Athanasius of Alexandria, Argument on Psalms

Argumentum in Psalmos

OF SAINT ATHANASIUS, ARCHBISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA, INTRODUCTION TO THE PSALMS.

In the Hebrew book of the Psalms, all were written without the addition of numbering, and in different ways; some are joined together, while others are divided. For instance, the first and the second are joined together in the Hebrew; and again the ninth, joined together among us, is divided into two in the Hebrew. And the whole book of the Psalms is divided into five parts. It should be observed that the order of the Psalms is not composed according to the sequence of the times of the history; but has been changed over many periods, as the book of Kings shows. For since much idolatry had taken hold of the nation of the Jews, they had forgotten the ancestral Scriptures, so that not even the book of the law of Moses was to be found, nor indeed was any of the piety of the fathers preserved among them. So when they also killed the prophets, who were reproving their impieties, for this reason they were first delivered to the Assyrian captivity; and after these things, one of the prophets, having been zealous for their collection, collected the book of the Psalms along with the rest; not finding them all at once, but at different times; and he arranged first those that were first found; for this reason not all of David's are found in order, but in between are also those of the sons of Korah, and of Asaph, and of Solomon, and of Moses, and of Ethan the Israelite, and of Heman, and again of David, found arranged mixed together in 27.57 the book; not according to the times they were spoken, but according to when they were found. You would find the same thing to have happened also in the sections of the prophets. The children of the Hebrews say that the psalms without an inscription after the first and twelfth, and those which have an inscription but do not state whose they are, belong to those whose names are carried in the prefixed inscriptions of the others. But I consider the first and second, being one and the same, to be of David, because all those in the first part of the Psalms are his in succession. For from the third to the 40th, all are inscribed as David's; for which reason the first and the second also seem to me to be by the same. And the book of the Acts of the Apostles confirms this account, in which it is said: 'Lord, you made heaven and earth and the sea, and everything in them.' 'You who spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant David, our father:' 'Why did the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?' For clearly through these words he said that the second psalm is of David. And it is likely that the inscription 'Of David' was suppressed for it, because it has an explicit prophecy about the Lord, in which it is said: 'Against the Lord and against his Anointed.' To which he consistently adds from the person of Christ himself: 'The Lord said to me: You are my Son.' So all the psalms that are transmitted are 150. But some think that all are by the blessed David; but this is not indicated. For all are referred to David; but in the inscriptions it is shown who composed which psalm. For four leaders of songs were chosen, with 288 followers. Therefore, psalms are set alongside the four leaders, as the inscriptions also teach. For whenever it says: A psalm for the sons of Korah, Ethan, Asaph, and Heman, the sons of Korah, Ethan, Asaph, and Heman themselves are singing. When it says, A psalm of Asaph, Asaph himself spoke it; when it says, A psalm of Jeduthun, Jeduthun himself sings it; whenever it says, Of David, it was David himself speaking; but when it says, To David, it is spoken by others concerning David.

Argumentum in Psalmos

ΤΟΥ ΑΓΙΟΥ ΑΘΑΝΑΣΙΟΥ ΑΡΧΙΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΑΛΕ ΞΑΝ∆ΡΕΙΑΣ ΥΠΟΘΕΣΙΣ ΕΙΣ ΤΟΥΣ ΨΑΛ ΜΟΥΣ.

