Собеседование 41 на псалом 93

1. It speaks of fleeting well-being. The Prophet said this, as if indignant and grieving that the time of God’s long-suffering towards sinners continues, as a result of which they boast of what they should fear and be ashamed of. What are they boasting about? “Will all who commit iniquity speak and speak lies?” (Ps.93:4). Those who do not abstain from evil deeds, how will they abstain from evil speech? That is why they will always talk about them and incline others to destruction. They say: “Should we not do evil so that good may come” (Rom. 3:8), then: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die” (1 Cor. 15:32), then: “The Lord does not see us; the Lord has forsaken this land” (Ezek. 8:12), and other similar wicked words condemned by the prophets. “Your people, O Lord, they have brought low, and have offended Your heritage” (Ps. 93:5). Sinners do both in deed and word, because they humiliate the people of God and oppress their heritage, i.e. in general, a person, not only the one who robs, inflicts beatings, slander and judges unjustly, but also the one who instills evil thoughts and presents iniquity as a useful thing, about which the apostle said: “bad communities corrupt good morals” (1 Cor. 15:33). Didn't the spies sent from the desert, for example, bring humiliation to God's people when they advised them to return to Egypt? “The widow and the orphans died and the stranger was killed” (Ps. 93:6). This is not said in the sense that they use the sword and other military weapons against the latter; the stranger and the widow are killed by the one who takes away from them the last field that they own, who deprives them of their daily food, plunders the last house in which they take refuge, offends them in court; Many people do much like this even now. How great their crime is, find out from what follows. “And they said: The Lord will not see, neither will God know Jacob” (Ps. 93:7). Although robbers and lawless people do not say this with their lips, they say it in their thoughts, because they would not dare to rob and kill either orphans, whose father is God, or widows, for whom He Himself is a judge, or strangers, whom He loves, as Moses the lawgiver said (Deut. 10:18), if they had not reached such a point. crazy thoughts, as if they could hide from the Creator, as if God had left the world without his care, as if the Judge does not oversee human affairs. Mocking such people, the prophet further says: “Become to your senses, you fools among the people, and finally understand!” (Ps.93:8). This prophet usually calls people who think wickedly about God crazy. So it is about them that he says: “the fool said in his heart: there is no God” (Ps. 13:1). Such are precisely those who offend widows, orphans and strangers, and commit other iniquities. Reproaching them, the prophet in the first half of the verse commands them to come to their senses, and in the second he says: “finally, understand,” wanting to show that if they now do not repent and come to their senses, then later they will no longer have the opportunity to do so, since “who will confess to you in... hell?” (Ps.6:6). This is why the prophet calls them crazy because they carelessly omit the time for repentance. Only madmen tend to not know how to use time and circumstances properly, and not to know what is recognized by everyone, namely, what follows. “Does not he who made the ear hear? Or does not the Creator's eye...see? (Ps.93:9). Through the organs, the prophet also pointed out the senses they receive—hearing and vision. These last, as well as other feelings, were created and given to us by God. If so, says the prophet, then how can one say that God, who endowed us with the ability to feel, does not pay attention to our actions? If He did not recognize what was given to us as good, He would not have given it. The prophet believes every good thing, first of all, in God, as the cause of all good things. “Will not He who teaches the nations, He who teaches man understanding, reprove?” (Ps.93:10). The Prophet asks about this not as something doubtful, but as known to everyone, and with the question he shames those who do not admit it. If God punishes many nations, i.e. humanity, then how can He not reprove each sinner in particular? How does He punish the pagans? “He teaches,” he says, “understanding.” What kind of understanding? The ability to distinguish between good and evil, harmful and useful. God teaches us this not through some educators or teachers, but with innate knowledge. Through this He will convict sinners, i.e. will judge them. We cannot apologize to God for ignorance of lies and truth, because we are taught to distinguish between the two by natural law. “The Lord knows by our thoughts the thoughts of men, that they are vanity” (Ps. 93:11). The psalmist did not say this in vain, but so that we would not think that God is long-suffering to people, not knowing how many vain thoughts there are and how great blasphemies are thought against Christ. God is not ignorant, but knows, but leaves judgment over them until the future. However, not over all, because He admonishes, as it is said further: “Blessed is the man whom You teach, O Lord, and You teach him from Your law” (Ps. 93:12). 2. In many ways, blessed is he who is punished by God. First of all, he becomes better and more prudent, ceases to live a bestial life and, being reasonable, does not become one of the dumb. Then, the one punished by God is punished as if by the Father, which is why it is said that he is not subject to execution, but to punishment (education), because it is characteristic of judges to be executed, but for teachers to punish. That is why the prophet said: “You will teach him from Your law,” wanting to show that God does not punish out of anger, but in order to teach the punished the law. What exactly is the benefit of punishment? “So that he may remain meek from the day of disaster until a pit is dug for the sinner” (Ps. 93:13). The Prophet considers deliverance from future punishment to be a great blessing, which is why in another psalm he says: “Blessed... is he who thinks about the poor [and wretched]! On the cruel day the Lord will deliver him” (Ps. 40:2). It is natural, therefore, that he now recognized the one being punished by God as blessed, since by means of local punishments he avoids future disasters and receives relief in severe days, i.e. at a time when those punished experience suffering, when the sinner in the true sense, i.e. a pit is dug for the devil (about whom Paul said: “sin becomes extremely sinful through the commandment” - (Rom. 7:13). The prophet rightly called the pit the future torment that is being prepared for the devil, since he will never be able to free himself from them, but will remain in them as if buried in a pit. It is worthy of attention that David called not the same thing a fierce day and fierce days: the first means the day when judgment will occur, from which God will deliver a merciful man, giving him complete freedom, and the latter the time of torment, which is why he said about them in the plural: days, not a day; these days God tames, i.e. alleviates torment, in accordance with punishments, i.e. in accordance with the treatment and correction that comes from punishment. “For the Lord has not cast away His people, neither will He forsake His inheritance” (Ps. 93:14). The psalmist indicated here the reason why God punishes those whom he called blessed. Sparing His people and His wealth, He punishes some, wanting them to repent and be saved, and for others to serve as a reason and example of conversion. And if He wanted to reject His people for their sins and leave His property to mental enemies, then He would not punish us, leaving us to plunge into even greater wickedness. And that the abandonment of God is a consequence of great wrath, listen to how God speaks about this to the Jews: “I will leave your daughters to be punished when they commit fornication” (Hosea 4:14), and again: “I have left My house; in the forest" (Jer. 12:7-8). “Until righteousness returns to judgment, (and also) all who hold it are upright in heart” (Ps. 93:15). The Prophet does not say that after righteousness returns to judgment, God will reject His people and His property, but wants to show you with these words how long those punishments that God sends to prove that He does not leave His property unattended will be necessary. When exactly Christ - the true Truth - will “return to court", i.e., having abandoned long-suffering, the "right in heart" will appear for judgment, i.e. the righteous, “holding to her,” will appear not as defendants, but as servants surrounding the Judge (why other translators, instead of: “holding to her,” said: behind him), then all private punishments will cease, since the judgment of God will be carried out not for the sake of teaching, but for reward. This is followed by a change of tone, because the prophet stops speaking altogether and begins to speak about himself. “Who will rise up against the evil ones for me? Or who will stand with me against those who commit iniquity?” (Ps.93:16). The prophet points to the difficult and cruel struggle that lies ahead of us against the evil forces and, as it were, expresses what Paul says: “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12). The prophet asks and demands help against them. Who can stand up for us and give us help and protection against them? So, do not find pleasure with wicked people, and do not rejoice with those who practice iniquity, against whom the prophet not only wants to fight, but also seeks an ally, whom he further indicates. “If the Lord had not... helped me, my soul would soon have entered hell" (Ps. 93:17). We need, he says, only the help of God; only He alone can help us against such an enemy. Perhaps the prophet said this, remembering the crime committed with Bathsheba? Indeed, if God had not then helped David by sending Nathan and arousing repentance in him with the words of the latter, then his soul would have been in danger of approaching hell, i.e. sinful death. 3. But if the righteous approach death through carelessness, then the wicked dwells and abides in it, because “there is no shame in their death and no length in their suffering” (Ps. 73:4), since he, as Solomon says, “having reached the depths of evil, is careless” (Prov. 18:3). “When I said, “My foot faltered,” then Thy mercy, O Lord, helped me” (Ps. 93:18). Whoever recognizes and confesses his sin, and, having hesitated, does not give in to carelessness and despair, but feels the sin, he will immediately notice the help and pardon given by God. “When my illnesses multiplied in my heart, Your consolations rejoiced my soul" (Ps. 93:19). And this is the work of an experienced physician - to apply appropriate medicine to the wounds. By illnesses in the heart, understand either sorrow for your own sins, born from repentance and contrition, or sorrow for the well-being of sinners, or suffering unjustly inflicted on us. God grants appropriate consolation to all these sorrows. For those unjustly offended, he serves as a new one. consolation is the following beatitude of Christ: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10). Those who mourn their sins also find great blessedness, because “blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). the righteous when he sees vengeance” (Ps. 57:11). If you call the sorrows of the soul, like its illnesses and wounds, sins, then for them Christ gives great consolation: “Come to Me,” He says, “all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28), and again: “I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world” (John 12:47). “Let not ... be the throne of iniquity, which creates a burden contrary to (Your) commandment” (Ps. 93:20). The devil is undoubtedly called the throne of iniquity; By throne you mean either a kingdom, or peace, or some kind of seat, since lawlessness reigns and rests in the devil. In the same way, he is called a judge of unrighteousness, not in the sense that he judges unrighteousness, but in the sense that he judges unrighteously. He creates work according to command, i.e. at the command of God, since he tries to make the law of God difficult for us, arousing pleasure and idleness in us. God allows this, wanting to increase the reward for those who fulfill His law, because “everyone will receive his reward according to his own labor” (1 Cor. 3:8). The devil will not be before God, i.e. will not stand before Him during the judgment, because angels will stand before God when He begins to judge, and the devil will not stand, because, although he has existence, he has lost his dignity. Why won't he come forward? Because God judges as a lover of mankind, and the devil is the greatest hater of mankind, as can be seen from further words spoken about him and his accomplices who are with him. “They will persecute the soul of the righteous and condemn innocent blood” (Ps. 93:21). The Prophet clearly indicates the reason why the devil will not stand before God at the future judgment, namely because he and his servants will not be afraid to capture the soul of the righteous, taking advantage of sins committed out of ignorance and involuntarily, and also because “innocent blood will be condemned,” if they had any power to judge. That is why God does not allow them to accuse us and be witnesses against us when He judges our actions, but calls our thoughts as accusers, and our conscience as a witness. This is what Paul says: “Which their conscience and their thoughts bear witness to” (Rom. 2:15). This is how our secret deeds are judged by God. “But the Lord was my refuge, and my God my sure help” (Ps. 93:22). Who "was"? Other interpreters translated: let it be, finding in these words an indication of the coming of the Only Begotten, since He became a refuge for us, oppressed by enemies in the true sense. He also appeared as our helper when hope was already lost and we fell into despair in view of the increasing wickedness. He delivered us from despair by saying: “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “And the Lord will reward them for their iniquity, and the Lord our God will destroy them through their wickedness” (Ps. 93:23). So it is characteristic of a righteous Judge to repay iniquity to those who are guilty of it. When you hear: lawlessness, understand the punishment determined for it. That is why in the fifth and sixth books of the translation it is said: mourn them. The wicked will undergo the greatest punishment when they are removed from the midst of people and deprived of activity, when they will no longer be able to support their existence by the strife and temptations of people. That is why it is said that God will “destroy them.” He will not destroy their existence, because He wants them to always remain in punishment, which is why He has prepared eternal fire for them; He will destroy them by removing them from among people, destroying their power and not allowing them to remain among us. Now, when we are fighting to earn crowns, the devil is our adversary; therefore God allows his activities; but the future age is not a time exploits, but a reward, not struggle, but crowns. That is why Paul says regarding the present life: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:7), and regarding the future: “But now there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who loved His appearing” (2 Tim. 4:8). It is natural, therefore, that the enemies, when the fight against them stops, will disappear. 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: