EXPOSITION ON PSALM CXXXVIII
A [†1] Lord, thou hast proved me, and known me. What do you say? Does God know only after He has proved, and not before He has proved? Far from it! For how could He who knows all things before they come into existence not know? But that expression, “Thou hast proved me,” signifies, “Thou hast known me perfectly.” For just as the Apostle, when he says that He searches the hearts (Rom. viii. 27), does not say this to signify ignorance, but perfect knowledge; so too here, when he says, “Thou hast proved me,” he signifies most evident knowledge, that is, “Thou hast known me perfectly.”
2. Thou hast known my sitting and my rising up. By “sitting and rising up” he signifies every activity of life; for our entire life consists in these things: deeds, operations, entrances, and exits. Then, since he had said in the beginning, “Thou hast proved me,” (lest someone rather inconsiderate might think that He knows from trial or from the experience of things), because he had said, “Thou hast known my sitting and my rising up,” see how he corrects this by what he subjoins, saying:
3. Thou hast understood my thoughts from afar. For by this he signifies that He does not know through trial, nor has He need to prove, but knows all things by His own faculty of foreknowledge. For He who knows the thoughts that are placed within the mind has no need to prove them by deeds. And yet, he does not only know them while they are being pondered in the mind, but also before they begin to be pondered; and not only before they begin, but even long before that time. Wishing to signify this, he subjoined, “Thou hast understood my thoughts from afar.” If, therefore, God even knows the thoughts, why does He introduce that proof which is made through deeds? Not that He might learn this Himself, but that He might render those who endure them proved. For He had known Job before the experience, and therefore He testified to this, saying: “A man just, true, pious” (Job ii. 3). But He introduced the experience that He might both render him stronger, and refute the wickedness of the devil, and by his example render others better. And why do you wonder if He has done this in the case of Job, since He does the same even in the case of sinners? For He openly knew that the Ninevites were not worthy to perish, but that by repentance they would become better; yet He introduces the B trial even through events; and everywhere He provides many most evident proofs of His care and providence, not being content with His own knowledge. [†2] For this reason, the Only-Begotten also said: “If I do not the works of my Father, do not believe me; but if I do, even if you do not believe me, believe the works” (John x. 37-38). For many, being dull of understanding and having almost no sense, say many things of this sort—namely, that He chose this one, He loved that one, He hated the other, and because of this one turned out evil and the other good. From these events themselves He persuades them, correcting the opinion of each one of these, and bringing forward into the midst the proof through works. He declares, indeed, even before the things come to pass, who is endowed with virtue, so that they may understand His faculty of foreknowledge; but He adds also the proof which is made through works, lest someone rather inconsiderate should say that He is such because of foreknowledge. Furthermore, see how Paul signifies this, saying: “For when they were not yet born, nor had done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might remain, not of works, but of Him that calleth, it was said to him: The elder shall serve the younger” (Rom. ix. 11-12). For one must not await the outcome of deeds, but even before them He Himself knows who is to be evil and who is not to be such.
My path and my cord thou hast investigated, 4. and all my ways thou hast foreseen. Just as he calls the deeds of life “sitting and rising up” from common usage—for we also often say, “This man knows how he sits and how he rises,” testifying to his perfect knowledge—so here also he calls his entire life his “path and cord.” And therefore he subjoins: “And all my ways thou hast foreseen.” Furthermore, that word, “investigated,” is not that of one who seeks, nor of one who searches, but of one who knows perfectly. Showing this, he subjoined, “Thou hast foreseen”: that is, before they happened, thou knewest all deeds, both good and bad. “Because there is no deceit in my tongue.” Another says, “Contradiction.” This is the greatest indication of virtue, this is the sum of good things, this is what Christ most requires, saying: “Unless you be converted and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. xviii. 3), signifying simplicity, innocence, and removal from all deceit and simulation. Wherefore He chose the unlearned and the simple, and said: “I confess to thee, O Father, because thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to little ones” (Matt. xi. 25). But see: He did not say, “Because I received and ejected deceit”; but, “Because it never was, nor did this disease ever take hold of my tongue, nor was there ever any entrance for this vice to me.”
5. Behold, O Lord, thou hast known all the newest and the ancient. Not only the thoughts, he says, dost thou know, nor the actions, nor my ways, but all things that have been and are to be. “Thou hast formed me and hast placed thy hand upon me.” From the faculty of foreknowledge he passed to the power of creating, and again from the power of creating to the faculty of foreknowledge. For He not only made us when we were not, but He also holds authority over those already made. C God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, last of all in these days hath spoken to us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things. Then, subjoining, he also mentions the creation: “By whom also he made the worlds” (Heb. i. 1-2). And when he had discoursed concerning His substance, and had said, “Who being the brightness of his glory and the figure of his substance” (ibid. v. 3), he shows also His faculty of foreknowledge, saying: “And upholding all things by the word of his power.” And writing to the Colossians, he said these same things again: “For in him were all things created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominations, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him and in him” D
A, he is before all. This pertains to his creation. Then, declaring his providence, he adds: “And all things consist in him.” The same John, indicating both these things again, said: “All things were made by him, and without him was made nothing.” By this he meant to show the creation. Then the providence: “The life was, and the life was the light of men.” This the prophet also implies here when he says: “Thou hast fashioned me.” This is of the creation. He also stated that which is of providence: “And thou hast laid thy hand upon me.” What is “thou hast laid”? Thou holdest together, thou sustainest, thou supportest. This is what Paul also declares when he says: “For in him we live, and move, and are.” For we do not depend on his power only in coming to be, but also in existing and remaining. B “Thy knowledge is become wonderful from me, it is become great, I cannot reach to it.” Another says: “It surpasses me.” Instead of “it is become great,” another says: “It has been exalted.” What he says is this: “Both I enjoy thy providence, and knowing that thou knowest all things, and that thou madest me from nothing, yet I am unable to have an accurate and clear knowledge of thee in all things; but it is become wonderful,” that is, it surpassed me, it was exalted above me, it became stronger than to be grasped by my reason; so it is wonderful, so it is great. What then, if it is wonderful and great, can it be grasped? By no means. For this reason he added: “I cannot reach to it,” so that you may not say this. And when he speaks of “knowledge,” he does not mean that I am ignorant of God, but that I do not know a perfect and clear knowledge concerning him. This is what Paul says: That he exists we know, but what he is in his essence we do not know; for he that comes to God must believe that he exists. And he did not say “what he is in his essence”; for this is known to no one. That he is loving toward mankind we know, that he is good, that he is kind; but how much, we do not know. But this man, having passed over these things, proposes another thing that seems to be easier, and he says that he is ignorant of this as well. For I do not say, he says, “what he is in his essence,” nor “how great his goodness is”—for it is acknowledged that these are incomprehensible—but not even how he is everywhere can I say, but even this is above our comprehension. C Therefore, having said, “Thy knowledge is become wonderful from me,” he added: “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? and whither shall I flee from thy face? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I descend into hell, thou art present. If I take my wings early in the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea.” Another says: “If I remain.” “For even there,” (another says: “For there”) “thy hand shall lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.” By “spirit” and “face” he means God himself. That is to say: “Whither shall I go from thee? Thou fillest all things, art present to all, not in part, but entirely with all at once.” And having said the things above, the things below, the breadth, length, depth, height, he declares that he is present everywhere. And he did not say: “Wherever I shall go, you will follow me and hold me,” but: “Wherever I shall go, there art thou”; that is: “There I find thee forestalling me.” D Therefore he says: “Thy knowledge is become wonderful from me.” And if thou dost not know it accurately, he says, how dost thou know that it is wonderful? Because it surpasses my reason, because it conquers my mind. Since even the solar ray we are not able to perceive clearly, and yet through this we marvel at it most; thus it is even with the knowledge of God; we are not altogether ignorant of it; for we know that he exists, and that he is loving toward mankind, and that he is good, and that he is kind, and gentle, and that he is everywhere; but what he exists as in his essence, or how great the things mentioned are, or how he is everywhere, this we are ignorant of. Having therefore said the things from which “Thy knowledge is become wonderful,” and having proclaimed his foreknowledge, his creative power, his providential care, his incomprehensibility, and the ineffable nature of his essence, he relates another of his powers, and one that is full of much difficulty if it should be searched out by human reason. For this too is incomprehensible. What then is this? That, “For even there thy hand shall lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.” That is to say: that it is possible for men who have fallen into calamities not to be permitted to be seized by the calamities, while being in the very midst of the calamities. 3. Interpreting this, therefore, he added: “And I said: Perhaps darkness shall cover me, and night shall be light in my delight. Because darkness shall not be obscured from thee, and night shall be light as the day: as its darkness, so its light.” Having said the things above which I have enumerated, and with them not only that he is present everywhere, but that he also leads the way and secures and fortifies, he adds further, and in this showing the paradox, that he not only fortifies and secures, but that he is even above the nature of the things themselves. For having said that his right hand shall hold me, and that he shall lead me, he added: “And I said: Perhaps darkness shall cover me.” Another says: “If I say, perhaps darkness will overshadow me.” Another: “It will conceal me.” Darkness here signifies affliction. A What he says is this: “I was surrounded by calamities, and I said within myself that calamities would overcome me.” For this is “darkness shall cover me.” Another says: “Darkness will conceal me.” “And night shall be light in my delight.” Another: “A bright night around me.” And what is this? I, he says, indeed said these things, reasoning from the nature of the things; but suddenly the calamities were changed into good things; or rather, not that the calamities were changed into good things, but that while the calamities remained, I enjoyed much of his goodness. For he did not say that the night disappeared, but that the night was bright; that is, the night remaining night—and it is clear that the calamities and disasters (for these he signifies by the name of night)—did not have the power to overwhelm me, but there was light in the night, that is, a help in my vicinity. For contrary things happen and appear in the midst of contrary things when God wills it. Or have you not seen an ardent furnace, and for it...
not to be extinguished, and for it (the dew) not to be dried, and for the hail and the flame to exist together? Whence then, tell me, has this come to pass? And how has it come to pass? I wish to know. B Or rather, I do not even wish to know the way—nor is it possible—but I believe the One who has brought it to pass, and I worship Him who made it. For most of His works are hidden and arcane. Did you not see that when it was day, the Egyptians were groping as in darkness, and while darkness occupied everything, the Israelites saw? And when they were again in the beginning of darkness, light shone for them in the midst? For the Lord of the nature of things is He who made nature, not so that He produces things that are not, but so that He causes those things abiding in nature to appear otherwise. "For darkness will not be darkened from thee." Another: "With thee." "And night as day shall be illuminated." Another: "But night also shall appear as day." "As are its darkness, so is its light." Another: "Its darkness and its light are alike." He rightly said, "From thee," that is, "With thee," signifying that if You will, darkness will not be darkness, but will show the things of light. And therefore He added, "Night as day shall be illuminated," rendering more clearly what precedes, and this indicates: what things are of the day, the night will show, no differently than those things which are its own. When God wills, the operation of the elements is turned into contraries, C just as easily as to the things properly attributed to them in the beginning. If you will it, so will the night be, and it will have light attributed to it just as it has darkness. Wherefore, also signifying this, He added: "As its darkness, so its light." These things are indeed properly spoken concerning the elements, but metaphorically also concerning things. From which it is shown that God is able to bring such rest and refreshment to those who fall into afflictions, as those have who enjoy favorable circumstances, inasmuch as He takes care of the affliction. For this is the incredible and greater-than-opinion thing, which also happened in the case of Joseph. For he would not have been so happy in his success, nor would he have attained so much honor living in his father's house, as he did having been sold and educated in a barbarian house. D For by the very plotters the diadem was being woven for him, and the purple was being prepared, and from the occasion of disgrace, the cause of honor and royalty proceeded for him. Have you seen how we have interpreted, "Night as day will be illuminated"? Moreover, regarding, "As its darkness, so its light," it is necessary to say the same thing: as the former is, so also shall this be, not only in appearance, but with your Lord changing the natures of things. 13. "For you possessed my reins, Lord; you took me from my mother's womb." And what kind of connection is this with the things that have been said? A great one indeed, and one that adheres strongly. For since He spoke of such great power of His, He shows next that He uses this power for the utility and benefit of men—for the possessor of a thing takes care of the possessed. Lest indeed any foolish person should say, "And what is this to me, if He is great, and powerful, and endowed with the faculty of foreknowing? Show if we might gain any profit from Him," he added, "You possessed my reins," by the part saying the whole man. This is not a small thing toward the part of the praise of providence, to be God’s possession. For He who possesses, takes care and provides. Wherefore, also signifying this, he adds next what follows, "You took me from my mother's womb." This is: continually You have fortified me, provided for me, taken care of me, and rendered me safe from an early age, from the very swaddling clothes, and as I said, you taught me by the things themselves. 14. "I will confess to you, for you are terrifically magnified; your works are wonderful, and my soul knows it exceedingly." What is this? He says: You fashioned me, but I do not know how you fashioned me; You provide, but I cannot at the same time comprehend the whole providence by reason. You are everywhere, but I do not know even this in what manner. You know the future, and the past, and the hidden things of the mind of men; but I cannot comprehend even this by reason. For You change the natures of things, and You make those abiding to show the contrary, and so again You bring forth contraries, just as though they were proper and attributed to its nature. But inspired by the Spirit, he cried out with a loud voice, saying: "I will confess to you, for you are terrifically magnified," that is, you appeared wonderful, and you are wonderful. "Your works are wonderful, and my soul knows it exceedingly." And what do I say of You, he says, when the things that are done by You have great miracle? Then leaving off pursuing all things, content with his own knowledge, he says: "And my soul knows it exceedingly." It does not know only, but it knows greatly and intensely. But if it knows, how did he say before, "Your knowledge has become wonderful to me, it is strengthened, I shall not be able toward it"? Most greatly; for that indeed was certainly said concerning Himself, but this indeed concerning the works. But if this also is said concerning Himself, we shall say that: He knows Him to be wonderful, great, exalted; but what the substance is (for I shall say the same things again), and in what manner His majesty and magnificence exists, and who the mode of those things which are said is, he is ignorant; but that very ignorance is an argument of knowledge, even if it be wonderful what has been said. For we do not know how great the sea is; and yet on account of this very sea we most know it, because we do not know its measure. But if anyone were to say that he knows its quantity, he is the one who is most ignorant of it. There is, therefore, a profession of knowledge which argues ignorance; and there is an ignorance which bears us witness of knowledge. 15. "My bone was not hidden from you, which you made in secret; and my substance in the lower parts of the earth." He speaks again of His knowledge, and shows Him to know all these things. Therefore he says either that He knows all secrets, or he signifies something else, namely, formulation and creation: When I was being fashioned, indeed, You did not ignore me, but You knew all things, when nature was weaving these things little by little, even though it was working in the secret, and as if in the lowest parts of the earth; yet all things, he says, are naked and open to You. But another interpreter said thus: "My bones were not covered from you, in which I was made in secret." Another: "None of my bones was hidden from you, which you made in secret."
A And another: "My power was not hidden from you, nor my bones, because I was made in secret; I was fashioned in the lowest parts of the earth." All speak to the same effect, namely, that you know me precisely while I am being fashioned, part by part, and you know each one of my members, as well as their growth. Just as Christ also says: "Even the hairs of your head are all numbered" (Luke 12:7). At the same time, the discourse shows us both providence and knowledge. "Your eyes saw my imperfection." Or he says the same thing again: that you knew me even while I was unformed; for another said thus: B "My unformed state your eyes beheld"; or it refers to their actions, namely, that your eyes saw what was not yet done. "And in your book all shall be written; days shall be formed, and there is no one among them." What is said is obscure, but it must be hunted out from the sequence and from the other interpreter. For what he says is of such a nature, agreeing with the former. What was the former? "My unformed state your eyes beheld"; that is, while I had not yet taken shape, while I was still being fashioned, while I was still being woven, even so you saw me as clearly as one who is shaped, as one who is formed, as one who is perfected, and who stands in need of no more days for completion.
