Собеседование 32 на псалом 84

Ps.84:1. To the end. To the sons of Kore. Psalm. The real psalm is rightly inscribed: “to the end,” or as other translators say: a similar song, because it speaks of the mysteries accomplished at the end of the ages, and which are truly a victory over the devil. “Lord, You have shown favor to Your land, You have brought back the captives of Jacob” (Ps. 85:2). What happens is equally common to both man and the earth. When the earth prospers, man also prospers; when she is executed, he is executed along with her, as having come from her and receiving nourishment from her. Therefore, what the prophet now said can be understood in a general sense, since the creation, the foundation of which is the earth, awaits our liberation, as Paul says (Rom. 8:19-22); The prophet now called this liberation favor, referring it in a general sense to all people - why man is called earth was explained many times before - and in a particular sense to the Jews who turned to God, whom he called the captivity of Jacob. What kind of favor this is, you can learn more clearly from what follows. “I have forgiven the iniquity of your people, I have covered all their sins” (Ps. 84:3). This is good will towards us: He forgave us not just one iniquity, but all of them; in the same way, He covered all our sins with His love for mankind, just as a doctor covers a wound with medicine. The prophet mentioned iniquities and sins, wanting to express not the same thing, but to show that God forgave not only the Jews, whose crimes are called iniquities, since they are under the Mosaic Law, but also of the pagans, whose transgressions are called sins, since by their sinful deeds they turn the heavenly plans into something unreasonable. Here follows a change in tone in the singing, and the prophet interrupted his speech not without reason - he intended to speak about something extremely important, and his mind was suppressed by the greatness of the revelations, which is why he needed a break in order to more accurately understand them. “I have ceased all Your anger, I have restrained myself from Your angry fury” (Ps. 84:4). He stopped his anger not partly, but completely, not so as to bring it back again later, but to remove it completely, so that no memory of it remained. That is why it is said that he turned away from the wrath of his wrath. If He turned away from anger, it means He bowed down to mercy. Since the psalmist, according to the custom characteristic of prophets, sets out the future as if it were present, see how he turns the prophecy into a prayer, showing that what he is talking about has not yet happened, but exists only in hope. “Bring us back, O God of our salvation, and turn away Thy wrath from us” (Ps. 84:5). God's anger, therefore, is not a passion, but a threat that serves our benefit. Therefore, if we are converted, then He also turns away from anger and calms down, valuing our salvation most of all; That’s why He finds many paths to it, invents many ways to achieve it, for which it is rightly called the God of salvation. “Will you be angry with us forever? Or will you spread Your wrath from generation to generation?” ( Ps.84:6 ) The wrath of God against people is terrible now; but since in this life God for the most part reveals long-suffering, future wrath is naturally even more terrible. Therefore, the prophet prays that God will not be angry with us throughout the entire present age, and will not transfer His anger from the present generation to the future generation, but will quench it with mercy. How this is accomplished, given our inertia in handling, is shown further. “O God! You will revive us again, and Your people will rejoice in You” (Ps. 84:7). You can understand by the conversion of God the conversion that He performs in us; but in its proper sense it is a conversion that He Himself performed in our place, because it is said: “God! Thou revive us again.” This last clearly happened when He who became incarnate and became man offered Himself for us and in Himself accomplished our conversion, doing and enduring everything for us, by which He revived us and now made His people rejoice and triumph, i.e. those who believed in Him. “Show us, O Lord, Thy mercy and grant us Thy salvation” (Ps. 84:8). Notice that the psalmist speaks both as a prophet and as a slave: as a prophet, he announced the future, but as a slave, he again prays for what he had previously expressed as a prophet. What is he praying for? That the mercy of God should be shown to people and salvation should be revealed, i.e. for God the Word to appear in the flesh. And that Christ is called the Savior is witnessed by Simeon, who, having received Him in the church, said with gratitude: “Now you are letting Your servant go, O Master, in peace, according to Your word, for my eyes have seen Your salvation” (Luke 2:29-30). That He is also called mercy is shown somewhat below by the prophet himself. However, He received both names from his deeds. “I hear what the Lord God will say in me: how He will speak... peace... upon His people, and on their saints, and on those who turn their hearts to Him” (Ps. 84:9). Amazing is the faith of the prophet! He has just sowed the seed of prayer when he already receives fruit from it. And knowing to whom he prayed, he prepared to listen to the world, the peace that Christ gave to His people, i.e. to those who believe in Him, through the face of the apostles. The latter are rightly called His saints and those who have converted in heart, since they completely devoted themselves to Christ and turned to Him with all their hearts, renounced everything worldly, left their parents, household, occupations, and said openly: “Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what will happen to us? (Matthew 19:27). “So His salvation is near to those who fear Him, to bring glory to our land” (Ps. 84:10). Here the prophet clearly states that although the Jewish synagogue wants to be called the people of God, the salvation of God is near those who fear and believe among the pagans. The latter, who were once not a people, have now become the people of God, returned to God from their error, and those who were once far away have become close through faith. And this happened in order to “bring glory into our land,” because where could the glory of God dwell if the pagans, as not descended from Abraham, were rejected, and those who descended from Abraham did not want to come to Christ, as John says about this: “he came to his own, and his own did not receive him” (John 1:11). Therefore, God accepted the pagans in order to have a place to dwell in our land, i.e. in the human race, as the Theologian explained this in further words: “And to those who received Him, to those who believe in His name, He gave power to become children of God, who were born neither of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13); he speaks of the pagans, because they had no blood and flesh kinship with Abraham, but were born of God, according to which the evangelist further added: “and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). “Mercy and truth met, truth and peace kissed each other! Truth from the earth is here and righteousness from the heavens... receive the voice” (Ps. 84:11-12). Here the prophet points to the meeting of Divinity and humanity, each of them acting in its own way; this means: “met”; one who walks slowly meets one who walks quickly, and one who is lame meets one who has healthy legs. But the prophet pointed not only to the meeting, but also to the unity that comes from love: this is indicated by the word: “kissed,” because through a kiss, lovers and loved ones are united with each other. God the Word would not have descended into humanity if the Creator had not had ardent love for man. “For God so loved the world,” says Christ, “that he gave his only begotten Son,” sent into it (John 3:16). But how did this happen? meeting? “The truth came from the earth and the truth came from heaven... Truth is flesh, and it is called so not only because, as the psalmist says, it shone from the earth, but also because the truth became incarnate and God the Word became truly man. Truth is a Divinity, which is why the prophet says that it came down from heaven - a Divinity that created truth, crushing the wickedness that dominated the earth. After the union, however, truth and truth are no longer separated, which is why Christ is called the whole truth, when, for example. He says: “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6), and everything is also called truth when, for example. Paul says of Him: “He became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30). Continuing to explain the sacrament, the prophet says: “For the Lord grants good, and our land will yield its fruit” (Ps. 84:13), - the Father is His Word, why do other translators say: He will give good, because, as you know, Christ himself said: “No one is good except God alone” (Luke 18:19). “And our land will yield its fruit”—the flesh born of Mary. This is how both God and the earth acted in the formation of the sacrament of Christ. “Truth” (Ps. 84:14), about which the prophet earlier said: “from heaven... receive cla.” The deity goes ahead of humanity, just as Habakkuk says: the word will go before his face (synod. “before his face comes a plague”) (Hab. 3:5), and further regarding humanity: and he will go out into the field at his feet (synod. - “and a burning wind will follow his steps”) (ibid.). Which is in accordance with the words of the psalmist, who concludes by saying: “He will go before Him and set his steps in the way” (Ps. 84:14). Thus the Divinity precedes, i.e. guides his flesh on the path of economy and corrects its steps so that it is not subject to any human errors and deceptions. 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: