Chapter 87

Ps.87:1. The song of the psalm of the son of Korah, at the end, about Maeleth, he answered the hedgehog, the understanding of Heman the Israelite. This psalm depicts the death that Christ took for us, so that, having preached to the spirits in hell, He would grant us resurrection. The psalmist also mourns Jerusalem as having lost its hope in Christ. And Jerusalem, that is, the Jewish people, in ancient times constituted, as it were, a certain face, which is why it was called the inheritance or lot of the Lord. Therefore, the psalm is written for Maelef, that is, for rejoicing or rejoicing. Since the mystery of Christ is deep and an extremely subtle spiritual mind is required to understand it; then the inscription says: “reason”. It is said that the psalm is Heman, composed in Egypt for Moses, and this Heman was a descendant of Israel, as descended from Zara, who is the son of Judah, the son of Israel. Ps.87:2. O Lord God of my salvation, in the days I have cried. How the Good One, having foreseen the falling away of the people and the death of the disciple, sends up prayers for them to the Father, so that they too, without participating in malice, could benefit from the salvation He bestows. Ps.87:4. For My soul is filled with evil. Although He bore our sins and suffers for us; but he rightly says of himself that he was filled with wickedness. and my belly to hell is drawing near. He says this because, by the grace of God, he tasted death for the whole world. Ps.87:5. Bykh like a man without help, Ps.87:6. there is freedom in the dead. Jesus alone died, according to the word of Isaiah, for the sake of the iniquity of people, led to death (Is. 53:8), and when he was dead, he remained free; because he had no sin that would make Him guilty of death, which is why he said: “The Imam has laid down my soul, and the Imam has received it again” (John 10:18). Like ulcers sleeping in a tomb. I became like people covered with wounds and lying in coffins. But they, as those who were not worthy of Your help, did not receive the resurrection; but I, he says, was wounded for the sins of people, and put in a tomb, but did not remain there, because You remembered Me, according to My wounding and placement in the grave, and I was resurrected, trampling death. Ps.87:8. Thy wrath is established upon Me. The “wrath” of God is the curse of death imposed on the human race. So, since He “became a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13), he says that “the wrath of God was established on Him.” And You brought all Your waves upon Me. “Waves” refers to the grave punishment imposed on the human race for breaking the commandment; again means death. Ps.87:9. You have removed those I know from Me. He says this because during his suffering everyone abandoned Him. You have made Me an abomination to yourself. See how even to this day the Jews abhor the name of Christ. Betrayed, and not the outcome. He says this because he was imprisoned in the house of the ruler of the synagogue. Ps.87:10. My eyes are exhausted from poverty. I cried for the people, seeing how they were deprived of their wealth according to God and fell into extreme poverty. I have cried to You, Lord, all day long. Therefore, grant the only means of getting rid of evil - Your providence, Master. For I beseech You, continually lifting up my hands. And this position of the body expresses the painful sorrow of the soul; because, forced only by necessity in such a situation, he diligently begs the One who can help him. Ps.87:11. Does eating the dead work miracles? Or will the doctors be resurrected? He explains to us the reasons for His descent into death, as if to say: since it was impossible for the dead to perform miracles, and for doctors to resurrect, so that they “confess to You”; and likewise, those condemned to destruction were not able to recognize Your truth: then I, Father, am imputed therefore with those who are in hell, so that those who are “in the earth and the forgotten” (Ps. 87:13), having been resurrected, would know by experience Your wonders, and those who from ancient times in darkness would see Your truth. Ps.87:12. Food is the story of who is Your mercy in the grave? It is impossible for the dead, who have crumbled into dust, remain in the darkness of death and are consigned to oblivion, to be partakers of Your love for mankind and to become spectators of Your miracles. Ps.87:13. Will Thy wonders be known in darkness? Just as there is no truth for the lost, so there is no miracle for the darkened. And the “forgotten land” is a rational soul, deprived of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Ps.87:15. For what purpose, Lord, will you give away my soul? do you turn away your face from me? So Christ prayed for the people of Israel; The Jews, due to the excessiveness of their malice, turn out to be unworthy of salvation, as if rendering Christ’s prayer for them invalid. Ps.87:16. I am poor, and in labor from My youth. He is poor because he took on the form of a slave, “and in labor from his youth”; because from His swaddling clothes He was subjected to the intrigues of Herod and those like him. Having ascended, I humbled myself and became exhausted. He calls His ascension to the cross His ascension, according to what He said: “When you lift up the Son of Man” (John 8:28). And by the word “humbled” He means His descent into hell. Ps.87:17. Your wrath has passed over Me. “You brought all your wrath upon Me,” he says, “and you angered Me with the most terrible punishments and plunged Me into them as in waters.” Ps.87:19. Thou hast removed from Me both my sincere friend and those I know from passions. “Passion” he calls the time of His suffering. Therefore, he says that during His suffering, His friends and those known (relatives) abandoned Him. Since he was obedient to the Father “even to death, death on the cross” (Phil. 2:8), and was abandoned by his disciples on the cross; then he says that the Father removed friends and known (relatives) from Him. You might be interested in: