Thomas Aquinas

In the preceding Psalms a thanksgiving was set forth 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 obtains security. The title, "Unto the end, a Psalm of David": Jerome has, "the victor." This was expounded above. This Psalm can be expounded literally of David; mystically, however, of Christ, or allegorically; morally, indeed, of the just man and of heretics, as the Gloss expounds.

First, then, David sets forth his confidence, "In the Lord I put my trust," as one delivered by the just judgment of God, which casts down sinners and exalts the poor: Jeremiah 17: "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and the Lord shall be his confidence"; Daniel 3: "There is no confusion to them that trust in thee." Second, he sets down the assault made upon his confidence, which was made by words: "How say you," etc. For to David as he fled, certain men counseled that he should go to fortified places and mountains, or that he should hide there, as a sparrow is made to do. How? "Behold the sinners," etc. And this is expounded in two ways. First, that these are the words not of David, but of others: as if to say, therefore flee away, because they have bent the bow. Or that they are the words of David, as if to say: I trust in the Lord, because they have bent the bow, the sinners have prepared their arrows, etc. And he does three things: first he sets down their depraved solicitude; second, their perverse intention, that they may shoot; third, their unjust action, "because the things which thou hast made perfect."

Mystically, of Christ, thus: I, Christ, trust in the Lord: how then do you Pharisees say, flee into the mountain, that is, to the observances of the Law given on Mount Sinai — Deuteronomy 33: "The Lord came from Sinai, and rose to us from Seir" — and unless thou do this, behold the sinners have bent the bow, etc., that is, they have prepared themselves to kill thee and thy disciples; and this, because the things which thou hast made perfect they have destroyed, that is, they have slain. Or morally, the faithful man says to the heretics, according to the Gloss, "I trust in the Lord," holding to his faith: how then do you heretics say, come over to us, into the mountain, that is, to Christ, whom the heretics believed themselves to possess? Isaiah 2: "The mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared on the top of mountains"; 2 Kings 1: "Ye mountains of Gilboa, let neither dew nor rain come upon you, neither be there fields of firstfruits, for there was cast away the shield of the valiant," that is, of the Jews, or of the great heretics: Jeremiah 51: "Behold, I am the pestilent mountain, who corrupts the whole earth." Or the mountain is the loftiness of understanding which they feign themselves to have. But if I should do this, I should be a flighty sparrow, not one who abides. For behold, the sinners, that is, the heretics, have bent the bow, that is, they have drawn Sacred Scripture to themselves, as those who bend a bow; they have prepared arrows, poisonous utterances, in the quiver, that is, in memory or knowledge: Jeremiah 5: "Their quiver is as an open sepulchre." Jerome has, "their arrows upon the string," that is, the cord: the perverse intention, that they may shoot at the upright of heart, that is, the just, in the dark, that is, deceitfully: Jeremiah 9: "Their tongue is a wounding arrow." Or, "in the dark," that is, in the subtleties of Sacred Scripture. Another reading has, "in the darkened moon." The moon is the Church: Song of Songs 6: "Fair as the moon," on account of her brightness, and on account of her obscuring. The brightness of the moon is from the sun; so the brightness of the Church is from Christ: John 1: "That was the true light which enlighteneth," etc. Likewise, one half of the moon's globe is bright, and the other half dark; so in the Church some are bright, some are dark. Now the moon is obscured, according to the Gloss, sometimes by its revolution, and thus it becomes dark; sometimes by an eclipse, and then it is turned into blood; sometimes by the interposition of a cloud, and then it becomes black. So the Church becomes dark in her newness, when there are not in her preachers and doctors; bloody through the persecution of tyrants; black through clouds, that is, through the seduction of heretics; and then he wishes to shoot.

Here their unjust action is set down, "because the things which thou hast made perfect they have destroyed." Another reading has, "because him whom thou hast made perfect"; but the first is better, and according to Jerome, "because the laws which thou hast made perfect they have destroyed": Isaiah 48: "I know that thou art a transgressor, and I have called thee a transgressor from the womb"; Jeremiah 2: "Of old time thou hast broken the yoke, thou hast burst the bands; thou hast said, I will not serve": as if to say, they will destroy thy law, which thou didst command to be kept. Exodus 33: "The innocent and just thou shalt not condemn"; but these men wish to kill him: Psalm 118: "The wicked have destroyed thy law"; and God made it perfect, because he gave it: Psalm 147: "He hath not done in like manner to every nation"; Matthew 5: "I am not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill." If it be said, "him whom thou hast made perfect they have destroyed," thus it is understood of Christ, whom thou hast made perfect.

Here is set down the reason for his confidence. 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 hath loved justice." He says, therefore: thus do these men act; but the just Lord, seeing this by his authority, what does he do? Jeremiah 33: "This is the name that they shall call him, The Lord our just one." He resolves the question, and sets down what this just one does. And first, his judiciary power, or the condition of a judge; second, the discussion of judgment, "his eyes," etc.; third, the condemnation of the violent, "but him that loveth," etc. If a judge always punishes, he is cruel; if he always spares, he is lax. But God does both; and therefore the tribunal of mercy has its place, and this is the temple: Hebrews 4: "Let us go with confidence to the throne of grace"; and therefore he says, "the Lord is in his holy temple": 1 Corinthians 3: "Know you not that you are the temple of God, and the Holy Spirit dwelleth in you?" He also has a place of justice, whence he punishes, namely heaven; and this is also, "the Lord, his throne is in heaven," wherein his power is set forth: Isaiah, the last chapter: "Heaven is my throne." The faithful are called a temple on account of devotion, heaven on account of wisdom. Likewise heaven is called the abode in which God sits, so as to make it heaven, that is, one knowing hidden things. Likewise the soul is called the temple of God, because in the temple God is adored; likewise in the faithful soul: Matthew 6: "Enter into thy chamber," that is, into the secret places of thy soul, "and having shut the door, pray to thy Father in secret." Likewise there sacrifices are offered; likewise in the faithful soul: Psalm 50: "A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit." Likewise in the temple prayers are poured out to God, so in the soul God works: Isaiah 26: "Thou hast wrought all our works in us, O Lord." Likewise, because God sanctifies it, and descends into it as into a temple: Wisdom 4: "The grace of God is upon his saints, and his regard," etc.

His eyes. Here he treats of the discussion of judgment. And first he sets down the perfection of divine knowledge; second, the diligent examination, at "his eyelids examine the sons of men"; third, the equity of judgment, at "the Lord trieth the just and the wicked." By the first, no one can be hidden, for he sees the disposition of the poor man and of the wicked, of the sinner and of the just: Ezekiel 23: "The eyes of the Lord are brighter than the sun, beholding round about all the ways of men, and the depth of the abyss, and looking into the hearts of men"; Proverbs 16: "All the ways of men are open to his eyes; the Lord is a weigher of spirits," that is, of thoughts, or of souls, according to the Gloss; and therefore he says, "his eyes look upon the poor man," unto having mercy: Psalm 30: "Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am afflicted." Likewise Psalm 27: "The Lord is my protector, and in him hath my heart hoped," etc. — also for protecting by testing: Psalm 33: "The eyes of the Lord are upon the just." Likewise Psalm 31: "In this way in which thou shalt walk, I will fix my eyes upon thee." And thus, looking upon them, he examines diligently. "His eyelids examine," etc. By the eyelids discretion is signified, for as the eyelids of the eye direct the sight, so discretion moderates human wisdom: Proverbs 4: "Let thy eyelids go before thy steps." The very discretion of God, therefore, examines, that is, it tries and tests: Wisdom 1: "There shall be an inquiry into 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 grants benefits, sometimes he takes them away: Job 6: "The arrows of the Lord," etc. He also closes his eyelids and opens them: Matthew 17: "I have compassion on the multitude," etc.; likewise in the same place, chapter 21: "The kingdom of God shall be taken away from you"; Psalm 146: "Who giveth to beasts their food," etc. "He examines the sons of men," because some of them are made better, some worse; or some are made evil by Scripture, some good, because some understand it well and are not wearied, but are exercised by it, while the wicked do the contrary. The equity of judgment is set down, because "he trieth the just and the unjust," since he sends scourges upon the just and the unjust alike, and bestows temporal goods on the good and the wicked: Wisdom 11: "These," namely the good, "thou hast tried as a father admonishing"; "but those," namely the wicked, "as a stern king examining, thou hast condemned." For this reason he says, "the Lord trieth the just and the wicked," that is, he tests through tribulations. Gregory: the punishment inflicted asks whether one placed in tribulation truly loves God. "He trieth the just," that is, the Lord examines him so that he may be rewarded: Wisdom 10: "God rendered the wages of the labors of his saints." But he tries the wicked man or the sinner, so that he may be condemned: Matthew 23: "Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the exterior darkness."

Here the condemnation is set down; and concerning this he does two things: first he sets down the fault, second the punishment, at "he shall rain snares upon sinners." He shows that, as far as it is on God's part, the perdition of the wicked is not from him, but from our own part; hence he says, "he that loveth iniquity," that is, sin: John 3: "Whosoever committeth sin, committeth also iniquity, for sin is iniquity." "Hateth his own soul": Wisdom 16: "Man through malice killeth his own soul." But it is asked, how can someone hate himself? It must be said that in a certain way the sinner does hate himself; but absolutely speaking no one hates himself: Ephesians 5: "No man ever hated his own flesh." But that the wicked in a certain way hate themselves, and that even the good in a certain way hate themselves, is made clear in this manner. Our soul has two faces: one turned toward God according to reason, the other turned toward the flesh according to the sensitive nature, which comprehends only corporeal things. And as anything whatsoever loves its own good, so man loves that which he judges to be his own soul. For sinners judge their soul to be that toward which they principally strive, because anything whatsoever is that which is chief in it, just as a king is called the kingdom. Those, therefore, who hold the sensitive nature as chief, love it; but those who hold the intellective nature as chief, love that same one. No one, therefore, hates his soul as regards that which he judges to be chief; the good, therefore, hate themselves as regards the sensitive nature, the wicked as regards the intellective nature.

Second, he sets down the punishment. And this we can expound either of the present, or of the future. Of the present, thus, and it preserves the metaphor: he said that the Lord is in heaven, because there is his throne; 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 be expounded here of the present, it must be noted that in sin there are four things. The first is seduction; hence he says: "he shall rain snares upon sinners," as though by a just judgment he permits them to be ensnared and seduced: Isaiah 8: "And many of them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken." The second is concupiscence; and therefore he says, "fire," of concupiscence: Psalm 57: "Fire hath fallen upon them, and they have not seen the sun," namely of carnal concupiscence, etc. The third is the stench of infamy; and therefore he says, "brimstone." Thus the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah fire and brimstone. A fourth can also be added, namely the disquiet of the mind; and therefore he says, "storms of wind": Isaiah 57: "The heart of the wicked is like a raging sea." "The portion of their cup": because a cup is a certain measure, and they have punishments according to their sins: Isaiah 27: "In measure against measure, when it shall be cast away, he will judge it." But if it be expounded of the future, then the movements will there be punished, because they will be bound so that they can neither avoid evils, nor attain goods; therefore he says, "he shall rain snares upon sinners," that is, things binding the senses; and thus they are referred, brimstone to smell, fire to touch: Isaiah 66: "Their fire shall not be quenched"; Apocalypse 20: "Cast into the pool of fire." Likewise the affections, because they do not rest, since "the storms of wind are the portion of their cup," that is, the demons disquieting, troubling, and afflicting them. "Because the Lord is just, and hath loved justice," therefore nothing is to be expected from him but justice: Jeremiah 9: "I am the Lord that exercise mercy, judgment, and justice on the earth"; Psalm 114: "The Lord is just in all his ways." "His countenance," or face, "hath beheld equity," 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.