338
Therefore, the 59th indicated the fall of the Jewish nation and the calling of the gentiles; for it began by saying, O God, you have rejected us, and have destroyed us; you have been angry, and what follows this. Then, proceeding, it added: Moab is the cauldron of my hope. Over Idumea I will stretch out my shoe; to me the foreigners have become friends; or, have been subjected. Likewise also the 68th, inscribed For those who shall be changed, represents the sufferings of the Savior and the rejection of Israel, saying: Let their table before them become a snare, and a recompense, and a stumbling block. Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, 23.952 and bow down their back always. Pour out your wrath upon them, and let the fury of your wrath overtake them. Let their habitation be desolate, and in their tents let there be no one dwelling; for they persecuted him whom you have struck, and they have added to the pain of my wounds. These, then, are David's. But of the sons of Korah, the 44th, having the inscription For those who shall be changed, offered up a song for the Beloved, whose coming he prophesied and attached to it the calling of the Church from the gentiles, hinting at it in this way: Hear, O daughter, and incline your ear, and forget your people and your father's house. And the king will desire your beauty, for he is your Lord, and they will worship him, the daughter of Tyre with gifts. Therefore, in the same manner, the one at hand, inscribed For those who shall be changed, and offered up to the end, foretells Christ's coming, and the captivity of the Jewish nation and the burning of Jerusalem which it suffered under the Babylonians. First, then, it recounts the exodus of the Jews from Egypt, and their dwelling in the land of the Palestinians; then it connects the siege that later came upon them by the Assyrians and Babylonians, and in addition to these things, it sets out a supplication for the epiphany of Christ; and these things will be shown in detail in the interpretation of the prophecies; but at the beginning the psalm calls upon him who shepherds Israel; and this was the Word of God, as we have often shown by demonstrating that it was not the God who is beyond all things who is recorded to have appeared to Abraham in the form of a man, and to have spoken to Moses, and to have gone before the people in the wilderness; but that this was none other than the one who said in the Gospels: Before Abraham was, I am; and, Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. This very one, then, it now calls upon, saying: You who shepherd Israel, give heed, and the rest, and it entreats that his face shine forth for the common salvation of all, and deems his coming worthy to happen as quickly as possible, saying: Stir up your power, and come to save us. And having said for a third time, Show your face, and we shall be saved, it represents the manner of the epiphany by adding next: Let your hand be upon the man of your right hand, and upon the son of man, whom you have made strong for yourself. For it deems the incorporeal Word of God worthy to bestow his beneficent power upon all through the man of his right hand and through the Son of man. It has therefore made mention of the saving theophany in this way, but it prophesies the fall of Israel as follows, saying: Why have you broken down its hedge?—that is, of the vine, which he brought out of Egypt—and all who pass by the way pluck it. A boar from the forest has ravaged it, and a solitary 23.953 wild beast has fed upon it. It is burnt with fire and dug up. Having gone through these things concerning the vine, it prophesied the desolation of the Jewish nation. Rightly, therefore, in the inscription what is said is also called a testimony; for these things were to be a testimony, and he testified them. Hence with Symmachus and with Aquila
338
οὖν νθʹ ἀπόπτωσιν τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους ἐδήλου καὶ κλῆσιν ἐθνῶν· ἔλεγε δ' οὖν ἀρχόμενος, Ὁ Θεὸς, ἀπώσω ἡμᾶς, καὶ καθεῖλες ἡμᾶς, ὠργίσθης, καὶ τὰ τούτοις ἑξῆς. Εἶτα προϊὼν, ἐπῆγε· Μωὰβ λέβης τῆς ἐλπίδος μου. Ἐπὶ τὴν Ἰδουμαίαν ἐκτενῶ τὸ ὑπόδημά μου, ἐμοὶ ἀλλόφυλοι ἐφιλίασαν· ἢ, ὑπετάγησαν. Ὡσαύτως καὶ ὁ ξηʹ, Ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀλλοιωθησομένων ἐπιγεγραμμένος, τὰ πάθη τοῦ Σωτῆρος καὶ τὴν τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἀποβολὴν παρίστησι λέγων· Γενηθήτω ἡ τράπεζα αὐτῶν ἐνώπιον αὐτῶν εἰς παγίδα καὶ εἰς ἀνταπόδοσιν καὶ εἰς σκάνδαλον. Σκοτισθήτωσαν οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ αὐτῶν τοῦ μὴ βλέπειν, 23.952 καὶ τὸν νῶτον αὐτὸν διαπαντὸς σύγκαμψον. Ἔκχεον ἐπ' αὐτοὺς τὴν ὀργήν σου, καὶ ὁ θυμὸς τῆς ὀργῆς σου καταλάβοι αὐτούς. Γενηθήτω ἡ ἔπαυλις αὐτῶν ἠρημωμένη, καὶ ἐν τοῖς σκηνώμασιν αὐτῶν μὴ ἔστω ὁ κατοικῶν· ὅτι ὃν σὺ ἐπάταξας κατεδίωξαν, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ ἄλγος τῶν τραυμάτων μου προσέθηκαν. Οὗτοι μὲν οὖν οἱ τοῦ ∆αυΐδ. Τῶν δὲ υἱῶν Κορὲ ὁ μδʹ, Ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀλλοιωθησομένων τὴν ἐπιγραφὴν ἔχων, ᾠδὴν ἀνέπεμπε ὑπὲρ τοῦ Ἀγαπητοῦ, οὗ τὴν παρουσίαν θεσπίσας ἐπισυνῆπτε τὴν κλῆσιν τῆς ἐξ ἐθνῶν Ἐκκλησίας τοῦτον αἰνιττόμενος τὸν τρόπον· Ἄκουσον, θύγατερ, καὶ κλῖνον τὸ οὖς σου, καὶ ἐπιλάθου τοῦ λαοῦ σου καὶ τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ πατρός σου. Καὶ ἐπιθυμήσει ὁ βασιλεὺς τοῦ κάλλους σου, ὅτι αὐτός ἐστι Κύριός σου, καὶ προσκυνήσουσιν αὐτῷ, θυγάτηρ Τύρου ἐν δώροις. Κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν οὖν τρόπον καὶ ὁ μετὰ χεῖρας Ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀλλοιωθησομένων ἐπιγεγραμμένος, καὶ εἰς τὸ τέλος ἀναπέμπων, Χριστοῦ παρουσίαν, τοῦ τε Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν καὶ τὸν ἐμπρησμὸν τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ ὃν πέπονθεν ὑπὸ Βαβυλωνίων προαναφωνεῖ. Πρῶτον μὲν οὖν διεξέρχεται τὴν ἀπ' Αἰγύπτου τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἔξοδον, καὶ τὴν κατοίκησιν αὐτῶν τὴν ἐπὶ τῆς τῶν Παλαιστίνων γῆς· ἔπειτα συνάπτει τὴν μετὰ ταῦτα εἰσελθοῦσαν αὐτοῖς πολιορκίαν ὑπὸ Ἀσσυρίων καὶ Βαβυλωνίων καὶ πρὸς τούτοις ἱκετηρίαν ἐκτίθεται ὑπὲρ τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐπιφανείας· ταῦτα δὲ κατὰ μέρος δειχθήσεται ἐν τῇ τῶν προφητευομένων ἑρμηνείᾳ· κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀνακαλεῖται ὁ ψαλμὸς τὸν ποιμαίνοντα τὸν Ἰσραήλ· οὗτος δὲ ἦν ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος, ὡς πολλάκις ἀπεδείξαμεν παριστῶντες, μὴ τὸν ἐπέκεινα τὸν ὅλων Θεὸν εἶναι τὸν ὦφθαι τῷ Ἀβραὰμ ἐν ἀνδρὸς σχήματι ἀναγεγραμμένον, καὶ τῷ Μωϋσεῖ κεχρηματικέναι, καὶ ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ προωδευκέναι τοῦ λαοῦ· εἶναι δὲ τοῦτον οὐδέτερον τοῦ ἐν Εὐαγγελίοις εἰρηκότος· Πρὶν Ἀβραὰμ γενέσθαι ἐγώ εἰμι· καὶ, Ἀβραὰμ ὁ πατὴρ ὑμῶν ἠγαλλιάσατο ἵνα ἴδῃ τὴν ἡμέραν τὴν ἐμὴν, καὶ ἶδε καὶ ἐχάρη. Αὐτὸν δὴ οὖν ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος ἀνακαλεῖται φάσκων· Ὁ ποιμαίνων τὸν Ἰσραὴλ, πρόσχες, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς, ἐπιφάναι τε τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ ὑπὲρ τῆς κοινῆς ἁπάντων σωτηρίας ἀντιβολεῖ, τήν τε παρουσίαν αὐτοῦ ᾗ τάχος γενέσθαι ἀξιοῖ λέγων· Ἐξέγειρον τὴν δυναστείαν σου, καὶ ἐλθὲ, εἰς τὸ σῶσαι ἡμᾶς. Τρίτον δὲ εἰπὼν, Ἐπίφανον τὸ πρόσωπόν σου, καὶ σωθησόμεθα, τὸν τρόπον τῆς ἐπιφανείας παρίστησιν ἑξῆς ἐπιλέγων· Γενηθήτω ἡ χείρ σου ἐπ' ἄνδρα δεξιᾶς σου, καὶ ἐπὶ υἱὸν ἀνθρώπου, ὃν ἐκραταίωσας σεαυτῷ. Τὸν γὰρ ἀσώματον τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγον ἀξιοῖ δι' ἀνδρὸς δεξιᾶς αὐτοῦ καὶ διὰ Υἱοῦ ἀνθρώπου τὴν εὐεργετικὴν αὐτοῦ δύναμιν δωρήσασθαι τοῖς πᾶσι. Τῆς μὲν οὖν σωτηρίου θεοφανείας τὴν μνήμην τοῦτον ἐποιήσατο τὸν τρόπον, τὴν δὲ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἀπόπτωσιν ὡδέπη θεσπίζει λέγων· Ἱνατί καθεῖλες τὸν φραγμὸν αὐτῆς; δηλονότι τῆς ἀμπέλου, ἣν ἐξ Αἰγύπτου μετήγαγε, καὶ τρυγῶσιν αὐτὴν πάντες οἱ παραπορευόμενοι τὴν ὁδόν. Ἐλυμήνατο αὐτὴν ὗς ἐκ δρυμοῦ, καὶ μο 23.953 νιὸς ἄγριος κατενεμήσατο αὐτήν. Ἐμπεπυρισμένη ἐν πυρὶ καὶ κατεσκαμμένη. Ταῦτα περὶ τῆς ἀμπέλου διελθὼν, τὴν τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους ἐθέσπιζεν ἐρημίαν. Εἰκότως οὖν ἐν τῇ προγραφῇ καὶ μαρτύριον κέκληται τὰ λεγόμενα· μαρτύριον γὰρ ταῦτα ἔσεσθαι, καὶ διεμαρτύρατο. Ὅθεν παρὰ τῷ Συμμάχῳ καὶ παρὰ τῷ Ἀκύλᾳ