Chapter 83

Ps.83:1. Finally, about the sharpeners of the son of Koreov. Psalm. And in this psalm we are again talking about churches; from which it is clear why it is written about “grindstones”. Ps.83:2. Since Your village is beloved, O Lord of hosts: “Villages” refers to the places where the holy churches of God were founded; Every God-loving soul strives for them. Ps.83:3. My heart and my flesh rejoiced in the living God. As the Psalmist says: both body and soul I have dedicated myself to the service of the living and true God. It is said: “To the living God,” in contrast to idols, as dead, made from inanimate matter. Ps.83:4. For the bird will find itself a church, and the turtle dove a nest, where it will lay its young: Thy altars, O Lord. By the image of a bird he means the human soul caught by a mental fisher, according to what is said: “our soul, like a bird, has escaped [f] from the net of those who catch” (Ps. 123:7); and under the image of the turtledove - a soul that lives in purity and chastity. Therefore, he says that every soul will find this refuge, that is, access to the altars. Ps.83:5. Blessed are those who live in Your house, that is, heavenly. Ps.83:6. Blessed is the man, for he has his intercession with you; put ascension in your heart. Having chosen God as his intercessor, he daily edifies in himself good thoughts, which in this psalm he also called “ascents,” because through them the soul seems to ascend from the earthly to the heavenly. Ps.83:7. Into a deplorable vale. He calls mortal life a “deplorable vale.” Therefore he says: in mortal life, by edifying them daily, you will fulfill good thoughts; and Your intercession became noticeable to them. For the one who gives the law will give the blessing. Ps.83:8. They will go from strength to strength. The reward, he says, for their good thoughts will be given to them by the Lawgiver, that is, by the One who gave them the law of the New Testament. What are these blessings? Is it not those who “will go from strength to strength?” This means the ascent from this life according to God to the heavenly Jerusalem, upon departure to which “they will see God as he is” (1 John 3:2). Ps.83:10. Behold the face of Thy Christ. Christ here refers to the people called to the “royal priesthood” (1 Pet. 2:9). Ps.83:11. For better is one day in Your courts than a thousand. Under the one day “in the courts” of God, that is, in the churches, of course the day of the resurrection of the Savior. And by thousands, or a thousand (for this is how it is read in the Hebrew text) he calls the subordinate ministry, which was in force for a thousand years, starting from the time of Solomon, who founded the Divine Church, until the coming of the Savior. Therefore, it shows the great superiority of the gospel ministry over the subordinate ministry. I deign to sneak into the house of my God. As if he were saying this: I would rather be small and insignificant among those who belong to the Church than great among a sinful people. This has an application to the Jews taken to Babylon, but it is also applicable to us. For just as they were taught by the grace of the Spirit not to neglect the fact that they are deprived of God’s house, so we are also admonished by this to love the churches always dedicated to God and to desire to be in them. Ps.83:12. The Lord will not deprive the good of those who walk in kindness, because those who have this disposition enjoy all these benefits. For mercy flows from the Divine churches, and the teaching of truth is very abundant there. There we accept the teaching of good dogmas, there we draw Divine grace from the sources of the All-Holy Spirit, there we become glorious and especially famous. In short: there we accept the abundance of all goods, we free ourselves from malice and wickedness, deciding to live in simplicity and truth. You might be interested in: