Fragments on the Psalms · §68

The Nature of Sin and Davidic Conduct

Seeing them through whom they act as if dying, I humbled myself by mourning them and frowning upon them, seeking to preserve the one able to keep me harmless from them (Ps 34:15ab).

The present text is explanatory if it is possible for God to repay me evil for good. For while I mourn and frown over them, through which they possess death, they gather together in joy against me, as if they were to take me by the hand; and they have plotted against me, so that they might gather and rejoice (Ps 34:15c).

Because of those who attempted against me, I was logically scourged in my soul; but I remain harmless, neither perceiving nor knowing those approaching them. If ever, when the enemies were dividing, a disturbance in the thoughts occurred toward sin, so that I was to be scourged by sensations from the thoughts, I did not reveal these lashes to those opposing me, lest they, not taking a starting point from the branch of the soul, should rather attack me (Ps 34:15c-16).

Having gathered and rejoiced against me, they were split apart by divine providence; having been dissolved and scattered in such a way, they did not repent, that is, they did not recognize for whom they had advised wickedly, but instead they attempted the same against others. Because of all those who were striving to make an attempt upon me, they were not able to see or take hold of me; therefore, they turned to mocking and sneering at me. Watching like wild beasts, they bared their teeth, that is, their angry and wrathful power, against me; for wanting to devour me, they failed (Ps 34:16-17).

The holy one says: 'Lord, how long will you look?' (Ps 34:17). For when you look, all the aforementioned things will be gathered together with those doing them. And he says 'only begotten' because his soul has it alone; for one must not pay attention to the myth-making regarding metempsychosis. Perhaps the only begotten besides his soul is the essence of the spirit joined to the soul; for it is only begotten in its separation from all those in us according to divinity (Ps 34:18).

A great assembly is gathered from many saints, a heavy people, the steadfast and solid, praying and interceding (Ps 34:22b). Since you are present with me, the enemies are far; do not depart from me, lest they come upon me alone (Ps 34:22b).

Because God's long-suffering is often called his breath (Ps 34:23), the Lord is driven to indignation by the pressing of enemies, saying: 'Arise, Lord, and take up my judgment,' that is, stand up with the power of your strength, so that the things concerning me against my enemies may be examined. For this is for good, since they hate me unjustly and those who hate me without cause shall certainly be condemned (Ps 34:27-28).

And not everyone, the writer, took the psalm toward David and toward Christ, but rather toward Christ; another took it indistinctly toward the righteous; and the third toward David alone. Regarding the overcoming of enemies, one says it is spoken prophetically of things that will happen, while the other says it is for the benefit of the enemies, that these things be said so that they might be ashamed, be trapped, and receive sensation of their own sins and retreat from the way they feared. The third says that David lives a legalistic and not an evangelical life; for the law, he says, forbids loving the neighbor and hating the enemy, and speaking badly; for David, living evangelically, says, 'If I repaid evil to those repaying evil to me' (Ps 35:2). Finally, not everyone says these things were spoken prophetically as that he would certainly be.

He who considers himself lawless in himself says nothing other than that he sins. For someone, having first agreed in thought, proceeds to sin in practice. He can also say in himself that he sins, which is 'But if all in your mind...' 'I will ascend into heaven,' and the following. 'If fear is held before the eyes of a man, he abstained from every sin,' but since he does not have it in himself, he says, 'to sin.' A testimony of not sinning for one who has fear is 'That how your fear may come upon you, so that you may not sin' (Ps 35:3).

He who has become lawless, knowing his lawlessness to be hateful; if he were to be observed, he would deceive before Him, so that the shame of the lawlessness might not be found, lest he should hate it. This is what those who reason sophistically do, agreeing with sin as if it were a duty and not something contrary to reason. There is another scripture (Ps 35:4-5).

Greek

ὁρῶν αὐτοὺς δι' ω ν πράττουσι νεκρουμένους, ὡς πενθῶν αὐτοὺς καὶ σκυθρωπάζων ἐπ' αὐτοὺς ἐταπεινούμην, ἐξευμενιζόμενος τὸν δυνάμενον ἀβλαβῆ ἀπ' αὐτῶν με διαφυλάξαι. 337 Ps 34,15ab ̓Εξηγητικὸν τὸ παρὸν ει ναι δύναται τοῦ ̓Ανταπεδίδοσάν μοι πονηρὰ ἀντὶ ἀγαθῶν. ἐμοῦ γὰρ ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν πενθοῦντος καὶ σκυθρωπάζοντος ἐφ' ῃ ε χουσι νεκρότητι, αὐτοὶ κατ' ἐμοῦ συναγόμενοι εὐφροσύνην ει χον ὡς ὑποχείριόν με ληψόμενοι· ἑκάτερα δὲ κατ' ἐμοῦ πεποιήκασιν, τότε συναχθῆναι καὶ εὐφρανθῆναι. ∆ι' ω ν ἐπεχείρουν κατ' ἐμοῦ, ἐμάστιζον τὴν ψυχήν μου λογικῶς· ἐγὼ δὲ ἀβλαβὴς διαμένων οὐδὲ αι σθησιν η γνῶσιν ε σχον τῶν πρὸς αὐτῶν προσαγομένων. εἰ δὲ καί ποτε διερεθιζόντων τῶν ἐχθρῶν εἰς ἁμαρτίαν τάραχος ἐν τοῖς λογισμοῖς γεγένητο ὡς μαστίζεσθαί με ἐξ αἰσθήσεως τῶν ἀπὸ λογισμῶν, οὐκ ἐφανέρουν τὰς μάστιγας ταύτας τοῖς ἀντικειμένοις, ο πως μὴ λαβόντες ἀφορμὴν ἐκ τοῦ κλόνου τῆς ψυχῆς ε τι μᾶλλον ἐπιβῶσιν. 338 Ps 34,15c.16 Κατ' ἐμοῦ συναχθέντες καὶ εὐφρανθέντες θείᾳ προνοίᾳ διεσχίσθησαν· διαλυθέντες καὶ ο μως καὶ ου τω σκεδασθέντες οὐ κατενύγησαν, τουτέστιν οὐ μετέγνωσαν ἐφ' οι ς κακῶς ἐβουλεύσαντο ἀλλ' αυ θις τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐπεχείρησαν. ∆ιὰ πάντων ω ν ἐποίουν ἀπόπειράν μου σπουδάζοντες λαβεῖν, ἑλεῖν με οὐ δεδύνηνται· διὸ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ χλευάζειν καὶ ἐκμυκτηρίζειν με μετεβάλοντο. Θηρῶν ἀγρίων δίκην τοὺς ὀδόντας, τουτέστιν τὴν ὀργίλον καὶ θυμωτικὴν αὐτῶν δύναμιν, ἐπ' ἐμὲ ε βρυξαν· καταφαγεῖν με γὰρ θέλοντες ἀπέτυχον. 339 Ps 34,17 ̔Ο α γιός φησιν· Κύριε, πότε ἐπόψει; ἐποψομένου σου γὰρ οἰχήσεται τὰ προειρημένα πάντα συναπιόντα τοῖς δρῶσιν αὐτά. Μονογενῆ δὲ λέγει τὴν ψυχὴν ἑαυτοῦ τῷ μόνην αὐτὴν ἐσχηκέναι· οὐ γὰρ προσεκτέον τῇ περὶ μετεμψυχώσεως μυθοποιΐᾳ. η τάχα μονογενὴς α λλη παρὰ τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἡ οὐσία τοῦ συνεζευγμένου τῇ ψυχῇ πνεύματός ἐστιν· μονογενὴς γὰρ αυ τη τῷ ἀποκεχωρίσθαι ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν ἐν ἡμῖν κατὰ θειότητα. 340 Ps 34,18 Πολλὴ ἐκκλησία ἡ ἐκ πολλῶν ἁγίων συναγομένη, λαὸς βαρὺς ὁ βέβαιος καὶ στιβαρὸς ἐπιπολαίῳ καὶ εὐχερεῖ ἀντιδιαστελλόμενος. 341 Ps 34,22b ̓Επεὶ σοῦ παρόντος μοι, οἱ ἐχθροὶ μακράν· Μὴ ἀποστῇς ἀπ' ἐμοῦ, ο πως μὴ ἐπέλθωσί μοι μονωθέντι σου. 342 Ps 34,23 ̓Επεὶ πολλαχοῦ ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ μακροθυμία υ πνος αὐτοῦ λέγεται, ἐπιτριβομένων τῶν ἐχθρῶν διανίστησιν εἰς ἀγανάκτησιν τὸν κύριον λέγων· ̓Εξεγέρθητι, κύριε, καὶ πρόσχες τῇ κρίσει μου, τουτέστιν, ἐπίστησον τὴν ε φορον δύναμίν σου, ο πως ἐξετασθῇ τὰ κατ' ἐμὲ πρὸς τοὺς ἐχθρούς μου. πρὸς ἀγαθοῦ γὰρ τοῦτο, ἐπεὶ ἀδίκως ἐχθρεύουσίν μοι καὶ πάντως καταδικασθήσονται Οἱ μισοῦντές με δωρεάν. 343 Ps 34,27.28 Καὶ ου τος μὲν ὁ συγγραφεὺς ει ς τε τὸν ∆αυὶδ καὶ εἰς τὸν Χριστὸν ἐξέλαβεν τὸν ψαλμόν, μᾶλλον δὲ εἰς τὸν Χριστόν· α λλος δὲ ἀορίστως εἰς δίκαιον· ὁ δὲ τρίτος εἰς τὸν ∆αυὶδ μόνον. περὶ δὲ τοῦ κατεύχεσθαι τῶν ἐχθρῶν ὁ μὲν προφητικῶς ε φη λελέχθαι τὰ μέλλοντα συμβήσεσθαι, ὁ δὲ ἐπ' ὠφελείᾳ τῶν ἐχθρῶν 74 ταῦτα λέγεσθαι τῷ αἰσχυνθῆναι αὐτοὺς καὶ ἐντραπῆναι καὶ αι σθησιν λαβεῖν τῶν οἰκείων ἁμαρτημάτων καὶ εἰς τοὐπίσω χωρῆσαι τῆς ὁδοῦ η ς ω δευσαν. ὁ δὲ νομικήν φησιν καὶ οὐκ εὐαγγελικὴν ζῆν τὸν ∆αυὶδ πολιτείαν· ὁ γὰρ νόμος, φησίν, διαγορεύει ἀγαπῆσαι τὸν πλησίον καὶ τὸν ἐχθρὸν μισῆσαι κακῶς τε λέγων· εὐαγγελικῶς γὰρ πολιτευόμενος ὁ ∆αυὶδ ε φασκεν, εἰ ̓Ανταπέδωκα τοῖς ἀνταποδιδοῦσί μοι κακά· τελευταῖον μέντοι καὶ ου τος προφητικῶς ε φη ταῦτα εἰρῆσθαι ὡς πάντως ἐσόμενα. 344 Ps 35,2 ̔Ο καθ' ε ξιν παράνομος ἐν ἑαυτῷ λογιζόμενος λέγοι οὐκ α λλο τι η τὸ ἁμαρτάνειν. συγκαταθέμενος γάρ τις κατὰ διάνοιαν πρότερον ἐπὶ τὸ πρακτικῶς ἁμαρτάνειν διαβαίνει. δύναται δὲ καὶ ἐν τῷ ἐν ἑαυτῷ λέγειν ἁμαρτάνειν, οι όν ἐστιν τὸ Σὺ δὲ ει πας ἐν τῇ διανοίᾳ σου Εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀναβήσομαι, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Εἰ φόβον ει χεν πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν τοῦ ε σω ἀνθρώπου, ἀπείχετο πάσης ἁμαρτίας, ἐπειδὴ δὲ μὴ ε χει ̓Εν ἑαυτῷ, φησίν, τοῦ ἁμαρτάνειν. μαρτύριον τοῦ μὴ ἁμαρτάνειν τὸν ε χοντα φόβον τὸ Οπως α ν γένηται ὁ φόβος αὐτοῦ ἐν ὑμῖν, ι να μὴ ἁμαρτάνητε. 345 Ps 35,3 ̔Ο γεγονὼς παράνομος εἰδὼς τὴν ἀνομίαν αὐτοῦ μισητὴν τυγχάνουσαν· εἰ θεωρηθείη, δολοῖ ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ, ο πως μὴ εὑρίσκηται τὸ αι σχος τῆς ἀνομίας ω στ' α ν αὐτὴν μισηθῆναι. τοῦτο ποιοῦσιν οἱ σοφιστικῶς συναγορεύοντες τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ὡς καθηκόντως καὶ μὴ παρὰ λόγον γινομένῃ. 346 Ps 35,4.5 ̔Ετέρα ἐστὶν γραφὴ

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