119
to be troubled? why become exceeding sorrowful, when so many good things are expected? For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry, and the light will be sent forth, and the truth will come, and the things prophesied will reach their end; and the end of every word is the salvation of the countenance, my God himself. For when I am counted worthy, standing before God, to behold face to face the salvation, about which there is much discourse throughout all the Scriptures; then indeed I will confess to him as to my God 23.384 and my Savior; and he has rightly joined the light with the truth; for what perceptible light is to the eyes of the body, this truth is to the eyes of the soul gazing intently on the nature of things, and no longer being deceived, but being enlightened through the very comprehension of realities, and receiving a knowledge of the truth. Therefore, the word itself has interpreted the operation of the intelligible light, as being representative of truth. Rightly, therefore, the Savior, delivering these things to his own disciples, taught, saying: I am the light and the truth and the life. And you will fit the end accordingly to each of the remaining versions, whether to those in Babylon who say these things, or to those from the nations who have not yet believed. TO THE END, FOR THE SONS OF KORAH, FOR UNDERSTANDING. 43. But neither do the preceding words contain a psalm according to the inscription, nor a song, nor a hymn, nor any such things; since not even the thoughts conveyed in them partake of such a contemplation; but they are supplications similar to the ones before, and concerning the same subject; I speak of the falling away of the Jewish nation, addressed from the person of the prophets through the sons of Korah. But in the present they clarify, revealing more plainly the thought for which they lamented in the preceding. At any rate, they recount the sufferings that befell the people. Whence they stir us up to understanding, and refer us to the end through the inscription, because these things are to happen at the end, even if the sons of Korah prophesied them as if they had already happened. Through the preceding, therefore, they lamented, and declared their own sorrows to God; but in what follows, the very sufferings themselves are recounted. O God, we have heard with our ears. Instead of: The one commanding the salvations of Jacob, Symmachus has: You are my king; O God, command concerning the salvation of Jacob. In you we will push down our enemies. Those who prosper among the people, and the prophets among them, would say these things, confessing that not by their own power, nor by bow and sword, do they procure salvation for themselves, but by the power of their horn. And the Scripture of Daniel calls kingdoms horns; and the Lord himself has been called the horn of the saints; wherefore it says: In you we will push down our enemies. And in other places it has been said: You are my defender and the horn of my salvation. Therefore he himself is the horn; seek how it is said elsewhere: His praise is above earth and heaven, and he will exalt the horn of his people; as if there is another who exalts the aforementioned horn. See, therefore, if the Word of God, the Lord himself, would not clearly be the horn of the people, and the one who exalts him, the Father who begot him. For since he humbled himself unto death, even death on a cross, therefore God has highly exalted him, according to the Apostle. Trusting, therefore, in this their horn and king, they confess that not by bow, nor by sword, nor by their own virtue will they overcome their enemies, but by the power of their king. Then, since they have possessed the Lord himself as king and horn, 23.385 they rightly say that they will not become subject to their enemies; but that they have been superior to their foes. At any rate, they make this clear, saying: You have saved us from those who afflict us, and have put to shame those who hate us. And since the enemies indeed [received] shame
119
ταράττεσθαι; τί δὲ περίλυπον γίνεσθαι, τοσούτων προσδοκωμένων ἀγαθῶν; Ἔτι γὰρ μικρὸν ὅσον ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἥξει, καὶ οὐ χρονιεῖ, καὶ τὸ φῶς ἀποσταλήσεται, καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια παραγενήσεται, καὶ τὰ προφητευθέντα τέλους τεύξεται· καὶ τέλος παντὸς λόγου τὸ σωτήριόν ἐστι τοῦ προσώπου, αὐτὸς ὁ Θεός μου. Ἐπειδὰν γὰρ καταξιωθῶ, παραστὰς τῷ Θεῷ, πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον ἐποπτεῦσαι τὸ σωτήριον, περὶ οὗ πολὺς ὁ λόγος διὰ πασῶν τῶν Γραφῶν· τότε δὴ αὐτῷ ἐξομολογήσομαι ὡς ἂν Θεῷ 23.384 μου καὶ Σωτῆρί μου· καλῶς δὲ συνῆψε τὸ φῶς τῇ ἀληθείᾳ· ὅπερ γὰρ φῶς αἰσθητὸν ὀφθαλμοῖς σώματος, τοῦτο ἀλήθεια τοῖς τῆς ψυχῆς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἐνατενίζουσι τῇ φύσει τῶν πραγμάτων, καὶ μηκέτι ἀπατωμένοις, δι' αὐτῆς δὲ τῆς τῶν ὄντων καταλήψεως φωτιζομένοις, καὶ γνῶσιν τῆς ἀληθείας ἀναλαμβάνουσιν. Ἡρμήνευσε τοίνυν αὐτὸς ὁ λόγος τοῦ νοητοῦ φωτὸς τὴν ἐνέργειαν, ἀληθείας οὖσαν παραστατικήν. Εἰκότως οὖν ὁ Σωτὴρ ταῦτα παραδιδοὺς τοῖς αὑτοῦ μαθηταῖς ἐδίδασκε λέγων· Ἐγώ εἰμι τὸ φῶς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή. Καὶ ἑκάστῃ δὲ τῶν λοιπῶν ἐκδόσεων ἁρμόσεις ἀκολούθως τὸ τέλος, εἴτε τοῖς ἐν Βαβυλῶνι ταῦτα λέγουσιν, εἴτε τοῖς ἐξ ἐθνῶν μήπω πεπιστευκόσιν. ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΤΕΛΟΣ, ΤΟΙΣ ΥΙΟΙΣ ΚΟΡΕ ΕΙΣ ΣΥΝΕΣΙΝ ΜΓʹ. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ οἱ προκείμενοι λόγοι ψαλμὸν κατὰ τὴν προγραφὴν περιέχουσιν, οὐδὲ ᾠδὴν, οὐδὲ ὕμνον, οὐδέ τι τῶν τοιούτων· ἐπεὶ μηδὲ τὰ τῆς διανοίας τῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς φερομένων τοιαύτης ἔχεται θεωρίας· ἱκετηρίαι δέ εἰσιν ὅμοιαι ταῖς ἔμπροσθεν, καὶ περὶ τῆς αὐτῆς ὑποθέσεως· λέγω δὲ περὶ τῆς ἀποπτώσεως τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους ἐκ προσώπου τῶν προφητῶν προσπεφωνημέναι διὰ τῶν υἱῶν Κορέ. ∆ιασαφοῦσι δ' ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος λευκότερον ἐκφαίνοντες τὴν διάνοιαν, δι' ἣν ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν ἀπεκλαύσαντο. ∆ιεξέρχονται γοῦν τὰ συμβεβηκότα πάθη τῷ λαῷ. Ὅθεν διεγείρουσιν ἡμᾶς εἰς σύνεσιν, καὶ εἰς τὸ τέλος ἀναπέμπουσι διὰ τῆς προγραφῆς, διὰ τὸ μέλλειν ἐπὶ τέλει ταῦτα συμβαίνειν, εἰ καὶ ὡς ἤδη συμβεβηκότα αὐτὰ οἱ υἱοὶ Κορὲ προφητικῶς ἐθέσπιζον. ∆ιὰ μὲν οὖν τῶν ἔμπροσθεν ἀπεκλαύσαντο, καὶ τὰς ἑαυτῶν ἐξήγγειλαν τῷ Θεῷ λύπας· ἐν δὲ τοῖς προκειμένοις καὶ αὐτὰ τὰ πάθη ἐξέρχονται. Ὁ Θεὸς, τοῖς ὠσὶν ἡμῶν ἠκούσαμεν. Ἀντὶ τοῦ· Ὁ ἐντελλόμενος τὰς σωτηρίας Ἰακὼβ, ὁ Σύμμαχος· Σὺ εἶ ὁ βασιλεύς μου· ὁ Θεὸς, ἔντειλαι περὶ τῆς σωτηρίας Ἰακώβ. Ἐν σοὶ τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ἡμῶν κερατιοῦμεν. Οἱ μὲν ἐν τῷ λαῷ κατορθοῦντες, οἵ τε ἐν αὐτῷ προφῆται, ταῦτα ἂν εἴποιεν ὁμολογοῦντες μὴ οἰκείᾳ δυνάμει, μηδὲ τόξῳ καὶ ῥομφαίᾳ ἑαυτοῖς τὰ σωτηρίας περιποιεῖσθαι, τῇ δὲ τοῦ κέρως αὐτῶν δυνάμει. Κέρατα δὲ ἡ τοῦ ∆ανιὴλ Γραφὴ τὰς βασιλείας ὀνομάζει· τῶν δὲ ἁγίων κέρας λέλεκται αὐτὸς ὁ Κύριος· διό φησι· Ἐν σοὶ τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ἡμῶν κερατιοῦμεν. Καὶ ἐν ἑτέροις λέλεκται· Ὑπερασπιστής μου καὶ κέρας σωτηρίας μου εἶ. Τοίνυν αὐτός ἐστι τὸ κέρας· ζήτει ὅπως λέλεκται ἀλλαχοῦ· Ἡ ἐξομολόγησις αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ γῆς καὶ οὐρανοῦ, καὶ ὑψώσει κέρας λαοῦ αὐτοῦ· ὡς ἑτέρου ὄντος τοῦ ὑψοῦντος τὸ προδεδηλωμένον κέρας. Ὅρα οὖν εἰ μὴ σαφῶς ὁ Θεοῦ Λόγος, αὐτὸς ὁ Κύριος, εἴη ἂν τὸ κέρας τοῦ λαοῦ, ὁ δὲ ὑψῶν αὐτὸν ὁ γεννήσας αὐτὸν Πατήρ. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἐταπείνωσεν ἑαυτὸν μέχρι θανάτου, θανάτου δὲ σταυροῦ, διὰ τοῦτο ὁ Θεὸς αὐτὸν ὑπερύψωσε, κατὰ τὸν Ἀπόστολον. Τούτῳ οὖν τῷ κέρατι ἑαυτῶν καὶ τῷ βασιλεῖ θαῤῥοῦντες, ὁμολογοῦσι μὴ τόξῳ, μηδὲ ῥομφαίᾳ, μηδὲ οἰκείᾳ ἀρετῇ τῶν ἐχθρῶν περιγενήσεσθαι, ἀλλὰ τῇ τοῦ βασιλέως αὐτῶν δυνάμει. Εἶτ' ἐπειδὴ βασιλέα καὶ κέρας 23.385 ἐκτήσαντο αὐτὸν τὸν Κύριον, εἰκότως τοῖς ἐχθροῖς μὴ ὑποχείριοι γενήσεσθαί φασι· κρείττους δὲ τῶν πολεμίων ὑπάρξαι. Τοῦτο γοῦν δηλοῦσι λέγοντες· Ἔσωσας ἡμᾶς ἐκ τῶν θλιβόντων ἡμᾶς, καὶ τοὺς μισοῦντας ἡμᾶς κατῄσχυνας. Καὶ ἐπειδήπερ οἱ μὲν ἐχθροὶ αἰσχύνην