152

he has suffered. For as one saved and freed from the plot of his enemies, not only this, but also having looked upon the destruction of his enemies, he promises to sacrifice and confess to the name of the Lord; and he prophesies these things, predicting them before the outcome of events. For when the Ziphites came to Saul and said, "Behold, David is hidden among us"; while the history concerning them was yet beginning and the Ziphites had just slandered him, then indeed he himself prophesies the ends of the matters, taking things that would someday happen later as having already happened. For this reason he says: "Because from all affliction you have delivered me, and my eye has looked upon my enemies." For these things did happen sometime later; nevertheless, by the foreknowledge of the Holy Spirit, he reports them as having already happened, and gives thanks for them, and promises to sacrifice, and to confess to the Lord, saying: "I will sacrifice to you willingly." But Aquila says, "In willingness, I will sacrifice to you." For since he was homeless and without a city and without a hearth, and made his sojourns in the deserts, he found a new way of sacrifice. And what was this? "In willingness," he says, "I will sacrifice to you." For the willingness and the purpose, through which I will send up the sacrifice to you, is sufficient. For he was not ignorant that God rejects sacrifices through blood and the slaughter of animals, but embraces a rational sacrifice through praise, having already learned, "Offer to God a sacrifice of praise, and pay your vows to the Lord." This sacrifice, therefore, he says, "I will willingly offer to you," dedicating to you my own willingness and my will and my own purpose, and offering to you thanksgiving itself in place of sacrifice. For this reason he adds in succession, saying: "I will confess to your name, O Lord, because it is good;" with confession most clearly in the present context being taken for thanksgiving. For on account of being rescued from every affliction, and his eye having looked upon his enemies, for these things he sends up thanksgivings, and promises to render to God the sacrifices of willingness. TO THE END, IN HYMNS, OF UNDERSTANDING, TO DAVID, 54. Give ear, O God, to my prayer, and do not overlook my supplication. As for the histo 23.472 ry, it would seem that the preceding was said by David during the times he was a fugitive, fleeing from the face of Saul, making his sojourns in the deserts. And so he goes on to say: "Behold, I have gone far in my flight, and I lodged in the desert." And since Saul and those who acted with him plotted against him even to death, he would have said in his own person also, "I was grieved in my meditation, and I was troubled by the voice of the enemy and by the affliction of the sinner." "Because they turned iniquity against me, and in anger they were resentful to me." Now, to fit these things to the person of David is not difficult; but not so the things that follow, in which he adds: "Because I have seen iniquity and strife in the city day and night;" "it will encircle it upon its walls, and iniquity and trouble are in its midst." "And usury and deceit have not departed from its streets." "Because, if an enemy had reproached me, I would have borne it," and what follows. For what city does he wish to signify, in which he has seen these things, which he says he has seen? One could not say from the history. And who was this to whom he spoke, saying: "But you, a man of like soul, my guide and my acquaintance, who together with me sweetened my meals?" For if I were suffering these things from an enemy, he says, or if someone confessing to have hatred for me were doing these things, it would be no wonder; but now, being neither one who hates nor an enemy, but being an intimate and a friend, one of like soul and appointed by me as a guide, having the dignity of a common table, having shared equally with me in one and the same entrance and prayer in the house of God, have you dared such things against me? But that David says these things in his own person, I do not know if it has any reason. For neither was Saul of like soul with him or a friend, or, according to

152

πέπονθεν. Ὡς γὰρ δὴ διασωθεὶς καὶ τῆς τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἐπιβουλῆς ἠλευθερωμένος, οὐ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν ὄλεθρον τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἐπιδὼν, θύειν καὶ ἐξομολογήσασθαι τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ Κυρίου ὑπισχνεῖται· καὶ ταῦτα προλέγει θεσπίζων πρὸ τῆς τῶν πραγμάτων ἐκβάσεως. Ὅτε γὰρ οἱ Ζιφαῖοι ἐλθόντες πρὸς τὸν Σαοὺλ εἶπον· Ἰδοὺ ∆αυῒδ κέκρυπται παρ' ἡμῖν· ἀρχὴν ἔτ' ἐχούσης τῆς κατ' αὐτῶν ἱστορίας καὶ τῶν Ζιφαίων ἄρτι διαβεβληκότων αὐτὸν, τότε δὴ τὰ τέλη τῶν πραγμάτων αὐτὸς θεσπίζει, τὰ ὕστερόν ποτε γενησόμενα προλαμβάνων ὡς ἤδη γεγονότα. ∆ιό φησιν· Ὅτι ἐκ πάσης θλίψεως ἐῤῥύσω με, καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἐχθροῖς μου ἐπεῖδεν ὁ ὀφθαλμός μου. Ταῦτα γὰρ ὕστερον μέν ποτε γέγονεν· ὅμως δὲ προγνώσει τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ὡς ἤδη αὐτὰ γεγονότα ἀπαγγέλλει, καὶ ἐπ' αὐτοῖς εὐχαριστεῖ, καὶ θύσειν ἐπαγγέλλεται, καὶ ἐξομολογήσεσθαι τῷ Κυρίῳ, λέγων· Ἑκουσίως θύσω σοι. Ὁ δὲ Ἀκύλας, Ἐν ἑκοσιασμῷ, φησὶ, θυσιάσω σοι. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἄοικος καὶ ἄπολις καὶ ἀνέστιος ὢν, ἐν ταῖς ἐρήμοις ἐποιεῖτο τὰς διατριβὰς, καινὸν ἐξεῦρε τρόπον θυσίας. Τίς δ' ἦν οὗτος; Ἐν ἑκουσιασμῷ, φησὶ, θυσιάσω σοι. Ἀρκεῖ γὰρ ἡ ἑκουσιότης καὶ ἡ προαίρεσις, δι' ἧς ἀναπέμψω σοι τὴν θυσίαν. Οὐ γὰρ ἠγνόει τὸν Θεὸν παραιτούμενον μὲν τὰς δι' αἱμάτων καὶ ζώων σφαγῆς θυσίας, λογικὴν δὲ θυσίαν τὴν δι' αἰνέσεως ἀσπαζόμενον, ἅτε προμεμαθηκὼς τὸ, Θῦσον τῷ Θεῷ θυσίαν αἰνέσεως, καὶ ἀπόδος τῷ Κυρίῳ τὰς εὐχάς σου. Ταύτην οὖν, φησὶν, ἑκουσίως θύσω σοι τὴν θυσίαν, αὐτὸ τὸ ἐπ' ἐμοὶ ἑκούσιον καὶ τὸ θέλημά μου καὶ τὴν ἐμὴν προαίρεσιν ἀνατιθείς σοι, τήν τε εὐχαριστίαν αὐτὴν ἀντὶ θυσίας σοι προσφέρων. ∆ιὸ συνάπτει ἑξῆς λέγων· Ἐξομολογήσομαι τῷ ὀνόματί σου, Κύριε, ὅτι ἀγαθόν· σαφέστατα ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος τῆς ἐξομολογήσεως ἀντὶ εὐχαριστίας παραλαμβανομένης. Ἐφ' οἷς γὰρ ἐκ πάσης θλίψεως ἐῤῥύσθη, καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἐχθροῖς αὐτοῦ ἐπεῖδεν ὁ ὀφθαλμὸς αὐτοῦ, ἐπὶ τούτοις εὐχαριστίας ἀναπέμπει, καὶ τὰς τοῦ ἑκουσιασμοῦ θυσίας ἐπαγγέλλεται ἀποδώσειν τῷ Θεῷ. ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΤΕΛΟΣ ΕΝ ΥΜΝΟΙΣ, ΣΥΝΕΣΕΩΣ, ΤΩ ∆ΑΥΙ∆ Ν∆ʹ. Ἐνώτισαι, ὁ Θεὸς, τὴν προσευχήν μου, καὶ μὴ ὑπερίδῃς τὴν δέησίν μου. Ὡς μὲν πρὸς τὴν ἱστο 23.472 ρίαν, δόξειεν ἂν τὰ προκείμενα εἰρῆσθαι τῷ ∆αυῒδ καθ' οὓς ἀπεδίδρασκε χρόνους, φεύγων ἀπὸ προσώπου Σαοὺλ, ἐν ταῖς ἐρήμοις τὰς διατριβὰς ποιούμενος. Λέγει δ' οὖν ἑξῆς προϊών· Ἰδοὺ ἐμάκρυνα φυγαδεύων, καὶ ηὐλίσθην ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ. Καὶ ἐπειδὴ μέχρι θανάτου ἐπεβούλευεν αὐτῷ Σαοὺλ καὶ οἱ συμπράττοντες αὐτῷ, εἶπεν ἂν ἐξ οἰκείου προσώπου καὶ τὸ, Ἐλυπήθην ἐν τῇ ἀδολεσχίᾳ μου, καὶ ἐταράχθην ἀπὸ φωνῆς ἐχθροῦ καὶ ἀπὸ θλίψεως ἁμαρτωλοῦ. Ὅτι ἐξέκλιναν ἐπ' ἐμὲ ἀνομίαν, καὶ ἐν ὀργῇ ἐνεκότουν μοι. Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἁρμόσαι τῷ τοῦ ∆αυῒδ προσώπῳ οὐ δυσχερές· οὐ μὴν καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς, ἐν οἷς ἐπιλέγει· Ὅτι εἶδον ἀνομίαν καὶ ἀντιλογίαν ἐν τῇ πόλει ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτός· κυκλώσει αὐτὴν ἐπὶ τὰ τείχη αὐτῆς, καὶ ἀνομία καὶ κόπος ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῆς. Καὶ οὐκ ἐξέλιπεν ἐκ τῶν πλατειῶν αὐτῆς τόκος καὶ δόλος. Ὅτι, εἰ ἐχθρὸς ὠνείδισέ με, ὑπήνεγκα ἂν, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Ποίαν γὰρ πόλιν βούλεται σημαίνειν, ἐφ' ἧς ταῦτα τεθέαται, ἅ φησιν ἑωρακέναι, οὐκ ἂν ἔχοι τις ἀπὸ τῆς ἱστορίας εἰπεῖν. Τίς δὲ οὗτος ἦν ᾧ προσεφώνει λέγων· Σὺ δὲ, ἄνθρωπε ἰσόψυχε, ἡγεμών μου καὶ γνωστέ μου, ὃς ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ ἐγλύκανάς μοι ἐδέσματα; Εἰ μὲν γὰρ ὑπ' ἐχθροῦ ταῦτ' ἔπασχον, φησὶν, ἢ εἰ μῖσος ὁμολογῶν τις ἔχειν πρός με ταῦτ' ἐποίει, οὐδὲν ἦν θαυμαστόν· νυνὶ δὲ οὔτε μισῶν οὔτε ἐχθρὸς, συνήθης δὲ ὢν καὶ φίλος, ἰσόψυχός τε καὶ ἡγεμὼν ὑπ' ἐμοῦ καθεσταμένος, κοινῆς τε τραπέζης ἀξίωμα ἔχων, ἴσον μιᾶς τε καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰσόδου μοι καὶ εὐχῆς κεκοινωνηκὼς, τοιαῦτα εἰς ἐμὲ τετόλμηκας; Ταῦτα δὲ τὸν ∆αυῒδ λέγειν ἐξ οἰκείου προσώπου, οὐκ οἶδ' εἴ τινα ἔχοι λόγον. Οὔτε γὰρ Σαοὺλ ἰσόψυχος αὐτοῦ ἢ φίλος, ἢ, κατὰ