Chapter 70

A psalm to David, finally, for the sons of Jonadab and the first captives. Not inscribed in Hebrew. The sons of Jonadab were God-fearing and righteous men, strict keepers of the commandments of their father, so pious and well-behaved that God himself testified to their virtue to the prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 35:13-19). During their reign the first captivity of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans took place. They can represent the face of the Apostolic face, who fully kept the commandments of the Heavenly Father and was worthy of praise in the beatitudes spoken to the Apostles. At least under them, that is, under the Apostles, there was also the first captivity of Jerusalem by the Romans. Therefore, these lovers of God, i.e. The apostolic face, in this psalm, is represented as offering prayer and thanksgiving to God for the fact that, when they were oppressed by persecutors for preaching the Gospel, He saved them from demons, these mental attackers who were plotting against their souls. At the same time, they promise, having freed themselves from the service of the law, to offer only sacrifices of praise to God. Ps.70:1. In Thee, O Lord, have I trusted, that I may never be ashamed. The particular firmness of his confidence is his trust in God. Ps.70:2. Deliver me by Your righteousness. The truth of the Father is the Son, by whom we are delivered from the sin that kept us in corruption. Ps.70:3. Become our protector God. The apostolic face, knowing that God has given a promise for those who believe in Him to be a wall of fire all around, begs that such a promise be fulfilled for him by deed. For you are my affirmation and my refuge. For He is the rock on which we have a solid foundation for those created, and He is the wall behind which we do not suffer harm from the attack of the evil ones. Deliver me, says the Apostolic Face, from these prevailing men, as if by some hand they are drawing into slavery, filled with sin, lawless and offending. Ps.70:4. My God, deliver me from the hand of the sinner, from the hand of the lawbreaker and the offender. “Sinner”, i.e. the Jewish people, because they were both lawbreakers and offenders; - criminal, as having condemned the innocent; - offending, as not having any valid pretext for condemning them. Ps.70:5. For You are my patience, Lord, Lord, my hope from my youth. Deliver me, he says, from this law-breaking people, because I endure this for You and because of my trust in You, which I had from the time of my first and initial birth from You, according to what was said: “And the little ones received Him, and gave them the province to become children of God” (John 1:12). Ps.70:6. I was established in You from the womb. It shows that Christ, for whose sake they endured this, is the same one who, through His creative providence, brought them into the world, carried while still in the womb. From my mother's womb, You are my protector. Since You are the Lord, and when I was still in my mother’s womb, You covered me with Your Divine power and delivered me from a law-breaking people, then I, as having felt this continuous Thy good deed, do not cease to incessantly offer up hymns to You. I always sing and glorify You, and I have become glorified by Your providence for me. Ps.70:7. Like a miracle for many. A miracle refers to something extraordinary and great. The meaning of the speech is this: if I am exalted high and, as a great and valiant man, I boldly act among many nations, then I did not acquire this blessing through my own strength, but You, with Your help, made me powerful and courageous. Ps.70:8. May my lips be filled with praise, for I will sing Your glory. Since, after such benefits shown to me, I, as a person, am not able to repay it in a worthy manner, I ask that Your wisdom fill my lips with praise. For even in this case I will hardly be able to sing Your glory. Although one can always praise God, always bless Him, always remain chaste, can one always hope? For the one who hopes always does not sometimes receive what he hopes to acquire. And another says: “always,” meaning not the duration of centuries, but sensory life, and another by the phrase “always” understands the duration of centuries, so that the limit of hope is the knowledge of the Holy Trinity. All day long is Your splendor. When my mouth is filled with praise and I begin to sing songs of Thy glory, then all day long I will sing of Thy splendor. “Glory” refers to the economy that He accomplished on earth and with which He filled the earth with His glory; “splendor” he calls the Divinity, by whom he accomplished all this in various ways. Ps.70:9. Do not reject me in my old age. “Old age” here refers to infirmity. Therefore, he says this: let there not be, Master, a time in which I would be weak. And therefore he prays that he never lose hope in Christ, because He is our strength. Whenever my strength becomes impoverished, do not leave me. If I, as a person, happen to sin, do not forsake me, Lord, for sin, but call me again, as a lover of mankind. Ps.70:10. As if you decide to defeat me. It is said “as having decided” instead: so that my enemies do not say: let us attack him, he will be our prey, because God does not help him. Ps.70:12. My God, do not move away from Me. Since the enemies say so, do not hesitate any longer to provide Your help. My God, come to my help. Ps.70:13. Let those who slander my soul be ashamed and disappear. When they attack me with the thought that I have been abandoned by You, and You will help me, then they will turn back with shame, finding that the slander they have laid against my soul is in vain. What kind of slander is this, besides the following: “God left him to eat” (Ps. 70:11)? Ps.70:14. I always look to You. For the Apostles do not cease in their writings to confess their trust in Christ. And I will add Your praise to everything, in the hymns of those saved by them. Ps.70:15. My mouth will proclaim Your righteousness. I never cease to carry Your truth in my mouth, O Master. For the righteousness of the Father is His Only Begotten. He “gave us righteousness from God,” according to the words of the holy Apostle (1 Cor. 1:30). All day long your salvation is Yours. I will always remember the dispensation by which You gave us salvation. The word “bookish” means either vain and elaborate worldly entertainments, or various sacrifices that were commanded to be made by the Law. And he says: since I have rejected all these sacrifices, I will enter the heavenly abodes, if the Lord gives me the strength to do so. This is similar to what was said: “We have all left behind You and are dead: what then will happen to us” (Matthew 19:27)? For this they accepted the promise of the heavenly kingdom. Ps.70:16. I am in the strength of the Lord. By Your power and with Your help I will have access to the land of promise. Lord, I will remember the truth to You alone. Having left all that has been said, I will remember the one truth by which You freed us from sin. Ps.70:17. My God, this is what you taught me from my youth. For from the first, so to speak, day on which he chose them, he gave them what they needed to know about the kingdom of heaven. And to this day I will proclaim Your wonders. I do not forget what I have learned, but what I have learned myself, I have proclaimed to others. Ps.70:18. And even to old age and old age. Since Christ himself, after resurrecting from the dead, gave them a promise, saying: “Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20), then he asks that this promise be fulfilled on him: My God, do not forsake me, until I will proclaim Your arm. If You do not forsake me, according to Your promise, O Master, then it will be possible to proclaim Your arm to the future of the pagans and to the faithful generation. What kind of “muscle” is this, he talks about this further: Ps.70:19. Your strength and Your truth. He calls it “by force” because he bound the strong man and plundered his vessels, and “by righteousness” because he redeemed us who were unjustly held captive. I will proclaim, he says, that You will redeem not only earthly things, but also heavenly things with Your blood. This is similar to the following: “for the creation itself will be freed from the work of corruption” (Rom. 8:21). He gives thanks for the fact that, having been rightly condemned to death for sin in ancient times, he did not remain in death, but through God’s love for mankind was delivered by Christ from corruption. Ps.70:20. Eliki showed me many sorrows? For what and how many evils did You not make me experience? And when you turned, you gave me life, and you raised me up from the depths of the earth. Ps.70:21. Thou hast increased Thy majesty upon me, and having turned, Thou hast comforted me. The repetition of the same words means, as it seems to me, that repentance brought for sins committed after baptism is pleasing to the One who, as it is said, has increased His goodness and righteousness for us. Therefore, first it is said: “Thou hast quickened me,” and of course by this it is like rebirth, and then: “Thou hast comforted,” and of course this is about someone who is overcome by fear due to sins. But we can understand the first about deliverance from Egypt, and the second about the coming of the Lord, when we received consolation. For those who came out of Egypt, although they were delivered from temporary death, fell into eternal death, because resurrection had not yet been granted. Ps.70:22. For I will confess to You, in the vessels of psalms, Your truth, O God. So, he says, I will prepare myself by confessing that I will be able to be called a vessel of hymn. For if he is called a vessel of election, then, without a doubt, he is also called a vessel of hymn. understands spiritual harmony, for when the soul does not do or tolerate anything contrary to itself, either in life or in relation to dogmas, then, and precisely then, it can rightly be called spiritual harp. Ps.70:23. My lips will rejoice when I sing to You. This is said in contrast to the Law, because the legal regulations were burdensome, as inconvenient to fulfill; and these commands are both useful and easy, so that they fulfill with pleasure those who are worthy to accept them. And my soul, which thou hast delivered from sinful corruption, from slavery to Satan, from death itself. Ps.70:24. Also, my tongue will learn Your righteousness all day long, when those who seek evil against me will be ashamed and disgraced. When my mental enemies are destroyed, and those who inhabit the abyss are clothed with shame, then, since there will be no longer any obstacle, I will praise You, Master, with incessant hymns. You might be interested in: