Беседа 57 на псалом 147 123

Ps.147:1. Hallelujah. Haggai and Zechariah. Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion! Encouraging the inhabitants of Jerusalem to thank the Lord for the security given - increasing the population and peace with their neighbors... - “And he satisfies you with the best wheat” (Ps. 147:3). – The providential activity of the Lord extends to the entire universe, in which His commands are quickly fulfilled, as shown by various aerial phenomena. - The purpose with which the psalmist points to the manifestation of divine omnipotence in these natural phenomena. – “He proclaims his word to Jacob” (Ps. 147:8). – But if the Lord did not reveal His will to other nations, then why does He name them? – And if they knew what they should do, then why is it said: “He did not do this to any (yet) people” (Ps. 147:9)? – An explanation of the psalm in a figurative sense – about the Jerusalem above and the Christian Church, its spread and the change brought about by Christianity in the life of mankind. 1. The prophet does not speak to the city, but to its inhabitants. As he does throughout the book, so he does here. He often exhorts and advises to thank God for his blessings and to rely not on the building or the strength of the walls, but on His providence. Having laid this as a foundation, he continues: “For He has strengthened the bars of your gates, He has blessed your sons (to live) in you” (Ps. 147:2). What does it mean: “strengthened constipation”? He said he made you safe, he made you invincible. “He blessed your sons,” i.e. greatly multiplied them. This is one kind of benefit; and the other is expressed by the word: “in you.” The meaning of his words is as follows: He multiplied them not in scattering, not in division, but by gathering them “in you.” Further he shows another type of industry and says: “he establishes peace within your borders and satisfies you with the best wheat” (Ps. 147:3). You can be safe and numerous, and at the same time wage war. But here he shows with such an expression that they were free from this danger, that not only the city was free from attack, but also their most distant borders. Do you see how many blessings he counts? The first and most important of all is expressed in the words: “Thy God.” With these words he expressed the following: He brought you closer to Himself, made you His heir and, being the common Lord of all, became yours in preference; This is the first and most important of all blessings. The second benefit is that He made the city safe. The third is that He multiplied them. The fourth is that He delivered from wars and turmoil not only the city, but also the entire people, and moreover, He did not do this once, not twice, and not three times, but does it constantly, since He did not say: “he who affirms,” but “he who affirms.” If wars happened, it was not because God abandoned them, but because they themselves retreated from Him; and His constant business was to protect, to provide security, to deliver from all confusion and war. Along with this good deed, the prophet then points to others - to the fertility and abundance of earthly fruits, teaching again here to attribute everything not to the earth and not to the properties of the air, but to the providence of God. How? With the following words: “he satisfies you with the best wheat.” Look: he didn’t just say: wheat, but: “the best wheat,” expressing great fertility; The fat of wheat means the juiciness of the fruit. These are the gifts of God: mature and beautiful. Thus, he says here, God generously saturates you with the best wheat; Wanting to express this very thing, he did not say: the giver, but: “satisfies you.” “He sends His word to the earth; His word flows quickly” (Ps. 147:4). As the prophet usually does, i.e. transfers speech from particular objects to general ones, and from general ones again to particular ones, and does the same here. Since he said: “Praise your God,” so that any fool would not think that God is the God of only the Jews, he shows that He is the God of the entire universe, and that His providence extends throughout the entire earth, transferring speech from the particular to the general and to the providence of God, operating everywhere. That is why, having said: “He sends His word to the earth,” he adds: “His word flows quickly.” With these words, he shows that God cares not only about our country, but about the entire universe. By “word” he here means command, providential activity. Moreover, wanting to express the ease of actions, this means both the name “words” and “flow”; not content with this, he also adds: “soon.” The meaning of his words is as follows: everything that God commands is accomplished with great speed; He gives commands throughout the entire universe. What commands does He give? Concerning what supports our life - air movement, seasons and other changes. That’s why he adds: “snow spreads (on the ground) like white wool, fog scatters like ashes” (Ps. 147:5). Another translator (Symmachus) says: “condensed dew” (δρόσον πεπηγμένην). In Hebrew: “hefor haefir.” “He casts down His ice like pieces of bread; Who can resist His cold?” ( Ps.147:6 )? Another (Symmachus): “in the face of its heat, who can stand” (καύματος)? “He will send His word and melt everything; His breath will blow and the waters will flow” (Ps. 147:7). Here he represents the invincible and limitless power of God in that He produces things that did not exist and changes existing ones, and transforms them the way He wants. 2. Another prophet expresses the same thing when he says: “Who created the seven stars and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into a clear morning, and makes the day dark as night, calls on the waters of the sea and pours them over the face of the earth?” ( Amos 5:8 ). Although everything is subject to the immutable laws of nature, these laws also change when He pleases. Everything yields and obeys him. Sometimes He changes the very essence of things, and sometimes, leaving the essence, He gives them another activity; leaves their own and natural activity without effect, but produces in them another opposite one, as, for example, He did with the Babylonian dog. There was fire there, but it did not burn; on the contrary, those thrown there enjoyed the most pleasant dew. The sea was before the Jews, but the water did not drown them, and they walked safer than on a rock. The earth was under Dathan and Aviron, but it did not hold their bodies, but rather swallowed up the seas. Aaron's rod was a dry tree, but it produced fruit more beautiful than those growing on the earth. The stupidest animal was Valaam’s donkey, and yet she spoke in her defense to the one who beat her no worse than a reasonable person. The lions were with Daniel, and meanwhile they discovered the meekness of the sheep, not because their nature was destroyed, but because their activity changed. Many other similar miracles can now be seen in creations. Do not consider them an unimportant miracle on the grounds that they occur every year and occur before our eyes. Imagine how important it is that moisture is sometimes snow and sometimes water, and such changes occur in a short moment of time. So that any unreasonable person does not attribute this to the natural action of the elements and does not consider the elements alone to be the causes of such phenomena, but knows Who commands them, the prophet refers all this to His command and says: “He will send His word and melt everything,” i.e. will give the command. It is not the power of the winds that primarily produces this, but God who created the winds. He began to talk about the elements and about the changes taking place in the elements, in order to teach the rude and insensitive Jew the knowledge of the power of God through the phenomena that occur every year and to inspire him that God can easily arrange matters concerning him as he wants, and turn unfavorable circumstances into the opposite. Just as during bad weather and unbearable cold He can easily bring silence and soften everything, so to them, who are in captivity and exhausted by wars, He can easily return peace and the fatherland and restore their former prosperity. And this is not just what the prophet expresses, but he also secretly suggests something else. What is it? The fact that just as unpleasant changes are often useful and beneficial, so what happened to the Jews was useful and very beneficial. But in order not to upset them too much, the prophet again turns his speech to more favorable changes. What do the comparisons he makes mean? He did not simply say: “spreads snow (on the ground), but added: like white wool”; did not say: “fog,” but added: like ashes; He did not say: “throws down ice,” but added: “like pieces of bread.” It seems to me that by this he wanted to show the ease and convenience of doing it for God. “He proclaims His word to Jacob, His justifications and judgments to Israel” (Ps. 147:8). Another (Aquila): "statutes" (ακριβασμοὺς). Third (Symmachus): "commands" (προστὰγματα). “Justifications and judgments are His for Israel. He has not done this to any (yet) people, and He has not shown His judgments to them” (Ps. 147:8-9). Other (unknown, see Orig. Ex.): “of the same kind” (όμοια). “And He did not show them His judgments.” See how he again moves from the general to the particular and to what primarily relates to the Jews, wanting to arouse great jealousy in them. At the beginning of the psalm, he talks about sensual and useful objects for the body, such as: safety, fertility, peace; and here he turns his speech to higher subjects, talks about legislation, which constitutes an important type of benefit, diverting from vice, leading to virtue, enlightening the soul. So Moses often repeats this, for example, when he says: “Is there any great nation to which its gods would be as close as the Lord our God is close to us, whenever we call on Him?” (Deut. 4:7) And David also says: “The Lord is the giver of alms and fate to all those who are offended. He showed His ways to Moses, and to the children of Israel His desires” (Ps. 102:6, 7). Also Jeremiah: “This is our God, and no one else can compare with Him. He found all the ways of wisdom and gave it to His servant Jacob and His beloved Israel” (Bar.3:36, 37). But maybe someone will say: if He did not reveal His will to other people, then why does He punish them? And that He punishes both those who lived before the law and those sinners throughout the universe is clear from the words spoken by Christ: “The queen of the south will rise up in judgment with this generation and will condemn it.” And again: “The Ninevites will rise up in judgment with this generation and condemn it” (Matthew 12:41, 42). This is said, of course, because they too will give an account, and some of them will receive praise, others will receive punishment. But if they are not told what they should do, how will they judge others? And again, why did the Lord say: blood will be avenged, “from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah” (Matthew 23:35)? And again: “What will be more pleasant for the land of Sodom” (Matthew 11:24)? In a word: “more joyful” He does not express complete liberation from punishment, but the fact that they will receive a lighter punishment for their sins. If those who have already been punished are again subjected to such a severe punishment, then which of the other people will escape this? 3. We see that those who lived during the flood, and many others, and Cain himself, were punished. However, Paul, expressing the above thought, says: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. For what can be known about God is obvious to them, because God has revealed it to them. For His invisible things, His eternal power and Godhead, have been visible from the creation of the world by looking at what is made, so that they are without answer” (Rom. 1:18–20). Then, discussing life, he does not relieve them of responsibility in this regard either and says: “They know the righteous judgment of God, that those who do such things are worthy of death; however, not only do they do them, but they also approve of those who do them. Do you really think, man, that you will escape God’s judgment by condemning those who do such things and (yourself) doing the same? Or do you neglect the riches of God’s goodness, meekness and long-suffering, not realizing that God’s goodness leads you to repentance? But, due to your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and revelation of righteous judgment from God, who will reward everyone according to his deeds: to those who, by persistence in good deeds, seek glory, honor and immortality - eternal life; and to those who persist and do not submit to the truth, but indulge in unrighteousness - rage and anger. Sorrow and distress to every soul of a person who does evil, first the Jew, then the Greek!” (Rom.1:32; Rom.2:3-9). Do you see from all that has been said that all sinners who lived before the law are punished, and all who practiced virtue and avoided wickedness enjoy blessings? How could this or that happen if they didn't know what they were supposed to do? But you say, if they knew what they should do, then why does the prophet say: “He did not do this to any (yet) people and did not show His judgments to them”? So, what do these words mean and what does the prophet want to say? Listen. God did not give a written law to any of the other nations, but they all had a natural law within them, which instills what is good and what is evil. Along with the creation of man, God placed in him an inexorable judge - the law of conscience found in everyone. For the Jews, He did something special, namely: He announced to them the requirements of the law in writing. That is why the prophet did not say: He did not do it to every tongue, but: “He did not do this,” i.e. He did not give them the tablets, nor the scriptures, nor Moses the lawgiver, nor anything else that was at Mount Sinai; but all this was received exclusively by the Jews, while human nature in all people contained within itself a sufficient law of conscience. Paul expressed this when he said: “For when the Gentiles, who do not have the law, do what is lawful by nature, then, not having the law, they are a law to themselves” (Rom. 2:14). That is why the Jews deserve greater condemnation because, having received, in addition to what was natural, a written law, they behaved so lawlessly. Thus, the great blessing of God served them to greater condemnation due to their negligence. However, what has been said is enough for a literal explanation of the psalm. If anyone wants to take this psalm in a figurative sense, then we will not refuse to take this path, without distorting history - let it not be - but together with it, wanting to reveal this meaning for the most inquisitive as possible. “Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise thy God, O Zion.” Paul knew the Jerusalem above, about which he says: “But the Jerusalem above is free: she is the mother of us all” (Gal. 4:26); He also recognized the Church as Zion when he said: “You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and blazing with fire, not to darkness and gloom and storm, but to the triumphant council and church of the firstborn, who are written in heaven” (Heb. 12:18, 23). Therefore, in a figurative sense, the words can be applied to it: “Praise, O Jerusalem, the Lord; praise your God, O Zion! For He has strengthened the bars of your gates, He has blessed your sons (to live) in you.” Indeed, God fenced it off much safer than Jerusalem, not with faiths and gates, but with the cross and signs of His power, with which He built its fence everywhere, saying: “and the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). 4. So, in the beginning, all kings, and peoples, and cities, and hordes of demons, and all the power of the devil, and other countless opponents attacked the Church; but all this scattered and perished, and she, multiplying, reached such a height that she became higher than the heavens themselves. “I blessed your sons (to live) in you.” Just as at first God said: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (Gen. 9:1), and this word spread throughout the whole earth, so later He said: “Go and teach all nations” (Matt. 28:19), and: “This gospel will be preached throughout the whole world” (Matt. 26:13), and this command in a short time reached the very limits of the universe. That’s why He said: “If a grain of wheat falls into the ground and does not die, then only one will remain; but if he dies, he will bear much fruit” (John 12:24); and again: “When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to Me” (John 12:32). At the beginning of the world, many came from one person, multiplying according to the law of nature, and therefore things went more slowly; and under the apostles, society multiplied not according to the law of nature, but according to grace, and therefore suddenly in one day three thousand, then five thousand, then an innumerable multitude, and finally the whole universe was born in a glorious rebirth, the Church grew, multiplied and itself proved the blessing that it received, because “neither of blood, nor of the will of the flesh... but of the grace of God were born” (John 1:13). “It establishes peace within your borders.” This can primarily and in the proper sense be said about the Church; and what is especially surprising is that she enjoyed peace while she was fighting her enemies, and enjoyed security when everyone was plotting against her. That is why the Lord said: “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you” (John 14:27). “And he satisfies you with the best wheat.” And this can be figuratively attributed to the Church and meant about spiritual food, about the bread of life that He gave us. “He sends His word to the earth; His word flows quickly.” What, tell me, is the word? The word preached by the apostles and flowed around the entire universe faster than a bird. So David, expressing the same thing in another place, says: “The Lord gave the word to those who brought good news with great power” (Ps. 67:12). If anyone who is crazy doubts this, then let him learn from the changes occurring with the elements, watch how the snow falls suddenly and in one instant embraces the entire earth, not for a long time covering its face, but suddenly clothing it. Since the Psalmist was a prophet, and it was his nature to speak vaguely and in a figurative sense when predicting the future, he rightly expands on the elements. The meaning of his words is as follows: the whole earth will be announced by the word of God, and, moreover, with great speed and in a short time. Then, lest anyone doubt and say: if one Jewish people, who enjoyed such care for such a long time, did not become better, then how is it possible for the inhabitants of the entire universe to improve in a short time? - the prophet, in support of his words, gives examples of elements, such as snow, frost, hail, which occur in an instant. Therefore, do not doubt that people’s dispositions can easily change. But why do many people resist? And they will give in and submit. If no one can endure a little cold, when it intensifies, but everyone yields to it and overcomes it, then all the more will everything that resists submit to the word and command of God. He has the power to change beings, to give existence to non-existents, to impart such power to them that they become unbearable for everyone. “He proclaims His word to Jacob, His justifications and judgments to Israel.” And here, without error, one can understand the spiritual Jacob and Israel, whom Paul knew and said: “Peace and mercy to them, and to the Israel of God” (Gal. 6:16), to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. The psalms in the text are translated by P. Yungerov - Editorial office of the ABC of Faith You might be interested in: