Chapter 104

"Alleluia" means: praise to the Invisible. They say that with this word the angels praise God, like the cherubs with the words: holy, holy, holy. And this was betrayed by the Holy Fathers, who themselves heard angelic singing, as Isaiah heard the seraphim. “Alleluia” is decomposed as follows: al - God, il - strong, uiya - strong. 10 Ps.104:1. Confess the Lord, and call on His name: proclaim His deeds among the nations. In this psalm, the Holy Spirit commands the holy Apostles to make clear to the new pagan people all the miracles performed by the Lord at His coming. Ps.104:3. Boast in His holy name. For praise and glory are to those who testify the power of God. Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord be glad. Teaches how much benefit there is from confession. If you seek, he says, God, your mind will be joyful, and our head will be established and glorified. Ps.104:5. Remember His miracles that you have done. He understands the Divine signs that He created, both at His revelation in the New Testament, and in the Old through Moses and the former saints; for they also performed many miracles by the power of the Son of God. He commands that the preachers of these miracles convey this to the ignorant pagans, in addition to the miracles performed by the Savior in the New Testament. And also, command that what His mouth judged in both the Old and New Testaments should be preserved as royal laws. His wonders, and the destinies of His lips. “Miracles” he calls the miracles He performed, such as: walking on the sea, raising the dead, etc., and “the destinies of His mouth” - or the words that He uttered when casting out unclean demons from people, or the commandments of the New Testament. Ps.104:6. The seed of Abraham are His servants, the sons of Jacob are His chosen ones. Another word to the Apostles, and the meaning of the speech is this: you, as “the seed of Abraham and His servants, the sons of Jacob and His chosen ones” (because the Lord chose them), “proclaim among the nations” that He is the Lord our God (Ps. 105:7). Ps.104:13. And went from tongue to tongue, from the Babylonians to the Philistines. Ps.104:14. And the kings reproach them, Abimelech for offending Sarah. Ps.104:15. Do not touch My anointed. The “anointed” are Abraham and those like him, because they were granted visions to see the appearance of God the Word. Ps.104:16. And call famine to the earth. Due to his economy, he allowed famine to occur and because of it, they came to Egypt and multiplied, and took possession of the promised land. Any assertion that is bread will be erased. Because of the wrath of God in times of famine, it usually happens that people who eat bread are not strengthened. Ps.104:19. His word has come, refers to the fulfillment of dreams. Therefore, he says that until then he suffered, mourning his life, which was in danger, until the time came for dreams to be fulfilled. Ps.104:22. The princes punish him as if they were themselves. Is this similar to what was said: “their food is not made by God” (Gen. 40:8)? For he would not have guessed Pharaoh’s dreams if God had not granted him the opportunity to understand them. Ps.104:23. And Israel went into Egypt, and Jacob went into the land of Ham. The sons of Noah: Shem Ham, Japheth, the son of Ham - Canaan, the son of Canaan - Mezraim - Egypt is interpreted, from him the country received its name. Therefore, when Jacob entered Egypt, then, probably, Ham, the grandfather of Mezraim, lived in Egypt, and Canaan lived in Palestine. By the name of Israel and Jacob, who entered Egypt, his children are also understood; for “in seventy... souls, Israel descended into Egypt,” says Scripture (Deut. 10:22). And Jacob came to the land of Ham. Ham gave birth to Canaan, Canaan gave birth to Mezraim, which is interpreted as Egypt. That is why he calls Egypt the land of Ham, as a country belonging to the grandson of Ham. Ps.104:24. And people will grow up, so Pharaoh, “who did not know Joseph,” says: this people are now becoming very numerous and “stronger than us” (Ex. 1:8-9). But they would not have become so strong from their rapid increase in number if they had not enjoyed the patronage of Joseph and the goodwill of Pharaoh. Ps.104:25. Turn their hearts so that people will hate him. Since the Israelites, out of respect for them by the Egyptians, fell into the same idolatry as them, God arranged that the Egyptians hated them and imposed heavy work on them, and this was so that the embittered Israelites would resort to God, and the promise given to Abraham could conveniently be fulfilled. Ps.104:26. Moses sent His servant,” and so on. For he only revealed to Moses and Aaron the “words of signs” (Ps. 104:27), how to turn water into blood and perform other miracles. Ps.104:28. Send darkness and darken. Since the Egyptians, having left the Creator, served the creature; then he punished them through creation, that is, with air, fire, earth and water. Ps.104:29. Turn their waters into blood. Not only did the color of the water change, but also the very quality of taste, so that all breeds of fish became extinct. Elsewhere (in his interpretation of Ps. 134:1, Athanasius breaks down this word differently and explains it more correctly. You might be interested in: