Psalm 106 [MT 107]

"Confess unto the Lord that He is sweet, because for aye in His mercy" [Psalm 107:1]. This confess ye that He is sweet: if you have tasted, confess. But he cannot confess, who has not chosen to taste, for whence shall he say that that is sweet, which he knows not. But ye if you have tasted how sweet the Lord is, [1 Peter 2:3] "Confess ye to the Lord that He is sweet." If you have tasted with eagerness, break forth with confession. "For aye is His mercy," that is, for ever. For here "for aye," is so put, since also in some other places of Scripture, for aye, that is, what in Greek is called εἰς αἰῶνα, is understood for ever. For His mercy is not for a time, so as not to be for ever, since for this purpose His present mercy is over men, that they may live with the Angels for ever.

"Let them say who are redeemed of the Lord, whom He has redeemed from the hand of their enemies" [Psalm 107:2]. Redeemed indeed it seems was also the people of Israel from the land of Egypt, from the hand of slavery, from fruitless labours, from miry works; yet let us see whether those who say these things, are they who were freed by the Lord from Egypt. It is not so. But who are they? "Those whom He redeemed." Still one might take it also of them, as redeemed from the hand of their enemies, that is, of the Egyptians. Let them be expressed exactly who they are, for whom this Psalm would be sung. "He gathered them from the lands;" these might still be the lands of Egypt, for there are many lands even in one province.

Let them be expressed exactly who they are, for whom this Psalm would be sung. "He gathered them from the lands;" these might still be the lands of Egypt, for there are many lands even in one province. Let him speak openly. "From the east and the west, from the north and the sea" (ver. 3). Now then we understand these redeemed, in the whole circle of the earth. This people of God, freed from a great and broad Egypt, is led, as through the Red Sea, that in Baptism it may make an end of its enemies. For by the sacrament as it were of the Red Sea, that is by Baptism consecrated with the Blood of Christ, the pursuing Egyptians, the sins, are washed away. ..."But all these things happened to them in a figure, and were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come." ...

And thus He fasted when He was tempted, still in need of food before death; but He ate and drank when He was glorified, after the resurrection no longer in need of food. There He was showing in Himself our struggle, here in us His consolation, defining both in forty days. For He fasted forty days when He was tempted in the wilderness, as it is written in the Gospel, before the death of His flesh; and again, He was with the disciples for forty days, as Peter speaks in the Acts of the Apostles, coming in and going out, eating and drinking after the resurrection of His flesh. The number forty seems to signify the passage of this world for those who are called to grace, through Him who did not come to destroy the law but to fulfill it. For there are ten commandments of the law, already the grace of Christ spread throughout the world; and the world is divided into four parts, and ten multiplied by four makes forty; because those redeemed by the Lord, He gathered them from the regions, from the East and West, and North and Sea. Thus fasting for forty days before the death of the flesh, it was as if He was crying out: Abstain from the desires of this world; but eating and drinking for forty days after the resurrection of the flesh, it was as if He was crying out: Behold, I am with you until the consummation of the world.

Many other monks coming from Phbow by boat reached the island, and we were three hundred in number. About the eighth hour of the twenty-sixth of the month of Athyr, Theodore called all of us and gathered us near himself, and he told Theodore the Alexandrian to interpret what he was going to say to all: "God revealed to me long ago what I have to say but told me to keep silence for a while. Now, as I was standing, I have just been ordered to say it to you, and it is this: In almost every place where the name of Christ is being preached, many of those who have sinned after holy baptism have kept the apostolic faith in which we also stand and have wept for their sins. The Lord, accepting the genuineness of their repentance, has wiped away their sins. Therefore all those among you who up to this day have wept truly over the sins committed after your baptism shall know that you have received forgiveness. Let each of you, therefore, confess to the Lord his mercies and say, You have changed my grief into joy; you have stripped off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness."

"They wandered in the wilderness, in a dry place, they found not the way of a city to dwell in" [Psalm 107:4]. We have heard a wretched wandering; what of want? "Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them" [Psalm 107:5]. But wherefore did it faint? For what good? For God is not cruel, but He makes Himself known, in that it is expedient for us, that He be entreated by us fainting, and that aiding us He be loved.

Prophetic language affirms that the conversion of those in error is the work of God. For "they went astray in the wilderness in a thirsty land," the psalmist says, and then he adds, "So he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to the city where they dwelled," and "when the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion." In like manner also the comfort of the afflicted is ascribed to God, Paul thus says, "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who comforts us in all our tribulation." Again, the psalmist says, speaking in the person of God, "You called on me in trouble, and I delivered you." And the setting upright of those who stumble is ascribed innumerable times by Scripture to the power of the Lord: "You have held me by the hand that I might fall, but the Lord was my help," and "Though he fall, he shall not be cast away, for the Lord upholds him with his hand," and "The Lord helps them that are fallen." And the recovery of the distressed admittedly belongs to the loving-kindness of God, if Eunomius means the same thing of which we learn in prophecy, as the Scripture says, "You laid burdens on our backs; you allowed people to ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, and you brought us to a place of abundance."

And therefore after this wandering, and hunger, and thirst, "And they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distress" [Psalm 107:6]. And what did He for them, as they were wandering? "And He led them in the right way" [Psalm 107:7]. They found not the way of a city to dwell in, with hunger and thirst they were vexed and faint, "and He led them into the right way, that they might go into a city to dwell in."

How He helped their hunger and thirst, He says not, but even this expect ye: "Let them confess unto the Lord His mercies, and His wonders towards the children of men" [Psalm 107:8]. Tell them, you that are experienced, to the inexperienced; ye that are already in the way, already directed towards finding the city, already at last free from hunger and thirst. "Because He has satisfied the empty soul, and filled the hungry soul with good things" [Psalm 107:9].

"Them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, fast bound in beggary and iron" (ver. 10). Whence this, but that thou wast attributing things to thyself? that thou wast not owning the grace of God? that thou wast rejecting the counsel of God concerning thee? For see what He addeth: "Because they rebelled against the words of the Lord through pride" (ver. 11), not knowing the righteousness of God, and wishing to establish their own, "and they were bitter against the counsel of the Most High."

"And their heart was brought low in labour" [Psalm 107:12]. And now fight against lust; if God cease to aid you may strive, you can not conquer. And when you shall be pressed by your evil, your heart will be brought low in labour, so that now with humbled heart you may learn to cry out, "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" [Romans 7:24] ...Freed, you will confess the mercies of the Lord.

"And they cried unto the Lord when they were troubled, and He delivered them out of their distresses" [Psalm 107:13]. They were freed from the second temptation. There remains that of weariness and loathing. But first see what He did for them when freed. "And He led them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and broke their bonds asunder" [Psalm 107:14].

"Let them confess to the Lord His mercies, and His wonders to the children of men" [Psalm 107:15]. Wherefore? What difficulties has He overcome? "Because He broke the gates of brass, and snapped the bars of iron" [Psalm 107:16].

Let the word weakness teach us that Jesus was not nailed to the tree as the Almighty, the uncircumscribed, the immutable and invariable, but that the nature enlivened by the power of God, according to the apostle's teaching, died and was buried—both death and burial being proper to the nature of a servant. "He broke the gates of brass and cut the bars of iron in sunder" and destroyed the power of death and in three days raised his own temple. These are proofs of the divine nature in accordance with the Lord's words "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up." Thus through the sufferings of the one Christ we contemplate the manhood and through the miracles we apprehend the godhead.

"He took them up from the way of their iniquity, for because of their unrighteousnesses they were brought low" [Psalm 107:17]. Because they gave honour to themselves, not to God, because they were establishing their own righteousness, not knowing the righteousness of God, [Romans 10:3] they were brought low. They found that they were helpless without His aid, who were presuming on their own strength alone.

"Their soul abhorred all manner of meat" [Psalm 107:18]. Now they suffer satiety. They are sick of satiety. They are in danger from satiety. Unless perchance you think they could be killed with famine, but cannot with satiety. See what follows. When he had said, "Their soul abhorred all manner of meat," lest you should think them, as it were, safe of their fullness, and not rather see that they would die of satiety: "And they came near," he says, "even unto the gates of death." What then remains? That even when the word of God delights you, thou account it not to yourself; nor for this be puffed up with any sort of arrogance, and having an appetite for food, proudly spurn at those who are in danger from satiety.

"Their soul abhorred all manner of meat" (ver. 18). Now they suffer satiety. They are sick of satiety. They are in danger from satiety. Unless perchance thou thinkest they could be killed with famine, but cannot with satiety. See what followeth. When he had said, "Their soul abhorred all manner of meat," lest thou shouldest think them, as it were, safe of their fulness, and not rather see that they would die of satiety: "And they came near," he saith, "even unto the gates of death." What then remaineth? That even when the word of God delighteth thee, thou account it not to thyself; nor for this be puffed up with any sort of arrogance, and having an appetite for food, proudly spurn at those who are in danger from satiety. "And they cried out unto the Lord when they were in trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses" (ver. 19). And because it was a sickness not to be pleased, "He sent His Word, and healed them" (ver. 20). See what evil there is in satiety; see whence He delivers, to whom he crieth that loathes his food. "He sent His Word, and healed them, and snatched them," from whence? not from wandering, not from hunger, not from the difficulty of overcoming sins, but "from their corruption." It is a sort of corruption of the mind to loathe what is sweet.

"He sent His Word, and healed them" [Psalm 107:20]. See what evil there is in satiety; see whence He delivers, to whom he cries that loathes his food. "He sent His Word, and healed them, and snatched them," from whence? Not from wandering, not from hunger, not from the difficulty of overcoming sins, but "from their corruption." It is a sort of corruption of the mind to loathe what is sweet.

For, if it would be unreasonable to suppose that the unbegotten and immutable substance of God the Almighty was changed into the form of man and, in turn, that the eyes of the beholders were deceived by the illusion of something created and that such things were falsely invented by the Scripture, who else could be proclaimed God and the Lord who judges all the earth and passes sentence, appearing in the shape of a man—if it is not proper to call him the first cause of all things—than his preexistent word alone?" And concerning him it was also said in the Psalms: "He sent his word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions." Of him Moses speaks very clearly, calling him a second Lord after the Father, when he says, "The Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord." The divine Scripture also calls him God, when he again appeared to Jacob in the form of a man, saying to Jacob: "Your name shall not be called Jacob, but your name shall be Israel, because you have been strong with God," when also he called the name of the place "the Vision of God," saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and my soul has been saved."

This clearly proclaims the good news of the descent of God the Word from heaven … and of the result of his coming. For it says, "He sent his Word and healed them." And we say distinctly that the Word of God was he who was sent as the Savior of all humankind, whom we are taught by the holy Scriptures to consider divine. And it sadly suggests that he even came down to die for the sake of those who had died before him. By revealing the redemption of those who would be saved by him, it gives the reason of his coming. For he saved without assistance from any one of those who had gone before him even to the gates of death; he healed and rescued them from their destruction. He did this simply by breaking what are called the gates of death and crushing the bars of iron. And then the prophecy proceeds to predict the state of desolation of those who rejected him when he came. For it says, "He turned rivers into a wilderness and rivers of waters into thirst, a fruitful land into a salty waste for the wickedness of them that dwell therein." You will understand this if you think of Jerusalem of old, the famous city of the Jewish race, its glory and its fruitfulness, devoid now of its saintly citizens and pious people. For after the coming of Christ it became, as the prophet truly says, without fruit or water and quite deserted, "a salty waste for the wickedness of them that dwell therein."35To this is added very much in the prophetic manner a veiled prediction of the change of the longtime desert and thirsty land, referring either to the individual soul or to the turning of the Gentile church to holiness and of its fertility in divine words. This is clearly predicted in a veiled way when it says, "He made the desert into pools of water," and that which follows. But to understand this, one must have wisdom from God; according to the admonition at the end of the psalm, which says, "Who is wise, and he will keep this?" and that which follows.

Now among the Greeks I know there was only one Phaedon, not a second, and one Polemon, who devoted themselves to philosophy, after a licentious and most wicked life. However, with Jesus there were not only at the time we are speaking of, the twelve disciples, but many more at all times, who, becoming a band of temperate people, speak in the following way of their former lives: "For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward humankind appeared, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, which he shed on us richly," we became such as we are. For "God sent forth his Word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions," as the prophet taught in the book of Psalms.

Becoming confused by his efforts to accuse us, Celsus contradicts himself, appearing at one time to know a person "without sin" and "a righteous individual who can look up to God [adorned] with virtue from the beginning." At another time he accepts our statement that there is no human being who is altogether righteous or without sin. He seems to admit this truth when he remarks, "This is indeed apparently true, that somehow the human race is naturally inclined to sin." In the next place, as if all people were not invited by the word, he says, "All people, then, without distinction, ought to be invited, since all indeed are sinners." And yet, in the preceding pages, we have pointed out the words of Jesus: "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." All people, therefore, laboring and being heavily burdened on account of the nature of sin, are invited to the rest spoken of in the word of God, "for God sent his Word, and healed them and delivered them from their destructions."

Therefore also of this benefit, as of the others before, "Let them confess to the Lord His mercies, and His wonders unto the sons of men" [Psalm 107:21].

"And sacrifice the sacrifice of praise" (ver. 22). For now that He may be praised, the Lord is sweet, "and let them tell out His works with gladness." Not with weariness, not with sadness, not with anxiety, not with loathing, but "with gladness."

..."They who go down on the sea in ships, doing their business on the mighty waters" (ver. 23); that is, amongst many peoples. For that waters are often put for peoples, the Apocalypse of John is witness, when on John's asking what those waters were, it was answered him, they are peoples. They then who do their business on mighty waters, "they have seen the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep" (ver. 24). For what is deeper than human hearts? hence often break forth winds; storms of sedition, and dissensions, disturb the ship.

[Syncletica] also said, 'We have no security in this world. The Apostle said, "Let him that thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall" (1 Cor. 10:12). We are sailing on uncharted seas, as the psalmist David said, "Our life is like a sea." Yet some seas have dangerous reefs, some are full of sharks, some seas are calm. It seems as if we are sailing in calm waters, while men of the world are sailing in rough weather. We are sailing in daylight, led by the sun of righteousness, while they are being driven along in the night of ignorance. Yet it often happens that worldly men, sailing in darkness and through storms, are so afraid of danger that they save the ship by calling upon God and by watchfulness, while we, in our calm waters, become careless, leave the proper course of righteousness, and are sunk.'

They then who do their business on mighty waters, "they have seen the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep" [Psalm 107:24]. For what is deeper than human hearts? Hence often break forth winds; storms of sedition, and dissensions, disturb the ship. And what is done in them? God, willing that both they who steer, and they who are conveyed, should cry unto Him, "He spoke, and the breath of the storm stood" [Psalm 107:25]. What is, stood? Abode, continued, still disturbs, long tosses; rages, and passes not away. "For He spoke, and the breath of the storm stood." And what did that breath of the storm?

"They go up even to the heavens," in daring; "They go down even into the deeps" [Psalm 107:26], in fearing. "Their soul wasted in miseries." "They were disturbed, and moved like a drunken man" [Psalm 107:27]. They who sit at the helm, and they who faithfully love the ship, feel what I say. Certainly, when they speak, when they read, when they interpret, they appear wise. Woe for the storm! "and all their wisdom," he says, "was swallowed up." Sometimes all human counsels fail; whichever way one turns himself, the waves roar, the storm rages, the arms are powerless: where the prow may strike, to what wave the side may be exposed, whither the stricken ship may be allowed to drift, from what rocks she must be kept back lest she be lost, is impossible for her pilots to see. And what is left but that which follows?

"And they cried out unto the Lord when they were troubled, and He delivered them from their distresses" (ver. 28). "And He commanded the storm, and it stood unto clear air" (ver. 29), "and the waves of it were still." Hear on this point the voice of a steersman, one that was in peril, was brought low, was freed. "I would not," he saith, "have you ignorant, brethren, of our distress, which befell us in Asia, that "we were pressed above strength, and above measure" (I see all his "wisdom swallowed up"), "so that we were weary," he saith, "even of life." ...

"And they were glad, because they were still, and He brought them into the haven of their desire" [Psalm 107:30]. "Let His mercies confess unto the Lord, and His wonders towards the sons of men" [Psalm 107:31]. Everywhere, without exception, let not our merits, not our strength, not our wisdom, "confess unto the Lord," but, "His mercies." Let Him be loved in every deliverance of ours, who has been invoked in every distress.

"And let them exalt Him in the assembly of the people, and praise Him in the seat of the elders" [Psalm 107:32]. Let them exalt, let them praise, peoples and elders, merchants and pilots. For what has He done in this assembly? What has He established? Whence has He rescued it? What has He granted it? Even as He resisted the proud, and gave grace to the humble: [James 4:6] the proud, that is, the first people of the Jews, arrogant, and extolling itself on its descent from Abraham, and because to that nation "were entrusted the oracles of God." [Romans 3:2] These things did not avail them unto soundness, but unto pride of heart, rather to swelling than to greatness. What then did God, resisting the proud, but giving grace to the humble; cutting off the natural branches for their pride; grafting in the wild olive for its humility?

...What then did God, resisting the proud, but giving grace to the humble; cutting off the natural branches for their pride; grafting in the wild olive for its humility?

"He made the rivers a wilderness" (ver. 33). Waters did run there, prophecies were in course. Seek now a prophet among the Jews; thou findest none. For "He made the outgoings of waters to be thirst." Let them say, "Now there is no prophet more, and He will not know us any more."

The city near the desert, which Jesus entered when he no longer walked boldly among the Jews, is Ephraim.Now Ephraim means "fruitfulness." He was the brother of Manasseh, the elder of the people "because of forgetfulness." For after the people "because of forgetfulness" have been left behind, the fruitfulness of the Gentiles has come about, when God "turned" the rivers in Israel "into a desert and the sources of the waters" there "into dry ground" and "their fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of those who dwell in it." But he "turned the desert" from the Gentiles "into pools of waters" and "their dry land into sources of waters."

"A fruitful land to be saltpools" [Psalm 107:34]. You seek there the faith of Christ, you find not: you seek a prophet, you find not: you seek a sacrifice, you find not: you seek a temple, you find none. Wherefore this? "From the wickedness of them that dwell therein." Behold how He resists the proud: hear how He gives grace to the humble.

"He made the wilderness to be a standing water, and the dry ground to be outgoings of waters" [Psalm 107:35].

"He made the wilderness to be a standing water, and the dry ground to be outgoings of waters" (ver. 35). "And He caused the hungry to dwell there" (ver. 36). Because to Him it was said, "Thou art a Priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedec." For thou seekest a sacrifice among the Jews; thou hast none after the order of Aaron. Thou seekest it after the order of Melchizedec; thou findest it not among them, but through the whole world it is celebrated in the Church. "From the rising of the sun to the setting thereof the name of the Lord is praised."

"And he has placed there the hungry, and they made a city for their habitation," the church. There he sowed fields, according to the seed that fell on the beautiful and good ground and produced a hundredfold, and he planted vineyards, for the Lord's disciples are branches, which also "yielded fruit of produce, and he blessed them and they were multiplied exceedingly."

"And they sowed fields, and planted vineyards, and gat fruit of corn" [Psalm 107:37]: at which that workman rejoiceth, who saith, "Not because I desire a gift, but I seek fruit." [Philippians 4:17]

"And He blessed them, and they were multiplied exceedingly, and their cattle were not diminished" [Psalm 107:38]. This standeth. For "the foundation of God standeth sure; because the Lord knoweth them that are His." [2 Timothy 2:19] They are called "beasts of burden," and "cattle," that walk simply in the Church, yet are useful; not much learned, but full of faith. Therefore, whether spiritual or carnal, "He blessed them."

"And they became few, and were vexed" [Psalm 107:39]. Whence this? From athwart? Nay, from within. For that they should "become few," "They went out from us, but they were not of us." [1 John 2:19] But therefore he speaketh as of these, of whom he spake before, that they may be discerned with understanding; because he speaketh as if of the same, because of the sacraments they have in common. For they belong to the people of God, though not by the virtue, yet surely by the appearance of piety: for concerning them we have heard the Apostle, "In the last times there shall come grievous times, for there shall be men lovers of themselves." [2 Timothy 3:2] The first evil is, "lovers of themselves;" that is, as being pleased with themselves. Would that they were not pleasing to themselves, and were pleasing to God: would that they would cry out in their difficulties, and be freed from their distresses. But while they presumed greatly on themselves, "they were made few." It is manifest, brethren: all who separate themselves from unity become few. For they are many; but in unity, while they are not parted from unity. For when the multitude of unity hath begun no more to belong to them, in heresy and schism, they are few. "And they were vexed, from distress of miseries and grief."

"Contempt was poured on princes" [Psalm 107:40]. For they were rejected by the Church of God, and the more because they wished to be princes, therefore they were despised, and became salt that had lost its savour, cast out abroad, so that it is trodden under foot of men. [Matthew 5:13] "And He led them astray in the pathless place, and not in a way." Those above in the way, those directed to a city, and finally led there, not led astray; but these, where there was no way, led astray. What is, "Led them astray"? God "gave them up to their own hearts' lusts." [Romans 1:24] For "led astray" means this, gave them up to themselves. For if you enquire closely, it is they that lead themselves astray.

"And He helped the poor out of beggary" [Psalm 107:41]. What means this, brethren? Princes are despised, and the poor helped. The proud are cast aside, and the humble provided for...."And made him households like sheep." Thou understandest one poor man and one beggar of him concerning whom he said, "He has helped the poor out of misery:" this poor man is now many households, this poor man is many nations; many Churches are one Church, one nation, one household, one sheep. These are great mysteries, great types, how profound, how full of hidden meanings; how sweetly discovered, since long hidden.

Therefore, "the righteous will consider this, and rejoice: and the mouth of all wickedness shall be stopped" [Psalm 107:42]. That wickedness that does prate against unity, and compels truth to be made manifest, shall be convicted, and have its mouth stopped.

"Who is wise? and he will consider these things; and will understand the mercies of the Lord" [Psalm 107:43]. ...Not his own deservings, not his own strength, not his own power; but "the mercies of the Lord;" who, when he was wandering and in want, led him back to the path, and fed him; who, when he was struggling against the difficulties of his sins, and bound down with the fetters of habit, released and freed him; who, when he loathed the Word of God, and was almost dying with a kind of weariness, restored him by sending him the medicine of His Word; who, when he was endangered among the risks of shipwreck and storm, stilled the sea, and brought him into port; who, finally, placed him in that people, where He giveth grace to the humble; not in that where he resisteth the proud; and hath made him His own, that remaining within he may be multiplied, not that going out he may be minished. The righteous see this, and rejoice. "The mouth," therefore, "of all wickedness shall be stopped."