Собеседование 37 на псалом 89

Ps.89:1. Prayer of Moses, the man of God. 1. The Holy Spirit gave a wonderful name to Moses. Since we were divided - some, having indulged in sin, began to belong to the enemy, others, preserving intact the image of the Creator, to the Creator, the Holy Spirit called Moses a man of God, so that you would know that this righteous man belongs to God in particular. But why did David attribute this psalm to Moses when he was not the writer? Likewise, why did not the psalmist inscribe this psalm like the songs (of psalms)? The probable and sufficient reason for this is as follows. In the first lines the psalmist mentioned the Creator of the world, wishing to give a suitable beginning to the fourth book of psalms; and since the narrative of the existence of the world belongs primarily to Moses, the psalmist assigned this work of his zither to him. “Lord! You have been... our refuge throughout generation and generation” (Ps. 89:2). The prophet points to the constant care of God, meaning by generation and generation not just two generations, but all. Since the mental enemy, starting from the time of the deception caused by the serpent, at all times and in every way of life continued to pursue our race with its attacks, then we, of necessity, had to seek refuge with God, because we are not Otherwise, they could save themselves only by fighting against the imaginary strong with the help of the truly strong. “Before the mountains appeared and the earth and the universe were created, from everlasting to everlasting You exist” (Ps. 89:3). In these words the psalmist teaches us two truths: first, that the world came into being in time - while some consider it not to have happened, he asserts that the mountains came into being by the power of the creative word, and likewise the earth was formed in a similar way; secondly, that their Creator is God, that He was first of all and therefore became the beginning of everything that exists. It was not in vain that the prophet, along with the earth, mentioned the universe; he wanted to use this expression to indicate man and other animals inhabiting it, so that we would not attribute the origin of animals, or reptiles, or any other animals to another creator. Well the prophet says that God is “from everlasting to everlasting,” i.e. the future, remains both the Creator and Creator (the thought of this is heard here before the thought of the being of God), thereby overthrowing all contrary opinions, because there are people who represent one as the God of the present life, the other as the God of the future; The prophet overthrew this blasphemous opinion with the indicated expression. “Do not subject man to humiliation, (for) You said: Return, sons of men!” (Ps. 89:4). Which? In the Divine Scripture, many types of humility are indicated: sometimes this name is called meekness of spirit: “learn,” says Christ, for example, “from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29); sometimes - humility that comes from punishment sent for our correction, why David says: “It is good for me that You humbled me” (Ps. 119:71); sometimes - humility that occurs from punishment by torment, as a result of which the punished becomes worthy of shame, as for example, when it is said about the devil: “You humbled... like a wounded man, you were proud of him” (Ps. 89:11). The prophet prays to avert such humility from man, so that he would not be rejected by God, just as the devil was rejected. That is why Symmachus, instead of: “humility,” translated: “condemnation.” Having expressed such a prayer, the prophet, as he should, further represents God as answering. “You said: Return, sons of men.” If we are converted, we will not be driven into humility, like one who has been subjected to the incurable disease of wickedness. “For a thousand years are in your sight, O Lord, like yesterday, which is past, and... a watch... of the night” (Ps. 89:5). The prophet clearly points to God's long-suffering, by virtue of which God gave people the opportunity to repent, and counts a thousand years as one day that has already passed - and not only as one day, but even as a night watch; day is a long time... because the night is divided into four watches. So, God does not cease His patience throughout a person’s entire life, because even a thousand years are considered by Him to be the shortest time, and, moreover, not the present, but already past. “Their years will be worthless: like the morning grass disappears, in the morning it blooms and fades, and in the evening it falls, becomes hard and withers” (Ps. 89:6). Whose summer? Sinners, who are discussed further. Although the latter enjoy prosperity for many, many years, this prosperity does not last forever. The prophet calls the well-being of the wicked humiliation, because they rely and hope not on what they should, but on beauty, on wealth, on bodily strength, on fleeting things and worthless things - which is why they are called humiliation. That is why Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that “the Most High God rules over the kingdom of men and appoints over it whomever he wants,” and the humiliation (contempt) of people will rise up against him (Dan. 5:21). “For we have disappeared in Thy wrath and...we have been shaken by Thy wrath” (Ps. 89:7). 2. The prophet calls the present life morning, not in comparison with the future, but because when the present life ends, the darkness of death begins. This is why Jeremiah says: “Woe to us! the day is already declining, the evening shadows are spreading” (Jer. 6:4), calling real life day, and activities during it, which last a short time, shadows. So, in real life, people’s well-being passes away, i.e. appears like grass or a flower, and like a flower disappears, due to its extreme transience, and if it remains in bloom for some time, then later it withers and dries up under the rays of the sun of truth, and becomes hay, which can only be thrown into the oven and burned. This is in complete agreement with what the prophet Isaiah and Jacob said for our instruction: “the grass dries up, the flower fades” (Is. 40:6-7) and “the sun rises, the heat comes, and with the heat it dries up the grass, its color falls, the beauty of its appearance disappears” (James 1:11). The real words of the prophet are not words of prayer, but of condemnation and indignation, and although he says: “disappears,” he does not use this expression as a prayer, as Theodotion shows, who, instead of: “disappears,” translated: passed. And that the well-being of sinners in this life turns out to be fleeting when God subjects them to punishment, this is evidenced by further words: “For we disappeared in Your wrath and ... were shocked by Your wrath” (Ps. 89:7). For this prophet, rage usually means something more moderate than anger. This will become especially clear to you if you read the following verse from him: “Lord! Do not rebuke me in Your wrath, and do not punish me in Your anger” (Ps. 6:2). He attributes reproof to rage, and the punishment that follows reproof, i.e. vengeance - anger. Therefore, even now he says that we disappear from anger, i.e. we perish, and from rage we are embarrassed; he who is confused does not necessarily perish; on the contrary, if he comes to his senses and converts, he will avoid anger and the destruction that flows from it, just as someone convicted, if he repents, can avoid punishment. “Thou hast set our iniquities before Thee, and our age... before the light of Thy countenance” (Ps. 89:8). On the one hand, as a righteous God, God hates sins and turns away from them; on the other hand, as a Judge, He places before His eyes both virtues and crimes. “Our age...before the light of Your face.” Nothing in it is hidden from God, which is why it is said: “before the light of Your face,” i.e. open to Him. “Before the light of the countenance” of God, i.e. Christ, from whom the world should be enlightened. “For all our days are past, and we have perished in Thy wrath” (Ps. 89:9). How? Find out below. “We disappeared in Thy wrath.” When Adam fell through disobedience in paradise, then from God’s wrath against him we also perished, and all our days, that is, our whole life perished, since the Judge condemned us to death. “Our years are like a spider’s web; the days of our years...: seventy years, and if we are able, eighty years, and then most of them are labor and illness, for humiliation has befallen us, and we (by this) will be taught” (Ps. 89:10). It was common for the prophet to think and philosophize about this, and imagine human life as a web; By constantly thinking about himself in this way, he could both firmly endure sorrows and neglect illusory blessings, as fleeting in nature. “the days of our years...: seventy years,” . "Ours", i.e. some people's days, because few live to the specified number of years. “And if you can, eighty years.” The prophet calls the strength of the body strength. Symmachus, instead of: “within the power,” translated: as a last resort, wanting to say that even with bodily health it is not easy to live to such an age. “The majority of them are labor and illness.” Consequently, the prophet called human life a web, partly because it lasts a short time, since fragility is a property of the web, partly because it is accompanied by useless efforts and labor, just as the web, due to the extreme thinness of the tissues, is made with great difficulty and effort, although the labor spent on them is useless, since it does not achieve anything useful. That is why the prophet limited the number of human years to seventy years, although many live to be a hundred years or more, and considered it completely unnecessary to mention years exceeding the number eighty, as unnecessary for life, bringing people to excessive old age, which makes them little more than different from the dead. “For humiliation has come upon us, and we (by this) will be taught” (Ps. 89:10). The prophet calls “humiliation” the sentence pronounced over us by God: “you are dust, and to dust you will return” (Gen. 3:19): God, wanting to mitigate the punishments determined in advance (I mean: “in the sweat of your face you will eat bread”; and: “thorns and thistles it will bring forth for you,” the earth, (Gen. 3:18), puts the end of them for us in death, so that in it we suffer a punishment that serves not so much for vengeance, how much to our benefit, since by waiting for death we remove ourselves from many of the evil deeds of this life. “Who knows the power of Your anger and from the fear of You (can) comprehend Your wrath?” 3. The pronoun: “who” the prophet used here to designate not an impossible task, but a rare one, just as, for example, he says: “who will ascend the mountain of the Lord?” (Ps. 23:3), or: “who loves life?” (Ps.33:13). With these questions he shows that such people are both rare and blessed. It’s exactly the same here, because the knowledge of the power of God’s wrath and from the fear of Him, i.e. due to the fear of Him, the numbering of His wrath, i.e. Constant thought and remembrance of it promote abstinence from sins and perfection in virtues. “Therefore show me Your right hand and those who have strengthened the heart... with wisdom” (Ps. 89:12). The prophet calls Christ the right hand of God, and “those who have strengthened the heart... with wisdom,” i.e. in Christ (because Christ is “God’s power and God’s wisdom” (1 Cor. 1:24), the apostles; he did not say: strengthened with the tongue, but “in the heart,” as is characteristic of the God-bearing apostles, who, according to Paul, have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16). So, the prophet prays that Christ and apostles, because from here comes the salvation of us sinners. Having said: “Therefore show me Thy right hand,” the prophet did not further indicate how exactly; he obviously wanted to indicate in what form Christ should appear, in greatness, or in humiliation, but he was perplexed which of them should be chosen, since greatness would make Christ inaccessible to people, and humiliation could easily lead to contempt for Him. Christ chooses the middle. between one and the other, making up for the humiliation of suffering with miracles. “Return, Lord! How long? And have mercy on Your servants” (Ps. 89:13). The prophet prays not that God himself would convert, but that he would convert us, i.e. corrected. Perhaps, however, the prophet wants God to turn, so that, turning like a shepherd, he will look at the wandering sheep; He also wants Him to take pity on them because of their error. “How long,” he says, not blaming God, but as if grieving for His slowness and wanting to show that we need emergency help. “May we be filled with Thy mercy in the morning, O Lord, and may we rejoice and be glad all our days and be glad (as a reward) for the days in which You humbled us, for the years in which we saw us eat evil” (Ps. 89:14-15). The prophet has not yet finished his prayer, because it continues in the following verses, but, nevertheless, as he has already heard, he utters the real words, solemnly declaring in them that he has been filled with the mercy of God, i.e. received it in abundance. Saying that he was fulfilled “by the morning,” he points either to the time of the resurrection of Christ, which took place, as Mark says, “very early” (Mark 16:2), but go to real life, in which Christ, God’s mercy, appeared to people. From Him we have been filled with many blessings, about which we rejoice and rejoice every day, just as what once happened to the Jewish people, who ruled for some time, although later they fell into the hands of enemies and slavery, about which you can find many stories in the book of Judges. “All our days we rejoiced, (as a reward) for the days in which You humbled us, for the years in which we ate evil.” What days does the prophet point to, if not those, undoubtedly, when we remain in slavery to idols, when God humbled us, allowing us to serve the creations of our own hands? Then we saw many different evils: not only did we blaspheme the Creator, but we did not recognize the rights of nature, since sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons. “And look upon your servants, and upon your creatures, and instruct their sons" (Ps. 89:16). Do you see how the prophet returns to prayer again? What is he praying for? That God will look upon us and our works. And God will look upon us and consider us His servants when we obey His law (because this is characteristic of slaves); then He will deign to look upon us. and on our deeds, because they will be good. He will guide us and our sons, both carnal and spiritual, as those who learn good from the good, and recognize them as worthy of divine guidance. “And let the light... of the Lord our God be upon us, and correct the work of our hands among us, and correct the work of our hands” (Ps. 89:17). If we are worthy of the light of God, that is, the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, of which, by becoming participants, the saints themselves receive holiness (because it is said: “With You is the power in the day of Your power in... the splendor of Your saints. From the womb first I have given birth to the day of the day" (Ps. 109:3), "and the work of our hands," works for us, that is, for us, will be corrected by God, will be done according to His law, so that we will be told the same thing as was said to the apostles: "let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:16). "And correct the work of our hands." The psalmist points to alms; it is the work of our hands primarily; therefore, he singled it out from the many works that he mentioned in the previous verse; he wanted to attribute special meaning to alms, since through it we acquire great benefits - God's mercy and condescension: “blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Matthew 5:7). 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: