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| A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z |
1. From its commencement, dearly beloved, does this great Psalm exhort us unto bliss, which there is no one who desires not....And therefore this is the lesson which he teaches, who says, Blessed are those that are undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord
Psalm 118:1. As much as to say, I know what you wish, you are seeking bliss: if then you would be blessed, be undefiled. For the former all desire, the latter fear: yet without it what all wish cannot be attained. But where will any one be undefiled, save in the way? In what way, save in the law of the Lord?...
2. Listen now to what he adds: Blessed are they that keep His testimonies, and seek Him with their whole heart
Psalm 118:2. No other class of the blessed seems to me to be mentioned in these words, than that which has been already spoken of. For to examine into the testimonies of the Lord, and to seek Him with all the heart, this is to be undefiled in the way, this is to walk in the law of the Lord. He then goes on to say, For they who do wickedness, shall not walk in His ways
Psalm 118:3. And yet we know that the workers of wickedness do search the testimonies of the Lord for this reason, that they prefer being learned to being righteous: we know that others also search the testimonies of the Lord, not because they are already living well, but that they may know how they ought to live. Such then do not as yet walk undefiled in the law of the Lord, and for this reason are not as yet blessed....
3. It is written, and is read, and is true, in this Psalm, that They who do wickedness, walk not in His ways
Psalm 118:3. But we must endeavour, with the help of God, in
whose hand are both we and our words,
Wisdom 7:16 that what is rightly said, by not being rightly understood, may not confuse the reader or hearer. For we must beware, lest all the Saints, whose words these are, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us;
1 John 1:8-9 may either not be thought to walk in the ways of the Lord, since sin is wickedness, and they who do wickedness, walk not in His ways;
or, because it is not doubtful that they walk in the ways of the Lord, may be thought to have no sin, which is beyond doubt false. For it is not said merely for the sake of avoiding arrogance and pride. Otherwise it would not be added, And the truth is not in us;
but it would be said, Humility is not in us: especially because the following words throw a clearer light on the meaning, and remove all the causes of doubt. For when the blessed John had said this, he added, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9 ...
4. What means, You have charged that we shall keep Your commandments too much
? Psalm 118:4. Is it, You have charged too much
? Or, to keep too much
? Whichever of these we understand, the sense seems contrary to that memorable and noble sentiment which the Greeks praise in their wise men, and which the Latins agree in praising. Do nothing too much.
. ..But the Latin language sometimes uses the word nimis in such a sense, that we find it in the holy Scripture, and employ it in our discourses, as signifying, very much. In this passage, You have charged that we keep Your commandments too much,
we simply understand very much, if we understand rightly; and if we say to any very dear friend, I love you too much, we do not wish to be understood to mean more than is fitting, but very much.
5. O that,
he says, my ways were made so direct, that I might keep Your statutes
Psalm 118:5. Thou indeed hast charged: O that I could realize what you have charged. When you hear, O that,
recognise the words of one wishing; and having recognised the expression of a wish, lay aside the pride of presumption. For who says that he desires what he has in such a manner in his power, that without need of any help he can do it? Therefore if man desires what God charges, God must be prayed to grant Himself what He enjoins....
6. So shall I not be confounded, while I have respect unto all Your commandments
Psalm 118:6. We ought to look upon the commandments of God, whether when they are read, or when they are recalled to memory, as a looking-glass, as the Apostle James says. James 1:23-25 This man wishes himself to be such, that he may regard as in a mirror the commandments of God, and may not be confounded; because he chooses not merely to be a hearer of them, but a doer. On this account he desires that his ways may be made direct to keep the statutes of God. How to be made direct, save by the grace of God? Otherwise he will find in the law of God not a source of rejoicing, but of confusion, if he has chosen to look into commandments, which he does not.
7. I will confess unto You,
he says, O Lord, in the directing of my heart; in that I shall have learned the judgments of Your righteousness
Psalm 118:7. This is not the confession of sins, but of praise; as He also says in whom there was no sin, I will confess unto You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth;
Matthew 11:25 and as it is written in the Book of Ecclesiasticus, Thus shall you say in confession, of all the works of God, that they are very good.
Sirach 39:15-16 I will confess unto You,
he says, in the directing of my heart.
Indeed, if my ways are made straight, I will confess unto You, since You have done it, and this is Your praise, and not mine....
8. Next he adds: I will keep Your ordinances
Psalm 118:8....But what is it that follows? O forsake me not even exceedingly!
or, as some copies have it, even too much,
instead of, even exceedingly.
But since God had left the world to the desert of sins, He would have forsaken it even exceedingly,
if so powerful a cure had not supported it, that is, the grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ; but now, according to this prayer of the body of Christ, He forsook it not even exceedingly;
for, God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself.
2 Corinthians 5:19 ...
9. Wherewithal shall a young man correct his way? Even by keeping Your words
Psalm 118:9. He questions himself, and answers himself. Wherewithal?
So far it is a question: next comes the answer, even by keeping Your words.
But in this place the keeping of the words of God, must be understood as the obeying His commandments in deed: for they are kept in memory in vain, if they are not kept in life also. But what is meant by young man
here? For he might have said, wherewithal shall any one (homo) correct his way? Or, wherewithal shall a man (vir) correct his way? Which is usually put by the Scriptures in such a way, that the whole human race is understood....But in this passage he says neither any one, nor a man, but, a young man.
Is then an old man to be despaired of? Or does an old man correct his way by any other means than by ruling himself after God's word? Or is it perhaps an admonition at what age we ought chiefly to correct our way; according to what is elsewhere written, My son, gather instruction from your youth up: so shall you find wisdom till your gray hairs.
Sirach 6:18 There is another mode of interpreting it, by recognising in the expression the younger son in the Gospel, Luke 15:12, etc. who returned to himself, and said, I will arise and go to my father.
Luke 15:18 Wherewithal did he correct his way, save by ruling himself after the words of God, which he desired as one longing for his father's bread....
10. With my whole heart,
he says, have I sought you; O repel me not from Your commandments
Psalm 118:10. Behold, he prays that he may be aided to keep the words of God, wherewith he had said that the young man corrected his way. For this is the meaning of the words, O repel me not from Your commandments:
for what is it to be repelled of God, save not to be aided? For human infirmity is not equal to obeying His righteous and exalted commandments, unless His love does prevent and aid. But those whom He aids not, these He is justly said to repel....
11. Your words have I hid within my heart, that I may not sin against You
Psalm 118:11. He at once sought the Divine aid, lest the words of God might be hidden without fruit in his heart, unless works of righteousness followed. For after saying this, he added, Blessed are You, O Lord, teach me Your righteousnesses
Psalm 118:12. Teach me,
he says, as they learn who do them; not as they who merely remember them, that they may have somewhat to speak of. Why then does he say, Teach me Your righteousnesses,
save because he wishes to learn them by deeds, not by speaking or retaining them in his memory? Since then, as it is read in another Psalm, He shall give blessing, who gave the law;
therefore, Blessed are You, O Lord,
he says, O teach me Your righteousness.
For because I have hidden Your words in my heart, that I may not sin against You, You have given a law; give also the blessing of Your grace, that by doing right I may learn what Thou by teaching hast commanded....
12. With my lips have I been telling of all the judgments of Your mouth
Psalm 118:13; that is, I have kept silent nothing of Your judgments, which Thou willed should become known to me through Your words, but I have been telling of all of them without exception with my lips. This he seems to me to signify, since he says not, all Your judgments, but, all the judgments of Your mouth;
that is, which You have revealed unto me: that by His mouth we may understand His word, which He has discovered unto us in many revelations of the Saints, and in the two Testaments; all which judgments the Church ceases not to declare at all times with her lips.
13. I have had as great delight in the way Your testimonies, as in all manner of riches
Psalm 118:14. We understand that there is no more speedy, no more sure, no shorter, no higher way of the testimonies of God than Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Colossians 2:3 Thence he says that he has had as great delight in this way, as in all riches. Those are the testimonies, by which He deigns to prove unto us how much He loves us.. ..
14. I will talk of Your commandments, and have respect unto Your ways
Psalm 118:15. And thus the Church does exercise herself in the commandments of God, by speaking in the copious disputations of the learned against all the enemies of the Christian and Catholic faith; which are fruitful to those who compose them, if nothing but the ways of the Lord is regarded in them; but All the ways of the Lord are,
as it is written, mercy and truth;
the fullness of which both is found in Christ. Through this sweet exercise is gained also what he subjoins: My meditation shall be in Your statutes, and I will not forget Your word
Psalm 118:16. My meditation
shall be therein, that I may not forget them. Thus the blessed man in the first Psalm shall meditate in the law
of the Lord day and night.
. ..
15. He had said, Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? Even by keeping Your words.
Behold he now more openly asks aid that he may do this: Reward,
he says, Your servant: let me live, and keep Your word
Psalm 118:17...It this reward that he asks, who says, Reward Your servant.
For there are four modes of reward: either evil for evil, as God will reward everlasting fire to the unrighteous; or good for good, as He will reward an everlasting kingdom to the righteous; or good for evil, as Christ by grace justifies the ungodly; or evil for good, as Judas and the Jews through their wickedness persecuted Christ. Of these four modes of reward, the first two belong to justice, whereby evil is rewarded for evil, good for good; the third to mercy, whereby good is rewarded for evil; the fourth God knows not, for to none does He reward evil for good. But that which I have placed third in order, is in the first instance necessary: for unless God rewarded good for evil, there would be none to whom He could reward good for good....
16. Nowhere then let human pride raise itself up: God gives good rewards unto His own gifts....
17. Open Thou my eyes, and I will consider wondrous things of Your law
Psalm 118:18. What he adds, I am a lodger upon earth
Psalm 118:19: or, as some copies read, I am a sojourner upon earth, O hide not Your commandments from me,
has the same meaning....
18. Here an important question arises respecting the soul. For the words, I am a sojourner, or lodger, or stranger upon earth, cannot seem to have been said in reference to the body, since the body derives its origin from the earth. But in this most profound question I dare not define anything. For if it might justly have been said in respect of the soul (which God forbid we should suppose derived from the earth), I am a lodger,
or stranger upon earth;
or in reference to the whole man, since he was at one time an inhabitant of Paradise, where he who spoke these words was not; or, what is more free from all controversy, if it be not every man who could say this, but one to whom an everlasting country has been promised in heaven: this I know, that the life of man on earth is a temptation;
Job 7:1 and that there is a heavy yoke upon the sons of Adam.
Sirach 40:1 But it pleases me more to discuss the question in accordance with this construction, that we say we are tenants or strangers upon earth, because we have found our country above, whence we have received a pledge, and where when we have arrived we shall never depart.. ..
19. Those whose conversation is in heaven, as far as they abide here conversant, are in truth strangers. Let them pray therefore that the commandments of God may not be hidden from them, whereby they may be freed from this temporary sojourn, by loving God, with whom they will be for evermore; and by loving their neighbour, that he may be there where they also themselves will be.
20. But what is loved by loving, if love itself be not loved? Whence by consequence that stranger upon earth, after praying that the commandments of God might not be hidden from him, wherein love is enjoined either solely or principally; declares that he desires to have a love for love itself, saying, My soul has coveted to have a desire always after Your judgments
Psalm 118:20. This coveting is worthy of praise, not of condemnation....
21. But he says not, covets,
only; but, My soul has coveted to desire Your judgments.
For there is no obstacle to possessing the judgments of God, save that they are not desired, while love has no warmth toward winning them, though their light is so clear and shining....
22. You have rebuked the proud: and cursed are they that do err from Your commandments
Psalm 118:21. For the proud err from the commandments of God. For it is one thing not to fulfil the commandments of God through infirmity or ignorance; another to err from them through pride; as they have done, who have begotten us in our mortal state unto these evils....But consider now, after saying, You have rebuked the proud,
he says not, Cursed are they that have erred from Your commandments; so that only that sin of the first men should come into the mind; but he says, Cursed are they that do err.
For it was needful that all might be terrified by that example, that they might not err from the divine commandments, and by loving righteousness in all time, recover in the toil of this world, what we lost in the pleasure of Paradise.
23. O turn from me shame and rebuke; for I have sought out Your testimonies
Psalm 118:22. Testimonies are called in Greek μαρτύρια, which word we now use for the Latin word: whence those who on account of their testimony to Christ have been brought low by various sufferings, and have contended unto death for the truth, are not called testes, but by the Greek term Martyrs. Since then ye hear in this term one more familiar and grateful, let us take these words as if it were said, O turn from me shame and rebuke; because I have sought out Your martyrdoms.
When the body of Christ speaks thus, does it consider it any punishment to hear rebuke and shame from the ungodly and the proud, since it rather reaches the crown by this means? Why then does it pray that it should be removed from it as something heavy and insupportable, save because, as I said, it prays for its very enemies, to whom it sees it is destructive, to cast the holy name of Christ as a reproach to Christians....For my enemies, whom Thou enjoinest to be loved by me, who more and more die and are lost, when they despise Your martyrdoms and accuse them in me, will indeed be recalled to life and be found, if they reverence Your martyrdoms in me. Thus it has happened: this we see. Behold, martyrdom in the name of Christ, both with men and in this world, is not only not a disgrace, but a great ornament: behold, not only in the sight of the Lord, but in the sight of men, precious is the death of His Saints;
behold, His martyrs are not only not despised, but honoured with great distinctions....
24. Princes also did sit and speak against me: but Your servant is exercised in Your statutes
Psalm 118:23. Thou who desirest to know what sort of exercise this was, understand what he has added, For Your testimonies are my meditation, and Your statutes are my counsellors
Psalm 118:24. Remember what I have above instructed you, that testimonies are acts of martyrdom. Remember that among the statutes of the Lord there is none more difficult and more worthy of admiration, than that every man should love his enemies. Matthew 5:44 Thus then the body of Christ was exercised, so that it meditated on the acts of martyrdom that testified of Him, and loved those from whom, while they rebuked and despised the Church for these very martyrdoms, she suffered persecutions....
25. My soul cleaves to the pavement: O quicken Thou me according to Your word
Psalm 118:25. What means, My soul cleaves to the pavement, O quicken Thou me according to Your word
?...If we look upon the whole world as one great house, we see that the heavens represent its vaulting, the earth therefore will be its pavement. He wishes therefore to be rescued from earthly things, and to say with the Apostle, Our conversation is in heaven.
To cling therefore to earthly things is the soul's death; the contrary of which evil, life is prayed for, when he says, O quicken Thou me.
26. ...The body itself also, because it is of the earth, is reasonably understood by the word pavement; since, because it is still corruptible and weighs down the soul, Wisdom 9:15 we justly groan while in it, and say unto God, O quicken Thou me.
For we shall not be without our bodies when we shall be for evermore with the Lord; 1 Thessalonians 4:17 but then because they will not be corruptible, nor will they weigh down our souls, if we view it strictly, we shall not cleave unto them, but they rather unto us, and we unto God....
27. For what he was by himself, he confesses in the following words: I have acknowledged my ways, and You heard me
Psalm 118:26. Some copies indeed read, Your ways:
but more, and the best Greek, read my ways,
that is, evil ways. For he seems to me to say this; I have confessed my sins, and You have heard me; that is, so that You would remit them. O teach me Your statutes.
I have acknowledged my ways: You have blotted them out: teach me Yours. So teach me, that I may act; not merely that I may know how I ought to act. For as it is said of the Lord, that He knew not sin, 2 Corinthians 5:21 and it is understood, that He did no sin; so also he ought truly to be said to know righteousness, who does it. This is the prayer of one who is improving....
28. Finally he adds, Intimate to me the way of Your righteousness
Psalm 118:27; or, as some copies have it, instruct me;
which is expressed more closely from the Greek, Make me to understand the way of Your righteousnesses; so shall I be exercised in Your wondrous things.
These higher commandments, which he desires to understand by edification, he calls the wondrous things of God. There are then some righteousnesses of God so wondrous, that human weakness may be believed incapable of fulfilling them by those who have not tried. Whence the Psalmist, struggling and wearied with the difficulty of obeying them, says, My soul has slumbered for very heaviness: O establish Thou me with Your word!
Psalm 118:28. What means, has slumbered? save that he has cooled in the hope which he had entertained of being able to reach them. But, he adds, Stablish Thou me with Your word:
that I may not by slumbering fall away from those duties which I feel that I have already attained: establish Thou me therefore in those words of Yours that I already hold, that I may be able to reach unto others through edification.
29. Take Thou from me the way of iniquity
Psalm 118:29. And since the law of works has entered in, that sin might abound; Romans 5:20 he adds, And pity me according to Your law.
By what law, save by the law of faith? Hear the Apostle: Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works. Nay: but by the law of faith.
Romans 3:27 This is the law of faith, whereby we believe and pray that it may be granted us through grace; that we may effect that which we cannot fulfil through ourselves; that we may not, ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish our own, fail to submit ourselves unto the righteousness of God. Romans 10:3
30. But after he had said, And pity me according to Your law;
he mentions some of those blessings which he has already obtained, that he may ask others that he has not yet gained. For he says, I have chosen the way of truth: and Your judgments I have not forgotten
Psalm 118:30. I have stuck unto Your testimonies: O Lord, confound me not
Psalm 118:31: may I persevere in striving toward the point whereunto I am running: may I arrive whither I am running! So then it is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy.
Romans 9:16 He next says, I will run the way of Your commandments, when You have widened my heart
Psalm 118:32. I could not run had Thou not widened my heart. The sense of the words, I have chosen the way of truth, and Your judgments I have not forgotten: I have stuck unto Your testimonies,
is clearly explained in this verse. For this running is along the way of the commandments of God. And because he does allege unto the Lord rather His blessings than his own deservings; as if it were said unto him, How have you run that way, by choosing, and by not forgetting the judgments of God, and by sticking to His testimonies? Couldest thou do these things by yourself? I could not, he replies. It is not therefore through my own will, as though it needed no aid of Yours; but because You have widened my heart.
The widening of the heart is the delight we take in righteousness. This is the gift of God, the effect of which is, that we are not straitened in His commandments through the fear of punishment, but widened through love, and the delight we have in righteousness....
31. In this great Psalm there comes next in order that which, with the Lord's help, we must consider and treat of. Set a law for me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes, and I shall seek it always
Psalm 118:33....
32. Why does this man still pray for a law to be laid down for him; which, if it had not been laid down for him, he could not have run the way of God's commandments in the breadth of his heart? But since one speaks who is growing in grace, and who knows that it is God's gift that he profits in grace; what else does he pray, when he prays that a law may be laid down for him, save that he may profit more and more? As, if you hold a full cup, and givest it to a thirsty man; he both exhausts it by drinking it, and prays for it by still longing for it....
33. But what means, Evermore
?...Does evermore
mean as long as we live here, because we progress in grace so long; but after this life, he who was in a good course of improvement here, is made perfect there? Here the law of God is examined into, as long as we progress in it, both by knowing it and by loving it: but there its fullness abides for our enjoyment, not for our examination. Thus also is this spoken, Seek His face evermore.
Where, evermore, save here? For we shall not there also seek the face of God, when we shall see face to face.
1 Corinthians 13:12 Or if that which is loved without a change of affection is rightly said to be sought after, and our only object is, that it be not lost, we shall indeed evermore seek the law of God, that is, the truth of God: for in this very Psalm it is said, And Your law is the truth.
It is now sought, that it may be held fast; it will then be held fast that it may not be lost....
34. Give me understanding, and I shall search Your law, yea, I shall keep it with my whole heart
Psalm 118:34. For when each man has searched the law, and searched its deep things, in which its whole meaning does consist; he ought indeed to love God with all his heart, with all his soul, with all his mind; and his neighbour as himself. For on these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.
Matthew 22:37-40 This he seems to have promised, when he said, Yea, I shall keep it with my whole heart.
35. But since he has no power to do even this, save he be aided by Him who commands him to do what He commands, Make me,
he adds, to go in the path of Your commandments, for therein is my desire
Psalm 118:35. My desire is powerless, unless You Yourself makest me to go where I desire. And this is surely the very path, that is, the path of God's commandments, which he had already said that he had run, when his heart was enlarged by the Lord. And this he calls a path,
because the way is narrow which leads unto life;
Matthew 7:14 and since it is narrow, we cannot run therein save with a heart enlarged....
36. He next says, Incline mine heart unto Your testimonies, and not to covetousness
Psalm 118:36. This then he prays, that he may profit in the will itself.. ..But the Apostle says, Avarice is a root of all evils.
1 Timothy 6:10 But in the Greek, whence these words have been rendered into our tongue, the word used by the Apostle is not πλεονεξία, which occurs in this passage of the Psalms; but φιλαργυρία, by which is signified love of money.
But the Apostle must be understood to have meant genus by species when he used this word, that is, to have meant avarice universally and generally by love of money, which is truly the root of all evils. Genesis 3:5 ...If therefore our heart be not inclined to covetousness, we fear God only for God's sake, so that He is the only reward of our serving Him. Let us love Him in Himself, let us love Him in ourselves, Him in our neighbours whom we love as ourselves, whether they have Him, or in order that they may have Him....
37. The next words in the Psalm which we have undertaken to expound are, O turn away my eyes, lest they behold vanity: and quicken Thou me in Your way
Psalm 118:37. Vanity and truth are directly contrary to one another. The desires of this world are vanity: but Christ, who frees us from the world, is truth. He is the way, too, wherein this man wishes to be quickened, for He is also the life: I am the way, the truth, and the life,
John 14:6 are His own words.
38. ...He prays that those eyes wherewith we consider on what account we do what we do, may be turned away that they behold not vanity; that is, that he may not look to vanity, as his motive, when he does anything good. In this vanity the first place is held by the love of men's praise, on account of which many great deeds have been wrought by those who are styled great in this world, and who have been much praised in heathen states, seeking glory not with God, but among men, and on account of this living in appearance prudently, courageously, temperately, and righteously; and when they have reached this they have reached their reward: vain men, and vain reward. Matthew 6:1 ...Moreover, if it be a vain thing to do good works for the sake of men's praises, how much more vain for the sake of getting money, or increasing it, or retaining it, and any other temporal advantage, which comes unto us from without? Since all things are vanity: what is man's abundance, with all his toil, wherein he labours under the sun?
Ecclesiastes 1:2-3 For our temporal welfare itself finally we ought not to do our good works, but rather for the sake of that everlasting welfare which we hope for, where we may enjoy an unchangeable good, which we shall have from God, nay, what God Himself is unto us. For if God's Saints were to do good works for the sake of this temporal welfare, never would the martyrs of Christ achieve a good work of confession in the loss of this same welfare....
39. O establish Your word in Your servant, that I may fear You
Psalm 118:38. And what else is this than, Grant unto me that I may do according to what You say? For the word of God is not established in those who remove it in themselves by acting contrary to it; but it is established in those in whom it is immoveable. God therefore establishes His word, that they may fear Him, in those unto whom He gives the spirit of the fear of Him; not that fear of which the Apostle says, You have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear;
Romans 8:15 for perfect love casts out
this fear,
1 John 4:18 but that fear which the Prophet calls the spirit of the fear of the Lord;
Isaiah 11:2 that fear which is pure, and endures for ever;
that fear which fears to offend Him whom it loves.
40. Take away my reproach which I have suspected, for Your judgments are sweet
Psalm 118:39. Who is he who suspected his own reproach, and who does not know his own reproach better than that of his neighbour? For a man may rather suspect another's than his own; since he knows not that which he suspects; but in each one's own reproach there is not suspicion for him, but knowledge, wherein conscience speaks. What then mean the words, the rebuke which I have suspected
? The meaning of them must be derived from the former verse; since as long as a man does not turn away his eyes lest they behold vanity, he suspects in others what is going on in himself; so that he believes another to worship God, or do good works, from the same motive as himself. For men can see what we do, but with a view to what end we act, is hidden....
41. Behold, I have coveted Your commandments: O quicken Thou me in Your righteousness
Psalm 118:40. Behold, I have coveted to love You with all my heart, and with all my soul, and with all my mind, and my neighbour as myself, but, O quicken Thou me
not in my own, but in Your righteousness,
that is, fill me with that love which I have longed for. Aid me that I may do that which Thou chargest me: Yourself give what Thou dost command. O quicken Thou me in Your righteousness:
for in myself I had that which would cause my death: but I find not save in You whence I may live. Christ is Your righteousness, Who of God is made unto us wisdom,
etc. 1 Corinthians 1:30-31 And in Him I find Your commandments, which I have coveted, that in Your righteousness, that is, in Him, You may quicken me. For the Word Himself is God; and the Word was made flesh,
John 1:14 that He Himself also might be my neighbour.
42. And let Your loving mercy come also unto us, O Lord
Psalm 118:41. This sentence seems annexed to the foregoing: for he does not say, Let it come unto me, but, And let it come unto me.
...What then does he here pray for, save that through His loving mercy who commanded, he may perform the commandments which he has coveted? For he explains in some degree what he meant by adding, even Your salvation, according to Your word:
that is, according to Your promise. Whence the Apostle desires us to be understood as the children of promise: Romans 9:8 that we may not imagine that what we are is our own work, but refer the whole to the grace of God....Christ Himself is the Salvation of God, so that the whole body of Christ may say, By the grace of God I am what I am.
1 Corinthians 15:10
43. And so shall I make answer,
he says, to them that reproach me with the word
Psalm 118:42. It is doubtful whether it be reproach me with a word;
or, I will answer with a word;
but either signifies Christ. They to whom Christ crucified is a stumbling-block or foolishness, 1 Corinthians 1:23 reproach us with Him; ignorant that the Word was made flesh, and dwelt in us;
John 1:14 the Word which was in the beginning,
and was with God, and was God.
John 1:1 But although they may not reproach us with the Word which is unknown unto them, because His Divinity is not known unto those by whom His weakness on the Cross is despised; let us nevertheless make answer of the Word, and let us not be terrified or confounded by their reproaches. For if they had known
the Word, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory.
1 Corinthians 2:8 ...Therefore, when the Psalmist had said, I will make answer unto them that reproach me with the word:
he at once adds, For my trust is in Your words,
which means exactly, in Your promises.
44. O take not the word of Your truth away out of my mouth even exceedingly
Psalm 118:43. He says, out of my mouth, because the unity of the body is speaking, among whose members those also are counted who failed at the hour by denying, but by penitence afterwards came again to life, or even, by renewing their confession, received the palm of martyrdom, which they had lost. The word of truth, therefore, was not even exceedingly,
or, as some copies have it, even every way, that is not altogether taken from the mouth of Peter, in whom was the type of the Church; because although he denied for the hour, being disturbed with fear, yet by weeping he was restored, Matthew 26:70-75 and by confessing was afterwards crowned. The whole body of Christ therefore speaks....Next follows, for I have hoped in Your judgments.
Or, as some have more strictly rendered it from the Greek, I have hoped more;
a word which, although compounded in a somewhat unusual way, yet answers the necessary purpose of conveying the truth in a translation....Behold the saints and the humble in heart when they have trusted in You, have not failed in persecutions: behold also those who from trusting in themselves have failed, and nevertheless have belonged to the Very Body, have wept when they became known unto themselves, and have found Your grace a more solid support, because they have lost their own pride.
45. So shall I always keep Your law
Psalm 118:44: that is, if You will not take the word of Your truth out of my mouth. Yea, unto age, and age of age:
he shows what he meant by alway.
For sometimes by alway
is meant, as long as we live here; but this is not, unto age, and age of age.
For it is better thus translated than as some copies have, to eternity, and to age of age,
since they could not say, and to eternity of eternity. That law therefore should be understood, of which the Apostle says, Love is the fulfilling of the law.
Romans 13:10 For this will be kept by the saints, from whose mouth the word of truth is not taken, that is, by the Church of Christ Herself, not only during this world, that is, until this world is ended; but for another also which is styled, world without end.
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46. And I walked at liberty: for I sought Your precepts
Psalm 118:45....And I walked at liberty.
Here the copulative conjunction, and,
is not used as a connecting particle; for he does not say, and I will walk, as he had said, and I will keep Your commandments for ever and ever:
or if this latter verse be in the optative mood, and may I keep Your law; he does not add, And may I walk at liberty, as if he had desired and prayed for both of these things; but he says, And I walked at liberty.
If this conjunction were not used here, and if the sentence were introduced free from any such connection with what preceded, I walked at liberty,
the reader would never be induced by anything unusual in the mode of speech to think he should seek for some hidden sense. Doubtless, then, he wished what he has not said to be understood, that is, that his prayers had been heard; and he then added what he had become: as if he were to say, When I prayed for these things, You heard me, And I walked at liberty;
and so with the remaining expressions which he has added to the same purpose.
47. ...Whence after he had said, And I walked at liberty,
he subjoined the reason, For I sought out Your commandments.
Some copies have not commandments
but testimonies:
but we find commandments
in most, and especially in the Greek; and who would hesitate rather to believe this tongue, as prior to our own, and that from which these Psalms have been rendered into Latin? If then we wish to know how he sought out these commandments, or how they ought to be sought out, let us consider what our good Master, who both taught and gave them, says: Ask, and it shall be given you.
Matthew 7:7 And a little lower, If you then,
He says, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in Heaven give good things to them that ask Him.
Matthew 7:11 Where He evidently shows, that the words He had spoken, seek, ask, knock, belong only to earnestness in asking, that is, in praying. Moreover, another Evangelist says not, He will give good things to them that ask Him; which may be understood in many ways, either as earthly or spiritual blessings; but has excluded other interpretations, and very carefully expressed what our Lord wished us to pray earnestly and instantly for, in these words: How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him.
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48. I spoke of Your testimonies also,
he says, before kings, and I was not ashamed
Psalm 118:46: as one who had sought and had received grace to answer those who reproached him with the word, and the promise that the word of truth should not be taken from his mouth. Struggling for this truth even unto death, not even before kings was he ashamed to speak of it. For testimonies, whereof he does avow that he was speaking, are in Greek styled μαρτύρια, a word which we now employ instead of the Latin. The name of Martyrs,
unto whom Jesus foretold, that they should confess Him even before kings, Matthew 10:18 is derived hence.
49. And I meditated,
he says, on Your commandments, which I have loved
Psalm 118:47. My hands also have I lifted up unto Your commandments, which I have loved
Psalm 118:48; or, as some copies read, which I have loved exceedingly,
or too much,
or vehemently,
as they have chosen to render the Greek word σφόδρα . He then loved the commandments of God because he walked at liberty; that is, through the Holy Spirit, through whom love itself is shed abroad, Romans 5:5 and enlarges the hearts of the faithful. But he loved, both in thought and in acts. With a view to thought, he says, And I meditated:
as to action, My hands also have I lifted up.
But to both sentences, he has annexed the words, which I have loved:
for the end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart.
1 Timothy 1:5 ...The following words, And my study was in Your statutes,
relate to both. This expression most of the translators have preferred to this, I rejoiced in,
or I talked of,
a version which some have given from the Greek ἠ δολ