Изъяснение псалма 143-го.

"To David." In some lists I found the inscription added: “to Goliath.” But I did not find this either in the Hebrew text, or in other translators, or in the Exaplah of the Seventy. The content of the psalm is as follows: many Prophets mentioned that upon the return of the Jews from Babylon, nations would rise up against them, but the divine Ezekiel speaks more extensively about this than others. Among many other things, he says this: “You have prepared yourself from many days, and you will come to a land that was cast down by the sword, gathered from the tongues of many, to the land of Jerusalem, which was empty. And these tongues departed, and all shall dwell in peace. And you will rise like rain, and you will come like a storm and like a cloud to cover the earth, and you will fall, and all those around you, and many nations with you” (Ezek. 38:8-9); and much lower he shows the image of death: “And I will call down all the fear of the sword on all My mountains, says Adonai the Lord: the sword of a man will be against his brother, and I will condemn him with death, and blood, and flooding rain, and hailstones, fire, and a bogeyman, and on all that is with him, and on the tongues of many with him” (Ezek. 38, 21-22 ). And whoever wants to, can find out this more precisely by reading the prophecy. This is also foreshadowed by the present psalm: “Lord, bow down the heavens, and come down: touch the mountains, and they will rise up: flash lightning, and light them up; send down your arrows, and they will confuse me” (Psalm 143:5-6). This detailed interpretation will show it more clearly. Ps.143:1. Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who teaches my hands to fight and my fingers to fight. “Blessed is the Lord my God, teach my hands to fight, my fingers to fight.” Having barely returned from Babylon, having neither weapons nor fences, with God's help, the Jews overcame the attacking enemies. What was said also befits us; because after being freed from the devil’s torment, we were taught by God how to fight, doing justice with our hands, placing the seal of the cross on our foreheads with our fingers. Ps.143:2. My mercy and my hedge, my refuge and my Savior, my shield - and I trust in Him; He makes my people subject to me. “My mercy and my refuge, my protector and my deliverer, my protector and in Him I trust.” The prophet gives names according to what is actually experienced; says: You are “my mercy”; because from You I have received sources of mercy: You are “my refuge”; because, having resorted to You, I am saved: You are “my deliverer”; because, using your help, I overcame my enemies: You are “my intercessor and my protector”; because he protected me at war and defended the besieged. Therefore I will have firm hope in You. “Obey my people under me.” This befits Zerubbabel, and Joshua the Priest; because they were then the leaders of the people. Ps.143:3. God! What is man, that You know about him, and the son of man, that You pay attention to him? “Lord, what is man, because you are known to him, or the son of man, because you impute him?” Instead of: “thou art known,” Symmachus translated: he let himself be known. I am very surprised, says the Prophet, at Your immeasurable love for mankind, because You, God and Creator of all, take so much care for this insignificant living creature. Then he shows the frailty of nature. Ps.143:4. Man is like a breath; his days are like a retreating shadow. “Man is like vanity: his days pass away like shadows.” Theodotion says: man has become like evaporation, Symmachus: - steam; because, like steam that conveniently forms and dissipates, human nature decays, and human life passes like a shadow. And You cared so much about mortal people! Ps.143:5. God! Bow down Your heavens and come down; touch the mountains and they will rise. “Lord, bow down to the heavens and come down.” The prophet expressed himself in human terms, knowing that the nature of God is not limited to heaven, but calling for a helper to punish enemies. “Touch the mountains and they will rise.” This happened on Mount Sinai. For it is said: “The mountain was smoking” (Ex. 19:18). Ps.143:6. Flash the lightning and scatter them; shoot your arrows and destroy them. “Flash the lightning, and make me a wife; send forth Your arrows, and make me tremble.” The Prophet expresses this in the form of a desire. He predicts the future, which God predicted through the mouth of the Prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 38:22). For in this way he destroyed all his enemies. Ps.143:7. Stretch out Your hand from on high, deliver me and save me from many waters, from the hand of the sons of foreigners. “Send Your hand from on high,” teaching that Your wave is enough to grant salvation to those who ask. The Prophet called effectiveness “hand,” as we have said more than once. “Care me and deliver me from many waters.” The Prophet called many enemies “many waters.” So in the one hundred and twenty-third psalm he said: “the stream has passed over our soul: ... unstable water” (Psalm 123: 4-5). And showing that he allegorically called the enemies “waters,” he added: "From the hand of the sons of strangers." He called them strangers, not as foreigners, but as wicked. Ps.143:8. Whose lips speak vain things, and whose right hand is the right hand of lies. “Whose mouth spoke vanity.” They uttered blasphemies about Your glory, O Lord. “And their right hand is the right hand of iniquity.” Deeds are similar to words. Just as they blaspheme in words, they commit lies in deeds. Their very right hand does not do anything right, but has become an instrument of unrighteousness. Ps.143:9. God! I will sing a new song to You, I will sing to You on a ten-stringed psalter. “O God, I will sing to You a new song, in a psalter with ten strings I will sing to You.” I will not be ungrateful, but having received salvation, with the usual tools for this, I will sing a song of thanks. Ps.143:10. Who grants salvation to kings and delivers Your servant David from the fierce sword. "To the king who gives salvation." Thus You saved our ancestors, to whom You entrusted the kingdom, and made David, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and all those who sought Your help conquerors of the attacking enemies. "He who delivered David his servant." For the sake of covenants with them, take every care for us. Ps.143:11. Deliver me and save me from the hand of the sons of foreigners, whose lips speak vain things and whose right hand is the right hand of lies. "From the sword of fierceness". “Deliver me and pluck me from the hand of the sons of strangers.” The Prophet called the fury and brutality of the attackers “a fierce sword”; He also calls them sons of strangers as wicked. “Their mouth speaks vanity, and their right hand is the right hand of unrighteousness.” It was not in vain that the Prophet used this repetition, but, intending to describe their prosperity, he resumes the accusation of wickedness, thereby prompting God to provide help. Those, says the Prophet, who so blaspheme You, and live in untruth and deceit, are carried by a fair wind, and receiving an abundance of benefits from You, in this success they find guidance for untruth. Ps.143:12. Let our sons be like overgrown plants in their youth; our daughters are like skillfully sculptured pillars in palaces. “And their sons are like new plants planted in their youth.” They enjoy many children and prosperity, and are surrounded by their sons, like newly blooming plants. “Their daughters are adorned, adorned like the likeness of a church.” Not only natural beauty adorns them, but also art has clothed them in great decoration; why they are likened to churches decorated in honor of idols. Such is their sophistication in dress and in the art of seducing. Ps.143:13. Let our granaries be full, abundant with all grain; let our sheep multiply by thousands and tens of thousands in our pastures. “Their storehouses are full, burping from this to this.” When they see that their vaginas are filled beyond need, they transfer the excess to other vaginas, like the one who said: “I will destroy my barns and build greater ones” (Luke 12:18). “Their sheep are prolific, multiplying in their goings; their oxen are fat.” Their cattle are fat and prolific. Ps.143:14. Let our oxen be fat; let there be no theft, no loss, no outcry in our streets. “There is no fall for the stronghold, no lower than the passage, no lower than the cry in their stacks.” Due to their great prosperity and abundance of benefits, they spend their lives in fun and laughter, without experiencing anything bad. The Prophet said this in the seventy-second psalm: “for there is no joy in their death, and no affirmation in their wounds: they are not in the labors of men, and men will not receive wounds” (Psalm 73:4-5). We find many similarities with this in other Prophets. But they all provide solutions to perplexities. The divine David did the same here; because he added: Ps.143:15. Blessed are the people who have this. Blessed is the people whose God is the Lord. “Blessed are the people, for whom is this: blessed are the people, for whom is the Lord their God.” Those who are not initiated into the truth do not know how to distinguish the properties of things; they achieve well-being in fun, wealth, power, and those who take advantage of this are called enviable and blessed. But the mysteries of virtue, having partaken of divine wisdom, please the people under Your providence, and they prefer Your care for them to all life. And the Lord taught us such beatitudes, saying: “blesseds are the poor in spirit: blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness: blessed are they who weep: blessed are they who have cast out righteousness for the sake of them: for of them is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3-10). And those who prefer the pleasure of life, having taken advantage of it for a short time, reap long-term torment for themselves in short-term pleasure. You might be interested in: