Изъяснение псалма 108-го.

"At the end, a psalm to David." Psalm - this foreshadows saving suffering, the fury of the Jews and the betrayal of Judas. The great Peter also leads us to this understanding when, speaking to the people, he announces the betrayal of Judas, and from here he borrows the indication of the prophecy. And no one, hearing that the Lord gives the law to bless the persecutors, should not consider this prophecy to be contrary to the Lawgiver, because the prophetic word here does not pronounce an oath, but predicts the Jews and Judas their future punishments. This foreshadowing is presented in the form of a prayer, as for the most part everywhere it is usually given to the Divine Scripture. Ps.109:1. God of my praise! don't be silent. Ps.108.2. For wicked lips and deceitful lips have been opened against me; They speak to me with lying tongue. Ps.109:3. They surround me with words of hatred from everywhere, they take up arms against me for no reason. Ps.109:4. They fight against me for my love, but I pray. “O God of my praise, do not keep silent”: “For the mouth of the sinner and the mouth of the flatterer were opened against Me.” The Lord Christ speaks this according to humanity; because he prays like a man, fulfilling the measures of human nature; and as God, He accepts the prayers of those who sincerely pray. He calls suffering a song of praise. For in the divine gospel he calls it glory, and says: “The hour has come, that the Son of man may be glorified” (John 12:23). And he called Judas “the mouth of a sinner” and “the mouth of a flatterer”; because he secretly agreed with the Jews about betrayal. “You spoke against Me with a flattering tongue:” “And you used hateful words against Me.” From Judas he turns the word against all the doubts of the Jews; because they, enslaved to envy, planned an unjust death. “And tune with me.” “Instead of loving Me like a hedgehog, Me is a fool.” For not only did they not experience any evil from Me, but they also enjoyed thousands of benefits; and being obliged to love Me for these blessings, they acted hostilely. “I pray.” The history of the sacred gospels bears witness to this; because the One nailed to the tree of the cross cried out: “Father, let them go; for they know not what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). Ps.109:5. They repay me for good with evil, for my love with hatred. “And I have put upon Me evil for good, and hatred for My love.” I showered them with good deeds, but they repaid Me with what was contrary. Ps.109:6. Set the wicked over him, and let the devil stand at his right hand. “Put a sinner on him, and let the devil stand at his right hand.” It is said: “set” instead of: you will set, and: “let it become” instead of: it will stand. And the divine Evangelist clearly showed us this. For the godly John asked: “Who is” the traitor? And the Lord answered: “Having soaked the bread, I will give it to him, he will eat. And soak,” it is said, “he gave it to Judas. “He is Satan” (John 13:25-27), having found the entrances prepared for himself; because Judas of his own free will went to the Jews, agreed with them about betrayal, and after this, showered with many benefits, remained ungrateful. Ps.109:7. When he is put on trial, let him come out guilty, and let his prayer become a sin. “Whenever he is judged, let him go out” (instead of: will go out) “condemned, and let his prayer be” (instead of: will be) “into sin”; because the traitor has no excuse; why the judged person will be condemned, and the prayer he brings will increase the guilt. He did not not know the Benefactor, but he also used divine words, and having received power from Him, he was not only a witness of himself, but also a performer of great miracles. Ps.109:8. May his days be short, and may another take his dignity. “Let his days be short, and let another take over his bishopric.” And this prophecy came true; because Judas himself soon died by strangulation, and Matthias, appointed in his place, replenished the number of the Apostles. Ps.109:9. Let his children be orphans, and his wife a widow. “Let his sons be orphans, and his wife a widow.” This happened not only to Judas, but also to all the unfaithful Jews. For, not many years after the crucifixion, the whole race was deported, and others were killed, and their wives and children were taken into slavery. This was foretold to them by a prophetic word in prayer. Ps.109:10. Let his children wander and beg and ask for bread from their ruins. “Let his sons move and ask, and be driven out of their homes,” or, as others translate, “from their ruins”; because, after the burning of houses and courtyards, when ruins remained, some of the inhabitants were killed, and others were taken away as prisoners. Ps.109:11. May the lender seize everything he has, and may strangers plunder his labor. Ps.109:12. Let there be no one who sympathizes with him, and no one who has mercy on his orphans. “Let the lender repay all his worth.” And Symmachus translated it like this: the collector will seize all his property. By collectors we mean the Roman kings who collected the tribute imposed. They stole everything from the Jews, searching carefully to find what was hidden and appropriate it for themselves. “And may others delight in his labors.” “Let there be no intercessor for him; let him be the one who takes advantage of his orphans.” When this is accomplished, and the enemies begin to divide what belongs to them, then no one will be their helper, and their children will not be worthy of mercy. Ps.109:13. May his descendants be destroyed, and may their name be blotted out in the next generation. “Let his children be destroyed; let his name be consumed in one generation.” For less than forty years passed before the Jewish people suffered their final destruction. The Jews are no longer governed by themselves, they have neither their own kings and princes, nor this notorious capital, they do not perform divine services according to the law; On the contrary, all this disappeared, and the ark and the tablets, and the image of the Cherubim, and the purification, and the lamps, and the altar, and the high priestly robe, and everything else that they had that was God-given and glorious. Ps.109:14. Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord, and let the sin of his mother not be blotted out. “Let his father’s iniquity be remembered before the Lord, and let his mother’s sin not be purged.” The virtue of the fathers many times served for the benefit of their children who had sinned, just like Abraham’s faith to the Jews, and David’s piety to Solomon. But the wickedness of the fathers increases the punishments of such children; because in nothing there is any reason for mercy. Therefore, the prophetic word spoke this, namely, that the Jews, having undergone final destruction, in addition to their own wickedness, will turn out to be even more vile when remembering the evil deeds of their fathers. “Fathers” the Prophet calls those who indulged in wickedness in the desert, and who lived in lawlessness under the judges, under the kings, and upon their return from Babylon. And he called Jerusalem “mother,” in which they dared to commit a terrible crime, to put the Lord Christ to death. For this is what the Lord said in the Gospel: “For let all innocent blood come upon this generation, “shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah,” killing him between the church and the altar” (Matthew 23:35). For all this they will be executed at the same time. Ps.109:15. May they always be in the sight of the Lord, and may He destroy their memory on earth. “Let them be taken out before the Lord, and let their memory be consumed from the earth”; because God, having always before his eyes all the iniquities that they dared to commit, will not honor them with any mercy, but will betray them to final destruction. And from this it also becomes clear that the Prophet said this not only about Judas, but also about all those who did not believe; because speaking about one person turns into speaking about many, and he no longer said: “him,” but: “them.” Ps.109:16. Because he did not think to show mercy, but pursued a poor and destitute and broken-hearted man in order to kill him. “I will not remember to show mercy, but the chase of a man is poor and wretched and is touched with the heart to kill.” They will be subject to this, says the Prophet; because they cruelly and brutally committed murder, and to death they persecuted Him who dealt with them with all humility and meekness. These words were witnessed by both the Apostle and the Bishop Himself. The Apostle cries: “For our poverty’s sake He is rich, that through His poverty we may be rich” (2 Cor. 8:9); and again: “He who was in the form of God was not equal to God by admiration, but made Himself lesser, and took on the form of a servant” (Phil. 2:6-7). And the Lord says in one place; “Learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29); and in another: “foxes have wounds, and birds of heaven have nests: but the Son of man has no place to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20). Ps.109:17. He loved the curse, and it will come to him; did not want the blessing, and it will move away from him. “And thou shalt love an oath, and it will come to him: and he will not desire the blessing, and will depart from it.” Here the Prophet clearly changed the prayerful manner of speech, and expressed both prophetically, namely, that they would take the oath that they loved, and would be deprived of the blessing that they did not want to accept. Ps.109:18. Let him be clothed with the curse like a robe, and let it enter like water into his bowels and like oil into his bones. “And he clothed himself with an oath like a robe,” that is, he was surrounded by it everywhere. “And down came like water into his womb.” There are troubles not only outside, but also inside, as if surrounded by water. Then, since this water, although it irrigates and moisturizes the body, does not provide it with constant moisture, the Prophet added: “And there was oil in his bones”; because the oil remains on the body for a long time. The Prophet understands the following: such a burden of troubles will be imposed that will oppress more than water, but with constancy will be likened to oil. Ps.109:19. Let it be to him like a garment in which he dresses, and like a girdle with which he always girds himself. “Let him be like a robe, he will be clothed in a garment, and like a girdle he will be girded with it.” With the above-mentioned disasters, says the Prophet, let him be covered everywhere, as with clothing, and compressed, as with a girdle. Ps.109:20. This is the reward from the Lord to my enemies and to those who speak evil against my soul! “This is the work of those who slander Me before the Lord.” Others translated: My opponents. "And those who speak evil against My soul." Both those who showed me hatred and the traitor who served them will reap these fruits. And since they called Him godless and lawless; then he rightly said: “those who slander Me before the Lord.” Ps.109:21. But with me, Lord, Lord, do for the sake of Your name, for Your mercy is good; save me. “And You, Lord Lord, do unto Me in Your name, for Your mercy is good.” And this Lord Christ said for humanity; because he fulfilled everything human, except sin. He was born both according to natural law and above natural law; because to be born of a wife is characteristic of human nature, but above that to be born of a virgin. He received the swaddling clothes, and circumcision, and feeding with milk; He made sacrifices, fasted, hungered, thirsted, and labored. This is how he is always depicted praying in the Holy Gospel. Therefore, here too, humanity calls on God’s help. Ps.109:22. For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me. “Deliver Me, for I am poor and wretched, and My heart is troubled within Me.” This, as we find, was said by him in the Holy Gospel. For, preparing to go into suffering, he said: “Now my soul is troubled: and what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour, but for this reason I have come to this hour” (John 12:27). Ps.109:23. I disappear like a retreating shadow; they drive me away like a locust. “Like a canopy, when I never evade it, I shook off: I shook like a prizi.” Sim depicted death; because he accepted the end of life like a shadow that evaded and disappeared; and he lived like streams blown hither and thither by the wind, having neither a city, nor a village, nor a house, but moving from one place to another, and sometimes to the mountains and desert. Ps.109:24. My knees are weak from fasting, and my body has lost its fatness. “My knees are weary of fasting, and my flesh is changed for the sake of oil”; because I did not live in bliss and contentment, but lived a life that did not allow any excesses, strict and severe. And the witnesses to this were worthy to be His sacred disciples, and those barley loaves that they carried, and those grains that they tore up, which they washed with their hands in their hunger. What was said: “My flesh was changed for the sake of oil,” Symmachus translated as follows: and My flesh was changed from unanointing. Ps.109:25. I have become a laughing stock for them: when they see me, they nod [their] heads. “And I was reproached by them, seeing Me, and bowing my heads.” And this came to fruition. Seeing Him on the cross, “nodding their heads,” they said: “you destroy the church, and in three days you build, come down from the cross”; others said: “He saved others, can he not save himself” (Mark 15:29, 31)? Ps.109:26. Help me, Lord my God, save me according to Your mercy. Ps.109:27. Let them know that this is Your hand, and that You, Lord, did this. “Help Me, Lord My God, and save Me according to Your mercy”: “And let them understand that this is Your hand, and You, Lord, have created this.” Let them find out, he says that they handed Me over to crucifixion not against My will; but this was the work of Your economy; because it pleased You through My suffering to grant people relief from suffering. “Hand” refers to God’s effectiveness. Ps.109:28. They curse, but You bless; they rebel, but let them be put to shame; Let Your servant rejoice. “They are cursed, and You bless them,” the Jews continue to blaspheme the Savior to this day, but with their blasphemy, the sermon becomes more glorious every day. “Let those who rebel against Me be ashamed, but Your Servant will rejoice.” And this saying does not force us to accept this psalm in a different meaning. For we hear that the divine Paul also says: “I have humbled myself, and have taken on the form of a servant” (Phil. 2:7); and He Himself, calling out through the mouth of Isaiah, says this: “He created Me from the womb of His servant” (Is. 49:5), and in a few words: “I placed “You in the covenant of the generation; into the light of the tongue; to be Your salvation, even to the last of the earth” (Is. 49:6). And in the Holy Gospel he said: “For the Son of man did not come, that they might serve Him, but serve, and give His life redemption for many” (Matthew 20:28). Therefore, “slave” is the name of the perceived nature, not meaning that it is servile (for how can a nature that has united with God the Word and assumed dominion over everything be servile?), but showing what is characteristic of nature. Therefore, the word “slave” here does not mean dignity, but nature. Ps.109:29. May my opponents be clothed with dishonor and covered with their shame like a garment. “Let them that slander Me be clothed with shame, and clothe themselves as with their own garment.” The word: “slandering” by other translators is translated again: resistant. Prophecy and deeds confirm; because the Jews are in the constant “cold”, clothed with it like clothing. Ps.109:30. And I will loudly praise the Lord with my mouth and glorify Him among the multitude. “Let me confess the Lord greatly with my mouth, and in the midst of many I will praise Him.” The Lord Christ is called the head of the Church, and the church council is called His body; and the Lord calls the hymn of the Church His own hymn. Ps.109:31. For He stands at the right hand of the poor to save him from those who judge his soul. “As if I have appeared at the right hand of the poor, to save My soul from those who persecute.” He also said this in the fifteenth psalm: “I have seen the Lord before Me, as He is at My right hand, but I will not move” (Psalm 15:8). For the nature of God, having entered into inseparable unity, although it was inherent in human nature, nevertheless allowed it to suffer, thereby arranging the salvation of people. It was not difficult for Him to make the very nature He perceived immortal; but, since suffering was the salvation of the world, it allowed suffering to happen, and through suffering imparted immortality and incorruptibility. The Lord did not suffer harm from the suffering of the nature He assumed, but filled it with His own glory, and reigns with it and possesses everything. While this nature was corruptible, he allowed him to suffer and do everything according to humanity, except sin. 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