Изъяснение псалма 138-го.

“At the end, a psalm to David.” In other lists it is added: “Zachary in dispersion”; I did not find this either in the Hebrew text, or in the Seventy, or in other translators; Someone made this addition to the inscription, interpreting the psalm at his own discretion. And the psalm contains a prediction about King Josiah. He, having descended from an evil father, being the grandson of the same grandfather, was disgusted by their wickedness, practiced every virtue and, inflamed with Divine jealousy, destroyed all the idolatrous priests, and honored those who loved piety with all care. This is what the psalm predicts. The prophetic word represents that this Josiah is praying and is amazed at the foreknowledge of him. Ps.139:1. God! You have tested me and you know. “Lord, you have tempted me, and you have known me.” Not only poverty and despondency, but also royal power and prosperity serve to test virtue. Just as we are tested in sorrows, whether we are able to courageously endure the sorrows we encounter: so we reveal ourselves in prosperity, and show either that we are exalted by prosperity, or that we know the properties of these blessings. Therefore, blessed Josiah, after the kingdom was handed over to him and he ruled it piously, rightly said: “The Lord has tempted me, and you have known me.” “You have known my sitting and my rising.” You found out everything exactly, what I did while sitting, what I did when I stood up. With the words: “sitting” and “rising” he depicted his life. And these are expressions of a pure soul and sound conscience. since he said: “Thou hast tempted me, and thou hast known me”: so that others would not think that God would know what had been done at the end of the matter, the Prophet very opportunely added: Ps.139:2. You know when I sit down and when I get up; You understand my thoughts from afar. “You understood my thoughts from afar.” Long ago, and from the beginning, many generations before my creation, You not only foresaw my deeds, but also foresaw my future thoughts. Ps.139:3. Whether I am walking or resting, You surround me, and all my paths are known to You. “You have explored my path and already mine.” Theodotion translated it like this: You have explored my path and my path. The Prophet calls actions “way” and “path”, and “we know” their straightness, taking the image of speech from those building houses who level the walls with ropes. Exactly, says the Prophet, You knew my deeds, and nothing of mine hid from Your knowledge. Ps.139:4. There is not yet a word on my tongue, but You, Lord, already know it completely. “And you foresaw all my paths”: “For there is no flattery in my tongue.” God not only foresaw all things, but foretold through the Prophets; and to Jeroboam, when he was making a sacrifice and paying divine honor to the young women, he foretold that David’s son would arise, “Josiah is his name,” and would put to death the priests of the idols, and burn their bones on this altar (1 Kings 13:2). Ps.139:5. You embrace me from behind and from before, and You place Your hand on me. “Behold, Lord, Thou art known,” “All that is recent and ancient.” From the very events I learned that you have all knowledge both of what was ancient and of what has not yet happened. “Thou hast created me, and thou hast laid Thy hand on me.” Is it possible for any of my deeds to hide from You, my Creator, who created me in my mother’s womb and granted every kind of providence for me? What is said: “Thou hast laid Thy hand upon Me” is similar to this: “Thy hands have made me, and ye have created me” (Psalm 119:73), and at the same time means providence for creation. Ps.139:6. [Your] knowledge is marvelous to me—high, I cannot comprehend it! “Your mind is amazed at Me: if you strengthen yourself, I will not be able to reach it.” From what happened to me, I came to know Your power; and wanting to sing Your wisdom, and not being able to do it worthily, I admit myself defeated. So, having expressed surprise at the knowledge and foreknowledge of the God of all, that nothing is hidden from Him, neither what was nor what will be, the Prophet moves on to another subject, saying the following: Ps.139:7. Where will I go from Your Spirit, and where will I flee from Your presence? “Where shall I go from Thy Spirit, and where shall I flee from Thy presence?” Is it possible for a fugitive to hide from the One who knows everything so clearly? It should be noted that, according to the teachings of the Prophet, both God and the All-Holy Spirit have the same effectiveness. “Where shall I go from Thy Spirit,” he says, “and where shall I flee from Thy presence?” And those who have one effectiveness, of course have one power; and those who have one strength have one nature. Therefore, there is one nature of God and the Spirit. Ps.139:8. If I ascend to heaven - You are there; If I go down to the underworld, you will be there too. “If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I descend to hell, there you are.” You fill everything, both above and below. Heaven is the edge of height, and hell is the edge of depth. He said beautifully about heaven: “There you are”, and about hell - “there you are”; because it rests in the Angels who live in heaven, and is present everywhere and in everyone. “In Him,” according to the divine Apostle, “we live, we move, and we are” (Acts 17:28). Ps.139:9. Shall I take the wings of dawn and move to the edge of the sea? Ps.139:10. And there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will hold me. “If I take up my wings early, and dwell in the last of the seas,” “And there Thy hand will guide me, and Thy right hand will hold me.” With the word: “early,” the Prophet meant the east, and with the words: “last sea,” the west. For he added longitude and breadth to height and depth, showing the indescribable nature of God. The Prophet Jonah experienced this power. For, having attempted to flee from the God of all, he was taken, bound by the waves, as if in conclusion given to a whale, and brought to the city where he was sent. Therefore, here too the words of the prophecy turn out to be true: “If I dwell in the last sea, there Your hand will guide me, and Your right hand will hold me.” Ps.139:11. Shall I say: “Perhaps the darkness will hide me, and the light around me will become night.” “And rekh: the food of darkness will trample me: and the night of enlightenment in my sweetness.” Symmachus translated it this way: if I say: perhaps darkness will cover me, that is, whether I resort to the rising or setting sun, I will not hide from Your power. If I try to hide in the darkness of the night, then I will not remain in obscurity; because even darkness is light for You. Ps.139:12. But darkness will not obscure You, and the night is as bright as the day: both darkness and light. “For the darkness will not be darkened by You, and the night will be enlightened like the day.” Symmachus translated this: and the darkness before You will not be dark, but the night will also be day, that is, darkness is darkness for me, I distinguish between light and darkness, but to You the mental Light, and the night is bright, more luminous than any noon. “As is its darkness, so is its light.” As dark as the night is for me, so bright for You. Ps.139:13. For You formed my inward parts and knitted me together in my mother’s womb. “For Thou hast gained my womb.” I don’t just say this, but foreshadowed by Your grace, having received the illumination of my thoughts from You. For here the Prophet called thoughts “wombs.” since the lustful force is contained in the womb, and thoughts receive its attack; therefore he called thoughts “wombs.” “Thou tookst me from my mother’s womb.” You became for me a mentor, a guardian, and a mentor, and as soon as I came out of my mother’s womb, I took advantage of Your providence for me. Ps.139:14. I praise You because I am wonderfully made. Wonderful are Your works, and my soul is fully aware of this. “Let us confess to You that You were terribly surprised: Your works are wonderful, and my soul knows it well.” Therefore, I continue to sing songs to You, illuminated and excited to sing by Your great deeds. Ps.139:15. My bones were not hidden from You when I was created in secret, formed in the depths of the womb. “My bone is not hidden from You, which You have created in secret, and my composition in the depths of the earth.” Everything that concerns me, says the Prophet, You know exactly; because You formed me, hiding in my mother’s womb, and brought me into the light, as if I was in the farthest part of the earth. Aquila translated this as follows: My bones with which I was created were not hidden from You, and were hidden in secret, as in the underworld. Nothing can hide from You, who forms human nature in that hidden secret place where all nature is created. Ps.139:16. Your eyes have seen my embryo; in Your book are written all the days appointed for me, when not one of them was yet. “Your eyes have seen what I have not done, and in Your book all things will be written: in these days they will be created, and no one in them.” Symmachus translated it this way: Thy eyes saw me, who did not yet have a form, with all that was written in Thy book, having no need for a single day according to their education. Thus You saw me, says the Prophet, before I was formed and received my form, You saw how those who were already born became perfect, have no need for a single day, and are written in Your books. Blessed Daniel also mentions these books; for he says: “The judgment was seated, and the books were opened” (Dan. 7:10); and the Lord in the Holy Gospel: “And to you also the chief things are written out, and they are all written down” (Matthew 10:30). By “books” we must understand God’s all-encompassing knowledge and God’s unforgettable memory. Thus, having depicted the Divine, Josiah reveals his own intention, not driven by curiosity, but presenting an example of what is useful. Ps.139:17. How lofty are Your thoughts to me, O God, and how great are their number! “Thy friends, God, were very honest to me, their dominion was very established.” History clearly shows this: because God’s priests were worthy of every kind of pleasure. Everyone heard the promises that God gave to Abraham, saying: “I will bless the one who blesses thee: and the one who swears thee I will curse” (Gen. 12:3). because, due to the iniquities of the evil kings, those who previously lived in poverty and poverty were awarded every honor by Josiah. Ps.139:18. Whether I begin to count them, they are more numerous than sand; when I awaken, I am still with You. “I will count them, and they will multiply more than the sand,” because the wicked before, with the piety of the king, having enlightened their minds, sang in a different tune, and loved a life in accordance with the law; and those whom it was previously convenient to count have surpassed any number. At the same time, the prophetic word foreshadows the change in the universe that took place after the incarnation of our God and Savior; because the zealots of a God-pleasing life in every city and in every country exceed any number. “I have risen, and am still with You.” Symmachus translated it like this: I will awaken, and I will always be before You; because, constantly exciting myself, I will shake off the sleep of laziness, and keep the remembrance of You in my mind. And for this I will use Your providence for me. Ps.139:19. Oh, that You, O God, would strike the wicked! Get away from me, bloodthirsty ones! Ps.139:20. They speak wickedly against You; Your enemies are plotting vain things. “If God slays sinners, men of blood turn away from Me.” “For you are naturally jealous in your thoughts.” Those who love the good tend to abhor the evil. Therefore, says Josiah, since You, lover of mankind, put sinners to death, the more I will shun the treatment of them, knowing their stubborn disposition; because they do not tolerate good advice, but reject it out of the inflexibility of their hearts. “Your cities will be reduced to vanity.” It is not against justice that You beat them, but because they inhabit the cities in vain, not deriving any benefit from Your laws. Ps.139:21. Should I not hate those who hate You, O Lord, and not be disgusted by those who rebel against You? Ps.139:22. I hate them with complete hatred: they are my enemies. “Have they not hated You, Lord? and about all your secrets? “I hated them with complete hatred: I became my enemies.” I am devoted to your love, Lord; I want to love and hate the same thing with You. Therefore, I love and honor those who are attached to pleasing You, but I not only hate those who hate You, but grieving for them, I melt away with grief. Although I hate them as lawless, I regret them as people; out of natural compassion I am forced to cry for them, but I again abhor them due to their great cunning. Ps.139:23. Test me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts; Ps.139:24. And see if I am on a dangerous path, and guide me on the eternal path. “Test me, O God, and convince my heart: and gain me, and understand my paths”: “And see if the way of iniquity is in me, and guide me on the eternal path.” Although I assume this, I nevertheless beg You, the best Physician of souls, to accurately find out my life, to follow the movements of my heart. If you find in me anything contrary to Your laws, I pray to You that Your wisdom will correct it and guide me to eternal progress. This was spoken by blessed David, it was foretold about blessed Josiah, but it is also offered to everyone who wants it as a reason for salvation. You might be interested in: