Собеседование 29 на псалом 118

Ps.119:73. Thy hands have created me and formed me: give me understanding, and I will learn Thy commandments. 1. The prophet David experienced everything in his life - power, royal dignity, wealth, glory, honors, pleasures, and military valor; but despising all this, he valued only what was truly worthy of love and affection, which is why he said: “The law of Your mouth is better for me than thousands of gold and silver” (Ps. 119:72). Let us also, brothers (this is written for our instruction), keep the law and commandments of God, considering everything else as insignificant. Wanting to show what honor man has been awarded (from God), the psalmist further says: “Thy hands have created me and created me.” God created everything and brought everything from non-existence into existence by His word. Thus, having created heaven and earth, He said: “Let there be light. And there was light,” and then: “let there be a firmament in the midst of the water, and let it separate water from water; let the earth produce greenery; let there be lights in the firmament of heaven; let the water bring forth living creatures and living creatures; let the earth produce living creatures according to their kinds, livestock and creeping things and wild beasts of the earth according to their kinds” (Gen. 1:3, 6, 11, 14, 20, 24). “And the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground” (Gen. 2:7). And so, at the inspiration of the divine Spirit, the prophet reminds the Creator of this manifestation of His special love for human nature. While everything else is made by His word, the body of man is said to be made by Him Himself; This does not mean that He acted as if with His hands, since He is incorporeal and formless: “God is spirit” (John 4:24), according to the word of the Lord, but that He revealed a special disposition towards this creation, as well as the special relationship in which we, people, are towards Him, as created according to His image (Gen. 1:26), due to which man is the only animal endowed with reason. Therefore, the prophet asks the Creator to grant His creation understanding; For this purpose, the words were added: “those who fear You will see me and rejoice, for I have trusted in Your words” (Ps. 119:74). I will become, he says, a cause for joy for the pious, placing my hope in You and receiving its worthy fulfillment. Just as God, according to the word of the Lord, rejoices over one sinner who repents (Luke 15:7), so the righteous, becoming like Him, rejoice over a reasonable man who trusts in the words of God. “I understood, Lord, that Your judgments are right, yes, and (that) You justly... humbled me" (Ps. 119:75). He said this well, showing his gratitude. I, he says, deeply understand how correctly and justly You condemned me and subjected me to various misfortunes. When we sin, God is sometimes angry, and sometimes patient, waiting for our repentance. And moreover, He reveals His anger and righteous judgment with the goal of admonishing us and correcting us, so that we do not remain in sin. It is written by the prophet: “In the heat of my anger I hid My face from you for a while, but with everlasting mercy I will have mercy on you” (Is. 54:8); and: The Lord “causes wounds and binds them Himself” ( Job 5:18 ); and again: “but the people do not turn to Him who smites them, and do not resort to the Lord of hosts” (Is. 9:13) The Lord sends sorrows and misfortunes in accordance with the truth and humbles a person with them. “Let... Thy mercy be a consolation... not, according to Thy word... Thy servant!” (Ps. 119:76). The time has already come for humanity and consolation. The mercy of God is the coming in the flesh of Christ our God. He showed us mercy, He Himself appeared as an Advocate for us before the Father and as a propitiation for our sins, as the Apostle John says (1 John 2:1-2). And He promised another comforter, the Holy Spirit (John 14:16), as He himself told the disciples: “When the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me” (John 15:26). So, the prophet prays that mercy will be shown to the human race, as God promised through the patriarchs, through the law and the prophets; This is precisely what the further words of the prophet express: “according to Your word to Your servant.” After all, to those who turn to You with repentance, You have promised Your favor. The Lord also spoke through the prophet Isaiah: “If you had remained in place and at rest, you would have been saved” (Is. 30:15), and through the prophet Jeremiah he cried: “If you want to turn, Israel, says the Lord, turn to Me” (Jer. 4:1). “Let Your bounties flow upon me, and I will live, for Your law is a lesson for me” (Ps. 119:77). Being completely deprived of God’s favor, he imagines himself as a corpse; and therefore he prays that God’s love for mankind will revive him. He means the same bounties that the Savior gave us at His coming, i.e. the gospel word, apostolic teaching, so that, living by them, we constantly learn from them. “Let the proud be ashamed because they have committed injustice against me unjustly, but I will meditate on Your commandments” (Ps. 119:78). He does not wish harm to his enemies, but prays for them. Shame promotes salvation, and now, having experienced this medicine on himself, he wants them to receive it too. And then, the devil and the opposing forces obedient to him exalted themselves over the human race because of the Fall, but at the coming of Christ our God they were put to shame - about which they themselves said: “Send us into the herd of swine” (Matthew 8:31), and: “What have you to do with us, Jesus, Son of God? You came here before the time to torment us” (Matthew 8:29). “I will meditate on Your commandments” - one of the translators translated: “I meditated on Your commandments,” another: “I will speak,” and the third: “I will talk.” “Let those who fear You and know Your testimonies convert me” (Ps. 119:79). Sin alienated him from the society of the righteous, and they all, like God, turned away from him; and now he asks to unite with them and regain their fellowship. Symmachus expressed this more clearly: “let those who fear You turn to me.” And if the prophet speaks about this on behalf of the human race, then this means: the apostles and those who fear God turned all nations to the knowledge of the truth, just as the Lord said to them: “Go, teach all nations” (Matthew 28:19), and they themselves, of course, fully knew the revelations of God. “Let my heart be blameless in Your justification... let me not be put to shame!” (Ps. 119:80). 2. He wants his heart to be pure from all vice, because then it will be free from shame. For this, precisely at the very beginning of the psalm, he blessed the blameless. So, when is our heart immaculate, if not when we are regenerated by water and the Spirit and are pure in soul and body, and by the grace of holy baptism we live according to the justifications of God, so as not to be ashamed at that hour when the righteous rise up to their honor and glory, and sinners to eternal shame? Yes, even in this life it is shameful for a Christian to be called a fornicator, or an offender, or a slanderer, or an oathbreaker, or a brother-hater, or a drunkard, or a gossip, or a liar, or anything like that. “My soul is fading (waiting) for Your salvation; I also trusted in Your words” (Ps. 119:81). When a person strongly desires something, but suffers deprivation of what he wants, he seems to disappear and become exhausted. Thus, those who are waiting for the return of someone absent from their neighbors, waiting with tension and being deceived in their expectation, seem to melt from melancholy; the same thing happens to someone who suffers from severe thirst and does not have water to quench it; Likewise, those oppressed by any misfortunes and expecting divine help become exhausted when they see it slowing down. Salvation for the human race is the condescension of the One from the Holy Trinity to us. Since in another psalm the prophet says: “Show us, O Lord, Thy mercy and grant us Thy salvation” (Ps. 84:8), it means that he himself prayed that this expected salvation would happen sooner. “My eyes are fading (waiting) for Your salvation: when... will you comfort me?” ( Ps. 119:82 ) The word refers to both the divine promise and the inspired Scripture. This means that not only the one who waits for the fulfillment of the divine promise and deliverance from the disasters that have befallen is exhausted, but also the one who lives by divine words and wants to fully assimilate them and considers this assimilation to be consolation and joy for himself. But he only strives for this, and the consolation he expected was given in the Gospel word, when the Savior Himself comforted us, appearing on earth and saying: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28); “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:30). “For I have become like fur in the cold; (but) I have not forgotten Your justifications" (Ps. 119:83). Fur swells from heat and, swelling, increases in volume; in the cold it shrinks and hardens. Likewise, those who have accepted the gospel teaching abandon all luxury and bodily pomp and spend this life in simplicity, modesty and abstinence. This is already the property of bodily nature: in luxury it becomes pampered and blossoms and rebels against the soul, and in poverty and exploits it contracts and humbles itself. Paul testifies to this, saying: “But I discipline and bring my body into subjection, so that, having preached to others, I myself should not remain unworthy” (1 Cor. 9:27). The prophet also experienced this himself: persecuted by Saul, he dominated the passions, and in the midst of the world he fell victim to the temptations of voluptuousness, and only by subduing his body did he restore in himself the memory of divine laws. “How many days remain for Your servant? When will You bring justice to me (by delivering) from my persecutors x?” ( Ps. 119:84 )? The days of our life are few, and we are still haunted by evil thoughts, carnal passions and worldly worries: “the flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit” (Gal. 5:17), as the divine apostle says. “Our days and years are seventy years” (Ps. 89:10). So, when will You judge me and deliver me from my opponents? Judge and free us from their oppression. “Have the lawbreakers told me (their) reasoning, but this is not ... Your law, O Lord” (Ps. 119:85). The Prophet was advised to destroy his enemies, but he, obeying the divine law, awaited God's judgment. These words are instructive and very useful for us. We should avoid not only the fables of the pagans and the unbelief of the Jews, but also the blasphemous teachings of the heretics. Of course, Jews, pagans, and heretics reason and pretend to be teachers, using lies as their tool, but they do not confirm their teachings with anything from the Divine Scriptures; and if they bring anything in accordance with their passions, then in this case they distort and deceive: a similar phenomenon is observed in our time. The accusers of Christians, the so-called iconoclasts, seduced many, as did the Paulicians, who shared the heresy of the Manichaeans. They did not look for a basis in the divine Scriptures, but hide behind lies and establish themselves in them. And we say, following the Gospel and adhering to the Orthodox teaching, as accepted by the Holy Catholic Church of God. “All Your commandments are truth; you persecuted me unrighteously; help me” (Ps. 119:86). That is why I prefer Your law, because I see that all Your commandments are adorned with truth. “They almost destroyed me on earth, but I did not forsake Your commandments” (Ps. 119:87). Great, he says, is the wickedness and power of my enemies; a little was missing for me to lose my life itself. The Prophet here teaches us to adhere to the traditions that we have received; He also teaches another instruction, so that we do not dare to take revenge for ourselves and do not repay evil for evil, but ask for God’s help and submit everything to His judgment. So it is written by the prophet: “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord” (Heb. 10:30; Deut. 32:35). “But I have not forsaken Your commandments.” Although I was very close to death, which was threatened by the attacks of the evil one and carnal pleasures, I did not forsake Your commandments. This is the boasting characteristic of saints; the prophet transmits it for our edification. “By Your mercy you have made me alive, and have kept the testimony of Your lips” (Ps. 119:88). What kind of mercy (the prophet asks)? About the one that You, Lord, showed to us through the economy of Your incarnation. So, grant me this grace, so that I can preserve Your revelations. The Prophet decorated these words with humility. He does not ask for life as a reward for his righteousness, but begs that it be given to him as a gift of mercy, promising for this to observe the revelations of God. “Your word, O Lord, remains in heaven forever...” (Ps. 119:89). For You, says Lord, everything is easy and possible. By Your command the vault of heaven remains motionless. The psalmist said the same thing in the one hundred and forty-eighth psalm: “I set them for ever and ever: I gave a commandment, and it shall not pass away” (Ps. 149:6). So, heaven itself remains as it was created by You, Master, and the angels who dwell on it observe the divine law, and are alien to any crime, because they fulfill Your word according to their strength and strength. and your generation is your truth. You founded... the earth, and it endures" (Ps. 119:90). 3. A law was once given to the Israelites: they are the first generation, the first generation; and then the law of the gospel was given to us pagans. He is the truth. You preserved it both for the Jewish race and for another who appeared after that; he says this about the pagan people who received salvation through our Savior Christ. “By Thy decree there remains day for it, for everything serves You” (Ps. 119:91). You gave the earth immobility for a long time, and it remains as You commanded. You established the cycle of day and night, and it occurs according to Your laws. The earth fulfills Your creative word and produces in its time grass, plants, trees, brings fruits and seeds for food to all animals, and “By Thy decree there remains day for it, for everything serves To you." The sun, rising, heads towards the west. “For everything serves You” - and everything is obedient to Your beck. You are the Creator of everything, and everything is submissive to You, God. “If Thy law had not been a consolation to me, I would have perished in my humiliation” (Ps. 119:92). Any of the pious, having suffered misfortune, could have said this: Joseph, who escaped slavery, adultery and slander, and Daniel, when he was forbidden to pray, and the three youths, when they were forced to bow to an image, and the victorious martyrs who suffered all sorts of things. types of torment. Blessed David, expelled by Saul and forced to live among foreign and hostile people, rightly says this. He would have entered into communication with wickedness if he had not continued to learn the divine laws everywhere. Therefore, he adds, “I will never forget Your justifications, for with them You have revived me” (Ps. 119:93). Here is a blessed man who turns such words to God with complete truth and lives in this world with His justifications! Of course, a sinner, breaking the commandments of God, cannot say: “I will never forget Your justifications, for with them You have given me life,” but the prophet, from experience, says that Your justifications give life and the memory of them will not be erased from me. “I am Yours, save me, for I have sought Your justifications” (Ps. 119:94). These words can be understood differently: “I am Yours”; for example: I am your slave, your servant, your son by grace. So, whoever is sure that he has kept the commandments of God, he himself says: “I am Yours, save me.” For what? “For I have sought Your justifications.” And those who do the deeds of Your enemy, of course, do not seek Your commandments and cannot say: “I am Yours, save me.” This means that not all of us can use this exclamation. The servant of sin lies, calling himself God. “Whoever is conquered by whom is his slave” (2 Peter 2:19). So, if, having freed ourselves from sin, we prefer divine laws, then we can take advantage of this appeal. “Sinners were waiting for me to destroy me, (a) I understood Your revelations” (Ps. 119:95). “They were waiting” - Symmachus and Theodotion translated: “they hoped.” This means that they hoped to put me to death, but I, heeding Your justifications, found life in them. Often the servants of sin rise up against the righteous, not expecting any judgment or reward, nor the punishment deserved by their malice, trusting in the temporary, collecting wealth in unrighteousness and squandering other people's treasures, while the righteous, meanwhile, examine the revelations of God, and no matter what happens to them, do not deviate from His commandments. “I have seen the limit of all perfection, (but) Thy commandment is exceedingly broad" (Ps. 119:96). Everything, he says, is human: wealth, dignity, and power, the power of princes and military leaders, rulers and kings, all this has an end, and a quick end. But Thy commandment is broad and inexhaustible, and to those who keep it it brings endless and eternal wealth and blessings that are inaccessible Of course, the sinners themselves, enjoying the wealth and pleasures of this life and taking advantage of prosperity and power here, understand that real blessings have an end. But the prophet is not limited to this - he exclaims: “I have seen the limit of all perfection,” and the commandment of God is very broad and endures forever and has eternal blessings as a reward. “How I have loved Your law, O Lord! He is a lesson to me every day” (Ps. 119:97). Not everyone who fulfills the law of God does it with love, but some out of need and fear of punishment, others counting on glory before people. Those who are sincerely devoted to virtue strive to fulfill the commandments only out of love for goodness. Let us be attentive, brethren, to what is said. The Prophet gives us an example of studying the commandments of God and the divine law all day long: so shouldn’t we devote two or three hours to listening to divine reading, which can influence the correction of our lives? There are, of course, people who, like an insensitive asp, cover their ears and move away, not wanting to hear divine words and soul-helping instructions. But what is even more terrible is that some clergy, our brothers and co-servants, do this. And if we did not have the commandment from the Apostle that says: “Reprove, rebuke, exhort” (2 Tim. 4:2), then we would put silence on our lips and try to endure and endure it. However, people are wise and reasonable and can take care of their own correction, as it is written: “Discord comes from arrogance, but wisdom comes from those who take counsel” (Proverbs 8:10). “By Your commandment You have made me wiser than my enemies, for it is mine forever” (Ps. 119:98). 4. Having confessed an ardent love for the divine law, the prophet attributes everything to the grace of God. From You, he says, having received wisdom and understanding, I loved Your law. By Your gift I know more than my enemies; For this they are trying to destroy me, but I do not even try to protect myself from their violence, imagining to myself the eternal benefits of virtue. And the face of the apostles proclaims this, because he had enemies in the person of the scribes and Pharisees. Made wise by Christ God, they preached the gospel word, and their teaching acquired eternal meaning, while the teaching of the scribes and Pharisees was temporary. “I have become more intelligent than all my teachers, for... your revelations... are a lesson for me. I have become more knowledgeable than the elders, for I have sought Your commandments!” (Ps. 119:99-100). Kings tend to teach, and subordinates tend to learn. Saul reigned, and he was the oldest in age. But, however, neither the possession of the kingdom nor his age made him wiser, and he sought to kill his benefactor. But the great David, already in the position of a subject and at a young age, loved wisdom and did not want to be the instigator of an unjust deed, nor to respond to violence with violence. The prophet here adheres to this very thought. Subsequently, teachers of the law and scribes, who wanted to use the title “Rabbi” from people, taught what was illegal; The apostles preached, understanding true knowledge according to the testimony of the law and the prophets. It is to these Jewish teachers that the name of the elders refers, since in time they are before the apostles; but the apostles surpassed them in understanding both the law and the prophets, comprehending their spiritual meaning. Therefore, the commandments of God were understood by the apostles in their true meaning. “I have kept my feet from every evil way, to keep Your words” (Ps. 119:101). It is impossible, of course, to follow two paths at the same time - licentiousness and chastity, truth and unrighteousness, but I must avoid the opposite path and adhere to the right; under this condition, it is possible to be a keeper of the word of God. The prophet himself, keeping all the commandments, says: “I have kept my feet from every evil way.” . Neither the offender, nor the slanderer, nor the covetous, nor the envious, nor the brother-hater, nor the one who repays evil for evil can say this. “I have not turned aside from Your judgments, for You have given me the law” (Ps. 119:102). These words inspire us never to deviate from the judgment and commandments of God. Knowing that You are their Lawgiver, I was attached to them with all my soul. That’s why he added, “How sweet are Your words to my throat! My lips are sweeter than honey... x” (Ps. 119:103). Honey is sweet only up to the throat, and then it goes into the belly and is ejected, but the words of God delight the heart and soul. And in another psalm the prophet says: “more desirable than gold and precious stones and sweeter than honey from a comb” (Ps. 18:11). The sweetness of honey does not delight my taste as much as the teaching from Your words delights my soul. I mentioned the larynx here as an organ of the voice: the voice serves for teaching, and with their (larynx and voice) help the soul benefits from it. “From Your commandments I received understanding, therefore I hated every way of unrighteousness” (Ps. 119:104). Having understood what was pleasing to You, I felt disgust for all types of evil. The whole train of thought of this psalm makes clear to us the observance and preservation of the commandments, and the very way of expression is not in the spirit of the law and serving the shadow, but in the spirit of the gospel, why the psalm itself is, as it were, a repository of our Christian grace and serves as a rule and guide for our life. He constantly points to the law, commandments, judgments and revelations, about which in the explanation at the beginning of this psalm it is said what their significance is. But now we will continue what was interrupted. “From your commandments I received understanding”; and they demand: “You shall not kill, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor, you shall not covet your neighbor’s house... you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife... nor his male servant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey... nothing that is your neighbor’s” (Ex. 20:13–17). “You shall not lend your brother silver or grain at interest” (Deut. 23:19). These are the commandments of God, which we hear daily when reading the Holy Gospel and the apostolic teachings: they instruct us to hate every path of unrighteousness. All sins and all types of evil are called untruth; for them comes the wrath of God on the sons of men, or better said on the sons of disobedience. Protect yourself from them, brothers, and confirm yourself in the will of God. And then God will grant you His rich mercies and bounties, because He is our Savior. “A lamp for my feet... is Your law and a light for my ways” (Ps. 119:105). I walk in darkness, but Your law shines like a lamp for me. It should be noted that the law is called a lamp, and our Lord and Savior is called the Sun of righteousness (Malach.4:2). And in fact: the first, like a lamp, barely illuminated one people, and the second enlightened the entire universe. So the Lord Christ called the divine John a lamp (John 5:35), since he appeared to the Jews in the darkness of the night. When the “true Light, which enlightens every man who comes into the world” (John 1:9), then He made the holy apostles a light, since they were participants in that light that enlightened all people. And since, according to the word of the Lord, “the whole world lies in evil” (1 John 5:19), and is enveloped in confusion and sins, and sins are darkness (David himself said, as recorded in the book of Kings: “the night was around me, an unfortunate one, and I was ignorant,” then we need a lamp. The law is given to help us, and it serves as a light for our paths, because it is written: “With my spirit I will seek You in my heart from early morning” (Is. 26:9). But these words also have another meaning. The lamp is the Old Testament, once given to the Jewish people: only one people used its light. When the Sun of righteousness arose - Christ our God, “the true Light, who enlightens every man who comes into the world” (John 1:9), then He Himself enlightened the ends of the earth, and said to His disciples: “you are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). And with this light we were all enlightened. “I have sworn and decreeed -...to keep the judgments of Thy righteousness" (Ps. 119:106). 5. Since very many deeds are confirmed by an oath, he called the firmness and immutability with which the prophet treated the commandments of God an oath. This is common in Scripture. For example: the Lord God swore to Abraham (Gen. 22:16); “The Lord swore to David... the truth and will not deny it” (Ps. 131:11) due to the firmness of the divine promise. Although everywhere in the Holy Scriptures an oath is prohibited, and, first of all, in the Old Testament: “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain” (Ex. 20:7); “Do not swear falsely by My name” (Lev.19:12); “Do not accustom your lips to swear” (Sir. 23:8) - but, obviously, this refers to worldly affairs, about which Ecclesiastes said: “I have collected for myself silver and gold and jewelry from kings and regions; He built himself gardens and groves, made himself reservoirs, and behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit” (Eccl. 2:8, 5, 11). Whoever calls on the name of God regarding such things takes an oath in vain and in untruth. And further the Lord says: “I say to you: do not swear at all” (Matthew 5:34), and his disciple James: “above all, my brethren, do not swear by heaven or earth, or by any other oath” (James 5:12). So, just as there is a commandment: do not kill, do not offend, so there is also this: do not swear. “I am humiliated to the extreme, Lord, revive me according to Your word” (Ps. 119:107). He did not just say: I was humiliated, but: “I am humiliated to the extreme,” and he said this, being a king and a prophet, adorning himself with virtue, drowning in wealth and triumphing over his enemies. Of course, he never decided to take credit for his wisdom, courage, or righteousness: he considered all this a gift of divine grace. And when he asks for life from the One who can give it, he does not ask for life at any cost, but for a rational life, in accordance with the law and enlightened by the divine law. And since we constantly fall into sins while we live (before the Lord no one is completely free from filth, even if he lived only one day on earth), we will especially love crying, tears, abstinence, and exhaustion of the body. This is precisely what humility “to the extreme” consists of. And when the prophet says: “Give me life according to Your word,” he is asking, of course, not for that life for which food and drink are necessary, but for a life that is reasonable, active, virtuous, and consists in keeping the commandments of God. “Thou shalt be pleased with the voluntary vows of my lips, O Lord, and teach me Thy judgments” (Ps. 119:108). Of the feats of virtue, most are prescribed by divine laws, but some are left to free disposition. Thus, of the sacrifices, some are by law, others are of good will. The first are, for example, sacrifices about sin, about defilement and about ignorance, which the law commanded to bring and which were rendered to God as duty; the latter were the fruit of voluntary generosity, which is why they were called gifts. So now: chastity, for example, and justice are prescribed by the gospel; virginity and abstinence after marriage, non-covetousness, solitary life and desert life are acts of good will, which the prophet called free. dispositions are rightly called voluntary. And often, when exposed to misfortunes and sorrows, we promise to God, as it were: “I will enter Your house with a burnt offering, I will fulfill my vows to You, which my mouth has spoken, and my tongue has spoken in my tribulation” (Ps. 65:13-14). In any case, this is what we must do. But the expression being explained has another meaning. Voluntary is what we do beyond the commandments of God. For example, God’s commandment is to marry one wife, because “let marriage be honorable for all and the bed undefiled; But fornicators and adulterers God will judge” (Heb. 13:4). If someone wants to remain a virgin, then this is his voluntary feat. In the same way, we are allowed to have food, clothing and shelter; if we prefer to practice non-acquisitiveness, this will be our voluntary act. And if we want to lead a desert and monastic life, this is our voluntary matter. And so, the prophet prays that those who want to do this will be able to do it successfully. “My soul... is always in Your hands, and I have not forgotten Your law” (Ps. 119:109). Protected by Your providence, I could not consign Your laws to oblivion. Anyone who has given himself to God places his soul in His hands, as another psalm says: “You, O Lord, are my protector; into Your hand also I commend my spirit” (Ps. 31:5-6). And whoever devotes himself to pleasures and carnal passions never betrays his soul into the hands of God. After all, if during the Divine Liturgy we indulge in everyday worries, and our attention at this hour is entertained by them, leaving the praise of God, then it means that we have not placed our souls in His hands. If we abandon morning prayers, instead indulging in sleep and resting on beds, and spend the time of evening praise in drunkenness and carousing, as if nailed to our place, then again, it means that our souls are not in the hands of God. If during the divine service and, especially on the holy days of the Lord, we leave the church and roam around the city, arranging our affairs and meetings and walking through the squares and streets, it means that our souls are not in the hands of God. If, while present at the Divine Liturgy, we abandon prayer and praise and talk with each other about worldly affairs and concerns, it means that we have not given our souls into the hands of God. “Sinners have laid a snare for me, but I have not deviated from Your commandments” (Ps. 119:110). And people and demons are plotting many and varied intrigues for me, but I have decided to follow the path of Your commandments without any deviation. Indeed, demons and thoughts often tempt those who live according to God, as well as bad people, but they boast that they overcome temptations. David showed an example of this when Saul set him a net and sought to kill him. him, but could not, however, turn him away from the commandments of God. And when Saul - both once and twice - was in his hands, David did not repay him with evil for evil. And in ancient times the Egyptian woman set a snare for Joseph, but he was not tempted, maintaining his chastity. Susanna also experienced from the elders, “I received your revelations as an inheritance forever... for they are the joy of my heart.” Ps.119:111). 6. Holy and pious people triumph and rejoice in keeping the commandments of God, and having God as their Father, they are heirs of His revelations and joyfully maintain them as a paternal inheritance, because the inheritance of parents is always pleasant. So the prophet says in his prayer: believing that your revelations are an eternal and imperishable heritage, remembering them, I rejoice and have fun. “I have inclined my heart to fulfill Your justifications forever, for the sake of reward” (Ps. 119:112). The human faculty of will is like scales, and these scales hold the mind as the controlling principle. When someone inclines towards pious thoughts, then the yoke of the scales also inclines towards good. This I did, says the prophet; and, moreover, not sometimes “bent down,” sometimes not, but “forever,” that is, all the days of my life. I rejoice in them, finding in them reward for myself. “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man” (1 Cor. 2:9), this is our reward. Good things are created for good people. “I hated lawbreakers, but I loved Your law” (Ps. 119:113). Suppressing my sinful tendencies, I put Your law above all else. This is what the saints boast about. So in another psalm he says: “Did I not hate those who hated You, O Lord, and did I not grieve for Your enemies? I hated them with complete hatred: they became enemies to me” (Ps. 139:21-22). Just as he who loves light hates darkness, so he who loves the law of God hates wicked thoughts and deeds, so that aversion to them is inseparable from a love of the promises of the law. In such a mood, the prophet exclaims: “You are my helper and intercessor, in your words I have trusted” (Ps. 119:114). Not without Your help I achieved this, but leaning on Your hand and nourished by hope in You. I did not place my trust in wealth, nor in worldly honor and glory, nor in human help, but in Your words. One of the wise said something similar to this: do not give me human help. “Get away from me, you wicked ones, and I will learn from the commandments of my God” (Ps. 119:115). He drives away from himself every attack of demons and bad thoughts in order to keep the commandments of God within himself in word and deed. This exactly means: “to learn.” And to my evil thoughts, and to those who tried to give me evil advice, I, he says, answered that nothing of the kind should be suggested to me, because life according to the commandments of God is dearer to me than anything else. I not only follow them, but fulfill them with all care, so as not to hide anything from them, but to fulfill everything that the Lord of all has commanded. “Intercede for me according to Your words, and I will live, and I and my hopes will not be put to shame” (Ps. 119:116). In view of the fact that I place everything on You, do not leave me with Your intercession, so that I do not suffer shame if I am deceived in my hopes for You. Here he calls a promise a word, as if saying: grant me the salvation You promised. So, having fully kept the commandments of God, the prophet expects honor and glory at the second coming of Christ our God, and then hopes to receive eternal life, and not to be put to shame along with sinners and disobedients and all those who have departed from the commandments of God. “Help me, and I will be saved, and I will learn from Your justifications” (Ps. 119:117). And having achieved salvation, I will not forget Your justifications, but will always remember them. Memory understands not only in words, but also in deeds. Such remembrance of God's justifications, being constant, acquires God's help for us and leads us to salvation. “You have made all of them humiliated by turning away from Your justifications, for their thoughts are unrighteous” (Ps. 119:118). I will maintain this zeal for Your commandments, knowing that those who transgressed them were subjected to shame and disgrace. In another psalm, he also speaks of sinners: “They are crushed like running water” ( Ps.57:8), and again: “our soul is greatly saturated with contempt from those who are prosperous and humiliation from the proud” (Ps. 123:4). “I considered all the sinners of the earth to be criminals, therefore I loved Your testimonies” (Ps. 119:119). Theodotion translated the expression: criminal - “for nothing”, and Symmachus: “for the litter” (I considered all sinners). With these words, the prophet showed that, humiliating himself, like God, lawbreakers, he devoted all his zeal to fulfilling the words of God, precisely because he knew what the punishment was for lawlessness. The Apostle John said: “Everyone who commits sin also commits lawlessness” (1 John 3:4). Therefore, for pious people, sinners appear to be violators of the law. “Nail my flesh to Thy fear, for I feared Thy judgments” (Ps. 119:120). My soul, he says, is filled with Thy fear, but since the body resists it, I ask that its members be imbued with the same fear, so that, being now dead from sin, they can follow the guidance of the soul. A similar thought is expressed in the words of the apostle: “put to death your members on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, passion, evil lust, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5), and in another place: “I died through the law to the law, that I might live with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:19-20). He cannot throw away this fear from himself. And the same apostle said: “I subdue and enslave my body, so that, having preached to others, I myself would not remain unworthy” (1 Cor. 9:27). 7. I, he says, exclusively followed Your laws: see that I do not turn out to be an easy prey for enemies. Who now has such purity of soul to dare to apply these words to himself? The divine apostle said something similar to this: “This praise of ours is the testimony of our conscience” (2 Cor. 1:12). Great is he who can say this to God! Having said this, he learned to perform all the virtues and commandments. And then he asks not to be insulted by crafty demons, unbridled feelings and disordered thoughts. “For the shield and Your servant for the good (him), so that the proud do not slander me” (Ps. 119:122). Symmachus: “Accept me, your servant for the good”; Aquila and Theodotion: “guarantee”, that is: I speak the truth, I do not lie: believe the promises of Your servant; Be yourself the guarantor of my promise that I will try to fulfill Your laws. Accept, He says, me, Lord, and believe in Your servant, and be my guarantor in goodness, because I keep Your commandments, and may I not suffer from the slander of the proud. All those who do not keep the commandments of God are called proud according to the saying: “The proud have transgressed the law to the extreme...” (Ps. 119:51). “Let the proud not slander me.” Slander is hard, even if it is well rewarded. The wondrous Joseph and many others were subjected to it. And the Lord commands us to pray not to be tempted. Therefore, it was quite appropriate for the prophet to make such a request. And, moreover, slander of proud and strong people is especially difficult, because untruth, based on strength, brings great harm. “My eyes are weary (waiting) for Your salvation and the word of Your righteousness” (Ps. 119:123). Again here you use the word promise. Constantly, he says, I think about Your salvation and wait for the fulfillment of Your promise. He said: My eyes are melting, showing the tension of expectation. He showed this above with the words: “my soul melts (waiting) for Your salvation” (Ps. 119:81). What kind of salvation? The one about which Simeon, holding the Lord in his arms, said: “My eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared before the face of all nations” (Luke 2:30-31). So, the prophet prays that his salvation, together with the entire human race, will be accomplished quickly. And the words: “my soul is melting away” mean nothing more than intense desire. “Do unto Thy servant according to Thy mercy, and teach me Thy justifications” (Ps. 119:124). He who stood at the pinnacle of virtue asks for mercy and begs for salvation; he does not demand reward, but appeals to humanity. And although he succeeded in virtues, he nevertheless asks for God's mercy. So we, brothers, if we do any good, we will ask God to help us and save us with His mercy. “I am Thy servant: teach me, and I will know Thy revelations” (Ps. 119:125). By nature, all people are servants of God, but by disposition - only those who sincerely accept the sovereignty of God. The prophet calls himself a servant in the second sense and asks to be worthy of reason for the knowledge of God's revelations. “It is time for the Lord to act: they have destroyed Your law” (Ps. 119:126). The Lord, who rules everything by measure and weight, endures the sins of people for a very long time; when he sees that the vice is increasing due to long-suffering, then he sends punishment. This is exactly what the prophet speaks about here: it is time for You to rise up, O Master, to defend the offended: your enemies have already trampled on Your law too much. And the Apostle Paul speaks about the time the coming of our Lord: “now is the acceptable time, behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2). Then it was time for the Jews to believe, but they did the opposite: they did not believe and rejected the gospel. This is what it means: “they have destroyed Your law.” “But I loved Your commandments more than gold and topaz” (Ps. 119:127). So, they despised Your law, but I prefer Your commandments to gold and precious stones. Topaz is one of the precious stones; when mentioning it, the prophet meant, of course, all stones in general, and it was probably valued more than others at that time. And in another place the prophet says: “The law of Your mouth is better for me than thousands gold and silver" (Ps. 119:72). These words mean that he loves the commandments more than all wealth - both together and separately. This is the perfection of a Christian! After all, the Lord said: “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love” (John 15:10). Ps.119:128) Love produces zeal, but zeal motivates you to adhere to the right path, but the path of unrighteousness makes it hateful. This means that he who fulfills all the commandments, in any case, hates the wrong path. “Whoever keeps the whole law and sins in one point, he becomes guilty of all” (James 2:10), - because the One who said: “Thou shalt not kill,” also said: “Thou shalt not commit fornication;” and the same one who said; do not offend, he said, and do not slander; and whoever said: do not lie, also said: do not swear. “Wonderful are Your revelations, therefore my soul sank into them” (Ps. 119:129). He showed that it is not without reason that he loves the revelations of God: they, he says, are worthy of surprise and are capable of captivating and arousing to love those who are able to perceive them. And how are they not amazing? They instruct a person in a perfect and worthy life, in virtuous customs, in chastity and abstinence, in meekness and patience, in justice and kindness. Therefore, the prophet boasts that he experienced them not only in words, with a light heart, but just as we must love God with all our souls, so we must love and fulfill His commandments. “The manifestation of Your words enlightens and instructs infants” (Ps. 119:130). By Yours, he says, illuminated by light, I received this knowledge; however, Your law gives understanding to all those possessed by ignorance and like infants. And the manifestation of the Gospel words enlightens not only the perfect, but also the weak. These words point to something else. The Lord said: “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes” (Matthew 11:25), meaning the apostles, because in their wickedness they were babes. “I opened my lips and attracted the Spirit into myself, for I desired Your commandments” (Ps. 119:131). Here he calls the zeal of the soul “lips”; it is this that attracts the grace of the spirit. And in another place he says: “Open Your lips and I will fill them” (Ps. 80:11). And the divine apostle prayed that when his lips were opened, the word would be given to him (Eph. 6:19). ), and the same prophet in another psalm said: “The Lord gave the word to those who preach good news with great power” (Ps. 67:12). He also said here: “I opened my lips and drew into me the Spirit, for I desired Your commandments.” When You saw that I firmly held Your commandments, You made me worthy of Your grace. So those who love the commandments of God, opening their mouths, fulfill them with the Spirit. So David, who desired the commandments of God, was awarded prophetic grace, and having opened his lips, he spoke from the fullness spirit. And to those who despise the commandments of God it is said: “Do not be like a horse and a mule, which have no understanding and whose jaws can be pulled (only) with a bridle and bit, when they do not come close to you” (Ps. 31:9); So, if you pay attention to everything that has been said, may you be saved by God’s help and intercession, and may the Lord God save you both in the present century and in the future. Amen, let it be. To him belongs glory and honor now and forever. 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: