На псалом 97. Давиду. Аллилуиа

1. It is not without reason that the psalm is inscribed: to David, but because it contains a prophecy about the sacraments of Christ, who should be understood by David, according to the explanation of the prophet Ezekiel, or rather the Holy Spirit, who spoke through the latter. And I will raise up for you, he says, a shepherd, my servant David (Ezek. XXXIV, 23). David died many generations earlier, and therefore the prophet calls Christ David, not only as descended from David, but also as a king; and he calls Him a servant, as having taken the form of a servant. That is why the real psalm is not inscribed: David, but: David. Sing a new song to the Lord (v. 1). Why? What a wonder you have created. So the basis for the new song is that God has done wonderful things, or miraculous, as Symmachus translated. What kind of business is this? His right hand saved him, and his holy arm (v. 1). And what would be surprising in this if it were not for the fact that man fell into despair as a result of the extremely increased wickedness? That is why Isaiah says: every head is in pain, and every heart is in sorrow; from the feet even to the head there is no integrity in it; neither a scab, nor an ulcer, nor a scorching wound; there is no plaster to apply, lower than the oil, lower than the obligation (Isa. I, 5, 6), and David is the same: all of them turned away, but together they were not the keys; do not do goodness, not even one (Ps. XIII, 3). That is why man necessarily needed the right hand and arm of God, that is, His Only Begotten, since both names designate Him, just as Isaiah speaks of Him: like a shepherd shepherds his people, and with his arm he gathers the lambs (Isa. XL, 11). It was not without reason that the psalmist called Him holy, but wanting to show what He is like in His own being. So He saved the lost creature, because He did not come to judge the world, but to save the world (John III, 17). And that the prophet points to the coming of the Only Begotten (which alone saves humanity), this is confirmed by Isaiah when he says: neither an intercessor nor a lamb, but the Lord himself will come and save us (Isa. LXIII, 9), as well as the further words of the psalm: the Lord has spoken his salvation, revealing his righteousness before the tongues (v. 2). That Christ is called salvation and truth has been said many times before. Here the accuracy of prophetic expressions is revealed: first, it is said, salvation was spoken, and then revealed. Indeed, God first told the prophets about salvation; they were entrusted with the knowledge of him through the teaching of the Holy Spirit, which is why the Lord said: Your father Abraham would have been glad if he had seen my day; and saw, and rejoiced (John VIII, 56). But this sacrament was revealed later through the incarnation, as well as through the miracles of the apostles, who showed the power of the Only Begotten. Before the tongues, because the pagans believed in the appearance of Christ. However, the Only Begotten must, of necessity, reveal himself before the pagans, because the destruction of idols is a clear proof of His coming in the flesh. I will remember my kindness to Jacob, and my truth to the house of Israel (v. 3). Why did the prophet not limit himself to pointing to Jacob, but also mentioned the house of Israel, if not undoubtedly to show that the one who fulfilled the present prophecy was the same one who called Jacob Israel? That is why He wrestled with Jacob, because He wanted to foreshadow the mystery of the incarnation, since it is natural for the flesh to struggle and embrace. So He remembered Jacob and Israel and performed the sacrament for their sake. How? He came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, showing His mercy not to them (because they were unworthy), but to Jacob, from whom they came. He also remembered the truth of the house of Israel, putting into practice and making true the blessing that Jacob gave as an inheritance to his descendants, prophesying about the tribe of Judah: the prince of Judah will not fail, nor the leader of his feet, until the hope of the tongues will come, even the desire of the tongues (Gen. XLIX, 10). The further words of the psalmist are in perfect agreement with this: having seen all the ends of the earth the salvation of our God. Christ came to the Jews as one of his own, but since they closed their eyes (they closed their eyes, says Isaiah, so as not to see, XXXIII, 15), then instead of them the ends of the earth, that is, the pagans, saw the salvation of God, which they had not seen before. 2. The Lord was also amazed at what was now striking the prophet, saying: I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see may see, and those who see will be blind (John IX, 39). Shout to the Lord, all the earth (v. 4). And rightly so, because the blessings are universal: the perfect sacrament no longer belongs to one country, as Judea was, or to one people, but to all humanity, which is why the prophet commands us to exclaim as victors who participated in a common battle. The prophet called all of humanity Earth, as can be seen more clearly from what follows. Sing, and rejoice, and sing. The prophet is speaking, therefore, not about earthly elements, but about people, which is why he addresses his speech as if to many. First he commands us to chant, then to rejoice and finally to sing, so that, thus, the beginning and the end of the joy of God would be for us the praise of God. Sing to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the voice of the psalm, with forged trumpets, and with the voice of the trumpet; sound the trumpet before the king of the Lord (vv. 5, 6). Although these instruments were once used to glorify God, we will understand by the harp the agreement of virtues, which is achieved only through the mortification of the flesh; It is with them, as if with strings, that we must sing in agreement and send to heaven a psalm song pleasing to God. Since after the harp the prophet mentions the trumpet, he calls the harp on which he commands the singing of psalms (hence the singing of psalmody) the Old Testament, and the trumpets with which he commands us to blow before the King-Lord, i.e. Christ, he calls the Gospels, because we have defeated our enemies through the gospel way of life. And the prophet mentioned many trumpets and one trumpet because the gospel, being one in its essence, was set forth by four evangelists. Pay attention to the precision of the prophet’s expressions. He calls the trumpets, mentioned in the plural and denoting the evangelists, forged, that is, forged from copper, because the speech of the evangelists was, as it were, forged by the gift of the Holy One. Spirit; and he calls the trumpet, which signifies the word of the Gospel and the sacrament contained in it, a horn, since its main content is Christ, Who is rightly called a horn, because in Him we have received the power to defeat our enemies. That is why the prophet adopts a voice for the gospel, saying: with the voice of the trumpet the trumpets are born; Although many people have told the gospel story, the voice of one gospel is heard through them, because everyone described the sacrament in agreement. Let the sea and its fulfilment move, the universe and all who live on it (v. 7). The sea with its performance (of course the animals living in it) fluctuates, as we said earlier, due to the triumph. You can, however, also understand that it hesitates from fear before the miracles that the Lord performed with it, which included, for example. in that it received not only the Lord who walked on its waters, but also Peter, or that, at the command of Jesus, it brought a fish that had a statir in it (Matt. XIV, 25 d. and XVII, 26). Understand the same thing about the universe with its inhabitants. The miracles performed by Christ and the prophets were able to amaze and shake her; and indeed, during the prayer of the apostles, as Luke narrates, she hesitated several times (Acts IV, 31, and XVI, 26). The rivers will be woven together by hand (v. 8). Understand the actions of the Holy Spirit, which, as if gathered together, applauded at the coming of Christ; Christ said about these actions: believe in me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living water will flow out of his belly (John VII, 88). Consider also the sensual rivers that applauded and rejoiced when the Jordan received the baptized Christ, because this was joy for all rivers and waters. The mountains will rejoice at the presence of the Lord because he is coming (vv. 8, 9). Prophets are called mountains, as we said earlier, because of the height of their contemplation. They naturally rejoice at the coming of Christ because the prophecy is being fulfilled. If you also understand the sensual mountains, then they naturally rejoice, because on the heights the Jewish people usually made sacrifices to idols, as is said in the book of Kings, and with the coming of Christ these sacrifices ceased. For he comes to judge the earth, to judge the world with righteousness and people with righteousness (v. 9). How could the psalmist say that the Lord is coming if, as a prophet, he did not undoubtedly contemplate as present what he predicted as future? In the first case, he speaks of the coming of Christ in the flesh, which took place before; in the second - about the second coming, when He will come as a Judge. In the first coming He appears to bestow blessings, and in the second - as a terrible Judge. It is very useful to have this terrible judgment before our eyes and to see it as if before us, because by this we can prevent sins. How is judgment carried out? Truth and justice. Let us, therefore, avoid untruth and evade lies, let us not act treacherously and indulge in covetousness. All this is intolerable before the judgment of God and leads those who do this to condemnation. 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: