735 SPURIA. and ashes, as sinners are found to be when God brings his wrath upon them. 16. So you will pursue them in your storm, and in your wrath you will trouble them. He calls the sudden and most vehement commotion of God against those who sin a storm, by which he hopes that they may be cast out and confounded; how this indeed comes to pass has been said in the preceding: that they may be dissipated into minute parts just like stubble; and that they may go into dirt and dust, after the wrath of God has been extinguished like fire. But he prays for this not to their destruction, but that it may turn to their advantage. For what does he add? B ... yours, O Lord. When they have lost that hope for whose sake they neglected hope in God, they will necessarily undergo shame and ignominy, as those who placed trust in vain things, and deemed that which passes away to remain; but being changed, they will seek the name of God, loving his intimacy above all things. But because this does not happen to all sinners in the present life—for some remain in prosperity until the end, others even when prosperity ceases do not turn back to God—hear what he subjoins concerning them: 18. Let them be ashamed and confounded for ever and ever. It is plain that he is speaking of the future age, where sinners are not only confounded, but also confounded and perish suffused with shame, because there they have no time for repentance: for they cannot cloak their shame through repentance; they are ashamed not only of the judge, but also of those in whose presence they undergo judgment, whom perhaps they injured, and against whom they vented their malice in vain. They are necessarily ashamed, seeing them in good things and themselves in evil things. For then, even if they necessarily recognize God, they will be compelled by fear and judgment; but to seek him or to return to him they will not be able, as right and merit demand, as the following verses declare: 19. And let them know that the name to you is Lord, you alone are the Most High over all the earth. Here he speaks of knowledge, not that which is held from the heart and purpose, but necessary confession. For as when we see a sharp sword, we truly recognize it when we experience it; and furthermore, when we confess that fire is hot, we declare that most of all when we draw ourselves near to it: so all unbelievers on the day of judgment will recognize God, and will know that he alone is Most High over all the earth, not as certain impious ones currently think, holding authority divided among idols; and they think because he tolerates for a long time, that he is able to do neither all things nor whatever he wills in all things. Then certainly they will not speak thus: for no longer will tolerance, but justice, be used toward them.
Psalmus LXXXIII
...and Asaph, we have already shown, when we explained David's prophecy in the Psalms; and we have said that "the wine-presses" are the mysteries of the sufferings of Christ, because leaping and treading the wine-press, as if treading death, he fulfilled this. Wherefore we find this Psalm inscribed "Triumphal for the wine-presses" among the other interpreters; but the LXX, "To the end," rightly published it, because Christ is the end of the law, concerning whom these things were said. 2. How beloved are your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! The tabernacles of the Lord are called not only temples, not only oratories, but also all those who strive to have God dwell within them through holiness; much more since Christ has come, who because of his love for men dwells in us. Wherefore John the Theologian wrote: "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us" (John 1:14). These, therefore, are beloved of God, as being inhabited by him; beloved of us, because through them we can approach the inaccessible God. 3. My soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord. Faints, not from infirmity, but from vehemence of love: just as fervent lovers faint when they are separated from their beloveds even for a little while. This the prophet says he endures in the courts of the Lord, whether sensible or spiritual. And with good reason. For there the poor man finds consolation, the one suffering injury finds patience, the one who prospers finds a bridle: we all receive everything, whether as medicines for the diseases of the soul or as spurs strengthening us toward virtue. My heart and my flesh have exulted in the living God. First the heart, then the flesh receives exultation toward God. For if we consecrate the mind to God, the flesh, instructed by it, no longer rejoices in drunkenness, in beds, and in impurity, but exults in the living God, pursuing those things which pertain to true life through philosophy and the hope of the life that is to be hereafter. A monk is like a sparrow.—4. For the sparrow has found a house for itself, and the turtle dove a nest where it may store its young: your altars, O Lord of hosts, my king and my God. You will understand, therefore, by this reasoning, that just as the sparrow finds a house and the turtle dove finds a nest, so we find the altars of God, providing for us a refuge and a covering. But what is more true is that he calls the man who follows monastic philosophy a sparrow. For many things pertain to him which relate to the sparrow: he does not have a house on earth, he is not anxious for the morrow, he does not meditate deceit, he uses humble food; the turtle dove he calls a chaste virgin, because of her chastity and love of solitude, and because of her plaintive voice: for it is consistent that a virgin, she who lives philosophically in widowhood and in tears, should imitate this. These have found nests and houses for themselves, namely the altars of God: there they ought to dwell and nest; dwell, for security; nest, because the fruits and children of virgins and the continent are sanctification, and the mortification of passions, the character of which, together with the incitement, the altars bear. Note well that even this, namely that he calls him Lord of hosts and of heaven, nay of the universe, his king and God, declares that it is permitted to him to have the common good as his own: wherefore he who is contained by nothing deigns to dwell in us. 5. Blessed are those who dwell in your house, O Lord, they shall praise you for ever and ever. The house of God is the law: for there he dwells as if in his own tabernacle; and through it he is present to those who keep the commandments. Those, therefore, who dwell there are blessed: first indeed because they dwell with God; then because they dwell in a place not accessible to snares, but in which there is an accurate distinction of present things, and a clear foreknowledge and cognition of future things. Wherefore those who dwell there shall praise God for ever and ever, having attained the life of angels, who perpetually celebrate God with hymns, and couple the future celebration of his glory with the present. The Diapsalma occupies the middle of the prophecy: because discussing those who exceedingly and perpetually trust in God, he transferred his speech to those who were indeed born for this, but through the help of God and through progress ascended to them. 6. Blessed is the man whose help is with you. Truly indeed: for if he has fallen, he nevertheless rises; if he is a sinner, he is cleansed; if desperate, he shall nevertheless not see death. But hear who this is: He has arranged ascents in his heart. How and by what reason? 7. In the valley of tears, in the place which he has set. He supports these indeed, but others he does not in the least, but he offers patronage to all, to those who offer themselves. Offer themselves, how? In the valley of tears: that is, in the place of repentance. For there God has set for sinners a place of conversion and salvation, saying: "Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. 3:2). ...arranged in his heart, thinking to cross from earth to heaven, not through one step, but through many. Wherefore he said "ascents," not "ascent": for we have need of many virtues and various good deeds, so that, freed from the lowest things, we may receive the highest. What are those? Hear: 8. For the lawgiver will provide blessings; they shall go from virtue to virtue: the God of gods shall be seen in Zion. He refers, therefore, to the evangelical precepts, in which it is to find not one blessing, but many; namely the various beatitudes which Christ brought forth as laws, in which he who attends to himself proceeds from...
(1. Cor. 3. 8). *O Lord God of hosts, blessed is the man who trusts in thee.* With this, the prophet has placed a beautiful seal upon the Psalm, setting hope in God, to whom it is a blessing to cling. For even though one is still being tossed in the storm, this is an unshakable wall. And he who trusts in God trusts in nothing present, but prefers his hope in God above the whole world.
On the end, for the sons of Core, Psalm LXXXIV.
It is necessary, even now, that the Psalm be inscribed *For the end*, or, according to others, *Triumphal*. It contains mysteries regarding the completion of the ages, which are truly triumphal against the devil. 2. *Lord, thou hast been favorable to thy land, thou hast turned away the captivity of Jacob.* What happens to man and to the earth is common. For when the land prospers, man prospers; and when it is disciplined, he is disciplined with it, as he is from it and nurtured by it. Whence what is said here by the prophet can be taken in common; since also the creation, of which the earth is an element, according to Paul, awaits the redemption of our human nature (Rom. 8. 19-22), which the prophet called *favor*, a term taken in general for man, which has been often declared; specifically, however, it refers to those who turned from the Jewish people to Him, whom the prophet called the *captivity of Jacob*. 3. *Thou hast forgiven the iniquities of thy people, thou hast covered all their sins.* Indeed, we reflect upon ourselves in this; for He has forgiven us not one iniquity, but all; and He has covered all our sins through His own philanthropy, just as a physician covers wounds with medicines. He mentioned *iniquities* and *sins* not because he wished to be tautological, but to show that God has forgiven not only the Jews, whose transgressions are called iniquities, as they were under the Law of Moses, but also the Gentiles, whose lapses are called sins, since while they were failing, they sinned by turning their heavenly thoughts toward folly. *Diapsalma* is placed here as a rest for the melody, not without reason, but because the prophet had set forth matters so great that the mind, exhausted by the magnitude of these revelations, needed to rest, both for the sake of a more accurate contemplation of these things. 4. *Thou hast stayed all thy wrath; thou hast turned away from the anger of thy fury.* He stayed the fury not in part, but entirely; not so as to postpone it for a time, but so as to wipe it out completely, leaving no memorial of it—wherefore it is also said that He turned away from the *anger of his fury*; and having turned away from anger, it is clear that He inclined toward philanthropy. But since he set forth things to come as if they were present, using a prophetic character, observe how he turned the prophecy into a prayer, showing that these things have not yet come to pass, but exist in hope. *Convert us, O God of our salvation, and turn away thy anger from us.* Wrath, therefore, is not a passion in God, but a threat made for our benefit. Wherefore, if we repent, He Himself also turns away from wrath and ceases, setting our salvation at great price, so that He even devised many ways and paths for it; and for this reason He is called God of salvation. *Wilt thou be angry with us for ever, or wilt thou extend thy wrath from generation to generation?* It is fearful even now for God to be angry with men, but since for the present He uses long-suffering, the coming wrath is necessarily more fearful. Do not, therefore, let God be angry with us for the whole of this present age, nor transfer the wrath against us from this generation to that which is to come; but let it be extinguished by philanthropy, he prays. And how this happens, and in what way, when we are slow to repent, the following shows. 7. *O God, thou shalt turn and keep us alive, and thy people shall rejoice in thee.* You might say the *turning* of God is the turning He works in us, but strictly, it is that which He Himself turned on our behalf; for he says, *O God, thou shalt turn and keep us alive.* This came to pass clearly when, having become incarnate and having become man, He offered Himself for us, and the turning of us which He wrought for Himself, doing and suffering everything for us, through which He made us alive, and now has prepared His own people—that is, those who believe in Him—both to rejoice and to hold a festival in Him. *Show us, O Lord, thy mercy, and grant us thy salvation.* You see how the Psalmist speaks as a prophet and a servant; for as a prophet he declared the future; but again he prays as a servant for what he as a prophet had reached to respond to. And what does he pray for? That the mercy of God and the salvation might be shown to men, that is, the God Word appearing in the flesh