Chapter 108

This psalm depicts the suffering of Christ and future punishments for Judah and the Jewish people. You should know that everything said in the psalm in the form of a desire is said prophetically, for example, when it is said: “Let the devil stand at his right hand” (Ps. 109:6), this is used instead of: “will stand.” For the Psalmist does not want this to happen, but only predicts that it will happen because of his malice. The same should be understood about other similar expressions, such as the following: let them also have slanderers, and not depart from them. And if they go to court, let them be condemned (Ps. 109:7). Even if they call on You in time of need, let it be counted as sin to them, based on the remembrance of what they have sinned. “Short their days” (Ps. 109:8), so that during their lifetime they will see how another will delight in the dignity that they have not properly redeemed. Then destroy them themselves, so that misfortune passes on to their offspring, so that their sons become orphans, their wife remains a widow (Ps. 109:9), so that the “sons”, drawn and subjected to violence, bear punishment for their father’s crimes (Ps. 109: 10-14). Ps.109:1. God, do not be silent about my praise. In all the churches of Christ, arising and shining everywhere, God praises the Son. Therefore, Christ says to the Father: although Judas, who betrayed Me, thinks to hinder My praise, You praised Me, testifying to My Divinity, which Judas did not believe, which is why He betrayed Me. Ps.109:2. As the mouth of a sinner and the mouth of a flatterer are opened against Me. “The mouth of a sinner,” that is, the mouth of the devil, because he is truly a sinner. “The flattering mouth,” that is, Judas, because both spoke against Christ. Ps.109:4. Instead of loving Me as a hedgehog, you fool Me. Ps.109:5. and put evil on Me for good. There are words of love, there are words of hatred, and words that express neither one nor the other. Judas flattered him as if he were the Teacher, and, apparently, tried to betray the Teacher by deception. Ps.109:6. Put a sinner on him. The sinner is Satan himself, the inventor of sin. It says “shall deliver” instead of “shall be delivered.” Who is “on him” if not on the traitor Judas? And let the devil stand at His right hand. And Zechariah says: “And the Lord showed me Jesus the great priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and the devil standing at His right hand to resist Him” (Zechariah 3:1). The devil does not resist Judas. Ps.109:7. Never sue him, and let him be condemned, that is, at the future trial there will not be a single word of justification. And let his prayer be a sin. For others, even prayer itself is a sin. Such are the pagans who pray to idols, or creatures; such are the Jews who offer prayer to God not through Jesus Christ, and the heretics who pray to the non-existent God. And also for those who pray with anger, with thoughts about worldly things or with double-mindedness, prayer turns into sin. Ps.109:8. May his days be short. For soon, through betrayal, giving himself up to strangulation, he disappeared and never appeared again. And may his bishopric receive him. This was said about Matthias, for he is numbered in truth among the lot of the Apostles. Ps.109:9. May his sons be orphans. “Sons” are his thoughts, because they became orphans, having lost the grace of Christ. And the “wife” is his soul, because she also became a widow, having fallen away from Christ in iniquity. Ps.109:10. Let his sons move and ask questions. His thoughts, which we called sons, having moved from Christ into the love of money, began to stretch out their hands to silver, like those in need and asking for alms. Ps.109:14. Let his father's sin be remembered before the Lord, that is, the sin of the people themselves, for the lawless people are added to the traitor. The father calls the killing of the prophets “lawlessness,” according to what the Lord said: “all righteous blood shed” from Abel to Zechariah the prophet “will be required of this generation” (Matthew 23:35; Luke 11:51). And let his mother’s sin not be cleansed. By the mother of this evil people, understand this evil synagogue, which has many times upset God. Ps.109:15. Let them be taken out before the Lord, and let their memory be taken away from the earth. God always sees all their insolence, and does not recognize him and all those who disbelieve as worthy of any mercy. And the Psalmist, meaning more than just Judas, said in the plural: “their remembrance.” Otherwise, we can understand the fathers of Judah, who gave birth to him in betrayal, and these will be those who incited him to this with silver coins, and Satan, who was the first to put the thought of betrayal into his heart, as well as the princes who have the wisdom of this age, about whom Paul says: “If they knew Him, they did not crucify the Lord of glory” (1 Cor. 2:8). And may his memory be consumed from the earth. This means the memory of Judas himself, or otherwise, those princes who rebelled against Christ, because there was no seed left from them in memory of them. Ps.109:16. I won’t remember to do mercy before. He did not want, he says, to accept the mercy that the Father granted to all people, and not to them alone, the lost sheep of Israel. For “create” is said instead of “receive”. And the human race is poor and wretched. He means the Lord himself, who is “poor and rich, so that through His poverty we may become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9). And my heart is touched to slay, i.e., the mourner. For he grieved to see their destruction. So He, who grieved for them, sought to kill Him. Ps.109:17. And love the oath. Ps.109:18. and clothed himself with the oath as with a robe. Because, having ceased to bless Me, they curse Me every day (and this is what the Jews do to this day); then everything predicted will be fulfilled on them. And down came like water into his womb. They are mired in disasters not only externally, but also internally. Because spruce retains its moisture for a long time. The psalmist understands the swiftness of disasters, and with water he depicts their excessiveness, and with oil - their duration. With these disasters, he says, he will be covered with a robe, and as if he will be girded with a belt (Ps. 109:19). Ps.109:20. This is the work of those who lie... and speak evil against My soul. These are the fruits that those who hate Me and the traitor who served them will reap. Since He was called an adversary to God and a violator of the Law, He rightly said: “those who slander Me before the Lord.” Ps.109:21. And You, Lord, Lord, do with Me in Your name. The Lord Christ spoke this for humanity, because he fulfilled everything human, except sin, and was born according to the law of nature precisely from a woman, which is characteristic of human nature, but from a virgin, who is above nature, he received shrouds, circumcision and feeding with milk, made sacrifices, fasted, hungered, thirsted, and was tired. Thus, in the Holy Gospels he is always depicted as praying. And here humanity calls for Divine help. Ps.109:22. Deliver Me, for I am poor and wretched. And in the sacred Gospels we find that this was really said by Him. For, going out into suffering, He said: “Now my soul is troubled: and what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour. But 11 for this reason I came to this hour” (John 12:27). Ps.109:23. Like a canopy, never able to evade it, he shook off. Like an evasive shadow, I accepted the end of life, but I spent my life like a locust carried by the wind, having neither a city, nor a village, nor a house, but moving from place to place, running into the mountains, and sometimes into the desert. Ps.109:25. You saw Me and nodded your heads. He understands how, seeing Him on the cross, they nodded their heads and said: “destroy the church, save yourself” (Matthew 27:40). Ps.109:27. And let them understand that this hand is Yours. “Hands” here refers to the deeds that He performed when He raised Himself from the dead. Ps.109:28. They will be cursed, and You will bless them: let those who rise up against Me be ashamed. For they are all ashamed, because they have neither priest, nor sacrifice, nor priesthood, nor the word of judgment, according to the word of the prophet (Hos. 3:4). Your servant will rejoice. And this does not force us to accept this saying on a different assumption, because Paul says: “I have humbled myself, and have taken on the form of a servant” (Phil. 2:7), and Isaiah: “Thus says the Lord, who created Me from the womb of His servant” (Is. 49:5). And He Himself says in the Gospel: “The Son of man did not come and let them serve Him, but to serve” (Matthew 20:28). Ps.109:29. Let those who slander Me be clothed with shame. What shame do the Jews not bear? They see that their sanctuary has been destroyed at its very foundation, and everyone worships the tomb of Him who was desecrated and crucified, and His churches are multiplied and glorious everywhere. Ps.109:30. Let us confess the Lord dearly with My lips. Confession expresses the gratitude that the Son brings through the lips of the nations. And in the midst of many I will praise Him. For through the mouth of the Church he praises the Father. In the text of St. Athanasius, instead of “but” (αλλα), “Father” (αββα) is read. You might be interested in: