Psalm 10 [MT 11]

The soul has wings by which it can raise itself free from the earth. But this movement of the wings is not of something constructed of feathers but a continuing series of good works, like those of the Lord of whom it is well said, "And in the shadow of your wings I shall take refuge." In the first place, the hands of our Lord fixed on the cross were extended like something in flight, and, second, the actions of God are like a refreshing shadow of eternal salvation that can regulate the conflagration raging in our world.

This title does not require a fresh consideration: for the meaning of, "to the end," has already been sufficiently handled. Let us then look to the text itself of the Psalm, which to me appears to be sung against the heretics, who, by rehearsing and exaggerating the sins of many in the Church, as if either all or the majority among themselves were righteous, strive to turn and snatch us away from the breasts of the one True Mother Church: affirming that Christ is with them, and warning us as if with piety and earnestness, that by passing over to them we may go over to Christ, whom they falsely declare they have. Now it is known that in prophecy Christ, among the many names in which notice of Him is conveyed in allegory, is also called a mountain. We must accordingly answer these people, and say, "I trust in the Lord: how say ye to my soul, Remove into the mountains as a sparrow?" (ver. 1). I keep to one mountain wherein I trust, how say ye that I should pass over to you, as if there were many Christs? Or if through pride you say that you are mountains, I had indeed need to be a sparrow winged with the powers and commandments of God: but these very things hinder my flying to these mountains, and placing my trust in proud men. I have a house where I may rest, in that I trust in the Lord. For even "the sparrow hath found her a house," and, "The Lord hath become a refuge to the poor." Let us say then with all confidence, lest while we seek Christ among heretics we lose Him, "In the Lord I trust: how say ye to my soul, Remove into the mountains as a sparrow?"

In this passage, the psalmist speaks about those who are drawn off to earth's highest places by the most trivial desire. Those who turn to the most worthless proclamations because of the fickleness of their unsettled mind are rightly considered similar to them.

Even if movement is necessary, he is saying, nevertheless let it be known that I do not hope to secure safety from those with whom I am constantly in opposition except by hoping in God, who can provide me with safety in every place.

What the phrase "unto the end" signifies — for which Symmachus rendered ἐπινίκιον (a song of victory), while Aquila and the sixth edition rendered τῷ νικοποιῷ (to the giver of victory) — has been discussed more fully above. Now let us return to the order of the tenth psalm: a number which is both an end and a beginning, in which every reckoning is rolled around, and to which the decalogue also — that is, the first law — is owed. The just man too, on account of the Lord's money doubled in the Gospel, received cities of this number to govern. And, to bring in something rather curious: from this the name of Jesus, that is, of the Savior, begins, and that ineffable name of four letters among the Hebrews takes its start from here, being written with ioth, he, vau, he; into which, through its tens, the hundredth number unrolls, and again the thousandth grows through ten hundreds, and as far as human reason can proceed, always this number is both an end and a beginning, according to that sense: "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end."

In the Lord I trust; how do you say to my soul: Flee away to the mountains like a sparrow? Those who eat the raw flesh of the lamb and follow the letter that kills would have this psalm understood of the person of David, when he fled from the face of Saul and was compelled to dwell in the deserts of Judah. And they say that it is spoken by him thus: Although Saul and all his army do not permit me to dwell in my homeland, and I flit or run to and fro, here and there, wandering and roving after the manner of birds and beasts, yet I have God as my protector, in whom trusting I shall not fear your snares. And in truth, if only the beginning be read, their exposition does not appear frivolous. But what follows — "For they have destroyed the things which you have perfected" — and the rest down to the end does not agree with this exposition. Therefore the spiritual man, who judges all things and is himself judged by no one, says that this psalm was sung by our Lord and Savior according to a twofold understanding: either he was speaking to the angels who ministered to him, or to the adverse powers, which desired to mock and terrify him. If to the angels, this is the sense: Why do you exhort me to return to heavenly things, and, leaving behind earthly and lowly things, to dwell in my mountains, because of the snares of the devil and all his army, which you behold stirred up against me? Why do you wish that I take up the wings of my deity, and desert human converse, and dwell secure in the heavens, when I have come for this purpose: that in the Lord — that is, having confidence in my own divinity — I may overcome my exulting adversaries? But if his speech is to the adverse powers, it is to be understood thus: In vain do you think that I am to be terrified by your voices and by the wedge of battle drawn up against me, since I have come for this purpose: that I may fight, and by fighting overcome — as is also shown by the very title of the psalm, according to Aquila and Symmachus. Furthermore, another (since this psalm has nothing so special that it cannot also be understood under the person of any just man) will indeed accept the holy intention of those who refer the psalm to Christ, but will also assert that the whole context can be understood from the person of the prophet — that is, of the just man. In the Lord I trust; how do you say to my soul: Flee away to the mountains like a sparrow? The crafty adversary both tempted the Lord and Savior in the wilderness, and wishes all the saints to depart from the land of Judah and to dwell in the desert of the virtues, that there he may more easily strike them down. But even his very counsel is deceitful: for he does not exhort that one take the wings of the dove — a bird gentle, simple, and domestic, said to lack gall, and which is offered for the Lord in the temple — but the wings of a sparrow, a bird chattering and roving, which after the rearing of its young knows nothing of the fidelity of wedlock; although Aquila and Symmachus rendered "bird" generally in place of "sparrow." By the mountains, however, we can understand those of which it is said in another place, "Draw near to the eternal mountains," and in the second psalm of the steps, "I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains from whence help shall come to me": and to which, after the abomination of desolation shall stand in the holy place, we ought to migrate.

Those who trust in the things of this life are in no better situation than the sparrow, which relies on the wilderness and is prey to all. People who put their hope in money are like that. Just as the sparrow is snared by children with bird lime and trap and countless other devices, so too the wealthy by friend and foe. They are much more vulnerable than a sparrow, with many to set traps for them and, more immediately, evil tendencies of their own. They are migrants, constantly reacting to developments, fearful of the long arm of the law and the emperor's wrath, the wiles of flatterers and the deceit of friends. In time of war their fear is greater than anyone's, in time of peace they suspect treachery, their wealth never being secure of proof against loss. Hence they are always taking to flight and migrating, searching out wilderness and eyries, preferring the dark and looking for the black of night in noontime, adopting disguises to achieve it. Good people, on the contrary, are quite different. "The ways of their righteous shine like the sun," remember. I mean, far from opting for scheming and lawlessness, their souls are at rest.… How then is this darkness to be dissipated? By separating yourself from all these things and coming to depend on hope in God, sinner though you be ten times over.… This is remarkable, in fact, that even sinners who cling to this anchor are invincible. It is, you see, a particular mark of an option for God that though weighed down by such awful evils they are still buoyed up by his lovingkindness. In other words, as the one trusting in man is doubly cursed, so the one trusting in God is blessed. So tear yourself away from all these things, and cling to this anchor.… Let us come before him, and remain ever with our eyes on him.

Great is the power of hope in the Lord, invincible citadel, unassailable rampart, insuperable reinforcement, tranquil haven, impregnable tower, irresistible weapon, unconquerable power capable of discovering a refuge where none seems possible.

I have the Lord of the universe as my ally. The one who without difficulty created everything everywhere is my leader and support, and you would send me to the wilderness and provide for my safety in the desert? After all, surely the help from the desert does not surpass the one capable of anything with complete ease?

In the preceding Psalms, thanksgiving was given for deliverance from enemies; here he shows the confidence conceived from this. And he speaks in the person of a man desiring the benefits of God, who attains security. The title: "unto the end, a Psalm of David." Jerome has: "to the victor." This has been explained above. This Psalm can be expounded literally of David, but mystically of Christ, that is, allegorically. Morally, however, it concerns the just man and heretics, as the Gloss explains. First, then, David proposes his confidence: "in the Lord I trust" -- as one freed through the just judgment of God who casts down sinners and exalts the poor. Jer. 17: "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and the Lord shall be his confidence." Dan. 3: "There is no confusion for those who trust in you." Second, he sets forth the attack upon his confidence, which was made by words: "how do you say," etc. For certain people advised David as he was fleeing to go to fortified places and mountains, or to hide there as a sparrow does. "How?" "Behold, sinners," etc. And this is expounded in two ways. First, that these are not the words of David, but of others -- as if to say: therefore flee, because "they have bent the bow." Or they are the words of David, as if to say: "in the Lord I trust," because "they have bent the bow, sinners have prepared their arrows," etc. And he does three things. First he sets forth their wicked scheming. Second, their perverse intention: "to shoot." Third, their unjust action: "because what you have established." Mystically, of Christ, it is thus: I, Christ, trust in the Lord. How then do you Pharisees say, "flee to the mountain," that is, to the observances of the law given on Mount Sinai? Deut. 33: "The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir for us." And unless you do this, behold, sinners have bent the bow, etc. -- that is, they have prepared themselves to kill you and your disciples; and this, "because what you established they have destroyed," that is, they have killed. Or morally, the believer says to heretics, according to the Gloss: "in the Lord I trust," holding His faith. How then do you heretics say, "flee to us, to the mountain," that is, to Christ, whom the heretics believed they possessed? Is. 2: "The mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared on the top of the mountains." 2 Sam. 1: "O mountains of Gilboa, let neither dew nor rain come upon you, nor fields of first fruits, because there the shield of the mighty was cast away" -- that is, of the Jews, or of the great heretics. Jer. 51: "Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, that corrupts the whole earth." Or the mountain signifies the loftiness of understanding which they pretend to have. But if I were to do this, I would be a light sparrow, not one with a permanent dwelling. "Because behold, sinners," that is, heretics, "have bent the bow," that is, they have drawn sacred Scripture to themselves, as those who bend a bow. "They have prepared their arrows" -- poisoned words -- "in the quiver," that is, in their memory or knowledge. Jer. 5: "His quiver is like an open tomb." Jerome has: "their arrows upon the string," that is, the bowstring -- their perverse intention being "to shoot the upright of heart," that is, the just, "in darkness," that is, deceitfully. Jer. 9: "Their tongue is a wounding arrow." Or "in darkness," that is, in the subtleties of sacred Scripture. Another reading has "in the dark moon." The moon is the Church: Song 6: "Beautiful as the moon," on account of her brightness and on account of her darkening. The brightness of the moon is from the sun; so the brightness of the Church is from Christ. Jn. 1: "He was the true light that enlightens," etc. Likewise, half the globe of the moon is bright and half is dark; so in the Church some are bright and some are dark. Now the moon is darkened, according to the Gloss, sometimes by its revolution, and thus it becomes dark; sometimes by eclipse, and then it is turned to blood; sometimes by the interposition of a cloud, and then it becomes black. So the Church becomes dark in its newness, when there are no preachers and teachers in her; blood-red through the persecution of tyrants; black through clouds, that is, through the seduction of heretics -- and then they seek to shoot. Here the unjust action is set forth: "because what you established they have destroyed." Another reading: "because whom you established." But the first is better, and according to Jerome: "because the laws which you established they have destroyed." Is. 48: "I know that you are a thorough transgressor, and I called you a transgressor from the womb." Jer. 2: "Of old you broke your yoke, you burst your bonds; you said, 'I will not serve.'" As if to say: they will destroy your law, which you commanded to be observed. Ex. 23: "The innocent and the just you shall not condemn." But these wish to kill him. Ps. 118: "The wicked have destroyed your law." And God perfected it, because He gave it. Ps. 147: "He has not done in like manner to every nation." Mt. 5: "I have not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it." If the reading is "whom you established they have destroyed," then it is understood of Christ, "whom you established."

"For, lo, sinners have bent the bow, they have prepared their arrows in the quiver, that they may in the obscure moon shoot at the upright in heart" [Psalm 11:2]. These be the terrors of those who threaten us as touching sinners, that we may pass over to them as the righteous. "Lo," they say, "the sinners have bent the bow:" the Scriptures, I suppose, by carnal interpretation of which they emit envenomed sentences from them. "They have prepared their arrows in the quiver:" the same words, that is, which they will shoot out on the authority of Scripture, they have prepared in the secret place of the heart. "That they may in the obscure moon shoot at the upright in heart:" that when they see, from the Church's light being obscured by the multitude of the unlearned and the carnal, that they cannot be convicted, they may corrupt good manners by evil communications. [1 Corinthians 15:33] But against all these terrors we must say, "In the Lord I trust."

Though the enemy is unseen, we have our faith as a strong protection, according to the saying of the apostle: "In all things taking up the shield of faith, with which you may be able to quench all the fiery darts of the most wicked one." Oftentimes a fiery dart of desire of base indulgence is discharged by the devil; but faith, representing to us the Judgment and cooling the mind, extinguishes the dart.

For behold, the sinners have bent the bow, they have prepared their arrows in the quiver, that they may shoot in the dark the upright of heart. For which it is written in the Hebrew, "For behold, the impious have bent the bow, they have set the arrow upon the string, that they may strike in the dark the upright of heart." Therefore, he says, you wish me to migrate to the mountains, because the sinners, or the impious, burning, have prepared arrows, which must be repelled with the shield of faith. And in their quivers they have darts to strike the just, not in the day, not in the faintly-lit night, when the darkness is tempered by the solace of the moon, but when the night is full, and the darkness is palpable — that is, ψηλαφητὸν σκότος (touchable darkness, psēlaphēton skotos). Know that for this very reason I do not heed your counsels: because the adversaries are prepared for battle, and desire to wound not so much me, whom they cannot overcome, as my just ones; and since I have come from heaven for their salvation, I ought not to leave them orphans. For behold, as you say, they have set their arrow upon the string, and they wish to capture my boys, the sons of my ripening youth, my little young men, with the sweet enticements of pleasures. For all the strength of the devil is in the loin: for which cause also, when Jacob wrestled with me in the struggle, I made his γλαφυρόν (sinew, glaphyron) wither — that is, dry up. Since, therefore, they wish to strike the upright of heart in the darkness, let my just man speak and say: "Your word is a lamp to my feet, O Lord, and a light to my paths." But I, standing in the battle-line and placed in array, do not forsake the contest once begun, especially when you say that they have bent the bow, prepared arrows in the quiver, wish to wound my saints in the darkness, and yet have not yet been able to strike. For they have bent the bow, they have prepared arrows in the quiver, that they may shoot in the dark the upright of heart. Since, then, they are thus prepared, I will set myself in the midst, I will receive their arrows, that my servants may not grieve at my grief, may be healed by my wounds, may not suffer while I suffer, and may say: "O Lord, you have crowned us as with a shield of your good will." But it can also be understood otherwise: that the heretical or adverse powers, through the dogmas of the heretics, have aimed their blasphemies, and desire to deceive my just ones with varied fraud. For they are archers who, through the occasion of their darkness — which they understand as hidden mysteries — wish to strike the upright hearts of the just. Therefore I and my saints must migrate to the sublime testimonies of the Scriptures, as it is also written in the Gospel: "If he strike you on the right cheek, offer him the other also." He does not say, offer him the left, but the other — that is, the other right — because the just man has nothing left-handed in himself. If, he says, he confounds you in one testimony of the Scriptures, do you overcome him from another, and fulfill that which is written in another psalm: "Deep calls to deep at the voice of your cataracts": so that each Testament may be a defense to the other in turn, and in such a way the snare of the heretics may be broken by the opposing of the other right hand, and by migration to the mountains, and by the calling of deep to deep.

Let the Catholic soul then say, "In the Lord I trust; how say ye to my soul, Remove into the mountains as a sparrow? For, lo, the sinners have bent the bow, they have prepared their arrows in the quiver, that they may in the obscure moon shoot at the upright in heart:" and from them let her turn her speech to the Lord and say, "For they have destroyed what You have perfected" [Psalm 11:3]. And this let her say not against these only, but against all heretics. For they have all, as far as in them lies, destroyed the praise which God has perfected out of the mouth of babes and sucklings, when they disturb the little ones with vain and scrupulous questions, and suffer them not to be nourished with the milk of faith. As if then it were said to this soul, why do they say to you, "Remove into the mountains as a sparrow;" why do they frighten you with sinners, who "have bent the bow, to shoot in the obscure moon at the upright in heart"? She answers, Therefore it is they frighten me, "because they have destroyed what You have perfected." Where but in their conventicles, where they nourish not with milk, but kill with poison the babes and ignorant of the interior light. "But what has the Just done?" If Macarius, if Cæcilianus, offend you, what has Christ done to you, who said, "My peace I give unto you, My peace I leave with you;" [John 14:27] which you with your abominable dissensions have violated? What has Christ done to you? Who with such exceeding patience endured His betrayer, as to give to him, as to the other Apostles, the first Eucharist consecrated with His own hands, and blessed with His own mouth. What has Christ done to you? Who sent this same betrayer, whom He called a devil, [John 6:70] who before betraying the Lord could not show good faith even to the Lord's purse, [John 12:6] with the other disciples to preach the kingdom of heaven; [Matthew 10:5-7] that He might show that the gifts of God come to those that with faith receive them, though he, through whom they receive them, be such as Judas was.

Heretics … have destroyed the law of the Lord … by false interpretations, changes resulting in the death of some, while the Scriptures were intended to serve as the Lord's prophets for our salvation.

That which you have framed they have pulled down. Those were the seeds of the best ideas grafted by nature, which God impresses on each person, placing within their spirit the knowledge that is called natural.

For they have destroyed the things which you have perfected. And this too those who above still speak either to any just man or to the Lord: Therefore you must return to the heavenly things, because both the adversaries are so bravely prepared for the fight, and whatever you build up, they demolish. For daily they undermine your precepts and the law written in the hearts of believers, and by persuading diverse things they overturn them. But what did the just man do? This is understood in various ways. Either concerning the person of the just man, in this manner: While they strive to destroy the laws of God, the just man has done nothing worthy of ruin, and in vain suffers their snares; or certainly, while they oppose and attempt to destroy God's commandments, the just man does this one thing only: that he implore the help of him who dwells in his holy temple, whose throne is in heaven, and whose eyes look upon the poor man, that he may rescue him from the snares prepared. But concerning the person of God in this manner: Although the adversaries are prepared for battle, and lie in wait in secret like a lion in his den, that in hidden places they may kill the innocent and destroy the temple of God, yet the Lord dwells in his holy temple, and never is either temple or throne wanting to him, because as some fall others rise.

"The Lord is in His holy temple" [Psalm 11:4], yea in such wise as the Apostle saith, "For the temple of God is holy, which" temple "ye are." [1 Corinthians 3:17] "Now if any man shall violate the temple of God, him shall God destroy." He violateth the temple of God, who violateth unity: for he "holdeth not the head, from which the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth according to the working after the measure of every part maketh increase of the body to the edifying of itself in love." The Lord is in this His holy temple; which consisteth of His many members, fulfilling each his own separate duties, by love built up into one building. Which temple he violateth, who for the sake of his own pre-eminence separateth himself from the Catholic society. "The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord, His seat is in heaven." If you take heaven to be the just man, as you take the earth to be the sinner, to whom it was said, "Earth thou art, and unto earth shalt thou go;" [Genesis 3:19] the words, "The Lord is in His holy temple" you will understand to be repeated, whilst it is said, "The Lord, His seat is in heaven."

He alone is judge of all, and the only true judge. What has the Lord done against the wicked who have drawn up a battle line against him, who rise up against the righteous? In his own temple, standing in the house of the heavens and sitting immovable on his royal throne, he overlooks nothing of the earthly creation with his gaze, and when he looks at the poor, he gives them the grace of his eyes. Those eyes are understood to be the merciful rewards of his gaze, through which he looks on the poor with generosity. His eyelids are the providence by which he judges, by which he discerns, by which he thoroughly searches deeds. Now since all stand in his judgment, it is said, "The Lord tries the just and unjust."

If the eyes of God look on the poor, let us be numbered among the poor, so that the eyes of the Lord may look down on us. If the rich do not become poor, very little will the eyes of the Lord look on them.

Whence in what follows it is written: The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord's seat is in heaven. By the seat — that is, the throne of God — let us, according to the custom of the Scriptures, understand the kingdom, as in that place: "God shall give him the throne of David his father." And elsewhere: "With justice is the throne of dominion prepared." And: "When a just king shall sit upon the throne." The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord's seat is in heaven. Before the bodily temple was built by Solomon, the prophet knows the spiritual temple of the Lord and his throne in heaven. Whereupon it is asked, how it is said elsewhere, "Heaven is my throne." When the throne of the Lord is in heaven, his throne is encompassed by heaven, and the throne of the Lord is in a part of heaven; when heaven is the throne of the Lord, the whole heaven is turned into the throne of the Lord. From which, according to the ἀναγωγήν (higher spiritual sense, anagōgē), the Lord dwelling in his holy temple — that is, in the soul of the believer — dwells either in a part of it or in the whole. When we are still imperfect, and there is in us both something good and something evil, God dwells only in a part of our soul, that is, in heaven. But when we are consummate and perfect, we are wholly turned into a dwelling-place of God, and we are made heaven, his throne. But the temple of God, properly, is understood either as our Lord and Savior, who says, "I am in the Father and the Father in me": or as that man who was assumed by the Savior, or generally the Church, or specially each one of the saints. His eyes look upon the poor man, his eyelids question the sons of men. Against those who understand the wrath and fury of God simply, let us set forth the eyelids and eyes of the Lord. For if they understand those things ἀνθρωποπαθῶς (after the manner of human passions, anthrōpopathōs), they will be compelled to take these things likewise. But if it is absurd to place eyes and eyelids in the almighty Lord, they will equally be compelled to seek some spiritual interpretation for wrath also and fury. For it is exceedingly unfitting not to understand both those and these alike, either spiritually or carnally. Whence in this place it is to be perceived that the just man does not dread the assault of the adversaries, having God as his helper, who beholds and sees all things, and does not permit his poor man to be deceived by their frauds and wounded by their darts. The poor man: that one of whom it is said above, "To you the poor man is left." And at the same time it is to be observed, that God opens his eyes, bringing an open judgment, to the lowly with help, though he be one and poor, and always watches over him with his regard. But where he is judge, and those who are judged are sons of men (for they do not deserve to be called sons of God), there he does not look with his eyes, but examines with his eyelids, in a manner half-closing them and dissembling, and unwilling to know what he knows. "For if you, Lord, will mark iniquity, who shall endure?" Varro relates that eyelids (palpebrae) are so called from the fact that they move and quiver (palpitent), that is, ὀνοματοποιῶς (by onomatopoeia, onomatopoiōs).

Do you see a ready ally, a well-prepared aid, present everywhere, seeing everything, gazing on all things, having as his particular role—even if no one requests it—to exercise providence and care, to pursue wrongdoers, to assist the wronged, to award recompense to the virtuous, to assign punishment to sinners? He is, therefore, ignorant of nothing; his eyes in fact look attentively on the whole world. He is not simply aware of things, however; he also wants to correct them.… If, in fact, he is righteous, he will not simply overlook these happenings. He rebuffs the wicked; he praises the righteous.

So while they practice their evil ways against me, you, the righteous Judge, seated on your heavenly throne and making your own special appearance in the temple on earth, view the whole world, though sufficient for you is a mere glance of your eyes to learn about all human affairs. You know precisely the doings of the righteous and the unrighteous, and you measure out repayment for work done.

"The just one." Here the reason for confidence is set forth. And first the question is posed. Second, the solution, at "the Lord is in his holy temple," etc. Third, the reason for the solution: "because the Lord is just, and has loved justice." He says therefore: these are what they do; but what does the just Lord, seeing this with authority, do? Jer. 33: "This is the name they shall call him: the Lord our justice." He resolves the question and sets forth what this just one does. And first, His judicial power, or the condition of the judge. Second, the examination of the judgment: "His eyes." Third, the condemnation of the wicked: "but he who loves." If a judge always punishes, he is cruel; if he always spares, he is lax. But God does both; and therefore He has a place for the tribunal of mercy, and this is the temple. Heb. 4: "Let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace." And so he says, "the Lord is in his holy temple." 1 Cor. 3: "Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Holy Spirit dwells in you?" He also has a place of justice, from which He punishes, namely heaven; and this is also expressed: "the Lord, his throne is in heaven." Where His power is enumerated. Is. 66: "Heaven is my throne." The faithful are called a temple on account of their devotion; heaven, on account of their wisdom. Likewise heaven is called a cradle in which God sits, so as to make one a heaven, that is, one who knows secrets. Likewise the soul is called the temple of God, because in the temple God is worshiped. Similarly in the faithful soul: Mt. 6: "Enter into your room," that is, the secrets of your soul, "and having shut the door, pray to your Father in secret." Likewise, sacrifices are offered there; similarly in the faithful soul: Ps. 50: "A sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit." Likewise in the temple, prayers are poured out to God; so in the soul God works: Is. 26: "All our works you have wrought in us, O Lord." Likewise, because God sanctifies the soul and descends into it as into a temple: Wis. 4: "The grace of God upon his holy ones, and his regard," etc.

"His eyes." Here he treats of the examination of the judgment. And first he sets forth the perfection of divine knowledge. Second, the diligent investigation, at "his eyelids question the children of men." Third, the equity of the judgment, at "the Lord examines the just and the wicked." By the first, no one can be hidden, because He sees the sentiment of the poor and the wicked, the sinner and the just. Sir. 23: "The eyes of the Lord are brighter than the sun, surveying all the ways of men, and the depths of the abyss, and beholding the hearts of men." Prov. 16: "All the ways of a man are open to His eyes; the Lord is a weigher of spirits," that is, of thoughts, or of souls, according to the Gloss. And so he says, "His eyes look upon the poor," to have compassion. Ps. 30: "Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am troubled." Likewise Ps. 27: "The Lord is my protector, and in Him my heart has hoped," etc. Also to protect by testing: Ps. 33: "The eyes of the Lord are upon the just." Likewise Ps. 31: "In this way in which you walk, I will fix my eyes upon you." And thus looking, He examines diligently. "His eyelids question," etc. By eyelids is signified discernment, because just as the eyelids direct the gaze of the eye, so discernment moderates human wisdom. Prov. 4: "Let your eyelids go before your steps." The very discernment of God therefore questions, that is, tests and examines. Wis. 1: "There shall be an examination of the thoughts of the ungodly; and the hearing of his words shall come to God." And how? Because sometimes He punishes, sometimes He spares, sometimes He gives benefits, sometimes He takes them away. Job 6: "The arrows of the Lord," etc. He also closes and opens His eyelids: Mt. 15: "I have compassion on the multitude," etc. Likewise, Mt. 21: "The kingdom of God shall be taken from you." Ps. 146: "He gives their food to the beasts," etc. "He questions the children of men," because some of them are made better by this, and some worse; or some from Scripture are made good, and some bad -- because some understand it well and are not wearied but exercised; but the wicked do the contrary. The equity of judgment is set forth: because "He examines the just and the wicked," because He sends afflictions upon the just and unjust alike, and bestows temporal goods on good and bad alike. Wis. 11: "The good you tested as a father admonishing; but the wicked you examined and condemned as a harsh king." Therefore he says, "the Lord examines the just and the wicked," that is, He tests them through tribulations. Gregory: An inflicted punishment questions whether one placed in tribulation truly loves God. The just He examines, that is, the Lord tests them, so they may be rewarded. Wis. 10: "God rendered the reward of the labors of His saints." But the wicked or sinners He examines to be condemned. Mt. 22: "Bind his hands and feet and cast him into the outer darkness."

"The Lord questions the righteous and ungodly" [Psalm 11:5]. Why then do we fear lest the ungodly should be any hurt to us, if so be they do with insincere heart share the sacraments with us, seeing that He "questions the righteous and the ungodly." "But whoso loves iniquity, hates his own soul:" that is, not him who believes God, and puts not his hope in man, but only his own soul does the lover of iniquity hurt.

I do not think that anyone who keeps precious garments locked up in a chest would agree to enclose within it either a live coal or any kind of spark. Why is this, brothers? Because he would be afraid that the clothing that he wears to a feast may be burned. I ask you, brothers, if a person does not want to put a spark of fire in his chest of clothes, why does he not fear to kindle the flame of wrath in his soul? We know clearly and plainly why this happens. We do not put fire into a chest of clothes because we love our garments; but we do not extinguish the fire of wrath because we not only fail to love our soul but even harbor hatred for it. This is according to what is written: "The lover of violence hates his own soul."

If, then, you hate your own soul by loving iniquity, do you wonder that you hate the Word of God, which wishes well to your soul?

If the one who values iniquity hates his own life, then the one who hates iniquity esteems his own life.

If a murderer is one who hates his brother, what is he who, loving iniquity, hates his own soul? And if the one who hates his brother does not have eternal life remaining in him, how will he who ends this life in the love of iniquity and hatred of his own soul be able to attain the forgiveness of sins through which one attains life?

The Lord questions the just and the impious: but he who loves iniquity hates his own soul. For which it is better written in the Hebrew: "The Lord tests the just, but the impious and the one who loves iniquity — his soul hates him." So that the sense is joined with the foregoing: In vain are the adversaries prepared, that they may shoot in the dark the upright of heart, and so on; because the Lord is a just judge, and nothing can be hidden from him, and he does both: that he both prove his just ones by tempting them, and hate those who are impious. The impious and the one who loves iniquity — his soul hates him: that is, he hates them with his whole heart and his whole soul. But let us understand "soul" in accordance with the eyes and eyelids, according to that: "My soul hates your new moons and feast days and sabbaths." Furthermore, according to those who say, with the Septuagint, The Lord questions the just and the impious, the sense is far different: that he himself is the judge of the just and the impious, and that the impious are to be judged in this, that by loving iniquity they hate their own soul. And in a certain way the last part of a syllogism is knit together, which is called the conclusion. For although a man may deny that he hates his own soul, yet from the fact that he loves iniquity, he is convicted of hating it. As Solomon also says in the Proverbs: "He who rejects discipline hates himself." But if he who loves iniquity hates his own soul, contrariwise he who loves justice loves his own soul, according to that: "He who possesses prudence loves himself." Whence also the Savior says: "He who loves me keeps my commandments." For he himself is justice. Nor indeed is it to be thought, according to the Septuagint interpreters, that something contrary is now said — The Lord questions the just and the impious — to that which is written in the first psalm, "Therefore the impious shall not rise again in the judgment": because just as there is a difference among the just, so also among the impious; and just as the just, differing among themselves, possess mansions, so also the impious who are perfect in malice and iniquity and who fight with their whole mind against the Lord shall not rise again in the judgment; but other impious ones, who are sometimes understood as sinners, because they are of lesser malice, are reserved for God's judgment.

Wickedness, after all, is the soul's enemy, its foe and ruination, and so the wicked person pays the penalty even before punishment is imposed. Do you see how he shows on every score that his adversaries … are hoisted on their own weapons by which they protect themselves, consumed by them and damaging themselves?

Here the condemnation is set forth, and concerning this he does two things: first he sets forth the guilt; second, the punishment, at "he shall rain upon sinners." He shows that as far as God's part is concerned, there is no perdition of the wicked, but it comes from our part; hence he says, "he who loves iniquity," that is, sin. 1 Jn. 3: "Everyone who commits sin commits iniquity also, because sin is iniquity." "He hates his own soul." Wis. 16: "A man by his wickedness kills his own soul." But the question arises: how can someone hate himself? It must be said that in a certain way the sinner hates himself; but simply speaking, no one does. Eph. 5: "No man ever hated his own flesh." But that the wicked in a certain way hate themselves, and that also the good in a certain way hate themselves, is explained as follows. Our soul has two faces: one toward God, according to reason; the other toward the flesh, according to the sensitive nature, which comprehends only corporeal things. And just as every thing loves its own good, so a man loves what he considers to be his soul. For sinners consider their soul to be that which they principally pursue, because everything is that which is preeminent in it, just as the king is said to be the kingdom. Those, therefore, who hold the sensitive nature as principal love it; but those who hold the intellective nature love that. No one therefore hates his soul with regard to what he considers principal. The good therefore hate themselves with regard to the sensitive nature; the wicked, with regard to the intellective nature.

"He shall rain snares upon the sinners" [Psalm 11:6]. If by clouds are understood prophets generally, whether good or bad, who are also called false prophets: false prophets are so ordered by the Lord God, that by them He may rain snares upon sinners. [Matthew 24:24] For no one, but the sinner, falls into a following of them, whether by way of preparation for the last punishment, if he shall choose to persevere in sin; or to dissuade from pride, if in time he shall come to seek God with a more sincere intent. But if by clouds are understood good and true prophets only; by these too it is clear that God rains snares upon sinners, although by them He waters also the godly unto fruitfulness. "To some," says the Apostle, "we are the savour of life unto life; to some the savour of death unto death." [2 Corinthians 2:16] For not prophets only, but all who with the word of God water souls, may be called clouds. Who when they are understood amiss, God rains snares upon sinners; but when they are understood aright, He makes the hearts of the godly and believing fruitful. As, for instance, the passage, "and they two shall be in one flesh," [Ephesians 5:31] if one interpret it with an eye to lust, He rains a snare upon the sinner. But if you understand it, as he who says, "But I speak concerning Christ and the Church," [Ephesians 5:32] He rains a shower on the fertile soil. Now both are effected by the same cloud, that is, holy Scripture. Again the Lord says, "Not that which goes into your mouth defiles you, but that which comes out." [Matthew 15:11] The sinner hears this, and makes ready his palate for gluttony: the righteous hears it, and is guarded against the superstitious distinction in meats. Here then also out of the same cloud of Scripture, according to the several desert of each, upon the sinner the rain of snares, upon the righteous the rain of fruitfulness, is poured.

Likewise, Scripture enlightens from below by showing forth the torments of hell. In the Psalm: He rains upon the wicked fiery coals and brimstone; a burning blast is their allotted cup. In the Apocalypse: Their portion shall be in the pool that burns with fire and brimstone. And the smoke of their torments goes up forever and ever. Scripture proposes this from the very beginning where it is said that darkness covered the abyss, until the end. And so Scripture offers internal spectacles, external examples, heavenly promises, and the tortures of hell.

"It rains" refers to the words of the preachers flowing down from heaven which are rain showers for the pious, but fiery snares for the ungodly. For the pious produce fruit based on their proper understanding of the words, but the ungodly suffocate their souls with the noose of their perversity by handling the words improperly.

Harsh punishments are often denoted in Scripture by the word cup.… So it follows that even in this place "cup" denotes the punishment to be poured out, especially, the fullness of this cup is fire, sulphur and a stormy wind, whose symbols were written in Genesis, the type of punishment inflicted by the Lord on Sodom and Gomorrah. Besides fire and sulphur, there is also in the cup the stormy wind. The fire indicates threatening flames; sulphur, the force by which more fire is burned; and, finally, the wind illustrates the certain whirlwind of temptations; chiefly we are able to learn this from the writing of Isaiah. … Let us flee impiety, so that there is no cup of this type for us, and we may live righteously; so that we may drink to drunkenness that which is the best. From which also it is said: "The Lord is my portion and my cup." Because the Lord is just and loves justice, he shows his face to the upright.

Eternal life will be given in the future only to the one to whom forgiveness of sins has been given in this world. Only he will receive the forgiveness of sins here who renounces his sins and hastens to the highest and true God with true conversion of heart. For that will not be a time of forgiveness but of retribution. There mercy will not justify the sinner, but justice will distinguish the just and the sinner. This is written in the psalm: "The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked." And, so that he might show that in iniquity lies the destruction, not the salvation, of the soul, he goes on the say, "He who loves iniquity hates his own soul." Lest they who persist in iniquity to the end of the present life promise themselves mercy, it is said subsequently concerning God: "On the wicked he will rain coals of fire and sulphur; a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup. For the Lord is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face." … Whoever, hearing these things, is unwilling to seek the mercy of God through conversion in the present time, will never be able to find it in the future life.

He shall rain snares upon sinners. There is no doubt but that the Lord does this even for the sake of the sinners themselves, so that those who were badly abusing their liberty, being ensnared in the Lord's snares, may walk in the right path as if under his bridle, and may be able to advance through him who says, "I am the way." Whence also fishermen are sent, and hunters, in Jeremiah, that they may hold with their nets the fish that wander and toss about in the depths, and may capture unto salvation the beasts straying about on all the mountains and hills. Therefore it is not, as many suppose, punishments that are promised to sinners from this little verse and from those that follow, but remedies. Fire, brimstone, and the spirit of storms is the portion of their cup. It is said to Babylon: "You have coals of fire, you shall sit upon them, and they shall be for a help to you." The brimstone rouses the fire of these coals into a flame; which flame is fanned by the rushing wind, by the whirlwind of the tempest, so that whatever is filthy in our gold, and whatever — according to the prophecy of Ezekiel — consuming the silver in us, the bronze, the tin, and the lead, may reduce us into gold. Whence also it is written in Isaiah: "The Lord shall wash away the filth of the sons and daughters of Zion, and shall cleanse the blood from their midst by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning." And in Malachi: "Behold, the Lord enters in like the fire of the smelting-furnace and like the herb of the fullers, and he shall sit smelting his people like gold and silver." The cup of sinners is full of fire, brimstone, and the spirit of tempest. "A cup of pure wine full of mixture," from which "all the sinners of the earth shall drink." I judge that from this cup of fire and brimstone Sodom had drunk, and therefore it is prophesied concerning her through Ezekiel: "Sodom shall be restored to her former state." And in the Gospel: "It shall be more tolerable for the land of the Sodomites." "For the Lord will not take vengeance twice upon the same thing." Whence also Lazarus, who had received his sins in his lifetime, and had drunk the cup of the Lord's fury, in the bosom of Abraham drinks that cup of which it is written: "I will take the cup of salvation, and I will call upon the name of the Lord." Jerusalem too had drunk the cup of punishments for her remedy; whence it is said to her: "Rise up, rise up, Jerusalem, you who have drunk the cup of ruin, the goblet of fury." And Jeremiah received this same cup of pure wine from the hand of the Lord, that he might give it to Jerusalem to drink, and to all the nations round about; who, drinking, vomit, and fall down, and, their pride broken, are laid low in repentance.

Second, he sets forth the punishment. And this we can expound of the present or of the future. Of the present thus, maintaining the metaphor. He said that the Lord is in heaven, because there His throne is; but from heaven comes rain. Therefore their punishment is signified when it is said, "He shall rain upon sinners." And what? "Snares." And if this is expounded of the present, note that in sin there are four things. The first is seduction; hence he says: "He shall rain upon sinners snares." As if by just judgment He permits them to be ensnared and seduced. Is. 8: "And many of them shall stumble and fall and be broken and be ensnared and captured." The second is concupiscence; and so he says, "the fire of concupiscence." Ps. 57: "Fire fell upon them, and they did not see the sun," namely of carnal concupiscence, etc. The third is the stench of infamy; and so he says, "brimstone." Thus the Lord rained fire and brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrah. A fourth can be added, namely the restlessness of mind; and so he says, "the spirit of storms." Is. 57: "The heart of the wicked is like a raging sea." "This is the portion of their cup," because the cup is a certain measure, and they receive punishments according to their sins. Is. 27: "In measure against measure, when it shall be cast away, He shall judge." But if this is expounded of the future, then movements shall be punished there, because they shall be bound so that they can neither avoid evils nor attain goods. And so he says, "He shall rain upon sinners snares," that is, binding the senses. And thus brimstone is referred to the sense of smell, and fire to the sense of touch. Is. 66: "Their fire shall not be extinguished." Rev. 20: "Cast into the lake of fire." Likewise the affections, because they do not rest: because "the spirit of storms is the portion of their cup," that is, demons disturbing, troubling, and afflicting.

As to the ungodly, if you give all the world to the poor, you will not benefit him at all. For to whom the Deity was an enemy while he was alive, it is certain he will be so also when he is departed; for there is no unrighteousness with him. For "the Lord is righteous and has loved righteousness."

"Fire and brimstone and the blast of the tempest is the portion of their cup." This is their punishment and end, by whom the name of God is blasphemed; that first they should be wasted by the fire of their own lusts, then by the ill savour of their evil deeds cast off from the company of the blessed, at last carried away and overwhelmed suffer penalties unspeakable. For this is the portion of their cup: as of the righteous, "Your cup inebriating how excellent is it! For they shall be inebriated with the richness of Your house." Now I suppose a cup is mentioned for this reason, that we should not suppose that anything is done by God's providence, even in the very punishments of sinners, beyond moderation and measure. And therefore as if he were giving a reason why this should be, he added, "For the Lord is righteous, and has loved righteousnesses" [Psalm 11:7]. The plural not without meaning, but only because he speaks of men, is as that righteousnesses be understood to be used for righteous men. For in many righteous men there seem, so to say, to be righteousnesses, whereas there is one only righteousness of God whereof they all participate. Like as when one face looks upon many mirrors, what in it is one only, is by those many mirrors reflected manifoldly. Wherefore he recurs to the singular, saying, "His face has seen equity." Perhaps, "His face has seen equity," is as if it were said, Equity has been seen in His face, that is, in knowledge of Him. For God's face is the power by which He is made known to them that are worthy. Or at least, "His face has seen equity," because He does not allow Himself to be known by the evil, but by the good; and this is equity.

There were in the eighteenth century terrible theologians who held that 'God did not command certain things because they are right, but certain things are right because God Commanded them'. To make the position perfectly clear, one of them even said that though God has, as it happens, commanded us to love Him and one another, He might equally well have commanded us to hate Him and one another, and hatred would then have been right. It was apparently a mere toss-up which He decided on. Such a view of course makes God a mere arbitrary tyrant. It would be better and less irreligious to believe in no God and to have no ethics than to have such an ethics and such a theology as this. The Jews of course never discuss this in abstract and philosophical terms. But at once, and completely, they assume the right view, knowing better than they know. They know that the Lord (not merely obedience to the Lord) is 'righteous' and commands 'righteousness' because He loves it (11:8). He enjoins what is good because it is good, because He is good.

[Note: Lewis cites Psalm 11:8 from the Coverdale/BCP numbering used in Reflections on the Psalms; this corresponds to KJV Psalm 11:7, 'For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.']

The third stage in religious development arises when men identify them--when the Numinous Power to which they feel awe is made the guardian of the morality to which they feel obligation. ... Of all the jumps that humanity takes in its religious history this is certainly the most surprising. ... Perhaps only a single people, as a people, took the new step with perfect decision--I mean the Jews: ... it was the Jews who fully and unambiguously identified the awful Presence haunting black mountain-tops and thunderclouds with 'the righteous Lord' who 'loveth righteousness'.

He added: "his face beheld righteousness," namely, that righteousness that he himself graciously grants. For humanity does not have anything of worth on its own; it can only lay claim to what it has received from the Lord, the Granter of all good things.

For the Lord is just and has loved justices; his countenance has beheld equity. For which the Hebrew has: "For the Lord is just and loves justice; their faces shall behold equity." The Lord, he says, is just for the causes stated above: because he both, leaving the just man in the present age to temptations, does not punish but proves him, and his soul hates the impious man who loves injustice. For it is one thing to sin overcome by the necessity of the flesh, another to pass over into the disposition of the sinner. Whence also such men, whose heart is impenitent, the soul of God hates. And because he rains snares upon sinners, and gives them to drink the goblet of torments which they deserve, God himself, being just, loves justices. For just as there is one true God, even if there are many gods who are so called by participation in him, and there is one only-begotten Son of God, while others are called so by adoption; so also there is one true justice, as is written in the beginning of the Proverbs, but from communication of it the Lord loves many things called justices. But in that he says, His countenance — that is, God's — has beheld equity, so that the sense is, He judges the things that are right; in the Hebrew, according to that understanding, it is said: Those very ones who shall be judged, both the just and the impious and sinners, shall behold the justice of God, and their faces shall contemplate the equity of the Lord, and they shall say, "You are just, O Lord, and your judgment is right."

The ultimate justice itself is Christ, "who was made wisdom for us from God, and justice, and sanctification and redemption." The justice in each person, however, is formed from that justice, so that many justices come into existence in those who are saved; wherefore it has also been written, "The Lord is just and has loved justice."

"Because the Lord is just and has loved justice," therefore nothing is to be expected from Him except justice. Jer. 9: "I am the Lord who exercises mercy, judgment, and justice on the earth." Ps. 144: "The Lord is just in all His ways." "Equity has His countenance beheld" -- or "His face" -- that is, equity has been seen by His knowledge; as if to say: to those to whom He makes Himself known and whom He loves, He shows equity.