Ἐν τῇ Ἑβραϊκῇ βίβλῳ τῶν Ψαλμῶν ἄνευ τῆς τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ προσθήκης ἀνεγράφησαν οἱ πάντες καὶ διαφόρως· οἱ μέν εἰσι συνημμένοι, οἱ δὲ διῃρημένοι. Αὐ τίκα γοῦν ὁ πρῶτος καὶ ὁ δεύτερος κατὰ τὸ Ἑβραϊκὸν συνημμένοι· καὶ πάλιν ὁ ἔνατος, συνημμένος παρ' ἡμῖν, ἐν τῷ Ἑβραϊκῷ διῄρηται εἰς δύο. Καὶ πᾶσα δὲ ἡ τῶν Ψαλμῶν βίβλος εἰς μέρη πέντε διῄρηται. Παρατηρητέον δὲ, ὅτι μὴ κατὰ ἀκολουθίαν τῶν τῆς ἱστορίας χρόνων ἡ τῶν Ψαλμῶν σύγκειται τάξις· ἐνήλλακται δὲ παρὰ πολλοῖς τοῖς χρόνοις, ὡς ἡ βίβλος τῶν Βασιλειῶν δηλοῖ. Πολλῆς γὰρ εἰδωλολατρείας κατα κρατησάσης τοῦ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους, λήθην αὐτοὺς πεποιῆσθαι τῶν πατρικῶν Γραφῶν, ὡς μηδὲ φαίνεσθαι βίβλον τοῦ Μωσέως νόμου, μηδὲ μὴν τῆς τῶν πατέ ρων εὐσεβείας τι σώζεσθαι παρ' αὐτοῖς. Ὅτε γοῦν καὶ τοὺς προφήτας ἀνῄρουν, διελέγχοντας αὐτῶν τὰς δυσσεβείας, καὶ τούτων ἕνεκα τὸ πρῶτον τῇ τῶν Ἀσσυρίων παρεδόθησαν αἰχμαλωσίᾳ· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτά τινα τῶν προφητῶν, περὶ τῆς συναγωγῆς αὐτῶν ἐσπουδακότα, μετά γε τῶν λοιπῶν καὶ τὴν βίβλον τῶν Ψαλμῶν συναγηοχέναι· οὐκ ἀθρόως εὑρόντα τοὺς πάντας, ἀλλὰ κατὰ διαφόρους χρόνους· κατατάττειν δὲ ἐν πρώτοις τοὺς πρώτους εὑρισκομένους· διὸ μηδὲ τοῦ ∆αυῒδ ἐφεξῆς εὑρίσκεσθαι τοὺς πάντας, ἐν δὲ τῷ μεταξὺ καὶ τῶν υἱῶν Κορὲ, καὶ τοῦ Ἀσὰφ, καὶ Σολο μῶντος, καὶ Μωσέως, Αἰθάμ τε τοῦ Ἰσραηλίτου, καὶ Αἰμὰν, καὶ πάλιν τοῦ ∆αυῒδ, εὑρίσκεσθαι ἀναμὶξ ἐν 27.57 τῇ βίβλῳ τεταγμένους· οὐ καθ' οὓς ἐλέχθησαν χρό νους, ἀλλὰ καθ' οὓς εὕραντο. Τὸ δ' αὐτὸ εὕροις γε γενημένον καὶ ἐν ταῖς τῶν προφητῶν περικοπαῖς. Τοὺς δὲ μετὰ τὸν πρῶτον καὶ δωδέκατον ἀνεπιγρά φους ψαλμοὺς, καὶ τοὺς ἐπιγραφὴν ἔχοντας, οὐ δηλοῦντας τίνος εἰσὶν, ἐκείνων εἶναι παῖδες Ἑβραίων φασὶ, ὧν τοὔνομα φέρεται ἐν ταῖς τῶν ἀνεπιγράφων προτεταγμέναις. Τὸν δὲ πρῶτον καὶ δεύτερον, ἕνα ὄντας ἄμφω, τοῦ ∆αυῒδ ὑπάρχειν ἡγοῦμαι, διὰ τὸ πάν τας τοὺς ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ μέρει τῶν Ψαλμῶν ἐφεξῆς αὐτοῦ εἶναι. Ἀπὸ γοῦν τοῦ τρίτου μέχρι τοῦ μʹ τοῦ ∆αυῒδ ἐπιγράφονται οἱ πάντες· διό μοι δοκοῦσιν ὑπάρ χειν τοῦ αὐτοῦ ὅ τε πρῶτος καὶ ὁ δεύτερος. Πιστοῦ ται δὲ λόγον ἡ τῶν Πράξεων τῶν ἀποστόλων βίβλος, ἐν ᾗ εἴρηται· ∆έσποτα, σὺ ἐποίησας τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν, καὶ τὴν θάλασσαν, καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐν αὐτοῖς· ὁ τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν διὰ Πνεύματος ἁγίου στόματος παιδός σου ∆αυῒδ εἰπών· Ἵνα τί ἐφρύαξαν ἔθνη, καὶ λαοὶ ἐμελέτησαν κενά; Σα φῶς γὰρ διὰ τούτων τὸν βʹ ψαλμὸν τοῦ ∆αυῒδ ἔφησεν εἶναι. Ἀποσεσιωπῆσθαι δὲ εἰκὸς ἐπ' αὐτὸν τὴν τοῦ ∆αυῒδ προγραφὴν, διὰ τὸ γυμνὴν ἔχειν περὶ τοῦ Κυ ρίου προφητείαν, ἐν ᾗ εἴρηται· Κατὰ τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ κατὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ αὐτοῦ. Οἷς ἀκολούθως ἐπιλέγει ἐξ αὐτοῦ τοῦ προσώπου τοῦ Χριστοῦ τό· Κύριος εἶπε πρὸς μέ· Υἱός μου εἶ σύ. Φέρονται τοίνυν ψαλμοὶ οἱ πάντες ρνʹ. Τινὲς δὲ νομίζουσι τοὺς πάντας εἶναι τοῦ μακαρίου ∆αυΐδ· οὐ σημαίνεται δὲ τοῦτο. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ πάντες ἀναφέρονται τοῦ ∆αυΐδ· ἐν δὲ ταῖς ἐπιγραφαῖς δείκνυται τίς τίνος ψαλμὸς γεγένηται. Τέσσαρες γὰρ ἄρχοντες ᾠδῶν ἐξελέγησαν, σπηʹ ἀκόλουθοι. Τῶν οὖν τεσσάρων ἀρχόντων παράκεινται ψαλμοὶ, ὡς καὶ αἱ ἐπιγραφαὶ διδάσκουσιν. Ὁπόταν γὰρ λέγῃ· Ψαλμὸς τοῖς υἱοῖς Κορὲ, Αἰθὰν, Ἀσὰφ, καὶ Αἰμάν· αὐτοὶ ψάλλουσιν οἱ υἱοὶ Κορὲ, Αἰθὰν, Ἀσὰφ, καὶ Αἰμάν. Ὅταν εἴπῃ, Ψαλμὸς τοῦ Ἀσὰφ, αὐτὸς εἶπεν ὁ Ἀσάφ· ὅταν εἴπῃ, Ψαλμὸς τοῦ Ἰδιθοὺμ, αὐτὸς ψάλλει Ἰδιθούμ· ὁπόταν εἴπῃ, τοῦ ∆αυῒδ, αὐτὸς λέγων ἦν ∆αυΐδ· ἐπὰν δὲ λέγῃ, τῷ ∆αυῒδ, ὑφ' ἑτέρων λέγεται εἰς τὸν ∆αυΐδ.