Собеседование 13 на псалом 80

Ps.80:1. To the end. About sharpeners. Psalm Asaph a 1. Why did the prophet place this psalm between those who bear the inscription: “about the winepresses”? In it he does not mention either the winepress, or the grapes, or any firstfruits. He speaks of Joseph, who was the image and herald of Christ, Who trampled the winepress for us, as He Himself announced this through the prophet Isaiah: I alone trampled the winepress (Is. 63:3). Why is suffering called a grindstone? Because we, drunk with the blood flowing from them, like sweet wine, come to joy. "Rejoice in God our helper; shout to the God of Jacob!" (Ps. 80:2). Well, the prophet invites us to rejoice in God as a powerful and sincere helper, and not in man, because people have no constancy either in strength or in sincerity, but their disposition is fleeting, just like their strength. At the same time, the prophet commands us to exclaim as if we had already won a victory with God’s help. With the help of what God? God, he says, Jacob. He is silent about Abraham, omits Isaac and mentions only Jacob as a suitable person in this case. By mentioning an exclamation, the prophet denotes either victory or a joyful symbol. This victory is given to us through Christ, who trampled upon the enemy. That is why the prophet rightly pointed to the God of Jacob, since Jacob means a troublemaker. “Take a psalm and give a tympanum, a sweet-sounding psaltery with harp and harp” (Ps. 80:3). The tympanum is a symbol of the Old Testament, because it makes a dull and inarticulate sound; also because Mary, the sister of Moses, sang and rejoiced with the tympanum before the people of the Jews. And the psalmist expresses the new covenant, because the singers the psalms make clear and separate sounds, just as the Gospel is pronounced. Since the prophet speaks to the Jews, teaching them what they should rejoice about and what they should exclaim about and what relationship they should have with the church of the Gentiles, he clearly convinces them to take the new and give them the old, since from the union great benefit comes, he becomes even more perfect by accepting the image; the truth, for the sake of which he received the image. That is why the prophet says: “a sweet-sounding psalm with harp,” i.e. new with old. So Solomon says in the Song of Songs: new with old, what my mother gave me, “this I have kept for you” (Song. 7:14). Why did the prophet liken the covenants to the psaltery and harp? Because these instruments are similar to each other, differing in the arrangement of the strings; in the first they are connected at the top, in the second - at the bottom. In the same way, the Old and New Testaments are akin, both have one goal - piety; but the commandments of the first are inclined to the ground, due to the insignificance of the legislator, and the commandments of the second are high and strive to mount the greatness and height of the disciples of Christ. “Blow the trumpet in the new moon: on the solemn day of the feast in ours" (Ps. 80:4). The Prophet clearly says that the one who was under the law had to blow the trumpet in the new moon, but not in all months, which is why David mentioned the blessed day, meaning the first day of the seventh month. This particular day is the blessed day, i.e., designated by the law, which speaks of it as follows: “on the seventh month, on the first [day] of the month, let you have a rest, a feast of trumpets, a holy assembly [let you have]” (Lev. 23:24). Therefore, now the psalmist further says: “For this is the commandment of Israel and the decree of the God of Jacob” (Ps. 81:5), testifying that he is not expressing something new, but follows an ancient law. Although he mentions the new moon in the present tense, he undoubtedly means by it the time of the coming of the Savior. “If anyone is in Christ,” says Paul, “he is a new creation; The old things have passed away, the new things have come” (2 Cor. 5:17). The prophet calls the gospel sermon a trumpet, and the Lord's Easter a blessed day. Therefore, Aquila translates: (on the day of) the full moon, and Symmachus: (on the day of) the month, both of them, meaning the fifteenth day of the month. On this day, according to the law, there was no trumpeting; therefore, the prophet means the day on which Christ suffered for us. Having been betrayed on the fourteenth day, during the Old Testament Passover, Christ on the next day, i.e. fifteenth, suffered on the cross. The prophet calls this day the new moon and the full moon, as the beginning and at the same time the fulfillment of the time in which our salvation was accomplished. On this day he commands to blow a trumpet, i.e. preach the gospel, and says that this is a command to Israel, and not just a command, but “a decree from God Jacob,” because, having received the power to act from the cross, He established the gospel preaching, which is why He says to the apostles: “When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to Me” (John 12:32). And that the prophet calls Christ the God of Jacob, you can learn from what follows. “He put this into the law of Joseph when he came out of the land of Egypt, (where) he heard... a language... which he did not know” (Ps. 80:6). What God of Jacob is the prophet talking about? Which one did he speak about before. How does he say: “when he came out of the land of Egypt”? He says this because Joseph was the image of Christ - because of the envy of his brothers, by sale, by voluntary slavery, by the adoration of the stars to him, and by many other things. other events that can be pointed out in his life; the prophet wanted to show that Joseph was a witness and monument of Christ, and that both he and Christ were persecuted by incessant intrigues. Having returned from Egypt after the death of Herod, who was plotting to kill Him, Christ hid in Galilee out of fear of Archelaus, who also plotted against Him after Herod. 2. “He heard... a language... which he did not know.” Which one? The language of slanderers; Christ did not know it, not in the sense that the latter was unknown to him, but in the fact that He did not listen to lies, because lies are alien to God. But having become a man, He, of necessity, however, heard the slanderers when He was judged. And in this respect, Joseph was a prototype of Christ, because he also heard the Egyptian wife telling him: “lie with me" (Gen. 39:12), but did not know the words of the speaker, since he did not agree with her. "He freed his back from the burden: his hands (then) worked with the basket" (Ps. 81:7): he did not, he says, expose his back to sin. me" (Ps. 37:5); but Joseph abstained only from adultery, and Christ was completely alien to sin. "His hands (then) worked with the basket." Христос был рабом в настоящей жизни, кото­рая справедливо называется корзиною, потому что мы, собрав в ней, как бы в корзине, все доброе и злое, понесем ее на плечах, когда отойдем отсюда. Обрати внимание на точность пророчества, и подивись, как говорит он про нового Иосифа – Христа. “He freed his back from its burdens,” since He had no sin of his own; тем не менее, руками своими он рабствовал в корзине настоящей жизни, так как Он рабствовал, нося корзину наших грехов. Следует заметить, что в настоящем псалме пророк часто переходит от одного лица к другому. First he turns his speech to some victors celebrating their victory; then moves on to Joseph - the image of Christ; теперь, наконец, обращается, очевидно, к на­роду израильскому, говоря: "в скорби ты призвал Меня, и Я избавил тебя , услыша л тебя в сокровенном бурн ом месте, ис пытал т еб я при воде пререкания» ( Пс.80:8 ). Где и когда? Когда Бог говорил Моисею: «Я увидел страдание народа Моего в Египте и услышал вопль его от приставников его; Я знаю скорби его и иду избавить его от руки Египтян и вывести его из земли сей» ( Исх. 3:7–8 ). "услыша л тебя в сокровенном бурн ом месте». When God descended on Mount Sinai, and a cloud of darkness covered the mountain (such a cloud is called a storm), then he heard them. What did they say? The words that “the Lord has spoken, we will do” (Ex. 19:8). Soon, however, they turned out to be liars before God, which is clearly evident from the following words: “I tried you by the waters of discord.” Here, during the journey, they blasphemed God, and, forgetting all the signs that they had received before, said to Moses: “Oh, if only we had died then, when our brothers died before the Lord” (Num. 20:3), and other reproaches testifying to obstinacy Jews. After these verses, the psalmist changes his tone, doing this not in vain, not without purpose, but perhaps in order to interrupt the prophecy for a while, or rather, because he clearly introduces the face of Christ. “Hear, My people, and I... testify to you: Israel..., if you had listened to Me!” (Ps. 80:9). If you want to be called the people of God, then listen to His commandment in order to possess this great dignity. However, one should find out what exactly He testifies. “Israel..., if only you would listen to Me! May you not have a new god, and may you not worship a strange god. For I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt: open your mouth and I will fill it” (Ps. 80:9-11). God predestined the words: “if you had listened to Me” in order to show who He is, knowing in advance their wickedness, He does not deprive them of the possibility of conversion. If they wished, they could repent. God's foreknowledge does not prevent repentance, because God knows in advance that sinners can repent if they wish. However, the prophet points to something new and mysterious, or, more precisely, God through the prophet. What, in fact, is God testifying to the Jewish people? What if he listens to Him. Who – Him? The one of whom Joseph was a witness; The one whose hands worked in the basket. Then they will not have a new God, and they will not worship a strange God. Indeed, Christ for them was not a new God, and not a stranger: He brought them out of the land of Egypt, He was from the beginning, He will be later, as God testified through the prophet Isaiah, saying: “I am the first and I am the last, and besides Me there is no God” (Is. 44:6). The Savior, without any doubt, is the one who became incarnate for the salvation of the human race. “Open your mouth and I will fill it.” Why is it pointed not to the ears, not to the heart, but to the lips? Because the Word that came down from heaven became the bread of life, and if anyone, having opened his mouth, reverently receives Him, then he is filled with the knowledge of God. “But My people did not hearken to My voice, and Israel did not listen to Me” (Ps. 80:12). They were unable to listen to His teaching and preaching of the gospel, and did not want to pay attention to His miracles; they weighed down their ears so as not to listen to the commandments of the Lord, “they closed their eyes,” as Isaiah said (Is. 6:10), so as not to see the signs. What did they suffer for this? “And I have left them to the plans of their hearts: let them follow their thoughts!” (Ps. 80:13). Under the beginnings of the heart we mean various considerations and decisions that the Jews made when, plotting maliciously against the Lord, they said: “This Man does many miracles. If we leave Him like this, then everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take possession of both our place and our people” (John 11:47-48). According to this plan and this decision, they were allowed to go: the Romans took their city and country, and they themselves were taken captive. “If My people had listened to Me..., if Israel had... walked in My ways..., then I... would have humbled their enemies easily and... I would have laid My hand on their oppressors” (Ps. 80:14-15). The prophet mourns the Jewish people for not listening to God, who gave the law, for not walking in the ways of the One who cannot go astray and gives salvation; because through this the Jews did not allow their enemies - the demons - to be humbled and the hand of God to turn against their oppressors. God turned His right hand against the invisible oppressors and humbled the invisible enemies, but not for the sake of the Jews, because the horn of demons still rises above them; they are humble for the sake of us - the pagans, who rejected service and destroyed their worship. That is why God, angry at the Jews, declares them his enemies, as stated further: “The enemies of the Lord and the Lord have lied to him, and their disasters will be forever” (Ps. 80:16). What enemies? Those about whom Paul spoke: “enemies of the cross of Christ, their end is destruction” (Phil. 3:18-19). Therefore, God expresses a threat that their time, i.e. their time of punishment will continue forever. How did they lie to him? Because He came to them as if they were his own, but his own, as John says, did not receive Him (John 1:11). “And He fed them with rich wheat, and satisfied... them with honey from the stone” (Ps. 80:17). The prophet blames the Jews for the fact that, having received so many benefits, they remained ungrateful. He denotes the spiritual by the sensual, he calls the law, which spiritually dwells in the letter, the fat of wheat, which is why another psalm says: “establishes peace within your borders and satisfies you with the best wheat,” and further explains what kind of wheat it is: “sends His word to the earth” (Ps. 147: 3-4); He calls the prophets honey from a stone, since they received prophecy from Christ, who is a stone. With this prophecy God satisfied the Jews, giving them not one or two prophets, but many, and for many generations. 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: