Собеседование 12 на псалом 79

Ps.79:1. To the end. About those who have to change. Revelation. Asaf a 1. By changing, the prophet means those renewed through repentance. He rightly added: “to the end,” since repentance serves as the final anchor for us; Moreover, it was announced at the very end of the centuries with the coming of Christ. As evidence of this, Asaph composed this psalm, setting out in it what the Jewish people suffered for their many sins. “Shepherd of Israel, hearken, you who lead Joseph like a sheep, who sit on the cherubim, appear!” (Ps. 79:2). You see how the words of the Lord agree with this, when He said in the Gospel: “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:14). But why does the prophet, leaving all others, indicate Joseph and Jacob? Because both of them were slaves - one in Egypt, the other in Mesopotamia; but God changed their slavery into freedom and the blessings associated with it. That is why the prophet now asks God to heed, so that He, seeing our entire race enslaved by mental enemies (the prophet begs not to pay attention to himself, but vaguely, i.e. on all), rose up for our liberation and came quickly in the flesh, since we need His coming for our liberation; It was only through incarnation that people could accept the one sitting on the cherubim. “Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, show Your power and come to save us” (Ps. 79:3). It is clear that the prophet asks for the message of the Only Begotten in the flesh, which is why he begs Him not only to come, but also to raise up His power; by power he means the incarnation, because he calls it that in another psalm, saying: “The Lord clothed himself with strength [and] girded himself” (Ps. 92:1). But why does the prophet say that the power of God was raised up before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh, if God - who is always strong and only hides His power from people - when He came in the flesh, revealed His power for all the earth? He calls one part the entire people of Israel, to whom the incarnate Christ came from heaven; therefore he says: “show Your power”; or does he say this because they, having previously had a false concept about Him, found Him in such a way that they began to turn to Him. “God, turn to us and make Your face shine, and we will be saved” (Ps. 79:4). The prophet makes his speech clearer and shows the image and reason for the coming of Christ. The reason for coming is for us to be converted and reformed; the image is an open appearance so that we can see Him face to face; otherwise we could not have been saved if He had not appeared to us in this way. That is why the patriarch Jacob said: “I saw God face to face, and my soul was preserved” (Gen. 32:30). That is why Moses asked to see Him in the same way, not for the sake of curiosity, but because, as a prophet, he knew that this was the salvation of people; but did not ask to see pure deity, since no one is able to look at this face of God, as God himself says (Ex. 33:20). “Lord God of strength! How long will you be angry at the prayer of your servants?" (Ps. 79:5). It was not in vain that the prophet used these words, but to simultaneously point out his dignity and earnestly beg God to come; therefore, he calls Him not only God, but also the Lord of hosts, that is, the powers of heaven. But knowing by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that the mystery of the incarnation of Christ has been postponed for some time, he calls it anger that his prayer at that time he did not achieve his goal. He also knows how long this anger will continue, which is why he further adds: “Will you feed us with the bread of tears and ... water us with tears in moderation?” (Ps.79:6). “How long,” it is said in general, because until then the prophets ate tearful bread and drink, mourning the human race, until the coming Christ himself became the bread and cup of life. The prophet said well: “in moderation,” showing that God has nothing without measure, but everything—whether anger or punishment—is sent for the benefit of people according to rule and measure. “Our neighbors have made us a point of contention, and our enemies mock us” (Ps. 79:7). The prophet obviously understands the same enemies and neighbors now, because while Christ was delaying His coming, they mocked and laughed at people, and especially at the prophets, not recognizing the truth in what they prophesied about the coming of the Savior; Moreover, the prophets encountered quite a few contradictions from them when they acted as false prophets and through them spoke differently. Perhaps, however, He allowed the demons - mental enemies and neighbors - to contradict in order to clearly show that just as servants obey their masters, so do demons obey the prophets, although out of arrogance they are often indignant and contradict. “Lord, God of strength! Turn to us... make Your face shine, and we will be saved” (Ps. 79:8). The Prophet repeats the same request, wanting to show how necessary it is, and at the same time teach us not to lose heart when we do not receive what we ask for, but to remain firm, in the confidence that we will certainly receive it. “You brought grapes from Egypt..., you drove out the nations and planted them” (Ps. 79:9). 2. Here the prophet tells how God cared for the salvation of the Jewish people. Just as a farmer, wanting to make the grapes better and more fruitful, replants them several times for this purpose, so God resettled Israel from the land of the Chaldeans to the land of Canaan through Abraham; from here he brought him out to Egypt through Jacob; finally brought him, as if into rich arable land, into the promised land from the very beginning. He didn’t just plant it, but rooted it, i.e. deeply strengthened its roots, since there was no longer any need to move it. And he did not do this before he had removed the nations that lived like thorns. Therefore, he was in complete well-being, as can be seen from what follows. “You prepared his way, and planted his roots, and he... filled... the earth” (Ps. 79:10). How? Through the giving of the law, through the destruction of nations. “And he planted its roots, and it... filled... the earth.” The root of the grape of Judah is Moses, Jesus, Phinehas, Eleazar, who filled the land with piety, because their virtues spread everywhere. “His shadow covered the mountains, and his branches... (covered) the cedars of God” (Ps. 79:11). The righteous of God are called mountains, according to the height and holiness of their lives; they are also cedars. “The righteous will flourish like a date and multiply like a cedar in Lebanon” (Ps. 91:13). They were covered by the shadow of the Jewish grapes, i.e. the law, as Paul says: “the law is a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of things” (Heb. 10:1). By branches we understand prophetic speeches, which, becoming more sublime thanks to the virtues of the workers, just as is the case with farmers who work with trees, show their fruits. So, the law covered the righteous, not in order to hide them, but in order to drive away from them the cold of unbelief and the flame of any other sin. “He spread out... his branches to the sea and his vines to the rivers...” (Ps. 79:12). Under the sea is meant baptism, under rivers - private purifications, under the branches from which grapes will be born, those valiant men in life who were among the Jewish people. They stretched out not to the sea, but to the sea, being in their virtues close to the grace of baptism. Those who were only branches, and not branches, and only imitated the branches, trying for legal truth, they stretched to the rivers - to private purifications, without receiving actual purification in them, but only imagining themselves to be purified. “Why did you take down his fence, so that everyone passing by...would tear it down?” ( Ps. 79:13 ) The fence of the Jewish grapes is the law. If you don’t believe this, listen to Isaiah, who says: “My Beloved had a vineyard on the top of the fat mountain” (Is. 5:1), and further: “And He surrounded it with a fence (Is. 5:2), - of course, by the law, - and cleared it of stones, - meaning cleansed with the commandments, - and planted choice vines in it, and built a tower in the midst of it, - Jerusalem, - and I dug a winepress in it - a church - and then continues what I will do to My vineyard: I will take away its fence, and it will be desolate; I will destroy its walls, and it will be trampled underfoot” (Is. 5:5). God took away this fence when the Jews sinned against Christ, who protected them with the law; therefore they are cut short by passing, i.e. transgressors who do not walk in the right way. These are the real Jews who pervert the law, which is why it is said about them that they do not walk along the road, but by. So the wisdom in Proverbs says about a feeble-minded young man, carried away by a criminal woman, that he wanders in the square past the corner, and does not walk (Prov. 7: 7-8). “The forest boar harmed him... and a lonely wild beast devoured him” (Ps. 79:14). The devil is called not only a lion for his rapacity, a serpent for the poison of malice, but also by the names of other animals mentioned in divine Scripture; he, who dwells in the barren forests of wickedness, is called both a boar for his joy at the sight of the abominations of wickedness, and also living in solitude, as one proud against God, and wild, as bestial and ferocious. He has been destroying the Jewish synagogue since its fence was destroyed, i.e. Since Christ put an end to legal life, they are now the property of the enemy, since they have neither the law, nor the altar, nor anything else related to worship. “God of strength! Turn... and look from heaven, and see, and visit these grapes” (Ps. 79:15). Since neither the law nor the prophets converted Israel, the prophet, of necessity, asks God to convert, i.e. corrected. How to reverse it? Looking up from the sky and seeing. But when does God not see? But now the prophet asks Him to see Him with special mercy and to show us greater benefits compared to the previous ones. How exactly? This is clear from the following words: “And visit these vineyards, and do what Your right hand has planted! (Look) ...at the Son of man, whom You have strengthened for Yourself” (Ps. 79:15-16). Note that the prophet asks God to come not only as a farmer, but also as a doctor, because visiting is characteristic of a doctor who himself makes an examination. 3. So, the prophet asks Him to come as a doctor, as a farmer to rebuild the vineyard, destroy the mental worm, and cut off the unnecessary overgrown branches, thanks to which it is not able to bear fruit. But for what vineyard? Not the one, he says, whose fence He destroyed and who betrayed him to the enemy, but for the sake of the branch of the ruler who would come from him. That is why, having said: “visit this vineyard,” the prophet added: “...on the Son of man, whom You strengthened for Yourself,” i.e. for the sake of the Son, who is to be born from the Jewish vineyard, “Whom You have strengthened for Yourself,” visit him. And truly, the coming of the Only Begotten was a visit to the Jewish people, if the Jews had accepted him. That is why John said: “He came to his own, and his own did not receive Him” (John 1:11), likewise the Lord himself: I did not come, “only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” ( Matthew 15:24) “He is burned with fire and torn up. By the wrath of Your face (all) will perish” (Ps. 79:17). Since the prophet likened the Jewish people to a vineyard, he necessarily divides the speech, speaking either about the image or about those to whom he applied this image. So, the Jewish vineyard was burned with fire, i.e. synagogue. Christ also spoke about this: “I came to bring down fire on the earth, and how I would like it to kindle already!” (Luke 12:49). And the fire was cast down, and the vineyard was dug up so that, after digging it up, the foundation hidden in it would be revealed, about which Isaiah said: “Behold, I am laying a stone for the foundation in Zion, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a firmly established stone: whoever believes in it will not be put to shame” (Is. 28:16). And David said: “Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem” (Ps. 137:7), i.e. pagans who said: “Devastate, devastate it to the ground” (ibid.). Until then, what belongs to the Jews is being dug up by the pagans, i.e. carefully examined, tested until they reveal the reasons they hide. Because of this, the latter will perish from the rebuke of the face of God, meaning Christ, because He blamed them for the fact that, having the keys of knowledge, they themselves do not enter, and hinder those who wish to enter (Luke 11:52). “Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand and upon the Son of Man, whom You have strengthened for Yourself. And we will not depart from You: revive us, and we will call on Your name!” (Ps. 79:18–19). Christ is called the man of the right hand: man - according to humanity, His right hands - firstly because He, together with the flesh, sits as if in the right hand of the Father, and then because He created all creation. The prophet also calls him the Son of Man because of his flesh. But so that you consider all of Him to be consubstantial with the Father in divinity, he says: “Whom You strengthened for Yourself”: strengthened him, because You yourself gave birth to Him, strengthened Him for Yourself, because You gave birth to Him equal in power and similar to Himself in everything. The prophet prays that the hand of the Father will be on him, of course, to perform signs and wonders for us, since the latter are sometimes called the hand of God, sometimes the finger. The prophet prays that signs for us would no longer be accomplished through a prophet, not through a God-bearing man, for example Moses, or Elijah and other prophets, but through the Son, promising that if this comes true, then we will no longer depart from Him, because we have retreated many times. "Riven us, and we will call on Your name." You will revive us with the living water of baptism. Then we call on His name, calling ourselves Christians by the name of Christ. “Lord, God of strength! Turn to us and make Your face shine, and we will be saved” (Ps. 79:20). The Prophet often repeats these words. He prays not only in relation to the present, showing that we cannot be converted or saved except through the shining of the face of God, i.e. the Word incarnate. Creations attributed to St. John Chrysostom and in the Patrology of Min, classified as Spuria The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us. – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: