Изъяснение псалма 62-го.

Ps.63:1. Psalm of David when he was in the desert of Judea. “A Psalm to David, when he was never in the wilderness of the Jews.” The divine David, having escaped from Saul, came to Abimelech, and from there to Achish, who reigned in Gath. Then, again exposed to danger and saved from it, he comes to the desert, in which he wrote this psalm, pouring out his love for God in it and foreshadowing the destruction of Saul. Ps.63:2. God! You are my God, I have been looking for You since the early dawn; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You in an empty, parched and waterless land. Ps.62:3. To see Your power and Your glory, as I saw You in the sanctuary. “O God, my God, to You in the morning: my soul thirsts for You.” Love for You, Master, says the Prophet, drives away sleep and excites me to worship You. “If my flesh is a multiplicity for You.” Theodotion translated: “how many times”, Aquila: “striving”, Symmachus: “desires”. I cited all these translations, wanting to show that in the word: “ποσαπλων” (“if by multiply”) one must see not two words, separating “ποσ” from “ἁ πλως”, but one word, meaning strengthening of love. The flesh, says the Prophet, corresponds to spiritual love; it does not resist what the soul was contemplating. He wants to express the following: my soul and my body desire and long for You, as a thirsty person desires sweet and clean water. “The land is empty and impenetrable and without water.” “Thus in holy things I appeared to You.” The desert did not cause me any harm, but, as if standing at Your most holy tabernacle, I bring You hymns. For the saying “in the holy place” means the tabernacle, since the church of God had not yet been built. “I have seen Your power and Your glory.” I stand before You, mentally imagining the ineffable power. since Your nature is incomprehensible, I borrow the motivation for praise from what is from You. Ps.62:4. For Your mercy is better than life. My lips will praise You. “For Thy mercy is better than belly: praise Thee with my lips.” Over all life, both rich and powerful, carefree and much-concerned, pampered, tranquil life, I prefer Your mercy, and I arouse my lips to Your song. Ps.63:5. So I will bless You in my life; in Your name I will lift up my hands. “Thus I will bless Thee in my belly: in Thy name I will lift up my hands.” I will not stop doing this throughout my life, praising You with my lips, raising my hands and asking for Your love for mankind. Ps.62:6. How my soul is satisfied with fatness and oil, and my lips praise You with a joyful voice. “As with fatness and ointment may my soul be filled.” I consider Your hymn to be the anointing of the soul and I think that the soul becomes fat and well-fed from it, because to learn from Your words means to constantly be comforted and enjoy. “And my lips will praise Thee with joyful lips.” Therefore, with all my zeal, I will offer You hymns, knowing the benefit that comes from it. Ps.63:7. When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You during the night watches. Ps.63:8. For You are my help, and in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice. “When I remembered You on my bed, in the morning I learned from You”: “For Thou art my helper, and in the shelter of Thy wing I will rejoice.” Symmachus translated this as follows: “I remember You on my bed; at every watch I thought about You, and covered with Your wings, I blessed You.” The Prophet calls the night guards watchmen, because those assigned to guard, dividing the night time, fulfill this duty, replacing one with another, and some divide the night into three, and others into four parts. So the Lord came to the sacred Apostles in the fourth watch of the night. Therefore, the divine David says: lying on my bed, I drove away sweet sleep from myself, thinking about You every night, and with hymns I repaid the benefits shown to me, because You, as if with some kind of cover, protected me with Your invincible providence. Ps.62:9. My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me. “My soul clings to You.” Even for a short time, says the Prophet, I cannot detach my thoughts from the remembrance of You, but inflamed by ardent love, I am attached to the remembrance of You by this love, as if by some kind of adhesive compound. Then he shows the fruit of love. “Your right hand is acceptable to me.” Seeing such my commitment, You honor me with Your providence. Ps.62:10. And those who seek the destruction of my soul will descend to the underworld of the earth. “And you have sought my soul in vain.” They are trying to kill me, who has not done them any harm. “They will descend into the underworld of the earth.” But I know that they will be put to death. Then it foreshadows the very image of their death. Ps.62:11. They will slay them with the power of the sword; they will fall as prey to the foxes. “They will surrender into the hands of arms.” They will suffer this at the hands of the enemy. “Parts of the fox will be.” And they will be subjected to this not from any strong enemies, but from neighboring foreigners, who, like foxes, sometimes attack, and often, and almost always, when driven out, they flee. The meaning that appears at first glance makes it clear that most of those who fell in war will not be worthy of burial, but will be left to be devoured by beasts. Ps.62:12. The king will rejoice in God, everyone who swears by Him will be praised, for the lips of those who speak lies will be stopped. “The king will rejoice in God.” And I will not rejoice in their death, says the Prophet, having received the kingdom from You, but by Your providence, using which I avoided all enemy attacks. “Everyone who swears by it will boast, because the mouth of those who speak unrighteously is stopped.” Finally, everyone will freely call him king and swear by his salvation, no longer afraid of slanderers, whose lips have become blocked by death. For during Saul’s life they were afraid to speak with David, but after his death everyone fearlessly gave him the honor due to a king and began to swear by the king’s salvation, setting it up for themselves as an honor and a chance to gain favor. You might be interested in: