Изъяснение псалма 50-го.

Ps.50:1. To the head of the choir. Psalm of David. Ps.50:2. When the prophet Nathan came to him, after David entered Bathsheba. “To the end. A psalm to David, always to Nathan the Prophet, sometimes to Bathsheba, Uri’s wife.” The inscription of the psalm clearly shows us its content, and the very words in the psalm sufficiently reveal the depth of its meaning. You should know that the psalm also contains a foreshadowing of the future; That’s why it’s written: “to the end,” which lets you know that the prophecy will be fulfilled. But let no one trouble himself with the question: was the great David really worthy of prophetic grace during his repentance? This can also be learned from other psalms in which he brings confession. For in the sixth psalm he foreshadowed the future judgment, and says: “There is no one who can remember You in death, but who can confess to You in hell?” (Ps.6:6). And in the thirty-first psalm he gratifies those who have easily accepted the remission of sins, which is usually bestowed by the single grace of baptism. And in the present psalm, in exact words he allows us to see that he was not deprived of the grace of the Spirit; for he says: “Do not take Your good Spirit away from Me.” David does not ask that the grace of the Spirit be given to him, but he prays that it not be taken away from him. Therefore, enlightened by the ray of grace and seeing with prophetic eyes that the people over whom he reigned would fall into iniquities, and as punishment for them would be enslaved and exiled to Babylon, he wrote this psalm, and healing his own ulcers with it, and preparing in it a decent medicine, both for his people and for each of us who is only wounded and has need for healing. Ps.50:3. Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your great mercy, and according to the multitude of Your mercies, blot out my iniquities. “O God, have mercy on me according to Your great mercy, and according to the multitude of Your compassions, cleanse my iniquity.” And for the divine David, and for the captive people, and for each of us, if anyone is sick, the proposed words are appropriate, because great ulcers need proportionate treatments, and whoever has fallen into a serious illness requires great care for him; He who has sinned a lot requires great love for mankind. Therefore, the great David begs to show him great mercy, to pour out the entire source of generosity on the sinful scab, because otherwise the traces of sin could not be erased. It is right to call sin lawlessness, because it constitutes a serious crime of the law. Ps.50:4. Wash me often from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. “Wash me above all from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.” You have already granted me remission of sins through the Prophet Nathan, says David, and, as if by some cauterizations and sections, you subjected me to all kinds of disasters, but having received the great stench of sin, I still demand cleansing medicines. Therefore, wash me again, Lord, to erase all sinful filth. Ps.50:5. For I am aware of my iniquities, and my sin is always before me. “For I know my iniquity, and I will take away my sin before me.” And after You have left my sin, I do not consign it to oblivion, but I constantly see images of my bad deeds, and those iniquities that I dared to commit, I dream in my sleep at night, and in my thoughts during the day. God himself commands sinners to do this through the Prophet Isaiah, for he says: “I am the one who atones for your iniquities, and I will not remember your iniquities, but you remember, and let us be judged: speak your iniquities first, that you may be justified” (Is. 43:25–26). In accordance with this, blessed David himself wrote in the thirty-first psalm: “Reh, let me confess my iniquity to the Lord: and you have forsaken the wickedness of my heart” (Ps. 31:5). Ps.50:6. You, You alone, have I sinned and done evil in Your sight, so that You are righteous in Your judgment and pure in Your judgment. “I have sinned against You alone and have done evil before You.” Having enjoyed many and great gifts from You, says the Prophet, I repaid for them the contrary, daring to do what was prohibited by law. It is not that he understands that he did not offend Uriah (because he offended both him and his wife), but that he committed the greatest lawlessness against God himself, who chose him, made him a king from a shepherd of the sheep, showed him the conqueror of his enemies and abundantly endowed him with blessings of every kind. It is well added by him: “I have created evil before You.” History also mentions this; for it is said: what was done turned out to be evil before the Lord (2 Samuel 11:27). Imagining what the people in captivity say this, they should understand this: “I have sinned against You alone,” that is, I turned out to be ungrateful for Your gifts, I transgressed the laws given to me, having enjoyed benefits of every kind, I was not grateful for it; Having not done any offense to the Babylonians, I endure great offense from them. “For you may be justified in all of Your words, and you will always overcome Your judgment,” that is, I myself have become the author of evil, and Your truth shines out in everything. For, if we judge this way, put forward what You have done for me and compare with this what I have dared to do, then You will appear both truthful and humane, and I will turn out to be lawless and ungrateful. Therefore, the saying: “as if” does not mean a reason here: it was not for this that David himself sinned, or then the people, so that God might be justified, but on the contrary, even after they committed sin, God’s truth is revealed, because God provides in every possible way for David, and for his people, and for all people. Ps.50:7. Behold, I was conceived in iniquity, and my mother gave birth to me in sin. “Behold, I was conceived in iniquity, and my mother gave birth to me in sins.” From ancient times and from the very beginning, says the Prophet, sin has prevailed in our nature, because the transgression of the commandment preceded Eve’s conception. After the crime, after the pronouncement of God’s sentence, having already lost paradise, “Adam knew Eve his wife, and when he conceived he gave birth to Cain” (Gen. 4:1). Therefore, the Prophet wants to say that sin, having prevailed over our ancestors, paved a certain path and path for itself in our race. Blessed Paul also says this: “by one man sin came into the world, and death through sin, in which all have sinned” (Rom. 5:12). This is what the God of all spoke to the most wonderful Noah: “Man will always be mindful of evil from his youth” (Gen. 8:21). Yet this teaches us that the power of sin is not a natural power (and if it really were so, then we would be free from punishment); but that nature, confused by passions, is prone to fall. Therefore, the Prophet does not accuse marriage, as some assumed, and does not call marriage intercourse lawlessness, as others foolishly believed, in this sense understanding the words: “in iniquity I was conceived, and in sins my mother gave birth to me.” On the contrary, he exposes the lawlessness that the first parents of men dared to commit in ancient times, and says that it became the source of these vices, that is, if they had not sinned, they would not have suffered death as punishment for sin; and if they were not mortal, they would not be subject to corruption; With incorruption, without a doubt, dispassion would be connected, and as long as dispassion was established, sin would not have taken place. But since the first parents sinned, they were given over to corruption, and having become corruptible, they gave birth to such children; and they, like perishable things, are accompanied by lust and fear, pleasure and sorrow, anger and envy. With all this and with what is born from this, reason fights, and having won, it is glorified and adorned with victorious crowns, and having conceded victory over itself, it is subjected to shame and punishment. Instead of: “give birth,” Symmachus expressed himself: “carried in the womb.” Ps.50:8. Behold, You have loved the truth in your heart and have shown me [Your] wisdom within me. “Behold, you have loved the truth.” You judge like this, says the Prophet, and you punish some and crown others, because you love the truth. But loving the truth and knowing the weakness of nature, show mercy to those asking for medicine. “You have revealed to me Your unknown and secret wisdom.” I do not consider myself worthy of any apology, having become ungrateful after so many gifts. You not only established me on the royal throne, but also made me worthy of prophetic grace, revealed to me what would happen after a long time, made the unknown to others known to me, so that I also announced to others the incarnation, the saving suffering and resurrection of your only begotten Son, the salvation of the universe, the generous remission of sins, magnificent and divine gifts of holy baptism. Having previously been taught all this by Your all-holy Spirit, I beg that I too may participate in that grace about which I cry and proclaim to others. Ps.50:9. Sprinkle me with hyssop, and I will be clean; Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. “Sprinkle me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.” For the gift of baptism alone can effect this cleansing. The Lord of all promised to give this cleansing through the Prophet Isaiah. Having said: “Wash yourselves, be clean, take away wickedness from your hearts,” after a few words He said: “Though your sins be as scarlet, they will be as white as snow” (Is. 1:16, 18). And the great David himself in the sixty-seventh psalm foreshadows this, for he says: “Whenever the kings of Heaven are divided, they will be snowed in Selmon” (Ps. 67:15). Therefore, the same thing is said here, namely: I need that grace that will be given to all people, because it alone can completely make me clean and give me the whiteness of snow. And that hyssop does not provide remission of sins in the least, it is not difficult to find out from the Mosaic writings, for the law did not cleanse the murderer and the thief of a strange bed by sprinkling, but subjected it to death punishment. Therefore, hyssop serves as an indication of something else. For in Egypt, having sprinkled sheep's blood with hyssop on the pragues, they escaped the hand of the Destroyer; and this was an image of saving suffering. And here the blood, the tree of salvation, and the salvation given to those who come in faith are indicated. Ps.50:10. Let me hear joy and gladness, and the bones broken by You will rejoice. “Give joy and gladness to my hearing: the humble bones will rejoice,” that is, fill my hearing with this joy, promising complete cleansing, so that joy will seize all my bodily members, and the bones, now humbled by suffering, will flourish again and regain their strength. Ps.50:11. Turn Your face away from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. “Turn away Your face from my sins and cleanse all my iniquities.” Look, says the Prophet, not at the iniquities I have committed, but at me, mourning them. Ps.50:12. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a right spirit in my womb.” since sinful old age has befallen me, renew me with Your love for mankind. The Master promised this through the Prophet Ezekiel to the captives in Babylon, for he says: “I will give them a new heart and a new spirit” (Ezekiel 36:26), but he does not mean the All-Holy Spirit, but the awakening of rational power, that is: having taught you through this long admonition, and having shown you what fruits sin brings, I will make you choose virtue. Blessed David asked for this here too, that is, he asked to renew his damaged heart and strengthen his rational strength in order to follow the Divine path. Ps.50:13. Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. “Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from Me.” From these words we clearly understand that David was not deprived of the grace of the All-Holy Spirit, for he does not ask to receive the Spirit as if he were deprived, but begs not to deprive him of the Spirit and not to remove Divine care for him from him. For here he called providence a face. Ps.50:14. Restore to me the joy of Thy salvation and strengthen me with the sovereign Spirit. “Reward me with the joy of Your salvation, and strengthen me with the Lord’s Spirit.” He begs that he continue to have what he has not lost, that is, the grace of the Spirit; and what he has lost, he asks for it in order to receive it again; joy in God was lost. I enjoyed all kinds of joy, says the Prophet, when I had great boldness before You, Master, and now, having lost it, I have lost my complacency. Slavery to voluptuousness has deprived me of my boldness. Therefore, I beg that my mind may regain its former dominion, and, enslaved to passions, again regain power over them. Ps.50:15. I will teach the wicked Your ways, and the wicked will turn to You. “I will teach the wicked your way, and the wicked will turn to you.” Once again taking advantage of Your love for mankind, I will be a model of repentance for those who love a lawless life; I will also be a herald of Your goodness, I will convince evil and lawless people to resort to You with prayer. Ps.50:16. Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, God of my salvation, and my tongue will praise Your righteousness. “Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, God of my salvation.” David constantly remembers the murder of Uriah. He made this clear at the very beginning of the psalm: “I will take away my sin before me.” “My tongue will rejoice in Your righteousness.” Symmachus translated this as follows: “My tongue will speak Your mercy.” I will not remain silent, having received remission of sins, but I will not stop singing songs to You, telling You Your mercies. Ps.50:17. God! Open my mouth, and my mouth will declare Your praise. “Lord, open my mouth, and my mouth will declare Your praise.” Sin usually binds the tongue, stops the mouth, oppresses and forces silence. Therefore, the Prophet begs that, having received remission of sins, he should have the same boldness and move his tongue to chant. Ps.50:18. For You do not desire sacrifice, I would give it; You do not favor burnt offerings. “As if you had desired sacrifices, you would have given them: you do not favor burnt offerings.” This is in accordance with what was said in the previous psalm. There we heard the God of all things say: “I will not accept bulls from Your house, nor goats from Your flocks” (Ps. 49:9). And the divine David, having heeded this word of God, rightly said: “Even if you wanted sacrifices, you would have given them; you will not be pleased with burnt offerings.” You have spoken, says the Prophet, that the sacrifices of the dumb are not pleasing to You, therefore I will offer You a sacrifice acceptable. Ps.50:19. A sacrifice to God is a broken spirit; You will not despise a contrite and humble heart, O God. “The sacrifice to God is a broken spirit: a contrite and humble heart God will not despise.” A sacrifice pleasing and pleasing to You, our God, says the Prophet, is a humble way of thinking. Therefore, having humbled my heart a lot, and, as it were, crushing it, and thinning it to the extreme, I will offer You a sacrifice acceptable. The blessed youths in the cave also expressed themselves in these words, for they said: “Let us be accepted before You with a contrite heart and a humble spirit, as in burnt offerings of rams and fat youths” (Dan. 3:39–40). For these courageous youths, having learned from here what kind of sacrifice was pleasing to God, brought humility in their thoughts and contrition of heart as a gift to the Lord. Ps.50:20. Bless, [Lord,] Zion according to Your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem. Ps.50:21. Then the sacrifices of righteousness, the wave offerings and the burnt offerings will be acceptable to You; Then they will place bullocks on Your altar. “Lord, bless Zion with Thy favor, and may the walls of Jerusalem be built.” “Then you will be pleased with the sacrifice of righteousness, the wave offering and the burnt offering: then they will lay the bullock on Your altar.” From these sayings we see that the psalm is filled with prophecy. For these words are fitting for those who were forced to live in Babylon, desired liberation from slavery and mourned the desolation of the city. They beg that the city may be worthy of pardon and regain its former prosperity when its fences are repaired and Divine services are resumed in it according to the law. For now, they say, living in a foreign country, we cannot offer the sacrifices established by You: because the law commands us to offer sacrifices in this one city. But if it is given to us to return and build the church again, then we will offer You the sacrifices established by the law. These words are also very fitting for them: “Lord, you have opened my mouth, and my mouth will proclaim Your praise.” For this is their saying: “How shall we sing the song of the Lord in foreign lands?” (Ps. 136:4). But the end of this psalm also contains another prophecy. Since the Prophet spoke above about the gifts of the All-Holy Spirit, and then, extending further, showed that the God of all is not pleased with sacrifices according to the law, he begs that a new Zion be revealed, that the heavenly Jerusalem be built on earth, and that a new habitation be established as soon as possible, offering to God not wordless sacrifices, but “the offering and sacrifice of righteousness,” reasonable and living burnt offerings, of which Blessed Paul speaks: “I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, present in your body a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, your verbal service” (Rom. 12:1). For the divine David, as having learned the “unknown and secret wisdom” of God, says this, knowing that in the new covenant there will be complete remission of sins, and therefore he himself desires to achieve speedy and perfect liberation from sins, longing for instant and decisive cleansing. You might be interested in: