753 SPURIA. [lat: 1.1] …mysteries of His palaces. These are in the holy mountains, namely, in Bethlehem, in Golgotha, in the resurrection, in Tabor the mount of transfiguration, in the hill of the assumption. Therefore, they are called holy mountains because they received the sanctification of the Lord’s mysteries. The prophets were also mountains, by reason of the sublimity of their foreknowledge, who possess the foundations of God, that is, the beginnings of divine knowledge. For from them we are instructed in piety. 2. *The Lord loveth the gates of Sion more than all the tabernacles of Jacob.* The tabernacles of Jacob are truly the twelve tribes, or rather Shiloh; for there the ark used to dwell, as also the ancient people of the Jews, where there were also the holy of holies. But He loved the gates of Sion more than all these: for in those He wrought a figure, but here a truth. Moreover, He loveth the gates of Sion, because Sion received Christ with the doors shut; so that these things follow most congruously: 3. *Glorious things are said of thee, O city of God. Diapsalma.* Not only because Christ entered there with the doors shut; but also because, as God, He entered without doors, and as man, He permits Himself to be handled by you. He does not subjoin this rashly, but because He transferred the discourse to the Church of the Gentiles, and at the same time, having removed His own person, the prophet introduces the person of God. 4. *I will be mindful of Rahab and of Babylon, them that know me.* Why does God promise that He will be mindful of Rahab? Rahab, indeed, was a harlot, and Babylon signifies confusion. The following diction opens the reason why He speaks thus; for He says, *Them that know me.* And so, although Rahab, by reason of her fornication, is the Church from the Gentiles, and Babylon signifies confusion by reason of the multitude of idols, yet when she is converted and knows God, she is rightly in God’s memory. For the synagogue of the Jews, because it did not know Him, fell into oblivion. But what fruit Rahab and Babylon, which are held in memory, bring forth unto the memory, the psalmist soon indicates: *And behold the foreigners, and Tyre, and the people of the Ethiopians, these were there.* The rest of the interpreters have published the word, *there were*, more clearly, while others have explained it as, *They were born*, others, *They were brought forth*. For foreigners entirely, and the people of the Ethiopians, who possess the swarthiness and darkness of idolatry, and moreover Tyre, which reigned in error, were born to God through the Church, through the generation, namely, of water and baptism. 5. *Mother Sion shall say: A man.* What shall she say? Truly, those mysteries concerning the Gentiles mentioned above. But he does not say that these are taught by man; for they have Christ as their teacher, concerning whom, namely, as to how He teaches, he adds these things: *And a man was born in her, and the Highest himself hath founded her.* He calls Christ both man and the Highest; man because of the flesh, the Highest because of the divinity. With wonder, therefore, and most clearly, he spoke of the mystery finished by Christ in Sion, when He gave Himself to be handled by the disciples; for then a man was born in her, that is, He appeared, when the Highest Himself founded her, and granted there the grace of the Father; nay rather, He laid as a foundation for Sion faith in Himself, of whom He speaks Himself through the tongue of Isaiah: *Behold, I lay in the foundations of Sion a stone, elect, corner-stone, precious: and he that believeth in him shall not be confounded* (Isai. 28.16). 6. *The Lord shall tell in the writing of the peoples and of these princes who were in her.* Who is the Lord? He who appeared in Sion as man, and founded her as the Highest. This same One tells in the writing of the peoples, that is, in the description of the Gentiles. For He did not say one people, lest they should think it was the people of the Jews; but many, that He might indicate the Gentiles: moreover, he says, *And of these princes who were in her*; he speaks of the apostles: for these were established as princes in Sion. Take the proof of both things. For John wrote that Christ in Sion said to the apostles: *As the Father hath sent me, I also send you* (John 20.21). Clearly, therefore, He established the apostles as princes in those cases; for after this power was given, He sent them into the world. Luke, however, introduced Christ launching the exposition of the mystery in Sion: *Then he opened their mind, that they might understand the Scriptures; and said to them: Thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead the third day, and that penance and remission of sins should be preached in his name unto all nations* (Luke 24.45-47). Behold the description of the peoples; that is, the inheritance of the Gentiles which He received, He added. Rightly, therefore, does not a mere man tell the mysteries to Sion, because the man who is also God and the Highest, He Himself declared all things to her most clearly. The prophet introduced the Diapsalma because, having introduced the person of God, he brings back his own again, wishing to celebrate Sion from his own character. But what does he say? 7. *As the habitation of all that rejoice is in thee.* *As*, that is, *how*. For the prophet wonders at how and how much they rejoice, all who inhabit in Sion, while they call into memory the miracles which were wrought there. Those, however, inhabit there, who lead their life in the Spirit: since Sion is the house of the Spirit.
To the end, for the responding of the word of wisdom of Heman the Israelite
, LXXXVI. You have learned: but here you should consider that the song of the psalm itself is that which must also be mixed with prophecy concerning Christ. You ask also why, *Unto the end, upon Mahalath* is inscribed, which other interpreters have published as, *Triumphal by the choir*. Thus it is manifest that it is not one singer, but that the choir joins in this melody, with the singer Heman the Israelite beginning—a singer, that is, another, to whom the choir responded aptly and wisely. Wherefore it is said in the title, *To the end, for the responding of the word of wisdom of Heman the Israelite*. 2. *O Lord God of my salvation, I have cried by day, and night before thee.* 3. *Let my prayer enter in thy sight.* It is necessary that each of us, praying in the sight of God, that is, according to His good pleasure, pray throughout the whole day and night: if indeed we wish our prayer to enter in His sight, and our supplications to have easy success, so that we may hear: *Thy prayers and thy alms have ascended for a memorial in the sight of God* (Acts 10.31). Because the whole Psalm is written unto Christ, he necessarily called Him the Lord and God of his salvation; he speaks of common salvation: for He considers and calls our salvation, as the first-fruits made for him, the Father. For by His will the Son coming into the world, we were saved. To Him by day he cried often on the mountain; by night in the place of Gethsemani, when he was to be handed over by Judas, that is, he asked the Father with confidence, that his prayer might enter in His sight. What was that? *Father, if this cup cannot pass, except I drink it, thy will be done* (Matth. 26.42). *Incline thy ear to my prayer*. That is, ponder the power of my supplication diligently, or deign to grant these things which I ask: for I do not pray for myself, but for those whose form and figure I have received. 4. *Because my soul is filled with evils*. With which? With human ones; for all the sins that were done. *And my life hath drawn near unto hell*. For those owed death, whose handed-over handwriting I came to deliver. 5. *I am counted with them that go down into the lake*. He says that he is like to those who go down into the lake of death. I seemed as if obnoxious to the debt of death; but the case was not so: as the following things demonstrate. *I am become as a man without help*, 6. *free among the dead*. For he sustained the cross and passion as man, destitute of help, and he did not permit an angel to approach and be present; therefore he says: *A winepress have I trodden alone* (Isai. 63.3): and he rebuked Peter, when he cut off the ear of one of those apprehending the Lord, and said this to him, *Thinkest thou not that I could ask my Father, and he would send me now more than twelve legions of angels? How then shall the scriptures of the prophets be fulfilled, that it must be so?* (Matth. 26.53, 54). Saying these things he showed that he had contracted the power of his own divinity, that the mystery of the dispensation foretold by the prophets might be completed in him. But among the dead he was free, not only as God; but also because he was without sin.A And that sinners are called "wounded" in Scripture, learn from Jeremiah saying: *Who will give to my head water, and to my eyes a fountain of tears? And I will weep for the wounded of the daughter of my people* (Jer. 9, 1). This is clarified also by what is now said by the Psalmist. For he has described not only the wounded, and those cast out from the memory of God and thrust from His hand—those whom Christ says he is considered as being among—but furthermore those who sleep in the grave, those useless and inactive, though he himself was working the resurrection of the dead. B *They set me in the lowest pit, in darkness and in the shadow of death.* See how he preserves the truth of the passion and the dignity of the sufferer. For he is placed, he says, in the lowest pit, since there is nothing deeper than Hades; but also in darkness, in order that through darkness he might hint at the places of death. Yet by "the shadow of death," indicating the transitory nature of the passion, he simultaneously signifies that Christ was the Sun of righteousness, hiding himself for a short while as if under the shadow of death. *Thy wrath is firmly set against me.* Necessarily, since he bore the sins of the race, the wrath against sinners is set upon him; and it was wrath, and a curse was approaching; but having been firmly set upon him, it no longer comes upon the race of men. *And all thy billows thou hast brought upon me.* He calls the things that are on high with God "billows," such as kingship, sanctification, and also the fact that servants are seated with the Master. Just as therefore the things which are humble for our sake, so too the things that are high concerning us the Father necessarily brought upon Christ. For in him we have the enjoyment of these things. And that he calls high things "billows," Jeremiah has clearly given us: for he says thus: *If the heaven be lifted up to the height, saith the Lord* (Jer. 31, 37); that is, if it be higher than it. The *Diapsalma* is added to what has been said, because having mentioned those in the grave and death through the preceding verses, he has now led the discourse to events higher than these—I refer to the betrayal and the cross. *Thou hast put my acquaintances far from me* (v. 8). Luke narrates this in the very same words, where he set forth the history of the cross: *All his acquaintances stood at a distance, and the women who had accompanied him from Galilee, seeing these things* (Luc. 23, 49). *They made me an abomination to themselves.* This was fulfilled in the case of Peter, when in the court of the high priest, having feared those who were saying, *Truly thou also art one of them; for thy speech makes thee manifest,* he began to curse and to swear that *I do not know the man* (Matth. 26, 73-74). *I was delivered, and I did not go forth.* For it was within his power to go forth, that is, to withdraw, since he knew the time of the approach of the Jews, so as to say to the disciples: *Sleep on now, and take your rest; behold, he who betrays me has drawn near* (Matth. 26, 45); yet he voluntarily endured to be delivered. *My eyes have grown weak from poverty; I cried out to thee, O Lord.* He calls the passion "poverty"; whence also Paul says about him: *He became poor for our sakes, being rich* (2 Cor. 8, 9). Therefore, his eyes grew weak because of the passion; for he voluntarily endured human sufferings. And he so weakened his eyes as to cry out: *Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?* (Marc. 15, 34). *All the day I have stretched out my hands to thee*; this is evident on the cross; for the High Priest offering a sacrifice for us, stretching out his hands in the form of prayer, completed the dispensation of the passion. C *Wilt thou perform wonders for the dead? Or shall physicians raise them up, and shall they confess thee?* He has made a discourse here toward the Father, wishing to make known to us the reasons for which his descent to the dead was necessary. And these are, that he does not perform wonders for the dead; for he does not accomplish lightning bolts among them, or thunders; not clear skies after a storm, nor again sudden fragrance after a storm, or other such wonders as he provides to the living from creation; but neither shall physicians raise the dead, that they might behold these things spoken of. How then can those who have died in unbelief confess, or how can they be saved, having heard neither the Law nor the prophets? For they had not heard them. The *Diapsalma* is placed before the following verses by the prophet, the melody of the Spirit having rested for him; yet it holds the same dispensation of words. *Shall anyone tell of thy mercy in the grave, and thy truth in the place of perdition?* For who is a prophet or a lawgiver in the grave, or in the land of perdition? He calls the place of the dead "perdition," naming death thus because of the hopelessness of life. The mercy of God, or his truth—that is, his Law and commandments—or even Christ himself; for he was able to tell of mercy and truth in him, although he was subject to death, because of the sentence pronounced against the whole race. *Shall thy wonders be known in the darkness, and thy righteousness in a land of forgetfulness?* He continues with the same things; for he calls Hades darkness as being lightless; and the same thing he calls a "land of forgetfulness." For those places had not encountered visitation until the descent of the Saviour to the dead. D Whence neither the wonders of God, nor the righteousness—that is, neither the signs nor the Law—were expected to be known among them. And he often cycles through the same words, wishing to show the inescapable dispensation of the passion, as being profitable both to the dead and to the living. *But I cried out to thee, O Lord, and in the morning my prayer shall prevent thee.* Since he was the Son of equal honor to the Father, while he was praying, his prayer necessarily anticipated him, running as it were to meet him. And he fittingly added the time, so that you might learn from this also that it is consistent with the Gospels. For Luke says: *It came to pass in these days that he went out to the mountain to pray; and he was spending the night in the prayer of God* (Luc. 6, 12). And for what reason he prayed with a cry, the following clearly shows; for he is established as intercessing. *Why, O Lord, dost thou cast off my soul, [and] turn away thy face from me?* These things he said having assumed our person, which because of disobedience God used to turn away and cast off our soul, rebuking us as those who had transgressed against the Creator. But Christ does not ask out of ignorance, but to show that it is no longer necessary to be turned away, since he himself is offering the defense for all. *I am poor and in labors from my youth.* For he was poor for our sakes, being rich, and furthermore he also became in labors from his youth, coming to Egypt, from there being hidden in Nazareth of Galilee, and suffering many other plots. *And having been exalted, I was humbled and brought to doubt.* Whether you speak of the height of the signs or of the cross, in both cases he was being humbled and brought to doubt, being disparaged by the Jews. *Thy wraths passed over me.* He speaks of the wraths against humanity—that is, the punishments and threats—which he accepted, having offered himself for us through his sufferings. *Thy terrors have troubled me; they encompassed me like water.* He speaks of the terrors against the first-created man. For they were powerful, since they possessed the sentence of God sealing them and aligned with them. By which he was so disturbed as to say: *My soul is sorrowful even unto death.* But he was also constrained, being encompassed in his thoughts as if by water. Wherefore he was saying to the Father: *Now my soul is troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? But for this cause I came to this hour* (Jo. 12, 27). *They encompassed me together all the day.* He made mention here of the day of the passion, in which all of them together—chief priests, elders, Pharisees, scribes, and the people of the Jews—encompassed him. And Matthew also makes this clear, when, as all were gathered, Pilate was inquiring: *Whom do you wish that I release to you?* (Matth. 27, 17). *Thou hast put friend and neighbor far from me, and my acquaintances because of misery.* He speaks of Peter; for he was a friend because of his discipleship. You know the Lord saying: *I no longer call you servants, but friends* (Jo. 15, 15). He calls him neighbor because of the very fervent and blossoming nature of his faith; and his acquaintances he calls all the apostles. For these knew him above all others, as you have heard in the Gospels he says: *Righteous Father, and the world did not know thee; but I knew thee, and they knew that thou didst send me.* But nevertheless, because of the misery of the passion, all were put far off for a time. Yet he does not account this to them, but to the Father. For the mystery of the cross surpassed their strength. And this was done by the will and good pleasure of the Father.