Chapter 73

The Prophet, looking at the last captivity of Israel, in this song begs God not to deprive the Israelis of absolutely every opportunity for reconciliation with Him, but to leave them some way to salvation. Describes the capture of the city itself and the Divine Church by the enemies. Ps.73:1. What have you completely rejected, God? This means: their wrath has already reached the end, because they will have no peace in the midst of disasters. Ps.73:2. Remember Your host, which You acquired from the beginning, for the sake of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Thou hast redeemed Thy property with a rod. In general: “remember your inheritance,” which “you redeemed with the rod,” that is, the inheritance prepared for the kingdom. Therefore it was said to them: you will be to me, out of all nations, “a chosen race, a royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9). This is Mount Zion, in which you dwelt, because God appeared in the Divine Church. Ps.73:3. Lift up Your hand against their pride to the end, i.e. due to the pride of those who took up arms against the Divine Church. Ps.73:4. And those who hate You praised themselves in the midst of Your holiday. Since they raised a battle against the Lord on the Easter holiday, at the same time they were betrayed to the enemies. For on Easter, when all the Jews were gathering in Jerusalem according to the Law, a siege was carried out, at the very time at which they nailed the Savior to the cross. Having laid down your signs, signs. He understands the signs of war, and speaks of the banners so called among the troops, because they were placed on the way in the city. They didn’t even stop there, but extended further, that is, they attacked the Divine Church, not knowing that God had handed over the city to them for the wickedness of the inhabitants. As those who did not know this, they were surprised at their own strength, and accused God, Whom they worshiped in the Divine Church, of weakness. That is why the prophet further says: “How long, O God, does the enemy reproach?” (Ps. 73:10). And by repeating the word “signs” he expresses amazement that the Divine Church was delivered into the hands of enemies. Ps.73:5. Like in an oak grove the trees cut down its doors with axes. In these words he describes the destruction of the city and the Divine Church. With the help of tools used in cutting and lining forests, they destroyed fences, knocked down doors in buildings, like an oak grove, destroying everything that was skillfully and beautifully crafted. Ps.73:7. By igniting with fire Thy sanctification. To our great misfortune, having invaded us, they had one goal - to destroy the Law given by You. For the prophet with the word “holidays” (Ps. 73:8) means subordinate service. And they, he says, dared to do this, not looking at the miracles that happened during the time of our ancestors, and not being ashamed of prophetic grace. For suddenly they no longer had all this, but before, and after returning from captivity, they had the prophets: Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. The prophets who preceded them predicted the future for the people and kings, and made the evil intentions of their enemies obvious, which is not difficult to verify from history. Ps.73:9. We cannot see our signs. They encouraged each other to stop the feasts of the Lord that were still being celebrated, and added action to their words. And when this was done, we were not spectators of those signs that we often witnessed during previous battles. These signs came to our aid amidst the calamities surrounding us. Therefore, no longer seeing these signs, we said: “What have you, God, completely rejected?” There is no prophet, and no one knows us. And what makes us despair of salvation most of all is that we no longer see a prophet among the people who could appease God for us. Ps.73:10. How long, O God, does the enemy reproach? Having finished the description of how the city was taken by the enemies, he bows to God’s mercy and asks to see how offensive all this is to God himself, which he expresses in the words: “in the midst of Your festival” (Ps. 73:11), “Your sanctuary, the habitation of Your name (Ps. 73:7), “the feasts of the Lord” (Ps. 73:8), “Thy name to the end” ( Ps.73:10). Ps.73:11. Why dost thou turn away thy hand? Why, he says, are you interrupting the giving of blessings with which He of old granted us, as if from His bosom? Ps.73:12. God is our king from all eternity. Nowadays you are slow to return the blessings to us, but in ancient times our God, deigning to be called our King, worked out our salvation in such a way that everyone on earth saw it. She created salvation in the middle of the earth. For this reason, others argued that Jerusalem is the eye of the earth. Ps.73:13. Thou hast established the sea by Thy power; You have erased the heads of the serpents in the water. He describes in these words how in ancient times he accomplished their salvation, and firstly, by thickening the waters of the sea like a wall when they came out of Egypt, which is what the words mean: “Thou hast established... the sea,” and secondly, by crushing in the waters the heads of the Egyptians, whom he calls serpents through the cunning of the tongue. Then he “broke the head of them” and the very King who led them, whom he also calls “the serpent” (Ps. 73:14). Ps.73:14. Thou didst give this cruelty to the people of Ethiopia, that is, Pharaoh himself with his tristats and chariots. “Ethiopian people” refers here to flocks of birds from neighboring Ethiopia, which devoured the bodies of the Egyptians thrown by the sea onto land. Ps.73:15. You have dissolved sources and streams. He understands what happened in the desert when he gave water to the people from the stone. You dried up the rivers of Itham. “Itham” is interpreted: south; in the south of Judea flows the Jordan. Ps.73:16. Yours is the day, and Yours is the night. You were not only our provider in the Red Sea and in the desert, but also the giver of blessings to the entire human race, creating day and night, the sun and the moon, harvest and spring, and establishing the boundaries of the earth. He says this now, calling on God for help. That is why he continues: “remember” this Thy creation (Ps. 73:18). If You created this creation for people, then, he says, provide help to those for whom the creation was created. Ps.73:18. Remember this: the enemy reviles You, Lord. Having called on God to have mercy on the people for the sake of creation, he calls Him to mercy in another way, and precisely by the fact that the enemy thinks highly of himself. And people have provoked Your name to madness. Notice another new way to encourage generosity - by the fact that the enemies “have provoked His name.” Ps.73:19. Do not deliver over the soul that confesses to You to the beasts. Having called the enemies beasts, he continues to encourage generosity by the fact that those who have sinned deserve some forgiveness by their confession. He begs that Israel not perish in the same way. This request was fulfilled, because many thousands of those who were crucified believed and were saved. Ps.73:20. Look upon Thy covenant. A new way to encourage generosity. For for what reason he was good to them before, by establishing a covenant with them, thereby attracting mercy to himself. As if the earth was filled with darkness, houses of iniquity. The meaning of the speech is this: although many houses were filled with darkness because of the iniquities they committed before You, Lord, let not all the people be rejected and put to shame. For some had within themselves the hope of salvation. They were saved by the Apostles, especially by Peter, during his first sermons; Thus, the number of those saved was three thousand, and five thousand, and many thousands. Ps.73:21. The poor and wretched will praise Your name. Since those worthy of salvation have been saved, then the poor in spirit, that is, the face of the Apostle, according to what was said: “blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3), sends forth the praises appropriate to You. Ps.73:22. Arise, God, judge by Thy rule. He begs God to rise up to punish those who have seduced His people. Again he calls on God to have mercy, because they are blaspheming Him. You might be interested in: