Psalm 78 [MT 79]

Over the title of this Psalm, being so short and so simple, I think we need not tarry. But the prophecy which here we read sent before, we know to be evidently fulfilled. For when these things were being sung in the times of King David, nothing of such sort, by the hostility of the Gentiles, as yet had befallen the city Jerusalem, nor the Temple of God, which as yet was not even built. For that after the death of David his son Salomon made a temple to God, who is ignorant? That is spoken of therefore as though past, which in the Spirit was seen to be future.

"O God, the Gentiles have come into Your inheritance" [Psalm 79:1]. Under which form of expression other things which were to come to pass, are spoken of as having been done. Nor must this be wondered at, that these words are being spoken to God. For they are not being represented to Him not knowing, by whose revelation they are foreknown; but the soul is speaking with God with that affection of godliness, of which God knows. For even the things which Angels proclaim to men, they proclaim to them that know them not; but the things which they proclaim to God, they proclaim to Him knowing, when they offer our prayers, and in ineffable manner consult the eternal Truth respecting their actions, as an immutable law. And therefore this man of God is saying to God that which he is to learn of God, like a scholar to a master, not ignorant but judging; and so either approving what he has taught, or censuring what he has not taught: especially because under the appearance of one praying, the Prophet is transforming into himself those who should be at the time when these things were to come to pass. But in praying it is customary to declare those things to God which He has done in taking vengeance, and for a petition to be added, that henceforth He should pity and spare. In this way here also by him the judgments are spoken of by whom they are foretold, as if they were being spoken of by those whom they befell, and the very lamentation and prayer is a prophecy.

"They have made," he says, "the dead bodies of Your servants morsels for the fowls of heaven, the fleshes of Your saints for the beasts of the earth" [Psalm 79:2]. The expression, "dead bodies," has been repeated in "fleshes:" and the expression, "of Your servants," has been repeated in, "of Your saints." This only has been varied, "to the fowls of heaven, and to the beasts of the earth." Better have they interpreted who have written "dead," than as some have it, "mortal." For "dead" is only said of those that have died; but mortal is a term applied even to living bodies. When then, as I have said, to their Husbandman the spirits of martyrs like apples had passed away, their dead bodies and their fleshes they set before the fowls of heaven and the beasts of the earth: as if any part of them could be lost to the resurrection, whereas out of the hidden recesses of the natural world He will renew the whole, by whom even our hairs have been numbered. [Matthew 10:30]

"They have defiled Your holy Temple, they have made Jerusalem for a keeping of apples." "They have made the dead bodies of Your servants morsels for the fowls of heaven, the fleshes of Your saints for the beasts of the earth" [Psalm 79:2]. "They have poured forth their blood like water in the circuit of Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them" [Psalm 79:3]. If in this prophecy any one of us shall have thought that there must be understood that laying waste of Jerusalem, which was made by Titus the Roman Emperor, when already the Lord Jesus Christ, after His Resurrection and Ascension, was being preached among the Gentiles, it does not occur to me how that people could now have been called the inheritance of God, as not holding to Christ, whom having rejected and slain, that people became reprobate, which not even after His Resurrection would believe in Him, and even killed His Martyrs. For out of that people Israel whosoever have believed in Christ; to whom the offer of Christ was made, and in a manner the healthful and fruitful fulfilment of the promise; concerning whom even the Lord Himself says, "I am not sent but to the sheep which have been lost of the house of Israel," [Matthew 15:24] the same are they that out of them are the sons of promise; the same are counted for a seed; [Romans 9:8] the same do belong to the inheritance of God. From hence are Joseph that just man, and the Virgin Mary who bore Christ: [Matthew 1:16] hence John Baptist the friend of the Bridegroom, and his parents Zacharias and Elisabeth: [Luke 1:5] hence Symeon the old, [Luke 2:25] and Anna the widow, who heard not Christ speaking by the sense of the body; but while yet an infant not speaking, by the Spirit perceived Him: hence the blessed Apostles: hence Nathanael, in whom guile was not: [John 1:47] hence the other Joseph, who himself too looked for the kingdom of God: hence that so great multitude who went before and followed after His beast, saying, "Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord:" [Matthew 21:9] among whom was also that company of children, in whom He declared to have been fulfilled, "Out of the mouth of infants and sucklings You have perfected praise." Hence also were those after His resurrection, of whom on one day three and on another five thousand were baptized, welded into one soul and one heart by the fire of love; of whom no one spoke of anything as his own, but to them all things were common. [Acts 4:32] Hence the holy deacons, of whom Stephen was crowned with martyrdom before the Apostles. [Acts 7:59] Hence so many Churches of Judæa, which were in Christ, unto whom Paul was unknown by face, [Galatians 1:22] but known for an infamous ferocity, and more known for Christ's most merciful grace. Hence even he, according to the prophecy sent before concerning him, "a wolf ravening, in the morning carrying off, and in the evening dividing morsels;" [Genesis 49:27] that is, first as persecutor carrying off unto death, afterwards as a preacher feeding unto life. These are they that are out of that people the inheritance of God....So then even at this time a remnant through election of Grace have been saved. This remnant out of that nation does belong to the inheritance of God: not those concerning whom a little below he says, "But the rest have been blinded." For thus he says. "What then? That which Israel sought, this he has not obtained: but the election has obtained it: but the rest have been blinded." [Romans 11:7] This election then, this remnant, that people of God, which God has not cast off, is called His inheritance. But in that Israel, which has not obtained this, in the rest that were blinded, there was no longer an inheritance of God, in reference to whom it is possible that there should be spoken, after the glorification of Christ in the Heavens, in the time of Titus the Emperor, "O God, there have come the Gentiles unto Your inheritance," and the other things which in this Psalm seem to have been foretold concerning the destruction of both the temple and city belonging to that people.

Further still, we are reminded that in such a carnage as then occurred, the bodies could not even be buried. But godly confidence is not appalled by so ill-omened a circumstance; for the faithful bear in mind that assurance has been given that not a hair of their head shall perish, and that, therefore, though they even be devoured by beasts, their blessed resurrection will not hereby be hindered. The Truth would nowise have said, "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul," if anything whatever that an enemy could do to the body of the slain could be detrimental to the future life. Or will some one perhaps take so absurd a position as to contend that those who kill the body are not to be feared before death, and lest they kill the body, but after death, lest they deprive it of burial? If this be so, then that is false which Christ says, "Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do;" for it seems they can do great injury to the dead body. Far be it from us to suppose that the Truth can be thus false. They who kill the body are said "to do something," because the deathblow is felt, the body still having sensation; but after that, they have no more that they can do, for in the slain body there is no sensation.And so there are indeed many bodies of Christians lying unburied; but no one has separated them from heaven, nor from that earth which is all filled with the presence of him who knows whence he will raise again what he created. It is said, indeed, in the Psalm: "The dead bodies of Thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of Thy saints unto the beasts of the earth. Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them." But this was said rather to exhibit the cruelty of those who did these things, than the misery of those who suffered them. To the eyes of men this appears a harsh and doleful lot, yet "precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." Wherefore all these last offices and ceremonies that concern the dead, the careful funeral arrangements, and the equipment of the tomb, and the pomp of obsequies, are rather the solace of the living than the comfort of the dead. If a costly burial does any good to a wicked man, a squalid burial, or none at all, may harm the godly. His crowd of domestics furnished the purple-clad Dives with a funeral gorgeous in the eye of man; but in the sight of God that was a more sumptuous funeral which the ulcerous pauper received at the hands of the angels, who did not carry him out to a marble tomb, but bore him aloft to Abraham's bosom.

"They have poured forth their blood like water," that is, abundantly and wantonly, "in the circuit of Jerusalem" [Psalm 79:3]. If we herein understand the earthly city Jerusalem, we perceive the shedding of their blood in the circuit thereof, whom the enemy could find outside the walls. But if we understand it of that Jerusalem, concerning whom has been said, "many more are the sons of her that was forsaken, than of her that has the husband," [Isaiah 54:1] the circuit thereof is throughout the universal earth. For in that lesson of the Prophet, wherein is written, "many more are the sons of her that was forsaken, than of her that has the husband:" a little after unto the same is said, "and He that has delivered you, shall be called the God of Israel of the universal earth." [Isaiah 54:5] The circuit then of this Jerusalem in this Psalm must be understood as follows: so far as at that time the Church had been expanded, bearing fruit, and growing in the universal world, when in every part thereof persecution was raging, and was making havoc of the Martyrs, whose blood was being shed like water, to the great gain of the celestial treasuries. But as to that which has been added, "and there was no one to bury:" it either ought not to seem to be an incredible thing that there should have been so great a panic in some places, that not any buriers at all of holy bodies came forward: or certes that unburied corpses in many places might lie long time, until being by the religious in a manner stolen they were buried.

"We have become," he says, "a reproach to our neighbours" [Psalm 79:4]. Therefore precious not in the sight of men, from whom this reproach was, but "precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." "A scoffing and derision:" or, as some have interpreted it, "a mockery to them that are in our circuit." It is a repetition of the former sentence. For that which above has been called, "a reproach," the same has been repeated in, "a scoffing and derision:" and that which above has been said in, "to our neighbours," the same has been repeated in, "to them that are in our circuit." Moreover, in reference to the earthly Jerusalem, the neighbours, and those in the circuit of that nation, are certainly understood to be other nations. But in reference to the free Jerusalem our mother, [Galatians 4:26] there are neighbours even in the circuit of her, among whom, being her enemies, the Church dwells in the circuit of the round world.

If you shut the heavens, who will open them? And if you let loose your torrents, who will restrain them? It is an easy thing in your eyes to make some people poor and others rich, to make some alive and to kill others, to strike some with illness and to heal others. Whatever you do according to your will is perfect. You are angry, and we have sinned, someone said long ago, in making confession. Now it is time for me to say the opposite, "We have sinned, and you are angry"; therefore "we have become a reproach to our neighbors." You turned your face from us, and we were filled with dishonor. But stay, Lord; cease, Lord; forgive, Lord; deliver us not up forever because of our iniquities, and let not our chastisements be a warning for others, when we might learn wisdom from the trials of others.

In the second place now giving utterance to an evident prayer, whence it may be perceived that the calling to remembrance of former affliction is not by way of information but prayer; "How long," he says, "O Lord, will You be angry, unto the end? Shall Your jealousy burn like fire?" [Psalm 79:5]. He is evidently asking God not to be angry unto the end, that is, that this so great oppression and tribulation and devastation may not continue even unto the end; but that He moderate His chastening, according to that which is said in another Psalm, "You shall feed us with the bread of tears, and You shall give us to drink of tears in measure." For the, "how long, O Lord, will You be angry, unto the end?" has been spoken in the same sense as if it had been said, Be not, O Lord, angry unto the end. And in that which follows, "shall Your jealousy burn like fire?" both words must be understood, both, "how long," and, "unto the end:" just as if there had been said, how long shall there burn like fire Your jealousy unto the end? For these two words must be understood in the same manner as that word which was used a little higher up, namely, "they have made." For while the former sentence has, "they have made the dead bodies of Your servants morsels for the fowls of heaven:" this word the latter sentence has not, wherein is said, "the fleshes of Your saints for the beasts of the earth;" but there is surely understood what the former has, namely, "they have made."

Moreover, the anger and jealousy of God are not emotions of God; as some do charge upon the Scriptures which they do not understand: but under the name of anger is to be understood the avenging of iniquity; under the name of jealousy, the exaction of chastity; that the soul may not despise the law of her Lord, and perish by departing in fornication from the Lord. These then in their actual operation in men's affliction are violent; but in the disposal of God they are calm, unto whom has been said, "But You, O Lord of virtues, with calmness dost judge." [Wisdom 12:18] But it is clearly enough shown by these words, that for sins these tribulations do befall men, though they be faithful: although hence may bloom the Martyrs' glory by occasion of their patience, and the yoke of discipline godly endured as the scourge of the Lord. Of this the Maccabees amid sharp tortures, of this the three men amid flames innocuous, [Daniel 3:21] of this the holy Prophets in captivity, do testify. For although paternal correction most bravely and most godly they endure, yet they do not hide the fact, that these things have befallen them for the deservings of their sins.. ..

Some things mentioned in the Bible are not factual; some factual things are not mentioned; some nonfactual things receive no mention there; some things are both factual and mentioned. Do you ask for my proofs here? I am ready to offer them. In the Bible, God "sleeps," "wakes up," "is angered," "walks" and has a "throne of cherubim." Yet when has God ever been subject to emotion? When do you ever hear that God is a bodily being? This is a nonfactual, mental picture. We have used names derived from human experience and applied them so far as we could, to aspects of God. His retirement from us, for reason known to himself into an almost unconcerned inactivity, is his "sleeping." Human sleeping, after all, has the character of restful inaction. When he alters and suddenly benefits us, that is his "waking up." Waking up puts an end to sleep, just as looking at somebody puts an end to turning away from him. We have made his punishing us, his "being angered"; for with us, punishment is born of anger. His acting in different places, we call "walking," for walking is a transition from one place to another. His resting among the heavenly powers, making them almost his haunt, we call his "sitting" and "being enthroned"; this too is human language. The divine, in fact, rests nowhere as he rests in the saints. God's swift motion we call "flight;" his watching over us is his "face";12 his giving and receiving is his "hand." In short every faculty or activity of God has given us a corresponding picture in terms of some thing bodily.

But that which he adds, "Pour forth Your anger upon the nations which have not known You, and upon the kingdoms which have not called upon Your name" [Psalm 79:6]; this too is a prophecy, not a wish. Not in the imprecation of malevolence are these words spoken, but foreseen by the Spirit they are predicted: just as in the case of Judas the traitor, the evil things which were to befall him have been so prophesied as if they were wished. For in like manner as the prophet does not command Christ, though in the imperative mood he gives utterance to what he says, "Gird Your sword about Your thigh, O Most Mighty: in Your beauty and in Your goodliness, both go on, and prosperously proceed, and reign:" so he does not wish, but does prophesy, who says, "Pour forth Your anger upon the nations which have not known You." Which in his usual way he repeats, saying, "And upon the kingdoms which have not called upon Your name." For nations have been repeated in kingdoms: and that they have not known Him, has been repeated in this, that they have not called upon His name. How then must be understood, what the Lord says in the Gospel [Luke 12:47-48] concerning stripes, "the many and the few"? If greater the anger of God is against the nations, which have not known the Lord? For in this which he says, "Pour forth Your anger," with this word he has clearly enough pointed out, how great anger he has willed that there should be understood. Whence afterwards he says, "Render to our neighbours seven times as much." Is it not that there is a great difference between servants, who, though they know not the will of their Lord, do yet call upon His name, and those that are aliens from the family of so great a Master, who are so ignorant of God, as that they do not even call upon God? For in place of Him they call upon either idols or demons, or any creature they choose; not the Creator, who is blessed for ever. For those persons, concerning whom he is prophesying this, he does not even intimate to be so ignorant of the will of their God, as that still they fear the Lord Himself; but so ignorant of the Lord Himself, that they do not even call upon Him, and that they stand forth as enemies of His name. There is a great difference then between servants not knowing the will of their God, and yet living in His family and in His house, and enemies not only setting the will against knowing the Lord Himself, but also not calling upon His name, and even in His servants fighting against it.

Lastly, there follows, "For they have eaten up Jacob, and his place they have made desolate" [Psalm 79:7]....How we should view "the place" of Jacob, must be understood. For rather the place of Jacob may be supposed to be that city, wherein was also the Temple, whither-unto the whole of that nation for the purpose of sacrifice and worship, and to celebrate the Passover, the Lord had commanded to assemble. For if the assemblies of Christians, letted and suppressed by persecutors, has been what the Prophet would have to be understood, it would seem that he should have said, places made desolate, not place. Still we may take the singular number as put for the plural number; as dress for clothes, soldiery for soldiers, cattle for beasts: for many words are usually spoken in this manner, and not only in the mouths of vulgar speakers, but even in the eloquence of the most approved authorities. Nor to divine Scripture herself is this form of speech foreign. For even she has put frog for frogs, locust for locusts, and countless expressions of the like kind. But that which has been said, "They have eaten up Jacob," the same is well understood, in that many men into their own evil-minded body, that is, into their own society, they have constrained to pass.

...He subjoineth, "Remember not our iniquities of old" (ver. 8). He saith not bygone, which might have even been recent; but "of old," that is, coming from parents. For to such iniquities judgment, not correction, is owing. "Speedily let Thy mercies anticipate us." Anticipate, that is, at Thy judgment. For "mercy exalteth above in judgment." Now there is "judgment without mercy," but to him that hath not showed mercy. But whereas he addeth, "for we have become exceeding poor:" unto this end he willeth that the mercies of God should be understood to anticipate us; that our own poverty, that is, weakness, by Him having mercy, should be aided to do His commandments, that we may not come to His judgment to be condemned.

Therefore there followeth, "Help us, O God, our healing One" (ver. 9). By this word which he saith, "our healing One," he doth sufficiently explain what sort of poverty he hath willed to be understood, in that which he had said, "for we have become exceeding poor." For it is that very sickness, to which a healer is necessary. But while he would have us to be aided, he is neither ungrateful to grace, nor doth he take away free-will. For he that is aided, doth also of himself something. He hath added also, "for the glory of Thy Name, O Lord, deliver us:" in order that he who glorieth, not in himself, but in the Lord may glory. "And merciful be Thou," he saith, "to our sins for Thy Name's sake:" not for our sake. For what else do our sins deserve, but due and condign punishments? But "merciful be Thou to our sins, for Thy Name's sake." Thus then Thou dost deliver us, that is, dost rescue us from evil things, while Thou dost both aid us to do justice, and art merciful to our sins, without which in this life we are not. For "in Thy sight shall no man living be justified." But sin is iniquity. And "if Thou shalt have marked iniquities, who shall stand?"

...There see: In the beginning was the Word. For it was not made at any time: but in the beginning it was. Not like a creature, of which it is said: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Therefore, what was in the beginning, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God: and all things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made: and in Him was life, which was made, it came to us. To whom? To the worthy? By no means: but to the unworthy. For Christ died for the ungodly, and the undeserving, but worthy. For we are undeserving of His mercy; but He is worthy who would have mercy, to whom it would be said: For your mercy's sake, Lord, deliver us. Not because of our preceding merits, but for your mercy's sake, Lord, deliver us; and be merciful to our sins for your name's sake, not for our merit. For not because of the merit of sins, but for your name's sake. For the merit of sins, assuredly not a reward, but a punishment. Therefore, for your name's sake.

But that which he addeth, "lest at any time they should say among the Gentiles, Where is their God?" (ver. 10) must be taken as rather for the Gentiles themselves. For to a bad end they come that have despaired of the true God, thinking that either He is not, or doth not help His own, and is not merciful to them. But this which followeth, "and that there may be known among the nations before our eyes the vengeance of the blood of Thy servants which hath been shed:" is either to be understood as of the time, when they believe in the true God that used to persecute His inheritance; because even that is vengeance, whereby is slain the fierce iniquity of them by the sword of the Word of God, concerning which hath been said, "Gird Thou Thy sword:" or when obstinate enemies at the last are punished. For the corporal ills which they suffer in this world, they may have in common with good men. There is also another kind of vengeance; that wherein the Church's enlargement and fruitfulness in this world after so great persecutions, wherein they supposed she would utterly perish, the sinner and unbeliever and enemy seeth, and is angry; "with his teeth he shall gnash, and shall pine away." For who would dare to deny that even this is a most heavy punishment? But I know not whether that which he saith, "before our eyes," is taken with sufficient elegance, if by this sort of punishment we understand that which is done in the inmost recesses of the heart, and doth torment even those who blandly smile at us, while by us there cannot be seen what they suffer in the inner man. But the fact, that whether in them believing their iniquity is slain, or whether the last punishment is rendered to them persevering in their naughtiness, without difficulty of doubtfulness is understood in the saying, "that there may be known before our eyes vengeance among the nations."

The whole family of God, most high and most true, has therefore a consolation of its own,-a consolation which cannot deceive, and which has in it a surer hope than the tottering and falling affairs of earth can afford. They will not refuse the discipline of this temporal life, in which they are schooled for life eternal; nor will they lament their experience of it, for the good things of earth they use as pilgrims who are not detained by them, and its ills either prove or improve them. As for those who insult over them in their trials, and when ills befall them say, "Where is thy God?" we may ask them where their gods are when they suffer the very calamities for the sake of avoiding which they worship their gods, or maintain they ought to be worshipped; for the family of Christ is furnished with its reply: our God is everywhere present, wholly everywhere; not confined to any place. He can be present unperceived, and be absent without moving; when He exposes us to adversities, it is either to prove our perfections or correct our imperfections; and in return for our patient endurance of the sufferings of time, He reserves for us an everlasting reward. But who are you, that we should deign to speak with you even about your own gods, much less about our God, who is "to be feared above all gods? For all the gods of the nations are idols; but the Lord made the heavens."

"Render," he says, "to our neighbours seven times so much into their bosoms" [Psalm 79:13]. Not any evil things he is wishing, but things just he is foretelling and prophesying as to come. But in the number seven, that is, in sevenfold retribution, he would have the completeness of the punishment to be perceived, for with this number fullness is wont to be signified. Whence also there is this saying for the good, "He shall receive in this world seven times as much:" which has been put for all. "As if having nothing, and possessing all things." [2 Corinthians 6:10] Of neighbours he is speaking, because among them dwells the Church even unto the day of severing: for not now is made the corporal separation. "Into their bosoms," he says, as being now in secret, so that the vengeance which is now being executed in secret in this life, hereafter may be known among the nations before our eyes. For when a man is given over to a reprobate mind, in his inward bosom he is receiving what he deserves of future punishments. "Their reproach wherewith they have reproached You, O Lord." This do You render to them sevenfold into their bosoms, that is, in return for this reproach, most fully do You rebuke them in their secret places. For in this they have reproached Your Name, thinking to efface You from the earth in Your servants.