Psalm 27 [MT 28]

"Unto You, O Lord, have I cried; My God, be not silent from me" [Psalm 28:1]. Unto You, O Lord, have I cried; My God, separate not the unity of Your Word from that which as Man I am. "Lest at any time Thou be silent from me: and I shall be like them that go down into the pit." For from this, that the Eternity of Your Word ceases not to unite Itself to Me, it comes that I am not such a man as the rest of men, who are born into the deep misery of this world: where, as if You are silent, Your Word is not recognised.

I shall attribute the fact of the victory not to my virtue but to you, the God who proved its source for me.

Frequently, in Scripture, the righteous are said to have called out to God. Each one tries to beseech God with a cry, and I may say with an unusual cry. He goes to his bedroom closet, locks the door and calls out to God: "Do not be silent before me." It was written of Moses, Aaron and Joshua the son of Nun. Indeed, they were the worthy ones to whom God spoke. He spoke through the prophets whenever the people stood before God. Let us not think that God speaks to us externally, for those righteous thoughts that are in our hearts are the words we speak and the voice through which God speaks to us. Understand this when Scripture says that God spoke to this one or that. Thus Scripture testifies, "Blessed is the one whose help is from you.…" We have this help through which the word of God is received. Holy is that one … who hears the word of the Lord and does it.

If you keep silence with me and deprive me of your help, I shall immediately be consigned to death, which he called "pit," since the grave is dug like a pit.

In the preceding Psalm the Psalmist showed the confidence he has in God; here, lest he fail in confidence, he adds a Psalm of prayer. The title is "A Psalm of David himself." According to the letter, it is said that certain Psalms pertained to the person of David, among which is this one, as though this one pertains to David himself. Or "to this one," because he himself composed it and sang this and others by himself. Mystically, this Psalm is entitled not to the figurative David, but to the true David, namely Christ. For in this Psalm there is mystically treated the prayer of Christ to the Father, insofar as he is delivered from the evils of the passion. He therefore does three things in this Psalm. First he asks to be heard; second he sets forth his petition, at "Do not hand me over together"; third he sets forth his thanksgiving, at "Blessed be the Lord." He asks to be heard for a twofold reason. First, by reason of the imminent danger; second, by reason of his devotion, at "Hear, O Lord." Concerning the first he does three things. First he shows his unfailing resolve to pray; second he asks to be heard, at "Do not be silent"; third he sets forth the imminent danger, at "Lest at any time you be silent." He shows the first when he says: O Lord, "to you I will cry out," not once, but continually. Lk. 18: "It is necessary always to pray." 1 Thess. 5: "Pray without ceasing." Next he asks to be heard: "Do not be silent, my God." The customary manner of speaking is that when someone hears one who is praying, he is said to respond to him. God therefore seems to respond when he satisfies the wish of the one praying. Job 14: "You will call me, and I will answer you." "Do not be silent," therefore, that is, do not withhold your response from me. Gen. 30: "My justice shall answer for me tomorrow." Next the imminent danger is shown: "Lest at any time you be silent to me." It is characteristic of perfect man that if left to himself, he would fail. Hos. 13: "Your destruction is from you, O Israel; only from me is your help." For if at any time you should be silent by not hearing me, "I shall be like those who go down into the pit," that is, into hell. Is. 14: "Yet you shall be brought down to hell, to the depths of the pit." Lam. 3: "My life has fallen into the pit." Jerome has: "Lest, with you being silent, I become like them." Mystically, the Gloss speaks from the person of Christ, that the man Christ cries out lest he be abandoned by the divinity: and he says, "Do not be silent," by withholding from me the benefit of the resurrection, "and do not be silent," that is, do not abandon me in the passion. Otherwise I would be like other men who go down into the pit, as my enemies suppose. Ps. 87: "I am counted among those who go down into the pit."

"Hear, O Lord, the voice of my supplication, whist I pray unto You, while I hold up my hands to Your holy temple" [Psalm 28:2]. Whilst I am crucified for their salvation, who on believing become Your holy temple.

Often, we communicate by the lifting of hands, as when Moses' arms were lifted up and Israel was victorious. When his hands were down, the Amalekites won.… Our hands are our deeds of piety. If we store treasures in heaven, we have hands lifted to God and overcome the enemy. When, therefore, I raise my hands to God, I lift my spirit to him through my uplifted hands. Amalek is conquered by me. So, it is needful to lift your hands to God. The temple of God is his glory.

Though the temple was not yet built, he gives the name "temple" to the tabernacle in which he prayed, distant from it in body but directing his mind there. Likewise also when blessed Daniel in Babylon prayed, he opened the windows facing Jerusalem, not under the impression that God was confined there but from his knowledge that the divine manifestation occurred there.

"Hear, O Lord, the voice of my prayer, while I pray to you." The other reason he asks to be heard is the devotion of the one praying. This devotion consists in two things: namely, in the interior dispositions of the heart, and in exterior works. In the interior: because God is spirit, and those who adore him must be spiritual. Jn. 4: "True adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth": and therefore he says: "Hear my supplication while I pray to you." But we ought also to show reverence in our outward expressions and exterior signs; hence he says, "While I lift up my hands to your holy temple." This can be read in two ways: either literally, according to the Gloss, that the Jews were commanded, wherever they might be, to pray toward that direction where they knew Jerusalem to be. Or, "while I lift up," that is, raise, "my hands to the temple," that is, to heaven. Ps. 10: "The Lord is in his holy temple," etc. Therefore I shall pray not only in the devotion of the heart, but also in exterior signs toward heaven, and I shall show some devotion. Or, "while my hands," that is, my works, "I lift up to the temple," that is, I direct them toward God. Ps. 140: "Let my prayer be directed," that is, my works, "like incense," etc. Concerning Christ it can be explained thus: because he himself raised his hands toward the temple, because he did not reject it but, approving it, drove out those buying and selling in it. Or he raised his hands on the cross: Is. 65: "All day long I have spread out my hands to a people that does not believe but contradicts me." "To the temple," that is, to build the Church through his passion.

"Draw not My Soul away with sinners, and destroy me not with them that work iniquity, with them that speak peace with their neighbours" [Psalm 28:3]. With them that say unto Me, "We know that You are a Master come from God." [John 3:2] "But evil in their hearts." But they speak evil in their hearts.

It is good that the Spirit descended upon the Lord in the form of a dove, so that the faithful may learn that they cannot be filled with his Spirit unless they are simple, unless they possess true peace with their brothers, which is signified by the kiss of doves. Ravens also have kisses, but they tear flesh (which a dove does not do at all), signifying those "who speak peace with their neighbor, but wicked things are in their hearts." A dove, which by nature is innocent of the tearing of the flesh, most suitably fits those innocents who pursue peace and sanctity with everyone.

The prayer of blessed David is to have no truck with those who practice duplicity: he calls abhorrent those who say one thing but mean another.

"Do not hand me over together with sinners, and with workers of iniquity." Here he sets forth his petition, that he not be moved together in punishment with the wicked: and concerning this he does two things. First he describes the guilt; second he sets forth the punishment, at "Give to them." As to the first, he shows the guilt by naming their sins, namely their evil purpose and evil act. I say, "Hear my voice," etc., and this is "while I pray" that I may be freed from the destruction of sinners: because although in life the just are together with sinners, yet in the judgment they will not be together. Mt. 25: "He shall separate the good from the wicked." Ps. 42: "Distinguish my cause from the nation that is not holy," etc. Gen. 18: "Will you destroy the just with the wicked?" And therefore he says, "Do not hand me over together," to damnation, namely, "with sinners." Sinners properly are those who sin from habit, or who have the resolve and the execution of sin as their purpose. One carries out the act of sin in two ways: namely, through manifest injustice, and through fraud. And this is the one who "speaks peace" toward others. Concerning the first he says, "Do not destroy me with workers of iniquity." Those are said to work iniquity who openly commit injustice. Yet not every sin is committed through injustice; but it is especially committed insofar as one does not render obedience to God. Concerning the second he says, "Who speak peace with their neighbor." And he sets forth two things: namely, their sweet words on their lips: Rom. 16: "Who by sweet words and flattery seduce the hearts of the innocent." Prov. 29: "A man who speaks to his friend with flattering and feigned words spreads a net for his steps." But they have something else in their heart; hence it follows, "But evil is in their hearts," namely the things they prepare for their enemies. Jer. 9: "In his mouth he speaks peace with his neighbor, and secretly he lays snares for him." All these things can be referred to Christ, who on the cross was reckoned with criminals, as it says in Is. 53. But he asks that he not be handed over "together," that is, for the same cause, that is, that he not be crucified with them: because the passion or condemnation of those men was for their own sin, but the passion of Christ was for our iniquity. Likewise, that he not be handed over for the same end with the sinful wicked, that is, not according to the intention of those who intended to destroy the name of Christ. And these are those who spoke peace with their neighbor: and toward Christ when they tried to trap him in his speech; but "evil was in their hearts," that is, evil intention: because they tried to trap him, that is, so that they could accuse him. Mt. 22.

"Give unto them according to their works" [Psalm 28:4]. Give unto them according to their works, for this is just. "And according to the malice of their affections." For aiming at evil, they cannot discover good. "According to the works of their hands give Thou unto them." Although what they have done may avail for salvation to others, yet give Thou unto them according to the works of their wills. "Pay them their recompense." Because, for the truth which they heard, they wished to recompense deceit; let their own deceit deceive them.

Because they do not understand through blessings, they will understand through suffering.

Let no one think, however, that the righteous person is cursing his enemies: the words are a mark not of cursing but of a just verdict. "Grant them their due repayment," he says, meaning, May they fall foul of their own schemes, which they hatch against one another. This is said also in the seventh psalm, "Their trouble will come back on their own head, and their wrong will come down on top of them."

"Give to them according to their works: and according to the wickedness of their devices." Here he treats of the tribulation and punishment of those men. And first he touches on the punishment itself; second, the equity of the punishment, at "according to their works"; third, its perpetuity, at "because they did not understand." A twofold guilt has been set forth. One is exterior, which is of the mouth; the other is interior, which is of the heart. And therefore as to the first he says, "Give to them according to their works." Ps. 61: "You render to each one according to his works." "Give" is taken in a declarative sense, that is, "you will give"; or by conforming to divine justice. Ps. 57: "The just man shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance." Or this may be referred to Christ: You, O Lord the Father, give to them according to their works: as if to say: from my passion a benefit follows; but you give to them, namely to the sinners, not according to the fruit, but according to their intention which was evil. Jn. 3: "For their works were evil." As to the second he says, "And according to the wickedness of their devices." Devices are ways contrived for harming and sinning. And these are more gravely punished by God, but the punishment due to them is just. Here the text proceeds thus: hence he says, "According to the works of their hands repay them," because namely they sinned not under compulsion but by their own wicked will. Hence their works are the works of their hands. Insofar as it is referred to Christ, thus he says, "According to the works of their hands," etc., because the Jews, even though they did not crucify Christ with their own hands, still both with tongue and hand they carried out this crime, because it was done by their authority; hence he says, "Render to them their recompense," so that just as they did this with evil intention, so you may repay them with evil. Mt. 7: "With what measure you measure, it shall be measured back to you."

"For they have not had understanding in the works of the Lord" [Psalm 28:5]. And whence is it clear that this has befallen them? From this forsooth, "for they have not had understanding in the works of the Lord." This very thing, in truth, has been, even now, their recompense, that in Him whom they tempted with malicious intent as a Man, they should not recognise God, with what design the Father sent Him in the Flesh. "And the works of His hands." Nor be moved by those visible works, which are laid out before their very eyes. "You shall destroy them, and not build them up." Let them do Me no hurt, nay, nor again in their endeavour to raise engines against My Church, let them anything avail.

"Because they did not understand the works of the Lord, the works of his hands," etc. Above the Psalmist set forth the punishment due to the wicked and its equity; here next he sets forth the perpetuity of this punishment: and he does two things in this verse. First he touches on the irreparability of the punishment; second, the cause. It should be known that man frequently sins, and from this incurs the liability of punishment; but since through many works of divine justice a man is provoked to fear, and through works of mercy he is provoked to hope, he sometimes turns to repentance and is healed; but if he becomes hardened in sin through habit and loses understanding, there is no hope of salvation. Job 4: "Because no one understands, they shall perish forever." Is. 6: "Blind the heart of this people," etc. And therefore he sets forth as the cause of irreparable punishment the lack of understanding. It should be noted that not every work is a work of the hands, but exterior works are: some works are also interior. So too in God, some are spiritual things which he works in us. Is. 26: "All our works you have worked in us, O Lord." Some are bodily, such as the heavens. So too the spiritual works of Christ are the salvation of the faithful: but the bodily works are miracles. Jn. 5: "The works that I do bear witness to me." And therefore he says, "Because they did not understand the works of the Lord," namely the spiritual works, "and the works of his hands," namely the bodily works, "you shall destroy them, and you shall not build them up." And this refers to a twofold destruction: namely, spiritual; because they were destroyed by their fall from the faith, though not from the knowledge of God. Ps. 58: "Scatter them by your power, and bring them down," etc. But those who are so destroyed are sometimes rebuilt, as Peter was; and so these too are rebuilt, or will be rebuilt until the end of the world. Rom. 11: "Blindness in part has happened in Israel, until the fullness of the nations should come in, and so all Israel shall be saved." Or it refers to bodily destruction: because they were destroyed by the Romans and were never rebuilt, nor will they ever be rebuilt: or they were destroyed by the Babylonians and restored by the Persians: or destroyed by Antiochus and restored by the Romans; but finally so destroyed by the Romans that they were never rebuilt.

"Blessed be the Lord, for He has heard the voice of My prayer" [Psalm 28:6].

"Blessed be the Lord." Here, as though heard, he gives thanks. And first for the benefits bestowed upon him; second he gives thanks for the benefits bestowed upon the whole people, at "The Lord is the strength." Concerning the first he does two things. First he gives thanks for being heard; second he shows in what he was heard, at "The Lord is my helper." He says therefore: I petitioned, and I was heard in my petition; hence, "Blessed be the Lord." For God to bless us is to cause goodness in us, because he spoke and they were made, Ps. 148. For us to bless God is to acknowledge his goodness by which he does good to us: and nothing accrues to him from this. Yet this must be done by us for all benefits. 2 Cor. 1: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies," etc. Tob. 12: "Bless the God of heaven, because he has shown us his mercy." And therefore he says, "Because he has heard the voice of my supplication," that is, the devotion of my prayer. Jas. 5: "The prayer of the just man avails much," etc.

"The Lord My Helper and My Protector" [Psalm 28:7]. The Lord helping Me in so great sufferings, and protecting Me with immortality in My resurrection. "In Him has My Heart trusted, and I have been helped." "And My Flesh has flourished again:" that is, and My Flesh has risen again. "And of my will I will confess unto Him." Wherefore, the fear of death being now destroyed, not by the necessity of fear under the Law, but with a free will with the Law, shall they who believe in Me, confess unto Him; and because I am in them, I will confess.

Take note of the expression he used. He does not say "flourished," but "flourished again," for nothing flourishes again unless it had flourished previously. The Lord's flesh flourished when he first came forth from the Virgin Mary's undefiled womb, just as Isaiah says: "A shoot will come forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower will come up from his root." It flourished again, when, after the flower of his body was cut down by the Jews, it sprouted forth from the tomb with the renewed glory of the resurrection. In the manner of a flower, it breathed forth at the same time a scent and the gleam of immortality on all people, circulating the scent of good works with its sweetness and demonstrating the incorruptibility of the eternal divinity with its gleam.

Here he shows in what he was heard, namely that he obtained the help of God: and concerning this he does three things. First he sets forth the benefit of divine help; second, the merit of the benefit, at "and in him my heart has hoped"; third, the effect of the benefit, at "and my flesh has flourished again." Man needs divine help for two things: to act well, and to be freed from evils and to be advanced to the good. As to the first he says, "The Lord is my helper." Jn. 15: "Without me you can do nothing." Is. 50: "The Lord God is my helper." As to the second he says, "and my protector": and a protector from evils, like a shield protecting a man from external weapons. Is. 49: "Under the shadow of his hand he protected me." Ps. 63: "You have protected me, O God, from the assembly of the malignant." But by what merit do you defend me? By my own? No. But by no other than that "in him my heart has hoped," as though from my inmost affection I trust in him. Ps. 24: "In you I trust; I shall not be put to shame." And therefore "I have been helped." Is. 40: "Those who hope in the Lord shall renew their strength." All these things can be referred to Christ insofar as he is man: for as God, he himself helps and protects all together with the Father; insofar as he is man, he was helped and protected by the Father. And there follows "in him." The effect of the help is set forth here in two respects. First as to the flesh; second as to the soul; hence he says, "and my flesh has flourished again." The youth of man is compared to a flower: because just as a flower is the promise of fruit, so the youth of man is the promise of future life. Ps. 89: "In the morning let him pass like the grass." The flesh therefore flourishes again when what is old becomes young again; since man in sadness seems to grow old, and in joy seems to grow young; but the flesh of Christ flowered with the flower of beauty and incorruption. In the first man his flesh flowered through the purity of innocence, but by sinning it was stained. But in Christ it flourished again in the resurrection: for it was conceived of the Holy Spirit without sin. Is. 11: "A flower shall rise from his root." Likewise, in the first state human nature flowered, because it was incorruptible: but through sin it was subjected to corruption: Rom. 8: "The body through sin is dead." But Christ flourished again in the resurrection: Song 1: "And our couch is flowery." As to the soul he says, "and of my own will I shall confess to you." The soul, as long as it is in sin, has its will turned away from God and turned toward temporal things; but when it is restored through conversion, then its will is turned toward God, and it confesses God by praising him. Or if this is said of Christ, it refers to his members, namely the faithful: Ps. 53: "Freely I shall sacrifice to you and confess your name, O Lord, for it is good."

