτήνεσι τοῖς ἀνοήτοις, καὶ ὡμοιώθη αὐτοῖς. Σχε τλιαστικὴ ἡ φωνή. Ἄνθρωπος, ὁ βραχύ τι παρ' ἀγ 29.460 γέλους ἐλαττωθεὶς, περὶ οὗ καὶ ὁ Σολομών φησι· 29.460 Μέγα ἄνθρωπος, καὶ τίμιον ἀνὴρ ἐλεήμων· οὗτος διὰ τὸ μὴ αἰσθανθῆναι τοῦ οἰκείου ἀξιώματος, ἀλλ' ὑποκῦψαι τοῖς πάθεσι τῆς σαρκὸς, Παρασυνεβλήθη τοῖς κτήνεσι τοῖς ἀνοήτοις, καὶ ὡμοιώθη αὐτοῖς.

ΕΙΣ ΤΟΝ ΝΘʹ ΨΑΛΜΟΝ.

Πρὸς τὸ πρόθυμον ἀφορῶντα τῆς ὑμετέρας ἀκοῆς, καὶ τὸ τῆς ἐμαυτοῦ

δυνάμεως ἀσθενὲς, ὑπῆλθέ μέ τις εἰκὼν παιδίου νεανικωτέρου λοιπὸν, οὔπω μέντοι ἀπο γεγαλακτισμένου, διοχλοῦντος δὲ τὴν μητρῴαν θηλὴν ὑπ' ἀῤῥωστίας κατεψυγμένην· ᾧ κἂν αἰσθά νηται ἡ μήτηρ ξηρὰς ἔχουσα τὰς πηγὰς τοῦ γάλα κτος, ἑλκομένη καὶ σπαρασσομένη παρ' αὐτοῦ τὸν μαζὸν ἐπιδίδωσιν· οὐχ ἵνα θρέψῃ τὸ νήπιον, ἀλλ' ἵνα παύσῃ κλαυθμυριζόμενον. Καὶ τοίνυν εἰ καὶ τὰ ἡμέτερα κατεξηραμμένα τῇ μακρᾷ ταύτῃ καὶ ποικίλῃ τοῦ σώματος ἀῤῥωστίᾳ, ὅμως πρόκειται ὑμῖν, οὐκ ἀπόλαυσιν ἀξιόλογον, ἀλλὰ πληροφορίαν τινὰ παρεχόμενα, διότι τῆς ἀγάπης ὑμῶν τὸ ὑπερ βάλλον ἀρκεῖται καὶ μόνῃ τῇ φωνῇ τὸν ἐφ' ἡμῖν πό θον καταπραῧναι. Προσειρήσθω τοίνυν ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ Ἐκκλησία, καὶ διδασκέσθω λέγειν ὅπερ ἀρτίως ἐλέγομεν· ∆ὸς ἡμῖν βοήθειαν ἐκ θλίψεως, καὶ μα ταία σωτηρία ἀνθρώπου. Ὥστε τάχα οὐδὲ τὸ προφα σίζεσθαι ἀῤῥωστίαν ἡμῖν ἡ τοῦ ψαλμοῦ διάνοια συγ χωρεῖ, εἴπερ ἡ θλίψις βοηθείας πρόξενος, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀσθενείας ἐστὶν ἀφορμή. Τοῖς οὖν ἀπωσμένοις διὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας, εἶτα διὰ φιλανθρωπίαν Θεοῦ πάλιν προσδεχθεῖσιν εὔκαιρον λέγειν· Ὁ Θεὸς, ἀπώσω ἡμᾶς, καὶ καθεῖλες ἡμᾶς· ὠργίσθης, καὶ ᾠκτεί ρησας ἡμᾶς. Μᾶλλον δὲ, ἐπειδὴ εἰς ἀκολουθίαν ὁ λό γος τῆς τοῦ ψαλμοῦ διανοίας ἐνέπεσε, δεῦρο μετρίως ἁψώμεθα αὐτοῦ τῆς ἐξηγήσεως. Ἡ ἱστορία τοῦ προκειμένου ψαλμοῦ αὐτολεξεὶ μὲν, κατὰ τὴν ἐπιγραφὴν, οὐδέπω καὶ νῦν εὕρηταί που κειμένη τῶν θεοπνεύστων ἱστοριῶν· τὰ μέντοι ἰσοδυναμοῦντα αὐτῇ τοῖς φιλοπόνως ἐρευνῶσιν ἐν τῇ δευτέρᾳ βίβλῳ τῶν Βασιλειῶν εὑρεθήσεται, ἐν ᾗ γέγραπται· Καὶ ἐπάταξε ∆αβὶδ τὸν Ἀδραζὰρ υἱὸν Ῥαὰβ, βασιλέα Σωβᾶ, πορευομένου αὐτοῦ ἐπιστῆσαι τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὸν ποταμὸν Εὐ φράτην. Καὶ προκατελάβετο ∆αβὶδ τῶν αὐτοῦ χί λια ἅρματα, καὶ ἑπτὰ χιλιάδας ἱππέων, καὶ εἴκο σι χιλιάδας ἀνδρῶν πεζῶν. Καὶ παρέλυσε ∆αβὶδ πάντα τὰ ἅρματα, καὶ ὑπελείπετο ἐξ αὐτῶν ἑκα 29.461 τὸν ἅρματα. Καὶ μετὰ βραχέα λέγει· Καὶ ἐβασί λευσε ∆αβὶδ ἐπὶ Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ ἦν ∆αβὶδ ποιῶν κρίμα καὶ δικαιοσύνην, καὶ Ἰωὰβ υἱὸς Σαρουΐας ἐπὶ τῆς στρατιᾶς. Καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα· Καὶ ἀπέστειλαν οἱ υἱοὶ Ἀμμὼν, καὶ ἐμισθώσαντο τὴν Συρίαν Ῥοὼβ, καὶ τὴν Συρίαν Σωβᾶ εἴκοσι χιλιάδας ἀνδρῶν· καὶ εἶδεν Ἰωὰβ, ὅτι ἐγενήθη πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀντιπρόσωπον τοῦ πολέμου, καὶ ἐπέλεξεν ἐκ πάντων τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ παρετάξαντο ἐξεναντίας Συρίας. Καὶ εἶδον οἱ δοῦλοι Ἀδρα ζὰρ, ὅτι ἔπταισαν ἀπέναντι Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ ηὐτο μόλησαν ἐπὶ Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ ἐδούλευσαν αὐτοῖς. Ταύτῃ τῇ περικοπῇ τῆς ἱστορίας εὑρίσκομεν τὴν ἐπιγραφὴν τοῦ ψαλμοῦ συμβαίνουσαν· πλήν γε ὅτι ὁ χρόνος ἐστὶ τῆς στηλογραφίας ταύτης, καθ' ὃν λαμπρότατος ἑαυτοῦ καὶ περιφανέστατος ἦν ἐν τοῖς κατὰ πόλεμον ἀνδραγαθήμασιν ὁ ∆αβίδ. Ὥστε ζητή σεως