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not having shared. Through the former, he alludes to Ahithophel, not only having separated, but also having introduced destructive counsels. And others, as is likely, have done these things to him; or rather, the greater part of Israel, and this tribe of Judah itself, campaigned with Absalom. So then, immediately after the slaughter of the patricide, they urged one another to get ahead of the other tribes, and to bring King David back to the palace. 13. "And those who sought my soul used violence. And those who sought my evils spoke vanity, and meditated on deceits all the day." Seeing me stripped of my friends, the enemies continued to weave plots against me, desiring my slaughter. 14, 15. "But I, like a deaf man, did not hear, and like a mute man not opening his mouth. And I became like a man who does not hear, and who does not have reproofs in his mouth." History teaches this more clearly. For when Absalom was blaming his father's verdicts, and drawing the defeated litigants to himself, the blessed David was long-suffering. And when Shimei was reviling him, and striking him with his tongue and hand, he received the insults in silence; and he prevented Abishai, who tried to bring the villain to justice, saying, "Let him curse me, because the Lord has commanded him to curse David." 16, 17. "Because in you, O Lord, I have hoped, you will hear me, O Lord my God. Because I said, Lest my enemies rejoice over me, and when my feet were shaken, they spoke great things against me." Using this endurance, he says, I continued to have my hope in you, and to give my judgment to you, and to beseech you, that I might not become a cause of rejoicing for my enemies, nor my defeat become a pretext for their boasting. 18. "Because I am ready for scourges; and my 80.1144 pain is before me always." My sin, he says, has made me worthy of scourging; therefore I submit myself to the punishments; for I desire healing, being pricked by the pains of sin. 19. "Because I will declare my iniquity, and I will be anxious for my sin." For this reason I also become my own accuser, and I will take every care for my health. 20, 21. "But my enemies live, and have been strengthened more than me; and those who hate me unjustly have been multiplied. Those who repay me evil for good." —"For against you only, he says, have I sinned, O Master, and done what is evil in your sight." But they, having received many kindnesses from me many times, repay me with the opposite, and have acquired a greater strength than me. "They slandered me, because I pursued goodness." Again, through these words he indicates Absalom, slandering his judgments and calling them unjust. And since he was a son striving to become a patricide, he fittingly added; "And they cast me out, the beloved, like a loathsome corpse." For him whom he ought to have loved according to the laws of nature, he loathed like a foul-smelling corpse. And this is also fitting for the ungrateful people, who, having received countless benefits from David, and having become superior to the foreigners through him many times, were shown to be ungrateful toward their benefactor. 22, 23. "Do not forsake me, O Lord my God, do not depart from me. Attend to my help, O Lord of my salvation." Surrounded by so many pains, he says, I beseech you, my God and Master, not to strip me of your usual providence, but to grant me momentum and to bestow salvation.

INTERPRETATION OF THE 38TH PSALM. 1. "For the end, for Idithun; a song for David." Some of the writers

ascribed the psalm to Idithun, and said that he had written this one. But the inscription teaches the opposite, that the psalm is David's, but was given to Idithun to be sung, as he was entrusted with the choir of singers. And 'for the end' directs us, because it bewails the lowliness of human nature, and its

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οὐ μεταδόντες. Αἰνίττεται δὲ διὰ τοῦ προτέρου τὸν Ἀχιτόφελ, οὐ μόνον χωρι σθέντα, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς ὀλεθρίους εἰσενεγκόντα βουλάς. Καὶ ἄλλοι δὲ, ὡς εἰκὸς, ταῦτα δεδράκασιν ἐκείνῳ· μᾶλλον δὲ τὸ πλεῖστον τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ αὕτη δὲ ἡ τοῦ Ἰούδα φυλὴ σὺν τῷ Ἀβεσσαλὼμ ἐστρατεύσατο. Αὐτίκα τοίνυν μετὰ τὴν τοῦ πατρα λοίου σφαγὴν, ἀλλήλοις παρεκελεύοντο φθάσαι τὰς ἄλλας φυλὰς, καὶ ἐπαναγαγεῖν εἰς τὰ βασίλεια τὸν βασιλέα ∆αβίδ. ιγʹ. "Καὶ ἐξεβιάζοντο οἱ ζητοῦντες τὴν ψυχήν μου. Καὶ οἱ ζητοῦντες τὰ κακά μοι ἐλάλησαν μα ταιότητα, καὶ δολιότητας ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν ἐμελέ τησαν." Γεγυμνωμένον με τῶν φίλων οἱ πολέμιοι θεασάμενοι, τὰς κατ' ἐμοῦ ῥάπτοντες διετέλουν ἐπι βουλὰς, τῆς ἐμῆς σφαγῆς ἐφιέμενοι. ιδʹ, ιεʹ. "Ἐγὼ δὲ ὡσεὶ κωφὸς οὐκ ἤκουον, καὶ ὡσεὶ ἄλαλος οὐκ ἀνοίγων τὸ στόμα αὑτοῦ. Καὶ ἐγε νόμην ὡσεὶ ἄνθρωπος οὐκ ἀκούων, καὶ οὐκ ἔχων ἐν τῷ στόματι αὑτοῦ ἐλεγμούς." Τοῦτο ἡ ἱστορία διδάσκει σαφέστερον. Καὶ γὰρ τοῦ Ἀβεσσαλὼμ τοῦ πατρὸς αἰτιωμένου τὰς ψήφους, καὶ πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἐφελκομένου τῶν δικαζομένων τοὺς ἡττωμένους, ὁ μακάριος ἐμακροθύμει ∆αβίδ. Καὶ τοῦ Σεμεεὶ λοιδορουμένου, καὶ γλώττῃ καὶ χειρὶ βάλλοντος, σιγῶν τὰς ὕβρεις ἐδέχετο· καὶ τὸν Ἀβεσσὰ πειρα θέντα δίκας τὸν ἀλιτήριον πράξασθαι διεκώλυεν, εἰρηκὼς, "Ἄφετε αὐτὸν καταρᾶσθαί με, ὅτι Κύ ριος προσέταξεν αὐτὸν καταρᾶσθαι τὸν ∆αβίδ." ιʹ, ιζ. "Ὅτι ἐπὶ σοὶ, Κύριε, ἤλπισα, σὺ εἰσ ακούσῃ, Κύριε ὁ Θεός μου. Ὅτι εἶπον, Μή ποτε ἐπι χαρῶσί μοι οἱ ἐχθροί μου, καὶ ἐν τῷ σαλευθῆναι πόδας μου, ἐπ' ἐμὲ ἐμεγαλοῤῥημόνησαν." Ταύτῃ δὲ, φησὶ, χρώμενος τῇ καρτερίᾳ διετέλουν εἰς σὲ τὴν ἐλπίδα ἔχων, καὶ σοὶ τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ κρίσιν δι δοὺς, καὶ ἱκετεύων, μὴ ἐπίχαρτος γενέσθαι τοῖς πολεμίοις, μηδὲ τὴν ἐμὴν ἧτταν πρόφασιν αὐτοῖς ἀλαζονείας γενέσθαι. ιηʹ. "Ὅτι ἐγὼ εἰς μάστιγας ἕτοιμος· καὶ ἡ 80.1144 ἀλγηδών μου ἐνώπιόν μού ἐστι διὰ παντός." Ἄξιόν με, φησὶ, μαστίγων ἡ ἁμαρτία πεποίηκε· διόπερ ἐμαυτὸν ὑποτίθημι ταῖς τιμωρίαις· ἐφίεμαι γὰρ τῆς θεραπείας, ταῖς τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὀδύναις κεντού μενος. ιθʹ. "Ὅτι τὴν ἀνομίαν μου ἐγὼ ἀναγγελῶ, καὶ μεριμνήσω ὑπὲρ τῆς ἁμαρτίας μου." ∆ιὰ δὲ τοῦτο καὶ κατήγορος ἐμαυτοῦ γίνομαι, καὶ πᾶσαν φροντίδα τῆς ὑγιείας ποιήσομαι. κʹ, καʹ. "Οἱ δὲ ἐχθροί μου ζῶσι, καὶ κεκραταίων ται ὑπὲρ ἐμέ· καὶ ἐπληθύνθησαν οἱ μισοῦντές με ἀδίκως. Οἱ ἀνταποδιδόντες μοι κακὰ ἀντὶ ἀγα θῶν." -"Σοὶ γὰρ, φησὶ, μόνῳ ἥμαρτον, ∆έσποτα, καὶ τὸ πονηρὸν ἐνώπιόν σου ἐποίησα." Ἐκεῖνοι δὲ πολλὰς πολλάκις παρ' ἐμοῦ εὐεργεσίας δεξάμε νοι, τοῖς ἐναντίοις ἀμείβονται, καὶ μείζονά μου προσεκτήσαντο ῥώμην. "Ἐνδιέβαλλόν με, ἐπεὶ κατεδίωκον ἀγαθωσύνην." Πάλιν τὸν Ἀβεσσα λὼμ διὰ τούτων παραδηλοῖ, τὰς κρίσεις αὐτοῦ δια βάλλοντα καὶ ἀδίκους ἀποκαλοῦντα. Καὶ ἐπειδὴ υἱὸς ἦν πατροκτόνος γενέσθαι φιλονεικῶν, εἰκότως ἐπήγαγε· "Καὶ ἀπέῤῥιψάν με τὸν ἀγαπητὸν, ὡς νεκρὸν ἐβδελυγμένον. Ὃν γὰρ ἀγαπᾷν ἔδει κατὰ τοὺς τῆς φύσεως νόμους, τοῦτον ὡς δυσώδη νεκρὸν ἐμυσάττετο. Ἁρμόττει δὲ τοῦτο καὶ τῷ ἀχα ρίστῳ λαῷ, ὃς μυρίας εὐεργεσίας παρὰ τοῦ ∆αβὶδ δεξάμενος, καὶ τῶν ἀλλοφύλων δι' αὐτοῦ κρείττων γενόμενος πολλάκις, ἀγνώμων ἐδείχθη περὶ τὸν εὐεργέτην. κβʹ, κγʹ. "Μὴ ἐγκαταλίπῃς με, Κύριε ὁ Θεός μου, μὴ ἀποστῇς ἀπ' ἐμοῦ. Πρόσχες εἰς τὴν βοήθειάν μου, Κύριε τῆς σωτηρίας μου." Ὑπὸ τοσούτων, φησὶ, περικλυζόμενος ἀλγεινῶν, σὲ τὸν ἐμὸν Θεὸν καὶ ∆εσπότην ἀντιβολῶ, μὴ γυμνῶσαί με τῆς συν ήθους προνοίας, ἀλλὰ μεταδοῦναι ῥοπῆς, καὶ σωτη ρίαν χαρίσασθαι.

ΕΡΜΗΝ. ΤΟΥ ΛΗʹ ΨΑΛΜΟΥ. αʹ. "Εἰς τὸ τέλος, τῷ Ἰδιθούμ· ᾠδὴ τῷ ∆αβίδ." Τινὲς τῶν συγγραφέων τῷ

Ἰδιθοὺμ ἀνέθεσαν τὸν ψαλμὸν, καὶ ἔφασαν αὐτὸν γεγραφέναι τοῦτον. Ἡ δὲ ἐπιγραφὴ τοὐναντίον διδάσκει, ὅτι τοῦ μὲν ∆αβὶδ ὁ ψαλμὸς, τῷ δὲ Ἰδιθοὺμ, ὡς τὸν τῶν ᾀδόντων πεπιστευμένῳ χορὸν, εἰς τὸ ψάλλειν ἐδόθη. Εἰς τὸ τέλος δὲ ἡμᾶς παραπέμπει, ἐπειδὴ τῆς ἀνθρωπί νης φύσεως τραγῳδεῖ τὴν εὐτέλειαν, καὶ τὸ ταύ της