Изъяснение псалма 73-го.

"The mind of Asaph." The prophetic word, foreshadowing the future final destruction of Jerusalem, commands the readers to learn and understand the meaning of the psalm. Others, without delving into history and not understanding with accuracy the prophecy contained in the psalm, applied it to the events under Antiochus Epiphanes. The psalm speaks of the burning of the divine church, the destruction of houses, the final destruction of the city, but we do not know from history that this happened under Antiochus. The psalm is also not applicable to the siege of the city by the Babylonians, because then they had many Prophets: Jeremiah, Uriah the son of Sameov, Ezekiel, Daniel; and the psalm says: “No one has a Prophet, and no one knows us” (Ps. 73:9). If the psalm is not applicable to either the Babylonians or the Macedonians, then it is clear that it foreshadows the final destruction of the Jews, which the Romans subjected them to, after which there was no return for them, because they were being punished for their wickedness against the Savior. The unspeakable goodness of the Lord is worthy of surprise, because, fully foreseeing their disobedience, he intends to turn them away from wickedness with a prophecy of future disasters. However, the very beginning of the psalm makes it clear that this is the content of the prophecy. Ps.73:1. Why, God, rejected us forever? is Your anger kindled against the sheep of Your pasture? “What, O God, have you renounced to the end?” For he did not assign them seventy years of slavery, as under the Babylonians, and not seven and a half years, as, according to the prophecy of Daniel, under Antiochus, but he completely rejected them and condemned them to final destruction. “Thy wrath is angry against the sheep of Thy pasture.” Thy indignation against Thy sheep is immutable. Ps.73:2. Remember Your host, which You acquired from ancient times, redeemed into the rod of Your inheritance - this Mount Zion, on which You rejoiced. “Remember Your host, which You acquired from the beginning.” From ancient times and from the beginning You were called our God, and we were called Your people, Lord. “Thou hast delivered Thy inheritance with the rod.” Using your help, we got rid of Egyptian slavery. Blessed Moses also called them property (κληρονομία). For he says: “And the portion of the Lord, his people Jacob, became the inheritance (κληρονομία) of his Israel” (Deut. 32:9). And the Prophet called the royal scepter the rod, as if to say: from the beginning we were Your destiny, we were called Your lot, we belonged to Your kingdom. So in the forty-fourth psalm the royal scepter was called a rod. For he said: “The scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom” (Ps. 44:7). “This is Mount Zion, in which you dwell.” Having freed us from Egyptian slavery, You brought us into the land promised to our fathers, and consecrated Mount Zion for Yourself, so that, dwelling on it in a certain royal palace, You might rule Your people. And this was predicted when the temple in Jerusalem had not yet been built, because after David and Asaph Solomon built it. Ps.73:3. Move Your steps towards the ancient ruins: the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary. “Lift up Your hand against their pride to the end.” Demand that they account for their arrogance. The expression: “lift up Your hands” is used in a figurative sense and is taken from those who strike those who have sinned with their hands. Prophetic grace spoke this, knowing that the enemies live in wickedness, because not being jealous of the Crucified One, but wanting to enslave the universe, they undertook this war. However, God used them as executioners, through them punishing those who dishonored. “The Evil One is an enemy in Thy Holy One.” And the Hebrew text, and other interpreters, and the seventy in the exaplah did not put it in the plural: “in the saints,” but in the singular: “in Thy holy things,” so that it would be clear that those who pronounce this are talking about the church, lamenting and crying about what the Romans did to the church. The addendum also agrees with this understanding. Ps.73:4. Thy enemies roar in the midst of Thy assemblies; We have placed our signs instead of our signs. Ps.73:5. They showed themselves to be like an ax lifting upward onto the intertwined branches of a tree. Ps.73:6. And now all the carvings in it were destroyed at once with axes and poles. “And those who hate Thee praised themselves in the midst of Thy festival.” For on the feast of Passover, when all the people were gathered according to the law, Titus, approaching with an army, besieged the capital of the Jews. Since the Savior was nailed to the cross on Easter, at the same time they are punished for wickedness. “Having laid down a sign, a sign, and not knowing it”, “As in the outcome it is higher”; that is, trophies that serve as signs and signs of victory were erected above our gates, making this victory known to all descendants. And Pilate, contrary to the law, brought the royal banners into the city, and the Roman kings carved a pig's head on a stone at the gate. From all this the Jews learned that they were deprived of Divine care. The Lord predicted this in the divine Gospel. “When ye see the abomination of desolation, I stand in the holy place: let them that honor, let them understand: then let them that be in Judea flee to the mountains” (Matthew 24:15-16). “As if in an oak grove, I cut down trees with axes.” “His doors together: I destroyed them with slashes and insults.” Using the tools of woodcutters and woodworkers, they destroyed the walls, and cut through the doors of the houses, like an oak tree, they cut out everything skillfully and beautifully crafted. Ps.73:7. Thy sanctuary has been set on fire; They have completely defiled the dwelling of Your name; “I have set Thy holy thing on fire; I have desecrated the habitation of Thy name on the earth.” It was not enough for them to destroy other buildings, but they spread their fury against the church dedicated to You, and they set some on fire, and they destroyed others with their hands, with what was sacred, treating as with ordinary things. Ps.73:8. They said in their hearts: “We will completely destroy them,” and they burned all the meeting places of God on earth. Ps.73:9. We do not see our signs, there is no longer a prophet, and there is no one with us who would know how long this will happen. “The Yuzhiks decided in their hearts together: come and let us leave all the feasts of God from the earth.” “We have not seen their signs: no one has a Prophet, and no one knows us.” In great agreement among themselves, rushing towards us, they had one goal - to destroy the law given by You. For by the word “holidays” the Prophet meant living in accordance with the law. They dared to do this, he says, without seeing the miracles that happened during the time of our ancestors, and without being convicted by prophetic grace. For the Jews were suddenly deprived of all this. And upon returning from captivity they had many more Prophets, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi; and before them, former Prophets predicted the future for both people and kings, revealing the plans of enemies, which is not difficult to find out from history. Ps.73:10. How long, O God, will the enemy reproach? Will the enemy forever blaspheme Your name? “How long, O God, does the enemy reproach? Will the enemy provoke Your name to the end? How long will you betray us to their iniquities and patiently endure their blasphemous speeches? Ps.73:11. Why do you turn away Your hand and Your right hand? Smite them from the midst of Your bosom. “Why dost thou turn away thy hand and thy right hand from the midst of thy bosom unto the end?” The bosom of God is a treasure of goods, and the hand is an active force. Why don’t you give good things, as usual to you, but take your hand away from the bosom? The Prophet says this in a figurative sense, borrowing a figure of speech from those whose bosom is full, and they are asked, but they do not want to give, but turn their hand back. Ps.73:12. God, my King from all eternity, who arranges salvation in the midst of the earth! “God is our King before the ages.” From ancient times and from the beginning we know that You are a king, and as from a king we use gifts from You. “She brought salvation into the midst of the earth.” You have made Your care for us truly obvious to everyone. It is said: “in the middle of the earth”, meaning: in the sight of everyone. Ps.73:13. Thou hast broken the sea by Thy power, Thou hast crushed the heads of the serpents in the water; Ps.73:14. You crushed the head of Leviathan, you gave him as food to the desert people [of Ethiopia]; “Thou hast established the sea by Thy power.” For when they fled from the Egyptians, and the path was blocked by the sea, You granted this extraordinary path, making the fluid nature dense, and building walls from the waves on both sides. “Thou hast erased the heads of the serpent in the water:” “You have crushed the head of the serpent.” The Prophet calls the Egyptians serpents, and the heads of the serpents are their leaders, commanders of regiments and squads; By the name of the singular serpent he means Pharaoh, who led many princes. That's why he said that it has many chapters. But, says the Prophet, you drowned them all, and for us you established the sea, and for them you allowed them, and you swept them away with the waves of the sea. “Thou hast given this evil to the Ethiopian people.” The Ethiopians, being adjacent to the Egyptians, waged frequent wars with them, but when Pharaoh and his army were given over to the sea as spoil, then it was not difficult for the Ethiopians to defeat the Egyptians. And just as a hungry man easily consumes food, so the Ethiopians defeated them without any difficulty. Therefore, the prophetic word says: “Thou hast given this evil to the Ethiopian people,” that is, made the Egyptians so overpowered that the Ethiopians destroyed them in great numbers. Ps.73:15. You have cut off the spring and the stream, You have dried up the mighty rivers. “You have destroyed the springs and streams.” And in the Hebrew text and other interpreters it is said: “source.” But if we say: a source, or sources, we will not sin against the truth. For the prophetic word calls water flowing out of a stone a source; but, having divided itself, it paved many paths for itself so that many thousands of people could comfortably enjoy this moisture. We find that this happened not once, but twice. The first miracle is reported in the book of Exodus, and the second in the book of Numbers. And the Prophet rightly called the source a stone that produced streams of water. He also called them streams, as flowing unnaturally, but then only flowing out for the first time. Just as a stream does not always flow, but is made up of rainwater, so this water was given according to God’s instructions. “Thou hast dried up the rivers of Itham.” And Symmachus translated it like this: “You dried up the ancient rivers,” because you commanded rivers to flow in the desert that do not exist and did not exist from the beginning, and you wanted the rivers that existed before and had flowed from ancient times to stop flowing. The Prophet says this in another psalm: “he has made rivers in the desert, and the flowing waters of water into thirst, and the fruitful land into glory, because of the malice of those who live on it. He put the desert into the watery lake, and the waterless land into the watery spring, and the hungry people inhabited it” (Ps. 106:33-36). For he dried up the rivers of Sodom, the Gomorrites and others who dwelt around because of the iniquity of the inhabitants, and he gave watercourses from stone to the waterless land, supplying water to the thirsty people. For it is not difficult for Him to change the currents of the waters as He pleases. But the prophetic word makes it clear something else, namely, that for their iniquity he will no longer give the Jews drink from the prophetic rivers, and the pagans - this ancient desert - will be irrigated with streams of water from the stone. “The stone,” as the divine Apostle says, “is Christ” (1 Cor. 10:4). And everything that was said, starting with the words “she brought salvation in the midst of the earth,” contains a prototype of the benefits shown to us. For there, by waters, is liberation from slavery, and here, by waters, is the beginning of freedom. There the heads of the serpents were erased in the waters, and here the dominion of demons was crushed by the grace of baptism. The Egyptians after the sea became tractable for the Ethiopians, and our enemies after the holy font became surmountable for those who had previously blackened souls. But it is not difficult for those who want to delve into it to see other similar things. And we will return to the continuous connection of interpretation. Ps.73:16. Thy day and Thy night: Thou hast prepared the luminaries and the sun; Ps.73:17. You have established all the boundaries of the earth; You have established summer and winter. “Thine is the day, and Thine is the night: thou hast made the dawn and the sun.” “You created all the borders of the earth: you created the harvest and spring.” From private blessings, the Prophet turned his word to general blessings, and teaches that the God of all is the Creator of everything, the creator of day and night, the giver of light, the creator of the sun and the ruler of times; because with the words: “spring and harvest,” the Prophet meant the annual changes of time. Instead of this: “You created all the borders of the earth,” Aquila and Theodotion translated: “raised,” and Symmachus: “set.” The prophetic word shows that God gave the earth existence, and separated some of it into plains, and some into mountains and hills, and made others deep to receive lake and sea waters. Ps.73:18. Remember: the enemy reviles the Lord, and foolish people blaspheme Your name. “Remember this.” The Creator of so many and great creatures, having created all this, says the Prophet, “remember this,” that is, remember “the host of which you acquired from the beginning.” For to this the Prophet added the following: “The enemy has reproached the Lord, and people have provoked Your name to madness,” that is, look not at us, but at the blasphemies of those who are hostile. Ps.73:19. Do not give the soul of Your turtledove to the beasts; do not forget the gatherings of your poor forever. “Do not betray to the beasts the soul that confesses to You.” The prophetic word does not simply plead for everyone, but asks for benefits to those who profess the Divine name. He calls the cruelty of his enemies beasts. “Do not forget the souls of Your poor to the end.” The humble can be called wretched. For: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for of them is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:2). Ps.73:20. Look upon Thy covenant; for all the dark places of the earth were filled with dwellings of violence. “Look upon Thy covenant: for the darkening of the earth is filled with houses of iniquity.” For those who have not enjoyed the shine of Your light, but have loved the darkness of ignorance, have houses filled with lawlessness and the punishment that follows, that is, they are given over to all kinds of disasters, because they preferred darkness. Ps.73:21. May the oppressed not return disgraced; Let the poor and needy praise Your name. “Let the humble not return disgraced.” We beg that we do not remain without receiving what we ask and are not sent away in shame. “The poor and needy will praise Your name.” Those who need Your help and have been granted it, usually bring You songs. Ps.73:22. Arise, O God, defend Your cause, remember Your daily reproach from the foolish; “Arise, O God, judge Thy judgment; remember your reproach, which is from the fool all day long.” Quite appropriately the Prophet changed his pronoun. He didn’t say: “My spice,” but says: “Your spice”; that is, I legitimately suffered this, and they dared to make many blasphemies against You. Ps.73:23. do not forget the cry of Your enemies; the noise of those who rebel against You continually rises. “Forget not the voice of Thy prayer book: I will take away the pride of those who hate Thee.” And here the pride of the enemies is put in some connection with their own person, begging them to be granted some mercy not for their own sake, but because of their enemies. You might be interested in: