Exposition on Psalm 72

1. For Salomon indeed this Psalm's title is fore-noted: but things are spoken of therein which could not apply to that Salomon king of Israel after the flesh, according to those things which holy Scripture speaks concerning him: but they can most pertinently apply to the Lord Christ. Whence it is perceived, that the very word Salomon is used in a figurative sense, so that in him Christ is to be taken. For Salomon is interpreted peace-maker: and on this account such a word to Him most truly and excellently does apply, through Whom, the Mediator, having received remission of sins, we that were enemies are reconciled to God. For when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son. Romans 5:10 The Same is Himself that Peace-maker....Since then we have found out the true Salomon, that is, the true Peace-maker: next let us observe what the Psalm does teach concerning Him.

2. O God, Your judgment to the King give Thou, and Your justice to the King's Son Psalm 71:1. The Lord Himself in the Gospel says, The Father judges not any one, but all judgment He has given to the Son: John 5:22 this is then, O God, Your judgment to the King give Thou. He that is King is also the Son of the King: because God the Father also is certainly King. Thus it has been written, that the King made a marriage for His Son. Matthew 22:2 But after the manner of Scripture the same thing is repeated. For that which he has said in, Your judgment; the same he has otherwise expressed in, Your justice: and that which he has said in, the King, the same he has otherwise expressed in, to the King's Son....But these repetitions do much commend the divine sayings, whether the same words, or whether in other words the same sense be repeated: and they are mostly found in the Psalms, and in the kind of discourse whereby the mind's affection is to be awakened.

3. Next there follows, To judge Your people in justice, and Your poor in judgment Psalm 71:2. For what purpose the royal Father gave to the royal Son His judgment and His justice is sufficiently shown when he says, To judge Your people in justice; that is, for the purpose of judging Your people. Such an idiom is found in Salomon: The Proverbs of Salomon, son of David, to know wisdom and discipline: Proverbs 1:1 that is, the Proverbs of Salomon, for the purpose of knowing wisdom and discipline. So, Your judgment give Thou, to judge Your people: that is, Your judgment give Thou for the purpose of judging Your people. But that which he says before in, Your people, the same he says afterwards in, Your poor: and that which he says before in, in justice; the same afterward in, in judgment: according to that manner of repetition. Whereby indeed he shows, that the people of God ought to be poor, that is, not proud, but humble. For, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. Matthew 5:3 In which poverty even blessed Job was poor even before he had lost those great earthly riches. Which thing for this reason I thought should be mentioned, because there are certain persons who are more ready to distribute all their goods to the poor, than themselves to become the poor of God. For they are puffed up with boasting wherein they think their living well should be ascribed to themselves, not to the grace of God: and therefore now they do not even live well, however great the good works which they seem to do....

4. But seeing that he has changed the order of the words (though he had first said, O God, Your judgment to the King give Thou, and Your justice to the King's Son, putting judgment first, then justice), and has put justice first, then judgment, saying, To judge Your people in justice, and Your poor in judgment: he does more clearly show that he has called judgment justice, proving that there is no difference made by the order in which the word is placed, because it signifies the same thing. For it is usual to say wrong judgment of that which is unjust: but justice iniquitous or unjust we are not wont to speak of. For if wrong and unjust it be; no longer must it be called justice. Again, by putting down judgment and repeating it under the name of justice, or by putting down justice and repeating it under the name of judgment, he clearly shows that he specially names that judgment which is wont to be put instead of justice, that is, that which cannot be understood of giving an evil judgment. For in the place where He says, Judge not according to persons, but right judgment judge ye; John 7:24 He shows that there may be a wrong judgment, when He says, right judgment judge ye: lastly, the one He does forbid, the other He does enjoin. But when without any addition He speaks of judgment, He would at once have just judgment to be understood: as is that which He says, You forsake the weightier matters of the Law, mercy and judgment. Matthew 23:23 That also which Jeremiah says is, making his riches not with judgment. Jeremiah 17:11 He says not, making his riches by wrong or unjust judgment, or not with judgment right or just, but not with judgment: calling not anything judgment but what is right and just.

5. Let the mountains bear peace to the people, and the hills justice Psalm 71:3. The mountains are the greater, the hills the less. These are without doubt those which another Psalm has, little with great. For those mountains did exult like rams, and those hills like lambs of the sheep, at the departure of Israel out of Egypt, that is, at the deliverance of the people of God from this world's servitude. Those then that are eminent in the Church for passing sanctity, are the mountains, who are meet to teach other men also, 2 Timothy 2:2 by so speaking as that they may be faithfully taught, by so living as that they may imitate them to their profit: but the hills are they that follow the excellence of the former by their own obedience. Why then the mountains peace: and the hills justice? Would there perchance have been no difference, even if it had been said thus, Let the mountains bear justice to the people and the hills peace? For to both justice, and to both peace is necessary: and it may be that under another name justice herself may have been called peace. For this is true peace, not such as unjust men make among them. Or rather with a distinction not to be overlooked must that be understood which he says, the mountains peace, and the hills justice? For men excelling in the Church ought to counsel for peace with watchful care; lest for the sake of their own distinctions by acting proudly they make schisms and dissever the bond of union. But let the hills so follow them by imitation and obedience, that they prefer Christ to them: lest being led astray by the empty authority of evil mountains (for they seem to excel), they tear themselves away from the Unity of Christ....

6. Thus also most pertinently may be understood, let the mountains bear peace to the people, namely, that we understand the peace to consist in the reconciliation whereby we are reconciled to God: for the mountains receive this for His people....Let the mountains, therefore, receive peace for the people, and the hills justice: so that in this manner, both being at one, there may come to pass that which has been written, justice and peace have kissed one another. But that which other copies have, let the mountains receive peace for the people, and let the hills: I think must be understood of all sorts of preaching of Gospel peace, whether those that go before, or those that follow after. But in these copies this follows, in justice He shall judge the poor of the people. But those copies are more approved of which have that which we have expounded above, let the mountains bear peace to the people, and the hills justice. But some have, to Your people; some have not to Your, but only to the people.

7. He shall judge the poor of the people, and shall save the sons of the poor Psalm 71:4. The poor and the sons of the poor seem to me to be the very same, as the same city is Sion and the daughter of Sion. But if it is to be understood with a distinction, the poor we take to be the mountains, but the sons of the poor the hills: for instance, Prophets and Apostles, the poor, but the sons of them, that is, those that profit under their authority, the sons of the poor. But that which has been said above, shall judge; and afterwards, shall save; is as it were a sort of exposition in what manner He shall judge. For to this end He shall judge, that He may save, that is, may sever from those that are to be destroyed and condemned, those to whom He gives salvation ready to be revealed at the last time. 1 Peter 1:5 For by such men to Him is said, Destroy not with ungodly men my soul: and, Judge me, O God, and sever my cause from the nation unholy. We must observe also that he says not, He shall judge the poor people, but, the poor of the people. For above when he had said, to judge Your people in justice and Your poor in judgment, the same he called the people of God as His poor, that is, only the good and those that belong to the right hand side. But because in this world those for the right and those for the left feed together, who, like lambs and goats at the last are to be put asunder; Matthew 25:32 the whole, as it is mingled together, he has called by the name of the People. And because even here he puts judgment in a good sense, that is, for the purpose of saving: therefore he says, He shall judge the poor of the people, that is, shall sever for salvation those that are poor among the people. And He shall humble the false-accuser. No false-accuser can be more suitably recognised here than the devil. False accusation is his business. Does Job worship God gratis? Job 1:9 But the Lord Jesus does humble him, by His grace aiding His own, in order that they may worship God gratis, that is, may take delight in the Lord. He humbled him also thus; because when in Him the devil, that is, the prince of this world, had found nothing, John 14:30 he slew Him by the false accusations of the Jews, whom the false-accuser made use of as his vessels, working in the sons of unbelief. Ephesians 2:2 ...

8. And He shall endure to the sun, or, shall endure with the sun Psalm 71:5. For thus some of our writers have thought would be more exactly translated that which in the Greek is συμπαραμενεῖ . But if in Latin it could have been expressed in one word, it must have been expressed by compermanebit: however, because in Latin the word cannot be expressed, in order that the sense at least might be translated, it has been expressed by, He shall endure with the sun. For He shall co-endure to the sun is nothing else but, He shall endure with the sun. But what great matter is it for Him to endure with the sun, through whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made, John 1:3 save that this prophecy has been sent before for the sake of those who think that the religion of the Christian name up to a particular time in this world will live, and afterwards will be no more? He shall endure therefore with the sun, so long as the sun rises and sets, that is, so long as these times revolve, there shall not be wanting the Church of God, that is, Christ's body on earth. But that which he adds, and before the moon, generations of generations: he might have expressed by, and before the sun, that is, both with the sun and before the sun: which would have been understood by both with times and before times. That then which goes before time is eternal: and that is truly to be held eternal which by no time is changed, as, in the beginning was the Word. John 1:1 But by the moon he has chosen rather to intimate the waxings and wanings of things mortal. Lastly, when he had said, before the moon, wishing in a manner to explain for what purpose he inserted the moon, generations, he says, of generations. As though he were saying, before the moon, that is, before the generations of generations which pass away in the departure and succession of things mortal, like the lunar wanings and waxings. And thus what is better to be understood by His enduring before the moon, than that He takes precedence of all mortal things by immortality? Which also as follows may not impertinently be taken, that whereas now, having humbled the false-accuser, He sits at the right hand of the Father, this is to endure with the sun. For the brightness of the eternal glory is understood to be the Son: Hebrews 1:3 as though the Sun were the Father, and the Brightness of Him His Son. But as these things may be spoken of the invisible Substance of the Creator, not as of that visible creation wherein are bodies celestial, of which bright bodies the sun has the pre-eminence, from which this similitude has been drawn: just as they are drawn even from things earthly, to wit, stone, lion, lamb, man having two sons, and the like: therefore having humbled the false-accuser, He endures with the sun: because having vanquished the devil by the Resurrection, He sits at the right hand of the Father, Mark 16:19 where He dies no more, and death no longer over Him shall have dominion. Romans 6:9 This too is before the moon, as though the First-born from the dead were going before the Church, which is passing on in the departure and succession of mortals. These are the generations of generations. Or perchance it is because generations are those whereby we are begotten mortally; but generations of generations those whereby we are begotten again immortally. And such is the Church which He went before, in order that He might endure before the moon, being the First-born of the dead. To be sure, that which is in the Greek γενεας γενεῶν, some have interpreted, not generations, but, of a generation of generations: because γενεας is of ambiguous case in Greek, and whether it be the genitive singular της γενε