Изъяснение псалма 57-го.

Ps.57:1. To the head of the choir. Don't destroy it. Scripture of David “In the end, don’t let it be corrupted, for David’s destruction.” And this psalm contains the same thought, because it describes the guile of Saul and the deceit of his words. Having vowed more than once to stop the enmity, he broke his oath and tried to catch David. It is added again to the inscription: “let us not corrupt”, because David, having twice had Saul in his hands, did not want to kill him. Ps.57:2. Do you truly speak the truth, O judges, and judge justly, O sons of men? “If you truly speak the truth, you will judge what is right, sons of humanity.” These words are addressed to Saul, who swore not to pursue and, contrary to his oaths, took up arms. Be, says the Prophet, a judge of what you do, and, as I entrust the court to you, then pronounce a right and fair sentence. Ps.57:3. You form iniquity in your heart, you put on the scales the iniquities of your hands on earth. “For in your heart you work iniquity in the land; your hands twist iniquity.” You, says the Prophet, have peaceful speech, and evil intentions, and all kinds of evil intentions. Therefore, consider whether the actions agree with the words. But in vain I entrusted my judgment to you, who has no intention of judging fairly. Ps.57:4. From birth the wicked have departed; from the womb they have gone astray, speaking lies. “Sinners have become alienated from falsehood, have gone astray from the womb, and have spoken the word of lying.” Having long ago departed from the truth, you have loved lies. The Prophet added: “from the womb, from the womb,” because God knew their deeds even before creation. So he said to Jeremiah: “Before I could create you in the womb, having known you, and before I could bring you out of the womb that sanctified you” (Jer. 1:5); and to Pharaoh: “For this purpose I have raised you up, so that I may show you My power” (Rom. 9:17). But it was not the foreknowledge of God that made Pharaoh evil, but Jeremiah holy; on the contrary, the Lord, as God, only foreknew what they would be like. Ps.57:5. Their poison is like the poison of a snake, like a deaf adder that stops its ears. Ps.57:6. And he does not hear the voice of the spellcaster, the most skilled in spells. “Their rage is in the likeness of the serpent.” In memory and malice they imitate the serpent. “Like an asp who is deaf and stops his ears:” “Whoever does not hear the voice of those who have acquired knowledge, those who are acquired are acquired by wisdom.” They plug their ears like an asp, who usually does this out of excessive anger, so as not to be fascinated by charms and not to succumb to the effect of the composition prepared by the so-called sage. For here the Prophet called “wise” in the improper sense those who charm animals, as this name is used in the sayings: “they are wise, who do evil” (Jer. 4:22); and: “Where is the wise man? where is the scribe? (1 Cor. 1:20). This is what Scripture calls them, not as truly wise, but as, in the opinion of some, recognized as such. Since blessed David, although he made many convictions to Saul, called himself a slave, and his master and king, and by his very deeds proved that he did not want his death, however, he did not convince Saul to stop the enmity, he very decently likened him to an asp, who is not deaf by nature, but closes his ears and does not allow charming words to reach him. Ps.57:7. God! break their teeth in their mouth; Break, Lord, the jaws of the lions! “God will break their teeth in their mouth.” But the One who oversees everything will invalidate their devices against us. “The Lord has broken the limbs of lions.” And in the previous psalm he called them skinns, and here he calls them lions, therefore he mentioned both teeth and limbs. The external teeth with which we usually chew food are called articulate teeth. And the Prophet showed to both that the God of all will destroy all their evil intentions. Ps.57:8. Let them disappear like flowing water; when the arrows are strained, let them be as broken. “They will be humbled like water that flows by,” that is, they will become despicable, like spilled water and useless for anything. “They will strain their bow, and they will faint.” God will not cease to strike them with punishments until He destroys their strength. Ps.57:9. May they disappear like an unfurling snail; let them not see the sun, like a woman's miscarriage. “Like melted wax, they will be taken away: fire falls on them, and they will not see the sun.” Like wax that melts near the fire, they will be destroyed and lose their lives. In this sense, the Prophet said: “and did not see the sun,” because the dead cannot see the ray of the sun. Ps.57:10. Before your cauldrons feel the burning thorns, let both the fresh and the burnt be carried away by a whirlwind. “Before you understand the thorns of your frames 15 for they live, for they will devour me in wrath.” Symmachus translated this more clearly: “before your thorns grow and a frame is formed from them, while still alive, like something completely dried up, a whirlwind will arise.” And this means the following: Divine Scripture calls every sin a thorn, and ramn is a thorn, only the largest one, similar to a tree. Therefore, this prophecy threatens Saul and his associates with swift punishment. He tells them precisely: before your wickedness grows and becomes like a rump, that is, a great thorn, execution from God will befall you and turn you into nothing. Just as what is absorbed becomes invisible, so you too will be consigned to oblivion. This came true, because Saul, after a little time, having received a wound in the war with foreigners, ceased to return to guile and involuntarily stopped fighting with David. Ps.57:11. The righteous will rejoice when he sees vengeance; He will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. “The righteous will rejoice when he sees vengeance; he will wash his hands in the blood of the sinner.” The practitioner of virtue rejoices, seeing that the doer of sin is punished, rejoices, not mocking him, but seeing God's providence, which does not leave those offended by him without care. He washes his hands, not staining and desecrating them with blood, but proving that he is innocent and far from his wickedness. For he does not wash with blood, as some believed, but he washes at the sight of blood, as if he had no fellowship with a sinner. Ps.57:12. And the man will say: “Surely there is fruit for the righteous! So there is a God who judges on earth!” “And the man says: If there is fruit for the righteous, then there is a God who judges them on the earth.” The saying: “Ubo” (ἄρα) is used here in the affirmative sense. And the Prophet says that everyone, seeing how someone who lives wickedly is subjected to punishment in this life, confesses that God exists, that He oversees everything that is done, manages everything wisely, and gives to the righteous fruits commensurate with their labors, and punishes those who choose the opposite and imposes on them a punishment worthy of their punishment. Ramn is a thorny plant, otherwise called zester, that grows along roads. You might be interested in: