Изъяснение псалма 113-го.

"Hallelujah" And this song enumerates the benefits God has shown to the Jews, depicts God’s power and ridicules the powerlessness of idols. This song befits those who have believed among the pagans and have been freed from the delusion of idols; because they know what is the distance from those who do not exist to the existing God. Ps.113:1. When Israel came out of Egypt, the house of Jacob was from a foreign people. Ps.113:2. Judah became His sanctuary, Israel His possession. “When Israel came out of Egypt, the house of Jacob became a barbarian people,” “Judah became His holiness, Israel became His province.” The Lord, having freed Israel from Egypt and delivered from slavery to foreigners and barbarians, recognized this people as His own, and built His own church in Judea. For the Prophet called the church “a shrine.” Ps.113:3. The sea saw and ran; Jordan turned back. Ps.113:4. The mountains leaped like rams and the hills like lambs. “Seeing the sea and running, the Jordan returned back”: “The mountains leaped like rams, and the hills like sheep lambs.” The prophet personifies the things he named, and proclaiming in his word the power of God, he attributes feeling to the inanimate. When You led the people, he said to God; Then the sea, fearful, retreated back and forth, and allowed an unhindered procession, the river stopped, holding back the rush of the currents, like some verbal creature, imagining Your power in the ark, and the hills and mountains moved, and seemed rejoicing, as if they had taken upon themselves the Lord of the heavens. He understands the mountains Sinai and Horeb, because God showed His presence on them. Then, to what was said before, the Prophet added a question: Ps.113:5. What is the matter with you, O sea, that you fled, and [with you], Jordan, that you turned back? Ps.113:6. Why do you jump, you mountains like rams, and you hills like lambs? “Why are you the sea, because you ran away, and the Jordan, because you turned back?” “The mountains leap like rams, and the hills like sheep’s lambs?” And since they are wordless and inanimate; then the Prophet himself gives the answer for them. Ps.113:7. Tremble before the face of the Lord, O earth, before the face of the God of Jacob. Ps.113:8. Turning a rock into a lake of water and a stone into a spring of water. “At the presence of the Lord the earth moved, at the presence of the God of Jacob,” “Who turned the stone into lakes of water, and the unbroken stone into springs of water.” All this, says the Prophet, was accomplished for the sake of the Lord who appeared; - this is the reason for the vibrations of the earth and the division of the sea. He filled the barren stone, devoid of all moisture, and because of its hardness it did not allow cutting, with a multitude of waters, commanding it to produce abundant springs from itself. Therefore, this is not the least surprising, says the Prophet. The Creator commanded, and the sea was divided, an unmovable stone poured out water, the sky sent down manna, the winds gathered the colors into one, and everything else happened at His wave. Ps.113:9. Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to Thy name give glory, for the sake of Thy mercy, for the sake of Thy truth. Ps.113:10. Why should the pagans say: “Where is their God”? “Give not to us, Lord, not to us, but to Thy name, the glory of Thy mercy and Thy truth”: “Let not the pagans say, Where is their God?” It was fitting for those of old from circumcision, asking for God's help and remembering former gifts, to say this: do not turn away Your gaze from us, Master, and do not despise us for our many sins; because those who are ignorant of the justice of punishment in our slavery will assume Your powerlessness, and will say: “Where is their God?” Ps.113:11. Our God is in heaven [and on earth]; does whatever he wants. “Our God is in heaven and on earth: do whatever you please.” They say: “Where is their God?” But we know that You are God, the Creator of everything, that Your dwelling place is heaven, that Your power is proportionate to your will. Then the Prophet, by comparison, denounces idols. Ps.113:12. And their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. “Idol the tongue of silver and gold, the works of human hands.” You do whatever You please; and the idols that the pagans worship do not create, but are created, and are valued according to their substance; because they are made of gold, silver and paints, they receive beauty from art; they are prepared by silversmiths, goldsmiths and painters; Therefore, idols borrow their composition from matter and art. Then the Prophet represents their powerlessness in many ways, saying: Ps.113:13. They have lips, but they do not speak; They have eyes, but they do not see. Ps.113:14. They have ears, but they do not hear; They have nostrils, but they do not smell. Ps.113:15. They have hands, but they do not touch; They have legs, but they don’t walk; and they do not utter a voice with their throat. “They have lips, and do not speak; they have eyes, and do not see”: “They have ears, and do not hear; they have nostrils, and do not smell”: “They have hands, and do not touch them; they have noses, and do not walk.” They are given images of sensitivities, but they are deprived of activity; therefore, not only those who made them are less valuable, but also the smallest animals. Flies, mosquitoes and other even smaller creatures are gifted with the activity of their senses - they see, hear, fly, walk; but idols, which are worshiped as Gods, do not have the activity of dumb 38 and small animals. “And they will not cry out with their throats.” since the demons operating in the idols, who gave false prophecies, pronounced them not with the help of idols, but with the help of verbal creatures, people, or expressed something else with some kind of signs; then the Prophet rightly said: “they will not cry out with their throats”; because idols are completely motionless and inanimate. Ps.113:16. Let those who make them and all who trust in them be like them. “Let those who create, and all who trust in her, be like them.” But let those who bow and do things be like them; because it is right for those who are gifted with reason and have fallen into such foolishness to take upon themselves the insensibility of those honored by them with worship. Ps.113:17. [House] of Israel! trust in the Lord: He is our help and shield. Ps.113:18. House of Aaron! trust in the Lord: He is our help and shield. “The house of Israel trusts in the Lord; he is their helper and protector.” “The house of Aaron trusts in the Lord; he is their helper and protector.” They received harm, not benefit, from worshiping idols; and the house of Israel, having acquired trust in the existing God, always benefits from His providence. Separately, the Prophet made this mention, giving honor to the priesthood, and teaching those who lived then what difference priests have from others. Ps.113:19. Those who fear the Lord! Trust in the Lord: He is our help and shield. “Those who fear the Lord trust in the Lord; they have a helper and protector.” This is a different rank from the previous ones. The prophetic word shows that if someone does not have the dignity of the priesthood, does not belong to the kinship of Israel, but, adorned with the fear of God, takes care of virtue, then he will be honored with the same providence from the God of all. Even in ancient times, the Jews had many of these, not descended from Abraham’s roots, but who came from other nations, who were called strangers, and highly revered the Divine. And now the pagans have no kinship with Abraham in the flesh, but, having acquired Abraham’s faith, they are called Abraham’s children. Ps.113:20. The Lord remembers us, blesses [us], blesses the house of Israel, blesses the house of Aaron. Ps.113:21. He blesses those who fear the Lord, small and great. “The Lord remembered us and blessed us to eat: He blessed the house of Israel to eat: He blessed the house of Aaron to eat”: “He blessed those who fear the Lord.” And here the Prophet also made a division and showed the fruit of hope; because he gathered up the blessing with hope and said that it would be given not only to the house of Israel and the house of Aaron, but also to those who fear the Lord. Then he again makes divisions by age and dignity. “Small with great;” because he blessed not only the young, but also the elderly, not only those abounding in wealth, but also those living in poverty, not only distinguished by freedom, but also those forced to drag out the yoke of slavery. Ps.113:22. May the Lord give you more and more, you and your children. “May the Lord deal with you, and with you, and with your sons.” For those who have gained hope in God, the prophetic word desires increase and multitude. Ps.113:23. Blessed are you by the Lord who created heaven and earth. “Bless you be unto the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” You have been honored with all this, says the Prophet, as having received a blessing from the Creator of all things. Ps.113:24. Heaven is heaven to the Lord, and He gave the earth to the sons of men. “Heaven is the heaven of the Lord; he gave earth to the sons of men.” His dwelling is in heaven, not in this visible one, but in that which is higher than that which is visible, and which serves as a shelter for what is visible, just as what is visible to us. The Lord of all dwells in heaven, not as having a described nature, but as rejoicing over the faces of the holy Angels living there. And He gave the earth to the human race. Therefore, he provides not only for the Jews, but also for all the people to whom he gave land as a home. Ps.113:25. Neither the dead will praise the Lord, nor all those who go down to the grave. Ps.113:26. But we [the living] will bless the Lord from now on and forever. Hallelujah. “Not in the dead will they praise Thee, O Lord, below all those who descend into hell”: “But we will bless the Lord alive, from now and forever.” The Prophet called those who serve inanimate idols “dead.” For what is more insensitive than them? And “living” he calls those who worship the living God, to whom he provided this divine song. Moreover, he teaches that God’s servants should sing songs to God while still in this life; because death prevents one from doing so. And therefore, in another psalm he says: “I will praise the Lord in my belly, I will sing to my God to the depths of my being” (Psalm 145:2). Here, instead of "ὀλίγων, it is more decent to read, in accordance with other lists, "ἀλόγων. You might be interested in: