731the persecuting enemies, and humiliated those who do not fall under our sight; yet not for the sake of the Jews: for the horn of the demons is still exalted over them; but they were humiliated for the sake of us Gentiles, who have denied them our servitude and destroyed their worship. Therefore, God, being angered with the Jews, set them as His own enemies, as the following points out: 16. The enemies of the Lord have lied to Him, and their time shall be for the ages. Which enemies? Those of whom Paul spoke: The enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction (Phil. 3:18-19). And therefore, he threatened that their time, that is, of the vengeance to be inflicted upon them, would be in the future age. And in what did they lie? Because He came unto them as to His own, and His own, as John says, did not receive Him (John 1:11). Moreover, He reproaches them, narrating the benefits with which they were gifted while remaining ungrateful, indicating this through sensible things by means of spiritual ones. For he calls grain "fat" because of the Spirit inhabiting the letter: wherefore in another Psalm he says, Who makes your borders peace, and satisfies you with the fat of grain (Ps. 147:14). What that is, he teaches in the following: Who sends forth His word to the earth (ibid. v. 15). For he calls the prophets "honey from the rock," since they have prophecy from Christ, who is the rock, with which God sated them, providing not one prophet or another, but many throughout many generations.
Interpretation of Psalm LXXXI
The inscription of the Psalm is brief: for it contains this theme, an exhortation to justice and a rebuke, because they do not adhere to these things. *God stood in the assembly of the gods, and in the midst He judges the gods.* This is a great demonstration of God’s liberality toward us, because the Creator imparted His own appellation to His handiwork. And He Himself, being called God by excellence, granted this grace to some, that they should be called likewise; namely, to those who hold and guard the dignity of authority according to the zeal of God, the prince of all. Wherefore, He now called those gods who were preeminent among the people, of whom also Moses said: You shall not revile the gods, and you shall not speak evil of the ruler of your people (Exod. 22:28). But among these, He honors with such dignity those who are truthful, and who do not feign their dignity, and who hold the dignity of prophecy, or priesthood, or the command of armies, that He stands in their assembly, as the psalmist says; but those who have done unworthy deeds despite the honor bestowed upon them, He judges in the midst, that is, in the sight of all creation, stripping them entirely of their dignity and state, and exposing them, because when they ought to have governed, they subjected themselves to the dominion of wickedness; whom the prophet now rebukes, now exhorts in the following. 2. *How long will you judge with iniquity, and accept the persons of sinners?* Beautifully he prefixed "How long," showing that they persist for a long time in iniquity and do not perceive the tolerance of God; and in no way do they consider that time passes and elapses, after which vengeance will seize the wicked: therefore they judge iniquity, and accept the persons of sinners, when it would be necessary for the judgment of God to stand everywhere, who desires justice, and therefore represents His own face in every judgment: so that Moses might say: You shall not accept a person in judgment, for the judgment is the Lord's (Deut. 1:17). But why does he say, *You accept the persons of sinners*? Because everyone who studies to corrupt justice, and strives to carry out judgment against his neighbor, is truly a sinner, even if he presents the appearance of a just person. He introduced the *Diapsalma*, because he changes the rebuke into counsel. 3. *Judge for the orphan and the beggar, justify the humble and the poor.* He does not say, "Judge for the just man," nor for the prophet, nor for the priest, of whom God thus commands: Touch not my anointed, and do not malign my prophets (Ps. 104:15). But he says, *for the orphan, for the beggar, for the humble, for the poor.* Why? Because it is fitting for them to receive injury, as Paul says: Why do you not rather accept injury? Why do you not rather suffer fraud (1 Cor. 6:7)? But for these, it is intolerable to suffer injury, on account of their infirmity, whether from age or from poverty: wherefore the legislator patronizes them the more vehemently. 4. *Rescue the poor, and deliver the needy from the hand of the sinner.* He speaks as if of wild beasts, of those who delight in injustice and avarice, wherefore elsewhere he says: He lies in wait in secret as a lion in his cave: he lies in wait to seize the poor (Ps. 10:9). And so, he who preserves the beggar receives the dignity and reward of a shepherd; of that shepherd, I say, who, giving Himself for us, rescued us from spiritual beasts; but he who seizes and devastates is numbered among the beasts. But that he might increase the patronage for those affected by injury in our midst, he added, *Deliver from the hand of the sinner*, so that we might hasten to their defense if ever we see someone inflicting injury upon a weak person, and being without compassion. For the sinner is weak, as one who strikes against God; and he is without compassion, because he does not even spare himself, let alone another. 5. *They knew not nor understood, they walk in darkness.* What did they not know? The fleeting state of the present life, the instability of human life; because they add field to field, house to house, and often accumulate wealth for their enemies. And what did they not understand? That they, occupied with the smallest things, defraud themselves of the greater; wherefore they walk in the darkness of iniquity, blushing to approach the light: *For everyone who does evil hates the light* (John 3:20), as Paul says. Therefore, perhaps he also rebukes them, because they, walking in darkness, have not known nor understood what follows. What is that? Hear: *All the foundations of the earth shall be moved.* But if the foundations of the earth are moved, how will they be able to remain upon it? Since these things are so, why do we defraud our brother, why do we consume the needy, when no fruit arises for us from this? 6. *I said, You are gods, and all of you are sons of the Most High.* 7. *But you shall die like men, and like one of the princes you shall fall.* When did He declare that all are gods and sons of the Almighty? For he is no longer speaking only of princes, but of the whole human race. Certainly, when God fashioned man, He gave such a definition of his dignity: *Let us make man according to our image and likeness; and let them have dominion over all the fish of the sea, and the birds of the heaven, and the beasts, and all the earth, and all the reptiles* (Gen. 1:26). But if they had guarded this, and had not betrayed the image of God by disobedience, they would not have been condemned to death. For it is an affront to God to ignore His majesty, and to suffer the same things as the devil. Wherefore he says, *You shall die as men*, showing that death is a human affliction. Nevertheless, it was possible not to die, if we had guarded God's law from the beginning; for our nature would have possessed both. *Like one*, he says, *of the princes you shall fall*, indicating the devil, who was allotted a prince's power among the angels: wherefore Paul says: *Our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against principalities and powers* (Eph. 6:12); but, inflated and desiring greater things, he fell. The same thing happened to man; for when he had heard these words of the serpent: *For God knows that on whatever day you eat from it, namely the tree, your eyes will be opened, and you will be as gods, knowing good and evil* (Gen. 3:5), he gave himself over to disobedience, whence it necessarily followed that he fell into ruin, a fall owed to the sickness of his soul. 8. *Arise, O God, judge the earth, for You shall inherit among all the nations.* The prophet therefore indicates not a present inheritance, but a future one; therefore he asks God to arise and judge the earth, that is, man: but when He arises, He shall inherit among all the nations. For He gives to all their fitting lot; one to the humble, another to the temperate; this to the beneficent, that to the adulterous, another to the proud, another to the avaricious: for in the present, he called the nations not a diversity of languages, but of lives.A B C D