All that he suffered, he suffered by his own will, as he said, "I have the power to lay down my spirit and to take it back."And he also said, freely I will confess him. He himself is the strength of his own people because he fulfills his words by his deeds. He said that he was going to suffer and he suffered, that he was going to die and he died, that he was going to arise and he arose from the dead, overcoming weakness of fear and giving strength to a most eager will. Because he is the protector of the salvation of his own anointed, because without a doubt he is "God in Christ, reconciling the World to himself,"27saving his own people by bringing deliverance to spirit and body, and by blessing the nations, his own inheritance, by freeing them from demonic subjection, so that the Son of God, with the Father and Holy Spirit, may extol them and rule forever.

"The Lord is the strength of His people" [Psalm 28:8]. Not that people "ignorant of the righteousness of God, and willing to establish their own." [Romans 10:3] For they thought not themselves strong in themselves: for the Lord is the strength of His people, struggling in this life's difficulties with the devil. "And the protector of the salvation of His Christ." That, having saved them by His Christ after the strength of war, He may protect them at the last with the immortality of peace.

This does not refer to the people which was ignorant of God's righteousness and tried to establish its own. Rather, it refers to a different people that did not look to itself for its strength but knew instead that the Lord would be its strength as it contends with the devil in the difficulties of this life.

This teaches us that all the wonders of Christ written in the holy Scriptures, done for our salvation, whether teachings or writings, or the mysteries of his resurrection now referred to, were all done by the will and power of the Father defending his own Christ as with a shield in all his marvelous and saving words and works.

Whoever is baptized in Christ is his anointed.

"The Lord." Here he gives thanks for the benefits to the people. And first he sets forth the benefits already shown. Second he asks that they be continued, at "Save your people." The same benefits that were done to him, when he says "the Lord is my helper," etc., he says were done to the people, when he says "the Lord is the strength" of the Jewish people delivered through me from the Philistines. And Christ is the strength of his people delivered through him from sin: Is. 12: "The Lord is my strength, and he has become my salvation": Ps. 142: "My protector, and in him I have hoped." And he is "the protector of the salvations," that is, he protects those who have been saved through Christ: Acts 4: "There is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved." Christ therefore protects us in the present, lest we fall into sin; and therefore "of the salvations," that is, of those predestined for salvation, he will protect in the future, delivering from every evil: Rev. 7: "They shall not hunger, nor thirst anymore, neither shall the sun fall upon them, nor any heat," etc.

"Save Your people, and bless Your inheritance" [Psalm 28:9]. I intercede therefore, after My Flesh has flourished again, because You have said, "Desire of Me, and I will give You the heathen for Your inheritance;" "Save Your people, and bless Your inheritance:" for "all Mine are Yours." [John 17:10] "And rule them, and set them up even for ever." And rule them in this temporal life, and raise them from hence into life eternal.

He aids and saves the people that were anointed for inheritance and the priestly kingdom, and he tends and exalts them forever, showing us to be raised up and glorified in future infinite ages.

The prayer for the people befits the king as well: it is also admirable about mighty David that though pursued also by the people, who waged war on him along with Saul, he offered supplication on their behalf to God. He foresaw their future conversion, you see, and had regard not for the injustice but for the servitude to come.

"Save." Here he shows the continuation of the benefits or of salvation. And first he sets forth the salvation. Second, the manner, at "Bless." He says therefore: O Lord, you who are my protector, "save your people," that is, I ask that you lead them to salvation: Jn. 17: "I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from evil": Is. 45: "Israel is saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation." Next he sets forth the manner of reaching salvation: for which three things are required: namely, the gift of grace, governance, and spiritual progress. As to the first he says, "And bless your inheritance," that is, confirm its gifts. Prov. 10: "The blessing of the Lord is upon the head of the just." And he says "your inheritance," because the elect are his inheritance: Ps. 32: "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord," etc. As to the second he says, "And rule them," because even with grace, governance is necessary: Prov. 11: "Where there is no governor, the people shall fall." As to the third he says, "And lift them up," that is, advance them through progress, "forever." This can be understood in two ways. First, in the intellect, when one is raised to a clear knowledge of the truth: Is. 52: "Behold, my servant shall understand, and shall be exalted." Second, in the affections, when one desires not carnal but spiritual things: "Having a desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ," Phil. 1. Because one is removed from this life to the life of glory: Is. 56: "I will lift you up above the height of the clouds, and I will feed you," etc.