And that you may learn that this is the meaning, hear the interpretation of the other: "My unformed state your eyes beheld, with everything written in your book, days being formed, when there was no lack." Together with them, he says, you saw me; just like them you saw me, those who are being fashioned in their days, days in which no day was lacking. He says these things not as if there were a book above, nor as if things were being written, but signifying accurate knowledge through the book, just as when he says: "The Lord heard, and he wrote it in a book" (Mal. 3:16). And again: "The books were opened" (Dan. 7:10).
C "But your friends, O God, are greatly honored by me." Another: "Your companions became precious." It is no small virtue, this, to hold the friends of God in much honor. "You took thought for me," he says, "you brought me forth when I was not, you sustain me, and I offer this as a return: honoring your friends." "Their beginnings were greatly strengthened." That is, they themselves were strengthened. Another says: "How very numerous are their heads!" Which is even clearer; for he adds: "I will count them, and they shall be multiplied beyond the sand." I indeed honor them, but you make them many, and more than the sand; not only many, but also strong. For that is what "they were strengthened" means. He speaks of a twofold prosperity: both the increase in number and the increase in strength. "I have risen, and I am still with you." Another: "I will awake, and I shall be with you forever."
D 5. This is no small sign of virtue, to remain in prosperity while maintaining virtue. Many, at any rate, having enjoyed success, have forgotten. But not I, he says, but even when I have risen—that is, having been delivered from evils—I will always be with you. "If you kill the wicked, O God." He does not say this, that "If you kill, then I will be with you"; for that has been promised even without this; but he asks for this to happen, not to destroy the essence of men, but that he might change them from sin to righteousness. For he did not say, "If you kill men," but, "the wicked." Another, instead of "the wicked," said "transgressors," speaking of the enemies who worship idols. "Men of blood, depart from me." He calls murderous men "men of blood," those who rejoice in slaughter. And this way also is no small one for the increase of virtue: to flee and recoil from the company of such people. Then also the reason: "For you are contentious in your reasonings." Another: "Who spoke against you in a reasoning." Another: "For they provoked you in evil counsel." See that he is not seeking his own, but is recoiling for the sake of the insult against God, and is fleeing company with those others. For this too became the cause of destruction for the Jews: mingling with the wicked. For this reason they also received the law, and were walled off from them by the law, and were commanded to flee intermarriage with them; and when they had gone out of Egypt at that time, they were formed by themselves in the desert for forty years. For this reason the law was called a hedge, as being placed around them on all sides, and restraining company with the wicked; for their character was easily deceived, easily captured, and easily overturned. "They shall take your cities for vanities." Another: "Your rivals were lifted up in vain." Another: "Your enemies." For this reason he flees and recoils, because they were lifted up against the glory of God, because they were acting lawlessly, because they were speaking blasphemous words. "Did I not hate those who hate you, O Lord, and pine away over your enemies? I hated them with a perfect hatred; they became enemies to me."
So also God promised to be an enemy to those who are enemies, and to oppose those who oppose them. For these are the greatest signs of friendship. He himself, therefore, makes a return to God through both. For above he said, "But your friends, O God, are greatly honored by me"; but here, "I have hated those who hate you"; and there with intensity, and here with intensity. For he says not only "I hated," but also, "I pined away." "Test me, O God, and know my heart. Examine me, and know my paths, and see if the way of lawlessness is in me, and guide me in the way everlasting." And yet at the beginning he was saying: "You have tested me, and known me. You have known my sitting and my rising. You understood my reasonings from afar; you investigated my path and my line. And you saw before all my ways. You have known all things, the last and the first." How then here again, as if not yet tested, does he say, "Test me"? You see that he has used human expressions, not that we might remain in their lowliness, but that by gathering the God-befitting meaning through all of them, we might ascend to high thoughts. For to be tested and examined by him is not that he might know his heart who knew all things even before creation, but that we might know—we, who from the outcome of things [alt-version omitted]